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How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative

by Amber Spark

Chapter 4: Interactions

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Sunset’s heart thudded in her chest as she scrambled to Spotlight’s side. In her mad dash, she almost slipped on Spotlight’s glasses, but she caught herself at the last second. Then she flung herself down beside the manager, ignoring the worried shouts coming from the other side of the curtain.

Blood pounded in her ears as she reached out and gently laid a hoof on Spotlight’s chest.

Seconds ticked by, each feeling like an hour.

Then the older mare’s chest lifted and fell.

Sunset slumped backward, dizzy with relief.

She’s breathing. Okay. Good. Now, let’s see how bad it is...

From Spotlight’s expression, she had to be in ridiculous amounts of pain. Not only that, but her breathing seemed erratic. Spotlight twisted a little under the weight of the truss, only to let out a groan.

Sunset’s eyes traveled the length of the mare’s body. It took a bit of light from her horn, but she managed to catch a glimpse of Spotlight’s mangled hindlegs, pinned beneath the enormous metal support beam. The only reason it hadn’t done worse was the truss had gotten wedged against a series of metal elevators used to access the upper catwalks.

“Think Sunset,” she muttered to herself, pushing aside the panic. “Think!”

A healing spell was out of the question. Despite her best efforts, she could only do the most basic of restoration magic. And she didn’t dare try something on a pony with potentially crippled legs… or worse.

I wish I trained harder. Sunset thought as she desperately searched her mind for something that might help. I can’t just sit here and wait! Okay. Let’s see. Moving the truss without a medic on hoof could be dangerous… Or is that for head injuries? Ugh!

Only one spell came to mind. It wasn’t much beyond a general numbing charm, but it should help lessen the poor mare’s pain. She focused and a thin wave of teal magic flowed over the stricken manager. After a few moments, Spotlight’s breathing eased somewhat, though she was still unconscious.

Sunset heard running hoofsteps behind her and turned, hoping to see her friends. However, the newcomers appeared to be Hoofbeats staffers, two pegasi and three earth ponies. All of them gaped at the sight of Sunset, Spotlight and the truss.

Somepony skidded to a halt beside her. Sunset glanced up to see the after-party DJ, a white mare with a wild mane of blue and cyan and oddly reflective shades. Sunset could see her own panicked expression in that pink and purple reflection. The mare didn’t say anything, but instead nodded at the enormous truss itself.

The truss was huge, over fifty feet long. Sunset couldn’t even guess how heavy it was. It was a minor miracle the now-broken elevators had prevented it from crushing the poor manager.

“I don’t know if it’s safe to move it off her!” Sunset bit her lower lip, trying to figure out what to do.

The DJ flicked her shades down and pierced Sunset with a look that told her quite plainly that she was being an idiot. How two red eyes could communicate that so effectively, Sunset didn’t know, but at this point, she wasn’t about to question it. The mare’s horn flared, but she couldn’t even fully wrap a telekinetic field around the truss.

Several of the staffers rushed over, but Sunset waved them away.

“If you move it wrong,” Sunset said, “it might collapse the rest of the way and completely crush her! We need magic for this!”

While the DJ didn’t have enough magic to pull off something like this, it wouldn’t be a problem for Sunset.

“I’ll handle the truss,” Sunset said. “You get her out from under there.”

The DJ nodded and they swapped positions. The two pegasi staffers rushed to either side of the truss while the three others stood around anxiously. Sunset took a few steps back and concentrated. The first levitation field failed entirely. The second faded out after trying to lift it. Finally, on the third attempt, she managed to grab a solid hold on the truss. The effort created a second layer of overglow around her horn. Instantly, both pegasi grabbed the edges and tried to lift, but they didn’t have the leverage to do much.

With a grunt, Sunset began to pull it into the air as Rara and Coco stormed onto the stage, Sunset’s friends close behind.

Rara and Coco both let out screams at the sight of Spotlight pinned under the truss.

Sunset pushed it all away and focused.

Just think of what you could do if you actually followed your true calling… said that obnoxious voice in the back of her head.

Buck off. Those were the only two words Sunset gave her angry little pony as she redoubled her efforts and poured more magic into the spell. A few moments later, as Coco and Rara reached the unconscious mare, Sunset finally managed to get the thing just high enough for the DJ to gently pull Spotlight out from under the truss.

Sunset didn’t hear the cries of her friends as they galloped forward, but even with Spotlight only halfway out, she knew she was losing the battle against gravity. As the spell began to slip, she felt the familiar magic of Moon Dancer and Minuette as they bolstered Sunset’s spell with their own magical reserves. Instantly, Sunset could breathe again.

