10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 2 - "Manehattan Crime Story"

by TP Night

Chapter 10 - Before The Fashion Show Begins

The next morning, shortly after they had their breakfast, Pinkie was standing outside
on the balcony while Rarity tried to decide which one of her five dresses to wear at
the Fashion show later. While doing so, she was mumbling to herself.

“Hm.. I could take the blue one... but the red one is smoother.. Then again,
the crimson brings out my eyes more, and I DO want to get noticed even if
I’m not participating in the show itself... But the grey one has a certain unique
charm to it too, and that one makes my hair look even more vibrantly purple..
The black one IS a simple choice, but it might be a bit too much ‘funeral’
unless I add some colorful accessory...But what should I use?
Colored ribbons? A matching set of pearl necklace and hoof band?
A flower? Gah, so many choices...”

She turned toward the balcony.

“Pinkie darling, would you come in here for a moment? I can’t decide which dress to
wear, they all look amazing and they all have various advantages over each other!”

Pinkies voice came from the half-open balcony door.

“So why’d ya bring so many? You should just have taken one!”

“Because if I had done that, I would end up regretting it and wanting one of the ones
I didn’t bring! I had to bring them all! It was the only logical solution!”

“Silly Rarity. I’ll help you!” Pinkie said, and came bouncing inside.
“Let me see what you have!”

Rarity waved her hoof toward the two beds, on which the five dresses and a few
accessories and two hats were all laid out. Pinkie took a closer look, focusing
on the left bed, where the black dress and the accessories was.

“Hmmmmmmm....” She started.

“Well? You think I should go with the black one then?”

“......yeeeees.” Pinkie said slowly. “Yes. Black dress. black hat. And this!”
She finished, pointing at a wide-chained gold necklace with a ruby pendant.

“That certainly does sound like a good combination. Thank you!” Rarity smiled.
“Now, are you coming with me to the show, or do you have other plans for the day?”

Pinkie gave Rarity a blank look.

“Pinkie?” Rarity asked.

“....Good question. I don’t know yet... I mean, I like you, and I like clothes, but I’m not
THAT much into the whole fashion-show thing, I’m more into the after-parties.
Speaking of which, is there going to be one at this event, and if there is, can we go?
Can we? Can we? Can we? Pleeeease?” Pinkie said with her usual large smile.

“Well, there IS going to be a sort of ‘party’ I suppose, but it’s not going to be like
your Pinkie-parties. This is more high class, so it’s going to be closer to the Gala
in terms of style. Formal yet simple, classical music, champagne, you know,
that sort of party. Just a bunch of fashion ponies mingling and small-talking.”

“Boooooring!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I’ll pass if it’s gonna be THAT kind of
so-called party. Parties should have dance music and dancing, and confetti,
and a punch bowl, and snacks, and FUN!”

“Well, I figured you’d say that, that’s why I didn’t bother mentioning it.
I haven’t quite decided if I’m going myself actually. As for now,
I plan on going to the show itself, and then backstage just after the show ends.
The party will be an hour or so after that, so I might stay.”

“Do it, I know you wanna meet the other fashion ponies!”

“But what about you? I don’t want to leave you with nothing to do...”

“I’ll go back to the cafe, and also I can go to the amusement park, or the Arcade place,
or the Manehattan Zoo, or a museum, or a Party store, candy store... Don’t worry,
I have lots of ideas!” Pinkie smiled and bounced back out to the balcony,
humming to herself. “La la la la laaaa...”

“Very well then” Rarity thought, That settles that. Black dress and hat,
Fashion show, after-party. Who knows, I might meet some handsome stallion
to flirt with.

As Rarity repacked the other dresses and left the black one on the bed,
there was a knock on the door. A voice from outside spoke loudly,
to be heard through the door.

“Miss Rarity, Miss Pinkie Pie? This is the Manehattan Police Department,
We’re here on Gun Points orders. Please open the door.

* * *

Rarity looked surprised at first, but it quickly passed as she realized it must be related to
the zebra sisters case. She hastily fixed her mane, and spoke in a clear voice toward the
door while doing so. “It’s unlocked, you can just enter.”

The door opened, and Storm Feather walked in, followed by an old stallion Rarity did not
recognize. Storm walked up to her, with a polite smile on his face.

“Excuse the intrusion, but Gun Point told us to come here.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, you’re not intruding at all. I was just preparing my clothes
for later.” Rarity replied and motioned toward the bed where her dress was still laid out.

