One particular piece of mail stuck out from the rest of them. It was an ivory colored envelope with golden edging. Inside was a card of heavy stock with a similar color and design. On the front of the card was three words written in large, looping calligraphy with gold colored ink.

Inside was an easier to read text written in black ink.

At the bottom of the card was an image of a green fireball, and a silver tiara in a pink circle.

With that, Starry Skies was on her way to Ponyville. After a quick stop at the office to fill them in and finishing her breakfast, Star packed and took the next train.

A part of it was work related. With his being an assistant to one princess, familial-like relationship with two others, his own standing as a hero both in Equestria and The Crystal Empire and his being the dragon-pony liason, Spike was practically a noble in his own right: a prince in all but official title (or lord if the stories she heard were true). While nowhere near as impressive, Diamond Tiara was a part of one of the richest and most influential families in Ponyville.

That alone would mean the wedding could possibly be threatened. The daughter of a wealthy business stallion and fiance of a highly influential being would be a very tempting target for kidnapping, blackmail, or replacement. Then there was the guest list which included: the princesses of Equestria (and likely Luna's daughters); The royal family of The Crystal Empire; Princess Twilight Sparkle, and The Elements of Harmony. That did not even include others like friends and families of various wealth and popularity from all across the nation (if not further). All of them in one location would make it prime for abduction, assassination, or espionage.

Plus, weddings were especially important to Princess Luna after what happened during Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's.

Then there was the personal aspect of the thing. Part of the reason she would be the perfect agent to be there: she was expected. Her arrival -- even early -- would not draw too many questions. It was pretty much expected she would show up. May as well try to keep things safe for everyone involved at the same time.

As she rode, Star kept shifting in her seat. She was filled with a combination of excitement and anxiety. She was thrilled at the prospect, but also dreading it horribly. One part of her wanted to rush to Ponyville as quick as she could, but the other wanted to flee and and get as far away, quick as possible.

She really should buy something that she could fiddle with in her hooves. It was something she always thought about at times like this, that she should get something that she can just mess with and burn off nervous energy. Unfortunately, she never thought about it until she needed it, and completely forgot about it while going about her day.

Instead, Star sat in her seat, staring out the window and watching the landscape go by.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) it was not a very long ride. Not even two hours later, and she was arriving at the station for Ponyville. She and several others disembarked, with Star taking her time. Standing there, she let her gaze drift, looking around at the small town. With a sigh, she stepped off the platform and started walking.

The best idea would be to go straight for her sister's house, see who in her family was here already, get settled in and see about keeping an eye on everything going on in regards to the wedding.

Star made her way to Barnyard Bargains. Walking up and down the aisles, she looked to see what all they had for sale. Some of the items seemed interesting, and others kind of odd. The sight of it all also made her realize she forgot to get a wedding present. Maybe she could sent a message to Mimic and have her pick something up in Canterlot. Now that Star thought about it, that gave Mimic a reason to be around Ponyville during the wedding in case anything happened and her help was needed.

After Barnyard Bargains, Starry Skies considered going to the open market and seeing what was for sale. However, the sight of certain ponies made her hurry along.

"Star?" a voice called out. "Starry Skies?"

Standing not far from her was a pegasus stallion close to her own age with creamy tan coat and chocolate brown mane. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he approached.

"H...Hi Pound," Star said, ears pulling back and face heating up. "Nice to see you too. You look good."

"Thanks," Pound Cake said as he struck a pose, puffing out his chest and spreading his wings. "Work keeps me in pretty good shape." He then folded them back up.

"So what brings you here?"

"A wedding," Star answered. "I figured I would come early and see my family. Maybe even see about crashing the bachelorette party." She grinned, letting out a chuckle.

"Well Twilight and some of the others are at Rarity's boutique. Somepony broke in and trashed the place."

"Is Rarity okay?"

"Distraught, but not hurt or anything," Pound Cake replied. "I was actually heading to Sugarcube Corner to pick up lunch for everyone. Want to come with me?"

"Thanks, but I think I'll head straight on over there," Star said. "Although maybe we can hang out later."

"Unless something comes up," Pound said with a wink. "I'll see you in a bit." He then flew off, heading toward his family's bakery.

Well no point in putting it off any longer, Star thought with a sigh. If something was happening at the boutique, she should be there. Hopefully it would be nothing, just some vandal, or an isolated incident that would not happen again. But if that was not the case, then she should get as much information about it as possible. At the very least, she might be able to share something with the guards to help them out.

