Twilight spends her morning practicing a revealing spell inside her bedroom to cast on the file that Doctor Song gave her. To her surprise, it's harder to master than she thought it would be. She has never had to use a revealing spell before. She reads in her advanced magic book that revealing spells can only be used to reverse concealment spells.
"Okay, Spike. I'm going to try this again." She starts to chant the words to the complicated spell. The reason it is so difficult is because the spell is a lengthy tongue twister. "Reveal and reverse the concealment curse with a single spell. Lift the spell that a unicorn uttered to seal a secret well. Disperse the verse that was used to -- oh darn it all! I wish this spell was more terse!"
Spike chuckles. "Nice rhyme, Twilight."
Twilight sighs from frustration. "Maybe I could rewrite the spell, do you think?"
"Nope."
"What? Why not?"
"I'm sure there is a reason that the spell is so long," says Spike. "Besides, you can't waste anymore time on this spell than you have to. Ponies lives are on the line!"
Reluctantly, Twilight agrees, "Yeah, I suppose I do have more to worry about than just myself." Twilight pauses and smirks. "And since when did you get so wise, Spike."
Spike bites his lip. "Um, I've been hanging around you too long?"
They both laugh at Spike's uncertainty.
"Okay, again." She puts all of her focus on the file now that is sitting on her bed. "Reveal and reverse the concealment curse with a single spell. Lift the spell that a unicorn uttered to seal a secret well. Disperse the verse that was used to inverse the information in this file." Twilight has to admit that the spell is a little bit corny, but hopefully it has served its purpose.
Spike crosses his fingers. Twilight slowly opens the glowing file. Inside, on the first page, it says:
Name: Swift Dark
Gender: Male
Species: Earth Pony
Marital Status: Single
Address: N/A
The address was not filled in. Did that mean the murderer is homeless? Twilight thinks I suppose it would be easier for a pony to stay undetected if they don't even have a home address.
Spike jumps up in the air trying to see the file that Twilight is now holding. "Lemme see!" says Spike.
"His name is Swift Dark," she says. "A name I've never heard before."
Spike stops jumping. "Does it give you any helpful information?"
Twilight looked briefly at the other pages in the file, then shakes her head. "I guess not." In the same breath, she says "Wait, what's this?"
On the back of the folder is written:
Snails wuz hear.
"That little twerp!" exclaims Spike.
"You're one to talk."
"Hey!"
"Pinkie Pie, reporting for duty!" says Pinkie, opening the door to the library.
"I'm glad you're here. We need to track down a certain somepony. Snails to be exact," says Twilight.
"Ooh, he's going to be in big trouble with his mommy," says Pinkie.
"Does he even have parents?" asks Twilight.
Pinkie frowned. "That's a touchy subject."
"Nevermind then."
Spike asks, "So are we going to start searching, or what?"
"Yeah, about that." Twilight takes out a map, and a pen to mark it. "I was hoping that we could split up; Pinkie could search to the west of town, Spike to the east, and I to the north. Then we could all meet up the the South. Sound good so far?"
Spike and Pinkie nod.
"Good. If any of us see Snails, we are to tell him that we have a surprise for him at Sugarcube corner."
Twilight is interrupted by Pinkie, "Ooh, I like surprises!"
"Yeah, that's just great, Pinkie. Anyway, tell Snails not to come to Sugarcube corner until six pm. Now let's move out, soldiers!" Twilight snickers. "I've always wanted to say that."
The mares and Spike head out to their assigned destinations. It's great that they finally have somewhere to start looking for clues to the villain's whereabouts.
Twilight begins her search at the very outskirts of town, planning to work her way inwards. She looks near the old ponies homes, the hospital, and in every nook, cranny, and alleyway in the northern section of Ponyville. After about an hour, she sighs, and says to herself, "Too bad none of my other friends could help. AJ's busy harvesting, RD is busy with the weather, Rarity's busy with her dressmaking, and Fluttershy is busy with whatever she does all day with her animals.
In the east, Spike is not only searching for Snails, but jewels too. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he whispers. "Where are you, my pretties." He realizes that he is not going to find gems in the middle of the street. "Oh, silly me. Oh, Snails, where are you?
To the west, Pinkie bounces around like her usual self. "Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails," she sings. "That's not what cupcakes are made of!" Lacking the creativity to think of another song, Pinkie Pie decides to make a game out of the search. "Are you in here?" she says into a barrel. "Are you in here?" she says into a dog's mouth.
