A long time ago, at Canterlot’s School for Magic...
A blue unicorn filly walked nervously along the prestigious halls, biting her lip and looking around. She clutched a starry hat to her chest as a similarly designed cape covered her shoulders.
As was typical for her most students ignored her. Trixie sighed to herself. She wasn’t talented enough to be popular, nor did she stand out at all. Sometimes, she even wished she was bullied like some of the more unusual or less promising students, just so somepony acknowledged that she existed, but that was beyond foolish. After all, she didn’t like being bullied...but still...at least then she wouldn’t be so alone...
A plan had formed in her mind...a way to gain some attention, some notoriety...to stand out from the crowd...but the thought of such a brazen, almost insane plan was too much for a timid pony like her.
But maybe...maybe that’s exactly what she needs to do in order to fill the void in her heart...
“Hey there!”
She blinked, eyes wide as she turned to the pony who greeted her. And upon seeing the unexpected greeter, her eyes widened further.
Rainbow Dash. A filly who had been the talk of the school, good or bad. The first Pegasus to attempt to study magic at all, who had been tormented by both students and staff for being so different, for standing out so much.
And she was smiling at Trixie.
“O-Oh g-good evening R-Rainbow Dash...” The unicorn blushed shyly. “W-W-What brings you here...t-talking to me...?”
Rainbow shrugged. “You seemed worried about something, so I decided to come over and see if I could help.”
Trixie looked down timidly. “y-You didn;t need to bother....I-I’m nopony special...”
Rainbow tilted her head. “Why should that matter? Look, take it from me, I used to think being famous and getting attention was awesome and fun but...really, the only ponies who care about that really are jerks, so I don’t care about it anymore.” She draped a wing over Trixie’s shoulders as she stood beside her. “Besides, it’s awesome enough just studying magic, seeing how cool it is!”
Trixie looked down with a soft smile. “I...I do like magic...”
The Pegasus grinned widely. “Yeah! See, I knew there was something I liked about ya! So what’s your name, anyway? Sorry I’m still getting used to talking to ponies...” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly, looking aside.
“I-I’m Trixie...I-I have trouble talking to ponies too...A-actually...i-it’s a little lonely...”
“Lonely? Well no wonder you’re all mopey!” Rainbow gasped, her free wing slapping the side of her cheek. “You don’t have any friends! Well we gotta fix that right away! So, Trix, you don’t mind hanging out with me do ya?”
“U-Ummm I don’t mind...”
“Great! I know a great magic show we can see after class!” Rainbow chuckled and dragged her new friend alongside her, Trixie dropping the hat and cape she had made as part of her desperate plan.
A plan she was starting to think she no longer needed...and conversely, that she didn’t need to change herself to be happy...
--------------------------
The train screeched as it stopped at one of the many, many stations of Dodge Junction, a pony standing before it as the doors opened, allowing its passengers to exit.
Blueblood and his lieutenant marched down with two other Royal Guards, flanking Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, Blue blood standing in front alongside Zecora and a nervous Trixie as they walked up to a blue, strong looking stallion with a buzzcut grey mane and bearing a cutie mark in the shape of a iron cage.
Blueblood saluted gingerly with a carefree smile. “Good evening, Sheriff.”
The stallion glared cautiously, looking the group over. “Ah was under the impression you were told to bring only six Royal Guard.”
Blueblood nodded. “Yes, but as you can see, these mares are NOT Royal Guard, they are simple tourists, civilians, towards whom we offered a ride as the gentlestallions, and gentlemares, we are.”
The stallion rolled his eyes. “Fine...but you better not cause any trouble, especially not today.”
Applejack tilted her head. “Why must you specifically clarify today? Would there be a reason we’d do anything....untoward on this day specifically?”
“Well, for one thing, today we’re holding the monthly Train Derby, all of our town’s mechanics and conductors are gettin’ ready to compete.” The blue stallion looked over the group sternly. “And it’s mah job ta ensure that nopony ruins our biggest tourist attraction for anypony.”
“Oh, you ladies don’t know who this is right?” Blueblood interjected, chuckling as he gestured to the stallion. “This is Sheriff Bluegrass, head of law enforcement in Dodge Junction and younger brother of Governor Bluegrass, the town’s mayor.”
“And no, Sheriff ain’t mah title.” Bluegrass said bitterly. “It’s mah name. Ah ensure order is kept and nopony steals or cheats.”
“Which brings us to why we are here.” Zecora interrupted. “I represent Iron Will Industries along with my unicorn associate here, and we are here regarding several shipments that originated from or had gone through here, said shipments have mysteriously vanished and everypony we had asked at their scheduled stops reported not even knowing said shipments even existed, let alone that they had gone undelivered.”
Sheriff Bluegrass raised a brow. “You better not be suggestin’ that we had any hand in any wrongdoin’. We here at Dodge Junction pride ourselves on our trains and our work with our trains, including deliveries and travel. If’n you have anything ta accuse of, ya’ll better have some proof!”
