Moonlight shimmered faintly through the thick gray clouds creeping slowly across the sky, over the city of Manehattan. The warm summer air and the humidity connived together to turn the city into one big oven, sending its distressed inhabitants running for the refuge into the comfort of their homes. There, they sat around a collection of fans, air conditioners, and a number of apparatuses designed to fight the environment's harsh design. Aristocrats, business ponies, artists, celebrities sat together with their families at home, indulging in the mindless tedium the urban life brought them each and everyday. Soon it would be time for the others, the pariah of pony society to come out and do their jobs, under the cover of darkness and away from the contemptuous looks of their masters. The city always changed its face at this time: the streets overtaken by the likes of garbage ponies, picking up trash as they went along; nurse ponies, making their way to the hospital to do their rounds; delivery ponies, supplying businesses with the goods that kept them profitable; public employees, wiping and cleaning the streets they were not allowed to wander in during daylight....
It was a usual night in the big city: the elite slept comfortably in their feathered beds, their heads lined with happy dreams, while the outcasts busted their hooves to scrap a living in low-paying professions. However, for a usual night in a very routine oriented city, one could say this night in particular wasn't as usual.
A dark figure, clad in grey was silently trotting through the alleys in the dead of night. It's movements were careful, deliberate, fluidly blending into the shadows as it made its way to the East side of town. Twice it looked around for any signs of movement, before stepping out of the alleys and crossing an empty street. It could now smell the sea breeze, and hear the cawing of seagulls.
'The dock must be nearby,' it thought to itself with satisfaction.
It's heart filled with excitement, the figure stepped out into the open and trotted down the concrete road in direction of its target. The scenery seemed to change gradually as the old apartment buildings soon turned into small closed-up businesses, and the smell of sea breeze was soon replaced by the nauseous smell of garbage.
The moon poked its face for a minute as the clouds shifted, casting its light upon a number of warehouses sitting near the edge of the docks, a large body of water stretching into the horizon behind them. A mountain of muck and litter sat unchallenged in the vicinity, offending sensitive nostrils. Several seagulls hopped across it as they gulped down whatever sustenance they could find, others hovered over it, like flies zooming around a steamy pile of manure. A building stood right next to it with a discolored sign that read 'Recycling and Garbage Processing Plant'.
The silhouette turned its head away in disgust, pulling the hood of its traveling cloak sideways, over its nose to shield itself from the stench. Suddenly a loud cranking noise tore through the quiet of the night. Startled, it ducked for cover behind a trash can. Its heart thumping violently, its head pounding with the foreboding feeling that precedes capture, the figure stood there for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for the inevitable. However, nothing happened.
It poked its head from behind the trash can, in search for the source of the noise and saw movement beyond the warehouses, near the dock. The gray figure came out of its hiding place, hugging the wall of a warehouse as it silently approached the illuminated street on the other side of it. It poked its head around the corner and took an eyeful before ducking out of sight again. Some worker ponies were loading shipment onto a boat, using a mechanical crane to lift large wooden crates. It narrowed its eyes in suspicion, watching the crane hoist yet another crate, while a brown stallion shouted instructions over the racket the machine was making.
The mysterious form gave the contraption an appreciative look from afar, pondering its next move. A gleam of pearly white teeth shone underneath its hood as it reached a satisfactory answer. It looked straight at the crane and filled itself up with concentration, focusing on the apparatus with all its might, visualizing every fuse, every cable that allowed it to function....
Bzzzzzt! Sparks flew from the machine's control panel, as the crane groaned and came to a stop. The workers looked up and gave the machinist an inquisitive look, waiting for his verdict.
"Ey! This thing's busted!"
"What? What was that?"
"The crane! It's busted!"
"What?! Colt damnit, piece o' junk!"
"Someone call the repair guy!"
"Yeh, the repair guy. Where's that bum?"
"Said he'd be back in a few, had to take a leak or something."
"What? Again?!"
The worker ponies, far too focused on their discussion, didn't notice the silhouette creeping around the crates, as it went into the warehouse where they were being stored, its cloak whipping through the door and into the darkness.
A faint light shone beneath the hood of the creature as it lowered it to inspect a crate. The clouds shifted yet again, sending in moonlight through one of the windows of the damp and stuffy warehouse, to reveal a plum colored horn protruding from a dark slate blue mane with fuchsia highlights. Suddenly bathed in light, the unicorn retreated towards the shadows, looking around for the source through its large purple eyes. Having identified the culprit as the moon, the filly stepped out of the shadows and recast her luminescent spell.
Twilight Sparkle examined every inch of the crate, trying to find a way to open it, however she gave up once she realized the crate had been nailed shut. Her eyes scanned the inside of the warehouse in search of tools, and they came to rest upon a rusty crowbar sitting on a nearby shelf. Her lips twisted into a smile as she levitated the object and placed it underneath the lid of the crate, forcing it open with a satisfying creak. She looked around nervously to see if the worker ponies had heard her, but they were still arguing and fuzzing over the mechanical crane.
