It's a quiet night. Still, serene. But the ponies of Rambling Ridge don't seem quite so serene themselves. Quite a few of them are up late, Moonlight notices. Lightning Glass hovers around the town well into the night, even after Moonlight goes to sleep, just staring off into the windy distance. Many of the shops leave candles burning at night, merchants there working late hours. And in the streets, from time to time, she sees ponies going on long, silent walks. Lost in thought. Still, she knows not to be worried. These are the subtler shades of the world, that are by starlight now revealed, and they mean her no harm. Eventually, she goes to sleep.

Come morning, everypony is awoken by a loud pounding. Crashing. A hoof beating on the doors to their rooms. "Town watch!" a pony shouts, loud and gruff. "Open up!

"Give me the keys," the rough voice says, and a jingle of metal can be heard. The door to Azure and Virtue's room opens first, two of the guardponies from the gate rushing in. The other two rooms are quickly opened as well, more guards joining them, two in each room.

Virtue comes awake, quickly, a fast spell arranging her hair and making her presentable "What is the meaning of this?" she demands, stamping a hoof in irritation.

"Whoa! Hey! What's the big idea?" Azure sits upright in her bed, looking sternly back at the town guards. "You can't just barge in on civilians without proper papers."

Moonlight Meadows looks about, rather confused, as the guards pile into her room. Her mane is a bit more of a mess than usual, the massive pink affair going off in all directions from being slept on. Right beside her, Balti is also looking at the intruders, though Dawn is slow to rouse. "Whosa what now?"

The guards quickly look around—though in Moonlight and Dawn's room, they don't get very far inside before Balti's growl deters them. "He's not here," one of them calls, from Moonlight's room.

"Where's your grey pegasus friend?" The lead guard finally demands of Virtue. "The one you showed up with."

"Yes, the stallion," the guard repeats, firms, his partner looking around—as though Silver were hiding under the bed.

In the next room over, the the two guards look at Silver Shine none the wiser. "Sorry about this, ma'am." Silver gives an acknowledging nod.

"He took off shortly after we arrived,” Virtue says. “Something about not liking the town. I can't possibly see what he was talking about, up until this morning I found your municipality to be quite satisfactory."

"Well. He's your ‘knight protector.’ So I suppose we'll hold you until he comes back."

Virtue remains firm, looking him directly in the eye. "And why, precisely, are you insisting on such a thing?"

The guard eyes Virtue critically. "Your good sir robbed Sugar Cane's sugar supply last night."

Virtue narrows her eyes. "Have you evidence or eye witnesses? I will not accept a charge so lightly. If my knight has behaved so abominably that is on his head. He abandoned me shortly after entering, so my desire to see him exonerated is minimal, assuming he bothers to show up."

"Yes. Which you can discuss with the judge,” the guard replies, terse yet with a tinge of disinterest. "For now, I'll have to ask you to come with me."

"If you insist on this, I will have to speak most firmly with this judge of yours, and certain ponies of the court will have words with him if we are unreasonably detained," says Virtue.

The guard rolls his eyes. "Unicorns~" he says, with some degree of exasperation.

"I must agree with my friend." Azure gets out of bed and stands. "The pony you want is the stallion. I don't know how ponies of this town do things, but where I come from, only criminals are held prisoner. Unless you have matters to discuss with the ponies in this room, I believe we are done here."

"Unicorn or no, we are one kingdom now, and I will ensure you and your men are mentioned in any report I give. I should hope it will not be an unpleasant one. Lead on, guardspony," Virtue says, cinching her cape about her.

"Have it your way then, your royal highness,” the guard says, making no attempt to mask his snide tone. “But seeing as how you vouched for him under dubious circumstances, you are coming with me to talk to the judge."

The guards seem to accept that at face value, apologizing for the others for barging in, and they move to escort Virtue through the early morning streets. The rest of the herd scrambles to grab their gear—or in Moonlight’s case, to roust Dawn Star—and follow after them.

Earth pony towns are early to rise, and small towns are quick to gossip. Between the two, the sun has barely risen when news has gotten around town that there's been a commotion, and a small crowd has already gathered at the "jailhouse" by the time Virtue arrives. It's not much of a jailhouse, little more than small set of stables with bars over one of the stalls, the other spaces left for guards, and one judge's stand of sorts.

“Mommy, is she a criminal?' a little filly asks, tugging at her mom's foreleg.

The judge, or justice, or executor (depending on just how this town works) is an old stallion, with dark grey fur and a swinging gavel on his flank. He looks at Virtue grumpily over a pair of wire-frame spectacles as the guards trot back. The judge, unlike the crowd, does not seem to be enjoying this. "Let's get this over with, shall we?" he asks, looking at Virtue over a wrinkled muzzle.

Virtue gives a respectful bend of her leg. "I would heartily agree, your honor."

"Last night, six super-sized sacks of sugar were siphoned from Sugar Cane's sugar supply. Stolen, that is. He heard someone moving around upstairs, and caught the thief in the act, describing him as a grey pegasus wearing a battle-saddle. Before he could apprehend the thief however, he fled, using his wings to escape."

The judge looks over his glasses at Virtue. “A remarkably effective disguise he's employing then.”

"Your honor,” the lead guard continues, “this mare entered the town yesterday, vouching that the grey pegasus with her was her 'knight protector.' Given that there's no evidence that he was ever a knight and he vanished suddenly, it's very likely she's his accomplice in some regard."

