Crossed Gears

by TheFoxern

11: High Skies

Apparently he could. Apparently he could force a switch if he concentrated on it and pushed himself to the other world. Which in turn, meant that he could prevent them. Good. That meant he would only switch when he wanted to. But what was happening? Oh that's right, ponies had burst through the door. Three ponies wearing masks to cover their face and carrying what Copper knew to be machine guns. “Everypony on the ground, now! I wont ask twi-” Bang.

He was fairly impressed with his own speed. He was out of his chair, had drawn his gun and was walking towards them before they even knew what was happening. Bang. Bang.

Three shots. They went down. One in the shoulder, another in the hip, the third in the forearm. He apparently had impeccable aim. He wanted to stop them from doing whatever it was they were going to do and had done so without serious injury to them. Somepony screamed and panic ensued rather quickly as everypony rushed away from the gunponies. Well, except for one.

Copper was to them, kicking their guns away before looking left and right down the hall. Empty. “Right then.” He looked back, noting that Scootaloo was under the table, while Chrysalis...well, Chrysalis was still sitting there as if nothing had happened. He looked down at the ponies; apparently they had not experienced the pain of being shot before. Well, neither had he, but from the memories he had of it, he had had worse. “Evening,” he said as he crouched down and rolled the hip injured pony onto his back. “Put pressure on it. Scootaloo? Could you please bring a table cloth?”

She did as asked, though she did protest, “You shot them. And now you're helping them?”

“What?” He looked at her a moment and then at the three ponies. They were dressed...oddly, with poofy white shirts, black and white striped bandanas and long black shorts. “I suppose. What's with these outfits?”

“They're pirates,” Chrysalis said, smiling to herself. “The skies between the states and Europe are filled with them.”

“Oh?” He looked down at the three of them. They weren't like the pirates that he had seen. “Well, that sounds like a lot of fun.” Suddenly the ship pitched to one side and Copper almost lost balance.

“Apparently the Captain is making an attempt to get away,” Scootaloo said as she was bandaging the pirates. She hadn't lost her balance at all.

“What makes you think that?” Copper was, again, looking down the halls. They were now filled with ponies running in panic.

“I was practically raised on ships like this. Well, not like this. Not this grand. But it's the same basic premise. He's probably trying to unhook something that they've grabbed the ship with.” She was quite quick at bandaging, though Copper noticed she wasn't gentle at all.

“Ah, that's good. Let's get up to the captain then. Make sure the ship doesn't go to them,” he said as he moved out into the hall.

When Scootaloo followed him, he had to double take. She had taken one of the machine guns, along with the ammo of the others. She caught the look he was giving her and frowned at him. “What? You think I'm just gonna let you have all the fun?” He saw a glint of something in her eyes and wondered how many times she'd fired a gun. His instinct was to assume many.

“I didn't say anything,” he said with a smile as they moved down the hall. “Move!” he called out. “Everypony to the lifeboats! Or whatever the heck they're called!”

“Lifeboats is correct terminology,” Chrysalis said from behind him.

“Good.” Running proved to get them to the bridge rather quickly.

The door was open. Copper stopped and motioned the other two to the wall, which they were quick to do. He could hear ponies talking inside. “It's not that difficult you old pony. Just give us the manifest, we'll take the valuables we want and be on our way.”

“There isn't one,” Copper heard the captain say, though it sounded like he was having difficulty speaking. He peaked around the corner and was met with a sight he hadn't expected.

“Ah. Uhm...evening?” There was a rather large pony there. Of course an unexpected pistol whip evened the odds a bit and the pony went down. The second pony by the door was grabbed and Copper stood behind him, using him as a shield as a good dozen guns were pointed in his direction. “Evening,” he said again, a bit louder.

“Who the hell's this?” Two crew members laying face down on the ground and the captain propped against the large window at the front. “The hell do you think you're doing?” Ok so it was more like seven guns and the one talking to the captain looked unarmed. Eight in total in the room not including hostages.

