Running With the wind

by SC14

Forward Steps

Diamond Thread looked at herself in the mirror as she wiped away the tears (among other liquids) that stained her cheeks, she squeezed her eyes shut to try and stop her tears. Once she composed herself, she took another look In the mirror, instead of her reflection she was met by Sweetie Belle, sobbing as she was being led away from the factory she was found in. Diamond Thread had seen it in the newspaper and it had been in the back of her mind ever since. Filled with sudden confidence, she was going to turn herself in and prevent that poor girl from going through any more pain but, when she looked back at the mirror, Sweetie Belle was gone and in her place was Dark Horse, with a devilish smirk on his face, the last words he said to her started ringing in her head 'Don't make me come back,' all of her confidence vanished, she was too afraid of him to do anything. So, Diamond Thread sadly returned to cleaning herself up.

---

Lyra awoke to a dark room she was restrained and quite scared. The room was quiet and she had time to think about her decisions, Blue Streak's words loomed in her mind, he was shockingly right about this crazy situation. Before she could finish her thought she heard voices, realizing the importance of this, she strained to hear the ponies outside the door.

"So, this is the one talking to Blue Streak about the case?" A stallion asked Lyra thought she recognized the voice but she couldn't be too sure.

"Yeah, Didn't sound like she knew anything but it's worth a shot," Another stallion said Lyra didn't recognize this voice.

"Alright, get what you can and get rid of her," This is when it hit her, It was Dark Horse, She went to High School with him but, this shocking revelation was overshadowed by the fact that the other stallion was told to 'Get rid of her'.

"Can I make a suggestion?" The stallion said. Dark Horse nodded. "I was thinking that it would be better to not kill her," He said. This was a pleasant surprise for Lyra.

"Excuse me?" Dark Horse asked. "I should kill you for that suggestion," He added.

"Now hold on a minute, Just hear me out," The stallion said, Dark Horse started to say something but was cut off. "She seemed close with that cop now if we kill her, we have the fury of her good friend and police offer after us and If we do nothing and cut her loose she might tell him but, he will be too focused of the Sweetie Belle case to help and plus we didn't do anything other than kidnap her," He finished.

Dark Horse thought about it for a second. "Fine, just leave me out of it," He said.

"Of course," The Stallion said. Dark Horse turned and left while the Stallion entered the room housing Lyra, who had to think on the fly, and pretended to be asleep.

"I know you aren't asleep," He said. Lyra, scared of causing something bad to happen, looked at the stallion before her. "Look, I don't want to hurt you, I just need to know what you know," "He said. Lyra hesitated before she spoke.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, My employer is convinced you somehow know everything about the case. I happened to be convinced that you know jack squat about the case so, In the event that I am right I would like you to give me something to discredit Blue Streak or even Night Shade," He said.

Lyra pondered the question for a moment. "Like, bad things that they have done?" The stallion nodded. "I couldn't tell you anything bad about Night Shade, but If you give me a second I might be able to tell you something about Blue Streak," Lyra said. The stallion nodded and continued to stare at Lyra.

After a moment of thinking, Lyra spoke. "I can't think of anything that would result in him being discredited in court," Lyra said. In truth, she had thought of something but, it was something that only she knew about and she didn't want Blue Streak to think she was working against him.

"Come on, I have heard he was pretty wild in high school, you must know something," He said. "I also must warn you, if you tell me nothing I'll have to kill you," He added. Lyra started to blurt out her secret but stopped herself, She knew a few small things that might help.

"Uh, He got into at least four off-campus fights," She offered, this was very inconsequential as the fights could just be chalked up to being a high schoolboy.

The stallion sighed, "Well, I guess that is something," He paused. "Thanks, I guess," He said. Lyra went to say something but was roughly punched in the face, knocking her out.

---

Night Shade was on his way to the train station, he was already tired of going from Ponyville to Los Pegasus and this would only be his second trip. His silent complaining was interrupted by a voice calling his name. He turned around to see a mare that he recognized as Minuette, the town's dentist, followed by Sweetie Belle.

"Hello Night Shade," Minuette greeted.

"Hey Minuette, what do you girls need?" He asked.

"Well, CPS asked me to look after Sweetie Belle for the day while they get some stuff sorted out, and well she said she needed to tell you something," Minuette said. He looked at Sweetie Belle, who looked unsure, he gave a reassuring smile.

"I- well," She stammered, frustrated with herself, Sweetie Belle let out an annoyed sigh and tried again. "At some point, Stormy Seas made me clean and I broke a picture and he blasted me," Sweetie Belle said, Night Shade stared at her blankly. "I'm sorry! That sounded a lot more helpful in my head, I just thought that maybe you could find the filly in the picture and she could..."

"Woah Woah Woah! Slow down Sweetie," Night Shade interrupted. "Take a deep breath and start from the contents of the picture," He said.

"Ok, so the picture I broke was of a mare that couldn't be over the age of fifteen with a very young-looking foal, I didn't see it that well but it appeared to have been taken in front of a store," Sweetie Belle said.

"Was it a candid picture?" Night Shade asked.

