Chapters Dear Princess Cadence,
I know I've sent you a lot of letters complaining about my job, because I've had a real hell of a life recently replete with no sleep and even less time fully awake. I know you love your home, and truth be told I do too, but when it comes to the sort of places I've been recently, Canterlot looks like an absolute scumhole. You'll get an idea for that in my previous letters: a killer on the loose, a manager harassing his workers, salt traders on the streets, it's no wonder my moods been as dark as a black -
Nevermind. I was never one for clever turns of phrase anyway. The good news is, I won.
And before I tell you I love you again, I'm going to tell you how.
It was dawn. The pony who stood, tired yet unyielding in the dank, dark alleyway in the hidden back alleys of Canterlot had been woken up not ten minutes ago by his partner: he hadn't wasted time doing those normal things other ponies took for granted like eating, getting some coffee... brushing their teeth, their mane... No. There was no ordinary for this pony.
It would have been an ordinary dawn. There wasn't anything scheduled for today: no fly-over by the Wonderbolts or any strange weather. No public events. Those had all come and gone in the past week.
It was just Shining Armour's luck that he was staring at a corpse, then. He sniffed. He didn't feel like he had a right to complain: the corpse wasn't much luckier than he was, that was for sure. He sniffed again, this time paying attention to the smell in the air. He nodded apprehensively. Not exactly fresh, not really old, either. The pony looked pale, as the blood had drained from his face. Like a lot of corpses, actually, Shining recalled.
Other than that, a seemingly ordinary stallion. Yellow coat, black mane. Had a cutie mark of a bee on a record disk. Probably something to do with music, Shining reckoned.
Tonight, a musician died in Canterlot. And by the looks of things, somepony knows why, or rather, somepony had better know why.
“Go see if you can ID this guy at one of the nearby record stations.” he ordered to one of the younger guardponies, breaking his train of thought. He felt the warm breath of his partner brush against his side, easy to sense in the cold morning air. “Private Eye, nothing else special about him?” he asked. The pony shrugged.
“Nope. Just going over routine procedure, here. No ID, so we'll take him back to the docs for them to examine him, wait for any more info.” he said, his gruff voice blunt and unfeeling. Shining sighed.
“Surely we can do better than that.” he muttered, approaching closer to the corpse. He gently lifted the body around to see the wound. He grimaced.
A rather elongated slit, typical of a dagger. Shining would know: he had plenty of training in blade combat back at the academy. Which blade, however, remained a mystery. The docs would have a better idea, he imagined. Shining took out his pad and scribbled a few notes on it with a pencil. It took him about three seconds before he put it away again and stood up.
“Stabbed in the back.” Private Eye pointed out. “A surprise attack probably. Or the killer managed to get real close.”
Shining nodded. “Good catch. I'll make a note.” he said, and in a second his pad was out again, more notes were scribbled, and it returned back from whence it came. He tapped one of the beat guards on the shoulder.
“Hey, mind taking this guy's description and running it through the Daily? Get somepony to ID him as quickly as possible. Have them running it today if they can.” he ordered. The pony nodded and began scribbling down as many details of the victim as possible, before trotting off towards Sun Street. Shining sighed.
“I had hoped for a boring, regular day.” he muttered. Private Eye shrugged.
“Ponies do bad things. Nothing irregular there.” he pointed out, grim as ever.
“Not for me.” Shining replied as the sun rose slowly over Canterlot.
_
Shining is now sitting at his desk. It is covered in documents, pictures, newspaper articles and letters. Some of them he will read. Others, he won't. He looked over at a familiar one he looks forward to opening: but he will only do that later. After work. Another letter catches his eye, also familiar. It doesn't solicit a similarly pleasant response, however.
One more letter from the bane of Shining's existence. The little memo looked insignificant, but it annoyed him no end. He glared over at the desk on the far end of the room: the mare at the desk, a young, idealistic earth pony, was scribbling on so many documents at once Shining had no idea how she kept track. She probably didn't. Little naïve foal.
How many of those documents would make his life a misery later, he wonders. It's then that he hears the loud voice of the Captain.
“Shining! Get in my office!” he orders. The unicorn gets up and trots towards him, dutifully. When he enters the room, he notices that Private Eye is already there. He gives Shining a wayward glance. Shining knows the look: they've gotten more intel.
“You two are on the case for the body this morning, right?” the Captain asks. Shining nods.
“Yes, sir. We've compiled all the data we could gather, we're waiting for an ID, and establishing a possible area where he could have been attacked, narrow it down.” Shining said quickly. The Captain snorted.
“Don't give me trivialities: you've got your case. Here's your victim: Earth Pony. Name of Schwartz.” he said, passing a file over to Shining. He quickly looked over the important details: job, picture, relationship status... he nodded, apprehensive.
“Looks like you were right, Shiny. Music pony. Something about managing a radio station.” Private Eye commented. Shining didn't feel any pride from this confirmation, however.
“Got it. We'll begin investigations right away.” he said. The Captain nodded.
“Good. We'll be getting plenty of riots as it is... no need to add to it with this chaos.” the Captain said. Shining raised an eyebrow.
“Why's that, sir?” he asked. The Captain glared.
“My own professional opinion. Now, Red Tape sent you another memo about not sending the press everything before I get in the know. I expect you to heed that memo, okay? Now, get out of my office.”
_
Once outside, Private Eye took the file from his partner. He began reading it through, scanning for any detail Shining could have missed. In the meantime, Shining passed by his desk and pocketed his letter, making sure only paper was inside before folding it.
“Music company, huh?” Private Eye muttered. He pointed at a picture of the victim and another earth pony. The monochromatic picture didn't allow for any effective recognition aside from shape: but this pony looked refined, elegant, and utterly awkward standing next to Schwartz. “Think she's a co-worker?” he asked. Shining looked at her, scanning the body of the mare as effectively as he could. He nodded.
“Treble clef cutie mark... it's likely. Or she's family. If we're lucky we'll see her when we get to the place he worked at.” Shining replied.
“Boy, she looks awkward. Maybe she doesn't like getting her picture taken?” Private Eye suggested jokily. Shining, by comparison, was cold.
“Or maybe she doesn't like getting her picture taken with him”, he countered. Private Eye snorted.
“Not everypony is as awkward as you with ponies of the opposite sex, Shining. Maybe she needed to go to the bathroom, or something.” was his dismissive response. Shining glared, and snatched back the file as they exited the building, the bustling, sunny streets in complete contrast with their grim task.
“Thanks for the reminder.” he snarled, but Private Eye just chuckled crassly. It was a few moments later when he spoke again.
“Got hit with another memo, huh?” he asked. Shining sighed.
“Yeah, again. I swear, one of these days that mare's going to drive me to murder.” he said, his voice bordering on an exasperated sigh. Private Eye laughed.
“Don't let the Captain catch you saying that. He'll have you in irons.”
Shining had no response to that. It was probably true. He looked up at the small, unassuming building laden with posters of musicians and composers on the walls. He gave a small smile.
“Let's go and meet the suspects.” he said.
_
The inside of the building was as small and cluttered as the outside. There was currently the faint sound of electronic music pulsating from through the walls, which Shining had to admit he was not much of a fan of. Private Eye, however, was gently banging his head in keeping with the beat.
Within a few moments they ran across a young earth pony. Shining recognized the refined mare immediately from the picture, and after her initial surprise she composed herself admirably.
“Ahem. Guards?” she asked, gesturing to their badges. They both nodded.
“Yeah. We got a few questions for you: can you ID this pony?” asked Shining, taking out the image of the victim. He was right next to the pony before her, so he knew she could: he simply wished to see if she would. His hoof obscured her place in the picture, after all.
After a brief inspection, the pony nodded.
“Yes. That's Schwartz, my manager. He hasn't turned up yet, I'm afraid, he's often late.” she said, smiling wanly. Shining kept his face grave.
“He won't be turning up for work today. He was found murdered in an alley, a few blocks from here.” he said.
The mare widened her eyes in fright. Shining narrowed his own. Shock, he had expected. Not fright.
“Oh my goodness... was it some kind of terrorist attack?” she asked. “Are we in danger?”
Private Eye stopped himself from chuckling just in time. The mare's conclusion was almost pathetically over-dramatic.
"Don't worry: we'll keep those commies' at bay."
“No, just a regular murder for know. But we believe it was more than a mugging, so we have to run an investigation.” he explained. The mare seemed to calm down.
“Oh... ahem. All right. Well, my name is Octavia... Octavia Melody. Schwartz was my manager.” she said, nodding as she talked, organizing her thoughts. Shining kept a firm eye on her. Private Eye knew the drill: he asked the questions, Shining monitored the responses.
“You know why anypony might want your manager dead, Octavia?” he asked. The mare swallowed nervously. Shining took that into consideration.
“Well... he wasn't the most popular pony around...” she explained. Shining didn't react: Private Eye did.
“Crud. So, lot's of suspects, huh?” he muttered. “So, hypothetically, why'd you want to kill him?” he asked. Octavia's panic began to soar.
“I- are you accusing me?” she asked. Private Eye shrugged.
“We're suspecting you. Legitimate guard stuff. You said he wasn't exactly liked... so, why'd you wanna' kill him?”
Octavia began smiling, thoughtfully as she did her best to play along. Shining was surprised by that. Most ponies either adopted the shocked attitude, the outraged act, or, if they were guilty, the unyielding panic trip. Actually enjoying the role-play was out of the usual.
“Well... I can't say I know a lot about his usual affairs... but he wasn't very loyal to his... well, his friends of a romantic nature, you could say.”
Private raised an eyebrow.
“His marefriends?”
“If you could call them that. I don't exactly know the name of the pony he was dating when he... made advances to me, but I can't imagine she'd be pleased with his actions.” she said. She glared at Private Eye. “And before you go accusing me of anything else, I rejected him. I can't speak for Vinyl, of course.”
“Vinyl?” Private asked, quickly. Octavia nodded.
“Yes, she's my colleague. Well... we work in the same general vicinity. She's the one making the... well, the noise you can currently hear.” Octavia explained. Private Eye nodded.
“I see. Well, can you offer an opinion if Vinyl... well, if she banged Schwartz?” he asked, imitating Octavia's speech pattern perfectly. The mare turned her nose up at the suggestion.
“I can't say, but I was given no hint that she hadn't.” she replied.
Shining glared, scanning her face for any sign of deception. And he couldn't find any. Even so, he couldn't shake the feeling of unease coming from this pony. It got under his skin: whatever it was, he didn't like it.
“I think that's all for now. Don't leave Canterlot, be a good girl, et etcetera, et etcetera...” Private droned as he caught Shining's glance.
Octavia nodded quickly.
“Yes... yes of course. I had no trips planned anyway...”
_
“Shwarz?” Vinyl gasped, looking shocked. “Hay, I wasn't expecting that... He always looked like he could take care of himself, y'know?”
Private Eye nodded as she said that, inwardly smiling at her butchered pronunciation of the name.
“He was a pretty big earth pony. Did you know him well?” he asked. Shining was still examining the mare, like he always did. By comparison, Vinyl seemed much... simpler. Far more ordinary. Not exactly saddened by Schwartz's passing. She was smaller, pristine white coat almost glowing in the relative gloom of the music room, two opaque purple glasses lying on her lap. She was a unicorn, but magic was by no means her speciality.
“We get the impression that not a lot of ponies liked Schwartz. Can you elaborate as to why?” Private Eye asked.
Vinyl sighed and shrugged.
“He had an attitude that might piss a lot of ponies off. Also, he got into a lotta' fights with this doctor pony... uhm. Doc' Black, I think it was.” she said. Shining made a quick mental note. It wasn't hard to remember: Doctor Black was a medical practitioner who was well known around these parts of town. Not the kind of pony to get into fights.
“Other sources tell us that he may have been having affairs with other ponies.” Private Eye said. Vinyl scratched her head. Was she being awkward because she was hiding something? Or because she didn't like badmouthing the dead?
“Yeah... I get that. He had a marefriend, but... well, it didn't seem to matter to him.” she said. Shining noted her awkward posture, her subtle glances towards the door.
“Did you ever have a relationship with Schwartz?”
Vinyl looked up, a little startled.
“Wh- uh, no. No way, I'm not like that.” she said. Shining glanced quickly towards his partner. One look said it all: she was hiding something.
“Are you sure?” Private Eye asked. Admittedly not the most ingenious phrase he'd ever come up with, but it got the ball rolling.
“No, I... uh, mean, I'm not like that... at all. I don't swing that way.” she explained, still glancing nervously at the door. Shining glanced over again at Private Eye.
"Well, that answers that." Private commented.
Shining decided to drop that specific line of questioning. No sense in getting Vinyl even more nervous: something about her orientation gave away that something was making her afraid, skittish. Best leave it till later, or bring her in for a longer interrogation.
“I see. Thank you for your time.”
_
Dear Cadence,
How are you doing? I find myself constantly missing you more every day, but it brings me a lot of comfort knowing you're at least enjoying yourself in Trottingham.
Me, I'm enjoying a first hoof glance at the worst Canterlot has to offer: got a murder case today. Looks a bit nebulous. Romance got mixed up in all of it, which is almost as bad as money when it comes to crime.
Heh. Look at me, writing about my work as if that's all I ever do. I suppose it's true: I don't hang out a lot with other ponies except for Private Eye at the Tar Pit, but that's... more business than anything else.
I got your letter. Read it three times, I think. You misspelled 'heartache'. Missed out the H. Just like I miss you.
Wow, that sounded less cheesy in my head. Anyway, I can't wait for you to be back. I wouldn't trade this thing we have with anything, but it's difficult to have a relationship with letters.
Horsefeathers, now I have a mental image. I'll post this tomorrow, hope it gets to you soon.
