"She called me a liar... she called me a liar?!"

The pony in the shadows roared in anguish and rage, throwing the heavy tools and papers from his table, letting them clatter to the stone floor with a damp crash. His eyes flashed bright green as he fixed his gaze on his paper and pen. He grinned like a wolf stumbling across his injured prey.

"I am the only honest pony left in Equestria!" he declared, and began working on his next leaflet. Halfway through, he began chanting.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire... Liar, liar, pants on fire..."

Once again, thank you for picking up my humble leaflet. It's time to spread some truth.

Last night, I was challenged by a pony with a heart as black as night. Hiding in the shadows like a coward, she dares to lecture this paper on the values of honesty. If she cannot find it in herself to face the hard and brutal truth, then perhaps it is time for her to step out into the light so that we might see her for what she truly is.

As for her allies, we shall now see just how reliable they are. Mayor Mare is in cahoots with this upstart in condemning me. A mare who has a past more checkered than a chessboard.

Mayor Mare has lived her youth without a single penny to her name, unable to remain in one spot for any length of time. This 'responsible leader' didn't even have the courage to keep her own foal for herself, and instead threw her away, unable to take care of her own child. Is this the fate of Ponyville if she can no longer care for you? To be thrown away as if we never even existed?

Her hypocrisy knows little bounds, as she later demonstrates when she takes up the mantle of mayor of Ponyville, despite being unable to care for her own family, using her title to finally steal a good life for herself: a life she has taken from the hooves of honest ponies.

This leaflet does not condemn Mayor Mare. Instead we simply let our loyal readers judge her merit.

As for Spectre herself, I offer this ultimatum: either emerge from the shadows, or I shall begin to  unleash the secrets of Equestria, harbored by Celestia and Luna themselves, upon the nation, in one week. If you don't wish to have your country broken and divided by the dark history of the country, and have some loyalty to the ponies around you, it would be best to comply with the truth, and allow yourself to find the light at last.

Lies are your only chains,

Gabby Gums

Private Eye threw the leaflet down in front of Rainbow Dash, sitting nervously in a corner.

"Well, I hope you're happy. You just made her mad." he told her. Rainbow gulped.

"Yes, but... did she find out... my secret?"

Private Eye snorted. "No. You were safe. The Mayor, on the other hoof, is in tears."

Rainbow wasn't sure whether to be relieved her secret was safe, or be downcast that the Mayor had been targeted. She picked up the leaflet and read it.

"At least we know she can't read minds. That's nice to know." she said. She gaped when she reached Gabby's ultimatum. "Oh, crud."

"Oh, crud, my flank. You have no idea how angry you'll have made the Princesses. We have one week before I get fired by Celestia herself for gross incompetence."

Rainbow snorted.

"Okay, I may have acted without consulting you guys first, and sure, Celestia may be a bit upset with how things have turned out, but I was not gross. There were kids in the crowd, for sky's sake."

Private Eye didn't even know how to respond to Rainbow's misuse of the term.

"...It was a joke?" Rainbow supplied. "You can laugh if you want."

"No." Private snapped, and then turned to the huge collection of pictures they had set up during the night. He yawned. None of them had slept. Rainbow had acquired a set of dark bags under her eyes, and so had Shining. Private could only imagine how bad he looked now: between him sleeping on a couch for a few days back in Canterlot and now this, he was probably beginning to look like a zombie.

"How about you cut trying to lighten the mood and use your supposed 'eye magic' on these pictures?" he said. Rainbow sighed, and got to her hooves, swaying slightly.

"Okay, okay..."

She glanced at each of the portraits. Featherweight had done a wonderful job... now then, how many had she seen? How many didn't 'fit'? She took a red marker from the table and crossed out several ponies.

They weren't reacting right. Like they didn't care.

Twelve faces were crossed out in a matter of seconds. Private Eye was forced to accept the truth: this was indeed Spectre, even if she was also a lazy, good for nothing pegasus. Private Eye couldn't help but be a little disappointed: he had hoped for some kind of super genius, straight out of those books his second wife liked to read. He supposed it was because he had built up an image in his mind about what Spectre was going to be... obviously, he couldn't be entirely satisfied.

Rainbow circled a few faces that she remembered looked suspicious. Anger and indignation were the emotions she was looking for.

It's a good thing the event was so late at night... I can assume most ponies went straight to bed, so they didn't go telling anypony else about my challenge. That means that Gabby Gums had to be there.

She scrutinized each picture: one of them had tried to wreck Applejack's family, tear Twilight from her parents, destroy Mayor Mare's reputation... which one? Even she couldn't tell somepony that heartless just by glancing at their face. She needed a reaction.

"Private, do you have any good ideas about how to goad a reaction from Gabby?" she asked, thoughtfully.

"You mean troll her?"

Rainbow hesitated, then grinned. "Yes, exactly that."

