Twilight woke slowly to the sound of a regular beeping in a comforting and hated rhythm. She was in a hospital. She hated waking up in hospitals. It was hardly the first time this had happened. One could hardly be as smart, curious and powerful as Twilight was without ending up in the hospital a time or two. That’s why she hated it, less because she was injured and more because it meant something had gone wrong. Usually she had done it wrong too.

“Miss!” An older male voice came from outside her room, “You can’t go in there.” She didn’t know that one, probably a doctor or a nurse.

“But there was a nose twitch, nose twitch, mane wiggle! That means an injured friend is waking up!” The high pitched energetic squeal could only be Pinky Pie.

“Jest let it go.” That was Applejack’s drawl, “Best ta jest take ‘er at her word and move out’a the way.”

Slowly Twilight pried her eyes open to look around her room and found Rainbow Dash on a chair next to her bed. The door to her room slammed open and an enthusiastic Pinky Pie shot into the room as though launched from a cannon. It occurred to Twilight then that she very well may have been, “You’re awake!”

“Ghaaa!” Rainbow awoke with a jerk at Pinkie’s shriek knocking herself off her chair. She hit the ground with an audible thump, immediately followed by a groan and some swearing.

“That means I get to throw you a super awesome spectacular congratulations on almost kinda flying and get well soon party!” Pinky had arrived on the bed straight from the door, jerking to a physics defying halt, straddling Twilight and pinning her in place with the blankets. The party pony’s face was pressed so close to the unicorn’s that she couldn’t even see the manic grin that she knew had to be there.

Behind Pinky came Applejack, Rarity and Spike, with the little dragon walking next to the glamorous white mare, seeming torn between adoration for his crush and concern for Twilight, carrying a bouquet of wild flowers. Behind them Fluttershy tiphoved into the room softly closing the door behind her.

Rarity proceeded directly to the bedside table and started arranging the flowers to best effect while Applejack proceed to the other side of the bed and nudged the party mare.

“Come on now Pinky. Git of the poor mare.” Applejack scolded, “Wait till she can dance at the party before throwin’ it. How’re ya feelin Twi?”

Twilight groaned, “Kinda fuzzy.” She blinked several times as Pinky climbed off of her, “What happened?”

“I’m really sorry Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said miserably, “If I’d been quicker or...”

“Rainbow stop it, I seriously doubt this was your fault.” Twilight cut her off, “Tell me what happened.”

“You got caught in an up draft an spun out, and then...” Rainbow couldn’t seem to finish so Applejack picked up the story.

“Then yer wings jest disappeared. Rainbow managed ta catch ya, but only just. One’a yer hind legs clipped the ground. A’course by then the two ah ya were goin so quick that yer leg just... uh... snapped.”

Twilight blinked, the first thing to go through her mind was that the painkillers must be very good, she didn’t feel a thing. Looking down she fed power through her horn and moved the blanket off her legs, revealing a cast that ran from her thigh to her cannon. She blinked again, “Could you hand me my chart, Spike?”

“Sure thing Twilight.” The little dragon pulled the clipboard off the foot of her bed and climbed up the blankets and handed it over.

Twilight whistled slowly, “That’s a lot of soft tissue damage.”

“The bone was kinda pokin out’a ya.” The farm pony admitted scratching her mane and tilting her had forward.

“Applejack!” Rarity exclaimed turning around, “Is that really necessary? Twilight doesn’t need to hear about that, and the image is just... disgusting.”

“True though.” Applejack muttered.

“Twi...” Rainbow started again, guilt thick in her voice.

“Rainbow.” Twilight tried to shush the pegasus with a hoof and missed slightly, “It’s not your fault. If it's anybody’s it’s mine. It was my spell that failed.”

“Yes,” Rarity turned away from where she was glaring at Applejack to look down at Twilight her face full of concern, “It’s not like your spells to fail darling.”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t exactly fail. I broke it.” Twilight yawned, and looked over at Rainbow, “How was my flying?” The pegasus froze eyes going wide as she searched for that would be both accurate and not insulting, “It was terrible wasn’t it?”

“Well... Um...” Rainbow Dash shuffled her hooves and then decided just to go for it. Twilight had already said it herself, “Yeah. It was pretty awful Twi. I really wouldn’t...”

