"You got them all? You're sure? And none of them put up a fight? Well nothing you couldn't handle I'm sure? Good I've got enough paperwork with that Calamus shit-head's body. Everything clear? OK come on back, I'll buy you a cider." the Mare seemed more worn out by the firebomb Maneard left for her than worried. She made it seem like it was nothing but another long day at the office. Twilight prayed that her long days would never included executions, explosions, and multiple arrests.
"I've got a spare bed in one of the rooms of the library all set up for you, if you want to get some rest that is." stammered Twilight, even though she had turned off psycho killer mode, the Mare still scared her witless.
"Thanks kid but I need to wait for all the guards to get back, process the terrorists, and then transport them to a proper dungeon in Canterlot."
"Oh alright then, hope your next time in Ponyville is less eventful."
"Oh I don't know," chuckled the Mare, "I had fun dealing with a bunch of amateurs, it was like a vacation."
"A vacation. You do remember the whole mill exploding thing, right?"
"Oh I remember, it was the highlight in fact." she replied, the laugh in her voice becoming more pronounce and a manic glint coming into her eye. "It was like a theme park ride, got the adrenaline going real nice. It's been years since I had this much fun in one day."
"OK then," said Twilight nervously, "unless you need anything else I'll be going to bed."
"Oh just one thing deary," the combination of these innocent almost motherly sounding words and the dark laugh still in the Mare's voice made all of Twilight's hairs stand on end, "take my card. I know this case looks closed, and as far as the higher ups are gonna be concerned it will be, but I'm taking it on as a pet project. I'll call to check in every now again, make sure everyone that manages to avoid jail time is on the up and up, see if there are any stirrings of remnants. Basic leg work."
Twilight took the card the Mare had levitated in front of her. It was surprisingly plain and official looking, she had been expecting some creepy shadowy embossment or something. Hell she had been expecting it to radiate the same 'slit your throat for the hell of it' vibes the mare was. She was just about to let out a laugh at her own foalishness, expecting a demonic business card how stupid, and then she read the name on it.
"Your name's Blood Diamond." as she read it out loud the familiar 'holy shit, holy shit, holy shit' feeling washed over her.
"Yep, why something strange about it?" the Mare snapped back into her tired 'normal' self and raised an eyebrow, like Twilight was the crazy one in the pair.
"Nope, it fits you perfectly."
"That's exactly what all of my coworkers say." shouted the Mare exasperated. " You might find it hard to believe but I've got the reputation of being a real head hunter."
The Mare stood there stone-faced like she was deadly serious. Twilight looked at her incredulous, not sure how to react. That reputation was dead-on and probably well earned, yet the Mare acted like it was the most foreign thing to her. After a very uncomfortable thirty seconds, the Mare let out a raucous laugh.
"You should've seen the look on your face kid, like you'd seen an ursa major tap dancing." the Mare choked out, wiping away tears. "Look kid, I just do my job. Unfortunately for my karma and the people I hunt, that means a lot of body bags. I don't like it everyday, but I try to most so I can stay sane."
Twilight let out a very audible sigh of relief. She realized for the first time that since the Mare had appeared the majority of her muscles had been tightly clenched. The Mare laughed again and slapped her on the shoulder.
"C'mon you need some sleep."
"Can I ask a stupid question?" Twiliight asked, even though she was suddenly exhausted her curiosity was still wide awake.
"Shoot."
"Why take it on as a pet project if you know the case is closed?"
"Because the last person to firebomb their own house in case of a raid was a major player in the NLR. I'm not saying that Maneard's a high ranking buck, just has all the makings of one. That and it's better than gardening."
"Gladstone, I'll be back in a few minutes, gonna see if that cave up there is clear." Maneard whispered hoarsely.
They had been had been maintaining a near constant gallop since the Everfree Forest. Zecora seemed like she could go another few miles, but Maneard and Gladstone were on the point of collapse and the sun was coming up soon. It might just be more of his paranoia but Maneard felt like staying out of sight during the day was likely for the best. The cave was shallow and narrow from what he could feel in the dark but it would do. He slouched off his saddle bags, pulled out a bundle of logs, and started a fire. When he exited the cave Zecora and Gladstone were having a hushed conversation near the mouth.
"How do you know they aren't following, it's and awfully big gamble you're taking?" even after 40 miles of running she still found the energy to rhyme, for once Maneard was more impressed by it than annoyed.