She nods. "There was indeed a grey pegasus stallion among my party. He was assigned to my employ as my protector several weeks ago, and arrived with me yesterday morning. I can say with absolute certainty that I have no idea what he has been up to last evening, nor would I have approved of him gallivanting about with other pony's property," she says, all of which is absolutely true, as far as it goes. "Assuming for a moment that this is that pegasus—and, as he left early last morning I cannot say that it is, though a 'grey pegasus with a battle saddle' is as vague a descriptor as you could choose considering their common garb—he certainly was acting under neither my supervision nor my approval."

"The young mare makes a cogent point, officer," the judge says, fixing the guard with a stare.

"But, sir! We have several witnesses on the street who also identify the thief as her companion," the guard insists. "We have good evidence it's him!"

The judge though, shakes his head. "Then when you have him in custody—or material evidence linking her to the crime—we may resume this discussion. Until then, perhaps you should apologize to this young mare for barging into her room so early in the morning."

The guard looks like he's like to say something to Virtue, alright. But finally, he grumbles out an apology.

Virtue accepts it graciously, for her part, giving him a nod. "Thank you, your honor. Please, accept my apologies for troubling you so early in the morning. If it should happen that this thief can be identified as my stallionservant, please forward the damages. Is there perhaps anything I can do for you now?"

"If I did, I would wish to have stern words with him,” huffs Virtue. “It reflects poorly upon me. If it isn't too much trouble, then, I think me and mine shall be going."

The crowd quickly loses interest, already starting to disperse. In the crowd, a young colt sniffles, lowering his ears. “I'm never going to get to see a real courtroom drama.” His older brother gives him a pat on the head.

Moonlight Meadows turns to look at the colt, as she passes by. "Save up for a trip to one of the big cities. I hear they have lots of drama there!"

Virtue smiles at that, much as her attention is elsewhere. "Oh, delightful. Ladies, let us leave this town behind. We have troubled it enough," she says, leading the way toward the city gates.

The town guards may grumble, but the group has no difficulty getting on their way and out of the town.

Most of the ponies are still getting dressed as they walk along the wooded trail, what with their rude awakening. The sun hangs low in the morning sky, easily visible through the light tree cover.

As they walk, Virtue slides up alongside “Melody”. "A word, dear. I had best hope that there was no truth to the good judge's allegations. I would have fairly firm words with that pegasus if there were. What do you think?"

One has never seen a more serene expression than the one that graces Silver’s face. He checks who is in earshot, but none save them are on the trails this early. "I should say, it reflects rather poorly on that pegasus's... skill. How embarrassing."

Moonlight Meadows's armor is rather simpler to put on, as it is a simpler piece - and, curiously, shaped out of wood. "Another grey pegasus? Like you said, it's not like that's a very specific description."

"Any notion as to whom the culprit may be, then?” Virtue asks. "Or perhaps where these stolen goods may wind up?"

Silver Shine scratches her chin. "Stolen goods can't be sold just anywhere. They would need someone willing to buy: a fence, in other words."

"Or are using it for their own purposes,” muses Dawn. “Any large events with baked goods in the upcoming future?"

Virtue nods to the collective ideas. "Delightful. Ladies, I have it in mind to pay these ponies back for their hospitality. It is a slight detour from our sacred charge, but one, I think, the benefactress would approve of."

Azure Charger dons her armor piece-by-piece as they walk along. Even with years of training, it goes slightly worse than you'd expect. She hobbles about on three legs, a hoofboot strap taut in her mouth "Wah you haf in mii?”

"I propose we locate this imposter, rescue the purloined goods, shove a sock in his throat, and cart both of them back."

"Thanks," she mumbles, self-conscious. As she fidgets, a strap comes loose and her saddlebags slip off, lodging firmly into Moonlight's mane. "Oh, ponyfeaters..."

"No no, I got it." She steps off a ways, braces... and then shakes herself, in a manner rather reminiscent of a dog.

Azure holds up a hoof, shielding herself from the debris. "And how exactly do we go about that?” she asks Virtue. “We've got as many leads as the townsfolk have? Not to mention, we've already got our own troubles with missing items, as it is."

There's a few things other than Azure's saddlebags in that spray. Like coins. And wrapped candies. And a small sword. And a map of Equestria. And a comb.

"You're bathing every night if we can help it. That is ferociously non-hygienic," Virtue says, recoiling from the display. "If I weren't in a hurry I'd have you dunked into the river."

Dawn Star looks ruefully at the detrus. "When was the last time you washed your mane?"

Moonlight Meadows thinks. "Two days ago.” She then sets about gathering up the various things. “Balti helps."

Virtue coughs. "Now, then. If there are no objections?" Virtue rubs her chin consideringly. "It's not a large town. Could you locate it, you think? Or is there a way we can identify it from the outside?"

"Find the sugar, find the stallion," says Silver Shine. “The sugar has to still be in Rambling Ridge, somewhere.”

Azure Charger grimaces. "We're pushing our luck to return there, after this morning's wake-up call."

"I had no intention of returning without already knowing where it is." Virtue looks to Dawn Star. "You, too. Do you have any magic that can suss it out?"

Dawn Star nods energetically. “Mmm! Once the sun’s at its highest peak.”

Moonlight Meadows thinks. "When did they say it happened?"

Virtue motions them all off the road once they're out of sight. "Last night.” Virtue gestures with her horn, taking a hair clip from “Melody's” mane, causing Silver Shine to poof back into his normal self. She fiddles with the clip in her aura. "You're the expert, Silver Shine, how do you want to look?"

He considers a moment. "Say, Moonlight, do you have any 'friends' who can track the smell of sugar?"

