City of Guilds
Chapter 2: Lawmakers and Lawbreakers
Shining Armor walked around the Boros mess hall with a big smile on his face. How could he not, after all? He had woken up this morning next to his beautiful wife, and soon he would be going back to his own beautiful plane. All in all, life was good, even as he ate some of the just-add-water pancakes at the barracks. He should have been growling and unhappy because just yesterday a murder occurred, and it happened to be a pony like him, but he was happy that he could spend some time with his wife, so happy that the image of the dead filly only hovered in the back of his mind for a short while.
One of Shining’s human assistants ran up to him in the mess hall. “Captain Shining Armor, Feather demands your presence immediately in her office.” And with that, the human was off to take his place in line for the barely edible pancakes that Shining had just eaten. Shining stood up and began the walk to Feathers office. While most in the Boros guild considered her to be a kind and fun angel, it wasn’t wise to keep her waiting when she changed her orders from ‘requests’ to ‘demands.’
Shining kept a brisk walking pace as he climbed the stairs leading to Feather’s office on the tenth floor of the Guildhall. Despite the fact that the guildleader of the Boros usually made their offices at the top of the guildhall, the sixtieth floor, Feather insisted on having this one office, saying that it held sentimental value for her. It made directing people to her office a pain in the flank, but whatever kept Feather happy. Finally Shining reached Feather’s offices and went inside. Feather kept the office looking rather bland, with a standard brown desk in the middle of the room and simple decorum along the walls. The one thing that stood out was the picture of a human male on her desk with the words ‘Argus Kos, savior of Ravnica’ under the picture.
Feather stood up from her desk as Shining came in. “Captain Shining Armor."
“Feather,” he responded curtly.
Feather wore a frown across her delicate features. “I imagine that you know I didn’t call you in here for idle chatter.”
Shining's expression grew downcast, “I do, it has to do with Scootaloo doesn’t it?”
“You’re too close to the case," Feather spoke up. "You know that if I let you have jurisdiction, the Azorius will be screaming my head off about protocol and personal connections and all that other stuff that they really don’t know anything about.”
Shining wanted to get indignant and say that he had a right to be the head of this case, but he knew that she was right. The Azorius would consider Shining’s involvement a conflict of interest, and even if all of the evidence matched up, they’d still want to have the case reassigned and all of the evidence reinvestigated, essentially adding another couple of months to the trial.
Feather smiled and said, “And that’s why I’m giving full jurisdiction to you.”
“I understand…" Shining started saying. He paused upon reconsidering Feather's words. "What?”
“Shining,” Feather said as she wandered over to the window behind her desk, “I believe that we as the Boros legion should serve Ravnica, and we do need rules in place to prevent emotions from becoming verdicts.” She paused. “But this is a special case. The murder of Scognor is bad enough, but putting her on display in the Promenade...” Shaking her head, the angel continued, “So Shining Armor, solve this case, find her murderer quickly. You have my permission to use the full force of the Boros Legion in order to find the culprit and bring them for judgment.”
‘Full force of the Boros’ essentially meant that he didn’t need a warrant or anything of the sort. He was allowed to do whatever was necessary in order to end this case as fast as possible. “I don’t know what to say… Thank you Feather, I promise that I won’t let you down.”
“I know," Feather mentioned with a smile. "Also, to make this investigation go faster I’ve decided to ask for help.”
“Sure," Shining responded happily. "From who?”
“Well I guess you’ll see soon enough," the angel said with an evil smile. "Go to the cathedral near the upper district, she’ll meet you there.”
The unicorn raised his eyebrow quizzically. “Why am I meeting a partner at an Orzhov church?”
“Well, she said she couldn’t help until she finished conducting the ceremony.”
Shining stood outside the church with a certain degree of trepidation. The Orzhov weren’t known for being charitable. If one of them was offering to help in the investigation, then Feather was offering her something. Shining inwardly winced at the thought of something that the Orzhov would want in return for aiding in an investigation.
