The next day saw Quicksilver and Misty heading to Central Canterlot. After talking with their parents and other friends, they had the name of somepony that might help them find Tinker. The couple stood outside his office now. The sign on the door read: Discrete Discovery Private Investigators, Dark Steel, owner.
They knocked on the door and went in. A slight musty odor greeted them. A quick glance revealed a cluttered one-room office, packed with filing cabinets. A few scattered papers lay on the floor. Bright sunlight streamed in through a single window, casting half the room in stark shadows. Beneath the window sat a large distressed looking desk with a middle-aged light brown earth pony reclined behind it. He peered over piles of paperwork as they entered. He promptly sat up and kicked closed one of his desk drawers.
“Good day, folks. My name is Dark Steel. Please have a seat.”
They sat down in two chairs in front of the desk. “Good afternoon,” Quiksilver replied. “My name’s Quicksilver, and this is my wife Misty. We need some help. We’ve talked with some ponies we know, and your name came up several times.”
Dark Steel grinned. “I’ll assume in a good way, or you probably wouldn’t be here. So, what can I do for you?”
Quicksilver replied, “We need you to find somepony. He’s been our employee…”
“And friend,” Misty interjected, touching Quicksilver’s shoulder with a hoof.
He glanced over at her. “And a friend for almost two years.” He looked back at Dark Steel. “We lost track of him during the recent invasion of the city, and we are hoping you might be able to track him down for us.”
“I should be able to help with that. Of course, I’ll need all the particulars you have about him. Name, description, relatives, everything you know.” He picked up a pencil in his teeth and prepared to take notes on a pad of paper sitting in front of him.
Quicksilver glanced at the pad as Steel wrote. “His name is Tinker Cob. He’s a small earth pony with a brown and white skewbald coat. His cutie mark is a crossed hammer and paintbrush.”
“Well, that should make him pretty easy to spot,” Steel remarked with a smirk. He made some more notes on the pad.
“Perhaps...” Quicksilver said hesitantly, causing Steel to give him a wary look. “He has an apartment close to where we live. Both of the addresses are here.” Using his magic, he gave Steel a sheet of paper. Steel glanced down at it.
“We don’t know about relatives, but about once a month he’d go to Ponyville to visit somepony. He said it was family.”
“Okay. This doesn’t seem like it should be too difficult to track him down. I’ll check his apartment and then see if the Canterlot police know anything. Then a trip to Ponyville would be in order.”
“There’s… there’s one more thing we need to mention,” Quicksilver added. He was looking down at the desk, and Misty was staring at the floor.
Here it comes, Dark Steel thought to himself. There’s always a curve they throw at you right at the end that turns a simple job into a major pain in the flank. “Yes? I’m listening.”
“Well, you see, it’s like this.” Quicksilver lifted his head. “Tinker happens to also be a changeling.”
“He happens to be... a what?” Steel almost shouted. “What the buck is this? Canterlot just barely survived a changeling invasion, and you say you want me to go find a changeling?”
He stood up and brought a hoof up to his forehead. “Wait, wait. This changeling was living with you for two years? Buck me. Did you know what he was? What are you playing at here?” By this point, Steel was on the tips of his hooves, leaning over his desk. He emphasized his words with jabs in the air with his hoof.
“Please,” Misty choked out, “you have to understand. He was our friend. We need to talk to him. We need to…” Misty grew silent as she softly sobbed. Quicksilver stood up, stepped over next to her, and wrapped a foreleg around her to comfort her.
He looked up at Steel. “We didn’t know he was a changeling until the attack. He said he wasn’t part of the invasion. He tried to defend the house. When the changelings broke inside, he came in and tried to protect us. They took him out. He was unconscious when we last saw him.” He glanced down at Misty and gave her a little squeeze. “It was bad. Really bad.”
Quicksilver continued after a pause. “Then the magic wave came through and carried all the changelings out of the city, including Tinker. We never saw him again. They’ve established guards and checkpoints, so even if he tried to return, he wouldn’t be able to.”
Dark Steel sat back down and regarded the two with a critical eye. He jotted a few more notes down on his pad.
He dropped the pencil and held up his hooves defensively, and glanced to the side for a moment. “So, let’s say for a minute that I believe this. I’m not saying I do, but let’s pretend.” He turned back at the couple, lowering his legs. “You want me to try and find a changeling. You have no idea where he might be. And he’s a changeling, so you have no idea what he might look like. You don’t even know if he wants to be found at all. Do I have that about right?”
