//------------------------------// // Worth Searching For Pt 4 // Story: These City Walls // by KitsuneRisu //------------------------------// These City Walls Chapter 3: Worth Searching For, Part 4 The shard, whatever it was, hung in mid-air, surrounded by a glow of purple that came from Twilight's horn. Every once in a while it would spark, magical flecks of light sputtering off and twirling into the surrounding air. It looked and felt like it was trying to fight back against Twilight's simple use of levitation, the most basic spell that every unicorn knew from young. It wasn't an invasive spell, nor was it any kind that sought to alter the form and core of the shard itself, and therein lay the key of magic. Magic, of course, progressively gets more and more difficult the more you try to fight against nature. Levitation, therefore, was a simple deal, as simple as it is to stick a note up on a fridge with a magnet, or by blowing on a feather. Other spells were tougher, and required much more concentration and effort, such as putting butterfly wings on a pony or attempting to milk thirty cows simultaneously. This shard, however, was fighting. It was fighting back against the most basic of things. And if you have ever picked up a rock on the ground, or a cup off a table, and had it go no, I'm actually going to stay HERE, thank you very much, now please let me go, you would feel the same way that Twilight was feeling right now. "What... do you mean?" came the most innocent of questions. "It's... filled with magic," repeated Twilight, unable to explain off the bat. "It... it's like a battery that's been charged with energy." A zap of green sputtered off and shot neatly past Duriandal's left ear, singing the air around it. "Perhaps it would be wise to let it go," peeped the worried pony. "Yes, that's... I really..." muttered Twilight, releasing her grasp upon the stone and letting it fall to the ground, where it hit with a thunk, spraying up a final cascade of sparks. "That is... really... not..." "Twilight Sparkle, are you... fine?" asked Duriandal, stepping closer to the mysterious stone to take a closer look. Even the nearby tang of the smelling salts was momentarily taken away with this distraction. "Yes... yes, I'm sorry, I was just... I'm just slightly taken... oh, would you just listen to me!" "I... am paying attention, Twilight Sparkle." "I mean... no... I mean, that just took me by surprise, that's all. I'm just... let me catch my breath." Twilight Sparkle wheezed. It had been a while since the last time a spell caused her physical fatigue, only made worse by the unexpectedness of it all. "Geez, that's some... that's some interesting stone," Twilight said, gasping for air. "Phew... well... I've never seen anything like this outside the Everfree Forest before!" "But what is it?" "I have no idea, but... the magic that I was talking about? It's old magic. Really old... ancient magic. I'm not sure exactly what kind it is, but it's very, well... old." "It is old," mouthed Duriandal. "Well, yeah. I mean... uh..." Twilight searched for the words to define. "Magic... long ago magic, was more... powerful. Much more powerful. Princess Celestia once told me... way back, in Equestria, there were a lot of creatures and... things roaming around. Beings... beings made of magic, or whom could use magic without even knowing the spells, as if magic were a part of their being." "And the spells they could cast... they were stronger than the spells we have today because... well, instead of a spell working to change the nature of something, their spells actually rewrote nature itself, if you get what I mean? They could... they were able to... change what things were on the inside, deep down. You following me?" "No," shook Duriandal, her hair flapping. "Not at all." "Oh, ah... well," grinned Twilight sheepishly, "think of it... as... just... ah... let's say a pony had an idea, right? And if I wanted to change his or her mind, I'd have to give an argument or some kind of persuasive case, right?" Duriandal nodded. "Well think of that as a spell. That persuasion is a spell. But what old magic did... and also some spells that Celestia keeps in that one hallway and refuses to let me see... um..." Twilight brought herself back on track, "what they did was alter how the first pony thought in the first place. So you wouldn't really... have to persuade them, they'd already think the way you did. It's... sort of like that, but with... the laws of the universe." "They are rewriting the laws of the universe?" "Yeeeesss, well... I suppose!" "And... which laws does this stone... rewrite?" "That's the thing, I have no idea. Since it's now the nature of the object, you can't really just tell by looking at the spell or feeling the magic of it. All I can tell is that it really hates being touched by other magic. It was... sapping my energy without me even noticing it just a while ago. I'm glad you told me to drop it, really!" "It was a logical procedure." "Ah... sure!" agreed Twilight. "Anyway, I don't think we should touch this. It's probably dangerous, and I can't understand what this stuff is, drawn on it. It looks like... I don't know, like a maze, really, and this clearly is some important symbol, but I've never seen it before... Maybe I should have the Princess come down to take a look... but..." Through all of Twilight's ranting, Duriandal decided to take just that one step closer to the green-hued triangular shape. It was only natural - when anypony