Stargem

The three Equestrians found themselves in an interrogation room in the police department with their suits taken away. Pinkie, fortunately, had hidden the M.N. in her mane, which the police hadn't thought to check.

The room was small and square, with a rectangular metal table in the middle having two chairs on both long sides. On one wall was a one-way mirror--or so Rainbow assumed, as that's what they had in Equestria--and on the wall across from it was a tiny window near the ceiling. Spike and Pinkie had taken up residence in two of the chairs, and Rainbow was pacing angrily in the air.

The door on the wall with the one-way mirror squeaked open, and in walked two humans. They both wore suits, but the human with long blonde hair had a grey one while the human with short black-and-white hair wore a black one. They sat in the chairs across from Pinkie and Spike, one of them making a quick glance at the mirror.

"Hello... whatever you are," the human in the black suit said, muttering the last part. "I'm Detective Carlton Lassiter, and this is my partner--"

"Detective Juliet O'Hara," the other human cut him off. "We work for the Santa Barbara Police Department, and we want to ask you some questions."

Rainbow, anticipating both the questions and Pinkie's rant, blurted, "I'm Rainbow Dash, that's Pinkie Pie, and that's Spike, we're from Equestria, which is in another universe, we came here because of a broken rock, and no, Princess Luna does not have a snake in her brain. That about cover it?"

"Well, actually, now I have more questions," Detective Lassiter said. But he never got the chance to ask them.

Because right then, another human walked in the room, followed by another one.

"Hello there, colorful extraterrestrials," the first new human said. "I am Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner, Twinkle Toes." The second newcomer did a little tap dance.

"Spencer," Detective Lassiter said, glaring at Shawn. "We are in the middle of a police interrogation! You--"

"Not now, Lassie," Shawn said. The Equestrians had to hold in giggles. Shawn put his fingers up to his head. "I'm sensing some things about our visitors."

"Really? You can do that?" Pinkie asked, somehow coming face-to-face with Shawn while keeping her flank in the chair.

"Er, yes, I can," he said, a little surprised at the elasticity of the pony. "I'm a psychic detective."

"Oh, really?" Rainbow said, squinting at Shawn. "Then read Spike."

The dragon yelped, and the psychic turned to him. After a few moments, Shawn said to Spike, "You haven't eaten in... a day and a half."

"Rainbow! He's right!" Spike yelled, surprised and a little scared.

"Spencer, now is not the time for your antics," Detective Lassiter snapped, getting up from his chair. He pushed Shawn and Twinkle Toes out of the room, slammed the door, and returned to his seat.

"So, now for the questions," he said.

The door opened once more, and a different human walked in. "Um, Detectives?"

"What do you want, McNab?" Detective Lassiter growled.

"We just got a report that another house has been robbed."

The two detectives at the table shared glances before jumping up and heading to the door. "Watch them for us," Detective O'Hara said as she passed McNab.

"Hiya!" Pinkie said, waving her hoof at the newcomer.

"What was that all about?" Rainbow asked as she flew over to McNab.

"Oh, there's been a whole slew of suspicious robberies around town lately. While Detectives Lassiter and O'Hara usually investigate murder cases--"

"Wait, MURDER?!" Rainbow gasped. Pinkie and Spike had hidden themselves under the table, as if a deranged killer would burst into the room at any moment.

"Uh, yeah, there's a whole lot of murders in Santa Barbara," McNab said, not realizing it wasn't making the situation any better.

"A WHOLE LOT of murder?!" Rainbow began to hyperventilate. Spike was audibly whimpering from under the table.

As if he could sense that tensions were high in the room--which he probably could, based o what he had shown them earlier--Shawn burst into the room. "Buzz, my friend, why don't you leave them with us?" He asked McNab, who nodded before leaving the room.

Shawn and Twinkle Toes walked up to the table. "I sense that there is not a lot of murdering where you come from," the psychic said.

"No, there's not," Rainbow said, slightly calmer. "Are there really a ton of murders every day here?"

"I wouldn't say every day, but yes, overall." Shawn said solemnly. He then perked up, saying, "How would you like to help us investigate these suspicious robberies?"

Twinkle Toes suddenly and forcibly turned Shawn around to talk to him. "Are you really sure that's a good idea?"

"Yes. We would still be able to investigate the case while obeying Jules's wishes."

"Yeah, Twinkle Toes, don't be a fuddy-duddy!" Pinkie said, now out from under the table and in front of the two humans.

"For the record, my name is not Twinkle Toes. It's Gus. Burton Guster," Gus said, addressing everyone in the room, including Shawn.

"C'mon, Gus, we've saved our home from dangers worse than a little break-in over a dozen times!" Rainbow said, flying over to Pinkie.

"And, if there's no... uh, victim, we should be okay," Spike added as he took a spot beside Pinkie.

"You know you want them to help us," Shawn turned to Gus. "It was your childhood dream to meet the characters of Our Tiny Horsey."

"Shawn, these are not the characters from Our Tiny Horsey." Gus retorted. He noticed the Equestrians making puppy dog eyes. Eventually, he relented. "Fine. But they need to be hidden from the public before they're all over the Internet."

"Gus, they already are. Don't you have social media?" Shawn looked at the Equestrians. "But I do have and idea for a disguise."

