Scarlet’s hoof swept from page to page, trying to find any additional information that stood out to her. Anything that could direct her towards where Slate had traveled would be crucial. Dates within the journal continued to jump further between each other.

‘He’s writing less,’ she spotted a page dating the second year. ‘He must’ve had a reason. The days are starting to jump too fast for someone who seemed so devoted at first.’

Another page stood out. The year had jumped now. Scarlet scanned the date: “Year 3.” “Winter.”

“These days are too far apart,” Scarlet spoke aloud. “One entry, he’s writing from summer of year two, then the next, he’s working towards the end of the next year.”

Curious, she dove into the mysterious text.

Winter of Year 3
Day 910

I’m glad that today happened. So very glad.

I do apologize for my long absence, but I’m more than glad to fill you in on everything I’ve been through in the last year, my friend. I’ve been traveling, volunteering as a third party outsource to the royal guard in Canterlot. Essentially, I function as a member of the royal guard itself, but only when it’s demanded of me, meaning I get very little work. Still, it’s an improvement over my troubles in Ponyville. I still live in that nice little town, but my work has me traveling often.

Over the last few months, I’ve been sent to Las Pegasus to keep the streets clean, and even had a short, week long assignment in Manehatten as a security guard for a local bank near my old neighborhood. I managed to visit the parents while I was in town as well. They’re doing fine, but time is starting to catch up to them. It makes me worry about what I’m going to do when they… you know.

I’d rather not think about that right now. In any case, something amazing happened to me, and I can’t help but share this with somepony. Being a pegasus, I was actually assigned a job towards a land I didn’t even know existed!

Beyond the Everfree Forest is a large land of desert. I flew over it all; it was devoid of all life and vegetation. It was unsettling to be there, and I couldn’t help but feel a terrible, horrible vibe the closer I got to the ground. In my saddlebag was a parcel, full of old newspaper clippings, some food from Canterlot, and a rolled up scroll with the seal of the Princess on it.

Ahead of me was my destination. The orders from the Royal Guard called it “Mount Ignis,” a gigantic spire jutting out of the land and overseeing the entire desert. The instructions specifically gave me an entry point, a small, cut out window towards the peak of the mountain. The inside was told to be dangerous, riddled with caverns that ponies could easily get lost inside if they get careless. At the base of the mountain was a fruitful little oasis.

I decided to take a quick pit stop and enjoy the foliage before I flew up the mountain. Ignis was monstrous, seemingly stretching into the heavens. I was in awe. Coming from such a lively city, I expected very little to surprise me so. The technological marvels and structures were so far advanced that ponies from smaller towns like Ponyville would faint at the sheer size of Manehatten. But looking up at this gigantic rock, whose peak breached the clouds up above, made my feathers shiver with delight. I was excited for the first time in a long time to do my job.

I squeezed through the window. I had never been so simultaneously horrified, inspired, and amazed by what I saw that day. It was an alicorn! A genuine pony Princess! Her wings were massive, pinned to the wall by bolts, with long, slender legs and a lithe body. That beautiful mare looked right back at me with a smile.

Then I took a closer look at her. She was missing a distinct feature on her face. I almost jumped right back out of the window. Instead, I darted towards the corner of the room. I was horrified, repulsed at what was sitting there, greeting me. Looking back, I feel awful for my reaction, but at the same time, I can’t think of any other way TO react to something so brutal. She was missing an eye, her wings were slightly bleeding from the bolts, and her legs were in chains. She had so many scars covering her body. I imagine that once upon a time, she was one of the most beautiful mares you could ever see.

Fascinating though, was her cutie mark. It wasn’t there at all. Instead, there was a large scar, covering over whatever it could’ve been. The meat and flesh of her body fell out of the hole it made, and with a swish of her horn, it immediately jumped back into her body.

All she did upon my reaction was say “hello,” in a raspy voice that I actually found quite… approachable. I expected something far worse. I still struggled to keep eye contact: the hole in her socket was difficult to stare back at, like looking into the center of a black hole.

She introduced herself. Gemini was her name. She filled me in on the second half of my job. I gave her the entirety of the saddlebag, watching her scope through it like a piranha, absorbing every little detail she could from the newspapers.

She asked me why I was staying at first, since my job was over. I didn’t know what to say to her at first, so I just replied that I was curious about her. That she even existed should be a big deal, something enormous since Equestria still supports her, but that I had heard nothing about her up until my assignment.

We talked at length about little things here and there. Mostly idle banter, a way to pass the time as the sun beat overhead. I was exhausted from the long trip from Canterlot as well, and the break by the oasis at the foot of the mountain wasn’t nearly enough time to energize my body, so I used the time to rest and relax.