Blueblood got between the two just before Zecora was about to retort. “Now, now, nopony’s accusing anyone of anything. This is why we were summoned to assist: we just need to investigate and figure out where all the missing shipments went and how this happened. We doubt anypony did anything wrong, or if they did I doubt it was intentional.”He smiled charmingly. “Just allow us to look around for a bit, what harm can we do?”
“I ain’t one of those doe-eyed fanmares that kiss your flank, Captain, so don’t think you can butter me up with yer whiles.” Bluegrass snorted, and then looked at the three civilians. “And what about these three? Why are they here?”
Blueblood shrugged. “Sightseeing, of course. If they happen to follow us around though, pay them no mind, after all they will need guides to acquaint themselves with this fine city.”
It was at this point that Rainbow began to really look around herself. Dodge Junction was a massive city, much different from the small western town it had originated as. The buildings were massive and modern, covered with mechanisms and steam-spewing chimneys and vents. Surrounding every edge of the city were platforms for trains to stop at, and throughout the city were workshops for mechanics to work. Surrounding the city itself was a concave wall made of train tracks, from which tracks snaked throughout the city like an incredibly complex fusion between a spiderweb and a rollercoaster. At the very centre of the city was a coliseum-like complex with a massive tower rising from the middle.
Again, Rainbow marvelled that a frontier town had managed to become not only a major centre for technology and commerce, but also a breathtaking tourist attraction.
The Pegasus blinked as she heard a commotion from behind...and her eyes widened in surprise as a white unicorn with a short, messy purple mane tumbled off the top of the train and onto the ground, a pink pony nonchalantly leapt down and a yellow Pegasus sporting a silly grin flapped down beside her.
Rainbow recognised these three; for they were her three other close friends and wielders of the elements of harmony: Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkamena.
Bluegrass immediately ran towards the three. “And who might you three be? Stowaways? Around these parts, that’s a mighty serious offence.”
“Technically speaking,” Fluttershy remarked with a lifted wing, “we weren’t TECHNICALLY inside the train at all.”
Rarity facehoofed. “Fluttershy...WHY did you have to tell the police officer that?”
“I suspect brain damage.” Pinkamena grumbled, all the while Bluegrass stood over them stoically.
“EXCUSE ME SIR!” Sapphire Shores shouted with a saluted, her volume suprising everypony so much most of them apart from Zecora and Blueblood collapsed to their knees. “PARAGRAPH 22 OF THE ROYAL GUARD HANDBOOK STATES THAT ANY AND ALL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES SHALL BE HANDED OVER TO THE NEAREST ROYAL GUARD OR REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GUARD! IN SHORT, DUE TO OUR PRESENCE HERE, YOU ARE LEGALLY REQUIRED TO HAND OVER THOSE THREE TO US!”
Bluegrass growled before snorting. “Fine. Less paperwork for me and more time to focus on more important things.” He turned to Blueblood. “They’re your responsibility now, if anything happens to them or if they do ANYTHING, it’s on your hand.”
The Captain nodded. “You have my honour and my word.”
Sheriff Bluegrass shook his head. “Anyway, now that we’re all done gettin’ acquainted, ya’ll better follow me and see th’ mayor.” He glared suspiciously at the three civilian mares. “ALL of ya, and no funny business.”
“Lead the way.” Blueblood smiled, gesturing gentlemanly with his hoof.
Sheriff scoffed with a roll of his eyes and led the group away from the station, down into the streets of the town proper.
Rainbow looked to her three unexpected friends. “What are you three doing here!?”
Rarity rubs a hoof near her collarbone, wincing. “Hehehe well..I got gyped the last couple adventures, so I decided to tag along!”
“And I wanted to come to!” Fluttershy said, raising her hoof high.
“They dragged me here without my consent.” Pinkamena muttered irritably.
“And that was very rude of them, Pinkamena.” Twilight interjected.
“Besides!” Rarity exclaimed. “This is Dodge Junction! How many folks from Ponyville get say they got a free ride to Dodge Junction!”
“...by hitching a ride uninvited on our train ride.” Applejack pointed out, eyes glaring in disapproval.
“Details, schmetails!”
Rainbow shook her head. “Rarity, Fluttershy, we’re here on serious business to help the Royal Guard, this isn’t a free vacation. This is important.”
Rarity shrugged. “Ehh you can handle all that stuff, right now I wanna see if they got any stuff around here that could help me fly!” She and Fluttershy turned to run...only for Lieutenant Shores to stand in front of them.
“Ma’ams!” She shouted with a salute. “I cannot allow you to leave due to proper Royal Guard protocol! Attempted escape will result in serious penalties!”
Rarity blinked, then laughed. “You can’t penalise what you can’t catch! Ptchoooo” The unicorn leapt up, only for Sapphire to grab her and pin her down, tying her up onto her back and slipping a restrainment ring over her horn. “Hey come on no fair! I thought you Guards were supposed to be totally useless!”
“Sir! The Royal Guard have been heavily re-established and retrained under Captain Blueblood sir!”
