After cleaning up the boutique and fixing what they could, they all decided to end for the day. Rarity opted to stay at her parents' house while most of the others went to their own homes.

"STAR!" a voice bellowed out as soon as Starry Skies stepped into the castle. Forcing herself not to react, she let herself get "surprised" and pounced, quickly pulled up into a big, purple, scaly hug.

Putting a grin on her face, she shifted to return the hug. Her forelegs wrapped around the dragon's body, squeezing it as hard as she could manage.

"Glad to see you too, Spike." Her eyes narrowed as her grin turned into a smirk. "So, finally settling down, huh? Somepony decided to make an honest dragon out of you?"

A chuckle escaped Spike as he let Star go.

"Well, you know me," he said. "Always been one for the domestic life. Settle down, have a family and all that."

"Which is going to be a shame for Twilight. Means she's going to have to start cooking for herself."

"Hey!" Twilight interjected. "I can cook just fine."

The room turned quiet and Starry Skies and Spike both turned to look at Twilight Sparkle. With their attention on her, she shifted, her wings flickering at her side. Twilight slid one hoof across the floor of the castle.

"Okay," she finally said. "So there may have been one or two... small problems with it..."

"Although from what I recall," Spike said as he let his gaze shift back to Star, "you don't exactly have room to talk."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Star declared, turning her head away from him and looking up.

"Really? Because I very clearly remember a certain bat pony filly trying to cook, and somehow managed the bottom out of a frying pan."

"You must be confusing me for somepony else, because I don't remember anything like that happening."

"Okay," Twilight called out, stepping forward. "I think that's enough about our cooking abilities or lack thereof. Is Pumpkin still here?"

"She left a little while ago," Spike answered.

"Well I should check her assignment and see how she did," Twilight said as she headed further into the castle.

"And while she does that," Starry Skies said as turned her attention back to Spike, "we are going to the kitchen, where you are going to tell me about how you finally proposed to Diamond Tiara."

"Actually," Spike replied with a chuckle, "you know how you said she was making an honest dragon out of me? Well..."

It was not long before the three of them were together, with most of the talking being done by Spike as most of the conversation was about his relationship and the upcoming wedding. From time to time, Twilight would look from her work or add a comment, and some times Star would tell a little about her "life" back in Canterlot.

"Well it's getting kind of late," Star said, getting up and stretching out. "I'm going to head on up to bed. I'll see you two in the morning."

With calls of "good night" and "sweet dreams" following her, Star made her way upstairs and to one of the extra bedrooms. Once inside, she shut the door and locked it. Her body shifted as she let out a sigh.

Taking the saddlebags off, she turned one upside down. One wing reached down, slipping under one flap to grab the bottom, then gave a yank. The snaps gave way with audible metallic sound as the hidden compartment was opened. Star pulled out her uniform and started putting it on. Once dressed, she walked to the window and threw it open.

It was a calm and mild spring night. There was a sliver of moon in the sky, and a scattering of clouds. It was not the perfect night for what Starry Skies was planning (which would have been no moon at all and heavy cloud cover), but it was not the worst (perfectly clear with a bright full moon out).

Once she was certain that there were no ponies around to see her, Starry Skies pulled her goggles down and launched herself. As she cleared the window, she threw her wings open and straightened out. Her fall slowed, turning into a glide low to the ground. Once out of the immediate vicinity of the castle, Star started to flap, climbing up higher and above the buildings. Her mouth opened slightly, using her echolocation to make sure that there were no ponies flying in front of her.

Star kept low as she flew, staying close to the rooftops and buildings, using the shadows wherever she could. She made her way across the town, keeping out of side when necessary as she made her way to Carousel Boutique.

It seemed unlikely that something else was going to happen there, but it was still a possibility. Besides, there was too much that did not fit for her. Like why take the dummies, and why not bother going upstairs? Most of all, were they aware that Rarity was not home at the time, or was it simply luck? If they had known, then they would have been watching the place ahead of time. As such, it seemed unlikely that they would just be breaking in to steal a bunch of random objects to sell for quick cash. It also left the possibility that they were looking for something specific, and very well might come back to keep searching.

