Equestria Noire Case #1: The Royal Guard Case

"I guess I should introduce myself to you sir. I'm Detective Shadow Haze. Like I said, I'm investigating the murder of Steel Spear." I told him.

"I'm Ace. It's nice to meet you, sir. As I said, I'm Steel's uncle. Horrible tragedy that happened." He said. I noticed when he said that he looked like he knew something. Something serious about this whole thing.

I got out my notepad and pen. "So, do you have any idea who may want to hurt Steel?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Not a clue. Me and my nephew had a bit of a falling out 6 months ago. We hadn't spoken since then." He said, now sporting a look of regret on his face. "Guess I'm gonna live with that, detective. I didn't even try to reconnect with him. I'm a terrible uncle."

"What do you mean by "falling out", Ace?" I asked him.

He sighed heavily. "Well, he got suspended from guard duty. I don't know why, he never told me, but it happened. And, I told him that he needs to take responsibility for his actions. Cause, he was blaming everypony but himself. He even blamed me for not trying to help. But, what could I do? I'm not a fuckin Royal Guard. Then, we had a fight, and he told me he didn't want to see me again. And we didn't speak at all. Now, we're never gonna speak again. That's what happened." He explained the story to me.

Hmm. He got suspended, huh? Maybe when we interview Shining Armor, I can ask him about that. It sounds like a kind of drug test or legal system kind of thing.

"Did you know that Steel was gay, Ace?" I asked him. He appeared to shutter a little bit when I asked him that.

"Yes." He said, sounding uncomfortable.

"And, were you and most of his family okay with that?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I mean why wouldn't we? He's family, ya know?" He told me. He appeared to look kind of intense. Like, he was stretching the truth a little bit. Yeah, that won't happen while I'm here.

"Okay, so do you want me to ask every single family member of his, where they might give me a different answer? Then, that would be obstructing a police officer, Ace. I could arrest your ass for that. Now me the truth, before I BEAT IT out of you." I told him forcefully.

He scowled at me. Not like I was scared. "Fine! My brother kicked him out when he told everypony. The family is pretty big on religion, detective. They're apart of a hate group against the LGBT community. They're called the Fight Against Gay Society, or F.A.G.S for short." He told me angrily.

"Are you apart of this hate group?" I asked him.

"No, I am not. My little brother, Rocky, is a terrible pony. Says he wants to "spread the word of God toward everypony." But I know the truth. He just wants to make all gay ponies' lives miserable. And I don't want to be associated with him." He told me.

"Do you know the address for this place?" I asked him.

"Well, they actually have a few places where they do their business. It isn't just one place detective. But, I do have this address right here. Maybe their could be somepony who could give you answers, though I highly doubt they will." He told me as he gave me a piece of paper with an address on it. 421 N Trot Ave. Okay, so that's a place I could investigate later on.

I levitated out the picture I found at the murder scene. The one with Steel and his boyfriend. "Do you know Steel's boyfriend here?" I asked him.

He looked at the picture, and quickly responded, "Yeah, I know him. Those two have been together since they graduated high school. His name is Cobalt. They live in Ponyville on 35 S Neighbourne Rd. It's a little white house. Can't miss it." Okay, so now I have an address on the boyfriend. Man, I'm getting quite the locations. I'll have to do a lot of interviewing.

"Were they happy together?"

"Yeah. Cobalt especially. He was deeply in love with him. I don't think I ever met somepony so devoted to their loved one...although....." He trailed off a little bit.

I raised an eyebrow. "Although what?" I asked him.

He sighed. "I don't know about this for sure, but I had a feeling, right before he died, Steel may have, quite possibly, been cheating on Cobalt with another guy." Ace told me.

Cheating, huh? I know what that's like.

"Did you ever see this guy, before?" I asked him.

Ace nodded. "Yeah, he's a Pegasus. He's got a pitch black coat and a dark blue mane. I seen them walking and talking around town a lot when Steel and I weren't talking. They appeared to just be hanging out as friends, but I had a feeling something was going on between them." He explained to me.

Wait, I remember Cheerilee told me that she saw a Pegasus fly into the night before those two Earth pony stallions ran past her. That could possibly be a lead.

"Did you know the Pegasus pony?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No. Like I said, that was when him and I weren't talking. I just saw it whenever he walked past my store. Sorry detective."

I managed to write everything down on my notepad. Yeah, I'm a pretty fast writer. "No need to be sorry, Ace. You've been a big help." I told him.

"No problem, detective. Get that mother fucker who murdered my nephew, okay?" Ace said.