Moonlight shakes her head. "That wouldn't work. Sugar scent is all over that town. We'd just wind up at the closest sweet's shop."

Azure Charger looks up and scoffs. "No cloud cover. That'd make recon difficult. For only one pegasus in town, she's sure making a nuisance of herself."

"We can keep watch easily enough, then,” Virtue says.

Azure Charger jolts upright. "I... what? You want..." She casts a quick glance to the road and lowers her voice. "You want me to attack her?"

"My thought is to track the sugar to it's most likely destination," says Silver. "How many ponies can there be in this town that can store a huge lump of sugar without attracting attention?"

"Anyone with a cellar. Also, any bakery." Moonlight pauses, tapping her chin. "I could also ask the cats. Do you want me to do that now?"

Azure shakes her head. "Silver especially, but even all of us are on their watchlist now. You saw what happened to Virtue. This is risky."

Virtue waves the clip back at Silver Shine. "Either I give you a new disguise, you go in there, and find the sugar, or we wait until they leave. As I said, you are the expert."

Silver Shine shakes his head. "If I were to go in, there is always the danger of getting in trouble. Tempting fate, you know."

"Indeed, which is why I think an uninterested third party disguise would work wonders. I don't carry this for touchups, after all." She looks at him a moment more, but he seems steadfast. “But I won’t force the issue.”

Dawn Star tilts her head in the direction of town. "Do you think we could search the scene of the crime?"

"That makes sense. You should start that." Moonlight stands, and starts walking back towards town. "I'm gonna go ask the cats."

"Off to patrol, for me." Azure flies off to find a high tree-branch to scout from, hopefully unseen.

Azure has never experienced this before. It's a very... strange sensation. She has successfully snuck up on somepony.

Lightning Glass is sitting on a cloud directly over Rambling Ridge. At first, Azure thinks she's guarding the town, but as Azure sneaks in closer, she sees that Lightning is distracted. She's fiddling with a small item in the cloud, looking at it and mumbling to herself. Azure can't see what it is clearly, but she's absorbed enough she's not paying any attention, and Azure is free to observe the town from behind cloud cover—like the pegasus warriors of old, spying on their earth pony vassals.

...She feels a slight urge to set one of their buildings on fire and kidnap a bride. But no. Azure Charger isn't the sort to cuddle.

Looking about, she does spot a number of town guards. They're mostly just standing by the gate, or at their posts. It's not a town with a lot of crime, as far as she can tell, and they look pretty bored. She'd guess there's maybe six guards in the whole town.

A small crowd of well-wishers has gathered in from of Sugar Cane’s shop. From her vantage point, Azure can see that the north-facing window is clearly broken, and that some of the shingles directly beneath the window have been broken as well. But from her distance, that’s all that she is able to make out.

And so, she elects to simply keep her watch on the curious pegasus and her cloud. And to suppress thoughts of securing a cloud-wife, as in the olden days.

Moonlight Meadows starts transforming as she walks toward the town gates. This time, she shrinks, her form once again growing feline. Her fur has more in common with her coat than her mane, with the pink relegated to the very tips of her ears and tails.

Moonlight is well on her way in before the second guard asks, “Wait, you speak cat?”

Moonlight is able to speak with a number of the cats around town, and learns many useful things. For instance, that the houses here don't coordinate, so if you go and mew at a number of different doors, you can get fed multiple times a night.

Perhaps more relevantly though, an old calico cat the ponies call Muffins (she calls herself Dame Shorthair the Third), claims to have seen what happens. She gives a very detailed description of Silver Shine, and says she saw him scramble over the roof of the house owned by Sugar Cane, before flying across the main street to the buildings on the north side of town. After that, he hopped down off the roofs and ran off on hoof, all while carrying the sugar. She lost sight of him shortly after, though.

Moonlight Meadows thanks Dame Shorthair the Third, and goes off to check out the scene of the crime itself, and the roof of that building "Silver" scrambled over, if she can figure out a way up it. Oh, wait, she is a cat. Working her way up to the roof, she attracts the attention of two ponies who think she needs help getting down from the roof, along with their cries of, “Come down, kitty!”

She too finds the broken tiles that Azure spotted earlier. She can see them in more detail though, and there’s clearly four hoof-marks. Somepony landed on this roof with their full weight, carrying something heavy. There are also scratches leading along the top, and another pair of cracked shingles on the far side—probably from somepony leaping off the north face, she'd say—and again, putting a lot of weight into it. Beyond that, there isn't much to see here, and with the broken window sealed up and the shop closed, she doesn't see an easy way into the sugar shop.

So Moonlight goes to check out where Muffins said the thief descended from the rooftops, conveniently using one of those helpful ponies’ heads as a method of getting down. "Aaah!" Cats are so cute.

Inspecting the ground there, she finds another set of deep hoofmarks in the soil, somepony making a rough landing. She has no difficulty at all tracking the hoofprints around the building. The thief stumbled a few times, obviously struggling with the weight. The hoofsteps lead around the town, along the wall, and finally…

There are times when it's really, really better not to have an acute sense of smell. This is one of those times. But Moonlight thinks she does detect just a whiff of sugar. Nosing her way inside, Moonlight discovers regret. Also, a fine powdered dusted here and there on the floor. This is really not somewhere she wants to go poking around more than she has too, but she'd hazard this is the sugar, which would put the rest of it down the hole. As it were… that may impact the resale value.

It doesn't take long for the whole of the party to reconvene, including Azure, once she realizes the group is meeting up. "Looks like most of the town's back to normal. As long as we can keep a low profile, we should be in the clear." Azure looks up toward the sky. "Most of them. That Lightning was up to something."