That’s what friends are for, you jerk, Sunset snarled at the sulking voice in the back of her head.

You could have handled that if you worked harder at being the best instead of doing all this ridiculous friend-making.

“She’s clear!” Rara cried. “You can put it down, Sunset!”

Sunset, Minuette and Moon Dancer gently lowered the truss back to the stage floor. Sunset let out an enormous sigh of relief when she released the magic. She stumbled for a moment, a splitting headache centered right on her horn. It had been way too long since she had done any high-mass telekinetic exercises. She wobbled, but found her balance before she fell over.

“Sunset, you okay?” Moon Dancer called.

Sunset nodded, sighed again and opened her eyes, only to stare at a small gap between the curtains that were the only thing blocking Spotlight’s injury from the increasingly loud crowd outside.

Sunset whirled, but both Rara and Coco were focused entirely on Spotlight.

Coco said this whole thing is only one disaster away from falling apart. And they’re in no state to handle this. She licked her suddenly dry lips. I’m probably going to regret this...

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped out through curtain and onto the main stage.

The clamor in the club slowly died away as Sunset walked up to the edge of the stage in the biggest dance club in all of Manehattan.

Half of the ponies below wore glowsticks. Half of them wore cocktail dresses. All of them were staring in shock at Sunset.

“Um… minor technical difficulties?” Sunset tried.

In the front row, an orange earth pony with a blond mane and an elegant emerald dress cocked an eyebrow at Sunset.

“Minor difficulties?” she scoffed. For a moment, Sunset thought she heard a country twang in her voice, but it faded almost instantly. “That didn’t sound like… that didn’t sound like a minor technical difficulty!”

“Indeed, Jackie,” said an older orange-coated stallion beside her. “I daresay that sounded like something large and heavy collapsing!”

Sunset hated herself for doing it, but she reached deep within and pulled out her most sincere practiced smile. She could feel the eyes of something smug lurking in the back of her mind.

“Nothing like that!” Sunset replied in a carefully cheerful voice. “Simply a misfire of a sound effect spell. Miss Coloratura’s effects team were testing something to give the impression of ‘bringing down the house’ and went a little overboard.”

The ponies in the crowd didn’t seem all that convinced, but they had at least settled down a bit. Sunset spied Hoofbeats staffers moving through the crowd. She let out a slow breath as the partiers started chatting among themselves.

You enjoyed that.

Sunset didn’t reply.

“Hey!” the before-mentioned ‘Jackie’ spoke up again, squinting up at Sunset. “Ain’t—aren’t you Sunset Shimmer?”

“Thank you all for coming! Your afterparty DJ should be back on stage shortly!” Sunset said as she tried to put a bit more sincerity in her smile. “Hoofbeats thanks you for your understanding!”

With that, Sunset darted back behind the curtain. As an afterthought, she added a muffling charm to the velvet drapes. Only then did Sunset actually allow herself to breathe… again.

Smooth. Real smooth.

Oh, who asked you? Sunset grumbled.

Shaking her head, she stumbled back to the others. Gateway was already there with two of his security guards and he looked peeved.

“You get up there and do a thorough sweep of every upper level!” he shouted at his cowering staff. “After all the horseapples we’ve dealt with on this tour, there’s no way this was an accident and I plan to take it out of somepony’s hide! Now find me some damn answers! Move your flanks!

The two security guards scampered off. The staffers were milling about, apparently completely lost as to what to do. Rara was pacing back and forth with Coco trying to calm her down. Moon Dancer studied the truss with all the intensity of a forensics team. Minuette had vanished. Cheerilee sat next to Spotlight. Somepony had fetched a small medical kit—a yellow box with a pink cross on it—and Cheerilee was sorting through the various salves, bandages and potions. The DJ remained at Cheerilee’s side, silently helping.

“How’s she doing, Cheer?” Sunset asked as she knelt by the still-unconscious mare.

“I hate that nickname,” Cheerilee said, but it was more an automatic response than anything else. It had been a while since Sunset had seen Cheerilee in full professional mode. “She’s got a twisted forehoof and two broken hindlegs, Sunny. Multiple breaks in both, if I’m any judge. Probably a bruised rib. She might have a concussion from being slammed to the stage so hard, too.” Cheerilee glanced up at the magic shielding them from prying eyes. “I saw the muffling charm. Nice work. The last thing she needs is ‘helpful’ fans right now. What happened?”

They both turned to glance at the DJ, but the mare shrugged and shook her head. Sunset couldn’t see anything behind her mirrored pink and purple glasses, but the pony was chewing her lower lip.