The church itself was a large stone building, imposing and dark looking. The obsidian walls emitted a sense of the true darkness of the Orzhov church. The spires pierced Ravnica’s sky as gargoyles and ghosts circled the towers, fulfilling their life-debts to the Orzhov.
Finally, people started to funnel out of the church, eventually followed by a blue pony with a white mane and a pointy wizard hat. “Thank you all for attending, Trixie expects to see you next week!” Trixie’s statement was met with bows and thanks as the people left the church. Trixie definitely seemed fancy enough to be an Orzhov minister, as aside from her pointy hat and matching cape she had a golden necklace that featured the symbol of the Orzhov on it.
“So, you’re the partner that Feather paired me with?” Shining asked with a low growl.
Trixie nodded heartily, “Yes, the great and powerful Trixie has agreed to help the Boros in exchange for an item which her guildmaster, Teysa, holds in high regard.”
“What do we have that you want?” Shining questioned.
“Something called a Scry Tome," Trixie responded enthusiastically. "Allegedly, it is an item that can allow the user to fully communicate with the spirit realm of Agyrem.”
Agyrem... Shining knew very little about what really happened to produce Agyrem. A sort of plane between planes where the ghosts of Ravnica’s past eternally stayed. Shining was aware of the Scry Tome, but it seemed relatively useless when the Orzhov had numerous ways to contact ghosts and spirits. “Why would the Orzhov want an item like the Scry Tome?" he asked. "You can already contact ghosts.”
Trixie sighed. “Yes, Trixie is aware of her own abilities, thank you. However, you clearly weren’t listening to Trixie. The Scry Tome allows one to not simply communicate, nor simply reanimate, nor merely summon a ghost, but to channel them. If one channeled them completely, one could access their magic, even if it is colors of mana that one could normally not access, and can even access the special talents and powers of souls channeled through the tome.”
Shining shivered. “Interesting, so I suppose Feather offered to buy you one for your birthday if you helped.”
“Your sarcasm annoys Trixie; there are only five Scry Tomes in existence. One controlled by Niv-Mizzet, who allegedly helped create them, and the others were given to the Boros, to safeguard.”
Shining made a mental note to investigate the Scry Tome in more detail later. “All right, so, Great and Powerful Trixie, how do you plan to help the Boros investigation?”
“Please drop the formalities, Trixie has agreed to help as a partner, an equal. Trixie has a few underground contacts that owe Trixie. Trixie will alleviate their debts if they give substantial information about the death of Scognor.”
“Scootaloo.”
“Hmm.”
“Scootaloo, her name was Scootaloo.”
“What she called herself does not concern Trixie. She is Scognor, daughter of Borborygmos. Now come, we must make haste to the Tin City markets, Trixie has many contacts there.”
The walk to the Tin City markets was fairly silent. Trixie didn’t feel she had anything more to say to Shining Armor, who also didn’t feel like getting chatty with an Orzhov minister. The Tin City markets themselves were well known on Ravnica as a veritable melting pot of various guilds and people. The various different species of Ravnica tittered around the markets talking with family, shopping at the various vendors, and eating at local cafes. Tin City was considered to be “the place where your crest doesn’t compensate.” The markets were filled with people of various guilds, guildless included, who set up shops and tried to make a living selling various goods to all of Ravnica. The Tin City markets were essentially a city within the city of Ravnica, and it was the size of Manehatten, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot combined.
Shining always marveled at the sheer size of the markets and how no matter whom you were you were equal within these markets. Trixie led Shining into a local bar, where the smell of smoke and beer permeated the air. The bar was filled with goblins, humans, and Viashino. The bartender was a human with a long black beard, a bald head, and beady yellow cat eyes. Several patrons turned to look at the two ponies entering the bar but others, particularly a table full of rowdy goblins, couldn’t care less.
