Rainbow couldn't help but reflect that fate had a cruel sense of humor indeed. Just when she had discovered Gabby's identity, it was too late for her to move against her. Her back was against the wall: her opponent knew her identity, and she'd have to tread extremely carefully to avoid getting burned.

She muttered the name into the wind, viciously enunciating each syllable as if it were a curse.

Gospel Morale.

When Rainbow had returned to Featherweights house, her worst fears had been confirmed: the papers they had left behind in their hurry to avoid the child's parents were missing. All that remained was a little note, bearing an ominous message. Rainbow was to meet with him on the hill to the west of town, or the next day her secret would be plastered all over town, ruining her life forever.

There were only a few ponies that Featherweight hadn't spied on: his own family. It wasn't his father, the doctor, who was the culprit however. Rainbow had managed to piece the puzzle together as she flew. Gospel Morale was a lawyer, and had arrived in Ponyville under the pretense of visiting his family. Secretly, however, he was printing his underground leaflets, disguised as a visitor.

Rainbow was amazed he had managed to avoid her gaze for so long, but Luna's warning echoed in her mind: he was a dreamless pony. That meant something, didn't it? Rainbow wasn't very experienced in psychological matters, but if Gospel could control his dreams, or avoid them, maybe he could control his expressions? That would have been one way for him to hide during her revelation at the town hall. She had scanned each and every face there, and very few had shown the emotions she needed to suspect them. All he would have needed then, was a way to conceal his activities. Acting under the cover of darkness was one way...

She decided to remain focused. If she could just find out if her secret was safe, or if he was bluffing, then she could attack. Maybe all wasn't lost. Rainbow wasn't in the habit of giving up, after all, and Gospel couldn't have known about her for too long.

She landed next to a lonely tree, sitting alone on the hill Gospel had described. It overlooked both the town, and Sweet Apple Acres. The early night cast a dim white light on the entire countryside, and if Rainbow had been in the mood, she might have pulled up a cloud and admired it for a time.

"Okay, I'm here. why don't you come out, and we can talk face to face."

She looked around, growling angrily. She might be in trouble, but she wasn't about to be friendly.

A thin, tall, white earth pony leaned around the tree. Rainbow recognized him immediately. She had stared at the pictures in her files often enough.

"Gospel," she muttered.

"Rainbow Dash. What a fine evening," he replied, matter-of-factly. "I found out you're Spectre."

Rainbow Dash flared her wings, instinctively. Maybe Gospel could control his expressions, but Rainbow could not. "Yeah, and I found out you're Gabby Gums. What of it?"

Gospel was calm: not the relaxed sort of calm Rainbow was used to seeing, but a sort of forced calm, like there was nothing Gospel was reacting to. Like he had no soul.

"I want you to stop your investigation," he told her.

It was time to find out what her position was, exactly.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I have my printers already working on tomorrow's leaflets, and they have a very nasty story to tell about you. Of course, you could buy some measure of silence by removing yourself from the investigation... But if I get arrested, who's to stop my assistant from distributing my letters around town?"

Rainbow cursed. He had an assistant? That would make things more complicated.

"Who'd throw their lot in with you?" she asked.

"Somepony rather  slow to understand the gravity and seriousness of my cause, but thankfully innocent enough to be free of secrets," Gospel explained.

"So, he's a doofus."

Gospel hesitated.

"Well... yes, he is pretty stupid."

So Gospels assistant was a stallion... or colt. It was something, at least. And combine that with stupid, and chances were it was either Snips, Snails, or both.

"How long do you expect to last, even with me out of the picture?" Rainbow asked. "The guard are onto you, you know! I was just helping them along faster."

"Long enough to buy my way out of this country. A few wealthy ponies are quite interested in keeping their secrets hidden. This little show is quite a good demonstration of what I can accomplish."

Rainbow spat. "So you're just blackmailing ponies. You don't care about honesty at all, do you?"

"Of course I do! I was a lawyer... I do have some sense of justice."

Gospel's eyes flickered over Rainbow's shoulder, a movement even he couldn't hide from the pegasus.

"We have company. Do try to act natural... your future depends on it, after all."

Rainbow widened her eyes, and span around. To her surprise, there was a pony making her way up the hill towards her. Gospel crept backwards, disappearing behind the tree once again. Rainbow was left alone to wait for whoever it was.

It was Applejack.

Of course, Rainbow thought, she's not staying at the farm anymore until she can show her face around Applebloom.

"Don't do anything too foolish," Gospel reminded her, invisible. Applejack quickly arrived at the top of the hill. Rainbow's wings fluttered.

She looks relaxed, at ease... and she's coming from the farm, not the village...

"Hey there, AJ. What's up?" Rainbow asked, as calmly as she could manage. She had a lot to lose.

Applejack smiled. "Just gettin' back to town. Why're you up here, anyways? I haven't seen much of you lately."

Rainbow swallowed nervously. "Just admiring the view... my wings are a little tired, so I found one of the highest spots around."

Gospel, hidden behind the tree, listened closely. His breathing had slowed down, and he was barely making a sound. Rainbow's voice was a little shaky: lying and keeping secret under pressure was not one of her strong suits.

"Why not your house, then?"

"...milk."

Gospel raised his eyebrow. Applejack did the same thing.

"What's that, now?"

"I spilled milk everywhere, and it smells."

"Shouldn't you clean that up, then?"

Rainbow hesitated. "You don't know that much about clouds, do you? Eventually, it'll just... go through the cloud. You know? Like a sponge."

