Twilight had been able to identify the Fluttershy from the image and cross reference her ID number with her employment data. This provided them with various information about her, but most importantly her home address. She, like many of the workers on this particular water processing operation, lived in Support Station Twelve. The station itself was separated into a number of terraces and balcony floors, and the Fluttershy’s apartment was midlevel on the quieter side of the support column that faced away from SteelPoint City.

The apartment itself was set against a long, circular balcony that served as an access street to the various apartments on the level. It had a railing, but overlooked a sheer drop that stretched down hundreds if not thousands of feet. The air was cold, and it was windy. Elrod pulled the collar of his still-wet coat up around his head.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked. “I don’t want to bother her.”

“Well, tough. Because that’s the only way to get this done. Unless you know of another witness?”

Elrod did not respond, but pulled his collar even high and frowned.

They approached the door, and Twilight stopped Elrod. “Try not to talk,” she said. “I’m a Twilight. We generally get along well with Fluttershys, but they tend to be unpredictable.”

“As in?”

“As in keep your trap shut and let me do my job. I only need you here as a face reference.”

With that- -and before Elrod could retort- -Twilight knocked on the door. There was a long pause as nothing happened.

“I don’t think she’s home.”

“She is,” said Twilight. “I can see her. She’s just very quiet.”

Twilight proved to be correct. There was a tap against the door from the inside, which Elrod figured was the Fluttershy’s front hooves as she stood up to look through the peep hole. This was followed by another pause, and then a number of mechanical sounds as numerous deadbolts and locking mechanisms were unfastened.

The door cracked open with an odd jingling of many chains that held it closed. A large blue eye and a wisp of pink hair poked out.

“H…hello?” whimpered the Fluttershy. “I’m not expecting company right now.”

“Meredith Fluttershy?”

The Fluttershy’s eye widened. “Yes, that is me. I am Meredith.”

Twilight opened the lapel of her coat, revealing a metallic disk covered in Georgian script. “PI, Twilight Sparkle. I’m a detective.”

“A detective? Oh my, I haven’t done something wrong, have I?”

“No, Meredith, of course not. I’m not with the police anyway. Just a PI. I just have a few questions.”

“Questions? About what?”

Twilight leaned to her side and gestured toward Elrod. “Have you seen this man before?”

Meredith looked up at Elrod, and she smiled. “Oh, yes. I remember. You were on the elevator the other day. We talked about travelling.”

“We did,” said Elrod. “Have you booked your trip to Pittsburg yet?”

Meredith laughed. “Oh no, not yet. It’s been very busy lately. Hold on a second.” She closed the door, and there was a sound of many chains being disconnected from the door. Then, after what seemed like at least twenty chains, the door swung inward.

“Please,” said Meredith, “come in.”

Twilight bowed slightly and immediately entered. Elrod followed her, and Forth- -who had been admiring the view from the balcony- -followed last.

The first and most striking thing about the apartment was the smell. It did not smell bad exactly, but it was immediately apparent that animals were present. Elrod could smell the scent of their bedding and the characteristic odor of aquariums, as well as the plastic-like scent of hot electric lights.

The second thing that became apparent was that, to Elrod at least, the apartment was massive. It was at least twenty feet deep and ten wide, and appeared to have at least one additional room in the back. As the smell had indicated, though, the entire room was filled with animal enclosures. Glass tanks lined all the walls, and several rows had been set up in the center with pony-width aisles between them. Many of them were aquariums that bubbled and hissed under strangely colored artificial light, but many also contained reptiles, amphibians, and strange insects all under red, blue, or yellow light. There were mice, rats, small birds, and a few things that Elrod could not identify. He even noted a striped genet sitting on top of one of the larger aquariums, watching him with yellow eyes.

A growl suddenly drew his attention to a corner near him. The only light in the room was from the glow of the aquariums and terrariums, so it took his eyes a moment to adjust. When they did, he found himself staring into a pair of beady reddish-black eyes. Those eyes were, in turn, connected to a shaggy pony-sized creature with hair missing from several parts of its body. It took a step forward on its long, thin legs, and Elrod instantly became aware of both its long, naked tail and its teeth. It lacked canines, but instead had a set of long, yellow incisors that were exposed as it bared them.

“Thaaaaaaat’s a hyperwolf,” he said, barely believing it- -and barely believing that he was not panicking. The creature did not look happy, and it took another step forward. A small bell on its collar jingled.

“Leroy!” said Meredith. “That’s no way to treat guests, now, is it?”

The creature looked at her, and showed no sign of shame. It did, however, stop advancing.

