It was well past midnight when two stallions walked down the hallway side by side. One was an earth pony in the prime of his life, while the other was a unicorn whose mane was beginning to gray.

"Here you are, sir." The younger one said as he opened the door at the end of the hall, revealing a lavish looking bedroom.

Every piece of furniture inside the room was in near perfect condition, which was rare to find in post-apocalypses Equestria. What always grabbed a visitor's eye was the large king sized bed with satin sheets that rested atop the well kept shag carpet. The air in the room had a scent that was similar to that of cologne and bourbon.

The older one yawned as he walked into his room, he wasn't as young as he used to be, as back in his youth around this time of night he would have been busy with three or four mares on that same bed. Just thinking back to those times brought a smile to the old unicorn's face.

As the unicorn started putting on his satin pajamas, he noticed a look of concern on the young earth pony's face.

"Something the matter, Knock Out?" Asked the older stallion. "You seem...tense."

Knock Out considered not telling him, but decided it was better if he voiced his concerns. "There's been talk, Mr. Parlor. Mostly whispers and hushed tones, but it seems that your recent decision has upset alot of players in the town. I know it isn't much, but it's got me feeling as if something bad is about to happen..."

Mr. Parlor lightly chuckled. "And is that why you escorted me to my room?"

Knock Out nodded to the older stallion, his face constantly neutral. "Of course, sir."

Now that he finished dressing into his pajamas, Mr. Parlor placed a reassuring hoof on Knock Out's shoulder. "I appreciate your concern, but we have eight floors beneath us just full of our guys. If somepony is foolish enough to even think of getting to me, they'd have to go through them first." He patted Knock Out's shoulder. "All of that talk you've been hearing, it's just that, talk. Go get yourself some rest."

Knock Out was quick to speak up. "But, sir! I--"

Mr. Parlor raised a hoof, prompting Knock Out to be silent, then spoke in an informative and slightly authoritative voice. "We are the largest of the three major families in this town, and nopony, I mean nopony messes with us. You got that?"

The earth pony silently nodded.

Mr. Parlor took a deep, calming breath, then spoke in his more calmer tone. "It's late, go get some sleep. If it makes you feel any better, we'll discuss those rumors in the morning."

Knock Out was silent for a few seconds, then nodded and turned towards the hallway. "Ok, Mr. Parlor. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Once Knock Out was halfway down the hallway, Mr. Parlor closed the door, turned off the lights, and headed straight to the bed.

Now tucked in, the older stallion contemplated over what was said. He valued Knock Out's opinion, but knew that he sometimes gets a little too 'overprotective' when it came to Mr. Parlor's safety. But then again, Knock Out has always been like that for as long as Mr. Parlor knew him.

Right when the stallion was on the precipice of sleep, a voice whispered from the shadows caused him to tense up.

"He's right, you know." The voice was female, and as Mr. Parlor turned towards it, he saw floating in the darkness, a silenced pistol pointed right at him surrounded by a red aura. "Something bad IS gonna happen."

Mr. Parlor scowled; this wasn't the first time he was at the other end of a gun. He tried to get a good look at his assassin, but because of the darkness, all he could make out was the weapon.

"Who sent you?" Asked Mr. Parlor, more annoyed than scared.

The female assassin chuckled before she pulled the gun's safety. "Oh I'm sure they'll tell you, in Tartarus."

"Or, I can ask you!" The stallion shouted as he surprised the assassin by swatting the gun aside before it fired. The bullet missed its intended target being right between Mr. Parlor's eyes, and instead lodged itself into his shoulder, causing him to shout in pain before he bucked into the darkness where the voice came from, knocking the assassin down.

The mare was actually shocked that the old stallion even took that risk and succeeded! Right when she got back up, she heard voices being shouted throughout the building.

"What was that!?"

"That sounded like the boss!"

"Everypony upstairs!"

Mr. Parlor's ponies had heard his shout, causing the assassin to fanatically look for the gun that she just dropped so she could kill Mr. Parlor and escape before they got here.

"Looking for this?" Said Mr. Parlor as he raised the silenced pistol, now coated in his own magical aura.

"Shit!" The assassin cursed as she made for the door.

Mr. Parlor shot the gun at where he assumed the assassin was, but ended up missing because of the lack of light. He was then nearly blinded when the mare opened the door, allowing the light from the hallway to enter. With Mr. Parlor shielding his eyes, all he could make out was the silhouette of the unicorn mare before she trotted down the hallway, then turned the corner opposite of the approaching ponies.

A smile spread over the stallion's muzzle as he ran down the hallway while clutching his bleeding shoulder. Once Knock Out and the other ponies reached him, he pointed towards the hallway the mare just ran through.

"The bitch ran down that hallway! She's gonna end up trapped on the roof! Get her, I want to know who sent her!"

Once they reached the end of the hallway the mare ran through, with his ponies behind him, Mr. Parlor yelled towards the door at the top of the ascending stairs.

"You got nowhere to run! You either jump off the building, or you tell me who sent you and I might just have my boys have a little fun with you instead of killing you!"

No response.

He turned to Knock Out and the other ponies, then gestured towards the door with a tilt of his head. "Go get her."

One by one, Mr. Parlor's ponies climbed the stairs and through the door. A minute later, Knock Out appeared at the doorway, looking down towards Mr. Parlor. "Sir, you might want to come up here."

Mr. Parlor grimaced. "She didn't jump, did she?"

Knock Out merely shook his head, prompting Mr. Parlor to climb the stairs and onto the roof. The older stallion then saw that his ponies were looking around the side of the building and behind humongous AC units.

Confused as to why the assassin wasn't brought to him by now, Mr. Parlor turned towards Knock Out. "Where is she?"

The earth pony stallion shook his head. "We don't know. She didn't jump off, otherwise we'd have spotted her off the side. She's just... gone."

"Gone!?" Mr. Parlor was practically fuming with rage, then began shouting, his voice echoing far into the night.

"I WANT YOU ALL TO FIND THAT BITCH! YOU HEAR ME!? FIND HER!"

"Wait? So those things weren't ghosts?"

"Well that's what P.I. says." Yellow said, responding to Homage's question.

It had been a day since we got back from the incident at the Horror House, and both Homage and Taffeta were sitting on my office couch, listening to Yellow's dramatic retelling of what transpired in the mansion. Homage was here to see if the events were newsworthy enough to pass along to the DJ, while Taffeta had came simply because the filly loved to hear of my latest cases--she even brought the usual milk and cookies for this occasion.

I sat behind my desk, occasionally munching on one of Taffeta's heart shaped home-made cookies, pretending to read a book while correcting some things in Yellow's story, and occasionally glancing at the steel gray mare. Strangely, as Yellow was ending her story, I couldn't help but notice that she left out the part where she single-hoofly took down a raider while unarmed.

"So what had you scared at the end there, P.I.?" Taffeta asked, beaming a smile at my direction.

I looked up from the book, and smiled nervously towards the filly while softly shaking my head. "N-nothing... It was nothing." I started sipping from the glass of brahmin milk in order to avoid being asked again.

Yellow balked. "Nothing!? I've never heard somepony say 'nope' so many times!"

Homage chuckled. "Oh come on, P.I.! Tell us! It must have been something."

Oh, that smile of hers... I placed the glass down, then propped the book open, set it upright, and used it to hide my blushing face.

"No, seriously. It was nothing. Just my eyes playing tricks on me." I couldn't tell them, they wouldn't believe me. Heck, I had trouble believing it myself!

After several minutes of the two mares interrogating me, Homage got up from the couch. "Alright, I'm heading back now. Gonna see if Pon3 likes your story."

"Oh!" Taffeta exclaimed, as if she remembered something. "I have to go back too, Father is expecting me!" The filly then jumped off the couch and surprised me when she actually took the time to go around the desk just to give me a hug. "I'll see you later, P.I.!"

"Uh...?" I uttered as I awkwardly returned the gesture. Turning to the other mares, I noticed that both Homage and Yellow were watching with sly grins on their faces.

"Another story when you get back from your next case. Ok, P.I.?" The filly said with a quick nuzzle before she dashed out of my office.

Once the door closed, Yellow and Homage looked to one another and released an "Aww" almost in unison.

"What?" I asked, confused as to why they just did that.

"That was adorable!" Yellow said to Homage, ignoring me.

Homage responded with a chuckle. "I know! They grow up so fast!"

"Hello?" I said, once again being ignored as the two mares continued to gossip about whatever it was that I seemed to have missed. After several more failed attempts to get their attention, I slammed the book before me shut as hard as I could, startling both of the mares. Satisfied that their eyes were now focused on me, I tilted my head to the side. "So uhh," I clicked my tongue, "what are we talking about here?"

Homage's smile grew before she turned to Yellow. "Really? He doesn't know?"

Yellow shook her head with a smile. "Heh, for a detective, P.I. can be really dense sometimes."

"And what's that supposed to mean!?" I replied, starting to feel a little annoyed. They giggled. "What's so funny!?"

The mares grinned at one another, then Homage turned to me while rolling her eyes. "Say, uh...,P.I.? How long has Taffeta been like that with you?"

"Been like what?" I asked. They were giggling because of Taffeta?

"Oh you know..." Homage smiled as she scratched her cheek while using her magic to lift one of the left over heart-shaped cookies. "How often does she make you these, and...hug you like that?"

In order to avoid blushing from looking at Homage's smile, I reclined in my chair and stared at the ceiling as I thought of every instance Taffeta did those. The most recent hug I could think of (other than just now) was when Yellow first showed up in my office; the earliest would be after I saved her back in Friendship City and returned her to Ribbon Cutter. Huh...thinking about it, every time I came back to the tower, Taffeta would almost always be the first one to greet me. She would then beg me for the details of the case I just returned from, bribe me with the cookies, then hugs me after I finished telling it. I mean, thinking about it now, it does seem a little odd...but isn't that what fillies her age do anyway?

I looked back to Homage, then gave my answer. "All the time, why?"

Upon hearing my answer, Homage's face lit up. She turned to Yellow who was also smiling, then turned back to me. "Oh, P.I., you casanova!"

"What?" I said with confusion, somehow causing the mares to burst into laughter.

I just sat there and waited for the two of them to finish their laughter. Whatever their inside joke was, it was funny enough to cause them to roll on the floor while holding their sides. Occasionally, they would shout something like "How does he not know!? He--he's a--he's a detective--and he doesn't know!" or "It--it's so obvious!"

I was so glad a couple minute later when their laughter finally died down.

"Oh Goddesses." Homage said as she got up and wiped a tear from her eye. "It's been a while since I've laughed like that."

"Same. Kinda wish I was in on the joke, so I could as well..." I replied sarcastically.

Homage then opened the door, and turned to me as she stood by it. "Heh, maybe next time. I'll see you two later."

"Wait!" I shouted, stopping Homage who was halfway through the doorway.

The gray mare turned back to me, a puzzled expression on her muzzle. "Yeah? Is there something else?"

Ok, P.I. You're never going to get anywhere with Homage if you don't at least try to make an attempt.

After a few seconds of staring at the mare with my mouth open, I was finally able to force the words out. "Um...Homage?" I started rubbing the back of my head while my eyes wandered everywhere except Homage. "I was wondering if uh..." Looking at Yellow, I noticed she was watching me with a smirk; she knew what I was trying to do. "I was wondering if you'd like to uh..." Don't get nervous, P.I. Don't get nervous...

"Like to...?" Homage added.

YOU'RE GETTING NERVOUS! JUST FINISH THIS SENTENCE BEFORE SHE THINKS YOU'RE WEIRD!

"If you'd like to...hang out...sometime?"

"Sure."

STUPID P.I.! STUPID STUPID! YOU WERE TOO FORWARD! NOW SHE'LL NEVER WANNA COME BACK HERE AGAIN, AND--wait, what?

"What?" I asked, completely dumbfounded.

Homage stared right at me and responded while casting a smile towards me that caused my body to feel as if it had just become lighter. "I said 'sure'."

Ok, P.I! She said yes. Now don't smile like an idiot. Don't smile like an--you're smiling like an idiot...

"I--um, g-great!" Smooth, P.I.

Homage nodded. "Just give me a couple hours to finish helping DJ Pon3. I'm sure I'll have some free time after that, can you wait till then?"

I could not have nodded any quicker! Seriously, I think I was distorting light!

"Alright." Homage continued as she stepped out, where she said one last thing before closing the door. "I'm sure we can find something fun for all three of us to do. See you two in a few hours!"

I just sat there and stared at the door with my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open, mentally repeating four words Homage said over and over.

'All three of us...'

Once Homage was undoublty out of hearing range, Yellow tuned to me, said "Aww", then jumped onto the couch and started another round of laughing fits.

Ok...maybe I can still work with this... Maybe, maybe I can still somehow win over Homage, regardless of Yellow being the third wheel. Despite trying to think positively, a voice from within spoke rhetorically.

Really? Can you really?

"--Welcome spring!~ And all things warm and green!~ But it's also time to say--Aw, fuck!"

My one-stallion-performance was cut short when shampoo had gotten into my eyes, blinding me. I quickly thrusted my hoof around the shower curtain and blindly fumbled it towards the sink where I left the towel. Finding it, I moved my face away from the torrent of lukewarm water jutting from the nozzle installed in the wall, then used the towel to wipe my eyes. Once the pain had subsided, I resumed my shower.

It's been an hour and a half since Homage left the office, but it didn't take long for me to immediately get ready for her arrival. This was my first time spending time with Homage that wasn't business related, and I wanted everything to be perfect for when she arrives; I cleaned and pressed my suit, made sure I had enough spending caps for whatever it is we decided to do, I even visited one of the shops in the tower for a fancy tube of toothpaste that had a picture of a blue smiling unicorn with a darker-blue and white mane on the box, and this very same shampoo I'm using. The stuff was very expensive, but hey, it's Homage I'm hanging out with! Homage! (Mmm, apple scented.)

Minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom with my hat atop my head and fully dressed in my now clean shirt, vest, and tie. I then turned to Yellow, who was sitting behind my desk, reading one of my Detective Pretext novels. She had already showered before me (which I insisted multiple times for her to do so) and was still wearing her Stable barding and bulletproof vest. Earlier, I had offered to buy her something more presentable to wear, but she refused, saying, and I quote "We're just gonna hang out with her, P.I. We're not going to some gala."

Thankfully, I didn't tell her what was on my mind when she said that, which was 'Yeah, well...hanging out can lead...to...to possibly dating!'

