Look Up The Mountain, Then Look Downby MokomaChaptersPrologue - Today's ProgrammeChapter One - The Inspector Clocks InChapter Two - Hay in a NeedlestackChapter Three - What Was Yesterday?Chapter Four - What's Tomorrow?Chapter Five - Look Up The Mountain, Then Look DownEpilogue - One Last Piece of EvidencePrologue - Today's ProgrammeStatic. LR 24/7 The bubbly mare guided her hoof across the displayed map. "Heavy rains and storms are coming down from Baltimare, and will make their way across all of the south-eastern Lunar Republic, ending at Stableside. Citizens are encouraged to avoid using cars in lieu of mudslides, but if you're the rainy weather kinda pony, feel free to get out there and enjoy--" Static. Herzland Aktuell TV. Grover VI of the United Herzland spoke into the myriad of microphones. "I'd like to make it clear that our efforts to advance our nuclear technology sector is not - I repeat - is NOT some kind of disguised means to develop nuclear weaponry. The Herzland respects Aquileia's terms of the Skyfall treaty, and we do not intend to break these terms. For the sake of Boreas, I do not wish Grover VII to rule over radioactive ash, and I assure you, the rest of the world does not--" Static. Flash! The famed changeling pop star twirled and danced with the microphone. She sang with passion, almost screaming out the grief in her soul into the mic. "99 Luftballons, Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont! Hielt man für Ufos aus dem All, darum schickte ein General! 'Ne Fli--" Static. Yángguāng Xià. Princess Karuk II shook her hand with Starry Eyes, and then the camera cut to a Kirin journalist. "This event is not unprecedented. With concerns that the Storm Kingdom - under the leadership of the Hailstorm dynasty - may seek to militarize and attempt expansion, security concerns across all Zebrican nations have been great. The kingdom of Senturiya is the third member of the ZDI - the Zebrican Defense Initiative, which is a limited defense pact that will call for a mutual alliance in the case that any country on Zebrica will be invaded by the Storm Kingdom. With its members now being its founder North Zebrica, followed by the Kingdom of Concord, and now Senturiya, all eyes are on Saddle Arabia, with which the ZDI will have ample oil reserves needed to--" Static. Muse TV. The member of a famed thestral colt band sang into the microphone, the live concert in Fillydelphia so intense that fangirls were taken out on stretchers. "Every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray~...I'm waiting for that final moment, you say the words that I can't say~...--" Static. Oko Rečnihzemalja. The journalist wearing the bulletproof vest took cover behind the half-destroyed brick wall. "The Siege of Jezeragrad has come to an intense head, as a massive assault has started. We are here in the suburban area, relatively safe, but you can see here over the horizon - the intense damage the city has taken from shelling by the BAF! Bakaran Leader Harsh Scow has not appeared at the schedule peace talks, and--" Static. Network of Cartoons. The colt in the bunny hat fist-bumped his orange diamond dog companion. "Adventure ti--!" Static. North Zebrica Truth. The Crystal Pony, his identity censored by a shadow, sighed as he spoke to the hippogriff journalist. "That wasn't supposed to be the Crystal Empire's fate, wasn't supposed to be Equestria's fate. We lost two princesses on the same day. Princess - or now I suppose Chancellor Luna, needs to understand that after she killed Princess Celestia and our Princess Cadence, she's killed two-thirds of Equestria. Those who loved, trusted, and were guided by them...You think they can quietly obey "ex"-Nightmare Moon? No. No, it's madness, and she should be hu--" Static. Her reflection. She sighed softly. Having access to any channel around the globe was nice, but when you were the talking point every now and again, it wasn't as nice at all. Perhaps the crystal pony had a point, she thought. She supposed soon she'd have an answer, or the chance of finding one. She knew that the colt she'd been recommended to the task was up for it, even if she knew his family was once made of staunch loyalists. She needed to prepare herself now - with what to do with the information she'd receive by the end of the investigation. Chapter One - The Inspector Clocks In"Putain..." The grey-blue-feathered griffoness tapped the wheel of her sedan. Not the fanciest car, but serviceable. Not that the sports car in-front of her fared any better, not when they needed to slowly drive through the traffic, which in turn was caused by many roads being blocked. It's not every day their old lady - the Queen - appeared live. She listened to the radio. "Massive crowds have gathered to hear Queen Vivienne's Discret's speech this afternoon, commemorating the crown's victory over the third revolution. Today also marks the beginning of the three-day holiday, the Tripaixjours." "Three-day holiday, yeah." She murmured. "...Because hooligans, mobsters, and serial killers take days off." She grunted, still bitter that this traffic made her late to get her coffee. Now, with no other choice, she had to go straight to work. When she arrived at the precinct, there was a generally relaxed attitude. Even the front-desk worker, a young gold-feathered griffoness who constantly tried to flirt with anything that breathed and walked, didn't stand up to greet anyone - except the older griffoness. "Inspector Vieillefeu, good morning!" She smiled. "Heavy traffic?" "Mmm." The inspector nodded. "Slow day, Monique?" "Not many calls as it seems." Monique giggled. "Seems even criminals wanna take a day off!" And yet, inspector Viellefeu scoffed. "Or everyone's so infatuated and distracted by Queen Discret that they wouldn't care that their car is being jacked right next to them." "P-Possibly true." The flirty girl said. This older lady was her weakness, since she never budged. Just how she liked it. "Oh, the chief wanted to see you!" Merely nodding, the inspector walked down the hall. Curiously, she looked at a blue stallion who sat in the waiting area. She didn't like this. She went to her locker, dropping off some things, changing into her uniform, and neatly packing her Manheron revolver into her holster, neatly underneath her jacket. With her badge tucked not too far away, she stepped back out into the precinct, and right into the chief's office. He sat behind the desk, smiling weakly at her arrival. "Cécile. Traffic? I feel blessed that I decided to sleep it out in my office." "That leather couch can't be good for your spine." She said, taking a seat without having been told to - they've known each other that long to be comfortable with it. "Eh, I'll live. So listen, I got a job for you, I'll need to take you off the current case for a bit." "No complaints." She shrugged. "Serial graffiti's not a big issue. What's it this time?" The older griffon leaned in. "Here's what's happening...The Lunar Empi-, argh, Republic has requested our assistance in a case. They didn't share too much information, but they're looking for someone who fled Equus near the end of their civil war. Trail led them here, of all places. They sent someone of theirs here to help us." Cécile was scrunching her beak with distaste. She didn't like this. "Aquileia is helping chase down refugees and Celestial loyalists?" The chief lit a cigarette. This wasn't easy for him either. "I got a personally written letter from the ministries of internal and external affairs. They're okay with this. You'll be working with Cold Case Investigator Dusk Wish, you probably saw him in the waiting room. He's still a colt and I doubt his mother's milk dried off his lips but he's got an impressive record from what I've found out." However, this assurance didn't strike a chord with the griffoness. "Chief..." She scowled. "My job is to work towards a future where Aquileia's scum is behind bars, not...meander with some pony from across the ocean just because he wants to sift through the ashes and bones of whatever happened decades ago." "Put up with it." The chief murmured. He took a drag of his cigarette. "Cécile, I don't know if you're much into politics, but let's be cordial and keep it all smiles in every way we can to the military powerhouse that's across the ocean? Let's not give Princess Luna a reason to return to being Nightmare Moon, oui?" She muttered and left the room. When she stepped out of the office, she closed her eyes. This was not her favorite kind of work by any means. The sound of approaching hoofsteps beside her was becoming louder. "Putain." She quietly whispered. She turned around to see the stallion, whom she wanted to call a colt so much. Not a wrinkle in sight, no tiredness in his eyes. Unicorn, blue-coated...even golden-eyed, almost like herself. "Good morning, inspector." He grinned, extending a hoof. Cécile, even if disgruntled and displeased, still had her manners. Her talon extended and wrapped around the pony's limb. "Oui. Mornin'." The avian responded, and so the pony took the initiative in the conversation. "My name is Detective Dusk Wish, Fillydelphia's third precinct, Cold Case Investigations department." The young stallion said. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Inspector Vieillefeu. I'm looking forward to working with you!" "Mmm. Cécile works better...Scratch that, just Inspector." She muttered. "...Nice to meet you, too." She...hated - if that was the right word - how much he was smiling. It was jealousy. Jealousy - whether he was really so happy to be smiling after traveling across the ocean, or whether he had access to some kind of drug that kept him smiling. She almost recoiled when something flew around from behind him, and then levitated in-front of her. His horn was glowing. It was a cup of coffee, steaming and hot. And again, he was smiling, almost like a damn school filly. "I hope you don't take this as a sign of me trying to suck up to you, but I just wanted to...y'know, give our work together a nice start! It is morning, after all. I-I'm uh, I'm not really a morning person either, eheh..." 'Either'...She knew for sure he noticed the obnoxiously dark bags under her eyes. Still, she was not rude. She took the coffee, and even went as far as to sip it. As per custom, compliments came only after tasting. The aroma...The taste...Not the typical, nearly chemical-riddled "juice" that was made in those modern coffee shops. Damn capitalists from Las Pegasus, ruining perfectly decent Wingbardian products. Modernization was nice, and she was a bird of the tomorrow - but the reducing quality of food and drink over the last decades bothered her. This tasted like something she'd get when she was a student, or when she was still an officer in the military, or when she'd wait for her daughter to come back from school... Not something she'd mention to the colt either way, not when the last thing she wanted to do in the morning is open up. Still, the griffonness already betrayed her liking for the drink. But something was off. "...This isn't ordinary stuff. Even I have no idea where they still brew like this. They certainly keep this away from tourists. Where'd you get this?" Dusk grinned. His time to shine, as indicated by his big smile and the hoof he'd placed to his heart. "Why, Inspector - the historical rue de la boulangerie!" "...The what?" Dusk was taken by surprise, stammering. How could this proud Aquileian not know the simple history of the capital? "W-Well, you know! The street where several bakeries started to open up in the same space around the 970s, and then began to fiercely compete with one another! They had to make such impressive creations, trying to outdo one another at any cost. One restaurant used red sweet beans for the pastries like in Kiria, another pioneered salted caramel eclairs...One was known for making cakes perfectly sculpted like the faces of real griffons. It spawned many traditions and family recipes for these bakeries, including coffee-making techniques! The coffee I got here is made quite traditionally, all fresh. More expensive too, but it's worth it!" "...Right." Cécile murmured. "Okay, listen. Let's get to work now on whatever it is you're after. Briefing room?" The stallion shook his head. "It's all rather straightforward, I'll just give you the rundown." He said, checking his leather briefcase. He produced a handwritten list, which bothered her. Why not just use a phone? In-fact, while he went through the painstaking and old-fashioned procedure, she noted his outfit, sipping her coffee as she scanned him head to hooftip. Did he just grab something of his father's and put it on? She thought she looked old-fashioned with her traditional brown uniform jacket... "Here we go." He slid her a sheet of paper. It seemed to be a collection of excerpts collaged and printed on a paper. "I'm looking for someone who disappeared around 1010, s-so you can imagine it was a uh...frantic time." "...Was it?" She muttered. "...That...Was when the Lunar Empire started Operation Wedge." He said. This lady. Was she not old enough to have seen the events unfold herself, even as a kid? "Massive incursion into the territories of North Celestial Equestria and Southern Crystal Empire. Basically the turnaround event for the war. It was perhaps the only reason Eque--...The Lunar Empire stood a chance against the Changeling invasion. Any longer and, y'know...We ponies would all be sitting at home, being government issues spouses, and--" "...You do talk a fair bit." She couldn't help but unleash the bombshell. It made him quiet, slightly frowning. "A-Ah. Sorry, Inspector. A-Anyhow, we...Uhm...We tracked the disappearance victim to Aquileia after discovering that in 1010, the missing person boarded a ship called the Augustine. After an extensive search they discovered that it made a stop here in Aquileia, before being sunk by Kirin terrorists..." Cécile sighed. "So your victim either got off here or is now floating around in the water. Is this not a waste of government time and resources? Maybe even...talent?" "That's just the thing about cold cases." He levitated the paper away from her once she was satisfied. "We never know, but...won't know till we try, right?" "...And just who is this missing person?" She raised a brow. "I'm telling you now, as a professional or otherwise, unless you're searching for a war criminal, I won't take kindly to them being executed or imprisoned." "I was worried about the same thing too..." Dusk said. That phrase certainly piqued Cécile's interest. "But, the thing is, even though I'm not sure who it is, I was explained they're not in any way a threat or enemy of the Lunar Republic!" Cécile smirked. A tired smirk that said 'Get out of here'. "So we have no idea who we're looking for? Your handler doesn't know or doesn't say?" "Dunno..." Dusk shrugged. "But I got a few leads about them. We'll go to the docks, and maybe find someone who has any fitting profiles or ideas where ponies could have went after disembarking the Augustine." "..." Cécile smirked wider, but this time it was because she knew her time with this chump wouldn't be long. "Okay then, please, let's go and get this out of the way." She said. To herself however, she thought... 