Look Up The Mountain, Then Look Down

"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.'