Virtue scritches Moonlight’s belly. "Who's a good kitty? Yes you are." Moonlight Meadows purrs, and then suddenly is no longer a kitty. "So. What did you discover?"

"Dame Shorthair the Third saw Silver steal the sugar," she says, and takes a moment to roll in the grass. "She put me on the track. Which I tracked." She pauses once again for a particularly vigorous roll, then stands up. "To an outhouse."

Virtue snorts. "A frame up, then. This has just become personal. Not likely our thief will return, but perhaps..."

"But why?" Azure looks to Silver. "Who would be going to such lengths to frame you, would you think? Local enemies?"

Silver Shine frowns. "This is a very puzzling situation. Who saw me before Virtue's spell, and wanted to frame me? For all the fuss, my last visit was reasonably quiet."

"I am uncertain. I will ask when we find him." Virtue makes an uglier face still. "Perhaps if we had the bags we could use Dawn's power..."

"There was the guards at the gate who saw me,” he muses. “And the weather pegasus if she paid attention... Who else?"

Azure Charger looks back up toward the cloud cover and frowns. "The weather pony was doing something. With the clouds. Couldn't tell from my vantage point."

“I spoke to her yesterday,” Silver says to Azure. “She didn't seem... out for blood? And she certainly didn't see through my disguise, otherwise she would have framed me as Melody Moon."

Azure Charger nods at Virtue. "I suppose that's the way of it. I want to know what Lightning was doing with that cloud. Looked like she was digging into it, almost. Looked suspicious." She looks back to the group and arches the eyebrow. "A distraction could draw her away for long enough, though that's tempting fate quite a bit. Not much of a lead, but, well..." She grimaces. "I don't particularly want to retrieve the sugar bags."

Virtue nods. "Let us chase it up, then. Worst case scenario, I leave a note for Master Cane with some payment."

"It's probably best that Silver not draw further attention to herself,” says Azure. “If I can make friends with Lightning, will you be able to get in and out with the cloud?" she asks Silver.

Silver Shine arches an eyebrow. "With the cloud? What's your plan when she notices it's gone?"

Azure Charger opens her mouth and closes it. "Mmm. So we'd need to check the cloud without taking it? While it's hovering above town for all to see... Tricky."

"Well, we can give it a shot. As long as I'm unnoticed I should be able to fly in and take a look without too much trouble. Perhaps even bring something back."

"Invisibility," Moonlight says, coming back from the river... and, notably, soaking wet. You assume it's Moonlight, anyway. With her mane wet, you can't really see her face. It kind of... drapes. It's a rather odd effect. Also just points out how much mane she has. “Like Virtue said.”

Azure blinks. "Oh. Eh... hehe... right." She rubs the back of her head. "Forgot."

Virtue giggles, checking over Moonlight. "Did anyone ever mention you were adorable wet?" She levitates Moonlight's comb out to start brushing it back from her face.

"Mrrr." Balti leans over to her, licking her hair clean. It just won't look right overwise. Moonlight is used to this.

"Right then. Visible distraction. Invisible cloud digging." With a nod, Azure takes to the air and makes straight for the city's airspace. "Guards! Guards!" She hovers in front of Lightning, panting exaggeratedly for breath. "Stallion... attacked us... flew to the... north."

Silver Shine blinks a few times. "Well, that's one way..." he mutters, then turns to Virtue. "Shall we?"

For a moment, Lightning Glass and the guards look at Azure. "Are you trying to lure me off so you and your thief friend can ambush me and job me?"

Azure stares, dumbfounded. "What?! We just”—she pants—“were attacked and you're just going to sit here?! Fine lot of guards you are!" She gets all up in Lightning's face.

"I'm not a guard. I'm a weatherpony." Lightning Glass shoots back. "And you're a criminal."

"Well I don't exactly see a trail going north for the groundpounders. Unless any of the others can fly along to help..."

"I don't think a pegasus warrior would be sneaking around earth pony towns stealing sugar."

Lightning Glass swats Azure's hoof away. "Don't you touch me! What knight did you steal that armor from?"

"—that I am a Lancer First Class of one of the most illustrious of all Houses—"

Lightning Glass spreads her wings as Azure pushes her, the two soon glaring muzzle to muzzle. "What's your problem?"

From below, the guards call out, "Hey! What's going on up there!?" But Lightning Glass ignores them.

"As if a mere weathermare like you knows anything about true honor or integrity! Just content to sit here at your cushy desk job."

"Cushy—" She snorts. “Yeah, I was content to sit there until you came along! Nopony's buying your little act, so just shove off!" Lightning Glass gives Azure a sharp shove in the shoulder to make her point.

Azure Charger shoves back. "That's awfully convenient. Helpless travelers, drag them before the judge. First sign of danger, you just sit here pushing clouds back and forth."

"What's the matter?" Azure crosses her hooves. "Couldn't make the passing grade?"

"Bite me! I was in the militia! I wanted to be a weatherpony! I could kick your flank any day!"

"Oh, jeeze," one of the guards groans below. "You two want to come down and talk about this reasonably, maybe? Any chance of that?"

"You? Do you have any idea who you're talking to? Tell you what, dearie." Azure pats Lightning on the head, then points to the fields outside the north wall. "You and me, good ol' fashioned throw down. First to cry Uncle loses. Unless you don't think your militia training will cut it."

Lightning Glass looks at the the field. Then looks at Azure. "Sounds good to me. Also. Flying Scorpion Kick."

