Officer Constable rushed over to the pony approaching from the main street. At first she thought she was just meeting another curious onlooker who needed to be turned back from the scene, but as she drew closer to the rain soaked unicorn she realized that she was dealing with an entirely different kind of pony.
The unicorn stood before the police officer with furrowed eye and curt frown upon his face. Though his dark green eyes shone brilliantly in the streetlights around them, they carried a cold expression within them that almost seemed to imply that the pony had never been happy and never will be. But what drew the officer's attention the most was the dark blue uniform rendered even darker by the rain pouring around them. No badge was on his chest, but no badge was needed, Officer Constable immediately recognized the pony as an inspector from Equestria's highest civil authority, the Royal Equestrian Police Nationale.
Rainwater poured out of the inspector's hat as he slightly tipped it towards the officer. Officer Constable immediately saluted and began guiding the Inspector towards the scene of the crime, half shouting over the sound of the storm around them.
“Good evening, sir. I'm Officer Constable. They told me you'd be coming, I assume you're going to be taking the lead on this one?”
The pause in the conversation caused the Inspector to turn his head briefly towards Constable.
“I am Inspector Javanner of the Royal Equestrian Police Nationale.”
Instinctively, Constable put her hoof out for a shake, but Javanner's cold eyes caused her to retract it almost instantly. Observing the obvious retreat from the police officer, Javanner tipped his hat again.
“My apologies, this evening's business is rather grim, and of the highest priority. I tend to forget my manners under such...circumstances.”
Constable quickly nodded and continued.
“Of course, no trouble. Umm, as I was saying, the locals aren't going to fight you for jurisdiction on this one, they understand just how high up this goes.”
Inspector Javanner turned his attention back to the building before them, specifically the door.
“That is good. Tell me, what do you have so far?”
Noticing the object of the inspector's attention, Constable cleared her throat and began.
“The door shows no sign of forced entry. To be honest, we don't have too much to go on, this was the last place...she was...seen...”
Officer Constable cleared her throat again and tried to start again, but choked up once more as the thought came to her mind.
“I'm sorry, it's just that...the princess...she's been here for so long...we all know her, you know?”
Inspector Javanner's curt frown remained, but Officer Constable thought that she could almost see a look of pity in his otherwise unfeeling eyes as he glanced towards her.
“I understand your concern. I can assure you my superiors are...equally concerned. But that is why we are here. We are going to find Her Highness and return her home.”
Constable nodded, barely able to whisper a “thank you” to the inspector as he turned and walked into the library-turned-castle. Inside, the castle looked as mundane and uneventful as a magical castle could. All of the furniture was upright and in place, books were in the process of being unpacked and put on a shelf across from the doorway, and other signs that the place was just now being transformed from a distant castle into a home.
Stopping to examine the books on the shelf, Inspector Javanner's eyes scanned the volumes present and the box that contained, at least, some of the rest. His eyes narrowed and never left their targets as he spoke with Constable behind him.
“I presume you have already searched the...facility?”
Sensing a certain emotion in the word “facility”, Constable leaned in closer.
“Yes sir, everything looks as though Princess Twilight just...just left. Like she had gone somewhere and did not return.”
Inspector Javanner pushed the uncharacteristic emotion from his mind as he turned back towards the door. The last time he had been by Ponyville's library, it was significantly smaller. He felt he owed the Princess of Friendship something after that investigation, but he would not let that alter his judgment. Shaking his head ever so slightly, Javanner firmed his resolve. Emotion had no place in an investigation like this. He would find her because it was his job, he would arrest the criminal for their crime, and he would punish those responsible in accordance with the law.
“The door was unlocked?”
Constable nodded quickly.
“Yes, sir. Ponyville is a small town sir, we all know each other you see. It's not that uncommon for ponies to just leave their doors unlocked.”
“Even when they will be away for extended periods of time?”
Officer Constable looked toward the door.
“Well, that's less typical.”
Inspector Javanner nodded and resumed his walk through the castle. Everything was in order, as he would have expected from Princess Twilight. The beds were made, carpets clean, and the tables and chairs were set with each other.
Pausing in the kitchen, Javanner noticed a teapot, two cups, and three saucers set out to dry. They had long since dried, as they had been put out since before Twilight Sparkle's disappearance, but there was something about them that drew Javanner's attention. Observing his eyes locked onto the dishes on the counter, Constable stepped up beside him.
“That's exactly how we found the place. Washed and dried, waiting to be put up.”
“There is a cup missing.”
“Sir?”
“There is a cup missing.”
Constable moved to the dishes to look at them with a closer eye.
“Only the Princess and her baby dragon live here. Perhaps she used the third saucer for cookies or something?”
Javanner walked carefully towards the kitchen counter that held the dishes, using his magic to carefully pick up the third saucer and levitate it closer to him.