"No, she appeared to know that the picture was being taken," Sweetie Belle replied. Night Shade pondered this for a second, This could be something, it had to have been one of Stormy Seas' previous victims and she might be able to shed some light on this cloudy case.

"That's great Sweetie, thanks," Night Shade said. "Well, I'll see you guys around," He said. Minuette and Sweetie Belle said their goodbyes before splitting

Night Shade felt good with the information he was just given as even If Walker didn't talk they had something to do.

---

Night Shade stepped off the train, he was tired but determined to find something with this new information, He walked to the police station where he found Blue Streak outside.

"Whats up Streak?" He asked. Blue Streak turned around and frowned.

"I got nothing out of Walker while you were gone," He said. "I hope you were more successful than me," He added.

"Well, I was just not in the way I thought I would be," Night Shade said, Blue Streak raised his eyebrow. "I got nothing out of Diamond Thread but, Sweetie Belle caught me on my way to the train station, she told me that she had broken a picture of a young mare with a baby and Stormy Seas wasn't happy about it," He said. "I think we can get something from this mystery girl if we can find it in evidence," He finished. Blue Streak thought about it for a second, The chances of them finding the person in this supposed picture was slim but, it was worth a shot.

"Let's do it," Blue Streak said. They walked back into the police station and the investigation wing. They identified themselves and started sifting through the evidence collected from the office. It didn't take them long, they found the shattered picture of a filly, who couldn't have been older than fifteen holding a baby. They weren't sure the context of the picture but given that it was on Stormy Seas' desk it couldn't have been good. They took the picture out of the frame and looked on the back, something illegible that appeared to be a name was scribbled on the back. Night Shade let out a sigh, this lead seemed to be a bust, what were they going to do with a picture in an unknown location with a scribble on the back. Blue Streak started to say something but, he was interrupted by a voice.

"Hello," The duo looked to the door to see a Red stallion with a blue mane. "I'm Time Stop, I was Split Sight's partner," Time Stop said. "I figure since you guys are honorary agents and you guys are working Split Sight's case we could be a trio," He added.

"Don't they usually stop you from working your dead partner's case?" Night Shade asked. Time Stop looked at him and smiled.

"They did, I'm just here to give you guys some veteran guidance," He said with a smile. "That picture is a good lead but, I think you should leave that one in your back pocket and go for something more connected to the case," He offered.

"What do you mean?" Blue Streak asked.

"What I'm trying to say is, you should keep this lead in your back pocket and maybe try and figure out something like, who rented that office that they kept her in," He said. Blue Streak stared at him while Night Shade looked at the ground, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"That would be smart," Blue Streak said. "Let's look into that Shade," He said. They started to exit the room but were interrupted by Time Stop.

"Don't tell anyone but I did it for you," Time Stop said, He presented a piece of paper to Blue Streak.

"It was rented by an RS Incorporated," Blue Streak read, He stared at the paper. "I guess we have to find out who owns it?" Blue Streak asked. Time Stop smiled at him.

"I couldn't do too much could I?" Time Stop asked. Blue Streak rolled his eyes. It wasn't too much of an inconvenience since the Las Pegasus crime lab had cutting-edge technology in the form of a computer that could look up volumes of, mostly useless information about Ponies, Companies, and even buildings. The only catch was, It was very non-user friendly and utterly awful to use and Ponyville was too poor to afford this tech, and neither Night Shade nor Blue Streak had the slightest clue of how to use it. But, they were determined not to lose this case and letting Time Stop do any more to progress the investigation would seriously hinder their chances at that.

So, Night Shade bravely walked up to this insane machine and used the mouse to type in RS Incorporated. It brought up all known information about the company, including the owner Stardust Shadow and to his surprise, there was a picture. He clicked on it.

Night Shade's jaw hung open as he looked at the picture. "Meet Stardust Shadow," He said pointing at the screen. "Aka, Quincy," He finished. The other two stallion's jaws also hit the floor.

"Well, that surely is something, Does this business own any other properties?" Time Stop asked. Night Shade scrolled down before he found something familiar.

"Ah, they rented that office in the hotel," He relayed. "Oh, and they bought the factory on 6th, and a bunch of other random properties," He added.

"Ok, well are there any other names mentioned?" Blue Streak asked.

"Nope Quincy is the only name I can find," Night Shade answered.

"Well that was great, we know a lot about a company owned by a dead Pony," Blue Streak said. A silence fell between the three.

"I guess I better stop interfering," Time Stop said. Night Shade went to say something but he was gone. The duo looked at each other. Suddenly, Night Shade had an idea.

"Hand me that picture," He asked. Blue Streak handed him the picture. Night Shade stared at the picture. It appeared to be taken in a field But, there was a sign in the distance. He was able to make out the words on the sign as Good stuff. He turned to the computer and looked it up, they had one location in Baltimare. He looked a Blue Streak, who was now looking over his shoulder.

"I guess were are going to Baltimare," Blue Streak said.

Author's Note:

Long time no see. Not going to lie but I forgot that I wrote this. Hopefully, this motivates me to update more often. Sorry! Thanks for reading.

Comments

[Kichi]

Merry Christmas, Happy new Year, and see you in summer of 2022 for the next chapter

[SC14]

11076194
Hopefully not, but I cant make any promises.