//------------------------------//
// Part II, Chapter 9 - Investigation and Arrest 
// Story: Fitting In Is Hard To Do 
// by origami 
//------------------------------//

Feather Duster woke up with a horrible hangover.  She and her partner in crime, Elbow Grease, had chosen to drink away their strong feelings at a nearby bar.  There, they had recounted their tale of the last three months of working in the Crystal Palace with a changeling that called itself Thorax.  Of course, already being "three sheets to the wind", nopony believed them.

Reluctantly rising from her bed, she made her way to the bathroom of her hotel room when she tripped over a familiar box, one which contained a costume meant to make the wearer look like a changeling, complete with enchanted fabrics to allow the holes in the legs to look see-through.  Cursing, she levitated the box into a nearby closet and shut the door.

As she closed the door, a strong lurching in her stomach forced her into the bathroom, where her body expelled the poison she had consumed over several hours the previous evening.

Elsewhere, Elbow Grease was sitting in contemplative thought.  At some point in the evening prior, he had split up with Feather on less than pleasant terms.  He began to think back on the treatment he'd given the changeling, and whether or not he could actually hold him at fault for his current situation.  Ultimately, those thoughts were pushed aside as he placed a hoof to his temple and tried to alleviate the alcohol induced headache he currently sported.  He would need to deal with his current physical condition before he even considered his mental one.





Back in the infirmary, Thorax had woken up again, this time without the assistance of smelling salts.  Princess Cadance had been there to see him and ask more questions about what happened, where he told her about his certainty that it was Feather Duster and Elbow Grease who were behind the attack on him.

"We will have to investigate to be certain" the princess had told him.

Thorax had also offered an apology for his body's draining of love from nearby ponies, but Cadance had reluctantly dismissed the need for such apologies.  "I can't blame your body for doing what it has to do for you to stay alive", she said to him,"That would be like holding a grudge against a manticore or a timberwolf just because they ate other creatures to survive."  Still, he didn't like the fact that that had happened at all.

As Thorax tried to rest and recover, the door to his room opened, and a guard pony walked in.  It was a unicorn like all the other ones that had been guarding him.  However, they weren't wearing armor like most of the guards he'd seen.  Instead, they wore a dress uniform similar to what Shining Armor had worn on his wedding day.  Memory of that event also caused some feelings of guilt to well up in him; He wished he had made a better attempt at warning Canterlot about the attempted invasion than what he did.

The guard cleared their throat.  "I'm Cold Trail" the pony introduced themselves.  "I'm here to investigate the attack that was carried out against you yesterday evening.  I'm going to be asking you questions about that event, and I cannot impress upon you enough how important your truthfulness will be in answering my questions."

Thorax looked at the guard for a second before giving a simple nod in reply.

"Well then", the guard continued, getting a scroll and writing pen from an inside pocket of the uniform,"I want you to recall everything you remember from last evening.  Don't leave out any details whatsoever; Even the benign sounding things can be of the greatest help in solving a case."

Thorax took a breath before speaking.  "The two guards I was with were escorting me back to my room when we came into a hallway that didn't have working lights.  The light switch didn't work, so the one guard assumed that there was a bad fuse somewhere.  The second guard had been acting kind of weird, like fidgeting a lot, and then he said he had to go to the bathroom and ran in."

"About five seconds or so after he did, two figures dropped down from the ceiling.  One was in front of the door to the bathroom and was holding it shut, and the other dropped behind me and the first guard.  The second figure hit both me and the guard with stunning spells, but the armor protected the guard from the worst effects and he got back to his hooves quickly."

Cold Trail raised a hoof to pause Thorax.  "Please describe the attackers for me" Trail asked.

"Well, they looked like changelings", Thorax answered,"but they weren't."

"They weren't?", Cold Trail questioned,"Could you elaborate please?"

"They were all black, and it looked like they had holes through their legs, but everything else was off.  Their chitin wasn't glossy like mine is, their wings didn't help slow their descent from the ceiling, and I could faintly make out what looked like pony eyes behind their regular eyes."

"Hmm", Cold Trail though,"That does sound like a costume with some kind of enchantment on it.  Continue telling the story, please."

Thorax did as asked.  "When he got up, the second changeling tackled him to the ground and knocked him out.  The second ordered the first to keep the bathroom door shut while they fed on the guard, but they bickered until the second told the first to go into the bathroom and feed on that guard."