As Trixie and Shining approached the bartender, Shining could feel many of the patrons eyeing him evilly, probably because he was still wearing his Boros armor. Trixie trotted over to a bright blue bar stool that was lower to the ground than the others, and sat down.
“Trixie," the bar tending human called out, "what can I get you, madam? I have quite a few nice wines for a lady of your tastes.”
“Trixie appreciates your improvement since her last visit," the Orzhov minister responded, "but she is here on business.”
The bartender gulped. “Well, you know I’m always happy to see you here for any reason.”
“Trixie would like to make you a proposition." Trixie leaned in close to the bartender and whispered. "You give Trixie information and Trixie will… alter the books so that payment you missed will disappear.”
“Information?" the bartender asked. "About what?”
Shining stepped up to the bar, “I… We are investigating the death of Scognor, and need to know if anyone here saw anything strange the past few days.”
The bartender looked to Trixie, who nodded in response. “Information, that’s it?”
“Yes, adequate information," Trixie clarified, "and Trixie pretends that you paid her last week.”
“Well," he whispered, "I heard some rumors that the Dimir were behind it.”
“Information, and facts," Shining said while rolling his eyes. "Not rumors, and not Fairy tales.”
“The Dimir are not Fairy tales," Trixie replied in a huff. "Trixie knows that the Dimir still exist and had a suspicion that they were behind the attack.”
"I heard another rumor that you might want to know," the bartender continued. “The rumor has it that some equine, like you two, was wandering around the Undercity...”
“Applejack is a Golgari, Pinkie Pie is a Rakdos, both of whom frequent the Undercity,” Shining responded.
“Wearing a black cloak that hides their face and clutching a curved dagger,” the bartender finished.
“Wouldn’t put it past them,” Shining responded rudely.
“Trixie insists that you take this investigation seriously, both for your sake and for Trixie’s. All signs thus far point to the Dimir being involved, and you refuse to even entertain the notion.”
“A children’s fairy tale did not come to life and kill a pony. I’m going to question some of the other patrons.” Shining walked to the end of the bar where he started to question a particularly drunk goblin.
“Trixie apologizes for the Captain’s behavior. Consider your debt paid old friend.”
“Thanks Trixie," the bartender responded with a smile. "But honestly, I’m sorry I can’t tell you more, it ain’t much to go on I’m afraid.”
“Not at all, my friend. If it is the Dimir, then I would start to suspect you if you knew anything more,” Trixie said playfully.
The bartender laughed as he handed a full glass to the Viashino in front of him. “Yeah I suppose, by the way if it ain’t too much trouble, those goblins over there have been scaring away my customers with talks of bombs and such, you think you could ‘take care of em’?”
Trixie laughed. “Trixie laughs at such a simple task, I shall teach these goblins exactly why they should not do such things in an Orzhov bar.”
Trixie walked over to the eight goblins in the corner still screaming about bombs and explosions. “Ahem, Trixie would like to inform you that your choice of conversation is rather displeasing…”
The goblins responded “Shut up” and “We ain’t hurting nobody” or other more ‘colorful’ expressions. But this simply made Trixie smile.
“As you wish.” Trixie’s horn flashed a blinding white as an ethereal glow surrounded her. The glow hardened and became a mostly solid mass. Trixie had summoned a ghost spirit called a Searkath, a ghostly spirit cloaked in fire wielding a sword, supposedly the dead spirits of Boros guildmages. The burning apparition attacked the goblin to the farthest right slicing him in half with its blade.
Two goblins stood to fight the creature, throwing their beer glasses at it, succeeding only in making it angrier and dousing its flames in fresh alcohol. The flames of the Searkath blazed with an even greater fury as its flames engulfed the two goblins, burning them to a crisp.
