Equestria Noir Case 17 "Marked"

Chapters

Chapter 2 "Cousin Cross"
Chapter 3 "Gear Grinder"
Chapter 4 "Mtafutaji and Tahrihi"
Chapter 5 "Hammerfall"
Chapter 6 "Kurudisha"
Epilogue
Chapter 1 "Uncle Lazarus"

Chapter 2 "Cousin Cross"

Chapter 2

“Cousin Cross”

Uncle Lazarus gave Cross and I some time to talk before I began my investigation. The colt was practically skipping with excitement as he led me down the hallway. We turned a corner and opened the door to his room. His horn glowed a light green and the lights came on.

The bedroom was average size for a colt’s, with a large bed and a window looking out towards the cityscape. What really caught my attention was what was on the walls. They were covered with all sorts of newspaper clippings and photos of all my cases.

“Got quite a collection here,” I said, looking at a picture of me standing next to Photo Finish after finding Sweetlight.

“I have a pen pal whose Dad works with the newspaper,” Cross said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “He got all of these clippings for me.”

“Are these all my cases?” I scanned the pictures, recognizing several of them. I didn’t really try to get in any pictures after a case was done; but some reporters would insist and I’d have to stick around for a bit, or they’d get my picture anyway.

“Yeah,” Cross smiled. “It’s amazing to finally meet you!” His green eyes looked up at me in awe as he asked, “Is it true you actually took on Nightmare Moon?”

I chuckled a little. “I had help; Luna kind of defeated herself to be honest.” I tried to sound humble but I couldn’t help but smile a little at Cross’ idolization.

“Discord too!” Cross exclaimed. “I knew you were amazing, but to be an Element of Harmony too! The way you took him down was totally awesome!”

“I don’t mean to brag,” I said, turning to the colt and lowering my head so we faced each other, “but yeah, it was pretty awesome.” My eyes fell on Cross’ desk, it was covered with a lot of books, textbooks to be precise. “Doing a little light reading?” I asked.

Cross looked at me then adjusted his glasses. “Nah, that’s just homework, I was working on a physics paper before you came here.”

“Physics?” I asked, looked down at Cross in shock. “How old are you?”

“I’ll be eleven this summer,” Cross said, with a smile.

This kid is as old as Tailspin and he’s already learning physics? Back in my day we would still be learning our times tables at his age. Tailspin isn’t even learning this stuff. I looked at the textbooks and saw that a lot of them were pretty advanced levels of math, science, and economics. This kind of work I’d expect out of a college student, not a ten year old. “Where do you go to school?”

“I have private tutors,” Cross explained. “Look you don’t need to worry about all that.”

“I’m impressed more than anything,” I said with a smile. “Are you actually into this stuff?”

“Not really,” Cross admitted.

“Then what are you into?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You mostly,” Cross admitted, his hoof scuffing the ground self-consciously.

Okay, I was moving away from flattered and starting to enter worried territory. Then I looked at his trench coat. “I see you got your own, huh?”

“Yeah,” Cross said, glad that the subject changed. “I got this a few months ago after you took down that Moondancer lady. Boy did she turn ugly after you and Twilight Sparkle performed that magic on her!”

“Did you have it custom made?” I asked.

“How did you guess?” Cross said in shock.

“No tag, the stitching is hoof stitched, and the fabric looks mashed together” I said simply.

“Wow!” Cross’ eyes grew wide in admiration. “You got all that just by looking at it?”

“Eyes and brains, my dear Cross,” I quoted, before noticing the time. “I need to go meet your dad about the missing eye. It was nice talking to you.”

“Can I come with you?” Cross asked, getting in my path of escape. “I want to see you in action!”

I couldn’t deny the eager look he had on his face. This kid really looked up to me so much he’d gladly volunteer for a case if it meant he could spend time with me. Luna, now I know how Rainbow feels with Scootaloo. He wasn’t going to let it go if I didn’t let him come.

I sighed and relented, “Alright, you can come.”

He leapt into the air with glee and smiled wide. “I won’t let you down, Private!”

Just as Cross turned to leave I saw his trench coat move a little. I caught a glimpse of a bit of silver on his green coat, but he moved too quickly for me to see it fully. I gave a small shrug, it was probably nothing.

_____________________________________________________

The display room was filled with all sorts of paintings, statues and other things a noble would like to show off. Cross walked beside me, his green eyes following my every movement, trying to match them. I’ll admit it was a little annoying but I couldn’t knock the kid for wanting to be like his idol. Still, that silver on his green coat was starting to bug me.

Lazarus gestured to a single display case in the middle of the room. It was small, only a few feet in volume and made of glass. The glass had a large hole cut into the side of it. I looked over at Uncle Lazarus with a serious look and asked, “What exactly happened the night it was stolen?”

Lazarus cleared his throat and replied, “At around midnight I was finishing up a report to send to another company over in Fillydelphia. Suddenly the power went off and I heard shouting. I came down here and discovered the item gone. I found my maid,” he gestured to the maid from before who was standing nearby watching us, “Pinetail, here in the room. She said she saw the thief up close.”

I approached the maid and smiled, "What did you see?”

Cross went over and studied the display case as Pinetail spoke. “Yes, sir, I was cleaning some of the display cases that night. I had just finished and was about to head off to bed. That’s when the power shut down and all of the lights went off. I was looking around for some light but I was interrupted when he came in.”

“The thief?” Cross spoke up, “What did he look like?”

“I didn’t get a good glimpse of him,” Pinetail admitted sadly. “It was too dark and I couldn’t see much that night. I heard a crash and saw a shadow go for the display case. He used some kind of device on his hoof to cut the hole.”

“What about video cameras?” Cross asked, eager to get in the action “We have cameras set up, can’t we catch a glimpse at the thief?”

“Cross,” I said frankly, “since the power was out during the raid, odds are the cameras went down as well.”

“Indeed,” Lazarus spoke up. “The cameras went out with the power; I would think you would know better Cross…” His eyes narrowed at his son.

Cross bowed his head in embarrassment; poor kid was only trying to help. I gave him a pat on the back and smiled down at him. “Hey, it’s your first case; you’re bound to make a couple of mistakes.”

He seemed comforted by that, I looked at Uncle Lazarus and spoke firmly, “Did you get a team to look this place over for DNA?”

“I’m afraid not,” Lazarus admitted. “I was hoping you could oblige me.”

I closed my eyes and my horn glowed a pale grey. My magic wrapped around the display case and Cross looked at me in wide eyed wonder. “What are you doing, Private?”

“Scanning Spell,” I replied, my eyes focused on the case, then on its pedestal, and then onto the floor. “Hopefully we can- A ha! There’s DNA here that doesn’t match!” I gestured to some displaced carpet that showed signs of having hoof prints. “Now we just need to add a little glamor spell and…”

Spots of green appeared on the display case. Cross’ eyes grew wide in awe, “What did you do?”

“Glamor Spell,” I explained. “I turned all of the DNA in the room green. Now let’s look around, hopefully we can find out how our thief got in.”

I followed the green leading away from the display case; it went up the wall in spots. I examined the spots closely and found a gooey substance on them. I used a swab to take a sample of the substance to study later. Whatever it was, it was meant to stick, I almost lost my swab in the attempt.

Cross pointed up. “The air vent!” he exclaimed, pointing at the vent up above. I noticed the grate was loose.

I used my magic to jiggle it a little; the vent came loose without much effort. I lowered the grate and looked at it thoughtfully. “Looks like the thief tried to screw it back on after he left. A bit haphazardly it seems, then again, he was in a hurry.”

“That vent goes around the entire mansion,” Lazarus explained. “It’ll take us hours to get a team together to search the vents.”

“I could climb in,” Cross volunteered. “I’m small enough, and I can fit in there.”

“Cross!” Lazarus shouted, “What have I told you about speaking out of turn?”

The colt’s ears drooped a little. He was only trying to help and he gets yelled at for it. I wrapped Cross in my magic and lifted him up in the air. He looked a little disoriented but his lime green eyes found mine. I gave him an encouraging smile “All right, I’ll levitate you up there, you climb around in the vents and follow the glamour spell for as long as you can.” I gave him a small flashlight. “Use this to help see.”

He took the flashlight in his mouth and nodded firmly. I levitated Cross into the air vent and heard the sound of him moving inside. Lazarus looked at me disapprovingly and said haughtily, “That’s my son you just stuffed in there.”

“Cross said he could fit,” I answered, “and fit he did.”

“He’s shown you his collection hasn’t he?” Lazarus asked out of nowhere.

“He did,” I answered, eyes narrowed. “When did it all start?”

“About half a year ago,” Lazarus said with a sigh. “Around the time your case with the Oranges made the news.”

“He has been my fan for that long?”

“Yes, but lately it’s become more and more apparent,” Lazarus said with a disapproving sniff. “He’s stopped focusing on his studies and started wearing that trench coat all the time. He never takes it off when anypony is around. Suffice to say, it’s not healthy for a colt to grow as attached as he has.”

“What does his mother think about this?” I asked.

Lazarus blinked, and then looked away for a minute before replying stiffly, “His mother isn’t around anymore.”

“Did she…?”

“No, she left the house not long after Cross was born,” Lazarus explained. “I have no idea where she went, and I think that’s for the best. She was never interested in being a mother.”

“I’m sorry,” I tried to apologize.

“It’s not your fault,” Lazarus gave a small sigh. “I just wish Cross would stop wasting his time admiring you and try to make something of his life.”

I was about to retort when Cross fell out of the air vent. I caught him in my forelegs and he readjusted his glasses. “Hey thanks, Private! You won’t believe what I found!”

“Talk to me,” I said encouragingly.

“That green stuff went all the way to the basement,” Cross explained excitedly. “I found a pair of wire cutters that was used to create the power outage.”

“Yes,” Lazarus agreed, “I already had the staff check down there and we found the wire cutters and where the thief cut the power line.”

“Yeah,” Cross reached into his trench coat pocket and pulled out a small metal coin. “I found this on my way there though; the green stuff was all over it.”