“Nopony saw anything. Why am I not surprised?” Cheerilee’s hooves didn’t stop moving as she applied a cold compress to Spotlight’s head. “But Sunset, you have to know… if that truss had landed on her head…”

“I know,” Sunset growled. “Coloratura said there’d been accidents, but nothing like this.”

“Because nothing like this has ever happened!” Coloratura cried from behind them. “How is she?”

Sunset turned to see the singer in tears. Sunset suspected the mare hadn’t completely broken down only thanks to Coco’s efforts. The younger mare was rubbing Rara’s shoulder gently, trying not to look at Spotlight.

“She’ll need to be taken to the hospital, but I can’t say for how long. Broken bones are pretty easy to fix these days, especially in Manehattan, but ...” Cheerilee trailed off.

“But you said something about a concussion?”

“When you’ve been around colts and fillies as much as I have, I’ve found that any nasty crash can result in a concussion. It’s best to play it safe until the medical ponies get here.”

“Cheerilee is Ponyville’s primary education teacher,” Sunset explained. “And that’s after spending a few years teaching at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“All elementary school teachers are required to know first aid,” Cheerilee said distractedly as she placed the splint on Spotlight’s left hindleg. “And for teachers at GU, they have special certification courses in dealing with just about anything.”

With the dexterity of an experienced earth pony, Cheerilee swiftly finished splinting both broken hindlegs and put a brace on the twisted forehoof.

“That should do it until the medical ponies get here. Minuette said she was going to go meet them.”

Sunset turned to the DJ. “Miss—”

“Her name’s Vinyl Scratch,” Coco supplied distractedly.

“Miss Scratch, the audience is still expecting you out there. Can you help distract them from what just happened?” Sunset asked. “Please?”

The DJ gave her a smirk and a cocky little salute before trotting through the curtain. While it was open, the muffling charm faded temporarily. The cheers of the crowd welcomed the return of the DJ. A few seconds later, bass was thrumming through the club, so strong the the sound nearly overpowered Sunset’s spell.

Okay, that gamble seemed to have worked. But this is crazy.

Sunset turned and frowned at the singer. “Miss Coloratura, I understand that this was going to be a fun little detective mystery, but this just took a turn for the serious. You know what would have happened if Spotlight had been hit differently. You need to inform the Manehattan Police.”

Coloratura blinked a few times, still staring at the unconscious manager.

“If this was sabotage… or, Celestia forbid, an attempt to actually injure members of your staff, you have a serious problem on your hooves. I’d suggest you cancel tomorrow’s performance and have the police lock this place down. Somepony could have seen something, without even knowing it.”

“You… you can’t do that,” said a weak voice from Sunset’s hooves.

“Spotlight!” Rara cried and collapsed beside her in relief. “How do you feel? Do you need anything? What happened?”

“Rara,” Coco said as she trotted up and put a tender hoof on the singer’s shoulder. “Let her breathe.”

“I’m not quite sure.” The elderly unicorn blinked in confusion. “I had completed my conversation with the Royal Guard and sent them on their way. I intended to speak to Miss Scratch here and make sure the after-party was well-in-hoof when I heard something above me. It sounded like a rather inappropriate swear word and when I looked up, that enormous monstrosity of metal was falling right at me. I couldn’t think or respond… my legs just locked up.” She grimaced. “As for how I feel now? Well, my dear, I feel as if somepony dropped the very moon on me.”

“You’re sure you heard somepony up there?” Sunset looked up into the shadows above them and studied the outline of the catwalks.

“Quite so, Miss Shimmer,” Spotlight replied. “I will not repeat the word I heard. Most vulgar.”

She was just crushed within an inch of her life by an enormous metal beam. Even on a numbing spell and painkillers, she sounds like she’s having tea at a garden party. What is this pony made out of?

Sunset caught Gateway’s attention and waved him over. The security chief looked grim, though the expression softened when he saw that Spotlight had regained consciousness.

“Spotlight heard somepony in the walkways above the truss before the thing collapsed,” Sunset reported.

“Spot, did you see anypony?” Gateway asked.

Spotlight shook her head slowly, but Cheerilee stopped her almost immediately, but not before Spotlight’s eyes were practically spinning in her head.

“You might have a concussion. That’s not a good idea.”

“Ah yes, that would explain why there are suddenly three of you, young lady,” Spotlight murmured as she laid her head down. “I am sorry I cannot be of more help. However, tomorrow night’s event must go on as planned.”

“You’ll need to excuse me,” Gateway growled. The stallion could give an enraged dragon a run for his bits. “I need to find the… individual… responsible for this.”