'This will be a dead end on the first interview.' Chapter Two - Hay in a NeedlestackIt was a slow drive, and it was made worse by the stallion riding shotgun who was essentially like a dog poking his head out of the car window. He constantly took pictures, which wouldn't have bothered her...If he hadn't decided to do so on a damn instant camera. "...Don't you want to use your phone and get better quality pictures?" She muttered. "No." Dusk smiled. The drive was made more awkward by her next question. "Detective, why does your precinct need a cold case department?" "...Well, why not?" "I don't get the point of it." Cécile said. "I'd rather focus on preventing crime and stopping people robbing banks now, not criminals robbing banks fifty years ago." "Cold case investigation is actually quite serious." Dusk said, defensive. "We utilize special techniques designed to bring justice over years, and also help bring closure to loved ones of long-deceased victims!" "Fine, let's make a bet on whether or not your case hits a dead end. I think it will, you think it won't. Winner gets to make the other do whatever they want. Deal?" "You got a deal, Inspector!" As soon as they arrived, they stepped out of the car, now overlooking the large docks before them. What to do, where to go...? "Well, Detective?" Cécile raised a brow. "Where to now?" "To be honest I...I don't know." Dusk said, scratching his head. "I was actually hoping you'd help me out! I mean, that's why you're my partner, right? I just need someone who knows what's going on around here, and what did in the past." "I'm your partner for now." She sighed. "Fine, I have an idea. Just let me do the talking." She said. She led the stallion through the dock, and he immediately noticed a curious thing. It seemed that most of the workers were not Aquileians, but a mix of Wingbardians, River ponies, and Kirin. He didn't need to hear them speak - he paid attention to body language, clothing style, and mannerisms. Not to mention, the Kirin he saw were, well, Kirin. "This isn't the most...government-run dock, is it?" He proposed. "...Kind of." She said. "Here's the bird." Cécile whistled to a cap-wearing, white-feathered griffon who was leaning against a shipping container, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette. "Hey! Mateo!" *** The bird happily described the nature of his operations, waving his cigarette around without a care that he might burn the police officers. "We bring folk from all corners of the planet, but yeah - Aquileia's the final stop." Mateo laughed. "Though to tell you the truth, I feel offended. All these illegals and by extension tourists wanna come into Aquileia, and yet none of these schmucks even bother coming to Wingbardy. Makes that little - yet present part of my inner patriot a lil' upset. Nobody wants real wine or nice beaches or a tour around nice old Karthin. All they care about in Aquila are the romantic candelit nights, and wine bottles, and the griffon girls who don't shave down there that twist your you-know into a balloon poodle and--" The griffoness grunted. "Tsk! S'il te plait, please don't embarrass yourself - nor myself around my...partner. I'd prefer the questions answered directly rather than have you shit an essay out of your beak. Capische?" "Aight fine." Mateo rolled his eyes. "And..." Dusk tilted his head. "You and the police...I mean, are you both cool with what's happening?" "Uhuh." He proudly grinned. "We get along with Ms. Cécile over here, makes it easier for the police to be cordial with folks like us. After all, if there's illegals coming into your country, you'd probably want to know who and how much. And besides, if all the illegal Wingbardians disappear, who's gonna whip you up some fresh bucatini?" "I'm more of a fettuccine kinda stallion." Dusk laughed heartily. "No shit? You got taste. Come 'round the place with the Wingbardian awning on the corner of Silvestine Street. Best Alfredo I've tried...Aaaanyways, I see Cécile's boutta kick our asses for talkin' food, so let's get back on the subject." The stallion nodded, producing a small notebook and pencil. "Right, may I ask where your ships come from? Have you had any ships from Equus?" The griffon nodded. "Yeah, all the time. Aight well, not so much since your moon lady took over and things got more strict on your end, though they show up now and again." "...And, how long has your operation been up?" "Hah!" Mateo grinned wide. "Longer than you, me, or even this hag--, er, old la--, uh...madame have been swimming in our dad's balls. We're looking at what, seventy-ish years or so?" "That fits!" Dusk smiled wide, eyes lighting up. "Okay, so look, I'm looking for a ship that popped up here around Summer 1010. It was called the Augustine? Should have been transporting refugees from the civil war in Equus?" "...Bit of a tall order for me to get you that kinda info..." He started to scratch his head feathers. "But uh, damn...Okay, I gotcha. Gimme a sec." He turned around to yell into the direction of the dock workers, before letting a bellowing shout. "VITOOOOOOOOOOOO! Hey! Pronto over here for a sec, will ya?" The smuggler beckoned over, then turned to the two. "Guy worked here longer than most other workers here been on this planet. He's clean, so don't go pinnin' anything on him. Probably the only legit worker here on the account nobody even tells the old guy not everyone on these ship's got passports and not every crate's on manifests." Approaching them was a grizzled worker, older than Cécile by perhaps fifteen, if not twenty years. The old griffon sighed and shrugged his shoulders at his young coworker. "You truly are a second generation immigrant." Vito shook his head. "Pronto over here for a sec? "Quickly" for a second?" "Look, we can discuss linguistics later - now I'd like ya to help us out over here. You like the law, right?" "Any law that's not Beakolini's. Good riddance." "Well that's good, you don't gotta hang these two upside down." Mateo said, nodding towards the two investigators. "We got a chance to help our fine boys and girls in blue to find a missin' person from a couple of years back." "Many years back." Dusk coughed. "Like, many many." Vito smiled at the young stallion. "Okay, well how many are we looking at?" "In 1010." He said. "There was a ship, the Augustine. We were looking for a passenger who left it, a mare who may have dyed her appearance. She was a unicorn, a little tall?" "Oh my, I couldn't hope to remember." Vito laughed softly. "1010? I was a pretty young bird back then!" "Well, sir...If I may..." Dusk reached for his bag. "I'd like to try something to help you remember." "I can't accept money other than my wages, it'd be a sin. Oh, if it's alcohol, no thank you, too." The old griffon smiled, waving a talon. "I'm not much of a drinker no more, ever since the doctor said the liver's gonna give with as much as a drop of the stuff. Mi scuza, I truly don't remember." "It's not exactly alcohol. Well, not for drinking." Dusk smiled. "I researched the connection between smell and memory. Like, using a perfume when you study for an exam, and then wearing it on the exam so it helps you remember. Maybe we can try it now? Y-You see, the uh...The pony we're looking for, always used to wear this perfume. Can't miss it." In Dusk's hoof was a very ornate, gorgeous pink bottle, with a pink-diamond encrusted pump. It read - L'odeur qui vous rappelle votre premier amour. "Detective..." The griffoness shook her head disapprovingly. "Please be more mature and less...fairy-tale-ish. Even if this works, why would your target not remove it? Smelling perfume after decades - this is really what you do?" "Have more faith." Dusk smiled. "My target couldn't have thought of everything. She could have forgotten to remove it or didn't think of doing so, don't forget this was her favorite perfume. If she didn't smell like it, her things might have. Mr. Vito, may I?" "Curious idea, but let's give it a shot." The old griffon nodded. Dusk took the perfume bottle as Vito extended his talon, and sprayed a little on it. Vito brought the talon to his beak, and sniffed it. "...Whoa." Vito kept sniffing his own talon, on repeat. He began to look, almost staring right through his own limb. "It's...It's..." Dusk hated that his nervousness was betrayed by his body language. Vivienne smirked, feeling her victory looking. "D-Do you remember anything?" "...Oh sweet Beatrice..." He closed his eyes. "It smells almost just like her. Not the scent itself - but this sensation..." Dusk, Mateo, and Cécile exchanged a short look, but did not intervene. Vito continued. "It's that smell...We're standing together, only us in the field. The sky - the clouds straight out of a painting. That soft breeze, that sun...Those gorgeous flowers and those lush trees...None of that beauty compared to her. Not a candle held to the beauty of her soul. She holds my talon, I hold hers. I beg whatever god is real - let me stay here for the rest of time, for life will never be better than this...than that moment." He looked quietly forward, and softly sighed. "...Mr. Vito?" Dusk quietly whispered. "...Yes." He coughed. "This scent is familiar. I...I was helping some of the refugees carry their luggage. This scent...I do remember a mare. This perfume, it really was the same one, I am certain. I could not ignore nor forget it..." "And do you remember where she might have gone?" Vito nodded. "I offered to help her. I carried her luggage to a taxi, she asked me if I knew what part of the city was safest, most monitored and best to raise children." "What'd you go with?" Cécile raised a brow. "I suggested the Palais street, basically in the backyard of Queen Vivienne...and that's where she asked the taxi driver to take her." He said. "Oh! But also, she was joined by a stallion. Very quiet, kept his distance - cradled something close to his chest. I almost forgot about him, he really tried to make himself less known." "Palais street..." Dusk turned to his partner. "But is that really a residential area? Apart from government buildings, police stations, museums..." "There's one place actually." Cécile said, almost intrigued with the case now that it seemed to have been coming together, forgetting that's the opposite of what she wanted. "There are apartments commonly enjoyed by griffon nobility and the rich, but there's ponies who live there now and again." The stallion turned to the old griffon, thankfully looking at him. "I think I have our lead, then. Mr. Vito...Thank you. And you too, Mr. Mateo..." Dusk said, then looked at Vito. "Sir, maybe...I can give you the perfume? If it helps you remember, it..." "...No." Vito smiled. "The past moments - you should cherish them, but never be obsessed with them." He said. "If I cradled a perfume bottle as I fell asleep, I'd be a sad excuse of an old man, eh?" Dusk sighed. Those words hit him, but not in the way he'd liked. "R-Right. Well, have a good day." Mateo smirked, wrapping one talon around Vito, waving the other. "Come 'round friend! We'll convince ya to take up a case in Karthin next time, get you to have real lunch with us. Not snails or frog legs, right Inspector?" Cécile scoffed at him. "Snails and frog legs? Our ancestors ate worms in the soil. Aquileian cuisine fits avian biology more than those grease mountains you call food." She said, waved a talon, then using it to beckon Dusk. "Adieu Mateo. Let's go, Detective." They sat in the car. Dusk was smiling, ear to ear. When Cécile sat and put on her seatbelt, she caught his gaze and groaned, closing her eyes with annoyance. "Fine. You win your bet. What do you want? No nude pictures or sexual favors, no buying dinners." Now, Dusk felt like a child. "...Could you show me your gun?" "...Well, if that's what you want." Cécile said, surprised but glad it wasn't so complicated. She handed over her revolver, and Dusk eagerly took it, studying it like a child inspecting a toy. "Oh, it's..." He frowned. Disappointed. "What?" Despite the mundane action, Cécile suddenly felt offended. He didn't like it - much too sleek, geometrical. Modern. "...It's a '49?" "Well yes?" She wasn't sure what he was getting at. "A nice gun, newest model." "...Okay. Well, thanks..." He said, levitating the gun over to her. However, until she understood what was wrong, she wouldn't take it. "No, wait. Tell me, really, what don't you like about it?" "I was just hoping for a '18..." "...A Manheron '18?" Cécile scoffed. "What is this, the 20's? You want the suspects to make elderly jokes at me while--" They were interrupted by static. Her eyes darted to the radio on her dashboard. She pressed the button, and the voice came through. "<>" Chapter Three - What Was Yesterday?In Aquila was a statue - of three griffons proudly standing. One griffon was wearing older 10th century equipment, his sabre mid-swing. The first revolution, dismantled by the royalist counter revolution. The second griffon was holding an old bolt-action rifle to the air. The second revolution, where the Discret dynasty held fast against the rebels. The third griffon held a battle rifle, and looked proudly at the horizon. The third revolution, where the kingdom stood strong against one final attempt to turn Aquileia into a socialist republic, even when the Herzland attempted to use the chaos to their advantage. And now in-front of the memorial was a fourth griffon, pointing a revolver to a child's head. The little griffon shivered, but did not dare move her body. The cold that pressed against the back of her head made her little paws curl as her entire body shook. She sniffled. She couldn't say anything. She could only hope that her lack of action would be enough to keep her safe. The gunman that held her hostage was old - an old griffon wearing the jacket of his old