"Hopefully it'll take them a while to round everyone up and realize we aren't one of the poor ponies they've got." Gladstone said, his voice carrying the weight of mile.
"Don't think I didn't notice you dodged my question, how do you know we'll survive this mission?"
"We don't." Maneard answered, motioning them to follow him into the cave with a wave. "Fact is I'm sure they are following us, probably not more than half a day behind, that's why we're sleeping in a cave and traveling at night. If we pull another run like tonight's we should make to Manehattan by sun up." Maneard fell onto his side by the fire.
"You sure we can make another night like that?" asked Gladstone, falling back onto his haunches and lighting a smoke off the fire."
"Not if we don't get some sleep and eat up afterwords."
"Well then g'night, I'm sure I'll be able to make us something passable out of the MRE's you packed." Gladstone sighed through clenched teeth, laying onto his back.
"That'll be a fucking miracle." laughed Maneard.
"For two who wish to sleep, you sure do like to speak." Zecora chimed in, warming her back against the fire.
"I'll take the hint, g'night Zecora."
"Oh Blood Diamond, I thought you'd left this morning." said Twilight, rubbing weariness out of her eyes.
Blood Diamond sat at a table in the Library's atrium flipping through a dozen files the size of her head. Her mane was wild and unkempt from lack of sleep. The stress of the whole situation was written across her face.
"No," she groaned, " the Sergeant was wrong about rounding everypony up last night. He forgot about Maneard, Gladstone, and Zecora so I've got some more legwork 'round here."
"Legwork?" asked Twilight tentatively.
"Oh don't worry kid, the exciting bit's over."laughed Blood Diamond, "I'm just going to go ask your friend Applejack some more questions about Maneard."
"Oh, ok. Wait, don't you want to ask Rarity more about Gladstone?"
"Nah, the terrorists we did catch made it clear that Gladstone was number two in the relationship. If anything Gladstone's been keeping Maneard reigned in, persuaded him from bringing a stronger NLR presence. Plus I don't think Rarity's dignity could survive another round of questioning." Blood Diamond chuckled at her own joke and made her way slowly to the door, the weariness of a night with nothing but paperwork weighing down her every step. "Hey come with me, you might be able to think of more questions then me with a nights sleep in you." She called from the doorway, Twilight didn't doubt it and quickly trotted to her side.
The walk through Ponyville was a quiet and tense one. It wasn't tense from Blood Diamond, well not directly. Twilight had somehow grown a little comfortable around the Mare despite her unsettling disregard for everything. No, the tension was from the resident's of Ponyville, who treated Blood Diamond like she was about to go crazy at the slightest provocation. Twilight couldn't blame them considering the Quill and Couch store's front was now little more than a pile of rubble after her 'tactical entry'. Still the berth they were giving them was more befitting an ursa minor than a government Agent.
"So what's going to happen to the prisoner ponies?" Twilight piped up, she couldn't stand the silence any longer, it was making her skin start to crawl.
"That depends on how much they cooperate and how good of a lawyer they can get." said Blood Diamond matter-of-factly. "The ones who resisted will probably get a couple decades in some secret prison before being transferred into a lower security one for the rest of their lives. Ones who talked freely have at most five years in the palace dungeon to worry about, less if they agree to sign papers condemning those who escaped. The ones with deep pockets though will either get a year of probation and in prison or a massive fine with a few years of probation." This all poured out of her mouth as if she had said it a thousand times before, the whole punishment process sounded pointlessly routine the way she told it.
"Isn't probation and a fine a little light for terrorism?"
"Not really, the sentencing doesn't really work. Fact is true believers will be terrorists regardless of how long you lock them up, the rest are typically scared straight by me kicking in their doors and questioning them. The prisons are more for the papers and reassuring the public than anything."
They fell silent after this, Twilight wasn't able to think of another conversation topic. Plus her mind was reeling with the cynical look behind the curtain Blood Diamond had just given her. When she was a little pony she'd read all the spy thrillers and crime dramas the library had. She would pretend to be some super secret agent or a quick witted detective like the ponies in the books. Blood Diamond made the line between fact and fiction clearer and more boring in Twilight's mind than anything else ever could have. She just hoped it wasn't as pointless as Blood Diamond made it out to be. In the end Twilight just chalked it up to cynicism and lack of sleep, no way that it was all true.
She'd been so wrapped up in her self reassurance that Twilight hadn't noticed where her hooves had taken her. They were at the gate of Sweet Apple Acres and Blood Diamond was calling out to Applejack as she passed with a cart full of apples.
