-/-Canterlot Detention Center-/-

“Hello. My name is Talia Von Gallopson.” Said a mare who looked exactly like Tryton Von Gallopson, Colton’s father. She had a similar jet black mane, however she had a more beige colored coat. And her cutie mark was a bank vault door. She was standing in Captain Bisette’s office with all of us. She had some documents in her left hoof, while her right hoof was extended out toward me.

I accepted the hoof shake she offered. “I’m Detective Shadow Haze. This is my partner, Detective Ruby Glow. I take it you must be Tryton’s sister?” I asked her.

“More than that. I’m his twin sister.” She said, which was then followed by a sad look.“Speaking of which, I was at his home earlier when I got the news. He’s taking it really hard.” I felt the compassionate tone in her voice.

“We’re all really sorry for both of your losses.” Ruby said, trying to comfort her.

After Talia thanked her, Captain Bisette spoke up. “Now, Miss Talia, you said you have some information regarding your nephew. What is that you’ve brought to us?” She asked, kinda sounding both impatient and eager to find out what the next step in this case was.

Talia nodded. “First, I wanna give you this.” She gave Captain Bisette a little blue envelope. “This is permission to search both Colton’s apartment, as well as Tryton’s home when you go interview him. He still has some things of Colton that he feels could be useful in this investigation.”

Bisette looked satisfied with that. “Okay. That’s both convenient and good. Now, what about these bank statements?” She asked, filing the search warrant away in her desk drawer.

She handed over that document to Me and Ruby. “I work at the Canterlot Bank of Equestria. Colton entrusted me with keeping track of his checking account, just in case there were any hackings or scams going around.” She said.

Me and Ruby both looked at the documents. “Did you notice anything odd about his bank records recently?” Ruby asked.

“Yes. I found a paper trail, you could say. The only thing, is that it was in the wrong direction. Look at the ATM withdrawals for the past nine months.”

I looked at them and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “450 bits every 4 days?! That’s a lot of money for a Canterlot pianist. How’d he pay his bills?” I asked her, and was surprised by her blunt answer.

“He didn’t. His credit rating is in the toilet. Look at his current amount.”

I was even more surprised. “Your nephew had 37 bits in his checking account the night he died.” I said to her.

She nodded. “I confronted him about it a week before his death.”

“What did he tell you?” I asked her.

“He told me he would take care of it. To not worry about it.”

“Did you tell your brother about this?”

Talia shook her head. “He really convinced me not too. Almost begged me. That’s when I started to get concerned about him. If he had gotten into gambling. Or worse: drugs.”

“Well, it isn’t that.” Ruby interjected. “Our pathologist, Cadaver, told us his tox screen came back completely clean. Minus some alcohol, which was likely consumed on the night of his death. He had a few drinks before he was killed, but other than that, no current or even past signs of any substance abuse.”

Talia sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. I was worried my nephew would ruin his life. I’m grateful he died clean.” She said, while her left hoof was put on her chest.

Bisette stood up from her chair. “I’ll have my guys call any gambling clubs to see if Colton was there or not.” She said to Talia.

She nodded in greatfulness. “Thank you all. I’m leaving it all in your hooves. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see my brother again.” She said, now walking out of the office.

Now, it was just Me, Ruby and Captain Bisette. I closed the door with my magic to give all of us some privacy.

“What have you got so far?” She asked Ruby and I. Again, sounding a bit impatient, as well as eager.

“Well, Captain Bisette, I don’t think your daughter is gonna like what we found out about Colton after what Cadaver found.” I told her, kinda sounding very blunt.

She stood up from her seat, while a small glare formed on her face.

“First off, keep my daughter out of this. Only I get to bring things up with her, because she’s my foal. Understood?” She asked me, looking intimidating. Or trying, to me anyway.

Ruby elbowed me as hard as she could. I’ve been hit harder, but I could tell she’s not fooling around.

“Don’t be rude, Shadow.” She told me very firmly.

I sighed. “Okay, I apologize for the bad joke. Now, may we please tell you what we found?” I asked Captain Bisette.

She sat back down in her chair. “You may.” She said.

“According to the DNA in the condom, Colton spent his last night in that carriage with another stallion. There, apparently, was a reason him and Octavia Melody’s relationship didn’t go anywhere. He was gay.” I told her.

