“Mist, I got her,” Shade said, using a communication spell to keep in contact with Mist. Currently, the two of them, along with their target, were in Canterlot’s shopping district. The streets were currently not crowded, so Shade, standing in front of a closed antiques shop had to use an invisibility spell to avoid being sighted. Standing on the other side of the road from Shade, window shopping at a dress store, was Twilight Velvet, wearing a white, knee length dress with stockings underneath the dress and covered by her whole-hoof style shoes.

Alongside these was a shimmer on both her right thigh and under her left armpit, something either one who was untrained in looking for such spells or had never looked at breasts and thighs-natural and magically enhanced- would miss, but Shade prided herself on being neither of those. “Careful, looks like she’s got personal protection. Standard camouflage spells, of the intensity of the shimmers are any indication.”

“Copy, moving in,” Mist replied. A few seconds later, a black stallion with dark blue hair wearing knee length shorts and a sleeveless white shirt-showing a magnifying glass over a question mark as the disguises cutie mark-walked up to Velvet. “Miss Velvet?”

“Yes?” Twilight Velvet replied, looking at Mist.

“Private Eye, Canterlot police. Something has happened that is linked to you, and we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“Of course,” Velvet replied, a small look of surprise on her face. “May I ask what it’s about?”

“There was a murder in the slums last night, and we have reason to believe the victim is connected to you in some way,” Mist answered. “Please, follow me. My captain is nearby.”

“Of course,” the gray unicorn mare said, and followed Mist.

Shade smirked. “Got her,” she mouthed before teleporting away.

A minute later, Mist opened the door to an unassuming, one story building, and Velvet walked in, stopping midstep as she saw the black and red stallion standing at the back of the room before she glared at him. “Oh. It’s you.” Mist went for a hidden knife on his right arm, but Lone stopped him with his magic. A second later, Mist’s hand was released, and Mist stepped out, closing the door.

The two ponies stared at one another for three seconds. “So, what does the last heir of the Shadow family want with me?”

“A group I lead has reason to believe your family is involved in the return of a murderer and an attempted attack on your daughter,” Lone replied. A second later, he added, “From how you knew of me, I’m guessing Sunbeam’s journal survived?”

“What do you think?” Velvet asked, contained anger in her voice. “Do you really think the Sparkle family would let any book be destroyed? And I can tell you I had nothing to do with any attack on my daughter.”

“I never said you did.” Lone walked towards the matriarch of the Sparkle family. “Where is it?”

Velvet scoffed. “What makes you think I’ll tell you?”

“That we both know if any book from our families’ respective libraries were to find the wrong hands, it’d be bad,” Lone answered. “If you don’t have it, then someone has access to Sunbeam’s journal. We both know what’s in that one is bad for everyone.”

Velvet sighed. “It went missing ten years ago. I’ve had those on my payroll looking for it, but whoever took it knows how to hide their tracks, I’ll give ‘em that.” Her glare hardened. “How do I know you won’t just release its secrets? I know you hate my family for what Sunbeam did.”

“Maybe,” Lone agreed with a nod of his head. “But I could have done that after taking her down. Long as you don’t give me a reason to, I won’t. You have my word on our families combined history,” he said, putting his right fist over the middle of his chest. “Ve sho na kae.”

Twilight Velvet’s eyes widened at hearing that, and then repeated Lone’s action. “Vo no kae sha,” she said. The, looking Lone in the eyes, she said, “Whoever did steal Sunbeam’s journal? When you find them, you can use my family’s curse on them. None mess with the Sparkles and get away unscathed.”

“You have my word I will, Matriarch Velvet. I can not guarantee the journal will survive, however.”

“Losing a book is nothing if it means protecting Equestria,” Velvet said. “Celestia’s speed, Lone Shadow.”

With that, Lone used his magic to open the door behind the unicorn mare, and Velvet exited the building. Mist entered shortly after. “Uh, Lone? What was that about?”

“An old pact,” Lone replied. “Come on. We need to pay a visit to the coroner. Maybe we can get something with the body being found fresh as it is.”

Canterlot Morgue-one hour later

“The only reason I’m letting you two know this info is because I owe Mist,” the coroner- an Earth pony mare wearing blue scrubs that blended in with her blue skin, with white hair that went to just above the base of her neck- said before sighing. “What do you want to know?”

“What specific type of toxin was used to kill the stallion from last night?” Mist asked.

“Simple, at least,” the mare muttered. “The toxin used is a special neurotoxin. Properties include being oderless, tasteless, and having an overall viscosity resembling salad dressing when chilled,” she said. “Nothing special there.”

“Well, is there anything special about it?” Lone asked, leaning back against the wall near the door.

The coroner thought for a few seconds, chewing on her lip. “Actually, yes,” she answered. I managed to get some o fit out of the victim’s bloodstream, and ran it through normal testing procedures. The toxin belongs to the Crystallo Arachnid, better known as the Crystal Spider. Found only in the Empire, its toxin is rapidly deteriorating outside the spider, being untraceable in two to three days depending on current temperature. A distilled version of it is used for cleaning gems from the Empire, and is cheap and nonlethal. This version, however, is pure, and very lethal. A full syringe is overkill, really.”

Mist whistled. “Must be expensive, then, given just storage conditions.”

“Assuming it’s legal,” Lone commented.

The coroner nodded. “That’s what I thought, so I did a bit of research using what I had access to. The pure venom is expensive. So much so that one percent of the one percent can afford it. Mainly due to how rare the spider is, the storage conditions, all that,” she said.

“Definitely narrows the suspect pool there,” Mist said. “Thanks for the info, Heart.”

“So long as you two don’t come to my house ever again,” Heart replied. “I’m still getting repairs done.”

“If we don’t have to, we won’t,” Lone replied. “Come on, Mist. We need to see if Cross got anything off observing Twilight.”

The changeling nodded. “Right,” he said before speaking to Heart. “We still on for next Tuesday?”

“Just don’t be late.”

Author's Notes:

The gibberish words do actually have importance between the houses of Sparkle and Shadow, but I won't spoil that here.