I looked at the coin, it was about the size of a bit, with a needle on one side, and a large number twenty-five on the back. I looked at Lazarus and asked, “Does this mean anything to you?”

Lazarus studied the coin for a second. “Not that I’m aware of, it looks like some kind of commemorative coin. Could be from a worker’s union.”

I set Cross down and put the coin in a plastic bag, “I’ll run this by a friend of mine, she’ll be able to identify it.”

“You think it belongs to the thief?” Cross asked, his green eyes looking at me expectantly.

I gave him a small smile, “Probably, good eyes finding it.”

I was prepared to walk out when Lazarus noticed Cross following me. “Where do you think you’re going young man?” he questioned.

“Um,” Cross looked down at the carpet then up at his father. “Private said I could come on the case.”

“Did he now?” Lazarus narrowed his eyes at me. I could feel his eyes boring into me. I was reminded of Onyx from not too long ago. Sad thing is, I’m related to this guy.

I gave a firm nod and looked at my uncle defiantly, “I’ll look after him and if he becomes too much trouble, I’ll send him straight home.”

“Please, dad!” Cross begged. “This could be my one chance to see Private in action!”

Lazarus sighed and finally said, “Alright, but if it becomes too dangerous you come home immediately.”

“Okay, dad!” Cross moved to stand beside me. “So, where are we going?”

I walked out, the colt beside me and replied cryptically, “Backstage.”

__________________________________________________________

We were walking through the busy streets of Manehattan together. Cross was by my side and was trying to imitate even how I walk. After about the fourth time I decided to speak up, “Cross, why are you trying to imitate me so much?”

Cross didn’t meet my eyes for a second, “It’s just, the way you handled yourself back there. It was so awesome to see you in action.”

“Cross, I’m nopony that special” I tried to sound as humble as I could.

“Are you kidding me?” Cross looked over in shock. “You took down Nightmare Moon, Discord, and all those other bad guys, and you say you aren’t special?”

“I just do my job,” I said firmly. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Still, I’d give anything to live like you do,” Cross said with a smile. “You get to have all these cool adventures! On top of that, you get to meet royalty, as well!”

I wasn’t going to tell him exactly how I met some of the royals. I don’t think an eleven year old colt needs to hear how I met Luna. It’s rather embarrassing, now that I think about it.

“So anyway,” Cross looked forward. “What's backstage?”

“You ever heard of Octavia?” I asked

“Octavia!” Cross’ jaw dropped. “We’re going to go see her?”

“You a fan of hers as well?” I asked with a small smirk.

“Kind of,” Cross admitted. “I like the music she plays and I go to her concerts whenever I can.”

“She can probably tell us where the coin came from,” I said, looking back at the coin.

“How would a cello player help us?” Cross asked confused.

“Let’s just say she’s got friends in…low places.”

_________________________________________________________

I flashed my old badge at the security guard and entered Octavia’s dressing room. I gave her a call to expect me to come after she was done performing. I must have not told her the right time because when I opened the door I found Octavia with her hooves around Vinyl. Cross was about to enter but I covered his virgin eyes and cleared my throat.

Octavia broke away from Vinyl and fixed her mane. “Terribly sorry, Private," she said sheepishly, "I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

Vinyl was lounging on the couch they were using as a *ahem* love space. She looked at me with a smile “Long time no see, Private.”

“Good to see you two,” I said, uncovering Cross’ eyes, allowing him to stare in awe at Octavia.

“You’re Octavia!” Cross squealed in shock.

Octavia gave a smile and lowered her head to meet Cross. “Yes, that is my name, and who might you be?”

“I’m Cross! Private’s cousin!” Cross said excitedly. “I heard about how you and he took down Jumper Cable! You were amazing from what the papers said!”

“Well, aren’t you just the little charmer,” Octavia said with a brilliant smile. “I must speak with your cousin first though, feel free to look around while we’re talking.”

“Come on, kid” Vinyl said, walking to Cross. “I’ll show you all of Octy’s most embarrassing photos!”

“If you bring out the one of me drinking that milk shake I’ll kill you, Vinyl!” Octavia exclaimed as the pair walked away, Vinyl laughing the whole way.

I gave her a sly smirk. “Seems you two are doing well.”

“Oh, once she went and made that stupid tape she hooked me in,” Octavia admitted exasperatedly. “You aren’t….against it, are you?”

“My opinion?” I spoke honestly. “What you two do in the bedroom is none of my business. So long as nopony gets hurt in the process, I’ll stay out of it.”

“Thank you, Private,” she gave a small sigh of relief. “I just wanted to get that out of the way before we continued. Now, you said you wanted me to see something?”

I showed her the coin in the plastic bag. “You know a lot about this city and the ponies in it. I was hoping you or your men could identify this.”

Octavia’s violet eyes studied it slowly. “Yes, I recognize the coin. It’s a commemorative coin made for the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Worker's Union's 25th anniversary.”

“Do they operate out of a specific factory exactly?” I asked, taking what she said down in my trusty notebook.

“It's a factory near Zebra Town belonging to the Irisbud group. Mostly a textile factory, it makes products that other ponies use in their products. I have a colleague who works at the factory. He has a coin just like that.”

“Anything else you can tell me about the coin?” I asked.

“Not much,” Octavia admitted. “I only know what I said earlier about it being given on its 25th anniversary. Just go to the factory and look for an earth pony stallion by the name of Gear Grinder, he should be able to tell you who got them.”

“Thanks, Octavia,” I said, putting the coin back in my trench coat. “Now I just need my cousin and you can go back to being seduced by Vinyl.”

Octavia blushed as Vinyl and Cross came back in. Cross looked up at Octavia with a smile, “Thanks for helping us, Octavia.”

“It was no problem really,” Octavia said dismissively.

“I hope you always sound great when you play,” Cross complimented. “I heard you playing last week at the theater. It was amazing”

Octavia smiled, “Nice to know the future generation isn’t totally helpless.”

“Come on, Cross,” I rubbed the colt’s mane. “Let’s get back to the case.”

_______________________________________________________

Perspective: Octavia

I watched the pair of them leave with a smile on my face. I then looked at Vinyl and asked, “You didn’t show him anything too embarrassing, did you?”

“Nah,” Vinyl dismissed. “Just your first concert photos that’s all. Nothing like the milkshake,” she said laughing, while I fought every urge to punch her. “Anyway, that Cross kid seems alright. Then again, he is related to Private.”

“He was a charming little colt” I mused, and then I looked over at Vinyl.

She raised an eyebrow slowly. “What is it, Octy?”

“I want one...”

_______________________________________________________

Perspective: Private

Was that screaming I heard just now?

Chapter 3 "Gear Grinder"

Chapter 3

“Gear Grinder”

The factory before us was quite large compared to most of the factories I’ve seen. It was a square building with several smaller storage buildings surrounding it. Several workers, most of them earth ponies, were clocking in for the day. I also noticed that there were zebra among them as well. Most had papers in their saddlebags, probably work related. Both parties made effort to avoid one another.

I walked up to the front gates and the security guard, a tall and rather imposing looking tan colored stallion, spoke up. “You got business here?”

I held up my badge, he blinked a little at the sight of it. “Detective Private Eye, I’m here to see a guy by the name of Gear Grinder.”

“He should be in the main building,” the security guard said, as he worked a few switches to open the gate for Cross and I. “Just follow the workers and you should find him.”

“Thanks,” I said with a nod, as Cross and I walked through the gate and into the factory. Following his advice we walked among the workers. Just as we were about to enter the main building a voice spoke up from the crowd.

“We can’t let him do this!”

I turned to see a large and muscular earth pony stallion speaking while standing on a nearby wagon. The crowd immediately moved to surround him. Well, except for the zebra that just went into the factory, not wanting to get involved. The earth pony stallion, who was concrete colored with a cutie mark of a pair of hammers, spoke to the crowd.

“He cuts our wages! He threatens our jobs by hiring all of these zebra! I say it’s time the workers spoke out against such tyranny!” Several voices shouted in agreement.

I nudged a nearby worker and asked, “Who’s that guy?”

“That fellla is Hammerfall,” the worker explained, “second in command of the union. He's not exactly happy about all of the zebra being here. Honestly, I can’t blame him; our wages got cut pretty steeply to accommodate the extra hooves.”

“Who’s he speaking about?” I asked carefully.

“Guy who owns the factory,” he replied, “Some rich fella with no concept of us poor folk working for him. He goes by the name of Lazarus Eye… now that I think about it,” his eyes narrowed at Cross and I, “you both look an awful lot like him.”

Cross hid behind me as I spoke; obviously he was aware of his dad’s work habits. I knew spouting my name would be trouble here. I wonder how long things have been this bad? I shrugged. “Coincidence, you know a fellow by the name of Gear Grinder?”

“He’s coming up,” the worker replied, pointing to another muscular Earth pony with a short dark mane and a cyan colored coat. His cutie mark was a pair of gears and his face was not exactly happy. He looked up at Hammerfall with a disappointed expression.

“Shouting about the Zebra won’t change anything, Hammer,” Gear Grinder said firmly. “We’re a union, not a mob, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“But Gear-“Hammerfall tried to speak up.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Gear Grinder spoke up. “I want you all to get back to work right now. We can’t get anywhere if we aren’t working our hardest. Lazarus will just use laziness as an excuse to put more of the load on us. As for the zebra, be thankful for the extra hooves, no matter where they come from.”

Most of the crowd murmured in agreement, they seemed to trust this guy. The crowd gave way and I walked up to Gear Grinder and said, “Octavia sent me.”

“So you’re the detective she has been talking about,” he said with a small smile. “What can I do for you?”

______________________________________________________

“A stolen heirloom?” Gear Grinder asked over the whirl of machinery in the factory. Hundreds of fabric products were being made for stores all around the world. I couldn’t help but notice Cross’ eyes starting to wander over the fabrics. I couldn’t read his odd expression.

