"Another day, another bit," Sharp Sight said to himself. He had taken up the job to be a royal guard apprentice in Canterlot. With the crime rates going up significantly in Canterlot, somepony needed to step up and do something about it. And who better an interrogator than a pony who can always tell when somepony's lying? So he had taken the job, his parents were so proud, blah, blah, blah. That's not the story I'm here to tell you.
No, I'm here to tell you of an unlikely friendship. One that no pony ever thought would be possible. What's that? You want to hear the story of the apple orchard on the moon? Or the one of the mare who singlehoofedly stopped a genocide? Well, those are stories for another time. For now you will hear the story of the colt and the changeling, who became friends and solved a murder mystery.
So like I was saying. Sharp Sight checked in to his job, levitated his helmet onto his head, put on his sparse armor, and grabbed his spear. He ran to the training room and began to practice. He was the fastest fighter on the squad, despite him being an initiate. He jabbed and spun, dodging invisible enemies.
He was then aware of some pony else entering the room. Sharp Sight stopped and turned, standing to attention, as then only who had walked in was his commanding officer, Finder. Finder gestured for Shapr Sight to continue. Sharp lifted his spear once more. He charged and stabbed his spear through another dummy. He pole vaulted over it, using his forward momentum to fling the dummy into a wall.
"Jeez, boy," said Finder, "You look like you're training to fight a war. By yourself."
"No harm in being ready," Sharp Sight replied, "As I like to say, you can't be prepared for everything, but you can be prepared for anything."
"Well spoken," said Finder, "If you weren't wearing that armor, I could've mistaken you for a poet."
"Thank you, sir," said Sharp Sight.
"You're very welcome," said Finder, "I actually have some news for you."
"Yes sir?" asked Sharp Sight.
"There's going to be an inspection today," explained Finder, "Luna herself is coming to make sure that our precinct is running properly. She didn't say when, but it will be today."
"Would you like me to help clean up sir?" asked Sharp Sight.
"Mighty kind of you, but you just need to clean up the straw from the dummies," said Finder, "Then feel free to take a break until Luna gets here."
"Thank you sir," said Sharp Sight, then noticed something. "And I've noticed how you don't refer to her as Princess Luna. Any particular reason for it?"
"I'm surprised you noticed," said Finder, "And yes, there is reason. Way I see it, no matter what your rank, you're a pony. Just like the rest of us. Mortal or immortal, you have a name, no need to add anything to it."
Sharp Sight pondered this. It made sense, but she was still Princess Luna. It was only right to show her respect for who she was and what she did. Then again, Finder did have a point. She was still just another pony.
Sharp Sight continued to think of this intriguing social enigma as he cleaned up the dummies and the straw. It took Finder almost no time to clean the building with his magic. Over the course of the hour, a couple more guards had showed up and helped Sharp Sight and Finder clean the building and make it presentable.
Finally, after two and a half hours, the main door swung open. And who would enter but Princess Luna herself. All the guards of the precinct had gotten to the building. Everypony who had seen her enter immediately stood to attention. The building went silent. Princess Luna walked into the main conference room. The guards followed her and now all twenty of the guards stood in five neat rows in the middle of the room.
"We can already see that your precinct is well groomed, Finder," said Luna, "This is good, as we will be needing your resources to solve a rather sizable problem."
"Yes, Princess Luna," said Finder, "What is the problem at hand?"
"There has been a series of murders in Ponyville," explained Luna, "My sister and I have given your men jurisdiction there, as there are not enough forces in the vicinity to solve the case themselves."
"Yes, Princess Luna," said Finder, "Rest assured my men and I will solve this case."
"Thank you," said Luna, "That will be all."
"Excuse me," said Finder as Luna began to leave, "Pardon my tone, but weren't you supposed to inspect the entire precinct?"
"We already have," said Luna with a smile, "That is why we elected to put you in charge of the Ponyville murders."
Finder looked confused, and so did several of the guards. Luna walked out and shut the door behind her. Finder shook his head and regained his composure.
"You heard her men," he half shouted to the guards, "Saddle up! We're going to Ponyville!"
All the men cheered. Sharp Sight simply nodded. His home town was Ponyville, so he felt a more personal connection. The guards began to gather their things and walk out the door.
"Sir," asked Sharp Sight, "How will we know what we're looking for?"
"Luna left this is my office," said Finder lifting a folder, "The case file."
Sharp Sight nodded at this and began to gather his things as well. He wasn't sure how long they would be gone, so he packed a toothbrush, his knife, and some bits. He followed the other guards to the train station and they all boarded.