Bisette’s eyes widened in surprise. “Colton was gay?” She said, looking down at her desk for a quick sec. “I guess you were right: My daughter is NOT going to be happy about that news. When it gets released to the papers.”

“We also found out about his friend. Ludwig St. Clipton.” Ruby said.

“I hope you aren’t talking about the DA’s son, right?” Bisette said.

Ruby nodded with a disapproving look on her face. Captain Bisette shook her head in frustration.

“Sebastian St. Clipton has helped this squad out for years. We even help fund his mayor campaign. Is there any proof of Ludwig being involved in Colton’s death?” She asked us, NOT looking happy at all. Although, looking at her, I don’t think this mare has EVER been happy. She just looks naturally moody all the time.

“Colton and Ludwig, according to Octavia and Gustav, were best friends going back to their foalhood. Their fathers were friends. Those two and Octavia Melody were going to perform the Piano Trio in Manehatten 5 months from now.” I told her.

“Also” Ruby interjected again. “It was mostly Colton and Ludwig working on it, due to Octavia’s scheduling of being a substitute teacher at The School of Friendship.”

“That could just be coincidence. Interview more members of the Symphony. I’m sure they may have their opinions.” Bisette said.

“Sure. But first, me and Ruby are gonna check out Colton’s apartment first. Their may be something there that could show us where all his money went.” I told her.

“Good. Although, be warned when you interview Sebastian. If he doesn’t want go to talk, we won’t force him. His lawyers will love that if we do.”

Ruby looked at her. “And if there is any type of proof that Sebastian knows anything about Colton’s murder?”

Bisette didn’t look too happy to hear that question. “Then we’ll get a subpoena. Which, I’m sure we won’t need, because I don’t believe he is involved. You may go now.” She told us both, looking really cross at us.

We didn’t need to be told twice. Ruby and I walked out of her office and walked through the squad room to go outside.

“Somepony appears to be supportive of this Sebastian St. Clipton.” I said to her.

“Well, he is helping fund the police department here. You don’t wanna mess that up if we get it wrong.” Ruby said.

“Then, let’s see if we are.” I said, as we now walked out of the front doors of the Canterlot Detention Center.

-/-Colton’s Apartment-/-

“This place looks pretty fancy, for somepony who was having money problems.” Ruby Glow said as we stood in the kitchen of Colton Von Gallopson’s apartment.

It was a very nice 3 bedroom apartment that even had a makeshift fireplace. There were two bathrooms, a laundry room with a brand new washer and dryer, and there even was a clothing line for him to hang up clothes he didn’t want to put in the dryer, for fear of shrinking them. There was even a small exercise room with a treadmill, a few mats for when you do push-ups or sit-ups, and even a few jump ropes. Seems physical fitness was important to him too. I should hit the gym more often.

This guy was living a very wealthy lifestyle. I admit, unlike every pony else(even though they’re lying through their teeth), I would LOVE to live like this. This apartment is a place I would have only dreamed of living in back when I was in New Colt City.

And I’m still trying to figure out how, A this guy had blown all his money away, and B how he still could afford living here. Probably due to his big name and what his family lineage is.

“Not really much of anything to give us on what happened to Colton’s money.” Ruby said, opening random kitchen drawers. Nothing there except utensils, silverware and a can of cooking spray.

I searched some drawers too. Again, nothing much. Some spices, salt & pepper shakers, and even some fish oil for done reason.

It was then I found what I was looking for.

“Uh, Ruby? Come here.” I said, pulling out the papers I found in an upper cupboard above the right side of the sink. Ruby came over next to me to see what I pulled out.

“What’s all that?” She asked, taking a few and looking at them herself.

“Medical bills. Kinda odd place to be hiding them. And it looks like there’s quite a lot of them.” I said, also looking through them.

I looked over and saw Ruby’s eyes give a confused look.

“Shadow, look at the payment type.” She said, still looking at it.

I did what she said, and was stunned by what I saw.

“It says he payed for his treatments in bits. Every one of them.”

“Same here too.” Ruby said, now facing me and pointing to her page. “But, that doesn’t make any sense. He had to have had insurance. A place like this, there’s no way he WOULDN’T have insurance.”

“I guess that’s where all his money went. We can check off any gambling places.” I said, now checking the upper cupboard on the left side of the sink.

“Why wouldn’t he use insurance though? From what I’ve heard, the Royal Canterlot Symphony insure’s all their members. Hell, he could’ve gone to his father and asked for some money.” Ruby said, now putting all the papers in a binder she had on her. Taking them as evidence if we need them.