"Well howdy, y'all." Applejack said warmly, unhitching herself from the cart to trot over to them. "Ah figured you'd be long gone by now Miss..."
"Blood Diamond."
"Blood Diamond." Applejack said it like it was a normal everyday name for a pony but her face sold her out. It clearly said 'holy fucking shit that's creepy.' "So what can Ah do you, fir?"
"Just need you to answer a few follow up questions on Maneard: personal history, family, et cetera."
"Oh well then ask away."
"Why didn't you seem surprised at the news Maneard was a terrorist leader?"
"Oh well," stammered Applejack nervously, "he's become of a bit of a recluse these past few years y'see, since Luna came back Ah mean. Far as the leader bit, he was always the alpha-pony type back when we were little 'nes. Oh and his cutie mark, he's kept it covered but Ah remember it well enough."
"His cutie mark." Blood Diamond said, clearly meaning 'you've got to be shitting me.'
"Yep, he's got a big ol' moon for a cutie mark."
"Wait, are you telling me he's got a talent for astronomy or something, and that makes him into an obvious terrorist?"
"No, the craters form something. Ah can't remember what though,'s been too long since Ah saw it. Remember him saying it meant he was destined to be a talk radio host when he was little though."
"I guess when Luna came he started interpreting it a little differently then." Twilight added, trying to become more than an audience member.
"I guess you're right about that. Any reason he'd go to the NLR though? He ever talk to you about it?" Blood Diamond asked, her voice letting in just a hint of accusation.
"Nope, like Ah said he's been a real recluse since the his parents died. Just been working the mill and going in to town to get supplies or talk to Gladstone."
"How did his parents die?"
"Oh well it's down right sad. Ah don't really feel all that comfortable talkin' about it." Applejack said sullenly, hanging her head to let her hat cast a shadow across her face. "His parents were there on Red Sunday. They got caught in the cross fire."
They stood in silence for a few long moments, shifting awkwardly as if trying to dance around the can of worms they'd accidentally opened.
"Anything else you can think of we should know about him, places he might go or do?" Twilight asked, breaking the uncomfortable stillness.
"Not really, his parents were his only kin far as Ah know."
"Well thank you for your help Applejack." said Blood Diamond, laying a hoof on her shoulder. "We'll get out of your mane. I'm sorry to bring up such painful memories of your friend." Twilight was dumbstruck at the out of character tenderness she was suddenly displaying.
"He's been gone a long time honestly," Applejack replied, a single tear was rolling slowly down her cheek, "he used to be so alive, happy. He helped me get through muh parent's death back when. Ah tried to help him, I honestly did. He just stood there when I went to his house the day I found out. He looked dead, like the gunshots had hit him." Applejack's voice cracked and she fell silent. Twilight wrapped her up in her forelegs, her heart breaking for Applejack. Blood Diamond stood there shifting awkwardly again.
A few minutes later Blood Diamond and Twilight left. Twilight couldn't stop feeling so sorry for Applejack. To lose a friend to a tragedy like that must have been awful, no doubt she blamed herself for him ending up a recluse and terrorist. She was too busy worrying about Applejack to notice Blood Diamond walk away to join the guards sitting outside a cafe. Too wrapped up in her pity for her friend to spare a though for the buck that was the cause of it.
"That's big." said Gladstone in awe.
"No that's fucking gigantic." countered Maneard.
"You are both wrong, that is worthy of a thousand songs." piped up Zecora, speaking for the first time since they had left the cave at sundown.
"You're definitely the closest." replied Gladstone, still staring up at the Manehattan skyline.
They had galloped for hours to come to the outskirts of the metropolis. The lights from it rivaled the sun in sheer brilliance, turning night into midday. Maneard fell back onto his haunches, in a mixture of shock and exhaustion.
"I don't think we're in Ponyville anymore Gladstone." he said, leaving his jaw to hang wide open.
"I think you're right about that."
"What do we do now, you said we would be able to blend with the crowd?"
"We find a cheap motel, hunker down while I try and find the NLR cell here."
"You think it will be so easy, not even Celestia has found them in this city."
"Celestia doesn't have an antenna configured to pick up and send NLR broadcasts." Maneard retorted, not breaking his gaze at the city before him. "How long will it take you to cut a new gem?"
"A few hours, maybe more, depends on how well I remember it."
"Alright, well then let's get moving." Maneard sighed, getting up and walking slowly towards the city limits. "We can't just wait out here for somepony to come and invite us in.