"And then this second changeling fed on the guard?" Cold Trail inferred.

"Yes, and no" Thorax answered, causing Cold Trail to raise an eyebrow.  "It wasn't a real feeding", Thorax explained,"When..."  Thorax was hesitant.

"Please", Cold Trail insisted,"As I said, any small details can be of help."

Thorax let out a breath and decided to continue.  "When changelings feed, the pony needs to be conscious and feeling emotions.  Often times, the changeling casts a hypnosis spell and wills the pony into feeling love and happiness, and then they start to drain.  The guard was out like a light when this changeling fed, and the 'love' coming out of the guard didn't look like what real love does when it's pulled out of the body."

"And I take it that you know this from experience?" Cold Trail said rather pointedly.  Thorax only nodded.

"But I haven't done that since I got here!", Thorax said,"At least, not voluntarily."

"Not voluntarily?" Cold questioned.

"It's hard to explain" Thorax said as he made an attempt to explain.  "It's kind of like... when you learn to use the bathroom as a foal, and eventually your body learns to control itself so it doesn't just go whenever, even when you're asleep, but if you get knocked out cold, you can lose all control and make a mess of yourself."

Cold nodded in understanding.  "Not the best example to use", the guard said,"but I understand your point.  Continue, please."

"The first one came out of the bathroom and they made it clear they were going to attack me, so I tried to escape, but they hit me with another stunning spell and threw me into a wall.  That's when they grabbed some weapons and began beating me."

"What kinds of weapons?" asked Cold.

"One was a mace", Thorax answered,"and the other was a club with spikes on the end.  They looked like weapons a minotaur would use, but they were using telekinesis to hold them, which is the other thing."

"Oh?" Cold responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Changelings all have the same color magic", he explained,"I'm gonna just ignite mine so you can see it, okay?"

Cold looked at him nervously for a moment, then replied "As long as that's all you do."

Thorax gave a small nod and ignited his horn.  Immediately, a green aura enveloped it, causing the guard to flinch slightly.  A second later, and he extinguished it.

"Okay", Cold finally responded,"I'm guessing that you're telling me this because the aura you saw was a totally different color?"

"Not just that", Thorax explained,"The aura from the both of them I recognized.  One was the same color as Feather Duster used, and the other matched Elbow Grease."

"Feather and Elbow?", Cold asked,"The two ponies from the cleaning staff that were just fired?"

Thorax nodded, then added "I'm sure they probably blame me for what happened, and I think they wanted revenge."

Cold hummed and nodded, and took down some notes.  "Is that everything?"

"Pretty much", Thorax replied,"They beat me some more and then at some point, I got concussed and blacked out."

Cold nodded.  "Okay.  That should be all I need.  If you should remember anything else, tell the guard to summon me."  With that, Cold Trail left.





Shining Armor rubbed at his temples as he looked at the evidence laid before him.  Testimony of his guards, and the testimony of the changeling named Thorax.  Of course, the changeling's testimony contradicted the guards.  He wouldn't have expected anything different.  What he didn't expect was what was laid in front of him.

In spite of the testimony of the guards, all of the forensic evidence pointed to something the captain of the royal guard never expected and could hardly believe:

Thorax, a changeling, was telling the truth.

It was a hard pill to swallow, not just because it went against everything that Shining Armor believed about changelings, but represented an unwelcome and very ugly truth - there was corruption in the ranks of his guard.  Gritting his teeth and slamming a hoof onto the table which held the various testimonies of guards and palace staff and the two weapons used to carry out the attack, he resolved to rectify the situation.

First, he would need to arrest the two ponies who were most responsible for the attack.  Looking over a forensic report, he noted the names of the ponies whose magic signatures were found on the weapons: Feather Duster, Elbow Grease, and Ouium, the caretaker for the museum.  The last name stung for Shining; Ouium was a friend that had went through guard training with Shining, and was unfortunately put into early retirement because of an injury to his horn during a manticore attack.  The thought of having to arrest him, and for corruption no less, brought up a lot of mixed feelings within the captain.  But, alas, Shining had to adhere to his sense of duty.  He elected to carry out the warrant himself.

Once they were addressed, Shining handed them off to another guard with instruction to execute them immediately; He had no doubt that Feather and Elbow had plans to leave the empire as soon as possible.  Once outside the Crystal Empire, they would be able to run in practically any direction they chose, and would likely not be caught for some time, and possibly never depending on where they went.