Then I found something even MORE shocking. Now I figured out why Colton didn’t use insurance for his medical bills.

I levitated the small pill bottle out of the cupboard. “I’m guessing he didn’t use insurance to pay for this.” I showed her the pill bottle. She looked shocked.

“AZT?” She asked.

I nodded. “He was HIV positive. He payed for his treatments in bits so no pony would find out.”

We were both shook by the news. I’m starting to think there might be more to this case. Back when I took down Rocky, Berry Breeze and Cobalt, Gay Royal Guard Steel Spear was HIV positive and was murdered because he passed on his disease to several other gay stallions. Including his boyfriend of 10 years, whom he cheated on so many times.

Could Colton have infected anypony? I’m almost certain he did.

-/-Home of Beauty Brass:Sousaphone Player-/-

“Colton was a very good stallion. He even gave me a few pointers on how to perform while playing before a big crowd.” She told me, while sitting in a sophisticated looking chair across from Ruby and I(we sat on a loveseat.)Miss Beauty Brass had a light blue coat, a brown mane and tail, purple eyes and an F-clef cutie mark. The home we were in was kinda nice. It wasn’t as incredible as Colton’s place, but I could see somepony living a cozy life here. Or some ponies apparently, as I saw a framed picture of her and a mare who, crazy enough, looked exactly like Octavia Melody. Only difference was her mane was navy blue and her coat was a pale yellow. She HONESTLY looked like an Apple family member. Weird.

“How well did you know him personally?” I asked.

“Are you insinuating that me and Colton were romantically attached?” She asked.

“Should I be?”

She scoffed at my question. “Colton and I were in no way romantically attached. If you cannot tell from this photograph, I’m in a relationship with another mare.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that there would be an LGBT member of the Royal Canterlot Symphony. We know one was gay and now one was a lesbian.

“Miss Brass” Ruby spoke next “Do you have any idea on who might wanna hurt Colton? Do you know if he had any enemies?”

Beauty shrugged. “Not that I would know. We weren’t that close. However, from all the times I was around him, he did get along very well with every pony in the Symphony.” She said.

“You had no idea Colton was also gay?” I asked her out of nowhere.

She looked genuinely surprised. “Colton….was gay? H-How? I thought he once dated Octavia?” She asked.

“We found evidence in his carriage that he spent his last night with another stallion.” I told her.

“Well.” Beauty Brass said, regarding her composure. “I never got a vibe from him. Although, I thought Octavia was lesbian as well, but I was wrong about that. So, I guess my gaydar isn’t all that great.”

“Oh? You made a move on Octavia once, before you got together with your girlfriend?” I asked her.

She blushed in embarrassment. “One time. But, she told me the truth about those rumors. I was disappointed, but her and I are still friends. For the record, Fiddlesticks is her name. She’s Octavia’s cousin. That’s how we met.” She said, pointing to her girlfriend in the photograph.

After that was said, Ruby decided to continue.

“So, Colton was pretty well liked overall by the Symphony you would say?” Ruby asked. Beauty nodded her head yes.

“What about his relationship with another of your band mates? Ludwig St. Clipton?” I asked her.

“Those two were best friends. They grew up together.” She said, before pausing. She breathed through her nostrils while looking up to the right.

“Is there something you wanna say?” I asked her.

“Well” Beauty asked. “Maybe it was just my opinion, but I’ve always felt Ludwig tried to overachieve Colton in the performance art.”

“Really?” I asked. “How so?”

“Colton was born with The Royal Canterlot Symphony in his blood. His father and grandfather performed there. He was just naturally gifted.” Beauty said.

“And Ludwig?” Ruby asked.

“Ludwig, well, he had to make it on his own. He didn’t come from a big family of musicians. He had to work a lot harder at applying his craft. And, a lot of the time, he just didn’t get it as good as Colton did.” She told us.

“So, you’re saying that Ludwig was jealous of Colton?” I asked her.

“Yes. And if it wasn’t that, it had to be his father as well.”

“What about Sebastian?” Ruby asked.

-/-Home of Frederic Horseshoepin-Pianist -/-

“Whenever Colton put on a performance, Sebastian was always there. And whenever it was just Ludwig, well, Sebastian would be busy with his duties as District Attorney of Canterlot.” Said a stallion who looked about the same age as both Colton and Octavia. He was a well kept looking fellow with a dark tanned looking coat, a white mane and tail, and two music notes, one black and one white.

