It was cold, the sky a uniform blanket of slate grey, smothering the city in its oppressive gloom. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining, though the wind was annoying. I shook my newspaper to try and keep the page I was on from flipping back and forth as the breeze caught it.

I’d been stood on the street corner for slightly over two hours waiting for my contact to arrive. He was late, as usual. ‘Jumping Jack’, as he enigmatically called himself, would call at the news stand and buy a paper and a hot bran roll with his morning coffee. When he finished the roll, he would drop the wrapper on the ground as he walked away. That would be my cue to pick it up, frowning at the messy young stallion and throw it in the bin for him. What a public spirited pony I am ! Doing my part for a tidier Equestria. In more ways than one.

I was beginning to worry I’d gotten the day wrong, not like me really, but this was very unlike J.J too. Normally he was an unusually timely pony, probably had something to do with that stopwatch cutie mark he kept trying to hide. Unsuccessfully, I thought to myself with a wry smile.

I looked back at my cutie mark, a grumpy looking.....dog ? cat ? Celestia knew what, I didn’t. Speak Easy, that smart arse, had come up with the transfiguration spell to conceal my identity. I was becoming quite well known in the underworld of Manehatten, a little too well known for my liking and as it turned out, for my safety. Meadow constantly fretted about me, hugging me tightly whenever I had to leave on watch related business. Occasionally, she would hug me so tightly it felt like being beaten by a street thug would be far less life threatening.

I could see the worry in her eyes, that watery, searching look that made me question my career choice. She would never question it for me directly though, she respected my decision and backed me one hundred percent in every endeavour I undertook and, selfishly, I loved her for it. She had only ever once tried to talk me out of the watch. It was early in my career, the first time she had found me in the hospital after I failed to come home one evening.

I had been in the watch since leaving school. I trained hard, pouring all my effort into becoming the best watchman I could be. My father had been Watch Captain at the height of his career and I wanted to serve Equestria as he had, following in his hoof steps. If it wasn’t for the watch, I would never have met Meadow in the first place, that rain soaked day when a bedraggled green mare ran under my tree and into my heart. From then on I dedicated myself to becoming the best watch pony that Equestria had ever seen. At any rate, that’s how Meadow saw me and that was all that mattered.

To hear her trying to persuade me to throw away all my years of training, the monumental effort I had poured into my career, everything, was simply overwhelming.

I shouted at her. Unthinkingly, I yelled and berated her in a rage, explaining that this was my chosen career, this was how I put money on the table, this was all for us, for her, for our future, to make our dreams become a reality.

Was it all for her ? for us ? or was it just for me ? Angry, self centred Watch pony Fairlight.

I will never forget the look on her face. She quailed, backing up with her ears down and tears welling in her eyes. She didn’t shout back at me or run out as I expected her to do. Celestia knows I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had. Instead, she smiled, brushed the tears away and, standing, deftly picked up my hat from the bed side cupboard.

“When I married you Fairlight…” She said in her usual calm manner, “It was to accept you for who you are, just as you accepted me for who I am. I want you so much to be happy and I know this job means a great deal to you. I can see it in your eyes, that…that fire. The passion in your voice when you talk about helping ponies. Its one of the reasons why I fell in love with you.”

I stared at her unmoving, not knowing what to say. She trotted over and plopped my hat on my head, tapping it down with a heavy rap of her hoof. “But”, she said as she took my head in her hooves “I don’t like…like THIS”. She waves at my bandaged body. “Next time”, Meadow continued, “come home to me in one piece ?”. She smiled that special smile and my heart melted. Tears welled in my eyes now and rolled down my cheeks as I clenched them tight shut emotion threatening to boil over. “Oh meadow, I’m a completely arse. Look, i’m sorry, I…”,I sniffed, “…I shouldn’t have shouted at you. I’ve no excuses to give you that would seem right, right now. You know I’m not the brightest pony in the herd and……” A hoof planted itself in my mouth blocking any further attempt at speaking. “Oh shush dafty !” she chuckled.

“I’m going out to buy you some proper food, this hospital stuff is only fit for animals.” And with that, she picked up her saddlebags, throwing them over her side and made for the door. “I expect you to be better soon Fairlight of the Watch.” Meadow winked at me, “We have a foal to make remember ?”. Wiggling her flank at me, Meadow lifted her tail to one side, giving me just the slightest glimpse of….Oh Luna ! “Ow ! bugger”, I squeeked, my head connecting with the bed frame, “dammit”. The door closed slowly, the mares laughter gradually disappearing down the corridor.

Fortunately the rain clouds had started to drift away, not too many weather ponies around Manehatten today it seemed. The rest of the grey clouds, apparently tired of soaking everyone and everything, wandered off to annoy ponies elsewhere. That horrid grey overcast was replaced with a nice tidy blue, sunlight peeking around the corner of one of the taller buildings.

I peeked over the top of my paper just as a white buck with a purple mane and green eyes walked up to the paper stand.