Two more goblins tried to escape but found Trixie blocking their path. She flashed her horn again summoning a lance comprised of dark magic. She swung the lance low trying to sweep the goblins who jumped over her, seeing this she adjusted the lance and jabbed upwards piercing the goblin between its legs and spearing it through. The other goblin abandoned its friend and tried running for the door but Trixie simply launched the spear at it piercing the goblin through the chest.
The remaining three goblins stood at the ready facing the Searkath. The Searkath swung its blade at one goblin that managed to back away so he only lost his arm. The armless goblin started to blast the Searkath with electricity, but the ghost dove at him and speared him through the chest with its blade.
The final two goblins charged at the ghost with electric spears and managed to destroy it. Their victory was short lived, however, as Trixie blasted one of them with against the wall with shadow magic, bursting him into pieces. The last goblin ran at Trixie with his lightning spear, but Trixie sidestepped the goblin and bucked him in the face sending him careening into a bar stool, and causing his neck to snap backward with the impact, killing him.
“Well, now that Trixie has had her fun, we had best be going.” She motioned for Shining to follow her as she left. Once they were safely away from the bar, Shining berated Trixie.
“You couldn’t leave one goblin out of eight alive for questioning," Shining said. "It just wasn’t possible, huh?”
“Trixie doesn’t know why you’re upset, you didn’t help Trixie. And besides, have you ever tried explaining anything other than explosions or basic bodily functions to a goblin? If they did know anything, they wouldn’t know how to say it.”
For the next hour or so Trixie and Shining went from place to place in the Tin City markets and tried to find out anything about the recent death of Scognor. The response was almost all the same; everyone believed that it was the work of the Dimir. Only a few said that it might have been the work of Rainbow Dash, claiming that they had heard that the two were enemies and that Scognor had been planning to kill Rainbow Dash, so they assumed that the rainbow-maned pegasus killed her instead. That still didn’t explain why the body had been left at the Transguild Promenade, however, as leaving it there seemed to be a message of some kind, and if it really was Rainbow Dash, what would she be trying to say?
Eventually, as the day was winding down, the duo decided to head for the Boros guildhall. “Trixie cannot believe that the Boros would go back on their promise to Trixie.”
“We aren’t, we said that we would give you the Tome once the case is completed," Shining responded. "We went out and all we heard was nonsense about the Dimir.”
“The Dimir are the most likely suspects," Trixie retorted. "They only have one purpose according to the guildpact and that is…”
“To try and destroy the guildpact," Shining finished. "That is true, but they haven’t been seen or heard from in quite a long time. The theory that it was Rainbow Dash is far more likely.”
“Trixie must remind you that when Trixie asked why Miss Dash would leave the body in the Promenade, you didn’t have an answer.”
“So I haven’t figured out the exacts yet," Shining admitted. "I’ll figure it out soon enough. Why are you so insistent that it has to be the Dimir?”
“Trixie believes that by immediately dismissing the existence of something you open yourself up to an attack by that thing.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Trixie," the unicorn captain responded with a sigh. "I’ll keep in touch about the investigation.”
Just then, a human with a pale white face ran out of the building and stood at attention to Shining Armor. “Sir, there was a break-in, sir.”
“What?” Shining asked.
“Trixie warned you," the minister remarked. "Trixie said that when you claim something doesn’t exist it comes and bites you on the ass, but did you listen to Trixie? Nooooooo.”
“Scognor… I mean Scootaloo’s body has been stolen.”
Shining face fell, but then was teeming with anger and resolve. “It was stolen.”
“Yes sir," the human responded. "We currently don’t have any leads but we’re scouring the nearby area, and we’ve sent teams to local guildhalls to see if any of their members may have done it.”
“Trixie believes that this may shed some light on the killer’s intentions.”
“I don’t think that whoever killed Scootaloo took her body.”
“Why, sir?” the human assistant asked.
“Because if they wanted to send a message by leaving it at the Promenade, what message could they possibly send by stealing it back?”