The place here, like Beauty’s place, was a nice place, but not as nice as Colton’s. I wonder how much more money he made then every other Symphony member.

“Why is that? Wouldn’t a father want to be there for his own son’s performances?” I asked him.

“Colton helped get a name out for Sebastian for charity work to help fund areas that the Canterlot Police Force were apart of. He played the piano there. That was years ago from what I’ve learned. He may have even been a child when that happened.” Fred told me. Oh, so Colton and Sebastian have known each other for that long, huh? That’s interesting.

“Even so.” I said. “Ludwig is his son. Wouldn’t he want to be there for him too?”

Fred snorted in a sarcastic chuckle. “His work always came first. That’s why him and his wife divorced when Ludwig was but a 10 years old Colt.”

“So, they’ve always had a tumultuous relationship?” Ruby asked.

“Why do you think Ludwig joined the Symphony?” Fred asked us with a sly grin on his face. Seems this guy knows Ludwig pretty well. Better press further.

“You tell me. You seem to know him very well.” I said.

“Yes. Ludwig and I worked pretty closely on a few performances together. I wouldn’t say I’m his best friend, but I enjoy his company all the same.” He said.

“What about Colton? You both played the piano. You must’ve come across each other at times.”

“Yes.” He groaned. “He was quite talented. Even better then me. Although, he was born into greatness, whereas I worked hard to perfect my craft.”

“Oh, do I detect a little jealousy here?” I asked with a grin. I saw Ruby didn’t really like that.

Fred flushed in embarrassment. “I’ll admit I was a little envious of how great he was without having to work hard. And him courting the mare I’ve admired from afar. But, just so we’re clear, I did not take his life. In fact, I was in Van Hoover doing a performance. Talk with the director of the arena, he’ll provide my alibi. Also, the arena was the Van Hoover Municipal Auditorium.” He explained to us. Guess I’ll have to contact this arena after we’re done here.

“So, let’s get back on track here. Why do YOU think Ludwig joined the Royal Canterlot Symphony?” Ruby Glow asked him, sounding firm in her voice. I don’t think she was trying to sound intimidating. More like, when a mother has a serious talking to with her foal.

Unlike my mother…..

“I always got the feeling that Ludwig wasn’t as passionate as every other member of the Symphony. This was more of a side job for him than what he ACTUALLY wanted to do in life.” Fred told us.

“Do you think he joined because somepony wanted him too?” Ruby asked.

-/-Home of Parish Nandermane-Harp Player-/-

“His father. Who else?” Said a light Indigo coated, cobalt blue maned stallion with a lyre cutie mark that looked similar to Lyra Heartstrings’ cutie mark. I wonder if these two ever did a piece together.

Like the other two, Parish also had a rather nice place. Again, not as great as Colton’s was. However, if I had to choose between the three houses Ruby and I had just visited, I’d pick this one. It feels more roomy. And has a fireplace like Colton’s.

“So, Sebastian St. Clipton is a fan of the Symphony?” I asked him.

Parish nodded. “Yes. I’ve been close with Ludwig for a while now. He told me he joined the Symphony to seek his father’s approval. He didn’t get much of it growing up, due to him being so busy being a DA. His mother spent quite a considerable amount of money for his lessons. Although, Sebastian did pay foal support. So, it’s not like he completely abandoned him.” Parish explained to us. This was getting very interesting the more I’m hearing all this.

“How would you describe Ludwig and Colton’s friendship?” I asked him.

“They’re closer then a lot of brothers. They grew up together. Hell, they lived a few houses away from each other.” Parish said.

“What about recently? Beauty Brass told us their relationship was kinda tumultuous right before Colton was murdered.” Ruby asked.

Parish scoffed at that. “I doubt Ludwig had anything to do with it. He couldn’t harm a fly. Besides…” He paused, looking kinda nervous all of a sudden.

“What is it?” I asked him in a tone that made him understand that he better answer that question.

He shuddered. “I have no proof, but….I feel that they were more than JUST friends.” He said.

…..I knew it.

Author's Note

Hello every pony. Yes, I am so sorry this is so late. I’ve had so much work these past three weeks. And it has just been nuts.

But, here ya go. I hope you enjoy it.