“She’s technically a criminal.” PInkamena said. “You don’t have to call her Sir.”
“Sir! I shall remember that, SIR!”
PInkamena facehoofed at the mare’s idiocy.
Eventually, the group was lead towards a rather large, white building with “Mayor’s Office” printed in gold letter’s upon the front door. The walls were inlaid with incredibly shiny and polished gemstones, Applejack noting them to be among the more expensive gemstones to find.
“He’s in here.” Sheriff Bluegrass said, opening the door as he lead Blueblood, Zecora, Trixie, Rainbow, Twilight and Applejack inside, the rest waiting outside.
As they walked down the large, ornate hallway, the carpet was very detailed using various colours to form an image of some sort, numeruous paints, artifacts and scultptures lined the hall and walls, and the doors were inlaid with solid gold and silver. Applejack scrunched her nose at the sight, a hoof over her mouth.
Rainbow raised a brow at this. “You okay?”
Applejack waved her hoof dismissively. “Ah’m fine, it’s just...this decor...it’s so unbelievably tacky and on the nose, like somepony is trying desperately to flaunt their wealth and status with no real sense of taste or style...” She turned green. “For a mare of my delicate sensibilities, it’s extremely...offputting.”
Sheriff Bluegrass stopped in front of a large door at the end of the hall, moving over to knock...when a voice could be heard from the other side, slightly muffled.
“Now listen here! Ah know who you are, so if you know what’s good for ya, ya just let me figure things out and you jsut do what YOU’RE good at, capiche!? Comprende!? Understood!?”
Sheriff knocked on the door. “Uhh Brother...”
There was a long pause as eventually shuffling and muttering could be ehard from within until the door opened wide, revealing a rather rotund stallion with short, stubby legs a very obvious, pink toupee over his balding head, a few bits of grey mane still visible on the back of his head. His cutie mark was six arrows that formed two crosses, one over the other. He grinned wide at the group, showing off a couple of gold teeth.
“Well hello! Ah’m Governor Bluegrass, Mayor of this fine city!” The stallion proclaimed boisterously. “How may Ah help all ya’ll today?”
Zecora stepped forward. “I represent Iron Will Industries, and we wish to investigate a matter involve several of our shipments that have gone missing during transit upon your train routes.”
“I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Applejack,” Twilight said, gesturing towards her friend, “we’re here to represent the Apple family in return for your assistance.”
Blueblood gestured to himself and Rainbow Dash. “And we are here to assist in the investigation.”
“A-a-and I-I-I’m here t-to represent Iron Will Industries a-as well...” Trixie stuttered nervously. “I-if that’s okay...?”
As the ponies were introduced, Governor Bluegrass shot a nasty, hateful glare towards Applejack and Twilight...before smiling widely at everypony. “Ah, Ah see. Well if ya’ll are here to investigate any potential wrongdoings, and with Apple family help no less, than who am Ah to turn ya away? Just...try not to rile anypony up too much today, alright? Today’s a big day, and it wouldn’t do to ruin anypony’s enjoyment.”
“We understand,” Blueblood said sternly, “but if anypony has broken the law, we WILL do what is right.”
“Ah understand.” Governor Bluegrass nodded. “Tampering with or misusing our trains and services is a very serious crime, especially around here, and you have my word that if anypony did anything wrong, Ah will use all mah power to help.” He smiled wide. “Why don’t ya’ll go have a look around, and my brother will give you all the help you need, and keep a close eye on ya’ll. Won’t you, Sheriff?”
Sheriff nodded hesitantly. “Sure brother...”
“Excellent, now why don’t you go along now and begin investigating, and Ah’ll have a looksee on my end while Ah’m at it.”
Blueblood raised a brow in surprise. “This is surprisingly helpful of you.”
The rotund stallion shrugged. “Ah know we’ve had our...differences in the past, and Ah may not be the nicest pony usually, but Iron Will Industries helped build this town and is our biggest investor, and if somepony betrays them, then that hurts us, especially if they use our trains to do it. Not to mention, you got family backing you up, how can Ah possibly say no?” He sat down on the comfortable chair behind his desk, laying back. “Ah may not be a farmer, but Ah am an Apple through and through.”
Applejack blinked. “You’re an Apple?”
“Born and raised, though Ah don’t really go to the reunions or talk much to anypony in the family much.” Governor Bluegrass sighed wistfully. “Now then, let’s go catch a criminal.”
Sheriff nodded and walked off, the other ponies following him, the door closing shut behind them. Bluegrass waited for a while, then his gaze grew darker as he pulled out a small, blue gem from his drawers and set it on his table, turning to the two donkey’s that had stood behind his door.
“Take care of the Apple mares.” He ordered. “And book an appearance for the Phantom. Better to have those incompetents chase after a ghost than ruin things for us.”
The donkeys nodded and quickly exited the room, Bluegrass looking forward as the gem glowed.
“Now...about that shipment.” The voice of Grand Heist spoke through the crystal.