"Calling her a hypocrite seems to hit a nerve. Have you read that last leaflet? She sounds like she's two planks short of murdering everypony with a meat cleaver."

On second thought, maybe we shouldn't provoke her too much...

"Well, getting her to kill ponies with a sharp knife in public would be an effective way of catching her, I guess..."

"A bit unethical, though." Private Eye admitted.

"Well, I'm game if you are." Rainbow told him with a smile. If she kept a careful eye out, she would notice if anypony tried to cause trouble, not that she had difficulty in finding alarming situations even before her photographic memory.

"I'll figure something out." Private Eye promised.

Oh, boy.

Shining Armour let his hoof fall, once, twice. Three times.

He heard movement from inside. Would Twilight have figured out it was him? Was she going to lock the door?

The door opened. Instead of Twilight, Shining came face to face with her little purple dragon, Spike. Shining remembered him: helpful little guy, a bit clumsy. He sort of reminded Shining of himself back in his younger days in the guard: always tripping over in front of the Captain, and even worse, Cadence.

"Hello, Spike. Is Twilight-"

"She's upstairs." Spike provided. He seemed sympathetic. He probably knew better than anypony... anydragon... what Twilight was feeling. The guy must have incredible mental resilience just to be in the same room with her twenty-four/seven. Shining knew better than to stick around when Cadence was on the war-path, after all.

"Thanks. Is she doing all right?" he asked, dropping his tougher, Guardpony guise and replacing it with his kinder, gentler side, the one he used when dealing with Twilight, and Cadence.

"She's doing better, I guess. She's stopped eating all the ice cream, at least." Spike told him. "And she lectures me about it..." he muttered darkly.

Shining felt he should have laughed, but he was too nervous. He stepped inside, the library feeling unusually oppressive for such a cheerful building.

"Twilight? Hello?" he called.

He saw his sisters head pot out from around a corner. She widened her eyes in surprise. "Oh! It's you!"

Shining tried to smile, but found it harder than it had always used to be.

"I wanted to see how you were. You haven't been answering any of mom's letters."

"I know."

They stood apart, keeping the empty room between them. It was Shining to take the first step towards bridging that gap.

"Do you want to talk?"

"I want to know why you never told me!" Twilight asked weakly, as if Shining's presence sapped all of her energy away. "I understand why mom and dad never said anything... but we told each other everything!" she exclaimed. "Except that isn't even true, is it? You never told me about you and Cadence, who were my only friends back home. You never told me about joining the guard. I had to learn that from Celestia."

Twilight struck a nerve when she mentioned the guard.

"I didn't want you to worry about me..."

"You never tell me anything! It's like you treat me like some kind of stranger." she snapped. "Maybe Gabby isn't so bad after all."

Shining rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly exhausted. "Twilight, just stop. We never meant to hurt you, we just wanted you to feel accepted... always."

His words seemed to gain a little traction. He decided to press his advantage. "I know we made some mistakes my not telling you from the start... but we're your family, and nothing some stupid leaflet can say will ever take that away."

Twilight seemed to mellow slightly. Shining smiled. "C'mon, don't make me get Cadence to do a love spell on you just to get you to talk to me."

Twilight narrowed her eyes, even though she was obviously amused. Shining almost felt like jumping up and down: he had almost gotten Twilight to smile.

"You wouldn't." she hissed.

Shining held his hooves up in mock surrender. "It was a joke!"

Twilight unfolded the leaflet that she had gotten a few days ago. She looked at the words written down, and then over at Shining. She knew she couldn't stay away from her family forever... at least not her brother. But the leaflet made the whole tale sound so pitiful... like her parents had been forced to bring her in.

"Will you tell me what really happened, then?" she asked, tossing the leaflet away. Shining nodded.

"Sure thing, Twily."

Rainbow Dash couldn't quite believe that if she had been wrong, Gabby would have plastered her most shameful secret for the world to see on a piece of paper, ruining her life with a few pen-strokes. What if things had turned out differently?

She needed air.

Trotting around outside, she had left Private Eye alone to look for any important details on their remaining suspects... and despite her diligent work, there was still a lot of them. He'd be working for a good long afternoon, still. And then there was their plan.

The angrier I make Gabby, the worse I make my life if she ever finds out who I am.

What if she was found out? Gabby might have tipped her hoof slightly at the charity, and she might be cornered in Ponyville, but Rainbow couldn't deny that she had just glued a target on her forehead. Her forehead, and Shining Armours. And if she was really, really unlucky... her friends might be targetted next. In fact, how long before the other elements of harmony would have to suffer Gabby's tortured gaze?

Rainbow went cold. Was it really just a matter of time before Gabby went straight for her? For Rainbow Dash, not Spectre, the ghost detective that was chasing shadows.

She needed apples.

