Chapter 15: Frustration

“Everything is moving too fast”

Streamlight paced the floor of his office while a mare sat in front of the desk he was now pacing behind. This was awful.

Absolutely, awful. Had things worked the way he planned he could have gotten Kaneki to possibly cooperate with him, but now... -his eyes glanced over to the news article that had been published two days ago- now everything was ruined. Ghouls being sapient creatures could most likely read. And if that’s the case then who knows what kind of actions they’ll begin making from here on out.

“Streamlight. Say something already you haven’t spoken to me the entire-” Silver Star was cut off as a hand slammed into the desk, she practically winced at the sound.

When the white unicorn opened her eyes just a bit, she could practically feel the glare being sent her way. It was the ‘shame’ stare, he had often used on her and Sweet Treat when they were kids. Oh how she hated that look.

A displeased and indignant frown crossed Silver Star’s muzzle now as she straightened herself out, now ready to defend herself. Two days had passed since Streamlight came back the night of the day her director had published her story. And Streamlight had ignored her all those two days after personally visiting her work area when she was away to get some things answered.

Enough was enough. This silent treatment was beginning to get not only annoying, but childish.

“If you’re not going to say anything I’m leaving” she said rising towards the open door.

A light brown glow surrounded the door, then it shut. Loudly.

Streamlight’s horn faded in its light as the stallion continued to glare at her from behind his desk, keeping the door shut and as an afterthought, he locked it. There were a lot of things he had wanted to get off his chest.

“Okay you know what. You're acting childish,” Silver Star stated with her own glare as she moved back to her seat.

“Oh really now? I’m acting childish.Is that right?”

“Yes, Streamlight. That is right! You haven’t talked to me or Sweet Treat in the past two days since you got back, and this entire time she’s been worried about you! She still doesn’t know you’re back yet and you know how worried we both were when you were leaving. Why would you just come back and then ignore us like that?” she asked with a bit of sadness.

“Because of something like this!” he said tapping the newspaper. “Silver, you don’t get it. Nobody here gets it. You wanna know why exactly I haven’t talked to either of you since coming back? It’s because I need to get us all prepared.”

Silver Star paused giving her friend a confused and disbelieving look. The serious expression on his face however shook her out of her stupor eventually.

“I- I don’t understand prepare for what?” she asked crossing a leg on top of another.

“Prepare for when things get bad here. Really bad. I was hoping you’d wait for me to get back before you published this thing so I could advise you on how to publish those photos” the stallion said with distaste. “But now that you and the press have so blatantly published everything for every creature on our planet to oogle there’s no telling what will-”

“You’re still going on about that?” Silver Star groaned and rose from her seat, pulling her jeans down a bit in the process. “Look I told you my boss wanted those photos or else I’d have been fired the next day! What was I supposed to do?”

“You could have told him I was on the outside looking for more information! That could have given him a bigger scoop.” Streamlight stated with crossed arms.

Silver Star sighed, rubbing her temples. “Stream, you know as well as I that your time limit for our deal was up, a day well past its due I might add. I had no obligation to keep the deal, I even prolonged it in hopes you would get back in time. But I’m not losing my job because of your paranoia” she said rather curtly.

Streamlight stayed quiet for a few seconds. He stared at his friend in silence for a good ten seconds. Before sitting down in his chair running a hand through his denim blue hair.

“Paranoia?” he said after a minute of silence.

Silver Star’s ear twitched weakly at the tone of her friends voice. She didn’t budge however when she saw the slight glint of anger in the junior detective’s eyes.

“Is that what you think this is? Me being paranoid?” Streamlight asked, both his arms resting on the armrest and his back well relaxed into the confines of his seat.

Silver Star stared at Streamlight for a few seconds more before she gave him, her reply. “Yes. Yes I do.”

Outside Streamlight’s office. Officers, detectives, secretaries, and many other members of the law enforcement were roaming about trying to gather intel, handling distress calls either important or unimportant, and doing their best to settle complaints about what exactly was being done to solve the whole ghoul problem to begin with.

Deputy Chief Officer Scrimmage, a pegasus who was talking with one of the officers belonging to Manehattan, could now hear the sound of things being thrown about in one of the rooms not too far away from where he and several other officers were going about their business, dealing with different problems from other parts of Equestria.

“Do ye hear that?” Scrimmage asked. His right ear with a scar running along it twitching with each item that hit the ground.