Quicksilver paused for a moment before replying, “Everyone we talked to said you were the best. They said you’d take cases no one else would touch. They said you always came through.” He brought a hoof to his chest and looked at Misty. “That’s what we need right now.” He returned his gaze to Steel. “We have some money set aside. We know this could be expensive, but we need to try. We can’t just let it go. We can’t let him go without an explanation.”
Misty raised her head to gaze at Steel. Her eyes were wide and filled with tears. Her lower lip trembled ever so slightly.
“I think I’m going to regret getting involved in this. Scratch that. I know I’m going to regret this.” Dark Steel leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “Okay, this is what I’ll do. I’ll give it two weeks. I’ll hit Ponyville first, and then some other towns. If I haven’t found any leads in that time, I’m calling it. I’m not going to keep taking your money looking for something that can’t be found. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes!” both Quicksilver and Misty exclaimed and flashed Steel a grin.
“Thank you, Mr. Steel,” Misty added. “We have faith that you will do your very best to find Tinker. I have to believe he can be found. We just need somepony skilled enough to try.”
Quicksilver pulled a small vial of blue liquid out of his saddlebag and set it on the desk. Steel tilted his head as he studied it. “What’s this?”
“This is how you let us know when you find Tinker.”
Steel looked up. “If…” He tapped a hoof on the desk. “If I find him.”
Quicksilver waved a dismissive hoof in the air. “Okay, if. This is a little something I’ve been working on for over a year. I call it Dragon’s Fire. It can be used to send messages over long distances.”
Steel gaze returned to the vial, his eyes wide. “You mean like how dragons can use fire to magically send scrolls?”
“Exactly. It’s not general purpose--”
“Yet!” Misty interrupted with a smile.
Quicksilver rolled his eyes. “Yes, it’s not general purpose, yet. It can’t send messages just anywhere, yet. Only to a little magically enhanced artifact sitting in the front room of our house.” He looked around the desk. “Do you have a piece of paper you don’t need?”
Steel pointed towards the overflowing trash can. “Any of those.”
Using his magic, Quicksilver selected a sheet and tore it in half. “A smaller sheet uses less of the mixture,” he remarked. Grabbing a pencil, he wrote ‘Dark Steel’ in the center. “It’s best to put the message in the center in case the page isn’t fully consumed. Now watch carefully.”
Quicksilver unstoppered the vial and poured a small splash of the blue liquid on the center of the page. Blue flame erupted, spreading out in a circle until the page was gone in a puff of smoke. He re-stoppered the vial and set it down.
“The page is now at our house, waiting for us. If you’re careful, there’s enough in this vial to send probably five more pages that size. Just don’t spill it on anything that will burn.” He winked at Steel
Steel sat totally still for a few moments with his mouth hanging agape. Then he whispered, “This is amazing. You’re gonna make bushels of bits with this.”
Quicksilver and Misty both laughed. “Perhaps,” he said. “But that’s not why I do my alchemy. Anyway, we should be headed home. I think I have a message waiting.”
Steel snickered and added, “And I got a case to get started on.”
The couple sat in the front room once again reading the same page in their books over and over without seeing it. Suddenly, there was a blue flash and a round sheet of paper dropped out of the smoke on a table against the wall.
Misty sat up straight. “That has to be from Steel.”
Quicksilver snatched it with magic and pulled it to him. “It’s round. He didn’t use enough mixture so it didn’t burn all the way to the edge.” He looked at the page. It was blank. He flipped it over and spun it around until the words were upright. “Though he wrote in the middle so we have the full message. Good.” He cleared his throat. “Q&M, Lead found, Appleloosa asap. DS”
“Misty, get the saddlebags we have packed. If we hurry, I think we can catch the next train.”
A few hours later saw them exiting the train at the Appleloosa station.
“Now what?” Misty asked.
Quicksilver looked around, “I’m not sure, we need to find Steel.”
“Hello, folks,” Steel called out as he trotted up.
They both turned towards him. “How did you know we’d be on that train?” Quicksilver asked.
“I didn’t. I figured you’d be on the very first train you could catch, which would either be this one, or the first one in the morning. All I had to do was be here for each one to see if you got off.”
“So you have news?” Misty leaned forward, ears perked up. “It’s been ten days and we were getting worried.”
“I may have a lead, yes.” He nodded towards the ticket office. “I talked to the station manager, and he remembered a skewbald pony getting off the train last week sometime. He wasn’t sure what day.” He pointed in the direction of the front of the train. “Then I had a chat with the train’s engineer, and he remembered stopping just south of the Ghastly Gorge to pick up a pony matching that description. He had flagged down the train, saying he was lost or something.
“So he appears to still be using the form you know from Canterlot. But I can’t find anyone in town who’s seen him once he left the station. Honestly, if he changed his form and caught another train, we’ll never find him.”
