Case 1: Finding An F/The Two-in-One Detective

Case 1
Finding An F/The Two-In-One Detective.

The white furred pegasus wearing a white fedora looked up at the green unicorn floating in crystal before him. He lifted a hoof towards the crystal. The unicorn’s hoof moved to meet it…

Suddenly, alarms roared to life as stallions in black suits began pouring into the room‘s upper levels.

“Boss!” called a younger black Pegasus, dashing to help the elder pegasus move the unicorn out of the crystal within the huge machine that encompassed most of the room. The unicorn now carried a black suitcase in his telekinesis.

They galloped as fast as they could.

Three shots were fired from the odd black devices the suited stallions carried.

The elder stallion fell to the ground, three bleeding wounds in his back.

“Boss!” The younger stallion was at his elder’s side in a moment, shock and despair in his face.

The old stallion grabbed his hat in his teeth and shakily raised his head, sliding the white fedora onto his student and giving him a smile…and then falling lifelessly to the ground.

The black stallion fell too his knees and trembled, looking down at the prone form in front of him in disbelief and shock.

However, this was not a time to stop and grieve. The floor exploded in a blast of pink energy, forcing the pegasus and unicorn to take cover. A strange black and red creature with an elongated lower half flew from the hole it had just blown.

The pegasus looked at the unicorn beside him and felt his hoof involuntarily touch the white fedora placed on his head in his mentor's last moments.

As the creature formed energy into her hooves, the pegasus grabbed the unicorn by his white clothing using his mouth and pulled him out of the way of sphere of blazing energy that blew the piece of floor they were just standing to bits.

The pegasus pulled his companion towards the window, hesitantly spreading his wings in preparation for flight…only for a pair of gargantuan orange eyes to rise up in front of them. Moments later a gale of dragon fire forced the two to take cover behind a stairwell.

Fire and blasts of energy exploded around them.

The unicorn opened the suitcase to reveal a belt-like device with a pair of red slots going straight up and down, bits of silver visible in it’s workings. Above it were six rectangular devices, each a different color, translucent with circuitry visible.

“Do you have the courage to dance with the devil?”

The pegasus cautiously took the belt and the black device, looking at them while the unicorn took the green device.

The black and red creature swirled energy orbs around her as more dragon fire surged forth into the room.

Now both wearing a copy of the belt, the two ponies rose and inserted the devices into their belts. An orb of green and purple energy formed and threw the incoming attacks away.

A vortex of wind ripped the room apart, throwing the suited stallions in all directions, and causing the creature to have flee to avoid being crushed as machinery began to collapse. Outside, the source of the dragon fire was taken off guard and roared in shock as it was sent slamming into the building by the force of the winds as a huge explosion blew out the windows of the room.

Amongst the flames, an armored figure stood, red eyes glowing, white scarf blowing in the wind…

One year later

“Thanks for bringing me here,” said a green Pegasus mare with a black mane that hung down around her head except for a ponytail in back.

“No problem, miss,” replied her guide, a Royal Pegasus Guard. “Though never seen a Pegasus who didn’t know how to get to Cloudsdale.”

The Pegasus blushed slightly. “Uh…Well, you see…”

“I’m just joking with you,” the Guard replied with a good-natured smile. “I’d best be getting back to work, I hope you enjoy your stay, Miss…”

The Pegasus watched the Guard taking off…then realized something. “Wait!” she called…but he was already gone. She gave an annoyed sigh and turned back to the massive city in the clouds. She let her annoyance subside as her gaze fell on the sheer beauty of the Pegasus city. “I can see why you always said this place was beautiful…” she whispered to herself…Then gave yet another sigh.

“This place is huge…How in Riku Sanjo’s name will I find it?!” she exclaimed. She pulled a map out of out of her bag…and it promptly got blown away by the strong winds. “Ahh! Come back!” she yelled, flying after the wayward map.

About an hour later, the mare had flown herself ragged over half the floating city. “Ugh…I’ve looked everywhere…” she exclaimed, sitting down on a cloud bench, shaking her head miserably. “I’ll never find it…” she muttered, giving a slightly exaggerated collapse onto the bench.

Nearby, a stallion in a black suit watched the mare, a black suitcase sitting in the clouds next to him. He tapped a hoof to his chin and prepared to move in…

“Hey there!” called a rather happy go lucky voice.

The green pegasus jumped, looking up to find a greenish blue pegasus with a deeper green mane and baby blue eyes land in front of her. Her Cutie mark was a raining white cloud.

The stallion grumbled and stepped back into the shadows.

“Uh…yes?” the young pegasus asked.

“Are you lost? You look lost, so I thought I’d check.” The new arrival said with a huge grin.

“Yeah, this place is so huge! I can’t find anything!”

“Well, maybe I can help, I live here after all. Oh! Forgot to introduce myself, my name is Sprinkle Medley, but everypony just calls me Medley!”

Akiko blinked, a little confused by the pegasus' energy, but she was too tired to complain. “My name is Akiko, and thank you! That would be great!”

Medley cocked her head. “Akiko? That’s a weird name for a pony…Anyway, what ya looking for, Akiko?”

Akiko gave a glare at the response to her name, but shook it off. “I am looking for Narumi Detective Agency.”

Medley smirked from ear to ear. “Oh! You want to see Shou? I know the way!”

“Shou? Who is-”

“Come on! I’ll show you!”

Akiko gave a yell as Medley pushed her along with her head despite Akiko’s protests.

Not long after, Akiko found herself pulled up to a cloud building by the enthusiastic pegasus. She looked at the sign next to the door reading ‘Narumi Detective Agency’ in big black letters. Someone had nailed a piece of cardboard onto it adding ‘Solves all cases with hardboiled style.’

“Hardboiled?” Akiko muttered. She then shook off her confusion and turned to Medley, giving a polite bow. “Thank you, I was so lost!”

Medley chuckled. “Anytime! If you’re staying long, feel free to look me up!” she called, flying off as quickly as she’d came.

Akiko blinked. “What a strange pony…”

The young pegasus slowly pushed the door open and looked around. It was made of clouds, like most buildings in pegasus cities, but with the décor, and even the darker colors of the clouds themselves, made her think she’d walked into an old detective flick. There was even an older model pegasus typewriter on the deck with a pile of reports sitting next to it.

“How odd…”

Akiko noticed a nearby wall covered in fedoras of various colors. One that caught her eye was a white one, mainly due to a notch that seemed to be burned into its rim. It seemed strangely familiar.

She slowly trotted over to examine it…just in time for a door hidden behind it to spontaneously open up.

“Ahhhh!”

“Ahhhh!” shouted the wisteria coated pegasus mare who’d been unfortunate enough to nearly trot headlong into Akiko.

“Ahhh!”

“Ahh!”

“…Ah…”

“Ah!”

The mare rolled her pink eyes and tried to get her somewhat messy pink mane back in order, turning so her rainbow Cutie Mark was visible.

“Who are you?!” yelled Akiko hysterically.

“I’m Rainbowshine, who the Tartarus are you?” the mare asked in a harsh tone.

Akiko gave a glare. She took out a green slipper from her saddlebags in her mouth and smacked Rainbowshine in the head with it.

“Ow!”

“Don’t speak to me like that! You were the one who popped out of nowhere!”

Rainbowshine rubbed her head with a deadpan expression. “No, that would be you.”

Akiko prepared to respond…then rubbed her head nervously as realization kicked in. “Oh yeah…I guess so…” She promptly threw the slipper into the air and let it bonk herself on the head. “Sorry…”

Rainbowshine gave a sigh. “It’s fine…now who are you?”

“Akiko Narumi…”

The older pegasus' eyes widened. “Narumi? You mean your dad was…Hang on, let‘s see if we can-”

The mare was cut off by the sound of an engine outside. The two flew out the door and saw a black pegasus with a brown mane and tail ride off on what looked like a half black, half green motorized bicycle, the front having some kind v-shaped, silver crest with a red gem in the center and two headlights that resembled eyes. It's rider wore a black vest over top a white shirt, a red tie blowing in the breeze.

“Wait!” yelled Rainbowshine…who then sighed. “He’s always rushing off like that, trying to be all hardboiled…”

Akiko just stared in shock. “What is he riding?! And how is it riding on clouds?! And why is he using it?! He’s a pegasus!”

Rainbowshine gave an exasperated look, pressing a hoof to her forehead. ’I’m going to have to be the exposition fairy for this filly all day, won’t I?’ she thought.

“In order: it’s called Machine Hardboilder, I have no idea, it just does, and he’s not a strong flier, it’s faster and less tiring to use it…and Shou thinks it makes him look badflank…which admittedly, it kinda does…”

Akiko blinked…then gave a slow nod of agreement.

“…Come on, I’ll make tea. I hooked Shou up with a case, he can fill you in more when he gets back and vice versa…”

“Firebrand, that you?” asked ‘Shou’ as he pulled up to a white furred mare standing on a street corner and disembarked, revealing his Cutie Mark to be a stylized purple J. He gave a close look at the mare. White fur, fiery orange mane and eyes. Her Cutie Mark a torch. She was wearing a dark brown flight jacket, lighter brown artificial fur lining it. Looking closely, he could tell it was mouth stitched. Still, it was amazing work.

The mare gave a nod. “Hey, Shou, haven’t seen you since flight school.”

Rainbowshine rubbed her forehead with a hoof, trying to ease a slowly forming headache as she looked over the paperwork Akiko had produced. ‘Well, this complicates things…a lot‘ she thought, ignoring it as the younger mare downed another cup of tea. “Look, this isn’t just a job, it’s-hey, where are you going?”

“The little filly’s room!” called Akiko, trying to find the correct door.

The older pegasus blinked, nudging the teapot with her hoof and finding it empty. She gave a sigh and introduced her forehead to her hoof. “This mare is such a filly…” she muttered, then gasped when Akiko tried a certain door. “Not that one!”

Akiko went through the hat rack door…and found herself in a large metal room with all sorts of high tech devices and numerous chalkboards. “What the Tartarus?!”

A green unicorn with a black mane looked up at her, a book suspended in front of him in a green aura as he wrote on one of the boards. He wore a green long coat with a striped shirt.

Rainbowshine sighed and facehoofed, worsing her headache on accident. “Shou is going to kill me…”

Shou looked at the picture in front of him. It was of a young stallion with a very similar appearance to Firebrand’s, except his mane was icy blue in color. His Cutie Mark was a snowflake. “Your younger brother?”

Firebrand nodded grimly. “He went missing about a week ago…His name's Frost,” she put a pleading hoof on his foreleg. “Please, can you find him? I‘m worried sick and so are mom and dad...It isn‘t like him to just run off like this…”

The stallion gave a confident smirk and tilted his fedora. “Don’t worry. Nopony will cry in Cloudsdale if I can help it. That includes you two. I‘ll find him.”

Firebrand returned the nod, a smile slowly forming on her muzzle.

My name Hidari Shoutarou, I am a private detective. In this town where the weather is made, the wind is the most unpredictable thing, and the winds of fate often change with it.

Shou talked with a shop owner, recording all the information he obtained, showing him Frost‘s picture.

My client, an old flight school classmate named Fireband, searching for her missing brother Frost.

Shou showed the picture to several ponies, constantly questioning and recording information.

“Certainly was a strange wind that reunited us…” Shou narrated, leaning against a flag pole and looking up as Equestria's flag moved in the wind.

“Why do you always narrate to yourself?”

Shou jumped with a yell. He turned to find Medley directly behind him on the other side of the pole. “Medley! Why are you always startling me?!”

“Because it’s fun! On a case?”

Shou sighed. “Yeah. Looking for somepony named Frost, Firebrand’s little brother,” he said, doing his best to regain his stoic, hardboiled tone. “All I’ve found out so far is he got kicked out of his apartment about a week ago…” he reported, turning dramatically aside and looking off at Cloudsdale.

“Ah! Well, ya get to meet Akiko yet?!”

Shou blinked, snapping back to the energetic pegasus so fast his neck cracked. “Who?”

Before she could respond, there was a loud crashing noise from nearby. Shou galloped full speed towards it. Medley just shrugged and followed after him.

“By Riku Sanjo…” muttered the black pegasus, skidding to a stop in front of a building now half buried in snow and ice. The occupants had all evacuated, but the sight was still shocking. And unlikely, considering there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Shou quickly took out an odd black and blue camera and began photographing the scene.

As Akiko tried, and failed, to get the unicorn away from his feverish research, a ringing sound filled the air.

The unicorn floated over a strange blue rectangular device Akiko mistook for a robotic clam until he flipped it open, revealing a number pad on it. The young pegasus blinked, wondering what the device was. The odd pony had kept consulting it over and over again, but was so caught up in…whatever he was doing that he didn’t respond to anypony, just kept muttering facts about snow and ice.

“Yes, Shou?” asked the unicorn. “…Yes, she’s still here. Rainbowshine.”

The pegasus barely had time to react and catch the device thrown at her. “Darn it, Philip! Warn somepony first!” she muttered before answering the device. “Yeah, Shou, what is it?”

“Philip? Your name is Philip?” asked Akiko in an annoyed tone.

“Yes, and I’m quite busy,” Philip replied, writing on the boards.

“Will you at least tell me how you are walking on clouds?!” asked Akiko, getting annoyed with the stallion.

“I don’t know, I was confused most unicorns need a spell, I have just always been able to do it, I‘m actually quite interested in finding why myself,” the green unicorn replied with a little interest in the topic.

Rainbowshine rolled her eyes at Akiko, listening to the device. “Hold on…” she said, thinking. She looked at a nearby map and located the attack location. “Yeah, they all belong to a Griffin named Gilded Cage,” she explained. “He owns quite a few buildings in Cloudsdale, mostly apartments or hotels, but a few gift shops. Three of his buildings have been attacked this week, but from the sound of things, this is the biggest…”

The mare gave an exasperated sigh. “Sounds like another Dopant…”

“Dopant?” asked Akiko, turning to look up at her.

Shou sighed. “Yeah…what were the other locations?” he asked, then listened for a moment as Rainbowshine listed off locations before giving a sigh. “…One of those was Frost’s apartment building…Why is it the simple cases turn out to involve Dopants…”

“Because you’re a weirdness magnet?” asked Medley, sitting on a higher cloud and looking over things curiously. “Definitely a Dopant though, too much snow for one pony or griff.”

Shou blinked at Medley, then looked back to the destruction. “Put Philip on…”

“Philip!” called Rainbowshine, flying down and politely hoofing it over to the unicorn's telekinesis…and giving a huff when Philip just took it and started talking. “Ugh…I hate it when he gets like this…”

Akiko tapped her on the shoulder. “What’s a Dopant?”

Rainbowshine sighed. “…Shou knows better than I do, but…” she muttered, before flying up to a nearby table and returning with a photo. She handed it to Akiko. It was of an odd yellow rectangular device with a ribcage design, a stylized ‘C’ resembling a comic book picture, in the upper left hoof corner the word ‘Comic.’ “That’s a Gaia Memory. There are ponies selling them in Cloudsdale. Anyone using one can transform into powerful monster called a Dopant.”

Akiko shook her head in disbelief. “That is-”

“Ridiculous?” asked the wisteria mare. “Yeah, but it’s what’s happening now. The Guard is trying to take care of the Dealers, but as for the Dopants?” she asked, then motioned to Philip. “Those two are the only ones who can take care of them.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see…I’d describe it, but you probably wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

Philip looked at his strangely empty book. “From the pictures you sent me, I've narrowed it down, but I need more keywords…”

Shou nodded, watching the Guard began clearing out the ice and snow as best they could. “Alright, I think I have a few. Check the Gaia Library.”

“Rainbowshine, hold the phone please,” said Philip, the pegasus coming over and pressing it next to the unicorn’s ear with a hoof.

“You’re lucky I’m nice…” the mare muttered.

“What is going on-” Akiko began, but was shushed by Rainbowshine.

The odd green unicorn closed his eyes, his magic vanishing as he set down and extended one front leg out while balancing the book in his other foreleg.

Akiko let out a scream when she noticed Philip’s Cutie Mark, a book with a strangely stylized green C, open up and the pages beginning to turn. Rainbowshine promptly shushed her again.

Philip opened his eyes, finding himself suddenly in an infinite white space. Innumerable bookshelves, each packed to the brim with books of every shape, size, and color, suddenly materialized, extending on to eternity.

“Known keywords. Ice, Snow,” the unicorn said, the words appearing in front of him in green lettering.

Instantly, the shelves rapidly rearranged themselves, many disappearing along with a multitude of books.

“The building wasn’t frozen solid, so that eliminates Cold, Ice Age, and Windigo,” Philip continued, more books being eliminated. “But we still haven’t narrowed down the memory completely.”

“Enter the keywords Frost-name, Pegasus, Stallion.” Shou’s voice announced.

The word flashed in front of Philip, the shelves continued to be eliminated, now narrowed down to a mere five shelves lined up directly in front of the unicorn.

“That narrowed it down considerably.”

“That’s because we know exactly who the Dopant is.”

“However, we still haven’t discovered the brand of memory he’s using…”

Shou sighed, giving a look over the situation. “What am I missing?” he asked, tapping his chin. He looked to Medley. “You’re a weather mare, what do you think?”

Medley looked over the damaged structure and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “It didn’t fall from the sky.”

Shou blinked. “Huh?”

“It looks more like it crashed in all at once instead of piled on like snow,” the mare explained, showing her Cutie Mark. “Precipitation is my specialty you know! Hey that rhymed!…anyway, point is, this isn‘t like a snow storm or anything like that. The spread isn‘t even like if it was a blizzard dumping it on the place.”

The detective stallion rubbed his chin, then gasped. “Philip!”

“I heard her, Shou,” said Philip, the unicorn having already fed in the proper keywords, eliminating more books, finally narrowing it down to a white book with the word ‘Avalanche’ on it. “The Memory brand is Avalanche.”

“Good, we‘ve got the brand,” Shou replied, then noticed Medley staring at him expectantly. “…Thank you, Medley.”

The happy pegasus smirked widely. “You’re welcome!”

“…Philip, let’s try to find where he’ll attack next.”

Philip nodded, resetting the search. “Keywords: ‘Avalanche.’ ‘Frost-name.’ ‘Pegasus.’”

The books rearranged themselves, once more narrowing down themselves to a line of shelves.

“Next is ‘Gilded Cage.’”

The books continued to narrow it down. “Only one shelf left.”

“Finally ‘Apartment Building.’”

The last shelves vanished, leaving only a few books floating in front of him which then flew off gradually, one with the word ‘Place’ materializing on the cover remaining.

Philip grabbed it in his telekinesis and began to flip through it.

Philip trotted over to the map back in the real world. “Thus far, it appears that he’s only attacked apartment buildings. Gilded Cage owns only three in Cloudsdale. Two were destroyed, leaving only one possibility: ‘Snowdrop Apartments.’ I am confident that’s where the Dopant will strike next.”

Akiko blinked, looking to Rainbowshine. “Is that what you meant?”

“Half of it, yeah,” the mare replied. “The other half you’ll need to see soon…Might want to head over to Snowdrop Apartments, somepony’s gonna need to arrest the Dopant when they‘re through…”

Akiko blinked. “You are a Guard? Aren’t they all white furred?”

“Close, officially I’m a Weather Factory employee, but I’ve got…other duties,” the mare said, trotting out of the room.

Akiko sighed…then looked back to Philip. “Are you going?”

The unicorn gave a strangely friendly smirk. “Of course, me and Shou are a two-in-one detective after all,” he said, but strangely went right back to reading his book.

Shou soon arrived at the location aboard the Hardboilder, pulling to a stop and looking around slowly through the crowd of Pegasi and Griffins…before his eyes landed on a familiar white stallion.

The black stallion slowly trotted over. “Your name's Frost, right?” he asked, noticing the stallion’s eyes looked totally unhinged. They made Shou think of an oncoming avalanche. ‘Not good, looks like he’s already been consumed by the Gaia Memory…

Frost snarled, grinding his teeth. “You’re that detective, aren’t you? The one Firebrand is always talking about?! Gilded Cage hired you, didn‘t he?!” he asked hysterically. Shou noticed his voice had a gruffness to it, like the rumbling of an avalanche.

Shou blinked. “Now hang on, I’m a detective but-”

“Then I‘ll just crush you too!” yelled the stallion, lifting his front leg and pulling back fur to reveal a strange black tattoo in his skin. He produced a blue device similar to the one Rainbowshine had shown Akiko, only this one’s symbol was an A stylized to look like a mountain with snow rushing down the slope. “I’ll crush everything!”

“Hey! Don’t do anything crazy! Let’s just talk this through!” Shou pleaded vainly.

“AVALANCHE!” the device announced before Frost pressed it into the marking, where it phased into his body.

His eyes glowed blue as ice and snow cascaded off his body, forcing Shou to jump back out of the way to avoid being caught in it. As the cascade ended, standing in Frost’s place was a white quadruped being with spires of ice jutting from his shoulders, his face, underbelly, and hooves composed of mountain rock. His face now resembled more a stone mask than that of a pony. Shou had to take evasive action as ice crystals were hurled at him, the crowd screaming and taking cover.

“CRUSH IT ALL!” bellowed the monster, voice now loud and bellowing like the roar of an avalanche.

Shou ducked under one last crystal as it flew, pressing his hat to his head with a hoof in the process. “Why do we always gotta to do this the hard way? I guess I’ll have to stop you…no,” he said, producing the red device from that night almost a year prior.

“We’ll have to stop you,” he said, putting it around his midsection, where straps extended, forming a belt.

Philip was flipping through his book as Akiko occupied herself sorting through the files they’d kept. Suddenly, in a flash of white light, a matching copy of Shou's belt materialized around his own waist. Looking down, he gave a chuckle, putting his book down.

Shou produced the same black device from that night from the inside of his vest and held it up, revealing a stylized J identical to the one his Cutie Mark possessed, and the word ‘Joker‘ inscribed on the label. The Avalanche Dopant startled in surprise at the sight of it. Shou pressed the singular button on it with his other hoof.

“JOKER!”

“Let’s go, Philip.”

Philip produced his own green memory from his coat pocket, once more having the same stylized C on it. He pressed the button with his telekinesis.

“CYCLONE!”

Akiko blinked, looking at it. “Is that a…Gaia Memory?” she asked, confused, particularly by the fact that this memory seemed much more streamlined and refined than the one she’d seen before.

Philip took a pose mirroring that of his partner.

“Henshin!”

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory into the right slot of the belt, causing it to glow green and vanish into green energy. Philip promptly seemed to faint and collapsed to the floor, much to Akiko’s shock.

“Ahh! What is going on?! I didn‘t hear anything about this!” exclaimed the surprised mare, spreading her wings and flying down to try and wake the unicorn.

The Cyclone Memory materialized in the right slot of Shou’s belt and he pushed it all the way in with his hoof before inserting the Joker Memory into the left slot. The device began to give off a preparation noise. Standing up on his hind legs, Shou threw the device open with his front hooves, causing it to form a W-shape.

“CYCLONEJOKER!” the belt announced as Shou threw his front legs out to his sides, wind swirling around him as fragments of material swirled in the tempest, forming into the same form born that night, now in full view of the world as wind blew with enough force to drive the Dopant back and make flags on the surrounding rooftops change direction.

The right side of the warrior was a bright green with gold accents on it’s shoulder pad, wrist guards, and half of the W pattern going across his chest, the left half black with matching purple. A v-shaped silver crest adorned the head, a red jewel in the center, and a pair of silver lines divided his two halves down the middle, from the tip of his head to his groin. Red eyes stared at the Dopant while a silver scarf billowed out behind the warrior.

“WHAT ARE YOU?!” asked the Dopant, staring in awe of the being before him.

“We’re Double,” replied Shou’s voice from the entity.

“Now…let’s count up your sins!” announced Double, in both Shou and Philip’s voices together, pointing one hoof at the monster with a dramatic flourish.

The warrior charged forwards and leapt at the Avalanche Dopant, kicking out with his hind legs and driving the monster backwards. Spinning around, Double drove kick after kick of his hind legs into the chest of the Dopant, staggering his opponent further back.

Avalanche regained his foot, charged, and threw several kicks of his own, but Double evaded the blows with effortless grace before replying with a headbutt that sent the monster reeling. The masked stallion flapped his wings, lifting into the air and mule kicking the monster square in the head, sending him flying backwards and rolling across the fluffy ‘ground‘.

Snarling in rage, Avalanche got back to his hooves and roared, a wave of ice and snow rising off his body and crashing down on the armored warrior.

Double blocked with his front hooves, but while he was able to resist the assault, he was beginning to get buried. “We‘ll be buried alive if we don‘t think of something!” Shou’s voice announced.

“I think this memory will be more ideal,” Philip’s replied, Double’s right eye flashing with the words. His right hoof closed the waist mounted device before removing the Cyclone Memory and producing a red Memory with an H stylized to appear as though it was made of flames.

“HEAT!”

He inserted it into the belt right as Double was buried.

Avalanche chuckled psychotically, forming a razor sharp spear of ice. “DIE!”

“HEATJOKER!”

In an explosion of flames and heat, Double’s icy prison exploded and the resulting wave of head forced Avalanche to stagger back, his spear melting. “WHAT?!”

Double’s right side had turned red, the accents turning yellow. “Philip! Warn me first next time!” Shou’s voice exclaimed.

Double promptly charged the Dopant, punching the incoming ice spears, a burst of flame caused them to melt into nothing on impact. Upon reaching the monster, Double threw a series of strikes with his right hoof, each impact emitting a burst of powerful flames, sending Avalanche reeling. Avalanche retaliated with a punch of his own, but Double locked his arm with the Joker half before punching him several times with the Heat half in the ribs until he let go and gave the Dopant a hard hook to the head. As he staggered, Double reared back and put all his force into a jumping trust to the monster’s head, sending him flying back and crashing into the clouds.

“It would be wise to put an end to this, Shou,” said Philip’s voice as the Dopant struggled to regain his wits.

“Yeah, let’s go for the Memory Break,” replied Shou’s voice.

Double replaced the Heat Memory once more for the Cyclone Memory.

“CYCLONE…CYCLONEJOKER!”

Now back in his default form, Double grabbed the Joker Memory and inserted it into a black slot on the right side of the belt strap itself.

“JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!”

Double extended his front hooves as a tornado formed around him, lifting him up into the air and blinding the Dopant as the fierce wind stung his eyes. At the apex of his ascent, Double slammed his right hoof into the button on the side of the slot into which the Joker Memory was inserted.

“JOKER EXTREME!” announced Shou and Philip, as Double launched hind legs first at the Avalanche Dopant in position for a dropkick. Suddenly, Double’s Joker half slid forward along the silver divider going down his center, revealing a glowing yellow energy within the masked stallion.

Double was suddenly sped forwards by a burst of wind, Joker’s hoof colliding with the Dopant first, Cyclone’s following suit, triggering a sizable explosion and launching the monster backwards from the impact.

As the warrior’s two halves reunited, he landed nearby and the Dopant struggled back to his feet. Green and purple energy briefly crackled across Avalanche’s form before a massive explosion engulfed him. Left in it’s wake was a stunned Frost collapsing to the ground and the Avalanche Memory ejecting into the air and shattering to bits.

Double gave a sigh of relief. “Looks like it’s time to let the Guard do their job…” Shou’s voice stated, though in a bittersweet tone. ‘How am I gonna tell Firebrand?‘

Double slowly approached Frost, mainly to ensure he didn’t escape…when suddenly, the clouds seemed to shake under his hooves. Looking up, he saw a massive shape tearing through the clouds. Shock came when he remembered these clouds were hardened for construction, breaking through them was not as simple as it seemed…

“What the Tartarus?!” Shou’s voice announced as a massive shape tore through the clouds, titanic leathery wings outstretched as it screeched and seized Frost in it’s taloned feet, emitting a gigantic screech.

TBC

Case 2: Finding An F/Don't Let The City Cry

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Case 2
Finding An F/Don’t Let The City Cry

Double was batted aside by the massive Dopant’s wing. The creature was a gigantic gray and silver reptilian monster with leathery wings, a long crest on its head and a long beak extending from the head. It gave a piercing screech and dove at Double, forcing him to dodge a stab from it’s beak. Frost screamed, struggling in the beast's clutches.

“Another Dopant?!” asked Shou’s voice, the armored warrior spreading his wings and flying up into the air to just barely avoid a gust of wind from it’s wings.

“The Memory appears to be Pteranodon,” Philip’s voice stated as Double landed to avoid tiring out his wings. “We need RevolGarry, Shou!”

“Good idea!”

Double quickly took out the odd device Shou and Philip had been using to speak to each other and typed in a code.

“Come on, Philip, wake up!” pleaded Akiko, shaking the unicorn…then the platforms in the room began to swing upwards. “What is this?!”

