I stared at the orange alicorn in the funky bluish-green luminescence of the cave…
I suddenly wonder where the word luminescence comes from when Sunny speaks. “Well, we were playing board games!” She says as she stares at the small green pony with her wings and horn…
Jessi nods at me, “Yeah, we were playing board games!”
I widen my eyes as I stare at the alicorn… I’m not sure why I’m asking questions? Investigation sounds hard! Still, I keep at it! I mean, I’m a deputy now! That’s what I need to do, right? I blink, “Okay! Board games! Right! Uh, what does that have to do with the weird cave we’re in, anyway? Why are you here?”
Sunny looks at me and widens her eyes, “Well, I wanted to go for a shake!”
Jessi adds, “Which is weird, cause she makes smoothies!”
Sunny nods, “Well, right! But even I like a change of pace every once in a while!”
I nod, “Okay, so you two leave Sunny’s house for the milkshake bar! Wherever that is? That still doesn’t explain why you’re here!” I say as my body begins to vibrate… That happens to me sometimes!
Sunny sighs, “Well, I started keeping the staff inside my saddlebags!”
“The Staff of Opening!” Jessi interjects.
Sunny nods, “Right! That!”
I widen my eyes as I have no idea what any of this means, but I don’t wanna interrupt either, so I just let her go on…”
Sunny widens her eyes, “Well we were walking further into town towards the shop, when suddenly, my saddlebag starts vibrating!”
“Okay!” I nod. “And then what?”
“Well, the staff raised from the bag itself and it blasted Jessi with some sort of strange blue light!”
“It was scary!” Jessi adds.
I’m pretty sure she’s right because that does sound kinda scary! I shake my head while the alicorn continues talking, “Then, Jessi and the staff go flying through the air to the edge of town!”
I widen my eyes, “Oh, wow!”
Sunny nods, “Yeah! Anyway, I chased after as fast as I could! On hoof at first, but uh, “she lifts her wings. “I got these now, so I decided to take off!”
I nod, “Okay, so we got three strange glowing objects all heading west out of town!”
“Well, it’s more of a northwest, really. And I wasn’t glowing!” Sunny mentions.
I widen my eyes, “Okay! Northwest! Whatever!” I shake my head and feel my pigtails move. “So, you’re all going out of town!”
Sunny nods, “Right! Anyway,“she turns her head towards the area of the cave behind Jessi. “I chased them to this cave and that’s when I saw Jessi trapped in a forcefield with both the staff, and that strange plate!”
Jessi widens her wings to the sides of her body. “And now, this crap happened!”
I widen my eyes at this sight and say as officially as I can, “Calm down, ma’am! We’re gonna get this all sorted out!” before turning my head back right to Sunny and feeling my pigtails move once more. “Okay so uh, Staff of Opening and strange plate, you say? Any idea what this plate might be?”
Sunny widens her eyes and frowns, “Not a clue!”
I widen my eyes and frown, “Oh, wow! This is gonna be a heck of a story to tell Hitch later! Which is a good point! He might be worried about me?” I clear my throat. “Ahem! Would you two please kindly come with me to the station? There might be paperwork for this? I’m not sure! I’m new!” I say before trotting over near Jessi and staring down at the strange golden plate on the cave floor… I see it’s about 7 inches tall and 5 inches wide and has strange markings on it… It says Key on it, but that’s about all I can make out…
<*****>
I take another drag from my mostly smoked joint with my right forehoof to finish up my session while watching the two kittens in my room now, playing with that strange blue toy mouse together… The white one with tabby markings bats at it with his paw and it flies towards the gray kitten who bats at it left and right with his own paws… I exhale a cloud of smoke to the far right of the kittens and while I’m still not sure where that mouse came from, I’m also not going to screw up my smoke session on account of these furry miscreants either! Still, Misty wanted me to watch them during her afternoon walk with Izzy…
I turn my head to the ashtray on the table at my right and snuff my joint out there with my forehoof. Still some left for later! Golly yeah! I think to myself before turning my head back left to the two adorable playing kittens on the floor there. “You little idiots!” I say to the two felines as I trot there on my hooves and stop, just short of the white one, who turns his head to me and looks… I sigh and pet his head with my left hoof while the other one plays with the mouse some more… I can already tell, this is gonna be another weird day… The kitten soon begins to vibrate…
<*****>
“Your sparkle looks brighter lately, Misty! You seem a bit happier now?” The blue unicorn says from behind me as we both hiked along the trail…
I smile while continuing to stare forward as I trotted along the forest trail, “Yeah… My friends make me feel better and I can talk to them now! It’s so great to not be alone anymore!”