“So, what do we do now?” Misty asked.
“All I can suggest is you wander around the town to see if anyone looks familiar. If he wants to be found and sees you, perhaps he’ll make contact. Perhaps he’s taken a form of someone you’ll recognize. I know it’s a long shot, but sometimes, magic happens.”
Steel watched the couple turn to head into town. After a few paces, they stopped and looked back.
“Aren’t you coming?” Quicksilver asked.
He shook his head. “No. A third pony he doesn’t know would probably spook him. I’ll wait at that bar over there until you check in with me.” He pointed towards the building. “I’ll head back to Canterlot either on the last train today, or the first one tomorrow. If this doesn’t pan out, I think we may be done.”
Quicksilver and Misty worked their way up the street accompanied by the ever present clip-clop of their hooves on the raised wooden sidewalks.
Misty cleared her throat. “Hey, Quicksilver?”
He glanced towards Misty. “Yes?”
“We’ve been at this for a couple hours now. What about a break and maybe something to drink?”
He stopped walking. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” He looked down the street for a moment. “That next cross-street, there’s a café off to the right a short distance. How’s that?”
Misty sighed. “That would be great. Thanks.”
“What are you two doing here?”
The couple spun around to see Tinker a few paces away. “Tinker!” Misty exclaimed and took a couple steps towards him. Tinker took corresponding steps backwards. Misty stopped and lowered her head. Quicksilver slowly moved next to her. Tinker’s ears were back, his legs flexed.
“We’re looking for you, Tinker,” Quicksilver said softly.
“I know. I’ve been tracking you for almost an hour now. So, why are you looking for me?” His eyes darted around the street as his tail swished nervously.
Quicksilver raised a hoof and barely above a whisper asked, “Tinker, are you afraid of us?”
Tinker’s ears shot forward. “Yes, I am. I don’t know why you’re here. There’s only one outcome when… when one of us is discovered.”
Misty placed a hoof over her mouth. “No, Tinker. That’s not why we’re here. We just want to talk, to understand, to make sense of everything that’s happened.”
Tinker scanned the sky, then looked over each shoulder up and down the street. “So, you’re not here to turn me over to the Royal Guard? You’re not here for… revenge?”
“No, Tinker, we’re not.” Quicksilver raised a hoof. “I promise. All we want to do is ask you some questions. But not here on the street. Please, follow us someplace more private.”
They made their way to the bar Steel had mentioned earlier. As they entered, he flagged them over to the booth where he was sitting.
“I see you found him, it, whatever.” He shook his head. “I guess he didn’t change his form, or leave town.”
Tinker froze. “Who’s that?”
“It’s okay,” Misty said, placing a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. “We hired him to help find you.”
Quicksilver glanced around the room. “We need someplace private to talk.”
Dark Steel collected his papers and stood up. He waved a hoof to get the owner’s attention and then pointed at a door in the back. The owner nodded.
“Follow me,” he said and led them through the door to a small room with a table and some chairs. There were no windows. He closed the door, and Quicksilver cast a privacy spell on the door so no one could hear anything. They all remained standing.
“So, this is Tinker Cob,” Steel said. He squinted as he studied the pony.
“Yes, I am,” Tinker replied.
“And you’re a changeling?”
Tinker raised his head a bit and closed his eyes. There was a flash of green magic, leaving a changeling in their midst. Misty gasped softly and stiffened, but didn’t move. Steel startled and took a couple short steps back. He then shifted his stance as his gaze darted to the door and back to the changeling.
“Well, buck me. You really are one.”
Quicksilver spoke softly, “Tinker, let’s not make this more complicated. Please change back.” There was another flash, and a familiar skewbald earth pony stood before them again.
Dark Steel just shook his head and sat down. “Client privacy aside, no one would ever believe this even if I could talk about it.”
Quicksilver and Misty each picked a chair. Tinker paused for a moment, then sat opposite the couple.
Quicksilver leaned forward. “Okay, Tinker. Spill it. We trusted you for so long, and now we feel like it was all a lie.” He swept his hoof in front of him as if clearing a slate. “But what’s done is done. From now on, only the truth. I hope we deserve at least that much.”
“Yes, you do.” Tinker paused for a long time to collect his thoughts. “I admit, I didn’t tell you everything about myself, but I have never lied to you. Fortunately, you never asked anything I couldn’t answer truthfully.”
Steel stifled a small grin with a hoof.
“Something funny?” Quicksilver asked, tilting his head.
“Oh, nothing. I just had a stray thought that you need to remember to add ‘Are you a changeling?’ to your interview questions. Sorry.” The grin gone, he lowered his leg.
