Another Member of the Band

by Magic Step

Endless Tension

Unfortunately for Adorabelle's first plan, the news came in the middle of Professor Rigid's class that Terry had already been caught. Classes and examinations with Doctor Whooves were cancelled as far as she and Violet Edge were concerned; going to see their ex-friend seemed more important.

Adorabelle wanted to run all the way to the precinct. But she didn’t know the way, and also Violet Edge didn’t run. So instead she weaved ahead, behind, and all around Violet Edge as they walked.

“Where did they catch him? What was he doing? Is he okay? Was he hurt? Will he… you, like, aren’t even trying to answer my questions, are you?”

“No.” Violet Edge turned to glare at her. “Why do you think I know what happened to him? Mystic’s telegraph was nothing but ‘Terry caught. Hurry to precinct.’”

“Aw, dang. If only she wasn’t, like, so concise all the time…”

They walked in silence for about a minute when Adorabelle changed her tactic.

“So, do you think he was injured? Where do you think they caught him? Do you-”

“Sto-op!” Violet Edge whined.

Adorabelle stopped and walked quietly to one side of him.

It was approaching rush hour in Canterlot, and the streets were filled with ponies on their way home from work or headed towards entertainment. Elite ponies in fancy clothes, heads held high, working class members in union regulated, color-coordinated T-shirts, small-town visitors in nothing at all, and small clusters of teenagers in some of the more outstanding fashion trends.

Adorabelle was bored and decided to try a new topic. “You, like, didn’t know Terry that well, amiright?”

“Why do you say that?” Violet Edge seemed genuinely surprised.

“Oh, well, I mean, like, I only knew him at all because, like, he was Dahlia’s boyfriend and stuff. And, well, you and Dahlia… Like, she was kind of rude to you and stuff, right?”

Violet Edge gritted his teeth. “Don’t. Want. To talk. About it.”

“Aw, I told her to cut it out-”

“It. Didn’t. Work.”

“You could have said something-” Adorabelle stopped abruptly, partly because she was about to walk into a lamppost. Mostly, though, she realized her mistake. Admitting that Dahlia’s words bothered him and asking for help would both have required admitting that he wasn’t Perfect. Something which, needless to say, was completely against everything his guardian had taught him to be.

Out loud, Adorabelle wondered, “Why do you do everything your guardian tells you to when he’s so mean to you?”

Violet Edge froze. “Not so loud! You might give somepony the wrong idea.”

Adorabelle wove around the lamppost. “It’s not a wrong idea, though.”

“Yes! Yes it is! Perfect Karma is…. strict… but that is not the same thing as being mean. Look at you; your dad can’t bring himself to punish you for anything, and now he doesn’t even have the authority to stop you from visiting a murderer!”

“We went over this. I don’t think my uncle is-”

“My point remains.” Violet Edge prodded her in the shoulder to keep her from missing their turn. “And how did we even start talking about this, anyway?”

“Oh, like, it made sense in my head.”

Violet Edge snarled out a sigh. “Fine. Can we play the quiet game for the rest of the trip?”

“I lose. I don’t like that game.”

Violet Edge gave another snarly sigh. “Look, just turn right at Marshall Avenue and you’ll be there. Skitter ahead now.”

“Nooo, Dad said we have to stay together!”

“…Until Terry was caught, which he is.”

“He didn’t say that!”

They argued until they reached their destination.

“Ooh!” Adorabelle squealed as soon as she saw it. “Look at it, look! There’s pillars and a cool glass dome and-”

“Haven’t you already been here?” Violet Edge asked.

“Well, like, yeah, but each time I came and left through the tunnels.” The police force had a special system of tunnels, remnants of the Crystal Mines, that they used to get to crime scenes faster than on hoof. It was supposed to be a secret, but Adorabelle had discovered it by accident one afternoon.

“Oh, Mystic Faerie is by the door,” Violet Edge said.

“Ooh, goody!” Adorabelle ran up to the lavender mare.

Mystic Faerie was pacing nervously. She sat down and gnawed on her front hoof, anxiety tightening her eyes.

When she realized this, Adorabelle stopped abruptly.

Violet Edge turned to her. “What?”

Adorabelle dashed up to Mystic Faerie. “Noooo! What happened? Is Terry dead? What’s wrong?”

Mystic Faerie turned to Adorabelle, her eyes wide. “Oh, it’s you!” She smiled nervously. “No, Terry’s fine…” Then right back to worried. “Well… uninjured.”

Adorabelle hesitated. “Sooo… the problem is he, like, still has to go back to his star because of the first murder, right?”

“Oh, it’s worse-”

“Look who’s home from school.”

