Trixie, Ellie, and Iggy sat behind a large stack of rocks a short distance from the train depot. It was just after sunset, but the heat that radiated off the warm desert sand could still make a pony sweat. Trixie surveyed the cluster of warehouses corralled behind the useless wooden fence. The buildings were bathed in the dim glow of the orange-red evening sky which was enough light for Trixie to pick out the three guards who marched about the premises.
The four warehouses, as well as the garage where spare train parts were stored was a lot of ground to cover for just three guards, a fact that gave Trixie an advantage to work with.
“Alright hayseeds, let’s review the plan before we start,” Trixie whispered to the others as she opened a shoulder bag that she was carrying. “Iggy, you hold onto these little rockets and the matches. If you think the guards are on our trail, you fire one of these into the air to let us know we have to get out fast.”
Iggy nodded and took hold of the little bundle of fireworks.
“Ellie, you and I will infiltrate the warehouse through a hatch on the roof. I’m pretty sure I saw at least one hatch up there when I was inside.” Trixie pulled out two tan blankets from the sack and handed one to Ellie. “We’ll look for a copy of the warehouse manifest and then see exactly what is in those crates.”
“Are we fixing to take some more of their electrum as evidence?” Iggy asked.
Trixie shook her head. “Not quite, my little admirer. We need to find out what this electrum is part of and how much there is of it. A cache of old pony relics fetches quite a sum on the black market and I won’t let Roxy capitalize on pony history.” Ellie and Iggy nodded approvingly of Trixie’s resolve, although Iggy was quite the more eager of the two.
“Are you going to be alright?” Trixie asked the Pegasus.
Ellie took in a deep breath. “I… I think so,” she answered. “I didn’t expect that bringing you here to help the town was going to get me wrangled into being part of your grand adventure.”
Trixie put on her show smile. “When you stand in the radiant light of Trixie, expect to get tanned.”
“I’m more worried about getting burned,” Ellie countered.
Trixie smirked in a roguish way and shrugged. She handed Ellie the shoulder bag to carry. Ellie hooked the bag’s strap around her neck, being cautious not to have it snagged on the gears of her folded metal wing.
“I do have one question,” Ellie inquired.
“Yes?” Trixie responded in kind.
Ellie pointed to the fireworks. “You can do this magically, right? How come you also knew how to mix up the powders and make colored smoke without spells?”
“It’s one of my rules of being great and powerful,” the blue Unicorn proudly answered.
The Pegasus raised an eyebrow, “And those rules are?”
“That is also one of my rules; a magician never explains the trick,” she stated, adjusting her hat. “Perhaps someday, if you’ve earned enough of my trust, I’ll let you in on my personal secrets. For now, we have a warehouse to break into, so let’s be outlaws.”
The two mares covered themselves in the tan blankets. The color blended passably against the surrounding sand, made all the more effective with the darkened sky. Iggy was left to stand watch while Trixie led the way around the rocky terrain toward their target warehouse. The Unicorn studied the guards’ movements and she gave non-verbal signals to Ellie on when to move. It only took three minutes to reach the ill-kept wooden fence and they crossed the narrow field to the warehouse wall in half that time.
“Alright, hand me the rope,” Trixie commanded. The Pegasus pulled a length of rope from the bag and handed it to Trixie. The Unicorn tied the rope to the end of a hook she procured from one of her saddle belt pockets. Then with her magic, Trixie lifted the hook up and over the roof, secured against the roof’s lip.
They climbed up the rope quickly before the guards would pass this way again. On the roof, Trixie retrieved the rope while Ellie folded the blankets. None of the guards even came close to passing them below. The two mares stuffed the items in Ellie’s bag along with the hook. Trixie quietly walked over to the nearest hatch she saw and nudged it to see if it was secured. The lock didn’t give at all.
“Will that gizmo enable you to fly?” probed Trixie, nodding at the folded metal contraption Ellie wore.
