Fallout: Equestria - Group Anthology - 2016

The Sunshine and Rainbows Case

by Zoltanthemagnificent

My name is Heart, and I am a private eye. One of the best, in fact, mainly due to there not being much room in the wasteland for investigators, so there’s not many who can take my crown.. You may think that just because of a lack of a justice system means that there’s no job for me, but you’d be wrong. In the larger settlements, there was definitely room for a crusty old unicorn stallion like me. I was able to find work in San Franciscolt, a place that was only hit by one bomb during the war, allowing it to be a more civilized place than most. Granted, there are still nasty radiation spikes, and most of the city is filled with horrid monsters, mutants, and the occasional rad-wooly. I lived here for so long, just for the sake of helping others, but not without a small fee.

This was a settlement that held some of my more interesting cases, one of which comes to my mind as I write this memoir: The Sunshine and Rainbows Case.

It was twenty years ago, a few days before the Lightbringer decided to open up the skies for us, and it happened shortly after I decided to have a drink at my favorite bar. I remember looking at my soft brown hoof under my long coat as I took a swig of the bottle of bourbon. With a spit, I looked up at Raggedy Cloth, the bartender, and growled,”Your stuff is still horrible.” I said, a small smile came to my lips.

Mr. Cloth laughed as he used his blue hoof to clean the mug,”Yeah, whatever, you’re still gonna buy this shit.”

I sigh in response as I rubbed my blond mane of hair. Mr. Cloth and I have been friends ever since I was able to find and save his daughter from a bunch of slavers. To this day, he’s always given me a discount on drinks. I twitched my ears a bit, trying to get to hear some of the people around me. The door behind me was open, letting in the cool air and the noises of the populace. I frequent this bar for another reason besides friendship: Cases. Sometimes my secretary Clipboard takes my cases down, but most of the time these cases pop up spontaneously right at this bar. It kind of happens when your place of business is near the center of town.

I take another swig of my drink, only to hear a stallion scream in pain,’Here we go!’ I thought as I slammed my mug down at the counter and jumped from the stool to run outside. I turn my eyes to see a ghoul pony on the ground, bleeding from the heart as several ponies circled him. I ran towards him and knelt down, when I felt his hoof grab mine.

“Sunshine and Rainbows.” He coughed, before his eyelids fell.

I frowned as I tipped my hat down,”Mr. Globe, poor guy.”

“He...” A mare behind me shuddered,”Why, he was like a grandfather to the foals, he taught so many of us...”

I got up and turned to her,”Did you see who did this?”

“Sorry, I just came here after hearing my husband scream at the sight of Globe’s blood,” The mare shook her head,”Why would anyone kill him?”

I laid a hoof on her shoulder,”I’ll get to the bottom of this. I always do.” I saw her tear up a little.

“I remember when he read me bedtime stories. Please, catch the asshole who did this!” She said, before going to her sobbing husband. I turned back to the body, and knelt down to examine it further. The wound in his chest appeared to be from a knife, obviously Globe had to have limped here or somepony would’ve saw the killer. But for what reason? Could he have wanted to tell me that phrase? What does Sunshine and Rainbows mean? I must investigate further.

A levitating robot greeted me as I opened the door to my office,”Clipboard,” I said to the robot,”We have a case.”

“Great, sir, what is it this time?” Clipboard spoke in a trottingham accent as he used one of his limbs to write down on a piece of paper,”Robbery? Raider attack? Alicorn Kidnapping?”

“Murder.” I had said, walking to my desk and pulling out one of the drawers and taking out a folder.

“Of course, sir, how original.” Clipboard said,”Perhaps you’ll put that in your tens of hundreds of murder files?”

“It’s the wasteland, Clip, murder’s the most popular and efficient crime.” I said, grabbing a piece of paper and writing down my notes,”Clip, name the ponies in San Fransicolt who’ve had a connection with the victim, Globe Trotter.”

“What if it’s just a random attack, sir? Those happen a lot.”

I shook my head,”This was different. The way his eyes looked at me with sadness and regret, and the words he spoke showed me that this murder was personal.”

The beeping noise that came from one of Clip’s eyes told me that his brain was scanning his databanks,”What did he say, sir?”

“Sunshine and rainbows.” I said, putting down my notebook and getting up to my pistol holster on the coat rack in the corner of my office,”I’m not sure what it means, or why he said it.”

“There are three ponies you could ask, sir:” Clipboard said,”His ghoul son, Socks; his friend, Mortar; and the owner of the apparel shop he frequents, Muscle Mass.”

“Thank you, I’ll go to his son’s place first.” I said, walking away from my desk,”Keep an eye on the place, Clip.”

“Always do, sir.” The robot said, using a duster to clean up a filing cabinet.

My first stop was at the small hut downtown that he lived in with Socks. I went to the front door and knocked on it four times. A minute passed and I knocked again, only to hear nothing again. I muttered to myself as I pulled out my bobby pin and screwdriver and began to fiddle with the lock. Now, being an earth pony, you may think that it’s very difficult to pick locks, and you’d be right, but I had practice. I’d tell ya how I learned to do it, but I don’t want to breed criminals through this journal.