The three ponies looked up to see the glass door swing open, revealing Perfect Karma.

“I could do without most of you.” He managed to glare at both Adorabelle and Mystic Faerie with just one eye. “You, Violet, will find this exceptionally educational. In. Now.”

The trio followed Perfect Karma inside, past the entrance hall with its stylish glass ceiling, down a set of wide stairs, through a meeting room with a map pricked liberally with pins displayed on one wall, to the narrow white hallway where most of the crime labs were.

Adorabelle didn’t get to come here very often. Unicorns in lab coats and earth ponies in police uniforms scurried back and forth, sometimes carrying evidence. Adorabelle peeped through one door, hoping to see multicolored test tubes and elaborate glass contraptions. Turned out to just have some big off-white boxes. They probably analyzed stuff that was stuck in them.

“Ah, oh… Sir Karma. Um, and… son?”

Adorabelle turned to see Clinical Cause greeting the group. The aging unicorn was tall and slender, though due to the way he walked with his head tilted one way or the other, it wasn’t always obvious. His aqua mane was lined with new white and gray streaks, and his coat had faded to grayish mint from the years and the stress. His pale colors made the blood stains on his lab coat stand out all the more.

“Ward,” Perfect Karma said. “We’ll see if he’s worthy to be a son of mine in time.”

“I have… preliminary results on… her.” A shudder rocked Clinical Cause’s entire body, and even when it was done his knees were still knocking. “So… curious?”

“What do you mean, her?” Adorabelle blurted out. “Her? There was a murder? Who died!? Tell me tell me tell meeeee!”

She fought back tears. It was too early to cry. Without waiting for an answer, she charged past the ponies and started slamming doors open. “Where’s the autopsy room? I need to see! Please!”

“That’s a broom closet,” Perfect Karma said with a smirk.

Adorabelle squirmed between two prosecuting attorneys headed the other way. “Please don’t let it be…”

“No! You don’t want to look!” Clinical Cause shouted.

“Adorabelle!” Mystic Faerie and Violet Edge shouted in unison.

“I wanna know!” Adorabelle slammed one last door open and gasped.

A pony lay on the table. Adorabelle could only see the top of her head, but she knew that short dark mane, that pastel pink streak, and those navy blue ears.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered, stepping closer. “I do know her, I do know her…”

Officer Jewel Eyes.

Hesitantly, she walked around the rim of the autopsy table, taking in everything.

Adorabelle had seen pictures of corpses, naturally. Case files were full of them. But they’d always been small and low resolution, and it had never been a pony she recognized.

The navy blue unicorn lay flat on the table. The first thing she noticed was her torn open chest. Deep slashes ran from her neck to her stomach, oozing blood and internal organs. In some places Adorabelle could see all the way to the white bone beneath.

The periwinkle unicorn suppressed a shudder and forced herself to take in the rest of the victim. A thick cone of dark purple metal surrounded her horn, which meant two things: one, her horn had been cracked, and two, since the police put the cone there to keep her magic from leaking out, she must have died fairly recently. Compared to the rest of her body, her legs were all untouched. The oddest thing, though, was her forehead. A set of red, bleeding puncture wounds ran all around her head, just over her horn. They seemed to form two lines. Adorabelle cocked her head and took in more views; there was another set of two dotted lines under her chin.

Jewel Eyes had been a cop specializing in jewel thefts and other robberies, so Adorabelle hadn’t seen her in court very much. But Adorabelle had seen her in civvies. Waiting outside the Gifted Unicorn Academy. To pick up her little sister.

A little sister named Dahlia.

The door slammed open and Mystic Faerie rushed to Adorabelle’s side. “Are you okay?”

“I said out, you demon spawn! OUT!” Perfect Karma’s blue aura surrounded Mystic Faerie. She slid two inches toward the door before the spell broke in a crackle of sparks.

“You don’t know how to treat a lady,” Mystic Faerie huffed. “Come on, Adorabelle. We can talk about it.”

“I wanna hear the autopsy results,” Adorabelle pleaded.

The result was three blank stares from the adults. Violet Edge probably would have been giving her a blank stare, too, but he was too busy curling into a fetal position.

“It… it won’t be pretty,” Clinical Cause said.

“I know,” Adorabelle said, letting her voice grow soft. “I saw. I want to hear the end of it.” Time to do some shameless pleading. “It’s the only way I’ll sleep okay.”

Mystic Faerie backed off. “If you need anything, or feel overwhelmed… don’t be a hero, just come to me, I understand…”

“I know.” Adorabelle didn’t know why they were so insistent that she leave the room. Sure, Adorabelle was scared somepony she knew had died, but it didn’t look *that* horrific.