Sweat drops rolling down her forehead and temples, she licked her dry lips, concentrating on the lid of the crate as she lifted it and set it carefully on the floor. Slowly approaching the crate, her heart beating with excitement and expectation, she stretched her neck and peered inside. Within the box she could see the white packing peanuts lined all the way to the brim of the crate. She held her breath in anticipation, rummaging through the contents of the crate, sending peanuts flying everywhere. Her heart skipped a beat as her hooves hit something solid underneath the foamy bits; she gulped down hard and bit her lip, slowly lifting the object from within the box. Her eyes widened with enthusiasm and her heart throbbed with furor, as she lifted the object into the light to discover its true form....
"A scooter?!" She whispered in disappointment, eyeing the shiny silver contraption resentfully. "I sneaked out of the hotel, braved the streets at night, and risked capture for a children's toy?!" She added in exasperation, dropping the scooter back into its box where it sank underneath a foamy sea of white.
Twilight's stomach gave an unpleasant lurch, her heart heavy with thoughts of recent failure. The unicorn raised her hoof right up to her face, and wiped her sweaty brow. "Ugh, ponyfeathers!" She mumbled as she raised her hood once more, turned tail and departed out the front door.
******
Hundreds of miles away, a certain navy unicorn sat inside a train compartment alongside an aqua-colored earth pony, zooming through the countryside on top of a rail. D.A. Silver Tongue sat his boredom on an elbow as he stared out of the window, his mind abuzz with questions on the Imperial Guard's strange behavior during his recent visit of Ponyville. In front of him, Nemo Ius was leaning on her sit snoring peacefully.
The D.A. turned around to look at her. Her usually neatly-combed mane hung over her right eye, hairs sticking out everywhere, her chartreuse tie messy and wrinkled. 'Poor thing' he thought to himself. 'She hasn't had any sleep in over two days'.
Without warning the train suddenly took a sharp turn to the left, sending Nemo sliding off her seat and onto the floor in one swift motion. The startled pony rubbed her head in a daze. "Ugh, what happened? Are we there yet?"
"No, we just passed through Hoofington barely an hour ago, we must be halfway there," answered the stallion. "You okay Nemo?" he asked with an air of concern.
The filly stood up and dusted herself off before returning to her seat. "I'm fine sir," she said rubbing her uncovered left eye. "I just wish I could get some shut eye, all this running around asking questions is exhausting," she added, stifling a huge yawn.
"I know," agreed the unicorn, staring out the window once more. "Once we get to Manehattan we'll try to get some proper sleep."
At these words the filly's stupor seemed to dispel, as she eyed him with interest. "Sir, why were you so keen on getting to Manehattan? You practically dragged me into the first train you saw," she said, giving him an inquisitive look.
"I deemed it prudent Nemo," answered the stallion mysteriously, without taking his eyes from the blurry scenery outside his window.
"Prudent?" She asked in shock. "You don't think those guards had anything to do with the commander's death, do you?"
The unicorn didn't respond, he merely continued to watch the trees zooming past them, in the dead of night.
"Sir, what did that filly tell you back in town?"
"Which one?"
"The one with the puffy orange mane and the carrots for a cutie mark."
The stallion drew a deep breath and let out a sigh, before turning around to fully face his assistant. He paused for a moment and began to speak in a low voice.
"Miss Golden Harvest saw something the night Twilight Sparkle was cornered at the boutique."
"What was it? What did she see?"
Silver Tongue looked around the compartment, as if expecting someone to burst through the door or find somepony hiding under their sits.
"She said she saw the commander try to kill Miss Sparkle, despite the fact that she'd surrendered," he explained in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.
Nemo's eyes widened in horror. "Why would the commander of the Imperial Guard try and take justice into his own hooves?"
Silver Tongue paused for a moment before answering. "I don't know Nemo. I honestly don't know," he said, resting his forehead on his hooves.
Nemo stared at the floor, trying to make sense of this information.
"But I do know this," Nemo lifted her head at the sound of the D.A.'s voice. "Commander Storm Chaser was known for his cruelty, but he'd never passed judgement on a suspect before."
"You don't think this was a high handed attempt at justice then?" pressed on the filly.
"Not likely Nemo," answered the stallion as he leaned back once more, closing his eyes as he reminisced the events from the day he was assigned to the case. "From day one, Commander Storm Chaser had this eery obsession with catching the culprit, or rather not the culprit but Miss Twilight Sparkle."
Nemo Ius looked at him quizzically. "What do you mean sir? Aren't they the same thing"
The D.A. stared at the ceiling for a few seconds and continued. "For a commander who's famed for hating bureaucrats, aristocrats, nobles and the likes, Commander Storm Chaser seemed to take the attempt on the princess very personally, wouldn't you agree?"
"But sir, Princess Celestia is loved by everypony. Surely acts of this nature-"
Silver Tongue let out a bitter laugh. "Nemo, Commander Storm Chaser disliked the princess, he didn't think anypony outside the military was worth a damn either. I know because I've worked with him for a long time."