uniform, the patch worn and weathered, but displaying its insignia, a royal fleur with two bayonets diagonally crossing through it. While the girl was quiet, the griffon frantically shouted names. "CORPORAL SEBASTIEN BESSON! SERGEANT ADRIAN LEVETT! PRIVATE FIRST CLASS HENRY LAJOIE!" He shouted, and kept listing many, many more. Cécile's car pulled up, making sure to back up around the corner. She and Dusk stepped out, looking over the scene. Immediately, an older griffon woman sprinted right at them. "That's my girl! Officer, please!" The mother screamed, collapsing down to Cécile's talons. "Please! Please save her! She's all I have, officer! Officer, p--" "Ma'am, calm down." Cécile muttered. "What happened here?" "He just..." She sniffled. "He grabbed my poor Anabelle, tore her from my talons! That monster...!" "Backup will be here soon, ma'am." Cécile said, gently helping the mare stand up. Ushering her to the side, she joined Dusk, who came closer to the crowd to take a further look. It was apparent that this situation would be far from easy to defuse, and Cécile had to establish order. "This is the police!" She shouted, making the crowd disperse as she showed her badge, while one talon held her holster. "Let the girl go and lay your gun down!" He ignored her, still shouting out the many names that he seemed to have in no short supply. Dusk frowned. He understood why this was happening. He, unexpectedly, took his own gun out of his holster and handed it to Cécile, who was too stunned to realize the moment Dusk got on his legs and raised his hooves up, taking steps towards the gunman. "Kid, what are you--!" Cécile hissed, trying to reach a talon out, but not wanting to agitate the gunman, especially not when she had to keep her gun trained at him. "Dusk-...Shit, putain! The gunman was tense at the sight of the approaching stallion, shouting at him. "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer or else I will--" "26th Infantry Division!?" Dusk shouted to be heard. "...What!?" "You're from the 26th Infantry Division, aren't you!?" Dusk shouted from the distance. "I recognize the insignia!" "...Yes. Yes, I am!" The griffon nervously said. Dusk noticed that this had a double effect. He looked at Cécile and the other griffons with spite - furious that it took for a foreigner to arrive and identify this. Yet, when he looked at Dusk, his eyes softened, and so did the grip on the revolver. "The names...!" Dusk cried out. "Are they your battalion mates!?" The same thing repeated. The veteran was so furious that nobody even bothered to ask this, and yet this foreigner...He knew, he asked, he was curious. He was listening. "N-No!" The old griffon said, affirming the barrel against the girl's head. "They are, and were soldiers all across the Aquileian military! The names I list - were the ones who were abandoned by this treacherous country! They...They fought fiercely, with courage!" Dusk played his cards carefully, but his knowledge was helpful enough. "The 26th saw heavy combat during the third revolution, right!? You refer to that!?" "Yes, young man...!" The griffon cried out. "And I will not stop until every damn camera and microphone is here. I want Queen Vivienne to personally come here! Do you know how many of my friends were left to fend for themselves? When the government refused to help them!? How many became homeless!? How many were robbed of basic help, left to fend for themselves and treated like we did nothing!?" "You saved Aquileia's future!" Dusk shouted. It didn't matter of course, whether communism could have helped the country, but politics had no place when a child was under a gun's barrel. "What the government has done is wrong, and I know that your comrades need more than just memories and prayers! But this will not help! The 26th are heroes!" "What good are heroes when they're treated like dirt!?" He shouted. "This is what I must do - so that this ungrateful country, this ungrateful queen, understand that we have given everything we had, and sacrificed our souls to--" "So you will traumatize the poor girl for the rest of her life!?" Cécile suddenly shouted from behind. "Damn it, man. Think! Do you really want the world to vilify you!? You fought to protect the children of Aquileia, have you not!? You represent your comrades - those who live now and those who fell!" The old bird gasped. Slowly, his eyes gaze down upon the terrified, wet eyes of the girl who looked up at him. She had been doing so for the last minutes, hoping that if the words were not working, perhaps the sight would. The griffon then saw movement before him and gasped, pointing his pistol right at Dusk. He did not flinch. "You're a hero, sir." He said. "You gave everything for your country, and even more. Please, let the girl go. You've fought so hard for the future where children can safely thrive in a better Aquileia. Even if the world doesn't understand or recognize it, it's a monumental achievement. A colossal one..." With those words, the veteran's grip on the girl loosened, and she was able to break out of his hold.. The girl ran as fast as her paws and talons could take her, jumping right into the talons of her mother, who collapsed and sobbed, holding onto her and crying into her neck. Cécile immediately positioned herself between them and the armed veteran, acting as a potential shield. "...It's all such a shame." The old man wiped his tears. "I can't believe I could...Do something like this..." "...It's a shame that the world is like this, sir." Dusk softly, but firmly said. "But what we must do does not always regard what people will think of us." "...Hmph." The old bird nodded, eyes trained at the stallion. Cautiously, carefully, Dusk stepped forward. He now faced the griffon, face-to-face, and no longer needed to shout. Dusk could not salute, he was not a soldier, and yet, he could speak. "...Thank you for your serv--..." The stallion thought again about the words, briefly looking at all the decorations upon the griffon's uniform, his accolades and his patch, then the scars upon his beak and the arthritis in his talons. Most importantly, he saw the name on the tag. Dusk's head tilted back up to the equal height. Then, he smiled. "...Thank you for everything, Lieutenant Badeux." "...So many years...So many years I wanted to hear...t...these words..." The Lieutenant did not wipe the tears off his eyes. His beak was proud, tilted ever slightly upwards. Though he did not intend to smile, that's just what he did. He extended his talon to shake it, and Dusk reciprocated. The two stood, hoof and talon locked. "Make the future good, friend. You are it, after all." Dusk was still smiling when the blood and pieces of brain splattered against his face. The stallion stood - a mixture of a delayed reaction and soon, disbelief. He stood there with the talon still held, though it only served to bring the limp body into him. He did not budge when the dead form of late Lieutenant Badeaux embraced him, leaning against him like a passed out drunk against the wall. He did not understand just at what moment the veteran pointed the pistol at himself. Either he was too fast or kept it hidden, Dusk couldn't register that fact. Dusk shook, his eyes widening and his blood freezing, his whole body shaking as he slowly starting to faint - his mind trying to confirm this as a bad dream, yet not being able to. The last thing Dusk remembered before this all became a bad memory he'd forever try to put away was Cécile running over to him. *** She invited him to her house. Allowed him to use her shower, and now, as he dried himself of the viscera, he sat in her kitchen. She poured him a cup. Not wine, that was for good memories. Not bourbon - for celebrations. Just plain whiskey, something to help ease the day. "...He had a good reason to shoot himself." She suddenly said. He shivered, still wet and scared. "...W-...H-How can you say something like--" "Because everything you told him, the recognition you've given him and the respect you've shown - something that he needed all these years...He finally got it. He wanted to make it his final snapshot, the last things he wanted to feel before death. Considering his age, I'd even think it was a rational choice..." Dusk had nothing to say. Cécile sighed, hating herself for making the young one feel so tense. She had to fix it. "I will be honest..." Cécile sat opposite of him, pouring the alcohol into his cup. "I was bullshitting when I tried to look all stoic back then." She said. "Not even the years of experience I have working with homicide and crimes against griffonkind can help steel me against it all. Seeing a corpse, fine. Shooting an armed suspect, no issue. But the one thing I could never imagine doing...Is touching a dead body immediately after death." He sipped the drink. "So...you'd be fine touching it if it's long-since cold?" "Yes." She flatly said. "Death doesn't bother me once it's a done deal. But touching a corpse that's cooling down and becoming stiff? No. It terrifies me. What terrifies me more is to think, maybe they're still clinging onto their consciousness?" "But..." Dusk sighed. "Does what happened today not bother you at all...?" "No. Don't get me wrong, I do not disrespect him - but I also think those stuck in the past should learn how to move forward. Otherwise, they subject themselves to a toxic loop of nostalgia, a vestigial husk that hates the world and the future because they cannot learn how to thrive in it, because they cannot accept that everyone has "their moment", yet, the moment passes. Death is inevitable. Change is inevitable. Happy moments, sorrow, love and hate, ecstasy and depression - this is all on the agenda of life. To be in denial that your worst day has yet to come, or to refute that the best days of your life are over, what use is that? Just live, putain...It's more than some can do." She took a big sip, finishing it. "What worries me is not the dead man. Did you not think of the little griffonette?" "I..." "The old bird shot himself. So that happened. Now what about the little girl? Do you not worry that this event will shape her future life? Post traumatic stress disorder?" "I do, but..." Dusk sighed. "The future, it's...I-I guess it's...Look, I'd rather not talk about it. I will just say that, the past is important too. It's...It's what brought us here, after all." "The past..." Cécile shook her head. "Detective, the past can't matter when the future is all you have now." "...But, you have so many pictures here. Are they not all of memories that--" "Don't--" She was about to hiss at him, briefly raising her voice. Yet, what use was that? She calmed down, softly sighed. "...Nadine. My daughter." "...Oh." He picked up easily on her tone. "I'm sorry, I--" "It was in 1030. Twenty years ago." She said. "The third and, I hope, final revolution. When the Herzland attempted to send "peacekeepers" to stabilize Aquileia, an excuse to annex eastern territories. A war on two fronts - with them, and with ourselves. Nadine, she...She was taken from me during a terrorist attack. I do not wish to say more." "But Nadine, she..." This wasn't easy for Dusk. "She lives on in your past, r-right? As long as you remember her, she'll always be by your--" "Detective, I...I don't..." Cécile softly shook, standing up from the table. "...I don't remember where she was buried. All I...All I remember was the setting sun...There was a field of flowers before two mountains...There was a valley, there in the distance. It's...It's not relevant. I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about this." "Cécile..." Dusk felt his throat dry. "I'm sorry, I--" She turned around. "Good night Detective. I've prepared my guest room for you." Left alone in the kitchen, Dusk quietly sat. Today was a difficult day, and he could not comprehend half of what happened. Yet, he eyed her wallet that she'd left on the table...And the documents within it. He would need them for this case. Chapter Four - What's Tomorrow?Dusk spent some days carefully studying residential records. The trick was not looking in what was written, but seeing what wasn't. Empty apartments that matched the date of his target's arrival. Of course, an empty apartment wouldn't help, not after so many years. It was, however, the luckiest gold mine. He discovered the elderly griffoness that lived next door to the apartment he'd suspected. And right on cue, she's lived there for over fifty years. Now, he and Cécile sat with the granny as she poured them tea. As the liquid hit his lips, Dusk smiled with delight. "This is wonderful, ma'am. What is it?" "Usual store-bought tea." She grinned like an old fox. "My secret? A lil' bourbon. It's a good pick me up. Helped me live this long too, does wonders for the heart." "...So for the first time in my life, I'm drinking on the job." Cécile hummed, though took another sip regardless. "Back to the topic, ma'am. You said that your neighbor was a mare, with a stallion and a child? But...you said one day they disappeared?" "Yes." She sighed. "A sweet mare, I was able to talk with her now and again. She and her partner never left that little girl's side, even when I offered them that my daughter could babysit that adorable girl." "Did you...hear or see anything on the day of the disappearance?" The old lady blushed, hiding her face slightly. "Oh, dear...I confess. On the day the couple disappeared, I was able to enter their apartment. T-Through the ventilation shaft, you see, I was quite a nimble bird back then. I erm...found this, on the table. Here..." In her talon was an unsealed envelope, yet it seemed nobody had the time to seal it. It appeared rushed...Yet, the smell, unmistakable. The perfume he had this whole time. Dusk brought it to his nostrils, and began to read it. Dear Princess... Every night I think of you. Even as I cuddle my husband, and my daughter, I can't stop thinking of you. The burden I've put on you, even if you proposed it, I cannot imagine that peace and safety is worth it all. I cannot think anymore, on what I should do or how I should make up for it. I feel like a monster. Even if we are the same, I wonder why did I run? If Nightmare Moon crucified me before the Crystal Heart, would it matter? I guess I should dispel these thoughts. I will never forget you. Please be safe. You're forever in my - our hearts. We must change our location. This could be my final letter, though I think the last one should have been it. Know that I am well and safe, and so are they. We live on, and so