said something was dangerous, you obviously had to go closer to it to make sure. And then it moved. It was rather much more of a fidget than a movement. It sort of shook in place, vibrating, but much more deliberately and slowly enough to see how it bowed back and forth with the tides. It was almost imperceptible. Almost. "It... moved, Twilight Sparkle," said Duriandal, stopping in place. "... then she'd give me a medal for it, but... what if she's busy? She's got this whole mess to deal with, but this seems important and I can't just leave it here..." "Twilight Sparkle?" said Duriandal again, stepping closer by another few centimetres. The shard moved more, and more, a little more furiously this time, as if invisible tendrils were dragging it through the air toward the approaching pony. It crawled, it pulsed, with every beat, and with every course of magic that lit up its cracks. "... but she'd be so proud of me! Oh, what to do, Twilight, what to do... where's Spike when you need him?" "Oh!" yelped Duriandal, jumping back a few feet; the first time in her recollection that she ever did so. It was very much unlike her to bring her entire body to move due to the responses of a single, solid emotion, but shock was very much the soup of the day, and she had ordered a double serving thanks to her approaches. And she felt it; the wave of adrenaline causing her skin to feel fuzzy, and everything to suddenly become slightly brighter in her eyes, coursing away from her as she stood, head tilted upward and away in defence, but eyes locked on that piece of stone that had just, and she wasn't seeing things, jumped at her. "Duriandal? Are you alright?" Twilight twisted, suddenly brought back into the room with her counterpart's high-pitched toning. "What... what happened?" "The stone, it moved, Twilight Sparkle, it moved!" she pointed at it, to which it once again rose up its buzzing. "Whoa, wait, ok, let's... just back away, alright?" cautioned Twilight, stepping back as well. "That's... not good. It's reacting to something... or... somepony." She took a quick glance at the pony standing beside her, a leg stretched out... and then back to the shivering shard on the floor. It wasn't really that hard to put it together, and a few tests would ensure its sturdiness. "Alright, listen to me. Very, very slowly now, I want you to lower your hoof, alright?" She did as was told, not as if there was anything else to do at that point, anyway. It was a terse situation, one that didn't need fouling up by sudden quick movements. But at the lowering of her leg, the object of attack decided to calm down as well, and the beats that made it pulse invisibly with raw magical energy slowed as well. Blessed with the gift of the horn, Twilight could feel that much. "Alright now... maybe we should back up," instructed Twilight, taking a step back herself as a manner of example. Duriandal gave Twilight a look just to confirm it, and the inkling of worry broke through her stoic frame. "Don't worry, it'll be alright. I think." She nodded, and raised her back leg, shifting her weight and pulling her frame through the air with all due languidness. And it buzzed. Duriandal saw it. Twilight felt it. But that final pulse came too quickly, too fast, and too soon. The shard, teeming with excitement, wrenched itself from the ground and leapt through the fields with a clear destination in mind. It wasn't a good thing that, at the time, Duriandal was halfway between a step and a trigger. The trigger was the instruction to suddenly jump out the way; one that she had already mentally prepared for and set up in advance. Of course, jumping usually only works well if you have all four hooves planted firmly on the ground, and your center of gravity isn't somewhere that it's not supposed to be. And when you put them both together, what comes sorely out the middle is two legs crossing, as they both attempted to get off the ground with no other point of anchor, and the resulting spiral through the air as Duriandal went crashing towards Twilight. Oh, did we mention Twilight was also in a vague state of panic? Didn't think we had to. They didn't know how long they were laying there in their little body heap, but when the fluff and pinpricks of light had finally left Twilight's eyes, she shook the daze out of them to notice that Duriandal's face was less than an inch away from hers, and that she, as well, was experiencing a fun detour in today's session of consciousness. "Uh...." moaned Twilight. "You... you ok, Duriandal?" She seemed to alert herself once her name was mentioned, like a switch was turned on suddenly. "What... is..." she muttered, taking stock of her situation. "Oh... oh my goodness oh no no no no!" Her barrage of 'no's continued as she prised herself off Twilight's upturned body and hoisted back, getting to a distance that she was comfortable with. "Nooooo, I'm so sorry, Twilight Sparkle!" she apologized, hooves covering her mouth in shame. "That... that's ok, it's no big deal, really," replied Twilight, getting up herself. She was actually more astonished by her reaction rather than the accident per se."You really don't have to worry about it... Duri...an...d..." "Wh...what?" stuttered Duriandal, noticing how Twilight was now staring at her quite abruptly. "I... I am genuinely sorry!" "No... it's... not that. I... was wrong..." "To what are... you referring to?" sputtered Duri, all aflutter. Twilight pointed. She was pointing toward Duriandal herself, but... not