//------------------------------// // Investigation // Story: Being of Two Minds // by cosmofur //------------------------------// With an annoyed humph, the fashionably dressed yellow coated Unicorn commented at the displayed wares. She had her nose stuck so far up in the air that Red Wood wondered how she could even look down at the items in the glass display case. “Are these the only clocks you have?” She asked the crafts pony. Red Wood nodded, “If you don’t see anything you like, I am available for commissions.” “Oh no, that will simply not do, I must have a new clock for tomorrow's garden party, Haughty Flanks, the head of the Canterlot Ballet Society will be there, and last month she commented about how out of fashion my garden sundial is. I must have something new and trendsetting to replace it today! Do you have anything with more diamonds?” Red Wood kept his face impassive, but on the inside he was rolling his eyes, thinking to himself ‘And this is the type of snobbish pony that was buying my stock all along? It was so much easier when I’d just ship everything to a Canterlot sales agent.”’ Aloud he said, “I normally don’t work much with gemstones, as I’m a wood carver. But I maybe able to pull some strings and get some gems by tomorrow morning. Perhaps you’d like to see a concept picture?” “No No! Simple will not do! Do you have anything else?” The customer asked with disdain. “I have a new line of small watches, there are proving to be popular with the business ponies down on Wall Stiles.” Red Wood showed the mare a pocket style watch, its case was made of finely carved wood with a long chain for hanging around ponies necks. The face of the watch was full of dials, not just time and date but there seemed to be another half dozen hands and dials around the face. “Looks rather plain, what’s so special about it?” She asked. “These watches have up to six daily alarms, each playing a different song and also it has a small magic sound crystal that can record up to three minutes of memos or reminders. A friend of mine from far away, helped me design them.” “How clever. I can see why business ponies may want toys like that, but hardly anything suitable for a garden party.” “Then perhaps one of my music box…” Red Wood suddenly stopped when two royal guards opened the door and stepped in. “Can I help you sir’s?” He directed his attention to them. “By orders of the Princess Celestia you are to accompany us to the Castle.” The first guard said. Red Wood gave them a curious look, “Me? You must mean the Princess needs Parker? But he’s not here right now. Parker can’t come out until tomorrow.” “It’s not our job, or your’s, to question the Princess. Come with us right now.” The second guard said tersely. The Unicorn mare customer turned sharply to face the guards. “I have no doubt this peasant may have done something to earn the wrath of the Princess, but you can’t take him until I’m done selecting a new garden clock!” Red Wood glanced to his client and the guards, then with three quick steps, he said “Take me please! Right now!” He held up his front hoof in submission. “Right away.” The guard agreed. They ushered Red Wood’s one ‘customer’ out of the shop and allowed the Unicorn to lock up before heading to the castle’s back door. It wasn't 'a long trip, and soon Red Wood found himself in Princesses Celestia’s private office. While Red Wood had become more comfortable with meetings with Princess Twilight, Celestia still awed the craftspony. He bowed low, and with his eyes closed waited for the sun princess to explain her summons. She didn't keep him waiting long, first putting down with her magic, a thick portfolio of documents that she had been reading. “Good day Red Wood, I hope you have been feeling well.” “Yes, thank you, your majesty.” He stammered. “Please be at ease Red Wood. We've not been able to talk much, as Parker is normally the one in control when we talk, but is the arrangements between you and Parker working out? “ “I can't complain Princess, though Parker has been staying away much of the time these days. It’s been some weeks since Parker took control. I only see him for a few minutes at night and he’s pretty withdrawn.” Celestia frowned at this, “I warned him to give you the stallions share of the time, but I did not mean him to withdraw completely from life. Is Parker listening in on us now? ” Red Wood stared off at wall for a moment. “Yes, he’s listening.” Princess Celestia spoke a bit louder, “Parker I expect you to act like a grown pony, you need to work with Red Wood and make a life here, not sulk away. I’d like to talk to you about this more but we have something serious I need to ask of Red Wood.” “Serious Princess? From me? What can I possibly do for you?” Before she could answer there was a knock on the door and everypony present turned their attention that way, as Twilight Sparkle trotted in. She had saddle bags stuffed with books and scrolls on her back. “Good Morning Princess.” Both Celestia and Twilight said to each other similtantionusly which set both of them chuckling. After that false start, the two princesses greeted each other, Red Wood and several of the attending guards by name before Celestia put on a serious face and asked. “Twilight, do you have the photograph?” The purple princess, nodded excitedly and magicked out a folder from her saddle bags. “Just arrived by pegasus courier. “ Princess Celestia took the folder in her magic and after looking at it’s