Mystic Faerie smiled comfortingly and closed the door, leaving the other four alone.

“Get up you fool,” Perfect Karma hissed, nudging Violet Edge with his hoof.

Violet Edge whimpered.

“If the fluffbrained filly doesn’t think it’s a big deal, you don’t either.”

Violet Edge lifted his head and tried to look at the victim. He suppressed another whimper and shut his eyes.

Perfect Karma telekinetically grabbed the collar of Violet Edge’s jacket and hoisted him into the air. Violet’s hooves were barely touching the ground.

“Hey!” Adorabelle cried. “Stop it, please! It’s just his dad-”

“I’m not an idiot, Adorabelle!” Perfect Karma set Violet Edge down none too gently, leaned closer, and started whispering to the young stallion.

Adorabelle looked over her shoulder to see if Clinical Cause planned on helping. Nope; he was looking at the corpse through his X-ray tube and making more notes. Adorabelle knew he knew, though; his hooves were shaking more than usual.

“Report. Now.” Perfect Karma shoved Violet Edge towards the table. Violet took a few shaky breaths; now he looked too scared to blink.

Adorabelle slid next to him, put one forehoof around his shoulder, and nuzzled his cheek. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered. “It’ll be over soon. You don’t have to-”

“H-here!” Clinical Cause shoved his X-ray tube almost into Violet Edge’s eye. “Um. Look, uh… I-I’ll tell you what you’re looking at.”

Violet Edge took the thin yellow tube in his telekinesis and stared into it like his life depended on it. Adorabelle had caught a glimpse of the inside of the tube as it passed in front of her; the dark screen told her that it was off, and Violet Edge was basically covering his eyes with it.

“And? Your news?” Perfect Karma interrogated Clinical Cause.

Clinical Cause turned a page of his clipboard and gulped. “Um, first of all, this isn’t going to sound very… I-I mean, it doesn’t… it’s not…”

“What?!” Perfect Karma demanded.

“Ulp. S-so, um, victim was definitely slashed to death. Which, uh, you can tell.”

“Griffin claws?” Perfect Karma asked.

“Yes… um, maybe. There’s a few… well…” Clinical Cause chewed a corner of the paper nervously. “Er… um… slash patterns… there’s something off. See, griffins have four claws…”

“And what? This doesn’t?” Adorabelle asked. “Ooh, maybe it’s a dragon or a-”

“There’s well, uh, it’s complicated. See, um… the pattern… The slashes made with the left paw come in sets of four. The slashes made with the right, though… have no pattern at all. Um. And there’s fewer of them. It’s, um, like he was only… using one finger. On the right. For, um, some reason.”

“Why?” Violet Edge turned from the metal tube, being careful not to look at the corpse. “Was he holding something?”

“Maybe… don’t know.” Clinical Cause turned another piece of paper over. “The, uh, odder thing...”

“The dots?” Adorabelle asked.

“Must have been grabbing her by the head,” Perfect Karma mumbled.

“No.”Clinical Cause gasped. “I mean, maybe! Um. Good guess. Ah, yes. But, um… the weird thing is… all the dots line up. Um. And there’s two sets, and…. well… data indicates…” He took a deep breath. “Don’t hate me. I can’t think of… It really seems like…”

“Just finish it,” Perfect Karma said.

“It… looks like… a set of teeth.”

Perfect Karma lowered his eyelid. “Griffins don’t have teeth, fool.”

“Long, sharp teeth. Predator teeth. Um, the wounds are too small and long to be the claws that made the, uh… other s-slashes.”

“Long enough to, like, go in her skull on the top and come out the bottom?” Adorabelle squeaked. “Oh, Jewel…”

“It… seems consistent with a dragon bite, really. Well, sort of. Um, er, there’s a problem with that.” Clinical Cause’s hooves shook so much he dropped the clipboard. He leaned back against the table to steady himself, then continued. “Any dragon with teeth long enough wouldn’t have claws so short. And, uh… vise versa.”

“Not to mention there was NO DRAGON at the scene at all!” Perfect Karma shouted.

“I know! I know!” Clinical Cause dropped to the ground, quivering. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want it to be like this, I just thought I-”

“No! This is unacceptable! Take another look and get me a revised autopsy report, stat! One that makes actual sense.” Perfect Karma’s horn flashed briefly, making a snapping sound. “Violet! Filly! We have other evidence to examine!” He turned and strode out of the room.

Violet Edge scurried after him gratefully. Adorabelle gave Clinical Cause a sympathetic shrug and followed.

“Two hours, Clinic!” Perfect Karma shouted without turning. “Now we're going to the evidence room. Don't slow me down."

