Twilight, Flash, Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity followed the train rails north, winding around the middle-class suburbs of Canterlot as they searched for any sign of a house with a recently-broken window.

"Are you sure about this, Flash?" Applejack asked from near the front of the group. "There's got to be a lot of other ways that pony could've ended up on that train car."

"It's the most likely way he wound up on that," Flash said from near the rear of the group. Looking back over her shoulder, Applejack saw that Flash was flapping along beside Twilight, who had her face buried in a railroad map of Canterlot. Flash was peering around at the houses that bordered the railway, but Applejack noticed that his eyes weren't focused on the houses. She slowed her pace to walk alongside him.

"You all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Flash said. "I just..." He sighed quietly. "I kind of wish Phillip were here. He'd know what to do."

"Well, he's not here," Applejack pointed out. "We are. And Pinkie's depending on us to do this."

"That's the thing," Flash admitted. "Pinkie's depending on us...depending on me. If I mess up..." He trailed off, unable to articulate the thought.

"Flash, you need to keep calm," Twilight said, laying a hoof on his shoulder. "You're not any help to anypony if you're doubting yourself." She smiled at him. "Flash, you don't need to worry. You've solved plenty of cases, some of them on your own. And you've got us helping you out. So you don't need to worry: we're going to find them."

Flash managed a smile back. "Thanks, guys." He leaned in and gave Twilight a grateful kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush.

"Not the time, you two!" Rainbow called from the head of the group. "Besides, I think I found our house!" She pointed up to a two-story house standing up on the top of the canal they were currently walking through. One of the second-story windows was smashed wide open. Looking down, Flash saw several shards of glass on the ground beneath their hooves, some of them stained with blood.

With a flash of purple magic, Twilight teleported the group up to the street in front of the house. "C'mon, let's get in there!" Rainbow declared, winding up to kick the door open.

"Hold your horses, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack shouted, grabbing Rainbow's tail in her mouth. "Let's take this slow."

Twilight walked up to the door and knocked loudly. "Hello? Is there anypony in there?"

The only response was silence. Twilight frowned. "Now what?"

"Stand back!" Rainbow called, preparing to smash the door open.

"Wait!" Fluttershy cut in. "I have an idea; I'm going to try to talk them out."

Flash looked between the two mares, considering his options. Fluttershy looked nervous; good-hearted as she was, she was no negotiator. Knocking in the door would certainly be easier, but he had no idea what was on the other side, and no matter what, there was a good chance that somepony could get hurt if they just charged in.

Finally, he nodded to Fluttershy. "Be careful what you say to them."

Fluttershy moved to stand to the side of the door. Flash and Twilight stood next to her, Twilight preparing her magic and Flash half-drawing his baton.

"We're here because of your friend!" Fluttershy called through the door. "He led us here. Is there anypony else inside that's hurt?" There was no response from inside. "Listen to me, please. We just want to help and find our friends. Nopony else needs to get hurt. Just let us in peacefully, and nopony else will get hurt tonight."

Still nopony answered. The ponies looked at one another in uncertainty. Flash was about to signal Rainbow Dash to kick the door open when there was the sound of locks being removed and the door opened a crack. A single green eye peeped out.

"Look...we don't want any trouble," said a voice. "Just...we need to get him some help." A bearded unicorn opened the door wider and gestured them inside with a jerk of his head, clutching his broken foreleg to his chest as he limped inside.

"Nice work, Fluttershy," Twilight praised her friend as they entered. "But how'd you know to—?"

"It wasn't hard to guess that somepony else might be hurt," Fluttershy shrugged. "And criminal or not, they do deserve help."

The group entered the living room of the house. Two splintered chairs lay in a pile on the floor, along with some rope. Five ponies sat around the room, all of them bloodied and injured. A skinny pegasus lay on the sofa, a throwing knife embedded in his heaving, blood-stained chest. Fluttershy immediately hurried over to him as he raised his head.

"Where's my brother?" the injured pegasus feebly groaned.

"He's at the hospital, he's all right," Twilight reassured him.

"It's a good thing you didn't try to take this out yourselves," Fluttershy commented, ripping up several sheets and bandaging the pegasus' chest. "You probably would've killed him if you had."

"We couldn't really bring him to a hospital," one of the thugs said, wincing and clutching his ribs as he spoke. "We're wanted felons, after all."

"What happened here?" Applejack asked, looking around the room, her eyes moving up to the smashed window at the back of the room.

Flash knelt near the pile of smashed chairs and examined a pair of hairs on the floor. One was bright pink and smelled of cotton candy; the other was dark chocolate brown and smelled of cheese. Looking into the kitchen, he spotted a smashed-open back door and blood trails leading into the living room.