The floor split open and machinery began to move around, forming what appeared to be a wheeled vehicle around her and the unconscious Philip.

“Ahh! Wake up! Wake up!” she yelled, shaking the unicorn.

The machine finally closed up, enclosing the mare and revealing itself to be a gigantic eight-wheeled vehicle with a large circular chamber mounted on the back. It was primarily black with two large, red eye-like markings and orange markings on the sides and the chamber. The same silver v-shaped crest on Hardboilder and Double himself stood out on it‘s top of the front end.

Headlights blazed as the wall in front of it opened, revealing a tunnel built beneath the streets of the floating city. It sped out of the new door, showing no change in speed once its tires hit clouds.

“Ahhh! What’s happening?!”

Double let out a cry of pain as the massive Pteranodon Dopant slashed at him with it’s free claw, knocking him into the air with a cascade of sparks. It grabbed the masked stallion in it’s beak and swung him around…Until the nearby clouds opened up and the RevolGarry erupted out and slammed hard into the massive Dopant, knocking it into the clouds hard.

“That was close…” muttered Shou’s voice as RevolGarry swung around and smashed it’s cylinder into Pteranodon, sending the massive Dopant flying into the side of

“Shou, we should hurry and get HardTurbuler!”

“Yeah!”

However, Pteranodon spread it’s wings and blew RevolGarry back before diving through the clouds, taking the screaming Frost with it.

Double reached out and prepared to give chase, but realized it was useless. “Dang it! It got away!”

“You might have caught him if you were a stronger flier, Shou,” said an annoyed voice.

Double turned to see Rainbowshine fly down and land next to him. “Well…I don’t see you flying after him!”

Rainbowshine simply pointed at the belt. “I’m not the superhero.”

“Hehe, she’s got you there, Shou.”

Double's left side looked confused while the right seemed amused.

“...Well...we thought Avalanche was the only Dopant involved!”

“And in the time we’ve been arguing, you could’ve gotten to HardTurbuler and took off after him,” the wisteria pegasus pointed out.

“Well…I…”

“I believe this is the proper reaction for this situation,” said Philip’s voice, before Double’s right hoof slammed into his face.

“Ow! Warn me before you do that, Philip!”

Rainbowshine sighed as Double argued with his own right half, the pegasus mare looking around the damage. “I hate the ones that grow into giant monsters, they always mean a mess of paper work for me.”

Double closed the Double Driver and pulled out the memories, causing the armor to turn gray and vanish in a flurry of wind, reverting to Shou. “Yeah, Big Dopants always make a giant mess of things…We’d best start investigat-”

The detective was interrupted by the sound of pounding on metal coming from RevolGarry. “Huh?”

Pressing a button on the phone, the machine’s top opened up…and a green slipper to smack him in the head. “Ow!”

Akiko glared a hole through him. “What is going on?! Why did I get trapped in a crazy machine?! And why did you turn into some crazy half and half monster?!”

Shou staggered backwards and fell on his flanks in surprise. “Ah! Who the Tartarus are you?!”

Rainbowshine rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Shou, I may have some explaining to do…”

“Some?!”

“Okay, a lot.”

“Avalanche and Pteranodon?” asked a gray coated, black maned stallion wearing a sharp black suit with a red tie. His Cutie Mark was that of a chain. “Good sales, Kirihiko. Then again, why expect anything less from our top dealer?”

The handsome blue furred pegasus stallion stood in front of him, wearing a suit the same as all dealers seemed to wear, only he wore a white hankerchief around his neck with a single red spot, resembling a spot of blood. His black mane seemed somewhat messy and hung over one eye, but in a way that still carried an air of refinement in it.

The dealer bowed. “Thank you very much, Chain Link.”

He trotted over to a window and looked out. “However, I am afraid I will no longer be under your employ much longer.”

Chain Link blinked, the gray Pegasus flying over. “Now, come on, you aren’t thinking about quitting. You signed a contract. And breaking a contract with the boss isn’t gonna do you any favors,” he said, giving an almost instinctive shudder when he mentioned the boss.

Kirihiko chuckled. “No, I’m not quitting…but soon, you’ll be under my employ.”

Chain Link blinked. “What?”

Kirihiko pulled an envelope out of his suit and handed it to him. Chain Link took the letter, looking closely. It was imprinted with a globe within a circle inscribed with the alphabet, a pair of wings extending out from it. The street boss opened it.

“‘Caporegime Chain Links; as a loyal ally of our family, you are hereby invited to the wedding of my eldest daughter Saeko and…” the Pegasus gave out a startled gasp. “Kirihiko Sudo?!”

Kirihiko put a hoof on the startled pegasus’ shoulder. “Don’t worry, you’ve always been a good boss to me, Chain Link, I have no intention of not returning that kindness. In fact, I happen to have a gift for you from my new father-in-law.”

“Gift?”

“Wait…what?!” asked Shou, almost falling out of his chair looking at the document in front of his muzzle.

“I’m the owner of this place,” Akiko replied, pointing to the deed held in her mouth.

The stallion snarled. “Now I don’t know how you got that, but-”

“Shou,” said Rainbowshine. “She’s Sokichi’s daughter.”

Shou froze mid-sentence. “Boss’ d-daughter?” he asked in disbelief.

Akiko nodded. “That is right. So I own this place.”

Shou didn’t seem to hear. He simply got up and slowly trotted over to the hat rack, staring at the white fedora.

Three gunshots. A stallion bleeding. Putting that hat on his head as his mentor breathed his last.

Akiko blinked, noticing Shou seemed to be trembling a bit and his breathing became ragged. “What’s wrong with him? He looks like he’s seen a ghost.”

Rainbowshine rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Well, you see there was-”

“Shou!”

The group spun to see the door open and Firebrand fly in. “Shou, you found Frost?!”

Shou snapped out of his stupor. “Oh, Firebrand…Yeah…” he replied, then rubbed his head, trying to think of how to put it. “But…”

As the black pegasus struggled to get his words together, Rainbowshine gave a sigh. “Look, Firebrand…Your brother was a Dopant, he was trying to get payback on Gilded Cage for booting him out of his apartment.”

Shou rushed over to the other pegasus. “Hey, don’t be so blunt!” he whispered.

“Somepony has to be, you’re too half-boiled to do it,” the mare snapped back.

“I'm not half-boiled!”

“Shou…is that true?” Firebrand asked, her ears pinning back.

Shou sighed, rubbing his head. “…Yeah…But we destroyed the Gaia Memory…”

The fiery colored pegasus gave sad sigh. “Well…at least there’s that…”

“But then another Dopant grabbed him.”

Shou groaned at Rainbowshine‘s bluntness. “…That’s also true…”

“W-what?” Firebrand sunk down to her flanks, looking on the verge of tears.

Shou quickly trotted over and put a hoof on her shoulder, giving a comforting smile. “Don’t worry, Firebrand. I’ll find him. No pony is going to cry in Cloudsdale if I can help it.”

“…Shou…”

“You’d better find him,” said another voice, this one male and coming from the door nearby.

A golden furred Griffin in a stuffy business suit, a gold chain around his neck, stalked into the room.

“Gilded Cage,” muttered Firebrand, glaring daggers at the new arrival.

“Ah, so you’re the owner of those hotels that were attacked,” Rainbowshine replied, turning to look at the Griffin.

“Yes, that would be me,” Gilded Cage replied, giving a snarl looking at Firebrand. A refined smile then appeared on his beak and he turned to Akiko and Shou. “And you’re the detectives who took down that monster that’s been causing me trouble, correct?”

Shou nodded. “His Gaia Memory was destroyed, he can’t transform anymore…”

“Good, shame he got away though,” the Griffin replied, taking out a gold chain and looping his talon through the links and fiddling with it as he looked around. “But I suppose I should be grateful…” He rummaged through his pocket and produced a gold coin, handing it to Shou.

“Not yet,” Shou stated, becoming more serious. “The Pteranodon Dopant’s still loose, and I was hired to find Frost, that’s still my job.”

Akiko took the bit. “But we could take a down-payment.”

Gilded Cage looked a tad annoyed. “Well, I suppose the colt does need to stand trial for his crimes.”

“And you shouldn’t stand for yours?!” Firebrand suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs, snorting hot air out of her nose. “You charged him three times as much as that rotten room of his was worth! It's your bucking fault he did this!”

Gilded Cage snarled, baring his teeth. “Hey, watch your muzzle, do you have any idea who you’re talking to?!”

“Yeah, a slumlord!”

“Why you little!” Gilded grabbed her by the flight jacket and pulled her muzzle to beak with him, talons poking into the garment.

“Hey! Break it up!” yelled Shou, trying to part the two as his old friend began to wrestle back.

Akiko promptly produced her green sandal and smacked both over the head with it, finally forcing them to settle.

Shou blinked, then gave a slight nod. “Good job, schoolfilly-ow!”

“I’m not a schoolfilly!”

The half-boiled detective grumbled, rubbing his head before looking to the two, suddenly becoming a picture of focus and intensity. “Now look, I’m gonna find Frost, there’s no doubt about that, but you need to settle down!”

Gilded gave a huff, slipping a claw into his pocket and producing a gold watch and checking it. “Well, so long as I don’t lose anymore money,” he said, closing his watch and stomping out.

Firebrand took a deep breath. “Sorry, my name isn’t Firebrand just for my color scheme…It’s just…that slumlord has been overcharging Frost for all this time…it clops me off.”

Shou shook his head. “I understand, I’d not take anyone bad talking my family either…Don‘t worry, I‘ll find Frost. And then maybe I‘ll make sure the Guard gets that scumbag behind bars too, free of charge.”

“And I’ll help him,” Rainbowshine added.

Akiko just stared at the stallion’s serious expression and tone. It was like a switch had been flipped from what he’d been before. ‘So serious now…What is it with this guy?’

Firebrand gave a small nod. “Thank you, Shou…I know I can count on you.”

As soon as Firebrand headed out of the room, Philip emerged from the back. “…Shou, you know it’s quite likely she’s Pteranodon. She has the motivation.”

Rainbowshine gave a sigh as she thought about Philip's words. “I hate to say it, but he’s right, you know. She’s got motivation, opportunity to work with her little brother, and she could've been bailing him out. And...if she’s been consumed by Pteranodon, she might even have turned on Frost.”

Akiko blinked. “She'd betray her own brother?”

“Yeah, that's how Gaia Memories work if they're unrefined. It slowly drives the user insane... A beast runs on self preservation, even if it's got to throw its own brother under the carriage.”

Shou’s face was more or less unreadable. “Yeah…but you never know until the case is closed, and everypony and griff's innocent until proven guilty…” the stallion replied, slowly grabbing a fedora in his mouth and tossing it onto his head before adjusting it with his hooves and heading out the door.

“Hey! Wait for me!” yelled Akiko, going after the detective…only for Rainbowshine to grab her tail in her mouth to stop her.

“Now wait up, rookie,” said Rainbowshine, spitting out Akiko‘s tail with a gag. “Blech! You use some nasty tasting shampoo…Anyway, since you own the place, I can’t exactly tell you to leave, but if you’re staying here, I’m gonna need to catch you up on things.”

“It seemed like a typical missing person case. My old friend Firebrand’s brother had disappeared. Little did we know, he had become the Avalanche Dopant. But the case took a strange turn when a second Dopant reared its ugly head. Now I need new leads to find new leads to uncover this new criminal…”

“So, Watcherstallion, got any tips for me here?” asked Shou, keeping his fedora low so the brim partly covered his eyes and keeping a cool tone of voice as he spoke. He put some bits on the table between him and a blue pegasus stallion. The stallion had a black unkept mane. His Cutie Mark was a pair of binoculars.

“You know Shou, you could just hand me the money, you don’t have to make a show of it,” the informant replied, taking the bits.

Shou gave an annoyed growl. “Can’t anypony just let me be hardboiled?” he muttered. “Do you have anything?”

Watcherstallion gave a nod, getting a bit closer. “Frost was seen talking with a suspicious stallion in a black suit, a few ponies said he was buying a Gaia Memory. The dealer was said to have a white handkerchief around his neck with a spot of red, like a spot of blood.”

Shou nodded slowly. “I see…Was there another pony with him?”

Watcherstallion shook his head. “Not from what my sources say.”

Shou gave a sigh of annoyance. “So that means the other Dopant must have bought its Memory separately…” he admitted. ‘Could Firebrand have bought a Memory to help her brother get his revenge after finding out what he‘d done?’

“Yeah, Gilded Cage's reputation isn’t good, has a lot of enemies that might want payback. But he’s got a monopoly in Cloudsdale, so ponies and Griffins don’t have much choice in the matter. Almost makes me wish the Griff didn’t have an insurance policy out on his buildings.”

Shou gave a sigh. “Yeah, that‘s a shame I suppose.”

Rainbowshine had made some more tea and was sitting in the RevolGarry hanger with Akiko, Philip sitting nearby, writing on the boards.

“Pteranodon is a prehistoric flying reptile. While commonly called dinosaurs, this is in fact a misconception. Pteranodons and other Pterosaurs belong to the order Pterosauria, not Dinosauria…”

Akiko watched this with a bit of awe. “How does he get all that information out of a blank book?!”

Rainbowshine gave a chuckle. “The book's just kinda a channel,” she explained, watching the green unicorn at work. “Philip's connected to what’s called the Gaia Memory.”

“Those things they and the Dopants use to transform?”

“No, those are just fragments of the planet’s memory condensed into data,” Rainbowshine explained, looking over at the unicorn.

Akiko cocked her head. “The planet's memory?”

The wisteria mare nodded. “I’m not sure how it works, but the Gaia Memory contains knowledge on everything that has ever existed on the planet. The individual Gaia Memories each contain copies of specific parts of it, but Philip can directly access the whole thing. Imagine having access to a library containing a detailed book on everything that has ever existed, that’s what Philip says the Gaia Memory is like.”

“Amazing…so Philip knows everything?!” the rookie exclaimed, looking to the unicorn, who just continued writing as if she'd never spoken.

“Access to it, but he hasn’t read a quarter of everything in there,” the pegasus agent explained. ‘I shudder to think how the Princess’ personal student would react if she knew about it…’ she thought, remembering a certain purple unicorn who was well-known around Canterlot.

Akiko held her head. “Ah…this is giving me a headache! Do you have any gingerroot?”

Philip blinked, lifting his head. “Gingerroot? You can use that for headaches?”

Rainbowshine’s eyes went wide. “Uh oh…”

“What?”

“Fascinating,” the green unicorn said, an inquisitive look forming on his face.

Shou trotted up to Snowdrop Apartments once more, HardBoilder sitting nearby.

The surrounding area was presently being reconstructed from Pteranodon’s previous attack, but the actual apartment building was untouched.

“The last attack failed…” the black Pegasus stated, looking around slowly.

He trotted slowly into the building, looking it over. While up to code, the building was noticeably plain and dull. “Ugh…” he groaned, putting his hoof over his sensitive pony nose at the slight musty smell in the air. Some bacteria lived in solider clouds like the ones used to construct cloud buildings, which could cause mold if not properly taken care of.

“Well, the place isn’t dangerous, but I see what Firebrand was saying…This place isn’t worth a third of what Gilded Cage rents it for…” Shou muttered, then his ears pricked.

He did a jump just in time to dodge as something charged right at him. Landing, he saw a bipedal creature standing in front of him. It’s scaly skin was gray and silver with leathery wings extending under its arms. Each arm had a claw at the at the last joint to form a hand. A crest extended off it’s head and it had a beak-like faceplate. It gave a feral screech, glaring at him.

“There you are, ugly,” he said, watching it’s movements. He reached for the Double Driver out, but had to dodge another pass by the creature. “Dang it, no room to get some distance in here…” he muttered, then looked out a window next to him and gave a smirk.

“BAT…STAG…” announced two cruder looking Gaia Memories as he inserted them into his camera and phone, causing them to transform into a robotic bat and stag beetle respectfully. The two machines emitted mechanical screeches as they charged Pteranodon and buffeted him repeatedly, the bat emitting a barrage of camera flashes to blind it.

The Dopant roared out in furry, lashing out with its claws, barely missing the tiny machines as they circled. Annoyed, it flapped it’s wings, producing a powerful gust of wind that finally blew them back.

“Hey! Ugly!”

The Dopant growled, turning just in time to be struck in the chest by a powerful lightning bolt, sending off an explosion of sparks and blowing it backwards.

Shou cracked a grin, his hind legs bucking a thundercloud that was being used in the construction. “I might be a weak flyer, but I always did well in weather control classes,” he quipped, adjusting his fedora…then noticed Pteranodon had vanished. “Darn it!”

Flying down with noticeable slowness, he checked the hallway out carefully before descending to where the Dopant had been standing. He examined the clouds closely and discovered a piece of light brown artificial fur...

Shou swung the door to the RevolGarry hanger. “Philip, I need a look u-” he stopped, seeing Philip scribbling away on the boards.

“…Gingerroot contains a number of anti-inflammatory agents that block the migraine causing prostaglandins. Other oils contained in gingerroot also act as natural pain relievers…”

“Ugh, Rainbowshine, what do you do?!”

Rainbowshine sighed. “I didn’t do anything, we just mentioned gingerroot tea for Akiko’s headache, he heard it, and went on one of his research binges,” she explained. ‘If there wasn’t an evil organization after the guy, I’d introduce him to a certain purple unicorn. Only problem is there‘s probably not enough books in the entire kingdom for them both.’

Shou sighed. “Great, you got him worked up!” he yelled at Akiko, earning himself a slipper to the head.

“How was I supposed to know?! I just got here!”

The black pegasus raised a hoof to say something...then gave an annoyed sigh. “Yeah…problem is now he’s not going to be able to focus at all until he finishes!”

“…I could hit him with a slipper…” Akiko asked, producing the slipper in her mouth.

“Won’t do any good,” Rainbowshine replied, the pink-maned pegasus simply sitting down in a chair. “The Mare in the Moon could show up at our door and it wouldn't stop him. Only thing we can do is wait him out and maybe discuss the case a little bit.”

“So, how’d the initiation go?” asked Chain Links, standing before a large mansion situated in a lavish estate. While it’s owners were primarily Pegasi, the estate was on the ground near Cloudsdale rather than in the city proper.

Kirihiko brushed himself off and dusted off his suit with his hoof. “They tried to kill me,” he said, with a surprisingly calm smile.

“Yeah, boss believes in survival of the fittest. You must be doing something right, Saeko’s boyfriends normally don’t last long. You must be a tough guy to survive long enough to marry her.”

“Agreed. I also got this.”

Chain Links looked as the pegasus produced a golden Dopant-style Gaia Memory with an N designed almost like a pair of stylized wings. The stallion gasped. “A Golden Memory?”

“Of course, I am a Sonozaki now.”

“NAZCA!”

“So…you found fur from her coat at the scene of the crime,” said Rainbowshine. “Sorry, Shou, but it sounds like Firebrand’s the Dopant.”

Shou didn’t look so sure. “Yeah…but you never just go with the obvious solution…”

Akiko tapped her chin. “…Hey, didn’t you say three buildings had been attacked?”

Rainbowshine nodded slowly. “Yeah, why?”

“I thought Philip said only two apartment buildings had been attacked...That is strange…”

“That’s right, the third one was a hotel…”

Shou gave a gasp. “Wait a second...” he then rummaged in his vest and produced his camera, turning on the view screen on the back to look at the pictures. “That's it! Akiko! You’re a genius!”

“Thank you!…Why?”

Philip finally put down his chalk. “I have finished researching Gingerroot and it’s ability to help with headaches. Quite interesting…”

“Good timing! I've got a few more keywords I need you to look up!”

“What does Shou need,... Akiko, is it?” asked Firebrand, being lead into the office by the younger mare.

“I don’t know, I’m just doing what he told me to.”

Firebrand sighed and headed in…then snarled as she saw who else was in the room. “And what’s HE doing here?!”

Gilded Cage gave a lion-like growl, glaring at her. “Hey, I don’t like being here any more than you. I’d rather be out flying,” he said, giving an annoyed glance out the window and shifted almost claustrophobically.

“I can answer the mare's question,” said Shou’s voice as he spun around the his chair at his desk in a dramatic fashion.

“…Have you been sitting there the entire time.”

“…That’s not the point,” the stallion replied, flapping his wings and flying over the desk, landing on the cloudy floor, approaching the two. “The point is this: I found out who the Pteranodon Dopant is.”

“…Good, hopefully I’ll finally stop losing money,” Gilded Cage, giving a smirk and looking to Firebrand. “Though I think I already know who it is.”

The hot tempered Pegasus growled. “Hey, I might think you’re a big jerk, but I’m no Dopant!”

Akiko held up a slipper, shutting the two up.

Shou trotted up, looking between the two with a dead serious expression. “The identity of the Pteranodon Dopant, the one who kidnapped Frost, and has made the city cry…is…”

Firebrand and Gilded Cage both looked at him in anticipation as he looked from one to the other.

“You…”

“What?!”

Gilded Cage looked at the hoof pointed inches from his beak. “Me?!”

“The third building destroyed wasn’t an apartment building like the other two targets,” the black pegasus explained, trotting over to them. “It was a hotel. If Firebrand had been the Dopant, she’d have destroyed Snowdrop Apartments first.”

“I see, but tell me, why in Celestia’s name would I destroy my own building?” the Griffin replied, still seeming smug, despite his wings twitching nervously and his eyes repeatedly darting to the window.

“Simple, all your buildings have a very comprehensive insurance policy. A Dopant is already attacking your buildings, buy the Gaia Memory and decide to cash in a little bit, probably thought you could just stop after causing a little damage. When Frost was defeated, you panicked and kidnapped him so he couldn't reveal which buildings he destroyed and which he didn't. I imagine in part because of Pteranodon's instincts beginning to poison your mind.”

“All conjecture, you have no proof.”

“Ah, but…” the black stallion said, pulling out the tuff of fake fur from the hotel. “I found this when Pteranodon attacked me at Snowdrop…”

Gilded smirked. “That’s fake fur, not Griffin fur. And my, look who has fake fur on right now.”

Firebrand looked down at her jacket.

“Ah, but the Dopant couldn’t be a Pegasus,” Shou explained, giving a smirk of his own and producing pictures printed out from his camera it had taken while attacking, showing the Pteranodon Dopant clearly standing on two legs now that the image was brightened.. “Because Pteranodon is bipedal. Dopants created from a pony are always quadrupedal. That means Pteranodon is either a pony Dopant pretending to be a bipedal one, or most likely a Griffin, Minotaur, or Dragon. I didn't have any other suspects so it hadn't crossed my mind, until I realized you had a motivation, then it all clicked: earlier when you were fighting with Firebrand, you grabbed her jacket. It would‘ve been easy for you to have pocketed the fur and you‘re the only Griffin with the means to have gotten it. Then all you needed to do was plant it somewhere you were seen as Pteranodon, and let her motivation do the rest. ”

Akiko stared at Shou in shock. ‘Since when did he get so smart?!’

Gilded Cage backed up, sweating. He was starting to look like a caged bird instead of a Griffin.

Rainbowshine stepped into the room and produced a badge and pair of cuffs with her wings. “Gilded Cage, I need you to come down to the station with me.”

“No! I’m not going to be caged up! You’re not putting me away!” yelled the Griffin, eyes batting everywhere for a way out, composure falling to pieces.

Shou kept his cool. “That Gaia Memory is starting to affect your head, Gilded. You don’t like the idea of being cooped up, do you? You feel like a wild beast who hates being caged? Just give up and we’ll get you help.”

“No! I’m not going to be locked up! No way!” he screamed like a cornered animal producing a gray colored Dopant Gaia Memory marked with a P stylized to look like a Pteranodon forming the loop with it’s beak and wings.

“PTERANODON!”

Gilded Cage pulled down his collar to reveal a familiar tattoo and inserted the Gaia Memory. His eyes lit up silver as he mutated into the Pteranodon Dopant in a surge of silver energy.

Rainbowshine grabbed Firebrand and Akiko and rushed them into the hanger as Philip exited it and trotted up next to Shou. “A Dopant in our office? Quite unusual. I must say.”

“Why is it always the hard way?” Shou questioned, taking out the Double Driver and putting it around his waist as both produced their Gaia Memories.

“CYCLONE!”

“JOKER!”

The two posed side by side, holding their Memories up in opposite directions.

“Henshin!”

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory into his Driver, causing it to teleport to Shou’s version. Shou pushed it in and inserted the Joker Memory, swinging the Driver open.

“CYCLONEJOKER!”

Philip’s body fell limply to the ground as Shou was transformed into the form of Double. “Now…let’s count up your sins!” he announced, pointing a hoof at the monster. He then spun around, sending Pteranodon flying out the door with a wind powered buck to the chest.

Akiko peaked out the door as Double followed after the Pteranodon Dopant…and found the room predictably looking like a tornado had ripped through it. “…He couldn’t have done this outside?!”

“…Do I want to know what’s going on?” asked Firebrand, looking over the room.

“Believe me, it’s a long story…” Rainbowshine replied.

Pteranodon snarled as he was knocked to the clouds hard. “Darn you!” the monster roared, getting back to his feet and slashing at Double with his claws. The warrior effortlessly dodged the blows and retaliated by spinning around and kicking the Dopant in the face, knocking him backwards. Before the monster could retaliate, Double spun around and delivered a buck to his jaw, knocking him into the air.

Pteranodon snarled. “I am not getting locked up!” he yelled, spreading his wings and hovering in the air. The Dopant gave a powerful screech, exploding in a massive aura of silver energy.

Double shielded his eyes with his forelegs. “What was-”

Before he could react, the two-in-one detective was grabbed in the beak of Pteranodon’s giant form and swung around like a rag doll.

Double gave a yell as he was sent flying into a wall by the creature, distorting the industrial clouds. “We can’t fight with just our hooves, Shou,” Philip’s voice grunted.

“I know, let’s try this,” Shou’s voice replied as he produced a silver Gaia Memory with a metallic M with bolts in it as its symbol.

“METAL!”

Double replaced the Joker Memory with this new memory and reopened the driver.

“CYCLONEMETAL!”

The left side of Double transformed, becoming primarily metallic gray with metallic silver accents. A silver cylinder with a red W emblazoned on it formed on his back. He grabbed it with his hoof, causing it to extend into a full sized staff.

Pteranodon flew down at the two-in-one detective, but this time the beast received a spinning, wind powered smash of the staff to the side of his head, forcing him back. Double spun around repeatedly, each spin driving the shaft (with dexterity most ponies were incapable of having with their hooves) into the Dopant’s skull and stunning it. Grasping the staff in both front hooves and flying up, Double brought the staff down on the monster’s skull with enough force to drive it to the clouds.

Pteranodon forced itself to his feet, screeching in pain. “Get away! Must get away!” Now panicked, it spread it’s wings and took off.

“Ah ah, not this time.”

RevolGarry quickly swung out of a tunnel, coming to a stop and opening up to reveal HardBoilder. Double quickly leapt on the motorcycle, the machinery pulling it back into the rotating cylinder behind it. The green half of the machine was separated, allowing the cylinder to rotate and another device to attach. A metallic red and silver half with an engine on the back and wings extending from the sides hooked up and stirred to life.

“Let’s see how it does against HardTurbuler!” Shou’s voice shouted as the bike took off, the front wheel rotating to it’s side and providing more lift.

Double raced after Pteranodon, quickly catching up. HardTurbuler began firing bullets from it’s front, causing Pteranodon to scream out in pain and turn around, pecking at the hero. Double evaded the attack and continued firing, forcing the monster backwards. Flying past, the warrior smashed the side of the Big Dopant’s head with his staff, dazing it and sending it falling towards Cloudsdale. He managed to spread his wings and catch itself. Nowhere to run, the massive monster flew back up at him.

Double replaced the Cyclone Memory with the Heat Memory and reopened the Double Driver.

“HEATMETAL!”

As the red Heat half replaced the green Cyclone half, Double swung his staff into the oncoming Pteranodon’s skull, inciting a blast of flame, throwing his charge off course.

“Let’s finish him off, Shou,” Philip’s voice said.

“Yeah.”

Double took the Metal Memory out of the Double Driver and inserted it into his staff.

“METAL!MAXIMUMDRIVE!”

Double put the staff to his mouth plate, causing it to stick as if he was biting it. He held it out in front of him, the ends of the staff erupting into powerful flames.

Pteranodon regained his wits and charged furiously at Double, who met it’s charge with HardTurbuler.

“METAL BRANDING!” yelled Shou and Philip as they swung Double's head around to swing the weapon across a longer area, smashing the tip full speed into the head of the Dopant and causing a gigantic explosion of flames.

Pteranodon burst into flames and plummeted to the clouds below, exploding in a massive fireball on impact.

