//------------------------------// // Investigation // Story: Hurricane // by Mudkipman98 //------------------------------// As the TARDIS stopped its humming and whirring, signifying a stop, the Doctor began to lay down the plan that he had formulated. "Derpy and I will make our way into the bar. Derpy, I need you to cause some kind of distraction. Don't make it illegal, just something that will take every pony's eyes off of the bar. Applejack, while Derpy and I are inside, you start searching for those two criminals who shot your friend. Be careful though, because they are likely armed." Applejack nodded her head and began to suit up. She put on the poncho she had recieved, followed by the belt and holster for the pistol. Stopping for a second, she examined the weapon further. The pistol was truly an example of fine craftsmenship. It was a double-action revolver with a maximum ammo capacity of 8 rounds in the cylinder. It was uncommon, but by using specially designed bullets, the gun maximized aerodynamicy of the bullets and the damage it could output with such bullets. Its barrel, cylinder, and hammer were silver while its handle was made of ivory and a metal plate on top of that. Both the barrel and handle had strange carvings on it that were foreign to Applejack. The gun also was designed to load in a top break style, where the entire barrel of the gun hinges forward to expose the cylinder. Holstering the weapon after loading it, she picked up her hat, placed it on her head, and moved for the TARDIS doors. The Doctor and Ditsy followed, ready to begin their mission. As the group stepped out, they found themselves a few buildings away from the bar. The Doctor and Derpy began walking toward the bar while Applejack turned and went in the complete opposite direction. Every pony had a goal, and they planned on executing their plan perfectly. /)*#*(\ *CRASH* The sound of pottery breaking calmed down Rainbow Dash. After the wanted posters started showing up everywhere, she could only assume that Applejack had escaped. Two weeks after the posters showed up, and no sign of her friend at all. Rainbow thought she was supposed to help her clear her name. She had no idea where to begin though, much less where to find Applejack. "Listen Rainbow," Twilight began. "I know losing Applejack like this must be hard for you, but she killed those ponies. You saw the evidence." "No! She wouldn't! I know her too well. She was framed, and I'm gonna help her just as soon as I find her." "I can promise I won't say anything Rainbow, but working with a fugitive is against the law." "Forget the stupid laws. She's innocent, and I won't rest until she's free again." With that, the cyan pegasis sprinted out of the library, launching into the sky to get as far away as possible from Ponyville. Twilight ran to the doorway to see Rainbow disappear above the clouds. She sighed, then went back to her books. High above the clouds, Rainbow kept flying with tears in her eyes. She missed having her best friend around to compete with, and she wasn't sure how long she could go without the challenge. After flying above the clouds without any idea where she was, she decided to take a peak below. As she dove down a few yards, she entered the cloud barrier and soon exited it, her body covered in moisture. Looking down, she saw she was in some sort of a desert. 'Wow,' she thought to herself. 'I must've gone farther than I thought.' Looking around, she saw a broken down carriege in the middle of the sand along with a strange blue box. Her gaze shifted just in time to see an orange figure carrying a lifeless body into the box. "Applejack!" yelled Rainbow at the top of her lungs. It was too late though. The blue box had already begun disappearing. Releasing a sigh of defeat, she took to the upper layer of clouds again and kept flying. After another hour, she decided to stop for a rest. As she flew under the clouds again, she found herself over Canterlot. This time when she looked down, she saw the blue box materializing. Out of it stepped some brown stallion, Derpy(?), then some pony that looked oddly familiar, though she couldn't quite place her hoof on it. She decided to fly down to check on the stallion and his 'companion'. Maybe he would have some idea on what happened to Applejack. She quickly landed in front of him, cutting off his path. "You, brown stallion, where's Applejack?" "Um, I don't know who you mean," he said in response. "Come on. Don't play dumb. I saw her walk into your blue box thing an hour ago in some desert. And besides, if that really was her, I wanna help her clear her name. I know it was fixed; the trial, that is. I wanna