"I think I can guess what happened," he said. "You had our friends here, but somepony else broke in here, busted you up, and took them away." He looked directly at the pegasus, whom he had pegged as the leader. "Who were they? Who took our friends?"

The pegasus grunted at him. "I don't know, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"You're lying, partner," Applejack glared at him, stepping forward.

"So what?" the pegasus sneered. "What're you gonna do about it? Twist the knife a little? You can't do anything to me."

"It ain't what we can do to you. It's what the law can do," Applejack said, crouching in front of him. "You see that mare over there?" she asked, pointing at Twilight. "That is a Princess of Equestria, and the two ponies that you kidnapped happen to be friends of hers. You're already in a heap of applesauce for kidnapping them; if you withhold information that leads to them getting hurt or even dying, then you might as well kiss any chance of seeing daylight again goodbye. And another thing," she added, leaning in closer as her eyes narrowed. "That mare might be a cousin of mine. And if whoever has her has hurt one hair on her mane because you didn't tell us what you know right now, then you'll wish that getting stabbed was the worst thing that ever happened to you! And believe me: that is Celestia's honest truth!"

The pegasus stared back wide-eyed at Applejack and swallowed nervously. "It was the Scarlets. The same ponies who hired them to steal the Falcon. Scarlet Letter must've wanted them back."

"Scarlet Letter?" Rarity asked in surprise. "The famous poet?"

One of the thugs snorted. "Also one of the biggest crime lords in Equestria. She's the one who got the plan to steal the Falcon."

"And now she's the one who has our friends," Twilight said determinedly.

"They took your friend in a motorized carriage," the wounded pegasus said, pointing out the window. "I saw them. They headed down the street that way. I'm sure you could find some way to follow them."

"Thank you," Twilight said.

"Don't thank me," the thug grunted through his teeth. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm just doing this to stick it to that bitch."

Flash frowned. "There's a callbox outside. I'll call the City Guard and an ambulance, and then we can get after Pinkie."

"All right," Twilight nodded. "Come on, everypony!"

"That's the end of it," Laurier declared to the Scarlet thugs, tossing her mane back as she turned and left, stepping up onto an elevator that would take her back to Scarlet Letter's mansion. "Bind her. I shall inform the madame what has happened."

Cheese helplessly watched from inside his cage as the thugs began to tightly bind Pinkie to one of the columns of the scaffolding. Her attempt to rescue him had failed. There was no hope for him now; nopony was coming to save him.

Suddenly, he spotted something on the ground by the thugs' hooves: the key to his cage! It must have fallen off the wall when Pinkie was knocked into it. Quick as a wink, while the goons were distracted, Cheese flicked his tail out and snatched the key up into his hooves.

Now he had to get untied. He began to carefully rummage around to search for something to free himself. Unfortunately, he only had a few items left...some loose candies, leftover confetti and balloons, spare cartridges for the party tank...

The Get Out of Jail Free card!

Glancing around to make sure nopony was watching him, Cheese slid the card into his mouth and began to use it to saw at the cord binding his front hooves. The stiff cardboard began to slowly cut through the fibers. Having finished tying Pinkie, the thugs returned to their tasks. Nopony paid him any mind, believing him to be secure in his cage.

There! The cords finally broke! Quietly, Cheese untied his hind legs, then took the key and carefully inserted it into the lock, unlocking it and slowly pushing the cage door open. Silently, he snuck out of the cage, carefully watching the nearby thugs to make sure that none of them looked his way. Moving on tiphoof, he crept over to Pinkie. Quickly and quietly, he began to untie her.

"Pinkie!" he whispered urgently. "Pinkie, wake up!" Pinkie groaned quietly, but didn't wake up.

"Hey! How'd he get out?"

Whirling around, Cheese saw the goons all rushing towards him. He was outnumbered at least eight to one, and all of them were bigger and bulkier than him, a number armed with knives, sticks and hatchets. Glancing around, Cheese spotted a wooden box, loaded with heavy-looking gold bars. With a furious grunt, he grabbed the box and hurled the heavy weight at the head of one of the goons, who didn't duck until it was too late. The flying box hit him right on the forehead, causing him to stagger and collapse into the pile of gold bars, out cold.

Invigorated by this one small victory, Cheese Sandwich let out a loud bellow and charged, tackling another thug to the ground and punching him in the face. Leaping up, he swung hard again, connecting with a glass jaw and sending another thug sprawling.

I'm winning! he thought in elation.

