The Scent of the Sea

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 2

A dark blue sedan pulled up to the curb. It stopped behind a medical examiner’s van that was already parked there. Four people got out of the car. They all wore dark caps and windbreakers.

A young Washington police officer stood behind the crime scene tape. He stood up straighter as the newcomers approached.

“ID,” the cop ordered.

The grey-haired man leading the other three stopped and dug in his pocket with his free hand. He held a disposable coffee cup with the other.

“Hey, don’t you know who this is?” asked an older police officer, walking over.

The more experienced cop turned to the man closest to the outside of the tape. “Sorry Gibbs,” he said. “Joey here hasn’t been around very long.”

To his younger partner, the officer said, “This here is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. You work in the District very long, and you’ll get to know him and his team.”

Despite the introduction, Gibbs handed his credentials over to the younger officer. The picture on the identification card displayed the same blue eyes and center-parted grey hair. The expression was also the same, a neutral frown.

Following his lead, the other three NCIS agents handed their identification to the young cop. He shuffled through them, comparing names and faces.

Anthony DiNozzo was a tall man who appeared to have spent significant time grooming his dark hair. Timothy McGee had rounded features and a receding hairline, partially hidden by his close haircut. Ziva David possessed dark eyes and a sharp widow’s peak in her black hair.

The team of four agents were let past the police tape. The NCIS medical examiner was already on the scene, kneeling over the body of a man that lay nearby.

Gibbs walked over and stopped near the corpse’s feet. “What’s the story, Duck?”

Dr. Donald Mallard looked up from his survey of the body. “This is Petty Officer Third class Bryan Wheeler,” he said in clipped British tones. “The poor fellow appears to have been beaten to death, but we’ll have to get him back to the lab to know for sure.”

Gibbs nodded, taking a sip of coffee. He glanced at the body. The torso was covered with lesions and cuts, some that tore the clothing and skin. Many of the wounds had an unusual semicircular shape.

McGee typed furiously on his smartphone. After a moment, he appeared to find what he was searching for and looked at Gibbs. “Boss, I looked up Petty Officer Wheeler’s address. He doesn’t live anywhere around here.”

“Combined with the lack of blood at the scene, we can conclude that he was probably dumped in this place,” added Ziva. “What do you think, Tony?”

“Probably,” agreed DiNozzo. He walked over to the body and examined the strange wounds, taking a few pictures.

“Ducky, what do you suspect caused all this?” asked Tony.

“If I had to guess,” replied Dr. Mallard, “I would say hooves.”

“He looks a little too clean to have been trampled,” said Tony, chuckling. “D.C. isn’t exactly the wild west.” He looked around. No one was laughing with him.

“I believe Ducky meant that a pony is responsible,” said Ziva.

“I was getting to that,” muttered Tony.

“Somebody get a hold of the Equestrians,” ordered Gibbs. “They’re going to want to know about this.” McGee nodded and stepped a few paces away, raising his phone to his ear.

Ducky called, “Mr. Palmer, are you ready to move the body?”

“Sure, Dr. Mallard.” A young man with round spectacles came over from the NCIS medical van pushing a gurney with a body bag on it. He helped Ducky prepare Petty Officer Wheeler’s corpse for transport.

Tony and Ziva continued to canvass the scene. There was not much evidence to be found, supporting the dumping theory.

McGee got off the phone and walked over to where Gibbs was standing. “Boss, I just talked with the D.C. office of the Royal Intelligence Service. They’ll send someone to meet with us. I mean, somepony.”

Gibbs nodded and took another sip of coffee as he watched Ducky and Palmer wheel the body away.

“I know you’re not a fan of interagency cooperation,” McGee went on.

“What was that I heard?” called Tony. “Who are we working with?”

“It’s the RIS,” said McGee. DiNozzo frowned and turned away

“At least it’s not the FBI again,” McGee said, shrugging.

---

Equestria was discovered on the other side of the portals. The political situation was tense for a while, but gradually the human race and ponykind came to live together in harmony. Once embassies were set up across the dimensional divide, relations for the future looked bright.

McGee scrutinized the paragraph he’d just typed. Under the penname Thom E. Gemcity, he’d written a few novels that had received minor fame. His stories were based on reality and centered around NCIS. It was easier to write about what he knew well.

The prospect of working with the Royal Intelligence Service had inspired him to write through his lunch break to create a rough plot outline for a new book. He wasn’t sure, however, if he should include the information about the portals. They had opened years ago, and it was now common knowledge where the ponies had come from.

