//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Closure 
// Story: Time Turner's Discordian Detective Agency: The Missing Kitten of Inspiration 
// by Rodinga 
//------------------------------//

	A mystery is like a jigsaw puzzle: there are pieces and they fit together. If you're lucky, there’s only one way for them to fit together with helpful border pieces and a big obvious picture on the box. Sometimes though there are pieces missing and other pieces join where they shouldn't.
                    
This puzzle had lots of missing pieces. It also had a puzzle within a puzzle to distract me even when the answer had been on the box and as obvious as Celestia’s dayglow mane. Still the puzzle had been solved and I also got a generous reward out of it from Octavia.
 
Once our group was alone on the night time streets of Canterlot Vinyl finally gave into her doubts and asked Octavia the question.
 
“Do you still love me, Octavia?”
 
“Of course,” replied Octavia who was taken aback at Vinyl’s tone. “Everything we did tonight was for us.”
 
“Then why did you kiss Turner?” Vinyl’s left eye was starting to twitch, bad sign.
                    
“I... well, I’m not quite sure why,” Octavia struggled to explain herself.
 
“How could you do this to me‽” She started to yell. “I risked my life for you tonight and blasted somepony’s tail off, and now I find that you were cheating on me with my ex colt friend!”
                    
This was starting to get out of hoof, the last thing I needed was an overreacting unicorn. “Vinyl calm down, I’m not here to steal your marefriend. “ Shame really, Octavia’s a great mare, I admitted to myself. “Miss Octavia has no feelings for me other than gratitude for what we did tonight. That kiss was ‘all part of my cunning plan’.”
 
As soon as I finished the sentence Octavia leapt at me, once more embracing and pulling me into a deep kiss. I suspected Vinyl was about to burst, Catch was glaring at the mare that made a move on her coltfriend and Rarity just looked confused.
 
Octavia quickly pulled back from her embrace her eyes wide open in shock, “What, why, how... again?”
 
“Hypnotism,” I cheerfully explained. “I just needed to—“There was a flash of light and a scream of rage from where Vinyl was standing.
 
Vinyl’s mane had turned to flame and her eyes had gone hot red, she’d rage-shifted. I had this phenomenon explained to me sometime later; magic—particularly unicorn magic—is directly related to a pony’s emotional state. Send a unicorn into a blind rage and they’ll instinctively summon an absolute flank-load of magic to throw at something, often burning up all their magic in the process.
 
Of course she directed all of it at me. Vinyl’s horn burst into flame as she charged up a blast of magic and shot it at me. The blast took me in the barrel and sent me spinning through the air into a wall before falling to the ground. I looked up to see Vinyl normal again, but still pointing her horn in my direction.
 
“You asked for this one, Vinyl.” I took a breath and said, “Reset.” I spun time backwards to just as Octavia started to kiss me, just to spite Vinyl.
 
On cue Vinyl gave her scream of anger and rage-shifted. Forewarned I broke out of Octavia’s kiss early and dove out of the way of the incoming blast that continued on to demolish a statue. Vinyl had blown most of her power on that blast and was struggling to charge another. I closed the distance between us and clapped a hoof across her burning horn.
 
Vinyl’s magic dissipated and ended her rage-shift. With her coat covered in singe marks from her own magic, Vinyl collapsed onto the ground with a sigh.
 
“Miss Rarity: could you please keep Vinyl restrained for a moment?” Rarity gave a quiet nod and put a magic field over Vinyl’s horn.  “Miss Catch: please stop staring at Miss Octavia like that.” Octavia turned to look at Lucky Catch, who was looking elsewhere and humming nonchalantly.
 
“Right, I’m going to explain what just happened so we can all move on and never speak of it again. Are you okay with that, Vinyl?” The restrained unicorn considered it for a few moments before she finally nodded.
 
“Wonderful. Octavia, part of what you wanted out of this night was to protect your career. So, during our hypnosis session, I implanted a phrase in your mind that would cause you to kiss the nearest stallion. By having you kiss me in front of the entire Canterlot Nobility, I have guaranteed that they will continue to believe that you are into stallions and any rumour from here on out that calls you a fillyfooler will be ignored simply because they know the ‘Truth’. This way, so long as you don’t kiss Vinyl right in front of them, anything you do with her will be entirely platonic in their eyes.”
 
