Hell Fire

by fanie987

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark
Length: 6118

It's up to Detective Hawkeye and her new partner to solve a murder that took place in the outskirts of Baltimare.

After Rove's family is killed by a mysterious organisation he teams up with Detective Hawkeye to get his revenge.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-15 17:34:30 UTC

Chapter 1

I can’t believe that they still haven’t come up with a better design for these things yet. Whenever I flew in one of them the cold air of the night’s sky always froze my eyes.

“The princess should have known better than to call another mare in on this. We could have handled it on our own,” the white Pegasus pulling my chariot said with what almost sounded like hatred.

Not wanting to have the same argument again I decided to keep my mouth shut until we reached our destination. I was relieved to finally arrive at the log cabin in the outskirts of Baltimare where I found two ponies guarding the front door.

“Finally, I thought that we would have to spend all night waiting for you Detective,” the grey unicorn said not trying to hide his irritation. “We were through the house already and there’s nothing to find. The rooms are wrecked and the kid isn’t saying anything.”

“What kid?  Your report didn’t say anything about a kid,” I asked trying to keep my tone friendly.

“We didn’t exactly have time to write one, now did we?” The unicorn said increasing his irritation. “He’s the victims’ son, a unicorn called Rove.”

“Where’s he now?”

“Back there, Gridiron’s about to fly him to Canterlot.”

“Keep him here until I’m done with the house, I would like to speak with him,” not waiting for him to argue I moved towards the house and pushed open the door.

The place was a wreck. The usual furniture you would expect to find in one of these cabins was destroyed and scattered all over the living room. The table was splintered and the couch was ripped, but what stood out the most was the body of a pony lying in front of the kitchen door.  She was bright yellow with a short orange mane; the three seeds on her flank showing her talent for gardening were stained with red.

The body was quite a horrific sight distracting me from the rest of the room. I had to force myself to look away and examine the rest, there wasn’t anything worth stealing in these modest homes and everything worth a bit at a pawnshop was broken. Whoever decided to break in didn’t want to take anything, but there was something they left behind.

On the wall opposite to the entrance was a symbol unfamiliar to me. It looked like an eye with a unicorn horn over it burned into the wall. I made a sketch of it in my notebook deciding to find out more about it later.

The kitchen was where I found a sight that made even my spine chill. From the yellow corpse there were three sets of bloody hoof prints leading to a body so burned that I couldn’t make out any features except its lack of a horn and wings. The body looked like it was the only burned thing in the room, with the floor and the open counter door it rested against not even black.

After searching the rest of the house and realising that these were the only two rooms that were disturbed I decided to head outside in search of the young colt Rove but changed direction when I saw an old mare trembling next to a white unicorn guard. I recognised her from the description given to me in the report and I swear that she looked like she was born to be old. The only thing greyer than her coat was her mane; even her cutie mark was a scarf being knitted.

“Evening ma'am my name is Hawkeye, but ponies call me Detective, would you mind if I asked you some questions?”

“Y-yes dear that would be alright,” said the old earthpony trying to hold back a tear. “What would you like to know?”

“Can you start with your name and how you found them?”

The old mare’s eyes hardened with the memory before she began to speak. “Knitting Needle’s the name. Rove, that poor boy, came knocking on my door at about midnight. Of course I knew that something was wrong, the only news you get at that hour is bad news. The moment I saw him I knew that something terrible must have happened.”

“How did you know that?” I asked interrupting her.

“The child was as white as Celestia’s front hoof, and so quiet. He didn’t say a word just stood there at the door like he didn’t know where he was. I tried asking him what’s wrong but he just stared at me, so I decided to check in on Seedling and Woodworks. When I… found them I went and got the guards and now here you are.”

“Was there anything unusual that you noticed about the room, anything missing or out of place?”

