Case Four, Chapter Five: Secrets and Lessons
The sun was kissing the western horizon by the time that Phillip and Daring arrived back at 221 Honeybee Bakery. They landed on the front step and Phillip extracted the keys from his vest, inserting them into the lock and opening the door.
“So, let’s get this straight,” Daring said, hanging up her hat on the coat rack. “There are fires in the Everfree District that look like accidents, but aren’t, and it looks like a Phosphero worker is starting them. We also have somepony sabotaging the Phoenix Housing Project, but Monopoly’s got an incompetent cop working them and his security guards are keeping everypony out. And on top of that, we’ve got a murdered insurance agent from the same company that's bankrolling the housing project.”
“Yup,” Phillip nodded.
“Wow,” Daring said. “This is like something you read in a dimestore novel.”
Phillip let out a short exhalation through his nostrils and half-smiled as he started gathering materials for grass-steak and vegetable kebabs. “Toss some charcoal in the barbie, would you?” he said, chopping up zucchini.
“Too right, mate!” Daring replied in a comedic exaggeration of his accent as she stepped out onto the back porch.
“I don’t sound like that at all!” Phillip shouted as she closed the door behind her. Laughing to herself, Daring grabbed a bag of charcoal and started to load up the barbecue grill on the porch. She squirted some lighter fluid onto the pile of rocks and set the grille back on top of it.
At that moment, the phone started ringing inside. Daring walked back inside and grabbed the phone off the table in the living room. “Finder and Do,” she said.
“Daring? It’s Twilight,” the voice said over the phone.
“What’s up?” Daring asked.
“I think I might have a theory as to how the fire at the housing project started,” Twilight said. “But I’d have to confirm it. Can you meet me at my house tonight at around eight o’clock?”
“Sure thing,” Daring said. “Where do you live?”
“Ten-ten Golden Oaks Street,” Twilight replied. “Be there at eight o’clock precisely, and don’t bring anypony else.”
“Why not?” Daring asked, bemused.
“Just don’t!” Twilight said, her voice equal parts commanding and pleading. Then there was a click as she hung up. Daring stared at the phone for a moment in bewilderment before hanging up herself.
“Who was that?” Phillip asked, spearing chunks of grass-steak onto kebab sticks.
“Twilight,” Daring replied. “She wants us to meet at her house at eight tonight. She thinks she’s got something on the fire from the housing project.”
“Aces,” Phillip nodded, holding up a fully-loaded stick. “Now, how about lighting it up?”
“You read my mind,” Daring smirked, swishing her hips and her tail back and forth as she walked to the back porch.
“I didn’t mean that way,” Phillip stated. Daring could see Phillip’s ears turning red out of the corner of her eye.
“You sure about that?” Daring laughed.
Phillip sighed. “I’m never going to win, am I?”
“Nope!” Daring chirped.
Their bellies filled to contentment, the duo passed the time in their own ways—Daring with some Joules Vanner reading, Phillip with saxophone practice and a new experiment that resulted in a vile stench that chased Daring out of the house for an hour. Finally, the clock chimed 7:30.
“Wonder why Twilight didn’t want anypony but us to see this,” Daring commented as she tugged her neckwarmer on and buttoned up her shirt.
“Find out when we get there,” Phillip said, zipping his vest up.
But as they spoke, there was a sudden thumping sound from the door. Both of them looked up, and Phillip ran over to the door and opened it wide. There was nopony on the front step, but a black rectangular object sat on the step. Phil bent down to pick it up. It was a book, the cover worn and battered heavily. There was no image on the cover, but the dark red letters on the spine read, “Ancient Artifacts and Totems.”
“Phil, look,” Daring said, pointing. Phillip looked up to see a unicorn mare standing on the other side of the road, glaring at them. The mare had a dark red coat with long green hair. She wore a dark blue parka with the hood pulled back to expose her face, which carried an expression of deep contempt and anger. Her cutie mark was a trio of bright orange stars.