I then sat on the couch and waited patiently till Homage arrived, silently starring at dead space ahead of me while planning on how to behave around the gray mare. Coincidentally, the dead space ahead of me happened to be in the same direction as Yellow.

Moments later, the amber mare raised her eyes over the book, examined me for a few seconds, then raised a brow. "Uh? Are you just gonna sit there and do nothing until she comes back?"

"Maybe." I responded simply, still staring ahead.

"It's kinda creepy."

Well, since I'm waiting for Homage, I might as well mess with Yellow...for funsies. I continued to silently stare at her, this time purposely keeping myself from blinking as best I could.

Confused, Yellow unknowingly had a staring contest with me which she didn't know she lost. She then raised the book to block me from her sight, but seconds later, slammed it to the desk.

"Ok, stop it!" Yellow said, sounding annoyed. "I can feel you staring." Her reaction caused my neutral expression to break into a smile. Her voice then deadpanned. "You're doing this on purpose...aren't you?"

"Maybe." I said in the same manner as before, causing Yellow grunt in exasperation.

I chortled for a few seconds, but stopped when I heard hoofsteps at the door, followed by the sound of knocking. I immediately jumped and reached for the door, but stopped, then waited for her to knock a second time; don't want to seem too eager.

After making sure my suit was spotless, I then opened the door with an unintentional smile on my muzzle...that then faltered when I saw it wasn't Homage.

Instead, standing outside of my office was an ebony coated earth pony stallion with a white mane and tail--his mane was greased back--also, in the center of his face, bellow his azure eyes yet just above his muzzle, was a white spot almost in the shape of a diamond. He was slightly taller than me, was more muscularly built, and four...maybe five years older. I also noticed that the way he was dressed very similar to me, only, he lacked the hat, had a black shirt that almost matched his fur, and the vest was white with a tie that matched his eye color.

"You're definitely not Homage." I said, quickly deflating from my earlier excitement.

The stallion had his face forward, yet looked down to me while barely raising one of his brows. "Are you the same detective from the radio?" He asked, his voice and expression completely neutral.

"Yeah...that's me. And who are you?"

He calmly shook his head. "Who I am is of no importance. I'm here on my employer's behalf to hire you for your services."

Oh no, not a job now! "Uh, listen. I'm kinda going somewhere in a bit. Can you set up an appointment or reschedule?"

He raised his brow again as he barely tilted his head before responding. "You're gonna have to speak to my employer about that..."

I turned to the door and gently slammed my head against it. "Of course." I said with a huff. "Is he just outside or something so we can schedule the meeting real quick?" I could see him nodding through the corner of my eye.

"Follow me, I'll take you to him." He then turned and headed for the elevator.

After a few steps following him, I heard the door close behind me along with Yellow's voice. "Hold on! I'm coming too!"

"Why?" I asked as she caught up to me.

"Hey! I've been cooped up in that room since morning; I'll take any excuse to walk around for a bit."

"Fine." I reluctantly said. I wanted her to stay in the office in case Homage showed up, but I knew she wouldn't listen. "But as soon as I'm done with this client, I want you to go running back to the office. Quick, alright? Quicker than the elevator would take you, in fact, don't even take the elevator! I want you to outrun it on the stairs!" Judging by her expression, she couldn't tell if I was being serious or not...which I was.

We then followed the stallion into the elevator, where I got a glimpse at the stallion's cutie mark. The depiction on his flank was of five star shapes that had thin white lines trailing behind them as they all orbited around nothing in particular.

When all three of us exited the tower, the stallion then led us to something on the Celestia line that I didn't think I'd ever see. A carriage. An actual, pristine carriage. It was jet black with sliver outlining the tinted windows, and the wood was polished to the point where I could see my reflection; I couldn't tell if somepony had taken the time to fully restore it, or simply made a new one from scratch. The carriage was hooked up to four stallions while two others sat at both sides of its door, similarly dressed as the stallion and both armed. When the armed ones saw us, the stallion with us nodded to them. The guards nodded back then opened the carriage door, revealing a red felt interior and...nopony? Where was the stallion's employer?

"Huh?" Yellow muttered as we both turned to the dark stallion in confusion. "Where's your boss?"

"Get in." The stallion said simply.

"Whoa there." I interjected. "You said your employer was--"

"Get. In." The stallion repeated, this time more stern.

There was something in his voice and a look in the armed ponies' eyes that hinted that if we were to disobey, something might happen to us.

"Can't I at least grab my coat upstairs?" The stallion's response to my question came in the form of a hard glare.

Yellow had picked up the tension in the air then leaned towards me and whispered through gritted teeth. "P.I., I think we should listen to the guy..."

I looked at Yellow, then back to the tower. "Homage..." I silently muttered before Yellow and I stepped into the carriage. What could we do? The tower's guards were behind the gate and couldn't see what was going on here, also, Yellow and I had left our guns back in the office. However, I knew Yellow and I were safe for the time being, because whoever these ponies were, they wanted me for something...

An hour later, Yellow and I sat next to each other in the carriage as it rocked every now and then, occasionally we would hear a thump above us; probably the two armed ponies keeping watch as we headed towards our mysterious destination. My uh...'client' sat across from us, forelegs crossed and eyes closed; I could tell he wasn't sleeping. My guess was that he pretended to be asleep so we wouldn't bother asking him questions; he obviously never met somepony like Yellow. Despite the constant barrage of questions she asked of him, like 'Who are you?' and 'Where are we going?' he maintained his silence. Eventually, Yellow shut up and looked out the window to soak in the picturesque view of the wasteland...which she then quickly grew tired of.

"Uh, P.I.?" Yellow asked.

"Hmm?" I didn't even turn to her; I was too busy looking out the window, moping over what could have been an awesome time with Homage.

Yellow continued. "Can you turn the radio on or something? A little music to make this, oh I don't know...less boring?"

Still looking out the window, I did just that. I expected music, but what I got instead was the masculine voice of DJ Pon3 giving the wasteland today's news. What I wouldn't give for it to be Homage's voice...

From what the DJ was saying, apparently, two ponies had left their Stable and one of them miraculously took out the raiders that were in the ruins of Ponyville, while the other was spotted near a slaver settlement. That last part caused me to bite my lip; I couldn't tell if it was the same mare I told Homage about earlier: the one I kinda saw on my way to Woodtrot. If it was, I have no idea how Homage and the DJ were able to deduce that the mare was from a Stable. I had mixed feelings about the other Stable pony, I mean, who walks fresh out of a Stable and just kills all of the raiders in an area? This pony was either extremely lucky, stupid, or just flat out mad! Heck, for all I know, it's a cocktail of all three!

After Pon3's news report, Sapphire Shores' song replaced the awkward silence in the carriage.

A series of deliberate thumps and a voice from the top of the carriage broke me from my stupor.

"We've arrived!"

Looking at the stallion across from me, I saw his eyes open, look out the window, then back to me.

I got the feeling he wasn't going to explain where we were, so I looked out the window. From what I could see, we appeared to be in a settlement built out of a series of strip malls and other pre-war businesses. As we passed by them, I could see that almost all of the buildings had ponies entering and leaving them, however, there seemed to be something 'off' with a lot of them. I could see that there were plenty of bars and eating establishments set up, yet a small majority of them seemed malnourished and wandered around almost as if in a trance.

"P.I.! Look at this!" Yellow exclaimed.

"What is it?" I asked as I saw that she was pointing out the window on her side. Looking through it, I actually pressed my face against the window as I spotted what Yellow thought I had to see.

The carriage was passing by a multi-story parking complex that had two banners flanking the entrance, on them was the image of a white snowflake over a silver six-pointed star, all within a white circle while six silver branches filled in the rest of the purple flag.

Inside the complex, I could see several, well...the best way to describe them would be 'shiny earth ponies'. Several of them wore what appeared to be armor I once saw in a book that closely resembled what pre-war guards of the princesses' would wear. However, these had some slight design changes that made them more suited for use in the wasteland, for instance: there seemed to be some kind of protective padding that covered the legs and neck area, and a series of hooks and grooves that secured the battle saddles placed over them. Lastly, I also spotted...shiny griffins? The heck? Two were standing under the banners, guarding the entrance and were shining more than the ponies but were also partially transparent. Uh...ok? Their armor's design was similar to the ponies', but was either modified or custom made to fit them and make room for their wings.

"Is that the Crystal Empire!?" I excitedly asked as I turned to the stallion who brought us here, almost as if he were a tour guide.

Of course he didn't answer... I sat back in my seat when the parking complex slid out of view. Minutes later, the carriage came to a stop and its door opened. The dark, diamond faced stallion got up and exited the carriage, then waited beside the two armed guards for Yellow and I to exit as well. Doing so revealed that our destination ended at what used to be some fancy restaurant; apparently it was nice enough to be its own separate building, unlike the other stores in the strip mall that had to sit adjacent to one another. There were enough letters in the restaurant's title that had survived the centuries for me to guess the name. Gourmet's House of Gourmet. Hmm, clever...

The stallion then walked towards the building with Yellow and I closely behind him; the two armed ponies behind us was enough incentive for us to follow. Passing through the thick oak doors, we stood in what was the restaurant's waiting room where two more well dressed stallions (also armed) stood at both sides of the door leading into the other room. The stallion who led us here then turned to us.

"My employer is just behind these doors." Huh, what do you know, he does talk. And here I thought he forgot how. "You will speak politely to him, answer any and all questions he may ask of you, and you will address him as 'Sir' or 'Mr.', understood?"

"Yeah, yeah..." I irritably said with a roll of my eyes. My response caused him to glare at me. Hey! I had plans earlier, you dick... Excuse me if I seem to be in a mood.

The stallion and I merely locked eyes for a few seconds before he broke off to open the door to the other room. I couldn't see much through the doorway; all of the curtains in the restaurant were shut, blocking off the natural light from outside, however, there was an empty wine bottle with a lit candle placed in it that created a small oasis of light in the center of the room. The candle as resting over a table with a plaid tablecloth over it where an older unicorn stallion was enjoying a meal of steamed pasta with tomato sauce and chopped vegetables mixed in it, besides that was a glass full of dark liquid that I'm assuming is wine. The unicorn seemed to be around his late fifties, had a light purple coat, along with a short dark-blue mane that was starting to gray in certain spots which perfectly complimented his graying stubble beard. He was wearing a white, long sleeved collared shirt with black suspenders...that weren't suspending anything at all? Huh, must be sewn onto the shirt itself.

The unicorn used his magic to lift a fork, stuck it in some of the noodles, twisted it, stabbed a carrot slice, then brought the fork to his mouth with the food in tow. As the stallion chewed, he looked towards us, then raised a hoof and waved us over. Once we got close enough, the doors behind us closed, and he gestured to the empty seat opposite of him. Yellow and I just stood where we were and looked at each other with perplexed expressions on our faces, then to the single chair.

"Do we...share?" I asked Yellow, who just shrugged in return.

The older unicorn made an amused sound as the fork clanged against the plate when he stabbed at his meal again, he then turned to his side and whispered to somepony whose face suddenly appeared from the darkness. The new pony listened the unicorn's words, nodded, then disappeared from view again, seconds later, he reappeared with another chair.

Now that we each had one, Yellow and I took our seats. The dark earth pony with the diamond shaped spot on his face then walked over to the unicorn and began whispering into his ear. The graying stallion continued to chew as he listened, when the earth pony finished, he remained by the unicorn's side who was starting to wipe his mouth with a napkin.

Finally, the older unicorn spoke, his voice slightly gruff, yet modulated. "The trip here was a long one. You two must be famished."

I remained silent as I crossed my forelegs and cocked my head slightly with a hint of annoyance on my face, meanwhile, Yellow spoke. "I could eat."

The unicorn smiled. "Allow me." He then tapped the table with a hoof, causing multiple sets of hooves to extend from out of the faint light's reach and place two plates of the same meal as the stallion's before us. Ok, despite the E.F.S. showing them earlier, that did kind of startle me a bit.

I did want to stay mad, but truth was, I am kind of hungry; my resolve was quickly diminishing once the meal's steam collected in the back of my nasal cavities, allowing me to taste it before even getting a bite in. I could see that Yellow was already digging into her food. She was having trouble with the fork, for she was carefully using both of her forehooves to maneuver the fork into the pasta. When she finally did managed to twist up the noodles, her expression became one of envy when she saw me effortlessly pick up the utensil with one hoof, then quickly used it to wind up the noodles.

"What? You never practice with your hooves?" I said with a sly smile before bringing the food to my open mouth. A couple bites and I could already tell that all of the ingredients used in the meal were from a can; I tasted more preservatives than tomato sauce.

Yellow seemed awestruck as she stared at the fork held by my hoof, then looked at the one between her own hooves. She tried to get the spooled up noodles into her mouth, but lacked the flexibility to do so without causing the fork to drop. I could already imagine what was going on in her mind. 'How am I supposed to get this to my mouth?' She eventually did drop the fork, and ended just lowering her face to the plate.

I wanted to continue eating, but thought it best if I knew why we were brought here. I placed the fork beside the plate, rested my elbows on the table, tented my forehooves, then placed my chin over them as I stared at my true 'client'. "So...you're in need of a detective. And you are?"

The unicorn lightly smiled as he peered at the carrot slice impaled at the end of his fork before placing it in his mouth, he responded when he finished chewing. "My name's Pool Parlor."

"So, Poo--" I noticed the stallion beside him suddenly glare at me. "Mr. Pool Parlor... Who are you? The security, the meal," I gestured my head towards the diamond faced stallion, "this guy. It's obvious you're a stallion of a high position, but of what?"

Parlor chuckled. "Aren't you curious as to where you are?"

"Avarice." I answered immediately, causing Pool Parlor to raise a brow. "Hey, your buddy here kidnapped a detective, remember?" Actually, my PipBuck informed me of the place's name the second we entered, but I wouldn't tell him that...

Parlor turned to my abductor with an amused expression on his face. "Kidnapped?"

The earth pony responded while facing forward, his expression and voice unwavering. "You wanted him immediately, Mr. Parlor."

The unicorn turned back to me and shrugged while smirking. "Well you're here now, Detective. I apologies if Knock Out took my orders mmm," his eyes scanned the dark abyss that was the ceiling as he circled his hoof in the air, he seemed to be looking for the right words to use, "a bit...literal."

That felt more like a confession than an apology, also, Knock Out? One could only guess what his special talent was with that name and cutie mark.