“Nothing seemed to be stolen if that’s what you mean; the only drawer I think was open was the one Woodworks is lying against,” her sadness seemed to be replaced with both anger and fear. “Tell me Detective why would anypony do this here? We aren’t some fancy unicorn society rolling in the bits; we don’t have anything to rob and we don’t mean any harm to anypony, why would they come here?”

“I don’t know ma'am, but I’ll try my best to find out,” I said searching through my note book. “Do you recognise this symbol?”

Knitting needle stiffened as she saw the marking. “I saw it in there, but have no idea what it would mean, is it some kind of gang logo?”

“Maybe, but I can’t be sure yet. You mentioned something about not being a unicorn society, so I’ll take it most of the residences around here are eartponies?”

“All of us are dear,” The old mare said with pride. “The unicorns and pegasi tend to prefer living in Baltimare, while we hard working earthponies live in the forest working the lumber. Most of the families can trace their roots for generations and aren’t planning on leaving anytime soon.”

“Are Woodworks and Seedling Rove’s biological parents then, he being a unicorn?”

“No those two found him in a basket by their front door years ago, with a note asking them to look after him. They surely did their best, and as far as I can tell the family loved each other. It was difficult sometimes with Rove not being as strong as the others; he struggled to carry his own weight but he’s a hard worker and never a burden on anypony. But you know how it is with unicorns always relying on magic and taking the easy way out.”

I knew better than to stick around when a pony from one of these tight knit communities started talking politics. The way I see it we all have our own advantages, I may be stronger than a unicorn and a Pegasus may be faster, but they have magic and that would have been useful more times than I could count.

After making my excuses and saying goodbye I made my way to the only Pegasus chariot left. One thing should be said about the royal guard; no matter how much they disapprove they will always follow orders.

On my way to the chariot my mind swam with thoughts of what I’ve heard and seen. Three sets of hoof prints, a weird symbol and an open counter door were all I had to go off of. The open door. I didn’t know why I kept returning to that. I knew that there was something that I was missing but the dark realisation of truth didn’t hit me until I arrived at the golden chariot. That poor boy.

Gridiron was a white Pegasus with light blue eyes and even though his cutiemark was covered with his armour I knew that there was a football imprinted on his flank. The young unicorn next to him had a coat of dark blue and a mane as black as raven’s feathers. It appeared that he has not discovered his special talent yet but I think that he had other things on his mind that night.

“…you have to tell me what happened boy, how else do you expect us- Detective!” he shouted when he saw me “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here? Didn’t the others tell you that the boy isn’t talking; he just sits there staring at me I don’t know why you expect him to tell you anything.”

This was one of my problems with the guards, they aren’t trained to be sympathetic they ask straight questions and expect straight answers in return. “Maybe I’ll try to be a bit gentler with somepony who just watched his father get burned alive.” I said gesturing to the blue colt.

When he heard the truth aloud from somepony besides the voice in his own head, Rove let the floodgates open and went into a fit of uncontrollable sobbing.

Chapter 2

We were all quiet on the chariot ride back to Canterlot. Rove cried his eyes dry and sat in silence again. Gridiron felt too guilty to try and make conversation and decided to concentrate on flying. I gave the blue unicorn some space to get his composure, but there were questions that had to be asked.

“Rove I know that you aren’t in the mood to talk, but I need you to try and tell me what happened. Do you think that you can do that?”

He looked up from the floor and stared straight into my eyes, for a couple of moments I thought that he was going to go back to his own thoughts then in his faintest voice he answered “Yes.”

“Thank you Rove,” I said taking a deep breath and trying to find the right words to continue with “Am I right to say that you saw what happened?”

“Only with dad, could only hear what went on with mom.”

“Did you get a look at the ponies that did it?”

“Just the one he k-… he killed them both.” As Rove said this I could see that he was on the brink of tears again.

“Sorry but I have to ask this, how do you know that it was only the one pony who murdered your mother, you told me that you couldn’t see her?”

The unicorn looked out into the night’s sky as he answered. “Blood, he was the only one covered in blood, he used his horn. One of the others had a white coat and he was clean.”