“No,” Ellie responded, “At best I can maybe glide to the ground, but um, I’ve never tested it.”
“Of course you haven’t,” Trixie muttered flatly to herself. She turned her attention to the hatch lock. Trixie took a couple of thin mane-pins from a pouch on her saddle belt and began working on the lock. “Well, I’m glad you decided to bring it along,” she told Ellie. “Maybe tonight it’ll actually get tested.”
Ellie sat uncomfortably, not responding to Trixie’s statement.
“Hey,” Trixie barked softly, getting Ellie’s attention, “I boasted exaggerations about my mundane adventures, at least the ones I didn’t outright fake for my own gain. I totally destroyed my credibility and then wielded a forbidden cursed artifact for petty revenge. My actions were practically criminal, but did I give up on myself? No, I was determined to make a comeback, and look at what I’m doing here now.”
“You mean breaking into a warehouse?” Ellie asked.
“Okay, it’s a bad example,” Trixie corrected as she rolled her eyes. “The point is, we all hit a low point every so often, but we can’t just give up because of an occasional bump in the road. You’re talented with tools. I’m sure you’ll fly again with that contraption.”
Trixie unlocked the hatch with only minor difficulty. She pocketed the mane-pins and carefully lifted the flap. The warehouse interior was perfectly silent and dark, Trixie found no signs of occupants inside.
Ellie walked over to the hatch and she helped Trixie climb inside quietly. The Pegasus then followed the Unicorn down into the warehouse. Ellie carefully closed the hatch behind them as Trixie activated a light spell at the tip of her horn. Its soft yellow-white light reflected off the vast number of aisles within the warehouse. Trixie noticed from this vantage point that the large breech in the warehouse wall was covered up by nailed curtains as a temporary measure. Other than that, crates that were damaged from last night didn’t appear to have been repaired or even cleaned up yet.
Trixie climbed down the shelves first to the floor cautiously. There were no ladders nearby so Trixie had to use the shelves themselves as steps. She helped Ellie climb down next before the Unicorn ventured toward the front of the warehouse.
Off to a corner near the main entrance was a small pseudo-office. It was separated from the rest of the warehouse by a few sheets of plywood, with a space to step through to the one plain metal desk that resided there. The two mares quietly walked over and began to rummage through the paperwork and desk drawers.
“What are we looking for again, a manifest?” Ellie whispered.
“Yes,” confirmed Trixie, “We need to know more about the electrum those robbers were keen on.”
Ellie pulled open the desk’s largest drawer. Inside were several documents and a large cloth-bound ledger. The Pegasus picked up the book and skimmed the pages. It was full of serial numbers and descriptions. “This ought to be it,” the Pegasus said, handing the ledger over to Trixie.
Trixie used her magic to hold the book open as she flipped through pages. She got an understanding of the system used to store everything herein, a simple numbering system that incorporated the date each crate was placed within the warehouse. After a moment, Trixie’s eyes narrowed with frustration. “It only lists iron ore in every entry here,” she muttered.
Ellie cocked her head slightly. “Well, if the electrum is a secret, they wouldn’t make note of it in the records, right?”
A third feminine voice chimed up from the nearby isle, “But then how did the thieves know where to look?”
Trixie and Ellie froze in place, their eyes whipped around toward the voice. The figure that stepped into the magical light was Cheryl, the chocolate-coat pony from the prison. Once Trixie recognized her, the Unicorn felt her own heart had started to beat again. Trixie turned to Ellie, who was still frozen with fear.
“It’s alright Ellie,” Trixie assured. “This is Cheryl. I met her from the jail and she’s… wait, what are you doing here?” Trixie took a defensive stance and kept Ellie behind her for safety.
“Oh, so this isn’t open house at the train yard?” Cheryl replied sarcastically.
“Obviously not!” Ellie answered earnestly. “The front door isn’t even open!”
