"Stars be damned..." Rarity mumbled as she felt a patter of rain on her hat. "It had to storm tonight, didn't it?"
"Yup." Applejack replied, instantly spotting the forensic tent in the darkness. "Oh good, Pinks and Trixie are already there."
Rarity pushed the flap open and spotted the two ponies hard at work, plus Rainbow.
"This doesn't make any sense..." Rainbow pressed her hooves to her temple. "A crowd of ponies witnessed Diamond Mint murder Blossomforth in the open, and all of them except Diamond Mint herself seem to actually be aware that she did it."
"That ain't makin' any sense." Applejack replied. "And she ain't aware the murder happened until ponies accused her?"
"I know, it's so bucking stupid."
"And we haven't found any evidence of magic signature or saliva." Pinkie added.
"Despite reports that she was using magic to stab Blossomforth in the neck." Trixie continued. "It's as if she never did it, and all of a sudden reality shifted and Blossomforth ended up dead and everypony though she did it. Which, might I remind you, is impossible."
Rarity tapped her chin. "Well, this is awkward. No evidence, yet literally dozens of eye-witness reports."
"We've done well on the vice versa." Applejack murmured. "But Ah ain't seen nothin' like this before."
Trixie placed a device on the fold-up table. "We'll continue working on the evidence. I believe you'll handle the witnesses?"
Rarity nodded. "Rainbow, if you could be so kind as to pass me the list."
Rainbow willingly handed her the list. "Lemme know if you need help."
"Right." Rarity turned to leave. "Come on, we have a job to do."
"So, what you're saying is..." Rarity pressed her hooves to the side of her head. "Diamond Mint killed Blossomforth, in public, with a knife, then ran off."
"Of course!" The beige pony with a deep-red mane replied. "If you were there, you'd have seen it."
"What happened next?"
"'Scuse me?"
"What happened next, after she ran into the crowd?"
"Uh..." The pony rubbed the back of her neck. "I can't remember. I remember her running off into the crowd then acting all shocked all of a sudden."
Rarity stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Was their much blood, Rose?"
"Heaps!" Rose flailed her forelegs. "It was everywhere!"
"Even on Diamond?"
"Duh. It got all over her."
"And when she was back in the crowd, was she covered in blood."
"Of cou-" Rose paused. "Um... I'm not sure."
Rarity smiled and pulled aside the curtain behind her. Behind the curtain was the very pony in question, a pink-coated mare with a blue-ish mane and a gem on her flank.
Being the paranoid pony Rose was, she immediately dived for cover, screaming. Diamond flinched, covering her face with a slightly-bloodied hoof.
"Rose, please, she's not going to harm you." Rarity leant down next to the scared pony. "Notice that she's only slightly covered in blood."
"W-what's that mean?"
"Whoever actually did the murder merely scraped Diamond on the way, hoping that the panicked minds of the nearby witnesses would forget that detail."
"Wow." Diamond trotted closer. "How'd you know that?"
"Once Rose here said that the Diamond doppelganger was coated in Blossomforth's blood, I pieced it together right quick. I have an eye for detail."
"How long have you been doing this job for?"
"Long enough." Rarity tapped Rose on the shoulder. "You're free to go, but don't make too much fuss, alright?"
Rose nodded and darted off.
"This mystery is being pieced together really fast." Rarity smiled. "Of course, we still have to figure out who actually killed Blossomforth... And that's the hard part."
Rainbow covered her ear from the grating curse of the pony in front of her. "Cloudkicker, calm down."
"Calm down?!" Cloudkicker screamed, wings flared. "I leave the town for a few days for a family visit, and you tell me Blossomforth was killed?!" She cursed loudly again and kicked the wall next to her.
"I know this is sudden." Rainbow reassured. "But you're a very strong-willed pony."
"There's very little that can make me lose my cool." Cloudkicker pressed her hoof to her muzzle in stress. "But the death of my best friend and kinda-sorta marefriend is one of those things." She sighed, wings falling to her side. "Thank you for telling me anyway, Dash. I'll need a while to recover."
"If you need somepony to talk to..." Rainbow pulled a card out from her coat pocket. "Gimme a call." Rainbow turned to leave but froze. "Actually, I have a question."
"Shoot." Cloudkicker leant against the wall in a calm and collected way, though her eyes were damp.
"Do you know of anypony who would've had something against Blossomforth?"