contents silently for several minutes, she turned it around and motioned for Red Wood to look at it. “Do you recognize anypony in this picture?” Red Wood looked over the picture, it was of some unfamiliar farmers market, a large crowd of ponies was in the shot walking among the farm stands. At first Red Wood was going to say ‘no’ because the camera that took the picture used some sort of fisheye lens and everything and pony in the image was distorted. Then after a moment to get used to the effect, his eyes fell on a pony in front of one of the stands. He pointed to a spot on the picture. “This pony here looks like Silver Daisies, she sells, uhh used to sell, desert flowers, I’m sure it’s her, but its odd seeing her without her horn. Poor dear. But she doesn't look like she is too unhappy though. Did she escape for cultists?” The Princess didn't answer Red Wood, just gave him a concerned look then asked. “Anypony else you recognize?” Red Wood kept looking and soon spotted two other familiar ponies. “Over here Mrs Bright Cord, she’s Banyan’s school teacher, and talking to this other ponies is her sister Bushy Mane.” Red Wood looked up, “When was this picture taken?” Twilight spoke excitedly to Celestia. “I told you that Red Wood would recognize his fellow Coltsdale victims faster than investigators going by cutie mark records. The sheriff that took this picture only recognized Silver Daisies! This is the best lead we've had in three months!” Twilight spoke quickly and was grinning while Celestia looked worried. “It appears you are right, I’m concerned about the ponies Bushy Mane is talking to, they are stallions and not from Coltsdale, so I’m guessing they are other cult members. Or they could be more innocent victims about to be led astray.” Red Wood scoffed, “Bush Mane leading ponies astray? I've known her for years. She’s as shy as a bunny.” Princess Celestia turned to look at Red Wood, her eyes glassy, she seemed to be about to answer him, but turned to Twilight instead. “Twilight, we don’t have much time, this lead will go cold like all the others have if we don’t act now. I really don’t like your idea, but I agree Mr Red Wood is the fastest way to spot the lost Coltsdale mares. You’ll both have to depart immediately.” “Yes Princess” Twilight answered, then her horn started to glow. Red Wood had seen Twilight cast this spell before and recognized the magic currents. “Wait! Wait!” he said, even as the teleport spell started to take effect, “What about Banyan? he’ll be home from school soon!” Red Wood started his statement in Celestia’s office and finished it standing on an outside balcony with Twilight in front of a waiting royal carriage. His concern for his son allowed him to shake off the after effect of the teleport with just a nod of his head. “Don’t worry, I asked Fluttershy to meet Banyan at the school and bring him to Ponyville for the night. Just in case we get delayed.” “Delayed? Delayed where? What’s going on?” Red Wood demanded. His vision a bit blurred, he knew that Parker was trying to get his attention, but Red Wood wanted answers first. Twilight pushed Red Wood onto the carriage and nodded to the four pegasus guards hitched to the vehicle, soon they were in the air flying away from Canterlot, another carriage holding additional unicorn and earth pony guards followed behind them. Once they were settled in a straight flight path, she answered. “Sorry for the rush, but the cult been crafty, we know they need to order large amount of food and supplies for their hidden compound, especially since they've kidnapped so many ponies from Coltsdale. So we've been having all the local law enforcement keep an eye out for large food orders, but we've never been able to catch up to them before they hide their trail with fake addresses and shipping agencies. This is the first time one of our agents spotted a Coltsdale mare and got a report to us soon enough to act.” “So where are we going?” “Sea Del Mare, a small kelp farming community, about four hours flight from here.” “So you think the cults hiding out in Sea Del Mare?” Red Wood asked. “Oh no!” Twilight replied, “No they’ll ship the supplies to their hidden compound, could be hundreds of miles away. The other leads we've had, have been all over the map. Though we think its near one of the eastern equestria cities. Like Delamare or Newyak.” “But all three of those mares, were from Coltsdale, it doesn't make sense for the cult that kidnapped them to just send them out to buy food like that. There must have been cult guards forcing them to do it.” Red Wood declared. Twilight sighed, “I sorry Red Wood, but that’s not how the cult operates. They have some very powerful mind control and brainwashing magic. While there maybe some cult guards there to protect their purchases, the mares, well, they've been with the cult too long already. By now there will be no reason to guard them, if we tried to rescue them now, they would not only refuse to go, but more likely attack us. They now loyal to the death, cult members. “Loyal to the death?” Red Wood asked. “Isn't that overly dramatic?” “No, about a hundred years ago, the cult had reappeared again and Celestia had managed to put it down before it grew too big, but about twentyfive kidnapped ponies were rescued, sort of.” “Sort of?” Twilight looked down sadly, “They refused treatment and unless tied up, they would try to kill themselves and refused food or water. It takes several weeks of extensive