//------------------------------//
// Tick, Tock, She is a Clock! 
// Story: Ponies in Black 
// by ThunderChaserCreate 
//------------------------------//

	"Okay. First order of business-- Fleur, stop that."

Fleur stared up at me with disdain. "Stop doing what?" She flipped her mane behind her ear, patting it down with one hoof while holding a mirror with her magic.

"That. Fooling with your mane. It's gorgeous and perfect, and you're super distracting. So, if you could just..." I hesitated. "Stop."

Fleur sighed, putting her mirror down.

"Great. Okay, so... let's talk about this. The first thing we need to do is find a new member..." I scribbled this on the white board behind me. "Okay? Somepony with some talent, somepony clever and helpful. Or useful. Either's fine, really." I set down the marker.

"Any ideas?"

Time Turner's hoof shot up. 

I scoffed. "Don't joke around, Turner."

Turner frowned. "I have ideas, too!"

"Fine, fine." I waved my hoof. "Go ahead."

"Well... I have this cousin... she's a unicorn, and she's got time magic."

"Time magic? What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"Um..." Turner rubbed the back of his head. "Well, she can go back in time and watch stuff from, like, twenty-four hours back."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Great, get her on the phone. Tavi and Lyra!" I moved my focus as Turner scuttled off. "We need to start making money in new ways, okay? From now on, our primary focus is figuring out what happened to Fancy and why. You guys are gonna start hiring yourselves out for parties and stuff."

"We are?" Octavia repeated.

"Yeah. You can... you know, play music and hypnotize ponies. For money." 

Lyra shrugged. "That sounds like us!" she said optimistically.

"Great. Start printing up flyers and stuff." I sent them off, moving to my next victim. "Er... Carrot!"

"What?" she asked dryly.

"You're writing a book, I need you to start getting that ready for publishing," I ordered. I meant it to be a suggestion, but... I think this power stuff was starting to go to my head.

"How did you--"

"Doesn't matter." I tried to continue, but all that came out was "I snooped in your desk."

Carrot grimaced, but nodded. "Sure. I can do that."

"Awesome! Who's next, who's next... Fleur and Photo! A match made in heaven. You guys are going to become a modelling-slash-photography team! Sound good?"

"Oh! I have always dreamed of putting you in shparkles!" Photo exclaimed, grabbing Fleur by the cheeks.

"Um... sure. I don't see why not." Fleur agreed, her voice warped by the pressure on her cheeks.

"Fantastic! You guys go do your thing. Uh... who's left?" I looked up from my paper. "Berry Punch!"

Berry jerked out of a nap. "Whazzat?"

"Go to a bar and start asking drunk ponies about Fancy Pants."

Berry pumped her hoof in triumph and trotted off.

"Cool. Derpy... start baking muffins. Start a door-to-door business."

Derpy narrowed her eyes. "What happened to selling insurance? Why's stuff gotta change?"

"Well, number one, we need to find a more reliable, less illegal way of making money. I mean, most ponies have insurance by now. Number two, Fancy somehow got himself in serious trouble, and I have a feeling it had something to do with this business. If somepony else winds up getting hurt or killed..."

"You'll feel really bad?" Derpy suggested.

"I'll have more replacing to do, and I'm just not up for that. Better stick to honest work. Like selling muffins! Like a Filly Scout!"

"They sell cookies.."

"Close enough! Bon-Bon?"

Bon-Bon looked up at me. "Yup?"

"Budget. You are now the company's private accountant. Go look at numbers or something," I told her.

"Do I get paid?" Bon-Bon asked.

I was about to say yes, but paused. "We'll see."

Bon-Bon looked slightly disappointed, but went to do something anyway.

"Okay... Flower Mares..." I looked at the group of hair-trigger ponies before me. "Well... sell flowers and try not to freak anypony out too bad."

"We can probably handle that!" Rose told me.

"Great! Do your best!" I responded, not so sure.

As soon as they were gone, I let out a sigh of relief. It was hard being everypony's cheerleader. I took the moment to relax, try to turn back into my normal self.