“Yeah, yeah. That must be Streamlight” and just on cue there was a shout sounding exactly like the aforementioned detective.

Many officers moving about the compound stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of the room, staring at the door that had a gold plate on it saying “Junior Detective.”

Scrimmage rubbed his right ear a bit as it twitched for the third time.

“Does he do this often?” the older officer asked.

The officer Scrimmage had been talking to, a female pegasus with beige coat and light green mane shook her head. “No. Well, not really. Only when he’s really worked up on a case. Usually he’s pretty calm and reserved. When he gets like this he’s usually pretty riled up about how things are going with the case and that usually means he’s not pleased with how things are going for him.”

Deputy Chief Officer Scrimmage of the Trottingham police force raised a curious brow in the detective’s general direction. “Wasn’t he the young lad who got attacked by one of those creatures?”

The young officer nodded with a slight cringe. “Yes, it’s been kind of the talk around here for a while now actually.:”

Again Scrimmage raised a brow. “Why’s that?”

“Well” another loud shout came from two voices within Streamlight’s office, interrupting the mare before she could continue.

When the shouts had settled and everything went silent, Scrimmage cocked a brow at the mare beside him. A gesture that asked if everything was alright back in the detective’s office.

Novice Study merely shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sure everything’s just fine.”

Everything was not fine.

All necessary plans and procedures Streamlight had made now went down the drain, as well as any hope of getting more information out of Kaneki Ken, let alone his cooperation. If Kaneki ever found out that the pony that had almost revealed the boy’s true identity to the world was under his protection and a close friend, Streamlight feared to even think of what consequences would await Silver Star.

Perhaps I was being a bit paranoid. Maybe there was a possibility, that the ghoul attack that had happened a week ago had done something to make me feel this way.

Back when I was a police officer, I had been given the opportunity to see my own fair share of assaults and on rare occasions, deaths and even rarer; suicides. But that experience with that first ghoul was something I’d never experienced or ever hoped to have experience in my entire life.

The aura around Streamlight’s horn faded to the tip. Papers all around slowly floated back to the ground as the file that had been on his desk landed with a thud on the ground inches from Silver Star’s hooves.

His desk tilted, his coat on the ground along with his seat and several books that used to be on the shelves behind Silver Star were now on the ground beside him, as well as the closet behind him where he kept his gun being wide open.

Streamlight was sweating now, his breath heavy his emotions flaring. Nothing was going right anymore. Bordering on to almost a month now, two weeks and six days have passed since their arrival and now everything that’s happening is just making things even more difficult.

Kaneki Ken, my only liable help aside from the Investigator Chuu Hachikawa, would most likely be unwilling to help me now, Streamlight reasoned.

To top it all off, this publishing will alert not only other ghouls, but also the investigators that hunt them around the world.

Streamlight scowled, “Nothing is going right today” he muttered as he swallowed his own frustration.

Convincing the Board of Law to allow him to capture certain types of ghouls had been denied. When Call to Duty the commissioner to Filydelphia’s police force and training supervisor to the Royal Guard, had asked him why he wanted to capture only certain types of ghouls and not all of them Streamlight had no choice but to answer “There are some ghouls more threatening than others”, and while this was true that was not the real reason he had said this.

If Kaneki was proof enough along with that brother and sister he had fought two days ago, there were ghouls out there probably just as disturbed and confused as the ponies, griffons and other creatures of this world were.

Manufacturing even more of the ukaku bullets he had created had been accepted but due to the lack of knowledge the board had, his request to provide every member of Equestria’s law force with weapons made out of the same material he had used to aid him in his battle against that brother and sister tag team, went unacknowledged as well.

“Things are moving too fast” Streamlight muttered under his breath, a bead of sweat sliding down his chin.

“Streamlight” Silver Star’s voice called to him through the rapid waves of thoughts that now bombarded the detective’s mind.

He looked up. Silver Star was staring at him not with anger, but concern. Butter colored aura surrounded a multitude of the things Streamlight had flipped, smacked and hurled aside in the rare moment of him expressing his anger.

Silver Star quickly cleaned up the mess he made, even being nice enough to shut the closet where Streamlight hid his weapon.

With papers no longer slowly descending, desk straightened, chair up and everything else fixed, Silver Star looked at Streamlight waiting for him to say something. But he said nothing.

His mind was overflowing with what needed to be done, what could happen if things didn’t get done quickly, and how exactly he’d be able to stop all these ghouls with only 24 quinque bullets aside from the 5 currently in his own Automag V.