will our ponies. I cannot thank you enough for the burden you've taken upon you. You are the reason we sparkle, and we will do - forevermore. - A Heart that Forever Cherishes You "...Send to, Fylamora Meadows, plot four." Cécile studied the envelope while Dusk studied the letter. "That's farmland. We should go there, now." Her eyes trailed to Dusk. She noticed he was shaking a little, as if he saw a ghost. But why? "L-Let's..." Dusk coughed. "T-Thank you for your time, ma'am..." *** There she was. Peaceful. Untouched, rotting, but her eyes were closed and she laid so still. Like a tale. "I can't believe it..." Dusk felt his hooves become light, the thoughts swimming in his head. How could this happen? What would happen next? "Sweet Boreas..." Cécile rubbed her eyes. "Is that really...?" There could be no appropriate reaction. Now when, in the bed before you, was the decomposing, and old corpse of a Princess. The corpse of Princess Cadence. Yet, the more Cécile gazed to confirm the fact, something did not appear...usual. After all, what kind of alicorn dies from old age? "...Hang on." Bravely, having seen myriads of corpses in her days in all forms and ages, Cécile stepped forward to the body. Yet, it only took her to gently rub the mane. The chemical smell and the lack of wounds... "...Dusk, this isn't her." "That...T-that's not Princess Cadence?" "Well, the scene looks peaceful enough. No signs of struggle. I assume she merely fell asleep and never woke up. Whoever this is, died of natural causes. I mean, she's an alicorn. When was the last time an alicorn died of old age, or a heart attack?" "...Judging by the dye, then..." Dusk found the bravery to come close to the body, looking at the body that had been decomposing for a long time now. "Was she...A double?" "A decoy, perhaps." Cecile nodded. "That means that I was tasked with searching for Princess Cadence." Dusk shook his head. "They must have known this but didn't tell me so that I wouldn't run my mouth or get someone's attention..." "I guess the case is closed. At-least, based on this lead." Cécile asked. "You're finished here?" "...I'm not sure." "Why?" "Cécile...When the Crystal Empire fell, Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon. A monster and tyrant. It's only through sheer fortune we have returned her to who she is now, but...You need to understand she was cruel. She killed Celestia, and killed many others. Princess Cadence was defiant, and there was a belief that she was killed too. Maybe Luna believes it - because when she re-appeared as her normal self, she had no memories of what happened. She woke up - to a burnt Equestria that was now renamed to the Lunar Empire." "...So?" "Cécile, what I am going to report to - inevitably - Luna, will have consequences for the future. If she goes public, if the news of her being alive comes out, then...What happens next?" "Well..." Cécile put a talon to her chin. "Reconciliation between the crystal ponies and Luna? Maybe nothing at all?" "Something bad will happen, I feel it..." Dusk muttered. "Cécile, Princess Luna was capable of lighting my country on fire. Millions died, more lost family and were dislocated. "...Why are you so terrified of it?" She asked. "I'd be excited. You're giving closure. To the crystal ponies, to--" "I'm terrified what might happen after the fact." Dusk interrupted. The fact he had suddenly become so assertive in conversations, it made Cécile briefly freeze. He continued. "We really decided that a sister-killing tyrant was a good choice for our country..." "...I hope your special services haven't wiretapped you." She tensely said. "Then let them hear." Dusk sternly said. "I think Equestria won't thrive under Luna. It won't be the same thing. Not anymore." He said. "Life was so much better then. Before the wars. When the sisters were together. I heard such great stories. Friendship and...Agh. My parents were veterans, fought for Celestia. Told me about Ponyville, when they met the legendary Twilight Sparkle, when they..." "You..." Cécile laughed, shaking her head. "Dusk, you're a curious stallion. You were born in the Lunar Empire, yet you speak like an old Celestial loyalist. I mean, you're here unearthing the biggest conspiracy of a whole race. What you can bring to the Crystal Ponies will give them hope. Hope, Dusk..." "...Or doom." "If I learned that somehow, my little Nadine was alive and still out there..." She smiled sadly. "I'd be the happiest woman on this planet, Detective. Can you imagine how a whole race of ponies would feel?" "..." He sighed. Cécile put a talon on his shoulder. "Don't fear what may happen, Detective. Fear what may not." They walked outside, looking at the fluffy clouds above. The field was so picturesque, the dandelions freely flying, the grass swaying like the surface of water... She offered him a cigarette. He didn't smoke, but this was a special occasion. "...So, you'd say this is the most difficult case of your life?" Cécile asked as the two stood on the porch. "Difficult in terms of implications? Yes. Difficult in terms of work? Actually...I'm working on it now." Chapter Five - Look Up The Mountain, Then Look Down"Detective..." Cécile hissed under her breath, her vision dark as she rode shotgun. "I do not approve of you treating me like a kidnapping victim - or like a prisoner taken to a secret hideout." "Sorry, Inspector." Dusk chuckled. "Please trust me, okay? This is just a precaution. I'm going to show you something important. But I ask you to just bear with me, just a little bit?" "Ordinarily I'd say no to being blindfolded in a car, but you really are full of surprises, Dusk. Fine." She said, humored. Over the week, she'd become used to his silly antics. Though this one would probably take the cake. The car stopped. She felt the surface. Gravel, she was certain. They were not on a street. The car door opened on his side, and then on hers. With a gentle hoof, he guided her out. They would walk. She counted the steps, and felt the ground. So unkempt, so much wild grass and stones...The sound of birds...Howling wind...Nature? Then, they stopped. Dusk positioned himself before the blinded woman. "...Before I open your eyes, I'm going to have to ask you to do something." Dusk whispered. "...Please take a deep breath. Okay, Cécile?" Not taking anything too seriously at that moment, the griffoness softly scoffed. "Alright alright, listen, this is cute and all but I hate having my eyes closed." She said, starting to untie the tightly-tied blindfold. "Whatcha got for me? A table with a Charcuterie board and expensive wine? A car? The sunset? You shouldn't really excite an old lady like--" The cloth fell to the soil. The name on the tombstone Nadine Vieillefeu. 1022 - 1030. "..." It all flooded back to her. With disbelief, she placed a talon on the tombstone. Someone had been here, perhaps yesterday, and cleaned the tombstone, for otherwise the twenty years of neglect would have coated the stone in rust and moss. She almost believed it was a fake. Some consolation of sorts. Yet, it was undeniable. She looked at the horizon behind, and softly collapsed onto her knees, sitting upright and eye-level with the name of the tombstone. "...Dusk, how did you...?" "I am a cold case investigator, after all." Dusk softly spoke. "I've been looking into it in-between the breaks we had. Had to borrow some of your documents and cross-reference the facts. I understand why you couldn't find her all this time, you had absolutely nothing on paper connected to her, no death certificate or anything. Worse, I checked all archived newspapers from twenty years ago. No obituaries. Perhaps you asked them not to publish it, maybe this was too terrible to mention. Either way, this was one of the most difficult cases I've had." He said. "...But how did you find her?" "You won't believe me, but...I remembered your description. Setting sun, a field of flowers, two tall mountains and a distant valley. I looked for a west-facing pair of mountains, flower fields nearby, and cemeteries." "That doesn't...sound so unbelievable." She sniffled. "The unbelievable thing is this - I checked it on the internet." He chuckled. "Who knew there's satellites that just publish maps online?" "...Heh...Embracing the future after all. We might just get you to stop using those silly Ponaroid cameras..." The griffoness wiped her eyes. "Dusk, you..." "Take a moment, Inspector. I will be by the car." With that, he went back, disappearing behind the tall and foliage. Cécile looked at the tombstone, once at the ground, and back at the slate. She wrapped her talons around it, and whispered. "Mama's so sorry for not visiting you for so long...You...You would have grown into such a fine, young lady...I'm here now. I've never forgotten about you, my life's spark, even when I tried to convince myself I did...I'll always be here for you. Mama's here now, Nadine..." A dozen meters away, Dusk wished his ears weren't so good. He only sighed, looking at the setting sun, and the rising moon looming above. He imagined what it would have been like now, if things were different. He focused on the past so much. Certainly, it may have been sweeter. Yet, he always looked at the past as if it was a sweet cup of wine. Except, every cup runs dry. What would fill the cup next? A sweeter wine? Semi-dry? Bitter coffee? Or arsenic? He could keep the cup dry forever, trying to savor what little his taste-buds could remember. But to live the rest of your life with that dryness and emptiness - holding and longing onto nostalgia... Now, he helped a mother reunite with what she lost. He discovered the fate of a brave mare that sacrificed her life to protect her idol. He even got the chance to help a veteran feel a spark of fulfillment, one last time. What happens next? It could be ugly. It could be outright tragic. But if he never passed the threshold, if he never ventured into that unknown...Then he'd be there, decomposing, rotting away and turning into a skeleton, right at the door way. He hadn't realized - an hour passed. That was when Cécile approached him, eyes and sleeves wet...Yet, there she was. For the first time during their partnership, and for the first time in years...A genuine, warm smile on her beak. "...Det--...Dusk Wish...I will never be able to say this enough, no matter how much I mutter it at night, but..." Dusk smiled at her, and she at him. It may not have been a smile of triumph or joy or humor, but it was a strong feeling. A strong feeling of clarity, relief, and resolution. "...Thank you." She whispered. In the field, they shook their limbs. The young stallion, who learned how to look up the mountain, and the old griffon, who learned how to look down from it. Epilogue - One Last Piece of EvidenceDusk murmured, his eyes barely holding up. How he hated morning flights. Who schedules them at six in the morning? Those poor pilots... Then, he smelled coffee. Real coffee. Cécile smirked like a fox, approaching him. "Not trying to suck up to you, but..." She taloned him a cup of coffee. He couldn't believe his eyes, as they hurt from the lack of sleep. Gratefully he took it, and sipped. "...You drove all the way to rue de la boulangerie to get me one?" Dusk weakly smiled. "I might make it a part of my routine." She smiled. "Who knew the old ways of making coffee are worth the drive? Even though, I feel like their grinders are old enough that I'll need to check for tetanus, heh..." "You have a sense of humour." Dusk brightened up as well. "If only we'd started out the case like this...Then again..." He sipped his coffee, looking at the Aquileian sky. "I'd like to work with you again in the future." "Oh? Well..." She blushed. "If we find out that Queen Chrysalis or the remains of some other important Equestrian person have appeared in Aquila, I'll be sure to recommend you first to help out." Quietly, they exchanged a soft smile. Cécile regretted how much she brushed him off, but who was she to anchor him when he had a world to see, and a future to experience? The announcer of the airport spoke. "Aquila-Fillydelphia, boarding in ten minutes!" "That's my cue I guess." Dusk finished his coffee. He was about to shake her talon, when he saw she held a brown parcel. "For you." Cécile said. "Some...evidence for the case." She blatantly lied, smirking. "Security shouldn't wonder why my "service" pistol is missing from my holster too fast, I hope." He looked at her, and then at the brown bag. He gently opened it a little, not to reveal it fully, but to peer inside. And so, his eyes lit up like a colt on Hearthswarming. He gleamed with mad love at the '18 Manheron revolver. "It's perfect..." He whispered. "How did you...?" "We officers must buy our own pistols, but as such we have access to more special ones." She chuckled. "Enjoy. It's even got a small bipod and scope, if you wish to use it like the Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie used to until they got those fancy Vedinian AW snipers." He was unable to contain his smile. For a moment, he spread his hooves wide - and immediately blushed, holding back. The sight made her smirk, and she brought it in herself, patting him on the back with her talon as she hugged him. How could she not, after what he did for her? She put her talons on his shoulders, and looked him in the eyes. "Stay safe, Detective." She said. "No matter what happens with this Princess Cadence case, you have a friend here. Remember that." Although a little stunned, Dusk found it in his resolve to return the warm smile. With the crowd gathering at the gate, he waved. "S-See you, Inspector." "Come here on a vacation, you hear!?" She laughed with a bellow as he ran off to not be late. As she watched the detective disappear into the crowd, she couldn't help but sigh. She was alone, as she was before. ...Or, was she? She pulled out her cellphone, and dialed a number she wouldn't otherwise, if not for work. "Monique? It's me, Cécile." She spoke, turning around to slowly walk to the airport exit. "...No, it's still my day off, I'm not working today. Nothing's come up. No-- merde, listen. I was wondering if you want to grab some lunch. Maybe with some other officers and the chief, but if you want to keep it tête-à-tête I don't mind. W-What!? N-No, Monique, I'm not hitting on you...! I-I'm old enough to be your mother! Right...How does Wingbardian sound like? I heard of a nice place from a Wingbardian dock worker. No, I didn't go on a date with Du-...You seriously need to get laid. Okay, I'll pick you up at..."
