Detective Discord
The Equestrian city, Fillydelphia. While not as big as something like Manehatten or Canterlot, the place was still a bustling metropolis, the city filled with many wondrous places for those who lived there or were simply visiting to entertain themselves. Within this was an underground marketplace that was the biggest in all of Equestria, and a large park dedicated to the public, one where ponies of all ages could enjoy themselves. It also contained its own the museum district, each block being a different building for exhibits and shows.
This is where the story begins, outside the Fillydelphia Museum of Art.
Standing on the museum's steps were Flash and Lightning, both looking up at the building. They were here due to the building currently housing an exhibit that showcased a collection by the famous artist, Leonardo De-gypsy. This collection included the Mona Lipizzaner, which was every art thief's dream steal.
Due to this, the museum's security was top of the line. However, a recent bout of flu had rendered several guards unable to assist in its protection, which Flash and Lightning had been asked to come lend a hoof. Springer also wanted to come, but he had been chosen to stay behind to look after Scootaloo. Twilight and Spike had been called to the Crystal Empire to go over the final proceedings for the Equestria Games and a Royal Summit soon after, making the jakhowl stuck at home to watch over the filly.
Now, Flash and Lightning were staring up at the building, an awkward silence happening as the two knew there was some tension due to their past. They had been scheduled to be here for three days, which would be enough time for the museum to find some other security staff. Their friends were also all planning to show up on that third day, a few curious about the art display.
"So....what now Sentry?"
"Not sure," the pegasus pulled out a scroll. "It says that the curator would meet us and explain what we need to do."
"But we've been waiting for-"
"Mr. Sentry?" called out a voice, the duo looking up to now see a unicorn stallion at the top of the stairs. He had a brown coat with a black mane and tail, wearing a formal plaid suit and spectacles.
"That's me," Flash nodded before pointing at the unicorn. "And this is Lightning, my assistant."
"Hey!" Lightning yelled as he readied to smack Flash's shoulder.
"Good. I'm Walking Tour, the curator of this museum. Please follow me, I'll show you to your post." Stopping Lightning's punch, the two walked into the building behind Tour. There, they found themselves going past the main desk, soon reaching a basic art display exhibit. There were the usual paintings and sculptures, along with dioramas, tapestries and even a room with an exhibit you could walk on. But as they did this, the duo then found themselves outside of a room with De-gypsy written above the entrance. "This is the room you'll be guarding." He trotted inside as they followed, both feeling a tingle as they stepped through the arch.
"What the?!" Flash yelped as Lightning passed back through the arch, his body shivering again. He did this one more time, only to blink as he felt it once more.
"There's some kind of magic here." Lightning then looked up and spotted a bunch of glowing symbols lining the arch. "This is...Rune Magic!"
Tour nodded, "Yes. They're designed to prevent certain types of magic. It includes teleportation, shrinking magic, and any other spell that might allow art thieves the chance to make off with our exhibits."
"Cool..." Flash replied as he rubbed his chin at the sight, "They must have been made by a really skilled unicorn."
"The best in Canterlot."
Lightning hopped in place at those words, "Wait...you didn't by chance get-"
"Hello Lightning," they all turned to see the unicorn known as Solid Script walk into the room.
Lightning's jaw dropped as he trotted over to the scholar. "Script! Buddy, its good to see you!"
"And you," Script replied as the two shook hooves. "I was unaware you'd be here."
"Same. Last minute call to action."
Script nodded before turning to Flash, giving him a simple nod and thin smile. "Sentry..."
"What's up?" Flash cheerfully asked, only to get a deadpan stare in response. "Errr….good to see you."
"Same."
"Right..." Flash then turned to the curator, "So, wanna show us the rest of our job here?"
"Indeed. Let me tell you the main rules of this museum." The pony motioned to the room, "Now, if you see anypony suspicious, you're to apprehend them immediately. Other than that, just make sure the visitors stay at least three feet away from all of the exhibits...and especially make sure to keep an eye on the main exhibit." He pointed to a portrait at the very end of the room, showing a white earth pony sitting on a stool while smiling.
The three all stared at the picture, Lightning whispering, "The Mona Lipizzaner."
"Truly a masterpiece," Script added.
Flash just blinked at the sight, "I don't get what's so important about some old painting." The other three all gave him a horrified look, only for the curator to see on the nearby clock that it was time to open.
"I'll be back later. Just stay alert and make sure nothing's damaged." Tour commented before walking away.
"Don't worry sir," Flash assured him. "This place is in safe hooves."
"Are you sure about that?" Script asked him with a raised eyebrow.
Flash pointed to himself. "Of course. I might not get this art stuff, but its my job to keep it safe and secure. Nothing's gonna happen without me knowing about it." In that moment, a pair of rabbit ears appeared on his head. Both Lightning and Script went wide eyed, while Flash appeared to not have noticed. "My eyes are peeled for anything that might happen, and even an ant isn't gonna get in here without me knowing." His mane was then replaced by a green afro as he continued. "Not a single thing's going undetected. Not one...single...thing." And finally, a pink dress materialized around his form.
Both Lightning and Script stared at him with their jaws dropped, which made Flash raise an eyebrow. "What? What are you looking at? Do I have something on my face?" The two shook their heads, "Then what?" They pointed up, making Flash look up to notice the floppy ears and green curls. "What the heck?!" He then tried to move his hooves, only to now notice the fabric against his skin. "How did-"
"Hahahahaha!" the three heard the laughter, making them look up to see an amalgamation of different animals parts floating in the air. "Love the new look Flashie. Is that your fashion friend's newest line?"
Flash's eyes narrowed, a low growl following this, "Discord..."
"Discord?" The draconequus eyes popped out of his head, spinning around to look around the room, "Where?! Oh, I'm so flustered to meet a celebrity!"
Script slightly backpedaled at the sight, "Th-th-that's the legendary Discord?!"
"Unfortunately..." Flash replied as he pulled off the wig and ripped himself out of the dress. "What are you doing here?!"
Discord huffed, crossing his arms. "I'll have you know that I'm a big fan of art. I am an artist myself, so looking at others' work is a great way of finding inspiration. That and Iron is taking away my hangout time with Fluttershy."
"You're an artist?" Lightning asked, only to see Discord suddenly warp into an artist's smock, complete with a blank canvas floating in front of him and wearing a large brown afro.
"Of course." he started painting despite not having any paint on his brush. "I'm sure you've all seen my work. That is, till a certain seven ponies ruined it all by turning me into a statue."
Flash rolled his eyes, "You call that art? It was just chaos."
"A masterpiece of chaos," Discord barked back. "Do you have any idea how much hard work you rainbowed out of existence in ten seconds?!"
"Cleary not enough," Flash replied as he hovered up to the being of chaos. "Now, would you please leave before somepony sees you?!"
Discord stuck his tongue out while crossing his arms. "I'll have you know that I have as much right to be here as anypony else! In fact, who else in this boring city could appreciate a piece of art more than a being who spent a thousand years as one of them?!"
Flash raised his hoof to object, only to let out a long sigh. He knew arguing wouldn't do much, making him land as he asked with a glare, "Alright....let's say we believe you, mainly because I know you'll being annoying otherwise....you swear you're only here to look at the exhibits?"
Discord shined a toothy grin, "I swear. In fact, I'll prove it." He started doing a familiar motion, "cross my heart of hope to pie." He snapped his finger and caused a cupcake to appear out of thin air, "Stick a cupcake in my eye." He did so, causing pieces of the cupcake to splatter all over the room.
"DISCORD!" The ponies yelled, seeing the mess now drip off the walls.
