“I’m telling you, whatever is going on at that convention, it’s dangerous,” Rainbow Dash said, pacing the living room of 221 B Boulevard. Her disheveled mane glowed in the morning sun filtering through the window. Phillip Finder stared evenly at her as he lay sprawled across the sofa, a set of sheet music in his lap.

“Yes, there is something iffy about this,” Phillip agreed. “You know, Fire Streak hasn’t been the only athlete who’s been in an accident recently.” Getting up from the sofa, he strode over to a closet and opened it up to reveal several stacks of newspapers. He perused the stacks for a few moments, then plucked out a few sheets and carried them over to his desk.

“Last week, a high diver almost broke his back when he attempted a quadruple back somersault—something nopony has ever successfully pulled off,” he reported, indicating a small headline on The Manehattan Herald. “Two weeks before that, a knife thrower at a circus seriously injured an assistant while performing an act while blindfolded, which he’d never done before,” he continued, pointing to a section of The Chicoltgo Sun before pulling out a copy of Applewood Sentinel. “And then a week before that, a stunt bicyclist broke three of his legs trying to jump over Mount Monument.”

Rainbow examined each of the articles in growing shock. She pulled out a copy of the flyer that she had kept and started comparing the dates. “This convention was in those towns near the same date as each of these accidents!”

Phillip frowned in thought. “I’d say that this is more than a coincidence.”

“We should go over there and start demanding some answers right now!” Rainbow said.

“Not without some solid evidence,” Phillip replied. “I’d have to do a bit of investigation with this, but first—”

He was interrupted by a knocking on the front door. Striding over to the door, Phillip opened it up to find a messenger handing him a telegraph. He tore the message open and examined it quickly, scowling. “Damn.”

“What is it?” Rainbow asked, looking at the telegraph over his shoulder.

“This drug dealer I’m chasing is as cunning as a dunny rat,” Phillip said. “He bought a train ticket to come here, but he jumped off before it got to the station. Probably in Dodge Junction now; he’s got some connections there that I know of. I’m going to have to go after him.”

“What about this?” Rainbow demanded. “You can’t just drop this case!”

“This has to take priority right now,” Phillip responded. “But while I’m taking care of this, you could do a bit of snooping around the convention. See if you can sneak out a sample of that potion. You should probably ask one of the others for help.”

“Can’t. Rarity’s down in Manehattan checking on her boutique, Applejack went to visit Coloratura in Fillydelphia, Twilight and Flash are in the Crystal Empire on a royal summit, Starlight is visiting Sunburst to do some research, Fluttershy’s meeting with Tree Hugger, and Pinkie Pie…”

“...Yeah,” Phillip nodded. He paused for a moment, then turned to Rainbow. “Look, just be careful while you’re doing this.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I can handle myself, Phil.”

“I know you can, but…”

“Hey, don’t worry; I’ll handle this the same way you would.”

“What’s that supposed to—?” Phillip paused for a moment, then frowned and turned away with a quiet grunt and left the room. “I gotta get going.”

Rainbow frowned after Phillip’s retreating form for a moment, then shrugged and exited the house, taking flight towards her home. Phillip continued packing for the trip to Dodge Junction, gathering any gear he would need and tucking it into the pockets of his vest or into his saddlebag. His head buzzed with thoughts—drugs, Rainbow Dash, seminars, accidents. He stopped for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he ordered his brain to calm down and allow the rational part to take control. Rainbow Dash was indeed capable of taking care of this investigation on her own, at least initially. He would have to catch the drug supplier who had been poisoning Ponyville’s streets quickly and hurry back.

But what did she mean, she’d handle it like he would?

Not now, he told himself. The train to Dodge Junction will be leaving soon, hurry up.

Shaking the thought from his head, he quickly finished packing his gear and departed, making for a fast trot to the train station.

But as he exited the boulevard, he saw something out of the corner of his eye, something that made him stop and turn as a cold touch like an icy hoof ran down his spine. A figure was standing in an alleyway next to him, cloaked in shadow. As soon as Phillip’s gaze fell upon him, the figure turned and disappeared around the corner.

Determined to see his stalker face to face, Phillip sprinted forward, rounding the corner just a second after the other pony; he knew that this alley went straight into a dead end. But as soon as he turned the corner, he stopped and stared in astonishment; the phantom watcher had completely vanished. Phillip looked up, scanning the sky for any retreating pegasi, even though he was sure that the other pony didn’t have wings.

At that moment, he heard the distant sound of a train whistle and squealing brakes coming from the station. That was the train for Dodge Junction pulling into the station; he had to hurry. Phillip turned away and started to jog towards the station, but the face of the pony he’d seen watching him remained fixed in his mind, floating in front of him like a ghost.