They went down a short ramp, then up another, finally arriving at the evidence room entrance.

Adorabelle had never been here before, either. She wasn’t sure what to feel, really; on the one hoof, this was her life’s dream- or one of them, anyway. It was like a trip to a theme park. On the other hoof, a dutiful public servant had just been brutally murdered…

The entrance was a small room lit with fluorescent lights. A desk ran from one end of the room almost to the other, dividing the space in half. Behind the desk was a huge picture mirror and several devices, most with blinking crystals on top. The door was straight ahead: a state-of-the-art blast door with a magic-imprint scanner next to it.

Behind the desk sat two young stallions in desk chairs. One wasn’t even as old as Adorabelle; he was a pale mint color with a small tuft of dark brown mane. His chin rested on the desk, and he was staring straight ahead, his blue eyes not looking at anything at all. He looked a bit spaced out.

The other stallion looked about in his late twenties. He was tannish brown with a jet black mane that wasn’t well combed. He wore a lighter tan trench coat and had a pencil behind one ear. He was stroking the younger officer’s head, as if his junior was a puppy.

“Open the door,” Perfect Karma said.

The younger one didn’t move, but the older officer snapped his head in their direction. “Gumshoe at your service, sir!” He tried to snap a salute, but just hit himself in the head and fell over.

“That isn’t what I asked for. Fool.” Perfect Karma stepped up to the desk and lowered his head to glare at the mint colt. “Open the door.”

The mint colt still didn’t move.

“I call he’s dead and been taxidermated,” Adorabelle said.

“You- what? Ew!” Violet Edge scooted away from her. “First, that isn’t a word. Second, you… what.. that’s just… no!”

“You will answer when I talk to you,” Perfect Karma told the colt.

The young officer finally moved. But it was to turn his head towards where Gumshoe had been before falling over, which was away from Perfect Karma.

“You little-”

“Deepest apologies, sir!” Gumshoe popped up briefly before falling over again with a thunk. When he rose into view again, he had a cable wrapped around his muzzle and neck. “Er… uh… doing maintenance on the… uh… s-security device.” He waved a hoof over his shoulder at one of the blinking crystals, making the cable sway where it attached to the wall. “Th-that’s why I picked this up, uh, sir.”

“Why is that incompetent police chief hiring brain-dead fools like this?” Perfect Karma sighed.

“Oh, he’s not brain-dead, sir, he’s just-”

“I was talking about you.”

The mint colt had started tapping the table with his hooves, like he was looking for something.

“Ooh, he’s blind!” Adorabelle said. “And deaf! That’s better than being dead, so good for him!”

“Adorabelle,” Violet Edge hissed. “Don’t say rude things like that.”

“But it’s true!”

“How can you tell?”

Adorabelle giggled. “Duh. If he wasn’t deaf, he’d tell me so.”

Gumshoe finally managed to unwind the cables. He put one forehoof protectively around his junior officer. “It’s temporary. He’ll be back to normal soon, but until then I’m helping him watch the evidence room.”

“By which you mean you’re doing his job for him?” Perfect Karma said.

“Er… yes… sir.”

“What do you mean, temporary?” Adorabelle asked. “Like, only blind and deaf for now…?”

“Another 6 hours, I think.” Gumshoe lowered his head. “It’s… a long story. I’m keeping him company because he gets nervous if he thinks he’s alone.”

“Oh, that’s even better for him,” Adorabelle said, smiling.

“If you’re really doing your job, why is the magic scanner offline?” Perfect Karma planted his hoof firmly on the blue crystal screen next to the door. “How is anypony supposed to get in?”

Gumshoe gulped. “T-the chief, he said no new ponies…”

“Your fool of a chief will just have to deal with it.” Perfect Karma leaned closer, glaring at the officer with his single eye. “Which of us do you find scarier?”

Gumshoe looked down and bit his lip.

Adorabelle didn’t understand the hesitation. She’d seen Chief Blackclap in court before, and he was an affable, cheerful older pony, even if his appearance was a bit intimidating. Perhaps it was different to be his employee.

Violet Edge also stepped up to the desk. “This is important. We’re going to be prosecuting the griffin who murdered Jewel Eye-”

“What?” Adorabelle said.

“J-Jewel Eyes…” Gumshoe turned pale. “I wish…”

“Wishes are for fools,” Perfect Karma snapped. “Door. Activated. Now.”

Violet Edge turned to Adorabelle and softly said, “Can’t you just open the door?”

“Like, does that door look unlocked to you?” Adorabelle gestured to it. “It’s got a touchpad next to it. And it, like, opens from the bottom with, like, mechanisms and stuff; I mean, I’ll never touch the actual door, so, like, I don’t think it would even work with my powers…”

The touchpad started to glow blue.