With a yell, one of the Scarlets ran forward and slashed a knife at Cheese's face, forcing him to duck. Another attacker swung a club at him, sending him stumbling back. Not watching where he was going, Cheese tripped over a pile of counterfeit bits and fell to the ground. Instantly, the entire troupe was on him like a swarm of bees, aiming to kick him into the ground. Desperate, Cheese began to swing and kick and bite at everything he could reach, determined to get back to his hooves. His hoof connected solidly with somepony's nose, sending them reeling away, but for every pony that he pushed back, two took their place. The blows came from every direction, slipping past his attempts to shield himself, knocking him down every time he tried to get back up. A particularly hard swing to his jaw sent him sprawling to the ground, stars dancing across his field of view as all his strength left him.

A sudden whistle pierced the air. Everypony turned to see Pinkie Pie standing a few feet away, grinning widely. She was holding something in her hooves: a small blue cannon with a pink mounting.

"Say hello to my little friend!" Pinkie sneered, grabbing the trigger cord and pulling. Her party cannon went off with a loud bang, sending confetti flying out at high velocity. Cheese, who was on the ground, was safe from the blast. The thugs weren't so lucky: the blast sent them all hurling through the air, crashing into the scaffolding. The beams cracked and the scaffolding collapsed on top of them, pinning them to the ground. "My leg!" came a pained groan from beneath the rubble.

Pinkie tucked away her party cannon and hurried over to Cheese, helping him back up. "Are you all right?"

The touch of Pinkie's hoof in his made Cheese forget his injuries: a lightness of elation spread through his body and he smiled. "I'm okay. What about you?"

"Nothing a little aspirin won't fix," Pinkie said, rubbing the back of her head. She nuzzled Cheese, still holding his hoof. "Thanks, Cheesie."

"You're the one who rescued me," Cheese pointed out.

"I couldn't have rescued you without your help!" Pinkie said. "We—" Suddenly, Pinkie's eyes widened. Back itch, right eye wink twice, hind leg shiver...

"Look out!" Pinkie cried, pulling Cheese to the ground behind a table. At the same moment, two gunshots cracked out, piercing through the air inches above Cheese and Pinkie's heads.

A few feet away, Laurier de Montagne glared at the two ponies, a smoking pearl-handled pepperbox revolver floating beside her head in a magical aura. "You two are becoming extremely annoying," she called. "I'm going to give you exactly one chance to surrender. Give up now, and I will permit you to live."

Cheese and Pinkie looked at one another for a moment, and both of them saw the same determination in each other's eyes. "Cheese, we can't fight her face-to-face," Pinkie whispered. "We're going to have to use some good old-fashioned surprise party planning ingenuity. Are you with me?"

Cheese held out his hoof. "Always." Pinkie shook his hoof firmly, a grim look crossing her face.

Laurier slowly stalked closer to her targets' hiding place, her weapon held ready to fire. There was no sign of any movement from behind the table. She paused for a moment, then hurled the table aside in her magic.

BANG!

A blast from the party cannon sent Laurier stumbling back, her revolver flying from her grip. By the time she had recovered, both Pinkie and Cheese had disappeared. "Where did you...?" Laurier growled, retrieving her gun, shaking herself off and setting off in pursuit of her prey.

A few feet away, Cheese and Pinkie hid behind some of the scaffolding against the wall. "Nice start," Cheese whispered, peering around the corner. "What next?"

"I've got a plan set up already," Pinkie explained, pointing. "See that cargo net there? If we can lure her onto it and trigger the rope over there, she'll get caught up in it!" She snickered. "Great idea, huh?"

"Yes, splendid idea."

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened into an expression of dread as she slowly turned around. Laurier was standing right behind her, the pepperbox aimed directly between her eyes. "Au revoir," Laurier sneered, slowly squeezing the trigger.

"No!" Cheese screamed, rushing forward, but knowing it was already too late. He watches, as if in slow motion, as the hammer of the weapon reared back and snapped forward.

BOING!

Instead of a bullet, a blast of confetti shot out of the gun, accompanied by a red flag that read "Bang!" in bright white lettering. Laurier stared at the toy weapon in slack-jawed bewilderment.

"Looking for this?" Pinkie smirked, twirling the real pepperbox in her hoof. She tossed the weapon aside. "Now, let's settle this like—"

Pinkie's offer was interrupted when Laurier struck her across the jaw with the toy weapon hard enough to knock her to the ground. Turning, Laurier started to charge at Cheese, gritting her teeth in anger as she drew her hoof back to strike.

Cheese looked at Pinkie's crumpled form, a bruise forming on her jaw. His anger burned in his chest. These thugs had framed him, hounded him, kidnapped him, and worst of all, they hurt Pinkie Pie. Nopony crossed Cheese Sandwich's friends and got away with it.