Lightning reaches out, grabs Azure by the wing, and twists both of them around, delivering a powerful kick to the spot right in the middle of Azure's wings. Azure's wings both suddenly go numb and lose their muscle strength, and she tumbles from the sky. She manages to recover in time to avoid crashing muzzle-first into the ground, but only just, taking a hard landing in the dirt. She's able to stumble to her feet, but something still doesn't feel quite right, all her muscles sluggish and unresponsive. Lightning Glass lands on the ground before Azure, rearing up on her rear legs, hooves raised. "I'll show you just how much I cut it, you two-bit thief!"

Azure recovers reasonably quickly at least, the guards left momentarily at a loss as the two pegasi face each other. She leaps up to her hooves and lunges, trying to get Lightning in a hooflock. As she leaps forward, Lightning Glass grabs rolls out of the way, grabbing her by one hoof and one wing. "Sky!" She shouts, hurling Azure up. "Splitting!" She twists around herself, bringing her rear legs into position. "Strike!" she shouts, bucking upwards, and kicking Azure clear into the cloud layer.

"Who shouts their moves when they do them!?" screams Azure as she goes sailing. She manages to recover admirably, actually keeping in the sky. She sees the cloud discreetly sliding away out of town, though she can't see Silver.

"Fine! Two can play at that game. CHARGE!" Azure charges into the fray, diving towards Lightning Glass hooves-first! Her hooves strike forward towards the enemy, and in the zen of battle, she realizes—

It really has been a long time since she practiced hoof-to-hoof combat. Maybe she should do those drills more.

Lightning Glass rolls to the side as Azure charges, leaping after her, over her. When Azure's charge ends, Lightning Glass is above her, and her hooves spike down. "Lightning Hoof Strike!"

Azure gets the wind knocked out of her, and she sees stars. Three quick strikes drive down into her back. The cloud is away at this point, but she's meandering drunkenly around the sky, just trying to stay up.

Azure sputters and slurs with her speech. "Ow... big dumb... FINE, just... you and your..." She turns to drift slowly out of town, tail tucked between her legs.

"Fine! And don't show your face around here again!" Lightning Glass calls, fluffing her wings angrily before flying back to... her... "Wait, where did my cloud go?"

Virtue seems to have found a bottle of rubbing alcohol somewhere. Azure is wrapped up in a rather un-knightly bandage as Virtue dabs her many cuts and bruises with the little cotton swabs. A knight, of course, would never show pain. Even if it does really sting.

Silver Shine is just making his way back to the group now. As a master of the thieving craft, he took a more circumspect route with his stolen cloud, just in case somepony was following him. Confidant that he made a clean getaway, he is now able to approach the group again, slowly drifting to a stop near them.

"You know, if she realizes you were holding back, won't she come looking for a rematch at some point?" Virtue asks, airily. Almost as if she was looking forward to the idea.

Azure has been, suffice it to say, a bit dour since her return, accepting Virtue's aid in silence. Her ears perk at Virtue's question, however. "...Indeed, she might." she says, a faint smile returning."So, what exactly did we get, that I had to eat a few Flaming Starfall Omega Happy Funkicks for?"

Moonlight Meadows has been engaged in that time-honored, ancient pastime common to many animals, ponies included, a practice hailing back to the very beginnings of time itself... Basking in the sun. She's almost dry.

Silver Shine walks up. "Well," he says, taking in the rather beleaguered state of Azure, "I guess she was tougher than she looked."

"Seriously who shouts the names of their attacks?" she mutters, scuffing her hoof on the pathway.

"Are you close to done?" Dawn Star asks Virtue. "Once you get her injuries cleaned, I can heal her."

Dawn Star nods. "Alright, this'll be done in a jiffy," she says brightly as her mane seems to glow gold as a wash of healing energy. The golden light engulfs Azure, dulling if not outright banishing most of her pain, and visibly healing injuries. "Feel better, hun?"

Azure lets out a groan, stretching out her joints. "Oof, very. Thanks much, Dawn Star."

"Anytime, sugar," she says, bowing her head a little, an easy smile on her face.

The stolen cloud is just behind Silver Shine, floating quietly a few feet off the ground. Moonlight opens one eye from where she lays in the sun, looking at the cloud.

There doesn't seem to be much to the cloud. It's just a small raincloud, of the sort a weatherpony might commonly have at hoof. The only thing that stands out about it is that a small section of it has been padded down enough that it will hold solid objects for a little while—like the shelves in a cloudhouse.

It would appear to be a small fern. It's seen better days though, a bit sickly. An eye-dropper full of water and a roll of paper are half-buried in the dirt.

Azure Charger looks at the fern, and sighs again. "I got my wings yanked, over a snack."

Moonlight Meadows gets up, shaking herself a bit, and trots over to investigate the fern. "That's from Wisp's store," she says. "Same type of plant. Same type of pot."

"So, Kick Shouter shops at her store? Not exactly the conspiracy we were hoping for." Azure Charger looks back at the town in the distance, mulling things over. Frowning, she pokes through the cloud some more, as if hoping something else will pop out. It rains a little.

Virtue checks the paper out, since nopony else is. "Nothing useful for us, I think," she says, passing it over to Dawn Star. "We'll probably just let this cloud drift back if you can't make sense of that. Likely even so, actually."

Dawn Star nods, takes over the telekinetic hold of the paper, then reads it over. "Nothing here. Looks like someone planted this for a bit. I don't think paper grows into trees, at least, not that I've seen."

"Very well," Virtue says, taking it back. Moonlight grabbyhooves at the paper, giving it a quick inspection, before releasing it back. Virtue replants the piece of paper with an odd, tender gesture, making sure it looks reasonably similar. "All right. Let it go, Silver."

