The Scent of the Sea

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 4

“We need to find this pony,” said Gibbs. Joyce Bach had left, and the small crowd of NCIS and RIS investigators were gathered in the office workspace.

“On it, boss,” answered McGee. “We’ve already got a name and description.” He pulled up the Federal passport records and ran a search for “Telescope”. His fingers flew over the keys.

Almost immediately, a hit for a blue unicorn came up. McGee transferred the information to a large flatscreen mounted on the wall. The gathered crowd moved closer, looking at the screen.

“This is probably who we’re looking for.” McGee read through the information listed. “He’s been living in the D.C. area for about a year now. He works at Cormack Observatory on the coast.”

“Tony, Ziva, bring him in,” said Gibbs.

The two NCIS Agents gathered their things and left. Gibbs departed to get a fresh cup of coffee. McGee was left with the four ponies.

“I know I’ve heard of Cormack Observatory before,” said Twilight. She shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll come to me.”

“Each piece of testimony we’ve heard so far indicates that Bryan Wheeler and Telescope were on good terms,” observed Fluttershy quietly.

“Why would that lead to murder?” wondered Rainbow.

“With that many wounds on his body, it couldn’t have been accidental,” said Applejack.

“I’ve just started digging into Wheeler’s computer,” said McGee. “I, uh, think the two of them were more than just friends.” Unfortunately, it looked like Tony’s off-color comment back in the interrogation room had been accurate.

McGee put up a listing of Wheeler’s search history on the flatscreen.

“What in tarnation?” burst out Applejack.

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, her eyes wide.

“That’s…not technically illegal, but eww,” said Twilight.

“There’s something else interesting here,” said McGee, scrolling down on the list. “Look at this, ‘human-to-pony transformation spells’.”

“No such thing exists,” said Twilight. “I mean, there are ways to simulate it for a few hours.” She thought for a moment. “Combine that with the other things—”

“And we’ve got a real sick puppy on our hands,” said Rainbow.

“Hands?” asked McGee.

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

---

“Mr. Palmer, carefully, please!” said Rarity. “We’re trying to stitch him up, not cause more damage!”

“Sorry,” said the medical assistant. “If you'd like, you can call me Jimmy.”

“Very well then, Jimmy, just take it slowly.” The unicorn stepped back from the table. She had offered to use her extensive sewing experience to make the body more presentable. The Y-shaped cut on the torso had been made for examination purposes, and required stitching to prepare Wheeler for his funeral. Dr. Mallard, however, had suggested that his assistant could use the practice.

Ducky stood back watching Palmer work. The doctor had taken off his scrubs for the day, and Rarity admired his smart attire, complete with bow tie.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” said Ducky. “How did you get into the field of medical forensics?”

“Well, as strange as it sounds, I found that it was easier to clean out just one kind of stain, blood, than it was to remove the soil, mud, and grime of field work.” The unicorn shrugged. “I’ve been doing autopsies ever since. What about you?”

“I used to practice on live patients,” Ducky told her. “This is much easier. They don’t complain.” The two of them shared a quiet laugh.

The sliding door opened and Gibbs walked in. “Did Abby send over the results of the tests?” he asked.

Ducky nodded. “Indeed she did. Rather confusing, I might add.”

“Do you think you could compose a psychological profile of both Wheeler and Telescope?” asked Gibbs.

“I’m trained for it,” said the doctor. “You probably want to know how likely Wheeler was to commit suicide, or how likely Telescope was to commit murder.”

Gibbs nodded. “Something isn’t right. We’re about to bring the pony in for questioning to see if we can get things straightened out.”

“I’ll begin work immediately,” said Ducky. Gibbs nodded and left the room.

“Well, duty calls,” said Dr. Mallard. Rarity nodded and watched him walk away to his office.

“Oh Jimmy?” she said. “Just a little tighter on the stitches.”

---

Coffee cup in hand, Gibbs walked into the lab. “What have you got for me, Abbs?”

“What was that?” asked Abby, shouting over the music.

“He said, ‘what have you got for me, Abbs?’,” Pinkie told her. “I guess that’s his nickname for you, huh? It makes sense, Abby, Abbs.”

