Nymph
Something prodded me in the shoulder, and I flinched, curling up into a tighter ball. Some of the numbness lingered, giving me a pins-and-needle sensation over where the spell caught me.
“Overwatch?”
It was a male voice. It didn’t quite connect in my mind until a moment later, and I snapped upright. Steelie had been hovering over me, and he quickly jumped back in surprise when I suddenly awoke, his wings halfway open in an instinctual display of fright. Lily was right behind him and easily caught the lighter pegasus with her heavy frame.
My eyes quickly darted to and fro, my mind speeding to adjust itself to the not entirely unexpected environment. Once I finally figured out I was in Flash Point’s office, I was able to remember the preceding events, and I could take a bit more time taking in my surroundings.
Flash’s office was a complete mess. Papers were scattered across the entire room, though most of them blanketed the tabletop and the corner of the room behind it. Picture frames lay broken along the walls I was closest to, their glass covered in a spiderweb of cracks, and the ones that hadn’t fallen off were crooked. The sergeant's fallen knick-knacks were shattered, creating a hazard zone in front of the shelves they were originally on.
Sergeant Flash Point wasn’t concerned about any of those, choosing to stand in front of the wall safe instead. He had already removed and set aside the picture frame originally concealing it and was working through the combination with practiced ease, using his body to hide the exact numbers.
However the state of the room was, I couldn’t ignore the red alert my empathy sense was giving me. The huge spot of emotion and magic could only have been—
Princess Celestia trotted into the room, her head held high with a look of calm and serenity. Since the largest group was centered on me, she changed direction and walked towards us.
My eye twitched, though hopefully I had scrambled up into a bowing position fast enough that she didn’t notice it.
“P-Princess!” I exclaimed, still keeping my head down and ignoring the protests of my aching left foreleg. “I-I didn’t realize you’d be coming!”
“You may rise, my little pony. I am more concerned about what left this room in such a state,” the Princess said, drawing her gaze across the trashed room. “Lily told us as much as she knew, but there is only so much we could learn from somepony who only came in at the end.”
She turned to me, her eyes narrowing almost imperceptibly. “What happened here?”
I snapped upright, suppressing a wince from my shoulder. The atmosphere itself was the strangest combination of chilling and enticing, pressing down at me and forcing me inwards, yet attempting to draw me out at the same time.
I blinked, and shook my head quickly to clear it. My empathy sense was flooded with… something of Celestia’s, and it was nearly overpowering my own feelings. Empathy was dangerous. I had already taken a risk with opening up to Crystal, but I couldn’t let whatever I felt to force my hoof.
Celestia’s eyebrow raised slightly, no doubt in response to my bout of silence, and my heart rate spiked.
“I-uhh… err…” I stammered out quickly, taking a moment to remember what the question was. “It was… w-where did you want me to start?”
I flashed her a smile, though I suspect it had awkwardness written all over it. Smooth.
Celestia let out a short hum. “Well, that is a good question. All we know is that a fight broke out. Start with why, and go from there.”
“I uhh… well, I heard some noises from upstairs when I was looking through my equipment,” I replied, my voice a little more sure. “I wanted to know who was here since all of the other guards were out for the celebration, so I went up and checked.”
The alicorn turned her head across the disorganized mess of Flash’s office. “And then this?”
“M-mostly.” I carefully made my way over to the desk. “Somepony who looked like the sarge opened the door for me and—”
Flash Point quickly turned to me, roughly slamming the door of the safe closed behind him. “‘Somepony who looked like the sarge’? Strange way of phrasing that, corporal.”
My eyes widened. “I-I-I didn’t think it was really you, sir!” I said, shrinking under his hard gaze. “The one I saw didn’t have his armor with him, and I knew you were with the Princess, so I knew it had to be some sort of… yeah.”
Flash seemed to relax, and the atmosphere didn’t seem quite so heavy. “Then we’re dealing with an imposter. The Princess herself can confirm that I had never left her side,” he said, before carefully maneuvering around the room and picking up the papers scattered across the room. “It’ll help narrow things down a bit if we know that they have access to strong illusion magic. A disguise that can hold up to physical contact isn’t very easy to come by.”
I nodded energetically. “Y-yes, of course.”
Celestia simply nodded. “Continue then. The imposter opened the door for you, and?”
“He asked me to help him find the schedules,” I continued. “I didn’t quite trust him, so I wasn’t intending to really find them for him, but he closed the door behind me as soon as I came in and blasted me with—”
"Do not mention the spell he cast."
I blinked, and it took a moment before I realized I needed to talk. “W-with his hoof. In my gut. I got thrown around a bit, he slammed his hoof here…” I pointed a hoof at the deep indentation in the table, “trying to take me out, and then Lily came in, and he fled out the window.”
