Rainbow Dash found Sweet Apple Acres to be completely devoid of Applejack. Fluttershy’s cottage was empty, save for a few mice.
Rarity’s Boutique was closed for the day.
‘Sugarcube Corner,’ Spike directed her after he made her pick up all the books she had knocked off the shelves when she had come bounding in.
‘Y’know, if they wanted to be subtle about a surprise party, they shouldn’t have all gone into hiding.’
Spike shrugged. ‘You know Pinkie Pie.’
‘Indeed I do,’ Rainbow said. She stood in front of seemingly dead Sugarcube Corner with a mix of fear and anticipation. Bracing herself slightly she stepped over the threshold into the darkened store.
A loud hushing noise relieved her tension a bit.
‘Oh gee, why is it so dark in here?’ Rainbow said loudly.
Her question was answered with a bad attempt to hide giggles.
‘Pinkie Pie? Are you home? Helloooooo?’ Rainbow flicked at the light switch with her wing, the lights revealing a “WELCOME HOME, DASHIE!” banner in the centre of the store, balloons and streamers and mountains of food were a welcome sight – but none more than the five grinning girls who stood under the banner. ‘SURPRISE!’ A communal shout greeted her.
Quickly followed by a pink blur and a tackle to the ground.
‘Pinkie Pie, get off of me!’
‘Let ‘er up, sugarcube.’
‘Didja miss us? Huh? Huh? Huh?’
Rainbow stood up to give Pinkie a proper hug. ‘Course I did, Pinkie Pie.’
It was a minute before Pinkie could be pried off of Rainbow Dash, but any over-squeezing and friend-hogging was forgotten as they indulged in food, punch, stories and each other’s company.
~
Rainbow groaned, her hangover was absolutely killing her. What had Pinkie put in that punch?! She debated going back to sleep, she had had so little in the past few days, and her head was really too heavy to even think about lifting. Or thinking.
Rainbow dozed, revelling in the comfort of her own cool bed; Wonderbolt bunks were too hard and hot. Thunderclouds rumbled softly and wind blew gently through her house, creating a rocking effect as her house gently tugged on the magic that kept it in one place.
Rainbow drifted in and out of consciousness. The gentle breeze that washed over her was relaxing and the sound of the storm was comfort to her ears. She preferred the cool over the heat, more moisture in the air to work with; the rainbows she created lingered in the sky longer.
The hangover ebbed, just leaving her with a dull headache and parched mouth. Rainbow debated whether it was worth getting up or whether she should try to drink her pillow. She buried her face in the packed cloud, water droplets formed on her face from the action. After poking her tongue out into the cloud pillow for a moment, she decided that getting up was less effort.
She stretched, cracked her neck and sat up, and almost lay back down again at the sight of her untidy house that greeted her. That is, until, she spotted the package Spitfire had sent sitting among the mess.
After several glasses of water, two cups of coffee, her morning wing-ups, apples and bran for breakfast, a glass of juice, a trip to the bathroom, and a bit of a tidy up (something more akin to “shove everything into a pile”) later, Rainbow sat at the bench, fingers nervously tapping as she stared down the package.
She had re-read the note, and it really hadn’t given anything away or any warning as to what it contained. Rainbow sipped at her third cup of coffee and slipped her fingers under the tape that held the wrapping together with a lot more caution than she had yesterday.
There were several items in there, most notably a case file that had looked as if the status of the case had changed so many times, marked from “TOP SECRET” to “SOLVED” to “REISTATED” to “INCONCLUSIVE” to what appeared to be the most recent “COLD CASE”. Putting that aside, Rainbow saw other folders, full of papers and clippings.
But the thing that caught Rainbow’s attention the most was the plain brown box – the exact same box that had been delivered to Spitfire’s desk. It had been opened and resealed and this time a proper note was attached, albeit it had been hastily scrawled on – Spitfire had obviously been in a hurry.
Rainbow Dash,
Sorry to be so secretive, and I’m sorry I had to push this on you, but I don’t know who to trust in this situation. As I have already told you, I have been receiving threats against my life. Of course, threats to the Captain of the Wonderbolts are a common occurrence, but the recent threats appear to be from someone within the Academy and they have hidden themselves well in plain sight.