“You have a hyperwolf,” said Elrod. “In your house.”

“Well, of course. Isn’t he just the cutest thing?”

“Is…is he rabid?”

“Oh, silly! Of course he is! All hyperwolves carry rabies!”

“And that doesn’t concern you?”

“I’m a pony. If zoonotic diseases affected me, I’d be long dead by now. And it would be worth it.” She laughed, and in the light Elrod saw that her pupils were oddly shaped. They seemed more linear than round.

“Don’t mess with it, and it won’t mess with you,” said Twilight.

“Exactly,” said Meredith. “Now, can I get you anything? I’m afraid I only have animal food and water.”

“Nothing for me,” said Twilight. “But thank you.”

“I could use some water,” said Elrod.

“I do not require anything at this moment,” said Forth.

Meredith paused and looked at Forth for a moment. “A Blossomforth?” she said. “I wasn’t aware that they still made you.”

“We are reasonably common as a whole. We are less common in this area.”

“I’m seventy three years old, and I’ve never met one of your kind once.” Fluttershy smiled. “That means today is going to be a good day, isn’t it?” She turned around and moved between her rows of aquariums. “Let me find that water. Now, what was it you wanted to ask me?”

“This man,” said Twilight, following her through the purple and blue lights of the tanks above her. “You said you saw him before?”

“Yes. I did.” Fluttershy was leaning over a sink and pouring a glass of water. “We were riding the elevator together.”

“Do you remember everyone you ride the elevator with?”

“No. But most people who take the service elevator work for Aquarion, so I know a lot of them. He didn’t, and I thought that was odd. That, and, well…” She paused for a moment. “…he has something of a distinctive face? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but…well…he does.”

“No need to apologize,” said Twilight. “It’s true.”

Meredith got down off of the stepstool she was using to reach the sink and perched the glass of water between her wings to carry it to Elrod. “Here,” she said. “It’s good. I know, I helped make it.”

Elrod took the glass and drank some of the water. It did not really matter what it tasted like to him; he was thirsty. He was surprised to find that it had absolutely no taste.

“It doesn’t taste like anything.”

Meredith smiled broadly. “I know! That’s the magic of the system! Did you know that I actually breed aquatic salamanders with that water? That’s how pure it is.”

“You are a hydrologist,” said Forth.

“I am,” said Meredith. “I don’t want to brag, but I think we’re pretty good at what we do.”

“I don’t doubt that,” said Twilight. “But that day, when you were on the elevator with this man. Can you tell me what happened?”

“What happened?” Meredith looked confused. “Nothing happened. We got on the elevator, spoke for a moment, and then got off. I got off first I think.”

“Did you notice a drone on the elevator with you?”

“A drone?” Meredith paused for a moment. “I don’t recall. Maybe, we have contracts to use our elevators to transport them out of the work environment when they need repairs. But they’re just so ordinary I just overlook them. Is that mean to them? I mean, they’re just robots, but I’d hate to hurt their robot-feelings.”

“How noble,” said Forth.

“So you don’t remember an interaction between this man and the drone? No fights, or anything of that nature?”

“Fights? Oh my, no! You mean with a drone? Is that even possible? No! It was a very peaceful ride. I think I would remember if there was anything like that.”

“Then you do you explain why he has your gun?”

“My what?”

Elrod reached into his pocket and produced the weapon. He presented it to Meredith with both hands. “I believe this is yours?”

She looked at it, clearly confused. “Why, yes it is. But I was sure I had lost that one…” She looked up at Elrod. “How…how do you have it?”

“I borrowed it,” he said.

Meredith looked at Twilight. “I…yes. I always carry that one with me. Just in case. But I hadn’t seen it since…” She paused. “Since that day…”

“And did he take it from you?”

“You mean did he steal it? No! He doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would steel a little pony’s only means of protection. Besides, I’m a Fluttershy. I tend to…well, it’s embarrassing, but I tend to scream if strangers touch me. Really high.”

` “So then how does he have your gun?”

Meredith shook her head. “I don’t know.”

There was a long pause, and Twilight looked up at a large tank in which a number of long, narrow fish were swimming through the leaves of an overgrown mossy plant. “That’s what I needed to know,” she said at last. “Thank you, Meredith.”

“It’s not a problem,” said Meredith. “I’m just glad to help.”

“Forth,” said Twilight. “I think we’ve bothered Meredith long enough on her day off. It’s about time we moved on with our work.”

“Of course, Ms. Twilight.”

