Equestria Crimes: Fillydelphia

The alarm clock went off in Vinyl’s room. The noise buzzed loudly and bounced about the room. She reached over and hit the snooze button. Her eyes were barely open, yet she can smash the snooze button every morning. It pretty much became a daily routine. She managed to open her eyes a bit to see the time. “6:15am” it read. She really didn’t want to get up that morning, but she knew Chief Heybale would have her head if she was late again.

Vinyl picked herself up and she just sat there on her bed and rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up. She looked to her left, then to her right. She saw her blue curtains which were blocking out the outside world. The sound of rain could be heard hitting the windows. She slipped out of bed and staggered over to the window. With her magic, she pulled the curtains apart to see that the city was gray with fog and rain. The sun was barely getting through the thick layer of clouds, making the city dark.

“Another miserable day,” Vinyl mumbled, still half asleep.

She walked to her mirror. She looked at herself and saw that her mane was a mess. She picked up the hair brush that was sitting on the desk and started to brush her mane. The floating brush tamed her hair to one side and a little to the other. After she thought it was good enough, she walked out of her room and into the bathroom down the short hallway to take a shower. She fiddled with the nozzles on her bathtub to fit the water temperature most comfortable for her. This became a part of her daily routine as well.

Vinyl walked out of her bathroom ten minutes later feeling more clean, but still sleepy. She wished she was still on her vacation so she can just sleep through the morning.

Her calendar said the day was Monday, one of her least favorite days of the week, next to Sunday. She always hated Mondays. She had to start a new week of work and for some reason, it always rained.

The warm shower water dripped from her mane and tail which left a trail from the bathroom to her kitchen. She toke out some bread and stuck two pieces into the toaster. As she waited for the toast to be ready, she got out a cup from the cupboard and started too rummaged through her fridge to find the jug of orange juice. She toke it out and filled the cup only half way when she noticed she ran out. She just chucked it in the trash. The trash started to smell bad. Vinyl meant to take out the trash yesterday, but never got around to it, most likely from her laziness on weekends.

The toast popped out of the toaster and Vinyl toke them out and placed them on a plate, which she toke to the living room and placed onto the folding table she had in front of the couch. She placed the plate and the glass of juice onto the table and plopped herself down on the couch and flicked on the TV. The channel was set on the local news broadcast “Fillydelphia News.”

“Hello, this is ‘Fillydelphia News,’ I’m Reeda Porter,” the Unicorn mare on the TV started. “The Crystal Empire is close to finishing its rebuilding after the attack by their former leader, King Sombra one month ago.”

“Ugh! Cover something new, will yah!?” Vinyl shouted at her TV. She fell back in her spot and munched on some toast. She’s been getting real irritated with the news lately. All they cover is that Crystal Empire stuff. “Nopony cares anymore!” She noticed herself becoming more stressed lately as well. Of course you’d be stressed, too if you had to arrest your own father! But, then again, he left her and her mother before she was even born and he was Fillydelphia’s most wanted. And it was her job to take down dirty rats like him; even if it was her own father.

Vinyl flicked to the weather channel.

“And it appears that it’s going to rain all week, so try to stay dry, Fillydelphia,” the weather pony said.

“Well, that sucks,” Vinyl mumbled, drinking some of her orange juice.

Suddenly, the phone rang. She already knew who it was before she read the number on the phone.

“Yello,” Vinyl answered.

“Good morning, Vinyl!” It was her best friend, Octavia, calling from Canterlot.

The two ponies met in college when they were taking music courses in Ponyville. They were roommates and didn’t really get along. Every time Octavia tried to practice her cello, Vinyl would be blasting her music that even the dorms on the other end of campus could hear. That would sometimes attract the other students and Vinyl would just start a party right there in their dorm. And every time, not only Vinyl, but even Octavia would get in trouble with the dean. Their punishment was one week of detention. The two of them can’t remember how they became best friends, or how they even became friendly in the first place. After college, Octavia moved back to her hometown, Canterlot and Vinyl stayed in Ponyville for a bit until moving back to her hometown of Fillydelphia.