Gemini loved my company, the first pony besides my parents to genuinely show any kind of interest, though at times I wonder whether or not I was simply a catalyst to the outside world that she had been denied for so long. For her, I felt like anypony would’ve been acceptable. She told me many stories of her past. How many of them I believe in I can’t say for sure, but they were spectacular. Her journey beyond Equestrian borders is what captured my heart the most.

She spoke of a civilization that lived far, far beyond our nation. Far to the east, where the sea and the land collide. There lies a city full of a plethora of creatures big and tall, from ponies to dragons. There, life was vicious and tough, but everypony lived together in what she described as a ‘harmony born from strife, free from virtue.’

Such an idea is so… fascinating to somepony like myself. I can’t quite comprehend such a horrific city.

The sun was setting when I finally had to say my farewell. I was saddened when it dawned on me that this would most likely be the last time I laid eyes on such an interesting pony; Orders from Canterlot heavily stressed for me to never speak of this event, and to never step foot on that mountain unless issued for another delivery to Gemini. I may have broken the first rule by writing my experience down in this journal, but I feel it was necessary.

As I parted my wings to take to the sky from the window, Gemini stopped me. I turned around, looking at her curiously. She looked like she was scanning me with great concentration, her horn glowing all the while. When I had asked her what the matter was, she waved it off, saying that she thought she saw something coming from me.

I’m unsure of how to take that phrase, but I just shrugged it off at the time. I left Mount Ignis without a single word.

Scarlet’s head jumped at the next page in the journal. Several layers of paper were left shredded, the edges jagged like rows of uneven teeth hanging from the spine of the booklet. Curious, Scarlet jumped past the damaged portion until she reached the next entry:

What’s wrong with me? One month! One month since the last visit! No one wants me. No job. No money. I’ll be out on the streets!

I can’t go back. Worthless! I can’t do anything on my own. How come nopony can even remember me!? Can’t remember a thing I’ve said!? Even in Ponyville. This rickety, backwater town. Nothing. No one knows who I am.

Who am I? This cutie mark. What has this mark done for me!?

The words were scratched in, violently, as Scarlet passed them through. They continued onto the next page, progressively getting darker and larger with Slate’s temper:

Destiny!? What destiny? Fate is dead. Cutie Marks are meaningless!

Haha! I did it! I have a new cutie mark!
See there on my flank!? The symbol of a weather control worker, the badge! The badge! It’s on my flank!

It’s black! It’s black, but it’s there! I have purpose! I knew I wasn’t a fraud!

I’ve found my cutie mark!!

“I can’t read any of this,” Scarlet eyed the gibberish that the writing eventually broke down towards. She flipped a dozen more pages over. “He doesn’t even catalog the dates anymore from what I can tell, and there’s so many torn pages that I can’t tell what’s going on.”

She recalled the badge that Slate had mentioned in the insanity of his rambling. Her head snapped back towards the crowd beyond her, locked onto the pink pony who still had the badge resting near her hooves.

“Pinkie, can you hand me that badge?”

“Absotutely-lutely!” Pinkie sprung back to life, grabbing the badge and flinging it carelessly into the air.

Scarlet watched as the remnant landed perfectly atop the journal she was reading, ignoring the urge to question the dexterity and accuracy that the party pony displayed. She looked down at the badge, the large yellow ‘P’ sitting at the center. The outer edges were charred black, while the rest had been rusted and aged with the simple passage of time.

“What’s the badge gotta do with the journal then?” Twilight shuffled forward.

“Slate was writing about how he had a new cutie mark at the end of the last passage I just read,” she started, “The writing was talking about having a badge for a cutie mark.”

“But that’s impossible,” the purple unicorn replied. “You can’t have two cutie marks, can you?”

“I don’t think so,” Scarlet’s voice dropped off. “But this badge is burnt. It could just be me, but maybe…”

Twilight winced as the thought entered her mind. “You think he’d do something like that? From the writing, he definitely sounded like he was in trouble, but to brand yourself-”

“Poor guy. I can only imagine what those long months were doing to him,” Scarlet handed the badge over to Twilight so she can look at it herself. “Especially if those feelings he had at the beginning of the journal just festered.”

As Scarlet turned another page, a huge crash of pain rattled through her mind. She doubled over, immediately grabbing the attention of the six other ponies in the room. Twilight, having become accustomed to the detective’s fits, issued orders to the other five ponies. Her voice was completely unrecognizable to the gray coated mare on the floor.

She twisted, her vision blurry and her throat giving way to a horrid cough.