“I'm sorry, could you repeat that?” Copper heard Scootaloo cough softly to keep herself from laughing. “I couldn't hear you over me counting in my head.”

The pony he was holding stood rigid, as one would expect when there was a gun barrel, still warm, pressed against the back of one’s neck. “A wise pony, eh?” He spat on the floor. “Who the hell are you?”

“That's disgusting,” he said, trying not to look at what the leader of the group had just expunged. “Honestly, we're inside. Somepony is going to have to clean that up and I'm sure that it's not too pleasant. And judging from the color of it, you might want to see a doctor.” He paused. “I forgot the question.”

This actually got a chuckle from several ponies in the room and the two ponies outside the room. Even the pony he was holding seemed to try not to laugh. “You think this is some kind of joke?”

“It isn't? Damn and here I was about to try my standup routine.” He was trying to calm himself down and buy time. He was fairly out of breath from running down the hallway. “Well, some other time then.” They all seemed to relax quite a lot more. “Now, I'm fairly certain I know what's going on. Robbery and all that. But you see, I have trouble just sitting still and letting those kinds of things go, so I'd like to ask everypony to just calm down and just go on home and we'll all just forget this whole thing happened.”

This was greeted with a lot of laughter. “Oh now we know you must be joking! There's eight of us and only one of you.”

“Oh that is right. And I didn't bring enough bullets for all of you.” He smirked as he backed away from the door. “Scootaloo, would you be so kind?”

It must have been quite the sight. None of them had been ready for the shower of bullets that were fired. Scootaloo was not the best of shots, yet she knew how to shoot. But she did not shoot at them at all, more so she shot around them. They dropped to the ground and when the bullets stopped, the pony he had been holding got a pistol across the back of the head.

“Now then.” He went about quickly relieving everypony of their guns and tossing them towards the wall. “Would everypony please be so kind as to line up on that side of the room?” he said as he gestured towards a wall away from them. Reluctantly and slowly, everypony moved. The worst anypony had was a few grazes. “Good shooting, Scootaloo. Remind me never to upset you when you have something that shoots.”

“Honestly you should just do your best to not upset me.” She was holding the machine gun quite menacingly at the pirates.

“Who the hell are you?” the leader said again.

Copper looked at him and laughed. “Doesn't matter. Now.” He leaned towards him, pointing the gun at his face. “Get off this ship.”

“Uhm...Copper?” He turned towards Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow. She pointed out the window.

He looked. “Oh. Uh.” There was a very large cannon pointed at the room. “Right then.”

~

“Sit down.” It wasn't as if he had much of a choice as he was shoved into the chair.

“It's pretty uncomfortable with my hands tied behind my back, you know,” he said, staring at the inside of his blindfold. “Where's Scootaloo?”

“Just shut up.” Apparently he was more than a little upset. There was a moment of silence and then a door opened. “Here he is Captain.”

So he wasn't the actual leader. “Really?” A female pony...that felt...familiar somehow. Somepony he had heard before. “Ye're quite the rough pony. How many were killed?” That wasn't directed at him.

“Uhm...” There was a moment of hesitation, as if he was trying to decide if it was worth lying. “None.”

“Ya serious? None?”

“Well, several ponies were injured...myself included.”

“Ya have a scratch.” There was the sound of a smack. “Suck it up. Now, onto our guest.”

It had been slowly dawning on him from some sort of feeling he was getting, so he took a shot. “Vinyl Scratch.”

There was a long, drawn out silence. It was the kind of silence where everypony was reevaluating everything that they know about the situation. Then he was struck upside the head followed by the male pony saying, “That's Captain Scratch to you.”

There was the sound of a smack. “If ya don't calm down, ye'll be swabbin' tha outer hull for the next five months, rather than two.” Captain Scratch cleared her throat before speaking, “So ya have me at quite tha disadvantage.” The blindfold was removed and there she was, standing before him in probably the most pirate outfit that he had ever seen, including eye-patch and large hat. But it was definitely her. There was no mistaking it at all. Though he had never heard her speak before.