I decided to move on. “Something called the Eye of Serenity,” I said as I held up the picture to Gear Grinder. “It's very important that my client get it back.”

“Who’s your client?” Gear Grinder asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing.

Lying in this situation would be as effective as breaking a brick wall with a tooth pick. I sighed and gave the honest answer, “My name is Detective Private Eye, and Lazarus is my uncle.”

“And the kid?” he asked, pointing to Cross who was eyeing a string machine with great curiosity.

“That’s Cross Eye, he’s my cousin,” I explained.

“So, you’ll understand why I’m reluctant to hand out information to you,” Gear Grinder’s voice was wary but honest.

“I’m not here on some corporate espionage mission,” I explained. “I’m here to search for the owner of this.” I reached into my pocket and held the coin before him. Recognition entered his pale blue eyes. He reached for the coin inside it’s plastic bag and took it in his hooves.

“Huh, didn’t think anypony kept theirs” Gear said after about a minute of silence “This was given out almost ten years ago, I remember that was before all of this started.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked quickly “What happened ten years ago?”

“Ole Lazy started dropping the hammer on us,” Gear reminisced. “When this factory job started almost thirty-five years ago I was only a teenager. It was small but our owner didn’t much care how we ran things. That’s why we called 'em Lazy, because he basically sat in his office all day and didn’t bother us.”

“You’re telling me,” I said slowly, “that my Uncle Lazarus owns this factory?”

“One of several he has nowadays,” Gear explained, “but back in the day this factory was a gift from his old man. Something about him taking responsibility or something, aw hell, it was a long time ago. For twenty-five years he’d just give us the most minimal instructions to keep the factory going. Then suddenly ten years ago he comes in and demands some ponies take longer hours, cut our wages, and fire some ponies for seemingly no reason whatsoever.”

Ten years ago, that was when…no, it couldn’t have anything to do with that. Could it?

“So Lazarus decided to lay the hammer down on you,” I pointed out. “Was that when the union got started?”

“Not exactly,” Gear replied “I became head of the union when the factory opened. It was nothing serious, though, since our boss didn’t give a horse’s ass. When he started putting the hammer down, however, we started taking the union seriously.”

“So you know which members have this coin?” I asked.

“It was made back when the union was only about seven ponies, including myself,” Gear said firmly.

“Then hold still for a second,” I said, my horn glowed grey and the coin slowly turned green. No green showed up on Gear, so, he wasn’t the one in the vent. Even as he was holding the coin, the DNA wasn’t on him because of the bag.

“Where were you last night around midnight?” I asked.

“I was at home” Gear replied earnestly. “It was a long day at work yesterday, so I went home pretty much immediately. You can verify it with my neighbors I was there all night.”

“Looks like you’re in the clear,” I said slowly.

Gear gave a sigh of relief and then a warm smile. “Thanks, detective, you ain’t half bad, I’ll get you a list of everypony who received the coin.”

“I’d appreciate that,” I said, my expression stern.

As Gear headed for the office, I looked over to see Cross still staring at the strings running through the machines. I walked to him and smiled. “You have an interest in fabric or something?”

Cross broke out of his trance and looked over at me. “No! I mean, the machines are kind of cool, I guess.” He quickly changed the subject before I could reply, “So, was he the thief?”

“Nope,” I answered emphatically, “The DNA on the coin didn’t match his, and he has an alibi for last night. He is going to give us a list of potential suspects, though.”

“I didn’t realize being a detective was this much work,” Cross sighed. “I guess things aren’t always what you think them to be.”

“Hardly ever, Cross,” I replied, as I rubbed his mane, causing him to laugh a little. “Now let’s go check out that list.”

“Private,” Cross said suddenly, “All those things he said about my dad…

“What happened ten years ago?” His lime green eyes stared at me for a long time.

I debated whether I should tell him, but I didn’t know Lazarus’ side of the story. "Why don't you ask your farther?" I suggested slowly.

“He never answers me when I ask him anything personal. I guess he's just waiting until I am old enough to understand or something.”

Maybe I should have Dad talk to him about it when all of this is over. He deserves to know exactly what went down ten years ago. With Tailspin…

“Hey, get back here!” I heard a voice yell.

Cross and I ran towards the origin of the voice. We entered the office to see Gear Grinder on the floor, a nasty bruise on his side. He pointed to an open window and cried, “He went out that way!”

“Who?” I asked quickly.

“He stole the list! I tried to keep it from him and he up and bucked me!” He rubbed his bruise attempting to alleviate the pain.

I looked out the window and there he was, running away was the zebra from earlier. He had a paper in the pocket of his vest, which had to be my list of suspects! He wasn’t getting away on my watch!

I looked over at Cross and spoke urgently, “Call the police! I’ll try and slow him down!” I leapt out of the window and landed on the concrete floor. I ran after the zebra, leaving a stunned Cross behind.

The zebra had quite a head start, but he had the gate to worry about. As I pursued him he turned his head to look at me silently. His stare was firm and searching. Then he turned his head and made a run for the front gate. There two guard ponies stood, ready to intercept him.

“Hold on detective!” One of them called “We got em!”

Suddenly the zebra leaped into the air and delivered a swift kick to one guard. The other tried to pull out a gun but soon had his jaw smashed by a swift buck. The zebra then used his hind legs to wrap around the guard’s neck and literally backflip him into the meshed steel wall. The guard was knocked out but his comrade tried to tackle the zebra.

The thief simply ducked, and delivered a nasty uppercut to the guard’s jaw. He then bucked the guard in the chest before taking off. It was like I was watching those bad Pon-Fu movies Raiden used to make me watch. He took down two potentially armed guards with just his hooves. I pursued him, leaving the guards to tend to their wounds, both physical and mental.

I gave chase into the crowded streets of Manehattan. I knew the cops would be on him in minutes, but I had to stop him before anypony else got hurt. Whoever this zebra was, he wasn’t getting away on my watch.

He cut into an alley and started climbing a fire escape. I followed along, not far behind. When I came to the roof however, I found him not running, just standing there. His blue eyes gazed at mine slowly.

I wasn’t intimidated. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m trying to solve a mystery here. I would appreciate it if you gave that list to me.”

He held his stare; his eyes fell to the list, and then back at me. He then spoke for the first time since we met. His accent was evident, obviously some kind of homeland dialect, but the words he spoke would have gotten my attention if he spoke in plain Ponish.

“Prove you can get it…”

He crouched down into a fighting stance slowly. So this guy wanted a fight huh? Well, he was going to get one. I scraped my hoof on the ground, meeting his challenge. “I only want the list” I spoke firmly, as both of us circled each other like prowling lions “What do you want with it?”

His silence held, this guy was going to give me nothing unless I fight, huh?

I finally decided to make the first move; I leapt at him, preparing to punch him. He saw it coming and dodged to the left, delivering his own punch across my face. I flew for a second but recovered. Then he leapt at me, trying to deliver a flying kick like before, but I was ready for it, I dodged to the right and grabbed his leg with my forelegs. Then I used my strength to swing him around, he crashed into a nearby wall but shook his head and climbed back to his hooves.

I charged at him, my horn lowered, aiming to gore him. He dodged it and performed a sweeping kick meant to knock me off my hooves. I jumped up avoiding his legs. He charged forward and tried to grapple me, but I head-butted him, causing him to become disoriented. I then delivered a swift buck to his chest, sending him flying again. This time though, he used the momentum and his hind legs met the wall again, he then bounced off and launched himself at me like a missile. I was hit in the chest by his front hooves, knocking the wind out of me.

I then fell down and quickly got on my legs again. His blue eyes stared at me for a long time, he spoke again.

“You fight me, yet you know you have no chance of winning.”

I couldn’t tell if he was mocking me or complimenting me, either way I hissed back, “I make my own odds.”

He then did something unexpected again, he bowed his head. I gave him a long stare before asking, “Just who are you?”

“My name is Mtafutaji,” he said in his accented tongue.

I raised an eyebrow at the name. I’m not even sure how he pronounced it. “Um, what is your name in plain Ponish?”

“I am called Seeker by you ponies,” he explained, this was definitely the guy from before.

“Why did you fight me?” I asked, feeling a bruise on my side. “You could’ve just handed over the list.”

“I had to make sure you were one worthy of seeing it,” Seeker replied. “There are many dishonest ponies as there are dishonest Zebra. You have shown yourself to be fierce, or stubborn as many would say.”

“So you fought me to see if I was worthy of getting evidence?” I asked slowly.

“You've fought many enemies, Private Eye.” I was surprised he knew my name. “I have read up on you, but always you had help in fighting your foes. I wanted to see how you fare alone.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, “but what does this have to do with the list?”

“What you are seeking,” Seeker explained, “I am searching for it as well.”

“The Eye of Serenity?” I asked. “Why do you want that?”

Seeker was quiet for a few minutes, closed his eyes and finally said...

“To take back what was stolen from my people.”

Chapter 4 "Mtafutaji and Tahrihi"

Chapter 4

“Mtafutaji and Tahrihi”

I just blinked at him; I couldn’t believe what he said. “You’re saying, that somepony stole the Eye of Serenity from you?”

“Is that what they call it?” Seeker said, narrowing his eyes. “My people call it the jicho la ukweli, the Eye of Truth.”

“Okay,” I said, holding up my hooves to try and take all this in. “Just how important is the eye to your people?”

“It was a promise long ago,” Seeker explained, looking at the cityscape of Manehattan with an unreadable expression. “Three generations ago, my tribe met ponies for the first time. We were a humble village and kept to ourselves mostly. Then your great grandfather arrived, long before I was born. He came with great tidings to my people, saying that Equestria was a thriving land, willing to accommodate us. We gave him our most sacred artifact as a sign of trust and good will.”

“It was never returned?” I guessed.

“No,” Seeker said, turning to me, his expression as unreadable as a brick wall. “The pony never returned the artifact, for three generations our elders were hesitant to let us come to this land.”

“Some have come though,” I pointed out. “Zecora, for one.”