treatment to reverse the brainwashing and only four survived.” “They killed themselves?” Red Wood asked in shock. “Dehydration mostly but also from psychotic shock, a hundred years ago they really had no way to force feed a pony that refused to drink or eat.” Twilight looked up and her eyes were swimming with tears. “Celestia thinks that modern medicine and magic we might be able to save half, as long as we get to them soon.” Red Wood closed his eyes and whispered, “Half?” For a long time they flew in silence, Twilight reading over her notes, while Red Wood watched Equestria fields and forests roll by but not really seeing them. One of the Pegasi guards pulling the chariot, turned his head and said, “Princess, we will be arriving at Sea Del Mare in about fifteen minutes. Do you wish us to land directly in the market?” At first Twilight first kept reading her notes seeming not having heard the guard, but with a shake of her head with an effort she pulled her attention to the guard and blinked at him several times as if she had forgotten what they were doing. “Oh right! I forgot to brief any of you. No don’t fly straight in, we’ll land outside of the village and enter under cover.” Twilight looked over the side of the chariot and spotted a dirt road leading towards the sea. “Down there! There’s a road, it leads to the village, put us down there.” The guards didn't ask for further instructions but gave a wing gesture for the other following chariot to land as well. As soon as they were on the ground a few of the guards started to secure the area but Twilight called them back. Once she got every ponies attention, she said, “Everyone listen up, this is not like a normal state visit or even a traditional investigation. We are going undercover. We are dealing with an enemy that wears the faces of normal ponies. Our job here is not to capture, arrest or confront these ponies. We are here to track them, and try to find out where they came from. We know from experience that if they suspect anypony is watching them, they will lead us on a goosechase. We need to get close enough so one of the trained tracker unicorn guards, or myself, can cast a tracking spell on some of them. And it has to be without them noticing. Then we back off and allow a specialist tracking team to trace them. No heroics! You understand?” There were a chorus of ‘Yes your highness.” from most of the guards. Twilight continued, “So everypony wearing armor, take it off, and we’re leaving it hidden with the chariots here.” Twilight's horn glew and she teleported a pile of cloaks from somewhere. “Put on a cloak, and take only small arms, weapons that will fit under the cloaks. Spears and long swords have to stay here.” There was some grumbling about this, but the guards started to undress. Red Wood noticed with mild interest that as they took off their armor, their true coat colors and cutie marks started to show. It had been long rumored that the different divisions of the guards used a disguise spells as part of the uniforms, making them all appear to be clones of each other. Clearly the rumor was true, what had been uniform looking guards were now a mix of multi colored ponies that wouldn't look out of place on any city street. Approving the new look of the guards, Twilight motioned to Red Wood to talk with her, while simultaneously draping one of the tattered cloaks on her back, effectively hiding her wings. She announced, “Mr Red Wood is on our team as the pony most familiar with a large number of the targets. We know at least three of the Coltsdale victims are here, probably more. Mr Red Wood and I will be stationed on the village clock tower, where we should be able to spot most of the targets. Our cover story is we are up there to repair the clock. If we see any of the cult’s ponies I will send out on the side of the tower closest to the target, sparks similar to the light of a welders torch,. Unicorn guards who are ready with the tracking spells should then approach the target as quietly as possible.” With every pony briefed, Twilight led them down the road towards the village. She reprimanded some of the disguised guards when Twilight felt they were walking too much in formation, and kept telling them stop marching and act more ‘friendly.’ Red Wood for the most part just walked next to Twilight, keeping quiet and feeling more than a little nervous. When the group’s non formation was satisfactory to the Alicorn and things had been quiet for a little while, Red Wood decided to ask the question that had been on his mind now since the flight. “Princess, what can I do? I thought maybe you wanted me to make contact? You know as someone they knew and might trust? Am I here just to point out ponies from a distance?” Twilight smiled, You and Parker are too valuable to risk on direct contact. I guess if the tracking spell fails then it might really be a last resort to negotiate with the cult, if we even can. According to my research, Princess Celestia has never had success talking with the cultists in any of the previous encounters. No, I just want you to stick with me, and point out any ponies you recognize.” Soon they passed the outer limits of the village, and waiting for them on the road was a pink and orange mare. She wore only a flat cap, a sheriff's star pinned to the brim. Once they were close, she walked to the largests of the disguised guard stallions. “Are you the guards from Canterlot? Which one of you is the leader?” She