March 14th
They had said four days, four days to get the list together. She was just anticipating it happening today, that had to be why she was so unfocused.
Sweetie Belle sighed slightly as she finishing seeing to another group of customers at Manehatten Carousel and glanced up at the clock. It was ten past one, just past the beginning of her lunch break. It figured that her busiest patch would be just when she was free to stop for a while, rather than being able to avoid dwelling on the investigation throughout the morning. It was likely that even now, Rarity would be down at the MPD headquarters, getting the list of suspect locations where somepony could get the materials for the makeshift bomb. The events of that night kept running through her head, like a fly buzzing around close to her but never close enough to swat away. Not that she swatted flies, Fluttershy would never forgive her.
She just couldn't get to grips with the change in method she'd seen. Was there not enough damage being done quickly enough for the Phoenix's liking? Did they just get tired of being sure ponies wouldn't get hurt? Whatever their reason, she couldn't let it happen. She'd seen explosions happen before, far bigger ones than than gas could have managed on its own. She'd been holed up on the top floor of Rarity's boutique in Ponyville back when Lord Tirek had returned all those years ago, the windows up there giving her an excellent view of the moment he stopped holding back. She shuddered slightly at the old memory, still remembering feeling the world shake around her and her fearful cry as she watched the Golden Oak Library disappear in a wave of superheated fire, releasing a breath she didn't know she'd been holding on realising that Princess Twilight was still alright, throwing herself down as she saw the magic battle erupting...
No, no dwelling on that either. That wasn't like Canterlot. Nopony had been badly hurt and everything worked out in the end. She managed to push those dark thoughts aside and stepped back behind the counter, bringing the staff log up from a nearby shelf so she could clock out and go for a calming drink. Just as she was finishing jotting her name and time down, the familiar tingle of the shop bell rang out from the front door. She glanced up momentarily, only to double take when she realised it was Rarity coming in, minus her detective outfit.
"Ah, Sweetie Belle. Are Coco and Market Match here?" Rarity asked immediately, looking and sounding rather grim. Normally Sweetie might have tried to crack a crotchety old mare joke but the look in her sister's eyes was unmistakable. She was on the warpath today.
"Of course, sis. You want to see all of us?." Sweetie replied, waiting a moment to make sure there was a nod of confirmation before heading up to the staff room. Coco and Match were both up there, planning to take a few minutes to unwind before going out for lunch. On seeing Rarity come in after Sweetie they both got up to greet her, only to stop quickly at the look on her face.
"Hello everypony, we need to have a staff meeting. Please, sit." Rarity said flatly, waiting for the other three to do so before taking a seat herself.
"Okay, what's going on boss?" Match asked as soon as he felt it was safe to do so.
"I've been doing some digging." Rarity started, eyeing each pony present, her expression unreadable.
"Errm, why?" Coco asked, noticing the look the others were giving her after a few moments and looking away, grinning sheepishly.
"It's just an expression, Miss Pommel." Match clarified, chuckling slightly at the blush she got from that.
"If you would let me finish," Rarity interjected, waiting for everypony to look back at her before continuing. "I was doing some investigating about that nylon delivery. Sweetie Belle, can you confirm you actually got that shipment?"
"Oh, yes, we did," Sweetie answered. "It did arrive a few hours late and several strips of the white dyed materiel were missing. The delivery company claimed it was lost in transit and paid compensation for the missing material."
"Yes, well. I actually went to the Equestria Crossing Delivery Co myself earlier. They told me that an order had been dropped off, from this store, requesting that their picking up the shipment from Whinnyapolis be delayed by an hour. By the time the transport pony got to the station, the whole place had been locked down due to the bomb threat. The form had been taken to their offices earlier, I examined it and saw that not only had it been written the day it was delivered, the order was signed for by none other than Sweetie Belle. I was with her for the whole day, which means that somepony forged it!"
Oh, sweet Celestia no...If somepony has my signature down, am I going to be hit by identity theft? Maybe, but, keep your priorities right, Sweetie Belle.
I thought that I was starting to get a proper idea of just who the White Phoenix might be, but with this...I-I don't know anymore, this opens up more options than I would have liked. With the gas valve we just have the list to go off of, hopefully. If the Phoenix, or somepony working with them, can get their hooves on one of our order forms...I really don't want to think about the implications of that. Oh this is more Rarity's speed, she's much better at working out these kind of details, or at least she can focus on them better.
"Sweetie Belle? You still here?"
Sweetie snapped back to reality at Coco's words, looking round and noticing the looks the others were giving her before nodding. They seemed to shrug it off quickly and the focus of the conversation quickly shifted back to Rarity.
"Well then, if we work quickly, I'm sure we can find whoever's responsible for this before any further damage is done," Rarity said, sounding like she was wrapping up. "Coco, Match, if you go through all the records of the past few weeks, I'm sure you'll find out just how this happened. Sweetie, you're with me, Sky Eye is going to meet us on the way, so let's get moving."