Landing on the roof of a nearby building, Star moved to the edge to where she could see the boutique. She settled down and started to wait, watching the building and listening for anything strange.

Time passed. Slowly. More so because there was little for Star to do. She had to keep focus on the boutique. If she let herself get too distracted then she might miss something. That was assuming that anything did happen. As the minutes continued on, Star kept her post, shifting only to stretch out a muscle or two and keep herself from getting too comfortable and dozing off.

As she continued her watch, a noise suddenly reached Starry Skies. It sounded like something was flying fast.

Before she could fully figure out what it meant, something slammed into Starry Skies from behind. Her wings flicked out to keep her from falling if she got knocked off the building. Twisting her body, she rolled with the impact, trying to minimize injury and hopefully get a glimpse of who or what blindsided her.

Star managed to catch sight of light blue and rainbows.

"Ha!" a raspy feminine voice called out. "Knew I would find something if I came back."

Star's teeth ground as her jaw clenched. Why her? Why did it have to be her of all pegasi?

"So what are you doing here, huh?" Rainbow Dash asked as she leaned in, nose practically touching as she glared down with narrowed eyes. "Are you supposed to be the look out? Am I going to find some of your friends in Rarity's shop?"

"You got it wrong," Star said, dropping her voice.

"Yeah, right." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "It's just a coincidence that you happen to be standing up here in a Shadowbolts' uniform and watching the boutique."

It was pretty clear to Starry Skies that this was already a waste. Rainbow Dash had come to a conclusion and there was almost no way that Star could talk her out of it. Outrunning her was not an option: Dash was much faster and more agile. Star would easily be chased down and tackled again. Actively fighting Rainbow Dash was not exactly an option either. Being a Bearer of Harmony and Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash was by no means an innocent bystander or civilian. At the same time, she was not actually a criminal or evil pony. Just stupidly stubborn some times.

Really, her best option was try to outwit the mare. Get out from beneath her and escape enough to get back to the castle unnoticed.

Rainbow Dash reached down, trying to grab a hold of Star's mask.

Star grabbed Rainbow Dash and pulled her in close, pressing their lips together. She could feel the other mare tense with surprise, hear the wings snapping open in shock. Star pulled closer, shifting her body. Her back legs stroked along the underside of Rainbow's stomach.

There was a pop as the kiss broke.

"Sorry," Star purred out, "but you know the rules about secret identities."

She then shoved up hard with her hind legs, getting a yelp of surprise from Rainbow Dash as she was knocked off.

Star rolled over and lunged for the edge, diving off it. Snapping her wings open, she pulled up with less than an inch from the ground to spare, and banked around the corner of the building into an alley.

"HEY!" Rainbow Dash shouted from the roof, taking off.

Starry Skies dove behind some trash cans and dropped to the ground. Pressing close, she peeked out, looking for her potential chaser.

A rainbow colored contrail shot across the opening.

Star stayed where she was for a moment, slowly counting to twenty (and wiping her mouth: of all the ways to distract a pony, that was not one she enjoyed using -- especially on a mare nearly twice her age). When she reached the number and saw no additional signs of Rainbow Dash, Starry Skies slipped out of her hiding spot and walked along the side of the building. She kept her head low as she went, ears up and eyes focused to catch any sign of another pony. Especially the one she was trying to elude.

Not far from where Star stood was a cart, currently empty and with no ponies around it. Star ran for it as quick as she could, dropping low and skidding to a stop underneath.

Cover. Especially useful when dealing with an impulsive pegasus that tended to search from the sky. A tendency to look directly down from above meant forgetting that sometimes there were things under other things, such as a bat pony hidden beneath a cart.