"Hey! Vinyl!" Turner's voice screamed form down the hall.

"Ugh..." I smacked my forehead on the podium. "What?"

Turner appeared at the door, panting hard. "She'll take it!"

"The job?"

"Yeah!"

I nodded. "Okay! Good work!"

Turner smiled, then trotted off happily.

Time Turner was... a sad little stallion. he couldn't do anything with ponies watching, and he couldn't do much more when he was alone. he was in intern, and he really lived up to the cliche. Had he ever actually tried to do something well, he may have gotten by. But... he just couldn't try with us watching him.

I sighed. I couldn't believe I was about to do this. "Hey, Turner?"

He returned instantly. "Yeah, boss?"

"Yeah, uh... why can't you do time magic?" I asked. I was serious, but I knew he was going to take this the wrong way.

He scoffed. "Well, duh. I'm not a unicorn."

"No I mean... like, what can you do? If you don't have time magic..." I muttered. "What's your talent?"

He sighed. "You really wanna know?"

"Yeah."

"I'm... always late." He forced a grin.

I laughed. "Really?"

"Yep..."

I laughed some more. 

"Okay, it's getting offensive now."

"Sorry." I took some deep breaths. "Get back to work."

"D-doing what?"

"I don't know. Go clean the windows." I shooed him. "Go!"

Turner buzzed out of the room, his short tail bouncing behind him. He had energy, I'd give him that, but... he was just too dopey to actually accomplish anything.

Unlike his cousin.

Who showed up right then.

"Dear, Celestia! Will I ever get a chance to rest? Hasn't even been a day, and I swear..." I stepped down from the podium, walking across the room to meet the new pony. "Who are you?"

"Minuette, reporting for duty!" she shouted, saluting at me.

"Oh... kay... um, let's try this again-- who are you?"

"I'm Time Turner's cousin! He told me you needed some help so... here I am!" She grinned. here teeth were... blinding.

"Yeah-- where did you come from? How did you get here so fast?" I asked, looking behind her as though the answer was clinging to her back leg.

"Oh, from a few blocks away. I was just giving somepony a root canal! Could totally drop everything and head over here."

I narrowed my eyes. "Sure."

Minuette grinned harder.

"You're freaking me out."

Minuette laughed. "You're delightful!"

"Delightful... right. Well, look, come up to my office and I can--"

"Wait!" she shouted.

I stopped to look back at her. "What?"

"I don't know your name, boss!" 

I scoffed. "Uh... It's Vinyl Scratch."

Minuette trotted up to my face, resting the tip of her hoof on my snout. "Vinyl... Scratch!"

I stared her in the eye. "Yep."

Minuette giggled. "This is marvelous! I am so ready to help you guys out! Let's get started!"

I watched as she left, trying to pin this pony down. She had a powder blue coat and a cutie mark exactly matching her cousin. Her mane... her mane actually bore the resemblance of toothpaste, very smooth white with and almost glittery dark blue stripe.

"Hmph." I cantered to catch up, falling into step beside her. "So... what do you do?"

"I'm a dentist!" She smiled wide again, showing off her pearly whites.

"Right. And, uh... and you just felt like dropping everything to help us out?"

"It's like I always say!" Minuette grinned.

I waited for the cliche.

"What?"

"Hm?"

"What is it you always say?" I asked.

"Oh, right! 'Don't count your chickies before they pop out!'" 

I thought about that for a second. "That... th-that doesn't..." I sighed. "Alright, this is your office."

I gestured to a nearby door. 

"Ooh!" Minuette squealed, running at the door and throwing it open. "Wow! My very own office!"

"Didn't you have your own office when you were a dentist?" I asked.

Minuette laughed. "Of course not!"

"Uh--"

"This is wonderful! I love it so much!" She bounded over to the desk, making herself comfortable at the beat-up swivel chair behind it. "What's my first job? What should I do? Go on, tell me!"

"Gosh, um..." I rubbed the back of my head, trying to think of something for her to do. "Why don't you go clean the windows with your cousin?"