"Oops," the draconequus snapped his fingers, the mess disappearing, "There. So, can I stay?" He put his claws together and gave Flash the most innocent face he could muster, complete with a halo over his head. "I promise to be good."
Flash and Lightning stared at each other, Lightning giving a slow nod. "Fine." Discord did a little dance of joy, only for Flash to point at him, "But you have to do something about your look. Ponies are here to look at art, not to be scared out of their skin."
Discord growled back. "That's harsh Flashie...but fair. I am a most magnificent monster." He snapped his fingers and in a flash of light, he was replaced by a gray unicorn with a black mane. He still had his goatee and eyebrows, along with a white tail. "How do I look?"
"It'll do," Flash replied as the first of the visitors entered the room.
And so, the hours began to pass, Flash and Lightning keeping watch over the exhibit while Script and Discord simply hung around. Flash was constantly needing to keep one eye on Discord each time he moved on to look at another piece of art, meaning he was only half focusing on his actual job. This left Lightning to pick up the slack, reminding guests not to touch the art and keeping an eye on anypony who he felt was acting strangely.
Eventually, the curator returned to check on things. "Any issues?" He asked the two.
"No sir. Everything's gone perfectly." Flash then shot Discord yet another glare, "for the most part."
"Good," Tour said as walked through the exhibit, "Everything appears to be in ord-" He stopped with widening eyes, "What is this?!" He galloped over to one of the tapestries on the wall, pointing at a spot on it that looked like somepony had spilt something onto it...which looked suspiciously like a cupcake.
Flash turned to shoot Discord a dirty look, only to see that the chaos lord looking at stain in genuine confusion. But as Flash blinked at this, Tour screamed, "This is a disaster! If we can't fix this, the museum will have to pay a fortune!" He turned to the duo, "What happened?!"
Flash opened his mouth, only to realize that saying it was Discord could go horribly wrong. After all, the monster could easily warp out of the place. As such, he just shrugged. "No idea sir. Must have happened before we arrived."
Tour glared at him, only to pull out a walkie talkie. "Clean Whistle, to the De-gypsy exhibit...now!" A few minutes later, a cream colored unicorn mare with a white and pink striped mane appeared.
"Yes sir?" She asked politely, Tour pointing to the stain. The mare nodded at the sight before inspecting it. "Oh, this won't be any trouble. Nopony will ever know it was here." Her horn sparked a pink light which enveloped the stain, only for the patch to suddenly disappear.
Tour breathed sigh of relief. "Thank you my dear. You're a life saver."
This made the mare blush. "No problem sir."
Script blinked at the tapestry. "Incredible...you weren't kidding. You'd never suspect a stain was there."
Tour smiled as he patted the mare, "That's Whistle's specialty. No matter the mess, she can always make it disappear."
The mare's blush intensified at the praise, but before anypony could say anything else, a highly obnoxious voice filled the air. "Out of my way!" They all turned to see a finely dressed silver pegasus stallion push past the other ponies, a light blue unicorn mare on his heel. He then moved over to the Mona Lipizzaner, marveling at it's glory. "Ah! There it is....it is truly beautiful, a fine work of art." Stars shined in his eyes, "I must have it."
"Excuse me," Flash interrupted as he lifted his wing in front of the stallion, "But can you please keep at least five feet away from the exhibit?"
The pegasi's gave him a death glare back, "You do not tell me what to do! Do you have any idea who I am?!"
Flash rolled his eyes. "Somepony who thinks very highly of himself, I'm sure. Either way, you need to take a few steps back, all of it away from the art."
The pegasus's face went red in rage, ready to talk the apprentice knight's ear off. That is, till Lightning spoke up. "Still having trouble with that anger Slip?"
The pegasus turned to Lightning, his glare showing slight surprise before changing it into a grim smile, "Well, well, well...I never thought I'd see you around here after your little Canterlot-conquering stunt failure."
Lightning rolled his eyes as he turned to the others, all obviously wanting answers. "Everypony, this is Sparkling Slipstream. He's the heir to the Sparkling estate, making him one of the richest ponies in Fillydelphia." He then turned to the mare, "That your marefriend?"
"Fiancée. Her name's Moonlight Dazzle, and she's the heiress to the Dazzle fortune. A worthy wife, if a bit quiet for my liking." The mare looked down at the floor, obviously embarrassed from the insult.
Flash's wing went up a little higher in front of Slipstream's face, "Well, whoever the two of you are, you still can't be that close to the picture. And you should also probably apologize to the ponies you just pushed out of the way."
Slipstream glared back at Flash, steam blasting out of his nostrils, "You dare try to order me?! All it would take is one word, and I'd ruin you forever! I could buy this museum and everything in it and it wouldn't even dent my bank account!" He looked up at the portrait once again, "A masterpiece like this shouldn't be on display for all these filthy street rats to gawk at! It should be hanging in my private gallery, where only I and those I find worthy may gaze upon it!"
The ponies in the room all just stared at him like he was insane, Discord going so far as to burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at peasant?!" Slipstream screeched.
"Oh, nothing. Just a pompous windbag." This insult caused Slipstream to growl even more, his face getting redder and redder.
Before Discord could say anything else, Flash tapped Discord's side. "Can I talk to you outside?" He began to push the transformed chaos lord to the other room, many other ponies doing the same. Once outside the room, Flash growled at Discord. "What are you doing?!"
"What am I doing?! Oh, come on Flashy-boy! You can't tell me that guy isn't hilarious." He morphed into an exact copy of Slipstream and started doing an exaggerated mimicry of him. "A masterpiece like this shouldn't be on display for all these filthy street rats to gawk at! It should be hanging in my private gallery, where only I and those I find worthy may gaze upon it!" He burst out laughing as he reverted back to his disguise. "Oh, that was hilarious!"
"Knock it off!" Flash told him as he smacked him with his wing, "I get the feeling this guy can actually back up his threats, so we have to play nice."
"Seriously?!" Flash's glare intensified at this question, making Discord flinch, "Okay, okay...fine. But if I can't make fun of somepony, I'm going to end up very bored. You'd better hope something interesting happens to entertain me." As if on cue, the room they had just left was suddenly filled with blindingly bright light.
The two flinched at the sight, Flash turning to glare back at the draconequus. "Discord!"
"This isn't me," he replied as a pair of sunglasses appeared on his face.
A few seconds later, the light died down as the two ran into the room. "What happened?" Flash asked as he saw Lightning, Script, Tour, Whistle, Slipstream and Dazzle rub their eyes.
"No idea," Lightning replied as he started blinking. "We were just talking, and then the room was filled with light. I couldn't see where it came from or what caused it."
Script was the first to recover, only to let out a gasp, "Uhh...I think I know why it was caused. Look!" He pointed at the Mona Lipizzaner, or more accurately...where it had been.
"No!" Tour screamed as he pointed at the now blank wall.
Flash gulped at this. "This...is not gonna go well, is it?"
"Nope. I definitely need some popcorn though." Discord added, only for a wing to smack his head.
An hour later...
"Weeee--ooooo, weeee--ooooo, weeee--ooooo, weeee--ooooo."
The sounds of the police sirens filled the air as the Fillydelphia police arrived at the museum. The ones leading this investigation were a pair of unicorn stallions, one being green with a graying mane, tail and moustache while the other was yellow with a red mane and tail.
"Greetings all," the green one said. "I'm By the Book, and this is my partner-"
"Hard Case. Now, can you tell us what happened here?" The ponies all began frantically talking over the others, Flash, Lightning and Moonlight being the only silent ones. "Alright, one at a time please. We'll start with you," he pointed to Tour, who started to explain the situation. Apparently, after Flash and Discord had left, Slipstream had started badmouthing Lightning and it broke into an argument with Script barking back at the pegasi. While that was going on, the light occurred, finishing the story.
