//------------------------------// // The Investigation // Story: The Winds of Change // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// The Investigation Twilight woke up from her slumber in her treehouse library bed to the sound of chirping birds and light wind, in a generally peaceful environment, which clashed sharply with the thunder inside her head. She had yet to visit Dash's house. Circumstances had prevented any immediate investigative measures, such as the huge amount of paper that had to be filled out, and her insistence at being the one to visit. The search warrant she had forced to fill out had left her without any hope of catching up if Dash was responsible, and the other pile of paperwork that she had to fill out to put up the posters had already wasted several hours of the day. Then, she had to meet with the princess and explain the status of the operation, then fill out more paperwork. She was right on track to leaving in the early afternoon until she fell asleep in the middle of one of the forms, and awoke just before dusk. Needless to say, she had freaked out a little before she realized, in a surprising moment of clarity despite her fatigue, that the best she could do was catch the last train to Ponyville and stay the night. So she informed the princess of her leave and took off. During the night, she had studied up on her teleportation and cloudwalking spells, so at least she was ready to go whenever she wanted. Knowing Twilight, that was bound to be as soon as possible. She un-excitedly jumped out of bed, grabbing a quill, some ink, and paper in case she had to take notes, and she just knew that she would. She cast the cloudwalking spell and took a brief moment to wipe her brow. She walked out the door, not bothering to wake Spike. She looked around for Dash's house, and found it had drifted to the side of Ponyville. She took a deep breath, then concentrated on teleporting, hearing the characteristic pop and whoosh before appearing in Dash's front yard. She sighed, silently hoping that Dash was not the culprit. She knocked on the door to the best of her ability, cloud door and all, before just pushing it open. Looking around, she couldn't see anypony. She trotted past the kitchen table, which was covered in small scraps of fabric. She put the small pieces in a small container labeled 'evidence', which she placed in her saddlebag. She sighed. It looked like she had been right about Dash, bringing on a flurry of conflicting emotions. Would she be able to apprehend Dash? Would she be able to resolutely stay on Celestia's side? She reflexively said yes, but there was a bit of doubt that had never been there before when she thought of her loyalty to the Princess. It scared her a little, and brought her back to her previous thoughts about Dash's motives. What was different about this time? Why did Dash stay loyal in every other situation, just to turn when everypony least expected? The only other time she abandoned her friends was when they had fought Discord, but attempting to pin this on Discord seemed a lot like clutching at straws. She must have had some sort of reason, then. That idea jogged her thoughts. What if there was a good reason? What if she had been being loyal, and this changeling was much more than any of them knew? It could make sense, healing Dash, not outright hurting ponies. Well there was that one time, but apparently he was provoked. He hadn't replaced Dash as far as any of them knew. So maybe he wasn't dangerous. That seemed doubtful. He had managed to instill a large amount of fear into Ponyville, twice, along with part of Canterlot. The idea that he was benign seemed a little ridiculous. Then again, the fear from the attack and her hatred towards changelings hadn't exactly helped his relations. Of course, she had no way of finding them, threat to Equestria or not, with the Changeling magic reducing tracking spells of themselves and those in the near vicinity to useless. She sighed. The more she thought about it, the more questions she created for herself. She closed up another bottle of evidence, this time some tiny amounts of grey powder. Her friends were definitely not taking this whole scenario very well. They had managed to return to Ponyville a day earlier than she had, but from what she knew, none of them had been doing very well. She sighed again, having run through the entire house and come no closer to knowing motives or direction, although she did at least know with almost total certainty that Dash was involved in the escape with the Changeling. At least they had a prime suspect. Maybe she could look around the town, that could yield some answers, or at least further information, like when she had met up with Cherilee after the changeling's first appearance. She thought back to his capture, and what little information they had gotten from him. Assuming that everything he said was truth, which was tedious at best, he wasn't part of the hive, and therefore had the possibility of beneficial motives. She could feel herself going in circles. Why wasn't he part of the hive mind, then? Why was he the one known changeling with no ties to Crysalis? From what he said, he had not been born of her hive either, which brought up even more questions. She pondered whether or not she was ever going to get an answer, before she remembered about her plans with the citizens of Ponyville, and disappeared in a flash of light. She re-appeared in the middle of a particularly unoccupied part of the market square, drawing a few confused looks. Twilight looked around, trying to figure out who she could actually get information from. The Changeling was definitely keeping his cards close to his chest, but whether that was intentional or not had yet to be discovered. A small newspaper stand caught her attention, and she trotted over, hoping that someone had encountered the changeling or released some sort of intelligence report. Taking a look at the front page, she was shocked to see a picture of huge writing, in clouds, with the message "Griffin Attack Imminent." Once she pushed her Jaw back to where it was supposed to be and got the gears in her head turning again, she immediately tried to figure out if the changeling itself had any ties to the message. Assuming it did, she thought, then why would it write the massage anyway? Was it just trying to create more chaos, or was he legitimately trying to warn them? He did make that statement about Celestia being 'militarily retarded'. That had to mean something. Whatever the motive, she liked to think she knew how Canterlot ponies acted, and figured they would probably try to pass the sign off as a joke. If it wasn't the changeling, though, who could it be? Her mind came up blank. It had to be a changeling or a pegasus pony, because those were the only known species who could actually control the weather, not that that really narrowed her search. She would have to send