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Spiral Out3,815 words
Elephants in a Room3,005 words
Conversations in the Night2,441 words
Crime and Punishment2,524 words
Ultimate Good2,864 words
They2,876 words
Second Plan2,269 words
Always Someone Better2,721 words
The Thing2,186 words
Messages3,176 words
Strangers in the Night2,191 words
Wild Hunt4,635 words
Epilogue1,043 words

Second Plan

Boysenberry sighed, seeing the first pony she was supposed to interrogate. A blue, middle-aged unicorn mare was drinking her third coffee, but she still was barely able to sit straight. Boysenberry looked around, but Charge was busy talking to Octavia, while Riot Shield was sitting next to Lyra, taking long and detailed notes. Scootaloo went to the station with the captured bat pony and all the other guards were also busy.

“So, are you gonna say something?” the blue mare asked. “I’m Minuette and you should know that since I remember you from Ponyville, kid. I hardly remember anything and I’d rather go to sleep. Oh, and I tried to hit that bat pony with my magic, but my aim is shit now. Can I go?”

“Wait a minute,” Boysenberry said. “Do you recall where was everyone after Heart Beat was kidnapped?”

Minuette scratched her head. “Lyra was with me... And that cute white guy... Dusk Dancer flew behind her. She, like, kicked Hoity Toity, I think.”

“Why?” Boysenberry asked, remembering a grey earth pony who had been transported to the hospital.

“Because he was an idiot,” Minuette replied. “Can I go?”

“Yes, you can go...” Boysenberry sighed again.

“So, everypony started to panic, and then Dusk Dancer kicked that old dude, and I was like, ‘I got it, Bonnie’, and I ran to the garden and fired a spell and–”

“Ms. Heartstrings, can you speak a bit slower?” Riot Shield asked, staring at his broken pencil. He grabbed another one from the table and looked back at Lyra. “I’d like to know if you noticed something unusual about other guests?”

Lyra scratched her head. “Well, Dusk Dancer talked with Fleur about Arcturus...”

“Who?”

“That guy over there,” Lyra replied, pointing at the statue. “He was a leader of the bat pony tribe. Fleur told me about it a few days ago.”

Riot Shield made a note to check who Arcturus was. “What else?”

“Octavia panicked, Dr. Stable joined us, but it was already over when he did, so he didn’t have an occasion to magick her–”

“Okay, I get the idea. How about the other unicorns? Or any pegasi, for that matter?”

“There weren’t any pegasi here,” Lyra replied. “I have no idea how about the unicorns. Because, you know, Fancy Pants was talking with Dr. Stable and Fleur was talking with Dusk Dancer and they didn’t have time to just, you know, run to the garden and go all, like, ‘I got it!’ and–”

“Yeah, I already wrote that,” Riot Shield muttered. He sighed, seeing that Boysenberry already finished her interrogation. “You said that Fancy Pants was talking with Dr. Stable. How about the rest?”

“I don’t exactly know everypony here,” Lyra replied. “But, as I said, I was with Bonnie, Octy, and Minuette, Octy’s mom was in the garden, those guys there...” She made a wide gesture. “They were drinking and talking to each other. That mare, I think her name is Upper Crust, she talked with Black Marble and wanted to run with him to the garden when the whole shitstorm started... I’m sorry,” she muttered, seeing Riot’s expression. “When Heart Beat was kidnapped, she ran with Black Marble, but bumped into somepony... Fancy Pants, I think. Oh, and those two teenagers disappeared somewhere, but then Bonnie found them in the kitchen, having–”

“Yes, we already interrogated them,” Riot Shield said. “Thank you Ms. Heartstring. Please, call us if you remember some more details.” He stood up and walked to Boysenberry, who was waiting by the door.

“How was yours?” Riot asked, seeing that the young guard was rubbing her forehead.

“Drunk,” Boysenberry replied. “How about yours?”

“Insane.”

“Nice. So, how about a drink?” Boysenberry asked. They walked out of the house and headed to one of the carriages.

“Not now,” Riot said. “We need to go back to the station and try to make something out of those testimonies...” He sighed. “Also, I wonder what Scootaloo got from the foalnapper.”