The pair of them walked toward the door. “Thank you again,” said Twilight.

“Your very welcome. And it was no bother at all. I do like company.”

“Before I go, though,” said Twilight. “Do you mind if I ask you something not business related?”

“Not business related? Like what?”

“You have incredible precision of motion. Really graceful, I mean.”

Meredith blushed. “Oh, thank you,” she said.

“I have to ask. What brand are you using?”

“Caterpillar,” said Meredith. “MK8, actually. It’s the newest model.”

“You don’t move like it’s new.”

“I know! I used to use a Deere, and it was fine but it just never did what I needed.” Her eyes perked up. “The representative that helped me was lovely too. I can introduce you if you’re thinking about an upgrade.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m fine for now. I guess you know how that feels.”

“I most certainly do.”

Meredith laughed softly, and Twilight and Forth exited her home. Elrod remained for a moment, though, before turning to her.

“You can have your pistol back,” said Elrod. “I may have used the ammunition. Sorry.”

Meredith looked at the pistol, and then pushed it away. “No,” she said. “I already got it replaced. And I don’t know why, but you look to me like you’re going to need it. Go ahead. Keep it.”

“Really?”

Meredith’s expression became serious. “It’s a sad truth, but one you learn to live with. In this world, you never know when you’re going to need something like that.”

Elrod joined Twilight and Forth outside. They were already walking back to one of the main access roads, which passed through a narrow area planted with anemic looking grass and castiron plants arranged in gauche row plantings.

“We did not get much information,” said Forth.

“We got enough,” said Twilight.

“The information we received corroborates the video.”

“Except that what’s on the video never happened,” said Elrod, trotting up behind them.

“The witness testimony suggests that what you claim to happen did not occur.”

“No,” said Twilight. “I’m more sure of his story than ever before.”

Blossomforth did not look confused. She did not have the capacity to. Her facial expressions seemed to be somewhat limited. The pair of them began to ascend a flight of stairs, with Elrod behind them. No one was around, and behind a view of the lights of the city below and across was visible through the cleft of the two buildings that surrounded them.

“I do not understand,” said Forth.

“The elevator. Did you notice what it smelled like?”

“No.”

“Freshly spilled hydraulic fluid and gunpowder.”

Elrod blinked. “Wait. Ponies have a sense of smell?”

“Of course we have a sense of smell,” said Twilight.

“Neither of those smells are uncommon,” said Forth. “Especially hydraulic fluid.”

“I know,” said Twilight. “Which is why I checked the company’s drone inventory.”

“When?” asked Elrod.

“While you were watching yourself on video.”

“And one drone was missing?”

“No. Every drone was accounted for.”

“But then that only corroborates the defined course of events further.”

“No it doesn’t,” said Twilight. They had reached the end of the stairs, and they turned around. Twilight looked between the gap of the buildings out at the walls and layers of the city that lay out across space from Support Section Twelve. “Because every drone is scanned daily. Part of it is for documentation, but also to check if they need to be repaired.”

“So?”

“So I have seen images of every drone that Aquarion and its partners use. None of them have isographic graffiti written on their backs.”

Elrod suddenly recalled what she meant. It had even been visible on the screen.

“What are you saying? That that drone was not one of theirs?”

“It could be,” said Twilight, “but I don’t think so. What it looks like to me is that somebody redacted part of the drone inventory. They made it look like one never existed.”

“Why?” asked Forth.

“Because if it were destroyed somehow, people would get suspicious. Drone checks are mostly automated, people don’t know the difference. Remove the entry from eh inventory, and it’s like the drone never existed at all.”

“Then the video? And the witness testimony?”

“Trench,” said Twilight. “You were wearing a half-visor in those pictures, weren’t you?”

“Yes!” said Elrod, remembering that he still had it. He reached into one of his pockets and produced it. “It ran out of power, and I haven’t had a chance to recharge it yet.”

“Let me see it.”

Elrod gave it to Twilight. She looked at it with disgust.

“What?”

“This is an Italian knockoff of a Serbian XNJ-24 tactical unit.”

“So?”

“So it’s shit. It’s what they gave the People’s Militia when they ran out of money for real equipment. This thing’s at least a century old, too. Did you find this in a dumpster?”

“Yes.” Elrod had not realized that Twilight was being sarcastic.

“And you put this on your face? Celestia’s beard, no wonder your hair fell out.”

“It didn’t ‘fall out’. I never had any in the first place.”

Twilight grumbled some more and hesitantly extended one of her interface cables. The end shifted as it adapted to accept the obsolete and proprietary data port that the half-visor used. Twilight winced.