A strange idea came to Star. Lifting herself up, she pressed her back against the underside, then moved forward to brace her shoulders against the front axle. Her wings spread open and lifted up, giving her more surface contact with the rough wood. With a grunt, she then pushed forward.

There was a faint creak as the wheels started to turn. As Star pushed, growling with effort, the cart began to creep forward. The creak faded as the wheel began a slow, steady movement. Before long, the cart was moving as Star continued to walk and push it along.

Once it was moving, the task became a lot easier.

At a cross street, Starry Skies gave the cart a hard shove, then bolted out from under it and for some bales of hay. She dove into it as the cart continued on, making it across the intersection before slowing to a stop.

There was still no sign of Rainbow Dash. Hopefully she would be searching some distant part of town by now, nowhere near Star or Twilight's castle. Unfortunately, it would be better if Starry Skies kept to moving on hoof just in case.

Slipping out of the hay bales, she made her way to the next corner and peaked around, making sure there was nopony around.

After catching a glimpse of somepony, Star pulled her head back. Slowly, she moved to see who was there without being noticed.

A gangly unicorn stallion stood stiffly in front of a building, in what was most likely an awkward attempt at looking casual. There was a bright glow of magic surrounding his horn.

"Ah-ha! Fou-"

Starry Skies turned around and grabbed Rainbow Dash, pinning her to the wall and shoving a hoof in her mouth.

"Sshh," she hissed out. Pressing close, she tilted her head and listened. When there were no sounds of hooves either coming toward them or running away, Star slowly pulled her hoof away.

"Keep quiet. Something's happening over there."

Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed and ears pulled back as she glared at Star. Her forelegs crossed in front of her chest, and she let out an audible snort, but did not say anything.

Starry Skies moved closer to the edge and peaked out again.

The stallion was still there, half turned away from them now. His ears were perked up, with one facing in the direction of Star and Dash. The aura of magic around his horn was larger and brighter, pulsing with concentration.

"You live here," Star said to Rainbow Dash. "Do you know who lives there?"

Rainbow Dash stood there for a moment, staring at Star with a scrunched up face. Finally she moved to push past Starry Skies, poking her own head around the corner and looking to see what was there.

Instead of answering, Rainbow Dash jumped out from behind the corner and stood in the middle of the street, spreading her wings wide.

"Hey!" she called out. "What are you doing?"

Star clenched her jaw as she stifled her urge to growl in frustration. She had just wanted to know whose house the stallion was standing outside of, not give up the element of surprise. Especially since he seemed to be a (rather bad) lookout of some kind, and there was no way of knowing how many other ponies were in the house.

"Listen puppet," the stallion called out in a high-pitched, nasally voice, "I don't want to hurt you."

"Yeah, right," Rainbow Dash huffed, taking a step forward. "What can one scrawny stallion like you do?"

Starry Skies flew up above the building she was against and landed on the roof. She moved along it, walking closer to where the stallion stood.

"Well then it's a good thing I'm not performing alone," the stallion declared. His horn then flared brighter with magic.

From the building he was standing in front of, three figures made their way out the front door.

The sight made Star gasp out, eyes wide. The figures that came out of the building looked roughly like ponies. They were about the same size and general shape. Except they were missing three things: manes; tails; and most importantly, faces. Each one had a saddlebag attached to it, the flaps hanging open.

"What the buck?!" Rainbow Dash cried out. "Are those Rarity's sewing dummies?"

One of the things charged forward, running at the shocked pegasus. It slammed its head into her chest, sending her backwards with a loud grunt.

For a moment -- just a brief one -- Starry Skies considered doing nothing. She could just stay where she was and watch what happened next. After all, the stallion had no idea she was there. From her vantage point, she would be able to observe whatever happened next and collect more data on the stallion as well as his abilities with the sewing dummies. Plus, a sadistic little part of her liked the idea of seeing Rainbow Dash get beat up. The pegasus was one of Twilight's friends, and Star had nothing against her personally, but at times like this, her impulsiveness could be very irritating. Maybe a few smacks would get her to think before acting. Plus, she would probably deny needing any help in the first place.