“My apologies. Copper Feather. Detective, Copper Feather. Pleasure to meet you.” Again there was that drawn out silence as they once again re-evaluated their situation.

“Well now, now that that's outta the way.” She turned to the other one. “Make sure tha cargo is secure and tha other two passengers are nice and comfy.”

With a lot of grumbling the other pony left the room. “Well isn't this interesting...mind explaining a bit?”

“Before I untie ya, I would like to be sure ya wont shoot any more of my crew,” she said as she moved behind him.

“Depends. I'll try, but I make no promises,” he responded with a chuckle; it was difficult to keep a straight face.

“Good enough.” She cut the cords. “Now then. Sorry about tha rudeness, but we were suppose to come in, grab ya, make it all look like just random piracy and be gone. I'm guessin' Don Burrasca told ya none of this?”

Why didn't it surprise him that Burrasca would have pirates in his employment? “Afraid he didn't,” he said as he rubbed his wrists. “Probably best he didn't. Would've caused problems.”

“Yah, well, I'll be havin' quite tha talk with him about it later,” she said as she rubbed her face and sighed. “Anyway. I figure talkin' to ya would be easier than either of the girls. That little one...what exactly did she do? Most of tha men won’t go near the door and she keeps bangin' and screamin' at it.”

“Let's just say...don't give her any guns and call it good.” He stood up and stretched a bit. He noted immediately his gun was gone.

To that, she chuckled. “Oh I see. Well now, that is interestin'.” She made her way to the door, which was behind Copper. “Could ya come calm her down, before she ends up knockin' down the door?”

“If she hasn't already, I'd be glad to.”

Copper tried his best to keep direction in his head. They went up two levels, then down one. Took three turns, then five. Judging from the ship he saw out the window, they were on the other side of it, up one level and he had been somewhere in perhaps a cargo hold of some sort. Copper found out a lot from Captain Scratch, why all the secrecy and such. Clockworks are illegal in the states. That meant a ship coming from the states with one on board was instantly a red flag. Plus, no guns. Civilians and even police, weren't allowed to own, let alone carry guns of any sort. Which to Copper seemed odd, but then again, he knew very little of laws.

It didn't take all that long and he knew immediately when they got close. The banging and screaming echoed throughout the ship and got louder as they approached. What exactly was she using to bang on the door? He stood in front of it and waited. The hallway was empty and Vinyl excused herself as she had orders to give and things to do. “Scootaloo?” he said and waited. The banging continued.

“Open the door!” Bang bang bang bang. “Where's Copper?!” Bang bang bang.

“Jeez. How long have you been keeping this up?” Bang bang. He was just talking to himself honestly. He waited another moment, till the sound was actually starting to hurt his head and he sighed. He opened the door and leaned to the side to avoid the chair leg. It was easy to grab ahold of it when she tried to draw it back again. “Honestly, with all that banging, how were you going to hear somepony trying to tell you anything?” He pulled it free of her loosened grip as he entered the room. “Evening Chrysalis-” he stopped as he looked out the window. "Nice view.”

“Copper!” Scootaloo was quite stunned. The room was quite large, filled mostly with a bed. Looking around the room, a framed photo on a dresser caused him to stop and stare at it.

“Ah, there you are. Everything all settled then?” Chrysalis said with a smirk.

Copper looked at her as he refocused on the ponies in the room. “Ah, I see Burrasca told you.”

She nodded, with a smile. “Oh yes. He did. Not entirely sure why he made such a fuss over not telling you or Scootaloo.”

He sat down beside her on the bed, getting comfortable. “That's rather annoying. I would hope that we would have all been in the dark. Would have been much more entertaining and more his style.”

“I...what's going on?” Scootaloo was still grasping the air as though she had the chair leg.

“Burrasca planned for us to be kidnapped,” Copper said as he laid back in the bed and closed his eyes. He felt tired. “So we're being smuggled into London, so that they don't confiscate Emily and arrest us.”