"Alright..." Book commented as he pulled out a notepad. "We'll be sure to take statements from all of you, but until we find the culprit, nopony will be leaving the city."
"Excuse me sir," he turned to a blue unicorn stallion wearing a police uniform.
"Yes Officer Ride Along?" Hard Case was presented with a strange looking stone.
"We found this strapped to the ceiling. It may be what caused the light."
"How?" Slipstream asked in a low, hissing tone, "How can a stupid rock cause the blinding light?"
Ride Along pointed at the rock, "Turn it over." Hard Case did so and revealed a bunch of strange symbols on it, which several ponies recognized.
"Rune magic?" Script asked.
Hard Case touched the rock, only to pull his hoof back. "Whoa!"
"What happened?"
"It felt like I just got zapped. These runes must have been designed to activate when they come in contact with some form of electricity."
"Runes and electricity?" Slipstream turned to Lightning and Script, "Aren't those your specialties?" The rest of the room turned to the unicorns, both eyes now slowly going small at the sight.
"Ooh, this should be good." Discord conjured a bag of popcorn, "And I just got this popped."
"Is that true?" Hard Case asked the two.
Sweat started to appear on Lightning's forehead, "Well...yes, but-"
"It has to be them!" Slipstream yelled while pointing at the duo. "They're already criminals! Everypony knows what they did in Canterlot! A leopard can't change its spots!"
Tour then spoke up. "And Script was the one who checked the security runes before this all happened. He could have nullified the anti-teleportation one, letting them take the painting."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Wait a minute there!" Flash interrupted as he moved in front of Book, "This is all circumstantial."
"Maybe..." Book pushed Flash to the side, "But it's more than enough evidence for me to take them into custody."
"What?! That's ridiculous!" Script cried as his horn started to glow, but Lightning held up a hoof.
"Don't. It'll only make it worse for us." Script's horn sputtered out as Lightning looked back at the police, "Do what you want, but we didn't do this."
Hard Case rolled his eyes at this. "We'll let the judge be the judge of that."
One transition to the city's precinct later...
Both Lightning and Script were now sitting in a prison cell, both with looks of annoyance on their faces. There, Flash stood behind the bars, "Don't worry, I'll find a way to get you out of there."
"How?" Script asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know, but I will. Just...sit tight and answer any questions they ask you." With that, he walked into the office where Hard Case and By the Book were sitting, both going over some kind of report. "Excuse me officers, but don't you think you should be investigating the crime?"
"No point," Book scoffed with a slight snort of air. "We have the suspects in custody, and we'll soon have them confessing to the portrait's location."
Flash almost went wide-eyed at their laziness. Crossing his hooves, he responded, "You do realize there might be somepony else who did it, right? And if they did and get away with the painting, then you'll have let them escape."
The two officers looked up at the pegasus, rolling their eyes, "That may be, but until we have proof, we'll be sticking to these two being the culprits."
Flash shook his head, sighing. "Fine...but I'm going to start my own investigation."
This got a surprised reaction from the two. "You don't have the authority for that."
Flash just smirked. "I'm the apprentice knight of Grand Hoof and close personal friends with all four alicorn princesses. With just one letter to any of them, I could have the authority to do any kind of investigation." He then glared at the two, "Now...do you want the princesses knowing about your lazy approach to the law?!"
The two police ponies glared at him for several seconds, only to sigh. "Very well, you may investigate. But I don't see what good it'll do ya."
Flash smiled back, though silently thanking Celestia that had worked. "I'll find the truth, no matter what. I promised my friends I would. Now...err...I'll need info on all the others witnesses and a place to work."
By the Book nodded and handed several folders to him, "You can use conference room number three."
Flash nodded and headed over to the door to the room, soon sighing as he shut the door and sat down. "Okay Flash...now what are you gonna do?"
"What indeed?" Flash let out a yelp as he heard that voice, making him look up to see one floating, laughing Discord.
When the pegasus managed to regain his breath, he growled at Discord. "Don't...do that." He then took a closer look and realized Discord was back in his true form, "Are you crazy!? If somepony sees you-"
"Oh, relax. I've made it so that only you can see and hear me, alright?" In a flash of light, he was dressed in a Sherlock Hooves outfit, complete with a pipe. "So...what's our plan for finding the culprits?"
Flash gave him a raised eyebrow, "Our plan?"
"Of course." Discord took a poof from his pipe, multicolored bubbles coming out. "You didn't expect to do it all alone, did you?"
"Well...yeah. Kinda..."
"You're cute." Discord remarked as he began to pace around the room. "But to truly crack this case, you'll need the help of a genius super sleuth."
"And let me guess, that's you?" Flash asked with a waved hoof, "Yeah right. You'll just do everything in your power to make this impossible for me. In fact, for all I know, it was you who stole the painting!"
"Oh please, you're as bad as those cops. I was with you when that flash of light occurred."
"You were also with Fluttershy when those beavers starting making a mess. You don't have to be somewhere to cause trouble."
"Flash, Flash, Flash...you have my utmost promise that I had absolutely nothing to do with this." He crossed his heart, "Promise."
Flash glared at the draconequus, "Then...why do you want to help me?"
"Honestly, I think this'll be fun. And I swear on my name as the lord of chaos that I will only help in this investigation."
Flash opened his mouth, ready to tell him to get lost...only to close it. Remembering time was of the essence, he let out a long sigh. "Fine...but you do what I tell you to do, and no funny business!"
Discord nodded and put a fake monocle on Flash's face. "Very well. Now, shall we begin this investigation, my dear Watson-er…Sentry?"
"I guess..." Flash replied as he took the piece of glass off and placed the folders on the table, "Alright, where do you think we should start first?"
"If you want my suggestion, we should start with lunch."
Flash shot him a glare, "Discord..."
"Hear me out. You haven't eaten in hours and working on an empty stomach is only gonna make this trickier." Flash opened his mouth again, only for his stomach to start rumbling. "See? Now..." he suddenly morphed into a waiter outfit, "may I take your order monsieur?"
"Oh, you have got to be-fine! I'll have a...quesadilla."
Discord blinked at the order, only to snap his fingers as a dish with three of them appeared, "Very well. An unusual choice, I must admit."
"I guess..." Flash took one in his hoof. "But I promised myself I'd have one while I was here. Never get to have these at home."
"May I ask why?"
"Topic for later," he finished the first and looked back at the folders. "Now, onto business."
"Yes," Discord snapped his fingers to create a white board with a layout of the museum on it. "Read out our suspects please."
"Okay..." Flash opened to first folder, "First off, we have Walking Tour." Discord created an image of the pony and pinned it to the wall. "Age, forty six. Been working at the museum for twenty two years, been the curator for eight of them. Before that, he was an aspiring artist who couldn't make it big."
"And has no obvious motive for stealing the portrait," Discord assumed.
"Got that right," Flash replied before opening the next folder. "Next is Clean Whistle. Age, twenty six. Been working at the museum for three years on the janitorial staff. Used to work in a family run dry cleaning service before it went under."
Discord nodded as he placed her picture next to Tour's. "Again, no motive for the theft."
"Well, the next one does. Sparkling Slipstream. Age, twenty five. We already know his some of his backstory, but it also says here that he's actually the nephew of Wind Rider."
"Who?" Discord put up another picture.
"Retired Wonderbolt. Soarin's a big fan of his. Seems the skills are genetic, because this file is filled with a list of races he won as a colt. By these times, he'd probably be able to give Rainbow a run for her bits. Guess he's got something to gloat about." He continued reading, "Seems he also had several charges of assault and harassment dropped against him."
