The Demotion

Renaultar walked out of the Precinct HQ with a grimace on his face. It had been a few days since we was put back on duty since the incident a few days ago. His superiors had just dismissed him from a very long and painful meeting. As a Guardpony and enforcer of the peace, it was his duty to keep the city safe. He nearly lost that honor minutes ago when his fate was being decided after a catastrophic failure in that duty.

The former Sergeant Shielder, now 'Deputy' was on duty. He wore his silver barding less proudly than he did in the past, but the bustle of the streets outside began to drown into his thoughts. As terrible a day this was turning out to be, he loved his job enough that he managed to tuck away his frown and walk the beat.

Happy to assist in any way, he kept an eye out for any pony in need.

Meanwhile, an Earth Filly dressed in a servant's uniform ran as quickly as she could, weaving in and out of the crowd with elegant ease. She had been given a task of utmost importance, and she needed to do it post haste.

"Find a guardpony, find a guardpony..." she muttered under her breath. Her eyes tried to find her goal, but she was just a little filly in a rush of multitudes of others far larger than her. The ocean did not care where the little fish swam. At this moment, she was worried as she hadn't been able to find any guardpony! Weave in, out and under...

Her quick pace slowed down to a stop as she took in her bearings. Oh no. Oh no. Not here. This was the slums! A hive of scum and villainy where they kidnapped young fillys like her. Even worse, she looked conspicous in her maid outfit here. She was dead. She gazed fearfully at the ruinous setting that surrounded her. White Woods had said that the Manehattan slums were something out of a horror story, and now that she was here, the little filly had to agree. Now she really had to find a guardpony. She bit her lip fearfully and started to tear up. Now she will never be able to do what she was asked to do! She was a failure as a servant. Her health was just a secondary thing.

Head down, she strolled down the street, waiting for fate to take her, until out of the corner of her eye, she saw the glint of the armour of a guard pony.

Oh, thank you!

Her head shot up, and her pace raced toward her salvation.

"Oh, officer, officer! I need your help!"

Renaultar had been walking for some time, falling into his patrol mindset quickly. All his personal troubles had washed away to the back of his mind as he did what he enjoyed.

The sounds of a panicked pony calling specifically out for him put him into alert overdrive. He quickly scanned for the source of the sound, trotting more quickly to where he heard it. It was almost comical when he almost didn't see the short little dressed up filly. If she hadn't been calling he might have just trampled her.

"What's wrong Miss?" He quickly stood ready to jump into action and glanced occasionally about for any signs of incoming danger. "How can i help?" He said more softly when it looked clear. This was what he loved about his job. Being a pony that can be there to help those in need.

"There's been a burglary in my masters' household, sir!" the little filly exclaimed jumping up and down to emphasize her point, "And an important thing has been stolen from them! A very, very important thing! So they told Loyal Prudence, who told me, and now I was to find the nearest guardpony! But the streets were oh so very busy, and I ended up here!"

Here, the filly took deep breaths as she regained herself.

"So, can you come to my masters' house? So you can retrieve the very special thing that was lost?"

Renaultar nodded quickly. "Lead the way Miss. Ill do all i can to see your...special thing returned." He smiled a little to himself. This is where he has to turn things around for himself. He would be more than happy to put a smile on this fillies face and show his superiors he could still do his job.

"Follow me, sir!" She was about to rush off, then decided to stroll elegantly instead. "A maid should always have poise and grace," she reminded herself.

"My masters are Daylight Herald, and Crystal Admirer, a pegasus-Earth pony couple. They collect Snowflakes, and they have this huge chilled room where they keep them. But five of them were stolen! The really rare ones by Sir... uh... They're really expensive and beautiful! My masters are worried that they might melt before they are found, ruining the FOREVER!"

With that fearsome thought, the filly picked up the pace.

Renaultar was quickly following the pony, but quickly screeched to a half that nearly fliped him over as she stopped to 'stroll'.

"Uh...Miss. I dont mean to be rude, but shouldn't we..." Before he would finish she had picked up the pace. "...Nevermind." He smiled.

Please don't tell me this is going to be one of 'those' calls. It took me a week to get the marshmellow out of my mane with the crazy candy maker incident.

You could try to describe the house as being made out of pink brick, with flowers in the windows, and doves on the roof. You could go into detail about how its decor stood out from the others in the street, exclaiming beauty and magnificence. Or you could say that it looked to be worth about 5,000 bits and have the same effect.

