The Guards closed in on the two would-be escapees. Cheese and Pinkie cowered, their minds racing. "What do we do? What do we do?!" Pinkie whimpered.

"AAAAAAH!" Cheese suddenly screamed, pointing at something behind the Guards. "IT'S A DISTRACTION!"

The Guards instinctively whirled around, giving Cheese the opportunity he needed to grab Pinkie's tail and zip off before any of them could figure out what had happened.

"Buy some apples, not again!" the sergeant cursed. "After them!" The trio of Guards chased after the escapees, their shouts alerting the other Guards and awakening the sleeping prisoners.

Hmmm. This calls for an appropriate soundtrack.

"This way, Cheese!" Pinkie said, leading Cheese down a hallway with a trio of Guards close behind them. Passing an office door, Pinkie knocked on the door as they ran past. A moment later, the confused secretary opened the door, smacking two pursuing Guards in the face.

Dodging around them, the sergeant pursued his targets down the hallway, turning the corner just in time to see them disappear into one of six doors. He hurried over and opened the door, only to find the room empty. A door opened behind him, and he turned to see Pinkie darting out of the room behind him and into the next door. He hurried over after her, but was nearly bowled over when Cheese bolted through the door and ran into another room. Scrambling back to his hooves, the Guard started to chase after him, but before he could reach the door, the next door opened up, revealing Pinkie Pie behind it. The Guard leapt at her with a frustrated growl, but she slammed the door in his face. A second later, Cheese Sandwich opened the door behind him, casually strolled out, then walked back in before the Guard had a chance to catch up. He tried to open the door, but the handle refused to turn.

"Open that door!" he ordered, pounding on the wood but producing no response. Backing up against the opposite wall, the Guard lowered his shoulder and sprinted forward, aiming to ram the door open.

But just as he was about to reach the door, it opened up wide. Unable to stop in time, the sergeant skidded across the waxed office floor and crashed into the opposite wall, collapsing to the floor in a heap. Immediately, Cheese and Pinkie raced out of the room and back down the hallway, only to find their path blocked by two Guards. "Halt!" one of them ordered.

Instead of halting, Cheese grabbed Pinkie's tail and yanked her down a side hallway, with a half dozen ponies still in pursuit, into the mess hall. The large room had several round tables organized in a regular pattern across the floor, sitting beneath wide balconies for the Guards to provide overwatch.

"Come back here!" a Guard shouted, trying to grab Cheese's tail. Cheese ran away and two Guards began to chase him in a circle around one of the round tables. Pinkie eluded her pursuers by jumping up on the table tops and leaping from table to table, vaulting right over the heads of the frustrated Guards. Getting an idea, she bounced over behind the food counter and snatched up several bananas before leapfrogging over another Guard's head.

Peeling a banana in a blink of an eye, Pinkie tossed the peel behind her as she continued to lead the Guards in a wild chase. One of her pursuers slipped on the peel, bringing both him and his partner crashing to the ground. "That's one!" Pinkie cheered, peeling another banana and tossing the peel behind her. One Guard slipped on the peel and sent it flying into his comrade's face, blinding him and causing him to collide with a table. "That's two!"

"Little rascal!" a unicorn corporal growled, grabbing a peel in her magic and tossing it in front of Pinkie, who was too preoccupied with peeling for another banana to notice. Pinkie stepped on the peel and slipped, performing a full backflip and crashing unceremoniously to the floor. Immediately, a group of Guards surrounded her.

Seeing this, Cheese skidded to a sudden halt, his heart leaping to his throat. Unfortunately, he forgot about the two Guards chasing after him. Not prepared for his sudden stop, they both crashed into him. All three of them tumbled together like a large bowling ball towards the crowd of armored ponies, who didn't see them coming until it was too late. With a loud crash, the entire ensemble tumbled to the floor in a tangled mess of limbs.

Somehow, both Pinkie and Cheese managed to escape the mess before any of the Guards could get up. They both raced out of the mess hall and towards the back door. Bursting out into the backyard, the two party ponies ran to the back fence. Taking out the pogo stick she'd stashed earlier, Pinkie handed it to Cheese. "You first!"

Cheese backed up, took a running start, then bounced over the fence in one leap, landing safely on the other side. "Your turn!" he called to Pinkie, tossing the pogo stick over the fence to Pinkie.

