//------------------------------// // Subject 138: Case Of The Comic // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// “Boss, are you serious?” Cork looked at me as if I was crazy. (I probably was, but that wasn’t the point.) “That’s a fictional character!” I pointed to the cover of his comic book. “Yes, but don’t you see? The hair color is an exact match. I know it’s not a lot to go off of, but do you remember the incident with the bugbear?” Quick got up from her spot on the floor, and looked at the nearby corkboard which contained lots of pinned bits of evidence that we had discussed so far. One of which was the situation involving the bugbear. “Wait a minute--I remember now. It was a few months ago, but somepony managed to reverse-summon a bugbear from a book of some kind, right?” “Precisely, good guess,” I replied with a nod, “It could mean that this particular character has been summoned from a comic book in order to wreak havoc.” Cork looked through his comic and flipped through the pages. “Huh...but why this one? Last I checked, this series didn’t have powers that could provide much use in the real world.” “To the untrained eye? No,” I said as I tapped my eyelid, “But if one is attentive enough to realize the sheer potential that something like this has...then we’re all possibly in danger.” Ever the voice of reason, Quick interjected us. “Hang on, hang on. First off--let’s assume that this is real, alright. How does it explain the lack of any traceable hoofsteps at the scenes?” And I would bounce off her assessment with one of my own. “Isn’t it obvious? This individual doesn’t walk around on their hooves at all. It would’ve been impossible to track them down. But the hair in the photograph of Elytra’s cell is pretty damning evidence of what occurred.” Despite this, Quick was a bit skeptical. “Okay, okay. I’ll buy that, and the fact that this is even plausible. But what I’m most concerned about is the fact that--whoever this is has managed to siphon off the magic of both Neighsay and this new changeling.” She rubbed her hoof against the side of her head as she thought about it. “To be able to control such power is...well it demands a lotta fortitude and determination to not overtax oneself.” That’s when Cork jumped back into the conversation with a rather cryptic phrase. “‘Anypony can stand adversity. But if you want to test somepony’s character, give them power…’ You know who said that?” I was only able to take a stab at it. “An important political figure of the past, I’m sure.” “Eh, sorta.” The pegasus shrugged, and went on. “Anyway, this kind of power is immense. A freak of nature. Daybreaker, while damn near omnipotent, was unable to control her abilities with any sort of skill because she was so violent and lacked any sense of composure in order to properly make tactical decisions in the heat of a moment. Whoever this is...is definitely out to try me, you, us--hard.” A scary thought for sure. But we wouldn’t know until we gathered enough evidence. And just as well...what could have caused that avalanche at the Sire’s Hollow resort? Just like the two prisoner-related deaths, that situation also originated from an unexplained phenomenon that was completely manufactured. There were zero signs of any earthquake or snow-related activity and the pegasus weather team of that region had nothing to report on any heavy storms. Was it possible that the same culprit was involved? Hm... That’s when we heard a knock at the front door to our office. “Hm?” My ear flicked. I decided to go ahead and check it out for myself. “Hello?” As I walked to the front of the building, I could see Starlight Glimmer outside in her winter clothes. The snow had kicked up fairly hard, so I was surprised to see that she had shown up. “Miss Glimmer? What’s the matter?” I asked as I opened the door. She entered, and scraped her hooves against the welcome mat. “Thank you. And nothing’s wrong. I’m just here to check up on you. How was your vacation? Did you have a happy Hearth’s Warming?” Well that was a surprise. To be quite honest, I had gotten the impression that she didn’t care about me as an individual and was only concerned about whatever potential damage I could cause. So it was nice to see that she desired to check on my well-being. I closed the door, and responded. “Yes I did, thank you. Since I was able to take some time away from work and reflect upon myself, I have a clear head, and I’m ready to return with a more sound state of mind.” “That’s great,” she said with a smile, “If that’s the case, I assume you’ve already heard about the situation with Elytra and the fact that she has appeared to be dead as well?” I nodded. “Correct. I wished that I