Equestria Noire: The Beginning

Where am I?

What is the place?

What's going on?

I see a burning house. I see three ponies standing there. With sick twisted smiles on their face. And they are looking at me. Why me? What do they want? They turn and walk away into the fire. What is happening?

Wait. This looks..... familiar. Like I've been here before. Like I know exactly what's gonna happen. Something BAD. Something that will change my life forever.

I approach the burning house. Even though the fire is burning hot, I feel a cold chill run down my spine. I move quickly through the smoke and ash. I keep my face covered, so I won't inhale anything. I have a feeling something terrible has happened here. Like this fire happened for a reason. There wasn't no electrical shortage or somepony forgot to turn off the stove top. No. Something was wrong. And I had to find out what it was.

All of a sudden, I hear a blood curling scream. A scream with a voice I recognize. Somepony I know better than anypony. As soon as I hear that, I move even quicker. I have to find that voice and save whoever it is.

I look through every part of the building, but I can't find where that scream came from. I better hurry and find the voice soon. This fire is getting out of control. Who knows what'll happen if I don't find it.

I see a lot of things in the building that I know for sure I've seen before. Pictures of ponies that look familiar. Pictures of events me and these ponies have done before. Some that look like good times, and some that I look at and I say "That was a mistake."

As I'm running through this building, I see a wall that has a message on it. A message that is written in red. And from the color of it, it looks like blood red. Why would there be a message on a wall in a burning house? I read the message and it says:

DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU WERE OUR FRIEND?

Why would this message say that? Is it directed towards me? I'm starting to feel nervous. Something sinister is happening.

I turn away from the message, and now, for some reason, the fire stops, and now I'm in a room that I also recognize. It feels like I lived here once before. Why does this place look so familiar? Is it some kind of illusion? And, if it is, what does it mean? Is it trying to tell me something?

Then I hear somepony behind me. I turn around, and it's the three ponies I saw earlier. They now have blank stares on their faces. They have weapons in their hooves. Then, the biggest one, who has a dark purplish coat with a pitch black mane approaches me. I know I have seen this stallion before. Like, I've know him all my life. Like I once thought of him as the father I always wanted. What is he gonna do? What does he want with me?

"Sorry kid, but you shouldn't have said no." I hear him say in a dark and demonic voice. He along with the other two guys swing at me with their weapons. I'm about to feel the first strike when.......

***********************************************************

"GUUUHH!" I wake up. I was breathing heavily and sweating. It was all just a nightmare. I look around and I'm still in my apartment in Ponyville.

It's been a while since I've had that dream. I haven't had that dream for about 5 years. So why did I have it now? Was my dream trying to tell me something? Or was I just going crazy?

I still do have memories of that night. Memories that I've tried to black out. But, I guess you can't ever block memories no matter how hard you try. The thing I remember most is I knew from that moment on how the world truly works. Meaning that there was no friendship in this world. Only enemies and betrayal.

During my reminiscing of the past, I heard a knock at my door and a voice I knew.

"Detective Night Mist? Are you there? We have some information for you. Your really gonna want to take a look at this." It was Twilight Sparkle who was speaking at my door. Then I heard another voice that I recognized instantly.

"I have some info too. This is gonna blow your mind." It was Shining Armor.

I got up out of my chair and went to go open the door to let them in.

I opened the door and saw them, along with Spike on Twilight's back, standing there with smiles on their faces that instantly turned to looks of confusion.

"Hey are you all right Night Mist? You don't look so good." Twilight said to me looking all concerned.

"Yeah, you look like crap." Shining said with a joking smile. Twilight shot a glare at her brother, which said to not insult me like that. But I didn't care. I don't take a lot of shit personally. Unless I felt it was personal, then I'd get pissed.

"I'm fine, I just woke up from a nap. Come on in." I said as I invited them into my apartment room.

They followed me into my apartment. My place was a pretty average looking apartment. Not too big, not too small. Had a bathroom with a shower. A TV that was pretty standard size. A bed that, while not the most comfy, was good enough too sleep in without waking up with bed sores. Some furniture, a couple chairs and 2 sofas. The basic stuff you have when your living in an apartment.

"Nice place you got here." Shining Armor told me with a smile on his face.

"Thank you. It's not much, but enough." I said to him.

