Equestria Noir - Case #1: A Broken Family

I've always enjoyed taking long walks. It doesn't matter if it's in a big park, a trail, or in the streets of New Colt City. My home. I've always felt so at peace when I walk around to clear my head. To clear my head of everything that goes on in my life. Whether it be some personal drama with my family or friends, or heading home when I'm done working a case after a long time. Like I'm doing right now.

Well, I guess I should introduce myself to you fellow readers. My name is Night Mist. Or Detective Night Mist as some ponies would refer to me as. I've been a private detective for about, wow, 2 years already. It's amazing how time flies so fast. I can still remember the days when I was a regular police officer working with my old partner Light Heart. Her and me were as good as partners could be. I even considered her my best friend at one point. I felt like I could go to her for anything, and she'd listen to me when I had problems. That's how it always was, I thought. How wrong I was to think that though. Oh well, you can't change the past, no matter how hard you try.

Anyway, I'm walking back to my apartment right now after I just got done working a long, long case. What had happened was, a little filly was foal napped from the park, right out from under her mother's snout. How she was abducted without anypony seeing her, I do not know. And the mother, if you could only imagine how any mother would react during a situation like that, she freaked the fuck out. She was terrified beyond belief.

Thankfully, there was a witness who saw the napping take place. He said, while he only saw the back of the stallion who abducted her, he noticed a burn mark on his left back leg. Probably from an accident in the war. Then I did what any detective does when he or she is doing an investigation. I would gather as much evidence as I possibly could, ask questions, whether family, friends, or just ordinary ponies who knew the victim, put all the evidence together, track down the suspect, eventually catch said suspect, charge him, book him, and officially close the case. That is what I do during investigations like this.

Well, I remember I talked to the mother. She told me the only suspect would be her baby daddy. Meaning, a guy who impregnated her, who wasn't around to help her in raising their daughter. She told me she even filed a restraining order against him. Why? Because, from what she said, he was stalking her and her daughter. She gave examples of her receiving letters that were filled with death threats, he would show up at her work place, where he would be escorted by security, and would constantly call her, leaving threatening voicemails on her answering machine. She seemed really scared by this stallion.

Well, after the info she gave me, I did some research on the stalker guy. I read through his personal records, and this guy had some history with some mares. He would abuse them, stalk them, like she said, and even try to set them up for some crime they never committed. Another thing I found was he had an accident when he was stationed in Saddle Arabia about 5 years ago. What was it you ask? He burned his leg as he was entering a burning building. Interesting. I also looked through his phone call records, and she was right again. He had called her house for months about 10 times a day. I even went back to her house and asked if I could look at any letters she had saved from this stalker. Well, as luck would have it, another threatening letter had been delivered to her mailbox. I read it over, and yeah, I don't think I need to tell you what was on this letter. Basic threats, saying he's watching her AND their daughter, and that he one day is going to do something BAD to her. So there was no question that this guy was indeed a suspect.

Well, I ended up tracking him down, and he ran like how a coward would run. As soon as he saw me, he bolted like a scalded dog. When I eventually caught him, I noticed the burn mark on his leg, like how the witness said. I brought him back over to his apartment, where I cuffed him to a pole, and then started looking for evidence. I also called the police. While they weren't exactly happy to hear my voice, they sent a squad car down to pick up the perp.

What I found, oohohoho, you would be laughing your ass off. Not in a "Ha-Ha" kinda way, but in a convenient kinda way. I found pictures of the mare he impregnated, and his daughter all over a "secret" room he had managed to block off. Until, I found it at least. Then, in his room, I found the abducted filly on his bed. She was unconscious. Thankfully, however, she was still breathing. So she was sedated. This fucker drugged his own daughter, so she wouldn't put up a fight. When the cops finally showed up, they officially arrested this demented piece of shit. And I got the filly out of that room, and to a hospital, where I contacted the mother. Thankfully, the filly didn't show any signs of being molested. She was just drugged to keep quiet. When the mother got there, she was crying tears of joy that her baby was still alive. She thanked me for everything I did to help her. So, it ultimately was a job well done for me.