"Sounds great, boss!" Minuette jumped up, flying out of the room and up the stairs.

"Whew..." Lyra peered into the office, where I still stood, dumbfounded. "Uh... is she the new employee?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda starting to rethink this..." I muttered.

"No kidding. How does one pony have that much energy?" Lyra wondered, staring at the spot where she had rounded a corner and disappeared.

I sighed, holding a hoof to my head. "Alright, I'm gonna head upstairs and start going over those papers."

"Sounds good." Lyra nodded. "But, hey-- aren't you gonna use her magic? I thought you brought her in so you could watch Fancy's... you know..." She mimicked a gun cocking, then firing.

"Right. Honestly, I don't know if I can get her under control enough to do that just yet..." 

Lyra arched her eyebrows. "Well, you'd better get crackin' 'boss.' Turner said she can only go back twenty-four hours."

"Oh, Celestia..." I held my head with both hooves. "This is already spinning out of control... it's only been, like, twelve hours!"

"Yeah. Which gives you twelve more hours to get Minuette to take you back."

"Lyra." I grabbed my friend by the shoulders. "Lyra, she's nuts! I spent all of a minute with her, and I feel like I'm going to die!"

"I... saw."

"We need to get somepony else on this! I can't handle the stress!" I waved my hooves in the air.

"Okay! Okay, we'll get somepony else to tag along with her and get her relaxed." Lyra pushed me away, adding a pat on the head for good measure.

"Great. I can't handle this, not yet."

"Well, you'd better pony up to the plate, Scratch. You're the company president, and--"

"I know!" I shouted. "I... I know. I swear, if anypony else reminds me of that, I'll--"

"All done, Ms. Company President!" called an overly happy voice.

I turned to see Time Turner, smiling wide with his cousin right beside him. 

"You!" I screamed.

He jumped, then quailed from me. 

"My office!"

He bit his lip, following me with his head hung. We climbed the four flights in silence, and I finally got him in the little metal chair that faced my new desk.

"Turner... I have an assignment for you."

His face instantly brightened. "You do? Will I get paid?"

"Maybe. Depends on how good you do."

"Well."

"What?"

"How 'well' I do." Turner corrected me.

I glared at him. "Just lost thirty percent."

"Sorry." Turner squirmed in his seat. "What's the assignment?"

"You... you are going to get your insane cousin under control. I don't have time to get her focused enough. I have all these papers to go through..." I gestured to the mess of records we had pulled out of the AC unit. "But I need Minuette's magic to get some more info."

"Mm'kay." Turner nodded in understanding.

"Just... try to get her to relax, okay?" I rubbed my temple gently. "Please?"

"Sure thing, boss." He paused. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, fine. One of my friends died yesterday, I've been put in charge of his sleazy company, then a crazy pony arrives today to give me a migraine."

He blinked slowly.

"Also, I think my goldfish died. The bowl smells and he's really still."

Turner frowned, nodding slowly. "Yeah..." he drew the word out. "If you gotta cry, you should just let it out."

"I'd love to, but I just don't have the time. Plus, I think my brain is squeezing to hard. It cut off my tear ducts," I explained.

"Right. Well, I'll, uh... I'll leave you to it then." He faked a wide smile.

"Don't do that. You look like her."

He bit his lips together. " 'Kay."

"Go away."

" 'Kay."

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, I smacked my face on the desk. I was being serious about the brain thing, I felt like my head was going to implode. I slammed it against the wood a few more times. hoping to make it loosen up a bit.

After heaving a great sigh, I started flipping through the papers. I sorted them into several piles, trying to make some kind of sense out of the raw numbers.

The phone records were pretty bare-bones, as well, just a list of who Fancy called and for how long.

After about an hour, somepony else made an appearance.

"Tavi?"

"Yeah, I came to check on you! Can I come in?" she called through the door.

I let out a short groan.

"Take that as a yes..." she responded, letting herself in. "So, how are you?"