Sunset had a nagging suspicion that wasn’t the word he wanted to use.

“What’s so special about tomorrow?” Cheerilee demanded. “I know you said if any wind of something like this got out, you’d lose donors, but considering what just happened… No disrespect, Miss Spotlight, but you could have been—”

“I’m quite aware of what could have happened,” Spotlight informed the teacher with an almost eerie level of poise. “It did not. And both dear Coco and Rara know precisely why tomorrow must proceed as planned. It’s not that we’d lose a significant amount of the donation money… it’s who will suffer because of it.”

Rara stared at the younger mare, but Coco’s ears were pasted to her head.

Coco chewed her lower lip and paced back and forth a little bit. Finally, she let out a sigh and lowered her head.

“Rara, we can’t let anypony get hurt,” Coco said quietly. “It’s not worth it.”

“This is your baby, Coco.” Rara looked ready to tear her mane out in frustration. “You’ve been working toward this event for a year. If we cancel now… we’ll lose at least three-quarters of the funds. Everypony else will scream for their bits back.”

“This is about more than bits!” Coco snapped as the calm mask she’d been using with Rara cracked. “I won’t let something like this happen to my friends!”

Coco rubbed at her eyes. She looked like she wanted to scream or collapse into sobs. Maybe both.

“Coco,” Rara said gently, “if we cancel this… the Manehattan schoolponies get nothing.”

“Schoolponies?” Cheerilee glanced up at the two of them. “What are you two talking about?”

“Rara and I have—”

“Coco, it was your project,” Rara said. “I just helped with publicity. For the last time, take some credit!”

“Listen to your friend, dear,” Spotlight said. “You are far too humble about this for your own good.”

“Fine!” Coco said with a grumble. “For the last year, we’ve been promoting a special charity event to help Manehattan’s schools. In a city this big, they’re starting to get overcrowded and understaffed. The teachers are working as hard as they can… but there’s not enough bits to go around.”

Cheerilee’s eyes went wide. “You mean… the Grade School Gala… is yours?”

“Oh, yes,” Spotlight smiled wanly. She shifted position and winced slightly. “Ah… a numbing spell. Thank you, whoever was kind enough to cast that.” She took a deep breath and suppressed another grimace. “The Grade School Gala was indeed Miss Pommel’s idea. Miss Coloratura and I have been quite supportive of it. Wonderful opportunity to help the children. And the entire night’s proceeds will go entirely to Manehattan’s schools.”

“That’s…” Sunset blinked. “That’s really generous of you two.”

Rara waved it off with a hoof, looking embarrassed. “It’s nothing like that. Coco’s always been doing things for Manehattan. It’s her home. She loves this city. So do I… but nothing like her.”

Even under the dried tears, Coco was blushing so hard she was in danger of setting the stage on fire.

“But that doesn’t matter now!” Coco said. “Somepony’s trying to wreck things. Spotlight, you could have been—”

To her own surprise, Sunset stepped forward. “Miss Pommel, somepony is behind this. And you’re letting them win. Ponies like this won’t stop here. They’ll hound you until you’re destroyed.” Sunset swallowed. “I know… I used to be one of those kinds of ponies. Whoever is behind this wants you gone. You can’t let them win, not when—”

At that moment, Minuette trotted back onto the stage with a pair of medical ponies in tow. Sunset smiled. At least the medics arrived quickly.

Minuette grinned brightly at them all. “Somepony called for the medics when they saw the truss go down. Even before the Hoofbeats staff could get to it!”

Sunset frowned. That was strange. The only ponies who could have seen the accident were those backstage.

The medics quickly got Spotlight restituted onto a gurney, but the elderly manager stopped them with a hoof before they could cart her away.

“Coco, dear,” Spotlight said. The young earth pony stepped over to her and took her hoof. “You must go through with this. You have put your heart and soul into this event. We cannot let whatever ruffian responsible destroy all your hard work. If we allow this, thousands of children will go without the funds they need to help build their future. And we must not be intimidated or run off, especially in our own home town!”

Coco nodded slowly. Rara wiped a tear from her muzzle as she smiled at her manager.

Wow. Coloratura really does care for Spotlight. Not that I doubted it, but still…

“I believe in you,” Spotlight said with a smile that defied her splinted hindlegs. “I believe in you both. I trust you will make this work, my dears.”

Coloratura looked at the medics. “You take good care of her, you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” one of the medics said. “We’ll get her admitted to Radiant Hope Hospital right away. Best medical care in the city.”

“I expect nothing less,” Coloratura said with an icy tone, probably colder than she intended. “Sorry, please… go ahead.”