Double landed HardTurbuler next to the impact site, finding the stunned Gilded Cage laying next to the shattered Pteranodon Memory.

Gilded shakily reached a claw at his broken Gaia Memory...and got a pair of cuffs around his wrist. Rainbowshine looked down at him. “Got you.”

Shou used his wings to click away at the typewriter back at his office.

‘After his defeat, Gilded Cage was persuaded to reveal the location of Frost…'

Firebrand hugged her brother as he was let out of a locked room in one of Gilded’s hotels by the Guard.

‘Gilded Cage hadn’t been able to bring himself to kill an innocent pony. It was lucky he was apprehended before his Gaia Memory consumed him completely, or things may have ended tragically.’

Firebrand came up to a glass window at the local prison, Frost smiling back from the other side.

‘Frost was taken into Guard custody, but is recovering from his Gaia Memory use with help of his sister and professionals.

A few doors down, Shou came up to a window with a surprised Gilded Cage on the other side.

And Gilded will hopefully become a better griff in the end as well.

Another case closed. And hopefully another life saved. Just another day in the life of a hardboiled detective.

“You really think that slumlord is going to come around?” asked Rainbowshine, looking at the report.

“Don’t know,” the black pegasus replied. “But I like to think there aren’t bad ponies, griffins, or anything else, just ones who did bad things.”

Rainbowshine gave a grin. “You’re so halfboiled Shou…”

“Hey! I’m not halfboiled!”

Akiko chuckled, listening in. She looked at her deed…then to a picture of her father on a wall nearby. She folded the deed up and take a closer look at the picture.

“You trusted him, dad?” the mare asked, giving a smile. “I guess I can at least give him a chance…”

She then noticed Shou and Rainbowshine arguing before giving a sigh, pulling out her slipper. “But it won’t be easy…”

Case 3: Black and W/Icarus' Envy

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Case 3
Black and W/Icarus' Envy

“Come on, Philip!” said Akiko, the young mare holding a deck of cards in her mouth.

The green unicorn refused to look up from his book. “I fail to see the reasoning when I have far more pressing matters.”

Akiko trotted around the hanger like she owned the place. “Simple. We are a team here! Playing games helps build team work!”

Philip simply continued following the lines only he could see in the book suspended by his magic. “Then why do I need to play? Me and Shou are the ones who need to be like two halves of the same body.”

“Because you can a never be too close a team!”

“Says who?”

“...A leadership pamphlet I found...”

“Leadership?”

“Yeah, I'm the chief of this place!” said Akiko, the pegasus striking a proud pose with her chest puffed out.

Philip trotted over to a board and began writing on it. “Chief? I do not believe so.”

Akiko snorted and pulled out her deed. “I own this place! Why wouldn't I be chief?!”

“I would explain it, but I have a feeling it would take a long time, and I'm quite busy with my research.”

“What is so important?”

Philip gave a intrigued grin, suddenly seeming excited. “Shou mentioned a story about an old detective pony your father told him of who was number one at everything in all of Equestria and searched it for his friend's murderer, leaving defeated criminals with cards for the Guard that detailed their crimes. I found it interesting.”

Akiko growled and prepped her slipper, before hearing a tug on her tail.

Rainbowshine spat out the pegasus' tail with a disgusted face. “Ugh, can't you change your shampoo?...Look, when Philip is between cases, he's like this...sometimes even during cases like you saw before...Hitting him with a slipper might just get him on a binge looking up the combat applications of slippers.”

“That is just silly!”

“No, he's gotten on research binges for weirder...” muttered the undercover guard with a sigh. “Just ask him about fried octopus...”

Akiko pinned her ears. “I see...I just wanted to try and be a good chief...”

Rainbowshine looked at the dejected young mare for a moment...and finally gave a sigh. She put a wing on her back. “Look...I'll play cards with you, and Shou loves them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, not much else to do around here between cases and paperwork anyway...and I hate paperwork. A lot.”

Chain Link sat in the mansion’s ballroom, drinking the fine saltwater offered and listening to the classical music as ponies danced at the wedding reception. Most of them didn't know the true nature of their hosts. To them, this was a big fancy party at a lavish mansion with one of the richest families in Cloudsdale. Simple as that.

“ Chain Link, it's wonderful to see you,” said a refined, fatherly voice.

Chain Link turned to see an elderly red pegasus with a combed back brown mane, streaks of white running through it, standing nearby, looking at him from behind tinted, gold rimmed glasses. He wore a black, prim and proper suit befitting the lucky bride's father. His Cutie Mark was a simple wooden brush clearing away dirt from a fossil.

“Boss?” he asked, suddenly taking on a submissive posture, pinning his ears and lowering his head.

The old pony merely put a firm hoof on the street boss' shoulder. “Now now, there's no need for that. My new son-in-law has had nothing but good things to say about you.”

“H-He has?”

His boss nodded, giving a warm smile one would expect from a grandfather. He trotted over and took a seat across from them.

He motioned for a servant to come over. “Yes, Mr. Sonozaki?”

“Can you please have the band play this song?” he asked politely, taking a piece of paper from his coat pocket in his mouth and handing it to the servant.

“Yes sir.”

The servant trotted over to the band, who's pianist began playing a deep, fast paced beat. A violinist picked up with some equally dynamic music.

Chain Link felt himself become uneasy. At first, he didn't realize why...but when he did, he began to sweat a little.

“S-Sir, is that...”

Mr. Sonozaki gave a friendly nod. “Just a rendition of a song from an old audio drama that silly 'Rainbow Factory' myth inspired. One of my daughter's favorites, she has some macabre tastes, and I felt this reception needed something to get the blood pumping. Is there a problem?”

“N-No sir.”

Chain Link had flashbacks to a childhood nightmare he'd had after hearing that story. 'Could he...n-no. How could he know?'

Chain Link tried to calm himself, but found the song constantly boring away at his mind as everypony else seemed to just see it as a fun diversion from the stuffy humdrum of the norm. He felt like he was watching a horror movie, the soundtrack building up to the killer emerging from the shadows, knife ready to stab into his back.

“Now,” Mr. Sonozaki said, his voice never losing that fatherly tone or his face its warm smile. “I hope my gift was to your liking.”

Chain Link jumped slightly as his boss' voice broke the repetitive beat of hooves on the dance floor. He felt his pocket with a hoof, the Gaia Memory still where he'd put it. “Y-Yes sir, it's a big improvement over my old one.”

“Good good,” the older stallion replied, giving a nod. “I hope you put it to good use.”

“I-I will sir...” the street boss replied, trying to drown out the song and the thoughts it kept dredging up from his foalhood.

“Good, because my good graces are something I rarely give,” Mr. Sonozaki replied, motioning for some food to be brought over. “I hope you know that.”

“I-I do sir.”

Chain Link's blood suddenly froze in his veins when his boss looked over the rims of his glasses at him. The expression didn't change, still the same fatherly smile, but those eyes...something about them made Chain Link's breathing become ragged. “Good. I'm sure you'll live up to my expectations, won't you?”

It took all the street boss' willpower to remain composed. His heartbeat seemed to roar in his ears, the music picking up tempo and volume towards the climax.

“Y-Yes s-sir...”

“Good,” the Sonozaki patriarch said, patting the stallion on the shoulder with a warm smile, then simply awaiting his meal.

The music finally stopped, and Chain Link was left with his roaring heartbeat and the sounds of the party echoing in his ears.

Akiko sweated, looking over the two cards held in her wings as Shou scanned her face with her eyes. He put a hoof to each card, not letting his eyes leave her face. Her eye twitched slightly as his hoof floated over one card and he instantly picked it.

Akiko gasped and dropped the cards, revealing Shou had picked the Queen of Diamonds, matching his last remaining card (the Queen of Hearts) and leaving her with the Joker.

“Looks like you're the old maid,” Shou bragged, touching the brim of his hat with a hoof, giving a chuckle...and getting slapped in the head with a slipper. “Ow!”

“First I'm a schoolyard filly now I'm an old maid?!”

“I meant the game!”

“Oh...”

“Schoolyard fill-ow!”

Akiko put her slipper away. “How did you beat me so easily anyway?”

Shou chuckled, adjusting his hat. “I'm just that good.”

“Shou, I kick your flank every time we play,” Rainbowshine remarked, having been the dealer for the game.

Shou slumped. “Why can't you just let me be hardboiled?”

“I would if you weren't so halfboiled.”

“Hey!”

Rainbowshine rolled her eyes. “Calm down, your tricks just don't work on somepony who uses them to.”

Akiko blinked. “What tricks?”

Shou chuckled, taking a moment to the opportunity to slip into his hardboiled persona. “A good detective knows how to read a perp.”

The young mare cocked her head. “Perp?”

Shou facehoofed. “Don't you know a thing about being a detective?!”

“...They monologue?”

“No!...Okay, yes.”

“At least if you're Shou,” Rainbowshine remarked dryly. “Philip's better at it than him though. Helps to be a living library...”

Akiko looked over at the door to the hanger as Shou gave a small snort of annoyance. “...Does Philip ever come out of there?”

Shou gave a sigh. “Yeah, but he normally just keeps looking stuff up.”

Akiko gave a sigh of annoyance. “Why is he so obsessed?!”

“I don't think even he knows,” Shou muttered.

“Reminds me of the Princess' student...” said Rainbowshine, stretching her wings and back a little bit.

“You know the Princess' student?!” Akiko asked in surprise.

“Not personally, I think Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, her brother, and that little dragon of hers are the only creatures who do. She spends nearly all her time with her snout in a book. The Guard likes to joke the only way to get her attention would be to put your argument in book form.”

Akiko blinked. “...That does sound like Philip.”

“Yeah, tell me about it...”

Before Shou could interject in the conversation, the group heard the front door swing open.

A white Pegasus stallion with an fiery red and orange-white mane entered. His Cutie Mark was a streak of fire. “Hey, you Shou?” he asked, fiery red eyes looking to the detective.

“Yeah,” Shou said, rising and getting into his hardboiled mood. “I-”

“Welcome to the Narumi Detective Agency! We solve crimes with halfboiled style!” Akiko chimed in, her voice sounding as if she'd practiced it specifically for such an occasion.

“Hardboiled!” exclaimed Shou, the black pegasus rubbing his forehead with a hoof.

The stallion blinked. “Right...Look, I'm Fire Streak, my cousin Firebrand recommended you.”

Shou smiled. “Oh, so you're her cousin...a Wonderbolt, right?”

“What?!” asked Akiko, eyes going wide. “You're a Wonderbolt?!”

Fire Streak chuckled. “Yeah...”

Shou cleared his throat. “So, Fire Streak, how's your cousin doing?”

“A lot better since Frost is getting back on track,” the white Pegasus remarked, giving a sad look. “Can't believe the kid got himself into that mess.”

Shou gave a sigh and rubbed his head. “Look...Frost's a good colt. He'll be his old self in no time.”

“Thanks...anyway,” he said, turning to Shou. “She recommended you to deal with a...problem....”

Akiko stared in awe as she, Fire Streak, and Rainbow Shine touched down on the peak of the plateau on which Wonderbolts Academy was set and the clouds surrounding them. She would have mistook it for a small town or city if she hadn't been told otherwise. Though she found herself wondering why it wasn't completely composed of clouds.

“T-This whole place is just for training Wonderbolts?!” the young Pegasus exclaimed, eyes the size of dinner plates.

Fire Streak nodded with a small chuckle. “We take training seriously, especially the captain.”

Akiko watched a pegasus get thrown from some kind of spinning device and struggle to catch themselves, a Wonderbolt measuring the time it took for them to right themselves. “I see...”

Rainbowshine nodded. “Wonderbolts do some search and rescue and military work on top of being one of the best flying teams around. Hard job.”

Akiko blinked. “Wow...”

“You didn't know that?” asked Fire Streak. “Everypony in Cloudsdale knows about the Academy...”

Akiko blushed and looked at her hooves sheepishly. “Well...I...”

“She's new here,” Rainbowshine said simply.

“Why are you so blunt?!”

“Because Shou isn't.”

Their Wonderbolt guide looked around. “Where is Shou anyway?”

The group heard panting and turned to see a very tired looking black pegasus barely make it to the mountain.

“Why...didn't...you...wait...up?” asked Shou, struggling to catch his breath.

“Uh...sorry,” Fire Streak replied. “Didn't think that was that hard a flight...”

“I'm...a...a weak flyer, okay?” Shou panted, trying to regain his composure. He finally caught his breath and straightened his fedora. “And besides, I had to make sure my fedora wouldn't fly off!”

“What is so important about a fedora?” asked Akiko, innocently.

Shou looked distant and serious, almost sad for a moment.

A stallion clad in a white fedora flew from the upper levels of a theater to attack a spider-like four legged Dopant, driving it back with a swift buck to the skull, pulling a red dressed mare away from the beast's clutches, adjusting his fedora as he landed.

Shou, a young colt watched the scene in awe, a cream colored, pink maned pegasus, a rainbow maned cyan pegasus, and two griffin chicks (one a little older and male, the other female) standing next to him looking up at the badflank grown up.

“Oh my...” muttered the cream colored filly, watching wide eyed.

“Look at that guy! He's so cool!” the colt exclaimed.

“Totally!” replied the cyan pegasus.

“...The one who inspired me to become a detective always wore one...” the halfboiled detective said wistfully, almost depressed.

Akiko cocked her head in confusion at Shou's sudden change in emotion.

“Come on Spitfire's waiting,” Fire Streak interrupted.

Akiko's eyes went wide. “What?! We get to meet the leader of the Wonderbolts?!”

Shou chuckled, assuming his hardboiled persona. “When you're a detective you meet all kinds of important ponies,” he remarked smoothly.

Akiko gasped. “Really?! Who else have you met?!”

Shou deflated. “Uh...I met...uh...”

Akiko smacked him with her slipper. “Don't get my hopes up!”

Fire Streak lead the group to the headmaster's room in the main area of the central building of the campus. “Now word of warning,” Fire Streak started. “Spitfire is kind of intense when she's here,” he explained. “Kinda has to be, considering. Just watch yourself, okay?”

Shou nodded. “I hear you.”

Fire Streak nodded, opening the door to reveal a yellow Wonderbolt with an icy blue mane and tail standing before a yellow mare with a fiery red and orange mane and tail that would be familiar to any Wonderbolts fan. What wasn't was red and blue more military esque uniform she wore and the sunglasses covering her orange eyes.

“Misty, for the last time, the answer is no,” the yellow pegasus ordered in a nonsense tone.

Misty narrowed her eyes. “...Yes, ma'am...”

The new arrivals parted ways as Misty trotted out of the room. As the others entered, Shou watched the mare bitterly kick the wall and mutter something under her breath.

Fire Streak saluted the mare at the desk. “Spitfire, what was up with Misty Fly?”

Spitfire sighed, rubbing her forehead with a hoof. “Complaining about not getting to judge the Best Young Flyers competition...”

Fire Streak sighed. “Again?”

Spitfire nodded. “Yeah...” she then looked to the new arrivals. “Who's this?”

“”The detective my cousin told me about,” the stallion explained.

“Narumi Detective Agency at your service!” chimed Akiko. Spitfire merely looked at her with the intense look she'd maintained the entire time.

Shou facehoofed and pulled Akiko back by the tail, spitting it out with a gag. He wondered where the mare had picked up her attempts at enthusiasm...and nasty tasting shampoo. He looked to Spitfire. “Sorry, she's the rookie-ow!”

Spitfire rolled her eyes as the younger pegasus put her slipper away, the Wonderbolts commander not seeming to care where she got it. “Look, I don't have time for goofballs, got it?” she asked in a drill sergeant-like tone.

Shou jumped and nodded, as did Akiko. “C-Crystal...so, Miss Spitfire, what's the problem?” he asked, assuming a confident posture and adjusting his fedora.

“Follow me, I'll show you.”

Spitfire took off down the hall, expecting the other Pegasi to follow her...and then blinking when Shou struggled behind. “...I'm not a strong flyer...”

Spitfire gave an annoyed sigh. “...Fine...”

The Wonderbolt lead them to the infirmary and opened the door. The pegasi gave a gasp at the scene.

Inside, multiple pegasi and griffins were laid up, the majority with their wings in casts. Akiko whimpered, instinctively cradling her wing fearfully.

“Oh boy...” muttered Shou, feeling his wings tighten up just looking at them. He may have been a weak flyer, but that didn't mean he didn't care about his wings.

“And these are just the ones who were training here,” explained Spitfire, showing a bit of anger at the sight. “There's more in the hospital in Cloudsdale.”

Rainbowshine rubbed her wings, finding them feeling sore from sympathy pain. “Whoever did this has to be one sick cookie...”

Shou shook his head to clear it and regain his composure. “Any connection between the victims?”

Spitfire nodded. “Yeah...all of them were signed up to participate in the Best Young Flyers competition in a few months...the way it looks, there's no way they're going to participate.”

Shou blinked. “Best Young Flyers...” he muttered, thinking about it.

Rainbowshine gave concerned look. “With medical magic, most breaks can be healed quickly, if these will take that long, then it must have busted them up bad...Think they'll recover?”

“Docs say they will, but being laid up ain't easy on a Pegasi or Griffin,” Spitfire remarked. “For most of them, it'll be a long recovery with how badly they're hurt.”

“And any clue as to the dirt bag that did this?” Rainbowshine asked.

“Two things: everypony says it was some kind of winged beast and it kept leaving feathers at the scene of each attack with; 'Icarus envies you' written on them. I'd show you one, but guard too 'em as evidence.”

“Icarus?” asked Akiko, blinking. “What's that?”

Shou tapped his chin with a hoof. “...I don't know, but I may know a friend of mine that can tell us. But we need to wait till night to meet with her. Definitely sounds like a Dopant.”

Spitfire blink. “Dopant?...Those weird monsters that have been showing up?”

The black pegasus nodded. “Yeah,” he said, giving serious tone and adjusting his hat with a hoof. “Don't worry, Captain. We specialize in Dopants cases.”

The Wonderbolt leader gave a skeptical nod. “Good...well, I've got classes to teach and students to keep calm. I'd better be able to count on you, do you hear me?” she asked, slipping into her drill sergeant-like tone and narrowing her eyes.

“Yes ma'am!” Shou and Akiko replied with somewhat fearful salutes.

The group trotted across the campus. Akiko trotted up to Shou as the pegasus prepared to go into a monologue. “Alright, now we need to get to work, right?”

Shou gave an irritated sigh. “Yeah...”

“Alright...what do we do?”

Shou chuckled. “I thought you were the chief.”

“Well...I...”

“Maybe you should go back to the office, Schoolyard Filly, this can get danger-ow!”

“Don't call me Schoolyard Filly! And I'm staying!”

Shou grumbled, then gave a sigh. “Fine, first, we need to look over our clues,” the black Pegasus announced, trotting over and leaning on a pole. “First, the Dopant has huge wings. Second, it targets the wings of pegasi and griffins. Third, all the victims were participants in the Best Young Flyers competition. And lastly, their calling card of 'Icarus envies you.' What do you gather from that?”

Akiko put a hoof to her mouth. “...That they're evil?”

Shou gave a sad chuckle.

“What's so funny?”

“You've still got a lot to learn...First lesson, Schoolyard Filly, the world isn't always black and white, there's a gray to it too,” the detective explained.

Akiko snorted and reached for her slipper...but Rainbowshine stopped her. “He's right, this time.”

Akiko gave a pout, then thought. “...Envy...they're jealous of the other competitors?”

Shou blinked, then gave a small smile. “That's better. But don't assume that's the whole truth.”

Akiko blinked. “Huh?”

“Remember last time with Pteranodon?” Rainbowshine pointed out. “Gilded Cage framed Firebrand. If we'd gone from what it looked like, we might have arrested an innocent mare.”

Akiko nearly tripped over herself in surprise. “Oh...you're...you're right...” she said, taking a step back to right herself, and backing into someone.

“Oh!” yelled Akiko, spinning around to see a pink pegasus mare with a straight white mane. Her Cutie Mark was a gust of wind and her wing was in a cast.

“Oh! Sorry!” called Akiko, the mare giving an apologetic bow.

“Oh! It's no problem,” said the mare, blowing her mane out of her face and giving a sad smile.

Akiko looked at her wing. “Oh...did Icarus get you too?”

The mare looked sad at her wing. “No...I...I was in a training accident a couple weeks ago...” she muttered. “Broke my wing...”

Akiko deflated, ears pinning back. “...Sorry...”

“Oh! No it's fine...just...” the mare looked towards Cloudsdale. “...I was just looking forwards to the Best Young Flyers competition...”

Shou gave a sad look. “That's pretty rough...”

She nodded, looking down sadly at her wing. “Yeah...but I'll heal...don't worry about me...”

Shou put a hoof on the mare's shoulder. “What's your name?”

The mare blinked. “Oh...it's Slipstream.”

“Well, Slipstream,” the black stallion said with a reassuring smile. “It's my job to worry about every creature in this city. I don't like to see anycreature in it cry.”

Akiko blinked, watching the scene. She looked to Rainbowshine. “Is Shou always like this?”

Rainbowshine nodded. “Yeah...halfboiled stallion has a soft heart. I think he loves this town more than his own life.”

Shou trotted back over as Slipstream moved on with her day. “Poor girl...”

“Poor all of them,” said Rainbowshine, giving a sad look at the main building. “We're not sports pegasi or Wonderbolt hopefuls. For those ponies and griffs, racing is their life.”

Shou gave a sigh. “Yeah...I have a friend who's like that. I can't imagine what she'd do if she was in that position. She wants to be a Wonderbolt some day. Has since we were kids...good thing she's not attending for once...”

Shou looked over at the main building. He thought over what he'd learned and tried to put the clues together.

He took out the Double Driver and put it on.

Akiko blink. “Why are you transforming?”

Rainbowshine shook her head. “He and Philip can communicate telepathically while they're wearing it.”

“...Then why use the Stag Phone?”

“They use it when there's more than one of us to talk to or he can't put it on.”

“Oh...”

Shou concentrated, reaching out with his mind. Feeling two minds link. 'Philip?'

'Hello Shou. It's fascinating. Did you know your friend Rainbow Dash may be related to-”

'Sorry to interrupt your research, partner, but we've got a case.'

'I was just finishing my research...done.'

'Good. I need a look up. Keyword: feather, Best Young Flyers Competition, envy.'

'...It didn't narrow it down completely, do you have another keyword?'

'...No...I-'

Shou jumped at the sound of scream nearby. “Oh boy!”

A gray furred Griffin trembled in front of a brown cloaked quadruped, having already taken a bit of a beating. Two massive white wings folded on the creature's back. The Griffin leapt at the monster in defense, but found himself thrown against a wall be a white armored hoof.

The griffin tried to get to his feet, only to be kicked in the ribs, leaving him coughing on the ground, struggling to breathe.

“I am Icarus,” said the creature in a ghostly distorted voice. The monster placed a hind hoof on the Griffin's side and grabbed the wing in its front ones, beginning to twist it, causing the poor creature to scream in agony.

“Hey! Get off him!”

Icarus blinked, turning in time for Shou to charge and headbutt the monster in the side full force, knocking it off it's prey.

The detective adjusted his hat after it was knocked askew by the impact. “Akiko! Rainbowshine, get him out of here!”

The two pegasi rushed in and grabbed the griffin, getting him away from the figure.

“This doesn't concern you!” yelled Icarus.

“You're making this city cry, I think that does concern me,” said the detective, producing the Joker Memory, the Double Driver still around his waist. “Let's go, Philip.”

Philip sighed, receding from the Gaia Library. “You have a knack of getting into trouble, Shou,” he said, producing the Cyclone Memory.

“CYCLONE!”

“JOKER!”

“Henshin!”

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory into his Driver, sending it to Shou's and collapsing to the hanger floor.

Shou pushed the Cyclone Memory in and inserted his Joker Memory before opening the Double Driver.

“CYCLONEJOKER!”

Icarus was driven back by powerful winds as particles fused with Shou's form to create the armored warrior known as Double.

“Now, count up your sins!” called Shou and Philip's voices as they pointed at Icarus before charging and delivering a spinning buck, knocking him back.

The clocked figure replied by spreading its wings and sending feathers swirling around it, driving Double back. They merged together into a long sword modeled after a feather. It swung it at Double, who dodged a couple slashes before taking two strikes to the chest, knocking him backwards in a cascade of sparks.

“Definitely a Dopant...” muttered Shou's voice.

“Shou, we need a weapon.”

“I know!”

“METAL!”

Replacing the Joker Memory with the Metal Memory, Double reopened the Double Driver.

“CYCLONEMETAL!”

Double swung around as Icarus swung its sword again, the forming Metal Staff on his back blocking it as the Joker Half was replaced by the Metal Half.

Double swung around, pulling and extending the weapon, clashing with Icarus' sword. The armored warrior flapped his wings to fly up over a slash and brought a windpowered swing down hard on Icarus' skull, driving its face down before bringing his hind legs up and kicking the kaijin in the face, leaving him sprawled out on his back.

The quadrupedal Dopant kicked out with his white armored hind legs, nailing Double in the stomach, driving him back as he landed. The armored warrior held up the staff to block a sword slash and pushed back. Putting the staff to his faceplate, causing it to stick there, Double swung his head and slammed the Metal Staff hard into Icarus' chest, knocking him back.

Leaping into the air, Double spun around rapidly using his wings and landed with a spinning, wind driven smash to his chest.

Being knocked into the wall, Icarus snarled and got back to its hooves. “I don't have time for you!” he yelled, spreading his wings to their full length and flapping them, buffeting Double with exploding feathers.

Double shielded his face with his hooves as the blasts went off around him, sending sparks and smoke flying. When the smoke cleared, Icarus was gone.

“Darn it!” yelled Shou's voice.

“Hmm...I may have more keywords now,” Philip's voice replied, Double's right hoof tapping his chin.

“Ah...Alright, I'll let you get on that.”

Double closed his Driver and transformed back to Shou.

The black pegasus trotted over to where Icarus had been thrown against the wall and picked up a large white feather with 'Icarus envies you' written on it in red lettering.

Case 4: Black and W/A Shade of Grey

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Case 4
Black and W/A Shade of Grey

“What the Tartarus is going on here?!” barked Spitfire, flying down next to Rainbow Shine and Akiko, looking at the injured Griffin.

“Icarus struck again,” said Shou, trotting over and showing the feather the monster dropped. He looked to the Griffin. “You okay?”

The Griffin wheezed a little bit, cradling his ribs, but spread his targeted left wing. He cringed a bit, but nodded. “A bit roughed up, but nothing broken. Thanks for saving my tail feathers,” he explained, giving a small smile.

Shou tipped his hat smoothly. “Just doing my job, I don't like to see anycreature in this city cry.”

Spitfire blinked, then gave a slightly impressed look. “Well, you saved Greyson here from having his wing snapped, so I guess you must have some idea what you're doing.”

“Some idea?!” Shou muttered, giving an annoyed look.

Spitfire helped Greyson up. “Look, I've got my job to do, do you need anything else?”

The black pegasus gave a look to Greyson. “...Just one thing. Greyson's gonna be in the Best Young Flyers competition, right?”

The Wonderbolts captain nodded. “Yeah, just like the others.”

“I thought so...think you can bring me a list of all the ponies and griffs signed up?”

Spitfire nodded. “Yeah, but with all the paperwork this mess is making me do, it might take till tomorrow to find it in the mess,” she gave a sigh, clearly not liking how unprofessional this made her look.

“Believe me, I can sympathize with that,” replied Rainbowshine honestly.

“That's fine, I have some contacts I need to talk to,” was Shou's response. “But let me get some eyes in the sky.”

“BAT!”

Shou inserted a crude looking blue Gaia Memory into his camera and causing it to transform into it's bat mode. “Bat Shot. Keep an eye on things, okay?”

The robot gave several clicks and mechanical sounds, then flew off to scout things out.

Spitfire blinked in confusion. “What is that thing?”

“The Bat Shot. It's what's called a Memory Gadget,” explained the detective. “It's a machine that uses an artificial Gaia Memory to imitate a real bat. I don't know how it works, you'd have to ask my partner. But it'll let me keep an eye on what's going on here.”

“It's legal,” Rainbowshine pointed out. “He's officially authorized to use it..”

Spitfire shrugged, watching the small robot fly around, taking pictures. “I'll take your word for it...Reminds me of something this guy who used magic music to fight monsters I ran into once used...Anyway, I better go. You'd better stop Icarus, got it?”

Shou gave a salute. “Yes madam.”

Rainbowshine looked to Shou as Spitfire departed to get Greyson to the infirmary. “You know, you probably should have asked for that list in the first place.”

“...You love getting your jabs at me, don't you?”

“Only when you deserve it. Do you even have a plan, Shou?”