“I’m glad you feel that way, Misty!”
“Why? We’re not finding another filly, are we?”
“Uh, I don’t think so? But you can never tell! I mean, there’s four of you, now!”
I frown while lowering my neck as I trot underneath a branch, “Oh dear!”
“Yeah, and you all have issues! It sure is a good thing all those issues aren’t in one person!”
I widen my eyes at that thought, “Oh, dear! That would be awful!”*
Izzy chuckles, “But anyway, I’m sure we can get you past this!”
I stop trotting dead in my tracks and hear her do the same, “You really think I can get past what I did?”
“Turn and face me, Misty Chan…”
I turn and stare into the red eyes of the other unicorn as her brow furrows and mouth sharply frowns, “Misty, I believe with friendship, you can overcome anything!”
I blink, “Are you sure, Izzy? I…” I blink, “killed her… I mean,“I shake my head. “Sure she was awful and uh, probably deserved it? But uh, “and then I blink. “I still feel bad now…”
“What did you feel during the act, Misty?”
“I felt…” I blink again, “I felt rage! I felt anger!” I lower my face and scowl. “I wanted her to pay!”
Izzy nods, “And so she has now, Misty Chan! But tell me, what do you feel now that you’ve gotten the revenge you desired?”
I raise my view and widen my eyes as my mouth narrows, “I feel…”and then I blink.“I don’t know if I can call it remorse, exactly?”
Izzy frowns, “What do you mean?”
I straighten my face as much as I can, “I feel empty… Like, there’s nothing left…”
Izzy nods, “Then perhaps it is time to leave?”
I widen my eyes again, “Leave?”
Izzy smiles, “Well, what good is it really doing you? What’s done is done, and nothing can change that… But you now have loving friends who care about you and a home to stay in…” her eyes widen. “You can’t say things didn’t turn out for the better goofball! You’re doing alright now!”
I frown, “B-but Opaline! I killed her!”
Izzy nods again, “So you did! And now you feel empty about it, right?”
I widen my eyes all the way, “Well, yes!”
Izzy leans closer to me, roughly 6 inches from my face and I can now feel the heat of her breath as she says lowly, “Well, what more needs to be said?”
I narrow my mouth while continuing to keep my view wide at this absurd unicorn! “I uh, I don’t know?”
Izzy slowly trots all the way to me and embraces me in a tight warm hug, “There’s nothing left to say, Misty Chan… It’s over now and you’re safe…”
I smile while trying to hug her back with my shorter legs, “Th-thanks Izzy!”
<*****>
I trot towards town with the two alicorns in tow, the big orange one on the right and the small green one on the left… I have a smile on my face as this is my first real assignment as a deputy! I hope Hitch is happy with this? Okay! Just remember what I need to report! Yes! I think to myself as I continue trotting… The sheriff’s office is in the West district of Maretime Bay and so I’m sure to use that entrance, since we don’t want Jessi to cause a commotion with her wings and horn…
Fortunately, at around 10 AM on a weekday, not a lot of ponies are on the street! Still, as we walked, I could almost swear I heard the word alicorn mentioned once or twice in hushed whispers? I’d better get moving! I don’t want Jessi to be uncomfortable!
We finally make it to the door of the sheriff’s office and fortunately, there’s nopony trotting on either side of the street! We march up there, in the same formation as before, when about 15 feet away, the door bursts open and I see a yellow earth stallion who widens his brown eyes at the sight of me! “Little Snack! Where have you been? I told you to wait for me back at the station!”
I widen my eyes, “Yes, but Sunny came galloping in with an emergency! I handled it, boss!” I say before giving a solute with my right forehoof.
Hitch looks down at me, “Little, you’re just a filly! You should’ve waited for me! It could be dangerous!”
I frown, “Oh uh, I’m sorry! I’m new! I didn’t know! Uh, I have a report for you now!”
Hitch widens his eyes again, “Report?”
I give another solute, “Yes, sir! You see, I found Alicorn Jessi here in a cave alone, once Sunny came galloping to the sheriff’s office! I questioned her thoroughly, sir!”
“What?”
I smile and nod, “Yes! It seems that the uh, Staff of Opening, whatever that is, and Jessi there were both magically drawn to the cave, just to the west er, northwest of town!”
Jessi raises her neck to speak, “There was a golden plate! I was drawn to a plate with magic!” she blinks, “For some reason?” She stretches out her wings to her sides. “And then, these magically appeared on me!”
Hitch begins trotting towards us wide-eyed with a confused look on his face as his mouth tightens in concern, “Well, you fillies are just full of surprises!”
