//------------------------------//
// Opening 
// Story: Death Note: Equestria 
// by Nonagon 
//------------------------------//


4
*Opening*


One page taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of a page, contains the full effect of the note.

The atmosphere in the Lunar Audience Chamber was different than it had been before. Fewer ponies filled the auditorium on this night’s meeting, though what they lacked in numbers they were more than making up for in noise. Instead of breaking into groups based on race, this time the ponies had split into two camps of about equal size, divided down the very center of the room. Princess Luna listened closely to both groups from the shadows in the rafters. From what she could gather, the ponies on the right side still supported L, while those on the left were dead set against working with him. This worried her. She’d learned in the past what discord could do to a group; if this arguing persisted, all the progress they’d made would be undone.

Fewer ponies paid attention as the lunar princess fluttered down to the stage. Sideline had already set up L’s tripodal voice box and was standing by the projector, ready with several slides laid out before her. “The Night Court is now in session!” Luna bellowed, which lowered most of the voices in the hall to a murmur. “L, are you with us?”

“I am here, Luna,” the cracked voice boomed.

“Excellent. Under the circumstances, I would like to open the floor straight away to anypony who wishes to speak.”

Luna groaned inwardly as Captain Straw Bolt rose to his feet. He appeared to have nominated himself the spokespony of the anti-L movement, no doubt simply due to his large size and stature. His wings extended with a loud, metallic screech, silencing the ponies behind him. “L,” he barked at the tiny voice box, “you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Yes, indeed. You are no doubt wondering how I had divined that Kira was in Ponyville. Sideline, slide one.” Before the guard captain could object, a long list of names and numbers appeared on the back wall. “While trying to figure out how Kira operates, I also went over the question of how he gets his information. Only major, sensational crimes are reported on crystalvision, and any public police records are only updated once the necessary paperwork has been completed. For up-to-date information on recent arrests and criminals currently at large, Kira would have to turn to a different medium. Slide two.”

A new table appeared, showing the names of publications and several columns of times and dates. “I singled out two major newspapers, the Equestria Daily and The Trotter, as the most likely sources of Kira’s information. Both originate from the printing house of Printy Press and Textile, here in Canterlot. I compared the delivery schedules of these papers to the times of death of any criminals they reported on. While larger cities like Canterlot and Manehattan regularly have early releases and special editions, relatively smaller towns like Ponyville get their news on a more regular basis, and not at all on Sundays. No matter what the type or severity of the crime, no criminal reported in these publications was killed until shortly after the respective newspaper had arrived in Ponyville. This is by no means conclusive evidence, but it was enough to point me in the right direction.”

Straw Bolt ground his teeth. “Clever,” he remarked dryly. “But I was referring to that stunt you pulled a few hours ago. That broadcast where you had a pony killed right in front of the Princess.”

“Ah. Yes. That.” L coughed, the distortion making his voice sound like the scrape of metal on metal. Several ponies flinched. “I’m not going to pretend that what I did was acceptable. I’m sure that once this is over I will be on the receiving end of an official reprimand.”

“Was Celestia aware of this plan? I highly doubt that she would have approved.”

Another cough. “No. Lady Celestia believed that Caramel was me, and treated him accordingly. Had she thought otherwise, she would not have introduced him as L and our broadcast would have lost credibility. Lady Luna, have you yet apologised to her for me?”

Luna hung her head. “No, L. I haven’t seen her. She’s locked herself in her bedroom.”

“A pity. I hope that you will speak to her as soon as possible.” Luna nodded. “In the meantime, I think it is best that we focus on the nobility of Caramel’s sacrifice and the valuable information he has bought us.”

Straw Bolt was undeterred. “A sacrifice you orchestrated.”

“Captain Straw Bolt!” Luna stomped a hoof angrily, sending a rumble of thunder around the room. “I personally approved L’s plan before it was put into action. He has not only proved the existence of Kira but given us a location, while your infighting has accomplished nothing. You will sit down now, and we will not speak of this incident again.”

