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Arrival

The station was a mess, to put it lightly. The few uninjured guards, most of whom had been off-duty at the time of the rampage, desperately tried to get things back in order. The majority of the force had been injured attempting to stop the minotaur that had efficiently ripped both their station and their confidence to tatters. It was plain to see in the postures of the ponies at work. The slumped shoulders of the stallion putting destroyed work desks in a pile. The confused eyes of a mare pouring over documentation at one of the few surviving work stations.

Brow Beat led his team through the wreckage to the area that had been put aside from them. His eyes remained dead ahead, glued to the middle distance and firmly not looking around at the remains of the Trottingham Guard. As they passed, sideways glances and whispered comments followed them. It was to be expected after all. These ponies had been completely helpless against the attack and now some bigwig Canterlot detectives are coming in to take over. No one would be happy about that. Still, they had reluctantly accommodated the team, even going so far as to give them a miraculously intact table, something that had recently become a rare commodity. Brow Beat could be persuasive like that.

“Okay,” The older stallion spoke, whirling round to glare at his two subordinates, “What do we know?”

With barely a moment hesitation, Brain Storm stepped forwards, already anticipating his boss’s brusque question. “At 1:35AM this morning Ace was taken into custody by the Trottingham Guard on suspicion of arson. By all accounts, other than a fight with cellmate, presumably defensive, he was a model prisoner. He didn’t even try to escape. At 4:15PM he received a visit from his legal consultant, a minotaur whose papers identified him as one Mr. Law Bound. The papers were all in order, though now we know they were simple exceptional forgeries, so they allowed him to meet with Ace.”

“This is where things get a little complicated, and a lot strange.” Rosamund spoke up, taking over seamlessly from her partner, “I saw this ‘Law Bound’ entering the station and, thinking he was one of Ace’s accomplices, waited outside to stop their inevitable escape. Lo and behold, after about half an hour and a lot of noise, out comes Ace, casual as you please.”

“And you failed to stop him because?” Brow raised one of those terrifying eyebrows.

“I…was ambushed.” She hung her head, “Something came out of nowhere and took me out. Sorry boss.”

He grunted and turned to Brain.

“Hmm? Oh yes right.” The thin pegasus turned to his griffin partner and peered closely at the side of her head, “Hold still please. Yes, bruising matches pattern of horseshoe. Female, going by the size, and a fairly cheap shoe as well. A good possibility that whoever attacked you is going to need to replace that shoe. Your head likely managed to bend it out of shape.” He gave her one of his odd smiles, “Well done, you have an exceptionally dense head for a griffon.”

She snorted, “Thanks. I’m so proud.”

“Brain, get on with it.”

“Right, sorry boss.” He stepped back from the table, “Taking into account Rosamund’s elevated position, combined with the force needed to launch her from the roof, I believe your attacker was a pegasus mare with an athletic build and a fondness for purple shoe-paint.” He frowned for a moment, “Either that or an earth pony willing to launch herself from a catapult.”

“I think we’ll stick with the pegasus theory for now, thanks Brain.” Rose shook her head, “But purple shoe-paint? Seriously?”

He nodded confidently, “Yes, most definitely. Particulates were left on the side of your head. Likely a cheap brand of paint considering how much was left.”

“Ugh, another reason to get a shower. And soon.”

Brow Beat, evidently getting bored with their back and forth, simply levelled a glare at them, causing his junior detectives to instantly snap to attention. “Enough, you can pretty yourself up after we’re done here. Brain, you said earlier that you had a theory to share with us?”

Instead of replying immediately, the pegasus reached around to the saddlebags that rested alongside his wings and pulled out a large piece of rolled up parchment, quickly laying it on the table and spreading it out to reveal a detailed map of Equestria. Over half of the major cities had been circled.

“These,” Brain announced, “Are the cities in which Ace has committed a major crime. Burglary, confidence trickery, destruction of private property, arson. Each time he comes to a city he stays less than a week, usually in a whirlwind of crime. Afterwards, with whatever goal he has completed, he leaves. I have identified a common trait with each city he has hit though. He always destroys property belonging to a major shipping company.”

“Which company?” Rosamund asked immediately.

“It changed each time, though they must have something in common. Move It Inc. Shipping and Handling. Air Mail. The strange thing is, none of these companies have even heard of their destroyed properties. Each building that Ace has hit has been fraudulent.”

If Brow was shocked by the news, he certainly didn’t show it. “So what is this guy after then?”

“Not sure. Each scene was left completely clean, nothing but ashes and rubble. Whatever those buildings contained was destroyed.” Brow Beat frowned at the young pegasus, clearly not happy with the answer.

“But!” Rose interjected to her partner’s relief, “Before I was attacked, Ace told me that there were far worse things out there than him. Things that had to be stopped.”

“Hmm,” Brow grunted, momentarily satisfied, “Okay then, so he’s a thief playing hero. I can buy that. What about this minotaur?”

