Horizon Falls

“In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”
-Hunter S. Thompson

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“Can we go somewhere quieter?” Gears asked.

“Yeah sorry about that,” Spitfire said, “This place can get hectic sometimes. Also doesn’t help that your ride here is now in several places at once right now.”

“That’s not exactly my fault.”

The police station was set up similarly to the Canterlot station. A series of desks arranged in rows from the entrance towards the rear of the room. Two stair cases on either side of the room led up to offices. Farther back were analysis areas and interrogation rooms as well as another staircase. Various screens displaying graphics and reports were scattered all about the station. The occasional news report graced the upper corner of one of the boards. The station itself was a mess of papers and folders mixed in with the din of phone calls and conversation.

“Well you are currently the only one still alive at the end of the day,” Spitfire said as the pair walked through the messy rows.

“You’re not going to question me about it are you?” Gears said as he moved out of the way for a pegasus mare that looked to be in quite a hurry.

“I figured your statement was taken from an officer from some other district at the scene.”

“No.”

Spitfire shrugged, “Whelp, fuck it for now. We have work to do. If someone asks you’ll just be questioned later on. Fair?”

“Typically I like to get things done and over with but seeing as we have other matters to attend to I’ll let it pass.”

“Good boy. Now, SOARIN’!” She shouted.

A sky blue pegasus with a navy mane appeared with a file folder under his wing. He looked a bit frazzled but reasonably competent despite the fact he appeared to have not slept in about two days.

Gears blinked, “Soarin’? Geez you look like shit, no offense.”

He blinked back, “Could say the same for you.”

“Soarin’,” Spitfire said.

“Here you go Captain,” he said trading off the report to her, “Think we can catch a lunch break now?”

Spitfire sighed, “Fine. But you guys go in shifts. We’ve got a fuck ton of work to do.”

“Yes ma’am,” he nodded, “Gears.”

“We’ll catch up later.”

“Sure. See ya,” with that he bounded off.

Gears turned to Spitfire, “What have you been doing to them?”

“You wanna take a look at our crime rate again?” she asked.

“Alright I get it.”

The pair trotted up the stairs towards the offices and turned into Spitfire’s office. Hers was no more orderly than the desks below her. Messes of papers and case files littered her desk and floor. The only orderly thing was her book shelf that had a variety of things that weren’t books resting on it. Everything from a globe to a ship in a bottle rested on it.

Spitfire found her desk and pushed a few papers out of the way before tapping a few icons. The windows darkened and the door locked, effectively sealing the room.

“I ever tell you that all our windows here, both inside and outside, are bullet proof glass?” she asked as she continued her typing.

“No, I don’t believe so,” Gears said as he glanced at a few of the pictures Spitfire had hanging on her wall. He found one he recognized. It was himself, Soarin’ Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, and Spitfire all together. The five of them looked exhausted and covered in sweat but happy.

“Well we do. Some fucker thought it would be a good idea to shoot up the police station two years ago,” she said as she continued her work.

“So you got bullet proof glass to stop incoming bullets?”

“No.”

“Then…?”

“We got it to stop them from leaving.”

“Leaving?”

“Suspect managed to sneak in a machine pistol. You may have noticed that Soarin’ had a few extra scars in his shoulder.”

Gears blinked, “Hadn’t grabbed that detail.”

Spitfire looked up, “Just a warning. You’ve been out of this town for a while. You may find it a far more savage place than you remember. Check your corners and doors.”

“Don’t think you need to tell me twice on that one. Someone did almost blow me up a few hours ago.”

She returned to the file, “Check your corners and doors.”

She cracked open the folder and removed a small manila envelope along with a packet and some papers. She pushed them aside and tore open the envelope and removed a small drive and plugged it into her desk. A screen slide out from the center of her desk. Gears could see a variety of files scattered about through the screen. Spitfire clicked on one and then tapped a few buttons before moving to join the wounded pegasus.

“Display,” she said. On the wall opposite her bookcase a large projection materialized. It was static at first but resolved into a clear security camera image of a shipyard. Tall containers formed a maze on the lot. A form was seen moving across the rows of containers. It limped rather obviously.

“Magnify.”

The view changed to zoom in on the creature. It was an earth pony stallion. He continued limping until he reached the shipyard fence. He scampered over it and onto the sidewalk.

“I assume you’re up to speed so we’ll cut through the bullshit.”

Gears grinned, “Just how I like it.”

Spitfire smirked, “This here is our Doctor. One of the supposedly missing crew members on our little missy’s Yacht.”

“So it looks like at least one of them made it to dry land.”

“Yup. Seems like this Time Turner is good at staying alive which is very good for us if we’re gonna find him.”

“He’s the only one we know of who was on that boat. Closest thing to a lead we have to finding our missing princess.”