Rarity had awoken that morning expecting good news. She expected the investigation into Scootaloo’s murder to already be underway. She hoped that it would be a simple investigation, and she would be judging the one responsible within the week. However, she instead awoke to find that the investigation was halted, and that the Azorius weren’t going to be helping the Boros with catching this killer. Worse still, Rarity hadn’t been informed of this personally by her mentor Isperia, but by a secretary of another guildmage who mentioned it casually in conversation.
Rarity stomped into New Pravh with the intention of getting Isperia to agree to Azorius involvement in the case. She stopped by the ladies’ room first to check her makeup and attire in the mirror, however. Her long golden robe and her matching judge’s headdress were fitted perfectly on her head. Once she was sure that her makeup was fitted perfectly on her face, she walked back out and continued to the aviary where Isperia spent much of her time.
Isperia, the guildmaster of the Azorius, often spent time in the aviary with various birds and owls keeping her company, as well as the occasional sphinx. Isperia was a great sphinx, large and grand, her coat shimmered a whitish gold, her paws were always freshly manicured, the feathers on her wings were preened every other day and they also accentuated her natural beauty. But Isperia was more than simply a beautiful creature; she was also the head judge of the Azorius. She was known as Isperia the Inscrutable, one of the smartest creatures on Ravnica, and Rarity’s teacher.
Rarity stepped out into the aviary and saw Isperia surrounded by her owls. Rarity frequently met with Isperia out in the aviary for training as a judge, even so the sheer enormity of the room, meant to encompass a sphinx that even in their youth reach the size of a large building, still struck her as did the physical presence emanated by her master.
“Rarity, I could be wrong, but I believe that you had the day off today for such a spectacular performance at yesterday’s trial.” Isperia had a voice not unlike Celestia, commanding but motherly. However, Isperia was quite a bit larger than Celestia and thus her voice was far more booming.
“Oh well, I didn’t think I was that amazing, was I?” Rarity asked politely.
“Of course," boomed Isperia. "You made the right call and did so in a timely fashion so as not to waste anyone’s time. Niv-Mizzet has already been informed of the outcome and he should be paying up within the week.”
“Of course, master.” Rarity often wondered if Isperia had a grudge against Niv-Mizzet with how often any case that involved a member of the Izzet was considered to be ‘right’ as long as the case went against the Izzet. She also wondered if Isperia hated wasting time, why the book of rules of the Azorius was a six-volume series with each book being a size that even Twilight would blanch at.
“So, why are you here today, Rarity?" the sphinx asked in a low motherly tone. "I know that you wouldn’t show up for no reason. You want something, yes?”
“Right to the point then, master.” Rarity cleared her throat. “Why are the Azorius not aiding the Boros in their investigation of the death of Scootaloo?”
“They refused to do things the right way,” her master responded simply.
Rarity arched an eyebrow. “Right way, master?”
“Yes," Isperia continued, "the investigation of the Promenade continued for two hours after the discovery of the body, which is clearly in violation of rule 667 sub-rule 13 that the Promenade is supposed to be cleared of guild activity by 8:00 so that the guildless may enjoy some of Ravnica’s natural beauty.”
“Why do we have that rule?" Rarity questioned. "The majority of the guildless live in the undercity, and are completely unaware that they have any place in the Promenade.”
“The guildless weren’t always so secluded child, once they lived like any other Ravnica citizen.” Isperia cleared her throat, “Also there were three Boros privates, one coroner, one captain, and Feather herself all in the Promenade; this is a clear violation of rule 668 that the Promenade is for all members of Ravnica and no guild should show a dominating presence in it.”
“No one follows that rule either,” Rarity stated rather matter of factly.
“Oh, but those are just the rules that they broke at the promenade." Isperia was beginning to sound more irritated with each word. "They also assigned Captain Shining Armor to the case.”
“What could be so wrong with wanting an experienced captain like Shining on the case of a murder of this magnitude?” Rarity asked indignantly.