I picked open the lock, allowing it to open to a small dusty room, with a corridor leading to a kitchen, a sofa on the wall, and a bedroom to the left. I walked in, scanning the room with my eyes, until I spied a spot in the middle of the floor. I knelt down to the spot, and I noticed that it was the black fluid that Ghouls usually bleed. Next to it was a bloody knife, which I took in my hoof, inspecting it before setting back down. I got up and went to the bedroom, noticing that it was very tidy, with only the window being open. I went to the kitchen, noticing that the only thing out of place was the knife rack missing one knife. I frowned at this, mainly due to the possibility of Socks being responsible for Globe’s murder. I shook my head as I got out of the house, and towards the home of Mortar.

I heard sounds of metal being moved as I knocked on the door of Mortar’s workshop, and heard a mare’s voice,”Give me a minute!” the sound of metal bangin on the floor came as a grey, dusty mare opened the door wearing a blue mechanic’s jumpsuit. She wiped her oily black mane back,”Heart? What are you doing here? I swear, I’m not responsible for the actions of my customers!” Mortar held up her hooves defensively.

“Relax, Mortar” I said, taking out my cigar,” I’m only here to ask about Globe.”

“Oh, yes I heard.” Mortar frowned as she beckoned me inside her home,”Come inside, I’ll talk to you in my workshop.” She lead me to a room filled with a single string of lights on the ceiling, and a couple of workbenches in the corner of the room. In the back was a counter for her shop.”I can’t imagine why anypony would want to kill Globe!” She muttered, sitting behind the counter,”He was such a nice stallion, always giving advice, always being kind to others.” She sighed,”He even gave me some tips on weapon-smithing that helped get me my cutie mark!”

I tapped my chin,”Anything else you’d like to tell me? It might help me find his murderer.”

“Well, he always gave me advice on how to sell my wares, and when my mother passed away, he helped take care of me.” She frowned,”He always came here every Friday after that to have tea with me, although this Friday I did notice something off about him...”

I cocked my head,”And that is?”

“He seemed out of it, always lapsing into a trance before I snapped him out of it. He also had this snarl in his voice that wasn’t present before...” I saw her put a hoof to her chin.

My ears perked up at this vital clue,”Have you seen his son?”

She leaned back,”Well, sometimes. He and Globe always seemed very happy whenever they came by, and he would always play with my baby sister, although this Friday he seemed worried about his father. I don’t know, there was something in his eyes...”

I nodded,”Thank you ma’am.” I tipped my hat,”I think I’m starting to realize what’s going on...” I turned.

“Please, find the pony who did this! He was a good pony, even if he was a ghoul...” She said as I walked away. There was one pony left I need to talk to, and he might give me the last piece of the puzzle.

I walked into the sporting good shop and heard the loud sound of a minotaur working out,

“Aw yeah, ready to work out those limbs!?” A large black minotaur came in front of me. His loud voice managing to blow my mane behind me.

I combed my mane forward as I sighed,”I’m not here to exercise, Muscle Mass.”

The minotaur frowned as he grabbed a chair from afar. He flipped it around and sat on it,”Let me guess, Globe?”

With a nod, I said,”What can you tell me about him?”

Muscle Mass sighed,”Well, he always loved going here, even though as a ghoul he can’t really build up his muscles. He said he enjoyed watching us work out and build ourselves up, said that it reminded him of life in the old world, before the Great War.”

“Life in the old world, huh? Tell me, was there anything else he liked to do?”

“Well, he would sit in the corner and drink his Sparkle Cola. He liked to discuss culture of the old world, and after a while, he would leave for the old bridge to look out at the sea.” the minotaur sighed,”I know some creatures hate ghouls, but I can’t believe they would do that.”

“I don’t think that this was a hate crime.” I said simply, tipping my hat as I left, hearing the confused murmuring of the minotaur behind me.

My next, and maybe final, stop was the bridge.

The Golden Hoof Bridge was large, red, and very rickety. The road was in pieces, with several holes left, causing some of the carriages to fall to the water below. I frowned as I saw a ghoul standing on the edge, looking out to the water,”Socks?” I asked.

“Hello, detective. I guess you figured it out.” The stallion said with a sigh.

“You killed Globe, your own father in his home.” I said simply, walking closer to him,”But you didn’t do it out of malice, did you?”

“He was slowly going out of it. I could hear a snarl in his voice whenever he spoke to me. His eyes frequently,” He growled,”went dark.” He sighed,”He wanted me to do it.”

“He was going feral.” I nodded,”But he said something to me, something about Sunshine and Rainbows?”

Socks looked out over the sea,”If you look closely, you can see a few bits of the cloud cover being broken off, and show a bit of sun, and on the water,” He started to growl for a bit,”You’d see a rainbow. Dad loved to watch it, and” He stopped, pointing out towards the sea. I looked with him, seeing a bit of sunshine hit the water, showing a rainbow of colors,”I’m... sorry.” He said, before falling silent.

I looked at him, and pulled out my gun as he began to growl. He turned and pounced at me as I shot him in the head. I put my gun away as I turned back into the city, ready to close this case