Love, Shining Armour
_
Evening crawled onwards. Shining found himself with a small list of suspects he'd have to check out: this Doctor Black, and whoever was in a relationship with Schwartz at the time. Still no name on that, however.
So, step one was finding Doctor Black. He knew that would be easy: after all, he held regular hours and his address was a secret to nopony.
He heard hoofsteps behind him.
“Dinner break is over, detective Shining.” came the irritating voice of the one pony Shining sincerely held fantasies of strangling, Red Tape.
“I was just finishing a letter to my marefriend. I'm allowed to do that, right? Or are you going to time my toilet breaks too?” he asked, his eyes throwing daggers at the little mare. Red Tape, however, seemed to have at least one good quality: she was brave.
“Trust me, I've been starting a petition. So far nopony has signed though.”
Shining had to assume that it was a joke. No way she could be serious.
“Ha, yeah, good one. Anyway, I'll head. Thanks for reminding me not to sit down a second too long.” he replied drily. Red Tape ignored him.
“My pleasure.”
_
Doctor Black's residence was... nice. Homey. Ornate, but not extravagant. Shining had to approve of the guy's taste. A bit of dirt on the pavement, not unusual in this part of town. Some garbage here and there. But the house... the house was nice.
“C'mon, stop admiring the location. It's getting late and I want my daily dose of whiskey from the Tar Pit.” Private Eye interjected. Shining trotted up to the door and knocked forcefully. “That's the spirit. Give that door what for.”
“He's under suspicion of murder. I'm not doing him any favours.” defended Shining. Private shrugged.
“Hey, whatever. Let's just get this investigation underway.” he muttered. Shining heard sounds of movement from inside.
“You get a lead on the marefriend?” he asked. Private Eye shrugged.
“The two were seen together at Joe's. Nice mare, hot. Name of Femme Fatale.”
“Haven't heard that name before. She not from around here?” Shining asked. Private Eye chuckled.
“Yeah, she's from Prance. Got an attitude too, apparently. The two were always airing their dirty laundry in public. Drove Doughnut Joe insane.”
The door opened, cutting their discussion short. Shining composed himself.
Doctor Black was older than both of them, but still fit. Probably in his forties. Wrinkles were beginning to form under his eyes. He had a hard look about him: not surprising seeing as he had to deal with every salt addict in Canterlot.
“Doc' Black?” he asked. He knew it was him, but he asked anyway.
“That's right.” the pony replied. A heavy, rich tone, as if he gargled with gravel. Shining nodded.
“You're a suspect for the murder of Schwartz. We'll need you to answer some questions.”
The doctor frowned.
“That son of a whorse got his comeuppance? 'Bout time somepony showed a little backbone.”
Shining glanced towards Private Eye. As it always did, it said everything he needed him to know: that this pony just made a good case for suspect number one.
“Can we come in?” Private Eye asked. The doctor nodded.
“Sure thing.” he replied, backing away from the doorway.
The inside was pleasantly adorned. Pictures of old friends and memorabilia from travel were dotted here and there. It looked like the perfect household, if a little poorly lit. Shining found himself wondering if he could see himself in a house like this one, raising a family amidst the chaos of this city, and life in general.
He had no idea.
The trio entered a small study. The shelves were covered in papers and files, carefully organized. They each had the names of several ponies on them. Shining recognized a few names: Fleur de Lis, a popular model here in Canterlot, Red Tape, the file sporting a matching colour. There was also some of the suspects Shining had aquired during the course of the day: Vinyl was there, as was Octavia, with Schwartz's file stuck in the middle. And Doughnut Joe was there too.
“So, what can I do you for?” the ageing pony asked as he sat down, giving a small grunt as he did so. Shining followed suit, minus the grunt. Private Eye preferred to stand.
“We got a tip from one of our ponies of interest that you often fought with Schwartz. And your reaction just now confirmed our suspicions. Care to elaborate?”
Doctor Black shook his head angrily, but not because he was uncooperative.
“That swine was coming to me for five years. For the first three, everything was fine, then he started getting stuff like... bruises and fatigue.” he explained. “I began to dig deeper. Salt addiction. When I confronted him, he left. I felt bad, leaving one of my patients get away to something like that... we have a lot of addicts around these parts. I learned a lot about the guy.”
Black's face was darker than before. It was clear he held no kind feelings towards the deceased.
“I saw him, clear as day coming on to that poor lass, the one he was working with, Vinyl. Patient of mine. She didn't take it well, and I swear not a few days later I get the girl in here with bruises. And then, I found out about the salt.”
“What's this about salt? That's the second time you mentioned it.” Private Eye commented. Doctor Black nodded.
“He was in on it. I swear I saw him transport bags of the stuff up and down Cancer Street. When I confronted him, he punched me. Heh. Rather, he tried. I was a heavyweight back during my college days. He didn't see me coming. He didn't come to me about that particular concussion anyhow.”
Shining took out his notepad and scribbled down this information. This was getting out of hand fast: he wasn't getting rid of suspects, he was gaining them at an alarming rate. If Schwartz really was part of the salt trade, there was any number of ponies who might want to see him dead.
“Would that make you want to kill him?” Shining asked, carefully scrutinizing Schwartz's face for any sign of guilt, fear, or incriminating emotion.
“I took an oath, officer. I don't do harm unless they attack me, because I'm not going to take it lying down either, and he didn't attack me enough for me to kill him. I am innocent, detective.”
Shining's eyes darted towards Private's. Information was exchanged.
“What about Vinyl? You said she came in bruised?”
“Yes. Gave some silly reason about skateboarding, of all things. Made sure there wasn't a concussion, but I'm telling you, officers... Schwartz was a nasty piece of work.”
Shining took down more notes. Schwartz didn't seem to be lying, or the type to do so, but Shining had seen a lot of different ponies over the years. Some of them could fool anypony.
Night had fallen. Shining had to admit that the inky sky had a bit more beauty now that the Princess of the Night had returned. He looked back down, not at the dirty pavement under his hooves, but at his stained notebook. He reviewed everything he knew, and more that he had guessed and assumed.
Schwartz was dirty. That much was for sure. Nopony thought of him highly. He made advances on his workers, and he may even be in the salt trade. A lot of motives for murder.
There was Octavia. First suspect. Shining had to admit, she gave him an uneasy feeling. She was too proper, too calculating. She was tough, too. Her first thought when hearing that Schwartz died was if she might be in danger, a thought that at first seemed stupid and silly, on second thought remarkably self serving. Still, she was cooperative. Gave them a possible lead on Vinyl.
Which brought him to Vinyl. Her claiming to be a fillyfooler might have just been to throw him off the scent... as far as he could tell Black's involvement was probably bogus, so that too could have just been a ruse.
The Doctor was still fit enough to commit a murder... but honestly it felt off. He was old, his attitude didn't speak of a knife in the back. He'd call the guard, maybe. Punch him in the face, perhaps. Not this.
Shining needed more. There were too little clues at this point.
“Think we can run by Schwartz's apartment?” he asked his partner. Private Eye groaned.
“We've been running in circles all day. Can't we just talk this over at the Tar Pit?” he asked. Shining sighed.
“C'mon, it'll just take a minute. Listen, you go ahead to the Tar Pit, I'll catch you there when I'm done. It should be just five minutes from here.”
Private Eye sighed in resignation.
“Fine, just don't break anything. I want to sort through that stuff later.” he said, before they parted ways. "After all, it is protocol to search through the victim's house."
Canterlot at night had a sort of serene beauty that Shining admired... however, when you left the upper quarter and the palace, that beauty was marred by trash that seemed to appear only at night, ponies of questionable motives patrolling the streets, an air of vile scum that would persist well into the night.
As Shining made his way down these tarnished streets, he found himself thinking about Cadence. Not in relation to his surroundings, of course, but he found that the longer they spend apart the more she would occupy his thoughts. He had to wonder why she found it necessary to go to Trottingham for a while... diplomatic relations, she had said.
Her absence wasn't doing Shining any favours.
He blinked as he found himself in front of Schwartz's house. Not at all like Doctor Blacks. It was run down and scummy, like the neighbourhood. Ponies had drawn graffiti on the walls, something they hadn't done to the Doctor's: Shining knew that most ponies respected the doc' enough to steer clear of him.
Shining tried the door: locked. He quickly kicked it in, his training allowing for such a display of strength.
The inside was pitch black, leaving no clue as to what was within. Shining's horn flickered to life. He wasn't familiar with a lot of spells, but creating light was one of them. The other was shielding magic, his special talent.
The corridor was cluttered with shoes, clothes and books thrown across the shelves in an disorganized pattern that made sense only to the occupant of the house. Shining ran his eyes across where he imagined Schwartz putting his mail: it would have to be close to the door...
Bingo.
He picked up the small heap of letters and quickly gave them a look. Most of them were bills: another was from Femme Fatale. He gave that one a look.
It was a quick reminder that she was back in town. Shining imagined it must be easier to cheat on your marefriend when she was gone. Or coltfriend.
That thought made him a little uneasy, again his thoughts returning to his beloved Cadence, but not wanting to pursue that line of thought, he pocketed the letters and continued his search. He had to admit, nothing immediately stood out: some music records. A quick glance at the names revealed he didn't have many that were produced outside his own company. A rapid search through his drawers and Shining found a small plastic bag of salt. He smiled grimly.
“Looks like I have some evidence to hand over to the Captain.” he muttered to himself.
Pictures on the walls. Not many. There was one of a pristine white mare with a dark mane. Could it be Femme Fatale? He couldn't say. He made a mental note of the pony's appearance and decided he would have Private Eye and some other guards search the place more thoroughly: hoofprints, ledgers, anything that could be even vaguely relevant.
He stepped out of the house and into the night beyond.
_
The Tar Pit: you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy: and for some reason it appealed to the two detectives that frequented that place, and many other citizens of this district. Shining found he met just about anypony there, including Doctor Black, the Captain, and many others.
Currently, he was looking for Private Eye. The grim faced detective pony was in his usual corner, where he enjoyed scrutinizing the rest of the clientèle, observing their mild debauchery, and consumption of legalized vice. Not that he was complaining, mind. His only concern was for illegal vice.
Shining made his way immediately to his colleague and friend, who waved briefly at him. Shining paused on his way only to order a mug of cheap cider. Once that matter was dealt with he sat down.
“So, you found anything that positively couldn't wait for tomorrow?” Private asked. Shining shrugged, and showed the salt to him, making sure the rest of the ponies in the room couldn't see. He didn't trust them to not make a move on it if they got the chance.
“Evidence that Schwartz was in the salt game. Doc' Black wasn't lying, or wrong.”
“Horseapples. That's a lot of salt.” Private said, peering inside. “Quality stuff too. Not that half refined stuff from Zebrica. This must come from the Griffon Empire, or a new lab we haven't found yet.”
Shining nodded. “Unfortunately, there's no way to trace it on the bag just yet. We'll have to give it to the lab boys, but in the meantime, we'll have to keep looking for other leads. Maybe one of the other suspects will have something to say about this.”
Private Eye nodded over to the far side of the room.
“Speaking of other suspects, check this out...”
Shining peered through the curtain of gloom and smoke to see what Private was showing him. He saw the pony he must have been referring too, but didn't see...
Ah, now he recognized her. Octavia.
The mare was face down on her table, apparently inebriated. That didn't come as much of a surprise, considering the atmosphere and general state of the ponies in this establishment. What confused Shining was that Octavia had been so very collected earlier. Perhaps she had simply been putting on a brave face... perhaps Schwartz meant more to her than they had expected. Something to remember, at least.
“Can't I get five minutes without something from my case hounding me at every turn?” Private asked, a little frustrated. Shining chuckled.
“Let's just see how this plays out. Don't want her retreating back into that stony façade she had going on earlier.”
“Yeah, I forgot to ask... she seemed to be acting weird for a suspect. You think it was an act?” Private asked. Shining shrugged.
“If she's just breaking down now, it could have been. Or this is a coincidence. A lot of ponies try seeming tougher than they really are. Without more info, I guess we'll have to wait and see.”
And so they did: observing Octavia as closely as they dared. She occasionally glanced up from her mug. Make-up was running down her face, making it look like she had been crying ink. This continued for about five minutes before yet another suspect appeared on the scene: this time her co-worker, Vinyl Scratch.
The mare made her way to Octavia and sat across from her, concerned. Shining tried listening to what they had to say, but at that distance, it was impossible.
“Can you get closer?” he asked his partner. Private Eye nodded.
“Sure. I needed another cider anyway.”
Private Eye made his way over to the bar before attracting the bartender's eye, but Shining could tell his attention was focussed on Vinyl and Octavia. Their conversation seemed to be between that of comforter and comforted, from what Shining could tell, and he had witnessed enough of them to tell. Eventually, a small shimmer appeared around Octavia's mug and pulled away from her. Then the drunken musician was hoisted onto Vinyl's shoulder, who was promptly carrying her out of the bar. Private Eye looked over at Shining.
“Do we follow?” he mouthed. Shining hesitated, and nodded.
“We'd better. But keep your distance.”
_
She streets hadn't gotten darker in the meantime, but it had began to rain. A faint drizzle, but it was enough to annoy Private Eye. With a small amount of effort, a thin purple barrier appeared over their heads, the rain rolling over it's side.
“Better?” asked Shining. Private Eye nodded.
“Yeah.”
They tailed the pair from a distance, always remaining in the shadows when they could. Thankfully, Vinyl wasn't expecting spies. Perhaps she hadn't gotten used to the idea of living in a dangerous neighbourhood. Everypony else Shining knew would always check their surroundings at night.