“Rule 34,” Isperia said matter-of-factly.
“Pardon?” Rarity asked.
“Rule 34: The Boros may not assign a captain to a case in which he has an emotional investment. The death of one of his fellow ponies is certain to drive Mr. Armor to make some calls that he shouldn’t be making.”
“They want this investigation quick," Rarity defended. "Shining is one of the best investigators that the Boros have.”
Isperia smirked. “Rule 43.”
“Conspiring with a suspect?” clarified Rarity.
“Shining had been spotted today in the Tin City markets at a bar with one Trixie," Isperia remarked, "a minister of the Orzhov church.”
Rarity stepped back and asked, “Why is Trixie considered a suspect? Does she have any motivation for the killing?”
“This early in the investigation, everyone is a suspect.”
Rarity stopped and sat down at a nearby bench, she needed to think this through. “There is something that you aren’t telling me.”
Isperia raised a massive eyebrow. “What makes you think that dear Rarity?”
“All these minor infractions," Rarity pushed, "Particularly in a case of this magnitude.”
“Why do you think that the infractions are minor compared to the case at hand?” Isperia asked.
“Scootaloo… Scognor, her death will cause some problems amongst the largest Gruul sect out there.” Rarity stood up as she made her realization. “It will cause untold upheaval to all the citizens of Ravnica if this news reaches the eyes and ears of Borborygmos, that must be why her body was left out at the promenade; the killer wanted Borborygmos to find out about her death.”
Isperia chuckled heartily. “You are a knowledgeable woman, I mean mare, Miss Rarity, one of the reasons I decided to take you under my wing as a judge.”
“So Isperia, with all of that on the table," Rarity continued pushing, "what is the real reason that you refuse to allow Azorius aid to the Boros?”
“I told you…” Isperia began.
“And I told you I don’t buy it.”
“Rarity, I wouldn’t take that tone with your guild leader.”
“Then tell me, honestly I might add, what is it about the investigation that makes it different, why won’t you let us help them?”
“It matters not," Isperia said dismissively. "Besides, it isn’t like they were doing a good job.”
“The investigation has only been on one day, how could they be doing a bad job?”
“The body of young Scognor was stolen earlier by a Golgari guildmage that’s how. Now please, if you are done interrogating me...” Isperia responded, the motherly tint in her voice now completely gone, replaced with an imposing boom.
“Oh yes, so sorry Isperia, I mean Madam Isperia, I’ll be going now.”
Rarity hastily exited the aviary and ran down to the lobby of New Pravh. The last words rang in Rarity’s ears. ‘The Golgari stole the body.’ That was interesting information, but how did Isperia know that so quickly after it happened? According to all of Rarity’s friends, she had been in the aviary all day. ‘Someone had to have told her, but how did they know, why did they tell Isperia’?
As Rarity pondered these questions, she came upon a Boros guildmage in the main lobby. “Greetings, to what do we owe the honor of the Boros visiting our guildhall?” She greeted the man with gusto, perhaps he could tell her something about the case that she didn’t know.
“The body of Scognor, given name Scootaloo, was stolen today from the guildhall," the Boros man said. "We’re looking for any clues as to who did this.”
“You don’t know who stole the body?” Rarity asked.
“No ma’am, if you have any clues...”
His voice trailed off as Rarity pondered the meaning of this. ‘If it isn’t common knowledge, in fact it’s not even known to the Boros themselves, then Isperia had to have someone watching the Boros throughout the day and told them only to report back to her about what was going on’.
“Excuse me, ma’am," the officer said, snapping her out of her reverie. "I was wondering if you had any clues?”
“Oh, excuse me darling, I trailed off in my own head there sorry.” She coughed and straightened herself, “Well according to… sources of mine the Golgari are the ones responsible for the theft.”
“Thank you, ma’am," the Boros guildmage thanked her enthusiastically. "This is the first solid lead we’ve had all afternoon.”