The captain tried to stare the pair down, but he found himself powerless under the gaze of the lunar princess. Grumbling, he fluttered his wings angrily and folded his legs beneath him.

“Thank you,” L’s voice box said in a softer tone, just loud enough for Luna to hear. She allowed herself a small smile. “Now,” he continued in his normal voice, “we need to look to the future if we are to get any closer to Kira. He now knows that we are looking for him, so we must act quickly before he can take countermeasures against us. Firstly, we must look more closely into how Kira kills, and find ways to prevent it. To that end, I have prepared this. Sideline, slide three.”

The pictures of six ponies appeared on the screen behind L. “These ponies are scheduled to appear in either of the two aforementioned newspapers later today: two murderers, three thieves and an arsonist. All fit the profile of those likely to be murdered by Kira. I propose that we alter the information as it appears in print, changing the pictures of two, the names of two, and both the names and pictures of the remaining two. We will then monitor these individuals over the next several days to see if Kira is still able to kill them. Does this sound like an acceptable plan? Yay or Neigh?”

There was some discussion among the assembled ponies. A few raised their hooves and waved for attention. Luna singled one out and wracked her brain for a name. "Lemon Hearts, do you have something to say?"

The young unicorn gasped in pleasure at being recognized. The sight made Luna smile. She wondered if this was how Celestia felt all the time. "Mister L," the yellow filly said loudly, "if we know that Kira needs information about his victims to kill, then why don't we simply shut down all media? If we stop reporting criminals in the news, Kira won't know about them and won't be able to kill them." A few ponies around her nodded their heads in agreement.

"A bad idea," L said. "From what I've learned, Kira is arrogant and has a foal-like sense of justice. I also think that at this point murder has become as natural to him as breathing. If we take direct steps in stopping him from killing criminals, he will simply change his targets to those who have committed more minor offenses. If we cut off the supply completely, he may resort to killing civilians until we give him what he wants. Minor changes are less likely to be noticed, and will give us a better idea of what we are dealing with." Lemon Hearts sat down, looking disappointed.

After she felt the court had had enough time to think Luna called for a vote. "All in favor of L's proposal?" The exact procedures of the Night Court were unclear to most ponies, having not been used in little over a thousand years, so there was a combination of raised hooves, hoof stomps and cries of "Yay!" from across the room. Luna tried to keep track of them all, making a mental note to review the formalities of the Court once this was over. "And all against?" Thankfully, the following movements and cries of "Neigh!" were much fewer, making the vote easy to tally. Luna nodded. "Excellent. The names and faces of these six will be altered in time for the next edition of the paper."

"Thank you, Lady Luna." It was hard to tell, but L almost sounded smug. "However, since I anticipated the full support of the Court in this matter, I have already made the necessary arrangements. The altered newsprints should be being printed as we speak." Before any angry ponies could interrupt he continued to his next point. "My second suggestion is this. As per Captain Straw Bolt's recommendation, I feel that it is time to send trained professionals into Ponyville. Do we have a representative from the EBI?"

A dark blue and rather chubby pegasus rose up and flew down to the front of the room. Luna saw with relief that he'd been sitting somewhere on the far right. "Storm Seeker, sir, representing the Equestrian Bureau of Investigations." He snapped a quick salute. "It's an honor, sir."

"Never mind that. Sideline, slide four." A long list of names appeared on the wall. "Behind me are the names of those ponies in Ponyville who I believe may be or may be working with Kira. I would like as many agents as you can spare to follow them one at a time and report any unusual or suspicious activity."

"All of them, sir?" the pegasus asked incredulously.

“Yes, all of them, in whatever order you choose, until such a time as Kira is captured or the investigation is closed."

"V-very well, sir!" Storm Seeker gave a final salute and started back towards his seat.

Luna looked closely at the list of names. Some of them she recognized. "L, half the Elements of Harmony are on this list," she hissed.