“It was the wings.” Twilight interrupted, “I tried to make them the base minimum needed to fly. In my effort to simplify, I think I over simplified. I gave myself the equivalent of TLS.” she managed to restrain a giggle. These were really good painkillers

“Tee El what now?” Applejack asked hesitantly, it had to be the first times that she hadn’t understood Twilight because the words were too short.

“Truncated Leyline Syndrome.” Everypony except Twilight turned in amazement to look at Fluttershy as she offered up an explanation, “It’s... um... it’s what happens when a pony’s leylines are underdeveloped in their focus.” Fluttershy slowly started to shrink behind her mane though she kept going, “It makes the use of a pony’s natural magic much more difficult.”

“Darling! I... Thank you for the explanation, but how do you know this?” Rarity asked, it certainly looked like Fluttershy but that sounded like something she’d expect to hear from Twilight.

“Um... Well... you see...” The yellow mare swallowed, “It’s... my case isn’t too bad.” She managed to get out at last, “But it’s why I don’t fly so well.”

Everypony’s mouth dropped open to ask more questions, but Fluttershy was saved from the on rushing interrogation by the door swinging open and admitting an older unicorn stallion wearing a white coat that still displayed his reflex hammer cutie mark for anybody who cared to look.

He glanced around surprised to find an extra four mares in addition to the two he had been expecting, “Well it’s always nice to see our patients getting visitors. Lets see how your doing Miss Sparkle, how do you feel?” He asked recovering quickly and checking the edge of the bed for the chart that ought to have been there. It took only a moment of searching for him to find it next to Twilight where she’d left it distracted by Fluttershy's revelations. The doctor coughed, “Miss Sparkle could I have your chart?”

“Huh?” Twilight blinked then flushed, her drugged mind catching up, “Oh! Yes, sorry doctor.” She floated the chart over to him and waded back through her recent memories, “I’m feeling drugged.” She finally answered after dragging his question up from her memory.

The doctor chuckled, “Yes, painkillers will do that. What I meant though is are you in any pain anywhere? Do you itch, feel nauseous, or anything else I should know about?” He finished with a very pointed raised eyebrow. Twilight hurriedly shook her head, which she immediately regretted, “Good. Well then Miss Sparkle I’m inclined to let you go. I’ll write you a prescription for painkillers you can take at home. That cast is going to need to stay on for four to six months. If anything feels off you come right back here, or to the nearest emergency room. Understand?”

Twilight nodded knowing all of this from her own medical education but the doctor didn’t know that and she didn’t really have the energy to tell him. “Well then, I’m sure your friends can help get you home and pick up your prescription. With all that taken care of lets get you home shall we?”

***

Twilight once placed in her bed passed out and slept through the rest of that day, the entirety of that night, and most of the next morning only stirring to take the painkillers when Spike woke her up.

By noon though she was back at her desk. She had managed her morning routine, keeping a water repulsion spell on her cast while in the shower, and almost killing herself getting out of it. It was tricky to get around with only three legs, especially when the one missing was one of her back ones.

But none of that mattered because she was back at work again and all was right with the world.

“Work’in on that spell again are ya Twi?” Applejack’s voice caused her to jump and Twilight only narrowly avoided slamming her cast into the underside of the desk. “Sorry, didn’t mean ta scare ya.” The cowpony was standing just inside the library door with a sheepish look on her face and a basket on her back. “Come ta think of it should you be up an workin’ again already?”

“I have a complex metaphysal fracture, not a concussion.” Twilight told her friend with a scowling smile.

Applejack blinked, “Say what now?”

“Sorry,” Twilight winced, “I said I’ve got a broken leg, not a broken head.”

“No problem. Any way, granny always says ta feed the hurt so I thought I’d bring ya somethin’.”

“Thanks Applejack!” Twilight said with a smile and looking around, “Um grab a chair, get Spike and join us?” The unicorn smiled brightly at her friend and floated the basket off her back and over to the desk. Applejack trotted away, and was back moments later with a chair from the kitchen. With Spike following a moment later carrying his own seat, the three settled in for lunch.

“So have ya figured out what went wrong with yer spell yet?” Applejack asked between bites.

Twilight sighed, “Yes. Unfortunately there were several problems. The big one though is that I don’t have the power to really make it work.”

“You don’t have the power?” Applejack’s voice was full of disbelief.

“Come on Twi!” Spike almost shouted, “You’re the most powerful unicorn in Equestria! The world! Ever!”

