Tony glanced in the mirror at the two ponies in the back seat. Applejack’s hat blocked a significant portion of the rear window.
“We’re just going to go in and ask her a few questions,” said Tony.
“This ain’t our first rodeo,” responded Applejack.
“Yeah,” added Rainbow.
Tony hadn’t begun grinding his teeth yet, but thought he might be getting close. He pulled into Joyce’s driveway.
The three of them walked up to the front door. “NCIS!” shouted Tony as he knocked. There was a crash from inside.
One of Tony’s hands dropped to his gun while the other tried the doorknob. It didn’t turn.
“There might be something happening in the back,” said Rainbow. She flared her wings and took off over the top of the house.
Tony had stopped trying the lock. It was a solid, heavy door, and he glanced to the side, looking for a window or some other way in.
“Allow me, sugarcube,” said Applejack. She turned away, planting her front hooves solidly. With a burst of power, her back legs kicked out and collided solidly with the door. The lock tore out of the frame and the door slammed open.
Tony went through the doorway, gun up. Applejack was at his heels as he cleared the first few rooms. There were papers and other items scattered everywhere. It looked like the place had been searched.
The two of them found Joyce Bach lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. There were slashing wounds across her torso. Tony paused to check her throat. Besides lacking a pulse, it wasn’t very warm.
A door opened suddenly at the back of the house. “Federal Agents!” called Tony, moving forward with his gun leading.
“Hey you!” shouted Rainbow’s voice. There were sounds of a scuffle.
Tony and Applejack came upon the back door, which was standing open. Beyond it, Rainbow was wrestling with a brown earth pony. He wore an unseasonably warm coat, which was even more unusual as ponies typically did not bother with clothing at all.
The stallion managed to gain a small advantage and threw the multicolored pegasus off. She wasn’t hurt, but it gave him enough time to draw a knife with his mouth. The sheath was strapped to his leg, concealed under the coat.
“Drop it!” shouted Tony, staring down the sights of his weapon. The pony looked at the muzzle of the gun and reluctantly spit out the knife. Rainbow pounced on him from behind and put the stallion in a leg lock.
“Looks like you’re in all kinds of trouble,” said Tony. He took out out a pair of handcuffs but stopped, frowning at them.
“Gotcha covered,” said Applejack, pulling a set of hoofcuffs from under her hat. With Rainbow’s help, she got the stallion locked up.
The RIS sent over a batch of files on the captured pony. A couple of the human and Equestrian investigators dug into the information.
“They call him Swindle,” said McGee, glancing at a page of identification data. “Needless to say, he’s got prior convictions, but nothing so serious as murder.”
Applejack listened patiently. “We combed through everything in the house, and found what he was searchin’ for. Joyce Bach wasn’t innocent in this, and we can prove it.”
Rainbow nodded. “She was keeping a list of names of others that were involved, probably to hand over if she was ever arrested. We discovered that at the very least, she was involved in making a copy of Telescope’s employee ID for Cormack Observatory. It’s possible she was helping with the actual smuggling of stolen goods, too.”
“What was her motive?” asked Ziva.
“It’s possible she wanted to get back at her ex boyfriend by implicating his new coltfriend in this,” said Tony. “She said she didn't like ponies, but maybe she was willing to put that aside to work with the bad guys. I’m sure getting her cut of the money didn’t hurt, either.”
“What other questions do we have left to answer?” asked McGee thoughtfully.
“We don’t know who murdered Petty Officer Wheeler.” Ziva reminded him.
“I think we can assume it was one of Swindle’s buddies,” said Tony.
Gibbs walked through and slapped Tony on the back of the head. “Rule 8, DiNozzo.”
Tony put a hand on his stinging scalp. “Yeah, boss. ‘Never assume.’ I got it.”
Gibbs continued on his way to the interrogation room. Rainbow and Applejack looked like they were on the verge of laughter.
Tony gave them a look. “It's a lot of rules to remember.”
Gibbs met up with Fluttershy and they went into the room where Swindle sat hoofcuffed to the table.
“It doesn’t look good,” he said to the stallion. “You were inside Joyce Bach’s house. You were carrying the weapon that killed her. You’re a known criminal. Do you want me to go on?”
“I want to make a deal,” said Swindle.
Gibbs nodded. “I bet you do.”
“I know you’ve made a lot of mistakes,” said Fluttershy in her timid voice. “I don’t think you ever intended to become a murderer, though.”
Swindle’s eyes dropped to the table and he said nothing.
“Maybe that’s not how it turned out,” Fluttershy continued. “Maybe she tried to hurt you first. If you tell us what you know, a judge will be more willing to accept a lesser charge than murder. Don’t do it for that, though. Tell us everything you know, and maybe we can stop any more deaths from happening. It’s a chance for redemption. You know it’s the right thing to do.”