At that moment, the back door burst open and a dozen Guards swarmed outside. "Stop right there!" a sergeant shouted, lighting his horn up threateningly.

Immediately, Pinkie turned around and whipped out her party cannon, aiming it at the Guards. "Take another step and I'll pump you all full of confetti!" she threatened. The Guards stopped in their tracks. A tense standoff began between the two; Cheese Sandwich stared in horror, unable to do anything to help her.

A grin slowly spread across Pinkie's face. With a sudden jerk, she pointed the party cannon down at the ground, jumped and fired. BOOM! A cloud of confetti and smoke erupted across the ground, blinding the Guards. The blowback from the explosion hurled Pinkie up into the air, sending her flying well over the fence with a long "Wheeee!"

"Pinkie!" Cheese shouted, racing after her as she flew across the sky, well away from the jail and its bewildered jailors. Pinkie began to fall, picking up speed as she hurtled towards the ground. Desperately, Cheese looked around for something soft for her to land on and spotted a discarded mattress. Quickly, he dragged the mattress beneath Pinkie Pie just in time: she landed safely with a flumph and a giggle.

"Are you all right?" Cheese asked, helping her up.

"I'm super-doodle!" Pinkie Pie laughed, bouncing up. "Thanks for the assist, Cheese!" She then turned and winked. "Thanks for making sure that prop was there, Josiah."

Told you I wouldn't let you get hurt, Pinkie.

"Thanks for getting me out," Cheese Sandwich said, quickly pulling his orange jumpsuit over his head and tossing it away. "But now what do we do?"

"We take chances, make mistakes, get messy and prove you innocent, of course!" Pinkie declared, her countenance taking on a more serious expression.

"And can we get some cake while we're at it?" Cheese asked.

"Absolutely!" Pinkie agreed. "What's an escape without cake?" The sound of approaching sirens suddenly pierced the air. "But maybe we should discuss this later!" Pinkie and Cheese turned and hurried off, allowing themselves to be swallowed up by the maze of alleyways and back streets of the Canterlot night.

"Well, we've learned one thing from this," Cheese said as they ran.

"What's that?"

"Cardboard boxes are stupid."

"Totally," Pinkie agreed with an eye roll.

The next morning, Twilight called an emergency meeting of her friends. The six of them gathered around the round table of the Rainbow Castle's throne room, all of them looking at one another with concern.

"I'm sure that you all know what we're here for," Twilight opened the meeting, placing a large poster down on the center of the table. At the top of the poster was the word "WANTED" in big, bold letters; right beneath it were two photographs, one of Cheese Sandwich and one of Pinkie Pie. This was one of several dozen posters that had been plastered up about town before dawn.

"Last night, Pinkie Pie went to Canterlot and broke Cheese Sandwich out of jail," Twilight explained. "Both of them are now on the run."

"Oh, Pinkie!" Rainbow groaned in frustration, facehoofing.

"We have to find them before the Guards do," Twilight put forth.

"And do what exactly?" Applejack cut in. "Pinkie and Cheese might be our friends, but hiding from the Guard wouldn't be completely honest; in fact, it might just get us all in trouble."

"Applejack's right," Flash agreed, rubbing his chin in thought. "Twilight, you're a Princess. Can't you give Cheese and Pinkie clemency or something?"

Twilight shook her head. "They haven't committed a federal crime against the crown. I can't legally overturn their accusations."

"Seems to me that the only real way to solve this problem is to prove that Cheese didn't steal that golden chicken," Applejack said.

"Falcon!" Twilight and Rarity corrected through their teeth.

"I agree with Applejack," Fluttershy said. "If we don't prove that Cheese isn't a thief, then we're just prolonging the problem."

"That's true," Twilight nodded in thought.

"Perhaps we should form a two-pronged approach?" Rarity suggested. "Some of us look for Cheese and Pinkie and try to get them to turn themselves in safely, and the rest of us investigate the crime ourselves?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Twilight agreed.

"Can we get Phillip to come along?" Flash asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I dropped by his house before I came here. There was a note on the door saying that he'd left yesterday for a case in Vanhoover and he didn't expect to be back for a few days."

"Darn," Flash muttered.