exactly at her. Duriandal twisted her head, turning back upon herself to look at what Twilight might be talking about, and then she saw it. It was the shard. Firmly, and steadfastly, it had become stuck to the side of her body, as if attracted there by a powerful magnet. And there it nestled, sweetly, silently, and gently, like a bird returned to its nest. "I... think we have to start worrying," said Twilight. ,---(*< ~---, '---------------'   It was another one of Canary's habits, but she tended to look inside and around houses before actually entering. It was actually something that Breeze was noticing, at the point when they both reached Rarity's boutique and the first thing that Canary did was take a short detour to circle the building once to see what she was dealing with. She also took a peek into the windows, and gave the place a good old fashioned casing. It was something that only police and criminals did, and it only mattered which side they eventually were on. "What was... that for?" asked Blitz, as Canary finally returned around the left bend. She, herself, decided not to follow along. She didn't know what she would be looking for, anyway. "Huh? Oh," said Canary. "Just... taking a look. Curious." "About what, exactly?" "Just... curious. Anyway, shall we?" Canary stepped up to the door and raised a hoof to knock. Rap, rap rap. Three good solid knocks. Three was the best number, and if you did it authoritatively and strongly, there was nopony that wouldn't come nearly instantly. No...pony. "Maybe she's not in," suggested Blitz. "No, she's in. I saw her earlier when I was looking through her windows." "Why... would you look through her windows?" "... to see if she was in or not." "... fair enough," shrugged Blitz. Canary knocked again. Another three times, a little bit stronger this time. At least, this time, the door opened. It not only opened, but flew at the hinges, a rather pleasant looking face appearing from behind the crack. It did... look pleasant, but there was something behind that twitching eyebrow and forced smile that spoke volumes about her annoyance levels. "Can... I... help... you?" asked Rarity, in the voice she reserved for dealing with Sweetie Belle. "Yes. Miss Rarity, was it?" addressed Canary. "We understand your time is precious, so..." "Oh yes, our time is very precious, and we are in the middle of the finishing touches of a magnificent opus, so... if you would be so kind as to come back later..." "Ah, Madam... we..." "Madam? Well, excuse me! I never!" huffed Rarity. "I will have you know that I am a young lady! And one who is very busy, dear! Do you not know how to read? Do you not see the sign on the door?" "Ah..." Canary found herself on the defensive all of a sudden. She hadn't been verbally disarmed this quickly in nearly forever, and she even was shaken up enough to take a second look at the door to make sure she didn't miss something. She did not. "There isn't... a sign, Miss Rari..." "Oh, silly me! Of course not. I hadn't hung it up yet," slurred Rarity to herself, a 'closed' sign on a small rope flying out from behind the door and hanging itself on a peg on the door. "Now, goodbye!" The door shut. "What... in... the... manure... infested..." "I think you just got put in your place, Canary," giggled Blitz. "This... is... I am..." Canary raised her leg to pound on the door again. "No... wait," said Blitz, quickly. "Um... let... me try?" "You?" "Yeah. She's... she's a dressmaker, or something, right? An artist. I... can speak the language." "The language?" "You're too polite," shrugged Blitz. "I am? Me? Polite?" "Well, sort of. Ponies like this... I've had to deal with them before. In my line of work you always meet other artists, and... they're a special bunch." "And you... you think you can get through to her without wasting our time?" "Yheeeeesss, dahhhling," slurred Blitz, smiling, her voice dripping with some sort of syrupy stickiness that made Canary's hair stand on end. "Ahem, ahem. Yhhheeeessss... Yeeeesssshhhhhh..." "What in the name of Celestia's sweet ass are you doing?" "Finding the right tone! Now shush. Yehhhhheeeesssss... Yeeeeessss.. Alright, I think I got it." "Yeeeees?" tried Canary, failing entirely. "No, you. You darling. You keep your mouth shut," said Blitz, flippantly, prodding Canary in the chest. "Now see here..." "Shush! Zip!" Blitz stood back, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm in character, darling. Speak only when you're spoken to. Otherwise, stand aside and look annoyed and frustrated. Actually, that's just perrrrrrfect, darling." "You will speak of this to nopony," growled Canary, through clenched teeth. "Shush. Now, follow. And take off that horrible legband, dear. That is soooo last year." Canary, unable to comprehend what was going on, simply did as she was told, hiding the sign of the police in her plain brown bags. "Well, here we go then," said Blitz, pushing the door open despite the sign. "Raaaarity, Rarity, Rarity!" yelled the fluffy-haired pony as soon as she entered. "Oh, how troublesome!" "I... I beg your pardon?" Rarity stammered, looking up from her workbench. She was in the middle of attaching some sort of fabric to some other sort of fabric with a sewing machine, purple-framed glasses perched at the tip of her nose. "I take full responsibility, my dear. I know, right? The first time I met her as well, I was just... ugh." Blitz threw down her limp legs at Canary. "She didn't bother you too much, I hope? I trust? Yes?" "Ah... and