“How do you know Elder Zecora?” His gaze turned to mine, did it seem hopeful?

“She lives in the forest near where I live,” I explained, “you know, Ponyville.”

His expression was neutral, but had a twinge of searching. “Is she well?”

“Yes, very well,” I answered firmly. “How do you know her?”

“Two ways,” Seeker replied. “One, she is an elder from my tribe back home. Also, I am her nephew.”

“Say what?” My jaw dropped in shock. “You’re no older than I am. How old is Zecora?”

“I was born when she was just a teenager,” Seeker explained, “but that is not important. I merely wished to know of her health.”

“She’s fine,” I said with a smile. “She had a hard time fitting in at first, but she has taken to Ponyville quite well.”

“That is good,” he said with a nod. “Now to the matter at hoof; the elders were hesitant to come here, but after a few years it became apparent that nopony was going to return. Other tribes had already left for distant lands after our prairies couldn’t support them anymore. So Zecora left to find Equestria, namely to find the Eye as well, after not hearing from her for several months, I decided to take matters into my own hooves.”

“This Eye,” I asked “just what is it exactly?”

“It is older than the zebra themselves,” he began, looking over at me as he slipped into storyteller’s tone. “In our legends the eye was a creation that fell from the stars themselves. It had the power to gaze into the heart of anypony and see if they are lying, or telling the truth,”

“Like a magic lie detector?” I speculated.

“Sort of,” Seeker explained, “only this one is far more powerful, it could see into the very soul. When it was discovered by the Alicorns it was declared too dangerous for one to use. Many of them did not like what they found in their souls. They tried to destroy it but nothing could break it, no matter how powerful the magic.”

“Uncle Lazarus just had it in a display case, I said, in awe at what my family had.

“Several generations after the Alicorns left this world, a group of earth ponies found the Eye again. They realized the danger of such an artifact if it fell into the wrong hooves. So they took the eye and fled far away from the pony lands.”

He ran a hoof along his striped foreleg and continued, “In order to blend in with the new environment, they had a unicorn cast a powerful spell on my people. Turning their coats white with the stripes you see here” He shook his head “All legend really, the Eye in modern times is dormant now, it hasn’t worked for centuries. We gave it to your great grandfather as a sign we trusted him like I said before,”

“So Jeremiah never gave it back?” I asked, feeling a little of my family’s guilt.

“Rumor had it he died not too long after he left our lands,” Seeker speculated. “His son would not have known the true value of the Eye. Could have been circumstance, but either way,” he said, his blue eyes gazing coldly into mine, “if you think you can deter me from my quest to find it…”

“I think you misunderstand,” I said slowly. “I plan to give it back to your people.”

His blue eyes studied me for a second, “Forgive me for not trusting you.”

“You don’t seem like the kind of zebra who takes ponies at their word,” I concluded.

“You are correct,” Seeker replied. “If you want to find the Eye with my help, I will be there the whole time. I have to see if you are worthy of trust.”

“Then let’s have a trade of information,” I suggested, reaching into my trench coat and pulling out the swab of the substance I found on the walls. Seeker’s eyes scanned the contents of the swab as I informed him, “I found this where it was stolen, all over the walls.”

Seeker sniffed it and his nose wrinkled at the strong scent “It’s foul, but I know of one who can identify it back at Zebra Town.”

“Now the list,” I put the swab back in its bag and into my trench coat. I then held out my hoof and asked, “How did you know about the list?”

“I was following you,” Seeker answered, as he reached into his vest. “You looked like Jeremiah; he had the same grey coat. Also Shinebadge told me of you. So I followed you ever since you left Lazarus’ house.”

“You could’ve told me who you were,” I said pointedly.

“Forgive my mistrust,” Seeker said as he pulled out the list, “but I have been betrayed by many dishonest ponies and zebra in the past. I need, how do you ponies say, insurance?”

“Okay,” I said agreeably, picked up the list of the union leaders who all would’ve gotten the coin. I slid the list into my trench coat and looked back at him. “I’ll head to the library and see if any have skipped town or could’ve been in town during the theft.”

Seeker nodded and offered, “I will accompany you as well.”

I knew this was more of the trust issue than anything else. I returned his nod, “Alright, but know that I can hold my own against you if you try anything rash.”

“You have not seen me at full strength,” he replied rather smugly as he made for the fire escape.

Geez, this guy was going to be trouble.

____________________________________________________

The police came by, thanks to Cross, but after I finished explaining the situation they left. Cross looked up at Seeker with his head tilted. He’s never seen a zebra up close by the looks of it.

“Who is this youngling?” Seeker asked me.

“This is Cross,” I said with a small smile. “He’s my cousin; he’s tagging along as well.”

We started to walk down the street for a minute, my cousin decided to break the silence.

Cross smiled nervously at Seeker and asked, “Are you a detective like Private is?”

Seeker gave a small smile at my cousin and replied, “You could say I am. My task is to find the truth when falsehood shrouds it. A Seeker is like a detective in that fashion.”

“I thought Seeker was your name,” Cross said, raising an eyebrow. “It’s also your job?”

“My name,” Seeker replied looked down at Cross, “is what you call me. My personal name, the one my parents gave me, is only for close friends and family to know.”

This was news to me; zebra call themselves by their jobs? I’m guessing it was simple to get all the workers attention when you needed them. I guess it gave value to one’s personal name. Probably it's not too much different from me having ponies call me Private.

I guess it shows how little of the zebra we really know…

“If everypony is known by their jobs,” I pointed out, “what does Zecora mean?”

Seeker showed the slightest hint of pride and explained, “It’s a female variation of the name of a great hero to us. Ironically he was a pony like yourself, met long before your grandfather. His legend was lost to history, but the name still stands.”

“So what does it mean?” Cross asked eagerly,

Seeker smiled and spoke one word, “Doctor.”

Could it…

Nah…

____________________________________________________________

Cross and I left the library after hours of searching. Cross was eating a veggie wrap I bought for his lunch. As we sat a picnic table in a park I went down the list. “According to the list and what we could gather from the library’s references. Only two ponies were in town that would’ve had the coin.”

“What if somepony copied the coin or something?” Cross suggested as he swallowed a bite of his roll “You know, to frame it?”

“It’s genuine,” Seeker spoke firmly. “If otherwise, Gear Grinder would’ve pointed it out. Also, none of the ponies with the coin would’ve have lost it.”

“It’s a sign of senior membership,” I explained to Cross. “If they lose the coin, they lose a lot of privileges that come with the union.”

Cross sighed and said, “Grown-ups are so complicated.”

I just chuckled at his musings and pointed to two names that were circled, “So far the two names are, Gear Grinder and Hammerfall”

“You heard Hammerfall,” Cross pointed out. “He shouted out all those things against my dad, he has to be a part of this somehow.”

“Maybe,” Seeker replied, putting his hooves together in thought. “It would seem logical that Hammerfall would be the culprit.”

“Even still,” I said, rubbing my chin in deep thought, “What was the sticky stuff?”

“I believe that a close comrade of mine can identify it,” Seeker said. “Do you think you two can come to Zebra Town? She was rather insistent I invite you”

I looked at Cross and asked, “You think your dad will mind?”

“He sure as hell would mind,” I heard a voice speak up behind me.

I turned to find Lazarus standing before me. He was flanked by a pair of beefy looking body guards and the maid from before. Cross hid behind me as Seeker and I stood. Lazarus spoke again, his tone forceful “Cross Adamus Eye! You come here right now!”

Cross walked slowly out from behind me, and stood between me and his father. He looked up nervously at Lazarus. “Dad, I was just…”

“Planning on going to a dangerous part of town with only Private and this…” He gave a long disdainful stare at Seeker, “Zebra, as your protection?”

“Seeker isn’t so bad,” Cross said, trying to stem his father’s wrath. “He was inviting us to come to his place for the case.”

“A case which you shouldn’t be a part of in the first place,” Lazarus scolded. “You are coming home this instant!”

I gave my uncle a cold stare and said, “Cross can decide for himself if he wants to come.”

“He’s a ten year old colt!” Lazarus retorted. “I am his father, and I will decide if he should be here.”

Before I could say anything, Seeker walked past me. He got within inches of Lazarus’ face. This was the first expression of his I could really read. It was one of sheer contempt. After about a minute of silence he spoke up, “When I was his age I was fighting off beasts that would make dragons look like rabid dogs. I survived in the wilderness with nothing but my wits, and a rock as defense. Private has taken down several villains with only his wit, cunning, and friends to help him. Your guards both show signs of training, but I could easily defeat them with just my hooves. Now I ask you, who is more qualified to watch your son, when a thief has broken into your house.”

Lazarus had no response to that, he just turned and stormed off with his guards and maid. Cross looked guiltily up at me and said, “I didn’t mean to cause trouble.”

I just smiled and rubbed the colt on the head. He laughed a little as I told him, “You have nothing to be sorry for, your dad just needs to give you space once in a while. We’ll bring you home once it gets dark.”

Cross looked up at Seeker and said in awe, “You were so cool too there. You really lived out in the wilderness like that?”

Seeker simply nodded and changed the subject, “We should get to Zebra Town. The sooner we can identify the material on the wall, the sooner we can find the Eye.”

Seeker started to walk off; Cross looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked, “Not exactly friendly is he?”

“He just has trust issues,” I concluded. “Hopefully he’ll come around…”

________________________________________________________

Going into Zebra Town was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Hundreds of Zebra were all going about their businesses. Shops lined the streets selling various exotic wares. One older zebra tried to sell Cross some trinkets in broken Ponish, but Seeker told him off. I guess scam artists come in all colors.

Several of the signs were actually written in strange looking characters. The Zebra use a language composed entirely of various symbols and it looked more like art then regular writing. Several street performers were on the sidewalks. Playing instruments, dancing around, all of them were showing what they could do. This was one thing I missed about Manehattan, nopony was afraid to just go nuts in public.