"Here it is!" the filly exclaimed brightly. She waved to another maid standing at the door. "Loyal Prudence! Loyal Prudence!"

Loyal Prudence was a pure white pony which contrasted with her dark black mane and tail. Green eyes coldly looked at the filly. "Where were you, child, you took 10 whole minutes!"

Renaultar knew he should keep an eye out for other Guardponies on the way, but he did not catch any. Hopefully he will be enough for their needs. Upon arriving to the high class home, he set his posture to a more commanding and comforting look. The richer ponies tended to be more critical of such small things and he had his fair share of critics.

"Miss Prudence. I am Deputy Shielder. I'm here on request of assistance from your child here. How may i assist?" He smiled. He already knew it was a burglary of course but he was being proper first. Always did feel the need to greet before getting to business.

Haughty is a word authors use to describe characters. No pony on the street looks at another pony and thinks, "Oh, she's so haughty." Despite this, Loyal Prudence gave the guardpony the haughtiest look she could muster.

"Firstly, Deputy, Nameless is not my child. She is a servant of this household, just like I. Secondly, I'm sure she has told you about the unspeakable crime that is the robbery of the Five Snowflakes of Harmony by Sir W!ntersm!th." she declared, pronouncing the exclamation marks perfectly. "Nameless, please show Deputy Shielder to the scene of the crime. And be prudent."

Nameless curtsied. "Yes, Loyal Prudence. Right this way, Deputy Shielder."

Renaultar did his best to not wince too much as this pony 'haughtily' spoke to him. He forced a smiled and nodded as she spoke, taking care to only show respect. It was his job to help, not cause more ruckas.

"Yes, ill be right on it!" he said quickly and was more than happy to follow the pony called Nameless.

A little filly named...Nameless? A servant?...Thats....kinda depressing...I better be sure to get down to the bottom of this. He honestly smiled to himself before looking down to the smaller pony to lose his smile. I feel like i should hug her or something. But last time i did that to cheer someone up i was accused of sexual harassment.

Nameless said nothing as she led the guardpony through the halls. There was nothing to say until they ran across a light brown pony maid with white hair.
"Something-something!" the maid exclaimed, "You've returned with a guard! Quickly, this way this way..."

The guard was ushered in front of a vault where a pegasus was comforting a sobbing earth pony. "Look, look, there's guard here." The pegasus then turned to Nameless. "Good work Nameless." Nameless simply curtsied in response. The other maid winked at her.

"Now, officer, this is an unmitigated disaster. These snowflakes are very valuable and their fragility only makes recovery that much more urgent."

Renaultar tried to piece together what kind of a relationship all these ponies had with eachother. It seemed the little one wasn't so bad off, but he was quickly snapped from those thoughts as his immediate duties were before him.

"Understood. I place the return of your snowflakes as my sole duty here. I promise to do my best to see it down. Now I need to look over the crime scene for any immediate clues. Also if anyone saw anything i will need to question them. Do you have any leads that i should know about?" Already he was pacing about, looking about the area the crime occurred.

The pegasus nodded at the other maid. "Nameless, please explain the process to the officer. White Woods, if you may?"
White Woods saluted. "Yes, sir!"
The pegasus hovered over to one side of the vault door, whilst White Woods trotted to the other, and they both started punching in combinations.

"The vault door needs two ponies to open, sir, a servant and either one of Mr Herald or Mrs Admirer. The servant stays outside, making sure no one arrives and only one the masters enters. This morning when Loyal Prudence and Mrs Admirer opened the vault, the five snowflakes of harmony were gone."

At this, Mrs Admirer let out a loud sob as the vault door opened letting out a rush of cold air. Mr Herald looked at the guardpony. "Come in officer. Only three ponies have been in this vault before. White Woods and my wife will stay at the door. Nameless, please accompany us."

The vault was both extremely cold and extremely large. There were many shelves of many snowflakes, each and every one of them unique. And at the back of the vault were five empty pedestals, each a metre square.

Renaultar began to get an feeling this job was going to suck. He entered the chilled room hoping her would not be in here too terribly long. "...Nice vault." He said quietly to himself.

Upon a breif look over, he realized it was probably his turn to say something. "Oh yes. Im Deputy Shielder. I will do everything i can to see your snowflakes returned to you. Please tell me anything you know." He smiled to try to lighten the mood. Seeing a sobbing pony made him only more angry that this horrible crime occurred.