Laurier growled and charged forward, her hooves slicing through the air. Cheese ducked, then cartwheeled out of the way. Laurier pursued him, her limbs whirling. Cheese vaulted over some barrels, spinning through the air to land a safe distance away. Laurier pursued Cheese, who leapt and tumbled away from every attack like an expert acrobat on a stage. Rolling away from another attack, Cheese stuck out his leg, causing Laurier to trip and fall flat on her face. Growling, she rolled over to get back to her hooves and immediately froze.

Cheese was standing over her, the pepperbox revolver held tight in his hoof and aimed at her face. Cheese's expression was carved from stone as he held his foe at gunpoint. "You hurt her," he said in a quiet growl.

Laurier glared defiantly at him. "Don't think you frighten me, Monsieur Sandwich. You won't pull that trigger; you're too nice, too caring. You are not capable of killing."

Cheese smirked. "You're wrong about one thing." And with that, he took careful aim and fired. The gunshot echoed throughout the entire cavern. The bullet sailed through the air and missed Laurier de Montagne completely...because it hadn't been aimed at her. With a loud snap, the bullet cut right through the rope, causing a counterweight to fall and snatching the net up, with Laurier trapped inside it; she had failed to notice in her rage that Cheese had been leading her ever closer to the trap.

"Looks like this was a net loss for you!" Cheese smirked at Laurier, who was flailing helplessly in the net.

"You're despicable," she growled at him, giving him a look of deepest loathing.

Satisfied that the battle was over, Cheese hurried over to Pinkie, who was getting back up. "Ow..." Pinkie moaned, rubbing her jaw where she'd been hit. "Next time, I stick to the script."

"Are you okay?" Cheese asked, helping Pinkie up. She looked up at him with those perfect blue eyes of hers, smiling happily, and suddenly, the entire affair of the past several days seemed so far away.

"I'm great! Are you okay?"

"Super-duper!" Cheese replied, a floating feeling spreading through his body. He looked around. Laurier was still trying uselessly to free herself from the net. The other thugs were still lying where they were, unconscious or pinned beneath rubble.

"Hey, you did it!" Pinkie said in delight.

"No, Pinkie," Cheese said, hugging her tight. "We did it!"

"Cheese! Pinkie!"

The two party ponies looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying into the room. She slowly looked around the cavern in astonishment. "Whoa. What happened here?"

"About time!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up and hugging Rainbow Dash as the others ran into the cave.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Rarity exclaimed upon seeing Cheese and Pinkie. "We were so worried about you both!"

"Laurier? What is—"

Everypony turned to see Scarlet Letter stepping out of the elevator and immediately stopping, staring in shock at the sight before her. Her eyes darted from Laurier to Cheese and Pinkie to the other ponies.

"We have a slight problem, madame," Laurier murmured, looking ashamed of herself.

"Scarlet Letter, you are under arrest for kidnapping, "Flash announced. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and—"

A sudden flash of scarlet magic blinded the ponies. Scarlet had grabbed Laurier, still trapped in the net, and teleported her to her side. With another flash of magic, Scarlet summoned the Muletese Falcon to her.

"This is not over, my little ponies," she growled, grasping her prize and her servant in her magic. "There are still over a hundred Scarlets around Equestria. We will have our revenge!" Her horn glowed brighter and brighter, arcane magic swirling around her as she prepared her spell. Twilight instinctively prepared a shield with her magic to protect her friends.

Suddenly, with a loud crackling roar, Scarlet's magical energy burst outwards in a blinding light. Everypony shielded their eyes, ducking beneath Twilight's shield, which held strong against the wave. When the light finally died away, the ponies looked up to see that Scarlet, Laurier and the Muletese Falcon had vanished.

"They got away!" Rainbow shouted in frustration.

"The whole world will soon know what they are," Twilight reassured her. "And besides, we got our friends back. That's all that matters."

Cheese wrapped an arm around Pinkie and pulled her close. "You know what I'm thinking of, my little ponies?"

"Cinammon buns?" Pinkie guessed.

"Well, yeah," Cheese agreed. "But first, I think it's time we let everypony know that I'm not a thief."

"Agreed," Rarity said. "And I know how to do it: identify the real thief!"

Author's Notes:

Yes, yes, I know this is behind schedule. This is what happens when I try to balance my hobby with working in retail.

Still, we finally did it! Cheese and Pinkie are safe and Scarlet Letter is on the run. But who's the real thief? If you were paying attention, you might have figured it out yourself.

Two more chapters, and we'll have wrapped this up nicely! Hope you're looking forward to it!