“Sparks,” Daring whispered.
“I’m not doing this for you,” Sparks spat, her voice carrying across the street. Her horn lit up bright orange. Daring spread her wings and sped towards her like a bullet, but it was already too late; with a flash of orange light, Bright Sparks vanished. Daring skidded to a halt where Sparks had been standing, looking around wildly as if she were just hiding nearby.
Phillip walked over to Daring and laid a hoof on her shoulder. Daring turned to look at him, her rose-colored eyes shining.
“We need to get going,” Phillip said quietly.
Daring nodded, swallowing and wiping at her eyes with a wing. “Yeah. Let’s go.” She turned and followed Phillip up the street.
They caught a taxi that brought them to the mouth of Golden Oaks Street, which extended straight north to form the border between the Financial and Everfree Districts. The cab dropped them off next to a massive oak tree with a pale golden-brown trunk. The leaves of the magnificent tree were in shades of brown and red; as they passed, an errant gust of wind blew a cascade of leaves tumbling down onto their heads. Shaking the leaves out of their manes, they continued down the sidewalk, the dry leaves crunching beneath their hooves.
Number ten-ten turned out to be a simple but elegant two-story house with golden-brown paint the same shade as the tree that gave the street its name. Only the windows on the first floor were lit. A set of wind chimes hung over the front door, decorated with a white sheet with a wailing face painted on it. Sitting on the front lawn was a papier-mache model of a rotting corpse pulling itself out of the ground, reaching out its slimy green hooves towards any ponies who dared to walk up the pathway to the door.
“Classy,” Daring commented.
Phillip stared at the book that Sparks had thrown at their door. “Wonder why she wanted us to have this,” he muttered.
“She said she wasn’t doing this for me—us,” Daring corrected herself. “Whoever she’s working for—Scarlet, the one trying to fight Silvertongue—she wants us to have this. There might be a clue in there.”
“Could talk to Twilight about it,” Phillip suggested as they started up the walkway. Walking up to the front door, Phillip rang the doorbell.
“Just a minute!” a faint voice called from inside. Phillip and Daring both stepped back to wait.
“Phillip! Daring!” another voice called from the sidewalk. Both ponies turned to find Flash Sentry walking up the sidewalk towards them. He was wearing a bright blue hooded sweatshirt with frayed cords and a Supermare logo in red splashed across the chest. As he approached, he quickly tried to hide the bouquet of lavenders that was tucked underneath his wing.
“I was, uh, just checking out Coal Dust’s alibi at Sweetcream Scoop’s,” he said.
Phillip raised an eyebrow at him, his eyes locking onto the ketchup stain on Flash’s lip. Flash quickly wiped his mouth off. “His alibi checks out: Sweetcream was there, and she clearly remembers him.”
“So he’s not the arsonist,” Daring said. Phillip just grunted quietly.
“Actually, I was just...in the neighborhood,” Flash started to say, rubbing the back of his mane (both ponies could smell the manespray and cologne). “And I saw you guys while I was flying over, so—”
At that moment, the door opened and Twilight peeked out. She was wearing a blatantly absurd costume consisting of a long blue cloak decorated with stars, a similarly-patterned pointed blue hat with bells dangling from the brim, and long false white beard.
“Oh, hello, Officer Sentry,” Twilight said with a polite smile. “I’m glad that you two came!” she said to Phillip and Daring.
“What are you wearing?” Daring asked, her voice and shoulders shaking with suppressed giggling.
“This is my Nightmare Night costume!” Twilight explained, running a hoof through her fake beard and making the bells on her hat jingle. “I’ve been working on it for months. I want every detail to be perfect.”
“What are you supposed to be? A homeless pony? An escaped lunatic?” Daring asked, her voice cracking as she started to collapse with laughter.
Twilight glared at her. “No! Does nopony remember the old legends? I’m—”
“Starswirl the Bearded, right?” Flash cut in. “The famous wizard who worked with Faust and Speranza and tutored Celestia and Luna, right?”