"To tell you honestly, we don't even know how anypony would be able to get one of the snowflakes out of here. They are gorgeous, but fragile things. Have you heard of them before, officer? Sir W!ntersm!th was an artist beyond compare. One of the snowflakes of harmony would be the size of Nameless here."

Nameless looked around the vault, shivering a little bit. A little bit being a lot.

"Uh... Mr Herald?"

Mr Herald turned to the shaking pony. "Yes, Nameless?"

"A-any chance-ce magi-gic might b-be involved?"

Renaultar goes up to the now empty containers that housed the snowflakes to inspect it. "So...The only way through is if two of you try to open it. The items themselves are pony sized, and i think its safe to assume the ones who took it did so with means to preserve it otherwise they gain nothing...Hmm.."

While he seemed calm and measured, inside he was rather...worried. How do i even begin this? Who would want a friggin snowflake? I don't even know how one could possibly do this. I might have to call in the unicorn division eggheads to look at this. Dont think they would be happy to see me after what i did last time though.

He felt something click in his head when Nameless mentioned magic. "Ah, yes! Assuming your locking mechanism is still functional, i believe we may have a burglar that is a unicorn....Also assuming that none of you also decided to steal from yourselves and write it off as an insurance scam but im sure such nice folks as yourselves wouldn't ever do such a dreadful thing."

"But surely it would take a powerful unicorn to break into this vault and steal all five of the snowflakes?" Mr Herald questioned, "That's why we were so certain it was safe! It took days just to prepare to put one snowflake in the vault! If someone wanted to admire the craftsmanship they could have sent us a week's advance notice so we could get it prepared for viewing." He didn't seem affected by the cold.

Nameless, however, was, and was now jumping up and down to keep warm. As gracefully as possible, of course.

Mr Herald shook his head sadly. "It's not about the money. It was never about the money. The complete set was priceless."

The Guardpony kept on thinking. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." He said to himself looking about. Renaultar had no idea what to draw from all this yet.

"Is there anything else misplaced? Surely something here must be misplaced. No hoofprints or moved furniture? Or....Hmm...Teleporting would be awfully hard if one had not seen the room beforehand. Even more with cargo....Do you have a list of the ponies aside from yourselves that have seen this room recently? Or any at all lately?" The cold was starting to get to him as his barding was like ice now.

"Well I don't think..." Mr Herald started. He stopped as Nameless bounded over to him and started whispering in his ear.

"No, I don't- Hmm? Oh! Ah, yes." Mr Herald coughed. "There was one time when we finally got the last snowflake, the snowflake of kindness. We got the others from the vault and put them on display for one grand exhibition for all interested in them. For safety purposes, we needed to hire extra help to get the flakes in and out of the vault as fast as possible for it was in transit that they were at their most vulnerable. As I recall, unicorns were involved in keeping the flakes cool."

Behind him, Nameless rolled her eyes. His master was a nice stallion, but sometimes he was a bit absent minded.

"Ill need a list of those ponies. Also, im going to need to question everyone in private. And I also contact the Department to have more Guardponies to scour the crime scene." Renaultar was starting to get a little excited now that he was getting into his groove. The first Guardpony to the scene was to be the lead investigator until an appropriate superior showed up, and he knew for a fact that that certain pony was currently on the other side of town. That would give him hours worth of being the one calling the shots. If he cracked this case he might just get back some respect that he had lost this morning.

"I would be happy to run down to the Department and let them know myself, but if its not too much trouble, i could begin investigating right now if another pony were to do that. Ill also need a room for privacy in questioning, preferably at the crime scene..." He grinned hoping he wasnt too demanding sounding with his words. He always felt that he was sometimes too hard with his words.

Mr Herald nodded at Nameless. "You heard the officer. You're the only one above suspicion. Go to the department and let them know about the crime."
Nameless looked as though she was about to voice a contradiction, but it passed as she did a curtsy and ran off.

"Well, then," Mr Herald, began as he led the officer out, "White Woods!"
"Sir!"
"Gather up all the staff, and get the list of all those who attended the function where we displayed the Snowflakes of Harmony."
"Uh, sir, Something-Something went by..."
"I have sent Nameless on an errand, White Woods. As I am now sending you."

---

Nameless bounded through the Manehattan Streets, trying to reach her destination without incident. Fortunately, Celestia was smiling down on her as she reached the department in record times. "Hello!" she started breathing heavily, "I'm here to..."

