//------------------------------//
// My Little Investigations 
// Story: Six Trans Mares 
// by pertelote345 
//------------------------------//

Trigger warning: Grisly Murder Investigation


Twilight


I dug through the files the local police had gathered on the University Killings and I had to admit not much new was coming up. I hadn't been involved in many murder investigations in my time though so this was all new to me. But... I did have a small investigative task force behind me so I was getting a solid crash course.

I flipped to the next page of the file, frowning as I marked up another copy. There had been three killings, all in the space of a week, all senior staff at the University of Fillydelphia. The victims included the head of the magical survey department, the head of the ritual casting department, and the head of the neurology department (a pegasus to my surprise, apparently using pegasus lightning manipulation to map the flow of electricity in the brain provided her with some serious insights).

I had been leafing through their notes, trying to find any connection between them aside from them all working at the same university, but all I'd found out so far was that they were fascinating, vibrant ponies who I would have loved to befriend.

And the head of neurology had a filly...

I took a sip of coffee and looked at another gory picture. The killings had not been clean... The only real comfort I had was that coroner reported that the flaying hadn't started until after the victims were dead.

Some sort of spell had been cast on them before that, But its signature was faded by the time forensics got to the bodies. The CSI had no clue what to make of the vague readings they'd scrounged together, but I swear, something about it seemed familiar...

Seargeant Peace Keeper put a coffee cup down in front of me. "You should take it easy. It would be quite the hit to morale if you tired yourself out worrying."

I gave him a weak smile and took a sip of liquid heaven. The Filly PD did not skimp on their beans. After seeing what they had to put up with I couldn't blame them. I shook my head. "I still don't understand why you didn't contact the princesses earlier. This is a serious case."

He shrugged. "To be honest the whole case seems a bit fishy to me, but serial killers aren't necessarily considered federal issues unless they cross principality lines. We reported it of course, but... Well, I'd be lying if I said it was the only grisly set of murders to happen in Equestria. I can assure you, now that we know it's a national security matter we'll be taking it much more seriously."

I nodded. "Thank you. And don't worry, I've called in federal investigators to give you some extra pony power."

He winced. "The help will be appreciated your highness, but I'm not going to lie, I'm not looking forward to the extra red tape."

I smirked. "I'll see what I can do to cut that down for you. And it's just Dusk. I'm not Princess of Friendship for nothing." I shook myself. "Sorry... Prince. It's been a long night."

The officer grinned. "I'll bet." He looked around for a moment, making sure we were alone. Then he spoke in a softer voice. "You know, we stallions were really glad when you got elevated. It's good to have representation among the royals."

I tilted my head. "Have there been problems? I always saw the princesses as fairly egalitarian."

He nodded, "Sure, but there are some things they just don't view as priorities. There still isn't a male birth control pill, and sexual assault of stallions is a serious and under-reported issue."

I bit my lip. This was treading into uncomfortable territory. Still, he wasn't wrong.  "Remind me to look into those." I said.

He smiled. "Any time Dusk."

There was a rustle outside. I heard a whimper. 

The sergeant dropped his coffee and made his way to to the reception area at a dead run. I followed behind, suddenly flush with adrenaline. 

When we reached the reception area there was a stallion in a dress struggling against two of Filly's finest. "Let go of me you perverts!" He shouted in a voice that at least attempted to be feminine.

I felt my stomach churn. Oh no...

The Sergeant stamped his hoof. "What is the meaning of this?"

One of the guards, a muscled mare with a cropped mane cut tightened the transpony's cuffs. "We were checking for contraband sarge. It turns out they're not forms, they're implants."

The transpony growled. "They're not implants either you thugs! I grew them! They're natural."

The muscled officer rolled her eyes. "Hormone induced teats on a stallion are anything but natural."

"For the last time! I'm not a stallion!" The detainee spat.

"Your ID says otherwise." returned the officer.

"Enough!" I shouted.

Everyone froze. The restrained pony stared at me. "P-Prince Dusk?"

I did a quick run through of Cadence's breathing exercise and turned to the police officers. "What has she been accused of?" I asked.

The other officer holding her, a Stallion with a young face, cleared his throat. "He's suspected of prostitution your highness."

"For no reason." The detainee interjected.

The muscled mare grit her teeth. "The suspect was dressed like that waving at carriages."

"I was hailing a cab!"

I held up a hoof. It was taking all my self control to hold myself together... But I had to remember, I didn't have the whole story and I couldn't let myself be biased.

"Has she seen a judge yet?"