I released an irritated sigh followed by a 'tsk'. "You know, I had plans today... Then your dude just shows up," I made a gesture to the side that seemed as if I was pushing somepony away, "and whisks me here." I felt like complaining more, but instead decided to just drop the matter entirely; I was getting tired of hearing myself whine. I shook my head and slowly placed a hoof to my forehead. "You know what, forget it. So who are you, Pool Parlor," yeah, I see you giving me the stink eye, Knock Out, I don't care, "and what do you need me for?"

"Let's start with your earlier question: who I am." Parlor took a sip of his wine before continuing. "I guess you could say that I'm the closest thing this town has to a leader."

"'Closest thing'?" I said, puzzled by his choice of words.

Parlor raised the wine glass with his magic, then slowly swiveled it, causing the dark liquid to swirl. "You see, Avarice is a very popular destination spot in this part of the wasteland, and that's because of the three casinos here. Each one is controlled by a family, and I just so happen to run the largest of the three. The Billiards."

I raised a brow. "Casinos, here? In this part of the wasteland?"

Parlor chuckled. "And that's why it's so popular; not everypony is willing to risk their necks traversing the wasteland to get to places like Dise or Las Pegasus for a little fun and gambling. Of course, there's more to Avarice than the casinos, we've got all sorts of entertainment here that keeps the tourists coming back: booze, showmares, showstallions for the mares or if you're into that kind of thing, and a wide variety of substances for uh...recreational uses."

"No need to sugarcoat it, I see what you are." I said as I used my fork to play with the noodles. "Chem dealers."

Parlor grinned. "Guilty as charged, but I prefer the term," he leaned back in his chair before responding, "mmm, 'pharmaceutical salespony'. Is that going to be a problem?"

I lightly shook my head before calmly responding. "No, not really. I'd still like to know what it is you want from me."

The unicorn shrugged. "Hmm, fair enough. Let me skip to the point; last night, somepony tired to do me in. Clearly they failed, but they left this for me to remember them by." He then pulled his shirt back by its collar and revealed a small round scar devoid of fur in his shoulder area; clearly it was mended by a healing potion.

I winced. "Ooh, that must have hurt. I still don't see why you need me, I mean, you must have caught the pony who tried it, what with all of this security I'm seeing."

He shook his head. "Nope. She got away, and I don't even know how."

Parlor then told me the entire story of what happened last night; a unicorn mare somehow slipping by all of Parlor's ponies, getting into his room that was several stories up in the main building him and his Billiards live in, the unicorn mare's red magical aura, her botched assassination, and finally, her mysterious escape from the building's roof.

"And you didn't get a good look at her?" I asked.

Parlor responded. "No, too dark, didn't get the chance."

I sighed. "Ok, so...you want me to find the mare who tired to kill you. Why exactly?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want to...question her. Find out who placed the hit, then 'kindly repay them'. I have a few ideas as to who might have hired her, but I want to be sure before I make any decisions."

"'Few ideas'?" I said. "Like who?"

"Oh gee, let me think." Parlor sarcastically replied as he rolled his eyes with a smile. "Mm, the first thing that comes to my mind are the other two major families. They're not as large as the Billiards, but they're the only ones who would gain anything from my death."

"And why's that?" I asked.

Parlor spoke as he rubbed a hoof on his chest, then examined it. "Might be because they're in the same business as the Billiards; casinos, chems, the whole shebang. Difference is they have some stock and services exclusive to their group," he smiled towards me, "but...it's vice versa."

I tilted my hat a bit. "Alright, I think I see what they were trying to accomplish; they're not big on competition...are they?"

He grinned. "Heh, kill me and the Billiards will be severely weakened." He gestured to diamond faced stallion who's been glaring at me this whole time. "Knock Out may be my second, but he's not ready to become head of the family just yet; still green when it comes to business. If it is them, that explains why they tried to whack me all quiet like. They can't just show up and start shooting at me or my guys; that'd scare away the tourists, bad business for all the families." His smile was then directed towards me as he leaned back in his chair while crossing his forelegs. "And it's because of that reason you're here." He must have caught my furrowed brow, because he continued. "You see, it's like this, the town is separated into three sections, each controlled by a major family. Picture the town as a...a big ice-cream sandwich with three flavors." Uh, strange analogy...but ok... "The west side is controlled by the Headstone Family, the east by the Mini-Caesars, and finally, the Billiards in the middle as the biggest slice."

Slices? I thought the analogy was an ice-cream sandwich? Now it's cake? Or maybe it's pizza...? Buck I could go for some pizza, it'd go great with this pasta. I remember tasting one through a memory orb years ago; the thing was delicious!

You're getting distracted, P.I....

I nodded to make it seem that I was focused. "Mhmm, cakes, of course."

Parlor stared at me for a few seconds, a perplexed expression on his face. "Anyway... Word spread fast about the failed hit, so now both families are afraid of a retaliation from me. They've put their ponies on alert, and if one of my guys even sets foot in their turf, it'll be a warzone."

I'm starting to get the idea of what Parlor wants from me. "You want to hire me just in case she's hiding in one of the other family's territory, just to avoid said 'warzone'."

"Hmm, clever buck. Now I'm not stupid, just because you find her in one of the other families' turf, doesn't mean they're the ones who hired her. That's why I want you to find her and bring her to me so I can hear straight from her mouth just who did. Either do that, or find out who sent her."

Hmm, the goal seems straightforward, but there was one problem. "What if she already left town?" I asked.

Parlor shook his head. "Doubt it. Right after she vanished from my roof, I ordered all of my guys to prevent anypony from leaving Avarice. The Billiards might not be able to enter the other territories, but we can still watch the entrances."

"'Anypony' from leaving?" I questioned, raising a brow. "Does this mean my assistant and I can't leave?"

"Pahrtnur." Yellow muttered with her muzzle stained red and a mouth full of pasta before returning her attention to what was left on her plate. I think that was the only part she picked up out of this entire conversation!

Parlor gave a look to Knock Out, then turned back to me as the diamond faced stallion started to loudly crack his hooves and neck.

"Are you implying that there's a possibility you might not accept my request?" There was a hint of malice hidden in Parlor's tone.

My eyes widened, I could see some of the previously green markers around us turning red.

"W-what?" I stammered as I waved my hooves with a nervous grin on my face. "N-no, no, of course not! I would gladly look for your would-be assassin!" I placed a hoof on Yellow's shoulder and shook it. "Wouldn't we, Yellow?" Come on, Yellow, pleeease look professional!

She turned towards me and...burped...then returned to her meal.

I turned to Parlor and quickly tapped the table. "You hear that? She's up for it!" I calmed down a bit when the red markers became green again.

Parlor nodded. "Good, Detective." He then leaned forward, his forehooves over the table. "I'd get started immediately if I were you. Keeping everypony from leaving would cause the tourists from wanting to return, which would hurt my business. And if I can't take out my aggression on whoever hired the bitch to kill me, well..." He then blew out the candle, leaving us in the darkness. "I'd be angry at the one who failed me..."

"Hey! I'm eating here!" Yellow shouted.

Moments later, a unicorn from out of sight, used their magic to move the curtains aside, allowing the natural light from outside in and revealing that only Yellow and I were left in the building.

"Much better." The amber mare said before lowering her head to the plate, only to be disappointed when her jaw hit ceramic instead. "Aw man. It's all gone." She then looked around, now realizing that some ponies where missing. "Hey? Where is everypony?" She turned to me. "Uh, P.I.?"

"Yeah?" I said, facing forward with an expressionless tone in my voice.

She scratched her mane. "Huh... Did we just get a job?"

I lowered my head. "Yeah..."

"Oh, cool." She said while nodding, then pointed at the unfinished meal before me. "If you're not gonna finish that, can I have it?"

"Yeah." I said as I slid it over to her.

"We can't leave this town!?" Yellow exclaimed after I gave her the summary of how we came to 'accept' Parlor's job; I wouldn't have had to explain something that happened right in front of her if she weren't so engrossed in wasteland cuisine at the time.

We were both currently on the roof of the building that was once a multi-story office building, but was now where almost all of the Billiards lived. I was a bit surprised when the ponies downstairs just let us in; orders from Parlor must travel fast... Also, I could really do without the Billiard stallion watching us from the stairs.

"Not until we find the assassin." I said, fiddling with one of the giant AC units. I had a hunch that maybe the assassin was able to disappear from the roof was because one of the air conditioners was hollow or led to some secret escape hole leading back down. But after opening all of them, I found nothing but long burnt out talismans, rusted fans, and somewhat melted bits of circuitry.

I grunted as I closed the last AC's hatch. How could the mare have vanished from up here? I already looked around the sides of this building, and as unsafe as it was without them, there where no fire escapes. She couldn't have jumped off to another building, the closest structures were too short for her to avoid either dying or seriously injuring herself. I brought up my PipBuck and consulted the notes it took earlier, maybe it might give me a clue.

That...didn't help at all... I already knew all this! This was like the PipBuck equivalent of opening the fridge, then wondering why you just did that when you aren't even hungry!

I furiously scratched my mane. I should have been in the tower right now, contemplating over what an awesome time I just had with Homage! But nooo! The universe was like, "Hey! Remember when I complicated your life by throwing Yellow at you? Well now let's have you work for this one pony who makes you fear for more than just your kneecaps if you fail to do his job! Isn't this just grand!?"

No it isn't, universe. No. It. Isn't.

"Uh, you alright, P.I.?" Yellow asked, a mix of confusion and concern etched on her face. "I'm starting to get worried about you."

Great, now I'm scarring Yellow. I took a deep breathe to calm myself. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine." I then walked over to the roof's edge and rested my upper half on the guard rail. From this height, I could see all of the buildings Avarice was composed of, while bellow me, the ponies walking the streets seemed like life-like miniatures.

My attention was then drawn to two ponies walking down one of the main roads leading out of the town, only to be stopped by a group of sharply dressed ponies. I was too high up to hear what they were saying, but the two ponies seemed to be in a heated argument with the group, however, they were then silenced and slinked back into the town after the well-dressed ponies intimidatingly encircled the two.

Yellow then stood by me and spoke while looking ahead. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Hmm?" I turned in the same direction Yellow was facing and quickly noticed what she meant. Up ahead, far in the horizon, Yellow and I could barely make out half of the shrinking red silhouette that was the sun, constantly obscured by the cloud cover. I'll admit, just watching it slowly go down was calming, and we just stood there and watched as it gradually got darker.

Once the sun had completely vanished, and it was pitch black around us, Yellow spoke. "Heh. The sun, it looks so different... from out here..."

'The sun looks different from out here'? I turned to Yellow, confused. "What? What do you--ah!"

Yellow and I both shielded our eyes when what sounded like a drum being hit once and a blinding light just shot from one of the buildings. At first, I thought the sun just decided to come back and break through the clouds, but when the light moved away from us and my eyes stopped seeing little squiggly lines and dots, it was clear that the light came from a searchlight atop a building with two other searchlights and a humongous sign made from hundreds, maybe thousands of differently colored light-bulbs forming the image of a triangle with fifteen billiards in it. I'm gonna take a guess here and say that judging by all of the ponies entering and leaving the building, along with the name flashing on the building that says 'Parlor's Casino: Games, Chance, Luck, and Fun~' that that was one of the casinos Parlor mentioned, his.

Moments later, two other buildings suddenly rivaled Parlor's casino in terms of brightness; one to the east, and the other to the west. Those were obviously the other two families'.

The searchlight that blinded us before did so again, it and the other two where set to automatically scan the skies in a pre-set pattern; one of the lights just happened to pass slightly above this roof. The three beams of light were powerful enough to form three bright circles under the cloud cover. As I watched them dance under the cloudy canvas, I heard a faint voice coming from somewhere. Sure there was noisy ambiance of ponies on the streets conversing and laughing, but this one was loud enough to catch my attention.

"HEY! YOU TWO UP THERE! IS THIS ANOTHER SHOW LIKE LAST NIGHT'S OR WHAT!? CAUSE WE'RE WAAAITING!"

'You two up there'? Was this directed towards Yellow and me? I quickly scanned the streets below that was being illuminated by the casino's colorfully bright lights from down the street and spotted a stallion standing in front of the small building from across. He was...ok, well I don't really have eagle vision; all I could make out was that he was...light-ish green. I knew it was him who just shouted; he was the only pony who was looking anywhere near my general direction: up. Also, 'show like last night's'? Did he...?

I raised my hoof to shield my eyes from the incoming searchlight, pointed at the stallion far bellow, and tried my best to shout over Avarice's sounds. "YOU STAY RIGHT THERE! I WANNA TALK TO YOU!"

I think he was nodding. "UH...OK!"

Minutes later, I exited the building, panting after running down several flights of stairs. As I tired to catch my breath, I waited for Yellow to catch up; in my excitement, I kinda left her behind, however, I didn't wait long for her to show.

"Oh, hey!" Yellow exclaimed.

I acknowledged her, taking deep breathes to calm my aching lungs. "Wha...what?"

"You outran the elevator."

I deadpanned...my eye might have twitched... I then turned and walked across the street to where the buck had been waiting patiently.

"So when's the show gonna start?" The buck asked.

He was an earth pony with a light green coat...eh, almost milky green, and a dark pink mane and tail. This pony's body was similar to the 'off' ones I'd seen earlier; his mane was a mess, green eyes were sunken and bloodshot, his body had thinned to the point where I could see his ribs, lastly, the muscles on his face and legs would be calm one second, then twitch on the next. It was clear that his body had gotten this way from a long history of chem abuse; judging by the chemical burns around his dry and cracked lips, his chem of choice was Dash.

"You, uh...saw the 'show'...last night?" I questioned.

He nodded. "Mhmm, that was SOME stunt!" He then gestured to the air at both of his sides. "Me and my buddies here saw the whole thing! We were applausing an' everything!"

Yellow and I looked to the left of the stallion, then the right; when we saw there was nopony there, we then turned to each other and shrugged.

I drawled as I scratched at the back of my head. "Yeeeah...about that...uh...you see..." I then got an idea. "Oh! We can't do that stunt again because the pony who did it got hurt in the middle of it."

The stallion seemed surprised. "Oh, really? But it looked like she was fine when it ended..."

I quickly responded while I shook my head. "Well that just shows how dedicated she was to her performance. But no, something went wrong and ended up getting her hurt." I tapped Yellow's shoulder with my elbow. "Isn't that right, Yellow?"

The Stable pony looked at me confused, but her eyes quickly widened and her lips mouthed an 'oh'. "Right, yeah!" Yellow said, surprising me that she caught on this quick. "You mind telling us how the whole thing went down. You know, just to see if you and uh...," she gestured to the empty space on both of his sides, "your friends saw anything weird."