"Oh? Why were they dropped?"
"Seems the family payed off the victims."
"And we know he really wanted that picture. But he's also not a unicorn, meaning he couldn't cast the lightning spell to activate the runes."
"But his fiancée is," Flash held up another folder. "Moonlight Dazzle. Age is twenty one, and is the heir to the Dazzle fortune."
"She didn't leave much of an impression," Discord said as he placed the final picture onto the board.
"Yeah, but for all we know, its an act to remove suspicion." He then continued to read, "This says she was actually a student at Celestia's School for gifted unicorns, meaning she could know how to use both rune and lightning magic...though what Twilight and Lightning have told me, most don't touch rune magic."
"Interesting..." Discord commented as Flash put down the folder and looked over the pictures. One by one they scanned them over, Discord then snapping a few sentences on the board. "Perhaps we should go over the crime?"
"I guess. The main thing that's the problem here is that whoever stole it, removed it in a few seconds."
"And they can't teleport it because of the runes." Discord added as another sentence appeared, "That and the painting is still missing."
"Yeah..." Flash groaned as he looked back at the folders, "Ugh...my head hurts. This is not my thing."
A knock at the door then drew their attention, Book and Case stepping into the room despite not being able to see Discord and his white board. "Excuse us, but we just got the tape from the surveillance cameras. We figured you'd want to see it."
Flash raised an eyebrow, "There was a surveillance camera in there?"
Case nodded as they pulled a TV into the room. "It was placed there this morning as an extra security feature. It should shed a little light." The TV came on and showed a black and white image of the room. There, they saw Script casting some rune magic. "There. Our suspect is doing his crime."
Flash rolled his eyes. "This just proves Script was in there alone. It doesn't mean he planted the rock."
Discord then whispered into his ear, "Ask them where the rock was found."
One question later, Book pointed to a corner of the room which wasn't in the camera's view. They continued to watch, but Script didn't go anywhere near that part of the room. "He still could have planted it before the camera came online." They kept fast-forwarding up to the point Flash and Lightning arrived in the room.
"What the heck?!" Case yelped as they watch Flash soon be humiliated, followed by the draconequus's appearance. "But that-" They both turned to Flash, a sigh releasing itself from his mouth.
"You can show yourself now." Discord smiled before snapping his fingers, nothing appearing to happen except the police's eyes going wide.
"Hazzah! Thank you, thank you....you're welcome. I'm always here to cause chaos, confusion-"
"Stop it." Flash interrupted as he pointed at the officers, "And before you say anything, he was with me when the theft took place and has promised to help me." He turned back to Discord, "Which I'm hoping I won't regret accepting."
"Well, now that that's sorted out," Discord snapped his fingers and changed the room into a movie theater, the four now sitting in pews as the TV morphed into a flat-screen. "Shall we continue?" The movie did so, watching as Discord caused the mess with the cupcake. Flash and Lightning then had him change form, Tour returned to the room, Whistle came to clean the stain, and finally, Slipstream and Dazzle's arrival.
"Alright. Switch to normal speed Discord." The footage slowed down as Flash pushed Discord outside. Seconds later, Slipstream said something that seemed to get under Lightning's skin, causing both him and Script to light their horns.
"This must be when they activated the runes," Case theorized.
"Hang on there. Look," Flash pointed at Dazzle. The mare's horn was also glowing, along with Tour's and Whistle's. They watched as all their horns remained lit, only for the screen to suddenly go white before erupting into static. "What the-"
"The light damaged the camera, forcing it off." Book answered with a low sigh. "So much for evidence..."
Flash turned to him. "Not only that, there's nothing here that proves those two did this. It could have been Script, but it also could have been Tour or Whistle. They have access to the room before this all started."
Hard Case opened his mouth, only to sigh. "I guess you've got a point."
By the Books nodded, "Let's bring the suspects in for more questioning...but the other two remain in their cells until proof of their innocence appears, got it? Even if they didn't plant it, they could have payed somepony else to do it. Though if that's the case...who else could use these runes?"
"Hmmm..." Discord said as he looked down at something in his paw, "I'd say anypony could learn to make these runes rather easily." The three stared at him, only to see the rock that had been used to make the light was now in his possession.
"What the-how did you get that out of evidence?!" Discord gave him an 'are you kidding me?' look.
"Whatever," Flash grumbled as he glared at Discord, "Are you sure?"
"Puh-leaze! Look at who you're talking too! Rune magic is kindergarten level for a being such as I, and I'm telling you that if a unicorn was focused, they could learn this level of rune magic in a week. Its just a few letters. That and the lightning spell they'd need wouldn't be too difficult to pull off either, as its a small amount to activate it."
"So any of the unicorns could have done this," Hard Case grumbled as he got out of his pew. "Now we definitely need to bring the others in for questioning."
By The Books nodded, "Make it so." Hard Case headed out the door as Flash stared at the four pictures on the wall.
"So...here's the question. If it wasn't Lightning and Script, were their magics being used as a coincidence or planned?"
"That's a good question," Books added in agreement. "Everypony knows of their past, so they'd probably know suspicion would fall on them if those magics were used. But if that's the case, who'd have the know-how to pull off a frame job like this?"
Flash looked over at the folders again, Books also glaring at the evidence. That is, till Discord hovered over them and asked, "You're missing a question buddies. How did they manage to get the painting out of there if all forms of magic capable were nullified?"
As soon as the suspects arrived at the precinct, each were brought into a different interrogation room. Tour was first as Flash and Hard Case walked into the room. The curator was shivering like a leaf as he asked, "Wh-wh-what is this about?! Shouldn't you be working on getting the Mona Lipizzaner's location out of the thieves?!"
"We're getting to that," Hard replied as he sat down and Flash leaned against the wall. "But first, we have a few questions."
"Like?"
Hard held up a still image of the group when they their magic flared. "What spell were you casting at that moment?"
Tour raised an eyebrow as he stared at the picture. "I was preparing to cast a defensive spell on the artifacts. I feared those two were about to start a fight and damage something."
"Shield spell?" Flash asked as he crossed his hooves, "That's quite a difficult spell to pull off. I should know, I grew up with an expert in that field."
Tour turned to him with a long frown, "You'd be surprised what magical requirements being curator entails. I have to be ready to protect my exhibits no matter what."
Flash smirked at him. "With that kind of magical learning ethic, you must have come across rune magic before."
"With the museum's defenses based around them, I needed to know enough to notice a fault."
"I'm sure that little bit of knowledge would be enough to create the runes used for the light."
Tour's eyes went wide, "What are you-what are you insinuating?!"
Flash held up a folder. "Aspiring artist who just couldn't get his hooves off the ground and had to start working at a museum to earn a living. It also says that the museum's board was partitioning for your dismissal on the grounds of badgering other museums."
"The ones that were in possession of the Mona Lipizzaner at the time," Hard Case finished as Tour slightly shrunk in his seat. "You've been obsessed with this picture for years, and when you realized you were being fired, you decided to finally make the painting yours."
"No..." Tour squeaked out, "That's...not true."
Flash stepped up to the table, "When did you discover Lightning was going to be one of your guards?"
"This morning," Tour replied quickly. "I received a letter with yours and his name on it."
"And Script. When was he confirmed to be coming?"
"A week ago."
Flash glared at him. "A week's long enough to figure out how to make a rune light bomb. and as soon as you saw Lightning's name, you made a last minute alteration to the runes to react to lightning based magic. After that, all you had to do is wait for your moment to strike."