He hadn’t gotten a very good look, but he was sure that it was the same pony he’d seen following him yesterday. The pony who looked like his father’s murderer.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash flew slowly towards her cloud house, flying high above Ponyville. She flew over the hedge maze and, looking down, saw that Dr. Cure’s seminar was still going on strong, with several ponies flitting in and out of the arranged tents. She faintly heard Dr. Cure’s amplified voice and realized that he was giving another lecture.

She growled softly. Part of her wanted to just fly down right at that moment and confront him, accuse him in front of everypony of being connected to these dangerous accidents. But she held herself back; she had no proof yet and any act such as that would probably result only in her being thrown out again.

So what should she do? Perhaps she should examine her Daring Do collection for ideas; surely the great adventuress had been in a situation such as this before, and might be able to give her a few ideas…

Rainbow reached her cloud house and paused. There was a note taped to her front door with a special enchanted tape that was designed to work on clouds. Taking the note down, Rainbow examined it. The message was composed of typed letters and words taped down onto a small sheet of paper.

”If you want to know the truth about cure, come to whitetail woods at eight tonight.”

Rainbow stared at the message. Who knew that she was investigating the seminar? Was it one of the workers there who wanted to confess their crimes?

Daring Do wouldn’t have turned down a clue like this; nor would Phillip. And neither would Rainbow Dash. Whoever her mystery assistant was, she’d find out tonight at the Whitetail Woods.

While Rainbow Dash was puzzling over her clue, Zipline stood out in the field where just a couple days earlier, he had been practicing his marksponyship. A pair of cavorting squirrels raced by, chattering happily. The wind blew gently through his wings, which he had spread out in preparation for flight.

Normally, the idea of taking flight would have sent chills up Zipline’s legs. But today, he felt no hesitation, no sense of fear. Whatever Dr. Cure’s potion was, it seemed to be working. Or maybe it was just bravado caused by a placebo and kind words?

Time to find out for sure. Zipline closed his eyes and took in a long slow breath. Once more, he focused on the image of himself flying through the sky with Scootaloo at his side, both of them laughing joyfully. He concentrated so intensely upon this thought that he barely noticed the ground leaving his hooves as he flapped his wings powerfully. He flapped up again, and again, and again, each thrust pushing him higher and higher into the air.

Finally, he stopped, allowing himself to hover. There was nothing but air around him; only his flapping wings kept him from falling. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked down. The field was thirty feet below him: he was level with the tops of many of the highest trees, and the squirrels he had seen earlier were nothing more than brown dots.

His heart should have frozen in his chest. The vertigo should have swooped down on him like a hawk snatching up a field mouse, assailing him with crippling nausea, cramps and making the world spin around him…

But it didn’t. Nothing happened. He was not afraid.

He was not afraid!

“Yes!” Zipline cheered, looping backwards in the air and doing a full circle. He zipped back and forth, zigzagging across clouds and darting through trees. Elation filled his heart and he shouted for joy. He had mastered his fear, conquered it! God bless Dr. Cure and his miraculous cure!

Getting an idea, he turned and flew directly towards home. It was a Saturday, so Scootaloo would probably be home right now, if she hadn’t already run off with her friends. What a surprise this would be for her!

Spotting the cottage in the distance, he swooped down low. Both his girls were out in the backyard, raking leaves. “Rain! Scootaloo!” he called. Scootaloo looked up just in time for Zipline to snatch her up, taking her up a few feet into the air.

“Hi, Dad!” Scootaloo squealed in delight.

“Honey!” Rain called from below, looking up in a mixture of delight and apprehension at her husband flying with her daughter. “Please be careful!”

“Don’t worry, dear, I’ve got her!” Zipline said, coming back down.

“I see Dr. Cure’s seminar worked with you,” Rain said proudly. “Look at you, already flying around!”

“Well, actually…” Zipline started to say, but stopped himself. He had been about to mention the potion that Dr. Cure had given him, but something held him back. Rain was a worrywart; it was a trait of hers that he constantly teased her about. If she knew that he had taken a strange potion that hadn’t been medically approved yet, she would flip out.

Rain stared at him curiously. “What is it?”

“Yeah,” Zipline said with a smile. “Yeah, it really worked.”

“Wonderful,” Rain smiled.

“Hey, dad! Can we go for a flight?” Scootaloo asked, jumping up and down eagerly.

“Sure can, kiddo!” Zipline said, lifting his daughter up onto his back. “Hang on tight!” With a powerful flap, he pushed himself straight into the air, flying eastwards. “Whoo-hoo!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Be careful!” Rain called after them, watching in sudden concern. Zipline might have been a daredevil; his willingness to push the envelope drove her crazy sometimes. But he’d never do anything to put Scootaloo in danger…

...right?