The old stallion now turned toward Storm. “You owe me twenty bits.”

Storm sighed and rolled his eyes. “Ugh, fine.. I’ll pay you when we get back to the
station, I left my wallet in my locker.”

Rarity gave them both a curious, and slightly surprised look. “hm?”

Storm looked at her and waved his talon at the old pony. “We made a bet that the potion
wouldn’t work, at least not for more than a few minutes. But it did, and now I owe her.”

“What do you mean, ‘her’? That’s a stallion...” Rarity said, confused.

“You’ll see. The potion should wear off any second now.”

At that moment, Pinkie came in from the balcony. “Hi!”

Suddenly, the old stallion emitted a blinding light, causing everyone in the room
to get blinded for a few seconds. When their sight returned, Rarity looked at the stallion.
Or rather, where the stallion stood before the flash. Now, somepony else stood there,
looking at Storm.

“Trixie TOLD you it would work! Grand-papa never fails a potion, he is a true expert!”

Pinkie gasped loudly, with her eyes wide. “Trixie! Hi! That was amazing!”

Rarity seemed confused at first, but quickly grasped the situation.
“Oh, I think I understand.. Your grandfather managed to replicate the potion
the sisters use, and you tried it yourself... correct?”

“Correct. And as you can see, it works.” Trixie replied. Then Storm started explaining.

“What you do is, you mix the potion, and then add something from the pony you wish to ‘become’. Something like strand of their mane, or a tuft of fur. Or a feather, if it’s a pegasus. Then, you drink it. When you do, you physically transform into the other pony. Your voice and all changes too. But it’s only purely superficial, no memories or skills or knowledge or anything like that is copied, so for each pony they have done this to, they must also have studied their targets behavior, accent, work, and so on. They are probably trained actresses, based on how skillfully they imitate each target.”

Then, Trixie added, “In our test, we took some fur from an officer who volunteered,
and Trixie volunteered to drink it since she - I mean, I, know magic. Sorry, I’m still
not used to not talking in third person.. old habits die hard, you know.
Anyway, as I was saying... I know magic better than the cops and CSI guys,
so I drank the potion after grand-papa made it and mixed in the fur sample.
When I drank it, a similar flash like the one now happened, and suddenly I was a
perfect copy of him, physically speaking. Not even his friends could tell us apart
until they asked questions only he knew the answer to.”

“So, now we know how the potion works, and we have some ourselves...
That could be useful.” Rarity said.

Storm looked at her. “Indeed. Also, we’re here for another reason. We need you to help
us some more. You said you were going to that fashion event, and the sisters are
supposedly going there as well. So we need you to keep your eyes open and alert,
and inform us of anything that seems out of place in any way. Even the smallest thing
could be important, so if you agree to do this, you need to be focused.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll look and listen for any suspicious things, and if anything happens
I’ll tell you as soon as I can. I’m also attending the after-party, and who knows?
Maybe THAT’S where they plan on striking? Many of the guests will be wearing
expensive jewelry for example, which I imagine would be a likely target for thieves.”

“Glad we could get you on board with this, miss Rarity.” Storm said with a polite
smile. “If you need anything, you have Gunnys contact info.”

“Heeey, I got an idea!” Pinkie said, looking at Trixie. “What if Trixie goes with you,
instead of me, since you have a Plus-one ticket, and I’m not going? Trixie could come
instead, and you two could BOTH look for suspicious things!”

“That’s... actually not a bad idea.” Rarity said.

“Trixie agrees. Although, I don’t know much about fashion, but I DO know a lot
about con-artistry, so I can detect the small, easily missed signs and tricks.”

“Then it’s settled.” Storm said. “You two will go to the fashion show, and see
if you can find the sisters. If you do, do NOT engage them, but keep your eyes on them.
We can’t arrest them during the show, too much commotion and civilians.
We’ll keep them under watch, and take them down somewhere else, somewhere
less crowded.”

“But what if we don’t find them?” Rarity asked.

“If you don’t, don’t worry. They might not strike today, that show is a multi-day-event,
right? So you’ll just go every day, and keep looking. And even if you can’t find them
at all, don’t worry. We may not get them this time, but sooner or later we will,
and when we DO, they’ll pay for everything they’ve done. Those two are going to jail,
and they’re not getting out in a long, long time.”