While I was walking home to my apartment, I went through a little pizza stand. Just got two slices. I figure I should eat, seeing as how I haven't eaten since really early that morning. Mainly, because I was so focused on finding that filly, and making sure she was brought home safe to her momma. Anyway, I finally made it back home after a hard day's work. First thing I did, was levitate my trench coat, where it held my gun, which was .48 Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol, a steel chain that I would whip in a suspects face during physical combat, a pen and notepad that I would use to write down clues during an investigation, and, just in case I may have to shoot to kill, something I'm not proud of, but sometimes you have to when your perp gets extremely violent and you have no choice but to put him down, a .44 Magnum, on my coat rack. Then I would look at myself in my mirror just to see if anything has physically changed about me. Despite a little bit of pizza sauce on my lower lip, nothing really much has changed. Still have the same coat color, which is dark grey. Same pitch black coat. Same cutie mark, which is a question mark with a small magnifying glass in the top right hand corner. Same blue eyes. Still have my unicorn horn. Nothing really much has changed about myself. Physically at least.

I sat down at my little table and finished my pizza, while also whipping off my pizza sauce on my lip. However, as I finished my pizza, I saw a couple pictures on a little shelf, which had some major dust all over it. So I levitated them over to me.

Man, these bring back memories of when I was young Colt growing up in Manehatten. Well, readers, I guess I should tell you a bit about my background before I became a detective.

I was born on April 18, 1993 at Manehatten Hospital. So now I'm 24 going on 25 years old. I was brought into this world by Hard Boiled, my father, and Angel Wings, my mother. I was named Night Mist because I was born on a really beautiful night that Princess Celestia had done, because her sister was banished to the moon for 1,000 years. And Mist was after my uncle Mist Shadows, who unfortunately passed away to lung cancer before I was born. He was my dad's older brother. So, in a way, he was honoring his brothers legacy, by naming his nephew after him.

However, I was not an only child. I had three older sisters who also were there that day as well. And man we're they excited when I was born. They would constantly want to hold me, with help from my father of course, they'd talk about what they would want to do with me when they got home, some included playing dress-up, and about how they would protect me at all costs from the world.

My eldest sister was Sunshine. The reason she was given that name, was because Mom said she was the sunshine of her life when she first laid eyes on her. The second one was Sweet Pea. She was named that because of the fact that my mom just adored her from the first moment she saw her. She said she was her little Sweet Pea. Then, lastly, there came Luminescence. She was named after my mom's great grandmother, who passed away when she was young.

One of the pictures had me and Lumi, that's a nickname we always called her, at a concert. I was a teenager when this happened. We went and saw Ozzy Ozpony. I was smiling in the photo, while she had her hoof up to her muzzle with her tongue sticking out like how you would see a rocker on stage do when he's playing his Rock and roll music. Lumi is the pegasus with the short blue mane and the dark purple coat. She has blue eyes, like me. Yeah, Lumi was the definition of a Rock and roll punk chick. She would blast her music in her room out loud for everypony in the neighborhood to hear, she always had her guitar on her, and quote some big time Rock legends. Her favorite rock band of all time, without a shadow of a doubt, was The Who?. She LOVED their music. Especially the song Teenage Wasteland. She would practice that song for hours, until one day she finally got it right. You know what's weird though? The word "punk" is just exaggerated on Lumi's part. She is one of the coolest, nicest, and awesomest mares you'll ever meet. She would want to hang out with the guys, play video games, do karoke, and lots of other stuff. Me and her were easily the closest of siblings growing up. She would always hang out with me as a kid, cause she said she always wanted a little brother. She would even sing to me either to entertain or cheer me up if I was sad. I love this picture. Me and her had a great time that night. And, even though we haven't talked in a while because of how busy it has gotten with my detective work, I'll always love her very much. She's a great big sister.

Then I levitated another picture. Now this one is a good one. It was me and Sweet Pea at the Manehatten County Fair when I was a little colt. She's the unicorn with a long blonde mane, light green coat, and blue eyes. We were both sitting on a bench eating ice cream together. We were both smiling big smiles. Now Sweet Pea and I also had a really good relationship. While we weren't as close as me and Lumi, I always felt that if I had to go to some pony for something really personal, it'd be her. Her name is pretty much what describes her personality. She is the absolute sweetest, most kind-hearted mare you will ever meet. Now, the only times I would remember us being really close was when she would convince me to model a suit for her. Yes, she's a fashion designer. And a damn good one. However, even though she was extremely sweet, and a good fashioned designer, that didn't mean she was the smartest mare by any means. She is the definition of a dumb blonde. She would take figures of speech literally, she wouldn't understand things unless you explained them to her in her kind of language, like in a fashion sense, and she just was, overall, completely naive. But, no matter what, I'll always love her like the big sister she was to me.