Prologue - Today's ProgrammeStatic. LR 24/7 The bubbly mare guided her hoof across the displayed map. "Heavy rains and storms are coming down from Baltimare, and will make their way across all of the south-eastern Lunar Republic, ending at Stableside. Citizens are encouraged to avoid using cars in lieu of mudslides, but if you're the rainy weather kinda pony, feel free to get out there and enjoy--" Static. Herzland Aktuell TV. Grover VI of the United Herzland spoke into the myriad of microphones. "I'd like to make it clear that our efforts to advance our nuclear technology sector is not - I repeat - is NOT some kind of disguised means to develop nuclear weaponry. The Herzland respects Aquileia's terms of the Skyfall treaty, and we do not intend to break these terms. For the sake of Boreas, I do not wish Grover VII to rule over radioactive ash, and I assure you, the rest of the world does not--" Static. Flash! The famed changeling pop star twirled and danced with the microphone. She sang with passion, almost screaming out the grief in her soul into the mic. "99 Luftballons, Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont! Hielt man für Ufos aus dem All, darum schickte ein General! 'Ne Fli--" Static. Yángguāng Xià. Princess Karuk II shook her hand with Starry Eyes, and then the camera cut to a Kirin journalist. "This event is not unprecedented. With concerns that the Storm Kingdom - under the leadership of the Hailstorm dynasty - may seek to militarize and attempt expansion, security concerns across all Zebrican nations have been great. The kingdom of Senturiya is the third member of the ZDI - the Zebrican Defense Initiative, which is a limited defense pact that will call for a mutual alliance in the case that any country on Zebrica will be invaded by the Storm Kingdom. With its members now being its founder North Zebrica, followed by the Kingdom of Concord, and now Senturiya, all eyes are on Saddle Arabia, with which the ZDI will have ample oil reserves needed to--" Static. Muse TV. The member of a famed thestral colt band sang into the microphone, the live concert in Fillydelphia so intense that fangirls were taken out on stretchers. "Every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray~...I'm waiting for that final moment, you say the words that I can't say~...--" Static. Oko Rečnihzemalja. The journalist wearing the bulletproof vest took cover behind the half-destroyed brick wall. "The Siege of Jezeragrad has come to an intense head, as a massive assault has started. We are here in the suburban area, relatively safe, but you can see here over the horizon - the intense damage the city has taken from shelling by the BAF! Bakaran Leader Harsh Scow has not appeared at the schedule peace talks, and--" Static. Network of Cartoons. The colt in the bunny hat fist-bumped his orange diamond dog companion. "Adventure ti--!" Static. North Zebrica Truth. The Crystal Pony, his identity censored by a shadow, sighed as he spoke to the hippogriff journalist. "That wasn't supposed to be the Crystal Empire's fate, wasn't supposed to be Equestria's fate. We lost two princesses on the same day. Princess - or now I suppose Chancellor Luna, needs to understand that after she killed Princess Celestia and our Princess Cadence, she's killed two-thirds of Equestria. Those who loved, trusted, and were guided by them...You think they can quietly obey "ex"-Nightmare Moon? No. No, it's madness, and she should be hu--" Static. Her reflection. She sighed softly. Having access to any channel around the globe was nice, but when you were the talking point every now and again, it wasn't as nice at all. Perhaps the crystal pony had a point, she thought. She supposed soon she'd have an answer, or the chance of finding one. She knew that the colt she'd been recommended to the task was up for it, even if she knew his family was once made of staunch loyalists. She needed to prepare herself now - with what to do with the information she'd receive by the end of the investigation.
Chapter One - The Inspector Clocks In"Putain..." The grey-blue-feathered griffoness tapped the wheel of her sedan. Not the fanciest car, but serviceable. Not that the sports car in-front of her fared any better, not when they needed to slowly drive through the traffic, which in turn was caused by many roads being blocked. It's not every day their old lady - the Queen - appeared live. She listened to the radio. "Massive crowds have gathered to hear Queen Vivienne's Discret's speech this afternoon, commemorating the crown's victory over the third revolution. Today also marks the beginning of the three-day holiday, the Tripaixjours." "Three-day holiday, yeah." She murmured. "...Because hooligans, mobsters, and serial killers take days off." She grunted, still bitter that this traffic made her late to get her coffee. Now, with no other choice, she had to go straight to work. When she arrived at the precinct, there was a generally relaxed attitude. Even the front-desk worker, a young gold-feathered griffoness who constantly tried to flirt with anything that breathed and walked, didn't stand up to greet anyone - except the older griffoness. "Inspector Vieillefeu, good morning!" She smiled. "Heavy traffic?" "Mmm." The inspector nodded. "Slow day, Monique?" "Not many calls as it seems." Monique giggled. "Seems even criminals wanna take a day off!" And yet, inspector Viellefeu scoffed. "Or everyone's so infatuated and distracted by Queen Discret that they wouldn't care that their car is being jacked right next to them." "P-Possibly true." The flirty girl said. This older lady was her weakness, since she never budged. Just how she liked it. "Oh, the chief wanted to see you!" Merely nodding, the inspector walked down the hall. Curiously, she looked at a blue stallion who sat in the waiting area. She didn't like this. She went to her locker, dropping off some things, changing into her uniform, and neatly packing her Manheron revolver into her holster, neatly underneath her jacket. With her badge tucked not too far away, she stepped back out into the precinct, and right into the chief's office. He sat behind the desk, smiling weakly at her arrival. "Cécile. Traffic? I feel blessed that I decided to sleep it out in my office." "That leather couch can't be good for your spine." She said, taking a seat without having been told to - they've known each other that long to be comfortable with it. "Eh, I'll live. So listen, I got a job for you, I'll need to take you off the current case for a bit." "No complaints." She shrugged. "Serial graffiti's not a big issue. What's it this time?" The older griffon leaned in. "Here's what's happening...The Lunar Empi-, argh, Republic has requested our assistance in a case. They didn't share too much information, but they're looking for someone who fled Equus near the end of their civil war. Trail led them here, of all places. They sent someone of theirs here to help us." Cécile was scrunching her beak with distaste. She didn't like this. "Aquileia is helping chase down refugees and Celestial loyalists?" The chief lit a cigarette. This wasn't easy for him either. "I got a personally written letter from the ministries of internal and external affairs. They're okay with this. You'll be working with Cold Case Investigator Dusk Wish, you probably saw him in the waiting room. He's still a colt and I doubt his mother's milk dried off his lips but he's got an impressive record from what I've found out." However, this assurance didn't strike a chord with the griffoness. "Chief..." She scowled. "My job is to work towards a future where Aquileia's scum is behind bars, not...meander with some pony from across the ocean just because he wants to sift through the ashes and bones of whatever happened decades ago." "Put up with it." The chief murmured. He took a drag of his cigarette. "Cécile, I don't know if you're much into politics, but let's be cordial and keep it all smiles in every way we can to the military powerhouse that's across the ocean? Let's not give Princess Luna a reason to return to being Nightmare Moon, oui?" She muttered and left the room. When she stepped out of the office, she closed her eyes. This was not her favorite kind of work by any means. The sound of approaching hoofsteps beside her was becoming louder. "Putain." She quietly whispered. She turned around to see the stallion, whom she wanted to call a colt so much. Not a wrinkle in sight, no tiredness in his eyes. Unicorn, blue-coated...even golden-eyed, almost like herself. "Good morning, inspector." He grinned, extending a hoof. Cécile, even if disgruntled and displeased, still had her manners. Her talon extended and wrapped around the pony's limb. "Oui. Mornin'." The avian responded, and so the pony took the initiative in the conversation. "My name is Detective Dusk Wish, Fillydelphia's third precinct, Cold Case Investigations department." The young stallion said. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Inspector Vieillefeu. I'm looking forward to working with you!" "Mmm. Cécile works better...Scratch that, just Inspector." She muttered. "...Nice to meet you, too." She...hated - if that was the right word - how much he was smiling. It was jealousy. Jealousy - whether he was really so happy to be smiling after traveling across the ocean, or whether he had access to some kind of drug that kept him smiling. She almost recoiled when something flew around from behind him, and then levitated in-front of her. His horn was glowing. It was a cup of coffee, steaming and hot. And again, he was smiling, almost like a damn school filly. "I hope you don't take this as a sign of me trying to suck up to you, but I just wanted to...y'know, give our work together a nice start! It is morning, after all. I-I'm uh, I'm not really a morning person either, eheh..." 'Either'...She knew for sure he noticed the obnoxiously dark bags under her eyes. Still, she was not rude. She took the coffee, and even went as far as to sip it. As per custom, compliments came only after tasting. The aroma...The taste...Not the typical, nearly chemical-riddled "juice" that was made in those modern coffee shops. Damn capitalists from Las Pegasus, ruining perfectly decent Wingbardian products. Modernization was nice, and she was a bird of the tomorrow - but the reducing quality of food and drink over the last decades bothered her. This tasted like something she'd get when she was a student, or when she was still an officer in the military, or when she'd wait for her daughter to come back from school... Not something she'd mention to the colt either way, not when the last thing she wanted to do in the morning is open up. Still, the griffonness already betrayed her liking for the drink. But something was off. "...This isn't ordinary stuff. Even I have no idea where they still brew like this. They certainly keep this away from tourists. Where'd you get this?" Dusk grinned. His time to shine, as indicated by his big smile and the hoof he'd placed to his heart. "Why, Inspector - the historical rue de la boulangerie!" "...The what?" Dusk was taken by surprise, stammering. How could this proud Aquileian not know the simple history of the capital? "W-Well, you know! The street where several bakeries started to open up in the same space around the 970s, and then began to fiercely compete with one another! They had to make such impressive creations, trying to outdo one another at any cost. One restaurant used red sweet beans for the pastries like in Kiria, another pioneered salted caramel eclairs...One was known for making cakes perfectly sculpted like the faces of real griffons. It spawned many traditions and family recipes for these bakeries, including coffee-making techniques! The coffee I got here is made quite traditionally, all fresh. More expensive too, but it's worth it!" "...Right." Cécile murmured. "Okay, listen. Let's get to work now on whatever it is you're after. Briefing room?" The stallion shook his head. "It's all rather straightforward, I'll just give you the rundown." He said, checking his leather briefcase. He produced a handwritten list, which bothered her. Why not just use a phone? In-fact, while he went through the painstaking and old-fashioned procedure, she noted his outfit, sipping her coffee as she scanned him head to hooftip. Did he just grab something of his father's and put it on? She thought she looked old-fashioned with her traditional brown uniform jacket... "Here we go." He slid her a sheet of paper. It seemed to be a collection of excerpts collaged and printed on a paper. "I'm looking for someone who disappeared around 1010, s-so you can imagine it was a uh...frantic time." "...Was it?" She muttered. "...That...Was when the Lunar Empire started Operation Wedge." He said. This lady. Was she not old enough to have seen the events unfold herself, even as a kid? "Massive incursion into the territories of North Celestial Equestria and Southern Crystal Empire. Basically the turnaround event for the war. It was perhaps the only reason Eque--...The Lunar Empire stood a chance against the Changeling invasion. Any longer and, y'know...We ponies would all be sitting at home, being government issues spouses, and--" "...You do talk a fair bit." She couldn't help but unleash the bombshell. It made him quiet, slightly frowning. "A-Ah. Sorry, Inspector. A-Anyhow, we...Uhm...We tracked the disappearance victim to Aquileia after discovering that in 1010, the missing person boarded a ship called the Augustine. After an extensive search they discovered that it made a stop here in Aquileia, before being sunk by Kirin terrorists..." Cécile sighed. "So your victim either got off here or is now floating around in the water. Is this not a waste of government time and resources? Maybe even...talent?" "That's just the thing about cold cases." He levitated the paper away from her once she was satisfied. "We never know, but...won't know till we try, right?" "...And just who is this missing person?" She raised a brow. "I'm telling you now, as a professional or otherwise, unless you're searching for a war criminal, I won't take kindly to them being executed or imprisoned." "I was worried about the same thing too..." Dusk said. That phrase certainly piqued Cécile's interest. "But, the thing is, even though I'm not sure who it is, I was explained they're not in any way a threat or enemy of the Lunar Republic!" Cécile smirked. A tired smirk that said 'Get out of here'. "So we have no idea who we're looking for? Your handler doesn't know or doesn't say?" "Dunno..." Dusk shrugged. "But I got a few leads about them. We'll go to the docks, and maybe find someone who has any fitting profiles or ideas where ponies could have went after disembarking the Augustine." "..." Cécile smirked wider, but this time it was because she knew her time with this chump wouldn't be long. "Okay then, please, let's go and get this out of the way." She said. To herself however, she thought... 'This will be a dead end on the first interview.'