“Ok...but that doesn't explain why they didn't just tell us that.” She had her arms folded once again as she spoke.

Copper looked at her and waved the chair leg. “This, probably.” He tossed it out in front of him onto the floor, chuckling.

She looked at it as if she'd never seen it before. “Well, all they had to do was open the door. Honestly.”

“Didn't know you cared so much...now, I'm just...gonna take a little nap... Wake me when somepony comes to get us...” With that he closed his eyes. It had been quite the productive and busy day.

~

Scootaloo nudged him awake and was looking at him when he opened his eyes. “The Captain wants to see you apparently.”

He stood up slowly and stretched a bit. Chrysalis was gone. That was the first thing he noticed. But he wasn't surprised that that was what he noticed. “All right then...” He moved to the door and standing outside was one of the ponies that he recognized from being in the bridge.

He didn't say anything to him, but gestured for Copper to follow. So he did. Again he kept track of all the twists and turns. It wasn't as if they were trying to get him lost, which he was almost disappointed by. Finally they came to the helm and he was...well, it was exactly what he was expecting. Nothing like the False God, but still...something about it felt terribly familiar. “You wished to speak with me, Captain Scratch?” he said as he approached her. She was standing at the helm.

“Aye.” She stepped aside and somepony moved to take over. “Come with me.”

She lead him towards the front window and then out a door onto the deck of the ship. It was...not as big as he thought. Nowhere near as large as the ship he had just come from. He also noticed that there was nopony on the deck aside from them. He took a deep breath of the night air, staring off into the distant sea of clouds. “What a sight...”

There was an odd expression on her face and then she stared off into the distance. “Aye...it is.” She took a deep breath as well. “Sometimes ya forget to appreciate it.”

“I never will,” he said as he moved to the railing. There was hardly any wind, as they weren't moving very fast. He bent over the railing slightly, looking over at the deck below them. “Now then, you wanted to speak to me?”

“How do ya know me?” It was a question, to be sure, but she said it without a questioning tone.

Copper turned to face her and leaned against the railing. “I know a lot. More than I'd like. Enough to be a threat, but too much of an asset to get rid of.” Why was he trying to impress her? This wasn't exactly like him...it was like the memories of this body were taking hold of some influence. “But to be specific, we have a mutual friend.” His thoughts were on the framed picture beside the bed.

Her brow furrowed a moment. “Aside from Burrasca?” He nodded. “And who might that be?”

He smiled a bit. “Honestly it'll be much more entertaining to have you find out on your own. When you go see Burrasca at The Cat’s Cradle, be sure to stay for the show.”

“I've seen it.”

“Not this one,” he said, unable to help but smirk. “Trust me. You won’t be disappointed.”

She frowned at him and then sighed, shaking her head. “Okay. I'll take ya word for it...” There was a moment of silence as they both looked out over the sea of clouds. “Ya play an odd game, Detective Feather.”

“Yes, well, I have to entertain myself somehow.” He looked up at the sky, closing his eyes. Faster. They had increased speed, but it was not enough. He wanted to feel the wind on his face.

“So, why exactly ya goin' to London? It's rare Burrasca asks me to do somethin' like this. Usually he only gets my attention to steal somethin'...but stealin' a pony and his clockwork...” She was leaning against the wall by the door. “It's not like him.”

“My relationship with Burrasca is complicated.” He paused. “To say the least.” He turned his attention to her. “But as for what I'm doing...that's a long list. First thing is, I need to find The Doctor.” He emphasized the word the, in order to try and avoid confusion.

There was a long silence as she looked at him. “And what ya want to find him for?”

This time it was Copper's turn to rethink the situation. “Do you know him? It's...more than a little important I find him.”

“I know of him. Heard his name quite a few times...” She looked out over her ship. “I don't know where to find him, but I can give ya a place to look.”

That was not all of it. He could tell from the way she spoke, but if she didn't want to tell him, she didn't have to. But still. This was quite...convenient. That felt odd. “Anything would be better than what we have. London is big, from what I've heard.”

“Ya've never been?” Her gaze moved back to him.