"That is true. I know what you would say, but my decision is final. We cannot afford to leave any stone unturned."

"I guess..." She traced her way down the list, growing increasingly worried with each name. There was no indication of how much or how little L suspected each one; despite the enormous diversity of character, each was written the same way on the page. But how could anypony possibly suspect the fun-loving Pinkie Pie of murder? Was the dutiful Mayor more of a threat than the delinquents she presided over? How would the shy, sensitive Fluttershy react if she discovered she was being watched? “L, I hope you know what you’re doing,” Luna muttered. Her eyes landed on the name of her sister's beloved student. "Oh, Tia's going to have a fit if she finds out about this."


---


By that morning, Spike had still not returned to the library. Twilight Sparkle forced herself not to worry and set about preparing breakfast. "I'm sure he's just out with Colgate," she said loudly as she walked around the kitchen, only partly talking to the watching god. "She just wants him nearby in case they get another letter in a hurry. Nothing to worry about, nothing at all."

"So why are you worrying?" Byuk sat on the counter, munching on some dried apples he'd found in the cupboard.

"I'm not worrying!" Twilight insisted, a distinctly worried expression crossing over her face. "I just don't like it when he's away for this long. I like knowing where he is."

Byuk considered this. "Are you worried about him because you see him as family, or because you're afraid he's out making plans with L?"

"Because..." Twilight paused and found that she had to actually think about her answer. "Maybe a little of both? I just don't want anything bad to happen to him, that's all." There was a loud knock at the door. Twilight rushed over, breakfast forgotten, and flung the door open to reveal Ditzy Doo. "Oh, hi Ditzy," she said, her spirits dropping. "What's up?"

"I brought you a letter!" The pegasus seemed unnaturally happy as she dug through her saddlebags to produce a tiny scroll of parchment; it had to be a crime to enjoy one's work that much. "And here's your newspapers!"

Twilight accepted both offerings and thanked the mailmare quickly before slamming the door shut and returning to the kitchen. She tore open the little scroll and found Spike's inelegant scrawl inside.

Dear Twilight,
Colgate says I should stay nearby in case another letter arrives, so I'm going to be staying here for the night. I should be back sometime in the morning. Please don't worry about me.
Love, Spike.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. Typical Spike, no sense of how the regular mail worked. He'd probably thought it would arrive in a matter of seconds. She folded the letter up and put it aside, levitating the bundle of newspapers Ditzy Doo had brought towards her. Ostensibly these were to go to the library’s archives, but she’d ended up finding a very different use for them. From her saddlebags by the door she pulled out a thin, white notebook, sat down, and from the top of the pile opened up the latest edition of the Equestria Daily.

Byuk floated over, looking confused. “Hey, that’s not the Death Note.”

“That’s right, it’s not. How did you think I’ve been keeping up with my work without anypony getting suspicious?” She stopped skimming through the paper momentarily to hold up the imposter notebook. “I call this the Life Note. Some of the pages are taken from the Death Note, but only I know which ones. Whenever something related to Kira happens I write it down in here. If anypony asks I just tell them I’m studying Kira because I’m interested in the magic he uses. This way I can write down the names of criminals in public, and nopony will think it looks suspicious.”

“Sounds risky.”

“I thought you liked risk.” An article caught Twilight’s eye. An arsonist, identified by locals as the pegasus Bright Spark, had burned down several half-finished houses at the edge of Fillydelphia. With winter coming and reconstructions after the last great parasprite infestation still incomplete, these losses would cost the city a great deal of time and money and leave several families without homes for another year. The police had provided a picture from a recent mugshot, and were urging anypony with information regarding Bright Spark’s whereabouts to come forth. I can do better than that, Twilight thought. She picked up a quill and scratched a new name in the Life Note. “By the way, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. How exactly does the Death Note work?”

“How does it work?” Byuk frowned. He appeared to mull the question over. “Magic?”