you are?" asked Rarity, walking over. There seemed to be something about this character in front of her. She was... talking over her. She was... ignoring her status! She was entirely unperturbed about being in the same room as her! She... must... be... important. "Oh, you haven't heard of me," chuckled Blitz, turning to Canary, who was still just standing there unsure of what her purpose was. "She doesn't know me." "Oh, of... of course I know who you are," quickly corrected Rarity. "Who... who wouldn't know... of... you?" "So you know of my... work?" Blitz went on, taking a short jaunt toward some of the pony mannequins that held up unfinished dresses, where she looked at them critically. "I... of course... I..." "I would think that you, the Rarity of Ponyville, would know of Blitz Breeze, the most prolific sculptor in Cloudsdale!" she dropped. "Bli... Blitz Breeze, of course!" chimed in Rarity. "I... I'm sorry, I've only seen you in pictures... you do look so much more... elegant in the flesh, I must... apologize for not..." Blitz suddenly turned, her hair bobbing past her indifferent stare. "Well if you know me then you surely must know what I'm here for," stated Blitz. "I..." "Your name's... come up amongst our circles," Blitz huffed, turning her nose up again. "You know. Fashion's catching up in Cloudsdale. But I was merely in the area, looking for some special materials, and I thought I'd drop in and see... what all the fuss was." "Well, please... please do, take a look, take all the time you need," said Rarity, sweeping her arm out to her workshop floor. "Did you not... tell my assistant..." she caught sight of Canary frowning at that. "My assistant that you were... busy?" "Not at all, that was... you know, just to keep the riff raff... out?" squeaked Rarity. "Oh yes, I knoooow, darling. I always tell her, you must get a haircut, and how about some moisturizer, but really. Good help is just so hard to find nowadays, isn't it?" "Yes, it really is!" agreed Rarity, the first earnest thing she said. "You have no idea what I have to put up with sometimes!" "Anyway, as I said, I was here in Ponyville to... find some valuables. I have heard word of some extremely rare jade in the area, and... I heard that you have a certain special skill...?" "Well... I suppose so, but... I have this rush order, and earlier today I was already entertaining a guest... you must understand." "Hmmph," said Blitz, and just that, as she walked back to Canary. "We need a hook, Canary," whispered Blitz. "Oh, now you want my help?" "Canary!" "Right, right," Canary nodded, taking a scan of the room at large. Dolls. Dolls everywhere. Dresses. Stupid... cat in the corner. What else? All sorts of crap everywhere. Boxes. Jewels. Gems. Dresses? Unfinished. Boxes of Gems. Some full. Some empty. Of course. "Amethyst," said Canary. "She needs it. Everywhere are boxes of gems and other manure, and dresses with those gems on it. There's only one dress half-done, and no box of jewels to match. She needs amethyst." "Raaaarity," slurred Blitz, not even missing a second's pause. "Darling. We'd do it ourselves, of course, but wouldn't you know it, it's right on top of an amethyst vein. And if we went and dug up every single pile of dirt in the area, why, my hooves..." "Amethyst?" asked Rarity. "There's amethyst?" "That's what I was told. But I don't want all that stuff, I'm just looking for the jade." "I... think... I've just had an opening in my schedule," smiled Rarity. ,---(*< ~---, '---------------'   Berry made her way unsteadily across the cobbled floor that led from the lanes where the police were now setting up a secure area, and the morgue. Each step was just a tiring prelude for the next one, and she was simply sick of walking. There come times when the body gives up even though the mind and soul are willing, and Berry hit that point just a while back. As much as it had been repeated, she always had somepony else to lean on in times like this, and a burden shared is a burden halved. Right now, all the weight squared solely upon her shoulders, and it threatened to drag her down to the very depths of the pit of surrender. "Lookin' a bit wobbly there, Berry," said Mister Bowler, who was leading her back to his home ground. "I'm fine," said Berry, clearly not fine. "I have to see this thing you were talking about." "Alright. I get that. I get that you need to perform as well as Canary. I get that you need to prove to yourself and to me and to everyone else at the station that you're capable of this. I get that you're responsible. But can I ask you something, Berry?" "Yeah?" "Why in the hay is she coming along?" "What?" asked Night Flare. "She's under... under my protection," said Berry. "Berry, right now, the best we can ask for is you walk straight. You ain't protectin' nopony." "Hey, what's wrong with me being here?" whined Night Flare. "Quiet, girl," said Bowler. "Hey, hey! Come on! I ain't a girl, ok? I have a name!" "You ain't a girl? When was the operation?" "Come on, Mister Bowler," pleaded Berry. "Listen, girl, I'm not a nice guy, ok? And I have only got the patience to tolerate one of you two birds at the same time, and between the two of you, I'm going to choose Berry, ok?" "Yeah, fair enough," said both Berry and Flare at the same time. "Just let her come along, alright? She's been helping out with the investigation," stated Berry. "Yeah, I've been helping!" "Since when did Canary allow the masses to join in the party?" "It's... complicated," sighed