Rose and Brain both winced slightly at the mention of the minotaur. By the time they had recovered Rose and got back to the station, the Guards, not wanting to deal with the creature that had lain waste to the station and the majority of their comrades, had sent the problem up the ladder. Which of course meant that they had thrown their best lead in a cage and sent him off to Canterlot to be handled by some stuffy pencil pusher. Brow had not been happy about that and had made his displeasure known, quite verbally.

“Don’t know much about him,” Rose took the lead, “Fake name obviously and the recording crystals were removed in the room that he and Ace met in so whatever they talked about is still between them. However, when he was found he was unconscious in the evidence room surrounded by playing cards. Playing cars which, after a few minutes, burst into flames and disappeared.” She ran one claw over her head, “Magic, though the unicorns on site were unable to identify what kind. We’ll have to wait for news back from Canterlot to know more but I’d put good money down on him working for whatever enemy Ace is after.”

“No bet.” Brow replied with a fleeting smile, “Brain, can you tell us where he’ll be going next.”

Brain, who had been pouring over his map whilst Rose had been talking, looked up at his boss. “Well, there is three main cities with large import and export businesses that Ace has yet to hit. The closest one I believe we can rule out for obvious reasons.”

“And why’s that?”

“Well, it’s…”

“…Cloudsdale!” Ace cried happily as he leaned forward in the basket. Next to him, Gale sighed as the other passengers sent them weary glances.

The air bus, essentially a glorified hot air balloon, was the cheapest way to get to the floating city for anyone who lacked wings. The cost of the trip really shined through. The basket was ratty and looked like it was about to fall through at any moment, something the wingless passengers seemed to hold in constant terror. The balloon, that giant piece of cloth that kept them all from falling to a long and messy death, was held together by sewn-upon patches of differently coloured cloth, giving the impression that the proprietor, a slick looking unicorn who had refused to join them on the ride up, had stolen some poor farm pony’s patchwork pants and inflated them. The only thing more worrying was the bracelet that was currently strapped around Ace’s right leg. Supposedly it was enchanted with a Cloud Walk spell. Top of the range, the unicorn had said. Reliable, he had said. Gale thought otherwise but had barely managed to get a word in edgewise before Ace had promptly bought it and jumped onto the bus.

“Isn’t this great!” He shouted over the wind, red hair whipping around him, “I’m going to visit Cloudsdale. A floating city!”

Gale wasn’t sure how the professional thief, the same one who had seemed so calm and collected back in Trottingham, had turned into a foal the moment his hooves had left the ground. However it had happened, it was quickly beginning to wear on her nerves. The other passengers were in the same basket, both metaphorically and, to their annoyance, literally. Ace had been granted a large circle of space, quite amazing considering the small size of the air balloon’s basket. The satyr’s ability to alienate ponies was quite remarkable.

“We’re landing! This is it!”

He was thankfully right. The pilot, who looked just as grateful as everyone else that the trip was over, was bringing them in to a landing zone on the edge of the city. Even from this distance, Gale could see that the area they were landing in was more than a little rundown. The cloud layer was pulling away from the city and many of the nearby buildings were made of thinning cumulous. The pegasi that Gale could see walking around were thin and ratty, looking like it had been a long time since they had used any feather treatment or even had a proper preen.

The moment they set down, Ace had leapt out of the basket, causing Gale’s heart to jump into her throat. Amazingly, the enchanted bracelet actually worked, the lack of falling satyr encouraging the other ground-based ponies to leave the basket as well. Taking to the air, Gale glided down the street to catch up with the enthusiastic satyr.

“Where are you going?” She asked, causing him to pause in thought.

“Not sure,” He shrugged, “I suppose the first order of business is finding a good place to stay and then, after that, we can start seeing the sights.”

Gale glanced around at the dilapidated buildings. Considering the city was made entirely out of clouds, it was sort of amazing that the local residents had managed to make the slums look so dark and depressing. “What sights exactly are you expecting here?” She said, warily eyeing the ponies lurking nearby watching the new arrivals.

Ace didn’t appear to have heard the question though, instead staring around in amazement at the scenery. “You wouldn’t happen to know and good places to find a safe house nearby would you?”

“No, why would I?”

He stared at her for a moment, “Because you’re a pegasus?”

“What?” She stopped and looked up at him, “Wait, you think that every pegasus knows everything about Cloudsdale?”

He looked away awkwardly, “No?”

“I’ve never been here before either you know. I was born in Trottingham.” Her point made, she carried on walking, the embarrassed satyr quickly catching up. “Racist.” She smirked.

“Fine,” He threw his hands up in exasperation, “Let’s just find a casino instead. Those are always a good place to start. We just need to follow the sounds of money and crying.”

Gale took a moment to process what he had just said, “Wait, what?”

“You mean you don’t hear money?” He shrugged, “Weird.”

Author's Note:

The part of Brain Storm is played by Matthew Gray Gubler. The part of Brow Beat is played by Mark Harmon.

Also, I'm changing my update day to Wendesdays as it fits better with my new schedule.

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