“Goddamn it,” she said. “Even the malware in this thing is pitiful. These were half-assed viruses fifty years ago.”

Twilight took off her hat and slipped the visor over her own head, taking a moment to adjust it. “Okay,” she said at last. “The memory is fragmented to hell, but…” She paused. A pair of workers were approaching from the opposing path. One was a human wearing a full-face operator mask who walked with her supernumerary robotic arms folded behind her back. She was talking and laughing- -or at least producing a sound that Elrod thought was laughter- -with a creature that looked like a skeleton and walked on digitigrade legs; a secgen synth.

As they passed, Twilight pushed past them and toward a more secluded area of the small plaza where they were standing. She looked around for a moment and spied an elevator. As she approached it, it moved into place and opened to greet them.

They stepped on, and the door closed. The elevator did not move, though, as Twilight had not selected a level. Twilight looked up at the corner of the elevator, and Elrod saw a camera. It was much smaller than he thought it would be, and a small red light indicated that it was in operation. Almost as soon as Twilight looked at it, though, the light went out.

“Right,” she said. “Take a look.”

The pupil of Twilight’s right eye- -the one not covered by the half-visor- -narrowed and flickered with light. A high-resolution hologram appeared in front of her, although its quality was greatly diminished by that of the recording that it was playing.

The image was grainy and in poorly rendered color, but it was clear that it was showing the inside of the elevator that they had just been in. In fact, it was even more uncanny in that it was showing it from Elrod’s point of view. He remembered having seen this very sight just days earlier.

“It records?” he sputtered. “I- -I had no idea!”

“Shut it.”

Audio played from the video, although Elrod was not sure where it was coming from.

“...it’s just so very…daunting,” said a female voice. The video showed that a Fluttershy- -Meredith- -was speaking. “I’ve wanted to see Pittsburg, but with the War…”

“The War has been over for years,” replied a male voice.

“Is that what I sound like?” asked Elrod. “I do sound like a moron.”

“No kidding,” muttered Twilight.

Meredith spoke again. “Well, yes, but you can never be too careful.”

There was a pause, and the camera viewed the closed elevator door for a moment. Then it turned lightly, and Meredith was putting her hoof on her head with a strange expression on her face that Elrod had not noticed before.

Then the frame moved quickly. There was a glimpse of the drone twitching and spasming, and then a sudden surge of distorted motion as it lunged forward. Elrod was heard to cry out; he had not known he had screamed.

There was some fighting, which the camera distorted. Elrod was knocked to the ground, and the image went grainy and colorless. Despite this, the drone could still be seen looming over him and viciously tearing at him with its effector blade.

“Fluttershy!” he called in the recording, “HELP!”

The image faded out for a moment, with only distorted and pixilated blurs moving about. There was a distant sound of voices, followed by several crackling sounds as the microphone in the visor was overloaded with the sound of the heavy gunshots. The image shook, and only normalized in time to see the drone- -now missing an arm and full of holes- -shudder and keel forward. Then the hologram terminated.

“I knew it,” said Twilight. “The elevator smelled like it. Machine blood and gunpowder. Not the kind of things that leak out of equipment. Someone tried to clean it, but not well.”

“This does not match the video from before,” said Forth, sounding confused.

“Of course not.” Twilight took Elrod’s half-visor off. “Because this thing is ancient. I had to construct a custom emulator shell just to get access. It doesn’t give off a modern wireless signal. Unless I had seen it, I wouldn’t even have known to look for it.”

“What are you saying?”

Twilight frowned and looked straight ahead. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m saying that the video- -the first video- -was altered.”

“Or this video was altered,” said Forth. “The video from the elevator could be correct.”

“No, it’s not consistent. The missing drone, the gun changing hands, the fact that it’s empty. My gut says this video is right.” She looked up at Elrod. “Although…”

“Although what?”

“You took a punch straight to the chest from an industrial drone. Every rib in your chest should have been shattered.”

Elrod paused for a moment. “I’m more durable than I look,” he said at last.

“But that is not consistent,” argued Forth. “Fluttershy Meredith attested to not witnessing an altercation. Her story matches the security footage.”

Twilight was silent, and her expression darkened. “I know,” she said. The elevator they were on suddenly started to move. “I have reason to suspect her memory was altered.”

“Altered?” Elrod was confused by this. “Is that possible?”

“Not for humans, no,” said Twilight. “But ponies are just programs. Our memories and perception can be changed if someone knows how. But it’s not easy. Not easy at all.” She paused again. “I think we’re dealing with a technomancer.”