“She and Archer are always getting the best jobs,” Boysenberry muttered. “She’s talking with the criminal while we have to deal with drunken nobles...”

“Scootaloo caught her,” Riot said, taking a place in the carriage. “Also, you may not remember that, but it was me who was working on the Babs Seed case. Archer only shot her.”

“Yeah...” Boysenberry muttered. “Though from what I’ve heard, they were solving Featherweight’s murder at the same time. Also, I’m pretty sure it was that crazy bat who caught the foalnapper. Scootaloo wouldn’t pummel her that much.”

Riot nodded, watching the other guards leaving the house and joining them. “Well, she helps us a lot... But I’m not sure about her. Scootaloo is oddly quiet about her.”

“I’ll ask her about that,” Boysenberry said as the carriages set off.

Scootaloo looked at the bat mare in front of her. Her mane was in a mess – she was constantly pulling it on their way to the station. She was shaking and crying when they seated her in the interrogation room. Her face was swollen after Schwalbe hit her and she was currently observing Scootaloo with only one of her yellow eyes.

“What’s your name?” Scootaloo asked. She knew that Charge was watching them from behind the two-way mirror. The more information she could get from the bat mare the better.

“Cygnus,” the mare replied. “Where’s Stellar Dust?”

“She’s safe with us,” Scootaloo said. “Who told you to foalnap Heart Beat?”

“She’s not safe,” Cygnus muttered, shuddering. “If they know that I failed... They’ll find her... They’re everywhere.”

“Who?” Scootaloo asked, barely stopping herself from sighing.

“They... The cult. They need a sacrifice...” Cygnus whimpered. “They tried with Moonwing. Someone took her when I was away, leaving only a smell of perfume.”

“Cyan Skies?” Scootaloo asked.

“Something like that. She wanted to foalnap Stellar too, but she ran away. At least that was what this masked guy told me.”

“What masked guy?” Scootaloo leaned closer to Cygnus.

“He came to me a few days later, asking where’s Stellar,” Cygnus replied. “He... He told me that Moonwing tried to fight... and she slipped from Cyan’s grasp. I told him that I didn’t know... He took a crossbow and wanted to kill me...” She started to cry loudly.

“And what happened next?” Scootaloo asked when Cygnus calmed down a bit.

“He got a message. S-some pegasus wearing a black cloak came to him and said that somepony called Schwalbe found Stellar.” Cygnus shivered. “He was pissed. I... I thought he’d shoot me, but he said... something about three fillies being... suitable as a sacrifice. He told me to either bring them the third one or they’d kill Stellar...” She hid her face in her hooves.

“I understand,” Scootaloo said. “Stellar is guarded by us. There’s no way they can get her.”

“You understand nothing...” Cygnus whispered. “They’re everywhere.”

“Then we’ll catch them,” Scootaloo said. “An organisation that big can’t hide forever...”

Boysenberry looked at the board hanging from the wall of the office. They put everything they learned from the guests on it. She even drew a plan of Octavia’s house, showing everypony’s position at the time when Heart Beat was kidnapped. Still, it didn’t make any sense.

Her gaze landed on the pile of Cyan Skies’ papers, still lying on her desk. She noticed a small, green sticky note glued to something that appeared to be someone’s grocery list. She looked at it. “9x11” was all it said.

Boysenberry groaned. Nothing in this case seemed to make sense.

She looked at the piece of paper with the encrypted message written on it. Riot was supposed to take it to someone who’d try to crack it, but he had apparently forgotten about it. Boysenberry picked it up and looked at the sticky note again. Then, she quickly picked up a pen.

The hospital corridor was dark and silent. Icewind looked around unsurely. It seemed to her that there was nopony there, but he preferred to be careful. After all, nopony expected that Stormcloud would come back from this very hospital with two broken hooves.

Icewind sighed. Maybe Stormcloud was good when it came to the rituals, but he was hopeless when sent on a mission. Icewind saw him before. He even put his black cloak on! Icewind shook her head – she worked in that hospital as a nurse for five years. She had a perfect opportunity to watch dr. Stable. But no, they had to send Stormcloud there.

Icewind trotted down the corridor and stood in front of the door. The orders were easy: go inside, grab a filly and fly away as fast as possible. From what she heard from Stormcloud, it was supposed to be the plan B, which meant that plan A failed.