Berry. "This case... is... really full of... stuff and things..." "Oh well, that clears everything up." "It's like there's some sort of weird ancient cult going on," Berry continued, ignoring Bowler's jabs. "We're being picked on, and we've been given gifts or something like that." "What, it's your birthday?" "No, Mister Bowler. The murders. They're... presents. For us." "Oh. Well." "I don't know if you've ever... ever... had somepony tell you... that hey, these ponies here are dying, and someone's killing them for... for you. But it doesn't... feel good, Mister Bowler." "Like it's your fault?" "Yeah." In the back, Night Flare nodded agreement too. "Both of ya?" "Well, Night Flare here... she's already had her... gift... Canary and mine... it hasn't come yet, but we think it'll be tomorrow and the day after. I... I just don't want it to happen. It's worse... knowing it's coming, but not knowing who it'll be." "That sounds stressful, yeah." "I mean it could be anypony. It could even be you, Mister Bowler." "Hey, leave me outta this." "Heh," Berry choked up a laugh. "I... I'm sorry." "Listen, Berry. Sounds to me like you got a bit ahead of yourself, there." "What do you mean?" The trio of them stopped, approaching the end of the strip of shops. Beside them, ponies passed by on their merry way, not knowing what the next minute would bring. But yet, they all walked, onward and onward, simply just walking. "You think my job ain't stressful, kid?" Bowler said. "I... wasn't saying that, Mister..." "Nah, I ain't makin' it about myself, but listen. Every day, I see manure. I see all the manure of the streets. I see what every Colt-damned pony is capable of, and it ain't pretty. Every day now, when you go out in the streets, you just see ponies. Ponies walking by. Ponies doing their business. I see..." He pointed at random characters in the crowd. "Wife-beater. Murderer. Arsonist. Torturer. Asshole. Kidnapper. Robber. Asshole. Another asshole. Most of them are just assholes." "You... can't just say that, man!" frowned Night Flare. "You don't know them!" "Yeah, exactly." "Huh?" "What you see ain't always what's out there. Things twist and turn, Berry. I don't know diddly about you, Pegasus, but Berry's in a real pony's job. And I tell you, this job screws with your head. If you keep walking around thinking everyone's a murderer or an asshole, you're just setting yourself up for a fall." "Hey, I have a real pony's job too..." grumbled Night Flare. "What are you trying to say, Mister Bowler?" interrupted Berry. "I'm sayin' that you're all stressed out about being the next one and stuff. Alright. I'll bite. Where's your evidence?" "My... what?" "Your evidence, Berry. You said you're next. How do you know?" "We..." "Yeah?" Berry shifted uncomfortably to her other pair of legs. "Well..." "Yeah? Thought so. I've worked with you... sadly... for a pretty long time. I've worked with Canary even longer. I know you just run with whatever Canary says, because apparently you're not allowed to think for yourself. That's the first stupid. The second stupid is Canary. I know her long enough to know that she likes to throw herself into everything like it's always her fault and her responsibility." "She's always been doin' that from the start, like she's got something to prove. I don't know what she wants to prove and honestly, I don't rightly care, but as much as she acts like a cold-hearted observer of the facts, she always lets things weigh on her shoulders." "And I reckon," finished Bowler, "I reckon that she's just doin' the same thing here that she always does. Threw herself into it first chance she got, didn't she? Did she even wait before immediately assuming she was going to be neck-deep in this?" Berry's mind raced back and forth. It took a while, mainly because her mind had derailed back at the last scene, but she finally managed to find enough pieces to suggest that what Bowler was saying had a small inkling of truth. "How... how do you know this, Mister Bowler?" was all she could say. "Guessed." "Guessed?" "Yeah? You expectin' a long-winded explanation about how I deducted all this manure from slight clues and 'inflections of tone' and all that other junk? That's your job. I just guessed. Easy as that, isn't it?" "Well," thought Berry, scrunching her face up in deep contemplation. "There... there really isn't any sign, is there?" "Um..." came a voice from behind them. "Things like these, Berry, they don't really spell things out for ya, you know?" shrugged Bowler. "What I'm trying to say is... keep yourself grounded. You ain't Canary. You ain't never will be, and while she can handle all this weight, you clearly can't." "Well..." muttered the third wheel. "I guess you're right, Mister Bowler. There's just no way of knowing, is there?" "Yeah, there is!" belted out Night Flare. "Um... huh?! What?" asked Berry, suddenly paying attention. "You said you wanted signs, right? There are signs!" "How do you know...?" "I... um... you know when Canary left and there was just the three of us in the station, and we were looking for stuff? " "Yes, I do," nodded Berry. "You guys kinda left that book open on the desk, and I took a look, ok?" Berry's eyelids started to close, her face bringing on the slow yet inevitable look of somepony who had something disapproving to say. "Hey! Don't... don't look at me like that, man! Come on!" protested Flare. Berry's eyes snapped open again. "Anyway, the book... said that both sides get marked! I remember that