“Streamlight!” Silver Star called again, this time she accentuated her call by roughly smacking her hands on his desk, it worked.

A slight jolt and I looked up at her.

“W-What is it?”

Silver Star’s expression softened a bit. “Glad to see you’re not having a mental break down.”

Streamlight chuckled, though it was forced. “I’m not that weak minded Silv, what uh” he trailed off rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger.

Silver Star watched on in silence as the detective eased himself back into his chair. “What were we even talking about?” he asked, completely forgetting. There was just so much that had to be done in such a short amount of time.

For a few seconds Silver Star didn’t answer, till finally she asked a question. “Streamlight, what’s got you so worked up? I get we’re in a tight situation but you’re acting as if you’re the only one who’s noticed and the only one can do anything about it. Why are you being so...I don’t know....strenuous about this?”

The sweat Streamlight had been feeling along his collarbone and neck went cold. “What do you mean?” he asked with slanted eyes in her direction.

Silver Star shrugged, not really caring for the look. “I mean you’ve been acting different since you got back. What happened?”

Streamlight’s jaw clenched and Silver Star noticed. “These ghouls are more dangerous than we thought.”

Silver Star rolled her eyes. “I know that, we all know that! I’m asking you what you-” the light blue stallion held a hand up for silence.

An exhausted sigh came from Streamlight’s lips, his expression turning into one of thought. “Two days ago, while I was at Ponyville, I talked to one-- two of those ‘investigators’ we’ve been hearing rumors about all over Equestria. One of them in fact is the one you took a picture of, his name’s Kaneki.”

Silver Star’s eyes widened in delight, but faded when she saw the expression on Streamlight’s expression remain the way it was; thoughtful.

“I talked to him and another investigator called Hachikawa and he told me a lot about ghouls. We already know there are different types of course, but what we didn’t know was how strong each different type really was. Apparently right now...they’re just trying to eat, stay alive.

“If what I heard was right, none of these ghouls have even begun playing with us yet.” Silver’s mouth moved but stayed silent.

“Playing with us” was a disturbing term.

“I also met two other ghouls the day I was supposed to return” Streamlight said as this thought came to Silver Star’s mind.

Her eyes widened up instantly, and in a matter of seconds she was around his desk, right beside him and checking for serious injuries immediately. “Why didn’t you say anything?!” she asked smacking the detective roughly on the shoulder.

“I didn’t think it was necessary after I had received treatment. With all that’s happened there’d be no point” he explained.

Another groan came out of Silver’s muzzle. “You’ve got to stop doing stuff like that Streamlight. How many times do you avoid telling people what’s happened to you before it nearly kills you or puts you in a tight spot, huh?” Streamlight didn’t answer he merely shrugged.

Silver Star sighed. “Go on” she said.

He nodded and continued. “I was right in my assumption on the things that could hurt them.” A light brown glow encompassed the closet, opened it and punched in the code to the safe that held Streamlight’s gun.

A second later the tumblers could be heard and a loud click came, the gun came out of it’s safe and floated in front of detective and journalist. Popping the clip out of its chamber, Streamlight held a ruby red in light gold casing in his thumb and index finger. “These are the only things that can kill them or even come close to hurting them?”

“Your bullets?” she asked, I nodded.

“Didn’t they come from-”

“The ghoul that attacked me and Treat and was killed by who I presume now, was an investigator? Yes” Streamlight replied. “Yes, I took the shard and made it into bullets. It wasn’t easy but I know a guy who’s good at stuff like this” he said placing the bullet back in the mag before sliding the entire clip back into the gun.

“You still haven’t answered my question Streamlight. What’s got you so worked up?” Silver Star prodded.

“It’s nothing” he said dismissively.

A second of silence filled the room. Outside voices could be heard talking and calls along with other things being made.

“Bull” Silver said.

“What?” Streamlight asked, looking up towards her from his seat. But before he could further elaborate on his question, the detective was yanked away from his desk, right out of his seat by an invisible force and thrown into the chair his friend had previously occupied.

“Answer the question Stream” Silver Star stated, blocking him from getting up as she placed both her hands on either side of the arm chair and leaned forward like an interrogator asking a suspect questions.

For a second Streamlight thought of teleporting out of here, but then again that wouldn’t do him any good.

“Look Silv, I’m really not in the mood for this” he started.

