The Dragon and The Changeling

by SlowMoBrony

The Author

It wasn't too long before a select number of guests were back in the main foyer, the place they had just been interviewed in. Both Upper Crust and one of the guard ponies were in deep conversation by the time Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Daring Do had joined them.

“My faithful companion, this is terrible.” said the high class mare to the guard. She shook her head in disbelief as the news of another death sunk in.

“Excuse me, my lady, but he was on his way to tell you something.” said the guard.

“He never found me. He had an appointment with death instead.” She shooed the guard away, and turned to face the detectives at work.

“He said, the poor little child. Would that mean anything to anypony here?” asked Twilight, opening the conversation quickly.

“There's been no child present in this castle for years, millennia. Highly unlikely there will be.” answered Upper Crust. “Miss Do, you must have twigged something. You've written simply the best detective stories.”

“Yes.” Princess Cadance had now joined from out of the blue, intriguing all of the ponies in conversation. “What would your own creation do? Celestia's sake, cards on the table. You should be helping us.”

“But, I'm merely a writer.” Daring Do was taken aback by the sudden centre of attention at a time like this. Twilight too. Ribbon Setter now joined in as well.

“But surely you can crack it. These events, they're exactly like one of your plots.”

“That's what I was thinking!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “That's got to mean something!”

“But what?” Daring Do held an anguished look upon her face, staring at each and every one of the questioners in the turn. “I've no answers. None. I'm sorry, all of you. I'm truly sorry, but I've failed. If anyone can help us, then it's the true detective here, not me.”

And with that, she stormed off, out into the gardens.

---

Daring Do stood under a gazebo, the white paint glistening in the mid-afternoon sunlight. A moment of peace was all she needed to reclaim herself in the madness of this mystery. None of the other ponies would ever understand that just because she wrote crime novella didn't mean she was an immediate expert in the field of criminology.

“Do you know what I think?” Daring Do looked up to find Pinkie Pie staring enthusiastically with a big grin. “Those books of yours, one day they could turn them into films. They could be talking pictures.”

“Talking pictures? Pictures that talk? What do you mean?” asked a baffled Daring Do.

“Oh blimey, I've done it again.” realised Pinkie Pie, waving a hoof for her to forget what she had just said. “Listen, ponies love your books, some much more than others to a certain extent. They really do. They're going to be reading them for ages to come!” Daring Do let out a small laugh.
“If only. Try as I might, it's hardly great literature. Now that's beyond me. I'm afraid my books will be forgotten, like the mare in the moon.” She let out a sigh and looked out towards the garden, the rows upon rows of elegant flowers and trees catching the sunlight. All was peaceful in this place, except for the row in front of her.

“Hello, what's this?” She made her to the flower bed, Pinkie Pie close behind. “These flowerbeds were perfectly neat earlier. Now some of the stalks are bent over.”

Her observation was correct. All around her, the flowers and trees were perfect in stature, as well as everything else about them. In front of her though, the red roses were droopy and knocked about by something. Digging further, a small box covered in reddish-brown leather could seen poking its head out from the disturbed earth.

“There you go. Who'd ever notice that? You're brilliant, Daring Do!”

---

The small case now sat on a table in the royal kitchen. Having been presented to Twilight, it was opened quickly.

“Ooo. Someone came here tooled up. The sort of stuff a thief would use.”

“The Dragon.” said Daring Do. “He's here.”

“The Dragon and the changeling.” quipped Twilight.

“Your drinks, ladies.” The guard pony held up a small silver platter, glasses of lemonade sitting perfectly still on it.

“Ah! Very good, sir.” thanked Twilight. The guard bowed his head and left the detectives to their work.

“How about the science stuff. What did you find?” asked Pinkie.

“Changeling magic, for certain. This one is definitely a splinter from the group we encountered at my brothers wedding. Its magical trace matches that of Queen Chrysalis herself.” explained Twilight. “But for some reason, this one is behaving like a character in one of your books.”

“Come on, Daring. What would Miss Mareple do?” She'd have overheard something by now, because the murderer thinks she's just some harmless old mare.” yapped Pinkie Pie.

“Clever idea. Miss Mareple? Who writes those?” asked Daring Do.

“Er, copyright Pinkie Pie.” giggled the pink pony.

“Pinkie.” said Twilight blandly.

“Oh OK, we'll split the copyright.”

“No. Something's inhibiting my magic.” Twilight was drawing small short breaths and shaking slightly before a dark green aura took a hold of her horn. She screamed out in pain. Pinkie scrambled to her side, her giggles replaced by the sound of worry.
“That's dark magic.” noted Daring Do.

Painfully, Twilight stood up and walked into the pantry, if just barely. She shouted “Cider!”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Daring Do.

“I need cider!” Twilight managed to shout out before grabbing a glass of pre-prepared cider for the evening.

“You've gone mad. Any expert in magic, especially you, should know there's no counter spell to this. It's fatal to your magic.”

“No!” argued Twilight. “No, I can stimulate my inhibited magic into reversal. Protein. I need protein.”