I spent a few moments basking in the stunned silence.
 
“So ...” began Vinyl, “anytime she hears you say the phrase ‘it was all part of my cunning plan’ she will—“Vinyl was suddenly interrupted by Octavia kissing me again.
 
“Anypony, anytime, Vinyl,” I explained after the kiss ended. “To remove it she just has to say a phrase she is unlikely to use in normal conversation.”
 
“What is this phrase then?” Octavia asked, and I leant forward to whisper it into her ear. Armed with the new phrase, Octavia turned to Vinyl.
 
“Vinyl Scratch, you are a genius.”
 
“Aww thanks Octy, you can be really sweet when you wa— wait...” Seconds passed. “Buck you, Time Turner. Buck you, in the face,” growled Vinyl.
 
“So, Turner, did it work?” asked Octavia.
 
“Well that insult was also ‘all part of my cunning plan’.” We all waited for a moment. “So yes, it worked.” I looked around at everypony. “Well if there are no more questions about that we can crack on.”



 
Our first stop on our impromptu late night tour of Canterlot brought us to the RAPS animal shelter. Lucky Catch still had a small army of cats following her that had collars and ponies that were probably missing them dearly. We waited outside while she led the feline assault force indoors to be put into temporary care.
 
Of course the rest of us were waiting outside. “Why are we still here?” asked Vinyl.
 
“Returning the cats that we’ve rescued, Vinyl,” I answered. “I’m so sorry, I should have realized you were blind behind those glasses and told you right away.”
 
Vinyl gave me a low growl, “I wasn’t asking your opinion, jackass. I’m still not happy with you.”
 
“Huh, didn’t see that one coming,” I replied and Vinyl had returned to her regular strategy of glaring at me from behind her sunglasses. The pair had managed to patch up their relationship in the short walk. Once Octavia’s connection to the Marefia had been broken and the hypnotism had been resolved, Vinyl found she no longer had any reason to hesitate. I had to spend time antagonizing her just so she wouldn’t start kissing Octavia in the street and ruin all our work.
 
“Octavia,” Vinyl began. “We should go back to my place and get some sleep. We’ve done enough for one night.”
                    
“Not quite yet, Vinyl,” Octavia replied, “I admit to being curious about Opal’s whereabouts, and I believe Time Turner has earned the benefit of the doubt for one night. Do not forget Rarity either, we forced Turner to put her case on hold so the least we can do now in return is to help them see it through.”
                    
Rarity gave Octavia an appreciative nod at her comment. “It was no imposition, darling. Once I saw what trouble you were in I could not simply leave you alone to deal with it yourself.” Rarity tilted her head in thought. “Although I admit I am quite curious, Mr Turner. Where is Opal? I cannot for the life of me figure out where she is.”
                    
Rarity asked a reasonable question so I intended to give a reasonable answer. “Well I’ll give you all a quick explanation of some of yesterday’s events while we wait for Miss Catch.” I explained briefly to Octavia and Vinyl the events that took place within the animal shelter the previous afternoon, omitting irrelevant details like my encounter with Lucky Catch.
 
“… So you see, with so many cats being returned it became clear to me that Opal was being held instead of being returned with the rest. She wasn’t wearing her collar either so she was most likely adopted by the pony that found her, who would have assumed she was just a stray.”
 
The doors to the animal shelter swung open again for the returning Lucky Catch, she returned alone without the cats that had been following her. With everypony together I led the way toward my office.



                    
We only made a brief stop at my office, I asked everypony if they wanted to put anything down or get a drink before we continued on. We all dropped off our sneaky suits and unnecessary equipment. I put on my scarf and we left to find our missing kitten.

As we continued our late night trek across Canterlot we eventually reached a dense residential area. This neighbourhood was opposite to the royal palace on the other side of the city. Primarily apartments for the average pony, the area had several complex buildings as well as a series of apartments that had been carved into the side of the Mountain itself. The cloud trimmings suggested the residents were pegasi.
 