That’s a good and a bad thing in some cas-

I was cut off when I bumped into a zebra running towards me. I looked up and saw she was female, probably in her twenties by the look of her. Her mane as opposed to her contemporaries was long and fell down to her hooves. Almost like Fluttershy now that I think about it. I noticed she had a strange necklace around her neck. It was a wood carving of a sigil of some sort. It had a feather attached to it that fell down from the carving.

She looked at me warily, and then simply walked on without saying anything. Seeker helped me up, and I gave him a quizzical look, asking, “Who was that?”

“That was Maua; she makes various concoctions and herb mixtures,” Seeker explained. “Not too dissimilar to my aunt.”

“What was with that necklace?” I asked. “It looks a bit elaborate, and she’s keeping it pretty close to heart.”

“That is an askari wa ishara” Seeker said with a nod, “or in your tongue, the Keeper’s Sign.” He gave a small smile and explained, “It is a sign that she is getting married.”

“So that necklace was like a wedding ring, huh?” I mused with a smile. “Who’s the lucky stallion?”

“She has not said,” Seeker replied, with a tilt of his head. “Although many have asked her who her intended is, she has not revealed his identity yet. I do not pay attention to idle gossip, however.” He started walking ahead and said over his shoulder, “Gather your cousin and we can get going.”

I looked around for Cross and saw him next to a zebra filly about the age of three. He handed her a small doll with a smile and said, “There you go, that arm won’t break now.”

She smiled wide and hugged him gratefully before taking her doll and running to meet her parents. I walked to Cross and asked, “What was with the doll?”

Cross noticed my presence and spoke rather timidly, “She showed me it after the players were done. She um, just wanted it back after I was done with it...”

That was rather vague, is he hiding something from me?

I just shrugged and gestured for him to follow.

___________________________________________________

Celestia was lowering the sun just below the horizon as we arrived.

Seeker’s home was an average sized apartment. The building itself was rather old and wasn’t unexpected for a guy on a budget. It was certainly nicer than my apartment when I lived in town. When I walked in I got a strong smell of various types of herbs sitting in the apartment. The place felt less like a home and more like a greenhouse, but I was a guest and it wasn’t my place to criticize.

Seeker raised his voice to the kitchen area, he spoke for a minute in zebra tongue and I heard a female voice speak back in the same tongue. A zebra emerged from the kitchen area. She was several years younger than I was, had to be early twenties. Her mane was long, but braided behind her, out of the way. She was rather lithe, almost Fleur now that I think about it. Her eyes were a deep green and showed surprise at seeing a pony in her home. The most distinguishing thing about her…was her swollen belly, she was pregnant.

She smiled and spoke in highly accented Ponish, “Welcome to our home, my name is Tahrihi; you have met my husband already.”

Cross and I gave Seeker a deadpan look, “She’s your wife!”

“Indeed,” he smiled a little and walked to the mare, smiling at her lovingly, “How are you, yangu upendo?”

She returned his smile and nuzzled her husband affectionately, “Faini Faini, you worry too much for me.” She left her husband and walked to us, “You are Mtafutaji’s friends?”

“More like colleagues,” I said, as Cross went to look around curiously. “We’re both searching for the Eye of Truth,”

“I was hoping you could help us identify this,” he said, handing her the plastic bag with the goop inside it.

“Can you find out what it is?” I asked hopefully.

“I don’t need to find out,” Tahrihi replied firmly. “I know what it is, it’s buibui lami,” she explained.

Cross laughed a little, “That’s a funny name, what does it mean?”

“Literally translates as Spider Slime,” Tahrihi said, before setting the bag on a nearby desk. She put on a set of glasses as she examined the material. “Designed by our warriors several years ago as a means to climb trees without worrying about predators.”

As she went about her investigation I gave Seeker a look “What does she do exactly?”

“She is a Tahrihi,” Seeker explained. “It means Chronicle, basically a historian or archeologist.”

“You two make quite the odd pair,” I said. “A detective and an archeologist?”

“You’re dating Celestia’s student,” Seeker pointed out.

“I thought you weren’t into idle gossip,” I reminded him.

He ignored my comment and addressed his wife, “So this Spider Slime? Has anypony bought any recently in the community?”

His wife shook her head. “I haven’t heard anypony buy it recently. There’s been little need for the stuff.”

“What is it exactly?” Cross asked Tahrihi, who smiled at the inquisitive colt.

“It’s a form of adhesive,” she explained. “You would put this on your hooves, smear it up a little, and you could walk on walls with it.”

“Cool!” Cross exclaimed. “That’s how the thief could walk in the vents and on the ceiling!”

“Quite a smart one you have here” Tahrihi complimented, but then her expression turned grave as she gazed at Seeker. “You are sure you’ve found it this time?”

He nodded, “I am sure.”

She then turned to me and asked, “Will you be staying here for dinner? It would be terribly rude of me not to offer”

My stomach growled, it had been a while since lunch and I hadn’t eaten anything during my long walk here. “Well, I’m always happy to sample some new food...”

______________________________________________________

After a very delicious dinner provided by Tahrihi, Seeker and I were relegated to dish washing duty. Cross sat on a nearby chair and talked with Tahrihi about the zebra.

I looked over at Seeker and gave him a small smile. “So how long until you’re a daddy?”

“Not long” Seeker replied, as he went about drying some of the plates.

“She’s a good mare,” I complimented. “You’re lucky to be in a happy marriage with her.”

“I had little choice in the matter,” Seeker said suddenly.

“What are you talking about?” I asked slowly.

Seeker set his plate in the pile. “She and I weren’t brought together willingly. Ours was an arranged marriage.”

I did notice there was a small age gap between them. Seeker was mid-twenties like myself while Tahrihi had to be twenty or something. I tilted my head in curiosity and asked, “If you don’t mind me indulging in idle gossip, how did you two come together?”

He smiled and went onto the next plate. “You are a curious one.”

“I’m just a sucker for romance” I said, with a shrug. “So how’d you two become arranged?”

“When I was nineteen” Seeker said as he went about drying his plate “My tribe was suffering a famine. Her tribe had an abundance of food. In order to solve the crisis the decision was made to unite our tribes through marriage. I was the son of an important member of the tribe; she was the chieftain’s daughter of her tribe, so it was a perfect match.”

“How old was she?” I inquired as I washed another plate.

“Sixteen,” Seeker explained. “The minimal age for a zebra to get married.”

“Didn’t you get a say in the matter?” I asked.

“Only what I was to wear at the wedding” Seeker said flatly.

“That seems a little unfair” I pointed out.

“Maybe, but I would not change what happened for anything,” he said, almost wistfully.

“When did you two start opening up to each other?” I asked, passing the washed plate to him.

“At first I treated her as little more than a second inhabitant in my home,” Seeker explained. “She didn’t complain, or shout whenever I asked her to do something. I thought her little more than a servant. Then when the sickness came to our village, I became a victim myself.”

“What was the sickness?” I asked slowly.

“It was a variation on what you would call polio,” he explained with a firm tone. “Nothing too serious when treated right, but the medicine was starting to run out in our village. Not even my aunt could treat me if she had nothing to treat me with. I thought my time on this world would be over. So, I made my will that Tahrihi not be forced into marrying one of my brothers, as is a tradition for a widow of the zebra.”

“You’re still here,” I pointed out. “How’d you get better?”

“Through Tahrihi’s determination,” he said with a smile. “She would not see me perish and ventured out into the jungle all by herself for three days to find a nearby pony camp. She persuaded the ponies there to give some medicine, not much of a loss to them, but just enough to treat me. She then ran back to me with the medicine and managed to help Aunt Zecora treat me just in time.”

“She saved you…”

“Even though she would’ve been free had I died,” he said, looking back at Tahrihi, who gave him a warm smile from her seat. “For the first time I realized how much she meant to me. She saved me, not simply because I was her husband, but because she had grown to care for me.”

“Now you two are impending parents,” I said, as I finished washing the last few dishes. “Thanks for the meal,” I said to Tahrihi as she walked over.

“I’m simply happy to see Mtafutaji making friends,” she said, smiling warmly at her husband, who gave the faintest hint of a blush.

“We’d better get going,” I said as Cross came over. “Somepony should be heading to bed.”

“Who me?” Cross asked, as he yawned widely. “Nah, I’m just breathing slowly.”

I just rolled my eyes at this colt’s ant-

BANG BANG BANG!!!!

I heard gunshots out the window, and to my horror I saw several ponies entering the street below.

All of them were firing on the zebra with battle saddles…

It was Appaloosa all over again….

Chapter 5 "Hammerfall"

Chapter 5

“Hammerfall”

Chaos ruled the streets as the zebra ran for cover from the shooters. There were at least four of them. All of them had battle saddles on. I was reminded of the buffalo slaughter back in Appaloosa. The difference this time, was that I was going to stop it before the slaughter happened.

I looked over at Tahrihi and ordered, “Stay here with Cross, call the police and tell them I sent you.”

Cross looked ready to protest, but Tahrihi put a hoof on his shoulder to calm him. Cross walked up to me, his green eyes looking up at me worriedly, “You’ll come back right?”

I hugged my cousin tight and said solemnly, “I promise.”

I looked over at Seeker who was nuzzling his wife tenderly. He gave his wife a look that spoke words no mouth could give. She reached up and kissed him on the mouth. Then she spoke something in zebra I didn’t catch, but it wasn’t for me.

Seeker then looked at me, determination burning in his eyes and said, “We can’t let them slaughter my people.”

“I’ll head down and see if I can hold them off,” I replied with a nod, after letting my cousin go. I levitated out Blackbird and checked to see if she was loaded.

Seeker gave his wife one last tender kiss, and another to her belly. Then my zebra companion went for the window. “I’ll sneak behind them, keep them busy for me.”

I nodded and ran out of the apartment, Blackbird fully loaded and ready to go. I dashed out of the building and took cover behind a nearby news stand. A zebra couple was huddled behind it as well. The husband was nursing a wound to his leg while his wife cried over him.

She looked at me and I gave her a grim look. “I’ll cover you two, get inside!”