“I thought so, but it’s not any kind of magic I can detect. Is it some kind of special Shinigami magic?” When Byuk didn’t respond Twilight lowered her newspaper to look at him. The god of death was scratching his head, thinking furiously. Her eyes narrowed. “You do know, don’t you?”

Byuk smiled weakly. “I... never thought to ask?”

This was too much. Twilight rose up and stomped at the ground angrily, bright fires burning behind her eyes. “You don’t know? How can you not know!? You’ve spent your whole life carrying it around and writing in it to keep you alive and you still don’t know how it works? How can you live like that!?”

“It didn’t seem important!”

Before the surprised god’s eyes, the lavender unicorn underwent a remarkable transformation. The flames in her eyes seemed to expand, leaving the pony’s irises completely red and draining the colour from the rest of her body. Anger crackled through her and her mane and tail burst into flame, igniting the very air around her. Even though he knew she couldn’t hurt him, Byuk found himself backing away from this display. All at once the flame went out, and the spent and singed Twilight crumpled to the floor. “Isn’t there anypony who knows?” she asked wearily.

“The Shinigami King might know.”

“Could we ask him?”

Byuk looked at her as if she’d suggested they take a short walk to the moon. He chuckled humorlessly. “I don’t think he’d like that. There’s a reason he doesn’t get visitors.” Utterly defeated, Twilight picked herself up and returned to her newspaper.


---
	

Around ten minutes later, the library door creaked open and an exhausted-looking Spike trudged in. “Morning, Twilight,” he said, stifling a yawn.

Twilight looked up. “Good morning, Spike!” She put her papers aside and trotted towards the little dragon. “I got your letter. Were you up all night?”

"Yeah... most of it." Spike slumped against the wall. "I tried to go to bed, but Colgate kept talking about plans. She's really excited about Kira being in Ponyville. You know, I don't think she ever sleeps."

"That's a shame. Anything you're allowed to tell me?"

"I dunno, Twilight. I didn't understand a lot of it. I... sleep..." He drifted towards the stairs.

"Hey, Spike, before you do, could you send a letter for me?"

"Another one?" He sighed, then considered it. "Only for you, Twilight. Or Rarity, if she asked. But no one else."

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, Spike. I'll carry you." She lifted Spike onto her back and brought him to her room, where he puffed away the letter she'd written to the princess the night before. Then they went up to his room and Twilight tucked him into bed, making sure she'd left a window open. "Sleep well, my little police officer," she whispered. Spike mumbled softly, a puff of smoke leaving his nose. After a moment's hesitation she kissed him on the forehead and went outside.

There was silence in the little room for about a minute. But as Twilight listened with her ear to the door, Spike yawned loudly and stretched. There was a tiny scrape and a rustling of paper, then another yawn as the baby dragon returned to his basket. Twilight waited for a full five minutes, counting the timing of his snores, before she was satisfied that her little assistant was now fully asleep. She silently opened the door and looked inside, holding her breath. The box behind Spike's basket had been disturbed. She considered her options. She could keep waiting until Spike woke up and went out again, but that would waste precious time. She would just have to risk it, and hope the little dragon was in one of his deeper sleeps.

Keeping her breath shallow, Twilight took a step forward, then another. Every time her hoof touched the ground she cringed, expecting Spike’s eyes to flutter open. She trod more lightly with each step, and in less than a minute had made it halfway across the tiny room.

“Are you being sneaky?”

Twilight yelped, overbalanced and crashed face-first into the floor. She threw up her hooves and tried to think of an excuse for Spike, but no questions or accusations came. Nervously she opened one eye. The little dragon was still asleep, snoring out puffs of smoke. Gently Twilight picked herself up and turned to face Byuk. “Don’t do that!” she hissed.

“Sorry,” the god said in a tone suggesting he was anything but. At a more sensible pace, Twilight walked the rest of the way across the room and lifted the lid off of Spike's box. As she'd expected there was a new scroll atop the disorganized pile he'd built up. She pulled away the string and unrolled it.

