Equestrian Chronicles: The Sparkle Experiment

It was funny to think that, for an old stallion, he felt like a kid. Easily excitable. This might be the first time he genuinely enjoyed a case. It was the first time it wasn’t even official. I guess it was probably the danger that made it so much more interesting.

Sure enough, I heard a knock at the door a couple of hours later after arriving at home. I knew who it was. I opened the door to see five mares, a little dragon and the strange stallion I had met before. I led them into my house, making sure to shut the door tight behind me. This wasn’t something I could just let out to the general public, after all.

Most of them had to sit on the floor, as I only had two chairs. One of them used to belong to my wife. We would always sit opposite each other, smoking and drinking as we talked about our day. I might have been an investigator, but I certainly was not expecting the day I would receive the news over the phone that my wife had been stabbed to death by a gang of teenage ponies in Canterlot. I cried that day. Since I was fifteen years old, that was the first day I had ever cried. I kept it there as a memoir. A memoir of the greatest mare to ever grace this earth.

I gulped down some whiskey, and cleared my throat, and then I spoke. Finally.

“Did Applejack explain to you why you are all here?” I asked. The rest looked at the farmer, in confusion mostly, but also in curiosity.

“Nah. I thought that since we were walking in public, I shouldn’t say anything. Just bein’ cautious. Some people did give us looks though. Not long ones, just... looks.” She replied.

I was starting to get a little worried that people already knew what I was up to. Not wanting to make this visit a long one, I simply handed the ponies the sheet. As they read it, their expressions went from curious to... disturbed. Applejack already knew what was going on, but she shared her friends’ expressions. They handed me back the sheet.

“But Tango, what does this all mean? This is insanity!” Rarity exclaimed. She was always the one to go overboard. Well, at least this time there was reason to go overboard.

I started to explain the situation. “It means that we have been lied to. Worse, you’ve all been lied to by Celestia, your friend and your princess. That’s why I’m choosing to help out this stallion-“

“Tango. There’s something I need to tell you. All of you actually.” I was interrupted by the stallion.

“My name is...” There was a long pause.

“Shining Armour.”

I couldn’t believe it. I actually couldn’t believe it. One of the subjects, one of the victims of this experiment, was sitting in front of me the whole time. That’s when I noticed that his cutie mark, a test tube, looked... odd. He noticed that I was looking at the mark, and so he peeled it off with his hoof. There it was, Shining’s cutie mark.

That damn shield.

“But-but how? How did you...” I stammered with my words. I could not believe it. But that was his cutie mark. I took a step over, and touched the cutie mark. It was real, alright. I even poured water on it. Nothing. This was him.

“I don’t know where they are. All I know is that one day, I broke out of my chamber where they kept me. I tried to save the rest, but I heard the guards. They told me to go on without them. I didn’t want to make a scene. So I did so. But I made one final promise, that I was coming back for them. That’s what I need help with. And I need you all to help me.” Shining spoke confidently.

The Mane Five and Spike were still in complete shock. Rarity looked like she was about to faint. I turned around to them and said, “So, what do you think?”

Rainbow Dash stood foward from the crowd of shocked ponies that was in the corner of my living room. “Of course. If Celestia’s doing something to Twilight, I’ll do anything to save he- no, WE will do anything to save her!” She was very confident, and so were the other ponies. This was happening.

I realised how important this actually was. I needed to do this. I needed to prove myself. I needed to help Shining Armour, or I couldn’t consider myself the best detective anymore. I was not only doing this for myself, I was doing this for Equestria.

We’ve been under the rule of a tyrannical, manipulative leader for thousands of years, and for the entire time, no one knew.

“So, when’s this happenin’, Tango?” Applejack asked.

“Meet me back here at 8pm tomorrow, we will make plans.” I had a plan in mind, but, once again, I did not want a long visit. The mares and Spike left, but Shining didn’t.

“Uh.. actually... Tango? Can I stay here for the night? I broke out of a testing chamber, for crying out loud! So yeah, I’m thinking about returning to the Crystal Empire, but that would be a massive risk.”

“Of course. Why not? But first, there’s something I need to ask you.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“How can I tell if you’re actually Shining Armour?”

That’s when he pulled out a locket. A very small heart-shaped locket. He opened it, and inside was a picture of him, Cadence and their baby, Flurry Heart. And then he turned it around. Engraved in it was the message “From your dear wife, Cadence.”

The signature was exact. As if she had engraved it herself. This was Shining.

“Okay, now I’ve answered your questions, now you need to answer mine.”

I looked up, and he stared at me. Dead in the eyes.

“I need you to find the son of a bitch who killed my beautiful wife. I don’t know who it is, and I don’t care. All I care is that they die a horrible and painful death. I want to see them die. She was my everything Tango. You don’t understand pain like that!”

I took a deep breath, and I embraced him. I said, “Trust me Shining... I do.” He broke the embrace and looked at me. Still dead in the eyes. “She was taken from me a few years ago. I was relaxing, waiting for her to come home. That’s when I got a phone call. Someone described to me the gory details of my wife’s murder. You ever heard of the Supremacy Stallions?” Shining nodded. Everyone knew who the Supremacy Stallions were. They were a sick, sexist, neo-nazi group of teenage stallions who never turned down the opportunity of killing a minority or anyone else. Their initials were even SS. “They killed my wife. They didn’t do it because she was a minority. They did it because she was my wife. I had arrested their leader, or at least I was responsible for it. They wanted revenge, so they stabbed my wife, tortured her. I even heard rumours of some kind of sexual assault, but I don’t like to think about that. I don’t like to think about the entire situation as a whole.” Shining looked at me, sympathy in his face. “She meant a lot to me, more than Cadence might have meant to you, but I know that’s not true.”

That’s when Shining hugged me back. He bawled into my shoulder. I wasn’t the best with comforting others, but it was enough for him.

“I just need a beer. Anything to forget. I can’t deal with this now. Not whilst I’m trying to save what family I have left.”

Equestria was a horrible place after hours. I’ve known that my entire life, but I haven’t thought about it to quite this extent before.