The elevator dinged and Gibbs stepped off, heading for his desk. He and the three agents under him had a rectangular workspace with their desks arranged in the corners. The others stood as Gibbs walked in.

“Boss, we checked Petty Officer Wheeler’s financial records,” said Tony. “Nothing out of the ordinary, no suspicious bank account activity.”

“We are working on gaining access to his apartment,” added Ziva.

“Checking over his e-mails didn’t yield much,” noted McGee.

“So we don’t have any leads is what you’re saying?” asked Gibbs, looking impatiently at the three.

Before any of them could reply, the elevator dinged again. Six Equestrians piled out. They were not as large as ponies from Earth, but with bodies oriented horizontally rather than vertically, getting half a dozen of them in the elevator was a tight squeeze.

“I thought you said they were sending just one,” hissed Tony.

“That’s what I was told,” replied McGee.

Gibbs stepped forward and met the ponies as they entered the team’s workspace.

“Special Agent Gibbs,” he introduced himself.

The purple unicorn in the lead smiled and said, “I’m Twilight Sparkle. We came to assist with your investigation.”

Gibbs glanced at the other five ponies. “There’s a few more of you than we were expecting.”

“Sorry about that,” said Twilight. Her voice dropped in volume. “If this does turn out to be a case of pony-on-human violence, we believe it would be best to keep it as quiet as possible. The best way to prevent the media getting a hold of it is to solve the case a quickly as possible. My colleges can help.”

Gibbs nodded in understanding, although he still didn't appear to be pleased with another agency butting in. “All right, get acquainted with my team and we’ll compare notes.” He walked back to his desk.

Tony stood up. “We made an appointment to speak with Wheeler’s coworkers.”

Gibbs nodded from his seat. “Get to it.”

Tony gestured to Ziva and she stood up to accompany him.

“Fluttershy, Rainbow, go with them,” said Twilight. “If that’s all right?” she asked Gibbs, who shrugged and turned to his computer.

Tony’s face indicated that it wasn’t all right with him, but said nothing as the two ponies followed him and Ziva down to the parking lot. The motor pool attendant made Tony sign for a set of keys, and the four of them got into one of the blue NCIS sedans.

“We have not been introduced,” said Ziva, conversationally. She sat in the back seat with the yellow pony. “My name is Ziva David.”

“I’m Fluttershy,” said the pegasus pony. She seemed to hide slightly behind the pink mane that fell into her face. Her wings were tucked tightly against her body as if they didn’t get much use. Either that, or she was feeling apprehensive. Ziva suspected that she probably hadn’t ridden in a car very often.

“How did you come to work for the RIS, Fluttershy?” the woman asked.

“Oh, I’m actually just a consultant for victim’s affairs,” answered the pony. “The Service sometimes brings me in to advise on how the emotional and physical traumas should be handled. I learned how to do that by taking care of animals back home.”

“What sort of animals?” asked Ziva.

Fluttershy started slightly as Tony put the car in gear and it began to move. She said, “There are lots of different animals. Everything from mice to bears.”

“Are bears difficult to take care of?” Ziva asked, slightly surprised.

“Oh no, you just have to know the right technique.” The yellow pony smiled sweetly.

“What about you?” said Ziva to the other pony.

“I’m Rainbow Dash,” answered the Equestrian. With her bright blue coat and multicolored mane, the name was certainly fitting.

The pony went on, grinning confidently. “I joined up with the RIS to catch bad guys. I’m the fastest pegasus in Equestria, so I’m pretty good at it.”

Tony made a small noise that was either a quiet laugh or a groan of annoyance. Ziva poked in him in the shoulder. “Introduce yourself.”

“Special Agent DiNozzo,” he said, and nothing more.

Ziva leaned back, crossing her arms. It sounded like it was going to be a long ride to the crime scene.

“Tell me more about the bears,” she said to Fluttershy.

The yellow pegasus was still talking several minutes later when the car pulled up outside the Pentagon. The dead Petty Officer had worked there. A few interviews had been lined up with Wheeler’s fellow sailors.

“Have you got your list?” Tony asked Ziva once they were inside the building. She held up a piece of paper with the names of a few people she was scheduled to interview.

“All right,” said Tony, “see you later.” He turned to walk away.

“Fluttershy, why don’t you go with him?” suggested Ziva. A muscle in Tony’s jaw twitched, but he said nothing.