Shining checked his notebook: he quickly deduced that they were heading towards Vinyl's apartment, not Octavia's. Perhaps she didn't know where her friend lived. Perhaps Vinyl was going to try and get rid of her, but then why wouldn't she be more nervous, and check for anypony who might be watching? Or go into a side alley and finish her there?
Shining doubted that. He skirted around a pool of vomit, left behind by somepony who had obviously had too much to drink. Private Eye grimaced.
“Ugh, I'll need to wash my hooves...” he muttered.
“Quiet down. We're almost there.”
Vinyl's apartment was at the top of a large building: an utterly basic construction with little to no ornaments. Shining realized he had been noting building's appearances with increasing frequency these days: he'd make a mental note to try to focus on more than just architecture.
“Hey, 'Tavi, can you manage stairs?” Vinyl asked. Shining craned his neck to hear. Octavia gave an affirmative grunt.
“Y-yes, but I'll be fine, Vinyl, just... let me head home...”
“'Tavi, you actually can't stand. But nice try.” Vinyl retorted, the shadow of a smile on her lips. Not an aggressive one, Shining noted. It seemed friendly. Vinyl's eyes lingered on Octavia a moment longer before she opened the door and went in.
Shining rocketed to get to the door before it closed: if it did they'd have to buzz somepony to let them in, and that ruined the whole idea of a stealthy observation. His hoof caught it just before it locked. He let out a sigh of relief.
“Let's go.” he said. Private Eye chuckled.
“Red Tape's going to bury us under memo's for entering without a warrant.” he said. Shining didn't care.
They made sure not to make any sound as they followed Vinyl through the bare corridors and staircases of the building. It was a long journey up the stairs, but eventually they got there. Vinyl fumbled with her keys as she propped up Octavia.
“Why're you doing this... Vinylllllll.....” Octavia asked, trailing off at the last consonant. Vinyl shrugged.
“Hay, sometimes even I don't know. I'll tell you in the morning when you sober up.” she responded. Octavia grimaced.
“I hate mornings.”
“I know you do, 'Tavi.”
The door finally opened. Octavia almost fell in, but Vinyl steadied her.
“Watch it!” she exclaimed, giving a small laugh as she wrapped her hooves around her, steadying her. Octavia's head slumped to the side.
“Why'd you... help a mean pony like me, huh?” she asked, still slurring her words. Shining pressed himself even closer against the corner in order to hear more.
“You're not a mean pony, 'Tavi. Don't talk rubbish.”
“I'm glad he's gone, Vinyl.”
Vinyl had no immediate response to that. Shining fought the urge to take a note: after all, the slightest movement could betray him.
“He was an ass-hole. It's okay to feel that way.” Vinyl replied eventually. “I'm not sad he's gone either. Come on, let's get you to sleep...”
The door closed. Shining cursed.
“Crud! That could have been important!” he exclaimed. Private Eye shrugged.
“So two mare's didn't like him? He was a sick gelding. But it is noteworthy.” he replied. Shining grumbled as they made their way back down the stairs.
“So... if Octavia was so sad she was drinking herself silly, it doesn't sound like she'd have killed him.” he said. Private Eye shrugged.
“Or she was drinking out of guilt. She was certainly guilty about hating the guy, even if it was the alcohol talking.” he replied. Shining grunted.
“Maybe. We'll keep it on the table for now. I have another idea: Vinyl looked like she was into Octavia, right?”
Private nodded half heartedly.
“Maybe. I gotta' admit that there was definitely something there.”
“Could she have done away with Schwartz because he made a move on Octavia? Aside from everything else Schwartz might have done to Vinyl, that leaves a lot of motive.”
Private Eye shrugged.
“Maybe... it depends on whether Schwartz really did beat her up, like the Doc claimed, and if she really does have the hots for Octavia.”
Shining made no response. Instead he tore open one of the letters he had taken from Schwartz's house, and began reading. It was nothing interesting, a bill. He opened another and read it. As he perused the words, his face began to darken.
“My bet is still that Octavia is the best canditate. Something about that mare rubs me the wrong way.” Private Eye said. Shining sighed.
“I'm afraid you might be wrong about that.” he said, and handed the letter over to his partner. “Give this a read.”
_
Dear Cadence,
Just had a really long day after I wrote my last letter, so I'm enclosing this one inside it as well. I guess I have some stuff on my case that feels nice to air out, you know?
Anyway, so our prime suspect is a DJ pony of some popularity among the right circles... got a lot of motive, and even some written evidence by the victim, so it looks pretty open and shut. Still need more evidence though: everything is circumstantial at this point. My partner thinks it's a possible marefriend of the suspect, but... well, very little points to her. Some motive, but less, and no evidence at all yet.
Still, we can't shut the case before interviewing the marefriend of the victim. That won't be fun, but I've handled worse.
I can't wait for your reply, just to get news. I miss you a lot, and I think about you constantly... when not working on my case of course (just in case my boss finds this letter)
Shining Armour
_
Morning was slow. It trickled on like syrup, the passing of time barely visible to the almost comatose Shining Armour who made his way through the early hours.
He posted both letters on his way to the office, the journey not taking him even five minutes. He also purchased some stamps: he was running out. And to his immense happiness, he hag gotten another letter from Cadence: he saved it for his lunch break.
Apparently there was some kind of bustle at headquarters: ponies were muttering in an unusual manner and looking like they had seen a ghost. Shining had of course no idea what was going on until Red Tape made her way up to him.
“Listen, Shining. I know you like to play loose with the rules sometimes, but this time... just, for the sake of the department, be... the kind of pony we want you to be, okay?” she said. Shining frowned as she stepped back, puzzled.
“What in Celestia's name are you talking about?” he asked.
“Art thou the pony in charge of the murder proceedings?” came a deep, booming, but unmistakeably feminine voice from behind him. "And pray not take my sisters name in vain."
He turned, surprised.
He immediately saw two ponies who outranked him enough to pretty much control his life if they wanted: the Captain, who was glaring at both him, and the second pony most likely to ruin his very existence, should she choose.
Princess Luna herself.
“Uhm. Your majesty... to what do I owe the honour?”
The Captain growled.
“Stand up straight when you're adressing royalty, Armour!” he shouted. Luna held a hoof up.
“Do not be too alarmed. Today We are not seeking deference, but instead an update on the murder case.”
Shining gulped. No wonder everypony had been alarmed: the princess only visited to give commendations... and besides, this was a very different princess altogether. Not a week ago, this had been Nightmare Moon, a story meant to scare little filly's into staying in at night. Now a benevolent princess... so Celestia claimed.
“Forgive me, Princess, but why are you interested?” Shining asked her. Luna frowned. The Captain glared viciously.
“The Princess asked you to give her an update. So do it.” he growled.
“We are resuming our former position as guardian of the night. Murder is still a crime, therefore we shall take an interest, and it shall not be questioned.”
Shining swallowed again, a foul taste in his mouth. He didn't like the idea of being watched.
“We have a few suspects: we should be bringing Vinyl Scratch in for questioning, and I'll be going to look for the marefriend today as soon as I check for any updates. A piece of evidence came to light, and it might incriminate Vinyl strongly, if interrogation goes well.”
Luna nodded.
“Good. We can tell why it is you who are praised so highly... you know where you stand and what to do. Remember, We shall be taking an interest, so bear in mind that you are reporting to Us as well as your Captain now. This is all.”
The princess turned to leave. The Captain gave Shining a dark look before making his way to his office. Shining finally relaxed.
He saw Private Eye trot over to him, beaming.
“You got friends in high places.” he commented sarcastically. Shining shook his head.
“No, I've got problems with infinite resources. Come on, you take in Vinyl, I'll grab Fatale.”
It was late in the morning when Octavia opened her eyes: the dull throbbing in her head making her wish she was still asleep, but also keeping her awake at the same time, maximizing her discomfort better than any relative. She scrutinized the area: she did not recognize it immediately until the events from last night hit her full force.
“Oh my gosh, Vinyl...” she exclaimed under her breath.
The smell of cooking eggs wafted through her nostrils. She turned her neck at an awkward angle to face the source of the smell: the young white unicorn was holding a pan, three eggs frying in it's centre. Vinyl smiled.
“Morning. You must feel terrible.”
Octavia did.
“It's like I've been listening to a five year old play the trumpet. What happened last night?”
Vinyl scraped the eggs of the pan and onto a plate, which she carried over to Octavia, who was still prone on the couch.
“You got real hammered last night. About... y'know, Shwach.”
“Schwartz. And... yes, I remember. A bit. Oh, Vinyl, you carried me here, didn't you?”
Vinyl shrugged.
“Yeah. So what?”
Octavia didn't know where to start: that nothing she had done merited such treatment, that anypony else would have left her on the street to be mugged or worse, that she had never even treated Vinyl as so much as an acquaintance... but no excuse she could say really changed what Vinyl had done. She was at a complete loss for words.
“I don't know what to say.”
“How about: nice breakfast, Vinyl. I'd love some?”
Octavia looked right into Vinyl's broad, earnest face. Eventually she caved.
“That looks really nice, Vinyl. I'd love some.”
More smiling. Octavia had the plate placed before her. Despite her hangover she found it really easy to eat. Vinyl had already had her breakfast, so in the meantime she was cleaning up her dishes. The apartment was small, but Vinyl had still managed to fill it with so many music related articles it took up every inch of wall. Octavia hadn't expected that: for some reason she had assumed that Vinyl's bastardization of music meant she'd have less of an appreciation of it. But there, among some of her records, was Beethoofen, Maressorgsky, and George Fiederic Saddle, recently opened and placed alongside her albums from more modern 'composers'.
She even had a french horn. Octavia wondered if Vinyl could play. In the corner, dominating the rest of the room, was a huge workstation Octavia had seen use to remix music over the radio, over at work.
She hadn't thought it was possible, but Vinyl looked like she might have more music paraphernalia than she did.
“Vinyl, I-” she began, but was interrupted by the door being caved in. She recognized the pony who led the charge: battered and grey, the detective held a truncheon in one hoof and his badge in the other.
“Vinyl Scratch, you are under arrest under suspicion of killing Schwartz!” was the resounding shout that filled the acoustically tuned appartment. Octavia felt shock and terror rise within her.
“Wh- No! You can't do this!” she exclaimed, getting onto her hooves, but not before her hangover struck once again, and, too dizzy to stand, she collapsed on the floor.
“'Tavi!” exclaimed Vinyl, before he was cuffed by the detective.
“You have the right to remain silent, and anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of-”
“Hey! Let go of me! She might be-”
“She's fine, you little idiot, so worry about yourself for a bit.”
_
Shining hurried towards the place where Femme was staying: if he was quick he might catch her before she left for the day. As he watched the ponies on the streets, he began to notice they were generally more agitated than usual. He could only guess as to why. The Captain would probably know. It was, after all, his job.
The hotel Femme was staying at looked fancy. A far different location to Vinyl's place. He entered quickly, without wasting any time.
“Good morning sir, are you looking for a room?” asked the pony at the front desk. Shining took out his badge.
“Canterlot Guard Corps, E.U.P. I'm looking for Femme Fatale.”
The pony looked alarmed briefly.
“Oh dear. She's not in trouble is she?” he asked. Shining shrugged.
“Her coltfriends been murdered, and she's a suspect.” Shining said. “Can you give me directions to her room? Number 314?”
The pony nodded quickly.
“Yes, yes, just go up the elevator or stairs to the third floor then head left. Second door on your right.” he blurted. Shining nodded.
“Thank you for your co-operation.”
The elevator doors opened with a quietly annoying 'ding' Shining found he instantly hated. The bouncy optimistic nature of it grated at his nerves. Still, at least the elevator ride was short.
'ding'
Shining made his way left, keeping an eye on the room numbers until he got to 314. Each door was marked with a golden plate with the number engraved on it: very classy, and practical. Shining banged his hoof on the door loudly.
“Hey! Quiet down! Some of us are waking up gently!” came a voice from the opposite room. Shining ignored him, or her, as he heard movement from within room 314. After a brief moment, he came face to face with a heavyset stallion.
It took a minute for him to recognize him, but working in a career where faces were vital to remember made it easy to make the link between the face that served him doughnuts when he was having difficulty with a case, and the stallion in front of him. He raised his eyebrow as he realized that this was Doughnut Joe, the pony in charge of Joe's Doughnuts, the restaurant bearing his name.
“Ahem. Is Femme Fatale around?” Shining asked him. Joe nodded.
“Yeah, she's just getting her mane done. What is this about?” he asked. Shining took out his notebook and jotted a few words down.
“Well, congratulations, Joe. You just made suspect. Can I wait inside?” he asked. As he saw Joe's conflicted face, he took out his badge. “Canterlot Guard?”
Joe let him in instantly after that, the power of the badge strong indeed. Shining made his way to a seat he could relax in. He noted the sheets, which had been crumpled a fair bit, and the wine and cider bottles strewn across the floor, as well as the odd doughnut.
“Had fun last night?” Shining asked. Doughnut Joe glared.
“That's none of your business.”
It was then that Femme exited the bathroom, and was quickly greeted with the sight of Shining and Doughnut Joe engaging in a glaring contest. She narrowed her eyes, and leaned nonchalantly against the door frame.
“Officer? What is this about?” she asked. Shining was almost knocked back by the sheer coldness in her voice. If he thought Octavia could act cool, then he obviously needed to rethink his definition.
“Schwartz was found murdered yesterday. We need to ask you some questions.” he said, bluntly. With Doughnut here, he doubted she'd be all that too upset. As expected, she brought her hoof to her heart and tilted her head to the side, signalling that she was saddened. Her eyes were giving a conflicting message, however. She didn't care.
“Oh, that's just awful!” she replied. Shining grunted.