One final question for the night. “Can you remember what he looked like?”

Turning to look at the night’s sky he answered in a shaky voice. “Like fire. His coat was orange and his mane red, even his cutiemark… there was just so much fire.” He went back to a period of sobbing.

I sat there quietly again expecting Rove to just sit there for the rest of the night, but while I was busy writing in my notebook I heard his voice “His coat was bright orange and his mane red,” The unicorn was looking me in the eyes again, this time all the sadness was gone and replaced with pure rage, a look that I was too familiar with. “Even his cutiemark was a fireball, but he didn’t just have fire. Dad tried to attack him, dads strong you know, but that pony had dad fall down screaming, I’ve never heard dad scream in my life but he made him cry out just by looking at him. I can’t really do magic so maybe I just don’t know, but I didn’t think that there were spells like that, did you?”

I was so taken back by what this young pony was saying that I could only answer with a simple “No.”

“Dad fell against the counter where I was hiding, and the net moment he was on fire. It was strange, I couldn’t feel the heat but dad defiantly could. I don’t know what they wanted, they didn’t ask for anything and we don’t have that many bits to give. Why would they do this?”

“Some ponies are just bad,” I tried not knowing what else to say.

“Ponies like that don’t deserve to live, and I swear to Celestia Detective I am going to find the pony responsible for this and I’m going to make him pay,” I still don’t know what part of this statement disturbed me more, the fact that I believed wat he was saying or the way it reminded me of my own oath I made many years ago.

The rest of the trip was held in silence with all of us glad to finally arrive at headquarters in Canterlot. I saw the same looks that I always got when I went down there as well as some of sympathy directed towards Rove.

I ignored the guards and went straight to where I knew the captain would be. Shining Armour didn’t come down to Canterlot as much as he did before he got married, but we could always expect him for something big like this.

“Greetings Detective.” He said looking at my companion. “This must be Rove, I’m sorry for what happened and I swear that we will catch those responsible. Now tell me, have you found anything.”

He always tries to be so formal. “Why hello Shining, yes its going great thanks for asking, but no nothing new has happened since we last spoke, well I bought a new toaster but I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that.”

Shining looked at me for a moment then let out a sigh and replied with a small smile. “Sorry Hawkeye it’s been a long flight and I’m sure that we all want to finish here and move on. I know that your friend could use some sleep.”

“I’m Ok,” Rove said breaking his silence once again. “I’m used to working all night; ask what you want to ask.”

“Why don’t you two start by telling me what you know?”

And so we did, I repeated everything that happened with Rove only filling in gaps as he remembered them. By the time we finished Celestia had already started to raise the sun.

“It sounds like we may have a new gang in Equestria.” Shining said with a worried look. “I don’t recognise this marking, where do you think it comes from?”

“I don’t know but I think that I’ll go and ask Pageturn this afternoon, after I’ve gotten a couple of hours of sleep. For now I think that we should concern ourselves with what to do with Rove over here,” I said turning my focus to the young unicorn. “Do you know of any other ponies that can take care of you for a while?”

“No, mom and dad didn’t have any other family and no real friends I can think of,” he turned staring into my eyes again. “And I’m not going to let you send me away, I told you that I’m going to get him and that’s wat I’m planning to do.”

Shining looked strangely at the unicorn standing next to me. “Rove I know that you’re upset but these ponies are dangerous-”

“I don’t care! I’ll kill him and anypony that stands in my way,” He didn’t sound like a foal on a tantrum; instead he was a stallion swearing vengeance.

“Listen kid you can’t go around Equestria looking for this pony, you’ll just wind up dead,” Shining said before looking at me. “Tell him Detective.”

I crouched down to his level so that we could be on better speaking terms. “Rove I know how you feel, but Shining’s right, if you try to go after them yourself you’ll probably end up dead,” I turned my gaze to the white stallion. “That’s why you’ll come stay with me until we catch them.”

