Internal Changeling Affairs

Chapter Eight: Fluttershoot

"Hmmm...a Jolt Hydra .357 magnum, serial number 1947QC94"  Steel Piston said while studying his unexpected trash find.  He then slowly levitated the shiny chrome plated revolver out and opened the cylinder.

"fully loaded with six shells, only one fired"

"of coarse!"  Twilight said.  "a .357 is a .38 caliber slug with the extra oomph behind it.  that's why it was so powerful"

"alright, Twilight.  lets get this bagged and inform dispatch"

"oh Steel, you can read me like a book can't you?"

"I know, right?  we've only known each other for a few days and I feel like it's been all our lives for some reason"

"heh heh.  no offense but we both can stand here and say mushy things to each other all day and still get nothing done so um..."

"oh right, Sorry!"

"no biggie, Steel.  but there's just this one thing I just can't put my hoof on"

"what's that?"

"a piece like this would go for like...a ton of bits!  why would they throw it in the trash?  Especially after trying to murder somepony with it?"

"beats m-"

"hey! what the...?"  Twilight interrupted as she began to notice something on the side of the gun's barrel.  "there's something engraved on this"  she then used her magic to raise one of many tissues from her suit pocket and proceeded to wipe trash and gunk from the side of the gun.  When the gun was clean, it became clear what the engraving said.

Property of CRGD Sgt. GS

"Steel...  I'm not one to jump to conclusions but I think it's safe to say that we're investigating Internal Affairs"

Meanwhile, With Fluttershy and Rarity

"so, that's...all you saw?"  Rarity asked the mare who had been listed as a witness in the incident report.  "you claimed that you were within mere yards of the two said ponies running into an alleyway and you saw...pretty much nothing?"

"I told you already, Detective, that's all the information that I have for you and to be completely honest, I hardly wanted to get involved in the first place"

Rarity's pony reading skills were paying off as she noticed that the mare she was interviewing was fidgeting and even going so far as to avoid eye contact.

"What are you afraid of, miss?"  Rarity asked with a raised eye brow.  "what do you have to worry about by telling me what I need to know?  May I remind you that the security of Equestria could depend on this interview?"

"I don't need to sit here and put up with these accusations!  I'm not holding out on anything and I'm insulted that you would imply otherwise!"

The mare then crossed her forelegs and turned away from the two detectives as to show that she was going to say nothing more to them.  Fluttershy was staring at Rarity as if she was waiting for something.  Rarity had done what she told Fluttershy she would and looked over at her pegasus partner and gave her a wink with her right eye.

"well then, miss" Rarity said.  "my partner and myself will be going now.  we'll keep in touch.  would you be so kind as to show us to the do-"

"Gladly!" the mare snapped as she turned over to see Fluttershy's glaring eyes piercing into her very soul.  She let out a loud gasp and began sweating profusely and desperately tried to break away from her stare to no avail.

"now I'm going to ask you again"  Rarity said feeling sure that her and Fluttershy had this case by the tail.  "what did you see whe-"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!  I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!"

All of a sudden, Rarity and Fluttershy were forcefully thrown back by the shock-wave of a green explosion coming directly from the witness they were speaking with.  The apartment was filled with a green mist that smelled of some type of chemical that would prove difficult to explain.  At the other end of the room was the pair of detectives shivering in each others' embrace while waiting for the mist to clear.  With each passing second, the cloud had begun to disperse and finally could be visually navigated through.  Rarity and Fluttershy sat there with their jaws hung open in shock still tightly hugging each other.  Where the beautiful unicorn mare was standing before stood what she truly was.

"By Celestia's Royal Plot!"  Rarity shouted at the top of her lungs in horror.  "A ~SQUEE~ING CHANGELING!!!"

Rarity used her magic to reach into her coat but by the time she had her .45 drawn, the changeling had burst out the window of the third floor apartment and landed on the sidewalk below.

"Don't let it get away!"  Rarity shouted.

Fluttershy then used her left wing to pull a two way radio of her own out of her jacket.

"all units, all units!  we need help at West Trotten street!  we have a changeling on the run!  I repeat, a changeling on the run!"

"A Changeling?!" Cadence Yelled from the other end.  "I'll send out a dispatch to the others!"

