Helios, Alba, Razzly and Trixie trot through Hoofington after their morning press conference and meet-and-greet with the citizens. The rest of the group is off exploring the city on their own. The magic users are trotting away from the college after having met with one of the professors. They enter an area with a number of small restaurants. A large group of ponies are gathered around one of the restaurants. The four ponies head over to check it out. The two taller ponies watch from the back while the young fillies poke through to get a better view.
There is a police line around the outdoor dining area. Police ponies keep the crowd out and the suspects in. Walking around the dining area, a griffin is examining the diners while holding a talon to his head. He stops and turns his head slightly at one of the diners before moving on. Alba yawns at the show.
The griffin stops and points at the pony he tilted his head at. ‘The thief is that pony right there. … Not you, ma’am, the pony behind you.’
A nervous unicorn moves to the side to reveal a shocked earth pony.
‘Me? That is absurd.’
‘Absurd?’ The griffin laughs. ‘I sense you have been doing some gardening recently.’
‘Well, yes, that is my special talent.’
‘And the pair of wrenches on your flank are..?’
The earth pony grimaces when his lie is caught. He tries running, but a bat pony lands in front of him and an unicorn levitates cuffs around his ankles.
‘Good work, Gusty,’ the bat pony congratulates.
‘All in a day’s work,’ the griffin replies. ‘Oh! And you’ll find the missing money buried in the field near his house along with the tools he used to break into the shop. You will note he has a whole new set of tools that he bought yesterday due to the receipt in his bag.’
The unicorn levitates the receipt. ‘Amazing. how did you know that?’
The griffin laughs. ‘Well, I am psychic.’
The crowd cheers as the police escort the earth pony away. The griffin takes a few bows, as well as a pastry off of one of the diners’ plates. The crowd quickly disperses, leaving just the Elements and Trixie remaining. The griffin notices his new audience.
‘Quite a show you put on,’ Trixie compliments.
‘Is that The Great and Powerful Trixie giving me praise? I am honored.’ The griffin bows.
Trixie laughs. ‘Good job catching the criminal. It is great seeing everypony putting their powers to good use.’
‘Yes, I have a terrible burden, but I do what I can.’
The unicorn examines the griffin’s feathers closely. ‘I have travelled from one side of the map to the other, but I have never seen griffin feathers tipped with spots like these before.’
The griffin poses dramatically. ‘Some say they are a sign of nobility. The rest just think they are rad.’
Alba snorts. ‘You are far from noble. You are a fake.’
‘A fake? Hardly. I am Shaun Gusty. World famous psychic detective.’ Shaun stands proud and flares his wings out.
‘Well, I am Princess Alba, and I know there is no such thing as psychics.’
Shaun holds a claw to his head. ‘I sense you don’t believe my powers.’
‘I just told you that!’
‘I also sense you just came from the campus.’
‘We have bags from the bookstore.’
‘You also highly doubt I can be any help in finding the Element of Honesty.’
‘Quit stating the obvious!’
Trixie puts a hoof on Alba’s shoulder. ‘Alba, dear, calm down.’ She turns to Shaun. ‘We are really sorry. She is not normally like this.’
‘Yes, I get the psychic impression that she is normally a friendly soul. She is the one that got this little filly to come out of her shell.’
Razzly squeaks and gallops behind Helios for protection. Alba scowls at Shaun.
‘Well, I’d love to stay and chat,’ Shaun says, ‘but I have to be off. The chief will probably want to thank me personally before asking for my help on another case.’
Shaun spreads his wings and takes off. Alba prepares to chase after him, but her brother steps on her tail.
‘We have to stop him before he tricks more ponies!’ Alba protests.
‘It is not our place to judge how the creatures of this planet make their living,’ Helios replies. ‘We may not agree with his methods, but he is helping ponies.’
Alba growls and looks away. Razzly slowly trots to her friend.
‘It-it is okay. He is not hurting anypony.’
‘That doesn’t make it right to lie about having powers,’ Alba snorts.
‘Every magician has their secrets,’ Trixie notes. ‘Just forget about him. You don’t want it to ruin your day.’
Alba look down and kicks the pavement. She casts a spell to remove the cracks she caused. The others sigh and trot away. Alba looks in the direction Shaun flew before catching up with her friends.