"Eh...I might have." The stallion said as he slowly rolled his eyes and scratched his chin.

So it was gonna be like that huh? I then reached into my vest pocket and pulled out a sack of caps that I was planing to maybe buy Homage something to eat as I was hanging out with her.

The stallion continued after I shook out five caps and handed them to him. Ugh...kinda feel like I'm enabling... "Uh...at first, I didn't know there was even a show starting until I heard all this yelling last night. It was coming from on top of the building, so when I looked up, I saw a mare standing behind the guardrail. When I saw her, the first thing going through my mind was 'Wow, is this broad trying to off herself!?'"

"And what gave it away that it was all an act?" I asked.

"Well the spotlight went over her, and I could tell she wasn't crying or nothin', she was completely calm an' everything. Heck, I think she was smiling!"

"So what happened then?" Questioned Yellow.

"Well...she jumped." The stallion plainly said.

My head cocked and my brow furrowed before I responded. "That's it?"

His response was, "Then she flew." He said that as if it were a normal occurrence to see...

"Wait, what?" I said, completely perplexed. Parlor said there wasn't a mare shaped splat anywhere near the building, but...'flew'? Ok, maybe we need to backtrack a bit here. Might have to confirm if what he saw was legit. "Uh, the mare. Could you tell if she was an earth pony or a unicorn?"

"How do you not know? Don't you work with her?" The stallion asked.

My eyes quickly scanned around as I voiced the first excuse that came to mind. "Uh...I'm new."

He eyed me for a couple seconds before he smiled and pointed at me "Oh, I get it now! It's stunt doubles, isn't it!?"

...I could work with this. "Oh no! You figured it out!" I said, feigning surprise. "So which one did you see on the roof?"

"Uh, the one on the roof was a unicorn...uh--red. Red with uh...a...a blue mane."

After he finished that sentence, a new notification appeared on my E.F.S.

Well, he saw a red unicorn mare, so it must have been the assassin. Still... I couldn't wrap my head around the whole 'flew' thing.

"Uh, sir?" I said to the stallion.

He tilted his head. "Hmm?"

"You're positive you saw a mare up there last night?"

He nodded once. "Yeah."

I stared at the buck skeptically, yet nervous to ask him this next question. "Were you uh...on something at the time of the stunt?"

"Hey! I thought this was about the stunt!" He didn't seem to take that very well...

I waved my hooves. "Sorry, sorry! But were you?"

His eyes looked everywhere but me. "...Maybe... But I know what I saw!"

"Then how do you know she flew?"

He seemed agitated and nervous at the same time. "Ok, I didn't see her flying per say; she jumped out of the light. But she didn't hit the ground, and something did fly by the spotlight. Something with wings!"

"Ok, I'll believe you." I didn't, but he was the closest thing I had to a lead. "But before she jumped, was there anypony else with her? Like a...pegasus?" It was the only explanation I could think of that would make sense.

He shook his head. "Nah, man. She was alone when she hopped off the building."

I rubbed a hoof across my forehead. Am I really gonna have to go off the word of an addict? 'She flew' he says...huh, maybe she used her magic to float herself to safety--no that's just stupid; the magical glow would have been easily seen at night, and I doubt unicorns can even do that in the first place, otherwise they'd be flying all over the place. Sure the assassin could have pulled off the escape with a pegasus accomplice, but they were so rare and few in the wasteland that the chances were low. Ugh...ok, think, P.I.... Uh, pegasi aren't the only ones that can fly...for example there's--

"Yellow, we have to go." I said, turning around.

"Where to?" She asked.

My response was, "A hunch."

"Hey! What about the show?" The stallion asked as Yellow and I walked away. "You didn't find what went wrong with it."

I barely glanced at him from the corner of my eye, raised a hoof, then shouted. "Oh, we're just gonna cancel that!"

Before we turned the corner, I heard him say one last thing.

"Aw man... Was a good show too..."

"Hey there sweet thing, looking for a good time?"

I ignored the emaciated mare standing on a street corner, her face had make-up that was poorly applied, and she was wearing a feather boa around her neck. The state of her body was similar to that of the stallion's from before; my guess, she spent most of the caps she made from showing ponies 'good times' on chems more than food.

"Aw, don't be like that." She said dishearteningly as Yellow and I passed by her. "You and me can have fun together, hmm? And for no extra charge, your friend can join in as well~"

That prompted me to pick up the pace, only to have a different mare make a similar offer. Looking around, I could see that for every five normal looking ponies I saw on this street, there would be one who showed signs of early or long term chem addiction. Also, at almost every street we passed, there would be a well dressed Billiard mare or stallion peddling chems as if they were produce. I could already guess how the cycle in this city worked; the ponies would come for the casinos, win or lose some caps, then leave, however, some never left after they got a taste of the chems openly sold here.

I trudged forward, trying to ignore the depressing sight hidden behind all the bright Hearth's Warming Eve lights strung above the streets, sounds of revelry and merriment, and chatter of ponies bragging about how much they won at the tables. Out of curiosity, I turned my head back to see if Yellow showed any negative reaction concerning the state of affairs here, instead, she seemed like a foal who was just taken to some new and exciting place. She was smiling, her wide eyes were scanning everywhere, taking in every sight, sound, and...ugh...smell... A lot of these ponies could really use a bath...

"Hey, buddy, psst." Whispered a unicorn stallion standing in an alley. "Wanna see something cool?"

"No." I answered almost instantly as I continued towards my destination. Speaking of which, where is my destination? I knew it was somewhere this way, but the exact location escaped me. Maybe Yellow had a clue? "Yellow do you know where the...Yellow?" I did a full three-sixty, she was gone! Where'd she go!? She was just with me!

The E.F.S. was useless with so many ponies around; any one of these markers could be her! I took a few steps back, and in doing so, I spotted a black and yellow tail turning around the corner at the other end of the alley.

"Yellow!" I shouted, my voice slightly echoing around the cramp space.

Seconds later, her head popped out. "Hold on a second, P.I.!" She shouted back. "This buck wants to show me something!" The mare then disappeared from my vision.

Oh no.... Oh no no no! "Yellow, come back!" She didn't.... "Dammit!" I then ran after her, my hooves kicking up water as I trotted over puddles.

Once I turned the corner, I spotted Yellow and the buck standing at a dead end.

"It's right behind this." The buck said as he patted a dumpster.

Yellow looked at it quizzically? "Ok, what's there?"

With his head, the buck gestured for her to get closer. "Just take a look."

"Yellow!" I shouted.

Yellow turned to me. "Hold on, hold on. Let me just get a look at," she took a few steps forward to see what was behind the dumpster, "...this dead stallion..."

"Cool, isn't it?" The buck said with a devious grin on his muzzle. He then whistled, giving the signal for three ponies to emerge from the dumpster behind me.

Yellow looked at the ponies, the body, me, then the buck. "Uh...gee, that sure was interesting," she said with a nervous grin as she slinked over to my side, "but me and my friend have somewhere to be."

The buck spoke, his voice low, yet full of excitement. "Heh, you and your colt-friend aren't going anywhere."

I slowly shook my head as I facehoofed. "Ugh...Yellow..."

"What!?" Questioned Yellow as she raised her hooves. "How could you be mad at me right now!?"

I groaned before responding. "Because that buck tried to lure me here and failed! He only succeeded because of you!"

Her face slightly winched as she shrugged. "Oops."

I balked. "Oops!?"

"Well what do you want to me to do, apologies?"

"Awww, don't worry about that." The buck said as he floated up a switchblade in his magic. "I'll make sure you have plenty of time to apologies to his corpse once I'm done with you." He looked to the ponies behind us. "Grab her! I wanna make her watch as I give her colt-friend some new breathing holes!"

"Hey!" Yellow shouted as the three ponies wrapped their hooves around her.

"Get off her!" I yelled as I reached for Conversationalist, but was then surprised when my teeth bit air instead. Oh, right! I left it in the tower! I then felt something cold quickly run across my leg, right above the bend. What then followed was searing, stinging pain! I looked to my leg and saw a thin cut in my shirt's sleeve, under it was a red gash that was starting to bleed. Looking above it, I saw the buck, the tip of his floating blade was red. Red from blood...my blood.

"Ha!" The buck exclaimed as he readied the blade for another swipe at me.

I ducked under it, then barley dodged the incoming jab. Before he had a chance to pull it back, I tackled him into a wall, then heard the sound of something metallic hitting the ground; he must have dropped the switchblade!

"Ah, you fucker!" He shouted as he striked me across the jaw with his hoof.

I staggered back, holding my jaw. The buck then lined up his horn towards me and charged; he meant to stab me with his horn! Once I saw what he was doing, I jumped and wrapped my forehooves onto the fire escape's ladder above me and immediately pulled my hind legs up, causing the buck to run horn-first into the wall. A couple thoughts went through my mind as the buck backed up and screamed out in pain while clutching at his horn.

'Wow that was cool! Very Daring Do-esque!', 'Ooh that must have hurt!' and 'I'm surprised I actually pulled myself up, eh, must be the adrenaline...'

I then landed onto the floor after my newly made cut flared up in pain from holding my entire body weight on my forehooves. I quickly inspected it; I felt a bit squeamish when I saw the blood filled tissue beneath my fur and skin... Turning back to the buck, I saw he once again had the switchblade; did he grab it in the quarter of a second it took for me to check my leg!? His magic around the blade was faltering, yet still held it airborne. He took a step towards me, but then stopped and looked to the side, his mouth agape. What's he looking at? I also turned to the side, and I shared the same expression as him.

Yellow had kicked one of the stallions holding her in the throat, and as he lowered in pain, she jumped off his back and kicked the mare behind him in the head while in mid-air. The second stallion swung at Yellow's back, but she somehow predicted he would do that and grabbed his hoof with both of hers, placed it over her shoulder, then used his own momentum to throw him off of her back and into the dazed mare. As the first stallion recovered, he got up, only to get knocked out by Yellow's hoof to his face. Yellow just stood over all three of the unconscious ponies, panting angrily.

I finally snapped out of what I just witnessed and saw that the buck with the blade was still staring at Yellow. Now, I'm not proud of what I did next, but I took that opportunity to sucker punch the buck hard against his temple, knocking him out.

Moments after the buck fell, Yellow's expression slowly calmed. "You ok, P.I.?"

I took a step forward. "Yeah, I'm fi--ah!" The wound on my leg shot out in pain. Looking to it, I saw dark crimson pooling under the sleeve of my once white shirt.

"P.I.!" Yellow shouted in concern as she ran up to me. "Is it bad!? Drink a healing potion!"

"Can't." I said simply. "Left those back in the office." I then moved my hoof, that was ok, but when I tired to move my whole leg... "A-aw!" I exclaimed as I winced.

Yellow kept my leg outstretched to keep it from moving any further. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It's my fault!"

You bet it is, I so wanted to tell her 'You should have listened to me', but...that saddened expression on her face made me not want to rub it in... "Whatever, we're ok...kinda...and," I gestured to the four ponies laying on the floor around us, "they're not. Let me guess: you got lucky?"

That seemed to have broken her out of her melancholy, cause she cracked a smile. "Actually...they sucked."

My shoulder begged to differ.

I then limped for the exit on three legs. "Let's just--ugh, get out of here."

Moments later, Yellow walked up beside me. "Here," she said, "it's the least I can do after getting us in this mess." She pressed up against me and supported my weight from my injured side, making it easier for me to walk.

"Whoa there, friend. You look like you could use a healing potion, I got those!"

Yellow looked away from the Billiard mare selling chems from a street corner, turned to me, and spoke with worry in her voice.

"P.I.?"

"N-no." I don't care if I was leaving a trail of red droplets behind us, I am NOT buying anything from these chem dealers, not even if it is a healing potion. From the look of most of the ponies around here, they could be laced with something extra--no, the WATER here itself must have something in it!

"But you're bleeding bad." Yellow protested.

"Hold on, let me just--arrgh!" I groaned with gritted teeth when I placed a hoof over my cut and applied pressure to momentarily stop the bleeding. I then scanned all of the shops on this street and looked for the least shadiest, most legit looking one I could spot. I then pointed to the closest one that matched my criteria. "There, that way."

We then hobbled towards one shop that appeared to have once been a pawn shop. The name of the shop was painted in white above the door: Avarice's Midtown Co-op; for some reason, a compass rose was painted as the dot in Midtown's 'I'. I chose this store for a couple reasons: there were no Billiards within a certain distance of it, cans of food, weapons, and other items were in the window display instead of hardcore chems like the other stores were advertising.

"Crap..." Yellow muttered to herself as she read the store's title...also, why did I just feel her tense up?

"What?" I asked.

She shook her head. "N-nothing."

Once we pushed the shop's door open, I collapsed onto the tiled floor. There, behind the store's counter, was a magenta unicorn mare with a light green mane, a bit older than Yellow and I, and had a cutie mark depicting the image of a clay pot. She was checking a shelf full of inventory when she heard my grunt.

"Whoa!" The mare exclaimed, her face full of surprise. "You're staining my floor!"

I'm here bleeding, and she's more upset about her floor?

From said floor, I nervously smiled at the mare. "Uh...you wouldn't happen to have healing potions, would you?" Whoa, I'm getting woozy...

"Yeah." The shopkeeper coldly said, her expression turning hard. "But not for you."

What? Right when I opened my mouth to speak, Yellow intervened. "Why not!? Look at him, he's hurt!"

The mare cocked her head and stared at Yellow for a few moments before responding. "Well let him bleed!" She then looked down to me. "That gang of yours, threatening me to pay your 'protection fee'." What? "Well guess what? Now your getting your comeuppance!"

"What are you talking about?!" Yellow hesitantly shouted after she glanced at all the red pooling under my leg.

The shop owner accusingly pointed a hoof towards me. "He's a Billiard!"

"What?" Yellow and I said in unison.

She crossed her forelegs. "Oh please, you're not fooling anyone. You're dressed like one."

Yellow and I stared at each other in disbelief; was I seriously in risk of bleeding out because of my fashion choices?

"Uh..." Yellow uttered. "But, he isn't one."

"What?" The mare said, raising a brow.

"He's not a Billiard!" Yellow replied. "He just dresses like that for some reason!" Uh...have you ever considered that maybe I just like suits? "And I can prove it!" She looked me over, then said something to the mare that caused me to mentally facehoof. "Um...hold on, just uh...." Did she just say she could prove it without actually knowing how!? Eventually, much to my relief, she found her answer. "Oh, here! Ha!" She raised my PipBuck leg and brandished the device. "These! How many Billiards do you know that have these!?"