“I am not certain how familiar you are with Her Highness, but there is one thing I have learned in my past experience involving her...”
Inspector Javanner's eyes began to glow an eerie shade of red as he examined the saucer under a magnification spell.
“...and that is that Her Highness is very...particular about how things should be done. I am doubtful that she would use a saucer for a plate.”
Seeing nothing but a perfectly clean saucer, Javanner carefully set the dish back down as it was.
“Have you examined the trash? What did you find?”
Constable opened the trashcan next to the kitchen counter. Inside, on top of all of the usual kitchen refuse, was the broken teacup. Immediately Javanner levitated the cup from the trash, his eyes already glowing as he lifted the cup closer and closer to his face.
“It still has dried tea leaves in it.”
Officer Constable said nothing as Javanner looked around the kitchen, his eyes still glowing under his magic as he scanned the room. As he began to slowly move about the room in a spiral pattern, his eyes would shift colors every time he altered his spell, looking for anything out of the ordinary, no matter how mundane.
Time almost seemed to stand still until, at last, Javanner's eyes fell on the table. His eyes shifted to a purple color as he leaned in over it. The silence was almost enough to break Officer Constable until suddenly Javanner's eyes went wide.
“I see, but then...”
Constable carefully approached the table, taking the utmost care to not get in the Inspector's way.
“What is it? Did you find something?”
The Inspector slowly hunched down near the table's legs, his eyes were almost touching the floor as they became a bright scarlet.
“Yes, Officer Constable, and if I can see...yes...yes, look...”
The Inspector's voice trailed off as his mind caught up with his words. Though the tone of his voice never left the dull, hushed monotone that he had started the conversation with, Constable could easily hear the excitement in his voice as his eyes returned to their more natural dark green. Holding the broken teacup between them, Inspector Javanner began.
“I believe there was a third guest who shared tea with the princess that day.”
Constable placed a hoof to her chin.
“How do we know? It could have been that the cup was broken in an everyday accident.”
Javanner nodded towards the saucers.
“It is unlikely that Her Highness would have produced a third saucer if she had simply had tea for herself and her dragon. Regardless of how it was broken, I believe it is a safe assumption that there was an additional guest present.”
Constable nodded.
“I understand, do you think the third guest was the perpetrator?”
Javanner looked towards a specific spot on the table.
“Examine this carefully, what do you see?”
Constable leaned in, careful not to touch the table herself until at last she backed up, her eyes wide.
“Purple fur.”
Inspector Javanner nodded with what Constable could only barely consider a smile.
“If you examine the floor closely you will find scuff marks on the tile around the table's legs, indicating that it has been moved at some time in the near past, by being pushed across the floor.”
Javanner's eyes began to glow a supernatural red again as he leaned in and motioned to a spot on the floor.
“It is rather difficult to see, but you can see some faint streaks of brown here on the floor, tea that had been cleaned up in a hurry, but a small amount was left behind to dry, leaving this faint stain.”
Constable bent over and placed her eyes as close to the floor as she could and caught sight of the faint brown left behind on the floor tiles.
“So, what do you think happened?”
“I believe that Her Highness fell forward, impacted the table and dropped her cup, this cup, which broke on the floor. Whoever cleaned up after her was in a hurry, as they did not return the table to its original position nor did they fully mop up the tea spilt on the floor.”
Inspector Javanner looked around at the room again.
“We will continue searching for clues regardless, but the door was unlocked and un-tampered with, there are no signs of altercation, excepting the table before us, which leads me to believe that whoever entered the Princess's home that day was someone that the Princess knew, perhaps was friends with, or at the very least, was familiar enough with to invite into her home for tea.”
Looking back to the table, Inspector Javanner continued.
“Her Highness is not clumsy. Something or someone forced her head to hit this table, rendering her unconscious, allowing the perpetrator to easily and quietly remove her from the premises without drawing any attention. The perpetrator cleaned the area hastily in an effort to hide their method and took Her Highness with them.”
Constable stood there silent as the Inspector's eyes changed from red to violet.
“Her Highness is an alicorn. It would be exceedingly difficult for anypony to outmatch her and render her helpless, even with the element of surprise.”
Javanner's eyes returned to their natural color as he levitated the cup back between himself and Constable.
“You should have your specialists look at this. I suspect there may be residue from some form of sleeping agent within it.”
Constable nodded as she took hold of the cup.
“Don't you want the Police Nationale's lab to look at it?”
Inspector Javanner shook his head as the last of his magic began to fade away and his horn finally stopped humming.
“If this is a kidnapping, then time is of the essence and there is no time to send this all the way back to Canterlot. I trust your labs are sufficient for this task?”
“Yes sir.”
As Constable turned for the door, Javanner looked back towards the trashcan. His mind began to wonder what other secrets the simple object might hold, but as his horn began to glow, another officer entered the kitchen.
“Inspector Javanner? Sir, there is a pony here to see you.”