The medics nodded and Spotlight weakly waved to them all before she was carted off.

“Sunny?” Minuette had wandered to the far side of the truss, near the wrecked remains of the elevator that had probably saved Spotlight’s life. “Could I talk to you for a second?”

Sunset stepped over to her as Coco and Rara started arguing in hushed tones. Cheerilee joined Moon Dancer by the other side of the truss.

“What is it, Minuette?” Sunset didn’t look at her. Instead, she glared at the collapsed metal support.

“I’m not sure if this is important or not…” Minuette hesitated. “But when I was heading back to the rear exits to meet the medical ponies, I thought I heard somepony crying in one of the offices back that way. But when I went to check on whoever it was… they were gone.”

“Somepony was crying back there?” Sunset rubbed her chin. “Did you see anything else?”

“It looked like a pretty well-used office. There were some lanyards there. A couple for Hoofbeats staff members, some for the ponies who work backstage and a VIP guest badge. Oh! And one of those fancy radio earpieces.”

“That’s not a lot to go on, Minuette,” Sunset pointed out. “Even if that did have something to do with this… I don’t know. That stuff could have just been left there.”

“I know.” Minuette nodded. “But every little bit helps, right?”

Sunset nodded absently. A curse and crying. Now, a radio earpiece, plus staff and guest lanyards…

She peered up into the gloomy catwalks. Several lines of rope dangled from the ceiling. Other rope pieces were attached to various points on the truss. She knelt down and studied them for a moment.

These just look frayed. Not like they were cut or anything. But a few of these seem too loose… Too many, actually…

“Sunny?” Moon Dancer called. “You should see this.”

Sunset frowned and trotted over to where Moon Dancer was kneeling, beside one of the ruined truss’s edges. When she approached, Moon Dancer conjured a large floating disk with an embedded magnification spell, allowing Sunset to get a better picture of a spot on the edge. It was where the hooks should have connected the truss to the rest of the framework above. There were definitely black marks on it, consistent with some sort of fire… or magic.

“Burned through,” Moon Dancer said with a growl. “This is definitely sabotage.”

Sunset stared closer. With a touch of her magic, she shifted the disk and studied the rest of the large hooks along the closest side.

“But these aren’t,” Sunset murmured. “These two have snapped. Look, you can see the jagged edges.”

“Apparently one was enough.”

“I don’t know…” Sunset couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else going on.

Sunset sent the disk to the other side of the truss. Minuette was there, studying the parts of the truss still visible from the wreckage of the cargo elevator. The unicorn glanced up and smiled at the both of them at the sudden appearance of the magnification disk.

“Minuette, you’re our resident expert on mechanical things. Do you see any damage to the hooks?” Sunset asked as she and Moon Dancer walked up.

“Well, it’s not a bell tower or a pocketwatch, but I did find something! Most of the hooks on this side were damaged from where it hit the elevator, but there are two still intact. Looks like both of the metal hooks snapped. In fact… it looks… hmm…”

Minuette moved the disk with her own magic, searching along the other side for half a minute before she froze. She blinked in surprise and looked up at the two of them.

“They’re rusted.”

“That can’t be right,” Moon Dancer said. “Only one hook was actually damaged? I know this thing is heavy, but just losing one of the supports wouldn’t cause the whole thing to collapse. Not only that… but it was attached to the ceiling by ropes.”

Minuette tapped her chin with her hoof. “But maybe—”

“Oh, by Harmony and the Sun!” cried a new voice. “Thank Harmony you are all well!”

Sunset turned to see a wild-eyed pink pegasus with a dark blonde mane come flying up with wings moving so fast they were little more than a blur. She wore an earpiece in one ear and the jacket of one of the managers of Hoofbeats. Sunset frowned, wondering why the management of the nightclub would send some flunky to deal with such a mess until she saw the gold braiding along her sleeves.

“Hello, Miss Beats.” Rara’s voice was as cold as the Crystal Mountains. “Nice of you to join us.”

“Please, Miss Coloratura!” the pegasus flapped around nervously, doing a reasonable impression of a hummingbird. She sounded as if she’d arrived from Prance yesterday, sprinting the entire way. “Please forgive the... the late response! I only now returned from a... a… summons to PonyGram Records! One nopony seemed to have any knowledge of upon my arrival. Once I returned and discovered what had transpired, I rushed back here straight away!”

“You happened to get called out of the club right before part of the set comes down?” Sunset snapped. “That seems… rather convenient.”

Hm. Somepony’s finally paying attention. About time.