"I promise, I will." I said, attempting to leave the toy store, until he called back at me. "And, hey." I looked back at him. He levitated the comic book collection out of the window, and put it under his desk. "Since your doing this, I'll put this away, until you get the guy. Then, I can give it to you for free." He said.

I was a bit surprised when he said that. "Your willing to give it to me for free?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, man. It's the least I could do. Your doing something personal for me. So, I'll help you out personally as well." He told me. Man, now the pressure was really on for me to solve this case. Not only to make a good payday to get my bills all wrapped up, but now I can finally get something for Comet Chaser.

This is exactly what I needed.

"Why did you go in there?" Twilight asked me, not looking too happy that I, quite frankly, ditched her.

"Well, I was planning on asking to put that comic collection on hold for Comet, which I did, but I also got something even better." I told her. This appeared to interest her as her ears flicked when I said that.

"Really? What is it?" She said leaning close to me.

I showed her my casenotes on my notepad. "I think I've got a lead." I said showing off my confident grin.

"So, Steel gets suspended from work. He's been hanging with a Pegasus, which maybe Cobalt didn't know about, looking like they were involved in a relationship behind Cobalt's back." Twilight said trying to find a motive in this situation.

I nodded. "Yep. Cheerilee's story does hold up. Question is, what was he and the Pegasus doing in the alleyway at almost midnight that night? Also, what exactly is the overall story of this F.A.G.S group? Did they target him specifically? If they did, why would they?"

"If they are a hate group towards gay ponies, why would they need a reason to kill him? Wouldn't that be reason enough?" Twilight asked.

"Ace told me they're motive was spreading the word of "God" toward everypony. Or, the way he saw it, making gay ponies' lives miserable. Even if they hate gays, that doesn't mean they would go up to every single gay pony in Equestria and try to kill them. They would just harass them. Try to convert them. They wouldn't be stupid enough to kill somepony in broad daylight. This was in an alley at night. Where nopony could see this happen. There has to be more to this. Like, somepony wanted this to happen." I explained to her.

She pondered what I told her for a few minutes as we made our way to the home of Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. If anypony knew about Steel, it was Shining Armor. I mean, he had to have been the one to suspend Steel for something. He's the captain for Celestia sake.

Then, out of nowhere, Twilight asked me, "Do you think Cobalt might be involved?"

I thought about it for a moment. He could be a suspect. Maybe he did know about Steel having an affair with another stallion. Maybe he got mad, and hired somepony to kill him. That's not out of the realm of possibility.

"I don't know, Twilight. We'll talk to him after we're done with your brother." I told her as she nodded her head in understanding the situation.

"Steel worked as a guard for about 5 or 6 years for me." Shining Armor told me as we sat in a room together for his interview. Twilight was with me, while Cadenza, or Cadence as she apparently preferred to be called, went to another room to deal with her's and Shining's daughter, Princess Flurry Heart. I had to say his place looked pretty fuckin nice. Certainly a lot better than my shithole of an apartment. But, hey, these guys are royalty. I shouldn't be surprised with how much they make.

As I wrote down what he told me, I continued to ask him about Steel. "Did you know about Steel's personal life? Meaning, did you know that he was gay?" I asked him.

"Well" Shining Armor said "That I did know. In fact, he actually admitted it to every other guard who works for me. And, he did get a lot if support from everypony here. They still treated him like he was a fellow guard just like them."

"So, you could say he was fairly well liked by everypony?" I asked him.

Shining nodded. "Yeah, he was." He said happily, until his face formed into an uncomfortable look. Like something you see when somepony is gonna give you bad news. "Although, after he got suspended, he did piss a lot of ponies off." He told me.

Twilight spoke next. "That's what we were gonna ask you Shining. Why did he get suspended?" She asked him. I gave her a look that said "Please be quiet. I'm doing the interview." She must have gotten the gist of it, as she closed her mouth immediately.

"Yes, Mr. Shining Armor. What was the reason for his suspension?" I asked him.

Shining moved in his chair to get comfortable, I guess, to explain something to me. "Well, before I do that, detective, I need to explain to you about the wellness policy that my guards have to do. You don't mind do you?" He asked me.

I motioned for him to go ahead with it. "Not at all." I said.

"Okay. See, detective, my guards have to take a drug test every two months. I know most companies only do it every year or two, but because these guys are guards for a kingdom, and Princess Celestia herself, which would mean putting they're lives on the line almost 24/7, we require frequent testing for guards to make sure they're always ready for anything. That would include urine tests, blood tests, saliva tests, nasal testing, and a few others." He told me.