Twilight looked up at him, her eyes widening. “Right! I’m so glad that you recognized him. You must have studied hard in history.”
“Actually, I got a C-minus in history,” Flash answered, his cheeks flushing. “I just recognized it because of the bells. I always thought it was kind of silly how this big important wizard would run around wearing a hat as ridiculous as tha…” He trailed off, catching the insulted look on Twilight’s face. “I should shut up now, shouldn’t I?” he asked.
“Probably,” Phillip said, nudging the giggling Daring and forcing her back to seriousness.
Twilight leaned in closer to Phillip and Daring. “I asked you to come alone,” she hissed through her teeth.
“He just got here,” Phillip explained. “Besides, he could be useful.”
Twilight glanced up at Flash, who had his head cocked to the side. “Are you sure?” Twilight asked.
“What are you not telling us?” Daring asked.
Twilight glanced back inside. “I just...there’s something I need to keep secret.”
“You can trust us,” Phillip replied. “All of us.”
Twilight looked up at Flash, who stared back in puzzlement. After a moment of thought, she nodded. “Come on in,” she said, gesturing them all inside. Phillip, Daring, and Flash entered the front hall and she shut the door behind her.
“Nice house. Um, I like the zombie pony out front,” Flash complimented.
“Thanks,” Twilight said, hanging up her costume on a hat stand. “The history of Nightmare Night is so fascinating! Did you know that long before Equestria, the sun and moon moved randomly on their own? The sun might rise and set in a matter of hours, or the night might last for days! Ancient ponies worshipped a goddess named Nightmare Moon, who controlled the moon and dreams, and made sacrifices to appease her so that she wouldn’t let the night last for too long. After ponies learned to control the sun and moon, worship of her and other pagan gods eventually died out, and she turned into a legend. Nightmare Night was started out of the sacrifices made in her name! Isn’t that amazing?”
Flash just looked confused, while Phillip and Daring just gave Twilight deadpan stares. There was the sound of crickets chirping from outside.
Twilight sighed, looking annoyed. “Never mind,” she muttered, leading them into the sitting room.
Twilight’s house had fairly sparse decorations, unless one counted books, which were virtually everywhere. The rickety shelves groaned beneath the weight of the tomes set upon them; the coffee table standing in the middle of the cushioned couches had two open books and a notepad covered in writing so neat that it could have been mistaken for print were placed neatly upon it. Every piece of furniture—the table, the couches, the shelves, and the star-studded inch-thick rug on the floor—was placed with an almost unnatural perfection and symmetry.
“Into feng shui?” Daring commented dryly.
“Actually, yes,” Twilight said, closing the book on the coffee table and putting it back in its place on the shelf with her magic. “Some of it is based on superstition, but the placing of items to allow for the flowing of energy is actually a very practical decision. It would probably cut down on magical accidents.”
Daring rolled her eyes.
Twilight looked around, then leaned in close to her guests. “I’m about to show you a very big secret,” she whispered. “I need you to promise that you will never, ever tell anypony about this.”
“Promise,” Phillip nodded.
“Enough with the tenterhooks already,” Daring said. “Just tell us!”
“Twi?” a male voice called from upstairs. “What’s going on?”
Twilight let out a soft squeak of alarm and looked up. The others looked up as well, towards the stairs in the back of the room.
“Who’s that? Your coltfriend?” Daring asked.
“No!” Twilight sputtered. “He…” She sighed. “Come on down, Spike,” she called.
“Spike?” Daring asked. “What kind of name is—?” She trailed off, her jaw dropping as she saw the figure descending the stairs.
Climbing down the stairs was a purple dragon with green scales on its head and down its tail. It was about three and a half feet tall, its green eyes coming up to about the height of an average pony's chin. Its belly was lighter than the scales on its back; its hands ended in sharp claws. The dragon paused in the middle of the stairway, staring at the intruders with a look of concern and confusion.
“Hooley dooley,” Phillip breathed, staring at the dragon. Daring blinked slowly, her jaw slack.