“Will you both shut up?” Trixie barked. “I’m trying to deduce a mystery here and I don’t need you two blowing my chances! Whoever broke into this warehouse has an agenda and I want to find out what it is.”
“Yeah, um…” Cheryl faltered with a skeptical look.
“Yes, I’m quite aware of the Pot-Kettle-Black situation here,” Trixie snapped. “However, once I procure evidence of the heist and build a solid case, Roxy and her dog mates will be admiring the beauty of vertical iron bars from the inside.”
Cheryl shrugged. “Alright, but who’s going to arrest them?” the Earth pony casually asked. “No offense, but you and chicken wings there aren’t on Roxy’s level of brawn. Deputy Valiant couldn’t take her on, and while his heart may be in the right place, his face won’t be when Roxy pounds him like a bean bag. ”
Trixie narrowed her eyes, leaning closer. “Why don’t we band the town together then?” Trixie questioned. “I concede that ponies will get hurt, but ultimately we can take the three down all together.”
“You ever interacted with us common clay folk? That’s like herding cats,” Cheryl countered, “Oh, and half those cats are drunken scoundrels themselves. I doubt there’s any sober pony around these parts who is crazy enough to go into your plan whole hog.”
Trixie let out a small smirk as she was now nose-to-nose with Cheryl. “Well I’m not from around these parts,” she said confidently. Trixie pushed aside the pink-mane pony and trotted off toward the location she believed the two creatures had looted. The ledger silently floated alongside Trixie and Ellie followed close behind. The Pegasus imitated Trixie’s proud canter. Cheryl shook her head and quietly followed them.
The heavy scratches on the wood floor revealed that Trixie was on the right trail. The Unicorn followed the marks until they stopped at a shelving isle halfway into the warehouse. The damaged floor and cracked wooden covers were major clues that indicated the monsters from the night below had worked their dirty plans in this aisle.
Trixie opened the ledger again and compared the serial numbers from the book to the crates here. Everything matched up perfectly. The numbers were even kept in perfect ascending order, but then Trixie noticed that one of the entries in the ledger was written in a different handwriting style than the others.
“This might be nothing,” Trixie mentioned to Ellie, “But the handwriting is different on this entry.”
Cheryl listened in, but remained quiet. Trixie continued comparing the numbers. “If the ledger is accurate, then this oddly written entry should be up on the top shelf here.”
Trixie looked up.
Way up.
The top shelf was easily thirty feet up, with no apparent ladder in sight. “Yup, exactly where my luck would dictate it should be,” Trixie grumbled. She magically handed the ledger to Ellie and started the long climb up the precarious shelving.
“You could send the Pegasus up there,” Cheryl suggested coolly.
Trixie threw her a dead-pan glance. “Don’t get me started on the issue with that idea.”
Cheryl returned a confused look and then turned to Ellie. The Pegasus blushed as she turned the other way sheepishly. It took only a moment for Cheryl to realize what the issue was. Cheryl only gave a silent nod to Ellie before the Earth pony dropped the idea for a different plan. “Here, let me give you a hoof.”
Cheryl climbed up after Trixie, but the Unicorn remained distrustful. “You didn’t answer my earlier inquiry,” Trixie said to the Earth pony. “You know, the one about why you’re here?”
Cheryl didn’t stop her climb, but shimmied over alongside Trixie. “Same as you, I came over for a look-see,” she responded. “I confess I might have fibbed about there being no sober and crazy ponies in these parts.”
Trixie snorted, but couldn’t help to also crack a small smile at the Earth pony. “I see you have not failed to recall Valiant’s counsel this morning,” she mentioned. “How does it feel to be dry?”
Cheryl smirked back with a sardonic response. “About as much fun as trying to figure out your big fancy words.”
“The common clay needs to read more books,” Trixie griped to herself.