“Actually he’s not the lead. At least not right now.”

Gears raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

Spitfire grinned, “Here. Display Diner camera Five. Frame 49858.”

The view changed again to the inside of a small restaurant. It was mostly empty minus a dragon in an apron sweeping up the floor. The door to the diner opened up and Time Turner stumbled in. The dragon looked startled before changing expressions to one of concern. Some inaudible words were exchanged before the dragon helped the injured pony out of view of the camera into the kitchen.

“Anything else from the diner?” Gears asked.

“Camera six apparently was in the process of being replaced,” Spitfire said.

“Convenient.”

“A little too much if you ask me.”

“So I take it the dragon is our new lead?” Gears asked.

“Yup, the lead to our lead.”

“Great. Just when I thought I would never have to see another one of those ugly bastards again.”

“You’re gonna have to be nice on this job. No one else is on assigned to this except us.”

“Really? None of your officers are helping us?”

“Nope. This one is staying small. With all the work we already had to do, MY commissioner wanted to keep this to as small a team as possible to avoid drawing attention to it. Which means I actually have to do things.”

Gears grinned, “I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“Hey, there aren’t many private investigators here who are actually trustworthy. That’s why we brought in someone outside the family so to speak.”

“Really? MY commissioner told me I was getting sent here because I was the only one with experience.”

“Actually it was because I requested you personally.”

“Oh? Miss me much?”

Spitfire shook her head, “Display files 2849 and 2750.”

The view of the diner was replaced by two pictures. One was of Time Turner in his picture for AnovCorp and the other was of the dragon. Thorn was the name displayed under the picture.

“Find the dragon, find the doctor, find the girl. Seems simple enough, right?” Spitfire asked.

“A little too simple. That and I’m kinda worried.”

“About what?”

“Someone tried to kill me within an hour of being here.”

“So? I get death threats on a daily basis. Someone shoots at the station almost on a biweekly basis. Kinda normal here.”

“The part about blowing up an airship is normal?”

“Okay, not normal.”

“The ponies and dragon you guys had to clean up, they were looking for me. Oh that reminds me,” he said reaching into his saddle bag and removing the small ID. He tossed it to her.

“What’s this?”

“That guy who’s head was in the cooler? Picked it up off of him. From what I got from talking to him he seemed to have been hired to make sure I stayed dead if the bomb didn’t do the job.”

“You talked to him and then cut off his head?” Spitfire said reading over the ID.

“No. More like shouting at him and then having him cut off his own head. He was using some pretty advanced combat magic. Fortunately for me the Laws of inertia don’t just stop working because you can use magic.”

“Did this Glistening Blade say who hired him?”

“No. He was too busy trying to smash my head in. But that ID may have something. TriTECH Affinity ring any bells?”

Spitfire frowned, “Not at the moment. Know anything about this project STAIRCASE?”

“Not a clue. But I’m inclined to think that this is tied in with our missing princess.”

“Sure someone doesn’t just have a grudge on you?”

“If they did it would be better for them to have killed me in Canterlot. The police there wouldn’t make it too hard to get away with. And even if it is just a grudge we should be careful. But again, I don’t think this is something personal as much as professional. You don’t send a dragon just to carry out a hit.”

“Not unless you want them really, really, dead,” Spitfire said.

“Nor do you send a team of trained assassins to kill just one guy if it’s only a grudge.”

“Hmm, I’ll agree something isn’t adding up here. It is a little coincidental that you get this job and then are nearly blown up.”

“I get the feeling that someone doesn’t want our princess found. This case seems a bit tainted.”

“Don’t need to tell me that. Just remain aware of it. Corners and doors.”

“And watch your caboose,” Gears smiled.

“And dump the braud,” Spitfire smiled back.

“Let’s just agree to be a little more than careful on this one, okay?”

“Yeah. In the meantime I’ll get someone to look into this… TriTECH Affinity and project STAIRCASE.”

“Cool. I just don’t want to get the shaft on this one.”

“You and me both. But come on now,” She said, “Display off. Let’s go find us a dragon.”

“Don’t ever get a moments rest do we?”

“Sleep when you’re dead. We have work to do.”

“Yes ma’am.”

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“District 56 huh?” Gears asked.

“Yeah. This is where our diner is,” Spitfire asked as they drove through the rain soaked streets. The sidewalks were packed with various characters. Neon lights and signs glowed in the rainy night. The streets were relatively packed with traffic. Up above a few small airships zipped by, some bearing advertisements. They approached a bridge structure that held a monorail.

“This place is packed.”

“I know. This is one of the ‘shopping’ districts.”

“You have an interesting way of saying that.”