“Is that...a baby dragon?” Flash asked, tilting his head to the side as though he wasn’t sure of what he was seeing.
Twilight swallowed and nodded. The dragon slowly raised a claw and waved, smiling nervously. “Hi. I’m Spike,” he said.
“Cool!” Flash said, a broad grin spreading across his features as he walked up the stairs to greet the dragon. “My name’s Flash Sentry!” He stuck out a hoof to shake. Spike shook it eagerly.
“You into comics?” Spike asked, pointing at the Supermare logo on Flash’s sweater.
“Yeah!” Flash nodded. “You?”
“I love Supermare!” Spike said, looking ecstatic.
Twilight sighed in relief. “That went better than I thought it would.”
Daring managed to get her jaw back into place and turned to Twilight. “What is a baby dragon doing in your house?!” she cried, pointing at Spike.
“He’s my assistant,” Twilight explained, smiling softly up at Spike while he happily discussed comics with Flash. “When I was six years old, I was taking the entrance exam to the Royal Academy of Magic. Princesses Celestia and Luna were both there, it was so nerve-wracking. Part of the exam was that you had to try to hatch a dragon egg.”
“Do what now?” Daring asked, looking aghast.
“You weren’t supposed to actually hatch it,” Twilight explained. “It was just a way to test your magical ability. But when I tried my magic on the egg...well…” She smiled and looked up at Spike. “Princess Celestia and Luna raised him themselves when he was a baby, but I had a hoof in taking care of him in the Academy, and when I moved here, he came with me.”
“Why did you never say anything?” Phillip asked.
“He may be just a kid, but he’s still a dragon,” Twilight explained. “I was afraid that if ponies knew that I had a dragon living with me, they might be afraid of me, or try to hurt him.”
Phillip looked up at Spike and Flash, who were now talking about hoofball cards that they had. “Don’t think you have to worry about that with us,” he said.
Twilight smiled in relief. “Right, back to business,” she declared. Spike and Flash both descended the stairs and walked into the living room.
Twilight placed the notebook on the coffee table aside and used her magic to pull out two plastic bags. Inside the bags were the burnt wood scrap and the ashes that Daring had collected.
“I was examining these in the laboratory earlier, and I noticed something odd,” Twilight explained. “I attempted to perform a test for magical residues, and neither of these samples had any magical residues. At all.”
“That’s not normal?” Flash asked.
“Even if nopony used any magic on it, it should have picked up some magical residue from ambient magical energies in the air,” Twilight explained. “But there was nothing on them. I came up with a theory, and Spike here is going to help me test it.”
“How?” Spike asked, looking eager.
Twilight reached behind the couch and pulled out a small piece of a two-by-four and a large fire extinguisher with her magic. “Spike, I want you to burn this with your fire,” she said, looking excited at the prospect of an experiment.
Flash looked around, noticing the wooden construction of the house, the paper books, and the carpeting on the floor. “Uh, Twilight…?” he started to say.
But Twilight either didn’t hear him or ignored him. She held out the piece of wood in front of Spike, who grinned eagerly at the chance to use his natural dragon powers. He took in a deep breath, puffing out his cheeks, then blew hard. A jet of bright green flames issued from his mouth, setting the two-by-four on fire. The emerald fire overwhelmed every other light source in the room, casting shadows across the furniture.
“Whoa,” Daring breathed.
“Crikey,” Phillip muttered. Spike puffed up his chest, looking proud of himself.
Twilight allowed the fire to burn for about twenty seconds, then aimed the fire extinguisher at it and let out a spray of water. But the dragonfire refused to go out; in fact, it hissed angrily at Twilight and seemed to glow brighter.
“Uh-oh,” Twilight muttered, her expression switching from calm confidence to nervous concern in an instant. She continued to spray the burning wood, but the water had no effect whatsoever. Suddenly, Twilight let out a yelp of pain as her horn sparked and dropped the wood onto the floor. The flames began to lick at the nearby bookshelf, sparks dancing across the edge of the wood.
