What Remains II: After the Fall

by Bateman66

Cold Case

Twilight Sparkle strolled quietly down the quite insignificant stretch of Canterlot residential buildings. The blocky white and pink constructs sat next to other buildings of almost the exact design, giving the impression of a single monolithic living complex that was oddly spaced apart by an alleyway or street corner.

An occasional passing glance was given to Twilight during her brief scurry through the streets, but as she neared her destination, the attention over the snooty Canterlot ponies began to be focused on a much different attraction.

Clustered around another simple looking apartment block was a sea of curious and nosy ponies inching in on a large blocked off perimeter around the building, yellow warning tape blocking the entrance and surrounding street to anypony that wasn’t a Royal Guard Investigator.

Stepping through the crowd and casually over the line, she nodded at the several Guards surrounding the building. Pushing open the front lobby door, she made her way up a nearby staircase to the top floor.

Just as she climbed the last step, she spotted the center point of activity spilling out into the floor’s hallway. A single apartment door, swung wide open with several Guards moving in and out appeared to be just the place Twilight was looking for. Approaching coolly, she was about to enter when somepony called out to her from behind.

“Princess Twilight!” shrilly shouted a peach colored colt as he galloped over to her from the stairs she’d arrived from. “I’m so happy I didn’t miss you!”

He came to a halt in front of her, immediately thrusting out his hoof to shake. Nodding to him, Twilight took it. “It’s very nice to meet you…”

“Pencil Press,” the colt said with a formal bow. “I work in one of Canterlot’s External Affairs offices. I knew your friend Alistair before he—vanished.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in subdued surprise. “You knew him? Were you two friends?”

The stallion shook his head. “We weren’t that close, just worked in the same building is all.” His mood suddenly lightened excitement now heavy in his tone. “I was the first to realize he was gone, you know, brought it to everypony’s attention. If it wasn’t for me we may not even be having this investigation right now.”

Twilight uncomfortably nodded her head in agreement, a bit off put by the stallion’s odd mood shift and bragging. “I assume that’s why External Affairs put you on with the investigation? If you were able to figure out he was missing, you must be a pretty good detective as it is.”

The peach colt thought about this for a moment. “Y-Yeah, of course! My boss recognized my talents and immediately set me right on the trail. I’ve been helping out the last few days, right once the investigation started.”

Twilight nodded once more, gesturing to the opened apartment door and the hive of activity. “Well then, care to join me inside with the rest of Guards? We could use a pony like you.”

“I don’t think so,” said the colt briskly. “I’ve got some other things to take care of. I should get going now.” Then without another word, the colt turned around and bounded back down the stairs, not even a second glance back at the puzzled Twilight.

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Steel Cuff winced as Princess Twilight Sparkle slowly maundered her way into the already frantic apartment space, glancing around casually at the Investigation Guards as if they were mere children involved in something far beyond their lowly comprehension, at least, that’s what the old stallion assumed, and for the most part, he was quite sure he was correct.

Adorned in the standard sparkling armor of all Equestrian Guards, the grizzled but still thoughtful stallion swept a testy hoof through his gray mane that had once matched the plain white fur across his earth pony body. Straightening himself into attention and acknowledging the inevitable moment with a sigh, he approached the haughty Princess.

“Princess Twilight,” he greeted with a heavy bow, the firm voice matching with his body language. “It’s good that you finally arrived.”

The mare stooped her head in reply. “I’m happy to help wherever I’m needed.”

Yeah he grumbled internally, sure you would. Maybe take over this entire investigation while you’re at it too.

When given word from his superiors just hours earlier that the ‘guiding wisdom’ of Princess would be most necessary for the undertaking of locating the lost human, Steel had immediately reacted in his typical resort of vocal disgust and unasked handling of how he would guide the situation if placed under full command. And, as the boneheads wearing fruit salads of badges across their chests normally did, simply ignored whatever he said.

Sure, the Guards had unicorns among their ranks to deal with magic related threats (if not to as well give a handy combat edge when the threat wasn’t magical), but the graying stallion still had to admit that no pony within their ranks could even compare to the power that the small cabal of Royalty possessed. And so, with heavy reluctance, a dependency was still tied with the longstanding rulers of Equestria, continuing a tie Steel Cuff wished had ended long ago.

“What we need,” the stallion stated stiffly, “is an arcane scan of the room to try and pick up on any trace amounts of his presence. I don’t understand most of it, but from what the unicorns among our group tell me is that the normal bounds of their magic can’t reach the range we’re shooting for.” He leaned his head slightly forwards. “I assume this doesn’t apply to Alicorns?”

The mare nodded sincerely. “Thankfully, no. The limits of my magic can easily reach to wherever in the world Alistair might be.”

Showoff, none of us Guards would ever say that.

Evening her stance, Twilight tightly inhaled as she centered her concentration into the magic of her horn. Pressing her hooves tightly against the flow, she felt a shimmering spark from within herself as her magic charged.

Suddenly, in a blinding thunderclap of force that stopped all flurry of activity in the room, a purple wave of energy shot out from Twilight’s horn, phasing through the entire chamber and its inhabitants while rippling out of the room altogether.

Standing there a moment with eyes shut tightly, Twilight hardly kept her constitution unfocused, not letting the slightest pain or fatigue drain her benevolent focus as it instantaneously scoured the world for any trace of her friend. After another few minutes of this and with a large exhale, her eyes slowly opened. The fizzing of her horn slowly shimmering out, leaving the room quiet once again.

Sensing the display to be over, the Guards briskly moved back to their activities, acting in such a dutiful manner one might assume that the magical performance by one of Equestria’s reigning monarchs had never happened in the first place. Steel Cuff silently cheered.

Panting at the exertion, the Princess looked up at the stallion dejectedly, the weight of failure heavy in her face.

“I couldn’t detect him,” she stated gravely, slowly shaking her head. “Something’s blocking his essence out.”

The stallion swallowed nervously, feeling a dead end being approached. “Where you able to detect anything else?”

“There was…something,” she hesitantly stated. “It was in this room, not a specific object, more so a feeling. It still was something…” her eyes glazed over for a moment, her vision turning absent for a split moment, “dark.”

The stallion sighed. “I wish we could have reached a more concrete conclusion, but I still must thank you for coming by.

Turning away from the mare, Steel Cuff moved back over to the rest of his comrades, his confidence in success slipping by the second.