The house that had been robbed--it was more like a mansion, actually--was swarming with police cars and personnel. Yellow tape made a perimeter around the property. Shawn didn't seem to care that it said "DO NOT CROSS", since he simply ducked under it, Gus doing the same.

"What are you two doing here?" Detective Lassiter said as he saw them coming up to the house. Detective O'Hara simply looked tired and went back to investigating.

"We were hired by the daughter of the victim," Shawn said, knowing that the mansion was owned by an old man named Frank Smith. "I present to you... Leslie Smith!"

A bumbling mass that sort of resembled a human toddled up to Shawn and Gus. They wore a long trench coat, fedora, and large sunglasses. It wavered with each step, as if it were drunk, or made of Jell-O. Upon reaching the group, it awkwardly raised an arm to say "hello", but the hand was concealed by the sleeve.

"That's funny," Detective Lassiter said as he took in the sight of "Leslie Smith". "If that's Miss Smith, then who's this?" The detective pointed to a much more coordinated human that was being questioned by the police.

"Huh. She must be an impostor!" Shawn exclaimed just as the human in the trench coat tripped and fell. The coat blew away in the wind, revealing two ponies and a dragon sprawled on the ground.

"You brought them here?!" Detective Lassiter shouted. Gus pointed a finger at Shawn, who replied with a hurt look.

Rainbow, not wanting to be restrained again, quickly got her friends on their hooves and feet before ushering them inside the mansion. Of course, it was full of police personnel, who quickly apprehended the Equestrians.

"Get'cher dirty paws offa' me!" Pinkie shouted, clearly enjoying this too much. Rainbow struggled, but was unable to escape. Spike, however, slid himself out of the grasp of the human holding him and ran into the mansion to hide.

The dragon found himself panting beside a rather lovely vase, hoping he'd lost the humans. He decided to look around and try to find a way out. Of course, mansions are rather big, and Spike was not paying attention to anything when he was running form the humans, so he was quickly lost.

When Spike found himself at the study for the third time, he let out an exasperated shout. He turned to begin his search again when he heard an eerie creak from inside the study.

Peeking around the doorframe and into the room, Spike saw the bookshelf against the back wall turn to reveal a hidden room. Something wearing a cloak came from the room before pulling on a book on the shelf to move it back to its former position. The thing turned, and with a little looking, Spike could see that it was...

… a pony?!

Without much time to comprehend the situation, Spike shouted, "HEEEEELP! THERE'S SOMEPONY SNEAKING AROUND THE STUDY! HEEEEEEEELP!"

The pony suddenly took off galloping at a breakneck pace, leaving Spike to do everything in his power to try to keep the pony in sight. Police personnel were soon filling the halls, as well as Shawn, Gus, Pinkie, and Rainbow.

The pony found itself in a corner, but upon trying to leave it, several humans blocked its path. It fumbled with its cloak and pulled out a white stone before disappearing in an instant.

The detectives and Equestrians arrived a moment too late. The personnel recounted the tale to their superiors, but were stopped by Rainbow when they got to the part about the stone.

"Did the stone look something like this?" the Pegasus asked, motioning for Pinkie to retrieve the M.N. from her mane. Every human who had witnessed the stone nodded.

"Do you know anything about this stone?" Detective O'Hara asked.

"Well, since it worked without a flash of light, it's probably the final version of the one we have," Spike said.

"But who would have a M.N. on their hooves..." Rainbow pondered aloud.

Detective Lassiter had insisted that the ponies e brought back to the police station for questioning, but Shawn somehow changed his mind--or blatantly ignored him--and brought the ponies back to his office.

It was small, with a reception counter in the front room and two desks in the back room. There was a little kitchen-like area, and lots of toys.

"Do you guys still play with these?" Rainbow asked, picking up an action figure off of Shawn's desk.

"NO! Put that down!" the psychic flew over and snatched the figure from Rainbow's grasp, gently wiping it off and placing it back on his desk.

"So, about how long do you all plan on staying?" Gus asked politely, although it was a little obvious that he didn't want a bunch of foreign creatures living in the office.

"Well, the M.N. is going to go off in about sixteen hours, since our stone is an unstable prototype," Pinkie said, waving her hoof like simply knowing when the M.N. would teleport them again was no big deal.

"How did you figure that out?" Spike said, dumbfounded.

"Oh, it was easy! We were in the last world for exactly twenty-four hours, and we've been here for eight! So, once you take eight from twenty-four--"

"We can all do math, Pinkie," Rainbow said, not seeming to notice that Shawn was counting on his fingers to figure out the problem.

"Well, what're we going to do for sixteen hours?" Spike asked.

"Let's PAR-TAY!" Pinkie shouted, suddenly producing a pineapple and a confetti cannon.

"I like the sound of that!" Shawn shouted as everyone else simply shook their heads.

After a good-bye between Shawn and Gus and the Equestrians, the ponies and dragon were once again transported to another universe. The sun was high, and the ground was rocky and dry. Mountains appeared not far from where the three stood, making a full circle and placing them in a kind of natural bowl. At one place along this bowl was a large building, a few cars parked out in front. Deciding that was where they would find someone, the Equestrians moved toward it.

They were nearly to the little door to the building when Rainbow was suddenly knocked down from the sky by a speeding blur.