Ziva and Rainbow Dash went in a different direction. “What’s the plan?” asked the pony. “Are we going to do good-cop-bad-cop?”

“Where did you hear that expression?” the human asked in wonder.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I read a lot of action novels, okay?”

The two of them approached an open door marked CAPT Naismeth. Ziva knocked on the doorframe, and the man sitting behind the desk looked up.

“NCIS,” said Ziva.

“I was expecting you,” said Naismeth, “but what’s with the pony?”

“We’re asking the questions,” said Rainbow.

“It is a joint operation with the Royal Intelligence Service,” Ziva told him. Naismeth appeared to accept that and invited the two of them in.

“We would like to ask you a few questions about Petty Officer Bryan Wheeler,” Ziva began. “You’ve been informed of his death, correct?”

“Yes, I have,” confirmed Naismeth. “He was in my command.”

“What were his duties? Who did he socialize with?” asked Ziva.

“I know I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but he was basically a glorified copy boy.” Naismeth shrugged. He rubbed his left ring finger absently, as if searching for a wedding band that was not there.

“As for the other thing,” Naismeth said, “he didn’t hang out with anyone from work. He didn’t really talk much.”

“What was his access to classified material?” Ziva went on.

“He didn’t have any,” answered the man.

“Couldn’t he have sneaked a look at some stuff?” asked Rainbow.

“We like to think we have better security than that,” said Naismeth.

“What was Wheeler like?” asked Ziva.

Naismeth shrugged. “I never really talked to him. I don’t know.”

“Some commanding officer you are,” said Rainbow. “Aren’t you supposed to know about your people so you can take care of them better?”

Ziva agreed with the comment, but was glad the pony had said it instead of her. Naismeth looked uncomfortable, but there were no more relevant questions to ask him, so the two investigators left.

Meanwhile, Tony and Fluttershy sat in a small waiting area with Petty Officer Cary, a more direct coworker of the victim.

“All right,” said Tony, “describe in your own words what you thought about Wheeler.”

“He was kind of weird,” answered Cary.

“That’s it?” demanded Tony. “You’ve got to give us more than that.”

“What am I supposed to tell you?” asked Cary, throwing up his hands in frustration. “Haven’t you ever worked with somebody who was completely unnatural?”

“Sure,” said Tony, resisting the urge to glance at the yellow pegasus beside him. “Could you describe exactly how Petty Officer Wheeler was different?”

“Please?” added Fluttershy quietly. “Anything you could tell us would be a big help.”

Cary sighed. “Well, he didn’t talk much, drank a lot of coffee, and was always writing in this little blue notebook.”

The man cleared his throat and looked away. “I think he was also into animals.”

Tony made a face of disgust. “Is that it?” he asked, impatiently.

“Pretty much,” answered Cary. “I knew he had a girlfriend at some point, but a couple of months ago I got the feeling that they broke up.”

“What was her name?” said the NCIS Agent.

“Um, Joyce, I think.” Cary shrugged.

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful,” said Tony, his voice flat. He and the pony got up.

Back in the parking lot, the four investigators compared notes.

“It looks as if Wheeler kept to himself,” noted Ziva. "We searched through his desk and did not find much. He apparently had some sleeping pills for insomnia."

“I think we should find his notebook,” said Fluttershy. “It could help us know more about him.”

“I bet he was hiding something,” said Rainbow, confidently. “The only question is what.”

“Well, it looks like we really need to get someone over to Wheeler’s place,” noted Tony. “Hopefully McGee got the authorization set up.”

The four of them got back in the car.

Comments

[Corona Blaze]

So the 'specialists' are none other than the Mane 6? *didn't check the character list earlier*

[djthomp]

Calling it now, Joyce is a pony.

[iloveportalz0r]

>My colleges can help.
wat

[supersniper178]

this is really cool!

[The Grey Pegasus]

It's colleagues, not colleges.

This is great so far.

[avatoa]

NCISxMLP FTELW DOOD!!!!

[Brony2]

ok, as someone who is almost literally an NCIS "fangirl" I'd have to say you missed a few details from the show
1st off, Ducky didn't go on a tangent whne he examined the body at the crime scene
and I have yet to see Tony make a reference to a film no one else on the team has seen
[edit on 4/1/2013] Though you did nail Ziva, most people don't see her as a kind, caring person, but she can be sometimes to the right people

[forrest yuchnitz]

I was expecting pilot rainbow dash not a completly different version