"Don't worry about it," Twilight reassured him. She turned back to the others. "There's a train for Canterlot in half an hour. Gather what you need and we'll meet up there in twenty minutes." The ponies stood up and hurried away to gather their gear for the journey. "I'll go tell Starlight and Spike what's going on," Twilight said as she magically summoned her saddlebags to herself.

"Yeah, you do that," Flash frowned.

Deciding to save the lecture about trust for a later time, Twilight trotted down the hallway and into a study room where Starlight spent much of her days. The door was open a few inches, and she looked inside to see Starlight sitting at a crystalline table, reading a book.

"Starlight?" Twilight called out as she entered.

"What's up, Twilight?" Starlight asked, looking up.

"Starlight, we're going to be leaving for Canterlot to help Pinkie Pie. Did you want to come along?"

Starlight shuffled uncertainly. "Um...if it's all right with you, I'd actually rather stay here. Ponyville is my home now, I guess, so maybe I'd better spend some more time with the ponies here..."

"That's all right," Twilight reassured her, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "I'll have Spike stay behind to help you."

"Thanks, Twilight!" Starlight said. Twilight nodded and turned to leave.

Exiting the room, Twilight saw Flash, adorned in full armor with saddlebags strapped tight to both his sides, talking to Spike down the hallway. Flash glanced up at the room that Starlight currently occupied with a deep scowl. "Keep a close eye on her," he said to Spike, who nodded.

"Are you ready?" Twilight asked.

"Packed and ready to go, Your Highness," Flash smiled, kneeling with an exaggerated gesture. Laughing quietly, Twilight patted Spike on the head. "You take care of yourself while we're gone, Spike."

"We'll be all right!" Spike called, waving to them as they flew towards the train station. "Go solve a mystery!"

The clock struck 9:00 as the train pulled into Canterlot station with a squeal of brakes. The group disembarked onto the platform.

"All right, everypony knows the plan," Twilight said. "Fluttershy and Rainbow, you two will begin searching the air around the jail, starting from the south; Flash and I will go north. Rarity, you and Applejack...Rarity, where did that outfit come from?"

"Darling, really," Rarity laughed, adjusting her fedora and smoothing out the front of her scarlet red trenchcoat. "You can't expect me to participate in high-society intrigue without looking the part. Besides, channeling Shadow Spade worked once before; perhaps it shall work again!"

Rainbow half-rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's just get going. Cheese and Pinkie are counting on us!"

"We'll see y'all later!" Applejack shouted as she watched the others flying off.

"Come, my dear. Mystery awaits!" Rarity declared, trotting happily up the street in the other direction. Applejack followed, shaking her head.

It didn't take them long to reach Fancy Pants' estate. Trotting confidently up to the door, Rarity rang the bell. The uniformed butler appeared at the door, his eyebrows raising when he saw the guests. "Miss Rarity? This is a surprise."

"Hello, Jervis," Rarity greeted him pleasantly. "Are the lord and lady in?"

"Yes, Miss Rarity, but they are both quite disturbed by the recent events."

"Would you please inform them that we are here to help with the recovery of the Falcon?"

"I shall; I can't imagine they would be displeased to see you. Please wait in the main hall." Jervis escorted the two mares into the main hallway and left down a side hallway. A minute later, he returned and announced, "They shall see you. Please come with me." He guided them down towards the ballroom and gestured them inside. Fancy Pants and Fleur De Lis waited inside, looking forlorn and tired.

"Good to see you again, Miss Rarity," Fancy said with a somewhat forced smile, cleaning his monocle with a hoofkerchief. "And you too, Miss..."

"Applejack, sir," Applejack replied, tipping the brim of her stetson in greeting.

"I suppose you are here to aid in the ongoing investigation?" Fleur asked and gave a small, derisive snort. "It is no use. That Cheese Sandwich attempted to steal the Falcon, certainement."

Rarity looked behind her and saw the empty case where the famed statuette was normally kept. "Where is the Falcon now?"

"The Guard took it," Fancy explained. "They said it was evidence to be used in the trial."

"Seems to me, if you had so many ponies trying to steal it, y'all shouldn't be leaving it out in the open where anypony can find it," Applejack commented. Fancy and Fleur both raised their eyebrows at her. "What? I'm just saying," Applejack said, adjusting the crooked shade on a nearby lamp.

Rarity cleared her throat, taking out a notebook in her magic. "If the Falcon was removed from the case without anypony noticing during that party, it must have been the work of an expert thief."

