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

by TP Night

Chapter 18-B - Team Rarity

Author's Note:

Before the chapter begins, I'd like to say a few words:

First of all, I'm sorry for taking so long with this chapter...
Mostly, it's because I had a massive writers block,
but also because this chapter was almost very different...

However, I want to keep a certain lenght on the chapters, and my other idea
would have stretched way too far, so I had to stop, re-think the whole thing,
and start writing from scratch again - But I finally managed.

Hopefully the next chapter will come out quicker.

(Also, only a few more chapters on this, and then I'll begin the third part of the trilogy,
the story about Dashies and Flutters 10 days. )

Meanwhile, Rarity, Shining and Gun Point were almost at the show halls.
Shining had taken the lead, despite the fact Gun Point outranked him.
Gun Point didn’t seem to mind though, quite the opposite.

“Now then, once we get there we need to evaluate the situation.” Shining said.
“We have no idea if the zebra is still in her own form, or if she’s had time to
transform into somepony else. And if so, we don’t know who. She could be anyone.”

“Most ponies are already gone though, they’ve already headed to the after party.
That party is in another location, you see.” Rarity replied.

“Good, that increases our odds of finding her quickly, and with less chance for her
to escape, if she decides to try anything like that.” Gun Point said.

“Rarity, you said you know the door guard, right?” Shining asked.
“Can he be of any use to us? I mean, as a guard he should know the layout
of the building, all exists, and so on.”

“Well, I suppose so.” Rarity replied in a thoughtful tone.
“If he’s still there when we arrive, we can ask. Just let me make sure it’s really him
first before you say anything else, okay?”

“Sure, you go ahead and... how exactly do you know if it IS him?” Shining asked,
sounding curious.

“Easy. I just ask him something only he could know, like small details about when I first
met him. The zebra couldn’t possibly know, so if the answer is correct, it’s the real him.”

“I see. That’s rather clever, actually.” Gun Point remarked.

“Oh, you flatter me.” Rarity said, half-joking.
“In any case, we’re almost there.”

* * *

Shortly after they arrived, Rarity had asked Grey Beak about her appearance
during their first meeting, and what they had said. He had gotten the answers correct,
so now they were all discussing their next move.

Grey Beak looked around. “Well, We got this one, the main entrance.
I’ve been here all night, no zebras here, and no ponies either since the show ended.
Other than that, there’s the back door, usually used as a worker entrance. And a fire exit
on the side, but that only unlocks if the fire alarm is triggered. So all in all, we have three
exits here, if you include the fire door. So if that zebra IS here, she must have gone in
through the back door.”

“You don’t keep that back door guarded or locked?” Shining asked.

“Locked, but not guarded. But if she’s a skilled criminal like you say, she might
know how to pick locks. It’s not a magical one, just a standard tumbler mechanism.”

“And we have no idea if the zebra knows how to pick locks. It is quite possible though,
I would assume. I mean, she must have found such skill useful in other crimes before
this one, and most thieves usually do know at least basic lock picking,
such as simple doors.” Rarity said. “Even I know the basic principle of how it’s done,
I just have not actually attempted it.”

“So what do we do? Just go in and detain every pony we find in there?” Gun Point asked.

“Maybe... that could actually work...” Rarity said.

“I was joking, Miss Rarity.” Gun Point added.

“I know, I know... I, however, was not.” Rarity replied. “Hear me out.”

“Go ahead.”

“We know for a fact that the potion wears off after some time. And we also know
with about eighty percent certainty that one of the zebras is in here. So if we
were to keep the place locked down - no one leaves, no one enters - the zebra would
eventually return to her zebra form, and then we’d just arrest her, and apologize to
the others. We’d just need to gather everypony in the same room and keep them
under watch until one of them transforms.”

“And how long would it take for the potion to wear off? Do you know?” Shining asked.

“Well, not exactly, but I know it can’t be more than an hour, or two at most.” Rarity said.
“Plus, she’s probably taken it already, maybe even before she got here, so that leaves
an even shorter period. I’d say we’re talking an hour or less.”. She added.

“Very well, I don’t have any better plans, so maybe we should just go ahead and get this
place on a complete lock-down.” Gun Point said. “Unless anypony has a better idea.”

Shining twisted his head, stretching his neck. “Nope, I got nothing. I say we do this.
Lock-down is probably the most effective option, little risk of escape.
Plus, we have no records of the sisters being violent, quite the opposite.
In all previous crimes they’ve always taken measures to not hurt anypony
if they could avoid it. At least nothing more serious than knocking you out,
which they did with spiked tea, not violence. So I’d say they’re a minimal risk.”

“So we are all in agreement? We lock down the building, round up everypony in
the main hall, and then we simply wait.” Gun Point said.

They all nodded.

Shining looked at the building, thoughtful.

“What’s on your mind?” Gun Point asked.

“Just thinking about how to actually get everypony gathered.
I think I have an idea.”

“Let’s hear it then. Speak up.”