"Nah." Cloudkicker waved calmly. "She was a good-natured pony, so only a psychopath would want her gone."
Rainbow's mind flickered to a few weeks back, back with Hokey and his creepy illusionary tricks. "Yeah, I can imagine."
"Good luck with the thing, Dash." Cloudkicker gave her best winning smile. "And kick some psycho flank for Blossom, 'kay?"
Trixie stared at the knife. "Why can't I find any trace of magic?"
"Maybe it's not magic?" Pinkie offered.
"Dozens of pony say it was magic."
"Did they say what colour?"
Trixie scanned some of the many witness reports on the table. "More said that it was green than any other individual colour."
"Green..." Pinkie sat down and pondered. "Aha! Diamond's aura is purple. This must be the work of something else."
Trixie eyed the knife again. "Something else...?" She closed her eyes. "Let's see if Mage-Sight will pick up something."
She opened her eyes again and her world was suddenly full of wispy trails of magic. Pinkie was a bright, active pink, her own hoof a light-lavender. She eyed the knife handle and spotted a vibrant green smoke unlike any other she had seen.
"Woah, your eyes are all glowy and..." She heard Pinkie gasp. "What the hay?!"
Trixie snapped her eyes shut and opened them again, cutting off her magic. Her world was back to normal. "I'm fine. But I spotted something."
"Your eyes..." Pinkie leant closer.
"They're bleeding a little, I know." Trixie replied. "Only high-level unicorns can cast Mage-Sight without damaging something. As it stands, I am powerful enough to use it for ten seconds before I seriously hurt myself."
"Will you be fine?"
"Just let me do my job, Pinkie." Trixie wiped some blood off from under her eye. "I let you do yours."
"Okie dokie lokie."
Trixie leant closer to the knife and examined it. "We know now that whatever killed Blossomforth is by no means a pony in the standard sense of the word."
"So..."
"Now we need to find something... different."
"Maybe it's a shapeshifter?" Pinkie offered. "I mean, if ponies-"
"Pinkie, two things. One, shapeshifters are just foal's tales. Two, who has a PhD in Forensic Magic?"
"Me?"
"No, me." Trixie deadpanned.
"Well, if you remember the witness reports, they all seemed to say that Diamond ran into the crowd and then spontaneously lost her memory. A few said there was a burst of green fire and then she had stopped running. And finally we know that some said a random red stallion had appeared nearby shortly after the flame, but made it out as a minor thing."
"Out with it, Diane. I don't have all day."
"I put two-" She raised her forehooves. "And two-" Followed by her back hooves. "And two-" She raised some dummy hooves which happened to be hidden in her tail. "-Together, and it's probably a shapeshifter."
"Ok, I see your point." Trixie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "How does one go about looking for a shapeshifter, though?"
"You could use that Mage-Sight thingy-"
"Too awkward and risky." She rubbed her eye reflexively. "Magic scanners won't pick it up."
Pinkie suddenly beamed. "That's it!"
"What's i-?"
"Magic scanners!" Pinkie leapt up. "We set some big ones up and calibrate it to pick up only normal magic! That way, when a pony that looks healthy but has the magic of a corpse walks through we catch him!"
Trixie stared at Pinkie. "The scary thing about that plan is that you of all ponies thought of it." She clapped her hooves together. "But that's... a great plan. I'll let HQ know."
"That's a stupid plan."
Pinkie gasped loudly. "Whaaaaaaaat?!"
"We need t' set it up someplace where all the ponies in Ponyville will walk through." Applejack sighed. "And there ain't any place like that."
Pinkie sighed dejectedly. "Fine..."
"Actually," Rarity started. "Notice that Pinkie said 'big ones' and not 'a big one'."
"Y' point bein'?"
"We can set multiples around the town in commonly-travelled locations, with trained staff manning them."
Applejack sighed. "Alright, ya got me there. But Ah don't think we have the budget to relocate all of the ones we need."
"Well, we'll set up what we can and have Mage-Sight specialists on station in other areas."
"Ain't Mage-Sight eye-damaging?"
"Not if you cast it right." Rarity said smugly.
Trixie stammered, glaring daggers. "W-what?! Are you telling me I've been casting that spell wrong?"
"No, just that I've found a way to make it more efficient."
"How efficient...?" Trixie asked with scepticism.
"Ten to one time before severe damage."
Trixie grabbed Rarity by her shoulders. "Tell me your secrets."