"Clouds are like sponges?"

"Really fluffy sponges."

Applejack hesitated. "Uh, 'kay."

"Anyways, whats up with you? How is, uh..."

"Applebloom and I... it's beginnin' to work, again," Applejack said with a smile. "We're not just yellin' anymore, and she ain't ignorin' me. I even got her t'laugh earlier. I think we'll be fine."

A grin spread across Rainbow's face. "That's great. I'm glad to see that Go- Gabby can't keep you two apart."

Applejack nodded. Gospel had tensed up as Rainbow almost revealed his name to the farmpony, but to his relief Applejack was being remarkably relaxed. It was as if she was blind to all of Rainbow's slips. What a dumb farmpony.

"You available tomorrow? I don't have much t'do these days... still feels awkward at the farm," Applejack asked.

"Uh... 'fraid not. Oh, that reminds me. I need you to tell Carrot Top I won't be able to make it tomorrow. Busy, y'know?"

Gospel frowned. What was Rainbow playing at?

"Uh, sure thing. This a weather thing?"

"Yeah, it's always a weather thing. I won't be able to show my face in town for a while, I'm afraid," Rainbow said. She looked over at her house, then back at Applejack. The earth pony looked a little bewildered: it was rare for Rainbow to leave for such long periods of time. Gospel closed his eyes, listening closely. He heard Rainbow's wings rustle as she prepared to leave.

"Anyway, you won't hear anything else from me. I'm off. See you around, AJ."

Gospel smiled. So that was it, then?

Applejack nodded. "Sure, sure... take care 'n all."

"I will. Hopefully..." she began wistfully, "...this will all be over soon."

Gospel grinned. Oh, yes it would.

"Say hi to Applebloom for me," Rainbow shouted as she flew off. Applejack sighed, and trotted back towards the town.

In the shadows, Gospel allowed himself a rare moment of self congratulation. He had defeated his most dangerous opponent: the mare with the all-seeing eyes. He chuckled. Oh, yes, Spectre had been scary for a while, but once she was revealed to be little more than a young pegasus, unable to formulate any sort of plan properly, her advantage was lost.

Alone on the hill, the pale pony laughed, bathed in moonlight.

"I won! Nothing can stop me now... it'll be too late!"

He leaned against the tree, laughing hysterically.

"I'm... I've honestly won! Liars... they're all..."

He looked towards Sweet Apple Acres, his teeth reflecting the light of the moon like mirrors.

"Liars."

He held his head in his hooves, the solitude gnawing at him. He had seen liars. They were all liars... his former clients, the ponies he had prosecuted... what was the point in defending any of them? Why couldn't he just leave, the last honest pony on the planet? Rich and alone, no lies or secrets or hidden motives or past?

He grinned. Yes, that would be perfect.

Private Eye looked out the window of Carrot's attic, catching a glimpse of Rainbow's magnificent multicolored trail before it disappeared into her cloud house. He frowned.

"You'd think she'd come back here after chatting up the Princess, don't you think?" he asked. Shining Armour yawned.

"Yeah, I know. I'd hoped to get this over with quickly. I miss Cadence."

Private snorted. "You don't have to be here, you know. You're a prince now. Doesn't your country need you or something?"

Shining Armour chuckled. "Only a little. Mostly I just shout at guards, like in the old days. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a kept stallion."

"Heh."

Both stallions fell into silence. Private couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "You don't think something happened, do you?"

Shining tapped his chin, deep in thought. "I doubt it. Gabby's M.O. isn't physical violence, and Rainbow is a capable mare. I somehow doubt she'd have been attacked, if that's what you mean."

"It's only a matter of time until Gabby Gums gets to revealing her secret, whether she knows her identity or not. Gabby will reveal everypony's secrets," Private muttered. "Maybe she got scared."

"That's exactly the reason why we can't give up. And Rainbow is just like us: she'll never give in to anypony," Shining Armour retorted.

Private Eye hung his head. "Maybe..."

He heard a knock on the door. Both ponies sat up instantly.

"Is that her?" Shining asked. Recalling seeing Rainbow flying towards her house, Private Eye shook his head.

"No, it can't be."

It was Shining who got to his hooves and opened the door, cautiously. Both ponies had a bad feeling, and neither could shake their concern that it might be Gabby Gums or an informant on the other side.

Private Eye narrowed his eyes.

"Don't I know you?" he asked, a little rudely. Shining sighed with relief.

"Sorry, we're a little on edge," he said. He turned to Private Eye, ushering the orange earth pony inside. "This here is Applejack. She's one of the Elements, and a personal friend of mine."

"Sorry t'cut this short," Applejack began, "...but Rainbow's in trouble."

Shining was paralyzed. Had Gabby got to her?  Had something else happened? And how did Applejack know that they were here?

"What happened? How do you know?" he asked.

Applejack held out a hoofful of papers. "Rainbow told me hersel'. I don't know the details, but you'd better fill me in quick: I got the impression it was real' serious."

Rainbow Dash slumped down onto the comfortable floor of her house, and blankly stared at Tank. Slowly, a faint smirk crept over her face: weak, there nonetheless.

So, Gospel thought she'd give in without a fight, did he? Well, if she couldn't finish this investigation, then she'd make sure her friends would. The sound of her wings rustling made the perfect distraction, hiding the sound of Rainbow passing Applejack the papers describing Gospel's identity.

Now she just had to trust in her friends: and that was one thing she knew she could do.