That night in Ponyville was dark, with thick clouds traversing the sky and battling the moon and stars, who desperately fought to keep shining through the darkness. Rainbow Dash flew low over the Whitetail Woods. The song of night peepers and rustling leaves filled her ears, carried to her by the chill wind.

She landed in the middle of the worn pathway that the annual Running of the Leaves took place on, looking around through the shadowy trees that surrounded her for any sign of anypony. “Hello?” she shouted. “Is anypony there?” Her only response was the distant hooting of an owl. Frowning, Rainbow glanced down at her watch. Eight o’clock.

“Came a long way to get stood up!” Rainbow shouted out again in irritation. This time there was no answer, not even a rustling of leaves. She grumbled to herself. Now what? Patience had never been one of her strong suits. If this pony didn’t show up within five minutes—

“Ow!” Rainbow yelped as something sharp bit her foreleg. She slapped the site of the sting, expecting to squish a mosquito or a horsefly or something. Instead, she found a small metal object implanted in her leg. Yanking it out, Rainbow examined the object in the moonlight filtering through the trees. It was a dart.

Suddenly, Rainbow’s head spun. Her legs turned to jelly and she fell over onto the ground. The world turned into a blur of dark color, stars dancing before her eyes. She tried to get up, but her legs refused to work. With a final exhalation, she fell down onto the ground and her eyes closed.

Meanwhile, several miles east, the small city of Dodge Junction slept peacefully. The moon sat in a clear sky and shone down on the main street, casting long shadows. A slow wind raised a few dust swells, which glistened in the starlight. All was quiet.

For all of ten seconds. Then a tall, lanky unicorn sprinted around the corner, panting heavily as his coat flapped in the wind. He looked over his shoulder, continuing to run blindly down the street; his wide, panic-stricken eyes scanned the darkness, searching for his pursuer.

There! A dark figure rounded the corner behind him. The unicorn fired a series of spells that flew towards the pursuer with a high whistling; the figure immediately ducked back behind cover, moving so fast it seemed that it had vanished into thin air. But it was still there, still chasing him.

Huffing and panting, the unicorn continued to run, desperately searching for someplace to hide. There! An old barn with the door open! He ran over to the barn, using his magic to slam the door shut. In the darkness, he spotted some old stacks of hay bales. Grunting with strain, the unicorn lifted several of the bales and stacked them in front of the door, barricading it. Slowly, he walked backwards, desperately trying to quiet his breathing.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing as something smashed into the doors. The unicorn whimpered in fright, cowering against the back wall. The thing outside smashed against the doors a few more times, but failed to dislodge the barricade. Eventually, the crashes stopped. After a moment, there was the sound of hoofsteps that retreated into the distance.

The unicorn remained frozen. Was it gone? Had it really been that easy? After a few seconds of silence, he finally allowed himself to breathe again. On reflex, he patted down the inside of his coat. One of his packets was missing. Lighting up his horn in order to see, he looked down on the floor. There it was, just in front of him: a rectangular package of light brown powder. Smiling in relief, the unicorn picked the package back up, quickly inspected it for holes, and put it back in his coat. He was glad he hadn’t lost this; that packet was almost literally worth its weight in gold—

CRASH.

A wrecking ball smashed through the weak wooden wall behind him. Icy hooves dug into his skin and violently threw him through the freshly-created hole, sending him skidding across the dusty ground. He scrambled back up to his hooves, reaching for the five-inch switchblade in his pocket as he stared in horror at the monstrous figure slowly walking towards him.

“Stay the hell back!” the unicorn shouted in desperation, slashing at the thing’s face. It dodged the attack easily and seized his foreleg, bringing its other arm around and smashing his elbow. There was an earsplitting crack, accompanied by the dealer’s scream of pain as his arm broke. A hard blow struck him in the gut, forcing the wind out of his lungs, and he was kicked to the dusty ground. Whimpering in pain, the dealer slowly turned and looked up. In the darkness, all he could see was his attacker’s eyes; gray and dark as storm clouds, glaring down at him in an expression of utmost contempt.

“Oh, God,” he whimpered.

“He can’t save you now,” the attacker snarled in a low, rough accent. “He left you in my hooves.”

Author's Notes:

Things are progressing quickly, but we're getting into more and more dangerous territory.

While you're waiting for the next chapter, I want to show you guys something. It's a picture that I commissioned by TheFriendlyElephant on deviantArt of my two villain OCs, Zugzwang and Doctor Nevermore. He did wonderfully on it! He also did this picture of Phillip and Daring, which I loved.

Ian is accepting commissions right now and they go for a fair price, so if you want a commission yourself and this style looks pleasing to you, I highly recommend him.