‘Fate is dead,’ she heard her voice, ringing through her thoughts. ‘It’s fitting for ponies like us, Slate.’ Scarlet’s eyes shut tight, doing her best to concentrate on her own thoughts through the agony her body was rattling with.

‘Ponies like us,’ she repeated. ‘Ponies without a destiny? Look at me, Blank Slate. A pony born into her role. A role that she struggles day in and day out to fulfill, for the sake of everypony around her.’

In the distance, she could hear the faded hum of a spell coming to life. Her thoughts continued to infect her consciousness.

‘We’re ponies of a kind. Me, you, Nixie, and Gemini. Our destinies… are they all just mistakes?’

Another painful twist of her stomach wrenched into her mind. Scarlet coiled up, coughing heavily, feeling a warm fluid oozing out of her mouth.

‘I was raised into my role, just like those two. Just like you, Slate. It’s what I was born to do, even if…’

Scarlet’s body was encompassed with a powerful spell. The thoughts quickly started to fade into the depths of her mind as Twilight’s spell undid the progress of her disease.

‘… even if it’s something I never wanted.’

A harsh gasp escaped her mouth, the young mare scrambled until she found herself back on all fours. The rest of the group, concern ranging from Fluttershy’s horror to the nervousness from Rainbow Dash, stood overhead.

She looked down at the floor. A small splatter of her blood stained the aged floor, driblets still moist on her lips. She ran her hoof across her muzzle, clearing it all up before thanking the six for their help.

“Are you okay Scarlet?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

“You know what?” She looked back towards the group with a nervous grin, “I don’t even know anymore…”

The seven invaders all jumped in unison, as a large, heavy sound slammed against the room at the end of the hall.

Locks dashed underneath a desk as another hastily charged spell smashed into the floor where he had been running. The wood splintered, sending a scattered mess of debris into the room around him. With a powerful grunt, Locks lifted himself back to his hooves, his crimson eyes shining as he darted closer towards the double doors at the front of the Agency.

Amethyst flew in from a sharp angle, quickly smashing into the unicorn that was taking shots at the grounded intruder. The colt was immediately out cold, the damage Amy felt from the attack shaken off by a simple shake of her head.

“Thanks for the cover,” Locks picked up speed as he approached the exit. He reached over to his side, into a saddlebag that he had managed to scoop up in the middle of the chaos, doing his best to tune out the noise that the alarm sent roaring through the building.

He nearly stopped in place, realizing that his hoof was only touching a single item resting inside the bag. His gaze turned back towards the direction of Steele’s room.

“Jessica… you little,” he clenched his teeth. “Amethyst! Grab a scroll, I’m heading for the exit!”

A pegasus shot overhead, forcing the cobalt colt to duck to avoid colliding with the guard. The pony tumbled over and slammed into another work desk, falling limp as he lost consciousness. Amy’s whistle roared through the alarm, quickly flying over to the downed guard to search for some spare parchment. She blew on her instrument one more time while tossing documents all around her with reckless abandon.

“Jessica managed to sneak the letter off of me while we were in Steele’s office! We’re gonna need to rewrite a letter to Scarlet before we can send anything!” Locks throat burned, his voice tearing up everything necessary to get through to Amy.

To his left, he spotted another guard rushing towards them from the second floor. With Amethyst busy searching for some spare paper, Locks looked around desperately for something to strike the enemy down with before he could get to them. Finding nothing worth its weight, Locks stared down the pony, coaxing him to the colt.

The pegasus, his vision now locked on to the blue pony below, sped up his descent, a growl growing in volume as he inched closer to the detective.

Locks’ blood red eyes intensified as he stared into the gentle blue of the guard’s.

“No running from me now,” Locks muttered under his breath, bracing himself for impact.

The pegasus felt a cold chill run through his veins. His wings froze up against the intimidating sensation violating his mind and body. Panicking, the guard stumbled from the air, crashing in a disturbed heap just feet away from the detective. Locks, pleased with his work, broke eye contact with the pegasus, looking back to see his partner with a scroll wrapped by her muzzle.

“Good work Amy,” he ran over to meet up with her.

Another wave of hoofsteps came from behind. Without looking back, Locks shouted to his guardian, who instantly dashed in front of him and blasted the doors open with a swift kick. The deathly chill of the cold wind on the outside came bursting through the hatches, forcing a quick pause from the pair before they continued.

“There’s too many of them! Just keep running!” Locks ordered. “Don’t stop!”

The rest of the Agency’s on-site members gave chase through the threshold, braving the freeze that was looming over Canterlot’s night.

Author's Notes:

404-406 are mighty short. Explains the rapid upload rate.
Hope you enjoy them!

- G. R.