Shut up! I don’t need you right now! With a mental grunt, she kicked the obnoxious little voice into the back of her head. If she was lucky, it would give her a few minutes of silence.

The pink pegasus blushed and her buzzing wings became even more frantic to the point of actually ruffling some of the earth-bound ponies’ manes.

“Forgive me once more!” Miss Beats looked a few seconds away from hyperventilating. “The summons was in error! A member of my staff informed me by radio a courier had arrived with an urgent message. The courier said I was needed immediately at the PonyGram Records office! But when I arrived, they knew nothing of any summons! We spent nearly ten minutes trying to determine the cause of the mixup, but could find no answer!” Miss Beats’ words flew nearly faster than her wings. “As I said, upon my return, my staff immediately informed me as to what had transpired! I flew here as fast as my wings could bear me!”

“So…” Moon Dancer said, rubbing her chin. “It sounds like somepony lured you out of the club.”

“Oui, yes!” She bobbed her head as if terrified. “Please, Miss Coloratura, I beg your forgiveness in my tardiness in responding to this horrible accident. I did the very best I could, but sadly, I do not possess Miss Shimmer’s ability to teleport to and fro! Indeed, I must thank you, Miss Shimmer. I understand you spoke to the crowd. Your quick words helped a great, great deal. I believe you may have saved Miss Coloratura from yet another scandal. And this? This would have been quite bad.”

“Uh,” Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Sure? It was nothing…”

Is she always this panicky when something goes wrong in her club? Sunset wondered. Yeah, it’s really bad, but still… she seems really high-strung.

“So, somepony drops a truss on Spotlight,” Moon Dancer paced the length of the stage. “After luring the club manager out on a phony errand? Plus there was the whole exploding lights thing you mentioned earlier...”

“Then again, somepony did call the medical ponies,” Cheerilee added. “And their response time was oddly fast. Especially for Manehattan at this time of night.”

“Hm. Wait a minute.” Moon Dancer stopped pacing. “Did the medical ponies come in through the front or the back?”

“Performer’s entrance in the back,” Minuette supplied helpfully. “After one of the staffers promised he’d call them, I went to go make sure they found their way in time.”

“Right place, right time?” Sunset asked with a roll of her eyes.

“Got it in one, Sunny!”

Sunset shook her head and grinned a little. But only a little.

I wonder if her special talent was at play when she heard that crying pony…

“That doesn’t make much sense. Why would the medical ponies come to the back?” Cheerilee asked. “In my experience, they use the main entrance.”

“Maybe whoever called them wanted to make sure there wasn’t a fuss?” Minuette suggested.

Sunset nodded. “That’s… that’s a really good reason, Minuette. But that leaves us with a big question. If the staffers didn’t contact them and none of us contacted them… who did?

“I don’t know,” Coco said, looking in the direction Spotlight had left. “But whoever did, I’d like to thank them.”

“Please, tell me, have you discovered anything we can tell the authorities?” Miss Beats asked as she flitted up to Rara. “This sort of thing is simply terrible!”

“Not worth calling them,” Sunset said quickly, before anypony could respond.

“Not worth…” Miss Beats stared at Sunset as if she had grown a pair of wings. Oui, forgive me, madam, but I do not take such things as personal injuries in my club so lightly!”

“If the police are involved,” Sunset said, “ponies are going to catch wind of what happened here.”

The pegasus manager flittered back and forth. “But… this is not the way things are done!”

“Sunset’s right.” Moon Dancer rubbed her head. “If the police show up and start asking questions, it’ll be everything Spotlight fears. The press will descend on this place like parasprites on an apple.”

“Spotlight begged us to keep going.” Rara said. “So, that’s what we’re going to do. I’ll have Gateway bring in everypony on staff. Everypony we trust. We can handle this. Just one more night.”

Miss Beats paled. “I… I will try. But I cannot refuse a direct request by the officers of the law, if they should inquire. Please, Miss Coloratura, I promise we are doing our absolute best! We are professionals here, you must believe me!”

Sunset blinked. There was something oddly familiar about the way Miss Beats had said ‘professionals.’

“Well, you could explain one thing.” Moon Dancer cocked an eyebrow. “Why are the sides of this truss rusty?”

“Rusty?” The pegasus rushed over and for the first time, took in the fallen truss. “Oh my. No, no, no! I told them to use the B Truss, not the C Truss! Those fools!”

Minuette stepped up beside Sunset, squinting at Miss Beats.

“Would you mind explaining that?” Coco asked as she walked up to Miss Beats, who still had yet to put her hooves on the ground even once.