bring the real killers to justice." Rainbow Dash watched a look of deep thought come into the stallion's face, yet he kept staring at her as he furrowed his brow. "She just went the other way," came his answer. "If you fly quickly, you should be able to catch up to her." He then looked away and kept walking. Derpy gave Rainbow a smile then began to follow him. Rainbow then noticed the big blood soaked bandage on Derpy's chest. "Whoa, hang on you two." Both ponies stopped walking. "What happened to Derpy?" "Oh, um, interdimensional plastic creature broke into the TARDIS. Still hunting it, but it's left us alone for now." "Wait. Interdimensional travel?" She shook her head to clear her mind. Sighing, Rainbow Dash turned herself around and began to fly the other way. Could that shadowy figure have been Applejack? Not slowing down, she decided to find out. /)*#*(\ As the Doctor and Derpy kept walking, Derpy began to bite at the bandage stitched across her chest. "Doctor, when can I take this darn thing off? It's itchy and uncomfortable." "No," he replied sternly. "That bandage contains a healing agent that will regenerate your body and stop any infection. Believe me. After taking a hit to the heart, you don't wanna take any chances." She sighed and continued walking after him, though she wasn't pleased. A short time later, the Doctor and Derpy arrived at their destination. It was the same bar she had visited before, and she swore she saw herself teleporting inside as she looked at the line of tourists. She had to dismiss it though. Timelines and all. She soon stepped into line along with the Doctor and patiently waited her turn to get to the gates. When the time finally came, the police officer opened the doors to the bar to let them in. As the next group filed inside, the Doctor finally got a good look around. He was surprised that the police hadn't picked up. After all, two weeks should be enough time to clean up a crime scene. That wasn't what he was after though. He began to scan the room, trying to locate the cameras that Derpy had told him about. He found them in the exact places that she had specified; the corners of the ceiling. He turned to Derpy. "OK," he said. "Showtime!" Derpy then turned to the cops and challenged them to a hoof wrestle. The police were all for it, and the tourists didn't mind. Once the match began, it was clear who would win. The police officer's hoof slammed down onto the table that they were using. "Is that all you got?" came Derpy, begging for more. The other police ponies began to step up, forming a line along with other tourists to see who could beat this strong-armed mare. Meanwhile, the Doctor had hopped the bar and landed on the other side. He soon located a cabinet on the other side which contained a bunch of wires, no doubt hooked up to the security systems. After looking inside, he found a small monitor along with the wires which displayed replays of the tapes and kept the files stored and backed up. Activating his sonic screwdriver, he changed the setting until he felt the screws on the box begin to vibrate loose. He soon pulled them out with virtually no effort, then removed the front panel to expose the machine's components inside. While watching the screen to see what videos were being displayed, he used the sonic screwdriver again to scan the memory of the security box. He couldn't believe what he saw on the screen. During the shooting, he heard three distinct gun shots. They came out of no where though. At least, that's what it seemed like at first. Upon closer evaluation, he saw the shots coming from a darkened corner where a familiar silhouette appeared. It was pitch dark even when it stepped into the dim light to leave the bar in the commotion. His eyes widened when he recognized the shape. "No, no that can't be," he began saying to himself. "It just CAN'T be." Quickly, he jumped up and over the bar again, this time going for Derpy. She was just sitting down again to have her last wrestle which appeared to be with a sailor of some sort. He had 5 o'clock shadow and a white hat on. His forearms were practically bursting from the muscle in them, and he had a tattoo of a heart with an arrow through it.. "Oh that's just disgusting," said the Doctor out loud, noticing his physical bulk. The sailor had no plans to take it easy on this mare, especially after the losses he had already seen. When one of the police men gave the okay, every pony began to cheer. Even the Doctor fell into the rhythmic beat and cheered along with them. So far, the match had gone well, Derpy took a clear lead, then was almost over taken by the sailor. As she was about to lose, she pumped