"And you've mostly had all your guards pass these drug tests?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yes. 99.5% of the time, my guards have all passed their tests with flying colors." He told me.

"So, what about the other .5% that didn't pass the test? What would happen then?" I asked him.

"Well, when that does happen, it's like a three strikes your out rule. You fail a drug test three times, then you'll be fired from the kingdom."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by three times, big brother?" She asked him looking curious.

"Well, Twily, and Mister detective, the first test, if they fail, then they get a 30 day suspension from the kingdom without pay. The second time, they get suspended for 60 days without pay, and have to go to a rehabilitation clinic to help clean up their act. And, like I said, the third time, then that's it. I would have no choice, but to fire them. We can't have somepony as a guard, and not be clean of drugs. It's nothing personal. Just business." He told me.

Hmm. This all seems interesting.

"So, that is why he got suspended, correct? He failed a drug test?" I asked him.

Shining nodded. "Yes. It was revealed he did cocaine. That was why he got suspended." He told me. So, the guy was into drugs, huh? I wonder how he got introduced to it. I remember back in New Colt City, whenever there was a murder victim who was gay, and there were drugs involved, they usually hung out at a Gay Bar somewhere in town. Maybe there could be one I could look into to see if that was the case.

"Now, back to what you said earlier Shining Armor. You said he changed after his suspension. What did you mean by that?" I asked him.

"I mean his attitude changed. Before the suspension, he was a pretty outgoing, overall nice guy. He'd always be happy to work with the other guards, say "Hi" to everypony, and was always had a smile on his face." He told me.

"And after he got suspended, he was the exact opposite?"

Shining nodded. "After he served his 30 day suspension, when he came back, he was a changed pony. He just looked like he didn't want to be there, he wasn't interacting with my other guards like he did before, and he, pretty much, just came across like an asshole toward everypony. I had a feeling something must have happened at home while he was serving his suspension."

Twilight spoke before I could. "What do you mean by that, Shiny?" She asked.

"Cause, during the suspension, I heard that him and Cobalt got into an argument, and he ended up getting kicked out of the house. I don't know for sure why, but all I know is that it happened. And, that's all I can give you, Mister Detective." He finished up telling me.

"Thank Shining Armor. You've been a big help. I promise I will find justice for Steel. I give you my word." I told him as him and I shook hooves.

He smiled and said, "He may have been a pain in the ass during the last part of his life, but he was still a good guard all around. Find the guy who did it." He said.

As me and Twilight were walking out if the building, I heard my phone go off. "Hello." I answered.

"Hey Mister Shadow, it's me Cadaver. I need you to come down to the prestinct. I found the official cause of death on Steel. And I also found something else. You and Princess Twilight are really gonna want to see this."

"We're on our way. Thanks." I said as I hung up the phone.

"Who was it?" Twilight asked.

"Cadaver. We've got an official cause of death. Let's go see him right now.

Twilight ran to the bathroom to go and vomit again after seeing Steel's corpse a second time. I guess I'm gonna have to take Twilight to lunch later on. Her stomach is probably empty.

"So, what is it?" I asked Cadaver.

"Oh, right. See, the official cause of death was the stab wound to the heart. But, this guy didn't go down without a fight. When I looked over the body, there was clear signs of a struggle between the two." He told me.

"What about the head trauma?" I asked.

"Surprisingly, that weren't fatal."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause, this guy got hit in the head TWICE by some bat or metallic object or something. First hit, he just staggers, but gets back up. Gets hit a second time, he doesn't go down, but he's on dream street. Then, he gets stabbed three times, goes into shock, and bleeds to death. That's what I'm guessing happened."

I looked at the body. Something tells me that this was just a one on one kill. Meaning, only one guy did the deed when it came to taking this guy out. However, Cheerilee told me that there were two earth pony stallions that ran away from the crime scene after Steel got killed. So, why did it still look like one guy did this?

"Did you check for hoofprints or any other kind of DNA?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, I found this clump of hair next to the body. Must have been pulled out during the fight in the alley, before Steel's death." He showed me this clump of a sandy brown mane in a vial. "Obviously it's not the same as Steel's. So, I had the lab guys analyze it, and DNA came back to a stallion named Duke Bronco." He explained to me.

Okay, Duke Bronco. At least we finally have a name on one of the suspect's.

"Cheerilee told me in her report that there were two earth pony stallions that ran past her after some Pegasus flew away from the crime scene. Did you find anything else? Any feathers? Any tracks away from the crime scene?" I asked him.

