Ch. 2: Snapshot
“So Snapshot, how was Saddle Arabia?” Clue asked on the way back up to the apartment.
“It was amazing! The Saddle Arabians were so nice, the food and culture were vastly different then here in Canterlot, and I managed to snag some absolutely breathtaking photos of the local landmarks. The colts back at the office are going to be ecstatic when they see these beauties.” The unicorn looked as if she was going to explode with excitement. “And the article I have planned for these are going to be one that nopony is going to want to pass up.”
“That’s great to hear. You’ll have to tell me more about it once we’re back in.” As the couple reached their apartment door, he couldn’t help but notice how quiet Snapshot had become. “Ok, what are you planning?”
“Planning?”
“Yes, planning.”
Snapshot did her best to make her best insulted face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re quiet. You’re never quiet. Whenever you’re quiet, you’re planning something, and it usually ends up with somepony, namely me, at the receiving end of some sort of prank.” Clue Chaser’s face was completely serious. “Either you can tell me, or I’m going to figure it out.”
The unicorn continued to try and look mad, but the longer she stared into her coltfriend’s serious expression, the harder it seemed for her to keep a straight face. The fruit bat perched on her head was having an equally difficult time trying not to laugh. “Just go into the apartment already, silly.”
Reluctantly, Clue turned back to the apartment door and slowly pushed it open. “Sweet Celestia,” Clue whispered. That was the single largest cake he had ever seen.
“SURPRISE!” Snapshot cheered as she hugged Clue. “I knew that today was going to be special, so I made a custom order from this sweet shop down in Ponyville called Sugar Cube Corner for an amazing, out of this world congratulations-for-becoming-a-royal-guard cake to be delivered here by the time we got home.”
Clue looked in awe at the massive cake. From the doorway he could smell how good it must taste. He was so lucky to have a marefriend like Snapshot, and it made it all the more painful what he was about to say next. “Um, Snaps, you think you could let me go for a second?”
Snapshot complied, though slightly confused. “What’s the matter, Chasey? Did something happen at the castle?” She and the fruit bat tilted their heads to the side in sync, which got a small chuckle out of the earth pony.
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. Look, I know how much putting this party together meant to you, but the thing is, well…” He gulped, “I… didn’t pass the guard exams this year. I failed the physical portion of the exam and I’ll have to try again next year.”
Snapshot stared at him blankly for a few minutes. “You… failed? Oh, I see.” She closed her eyes and sighed. Clue knew what was coming, and he didn’t want to deal with it. All he had to do was wait. Three, two, one, and… she perked right back up looking as cheerful as ever. “Then that means this is a congratulations-for-trying-your-best-this-year cake. Come on before me and Cherry eat it all.” She gave Clue a quick peck on the cheek before happily trotting into the apartment.
Clue sighed and followed in behind her. He could never get over the fact that every time he failed, Snapshot never seemed to be phased by it, and even seemed happier every time he failed. “Why is it that you always seem so cheery after I fail the exams?” He asked as he closed the door behind him.
“Well somepony has to be there to raise your spirits, and who better than me?” She laughed as she carved a slice of the cake out for her and levitated a small piece up to Cherry. “Besides, it means I get to spend more time with you when I’m home, and who wouldn’t want to hang out with the smartest, most amazing stallion in all of Equestria?”
Clue could feel his face getting red, but he still felt miserable. “Yeah, but that also means that it’ll be another year until I can start going around and helping ponies.”
“What’s stopping you from helping ponies right now?”
“Because as a royal guard, I’ll be able to serve the princesses to the best of my ability. I want to be a beacon of hope and courage to little fillies and colts everywhere as somepony with the strength to go on, no matter what dangers I’ll face.”
Snapshot swallowed a mouthful of cake as she gave Clue a serious look. “Chasey, true strength isn’t about having the strength to go on, it’s about pushing yourself and doing all you can even after you’ve run out of strength. You don’t need some big fancy title to do that, you just do it. Today, even though you failed, I know you gave it 120 percent, and I know that even if you are pushed to your limit, you’ll keep going on no matter what holds you back. That’s why I love you. You never give up no matter how much the odds are stacked against you, and you’ll always be there to protect everything that you care about.”
She walked over and began nuzzling Clue’s face. Clue, who was pretty sure his blue coat had turned bright red, found it difficult not to smile at her words. “Snaps, I…” Clue was interrupted as a large slice of cake levitated itself straight into his mouth, chocking his words.
The fruit bat fell to the floor laughing and Snapshot herself began to giggle. “Now don’t try to make yourself feel any worse, or I’m going to be very cross with you,” she said trying to sound angry, but that was quickly drowned out by her own laughter.
Clue gagged on the cake for about a minute before he could swallow it. An intense burst of lemony sweetness filled his taste buds. “Oh you know I can’t stay depressed when lemon cake is involved. Pass me another slice.”
Another piece of cake, this time on a plate to Clue’s relief, was levitated over to him as the couple sat down. “You know, if you really want to get a job that’ll be in service to others, you could always use those senses of yours to go become a detective or something, like in those old mystery novels.”