Silver sighs. "It still smells fishy to me." The cloud drift aways on its own accord. Silver keeps a suspicious eye on it for a few moments. Azure too gives the cloud a particularly dour look.

"Well, I think this narrows down our possible actions." Virtue turns to formally address Dawn. "Miss Star, if you can see the crime scene, could you possibly discover anything else of value?"

She nods energetically. "Mmm hmm. Only once a day though, when the sun’s at its highest."

"Very well, we have business inside town in any event. I would like to report the location of the missing sugar." Virtue glances to the others. "Perhaps it is just myself, but I also feel as if we are tangentially responsible for what happened to Master Cane. More accurately, he was harmed because of our presence. I would like to compensate him for his trouble. I can cover that amount with my personal funds, but if anypony would care to chip in a portion..."

“Kay-o," says Moonlight Meadows, standing aside her. She rummages around in her hair, finding where she tied her coin-bag. She undoes the knot, in that way earth ponies do, and peers inside.

Virtue smiles. "Of course, when we do find the thief, I plan to take it out of his hide."

But Azure hems and haws. "Dawn Star? I hate to suggest this. I really, truly do." She sighs and fixed a flat expression on her. "The bags that the sugar were held in. If they were..." she groans, "recovered, would your special talent work on them?"

Dawn Star smiles back, friendly to the core. "To find out who took them, hun? Of course!"

"If there are no further suggestions, then," Virtue nods, and starts back towards the town. She levitates her hairclip, ready to return it to Silver Shine’s mane.

Azure Charger follows behind, walking the march of the damned, but she stops short. "Err. Speaking of disguises. I may have… caused a bit of a scene.” She scratches behind her head with a hoof. “So to speak."

Moonlight Meadows arches an eyebrow. "I think the guards are also all suspicious-like of you, Virtue."

Virtue hovers her clip in front of Silver, pausing before turning him back. "They are, but I do not care. I have nothing to hide. Do you think Miss Glass will make trouble for you, Azure?

Azure Charger frowns, giving consideration to the skyline. "Honestly, Virtue?" She smirks. "I hope she does."

"I somehow thought so." Virtue puts the hairclip into Silver Shine’s mane, and thus does Melody Moon return. She starts back towards the town, bold as can be.

The heroic little herd makes good time down the road, and soon, Rambling Ridge and its open gates are in sight once again. The same two guards are there from before. One of them is leaning on her spear, the other reading through an introductory guide to speaking squirrel.

"Hey!" the more alert guard calls out at the herds approach, though it's Azure, not Virtue he calls to. "What was that about earlier!?"

"Oh, thanks. I'm trying to—uh, I mean. Yeah!" says the other guard, quickly putting the book away. "You can't just start fights."

Moonlight trots up to the guy with the book. "Ever thought about learning tortoise?"

"I thought about it, but I heard it was really hard to learn and—" He glances at Azure, and his partner, sensing an impending fight, "We should talk about this later."

Azure Charger fixes an icy glare on the first guard. "That, was about the ponies of this town leaving my companions unassisted in a moment of need."

"So why didn't you ask the authorities for help?" the mare guard demands, glaring right back. "Why did you go bother our weatherpony?"

The rest of the herd steps quickly, nudging their ways past Azure. "Excuse me, guardsponies,” calls Virtue. Azure opens her mouth at first, but yields.

"...well. No, actually," the guard says, after a moment. "Lightning Glass is the only pegasus I've ever met. Is this a thing?"

"They did challenge one another," says Virtue. "Pegasi challenges are quite commonplace."

"They get riled up. Something about competition." Dawn Star shakes her head a little.

Moonlight Meadows cocks her head to the side, her torn ear wiggling a bit. "Yep. 'S a thing. They're all 'I'm better!' 'No I'm better!' 'Let us fight! Ha ha!' 'You will feel the power of my lance! Ha ha!' And then they beat each other up and then go for drinks."

Virtue looks down to Moonlight Meadows. Moonlight Meadows looks back, and blinks.

"I was kind of wondering why she didn't want to press charges or anything," the second guard admits, a bit confused. "So, did she like, insult you or something?"

Azure Charger, for her part, lifts her nose in disdain. "She turned down a request for aide. Weatherpony or not, it's a matter of honor," she huffs.

Moonlight Meadows sloooooowly leans over to the stallion guard. "I think it's kind of like when earth pony stallions challenge each other to see who can haul the most stuff."

"Like I said, all about pride,” Dawn Star says. “Don't worry your little head about it. We all get like that, pegasi just do it in a different way than we do. And I've seen unicorns,” she whispers low, "do it about fashion."

The guard gives Dawn Star an irritated look, but shakes her head. "Well, fine. I suppose since she didn't press charges... if it's a pegasi thing.” He glowers at Azure. “But don't do it again! You made a real scene."

"I will make certain sure that it's fake next time!" Moonlight Meadows pronks away.

"Regardless." Virtue maneuvers to the front. "No charges were pressed, Miss Glass also won the fight, in any event." Azure ruffles her wings a bit, as Virtue continues. "And we are here on particular business."

Moonlight Meadows stops mid-pronk and turns around. "Oh right, we're doing that."

"Through magic,” Virtue says, undeterred, “I have discovered the location of the bags of sugar that were stolen from Master Cane, whose theft was ludicrously charged against me."

"They were disposed of within the town and—well, let us say soiled." Virtue wrinkles her nose. "I can show you where. Quite possibly, I can also discover more about the thief through them." Virtue starts forward, her capped hooves ringing in a determined pattern. The guards nod and follow behind her.