They continued to climb the shelves together, but had to sacrifice some care for speed in case security decided to peer into this place. Trixie began to get nervous being so high up with nothing to catch her should she fall. The Unicorn began mentally listing all the useful spells she should learn later just in case Trixie ever found urban climbing a viably hobby. Trixie also hoped it wasn’t too dark outside for Iggy to see danger coming to the warehouse.
She glanced over at Cheryl and noted that the Earth pony was a mountain of calm.
Trixie thought some banter could help alleviate her worry. “Know any good jokes?” she asked Cheryl.
The Earth pony thought for a moment, but failed to recall anything relevant. Instead she settled on an unusual story. “So, a blonde Pegasus walks into a bar with a poodle under one wing and a two foot carrot under her other wing. The bartender says, ‘I guess you won’t be needing a drink.’ The Pegasus responds-”
The crate lid Cheryl had grabbed ahold of suddenly snapped off the box. Trixie hooked her rear legs around the shelving frame and lunged at Cheryl, catching her before she lost her tenuous grip. The broken lid tumbled past them to the ground. Below, Ellie jumped out of the way to avoid the incoming board. The lid shattered into splinters upon impact with the floor and reverberated a noise that was almost certain to catch the attention of the security outside.
“Are you two alright?” Ellie shouted up to the two hanging mares.
“Cheryl could stand to lose some weight,” Trixie prodded. “Otherwise we’re just peachy.” Trixie grunted as she helped Cheryl up and get a better grip on the shelf. “Ellie, what’s the number of the crate with the distinct writing?” Trixie asked.
Ellie scanned the ledger for the odd entry. “Uh, it outta be five-one-five-seven-eight.”
Trixie and Cheryl reached the top shelf and sat themselves upon it. They read the various numbers for a match. Cheryl found it and tapped the crate to get Trixie’s attention. “Alright, so shall we crack this box open?” Cheryl asked.
“Well I didn’t come up here for a picnic,” Trixie jestingly responded.
The blue Unicorn drew out a small knife from her saddle belt pouch, but before she could use it, Cheryl swung a hind leg and cracked the crate’s lid open with a powerful kick. A second later the Earth pony yanked the lid and tossed it off the side of the shelving.
Trixie quickly leaned over the edge and grabbed the airborne lid with her levitation magic before it hit something. The Unicorn settled the lid behind her on the shelf and frowned at Cheryl. “Okay, what part of stealth are you not getting?” Trixie asked scathingly.
With a sigh, Trixie sheathed her knife and brightened her light spell. The two mares rummaged through the crate, the hay filling brushed aside until they had the contents in view.
It was a collection of moss-covered brown rocks.
“Brilliant,” Cheryl said dryly. “We can convict Roxy with this evidence and chuck it at her head.”
“Shut up,” Trixie muttered. The Unicorn sifted through the pile of rocks. She pulled out a small piece covered in moss and chiseled lines. Trixie turned it in over her hooves as she studied the line patterns.
“This is interesting,” Trixie mused aloud. “Do you know what this is?”
“Not a rock?” Cheryl uninspiringly answered.
Trixie opened her mouth to put Cheryl in her place, but the Unicorn was interrupted by the screech of something outside that flew up into the air and then ended its flight in a soft, single pop. Trixie quickly grabbed several small rocks and stuffed them into her pockets.
“What was that?” asked a confused Cheryl.
“Our exit line!” Trixie grabbed the crate lid and slammed it on top of the box. A second firework popped in the sky outside which cried urgency to the mares. Trixie shouted below to the wide-eyed Pegasus. “Ellie, gallop over to the hatch! I’ll pull you up with the rope!”
The Pegasus dropped the ledger and made a race for the hatch. Meanwhile, Trixie tugged on Cheryl to follow her across the top shelves. The two climbed over the crates in a precarious balancing act to escape capture.
The large warehouse front doors rolled open with a rusty groan and revealed two stallion guards with lanterns. The guards quickly moved in with the purpose to apprehend any intruders they found.