The train ride took about four hours. When they arrived at the Ponyville train station, they all departed and were greeted by Ponyville's resident princess, Twilight Sparkle. Finder began to talk with her. Sharp Sight stopped and looked at them. [Oh, I'm supposed to provide exposition here? Okay.]
Sharp Sight was...gifted. He didn't have magic, but he always had the ability to observe things that normal ponies would never be able to find, and discern things about ponies merely by looking at them. He could also tell when somepony was lying or disguised. So when he looked at Princess Twilight, he immediately knew something was wrong. She was smiling, and appeared happy, but he knew better. She was deeply troubled by what was going on lately. He listened closely.
"Who do you think could be doing it?" asked Twilight, "The ponies around here are shaken up because they think their friend could be a murderer."
"I don't know who it could be yet, but I can tell you this," said Finder, "We'll find the bastard."
Twilight gasped at Finder's language, "Okay, I'm trusting you. Celestia and Luna gave you jurisdiction here, but I still am the highest rank here. If you're doing something wrong, I can kick you out. Please, don't make me have to."
"You have my word," said Finder. Twilight seemed to relax a little. Sharp Sight stopped listening and instead walked out of the train station. He folded his ears down block out any noise and began to look around. He zeroed in and inspected several ponies. Some of them he knew, some he didn't. He was able to check all of them off the list of possible murderers.
As Twilight walked out of the train station with Finder. Sharp Sight approached them.
"I have already eliminated twelve possible murderers," said Sharp Sight. He pointed to each of the ponies he had inspected. Twilight was dumbfounded.
"How!?" she said, "You've only just got here! There's no way you could've already interrogated them."
"I don't need to," said Sharp Sight, "I have a sort of," he looked for the right word, "Observational skill. You'll have to take my word for it."
"I don't know if I can," said Twilight.
"Okay," said Sharp Sight in calm tone, "Well, we could either interrogate them all and find nothing, or we could continue to narrow down the search."
He walked away, leaving a flabbergasted Twilight behind him. He went to town square and saw that there was a large gazebo. Perfect place for him to think. He walked into the center of the gazebo and sat down. He closed his eyes and listened once more.
At once, he was privy to multiple conversations. A mare named Amethyst was talking to a pony named Roseluck about her house needing repairs. He heard three fillies talking about what they should do next. One of them said they should try banking. The one named Scootaloo said that that would be boring. Another said that they should try gardening. Apple Bloom disagreed with a shake of her head.
He moved on and continued to hear conversations until he noticed something very peculiar. There was a single pony talking to herself. She was talking about needing to report an emergency situation to the Alpha. She said that ponies were being murdered and that she needed to leave, in case her cover were to be compromised.
His eyes snapped open. He looked around and found who was talking. It was a strange mare, who's color pallet for her mane, tail, and coat continued to change. The air around her shimmered like a mirage. He got up and started walking towards the mare, but she ducked behind a building before he could follow.
He went into the alley and saw the mare simply standing as though she were waiting for something. He focused on her and all at once, her true self was revealed.
What stood in the mare's place look like a cross between a pony and an insect. It was black, with a smooth coat as if it were made of some kind of shiny stone. It had holes in it's legs and a pair of fangs.
The creature stared at him and then spoke.
"Excuse me," it said in a mare's voice, "Can I have my face back, or are you just going to keep staring?"
"What are you?" Sharp Sight asked, "Because what I am looking at is not a pony."
"What do you mean?" she asked nervously, her eyes flickering side to side, "Of course I'm a pony."
Sharp Sight raised an eyebrow and said, "Do I look that stupid? What are you?"
"Fine," said the creature and then went up in flash of light. Sharp Sight assumed it was the creature changing it's disguise, but since he already saw through it, nothing happened.
"I am a Changeling Beta," it said, "And right now, as you already know, there is a murderer on the loose. The Alpha is worried that it will put a damper on everyponies mood. If that happens, then the Alpha will die. She sent me here to investigate and eliminate the murderer."
"Is that so," said Sharp, an idea coming to him, "In that case, how about we work together? I won't report you to the authorities and you'll help me solve the case."
"I don't make deals with ponies," said the Changeling.
"Fine," said Sharp, "Then under law, I can report you as an outsider that is screwing with a police investigation."
"Hmmm," grumbled the Changeling, "Fine, I'll help you."
"Good," said Sharp Sight, "Now I've got to get to the crime scene. I'll come back and tell you my findings."
The changeling nodded. They both departed their separate ways. Sharp Sight found Finder and asked where the crime scene was.
"Glad you asked," he said, "We're headed there now."