But Starry Skies did not want Rainbow Dash to actually get hurt. Plus, both Twilight and Princess Luna would be disappointed about it. Having a pony that was a friend to the princesses, hero of Equestria, Element of Harmony, and Wonderbolt get beat up without doing anything would not do well for her career.

Launching herself from the rooftop, Starry Skies flew at one of the three dressing dummies. Her hooves slammed into it hard, sending it into one of the walls with a thud. She then twisted her body hard, driving her hoof into the thing's throat.

There was a soft thump as the punch sank in until hitting the wooden core. Being essentially a pony-sized doll, there were no organs or need to breathe. As such, punching them in the throat did no good... as were most strikes that were supposed to disable an opponent.

The dummy reared on its hind legs and slammed a front one into Star, striking her in the nose and sending her stumbling backwards.

Starry Skies inhaled hard through her nose before spitting out a bit of blood. For a creature with no muscles, it could hit pretty hard.

"You're a bit early for Nightmare Night there," the stallion said, "but I think I can give you a special performance."

One of the dummies charged at Star. Dropping low, she slammed into its chest and shoved hard, pushing it back. At the same time, Rainbow Dash was grabbing one of the others by the neck, throwing it against the wall. It bounced off, kicking a hind leg out to hit her in the cheek. The one that Star had hit raised up and brought both front legs down, slamming into her back and knocking her down onto the ground. As she dropped, she had enough thought to lash out with her wing, the nail on the tip managing to catch the material and create a small tear. Disappointingly, it was only superficial damage.

Meanwhile, Starry Skies was berating herself. She had been foolish. Stupid. Idiotic and impulsive. Why did she go after the stupid dummy? It was nothing but a bunch of fabric animated by magic. If she had gone after the unicorn right off the bat, she would have been able to hit him while having the element of surprise. At best, it would have knocked him unconscious and this whole thing would have been done. At worst, it would have at least broken his concentration enough that he could have lost control of the dummies.

Now he would be expecting them to try something, and was holding one dummy back. Probably for defensive reasons.

With a flap of her wings, Star shot at the sewing dummy and slammed into it. Pushing hard, she shoved it into one of the walls.

A tinkling sound caught her attention. Looking down, she found that the saddle bag had fallen off, bits, a bracelet and a necklace pouring out.

One wing reached down to sweep the bits and jewelry back into the bag before grabbing a hold of it.

"Rainbow Dash!" Star called out. "Catch!" She then threw the bag to the pegasus.

Rainbow Dash flew up and caught the bag, wrapping her front legs round it and looking down as it pressed against her chest.

"Hey!" the stallion shouted. "Give that back."

Starry Skies dropped the dummy she had and flew to the one that had been fighting Rainbow Dash. Instead of trying to hit it, she simply flew by and grabbed the saddle bags off it, throwing it to the pegasus as well.

"Stop that!" the stallion yelled, stomping a hoof. The two dummies that had been attacking now turned their attention to Starry Skies, chasing after her.

Smirking slightly to herself, Star flew at the third dummy, getting ready to grab its saddle bag as well. The stallion must have been expecting that to happen, because the dummy dropped below Star's grasp...

Allowing her to fly directly at him instead.

Starry Skies pulled back one of her forelegs and threw it forward hard, putting all her weight and momentum into it. The hoof struck the stallion on the jaw, the entire head tilting with the impact and causing him to spin before falling to the ground. Before he could recover, Star whacked his horn. There was a tingle along her foreleg as the magical energy was disrupted. The dummies stopped where they were, one falling over onto its side.

"Alright," Star said as she took off. "I believe you can handle it from here citizen. Don't want that criminal getting away before the guards arrive, now do we." She gave Rainbow Dash a salute, then flew off as quick as she could. Shouting followed after her, but it sounded like Rainbow Dash was not giving chase.

With a sigh of relief, Star made her way back toward the castle.