clearly because I remember that being freaking creepy, man. Doesn't that mean that there are signs?" "I... I don't... know..." shrugged Berry. "We... never... found anything linking you guys together..." Berry and Flare's gazes locked. It was that un-worded communication that spoke of fear, confusion, panic, and just this nagging realisation that something seemed to have been overlooked. Berry started to look tired again. Flare just looked guilty for bringing it up. "Well now," said Bowler. "You know what, I take it all back. Sounds like you guys are screwed." ,---(*< ~---, '---------------'   "Um..." said Duriandal, nervously. Dark streaks covered her flank, and there was a strange smoke rising from her rear. "Just... one more time..." grunted Twilight, brow furrowed and horn shimmering with a pale lilac cloak. "I... can... do this!" Another cluster of sounds filled the air - bells were strewn around the ground, tinkling in the distance, a low buzzing of electricity flew around randomly, and holding it all together were a thousand panes of glass cracking over fire. And at that moment, an arc of pure purple power extruded from the very core of Twilight's horn, extending itself toward the strange shard that was stuck fast to the side of Duriandal's body. "Ng...." Twilight struggled, her teeth gritting together and a drop of sweat running down the side of her face. But that attempt, like the four attempts before it, managed to work in the same way. The shard pulsed twice, threw up its own green barrier, and simply decided that it wouldn't like to be touched, thank you very much, have a nice day . This particular spell slid off like butter on a seal and hit the next closest thing, which was, of course, Duriandal herself. Her flank lit up like a concert, as the jolt sent her twirling through space and time and left her sprawled out on the dirt, a fresh batch of black and purple smoke rising from her flank. "O...owie," Duriandal whispered. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Twilight rushed over, hooves clutching her head. "It wasn't supposed to do that!" "Ple... please... stop," begged Duriandal, to deaf ears. "Alright, just... one more time, I'm sure I can get it if I keep trying," thought Twilight. "Maybe if I increase the power..." "My face has dirt on it," pleaded Duriandal. "Or if I widen the spectrum of the spell's fluctuation width..." "My... my rear end hurts considerably..." "What if we use fire?" "Twilight!" Duriandal jumped up and pointed frantically. "Look, the bottle, it is over there!" "What bottle? Oh right! That bottle!" said Twilight, rushing over to the foul glass vial of smelling salts, that just sat a few paces away. It was just a moment's diversion, perhaps, but at least Twilight was now distracted enough that she wasn't attempting forcible removal of something that wasn't really intending on leaving anytime soon. Besides, it really wasn't doing much harm. There wasn't any way to tell the long term detriments of having a really old, magical piece of rock stuck to you, but it was far less uncomfortable than the crowbar approach that Twilight was employing. It wasn't moving any longer, and it wasn't making any noise, and it only ever showed signs of life when it was messed with. Other than that, it didn't impede Duriandal's movement, cloud her judgement, or restrict her in any way. A moment's logical deduction told her that it would be better to just leave it on until she could get to somepony who actually knew more about this kind of thing. Her flank agreed with this assessment wholeheartedly. It was at that point that she suddenly had a change of heart, and was in fact quite glad that she was face down in the dirt with her hind sticking up in the air, because that acrid smell once again started to assault her nostrils as the bottle was brought back into her close personal space. "Here it is, Duriandal! We got it!" Twilight chittered merrily, happy to have completed their quest. "Oh... ah." Despite her hate for dirt and disorder, Duriandal was now trying to push a mound of soil around her face to block out the smell. "Oh, that's right... I'm sorry! Please... um... don't throw up, alright? Not... right now, anyway. That would... be very bad." rattled on Twilight, watching Duriandal attempt to push herself further into the ground with her back legs. She quickly went through all the spells that could help in such a situation, mouthing their names to herself quietly as she hit them one by one. "Got it! Never fear, my friend! This spell ought to take care of this odour! Just a spell to remove nasty foreign presences!" Twilight smiled to herself, tilting her head ever so slightly, as the white-warm glow of her ability channelled up through her horn and exploded in a sphere of waxed light, expanding outward, and pushing away the smell where it would disperse harmlessly to animals and ponykind alike. The stone didn't like it. And once again, it showed its displeasure by sending out a bolt of yellow electricity into the nearest pony. Duriandal flew to the side, dirt and dust scattering itself around a wide area, as flailing legs and mussed hair entwined themselves into a twitchy ball that lay there sobbing to itself. "O...ow...owie," whispered Duriandal. "Oh... jeez, Duri... this isn't your day, is it?" Twilight bit her lower lip abashedly. ,---(*< ~---, '---------------'   "You have to be kidding me," said Canary, to Blitz. They were standing outside of the boutique, where they waited while Rarity prepared