"That's a lie!" Tour screamed back, "I admit I was close to being fired, but this exhibit was meant to change all that! Yes, I'm what you'd call obsessed with the painting...but its only because that portrait is what inspired me to try and become a painter! I wanted to display it to show a new generation of Fillydelphia foals that could be inspired to be the next De-gypsy! I...I don't even know any lightning magic!"
Flash and Case both frowned at glared at each other, knowing they had no real way to verify that claim.
"Why am I here?" Whistle asked as Flash and Case stepped inside.
"We just have a few questions for you miss," Case replied before showing the picture to her. "What spell were you casting at this moment?"
Whistle blinked at the image, "Um...I was going to levitate the objects around those two in case one of them pushed the other into the stands."
"Except Tour was gonna use a shield on them," Flash told her with crossed hooves. "That would have protected them."
"Oh...right..." Whistle replied with a blush, "I didn't know."
Flash held up her folder. "We did a little background research on you miss. It seems you have quite a bit of debt."
Whistle's blush faded as she looked away, "My father...liked to gamble. A lot. And he wasn't very good at it. When he died, his stupid debts passed onto my mom and me and it ran our business into the ground."
"And even after selling, you weren't able to pay it back." Flash remarked as he smacked the folder down on the table. "Makes me wonder just how desperate you are for money."
"What?!" Whistle yelped as she hopped in place. "Wh-what are you talking about?!"
Case then tapped the table, "When did you know that Lightning and Script were going to be in the museum?"
"Script...a few days ago. And Lightning, I didn't know he was in the building until I met him."
Again, Flash and Case looked at each other with another frown.
"This is ridiculous!" Slipstream cried as Flash and Case stepped inside. "I demand to be released this instant!"
"You can go after you've answered our questions," Flash told him.
"Don't you order me around, you peasant!" Slipstream growled as he slammed his hooves into the table. "What am I even doing here?! I already solved the case for you idiots! Lightning, that worm, did it!"
"Yeah....about that." Flash sat down while pointing a folder at the stallion, "We have reason to believe he and Script are being framed. Now, you don't seem to get along to well with Lightning, and you weren't that secretive about wanting that picture all to yourself."
Slipstream let out a long hiss, "So, do you think I'm the one who did it?"
"Maybe."
"Except you're forgetting one thing. That light bomb was triggered by magic," he pointed to his head. "Do you see a horn? Well?!"
Case shook his head, "No, but your fiancée does. Maybe you told her to do it while you nabbed the painting."
Slipstream just rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah? How do you suppose I got the painting out?"
Flash opened his folder and pulled out the list of race victories, "Seems you're quite the speedy pegasus. Your uncle teach you?"
Slipstream looked away, "Tch, he may have given me a few tips. What are you getting at?"
"I'm saying that for a fast pegasus like you, it would only take a few seconds to grab the painting, hide it someplace secure, and return to the exact same spot."
"That's ridiculous."
Flash smirked while crossing his hooves. "We live in a pretty ridiculous world."
"It's a nice theory and all, but until you have proof, I'm out of here." He got up and headed for the door, Flash attempting to stop him, only for Case to hold up a hoof.
"Let him go kid. He's right about us not being able to hold him."
Flash growled before calling out, "When did you find out Lightning and Script were in town?"
Slipstream stopped at the door and smirked back at him, "Earlier today when we all met at the museum." With that, he headed outside, leaving one growling Flash.
Moonlight Dazzle shivered like a leaf as Flash and Case stepped in. "Please let me go," she whispered. "I...I didn't do anything wrong."
Hard Case sat down. "If you didn't do anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear." He showed her the photo, "can you tell us what spell you were using at this moment?"
"I was just going to put up a barrier between Sparkling and his friend. That's all I was doing, promise."
"Oh?" Flash showed her the info about her schooling. "I happen to know for a fact that this school covers all the fields needed to pull off this little heist. You have the knowledge, skills and the act to make you look completely innocent. What do you say to that?"
"I-I-I..." Dazzle mumbled, her lips quivering. "Um...er…"
Flash leaned up to her, "Did Slipstream put you up to this? If you tell us now, it'll make thing a lot easier for you. And if you don't...you'll be in a lot of trouble."
"He...he...he didn't!" Dazzle cried out, her body stopping its shaking, "He's a lot of things...but he's not a criminal!"
Flash then opened Slipstream's folder. "He's had seven assault charges and four charges of harassment."
"Those were just misunderstandings. He didn't do anything, and neither did I!" Flash and Case both shared a glance at her sudden courage, only to see determination in her eyes, "Besides, he wouldn't risk his fortune like that! Well...especially since he's on thin ice with his parents."
This made the two raise an eyebrow. "Come again?"
Dazzle put her hooves over her mouth, blushing as she realized her mistake. But as she did this, the duo glared at her, making her slowly mutter out, "Um...with all the trouble he's been making, his parents have put him on a probation-like thing. His allowance is cut off, and if he gets into any more trouble...he'll be disinherited."
"Meaning his fancy high flying lifestyle would go away," Case finished. "Thank you Miss Dazzle, you've just given us even greater motive for him." With that, the two stood up and left.
Soon, all four suspects left the precinct. Flash, Discord and the police ponies were back in their room, going over the info. "There's still the question of how the suspect managed to get the portrait out of room."
Flash nodded in agreement. "The rune and lightning magic might have been simple, but teleportation is a whole lot trickier. Plus, Script's runes made it so teleportation wasn't even possible."
"If they were actually designed to stop teleportation," Hard added.
"Only one way to find out," Flash turned to the fourth being in the room. "Discord-" He stopped as he now saw Discord pouting, "what?"
"You didn't let me interrogate them."
"Because you're not a cop," Case told him. "I'm still not even sure why you're here."
Discord turned to bark back, only for Flash to speak up, "He's here because we need somepony with knowledge of magic, and you arrested the only other one. Besides, he has his uses. Discord?"
"Yes?" the draconequus moaned.
"Warp us to the museum. If the runes are working, we shouldn't be able to teleport into the exhibit." Discord sighed before snapping his fingers. A flash of light followed, the officers blinded as Flash closed his eyes just in time. "Still got it." Flash remarked as the light died down. Not only that, but just like Flash figured, they were outside of the room. "Perfect."
"Don't go patting yourself on the back just yet," Book remarked as he rubbed his eyes. "Your friend might not be as good at teleportation as he thinks he is."
Discord gasped in horror. "How dare you! Nopony has greater teleportation skills than me! Watch!" He snapped his fingers and they were teleported to a beach where Book was hit on the head with a beach ball. They were then teleported to the spa in Ponyville, right into a sauna. There, a group of mares screamed and tried to cover themselves before they were teleported underwater, the three ponies finding themselves without air. And finally, they were teleported into the mouth of a volcano.
"AAAAAHHHHH!" Book and Case cried as they fell towards the lava, Flash turning to the draconequus.
"DISCORD!" Said chaos master rolled his eyes before teleporting them back into the museum, the cops hitting the floor while shaking like leaves.
"So...have I made my point?"
"Yes...you have." Book squeaked as Flash helped him up. "But it doesn't mean Script couldn't have designed it to block anything except Lightning's teleportation."
Discord chuckled before turning back into his Sherlock Hooves outfit. There, he went to the arch where Script's runes still stood and pulled out a magnifying glass. He then actually pealed one off the wall and licked it before putting it back. "Yes...very good."
"Well?" Flash asked.
"One moment," Discord snapped his fingers and pulled out tuba out of thin air. He started playing it, causing the ponies to cover their ears.
"What are you doing?!" Flash screamed over the sound.
Discord stopped playing with a raised eyebrow. "What?! All the best detectives play instruments to help them think!"
"Yes, but they're usually quieter. Like a violin!"