---

"All the staff are here, and this is the guest list," Loyal Prudence stated as she handed over a document to Mr Herald.

"Yes, thank you, Loyal." Mr Herald replied. "Well, officer, if you are going to question my staff, you might as well question me first."

"And me second," Mrs Admirer said quietly. Mr Herald looked shocked

"Are you sure, darling, this whole business..."

"I am fine, Daylight," Mrs Admirer announced, "I must present a good example after all."

"...okay," Mr Herald said weakly. "Officer, feel free to ask any questions."

Renaultar nodded and beckoned Mr Herald to a more private area. He made sure no one would overhear or get a word in on them or it would bias all their testimonies. His questioning was simple at first.

"What were you doing between when you last saw the snowflakes and found them gone?'

"Where was (insert name here) at the time of the crime?"

"Have you had any events occur that were unusual during this time?"

"What did you do immediately after finding out about the crime?"

Renaultar made sure to keep the questioned ones separate from the ones he had yet to talk to to make sure each pony did not share any details that may be unique to them. With all the time this took, the investigation team showed up soon enough and (reluctantly) requested orders. Renaultar happily ordered them around. Soon enough they were checking for any evidence like fur that may have been left behind, hoofprints, and residual magic traces.

What were you doing between when you last saw the snowflakes and found them gone?

Crystal Admirer: Oh, I only check on them every second day. My husband checks on the days I don't.

-

Where were you at the time of the crime?

All: When did the crime take place? (Or some variant.)

-

Okay, fine. Where were you when the Snowflakes were found to be gone?

Daylight Herald: I was in the library, reading.

White Woods: How can you find something to be gone? You know what I mean. I was cleaning the theatre with Something-something!

Something Nameless: I was cleaning the theatre whilst White Woods was pretending to be an actress on the stage.

(Remember that Loyal and Admirer were the ones who discovered the snowflakes were missing.)

-

Have you had any events occur that were unusual during this time?

Daylight Herald: Nothing that I can remember.

Crystal Admirer: There have been a lot of colts and fillies from the slums loitering about lately...

Loyal Prudence: I think White Woods has been shirking her duties lately, making Something nameless cover for her.

White Woods: Nope!

Something Nameless: (after a long pause) No.

-

What did you do immediately after finding out about the crime?

Daylight Herald: I rushed over to the vault after being informed by Loyal, telling her to inform the authorities, where I confirmed that, yes, the snowflakes had been stolen. I comforted my wife until you arrived.

Crystal Admirer: I was in a state of shock, I didn't know what I was doing until I found myself in the embrace of my husband.

Loyal Prudence: I hear my lady screaming "The Snowflakes are gone! The snowflakes are gone!" So I rushed over to the library, were I knew Mr Herald was, and he told me to get the guards. I got Nameless, who was cleaning the theatre, when it was supposed to be White's job. I went searching for her after that.

White Woods: When I finished cleaning the theatre, I went past the vault, where I saw Mr Herald comforting Mrs Admirer. When I went off to find the others, that's when I met you.

Something Nameless: I was sent to find the nearest guard pony.

Renaultar dissmissed the last pony he questioned and sat in thought. ...I think I'm screwed....

So far he didnt draw any big conclusions. From what he knew, the house owners and 'sevants' were all likely non suspects. That left the list of ponies that had been in the vault aside from them and anything forensics could bring up.

After several minutes of frustration and discussion with the CSI, Renaultar got his break.

"Sir, we found traces of magic in the containers themselves. It appears its is whats left of 'illusion' magic. If it weren't for how long the spell persisted we wouldn't have found it. Whatever it was was there for a long time, hours to days."

Renaultar clapped his hooves on the floor in excitement. A clue! This....kinda helps. Hmm...What could it be. Just as soon as he was grinning ear to ear he was posing as 'the Thinker'. "So...Whatever happen it took a long time. But somepony would have noticed. And there isn't any teleportation magic there....So...What magic would take so long and not be noticed...." He clopped his hooves again as a theory came together on what happen. "Illusion!"

He quickly left the room and ran to Mr Herald in the other room. "Mr Herald, you said you had a team of ponies recently move these items to be on display for you no? It wouldn't have been in the last day or two would it have? I think i have a lead. The Snowflakes that were put in here after that event, were indeed not your snowflakes, but illusions of them."