The mare stared at my PipBuck for a couple seconds before answering. "Eh...you got a point there." She then turned to the back of the store and yelled, "Rio!"

I then heard a mare's voice responding. "Hmm!?"

The magenta mare then said something in some language I didn't understand--heck, I don't even think I can spell what she said! Moments later, a zebra mare emerged from the back. She appeared to be around the same age as the store pony, and her zebra equivalent of a cutie mark (Glyphmarks, I think they were called) was that of five wavy lines that almost gave the image of running water, also, much to my luck, she was approaching me with a healing potion secured in her mouth.

She uncorked it and brought the vial to my lips. " Here, drink." The zebra soft-spokenly said with little accent, much to my surprise.

I needed no further convincing as I wrapped my lips around the bottle's neck and raised my head, eagerly guzzling the liquid. Within seconds I felt the potion taking effect, some strength was slowly returning to my body and I could see the wound closing. With its contents empty, the vial clinked against the floor when I released it from my mouth.

"You better now, P.I.?" Yellow asked.

"Hold on, let me check." I then hefted myself up and inspected my leg. Wiping away some of the caked and still fresh blood, I saw a thin fur-less line above the bend of my leg, hopefully I took the potion soon enough to avoid a scar, and if so, then my fur there should regrow naturally. "Yeah, all good." I said as I bended my leg for good measure.

Yellow turned and faced out of the stores windows. "Ah...good. We should go now." Her voice anxious.

"Oh no you're not." Said the store mare from behind the counter. "You're paying for that potion."

I responded as I rotated my leg. "Fine, fair enough." I did still have some caps on me after all, and this store probably had some other things I'd need.

"Uh, P.I." Yellow said, still looking out the window.

"Yeah?" I said.

"I'm just gonna wait outside till you're done, also I have to uh," she pointed to my blood staining her Stable barding, "wash this off."

"Oh." The store mare said. "Rio, go help her."

"Shit..." Yellow quietly muttered as she grimaced and lowered her head.

Yellow then exited the store, but before Rio walked through the door to follow her, the store pony said something to her in, well...I'm assuming that's zebra. Rio's expression became one of bewilderment as she then looked out the window towards Yellow, then to the store mare, then back to Yellow again. The zebra then said something that sounded a lot like a question, which the mare then responded with a nod. Rio nodded back, then exited the store and followed Yellow.

"What was all that?" I asked the mare.

She waved her hoof dismissively. "Oh nothing, just told Rio to keep an eye out for muggers. City is just full of ponies looking for easy ways to get their next fix." Me and my fur-less, hopefully-temporary scar can attest to that.

After I paid for the healing potion, I also bought some things that I might need during this care; unfortunately, since I didn't bring that many caps with me, my purchases weren't that great, these consisted of: two healing potions, a .32 five-cylinder pistol in very poor condition--seriously, the thing slightly rattles when I move it--along with some ammo, and since I couldn't afford the saddlebags, a tattered old gym bag to hold all these.

Once the transaction was done, the store mare asked something with a completely different tone than before, this one being non-hostile. "If you don't mind me asking, if you're not a Billiard, then what are you doing in this town with that friend of yours?"

I raised a brow. "We're here like everypony else, to gamble."

She smirked. "Says the buck who spends what little caps he has on a crap gun. So why come here, if not for the tables?" Ok, wow. She's just as good at putting two and two together as me...

I didn't feel like lying, but I also didn't feel like telling the truth either. "We're...looking for somepony in this city."

"Ah. So why bring that mare along?"

I looked at the mare with confusion. "Aren't these questions getting a little personal, miss...?"

"Salt Glaze." She said. "And I'm only asking this because I'm worried about that mare you're with."

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"The three families are always looking for mares that are pleasing to the eye. They promise them jobs in their casino's, but soon end up hooked on chems and selling themselves out in the streets. And that mare friend of your's is just the kind of pony they look for."

That wasn't a pleasant thought, I've seen those same mares Salt Glaze was describing on this very street. Still...none of the Billiards had tried 'recruiting' Yellow, so Parlor must have told them she was with me. Actually...now that she mentioned the other families...

"Uh, speaking of the families..." I said.

"Hmm?" She muttered.

"What do you know about them?"

"Ha! Families!" She said with venom as she lightly thumped her counter. "By old Equestrian standards, organized criminals is what they really are! Their one step above raider; they'll do the same things raiders do, but solely for caps."

"Ok uh, dully noted. But who runs them? I know Pool Parlor leads the--"

She cut me off. "You've already met Pool Parlor and that son of a bitch Knock Out?" I had to agree with her there; Knock Out's a son of a bitch, but I'd say it differently...

"Uh, yeah..." I looked at my scar that wouldn't have been healed if she still thought I was a Billiard. "I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say that you don't exactly like them."

Her face scrunched up. "That ass charges every store in Avarice's midsection for the rights to sell in 'Billiard' turf; he calls it a 'protection fee'. We don't pay, an 'accident' happens to either the shop or the owner itself."

"And you didn't pay?"

She seemed insulted. "Of course I did, what do you take me for, an idiot? When you came in, I thought they wanted more."

Ok, I'm getting a bit off-topic here. "But what can you tell me about the other two families?"

"Well there's West Avarice run by the Headstones; head's a ghoul by the name of Headstone; he's real creative when it comes to naming things. Other than their casino 'The Crypt', they're mostly known for making and selling chems for the more hardcore users; their stuff would kill you if you ain't careful! Then there's East Avarice that's run by the Mini-Caesars. Their leader is an old zebra mare by the name of Tonikum. Her casino is called 'Savanna' and their specialty in the chem trade are these little home brews they make that give various effects; I've heard they produce 'natural highs' or something like that."

Headstone and Tonikum; these two were the most likely suspects for hiring the assassin to take out Parlor. I then placed the gymbag over my back and turned for the door. "Thanks for the info." I said. "You've probably made things a bit easier in my search."

"Hold on!?" Salt Galze shouted. "Which side are you going to, the east or the west?"

I scratched my mane through my hat. "Uh...both?"

Her jaw dropped. "Then you must be crazy..."

"Why?" I asked as I tilted my head in confusion.

She gestured at my chest area. "Cause you're entering both sides dressed like...that."

What's wrong with the way I'm--oh...she confused me for a Billiard, that means the Headstones and Mini-Caesars might make the same mistake--and what was it that Parlor said?

'They've put their ponies on alert, and if one of my guys even sets foot in their turf, it'll be a warzone.'

Crap...does this mean I have to do what I think I have to do?

I sighed, but before I did the...unthinkable deed, there was still one last think I had to ask Salt Glaze.

Minutes later, I stepped out of the Co-op and scanned the street for Yellow and Rio but couldn't find them. Where were they? Not wanting to wait around, I approached one of the Chem dealers I passed before.

"Hey, have you seen an amber mare in Stable barding with a zebra somewhere?"

The Billiard mare brought a hoof to her chin in thought, then nodded and pointed to an alley.

AFTER WHAT WE JUST WENT THROUGH, SHE GOES INTO ANOTHER ALLEY!?

I then crept into the alley, crappy gun ready in-case Yellow got herself into another pickle, but when I turned the corner, I saw Yellow and Rio were alone and standing under the sole light in this dark alleyway. Rio was saying something to Yellow in zebra, both oblivious that I was watching from the shadows.

Yellow scrunched her face in confusion towards Rio. "I'm sorry, I don't speak uh..."

Rio sighed angrily, then spoke in words I understood. "Fine, if you want to pretend, I'll play along. I almost didn't recognize you until Salt Glaze pointed it out, so what are you doing here?"

Wait, do they know each other?

Yellow nonchalantly shrugged. "What, can't a mare go out for a stroll?"

"Funny." The zebra mare said dryly. "You know what I mean, what are you doing out here, in the wasteland?"

Yellow opened her mouth to speak, but didn't seem to be able to find the right words, it took her a while before she found some. "So you heard, huh?"

Rio's eyes hardened. "That you ran from home? Yes."

Ran from home, huh... With luck, I might be able to find out where their Stable is so I can return Yellow. Also, Stable 73 apparently had zebras living in it as well; my guess is that it was part of Stable-Tec's social experiment...or something...I think...

"Ok, uh, wow..." Yellow muttered as she scratched her mane. "Word kinda got around quicker than I thought it would."

"What I'd like to know, is why? Why would you leave the safety of our home for," Rio then gestured all around her, "for this!? Surely you've seen the dangers the wasteland holds."

Yellow's eyes slid left to right then back again. "Eh...no..."

It was at that moment where I then envisioned Yellow and I on a hoofball field, the referee blows their whistle, we go for the ball, then both of us get dog-piled by the opposing team composed of raiders, one flame-pony, and a whole swarm of ghost-like insect-pony-things.

"You're obviously lying." Rio skeptically said.. "You've seen all that blood back at the store that I'll probably have to clean up later." Her head tilted back as if she just thought of something. "Speaking of which, who is that buck?"

Yellow hesitantly answered. "He's just...he's just somepony I'm traveling with..."

Rio cocked her head back in disbelief. "Traveling, with him!? What are you thinking!? Our home is a closely guarded secret, if he knows anything abou--"

"Relax!" Yellow cut her off. "He...he doesn't know anything...I-I haven't told him anything."

Wait, their Stable location is a secret? Shit. That means if I just ask Salt Glaze or Rio for directions, they'd deny being from one.

"Good." Rio said with a quick nod. "If you just wanted to see the wasteland, you should have joined with one of the trade outposts like I did."

"Oh suuure," Yellow said sarcastically while rolling her eyes. "go out into the wastes just to stand behind a store counter...real exciting."

"You know perfectly well what our home lacks!" Rio retorted. "At least I'm allowed to be out here, unlike you. Now, I hope you've had a great time out here, because you're going home. I'm sending word back home for somepony to pick you up, you have no reason to be out here." She then turned for the exit.

Well that kinda solved my dilemma for me.

"Wait, I have a perfectly good reason!" Yellow shouted, causing Rio to pause.

"Really?" Rio said doubtfully. "And what would that be?"

Yellow scanned the ground below her before raising her eyes towards Rio's "Th-the...uh...I'm..."

"See, no reason." Rio said before she took one step out from under the light.

"I-I'm with the Inquisitor!"

Rio turned back to Yellow and looked at her as if she couldn't tell if she was being serious. "The Inquisitor? Him? The buck with the scar on his mouth and the stupid hat?"

Scar on his mouth and the st--are they talking about me!? ...Hey...my hat's not stupid...

Yellow quickly nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't be traveling with him if he wasn't. That's as good a reason if any, right?"

Rio seemed dumbfounded. "I...I suppose... If this is true--and that's a big 'if', by the way--then I'll hold off on telling the others. But only for a while, understand?"

Yellow broke into a small smile. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

"Hmm, we've already cleaned you off, so let's return to the Co-op. He must be waiting."

As they then began walking towards the exit, I quietly moved aside so they'd pass by me.

Once they exited the alley, I tried to make sense of what I overhead. I don't know what this 'Inquisitor' thing I might be is, but it seems important enough for Rio to postpone on informing her Stable about Yellow; which means Yellow is still stuck with me!

Right when the universe dangles a carrot in my face, it yanks it back just to mess with me...

A couple minutes later, I found Yellow standing outside of the Co-op.

"Oh, there you are, Yellow." I said as I pretended to be slightly surprised. "Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

Yellow spoke as she turned around to face me. "Oh, sorry about that. Blood's harder to get off of this suit than I thoug--" She then jumped back and stared at me with surprise written on her face. "Who are you!?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Wait..." Her eyes went to my Pipbuck, then the scar on my mouth. "P.I.?" She asked, unsure if it was really me.

"Uh...yeah?" I said. "It's me, why wouldn't it be?"

"What happened to your clothes, and your hat?"

That's why she didn't recognize me? Cause I removed them? Eh, I could have kept the hat on, but it wouldn't feel right without the entire ensemble.

"I took them off." I answered with a shrug.

"Oh, wow." The amber mare said as she inspected me from all angles. "This is the first time I've seen you without a suit. You look so...different without your get-up; didn't recognize you."

I annoyingly rolled my eyes. "Ugh, don't remind me. I feel...naked without them."

She stopped in front of me. "So why'd you take them off?"

I gestured to the gym-bag on my back that had my suit and newly-bought items in it. "Well they were drenched in my blood, plus it'd be safer where we're going if I'm not mistaken for a Billiard."

Yellow brought her head back, almost as if she remembered something. "Oh yeah, the east side and west side of this place; we got to check them, right? So which one were we going to before we uh...", she said this last part in a near whisper, "went into an alley?"

No, no, no, Yellow. YOU went into that alley, I just went after you. Just thinking back to that moment tempted me to waltz into the Co-op and demand they take Yellow back home. Sadly, I knew that even if I'd done that, they'd play dumb about being from a Stable in the first place, and there was also that talk Yellow and Rio had about me being an 'Inquisitor'--whatever that means. I'd stay in the shop and ask what that means and also have them just take Yellow off my hooves, but this job kinda has a time limit... One which I'd rather get done as quick as possible; I'll just come back after the job.

After making up my mind, I answered Yellow's question. "Right now, we're going to neither."

In response, Yellow questionably raised her brow. "Then...where are we going?"

"This way, store owner gave me directions."

I turned and continued towards my earlier hunch, hopefully, along the way, nopony will offer Yellow free candy from the back of a moving cart...

"If you're here for food or medical reasons, go to the back of the line."

I looked away from the shining crystal-griffon towards said line, and--holy smokes that's a long line! It was formed from the starving, the injured, the sick, and seemed to go around the parking complex! The end of the line wasn't that far from the beginning, it was as if a snake wrapped itself around a brick, then stared at its own tail!

I looked back at the armed and armored half lion, half eagle who was guarding the entrance to the complex with another griffon, his gun was sheathed in its holster strapped on his armor, but I still answered nervously.

"Eh...neither...?"

"Then I'm afraid you're not getting in unless--" He stopped talking when a buck with a bandaged leg limped out. A couple seconds later, the griffon looked away from me and gesture for the mare who was next in line to approach. He then turned back to me as his partner searched the mare before letting her in. "If you're not here for any of those reasons, and unless you have important business with the Envoy, then I suggest you leave."

'The Envoy'? I thought they were the Crystal Empire. "Wait!" I quickly said. "But I do have business with you!"

"Really now? And who are you to have business with the Envoy?"