“That’s unprovable, and likely untrue.” Twilight told Spike with a smile, “The problem is that I’m pretty sure that I’d need a complete pegasus ley network to really make the wings work like pegasus wings. Which means the spell becomes exponentially more complex, and correspondingly more demanding in power. I don’t have the power to both fuel the spell and the complete ley network. Especially since putting any real power into the wings blows out the false ley lines, which would in turn require more power to remain stable. I either need more power or to make the wings permanent so I don’t have to maintain them, and that seems like a bit much for an experiment.”

Applejack watched as Twilight continued on oblivious to her surroundings, gesturing with a fork firmly held in her magic. After a moment she leaned over to Spike, “Did yall understand that?”

“Eh, I got the jist.” Spike shrugged.

“I wonder how the princesses do it? Are they simply that powerful? Or do the Sun and Moon provide them the power somehow?” Twilight evidently hadn’t noticed their conversation in her frenzy of magical speculation.

“So why do you ask these questions if you know you’re not going to understand the answers?” Spike spoke softly enough to not interrupt Twilight’s flood of thought. Though like a flood it wasn’t really that easy to stop.

“Ah don’t know if ya notice, but Twi talks.” They both looked back at Twilight who was now happily pouring through books on how various creatures produced their magic as she theorised with cheerful abandon. Spike snorted, “Ah think it’s more than that.” Applejack continued, “Have ya ever noticed that whenever we need a brilliant plan Twilight always comes up with it while she’s talkin? She thinks better that way. If’n all Ah have ta do ta help ‘er is let her twist mah ear a bit with things Ah don’t understand.” She shrugged and watched as Twilight found something in one of her books that made her almost seem to glow with excitement, “That don’t seem like much of ah price ta pay.”

Spike considered Applejack, “That actually makes a lot of se-urp!” The little dragon belched a gout of green fire that narrowly missed the books on Twilight’s desk before it spiraled in on itself, popping into a scroll that dropped onto the book littered surface. The flash of light and threat to her books snapped Twilight out of her research trance and she looked down just in time to see on the scroll roll to a stop, the wax seal facing her.

Applejack leaned back expecting to see the excitable unicorn begin to get giddy at the prospect of a letter from her mentor. She waited, and continued to wait as Twilight simply stared at the scroll with an expression that looked very much like dread.

Spike looked at the unicorn, concern growing on his scaly face and he reached for the scroll, turning it in his claws until he could see the sigil pressed into the wax, “Oh damn.” He sighed.

“Wut is it?” Applejack asked nervously, “Yall look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“It’s from the Canterlot Guard.” Twilight said her voice hollow.

“And pretty soon we probably will have.” Spike muttered.

“Wut in Celestia’s name does that mean? Why is the Canterlot Guard sending you a letter?” Applejack was beginning to get worried.

“I used to consult for them sometimes when I was still living in Canterlot, when they’d get a case that involved weird or unusual magic.” Twilight’s magic surrounded the scroll, and Spike let it go. The purple unicorn levitated the scroll over to herself, popping the seal to read it, “I haven’t done any consulting since I moved here, because... well because I’ve been here. Not that I got called on a lot anyway. They had to ask the Princess before they could ask me.”

“Still do evidently,” Spike pointed out, “Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to send messages via me... Twi?”

The unicorn sagged in her chair expression hardening, “It’s a murder.” She said softly.

Twilight was no stranger to death, this wouldn’t be the first murder she’d worked. Even if it was none her friends were exactly the same as they had been when they met.

Most people had misconceptions about what it was the Elements of Harmony as ponies did. The series of foal’s books that had been started to explain to all the little colts and fillies why the sun hadn't come up one morning painted an idealistic view of their ‘adventures’.

In the books they had never faced any real danger of any measure on their way through the Everfree to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. There hadn’t been a distraction led by the Royal Guard and the army against the Nightmare that cost hundreds of lives, keeping her distracted long enough for the six mares to slip into the castle mostly unnoticed. They hadn’t barely made it out alive from a battle with a maddened goddess while they scrambled to figure how to activate the ancient magical artifacts.

In the books Discord wasn’t an agent of chaos so much as a wacky clown. Nobody was driven mad as the world unraveled around them into something that literally could not be described. The six mares who were his focus needed only a simple spell to make everything better. Not years of therapy that they all still needed. No lingering nightmares that still woke them screaming on some nights.