“Shit! Out of the way!” Phillip yelled. He, Daring, and Flash all dove for the rug, Flash pushing the table aside as Daring and Phillip lifted the rug up. All three of them flung the heavy rug over the fire, smothering the flames instantly with a hiss and a cloud of smoke that left everypony in the room coughing and choking for several seconds.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!” Twilight apologized. “I didn’t think that I wouldn’t be able to put it out safely!”
“It’s okay,” Flash reassured her, panting. “Nopony got hurt, right?”
“Except this rug,” Daring commented, turning the rug over and examining the burns spread across what used to be a map of the constellation Capricorn.
Twilight sighed, smiling even as her ears flattened against her head. “I’ll just...ask Rarity if she can do something about it,” she said.
“Maybe the next time we do experiments with my fire, we do it someplace away from things that are flammable?” Spike suggested rather sheepishly.
“Right,” Twilight nodded. She carefully picked up the piece of burnt wood in her magic and levitated it over to the table. Sticking her tongue out between her teeth in concentration, she lit up her horn and a beam of magic fired out of her horn, sweeping back and forth across the wood. The burnt ember did not react at all. Twilight cast other spells on it, shooting sparks at it, hitting it with tiny beams of energy, and creating what appeared to be a small purple star that hovered over the wood. All of them produced no reaction.
“It’s exactly the same!” Twilight declared, looking delighted that her experiment had worked. “Dragonfire is an enchanted flame; it uses magic as part of its fuel! That’s why there were no traces of magic on the samples!”
Daring blinked. “So, let me get this clear,” she said slowly. “You’re telling me that a fucking dragon is burning down the Phoenix House Projects?”
“Language!” Twilight gasped, looking shocked and covering Spike’s ears with her hooves. Spike gave her an irritated look that she did not catch.
“Sorry,” Daring said with a roll of her eyes. “A freaking dragon.”
“That’s what it appears to be,” Twilight commented. “The fact that we couldn’t douse this fire with water seems to support that.”
“It can’t be,” Flash argued. “If there was a dragon in Ponyville, somepony would’ve seen it or heard about it.”
“And I definitely didn’t see anything that looked like dragon tracks at the project,” Phillip put in.
At this moment, Spike noticed the book that Phillip had tucked into his vest. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing. “It’s not for Twilight, is it?”
Phillip looked down, then pulled the book out. “We were given this by an...informant,” he said. “Not sure why they wanted us to have this.”
“Let me see that, I think I recognize it,” Twilight said, holding out her hoof. She took the book from Phillip, running a hoof across the cover. “Yes, I know this book,” she declared. “It was in the library for the Royal Academy. I remember…” She gasped, her eyes widening. She opened the book and flipped to the back, scanning the index. She then flipped to the middle of the book, her eyes panning from left to right rapidly.
“There,” she said, pointing at a page. She set the book down on the table where everypony could see it.
The page that she had opened the book to featured a drawing of what looked like a necklace of thick golden chain. The centerpiece of the necklace was what looked like a lump of coal, crudely carved into the shape of a claw holding an eye. The coal was colored in a mix of black and red, with the iris of the eye colored a pale burnt orange.
“The Dragon’s Spark,” Twilight read from the text beneath it. “Rumored to have been made in the twelfth century by a unicorn mage who was friendly with dragons. He imbued it with Dragonfire; a pony who wears the Spark can conjure and control Dragonfire.”
“Maybe that’s what the arsonist is using,” Phillip suggested. “That’s why the informant wanted us to have it.”
“And I know where they got it,” Daring growled. “Silvertongue. He runs artifacts like that through his gallery.”
“Wait a minute. That’s a magical artifact?” Flash asked skeptically. “It’s just a hunk of rock.”
“It’s not just a rock, it’s a totem,” Twilight started to explain.
“Oh, boy, here we go,” Spike groaned, rolling his eyes.