I had to think quick. "I was sent by...by Pool Parlor."

"Pool Parlor?" The griffon said before he and his partner looked at each other, then to me. "But you don't even look like a Billiard."

I grimaced; the ONE time I remove my suit, and it would have been better if I kept it on...

I sighed. "Hold on." I turned to Yellow. "Can you pull out my suit?" She nodded, then unzipped the bag still on my back and extracted the bloody garment. "See, Billiard. Just spilled a little tomato sauce on it."

He stared at my suit for a few moments, then motioned for his partner to get closer. Once he did, they had a quiet discussion, however, they were terrible at whispering, and I could still hear them...

"That doesn't look like tomato sauce to me, looks like blood."

"It probably is, you know how Billiards can be when somepony owes them caps. The pony he stabbed is probably bleeding somewhere in the line."

"Well if it is blood, we can't let him in."

"But what if he was sent by Pool Parlor? What if he reconsidered? Captain Phos would want to know."

"Ugh, fine, but make sure to thoroughly search him."

They broke from their short conference to face Yellow and I.

"We'll let you in, but after we search you two. You're leaving your weapons with us."

So...Tenpony rules, huh? Living in the tower got me used to being searched, but having a griffon do it felt...different; as he patted around my legs to make sure I wasn't hiding anything behind them, I could feel his talons attached to those weird digits they have that help them grab things. What were they called? Pinkies? He then opened my bag, rifled through it, and pulled out my gun.

"Yeah, this is staying out here." He said as he tired to spin the barrel, only for it to cycle halfway before immediately stopping in place. He didn't seem to pay that much thought as he placed it in a strong box beside him, then handed by bag back to me. "Alright, you can go now." He turned to the other griffon. "Take him to Phos."

The other griffon nodded, then walked ahead, up the curved, concrete slope, then waited for Yellow and I halfway up it. We followed, and once we reached the top, we spotted several tents, each of them with ponies either inside or around them. The crystal ponies--the ones who weren't in armor--were busily distributing medical aid and food to the wasteland ponies from within the tents. Looking into some of them, I could see why the line outside was so long, most of the tents they had were already full as is. After a wasteland pony had been given medical care or finished eating a bowl of...whatever it is they were eating, they would pass by Yellow and I as they headed for the exit. Moments later, I could hear the griffon guard's voice, echoing around the concrete from behind saying "You're up next."

As Yellow and I followed the griffon past some of the tents, a thought occurred to me when I noticed that these so called 'crystal ponies' weren't that crystal at all. If I had to describe it, I'd say they were just glossier than everypony else--the griffons were more crystal than them!

Peering around the griffon's side to look ahead, I saw we were going straight towards the one in charge. He was a light blue stallion, around his late thirties or so, and the reason I knew he was in charge was because all of the crests on the other guards' helmets were blue, his was the only red one; either he's the leader, or was making a fashion statement. He seemed to be speaking to four younger pony guards in front of a larger tent that had crystal-griffons flanking the entrance.

Our griffon escort then approached the stallion, and whispered something in his ear. (Oh, so he can whisper.) The stallion listened, then his eyes widened as he looked towards me.

"All of you, back to your posts." He said to the four guards and our escort. Once they left, he pushed aside the nearby tent's flap, then turned to Yellow and I. "You two, in here." He said before entering.

Passing through the flaps, I saw that the interior of the tent was lit by gem lanterns hanging off the support beams at all four corners, casting light over the sole table in the center. There were all sorts of charts, figures, and messages on it, and on the bottom of it all was a crude drawing of Avarice. There were two lines drawn in parallel to each other on it, dividing Avarice into three parts, I didn't have to guess why.

The crystal stallion then walked around the table, removed his helmet, and placed it on the table, revealing a short, bright red mane that was flattened around his skull, possibly caused by wearing his helmet for so long. "I'm Captain Phosphorescence, Captain Phos for short, the one tasked with this division of the Empire's Envoy." Strange, he said that with a tone of both pride, and annoyance... "I am to believe Pool Parlor sent you, correct?"

"Uh, yeah." I wasn't exactly lying, in a way he kinda did; he asked me to find the mare who tired to kill him, and coming here just might help me find her.

"Ah, good." He said as he tapped his helmet on the table with a hoof. "Has Pool Parlor finally reconsidered?"

'Reconsidered'? Reconsidered what? I couldn't ask, otherwise he'd know I wasn't officially sent by Parlor. Instead, I chose to give a neutral answer.

I coughed into my hoof. "Eh, no, not yet. He's still putting some thought into tha--"

"Reconsider what?" Yellow blatantly asked, causing my eyes to widen and my hoof to remain near my mouth were I coughed into it.

Captain Phos was giving Yellow and I weird looks. That's it, Yellow! You're going back to the Co-o--wait! Maybe I can use this to find out more about this 'reconsidering' thing.

"Uh, Mr. Parlor is still undecided and has sent her with me." I said, hoping this would dismiss suspicion.

He had a quizzical look as she turned to Yellow. "Why send her, who is she?"

I was quick to answer. "Nopony really, just some mare in Stable barding we found off the street."

"Hey!" Yellow yelled, annoyed and possibly insulted as she turned to me.

"Anyway," I raised a hoof and waved it to get Phos' attention again, "Mr. Parlor feels it would be good to hear the opinion of somepony who is unaffiliated with any group. You know, get a different perspective."

Phos brought a hoof to his chin and rubbed it as he eyed us both. "I see." He eventually said with a nod, causing me to slowly and calmly exhale through my nose, thankful that my quick thinking worked.

I tilted my head to the side, towards Yellow. "Just give her the gist of it."

"Hmm, very well." He said as he then spoke to Yellow. "As you may already know, this here is a small division sent by the Crystal Empire, dubbed: The Envoy. The Envoy's purpose is to form peaceful relations with Equestrian settlements for future coexistence of the two nations. We do this by sending scouts into the Equestrian Wastes, who then report back to the Empire when they find a settlement in dire need of outside assistance."

"And that's when you show up?" I asked.

Phos nodded. "Correct. We appear in small groups like this, so the settlement won't confuse us for an invading force." Makes sense. "While we're there, we do what we can to help those in the settlement; cure the sick, heal the injured, feed the hungry; kinda like a free sample of what's to come if they accept the Empire's help. Once a settlement accepts the Empire's aid, a bulk of the Envoy is sent and provides the settlement with the means to help themselves. When all of that is complete, we leave for the next settlement, but not before leaving a crystal tree as a gift." I thought back to the one in Lakeside.

"Wait," I said as I just noticed something, "you guys go to settlements that need help, right? So why come to Avarice?" I mean, other than the chem addicts, muggers, and freakishly long line just outside this complex, the town seems to be thriving.

The very shiny stallion scratched his mane, seeming to be mildly confused. "Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure why Avarice was chosen as well. Orders came from the higher ups. I assume this is an experiment to see if the same results as before can work on a larger scale." His gaze lowered to the map below him."But so far, it hasn't been very successful, for obvious reasons."

I tapped Yellow's side, and when she turned to me, I mouthed the words 'ask why'; I'm supposedly sent by Pool Parlor, I'm supposed to know, Yellow on the other hoof has an excuse not to.

"Oh," she uttered as she turned to the Captain, "uh...why?"

"Because of Pool Parlor." He answered simply. "The Empire has made a discussion based on the report we sent back, and have decided that the best way to help this settlement is by establishing a free clinic for those here addicted to chems. But for us to do that, the town has to willingly accept the Empire's aid, and Parlor, being the leader of the largest section of the town and therefor viewed by the Empire as the closest thing to the town's leader, rejects that proposal. He said, and I quote: "That would put a damper on my...'business'."

So that's what Captain Phos hoped Parlor has reconsidered? Accepting the Empire's aid and allowing them to build this clinic? I could see why Parlor wouldn't what that to happen; if this clinic is built, less ponies would be buying chems in the town.

Phos continued. "If I were the one in charge of the entire Envoy, I'd say we tried, pack up, and move on, but the Crystal Empire seems determined to win Avarice's support and has given us strict orders to remain put and continue our efforts here until the town accepts the aid we offer, which I don't see happening unless Pool Parlor is replaced as the town's leader...or killed."

Well that escalated pretty quickly...

"'Killed'?" I repeated with suspicion as to why he chose that word.

Phos turned to me, a hard look in his eyes. "What? With all of the ponies we help here, you expect us 'not' to hear something? I'm aware of the fact that somepony tried to kill Parlor--and before you get any ideas in your head, no, it wasn't us who sent the would-be killer. We're here to 'forge' future bonds with the wasteland, not to hire hit-ponies to kill leaders who refuse our gifts; doing so would reflect badly upon the Empire, now wouldn't it?"

He seemed to be telling the truth; there wasn't a hint of deception in his voice. However, despite that, I still had to follow the one lead I had.

"Be that as it may." I said calmly. "Mr. Parlor still wants me to ask you some questions," I shrugged, "one of the other reasons I was sent."

Captain Phos then preformed an action that was a combination of both a grunt and a sigh before answering. "Fine, if it will clear the Envoy of any suspicion, then ask."

"How many of these crystal-griffons do you have here, and for what reason do you have them? Also--this is more of a personal question--why are there crystal-griffons? From all the old stories I've heard, I thought the Crystal Empire was inhabited solely by, well, ponies..."

Phos shut his eyes then brought a hoof between them. "Ugh...again with this question...your question to be exact..." He placed his hooves back on the table and looked at me. "First of all-- and I'm answering yours just to get it out of the way: there are no 'crystal-griffons', crystal ponies are entirely earth ponies," he paused and slightly grimaced as if he just remembered something, "...with some rare exceptions. The ones you saw outside are just regular griffons; their armors' enchanted to give them that appearance. Second: we have them because they know the wasteland better than us and the Empire purchased their contracts, which state, that they are 'strictly'," he couldn't emphasis that word any more than he just did, "to protect the Envoy's personal and assets, not to assassinate if that's where you're getting at. And lastly: there are eight here."

Just eight? Well that made things a bit easier for me.

"And where were they all last night?" I asked.

He scowled. "Hey, I just told you that they--"

I cut him off, mid sentence. "Just...answer the question."

He angrily sighed. "Here, ask anyone outside, even the townsfolk would attest to that. Like I said; they're here to protect the Envoy. Nothing more, nothing less."

He said that angrily, but again, I felt like he wasn't lying. Maybe that chem addict really didn't see anything flying last night after all. Even if one of them did fly to pick up the assassin, anypony could spot them flying in the night--for crying out loud, they produced their own light! Sure, they could have removed their armor before helping with the escape, but anypony would have easily noticed one of them leave the complex, and I've also heard of griffons being very serious when it comes to their contracts; if they're only here for protection, than that's what they'll do.

I sighed, a bit upset with myself that I even considered the ravings of a pony on hallucinogens a lead.

I turned and opened the tent's flap. "Thank you, Captain Phos. I've heard enough."

"Wait!" Phos exclaimed. But when I turned, I saw it wasn't me he was addressing, it was Yellow. "You'll...give Pool Parlor a...good recommendation about the Empire, right?"

Yellow nervously scratched the side of here head as it slowly scanned in all directions. "Oh uh...I don't know...maybe."

"Ah, I...I see..." Phos clasped his helmet with both hooves and lowered his chin onto its red crest, a glum look on his face, probably because it meant he had to stay here longer. What he said next was in the most pathetic, brib-iest tone I've ever heard. "Before you leave...I don't supposed you'd care for some uh...crystal...berries?"

Yellow beamed. "Oh, dude! Empire all the way!"

With anypony else, that kind of bribery would have failed, now Yellow on the other hoof... Huh, could I bribe her with some berries for the location of her Stable?

"Really!?" Phos excitedly said with a smile as he raised his head off his helmet then--holy crap, what the hell!? Yellow and I both nearly jumped out of our coats as Phos suddenly and without warning, shimmered. Within milliseconds, his body was now like that of the crystal-griffons outside; he was just as shiny as them now and his body was also slightly transparent.

"What?" The Captain said. "We are called 'Crystal Ponies'."

"Excuse me." I said, raising my voice just loud enough to be heard over everypony else.

The barkeep's ears perked up before she looked away from the ponies she was serving and turned in my direction. With a confused look in her expression, she scanned all the faces around where the voice who just called for her came from, unsure of which of us it was. To make it easier on her, I waved, causing her to smile before walking over to where Yellow and I had taken our seats by the bar's counter.

"What'll you have, hun?" The barkeeper said in a friendly tone.

I turned to Yellow beside me and saw she was busy indulging herself on a bag of crystal berries, her stained lips smacked every few chews.

I decided to order for her. "Two Sparkle Colas, cold." That seems to be the only thing I ever order in bars...

For a few seconds, the mare seemed perplexed as she slightly tilted her head and raised her brow, probably from wondering why a buck would walk into a bar just to order soda, however, she quickly shrugged and went over to the drink racks.

It would probably be a couple minutes before I got my drink, and for good reason too; with nopony allowed to leave town for the time being, this bar was just 'packed' with ponies. However, despite the circumstances as to why they couldn't leave, they seemed to be having a great time; the ponies here where talking, laughing, a radio had it's volume set to max, filling the watering hole with one of Sweetie Belle's songs, and of course...they were drinking.

Currently, Yellow and I weren't in the midsection of Avarice, no, this bar was in the west side, meaning we were sitting in Headstone turf. After leaving the Envoy's camp, I decided the next thing to do was to question the leaders of the other two families. If they were the Billiard's competitors, and shared the same...'business endeavors', then they would have motive to kill Pool Parlor and the resources to hire the assassin. My plan of action was simple; meet with both leaders under the guise of a representative sent by the other family at the opposite end of them, and question them for info. Though, in this plan's simplicity, there was one problem: I have no idea where to find the families' leaders... It's not like all three parts of the town have map directories spread all over that say 'You are here. Head of this side's family can be found here.' It was because of this reasoning that I planned to ask the barkeeper once she comes by with my drinks.

As I waited for my Cola, I could overhear two ponies talking who were one pony away from me.

"Aren't you a bit worried out that we can't leave?" Asked a mare who by the looks of her and her barding, seemed to be a caravaner.

"Why?" The stallion beside the mare said with a smile before quickly lowering his head towards the shot glass sitting on the counter, placing his lips around it, raised his head with the glass secured in his mouth, then tilted his head back, allowing the glass's contents into his mouth. After he swallowed, he nearly slammed the glass back into the counter. With a satisfied grin, he continued. "You heard the rumors; they're only looking for the mare who tired to kill the Billiard's leader. We just got to sit tight till they find her, and once they do, then we can leave. Besides," he lowered his head towards a second shot glass, "of all the places to be stuck in, be glad it's Avarice." He picked up the shot glass in his mouth, faced his friend, then muttered something around it. "Sho reracks, ribbe ah rittle."