“Please, again, forgive me!” Miss Beats whirled to face her, going pink—well, more pink—with embarrassment. “We had initially intended to use our newest main truss for your show, Miss Coloratura! An excellent Showpony Series Seven with unicorn-controlled lighting, fog machines and focused magical beam effects! However, only a few hours before you arrived, we found that the truss had been damaged! The power had failed and nothing we could do would make it function once more.”

“That seems convenient,” Coloratura commented as she glanced at Coco. Both of them looked as suspicious as Sunset felt.

“Most inconvenient, I say!” Miss Beats said. “We had two other trusses available. A Showpony Six and a Showpony Five. However, the Showpony Five—our C truss—had been in one of the storage rooms where a leak had developed. It had rusted on the sides. We simply hadn’t had the time to dispose of it properly yet! It seems the workponies mixed them up! This is the C Truss! I will have somepony’s head for this!”

“Somehow, I doubt the workponies were responsible for this…” Cheerilee mused.

Miss Beats didn’t seem to hear her. Somehow, her wing beats became even more frantic. Sunset didn’t think it had been possible. Meanwhile, Rara studied the panicking pegasus pony with an oddly intense gaze.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!” Miss Beats murmured. Her left eye twitched. Twice. “I again beg your forgiveness. We intended no harm to come to you or any of your staff! You know how important your shows are to us here at Hoofbeats! We would never jeopardize anything with you of all ponies! Not that we would ever jeopardize anypony of course, but, you see—”

Rara smiled and took a deep breath before cutting off the panicking pegasus by lifting a hoof.

“Miss Beats… Free Beats,” Rara said in a disarming tone. “Calm down. Nopony’s pointing a hoof at anypony. All we’re trying to do right now is to figure things out. In fact, you could probably help us out here.”

Sunset blinked in surprise at Rara’s sudden shift in attitude toward Miss Beats.

“Oui! Please! Anything I can do to mitigate this disaster would be most welcome! Please, forgive my rambling, but I cannot recall the last time anything like this has occurred!”

“Could you tell us why these ropes are so loose?” Sunset asked, gesturing to them with a hoof.

Miss Beats flew over and studied the ropes for a second. Her face twisted in a knot of confusion before she darted up into the catwalks with the speed of hummingbird. Muttering and various variations of ‘oh, no’ echoed down for almost a full minute before Miss Beats finally flew back. For the first time, she settled on the surface of the stage. Her wings stopped buzzing and she stared at the large truss in complete bafflement.

“This is not possible,” she stated as if she had just discovered that gravity was an elaborate lie. “The ropes… one of them was frayed, but the rest simply… they are loose. They became untied. But such a thing is simply not possible. Even if somepony were to do such a thing on purpose… it would make no sense. It would be far simpler to simply untie one or two… not loosen all knots, including the ones on the top where few can access. This cannot be.”

“Well, add this to your collection of ‘cannot be.’” Moon Dancer yanked the magnifying disk with her magic and made it hover over the burned section of the clamps that had—until recently—kept the truss secured to the rest of the stage’s rigging above.

Miss Beats paled and her eyes went the widest Sunset had seen so far.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Miss Beats’s wings went into overdrive. The sheer force of her sudden flapping pushed Sunset back a few steps. “I cannot believe this! This simply cannot be! Nopony would dare to attempt such an insane plan! This is insanity! Beyond insanity! Only a true madpony would dare to do such things!”

Well, she’s either the best actor in the world or she’s completely innocent. Either way, we’ll probably need to call the medical ponies back when she gives herself a heart attack.

“Coco?” Rara asked, obviously as concerned about Miss Beats as Sunset. “Would you please help Miss Free Beats here to a couch where she can have some quiet? She doesn’t look well.”

“Of course, Rara.” Coco managed a smile despite the situation. She gently pushed the now-babbling pegasus off the stage, all the while whispering soothing words.

“Well, she didn’t do it,” Moon Dancer said as she watched them go. “She looks about three flaps away from going into shock.”

“I don’t think the staff at Hoofbeats would have anything to do with this,” Rara admitted. “I try not to think about it too much, but I know how many bits my shows usually bring in for them.”

“Then who do you think did it?” Sunset asked and pointed a hoof at the damaged hook. “If they wanted to make a splash, why not do it with one of the trusses out on the main stage? Considering Spotlight said the pony swore, and then there’s the crying Minuette heard in the back offices… I’m wondering if this was an accident.”

Since when are you a private detective, ‘Sunny?’

Shut it, jerk.

Somepony’s been reading too many—

“An accident?” Moon Dancer scoffed, thankfully interrupting Sunset’s angry little pony. “Somepony either burned through this with magic or used some sort of cutting torch!”