The building we stopped in front of was familiar to both me and the magnificent musical mares. I led our party up to the locked entrance.
 
“Vinyl, would you do the honours?” I asked.
 
“Why are we at my apartment?” Vinyl asked in return.
 
“Because it’s where we need to be,” I explained. Vinyl didn’t move or respond so I took matters into my own hooves, reaching into my saddle bags to pull out a key. The key was a little stiff in the lock but the door opened at my touch and I led the way into the lobby.
 
“Wha?” Vinyl’s mouth dropped open. “Time Turner... I took your keys away from you when we broke up!”
 
“I made copies. I thought they might be useful someday.” I led the way up to the second floor and along the hallway until we came to Vinyl’s apartment. Without a further comment, I opened the door once again while ignoring its furious owner. The only thing keeping Vinyl from attacking me again at this point was probably Octavia’s presence.
 
“Miss Rarity,” I said to my client. “Follow me.” My client followed me inside, other than the usual chit chat between the girls Rarity had been silent for the entire trip.
 
Vinyl’s apartment was a reflection of her backstage room at Fillyfools; simply “filthy” according to our party’s style expert. Unlike Vinyl’s backstage room this place had several doors leading to other rooms including a full sized kitchen, which had a large basket in the corner filled with catnip and a small white kitten.
 
“Rarity, meet Vinyl’s pet kitten ‘Wubzy’. I believe you know her best as Opalescence.”
 
Rarity charged forward, snatched up the kitten with her horn and brought it to her in a telekinetic hug. “Oh Opal, it is you! Momma missed you soooo much!” The kitten itself seemed surprised, a stunned look sat on its face throughout Rarity’s hug based assault.
 
The other three mares followed us in: Catch looked delighted at the reunion, Vinyl was looking sheepish and Octavia was giving me an interested look.
 
“How did you know where to find her Turner?” Octavia asked.
 
“You just have to connect together all the chaotic events of the last few days and eventually the pattern emerges.” I walked past Rarity and gave Opal a pat. “Do you remember what I said earlier about Opal being adopted?”
 
“Yes, you said that since she had no collar and was not returned to the animal shelter she must have been adopted by somepony.”
 
“Correct,” I said. “Although it was entirely possible she was being held captive for some other reason by the Marefia. What lead me to Vinyl was that she had been returning so many cats that were following her catnip infused smell home. It’s not that surprising for her to decide keep one if it was collarless and she took a liking to it, am I right Vinyl?”
 
The DJ looked to Octy for reassurance before she answered my question. “She really dug my music; I was going to return her in the morning like the rest of them, but when I was mixing up some tracks for my gig at Fillyfools she sat in front of me and judged. When there was something she liked she purred, if she didn’t she hissed and swiped at the turntable arms. I took her advice and it was one of the best sets I had ever played. I decided to adopt her and named her Wubzy because that cat really knows her music.”
 
“She’s like that with me as well, darling.” Rarity walked over with Opal sitting on her back. “My dear Opal is so very good at helping me with my dresses, why I think I would not have been nearly as successful as I would have been without her.”
 
“A critical cat,” coined Octavia. “Perhaps I should play some of my music to her as well. I might be able to compose something for the orchestra to perform.”
 
The three artists began to dote on the kitten. Patting her and cooing to get her attention, hoping she might help them improve their work. Not that any of them needed it: Octavia was wonderful in concert, Vinyl was already on top of the local DJ scene and Rarity had proven her ability to be fashionable over the last few days without Opal. The dress she made for lunch earlier was only one example, along with the sneaky suits and the new pink bowtie Octavia had worn tonight.
 
Though looking at the clock now I realized that was yesterday. Celestia was due to bring the sun up in five hours. Yet even at this early hour the three continued to fawn over Opal. Artists everywhere believe in lucky brushes and other such things. I suppose that believing a cat is going to make all your artworks brilliant is not much more of a leap.
 
“So what else led you here, Timey?”
 