<*****>
The gray kitten lay on the floor prone and I pet his head with my right forehoof, “Tell me again why I don’t just kill you two and be done with this?”**
The kitten yawns and I can’t help but think about how cute it is, before steadying my resolve, “Golly, no! I’m not giving into the cuteness!”
It starts to vibrate…
“No!”
It starts making little motor noises…
I frown, “You’re a jerk, you know that?” and pet the kitten more vigorously on the head…
Suddenly, the front door to the room opens and I see Misty trotting in with a smile beaming on her face and Izzy following close behind her, also smiling, before turning her head right to magically shut the door.
I look up to them while still on my hooves, “Oh, golly! I take it the walk went well?”
Misty trots back to the kitchen in the dimly lit den while Izzy smiles at me and says, “Sure did! Want some breakfast tea, Twinkle?”
I try to suppress a grin in vain as I giggle slightly as I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, “Uh, yes Izzy! Tea would be lovely!”
I hear Misty yell from the kitchen, “Three Chai teas with milk and honey, coming up!”
I widen my eyes and suppress a golly as I now appear to be in some sort of bizarre Izzy-centric family! I follow Izzy to the kitchen on hoof to the table, now neatly set out with a white cloth that I didn’t even know we had and Misty sitting there smiling at us.
I open my mouth, “Izzy doesn’t really use the automatic tea thingy anymore, since you got here, Misty!”
She smiles broadly, “Well, I just love making tea for me and my friends! Besides! I think it tastes better with a hooves-on kinda touch!”
I nod, “Noted!” and begin making my way to the chair on the right side of the table where I sit down after pulling it out with my mouth… I smile at the two unicorns and say, “You know, I’m the only pony here without magic!”
Izzy turns her head left to me, “Well, one of us could use our magic to pour tea into your mouth?” She turns her head to Misty. “Would you be up for that Misty?”
Misty widens her eyes, “Uh, I uh, I don’t know if I…”
I quickly say, “Golly, no! Uh, my hooves are fine, thanks!” and smile up to the taller unicorn. I take a wide eyed glare at the smaller unicorn and eager to change the subject, ask. “So uh, what did you two talk about?” before timidly lifting my blue teacup in my hooves to my mouth for a cautious sip… Still pretty hot! I think to myself before slowly setting it back down…
As Misty says, “Well, we talked about how I brutally murder uh, slew Opaline and how I should just come to terms with that!” she nods. “We also talked a bit about you!”
“Oh?” I say with my eyes wide and mouth in an O shape.
She nods, “Yup! I was telling Izzy about how good of a friend you’ve been to me, helping me work through my issues!” she sighs, “I was… I was all alone before and now…” she smiles at me. “Now I have my best friend, Twinkle Shine, to help me!”
I’m silent for a moment before saying, “Well, golly right! I tried to kill ponies and take over Equestria earlier, but now I’m a happy helper filly!” I say with an almost psychotic grin on my face…
Izzy turns her head to me, “That was then, and this is now, Twinkle Chan!”
My head straightens and mouth narrows, “Right! I’m not that filly anymore!”
Izzy smiles and nods, “Right! But there is one more important thing we must attend, before we can properly enjoy our tea!”
I widen my eyes again, “What’s that, mom?”
Izzy then reaches forth with her right forehoof and touches my nose before saying, “BOOP!”
And then, everypony at the table laughed!
<*****>
“So wait! What are we doing, now?” I ask the tall yellow earth stallion as he sits on the other side of the big important looking desk with its many papers and pens on the top…
Hitch smiles at me as he uses his right forehoof to open the box on the table and slides me over a coffee, with some cream and LOTS of sugar, just like I like… I uh, saw him make it for me earlier… “What we’re doing now is called a doughnut break, champ!”
I nod, “Oh, right! You’re a cop! So you eat donuts!”
He widens his eyes, “I’m the sheriff!”
I nod again, “Still technically a cop!” before widening my eyes. “Hey! Shouldn’t you have a mustache?”
He frowns, “What?”
I start to grin, “Yeah! All great police officers have mustaches! Well, all stallions anyway! You should have a mustache!”
He hoofs me a paper towel with a single glazed doughnut on it, “Uh, I’ll think about it!”
I slam my hoof down on the desk while suppressing a giggle, “Think nothing! You’re a good cop and all good cops need mustaches!”
He smiles, “Okay, Little Snack! Knock it off!”
“Mustache!” I loudly decree!
He giggles, “Eat your doughnut now, Little!”
I blink and say, “Um, yes sir!” before grabbing the paper towel wrapped doughnut in my hooves and bringing it to my face…
(To be continued...)