"I can't play the violin," Discord confessed.
"You can't play the tuba!" Flash almost yelled, "Now, will you please just tell us what you found already?!"
Discord growled as he threw his tuba away, making the ponies gasp as it almost hit an exhibit. "Party pooper. If you must know, those runes would stop teleportation of any kind from occurring here."
Flash crossed his hooves with a grumble. "Meaning that portrait couldn't have left the room with teleportation. That means the other pony fast enough to get it out was Slipstream..."
"Maybe..." Case replied as he pointed at the display, "But where did he hide it? Even with his speed, he couldn't have gotten it out of the building in that time, and not without anypony seeing it."
"Good point..." Flash remarked as he rubbed his chin, only for a bulb to go off in his head, "Say Discord...can you warp us back in time?"
Discord raised an eyebrow, "Come again?"
"Warp us back to when the picture was stolen and let us see through the light. Then we can see who took it."
"What makes you think I can travel back in time?" Discord asked as a fez appeared on his head.
"You've done it before. Back after we escaped the maze when you stole the elements."
Discord rolled his eyes. "That was just a recreation I made from my memory. I can't actually go back in time." He snapped his fingers and a titanic book appeared, "Read the rules." He dropped said book onto Flash, almost flattening him.
Flash moaned as he pulled himself free. "Fine...guess we'll just have to search the place from top to bottom. That painting's gotta be here somewhere." They nodded as they started a second search. And as they did this, the cops left the room, leaving Flash and Discord back in the exhibit.
"So Flash, what do we do if we can't find the painting?"
Flash looked behind the tapestry Whistle had cleaned, only to find nothing. "Then we look for anything else that might help us find the culprits. Prints would be the best."
"Oh, okay." Flash continued to search, only for Discord to speak up again. "Found the prince." Flash spun around to find Discord holding a very confused Prince Blueblood.
Flash rolled his eyes, "I said prints! You know, like hoofprints!"
Discord blinked twice, then looked between Flash and Blueblood several times. "I see." Blueblood disappeared as Discord continued looking, Flash sighing and facehoofing at the sight. For over an hour, the two did this as the sun slowly began to set. But no matter where they looked, nothing came to light. Eventually, the two simply sat in front of the spot the painting had been.
"Nothing...nothing at all." Flash moaned.
"It must not be here," Discord added as he stroked his chin.
"Then where is it? If it wasn't teleported, it has to be here somewhere...but where?"
Discord shrugged. "Vents?"
"Too small," Flash pointed up at the grate on the ceiling, seeing it was only half the width of the painting.
"Then I have no idea," Discord told him before conjuring a glass of orange juice...only to sip the glass and not the drink.
Flash let out a long sigh as he stood back up. "I have to find it. I can't let Lightning and Script down."
Discord raised an eyebrow at this. "I'm surprised you're going to all this effort to clear them. Didn't those two try to kill you once? Or...at least that Lightning guy?"
"Maybe...but they've changed."
"You think so?"
"I know so. You might not think so, but they're very different to the ponies that did all that stuff before. We gave them a chance to redeem themselves and they haven't let us down...especially Lightning." He then shot Discord a smile, "Just like the same chance we gave you."
Discord rolled his eyes, "You ponies are too forgiving for your own good."
"Be thankful we are. If we weren't, you'd still be a statue."
But as he said this, Flash's ears twitched. Discord saw this and tilted his head, "What?"
"You didn't hear that?" He rushed over to the arch, Discord floating after him. They then arrived in the other room, just in time to see the shadow of a pony disappear around a corner. "After them! They might be the culprit!"
"This'll stop'em!" Discrod clicked his fingers and before Flash could react, the entire floor was covered in ice.
"What the heck?!" Flash yelped as he almost slipped before jumping into the air. "Discord!"
"What?! It'll make capturing them easier." Flash just rolled his eyes at this, soon turning back to fly after the pony. With the stairs turned to ice, it seemed the mystery pony was having to be far more careful not to slip. But despite this, they three ran through a series of exhibits, only for the culprit to run into the ancient Somnambulan exhibit.
"Hah! That's a dead end." Discord caught up as they flew into the room, looking around for any sign of life. "Guard the door Discord!"
Discord growled before snapping his finger, creating a clone of himself, "Guard the door." He followed after Flash, only for the sound of a knock to draw their attention to behind a stone table. The two nodded before slowly flying around either side, only to jump at where the culprit should be.
"Got...you?" Both Flash and Discord raised an eyebrow at the now blank spot, "Where'd they go?"
"They didn't teleport," Discord assured him. "We would have seen it."
"What's going on in here?!" they turned to see Book and Case enter the room. "Why are the floors frozen?" Before they could answer, Book slipped on the ice. "WHOA!" He cried as he slid across the floor, right into an exhibit of rare vases. Everyone flinched at seeing them fall to the ground, Discord taking this moment to return the floor to normal. "YOU!" Book yelled as he pulled himself from the now broken pottery, "You did this!"
A collar appeared around Discord's neck for him to pull, "Maybe...."
"That's it!" he marched over to the two. "Out! Both of you!" The duo's eyes went wide, "I was foolish to let a stupid kid and an idiot monster into this investigation!"
Flash hopped in place. "What?! You wouldn't even be investigating without me!"
"Maybe that was a mistake as well! Now leave!"
"But-"
"Leave! We're going back to the station and you're leaving! NOW!"
Flash let out a long sigh at this, shooting Discord a dirty look while the cops exited the room. Despite this, Flash hung his head and walked out of the museum.
Hours later...
Flash was now in the hotel room he and Lightning had been given, laying face up on the bed. "What do I do?" he muttered as he grabbed a pillow and pulled it over his head.
"Oh, buck up chum." Flash removed the pillow and glared up at the ceiling, Discord now floating over him while wearing blue and white pajamas.
"And why, pray tell, should I buck up?" He got up and moved into the bathroom as Discord sat down on the bed. "My friends are looking to be spending the rest of their lives in jail, and I can't help them because you decided turning the floor to ice was a good idea." He looked back into the room, "You just had to make it ice. You couldn't...I don't know, made it glue?!"
Discord rubbed his chin, only to shrug, "Huh. I didn't think of that."
"Of course you didn't. You don't think about anything. You just do the first thing that pops into your head without even considering the consequences." Flash then splashed a bunch of water on his face, "And even if you do, you'd probably still do it because you don't care how your actions effect those around you! I knew having you help was a mistake!"
Discord stood up with a low growl. "Well, if you thought it was a bad idea, why'd you let me help anyway?!"
"Because if I didn't, you would've just stuck around and made the whole thing harder for me. I thought at least this way, I could maybe keep you under control." Flash rubbed his face with a towel, "But...it was my own fault for thinking you might actually want to help. No...you were just looking for something to entertain yourself. That's your problem, everything's just a big joke to you. And sure, I like a laugh as much as the next guy, but only when it's funny to more than just me. And when the situation calls for it, I can at least be serious."
Discord didn't say anything, simply sitting there as Flash moaned while walking back into the room.
"Ugh...and now I don't know what to do. Lightning is gonna go to jail, and Grand'll kill me for not saving him!" Flash slumped over into a chair, slowly staring up to Discord. His eye started to twitch at the quiet draconequus, causing him to suddenly yell, "Well?! Don't you got anything to say about your screw-up, along with screwing me over?!"
Still, Discord remained silent.
"Of course you don't, because you don't care about anypony but yourself. If somepony isn't paying attention to you for five minutes, you think it's a crime against nature. You're like a toddler, throwing a tantrum when you don't get your way." Discord still remained quite. "Here's a tip. If your instincts tell you to do something, don't do it. If you instincts tell you not to do something, IT'S PROBABLY THE RIGHT THING TO DO!" Flash panted heavily after his rant, the room remaining in an uncomfortable silence.