her fore leg as hard as she could, using all the strength in her body to try and win. The Doctor stopped cheering at what happened next. So did every pony else. In using all of that force, she had opened up her chest wound again. Her bandage became soaked in a new batch of her blood, while every pony looked on in horror as she gave it her all to win. The Doctor tried to reason with her. "Stop this Derpy. You're hurting yourself." Her hoof began to come down on the sailor's as she began to gain ground again. "No," she managed through clenched teeth. "I can do this." It seemed that she hadn't noticed her opened wound yet. Her bandage was now completely soaked and it began to drip her life blood onto the table. She just wouldn't quit though. She finally managed to bring her opponent's hoof to the table, yelling in triumph before the pain finally reached her brain. She collapsed onto the floor, blood now running down her body just like before. The Doctor was at her side immediately. "Someone get a first aid kit!" he yelled. Within seconds, some pony handed him a white box. Looking up, he saw it was the sailor. "Save her, Doc," he said. "That's one hell of a mare you got there. Don't lose her." The Doctor just nodded his head as he began to tear away the old bandage from Derpy. He quickly pulled out all of the clean cotton he could from the first aid kit and he began to furiously tape it to her. She soon calmed down and stopped her slight spasmodic thrashing. The Doctor picked her up and began to leave the bar. He thanked the police and the sailor for their help, then went back to the TARDIS as fast as he could. /)*#*(\ Rainbow Dash landed behind the figure which continued to walk away from her. "Hey!" she yelled, trying to get the attention of the pony in front of her. Applejack just kept walking while she thought to herself, 'Please don't be talking to me, please don't be talking to me, please don't be talking to me!' She stopped in her tracks when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. Spinning around with speed that would put a certain cyan pegasis to shame, she unholstered her gun and pointed it into the face of- Rainbow Dash? Fear flashed into Rainbow's eyes as she fall back onto the concrete, her breaths coming in short bursts. Slowly, Applejack lowered the weapon from Rainbow's face, being just as shocked as her cringing friend on the ground. She holstered her gun then stuck out her hoof to Rainbow on the ground. She helped her friend off the pavement, then pulled her into a nearby alley. "Rainbow, what in tarnation are you doin' here?" "Trying to find you!" Applejack was silent for a second as she remembered what Dash told her in prison. "If you break outa prison, I'll help you clear your name." "So you really wanna help me?" "Buck ya I do! But what are you doing walking down the middle of the street? Haven't you seen all the wanted posters?" Applejack fumbled with the necklace she was wearing her TARDIS key on. She pulled it out and held it up for Rainbow to see. "This is a per- perflecta- percepter- somethin'," she finally managed. "It makes it hard fer folks to notice me unless they really wanna find me. Guess that's why you saw me." She slipped it back inside her poncho as Dash nodded her head in understanding. "So then, how can I help?" asked her pegasis friend. "With what?" "Ya know, clearing your name?" "Oh, right. I need you to help me find some pony. Well actually, two some ponies. They're a couple 'o outlaws who the Doctor thinks might know somethin'." "The Doctor? Doctor who?" "Just the Doctor. Anyway, he's checkin' out the bar where the shootin' took place." "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go find those outlaws!" With that, Dash flew up into the sky at full speed. Applejack just stood there and waited for a few more seconds. 3,2,1. Rainbow landed back in front of her. "So what do they look like?" "That's what Ah don't know. I was gonna go 'round and try to find some rumors. Though Canterlot isn't the best spot." "Then let's board a train to Appleloosa. There are tons of western style killers hiding there." "What makes ya think that?" "It's the only pioneering-based town in all of Equestria. If a criminal was a fan of the western era, then where else would they go to stay in their comfort zone?" "Gee Rainbow, that's really smart. Off we go then." With that, Applejack left the alley to the left while Rainbow started walking to the right. "Uh, Applejack? The station's this way." "Ah know. Trust me and come this way." Shrugging her shoulders, Rainbow followed Applejack back toward the TARDIS, where they could teleport to Appleloosa and save tons of time.