“Please, just because somepony has heightened sense doesn’t mean they’ll become a detective. Besides, I’d have to wait for who knows how long to get clients, and they’d just be kids asking me to help them find their lost pets or couples who think their other is cheating on them,” Clue said between bites of lemon cake. Merciful Luna, he would never get over how delicious lemon cake was.
“Don’t you do that already?”
“Well, I do need to pay the rent somehow, but it’s not a permanent solution. I’d get a steady paycheck if I became a royal guard, and not to mention it would be much more adventurous.”
“Well, if it’s adventure you’re looking for…”
“I am not going the Daring Do route either. Travelling to exotic far off locations is your thing, and you do it for your travel articles.”
A sly grin crept up onto Snapshot’s face. “Speaking of, I haven’t told you about the big news I got when I was in Saddle Arabia.” The unicorn opened her saddlebag and pulled out a few photographs and a notepad and set them down in front of Clue. The photographs looked pretty standard enough. Some desert landscape, a few of the local buildings, a smashed museum display case, a dessert shop window, and…
Clue almost choked on his cake again as he did a double take at the museum photograph. The display case was smashed to bits, with local guards trying to keep onlookers back. “That, Chasey,” he overhead Snapshot say, “is my next big article. The legendary Kamaitachi! The boys at Equestria International are going to flip when I show them this.”
The Kamaitachi? “What in Equestria is a Kamaitachi?”
“I was hoping you would ask.” Snapshot made a throat clearing sound as she flipped through her notebook. “You see, a kamaitachi are mythical weasels that are said to live on the island of Neighpan. It’s said that they move at speeds that make them invisible to the naked eye and have to power to manipulate the wind.” She turned the notebook towards Clue to show him a drawing of what looked to be like a weasel, with the one major difference from a normal weasel is that instead of paws, it looked like it had large, knife-like blades at the end of each leg.
“Ok, so what does a mythical weasel have to do with a museum robbery?” Clue turned back towards the museum photo, taking a more thorough look at it.
“The Kamaitachi is also the name a master criminal that has been causing major thefts all over the world. The thief breaks in, steals his prize, and leaves behind the image of a kamaitachi. The picture I showed you is my rough sketch of the image left behind before the local authorities took it away for evidence.”
This caught Clue’s attention. “How much do you know about the robbery?” Clue set down his cake and picked up the photograph.
“But I thought you didn’t want to play detective,” Snapshot teased.
“It’s not detective work if I’m doing it for free or for you,” he replied.
She giggled as she rolled her eyes. “Well, the item that was stolen was an ancient urn that was from before the rule of the princesses, and I’m guessing it would have a black market price of about 500 thousand bits. The crime was around two in the morning, as that was when the guards heard the glass of the display case being smashed in. When they arrived, the urn was gone, and there were no signs of the kamaitachi anywhere.”
“And the other pictures of the crime scene?”
“What other pictures?” Snapshot asked slyly.
“The ones you took when the guards weren’t looking.” Clue extended a hoof towards Snapshot, his gaze not leaving the photograph.
Another set of giggles. “Ok, so Cherry may have provoked a guard or two so I could take additional photographs without being noticed.” The fruit bat gave a small bow before flying back over to Snapshot’s side. The unicorn rustled through her saddlebags and pulled out a few more photos. Clue took them and looked at them for only a few seconds before taking a deep breath. “I took as many pictures from as many angles as I could. I didn’t see anything else though that would lead to the identity of the...”
“It was a two pony job of one pegasus and one unicorn,” Clue stated, hoofing back all but one of the photographs. The earth pony looked over at his marefriend, smiling a bit as he looked at the surprised look on her face. “How do I know this you ask? Well, this photo explains everything.” Clue laid down the last photograph, which was a picture of a glass ceiling that hung above the exhibit.
“First, notice that if you look really closely to the bottom left corner of the glass ceiling, you can make out what looks like a green feather. Now, I know that some people might shrug this off as there are plenty of birds like parrots that have green feathers that live in Saddle Arabia, but if you look carefully enough, you can tell that it’s much larger than your standard bird’s feather, so that makes it more likely that a pegasus would be involved. Now, Saddle Arabia is a dry, desert-like region, right? So that would mean that there should be at least a small layer of dust on each of the segments of the glass segments, but if you look carefully, one glass tile is completely spotless, while all the surrounding tiles have some level of sand and dust on them.”
Snapshot looked carefully at the spots that Clue pointed out, seeing the feather and the cleaned piece of glass. “Alright, I see where you’re going with this. The green pegasus removed the glass tile, flew down, smashed opened the display, and flew off with the urn.” She looked over at Cherry, who mimicked the scenario using a small slice of cake, which got a chuckle out of the couple. “That sounds like a good theory, but there are a few holes in it. One, the ceiling was enchanted so that the guards on duty would be alerted if anyone tried to sneak in from that way, and two, no matter how fast our pegasus friend was, they would have been seen by the guards fleeing the scene after the sound of the case breaking.”