“Oh, goody! Now it’s open!” Adorabelle sent a spark of magic to the gemstone. The door started to rise, and Violet Edge headed toward it.

“You don’t have clearance!” Perfect Karma blurted.

Adorabelle gasped, and the door instantly dropped back down to the floor. Violet Edge screamed and tumbled backward, narrowly dodging the mass of falling metal.

“And I didn’t even activate it yet…” Gumshoe said.

“And even if it was, the keypad doesn’t work that way.” Perfect Karma’s eyebrow was raised; whether intentionally or not, he looked impressed. "I was just using my magic to try and turn it back on."

“Oh..." Adorabelle said. Then she worriedly turned to Violet Edge. He was still lying on his side, staring into empty space and breathing too fast.

The grinding of machinery distracted her. She looked back at the door and did a double take.

An unnaturally muscular mare stood under the door, holding it up effortlessly with one hoof.

“I heard screams,” she said apologetically. "I thought I'd have to break the door open, but it seems like it's not offering any resistance. What happened?”

“Huh-what?” Adorabelle asked. "Oh.... did I break it....?"

Gumshoe turned to the control panel. One red crystal was flashing. He sighed heavily. “Yes, it’s broken. You damaged the mechanism; now it’s just a huge slab of metal.” He turned to the gray mare and smiled. “Good thing you’re here, or everypony would be trapped inside.”

The cyan mare blinked, then smiled sadly. “Thank…”

Perfect Karma slipped under the door, brushing past the strong mare and making her gasp.

“I-I’d better make sure the chief knows it’s not our fault,” Gumshoe said, patting the mint colt on the head three emphatic times. The mint colt whimpered and started crying; as if in response, Gumshoe tugged the colt’s forehooves like it was some kind of code.

Adorabelle returned her attention to the young stallion on the floor. “Hey, Edgey. Going to be okay?”

Violet Edge hadn’t moved, but his breathing seemed more regular. He swallowed. “I-I think so.”

“Well, like, stop lying there like a tipped cow. We get to see the evidence room!” Adorabelle squeaked with excitement as she lifted Violet Edge to his hooves. The two young ponies ducked under the blast door.

“Thank you, miss…” Adorabelle said to the mare as she slipped past.

“Cinder Block. You’re welcome.” Once everypony was safely in the room, Cinder dropped the door, which shut with a loud bang.

“EEEEE!” Adorabelle screamed as she looked around. “Look at all the lockers!”

The main color of the evidence room was the purplish blue of special metal that resisted enchantment without effecting it; Adorabelle recognized it as the stuff Doctor Whooves made door handles from when he wanted to force Adorabelle to use her hooves instead of telekinesis. Each locker was a few feet taller than a normal pony and had gemstones embedded in them. Adorabelle assumed they were to mark whose locker was whose, since each had a different pattern.

“This is soooo amaze!” Adorabelle raced straight to a locker and yanked it open.

Everypony screamed, some in fright, some in warning, some in annoyance.

“Ooooh, look at all this stuff!” Adorabelle yanked a cardboard box out and started lifting pieces of evidence, all neatly bagged in plastic, into the air with telekinesis. “I had no idea there were so many kinds of evidence! Bloody knife, soda cup, crushed plant, wedding ring, soil sample... ooh, I wonder why they grabbed this alarm clock?”

“Y-you idiot!” Violet Edge screamed.

Adorabelle dropped everything to the ground in shock. The alarm clock went off.

“You complete and utter imbecile!” Violet Edge shouted over the annoying, plastic-muffled buzzing. “What part of evidence don’t you understand, you, you, you! You can’t touch it! What is wrong with you? What? Do you know nothing about-”

“You’re done now.”

This new voice made Adorabelle turn around. She gasped and started crying.

Chief Blackclap had looked smaller on the witness stand, and he hadn’t even looked small then. He was fully a head taller than Perfect Karma, had broad shoulders, and was clearly muscular. His fur was black, and his white mane curled upward except for one dangling strand that zigzagged across his forehead like a lightning bolt. He wore a loud orange jacket with two rows of shiny gold buttons, a red tie with a gold moon clipped to it, and a pair of small square purple shades. Behind the shades, his green eyes sparkled with amusement. He put one hoof around Adorabelle’s shoulder.

“Now, now, my dear shrinking Violet,” he said, stroking Adorabelle’s mane soothingly. “You can hardly blame her for being curious. This is fascinating stuff, after all.”

Adorabelle wanted him to stop petting her. But that seemed rude after he’d stood up for her.