"Great, yeah. I've been staring at these numbers for an hour,and I'm still no closer to figuring out who killed Fancy!" I threw the phone records in the air, letting them flutter down around Octavia. "How's Fleur?"

Octavia narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Why?"

"Well, he was her husband! I just thought she'd be torn up about it or something..." 

She scoffed. "No. That was basically for money and appearances. She doesn't care about him. In fact, I'm pretty sure she cares less than you do!"

"Really? Man, we are disgusting..." I commented.

"Yes. We really are."

"Except Bon-Bon," we said in unison.

We laughed a bit. 

"Hey, that, uh..." Octavia searched for the name. "Minuette?"

I nodded.

"Whew... she's a hoof-full alright."

"Yeah?"

"She cleaned all the windows on two floors in twenty minutes. Sparkling."

"Ugh..." I shook my head. "I can barely stand her. She's too... too... I don't know. Too everything. Too much of everything."

Octavia nodded, kicking her hoof at the floor. 

"Oh, boy... can't believe I'm gonna do this, but... well, Turner isn't going to get anything done with her, is he?"

Octavia frowned, shaking her head.

"Celestia... okay! Looks like it's my turn!" I forced a smile. "Lucky me!"

I stood up, pushing past Octavia and trotting purposefully out the door. I headed up the rubber-coated stairs and right to the window that Minuette was cleaning.

"Hey! Boss Vinyl Scratch! What's going on, pal?" she asked, scrubbing the window at an impossible speed.

"Hey... look, we need your help, okay?"

"There is literally nothing I'd like to do more than help you and your employees-slash-friends!" Minuette agreed, zipping over to the next window.

"Right. Hey, did Turner tell you what we need you for?"

"He said you guys needed a new employee!  A hard worker!"

"Yes, but... we need you for something more, uh... specific," I told her. "See, the reason we needed someone new was..."

Minuette stared at me.

It was like staring into the sun.

"Eh..." I kept looking at her. "Hey, have you met Derpy?"

"I haven't had the pleasure! Where is Derpy? Can I talk to her now? I am very excited about this!" Minuette, although excitement was in her voice, remained almost perfectly still.

"Yes. Derpy's office is the first door at the top of that last flight of stairs." I pointed her down.

She was off like a bolt of lightning. 

"I have... no regrets," I told myself, smiling a bit as i went back up to my office.

Octavia was still there.

"Hey, Tavi. Um... what're you doing?"

She held up a paper. "This isn't Fancy's phone number."

I scoffed. "No, that's it!" I pointed at the number about halfway down the page.

"Exactly! That's his number there! This is somepony else's record, and they called him four times in one day." She looked over the paper again. "For an hour."

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you serious? that sounds like something."

"It's more than something. If these are somepony else's records, it means Fancy stole them. From the police office."

I chuckled. "Not that that's too off par for us..."

"Har, har. The point is, something serious was going on here!" Octavia shouted. She tossed the paper behind her for emphasis, but wound up having to go get it. "What's our next move?"

"Next move?" I shuffled my hooves. "Er... take out? I'm starved."

"Vinyl..." Octavia threatened.

"Fine. I'll eat something healthy."

"Vinyl!"

"Alright! Message received. I gotta stop chickening out, here, and just go... do... that thing," I murmured. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. This is an almost pathetic lesson to learn, but yes. You're heading up the company now. You need to stop being a doormat."

"But I'm not a doormat! You saw me take charge in that meeting room!"

"Yeah! Because those ponies all knew you. They all knew what was expected of them, but as soon as somepony new appears you get all thrown off." Octavia waved her hooves, miming 'crazy.'

"Right..." I hung my head. "Man. Being company president sucks. No wonder Fancy always had a stick up his butt."

"Mm. Right, and when you're upset, don't hesitate to throw your predecessor under the bus!" Octavia commented.

I paused. "Wait, was that sarcastic, or--"

"Just go!" she ordered me.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Yeah."

"Yep. Go." Octavia shoved me out of the door, slamming it shut behind me.