Trixie and Cheryl ran out of shelving to move along and had to either climb down or leap over to the next row. Cheryl didn’t hesitate for instructions and jumped the gap at her full speed. The pony sailed through the air, hat held to her head as the air whipped around her hair. She flopped hard onto the top shelves of the adjacent row and the rough crate edges scratched her coat.
“This is going to seriously suck,” Trixie mumbled angrily as she took several steps back. With a spring in her step, the Unicorn hurled her weight into the air. She didn’t have the momentum or strength that Cheryl had and quickly lost altitude. Trixie focused her pony-kinesis to help lift her body aloft and cover the gap. She pushed the spell hard to defy the gravity that pulled down on her. The Unicorn reached out, stretched her hooves to close that gap, and she reached the edge with not an inch to spare.
Trixie hit the shelves hard with her chest, sliding backwards off the side before Cheryl caught her and pulled her up.
“Yeah, going to feel that one tomorrow,” Trixie coughed out as she rubbed her painfully throbbing ribs.
Ellie had made it first to the area under the hatch, with Trixie and Cheryl only seconds behind. Cheryl pushed the hatch open and climbed out first. Ellie unpacked the coiled rope and threw it up to Trixie. The Unicorn caught the rope with her pony-kinesis, pulled up one end, and awaited the Pegasus to grab the other.
Ellie struggled to climb up the rope while Trixie pulled up on her end to help facilitate their escape. The guards were quick and had nearly closed their gap on the ground.
“Up there, I think I see something!” shouted the older stallion.
Trixie dispelled the magical light to prevent the guards from identifying them. Cheryl reached down and grabbed Trixie’s end of the rope with her teeth, which aided the Unicorn with her own strength. The two mares pulled their Pegasus friend up and out of the warehouse just as the guards reached the isle. The hatch made a loud thud as it slammed shut.
Outside, the three looked around for the whereabouts of the third guard.
“We’re going to the pokey, aren’t we?” questioned Ellie.
Trixie patted Ellie on the back comfortingly. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is skilled in the art of escape,” she boasted. “My talents will ensure that we are not caught this night!”
“Talent nothing,” Cheryl disputed, “I reckon we’re going to need a big old bucket of luck.”
Trixie raised a hoof defiantly. “Luck is one of my finest talents!” Trixie countered.
Cheryl rolled her eyes and glanced over the side of the warehouse roof. “Alright then Miss Lucky and Skillful,” Cheryl teased, “I hope you got a talent for flying because I just found the remaining guard and he’s rounding out back with a ladder.”
Trixie quickly brainstormed for a plan. She sized up the two ponies with her and decided on a simple idea. Trixie unfurled Ellie’s mechanical wing, which was secured to the Pegasus’ body.
“W-What? No!” Ellie stuttered in protest. “I’m not ready for this!”
“You must!” Trixie commanded, “Sail to safety while Cheryl and I distract the guards. Here, I’m entrusting the evidence to you.” Trixie pulled out several of the rocks she took and stuffed them into Ellie’s sack. “Now fly little hayseed, and this time believe!”
Trixie rushed Ellie over the side of the roof. The Pegasus was shoved forcefully into the air and her legs flailed while she unfurled her good right wing instinctively. Ellie yelped like a little filly and stumbled erratically around the sky like a confused mosquito. It was the most botched, clumsy-looking take off of any Pegasus Trixie had seen, but Celestia as her witness it was also the most wondrous sight Trixie had seen. The one-winged Pegasus wavered back and forth, but with each moment her flails became more like controlled movement. Natural intuition took hold and Ellie’s erratic flight evolved from a clumsy dodo into a majestic eagle. The blue Unicorn beheld the sight of a Pegasus who regained what she had missed for far too long – Ellie was airborne once again.
“Uh, as tender a moment watching chicken wings there fly the coop,” Cheryl interrupted, “Can we move on to step two of this plan?”
Trixie nodded and began her spell. Magical light began surrounding Cheryl and Trixie, constricted to their bodies and gained in visible intensity until it drew forth colors to become a solid skin over them.
