//------------------------------// // Past Twelve - Partners in Crime // Story: Heart and Mind // by Quick Fix //------------------------------// December 25th It was only the middle of the afternoon but Ponyville had already fully embraced the Hearth's Warming Eve spirit. Most ponies were spending the day with family or loved ones, either at home or at the party that Pinkie Pie had set up at Sugarcube Corner. Several dozen ponies seemed to be there, enough for the party to have spilled outside and gone into full swing on the street outside. Just about anywhere one might look, they could see somepony else having a good time or just enjoying the company of others, having a day where they could just unwind and have some fun, away from the complexities of day to day life. At least that was how Apple Bloom was handling it. With her store now closed for the holidays and no word from Pinkie Pie on the missing pony cases, she was taking the chance to just be another resident of Ponyville again. Mingling with other ponies, enjoying a cool drink and some music, finally getting round to telling Big Mac the truth about her sexuality. Granted, that last one didn't fit in but the party atmosphere was enough to keep her calm and focused on what she was doing. She'd managed to track him down with little difficulty and now the two of them were off to the side, away from prying ears, treating the reveal a lot more casually than any of the others. "So, yeah. That's the story...Are you, okay with this?" She rubbed the back of her neck and waited, watching for his reaction. Big Mac stood looking back at her for several seconds before breaking into a soft smile. "Apple Bloom, every so often, little Frostleaf comes to me and says 'Daddy, are there any new words for your family?' When it comes to her aunt Apple Bloom, I've told her a lot of good things so far. Next time the question comes up...I'm going to say that I'm really proud of her." "You're...Proud?" Apple Bloom blinked in slight surprise. Big Mac smiled more and put a hoof round her shoulders. "Eeeyup. Always have been, figuring out just who you are and having the confidence to accept it just makes that special feeling a little warmer inside." "Awww, thanks Big Mac." Apple Bloom smiled back and gave him a quick hug in thanks. A quiet chuckle from nearby made them both look over quickly, only to relax when they realised it was just Applejack coming over, a pair of presents on her back. "Glad to see you're handling this a lot better than I did," She commented, smiling happily. "Happy Hearth's Warming you two." "You too, Applejack." Apple Bloom grinned slightly, a familiar fillyhood glint in her eyes at the sight of a likely present for her. Applejack chuckled and moved round to offer them one each. "And to you," Big Mac finished, opting not to question what she'd meant as him and Apple Bloom took their respective presents. "The rest of the crew around?" "Back in the heart of the party, speaking of, we should probably go find them. Arboreal looked like she was trying to get Bounty riled up again when I left. We'll see you around soon, little sister?" "Sure, have fun out there." Apple Bloom waved farewell as her siblings headed back into the party before doing the same. That was that, all five of the significant ponies she felt she'd needed to tell about herself now knew, all taking it with varying degrees of acceptance. Right now she was feeling pretty good as she looked round, trying to decide what to do next. Pretty much everypony seemed content with enjoying the party outside for now, leaving her with an idea. Pinkie Pie was likely still inside Sugarcube Corner, keeping on top of the catering. It seemed as good a time as any to catch up a little without anypony else interrupting. She made her way inside and looked round, seeing a number of tables loaded up with all manner of festive treats and being manned by the familiar trio of the Cake twins and Pinkie herself. Apple Bloom smiled more at the sight and made her way over to Pinkie's table. "Hey Bloomie! Long time no see." Pinkie said happily, just the sight and sound of her getting a small tingling feeling out of Apple Bloom. "Hi Pinkie, good to see you again too. How's life been treating you?" "Great! The twins have really come into their own with handling the store, which is helpful considering what I've got coming up. It's big, it's top secret, it's...Oh yeah, it involves you. Can you hang around after the party finishes? I have something really important to show you." "Oh, err...Sure." Apple Bloom couldn't help but blush slightly at where her mind had gone to from that. From how Pinkie had put it, this was going to be either a major update on the investigation or something more personal. Right now, she wasn't sure which she wanted it to be more. "Great! I'll come find you once things wrap up here. For now, try some of the Puddinghead pudding, we put a secret ingredient in." "It's strawberries isn't it? Maybe you should let Pumpkin know she needs to mix it up a bit." Apple Bloom chuckled and took some of the food, waving to Pinkie as she headed back into the party. Well, finally she was going to find out what was happening, one way or another. It was at least eight o'clock before the party started to come to a close. As various ponies made their way home, Apple Bloom hung back at Sugarcube corner, waving to various ponies as they left. Once the shop was empty she got up, looking round and smiling as Pinkie came back inside, looking a little frazzled but still happy as ever at another successful party. She simply nodded upstairs and headed for her room, Apple Bloom following quickly. Pinkie's bedroom could have easily been mistaken for a crime lab right now, packed full