Shining looked like he misheard me “You can’t be serious. You’ll put his life in danger, look at him he’s just a-”

“a filly? No he’s not. Whatever he was yesterday died with his parents. Rove I don’t think that I can stop you, and I can’t make you come with me but I doubt your odds against these ponies alone, that is if you ever find them. I promise that I can get them and maybe keep you alive in the process,” Shining wanted to protest but I didn’t give him the chance. “Remember captain, I don’t work for you so don’t try to order me around. What do you say Rove, do you want to come with me?”

I could see that the unicorn didn’t expect things to go the way they did, but he wasn’t about to let the opportunity to slip by him. “Yes Detective, if you help me find him I’ll come with you.”

“Well then if all that’s sorted out we should be leaving. Have a safe trip back Shining and please send my love to that beautiful wife of yours,” I said with a wink as we walked towards the door.

My house wasn’t the fanciest place in Canterlot, but with it being next to the waterfall I had a pretty good view. My bed was always so much softer when I was tired and sleep took me the moment my head touched the pillow.

A couple of hours later I forced myself out of bed and made my way to the living room where I found Rove looking for food in the kitchen.

“How’d you sleep? Sorry about the couch I’ll have the guestroom ready by tonight,” I said taking out some apples and giving them to him.

“Its fine I slept Ok,” The bags under his eyes told a different story. “So what are your plans for today?”

“I’m going to talk to Pageturn, he’s an old friend of mine, and hopefully he knows something about this symbol. If he doesn’t I’ll just have to ask around the darker side of Canterlot, trust me if someone brands their mark into a wall they want to be discovered,” I looked at him trying to read his emotions. “Are you still coming with me or have you decided against your vendetta?”

“I’m coming and I won’t get in your way.”

“I didn’t say you would, now go get ready I want to be on the road soon.”

Rove finished his last apple and went upstairs to wash the dirt out of his mane. Sitting there alone I wondered if I was wrong to bring a kid along like that. If he got hurt his blood would be on my hooves, but if I let him to go alone he would find a way to track them down on his own and then who knows what could happen. Like I said this group wanted to be found.

The road to Pageturns home was less busy than I thought it would be, but we still had to wait for almost half an hour before we were allowed to enter the house. I was always awestruck whenever I entered his place; almost every inch of every wall was covered with books.

“Is this some kind of library?” Rove asked looking around.

I chuckled after seeing the wonderstruck expression on his face. “This is Pageturn's private collection; it’s the biggest source of privately owned knowledge in all of Equestria.”

“Come now Detective you’re underselling my life’s work,”  The old unicorn said coming down the stairs. Pageturn had lost his good looks long ago with the only appealing feature left on him being his cutiemark of a beautiful mint condition book. “You see lad my collection is only a couple hundred shy of Canterlot public library and all of them are in better shape.”

“That’s incredible,” The blue unicorn said with real amazement in his voice. “Have you read all of them?’

“Those I haven’t I’m planning to, but I’m guessing your friend hasn’t brought you here so that you can catch up on your reading. What do you want Detective?”

“I need your help with a case; there was a murder last night in the woods next to Baltimare. The pony responsible is a unicorn that seems to specialise in fire spells, he left this image branded on the wall,” I said while showing him the picture in my notebook. “Do you know what it means?”

“What did you say your name was lad?” Pageturn asked my companion.

“Rove.”

“Well Rove, would you mind going to that shelf back there and bringing me back a book titled ‘News clippings: the unicorn rebellion’“

He waited until Rove was out of earshot before addressing me again. “So I’m guessing he’s involved then?”

“He saw what happened; it was his parents that got killed.”

“And you decided it best to bring him along while you hunt down murderers?”

“He wanted to come, he’s hell bent on getting revenge on those responsible. I couldn’t stop him even if I wanted to. I’m trying to keep him alive.”

“Sounds like another pony I knew long ago, only she almost turned out worse than those she hated. Don’t let him- what are you doing?” he yelled interrupting himself when he saw Rove coming back. “Give it here before you ruin it.”