“Don't give me that. Your coltfriend has been making advances on two other mares, and has been dealing with very shady individuals. I'll need you to tell me everything you know.”
Femme snorted, her disguise of hurt and sadness gone, surprising Doughnut but not Shining.
“Schwartz was a sorry foal, tying to go behind my back like that. As far as I'm concerned, he was refuse. I know all about his little musician co-workers... I don't know anything about the salt trade though.”
Shining chuckled, before managing to break into a full out laugh. Femme realized her mistake too late.
“Oh, horseapples.” she spat. Shining wiped a tear from his eye.
“That has to be the best slip of the tongue I've heard in a long time, Fatale.” Shining commented. Fatale scowled.
“You don't even have a warrant. You can't come in here and-” she began, but Shining took a sheet of paper out and held it tauntingly.
“Hey, if there's one thing Red Tape knows how to do, it's write up paperwork quickly. But what am I talking about... you don't know who she is. How about I introduce you to her down at headquarters? She's a real gem.”
Femme looked furious. Joe just looked around nervously. Shining nodded towards him.
“I have to admit, I don't actually have a warrant for you. But I'd rather you came too, and not make me have to go and get one. It'll just make things easier for you, trust me.”
Doughnut Joe sighed in resignation. Shining felt a little sorry for him: he probably hadn't signed up for this. Still, if he was involved romantically with Femme.... more motive for murder.
He was picking up suspects by the hoofful these days. He just hoped that they'd be able to get a confession out of Vinyl, otherwise this would become a very difficult case.
_
Femme and Joe walked in front: Shining was sure Femme had considered running, but thought better of it. For her sake, he hoped she could recompose herself well: out of all of their suspects, she was definitely the least cooperative. It didn't look good.
They arrived back at headquarters in short order. The streets were busy, but nothing so terrible that it would slow them down. He had the two watched as he made his way into the interrogation room. He passed an anxious looking Octavia, barely giving her a glance.
“Detective! You can't do this to Vinyl! She hasn't-” Octavia began, but Shining cut her off.
“We have evidence, miss. Please don't interfere.”
The interrogation room was standard: a bare room with a one way mirror, giving into another room. Private Eye was already there, and Vinyl was in the interrogation room proper, cuffed to the table. She looked terrified. Perhaps they had managed to catch her off guard, or maybe she was just scared of the police. Who knew?
“Got her quite easily. I have some of the guards sweeping her place right now.” Private Eye said. “How's Femme?”
“Trouble. Caught her with good old Doughnut Joe. I have him here too: more romantic involvement. I honestly can't keep track any more with these ponies. Must be that time of the year.”
Private Eye shook his head.
“I hope it isn't him: I like his doughnuts.”
Shining looked through the darkened window at the scared mare beyond. He frowned.
“Don't present the evidence until you need to. Get her talking. Keep her confused. And whatever you do, keep pushing. I can live with a traumatized mare, not an escaped killer.” he instructed. Private Eye nodded.
“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Don't forget to get complimented by Tape that we used warrants this time. At least for these two.” he replied as he made his way inside towards Vinyl. "Hopefully the letter we found will break her quickly." he added before closing the door. Shining then entered his own booth where he could see them from behind the one way mirror.
Shining kept a close watch on them. Private was a professional. All they needed was to get her talking. If she was guilty, she'd crack. She had to. Looking at her now, it didn't look like it would take much.
“Hello Vinyl. Comfortable?” Private asked. Vinyl didn't look it. She glared at Private angrily.
“I'm not a killer.” she replied. Private shrugged.
“Oh yeah? Because we got plenty of motive, more than enough to put you away. You know what your motives are, don't you?” Private asked. Vinyl shook her head slowly. Shining gave a small smile. So she was lying about that. Private made no sign of catching the deception.
“Let's start with the obvious one, right? Sexual harassment. I have to admit, I'd probably want to off my boss if he was as much as a sleaze as yours was.”
“I told you, I'm not into stall-”
“Yeah, yeah, but that doesn't stop it being annoying, right? Must have made your life miserable. I bet you're not even sad he's gone.” Private replied. Shining narrowed his eyes. Using her own words to try to get a reaction. Trust Private Eye to think of that one.
“I'm not! But I didn't kill him!” Vinyl insisted.
“We have a testimony from your physician that you might have even suffered physical assault from him. You blamed it on skateboarding. Was that really the best you could come up with?”
“So I don't wear protection when I'm skating? That's not evidence. Hey, don't I get a lawyer?”
Private chuckled.
“Looking at your bank balance, you might as well not have. State lawyers are pretty unreliable, actually I think the Captain controls most of them. So... those bruises. Tell me about how you really got them.”
Vinyl looked close to panic. Shining tried to get a better angle on her face, but it was turned away slightly.
“Skating! Dammit, why is that even important?”
Shining glared. More lies. He just had to hope it was because she was guilty...
“Because when Schwartz attacked you, it made you angry. Very angry. Angry enough to kill him.”
“N-no.”
She wasn't giving up. Shining gritted his teeth. The idea that she wasn't the killer, and that they'd have to go ahead with this anyway, tormented him.
There was no such thing as giving up here.
“We have a letter. Written by Schwartz, to us, that you made a threat on his life. Unfortunately it didn't get posted in time. We could have saved his sorry flank.” Private said. Shining nodded slowly. Time to reveal their hand.
“Wh- what are you talking about?”
The piece of paper slid across the table slowly, pushed ever so gently by Private's hoof. It was already open. Vinyl's eyes scanned it, and she swallowed.
“Horseapples...” she whispered, so quietly Shining almost missed it. “This has to be a misunderstanding...”
“You recognize Schwartz's hoofwriting, right?”
Vinyl backed away from the letter slightly.
“Yeah, but... c'mon, I never threatened him! The guy was a douche, always hitting on me and 'Tavi...”
“Which brings me to your last motive. You have a romantic interest towards Octavia, is this not correct?”
Shining swallowed his doubts. If anything would break her, this would. It had to. Most guilty ponies crumbled when presented with this kind of evidence, and the sort of personal motivation they were declaring, if it was right. This would be the end of the case. He could bring justice for Schwartz, and all the ponies on the street.
If she was guilty...
“What? What makes you say that?”
Shining heard banging on the door to his room. He turned to face the noise angrily. Not even the Captain would interrupt him in the middle of an interrogation.
“Not now!” he bellowed, and turned his attention back to the interrogation.
“You couldn't stand Schwartz constantly hitting on your co-worker, and it drove you insane more than anything he ever did to you.”
“Hey, what he did was awful, but I didn't kill him!” Vinyl repeated. “You've got the wrong pony!”
The door to Shining's room burst open, in utter contradiction to all interrogation protocol. He turned in annoyance to face off against a very angry Octavia. In the background, a confused pony guard looked apologetic.
“I heard shouting! You stop whatever you're doing right now!” she exclaimed angrily. Unbeknownst to this drama, the interrogation continued.
“It wasn't enough that Schwartz made your work absolute crap, he had to go and do the same to Octavia as well, the pony who you'd do anything for. So you did, didn't you?”
Vinyl looked like she was being driven almost to tears at this point. Shining couldn't tell, however. He was trying to force Octavia to exit the interrogation room.
“Hey, I bucking love her, but I'd never kill for anypony!” Vinyl shouted, her lower lip trembling with a mix of anger and fear.
Inside the booth, Octavia paused.
“Oh, Vinyl...” she muttered.
“You're really not going to make this easy on yourself, are you?” asked Private Eye angrily. Vinyl hid her face in her hooves.
“I didn't do it!” she screamed.
“Octavia, please leave this room, now!” ordered Shining Armour. His anger at this interruption far outweighed his empathy for Octavia. He threw his hoof towards the exit and stepped forwards, pushing into her.
All he saw a split second later was a dark grey hoof, and then stars.
_
“...hey! Hey, Shining!...”
“...Wow. Decked by a mare, huh?...”
“...he all right?...”
Shining Armour gradually opened his eyes, his head throbbing, and his eyes feeling a little too big for their sockets. He groaned.
“Did I just get punched by my suspect?” he asked, holding his head in one hoof. One of his eyes felt a little tender. He realized it was Red Tape that was checking his eye. He batted her hoof away. “I'm fine. What did you do to her?”
“Standard procedure is to lock up anypony who assaults the guard.” Red Tape said. Private Eye, the pony behind her, shrugged.
“For punching Shining? I'm thinking we give her a medal for having the guts for that.” he said. Shining got to his hooves, not just a little angry and embarrassed that he had gotten knocked out. Last time that had happened was when a much larger pony than him had been rude to Cadence. Sometimes it was best to just turn and leave.
“She's got a good left hook. Or... whatever she did. Boy, that mare can throw them.”
Private Eye gestured inside the interrogation room.
“She's in there now with Vinyl. Want her arrested?”
Shining ignored the question.
“Did you get a confession?” he asked. Private Eye paused, then shook his head.
“So all we have is circumstantial evidence?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
“Crud.”
“We can still lock up Octavia, but I don't think that'll help the case. It might be one less thing to worry about though.” Red Tape suggested. Shining shrugged.
“If it doesn't help the case, I don't really care. Just keep them under observation and give her a warning. A strong one. We'll see what they do. If they try doing anything like burying evidence, we arrest them... again.”
Red Tape nodded.
“Sure thing. And congratulations on getting-”
“On getting punched? I knew I'd have to deal with this from you.” Shining snapped. Red Tape paused, her face falling, a frown displayed for all to see.
“On getting warrants this time.” she finished. Private Eye chuckled.
“Told you she'd compliment you on that. Most mares compliment me on my physique, but you should take your praise where you can.”
Shining chuckled. Red Tape just snorted before leaving, probably to write up that warning. At least she was efficient.
Shining took a look inside the interrogation room quickly. Vinyl was there, and so was Octavia, who had the her colleague in her arms, trying to calm her down. Shining sighed.
“I guess we maybe went overboard.” he muttered. Private Eye shrugged.
“Not if she is our mare. I guess we just need more evidence.”
Shining wasn't so sure. Most ponies cracked under that amount of pressure. And they might have enough evidence to bring to court, but it wouldn't be a clear cut thing. They needed more: and worse, if they were wrong, they'd need another pony to blame for this.
“I guess it's time I talked with Femme. Give me time to get a look at my eye.” Shining said, making his way to the stallion's room. Private Eye nodded.
“Sure thing. I'll make sure they know just how much trouble they're in.”
_
Celestia looked at the reports: none of them made her smile. There were the protests, for starters. If there was one thing her Captain couldn't handle right, it was peaceful demonstrations. Obviously, they had turned violent. The fact that there were protests to start with didn't bode well... if Luna couldn't operate within the new world, she'd doubtless become introverted. Just like last time.
And then there was the report of, for the first time in a while, a murder. Not an accident, but an actual killing. Celestia had really hoped she wouldn't have to see another one of those for months...
For better or for worse, Luna had been taking an interest in street crime. That was bound to annoy the Captain... he hated it when Celestia herself butted in on his work.
She just hoped that he could calm down long enough for the situation to improve... unfortunately, old ponies rarely learned new tricks.
_
Octavia wasn't a fool. She knew she'd be lucky if she didn't end up in jail for what she had done: let alone disrupting an interrogation, she had assaulted an officer.
On the other hoof, she had a hard time standing by and not trying to help Vinyl. Guilt and conflicting emotions swirled inside her. She found herself quite unable to make heads nor tails of anything her mind and heart told her. She had always treated Vinyl as second rate: hardly a musician at all, bereft of manners and civility, a crude pony at best.
It seemed that in a day, a lot could change. And after what she had heard, well, it became harder to hate her for some reason.
Why couldn't her life just be simple? It would make everything so much easier if Vinyl had been as crass as she had otherwise assumed, so much more straightforward. Ponies were harder to predict than she had thought, though.
She heard one of the guards enter the room. She glanced up quickly. Vinyl was still scared stiff.
“Octavia, Vinyl, you're both free to go home. No leaving town. But Octavia, you get a warning. Another mistake like that, and you're looking at charges, even if you aren't guilty of murder. Which I'm not entirely convinced of. And Vinyl...” The detective frowned and leaned in, taking care to meet her eyes, his hard expression making Vinyl tense up again. “You should have cooperated. This doesn't look good, Vinyl, not good at all.”
He handed Octavia the written warning and stood aside. She helped Vinyl up after the detective de-cuffed her, and led her outside.
“They think I'm a killer...” Vinyl muttered. Octavia smiled.
“I know you're not, Vinyl. It's okay, we'll sort this out...”
“They have evidence... how did...”
“Shush, Vinyl. Everything will be fine.”
Rain. Heavy rain, this time: not just light drizzle. Private Eye looked over the chalk outline, the white particles beginning to flow into the gutter. The yellow tape around the street had been broken: some punks who thought they were clever getting into a crime scene, no doubt.
If it was up to him, he'd round up every offender and put them away. Unfortunately with Celestia's policy of forgiveness and tolerance, he was prohibited from doing that. Stuck scrambling to catch criminals and letting them go afterwards. What a waste of time. Private Eye had seen enough crime to know that most of them never changed. They'd be back doing their thing in no time.
At least even Celestia couldn't justify this. Whoever the killer was, they were getting put away for good. No escape from justice this time.
The silhouette seemed to be staring at him. Private Eye turned away. There was something about standing on the scene where somepony had died, something he couldn't explain. Something dark, something evil that ate away at his soul. He grimaced and left. A guardpony wasn't far away.
“We going to do anything about the scene, sir?” he asked. Private Eye shook his head.
“No. Let it get washed away into the gutters. We have pictures if ever.” he replied. “Shining got that Femme into interrogation?” he asked. The guard nodded.
“From what I know, yes sir.”
“Good. I'll be heading with the rest of the team to sweep Schwartz's place. Dismissed.”