Entering the town, a few things can be seen right away. Lightning Glass seems to have recovered her cloud, and actually seems to be in very good spirits. She's just a ways down the street, passing the time near one of the venders and doing some sort of back-and-forth shuffle dance: "~Everypony was kung-fu fighting! Those bucks were fast as lightning~" she sings, to the amusement of those near her. Azure narrows her eyes, but the weatherpony doesn’t seem to notice the herd enter, and for now, Azure doesn’t provoke her.

Sweet Tooth is visible as well, currently sorting through a number of bags one of the out-of-town merchants has on a cart. He seems unhappy with all of them.

Finally, Wisp Will and Old Bat can be seen cheerfully chatting as the little herd and guards walk past. Wisp Will looks up as they pass. "Oh... hi. I thought you'd left already," she says, rather tepidly.

"We had, but the matter of the thief disturbed me greatly." Virtue inclines her head to her and Old Bat.

"Well, everypony knows you didn't do it," says Will Wisp. "I mean. The guards here are just kind of slow—"

"—slow to... overlook! Any potential evidence. But, um. Why are you back then?"

Virtue smiles. "I appreciate the sentiments, Miss Will. As I said, the matter of the thief needs attending to."

As they speak, Sweet Tooth wanders over from the merchant carts, perking his ears. “Hey there, you two,” he says to Azure and Moonlight, then he smiles in recognition at Virtue, then to Dawn and… Silver. “Ladies~”

"Master Tooth," Virtue says, extending a hoof in greeting. "I never had the opportunity to properly extend my gratitude towards your hospitality yesterday."

Sweet Tooth gives a good natured smile. “Thank you. It was nice to meet you." He looks between the herd and the guards. “I… believe I overheard you mentioning the robbery?”

"Sugar Cane is my father," he says, briefly looking back to the sugar merchants. "I was at my father’s store earlier, helping him to repair the damages. I'm sorry you got dragged into this, but do you know anything about where your friend went?"

"It is the matter of your father being robbed that brought us here, in fact." Virtue glances between Sweet Tooth and Wisp Will, briefly. "I have significant reason to believe it was an imposter, seeking to inconvenience us, rather than a proper thief. I know where the bags were taken."

"Also a good nose," Moonlight mutters. Azure Charger looks at Moonlight and blanches.

"I thought you might like to accompany us," Virtue says, making the invitation sound general to both of them.

"It does sound a little farfetched," Sweet Tooth agrees. "But... well. I suppose if you were a thief, you would hardly have come back. So, lead on."

Virtue sweeps along, making it seem as if the guards are there as her personal escort. As she follows Moonlight's directions, the guards are... less than pleased, to discover exactly where Virtue is leading them. Extra less than pleased at the thought that physical proof needs to be... retrieved.

"Surely you can use your unicorn magic to uh... well. Yes," one of the guards suggests.

"Ah. No. The bags are far too heavy," Virtue says. "Truthfully, I would have preferred to corner the thief and return him and the bags intact, but c'est la vie, as the Fancy say."

"Well, the bags will probably have started to disintegrate by now anyway,” says Sweet Tooth with a frown. “We really only need a small piece, which means that—not it."

Virtue always wondered just how it was that earth ponies clean outhouses. Now she knows! ...it's less gross than she had imagined. And yet, just gross enough that she's hesitant to shake hooves now. Eventually, the guard ends up with a substantive chunk of sugar sack on the end of his spear, Sweet Tooth holding his nose and inspecting the label. "Oh, did you receive those mints?" she directs at Wisp Will, as if distracted by the proceedings.

"Oh... those were from you?" Wisp Will asks, and her ears droop a bit. "Um. Yes. I got them. They were... nice."

“Master Tooth sent them, actually," she says, while the stallion in question is distracted. "I did offer to pay the young colt, though. He was so nervous, it was adorable."

"Oh, really?" Wisp Will asks, looking up. "I had thought, uh... that is. Well, nevermind."

"Mmhmm. That is the missing bag," Sweet Tooth confirms, leaning up and stepping away quickly. "One of them, anyway. A pity it's all gone, but I suppose this does clear your good name, Virtue. As if there was any doubt. I suppose your escort decided to make trouble for you before he ran off."

Moonlight Meadows looks at “Melody”. The pegasus looks on, every bit nonchalant toward the exchange.

"Possibly." Virtue plucks the piece in her magic. Even that looks unpleasant to her, like she's cringing away from it while she floats it over to Dawn Star. "Miss Star, if you will?"

Sunlight shines down into the little sphere in front of Dawn Star, split into a thousand points by the glass. The guards lean away, Sweet Tooth shields his eyes, Wisp Will bites her lip and backs away. The sun's dazzling beams splay out in every direction, and then the crystal loses its focus. For a moment, a few half-hearted images can be seen on the ground, and then, nothing but a rippling blur. Dawn Star blinks a few times, looking between the ground and her glass sphere.

"That was terrible." Wisp Will narrows her glare at Azure, then turns back to Virtue. "For today?"

"Indeed, the spell may only be performed once per day at noon. I'm afraid we'll have to continue our hunt on the road, it seems." She taps a hoof on the ground. ”However, I think it rules out our comrade. If it were him, the description should have identified him at once. No, I think we are dealing with somepony who wished to cast aspersions on us."

"I can't imagine why anypony here would wish you harm," the guard says, and after a moment she adds, "I hope no harm befell your companion. Perhaps you should check on him next? His vanishing does seem rather odd."