Then, I levitated another picture, and this one I remember the best of all. It was when I was out celebrating with my eldest sister Sunshine, Sweet Pea, Luminescence and my parents when I got my cutie mark. You see, one day at school, a colt, who was a friend of mine, got accused of sneaking into the cafeteria, and ruining the "mushroom surprise" that was going to be served during lunch. If you ask me, they did everypony a favor. I hate mushrooms. And everypony hated the "mushroom surprise". The reason my friend got accused, is because he was one of the students who was always vocal about how bad the lunch lady's cafeteria food tasted. He was right, but it wasn't a smart thing to do. He even told the lady, to her face, that the food, for a lack of a better term, tasted like shit. Him and the cafeteria lady had a bit of a rivaly during our school year. She even accused him of doing it. However, I knew Back Rib. While he was a big eater, he would never try to ruin a meal for everypony else. Let alone vandalize school property. So, while school was in session, I poked around for evidence. I also did some research on her when I was at home. This may sound dumb, but I got my amateur detective skills from watching my favorite TV show of all time, Law and Order.

Thankfully, one of the other lunch ladies told me she always talked bad about Back Rib complaining about the food she cooked. She even said that she said that she wanted him out of the school. That was one thing. Next, I ended up hearing a rumor, from my fellow students who heard about it from their parents, that she once got fired from a previous school, when she was yelling at a student who said to her that her food didn't taste too good. Apparently, she couldn't handle criticism. I think I heard she may have even threatened the student, but it was never proven. That was two. Also, one of the students, who was in the same class with Back Rib, said that he was in class the whole time. That was three. Lastly, and this was the big one, the nice lunch lady, who told me about her and Back Rib, brought me into the kitchen to look for clues. Apparently, not only had there been no signs of forced entry, but it looked like the "mushroom surprise" was ruined by the evil lunch lady herself. However, the biggest thing that made me realize Back Rib's innocence, was when the janitor told me that he saw the evil lunch lady run out of the kitchen to the principal's office to report the vandalism. However, he also saw her arrive to the kitchen early that morning when she started her shift, and never once saw her leave the kitchen. So, with all the facts and evidence, it lead me to a conclusion: the evil lunch lady ruined her own "mushroom surprise" and then placed blame on Back Rib to try and get him expelled. That was cold.

Anyway, I had Back Rib, the good lunch lady, the student and teacher who saw Back Rib in class, and the janitor tell the principle there side of the story. But what really made him believe me, was when I gave him a newspaper that I had printed off the computer. It had the story of the evil lunch lady's incident with the student at the other school. This is what proved Back Rib's innocence, and got that evil lunch lady fired and arrested for lying and framing a student for vandalism. Then, after I watched her get arrested, I felt a glow on my flank, and there it was. My cutie mark.

I was so excited to show my whole family when I got home. When I did, the first thing they did was congratulate me, and then took me out to Hayburger Hut. And we took this picture at our table. She's the pegasus with the shorter blonde mane, light blue coat, and blue eyes. My dad, Hard Boiled, was the big grey unicorn stallion with the dishwater blonde mane and blue eyes. Then, finally, my mother, Angel Wings, she was the light blue pegasus with light green eyes and black mane. As far as my relationship with Sunshine, well, she could be pretty bossy sometimes. And I understood why. She was the eldest sibling, and, therefore, she was responsible if anything happened to us. However, she always looked out for me and my two other big sisters. She made sure we were fed, clothed, and in bed on time so we would be ready for school the next morning. So, for that, I'll always love her for that.