Rarity smiled and brushed Trixie off. "Easy. Aside from only going half-Sight-" She followed up with a spiel of magical jargon that Trixie seemed to understand. "And that's it."
"Question!" Pinkie raised her hoof. "What's a Staswiirskonstend?"
"Starswirl's Constant. It's a formula used for magical calculations."
Pinkie mouthed an 'oh'.
"By the stars that is efficient." Trixie mused. "You even found a way to keep the magika consumption down, which is something I wouldn't have trouble with anyway."
Applejack loudly cleared her throat. "We've got a job to do. Discuss yer fancy magics some other time."
"Right, yes, the scanners." Rarity continued. "How many can we afford to use?"
"Two." Rarity deadpanned. "Two scanners. What."
"It's all Ah could get without blowin' too large a hole in th' budged used for more important things."
"Very well then." Rarity walked around the scanners. "Now, according to the records in Ponyville Hall, the two most travelled doorways are Sugar Cube Corner and-"
"I'll man the SCC scanner!" Pinkie called out.
"... And Golden Oaks Library. Pinkie, you and Bon Bon can command the SCC Scanner."
"Yay!" Pinkie bounced in the air.
"Sparkler and Lyra, take the Library scanner."
Lyra looked a little deflated, but Sparkler seemed pleased.
"Alright ponies, chop chop." Rarity said. "Make sure you only grab ponies who aren't showing any magic through the scanner."
The four ponies saluted before wheeling the scanners away.
"Trixie, you and I will walk around town and use Mage-Sight. Remember my tips, and you'll last for a long time."
Trixie flicked her hair dramatically before trotting off. "Like I'd forget that."
"And what am Ah supposed to do?"
"You can come with me." Rarity offered.
"Uh, sure." The two started aimlessly wandering. "Not sure what Ah could do though."
"You can pin the pony down when they run. My magic may be efficient, but it is nowhere near forceful enough to drop a pony."
Applejack chuckled. "No wonder your such a wuss when y' liftin' boxes of books."
Rarity stammered. "Applejack-!"
"Relax, Ah'm teasin'. Besides, y'all lucky t' have that magic o' yours. Ah have to use mah mouth fer too much."
"I can tell. Your pistol's grip is positively horrid." Rarity said seriously, but had a smirk tugging at her mouth.
"Tell me about it." Applejack chuckled. "Ah mean, Ah can't use some o' the fancy stuff you use to keep it lookin' sharp because it's poisonous an' all."
"Somepony should get around to fixing that." Rarity mused. "On an unrelated note, why do you smoke?"
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Because Ah can?"
"Oh come on, you know full well what you're inhaling. Be thankful you didn't start thirty years ago, they used tar and rat poison in those."
"Alright, fine... Ah got addicted as a filly. Ah had a little fling with the wrong crowd and some of it stuck."
"That also explains you taste for less-refined alcohol."
"Nah, that's a personal choice. Wine's too fancy fer my tastes."
"To each their own."
"That's another way of sayin' 'Ah think your tastes are crap, but Ah'm not gonna say it out loud'."
Rarity paused. "You're right. I'm sorry."
"Eh, it's all fine. Ah know y'all were tryin' to be kind."
Rarity blushed slightly. "Aww, thank you."
Applejack craned her neck. "So, when are ya gonna turn your 'Mage-Sight' thing?"
"Hmm..." Rarity stroked her chin, then scanned the area around them. "We're currently surrounded by ponies, so this would be a good place to start."
Rarity closed her eyes slowly, and inhaled deeply through her nose. When she opened her eyes the world turned dark, the bare outlines of buildings only visible. All around her, the familiar pathways and twirls of pony magic were moving on their own, their owners acting like normal. She glanced at her hoof, a pulsing blue shape moving through it.
"Are ya eyes supposed to turn black?" Applejack asked, a little startled at the suddenly-black sclera on the unicorn.
"Oh, that's perfectly normal, darling." Rarity casually replied. "Just a side-effect of Improved Mage-Sight." She turned and smiled after a second. "You're magic's such a lovely shade of orange. And so bright, too."
Applejack blinked. "Uh... Thanks?"
Rarity giggled, before returning to her observations.
"Anythin'?" Applejack asked after a minute.
"Not as yet."
Another minute passed. "Now?"
"No."
Yet another minute passed. "An-"
"Applejack, if you are going to be such a bother please go and help Trixie."