I don’t know who to trust anymore, but I don’t intend to run from this - I have a sworn duty to Celestia that I intend to keep. However, this menace is starting to get very real and cracks in the academy are starting to show. I want to stay ahead of any enemy, be ready for them and stop them before they carry out their threats.
I’ve been doing some investigating of my own, and it turns out there might be a connection to another incident that happened when I was a cadet. The copies of newpapers and reports are in relation to these events. I know it says ‘accidental’ but I don’t believe in coincidences.
Spitfire
PS: This package is the same one you saw being delivered. I’m not sure what it does, and to be truthful I’m a little creeped out by it. I really don’t want to keep it here. Find out more about it?
PPS: I trust you with all this information, please make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
PPPS: I’ve got your footprint as a bruise from the other night and it’s multicoloured like you. It’s a lovely testament to how well I’ve trained you.
Dash felt a stab of guilt, kicking your superior perhaps wasn’t the best thing to do, but then again at the time she was under the impression that she was being kidnapped.
Focussing back on the box, Rainbow cautiously opened it, slightly wary if it creeped out Spitfire.
A faceless, wooden doll slid out into her waiting hand. For a second she scoffed, was this some kind of joke? She held it up to the light to inspect it and gasped.
The doll had tiny intricate patterns drawn onto it, almost like it was another language written on it. Turning it over in her hands, Rainbow found that all the limbs rotated, a hole in the top, as if meant for hair. Rainbow held it at arms-length, feeling the unease Spitfire was talking about. The doll held an air of expectancy, of barely-restrained power.
Should she take it to Twilight? But then Twilight would want to know why she had it in the first place. Best to find someone who wasn’t as nosy. Who was good with strange artefact stuff?
Rainbow gave a start – she knew exactly who was good with this sort of thing. Should she go to her, or would that raise too much suspicion? Rainbow cast a glance over the other documents – she had her work cut out for her here, she could outsource this to someone who would be interested in the “what” and not in the “why”.
The box was resealed for the second time, Spitfire’s note removed and Rainbow wrote one of her own and after rummaging through some drawers (did I really leave this place this messy when I left?) found some stamps and set to work licking.
~
Rainbow rinsed her mouth with coffee – next time she bought stamps, she’d get the more expensive self-adhering ones so she didn’t need to lick them. She set the box aside and spread the documents out over the bench.
They all had sticky notes on them, Spitfire giving a little commentary on each item. The one that caught Rainbow’s eye had an old newspaper sticking out of it – the little note provided read “All the newspaper reports on the fire – I still need to find that young girl.”
Rainbow opened up the folder and promptly dropped her coffee with a gasp. The hot liquid splashing against her leg as the mug bounced on the cloud-packed floor. Rainbow didn’t notice as she leant down to inspect the front cover. A younger looking Spitfire was protectively holding the small girl against her.
‘It can’t be!’ Rainbow’s fingers ran over the faces in the picture. ‘Cadet Spitfire rescued a small child from the burning building that Wonderbolt Captain Firefly tragically died in,’ Rainbow read softly to herself. ‘What is Spitfire having me look at?!’
Rainbow flipped open the folders to reveal document after document of Firefly’s death – the case file contained reports on the fire, the other documents were statements given by witnesses, reports and theories on how the whole thing wasn’t an accident but a murder, all the information on Firefly, all the information on Spitfire, all the threats to Spitfire pointed back to Firefly.
Rainbow’s knees gave out on her and she fell onto the floor. Tears splashed down her cheeks. A newspaper clipping slowly trailed down after her, turning gently in the air. It was the photo she had first seen, Spitfire, holding the girl tightly.
~
Spitfire was in considerable pain, her shoulder still aching from barrelling through the shut doors. But they were outside. She would have felt joy at making it out had she not been met by the paparazzi.
‘GET BACK!’ A voice roared and suddenly there was water. Water all over their precious cameras and notebooks. Spitfire would have to thank Fleetfoot later.
The young girl now clutched at Spitfire, her cries punctuated with coughing and hiccups. Spitfire was glad when Surprise came at her.
‘Get her to an ambulance,’ she said, thrusting the girl into Surprise’s arms ‘I’m going back for Firefly.’
~
‘Hey, Dashie!’
Rainbow jumped, and hastily shoved the package into the mail box, the last thing she needed was Pinkie getting involved. ‘Hey, Pinkie.’
