Clover Clues and the Fugitive Fawn

Once we were on the Coastal Guard boat and headed towards the Capital, Hanzō pulled a slim manila envelope out of one of the many pockets in his coat. He shook out the contents into his hoof. "These are your new passports. I'm going to need your actual passports and badges. We will keep them secure."

Laser passed him another envelope. "Here they are. We left our badges back home. Where are we headed once we get to Umamashi?"

Hanzō grinned widely. "You two will be going on your honeymoon! And I, your dear uncle, will be accompanying you with my daughter, Michiko." He pulled some brochues and pictures out of yet another envelope. "You and I will be staying at a very nice ryokan, a traditional Neighponese hotel. It just happens to be on a mountain overlooking Mahō no Tani, the Valley of Magic, where many schools of magic are located, including some deer conclaves."

Laser was getting excited. "We're going to a fancy hotel? Alriiight! What kinds of ameneties do they have?" She flipped through the brochure. It had a picture of a gorgeous wooden building surrounded by snow. "Ooh, it says here they have a natural hot spring on site."

"That they do, Mrs. Ruby Shines." said Hanzō.

Laser looked confused at first, then bit her lip in frustration. "Ah, darn. I gotta get used to that, don't I? You too, Mr. Lucky Find...although I guess you're more used to being called that."

"Ugh, yep." I wasn't thrilled about my nickname at the station. "Now I just have to not let it bother me."

~~~

We ended up not even going into the city at all, and instead made our way straight to the hotel in the Valley of Magic. Our hotel room would be our base of operations for the investigation. The place was absolutely beautiful. The walls were all wood and some sort of thick paper, with elegantly designed sliding doors separating the rooms. There were no beds; instead we each got a thick sleeping mat called a futon to lay on the floors, which were woven reed mats called tatami. They smelled delicious. We were given cotton robes to wear around the hotel, and we could use the hot spring pools which were just outside any time we liked.

I got the feeling we would desparately need this place to unwind after a harrowing day of poilce work.

Immediately after unpacking, Laser and I got busy briefing Hanzō on all the facts of the case. Our Neghponese attaché was able to provide extremely astute analysis of our existing evidence. We missed the fact that she was able to dodge my magical attack without looking back at it. This meant she could sense nearby magic and react to it instantly. Our fawn was indeed a magic user, and she didn't adhere to the traditional nature magic of her kind.

After conducting that business over dinner, Hanzō introduced us to his absolutely adorable daughter, Michiko, who was already at the hotel. We were impressed by her mastery of both the Equestrian and Neighponese languages. While her dad was tall and dark earth pony, little Michiko was pale pink, the color of cherry blossoms. Hanzō was a completely different pony around his daughter.

"Alright Miichan, did you do your homework? How about your kendo practice?"

The filly rolled her eyes at her father. "Uuuuugh, daaaad...yes."

He grinned proudly. "Okay then, let's do the kirikaeshi."

"Oh, alright. I like doing those!" Michiko ran out into the snow where they would have room to practice.

Hanzō procured two bamboo practice swords and gave one to his daughter. He held his in his hoof, while she held hers in her mouth, letting it drag on the ground. They then proceeded to sort of dance at each other with their swords. The dance looked lethal. Hanzō started with a single strike to the center of Michiko's head, followed by four angled strikes going forward, starting on his daughter's left side, followed by five strokes going backward. The same moves were then mirrored by the daughter at the dad. They did this back and forth with practiced ease. They looked like they were having fun, while also practicing at cutting ponies to pieces. After a while, Hanzō stepped back and bowed, and his daughter did the same.

Michiko then spat out her sword. "Patooie! Whee, that was fun!"

"You're getting better, Little Flower." Hanzō appeard to be a bit winded, while the daughter was already running around in the snow-covered garden. We all watched her while soaking in the hot spring.

Laser smiled at the scene. "Heh, your daughter is almost as awesome as you are, Hanzō-san." He blushed at the compliment and couldn't meet her eye. Laser looked smitten. I hated him a little.

Hanzō then seemed to remember something and got a serious look on his face. "Before we do anything else, I want to go over something important." He got out of the steaming pool and walked the short ways to where his sword lay. He picked it up and did something complex with the hilt. A sharp click come from somewhere deep within the scabbard. With the sword unlocked, he proceeded to draw it partways out of its sheath. Bright blue flames of magic crawled up the exposed blade of the sword. "In the interest of full disclosure, I have been given orders to destroy the Royal Vestments with this, if it is determined that they cannot be retrieved and extracted. The NIRO has determined that the consequences of losing the Vestments are not as severe as their potential for harm."