The young guard set the ladder in place and quickly crested over the wall and onto the roof of the warehouse. He saw the two older guards who stood by the hatch, but the trespassers were nowhere to be seen.
“Did you see them?” he asked the two weary coworkers.
One of the two stallions shook his head no.
Ellie crash-landed off in the distance, having slammed headlong into a stack of boxes that completely toppled over the Pegasus.
“Wait, over there!” the young guard pointed out. “Did you see that?”
The other guard responded with a spinning kick to the head. The hoof connected to the young guard’s temple and knocked the poor pony down against the surface with a hard bounce. He laid there unconscious.
“Horse apples! Can you stop responding to every problem by kicking it in the face?!” Trixie scolded. She dropped the magical guard disguises she had put up on them both.
“I don’t see the problem,” Cheryl commented coolly. “I appear to be two for two so far.”
Trixie checked the unconscious guard’s injury. Other than some bruising, he seemed alright. She heard the other two guards curse as they pounded at the hatch in a vain attempt to open it from within. Trixie grabbed the rope magically and shoved Cheryl along to the edge of the roof.
Without hesitation the Unicorn hooked the rope to the edge, grabbed Cheryl in a tight hold, and jumped off the roof toward the ground below. Trixie held on tightly to the rope as the two mares stretched it taught and swung downward to the ground. Their momentum and weight proved too much for the rope. The lifeline groaned and then snapped near the hook end.
Trixie and Cheryl fell the remaining way and crashed upon a pile of wood planks with same graceful finish a bag of marbles thrown down a staircase would exhibit.
“Next time,” Trixie gritted painfully through her teeth, “Remind me to bring a ladder.”
“Agreed,” grunted Cheryl.
Trixie and Cheryl hobbled away as fast as they could. The remaining two guards inside the warehouse had just broken through the roof hatch and climbed up, but they were too late. The trespassers had already crossed the fence line into the darkness.
“By gum!” one of the guards shouted as he kicked the hook off the roof.
~ ~ ~
Trixie and Cheryl stumbled into the night for several minutes before Iggy and Ellie signaled them over with a lit match. The three mares looked at each other in bewilderment with how badly they were all disheveled from the adventure.
Trixie and Cheryl were still limping from their fall. Ellie’s metal wing was bent and her face was covered in sand. They broke out in a collective giggle while Iggy stood by them in awe that they had successfully pulled off this plan.
Ellie also appeared quite elated, still out of breath from her experience. “That was incredible Trixie!” the Pegasus exclaimed. “The wind beneath me, my wings outstretched, I…” Ellie was unable to find the words to properly define the joy she had regained in that glide.
“That was just plum crazy Trixie,” Cheryl admitted to the Unicorn, “But somehow it all worked out just like you said it would.”
Trixie smirked as she lead the herd back to Ellie’s house. “Did I not tell you? The Great and Powerful Trixie is skilled in the art of escape.”
“I’ll admit it,” Cheryl apologized, “I thought you were just spouting a bunch of poppy-cock, but you certainly do have a might bit of magical talent. Thanks.” Cheryl turned to leave in a different direction, but Trixie held her back.
“Did you really mean what you said back there?” Trixie asked seriously. “That you were crazy enough to help us fight Roxy and perhaps save this little backwater town?”
Cheryl thought for a long, hard moment before she formed a response. “I’ll level with you, Trixie. The former sheriff of Saddelstone was my cousin and we were real close growing up.”
Trixie nodded, though she had never even seen the sheriff’s picture. Ellie and Iggy were more understanding, as they knew the former sheriff from personal interactions. “Seems like every pony knew him,” Trixie said with regard.
“He was pretty loud,” Iggy pointed out.
Ellie nudged Iggy to hush. “Sheriff Lonestar was a good stallion,” Ellie explained. “Every pony in town respected him. He died only a couple months ago, I think.”