Chapter Two - Hay in a NeedlestackIt was a slow drive, and it was made worse by the stallion riding shotgun who was essentially like a dog poking his head out of the car window. He constantly took pictures, which wouldn't have bothered her...If he hadn't decided to do so on a damn instant camera. "...Don't you want to use your phone and get better quality pictures?" She muttered. "No." Dusk smiled. The drive was made more awkward by her next question. "Detective, why does your precinct need a cold case department?" "...Well, why not?" "I don't get the point of it." Cécile said. "I'd rather focus on preventing crime and stopping people robbing banks now, not criminals robbing banks fifty years ago." "Cold case investigation is actually quite serious." Dusk said, defensive. "We utilize special techniques designed to bring justice over years, and also help bring closure to loved ones of long-deceased victims!" "Fine, let's make a bet on whether or not your case hits a dead end. I think it will, you think it won't. Winner gets to make the other do whatever they want. Deal?" "You got a deal, Inspector!" As soon as they arrived, they stepped out of the car, now overlooking the large docks before them. What to do, where to go...? "Well, Detective?" Cécile raised a brow. "Where to now?" "To be honest I...I don't know." Dusk said, scratching his head. "I was actually hoping you'd help me out! I mean, that's why you're my partner, right? I just need someone who knows what's going on around here, and what did in the past." "I'm your partner for now." She sighed. "Fine, I have an idea. Just let me do the talking." She said. She led the stallion through the dock, and he immediately noticed a curious thing. It seemed that most of the workers were not Aquileians, but a mix of Wingbardians, River ponies, and Kirin. He didn't need to hear them speak - he paid attention to body language, clothing style, and mannerisms. Not to mention, the Kirin he saw were, well, Kirin. "This isn't the most...government-run dock, is it?" He proposed. "...Kind of." She said. "Here's the bird." Cécile whistled to a cap-wearing, white-feathered griffon who was leaning against a shipping container, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette. "Hey! Mateo!" *** The bird happily described the nature of his operations, waving his cigarette around without a care that he might burn the police officers. "We bring folk from all corners of the planet, but yeah - Aquileia's the final stop." Mateo laughed. "Though to tell you the truth, I feel offended. All these illegals and by extension tourists wanna come into Aquileia, and yet none of these schmucks even bother coming to Wingbardy. Makes that little - yet present part of my inner patriot a lil' upset. Nobody wants real wine or nice beaches or a tour around nice old Karthin. All they care about in Aquila are the romantic candelit nights, and wine bottles, and the griffon girls who don't shave down there that twist your you-know into a balloon poodle and--" The griffoness grunted. "Tsk! S'il te plait, please don't embarrass yourself - nor myself around my...partner. I'd prefer the questions answered directly rather than have you shit an essay out of your beak. Capische?" "Aight fine." Mateo rolled his eyes. "And..." Dusk tilted his head. "You and the police...I mean, are you both cool with what's happening?" "Uhuh." He proudly grinned. "We get along with Ms. Cécile over here, makes it easier for the police to be cordial with folks like us. After all, if there's illegals coming into your country, you'd probably want to know who and how much. And besides, if all the illegal Wingbardians disappear, who's gonna whip you up some fresh bucatini?" "I'm more of a fettuccine kinda stallion." Dusk laughed heartily. "No shit? You got taste. Come 'round the place with the Wingbardian awning on the corner of Silvestine Street. Best Alfredo I've tried...Aaaanyways, I see Cécile's boutta kick our asses for talkin' food, so let's get back on the subject." The stallion nodded, producing a small notebook and pencil. "Right, may I ask where your ships come from? Have you had any ships from Equus?" The griffon nodded. "Yeah, all the time. Aight well, not so much since your moon lady took over and things got more strict on your end, though they show up now and again." "...And, how long has your operation been up?" "Hah!" Mateo grinned wide. "Longer than you, me, or even this hag--, er, old la--, uh...madame have been swimming in our dad's balls. We're looking at what, seventy-ish years or so?" "That fits!" Dusk smiled wide, eyes lighting up. "Okay, so look, I'm looking for a ship that popped up here around Summer 1010. It was called the Augustine? Should have been transporting refugees from the civil war in Equus?" "...Bit of a tall order for me to get you that kinda info..." He started to scratch his head feathers. "But uh, damn...Okay, I gotcha. Gimme a sec." He turned around to yell into the direction of the dock workers, before letting a bellowing shout. "VITOOOOOOOOOOOO! Hey! Pronto over here for a sec, will ya?" The smuggler beckoned over, then turned to the two. "Guy worked here longer than most other workers here been on this planet. He's clean, so don't go pinnin' anything on him. Probably the only legit worker here on the account nobody even tells the old guy not everyone on these ship's got passports and not every crate's on manifests." Approaching them was a grizzled worker, older than Cécile by perhaps fifteen, if not twenty years. The old griffon sighed and shrugged his shoulders at his young coworker. "You truly are a second generation immigrant." Vito shook his head. "Pronto over here for a sec? "Quickly" for a second?" "Look, we can discuss linguistics later - now I'd like ya to help us out over here. You like the law, right?" "Any law that's not Beakolini's. Good riddance." "Well that's good, you don't gotta hang these two upside down." Mateo said, nodding towards the two investigators. "We got a chance to help our fine boys and girls in blue to find a missin' person from a couple of years back." "Many years back." Dusk coughed. "Like, many many." Vito smiled at the young stallion. "Okay, well how many are we looking at?" "In 1010." He said. "There was a ship, the Augustine. We were looking for a passenger who left it, a mare who may have dyed her appearance. She was a unicorn, a little tall?" "Oh my, I couldn't hope to remember." Vito laughed softly. "1010? I was a pretty young bird back then!" "Well, sir...If I may..." Dusk reached for his bag. "I'd like to try something to help you remember." "I can't accept money other than my wages, it'd be a sin. Oh, if it's alcohol, no thank you, too." The old griffon smiled, waving a talon. "I'm not much of a drinker no more, ever since the doctor said the liver's gonna give with as much as a drop of the stuff. Mi scuza, I truly don't remember." "It's not exactly alcohol. Well, not for drinking." Dusk smiled. "I researched the connection between smell and memory. Like, using a perfume when you study for an exam, and then wearing it on the exam so it helps you remember. Maybe we can try it now? Y-You see, the uh...The pony we're looking for, always used to wear this perfume. Can't miss it." In Dusk's hoof was a very ornate, gorgeous pink bottle, with a pink-diamond encrusted pump. It read - L'odeur qui vous rappelle votre premier amour. "Detective..." The griffoness shook her head disapprovingly. "Please be more mature and less...fairy-tale-ish. Even if this works, why would your target not remove it? Smelling perfume after decades - this is really what you do?" "Have more faith." Dusk smiled. "My target couldn't have thought of everything. She could have forgotten to remove it or didn't think of doing so, don't forget this was her favorite perfume. If she didn't smell like it, her things might have. Mr. Vito, may I?" "Curious idea, but let's give it a shot." The old griffon nodded. Dusk took the perfume bottle as Vito extended his talon, and sprayed a little on it. Vito brought the talon to his beak, and sniffed it. "...Whoa." Vito kept sniffing his own talon, on repeat. He began to look, almost staring right through his own limb. "It's...It's..." Dusk hated that his nervousness was betrayed by his body language. Vivienne smirked, feeling her victory looking. "D-Do you remember anything?" "...Oh sweet Beatrice..." He closed his eyes. "It smells almost just like her. Not the scent itself - but this sensation..." Dusk, Mateo, and Cécile exchanged a short look, but did not intervene. Vito continued. "It's that smell...We're standing together, only us in the field. The sky - the clouds straight out of a painting. That soft breeze, that sun...Those gorgeous flowers and those lush trees...None of that beauty compared to her. Not a candle held to the beauty of her soul. She holds my talon, I hold hers. I beg whatever god is real - let me stay here for the rest of time, for life will never be better than this...than that moment." He looked quietly forward, and softly sighed. "...Mr. Vito?" Dusk quietly whispered. "...Yes." He coughed. "This scent is familiar. I...I was helping some of the refugees carry their luggage. This scent...I do remember a mare. This perfume, it really was the same one, I am certain. I could not ignore nor forget it..." "And do you remember where she might have gone?" Vito nodded. "I offered to help her. I carried her luggage to a taxi, she asked me if I knew what part of the city was safest, most monitored and best to raise children." "What'd you go with?" Cécile raised a brow. "I suggested the Palais street, basically in the backyard of Queen Vivienne...and that's where she asked the taxi driver to take her." He said. "Oh! But also, she was joined by a stallion. Very quiet, kept his distance - cradled something close to his chest. I almost forgot about him, he really tried to make himself less known." "Palais street..." Dusk turned to his partner. "But is that really a residential area? Apart from government buildings, police stations, museums..." "There's one place actually." Cécile said, almost intrigued with the case now that it seemed to have been coming together, forgetting that's the opposite of what she wanted. "There are apartments commonly enjoyed by griffon nobility and the rich, but there's ponies who live there now and again." The stallion turned to the old griffon, thankfully looking at him. "I think I have our lead, then. Mr. Vito...Thank you. And you too, Mr. Mateo..." Dusk said, then looked at Vito. "Sir, maybe...I can give you the perfume? If it helps you remember, it..." "...No." Vito smiled. "The past moments - you should cherish them, but never be obsessed with them." He said. "If I cradled a perfume bottle as I fell asleep, I'd be a sad excuse of an old man, eh?" Dusk sighed. Those words hit him, but not in the way he'd liked. "R-Right. Well, have a good day." Mateo smirked, wrapping one talon around Vito, waving the other. "Come 'round friend! We'll convince ya to take up a case in Karthin next time, get you to have real lunch with us. Not snails or frog legs, right Inspector?" Cécile scoffed at him. "Snails and frog legs? Our ancestors ate worms in the soil. Aquileian cuisine fits avian biology more than those grease mountains you call food." She said, waved a talon, then using it to beckon Dusk. "Adieu Mateo. Let's go, Detective." They sat in the car. Dusk was smiling, ear to ear. When Cécile sat and put on her seatbelt, she caught his gaze and groaned, closing her eyes with annoyance. "Fine. You win your bet. What do you want? No nude pictures or sexual favors, no buying dinners." Now, Dusk felt like a child. "...Could you show me your gun?" "...Well, if that's what you want." Cécile said, surprised but glad it wasn't so complicated. She handed over her revolver, and Dusk eagerly took it, studying it like a child inspecting a toy. "Oh, it's..." He frowned. Disappointed. "What?" Despite the mundane action, Cécile suddenly felt offended. He didn't like it - much too sleek, geometrical. Modern. "...It's a '49?" "Well yes?" She wasn't sure what he was getting at. "A nice gun, newest model." "...Okay. Well, thanks..." He said, levitating the gun over to her. However, until she understood what was wrong, she wouldn't take it. "No, wait. Tell me, really, what don't you like about it?" "I was just hoping for a '18..." "...A Manheron '18?" Cécile scoffed. "What is this, the 20's? You want the suspects to make elderly jokes at me while--" They were interrupted by static. Her eyes darted to the radio on her dashboard. She pressed the button, and the voice came through. "<>"