Shou nodded. “Yeah, tonight I'm gonna go see Storyteller about this Icarus. I think I know somepony else who might be able to give me some insight on this too.”

“Storyteller?” Akiko asked, cocking her head in confusion.

“One of Shou's 'Cloudsdale Irregulars,'” explained Rainbowshine.

“Irregulars?” the young mare asked, cocking her head. “So they're weird?”

Shou facehoofed. “Ugh...no!”

“Well they kinda are, some more than others,” Rainbowshine remarked, giving a roll of her eyes. “But it's just Shou's nickname for his informants”

“Nickname?”

“Yeah, he couldn't just call them informants.”

“Can't you just let me be mysterious?!” asked Shou in annoyance.

“There's being mysterious and there's being annoying, you tend to be the latter.”

---

Akiko yawned, trotting along a Cloudsdale street, long after Celestia had lowered the sun and raised the moon. “Did we have to go out this late?”

“Yeah, Storyteller is a night owl,” Shou explained, rotating a sore wing until it popped. “If you think you're tired, I wish you knew how I felt right now. And you didn't have to come you know!”

“But I'm the chief, I had to,” Akiko sighed as they came up to a store nestled in an alleyway and looking like it was set up for Nightmare Night several months early, complete with cobwebs and fake skulls strewn about. Her eyes widened as they fell upon the sign above the door. “'The Mare in the Moon?!'” the young mare squeaked in fright.

Shou pat her on the back with a chuckle. “Don't worry, Storyteller just has some scary tastes,” he explained and trotted in, Akiko following closely behind, looking about in slight panic.

Inside they found themselves in a book store. Akiko's eyes fell on the literature lining the shelves. The majority of them were horror novels of all sorts that the titles alone sent chills down her spine, but she did notice some other types of books nestled among the shelves.

She turned, seeing a stained glass window depicting what looked like a red and black bat-like monster fighting against a golden armored stallion with a red cape and a blood red armored one with a black cape, moonlight illuminating the display.

“Interested in the story of the Fangire, little pony?” asked a feminine voice.

Akiko looked up to see a pony hanging upside down from the ceiling. A pony with bat wings, looking back at her with slitted eyes, a smile showing pointed fangs in her jaw.

“Ahh! V-Vampire!” yelled the young pegasus, falling on her flank and requiring a large amount of will power not to wet herself.

The strange pony gave a playful grin. “Now now, dear, I'm not a vampire. Haven't you ever seen a Thestral before?”

Akiko shivered and shook her head. “N-No!”

The pony spread her wings and flapped lightly to let herself land gracefully. Now that she was in the full light, Akiko saw her fur was a navy blue color. A black mane with a lighter blue streak through it hung from her head with a matching tail at her rear. Her Cutie Mark was a black book with a blue willow-wisp imprinted on the cover. Akiko hadn't noticed it, but the bat pony wore thin framed, blue glasses.

“Well now you have,” said the bat pony with a good-natured chuckle.

“W-what is a Thestral?!”

“Depends on who you ask. Personally I think we're a race of our own, but some ponies think we're just nocturnal pegasi,” she replied, giving a smile, though also a little chuckle when Akiko backed up from her fangs. “Are you scared?”

Akiko whimpered and nodded.

“Good, but don't worry; this place is supposed to be scary, and so am I,” the mare's tail wrapped around a bat-shaped lollypop in a dish at the counter and presented it to Akiko. The Thestral smiled again, this time hiding her fangs. “Life's no fun without a good scare. That's my job, but I'm not mean.”

Akiko took the lollypop cautiously with her wings and opened it, sticking it in her mouth. “T-Thanks...”

“You're welcome dear,” said the mare, adjusting her glasses. “And welcome to the Mare in the Moon Book Store. I'm the owner, Ghost Story.”

Akiko blinked. “But I thought your name was Storyteller.”

Ghost Story gave a chuckle. “Oh, you're with Shou. I thought you were just another costumer.”

“Another costumer?” Akiko asked, looking around to see several other ponies currently in the store she'd been too afraid to notice before.

Shou trotted up. “Hello, Storyteller,” he said, tipping his hat with his hoof.

“I thought her name was Ghost Story!” exclaimed Akiko, pressing her hooves to her head as she began to develop a migraine.

“Dear, Storyteller is my alias,” Ghost Story replied simply.

“A what?”

Shou sighed while Ghost Story covered her mouth snickering. “Ugh...an alias! I call her Storyteller to hide her identity!”

“...Why?”

“Because she's an informant and some criminals might try to hurt her for helping me!”

Akiko backpedaled in fear. “That can happen?!”

“Welcome to the world of a hardboiled detective,” said Shou with a serious, intense look.

“Shou's just being melodramatic,” Ghost Story interjected with a chuckle at Akiko trembling, but then putting a hoof on her shoulder when she began looking guilty. “It is for my protection, but it isn't as big a deal as he likes to think it is. This is Equestria after all.”

Akiko growled, smacking the black pegasus with her slipper. “Don't scare me like that!”

The Thestral gave an amused look as Shou growled. “Now, Shou, is this a friendly visit or do you need a story?”

Shou rubbed his head from the slipper slap. “Know any stories about 'Icarus?'”

The mare rubbed a hoof over her chin. “I believe I might, come this way.”

The Thestral trotted over to back of the shop and opened a door, leading the two ponies into a private study. She flew up and began looking through the shelves.

“Let's see...the King of the Castle in Demon Land...the Knights that Fight Horrors...the Lion Headed Ninja...Ah! Here it is, Equestrian Mythology and Folklore,” the Thestral announced, producing a large black book and then hanging upside down by her tail from the rafters, which seemed to be her most comfortable position. “Please take a seat.”

Shou took a seat and motioned for the younger mare to take a seat of her own.

Ghost Story flapped her wings, blowing out several of the candles and casting herself in ominous shadow. “The story of Icarus is a pegasus myth dating back to early days of Equestria, before Celestia's reign. He was an Earth Pony colt who lived with his father, a masterful craftsman named Daedalus. Legend says that Daedalus was captured by King Minos, an evil minotaur king. Minos was a cruel tyrant who forced Daedalus to build a labyrinth that none who did not know the way could escape,” she explained, her voice building tension as she read. “It is said he'd force the ponies to send seven young stallions and seven mares for his son to hunt through the labyrinth, who'd pick them off one by one,” she continued, her voice taking a tone that made Akiko hide behind her chair. “Eventually, a pegasus named Theseus managed to escape the labyrinth after vanquishing Minos' son, with some help from Minos' daughter (who loved him) and Daedalus, prompting the vengeful Minos to trap Daedalus and his son in the labyrinth themselves.

“Daedalus, however, was as good a craftsman as ever, and created for himself and Icarus a pair of wings from feathers and wax. While these worked and allowed them flight, Icarus refused to heed his father's warnings not to fly too close to Celestia's sun and his wings melted in the heat. He fell from high above into the raging oceans and perished.”

The Thestral closed her book and gave a smile. “The myth is generally perceived as a warning against pride. Was that the story you were looking for, Shou?”

Shou nodded, rubbing his chin. “Yeah, I think so, thanks Storyteller. Come on Schoolyard Filly.”

Akiko was too busy trembling to smack him over the head and just got up, shaking off the scary story as best she could. She then looked around the study, a thought occurring to her. “Um...Ghost S-Storyteller?”

“Yes?” Ghost Story asked, putting the book back while still hanging from the ceiling..

“I'm wondering if you might have a certain kind of book.”

---

“So, what do you think that story has to say about our perp?” asked Rainbowshine the next morning, sitting across from Shou at the agency. The black pegasus looked over a list of competitors that'd been delivered earlier that morning. A second list set next to his hoof, this one listing the victims in order of the attacks.

“It is a pegasi myth, meaning most likely the perp is either a pegasus or Cloudsdale native,” Shou replied thoughtfully. “An Earth Pony most likely wouldn't know the myth. The Dopant appeared quadrupedal as well, which means it's most likely a pony...The envy part obviously refers to the fact Icarus doesn't have natural wings and his fake ones failed him...But the original myth was mainlly warning about pride, not envy, so the perp might have given away their motivation on accident...Still, could be an Earth Pony with envy of Pegasus flight...”

The wisteria mare nodded. “Yeah, makes sense. Got any suspects?”

Shou closed his eyes and thought. His mind wondered back to a moment. “Yeah. But I'm gonna check out the ponies on this list. Any one of them could be the Dopant,” he explained, adjusting his fedora and trotting out the door. “I'm also looking for a reply from that other pony I talked about, keep a look out for it.”

---

It was an almost clear sunny day in Ponyville, with the ponies working hard to maintain their town and their livelihood. However, atop of one of the many clouds that floated over the town, a long tail made up of multiple colors lofted from the side of said cloud. If one could get closer, then the sound of light snoring could easily be heard from the cloud.

Atop of the cloud lay a sky blue pegasus, with her rainbow colored mane covering her eyes, front hooves sprawled out as she snoozed the day away.

“Dash! Rainbow Dash! Hey there!”

The sleeping mare stirred about on her cloud before she lifted her head up to see a gray pegasus mare with a blonde mane and tail, with bubbles adorned on her flanks. In front of her wings was a pair of saddlebags that had letters spilling out of them. “Good morning!”

“Ditzy, it’s the afternoon,” Rainbow Dashed sighed, not bothering to open her eyes.

“It is? Oh well,” Ditzy replied before she turned her head and dove it into one of the saddlebags. “You got some mail!”

“That’s all well and good,” Dash muttered as she propped herself up on the cloud a little more. “But you’re supposed to deliver it to my house…”

“Yeah, but you’re right here,” Ditzy answered back, her head still shuffling about in the saddlebags. “That would be easier to bring it to you right here!”

Not wanting to push the issue, Dash nodded and held out a hoof, “Alright, so let’s have it.”

In a quick turn, Ditzy dropped the mail into Dash’s hoof and the rainbow maned pegasus blinked a few times at the sight of it, “… Ditzy… This is a half-eaten muffin.”

“I know!” Ditzy cheered out with a large bright smile, a letter in her teeth. “I also have a letter from Cloudsdale for you!”

Ditzy dropped the letter onto Dash’s torso and then flew off, “Have a nice evening!”

Dash shook her head at the mare, even as a mail-mare, that gray pony seemed to make things confusing. The blue pegasus turned back to the letter and smiled at the return address on it, “… Well, well, it’s been a while since I heard from that wannabe detective…”

'Dear Rainbow Dash,

Hope things are still going well in Ponyville with you and Fluttershy. I'm currently involved in a case dealing with racers in the upcoming Best Young Flyers competition. I can't tell you specifics, but I was hoping since you're into stuff like this you could give me your say on this. Included is a list of the competitor (I got permission to send you a copy, I'm trusting you).. Any advice you can give me would be helpful.

Shou.'

---

“The feather's construction does not share it's structure with any known feather bearing species,” said Philip, examining the feather that Shou recovered closely. “This implies that the Dopant's memory does not belong to a species but to a concept. Possibilities include Flight and Feather...”

“Philip!”

Philip tried to ignore Akiko and continue his work...until she put a book in front of him. “Hmm?” he asked, looking at it. “'An Encyclopedia of Team Building Tactics?'”

“Something I got from Gh-Storyteller. You said I didn't know what I was doing, so I went to research it.”

Philip looked at it, floating it in his telekinesis, looking impressed at the size of the book. “...I was unaware that there were this many team building tactics,” he asked, flipping through it with an intrigued grin. “...How interesting.”

“So you're interested now?”

Philip floated it back to her. “Yes, quite. I wonder what the Gaia Memory has to say on the subject...”

Akiko gleefully took the book. “Success!”

---

”A mysterious Dopant on the war path, breaking the wings of young flyers and calling himself Icarus. Compounding this is the upcoming Best Young Flyers competition, of which all the targets are competitors. If this is not stopped, not only will the competition be ruined, but young flyers will be hurt...I will teach a lesson to those who make this city cry...”

“So, Afterburner, you're in the Best Young Flyers Competition, correct?

The mare across from him in one of the cloud buildings of the Wonderbolt Academy was gray in color, her tail and mane looking like fires going straight back from them. Her Cutie Mark was hidden by her trainee flight suit. “Yeah, really looking forwards to it...but with what's going on...”

Shou followed the Pegasus' fearful gaze to her wings. “Hey, don't worry,” he said, giving a smile. “I'll take care of Icarus, but first I need to find out who it is,” he replied. “Do you know any of the competitors that might want to get rid of the competition?”

Afterburner put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Probably a few honestly.”

Shou blinked. “Huh?”

“Stiff competition this year. Chance to impress the Princess and the Wonderbolts ain't nothing to sneeze at,” said the pegasus competitor. “I don't know many of the others personally, so I can't vouch for them, but I wouldn't doubt at least one of them would like a little less competition so they'll have more face time and might be crooked enough to try something. Law of averages. Then again we're in Equestria. I have some friends in it though, I can vouch for 'em and hopefully narrow things down a bit.”

“That'd be a big help,” Shou said, then rubbed his chin. “...Do you know who's the favorite to win the competition?”

Afterburner gave a chuckle. “I like to think me. I think we all think that way. We see others who will be good competition and push us to the limit, but most of us train hard and go into this with a 'I'm gonna win' mindset. Thinking somecreature besides yourself is the 'favorite' to win? Good way to end up with your confidence crashing, and maybe you to. I think if any pony is going after the competition, it's because they don't want to share the judges and the audience's attention, not cause they don't want to lose.”

Shou tapped his chin. “Yeah...I guess that makes sense.”

---

Chain Links set at his desk, still finding himself trembling at the memories. “The boss...”

The street boss put his hooves to his head, sweating. “Why am I...”

“Good. I'm sure you'll live up to my expectations, won't you?”

Chain Links shuddered. “I can't let the boss down...I can't...He might...”

The pegasus wasn't sure why he thought that way...and that fact just made him even more frightened. It seemed to have no origin, and that just made it more frightening. A fear with no beginning.

The pony sweated and fumbled for the new Gaia Memory in his pocket.

“I've got to make sure I do my job right...”
---

Shou sat next to the parked HardTurbuler, tapping his chin. “Afterburner was right...Rainbow Dash and Gilda would never call somepony else a favorite...but I wonder if there's some other pattern to these attacks...Envy wasn't a part of the original myth, so Icarus has to be envious of its victims somehow...”

Shou's ears perked and the pegasus turned, looking at a nearby area between two cloud structures on the compound. He cautiously trotted over and leaned against the wall, listening intently.

“Stupid...of course they wouldn't...why did I think a little hot water would make a difference?” asked an angry female voice he was sure he remembered. “What's it gonna take for them to give me a chance?”

Shou felt ripples go through the wall, likely from a hoof slamming against it.

“Well I'll show them...”

Shou blinked, mind flashing back to the scene in the hallway yesterday. “That voice...”

Shou slowly trotted over to the wall and peaked around, but whoever had been speaking had flown off. “Darn it, missed them...” he muttered. “But that voice...could it be...”

He trotted away from the wall, thinking. “...I wonder...”

He then heard a scream. “What?!”

---

Afterburner let out a scream, getting thrown hard into a wall, indenting the clouds inward slightly.

Icarus growled, trotting over to her. The Pegasus jumped up and tried to kick the Dopant, only to be dodged and given a hard kick in the gut. Afterburner gasped in pain as she crumpled to the ground, wrapping her legs around her midsection and coughing loudly.

Icarus' feathers flew out and combined into its sword with a snarl.

“Icarus envies you,” it said, the voice now more unhinged and psychotic.

Afterburner's eyes fell on the blade and she pulled her wings tight to her body. “No...”

The Dopant held its sword to at an angle to her wing.

“No, don't! Please!”

Icarus pulled the sword back and prepared to swing.

“That's enough!” yelled a black blur slamming head first into its chest full gallop, driving the monster backwards.

Shou landed between Icarus and Afterburner and did a spin, driving a buck into the monster's chest and sending it further away from the downed mare.

“You again?!”

The pegasus adjusted his fedora, extending his wings in a protective stance. “Yeah, me again. Trying to cut off a pegasus' wing? That Gaia Memory must really be twisting your mind.”

He peaked back at Afterburner, who was checking her left wing fearfully, as if to make sure she still had it. 'Aimed for the left wing. The same wing as with Greyson...' he noted mentally.

Icarus roared, spreading its wings fiercely.

“Shou?” asked Afterburner, blinking.

“Afterburner, just relax, “ said the black pegasus, producing the Double Driver. “I'll deal with this, then get you to the infirmary.”

---

“Fascinating...so teamwork is a constant effort, growing stronger over time rather than a skill you master and remain static in...” Philip stated, flipping through the book with words only he could see.

“See! I told you!” called Akiko, smiling from ear to ear.

“I may have underestimated your intelligence...” Philip admitted. “Or you were simply lucky...”

Akiko growled, producing her slipper...then blinked as the Double Driver manifested. “Huh?”

Philip sighed in annoyance, producing the Cyclone Memory. “Always when I'm in the middle of something interesting...”

Akiko snarled. “He left without me?!”

“CYCLONE!”

---

“JOKER!”

---

“Henshin!”

---

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory into the Driver.

“Oh!” yelled Akiko, flying down behind Philip as he collapsed...in the opposite direction. “Ah! Why?!”

---

Shou pushed the newly manifested Cyclone Memory fully into place and inserted the Joker Memory before throwing the Driver open.

“CYCLONEJOKER!”

Afterburner and Icarus covered their faces as the wind swirled around Shou, forming into the now familiar black and green armor, silver scarf blowing in the wind and eyes glowing red.

Icarus snarled and charged Double, swinging its sword. The armored hero ducked the blade, then blocked a second with a wind cloaked wing catching its wrist. He spun around and did a buck to the chest, driving Icarus backwards.

“Why are you getting in my way again?!” Icarus screamed, spreading its wings and attempting to strike Double with them.

The armored warrior leapt over the strike with a wind assisted jump, switching his memories and reopening the Driver.

“HEATJOKER!”

Double came back with a fire powered stomp of his front hooves to the monster's head. “Simple, you're hurting people. I don't like that kind of thing.”

“Yeah,” Philip's voice replied. “This is our job.”

Double flapped his wings to keep balance on his hind legs and gave three quick jabs with his Joker half followed by a powerful haymaker with his Heat half.

Icarus rolled across the ground from the blow and growled. “I should be them! I deserve it! I've earned it! You have no idea what it's like!”

Double paused. “...I kind of do...” replied Shou's voice.

Icarus recoiled for a moment, then growled. “Liar!” it screamed, flapping it's wings and buffeting Double with explosive feathers, forcing him back and flying off before he could recover.

“Darn it, this one likes to run...” Shou's voice muttered.

“At least I can get back to researching team building exercises.”

Double's left half would have blinked if he didn't have optics for eyes. “Team building?”

“Akiko showed me this interesting book on the subject.”

Shou's voice chuckled. “So that's what she wanted it for...Alright, better let you get back to that. Just don't forget we've got a Dopant on the loose.”

Double closed and deactivated the Double Driver, reverting back to Shou.

The black furred Pegasus trotted over to Afterburner and gently helped the mare back to her hooves. “You okay?”

“Yeah...” she muttered, coughing and looking a bit sick to her stomach from the blow to it. “But you're...you're the Kamen Rider?”

Shou blinked. “Kamen Rider?”

“Yeah, it was all over Wakana's radio show,” the mare replied.

Shou's eyes widened. “We were on her show?! Ugh! The one episode I missed!”

Afterburner cringed and coughed a little, cradling her stomach. “Ugh...sorry to interrupt your fancolting, but...I just got beat up by a monster...”

“Oh! Right! Let's get you to the infirmary!”

---

“How dare he leave the chief behind...” Akiko muttered with a growl, trotting around the Wonderbolts Academy area, snorting hot air out of her nostrils. “When I find him, I'm going to need two slippers for this.”

The young mare blinked in confusion. “Wait...I'm a pony and only have one mouth so that won't really work...I could just use one big sli-”

“Oof!”

Akiko blinked, rubbing her head as she got off her flank and looked at who she'd ran into, not knowing where she was going. “Sorry!...Slipstream?”

The pink mare jumped, rubbing her broken left wing. “Oh...hello...you're...Shou's friend, right?”

“No, I'm his boss...sort of.”

Slipstream lifted an eyebrow. “You're his boss?”

“I own the deed to our office.”

“...Oh...”

“I'm Akiko,” she explained, offering a hoof. Slipstream blinked for a moment, they hesitantly shook her hoof.

“Uh...glad to meet you...”

The mares were then interrupted by the sound of stomachs growling. Akiko blushed. “Sorry...I skipped breakfast.”

“Yeah, so did I. Trying to get back on my wings quicker. And the food at the mess gets dull after awhile.”

Akiko reached into her saddle bags, and gave a look to the pegasus' broken wing. “...I brought a little food...want to share?”

Slipstream blinked in confusion. “Huh? With me?”

“Well...I keep running into you, it just seems like the right thing to do.”

“...Okay...I guess that'd be alright...”

---

Shou snuck up to a door in the main building after getting Afterburner to the infirmary. He put a sensitive pony ear to the door and listened.

“I'm almost there...I just need to do one more thing and I'll have what I deserve...then they can't push me into the background anymore...”

Shou tensed up, listening more attentively.

“...But...something just doesn't feel right...”

“Huh?” Shou asked. Taking the gamble, he carefully opened the door and peaked in.

Misty Fly set at her desk, staring at a paper in front of her, a conflicted look on her face. Shou saw bitterness...and uncertainly in her expression.

Shou knocked on the door, causing her to jump almost the ceiling. “Celestia don't scare me like that!”

“Sorry,” Shou said, giving a small tip of his hat and coming into the room. “...So...making a tough decision?”

“That's none of your business.”

“You're right...” said Shou, leaning against a wall. “It probably isn't, but now I know something is up, so you might as well tell me.”

Misty Fly sighed, rolling her eyes. “And how do I know you won't rat me out?”

“Because I'm a detective, not a rat,” the black pegasus replied, slipping into a smooth tone. “I keep a lot of secrets. The only way I'd tell anyone is if it'd make this city cry to keep it. But considering you haven't done anything to me despite us being alone in a room, I doubt that's the case. And maybe I can help you make the choice.”

The Wonderbolt gave a sigh. “And if I don't, you'll tell the others something's wrong and they'll bug me, right?”

“They'd be wrong if they didn't. It's the right thing for friends to worry about their friends.”

Misty gave Shou a look. She wasn't sure what it was, but the way he talked about 'not wanting to see the city cry.' There was just a certain sincerity to his voice. “...Fine...Not that there's anything you could do about it anyway, and last thing I want is a detective suspicious of me...Look...I'm considering jumping ship to another flight team,” she said with a bitter tone.

Shou blinked in confusion, but regained his composure. “Why?”

“...Because I'm always buried in the background here...it's always Spitifre, Soarin', Echo, and the other big name Bolts...how am I supposed to shine when the brass won't let me show my stuff? I'm treated like window dressing, just a Bolt to fill up the shot at photo ops. And I hate it.”

“...So you feel like your being overshadowed by the bigger Bolts huh?”

Misty nodded. “Not being able to judge the Best Young Flyers competition is just the last straw...I feel like...I don't know, I'll never be able to show my stuff here...It's one thing to be on a team, it's another for the audience to not even know who you are. I didn't earn my place here to get buried.”

Shou gave a sympathetic look. “To be honest? I kind know how you feel.”

Misty blinked in confusion. “You do?”

“Yeah...You remember the Sonic Rainboom?”

“Heard of it, not sure I believe in it.”

“The filly that did it is one of my best friends,” explained the black pegasus. “Has been since I was a colt. Only one creature of our little group wasn't a competitive type...but my wings are pretty weak,” he continued, spreading his wings. “Was born that way.”

“...So you're...”

Shou nodded with a wistful look. “Handicapped? Yeah...pretty much...” he explained, then gave a sad look that didn't seem to be for himself. “Know somecreature who has it worse though...But anyway, I grew up with three friends who were pretty competitive, but I was always stuck trailing behind. I never won a single race.”

Misty Fly gave an awkward look. “Okay...I guess compared to that I have it good.”

“...Nah, it still stinks.”

“Huh?”

Shou trotted over and pulled out a chair, sitting down. “Feeling like you're being overshadowed? It stinks like timberwolf breath. But...one question: would you consider Spitfire and the other Bolts your friends?”

Misty Fly gave a confused gasp, then looked down thoughtfully. “...Yeah...I...I guess I do...I've known them for years, since flight school...just always living in their shadow...”

“Well, it's not my place to tell you what to do. But in my case? It was never about beating Rainbow Dash, Gilda, and Neato, I knew I couldn't, even before the docs told me my wings were born weak. It was about having fun with my friends. We all found our own ways to shine. Fluttershy's an animal care specialist, Rainbow hopes to join you guys some day, Neato's an archeologist, and I'm a private detective. Haven't heard from Gilda in a long time, but she's probably got her own place. Each member of our little group had to find their own place. Maybe the problem isn't you're not getting a chance to shine but need to find your niche the others don't have. Where you can shine but they can't. Then the brass and the audience can't help but notice. And if I know one thing about friends? They aren't overshadowing you on purpose and can't do anything about it if they don't know.”

Misty Fly paused, giving it thought. “...Yeah...maybe you're right...Thanks...”

“Hidari Shoutaro, but my friends call me Shou.”

“Alright...but shouldn't you be finding Icarus instead of helping me with my problems?”

Shou jumped. “Well...Actually...I came here because you were a suspect...”

“What?!”

“You're not anymore! That's why I was investigating!...But you could help me with one thing.”

Misty gave him an eyebrow. “What?”

“Who are the favorites for the Best Young Flyers competition? I want to see if that's why the ponies were targeted in the order they were. Try to find a pattern in the attacks.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but a Bolt isn't one to ask.”

“Huh?”

“Any of the Bolts could be prospective judges for the Young Flyers, and judges aren't allowed to have a bias. We're forbidden from having favorites. We don't really know much about any of their performances. Even the ones who are training here aren't allowed to practice their acts in front of us.”

Shou put a hoof to his chin. “I see...thank you, Misty Fly. I hope you figure out the right thing to do.”

“You're welcome...and thanks...”

Shou tipped his hat. “No creature cries in Cloudsdale if I can help it...Good luck finding your place...and one more thing?”

“Yeah?”

“My friend Rainbow knows who you are. Haven't chatted with her, but girl makes it a point to know every single Bolt, right down to your stats. To ponies like her? Every last one of you guys matter.”

“...T-Thanks...I needed that...”

---

“So, you're new in Cloudsdale?” Slipstream asked, the two sitting in the Wonderbolt hopeful's room at the barracks as the two ate the food Akiko brought.

“Yeah..my father lived here for a long time before I did...but for some reason he never invited me to come...” Akiko explained, looking down sadly. “I'm not sure why...”

“Well that stinks...” the pink mare muttered, looking at the window and door fidgety.

Akiko cocked her head. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah! I'm just...ugh...feeling a bit of cabin fever...being grounded makes me feel all antsy...” she muttered, giving a look to her wings. “I hate being on the ground...not able to spread my wings. I just want to fly again more than anything...”

“Ah, I can understand that...” Akiko replied, getting another daisy sandwich out of her saddlebags. She noticed another bunk in the room with odds and ends scattered around. “Where is your roommate?”

“Oh...she was...one of Icarus' victims...” Slipstream replied, Akiko not seeing a jealous look aimed at her wings. An almost hateful one. “She's in the infirmary.”

“Oh...Sorry about that...” Akiko said sincerely.

“It's fine...she'll recover...some day...so...do you like to fly?”

Akiko put a hoof to her chin. “...Kinda...I'm not as into it as some pegasi, but I enjoy stretching my wings as much as anypony else...”

“Lucky...I'd love to be able to fly without any limitations again,” Slipstream said, giving a slightly unhinged look when Akiko dug for another sandwich. “I envy you.”

“I'm sorry, it must be awful to not be able to fly,” the young pegasus replied, looking up as Slipstream hid her look. She passed the sandwich to her. “Here you go.”

---

“So nothing?” Rainbowshine asked, sitting with Shou back at the agency.

The pegasus detective sighed, rubbing his head. “Yeah...And Icarus nearly cut off Afterburner's wing. The Gaia Memory corruption is getting worse.”

“Icarus' rampage began one week ago,” explained Philip, standing nearby searching the Gaia Library. “However, the level of corruption indicates either pre-existing mental illness or that they used the Gaia Memory for another purpose for some time until the Memory's corruption drove them to their current actions.”

Shou nodded with a sigh. “Yeah...and I don't think there's time before it strikes again to look at every pony on that list for a pony envious of the others...anything in the Gaia Library?”

“I have narrowed the Gaia Memory type down to Wing, but I have not deduced Icarus' identity.”