Rove was stunned as Pageturn plucked the book from his mouth. “The reason I wanted you to get this and not her was so that you could use your magic. I can’t let every spine in here have teeth marks, why the hell would you carry it in your mouth?”

“I- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… back home they don’t like it if I use magic. I’m not used to…” Rove struggled to find the right words.

“It’s alright lad,” Pageturn said regaining his composure “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you, the book’s fine see,” He held it up for Rove to examine. “Why didn’t your parents allow you to use magic?”

“Mom and dad didn’t mind much, but some of the ones I worked with did. They said that magic is for lazy ponies. And besides there wasn’t a magic teacher at our school so I couldn’t learn anything anyway,” Rove said looking at the ground.

“Makes you lazy, now isn’t that a laugh. Those earth ponies have their strength to help them just like you have your horn,” Pageturn said looking appalled by the idea. “You didn’t have a teacher, don’t you know any spells?”

“I figured out the basics myself; I can lift things and make a light and if I concentrate I can teleport a couple of hooves but nothing like the unicorns here can do.”

Pageturn and I looked at each other and back at Rove trying to figure out if we heard him correctly. The unicorn was the first one to break the silence. “You can teleport?”

“Not far enough to make it useful only a ponylength or two. I saw a performer called Trixie do it once and it look like fun. After I learned to do it mister Pine said that I was becoming too lazy to even walk, so I stopped.”

“Show me,”  Pageturn demanded.

“What, why?”

“Please Rove just show him,” I may be an earthpony but even I knew what teleportation meant to a unicorn.

Rove closed his eyes and his horn started to glow a bright yellow. There was a loud pop and he disappeared only to reappear a couple of hoof lengths away. “Was that Ok?”

Pageturn left and returned with a beautiful leather-bound book. “Here, it may not be as effective as a teacher but maybe it can help you learn a couple of spells.”

“’A Beginners Guide Too Advanced Spells’ I can’t start with this, don’t you have something more basic?” Rove asked holding the book in a yellow glow.

The elderly unicorn gave him a knowing smile. “Try reading the first chapter.”

Rove flipped through the pages until he found the right one. “Teleportation: it can be done”

“Teleportation is something that’s reserved only for the most gifted of unicorns. You’ve learned something by instinct that some ponies spend years trying to master,” Rove just stared at the old stallion not believing the praise coming his way. “I’m lending you this book because I refuse to see talent wasted, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not precious to me. I expect you to learn everything in there and return it in the same condition as what you found it, is that clear lad?”

“Yes sir, I’ll take good care of it,” He said as he carefully put the artefact into my saddlebag.

“This is great and all,” I stepped in before we went even further of topic than we already had. “but there is business that has to be done.”

“Yes, well like I was saying before I got distracted, I think that I’ve seen this symbol of yours before,” Pageturn took the book that Rove brought and opened it about half way revealing a cracked and fading newspaper article.

The picture was of the same image on another wall made countless moons ago. “How old is this article Pageturn?”

“Of the exact date I can’t be sure of, it was sometime after Luna’s banishment but before the formation of the E.U.P. so we can say about a thousand years ago.”

I was still thinking about this when Rove spoke. “So who are they, have they been around for the last thousand years?”

“They called themselves the seekers of truth; they were a bunch of unicorns who thought that we are the superior race and all other ponies are beneath us. And no I don’t think they have existed in secret all this time waiting for the perfect time to strike, it’s more likely that this is a new group using old morals.”

“That may explain why they went after your family, a unicorn being raised by earthponies isn’t exactly the best image if you want to show that unicorns are the master race. Is that everything that you know about them?” I asked hoping that we had more to go on.

“I’m afraid so, after the E.U.P. was formed Celestia ordered all of their known associates to be eradicated. This wasn’t too long after her sisters banishment, during her bloody faze.”