Dear Princess Luna,

Today’s newspapers have arrived at the usual time. The plan is on schedule: the names and pictures of the mentioned criminals are confirmed to have been altered. Awaiting further instructions.

Your loyal servant,
Romana

What? Twilight gasped angrily. She looked nervously at Spike, but he was still fast asleep. They were changing the names in the newspapers? Was that legal? Doing a good job of containing her panic, Twilight tied up the scroll again and put it back where she'd found it, replacing the lid on the box. She started to make her way out of the room when Spike grunted. Twilight froze. He sniffed, snorted, and then-

"BUUUUUUURP!"

A jet of green flame leaped up from the bed, a scroll materializing within it. Mercifully, even though this Spike hadn't woken. Twilight released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and picked up the new scroll, taking it downstairs before opening it.

Dear Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student,

Thank you very much for your concern. I am fine; I have seen many terrible things in my lifetime, and I have survived them all. This will be no different.

After learning that Kira is in Ponyville I had intended to bring you back to Canterlot immediately. However, I was very moved by your letter to me. While I cannot permit you to participate in the investigation, it was wrong of me to think of asking you to abandon your friends so simply. I will allow you to stay in Ponyville to support those you care about. But Twilight, please promise me that you will stay out of trouble and not try to find Kira. Much as it may hurt, I don’t know if I could forgive myself if anything were to happen to you.

Your loving teacher,
Princess Celestia

Twilight sighed. She'd dodged an arrow on this one; if she'd been moved to Canterlot, writing names in the Death Note would have become a lot more difficult, especially if Celestia decided to keep checking in on her. Still, the mare was being unreasonable. It wasn't fair to throw Twilight's words back in her face like that. Oh well, she thought glumly, no point pushing the issue any further. Time to take up some more urgent matters.

The lavender mare returned to the kitchen, picking up the discarded newspapers. The second letter had dulled some of her panic, but the shock of the deception stayed with her. Some of the names in here had been changed. But which papers? Which faces, which names? How many? She couldn't tell, and she couldn't keep going. They would surely be monitoring the results, and walking into their trap would only give them the information they wanted. "Where, where?" she gasped. "How do I find the right names now?" Another realization struck. Wasn't there a rule in the Death Note about false names? She dropped everything and rushed upstairs, slamming her door shut and ripping the Note from its secret drawer. She scanned the rules on the inside cover until she saw one that made her heart sink:

The Death Note will be rendered useless if the victim’s name is misspelled four times.

Behind her Byuk floated through the wall, having taken longer to climb the stairs. Twilight looked at him with downcast eyes. "Byuk," she said, "I think I might have written some names wrong in the Death Note. Will it still work?"

"How many? Let me see." He snatched the notebook up from the table and flipped through it, squinting at the names.

"I don't know. Maybe a few."

The god of death scanned the latest page. "You're still good. All these names were for different ponies, right?"

"Yes. I mean, I think so."

"Then it's not a problem." He handed the book back.

Twilight sighed with relief. "Okay. That's good to know. But I guess I can't use newspapers any more. If they caught me so easily once, they'll surely do it again..." She sat down and tapped her head, thinking hard.

“Why don’t you just stop for awhile?”

The unicorn froze. She opened her eyes into slits, glaring up at the god. “What?” she said acidly.

“You know, take a break for awhile. Relax.” Byuk stretched out onto his back and laid down in midair, drifting slowly across the room. “You already kill more often than any shinigami. Why risk your life over a few more?”

Twilight’s eye twitched. Her face settled into a deep scowl. “Byuk,” she said slowly, “do you understand why I’m doing this?” Byuk opened his mouth to respond, but Twilight cut him off. “Clearly you don’t. This isn’t about fun, and it’s not about revenge. This is about saving Equestria. Do you understand that?” The god nodded hurriedly, but Twilight wasn’t finished. “The world needs Kira right now. It’s short-sighted ponies like L who can’t see that. Giving up is exactly what he wants me to do. If I ever stop punishing the wicked, even for a week, even for a single day, then L wins.” She snorted. “Well, I’m not giving in to him. Not now, not ever. Do you get it now?” she snarled.