"Ought, oh, Celestios," she says as she feels her Pinkie's senses start to tingle. "Ear twitch, hoof spasm, belly rumble, tail swish. If I remember right, that means that Snails is about to appear."
Snails appears out of seemingly nowhere with his best friend Snips. "Did someone say my name?" asks Snails, looking around. "Oh, Pinkie! Whatcha doin'?"
She replies, "Oh, nothing. By the way, since you are here, I wanted to let you to know to come to Sugarcube Corner at six tonight."
"What for?"
"It's a surprise, silly!" she explains.
"Oh, okay then. Can I bring Snips?"
"Yeah sure, why not? Well, see you there!" Pinkie says as she bounces off to meet up with Spike and Twilight in the south part of town.
After ten minutes of waiting in the south, Twilight walks towards Pinkie with Spike on her back. "You find him?" she calls out, still twenty feet away.
"Yup!"
"Oh, that's great!"
Pinkie's eyes drift towards the sky, like she's deep in thought. When Twilight is closer, Pinkie asks, "So what are we going to do now? Y'know, since I already found Snails."
"Good question," Spike points out.
Twilight ponders Pinkie's question for a moment, then remembers, "Oh, we should take that file back to the hospital. If it's missing for too long, Doctor Song might get in trouble. I'd never be able to live that down."
"Okey dokey, good idea-ey!" answers Pinkie.
The trio walks into the hospital, and go into Doctor Songs office, and set down the file on her desk. Just as they turn around to leave the room, Doctor Song walks in.
"Oh, goodness, you scared me!" Aren't you the mares from yesterday?
Spike rolls his eyes and adds, "Male here!"
"What are you doing sneaking around?" say Song accusingly.
"We're not sneaking around, ma'am, we just left the file we borrowed yesterday on your desk," explains Twilight.
"Thanks." The doctor thinks of something else to say before they leave. "So, there wasn't anything else you needed?"
"No, not at the moment. Thanks for asking, though. We'll be seeing you."
"Or maybe we won't?" wonders Pinkie.
After a couple hours of twiddling their thumbs (although the only one who has thumbs is Spike), it's finally five o'clock, so Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike go to Sugarcube Corner to talk to the unsuspecting Snails. Inside waits Snail and Snips.
When Twilight sees that Snips is also there, she whispers into Pinkie's ear, "I didn't know he was going to come, too! Why did you let him come, anyhow?"
"Uh, I thought he would want a surprise, too?" Pinkie responds, hoping her answer will be enough to make Twilight stop questioning her.
"Really."
"Really, really. I'm not lying!" she insists.
Twilight ignores her, and instead go over to talk to Snails.
Snails asks, "So what's the surprise?"
"It's upstairs in Pinkie's room."
"Oh, golly, I love surprises!"
Twilight quickly says, "But Snips can't go up there."
"Aw..." whimpers Snips.
"You can stay down here and have fun with me!" Pinkie interjects.
"Uh, okay," he says.
Spike follows Twilight when she goes upstairs with Snails. She seats him in a chair in Pinkie's bedroom. "Close your eyes," says Twilight. When she is sure that his eyes are closed, she quickly locks the door and ties Snails to the chair.
When Snails feels the rope around his waist, his eyes open and he says in a panicked tone, "W-why are you tying me up?"
"I guess I can't keep this from you any longer. Do you know a stallion by the name of Swift Dark?"
Snails gulps. "Uh...ye--no, I mean. Never heard of the guy."
Twilight raises an eyebrow. "Really? I believe you're lying to me."
Beads of sweat start to form on Snails forehead. "Can I leave now? Please?"
"Not until you tell the truth, Snails," she says, putting an intimidating emphasis on his name.
"Oh, Twilight, I'm so sorry!" Snails sobs. "It just, me and Snips were so desperate for money. I had to do something about it, so I took the first job I could get. Um, is Mr. Swift in some kind of trouble? He wouldn't tell me what he needed my skills for, so I have no idea what he was doing."
"Huh. Well, there has been a murder in Ponyville. And we wanted to find who did it."
He sits there staring at Twilight, horrified. "T-there has, eh? Can you untie me now?"
"Oh, I forgot about that." She begins undoing the poorly tied knots. "There you go."
Snails stands up, and stretches when he gets up, as if he had been tied up on the chair for hours. "So, do I get my surprise now?"
Twilight laughs. "I'm sure Pinkie and I can whip up something."