Feather had only just gotten over the worst of her hangover and was cleaning herself up when she heard frantic banging at her door.  Cursing the interruption, she went to the door and opened it to see Elbow Grease staring at her with a strong hint of fear on his face.

"We need to leave, now!" he barked at the mare as he pushed past her and began looking through a pair of saddlebags near the front door.

"Elbow, calm down!", Feather called to him,"What's going on?"

"They know, Feather!", he shouted at her,"The guard have warrants for both of us!  I was walking back when I saw the guard break into my apartment!  They're ransacking the place now, and I just know they're gonna find the costume you gave me!"

Feather adopted a very sour look.  "Dammit!", she cursed,"I have no time to pack.  Go into my closet and grab the other costume.  We're leaving now!"

"Forget the costume!", Elbow spat at her,"Grab your bags and let's get going!"

Feather levitated her saddlebags onto her back and both stallion and mare left out the door.





Shining walked down to the office for Ouium, hesitant about what he must do.  Having to do something like this to a friend was hard, but ignoring his potential involvement would be making him just as corrupt as any of the ponies in the guard that had allowed for the horrible act of violence to happen in the first place.  As he neared the door, he steeled his nerves as best he could.  Finally outside the door, he raised a hoof and rapped it against the door.

"Come in, please" called out a familiar voice.  Shining took the door knob in his magic and opened it.  Inside the room, sitting at a desk doing paperwork, was Ouium.  The stallion looked up and gave a smile of recognition to his friend.  "Shining", he said,"This is a surprise.  What can I do for you?"

Shining continued to steel his expression, trying not to let his emotions impede his duty.  "I'm sorry about this, Ouium", he began,"but I'm afraid I'm here to put you under arrest."

Ouium looked at Shining in shock, then began to laugh.  "Oh, that's a good joke Shining!", he responded,"You really had me for a second."

Shining's expression didn't falter.  "No, Ouium, I'm not joking."

Ouium's laughing slowly stopped, and the surprised expression came across his face again.  "On what charges?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, conspiracy to commit a violent act in the palace" Shining told him.

Ouium went wide eyed.  "What?!", he said with shock,"How did I do that?!"

Shining read over his notes on the arrest warrant.  "According to a forensic report, traces of your magic were found on two weapons from the museum that were used in an assault against the changeling my wife and I gave a temporary asylum here a few months ago."

Ouium looked at Shining Armor with confusion.  "No offense, Captain Shining Armor", he began,"but of course my magic would be on the weapons.  I take care of the museum!"

Shining didn't have a rebuttal.  What he said was true, but there was other evidence he hadn't disclosed.  "That's true, but your magic is the only magic on the locks for the display case these weapons were in."

Ouium still defended himself.  "Yes, they would be.  Again, I take care of the displays."

Shining put a hoof to his head, feeling a headache coming on.  "Look, Ouium", he addressed his friend,"If this is really just some misunderstanding, then please just come along and help us clear things up.  I won't even put manacles on you."

Ouium thought it over for a moment, then agreed, following the captain to the barracks office.





Feather and Elbow were running through the streets of the Crystal Empire, both hoping to get to the train station and sneak onto the baggage car.  If they managed to get there and into the car undetected, they had a very good chance at escaping for good.

"Hurry up, Elbow!" Feather barked at him, her voice a whisper, but a loud whisper at that.

"I am!" the stallion spat back in his own loud whisper, limping along after twisting his hoof in a storm drain.  The stallion grunted with each hoofstep, his fetlock throbbing with pain as it pressed down.  As much as it hurt, it was fortunately unbroken.

The pair trudged along, doing their best to avoid the patrols of the royal guard, slowly working their way towards the train station.  Several crystal ponies in the street looked at them with confusion in their eyes.  A mare and stallion together wasn't unusual at all, but the mare having a very perturbed expression being flanked by an injured stallion?  Certain questions could be raised about a situation like that.

As the pair rounded a corner, they stopped dead in their tracks.  A patrol of guards was in the street, and they were showing papers to different ponies who they stopped in passing.  Feather and Elbow tried to duck into an alleyway, but we too slow to do so.  A stallion looked up and recognized the two as they backed up, and he quickly turned the guard's attention to them.  They heard an authoritative "HALT!" as they spun around and traveled down the alleyway, soon followed by the stomping of metal-clad hooves.