Shou rubbed his head. “Alright...I guess we should try to figure out the pattern and try and defeat Icarus when it shows up to attack the next victim.”

“I've already called the Guard to help keep the competitors under watch,” Rainbowshine replied. “But we need to solve this case soon. We're lucky you were able to rescue Greyson and Afterburner...”

Shou nodded, flipping through the pictures the Bat Shot had taken.

“...Where's Akiko?” Rainbowshine asked, noticing the young mare was still missing.

“I think with a new friend,” said Shou, showing a picture in the Bat Shot of Akiko's meeting with Slipstream. “Good for her. She needs to make more friends around here...”

Before Rainbowshine could reply, there was a knock on the door. The mare trotted over, opening it to reveal a gray mare with a yellow mane and tail. Her Cutie Mark a cluster of bubbles. The oddest thing however, was her eyes were both pointed in different directions.

“Uh...hi...”

“Letter for Shou!” the mare chimed, reaching into a mail bag she had with her mouth and passing a letter to Rainbowshine...along with a muffin.

“Thank you...” the wisteria mare replied, blinking as she closed the door. She then handed the letter and muffin to Shou. “For you.”

“Ah! It's from Rainbow Dash!” replied Shou, taking it and opening it. He looked at the muffin. “Must have had Derpy bring it...I asked her about the case.”

Rainbowshine raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“She's a big race fan. She's probably one of the only ponies who could tell you the specialty and stats of each and every Wonderbolt from memory. Never seemed to bother as much with their history as she probably should have though...”

Shou looked at the letter.

'Dear Shou:

Hey bud! Sorry I haven't been to Cloudsdale much, busy with my job here in Ponyville, being weather manager ain't as easy as I make it look. Me and 'Shy are doing well. She's still a bit too much of a shut in though. Filly needs to get out more.

The Best Young Flyers is coming up alright huh? Dang it, looks like I'll miss seeing it (want to make sure I'm ready when I take part). Lucky you get to work on a case with the Bolts though, I'm so jealous! Try to get an autograph for me, okay? I know a lot of the competitors on the list you sent me though (I keep up to date on everything, after all some day I might be teammates with 'em). They're all pretty good, but I tried to make a list of how I think they'll rank. Not sure if that'll help or not.

See ya later,

Your awesome friend, Rainbow Dash.'

Shou chuckled. “Rainbow hasn't changed much...” he said to himself. He then looked through the list. A few seconds later, he gave a gasp and took out another list.

Rainbowshine blinked, trotting over to look at it. “What is it?”

“She almost guessed the order the victims have been attacked in! A few are off but she mostly got them right!” he explained, showing her the two lists, one showing the order of victims

“Wait...how is that possible?!”

“Well, she's all the way in Ponyville...I'd say the best bet is that the Wing Dopant thinks a lot like her...” the detective replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “The racers all prefer not to think they're the favorite to win to keep their confidence up. The Wonderbolts are forbidden from having favorites by their position...”

Shou got up and trotted over to the window, looking out. “If Dash could guess almost an exact match, what makes her and thus the perp different?...Ah! That's it! Philip!”

“Yes, Shou?” the green unicorn asked, remaining in the Gaia Library.

“New keyword! 'Non-competitor!'”

---

Philip entered the keyword into the infinite bookshelves of the Gaia Library. The shelves rearranged themselves rapid, leaving only a hoof full of books left. “Almost there.”

---

Shou tapped his chin, thinking about it. “What else do we know...”

His eyes fell on the picture the Bat Shot had taken and his blood ran cold, his eyes falling on the broken left wing.

“Keyword: injured left wing.”

---
Philip entered the keyword and the books once more rearranged, this time leaving only a pink book with 'Name' emblazoned on it in gold. “That did it.”

---

“Alright!” said Shou, no smirk on his face despite the victory. “What's the name?”

“The name is, Slipstream.”

Shou's eyes went wide. “Slipstream?”

“Correct. I did not stutter.”

“Horseapples!”

Rainbowshine took a moment to think before her expression matched that of Shou. “Sweet Celestia! Akiko's with her right now!”

Philip emerged from the Gaia Library. While remaining stoic, his expression showed some concern. “With the information we've obtained, I was able to uncover that Slipstream has no signs of a pre-existing mental illness or history of violent crime. This indicates she has been severally corrupted by her Gaia Memory. This means she might have been consumed by the Wing Memory enough to decide to go after an able bodied pegasus who's not a competitor if presented with the chance. Her most likely present location is her room at the barracks.”

The unicorn produced the Cyclone Memory. “I recommend we transform now and use HardBoilder's Start Dash Mode to go across the ground to the plateau the Wonderbolts Academy stands on. That will increase our probability of reaching her in time.”

“CYCLONE!”

Shou nodded. “Good idea!” he said, galloping towards the hanger while producing the Joker Memory.

“JOKER!”

“Henshin!”

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory, ending it to Shou's Diver and collapsing while Shou inserted both memories and opening the Driver with a wing boosted midrun jump.

“CYCLONEJOKER!”

Wind rushed in and formed Double's armor as Shou leapt through the air and landed on the HardBoilder, the RevolGarry forming around him. The floor descended and vanished deep below with the machine on it.

Rainbowshine meanwhile hid Philip's prone body and rushed to inform the Guard proper.

---

The clouds underneath Cloudsdale parted, allowing the platform the RevolGarry sat on to descend on four cables. Inside, the cylinder on the back of the machine rotated and the HardBoilder slid back into it. Upon touching down on the ground far below, the RevolGarry opened and the HardBoilder launched out at incredible speeds thanks to a series of large, green and silver boosters now attached to the back of the machine, exceeding the HardTurbuler's flight speed.

---

“So how long until your wing is healed?” asked Akiko, looking at the broken wing of the pegasus.

“Too long,” Slipstream grumbled, once again eying Akiko's wing with envy. “I can't stand it. It gets worse having to watch everypony flying around and preparing for the Best Young Flyers. I just feel so...useless...I'm a pegasus who can't fly, it feels...I don't know, like I'm worthless.”

Akiko nodded, giving a thoughtful look. “...I kinda know how you feel...”

“Huh?”

“I just started at the agency. I know my father is a good detective and Shou...he seems like an idiot but he knows what he is doing...Philip is smart and Rainbowshine is...strong...I guess I'm trying to be such a good chief because I just want to be useful like they are...I just feel kinda useless when I sit around looking at them doing all the work...”

“I...I see...but at least you've still got a place...Oh! Akiko, can you go get some popcorn from the closet? I need to run outside real quick for something, then we can get one of the pegasi with lightning magic to pop it.”

“Okay!”

Akiko flew to the small closet and looked through the shelves carefully. “Popcorn...popcorn...”

She heard hoofsteps behind her. “Slipstream, I can't find the popcorn.”

There was no response. Akiko shut the closet door...and noticed a reflection in the metal handle. She screamed, folding her wings and falling to the ground, ducking under a grab at her left wing by a familiar cloaked figure.

She screamed and scurried under Icarus legs, folding her wings in tightly to fit. “Come back here!” yelled the Dopant, making another grab as the young mare dodged again and jumped over her

The monster turned towards her...and got hit in the face by a thrown slipper. “What th-”

Followed by several more, causing her to shield herself. “Why do you have so many slippers?!”

“They're my preferred method of discipline!” Akiko yelled, throwing a barrage of them from her saddlebags until, after ten individual ones had struck the Dopant, she ran out and threw the bags themselves and flew out the door before the bewildered Dopant could recover.

Akiko flew out an open window, and nearly ran right into Spitfire. “Whoa! Where's the fire filly?!”

“I'm not a filly!”

“Come back here!” yelled Icarus, the Dopant tearing through the wall...then took a step back seeing Spitfire. “C-Captain Spitfire...”

The Captain of the Wonderbolts snarled in rage. “So you're the one who's been hurting pegasi...” she replied, snorting hot air out her nose and stomping the ground. “Get behind me! I'm gonna teach this jerk what happens when you mess with my students!”

Akiko cautiously followed the angry captain's orders.

Icarus snarled in rage, preparing to attack...when a motorcycle suddenly came jumping off the barrack roof and slammed into the Dopant, knocking her to the ground.

“Slipstream! That's enough!” yelled Shou's voice from the armored warrior.

“Shou?” asked Spitfire, blinking in surprise. “Wait...Slipstream?!”

Akiko blinked in shock. “S-Slipstream? That's...that's you?”

The Dopant growled as she got to her hooves and glowed white, transforming back into the formerly unassuming little pink pegasus, a white Dopant Memory held with her wing. “Stop getting in my way!” she yelled, mane falling disheveled and eyes now unhinged now that her mask of sanity had been torn off.

“Slipstream...how...why...” Akiko asked, looking at her in disbelief...and fear at the realization of just who she'd spent the day with.

“Slipstream, what the Tartarus are you doing?!” asked Spitfire in anger and disbelief. “This makes no sense!”

“That's because this rampage is not why you got the Gaia Memory, am I correct?” asked Philip's voice. “Your profile in the Gaia Memory does not suggest you are a vindictive personality type normally.”

“Yeah...You're not a monster, Slipstream, so why did you really get that Gaia Memory?” asked Shou.

The mare took a step back in surprise, and looked at the Dopant Gaia Memory she held. The symbol was a W formed from wings. “I...I just wanted to fly again...I couldn't stand not being able to fly...I needed to fly! I felt useless on the ground! What good is a pegasus who can't fly?! And...and I worked so hard to compete in the Young Flyers competition! And then a n accident...an accident ruined it...” she said, her tone going from vindictive and angry to heartbroken and depressed. “I...I just wanted to fly again...That's all I wanted!”

Akiko gasped, giving a sympathetic look to the mare that had attacked her. “Slipstream...”

“...And then you realized you still couldn't fly in pony form or compete in the competition in Dopant form, right?” Shou's voice asked, the mare suddenly growling. “But by then the memory had already twisted your mind. You were jealous of the ones who got to compete...and the Wing Memory turned that jealousy into a hatred. Is that right?”

“Why shouldn't I hate them?!” the madden mare screamed in rage. “I'm stuck on the ground because of a stupid accident and they get to fly in the competition I've worked so hard to be in! All my hard work gone!...Having to spend every day watching them in the sky! I should be them! I've done all the work! It's not fair!”

Double looked to Spitfire and Akiko. “That is the Gaia Memory corruption talking, not her. She should begin recovering as soon as it's destroyed and the corruption begins fading,” Philip's voice explained.

“Just let me fly!” yelled Slipstream, lifting her broken wing.

“WING!”

She inserted the Memory into the now exposed tattoo beneath her wing. White, feathery energy cascaded across her form, the feathers flying away from her as she spread her wings to reveal Icarus. The Dopant grabbed her cloak and threw it off, revealing her full body. She was a white armored quadruped with feathers on her chest and upper legs, the faceplate resembling a bird's beak with a triangular head crest, tail-feathers in place of a tail. Her forelegs had feathers extending from them to give them a winged appearance in addition to the two massive wings on her back.

Double took his pose, pointing at the Dopant. “Now! Count up your sins!”

Spitfire gave a gasp at the phrase. “Was that...the Skull Stallion's...”

The Wing Dopant charged Double, throwing several blows, using the feathers on her forelegs like bladed weapons and forcing the armored warrior to dodge. Double ducked under a slash and did a headbutt to her chest, driving her back and leaving her open for a spinning wind powered buck to the chin.

“Shou, we need the Metal Staff!”

“Gotcha!”

“METAL!”

Double switched Memories, ducking under another slash of the monster's blades and opened the Driver.

“CYCLONEMETAL!”

Double drew the metal staff in time to block when the Wing Dopant summoned her sword and swung it at him. He pushed back, then did a spin and slammed a wind powered swing into the Dopant's neck, driving her backwards.

Wing's wings glistened with energy and became bladed and she did several spinning attacks at the armored warrior with all the blades she possessed, forcing him to evade and block.

“She's considerably more dangerous now that she's not hiding her identity, Shou,” Philip advised, as they took a slash to the chest and were send to the ground.

“Yeah, but we're not push overs either,” Shou replied, Double the Heat Memory and switching.

“HEATMETAL!”

Wing screamed in pain as Double struck her wing with a flaming Metal Staff, driving her backwards.

Double galloped forwards at a noticeably slower pace and drove the Metal Staff into the ground like a pole vault and delivered a full body tackle, knocking the monster across the ground with a considerable force, sword flying away.

Wing snarled. “I won't let you take my wings away! I won't go back to being worthless!” she screamed, voice cracking from fear. She spread her wings and took off, trying to escape...and was promptly buffeted by an orange streak, stopping her attempt to flee.

Spitfire flew around and slammed into Wing from behind full speed, sending her falling until she caught herself. “Permission to flee denied recruit!” she bellowed. “Sorry Slipstream, but that Memory's getting destroyed for your own good!”

“No! Just let me fly!” the Dopant yelled spreading her wings and sending an assault of feathers at Spitfire. The Wonderbolt Captain nimbly evaded them, receiving a couple bleeding cuts but was otherwise unharmed.

Double took out a yellow refined Gaia Memory with an L logo composed of a yellow moon.

“LUNA!”

Double changed memories and reopened the Double Driver.

“LUNAMETAL!”

The red Heat Half changed to a bright yellow, the accents on the chest, shoulder pads, and gauntlets becoming a golden color.

Spitfire evaded another assault by the monster and flew in front of her, leaving a trail of clouds and lightning behind her that blinded Wing for a moment.

Before the Dopant could recover, a now whip-like metal staff wrapped around her barrel. “What?!”

“Get over here!” yelled Shou's voice, Double having the metal staff in his 'mouth'. He used all four legs and his neck to pull the shaft back, sending the Wing Dopant flying towards him. Double spin around and slammed the now whip like other end into the incoming Dopant's stomach, sending her rolling across the ground.

Wing got back to her hooves and snarled, trying to buffet the armored warrior with her feathers, but he planted the end of the Metal Staff into the ground, causing the end to extend, launching him up and over the attack. He flapped his wings once, having noticeably more difficulty staying airborne, but still managing to strike the Dopant repeatedly with the extending end of the Metal Staff, knocking her to the ground.

“Memory Break time,” Shou's voice said, Double changing memories.

“HEATMETAL!”

Now seeming too heavy for his wings to support him easily, Double began falling and inserted the Metal Memory into the Metal Staff.

“METAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE!”

The Metal Staff's ends igniting with intense flames, Double dove straight at Wing as she got to her hooves.

“Metal Branding!” called both halves of Double, driving a fire powered trust of the Metal Staff into Wing's chest and knocking her to the ground.

Wing staggered to her feet, energy crackling around her before she exploded in a massive fireball.

Akiko trotted over cautiously as Double went to check on the unconscious Slipstream. The Wing Memory ejected from her skin and shattered to pieces.

“Now do you see what I meant about shades of gray, Schoolyard Filly?” asked Shou's voice, looking up at Akiko.

Akiko nodded, a bit shaken, but understanding. “Yeah...”

Spitfire landed next to them, looking at the now defeated mare. “...Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she will be once she gets some help.”

Spitfire nodded. “...Good job...” she said, giving the armored warrior a pat on the back. “...Do I want to know about the armor?”

“...It's a long story. Completely legal.”

“Right...Still, thanks...I just hope Slipstream recovers...”

Akiko looked up at the Wonderbolts Captain, then to Double as he reverted back to Shou and gave her a smile and a nod. “...Don't worry, we'll make sure she does...” she said, giving a small smile.

---

Slipstream was turned into the authorities after her defeat, with any luck, she will recover fully from her Gaia Memory use.

“Hey Gilded,” said Shou, sitting down at the other side of the glass from the former Pterandon Dopant.

“Hello, Shou...” the Griffin replied, giving a small, unsure smile.

A chair down, Firebrand set talking with her brother. And another chair down, Akiko sat down across from Slipstream, the former Wing Dopant's eyes red and bloodshot, the fur on her cheeks tear-stained.

But no creature should ever have to face their demons all by themselves.

---

With Icarus gone, the competitors in the Best Young Flyers competition are safe to recover and practice to do their best.

The now healed Afterburner and Greyson danced around the sky, practicing their acts.

---

Sadly, many of the competitors will miss this year's competition recovering from their injuries, but Spitfire has ensured all of them a spot in next year's.

Spitfire walked through the infirmary, speaking with the injured ponies and griffins.

---

Misty Fly chose to remain with the Bolts after a talk with her friends.

The Wonderbolt Captain looked at Misty, seemingly genuinely shocked. She put a hoof on her should and gave a smile.

It's not my place to put my snout in, but I hope things work out and she finds her niche.

---

It does my heart good to help the Wonderbolts, fellow defenders of Equestria. That alone is worth a reward...though I did ask for one thing.

Spitfire chuckled, writing 'Keep trying hard, Rainbow Dash. From Spitfire' on a picture of herself and handing it to Shou.

Another case closed, thanks to the Two-In-One detective...

---

Rainbowshine held two cards in her wings, Shou only having one left as well. She watched Shou's expression and kept her pocker face intact. Shou went for one card...then stopped and selected the other. Rainbowshine's jaw dropped as Shou took the Ace of Spades to match his Ace of Clubs, leaving her with the Joker.

“How...you...you beat me?!” she asked in disbelief. “You never beat me!”

Shou gave a smooth chuckle, tipping his hat. “I got better.”

Akiko watched with a chuckle as well.

“...You cheated...you had to have cheated.”

“I wouldn't say cheated, so much as played one of my strengths.”

Philip stepped out from the shadows, Double Driver around his waist. Shou reared up to reveal he had his on as well.

“We are a Two-in-One Detective after all.”

Rainbowshine's eyes went wide. “Philip...Philip actually played a game?! Okay, what weird Dopant has trapped me in the fantasy world?!”

“None! I got him to play!” announced Akiko cheerfully, holding her book.

“Akiko was actually correct,” Philip mused. “Me and Shou primarily work together as Double or on cases. According to the Gaia Memory's entree on team building exercises, it is important for a team to cooperate on other things besides combat for maximum effectiveness. And playing games are good way to do that...”

The wisteria mare stared at the scene in disbelief for a moment before chuckling and giving Akiko a hearty pat on the back. “Good job, rookie. We've been trying to get Philip to do that since we met him!”

Akiko smiled proudly. “I just did what you said: show him it in book form!”

Shou gave a chuckle and a grin. “Not bad, for a Schoolyard Filly,” he remarked. He resisted the urge to remind her she nearly got her wing chopped off with her naivety.

The young mare growled and tried to hit him with a slipper...only to realize she didn't have any. “I forgot all my slippers at Slipstream's dorm room after I hit her with them!”

Shou and Rainbowshine both laughed at her expense, even Philip chuckled some...then looked at bit odd, putting a hoof to his head. “...Strange...”

Shou blinked. “What is it?”

“This sensation...it feels familiar...” the green unicorn remarked, putting a hoof to his chin. “I...I think I've felt this before...”

Shou blinked. “You mean before you lost your memory?”

Philip nodded. “...It reminds me of something I can't quite put my hoof on...it feels good...” he said with a small smile.

Shou gave him a pat on the back. “Glad you like having a bit of fun.”

“Yes...I believe I do...”

* This scene was written by MangaKamen, thanks bud.

Case 5: The Lost H/To Guard the Future

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Case 5
Lost H/To Guard the Future

“Alright, Rainbowshine, here's the address,” Shou stated, hoofing a folder to her. “According to Philip, you should find the crates you're looking for there.”

Rainbowshine nodded, taking it and putting it under her wing. “Thanks, should be able to take down that smuggling ring with this.”

Akiko blinked. “Wait...that is it? No Dopant?” she asked, the young mare looking very perplexed.

Shou chuckled. “Unless the smuggler's boss got his hooves on a Gaia Memory. Did you think all our cases involved Dopants?”

“...Yes...”

Rainbowshine rolled her eyes. “Akiko, there might be a Dopant crime wave going on right now, but not all criminals have the money to get their hooves on Gaia Memories, and some actually have a brain and realize when something seems too good to be true, it actually is. I just hire Shou to help the guard sometimes when we're struggling to solve a case.”

“...So he does your work for you?”

Rainbowshine gave a flat look. “Can you name one good reason I shouldn't take advantage of a guy with a comprehensive knowledge of everything in existence that I know is accurate to help the guard put away criminals and protect innocent civilians?”

The young pegasus raised a hoof...then blinked and lowered it. “...No...”

“That reminds me though.” Rainbowshine reached into her saddle bags with her mouth and produced a sizable bag of bits that she tossed to Shou. “There's your pay. Thanks for the help.”

Shou gave a smooth tip of his hat. “Always a pleasure to help the colts in gold.”

Akiko gave an annoyed growl. “Why did you give him the money? I'm the chief!”

“He knows where the money is kept and generally handles the finances.”

Akiko pouted and turned away, crossing her forelegs.

“Anyway, I'll see you later, Shou, I'll call you if we need a Kamen Rider.”

“You heard Wakana's show too?”

“Yeah, surprised you didn't.”

“I was busy with the Wing Dopant case...”

Rainbowshine gave a somewhat more knowing nod. “Yeah, sometimes I miss stuff too. Can be a hard job,” she said, then headed out with a small wave over her shoulder.

“...Shou, does Rainbowshine actually work here?” asked Akiko.

“Not really, she's kinda my line to the Guard,” the detective explained. “She makes sure they know I'm on their side and brings me any Dopant cases they come up with..”

“Oh...So she is one of your 'Irregulars'?”

“Sorta. But she tends to hang out around here more often so she can call in the Royal Guard if she needs to. And it helps to have somepony to hoof the bad guy over to.”

Suddenly, a series of strange noises came from nearby. The two looked at the desk to see a small, black and yellow mechanical spider scuttle forwards, displaying the blue screen on its abdomen that showed the time.

“Ah! We need to go meet up with Councilmare Gina!” Akiko announced, surprising Shou by being the first one to realize that.

The black pegasus gave an annoyed sigh, not looking too excited. “Yeah.” He held out a hoof and the mechanical spider leapt onto it. He removed the yellow artificial Gaia Memory from it, causing it to transform into a watch on his foreleg. “Just let me get in body guard mode,” he said, taking out the Double Driver and undoing his shirt and vest.

'Are you in trouble already, Shou? You haven't even left the building,” Philip's voice echoed in his head.

'Nah, I'm just switching modes.”

Akiko blinked. “You're going as Double?”

“METAL!”

Shou inserted the Metal Memory and opened the Double Driver instantly without waiting for a second memory.

“METAL!”

Akiko blinked, noticing that Shou didn't transform into Double. The green pegasus backpedded, watching his Cutie Mark change from the Joker J to the Metal M. She also noticed Shou tense up and his eyes flash silver for a moment.

“Ahh! Your cutie mark changed! Are you alright?! What happened?!”

Shou took a moment to recompose himself, looking like he'd just been hit on the head. He then rolled his neck, cracking it. “You have a lot to learn about how things go around here.”

“You see,” said Philip, stepping in from the other room. “Our Driver removes the negative aspects of the Gaia Memories at the cost of decreasing their strength. The Double Driver only works correctly when used by both of us at once. We discovered a 'cheat' however. When used with only one Memory, it results in a partial change, altering our Special Talents and Cutie Marks.”

Akiko shuddered. “Sounds creepy to me...”

“Kinda was at first,” Shou replied, trotting over to the mare and closing up his shirt over the Driver. “But you get used to it. Now come on, Schoolyard Filly,” he said, patting her on the back, seeming to have some difficulty controlling his strength.

Akiko growled, producing a slipper and smacking him over the head with it...and to her surprise, he didn't flinch at all. “Huh?”

“We don't want to keep Gina waiting, do we, 'chief?'” he asked, heading out of the building.

“Wait...he didn't complain...What happened to him?!”

Philip raised a hoof. “You see, when he uses the Metal Memory for this, it results in his natural determination going from a secondary trait to his special talent. It's why he calls it his 'body guard mode.' However, it also does result in slight personality changes.”

The young mare gave a shudder. “It is still creepy...”

---

Later that morning, Shou knocked on the door to a rather impressive looking house. It opened to reveal a silver feathered griffin with gray fur on her lion aspects, wearing a black business suit. Next to her was a relatively rare sight: a young hippogriff, probably about six years old, still a blank flank. Her front half was silver like her mother while her rear half was light blue with a darker blue tail. A guard detail followed sshortly there after.

The griffin gave a nod. “Good, you're here...” she said, then gave an annoyed sigh. “Can't believe I need a bodyguard anyway...” she muttered under her breath.

Shou shrugged. “Well, I'm here,”he said, then looked down at the small child. “Should the filly...chick...fillychick be coming with us?”

“I want to come, Mister...” the little Hippogriff replied with a smile Shou couldn't help feeling seemed a little forced. It wasn't that she didn't sound sincere, it was just like something was...missing.

“If you do your job, we won't have to worry about it,” Gina replied defensively.

Shou sighed. “I don't like this...”

“The client is always right!” announced Akiko, giving Shou a smack on the head with a slipper...which once more to her annoyance didn't phase him. She turned to Gina. “Come this way, Counselmare.”

The griffin gave a growl. “I'd prefer councilqueen, but everycreature would think I'm being egotistical.”

The young mare cocked her head. “Huh?”

“Queen is what a female Griffin is called, at least where my family comes from. Now can we please get to my public address?” she asked in a somewhat desperate tone.

Shou nodded and began leading the way along with the Griffin's normal guard detail, which primarily consisted of Royal Pegasus Guards with their icon white fur and golden armor. Shou kept his posture around them respectful, but seemed a bit more anxious than normal. Like a part of him wanted a scrap to get into. Akiko shuddered looking at him.

They managed to get quite some distance, Shou's eyes darting from left to right, keeping an eye out.

Gina looked at the black stallion's cutie mark. “Didn't you have a different Cutie Mark when I hired you?”

Shou nodded. “Yeah, this is just a disguise.”

“Then why are you wearing the same outfit?” she asked, rolling her eyes a bit.

“Uh...this isn't my normal outfit I wear on cases,” Shou replied, jumping a little before trying to reclaim his hardboiled image.

Gina grumbled under her breath as they continued moving forwards.

The detective watched the ponies walking by, making sure not to take his eyes off of anycreature until they'd completely left his line of sight. Akiko remembered what Philip had said about his determination while using Metal, and his expression certainly reflected that.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he grabbed Gina and pulled her out of the way as a passer by attempted to stab her with a concealed weapon. One of the guards retaliated with a buck to the chest, knocking the attempted assassin into a wall.

The stallion growled and got back to his hooves. He produced a block dopant memory, the symbol being a mask in the shape of an M.

“MASQUERADE!”

The stallion put it in his neck, causing a white liquid like energy to cascade over him. His face turned into what looked like a black mask with a ripcage pattern on it, a black suit manifesting on his body.

Two other similar Dopants emerged from the shadows, circling the group. “Ahh! What are they?!” Akiko exclaimed, looking around frantically, fur standing on in in surprise.

“Masquerade Dopants,” Shou replied, looking around at the three kaijin. “Weak mass production Memories. Dime a dozen. Akiko! Get Gina to her public appearance and take some of the guards with you! We can handle these punks!” he said, cracking his neck and looking ready for a fight.

Akiko blinked, then nodded.

Shou immediately leapt at the Masquerade Dopant standing in their path, ducking under a swipe and giving a spinning kick to his side, knocking him out of the way. Akiko lead Gina, her daughter, and a portion of the guards forwards.

The pegasus dodged several more swipes and bucked his opponent in the stomach, knocking him backwards with a yell. He noticed the Guards were trying to fight them head on, and ended up being knocked around by the monsters' superior strength. “They're stronger than normal ponies! Don't fight strength with strength!” he warned, the distraction allowing him to be punched twice in the face and kicked back. He grunted, but charged forwards, headbutting the monster right in the stomach as the Dopant reared up and forcing him back.

Shou touched a hoof to his cheek and looked at a little blood from his lip. “...Ugh...I'm going to be sore later.”

The guards heeded his advice and dodged the Masquerade Dopant's attacks, one of them catching the hoof and throwing him over his shoulder with his own momentium while another kicked his opponent's leg out from under him.

Shou was forced to tank a blow in order to headbutt his opponent, knocking him backwards. “Drive them altogether! I can finish them off!”

The guards nodded and proceeded to dodge the Dopants' strikes, retaliating with bucks to the chest as Shou flew up and kicked his opponent in the chest, knocking all three together.

“SPIDER!”

Inserting the Spider Shock's Memory, the spider-like Memory Gadget lept forwards, using a cable to wrap the three Dopants up.

“STAG!”

He then produced the Stag Phone and inserted its Memory, transforming it to live mode before removing the memory and inserting the Metal Memory.

“METAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE!”

The mechanical Stag Beetle was cloaked in a silver energy, becoming metallic in appearance before flying forwards and buffeting the monsters repeatedly from all angles. It then flew up and dove back down, flying through them and causing them to explode in a fireball.