Sergeant Flash Point dropped his stack of papers on the table as he trotted over to the hoofprint, staring at it closely for a moment before placing his own hoof on top of it. It was a perfect fit.
He snorted, letting a snide grin sneak across his face. “Well, that proves it wasn’t Overwatch, at least. This thing is way larger than anything she could make.”
“Indeed,” Celestia said, taking a look over Flash’s shoulder. “One who happens to have a hoof size very close to yours, but at least we know there was a third pony here.”
“Wait, what?” I said as I looked between Flash Point and Celestia. “If Lily was the second pony, was there any doubt that there was a third?”
Steel Blade let out a sheepish laugh and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Well, it could very well have been some sort of ruse,” he said, an apologetic look on his face. “You have to admit, you being alone in a locked guard house with Lily does sound a bit suspicious.”
I crossed my forelegs and huffed. “Not my fault you guys only use the front door.”
Celestia chuckled at that before turning to the sergeant. “What is missing? I understand that a few papers were taken.”
“If something was taken, I sure as hay don’t know what it is,” Flash Point said as he trotted back to the pile of papers he dumped off. “I haven’t checked everything in here yet, but all the documents I thought would be important are still here, and the safe hasn’t been tampered with.”
Steel Blade tapped a hoof to his chin. “Think he made copies of something?”
Sarge snorted. “Like what? Logs of arrests? Guard rotations and schedules? At least those might be helpful in trying to dodge any night time patrols, and it’s why I’m supposed to keep them stowed away until I need to post shifts, but if I were going to break into a guardhouse, I think I’d have set my sights a little higher.”
"Yes, why would a changeling make copies of a guard schedule?"
My brow furrowed. “M-may I look at those?” I said, pointing a hoof at the papers.
Flash shrugged and slid them over for me to pick up. “Sure. The papers here are actually the schedules that the intruder asked for you to find. I’ll need to check the filing cabinet too, but it’ll take a while to see if anything’s missing from there.”
Steelie cleared his throat. “Are you sure we should be looking at those? You did say we weren’t supposed to see them.”
“I’m not supposed to let you guys know about the safe either, but you,” he said pointing a hoof at Steel Blade, “don’t seem surprised at all, and Overwatch has probably found out about it ages ago. I know she likes to go into my office when she thinks I’m not paying attention.”
My cheeks heated up very quickly, and I hid my face behind a screen of paper.
Flash Point rolled his eyes. “Regardless, you two have done enough things in good faith that I feel fine trusting you with this,” he said and turned to the princess with a bow. “We apologize for the inconvenience, Your Majesty. We didn’t mean to drag you away from the festivities.”
“It is quite alright,” Princess Celestia replied with a small bow of her head. “I was merely concerned that somepony was hurt under malicious intent. I trust that there will be an investigation on the theft, correct?”
“Yes, Princess.” Sarge lifted his head and straightened up. “Though unless you have some spare guards somewhere, we might have to wait until tomorrow when we aren’t occupied with the celebration.”
The princess shook her head. “That will not be necessary. My part in the celebration is nearly complete, and I cannot request that you continue to accompany me when an incident such as this has occurred.”
“Many thanks, Your Highness,” he said with a short bow. “Will you be needing any accompaniment back to the castle?”
“I will be fine on my own. I just have a question or two for Lily and then I can be out of your mane.”
Lily straightened up and raised her eyebrows. “Me? Why me?”
“Just a few private questions,” the princess said, and goosebumps raised across my skin. The taste of suspicion, perhaps? “I assure you there is nothing to worry about.”
“Oh.” Lily’s brow furrowed for a moment, but she quickly loosened up and flashed a bright smile. “Aight! What can I do y’ for?”
“Just a moment outside.” Princess Celestia turned her head towards Flash Point. “Good luck on your investigation, sergeant. I will take my leave now.”
“Will do,” he replied, exchanging another short bow with the princess before she motioned for Lily to follow her out of the office.
"I do not like this. Her interest in our affairs could end up going extremely poorly if she were to learn too much about the changelings."
I breathed out a sigh and slouched over a bit, bringing a hoof up to rub at my forehead. A part of me appreciated getting help from the guard, but at the same time, it was yet another variable that I needed to keep track of. Celestia exchanging anything more than a passing word with Lily of all ponies was just another problem to worry about on top of everything else.
"I’ll try to be careful," I sent over the hivemind before turning to Sarge. “So… what now?”
He sat down into his chair and took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he slowly inhaled and exhaled. “Now? Now, we start with the paperwork.”
I groaned and rolled my eyes. Of course.