Abby turned down the music and addressed Gibbs, who seemed unfazed by the minature party the pink pony had thrown.

“Ducky found some very unusual things. The first is a sample of green hair.” Abby held up a small plastic bag with the aforementioned sample in it.

“So?” asked Gibbs.

“It’s pony hair,” said Pinkie. “There’s a small DNA database for ponies, and we tried searching for a match but got nothing. It’s too bad.” She shrugged. “Back at my old job, everything was much simpler. All the science and chemistry I had to do was baking-related.”

“Next,” said Abby, “we have a blood sample from Wheeler.” She handed Gibbs a piece of paper with the sample analysis printed on it. He glanced at it and then back to her, clearly waiting for more explanation.

“The good part is we know what killed him,” said Abby. “Sleeping pills, and a lot of ‘em. The bad part is that Wheeler had insomnia and was prescribed these pills by a doctor. He had them on hand, is what I’m saying. This could have been a suicide by overdose.”

“Then why was he covered in hoof prints?” asked Gibbs.

“It’s a mystery!” exclaimed Pinkie. Abby nodded in agreement.

Gibbs turned to go. “Keep up the good work,”

---

McGee continued digging into Wheeler’s computer. The ponies sat around, waiting on the human Agents to show up with Telescope.

Rainbow sat near McGee. “So, what kind of action novels do you read?” he asked.

“Pretty much anything, really,” the pegasus responded. “I picked up a book recently that’s actually about NCIS. Have you ever heard of Thom Gemcity?”

“Uh, yeah,” said McGee. Before he was forced to elaborate, the two Agents walked into the workspace, having returned from bringing in the pony.

“Telescope’s cooling off in the interrogation room,” said Tony, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. Leaving a suspect alone in the quiet room for a while was standard procedure before beginning an interrogation. The technique had been refined to a science at NCIS.

“Why don’t we go get set up?” suggested Twilight. She and the other ponies departed for the observation room with its one-way glass.

“Telescope was not hard to find,” said Ziva, sitting down at her desk. “He did not resist, and in fact seemed to know exactly why we wanted to bring him in.”

“Dirtbag,” muttered Tony.

“What is it with you and ponies?” asked McGee.

“I don’t want to talk about it, all right?” said Tony. “Can we discuss something not work-related for a while?”

“You’re at work, DiNozzo,” said Gibbs, walking in.

Tony straightened up in his chair. “Right boss. We’ve got Telescope here and ready to go.”

Gibbs nodded, and motioned for Tony and Ziva to follow him. The three of them headed for the interrogation room.

McGee returned to browsing through Wheeler’s computer. Besides the suspicious search history, he hadn’t managed to uncover anything useful so far. There was still a lot to pick through, however.

He opened a photo archive and reviewed a list of file names. One in particular stuck out, and McGee clicked on it. The file opened, displaying a picture of a woman.

McGee glanced at the file name again and compared it to his mental log of evidence that had been gathered so far. It looked like he’d discovered a coincidence. Years of working with Gibbs, however, had taught him there was no such thing. He made a note about the file and went on.

Another picture piqued his interest, and McGee opened it. His face twisted with distaste at the image. He quickly clicked on the next picture. It was nearly the same shot except for a slight difference…

As he examined a third picture, McGee realized he was looking at a series of images. He continued clicking, his eyes going wider and wider with each new photo.

This was serious. He grabbed the telephone.

Comments

[Melancholy]

Lookin' good.

[Celestias Paladin]

Well... having read enough science fiction and Star Trek... yeah if we can we will... Anywho... Good start

[Agrith]

Damn cliffhangers/commercials. I hate waiting.

[Poptard]

I still feel like all of the Mane 6 leaving their day jobs (or hobbies) to go wonder how people died is a bit contrived, but I'm looking forward to see this story conclude.

[1eragon33]

Is there gibbs?

[djthomp]

Hmn, that ending, maybe my Joyce theory wasn't so far off after all...

[Derpfish]

Holy Guacamole! Snapshot murder coverup! It becomes more awesome by the sentence!

[Brony2]

heh, that last scene kinda makes me think that Wheeler was making pony porn
and was also having Telescope turn him into a pony so they could either make love together, or that it's both of them featured in those pictures