Peace Celebrations

Warrant slammed his hooves into his desk. Sighing, he hung his head, letting his disheveled mane fall into his face. He hadn’t gone home for almost a week which meant no shower, no sleep, and no breaks. There simply wasn’t any time for Warrant to rest.

A week ago Warrant had been assigned to a new case. Like all the other cases he dealt with, the crime was of magical origin. Unlike the majority of the cases that Warrant dealt with, this one was not a singular incident. It was a sickness that killed those infected in a gruesome and quick fashion. He had managed to keep the deaths out of the news but, now that the disease had spread outside of his district, there was little he could do.

Warrant rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked back over pieces of the information he was given. There had been over a dozen confirmed deaths but those were only the ones he could confirm. There were probably three or four more dozen that had slipped through the cracks.

Thankfully, the doctors had found a way to slow down how fast the disease killed you. Instead of killing you in a few hours like it had in the beginning the doctors could extend your life by a day or two using a stasis spell. Yet, no pony had recovered.

There were no connections between the any of the victims. They all lived in different parts of Sol; they worked at completely different jobs, and did different things in their free time. Stallions, mares, foals, middle class, upper class; it didn’t matter who you were or what you did. The sickness simply didn’t care.

There was a knock at the door. Warrant huffed, sliding his hooves off his desk, and trotted across his small office. He flung open the door and was about ready to give the pony that had interrupted him an earful, until he actually saw who was on the other side.

The mare on the other side of the door looked normal enough. Her jet black mane was pulled back into a simple ponytail but a few loose strands still framed her face. Her cutiemark was of a dark inkwell with a raven-feather quill sticking out of it. Her splotched face, though kind and creased with laugh lines, was set into a firm ‘I know exactly what you’re afraid of but trust me I’m worse’ look. She was somepony to be feared and adored; loved and despised. She was a reporter.

“Miss Inkblot, how wonderful to see you.” Warrant said through gritted teeth. He didn’t really want to deal with her at this point in this case. “What brings you to my office so late in the day?”

“Officer Warrant, it’s the middle of the afternoon. You’ve been in this cramped space too long.” Inkblot laughed, batting her baby-blues. Her face suddenly turned serious. “Why don’t you and I go out and eat some lunch? The fresh air will do you good. And, please, for the love of God, call me Inky. I don’t care if you’re at work.”

“I would but I don’t think I mffmh.” Warrant sentence was cut short by Inky’s spotted hoof being shoved into his mouth.

“No but’s mister. I already got your boss’s permission to take you away for a while.” Inky seized Warrant by his elbow and began to drag him outside. “I’ll even pay if you’d like. It’s only fair since I’m dragging you away from your work.”

Though Warrant grumbled the whole way to the corner restaurant, deep inside, he was slightly happy that he had a distraction. His brain needed a break from all the evidence and reports and statements; no pony, not even the most seasoned officer, could stand it indefinitely. It could drive you insane faster than you could blink.

“What would you like, sir?” The waiter asked Warrant politely.

“I’ll just eat whatever she’s getting.” Warrant said with a wave of his hoof without thinking. He winced and looked at Inky out of the corner of his eye. She had that look on her face that sent shivers down his spine. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Alrighty then, I’ll have the hayfries, two daisy sandwiches, a bowl of cranberries, half a dozen carrots…” Inky went through the entire menu, ordering practically everything. Now, to most ponies this would just be strange but to Warrant, he knew exactly what she meant.

This meant war. Inky was issuing a challenge; see who can eat more food in the set amount of time. Sighing, Warrant leaned back and waited for the reporter to finish. The poor flustered waiter was doing his best to keep up and, to his credit, the stallion had managed to get the first half written down.

“And, last but not least, I want a big glass of water.” Inky finished. She took a big breath and leaned back in the same manner Warrant had. The waiter wiped a bead of sweat of his brow and trotted away, muttering something under his breath.

“Two hours?” Warrant questioned. Inky though for a second then gave a slight nod. Two hours was their normal time frame though they hadn’t had a contest in almost a year. As the first round of food arrived, a true smile crossed Warrant’s face for the first time in that year.

Two Hours Later

“You win again, Inky.” Warrant mumbled. He let out a belch and waited for the mare to do the same. Of course, she did, and it was twice as loud as Warrant’s.

“You know why I came to your office, right?” Inky said sweetly.  “I need a story, I mean a real story. I heard rumors and they’re all about you getting a new case.”

Warrant huffed. He wanted to help Inky; she was one of his oldest friends but he didn’t want this getting out. He needed to keep it contained within Sol. Then again, Inky was one of the few ponies he trusted to put the most positive spin on this story she could.

“I… It’s this… It’s a sickness.” Warrant whispered. He proceeded to tell her everything he could about the disease. He kept everyponies’ names out of it. Inky listened, writing down bits and pieces of information every once and a while, her face growing more and more downcast. “And the worst part is I can’t seem to find out how it started.”

Inky stood up and walked behind Warrant. She placed her hooves on his shoulders, giving him a short massage. She leaned down, whispered something in his ear, and hopped off him. Warrant watched his filly-friend trot off.

The Next Morning

Warrant rolled over and wrapped his hooves around Inky. At least he would’ve is she hadn’t moved away in the night. He growled under his breath. She’d always done that, every time since they’d started dating; he should’ve known she wouldn’t be there in the morning.

Flopping out of bed, Warrant trudged over to the bathroom. After taking a shower, Warrant made himself breakfast. Thankfully Inky had remembered to buy orange juice. She hated the stuff but Warrant loved it.

Pouring the juice, Warrant grabbed the morning paper. He figured Inky would already have the story published. That was normally why she left halfway through the night. The idea that she was just using him to get good stories had crossed his mind before. Yet, even though Warrant was sure Inky knew when he would have a story, she never stopped seeing him when his tales were boring.

Strangely, the front of the paper was folded inwards. The mail-colts were normally pretty good at getting the folds right. Trying not to look too much into it, Warrant opened the paper. When he saw the headline, he practically had a heart attack. Written in bolded letters across the top was ‘Unknown Disease, New Lunar War Tactic?’

Warrant grabbed his coat from the rack and ran out the door. The last thing he needed was that headline getting taken seriously. The only problem was that Inky was the most respected reporter in Sol. Getting anything she said taken down would be difficult, if not impossible.

The second he was out the door, Warrant was knocked over by a spotted shape. He opened his eyes and saw Inky lying on top of him.

“Warrant I had nothing to do with that headline!” Inky blurted out. “My editor wanted to change it and I had fallen asleep and he changed it without me knowing and there’s no way I can stop it now. You have to fix it!”

But as Inky looked into Warrant’s eyes she saw what he was thinking. There wasn’t anything he could do. They could only sit back and wait for the response from the Lunar.