Chapter Three - What Was Yesterday?In Aquila was a statue - of three griffons proudly standing. One griffon was wearing older 10th century equipment, his sabre mid-swing. The first revolution, dismantled by the royalist counter revolution. The second griffon was holding an old bolt-action rifle to the air. The second revolution, where the Discret dynasty held fast against the rebels. The third griffon held a battle rifle, and looked proudly at the horizon. The third revolution, where the kingdom stood strong against one final attempt to turn Aquileia into a socialist republic, even when the Herzland attempted to use the chaos to their advantage. And now in-front of the memorial was a fourth griffon, pointing a revolver to a child's head. The little griffon shivered, but did not dare move her body. The cold that pressed against the back of her head made her little paws curl as her entire body shook. She sniffled. She couldn't say anything. She could only hope that her lack of action would be enough to keep her safe. The gunman that held her hostage was old - an old griffon wearing the jacket of his old uniform, the patch worn and weathered, but displaying its insignia, a royal fleur with two bayonets diagonally crossing through it. While the girl was quiet, the griffon frantically shouted names. "CORPORAL SEBASTIEN BESSON! SERGEANT ADRIAN LEVETT! PRIVATE FIRST CLASS HENRY LAJOIE!" He shouted, and kept listing many, many more. Cécile's car pulled up, making sure to back up around the corner. She and Dusk stepped out, looking over the scene. Immediately, an older griffon woman sprinted right at them. "That's my girl! Officer, please!" The mother screamed, collapsing down to Cécile's talons. "Please! Please save her! She's all I have, officer! Officer, p--" "Ma'am, calm down." Cécile muttered. "What happened here?" "He just..." She sniffled. "He grabbed my poor Anabelle, tore her from my talons! That monster...!" "Backup will be here soon, ma'am." Cécile said, gently helping the mare stand up. Ushering her to the side, she joined Dusk, who came closer to the crowd to take a further look. It was apparent that this situation would be far from easy to defuse, and Cécile had to establish order. "This is the police!" She shouted, making the crowd disperse as she showed her badge, while one talon held her holster. "Let the girl go and lay your gun down!" He ignored her, still shouting out the many names that he seemed to have in no short supply. Dusk frowned. He understood why this was happening. He, unexpectedly, took his own gun out of his holster and handed it to Cécile, who was too stunned to realize the moment Dusk got on his legs and raised his hooves up, taking steps towards the gunman. "Kid, what are you--!" Cécile hissed, trying to reach a talon out, but not wanting to agitate the gunman, especially not when she had to keep her gun trained at him. "Dusk-...Shit, putain! The gunman was tense at the sight of the approaching stallion, shouting at him. "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer or else I will--" "26th Infantry Division!?" Dusk shouted to be heard. "...What!?" "You're from the 26th Infantry Division, aren't you!?" Dusk shouted from the distance. "I recognize the insignia!" "...Yes. Yes, I am!" The griffon nervously said. Dusk noticed that this had a double effect. He looked at Cécile and the other griffons with spite - furious that it took for a foreigner to arrive and identify this. Yet, when he looked at Dusk, his eyes softened, and so did the grip on the revolver. "The names...!" Dusk cried out. "Are they your battalion mates!?" The same thing repeated. The veteran was so furious that nobody even bothered to ask this, and yet this foreigner...He knew, he asked, he was curious. He was listening. "N-No!" The old griffon said, affirming the barrel against the girl's head. "They are, and were soldiers all across the Aquileian military! The names I list - were the ones who were abandoned by this treacherous country! They...They fought fiercely, with courage!" Dusk played his cards carefully, but his knowledge was helpful enough. "The 26th saw heavy combat during the third revolution, right!? You refer to that!?" "Yes, young man...!" The griffon cried out. "And I will not stop until every damn camera and microphone is here. I want Queen Vivienne to personally come here! Do you know how many of my friends were left to fend for themselves? When the government refused to help them!? How many became homeless!? How many were robbed of basic help, left to fend for themselves and treated like we did nothing!?" "You saved Aquileia's future!" Dusk shouted. It didn't matter of course, whether communism could have helped the country, but politics had no place when a child was under a gun's barrel. "What the government has done is wrong, and I know that your comrades need more than just memories and prayers! But this will not help! The 26th are heroes!" "What good are heroes when they're treated like dirt!?" He shouted. "This is what I must do - so that this ungrateful country, this ungrateful queen, understand that we have given everything we had, and sacrificed our souls to--" "So you will traumatize the poor girl for the rest of her life!?" Cécile suddenly shouted from behind. "Damn it, man. Think! Do you really want the world to vilify you!? You fought to protect the children of Aquileia, have you not!? You represent your comrades - those who live now and those who fell!" The old bird gasped. Slowly, his eyes gaze down upon the terrified, wet eyes of the girl who looked up at him. She had been doing so for the last minutes, hoping that if the words were not working, perhaps the sight would. The griffon then saw movement before him and gasped, pointing his pistol right at Dusk. He did not flinch. "You're a hero, sir." He said. "You gave everything for your country, and even more. Please, let the girl go. You've fought so hard for the future where children can safely thrive in a better Aquileia. Even if the world doesn't understand or recognize it, it's a monumental achievement. A colossal one..." With those words, the veteran's grip on the girl loosened, and she was able to break out of his hold.. The girl ran as fast as her paws and talons could take her, jumping right into the talons of her mother, who collapsed and sobbed, holding onto her and crying into her neck. Cécile immediately positioned herself between them and the armed veteran, acting as a potential shield. "...It's all such a shame." The old man wiped his tears. "I can't believe I could...Do something like this..." "...It's a shame that the world is like this, sir." Dusk softly, but firmly said. "But what we must do does not always regard what people will think of us." "...Hmph." The old bird nodded, eyes trained at the stallion. Cautiously, carefully, Dusk stepped forward. He now faced the griffon, face-to-face, and no longer needed to shout. Dusk could not salute, he was not a soldier, and yet, he could speak. "...Thank you for your serv--..." The stallion thought again about the words, briefly looking at all the decorations upon the griffon's uniform, his accolades and his patch, then the scars upon his beak and the arthritis in his talons. Most importantly, he saw the name on the tag. Dusk's head tilted back up to the equal height. Then, he smiled. "...Thank you for everything, Lieutenant Badeux." "...So many years...So many years I wanted to hear...t...these words..." The Lieutenant did not wipe the tears off his eyes. His beak was proud, tilted ever slightly upwards. Though he did not intend to smile, that's just what he did. He extended his talon to shake it, and Dusk reciprocated. The two stood, hoof and talon locked. "Make the future good, friend. You are it, after all." Dusk was still smiling when the blood and pieces of brain splattered against his face. The stallion stood - a mixture of a delayed reaction and soon, disbelief. He stood there with the talon still held, though it only served to bring the limp body into him. He did not budge when the dead form of late Lieutenant Badeaux embraced him, leaning against him like a passed out drunk against the wall. He did not understand just at what moment the veteran pointed the pistol at himself. Either he was too fast or kept it hidden, Dusk couldn't register that fact. Dusk shook, his eyes widening and his blood freezing, his whole body shaking as he slowly starting to faint - his mind trying to confirm this as a bad dream, yet not being able to. The last thing Dusk remembered before this all became a bad memory he'd forever try to put away was Cécile running over to him. *** She invited him to her house. Allowed him to use her shower, and now, as he dried himself of the viscera, he sat in her kitchen. She poured him a cup. Not wine, that was for good memories. Not bourbon - for celebrations. Just plain whiskey, something to help ease the day. "...He had a good reason to shoot himself." She suddenly said. He shivered, still wet and scared. "...W-...H-How can you say something like--" "Because everything you told him, the recognition you've given him and the respect you've shown - something that he needed all these years...He finally got it. He wanted to make it his final snapshot, the last things he wanted to feel before death. Considering his age, I'd even think it was a rational choice..." Dusk had nothing to say. Cécile sighed, hating herself for making the young one feel so tense. She had to fix it. "I will be honest..." Cécile sat opposite of him, pouring the alcohol into his cup. "I was bullshitting when I tried to look all stoic back then." She said. "Not even the years of experience I have working with homicide and crimes against griffonkind can help steel me against it all. Seeing a corpse, fine. Shooting an armed suspect, no issue. But the one thing I could never imagine doing...Is touching a dead body immediately after death." He sipped the drink. "So...you'd be fine touching it if it's long-since cold?" "Yes." She flatly said. "Death doesn't bother me once it's a done deal. But touching a corpse that's cooling down and becoming stiff? No. It terrifies me. What terrifies me more is to think, maybe they're still clinging onto their consciousness?" "But..." Dusk sighed. "Does what happened today not bother you at all...?" "No. Don't get me wrong, I do not disrespect him - but I also think those stuck in the past should learn how to move forward. Otherwise, they subject themselves to a toxic loop of nostalgia, a vestigial husk that hates the world and the future because they cannot learn how to thrive in it, because they cannot accept that everyone has "their moment", yet, the moment passes. Death is inevitable. Change is inevitable. Happy moments, sorrow, love and hate, ecstasy and depression - this is all on the agenda of life. To be in denial that your worst day has yet to come, or to refute that the best days of your life are over, what use is that? Just live, putain...It's more than some can do." She took a big sip, finishing it. "What worries me is not the dead man. Did you not think of the little griffonette?" "I..." "The old bird shot himself. So that happened. Now what about the little girl? Do you not worry that this event will shape her future life? Post traumatic stress disorder?" "I do, but..." Dusk sighed. "The future, it's...I-I guess it's...Look, I'd rather not talk about it. I will just say that, the past is important too. It's...It's what brought us here, after all." "The past..." Cécile shook her head. "Detective, the past can't matter when the future is all you have now." "...But, you have so many pictures here. Are they not all of memories that--" "Don't--" She was about to hiss at him, briefly raising her voice. Yet, what use was that? She calmed down, softly sighed. "...Nadine. My daughter." "...Oh." He picked up easily on her tone. "I'm sorry, I--" "It was in 1030. Twenty years ago." She said. "The third and, I hope, final revolution. When the Herzland attempted to send "peacekeepers" to stabilize Aquileia, an excuse to annex eastern territories. A war on two fronts - with them, and with ourselves. Nadine, she...She was taken from me during a terrorist attack. I do not wish to say more." "But Nadine, she..." This wasn't easy for Dusk. "She lives on in your past, r-right? As long as you remember her, she'll always be by your--" "Detective, I...I don't..." Cécile softly shook, standing up from the table. "...I don't remember where she was buried. All I...All I remember was the setting sun...There was a field of flowers before two mountains...There was a valley, there in the distance. It's...It's not relevant. I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about this." "Cécile..." Dusk felt his throat dry. "I'm sorry, I--" She turned around. "Good night Detective. I've prepared my guest room for you." Left alone in the kitchen, Dusk quietly sat. Today was a difficult day, and he could not comprehend half of what happened. Yet, he eyed her wallet that she'd left on the table...And the documents within it. He would need them for this case.