“Morning Gracie”

“Good Morning Mister Trace, well today ?”
“Yeah, not bad, not bad. Usual please flower”

The paper stand mare deftly hoofed over a steaming brown bag then, grasping a coffee pot in her teeth, poured out a cup for her customer.

“Copy of the Enquirer too with that Gracie”

‘Mister Trace’ settled up his bill and quickly consumed his coffee and roll. “Must have some throat on him”, I thought to myself as he gulped the scalding liquid down in mere seconds. The roll went the same way.

As he walked off, he surreptitiously dropped the wrapper by my feet and carried on walking. “Hey buddy !” I called after him, levitating it in my magic, but it was too late. The litterbug had turned a corner and was out of sight. I scrunched up the paper bag and threw it in the waste bin.

“Sorry about that sir”, Grace called to me as I looked after him, “I’ll have a word with him when I see him next”.

I nodded my thanks to her and turned to walk away, straight into another white and purple maned pony. “Oh, what the hell !?” I exclaimed angrily. Half expecting it to be ‘Trace’, I was even more surprised to see a pony who could have been his sister. A gorgeous mare with enchanting eyes looked up at me with an equal look of surprise on her face.

“Oh my, I am SO sorry, I really should have been looking where I was going. I do hope you’re not hurt sir ?”

She must have been from out of town, I wasn’t used to ponies being so polite around here. Manehatten was a city full of individuals, full, for what I had seen, of themselves most of the time.

Gathering my wits, I was surprised by a flower floating over her head and neatly landing in the band on my fedora.

“All better now ?” She smiled at me. I listened for the telltale hint of sarcasm, pleasantly surprised I discovered, to find none. She was as sincere as could be, truly a miracle in Manehatten !

“Thank you Miss”, I blurted as she and her friends trotted past me. They seemed familiar somehow but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it. That was until a bright pink pony bounced past defying all the laws of gravity, with a chirpy “Cheery bye mister !”.

There was a distinct lack of chocolate cake on her this time, but yes, these were the very same ponies from the picnic area in Ponyville. ‘Small Equestria’ indeed.

I smiled to myself and folded the paper into my coat pocket. Looking around me discreetly, I leant down to scratch my muzzle with my hoof, hiding the small piece of
paper in my mouth. All thoughts of hygiene aside, I called in to the rest rooms of the local ‘Donut Joes’ and spat out the note.

Shire Wharf 2:00Am. Tonight.

I incinerated the paper with a quick burst of magic from my horn and tightened up my coat belt. So, it was going to be tonight. The months of investigation, the late nights, the apologies to a sleepy Meadow for waking her up as I climbed into bed. It was all going to pay off tonight. I leaned back against the stone wall of a tall dark building, feeling its cold seep through my coat. It felt good, our backs had been to the wall for too long and now...now, we were going to put a stop to these scum once and for all.

You can but hope.

The watch building in Manehatten was a modest one, built, it would appear from the outside, by someone who had been made to come up with ‘something’ that would do the job at the lowest possible price. Probably at spear point too. The offices looked ramshackle and the enquiry desk sported years of damage from the kicks of angry detainees. A very neat outline of a particularly large shoe was central on the desk frontage.

A tired cyan mare with a neat short white mane and glasses perched on her nose ruffled papers with a hoof. The other twirling a pencil in a casual display of balance I could only marvel at. Earth ponies ! Always a surprise. She looked up, “You’re back”, came the disinterested remark.

“Nice to be back Shelly”.

“Any news, or am I going to be having yet another all nighter. My foal can’t even remember my face anymore you know !”, the uniformed mare announced, her eyes boring into me.

“Your foal’s in her teens !” I replied feigning exasperation. I looked up dramatically to the ceiling and stretched my forelegs out to either side. I noticed other uniformed ponies looking up from typewriters, some peering around doorways to watch the spectacle. Spars between Sea Shell and myself were almost daily entertainment in the watch.

Shelly waved her forelegs in the air, “That’s not the point !”. She paused, noticing that something was different. Placing her hooves on the desk she leaned forward to me and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper “Wait, don’t tell me. You better not be taking the piss Fairy”.

The watchmare jumped as I banged my hooves on the desktop, a grin spread across my face. “Its ON!!” I shouted. As one the whole office went up, papers, whooping and cries of joy, relief and congratulations filled the air.

“Captain Fairlight ?” A voice hard as steel boomed down from the balcony overlooking the foyer, “When, where ?”

“Two A.M, Shires Wharf” I shouted back up, barely able to contain my excitement. This was finally it !

“My office Fairlight, bring your officers. The rest of you…”, he waved an expansive foreleg at the ponies entering the foyer, “Action plan ‘Haze’ is now in effect, teams to be assembled by oh-eight-hundred. Shake a tail people !”. “Shelly ?”, he shouted down to the desk mare,

“Sir ?”