The orchard was nice this time of day. The soft aroma wafted through the air, carried by the soft breeze. When Rainbow finally arrived, she quickly raided one of Applejack's trees, ruthlessly satisfying her hunger, and also calming her mind with the sweet comfort food.

Maybe I should just have stayed out of this whole mess...

Rainbow had to admit that the risk far outweighed the benefits to herself. If she just kept her head down, Gabby might overlook her. Instead, what was she fighting for? A few lies her friends kept?

She rested her head against the trunk of the tree, and closed her eyes.

"Raidin' my crop again?"

Rainbow knew that it was Applejack. She didn't even have to have flown, her eyes recording all the information she would ever need, to know that Applejack had been hovering around the outskirts of the Acres, waiting for an opportunity to see her two siblings and grandparent.

"I was hungry." Rainbow told her.

Applejack gave the tree a sharp tap, causing one of her fruit to fall onto her hat. With one swift movement, she threw her head up, and caught the apple in her mouth. She began chewing instantly. She needed a bite to eat herself.

"Fair 'nough."

Rainbow had seen her sometimes whilst flying. She could practically read Applejack's mind even before she had begun registering information with her subconscious method, and her sight told her all she needed to know about her friend. She was in pain.

Rainbow knew that Applejack had figured out that Big Macintosh had come to terms with her past, from the relaxed sag in her shoulders from yesterday, the tightened corners of her mouth, and her upright ears. And yet, she hadn't returned to the farm. Applejack still couldn't face her sister, whom Rainbow had seen from the skies.

Flattened ears, twitchy eyes, tensed muscles. Those aren't the sign of a happy filly.

"Granny told me it weren't my fault." Applejack told her, without warning. Rainbow's wings fluttered. Her peripheral vision picked up signs of regret, of haunting. This was a confession. Rainbow instantly chastised herself for using her sight so blatantly on her friend: it didn't seem honest to read her on purpose. Now that she was aware of what she could do, it felt like reading her diary.

"You were a filly, back then. I don't think many ponies could blame you." Rainbow answered back.

"I know. That's what I'd been tellin' myself for the past eight years. But when I look at their pictures sometimes, I feel all guilty." she said. "And now, I'm going to lose my sister. It's just one mistake after another."

"Applebloom will come around eventually." Rainbow said. "I promise."

It wasn't an idle promise, either. She had seen it. She couldn't tell Applejack, of course... if she did, then that would make everypony afraid of her, wouldn't it? She'd be as terrifying as Gabby. Knowing the secrets of others was an unnatural gift.

Still, Applejack knew that there was nothing more reliable than a promise from Rainbow. She felt relieved, somehow, despite her uncertainty.

"Thanks." she said gratefully. "Y'know, I can always tell when you're tellin' the truth. I can read you like an open book."

The pegasus got to her hooves and spread her wings wide.

Hoofprints smaller than an adults to the left, crushed grass, memories of a bright purple ribbon...

"If you want to go talk to Applebloom, I bet she's in her treehouse." Rainbow conjectured. It would be accurate. It was almost impossible to describe exactly how she knew, but she was right, and there was no doubt about it, like a hundred tiny details pointing her in the right direction. Applejack gave her a puzzled look.

"Also, I didn't know you could read." Rainbow added.

The young stallion, trudging through the streets with a bundle of posters and a can of glue, was not a pony of great means. He had a work overload, a lazy disposition, and a gaggle of friends with personality disorders. Somehow, though, despite all of these traits, he was not related to Rainbow Dash. In fact, he had never even formally met her. He was completely unknown to the world, and had been hired to do a job that nopony else was ready to do.

Still, with this money, I can buy myself coffee for a month...

One lick of cheap glue later, and the wall was ready to be plastered with Spectre's message. He had to admit, the idea of being on the recieving end of Gabby's wrath after she read this thing was more than a little scary. He didn't mind too much, however: if Gabby was after his own set of secrets, she'd have to navigate a confusing past filled with misadventures that, whilst memorable were rather plain and dull. No abandoned ponies on the doorstep for him: he was quite ordinary.

There was a kind of justice in what he was doing, too: Gabby battled the world through papers and and word of mouth. Spectre and her goons were doing the same thing.

Disgusting, what Gabby did to the mayor...

He did not like the secretive newsmare. He never liked the gossip column, in fact. He slapped his last poster onto the wall with a satisfied smile.

Let's see what Gabby does when she reads this... preferably from afar.

Mares and Gentlecolts,

We are posting these signs all over town in response to Gabby's latest tyrannical ultimatum. We wish to make the world understand one important fact:

We don't care.

There will be no surrender before the end of the week. We are of course impatiently waiting to see if Gabby will go back on her word and post our secrets before the initial deadline.

Or would that make Gabby a liar?

We will we watching,

Spectre

Once night had fallen, a lone pony hissed and spat as he tore down one of the insulting posters, already beginning to figure out plans for his revenge.

Next Chapter: Chapter Five: Pony of Secrets Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes