“Jessica,” Locks’ grip on the note and potion tightened, “You did a good job on the snowfall.”

The black mare gave a friendly chuckle. “You caught that, didn’t you?” She let a hoof swirl the snow against the ground. “I had to do something to keep a good eye on you. Couldn’t chase you immediately without orders, though.”

“Orders? You’re here on Steele’s behalf?”

She whipped her hair around. “You got it. Every bit of snow that’s fallen tonight was enchanted by my spell. I was able to trace where each flake was falling, and noticed that some of them never hit the ground right around here. Didn’t take much for me to hunt you down.”

“Tch,” the blue colt cracked a grin. “That’s damn near brilliant, Jess.”

“I gotta do what I can tonight. No room for mistakes.” She stretched out a black hoof. “I know you understand where I’m coming from. Now, if you give me the bottle and the note, then we can all just drop this and move on.”

Amethyst took a step forward, ahead of Locks. The blue stallion sighed, “You know I can’t do that, Jessica. I thought our little encounter at the office spelled out which sides we were on pretty clearly. If Steele ordered you to hunt us down, then I doubt that anything’s changed within the last half hour.”

“Oh sweeties, don’t make me beg.” Jessica’s eyes shifted towards the larger pony. “Amy. I mean, Lily. I know you don’t want to fight, right? I’d rather avoid anything like that myself.”

Amethyst’s expression softened, her eyes waning as the memories from her foalhood swept through her mind. A harsh, winter breeze came through the plaza, sweeping over and blocking half of her face behind her raven black hair. She carefully reached down, grabbing the shiny whistle hanging off of her neck. Clearing her throat, she blew a handful of strong, powerful notes into the air.

Jessica shut her eyes, her head lower to the ground. “Damn it. Please, don’t make this any harder than it has to be. I wish I could make the two of you really understand.”

“Scarlet is our friend, and she’s in trouble. For some reason, the boss, the Princess, and you all want to stop us. There’s nothing else left to understand,” Locks eyes twinkled. “We’re doing whatever we need to save her.”

“Spare this talk. I heard plenty back at the Agency,” Jessica flipped her head back up. “What a mess,” she looked up. “I can only imagine what might’ve happened if something had changed between then and now. If only anything in the last one thousand years could’ve been different.”

“Jessica.” Locks spoke. “We’ve dealt with so many criminals and mysteries in our careers at the Agency. I’ve spoken with and talked to so many different kinds of ponies that had done terrible, horrific crimes to others. Some of them were full of malice, others with the burden of their crimes bearing down forever on their conscience.”

“What’s your point, Locks?” Jessica’s horn cracked. “Ponies in your situation either fight or run. Entertaining me with anything else isn’t doing yourself any favors.”

“I’ve seen plenty of pony eyes struggle to hide the pain. I’ve stood here, deep in the snow for several minutes staring into yours.”

Jessica’s fangs poked out further. “I see. And tell me, Domino, what do my eyes say to you?”

“I see a sad little filly,” Locks eyes narrowed. “A pony… or whatever you are, alone and afraid. A creature so desperate that she’s willing to break all the rules to fill the void in her heart. Those lonely centuries, did they steal your sanity?”

“If my eyes were so easy to see past, then why did you do nothing all this time?” Jessica eagerly stepped closer.

“Because even now, I still feel as though I don’t know the full extent of your feelings,” Locks shook his head. “Conroy Justis never liked you, but only because he trusted his gift above all else. He allowed his judgment to justify his actions. Even though you’ve fulfilled every expectation he had from you,” he continued, “I never completely agreed with him. That’s why I seldom opposed to you getting so close to Scarlet, and why I never spoke up when you took her to Mount Ignis. I wanted to see if you could change my mind.”

“Is that really the truth?”

Locks nodded. “My ability doesn’t work like his. So, unlike him, who did his best to avoid you, Scarlet, Lily and I all got close to you. We wanted to understand you. To be friends. I wanted to know exactly why he despised you so much. All I ever wanted was to look into your eyes to gain that understanding.”

Jessica looked away in disgust.

“My only regret is that it took far too long to get that look that I needed. Conroy may have been in the right to be wary of you, but he also failed to give you the chance that you deserved.”

“The chance?” the lithe mare turned. “What chance?”

“The three of us, Scarlet, Lily, and I all consider you a friend. Mostly the two of them,” Locks shrugged. “I know the two of us have been at odds before, and if we all get through tonight together, we may be at each other’s throats too soon. But I still think that you deserve the opportunity to redeem that friendship that you seem so willing to bury in the snow.”

“I think I get what you’re saying,” Jessica looked back at Amy. “You want me to let you go through with your plan. For the sake of being my friends? For being Scarlet’s friend?”

“… Something like that,” Locks bit his lip.

Jessica let a small laugh crack through. “And here I hoped that you wouldn’t make this any more complicated.” She looked back and forth between the pair. “Look… I’m happy that the three of you are so willing to let all of this slide for the sake of our friendship, but… it’s just too difficult.”

“It’s not something we can’t work through together though, is it?”

“I’m afraid not, Locks. That’s why I’m here right now. If I were able to prevent any of this from happening to us, to Scarlet, then I would’ve already done it. But things didn’t work out like they should.” Jessica turned, her eyes trailing towards the east. “I grew up in a flourishing Dodge with a wonderful mother. I haven’t gone back since, but I’m no fool. I know what a wretched state that place is in.

“I remember it being so beautiful.” Jessica mind wandered. “Full of life from corner to corner. Gemini did an amazing job. To think that the two of us were so close. So very connected, and back then, when I would run around with Jackie in that town, I had no idea.”

“Wait, close to Gemini?”

“Gemini and I are linked by a delicate relationship. I didn’t discover it myself until I met her on Ignis. It’s a little sad, really. Just another one of those ‘what-ifs’ that linger about.”

“What exactly do you mean by a link?”

“It’s nothing you should concern yourselves with,” her horn started to pulse. “Just remnants of my foalhood.”

“One thousand years is a long time to keep yourself so secluded, Jess. I wish you’d have come out to us sooner,” Locks looked over to Amethyst. “And I speak for the three of us on that one.”

Amy tweeted a quick note agreeing with the colt.

“Thanks you two, but I’m afraid that it hasn’t been an option since Scarlet’s little trip.” The magic surrounding her horn started to stretch outward, encompassing most of her body with a faint tint of orange aura. “I’m done with your stalling too. Even if I didn’t want to do this, I’m now under official orders from the boss and the Princess to subdue you. I made a deal with them. I cannot go back on my word now.”

Locks took a quick look at the spell the unicorn was conjuring up. The winds started to pick up, swirling around the outskirts of the plaza. Pockets of snow slid around beneath them, specks of white lifting into the air and burying themselves deep into the ponies’ manes. Amethyst’s wings shuddered from the draft.

“Listen, Locks.” Jessica’s eyes came back down. The colt flinched at the sudden, eerie glow they gave off, much akin to the spark that would brighten his own irises. “Please, be a darling and throw away the note in your hoof. You two foals have no idea of the kind of power I’m truly capable of.” She looked back to Amethyst. “I’d hate to pound the two of you into dust.” Her voice softened as she took in Amy’s form, “Especially not you.”

Amy lost some of the confidence in her stance. She turned back to Locks, hesitant to stand her ground.

“It’s hard for me too, Lily,” Locks broke sight with the black mare. “Scarlet’s fond of her. I don’t want anypony to get hurt, but we have no choice if she won’t let us help Scarlet out.

“Besides,” he turned back to Jessica, “the Agency and the Royal Family have turned their backs on us. They clearly have the well-being of one of our only friends on the bottom of their list of priorities. We can’t leave Scarlet in Ponyville to suffer any longer. Not by herself.”

“By herself,” Jessica scoffed. “How ridiculous. The Elements of Harmony are there to support her.” She stamped against the whipping winds, the glow around her body spreading upwards like a spire. “I’ll only tell you one last time, detective: For Equestria, I order you to cease and desist!”

“The Elements are keeping her alive,” Locks tilted the potion, “but they can’t remove the darkness that’s been choking the life out of her. I don’t know what the hell you or Gemini did to her, but whatever it was, it’s finally catching up with her. I’m here to put a stop to it once and for all.”

Jessica’s eyes shot wide at the tilt of Locks’ hoof. The contents of the potion spilled over the parchment, sweeping around it like a hungry coil. The scroll was completely enveloped in a dazzling, gaseous magic that swept it clean out of the colt’s grasp. The parchment rolled itself up, neatly wrapped with a small thread keeping it together. It spun in place, rapidly increasing in speed before pausing, the head pointing in the direction of the small town to the south. The spell ignited, turning the entire scroll into a blur of light that fired off into the distance, free of all restraints.

Jessica held out a hoof, praying in vain that she could reach out and grab it from out of the sky, the tiny speck of light that it was. Her body was frozen with fright, trembling under the weight of what Locks had just done.

Locks turned away from the night, looking back to the orange maned pony. “Scarlet has been left in that oppressive darkness for far too long, constantly worrying about what her cutie mark was telling her, even though she knew that it wasn’t her true destiny. What she needs most of all right now is the shining light that comes from a true friend. A light that will guide her away from all of the pain and guilt she’s endured since she was just a child.”

The shock slowly subsided from Jessica’s face. She let her hoof back down, staring at the ground. Her legs spread apart, each one bracing against the ground in preparation for something fierce. The intensity of the magical aura encompassing her body multiplied, spreading outward. It painted the ground a bright orange, overlapping the layer of snow that covered the plaza. It shot through the entire center, stretching up against the sides of the buildings before rapidly shooting up into the sky.

Tendrils shot out from the edges of the spell, reaching out before curving into a gigantic dome that overlapped the sky several hundred feet above.

The aura quickly faded, becoming transparent, save for a shining residue that gave the dome a sparkling, mirror-like surface.

“Domino Locks. Lily Sheen. You are under arrest for treason against Equestria, and the assault of the Royal Guard. As an agent under the guide of Flex Steele, and as an upstanding example of the Agency’s creed, I offer you one final opportunity: Come quietly, or else I will be forced to subdue you by any means necessary. Make your choice.”

Locks and Amethyst took their stance against the winds and the spell encasing them within the plaza.

“We’re not afraid of you, Jessica.”

“You should be,” she broke out of her Agency-induced character. “I have eons of experience. I’ve already enclosed this area. No one can hear you. See you. Feel you. Nothing can get in or out without my say. You can’t escape from me now.”

“That’s fine. We’re through running.” Locks eyes twinkled. “Besides, even with the odds stacked against us, I’m confident in our abilities.”

“Funny,” Jessica’s hair started to flutter. “You’re giving me the impression that you can beat me.”

“Well,” Locks smiled, “That’s because I can.”

“ENOUGH!”

Jessica’s body popped, vanishing behind a veil of black smoke. The wind shifted, sweeping the plume away to reveal an empty spot in the road.

A sharp whistle rang next to Locks. His body was immediately flung to the side by his large guardian. Locks composed himself mid tumble, turning back to the spot where Amy had tossed him from. He caught the flashing image of the mighty pegasus, braced for impact. A magic spell bolted towards her, slamming into the side of her body full force.

“LILY!”

Amethyst’s body flew overhead, crashing straight into a nearby vendor. The wood splintered under her great weight, giving way to her body as it plowed through the structure.

Buried and sunken inside the remains, Amy lifted herself, dizzily shaking her head and kicking some off the debris from the top of her.

“Just as I thought,” Jessica’s voice came overhead. “I’ve always wanted to try it. Amy’s body really is immune to hexes and curses. Lucky for me that concussive spells are still as effective as ever.”

The pegasus huffed, tossing another plank of wood from the pile before jumping back to her feet.

“Well, as effective as hitting a brick wall,” Jessica mocked. “But even a brick wall breaks under enough pressure.”

Locks eyes sparkled as he looked up at the sky. “She’s hiding, but where? I can’t trace her voice.”

“Your Majesties!”

The two regal sisters snapped their necks in the direction of the new voice behind them. An elder colt, much smaller in comparison, followed suit, the three pairs of eyes anxiously waiting for the guard to continue.

“A large flux of magical disposition has just been discovered here in Canterlot!”

“Scrawl,” Steele immediately spat. “She must’ve found Locks and Amethyst.”

“Tell us more,” Celestia nodded. “Have you found the exact location?”

“That’s a problem at the moment,” the guard gulped. “The readings we’re receiving are erratic and scattered throughout the entire city. It’s clear to the unit that whoever is casting these spells is doing their best to remain hidden.”

“And how about a sky patrol? Have you sent out a pegasus squad?” Princess Luna beat her wings against her sides.

“The groups we’ve sent out to seek the location proper are coming back with negatives. We’re running out of options, but we’re prepared to send out a unit of the Royal Guard to inspect Canterlot at ground level.”

“Good work,” Celestia motioned over to Steele and Luna. “Ensure that you have our strongest unicorns out on the front lines. We must find the source of the interference as soon as possible. Valuable Equestrian assets are on the line.”

“Yes, my Princess,” the guard saluted before exiting the room in a haste.

The ivory ruler wasted no time. A scroll came flying up next to her, followed by a wet quill stained with ink at the tip. She scribbled up a letter before turning to Steele. “Come with me, Flex. Sister, you shall accompany us as well.”

“Where are we headed, Princess?” Steele cracked his neck.

“We’re leading the ground unit,” the letter immediately zipped off into the distance. “We’ll be meeting with the captain of the Royal Guard the moment we enter the city.”

“No way out, magic and pony be damned,” Locks eyes broke away from the barely visible barrier that shaped the gigantic dome surrounding the plaza. “Jessica wants us to stay in here until it’s all over. The spell’s potent. I don’t think anypony from the outside could even hear us, much less see through the dome.”

Amy tweeted again before looking back up at the sky.

“I’m doing what I can, but she’s moving fast,” the colt’s eyes, now glowing with a bright red that shimmered in the darkness, shot across the snow-blanketed ground. “She’s amazing, Lily: She’s constantly teleporting.”

Locks directed Amy to the furthest edge of the plaza with a hoof. “She just hopped away from there, but normally, I can spot a trail of disposition left behind by the cast. Jessica’s hiding so much of her trail that it’s near impossible to keep an eye on her.”

“And here I thought the great rookie detective was blind!”

Locks and Amy turned to the left. Another beam of orange magic came hurtling towards the pair, hissing as it burned through the air. The blue detective immediately stepped aside, dodging it before it could shred across his neck. The spell collided with a wall, rebounding like rubber before trailing back towards its target.

Amy, realizing that Locks would be unable to avoid the second wave in time, flew towards him, kicking up mounds of snow behind her. She stood in front of the colt, bracing herself as the spell came barreling down on her. It struck dead on against her chest, sizzling against her brown coat. The magic blanketed her body, letting out a malicious growl before evaporating.

“She’s still gonna be throwing those disabling spells out from time to time,” Locks eyes did their best to keep up with Jessica’s movements. “She’ll be focusing on me a lot more often, Lily. Just be ready to counter it next time.”

Another whistle.

“Don’t worry too much about me. I doubt Jessica’ll go that far. Just try to take her out. You still have your inhibitors on-hoof, right?”

The guardian gave her friend a nod.

“Me too. If we can just get one on her horn, our job’ll become much easi- JUMP!”

The pair hopped to the sides, rolling against the white streets of snow as another spell roared by, striking the ground where they had stood. Locks and Amy stared at the impact, the spell buzzing in place. It burst on colliding with the ground, sending out a large puff of black smoke that shrouded Amy’s vision.

Amy took a far more defensive stance, covering her body with her wings while flicking her ears in every which direction.

Locks’ ears immediately went to work, listening as hard as he could while his eyes still hunted for the perpetrator. A tiny reprieve allowed the smoke in the courtyard to clear away, drifting off into the sky as more of the snow-covered ground broke through. A round hooves could be heard from behind him, crunching in the snow. Locks turned around, his muscles clenched.

A tiny whistle chirped in response.

“Lily?” Locks tilted his head. “I can’t…”

The steps grew closer, to the point where the colt could feel the heat coming off of the massive mare he could sense nearby. His eyes, still staring in her direction, continued to wander.

“Lily, are you there? I think the smoke is messing with my eyes,” he shook his head. “I can’t make out a damn thing in this smog.”

Another reassuring whistle played, one that put Locks at a bit more ease than before. The body of the larger pegasus could be heard approaching ever closer, to the point where he could hear her breathing through the icy air.

Locks eyes pierced through the thin layer of smoke that drifted aimlessly at ground-level. His head jerked, hearing a vague, yet familiar sound nearby. As the blanket of shadows continued to clear, the sound traveling through the plaza began to carry with a far more recognizable sound.

“Lily’s… whistle?”

Locks panicked, turning back to the body next to him.

The impostor jumped at the detective without second thought, wrapping her legs around his side and refusing to let go. The two ponies tumbled into the snow together, Locks’ grunts carrying over to the other side of the area, loud enough to be picked up by his guardian.

“You should pay more attention, Locky,” Jessica’s voice called out from sky. The body wrapped around Locks started to pulse with a ferocious source of magic. “Remember who you’re dealing with. I’ll make you suffer for every mistake.”

Amy’s wings flapped about with mighty strokes, blowing away the blinding smokescreen around her. Her eyes darted from side to side, her body turning to try and find the source of Locks’ sudden cry.

Bright light pierced through the smoke. Amy caught a glimpse of it before being pushed back by a powerful shockwave. She tumbled over, quickly regaining her balance.

A loud, deafening pop erupted from the source, blowing away all of the smoke with another, far stronger force. Amy covered her face with her wings, planting her hooves against the snow to brave the sudden tempest.

In the gust, she caught sight of a familiar blue coat, being hurled against the blast. Locks shot right by her, falling hard against the ground with a loud whine of pain.

Jessica giggled, catching Amy’s attention from below. The brown guardian found her, the unmistakable unicorn perched on a nearby rooftop. The black mare was overlooking the scene with a smirk on her face, pleased at the damage she had caused.

With a stomp against the ground, the large brown pony launched herself into the sky, hurling her body straight at her target. Jessica’s smirk vanished instantly, her horn cackling with more magic. Amy clenched her teeth, her eyes homing in on the wicked mare holding the two hostage. She pulled one of her forehooves back, closing the last few yards with Jessica.

Jessica smiled at the sight of the pegasus, her hoof thrown carelessly in front of her with her eyes shut tight. The black mare strafed to the side, intrigued as the stronger, faster pony when whizzing through the sky above, balancing out before hovering several buildings away.

“Poor Lily,” Jessica spoke to herself, her magic popping from the tip of her horn. “She just can’t forget, can she?” The spell erupted in the sky, turning into a large ball of mass that spiraled towards the airborne Amy, who failed to react whatsoever to the attack. Jessica’s counter slammed directly into the large guardian’s chest, slamming her back down towards the ground. Her wings spread out, easing the momentum, but eventually failing to stop her fall. Amy fell down against the snow again, her eyes trembling.

“Don’t think I forgot about you, sweetheart,” Jessica turned her head across the plaza. Locks was busy dusting himself off. His mane was already in a mess, singed on the edges, but otherwise fully intact. A small trickle of blood ran down from his nose to the bottom of his muzzle.

Getting a lock on Jessica, Locks wiped the blood clean from his coat with a hoof. His eyes continued to glow in the night with the same, eerie red light.

“You’re quite sturdy,” Jessica closed her eyes with another chuckle. Magic poured from her horn, silently flowing into another mass above her. The two ponies focused directly on her spell, the earth pony below waiting to see what Jessica’s next plan of attack would be. “Suppose I’ll have to wear you down a bit more.”

Locks only offered his glare in response, taking a step back in response to the spell exploding in the sky. He waited for something to happen, his eyes scanning the entire area around him.

A glimmer of light poked through from the corner of his eye. He quickly turned to the source, immediately finding that same conglomeration of magic that Jessica had created hovering nearby.

‘Invisible!’ his body lurched. The air around him rippled, much like a stone against a still body of water. A thin beam of orange punched through the center of the oddity, barely glancing Locks’ tail before crashing against the ground. Locks turned back to the source of the attack, his mouth agape when he found nothing there. The spell sizzled against the ground, his ears flicking in response to the spell burning into the snow. ‘How is she? Not even I can see it!’

“No time to think,” Jessica pointed behind him. “Now dance!”

Locks caught another flash of light from behind. The same ripple tore through the air nearby, letting loose a stronger hex. Locks gasped, falling to his belly to avoid it. Before he could catch his breath, another came hurdling straight at him. He grunted, rolling as fast as he could to avoid the next one. The sounds of the spells melting the snow around him enveloped his ears, another light coming from directly above him.

‘I don’t understand. How is the spell moving without leaving behind ANY trace of magic?’ Locks ran backward. A row of rippling waves came rolling by, more spells breaking through space in a rhythm, all forcing him backward. The blue pony backpedaled as fast as he could to avoid getting singed.

He flinched as two conflicting sources of light caught his attention, one from each side of his body. He jumped to the side of the first, watching as the beam burrowed into the ground beneath him, but cringed as the other one darted straight towards him, with no way to avoid it.

The spell immediately reacted on contact with his fur, burning away at the top layer of his coat before burrowing through to his skin. The attack sent a painful, burning sensation running up through his body. He landed on his hooves before crumpling to the ground, wincing as the pain ate away at his concentration.

Another sparkle of light came through. Locks yelled, managing to barely pull himself away to avoid yet another attack.

He picked himself back up. Gasping for air, he glanced at his side. The spell had since vanished, but a small, bite-sized mark appeared as black as the night, staining his coat. He grimaced, quickly dodging another spell that pierced through from the invisible source.

The ripples in the air sped up, creating far more hexes than the injured pony was prepared for. He somersaulted behind a nearby bench, allowing the plaza arrangement to soak up several of the spells before running off again. Every time he tried to get closer to the building that black unicorn was perched atop, another ripple would force him away, towards a wall at the other end of the plaza, away from both his partner and his target.

Another beam clipped him on one of his hind legs, sending him into the snow. He fought against the burning sensation left behind by the attack, adrenaline carrying him off of the ground and back to jumping and rolling away from more of the spells.

He was heading straight for a wall, the beams ensuring that he couldn’t deviate his escape path. He made another attempt, quickly thwarted by another rogue hex that melted a mound of snow on the ground on contact. He turned around, his back against the wall, seeing only a path of water tracing the route he took to get there.

His eyes caught sight of a mighty ripple, one far larger than any of the others. It erupted, punching through the sky and soaring upward.

‘The spell she cast,’ Locks teeth clenched. ‘She’s going to throw it all at once.’

The magic spun around in midair, twisting and contorting before the glow of Jessica’s horn in the distance gave it a command. It nearly roared as it focused back at the cornered colt. With a leap through the sky, the orange mass of malevolent magic rushed down towards the detective, ready to scorch his body alive.

Locks reared himself up onto his hind legs, his eyes starting to shine far brighter than ever. “Enough of this!” he cried, angrily landing back on all fours.

From her spot on the rooftop, Jessica continued to watch, fully expecting this to be the end of her troubles. The spell was moments from crashing into the detective, and she was well prepared to hear Locks’ painful, defeated cry break through the silence of the night.

Her spell paused, hovering just above the colt. The arcane energy continued to burn and thrash about in the sky, succumbing to another entity’s control.

Jessica’s eyes shot open in disbelief. Locks was staring back at the spell with an intense, oppressive force. The attack’s wild form was tamed, the hiss it was making hushed.

A flash of bright light erupted from Locks’ eyes. The magical unicorn was taken back as her hex was ripped to shreds, torn piece by piece until it resembled an orange tinted vapor. Harmlessly, it floated away, leaving the colt completely unscathed by the attack.

“Was that…?” Jessica’s gaze couldn’t help but follow the powerful red glow right back to Locks’ eyes. She stared deeply into Locks’ irises with confusion, drawn to the glow by an alluring sensation. The stallion looked right back at her, the bridge connecting their eyes to one another fortified by the mare’s growing curiosity.

Her body couldn’t move, completely immobilized and entranced by his glare. Her breath trapped in her throat, she felt the rest of her vision, that of the plaza and of the piles of snow against the ground, fading into the background, leaving only the blue pony standing at the base of the wall.

Something was going on deep inside of the mare. She tried to pull away from the colt’s revealing eyes, but the pull of the crimson light kept her glued to him. Her body walked closer to the edge of the building she stood atop, the sound of her hooves against the rooftop completely muted from her senses. She panicked, feeling the bond between her and the detective grip at her tighter.

Her horn discharged a spurt of magic in resistance, the powerful mare quickly folding under Locks’ unknown power. A hoof jerked back, causing her to fall forward, her head dangling over the edge of the structure. Her eyes were still locked onto his, unable to break away.

‘Stop,’ she mouthed without sound. Her head was burning, a tempered fever rushing through her body and draining her strength away. She continued to resist, trying her best to destroy the connection she had to the detective. Her mouth pleaded again, without voice, in a weak attempt to stop whatever Locks was doing to her.

Her eyes twitched, and with a snap, Jessica shut them tight, breaking through the trance that her body fell under. The heated fever immediately went away, and her body quickly fell back into her total control. Gasping for air, she wobbled away from the building, mindful to avoid the bright, glowing light coming from the wall of the building so far away. Bringing herself back to her feet, she did her best to keep her balance.

“What the hell was that?” Jessica asked, making sure her eyes avoided his.

“The one thing I need to win this fight,” the detective’s icy breath flowed in the sky. “You felt it too, didn’t you?”

The unicorn stepped back towards his direction. She channeled magic into her horn, preparing to warp back to ground level to confront the detective.

Her horn remained idle.

Jessica looked up towards her extension. She focused her thoughts on the spell, focusing as the raw magic from the air swirled about the base, reaching up towards the tip. The magic ripped free from her grasp, providing a feedback that threw her back off of her balance. She tumbled backward, gently falling back on her backside, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

“I can’t teleport,” she picked herself up. She looked back at the detective. “I CAN’T TELEPORT!”

The glow in his eyes finally faded, still providing a light that could be seen from Jessica’s spot on the building. “I’m sure you can figure it out.”

Jessica paused, doing her best to attempt the spell once again. She focused on the strands that kicked against her horn, refusing to cooperate with her whim. She paused, letting the magic fire back into the air. She took a deep breath before looking back at the detective, her face now full of intrigue over shock or anger.

Magic started to encompass her body once again, this time, lifting her off of the ground with ease. “Domino Locks. Incredible.” Jessica took flight momentarily, keeping herself afloat high in the sky. “It’s just like back in the office, but far more invasive than I ever imagined.” She landed with a delicate poise, fixing her hair before looking back in his general direction. “Is that what you see, Locks? All the time?”

Finally free from his corner, the cobalt colt started to walk towards the mare. “You picked it up pretty fast. Was it the heat rising from your horn?”

“I thought it was magic. Even after our little encounter at Steele’s office, I wouldn’t have been swayed from that view of your abilities,” Jessica matched Locks’ steps. “But it’s far more intricate than that, isn’t it?”

“Something like that.”

“Emotions, Locks. That’s what you see.”

Detective Locks only replied with a smirk.

“Emotions, combined with magical disposition, are used to generate spells for unicorns like me,” she marched on. “It’s what we use to remember our spells. We attach our emotions to them to empower them. To make them work.”

Locks’ eyes flashed red again.

Jessica cocked her head away, looking off to the side, resisting the temptation to stare back at the devilish red he emitted. “You can see emotions tied to the magic. Both in ponies, and in the disposition recycled in our atmosphere.” She stopped, looking up at her horn. “And above that, you can remove those emotions.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I still know how to teleport, Locks,” Jessica grinded a hoof into the snow. “I know what I need to do, but the emotion I attached to the spell… I can’t feel that connection anymore. It’s gone.”

Locks mimicked the wicked mare. “Are you concerned about it? Surely you can win without the need to warp around.”

“I’d like to have it back. What you did to me, is it permanent?”

Locks cleared his throat. “Perhaps. Try it again, maybe you’ll get it right this time.”

Jessica stamped her hoof. “I see you then.” She started to pull away, the magic surrounding her pulling her back into the sky. “It’s one hell of an inconvenience, but…”

Locks followed the mare into the sky. “But?” Through their talk, Locks could hear the sound of a pegasus’ wings flapping nearby. Amy came jumping towards him, stepping once more ahead of him and towards their target.

“Great timing, Lily,” Jessica welcomed her second opponent. “Locks, you’ve given me the perfect opportunity to try out something interesting. Something new.”

“New, huh?” Locks moved his legs around, preparing for anything Jessica would throw his way.

“When I lead Scarlet into Ponyville during the start of these investigations, I met a very interesting pony. None other than the Element of Laughter herself.”

“Pinkie Pie,” Locks replied.

“That’s the one,” Jessica nodded. “During Scarlet’s welcoming party, I caught sight of that mysterious creature. The way she was able to move around, the energy she exerted whenever she was around ponies. It was exhilarating.”

“Doesn’t sound too outrageous to me,” Locks brushed his mane out of his face. “She’s the Element of Laughter, anyways.”

“It was far more unique than that. Curious, I drugged up the entire party’s supply of drink. It made ponies go absolutely crazy with lust. My kind of party, if you ask me.” Laughing at the disgust on his face, she continued, her horn slowly building up energy, “I volunteered to take care of Miss Pie herself. She was becoming far too feisty with some nearby stallions.

“I took her away from everypony else, and while we were alone, I analyzed her. I wanted to see where that outrageous energy of hers came from.” Jessica looked down at the two ponies. “I only bring it up now because it’s so fitting, detective: Her emotions. Pinkie Pie’s emotions cause severe, magical fluxes deep within her personal disposition. What I saw at the party, that pure, joyous side of that pink pony gave her so much potent magic that she burned through her actions. It was absolutely fascinating to behold. An earth pony that couldn’t cast the simplest of spells, distorting magic on a whim.”

The magic in her horn stretched further out. “While away after the events at Ignis, I considered playing around with the idea of forcing severe emotional shifts during a spell, to see what would end up happening. It was far away from civilization of any kind, and the magic out there is raw and free. It was a perfect testing site.”

“Interesting, but what does that have to do with us?” Locks tilted his head.

“I failed out there in the wilderness.” She shook her head, “Not because I couldn’t gather the magic and use it. Not because I couldn’t shift my emotions like that pony could. It’s because, even in me, I couldn’t completely eradicate the emotion that I had used to learn the spells that I knew.” Jessica looked over, beyond the horizon and towards the north. “It’s a difficult task, something that I imagine even alicorns like the Princesses would struggle to master. Being able to completely remove an attached emotion from a spell just feels impossible. Not only that, but to attach a brand new, completely different emotion to those spells? It’s almost ridiculous. I couldn’t do it. However, that pink pony, with no concern for magic like a unicorn has, was perfect at it. She knew what to do.”

Suddenly, the black mare’s face stretched back into her signature smile. “However, you’ve just granted me the perfect opportunity.”

Locks suddenly realized what the crazy witch was up to.

“Now that I no longer have an emotional attachment to that spell, that knowledge is open. Ready to test. To experiment. Now, let’s see exactly what I can do!” Her horn erupted with the magic she had gathered.

Amy catapulted into the air as the magic dispersed, once again charging towards the persistent unicorn.

Locks’ glowing eyes caught sight of something below Jessica. The spell she had just unleashed was pouring downward, tucking itself within the shadow Jessica cast against the ground. Her shadow immediately revolted against the foreign substance, bending and breaking out of shape.

“Lily, move!”

Amy’s ear caught Locks cry. She looked over at Jessica, looping backward in the air as a black tendril ripped up from the ground in her path. The extension lashed about wildly, completely void of light and blocking out any sight Amy had of Jessica’s body. The tendril quickly wrapped around Jessica’s hind legs, gripping her tightly before violently reeling her in.

“Ooh,” she cooed, “That’s a new one.”

Amy and Locks followed as the extension dragged her into her own shadow, leaving nothing above the surface of the snow. The shadow jerked around before darting against the ground at an unprecedented speed.

Locks eyes flashed. “She’s still alive! She’s inside of her own shadow!”

Another tendril sprouted from the shadow, stretching up towards Amy. It rolled outward, tossing a small object into the sky. Amy flew away, avoiding direct contact with whatever had been vaulted into the air from the shadows.

It was a tiny doll in the shape of a pony, complete with a soft black cloth for the coat, and stringy, orange material for its mane. Buttoned eyes completed the package, creating a tiny, squishy replica of Jessica Scrawl. Amy cocked an eyebrow at the plush, now suspended in the air by its own devices. The tendril that launched it retreated back into the shadow on the ground, which quickly made for the grounded detective.

Amy blew into her whistle as loud as she can. Locks’ ears sprung to life, his eyes wandering around until he caught sight of the magic encompassing the shadow.

Locks ran around the plaza, doing his best to avoid the shadow that was creeping behind him at the same speed.

The airborne pony changed directions, beginning to drop down to help out her detective.

A flash of orange blinded her as the doll came swinging around in the sky, blocking her from the ground. The pudgy horn at the top of the plush’s head started to glow with an ominous orange glow.

Amy’s wings desperately fluttered backward to create some room.

The doll spun in place before stopping again, facing Amy with its cold, lifeless presence. Amy waited for something to happen, for a spell to erupt or a blast to come from the plush.

A sharp, orange needle sprung from the side of the plush’s head, nearly three inches long and sharp enough to scratch metal with just a nudge. The needle quivered in place, then, with a mind of its own, the needle angled itself facing directly towards Amy.

The needle punched off of the doll, whizzing right past the spot Amy’s wing was just in. She recovered from the quick dive she made to avoid the attack, turning back to make sure that the needle didn’t make a second round at her. She looked back to the plush with grimace in her face.

Dozens of needles sprouted from the plush, covering its entire body like a cactus. On an invisible order, the doll lunged forward, its forelegs stretched out towards the pegasus.

Amy gasped, immediately taking off in the opposite direction.

On the ground, Locks continued to run from the shadow that was creeping right behind him. Tendrils were starting to stretch out from the inside of the shadow, reaching out in an attempt to grab him. He climbed over another small vendor, whose structure was immediately ripped to shreds by Jessica’s puddle of wild tentacles. They ripped the entire foundation in two before speeding on after the colt.

‘I can’t find a way to look at her again,’ Locks ducked his head to avoid another swipe. The shadow bolted lightning fast towards him, only to speed by as he jumped away. The shadow ran up the side of the building ahead of them before ramming into the outer edge of the dome Jessica had planted earlier. Locks followed the shadow with his glowing eyes as it crawled on the ceiling of the magical dome.

‘What exactly is that? Jessica, you’re insane.’

The shadow hovered directly above him, hundreds of feet in the sky. Against the little cloud coverage they had overhead, Locks could barely make out the tendrils that were raining down towards him. One struck just inches away from him, crushing the snow underneath and cracking against the concrete buried below. The colt kept running away, his eyes peeled for any other sources of magic that could come rushing in from any direction.

A tendril fell down several yards in front of him, turning a sharp angle to face him head to head. It opened up, revealing a familiar horn inside of the shadowy figure. It fired a quick, concussive spell at his feet, throwing him off his balance. Before he could regain control, another tendril came from the side, side swiping him like a fly, hurling him through a mound of snow before he came to a stop.

Locks pulled his head out of the snow, coughing as the air returned to his lungs. A strange, whirring shot past him, and several needles shot through and landed half-inside of the snow right by his head. He cringed, looking back up at the skies.

The Jessica doll was chasing Amy around, the latter doing her best to shake the puppet to avoid its tiny missiles. Needles continued to spawn from the surface of the doll, which remained intact regardless of the needles that punctured its delicate cloth.

Amy jerked up towards the sky, forcing the doll to follow her into the clouds. The doll fired again, forcing Amy to take a hard turn to avoid ramming into the surface of the clouds ahead of her. She spun around in the sky, losing control after such a sudden twist. The doll immediately spawned more needles, launching them at the mare.

A single needle managed to finally connect, punching straight into her left foreleg. It jammed itself in, an inch or so still dangling from the outside. The guardian hissed out her pain before turning around to face the doll. Blood was already staining her hoof. She clenched her eyes shut, drowning the pain out to focus on her flying. Another spare needle whizzed by her ear, her eyes snapping open to see the doll still in hot pursuit.

She shook her head, taking off into the clouds once more.

Spells rained down back on the ground, all aiming straight at the detective. Though his agility and foresight with his eyes allowed him to avoid the spells, the tendrils were starting to wear him down. Another slammed into him, sending him spinning back against the ground. Small bruises were hidden underneath his dark blue coat, but his body was already crying out to him to cease the struggle against the powerful mare.

“What an unbelievable creature you are,” Locks couldn’t help but compliment her. “How many ponies would have enough magic and endurance to keep both Lily and I at bay like this, while also hiding it all under a veil?”

“Thank you Locks,” the witch’s voice came through the sky. “I’m as surprised by the results as you are. It’s exciting.”

“Well, I’m happy for you,” he spit. “Maybe perhaps you can make better use of it in the future.”

“Glad to see that you’re still so lively despite the situation,” Jessica laughed. “It’d really help me if you could just surrender already. The Royal Guard is already running around looking for you.”

“Not until Scarlet’s home,” Locks shook his head.

“Too bad.”

Locks caught sight of another tendril. He rolled out of its way, wincing at the pressure he put under one of his new bruises. He stood back up, doing his best to catch his breath.

Amy’s familiar whistle rang out in the sky. Instinctively, the detective jerked his head upwards.

Instead of his large, brown coated assistant, he was greeted by the falling black mass that had swallowed Jessica’s body. He couldn’t react in time, falling on his back as the shadow pounced on him. The black mass fell through him, creating a far darker shadow underneath him, with some traces of darkness still staining his coat.

He felt hair and hooves touching him. From the shadows, sprouted Jessica’s body, coiled and wrapped up against his own.

“Gotcha,” Jessica moved forward. She touched her nose against his own, bouncing off of him with a weak push. The darkness left behind by the mare ensnared him, pulling him against the ground like a powerful adhesive. The shadows flung about his body, coiling around him and each other like a horrific, tangled web. Speckles of the shadows ran up and down the web, like tiny spiders, crafting more and more of the shadows into the web-like substance, each bridge making the cage harder to pull away from.

“Dammit!” Locks yelled in frustration, watching as Jessica slowly trotted away, looking up at the clouds, hunting for his partner.

Jessica’s knees buckled. “It worked wonderfully, but it drained so much more than I’d have hoped,” Jessica complained. She took a deep breath, flicking her tail in Locks’ direction. “Now I just need to take Lily out and I’m all set to go, aren’t I?”

A tiny splat came from the sky, directly in front of Jessica’s hooves. She looked down at the source, her face unchanged. Her doll, barely recognizable, had been shredded into nothing but traces of its coat, mane, and with fluff strewn all about the surface. One of the button eyes was completely missing. She looked back up, her eyes glued to the pegasus responsible.

Amy’s hoof was still bleeding, this time, from more than one source. Several needles were busy nestled into the same hoof as the first. Amy landed on the ground, keeping her injured hoof airborne. She looked at Jessica with a deep scorn on her face, raising her hoof to her mouth. Jessica watched as, one-by-one, the guardian of the Agency slowly picked each needle out, wincing with every nudge that came from the process.

“Wow, Lily,” Jessica praised. “That’s… insane. Did you kick the doll?”

Amy spit another needle out of her mouth, looking back at the orange mane pony in annoyance.

“Wait... You did? Holy crap.”

Amy finished pulling the last one out, still doing her best to avoid contact with the ground on her hurt leg. Her wings beat against the ground, her legs slowly rising from the surface.

Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “I see. No nonsense, huh? Well then, now that Locks is out of the way, let’s have ourselves some fun.”

Amy shot straight at Jessica, who responded by immediately lifting herself high into the sky. Jessica fired several spells at the pegasi mid-flight, several of them colliding with the pony, but none of them managed anything but to slow the determined mare down.

The gap closed, Amy flew up against Jessica’s face. She pulled back her right foreleg, ready to kick Jessica’s face in.

“I saved your life.”

Amethyst immediately faltered, her kick missing completely. Jessica pointed her horn at her, firing a quick spell that launched Amy far into the clouds, the collision causing a puff of vapor to escape from the cover.

“Look Lily,” Jessica brushed her mane aside. “Sweetheart, I get it. You don’t want to hurt me after what I did for you.”

Amy cleared the clouds away, sitting on the surface of another one while catching her breath. She kept her injured hoof in the air. The bleeding was starting to come to a halt, but tiny droplets continued to fall to the ground below. She grabbed her whistle, and blew on it.

“Well, there is an easy answer,” Jessica shrugged. “All you two gotta do is come quietly. Just trust me with Scarlet. I can help her, and the charges against you and Locks won’t be as severe. In fact,” she moved closer to the mare, “If I pulled a few strings, I can get you off completely free, if you wanted.”

Amy’s whistle fell to the side. Her face was that of a filly who had just been betrayed. She stared at the black mare in the sky, her strong, purple eyes colliding with Jessica’s chaotic, orange orbs.

Amy threw her hair back with a swish of her head, holding it back with a hoof. She arched her head upward.

Jessica, in the heat of the moment, felt her stomach drop at the sight of the grisly scar left behind by Lily’s assailant those years ago. She let the unicorn stare into her scar before dropping her head and picking her whistle back up. She blew strong notes into it again.

“Clever,” Jessica sighed. “I did everything I could to heal your scar because I wanted to save you. Now, you’re doing the same for Scarlet?”

Amy shook her head once. She placed her bloody hoof against the cloud, wincing at the pain, but working through it as the discomfort slowly vanished. She blew into her whistle again.

“I’m supporting her suffering?” Jessica hovered back. She looked away, conflicted by Amy’s well-chosen words. “I… suppose that’s true. To some degree. But you don’t understand-”

The large guardian bore her teeth, her face immediately wrinkling into a permanent frown. She slammed her uninjured hoof into the cloud below, punching a hole clear through it. The cloud, unstable from her stomp, vaporized, leaving her to fly with her wings. Amy stared at Jessica the entire time, reaching around her neck to wring the whistle loose. She ripped it from her neck, snapping the wire. With an aggressive grunt, she threw it away.

Jessica watched the relic tumble towards the ground. It disappeared from sight after several moments passed. “No more games, huh?”

Amy’s response came with another powerful lift off, one that kicked all of her surrounding clouds into vapor on lift off. Jessica didn’t react, focusing on the pegasus’ expression, trying to see past the newfound determination behind her eyes.

“Come on Lily, I know you don’t want to do this,” Jessica assured the charging missile.

Amy cocked back her fresh hoof, ready to swing straight at the black unicorn.

Jessica’s expression came undone.

“Oh shit!” Jessica finally responded to the icy glare in the guardian’s eyes. Her horn erupted, lending to the mare a large, fortified bubble of space, coated in an orange tint that mirrored her horn.

The walls of this new space thickened. Amy rushed right up to the wall, her body turning with the preparation for her blow.

A single brown hoof came crashing into the dome of Jessica’s impromptu barrier, punching straight through it with ease, shattering it into tiny magical fragments. Jessica pulled away during the swing, barely managing to dodge Amy’s mighty kick. The impact with the barrier sent Jessica spiraling several yards away.

Jessica’s face spelled out her panic. Her eyes quivered, watching the last bits of her spell evaporate. She looked back at Amethyst, whose eyes refused to break away from the small mare.

Amy was locked on her prey, and there was no stopping her rampage.

The brown pegasus launched forward, disregarding all means of defense, rushing recklessly towards the idle mare. The wicked pony jerked back before her horn burned with strength. Though her magic was still incredibly powerful, not even Jessica could out speed the determined guardian charging down upon her. Amy jerked her uninjured front hoof back in a swift motion, readying her kick.

She fired forward, her hoof punching through the sky like a bullet. Jessica ducked at the last possible moment, her ears picking up a heavy swoosh carried by Amy’s might. Several strands of her orange mane lagged behind, being ripped from their place on the black mare’s head in an instant, spinning wildly into the night.

Amy didn’t pause. She continued to fly in a straight line, quickly shrinking as the distance grew between the fighters. Jessica turned around, confused by the pony’s actions.

A large blanket of clouds stood in Amy’s way, but not even the thick cover would stop Amy from her task. She spun in the air, twisting her body until her hind legs were facing the clouds. She crouched, colliding with the puffy material, her body shrinking into itself. With a wild grunt, she bucked as hard as she could, instantly turning the cloud behind her into dust. She tore back in the direction she had come, even faster than she had arrived, using the clouds like a slingshot to pull herself back towards Jessica.

The unicorn gasped, focusing her magic into her horn for another spell. Shadows reached out from the ground far below, reaching up and grabbing Jessica by the hind legs once again.

Amy’s hoof came swinging by like a bazooka. Jessica, captured by her own spell, could’ve completely avoid the swing, the very edge of the larger pony’s hoof clipped against her cheek. Even so, the blow forced Jessica’s body swinging back, the tendril thrashing with her to keep its grip.

The tendril pulled Jessica lower, the mare gasping for air, feeling a burn against her face. She reached up with a hoof, placing it on her face to feel something warm. She looked down, a thick, blue fluid flowing freely from her cheek.

“I can’t get hit. Absolutely not,” she looked back up. “She’s using the clouds as a we-”

She stopped, hearing a fast approaching pair of wings. The tendril spun her around mid-descent. Amy was already on her way straight at the mare. With a grunt, her spell hastened, forcing the tendril to painfully drag her lower. Amy whizzed by with a whistle, Jessica’s mane and tail pulled in the direction of the massive warrior’s path.

With no clouds at the altitude they had dropped to, Amy flipped around with a u-turn, her focus refusing to falter. Jessica spotted her path, charging her horn to counter her approach.

Something shined in Amy’s free hoof, glimmering against the moonlight. It was dark, so much so that it was impossible to make out in the night, and at the speed in which Amy was moving. The large pegasus shifted directions, jerking higher, facing directly above the pony. The light formed a large border around the mare that blocked out the rest of her body’s color. Then, with another lunge, Amy started to plummet directly at the wicked mare below.

The tendril rearranged Jessica’s body, flipping her so that her back was facing the ground. Her horn continued to charge when she saw the same glimmer in Amy’s hoof, this time, swinging towards her, ahead of the pegasus.

Jessica had no chance to identify it. The metal object came down on Jessica, slamming against her horn.

At that moment, the night pony’s eyes quivered with fear, the numbness in her horn confirming what the object was. Amy’s inhibitor, the very same one that she had used on Jessica so many months ago, slammed against the base of her horn with an oppressive thud, short circuiting the flow of magic. The spell fizzled out. The tendril that kept Jessica in the air disappeared as well, cringing as it let the pony go, leaving the mare completely open and suspended in the air, gravity slowly pulling her down.

The inhibitor bounced away, failing to lock around her horn, but the damage had been done. Jessica’s breath was stolen by the pair of concentrated purple eyes charging at her. Amy curled her body into a ball, spinning as she descended. As Jessica’s vision because a blur of brown fur and feathers, the guardian bucked out her hind legs with enough force to level a tree.

The double kick found its mark, sinking deep into the dead center of Jessica’s gut. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, blood instantly firing from the back of her throat, feeling her body sinking rapidly towards the ground below. Her mind was in a haze, her world nothing more than fantasy in her head.

“What the-?” Locks raised an eyebrow as the webbings controlling him suddenly melted back into shadows. Confused, he picked himself up, dusting off his hair and sides. A loud clap erupted from the sky, pulling his attention away from his mystery. Jessica Scrawl was falling to the ground, from hundreds of yards in the air.

He stared at the lifeless mare, letting a small gasp through his teeth when he saw a spark of magic pop from her horn. He immediately ran over in her direction.

Jessica’s body, devoid of the sensation of touch or pain, continued to spin in midair, closing her distance with the chilly ground. ‘Teleport.’ She could feel the surface of the earth coming closer. ‘Teleport…!’

Her horn fired up, magic bursting from the tip with a wild fervor. Her growing shadow from the ground wiggled before another tentacle fired up, spiraling around her twisted body. It pulled, tightening and coiled around her, before dropping back down and into the shadow. It jiggled and bobbed, thrashing about as the momentum from her blow carried over to the tendril.

Another spark of magic ignited from within the spell, and the tentacle reached out again. A small bubble ran up through the base at the pool of the shadow, running up until the tip before it ripped open. Jessica Scrawl popped straight out like a cannonball, still tattered, carrying the same momentum she had when falling.

Now parallel with the ground, Jessica’s body slammed into it, the strength from Amy’s kick finally exploding around her. The force from the landing launched her back into the sky, dragging her mane and whatever snow her body scooped up with her. She bounced two more times before finally coming to a painful stop against hard concrete, its snow previously melted by one of Jessica’s own attacks.

“She… broke through the inhibitor,” Locks kept a close eye on her body. He felt his guardian’s wings beating against the air nearby, three hooves landing with a clop right next to him. “You realize that you could’ve killed her, right?”

Amy couldn’t respond, but her stoic focus was enough of a signal to Locks that she particularly didn’t care at the moment.

“The dome barrier hesitated, but somehow she managed to keep it up. It must be running on some of the disposition from the outside as well,” he took a step closer to the body. “She’s still alive though. Had she died, that dome wouldn’t exist.”

Sure enough, the small body of their opponent fidgeted, a loud, unladylike cough erupting from the distance. Jessica shuffled about in the melted snow, cringing and coiling into herself. A blue fluid was seeping from her mouth, dripping onto the floor from the tip of her fangs and her lower jaw. Her eyes were glazed, completely unfocused on the two staring her down. She pulled herself to her four hooves, gasping for air. She hesitated, trying her best to take a step.

She collapsed back onto the ground, holding her stomach with a spare hoof.

“It hurts,” she croaked out between gasps. “God it hurts.”

“Stay down Jessica, for everypony’s sake,” Locks commanded of the lithe mare.

She managed to lift herself back up, one of her hooves still gripping her stomach tightly. She was wincing with each breath, spitting another wad of blue onto the pearly white snow.

“Blue,” Locks eyes sparked. “… Magic. Again. Just like before. Raw magic.”

“I think that’s the first time that I’ve ever felt something so agonizing,” Jessica took a few steps before stumbling over, leaning on a broken vendor for support. “I’m not used to being hit at all,” she coughed again, her tongue lapping up some of the blood running down her mouth. “Much less from somepony like her.”

Amy snorted in response.

“… I don’t like it,” her black horn came to life. “I hate it.”

The magic wrapped itself around the mare, her mane thrashing about in the swirling mess of arcane magic. The blood seeping from her mouth vanished, the gloss in her eyes disappeared, and her hoof slowly removed itself from her belly.

“Magic like that is incredibly draining on your resources,” Locks pointed at the dome. It fizzled once more, weakening ever further. “Healing yourself helps your body, but every unicorn has a limited supply of disposition at their disposal. How are you gonna keep up with Amy and I at this rate?”

“Hah,” Jessica’s horn violently burned. “Me? Low on magic? What a joke!” She swept her head against the ground. A powerful surge of magic crawled through the ground, reaching over to Locks and Amy instantaneously. A bolt of magic fired wildly from Jessica’s horn in response to the sudden surge of power.

Locks gasped. “Jessica, no! Stop!”

Amy jumped in front of Locks, cocking her head in confusion, spreading her wings wide to protect her valued partner.

“She’s digging into her own personal disposition!” Locks shouted as the winds started to pick up. The clouds in the sky slowly twirled around, gravitating towards the center of building magic. Amy gave Locks another shrug.

“Unicorn magic burns disposition in the air to work,” Locks clenched his teeth. “Jessica is using her own personal disposition, the essence that keeps all ponies alive! Unicorn disposition is as strong as their magic, but using it as a replacement for the natural magic in the air destroys them from the inside out!”

The ground beneath the duo started to crack between them. “She’s insane! Jessica, stop!”

“Know your place, Locks!” Jessica whipped her head over towards the pair.

The earth ripped apart, a fissure separating Amy from Locks.Before either could react, a large, shadowy curtain rose up through the cracks, growing like a wave before crashing down onto Locks’ side. The cobalt stallion gasped, lifted by the current and thrown back into another vendor several yards away.

Amy jerked her head towards Jessica, now levitating off of the ground by several inches. She grunted, snorting out steamed air before bracing herself.

Jessica hissed at Amy, bearing her fangs. She raised a hoof, coaxing Amy to attack her.

Not that she needed to, Amethyst paid no mind to Jessica’s gambit, launching herself straight at the supercharged unicorn. Jessica’s grin stretched as the guardian stretched a foreleg back for a kick.

Jessica’s magic reacted with a frenzied sizzle, a small ball of orange appearing in front of the unicorn. Amy’s hoof came straight down towards Jessica’s face. The ball of magic jerked on reaction, throwing itself in front of Amy’s blow. Her hoof sunk deep, stopping just inches before touching the black mare’s muzzle. The sphere screamed, throbbing while a charge of light pulsed from the spell. Sparks fired from the back end, a testament to the sheer muscle behind Amethyst’s attack.

“Try again!” Jessica winded up her own hoof. She mockingly swung out, slapping Amy’s face.

Enraged at the coyness behind Jessica’s eyes, Amy jerked to the side, cocking back and throwing another kick at Jessica. Expectedly, the ball of magic pulled itself right in front of her blow once again, pushing back against the blow, becoming a tint brighter in the process. Grunting, the pegasus swung again, her hoof sinking once more into the spell.

“Oh, what’s wrong Lily?” Jessica scoffed. “You can break my barriers but you can’t get past a teeny tiny ball?”

Amy grunted through her teeth, starting to wildly throw kick after kick, the black imp mocking her between each attack. Frustrated, Amy pulled back before lunging forward for another punch. She didn’t spot the shift in Jessica’s shadow positioned right underneath her. A pillar of orange magic fired from below, landing square on Amy’s chest.

Amy’s blood was ripped from her mouth as the concussive blast launched her high into the sky, towards the swirling vortex of clouds. Shaking her head from the blow, she quickly recovered, spinning to launch herself off of the twirling clouds up above.

Locks, free from the attention of the devious pony, struggled to make his way around the large fissure that scarred Canterlot Plaza, speeding up after seeing his assistant get hurled up into the sky.

Amethyst reached behind her with her good foreleg, grabbing a tuft of cloud. Like a spring, she jumped from the vortex, hurling herself straight back towards Jessica, who was waiting for the adamant pony’s counter attack.

“Headstrong and stubborn in battle. If you weren’t so strong you’d have been dead long ago!” Jessica taunted, readying herself.

Amy winded her hoof up, firing the small chunk of cloud at the black mare. It softly stopped just feet behind her, innocently bubbling in the air.

“What was that!?” Jessica busted out laughing.

Amy turned in the air, repositioning herself to fly straight at Jessica. She spun in the air, throwing her hind legs out like a spear. Jessica easily twisted out of the way, giggling the whole way.

Her laughter came to a sudden halt when she turned around to the sight of the brown pegasus, all of the momentum in her charge being absorbed by her springlike hooves against the tuft of cloud she had thrown earlier.

For the third time, Jessica’s eyes shot open. Amethyst thrust herself against the cloud, and with only inches separating the two ponies, rammed into the tiny unicorn with a vicious head-butt right up against her chest.

All of Amy’s momentum was thrown straight into Jessica, who went flying away towards a nearby wall.

A tendril reached up from the ground, swallowing the injured unicorn just as before. Amethyst landed, watching as the shadowy pool on the snow shifted with the momentum. It darted over towards the spot Jessica had been when she was struck, sending out another tentacle.

It was Amy’s turn to gasp. The tentacle lurched before spitting out a furious unicorn. In her hoof was the small sphere of magic that Amy had been pounding on for the last few minutes. Jessica’s momentum didn’t change, charging straight towards the brown mare. Amethyst jumped to her hind legs, unprepared for the sudden shift in motion.

Her eyes caught onto Jessica’s, the latter quickly throwing the sphere out in front of the pegasus’ face. The ball of magic pulsed in unison with Jessica’s horn.

Locks turned, finally reaching the other side of the fissure that separated him from his partner. He arrived at the scene just as a large flash of light exploded from the sphere in Jessica’s hoof.

“This is how much you hurt.”

Her horn popped violently, the sphere following in tow. It exploded into a wide radius, enough to envelope the entirety of Amy’s body. A tremendous force tore into each and every inch of Amethyst’s body, crushing her underneath a frightening level of power that nearly snapped her bones apart. A cataclysmic boom erupted from the point of impact, akin to that of a keg of gunpowder.

Locks followed the remains of Amy’s body as it tore through the sky. Her massive size easily shattered a pair of vendors that stood in her path, the debris ripping into her with extreme prejudice. She crashed headlong into a shop on the edge of the dome, disappearing behind a veil of snow, dust, and feathers. A loud crash followed as her body crashed through the shop, an echo of glass and wood breaking beneath the force of the blow. The front of the shop gave way under the damage her form caused, collapsing into the ground and burying the mighty warrior underneath the rubble.

His breath lost to him, Locks stared at the hole in the shop. Never before had he seen such a frightening amount of brute power being released in one moment in time. It was deafening. The sound of the attack left a ringing in his ears. He stayed glued to the ruins, waiting for his partner to react, to kick out from beneath the wood, ready and primed for more action.

There was nothing but the ringing to accompany him while he waited. He could feel the air running through his body again, slowly breathing, and processing the horrific image of his friend’s body being tossed into the snow covered tomb. Amy’s body didn’t rise for what felt like eons.

His eyes started to glow. Underneath the rubble, he could spot a small bundle of magic. It was weak. Too weak. As the dust settled, Locks could make out what looked like a hoof. It dangled lifelessly underneath a broken bench, blood dripping from the coat of her foreleg.

A wretched voice, uncaring to the damage and pain she had just caused, came from behind. “One down, one to go. How are you going to take me down all by yourself, Domino?”

Locks slowly turned his head to face the demon that destroyed his partner. His eyes burned with the intensity of a star, infuriated at the blow the mare so callously gave to one of her own friends.

Jessica collapsed, rubbing her chest. Her horn fell silent, the swirling clouds up above dispersing back into a regular pattern against the sky. The tendril retreated back into her form. She exhaled, feeling several droplets of blood dropping from her jaw once again.

“I got careless,” she flinched, falling to her haunches. “It still hurts. Both of them.”

“I can take you down as you are,” Locks snorted, grinding his teeth together. “We can both see it. Lily leveled you. Just take a look.”

Jessica followed his hoof back to the dome. At the apex was a large crack, slowly being tended to by more of Jessica’s rogue magic.

“You’re reckless, Scrawl.” His eyes burned bright crimson. “You even exhausted a large portion of your own disposition to do it. How you’re still standing is beyond me, but you’re broken. You’re broken, and that’s all I need to take you down for good.”

“Broken? Don’t be stupid, Locks. I’ve still got plenty of tricks left.”

“But how far are you willing to go? For Scarlet?”

Jessica spat out another driblet of blood. “Everything if it means that I get to Scarlet.”

“Doesn’t that sound familiar to you?” he focused his eyes on the unicorn.

Jessica’s gaze jerked away from the colt at the realization of what he was trying to do. “Nice try. I’m not falling for that one again.”

“You might’ve killed Lily, Jessica. She could be dead underneath all of that rubble. I can barely make out her disposition underneath it all.”

“It’s… a necessary risk,” she looked away.

“You’ve disobeyed your country, Scrawl!” He stomped. “You might have killed our friend! Scarlet’s friend!”

She remained silent, taking his verbal lashing.

“Killing one of your own friends… you’re a horrible creature, Jessica Scrawl.”

Her fangs extended from her mouth, her blood starting to boil at his words.

“What would Jacqueline say?”

Jessica’s head jerked straight back at the colt, fury burning away in her glowing, orange eyes. She stared directly at him, into his tormenting eyes. “DON’T YOU DARE SAY THAT NAME!” She yelled. “YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT!”

She couldn’t break away. It wasn’t until a powerful, surging numbness took hold of her body did she realize what she had done.

“NO!” She cried, her horn resisting Locks’ magic. It shrieked with energy, building up a mass of magic within the tip. With a thrust straight at Locks, she fired.

The spell barely left her horn before it exploded in the air, throwing her back several feet.

“Princess! Look! Over there!”

The grand ivory alicorn jerked her head towards the smaller, gray colt ahead of her. Princess Luna followed the motion, as well as the platoon of guards at their disposal. On the other side of town was a large dome, covering a massive portion of Canterlot from view. It flickered, generating a large magical feedback. A crack, visible from the top of the spell, stretched across the dome, cutting it into fragments. Before it could shatter, it flashed, disappearing from sight once again.

“Canterlot Plaza,” Celestia narrowed her eyes. She turned her head towards a Royal Guard member, adorned in a gold trimmed armor with purple plating surrounding his chest and back. Atop his head was a helmet, matching his outfit with a combination of gold and purple, his large, white horn exposed from the center.

“Get your troop and hurry over there as fast as you can. Break that barrier.”

The guard nodded his head, shouting a command as his entire squad launched into the skies. Steele, Celestia, and Luna followed cautiously behind the troops.

“Unbelievable,” Locks’ eyes faded back to their natural state. “She was able to break away. Again.”

Hoofsteps approached from the smoke. Locks could make out the form of her small body as it broke through the haze, her head down to avoid eye contact with the stallion.

“Why?” she panted, wiping more blood from her nose. “Don’t you just stay down? It’s for the best. I promise. I must get to Scarlet. I need to.”

“No,” the colt stared down at her. “Early this morning Lily, Mystery and I agreed that we wouldn’t look back when we decided to defy the Agency. We knew the risks going into this, and now, at this point, we’ve gone way, way too far to even consider backing down.” He looked behind Jessica, towards the direction of the small town miles away. “The letter’s been sent. We’re so close. Once we get past you, it’s over.”

“God dammit!” She stamped her hoof against the ground. “I’m so fucking sick of this shit!” She pointed her horn directly at him. “No more! Just… no more!”

Locks watched as more of her essence seeped into her weapon. “Channeling more of your own disposition? Jessica, please, for your sake…”

“NO!” She shouted. “You just finished saying that you’ve come too far to back down. Well, so have I.”

The spell in her horn turned violent. The orange hue that naturally colored Jessica’s spells faded, instead replaced by a far more threatening black. A deep color that contained not even the slightest trace of light inside.

“Jessica… you’re….” Locks eyes dilated.

The spell ripped from her horn as a thin, potent beam of energy. It whizzed right by Locks, the shell-shocked colt barely snapped to the side in time to evade it. The spell traveled onward, colliding with a building’s wall before fizzling back out.

Terror was spelled out on his face. Sweat, ran down his muzzle, his slow breath coming out in hurried puffs. The heat from the fight went completely ice cold, his hooves glued tight to the ground.

“Black magic,” he practically whispered, fear finally taking hold. “That spell would’ve killed me…”

Jessica fell to her knees, feeling the painful side effect of burning through her reserves. She gasped and groaned, looking back up at Locks, this time looking him square in the eyes with no regard for his abilities.

“It’ll all be worth it.”

The cold swept up against his face, snapping him back to attention. His breath was visible in the night again, the temperature around the pair dropping down significantly. “This is just like back at the office…”

His eyes, still shaking and unfocused, caught traces of magic from all around him. They were shifting, moving away from their natural place and slowly dragging towards the mare in front of him. Disposition from the air gravitated towards her, the clouds unfolding on the scene. The snow and the portions of concrete below faded in color, combining into a mashed gray color that was devoid of life. Locks peered down at his own body. Traces of magic that littered his coat were slowly being pulled into the center of the black witch’s body.

Even amidst the rubble where Amy rested, Locks could see magic trickling through, leaving behind the same faded colors of the world. Several bits of wood fell over from the pile, a twitch of Amy’s hoof the only response to the phenomenon.

His world, colored in a lively blue, was slowly turning black.

Jessica’s eyes were pulsing a sinister orange color. The blood she was leaking was soaking back into her coat with a nasty sounding suction. The magic of the surrounding environment slowly channeled into her body from all directions, feeding her. Nursing her body.

“It’s all flowing into her…”

“It’s just like in Dodge. All those years ago,” Jessica reminisced, looking up to the drained skies. The dome overhead was cracking more and more, her body eating up all of the remaining power it had left. “Let me tell you an interesting, short story, Locks.”

She took a step forward, towards the blue colt. “When I was just a filly, growing up in that blossoming environment that Gemini cultivated, I was under the watchful eye of my dear, sweet mother: Jacqueline O’Curbi.” The color in Jessica’s mane and coat grew brighter, full of life and energy. “She let me play with the other foals in town, just like any ordinary pony would. It was a happy life, free of many of the worries I deal with here in Canterlot. It was a comfortable life.”

The black mare shut her eyes, retracing ancient memories. “One day, I was with a few other fillies. The bunch of us were hooligans at times, breaking the rules because of how exciting it was. I loved doing it. It made my heart race, and it was so exhilarating to feel that kind of adrenaline pumping through my body.

“We fillies decided to play along the railroad tracks that had been set up by the train station. We didn’t know any better, and thought it’d be a fun experience, just like all the others.” She took a deep, relaxing breath, shaking her mane free. She looked just as she did before their battle had begun, coat cleaned and shimmering in the night, fangs glistening, and her mane bobbing with eccentricity.

“It was fun… until we heard the blare of the train from the distance. We panicked, and the whole herd of us ran over to the train station for safety. My hoof… it got stuck against the side of the tracks, and I fell over. I couldn’t pull myself free.” She looked down, analyzing her midsection. “It was pretty far to the station from where I was, and nopony looked back when I called out to them. I was left alone on the tracks, trying desperately to pull myself out. I was scared, and the scream of the train grew closer the more I pulled.”

Locks took a step back to match Jessica’s advancing figure.

“The last thing I remember is seeing that giant, mechanized beast. It turned the corner screaming, drowning out all of my senses. Everything after that… just a blur of pain. Nothing more.

“But then, despite how dire my situation was, my eyes snapped open,” her figure paused. “I was on the side of the tracks, alive and well. I was completely perplexed. I had no idea how I managed to avoid such a horrific death. I slowly got up, and ran away, back to the station, where I met all of my friends once again.

“When I got back to Dodge, everything was different. Nothing looked different, but everything felt as though it had changed,” she dragged a hoof against the faded ground. “The color of the sand was never the same as it had been. The buildings looked as though they had aged, and for some reason or another, unicorn magic became far more difficult to muster out there.”

She continued, “When I grew up, I left to Canterlot, and never went back. Imagine my surprise when I found out that it’s nearly a ghost town, occupied by only a hoofful of farms and a tiny population. Something big happened to both me and the city on that day. I felt it in my body the moment that train tore into me.

“I died that day, Domino. Yet, despite that,” she presented herself with the wave of a hoof, “Here I am, as lively and energetic as ever.”

“Jessica Scrawl,” Locks eyes continued to burn. “The magic of the area… you absorbed it. No creature I’ve ever met before has had such an ability… what are you?”

She put her hoof to her mouth, hushing the detective. “I’m a unique thing. I’ll say that much. All I know is this: I cannot die here, Locks. My body feeds off of the disposition in the atmosphere in dire times. You ponies and your magic give me life. That is why I cherish it so much!” The black pony finally broke into a smile. “Don’t you get it now? You cannot possibly win! You can’t stop me from feeding off of more magic, and even somepony like you, Steele’s greatest asset to his little club, has a limit to his strength!”

Locks remained silent.

“So please, surrender to me. It’s pointless to continue.”

To her surprise, he shook his head with just as much reassurance as before. “I can’t do that, Jessica. Nothing will change it except for Scarlet’s safe return to Canterlot.”

“Domino!”

“Nothing will stop me.” He braced himself. “Everypony has a weakness. I know what yours is. Not even you are invincible, Jessica.”

“You…” she looked back at the ground. Her hoof started to tap against it impatiently. “What’s your problem?” Her hoof pounded the ground harder. “Why do you have to make it so complicated?”

Her horn started to charge another spell. It quivered with its typical orange aura, before coating itself in the black magic that Locks identified immediately.

His heart felt as though it was about to rip out from his chest.

“You damn idiots. Ignorant. Stubborn. Naive!” Jessica called. “I’m running out of time. I can’t be dealing with your bullshit any longer!”

Locks crouched low to the ground.

The beam fired directly at him, the colt again managing to scrape by without getting touched by ducking underneath it. A portion of his mane was ripped right off as the spell brushed by.

Jessica’s horn whined, the intensity of the spell still burning away at her body. The menacing aura around her horn quickly changed back to its natural hue of orange, charging into the ground around the colt. His hooves vibrated against the rumbling ground, snow falling through growing cracks around him. A shred of orange flared out at him from under the surface of the snow covered plaza, tossing out a large chunk of the land at a sharp angle.

Locks tumbled in place, darting to the side, picking up speed while charging through to Jessica. She winced, gathering herself before jumping back several feet, firing more spells through the snow as she retreated.

‘She’s exhausted. Her black magic is losing consistency,’ Locks stumbled over a step in the ground, nearly tripping over himself. He straightened out, gasping when he caught another dense charge of devilish black magic charging at him from ahead. He pulled his neck back, feeling the heat from the spell burn under his neck. ‘Firing wildly.’

Locks’ knee buckled with another step, fatigue starting to overcome his own adrenaline rush. Jessica’s spells wildly combed the land, causing more formations to pull and push under the blanket of white. Several strands pulled towards the sky, against the cracked dome blocking them from the outside world. The dome cringed under the weight of the spell, but didn’t give way as several familiar tentacles sprouted from the ceiling. They came barreling down on the detective, several slamming into the ground where he stood with an oppressive, terrifying force.

He pulled ahead of the tendrils, catching another spell that created a tremor under-hoof. His vision quaked wildly, his balance lost as another spell came buzzing straight at him.

The portion of cement under his body caved in from the miniature earthquake the mare-devil caused, pulling him under an inch. The incoming spell rammed right into his face, blinding him with a bright blue light and tossing him back some feet. He quickly rebounded, throwing his face every which way with a grunt.

A high-pitched ringing filled his ears, his sense of touch crippled by what he found to be a numbing agent in the spell. He struggled to focus on his target, only visible by the strong blue outline of a mare in his vision. With a growl, he lifted himself from the small crater in the ground, bounding back onto the snow and charging straight for the black witch.

The distance was growing as short as Jessica’s patience. Her frustration capping out, she fired another thick wave of magic at the colt, aiming for the area underneath his feet.

Locks eyes pulsed, his fiery red gaze illuminating the area around. Jessica turned away, making sure she was looking nowhere near him, but still able to spot him in her peripheral vision.

His irises were focused on her spell, contorting it mid-flight. It twisted in midair, its color bending, transforming into a new hue. Jessica, catching the act, gasped when her typical orange aura flashed into a bright green. The spell sharply turned, hitting the ground with a splash of covering smoke.

Jessica’s hooves planted themselves deep in the ground, her horn crackling maliciously. She fired several rounds of black magic into the plume, sweat bleeding off of her forehead.

A pair of large, blood-red irises crashed through the smoke, falling straight at her from the air. Jessica lost her control, swinging her horn upward at the colt. Locks’ hoof swung down hard against her forehead, spinning her head to the side and avoiding any magic spells she could have primed.

He collapsed on top of her, the pair crashing into a heap against the snow. Pellets of packed, frozen moisture kicked up into the sky while they struggled to overpower one another. They rolled further from the site, tumbling, grunting, and swinging hooves at each other’s bodies wildly, turning the fight into an all-out brawl.

They tumbled their way towards the broken shop where Amethyst was downed, finally coming to a stop. Jessica, with a gut-wrenching yell, hoisted Locks off, his body plopping right behind her. She struggled to her hooves, hearing the detective doing the same thing. A rogue blue hoof charged into the back of her knee, forcing her to buckle under the force. Another grabbed her by the chin, pulling her head straight up.

She was lifted right into a set of burning, shining eyes just inches away.

The two stood as one, absorbing every detail from the other’s eyes before the silence that now surrounded the ponies was broken by the little black mare.

“I didn’t know you could do that…”

“I wouldn’t give away my secrets that easily, Jessica.” Locks failed to blink. Jessica was trapped.

“Changing magic to obey you though? That’s beyond being an artifact, Domino.” She slowly breathed out, a bit of a shake in her voice. “All of this mystery about me and my past. What about yours?”

Locks let her question sink in for a moment. “I won’t lie about it Jess. I’m a very special pony. Perhaps in an alternate reality, I could’ve shared more with you, but not here.”

Jessica gulped. Her eyes narrowed, a clashing of both anger and defeat swelling in her mind. “You caught me. I can’t look away, Domino.”

“I know. It’s over.”

Jessica’s orange eyes started to twinkle. Tears were building up at the base. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry Jessica. Had it not been Scarlet…”

“I get it.”

Another pause. “Do you know what happens now, Jessica?’

“… I think so.”

“Then tell me,” Locks moved closer, their noses squished against one another, eyes as close to each other as possible.

Jessica hesitated, feeling a warmth invading her mind. Her horn was burning. “I don’t know, Domino. I thought I understood your power, watching you tonight. I feel like anything can happen.” She let out a chuckle.

“Laughter? That’s a unique response.”

“What else can I do?”

The cobalt pony gave a deep sigh. “I can alter emotional bridges with spells. They’re only temporary if I so choose them to be.”

“If you choose?” Jessica’s voice strained, becoming more submissive.

“I’ve only ever done it once. Maybe twice. I can make it permanent.”

What little color remained in Jessica’s expression was gone. “Permanent?”

Locks nodded. “You’re a menace, Jessica. I can’t let a pony as strong as you are wander about Equestria. Not with the lack of control you have. You could’ve killed Lily. You tried to kill me five times.”

“Please…!”

“I’m going to remove every single emotional bond you have to your magic. You’ll never perform a single spell again.”

“Domino, please!”

His eyes started to flash, nearly blinding the helpless black pony. “I’m sorry Jessica, but this is how it has to end. You’re finished.”

“DOMINO!”

The ponies’ faces were enveloped in Locks’ bright light, shining through and obliterating all of the shadows nearby. It swept over the broken shop, illuminating the pile of shifting rubble.

The broken wood and rock slid down into a smaller pile, revealing a bloody, bruised Amethyst underneath. She gasped for air, throwing her body out and onto the pile, stretching her wings to ensure that they weren’t horribly damaged. Silently, she looked over to the source of the light, spotting both Jessica and Locks facing off. She sighed, knowing that the end was near.

Locks ears flickered with the sounds of the mute in the back. “Thank Celestia. Amy’s alive.” His gaze petrified the poor unicorn beneath him. “You should consider yourself lucky.”

Tears streamed down Jessica’s face, pouring down and creating multiple rivers that ran around her muzzle. She could feel Locks’ presence inside of her. Invasive, uncaring, and methodical. It dug deep into her core, her heart, searching for that unique link between creature and magic, with only the intention to destroy it.

Jessica was actively sobbing, Locks doing his best to avoid blinking, to ignore the painful sounds of the broken mare. He could feel her emotions growing stronger within. Those very emotions that tied themselves to the magic she had mastered over her thousand-year spree. Her feelings weren’t extraordinary, a sobering thought, perhaps even a depressing one, to Locks. Strip Jessica of her rank at the Agency, and of her notable history with the Princesses Celestia and her connection to Gemini, and she was just an ordinary unicorn pony. Happiness, sadness, anger, and hope were recognized here, just as they had been in the other ponies Locks had pried into. They were swollen with energy, much like their mischievous host, who used her abilities for the common good, helping the Agency stop criminals day by day.

Locks felt the guilt ride up in his gut. He remembered the sad, sick red mare in Ponyville, suffering because of Jessica’s manipulation. In pain because of the truths that remained hidden behind the horrific cases the four ponies pursued together. He couldn’t forgive her, no matter what benefit she provided for their pony society.

“Magic… it’s all I am,” he heard her weeping. “It’s all I’ve ever been attached to.”

A surge of powerful emotions overwhelmed Locks as he reached closer to her core. The disposition resting inside of her that empowered her magic. He reached towards it with utmost caution.

A horrible lurching feeling of regret washed over him. It was a gate to her heart. A sweeping feeling of remorse for a horrific crime. Locks peered deeper into the emotion.

Two still, insect-like eyes stared back at him. The creature, devoid of a soul, looked at him without budging an inch, its mouth agape.

“It’s all I’ve ever been,” she sobbed.

Another gate rushed through him. It was positively bright and upbringing, an emotion that completely overpowered the one previous. He felt as though he was reliving the memory attached, seeing a fragile black hoof stretching out towards a warm, smiling face. The pony bearing down on the memory smiled, her bright yellow coat and sweet, ravishing jade eyes looking down at what seemed like a miracle.

“Do you see me now?” Jessica asked the detective, knowing in full what Locks was witnessing. “I’ve worked towards what I am. Who I am. Whatever the fuck I am. I’ve worked on it for one thousand years. All in preparation for tonight. For Scarlet’s sake. For everypony. I can hear it crying out to me Locks! The voice that wants my help! Only I can save it!”

‘That voice again. She mentioned it before,’ Locks let his attention falter for a single moment. “Enough Jessica. I’m almost there.”

“Domino,” her voice weakened, the realization of what was about to happen finally accepted. Tears were freely flowing down her face. Finally, the mare was broken. “… Do what you wish.”

The stallion felt his way up to her center. There was one final resistance there, waiting for him to unlock it. He reached out one final time, ready to eradicate the menace to his friends.

The gate lashed out at him.

A wretched face appeared. For only a split second, but its impression was permanent. It imprinted itself into Locks’ memory: A bloody mess of a pony, screaming at the top of her lungs, ripping her throat out with her voice. Her face was wretched and sunken, her eyes frighteningly baggy. Her yellow eyes were embracing a terrible fate, a sense of betrayal devouring her soul from the inside out.

Jessica saw a change in Locks eyes. The intensity he had been bearing down on her had stuttered, the colt stunned at the gruesome, heartbreaking sight.

A tear started to form in the detective’s eyes.

“Not that one…” Jessica moaned.

Locks had stopped, afraid to get any closer to the core of Jessica’s magic. Stunned, hooves cold against the snow, breaking out in another cold sweat. His tears were building up in his eyes, terrified of what remained in this stunning unicorn’s heart.

Jessica’s horn fizzled, resisting the throbbing blood stare.

“Jessica…” he muttered. “What…”

A spell started to form at the tip of her horn.

The pair’s ears flicked. Another set of hooves were charging at them. Something was changing.

“You can’t take it away from me,” Jessica whimpered.

“It’s too much… Jessica.”

“What would I be without my magic?”

Locks’ tears streamed down his face, his body out of his control. “Jessica… why didn’t you ever say anything?”

Her eyes widened. “I couldn’t…”

“Why not?” his voice fell deathly quiet.

The spell at the tip of her horn shrank down to the size of a small marble.

“Magic… it’s my friend,” Jessica mumbled. “And so are you…”

“Jessica,” his breath trembled under the great weight of her final gate. “I’m scared.”

“If I told you… then we’d become enemies.”

Jessica’s core overwhelmed the detective. His eyes weakened.

With a definitive gasp, the pair blinked.

The silhouette of a large, winged pony jumped in the sky behind Locks.

Jessica’s tears burned away, her mind far from their struggle. The spell on her head unleashed itself straight at the detective. Her vision went completely blank.

Locks reared himself up, unable to dodge the spell. It was a tiny thing, a small beam that was no thicker than half an inch. He felt his chest ignite with an intense heat. The searing sensation buzzed through his body, leaving as swiftly as it had come. His entire figure lifted off of the ground with a vicious thrust.

His eyes, agape and in shock, saw the grim scene unfold behind him as he fell back. Lily was frozen, much like Locks had been moments ago. Jessica’s spell was drilling through her neck, straight into her scar with a grisly ease. It ripped straight out of the back of her neck, just at the base, before flying off towards the barrier far away. The force from the spell launched Amy, as it did to Locks, away from the point of impact.

The beam continued on, crashing against the base of the dome. It pushed the spell past its choking point, shattering the dome into pieces. A huge feedback rushed throughout the plaza, creating an intense heat that burned away at the entire area. The snow in its entirety instantly evaporated, leaving nothing but a few damp spots on the concrete of Canterlot Plaza.

Amy’s body tumbled through the air, slamming straight into a building right next to the destroyed shop. Her blood splashed wildly against the wall, her head bouncing off of the surface. Her body sunk, leaning against it without a single drop of life. Her eyes were frozen, her mouth leaning open as her form finally came to a stop. Her long mane draped over her face and shoulders, covering her in black stripes that shrouded the wound from sight.

The familiar scream of a black unicorn blared out against the scene. Jessica Scrawl, tears still pouring down her face, stood a bit further from the spot where her spell had fired. She paused, watching as Locks’ body fell. She screamed again, at the top of her lungs, filling the sky with her atrocious guilt. She fell to her haunches, her drive to continue destroyed.

She heard four hooves slam against the ground. A body did not follow the set into the snow. Jessica gasped, looking on at the impossible sight. Detective Domino Locks stood, his hooves digging into the wet floor, looking back at her, having landed perfectly back on all fours. Scratch marks dragged against the ground where he landed, stopping at the base of his hooves. His eyes didn’t glow. They were completely normal. Lime green. Bright against his blue coat.

“G-Green?” she choked, unable to fight against her tears.

Domino Locks continued to stare her dead in the eyes, his breathing slowing down tremendously. Nothing else could be heard outside of his harsh panting.

Blood dripped down onto the concrete below Locks’ hooves. It was quickly pooling into a warm puddle. His head turned, taking in Amy’s mangled body, before swapping back to the black mare.

Jessica couldn’t help but look into the colt’s eyes. The strength they were giving off was far too familiar, too well known to Jessica. The gruesome image of the dead changeling rushed back into her thoughts, the gaze from Locks resembled that same feeling of shock.

The color in his eyes was fading.

“What you want,” his voice made Jessica’s skin crawl. “Is it really worth it?”

She looked at him in disbelief, tracing down towards the source of blood.

“I saw you, Jessica. It was so much,” he coughed. “Tonight was your last chance…”

Jessica’s face cringed, new tears already pouring from her moist orange eyes.

“The barrier’s gone. They’ll be here any second.” Locks took a deep breath, watching his warm breath drift into the sky. “You win.”

“I didn’t want it to end,” Jessica whimpered. “Not like this.”

He nodded his head. “Me too. But Jess… was it worth it?”

“NO!” She finally screamed out again. Several lights on the outer edge of the plaza flickered on in reaction. “I DIDN’T WANT TO KILL ANYPONY!

“I thought,” she hiccuped, “I thought I had it under control!”

Locks closed his eyes, deep in thought. His chest was cold, but his hooves remained unnaturally warm. Finally, he looked down, morbid curiosity overwhelming him.

It was tiny. A small little thing. No larger than half an inch. It was a hole, exposed directly at the front of his chest. As though it were scripted, he coughed blood up his throat at the sight of his wound. He recalled the spell, bulldozing into Amy’s flesh.

“Straight through, huh?”

Jessica didn’t wish to confirm his suspicion. The light breaking through his chest was plenty enough for him.

“I wish you had said something,” he said.

Jessica looked back at him, her eyes begging him not to go.

“If I was in your position,” another tear fell, “I’d have done the same damn thing.”

“Locks! Lily! Please forgive me!” Her body slumped forward.

Locks looked up to the sky, closing his eyes. A cough surged up through his throat, coming out of his mouth as a half-attempted laugh.

“I’d love a cup of hot coffee right about now. Something nice to warm the body.”

Domino Locks fell to the floor with a defining thud, down into his bloody mess.

Jessica’s mane picked up in the wind, the forces of nature no longer blocked by her own magic. Her mind was racing. No, it was frozen. The scribe couldn’t decide. Her eyes jerked between the two bodies, her emotions running wild.

“No. No. I can fix this!” She picked herself up. “It’s not too late!”

She pointed her horn at Locks, whimpering the entire time, fighting through her toxic breakdown in a desperate attempt to right her greatest wrong. A weak ball of magic starting pouring out into the tip of her horn.

Suddenly, she heard another blast of magic. It zapped her horn, burning out her spell. She stumbled onto her backside, her eyes shrunken. She turned to the direction of the blast, towards the south exit of Canterlot Plaza.

A group of ponies stood there at the exit, drinking in the scene of the brutal battle. Two alicorns, one of pure ivory white, and the other of the darkest of blue, were lined up. Flex Steele, Jessica’s own boss, stood several inches behind them, a look of horror stretched out against his face.

In front of the royal sisters and the Agency’s leader, was a single unicorn, clad in purple and golden armor that shimmered against the moonlight. She recognized him immediately by the special armaments he wore.

“ON THE GROUND, NOW!” Shining Armor, captain of the Royal Guard, demanded in an oppressive voice.

“NO! PLEASE! I CAN HELP!”

Another spell slammed her from the back, knocking her onto her stomach. She turned around. A force of unicorns surrounded every possible exit, with several pegasi covering the skies. More lights to surrounding houses were flickering on in response to the commotion.

“Keep the civilians inside their homes!” The Princess of the sun demanded the troops behind her. They hurried about the plaza, helping a handful of pegasi keep the windows shut to the gruesome image just outside.

Jessica’s vision was blinded by a combination of golden armor plated ponies, each one huddling closer. She felt her horn go numb, followed by a series of snaps that bolted together her pair of hind and forelegs in chains. Her horn and neck were also sealed tight, each brace a dark black that she recognized immediately as inhibitors.

“We saw the dome shatter, then a powerful surge of magic erupted from the center,” Steele spoke as the guards spread out, leaving the princesses and the boss to approach. “All of your magic disposition was released the moment it broke. We recorded everything.” The gray stallion turned towards the direction of his downed officers. “HURRY! TAKE THEM TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM! WE DON’T HAVE TIME!”

Several guards lift her up on her sides, forcing her to bend to the Princesses.

“Jessica Scrawl,” Celestia’s voice came. It boiled with a frighteningly controlled rage, only excited further by the arrival of the emergency carriages. “What have you done?”

Princess Luna took a step forward. “You are under arrest for treason against Equestria, practice of black magics forbidden by law, the manipulation of The Agency’s authorities, and for attempted murder.

“Your punishment is pending the survival of the two officers you have struck down tonight, Jessica Scrawl. In the meantime, you shall be escorted down to the dungeons below Canterlot.”

Jessica dropped her head in defeat. She watched as Celestia and Luna whispered to each other, and then to Steele, before the large alicorns stretched their wings. They fired off into the sky, heading straight for the castle. Steele remained, helping the guards move her towards another carriage that had just arrived. It was dark and black, round in shape, similar to that of a pumpkin.

She was tossed into the carriage, the hide thick and metal. She felt an increased numbness when her hooves scraped against it. Metal bars blocked her from sticking her head out of the window, also made from the same material as her shackles. She poked her eyes through the bars, watching as the emergency carriages for Locks and Amy darted away from the plaza and out of sight.

Jessica remained in her carriage, helplessly bouncing around while inside as it passed through the quiet streets of Canterlot. She sniffled, having slowly eased out of her crying mess, quickly accepting her life as a prisoner. She wasn’t alone inside of the cart. On the other end of the tight, small space, was her boss, sitting on his haunches with nothing but a cold, unreadable expression in his eyes.

“Scrawl,” he finally spoke. “You’ve failed spectacularly.”

“Yes, boss.”

“What were you doing tonight? All you had to do was subdue the two, but instead, we arrive and find two lifeless corpses. What was the real goal in that fight? Why?”

“I was trying to help somepony,” Jessica looked down, watching her orange mane bounce along with the bumps in the road. “And I was willing to go all the way in order to do it. At least… I thought I was.”

“But for it to end, Scrawl? Like this? Two officers, some of our finest, possibly dead because of something so ridiculous?”

“It wasn’t ridiculous, boss.” She looked up at him. “Not to me.”

Steele remained silent for a moment. “Our deal fell through because of your act of treason,” he said. “However, you know how I operate.”

“I do.”

“This is the end for you. You can tell me what you know and move on, knowing that in your last free moments, you did what you could to set things right. Or,” his eyes shivered, “You can take your secrets to your grave and leave us clueless for the rest of our lives. It’s your call.”

“No,” Jessica slowly jerked. “I won’t do that to you. No more secrets. I’ve hurt too many ponies as is. I can’t… I can’t do that anymore. I don’t want to.” She sobbed, “I never wanted to.”

“I just have some questions. We’re almost at the dungeon’s entrance, so please, be as punctual as you can.”

Another silent tear fell. “I will.”

“Locks and Amethyst were working together on the case involving Conroy’s death. Princess Celestia and I discussed it at length after the information from Gemini, and we came up with a theory that, with the newfound knowledge of your awareness of Scars, you might be able to confirm for us.”

Jessica felt her heart sink. She expected this first and foremost. “The million dollar question, huh boss?”

He grunted to confirm. “What else could I possibly ask first? You’re the key.”

They heard the sound of a drawbridge being opened. “Can I have one final request before I answer?”

Steele didn’t miss a beat. “State your wish.”

“I wish for Princess Celestia to come visit me. After everything from tonight is taken care of. I want to speak to her in private.”

He puzzled, “Might be a tough arrangement. But I believe I can do that for you.”

“Please.”

Flex took a breath. He was finally ready to put an end to the cases that haunted his Agency for years.

“Who is responsible for the murder of Conroy Justis?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Scarlet Trace.”

Author's Notes:

This is a gigantic chapter. Sorry about the absence, but the story is all done. I just need to upload it. You guys are about to get four full chapters. Hope you enjoy them!

G. R.