Feather and Elbow were now in a mode of panic, trying to devise a solution to their predicament.  Unfortunately, none presented themselves.  For now, they just had to keep running.

Elbow found the task of continuing to run to become rather troublesome.  His fetlock was becoming more injured with each step he took.  Before long, it would be in too much pain for him to ignore and he would have to try and gallop on three legs.

The pain also caused him to reconsider his current situation.  The day before, he'd been fired from his job, and now he was on the run from the royal guard.  These two things had only one thing in common: Feather Duster.

The mare knew he didn't like changelings, and had been rather eager to encourage him to express his viewpoints in more physical ways.  The worst was after he had been fired and she talked him into that plan to kill the changeling.  She'd taken his hate for changelings and made him an accomplice to murder.  In that moment of reflection, he made a choice.

"Feather, stop!"

The mare stopped in her tracks and spun around.

"Elbow, we don't have time for this!" she spat at him.

"I'm not going any further with you!", he proclaimed,"Ever since I started listening to you, nothing but bad stuff has happened to me!  I was fired from my job and told by the princess I won't get a good recommendation from her!  That would make a difference if I were gonna be getting another job soon, but now I might have to worry about rotting away in the dungeons because I helped you kill that changeling!"

"I'm drawing the line, Feather!  I'm not helping you anymore!"

Feather stared at him with venom in her eyes.  "So that's how you're going to be?"

"I'm sorry, Feather, but if we give up now, maybe they'll take it easier on us."

Feather just gave him a cold stare.  "Then I guess you leave me no choice."

Before Elbow could ask what she meant, her horn flashed and a stunning spell hit the stallion square in the chest.  Elbow fell to the ground in a gasping heap as Feather turned and continued her escape.  The stallion could only watch with wide eyes as the mare left him there to fend for himself.

A few moments later, the guards caught up with him, and he was arrested.





Captain Shining Armor was currently sitting in the observation room used for observing the interrogation chamber where the royal guard would question ponies suspected of crimes.  In said room was his friend Ouium, who sat at a table with a cup of tea and a danish before him.  The blue maned stallion was rubbing the area below his horn, a headache emerging from the stress of the last twelve hours or so.

He had done a preliminary questioning of his friend, which did not turn up any results.  Ouium had no explanation for why the display case was unlocked or the state of the weapons, despite the fact he was shown evidence that they had been tampered with.

Moreover, the stallion found it hard to believe that the two accused ponies had handled the weapons, as well as the fact that they were used on the changeling allowed to stay in the palace.  A quick review of the forensic record, which confirmed that both ponies had handled the weapons AND the blood on the club matched blood taken from bandages used on the changeling were from the same source, made the stallion turn white.

Now, Shining decided to wait until he got a mage to run a truth spell on his friend.  He didn't want to believe that the stallion could be capable of conspiring to commit such an act, but he could not rule out the possibility, even if he wasn't exactly opposed to seeing a changeling getting their comeuppance for what happened on his wedding day.

A door near the end of the hallway leading to the two rooms opened, and in walked a light blue mare with yellow eyes.

"Recruit Diving" Shining Armor addressed the mare.

"Captain!" she returned, giving a sharp salute.  Shining returned the salute just as sharply.

"I take it your commanding officer briefed you on your task here?" Shining asked her.

"Yes, sir!", she answered,"I am to conduct a truth sensing spell on Retired Commander Ouium as per investigation into an assault occurring here in the palace."

"Good", Shining acknowledged,"As I'm sure you are aware, the information you will be hearing is part of an ongoing investigation, and therefore you must not relay any of that information to anypony except those with appropriate clearance or authorization.  Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" she confirmed.

"Good", Shining said as he gestured towards the interrogation room,"Let's begin."  The mare and stallion both walked into the interrogation room Ouium was sitting in.  The stallion looked up at them, a look of frustration upon his face.

"Look, Shining", he addressed his friend,"I don't know how many times I can say it, but I am not involved in whatever shenanigans are going on!  I thought we've been through this already?"

Shining adopted a frown.  "I know, and I'm sorry", Shining answered,"but I have to do my job and investigate this matter completely.  Now, Mage Night Divining here is going to be conducting the truth sensing spell on you, so please just sign off on the boilerplate."

The stallion looked at the paper presented to him, then took the offered pen and signed his name.  Once everything was official, Night lit up her horn and cast her spell on Ouium.  However, something wasn't right.