Late at night, Shaun is flying around the the city. He circles around a building before flying towards the roof. The griffin readies his talons and paws for landing and drifts down.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
Shaun turns to see Helios floating beside him. The blue-grey alicorn pushes a cloud over for the fliers to land on.
‘Not only are there cameras in the building, but there are cameras on the entrances as well,’ the prince warns.
‘Good catch.’
‘Just head back to your hotel. When you get back, you will find a folder with what you have to say to the police to convince them of your target’s guilt.’ Helios shrugs. ‘Might make you look like a real psychic too.’
The griffin examines the prince. ‘Why are you telling me all of this?’
The alicorn levitates a small bag of bits. ‘That should be about double your normal consulting fee. After putting on a show for the police, lay low tomorrow so Alba doesn’t bother you. We’ll be gone soon enough.’
‘Are you trying to bribe me to leave town?’
Helios sighs. ‘Sorry if I am rude, but Alba is set on disproving you. I don’t want you to lose your profession, even if it is misleading.’
Shaun holds his talon by his head. ‘I sensed you would say that.’
‘No. Just no,’ the prince groans. ‘I don’t know what you know about my family, but we are all geniuses. Not even bragging. I saw through your little trick quickly, but I thought it was a pretty clever way to distract everypony from your observational skills and deductive reasoning.’
‘Uh... thank you?’
‘If Alba wasn’t likely to find out, I’d recommend you ask Trixie for some pointers in refining your act.’
‘I’ve been doing this for longer than you have been an Element. My act is perfect.’
‘You scrunch your beak a little and turn your head when you see a clue.’
Shaun’s eyes dart. ‘That’s not true.’
Helios sighs and shakes his head. ‘Just take it easy and lay low tomorrow.’
The prince flaps his wings and flies back to his hotel. Shaun looks at the building, shrugs and flies back to his hotel.
Shaun walks through Hoofington, looking for something to do for the day. He is not used to having a day off, but he wants to avoid a meddlesome alicorn filly if can. He finds a nice restaurant and decides to stop for lunch.
‘Sensing something good to eat there, or did the spirits tell you that there will be plenty of saps for you to scam here?’
Shaun groans when he hears the dreaded alicorn trot up beside him. Alba glares up at the griffin.
‘I am taking the day off,’ Shaun complains. ‘Can’t I have a moment of peace?’
‘You are not going to con another pony while I am around,’ the princess huffs. ‘I will expose your scam.’
Shaun facetalons. ‘I am going to get some food. You hungry?’
The filly glares at the griffin. Shaun sighs and enters the restaurant. He and Alba order meals. They sit together so Alba can keep a close eye on her prey. The griffin groans and looks around the room. An entering pegasus catches his eye. The pegasus has a hood covering his face. A bulge is seen under his wing. Shaun catches sight of a leather strap, confirming his fear. He grabs Alba and pulls her under the table.
‘Stay down,’ the griffin hisses.
Before Alba can reply, the pegasus raises his wing, revealing a wing-mounted gun. ‘Everypony down! This is a robbery!’ He fires a warning shot to scare the crowd. ‘J-Just give me all your money, and I’ll be on my way.’
The pegasus goes to the counter and starts emptying the registers. He waves his weapon at anypony he sees trying to escape. Alba struggles under Shaun.
‘Let me up. I can end this.’
‘It is safer to just let this pass. It will be all over soon.’
‘What? Are you an expert on robbing ponies now? I know you didn’t read his mind.’
Alba forces herself free. She trots over to the pegasus robber. The robber spins and aims his weapon at the princess. She calmly stares at her attacker.
‘W-what are you doing? Get down and drop your bits.’
Alba raises an eyebrow. ‘Really? That is it. Please just surrender now before anypony gets hurt. You’ll face far fewer charges if this ends now.’
‘What? Who are you?’
Alba stands as tall as she can and summons a magical aura around herself. ‘I am Alba of Equestria, Princess of the Twilight, second in line for the New Lunar Republic, and I will not stand to let you harm one of my fellow ponies!’
