The Robbery of the Canterlot Mint

Twilight and her friends trotted up to where the police had roped off the crime scene. It appeared as if somepony had smashed in the back window to the bank and then forced the vault open. The officers and detectives scurried about the room, trying desperately to find anything that might help lead them to the culprit. So Twilight trotted up to one of them and, when they saw just who it was, they let the group through. The princess and her friends saw the shocked looks on the faces of the investigators, and she trotted up to the pony in charge. It was an old friend of hers, who had recently joined the force: Moon Dancer.

“Hello, my old friend,” Twilight said.

“Twilight!” Moon said as she embraced her, “er…I mean…Your Majesty.”

“Oh, come now, Moon. You know you can call me by my first name.”

Moon smiled sheepishly. “I know I can in private, but it’s against department regulations to refer to our superiors as anything other than their title in public. So, just roll with me on this, okay?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, but nodded in agreement. “Fine. Now, then, we’re here to help clear Celestia’s name. She couldn’t have done this.”

“I wish I could be as biased as you are, Your Majesty,” Moon responded sadly, “but I am sworn to uphold the law, and if all the clues here point to Princess Celestia, then I am bound by that oath to throw the book at her.”

Twilight’s face fell a bit, but she quickly straightened it. She understood the solemn duty that Moon Dancer had to perform as a member of the police department, and she was thankful to have such a fair and honest pony on the force. She knew Canterlot was in good hooves as long as ponies like Moon Dancer were employed as officers. “So, what do you have so far?” She asked.

“Come on,” Moon said as she led Twilight and her friends over to a small table. There were a few clues sitting there, and she’d been studying them exorbitantly over the past couple of hours. Clue A was a small tuft of fur, which appeared to be white. “As you know, Princess Celestia’s coat is white,” Moon explained.

“Yeah, but there are other white ponies out there,” Applejack pointed out, “I mean, look at Rarity. She’s whiter than a snowstorm!”

“Oh, hardy-har-har,” Rarity said sarcastically, “you and Rainbow are just SCREAMS today, aren’t you?”

“Will the three of you be quiet and listen?” Twilight asked, before turning to Moon Dancer. “I must admit that my farming friend makes a good point. How can you be sure it was Celestia based solely on this tuft of fur?”

Moon Dancer shook her head and pointed to Clue B: a small strand of hair that appeared to be both pink and green at the same time. “There’s only one pony I know that has hair that can be multiple colors at the same time. Not even Princesses Luna and Cadance can claim that. No, this strand had to have come from Princess Celestia’s mane.”

“Oh, fiddlesticks!” Applejack said, “couldn’t somepony have simply dyed green into a pink mane or vice versa in order to get that there effect?”

“I suppose,” Moon Dancer said, “but we have to go with what we know when we make an arrest, and this strand pointed to Princess Celestia. But the biggest clue of all…is Clue C.”

She pointed to Clue C, which was a piece of fine gold with the royal crest emblazoned on it. Twilight would know that symbol anywhere. It was a raging sun and a peaceful pony, which represented the link that Celestia held between righteous fury and beautiful love. It was so mysterious and awe inspiring that many books had been written on this crest alone. Nopony knew where it came from, and Celestia had kept it a carefully guarded secret.

“Celestia’s…crest!” Twilight choked out.

“It sure looks like it,” Moon said sadly, and then put a hoof on Twilight. “Look, Twilight, as the lead detective of the Canterlot Police Department, it’s my job to catch the bad ponies and lock them in jail. But if I may speak as your friend for a moment…I just don’t buy this. I can’t see Celestia, the gentle and kind ruler of all Equestria, robbing ponies of the bits that they worked so hard to obtain. You know she’s always lenient with taxes.”

“Moon’s right,” Dash said, “I mean, she’s always doing what’s best for everypony. Why the hell would she do something like this?”

Twilight didn’t have an answer, even though she wished with all her heart that she did. As she sat there among the few remaining bits in the vault, she felt a new and very sinister feeling creep over her psyche. What if she did do this? She asked herself, I mean, I don’t want to believe that, and I’m NOT gonna believe it, but…what if it’s true? What if all of our morale and encouragement to each other in these last few hours has been for naught? What if…?

“Twilight,” a soft voice interrupted her thoughts, “what do we do now?”

Twilight turned and saw Fluttershy standing there with a worried face. Her timid friend’s wings were outspread, and she looked as if she had been mulling over the same questions Twilight had. “I don’t know, Fluttershy,” the princess sighed, “if we’re wrong, and I hope and pray that we’re not wrong, then I may be forced to take Equestria’s throne sooner than scheduled. But I’m not concerned about that. It’s the fact that this crime comes with a life sentence for anypony involved. If Celestia is forced into prison until she dies, it will crush everypony. They believe in her, and I’m nervous that the position of princess will be tarnished forever.”

“Hey, everypony!” Rainbow Dash said, “look!”

Twilight turned to where Dash was pointing her hoof at the white tuft of fur. A small part of it seemed to be discolored, almost as if it were forged. It looked slightly darker than the rest of it, and almost seemed to take on a light pink hue. “Um…is anypony else seeing what I’m seeing?” Rarity asked.

“It looks like a fake!” Rainbow said, “Ha! This proves Celestia didn’t do it!”

“No, it doesn’t, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, “this only proves that we have a discolored piece of fur on our hooves. Even Celestia’s fur can have impurities and imperfections. But it is a start. We just have to keep building on this foundation until we have enough evidence to defend Celestia in court. Come on, everyone!”

With that, everypony began searching through the vault for more clues. They were determined to clear their beloved friend’s name, and set things right in Equestria once again. After all, they had faced odds that were much more insurmountable than these and come out on top. All they needed was a repeat performance.