The crime scene was located in the park behind some bushes. There was a single mare lying dead on the ground. Her head was slightly caved in and with puncture wounds in the indentation. Dried blood caked her face and her soulless, dead eyes stared at a nearby tree. Among other things were signs that she had fought back.
Bruises and numerous cuts were on her hooves. One leg was bent in the wrong direction, with a small piece of bone barely protruding from the broken limb. Sharp Sight gagged, but resisted the urge to throw up. Two guards (who were also initiates) excused themselves. As they left, Sharp Sight could see that their faces were tinted green, and their mouths hung open, both of them about to be sick. Finder simply stared and sighed.
"She sustained major wounds to the head," said Finer, "Died of blunt force trauma, and defensive wounds are along the legs marked by bruises and cuts. Victims leg was shattered in the process. Somepony, or something, really powerful broke her leg before she could fight back. No signs of sexual assault, which widens the search area beyond males. It also rules out a number of possibilities of a motive."
"The killer might not be looking to be dominant," said Sharp Sight, "Sexual assault is usually the first part of a control motive."
"Looks like sompony's been reading up on profiling," said Finder, "I appreciate the help, but leave that work to me. You need to find evidence. And trying to figure out what the murder weapon would be."
"I'd need a postmortem for that," said Sharp Sight, "But I might be able to find out a number of things. For example, the suff marks in the dirt."
He crouched down and looked at the scuff marks and how they were uneven. This was not caused by somepony merely walking, but by a struggle. He used this and the position of the body to find out what direction she was facing before she met her untimely demise. She was facing the town, specifically south by southwest.
He looked closely at her head. Then down to her neck. He noticed that the skin was lose and there were tiny points sticking out in certain areas. He dreaded doing this, but he felt her neck. The cold fur and icy skin made him sick to his stomach. Sure enough he found what he was looking for.
"New theory," he said, "Victim was killed by a broken neck. During the struggle, the killer threw a haymaker that caused whiplash so strong that it snapped the victims neck. Only ponies strong enough to do that would be an Earth pony."
"Thanks," said Finder, "In a town founded by Earth ponies, the killer is an Earth pony. Well, never mind that, anything that narrows the search down is good. But what about the head wound?"
"I don't know," he said, "Only way we would know what caused those would be to have a postmortem. Until then, we need to go to the next crime scene."
"I'm starting to really like you kid," said Finder, "I think you'll do just fine as a keeper of the peace."
"Same m.o." said Finder, "Blunt force trauma to the head, same defensive wounds, and victim was killed by a snapped neck."
"Hmm," said Sharp Sight, "This is strange. How can two victims have the same defensive wounds?"
"I don't know, but one things for sure," said Finder as he lifted a slip of paper off the ground, "They're going to kill again soon."
Sharp Sight took the note. It read "This is only the beginning. Soon, we will have enough."
"Oh no," said Sharp Sight, "The killer, or killers, are going to strike again soon. Look at the penmanship though. It's written hastily as though the killer was in a hurry. And the use of we could either be referring to a group or it simply could be using an older dialect."
Sharp Sight inspected it closer. The ink was red, so it looked like it was written in blood. Or maybe it was blood, but that was unlikely. The penmanship was different than anything he had seen. It looked like those ancient documents he had seen in the museums.
"Who writes in this fashion?" asked Sharp Sight, "It's so old. But I'm more interested in the caved skull and puncture wounds."
He looked at the head of the mare on the ground. Her head was caved in just like the other one. He looked at her soulless eyes again. Soulless. Wait, soulless? An idea came to his head and he shot up.
"Do you know any magic users?" he asked.
"I think I can help," said a voice from behind him. And who else did that voice belong to other than Twilight Sparkle. "What do you need?"
"Princess Twilight, can you-"
"Please, just call me Twilight," she said smiling.
"Okay, Twilight, do you know of any rituals involving the souls of ponies?" he asked.
"Oh," she said frowning, "I've read about a couple of them. Why?"
"Do you have any magic that can tell of the whereabouts of this ponies soul?" he asked.
"No, but I'm sure I can find one," she said, "Are you suggesting that somepony is killing and collecting souls?"
"Maybe," said Sharp Sight, "I'm not sure. "
"It would explain why there are no signs of sexual assault on any of the victims," said Finder. Twilight winced ever so slightly at his words.
This was good. They were making headway on their first day of the investigation. It was getting late though.
"Okay," said Finder, "We'll have somepony compose a postmortem report. Then, we meet back up tommorow and continue the investigation, but until then, we turn in for the night."
Everypony agreed and left the crime scene, all of them feeling tired. This was going to be a tricky case.