Stormcloud is a complete idiot, Icewind thought. He couldn’t spend a minute anywhere without raising suspicious. Hell, instead of staying in the hospital after Icewind found him, he had to run away from it, flying with two broken legs. Of course, he passed out two blocks away from the hospital and was transported back there. Icewind thought that it was a miracle that the cops didn’t get interested in him.

She opened the door. In the dim light, she could clearly see a small lump on the bed, covered by a blanket. She walked to the bed, trying not to make any noise. No doctor was going to go there, but Icewind didn’t want to take any chances. She approached the bed and grabbed a blanket, ready to gag the filly in case she wanted to scream.

“What the–” she muttered, seeing a pile of cushions and rolled blankets in the place where Stellar Dust was supposed to be. She barely felt a pin prick after which her vision started to darken slowly. Shuddering, she turned back, feeling that the time slowed down to a crawl.

Behind her, stood a short, grey-maned mare, her eyes hidden behind thick-rimmed glasses. She was holding a syringe, staring coldly at Icewind.

“You really thought we’d keep her here?” the mare asked.

“Who–” Icewind felt that her muscles weren’t listening to her. She started to sweat – just like Stormcloud and many pegasi, she didn’t feel well in narrow spaces. Now, she was about to experience the worst kind of imprisonment – being trapped in her own body.

The older mare watched as Icewind staggered, resting herself against the bed. She slowly collapsed to the floor, her body twitching from time to time.

“Sleep well, bitch,” the old mare muttered. “Once you wake up, you will answer to a few questions...”

The door opened and a guard walked in. “Hello, Ice Pick,” he said, looking at Icewind lying on the floor. “Is that her, or did you put down some innocent nurse?”

“Apparently,” Ice Pick replied. “She sneaked in here like some thief. But, as you can see, I didn’t smear her face on the wall, just in case.”

“Hmm...” the guard looked at Icewind, who was trying desperately to move any part of her body other than her eyes. “A nurse. That’d fit, you know? One of Charge’s kids caught another kidnapper who said that they’re everywhere.” He poked Icewind with his hoof. “Let’s get her to the station and see what she’ll tell us...”

“Ice Pick caught somepony trying to get to Stellar Dust,” Riot Shield said, entering the office. He saw Boysenberry biting the pen, staring at a piece of paper in front of her. “We should tell her mother that she’s safe.”

Boysenberry spat a pen on the table. “She probably won’t believe us. Scootaloo said that she is...” She waved her hoof around her ear and went back to the papers. “I thought I found a key to Cyan Skies’ code, but it’s probably a bunch of horseapples.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Riot replied. “I was thinking... There were three fillies those nutjobs could sacrifice, right? Moonwing, Stellar Dust, and Heart Beat. What connects them?”

“They all have grey coats...” Boysenberry muttered. “No, it’s not that.”

“Yeah, not to mention that Moonwing’s mane was green, Stellar’s is purple and Heart Beat’s is brown,” Scootaloo said, entering the room. “I see you’re brainstorming.”

“Yeah,” Boysenberry muttered, sighing. “What else?”

“Age,” Riot Shield said. “Heart Beat and Stellar Dust are both about four years old. Moonwing was six.”

“There are thousands of four-year-olds in this town.” Boysenberry looked at the papers and started to draw something on them.

“True,” Scootaloo said. “They have almost nothing in common. Two bat ponies, one unicorn. One of them blind. One of them lives in a moderately rich family, her father is a doctor, her mother is a musician. Moonwing and Stellar’s father is dead, their mother is a cleaner. They’re kids, they live in Canterlot... Nothing more. They probably never met.”

“There must be something...” Riot Shield muttered. “And, above all, what they want to sacrifice them to?”

“The unspeakable,” Boysenberry replied.

“What?” Scootaloo exclaimed. “What’s the unspeakable?”

“Dunno,” Boysenberry replied. “Maybe...” She stared at the wall and smirked. “Maybe that thing from the caves?”

“That’s possible,” Riot Shield said. “And how do you know about this?”

Boysenberry pointed at the piece of paper she’d been drawing on. “Cyan Skies told me...”

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