The question broke me out of my thought bubble. Catch was still more curious in me than Opal. “Catch, you probably remember that a lot of the cats started going missing two days ago.” My eyes flicked back to the clock. “Well three days now really. Rarity told me Opal went missing six days ago and Octavia told me that the Marefia only got their stockpile together four days ago.”
 
Catch nodded at my explanation. “I suppose that makes sense, if Vinyl was the only one who had catnip when Opal went missing.”
 
“That’s Vinyl for you, she’s the first the try out the new thing.” I nodded to myself recalling past incidents. “I couldn’t be absolutely sure though, so checking the Marefia stockpile became the only way to find out. An added bonus was the catnip scented cloud we made, it covered half of Canterlot.”
 
“It must have brought out most of the cats in the city. I’ve never seen so many in one place,” Catch affirmed.
 
“It was probably most of the cats in Canterlot. Certainly every cat on that side of the city. What you probably never noticed is that we’re on the other side of Canterlot from the concert hall, the smell never made it to this apartment.”
 
“That you just happened to have a key for,” Catch returned.
 
“That’s why we had to go back to my office actually. I don’t carry it everywhere.” Lucky Catch pulled me into a hug.
 
“Oh Timey Whimey, you can be so brilliant sometimes.” She finished with a peck on my cheek. I flinched at the contact, but nopony else seemed to notice. The cat was distracting everypony else and Catch couldn’t conceive of me doing anything wrong. It was going to be a long night.



                    
We spent the night in Vinyl’s apartment. By the time all was said and done we were too worn out to do anything else. Octavia joined Vinyl in her bed while Rarity shared the spare with Catch. I slept on the couch. In the afternoon when I woke up again I found that during the night Lucky Catch had joined me and was sleeping with her head on my shoulder.
                    
So I found myself considering what would come next. I was more or less indifferent to Catch’s rather aggressive advances so I was content to let her continue. It seemed to make her happy at least. She had probably been looking for a coltfriend for a while with no luck and latched onto the first good looking, intelligent, considerate stallion she could find. I was starting to wonder how long it would be until she started thinking about foals. It would probably be a month at most.
 
After a few more minutes of waiting on the couch, Vinyl walked in. She quickly noticed us and gave me a rather mischievous grin while walking over to her sound system. I gave her a glare which she just smirked at before starting the turntable and lowering the arm onto the record. The entire apartment was filled with heavy bass notes that shook the entire room. Needless to say this woke Lucky Catch up with a jolt and she fell off me and onto the floor.
 
Vinyl rolled on the floor in laughter. Catch picked herself up and walked toward her with fury evident in her every step. The music stopped moments later with Vinyl still lying on the ground, but this time without the laughter.
 
I could definitely learn to like Lucky Catch.



 
We were all gathered around Vinyl’s kitchen table. The prank had ensured everypony was now awake and so now we were eating her pop tarts. Vinyl sat at the end of the table with an ice pack held over her eye, not taking any enjoyment from the food she was eating.
 
“Now, before we all go our separate ways there’s something we need to discuss.” I announced and got everypony’s attention. “Last night the Princess warned me to avoid dealing with any of the Marefia’s associates for a while. I’d prefer to take her advice. The Marefia will now be aware that the Donna has been arrested and now, without her, the organization will collapse into infighting.”
 
“It will be awhile yet before the dust settles and the family rallies around a new leader,” Octavia said. “Until then we will be targets for anypony looking for an advantage in the political war.”
 
“How long would it take?” I believed that she would have a better idea than anypony.
 
“I would guess about six months, give or take a few. I would say eight months to a year to be safe.”
 
“That means for the next six months at least we will be in danger, well me, Octy and Vinyl that is. Thanks to your disguises Rarity, you and Catch will be safe.”
 
“Mr Turner,” Rarity asked, “why did you keep your hood off then? You could have been safe as well.”
 
“The hood wasn’t big enough to go over my muzzle,” I replied.
 
“Impossible,” Rarity said in a scandalized tone. “I specifically made sure that your suit was the right size.”
 
There was a low chuckle from across the table and we all turned to stare at Vinyl.
 