"Alright, shuttin' u-"
"Wait a moment." Rarity blinked, then leaned forwards. "That's not normal..."
"What? What ain't normal?"
"There's a pony on the other side of the crowd. His or her-"
"Her."
"-Her magic is a bright green and more vapourous than ours."
Rarity kept her eye on the green shape. It was moving slowly in the crowd, approaching a pink-magic pony.
"Applejack..."
She saw a magical shape form in front of the pony.
"You might want to-"
The magic shape moved quickly, and the pink magic flickered brightly. A scream hit her ears, and she flicked back to normal sight. A great spurt of blood ascended into the sky as a pink-coated mare collapsed, a pony that looked like Lyra running off.
"Damnit!" Applejack dashed off, kicking dust into the air and deftly leaping over the crowd. Lyra looked around, stuck in the crowd, coated in blood and looking shocked. Applejack bounded high and crashed on the unicorn, pinning her. "Lyra, what the hay are ya doin' off duty?"
Lyra struggled violently, unable to move Applejack. She let out a monstrous hiss and burst into green fire. As quick as it had started the fires died out, leaving... Something behind. It was pony shaped, but instead of fur it has an ebony carapace. The horn was bent upwards and had no spiral groove, and a pair of insectoid wings sticking out the side. As it hissed, a mouth of sharp teeth greeted her, its bug-like eyes looking back at her.
"What the-!" Applejack shouted, pinning the bugpony further.
The bugpony hissed again and bit Applejack's foreleg. She screamed, gripping her injured foreleg as the changeling ran off...
Only to be caught by a wave of ropes, binding its legs and knocking them to the ground.
"Well, it seems it's my turn to save your life." A familiar, boastful voice resounded behind her. Applejack turned to see Trixie, using her lavender magic to spin a lasso around, a grin on her face. The grin dropped as she saw the blood coming from Applejack's foreleg.
"Applejack!" Rarity screamed, galloping like mad and grabbing Applejack in a protective hug. "Are you alright?"
"Ah'll be fine..." Applejack replied quietly, hissing with pain. "Ah think." She spared a glance at the bugpony, struggling under its bindings. "What the heck is that thing anyway?"
"If I knew I would tell you." Rarity replied, pulling a first-aid kit out of her saddlebags. She opened it up and pulled out a vial of a glowing red substance.
"What the heck are youAAAGH!" Applejack yelled as Rarity poured a small amount of the liquid into her open wounds.
"I'm sorry it hurts, dear, but we don't know what that thing's bite does." Rarity quickly pulled a bandage out and wrapped it over the bloodied leg. "The pain will pass, do not worry."
"What did ya pour in there?"
"Arcane antiseptic." She replied, re-packing the first-aid kit. "In addition to preventing infection, it also nullifies and eradicates all magical anomalies within the wound."
"... Come again?"
"It stops bad magic."
Applejack mouthed an 'oh', before attempting to stand. Her hoof sparked with pain as she put her weight on it, yet she still stood. "So," She started, limping up to the bugpony. "Just what the heck are you?"
The bugpony stopped struggling, instead glaring at the orange pony. "A soldier of the Queen."
"That ain't answering mah question, bug." Applejack replied bluntly. "What are you?"
The bugpony rolled its eyes. "I'm a Changeling, not a bug. And my name is Veska."
Trixie hoisted Veska into the air. "Enough talking. We've got a bug to interrogate."
"I told you I'm not a bug." Veska deadpanned.
"So... Veske."
"Veska." The Changeling growled. "By the Queen, if you can't even pronounce my name r-"
"Ah get it, Ah get it. Anyway, you are aware of the laws, right?"
"Section 7, Sub-section 1. Killing a pony with the intent to kill is an extreme crime, punishable by life in maximum-security, warded prison, or possibly execution."
Applejack blinked. "How-?"
"Just because I'm a member of a species that nopony knows about doesn't mean I'm stupid and/or ignorant."
"Whatever." Trixie stated, shifting to rest her head in her hooves. "If you know the laws, why the buck did you do it?"
"Survival." Veska closed his eyes calmly.
Everypony else, except Rarity, blinked. After a moment, Pinkie tilted her head. "Survival?"
"I've been cut off from the Hive of Chrysalis for at least a decade. Our species feed on strong emotions, the most powerful being love. Unfortunately, in this fear-stricken town, I couldn't find enough. So, I went for the next best emotion."