“Walnuts?” asked Pinkie Pie, holding a bowl of the nuts.

“Brilliant.” Twilight grabbed a hoof-full and shoved the group into her mouth, a look of relief about her. With a full mouth however, the next thing she needed would have to be mimed out. She shook her hoof up and down.

Pinkie did her best to decipher her friends clues. “I can't understand you. How many words? One? One word. Shake. Milk shake. Milk? Milk? No, not milk? Shake, shake, shake. Cocktail shaker. What do you want, a Mare-vey Wallbanger?”

“Mare-vey Wallbanger?” splurted Twilight.

“Well, I don't know!”

“How is Mare-vey Wallbanger one word?!”

“What do you need, Twilight?” asked Daring Do.

“Salt. I was miming salt. It's salt. I need something salty.”

“What about this, Twi?” asked Pinkie holding up a small jar.

“What is it?”

“Salt.”

“Too salty.” Twilight said, shaking her head.

“Oh, that's too salty.” Pinkie put the jar back.

“What about this?” asked Daring again.

“Anchovies. Perfect.” Twilight downed the entire contents of the jar, just enough to even weird out Pinkie Pie ever so slightly. “Next. Shock. I need a shock.”

“Right then, Big shock coming up.” And with that, Pinkie Pie moved towards Twilight and kissed her deeply on the lips. Twilights eyes flew open wide at her friends movements. Pinkie released Twilight from the embrace after a few more seconds of kissing as the surprised mare tried to comprehend what had just happened. She hadn't realised it yet but the pain she had felt from the magic was gone, the dark green aura leaving her horn had disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Thank you, Pinkie.” Twilight let go of the breath she didn't realise she was holding on to.

---

Night had descended on the castle. The moon shone as brightly as the sun upon the Royal Gardens but its beauty could not be appreciated by the party guests that night, for it was not just the moonlight that was falling. The Canterlot weather ponies had organised a heavy downpour for the night. Needless to say, the everypony was on edge tonight.

They, as well as the detectives and Daring Do, were busy dining in the great hall, a room usually reserved for Princess Celestia's own dinner arrangements. A hot serving of soup was laid out for each and everypony, its smell intoxicating. Candles lit up the room. Thunder and lightening crashed overheard and could be seen through the large windows of the room. Twilight sat at one end of the table, opposite Upper Crust. Pinkie Pie and Daring Do sat to her left, both eating their meal heartily. Twilight, not so much.

“A terrible day for all of us.” she said. “The Professor struck down, the guard that discovered him taken cruelly from us, and yet we still take dinner.”

“This is Canterlot, detective. What else must we do?” asked Upper Crust.

“And then somepony tried to poison me, rid me of my magic. Any one of you had the chance to spike my drink. But it rather gave me an idea.”

“And what would that be, my dear?” asked Princess Cadance inquisitively.

“Well, poison. Drink up. I've laced the soup with pepper.” revealed Twilight, sitting back in her chair.

“Ah, I thought it was jolly spicy.” chuckled Jet Set.

“But the active ingredient of pepper is piperine, traditionally used as an insecticide by farmers all over Equestria. So, anypony got the shivers?” Twilight said, staring at each of the guests during her sentence.

As if on cue, one of the windows were blown open by the storm, extinguishing any light inside the room. Darkness filled the room, only illuminated by a flash of lightening every so often.

“What the -”

“How?”

“Listen!”

"It can't be."

Twilight hushed the group, despite the obvious noise from the storm overhead. Nopony except Twilight could hear it at first but one by one, they all started to notice it, all of them looking one way or the other eventually. All of them noticed the buzzing.

“Nopony move! Stay where you are!” ordered Twilight.

On the next flash of lightening, the large form of the changeling could be seen hovering above the dinner table, its buzzing more noticeable once the source was found. As soon as the lightening died down and the darkness took over the room once more, chaos ensued. Pangs of destruction could be heard, cries for help mixed in with it. It soon died down, and light flooded the room once more.

The guards that were stationed on the outside of the hall had entered, closing the blown upon window and re-lighting the extinguished candles. In a few short seconds, the room had been overturned. Soup bowls were shattered and no longer on the table, the table itself actually having been broken. Ponies were scattered, Jet Set had fallen out of his wheelchair and Upper Crust was clutching at her dress.

“My jewellery!” she shouted. “The Firestone! It's gone! The Dragon!”

“Soarin, my friend!” shouted Jet Set.

In the far corner, the party guests and the detectives could see Soarin lying face down in an unbroken bowl, a large knife sticking out of his lifeless back.

Comments

[Mkchief34]

Wait, WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!

Okay. so soarin's dead, and the killer or killers are still at large. Seems really good to me. Keep on writing!

[DJPurple3]

NO SOARIN!!! NOOOOOO

[SlowMoBrony]

5701619 I know, it broke my heart too.

[Mkchief34]

5705316 I know.(With a sad voice). WAHHHHHHHHH!

Also, nice job. PLOT TWIST!