Moondancer jolted awake as the train pulled into the Ponyville train station. She reached up and pushed her glasses back into place; they tended to slide down her muzzle a bit when she dozed off. As the hiss of steam quieted, ponies chattered among themselves and began heading for the exit. Lyra was seated next to her, and was folding up a newspaper she had been reading during most of the trip. She stuffed it back into her shoulder bag and stood up from her seat. A small bag of peanuts (now empty) was left behind on the seat. Moondancer used her magic to crumple it up and toss it into a trash bin in the aisle next to them.
Lyra walked into the aisle and stretched out her front legs. With a flash of golden magic from her horn, she withdrew an ID badge from her bag and lowered it over her head. It fell into place as she turned around to grab her bag.
“You ready to go, Dancer?” she asked, slinging her bag around her neck and over her shoulder.
Moondancer shook her head loose of sleep. She stood up and yawned.
“Yes, sorry I fell asleep. Didn’t get a ton of sleep last night.”
Lyra nodded and then gestured with her head toward the exit. Moondancer followed her partner to the train car’s side door and out onto the platform.
It was evening now; the sun wasn’t setting yet, but it would soon. The station was rather small, much smaller than back home in Canterlot. Besides the ponies that had just exited the train, there weren’t too many ponies around. The evening breeze blew across the station, making an assortment of flowers dance around in the grass. Looking up, Moondancer could see a couple pegasi moving some clouds around. She scanned around and noted a few more flying off in the distance. It wasn’t unusual to see pegasi, there just weren’t usually that many flying around the skies of Canterlot. Mostly unicorns in that city.
Moondancer felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to Lyra to see that she had donned a pair of jet black sunglasses. An outstretched green hoof held another pair in front of Dancer.
“It’s almost sunset, Lyra.” Moondancer gently pushed her partner’s hoof away. Lyra shook her head. She leaned over and placed the shades over Moondancer’s glasses.
“I don’t like sunglasses!” said Moondancer, trying to shove Lyra away to no avail.
“Come on now, we’re supposed to match. Besides, we can’t be super cool secret agents without these.” Lyra grinned and began walking toward town. Moondancer groaned and followed behind her.
“I think I see our contact, let’s go see what’s up!” said Lyra, trotting along the dirt path coming off the train station. Moondancer looked ahead and recognized the pony they were approaching.
Pinkie Pie stood in the middle of the road. She was holding a paper sign in her mouth and humming a soft tune, bobbing her knees in rhythm with her song. She had a pair of saddlebags on her sides, hot pink with her balloon cutie mark emblazoned on the outside of each. They bounced around as she bobbed up and down.
She waved as Lyra and Moondancer approached, and her sign became readable to the duo:
“Welcome Lyra & New Partner”
Pinkie folded up her sign and placed it into her right saddle bag. She then turned around and stuck her hoof into the left one, pulling out a small tin with a bow on top of it.
“Hey Lyra!” said Pinkie, “good to see you!” She turned to Moondancer and smiled. “Moondancer! It’s good to see you again! Are you Lyra’s new partner?”
“Yes, Agent Dancer at your service. It’s nice to see you too, Pinkie.” Moondancer gave a gentle smile to her pink friend.
“Wow, Agent Dancer! That sounds so cool!” Pinkie beamed at the pair of agents.
Lyra nudged her partner.
“See, we’re like totally awesome secret agents.”
“I guess if I was an agent, I would be Agent Pie!” said Pinkie, chuckling afterwards.
Lyra laughed. Moondancer grinned and nodded her head. Agent Pie. I think I have just the position for you too. It’s a job where you go catch monsters in the forest, or something.
“Anyways, thanks for coming on such short notice you guys! I brought you both a cookie from work!” Pinkie held out the tin.
“Oh that’s quite alright-” Moondancer began.
“Aw, thanks Pinks!” said Lyra, cutting her partner off. She grabbed the container and pried it open. Her horn began to glow softly as two cookies levitated out of the tin. They were little doughy cookies coated with a neat swirl of rainbow icing and peppered liberally with shining blue sprinkles. Lyra flung one into her mouth and let out a satisfied “mmmmm”. She levitated the other one gently on top of Moondancer’s muzzle.
Moondancer used her magic to lift the cookie off her nose, her mouth scrunching up in frustration.
“As I was trying to say,” Moondancer said dryly, “thank you Pinkie, but I really shouldn’t.”
“Oh my goooooooosh Dancer!” Lyra groaned. She tipped her sunglasses down and shot her partner an irritated look. “These are free cookies! From Pinkie, who’s like the best baker I know!”
