New Trottland Yard Case 04 - Silver Cross behind bars

Silver Cross

behind bars

Chapter 1

“Let me at him! Damn it, let me go!”, I screamed, while ten Unicorns pressed me to the ground with their magic. Their faces bore a mutual expression of extreme strain. Absorbing the Luna cross seemed to have extended the amplifying spell to the rest of my body, so they had a hard time holding me. My boss stood in front of me, shaking his head as I tried to free myself from the magical grip.

“We can't do that Inspector, and you know it. That Changeling was transferred here from Trottingham for trial. He's given a full confession, so it should be a quick one, but I just can't let you harm him while he is in our custody. Even though I understand your feelings ….”, he said in what I assumed was meant to be a comforting tone.

Why was I acting out like this you might ask? Simple. Quickie, my boss at the Lusty Licker, had rallied a few friends after he had noticed my disappearance and overwhelmed the last surviving Changeling in his club. Smooth Tongue was his name, and he had confessed to having killed my cousin Frostmane by nailing her to a tree. I could only assume that he hoped to get off easy and avoid execution by confessing... As soon as my real boss had told me about this, I had galloped out of his office, trying to reach the holding cells. The result had been, that my boss had contacted every available Unicorn in the building to stop me. Four had been injured when I charged right through them, before this group subdued me right in front of the door that led to the cells.

“He killed her! I don't care what you say! He doesn't deserve a fair trial! I'll turn him into paste!”, I shouted, tears running down my face. I had endured so much to get a chance for payback, and now the stallion that had sent me on this mission was denying me my revenge...

“I'm truly sorry Silver... I shouldn't have sent you on that mission in the first place once I found out you two were related... But you leave me no choice. You are hereby suspended until further notice. Maybe a night or two in one of our special cells will cool your head a little. Don't think I enjoy this though....”, he said, nodding to the other Unicorns.

The special cells were in the basement, or to be precise four hundred hooves below it, in solid rock. They had been build there to hold extremely dangerous prisoners, that could break out of the normal cells. Minotaurs, Hydras and other creatures were usually held there. That the boss thought I was dangerous enough to get a free stay there for a night or two was.... worrisome...

I was remotely teleported into an empty cell, that was barely furnished. There were only a bed, a sink and a toilet in there. All of them were made out of magical metal, and therefor very hard to break. It didn't stop me from trying. My hooves connected with the sink first and I could feel them crack a little under the pressure of the blow. At that point, I didn't care. The physical pain was a welcome change to the emotional torture that I was living through. Frostmane, my favorite family member, was dead. Her murderer was just a few floors above me, and I didn't even get the chance to show him a thing or two...

My left forehoof shattered under the force of my tenth blow. I screamed in pain, clutching the bleeding appendage to my chest while crying. How could the boss deny me my revenge, after all I had went through to fulfill my stupid mission? It just wasn't fair. Couldn't he just have turned a blind eye for once?

After a while I wanted to start bucking at the bed again, but a low hissing sound stopped me. Somepony had decided that it was bedtime apparently, since I soon recognized the sweet smell of sleeping gas....

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Smooth Tongue lay in his cell, a ring on his horn blocking his magic. These Ponies would most likely kill him for what he did, but he didn't care too much. His soul would feed his mistress once he died, and so he would still serve his brothers cause. There had been a commotion earlier, and the guards had talked about a mare called “Silver Cross”, that had apparently wanted to turn him into paste... He wondered why they didn't just let her do her thing. If he was correct, then this mare they had talked about, was the same mare that had started to sniff around the Lusty Licker.

She deserved her revenge in his eyes, and he would be glad to give it to her if he had the chance. Even though, deep inside, he didn't want to die, it was surely better then this tedious waiting game he had to play right now. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, the entire floor of his cell went dark. The light from the hallway was suddenly unable to illuminate the concrete floor, and he could hear a small chuckle from the darkness.

A mare came from the darkness, shrouding herself in shadows so he could barely even make out her gender. Her icy voice addressed him, and his blood froze in his veins. He didn't care about dying but this... this....