"What the?" Night said in confusion.

"Is there a problem, Night?" Shining asked.

"I'm not sure, sir", she answered,"It seems like there might be some kind of spell on Commander Ouium currently."

Shining looked confused.  "Can you analyze it?"

"I'll try" she told Captain Shining Armor, then turned to Commander Ouium.  "Sir, do you mind if I run a simple diagnostic spell on you?"

The stallion gave a shrug.  "If it gets me out of here and back to my job, I'm all for it."

Night gave a nod and ran her spell.  Almost immediately, an aura of energy surrounded the stallion's head, its glow matching the glow of two other magic auras the captain had seen before.  Understanding what was happening, Shining asked his recruit "What kinds of spells have they ran on him?"

"One moment, sir" she told him as she set about examining the framework of spells conducted on the stallion in question.  Shining watched as the aura shifted about in the air, showing clearly that Night was manipulating the spells in order to determine what they were supposed to do.  After a minute, the auras disappeared, and Night sat back with a solemn look on her face.

"What is it?" Shining asked the mage.

"Nothing good, sir", she replied,"He was put under a hypnosis spell about twenty-four hours ago, and also had a memory wipe charm placed upon him.  The unicorn that did this was clearly trying to cover their tracks."

"And I'm guessing the charm interfered with the truth sensing spell?" Shining inferred.

"That it did, sir" Night confirmed.

"Then I guess I have new charges to bring against those two unicorns."

"One unicorn", Night informed him,"By what I've seen in the evidence report, Feather Duster was the one responsible for this."

"I see", Shining responded,"Can you undo these spells so we can get a better idea of what's going on here?"

"I'll need some time, sir", Night told him,"The framework for each spell is knotted together, and trying to undo them at the same time could have detrimental effects on the pony they were cast on.  I'll need to undo them very carefully before I can dispel them."

"Then I task you with taking care of that", Shining told her,"Meanwhile, I have some more charges to add to the arrest warrants."

"Yes, sir!" Night answered back as her superior left the interrogation room.





Feather Duster was ran ragged.  After narrowly escaping a patrol of royal guards, she elected to find a place to catch her breath.  According to her map, she was very near the train station, but she would have to hurry; The next train to leave the empire was disembarking in five minutes.  If she missed it, she'd be stuck there for another six hours before another came, more than enough time to be caught by the guard if they swept over the entire empire like she was sure they were doing now.

Looking around a corner, the mare could see a squad of guards standing around outside the main entrance to the station, showing the ponies passing by a photo of the mare.  Fortunately, nopony recognized her.

Feather sat back and weighed her options.  She couldn't go into the station through a main entrance, nor could she go in through one of the employee only areas, as they were also likely to be monitored by guards.  The best option she could think of was either a disguise or diversion.

An opportunity presented itself when a pony started pushing a luggage cart towards the train platform.  This gave Feather her chance.  A simple blast of telekinesis to scatter the bags around the platform, and the guards would be busy helping to clean up the mess, giving her a chance to sneak into the baggage car nopony the wiser.  The mare proceeded to charge up a spell.

"YOU!"

Feather flinched and turned to look at the voice calling out.  It was a guard, and he had spotted her.  In her moments of contemplation, she'd failed to properly look around to see who might've been watching.  Now, she was as good as caught.  Even if she managed to fire off the spell and get to the train, the guards would know she was on it and either prevent it from disembarking, or stop it a short ways down the line to do a check of it.  The mare now had only one option left: fight it out.

Changing spells, Feather blasted the guard in the chest.  The spell connected and tossed the guard back, but hadn't done much else.  Before they could recover, she made a mad dash back towards the empire, electing to regroup as soon as she found a safe hiding place.

At least, that's what she would've done, were she not immediately surrounded by pegasus guards.

"Feather Duster, you are hereby under arrest!", the lead guard addressed her,"Get down on the ground with your hooves spread!"

Feather weighed her options and chose to continue fighting it out.  She sent a spell at the lead guard, paralyzing his wings and making him drop the short distance to the ground.  She made a move to gallop back towards the empire, but was suddenly hit hard in the chest with a stunning spell; She was too focused on the guards in the air she failed to notice that they'd been backed up by ground forces.

The body of Feather Duster fell to the street, frozen solid.  The guards quickly moved in and secured their prisoner.