Byuk waved his hooves and backed away. “Okay, okay! So you won’t stop. I can respect that.” He breathed a quick sigh of relief as the unicorn appeared to calm down slightly. “But what are you going to do? You can’t look up names in the newspaper any more.”

“You’re right.” Twilight sighed in frustration. “L’s moving more quickly than I anticipated. I can’t afford to be so careless any more.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I've been going about this the wrong way. I can be cleverer than this, I know." Inspiration struck.

After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

“Maybe I just need to make full use of what’s available to me...” Twilight reached into her desk again, stress leaving her face. Pulling out the criminal records book, she ignored her bookmark and opened it to a different section. Smile widening with every passing second, she reached for a quill.


---


Appleloosa was no longer the tiny town it had once been. Evidently not satisfied with putting together a small township and apple orchard in less than a year, the settler-ponies had simply kept building, throwing up more and more buildings and planting tree after tree. The buffalo who roamed the nearby plains were at first livid over the change, but as each bumper crop of apples was more bountiful than the last the two groups were able to come to a reasonable arrangement. There were even a few buffalo living in town now, and some ponies had run off to stampede with their spiritual cousins across the desert.

But, as the Appleloosans were slowly discovering, not all the effects of the great expansion were good. For all their efforts Appleloosa was very much a part of the Wild West, and cut off from the rest of Equestria the threat of total lawlessness loomed over their heads. Bar brawls were commonplace, ponies drunk on salt and fermented apples tearing the local watering holes apart, and it was a rare day when high noon didn't bring duelling stallions to the streets. Keeping control of such a place was difficult, a demanding job with little pay, but there was one pony who could always be depended on to keep the streets safe. Whenever an argument or a fight broke out, he was there in an instant to smooth things over. Whenever a situation got out of  hand, he could put a stop to it just by walking through the door. And if there was ever a criminal or dastardly mastermind on the loose, you could bet your last bit that Sheriff Silverstar would be the one to catch them.

Most of the time, anyway. Presently, the sheriff was taking a nap.

Sheriff Silverstar laid back in his office, catching up on his favorite pastime. The office was new, as was most of the building, and he was growing to like it. At last year’s council meeting it had been decided that the tiny offices he’d been operating out of were now laughably small for a town of this size. He now had a proper police station of his very own, complete with his own room, his own desk, and his own (extremely comfortable) chair. Sure, sometimes he missed laying back on the front porch and watching life go by, but he had an eager assistant to do that for him now. With all the day’s paperwork filled out and all nineteen cells in their little jail filled, there was simply nothing else for him to do.

The town’s clock tower chimed the hour. At the same time, panicked shouts rang out from the station's cells. Silverstar grumbled and considered covering his ears and rolling over, but they did sound serious. He supposed it was his duty to check it out. Brushing a few crumbs out of his moustache, he rolled out of his chair and made his way to the back room. What he saw surprised him. The old drunk Salty was lying unmoving in his bunk, lifeless. This was saddening, but not terribly shocking; the old pony hadn't been a day sober in twenty years. What was surprising was the reactions of those in the other cells. Troublemaker and murderer alike, including some of the roughest, toughest stallions known to Ponydom, all were trembling and cowering in the corners of their cells as far from the body as they could get. "He's dead!" stammered Angel Eyes from the cell opposite, a villainous pony Silverstar had never known to show fear even in the face of the Royal Guard. "He yelled and then he just fell over! It's magic, I tells ya! Magic!"

Before the sheriff could say anything the other inmates began shouting as well. "Ah saw him! T'ain't natural!"

"He's gonna get us, too!"

"Kira's gonna get us!"