It was here that Discord broke his silence. "You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I'm an easy target. Yeah, you're right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold hearted cynic like you, but I don't like to hurt ponies' feelings. Well, you think what you want about me, I'm not changing. I like...I like me. My friends like me. Chaotic beasts like me cause I'm the real article! What you see is what you get!"
Flash just sat there, jaw dropped as what Discord said sank in. And as this happened, the draconequus raised his hand. "Discord, wait-" He snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving Flash alone in the room.
"Aw crap...I just messed up again, didn't I?"
The next morning...
Flash groaned as he dug into his breakfast, which were several grilled cheese sandwiches. He had had a rough night, tossing and turning as the guilt from what he had told Discord burrowed into him. Now, he was sleep deprived as kept thinking about finding a way to get By the Books to let him back on the case.
That and he also had to find Discord and apologize, which made him moan even more. It was here that one of the hotel's waiters came by to fill up Flash's OJ, the pegasus not looking up from his breakfast. "Rough night?"
"You have no idea," Flash replied as he drank. "I may have said something that I didn't mean."
"To a friend?"
"I wouldn't call us friends, at least not yet." He moaned as he put his head on the table, "To be honest...I would like him as a friend, but every time he's around, something serious is happening and I have to focus on it. And his joker attitude in those situations make it seem like he's not caring."
"Maybe he thinks a good laugh is what you needed to help relieve the tension."
"Yeah...but I already have a friend for that. It's just, he could be a real force for good if he just acted a little more mature. And I know it'd make him happy because everypony could learn so much from him if he didn't give them a reason to fear him." Flash sighed one more time. "Why am I even saying this?"
"Eh, sometimes you need to unwind. Keep going."
"Err...okay." Flash moaned as he continued to stare at the table, "I think the reason he acted out before was because nopony wanted to be near him...which I kinda get from my old life. Its probably why he did all those pranks. He wants attention, even if its through anger and fear. I just wish I could tell him he doesn't need to do that...and to tell him I'm sorry."
"I think he already knows."
Flash raised an eyebrow and looked up, only to go wide eyed when he saw it was Discord in his pony disguise. "What the-how long have you been there?!"
"Long enough," he replied as he sat down. "Did you really mean what you said?"
"I...I did," Flash replied as he shrunk in his seat. "I'm sorry about last night. You were right...you should still be who you want to be. I just..."
"Want me to tone it down sometimes?"
"I...I guess?"
"I make no promises."
Flash sighed and shook his head while chuckling, "Fine. Despite everything, you do have your positives...even if I can't see...them." His eyes slowly grew wider and wider, as a million piece jigsaws fell into perfect place. "See. Can't see. That's it!"
Discord raised an eyebrow, "You figure something out?"
"I think I did, and all I need to do is check something, but..." a big smile appeared on his face. "I might need your help."
Discord shined a toothy grin, "What do you need?"
"First, get us back to the museum." That was all Discord needed before snapping his fingers and warping the two away.
Thirty minutes later...
By the Books, Hard Case, Walking Tour, Clean Whistle, Sparkling Slipstream, Moonlight Dazzle, Lightning Blitz and Solid Script were quite fazed when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by light. And when that light faded, they all found they were back in the De-gypsy exhibit.
"What the heck?!" Case yelped as he rubbed his eyes, "How'd we get back here?!"
"I had you brought here," they turned to see Flash standing in front of the spot the painting had once stood.
"Sentry!" Book almost yelled, "What is the meaning of this?! I told you-"
"The meaning detective, is that I'm am going to solve the case. So please everypony, sit." Flash interrupted as wooden chairs suddenly appeared behind them, their flanks quickly shoved into the seats. It was here that Flash started to pace, pointing at each pony, "Now...each of you had a reason to steal this portrait. Tour, who had idolized De-gypsy's painting for years. Whistle, whose debts could be erased by stealing and selling the painting. Slipstream, who was close to being disinherited and needed a way to keep up the lavish lifestyle he'd had his whole life."
The ponies in question all shared a glance, wondering which of them it could be.
"Whoever it was had to know that Lightning and Script were going to be in the museum so they could try and frame them. There was also the reason this case was so difficult, us having no clue how the thief managed to get the picture out of the room in the short time everypony was blinded. Script's runes prevented it from being teleported, shrank or any other way to steal it. So the question was, how'd they manage to get it out of the room."
The ponies all grumbled, mainly the officers as Slipstream spoke up, "Alright, since I know it isn't me, I'll definitely bite. How did they manage to get it out?"
Flash shined a huge smirk at the question, "Simple. They didn't. In fact, the picture never left this room." This caused looks of confusion to appear on every face as Flash looked from pony to pony. "It was pretty smart actually, wasn't it..." his gaze fell on one of them, "Whistle."
Everypony turned to the cleaning pony, the pony now nervously shrinking back. "I...I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh cut the act, I know it's you. You were the one who hid the picture, and last night when you thought nopony would see you, you came back to try and retrieve it before it could be found."
"You've got no proof of that," Whistle told him.
"Actually, my assistant and I have all the proof we need." Flash replied with a clap of his hooves.
"Assistant?" Dazzle asked, only for a giant poof of smoke to appear, soon revealing Discord.
"Greetings everypony!" Discord announced as fireworks appeared behind himself, shock gracing a few of the ponies faces.
"Oh relax, he's not here to cause problems. It's thanks to him I was able to solve this case." Flash walked over to the tapestry, "Exhibit A: the stain you 'removed' yesterday. Did you know Discord has the power to remove any enchantment on something?" He looked up at the draconequus, "if you would."
Discord nodded before conjuring a sponge, wiping it on the spot that had the stain on it. When he pulled it away, everypony gasped as they saw that the stain had returned. Flash saw their faces, making him point at Whistle with a big grin, "You didn't remove the stain, you made it invisible. The same way you made the picture invisible." He pointed back at the stain, "We assumed that stain was caused by Discord messing around with his cupcake, but we were wrong. In fact, I'm betting it was on there long before we arrived. No doubt you would have heard about Lightning and Script coming, Tour probably mentioning it when he didn't know you were there." Tour turned to Whistle with wide eyes, shocked as he saw the cleaner kept sinking into their seat. "The runes and lightning spell weren't too complicated according to Discord, which means you could have just planted the light bomb when nopony was around. All you needed was a reason to be in the room, so you stained the tapestry with something."
Discord pulled out a syringe and used it to remove the stain from the cloth, "Seems to be...food coloring. Blueberry if I'm not mistaken." He turned to Whistle while he summoned a cupcake in his paw, "My cupcakes were strawberry flavored."
"Then all you had to do was wait for Tour to call you. After you made the stain invisible, you waited for your opportunity. When Lightning and Slipstream were arguing, you activated the bomb and while everypony was blinded, you cast the same invisibility spell on the stain to make the picture vanish from sight. Then all you had to do was move it someplace nopony would look twice at if the painting couldn't be seen."
"Then...where's the painting?" Tour asked in a low, depressive tone.
Flash gestured to Discord, who lifted up the tapestry to reveal a blank wall. "I admit, I missed it the first time too." Flash reached up and seemed to grab something they couldn't see before pulling if off the wall, Discord holding up his sponge and wiping the air between Flash's hooves.
Everypony gasped as the Mona Lipizzaner slowly reappeared in Flash's grasp. Tour then ran up and took the painting in his magic, looking it over with a long sigh. "It's...it's the real one! It's real!" He exclaimed with tears in his eyes. He then returned it to its original place as everypony else turned to stare at Whistle.