He shook his head. Damn it! "No, that's all we got. However, when the lab guys found out that the DNA belonged to Duke Bronco, we did a complete background check on him." He told me.

"And you found...?"

"This guy once spent 5 months in jail after he physically assaulted two ponies who walked out of a bar together. A gay bar. And one of them was him." He said pointing to Steel. So, Steel and his maybe killer had a brief history with each other before he got killed, huh?

"And, who was the other pony?" I asked him.

"He was with a Pegasus stallion. His name was, I believe, was Midnight Whistle." He told me.

"Did it say what happened during the assault?"

"Yeah, he jumped them, and then they got the upper hand on him. Thankfully, an off duty police pony saw the whole thing. He was tried, judged, and sentenced. The whole nine yards."

"Why do you think he attacked them?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't say why. He just attacked them, maybe because he's a homophobe. But, I think there was more to it than that." Oh, Cadaver, you have no idea.

"Did you get an address on this gay bar?"

"Yeah." He handed me a card. It had two stallions looking at each other in a seductive way with a drink in between them. It had the phone number and the address. 987 S Bird Ave. Maybe some ponies there might remember what happened.

"Alright. Thanks. Me and Twilight are gonna talk to the boyfriend right now."

He nodded in approval. "I'll be in touch."

Twilight and Me walked together over to Cobalt's home. Where he and Steel Spear lived for quite a while. I could tell Twilight had an uneasy look on her face, as she knew we were going to talk to the stallion that loved Steel, and let him know that he was now dead.

"You okay Twilight? You need something to eat? I mean, you threw up again at the morgue. You might want to replenish your energy." I said to her.

She sighed. "I'll worry about food later. I just don't know if I can handle talking to somepony who is a lover of a murder victim. This is way different than anything I've ever done." She told me with a worried look on her face.

"Not so easy now that you've experienced it first hoof, huh? Well, newsflash Twilight, it never gets easier. Take that from somepony who's been doing it for almost 6 years now." I told her.

"How do you handle it?" She asked me. I didn't expect her to ask that. Well, guess I'll just be honest.

"I've learned to suppress my emotions entirely. So I could feel nothing when I'm on the job." I told her.

I guess it surprised her when I said that, cause she looked at me like I just revealed the big twist in the movie.
"What do you mean by that, Shadow?" She asked me, kinda looking all defensive.

"I mean, that emotions are a weakness. Once you let your emotions take control of you, especially when it comes to law enforcement, it will always end up bad. Trust me. I know from experience." I said to her.

She looked at me with concern in her eyes. "You know it's not healthy to bottle up emotions, Shadow." She told me.

I nodded. "I know, but a lot of ponies do it anyway. And I'm included in that list." I said.

"Well, don't you have friends or family you talk to about your problems?"

"The only ponies I truly consider friends are my old co-worker Angel Blossom, my sister Melody Rays, and my brother-in-law Solar Storm. And even I don't let them in from time to time. Especially when it comes to my professional life."

She was silent for a few seconds before she asked me, "Have you ever truly experienced the magic of friendship, Shadow? It's a true experience to behold. Something everypony should try to have every day."

I stopped walking and just looked in her face and told her what I felt. Just like my deadbeat father taught me.
"Twilight, look, I get your the Princess of Friendship. And I admire that you want to help everypony find friends. Including guys like me." I said. "I just need YOU to understand that sometimes ponies just work better alone. And I happen to be one of them."

"Do you like working with me then?" She said with a serious look in her eye.

"Honestly?" I asked. She nodded her head yes.

"I would have much rather preferred to work alone on this case Twilight. But, seeing as you are a princess, and therefore have more power over me than I do with other ponies in general and the law, when you said you were going to work on this case with me whether I liked it or not, who was I to argue?" I explained to her.

She had her head down in sadness. Like I just rejected a mare who told me she had romantic feelings for me in a movie. I've had that happen before. And boy did that cause a lot of drama for me.

"So, do you not like me?" Twilight asked.

"No, that's not it at all. I do like you. I respect you tremendously, Twilight. And also I admire you for all your work with friendship and what not. I just prefer to be alone. I'm sorry if I disapointed you." I told her.

We sat there in silence for a few seconds before continuing our way to Cobalt's house. I really hope I didn't hurt Twilight's feelings too bad. Not just because she seemed like a nice mare, but because I could get into trouble with the higher UPS in Canterlot. And by that, I mean Princess Celestia or Luna could be pissed off at me for hurting their fellow princess's feelings.

Well, it certainly isn't the first time I pissed off somepony who's higher up than me.