“I, for one, think the blame obviously lies in whoever left their very important locker hanging open.” He turned, pushed the door slightly closed, and lowered his glasses, examining the gemstones. “Let’s see…”

“I-It was locked,” Gumshoe said. “I can attest to that-”

“Shut up.” Blackclap pushed his shades back up his nose and closed his eyes. “Sin and a shame. Flatfoot is normally so careful…”

“Fool.”

Blackclap’s face turned into a snarl. “Excuse me?”

Perfect Karma smirked. “I called you a fool. Want me to explain why?”

Cinder Block snuck as quietly as she could to hide behind some evidence, and succeeded at neither endeavor. Gumshoe pressed himself against the evidence room door, apparently hoping to hide.

“I-I didn’t know they were supposed to be locked,” Adorabelle squeaked. “There’s no, like, combination locks on them and the metal doesn’t-”

“Shut up,” Blackclap repeated, not even looking at her. The chief of police and the top prosecutor slowly approached each other, like old west bandits getting ready for a shootout.

“Fool.” Perfect Karma’s smirk turned into a full-on sneer. “Should listen to others once in a while. She nearly told you the answer. Call yourself a brilliant detective? What do you make of her cutie mark?”

Blackclap whirled around and frowned at Adorabelle’s cutie mark. “Same as her mother’s.”

“In form only.” Perfect Karma wagged his hoof at Blackcap tauntingly. “This little pony can unlock anything, as long as she believes it’s already unlocked.”

Blackclap frowned at Perfect Karma. “Why… haven’t you told me earlier?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure if he should be whispering or not.

There was a pause.

“Because we’re mortal enemies, you fool! I’m not going to have a lovely chat with you about my neighbor’s obnoxious daughter!” Perfect Karma rolled his eye. “I don’t have time for this. No time at all. Where are those two annoying homicide cops?”

There was a loud crash from somewhere nearby, and a scream of terror. Perfect Karma and Blackcap’s eyes widened; then, in surprising unity, both sighed and rested their heads on one forehoof, mirroring each other’s posture.

“That’s them,” Blackclap said, the anger in his voice evaporating.

“This is going to be a long day…” Perfect Karma moaned.

The two older stallions started towards the sound. Cinder came out from her hiding place and followed.

Adorabelle gasped and flounced over to Violet Edge. “The door, like, totally made me forget. What’s all this about Terry being the bad guy again? Like, why would you think that?”

Violet Edge sighed. “I was afraid of this. Look, you saw the autopsy; Jewel Eyes was obviously slashed to death, and the only other pony there… who isn’t even a suspect, mind you, was, well, a pony. Ponies don’t have claws.”

“But why would Terry kill Jewel Eyes? He, like, only killed Dahlia on accident-”

“Okay, believe whatever you want,” Violet Edge snapped. “But you know why nopony believed it was an accident?”

Adorabelle froze. “Oh… right. Jewel Eyes was a witness… and she said it wasn’t.”

“Among other elements of circumstantial evidence,” Violet Edge whispered.

“But… but…”

“I can’t believe anypony could read about as many murders as you and still be a wide-eyed idealist. Nopony could be so gullible as to-” He paused, then turned his head aside. “Okay, I do know somepony- someponies are that gullible. Never mind.”

“Hey, like, don’t insult-”

“Do you want to meet the homicide cops or not? This is important to me too.” Violet Edge wove around Adorabelle and headed down the row of lockers.

Adorabelle huffed and followed, swishing her tail with fury.

They rounded the corner to see a small disaster zone. Evidence and loose papers lay scattered all over the floor. A white mare in a police uniform was zipping around, trying to scoop things up without stopping and mostly just scooting them to other parts of the room instead. The detective Adorabelle had seen at the observatory was there, too. He was lying on the floor in an unnatural position, halfway between rolling from his side to his back. His eyes were worried, but he wasn’t trying to move.

“Um… guys?” he was saying.

“Angel Star! Goody Shoes!” Perfect Karma roared.

The white mare tried to freeze, but tripped over a cardboard box instead. Then, apparently trying to pretend she’d meant to do that, she continued the tripping motion as she turned around. She dashed up to Perfect Karma and held out her forehoof. “Angel Star. Professional detective. Parkour expert. Employee of the month. Pleasure to work with you.”

Perfect Karma looked at Angel’s outstretched hoof with disdain. “You think I’m an idiot, don’t you? I’ve got no interest in having my leg torn off. I've seen you in court; I know what you do to ponies whose hooves you shake.”

Angel scowled and pulled her hoof back. She flipped her blond bangs to the other side of her head. “Whaddaya want?”

“G-guys?” Goody Shoes tried again.