“Yeah,” Sunset admitted. “But why are the ropes loose instead of untied or cut or burned or something? Plus there’s the whole rusted truss thing. Something doesn’t make sense here.”

“No matter what, this sort of thing isn’t exactly any of our special talents,” Cheerilee said with a sigh. “Miss Coloratura, while we’d be happy to help you, you need to contact the police.”

“The moment the police become involved, this entire thing will fall apart!” Rara was almost shouting now. “You heard Coco! You heard Spotlight! Sunset is right, if we call for the police, we’re letting whoever’s behind this win!”

“I’m sorry, Rara,” Minuette said, her ears back. “But I don’t think that really matters. Spotlight was badly hurt! And worse could have happened!”

“The police are going to insist on closing the Grade School Gala!” Rara protested.

Sunset tapped her hoof on her chin. After a few seconds, she bit her lip as the glimmer of an idea came to her.

Oh no, you are not doing that! You’re not going to stick your neck out for some prima-donna pop star so you can get her to sign your saddlebags or something!

Sunset ignored the voice and stared up into the shadows again.

“What if…” Sunset said slowly as the idea came together. “What if… Princess Celestia’s personal apprentice asked them to keep a low profile and assisted in the investigation? Maybe without telling them about the latest incident?”

“Sunset!” Cheerilee gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

Moon Dancer, on the other hoof, just cracked up. “Oh, seriously? You’re going to try this again?”

“Princess Celestia is currently in Vanhoover conducting a diplomatic conference with the zebras,” Sunset pointed out. “Even if the police tried to contact Canterlot to confirm if I actually have any authority to do this… it would take at least two days to get a response back from her.”

“Could it work?” Rara asked. “I don’t want to get you in actual trouble…”

“Hey, I don’t like using it for myself. Not anymore.” Sunset smiled and nodded to herself. “But for friends? That’s a different matter.”

Rara gave her a dazzling smile. “That’s kind of you.”

Sunset blushed and tried to shrug the comment away. “Anyway, you need help. We won’t be able to exclude them entirely… and it would be pretty foolish to try. But maybe we can sweep this under the rug? Make it seem routine? Anyway, it would be nice to help with an investigation instead of being the subject of one.”

Moon Dancer winced and rubbed the back of her mane with a sheepish smile.

“Still, that doesn’t really answer my question,” Rara pointed out. “I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble with Princess Celestia…”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’ll probably get in a little trouble with her. But most police officers—even Manehattan ones—don’t want to deal with Princess-level stuff. The police chief will call for confirmation, but he’ll play along until he gets word one way or another. Until then… I’m pretty sure between the four of us and that mountain of a stallion you call a Security Chief can handle it.”

“He is quite a mountain, isn’t he?” Cheerilee mumbled, staring off into space.

Immediately, everypony’s eyes locked on Cheerilee, who shrank back when she realized she had said those words aloud.

“I meant he is imposing!” Cheerilee squeaked, despite her entire body going brilliant apple red.

“Uh-huh.” Minuette giggled.

“Whatever you say.” Moon Dancer fluttered her eyelashes.

“Right.” Sunset smirked. “Don’t worry, Cheer. We all believe you.”

“If it helps, he is single,” Rara added.

Cheerilee let out a squeak before rallying magnificently. “Our topic is Sunset’s latest harebrained scheme, not… Gateway!”

“He is part of that scheme,” Minuette pointed out.

“Not helping!” Cheerilee snapped.

“Wasn’t trying.” Minuette beamed.

Cheerilee ignored her and whirled on Sunset. “You actually don’t have this kind of authority, do you?”

“Not in the slightest,” Moon Dancer supplied with a grin. “Which is why it’s awesome.”

Minuette was smiling like a lunatic. “Sounds fun to me.”

Cheerilee facehoofed. “I’m going to jail. I need to just accept that I’ll be in jail within the next couple of days.”

“Don’t worry!” Minuette patted her on the back. “I’m sure you won’t be alone!”

Cheerilee stared at Minuette for almost a full minute before facehoofing again.


Author's Notes:

So, who do you think that orange mare with the blond mane was? She seemed familiar. I can't quite place her, though...

Okay, folks! Our actors are in place. Let's nab ourselves a saboteur! After all, there's a lot of stuff going on around here! What's the real game plan here... and are we even remotely close to playing that plan out? Or is something else entirely happening?

Find out in two weeks! Same ponytime, same pony channel! :ajsmug:


If you come across any errors, please let me know by PM!

Next Chapter: Inclusivity Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 3 Minutes
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