Shou looked to the guards as three unconscious stallions fell to the ground with shattered Gaia Memories. “You handle them! I need to catch up with the Counselmare in case these aren't the ones behind this!”

“Yes, detective...uh...”

“What?” the black Pegasus asked, noting the Guard's somewhat worried looks.

“I think you're bleeding.”

Shou looked at his upper leg, noting a cut he must have gotten from the first attack. “...Yeah...” he muttered. “I'll patch myself up later. It's not very deep.”

---

“Akiko!” called Shou, the black pegasus galloping up to her and breathing heavily.

Akiko blinked, looking at Shou. “Shou, what happened?”

“We dealt with the Dopants, the guards are locking them up.”

Akiko was slightly freaked out looking at the pegasus. Not just because of his altered mark, but that he seemed to not even realize how beat up and winded he actually was. “Shou...are you okay?”

“Yeah...just gonna be really sore when this is over,” the detective replied, taking out some bandages from a pocket and tending to the wound on his front leg. Akiko wondered if he'd expected to need them today.

On the raised platform, Gina stood on stage, the Griffin having already started her speech.

“Commander Hurricane was one of Equestria's founders and Hurricane Tower stands in her honor, but also in disrepair,” the politician on stage started.

“Hurricane Tower?” Akiko asked, blinking as she turned her attention back to events on stage.

“Oh yeah, you're new here. It's an ancient tower near Cloudsdale dating back to the time of the three tribes,” Shou explained. “It was built after Equestria was founded to celebrate the new peace and Hurricane's part in making it possible.”

“The Tower is a Cloudsdale landmark, and yet the city has allowed it to fall apart. It's in such a state of ruin that it has become unsafe to visit. By the time our children are grown, it may no longer be standing simply due to our neglect. I don't want to be the one responsible for my daughter not having a national treasure to enjoy. Come here, Hope,” Gina explained, motioning for her daughter to trot over and stand next to her.

“Using her daughter as a tool...” muttered Shou. “Gets a bit under my fur...By the way, Akiko, you notice something about her smile?”

The young mare blinked, looking at the smile on the little Hippogriff's beak as she joined her mother. “...No...”

“It's strange...it isn't exactly fake, but...there's something missing in it...” the detective replied. “I noticed it when we met her...that's why I took this case...a filly...chick...fillychick like that shouldn't have to worry about her mom getting killed.”

On that note, the pegasus took a look around the area just in case. His eyes fell on nothing but storm clouds and cloud buildings that looked too packed for an assassin to hide in without somepony noticed them.

His eyes returned to the stage where Gina had Hope wave to the crowd.

Suddenly, the detectives ears twitched. “Oh no...Get down!” he yelled at the stage.

Gina listened just in time, as some form of projectile went straight through a banner hanging behind where her head had just been.

Shou and Akiko flew to the stage as fast as their wings could manage as the projectiles rained down, ushering Gina and her daughter behind the stage itself (which was at least sturdy enough to endure most of the shots) as projectiles continued hitting around them.

Shou dared peak out at the stage as more shots rained down and noticed what looked like fragments of ice laying around the stage. “This isn't normal...”

He looked to Akiko...then blinked, realizing the young mare had opted to help protect their client rather than stay in the audience. The sound of projectiles hitting the stage snapped him out of it. “Keep Gina safe, I'm going to go try and find out where the shots are coming from!” he called, galloping from cover.

Gina snarled, though kept her young daughter cradled under herself for protection. Wings wrapped around her. “He'd better do his work...It's bad enough I need him in the first place...”

She looked down at her daughter who was crying, the little child's expression one of total terror. The mother's eyes widened. “It's okay Hope...don't worry, everything's going to be okay...” she said, hugging the little hippogriff closely.

---

Shou came to a stop once out of sight of the firing and removed the Metal Memory. “Let's go Philip!”

---

Philip nodded, sitting down in the hanger with his book floating in his telekinesis. He produced the Cyclone Memory. “I have gathered some data already thanks to the Double Driver. I hope to observe more in this battle.”

“CYCLONE!”

---

“METAL!”

---

“Henshin!

---

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory, collapsing.

---

Shou pushed the Cyclone Memory completely into the Double Driver and then inserted his Metal Memory before reopening the Driver.

“CYCLONEMETAL!”

Shou ran as the transformation began, the tornado forming the armored suit midrun.

He did a leaping, wind boosted jump, landing back on the stage and beginning to deflect the shots with the Metal Shaft.

Gina blinked, looking up at their protector. “What?”

“Shou, if we don't know where the shooter is, it's too dangerous to use Trigger,” Philip's voice warned.

“Gotcha. Can you at least use your big brain to send the shots back to sender even if you can't tell where exactly the shooter is?” replied Shou's.

“That I can do.”

Double nodded and continued deflecting shots, finally managing to send one directly back at the launcher, eliciting a sharp, loud yelp from something.

The armored warrior stood still for a moment, the shots stopping completely. “I think we got him.”

“That was not enough to defeat a Dopant, but it may have driven him off, or he simply was not expecting us to fight back. Please bring me back some of the projectiles for study.”

“Alright...” said Shou's voice.

He closed the Double Driver and reverted to pony form, his Cutie Mark reverting to normal as well.

The stallion's eyes blinked silver for a moment. He gave a groan, falling to his knees in pain, panting heavily.

Akiko gasped. “Shou!”

“Stay with her, I'll be fine...” said the black pegasus, staggering to his hooves, but still gritting his teeth. “Just things catching up to me. Nothing I'm not used to.”

Gina looked down at Hope, the child still trembling. “It's okay, Hope...you're fine now...the bad guy is gone. The Kamen Rider saved us.”

The little Hippogriff relaxed and nodded. “O-Okay...are you alright mama?”

“Yes, sweetie, I am...”

---

“Ugh...I might have overdid it...” Shou moaned, holding an ice pack to his bruised face back at the agency.

Akiko cocked her head. “Is this why you don't do that all the time?”

The sore pegasus nodded. “Yeah...problem with high pain tolerance is not realizing you've been hurt. It makes me a good body guard, but I normally end up paying for it in the end...”

“...What's it feel like to change Cutie Marks like that?”

“...Weird...:” Shou moved the ice pack to another bruise. “It helps that it's kind of a more intense version of what happens to me under the suit. First few times using memories other than Joker really freaked me out. It...it kinda felt like I was switching places with somepony else. Kind of freaked me out. Especially considering...”

Double roared in fury, sounding more like a feral beast than a pony. He stood surrounded in flames in a ruined building, the flickering light illuminating the white right half of his body.

Shou shuddered, then recomposed himself. “But eventually I realized something about it,” he said, leaning back in his chair, putting a hoof to his chin, and pausing.

“...What?” Akiko asked, cocking her head.

“I was being dramatic!”

“Stop being so over the top!”

“It's who I a-ow!”

“Hey, it works again!”

The two then heard the door to the hanger open, Philip trotting in, book in his telekinesis. Shou noticed the unicorn seemed at tad unnerved. “What is it, Philip?”

“I have yet to narrow down the Memory Type, but I discovered something about Gina and her daughter...Did you notice Hope's reaction when the Dopant began firing?”

The left half of Double thought back to the events earlier that day. “Yeah...seemed pretty freaked out. But she is just a kid, I'd be more concerned if she hadn't been scared out of her wits...”

“True, but it appears this isn't the first time this happened.”

Shou's eyes widened. “What?”

“Last year, she witnessed her father be murdered.”

The pegasus took a step back in shock. “What?!”

Akiko shuddered, pinning her ears. “I can't imagine what it'd be like to lose your father...”

Shou froze up, beginning to reflexively tremble. “Y-Yeah...that'd be...that'd be horrible...” he said, breaking out in a cold-sweat.

He shook it off as best he could, but was unable to stop the shaking...but then it occurred to him he wasn't the only one trembling. “Philip? What's wrong?”

“I...I'm not sure,” the unicorn replied, putting a hoof to his head, trying to will himself to stop and finally succeeding. “I...I think I'm going to go back to my research now...”

Shou watched the green unicorn return to the hanger. “...I wonder what's got into him...” he muttered. He then checked the Spider Shock. “Oh! I need to get back to Gina!”

Akiko got up, but Shou shook his head. “Huh?”

“Uh, stay here...I...uh...need somepony to keep an eye on Philip since Rainbowshine isn't here. If he needs to tell me something while in the Gaia Library, he needs somepony to hold his Stag Phone.”

Akiko blinked, then gave a small nod. “Right! It is the chief's job to watch over her employees!”

“Yeah...exactly...” the detective replied, rushing out. 'This job has gotten a tad too dangerous for a rookie...'

---
Councilmare Gina's life has come under threat. While I do not approve of her use of her daughter as a campaign tool...something is gone from the child's smile. Something a child should never have lost. I'm going to protect her smile as much as I can. No pony, griffin, or Hippogriff will cry on my watch.

Shou sat at a Griffin restaurant a good ways away from Cloudsdale. Truthfully, the pegasus wasn't comfortable. Being around griffins eating their fill but finding everything unappetizing by nature wasn't the easiest of things. Hope was currently in a play house, under careful watch of the guard.

He watched Gina finish off a piece of cooked chicken, leaving a small pile of bones on her plate. “...Long way to go for a bite to eat, isn't it?”

The griffin gave a snarl. “Excuse me for having a reputation to maintain.”

“How so?”

“There are ponies who want anything they can use against me, that's how politics works,” Gina replied with an annoyed, almost sad look. “And right now somecreature's trying to murder me, so clearly they would do anything to get rid of me...”

“So you're afraid if ponies see you eating meat, they'll think less of you?”

“Yeah, they felt that way before I was a politician,” the griffin asked, a bitter look on her face. “Don't tell me you don't feel feel the same way about me.”

“Actually I don't.”

Gina blinked. “Huh?”

“Got two friends who are griffins. They're not exactly run of the mill, but I'm no speciesist,” the black pegasus replied, leaning back in his chair and looking nostalgic. “Boss always told me 'there's only different species when it comes to evidence, not clients or perps.”

“...I see...That's quite noble of you,” the griffin admitted.

“Thanks...can I ask you something?”

“...Can't say I'll answer it.”

The detective gave a serious look. “Why are you bringing Hope into this?” he asked. “She's a little...what do you call a baby hippogriff?”

Gina gave a sigh. “...I don't think that's any of your business.”

“You hired me to protect you and her, so that means it's my business to know why the girl isn't out of harms way.”

“...Fine...Look, I know it looks like I'm using my kid for politics...and I kinda am, but look-”

Suddenly, a window was shattered by a projectile tearing through it. Shou reacted on instinct and tackled the Griffin to the ground as more hit the table. “Everycreature! Get down!” he yelled, the restaurant patrons wisely abiding. He used the Spider Shock to grab several of them that couldn't get to cover and pull them to safety. He quickly checked the table's sturdiness before toppling it over to be between them and the shooter. As the table gave them some protection, he looked around and saw a door.

The detective grabbed Gina's shirt in his mouth and escorted her quickly into a supply room, motioning the patrons as well. Once they were safe, he took out the Bat Shot.

“BAT!”

The mechanical bat launched out and flew out the window as the shots stopped before he could produce the Double Driver.

Shou slowly came out and carefully trotted over to the broken windows, seeing nothing but storm clouds.

He turned back to see Gina checking on the patrons, a genuinely concerned expression on her face. The griffin then wasted little time hurrying to check on her daughter.

---

A Diamond Dog ran away from the scene on all fours. The gray furred creature wore a brown vest, his necklace covered with various types of teeth. He gave a snarl. “Stupid pony.”

“Rex.”

The Dog spun around, turning to see Chain Link fly down in front of him. The pegasus now had pants on, hiding his Cutie Mark from view. “Plan to finish off that griffin anytime soon?” the street boss asked, looking rather annoyed.

“I would have killed her then if stupid pony hadn't gotten in the way...” the assassin muttered, folding his front legs in front of his chest, having a slight accent.

“Pony?”

“Half and half freak...”

Chain Link gave a serious look. “Well the boss wants her dead. There's a reason Hurricane Tower hasn't been renovated in years, you know.”

The Dog scoffed. “Yeah yeah, I don't care why you want her dead.”

“You may not care, but if you fail, it'll be my problem,” Chain Link replied, getting close to Rex's muzzle despite the Dog being a good head taller than him. “And I'm not disappointing the boss, got it?”

Rex growled. “Are you threatening me?” he asked, grabbing the pony's shirt threateningly.

The pegasus responded by throwing said arm off him, then giving the dog a bloody nose with a headbutt. “Yes. Let me put this in perspective,” the now serious street boss stated as Rex held his bleeding nose, whimpering. “If you fail, then you'd better hope you end up getting arrested. Because I'll make sure to tell Mrs. Saeko who's to blame.”

The Dog yelped and backed away at the name.

“Am I clear?”

Rex nodded fearfully.

“Good. Now don't let me down,” Chain Link replied, trotting off and giving an expression that seemed to be a cross between determination...and fear. “Because I'm not letting the boss down on my watch.”

---

Philip stood in the Gaia Library, the books rearranging themselves rapidly and the few remaining floating in front of him. “The projectile is definitely a form of ice, but I can't seem to find the final keyword. If we cannot isolate the type of Memory or where the shooter is hiding, we will be at a considerable disadvantage.”

---

Akiko nodded, looking through pictures taken from the Bat Shot. “Yeah, he is not in any of these pictures...All there are is storm clouds...which is odd...I don't remember a storm scheduled for today...”

Philip gasped. “Akiko, you may be a genius.”

The green pegasus blinked then smiled widely. “I am?”

---

Philip nodded in the Gaia Library with an ecstatic grin on his face. “He's not showing up in the pictures because he is shooting from a place where he wouldn't show up. As you said, the common theme is all the attacks occurred in areas surrounded by storm clouds, which would obscure him from view. To hide inside storm clouds without risking a lightning strike, the Dopant would need to be based in a form of precipitation.”

The word 'precipitation' formed in front of his muzzle in green lettering, resulting in the books rearranging and leaving one white one with the word 'hail' embroidered in gold lettering.

“The memory brand is Hail.”

---

“So, you were saying before?” asked Shou, looking to Gina, leaning on Machine HardBoilder. The group was now in a small park on the ground near Cloudsdale, watching Hope sit nearby, running a claw through a puddle absently. Shou couldn't help but think the little Hippogriff looked so lost. Not particularly a good sign when the entire point of this stop was to try and settle her down after the shooting.

The older one gave a sigh and set down, tail whipping back and forth with some level of anger. Shou noted it was thankfully not directed at him...he thought so at least. “...Hope wants to help me do this...I think it's the only...well, hope she has right now.”

The black pegasus blinked in confusion and worry. “What?”

Gina looked down. “...She was there when Skyquake died...”

“Skyquake...ah, your husband...my partner told me about it.” Shou trotted over and sat down next to her. “Condolences...losing somecreature is never easy...” Shou trembled slightly as he spoke but forced himself to remain composed.

“Thanks...as you can guess, a griffin and a pegasus getting together turned a lot of heads...and even in Equestria, there are still those who aren't as tolerant as the Princess would like. I swear it cost me a lot of votes just being a Griffin. I know we used to be your predators, but that was ages ago...but Skyquake stuck with me through it all...” The female griffin looked over at her daughter, the guards still watching her carefully. “That's why we named her Hope, well that and my family is one of those who feel we should all have G-names, so I thought since she's a Hippogriff, it made sense...The fact I was able to have a child with a pony meant a lot to me. It spat in the faces of some bigots that told us a griffin and pony hooking up was 'unnatural'. To me...she was hope that no matter what happened, our love was right...Ugh. I sound so sappy don't I?”

The left half of Double shrugged. “Eh, no more than my friend Fluttershy.”

“All these near death situations have got me slipping...Then...one day I heard glass breaking. I came in and...he was gone...and Hope was trying to 'wake him up'...She saw her father die...”

Shou looked sadly at the little Hippogriff, giving a shudder. “By Riku Sanjo...that'd mess an adult up...” 'Believe me, I know...'

“...She's been so depressed since it happened, not that I blame her...but, restoring Hurricane Tower...it was actually Skyquake's idea...”

The detective blinked, looking to his client. “Skyquake's?”

“He thought that a griffin putting her all into restoring a pegasi cultural landmark would show the pegasi that it didn't matter what species I was, I still cared about this city. I thought it might be good to show them species doesn't matter period, like I wish it didn't...Wanted to build several museums dedicated to Cloudsdale's history too...Hope always loved hearing him talk about the past...tell her old stories. He had her so excited to see it happen...I know you think I'm a terrible mother using my child like this...but now I honestly think carrying on her father's work is the only thing that's keeping my baby girl going...and I can't even bucking keep her safe myself...” she muttered, balling up her talons and punching the ground...a few tears falling on the yellow eagle-like appendage. The proud griffin instantly started trying to wipe her eyes and regain her composure.

Shou sighed, the pegasus looking at the small, lost little child. “...If that's the case...I guess help her do that...”

The griffin blinked. “Wait, what? I thought you hated me doing this...”

Shou tipped his hat. “I might not be fond of it...but I won't let anycreature in this city cry...if helping you do this will put back that kid's spark and dry her tears. Then I'll keep her safe while you do it...just know this.”

“Yeah?”

“She has more than that to live for, she still has you. She was afraid of losing you just like she was afraid to lose her father. If you want to put her spark back, you'll need to show her mom still cares about her.”

Gina gasped, remembering the shooting before. How closely Hope had clung to her.

“O-Okay...are you alright mama?”

“...I-”

Suddenly the Stag Phone rang. “Hold on.”

Shou picked up the Memory Gadget. The detective's eyes went wide a few seconds later. “What?!”

---

Philip continued looking into the book only he could read. “The Hail Dopant is capable of concealing itself inside of storm clouds with no difficulty. That is where the shooter is firing from. Keep Gina and her daughter inside, away from the clouds.”

---

Shou looked up, his eyes searching the sky. He gasped and tackled Gina to the ground just in time to save her from a ice projectile launched right at her skull. “Good timing Philip!” he yelled into the phone as the guards grabbed Hope and let their armor take several hits to defend the girl. The detective then rushed Gina to cover before giving her a reassuring glance. “Don't worry.” Shou took out the Double Driver and put it on. “Now I know where to aim.”

---

Philip calmly put away his book and produced the Cyclone Memory. “Now that we know his hiding place, narrowing down his location will be simple.”

“CYCLONE!”

---

“JOKER!”

Gina gasped as the tree they were behind withstood the shots. “A Gaia Memory?”

---

“Henshin!”

---

Philip inserted the Cyclone Memory.

“Oh! Wait for-” Akiko yelled, flying towards him...the unicorn passing out right as she reached him. “-me...”

---

Shou inserted the Memories and threw the Driver open.

“CYCLONEJOKER!”

Gina shielded her face with her wings as a cyclone surged up around the pony before her. When she lowered her arms, she gasped at armored form standing before her. “Wait, you're...”

Double ran from cover and deflected several projectiles with his armored forelegs from hitting the wounded guards. “Get Hope to safety!” he yelled in Shou's voice. The guards nodded and quickly did so, rushing the trembling child to her mother's waiting front legs. “Philip, we know where he is now!”

“Yes, now is the correct time to use Trigger,” replied Philip's voice, Double's right eye flashing.

Double closed his driver and produced a new, blue memory with a symbol resembling some sort of fire arm in the shape of a T.

“TRIGGER!”

Replacing the Joker Memory with it, Double reopened the Driver.

“CYCLONETRIGGER!”

Blue energy surged over the black joker half, transforming it into a metallic blue, the shoulder, chest, and ankle accents a lighter, more cyan color. Holding his hoof to his chest, a black and blue rectangular device manifested. It had a black stock with a trigger projecting from the bottem, and cyan accent running around a transparent window in the middle of the device. Below the black barrel of the weapon, a second metallic blue rectangle stuck out at a diagonal angle. Double aimed the weapon skyward, revealing a yellow W embroidered on the back of the device.

Several super pressurized shots of green air erupted from the weapon towards the storm clouds in the direction of the shots, quickly sending a humanoid form plummeting from the clouds with a loud yelp.

“I've always wondered, how exactly do we use the Trigger Magnum with hooves?” Shou's voice asked.

“Oh! The answer is quite interesting, you see-”

Philip's voice was interrupted by Double evading an ice-like projectile aimed at his head.

The rising Dopant was an icy blue color, but with snow white armor covering his chest, shoulders, and head. The head resembled a skull and the shoulder pads gigantic pieces of hail. The monster stood on his hind legs, but with a bit of a hunch, and had hands in place of hooves, one of which was presently extended in Double's direction

“Stupid pony!” Hail yelled, his other hand on his still smoking chest. Hail fired several ice shots in quick succession. Double spun to the right to dodge and opened fire. The Dopant ducked to the left to dodge the shot, firing off several of his own. Double flapped his wings, doing a spin to evade the speeding hunks of ice and returned several shots of compressed air. Hail did a roll to evade the attack and continued the cycle.

After several moments of exchanging shots dodging the opponent's, Double did a wing assisted backflip, and fired several shots, the pressurized air into slamming Hail's chest and sending him staggering back with a sharp yelp. The Kamen Rider spread his wings and strafed Hail with barrage of shots, knocking him backwards, seeming to have an easier time in the air in this form than others. As the Dopant staggered to his feet, Double skidded to a landing in front of him, the Trigger Magnum to the kaijin's chest.

Hail yelped as the resulting assault struck him and sent him flying backwards and rolling across the ground.

“You know, I don't like jerks that endanger kids,” said Shou's voice. “Let's finish this guy off.”

“Agreed,” Philip replied, Double's right hand producing the Luna Memory.

---

Chain Link watched from a nearby cloud. “That idiot...if he loses here...”

“Good. I'm sure you'll live up to my expectations, won't you?”

The street boss trembled at the memory. “...If Rex messes up, it will look bad on me...no way am I letting that happen...” he stated, putting a hoof into his pocket and producing a bronze colored Dopant Gaia Memory. The symbol was an I, the center being formed from a piston, the upper part being a smoking exhaust pipe, the bottom being an iron girder. “Time to finally put this thing to good use.”

“INDUSTRY!”

---

Before Double could swap memories, an object that looked as if it was coated in molten iron fell from the sky.

“What the Tartarus?!” asked Shou, the Kamen Rider backpedaling as the dust settled from the impact of the obviously heavy object landing and the transformation aura faded.

The Dopant was a hulking quadruped, a good head taller than Double, and looking to be made of solid metal. It's armor was black with silver accents, bronze exposed gears in the chest. The monster's right leg had a silver piston in place of a hoof while the left leg had a brace running the length of it resembling the wheel mechanism of a steam locomotive. Double could hear the steam emerging from several pipes emerging from the monster's back and the gears turning in it's body, like a factory at work.

The new Dopant looked to Hail. “Get out of here,” he ordered, the smaller Dopant nodding and running for it.

“Another Dopant?!” asked Shou's voice, Double taking a fighting stance.

“Shou, this does not appear to be a production run Gaia Memory,” Philip's voice replied. “At least not one I remember being put into production.”

“So this guy isn't a run of the mill Dopant, huh?”

The Dopant moved forwards towards Double. “I don't know who you are, but this job is too important to let you ruin it,” he said, gears beginning to rev up in the chest as the steam began to billow more and more rapidly. The Industry Dopant finally galloped at Double like an out of control rhino.

The Kamen Rider replied by shooting him repeatedly with the Trigger Magnum, but the thick armor of the creature deflected the shots before he had to leap out of the way or be trampled.

The brute of a kaijin skidded to a stop, tearing up the ground under his hooves in the process as his gears winded back down to normal speed.

“CycloneTrigger does not appear to possess enough power to punch through its armor, Shou,” Philip observed.

“Gotcha! We need something with a bit more punch!”

“HEAT! HEATTRIGGER!”

Double's right half turned from green to red as Industry stomped towards him, speed having decreased considerably. While the shots did cause the Dopant to flinch slightly, he didn't seemed slowed down and proceeded to throw heavy punches at the Kamen Rider, forcing the hero on the defensive.

As Double ducked under a blow, one of the park's wooden structures was not so fortunate and the blow shattered it to bits.

“Uh oh...” Shou muttered, looking at the damage before Double finally took a shot from the creature's piston hoof himself, the force of the blow sending him flying backwards through the air with a cascade of sparks. As he rolled through to his hooves, Industry delivered several punches with his left leg, staggering the hero back before connecting with another blow of his piston arm, launching Double a sizable distance and into a tree.

The Rider grunted, getting back to his hooves with a grunt. “Ugh...as if I wasn't already sore, this guy hits like a train!”

Industry charged forwards and punched Double in the ribs, lifting the rider off the ground before slamming him into it with a considerable amount of force. The Dopant reared up on his hind legs and tried to crush the Rider under his considerable weight. Double barely managed to roll out of the way as Industry made a small crater in the ground slamming back down.

“Shou, switch to Heat Metal!” Philip advised as Double used a tree to prop himself back up.

“Right!” Shou replied as Industry's 'engine' revved up again.

“METAL!”

Double leapt out of the way of the charging Dopant as he changed Memories. Industry plowed straight through the tree, splintering it to pieces as Double reopened the Driver.

“HEATMETAL!”

Double landed and delivered a powerful, fire charged blow with the Metal Shaft to the monster's back, finally staggering him with a shower of sparks.

“I actually felt that,” remarked Industry in mild surprise before turning and throwing another punch that was blocked by the Metal Shaft, forcing Double back a few feet. Double retaliated with a blow of his own that was met with a similar result, but much shorter distance.

The two exchanged blows, each strike sending the other staggering back.

“We can match his blows at least,” Shou muttered.

“Yes, but his armor is still superior to ours, we need to be careful,” Philip replied as Double did a leaping trust of the Metal Shaft, driving Industry back at the same time a piston punch struck the Rider in the chest and sent him flying back a good ways further. “We're are also much lighter than he is.”

Industry held up his right leg, the wheel assembly on it activating and building momentum as his steam billowed more and more from his exhausts. Double used the Metal Shaft to block the resulting blow, but the force was too much and overpowered his guard, sending him flying backwards for a heavy landing on the ground.

Shou grunted. “I'm definitely going to feel that tomorrow...” Double looked over, seeing Hardboilder parked where he'd left it. “Philip, I've got an idea, but it's kind of crazy.”

“Aren't all your ideas?”

As Industry began revving up his left arm again, Double galloped to HardBoilder and got on, revving the engine. The two combatants charged one another head on.

Case 6: The Lost H/The Spirit of Youth

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Case 6
The Lost H/The Spirit of Youth

The half-and-half detective revved up the bike, preparing to strike with the Metal Shaft as the hulking Industry Dopant continuing to rev up his arm. Finally, the two charged, throwing their individual attacks at the same time, the bike assisted, flaming swing of the Metal Shaft colliding with Industry's chest as the Dopant's momentum charged punch returned the favor.

Both yelled out in pain as they were launched in opposing directions, sparks flying from impact and HardBoilder coming to a rest a short bit away without its rider.

The Kamen Rider panted, regaining his footing, chest still smoking from the blow, to find Industry had already disappeared.

“Darn it! Big lug got away,” Shou's voice muttered, Double's left leg rubbing his injured chest.

“Shou,” Philip's voice replied, a hint of worry in the bookworm's normally calm voice. “I believe we may be dealing with a far more dangerous situation than we originally believed. This is far too complex to simply be one extremist with a Gaia Memory.”

Double's head nodded. “Yeah...first, Masquerade Dopants and now a Dopant with a non-production run Gaia Memory...the Museum must be involved in this.”

“This is highly unusual behavior for them. Their methods are usually much more inconspicuous. Gina most have done something to attract their attention,” Philip replied.

“Yeah, this complicates things...I'd better go check on them, partner...As much as I hate to ask, have the Schoolyard Filly to go ask Watcherstallion if he's heard anything that might be of use.”

“Trusting Akiko with such a thing? That is unlike you...”

“Yeah, but I need to keep an eye on Gina, Rainbowshine's busy, and well...you're you. Don't have many options. It's just talking to Watcherstallion, she should be able to do that. Give her a spare Stag Phone and tell her she gets to keep it if she does a good job.”

Double closed up his Driver and his armor vanished, reverting him to Shou.

The private detective trotted over his charge, keeping an eye out for another attempt by the assassin. The injured guards were tending to their wounds at the moment, white fur slightly stained with blood in spots.

“It's alright, Hope, we're safe now...” Gina reassured, the council'mare' nuzzling her child. “The monster's gone

The child slowly stopped trembling and looked up to her mother. “O-Okay mama...” she then looked to Shou. Giving that same smile with something missing he'd seen on her face since the start. “...Thank you, Mr. Kamen Rider...”