"Fine." The mare said in a tone of both exasperation and defeat as she rolled her eyes. She then picked up her shot glass in her magic and smoothly brought it to her lips. For a minute, they just drank, until the mare spoke again. "So who do you think the killer is?"

The stallion placed his glass down and licked any remnants of the drink off his lips before addressing his friend with a confused look on his face that was starting to show signs of inebriation. "Killer?"

"You know." The mare said as she readied another drink. "The one who tried to kill the Billiard's leader."

"Ooh..." Answered the stallion as his head swayed a bit. "Shouldn't there be a kill-ee for there to be a kill-er?"

"Ok, smart-ass," replied the mare, along with a stare that caused the stallion to chuckle, "would-be killer then. Who do think it is?"

"Well..." The stallion patted his chin. "It's no secret that the three families hate each other, so the smart money says that it's one of the other two, but...that Crystal Empire group also seems suspicious too."

"What about the Stable Mare?" The mare added.

He tilted his head back in confusion. "The who?"

"You know, the Stable Mare, the one Pon3 mentioned recently on the radio. I've heard a rumor that it's her."

"What? That's ridiculo--"

"Pfft...the Stable Mare..." Interrupted the mare beside me who was in-between me and the two caravaners. "That Stable Mare rumor, I've heard it too, but, there's a less ridiculous rumor that makes more sense."

The two caravaners gave each other a quizzical look before turning back to the mare beside me.

"Ok, what?" Asked the stallion.

"I've heard...that the assassin was sent by..." She paused for dramatic effect, then looked around as if somepony was listening--I was, but she didn't look in my direction. The two caravaners were leaning in, interested to know what the mare would say. "She was sent," another dramatic pause, " by Stage Hand..."

The two caravaners' eyes widened as they turned to each other with a look of shock on their faces, however, their faces then broke into small chortles which then shortly became uncontrollable laughter.

"Stage Hand!?" The stallion shouted in-between laughs. "You--you can't be--be serious! Everypony knows there's--there's no such thing!"

As the two ponies continued to laugh, I stared at the ring stains on the counter with wide eyes, trying to find out why that name sounded so familiar. Seconds later, I recalled what happened back in Woodtrot...

'Skeeter! Who did this to you!?'

Skeeter managed to answer me as he struggled to breathe through all the foam erupting from his mouth. 'S-Stage...Hand...'

Once the two ponies' laughter started to die down, I tapped the shoulder of the mare next to me.

"Excuse me." I said. "I've never heard of this 'Stage Hand', could you please explain?"

"What? Who hasn't heard of--" When she turned to me, her eyes widened. "Hey, you look," her eyes looked me top to bottom, "familiar."

Well now that she mentions it, and I got a better look at her, she also looked familiar. She was around my age, her coat was plain yellow, her mid-length mane blue, and her eyes were red, lastly, her cutie mark was of a campfire; a pretty common cutie mark to have here in the wasteland. I tired to place her somewhere in my memory, I just know I've seen her somewhere before...

The mare's eyes were half shut as she studied me, they then widened and a smile formed on her muzzle before she spoke. "Oh! I remember now! You were there at the Horror House!"

Wait, she was there? Oh, wait a minute!

'Oh, he's with the other two right now, somewhere in the mansion. Glad he's 'their' problem now, and not ours. Why don't you guys take a breather for a couple minutes? He shouldn't be back for a while, and you can get back to the exploration before he shows up again.'

She was one of the ponies who was setting up the lights back in Harrow's mansion! No wonder I had such a hard time remembering her, it wasn't like I had time to socialize with the other guild members back in that mansion, not with all that happened with the raiders and ghost...things...

"Oh yeah!" I said; if I had pinkies like a griffon, I'd be snapping them right now. "Now I remember you. Horror House, right? Pocket Slim had you setting up the lights?"

She nodded with a smile. "Yup, that was me." She then extended her hoof towards me. "Name's Tinder."

I glanced at her hoof, offered her my own, shook it, then grinned as I used the same alias I used back in the mansion. "Lucky Horseshoe."

Once we let go of each other's hooves, she looked around me and spotted Yellow. "Oh hey! Your Stable friend is here too!"

Yellow must have heard her, because she just lazily raised her hoof in acknowledgment while her maw was deep in the crystal berry bag; what was she doing, inhaling the berries!?

"So what are you doing here?" I asked Tinder. "You got here really quick; Nor-bell's a long ways from here."

She shrugged. "Well, I have a pretty busy schedule this week and trading with Avarice was right after helping Pocket Slim with that mansion." She crossed her hooves and tilted her head to the side a bit as she eyed me. "You know, I'd ask you the same question, along with 'what happened to your clothes?' I remember you wore a tie with some fancy hat--one of the reasons I didn't recognize you right away...did you gamble them away in one of the casinos?"

"Eeh..." I uttered as I scratched my chin while my eyes scanned the ceiling. I didn't want to explain the whole 'don't want to be confused for a Billiard in their rival's turf' situation.

"Don't want to talk about it?" Tinder asked.

"Eh, yeah..." I lightly shook my head, then looked Tinder in her red eyes. "So anyway, you mentioned something about a 'Stage Hand'."

She looked at me with disbelief in her expression. "Wait, you were serious? You've never heard of Stage Hand?"

"Uh, should I?" I questionably said.

"Oh come on! You've got to be pulling my leg here?" Tinder said with a smile, however, that smile became neutral when she saw I was being serious and clueless. "You haven't..."

"Sorry," I shrugged, "that's kinda why I disturbed you in the first place."

She sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I'll explain. There are these stories, stories that tell of one pony who practically ruled the criminal underworld back before the bombs, pony by the name of Stage Hand. And some of these stories say that Stage Hand might still be around, because whenever something big happens in the wasteland, it's said that Stage Hand either knows about it, was involved in some way, or caused it. If there really is a Stage Hand, they'd have to be over two hundred years old, or maybe it's a title that gets passed along, who knows? It's kinda like how there's always a DJ Pon3. As for why he, she, whatever is called Stage Hand, I don't know; I think it's an old term used for ponies who worked backstage during plays; you know, behind the scenes kinda stuff." She then flashed me a half smile as she shrugged, signaling that she's finished.

That's it? Stage Hand is just some rumored shadowy figure who's supposedly controlling things from behind the scenes who may or may not exist? I'm starting to think Skeeter was just being superstitious during his last moments...

"Well, uh...thanks for the lesson..." I causally said as I looked away from her and placed my forehooves on the counter. Within seconds, the barpony approached and placed two un-capped bottles of Sparkle Cola between my hooves. "Oh, right." I almost forgot I ordered these...

I reached a hoof into my gymbag laying on the floor, but was then mortified when I discovered that I didn't have enough caps left over to pay for both of the drinks. I nervously raised my eyes from the bag and saw the bar-mare looking down at me, tapping the counter at a slow rhythm as she patiently waited for her caps.

"Uuh..." I uttered as my face was starting to blush.

"Let me guess." The bar-mare spoke as her face was starting to show annoyance. "Can't pay?" My mouth was wide, yet I remained silent. "Well I guess I'm taking these back." She said as she wrapped her foreleg around both bottles, but then paused when Tinder placed her hoof on the bar-mare's leg, stopping her.

"These stay." Tinder calmly said, much to my surprise. "I'll pay."

The bar-mare released the drinks after Tinder gave her the caps for them. When she walked away to service the other patrons, Tinder turned to me with a cocky grin.

I returned her smile with my own. "Wow, uh...thanks."

"Eh," she shrugged, "it's Sparkle Cola; less expensive than alcohol anyway."

I gave Yellow her drink, then turned back to Tinder. "Really though, you didn't have to do that."

"Oh come on," Tinder replied with mirth in her voice, "it's the least I can do after you saved my flank back in Nor-bell--well, me and the other guild members there. I mean, who else would have thought that destroying a large window would have been what saved us?"

My face was starting to blush again as I scratched my cheek and lowered my eyes; that was more of gamble than anything, but I'll take the compliment...if it was one.

"Uh...thanks."

Tinder chuckled, then placed her elbow on the counter and rested her head on her hoof as she faced me. "So..." She drawled. "This is the second time I've noticed you with that Stable friend of yours... You two...close?"

That was a strange question to ask, she wants to know about Yellow? I turned to Yellow and saw that she had placed a crystal berry over the bottle's opening, then crushed it with a quick downward slam of her hoof, forcing the juice and bits of the berry into the bottle to mix with the cola.

With both hooves, she then brought the bottle to her lips and drank from it. After a few gulps, there was a loud 'Ah' when she released it from her lips.

"What?" Yellow asked while she shrugged and licked her lips when she saw me staring. "Tastes even better." Actually, I think I might try that later...

I turned back to Tinder to give her my answer. "Not really." I replied before I took a sip of my cola.

Tinder smiled. "Oh, I see... Well tell you what." She then leaned closer to my ear and for some reason started whispering. "I've got a room in this town... Why don't you and I...spend some time there..."

I finished sipping my cola, placed it back on the table and faced her. "Sorry, I can't." She seemed disappointed, and so was I; she does seem like a cool pony to hang out with, but as much as I'd like to, I have a job to do right now.

"Why not?" Tinder asked, in a confused and...is that anger in her tone? Why is she getting angry? "Am I not--"

I raised my hoof defensibly. "Whoa, whoa, it's not that! I like you, and I'd totally like to hang out with you, but I hav--" Yellow then made a strange noise behind me.

When I turned around, I saw that cola was leaking from her nose and she was trying to suppress a laugh. "Oh..oh, I can't wait to tell Homage." She muttered as she continued to giggle while wiping her nose.

Tell Homage what? What was so funny that she snorted cola from her nose?

Deciding to not think about it, I turned back to Tinder and resumed what I was saying before I was interrupted.

"I just have something important to do right now. We can go somewhere some other time, deal?"

Tinder stared at me with one eye brow raised and a confused look on her face before answering. "Uh...deal?"

"Nice." I said with a nod. I then finished my cola, got up, and turned to Yellow. "Lets go."

Yellow guzzled the rest of her berry-cola, then got up as well. "Where to?" She asked.

"To--" I stopped. Right...I was planning to ask the bartender, but I may have burned that bridge when she found out I had no caps... "Uh, Tinder?"

She turned away from her drink and faced me. "Hmm?"

Tinder might know, she's been so helpful so far, and seems like she knows the place better than I.

Following Tinder's directions, I soon found myself a block away from West Avarice's casino, The Crypt. It was less bright (with the exception of the two search lights on its roof) and colorful than Parlor's and was decorated to resemble a mausoleum. Looking past the two guards and through its open doors, I saw that the only light inside came from torches spread out along the walls and showroom, giving light to the ponies inside playing the slots, tables or merely having a drink in the casino's bar at the other end. Also, there must have been some fog machines inside, because everypony was walking through thin mist hovering a few inches off the ground that was making it difficult to see the floor.

"Whoa, spooky." Yellow said, grinning as she as also looking into the casino's entrance. She then took a step towards the casino, prompting me to speak up.

"Yellow, what are you doing?"

She stopped, then turned around and looked at me. "What? I wanna go inside, the place looks cool."

I shook my head. "Nuh-uh, we're on a job. Besides," I pointed to the newly made scar on my leg, "you remember what happened the last time you wandered off?"

She stared at it, then bitterly sighed through her teeth as she looked to the side. "Fine..."

We then passed by The Crypt and followed Tinder's directions; she said that Headstone usually hangs out in a building a few blocks from the casino that used to be a mortuary. As we walked down one of the streets, looking for the funeral home, I noticed that the feel here wasn't that different from Mid-Avarice, as once again, I passed by working mares, addicts, and more chem dealers, the difference being that Headstone's gang (Or 'family' as they like to be called.) uniforms were black, button up coats with long coat tails and large white buttons.

A few minutes of searching and I found the building. It was a simple one floor building constructed out of bricks with two columns supporting the extended roof over the entrance, but what really tipped me off about this being the place were the last few remaining letters on the building's wall that read 'F-ner-l -ome'.

When Yellow and I approached the entrance, we were stopped by a burly earth pony stallion waiting by the door who was dressed in Headstone attire.

"Now who are you?" He asked.

I coughed into my hoof before replying. "We're representatives sent by..." It took me a couple seconds to remember the name of the gang in the east side of Avarice. "The Mini-Caesars... We've come here to speak with Headstone."

The stallion furrowed his brow and spoke with a hint of doubt in his voice. "Really? And why do you want to see the boss?"

"That's uh...between him and the Caesars..." He just stared at me while lightly shaking his head and tapping the ground with a hoof, signaling that he wasn't gonna let us in. Not knowing what else to do, I was about to turn around and walk away when an idea came to mind. "Alright, I'll leave." I said with a shrug as I turned around. "I'm sure you won't get in trouble when your boss finds out that the business deal he and my boss have been working on never happened... All because you refused to let us in."

Looking back at him, I could visibly see him getting nervous. Just to test him, I took a few steps forward, away from the building.

"Wait!" He exclaimed. I turned around, and saw that he was trying to force a smile. "I-I didn't know, I'm new." He opened the door and stepped aside. "H-head right on in, I'll take you to him."

"Thank you." Yellow said with a nod as we passed by him and entered; with her head held high like that, she kinda resembled one of those snooty residents in Tenpony...

The stallion closed the door behind us, then led us towards Headstone. We passed by several rooms, some nearly empty, some full of Headstone's ponies, and there was even a room just full of black coats on racks. Eventually, the stallion stopped in front of the mortuary's office door and opened it.

"In here." He said.

Yellow and I entered, inside, the room was fairly simple, just a large wooden desk in the center, a few chairs, a fireplace on one side of the room and two windows on the other. The chair behind the desk was turned around and had a large backrest, so I couldn't see Headstone. What I could see was a thin plume of smoke tailing from behind the chair; he was most likely smoking, and from the obnoxious stench of cigarettes in this room, he was probably a heavy smoker.

The stallion who lead us here walked in, and nervously spoke in the chair's direction. "Uh... Mr. Headstone, sir?"

"What?" Asked a raspy, cranky voice from around the chair.

"I've brought them, the ponies you've been expecting, the ones from the Mini-Caesars..."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Headstone said.