Cheryl clarified Ellie’s statement. “He died mysteriously. I ain’t going to mention the details in front of the colt here, but none of the deputies ever solved his case. Once Lonestar was out of the picture, things went sour for the whole town.”
“Roxy and the Diamond Dogs showed up then?” Trixie asked.
Cheryl nodded. “Yeah, among other scoundrels. I- I just wanted to put Lonestar at peace. I want some justice from whoever took him away from me and the townsfolk who looked up to Lonestar. I know for a fact he was getting into the mining company’s business, just like you Trixie, and I reckon he had found something interesting enough that it got him put six feet under for it.”
Trixie stood there and pondered the weight of those words. She never thought that she had stepped into some kind of conspiracy that was significant enough for a pony to lose his life over. The seriousness of this case started to feel all too heavy upon Trixie’s shoulders.
“I see now,” Ellie whispered with understanding. “Once you found out Trixie was picking up the case where the sheriff left off, you decided to shadow us in case she succeeded, right?”
Cheryl looked up at the stars with a sigh. “I suppose so. It might sound a bit selfish of me not thinking to caution you all about the dangers first, but I reckon I wanted in on some revenge.”
“I’ve been down that road once,” Trixie warned sternly. “Revenge is a spear that impales both ways.” The blue Unicorn kicked a small rock thoughtfully. She watched Cheryl look her in the eye for answers.
“Tell you what though,” Trixie said with a happier tone to her voice. “Since we’re all caught up in this muddled escapade, how about we work together? With you, Ellie, and I working as a team we can watch each other’s backs and get to the bottom of what this mining company is hiding from the town.”
“Can I join too?” Iggy asked earnestly.
“Of course my little admirer,” Trixie answered. “You’re part of the team already. However, we ought to get you home now before your parents throw a conniption fit.” The Unicorn turned to the Earth pony. “So what do you say, Cheryl? Care to join Team Trixie and finish what the sheriff started?”
“Your offer sounds tempting, but do you reckon we can solve this mystery?” puzzled Cheryl.
“The sky’s the limit,” Trixie answered confidently.
Half a bleat and two-thirds of a snapped wooden board rung out in the still air. The four ponies all looked at each other with hesitant curiosity. Trixie motioned to where she thought the sounds came from- Brahman’s ranch.
The group quickly trotted over toward the source of the sound and that’s where they saw them.
Two great semi-upright dark forms rose from the shadows of the ranch and ran off into the darkness like how a puff of smoke dissipated in the wind. The unmistakable razor edges of their spines reflected the moonlight for a split-second before they disappeared utterly into the night. A silent, cold chill hung over all four ponies. Whatever they just witnessed made no noise nor… but wait! Trixie galloped over to where the creatures stood before they dove into the shadows.
The others tried to keep up, but the bright blue Unicorn was powered by determination. Their breaths labored, the ponies caught up and saw Trixie activate her light spell. She looked down at several large canine prints in the dirt. Trixie turned to others with solid redemption on her face.
“Some pony please tell me they saw that!” Trixie demanded.
“Wow Trixie, you were telling the truth!” shouted a bewildered Ellie.
Cheryl rubbed her tired eyes. “I saw it,” she admitted, “And that there was a clear sign that I’m way too sober right now.” The Earth pony shook her head in disbelief. Cheryl noticed that Iggy had run right up to Trixie with a huge look of fear on his little face.
“Miss Great Trixie, what were they?” Iggy asked in distress.
Trixie gave the little colt a warm hug. “I’m guessing those were the Diamond Dogs in disguise,” Trixie said. She tried to hide the slight twinge of doubt in her voice. “Don't you worry, little one. The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to bring them all to justice.”
Trixie looked up at the others with hope that they shared in her confidence, but the Unicorn wasn’t sure she saw any pony who agreed. Trixie was also not completely sure herself if she could resolve this case.
A stallion did lose his life getting too familiar with this mystery.