Shou smiled. “...You're welcome,” he replied, tipping his hat and kneeling down to look the filly-chick in the eyes. “I want to protect this town no matter what. Dealing with those monsters is kind of my job.”

---

“Alright, can you give me the information now?” Akiko asked Watcherstallion, the two sitting at a small cart in Cloudsdale's main street. Akiko couldn't help wondering why a ramen cart was in a pegasi city. But then again Neighponese names names seemed strangely common in Equestria for some reason.

“Ah! This place has the best ramen in town!” Watcherstallion exclaimed, digging in...then blinked. “Wait, you're not going to try to be hardboiled?”

“I'm not Shou...”

“Huh...you know it's just not the same without that,” the Pegasus replied, shrugging...until Akiko hit him with a slipper. “Ow!”

“Last time you complained about it!”

“I'm a little picky I guess...” the informant replied, picking through his ramen. “Oh, no barbecued hay? Oh man...”

“Hey!” Akiko called, trying to put on her best serious face, and brandishing her slipper in her mouth. “You said you'd heard something about Hurricane Tower?”

“Oh! Like I said, I think something's going on in the land around it,” the info dealer replied, looking at the slipper for a moment. “Seems you can hear the low rumblings at night. Plus, you hear it coming from under the ground,” he explained mysteriously, looking under the top layer of the food.

Akiko gave a small shudder, seeming a little freaked out. “Noises from underground, sounds like some Earth Pony urban legends...”

“Well, urban legends are Storyteller's thing, but it definitely sounds fishy to me,” Watcherstallion replied. “Some of my sources say they think the noise is coming from machines.”

“Machines...Thank you for the information,” Akiko said, giving a smile and a bow. “Your lunch is my treat!” she announced, getting a wide smile.

---

“That is the chief's report,” Akiko said through her new Stag Phone.

Philip nodded. “I see...keep me posted should you learn anything more...”

“Okay, chief out!”

Philip put a hoof to his chin as he hang up. “A hidden factory near Hurricane Tower...Gina and her husband's plans would have called for construction in that area...so that's what this is about...”

---

“Success!” Akiko announced happily, looking at her Stag Phone. “Maybe now Shou will start respecting the chief...I still wish he'd give me the Memory though for this thing though...” she muttered, giving a disappointed pout. It then began emitting a busy signal, prompting her to try and hang it up correctly. “Or knew how to actually hang this thing up right!”

“I'll take an eighth helping!”

“Huh?” Akiko asked, turning to see Watcherstallion get yet another bowl, a large stack of empty ones right next to him. He'd now been joined by a reindeer buck wearing a Santa outfit who was starting a helping himself. “Ah! Why?!”

---

Rex stood in an alley way, tapping his paws on a cloud dumpster. the Unicorn-performed cloud walking spell allowing him to interact with them. His tapping began to increase in speed until it sounded like “Stupid half-and-half freak. This was a simple job. Just put one stupid griff on ice. Just like stupid pony husband...But if I don't do it, boss pony right. I'll be in big trouble if this keeps up...”

He shuddered. “I don't want Taboo Pony mad at me...” he looked down at his shoulder, currently covered by his outfit, as if something that frightening him was under it. “I need something to give me an edge on half-and-half freak...Maybe boss pony give me a bigger pay for taking him out...Hail falls on everypony after all...”

The Diamond Dog looked over, seeing the weather factory in the distance. A cruel smirk formed on his face, slowly becoming more unhinged.

---

Shou leaned again the wall of Gina's apartment, Stag Phone to his ear. The apartment was naturally well furnished for the Council'mare's' status. The detective noted several designs that were clearly from Griffin culture rather than Pegasi, or rather a mixture. Sculptures of Griffins and warriors mixed with the typical pony styling.

“So if Watcherstallion's right, Gina and her husband have ticked off...them,” Shou replied.

“Correct. While I have yet to identify the Memory Brand, the second Dopant's is clearly not a production run variant. One far more powerful than Hail's,” Philip's voice answered.

“Yeah...Though he didn't have a Driver like the Commanders...”

“Correct. While Dealers obtaining higher level Memories for personal use is not unheard of, it is far more likely he is trusted enforcer of some sort.”

The private detective sighed. “Yeah...At least now we know why Gina's family are the targets.”

“Yes, so long as she continues her work on her Hurricane Tower project, they will likely continue to come for her...”

Shou gave a sigh. “...Yeah...but there's no way in Tartarus Gina's gonna stop.”

“You sound so certain.”

“Because it isn't just her goal, she's doing it for her husband too...and for Hope,” the detective said, giving a serious look. “To complete the goal of one who's passed way, I believe we both can sympathize with that.”

“...Indeed. In that case, we will require a more permanent solution. Otherwise defeating Hail would solve very little.”

“Yeah...Well then I guess I'll have to go ruin their plans, huh?”

“Normally you would simply report that factory to the guard, why the personal interest?”

Shou looked over to a room nearby. Gina currently reading Hope a bedtime story, the little child seeming a little more upbeat, but not the same cheerfulness one would expect from a small child.

“Because they've stolen a child's smile, and her father...” Shou ran a hoof along the rim of his fedora.
---

Philip blinked, suddenly experiencing a cold sweat. He looked at his hoof, finding it trembling.

'Philip?'

The Unicorn jumped, dropping the phone for a moment before catching it again in his telekinesis. “Oh, sorry, Shoutaro. I was distracted for a moment...”

---

Shou sighed. “Anyway, I'm not taking this laying down...the only thing worse than making the city cry, is making one of its children cry.”

“Melodramatic as always, Shou.”

Shou head fell. “Ugh...why can't I ever just be hardboiled?!”

“Still, if there is a factory near Hurricane Tower, I cannot argue that alerting the guard to its existence is not a valuable course of action. It is a proactive step, and even if the factory can't be captured, it being discovered would likely inconvenience the Museum. Preventing its discovery is one thing, but to continue threatening Gina afterward for revenge would serve no purpose. However, we need concrete evidence.”

“We always do...”

“Those are the limits of the Guard, Shou.”

“Yeah. I'll go check the place out, just keep trying to figure out the brand of the second Dopant's Memory.” Shou looked up to see Gina close the door to Hope's room and finally hung up. “...Haven't read Hope a bedtime story in awhile?”

Gina sighed, leaning against the wall. “...Yeah...being a politician can be a busy job...”

“She looked a lot happier,” the black pegasus replied, giving a small grin. “I think she missed it.”

The Griffin looked at him with a little annoyance. “You know it's rude to make random guesses about beings.”

Shou smoothly tipped his fedora. “Not random, informed observation. Her smile just seems to be missing less when you do that.”

“...You're right...Her father was always there for her when I was too busy...it's not easy...easy suddenly becoming a single parent...”

Shou looked at the Griffin as she gave a sad sigh, looking down. “...Neither is losing one...”

“...Speaking from experience?”

Shou jumped, having to make sure he didn't land wrong on his wings due to how he was laying. “Uh...”

“'Informed observation.'”

The detective gave an annoyed sigh, then looked down. “...Yeah...”

Three gunshots. A stallion bleeding. Putting that hat on his head as his mentor breathed his last.

“...Well, somepony close enough...”

The proud griffin gave a slightly sympathetic look. “...I'm sorry...”

Shou gave a sigh, getting back to his hooves, trying to steady himself from his trembling. “...It's fine...”

Gina gave a bitter scoff. “Yeah right...I always hated it when somepony told me 'it'll be alright'...I felt like they were mocking me...”

The pegasus looked to her in surprise. He then gave a sad sigh. “...Yeah...you're right...it's not alright, it's like having a hole in your heart that never goes away...”

“...One big enough to drive an airship through...”

“...And you can try to fill it with anything in the world...”

Gina looked up, tears welling up in her eyes. “...Yeah...” she looked to a wall in her living room nearby. On the wall was a large board with all of her plans she'd spent all this time working so hard on arranged. “...But none of it works...”

“...It just dulls it...Even once that hole scars up, it still hurts...”

Gina gave a sigh, walking over to a picture of herself with a light blue pegasus, his mane and tail dark blue, the same colors as Hope's equine half and putting a claw on the image. Tears fell to carpet below her claws. “...He never minded it when I ate meat....never minded that I had claws and he didn't...never minded that I had a beak...he didn't see a griffin, he saw me...I could've been a dragon and he'd have loved me...”

“...I'll admit, I don't know much about love,” Shou admitted. “...But somepony who sees the real you? That I can get...” he replied, looking to his naturally weak wings.

“...They attacked my family to make me stop whatever I did to clop them off...he was killed to get to me...I just...”

“...Feel like it's all your fault?” the pegasus asking, his hooves beginning to tremble again. “...Nah...it's not like you made a dumb mistake that got him killed...you were just trying to live your life and these psychos decided to destroy it...you're the last being who should be feeling guilty.”

Gina finally seemed to notice the tears streaming down her face and tried to wipe them away but they wouldn't stop. “...Ugh...I...I can't believe I let somepony see me like this...”

“...You miss him, that's all I need to understand,” Shou answered, still trembling a bit and hiding a few tears of his own. “And I'd be the pot calling the kettle black to fault you for that, Counsel'mare.'”

“...Why do you care anyway?” the Griffin asked, not looking back. “...I just hired you to protect me...”

“...Because, somepony once told me the client always comes first,” the detective admitted, having a distant look. “...Feel any better?”

“...Yeah...a little...Thanks...”

Shou tipped his hat, trying to give an aura of suaveness. “It's what I do...speaking of which.”

“SPIDER!”

“STAG!”

“Patrol the area; give the Council'mare' a warning if Hail shows up. Remember, keep an eye out for the storm clouds.”

The little machines gave several mechanical clicks and moved out to follow his orders.

Shou looked to Gina. “Please get two more guards to protect Hope's room and stay there until I get back.”

The Griffin glared. “Wait a second, where the Tartarus are you going?!”

Shou gave a smirk. “Well I was thinking I can either take down Hail and they send another assassin after you...or I can go ruin the plan they're trying to keep you from messing with and get rid of their reason to. And just got a very good hint on how I can do it. ”

The griffin blinked. “I...didn't pay you to-”

“Yeah, you didn't,” the black pegasus looked over to the door to Hope's room. The front now had a little crayon drawing of Double pinned to it. “Besides, they made somebody in this town cry, and a filly...chick...filly-chick no less. And that's got me clopped off.”

“...Really think you can?”

“Yeah. After all, nothing wrecks somepony's plans like a wild card,” Shou said, showing the stylized J on his flank. “Being a wild card is my Special Talent.”
---
A mysterious assassin stalks an innocent family, all for stepping on the wrong toes. In doing so, he has made one of this city's children cry. And there will be justice upon all those that do such things...

Shou looked up at Hurricane Tower from a distance. The ancient structure was built in classic Pegasi style and composed from a dark gray stone, towering high above the earth. The stand out feature of the structure, however, was a massive old style windmill blade on it's top floor. The stone encompassing the structure was cracking and crumbling, the blade fabric torn and tattered. The sight of it filled Shou with a mixture of pride...and pity.

Their dark mechanizations hidden beneath an Equestrian landmark in need of restoration.

The pegasus detective looked around carefully for any watching eyes. “Perfect place to hide something...I wonder if they're the reason this place hasn't gotten repairs in ages...Best go for undercover mode...”

The Pegasus put on the Double Driver and produced the Trigger Memory.

“TRIGGER!”

“...I'm going to have such a headache when this is over...”

Inserting the Gaia Memory, Shou opened it without waiting for a second Memory.

“TRIGGER!”

Shou's body tensed up and his eyes flashed blue, his Cutie Mark changing from the Joker J to the Trigger T. He took a few moments to steady himself before looking over the area, eyes now focused in calm analysis.

The detective lowered an ear to the ground and listened patiently. Gradually, his mind narrowed in on a deep, mechanical echo from below the earth. He moved slightly and listened to the sound grow slightly duller. Moving in the opposite direction, he heard it grow slightly louder. After several more checks, he stood up and calmly walked towards the source of the noise.

---

Shou continued to sneak around the rocky landscape closer to Hurricane Tower, keeping a calm, calculating eye on his surroundings. Moving with a clear purpose. His eyes fell on a small cave in the rock surface. Not a gigantic crevice large enough to be obvious, simply a small cut into the rock. He carefully approached, keeping an eye out for anything that would trigger a trap or alarm. Upon arriving at the crevice, he ran his hoof along the side of it, finding that, while still rocky, it was unusually smooth with no excessive points jutting out. He remained to the side, making sure that if anypony was watching out of a door or such, he wouldn't be seen.

“BAT!”

Releasing the Bat Shot to do a little recon into the cave and at the entrance, Shou waited patiently at the entrance...then rubbed a hoof into his forehead and rubbed his eyes.

The stallion's ears twitched, hearing hoofsteps. Ducking behind a large bolder and sticking tight to it, he peaked out slowly.

A stallion in the familiar black suit and carrying a black suitcase came trotting along a subtle path in the rock, one so barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it, you might not even notice it. The stallion continued into the cave, not noticing the pegasus detective watching from hiding.

Shou slowly crept out of hiding, moving quietly and methodically. Making sure to fall into hiding when his prey was tipped off. Following deeper into the cave, Shou finally noticed the stallion enter a hidden door using a simple key. The door was nestled between rock faces, as with the path before seemingly designed to only be very noticeable if you were looking for it.

As the stallion entered the door and let it close, Shou used a flap of his wings to land quietly in front of it, stopping it from closing and latching by a few centimeters. He held his breath, waiting to see if the pony would notice it or not. When he didn't, the pegasus detective peaked through the crack in the door and into the hallway behind it. It was a dark, cement hallway, pipes lining the ceiling. Listening closely, the sound of machinery echoed through the structure like a heartbeat.

The black pegasus suddenly cringed, holding his head with his free hoof. “Darn it...” he whispered. He motioned with his hoof and the Bat Shot flew to him. He pointed through the crack in the door, sending the small mechanical bat into the structure.

---

The next morning, Rainbowshine looked over pictures on a desk. Many of them were of the same dank, dark cave, but she then came to several of the cement hallway, a symbol of a globe surrounded by the alphabet and adorned with wings on several walls. The next picture was of several ponies in white suits dealing with Gaia Memories.

“Definitely a Gaia Memory factory...” the mare replied with an annoyed sigh. “And Shou decided to just rush in and get the evidence alone...”

The Pegasus detective was currently laying asleep on a couch, his fedora over his eyes. A pot of gingerroot tea was currently being made nearby.

“And he didn't tell the chief!” Akiko replied dramatically, producing a slipper and going to hit a sleeping Shou with it...until Rainbowshine pulled her back by her tail.

“Blech! Seriously, change your shampoo!” Rainbowshine gagged. “He told me he used Trigger to change his Cutie Mark; let him sleep.”

The younger mare blinked, cocking her head. “Why?”

“For the same reason using Metal to swap out his Cutie Mark typically leaves him physically drained,” Philip started, standing nearby with his book floating in front of his muzzle. “When using Trigger, his natural ability to analyze his surroundings for clues is increased, as is his focus and mental clarity. However, the cost of this is that it puts his body under a large amount of mental strain trying to keep up. As such, he normally is left mentally fatigued after changing back.”

“And he has a headache like a salt hangover,” Rainbowshine remarked with a bit of pity.

Akiko blinked in confusion. “A what?”

“Uh...basically, he has a nasty headache for a few hours,” Rainbowshine replied. 'You really are a schoolyard filly, aren't you?' she thought with a sigh. “Anyway, yeah, with this evidence I can bust that factory...but there's another problem.”

Akiko blinked. “What?”

“I've got to call my boss and get the Guard sent in,” the mare explained in annoyance. “I've got a lot of pull, but I'll need reinforcements to bust a factory, and we can't afford to lose our chance.”

“Why?”

The wisteria mare gave an annoyed sigh. “Because if Memory Factories were easy to find, we'd have wrecked them all by now. We're lucky to find one period. The only one that was destroyed before now was...a year ago.”

Philip nodded, tapping a hoof to his chin. “While destroying one factory will not disable their ability to manufacture Gaia Memories tremendously, many factories are tasked with developing individual Gaia Memories for mass production. Destroying one might delay production on the ones in development at this particular one.”

“Not to mention that if we capture anything of value we might get some intel,” Rainbowshine replied. “But the problem? Until we take out this factory, Gina's still going to be in harms way. So Shou will still need to play guard duty...and I'm going to have to fill out so much paper work...” the mare gave an annoyed sigh. “So yeah, in the long run this is great, but short term? It still a headache...”

Akiko sighed. “Oh...That's sad.”

“What's sad?”

Akiko gave a frightened eep and jumped up to the ceiling in surprise as Sprinkle Medley was now standing directly behind where she'd been standing. “Medley?!”

“Huh?! What?!” asked Shou, the pegasus stallion jumping up in surprise and looking around, fedora being launched up and somehow landing perfectly back on his head.

“Hey Akiko! Long time no see! Sorry, been working really hard at the weather factory!” the mare exclaimed with her typical energy. She then looked to Rainbowshine. “Oh! Hi Rainbowshine! Hi Shou! Hi Philip!”

Rainbowshine didn't seem phased, just giving a small grin. “Hey Medley,” she said, giving a small wave.

Akiko flapped her wings, lightly landing back on the cloud floor, looking at the still closed door. “How...the door...what...how did you...”

“I have a key!” Medley said happily.

“You startled me!” Akiko protested.

“I know it's fun!” the hyper pegasus replied with a smile.

Shou rubbed a hoof into his forehead. “Medley is useful in cases involve weather.”

The cheerful pony gave a nod. “Yep! It's my thing!”

The pegasus detective trotted over and got a cup of gingerroot tea, rubbing his head. “Ugh...So Medley, what do you need?” he asked, taking a sip.

“Oh! Well my boss at the weather factory sent me to ask if you can investigate a robbery! He thinks a Dopant was involved!”

The Pegasus detective promptly spat his tea out. “WHAT?!” Medley had only lost a little of her cheerful tone, though that was enough to tell Shou she was serious.

And the sound of somepony clearing his throat was enough to tell him his tea hadn't just landed in some random direction. “Sorry, Rainbowshine...” he said, turning to look at the now surprisingly wet wisteria pegasus.

Rainbowshine gave a glare then promptly shook her wet fur off, getting the detective wet in return. “It's fine.”

“Ugh...” muttered Shou, brushing himself off. 'Why is it when you spit something out in surprise there's always at least twice as much in your mouth as you remember swallowing?' he questioned mentally. “...You were saying Medley?”

“Well something stole a LOT and I mean a LOT of storm clouds from the factory!”

Shou took another drink, this time making sure he actually swallowed before continuing. “I see...” he said, trying to retain his composure. “So, what makes your boss think a Dopant is involved in this crime?”

“Oh, because something punched a hole straight through the door...or something...” said Medley, scratching her head. “I wasn't there. Anyway, all I know is ponies can't do that!”

Shou rubbed his chin. “Anything else?”

“Well there was ice on the floor!”

“Ice...” the detective replied, rubbing his chin. “...Hail is an Ice based Dopant...but why would he...”

Suddenly, an alarm went off, Philip producing his Stag Phone. “It's almost time for Councilmare Gina's appearance at an upperclass party, Shou.”

Shou jumped a bit. “Oh! Right...darn it...” he quickly swallowed his tea and headed for the Hardboilder.

“I'm coming!” Akiko yelled, chasing after.

Rainbowshine facehoofed. “I'll come along this time...having a little back up never hurt. And somepony has to keep the schoolyard filly from getting hur-ow!”

Akiko glared at her, slipper in her mouth. “I'm not a schoolyard filly!”

“And yet you stopped chasing Shou to hit me on the head with your slipper,” the wisteria mare pointed out flatly.

The young pegasus stared for a few moments. “Ah! Shou come back here! I'm the chief!”

Rainbowshine slammed her hoof into her forehead once again. “...I wonder if facehoofing this much will make my forehead hard enough to count as body armor...”

---

Chain Link looked at several Gaia Memories held in a tray by scientist's telekinesis. Next to him stood a white unicorn stallion with a long blond mane and tail, two bangs of which hanged down the sides of his face. While he was presently wearing a white lab coat, his Cutie Mark (a plus, minus, and equals symbol, all composed of ice) was plainly visible. “Looks like research is going smoothly...” the pegasus remarked.

“Hmm, yes,” the unicorn replied, icy blue telekinesis levitating the Memories for a closer look. “Still, as far as Gaia Memory factories go, this one's production is sorely lacking.”

Chain Link grumbled. “Yeah, Cold Facts.”

The unicorn tapped his chin with a hoof, bright green eyes looking the factory over. The room they were presently in was a dimly lit chamber, the sound of machinery echoing through the area. The staff seemed rather tense, catching quick glances at their superiors nearby. “I would wager it is the shadow of discovery hanging over this place, yes? The risk of impending shutdown?”

The scientist holding the memories for examination jumped slightly. “Y-Yes sir...”

“Thought so. Well in that case, I think I am going to go investigate another factory worth my time,” Cold Facts replied, looking more bored than serious as he started to trot off. “A lack of progress bores me. Nothing new to really experiment with.”

Chain Link rolled his eyes. “It's always with the experiments with you...” he said, turning and heading after him, their hooves clopping against the hard concrete echoing through the hallways.

“I am a scientist. Experiments are what I do, yes,” the unicorn replied with a rather proud grin. “Though I do admit, my superior enjoys his far more than I do mine.”

“Ugh, don't remind me of that freak,” Chain Link replied, looking unnerved. “Even by this business' standards that guy's a psycho.”

“Oh come now, afraid of somepony who takes his Gaia Memory research that seriously?” asked Cold Facts, giving a chuckle. “Then again, I will admit, he crosses lines I will not. But the data he's gathered on Dopant physiology alone is invaluable to production over all. I believe it is worth putting up with his eccentricities, yes?”

“Doesn't change the fact the guy is a wackjob...” the pegasus replied, giving a disturbed look. He then checked a clock on a wall as they passed. “I'd best get going. Rex needs a babysitter.”

“Oh yes, I seem to recall he is not the brightest tool in the shed. He's a competent assassin, but his combat skills are lacking. And given how long he's had that Memory, I'm curious how his sanity has been effected, a bit unsafe for one so...weak of mind...though I wonder, is he truly the one in need of an overseer...”

Chain Link narrowed his eyes. “And what do you mean by that?”

“Simple. While the boss obviously believes you have much potential, I remain unconvinced you are truly worthy of that valuable Gaia Memory,” Cold Facts replied, trotting off towards a research area.

The stallion growled. “I'm your superior, scientist, you'd best show me respect.”

“Superior in rank, not in seniority. And certainly not in usefulness,” was the simple reply. “Kirihiko Sudo has more of my respect than you because he survived Mrs. Saeko. I recommend you remember this organization is founded on 'survival of the fittest.' If you desire respect, prove yourself worthy of it before demanding it. Now I have important research to return to. Good day.”

Chain Link slammed a hoof into the wall in rage...then his hoof began to tremble slightly. “...Survival of the fittest...he's right, I'm not going to last five seconds if I don't make myself useful. And stay useful.”

---

“Wow...” Akiko muttered, looking over the airship ballroom they were presently in. Upper class ponies trotting around it. A massive dinner set out nearby with foods she'd never heard of before, and the smell was making her mouth water. A huge, golden chandelier hung from a metal chain high above. “I've never seen so many fancy ponies before...”

Shou gave a chuckle. “Thus are the perks of being a detective. Just remember, we're here on guard duty, schoolyard filly-ow!”

“Stop calling me that!”

“I've still got a headache you know...” Shou muttered, rubbing his head. He then turned back to his charge and her daughter currently standing in front of a large, reinforced glass pane set in the floor, allowing them to see the land far below in a manner quite similar to a glass bottom boat.

“That's Hurricane Tower down there, Hope,” Gina explained, pointing to the child next to her that seemed to have her full attention. Shou trotted closer so he could actually see through the pane. From here what appeared to be the ruins of the observatory atop the tower were visible, what was left of them anyway.

'Her eyes aren't on the ponies in the room, just no her daughter...good,' Shou thought with a smile.

Hope looked closely. “...And that's what we want to fix up, right mama?” she asked, pointing a talon at the Tower.

“Yes, Hope...it is...”

“...Think we can do it?” the child asked, seeming for a moment to be nervous, or sad. Shou couldn't really tell which.

“I know we can...that's what you want to do right?”

The child nodded. “...Daddy wanted it...”

“Hey...” Shou said, kneeling down to get on eye level with the little child and giving a wave of his hoof.

“Hi, Mr. Ka-”

Shou put a hoof to his lips and shushed gently. “Ah! Careful. This is my secret identity, I can trust a good girl like you to keep that, right?” he whispered.

Hope nodded, doing a little beak zipping motion. “Okay, Mr. Shou...Thank you for saving mama from that mean monster.”

The detective gave a smooth smile and tipped his hat. “You're welcome...” he then looked down to Hurricane Tower. “So...your daddy wanted to fix that place up, huh?”

Gina's eyes widened. “Shou...” she said somewhat warily, eying the detective like any protective mother worth her salt.

Hope's smile disappeared and she looked down sadly. “Y-Yeah...D-Daddy said it was really important...that it was like me...”

Shou raised an eyebrow. “Like you?”

Hope nodded. “He said it was a repra-reprasan...”

“Representation?”

“Yeah! A rep-prestation of all three pony tribes being friends. He said the pegasi made it, but the unicorns liked to watch the stars from the top and the Earth Ponies made bread there.”

Shou looked back to the observatory at the top of Hurricane Tower. “Yeah, I think I heard something about that...The blades turning ground up the grain...”

The tiny hippogriff nodded. “Yeah! And daddy said I was like it because... because I was a rep-presenation of ponies and griffins getting along...” the little filly-chick looked back at her pony hindquarters. “Cause I'm half-and-half...”

“Kinda like me when I'm...” Shou looked around for dramatic effect. “Well, you know.”

The child nodded, getting a little more cheerful. “Yeah! Except you get to split down the middle, I just have a pony's butt...” she said in that cute, but blunt fashion only a child would say that sentence in.

Shou gave a chuckle. “Would you rather the two of us flipped which way we're divided up?”

Hope gave some thought then made a 'yuck' face. “No!” she exclaimed, sticking her tongue out at whatever mental imagine a small filly-chick's mind could cook up for that idea. Her energy then faded, looking down at Hurricane Tower with sorrow in those little eyes.

The left half of Double frowned. “You miss him, don't you?”

Gina put a wing on her daughter's back as the child nodded. “Y-Yeah...” Tears started in her eyes. Gina gave a harsher glare to the detective.

“...I'm not going to say you shouldn't miss him, you should...” Shou explained with a sad sigh.

“B-But it's okay, right? He's...he's in a good place...” Hope tried to reply, but that did little to stop her tears.

“...Yeah...but that doesn't mean you shouldn't miss him...” the black pegasus replied. “But I know one other thing, Hope.”

The little hybrid sniffled, looking up with hurt eyes. “What?”

“...I know he's proud of you for wanting his dream to get done,” Shou explained carefully, making a mental note not to tick Gina off much further, considering the intense glare the pegasi was receiving. “And wanting to help your mama. You're a very brave girl.”

Hope blushed a little. “T-Thank you...you're a superhero though, you're a lot braver than me...”

“...You're afraid of that mean monster's shots, aren't you? Is that why you think that?”

The hippogriff chick nodded, giving a gulp. “Y-Yeah...I...when daddy...when he...”

“...But you still go with your mama despite that,” Shou pointed out, raising one hoof and giving a smirk. “And that's brave.”

Gina gave a smile, lowering her head to be on eye level with her child and lightly wiping away her child's tears with a handkerchief. “He's right, Hope...you're very brave...Thank you...”

“Uh...t-thanks...” the tiny hippogriff replied, finally giving a sincere smile. “And I just want to help you, mama...”

“Now there's the smile I've wanted to see,” the left half of Double said, patting the girl lightly on the head. “And you want to know another thing?”

“What is it Mr. Shou?”

“I'm gonna kick that nasty monster's flank if he tries to hurt either of you again, count on that,” Shou explained, giving a confident look.

“Really?” Hope asked, finally giving genuine excitement, mixed with a reasonable amount of fear.

“Yeah. He made you and your mother cry,” the detective said, giving a serious look. “And no one gets away with making this city or anypony, griffin, or hippogriff in it cry on my watch.”

“...Thank you...” the foal said, giving a smile.

Shou tipped his hat. “Glad to be of service...”

Akiko watched this with Rainbowshine. “Shou is good at talking to ponies, isn't he?”

Rainbowshine gave a small chuckle. “Shou might be halfboiled, but when he says he doesn't want to see the city cry, he means it...He really does try to help everypony he can.”