"And that'd be...?" Trixie asked.
"Fear." Veska leaned back. "The latent fear wasn't enough, so I resorted to a hit-and-run tactic. By killing a fellow pony in the middle of a busy crowd, said crowd gets nervous and panicky, and ergo I feed on those emotions while making my escape."
"And you did it, knowing full well of the consequences."
"If you had the choice between definitely starving to death and possibly being shot, what would you choose?"
"Y'all left out the part where you kill a pony to eat." Applejack replied, frowning.
"That is of minimal consequence to me. I know this frustrates you, but to Changelings, ponies are merely a food source." Veska grinned toothily. "Whether we feed of their love for another or use them as a... catalyst for a crowd's worth of emotion is irrelevant." He leaned forward. "Right now I'm feeding off your excess emotions."
"What?!" Applejack shouted, slamming her hooves on the table.
"For example, I'm feeding off your rage." He turned to Trixie. "And your surprise," He turned to Rarity, who was looking at the board of photographs. "And her trauma." He followed by turning to Pinkie. "The pink one I'm having trouble with, though."
Applejack spared a glance at Rarity before glaring daggers at the Changeling. "Y'all stop that right now, ya hear?"
Veska nodded. "I'm full anyway." He smiled a surprisingly calm smile. "Do what you will, I readily accept my fate."
Applejack stood up and tapped on the wooden door. She watched a team of armoured ponies escort Veska out, sighing as soon as the door shut. "Buckin' hell, that's a weird one."
"You're not wrong there." Trixie replied, shuffling papers into a folder. "A very interesting species, I must admit. Sound dangerous too."
Rarity turned from the photos. "If it's alright with you, I'm going to go out for a breath of fresh air. See you girls later."
Pinkie watched her trot out. "I wonder what's got Rarity down in the dumps..."
Trixie shrugged. "Perhaps it has something to do with Applejack's injury?"
Applejack looked at her injured foreleg. The bandages had been replaced quite a few times before, so there was little blood showing. "Probably. Ah'll go check on her."
Rarity sighed deeply, taking another drink before continuing to watch the skies darken.
"There are only two times y'all drink hard liquor, Rare." Applejack stated, taking a seat next to the unicorn. "Ya either wanna party hard, or ya wanna forget somethin'."
Rarity spared a glance. "Hello Applejack."
"Hey Rare." Applejack leaned closer. "Ya alright?"
"I couldn't save her." Rarity spoke quietly after a while. "I could see the Changeling. I saw him raise a blade. I even saw him strike, right through the primary magika tract. And... I didn't do anything..."
Applejack sighed. "It ain't yer fault, Rare. Even Ah wouldn't have made it in time."
Rarity closed her eyes, a tear running down her alabaster cheek. "I-If I had just called out, made him pause... That might've been enough..."
"Ah doubt that." Applejack wrapped her hoof around the unicorn's shoulder. "He's a weird one."
Rarity leaned into Applejack, savouring her warmth. "I... I couldn't even stop him attacking you..."
"Eh, don't worry 'bout it. Ah've had worse. Ah mean, remember that griffon, or that Zebra with the strange-shaped dagger?"
Rarity chuckled sombrely. "And you always managed to pull through..."
"Ah'm a tough pony." Applejack smiled, rubbing Rarity's shoulder. "Oh, and Toxin did an analysis on his fangs. Other than traces of mah blood on them, nothin' else dangerous was there. Not even any strange magic thingy, and Ah even got Trixie to check."
Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia..."
Applejack pulled her foreleg back and lifted Rarity's chin. The unicorn blushed slightly. "Now don't go about worryin' about today, alright? And if ya do, Ah'll be there to help."
"I hate to break the romance, but the media's swarmin' all over the place." Rainbow's voice called out.
"R-romance?!" Both ponies shouted, flustered.
"W-we ain't like that..."
"This is just a friendly discussion we were having, nothing more..."
"... Don't even like mares that much..."
"... I don't know if we like each other yet..."
"I don't care!" Rainbow shouted. "I don't care if you're not in love, in love and hiding it or whatever, just. Go. Deal. With. The media. Alright?"
"Alrighty then." Applejack stood up, offering a hoof for Rarity. "Y'all up for it?"
Rarity nodded, taking Applejack's hoof and pulling herself up. "Let's do this."
Rainbow watched the two ponies trot off confidently.
"Heh," She smiled. "You'd almost think they like each other."