Swindle swallowed nervously. “Can you promise me that? That I won’t go down for murder?”
Gibbs shifted slightly. He clearly didn’t see any need to make a promise to a convicted criminal.
“I promise to do whatever I can,” said Fluttershy.
Swindle nodded. “All right. Ask me whatever.”
“How did Bryan Wheeler die?” said Gibbs.
The pony looked confused. “Who?”
“Telescope’s friend,” said Fluttershy.
“I didn’t know he was dead,” said Swindle.
Gibbs sighed and glanced at the one-way glass. He didn’t know who was there listening in, but hopefully they would begin working on new suspects right away.
Fluttershy convinced the stallion to talk through all the names on the list that had been found at Joyce’s place. It was quite a bit of information, and most of it sounded useful.
Still, Gibbs began to get restless. Despite his prowess at interrogation, he would much prefer acting on the information, rather than simply receiving it.
Ziva’s voice on the intercom was an almost welcome interruption. Gibbs got up and walked out of the room.
“We think we know who killed Wheeler,” the female Agent told him. McGee was with her, and nodded his agreement. The two of them laid out their evidence and Gibbs had to agree that it was pretty convincing.
“Get to it,” he told them.
McGee, Ziva, and Tony borrowed a car and set off.
“Now that we’ve got some time to talk,” said McGee, “What’s your problem with the RIS? Did a pony steal your lunch money or something?”
Tony glanced at the two of them. He was backed into a corner and he knew it. He sighed. “Do you remember Claire?”
“One of your exes, correct?” said Ziva.
Tony nodded. “About a year ago, that CGI pony movie came out.”
“Wasn’t it called Daring Do or something?” asked McGee. “I think it was a kiddie adventure movie.”
“Yeah,” said Tony.
“Wasn’t it also about a year ago that you broke up with Claire?” asked Ziva. “Was that somehow connected to the movie? Did she insist on going and you didn’t like it?”
Tony did not reply.
“Or did you like it and she didn’t?” asked McGee.
Tony gritted his teeth, and still refused to speak.
McGee and Ziva looked at each other and started to laugh. “You broke up over an animated movie about ponies?” asked McGee.
“We all have to carry grudges about something,” Tony muttered. He glanced up at a highway sign. “Oh look, we’re here already.”
The car turned into the parking lot of the Pentagon.
Naismeth was surprised to see the three NCIS Agents. He looked like he was in distress. “I don’t know what you have to say, but it can wait,” he told them, “I just got word that my daughter was found dead.”
“We’re here about Bryan Wheeler’s death,” said Tony.
Naismeth’s eyes darted between the three of them. “What does that have to do with this?”
“We’ll get to that,” said McGee. “As Wheeler’s commanding officer, you had access to his medical records. You knew he kept sleeping pills around. Maybe it wasn’t very hard to swipe some and lace his coffee with them. We know that Wheeler was known for always having a cup around the office.”
“As for motive,” said Ziva, “When Wheeler broke up with your daughter, she joined up with some illegal activity in an attempt to get revenge. Even if you didn't know that, you surely knew she wasn't taking it well and probably wanted to get back at him.”
Naismeth’s mouth hung open. “I was just trying to reconnect with her. She blamed me for the divorce, and I hoped to get back on her good side.”
“By killing her ex?” said Tony. “Well, that kind of backfired. Once we started digging around with our investigation, whoever was running the criminal enterprise realized that Joyce was a liability. They killed her and tried to recover any clues she had that might lead us to them.”
Tony punctuated his statement by pulling out a set of handcuffs. "You're coming with us."
No other ponies had yet been arrested in connection with the thefts from the Observatory, but Twilight expressed her confidence that other members of the RIS would soon begin tracking them down. It was now soely Equestria's problem. NCIS's official involvement had stopped once Wheeler's killer had been found.
"It was nice working with you, Tim," said Twilight. "It's good that we can all find some common ground."
"The media fallout from this is going to be a disaster," said McGee.
Twilight shrugged. "We need to look past the idea of 'a pony killed a person'. We're all civilized beings and should be treated the same. Species shouldn't matter."
"So you support what Wheeler and Telescope were doing?" asked Tony, breaking in. Ziva elbowed him in the ribs.
"I don't agree with it," said Twilight, "but my previous statement stands. It was their right."
Gibbs walked in. "I just talked with the Director. We've been authorized to continue unofficial consultation on the case." He gave Twilight a rare smile. "It was good working with the RIS. If you need any help, let us know."
"That's very nice of you," said Twilight. "If you ever visit Equestria, stop by and say hello." She and the other five ponies headed for the elevator.
Author note:
I looked around and said, "How come there aren't any NCIS crossovers?" So I wrote one. I hoped you had a good time reading it, and I'd like to thank a few people who helped polish it:
Melancholy - Gyvon - BronyRanger - Altoid
And yeah, a sequel is possible.