_
Vinyl was still in shock. Octavia had never seen the pony like this before: she had always come off as tough, rugged, exactly the type of pony you'd expect being a DJ. This scared, almost tearful mare was something she had never thought of seeing. She held the cup of tea gingerly in her hoof and presented it to her.
“Here. Drink this, it'll make you feel better.” she said. Vinyl looked at the drink, confused.
“What is this?” she asked.
“Tea. It's from Trottingham.” she replied. She watched Vinyl sip from it: to her dismay, it didn't seem to do the trick. A shame, it often did with her. Perhaps tea wasn't for everypony.
“Uh, thank's, Tavi'.” she said, smiling gently. She then stared straight ahead. “You think they'll send to to jail for this?” she asked. Octavia winced.
“Not if I have anything to say about it, Vinyl.” she replied. Vinyl smiled half heartedly.
“Huh. If I knew getting arrested would get you to notice me, I'd have done it earlier.” she joked. Octavia didn't smile.
“I was a stupid pony. I... I was stupid.” she said, looking down. Vinyl shrugged.
“It's okay, 'Tavi. I don't care-” She replied, but was quickly interrupted.
“You should. I've been nothing but mean to you... treating you like trash. What on earth could you see in somepony like me?” she asked.
Vinyl paused, collecting her thoughts.
“You heard me, huh?” she asked. Octavia nodded.
“Yes. I don't understand, Vinyl.”
Vinyl shrugged. The DJ had to admit she hadn't thought about it too much. Eventually she gave her answer.
“I guess, when you played your cello, y'know, on the radio and for the albums, you looked like you enjoyed your music as much as me. That's all that really mattered. You could act like a bitch all you wanted, but I knew that deep down, you cared about something more than yourself.”
Octavia didn't reply. Vinyl tried getting a better viewpoint on her face. She didn't look happy. Not in an angry way, but in the kind of way that meant she was sorry. Regretful. Vinyl put her tea aside. She didn't particularly like it anyway, and put her hoof around Octavia.
“'Tavi, I don't care what you did, 'kay? You're a good pony, and that's all that matters to me.”
Octavia remained silent, but leaned into Vinyl a bit. The DJ took her weight gratefully. They remained that way for quite some time.
_
The Captain stormed into the room, his eyes filled with fire. Most ponies avoided him. One pony couldn't. He was like a heat-seeker missile when angry.
The guard knew he had been made. He held his head low when his boss arrived in front of him, bowing low before the storm.
“You're the one that let that whorse get into the interrogation room?” he asked. The guard nodded.
“Y-yes sir. She took me by surprise and-”
“You get to work filing. For the next three months.”
The guard swallowed.
“Y-yes sir.”
“Be glad I don't fire you.”
“I am, sir.”
“Good.”
The Captain left, stomping back to his office. The guard sighed.
At least he still had a job.
_
Dear Cadence,
I got punched today. By a suspect. She took our interrogation of her friend the wrong way. I guess, writing it down, it sounds understandable, but it was routine work. It's normal to lay onto a suspect if we think we can get them to confess, so we gave her a warning.
I guess that sounds wrong. Maybe we're wrong... I don't know. I'll always do my best, you know that, but sometimes, the way we do things... it's too dark for me. As if it's a cloak of black we have to wear to stop ponies wearing the same thing. I don't know. It's a stupid metaphor.
Can't you come back soon? I'm going crazy without you. I need to talk about this to somepony. Letters don't cut it and I don't think Private will understand.
I love you.
Shining Armour
_
Femme was sitting awkwardly in her chair. Shining strode inside, smug confidence evident everywhere upon him: his walk, his face, his voice.
“Hello there. Feeling comfortable?” he asked. Femme Fatale didn't respond. Shining sat down opposite her.
“You going to talk someday? Or am I going to be wasting my time and eventually have to send you to jail anyway?
“The fear trip won't work on me, officer.” Femme snapped.
“Ah, good. You're finally with us.” Shining declared, beaming broadly. Femme turned away. “You know you're going to get asked about the salt, right?”
Femme was silent. Shining sighed.
“If you don't talk, you'll have to deal with the captain.”
“I want my lawyer.” Femme responded. Shining remained emotionless.
“The Captain doesn't care about lawyers. You have heard about him, right?” he asked. Femme made no sound, but Shining knew he had her attention. “Come on, am I sending you to jail or not? I can lessen your sentence if you cooperate.”
“I never partook in any salt trade, okay?” she replied, a little on edge, which was understandable. Shining smiled.
“Good. Can you tell me anything about it?”
“No. I never paid attention to that stuff.” she replied.
A glance to the left, a furtive pursing of the lips. Shining frowned.
“No lies, please.”
Femme sighed.
“Okay, okay. I don't know who he was trading with, but it was on Cancer street. He always had to go there. I never took any of the salt, either. I didn't care for all that.”
“Yeah. You were just in it for the bucking, weren't you?”
Femme made no sound. Shining shrugged.
“I'm not judging. You're going to have to remain here for a bit until we get more evidence. Be a good girl.”
_
Private Eye didn't care much about the rain. He felt it reflected what he saw in ponykind. The stuff he'd seen had been just one long tale of tragedy. Although he had to admit that water was uncomfortable.
He spotted Shining quickly. He waved. It was best to get this thing under way. When they were close enough to speak, he did so.
“Got a lead from the marefriend?”
“Yeah. Salt trade is on Cancer street. It's unclear, but Doc Black mentioned Cancer street, right?”
Private Eye nodded.
“Yeah. You know, it'd be nice for this to be a murder for money, not just an angry husband or coltfriend.”
“Or marefriend.”
“Yeah.”
They both stopped talking and continued on their way. Cancer street wasn't too far, but under the rain they were making slow progress, their steps becoming wider to avoid their wet fur clogging up in their joints. Their limbs became heavier.
“You got a letter back from your princess?” Private asked. Shining nodded.
“Yeah. Read it before I wrote this next one.”
A small moment of quiet.
“She doin' okay?” Private asked.
“Yup. She's curious about the case. I think. You know how letters are, it's sometimes difficult to tell genuine talk from small talk.”
“I done a long distance relationship before, Shiny. It doesn't always work.” Private said, his voice dark. It was true: he had, and they hadn't.
Shining snorted.
“Neither do short distance ones. We seen enough of those to last a lifetime.”
“I'll give you that, Shiny. I'll give you that.”
They arrived on Cancer street: an entire district dedicated to the constellation of the crab. There were stores named for crabs, puns about crabs, and Cancer street this, and Cancer street that. As if ponies had forgotten it was also a disease. Shining would normally ignore the shops, the ponies, but today, he was looking for something. For anything.
“Know anypony in the salt trade who might be connected to this?” Shining asks. Private shrugs.
“A few. If I see any of them, I'll point them out.” he says. They keep on patrolling the street.
No sign of anything. Private is getting restless.
“This sucks. This would have been easier if we just bagged the DJ and got on with it.”
“If we're going to press charges, I want more than a letter and a bit of conjecture. You know as well as I do that we need more than that to condemn.”
“It wouldn't stop the Captain.”
“Well, the Captain can lock up whoever he wants, but unless I get enough evidence, I'm not going to.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm just cranky because I'm bored.”
Shining let the subject drop. He continued scanning the streets.
A flash of fear from one of the ponies. He scanned him quickly: unicorn. Carrying a small bag. Could be salt.
“Got a possible suspect. Tag him, let's see where he goes.” Shining said. Private Eye looked over at the unicorn with the bag, he whistled quietly.
“Nicely spotted. Missed him completely. He's Junks. A known offender.”
Shining nodded, apprehensive.
“I think we have our guy then.” he muttered as they both moved to opposite sides of the street, following Junks, keeping an eye on him from afar. He looked scared. Probably his first time as a courier since Schwartz got killed.
Private Eye hit a large portion of crowd. He angrily pushed through them. Shining cursed.
The disruption was enough. Junks took one look at Private Eye, alerted by the scuffle, and bolted.
“Horsefeathers! After him!” bellowed Shining Armour. He pushed a few ponies aside, almost making them fall wildly to the wet ground, as he sprinted after Junks. “Canterlot Guard! Get out of the way!”
“Buck off, everypony!” screamed Private Eye, livid that he had been spotted.
Junks banked left into an alley, hoping to lose them there. Shining wasn't going to let him. He was fast: faster than Private Eye was. He was hot on the pony's heels as he followed him into the labyrinth of streets beyond.
It was strange how, only a few feet away from the main streets of Canterlot, you descended into a slummy maze of dirt and corruption. Shining shoved through a bunch of punks, who were probably already on salt, and tried to get a line of sight on Junks again.
He was climbing over a rotting wooden fence. It seemed to buckle under his weight as he threw himself to the other side. Shining growled.
His horn flickered to life. A purple bolt of energy shot from it and struck the fence dead centre. It shattered apart, and Shining cannoned through.
One bolt down, five left.
He stopped. He had lost sight of his quarry: he scanned his surroundings briefly, doing his best to see the elusive criminal, without success.
"Go left, dammit!" came Private's voice from above: the earth pony had clambered onto the top of one of the buildings during the chase and had a clear line of sight on Junks. Shining bolted once again. Junks had been hiding behind a pile of trash cans, hoping to go unnoticed. When he saw Shining approach, he shot out of hiding again.
Despite the head start, Junks was far closer, and desperately tried clambering up a drainpipe to escape. Shining knew that if he tried following, he'd just be kicked in the face, so instead he wrenched at the pipe, pulling it from the wall. Junks screamed as he fell a good few yards next to Shining, groaning as he rolled around in a puddle next to him. Shining picked up the bag, and opened it. It was overflowing with salt.
“You've been a naughty pony, haven't you?” Shining asked, panting. Private Eye caught up with him eventually. He growled as he saw Junks lying prone before him.
“Got hampered by civvies. Dumb ponies should move aside, police or no.” he said. Shining knew he was just complaining at this point. Private Eye would do that.
Shining tossed him the salt. Private took one look and smiled.
“Good, so I didn't just waste my breath. Do you want to start breaking his ribs, or shall I?” he asked. Shining saw the look of panic on Junks's face.
“You know we don't do that.” he replied tersely.
“I'm in a bad mood, and if it'll get me to somepony to accuse faster, I'm all for stomping on him until the cows come home.” Private responded, lifting his hoof over their prisoner.
Shining looked over at Junks. He then looked away.
“I won't stop you.” he eventually said. Private Eye grinned as he approached the pony.
“W-wait! It's the Griffon Cartel! I work for the Griffon Cartel!”
Shining nodded in approval.
“That was fast.” he commented. Private shrugged.
“I'm guessing he remembers me from that last time I caught him. Ain't that right?”
“Broke my bleedin' leg, that bastard...” Junks whimpered to Shining, whom he had recognized as the least violent of the two.
“Good for memory, that.” Private explained. Shining looked at him, disapproving.
“That's going too far.” he said, darkly. Private snorted.
“This guy's scum. His entire family's scum. He roughs up kids on their way back from school, you bet your arse I'm going to hurt him. You have a problem with that, take it up with the Captain. As far as I could tell, he condoned it.”
Shining dropped the issue. Sometimes there was no reasoning with Private Eye. He turned back to Junks.
“Who's in charge of the Cartel? Who do you take orders from?”
“... He calls himself Sodium. He's a griffon... real nasty...” Junks stammered. Shining Armour tried recalling the name, but without any success. Must be a new player. He looked over at Private.
“Don't know him.” he said, as if reading his thoughts. Shining grabbed Junks by the scruff of his neck.
“You're coming to HQ. Hope you enjoy sleeping in a cell.” he declared, cuffing the lowlife.
_
The Captain was not happy.
News of a new Cartel boss had arisen, and a scum-bag salt dealer locked in a cell, but very little to go on. No information, no location, and no certain link to the Schwartz murder.
“I don't care about some dumb salt traders! I care about killers! If I wanted you on a Vice case, I'd have stuck you in Vice! Now go and find the killer!” he had yelled.
Private Eye and Shining had been thus far unable to squeeze any other names or places out of Junks: he had dealt with a third party middle pony from home. As for a description, well, that hadn't gotten far. A mare, wore a heavy coat, face barely visible. So not much to go on.
And then there was the lawyer.
He had hit them with so many loopholes they would probably end up being bogged down, and unable to so much as bring Femme Fatale in for another week.
All in all, catching Junks had not made Shining's day much better. He sat at his desk, staring gloomily at his numerous papers and documents, absent mindedly pushing the button on the end of his pen, listening to the clicking sound it made.
Clickity.
He stared at a blank sheet of paper. He had already posted his last letter to Cadence, but something about this dissatisfying afternoon made him crave contact with her even more.
Clickity.
He took the paper and began writing.
_
Dear Cadence,
I guess I must be feeling pretty down these days. I don't think I've written this many letters since you first left. I hope your eyes don't get too tired.
I'm not operating on much sleep. A lot of things have happened. I suppose I'm just tired or something.
I don't even know what to write any more. I just know I want to. Does that make sense? Am I just being annoying, or do you feel this too? My postal bills must be through the roof. I don't think I care.
Private Eye's getting more restless too. Most ponies can't tell, but he's being more aggressive... more gloomy. We need to solve this case soon, or we're going to go mad.
I wish you were with me,
Shining Armour
_
Octavia looked out of the window, deep in thought. It was getting dark. It was always getting dark these days, she thought. There was something wrong with her life, and all she could see was a curtain of blackness.
She looked over towards Vinyl. She paused her train of thought momentarily. The white coat and bright, electric blue shocked her into sudden blindness.
Things... weren't all black, she reflected. Vinyl caught her looking at her and smiled, amused.