As far as my relationship with my parents, well, I was always closer to my dad. Not that I wasn't close to my mom at all. Far from it. It's just, the reason I wanted to get into law enforcement, was because my dad was a police officer for many years, even before he met mom. He even took me one day in take your foal to work day, and I got to see him in action, patrolling the streets. Now, I didn't really see anything huge, but I knew, from that moment on, that I wanted to be in law enforcement. He was like a hero to me so to speak. Now, my mom, she was an author who wrote novels based on crimes that my dad investigated throughout his career as a police officer. So, she got me into reading. Mostly mystery novels, but she made me love reading. Also, while my mother was a really nice, sweet mare, I'm telling you right now. If you ever crossed her, she wouldn't care who you were. You could be a young colt who said something bad to one of her children, a business pony who could take away every bit from you, or a big badass looking stallion who looked like you wouldn't want to mess with. She would get up in your face and tell you off. Berate you, yell at you, and pretty much rip you a new asshole. Not to mention how tough she was. She's one of those mares where, if you got into a fight with her, to win, you'd have to kill her. You could beat the crap out of her, and she'd get back up and still want to fight. That is how tough she is. Heck, she may have been tougher than dad.

Man, those photos sure do bring back memories. I miss talking to them. But, with how busy you get when your in law enforcement, sometimes you don't have time to sit down and relax and talk to your family or friends. That's just how it is.

After I got done looking at those old photos, I decided I better go to bed. I've had a long day. Who knows what's gonna happen tomorrow. Maybe I'll get a much easier case to work on.

........

Yeah, riiiiigghht. No case is ever easy. I'll just be prepared for another hard day's work tomorrow. Let's just hope I get enough sleep before I eventually get called.

So, I climbed into bed, pulled the covers on my body, and prepared to drift off into slumber.

******************5 Hours Later*********************

**********'ring ring'....'ring ring'*************

I woke up, half asleep I may add, when I heard my phone ring. I looked over at my clock. It was 4:45 AM. So quarter to 5 in the morning. Well, on the bright side, I did get back home last night at around 11:40 PM. So I got a little over 5 hours of sleep. That's actually great, considering when your a private detective, you barely get any sleep at all. So, I got up, all groggy like, and made my may to the phone.

I picked it up and answered "Hello, this is Detective Night Mist. How may I help you?" I answered, trying not to sound tired, even though I kinda still was. Then the voice I heard on the other line was somepony who I thought I would never speak to again. And, frankly, I didn't WANT to speak to again.

"Hey Night, long time no see." The voice belonged to my old partner Light Heart. She sounded kinda nervous when she spoke to me. Like I said earlier. We use to partners when we were on the force together. Even though my feelings toward her are somewhat different than they were before, I can still safely say that she is one of the best police officers in Equestria today. I heard that she also has risen in the ranks of police officers, and could one day become the commissioner. She would deserve it, because she is a hard working mare. That's how I would think professionally. Cause I am a 100% professional. However, personally, I just don't really care about her like how I use to. Not after what she did.

"Yeah, it has been a long time, hasn't it? Since you got me blackballed from the force." I answered her in a non-chalant kind of way. Yeah, that is why me and her aren't exactly friends anymore. See, when we were working together, I told her I was planning on leaving the force to become a private detective. Well, she didn't take it very well. In fact, we actually got into a huge argument about why I was leaving. I told her that, while it was great that we worked together for so long, I needed a change of scenery. I felt that I could solve cases myself. Not that I didn't like being Light Heart's partner, it's just I felt like I thought that this was best for myself. Well, then she told me something that, even I didn't see coming.

Remember how I told you readers that I considered her my best friend at one point. Well, she felt something more for me. You know, when you work together with somepony for so long, we worked together for 5 years, you really get to know your partner on a personal level. We had a lot in common with each other. We both grew up with a parent who was a cop, we both grew up with some siblings, and we both wanted to be the best law enforcement officer we could be. Well, during those 5 years, I guess she ended up developing feelings for me. A "More Then Friends" kind of feeling.

Yeah, that's right. She told me she loved me. And that she's had these feelings for me for a long time now. I really didn't see it coming. It was a genuine shock to me. She didn't even know why she had these feelings for me, but she just did.