“Why, thank you!” Pinkie interjected.
Moondancer frowned. She levitated the cookie so it was eye level with her.
“Live a little bit, partner,” said Lyra.
Fine. Rest in peace my diet. Again. Moondancer sighed, rolled her eyes, and popped the cookie into her mouth. Her eyes instantly lit up. The cookie was soft as a cloud, and the icing was creamy and super sweet. She couldn’t help but crack a smile. It was like a symphony of flavor in her mouth.
“Oh my goodness. Lyra you weren’t kidding, these are amazing.” She looked at Pinkie. “You should enter these in a contest or something.”
Lyra nodded in agreement. Pinkie curtsied with a big grin on her face.
“You’re a gem, Pinks,” said Lyra, “let’s walk and talk. What’s goin’ on with this case?” Pinkie began walking, the pair of unicorns following beside her.
“Well, first of all, I’m actually not a gem. I’m a pony. But anyway, it’s about Fluttershy. Some crazy monster walked right up to her cottage last night and scared the life out of her! Then it ran off into the forest, and no one has been able to find it! It’s like it just vanished! Poof!” Pinkie emphasized her sound effect with a hoof gesture.
“What kind of monster are we talking?” asked Lyra. “A hydra? Golem? Dragon?”
Pinkie shook her head. “That’s the weird part. The way Fluttershy described the monster was…spotty.”
Lyra raised an eyebrow. “The monster had spots?”
“I think she means the description of the monster was spotty,” said Moondancer.
Pinkie nodded. “She was all over the place.”
The trio hit the town square and turned, heading toward Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Alright,” said Moondancer, “so her testimony was inconsistent. How so, exactly?”
“Well, it was…” Pinkie began, but trailed off. She scratched her chin and thought for a moment. “I can’t remember the whole thing exactly. It’s probably best if you hear it from her yourself. But basically she kept describing the monster differently. It has horns, it doesn’t have horns, it has big teeth, no teeth, wings, pointy tail, TWO pointy tales…you get the idea.”
“Hrm…” Lyra was giving Moondancer a knowing look.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Lyra.
Moondancer nodded her head. The victim was probably recalling her assailant incorrectly. That’s pretty common. Plus it was at night so visibility would have been lower, and it sounds like it happened rather quickly.
“Well Pinkie,” said Lyra, “I think we may be dealing with a creature with the ability to manipulate memories.”
Moondancer stopped in her tracks and shot Lyra a look of concern.
“Such a creature could use this ability to muddle its identity. That’s why Fluttershy can’t seem to pin down the specifics.” Lyra stopped, noticing Moondancer was no longer walking beside her.
“You coming, Dancer?”
She turned around to see a flustered Moondancer trotting her way.
“Okay, I was definitely not thinking what you were thinking,” said Moondancer as she closed the gap between herself and her partner.
“Really? I thought we were on the same page for a minute there.”
“Yeah, no. I have no idea WHAT page YOU were on, but it certainly isn’t in any book I’ve read.”
“Alright, then what do you have in mind?”
Moondancer adjusted her glasses. “She’s probably recalling the culprit incorrectly.”
Lyra thrust a hoof into the air. “Because her mind was scrambled by the monster!”
Pinkie gasped loudly.
Moondancer let out an exasperated grunt and slapped Lyra’s hoof out of the air.
“Because she was scared and it happened quickly!”
“Okay! Okay!” said Lyra, wincing slightly and shaking the hoof that Moondancer smacked. “That’s a solid theory, but we won’t know for sure until we hear the story from the source.”
Lyra motioned toward their destination, which was now just a ways in front of the trio. It was a quaint cottage, surrounded by trees and flower beds. A small stream flowed through the middle of the front yard, with a little bridge connecting the path into town to the path up to the cottage’s doorstep. A couple of ducks were floating in the water.
“I think the monster was a shapeshifter!” proclaimed Pinkie.
“I think that’s a better theory than Lyra’s.” Moondancer gave her partner a snarky smile.
“I think I want another cookie,” said Lyra, returning Moondancer’s sass.
“Okay be right back!” yelled Pinkie.
Moondancer turned around to tell Pinkie to ignore Lyra’s comment, but the pink pony was gone. Off in the distance, the agents could see that Pinkie was already halfway back to town.
“Goodness, she’s fast.” Moondancer marvled at the now faraway Pinkie.
“I know, right?” Lyra laughed to herself as she levitated her sunglasses up on top of her head. “You ready to do this?”
Moondancer levitated her sunglasses off and hung them on the collar of her shirt. She nodded, and the two unicorns headed toward the cottage.