“What?” she asked. Octavia grinned and looked away.
“Ahem... nothing, Vinyl.” she replied. Vinyl tilted her head to the side. She wasn't wearing her glasses, Octavia noticed. She had almost never seen her without her glasses, even when they were strapped to her forehead, under her horn.
“Y'know, you've been here like... all day.” she commented. Octavia coughed, trying her best to figure out her response.
“Well, I, ahem. I wanted to make sure you were all right, after that awful treatment...” she said. She suddenly noticed Vinyl was much closer. Far too close.
“Well... I am all right. I think I've been all right all afternoon.” she said, her voice lowered. Octavia lowered her eyelids a little as she moved her muzzle closer to the pristine, perfect unicorn.
“I'm glad.” she responded, a little embarrassed she hadn't thought of anything better to say. She felt Vinyl's hoof run through her mane slowly.
Nothing but big, red eyes. Such a welcome change from the darkness of the night outside.
They didn't mind the small and cramped apartment any more, or the grim circumstances of their condition. They only cared about each other for that next minute, and didn't stop until they pulled away, back to reality.
Octavia looked over at the clock. She groaned. It was quarter to two: she had let herself get distracted for far too long. But every time she felt like going home, going to bed, or even just getting up, she felt like she was leaving something perfect behind. Vinyl was sitting on the couch next to her: they weren't that close, but their legs and hooves were gently touching. Octavia found it impossible to pull away.
Three short, sharp bangs on the door. Octavia jumps, startled. Vinyl frowns, and makes her way to the door. Her warmth is sorely missed. Octavia quickly follows suit.
Vinyl magicks a large, heavy baseball bat from next to her door, and then opens it a few inches, checking to see who's there. She sighs in relief, and the door opens all the way. Octavia notices she's still tense, however, and she trots up next to her, getting a better view of the pony. It's Shining Armour, and another pony she recognizes, but who's name she can't remember, or possibly never knew.
"Hello again, miss Scratch. Miss Melody." Shining greets. The other pony, a mare with a red ribbon as a cutie mark, smiles benevolently.
"My name is Red Tape: I'll be filling in for Private Eye for now." she said. Vinyl looks uncomfortable at the memory of Private. She is still bitter about her treatment. Octavia also remembers punching Shining in the jaw: the bruise is barely noticeable on his pristine white coat, but there. She feels a little ashamed: she doesn't like using her self defence training out of anger, or fear, and it never gets easier. She closes the gap between her and Vinyl, reassuring her. Vinyl instantly becomes more composed.
"Officers? It's kinda late." she says. Shining nods.
"Yes, it is. We were hoping you'd be able to answer a few questions regarding Schwartz's salt... activities."
Vinyl frowns.
"Schwartz was into salt?" she asked. Shining nodded. Octavia does her best to remember: anything to get them off Vinyl's back. All she can think of is his walks along Cancer street...
"He went to Cancer street a lot... could that have anything to do with it?" she asked. Shining sighed.
"I see." Shining replied, almost exasperated. This was obviously not the kind of answer he was hoping for. "Is that all?"
Red Tape glanced at both of them hopefully. Octavia guessed she was there to keep Shining under control. After her last outburst in the interrogation room...
"I'm afraid I don't know." Vinyl said. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, Vinyl." Octavia muttered. The quick words of comfort, once again, worked wonders on her. Shining sighed.
"Well, if you think of anything, please don't hesitate to call us." he said. He glared at Vinyl briefly. Octavia felt defeated: Vinyl was still under investigation. That letter was circumstantial, she knew... but it didn't help her friends case.
The two police ponies left.
***
"Well, it looks like we won't have to visit them separately any more." Shining commented, as he trotted ahead down the stairs, his companion quick on his heels. Red Tape shrugged.
"Can you blame them? They're quite obviously in love." she said. Shining paused, before shaking his head. He had seen too many ponies like them, and he had learnt not to assume too much.
"I didn't get the impression that Octavia had liked her that much before yesterday." he countered. "She could be keeping an eye on her... either to find evidence against her, or because she might be trying to incriminate her. Or maybe she's just using her for some easy bucks-"
Red Tape elbowed Shining, annoyed.
"You are so crude... just like Private Eye. Always thinking the worst of ponies." she said, storming ahead. "I'll get the team ready for a full inspection of Schwartz's house tomorrow morning." She added as she passed outside, the windows from Vinyls apartment lighting up the streets just enough for her way to be visible, the golden yellow light eerily illuminating her face. "Well, today in a few hours I suppose."
Shining sighed.
"I'll be there." he said, glancing at Vinyl's window as he left. He briefly saw the shadow of one of the ponies, silhouetted in the light. He frowned and left. "Looks like another sleepless night..."
***
Octavia closed the window, the chilly wind no longer cutting into the room. Vinyl yawned as she sat back down on her couch, a small bottle of cider in hoof. She flicked the cap off effectively and began gulping down the semi-chilled liquid. Octavia sat down again. She found it hard to resume their position of comfort that they had earlier, before they had been interrupted.
Her thoughts flickered back to what Shining and Red Tape had said outside. Maybe they'd find something in his apartment... or maybe they'd go back to suspecting her, or Vinyl.
Vinyl herself tipped the bottle towards her.
"Want some?" she asked. Octavia shook her head. She didn't like the idea of a cold drink on an already cold night. The memory of the wind from outside still made her shiver. Vinyl looked over at her and leaned over.
It was exactly what Octavia had wanted, but she still found herself surprised. She swallowed nervously. Vinyl seemed to look a little awkward.
"Um... too close?" she asked. Octavia said nothing: Vinyl was literally on top of her. If there had been such a thing as personal space, it had been long since thrown away.
"...no." she replied, leaning in herself to kiss Vinyl. She still tasted a little of the cider she had just drank. She smiled. Intoxicating on two levels, then. She felt like saying that, but she stumbled trying to find her words.
"...there's, um, toxins, in... ahem." she attempted. Vinyl raised her eyebrow.
"We'll be fine so long as we use protect-"
Octavia spluttered.
"No! I mean, your intoxication is on several levels." she tried again.
"...'Tavi, I've only had the one cider. I'm fine."
Octavia sighs. Serves her right for trying to say something clever, trying to be smooth. Vinyl smiles broadly.
"You're adorable when you're confused." she said. Octavia felt her throat tighten: it took her a moment to realize it was Vinyl's magic undoing her bow tie.
"...I need to be up early." she said brusquely. Vinyl didn't stop.
"Well, don't go to sleep."
***
Crime didn't care about other ponies. If the guard was busy, or had been working for two days straight, it would hardly make the ponies of Canterlot pause. Unbeknownst to Shining, three ponies were lost. They had been drinking heavily, and they had stumbled into a dark, unused alleyway. A fatal mistake.
The four ruffians looked at them, marking them as easy bits. Knives slid out of their sheaths and pockets, and they walked around them, encircling them. There was nowhere for them to run.
On any other night, the Captain of the guard would have received a report of three dead or injured ponies.
On any other night, three corpses would litter the ground.
But Equestria had changed dramatically in the previous weeks.
Instantly, as if the entire street had been lit up with the intensity of a lightning strike, and a shock-wave the likes nopony had ever seen knocked the thugs back, the three lost ponies finally understood the danger they had been in. They looked up at a shadowy figure hovering above the scene: eyes glowing like stars and a nebulous mane snaking around endlessly, as if testing the walls and sky around it.
The thug ponies scrambled back, knives dropped to the floor. The alicorn landed with a tremendous, explosive bang, shattering the ground beneath her.
"Leave this place!" came the resounding cry, like thunder across a silent night sky. The ruffians were only too glad to oblige. The alicorn strode past the three, terrified ponies, momentarily hesitating as she witnessed their petrified features. She then continued on her way, stepping into the light beyond the dreary alley. She then spread her wings and soared back above the lower quarter towards the city above.
***
It must have been just after dawn. Shining armour could barely hold his fatigue in check any longer: this was probably going to be their last lead before they had to start relying on guesswork, and re-exploring previous clues. Namely Femme Fatale: Shining wasn't convinced she was blameless: her speed in calling in her lawyer was evidence of that.
There was a large chance Schwartz would have some clue in his home about the whereabouts of this Sodium fellow...
There had to be around half a dozen guards: including an incredibly tired Private Eye, and Red Tape. Shining approached his friend, grinning childishly.
"Enjoy your nap?" he asked. Private Eye grunted.
"Screw you. Do you know what it's like getting woken up by the Captain?" he asked. Red Tape chuckled.
"Well... if you feel like taking another snooze, you're still officially liable to take an executive rest due to physical ability for another hour..." she said.
"Is there really a regulation about that?" replied Private, sorely tempted to take her up on the offer. It was then that they finally saw their experts arrive, and they quickly opened the door. Stepping inside, Shining remembered the room from his previous visit two days ago. He had hoped he'd be able to pin the murder on any one of his suspects before then, but as it turned out, his decision had been the wrong one.
"Maybe if you had followed procedure and started with this, we might have already caught the killer." Red Tape butted in, as if reading his mind. Shining grunted.
"Whatever." he replied tersely. He glanced around the room he was in: he had to admit he couldn't remember much of the details, but it seemed mostly the same. The team scanned everything this time: searching through books, desks, shelves, and the bedroom, revealing all of the deceased's secrets, whether they were glorious, or as the case most often turned out to be, gloriously dirty.
About an hour must have passed as Shining searched through, once again, a massive pile of Schwartz's work documents, until he heard Private Eye and Red tape exclaim happily. He looked up, eager to put aside his boring task. He trotted into the living room, stepping around one of the ponies who were analysing the carpet for whatever reason.
"We have a possible address for a salt base." Private Eye said. Red Tape handed a few cinema tickets to Shining.
"It was Lt. Stroke who noticed: there's salt on all of these tickets, all for the same cinema." she said. Private Eye smiled.
"It may be nothing, but it'll get us out of here."
"Or it may give us the killer!" retorted Red Tape angrily. Private Eye snorted.
"Or it could just be from salted popcorn..."
"Shall we check it out?" Red Tape asked. Shining looked at the tickets.
"Worth a look. Maybe somepony there knows something about Schwartz, if he was a regular, salt base or no." Red Tape smiled.
"Excellent."
***
The cinema was quite empty this time of day: there were very few early morning viewings, after all.
Shining and Private Eye were alone. Red Tape had gone to inform the Captain of their progress. The large glass doors swung open, revealing a moody interior in the midst of cleaning. The red carpet below their hooves was stained and crumbs of food littered the place after the previous evening's business. The pair approached the only pony in the vicinity, the cleaner himself.
"Can you direct us to the owner?" Shining asked. The cleaner grunted, gesturing towards a door at the far end of the hall. The pair went away.
The owner was apparently a small, angry looking pegasus poring over a pile of papers. Shining leant over him.
"Canterlot Guard. We have some questions."
The pegasus slowly looked up, as if he had been told a joke.
"Guard? You bein' serious?" he asked.
Private Eye slammed his hoof onto the table.
"You're joking, right? We could have you in the slammer if you don't cooperate immediately, punk." he snapped. Private was at the end of his rope. The pegasus grinned.
"You know, you should check with your cap' if you want to come in here, chum. We got protection from some powerful ponies..."
Shining frowned. Suddenly, he figured that it might not have been salt from popcorn on the tickets. What was worrying was how confident this guy was, lording his obviously criminal ways over them.
"We're here about the salt trade." he asked. The pegasus shrugged smugly.
"I don't know anything about that, officers."
Lying. He didn't even have to check his body language to know. This guy was dirty. They had just struck gold.
Salt was once used as a currency, in olden times... like gold was now.
"You're under arrest." Shining declared, nodding at Private Eye to secure the pony. The manager began backing off, his confidence beginning to fade. It always did.
"Wait, I'm serious! You'll be lucky to have a job after this!" he exclaimed. Private Eye put his hoof on the pony's shoulder.
"Are you resisting arrest?" he asked. The manager flew into a rage.
"The hay I am! There's no way you two are gonna-"
His head hit the table before he could finish his sentence, and the cuffs were on him an instant after that. Private Eye looked over at Shining.
"What? He said he was resisting arrest."
Shining didn't bother responding: he had no problem with Private Eye knocking out a crook. He turned to examine the room: his eyes scanning the entire place. There was the door they had come in... and another that doubtless led behind the scenes of the cinema.
"Let's take a look around. Cuff him to the chair." Shining ordered. Private obliged, shifting the pegasus as close to the chair as he could, and then clicking the hoofcuffs around the arm of the table, judging it harder to move or break than the chair. Shining didn't complain about this choice. He gently pushed the door open to get a view of what was behind.
The corridor beyond was empty and basic. Crates and tools littered the place: as well as the odd sack. Shining already knew it was salt: as far as he was concerned, he had found his prey. He crept forward, priming his magical blasts for use. No sense in being caught off guard.
"You sure you want to go in without back up?" asked Private.
"Give them five minutes and they'll have cleared out... anyway, Red Tape will have told the Captain where we are. I doubt we'll be alone for long."
The wooden planks felt like they were on the verge of creaking. Shining cut upon one of the sacks with the tip of his horn. Salt spilled across the floor like water.
"I think we've got them." he said. He turned around quickly: he heard the floorboards shift as hoofsteps beat across them. He tried scanning the corridor, without success. They weren't alone.
"Was that one of them?" asked Private.A second passed and nopony moved.
Shining looked over at the massive white screen he stood behind: on the other side would be a room filled with opulent looking red seats, covered with crumbs hidden in the gloom. Shining swallowed. Anything could be beyond there, anything at all...
"If it was one of them, let's hope they haven't found our prisoner yet." Shining whispered.