The Muscled Mare shook her head. "No Princess."

I gave a stern look to the room at large. "Then as a presiding royal I shall act as one. For the time being I will accept that the charges are valid and she should be assigned a court date. I set her bail at 20 bits." I yanked the money out of my saddlebag and dropped it on the bursar's desk. 

The trans mare blinked. 

I grunted. "Consider it a settlement for any charges against the department associated with misconduct during your search." 

The muscled mare bit her lip.

"Now, officers, please assign her a court date and let her go. If no judge is available in the next few weeks I shall oversee her trial personally."

There was a pause as everyone processed this.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

The police let her go. The officers gave her a piece of paper and she fled before anyone else could touch her.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. The rest of the PD stared at me.

It was way too late at night to deal with this. I made my way to the station door.

"I'll be back tomorrow." 


#

Lilac


It was about the last thing in the world I expected, but Rainbow Dash had a tea set.

Apparently Fluttershy (yet another element of harmony that was trans, seriously, was AJ the only cis one?) had given it to her at one point, less as a present and more as insurance that she would have something to drink when she came over.

Whatever the reasons for its existence I was grateful. I sipped at the chamomile and eyed the mare across from me. Neither of us looked particularly feminine, but... I don't know, I felt like I could see something different about her now that she'd told me. Maybe she was just less tense. Maybe I was full of crap.

Dash spoke up. "So... 'Lilac' is a neat name, how did you decide on that one?"

I smirked. "My mom gave it to me actually, I wanted her to have skin in the game so I asked her for a new one."

She tilted her head. "Seriously? With you running off to Ponyville from the Griffon Kingdom I assumed your parents disowned you or something."

I shook my head. "No... My parents are pretty cool. I left because there wasn't much in the way of medicine or support in Griffon Stone..." I thought back to a more desperate time and shivered. "At least the legal kind."

Dash winced. "Oh."

I took a sip of tea. "You've been there?"

She nodded. "I have a friend there actually, she seems to be trying to patch things up a bit, both for herself and her town, but I'm not going to lie I'm kind of worried about her."

I put a claw on her shoulder. "Don't worry, for what it's worth the last I heard the griffons were on the upswing. It was even starting to get better before I left. It just... wasn't moving fast enough for me."

Dash took a sip of her instant coffee (it frightened me that she could stomach that stuff) and sighed. "So who's this Blane A-hole? Can I kick his ass for selling me bogus HRT?"

"I..." I grimaced. How the heck was I supposed to describe Blane? 

"You know how everyone has that shitty story about that time when their life sucked?" I asked. 

She nodded. 

I gulped. "Well, Blane's mine. Just... I'd rather not go into too much detail, but you definitely don't want to give him more money."

Dash looked down. "I hate to say it, but I already gave him 400 bits."

I nearly spit out my tea. "You gave him that much!? That's a fortune in the griffon economy, how much estradiol did you buy?"

She gestured to the box. "It was supposed to be a surprise for me and... Some friends."

I blushed, thinking back to the other trans elements. "I probably know who you're talking about. I run PATA."

Her eyes went wide. "That's you?" He smirked. "Damn, I was going to come to the next meeting."

I smiled. "You still can." 

My eyes wandered to the bottles. Even dulled down with baking soda they were still estrogen. Maybe he hadn't cut it with anything worse. He hadn't needed to after all. A trans girl without her hormones was desperate enough. Maybe I could...

I shook myself and closed the lid on the box. I wasn't touching anything that griffon made. Just three more months.

Dash sighed. "I really blew it this time. I thought I could just sidestep all this counseling and testing crap and make my friends feel better." She took another swig of her disgusting concoction. "I guess the whole 'drug smuggler' thing should have been a tip off."

I looked to the floor. "Your heart was in the right place." My teacup was empty. I brought it over to the sink and eyed the lowering sun through the kitchen window. "I should really get home."  I mumbled.

"You wanna crash here?" she asked. 

I raised an eyebrow. "Um..."

She held up her hooves. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just... That nutjob's still out there and I...  She's probably targeting trans ponies and I thought you might... And we could... You know, be here as backup for each other?"

I scanned, her. Looking for an ulterior motive... But she just looked shaken.

In all honesty I was right there with her. Today had rather astronomically sucked.

I eyed the couch in the corner. "Does that thing fold out?"

She smiled. "You know it does.

I smirked. "Okay then." 

We went to get some pillows with a spring in our steps. Wait until Driver heard I'd spent the night with an Element of Harmony...