Chapter Four - What's Tomorrow?Dusk spent some days carefully studying residential records. The trick was not looking in what was written, but seeing what wasn't. Empty apartments that matched the date of his target's arrival. Of course, an empty apartment wouldn't help, not after so many years. It was, however, the luckiest gold mine. He discovered the elderly griffoness that lived next door to the apartment he'd suspected. And right on cue, she's lived there for over fifty years. Now, he and Cécile sat with the granny as she poured them tea. As the liquid hit his lips, Dusk smiled with delight. "This is wonderful, ma'am. What is it?" "Usual store-bought tea." She grinned like an old fox. "My secret? A lil' bourbon. It's a good pick me up. Helped me live this long too, does wonders for the heart." "...So for the first time in my life, I'm drinking on the job." Cécile hummed, though took another sip regardless. "Back to the topic, ma'am. You said that your neighbor was a mare, with a stallion and a child? But...you said one day they disappeared?" "Yes." She sighed. "A sweet mare, I was able to talk with her now and again. She and her partner never left that little girl's side, even when I offered them that my daughter could babysit that adorable girl." "Did you...hear or see anything on the day of the disappearance?" The old lady blushed, hiding her face slightly. "Oh, dear...I confess. On the day the couple disappeared, I was able to enter their apartment. T-Through the ventilation shaft, you see, I was quite a nimble bird back then. I erm...found this, on the table. Here..." In her talon was an unsealed envelope, yet it seemed nobody had the time to seal it. It appeared rushed...Yet, the smell, unmistakable. The perfume he had this whole time. Dusk brought it to his nostrils, and began to read it. Dear Princess... Every night I think of you. Even as I cuddle my husband, and my daughter, I can't stop thinking of you. The burden I've put on you, even if you proposed it, I cannot imagine that peace and safety is worth it all. I cannot think anymore, on what I should do or how I should make up for it. I feel like a monster. Even if we are the same, I wonder why did I run? If Nightmare Moon crucified me before the Crystal Heart, would it matter? I guess I should dispel these thoughts. I will never forget you. Please be safe. You're forever in my - our hearts. We must change our location. This could be my final letter, though I think the last one should have been it. Know that I am well and safe, and so are they. We live on, and so will our ponies. I cannot thank you enough for the burden you've taken upon you. You are the reason we sparkle, and we will do - forevermore. - A Heart that Forever Cherishes You "...Send to, Fylamora Meadows, plot four." Cécile studied the envelope while Dusk studied the letter. "That's farmland. We should go there, now." Her eyes trailed to Dusk. She noticed he was shaking a little, as if he saw a ghost. But why? "L-Let's..." Dusk coughed. "T-Thank you for your time, ma'am..." *** There she was. Peaceful. Untouched, rotting, but her eyes were closed and she laid so still. Like a tale. "I can't believe it..." Dusk felt his hooves become light, the thoughts swimming in his head. How could this happen? What would happen next? "Sweet Boreas..." Cécile rubbed her eyes. "Is that really...?" There could be no appropriate reaction. Now when, in the bed before you, was the decomposing, and old corpse of a Princess. The corpse of Princess Cadence. Yet, the more Cécile gazed to confirm the fact, something did not appear...usual. After all, what kind of alicorn dies from old age? "...Hang on." Bravely, having seen myriads of corpses in her days in all forms and ages, Cécile stepped forward to the body. Yet, it only took her to gently rub the mane. The chemical smell and the lack of wounds... "...Dusk, this isn't her." "That...T-that's not Princess Cadence?" "Well, the scene looks peaceful enough. No signs of struggle. I assume she merely fell asleep and never woke up. Whoever this is, died of natural causes. I mean, she's an alicorn. When was the last time an alicorn died of old age, or a heart attack?" "...Judging by the dye, then..." Dusk found the bravery to come close to the body, looking at the body that had been decomposing for a long time now. "Was she...A double?" "A decoy, perhaps." Cecile nodded. "That means that I was tasked with searching for Princess Cadence." Dusk shook his head. "They must have known this but didn't tell me so that I wouldn't run my mouth or get someone's attention..." "I guess the case is closed. At-least, based on this lead." Cécile asked. "You're finished here?" "...I'm not sure." "Why?" "Cécile...When the Crystal Empire fell, Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon. A monster and tyrant. It's only through sheer fortune we have returned her to who she is now, but...You need to understand she was cruel. She killed Celestia, and killed many others. Princess Cadence was defiant, and there was a belief that she was killed too. Maybe Luna believes it - because when she re-appeared as her normal self, she had no memories of what happened. She woke up - to a burnt Equestria that was now renamed to the Lunar Empire." "...So?" "Cécile, what I am going to report to - inevitably - Luna, will have consequences for the future. If she goes public, if the news of her being alive comes out, then...What happens next?" "Well..." Cécile put a talon to her chin. "Reconciliation between the crystal ponies and Luna? Maybe nothing at all?" "Something bad will happen, I feel it..." Dusk muttered. "Cécile, Princess Luna was capable of lighting my country on fire. Millions died, more lost family and were dislocated. "...Why are you so terrified of it?" She asked. "I'd be excited. You're giving closure. To the crystal ponies, to--" "I'm terrified what might happen after the fact." Dusk interrupted. The fact he had suddenly become so assertive in conversations, it made Cécile briefly freeze. He continued. "We really decided that a sister-killing tyrant was a good choice for our country..." "...I hope your special services haven't wiretapped you." She tensely said. "Then let them hear." Dusk sternly said. "I think Equestria won't thrive under Luna. It won't be the same thing. Not anymore." He said. "Life was so much better then. Before the wars. When the sisters were together. I heard such great stories. Friendship and...Agh. My parents were veterans, fought for Celestia. Told me about Ponyville, when they met the legendary Twilight Sparkle, when they..." "You..." Cécile laughed, shaking her head. "Dusk, you're a curious stallion. You were born in the Lunar Empire, yet you speak like an old Celestial loyalist. I mean, you're here unearthing the biggest conspiracy of a whole race. What you can bring to the Crystal Ponies will give them hope. Hope, Dusk..." "...Or doom." "If I learned that somehow, my little Nadine was alive and still out there..." She smiled sadly. "I'd be the happiest woman on this planet, Detective. Can you imagine how a whole race of ponies would feel?" "..." He sighed. Cécile put a talon on his shoulder. "Don't fear what may happen, Detective. Fear what may not." They walked outside, looking at the fluffy clouds above. The field was so picturesque, the dandelions freely flying, the grass swaying like the surface of water... She offered him a cigarette. He didn't smoke, but this was a special occasion. "...So, you'd say this is the most difficult case of your life?" Cécile asked as the two stood on the porch. "Difficult in terms of implications? Yes. Difficult in terms of work? Actually...I'm working on it now."
Chapter Five - Look Up The Mountain, Then Look Down"Detective..." Cécile hissed under her breath, her vision dark as she rode shotgun. "I do not approve of you treating me like a kidnapping victim - or like a prisoner taken to a secret hideout." "Sorry, Inspector." Dusk chuckled. "Please trust me, okay? This is just a precaution. I'm going to show you something important. But I ask you to just bear with me, just a little bit?" "Ordinarily I'd say no to being blindfolded in a car, but you really are full of surprises, Dusk. Fine." She said, humored. Over the week, she'd become used to his silly antics. Though this one would probably take the cake. The car stopped. She felt the surface. Gravel, she was certain. They were not on a street. The car door opened on his side, and then on hers. With a gentle hoof, he guided her out. They would walk. She counted the steps, and felt the ground. So unkempt, so much wild grass and stones...The sound of birds...Howling wind...Nature? Then, they stopped. Dusk positioned himself before the blinded woman. "...Before I open your eyes, I'm going to have to ask you to do something." Dusk whispered. "...Please take a deep breath. Okay, Cécile?" Not taking anything too seriously at that moment, the griffoness softly scoffed. "Alright alright, listen, this is cute and all but I hate having my eyes closed." She said, starting to untie the tightly-tied blindfold. "Whatcha got for me? A table with a Charcuterie board and expensive wine? A car? The sunset? You shouldn't really excite an old lady like--" The cloth fell to the soil. The name on the tombstone Nadine Vieillefeu. 1022 - 1030. "..." It all flooded back to her. With disbelief, she placed a talon on the tombstone. Someone had been here, perhaps yesterday, and cleaned the tombstone, for otherwise the twenty years of neglect would have coated the stone in rust and moss. She almost believed it was a fake. Some consolation of sorts. Yet, it was undeniable. She looked at the horizon behind, and softly collapsed onto her knees, sitting upright and eye-level with the name of the tombstone. "...Dusk, how did you...?" "I am a cold case investigator, after all." Dusk softly spoke. "I've been looking into it in-between the breaks we had. Had to borrow some of your documents and cross-reference the facts. I understand why you couldn't find her all this time, you had absolutely nothing on paper connected to her, no death certificate or anything. Worse, I checked all archived newspapers from twenty years ago. No obituaries. Perhaps you asked them not to publish it, maybe this was too terrible to mention. Either way, this was one of the most difficult cases I've had." He said. "...But how did you find her?" "You won't believe me, but...I remembered your description. Setting sun, a field of flowers, two tall mountains and a distant valley. I looked for a west-facing pair of mountains, flower fields nearby, and cemeteries." "That doesn't...sound so unbelievable." She sniffled. "The unbelievable thing is this - I checked it on the internet." He chuckled. "Who knew there's satellites that just publish maps online?" "...Heh...Embracing the future after all. We might just get you to stop using those silly Ponaroid cameras..." The griffoness wiped her eyes. "Dusk, you..." "Take a moment, Inspector. I will be by the car." With that, he went back, disappearing behind the tall and foliage. Cécile looked at the tombstone, once at the ground, and back at the slate. She wrapped her talons around it, and whispered. "Mama's so sorry for not visiting you for so long...You...You would have grown into such a fine, young lady...I'm here now. I've never forgotten about you, my life's spark, even when I tried to convince myself I did...I'll always be here for you. Mama's here now, Nadine..." A dozen meters away, Dusk wished his ears weren't so good. He only sighed, looking at the setting sun, and the rising moon looming above. He imagined what it would have been like now, if things were different. He focused on the past so much. Certainly, it may have been sweeter. Yet, he always looked at the past as if it was a sweet cup of wine. Except, every cup runs dry. What would fill the cup next? A sweeter wine? Semi-dry? Bitter coffee? Or arsenic? He could keep the cup dry forever, trying to savor what little his taste-buds could remember. But to live the rest of your life with that dryness and emptiness - holding and longing onto nostalgia... Now, he helped a mother reunite with what she lost. He discovered the fate of a brave mare that sacrificed her life to protect her idol. He even got the chance to help a veteran feel a spark of fulfillment, one last time. What happens next? It could be ugly. It could be outright tragic. But if he never passed the threshold, if he never ventured into that unknown...Then he'd be there, decomposing, rotting away and turning into a skeleton, right at the door way. He hadn't realized - an hour passed. That was when Cécile approached him, eyes and sleeves wet...Yet, there she was. For the first time during their partnership, and for the first time in years...A genuine, warm smile on her beak. "...Det--...Dusk Wish...I will never be able to say this enough, no matter how much I mutter it at night, but..." Dusk smiled at her, and she at him. It may not have been a smile of triumph or joy or humor, but it was a strong feeling. A strong feeling of clarity, relief, and resolution. "...Thank you." She whispered. In the field, they shook their limbs. The young stallion, who learned how to look up the mountain, and the old griffon, who learned how to look down from it.
Epilogue - One Last Piece of EvidenceDusk murmured, his eyes barely holding up. How he hated morning flights. Who schedules them at six in the morning? Those poor pilots... Then, he smelled coffee. Real coffee. Cécile smirked like a fox, approaching him. "Not trying to suck up to you, but..." She taloned him a cup of coffee. He couldn't believe his eyes, as they hurt from the lack of sleep. Gratefully he took it, and sipped. "...You drove all the way to rue de la boulangerie to get me one?" Dusk weakly smiled. "I might make it a part of my routine." She smiled. "Who knew the old ways of making coffee are worth the drive? Even though, I feel like their grinders are old enough that I'll need to check for tetanus, heh..." "You have a sense of humour." Dusk brightened up as well. "If only we'd started out the case like this...Then again..." He sipped his coffee, looking at the Aquileian sky. "I'd like to work with you again in the future." "Oh? Well..." She blushed. "If we find out that Queen Chrysalis or the remains of some other important Equestrian person have appeared in Aquila, I'll be sure to recommend you first to help out." Quietly, they exchanged a soft smile. Cécile regretted how much she brushed him off, but who was she to anchor him when he had a world to see, and a future to experience? The announcer of the airport spoke. "Aquila-Fillydelphia, boarding in ten minutes!" "That's my cue I guess." Dusk finished his coffee. He was about to shake her talon, when he saw she held a brown parcel. "For you." Cécile said. "Some...evidence for the case." She blatantly lied, smirking. "Security shouldn't wonder why my "service" pistol is missing from my holster too fast, I hope." He looked at her, and then at the brown bag. He gently opened it a little, not to reveal it fully, but to peer inside. And so, his eyes lit up like a colt on Hearthswarming. He gleamed with mad love at the '18 Manheron revolver. "It's perfect..." He whispered. "How did you...?" "We officers must buy our own pistols, but as such we have access to more special ones." She chuckled. "Enjoy. It's even got a small bipod and scope, if you wish to use it like the Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie used to until they got those fancy Vedinian AW snipers." He was unable to contain his smile. For a moment, he spread his hooves wide - and immediately blushed, holding back. The sight made her smirk, and she brought it in herself, patting him on the back with her talon as she hugged him. How could she not, after what he did for her? She put her talons on his shoulders, and looked him in the eyes. "Stay safe, Detective." She said. "No matter what happens with this Princess Cadence case, you have a friend here. Remember that." Although a little stunned, Dusk found it in his resolve to return the warm smile. With the crowd gathering at the gate, he waved. "S-See you, Inspector." "Come here on a vacation, you hear!?" She laughed with a bellow as he ran off to not be late. As she watched the detective disappear into the crowd, she couldn't help but sigh. She was alone, as she was before. ...Or, was she? She pulled out her cellphone, and dialed a number she wouldn't otherwise, if not for work. "Monique? It's me, Cécile." She spoke, turning around to slowly walk to the airport exit. "...No, it's still my day off, I'm not working today. Nothing's come up. No-- merde, listen. I was wondering if you want to grab some lunch. Maybe with some other officers and the chief, but if you want to keep it tête-à-tête I don't mind. W-What!? N-No, Monique, I'm not hitting on you...! I-I'm old enough to be your mother! Right...How does Wingbardian sound like? I heard of a nice place from a Wingbardian dock worker. No, I didn't go on a date with Du-...You seriously need to get laid. Okay, I'll pick you up at..."