"Whoa, whoa." Silverstar held up two hooves, silencing the panicked prisoners. "It was Salty's time, boys, nothing more. You've been spending too much time listening to Call’s tall tales if you believe otherwise."

"What they say is true," boomed a loud voice from the far end of the room. "This was the work of Kira."

Sheriff Silverstar walked down to the end of the row of cells. The final one was three times the size of the others, built to house buffalo instead of ponies. This was one of the agreements he had made with Chief Thunderhooves; if a crime was committed within Appleloosa, it would be dealt with by Appleloosans. Accordingly, when a lone buffalo had been found selling faulty dreamcatchers and fake deer skulls to young ponies on the edge of town, an extension to the station had been built just for him. "You got something to say, Nature's Call?"

The self-proclaimed shaman drew himself up proudly. "I have heard the winds whisper across the plains, and all speak the name of Kira. The sky weeps for those he kills, and the earth trembles at his touch. A god of death now walks this land, and his wrath will be great and terrible.”

“Is that so?” Silverstar wrinkled his moustache. “I’ll be sure to remember that. I’ll also ask you not to start causing a panic, unless you feel like staying in here an extra month.”

“Heed my words, so-called Silverstar!” the buffalo yelled as the sheriff walked away. “Death has found this place! Death will follow you!”

It took little time to deal with Salty’s passing. The old pony had no living relatives or next of kin, nor any real possessions to speak of, so for once all the paperwork was done in a snap. No clear cause of death, but that was often the case with old drunks. Once the cell was cleaned up and the body sent away to the morgue, Sheriff Silverstar felt it was safe to return to his nap. He had scarcely sat down, however, when the bell tolled again and screams rang out from the back a second time. He ran back with more urgency this time, only to stop dead in his tracks. His mouth dropped open. There in the corner lay his old friend and nemesis Angel Eyes, the once-proud face now frozen in a death mask of absolute terror.

When the bell tower chimed a third time and screams rang out once more, Silverstar didn’t bother to check on the cells. Instead he went out to the front of the building, where his apprentice was intently surveying the main square to watch for signs of danger. “Howdy, Junior.” The little colt jumped in surprise, almost knocking off his oversized hat. The sheriff chuckled. “Tell me, you still have those outstanding arrest warrants handy?”

“Absolutely, sir!” Whooves Junior reached into a bag at his side and presented several well-worn leaves of paper. “Are we going out, sir?”

The older pony smiled. He couldn’t put his hoof on why, but having the foal around brightened up his day. The boy was young and overly pacifistic, but he was quick to learn and eager to lend a helping hoof. “Yup. It seems some character called Kira’s been clearing out some cells for us. It would be a shame not to fill them.” Silverstar leaned forward to examine the first page he’d been presented with. “Butch Castle and Sundancer the Kid? With names like those we can expect to have them back by tonight. Saddle up, boy. We’re going hunting.”

And so, not twenty minutes later, an aging sheriff and a tiny colt who wanted to be a doctor galloped out of Appleloosa. No plan, no backup, no weapons but a single apple pie, but that was Silverstar’s way. He had two names to follow, he had a friend by his side, and most importantly, he had the badge of authority. He had justice. No, better than that.

He was justice.


---


Again and again, the clock tower tolled the hour.


---
	

Dear Princess Luna,

Yesterday, I had close to fifty dedicated ponies on my investigative team. Now, we number less than twenty. I believe that seeing a pony die on crystalvision has hurt morale greatly. A friend told me this morning that she doesn’t know who to fear more now, Kira or L. Arguments are becoming more frequent, and I’m worried that soon the team will break down completely.

I’m afraid that part of what’s causing this discord is a lack of direction. I do my best to be a strong leader, but it’s hard to tell ponies what to do without a clear directive in mind. Please, Princess, for their sake, let us have something to do. None of these ponies are trained to deal with the stress of simply watching and waiting. Give us a task, just a small one, if only to keep us occupied. It chills my blood to think of Kira finding victory by watching us tear each other apart.

Your faithful servant,
Romana