In the books there were no casualties from the changeling invasion. No pitched battle in the streets. The invasion only lasted a day. Not a month. Celestia was defeated in a moment, not after an hour of pitched battle that killed dozens caught in the dueling goddess’ path. Their own charge to secure the elements was a bloodless affair, even if it proved futile. Not one that left a trail of changeling dead in their wake, and left them battered, beaten and broken. Victory came from a deus ex archana, not a week long bloody guerilla campaign led by Luna. The damage from the entire affair was so minor that they could hold the wedding the next day, instead of having had to spend months recovering.

In the books Sombra was just a menacing cloud of smoke with no real presence or impact on events, not a terrifying creature of evil and darkness. They were largely unmolested while they looked for they Crystal Heart, not fighting off a siege where they enemy had an infinite supply of shadow warriors spun from dark magic and terror. The dark magic that she and Spike had been exposed to only induced a minor abandonment fantasy. Not the perceived lifetime of custom tailored hell that added to both of their therapy bills and nightmares.

The Elements of Harmony were not a weapon. In the books.

The full series actually sat on her shelves, and as far as Twilight knew, she was the only one of her friends to have actually read them. She’d only done it because she was physically incapable of having a book on her shelves that she hadn’t read.

No Twilight was no stranger to death, but that didn’t mean it got any easier. She honestly hoped it never did. That’s where ponies like Sombra came from.

“Now just hold on a second there Twi.” Applejack said after a moment unaware of Twilight’s grisly retrospective, “Yer gonna run off ta Canterlot, ta chase after some crazy killer, who’s got some kinda real fancy magic, with yer leg in that cast, all by yer lonesome?”

Twilight blinked, “Well... yeah. In a murder case, especially a magical one, time is always against us. The rest of the crime scene investigators can’t start their work until I’ve taken a look, in case their forensic spells mess with any lingering magical signatures. And the longer we take the more the evidence will degrade. So we need to go as quickly as possible. The guard is even sending a chariot for me.”

Infact Spike had already dashed off to find the magical analysis kit that they hadn’t used in years, and to pack what else they would need. At the same time Twilight had started yanking books off the shelves with her magic, stuffing them into spare bags at a frantic pace.

Applejack was having none of it though, “Yer not goin’ alone.” She told Twilight flatly, “If this crazy pony decides the best way to not get caught is ta add you to his body count, yer not exactly gonna be at yer best. Ah think me ‘r RD should go with ya. Jest in case.”

“Applejack.” Twilight said distractedly doing her best to scramble even with the broken leg, “I’m going to be surrounded by guards, and no matter what crime novels say, killers very rarely target the people investigating them. Who ever it is won’t even know I’m there. You don’t need to worry.”

“Twi, given our lives to date wut makes you think this case is going to be anything but ah complete mess? It’s been quiet for too long, somethin’s bound ta happen.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “That’s not how statistics work.”

“Do ya really have the time ta argue the point with me, Sugarcube?”

The unicorn slumped, “No not really.”

There was a thud from the stairs as Spike dragged Twilight’s kit and equipment up from the basement putting it next to the other bags that Twilight had stuffed full of books. He leaned up against the heavy saddle bags panting slightly.

“Look at it this way Twi, take me along an ya got somepony ta carry the bags for ya.”

***

As it turned out the pegasi guards pulling the chariot were more than happy to help load the saddle bags. They didn’t mind bringing an extra pony along either once they saw Twilight limping along with her cast.

Applejack sent a note to her family about going out of town for a few days. She was pretty sure they could do without her for that long, and if it turned out that this case took longer she could work out a way to trade off with Rainbow Dash.

Then with all the niceties taken care of, they were off. The pegasi were in a hurry so they flew high and fast, the cold and the wind making conversation both impossible and undesirable. So the trip was, if not short, quick and with little to remove two ponies and a little dragon from their own thoughts.

When the chariot landed it was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to strike the glittering towers of Canterlot at an angle. Turning the city, if viewed from the correct direction, into a shining beacon on the mountain.

The guard’s ponies didn’t take the chariot to one of the landing platforms, but instead took it down into the city, landing just behind the guard barricade that blocked off a large section of street in one of the midtown club districts.