The only response Clue gave was a soft smile. “Those are valid points, but both of them can be explained. First, the enchanted glass. Remember the Unicorn I mentioned? They could have been skilled in counter-spells or had knowledge on how to disarm security magic. Using those magical skills, they could disarm the spell, remove the glass, and then reapply both when the robbery was finished. It would be incredibly difficult to do, but in theory, it’s still possible. The feather confirms a pegasus, and the need for magic confirms the unicorn.”
Snapshot nodded as Clue spoke. “Ok then, but what about the vanishing act?” The unicorn thought for a bit, then smiled with inspiration. “I got it, they teleported, didn’t they? The unicorn could have used a teleportation spell to get the two to safety!”
The earth pony shook his head. “That’s not it. If they did teleport, then they would have left a magic trail which authorities could track, and from what I’ve seen and heard about our thieves, they’re too smart to let something like that happen. Look again at the photo of the broken glass, and look very carefully this time.”
Confused, Snapshot lifted the broken display photo again, staring hard at the shattered glass. Cherry perched herself on top of the unicorn’s mane to observe the photo as well. It took a few seconds before Cherry noticed something and started flapping her wings. “What is it Cherry? Did you figure it out?” The photographer asked. Cherry responded by flying off towards the window and breathing on it, making the glass foggy. Snapshot looked back and forth from the picture to the window until it finally clicked in her head. “The glass shards are foggy.” she stated. “So foggy glass shards relate to how the kamaitachi escaped without being seen?” Clue simply nodded. Snapshot thought hard about the clues, but groaned in frustration. “Ok, I’m lost. Care to explain how foggy glass equals an escape?”
“With pride.” Clue took the photo from Snapshot and laid it down in front of them. “First, there’s another thing about the glass shards I want to point out.” He tapped the center of the broken glass as Snapshot leaned in. “Something I noticed about these shards is that they seem somewhat circular on the outer edge, and if you look carefully enough...” He made a circle motion with his hoof. “The shards come together to make a circle. This means that the display wasn’t smashed as initially thought, but carefully cut open to remove the urn.”
He looked over at Snapshot, waiting for his words to sink in. The photographer looked confused for a moment before the weight of his words hit him. “Then, if the urn was taken without shattering the display, then why shatter the display case at all?”
“To throw off the actual time of the robbery. The display was shattered at a later time to make authorities think that the crime occurred at a later time than it actually happened. How they did it? I’ll bet anything they used dry ice. Our thieves would have placed it inside the display case and reseal the hole they cut, where the dry ice would melt and fill the case with carbon dioxide, and that would do what exactly?” Clue motioned for her to fill in the blanks.
“The glass would get foggy, the internal pressure would cause the glass to shatter, and the delayed shattering would give the criminals time to escape!” Snapshot tackled her coltfriend into a huge hug. “You are an absolute genius, you know that?”
“Can’t... breathe,” was all Clue could mutter. Snapshot let go and he dropped to the floor, gasping for air.
“Whoops, sorry about that,” she giggled, “But you have to admit, you could count on your hooves how many people in Equestria could work out an entire museum heist from a couple of photographs.”
“It’s not all that impressive,” Clue stated. “All I did was establish how the crime went down and what types of ponies could have pulled this off. It doesn’t give us much on who the criminals actually are.”
“But you did do more than anyone else could have in such a short time. You’re too hard on yourself.” She floated another piece of lemon cake over to Clue. He looked at the cake, back to her, and sighed. He was going to have to find out one day how she was able to ruin every one of his bad days. On the plus side though, lemon cake. After that long explanation and analysis of the Saddle Arabia crime scene, he needed that cake now.
Or later, as fate would have it, as there was a series of loud knocks on the apartment door. With another sigh, Clue set down his cake. “I’ll get it.” He walked over to the door and swung it open.
Standing in front of him were the same unicorn and earth pony pair that he saw inside the Captain’s office. “Hello Mr. Clue Chaser. Do you mind if we step in for a moment,” the unicorn said with a smile.
Confused, the aqua pony stared for a moment. “Um, who are you two exactly?”
“Oh, sorry about that. Guess it was rude trying to barge in on you after what happened back at Mr. Valor’s office today and to arrive on your doorstep unannounced. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dusty Trails, and the pony with me is Quartz Stone.” The green earth pony waved excitedly behind Dusty. “As for why we’re here, well, let’s just say I have a business proposal for you.”
At those last words, Clue sighed. “Look, I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I’m not a detective or a private investigator. I’m just your average pony trying to get a job inside the royal guard.”
“And that is exactly why we are here,” said Dusty. “You see, I’m an amateur film maker from Los Pegasus, and I’ve been given permission by the princess’s themselves to conduct a project like no other, and that, Mr. Chaser, is where you come in.”
“Ok, so what does that have to do with me?”
“Well isn’t it obvious, mate?” Quartz spoke up. “We’re doing a documentary on the royal guard, and Dusty here wants you in it.”
It takes a lot to make Clue forget about lemon cake. It would take a moment so surprising and unexpected, that it would render him unable to process anything else. This was definitely one of those moments. “You want to put me in what?!”