"...we should have moved him outside, huh?" asked Private. Shining wasn't sure what to answer: on one hoof, if they had escorted their prisoner out, they would have been seen and their prey would have been alerted, but then if they had gotten out invisibly, they might be able to return with a massive tactical advantage, mainly consisting of twenty or so guards storming the place.
"Maybe." he replied.
He knew he could still do shields: they were his special talent. Most unicorns couldn't even manage one for a few seconds, but Shining could keep his going for hours, and with concentration and help they could be massive. Those ones took a while to erect, however.
Silence drew on.
"Let's keep moving." he suggested, as quietly as he could. His voice couldn't possibly have been heard by anypony other than Private Eye. The other pony nodded, and they slowly lifted their hooves up to continue their stealthy investigations.
The screen erupted with crossbow bolts and magical attacks, peppering the screen with holes, leaving only darkness beyond. Both Shining and Private quickly leapt behind some crates and paraphernalia, desperate to avoid any injuries.
"Dammit!" shouted Shining, unable to pinpoint the location of any one attacker. There was definitely more than one: between the multiple crossbow bolts and the magical blasts, they were looking at a dozen attackers.
"Horseapples!" exclaimed Private as one of the bolts grazed his leg, drawing blood. He whipped out his truncheon, despite it being utterly useless in this long distance fire fight.
Only six shots, and more than a dozen attackers. This was bad.
"We need to get out of here!" shouted Shining. Private Eye nodded. The din was unbearable.
"You don't say?"
The Captain sat hunched over his desk, calmly awaiting the arrival of his visitor. He chewed briefly on a small stick of wood, his teeth grinding against the bark in a pleasing way, shredding away all the dirt and food stuck between his teeth. When he heard the hoofsteps outside, he quickly spat it out, creating a loud clang as it clattered around the bin in the corner.
The tall alicorn strode into his office, her face guarded and severe. The Captain was not intimidated.
"Your highness." he grunted.
"Captain."
The Captain stood up, his chair rubbing against the floor creating a loud, ungodly noise.
"You've been messing up ponies in the dead of night, then?" he asked, his brow furrowed. Luna trotted over to the window.
"We require explanation." she replied. The Captain stomped his hoof.
"You went around and attacked a street gang at midnight, and don't go pretending you don't know about it."
Luna felt like reprimanding the captain for his lack of deference, but her sister had made her promise to be generous. Overly generous, in Luna's opinion.
"We are the protector of the night. Does this offend you?" she asked. The Captain made no immediate movement.
"Celestia has never butted into my job before. And vigilantism is against the law."
Luna chuckled.
"We are above the law."
"As long as I'm in charge here, Nightmare Moon will not be the law in my city!"
The door was abruptly knocked. The Captain turned quickly, shooting over to the handle, and snapped it open. Red Tape quickly glanced at both the Captain's furious face, and the Princess in the room. She froze.
"What?" the Captain asked. Red Tape swallowed.
"Um... Shining Arm- I mean, detectives Shining Armour and Private Eye are following a lead at the cinema, sir." she blurted.
The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Luna eyed Red Tape appraisingly.
"This is in regard to the murder of Schwartz, yes?" she asked. Red Tape nodded.
"Yes, your highness."
Luna smiled.
"Thou should send them help." she advised the Captain, who snarled briefly.
"The cinema, you say?" he asked. Red Tape nodded. "Then assemble a dozen guards, and don't waste time getting it done."
***
Shining twitched his ear, desperately trying to hear the sound of hoofsteps, madly attempting to pinpoint his attackers location. Private Eye had stopped clutching his injury: it only seemed to be a flesh wound, and anyhow, he was a tough earth pony, not inclined to being incapacitated by a small cut.
There had been both arrows and magical attacks: that meant that there were some unicorns out there. Shining grit his teeth, doing his best to come up with an effective strategy. If any of them knew how to undo shields, he was in trouble. As everypony in the department knew, shields were his forte.
His cover wasn't exactly reliable: hollow crates and tools weren't stable, but it had held this far. He hoped that if they resumed fire, it would continue to do so.
Private Eye wiped his hoof over his face, smearing blood all over his nose. He seemed to be cursing under his breath. Shining could only guess at why he was berating himself: it could be at getting hit, getting seen, or, knowing his friend, forgetting to turn the oven off.
They had to make a bee-line for the other side of the corridor: hopefully the stronger stone and brick walls would hold against all attacks, barring a powerful magical strike. Unfortunately, that left them, particularly Shining himself, sprinting across the deadly no-pony's land in between.
He still didn't know how they had seen them... they had been behind the screen. Maybe that meant their aim was off, that they'd have a decent chance of making it... at the very least, from here there wasn't much chance he'd hit anything on the other side.
He looked over at Private Eye. Their eyes met, and like only two ponies who had worked together for years could, they understood each other.
Shining's horn flickered. He leapt out of cover, his hooves clattering on the hollow floor beneath him. He heard a few shouts from the other side of the screen. As the arrows sailed towards him, he threw himself forwards.
The metal tips bounced off against the crystalline shield that appeared only just in time, sending small black cracks across it's surface as it weakened. He sprinted as fast as he could behind his partner, well behind, hoping his shield would last just long enough...
With a sound like shattering glass, a magical missile hit a fault point in his hastily constructed shield. A hole opened up, like a gateway to death itself.
Too late, however, as Shining passed the door into a small, claustrophobic room, safe from his attackers. Private Eye panted as he secured a second door, opening it slightly and glancing through to check for incoming ponies.
"Our shadows! Our shadows were on the screen!" he exclaimed under his breath. "I can't believe we were so stupid!"
Shining felt like berating himself as well, now that he realized his partner was right. Anypony, or griffon, would have seen their silhouettes from the cinema hall if it was darker than the corridor behind the screen. They'd have literally been centre stage.
"How many shots can you handle?" asked Private Eye, concerned. Shining tapped his horn.
"Six in total: I'm afraid I can't do more than that."
Private Eye spat a curse.
"There looked to be more than just six of them out there... and my truncheon won't handle the rest."
Shining didn't respond to that: instead he tried coming up with a plan of action.
"We have to get out of here. We've lost the element of surprise: we're sitting ducks in here."
"Red Tape's going to have my hide for this..." Private commented. Suddenly, Shining heard a commotion: peering into the cavernous darkness of the corridor, he spotted movement: a griffon, it's talons clutching a crossbow. He fired a magical bolt on impulse, striking the bird in the chest. It crumpled, if not dead, then very seriously injured.
Five.
The pair dashed over the supine griffon, Private putting away his truncheon and replacing it with the heavy griffon crossbow, before taking aim into the large, open cinema room, the red chairs contrasting with the black, impenetrable gloom. He fired.
Shining heard a scream.
"For buck's sake, there's just two of the blighters! Kill 'em!" came a loud, arrogant voice. Shining instantly turned towards the sound and fired.
Four.
He missed. He ducked behind a chair, a bolt thudding into the soft, leathery padding, feathers flying in his face. He coughed, the strands tickling his nose. Another bolt, attracted to the noise, hit the ground only an inch away from his hoof. He followed the shaft towards where the shooter would have been, checked for a target and aimed...
...fired.
Three.
"Sodium! Mixer's dead!" came a shout. "We gotta r-"
The shouting was interrupted by a scream, no doubt from the same origin as the voice itself. Private Eye was a crack shot with a crossbow.
"You useless pricks! You gonna let them trespass, eh? Well I ain't!" came the arrogant voice. No doubt Sodium.
Suddenly a large pony, a unicorn, was holding Shining by the neck. How he had sneaked up on him, he wasn't sure... all he knew was that his air was running out. He craned his neck towards his attacker and his horn flickered to life.
Two. One.
He fell to the ground again, his spine hitting the back of the chair. He rolled away from the smoking corpse, eager to find new cover. His breathing was still ragged, and spots clung to his eyes, obscuring the already dark room. He scrambled around, trying to get his bearings.
Griffon with a knife...
Zero.
The griffon fell, clutching his shoulder. Shining got to his hooves, panting.
"Private!" he shouted, eager for support.
What he saw instead was the massive shape of a male griffon, all white with bright, pink eyes. He was thrown to the floor unceremoniously, his spine once again heavily bruised.
"Insult me, would'ya?" the griffon screamed, raising his talon high.
Those claws were designed to rend flesh. They were hunter's weapons, designed by evolution. Griffons were know, in more feral places, to eat ponies. Tore them apart. Maybe that would happen to Shining...
Nothing happened: no talons came.
Shining stared at the albino.
The white griffon didn't move. His muscles seemed to contract as red energy flickered around his limbs. His eyes went wild.
"You have the right to remain silent... Sodium." came a dark, angry voice. Shining knew that voice as the Captain.
"You don't say... Captain. Aren't we on a first name basis yet, chummy?"
"Shut your face. You're in deep trouble... so how about you... just... stop... moving."
Sodium cackled.
"Imma' still twitch!"
The red electricity continued to constrict the griffon, now moving across his beak, clamping it shut. Sodium grunted, unable to fully voice his discontent. He twitched as a pair of officers grasped him from both sides, disarming him and cuffing him. Shining brushed himself down.
"Thank Celestia you arrived..."
"I'm going to handle Sodium's interrogation: you go get cleaned up." the Captain said, the energy around his horn dying out. He looked at his best officer up and down, checking his had no serious injury, before nodding to himself. "And not a word of anything to anypony. I'll not have you alert the press like last time."
Shining nodded.
As Private Eye's injury was bandaged up, Red Tape rushed towards them.
"Did we get here in time?"
"Only just. Shining over there was almost steak." Private said. He brushed the ponies swarming him away. "Shining, I want a word."
Shining nodded. He looked over at the other survivors of the rain being carted outside: among them was the squirrely pegasus they had chained to a table earlier. He was still hurling abuse at them.
"You can't hold me! I'll be out in a few hours! Ha! You'll see, you buckin' cops!"
Shining narrowed his eyes, and focused his attention on Private, who was still beckoning him to come over.
"Of course."
"It's about those things the manager said... about the Captain." Private said quietly as the manager in question was dragged outside.
Shining frowned.
"You don't actually believe him, do you?"
"What things about the Captain?" asked Red Tape. Shining sighed.
"There were some insinuations that our Captain might be in on this operation. I don't know for sure."
Red Tape looked over her shoulder.
"You'd best not let the Captain hear you're talking like this."
"We're discussing evidence. Nothing illegal there." Private commented. Shining nodded.
"Yeah. I know he's pretty quick to arrest, but we're his best detectives."
Red Tape looked unconvinced. Shining threw his hooves up despairingly.
"Oh, come on, Tape! After one little accusation and all of a sudden you act like we're plotting open rebellion!"
"I'm just worried for both of your careers: you may cause me headaches, but you're right about being the best. The force can't afford to lose you."
Shining didn't acknowledge the compliment: he was too busy trying to contemplate the ramifications if their suspicions were correct. It seemed too dark to contemplate: after all, even though it was well known within the guard that there was very little that was innocent about their captain, he was also the best placed to deal with any and all insurrection and crime.
"I'm worried for my career as well: but... well, I guess I dislike loose ends."
Shining nodded.
"Let's focus on Schwartz's murder first... Sodium might have left evidence around. Tape, Private, I want you two to search the place for anything. I'm going to have a chat with somepony."
The three parted ways, Shining trotting confidently outside, taking one last look at the cinema: the guards had swarmed the place and all the windows were lit. All were closed but one: it hung open. Shining found it strange at first, but really, he had to admit he liked the fresh air as much as anypony, and he could hardly begrudge somepony else that enjoyment, even a criminal. From beyond his noticed Red Tape begin her search: she seemed both quick and efficient. Shining smiled as he turned and headed towards the palace.
***
The queen moved aside two squares, threatening the knight, but at the same time, protecting that crucial bishop from the white rook: Celestia narrowed her eyes: it seemed that she had been falling behind on her chess skills these past thousand years. Luna, on the other hoof, seemed quite comfortable with the game.
"You're being a bit sloppy, Celly."
"And you're being a bit insufferable, Lulu." Celestia remarked. Luna laughed. She was still as childish as before, at least in private. Other times, she seemed to possess a wisdom that Celestia had only seen in the rarest of ponies.
The door knocked. Celestia turned.
"Who is it?"
"Detective Shining to see Princess Luna, Ma'am."
Luna stood.
"Send him in. I'm sorry, Celly, perhaps I can beat you another time?" she said. Celestia smiled, eager to get away from her looming defeat and practice alone.
"Of course, Lulu. Please tell me if you need anything." she said, before leaving through one of the other doors, as Shining opened his own and entered. He looked serious. Luna adopted her grandest stance.
"Princess Luna... you told me that I was reporting to you as much as my Captain, yes?"
Luna nodded.
"Indeed. We hope you did not take this too literally... I wish only the important details."
"I'm more here for a question... about conduct, your highness."
Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Really?"
"Yes. During my investigation on the Schwartz case, we followed a lead to a drug dealer. There's a small chance... small, that my colleagues are trying to confirm or dismiss as we speak, that my Captain might have known or even protected them."
Luna frowned.
"We know Celestia has advocated the Captain's liberal interpretation of his duty before, but what you suggest may be going too far, detective."
"I know... I guess my question is, if my Captain was guilty, well... what would you do about it?"
***
The desk was now empty: the shelves had been torn apart by the two officers, as they searched for clues, words and items that could link Sodium to Schwartz, and more alarmingly, Sodium to the Captain. The open window had been closed quickly: they didn't want the wind to stir up the papers and remove the evidence they needed.
It wasn't long before they had found their first piece of evidence: a bloodstained dagger. Private Eye couldn't recognize it, but he had a hunch that if they matched it up with Schwartz's wound, they would be identical. The blood on it hadn't even been attempted to be cleaned, and had dried up, patterning the blade with a reddish brown stain. It had been placed on the desk.
