Suddenly, all eyes turned towards Rainbow as she spoke. Sunset's nervous eyes slightly widened in surprise. "Wait, you mean that you seen him as well?" Applejack spoke. Rainbow nodded in agreement. "Well...care to elaborate?" Sunset sat upright. Now she had her full attention on Rainbow, as did the rest of the group.
"I saw exactly what Sunset saw," replied Rainbow Dash, continuing to eat her burger. "Weird guy eyeballing us as he drove off... her description was pretty spot on." She lowered her voice to a near whisper as she added, "I think that might be our man."
"Woah!" Crim cried out before eyeballing the others. "Look, I'm not a cop like my mum, but you can't just pick some guy that looks at you funny and think he's a serial killer. Not without evidence anyway." Ivy tried to hide a smile behind her drink. "And besides, Sunset did nearly get hit by a car for not paying attention. Maybe he's just annoyed at that...." Crimson continued before looking at the two. "No offence girls."
"Good point, Crim," replied Rainbow Dash, "But... the look he gave us. Something about it seemed... off..." "What do you mean?" said Fluttershy nervously. Rainbow Dash sighed. "Look, I've lived in the slums almost my entire life. I've seen people do some horrible things. And that guy back there... I've seen that look he had in his eyes before. No sane person would have that look in their eye out of simple frustration."
Ivy looked in surprise. She'd arrived in a new country and city to start a new life, and she was about to follow a suspicious man who looked at one of her friends funny. "What about you Crimson? Didn't you live somewhere dreadful at some point in your life?" "I'd rather not talk about it...." Crimson politely brushed it off. "Let's just say that me and Rainbow have a few similarities." Feeling guilty for not knowing, Ivy wanted to apologize, but instead remained quiet as the others finished their meals.
"I've spent nearly my entire life in the slums. I'm able to tell a person apart from being good or evil just by looking at him. And to be honest, that guy felt rotten to the core." Rainbow told the rest before standing up. Circuit nodded. "And if this is our guy, we might be able to track them down and bring justice to the city!" Rainbow smiled at Citcuit. "Exactly!" Ivy nodded at the group, partially knowing what's going on. They needed evidence first, but at least they knew where to look.
"Wait," said Pinkie Pie, doing her best to whisper, "you mean we have to go near YOUR PLACE, Dash?!" "Don't worry," replied Rainbow Dash smugly. "You guys have me with you, so you'll be fine!" Crimson gave her a somewhat nasty look. "Oh yeah, and Crim," she added, scratching the back of her head nervously with an awkward smile.
Circuit shook his head with a chuckle, as he looked at Rainbow and the others. "Ready to hit the road?" All the other girls seemed to enthusiastically nod. Ivy nodded sheepishly, but there was some glimmer of light in her eyes that said that she was determined. Crimson nodded and put on his jacket. "Hey Dash, what's the address?"
"Hate to interrupt, but we still need evidence first," noted Sunset. "Exactly," replied Circuit, "which is why I came prepared." And he pulled out his laptop.
Circuit soon quickly started to type away into his laptop, activating one thing after another while the others looked curiously. But it wasn't til he activated a TOR that their curiosity turned into unease. "Um, ah don't know if we should be doin this" Applejack told Circuit, noticing that the browser looked much different to the one that she would usually use. "Desperate times can call for some drastic measures, Applejack." Circuit said, determined to make some progress. "Especially when a persons life is involved." It wasn't til with a simple click and the entry of a highly encrypted password, that Circut had managed to open another tab. He'd managed to get his way into the database and archives of the Canterlot Police Department, having virtually all their power in their mere fingertips. "Oh....mum's gonna be pissed...." Crimson's said to himself quietly
"Now, I have the link to the Red Room website," said Circuit. "Just gotta trace the host server's IP, and..." The location of their attacker was soon identified, being only a couple blocks away from Rainbow Dash's house. "Jackpot."
Circuit closed the laptop as the others quickly allowed him out the way. Crimson however, was already nearly out of the door. His hand gripped onto the fist, looking rather determined. Pinkie looked rather worried. "This isn't good." Rainbow seemed to have the same look in her eye, but Crimson waited for the others outside. Ivy looked puzzled, knowing that they've traced down the location but the motivation of her new friend seemed rather strange. "What's the problem, Miss Pie?" Ivy cocked an eyebrow. Pinkie gulped, as the others walked toward the front door where Pinkie seemed uneasy. "I have a bad feeling about this...." Pinkie told the French-Canadian girl. "Yeah, you and me both....." Rainbow responded.
"Guys, don't you think it's not a good idea to go snooping around the slums in broad daylight?" asked Circuit. "Someone might see us. I say we wait until nightfa--" "No way, Circuit," replied Rainbow Dash sternly. "It's gonna be much worse at night. Besides, we don't have much time to lose! Need I remind you that this is a life-or-death scenario?"
"Let's just get this over with..." Crimson said flatly, folding his arms and looking rather disinterested. Rainbow nodded. "I know the streets like the back of my hand around here. If anything was to come for us, we'd be damn ready for it. Not to mention we've got strength in numbers." Crim nodded. Despite Rainbow and Crimson having their similarities, this seemed to be where they ended, to his knowledge...
----- The Canterlot ghetto was not a great place to live, by any stretch of the imagination. Once, many years ago, it had been an upperclass neighborhood akin to SoHo in New York City. Now, however, the whole area had fallen into a state of disrepair and disarray, as if the place had been carpetbombed. Ivy looked around nervously. "Madamoiselle Dash," she said, "pardon me for asking... but how... how do you live here?!"
"It might be a fairly crappy place to live, but the locals around here are very tight-knit, and we do whatever it takes to support each other." Rainbow seemed to say with a sense of pride. "It's just that....some people around here don't tend to play by the rules." "Ain't this where the Pink Cloud originated?" Rarity seemed to add in. "Excusez-moi." Ivy seemed to be confused. "Pink Cloud?" The mere mention of them seemed to have gotten under Crimson's skin, looking agitated. Circuit also didn't look that well. "Long story..." Circuit nudged Ivy, the girl seeming perplexed.
Ivy sighed, knowing there was no time to pursue the matter further. "So, do ya know where yer goin', Rainbow?" asked Applejack.
Spoiler: Picture of House Soon, Rainbow stopped in her tracks and looked up towards a rundown cul-de-sac with derelict houses, or buildings that looked like it was on the verge of collapse. Near the end of the street was a detached two-story house and a garage, filled with a picket-fence and appeared rather large and forboding. However, there seemed to have been nobody home. No car was visible or anything, and who knew if it was in the garage. Was this the home of a killer? Circuit was the first to break the silence. "This is it. 07 Beverly Street......this is where Vinyl is kept." The girls stopped in their tracks, now clearly having second thoughts about what they were doing. They had to save their friend, but now they had to risk trespassing and breaking the law. Sunset was having serious doubts. "I....don't know if w-" Before Sunset could finish, Crimson had already leapt the fence... "Okay....." Ivy said, now visibly shaking in-place. "I.....I'm scared beyond my wits...."
Rainbow Dash turned to Ivy. "Y'know, you followed us this far," she said. "You could have left whenever you wanted. What's stopping you?" Ivy stood there for a moment and thought about Rainbow Dash's remark before replying, with a determined expression, "What's stopping me is the desire to help someone. Of course I'm scared, but deep down... I know that this is the right thing to do." Rainbow Dash smirked a little. "Need help over the fence?" asked Rainbow Dash. "No thank you, Madamoiselle Dash," Ivy replied with a smile, "I can handle myself quite well enough."