whispered, just loud enough for the group to hear her. “That would be me,” Twilight stepped forward. The sheriff stepped closer. “Thank you for coming, uh?” “I am Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight answered the mare with an expectant smile. The sheriff’s eyes darted to lumps under Twilight’s cloak that hid her wings. “The Princess!?” She asked shakingly. “Shhh,” Twilight hushed the sheriff. “Please we’re trying not to draw a crowd. Just point us to where you took the photograph, and then lets find a private spot to debrief you.” Soon the sheriff had led them to the largest building in the small village, a three story wooden structure that served as the town offices and meeting space. On the side and raising over it was the clocktower that Twilight had previously mentioned. The sheriff had very little new information to add, she had taken the picture only because the large order was unusual and raised her suspicions, but she had not been able to track the strangers or find out where they came from. The only important news she could give was that some out of town shipping firm, that she had never heard of before was scheduled to come and pick up the order later that afternoon. After thanking the sheriff, Twilight dismissed the disguised guards telling them to spread out around the town, looking for any trouble makers. Soon only Twilight and Red Wood were left in the tower. Red Wood first walked to the window of the clock tower. From here he could see down the full length of all the main north south streets, but many of the side streets, were partly blocked by other buildings. He did have a good look down on the main village market. “I don’t see anypony I recognize.” Standing with him, Twilight pointed down to the Market and at a particularly large pile of crates and bundles. “That I think is their order, waiting for pickup.” “What happens if they just send some shipping company ponies and no cultists? They might not need to come back themselves.” Red Wood asked. “No, they only paid half to price, at least one cultist has to come to settle the bills.” After watching with Red Wood for a while, Twilight took out of her bags more papers and told Red Wood, “Keep looking for anypony suspicious, I’m going to read over the reports again, just in case I missed anything.” Red Wood nodded to the Princess, wondering how many times’s she’s already re-read those report, but rather than just watching out the window, he walked around the top of the tower for a bit, examining the clock works. “Hay Twilight, good thinking about our cover story, this clock really does need a lot of work. It’s not even running, doesn’t look like it’s been repaired in years.” Red Wood climbed a short ladder behind the clock’s face and into the bell belfry above it. There were wooden slat covered opening here that being about ten feet higher than the tower’s glass windows, gave him an even better view. Still not seeing any activity in the market, he looked out the other sides and was able to see further down more the side streets. Soon he spotted several of the guards they had come with, Red Wood frowned a bit at the groups. They were moving around in a bit too obvious way, to his mind. “Twilight!” Red Wood called down to the reading alicorn. “You see something Red Wood!” Twilight stood up and put her front hoofs on the ladder, but paused before climbing up. “Not any pony from Coltsdale, but the royal guards, are being a bit too obvious. A guess without you to remind them, they all went back to marching in formation.” Red Wood moved to the side to make room for Twilight. She climbed up and quickly spotted the problem. Sighing she said, “I wish my Brother was here!” “Your Brother?” “Shining Armor, he was Captain of the guard before he got married. You had to have heard about that!” “Oh yeah, something about monsters invading Canterlot.” Red Wood nodded, and noticed that Parker was asking a question. He relayed the question to Twilight, “Parker wants to know if the guards give you a lot of trouble.” Twilight paused, “Well not really, but unlike Celestia, Luna and even Cadence, I never formed a personal guard. I didn't want to disrupt Ponyville with all that nonsense. I guess if I had my own guards, they would take me more seriously, but I’m just a junior princess to these ponies, I should NOT be ignored though! I’ll have to talk to Celestia about that.” Twilight hopped down and paced around the tower landing for a few minutes thinking. “I can’t just run out there and redirect them. That might make it worse!” Red Wood noticed that Twilights hair seemed to be getting a bit ‘wild’ looking. She seemed very stressed out by this news. For some reason Parker wrote a message that read, “She looks like she’s going ‘lesson zero’ on us.” Red Wood had no idea what that meant, but figured it wasn't anything good. While Twilight was thinking and fretting about what to do, Red Wood kept an eye on the guards. They had broken up into three small groups of four guards each going down different side streets. It was just painfully obvious they were following some sort of standard systematic search pattern. Clearly he wasn't the only one to notice. Some of the local town ponies were now following the guards, probably doing so out of curiosity than anything more devious, they were staying back some distance, and but still the guards might as well worn large glowing signs saying ‘Cover Blown.’ Twilight face hoofed when Red Wood told her what was happening. She grumbled loudly, “I got to go and get them out of there. We can’t risk them parading like like …” Twilight paused in her rant. “Acting like palace guards?” Red Wood filled in for her. “You're right.” She agreed, “We needed specialist but I didn't have time to pick any. You keep looking for any Coltsdale Mares and stay out of sight. I’ll lead the guards out of town and tell them circle back later. We’ll have to hope none of the cultists are here yet.” Twilight left the clock tower, and Red Wood stayed behind, scanning the side streets and marketplace from up in the belfry. He spotted Twilight slowly approach the nearest group of guards and talk with them, while the other two groups continued down different streets. While he kept moving his head back and forth scanning the area, Red Wood noticed an odd distortion. The high contrast colors and objects on the streets kept him from easily seeing Parker’s words, but Parker seemed to be wildly scribbling on one spot of his vision. It wasn't how he normally wrote, so Red Wood kept moving his head back and forth, trying to make out words. It was several minutes before he realized it wasn't words at all, but Parker was drawing multiple circles around a spot the guards where walking towards. Once he realized the spot that Parker was trying to draw his attention to, Red Wood gave it a long stare but didn't understand what was making Parker nervous. It was an empty allyway with lots of boxes in it. “Wait!” he thought to himself, “Is that legs sticking out of that box?” Squinting his eyes, Red Wood realized that he could see several pairs of legs and at least the flanks of three ponies hiding behind the boxes. The guards were getting closer to that ally but couldn't possibly see the hidden ponies from their positions. Suddenly Red Wood had an odd flashback image, one that felt like a memory, but he frankly had no idea where the memory came from. There was a giant fish creature, sitting on a chair and dressed in some sort of uniform, turning quickly to face straight ahead and crying “It’s a Trap!” “It’s a Trap!” Red Wood echoed. The guards were much too far away to hear him from up on this tower, he remembered the welding sparks signal they were supposed to use, but that was going to be Twilights trick, he wasn't skilled in illusion magic. He did try to shoot some sparks from his horn out the window, but his meager sparks weren't going to draw anyone’s attention. Red Wood didn't waste any more time on trying again, and stormed down the stairs of the clock tower. Call for Twilight as soon as he hit the outside ground. It took several calls, Twilight was deep in concentrating on scolding the first group of guards, but turned Red Wood reluctantly. “I’m trying to protect our cover over here Red Wood! You’re yelling is not helping!” she grumbled at him. Red Wood kept running towards her, yelling the one phrase that Parker kept writing over and over as distortions in his vision. “It’s a trap!” Twilight blinked at that, only getting her mind around the words as Red Wood finally reached her. “A trap!? Where?” She asked. But Red Wood didn't have to answer her, because the jig was up and ponies started to come out of hiding from every ally and door. Ponies with nasty grins on their faces which left no room for doubt of their intent. The four guards that Twilight had been scolding, immediately surrounded Twilight and Red Wood in defensive positions. Two of them were unicorns and the others were pegasus, they had small blades, but even if they crowd wasn't displaying many weapons, they were clearly outnumbered, five or ten to one. “Princess get out of here! We’ll hold them uggg!” one of the pegasus guards called out towards Twilight only as a pile of cult ponies dragged him down to the ground. They were stamping down hard on him, bucking and kicking, there was a sickening snapping noise as his wings broke and he cried out in pain, once. The other guards now had their knives out and were trying to force the crowd back, but were gaining only inches of maneuvering room. All four of the horned ponies, including Red Wood and Twilight tried magic. But there were many unicorns in the crowd and shield spells had already been raised. Only Twilight had the power to break through one of the shields, and only for a moment, she knocked several of the attackers back with that blast but that bought them only a few seconds before the shields were doubledly reinforced. “Go Princess!” One of the remaining guards called, as the last of the pegasus was pulled down with fearful neigh. Twilight looked side to side, wildly looking for an exit, but every way was blocked. She then blasted her horn, not towards the crowd, but straight up. Magic sparks showed there had been shields above them as well, but they weren't as reinforced, and her magic smashed through them. Twilight immediately started on a diffrent, if familiar spell, but it seemed to be taking longer than usual. She was defending against dozens of hostile unicorns in the crowd and her magic was badly weakened. She tried to teleport and take the guards and Red Wood with her, but her magic was too weak, there was a loud bang and then a magic backlash knocked most of the attacking ponies to the ground. When the smoke cleared, Twilight was gone, but she wasn't able take every pony with her. One unicorn was left behind, who cried out in fear, as the crowd of attackers pushed forward and covered him from sight.