“Fire exit. We make sure this door is locked, and the backdoor too.
Then we pull the fire alarm, and gather everypony when they come out.
even the zebra will have to come, since she doesn’t know it’s us.
She’ll think it’s an actual fire somewhere. Plus, after we round up everyone,
I can go in and do a search to make sure, while you guard the others.
Then we wait until the potion wears off like we planned, and arrest whoever
turns into a zebra.”

“Sounds like our best option right now.” Gun Point said.

“I’ll go check the back door.” Grey Beak said.

“We’ll stay here while you do that. Once you get back, we’ll set the plan into action.”
Gun Point said as Grey Beak turned around and walked away in a fast pace.

Soon, he returned, shaking his head. “Door was picked open like you suspected.
Got it closed and locked again though, and I also blocked it from the outside.
If she tries to escape that way, she’ll get stuck at the door.
I moved a trash bin in front of it. No way she can get out that way.”

“Good thinking. Now, how about this...” Gun Point started.
“You and Miss Rarity wait here at the main entrance, Me and Shining go to the fire exit.
We give you a signal, you pull the fire alarm. Ponies come out, we detain them
and then we gather everypony here and go back in, and use the main showroom
as our lock-up.”

“Sounds good, that way we can at least let them all sit comfortably on the chairs around
the stage while we keep them held up.” Rarity said.

Grey Beak added, “There are some board games and a couple of card decks in the
back rooms, so we could keep them from getting too bored and annoyed.”

“Perfect.” Shining said. “Keeping their minds off of the situation will be good.
Keeping a bunch of ponies on lock-down for an hour or more is usually not very
popular...”

“Sounds like you have experience with it?” Grey Beak asked curiously.

“Couple of similar situations, nothing exactly like this case.” Shining replied.
“Now lets get going shall we, Gun Point? Better get this over with.”

“Indeed.” Gun Point replied shortly and started walking.

“What about the signal?” Rarity asked.

“We’ll whistle, that should be sufficient.” Gun Point replied.

They two ponies walked around the corner, while Rarity and Grey Beak waited at the
main entrance. Moments later, Rarity heard a whistle.

“That’s the signal. Where is the Fire alarm?” She asked.

“Small red box there on the wall, near the bathroom door.” Grey Beak replied and pointed
through the glass entrance door.

“Oh, how perfect. That means I don’t even need to go in there, we can keep these doors
locked. I can trigger it with magic from here.” Rarity said, as her horn lit up in her usual
blue magic aura. The alarm box inside also lit up in the same blue aura.

“I simply pull the small lever down, right?” She asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, standard alarm.” Grey Beak replied. She pulled, and a loud alarm sounded
across the building. “That should do it then... ”

Ten minutes later, a whole group of ponies came walking around the corner,
with Gun point leading the group and Shining follow behind.
There was a snobby-looking older pegasus stallion, a couple of janitors,
a mare who looked like a DJ, and a few others. Most of them locked annoyed and tired.
the elder stallion looked outright offended.

“How dare you arrest me? Do you have the slightest idea who I am?!”
He said, in a clearly annoyed voice.

“I don’t, and honestly, right now it doesn’t matter, sir.” Gun Point replied.
“Furthermore, Nopony is under arrest yet, You are all being detained until further notice,
because we’re conducting an investigation. After we’re done, I’ll gladly answer
any question, but until then, You are all to stay where I tell you to.”

“I am Diamond Skies, Equestrias richest pegasus! I own this establishment!
And I demand you explain yourself!” the elder pony said in a loud voice.

“That’s enough. I told you all I can for now, sir. If you do not calm down,
I will have you officially arrested for disturbing police business.”

The elder pony seemingly relaxed a bit, but he was still clearly angry.

“Do you have any idea how bad this will be for my publicity?”
He asked. “Being involved in police business will start rumors, ponies won’t want
to come here anymore, they’ll think I’m some kind of crime boss!”

Rarity approached the stallion. “Sir, excuse me, but... You know, there’s another way
to spin this whole thing, and make you come out as the good guy.”

“Hmph, what would you know about such things? You’re just a young mare.”

“...Who happens to work in fashion and show business. Listen...
What you said could be true, but... what if the story was spun in such way..
That it sounds like you helped the police... You’d be known as a hero.”

The stallion looked very thoughtful for a moment. “Hm.... I suppose that is true...”

“I can arrange for you to be officially awarded for helping us, if you do.” Gun Point said.

“Awarded how?” Diamond Skies asked.

“Headline in the news, a medal for special services to the city.”

“Fine, I’ll calm down and allow this... investigation.” Diamond said, finally calming
himself almost completely. He still looked somewhat annoyed though.

Everypony was led back inside and gathered in the show hall as planned.

“Well...” Gun Point said, “Now we just need to wait.” Also, we should search the building
just in case. Shining, you have more experience than me in that field, So I’ll leave that to
you while I stay here and keep my eyes on these civilians.”

Rarity looked at Shining. “I’ll come with you. As a unicorn, I could be useful. Light
spells for dark rooms, and such.”

Shining nodded. “Sure. You and I search the place, Gun Point and Grey Beak guard
the civilians.”

They all agreed, after which Rarity and Shining Badge started the search.