for her trip. Silver was there too, raising an eyebrow at what Blitz had just requested. "No, I'm really not," said Blitz. "It wouldn't be any problem, right? Miss Silver..." "Corp'ral! At least, while I'm on th' job, lady," Silver said, winking. "When I ain't, you can call me wuddeva you want." Canary started to search for dust at the top of her line of sight. "Ah... right," Blitz nodded very slowly, giving the speedy Pegasus a strange look. "Uh... anyway, it shouldn't be a problem, Corporal Silver. You're fairly fast, and by the time we get there, you'd have enough time to scatter them around, right?" "Ey, ain't no problem! I'll be there'n back in a couple shakes, but... ah... you gonna owe me one f'this, eh, Miss Breeze?" "Yes. I shall... ow..." "No, she's not," interrupted Canary. "Do your damn job, Silver." "Aw, you ain't no fun, boss!" chuckled Silver, "I'mma be back wicked fast!" Once the silver and gold blur of colour had escaped the ground atmosphere and headed straight for Cloudsdale was the time when Blitz decided to continue speaking. "What... was that about?" "She's just messing with you," shrugged Canary. "I think. I hope. I never knew with that one. Never stayed around long enough to find out, neither. But you should count yourself lucky; she only really goes after the feisty ones." "I'm feisty?" "Sure, why not?" "Then..." "Then what?" "Well...." "Spit it out, Blitz." "Has... she... ever messed... with you?" "Me? Nah." "Well, why not? You seem... feisty enough." "Because, Blitz, if you must know, the first time she winked at me and asked me out for a drink, I accidentally... lost... some chalk in her body. Which is why..." Canary stared wistfully into the distance and grimaced with regret. "I no longer have access to the stationery cupboard." "Was... was she ok? She seems to not... have taken that very badly, judging by how she acts with you." "Oh, she was fine. I think she enjoyed it. But she knew to stay away after that. Mainly I was banned for inappropriate use of office supplies. Nopony in the station really... worried about Silver." "Where... about her... body did you..." "Mostly her face," stated Canary, nearly instantly. "Mostly." "... yeah? Mostly?" "Is this story true?" asked Blitz, incredulously. "You'll never know," replied Canary, giving her one of her grins that wasn't a grin. "Now, you tell me something. Why are you going out of your way for this Rarity pony?" "It's just fair, isn't it?" said Blitz, almost as if her actions were an unspoken community rule. "We lied to her, so she should get something out of it. Even if it's a bit small." "Still..." "And I... kinda feel guilty, you know? Ever since we came to ponyville we've just been... getting things through political means." "So you're doing this because you're feeling guilty?" "No, not really, I'm doing this because... there really shouldn't be a time when we stop thinking about others, is there? No matter what's going on, no matter how desperate our own situation is, there isn't any excuse to let us stop." "I... suppose not," said Canary. Her words spoke of a short time when she believed in such ideals, too. Maybe she still believed in them. It was hard to say. "I guess I'm just generous," said Blitz. "This is a bit beyond just... generosity, Breeze," snorted Canary. "Generosity is when you give freely without thinking. Making conscious decisions to make up for your actions is just... stupid." "Guess I'm stupid, then," smiled Blitz. "Meh," grunted Canary. "Well, I'm ok with it. And if you had issues, you'd not have let Corporal Silver go, right? So you must be ok with it too." "Meh." Blitz left it at that. She had as much of a confirmation as she needed, and there wasn't any need to pursue this line of conversation. But the minutes ticked by as Rarity was doing whatever she was doing, and Blitz just had to ask for curiosity's sake. "So... this... Corporal Silver," asked Blitz. "Here it comes," muttered Canary. "She's... peculiar. What's her story?" "We all are, Blitz. All of us at that precinct." "Well yes, but... Silver doesn't really act like a cop, you know?" "That's 'cause she isn't one," said Canary. "Pardon?" "Well alright, she is now, of course. But she wasn't a cop before. She was working for the other side." "She was a... criminal?" "Petty, but yeah, she was." "And you... trust her?" "With my life, just like everypony else in that station." Blitz raised an eyebrow, and that was more than enough for Canary to go on. "See, it's not about trust," explained Canary. "That's never an issue because she never ratted out her partners or her conspirators. Not ever once, no matter how many times we dragged her down and tried to persuade her. She's just... working the other field now. It's like Pony Football. If you buy another player from an opposing team, they're still gonna play as hard for you as they used to for the other team." "It was about the fiftieth time we had her in the station for really small stupid things," continued Canary. "In fact, she'd been in many times before I even joined that station myself. Wasn't long before we all had some kind of rapport going. Staff Beat figured that if she was gonna be in the station that often she might as well be paid for it. So we offered her a job, went through a million miles of red tape, and now she's doing exactly what she was doing before, but she doesn't have to feel guilty about it." "That's not... very standard in the police business, is it?" "Nope, but our precinct is... special. Staff