“Heh, you’re more likely to get mugged in a place like this than anywhere else in the city. Shopping my ass.”

“I’ll be sure to keep an eye on my pockets. So where’s this diner?”

“Up ahead. A few more meters.”

They approached the pylon holding up the track and pulled off the road into a parking lot. Atop a concrete pillar was the small diner. The sign atop the roof flickered irregularly. Between the monorail and the various other buildings there wasn’t much room, giving the whole space the feel of a packed sardine can. Spitfire parked the vehicle and the pair hopped out. Rain water flowed off the track, carving little channels where it impacted. The air under the tracks was dank and smelled of city and piss.

“Now I remember why I left this place,” Gears blinked.

“I know. Smells like gasoline and urine,” Spitfire replied, “Come on, let’s go find our dragon.”

The pair stepped up the concrete steps into the diner. A bell rang as they pushed open the metal framed glass door. Instantly the din of conversation and the smell of freshly cooked food overwhelmed their senses. An earth pony stallion was at the register.

“My kind of place,” Gears blinked.

“Don’t make yourself at home just yet,” Spitfire said clipping her cap to her belt.

They walked over to the register. The stallion paid little attention to them as he glanced down at a bill.

“Hey,” Spitfire said, “Buddy you got a minute?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled, “One second.”

“We’re looking for Thorn. You know anyone by that name?”

Without looking up he yelled, “Thorn!”

A feminine voice with a cocky and slightly creaky ring to it answered, “What?!”

“There are two cops looking for you.”

A deep growl followed, “Fine. Be right out. Stupid fucking bloods can’t give me one fuckin’ moment’s peace.”

The door to the kitchen opened and a light green dragon in a cooking apron stepped out. It appeared to be at least two meters tall by the looks of it, potentially bipedal but more likely quadrupedal. It had a long frill that ran from the crown of its head all the way down its tail. A pair of golden yellow eyes with vertical slits stared at them. Some of its scales that were visible on its chest and left side were discolored. The dragon looked down at the two ponies and growled.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“You’re a girl,” Gears replied.

“Yes,” she snarled, “Now that we’ve established the fact that I am a female can you get to the fuckin’ point?”

Spitfire cleared her throat, “Uh, hi there. I’m Captain Spitfire of the District 9 police department. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”

“What do you want?” Thorn asked again.

Spitfire removed a pad from the inside of her jacket and displayed a picture of the doctor.

“You see this guy lately?”

“Never seen him before in my life,” she growled, “Can I go now?”

Spitfire stared back at her and blinked, “Yeah, sure. You’re free to go. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Yeah fuck you too, captain,” the dragon replied before turning and returning to the kitchen.

Spitfire turned, “Gears, car now.”

“Yeah.”

The pair quickly returned to the vehicle. Once inside Spitfire removed the black drive from the glove box and plugged it in to the vehicle. Instantly the display of Time Turner in the diner appeared again. Gears himself was looking through the papers the file came with.

“So we’ve established that she’s lying right out of her fire breathing mouth right?”

“Oh yeah,” Gears said.

“Think she’ll talk to us even if we bring up the tape?”

“Doubt it.”

“Glad we’re in agreement. So what do you think will get her to talk since she’s clearly hiding him?”

“If she’s not hiding him she at least knows something about where he is. But I think we’ll need to do a little digging if we’re gonna get her to crack.”

“Agreed. Did you notice those marks on her scales?”

“Yeah. They looked like something had burned them,” Gears replied.

“Yeah. Wanna look into that while I check out her relationship with the good doctor?”

“Sure. Let’s head back.”

Twenty minutes later they were pulling into the police parking garage. Spitfire led the way as they stepped out of the car into the station. The back door was already cracked open. They pair walked into the station.

“Something smells funny in here,” Spitfire said.

“Yeah. And it’s quiet,” Gears said covering his nose with his hoof.

They walked through the empty hallways and up the stairs to the main offices. Spitfire cracked open a door and gasped.

Gears blinked and looked in behind her. Everyone was on the floor unconscious. A fine grey mist was lingering on the floor. Gas. Gears instantly removed a handkerchief and put it to his muzzle. Gears looked to the center of the room. Hanging from the ceiling was a small gun metal grey box. A timer counting down was visible. A thump was heard as Spitfire fell to the floor unconscious.

9…

8…

“Spitfire we need to go now!”

Without thinking he grabbed the pegasus by her tail and dragged her back down the stairs before galloping back down the empty hallways, dragging her with his wing.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

A loud explosion ripped through the station, blowing out all the windows as large balls of fire blasted out into the streets. Down below, the flames streaked down into the empty hallways, destroying the walls and doors as well as shattering any glass that happened to be there. Up above the groan of metal could be heard as the entire section of the structure collapsed down upon the station.