“Oh I've been. But...it was not under favorable circumstances...” She simply nodded in response, just as silence rolled in once more. There was so much more to Captain Vinyl Scratch than he could probably find out. What sort of thing had lead her to go to piracy? He wanted to ask questions, but she looked to not be in the mood for answering. “How long until we reach London?”

“An hour. We're over land right now and we're headin' toward a dock that won’t ask us questions.” She stared off into the distance. It was apparent to Copper she was thinking quite hard on something. He guessed it was about what sort of mutual friend they both had. Perhaps it wasn't exactly fair that Copper had saw the picture on the dresser... “Well I need ta be headin' back inside...”

“I think I'll stay out here,” he said, staring out into the distance.

~

There was a soft fog rolling in. It clung heavy to the cobbled streets. The night had passed quite quickly in the little dockhouse, which was quite a large building, but Captain Scratch had known the griffon who owned it and they asked no questions. He would even hold Emily for them while they were gone. Copper was fairly sure that he knew the griffon as well. It was something about the way he looked, but he couldn't quite put his hoof on it. Or finger, as it was here.

Copper had no worry that Emily would be safe. Especially when the name 'Burrasca' was mentioned to the griffon. Just that name held so much sway. It was impressive. He wondered if his name would have the same sort of effect in the other world? His name held power, that he knew. “Do you think that the Captain's information can be relied on?”

He looked over at Scootaloo, who was walking beside him. “How am I to know? It's the only lead we have at the moment, until Chrysalis returns.” It bothered him slightly that she had left the moment they arrived. “Until then, we search for Roseluck.”

“Hopefully this address is good...” she mumbled as she looked at the piece of paper.

“I'm more worried about if she'll be home,” he said as they rounded a corner. There was a rather large sign out front of a store. “Or...well, would you look at that. Seems it's a shop.”

They moved towards the store, but Scootaloo stopped beside it. He waited a moment, looking at her. “Have you ever talked with this...Roseluck?”

“On occasion. Though it has been a long time and I'm certain she's very different here...everypony seems to be.” He leaned against the wall as he waited.

“But you mentioned similarities, yes?” It felt good that she believed him.

He nodded in response. “Yes. But I mean...look at Captain Scratch.” He decided against mentioning her full name. “Probably one of the most drastic differences...or Burrasca. Sure he's still a sort of criminal, but here at least he's not completely insane...”

She looked at him for several moments. Several silent moments. In fact, she didn't speak to him again until they were inside the shop. It was a small shop but it seemed quite well off. There was an elderly looking pony behind the counter, who watched as Copper approached. Scootaloo went to wander the shop. It was an antique store of sorts. “Morning,” the old pony said as he put down his cigarette.

Copper smiled as he looked around. “Mmm, well now. Good morning. I was hoping you could help me with something.”

“Well, we've got quite a lot of merchandise.” Copper couldn't help but notice how the pony was looking at him.

“Actually, I'm looking for somepony.” He was watching his face closely. “And I was told this is where she'd be.”

“Oh? I'm afraid it's just me here.” There was an odd smell in the air, but one tended to find odd smells around antique stores.

“See, I told you the information was wrong,” Scootaloo said, coming up beside him. “Can we go now?” She leaned closer and whispered, “It smells bad in here.”

“That is a shame.” The click of Copper pulling the hammer back, thickened the silence of the room. “Now then. I'm not sure if this will kill you, whatever you are, but I know it'll hurt.” The old pony stared at the barrel of the gun, eyes wide. “Where is Roseluck?”

The eyes of the pony flickered across the room. First to Copper, then to Copper's left and then back at Copper. Such a small hesitant glance. “I...I don't...”

“Copper, what the hell are you doing?” Scootaloo had moved away from him.

“Thank you,” he said as he took a step back, but he didn't holster his gun. Quickly he moved over to the door and proceeded to kick it in. Bang. Bang. Bang.