‘Whatcha sendin’?’ Pinkie said in a sing-song voice.
‘Uh - mail.’
‘Ooh! Is it like a super-duper-top-secret package from the Wonderbolts that you need to know what it is to see if it can help you solve a super-duper-top-secret cold case that you’re ...’
‘Pinkie.’ Rainbow hissed.
‘Oops, sorry, top secret.’ Pinkie made a motioning of zipping her lips, paused, unzipped her lips. ‘Super-duper.’
‘Will you cut that out?’
‘I dunno, you got any scissors?’
Rainbow groaned. ‘Pinkie Pie, can we not talk about it, or mention it – please.’ Rainbow turned to walk down the street.
Pinkie fell into step beside her ‘Ok, how abouts we talk about the super-duper-top-secret Surprise party instead?’
Rainbow stopped in her tracks. ‘What party?’
‘Oh, I can’t talk about it, silly, it’s a secret.’ Pinkie hummed through a grin while Rainbow briefly tried to puzzle out what her friend had just said.
She decided, for her sanity’s sake, to just pin it down to Pinkie Pie just being Pinkie Pie.
While she had the chance, Rainbow changed the topic. ‘So, what did I miss while I was gone?’ Inwardly she cursed herself for not picking a different question to ask and braced herself for the onslaught of words that Pinkie’s excessively large intake of breath forewarned.
‘Well, at the bakery we had seven special cake orders, and that’s not including the regular order for blueberry muffins for Derpy or the bran cookies for the retirement village. You should have seen the cake I made for Berry Pinch’s birthday, it was five-tier, each layer with a different berry flavour all frosted in creamy chocolate frosting.’ Pinkie shivered, ‘It was heaven Rainbow Dash.
Oh and the party was so sweet! It was one of six... or maybe seven parties I helped with while you were gone? Maybe seven cause I don’t remember being at the party, but I must have and I tested my new punch and I think it may have been a little too strong, cause I don’t remember the party but I woke up and I was upsy-down in a barrel, with a rather fetching sharpie moustache – oh I was tangled in a fishing net with two champagne bottles and a rather nice man – he was dressed in a police uniform, oh but he wasn’t a policeman, he was just dressed like that for fun.
We were handcuffed together, but he was still passed out, and now that I think about he was kinda cute like that, he had really defined muscles and a cute butt and he was obviously packing a very big...’
‘PINKIE PIE!’ Rainbow yelled, her face red. ‘Too much information!’
‘Gee Rainbow, I was going to say ‘gun’.’
‘Oh my gosh Pinkie, look...’
‘Ooh, you’ve got to pop in and see Rarity, she’s got this new fashion line that’s all about the sky and the weather and it’s really breezy, you’ll like it. Ooh, and she’s made little blankets for Fluttershy to make beds for her little critters, she had this cute little chipmunk and it so sick, but Fluttershy saved it and nursed it back to health.’
‘Of course she did.’ Rainbow mumbled.
‘Um, what else about our friends? Oh! Twilight got the new Daring Do book, and Applejack said she had some issues with a trespasser and people sneaking around the farm...’
‘Whoa! Backup, what did you say?’
‘There were people trespassing...’
‘No, before that, a new Daring Do?! Why didn’t you say?!’ Rainbow Dash turned heel and flew off fast.
Pinkie waved goodbye ‘Because you didn’t ask, silly! Oh no, wait, you did, sort of? Now what was I doing?’ Pinkie blinked and glanced around, the street was rather empty, save for Derpy emptying the Post Box. ‘Hi Derpy!’
‘Hi, Pinkie!’Derpy smiled back and Pinkie felt a little shiver of satisfaction.
‘It’s great to see you smiling, Derpy, you were looking slightly put-out this morning when you came for your usual morning muffin.’
A frown settled over Derpy’s features. ‘Yeah, someone broke into the post office last night. Everything was all-over the place! Ugh, not again...’ Derpy glanced down at the large package, the one Rainbow had put in moments before. ‘I’ve already been to Prance twice this month. I was really hoping for a trip to The Crystal Empire this week.’
Pinkie eyed the package. ‘Well, it looks important, like “deliver-me-now” important. Would you like a muffin for the trip?’