She nodded and started helping her husband walk away. One of the shooters noticed the couple and aimed his battle saddle at them. I aimed Blackbird and shot him in the leg. He grunted in pain, turning his attention to me. I ducked behind the news stand to avoid the bullet rain.

A hoof suddenly appeared beside me. I looked up to see one of the shooters looking at me. His face was obscured by a ski mask allowing only his eyes to shine in the street light. He looked at me, and then aimed his battle saddle directly at me. Suddenly he was attacked from behind by Seeker, who bucked the guy in the side. The shooter was disoriented for a minute, Seeker then moved like a blur, removing the saddle from him and taking the barrel in his teeth. He then swung the battle saddle like a baseball bat hitting the shooter upside the head.

The shooter flew back a few feet as I gaped at Seeker. He just gave me a smug smile and ducked before a bullet could hit him. Another masked stallion tried to cover his friend but Seeker jumped into an alley for cover. I used the distraction to jump out from behind the news stand and fire at the shooter. He fell back as the bullet penetrated his left shoulder.

Just then another assailant appeared behind me armed with rather large knife. He swung it at me and I ducked attempting to aim Blackbird at him. Unfortunately for me knife between his teeth sliced at Blackbird, causing the revolver to fly out of my magic. Before I had a chance to go for my gun he tried to aim his battle saddle at me. I quickly changed direction and slammed my left hoof into his face. Then I wrapped my front hooves around the barrel of the battle saddle, literally ripping it off his back.

I chucked the weapon aside before he struck back, delivering a swift buck to my stomach. My assailant picked up the knife and tried to cut me again. I dodged but still he managed to cut me across the chest. I grunted in pain and fell back, trying to stop the blood flowing from the deep cut across my chest.

Just as he was about to cut me again Seeker appeared. He glared at my opponent evenly and said in a cold voice, “Your friends have already run off, I suggest you do the same…”

The shooter didn’t say anything, just held the bloody knife smugly in his teeth. Seeker then loosened the bracelets on his forelegs. As they came loose a blade formed around the outer edges of each. These weren’t just pieces of jewelry he kept on. They were chakrams, weapons that were difficult to use, but incredibly deadly in the hoofs of a master.

He held the chakrams loosely in his forelegs, before standing on his hind legs and falling into a battle stance. The assailant charged at him but Seeker dodged, slicing one of his blades along the stallion’s flank. The now wounded stallion attempted to buck the zebra, but my friend was much too fast. Seeker dodged and weaved around the legs, slicing both of them with his blades.

The assailant screamed in pain as his forelegs dripped with blood. I used this opportunity to grab Blackbird in my magic. I aimed at the stallion’s knife and fired, the bullet knocking the knife away. Seeker then performed a sweeping kick to his face. The stallion fell back and glared at Seeker, before running as the sound of sirens drew nearer.

Seeker was about to run after him in hot pursuit, but I put a hoof on his shoulder to stop him. “The police have them," I assured him, “there’s no need.”

“They attacked my people, Private!” Seeker spat. “They were lucky I did not kill them myself!”

“Your people are the ones that need your attention, Seeker.” I reminded him, pointing to the zebra nearby. Many were huddled over hurt loved ones, trying to help them as best as they could. Seeker’s blue eyes blinked and he sheathed his chakrams.

“You are right,” Seeker admitted, “my people need attending first.”

_________________________________________________________

“Never thought I’d see the day when this kind of hell would break lose in the streets,” Shinebadge growled, as police officers and medical ponies went to work. He turned his world weary eyes to maenad said grimly, “We’ve got a perimeter set up around the whole district. Those bastards aren’t getting away.”

“Thanks, Shinebadge,” I said, as a nurse finished patching up the cut on my chest. Luckily it wasn’t as deep as I had originally thought; so, it’ll heal eventually, most likely leaving behind another scar to add to my growing collection.

I frowned when I saw that the cut on my trench coat remained prominent. Rarity was going to kill me when I got back home.

I climbed back to my hooves and left Shinebadge to do his job. Zebra families everywhere were taking care of their loved ones. Many were wounded but so far nopony died in the attack. That was a relief for the ages.

I looked over and found Seeker safe in the forelegs of Tahrihi. The zebra couple spoke softly in zebra, more words that were meant for only each other. It made me miss Twilight; I wondered what she was going through and hoped she was okay…

I felt a tugging on my ripped trench coat and looked down to see Cross looking up at me, sorrow and trauma apparent in his lime eyes. He buried his head into my chest for comfort and sobbed into my coat. Poor kid probably heard everything from where Tahrihi hid him. I lowered my head resting it on his gently.

Cross spoke after his sobs finally slowed, “Is it always like this?”

“Not always,” I replied honestly, “but even this pales in comparison to some of the things I’ve seen.”

Cross’ voice was shaky as he spoke, “I didn’t think it would be this crazy. All those ponies… just killing each other for some stupid reason…” I felt his tears soaking into my chest.

I hugged my cousin warmly. Poor kid, he didn’t deserve to have all of this happen to him. He shouldn’t be seeing stuff like this. I should’ve left him back with Lazarus, I thought guiltily.

Using my magic I picked the colt up and placed him gently on my back. He buried his face in the back of my neck as I carried him. I looked over as Seeker came up. His expression was sympathetic when he saw Cross. “Tahrihi tried to keep him out of the fighting, but he saw and heard a lot of it when he got worried about you.”

Cross didn’t respond to Seeker, just kept his face in my coat. I returned Seeker’s look and said simply, “I’m taking him home, we’ll take care of the shooters tomorrow.”

Seeker nodded understandingly and went back to help his people. I walked away, Cross on my back, just trying his best not to cry too much. I was reminded of Tailspin; these two would get along pretty well.

I heard Cross speak after about ten minutes of me walking the dark streets of Manehattan, “Private, how do you do it?”

“Do what?” I asked, looking back at my cousin as he lifted his head.

“Just stay so strong,” Cross asked. “You were just part of a fight and you then get up and walk me home like it’s nothing.”

“Because Cross,” I replied firmly, “somepony has to know what they are doing. It’s a hard life, I won’t deny it. I just figure, if I can take it on, than nopony else has to.”

“You’re amazing, Private,” Cross mumbled, closing his eyes and nuzzling the back of my neck affectionately. “I hope I can be like you when I grow up.”

I just smiled and continued my trek through the dark streets of Manehattan.

_________________________________________________________

“A shootout!” Lazarus ranted for the twelfth time “My son got caught up in a shootout! All because he followed your stupid case!”

“I understand, Uncle Lazarus.” I said as I stood in his office. “Obviously I didn't know that it would happen!”

“You should’ve just given him back to me!” Lazarus shouted at me “He almost got hurt being with you! You’ve been nothing but trouble since this whole thing began!”

“I found a lead on your heirloom” I explained flatly “Just be thankful I’m still willing to do all of this”

“Did you hear nothing I said?” Lazy shot back

“I did hear what you said” I fired back “Cross was informed it could be dangerous. He chose to come of his own accord.” Secretly though, I was angry at myself for giving this jack ass a chance to say I told you so. Worse yet, Cross could have been hurt or even killed.

“He’s a colt!” Lazarus bellowed, slamming his hoof on his desk. “He’s not old enough to make wise decisions for himself!”

“Never underestimate the young, Lazarus” I answered, and then I turned away, not wanting to speak to this man anymore.

I went by the laundry room to check on my trench coat. I left it in the care of the maids to wash out some of the blood stains. I would have to sew that rip though. Rarity was not going to be happy when I got back to Ponyville.

I entered the laundry room to find Pinetail working on ironing some suits. She curtsied upon seeing me. “Hello, Master Private, can I help you?”

“I left my trench coat around here somewhere,” I explained. “Did it go through the wash?”

She shook her head and replied, “Sorry sir, I didn’t put it through yet. The stitching was just put in.”

“Stitching?” I noticed my trench coat just lying down on a nearby chair. I looked it over; the rip in it was almost completely fixed. It looked to have been done by magic judging by the powder left behind on the seam. I looked over at Pinetail and asked, “Did you fix this?”

She shook her head again, “No sir, I was going to put in the wash and I found it like that. I asked around the other maids and they said they didn’t touch it. Somepony with an awful lot of talent must have fixed it.”

Talent?

Hold on…

______________________________________________________

“Did you have it custom made?”

“How did you guess?”

“No tag, the stitching is hoof stitched, and the fabric looks mashed together.”

“You have an interest in fabric or something?”

“There you go, that arm won’t break now…”

_________________________________________________________

I put the trench coat on my back and walked out. Pinetail gave men a confused look as I moved. Now I know, what Cross was trying so desperately to hide. I walked down the hallway, careful to avoid Lazarus’ office.

I entered Cross’ room to find the colt reading a book on his bed. He seemed to have calmed down since the shooting. He gave me a small smile and asked, “Hey Private, do you wanna see some of the souvenirs I bought from Zebra Town?”

My grey eyes closed and I said simply, “Take it off.”

“I’m sorry?” Cross put down his book and looked at me.

“Your trench coat,” I pointed to the grey trench coat he was wearing. “I know why you’re wearing it.”

“What are you talking about?” Cross asked defensively. “I um, had it made to look like yours.”

“Then explain this,” I said my horn glowing and my glamor spell turning the stitch line on my own trench coat green. Then Cross’ whole body turned even greener than usual. The DNA on my coat matched the colt’s. His green eyes grew huge behind his black glasses.

“Private, wait!” he begged. “Please, I can explain!”

“Then go ahead” I said simply, putting my trench coat on the back of a chair.

He looked down at his hooves and said, “Promise you won’t laugh.”

“I promise,” I said with a smile. “Now, show me what you’ve been hiding.”

Cross looked at me for a long time. Finally he sighed and removed his trench coat for the first time since I've met him. On his flank was a cutie mark... of a sewing needle.

He saw my expression and looked down in embarrassment, “My special talent… is sewing.”

“Cross,” I said softly as walked to his bedside, he didn’t meet my eyes. “This is what you’re all embarrassed about?”