Chief Blackclap steamrolled over whatever Perfect Karma had been about to say. “We want that evidence back in the box, and we want you to not make our department look incompetent. Do I need to call you to my office?”

“It was Goody Shoes’ fault!” Angel Star whined.

Goody Shoes winced. “Please, sir, I-”

“Small correction,” Perfect Karma said. “You want the department to not look incompetent. I think it looks pretty nice this way.” He smirked.

“S-s-sir?” Goody Shoes pushed up with one forehoof, then gasped in pain.

The white jacket he wore made it easy, even in the brief moment he’d given them, to see the crimson and purple stain under his leg.

Adorabelle gasped. “Y-you’re hurt!”

“F-fell on a sample vial…” Goody Shoes gritted his teeth. “Th-think I poisoned myself… sorry…”

“Well, why didn’t you say something sooner?” Perfect Karma snapped.

“Too much talking…”

“I-I’ll go get a medic!” Gumshoe turned and started to run.

Chief Blackclap casually stuck out his hind leg. Gumshoe smacked straight into it and rolled backwards.

“We are not going to get a medic,” Chief Blackclap said. “Do you know why?”

“You want me dead?” Goody Shoes didn’t sound particularly upset at this.

“Because medics are unicorns,” Chief Blackclap said.

“Oh, well, actually-” Adorabelle said.

“And unicorns think the best solution to every problem is to point their horn at it. But we know better, don’t we?”

Perfect Karma laughed. “Oh, really? You think this is the best time for this? The Princess will be oh so understanding why your subordinate has to die.”

“I-I’ll go-” Violet Edge started.

“No.” Perfect Karma put a hoof on Violet Edge’s shoulder and forced him into a sitting position. “I want to hear this chief’s train wreck logic.”

“Good. I want you to see this, too.” Chief Blackclap examined the wound. "Purple Veil. Death won't come for another 45 minutes. Plenty of time. All right, my little ponies, front and center.” Chief Blackclap sat down and clasped his forehooves together. “Now, one of our own is injured completely of his own incompetence. What he lacks, you must make up for. Because we are a team. Understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Angel and Cinder chorused.

“And are the medics part of our team?”

Well, duh, Adorabelle thought. They all work for the same justice system.

“No, sir, no!”

“Right. Because they are unicorns. They don’t know what the word ‘team’ means; each is a team unto themselves. They think they don’t need us. Well, does the earth need unicorns?”

“No, sir, no!”

Adorabelle’s jaw dropped. She looked at Violet Edge to see if he was hearing this. He looked distressed too.

“Then get together and come up with a plan that does not use unnecessary beings!” Blackclap clapped twice, the sound echoing off the lockers.

The two mares saluted. “Hail Manehattan!”

“Hail the Jubilee!” Blackclap replied.

“And all hail the earth!” all three said.

They turned towards each other in a tight circle and whispered.

“Wh-wh-wha?” Adorabelle whispered to Violet Edge. “I thought… they’re acting like…”

“What do you expect?” Violet Edge whispered back. “They’re all ex-Manehattan Youth.”

“But… but the whole point of this was to reform them, right?”

“Make no mistake,” Perfect Karma said, narrowing his eye at the proceedings. “They will always be our enemies.”

“But…”

Angel took off like a small rocket. Cinder Block followed as fast as she could, which was not very fast.

“Beautiful,” Perfect Karma told Blackclap. “One of your men is dying on the floor, and you make a speech.”

“It was all of one minute, and I had forty-five.” Chief Blackclap pulled a pocket watch from his jacket. “What do you want to bet my team can fix this faster than your healing unicorns could, even with the speech?”

Adorabelle turned to the only earth pony who hadn’t moved. “Hey, uh… Gumshoe?”

“Mmm?”

“So, like… why aren’t you helping? Is the Youth a mare-only thing?”

Gumshoe turned to face the wall. “No.”

Adorabelle stared at him a bit longer, waiting for an explanation. When she didn’t get one, she sighed. “Ooooo…kay… uh, let’s change the subject. So, uh, like, I know it’s not a sure thing, but two pairs of shoes… I mean, uh… you and him are both named-”

“Stepbrothers,” Gumshoe whispered.

“Ooh.” Adorabelle looked over her shoulder at Goody Shoes. “And, what, you don’t like him? Did your dad, like, cheat on your mom or some-”

“All our parents are dead,” Goody Shoes said. “I can hear you, you know.”

Adorabelle spluttered. Before she could manage a coherent apology, something landed on her back. Adorabelle screamed and collapsed to the ground.

Angel landed in front of her, a few leaves in her mouth.

“Nice touch, using the spikehead as a stepping stone,” Chief Blackclap said.