could have found out more about her before that happened, but alas…” Starlight went on. “I see. In that case, I want you to know that I have your support one-hundred percent from this moment onwards.” What? Where’d that sentiment come from? From the corner of my eye, I could also see Quick and Cork with equally confused gazes on their faces as they looked at each other. “Excuse me?” I asked with a hesitant gaze. The unicorn put a hoof to her chest. “Well, obviously you’re a far more capable officer than I gave you credit for. Able to realize your own flaws and act upon them with logic instead of emotion like a mature pony. You’re quite the cut above the rest, even if your own issues were mostly self-inflicted--somepony such as yourself is surely not going to repeat the same mistakes. Am I right?” she tilted her head with a raised brow. Why did that compliment feel so...backhoofed? As if it was a warning to not mess up ever again lest I be scrutinized and outcast? Or did I read too far into her words? Maybe what she said at face value was true as is and there was no need for my petty emotional concern. Gah, some ponies can be so difficult to read. All I said in response was, “Understood. You won’t have anything to worry about.” To be quite honest, I was still suspicious. What did she think of me at this point? Did she even trust me? Was I still somepony that needed to be watched over? No...don’t fall back into it, Pale. Not worth it. “Anything else?” “That’s all. I just came to make sure you were up and running as usual,” she said as she turned to leave, “Do your best to keep our world safe, Pale. But don’t endanger yourself in the process.” And she left without another word. I didn’t say anything. I simply waved as she left to make sure I avoided being rude. Once she was gone, I heard Cork comment from behind me. “Yeesh. What was her problem?” he scoffed, “Tch. It’s like she’s got nothing better to do than spy on you.” Quick was a bit more understanding, however. “Well to be honest, Pale has been a bit of a loose cannon--trust me, I’ve been there. She’s probably just concerned and wants to make sure nothing else bad happens.” Cork rolled his eyes and folded his hooves as he hovered in mid-air. I could see it. The orange pegasus didn’t buy it at all, but chose to drop it. Likely to avoid an unnecessary conflict on our first day back together. “Yeah, yeah...so what were we doing again?” Yes. That was a valid question. Now wasn’t the time to get worked up over critique. This case was about to be cracked wide open, and we needed more evidence to support our--well, my claim. It was a claim so outrageous that even Twilight wouldn’t believe it unless I had hard proof to back it up. So the question--as Cork asked--what was our next move? The answer was simple. I looked at the pegasus with newfound will. “Cork. You head to Canterlot and investigate the scene. Report back with any details you uncover regarding that hair. If my estimation is correct, and the fiend really is from one of your books...then you’d logically be the first to figure it out.” He saluted with a stalwart gaze. “On it, boss.” Then I looked at the earth pony mare. “Quick. I need you to stay here within Ponyville and prod folks for answers about anything out of the ordinary they’ve seen or heard.” “Normally, I don’t question orders,” she replied in a hesitant tone, “...but how will this relate to the case?” “Remember the magic used to summon the gargoyle we fought off?” I asked, “I’m convinced that that incident is also a part of this as well. Call it intuition, but I just have this feeling that if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to find somepony that has witnessed similar forms of magic.” The gears slowly turned in her head until she came to a conclusion. “Alright. And what about you?” “Me? I’m gonna go see Cozy. Not only does she need to be aware of this, but part of me feels as if she knows something related to untapped, hidden power. Given what she did with the Bewitching Bell…” “Heh. Guess we’re off once more, eh?” Cork asked as he put on his red coat to get ready to fly through the snow. “Team 10 is back on the beat.” Quick put her coat on and rolled her eyes. “Just don’t stress out the princess while you’re over there…” “I won’t!” Cork protested as he left the building, “You just focus on your social skills--or lack thereof,” he teased and stuck out his tongue as he flew away. One of her eyes twitched, and Quick sighed. “Gah. Whatever. I’ll be on my way then, Pale.” She gave a half-hearted salute as she left. “Be seeing you,” I said as I got my coat on, locked the door, and left. It may have been the middle of winter, but this case was about to get hot.