“To understand a totem, you have to understand how magic works,” Twilight began to lecture, sitting back as her posture became visibly relaxed; she was in her area of comfort, and knew exactly what she was doing. “Magic involves the gathering of magical energy that is present in all environments, imbuing and directing it with your will and emotions, and channeling that energy through a conduit to create a spell that will have an effect on the physical world. It’s kind of like firing a gun: the bullet is the energy and the gun is the conduit. Loading the gun is gathering the energy, aiming it is focusing your will and emotions, and firing the gun is channeling the energy as a spell.”
“So, your horn is a conduit?” Flash asked, pointing to Twilight’s horn.
“Yes, and so are your wings,” Twilight nodded. “Both of them are used to channel magic from our own bodies. The difference is pegasi wings are adapted only for flight and weather magic, while unicorn horns can channel all kinds of magic.”
“And this necklace is a conduit?” Phillip asked.
“Yes, a totem,” Twilight explained. “A totem is an object that has been imbued with enough energy that it can be used as both a source and a conduit for magic. Making a totem is like carving out the barrel of a gun: it takes time and energy to turn what used to be a piece of metal into a gun barrel.”
“Can anything be a totem?” Daring asked.
“In theory, yes,” Twilight nodded. “But it has to be something that carries a great emotional significance for the pony who first made it a totem: that’s the energy required to turn it into a conduit in the first place. And most totems are only suited for a certain spell, or a type of spell, just like guns can only shoot certain types of ammunition. Somepony who had the Dragon’s Spark could only use it to generate dragon fire.”
“So how do we counter it?” Daring asked.
Twilight laid her chin on her hoof, frowning in thought.
“Twilight, if dragon fire uses magic as a fuel, maybe you could create a spell that stops the fire from using magic?” Spike suggested.
“That’s a good idea!” Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “I can try creating a ward to hold the spell on clothing, and that might give some protection.”
“What should we do in the meantime?” Flash asked Phillip.
“We’re hunting down a couple of possible leads on the arsonists, and I’m still working on what the connection is between Gold Dust, the Everfree fires, and the Phoenix Housing fires,” Phillip said. “Keep a close eye on Phoenix Housing.”
“We’ll have to ask around about the Spark,” Daring added. “And maybe we should ask around at Phoenix Life and Home again, see if we can find out some more info.”
“Ripper,” Phillip nodded. “Let’s get to it.” He stood up to leave, gathering his hat.
“Thank you for having us over,” Flash Sentry thanked Twilight as he stood up.
“You’re welcome,” Twilight smiled. “Sorry for almost burning the house down.”
“Meet up later to swap cards?” Spike asked, holding out a fist.
“Definitely,” Flash nodded, bumping his hoof against Spike’s fist.
Daring leaned in close to Flash. “You gonna give her those flowers, or what?” she whispered.
Flash whirled around to face her, his mouth dropping open and his cheeks turning red. “I, geh, wha, bu, choo, deh, beh…” he stammered.
Daring smirked. “Gotta stallion up sometime, kid,” she said. “She’s not gonna know you like her unless you say something.”
Flash looked from her to Twilight, who had noticed the exchange and was blinking at them in confusion.
“B-b-but flowers are dorky!” Flash stammered in a low whisper to Daring. “She’s smart and witty, and she’ll never—”
“Kid, trust me,” Daring said, patting Flash on the shoulder. “Sometimes, the dorky ways work.”
Flash looked over to Twilight, who had her head tilted in confusion. Flash swallowed, then reached into his hoodie and pulled out the bouquet of lavenders that he’d arrived with. The flowers were crushed and bent from being tucked inside his clothing.
“H-here,” he stammered, beads of sweat trickling beneath his brow. “I, uh, I saw these in a store and I thought of you because they’re pre—er, purple!” he caught himself. “Purple.”
Twilight blinked. Flash winced a little, his foreleg lowering. “I-I mean, I know it’s a little silly, but—”
“I love lavenders!” Twilight said, taking the flowers in her magic. She held them up in front of her and took a deep, appreciative sniff. “They’re so pretty! Thank you, Flash.”