"When you came back for it yesterday, you weren't expecting us to be there and ran. Then when we gave chase and cornered you in the Somnambulan exhibit, you cast your invisibility spell on yourself and we fell for it."
Clean Whistle continued to shrink as their stares intensified, "Um...uh..." and before she could form a word...she vanished.
"She's gone!" Dazzle yelped as she pointed at the now empty chair.
"Not gone," Flash said as he crossed his hooves.
"Just invisible," Case caught on. "But how do we find her?"
Discord just chuckled at his question, "Oh, don't worry about that."
A snap of the fingers followed, only for a shriek to suddenly fill the room. Everypony hopped in place at this, Flash looking up at the chaos monster, "Discord, what did you do?"
"Oh, let's go into the next room and see." he remarked as they walked they left the area, only to see the next exhibit's floor covered in a white paste.
"What is that?" Script asked, blinking.
Flash simply smiled, "Well what do you know...it's glue."
"An excellent idea, if I do take the credit myself." Discord added as he materialized a bucket of pink paint and threw it into the room. It covered everything, including the struggling to escape Whistle. Discord then snapped his fingers, causing all the glue and paint, except on Whistle, to disappear.
Book cricked his neck at the sight, soon walking up to the thief, "Clean Whistle, you're under arrest."
Whistle gave her hooves one final pull, only to sigh in defeat. Flash then turned to Discord, holding up a hoof. "Pound it." Discord smiled before doing so, everypony else applauding the two.
The next day...
We now find our four heroes standing on the city's train platform, all waiting for the locomotive carrying their friends to arrive. They had spent all of yesterday writing police reports, so now they could finally have a day to hang out with their friends. The only one not sticking around was Script, who had to get back to Canterlot after being in Fillydelphia a day longer than he had too.
"Well, I guess I'd better be off." he said as his train approached, the unicorn turning to hug Lightning. "Good to see you friend."
"Take care of yourself Script," Lightning hugged him back. "And tell gramps I said hi."
"I will," Script replied as the train pulled up to the station. He then turned to Flash and Discord, "Thank you...Flash. I'm sorry I was so cold to you. I just..."
"Its cool. I understand." Flash remarked as he reached out his hoof to shake his, "Besides, any friend of Lightning is a friend of mine, alright?"
"I...yeah." Script shook the hoof. "Thanks."
Lightning then slung his hoof around Script's shoulders, "Buddy, you got to let that stuff go. I told you this already."
"I know, and I will...its just hard." Script replied as he shrugged off Lightning's hoof, his eyes now looking at Discord, "And thank you too. I don't know what might have happened if you didn't clear our names."
Discord conjured his detective hat again, "Nonsense my dear Solid Script, its all part of the job."
Flash just chuckled at the sight, "Eh, don't worry about it Script. Just try and stay out of trouble."
"I will." With that, Script stepped onto the train before it pulled away.
And as they waved the train off, Discord did a small cough, "Welp, I'd better be off too. I doubt any of your friends will want me around while they're having fun." He was about to snap his fingers, only for Flash to tap his side.
"Actually, I want you to stick around."
Discord spun his eyes at the defender, both about to fall out, "Wha...you mean it?!"
Flash nodded, "Yeah. After all the help you gave us, it'd be wrong to send you off. And if the others have a problem, they'll have to deal with us."
Discord shined a big goofy smile, only to look at Lightning, who shrugged, "Eh, I've got nothing against you. Then again, this is my first time meeting ya, and you've been pretty cool." Tears than began to appear under Discord's eyes, "Are you...crying?"
"Of course not," he pulled his eyes off and rubbed them. "Just...got something in them. Or allergies, lots of allergies."
"Sure you are..." Flash joked as the sound of a train approaching filled the air. "And by the way, if you ever feel bored, I'm pretty sure Ponyville will have something to entertain you."
"You...you really mean it?!"
"Sure. Just make sure to ask the ponies if you can join in and respect them if they say no. Especially with Iron, but you know why with him. Deal?"
A giant mischievous smile appeared on the creature's face, "I make no promises."
Flash laughed as the train came to a stop. And as the doors opened, Flash suddenly found himself being tackled by Scootaloo and Springer. "BLAUGH!"
"FLASH!" The two exclaimed as they tightened their hug, making the others laugh as they stepped onto the platform. And as they did this, they spotted Discord, causing everypony to tense up except Fluttershy.
Twilight then glared at Flash, "What happened?! And why is he here?!"
Flash just laughed as he looked up at his friend, "It's a long story, and I'm sure Discord would love to tell you. In his own way of course."
The draconequus smiled back before snapping his fingers, a load of puppets now appearing in his paw. "Socket or string anypony?"
Stats
Page generated in 0.033 seconds
Total duration
1,129 users online
1,546,266 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Why did my Miraculer friend have to get me into that show? I'm gushing over the fact that I understand that reference.
Dang! Our boy sure loves his cheese. I guess that's why one of his fan nicknames is Cheeseball.
That was an interesting original chapter. Mysteries are always fun. I wonder if this adventure will have an effect on Discord when the finale comes around, or if he'll stick to what he did in canon?
Speaking of which, if you do the finale in two chapters and the Equestria Games in another that leaves only one chapter remaining a mystery. I wonder what that one will be? Guess that mystery will solve itself eventually.
Something tells me that isn't the only thing he inherited from his uncle.
Nice Flash Discord bonding chapter
9479754 Thanks. The mystery wasn't to obvious, was it?
9479757
no comment
This was a nice little chapter. I liked how Flash and Discord worked together and are actually getting along towards the end. Makes me wonder if it will affect things when Tirek comes.
Seems like Script will come around as well....eventually. And is it just me, or will Sparkling Slipstream And Moonlight Dazzle have a friendship problem in the future? Just a gut feeling.
Also, I must ask...when the time travel episode comes...how do you plan on characterizing Flash in the alternate timelines? I mean, if the Rainboom didn’t happen, then he wouldn’t have gotten his cutie mark either. He would never have met Twilight and he would’ve just kept running. I feel like in some of those timelines, he just dies on the street, keep to his thieving ways for survival, or become evil in some bizarre twist of fate.
Out of curiosity though, do you plan on using Shadow from your Yugioh Fic to be in this one as Flash’s anti-thesis or something? Or do you have entirely different in mind?
9484720 He'll be in it, but he won't be a Flash look a like.
9485125
Cool. But I didn’t really say look alike. I said antithesis. Like the opposite of him. Whereas Flash is light, Shadow is darkness, and the same is applied to their mysterious power.
9485554 Then I direct you to the second to last chapter of my season 3 story.
9485561
Oh, I see where this is likely going. Pony of Shadows related to Psycho Cult, huh? Looking forward to it.
This....will be the mother of all battles. Also, will you be giving Shadow a weapon of his own? Like an anti-version of a Celestic Gear? For some reason, if he is the very same Unicorn who retrieved Sombra's horn(and not Doom Raizer if I misread it during S3), I imagine him wielding a katana or something.
9486092 I was thinking of giving him a scythe.
9486095
Oh. So like giving him a weapon like Sombra's?
Well....that's definitely going to trigger some PTSD moments for Flash. But the weapon works too.
I just thought of katana because it would remind me of Yami's magic attacks from Black Clover. Darkness imbued katana slashes. Plus, the unicorn could've also incorporated a form of Iaido for fast and lethal attacks. But that's just my thoughts. You do you.
9486109 PM me if you want to hear the full plan for Shadow. Don't want to spoil it here.
This is to all my haters out there
9478085
I was thinking the same thing lol
9478085
What was the reference?
Is that a John Cena reference?