“Hey Octy,” Vinyl mumbled.

“I see you’re waking up,” Octavia said.

“Hey, you know me: can’t wake up until I’ve had my morning coffee,” Vinyl said.

“Say, I have a favor to ask,” Octavia said.

“Shoot,” Vinyl replied, taking another bite of her toast.

“Well, I’m going into town in a couple weeks. You think I can stay at your place?” Octavia asked.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Great! Thank you so much. I can’t stand Jonathan’s snoring. We’re apparently all sharing the same room and, well, I like my privacy.”

“I hear yah there,” Vinyl agreed.

She looked back over to the TV and the time it presented on screen was “6:30am.” Her eyes widened. “Ah damn! Octy, I’ll talk to yah tonight!” Vinyl hung up the phone immediately. She was gonna be late again if she didn’t leave now. She dried her hair as fast as possible, put her sweater on, picked up her police badge and bolted out the door and to the elevator down the hall. She pressed the button that read “L” for lobby.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” Vinyl grumbled to herself, not being able to stand still.

The doors opened and she speed walked through the lobby and out the door. That weather pony wasn’t lying about the rain. It was pouring and still pretty dark from the thick clouds and fog. Hell, she couldn’t see across the street. She put her hood up and started down the busy street. The downpour was getting her wet. Luckily, the precinct was only two blocks away from her apartment building.

She stopped by the local coffee shop on the way to buy a cup of coffee.

“Well, Well, if it isn’t Vinyl Scratch,” the clerk called from behind the counter as Vinyl entered the small building.

“Hey there, Donut Joe,” she replied. “Give me the usual.”

Joe nodded and went out back to pour some coffee into a paper cup. He came back ten seconds later with a medium black coffee. The steam rose from the tiny hole in the lid.

“Thanks Joe,” she said, leaving the place.

Joe chuckled to himself. “Good kid. Forgot her change, though. Ahh whatever.” He put the coins in his pocket.

Vinyl pushed open the doors to the precinct. It was really warm inside, warmer than usual. She put her hood down and pulled out her police badge from inside her hoodie. The badge dangled from her neck, swaying back and forth as she walked.

“Morning detective,” the secretary beamed.

“Hey Tracey,” Vinyl replied, not stopping.

Tracey followed Vinyl to her office. She sat down in her chair, placed her coffee down on her desk and opened the top drawer. She pulled out a 9mm pistol and placed it on her desk alongside her coffee.

“I trust your vacation was relaxing,” Tracey said.

“I guess so,” Vinyl mumbled, looking at the clock on the wall.

Tracey walked up to Vinyl’s desk and placed her hoofs on the table. “Look, I know it’s rough now,” she started, “but everything will be fine.”

Vinyl sighed deeply. “It’s not that. I let Robin Green get away. He could be anywhere by now and it’s all my fault.”

There was a sudden knock on the door. The chief was standing in the doorway, holding a file in his mouth. A mixture of anger and worry were on his face.

“Chief,” Tracey started.

He walked over and threw the file onto the desk, the papers inside spread across the desk. The folder was named “Suspect #073520- Green, Robin.”

“Green’s files?” Vinyl examined the picture of the dirty criminal.

“Green robbed his first bank in over a week last night,” Chief Haybale explained. “So, we know he hasn’t left the city.”

“What a dumbass,” Vinyl said, chuckling shortly after.

“Unfortunately, it was an armed robbery. Four ponies were shot and they’re now in hospital,” Haybale went on.

“That’s horrible,” Tracey said, covering her mouth in shock.

“We got word that his current hideout is in the old newspaper factory on 6th St., heavily guarded.”

Vinyl thought for a moment. Why wouldn’t Green just run off somewhere else instead of just staying here? Was he really that stupid, or did he have some unfinished business to take care of first? “So, what’s the plan?”

“Well actually, I was thinking of sending you in, detective.” Haybale and Tracey stared at her.

“Well then,” Vinyl leaned out of her chair with a smirk on her face and picked up her gun with her magic, “let’s catch us a dumbass.”