Crimson was wheeling herself around the cinema she owned. "I've been alright, should be out of this blasted thing soon. Anyway, how have you guys been?"
"Not bad" They all still had visible scrapes and bruises but were otherwise in perfect condition. "Oh," Strato added, "we went back to the studio and found this." He pulled a film canister from Bone Vox's saddle bag and held it up. It was the footage for the music video.
Crimson nodded for a moment, not really knowing what to say. He nearly died because of the video, so it was understandable. "Wonder if it recorded anything that happened after the video, but I doubt it." Crimson levitated the CD and placed it into a small TV in his office. The video began to flicker to life and soon enough, the video was playing.
The footage played through the whole video. Afterwards, it played for about 2 seconds and cut off. However, Sticks' eyes were glued to the screen right before it ended. "Hey, run that back a few seconds... and... PAUSE!" Sticks pointed to the screen at what seemed to be a set of eyes glowing from behind one of the unfinished walls of the set.
Crimson suddenly wheeled his wheelchair towards the video like a pony possessed and looked closely at it. Although he could make out a set of eyes, it was impossible to determine who could have done such a thing. Whatever the reason, he did something that he hasn't done for a few days. For the first time since the accident, Crimson slowly got out of his wheelchair and was standing perfectly upright. He then trotted over to the phone and quickly punched in some numbers. "Hello?" Crimson spoke. "Yeah...you might want to come and see this. See you soon."
"Good friend of mine, Jackpot Fortune. Master at poker and virtually every gambling game. We grew up together and we've been life long friends. I just told her about what we've found and she's going to travel from Los Pegasus to here. She'll help us about this problem, I'll bring the cops in this as well, but I'll talk to the commissioner to try and see if we can make this an undercover mission." Crimson said before looking out of a window, the tone of his voice changing to be surprisingly dark. "When I find him, I'm going to beat him to an inch of his life. This bastard has made it personal."
The members of Unstable nodded at each other and agreed to lend a hoof in whatever way they could. After all, they too were lucky to have survived what they now knew to be an attack.
(Going for a brief time-skip) A couple days later, Ponyville had been swallowed under a torrent of rain. The weather outside wasn't the nicest it has been for a long time, but it was needed to wash away some of the excess emotions that has been caused from the attempted murder on Unstable's lives. Crimson seemed to be particularly well-dressed for the occasion as he stood in the middle of the majestic lobby around his cinema. He was dressed in a light gray suit and black tie, while an expensive golden watch was placed on his right hoof. The doors swung open as a pony in a dark brown cloak entered the room, surprisingly plenty of ponies who gave her curious yet also unintentionally fearful looks. The mare then removed the hood to reveal a unicorn mare with a coat as white as snow, while her mane was black as the obsidian skies and red like the pony she had come to visit. She looked at Crimson in joy and quickly hugged him, managing to drench Crimson in water in the process. He didn't mind however. "Crimson! It's been forever, I came as soon as I could" Jackpot replied before walking with Crimson upstairs. The two of them engaged in some conversation before they found themselves inside Crimson's study, where the tape was paused at the moment the attacker partially revealed himself. The curtains were closed and the atmosphere was electric.
Also present were the members of Unstable. "So," said Ged Clef to Jackpot, "Miss Crim's told us a lot about you. Said you're a diehard gambler."
"You can put it like that" Jackpot replied with a confident grin on her face. "Won plenty of poker tournaments across Equestria and beyond, known Ms.Crimson here for as long as I can remember. We've been best buds since we were filly's." Crimson smiled at the response. "She's going to help us in the investigation. You'd be surprised what she can do sometimes."
"Can't wait." Ged obviously found her to be very attractive but tried his best not to let it show. "Glad to meet you, Jackpot. I'm Rockette. This is Sticks, Strato, Bone Vox, and 'Little Boy Blush' there's Ged."
"Nice to meet all of you. Oh! I err...forgot something downstairs, I'll just be back in a second." Jackpot suddenly realized, before suddenly taking off towards the door as she headed down the stairs. Crimson thought that Ged's reaction was quite adorable and quickly went up closely and whispered something into his ear. "She's single. And just between you and me, she's never had a boyfriend." Crimson said quietly before giggling for a moment. "Just letting you know" Crimson quickly moved back to his space before Jackpot entered the room, carrying her saddlebag and putting it on the table. She pulled a tablet with her cutie mark decorated on the back of it and looked at the group. "I forgot some of my equipment downstairs, this is going to help. We might need to go back to the studio to see what exactly happened, hopefully the pony we are looking for has actually left some evidence behind." "Sounds like a plan" Crimson happily responded. "Shall we head off?"
As the group made their way to the studio, Ged couldn't take his eyes off of Jackpot. That is, until she would see him looking. Then he quickly tried to look ahead casually. "Dude," Rockette whispered, "just go talk to her. I'm sure she won't bite." "I don't know, Rockette. Personally, I'd rather have her bite me than think I'm a dork." "You're not a dork. You're just nervous. Rockout said he was the same way when he met Wild." Ged took a deep breath before finally approaching Jackpot. "So uh," he said cautiously, "where are you from originally?"
"I was born in Los Pegasus, but I moved to Crimson's hometown, Snowville, at a young age. Me and Crimson met each other on the first day of school and we've been best friends since then. I moved back to Los Pegasus after I graduated and I've been involved in poker tournaments since then." Jackpot happily replied before the expression on her face changed to one of sadness. "I'm not exactly what you would call an interesting person though, you can get some better stories from some rich stallion in Canterlot" "Oh, come on Jack." Crimson replied back. "Of course you are interesting." "Are you sure? No stallion that I've ever met has thought so, it's always between you and me alongside some other mares." "Jackpot, I know that you've been going through a rough time. None of the ponies here in Ponyville are particularly nasty like the ones in Los Pegasus, I'm sure that you would like it here. And besides, I'm positive that me and the rest of Unstable love having you around. There's no need to be upset or anything." Jackpot sighed before giving Crimson a weak smile. "Yeah...I hope so...thanks Crim"
"You seem interesting to me too" Ged squeaked before thinking, "And, if I may say, damn good lookin'."
A light blush came out of Jackpot's cheeks upon hearing Ged's speak some words of encouragement, he seemed kinda cute although he was embarrassed in doing so. Whatever the reason, Jackpot managed to catch him looking at her lovestruck before like she was a goddess. She certainly looked the part as well. Even by some standards, Jackpot was unbelievably attractive. It seemed like whatever she would wear, even if she wore the dirtiest tatters of clothing or even covered from head to hoof in mud, she made it look like the finest dresses in Canterlot. She was beautiful, but was also somewhat tomboyish, intelligent and friendly in nature. She could even be considered a die-hard nerd from time to time. If Ged decided to take things up a notch, she would be a perfect match for him. "T-thank you..." She relied back, the warm blush on her face remaining long after the compliment. Soon, the group arrived at the studio which had been closed for around a week or so after the attack. Nothing had been touched since the attempted murder, which would easily lead to the groups advantage. Crimson opened the doors slowly as they creaked open and flicked the lights on.
"Looks like a friggin' warzone in here" said Rockette, "I don't even know where to start." The group sniffed around for any clue they could find. It was difficult to sift through the rubble as the twisted scaffolding was all twisted and laced together. Sticks and the other stallions picked through all they could while the 3 mares checked the rest of the cameras for leftover film. "These damn things are empty! What now?" After loud crashing sound, Strato called out from the pile, "I think I've got something!"
Crimson and Jackpot quickly ran over towards Strato after navigating the rubble around the studio. "What is it? What did you find ?"