“You’re welcome,” Flash said, smiling shyly.
Spike cleared his throat pointedly and Flash turned to see the little dragon glaring up at him. Spike pointed two claws at his eyes, then at Flash. Flash’s eyes widened and he swallowed nervously.
“Spiiiiike,” Twilight half-groaned, half-laughed, rolling her eyes.
“We going or what?” Phillip asked impatiently, standing at the door.
“Sorry,” Flash said. “Good night, Twilight.”
“Good night, everypony,” Twilight said. She and Spike both waved goodbye as Flash, Phillip and Daring exited the house.
“I’ll get over to Phoenix, start taking a look around,” Flash said.
“Don’t get caught by the security,” Daring warned.
“I’ll just keep my distance,” Flash said.
“Good luck,” Phillip said.
“You, too,” Flash nodded. He took off into the air, disappearing into the night sky.
“You think he’s gonna find something?” Daring asked, picking up Phillip and flying south towards home.
“He might, but I doubt it,” Phillip said. “Whatever this is, ponies are dying over it. We all need to be careful.”
“Right,” Daring muttered. “Because it was bad enough before we found out that there was dragon fire involved.”
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It would seem that Spike's being a bit overprotective of Twilight from Flash's attempts of a wooing her. Plus I'm glad that we've found out about what's causing all the fires.
Okay, while a completely adorable chaptet with Twilight as the center focus, got to admit, I certainly wasn't expecting a Dragon to be partially behind the cause of the arson incidents...
8659034
Oh... yeah.
I didn't think of that. Whoops
spike being the big brother role somewhat makes sense without it being too funny.
Dresden Files hell yeah!
Next thing I'm gonna see is "The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault.")
8915238
Gonna have to include that at some point.
Wait what wasn't princess Luna on the moon at that time?
8960255
Not in this AU. In the Noireverse, Princess Luna did not turn into Nightmare Moon yet. Indeed, Celly and Luna have only been on the throne for just over 600 years by now.
Enjoying this so far, in fact I'm impressed that you didn't fall into the two common traps for stories of this type, which is why I usually don't even give them the time of day. There are the occasional mistake here and there, but considering the scale you're writing on, that's to be expected and easily excused.
I will however complain about Case Four Chapter One which seems to be missing something. Unless I'm missing something, they went out jogging, then spoke with a client, then went investigating. The problems start with Daring answering the door before she enters. Ummm, how does that work? And then what about professionalism, while they might not be able to help seeing a client in their post workout state, one would seem to think they'd take care of grooming before setting out on the case, and yet there's not even a sentence indicating that.
Still, like I said, great story, looking forward to reading the rest. Hmmm, don't suppose I could get a bit part in here? Just background maybe, if it fits? My main OC runs is a nox (bat) pony that runs Moonshot Donuts in Canterlot. While that's the canon, you can easily see how he could be dropped into here. Oh, and I've a few characters you're welcome to use ifn they look suitable and you want a short cut. I'm picky about details on some, others not so much, heck, I have a pair of twins that have so little written about them, that you're free to use them as you please.
9032977
I'm glad that you like this story, in spite of its flaws! What traps are you talking about?
Perhaps I should clarify that part a bit more. They had indeed already entered the house. I believe the line that's confusing you is the part where Daring hangs up her neck warmer and then proceeds to almost enter the hallway. That might be worth reworking a bit, thank you for calling my attention to that.
I don't normally give out random requests, but I might be talked into giving an OC of yours a cameo role in Volume Two. It'd be something small, but if it pleases a fan, that's fine with me!
I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
I actually like Flash in this story.
Ah, 風水!
The reason my friend always beat me at Ludo.
Yay! Fellow Dresden Files fan! Greetings!
From the phone conversation I thought she just wanted Daring, but I guess the word "you" is a bit ambiguous like that.
Not to be confused with "Joules Verse"?