A spear of pure darkness formed in the air next to the mare, and shot right through his left foreleg. Smooth Tongue screamed in great pain as it nailed him to the wall. Hoofsteps came galloping towards his cell. The guards were coming to help him. They must have seen what was going on through the security camera in his cell, but Smooth Tongue barely noticed that as three more spears impaled his remaining legs. He was now nailed to the wall, his legs spread wide.

“No... Mercy... Please have mercy...”, he pleaded, but a fifth spear shot through his lungs, transforming his pleas into bloody coughs.

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The two Unicorn guards reached the cell of their only prisoner, their horns already glowing with magic. What they had seen on the screens was unbelievable. How had that mare gotten in there? They came just in time to see the prisoner stop breathing. In the middle of the cell stood a white mare with a black mane and tail. Her face was splattered with Changeling blood as she looked at her work with an insane grin on her face. Then she looked over to the pair, and two blue eyes made their blood freeze.

With a swishing sound, the mare disappeared into the ground, still smirking. One of the two stallions rushed off to get a doctor, while the other unlocked the cell and tried to help their prisoner. To his dismay, he had to discover that he was already way too late...

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I awoke slowly, my head pounding as if I had just went ten rounds against Celestia herself, when I noticed that I couldn't move. My eyes opened lazily, and I found myself strapped to a gurney, a magical forcefield engulfing me for additional security. Even my head was fixated, so I couldn't get a good look at my surroundings.

“Finally awake, are you?”, I heard the familiar voice of my boss from my right.

“What... What's going on here boss? Why am I bound like this?”, I asked, confused.

“Don't you play innocent with me, Miss Silver Cross. You know exactly why you are here.”, he shot back angrily.

“Ehm... What if I told you that I have no idea? The last thing I remember is being knocked out in that special cell, after I broke my hoof.”, I replied, trying to turn my eyes so I could look at the stallion.

“You are charged with murder, Miss Cross. Last night, you used unknown means to enter the prisoners cell and murdered him brutally. Two eyewitnesses saw you escape through the floor, using some kind of shadow magic.”

“Murder? You... You're joking, right? I admit that I tried to get at him yesterday, but you subdued me and put me into that cell. I raged a little in there, before I got knocked out by some kind of sleeping gas. Besides... Shadow magic? I haven't even figured out how to use the powers of the Luna Cross yet, so how am I supposed to even do what you claim I did?”, I inquired defensivly.

“I would really love to believe you, but I can't. All the evidence points to you as the culprit, and then there is the witnesses. As of today, you are dishonorably discharged from the New Trottland Yard. Fifty Unicorn soldiers have been stationed outside of this room, in case you act out of line. They will kill you if you do, so please don't.”

“But... boss... I'm innocent! Check the recording of my own cell! I didn't do anything!”

“The surveillance equipment in the special holding cells malfunctioned yesterday evening, so there is no recording of your time in that cell.”, he said, and I could hear him pace up and down the room. From his behavior I could tell that he didn't like that part one bit. Neither did I for that matter. All the cameras failed, while I was supposed to have killed that Changeling, while the one in his cell conveniently worked? That sounded like a giant pile of Horse-apples to me...

“Are you sure you did not do it, Silver?”, he asked after a while.

“Yes, sir!”, I confirmed with all the enthusiasm that I could muster.

“Very well... I'll look into it, since you have never once lied to me so far. Even if you have a motive, it just sounds way too much like you were set up for my taste. I'll try and delay your transport for a while to give me some time, but the high council wants to get this over quickly, so there is only so much I can do. Not an hour after the incident we already had an agent from the Equestrian Intelligence Service here, demanding your immediate execution... The more I think about this... the less I like it...”, he grumbled, sitting down next to me and bringing his face into my field of vision.

“Don't do anything rash. They've tried to remove your cross, but failed. That's the reason you are bound like this. Don't try to escape. I hate to admit it Silver, but you have quite the amount of potential for an Earthpony. I would hate to loose you as an Inspector. At the very least, I'll try to get you a fair trial, instead of an exemplary execution. Even the council has to abide the laws...”, he added, looking really uncomfortable.

“It's OK boss. I trust you. I promise I'll cooperate, so now go and clear my good name.”, I smirked, and he couldn't help but chuckle a bit himself.

“Good name, huh? Well... The department certainly thinks of you as “talented”, after what your “boss” told them when he brought that Changeling in.”, Gruff said, and I went beet red.