He wasn't sure what the hell it was. In fact, he had no idea at all. Tall, gray and fat looking; nothing like a pony at all besides a vague size with long lanky arms. But three shots seemed to at least put it down, though it was still squirming on the floor. It had rushed him. If he had just opened the door, it would have grabbed him the instant he opened it. “What the heeeeaaugh... What the hell is that?!” Scootaloo was beside him, staring. Then it was gone. He stared at the spot it had been and then swung the gun around over Scootaloo.

“No no. You stay over there.” The other thing had moved almost around the counter, but froze. “Not used to guns, hm? Scootaloo, check on Roseluck, please.” She was in there, he could see her on the floor in the small storage room.

She rushed over to her and knelt beside her. After a few seconds, she looked back at him. “She's knocked out. Somepony knocked her on the head.”

“I'm guessing that was the one who just left,” he said, staring at the thing. “If you're going to flee, do it now.” And then it was gone. Just like the other one. What sort of magic was that? he wondered. No fancy flash. Just...gone. He holstered his gun and moved quickly to the front, switching the sign to closed and locking the door.

“What do we do?”

“Get her upstairs, first...check for a back door, make sure it's locked...then wait.” He was already moving to pick up Roseluck. “Secure the building, make sure there's no more of these...those things.”

“You...you think there are more?” Scootaloo said as she moved quickly behind him as he carried Roseluck out of the room.

There was a second where he hesitated and then despite his better judgment, he held the gun out towards Scootaloo. “Here. Don't shoot anything unless I say to.”

She didn't hesitate to take it, reloading it with an expertise that...mildly startled him. She aimed vaguely down the sights at the wall. “Right.” Again there was an instant of hesitation before she continued. “How...what exactly gave it away? I mean...how did you know?”

He moved through the back door behind the counter. “I don't know. Something about the way it was looking at me gave me a bad feeling...and I don't question feelings like that anymore. I've always just called it the feeling.” He made his way slowly up the stairs, letting Scootaloo go first. “And it's never wrong.”

“Never?”

“It's never failed me before. Somepony told me a long time ago that it was good instincts.” Scootaloo opened the door. It was clear that she had had training from the way that she moved in and looked around. The gun never left the direction she looked. She was looking for...targets.

“That's weird...but I can see how it's extremely useful.” She was looking into every room.

“It doesn't always happen. But it's saved me more times than I can count.” He moved inside and laid Roseluck onto the couch, gently.

“There's no one else here. And it doesn't stink up here...pretty sure it was that thing,” she said as she moved into the kitchen.

He nodded slightly as he looked over Roseluck. It was a fairly bad bump, but it didn't seem life threatening. “I'd have to agree with you. It was like...”

“Bad breath,” she said as he heard her move about. He glanced into the kitchen and saw her making tea.

“Yeah...that's weird...” He rolled his shoulders slightly, looking around before heading quickly back down the stairs. The back door was locked. A quick circle around the building, checking every room on the bottom floor. Empty. The whole building. “Good...only two it seems...” The look that the one gave him. It looked like a pony...but there was just...something so wrong about the way it looked...looked at me...it was wrong. So wrong. He shuddered and moved back upstairs.

“Anything?” Scootaloo was sitting near Roseluck, drinking tea of all things.

“I didn't know you liked tea,” he said as he sat down in a chair.

“We don't have a kettle at the office,” she said as she sipped. “I poured you a cup.”

Just as she said, there was a cup sitting in front of him. He picked it up and took a rather large drink of it. It was hot, but he liked it. “Thank you...” Again, the memory of that look made him shudder. But the hot tea helped.

“I guess now we wait?” She looked at Roseluck and Copper nodded.

They did not have to wait long. Roseluck shifted a few minutes after Scootaloo returned to the kitchen to brew a second batch of tea. There was something about tea that made Copper feel rather good. Copper moved over to her, looking down as he sipped his tea. “Morning,” he said before taking another sip.

Her eyes opened blearily. “Doctor?”

“'Fraid not,” he said and she shot up into a sitting position, scooting away from him.