Quicksilver snorted once and glanced at Misty who just rolled her eyes.
Tinker resumed, “I’m a member of a small hive of outcasts. We no longer serve the queen and have no contact with her or her hive. In changeling society, if you can no longer serve, you are killed so you aren’t a drain on the hive. Sometimes an individual will escape rather than submit to being killed.”
Misty gasped. “You really kill your own?”
Tinker nodded. “It’s the way of the hive. Most don’t question it. Our leader was once one of the queen’s private guards until he lost his wings in a battle. He fled.”
His eyes drifted up as he spoke. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I saw him leave. I was checking in from my latest mission to the Crystal Empire as he walked out. Because of his rank, no one questioned him. He never returned.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know why, but we seem to be drawn to the Everfree Forest. We found a good cave and formed a hive. The problem is that we don’t have enough infiltrators to feed our numbers. The hive was starving.” Tinker let out a long sigh before continuing, “Then I stumbled upon your house. It shone brighter with love than any of the other houses around. I stood at the front door for a couple of minutes, just soaking it in before I knocked that first day we met.” He paused, smiling at the memory. “If I could get a job, I knew there would be plenty of love to collect for the hive.”
He pointed to the couple. “Working for you was the salvation of our hive. I would collect the excess love in the house and take it back to the hive. I brought so much that all the other infiltrators were able to stop struggling for mere scraps.” Tinker smiled softly. “With enough food for everyone, the sick and injured started to get better. It couldn’t restore a missing limb or wing, but it saved the hive.”
He looked down at the table. “There were so many times I wanted to thank you. But how could I without…” He closed his eyes and shook his head a couple times.
Misty glanced away and dabbed a tear from her eye. Quicksilver laid a hoof on her shoulder for a moment.
Tinker raised his head again. “I’d use the bits you paid me to buy things the hive needed, which I’d deliver on my regular trips there. I gave them any extra bits too. If they needed something they would send an infiltrator into Ponyville to buy it. The only bits I’d spend myself were for my apartment in Canterlot.”
He paused as a small shiver ran through him. “Then the invasion came. I mentioned how your house stood out with all that love? That’s what drew the changelings to attack you. It was like a magnet drawing them in with the promise of food. I tried to protect you, but there were just too many.” He shook his head slowly.
“The spell scattered the changelings in all directions. I ended up in the Ghastly Gorge, confused and weak. I climbed out and made my way here to rest. I figured I’d head back to the hive in the Everfree Forest since I have nowhere else to go.”
His story finished, he slumped in his chair with his head down.
Dark Steel ran a foreleg through his mane. “Wow. I… I’m not sure what to make of all that. This whole situation is just so, so, I don’t know what it is.” He leaned back in his chair and exhaled sharply. “Part of my job is to separate the road apples from the truth. This all rings true, but I just don’t know what to do with it. I’m just glad I don’t have to write this up in a report for a client.” He shook his head several times.
Misty turned back to Tinker. “Why did you leave the hive? You don’t appear to be injured or anything.”
Tinker thought for a few moments before answering, “The queen doesn’t like drones who think or ask questions. If one starts to question how the hive works, they just… vanish.” He shook his head. “I didn’t like what I saw in the hive. I knew better than to say anything, so, I decided to vanish myself.” He grinned as he nodded once.
“Infiltrators are killed or captured all the time. We are expendable and easily replaced. There are a hundred drones lined up waiting for their chance to prove themselves.” He waved a hoof in the air. “The hive doesn’t even send out a search team for a missing drone.”
Tinker shrugged. “So I simply never returned after my last assignment. I started using forms I’d never used before, and stuck to towns where I’d never worked. It was probably nine months before I started using this form,” he pointed to himself, “and around three months later that I decided to try Canterlot. A few weeks later, I found you two.” He set his forelegs on the table.
Quicksilver cleared his throat. “So, we were just a source of food for you and your hive. You acted like our friend, but that’s all it was, an act?”
Tinker’s ears drooped. “At first, yes, it was. I’m sorry. I was desperate, and I didn’t know you as ponies. But over the months, I got to know you. You were kind to me. I began to care about you, and what you thought of me. That’s why I couldn’t tell you the truth. I knew what that would mean.”
“And now?” Misty asked, her voice strained, her eyes brimming with tears.
“And now, I’d like to think of you as friends. I just don’t know if that’s possible anymore.”
Quicksilver put a leg around Misty, and pulled her close. “We don’t know either, Tinker, but I think we’re willing to try, if you are.”
Tinker’s ears shot forward, and he smiled. “Yes, I’d like to try too.”