Beat picks up the really... weird ones. Oddities. Problem ponies. Myself included." "You?" "Yeah, I'd never have been able to join the city if it weren't for Beat. Our station's the one with the most scrutiny from the higher-ups because they consider it unstable and reckless. We... manage to get the job done, though, which I think upsets them even more." "I'm just learning more and more about you every day, aren't I?" "You sure are." A tinkle of a doorbell signified the arrival of Rarity, who had, as it appears, been putting her face on, which is highly necessary for a gem-run, as it were. "Whoops, showtime," whispered Blitz, walking up to the pretty white unicorn. "Fannntastic, darling, love the bags. Love 'em." "Oh, these old things?" diminished Rarity, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I just threw it together one weekend." "Outstanding. But no time to waste, dear, shall we be off?" "Yeeees," trilled Rarity. "Let's." ,---(*< ~---, '---------------'   Her pencil worked furiously over the notebook, writing down thoughts, ideas, possible connections... it became somewhat of a mess of scribbles with arrows jotted here and there, as Berry frantically put down everything she could think of, no matter how small and how insignificant. She hadn't put that little tiny book to this much use in a dog's lifetime, but if anytime was pertinent it was now. She was beginning to forget. And that was never a good sign. Her memory wasn't as crisp and clear as Duriandal's, of course, but that was another thing altogether, and every pony in the world has some rudimentary retention skills - especially a policepony, where it came with the territory. Berry's memory was already far beyond the level of a normal pony's, but she was letting that slip... and letting important things through the cracks. She was so eager to agree with Bowler just a while ago that even Night Flare, bless her, had to remind her of a very significant point from the book, something that she ought to have been able to peel off the wall like a banana skin. Not to say that Night Flare shouldn't be remembering things herself, but... Well, you know. Therefore, it was along the walk over to the Coroner's office and his lovely mortuary that she just figured that everything needed to be in writ. Notably, she had scribbled the word 'SIGNS!!' and circled it a few times at the top of one of the pages, and followed through with the idea that both the victims and the patrons had a set of signifiers each. She didn't know where it was going from there, to be sure. And there was something... just something at the tip of her tongue, at the very edge of her brain that she wanted to write down, but the more she thought about it, the more she ended up blankly staring at the page, wondering if there was anything to write at all. It was like it was wrenched out of her head, stolen by some strange force, that every time she approached that subject, her thoughts would evade and swerve and avoid, and end up on the other side of it. It was simply making her headache worse. "Ugh," she said, finally, out of nowhere. "Berry?" asked Flare. "Yeah... I'm ok. I just... can't... trying to remember something, but I can't seem to do it." "We're nearly at the morgue, girl," said Bowler. "We'll get you something for that headache of yours, and you can have something to drink as well. Take that break I'm recommending, yes?" "Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. But this... this is really troubling me, Mister Bowler." "What is?" "It's something that happened to me back at the last crime scene. I'm trying my best to remember... but... I just can't." "Something that happened? Lots of things happened. I came in, you investigated the body, everything went... considerably smoothly." "Yes but... this... this thing happened to me. Something happened to me. Something odd." "You're acting pretty odd now, woman." "I know, ok?! Just... could you remind me if anything strange happened while I was in there?" "Yeah, a lot of things. You weren't acting normally. Tired, remember? Mental fatigue. You were totally out of it. Not paying attention. Headache. Dizzy. Talking to yourself. You're less cheerful than normal. You..." "Wait. What was that you just said? Before the cheerful thing?" "Talking to yourself? Yeah, don't you remember that? You were standing around and you told me you heard Canary talking to you. But from my side, you were just off mumbling in the corner like some deranged lunatic." "Um... is she ok?" asked Flare, a bit concerned. "Yeah, she's tired, lady." "Right... right... I was talking to myself..." nodded Berry. It was obvious; how could she forget? It suddenly planted itself back into her head like a flare going off. The more she thought about it, the funnier it seemed that it had slipped her mind. Well, she'd better write it down, then. She pulled the blank page and the pencil up to her face, looking at the void on the page; the place which she had reserved for this most precious of thoughts. And without further pause, she wrote. Pencil dashing around over the paper, grabbing the essence of exactly what was passing through her synapses at the very time. She was happy with it. It was exactly what she had wanted to say. And now all her notes were complete. The pencil and pad flew down, back into her legband, with the pages flipped over to the cover, to protect its contents. And nopony saw. Nopony saw. Upon the page that she had just wrote, was not a single word at all.