//------------------------------// // Geeze, how many plotlines do I HAVE here anyway? // Story: In which Masterweaver just makes stuff up // by Masterweaver //------------------------------// "Manehattan!" cried Rarity. "Manehattan?" queried Twilight. "Manehattan," confirmed Applejack. "Tourists," snorted a passing hippogriff. "Well," Twilight managed, "now that we're here, what exactly do we need to do?" "We need to obtain an ancient artifact from a business monger through any means legitimate or non prior to the attempt of a griffon warlord attempting to do so," Pinkie reminded her. "Yes, I got that, thanks. I meant, how are we going to go about it?" Rarity shrugged. "Well, we have options. One: get Rusty Rail arrested--the CMC got a message from Babs about some questionable acts they're doing, but in order for it to stick we'd need evidence. Two: steal the Blood Diamond from the Demolition Depot safe--not impossible, just very very difficult. Three: ensure said griffon warlord doesn't make it to the transfer point--while the easiest plan to implement, it's also the easiest to counter." "You seem to have thought this through pretty well," Applejack commented dryly. "Yes, well, I have been focused on the problem for quite some time now." "I vote option D: All of the above." Pinkie pulled a few bits out of her mane and plunked it on a roadside roast carrot vendor. "After all, it's harder to block actions from multiple directions. That's how I handled the Prairie Dog crisis, remember?" "Yes, Ah remember," Applejack said with a sigh. "Half o' Ponyville was convinced you were a demon from Tartarus." "And it took forever to clean out the stains!" Rarity whined. Twilight blinked. "Wait. What are you talking about?" "Oh, it was before you moved to Ponyville, darling." Rarity waved a hoof. "Really, a rather ghastly business all things considered. But the past is the past, and we should focus on what we're doing now." She handed the confused Twilight a stack of papers. "Would you be a dear and go to town hall? Out of all of us, I suspect you'd be the best at searching the records for evidence to arrest Rusty Rail with." "I... uh... okay, which way is town hall?" Applejack pointed a hoof. "Head thataway till ya hit Ork street, then hang a left to Main Lane, turn right and it should be tha big fancy buildin' with the statue of Pansy in front of it." Twilight nodded hesitantly. "Well... you lived here long enough, I guess..." She trotted off, glancing about occasionally. "Pinkie, darling? I think you would probably be excellent at keeping our griffon friend from reaching his destination." She pulled a map from one of the train station kiosks. "I think he'll be arriving from this skydock, and the end goal should be here..." "On it!" Pinkie took the map with a salute, pronking away eagerly. The unicorn turned to Applejack with an awkward smile. "Ah, as for the diamond... I honestly think it's best I go that alone. No offense, dear, but you aren't... shall we say, suited to such an attempt." "Ah getcha. Go off and do yer thing, Ah guess... Ah'll just meander about." Applejack waved as she left the station, whistling low. "Hooyee, the skyscrapers have only gotten taller since Ah've been here last...." Rarity shrugged, walking off toward her own destination. Well, not directly toward, of course; she had to meander just a titch to throw off any pursuers. After all, the group she was traveling with was mildly famous, not in the least because of her own actions. Still, not even her own well honed senses detected the figure following her, blending into the crowd with practiced ease. The tracer did not break off the pursuit even once; slow though they were, their chase was a consistent walk. In almost any other situation, they would have been totally anonymous. Most other situations did not have a unicorn randomly teleporting in, grabbing the startled pony, and teleporting out. The loss of one of their members disturbed the crowd, who in grand pony tradition backed away from the spot that the kidnapping had occurred in. This disturbance was, ironically enough, quite able to grab Rarity's attention, and she turned around. "Excuse me, what is everypony panicking about?" "Didn't you see?!" An aquamarine pegasus pointed at the place where the thing had happened. "Somepony was just kidnapped by a teleporting unicorn! Now all that's left is--" "Muffins," Rarity mused, her eyes falling on the box of pastries that was in the center of the space the crowd had cleared out. "Thirteen of them..." The pegasus nodded. "I don't know about you, miss, but somebody just up and vanishing from right next to you is terrifying." "Yes, well..." Rarity cleared her throat. "As horrible as this is, and it is, I'm afraid I have to be somewhere. Do tell any police that are curious that they may find me at Maryoat's hotel, I've booked a room under Rarity." She turned around, trotting away at a brisk pace. She forced herself to breathe evenly, taking a number of detours as she went along. If the Baker's Dozen was in fact active... if it hadn't been disbanded, like she'd thought, then the situation could get very complicated very quickly. On the one hoof, they could be quite useful if they were also working to gain the Blood Diamond. But on the other, well... who they were working for presented their own challenges. Best to avoid any detection-- "Oof!" Rarity blinked, smiling at the dark-coated pony she had bumped into. "Terribly sorry, darling, I wasn't looking at where I was--Princess Luna?!"