“H-hey!” Violet Edge said. “Y-you… she’s… she’s a filly, you can’t hit a-”

“Accident,” Angel muttered, trotting over to her partner. She spat the leaves on the ground in front of him. “Silverleaf. Oral use.”

Goody Shoes stared at the leaves, then started to scoop them up with his tongue.

“Three minutes.” Chief Blackclap snapped his watch shut and tucked it back in his pocket. “Now, how long do healing spells take again? Ten? Fifteen?”

“We did it!” Cinder shouted as she rejoined the group. “Hooray, us!”

“And do you know how you did it?” Chief Blackclap said, smiling. “By working together. Friendship is a more powerful magic than any of those cold-hearted unicorns can ever hope to wield.”

“All hail the earth!” The three ponies gave each other high hooves.

“N-no!” Adorabelle scrambled to her hooves. “No, this isn’t how it works! Stop it!”

The officers’ expressions turned frosty. Chief Blackclap stood up at his full height and stared down at her.

“Stop what?” He smiled broadly, clearly amused. “Are you opposed to… teamwork?”

“No!”

“I guess, then, what you don’t like is… friendship?”

“No, no that wasn’t it…” Adorabelle was trying to remember why she’d objected to this line in the first place.

Oh, right. Racism. “You shouldn’t shut the unicorns out just for being unicorns!”

“…Even though self-reliance was actually faster? You want us to risk lives in the name of racial inclusion?” Blackclap’s smile was absolutely radiant.

Adorabelle opened her mouth, but Violet Edge stepped on her hoof, so she said ow instead.

“Don’t argue with him,” Gumshoe whispered in her ear. “You’ll never win.”

No, of course she could win! Nopony liked racism, right?

She took a deep breath and readied more arguments.

“No, please, don’t feed the parasprite. You’ll regret it. Really.” Gumshoe pulled back from her ear.

“Speaking of self-reliance,” Blackclap said, turning and pointing to Goody Shoes. “You. My office. 10:30.”

Goody Shoes scrambled to his hooves, then lowered his head in shame. “Sir.”

“And you-” Blackclap whirled around and pointed at Gumshoe next. “My office… 11:00.”

“What?” Violet Edge almost shouted, startling Adorabelle. “But what did he do?”

“Exactly.” Chief Blackclap swished his long white tail affirmatively, and Adorabelle noticed he’d stained the tip red. “Well, Karmy, I suppose I’ll leave you to do your oh-so-important clean up duty. I hope you learned something today.”

The two exchanged sneers as Blackclap passed on his way out.

“Please… do right by Jewel,” Cinder Block said as she, too, started leaving. “She was… my partner. Nicest unicorn I'd ever met…”

“Yes, yes, we’ll see justice is done.” Perfect Karma waved her off. “Now, what black mark of misfortune made you two the investigators again?”

“Th-there’s only so many homicides in Equestria,” Goody Shoes stammered. “There-there isn’t-”

“That was a rhetorical question. Where are the results of your investigation?” Perfect Karma looked down at the floor and sighed. “I mean besides the obvious.”

The two white detectives looked at each other and winced.

“Uh… I’ll start picking that up,” Angel said, going slower this time.

“Me, too!” Goody Shoes scooped up a bag of clothes.

“Me, three!” Adorabelle trotted over. “Ooh, look, blood samples!”

“Um…” Violet somewhat self-consciously righted a cardboard box. “Me fo--AHH!”

Everypony looked over at him. Violet Edge suddenly became interested in studying the pattern of gems on the nearby locker. “Oh, uh, nothing, it was nothing, I’m just a bit high-strung. Heh.”

“What is it? Tell meee!” Adorabelle leapt to the location and saw what was under the cardboard box. For the second time that day, she was too shocked to move.

“Wh-where did this come from?” she whimpered, looking at the bagged evidence.

“A few feet from where the victim fell,” Goody Shoes said.

“It had her hairs on it, and some of its fur was in her purse,” Angel continued. “She probably brought it there.”

“But… how?” Adorabelle whispered to herself.

It was a bear. A very familiar bear.

With a top hat.

Author's Note:

A.k.a. The chapter where I remember that Perfect Karma's catchphrase is supposed to be 'fool'.

Sorry I uploaded my chapter one week late (she said to her nonexistent audience). The original plan was to upload one chapter every Saturday, but I've missed as many deadlines as I've made.

Oh, and where did that week go? Three words: TVTropes. Philip Finder.

Comments

[Magic Step]

7449169 Sigh... you know that rule about "don't put all your exposition up front"? I obey the letter, but not the spirit, by just kicking it to later in the story.

Thanks for the constructive criticism!