They sat down on one of my sofas, which this one was brown and leathery. As they sat down, they must have noticed I was sweating a little bit. I mean I did just wake up from a nightmare. Most of the time when you have a nightmare, you wake up cold and feeling chills. It's just normal. So Twilight, being the supposed good hearted mare that she is, decided to ask me if something was wrong.

"Night Mist, your sweating a lot. Did you wake up from a nightmare?"

I didn't know she could catch on so quickly. She's even smarter than I thought she was. I guess she isn't Princess Celestia's student for nothing. She also would probably know if I'm lying or not. Might as well just say yes, but then tell just a little white lie.

"Yes. I did." I answered straight forward. She looked really concerned for me now. Maybe I should have just lied.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked.

"No I don't. So what have you guys got?" I answered. I know it was kinda rude of me to say it like that, but I just want to get this information now so I can catch the fucker who kidnapped those guards.

I guess my answer really didn't please Shining Armor and Spike all that much, because they looked pissed at me. They had every right to.

"Hey what's the big deal? She just cares about you. I mean you are her friend you know." Shining said to me looking cross as hell.

"Shining." Twilight attempted to calm her big brother down. He said that word again. Friend. Me and Twilight are NOT friends. Neither are her other friends either. Might as well tell him that. I know I can kick this guy's ass.

"I'm afraid your wrong on that last bit Shining Armor. Me and Twilight are not friends. We are just partners in this case. I'm not friends with her, you, or the other Elements of Harmony. The only reason I'm working with you guys, is because Princess Celestia told me too." I answered him with a Stern look on my face. He didn't look happy when I said that. And neither did Twilight. She actually looked kind of upset. Did she really think of me as a friend?

....................

No. She couldn't have. I won't buy it. Not after what happened. I don't ever want to go through what happened to me ever again. Then Spike, who had a cross look on his face along with his arms crossed at his chest spoke next.

"Just because you don't think of us as friends, doesn't mean you can be rude to us." He told me. Now I better watch what I say. I mean this kids a dragon. And he can breath fire.

"I'm just being honest. Isn't that what ponies want with each other?" I asked.

He was about to speak until Twilight levitated him over to her and a not so happy looking Shining Armor. She had a somewhat dissapointing look on her face as she spoke to me.

"I'm sorry if I felt like I was getting in your business Night Mist. I was only trying to help. I never meant any harm." She said to me. When she said that, it sounded like she only said it to stop an argument from happening. She didn't want me fighting with her brother or her assistant.

They both looked at her with WTF looks on their faces. They couldn't believe she would apologise when, and I guess I'm being honest with myself, she was in the right and I was in the wrong. I know. I can admit when I'm in the wrong. I guess I may as well apologise as well.

"No, I'm sorry Princess Twilight. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just I'm a very private pony. I'm not exactly a guy who talks about my feeling very much. I hope you can respect that. All of you." I said referring to Shining Armor and Spike also. They didn't smile, but judging from their serious looks, they at least understood. And I always like that.

"Well, if you ever do feel like it one day, you can talk to me. I can help." She said with a smile on her face.

"I'll keep that in mind. Now, Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike. What have you gotten from Silver Star and Picture Frame?" I asked them.

They looked at each other, nodded, and then proceeded to tell me everything about what they learned. From the fact that somepony put in a fake position change for the royal guards to the top of the castle, to nopony knowing, even Princess Celestia herself, about said position change, and most of all this Gear Shift fellow. So he's a homophobe who got into a fight with Steel Bar, resulting in him getting suspended without pay. Also, from Meadow Blossom, he creeped on her, resulting in a one week suspension. Apparently, this guy was somepony that felt suspicious.

"That's what we have for you Night Mist. Now, we'd like to hear what you have. What have you got from the documents?" Twilight asked me.

I levitated the documents to my small table in the middle of my room.

"Well, according to these documents, there are four total positions with multiple positions on the inside of that total one. North, East, South, and West. Each position has two guards on that duty. There also is guards at the front entrance of the building." I told them while pointing to the positions with a pencil I picked up.

"Yeah, we want to make sure that every part of the building is secure." Shining Armor said.

"Well, here's where something strange comes in." I said to him. He had a confused look on his face.

"If there are guards at the front entrance, there is no way an enemy could have gotten into the building to abduct the guards without anypony noticing. Also, with all the positions around the castle, there had to have been some pony who noticed something." I said to them. They were starting to look a little intrigued.