The chair then swiveled around, revealing Headstone. He was an earth pony ghoul with a black, button-up coat similar to his ponies, only the buttons on his were gold, looking at his uncovered parts, there were large sections of his tan coat missing, exposing his jerky-like skin beneath, one of his eyes was purple, while the other was a cloudy, murky white. He was also wearing an old, matted top hat, preventing me from finding out if he still had his mane or not.

"Th-these two, sir." The stallion apprehensively said, pointing at us. "Were you not expecting them?"

Headstone placed his hooves on the desk and inspected Yellow and me, sneering while doing so. With his tongue, he then moved the cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other before speaking to the stallion.

"I wasn't expecting anyone, you id--" He looked towards us and scowled. "The fuck's wrong with you?"

Me? There wasn't anything wrong with me. I then turned to the side and saw what he meant. Yellow had a fearful look on her face as she was shrinking away to the point where her back was against the wall.

She then pointed a shaky hoof at Headstone. "That pony! He's--he's de-dead!"

Wait... Did I never explain ghouls to Yellow?

Headstone gawked at her; I couldn't tell if he was insulted or honestly wondering what was wrong with her.

He then turned to the stallion. "I wasn't expecting nopony..." Headstone said, animosity underlined in his words, causing the stallion to pull his head back and his face to redden. "Get 'em out of here!"

The stallion quickly nodded, then turned to me, outrage that I had gotten him yelled at was clear on his face as he reached for me.

"Wait!" I shouted at Headstone as the stallion neared. "I need to talk to you, it's important!"

He glared at me. "I don't care."

"It's about the attempt on Parlor's life last night!"

"Ha!" He laughed, a puff of smoke escaping from his mouth. "Even more reason not to care!" He looked at the stallion again. "Out, now!"

The stallion wasted no time and quickly grabbed me, then despite my struggles, wrapped his foreleg around me and picked me up--I'm being stallion handled! He then opened the door, shoved Yellow out first--who was more than glad to leave the room, then he got on his hind legs, wrapped one foreleg around my neck, had his other hoof grab my tail, then threw me out of the room, headfirst into the wall opposite of the door!

When I landed on the floor, I instantly brought my hooves to my head and tried to rub the pain away; I couldn't tell if it was working, or making it feel worse!

Yellow lowered herself towards me. "P.I., you ok?"

"U-ugh!" I grunted with my eyes shut tight. When I did open them, everything was spinning and--dammit--my vision has been doubled! There was two of everything! Two Yellows orbiting each other, two of Headstone's guard walking back to his boss, and two of--ugh--some...somepony who was standing out here, a--a mare I think, probably waiting to see Headstone. I couldn't get a good look at her, she was a bit out of focus, but I could see that she was entering Headstone's office.

Headstone's voice reverberated in my ears before the mare closed the door. "Oh great, another one!"

Yellow was nudging me. "P.I.!"

"Healing...potion." I uttered as I continued to lay on the floor, writhing in agony while clutching my head. Since I didn't have the caps on me to buy more healing potions, I was hoping to save them for emergencies--but the pain! It felt as if somepony had opened my skull then constantly bludgeoned it with hammers! Also, ugh--I think--I think that throw...cracked my skull! Wait, I think it did! The only thing that wasn't double was the image my PipBuck was showing me of an earth pony buck who was frowning and his head was flashing red.

Yellow reached into my gymbag, brought out the bottle, then uncorked it and brought it to my waiting lips. I wrapped my lips around the bottle's neck and endured the pain as I lifted my head back, drinking it similarly to how the caravan stallion back at the bar was drinking his alcohol. After spitting out the bottle and letting the potion do its work, the pain in my head was receding, the buck my PipBuck was showing me's head was no longer flashing, and the world slowly focused into one and stopped spinning.

I got up and lightly rubbed my mane, feeling some kind of dust in it. Looking to the wall, there was a dent in it the same shape as my cranium. Now I know what was in my mane: specks of wall stuff.

"You ok now?" Asked Yellow.

I patted the bits of wall out of my mane. "Yeah." I winced and rested a hoof on my head; it may have been healed, but it still left me with a piercing headache. I then started for the exit. "Lets just get out here, Headstone won't talk to us..." I then stopped and my ears perked up when I heard a muffled 'thump' noise coming from behind.

"Why'd you stop?" Asked Yellow.

I didn't answer her and instead turned around and looked at Headstone's office door. That's strange... There's supposed to be three markers on my E.F.S. pointing in that direction, but I'm only picking up two... My eyes then widened when one of them suddenly disappeared, leaving only one!

I then quickly passed by Yellow and opened Headstone's door, what I then saw was not what I was expecting. The guard who threw me was the first thing I saw, he was splayed out on the floor, dead with fresh blood trickling down from a hole in his head. (Ok, maybe his headache might be worse than mine.) Raising my eyes, I saw Headstone slumped back in his chair with his eyes looking upward and black-ish green blood--or what counted for ghoul blood--was running down his face from a hole in the center of his forehead. After two seconds of seeing this sight, I immediately knew who did it, because the killer was still in the room. Turning to the windows, I saw a red coated mare opening one of them, a silenced pistol held in her magic.

Yellow walked over to me. "P.I., lets just go already, that dead guy is," she looked into the room and saw the two fresh corpses, "...dead..."

The red mare's ears twitched, she then turned around and saw us standing at the doorway. As I stared back at her, I realized that I found the assassin I've been looking for, and to my surprise, her description matched what the chem addict described. She was a red coated unicorn, one or two years older than Yellow or I, with a mid-length yellow mane and tail, seeing her for myself, I noticed that she also had blue eyes and her cutie mark was of...I don't know what that's supposed to be. It was of three bent arrows pointing at each other in a clockwise motion, forming a triangle; the arrows were each a different color, red, yellow, and blue.

To my confusion, she then smiled at me. "Oh, it's you again..." She said in a seductive yet mocking tone, as if she just ran into an old friend.

Me again? Wait a minute... That face, and that voice... I then mentally envisioned the mare wearing a lab coat and speaking in a timid tone.

'I'm...I'm Savvy...'

Son of a bitch... She's Not-Savvy! The mare I ran into back in Lakeside's computer room when I was running from Honey Suckle!

Speaking of Honey Suckle...I then remembered something that the real Savvy said.

'I got an alert on my terminal here saying that somepony was tampering with the main server. It was fortunate that I went down to investigate, otherwise you would still be down there. I don't know why somepony would jam that door with a steel bar though?'

Then it all clicked together in my head; the data mysteriously being erased from Lakeside's servers, the reason I nearly drowned myself stopping Honey because the door was stuck. It was her! She deleted the polymorph data and jammed that door!

"YOU!" I shouted, eliciting a grin from the red mare.

She grinned from ear to ear. "Ah, so you do remember me."

I took a step into the office. "Oh you son of a--"

"Uh-uh-uh." She said as she shook her head while pointing her gun at me. I reluctantly took a step back, and Yellow merely peaked from around the door frame. With her gun constantly trained on me, she started stepping through the open window and into the neighboring alley.

Not that I'm complaining or anything, but why leave and not kill us? Was she out of ammo? Strangely, I also noticed that her marker on my E.F.S. was still green and not red for some reason... Back when I was in Parlor's room, one of his ponies showed me the gun she dropped last night, so the one she's currently aiming at me must be a spare. Was that it, was she bluffing? Did that gun use different bullets that she didn't have much of on her? That seemed like the most logical reason, but I still didn't want to test her, at least not right now.

Once she made it into the alley, she magically brought her gun towards her and looked back at us through the windows. "Well, it's been fun, but I've got somewhere to be," she saluted, "toodles!" She then ran off. Shit!

Sparing no time, I opened my gymbag, pulled out the .32, bit the mouthpiece, then left the bag with Yellow as I dived clumsily through the window the mare left open. (Hey, I just got a head injury, excuse me for not jumping through it all graceful-like.)

"Where are you going!?" Yellow shouted at me from inside the office.

"Go-hn aphter herr! (Going after her!)" I yelled around the gun. I could still see Not-Savvy up ahead, and I immediately chased after her.

I heard Yellow's shout as I galloped after the assassin. "Hey, wait for me!" There was no time, I'd lose her if I waited!

The red mare exited the alley, crossed the street and ran into another alley. Oh come on! I've had enough of alleys for one day! I chased after her, trying to close the distance. While running, she turned back and saw me, then used her magic to knock over some trash bins once she passed them. I jumped over one, but the second one was right where I landed! I still kept pursuing the mare, however, I was doing so while running backwards on top of a rolling bin! This actually seemed to be increasing my speed, but I didn't care about that right now, as my focus was to keep from falling over!

At the end of the alley was a T intersection, and once the mare got there, she immediately picked a side and ran down it. Fearing to crash into the upcoming wall, I jumped forward off the bin and to avoid injury, I rolled when I landed. I faced the turn the mare went down as my side hit against the wall, seconds later, the bin I rode on thumped against my other side, then lazily rolled back down the alley it came from.

Looking into the new alley, I spotted the mare climbing a six story building's fire escape; she was currently on the third floor's. Once I started for the metal set of stairs, she looked down at me, then pointed her gun and fired! The firearm didn't make any noise, but I did see the flash of its barrel and the bullet shooting out of it like a shooting star! (Nevermind, she wasn't bluffing, she had ammo for it!) Thankfully, because of the lack of light in here, she missed, and the bullet pinged off the concrete near me, but man was that close!

I responded by aiming my gun up at her and activating S.A.T.S., however, it didn't do me any good; it highlighted her, but the lack of light and the poor condition of my gun had lowered my chances of hitting her near the single digits! Deactivating it, I fired two shots at her the old fashion way. I also missed, as one of my bullets hit the building's side and the other made a loud metallic sound as it hit the fire escape's railing. The mare continued ascending the rusted stairs, prompting me to give chase.

I approached the fire escape's ladder and caught it with my forehooves when I jumped, hoisted myself up, then started my own ascent. Peering around the railing and looking up, I saw that she had reached the roof. Thirty seconds later, I also climbed on top of it; there was enough light coming from the casino's searchlights passing overhead that allowed me to see my surroundings of a few roof entrances and dozens of sheets hung on clotheslines spread out over the roof.

I couldn't see her, but she couldn't have gotten away; there were no neighboring buildings near the same height for her to jump on to and the roof entrances were locked, so she had to be here somewhere.

Walking towards the center of the roof, I scanned around for her red marker-- There wasn't one. I could see a couple dozen green markers, probably from the ponies downstairs in the building, but no red one. Now that I think about it, I wasn't sure if her maker even turned red when she was shooting at me. Was this some trick she was doing, or did she never have the intention to shoo--

I stopped that thought when I felt something metallic and round pressed against the back of my head...

I heard the mare's voice and she almost sounded out of breathe. "Well...aren't you...persistent." I tried to face her, but stopped when she pressed the gun harder against my head. "Drop it...nice, and easy." I slowly lowered my head to the floor/roof, then gently placed the gun down. "There we go," I jumped a bit and my head quickly craned back when I felt her stoke one of my flanks with her hoof, "I like my stallions submissive." I rolled my eyes at that.

"So uh..." I said with a click of my tongue. "I never caught the safety word. What is it so I can turn around and see you?"

She chuckled. "Funny too, it's 'foreplay.'"

"Alright," I said, "foreplay..." I felt the gun ease off my head and took that as my queue to turn around. Doing so, I saw the mare grinning at me, her horn lit, levitating her gun that was pointed at me and in-between us, yet her maker still remained green... "You know," I said with a shrug, "I had plans for a possible date with somepony today..." I looked at the gun, then at her eyes. "Instead, it was happily spent looking for a magician hit-mare who coincidentally happened to be the same mare who tried to get me killed..."

"You know, I'm no stranger to sarcasm..." She said while rolling her eyes and her head a bit.

I once again looked at her gun, than back to her before responding. "Dully noted. So how'd you do it? How'd you escape from the roof of Parlor's building?"

She cheerfully tsk'ed while shaking her head. "A good magician never reveals her secrets."

I bitterly sighed. "Alright." I gave her a hard look. "So who are you? Who hired you to kill Parlor? To kill Headstone? Was it the Mini-Caesars? And one last but very important question...why'd you try to kill me?"

She slowly started encircling me and replied with excitement in her voice. "Oh, so many questions!" She then feigned a frown and disappointment in her tone. "Ohh, what's wrong, shouldn't you have found out by now? After all, you are a detective..." Wait, she knows I'm a detective!?

"How do you know that!?" I questioned.

She sported a devious grin. "Ah, Detective... Detective. Detective. Detective." She quickly repeated, each time taking a step towards me with her gun, causing me to take steps back. "Mmm, De-tec-tive." She said that as if she were savoring the word, then lightly grimaced while shaking her head. "Nah, doesn't have much of a ring to it." She brought a hoof to her chin and tapped it a few times as if in thought. "Oh, I know!" She said with amusement. "How about Lucky Horseshoe?!"

I silent for a spell before uttering, "What?"

"Lucky Horseshoe!" She said with a nod. "You know, that silly name you sometimes use!"

"H-how do you--"

"Oh, I know a lot of things! Including..." She took a few more steps towards me, and I took some back, passing through some sheets, but stopped when my rear hoof failed to land on something. I looked back, and saw that I was on the roof's edge!

"Fuck!" I yelled, trying to keep myself balanced, but the mare made it more difficult as she kept nearing. She then neared my ear and whispered in a seductive tone.

"Your name... Your real name..." My eyes widened when she whispered it to me. How did she know it!? Ever since I've became a detective, I've been so careful to never use it!

"Who...who are you?" I said with trepidation, my mouth's scar starting to sting...

Her lips still near my ear, she responded. "Well... Since I know your's, it's only fair you know mine..." She started caressing my chest with her hoof. "It's Triple Threat..." She then brought her muzzle to my mane and took a deep whiff. "Mmm, apples..."

Suddenly, my entire body felt weightless. The mare, Triple Threat, she was getting smaller and--wait... I'm falling! She pushed me off the building! At this point, I would have been screaming, but instead, what escaped my lips was one long gasp that I was sure would be my last.

As I fell, I saw one of the casino searchlights passed by her, turning her into a silhouette, yet I could still see her smiling...

Author's Notes:

There! After two months, chapter five is done!

I apologies that it took so long for this chapter, I don't exactly live in the most 'writing friendly' environment. Also, sometimes I might add visual aids if I feel that I didn't describe something well enough, like the new character's cutie mark; had to make that with my 'amazing' paint program skills...