I swallowed hard, then straightened myself up. I started back down the stairs, on my way to Derpy's office, where I had last sent Minuette.

I knocked on the door. "Minuette?" I called.

The door swung open immediately. "Hey! It's the greatest pony in Equestria!"

"Thanks," Derpy muttered sarcastically.

"Oh, you are the most wonderful pony in the country!" Minuette exclaimed.

I paused, trying to figure that one out. "Never mind. Look, as I was trying to say before, we need your help."

"Yes! A delightful task that I am more than ready to take on!" She beamed, her white teeth throwing me off.

"Right. Look, the reason we brought you in is... well, our old company president... erm... died."

"Oh!" Minuette covered her mouth in horror. "That's awful!"

"Yes. Well, he was, um... he was murdered. So we need to use your magic, go back in time, and watch what happened after Turner left the scene."

"Oh, my gosh..." Minuette kept a hoof over her mouth.

"What? What... what is it?"

"Is this a murder mystery?" she whispered.

"Um... yes. I guess it is."

"OH MY GOSH I AM SO READY FOR THIS WHEN DO WE START I AM SO EXCITED!" She screamed all in one breath.

I jumped back at her sudden volume. "U-um..."

She smiled at me.

"Well, as soon as possible."

"Ooh, let's do it now!"

"No, wait--!"

There was a huge burst of magical energy from Minuette's horn. It exploded into the room, enveloping the three of us in a light blue tornado of... sparkles!

"Woo-hoo!" Minuette exclaimed. "Hey, when did he die?"

"Yesterday! About noon!" I screamed over the swirling wind.

"Great! That's easy!" She let off another volley of magic, which seemed to chase away the first. "Here we are! Knock yourselves out."

"Minuette, we needed to bring everypony here!"

Minuette frowned. "We did?"

"Yes! We-- we--" I growled. "It's okay. We'll try it again, just take us back."

"Uh..." Minuette's ears flattened against her head. "One's the limit. Sorry."

"What?"

"Look, there he is!" Derpy pointed as Fancy walked past her, Turner tagging along at a quick clip.

"Hurry up, dear boy," Fancy addressed Turner, who panted a bit.

"Can... we... slow down? My legs... can't be... as fast as yours!" he complained.

I scoffed. "Typical."

"Shh!" Derpy hushed me.

"Sorry, dear boy, I have an appointment soon. We need to get this over with." He checked his pocket watch, then stopped walking. "Er... one moment. Could you run up ahead and press the button on the crosswalk?"

Turner panted some more. "Run?"

"Yes, yes. Hurry now, old boy." Fancy shooed him away, then leaned against the mailbox.

"What's he doing?" I asked. "Does he know he's about to get killed?"

"Certainly looks like it..." Derpy murmured.

Fancy seemed to be scanning the buildings around him, as though searching for his assailant.

We watched intently as Fancy's eyes rested on a particular window a few stories up. He took off his monocle, slowly polishing it in his hooves.

A silenced shot flew from the window he had been watching, catching him in the shoulder and knocking him to the ground.

We gasped, unsure of what to do or say.

Turner trotted back into view, breaking into a gallop when he saw Fancy's body.

"Oh, Celestia! Oh, Celestia!" He went down on the ground beside him, grabbing his wrist to feel for a pulse. "Somepony call 911!"

"Lemme fast-forward here..." Minuette muttered, powering up her horn. The ponies movements stopped, then sped up to twice, four times, eight times as fast. She stopped when an ambulance arrived.

There wasn't much to see. Turner had already fled the scene to get us, and the ambulance had covered Fancy's body with a cloth. The EMT was an earth pony mare with a white coat and a powder pink mane, which she had tied back as she loaded the body into the back of the cart.

In the last sliver of a glimpse we caught of Fancy, I could have sworn I saw him sit up.

Minuette returned us to our current time.

"Well? Did you see what you wanted to see?" she asked.

"Hell, yeah, we did."

"We did?" Derpy asked.

I nodded. "Fancy Pants faked his death."