“Coffee if you please”

“Hey ! I’m not your secretary, Mitre you old…..oh, sod it. Never bloody mind, never listens anyway….”. I was glad I couldn’t make out the words as Shelly began one of her ranting mutterings. She disappeared under the desk and the distinct clatter of crockery echoed around the office along with the loud bustle of the watch gearing up for a long overdue night of action.

“Your’re in for it when you get home Chief”, I quipped. “Probably Fairlight, Goddesses know she’s a rare one, stayed with me when many a mare would have headed for the hills long ago”.

Chief Mitre looked back to Shelly working below as he turned and headed back into his office. “You still with that green filly ?” he asked in a pleasant voice. “Yes sir, we’re very happy, thanks for asking.” I replied.

“Look after her. I’ve met her you know, met her father too, long time ago now. He was a good stallion Fairlight, one of the best I’ve ever met. Meadow takes after him in a lot of ways. Its only by the grace of Celestia she didn’t follow him into the watch.” The chief stopped in front of a black and white picture of a group of young watch ponies. They grinned at the camera, young, fearless and proud. As I had been when I first joined. Now, a few years on and sporting a healthy dose of scars and cynicism in equal measure, I wondered how the ponies in the photo would see equestria now.

Meadow had rarely spoken of her father, what little she had told me did little to help me understand much about him at all. Whenever I broached the subject, her eyes would take on a far away look. I decided to leave the subject until she felt able to talk about it.

Tentatively, I asked, “You knew Chief Apple Pop sir ?”.

Chief Mitre was looked up to by the watch in more ways than one. He stood a good few hooves taller than the rest of us and his sheer size had intimidated more than one villain into surrendering without a fight. Celestia ! Was I jealous of that ! Sure I could hold my own in a fight, its just that I’d rather not go home with loose teeth and broken
ribs on occasion. Mind you, accepting nurse Meadows ministrations was well worth a knock or two. Most of time at least.

The big blue stallion gazed at the picture lost in thought, “Hmm ? Ah, yes….yes I knew him. Pop was a big bugger, not as big as me…”, he thumped his chest with a smirk, “but damn big none the less. He was some pony that we could all have learned a lot from. An awful lot”. Mitre reached up to the photo and a wistful look crossed his face, was that…regret ?

“Sir ? What happened to Pop ? Meadow never told me, she always changes the subject when we touch on it”.

Mitre paused for a moment then turned his head to look at me. “I’m not sure I should be the one to tell you Fairlight. When Meadow stayed with us after….what happened….she snuck into my office and read my report. I found her crying inconsolably afterwards. Look, really, if Meadow hasn’t told you….”, he paused, “ have you not thought, maybe, its because she doesn’t want you to know, or that its too painful for her to talk about ?”

“I have thought about that sir.” I said, looking at the picture, “but, I’d like to know none the less. If you don’t want to tell me, it’s fine. I’ll find out sooner or later either way.”

The Chief of the Watch sank back into his old manticore hide chair. It let out a protesting creak as he leaned back in it and swung his back legs up onto his desk. “Get me one of those will you ?”.

I walked over to a small wooden pot on the shelf and levitated out a long cigar. Placing the end in a cutter, I pushed down on the small plunger snipping the end off neatly. I inhaled the pungent aroma of the tobacco and felt the familiar pang of longing for a smoke of those marvellous creations. Creations that I knew all too well that Meadow would fillet me for smoking.

The chief took the cigar from me and placed it in his mouth, inhaling deeply as I magicked a flame to the end. “Thank you Captain, you’ve done well. Very well. If we pull this off tonight, I think we could be looking at a promotion for you. Oh, and a nice pay rise for you ‘two’. Maybe…..three ?”, he chuckled, peering down his muzzle at me.

“Not yet sir, not for lack of trying either”, I told him a little dejected.

Mitre thumped the desk and blew out a puff of cigar smoke, shaking his silver flecked black mane, “Hah ! That’s the best part ! don’t be in such a rush my young friend. Slow and steady, you know the rest”. “Yes sir”, I managed.

Shelly entered the room with a tray of mugs and oat biscuits, trailing behind her were three watch officers who halted at the door looking apprehensive. I quickly realised why….

“What the buck are you doing with that thing in you mouth you old goat ?!” The mare screamed at him, “Do you know what those things will do to your lungs ? You’re half
ready for the knackers now and you’re still on them ? I thought you’d promised………”

Shelly’s berating continued amid the Chiefs desperate attempts to placate his wife as I closed the office door behind me.

“Captain Fairlight ?” one of the younger officers asked as I turned to look at them. “Should we…you know ?”, he gestured towards the office. “Er, no. No lieutenant, I think we’ll just leave them to, say, thrash it out.” I think I knew what sort of ‘thrashing’ was coming the Chiefs way. I sighed, I would have to ask about Apple Pop another day. Right now, duty called.

“Gentlemen.”
“Sir”, the officers said smartly, saluting as one.
“Lets get moving everyone. We’ve a lot to do.”
So much for the coffee and biscuits I lamented, trotting down the stairs.