“Vinyl,” Rarity began. “Did you switch suits with Time Turner?”
 
“Maybe,” Vinyl admitted. Octavia face hoofed, I planted my face on the table top and Catch gave her a kick under the table.
 
“Well this means we need to leave Canterlot for the next six months,” I said to the table surface I was facing. “Anypony have Ideas?”
 
Octavia was the first to answer my question. “Well I have been meaning to go visit my parents in Hoofington, and Vinyl can come meet them as well. You can come too, Turner,” she offered.
 
“As kind as that offer is I’d just get in the way over there. I’m also sure that Vinyl won’t want to see me for a while,” I replied. Vinyl gave me a glare to confirm my suspicion.
                    
“Turner,” Rarity began. “If I might be so bold as to suggest, you could accompany me back to my boutique in Ponyville.”
                    
“Ponyville?”
                    
“Of course, darling. It is a very nice town where everypony knows everypony else and it is not far from Canterlot.”
 
“How large is the town? How much law enforcement does it have? And how’s the food?”
 
“There are only three hundred ponies within the town itself and perhaps half again in the farms surrounding. As for the second question, we never needed any law enforcement because crime is non-existent.” I detected some pride creeping into Rarity’s voice. “Finally the food in Ponyville is straight from the farm, you won’t find better anywhere else.”
 
“Hmm, sounds ideal,” I said as I thought about it. “Anypony that follows us will be fairly obvious so it should be safe enough. That and the food, can’t forget that.”
 
“I shall put you up in my guest room, she declared. “After all you have done for me and Opal I could not possibly abandon you.”
 
“Well, I suppose that's settled then. Shall we leave today?” I received nods of agreement from most ponies and they split off to prepare to leave Canterlot.
 
The only pony who didn’t agree was Catch. Once everypony had left the table she came over to me. “What will I do without you?” she asked me.
 
“I can’t ask you to follow me to Ponyville, Catch. You have a life and a job here in Canterlot.” A look of disappointment crossed her face, she was probably about to break out into tears. So I relented, “of course that doesn’t mean you can’t send letters and visit on weekends.”
                    
Catch leaned forward to nuzzle my neck and said, “I will.”



                    
We took the train out of Canterlot. Catch came to see us all off from the platform with tears in her eyes, promising to stay in touch with all of us. Octavia and Vinyl shared the same train as us, but they would be traveling further on past Ponyville. Opalescence was locked in a cat carrier with the luggage above us. Rarity didn’t want to risk losing her kitten again and was being appropriately cautious.
 
During the trip down the mountain and across the fields the three mares spent their time chatting with each other. For me the entire conversation blurred into nothingness because there was little to make me interested in what they were talking about. It was probably about shoes. Once we arrived at Ponyville Station we gave our goodbyes to each other as Rarity led me off the train and into the town.
 
It was one of those pleasant country villages you always hear stories about: clear air that smelled of apples, cakes cooling on windowsills and a rustic aesthetic that put Canterlot to shame. Celestia knows how many times this place probably won the “Village of the Year” award.
 
As we walked down Mane Street – ha-ha it’s punny – I began to notice a lot of ponies looking at me, as the new guy in town I’d supposed I would be the primary subject of discussion for a few days. The local mares were probably already talking about Rarity’s new coltfriend that she brought back with her from Canterlot. I made a mental note to get Rarity to spread some better rumours about me. Something that sounded more innocent so I wouldn’t draw too much attention to myself. It would be best for me to just fade into the background of the town.
 
Eventually we arrived at a building that looked like an old fashioned merry-go-round from a town fair. Rarity went up to its front door unlocked it and led me in.
 
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is Chic, Unique and Magnifique.”
 
I nodded in approval as I entered and shut the door behind me. It was a nice shop, very stylish, but before I could complement Rarity on the décor the door slammed open behind me.
 
“Rarity! You’re back! How was your trip? Did you have fun in Canter— GAAAAHHHHHHHH!” a pink pony suddenly appeared in front of me. “I’ve never seen you before!”
           
This couldn’t be good.