a letter to the Princess regarding these new developments. "Are ya gunna buy sumptin' or are ya gunna jus' stand there?" The grey earth pony behind the newspaper stand asked gruffly, startling her out of her thoughts. "Sure, I'll take one." She sighed, pulling out a few bits and handing them to the vendor. "Do you know anypony that had contact with the changeling before he was captured, by any chance?" "I think that I heard that he played some sorta' in-stru-ment at that there restaurant over yonder." He pointed with a hoof. "You part of the investigation team?" "I am the investigation team right now, actually." "Well good luck then." He waved her away as another pony came up to his stand. Twilight walked into the restaurant, attempting to figure out what would take the changeling here. It was a fairly fancy restaurant, and she was slightly surprised that the changeling could even play an instrument. Changelings were usually terrible at music, it seemed, although a lot of ponies were terrible at music, so that didn't exactly aid discovery. "Can I help you?" Twilight was jostled out of her thoughts again by a mare employee just inside the restaurant. She really had to stop zoning out like this. "Table for one?" Twilight shook her head. "I'm investigating the changeling that was discovered here a few days ago, and I understand that he played here just before his eventual capture?" "I believe so ma'am. Would you like to speak to the manager?" Twilight nodded again, and was then taken past numerous tables and a stage by the waitress, arriving at a heavy looking wooden door. "Here we are, dear. Just walk on in." She followed the mare's advice and entered, immediately catching the sight of the pony that she assumed was the manager. "Here to interview me already, are you? About the changeling, I take it?" "Yeah, I'll try not to take too much of your time." "Oh, it's fine, I'm always willing to help a pony in need." "Glad you want to help. I guess my first question is, why was the changeling even here?" "You didn't hear it?" She shook her head. "Well he was in that cloud house up there, and then there was just this music that I've never heard before, that just started drifting down. It was like nothing I've ever heard before. Anyway, the pony stops after a few songs, and flies down, and pretty much everypony was staring at him at that point, so I figure, why not make some nice money offa' this? So anyway, I cut a deal with him, Alternis was his name I think? Anyway he played some more of that weird music, brilliant stuff though, and then this foal comes up to him with tears all over and says something, and he stopped the show. He ran off after I paid him and I haven't seen him since." "Who was this foal?" "I dunno, some orange and purple pegasus filly." He noticed the expression of realization on her face. "Know her?" "I think so, although I'm surprised she had any relations with him." She wasn't sure what to feel. On the one hand hoof, she was glad that she actually had a lead, but on the other hoof, she was scared that Scootaloo had ended up in the middle of something, and could be beyond help by now. "Thanks for all of your help," She quickly said before hurriedly exiting the restaurant, much to the surprise of the owner. This brought in a whole new level of complexity to the situation with yet another innocent involved. The only difference was that this one was in immediate danger. She hurriedly made her way through town, quickly realizing that she didn't know where she was going. Where did Scootaloo's parents live anyway? She noticed Carousel Boutique across the street and decided to pay Rarity a visit. At the very least, maybe Sweetie Belle would know where Scoots had gotten off to. She knocked on the door a few times before it was opened to the slightly disheveled face of Rarity. Slightly disheveled for Rarity was the equivalent of corpse status for everyone else. Her face lifted slightly. "Oh, hello dear, what brings you by today?" "I'm trying to figure out information about the changeling, and where he may have gone." "Any info on Dash?" "I'm afraid nothing good. I just know that she almost definitely was the changeling's accomplice." Rarity's face fell. "Well come on in, dear, I can try to tell you anything I know." "Actually, I need to talk to Sweetie Belle. She may know where Scootaloo is, and she apparently had contact with the changeling." Her statement prompted a severe eye widening from Rarity. "I sure hope she hasn't gotten into anything dire," she sighed. "SWEETIE BELLE!!!" There was a mumbled response from the other room and a few crashes before Sweetie entered. "Dare I ask what just happened?" Twilight interrupted her. "So, Sweetie, have you seen Scootaloo recently?" She scuffed a hoof along the floor. "I haven't seen her since before all this stuff happened. You don't think anything happened to her, do you?" "I'm not completely sure," She said in as much of a comforting voice as she could. "Do you know where she lives though?" Another hoof scuff. "Nopony does, she just disappears after we're done crusading. We never have sleep-overs at her house. Applebloom asked about it once, but Scoots refused to answer." Twilight turned to Rarity, who nodded. "How could nopony know where she lives?!?! For all we know she's gone! She could've been taken by the changeling!!!" "Darling, that seems like an over-reaction. Why don't you just go to the town hall and find her birth certificate." Twilight nodded, and slowly left Rarity's boutique. _______________________________________________________________________ The door flew open, leaving a fuming Twilight silhouetted against the outside light. Rarity didn't seem to pick up on her anger. "Did you find her house, dear?" she said, not looking up from her work. "No!! Do you want to know why I couldn't find her house?" Rarity looked up and flinched, realizing the rage Twilight had on her face. She managed to stammer out: "W-why dear?" "Because it doesn't exist! She lived at the orphanage until a few months ago! You haven't seen her parents because they've been dead for as long as Scootaloo has been alive! How could none of you care enough to find that out!?!?" Rarity had gone pale. She decided that it was a good thing that Sweetie wasn't there. "But Darling, how has she survived out there all alone?" "Beats me, but no foal deserves to have that happen to them. And we let it go on for this long." She deflated slightly. "And now we don't even know where she is. She went missing at the same time the changeling was escaping." "So you're saying she could've been foal-napped?" "She could have run off or something else also, but her disappearing at the same time as the changeling seems like too much of a coincidence." She sighed. "Every single time I figure out something new about this, more questions arise. I just hope Scootaloo's alright, wherever she is." "For her sake, Darling, I hope you're right."