"Oh, err, alright." Sweetie replied as she got up.
Her inner monologue meant she'd managed to miss pretty much everything Rarity had been saying for her plan, but she could hopefully pick it all up as they made their way to, well, wherever they were going. Still, it sounded like she had a lead again, they really needed one after what happened at the station. As the two unicorns made their way out, Coco and Match were left sat in place, wondering exactly they were going to do for the moment. After a minute, Match shifted in place and looked over at Coco thoughtfully.
"So...Want to order some takeaway while we check the records?"
"Actually, that does sounds good."
There was a sense of agitation in the air and not all of it was down to the gathering storm off the coast, Sweetie Belle thought to herself as Rarity and herself made their way into east Manehatten. News of the last White Phoenix attack was widespread by now, including how a bomb squad pony had been deployed to the scene. The brief peace that the city had felt before had been shattered and an aura of fear was taking hold again. She felt like she needed to hurry and bring this case to an end more than ever. She still had some confidence that they could do it though, Rarity was by her side and between the two of them, they had enough brains to figure it out. Plus they had some of Manehatten and Canterlot's finest with them.
As Rarity had said, Sky Eye had joined them en route. He was in the basic MPD patrol gear today, an azure polo shirt with the police crest on the left lapel, matching peaked cap and a black equipment bag wrapped round his chest that contained the basic tools of the job and doubled as some protection. He'd claimed it was to blend in on the streets but Sweetie suspected he just wanted to try out the outfit. Still, with him there the sisters were in better spirits as they made their way toward their destination, the Free Block Pest Control company building. Based near the eastern waterfront of the city, it was the first place on the list of gas valve users and there was no time to be wasted in finding out if the one the Phoenix had used came from here.
"Okay, how do you want to handle this?" Rarity asked as the building came into view round the street corner. It was very similar to Canterlot Carousel, three stories and rather unassuming, only done up in green and light blue and sitting on the edge of its city block.
"Well, we have an officer of the law with us, so how about we just walk in and ask to see their supplies?" Sweetie suggested, grinning until she noticed that Sky Eye was chuckling at the idea, at which point her look changed to a slight pout. "Hey, I'm serious."
"I know, but..." Sky broke down into a few moments of barely restrained laughter. "Sorry, but your face then was just so-" He tried to finish before backing up slightly at the look she was giving him, her horn alight with magic.
"Go on, call me cute, I dare you."
"I, was gonna go with...silly?" He nervously stared back at her for several seconds before she gave a good natured snort and looked away.
"Sure. Ok mister capital city cop, how would you say we handle this?"
Hmmm," Sky studied the building for several seconds before nodding toward a side exit that had just opened up, a yellow unicorn stallion stepping out. "I say we check him out."
"Why would we do that?" Rarity queried, having been doing her best to not pay attention to the little spat the other two had been engaged in before.
"Because he's carrying a gas valve and a canister of what looks like paint." Sky pointed out. The other two looked over and saw that he was indeed carrying such items in in his blue magic. A small part of Rarity was glad that neither her or Sweetie Belle had had time to get their detective outfits before setting out on this endeavour. Two detectives and a marked officer would look rather suspect if they approached him.
"I'm sure I've seen him before..." Sweetie mused before gasping slightly. The yellow unicorn had gone to a bag that had been hidden behind a trash can in an alleyway next to the building and pulled out a set of white socks to make space for his other goods. Even from across the street, she could recognise the material. "That's, roughly the same amount of nylon that was missing from our shipment!"
"What?!" Rarity exclaimed, just about managing to keep her voice under control as she stared at their suspect, grinding her teeth together slightly.
"Ok, new plan," Sky said. "You two tail him to wherever he's going and contact an MPD officer once you know. I'll head inside and ask about the materials he had."
They nodded and the trio moved out, heading across the road. Sky moved away from Rarity and Sweetie, toward the pest control building while they made to look as though they were heading down the street. As they made their way past the spot that the unicorn had been he made his way out from the alleyway and passed them, looking tense but composed as he pressed the bag closer to himself. Sweetie looked back at him to check his movement and realised he was glancing back at her as well. Now that they were up close she could get a good look at him. Yellow coat, silver mane and tail, blue eyes, rat trap cutie mark. It had been hazy at first but seeing from this distance, she recognised him now.
The dawning recognition must have shown in her eyes, which backfired on her badly. The stallion flashed a look of paranoia and sped up quickly, not looking where he was going and almost walking straight into Sky Eye. On realising a police pony was right in front of him, paranoia gave way to full blown panic and he backed up with a yelp. His horn flared up and he fired a warning shot of magic into the air before turning tail and bolting, shoulder barging past Rarity and Sweetie Belle as he did.
"Hey!" Sky snapped, whipping his cap off and into his equipment bag before taking off for the chase. "Come on, after him!" He called down to the other two as he passed over them. Rarity was still recomposing herself from the knock but Sweetie nodded and turned on her hooves, taking off down the street at a gallop.
"Copy that, we're in pursuit."