"Perhaps Monsieur Sandwich has had a lot of practice, stealing from other ponies at his lavish parties!" Fleur exclaimed.

"But it was your friend Encore Performance who suggested Cheese Sandwich, wasn't it?" Rarity asked.

"Encore made an honest mistake," Fancy declared. "He has been one of our longest and most loyal friends, and always has our best interests in mind. When we commented that we wished for something new for our party this year, Encore took that advice to heart and began searching for somepony who could provide us with novelty."

"Hmm," Rarity thought, scribbling notes in her notebook. "What else can you tell us about Encore Performance?"

"He's allergic to legumes. What do you want to know?" Fleur said, rolling her eyes.

"Dear..." Fancy chastised her briefly before returning his attention to Rarity. "I can personally assure you both, Encore Performance, the guests and the servants are all above suspicion. As far as I am concerned, the Falcon was found in Cheese Sandwich's saddlebags; that makes him the primary suspect." He gave them both an uncharacteristically icy look. "Which makes me wonder...why are you so interested in this if your friend was the one who helped him escape?"

"Because, as Shadow Spade would say," Rarity explained, lowering the brim of her fedora as she examined the empty case. "There is always more than what meets the eye."

Meanwhile, on the other side of Canterlot, Scarlet Letter sat before a large oak writing table in a lily white bedroom, her magic guiding a large red quill across the paper, giving birth to more of the poetry for which she was so well-renowned, etched in rose-petal red ink. Inspiration had struck her early that morning and she had spent most of the morning writing, even through breakfast.

There was a knocking at the door. "Come in!" Scarlet sang. The door opened and a small unicorn maid entered. The unicorn had a white coat, a long pink mane with white highlights, green eyes and a cutie mark of a white flower. She carried a package in her pink magical aura. "Madame, it has arrived," the maid said, giving the package to Scarlet.

Scarlet Letter, the famous socialite and poet, squealed like a schoolfilly and snatched up the package, bounding over to the queen bed with its crimson sheets and opening the package with the eagerness of a young colt on Hearth's Warming morning. Inside lay the object of her dreams: a small gold statuette of a falcon in flight, adorned with multicolored jewels that sparkled like the rainbow.

"At last," Scarlet breathed, taking the Muletese Falcon out and admiring it in the sunlight streaming through the window. "Laurier, ensure that the operative in the Guard is well-paid for his loyalty."

"Oui, madame," Laurier de Montagne nodded. However, she paused at the doorway. She hated to give her mistress bad news when she was so happy at her dreams finally coming true after so many failures, but this was important.

"Madame, there is something you must know," she said.

"What is it?" Scarlet Letter said without looking up from her prize.

"One of our spies spotted Princess Twilight Sparkle and several of her friends arriving in town this morning," Laurier continued. "I believe that they are going to search for Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich."

"And that concerns me because?" Scarlet said with a bite of impatience, taking a sip of water from a crystal glass on the bedside table.

"Because Twilight Sparkle and her friends are associates of..." Laurier paused, swallowing nervously, fearful both of the name she was about to speak and her mistress' reaction. "Phillip Finder."

Scarlet Letter's reaction was instantaneous. She sat up in bed as if she had received an electric shock and spat out the drink all over the sheets. "Laurier, please tell me for once in your life, you are joking!" she cried.

"I am not, madame. If his friends are here, then he will not be far behind."

"I know that!" Scarlet snapped, leaping off the bed. Laurier watched in silence as Scarlet Letter paced back and forth, gnawing at her lip as she thought furiously. Slowly, however, her pacing slowed.

"This can be handled," she declared. "I am the leader of the Scarlets: the largest, most powerful family of criminals in Equestria!"

"Indeed," Laurier agreed. "But how shall we deal with this problem?"

"Keep an eye on them," Scarlet said. "And try to find Cheese and Pinkie as well. If they get too close to the truth..." A smile crossed Scarlet's beautiful face. "Perhaps they will have to meet an unfortunate accident."

Author's Notes:

The best-laid plans of mice and ponies often go awry. But I still managed to get this out, and I think we're doing all right.

"I think you're doing great! Although I did want to talk about the next part, where Cheese and I—"

Pinkie, do I need to get the duct tape again?

"Sorry."

Comments are appreciated! Hope you're enjoying!