of photos, analysis equipment and a large pool for Gummy. One of the walls was lined with what looked like various charms and bracelets, each bearing a shining rune on them. Apple Bloom trotted over and looked at them in wonder while Pinkie started gathering up photos from around the room. She really had been going all out with discovering the truth, that kind of fixation probably explained why she hadn't given any reaction to Apple Bloom's declaration of love yet. "What are these things?" "Anti-Magic charms," Pinkie answered, checking the room over. "I started stockpiling them as soon as I learned what we're up against." "A unicorn, I'm guessing. Unless we've stumbled upon a previously unknown rogue alicorn." Apple Bloom chuckled at how ridiculous sounded out loud, Pinkie joining in a moment later. "I'd be calling in everypony in Equestria if that was the case. Thankfully we're not dealing with somepony quite as powerful as that, just an old enemy of the Elements that I thought we'd seen the last of twenty years ago. Nothing we couldn't handle even before she made it personal." "Who?" Apple Bloom looked back with some concern, worried that Pinkie might be letting a shot at vengeance cloud her judgement. Pinkie sighed slightly and passed the photos over to her in reply. They all looked mundane enough, various items that had been in Figleaf's house. On closer examination though, she noticed a pattern, each one looked like it had been placed into the shape of a letter. Pinkie rearranged them into the same order they had been in the room and pointed out what it spelled out. Starlight. "Starlight?" Apple Bloom's eyes widened slightly at that name. It was familiar but she couldn't place it. Pinkie nodded in response, looking grim. "It all adds up, the spelling it out, the pony disappearances, all that information in the diary you found, all of it points to the one responsible. Starlight Glimmer." The two of them were silent for a moment, taking the reality of the situation in. In her heyday, Starlight Glimmer had been an incredibly powerful unicorn that had seemingly lost her mind to a personal grudge against cutie marks and started brainwashing ponies to give up their talents. The Elements of Harmony had managed to put a stop to her plans to do the same to all Equestria, only for her to escape and attempt to manipulate time itself to exact revenge against them. Ultimately she had refused to surrender when stopped again and Princess Twilight had been forced to take more drastic measures to stop her for good. "As soon as I realised it was her, I put everything into learning what happened afterwards. Twilight was...Kind of unwilling to help, but I did some digging and learned that Starlight was being held in the highest security dungeon in Canterlot, stripped of her magic and talent. At least, until she went and escaped last year. Nopony's seen or heard anything of her since." "She...WHAT?!?" Apple Bloom's jaw dropped. She hadn't heard the whole story about Starlight but what she knew was enough to be sure that having a pony like that running free was insanely dangerous for Equestria, even if she was still lacking her magic. "How in the wide realm of Equestria did she do it?" "That's the thing. She's had help, probably still is. Starlight was never this sloppy about leaving evidence behind and there was no evidence that she has her magic back, which makes me think this unknown assistant was the one who brainwashed Lucky Roll. Given the kind of magic they used, they're clearly powerful themselves." "And you still think it's a good idea to go after them?" Apple Bloom was starting to have more than a few concerns. Sure, she loved Pinkie but she wasn't sure about following her on a suicide mission. "I think it's a good idea to track them down, so somepony more capable can stop them. I've been in contact with Moondancer and that Tracer Project she mentioned started working thanks to what we gave them. Speaking of which, they've listed us as working with them, so if we get into trouble over what happened at the farm she'll try and help us out. Anyway, they caught a weak trace of that same magic out in the San Palomino Desert and I'm going to go track it down. It's your choice if you want to come with me, Bloomie." Apple Bloom looked round, torn on what she wanted to do. The San Palomino was a huge expanse of nothingness and anything could be out there, aside from the two super powerful, possibly crazy ponies waiting for them. In her heart though, there wasn't even really a choice. Even if she disregarded the whole romance part, the fact remained that Pinkie was still asking for her support in such an important task, what would it say about her if she said no now? She turned back toward Pinkie and put her hoof out. "We've got this far, I'm gonna see it through to the end." "Thank you." Pinkie smiled warmly and hugged Apple Bloom, she returned the hug after a moment and smiled softly, sneaking a quick nuzzle as she did. If Pinkie felt it, she didn't respond. "So, where do we go from here?" "For now, I'd say you should get some sleep and have some nice dreams. Tomorrow we'll head south by train and make for the desert from there." "Okay, I should probably make sure everything at home will be alright being left alone for a few weeks," Apple Bloom finally released the hug and made to leave. "I'll see you at the train station then." "Bring your presents, we can open them on the trip." Pinkie called after her as she headed back downstairs. Apple Bloom chuckled to herself as she made sure she had everything before heading for home, wondering just what she'd let herself in for this time. She'd made her choice though, she was seeing this one through to the end, one way or another.