Cross finally met my eyes, his expression sullen. “It’s sewing, Private, not archery, or animal training, or math or anything that’s cool.” He sighed. “Of all the cutie marks I could’ve gotten…”

“When did you get it?” I asked.

“Ironically,” he replied, holding up his discarded trench coat, “just when I finished making this. I was still looking for my special talent. Then I thought, maybe my talent would be detective work like yours. So, I tried to get into the part by making this darn thing.” He threw it aside and looked back down at his hooves. “Right when I was finished,” he complained, as he pointed to his cutie mark, “this stupid thing showed up!”

“Cross,” I shook my head “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sewing is a great talent for anypony to have.”

“It’s not as cool as detective work, though,” Cross said glumly, pointing to my own cutie mark. It was a magnifying glass looking at a notebook. It showed my prowess for looking at details and solving crimes based on those details. Cross stared at it jealously. “I mean, you get to do so many cool things. You get to go on so many amazing adventures. You are so strong and not afraid of anything at all.”

I was quiet for a long time, and then I finally admitted, “When I faced Nightmare Moon, I was scared. More scared than any other time in my life.”

“That doesn’t sound like you” Cross looked up at me, trying to defend his image of me. “You took her on all by yourself.”

“Cross I almost died,” I said with a sigh. “If Rainbow hadn’t gotten there in time, I would’ve fallen into a chasm and died.”

“But…”

“Cross I’m not some invincible hero” I admitted. “There are a lot of times I’m scared. You lock me in a room and I’ll freak out like you wouldn’t believe. A wise stallion once told me, if somepony tells you he's not afraid, stay away from him, 'cause either he's lying, or he's crazy.”

“But, Private…” Cross said, looking ready to cry again.

“Cross, if I had to be honest with you,” I said looking down, “there are some days I wish that I would have a cutie mark like yours.”

“What?” Cross exclaimed in shock. “But, it’s sewing, Private! It’s so, so…”

“Normal,” I said simply. “Some days there is nothing I’d like more than to just live a life without the crimes and detective work”

“Why do you do it then?” Cross asked. “If you want a normal life, why keep doing what you do?”

“I do it because it’s what I was created to do,” I replied, pointing to my cutie mark. “I was given a talent, a skill that allows me to help ponies. Do you remember when you fixed that filly’s doll?”

“Yeah,” Cross said with a small smile. “She was so sad when she broke it; I knew I might get caught, but I wanted to help her. She was so happy when I fixed her doll.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” I told him with a warm smile. “Cross, we don’t get to choose what talents we have. Only what we do with them.”

“It was cool to help her like that,” Cross admitted, with a slightly bigger smile.

“Does your dad know about this?” I asked

“No,” Cross said adamantly. “I’ve worn the trench coat every time he was around.” He looked down. “He’d be disappointed in me.”

“Hey,” I said, putting a hoof on the colt’s shoulder. “Whatever your dad thinks, know that you are your own pony. At the end of the day, you make the decisions you want with your life. Many will try and mask them as their own decisions, but you always have a choice, Cross. The key is having the tenacity to see it through.”

“I’m learning from the element of tenacity after all,” He said with a laugh to which I laughed in turn. He then smiled and plopped himself back down on his bed. “It’s been a long day,” he said with a big yawn. “I’m tired for real this time.”

I just smiled and used my magic to pull the covers over the colt. He put his glasses on a night stand and looked up at me sleepily. “Private, thanks for finding out. I’ve never talked to anypony about this.”

“I’m your family,” I said, rubbing my hoof on his dark mane affectionately. “It’s part of the job description.”

Cross closed his lime green eyes and smiled contently. He was a good kid overall. To think he’s hidden this part of himself for so long. I walked outside and closed the door to his bedroom gently.

When I walked down the hallway a ways Pinetail came by again. She had a phone levitated in her magic as she spoke, “Sir, a stallion named Seeker is on the phone.”

I nodded thanks and put the phone to my ear asking, “Did they find them?”

I heard Seeker’s accented voice reply, “All of them, they tried to cut across some rooftops but forgot that the ERPD has pegasi on their team.”

“So who were they?” I asked.

“All of them were factory workers,” Seeker said firmly. “Three of them have alibi’s for the theft, but they’ll go away for what they did to my people. The last one though, he’s the most interesting.”

“Who is he?” I inquired earnestly.

“Cast you scan spell on the coin, and then on the blood on your trench coat, if you haven’t washed it yet.”

I followed his instructions. I cast the glamor spell on the coin, the DNA glowed green as usual. Then I looked at my trench coat. The blood stains that weren’t mine, glowed green as well. The thief was among the shooters it seemed.

“The DNA matches,” I said into the receiver. “Who was the guy?”

“Hammerfall,” Seeker said simply. “I have him down at the precinct; he’s willing to talk…”

I hated to imagine what methods Seeker had to employ. His reaction during the shootings still rang in my mind. This is a stallion who takes actions seriously. This strike on his people won’t go unpunished in his eyes.

Three years ago, I would’ve done the same thing…

_____________________________________________________

The next day I found myself in an interrogation room with Seeker by my side. I sat in front of Hammerfall who was looking very nervously at my zebra friend. I turned my grey eyes to Hammerfall and said, coldly, “You know, I don’t appreciate it when ponies cut me with knives.” I gestured with my hooves to where my trench coat got cut.

“Look,” Hammerfall replied defensively. “I wasn’t the one who cut you.”

“Liko” Seeker said furiously. “Check his hind legs where I cut him. The scars are still there.”

“Yeah!” Hammerfall fired at Seeker. “Well, you and every one of you striped mongrels deserve it! You’re lucky I didn’t slice your throat you damn ze-“

Seeker walked up and slammed Hammerfall onto the table between us. Seeker kept pressing his fore hoof on Hammerfall’s head. “Twenty-seven! Twenty-seven of my people shot at like animals! I know all of their faces! Their names! What could possibly make you think you could get away of such a thing?”

Hammerfall glared at Seeker but then I got in his face. “Let me make it perfectly clear. My associate is not exactly in the mood for games. Now, you will answer a question for me.” I held up his coin in my hoof “Why was your coin discovered in the air vent of my uncle’s home?”

His eyes grew wide and he gasped, “Where did you get that?”

“From a vent of the house where you stole the Eye of Truth,” Seeker explained.

“How did-“Hammerfall looked up. “Look, I’ll admit it! I was going to steal it for some client who wanted it enough to pay me, but I didn’t steal it! Somepony else was supposed to.”

“Explain,” Seeker said, his voice low and threatening, “Or I will finish what I started last night.”

“About three weeks ago I got this call from some rich guy. He wanted me to steal something from Lazarus Eye; he offered me twelve thousand bits to steal the Eye. Only thing is I didn’t want to get blamed for theft, so I got Gear Grinder to do it instead.”

“That’s insane,” I pointed out. “Why the hell would Gear Grinder go along with all this?”

“That traitor is banging a zebra and doesn’t want anypony finding out,” Hammerfall said with contempt. “Some whore named Maui or something.”

“Maua?” Seeker said, looking at me “That would explain why she didn’t tell us.”

So Gear Grinder stole an important artifact to cover up his relationship with Maua? Then why wasn’t his DNA on the coin, or anywhere for that matter.

“We’re done here,” I said firmly, as Seeker dropped Hammerfall fall to the floor unceremoniously.

I looked down at him with contempt. “Hammerfall, I’m placing you under arrest for conspiracy, attempted murder, and slandering a police officer. May Celestia have mercy on your soul.”

Seeker and I walked out, I looked over at the Zebra. “Hey, you all right?”

Seeker’s blue eye looked to the floor, and he said, “Please forgive my brash behavior. I simply wished to see that lami pay for what he did.”

“How’s Tahrihi?” I asked gently.

“She is…” he paused for a moment, “comforting.”

“She’s only worried about you,” I said to him. “You’re the father of her foal after all.”

“You’re right,” Seeker said, his blue eyes looking up. “Now, we need to find Gear Grinder.”

Suddenly a uniform ran up to us and spoke frantically, “Private Eye! You got a phone call! It’s urgent!”

I nodded and went to the phone area. I lifted the receiver to my ear, and heard a gravelly voice on the other end, “Come to the warehouse next to the fabric factory. If you do not, Cross Eye dies…”

Chapter 6 "Kurudisha"

Chapter 6

“Kurudisha”

Seeker and I arrived at the warehouse in question just as Celestia was about to raise the sun to its zenith. My zebra companion looked at me and said grimly, “You enter first, I shall intervene when the opportune moment has arisen.”

I looked to the doors and nodded. “Alright, but don’t get too craz-“I looked to where Seeker had been standing but nopony was there. Sweet Luna this guy was good.

Using my magic I opened the warehouse doors just enough to walk in. I entered the rather spacious interior among boxes of fabric shipments. I saw a single light on in the center of the room. There was Cross tied to a chair with a rather thick rope. His lime green eyes opened wide upon seeing me. “Private!”

I was about to run to him when I felt a gun at the back at my head “Don’t move, Detective.” I heard a voice come from behind the boxes. I saw Gear Grinder emerging from behind and look at me grimly. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Your weapon, toss it here.”

I opened my trench coat and pulled out Blackbird. I could shoot Gear Grinder now, but the shooter behind me would get me as well. I couldn’t risk Cross in this situation. He almost got hurt once, and I didn’t want a repeat performance. I tossed Blackbird to Gear Grinder with my magic. He gave me a steely glare.

“Let Cross go,” I said firmly.

“Private, don’t worry about me!” Cross yelled “Just stop him!”

“Shut up, you brat!” Gear Grinder growled. “It’s because of you we’re in this stupid situation!”

“I’ll say it again, Gear” I said firmly, “Cross has no part in this. Your fight is with me.”

Gear turned his head, glaring at me, and said angrily, “You, you and your sniveling has cost me everything!”

“The rumor about you and Maua?” I shook my head “That isn’t enough to convince you to steal something like the Eye.”