In the hastily closed drawer was another letter: written in Schwartz's hoofwriting, like the last letter they had found. It definitely liked Schwartz to Sodium, as in it, Schwartz had been blackmailing Sodium for more bits. A rookie move that anypony could tell was a bad idea. It seemed Schwartz hadn't asked anypony for their opinion.
But as for the evidence on their Captain, well... there was less of that. Hints, perhaps. Red Tape, a master of all things documented, could barely sense the trail that seemed to connect the two, hidden amidst the endless letters and ledgers. Still, she knew what she felt: that her Captain was guilty. It was simply a matter of proving it.
"There's nothing in here... we've got Sodium. that's all we need."
"Not for me." Red Tape replied.
The search continued, but in vain. Eventually, as the sun dipped in the sky, the pair gave up, and left.
As they exited the building into the red streets filled with the light of the darkening sun, they came face to face with the Captain, and Sodium.
"Officers Private Eye. Red Tape... where do you think you're going?" he asked. He loomed over them like a monolith, growling behind his bared teeth.
"We have evidence against Sodium for the murder of Schwartz, sir." Red Tape said, her eyes narrowed. Private Eye didn't need to see through ponies to know that he knew she knew. And Sodium chuckled.
"Listen, chum, I didn't kill nopony."
"His salt's all legalized. Private, order the guards out of there." the Captain demanded. Private and Red Tape both blanched at the thought of Sodium getting away.
"We have the murder weapon, sir." Private countered. The Captain glared over at Sodium, who shrugged.
"Must have been a mistake... I don't leave murder weapons around my place."
Private Eye presented the dagger. Sodium didn't react.
"Ain't mine."
"And a letter saying Schwartz was blackmailing him."
"Red Tape... Private... hand me that evidence please." The Captain ordered. Red Tape shook her head.
"No."
"Red? I'm sorry, I must be going a little hard of hearing in my old age... I thought I heard you disobey a direct order."
"I'm sorry, but protocol dictates that as long as the investigation is ongoing, it is up to the detectives to whom the investigation belongs as to the disposal of evidence, pending approval from their superior officer."
The Captain growled.
"I hope you like working in filing for the rest of all your days..."
Red Tape felt momentarily elated: she loved files. Private Eye swallowed nervously: he did not.
"We just want to make sure Sodium gets a trial for-"
"But I'm innocent, mate!" Sodium replied sarcastically. "Who are you to question your glorious leader?"
"That would be Us."
Luna landed gracefully between the two pairs, smiling knowingly at the Captain, who narrowed his eyes aggressively.
"Oh good. Royalty."
"Indeed... I hope you don't mind Us interfering."
"As a matter of fact-"
"Good. We think that in light of recent evidence, Sodium be taken into custody." she declared. Sodium began to panic.
"W-wait a bleedin' minute!"
"Princess, you're making my life very difficult..." the Captain began. Luna stopped him.
"We want you to procure us the forms stating that his 'merchandise' are legal, Captain."
The Captain growled.
"You'll have to wait for them."
The Princess trotted over to Sodium, who was cringing away from her, quite scared. Luna sighed.
"We understand your concerns, Captain. We truly do: it was only a few weeks hence that I was known by a different name and brought terror to the night."
The Captain nodded.
"Yeah. It was."
"However, We can assure you that We are no longer that mare. We can help bright peace to the night, restore it to it's former beauty... can you not see this, Captain?" Luna asked, pleading. "You have done nought but berate us for protecting the innocent, whilst you cavort with those we seek to stop!"
The Captain looked around at the ponies gathered in front of the cinema: Shining Armour, Private Eye, Red Tape, a handful of officers and Sodium. He decided to ignore them.
"If it weren't for scum like Sodium, the streets would be run by disorganized crime! For Celestia's sake, we need his kind to keep the rabble under control. If we didn't-"
Luna cut him off.
"Captain, we no longer need criminals like Sodium to keep the peace: now that We are returned, we can protect the night far better than any salt dealer. Surely you can understand? See the promise of a brighter future?"
"No."
Luna sighed. Shining looked back and forth at the pair, trying to gauge who would win this argument: trying to figure out who he would prefer to win.
"Captain... by constantly standing in my way, you have made an enemy of Us. And yet, We would prefer not to condemn you to a life of prison for aiding and protecting organized crime."
"You can do whatever you want, Princess. You'll find you were wrong."
"We will not. You can either choose to retire peacefully within the week, or be forced out of office. Our patience has run quite dry, Captain."
The Captain glared.
"What will you charge me with to force me out? You'll find proof hard to come by."
"Actually, Princess... I manage his files, and I think I might be able to find evidence, given time." Red Tape hazarded, stepping forwards. The Captain snarled at her.
"You're making a grave mistake, Tape."
"No, I'm not, sir."
"So, what will it be, Captain?" asked Luna. The Captain eventually sighed.
"...you win."
***
"You're sure about the Captain?" asked Celestia, a note of worry in her voice. Luna nodded.
"If he's innocent, he does a remarkable job of feigning guilt. Anyhow, he was trying to slow down my return to active duty... and that We shall not abide. We cannot work with him in power, and he is constantly distracted by my own tasks."
Celestia said nothing. She peered out at the twilight sky, watching the stars begin to shine. Luna truly was a master at creating beautiful constellations.
"Who are you considering as a replacement?" she asked. Luna smiled.
"The same pony as you, We believe."
Celestia narrowed her eyes.
"Shining?"
"Indeed."
"He's a bit of a troublemaker."
"So long as he doesn't protect salt traders."
Celestia smiled.
"We can only hope."
***
Dear Princess Cadence
This is my first letter as the new Captain of the Guard... I'm not writing this from my old desk, but from my new office, with a brand new pen. You've probably already been told about what happened to me predecessor... I think he thought that organized crime was better than disorganized crime. Whatever he believed, he was wrong. Or rather, I guess we have to say he is.
So, that's how that happened. Sodium was put in prison for murder... his gang disbanded and is on the run. I'm working on bringing them in now.
My other suspects are doing fine... even the annoying ones. I believe those two musicians... did I ever write their names down? Well, they're together now, which is nice, I guess. Private Eye and Red Tape have a bet to see how long it'll last. I'm staying out of it. This time at least.
Femme Fatale (the mare who sent us lawyers) left for Prance after the investigation was over. We made a whole deal of making sure she wasn't tied to the salt trade. Not really because we thought she was guilty, but because she was a pain in the flank. I hope Doughnut Joe finds better than her... his doughnuts have been tasting awfully bitter ever since.
And at last, your aunt (not the bright shiny one, the other one) is cooperating with us to keep the streets safer. It's a bit strained for now, but now she isn't getting told off by the guard every time she puts a hoof out of line, she's really pulling through. I joked about making her one of my officers. I don't think I have a uniform in her size though...
But anyway, that isn't all I have to say. Shortly after this letter arrives is a second will follow, which is a missive recalling you to Canterlot, which apparently the Captain of the Guard has the right to do under special circumstances... and I am. There are a few matters that, as Captain of the guard, require your attention.
I'd say that I wish I'd see you soon, but it looks like I won't have to wish anymore, right?
See you soon,
Shining
***
Shining put the pen down, smiling. He looked over his list of meetings and cases... they were all running smoothly. As should be expected, what with Private Eye and Red Tape running them. Which left him with the most important item on his agenda: he opened the small box, taking care to not damage the contents. The small ring inside shimmered in the light of his lamp. He grinned, and closed the box again.
He looked over at the file, titled: 'Schwartz'. He sighed. His last case had been one heck of a pain.
A murder in an alley... oppressed co-workers, a betrayed marefriend, and the Griffon Cartel for an enemy. There had been no shortage of suspects, that was for sure.
"I guess everything turned out all right." he muttered.
Sodium... a hitherto unknown criminal already out for blood. The perfect culprit for murder...it wasn't that he had motive for murder, it was that nopony else had any reason to question his guilt. Shining resumed the evidence in his head... it was overwhelming. Not to mention Sodium's attitude wouldn't do him any favours in court... he was almost certainly going to be found guilty, and sent to jail for a good, long time.
His door opened. He looked up before quickly standing to attention.
"Your majesty!"
"Captain Shining Armour. How do you find your new office?" asked Luna. "We hope you fit it better than thy predecessor."
"Um... offices fit?"
"We suppose."
Shining smiled.
"It feels nice."
Luna nodded.
"Your former Captain has moved... to Las Pegasus. He put up a struggle, but, well, he is old and We are persuasive. Did you hear about his reaction to the protests during the past week?"
Shining shook his head.
"I was busy with another case." he said. Luna nodded.
"Ah yes, of course you were. Well, it wasn't particularly pretty: Celestia and Ourselves both had to intervene, which did nothing for Our public image." she said. She backtracked. "Not that we care... but we wish to take up the mantle of protector of the night. We cannot do this if everypony fears us."
"You're here to make sure I won't, right?" Shining asked, suspicious. Luna nodded.
"Yes... although we would rather you still do as you see fit... just without persecuting us at the same time."
Shining smiled.
"I think I can do that."
Luna grinned.
"Excellent. Also, I have learned that I have a niece! We hope we get along famously."
Shining coughed nervously.
"Ah. Yes, er... why are you telling me this?"
"Well, We were hoping you'd put in a good word for us."
Shining went silent. Luna grinned mischievously.
"As Captain of the guard, of course."
"Yes. Of course."
Vinyl fumbled with her keys as she tried picking out the one that would open her door, the jingling easy to hear in the empty echoing corridor. Before she could insert the metal device, the door opened, almost causing Vinyl to fall inwards onto the occupant of the room. Instead, Vinyl was greeted with Octavia's smiling face.
"Right. I forgot you were here." Vinyl said, as Octavia pulled her in.
"Your memory is like a sieve, Vinyl. How was your show?"
"Pretty cool... now that we actually have a manager that's worth a damn we're getting better ratings. Imagine that."
Octavia briefly froze before resuming the conversation.
"Also when you don't spend all your bits on salt, you can invest more in the radio."
"I really like the new guy. He's... nice, I guess."
Octavia pouted.
"Do I have to deal with competition, now?" she asked. Vinyl grinned, leaning in to her marefriend.
"Never." she said, kissing her.
The room had been accommodated to fit another pony inside: some of the stuff had been taken down to storage to make space for some of Octavia's clothes and cello... an item Octavia would often play for Vinyl late in the evening. As much as the DJ loved her own brand of music and showing it to Octavia, she also loved the face on Octavia's face as she played even more. Octavia, on her side, was beginning to warm to Vinyl's own remixes. She found it strange to consider her old tastes in music somewhat shallow compared to Vinyl's. Then again, there was a lot she could have improved back then.
Their kiss lasted a long time: both mares enjoyed drawing it out as they basked in the solitude.
Octavia smiled as she pulled away: these past weeks had been like living in paradise: she had Vinyl for a wonderful marefriend, her workplace had gotten so much better, both business wise and as a place to be and work... the streets were brighter and Shining Armour's new regime of tolerance, assisted by none other than the Princess of the night herself, had made their neighbourhood much safer. Vinyl had joked that she wouldn't need the baseball bat for much longer. Octavia half agreed.
"Did you get some sleep? You're hardly getting a lot of shut-eye, 'Tavi." Vinyl asked.
Ah yes, the nightmares. Vinyl found them alarming beyond belief: almost every night, without fail, Octavia would wake up, screaming and crying for help. It had only gotten worse, and Vinyl was considering asking for professional help, but Octavia wouldn't have any of it: she insisted that so long as she was with Vinyl, she'd be fine.
"Yes, I took a quick nap before you got in... it was nice."
A lie: Vinyl knew that Octavia would never sleep on her own, not to mention there was no sign of having just woken up in her eyes: no croaky voice, no bleary eyes, no nothing.
"...'Tavi..."
"Vinyl, I'm sorry I can't sleep... I really am. But I'm fine... they're just a few bad dreams."
They're bodies were close, and Octavia's eyes were pleading Vinyl to stop questioning her.
"What are they about?" Vinyl persisted cruelly. Octavia swallowed.
"They're about... they're about you."
Vinyl stroked Octavia.
"I'm not leaving."
"I-I know."
"Well, can you tell me what's wrong then?"
Octavia didn't reply. Vinyl kept on staring into Octavia's shifting face, desperate to figure out what was tormenting her, what had been tormenting her for quite some time now.
Octavia's eyes darted to the side. What could she tell Vinyl? What would make sense? That she had been a wild filly years ago, and that she had learned how to do things like scale walls, and force windows open from the outside? That she had learned how to forge signatures to get away from domineering parents, and could copy other ponies hoofwriting perfectly? That she made a point of listening at open windows to hear what the police were saying as they left an apartment?
How could she tell Vinyl that she had once inherited a dagger from her uncle, and had only ever used it once? How could she tell anypony that, one day, she had brought the dagger with her to work, hoping to scare off a terrifying and aggressive employer?
That she had used the blade against him, and then, in a fit of panic, framed the only other pony likely to have done the deed?
There was no way to tell Vinyl that. Even though she had changed her mind and desperately tried shifting the evidence on another, crueller culprit, there was no way she could expect Vinyl to continue loving her, or for the authorities to not find out.
"I... I dream of me hurting you, Vinyl. And it scares me."
Vinyl held her close, doing her best to dispel the fear in Octavia. It didn't seem to work in the same way Octavia had managed it before: instead Octavia looked more alone than ever.
"I'm not afraid of you, 'Tavi. I never, ever will be. Okay?"
Octavia sometimes wished Vinyl was. All she does now is let herself be held by her, and prepare herself for tonight's nightmares.
The end