Guard’s ponies swarmed over the area. One earth pony stallion wearing a long coat and a fedora, came trotting over as soon as the chariot hit the ground, the impact jarring Twilight’s cast painfully making her stifle a hiss of pain. The stallion arrived while the Pegasi who had pulled the chariot were still unharnessing themselves, and Spike was helping Applejack get the heavy saddlebags onto her back, so he offered a hoof to help Twilight down.

Twilight smiled at him gratefully and took it, easing herself down from the chariot, letting the stallion brace her until she had her three available hooves under her again. Once she was certain she wasn’t about to fall over, she looked up at him with a wide grin, “Terrible to see you again, Sharp.”

“Awful to see you as well, Miss Sparkle.” He agreed with an answering grin that was thick in his light tenor voice.

Applejack hearing the exchange looked down at Spike, “Wut was that?” She asked pointing a hoof at where her friend was bantering happily with the new pony.

Spike glanced over at them as he finished tightening the last of the straps for the bags and scrambled onto Applejack’s back, “Oh that? They get along pretty well but only see each other during murder cases. So the joke is they hate seeing each other.”

“Oh.” The farm pony supposed that made sense, though something about the situation still bothered her. After a moment of thought she decided to let it go not being able to put her hoof on whatever it was that was bugging her. Bouncing once or twice to make sure the bags were secure, nearly launching poor Spike who was more accustomed to Twilight’s magical method of checking things. The saddlebags hadn’t shifted but Applejack waited for Spike to resettle himself before she climbed out of the chariot, clearing her throat to get the attention of the two happily bantering ponies.

Twilight jumped slightly then smiled guiltily back at the farm pony, “Sorry. Applejack, this is Inspector Sharp Insight. Sharp, this is my friend and fellow Element, Applejack.”

“Honesty, right?” the Inspector asked holding out a hoof which Applejack took with a nod, “Well then you’re very welcome. Honesty is something in short supply in a murder investigation. Speaking of which,” He looked over his shoulder at the club the cordon had blocked off, “let’s get started shall we?”

He led them forward keeping his pace slow for Twilights sake as he filled them in, “The club owner,” he waved over to were a pair of guard’s ponies were talking to a loud and wildly gesticulating mare with a white coat, a two toned electric blue mane and tail, and large purple sunglasses. She looked vaguely familiar to both Twilight and Applejack though neither could place in in the moment, “came in a few hours ago to start getting things set up and found... well let’s call it a body for the moment.”

Twilight frowned, “Well is it a body or isn’t it?”

“Honestly Miss Sparkle? I’ll let you decide when you see it.” Sharp told them, winking at Applejack at the use of her element. He held the front doors of the club open for the two mares, and followed them through into a short tunnel like hallway that serve as a kind of air lock to allow ponies to brace themselves for what they would find inside. With the absence of the normal pounding beat, hallway was an eerie place, though likely still serving the same purpose, “She called us after talking to all her employees. At first she thought it was a prank and was trying to find out to to make clean it all up.”

“Sharp,” Twilight said slowly, “you’re beginning to make me nervous. What exactly is in there?”

“Like I said Miss Sparkle, you tell me.” With that he pushed open the doors to the club and let them in. Far from the dark, loud space it was when open, at the moment the club was brightly lit by house lights, filled with the soft sound of camera shutters snapping, and ponies softly whispering to each other.

At one end of the club space was a raised stage, a very well, and expensively, set up DJ booth sitting front and center. On the opposite wall from the stage was a bar the length of the wall, stocked with hundreds of bottles holding various amounts of amber, clear, and in one or two cases green, liquid. Set into a wall over the bar were a series of what looked like mirrors, but were no doubt one way glass mirrors for the VIP rooms.

What grabbed all of Twilight’s attention though, was standing in the middle of what should have been the bare expanse of the dance floor in the center of the club. Instead in the middle of the floor, face caught in a rictus of agony, mouth open in a scream, was a pony.

Or at least Twilight assumed it used to be a pony. Because now it was a statue composed entirely, it seemed, of ash.

Author's Note

So, chapter two. Still no editor, so if you see something point it out, please. Second there is a single medical term up there. I have no medical training, this term came curtsey of Wikipedia. So if I used it wrong, and you know better, tell me about that too. Even better tell me what I should have put there. Lastly, likes, faves, and comments make the stories come fourth, so do all of the above.

Especially the likes.

Those bring more readers.

Till next time.