"no need for that, sugarcube!"  Applejack radioed in.  "we heard the call and we're on our way!"

As Fluttershy and Rarity began making their way down the flight of stairs to the bottom floor, they could hear the roar of Pinkie's pedal chopper quickly nearing the area.  Soon after, the wailing of Twilight and Steel's patrol coach siren began to close in.

"girls, Steel and I are almost there!"  Twilight Radioed in.  "remember, we all need to keep in constant communication"

Fluttershy and Rarity exited the building soon followed by Applejack  and Rainbow Dash sliding on their hoofs and coming to a screeching halt in front of them.

"where'd it go?" Rainbow Dash Demanded with her six-shooter already drawn.

"I uh...I don't know" Fluttershy answered.

Princess Celestia was nearing the time to end her workday and Princess Luna was preparing to begin hers as a bright spotlight from Pinkie Pie's pedal chopper began sweeping the area.  The sharp, sleek new Sadillac patrol coach being driven by Steel Piston then shrieked to an abrupt stop to join the group.

"ChopperPie!  Search everywhere until you find this Changeling!"  Twilight said into the coach's radio mic as she exited the door too on edge to notice that Steel had once again beat her to the door latch.  "Fluttershy, Rarity, which direction did it head off to?"

"That ruffian went Eastbound down this very street and kept going until it was out of our sight!"  Rarity answered still trying to catch her breath.

"OK, girls!"  Twilight yelled.  "split up into our teams and fan out!  I want him brought in for questioning if it can be helped, Rainbow Dash!".

"why did you say my name like that?" Rainbow asked Twilight.

"because I don't want anypony to shoot first and ask questions later, that's why!  now move it!"

Pinkie Pie was hard at work shining her bright spotlight through everything from busy streets to dark alleyways in between buildings while the rest of the teams were on the ground searching for their suspect.  The dark of Luna's night began to approach faster and faster so each of the ground units were now using their flashlights.  Everypony would occasionally bump into the other team while sifting through every inch of ground.

"I've got a sighting on the suspect!"  Pinkie shouted over the PA, her voice echoing through the entire district.  One of her countless sideways sweeps of her light had revealed the changeling in an alleyway and Pinkie was now locked onto it not letting it out of her sight.  As the rest of the troop frantically dashed towards the direction that Pinkie's chopper was heading following her target they could see bright green flashes followed by loud bangs whizzing past their hovering comrade.  Again her voice blared out with a massive echo.

"Fallback!  Fallback!  the changeling has opened magic horn fire!"

No sooner did Pinkie Pie finish her sentence did the barrage of green, highly corrosive and explosive acid grow more intense.

"Everypony hit the dirt!"  Pinkie screamed.

"Fluttershy?"  Rarity shouted just noticing that her partner was no longer by her side and must have gotten ahead of them somehow.  "Fluttershy!  where are you!?  where did you go?!"

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!".....kracKApow!!!

Everypony in the troop had heard the spine chilling shriek that was their timid Pegasus friend followed by the gunshot.  They were all now closing in on the scene expecting to see the worst.  While still sprinting at full speed, Rainbow Dash was the first to notice that the barrage of green had suddenly stopped and Pinkie was now hovering in one spot, her searchlight no longer moving.  The Group of Friends, now exhausted from sprinting all simultaneously made it to their destination through a maze of dark alleys and stopped on a bit.  What they saw was their friend Fluttershy, sweet and innocent little Fluttershy standing there hyperventilating and shedding buckets of tears with a smoking pistol clutched in her right wing.  The light from Pinkie's Chopper then shifted it's focus from Fluttershy and slowly moved the beam a few yards away from where she was standing.  The light revealed the lifeless body of a deceased changeling lying in a pool of it's green bodily fluid.  The entire group was speechless and did not have a clue how to react or what to say to Fluttershy who had never in her entire being ever dreamed of causing harm to another living thing and had just gunned one down.  Upon seeing the pain that their traumatized friend was now going through, everypony began withdrawing their sidearms back into their holsters and began slowly walking up to Fluttershy.  As Twilight reached her hoof out to place it on Fluttershy's shoulder, the mortified Pegasus dropped her pistol, fell to her knees and began to sob at the fact that she had just taken the life of another being. End Chapter Eight