An expression of understanding was beginning to dawn on Nemo's face. "Sir, what exactly are you suggesting?" She asked, dreading the answer she was about to receive.
"Commander Storm Chaser's irrational hatred for Twilight Sparkle, his reluctance to give up the chase in an enormous forest with a handful of guards, a secretive place where nopony would see or hear anything, his attempt at killing her after she'd surrendered.... They all seem like acts befitting somepony's desperate attempt to silence Twilight Sparkle," concluded the D.A., looking straight into the filly's pink eyes.
"You mean, the commander was the one behind the assassination attempt on the Princess?" Said Nemo in a hushed voice.
Silver Tongue pondered this in his head for a couple of minutes. "No," he answered flatly. "Commander Storm Chaser was never the type to scheme conspiracies against the powers that be. Rather he was used like a tool by somepony else. Somepony else is behind these attacks, but who or why, I don't know," he muttered darkly.
Nemo Ius shook from head to hooves at the thought of finding herself smack dab in the middle of a worldwide conspiracy to overthrow the princess. "You think it might be somepony in the Imperial Guard?"
"Possibly," answered the unicorn. "This afternoon, when we found the commanders body, after four days of searching, buried beneath a landslide I asked around the guards for details of the story...."
"And?"
"They told me that the commander went off on his own, giving chase to Twilight Sparkle under precarious conditions. Precarious conditions that ultimately led to his death, I believe. They seemed very cooperative until I asked them about that night at the boutique," said the unicorn in a serious undertone.
Nemo gasped at the implications of what the D.A. had just said. "You didn't tell them about your source did you?" Asked the filly, her heart filled with worry at the thought of the orange-maned filly.
"No, I bluffed. Told them everypony in town saw the whole thing, including Storm Chaser's little slip up. They didn't seem too happy with me...."
At this, Nemo found that her drowsiness had completely gone. "You what?!" Yelled the filly angrily. "You mean you suspected the Imperial Guard was behind the attempted coup d'état, and you went ahead and practically told them so!" She said, her voice shaking with panic.
"Well, to be fair I only figured out Storm Chaser's unnatural behavior after I questioned the guards. As for the Imperial Guard's involvement, we're not even sure if they are involved, or how deep the conspiracy runs in the military brass," explained the stallion apologetically.
"T-the m-military brass?" stuttered Nemo in a barely audible whisper, the color draining from her face as she slumped on her sit. "We're dead, we're so dead."
"Don't worry, it will take the Imperial Guards at least a couple of days to relay the information to their superiors. In the meantime, I think it's best if we put as much distance as ponyly possible between us and Canterlot. Lay low for a while," he added gravely, watching the nature around him vanish as the train went into a long tunnel and disappeared from sight.
******
Meanwhile, in the Waldhoof Astoria Hotel, somepony had just teleported inside the Imperial Suite, giving a very startled dragon a nasty shock.
"Don't.Do.That.Again!" Breathed Spike, his hands resting on his knees, gasping for breath.
"Sorry Spike, didn't think you were awake," whispered Twilight sympathetically.
"I had just finished enjoying the best bubble bath I've had in my life, and was preparing to hit the sack, when you popped out of thin air!" Explained Spike angrily.
Twilight drew the curtains by magic, making sure nopony could see them from outside before removing her traveling cloak. "A bath sure sounds nice after spending an entire night hiding behind trashcans and dumpsters," she said, smiling from ear to ear.
"Did you find anything?" Asked the dragon, though already dreading what the answer would be.
"No, no illegal gunpowder shipments this time either," she answered in a defeated tone.
Spike stared at her cross armed. "It's been five days Twilight, don't you think it's time to look someplace else?"
"No, Spike. That commander said that the gunpowder was shipped from Manehattan, and I'm going to find it even if it kills me!" She retorted stamping her hoof on the floor.
"But the gunpowder was used to blow up the altar. What guarantee do you have that they will keep on shipping this stuff when they don't even need it anymore," said the dragon, giving Twilight a skeptical look.
"Because he implied the gunpowder came in periodically and in more than one shipping, far more gunpowder than needed to blow up an altar. Something's ahoof, and I'm getting to the bottom of it,"
Goosebumps traveled down Spike's scaly back, who stood there shuddering with sudden realization. "Why would anyone need that much gunpowder?" He stammered, his voice quaking with fear.
Twilight turned her head and scratched her chin, deep in thought. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out that last bit, though her mind kept telling her she'd overlooked something. "I don't know Spike, but it's gotta be something big. Gunpowder is a banned substance in Equestria, as well as the whole World."
They both sat there, in their beds, discussing their next move as the moon inched its way over the night sky. Unbeknownst to them, a group of ponies had caught wind of their present whereabouts and were doing the best they could to get to them. Having missed the last train for Manehattan thanks to the fuzziness of a certain white filly, who had taken her sweet time packing only her most fashionable dresses in several suitcases, Twilight's friends sat together at the station in hopes of catching the next available train.