“So we have a group of racist unicorns’ part of a thousand year old secret organisation willing to murder a family because they’re raising a unicorn. Perfect now all we have to do is find them and stop them.” Yup easy “Thanks for your help Pageturn, I’m sure to come back when I need to know more history.”

“You’re welcome any time Detective, and so are you Rove. Remember to study hard and don’t just learn to shoot lightning, there are a few other good spells in there too,” as an afterthought he added. “Maybe start with the shield.”

“Thanks Pageturn, I’ll learn everything,” Rove said with a smile, it was good to see him smiling. After we exited the gates he turned his head and spoke. “What are we going to do next?”

“We’re going home. I have to write a report and figure out where to start looking,” I saw that he needed more than that “And then tomorrow were going to find these seekers of truth and bring them down.”

Chapter 3

Finding our next clue took longer than a day. After almost a week of fruitless investigating I realised that we weren’t going to learn anything from the residences of Canterlot. Rove and I sat in my living room trying to figure out our next move.

“Why are you so sure that they are in Canterlot?” Rove asked wiping the sweat from his brow after placing his book on my bookshelf.

“Canterlot is a utopia for unicorns,” I explained trying to get my thoughts in order. “The other major cities, except for Cloudsdale, are evenly populated with unicorns and pegasi. Earth ponies make up about a quarter of the population but most of us prefer to live in rural towns. Canterlot is almost entirely made up of unicorns; most earthponies and pegasi living here do the manual labour jobs or shape the clouds.”

“But the logging companies are run by earthponies and they do business in Canterlot.”

“Yes, but none of their main offices are located here and that’s not the point I’m making. Not that they’ll ever admit it but I think that most ponies here believe that they are better than others,” I raised my hoof silencing Rove before he could interrupt. “It’s not like they all go around killing other ponies and most of them treat all ponies equally, but I still sometimes overhear them making a mudpony joke or shaking their heads when seeing a pegasus eating cake. The idea of superiority, no matter how small it may be, is always present in Canterlot, and with any group mentality you’ll find fanatics. I can’t be sure that these seekers of truth are based in Canterlot but it is our best bet.”

“So why would they kill a family outside of Baltimare and not Canterlot, and why can’t we find anything useful on them?”

“I believe it’s for the same reason. They want to turn themselves into a myth, Baltimare and the forest outside of it is highly populated so the story of what happened spread quickly. Murder isn’t that common in Equestria and by now everypony knows what happened,” Rove nodded his head and clenched his jaw to stop himself from saying anything else. I thought that some time would have calmed him down but he was still as angry as ever. At least there was a way to distract him. “How’s the magic going?”

“Good,” he said with a bit of excitement in his voice. “I’ve pretty much got the shield down but shooting fire is a little bit harder.”

“How so?” I knew why he decided on fire for his second spell but it wasn’t my place to lecture him.

“If I don’t do it right it burns my horn. The book suggests starting with a small flame and working my way up from there,” he demonstrated his new ability by sending a marble sized fireball to a candle on my table. “That’s the biggest I can make it without feeling anything, any bigger and my horn gets hot.”

“That’s quite impressive and a lot easier than trying to light it with matches. But if you do start making those flames bigger I want you to do it over the waterfall, otherwise you may end up burning the house down.”

“Sure I’ll do it outside. So what do we do next, with the case I mean?”

“Honestly I’m stuck,” I admitted not without shame. “Whoever this organisation is they are defiantly careful. I was hoping that somepony would have accidently let something slip one night in the bar, but no we aren’t that lucky. Your parents’ murder was most likely the first step to something bigger, I just don’t know what yet.”

“What then, we do nothing until they kill again?” he spat almost accusingly.

“No, of course not. We just haven’t been asking the right ponies the right questions yet. No matter how methodical this group is, information always has a way of coming out and it’s my job to find it,” I saw that my words eased Rove’s worries so I decided to continue. “These ponies are smart and organised; they know how to hide what they’re doing, that’s why we’re having such a difficult time finding them, but

somewhere they had to make a mistake. But tell me Rove, what do you think their next move is going to be and how should we stop it?”