"I also have a feeling that if somepony invaded the castle and abducted these guards, it wasn't somepony like Tirek, Crysalis, or Nightmare Moon. No offense Shining Armor, but they could have easily gotten past the guards without a sweat. I can tell you train these guards very well. However, with ponies like the ones I just mentioned, an ordinary royal guard would be taken down in a split second. They wouldn't need to sneak into the castle. So it must be a regular pony like all of us here. Overall, I think that, as heavily guarded as the castle is, there must be a couple blind spots." I said.

"What do you mean?" Shining asked.

"This didn't happen for no reason. However these guards dissapeared is still up for debate, but if these guards dissapeared without anypony noticing, it must mean somepony knew the layout of the castle and snuck into the castle grounds via a blind spot, which they also knew in order to get around the guards." I said. Shining and Twilight looked a little surprised at what I just said. I guess they never thought about that before.

"There's also something else. Twilight, you mentioned a name. A Gear Shift. Correct?" I asked her. She got her serious look on her face as she spoke to me.

"Yes. Picture Frame told me him and Steel Bar didn't like each other, and that they got into a fight after Gear called him a fag. And, Shining, you suspended both of them for three months, right?" She asked her brother. He nodded.

"Yeah. I know Gear started it, but I had to teach Steel that he shouldn't be the one to start fights. Even if he has every right to." Shining explained to me and Twilight. I spoke next.

"Did you ever have any bad experiences with Gear Shift Shining?"

"Oh I don't think so. This guy, when it came to royalty like Cadence or Celestia or Luna or even me, always just sucked up to us. He just kissed our asses. He always made sure he had a job with us so he could make great money. I could tell he didn't really care about protecting the castle. He just was in it for the money." He told me looking annoyed. Sounds like this guy is a greedy SOB. Like he'll do anything for money. Maybe, because of the suspension he got, he wasn't to happy with not getting payed. Could be a good lead.

"Well now, this Gear Shift fellow could be a good lead. I'm going to need to ask him a few questions. You don't mind do you Shining Armor?" I asked him. Even though I asked, I still would do it if he said no. It's my job after all.

"No. Not at all. Do you think he's a suspect in this case?" He asked me.

"Well, yes. And I'll tell you why. Shining, do all of your guards know the entire layout of the castle? Meaning the North, East, South, and West sides? And everything around them?" I asked.

"Yeah. Before they become guards, they have to study the entire layout of the castle. They're expected to know each and every position and what's around it." He told me.

"And Gear Shift also knew about it as well?"

"Right. Even though I don't like him personally, I will say that he actually is a pretty smart pony."

"So the reason I think he might be a suspect is because if somepony invaded the castle without anypony knowing, they had to have gotten information from somepony on the inside. And judging from what Meadow Blossom and Picture Frame said, he must be a pretty arrogant pony who thinks he's better than everypony. And if he gets in trouble or humiliated, he has to be somepony who will want to get payback on them. He hates losing basically. So, overall Shining, I think you have a mole in your crew of royal guards. And I think he might be the mole." I told Shining.

He looked like he was starting to get it. "So maybe he gave somepony the layout of the castle, they studied it, and knew where the blind spots were to invade the castle grounds without anypony noticing." He said looking like he solve the biggest mystery of all time and was really happy about it. Twilight spoke next, who looks just as excited as her brother did.

"And maybe he wrote some fake position change to get Steel Bar and the other two up there to be abducted. Because he wanted payback for Steel getting him suspended. It makes sense. We can nail him with this." She said. I had to stop her. It couldn't be that simple. There has to be more to this.

"Woah Twilight, hold on. We can prove he knew the layout of the castle like all of them do, and we have proof that he has had problems with royal guards before, but we can't soley blame him for the dissapearance of the guards." I told her. She had a cross look on her face when she looked at me.

"I know that, but he's involved in this. He's a step closer for us to finding them." She said.

"Well, we have to interrogate him first. Get some answers out of him. Maybe he'll give us a name." I said to her.

"Your right. Shining , do you know where Gear Shift lives?" She asked her brother.

He nodded his head and said "Yeah, he lives in some house around here. I think it's a couple blocks from here. 1901 Harmony Rd is the address. And he's actually off today. So there's a good chance he's there." He sad to us.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's catch this guy." Spike said looking all heroic. I laughed a little under my breath. It was adorable seeing somepony so small acting courageous.

We all left my apartment and headed out to Gear Shift's address. I hope the guy is there. However, something in my gut was telling me there was something more to this case. Something bigger.