He sipped his tea. “But it's good to know that we came to the right place. Would you like some tea? After all, it is yours.”

“I'm sorry we kind of helped ourselves,” Scootaloo said as she came back into the room, setting down the tea tray. “But I honestly think it's of trivial consequence, considering we saved you.”

“I...saved?”

“Easy now. You got lucky to not get a concussion.” Again he sipped his tea. “My name's Copper Feather. Detective Copper Feather. I was told that you'd be able to help me find the Doctor.”

“Who...” she mumbled, staring at him. She still had the look of fear, but it was waning. “Why do you want to see the Doctor?”

“Not want. Need. Matter of saving the universe from...” He waved his hand vaguely. “Well, shattering would be accurate.” Scootaloo froze, staring at him. Perhaps he should have explained that earlier to her. “But I was told the Doctor can help me stop it.”

“I...” She looked at him, but it wasn't with disbelief like he was expecting. “I don't know where he is.”

There was a drawn out silence and he used the time to finish off his tea. “Well, that's a shame.” He set the cup down and sunk into the chair. “Blast it...”

“So what happened? I was opening the shop and turned around to walk back to the counter and everything went black.”

“We showed up,” Scootaloo said as she sat back down. “There was this pony behind the counter...older fellow...and the whole place smelled bad. Then there was this...this thing...”

“Big and blobby. Long arms...ugly looking. Gray...” He shuddered again at the look that pony had given him.

“I...my head hurts...I just...” She rubbed her head and winced. “The Doctor has a lot of enemies. They probably...probably thought coming after me would get his attention...”

He nodded slightly; it made sense. A lot of sense. “Hopefully it worked,” he said, taking a deep breath. “And he's on his way or something.”

As if on some odd cue, there was a knock. There was silence. “Uhm...who's gonna get that?” Scootaloo said, looking between the two of them.

Copper got up and took a deep breath. “Stay at the foot of the stairs and stay out of sight, Scootaloo.”

They moved quickly down the stairs and she stopped at the foot as he moved into the hall. He almost hesitated as he saw through the window. “Oh great...police.” He gave a slight smile and unlocked the door. “Good morning Officers, could I help you with something?”

“Good morning,” one of them said; Copper watched as he removed his helmet and tucked it under his arm. “We had reports of something like gun shots in the area.”

Now it was time to act. Copper put on his most confused look. “Gun fire? Is that what that was? Oh dear, I thought that was fireworks or something.”

“Afraid not. So I take it that you heard it?” The officer was looking at him and that was a familiar look Copper had gotten and given often. He didn’t believe a word of it.

“Oh yes. I'm afraid so...”

“Could we come in?” he said, looking in past Copper.

“I would not have any problem with it, but I'm afraid it's not exactly up to me. Not my place, you understand.” There didn't seem to be anything too terribly off. No sense of the feeling.

“Oh yes, we understand.”

The other officer finally spoke. “Isn't this the place run by Roseluck?”

Copper nodded in response. “Oh yes. She's upstairs, having a bit of a lie down. Afraid I surprised her with my visit.”

The officer was writing down everything. “Could I have your name, please?”

“Copper feather. Detective. Well, private Detective, from New York.” They both raised an eyebrow. “I'm on vacation, visiting an old friend.”

“So you'd have no problem with us coming in and looking around?” Copper shook his head and moved off to the side. They both came in. “Would you mind removing your jacket? It's making my partner uncomfortable, considering the circumstances.”

He hesitated and then sighed. “Yes, of course. Though I highly doubt that it will make either of you more comfortable.” He pulled off his jacket, tossing it onto the counter. Thankfully his gun holster was empty, but he already had an excuse ready if they asked about it.

There was silence. “I'm sorry,” the officer said and Copper knew that they were staring at his stub. “How did it happen?”

“The bombing of London. I was stationed here, assisting from the states.” He looked back and he froze.

“Morning Officers.” The pony who had entered showed something to the two officers. “I'll take it from here.”

Author's Note:

((Chapter edited by Amneiger))