Rove scratched his head and took time to think about it. His mind was so set on what they did he hadn’t considered what they may do later. “They’re going to look for someone like me. We have to warn the families! They’re in danger.”

The kid was sharp. “Yup unicorns raised by or raising other kinds of ponies would be the most likely victims. And yes we can’t just let them die but I don’t think that warning them would be the best option. It would just let fear spread across Equestria and that’s exactly what they want. We have to delay and stop there plans not speed it up, that’s why I have guards watching over everypony that’s in possible danger.”

“You already did that,” Rove stood there with his mouth half open. “Where did you find enough guards for them all?”

“These families aren’t as common as you may think. Most ponies are attracted to the same kind and it is very rare for a different type being born from one race or another,” I paused for a moment. “Though not imposable.”

“Then the seekers of truth won’t do anything?”

“For the moment, no. But eventually they’ll find something, we have to stop them before that,” we were silent for a while after that, eventually I couldn’t hide my yawns anymore and decided to call it a night. “Blow out the candles when you go to bed, goodnight Rove.”

“Goodnight Hawkeye,” Rove said before returning to the magic book he retrieved, it looked like he was in for another sleepless night.

I was glad to finally get to bed, for the last couple of days all I had to look forward to was the disappointment of not finding anything. I hoped that some sleep would clear my head.

***

“Hawkeye,” Rove said nudging my shoulder.

I hated being woken up. “What?” I asked not opening my eyes.

“There’s somepony at the door, he wants to talk to you,” he sounded nervous but I really didn’t want to get up.

“Tell him to come back tomorrow.”

“Please Hawkeye, this seems important.”

“Fine,” I forced my way out of bed and stomped towards the living room. “What do you want?”

The pony in front of me wore a dark cloak covering up his body with only his muzzle visible. “Sorry for the hour Detective but this couldn’t wait,” his voice was soft, almost painful. “I understand that you are the one investigating the killing outside Baltimare.”

“Yes I am. Would you please sit down,” I said motioning at the couch. “Who are you, what do you know of them?”

“It doesn’t really matter who I am. All that you need to know is that I was a seeker of truth.”

Rove jumped up and moved towards the mysterious pony. “Then you’re one of the bastards-”

“Rove,” I interrupted before he could continue and directed my focus towards the other pony. “Why did you leave?”

“I didn’t sign on to murder ponies, that wasn’t our plan in the beginning. We just wanted to extend the ideals of Canterlot, make it a better for everypony,” he took a look at me and added. “I guess you can’t understand that.”

“No I can’t say that I do, but you’re not here to talk politics. How can you help us with the investigation?”

“I wish that I could tell you exactly who’s in charge and where to find them but unfortunately I don’t know much. I wasn’t very high up and nopony ever told me anything. All I know that may be useful is the name of a pony much higher up the food chain than me. And that would be Longspear.”

“Are you sure?” I asked barely believing it. “Do you have any proof to back it up?”

“No I don’t Detective, and the way I see it, it doesn’t really matter if I do or not. I told you what I know and made up for my involvement in this, now I can go home and wait to die with a clean conscience.”

“Who’s Longspear?” Rove asked.

“He’s second in command in the Canterlot guard,” I wasn’t able to hide my worry. “Only Lightblaze and Shining outrank him. Are you sure?”

“Yes Detective I’m pretty damn positive,” his voice was filled with hatred. “Now I’ve said what I wanted to say so I’ll be going.”

“Is there anything else that you can tell me, please?”

He turned around and trough his hood back. “Only that they’re dangerous.”

I tried to hold my composure but Rove couldn’t keep the look of horror from his face. A crudely stitched wound was still red on the mysterious ponies brown neck, only one of his eyes were visible under his swollen face but worse of all was the shattered stub of a horn coming from his forehead.