Shining Armor and Flash Sentry had a fairly boring trip to Canterlot as Shining Armor contemplated the murders. What kind of a sicko would commit these many murders, and be dumb enough to leave any witnesses. Sure, it is good for us that he did so it should be easy, but why? I'm missing a vital part here. What could be their motive?" Shining Armor had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Flash Sentry's words.

"Prince? Prince? Prince! PRINCE!" Flash Sentry shouted. Many other passengers looked at the two due to this.

"Oh- my bad. What is it Sentry?" Shining Armor's face was slightly red as the others returned to their own devices.

"We're finally here," Flash Sentry said while suppressing his laughter.

"I see. C'mon then," Shining Armor had corrected himself and returned to his professional stance. The two grabbed their things and walked out into Canterlot Station. Once they had set hoof out of the train Commissioner Lance greeted them.

"Mah prince," The commissioner said with his southern twang.

"Rise, Copper Lance. As you can see, my associate-" Flash Sentry nodded when he was addressed "- and I are here to assist you in capturing the murderer." Shining Armor said with a hardened expression and tone.

"Raght. Nice tah meetcha Flash Sentry," Commissioner Lance then hoofshaked him. Flash Sentry nodded to him as he reciprocated the shake. "Quahet one ah see. 'nyway, Ah thought we should start with the most recen' crahme scene and move down from there." Commissioner Lance said.

"Of course. Lead the way," Shining Armor said. Commissioner Lance turned around and led the way. He was an Earth Pony stallion with a copper mane and a brown coat.

Along the way Commissioner Lance used the opportunity to explain some things. "Well, Prince Armor, Ah think Ah should tell ya some things about what the witnesses said."

"I was wondering about that. Proceed," Shining Armor said. This matter was something serious to him and he handled it with a scary level of professionalism.

"Well, we believe him to be a skilled unicorn-" Commissioner Lance said as he was interrupted.

"That's most of Canterlot." Flash Sentry deadpanned.

Commissioner Lance then gave him an odd look. "Well, Ah didn't expect the first words out yer mouth to be disrespectful." Flash Sentry shrunk under his gaze. "Anyway, we believe him tah be a level 7 unicorn-"

Shining Armor stopped dead in his tracks. And said, "What? That's rare. That's the level under mine. How are you sure?"

"He seems tah cast illusion spells of ah high degree. He also seems to have cast an permanent illusion spell on himself to make him about 7 feet tall-" Shining Armor's left eye twitched "- and he was seen to cast invisibility."

"That sure singles him out from the rest of the population," Flash Sentry added.

"It sure does. Anything else?" Shining Armor asked.

"Well he-he... seems to do mind control ponies," Commissioner Lance said with a quiver in his voice.

Shining Armor's face darkened. Memories of Chrysalis and his wedding flooded his mind. "It could be a stray Changeling." Flash recoiled at the venom behind his words. "That could explain the illusion, and his use of dark magic."

"True, but findin' ah Changeling so soon after your weddin' isn't very likely," The Commissioner pointed out, oblivious to Shining Armor.

"Yeah..." Shining Armor looked at nothing in particular and the rest of the walk went in silence, with Flash Sentry occasionally glancing at Shining Armor.

...

"Holy shit!" Flash Sentry exclaimed as he tried to keep his breakfast down. The bodies had been magically preserved in the alley by a powerful ward. There was blood splattered on the floor, a decapitated Earth Pony with a dismembered hoof, and a Unicorn with a slashed throat. Thank goodness they placed an illusion here. He thought.

"Just when I was beginnin' tah like ya again. Anyway, we thought to preserve the crime scene as it could be out of public view with a couple spells," Commissioner Lance explained.

"Interesting. There seems to be evidence of slash wounds on both victims. One had his hoof and head cut off. This displays a certain rage towards this one. The other only had the one slash," Shining Armor mused.

"Maybe she wasn't the target, but just a witness," Flash Sentry added.

"Nah. Zesty Gourmand was in that corner watchin' the whole thing. The perp wasn't gonna kill somepony for witnessing this," Commissioner Lance explained. Shining Armor reacted to this by stopping and staring at him.

His eyebrow twitched as he said, "This would've been useful a while ago."

Commissioner Lance's face reddened. "Mah bad."

"So these two were the main targets. Maybe he's an assassin? The other victims don't really match up," Flash Sentry interjected with his hoof raised.

"He could, or maybe the victims are connected in some non-obvious way?" Shining Armor said like a question.

"Well, all the witnesses said that those that were murdered all tried tah attack them before he killed them," Commissioner Lance said to the two. Flash Sentry's facehoof could've probably been heard for miles. "What?"

"It's obvious now!" Shining Armor exclaimed.

"He's a vigilante," Flash Sentry deadpanned. Then he slowly slid his hoof off his face.

"And there's only one way to catch a vigilante: a trap!" Shining Armor said with a smile. "Also tell me everything up front next time." Shining Armor pointed a hoof in his chest.

Commissioner Lance gulped and said, "Sir, yes sir!"

"But how do we do that?" Flash Sentry asked.

Shining Armor put a hoof to his chin and thought. We have no idea how to find him and how he operates. There is a lot of crime in Canterlot, so he decides which crimes to stop, probably. Maybe we can- yes we can. Shining Armor broke into a grin and Flash Sentry grew an uneasy look on his face. Shining Armor then spoke, "How good is your acting?"

Flash Sentry had two words running through his head. Oh crap...

Author's Note

Sorry I'm like 4 days late. I had some personal stuff happen, but it's all good now. At least this one came early in the day, right? Also, I think my sleep cycle is fucked I took some Advil PM's and slept 16 hours. That's normal right?