The young mare nodded, though then got bumped into by one of the nobles passing by. “Hey! Watch where you're going!” she grumbled and got herself to her hooves...and noticed something through the window. Getting up, she trotted over to it, seeing a large number of black clouds beginning to roll in. “That is odd...I don't think there is supposed to be a storm today...”

Rainbowshine's eyes widened. “...That's because there's not! Shou!”

Shou jumped up, looking in the direction Rainbowshine was pointing. “Storm clouds?” he trotted over and looked through the windows. He noticed the clouds weren't moving like the wind was blowing them. “They're moving kind of odd...but no pegasi or griffons moving them...” the pegasus eyes went wide. “Get down!”

He turned and tackled Gina to the ground, Rainbowshine doing the same to Akiko, several shots of ice firing out of the clouds and piercing the window, throwing the room into panicked screams.

Watching from the crowd, Chain Link smirked. “Credit where it's due, not a bad plan, Rex...” he whispered and slipped away. “Let's hope it works, for both our sakes.”

“Everypony! Get below deck!” screamed Rainbowshine. The nobles didn't need told twice.

“Well now we know what he stole all those clouds for...” Shou muttered. “Come on, Gina! Let's get you and Hope to safety,” he stated, then smiled to the child. The poor thing was trembling from the sound of the shots. “Then I'll go give this guy a tailkicking! That sound good?”

The small hybrid looked up at the left half of Double...and slowly nodded, returning the smile.

Grabbing Gina, who grabbed her child, Shou prepared to pull both into cover...when glass shattered behind him.

Instinctively covering Gina, he heard Hope scream.

“HOPE!” Gina yelled, the two turning to see the Hail Dopant snatching the child by the hind leg, the Dopant quickly retreating back on a long path of ice back to the now dangerously close storm clouds.

“Meet me on the roof griffon lady if you want little pony back!” called the Dopant with a now somewhat unhinged laugh, disappearing into the storm holding the child captive.

The Council'mare' snarled in fury and attempted to fly straight after, only to be held back by Shou. “LET ME GO! I'VE GOT TO GET HOPE!”

“Hang on a minute! It's a trap you know!” Shou replied.

Gina slammed the back of her head into Shou's face, knocking him down. “I ALREADY LOST SKYQUAKE! I'M NOT LOSING HER TOO!” she roared and flew after the Dopant.

Rainbowshine growled. “What's that griffon thinking?!”

Shou got back to his hooves, touching one to his face where he'd got hit. “She's a grieving widow, she doesn't want to lose what she's got left...”

He quickly ran after her and leapt out the window, flying up and putting on the Double Driver mid jump.

“Come on!” Rainbowshine called to the Guards in the room, charging afterward and taking off with them in toe.

“Hey! Wait for the chief!” called Akiko, joining in.

---

Philip set looking through his book. “Why is it Hope's situation makes me feel strange?” he asked, looking at his slightly trembling hoof. “This is most unusual...” he said, shuddering again and the trembling becoming worse. “Could it be...my-”

He looked down the Double Driver forming around the unicorn's waist.

'Philip! Let's go! Hail's got Hope and Gina's shot off after him!'

“A-Alright...” the unicorn muttered, shaking.

'Something wrong, partner?'

“N-No...was just thinking...Let's go...”

He produced the Cyclone Memory.

“CYCLONE!”

---

“TRIGGER!”

Shou pushed the Cyclone Memory in and inserted the Trigger Memory himself.

---

“Henshin!”

---

“CYCLONETRIGGER!”

Double's armor formed in a swirl of wind around him. He seemed to gain much more speed and agility in the air than he previously had, wings having a lot more ease keeping him in the air..

“These are storm clouds,” Philip's voice stated.

“Yeah, the same ones that were stolen from the Weather Factory!” Shou's voice replied. “Hail was planning this...be on guard! No telling what's coming!”

---

Hail stood on the deck of the airship, Hope struggling to escape his claws as any frightened child would do.

“Hehe, struggle all you like, little freak,” Hail stated, voice unhinged. “Won't change a thing.”

“Let me go!” the child screamed, trying to kick him as best she could.

“When mama griffon come for you,” he muttered. “Then again, hail falls on everyone. Might include you too. Just like when I killed daddy pegasus.”

The child's eyes went wide. “You...you took daddy...” Tears welled up in the child's eyes.

“That was me,” the assassin chuckled, his insane laugh seeming to be to the beat of hail hitting a roof. He then fired hail into the nearby roof, causing her to jump in fear. “Remember the sound?”

“...So it really was you...”

“Mama!” called Hope, whimpering, tears of fear streaming down her face.

Gina was glaring daggers at the Dopant. “You...you killed Skyquake...you took my husband from me!”

The Dopant gave a deranged laugh. “At the time, killing pony was just business...but now...” He fired a hail shot into the deck between Gina's front legs, causing Hope to scream in horror and began to cry harder. “I'm kind of enjoying myself!”

Gina snarled in fury, claws digging into the haul. “Skyquake...” she growled, glaring daggers. “...How could you?!”

“Why does anybody do anything?” the canine Dopant questioned with a chuckle. “Gems and bits! Now hold still, stupid griffon!” he said, holding his hand forwards in preparation to fire, keeping the other holding Hope in place...only for a high pressure air shot to slam into his hand and throw his aim off.

“Ah ah, don't you know better than to talk like that to a lady?”

“What?!” the Dopant asked, turning to see Double standing on the roof of the airship, Trigger Magnum in hoof and aimed right at him.

“Kamen Rider!” called Hope, managing a smile despite the terror she was clearly in.

Double slowly approached, keeping his weapon aimed right on him. “Especially a lady you hurt.”

“Careful, Shou. It appears Hail's Memory corruption has reached an advanced stage,” Philip's voice warned.

“Yeah, I noticed. And this guy was already dangerous,” was Shou's response.

The icy Dopant laughed, holding Hope right in front of himself. “What half-and-half freak going to do? Shoot me through little girl?”

The two-in-one detective didn't say a world, merely removing the Cyclone Memory and producing the Luna Memory.

“LUNA!”

Double opened his driver without letting Hail out of his sight.

“LUNATRIGGER!”

As the green Cyclone half was replaced by the yellow Luna half, Double straightened his aim.

Gina gasped. “Shou!”

Hail took a step back, putting his hand to Hope's head. “You wouldn't! Half-and-half freak good guy!”

“Trust me...both of you...” Double said in a hushed tone. “You believe in me, don't you?”

Hope watched, tears and fear still in her eyes as Double held a gun in her direction.

“I'm gonna kick that nasty monster's flank if he tries to hurt either of you again, count on that.”

The little filly-chick nodded.

Gina saw her daughter's nod...and hesitantly gave one of her own.

With that, a blast of yellow energy with a small trail behind it erupted from the gun, flying straight at the Dopant, and the hostage in his grasp.

“What?! He actually fired?!” asked Hail in disbelief...right before giving a surprised yelp when the shot curved sideways before it could hit the small child, slamming into the side of his head in a shower of sparks.

The monster fell to the roof, giving a canine whimper and holding his smoking head. “How?!”

Hope gave a scream as she was thrown from the monster's grip and into the air, only for Gina to do a wing assisted dive and catch her daughter.

“Are you okay, Hope?” the Griffon asked, hugging the child close.

“...I'm fine mama...are you?”

Gina smiled, giving child a nuzzle. “Yes...thanks to the Kamen Rider...”

Double gave a small chuckle in Shou's voice. “And that's what the job is about, right partner?”

No response came.

“Philip?”

“Huh?” Double's right half jolted, nearly knocking him down. “Oh...sorry, I was distracted for a moment.”

“Ah...”

The armored warrior noticed Hail getting back to his feet as Gina and Hope got to cover beneath the ship's bridge. “Hey! You!”

The Dopant snarled in fury. “What?! Half-and-half freak?!” The next moment, Hail suddenly felt like he was being glared at, even though his enemy's face was presently a visor.

“Now, count up your sins!” called both voices, the rider pointing a hoof at the monster with a flourish.

Hail roared in fury, opening fire with an onslaught of icy bullets. Double retaliated with an onslaught of yellow energy shots, countering his, then firing several shots in different directions, all of which curved to hit home on the Dopant at once, knocking him backwards across the airship deck in a shower of sparks.

“You know, I'm a forgiving pony,” said Shou's voice, a dead seriousness about it. “But excuse me if it takes me awhile to forgive you for the horseapples you've pulled.”

The monster gave a furious snarl, firing several more times, only for Double to do a wing assisted spin jump to dodge, firing when he came back around, the curving shots slamming into Hail's chest and staggering him.

The Kamen Rider then did several more curving shots, doing a roll to dodge still more in retaliation as his own hit home. Double spun around, doing a spread shot with all the blasts converging on the Dopant and sending him crashing to the wood.

“Stupid half-and-half freak!” screamed the Dopant, sending a freezing blast of cold air at the Rider to force him to dodge, then leaping back into the clouds.

The two-in-one detective noticed the storm clouds lowering themselves down to below the balloon supporting the airship. “Uh oh...”

“Oh boy...” muttered Rainbowshine as she and Akiko landed on the roof with the Guards, looking up at the low hanging storm clouds.

Suddenly, hail bullets slammed into the armored warrior from behind, knocking him to the roof. He turned and aimed, only for the ice shots to come from another direction, forcing him to roll out of the way. “So that's why he stole these clouds!” Shou's voice exclaimed, the Double Rider having to dodge more icy projectiles but taking a few more to the chest, knocking him to the ground in a shower of sparks.

“It appears in a storm cloud such as this his movement speed increases, we are at a disadvantage,” Philip pointed out.

As ice bullets continued to rain down, Akiko and the guards took cover, the Guards using their armor to keep Gina and Hope protected.

“Do we always get shot at this often?!” asked Akiko in annoyance.

“Tell me about it!” exclaimed Shou, doing a roll to evade still more shots. “We need HardTurbuler!”

“I agree...Where's the Stag Phone?” Philip's voice asked.

Double's left hoof raised. “Uh...” he then had to duck another bullet. “...Still patrolling Gina's house...”

Rainbowshine slammed a hoof into her forehead. “Shou, you can be such an idiot sometimes!”

“Hey! Cut me some slack, I had to rest from using Trigger!” yelled Shou's voice, right as several shots from Hail floored him again. “Dang it!”

“Wait...” Akiko asked, cocking her head. “He needs the phone to call his bike?!”

“Yeah, it's not like he has a transmitter embedded in his brain or something,” Rainbowshine muttered in annoyance.

“Ah!” the young mare exclaimed, going into her saddlebags and presenting her Stag Phone in her mouth triumphantly. “I've got mine!...How do I call it?”

Rainbowshine stared for a few moments in shock. “...Credit where it's due, that was smart, type in this code...”

“What?” Double asked, looking over...and getting himself shot a few times with hail. “Stop shooting me while I'm thinking!” he yelled, holding a hoof to his smoking chest in pain.

Suddenly, the black and red HardTurbuler rose out of the clouds nearby.

“Yes! I did it!” exclaimed Akiko proudly, fluttering a few feet into the air in excitement. It then began emitting a busy signal. “Ah! I still don't know how to hang it up!”

“Good work, Schoolyard Fi-OW!” yelled the two-in-one rider as a slipper was thrown with pinpoint accuracy and hit him square in the face, followed by a barrage of ice bullets slamming into his back.

“I'm not a schoolyard filly!”

“Ugh...let's just finish this guy!” Shou's voice muttered, the Rider dodging another barrage of shots and leaping onto the HardTurbuler. The craft took off into the air, heading above the clouds. “You know, I hope one day we get to use HardSplasher, but not many situations were it'd come in handy come up in Cloudsdale...”

Hail emerged from the clouds, opening fire on the Rider. Double turned sharply to the right, dodging the bullets and opening fire with the built in guns of the Ride Machine, but Hail dove back into the clouds and reappeared quickly in another spot, sending more shots. The two then swung around each other, Hail through the clouds and Double on the HardTurbuler, dodging the others' shots and returning their own. However, the moment Double tried to raise the Trigger Magnum to fire a tracking shot, Hail dove back into the clouds.

“Darn it!” yelled Shou's voice, swerving hard to the right to evade more shots, this time behind him. “We still need to get a bead on him when we're actually firing. We can't get a target!”

“We need to catch him off guard...” Philip's voice replied. “Or anticipate where he's going to show up next.”

“Until then we're a boat with a shark circling us....Wait! That's it! Time to switch up who's the shark!”

A few moments later, Hail burst out of the clouds, ready to fire...then stopped when he noticed the two-in-one Kamen Rider was nowhere to be seen. “Huh? Where did the half-and-half freak go?!”

“Right here!”

The monster spun around just in time for the HardTurbuler to burst out of the clouds behind him, Double with the Trigger Magnum in hoof atop it. An onslaught of yellow energy bullets erupted from the weapon, arching through the air and slamming into Dopant, getting a series of sharp yelps.

Before the Dopant could recover, Double's right hoof fired off the HardTurbuler's guns, blasting the monster repeatedly and driving him back through the clouds.

Zipping down under the clouds, Double and the HardTurbuler slammed into the kaijin from below, carrying him up into the air and causing him to fall off of the front of the Ride Machine.

“Consider this your payment for killing Skyquake,” Shou's voice said with venom in his tone. The Rider jumped off of the Turbuler and did a dive at the monster, firing a barrage of tracking shots that all hit home on the creature at once. As the smoke and sparks cleared, Double flipped forwards and drove a powerful buck straight into Hail's chest. The Rider's momentum drove both straight through the clouds and slammed Hail hard into the deck of the airship, breaking some boards.

“We missed everything...” Akiko muttered with a pout.

Rainbowshine gave a sigh and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Nice job with the Stag Phone, rookie.”

“Thanks!” the young mare replied with a wide smile. “Now if only I knew how to hang this up right...” she admitted, the Stag Phone still making a busy signal.

“Let's wrap this up,” Shou's voice said as the Dopant began to get back to it's feet, grabbing the Trigger Memory.

As he prepared to insert it, the deck suddenly quaked and splintered up. “What?!”

A piston fist erupted through the deck, slamming into Double and sending him flying back. The Industry Dopant soon followed in an explosion of splinters and saw dust.

“That thing again?!” Shou's voice asked as the Kamen Rider landed back on the deck.

“Boss?!” asked the Hail Dopant, taking a step back as a small group of Masquerade Dopants rushing out of the doors and the hole the hulking Dopant had created by emerging.

“It appears our suspicions of him being an enforcer of some sort are confirmed,” was Philip's reply.

“Kill her, you moron! Leave this freak to me,” ordered the massive Dopant, giving a surge of steam from his exhaust for emphasis, causing Hail to give a whimper and back up.

The Guards that had been shielding Gina and Hope quickly jumped forwards while Rainbowshine moved Akiko behind her as the Masquerade Dopants closed in on her.

“Dang it...” muttered Rainbowshine, taking a fighting stance.

“Ah! There is another Dopant?! Nopony told me about this!” Akiko exclaimed, producing her slipper.

The wisteria pegasus gave a sigh. “Just stay behind me...”

Double watched as Hail attempted to get an easy shot on his target, and fired a tracking shot, striking and knocking the Dopant to the ground...only to leave himself open to a piston punch from the monster, sending him flying back.

“Your fight's with me,” stated Industry, marching towards him, footsteps sounding like a factory.

“Ugh...he still hits like a train...” Shou voice muttered, Double's left hoof rubbing his chest.

Industry's exhausts began pumping out smoke, the gears in his chest revving up faster.

Double gave a cry of surprise, then used a wing assisted jump, leaping over Industry's out of rhino-like charge, managing to keep Hail on the ground with another onslaught of tracking shots while in the air.

Coming back down, the Rider bucked back with both hind legs, managing to launch himself off of Industry's back, but not doing any damage to the brute.

“Shou, Luna Trigger is incapable of harming the larger Dopant,” Philip's voice explained.

“Yeah, I know, but if I switch to Heat Metal, Hail's gonna kill Gina!” Shou's replied, the Rider doing a jumping spin to evade Industry's blows while firing another salvo of tracking shots at Hail, forcing the Dopant back down as it kept trying to line up its shot.

The Guards present did their duty and began holding off the Masquerade Dopants to the best of their abilities, trying to keep them as far away from the Griffin and the little hybrid.

Rainbowshine intercepted a swing directed at Akiko, using one hoof to throw the blow off track, then swung forwards with her other, slamming her hard hoof into the back of it's neck, knocking to the ground. When another attempted to strike, she ducked under the blows, driving a hoof straight into the monster's throat, sending it staggering back, choking, allowing her to fly up and kick out with both hind legs directly to the head, sending it to the deck.

Akiko's jaw dropped. “Y-You can fight?!”

“At what point did I imply otherwise?” the mare asked, ducking under a blow and using her wings to do a backflip and toss the Masquerade Dopant into another that was fighting the guard. “I'm just not strong enough to fight the bigger Dopants.

“Why aren't you the Kamen Rider?!” Akiko asked in disbelief.

“The Double Driver's bonded to Shou and Philip, can't answer why. And they're more in sync than I could ever hope to be with either of them, swapping one of them out would be weakening Double.”

“Oh...”

Akiko then screamed, having to fly back from a Masquerade Dopant lunging at her.

“Akiko!” yelled Rainbowshine, the mare having to do a buck to a Masquerade's leg, then a quick punch to it's head to take it down, but several others made the jump at her.

The young mare screamed and started throwing slippers at it. “Get away!”

While distracted, and very very confused, the monster still kept rushing after her...until a set of talons latched onto it's shoulders and hoisted it into the air, using it's own momentum to send it crashing through one of the windows of the bridge.

“Gina?” Akiko asked, watching the griffon land and quickly roared to throw another Masquerade Dopant off guard enough for one of the Guards to give it a shoulder toss. “You...”

“Shou has helped me...a lot...” was the Griffin's reply. “And these things are trying to hurt my baby,” she explained, keeping herself between the monsters and her daughter. “I'm not as good of a fighter as I wish I was, but I'm an official of this city...after all your friend's done for it and me, I thought saving your flank was a decent way to pay him back.”

Akiko slowly nodded, then gave a scream, flying up and dodging a swipe from a Masquerade Dopant, landing on it's shoulders and pounding it with the slipper in her mouth. While more of a nuisance than anything else, it distracted it long enough for Gina to tackle it with a flying charge, staggering it back and finally giving Rainbowshine the opening needed to knock it to the deck with a well placed buck to the back of the head.

Double gave a cry of pain as Industry revved up the train framework on his arm and punched him in his chest, nearly knocking him through the railing at the edge of the deck.

“This is getting us nowhere...” muttered Shou's voice.

“That's it, a few more seconds...” cackled Hail's now insane voice.

Double gasped as he saw Hail preparing to take his shot at Gina, Industry now charging right at the rider as well, standing right between the two. “...Wait a second...”

Double took out the Trigger Memory and put it into the Trigger Magnum before pulling up the rectangular piece coming off the bottom up to form a longer barrel.

“TRIGGER! MAXMIUM DRIVE!”

The half-and-half detective flapped his wings to support himself so he could brace the Trigger Magnum with both hooves as yellow energy began to gather in the barrel and a charge up noise began to sound.

“Trigger Full Burst!” yelled Shou and Philip at the same time, letting loose the attack in the form of a massive barrage of supercharged yellow energy bolts.

Industry skidded to a stop and shielded himself with his front forelegs in response...only for all the shots to fly right past him. “What?!” the Dopant asked, looking around as the powerful blast continued to fly past him. “Are you even trying to hit me?”

“No!” called Double, the last of the blasts flying past the Dopant and the Rider resting the smoking weapon on his shoulder.

Industry cocked his head, then turned slowly as the 'missed' shots all curved and converged in the Hail Dopant's direction. “Oh...Oh...Oh horseapples...”

Hail saw the yellow light coming towards him and turned just in time to see the gigantic swarm of energy blasts about to nail him head on. All he could do was give a frightened whimper as they slammed into him full force.

Gina shielded her face with her wings as Hail gave off a scream of pain and exploded in a massive fireball, leaving nothing but a shattered Hail Memory laying on the ground next to an unconscious Diamond Dog.

“Consider that your payment for their tears,” Shou's voice quipped with a serious edge. While Industry Dopant was staring in disblief, the Rider sent a barrage of tracking shots, each slamming into a different Masquerade Dopant that had been attacking, causing the weakened food soldiers to explode and leave behind unconscious Gaia Memory Dealers and broken Memories.

Gina gave a sigh of relief, walking over and hugging Hope. “Thank Celestia...”

Rainbowshine looked to the Guards. “Alright, stallions, let's do our job,” she ordered, producing her hoofcuffs.

Akiko produced her slipper. “And I shall do mine...” The young mare then proceeded to begin pummeling the dealers who were still somewhat conscious into submission with her slipper.

“You...you...” snarled Industry, snapping back to the Rider and charging, his fist going through the railing behind him and shattering it to splinters as Double barely managed to get out of the way in time. The monster slammed his piston hoof into the Rider's chest to knock him into the air, winding up the railroad armature on his other arm. “I'm not letting you make a fool of me!”

“Well this gonna hurt,” muttered Shou's voice voice right as the monster slammed the arm down on his back and drove him straight through the deck into the room below, ripping through after him.

“Come on!” Rainbowshine called, pulling Akiko along and through the hole after Double and his enemy.

“Ah! But I still haven't hit them all with my slipper yet!”

As the guards continued arresting the criminals, Rex slowly got back to his paws. The Diamond Dog looked down at his shattered Hail Memory, ears going back and a look of fear forming on his face. “I need to get out of here...”

As the defeated Dopant tried to flee, he found his hind legs snatched by talons. He was promptly pulled around face to face with a furious griffin.

“You killed Skyquake...” Gina stated, claws trembling. “You took him from me!” the female griffon snarled in a mix of rage and sorrow.

The Diamond Dog trembled at the look in her eyes, ears pinned back.

“You took my little Hope's father from her! All for a couple of bits!” the widow roared, tears beginning down her face, but the sheer rage never leaving.

The Diamond Dog was whimpering by this point, ears pinned back and tail between his legs. “I-It was a lot of bits...” he said desperately.

She shut him up by putting a talon to his throat, causing him to gulp. She kept it there for a few moments...then took in a massive breath of air and let loose a loud, furious roar directly in his face, leaving him a trembling mess. She noted a wet spot forming on the deck beneath the Diamond Dog.

“...You've hurt my daughter enough without her seeing another murder,” the furious griffon spat, dragging the now terrified Diamond Dog to the Guard. “I just wanted to see you squirm...”

After handing over the assassin to the Guard, Gina just hugged her baby close and nuzzled her. “...The bad guy's gone Hope...it's over...”

Hope looked...calmer. Like a weight had been lifted. “I'm glad mama...” she said, returning the nuzzle.

---

Double gave a cry of pain as he was sent flying through a table in the dining hall they'd been in previously. “Gah...well, he's still tough...” Shou's voice groaned, opening fire with the Trigger Magnum, but the energy shots doing nothing to slow Industry Down. The hulking Dopant charged, forcing the two-in-one Kamen Rider to roll out of the way as he plowed through a wall.

“And your previous method of driving him off isn't going to work here, Shou,” Philip's voice replied. “Even if we utilize Heat Metal, we will need a new plan.”

“Yeah...”

Double had to roll out of the way again as the floor where he was standing was pulverized by Industry's piston fist, sending bits of wood flying in all directions.

Looking up, the half-and-half detective found himself right next to the glass bottom area. His eyes wandered up to the very large chandelier, which could be lowered for maintenance if needed.

“Philip, how sturdy do you think that is?”

Double had to leapfrog over the Dopant, but was burned by a blast of hot exhaust from it's vents. The Dopant stepped on the tempered glass, but it seemed to bend, not break.

Double's right eye flashed red. “Airships are prepared to handle turbulence and other kinds of airborne hazards. If it's hanging, it would need to be extremely durable by necessity to withstand potential impacts with the walls during flight.”

“Alright, I've got a plans!”

“After you transform back, I will make sure to have medical supplies prepared for your return.”

“Hey!”

Double was sent flying back in a shower of sparks, but managed to use his wings to catch himself, dodging another strike and landing right in front of the glass pane. “On second thought the medical supplies might be a good idea...”

As Industry charged, Double did a flip, landing on his back and using him as a springboard for a wing assisted jump, swapping Memories mid leap.

“CYCLONE! CYCLONETRIGGER!”

Landing on top of the chandelier, Double wrapped a leg around the center portiona and fired the Magnum multiple times to the side, the high pressure air shots acting like a jet to propel the chandelier into a high speed spin. “Alright, here we go...” he muttered, firing a shot of air at the pulleys holding it up.

Industry looked up just in time to see the rapidly spinning chandelier be swung as it fell downward into his ribcage, the momentum resulting in one of the arms forcing the massive Dopant off the ground.

“METAL! CYCLONEMETAL!”

“Sorry, big guy, here's your stop!” yelled Shou's voice as he drove a wind powered smash into Industry's head, dislodging him and sending him falling hard into the glass pane.

Industry screamed out as the once sturdy piece of glass shattered to bits and he plummeted from the airship, disappearing far below.

Double panted, slumping on the Metal Shaft. “I doubt that's the last we'll see of that big lug...”

“Yes, considering the strength of his armor, it is highly unlikely that fall did more than wound him...but it will keep him away for now...”

“Yeah...let's go check on Gina and Hope...”

---

With Hail defeated, and the Gaia Memory Factory soon to be exposed for what it was, the shattered family will finally have a chance to heal.

Gina and Hope stood in their living room with Shou still watching, the mother talking with her daughter while looking about a picture of Hurricane Tower when the renovations would be completely.

---

At the very least, Hope's smile is missing a good deal less.

Taking a break, Gina played pretend with her daughter playing dolls. The child smiling bright and real, enjoying every moment.

---

And with his murder resolved, hopefully Skyquake will be able to rest in peace.

Gina put a flower on a grave marked with a cloud being fractured as if by an earthquake, hugging her sad child close with bittersweet look on both their faces.

---

As for Rex, he's being interrogated by the Royal Guard. When they're done, he will face Princess Celestia in Canterlot for his crimes.

Rex sat silently at a desk in a dark prison room, guards grilling him. Every time he tried to speak the name of his employer, a strange symbol on his upper arm glowed and he felt like a gag was around his mouth. The symbol was a stylized T that seemed formed from lips.

I imagine life in prison will be his 'payment' for his services to his employers.

---

Renovation on Hurricane Tower should begin soon. Gina and Skyquake's work would soon bare fruit, as soon as the Guard did some weeding.

In the shadow of Hurricane tower, a squad of Royal Guards watched the hidden entrance through binoculars, preparing to move in.

---

And thus the case of the threatened council'mare' finally ends. Justice is done, and healing can soon begin.

“Ugh...” groaned Shou, leaning back from his typewriter, closing his eyes. “Using both sets of Memories and fighting two Dopants...definitely one of my more tiring cases...”

Akiko was busy flipping her Stag Phone open and closed. “Why can't I have the Memory?”

“Cause there's only Pseudo Memory for the Stag Phone, and they're a lot harder to come by than the gadgets...” the black pegasus explained.

“Huh? Where do you get those?” Akiko questioned.

“A mysterious benefactor,” Shou explained, giving a sigh. “They send us the Memories and blueprints, Philip takes it from there.”

“Oh...”

Rainbowshine sighed, a quill in her mouth filling out paperwork. “You're lucky, I've got to go through a ton of paperwork to get anything sent to me...” she muttered. “Speaking of which, a special squad is going to take out that Memory factory. Still haven't gotten anything out of Rex though. Seems his bosses made sure he couldn't spill the beans.”

Shou cocked his head. “What happened?”

“One of them placed this weird mark on him,” Rainbowshine explained. “Whenever he tries to mention anything relating to his superiors, it glows and he literally can't say it...called it the 'Taboo pony's curse.'”

Shou gave a gasp.

The floor exploded in a blast of pink energy, forcing the pegasus and unicorn to take cover. A strange black and red creature with an elongated lower half flew from the hole it had just blown.

The stallion had to steady himself a little bit as trembling started again. “...Yeah...At least once that factory gets taken down Gina and her family will stay safe even if we got nothing out of the jerk...That family deserves their peace...”

---

Philip stood in the library, book floating closed in front of him. “It's still so strange...why did seeing that family cause this?” he questioned, holding up a trembling hoof. “Could it be...my family?”

In Search of F

by Godzillawolf

Case 1: Finding An F/The Two-in-One Detective

Case 2: Finding An F/Don't Let The City Cry

Case 3: Black and W/Icarus' Envy

Case 4: Black and W/A Shade of Grey

Case 5: The Lost H/To Guard the Future

Case 6: The Lost H/The Spirit of Youth