“A technomancer?” said Forth. “You mean like you?”

“Yeah,” said Twilight, taking out another cigarette. She lit it and took a deep breath from it. Elrod coughed from the acrid smoke. “That’s the only way both stories fit. It was a three-pronged attack. First, he altered Meredith’s perception. She didn’t react to the fight because she didn’t see it. Then he hacks the drone, takes manual control. The idea was to have it off you, and then doctor the footage so it looked like you walked yourself off and just disappeared. Except it didn’t go as planned.”

“So the person who attacked me was a technomancer?”

“Yup. Looks like it. But I don’t think he’s a very good one.”

Elrod blinked, even more confused. “Why? I almost died!”

“‘Almost’ being the operant word, trench. This guy is good. Not a lot of technomancers can hack a pony like that. But he’s also either arrogant or an idiot.”

“Why? All the changes in the footage, it almost worked perfectly.”

“Again, ‘almost’. And most of that was trying to cover up the mistake. You were supposed to die there. But consider the choice he made. A target alone in an elevator with a drone and a pony, both hacked. Why have the drone try to kill you and not the Fluttershy?”

Elrod actually laughed, but stopped when neither Twilight nor Forth joined him. “You have to be kidding. She’s a Fluttershy.”

“Yes. With a Caterpillar MK8 body. Do you have any idea what that is?”

“Um…no.”

“Caterpillar makes high-grade industrial systems. Top of the line. If that Fluttershy had wanted to, she could have torn that drone limb-from-limb as if it were wet tissue paper. I mean, come on. You couldn’t even fire her pistol properly lying on your back. Do you honestly think a Fluttershy would carry a gun she isn’t able to fire?”

Elrod had not considered that.

“Would it be possible to force a Fluttershy unit to do that?” asked Forth.

“It all depends on how you influence her. To make her attack out of spite or against her will? I don’t think so. It would be incredibly difficult. But this guy shut down her vision and hearing for a good half a minute. Why not just make the target appear to her as some horrible monster? She’d defend herself without hesitation.”

“I cannot answer these questions,” said Forth.

“Of course not. They’re rhetorical. The answer is like I said: either this technomancer is not competent enough to get the Fluttershy to attack, or too arrogant to realize that a rickety industrial drone was vastly inferior to a pony. I would bet my horn we’re dealing with a human.” Twilight turned to Elrod. “What the fuck did you do to piss off a technomancer?”

“Nothing! At least, nothing I’m aware of.” Elrod was shaking. “I’m a salvager! A junk dealer!”

“A garbage picker, you mean.”

“Yes! I’m nobody! Fancy bullets, hacking drones, coverups, why me? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Unless you saw something they didn’t want you to see.”

Elrod fell silent. “Yeah,” he muttered to himself. “Shit…”

“Is it possible to catch the technomancer?” asked Forth.

Twilight let out a long trail of smoke form her nostrils and shook her head. “No. Do you want to try to track one of them down in this city? Honestly, I had hoped that they would try again when we went back to the scene of the crime. I was counting on it.”

“Wait- -you were using me as bait!”

“Sure was. So sue me. I could have figured this out and got your organs at the same time. But my guess? There’s not very many of them. Maybe just one or two guys. They were out trying to find you and assumed you weren’t enough of an idiot to come back.”

“But now they could be anywhere! It took everything I had to lose them, and even then it was only on accident!”

“I know. But maybe not in the way you think. Technomancers tend to lose sight of the real world. They’re probably trying to track the signal from your cybernetics.”

“I don’t have any cybernetics.”

“You don’t?” Forth looked surprised.

“I didn’t think so,” said Twilight. “That’s the reason you were using this piece of shit.” She handed him back the half-visor. The elevator slowed and came to a stop. Twilight sighed. “I think we might be able to track the guy down, but I need to think of a way to do it. That, and I really don’t want to mess with a murderous technomancer unless I really, really have to.”

“Then what now?” asked Forth.

Twilight looked up at Elrod. “Do you still have that implant you found?”

“Yes.” Elrod pulled back part of his outer trench coat and gestured to the pocket where it resided.

“Then we still have a clue to go on.”

The door opened, and Twilight started to step out.

“Wait,” said Forth. “Should we tell Meredith?”

Twilight stopped, her body blocking the door. She looked over her shoulder. “Tell her what? That some bastard went in her head, scrambling her memories and touching her very identity? She was violated, Forth. She’s better off not knowing.”

With a long sight, Twilight stepped through the elevator door and into the night.