“Neither am I. You accused me just now of leaking information I had no obligation in keeping with you. I could have lost my job, and you have been ignoring us for two days all on top of accumulating stress. By Celestia’s sun you will answer me! What has you so uptight about all of this?!”

“EVERYTHING!” Streamlight yelled. Silver Star released her hold on the chair backing away from her friend.

“You don’t understand this at all do you? I didn’t mention this but those ghouls I fought Star, those ghouls nearly killed me, if it weren't for Kaneki coming in to help me when he did, I would be dead right now. Death is something I’ve long come to accept before taking this job. That, I don’t care about but the power they had. Their movement, their strength, it all reminded me of that first night. These ghouls, Silver they're obviously not from here but still think about it! Investigators, those guys don’t have magic, they don’t have the ability to fly or have super strength like earth ponies or pegasi can. But look at them!

“They’ve been able to manage all on their own with weapons they created. We’ve got powers beyond them and could easily beat them, yet still despite us being superior in strength we haven’t been able to do a thing. Two weeks have passed Star since they first arrived and look at what’s going on.

“Everypony’s going nuts with worry! I try and I try but the Board won’t listen. They won’t listen to me because I’m a junior detective and nowhere as near high ranking as some of the other officers here in the MDA. I can’t even convince them to mass produce my bullets so we can have some other form of protection because they think the attack is making me act up. But I’m fine!

“And you know what really pisses me off? It’s how these investigators are apparently being spotted all over the Equestria, yet we still keep getting more complaints and negative feedback than good reports!

"Meanwhile there are innocent people out there dying right as we speak because I can’t get the Board to help, just because I’m a low ranking officer!"

Silence.

Streamlight had finally vented and released all that pent up frustration he usually preferred to keep stowed away, and now everything was silent.

Outside his office he couldn’t hear a thing. Not a call, not a movement, not a shuffle of files or papers.

Everything was silent. Everyone was silent. All except for Streamlight’s quickly paced breathing.

Saying all of that out loud must have been surprising to hear, but if anything Streamlight was glad he did it. That weight that had been sitting on his chest while he had been coming back from Ponyville felt a lot less lighter.

A sigh escaped his lips. He looked up at Silver Star and saw the sad smile on her face.

“Feeling better?” she asked.

Streamlight sighed again with a slight chuckle. He nodded, getting up from his seat. “Thanks for listening to me rant.”

Silver Star shook her head. “It’s fine. But you really shouldn’t-”

Knock Knock

Streamlight patted Silver’s shoulder and moved forwards to open the door. When he had a cinnabar pegasus about an inch shorter than Streamlight himself,with a cinnamon mane and cyan highlights stood standing there in a black uniform with a gold badge that said “D.C.”

“Deputy Chief Scrimmage, sir uh, what can I do for you.” The pegasus had a grave look on his face. The whiskers around his muzzle not helping much either.

Stepping aside Scrimmage allowed a earth pony mare wearing a delivery uniform come inside. “Tell him what ye told me” he said.

The earth pony delivery mare gulped then took a shaky step forward. When she had completely stepped into view Streamlight noticed it instantly, blood.

“D-Detective Streamlight sir? Silver Star” the mare said her nerves still shot.

Streamlight nodded, waiting for the bad news. He’d been around long enough to know when something bad had happened. Was it another ghoul attack?

“What is it?” Silver Star asked moving forward.

“It’s um...It’s about the baker....Sweet Treat...she’s” the mare whimpered. “She’s, she’s dead.”

Silver Star collapsed to the ground, which Scrimmage moved to catch her instantly.

Streamlight stared at the mare before him who was now on the brink of tears with a still calm expression.

“What?” he said, a ringing beginning to form in his ears as his heart began pumping more blood through him.

“S-She’s dead sir. She died during a ghoul attack this afternoon. S-She died while under care at the hospital” the mare said in between sobs. “S-S-She’s gone.”

At that exact moment Streamlight felt that weight that had been lifted, double on his shoulders. His ears were ringing. A thousand thoughts were rushing through his head, he now just noticed a sobbing Silver Star mourning her cousin’s death, and one of his own best friends while Scrimmage kept her up as support.

Only one more thought passed through Streamlight’s mind as he slowly began to digest the information he had just been given. One he voiced clearly.

“W...What?”

Author's Note

Everything happens in a flash.

Let me know if I made mistakes. As always, enjoy.