Well, my mind was already made up. That, and my father told me when I was young that you should never date one of your co-workers. It will always end bad. So, I basically broke my best friend's heart, and rejected her feelings. Then, I guess because she was so angry and in the heat of the moment, she ended up telling our captain, who was named Bollock, and he was NOT happy when he heard about that. I came in the next day, and got into a huge screaming match with Bollock about my decision to leave the force. He told me if I leave the force, I'll be forever blackballed. Well, he never really sacred me anyway. So, I made my decision. I told him "I Quit" and walked out. I'll never forget when I walked out that day, the last pony I saw was Light Heart. She looked incredibly guilty for ratting me out. I just looked at her and said "Feel better now?" and just walked away. That was the last time I ever spoke to her. It was that day when my police officer career ended, and my career as private detective started.

"I guess your still mad about that, huh?" She said as she sounded guilty like she did 2 years ago.

"What do you think?" I asked her sounding all smartass like. I could tell she didn't like when I answered her like that.

"Yeah, look I'm not here to talk about what happened that day. I'm here to tell you that I've got a case for you." She said to me.

I was surprised when I heard that. "Case? I thought I was "Forever Blackballed" like Bollock said." I told her sounding confused. I heard a confident smirk from her. She must have some good news to tell me.

"Well, Bollock retired a couple months ago. And now, the new commissioner has wanted to do business with you. It doesn't matter if your a private detective or not." She told me.

"Well, who is the new commissioner?" I asked her. She did another smirking noise. Wait, no way

"Your talking to her." She said in her confident voice that I remembered she used during our partnership years ago. So, Light Heart is the new police commissioner. Well, I can't say I'm surprised. She's one of the hardest working police officers I've ever known. She must have earned it with respect and hard work.

"Well, congratulations. I always knew you'd get it." I told her. She sounded a little flustered. I guess she liked that I still had respect for her.

"Thanks. It means a lot coming from you." She said. I could tell she was blushing over the phone.

"Yep. So, what's this case your talking about?" I asked he snapping her back into reality. I succeeded. She went right back into business.

"Yes. It's down in Ponyville. Last night, a young dragon found the body of young mare. Somepony bashed this poor girl's skull in. I need you to pack your bags and head down there. Your going to meet with Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia at the Castle of Friendship. Spike will be there to tell you what he found." She told me.

I'm going to be meeting two princesses? And the hero of the crystal empire? Man this sounded big. But wait? Why was she calling me? This could be for any other law enforcement officer.

"Not that I'm rejecting this mission, but why do you need me? Why can't you just get one of your guys?" I asked her.

"We are all filled on cases right now here in Manehatten. Plus, I figured that if I wanted to reconnect with you, maybe I could give you a case, and we could be friends again." She said sounding kind of embarrassed.

I would tell her that she wanted to be more than friends long ago. So why just friends now? However, this sounded like a pretty good gig. That, and I haven't had a murder case in a long time now. Hell, most of my cases these past 5 months have been pretty lame. Not including the missing filly case though. So, I figure I'll just accept this case and move on.

"Alright, I'll accept this case. I'll head down to the train station in about an hour. I should be in Ponyville at about 8." I told her.

I could tell she was smiling over the phone. "Thank you Night Mist......it was nice talking to you again. I've missed this." She said. I could tell she was blushing again. It sounded kind of cute.

"No problem. I guess it was nice talking to you too." I told her. Wait, was I blushing? No, stop that.

"Yeah, so I guess I'll talk to you later, bye." She said, bidding me farewell.

"Yep, bye." I said as I hung up the phone.

Man, this is going to be good. I'm finally getting a huge case. And in Ponyville no less. This was my chance to really make myself stand out and make ponies notice me.

So, I took a shower, got my trench coat with my items in them, and headed down to the train station. I got a ticket to Ponyville. The lady said it would be about a 3 hour trip, but I was prepared. I also had my phone with me too. It had music that I listened to, some games, books, and others. So I knew I wouldn't be bored.

Well, I got to my seat, sat down, and felt the train take off to Ponyville. I could hardly wait to get on this case. Maybe now, this was a chance for me to really show my skills as a detective. I was looking forward to arriving in Ponyville. I knew this was going to be a time I will never forget.

Maybe also, this could reconnect my friendship with Light Heart. A part of me wanted it to be that way. But another part of me wanted to just do this alone. Well, I guess only time will tell as I go further in this case. Either way, I'm interested to say the very least.