At most, she might have to step in and try to keep The Elements from getting involved or the wedding being ruined.

Taking off, Starry Skies flew up above the streets and buildings. It was a lot easier than in Canterlot since most of the buildings were only one or two stories tall. She let herself drift slightly as she went, enjoying the open air as she headed straight for Carousel Boutique.

It did not take long before the recognizable circular building came into view. Slowly, Star came in lower, moving closer to the building and circling around it. Not far from it were some other ponies that were passing by, looking at the place as they went by. Not too surprising since most -- if not all -- of the town would probably be talking about what happened by now. The only sign she could immediately make out that anything had happened was when she was nearly landing, finding that two of the windows in front had been broken. As she walked up to the door, Star noticed broken glass lying on the ground.

Stopping at the door, Starry Skies closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. Shifting her legs, she lowered herself to slouch slightly. Her wings twitched at her side before settling back down. One ear flicked before relaxing. A hint of a smile tugged at her lips as she opened her eyes.

Star pushed the door open and poked her head in.

"Hello?"

"I'm sorry," a voice called out, "I'm afraid we're not open to the public at this time."

"That's okay," Star called back, moving further into the shop. "I'm not here to shop anyways."

At that, several ponies in the room stopped and turned to look at her. On one particular face, recognition slowly sank in, followed by a grin and fluttering of wings.

Star suddenly found herself caught up in a tight purple hug.

"Star!"

Making the smile on her face larger, Starry Skies shifted to return the hug. Her body turned to get her wings free as she wrapped her forelegs around the larger mare.

"Glad to see you too, Twi."

"What are you doing here?" Twilight Sparkle asked as she broke the hug.

"Well I came to Ponyville because I got the invitation to Spike's wedding, and I came here because Pound told me what happened."

Star stepped back and turned to Rarity before asking, "Are you okay?"

"I wasn't home when whomever did this was here," Rarity said, pushing back her long purple mane, "but my shop is utterly demolished, to say nothing of what all was stolen. It will take me days to get everything replaced and properly organized." She let out a sigh. "I may have to work at Canterlot Carousel to get everything ready for the wedding."

"Or you could use the castle," Twilight suggested. "It doesn't have everything you need, but you can at least stay in Ponyville and watch the repairs here."

"Well I will still have to go and see what I can collect to replace."

"What was stolen?" Star asked, looking around at the place. It had been thoroughly trashed. The mirrors had been knocked over, shards of glass left on the floor, which Fluttershy was already sweeping up. Drawers had been yanked open and strewn about, leaving what looked like ribbons, bows, and other accessories scattered.

Something was missing. Starry Skies could not quite place what, but she was certain about it.

"Well," Rarity replied, "so far: my collection of jewels and gemstones for decorating my creations; the bolt of gold fabric I had already prepared; the spools of thread from The Crystal Empire; and, strangely, three of my sewing dummies."

Star's jaw clenched as it clicked: that was what was missing. Rarity always had two or three dummies in the main room, normally showing off different outfits that had been made. In all the mess it was hard to notice, but there were none in here at the moment.

But why? All the other things mentioned were items that could easily be sold for a lot of money. Not a lot of ponies would be interested in buying a sewing dummy. So why take them?

"Well, I'm here to lend an extra set of hooves with clean-up if you need it," Star offered with a smile, which quickly faded. "But... could I use your bathroom first? Preferably the one upstairs?"

"Oh certainly," Rarity replied. "Upstairs and second door on the left."

"Thanks. I'll be back in a second."

Slipping past the other ponies, Starry Skies made her way to the stairs and up them quickly. As soon as she reached the top, she stopped, looking around. From everything she could see, the upstairs were untouched. Why would whoever was responsible not come up here? Why trash the downstairs and not upstairs? Rarity had quite a collection of jewelry, and a lot of her own garments. So why not take anything from up here?

Unless...

Taking a deep breath, Star began letting out ultrasonic squeaks. After each one, she would prick her ears up and listen as intently as possible, trying to pick up anything odd. Slowly, she walked along the hall, making her way from room to room, letting off squeak after squeak and listening to each return.

Nothing. Either there were no listening devices upstairs, or Star simply could not pick them up with her echolocation. There were simply too many places for her to search by hoof and eye. It would take her too long to look.

Putting the possibility aside for now, Star made her way to the bathroom, then back downstairs to help.