“No problem darling, just keep me anonymous and give this info directly to Shining Armor, immediately," Rarity ordered. "He’s the only one you can tell who gave you this information to as well, something tells me he’ll want to investigate this himself and he’ll trust my word.”
Shining was trudging through the undercity towards the Golgari guildhall, Korozda, the second that Rarity’s tip was delivered to him. While he was curious where the unicorn got her info, he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth when the case was this important. Once he finally reached the underground castle of Korozda, he used a blinking spell to teleport himself inside, only to be faced with numerous trolls and guildmages.
“Intruder!” screamed one troll. “Meat!” screamed another. The two charged at Shining, who shot a beam of light from his horn, disintegrating the first troll. The second brought down a large club, but Shining was able to dodge to the side and blast that one into oblivion as well. A third troll started bearing down on him as one of the guildmages chanted a spell to wrap nearby vines around Shining’s legs pinning him to the spot. The troll’s blow connected, giving Shining a serious bruise on his face, but also putting him right in Shining’s line of sight and the path of another beam of light.
A fourth was about to attack the pinned Shining as well while more guildmages continued to chant their magic and cause more vines to surround Shining when a booming voice called out. “Enough!” The troll stopped its death march and the guildmages released their hold on Shining, who quickly stepped back and looked around trying to identify the voice. “Ah expected the Boros to come at us with an army, thought those trolls’d last longer than that too,” a voice called from the shadows. “It’s alright though, ah’ll improvise.” Applejack jumped down from the rafters and immediately the guildmages backed away. “Ah guess I can give you a chance to explain why you’ve come down here.”
“I’m looking for the body of Scootaloo," Shining Armor declared. "I was told that the Golgari stole it.”
“The Golgari take in a lot of bodies in a day Shining," Applejack drawled. "It ain’t mah job to learn their names.”
Shining Armor sneered. “Perhaps you remember the ones you steal from Boros guildhalls.”
“Hmm…" the undead farmer put a hoof to her chin sarcastically. "Nah.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Applejack.”
“Are you really in a mood to argue Shining? You come in uninvited to mah home, start blasting my poor troll to bits, and demand something from me in return. Sugarcube you’ve got one heck of a sense of humor.” She started laughing heartily and her guildmages and trolls joined in.
Shining was about to launch an attack against Applejack when the scuttle of bugs near his hooves startled him. The bugs swarmed towards the back of the room as a Devkarin elf walked in carrying the body of Scootaloo.
“Master Jarad, sir.” Applejack bowed to her master as he passed her by and stood in front of Shining Armor, who in turn readied a spell.
“Relax Captain, I used to have a friend in the Boros legion," the devkarin rasped. "Although it was a long time ago. I’m returning the body to you now.”
“So you have your flunky steal her body and then you wait for me to show up just to give it back," Shining shouted back. "Afraid I’m not seeing much logic in your actions.”
“I had Applejack take Scootaloo’s body so that I could perform some tests on the body," Jarad clarified. "Tests you probably wouldn’t have agreed to if I asked nicely.”
“Why, what did you want to know about her body, except what can it fertilize?”
“For example," Jarad answered, "how about the fact that her body actively resists reanimation.”
The room went silent only for Applejack to speak back up. “You can’t reanimate her?”
“Yes, her body actively resists any form of reanimation, spirit summoning, the works. Give this body to an Orzhov, a Golgari, and a Dimir and they’d still leave the room scratching their heads.” He placed the body gingerly on Shining’s back and helped strap it down for transport, “Whoever killed her wanted her to stay dead. I suggest you look for extra help on this one Captain, whoever you’re dealing with has a vast grasp of magic, more vast even than mine.”
Shining nodded and turned to leave. As he walked through the undercity, Jarad’s words struck him more and more. He would need help, and he knew of only one mare that was brilliant, crazy, and reckless enough to help him with this investigation.
His sister.