"An excellent idea. Thank you all." she says. "Now... I did wish to provide some form of compensation to your father. I understand this must have hurt him terribly, Master Tooth. And I feel responsible, seeing as how it would not have occurred if I were not here.”

Sweet Tooth quickly waves away the suggestion. "Oh, I couldn't possibly accept, and I'm sure he won't either. This is hardly your fault, and you came all the way back here to help us after bein—"

Moonlight Meadows nudges her way forward, tilting her head up at Sweet Tooth. "What if we were just convenient scapegoats and the real target was Sugar Cane?"

Sweet Tooth pauses at Moonlight's speculation. "Well. It was quite a lot of very valuable sugar—but not a ruinous amount. I... suppose somepony might hold a grudge."

But Virtue looks narrowly at Moonlight, her tone turning icy. "Let it never be said that I am not a mare of my word." And with that, she upends her money purse.

Moonlight Meadows blinks at the sudden coldness. "What?" The others in the herd look about in surprise as well.

How, precisely, she counts out a shower of three hundred bits is beyond anypony. But Virtue looks down at it, her horn flaring brightly, and she shifts them into a little pyramid of shining gold there on the street.

Sweet Tooth looks uncertain for a moment, glancing at the pile of money, but his resolve hardens, and he pushes it back. "It's very kind of you, Virtue, but I really can't let you take responsibility for something that wasn't your fault."

Virtue lowers her head, slightly. She looks down at the pile, and sighs. "Very well."

Azure Charger pauses, then trots up to Virtue's side. "All the same, we would like to do what we can to make the situation right."

Virtue slices off a few at the top, pushing it towards him. "Accept ten, please. For your kindness yesterday. I feel..." She stops herself, then says a bit tightly, "You and yours were hurt because of my presence. I cannot abide that."

"...well." Sweet Tooth says, clearly torn. "It's a new era. I suppose my family's dignity will somehow survive. Thank you. It's very kind."

"Yes. Um. Very kind. Of you. To him." Wisp Will scrapes at the ground with a hoof, as Sweet Tooth makes the money vanish.

Virtue looks to Wisp Will and moves closer. "I never properly apologized for yesterday, Wisp Will. I am sometimes... well, driven by what I feel I must do against what I feel is right. I felt deeply ashamed to force that upon you." She glances back at Azure; Azure smiles back, reassuringly.

Wisp Will gives a weak smile of her own. "You um. You just asked a few questions. It's... it's fine. Really. You should be on your way. Before it gets too late in the day, I mean."

Virtue smiles shyly, lowering her head again as she glances towards Wisp Will. "Thank you. I fear we have a long journey ahead, indeed. Good luck." She returns to her pile and sweeps it back into her bag with a hoof.

Moonlight Meadows lingers behind the group a bit, and trots over to Wisp Will. "Hi."

"Oh. Um." Wisp Will looks up at Moonlight. "You're the mare who talks to plants, right?"

"Yes. I still want that oak, but if you get a place to plant it I'll understand. Also, 'cause time is kinda short and we're going to see the griffons and I don't know when we're gonna be back"—she says, pausing to take a breath—"if you like someone, go talk to them and maybe help them with making their candy and stuff. Of course I could be reading things completely wrong but I don't think so but that's what I had to say."

Wisp Will blushes a bright red, looking down at the ground and muttering something inaudible. Finally, she manages: "Good luck. With the whole griffon thing."

"Now, see, when I was doing it, it was subtle," Virtue says to Moonlight as the herd leaves town, her voice ringing of amusement.

Azure Charger gives Virtue a nudge as they clear the town gates. "We're doing them a favor, you realize."

"That suits me right down to the marrow." Virtue nods. "I hope we pass by here on the way back."

Azure looks askance at Virtue. "Because if it's true that the imposter thief is targeting us, they just might seek to follow."

"Good." Virtue stares straight ahead as they walk. "I want him close at hoof. All the easier to catch him."

Dawn Star hems and haws a moment. "You think he was using some sort of magic to hide himself?"

"Almost certainly. Though it may be a mundane skill, of course. Or perhaps a stranger ability, still." Virtue looks at Dawn Star with a raised brow.

"Hey now, what I do isn't that strange.” Dawn raises a hoof as she walks. “I just believe hard, and good things happens."

"Precisely." Virtue smirks. "You and Moonlight have forced me to revise many of my cherished assumptions."

Azure gives a pondering glance at Silver. "The question still remains if there's hostilities toward just Silver Shine, or the lot of us."

Wisp Will: Proprietor of Phosphorescents and Potted Plants

Sweet Tooth: Seller of Sugary Snacks

Lightning Glass: Much Maligned Meteorologist

Suffice it to say, the GM was somewhat displeased with Azure’s treatment of local weatherpony, Lightning Glass.

GM: well, uh
GM: Let's just say
GM: when you said
GM: "I'll go make friends with her to distract her"
GM: I had assumed you meant, you know.
GM: "Hi. You wanna hang out?"
GM: Though I guess a kung-fu battle for dominance is a kind of bonding
Azure: Jaxie, Jaxie, Jaxie
Azure: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DefeatMeansFriendship
Azure: I didn't want the guards on my flank! D: lol
GM: They're earth ponies!
Silver: Fly away?
GM: What are they gonna do?
GM: Sit there and wish they had wings at you?
Pav: give me very disapproving looks!
Virtue: This just means you need to rematch and not be such a p***y next time :D

Luckily, she was an irrelevant NPC who never came up in the story, ever again.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The Quest for Celestia's Raiment

by GaPJaxie

Silver Stole Sugar