A Canterlot Mystery

by Fly Faster

First published January 1st, 1970 00:00

Dime Quarter is exploring Canterlot one day when she sees a changeling sneaking into the Canterlot Library. Stunned, she follows it into the Starswirl the Bearded ward and is shocked to discover that the changeling isn't real and the creature is actually… A pony in disguise. The pony begins searching through the spells and then, finds what it is looking for and casts a spell. Then it disappears into thin air.

It is a few weeks later and various ponies in Canterlot are going missing. Dime can't help feeling that the disappearances and the pony she saw are connected in some way. She decides to go to Ponyville to visit her cousin Derpy and do some investigating.

Chapters

Prologue

Prologue
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A Canterlot Mystery

Prologue

Dime Quarter looked around. What should I do next? she wondered.

She was in Canterlot. She didn't live in Canterlot, she was just there for business. Private Investigative business.

Because, Dime was a 'detective' as some ponies put it.

The case she was working on was a jewellery store robbery. She knew who had done and as soon as she got back to her hotel, that thief was finished. Or, as she should say, thief and accomplice. The accomplice was an employee.

The pony who hired her would be shocked to discover this. The pony considered their employees loyal and trustworthy and despite many ponies trying to tell her, she had failed to discover that this was not so.

The employee had gathered information such as security systems, terrain, etc. Then the thief had broken into the store and stolen some very valuable jewellery items. The thief had then sold the jewellery for low prices and paid the employee half of what the employee had expected.

By the time the employee realised that, they'd be behind bars. Dime smiled at that thought.

Something snapped Dime from her daydreams. Huh? she thought, What's that that just darted behind that bush?

Whatever it was, it ran behind a tree.

Suspicious Pony

(1) Doesn't want to be seen.

(2) Is fast on hooves.

Dime wrote in a notepad she kept with her at all times.

The thing sprinted out of sight and Dime began to follow it. It had caught her attention and now she would find out what it was.

She saw it enter the Canterlot Library. She thought to herself:

What in the hay is it up to?

It walked past all the wards until it reached the Starswirl the Bearded ward. It stopped, gave a sigh, then proceeded to enter the ward. it was only then that Dime was able to see what it was: A changeling.

Dime wrote this information into her notepad, then followed the changeling.

She had barely hidden behind a bookshelf before the changeling's skin began cracking and peeling, then, a pony stood in the changeling's spot. Dime wrote in her note pad:

(4) Changeling disguise.

(5) Desperate not to be recognised if they use a changeling disguise.

Dime was unable to determine who the pony was, but could tell that the pony was a unicorn. The pony began to read scrolls from the book shelves, searching for a particular spell. At least, the unicorn found what they were looking for, memorized it, put on a nearby bookshelf, then disappeared.