Shaun facetalons as Alba hands the robber the perfect hostage. Right on cue, a pair of police pegasi land outside of the restaurant. The robber grabs Alba under his foreleg and presses his weapon to her head. Shaun notices something when Alba is snatched. The alicorn is more annoyed than scared. More police ponies arrive on the scene.
‘Thank you to whoever called the police,’ Alba says to the crowd. ‘Hopefully, they will help end this soon.’
‘This is the Hoofington PD! Surrender now,’ the leader officer calls.
‘I would do that if I were you,’ the princess grumbles. She turns towards the officers. ‘Great response time! I’ll see to it that you receive a commendation.’
‘Shut up,’ the robber growls. He turns towards the surrounding officers. ‘I have the princess in here! If you don’t want her hurt, you will listen to my demands!’
Alba groans. ‘If you want money, you are going to need your lawyer or funeral after my daddy hears about this. Just surrender. It is the best solution.’
‘Shut up, you brat!’
‘I can teleport us out there right now! I am giving you the chance to do the right thing!’
The pegasus tries slapping Alba with his free hoof, but she dodges. Her horn catches his hood and reveals his face briefly. Shaun notices something that causes him to stand.
‘Doing this will not help them!’ Shaun calls to the robber.
The thief stops fighting with Alba and looks at the new interloper. ‘What was that?’
‘Your family member in the hospital. If you get arrested, you will not be able to help them. Tell us how to find the ponies that you borrowed money from, and we will help you bring them in.’
‘Who, who are you?’
Shaun holds a talon to his head. ‘I see it clearly. Your family member was ill. The treatment was expensive. You didn’t have the money to afford it so you went to a loan shark. You couldn’t repay them when they came to collect, so they beat you. Your family member is still sick, right?’
The pegasus starts trembling. ‘My son... He has a disease that has no scientific cure. There are few unicorns in the republic that can cure him. It... It was getting tight paying for the treatments. I had to do something!’
‘What is your son’s name?’ Alba ask.
‘Bright Sky. Why do you care?’
The princess sighs and levitates her mobile to her ear. ‘Hi, Helios? I need you to get to the local hospital and find a patient named Bright Sky for me. See if you can help him.’ She pauses while Helios replies, taking a moment to yawn. ‘That is all well and good, but you are better at healing magic and mom doesn’t know about those graphic novels dad’s friend Image gave you.’ She smiles. ‘Thanks! I owe you one!’
‘What did you do?’ the pegasus worries.
The princess sighs. ‘I asked my brother to see if he knows a spell to help your son. He’ll know what to do. Now, if you’ll release me, let me see if I can help you out of your mess.’ The robber lets her go. She adjusts her mane and tiara. ‘Thank you. Now wait here and don’t do anything stupid.’
Alba holds her head high and trots out of the restaurant. Shaun walks over to the pegasus.
‘Don’t worry. I sense she knows what she is doing.’
The police finish taking a statement from Shaun after the incident is resolved. He gets ready to fly away when a purple aura catches his tail. He looks back as Alba approaches.
‘The pegasus had a hospital visitors anklet on the leg he grabbed me with,’ Alba states. ‘It was the color for the ICU. He had bruises and lacerations on his face and underside from getting beat up. He also was missing a money pouch, something you would definitely have when going out to eat.’
‘Did he now?’
‘Don’t play stupid with me! That is how you do it. You notice little details like that and recall them when they are relevant.’
‘And the tear streaks?’
Alba looks away. ‘Trixie was yelling at me for what I did today...’
‘In the end, you helped his son and tipped the police to a small-time crime ring. You did good in the end.’ Shaun hold his talon up. ‘I sense the criminals will be brought to justice.’
‘If we weren’t leaving in the morning, I would expose you.’
‘You have the evidence to do so right now. Why not?’
Alba stands her ground and growls.
Shaun extends a talon. ‘We make a good team, princess. If you could get past your skepticism, I am sure we could be great friends.’
Alba glares at the talon, but she extends a hoof and shakes it anyway. she turns and trots away with her head held high.
‘Tell your brother to lay off thinking about his girlfriend for a day,’ Shaun shouts after the filly. ‘You don’t want him growing hair on his hoof.’
Alba spins around. ‘What was that?!’
Shaun laughs to himself and flies away. Alba readies for takeoff, but a light blue aura catches her. Trixie trots up to once more scold the filly.