“You want your ruddy Eye?” He reached in his back pocket and pulled the artifact out. “You can have it! I’m tired of dealing with the accursed thing!”

He threw it and I caught it in my magic. I stared at the artifact; it wasn’t too big, about the size of a hoof. The carvings in the stone had the eye with a single teardrop coming down it. It felt… right in my hooves, for whatever reason. I pocketed the artifact and glared at Gear Grinder. “Now explain to me what in Luna’s name are you doing with my cousin?”

“I’m getting back at Lazarus for all the bullshit he’s put me through,” Gear shouted. “Firing my workers, cutting our wages! All while forcing me to keep a big fat smile on my face! He sickened me to the point where I agreed to steal the damn eye, even without Hammerfall’s blackmail.”

“Don’t try and protect her anymore,” I said firmly.

“What are you talking about?” Gear shouted. “I hated Lazarus’ guts! For ten years I had to put with him! So many years of my life wasted at a factory with no future! I did everything he asked and now I'm sick of it!”

“Why are you trying so hard to put the blame on yourself?” I asked.

Cross gave me a look and piped up, “But Private, isn’t he the one who stole it?”

“He was not the pony who committed the act,” I explained. “In fact, it wasn’t a pony who committed the act at all.”

“Wait, don’t,” Gear begged. “Please!”

“Your relationship with Maua could’ve gotten you access to the spider slime easily. The problem is that you’re hardly the most agile of stallion” I said, as I pointed to his hooves. “You’ve worked your entire life in a factory, not training for thievery. You’re not the thief, otherwise your DNA would’ve showed up in the air vent.”

“The coin,” Cross said wide eyed. “The coin I found? It was evidence against Hammerfall?”

“Right, Cross,” I said with a nod. “It was left so that the connection could be made to Hammerfall, but it was really just an attempt to frame him.” The gun behind me shook a little, and I heard a sniff. “Somepony was trying to protect Gear.”

“Detective,” Gear said, his expression crumpling. “Please, don’t do this.”

I closed my grey eyes “Maua, I know you just did this to protect Gear Grinder. I know you’re standing behind me, and you’re no murderer.”

The gun fell to the floor, I looked to my left and there she was. Tears were in Maua’s eyes as she looked at her fiancé. “Gear, I’m so sorry.”

“Maua,” he said, shaking his head as small tears came to his eyes, “you know they’ll put you away.”

“I know,” Maua replied, tears slowly dripping down her face. “I left the coin in the hopes that Hammerfall would take the fall. I tried to stop this hell from happening. I’m so sorry; I only did it for you, my love.”

“No!” he cried, pulling a gun from behind the chair that Cross was tied to. He aimed the gun at the colt’s head. “Somepony else has to take the fall! Get Lazarus in here! Have him take the fall!”

Cross sweated and looked at me pleadingly. I gave him an encouraging look and spoke pleadingly, “Gear, you don’t want to do this.”

“Why should Lazarus go unscarred while Maua goes to prison?” Gear shouted. “Lazarus has done all of this! He should be the one punished, not Maua and not me.”

“Kidnapping and threatening an innocent changes nothing,” Seeker said stepping out from the shadows. He stood mere feet from Gear and said softly, “Cross did no wrong.”

“But I…” Gear looked at Seeker for a moment

“I understand that you fear for your beloved,” Seeker said with a hint of sympathy, “but do not try to bring Lazarus down like this. Revenge is not a reason to do any wrong. Don't let this child be your weapon of revenge. You will only regret the blood you will carry on your hooves forever.”

Gear looked a long time at Cross, before finally dropping the gun. He slumped on his haunches and just started crying. Maua ran past me and held her love tenderly. I heard sirens outside, the police were there.

Seeker used his chakrams to cut Cross free. The colt wiggled out of the bindings and ran to me, hugging my leg. I gently ran a hoof on his bare back. He didn’t have his trench coat on anymore. It must’ve been left behind when he got kidnapped.

Cross looked up at Seeker and said, “Thank you Seeker, you saved my life!”

“Merely doing my duty,” Seeker said with a smile at the young colt.

I looked up to see Lazarus coming in, a pair of his bodyguards beside him. I’m guessed the police were still outside. He opened his forelegs wide and cried, “Son! Thank heavens you’re alright!”

Cross was about to run to his father before I stopped him. He looked up in confusion as I walked forward. I spoke something that shocked all but two people in the room. “Lazarus Eye, why did you start this?”

“What are you talking about?” Lazarus exclaimed in shock. “I’m here to get my son back!”

“You mean the colt that destroyed your scheme?” I asked venomously. “How many other lies are you going to tell?”

“What are you talking about?” Gear said, looking up from his beloved “You’re saying he had something to do with all this?”

“Everything,” I looked at my uncle with a steely expression. “I first started getting suspicious when you tried to stop Cross from entering the air vents. It could have simply been a father being concerned for his son. Once he found the coin however I noticed your expression of shock. This eventually led us to find Hammerfall, as you know. The rich client who wanted the theft committed? That was you.”

“This is preposterous!” Lazarus exclaimed. “Why would I want my own artifact stolen?”

“Why is still a question up in the air,” I said firmly, “but the coin cleared Gear as the thief. You wanted Hammerfall to force Gear Grinder steal the eye. That way Gear would take the fall once you ‘procured’ some evidence. Then you tried to have Cross taken away just before a shootout? I found that a little too convenient.”

“This is all insane!” Lazarus exclaimed, before looking directly at Cross “Cross! Come here now!”

Cross slowly walked forward, then his father’s eyes grew wide as he saw the cutie mark on the colt’s flank. Cross tried to hide it with his tail when he saw his father’s reaction but the deed was done. “Dad, I wanted to tell you…”

“So this is what you were hiding from me?” Lazarus shouted. “You were wearing that stupid trench coat to hide your cutie mark!” He spoke condescendingly to the colt, “Did you think me stupid?”

“No Dad!” Cross said defensively. “I just was worried how you would react. I’m so sorry.”

Lazarus’ eyes turned cold and he snarled; “Now you really are useless to me.”

“Dad?” Cross’ voice quavered as he looked at his father with tear filled green eyes.

“Sewing? What kind of talent is that?” Lazarus shouted, unaware I was fighting every urge to punch him. “You really have ruined everything it seems!”

“Dad!” Cross was openly crying now. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to cause trouble. I only wanted to help Private.”

“By ruining me?” Lazarus growled. “If you had just listened to me you wouldn’t have gotten into this situation, but you had to go run off with your detective cousin! The very pony that ruined our family’s good name!”

“That’s enough, Lazarus” I said slowly, getting between him and Cross “You’ve said plenty. Cross was an unwillingly party in this case. He had no idea that he was destroying your little scheme. With Gear in jail you would be able to make your little puppet Hammerfall head of the union. I don’t know your reasons why, but I am going to fix everything.”

“Just how will you do that?” Lazarus growled.

“I’m returning the eye to its proper owner,” I said simply, looking over at Seeker, who gave me a small smile. “The zebra.”

“You can’t!” Lazarus called. “The eye belongs to our family; it has been for several generations!”

“To be returned,” I said, pulling the artifact from my pocket. “It was meant as a symbol of trust between ponies and the zebra, but Jeremiah died before the deal could be complete. Now I will do what he couldn’t. I’m returning it to the zebra, the true owners of the Eye.”

“You can’t do this!” Lazarus shouted. “First my son and now the eye! You plan on stealing everything from me!”

Cross hugged my hind leg and begged, “Please, Private! Stop all this! I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen!”

“I know, Cross,” I said sympathetically, “but the evidence stacks up against your father.” I opened my trench coat and showed the bug inside. “I’ve recorded this entire conversation.”

Lazarus’ green eyes grew wide, and then he smirked. “Now I have an excuse to get rid of you once and for all!” he cried maniacally as he pulled a gun out of his suit jacket. In a flash Seeker was in my uncle’s face with one of his chakrims at the stallion’s neck.

His blue eyes met Lazarus’ green ones, and he announced, “You have the right to take my life, but know, that in my dying moments I will take yours. Then as you burn in Tartarus I will look down on you and know that I stopped you. So, make your choice Lazarus, an honorable defeat, or a dishonorable death?”

Lazarus saw that Seeker wasn’t going to back down, and he dropped his gun just as the police came inside. I glared at Lazarus and said, “I’m placing you under arrest for corruption, blackmail, theft, and whatever the hell else I can get you on.”

Lazarus simply glared as the cops went about their work. He knew he had lost, both his scheme, and whatever respect his son had for him.

________________________________________________________

I looked at Cross as he sat on the sidewalk, a blanket over him and some hot chocolate in his hooves. I looked at him sadly and said, “Cross, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to arrest your dad, but, in the end, I had no choice.”

“I know,” Cross said, with equal sadness. “I just can’t believe he would do all that.”

I hated to put Cross in the same position I was ten years ago, but he deserved to hear the truth with his own ears. Still nothing would change the guilt in my heart over all of this. I'd just arrested the father of my biggest fan. This whole mess, nopony really came out on top. Everypony was scarred over what had happened.

“What’s going to happen to Maua and Gear Grinder?” Cross asked.

“They’ll go away for kidnapping and theft,” I replied honestly. “I hooked them up with the best lawyer I know, though. He’ll try his best to lighten the sentence as much he can.”

“Dad?” Cross asked softly, unable to meet my eyes.

“He’ll have a team of lawyers to try and worm his way out,” I explained. “Again, I’m so sorry about your dad.”

“I just wish I knew why,” Cross said, finally looking up at me. “What could drive him to use all those ponies for his own stupid desires?”

“Acceptance.”

I looked behind me and to my shock there stood my father, Irenius. Beside him was Zecora, who walked off after giving me a nod in greeting. I figured she was going to look for her nephew.

My father walked up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. “I heard about what happened, this whole situation shouldn’t have happened.”

“What did you mean by acceptance?” I inquired curiously.

“You remember your grandfather, Adamus?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” I replied, not bothering to hide my contempt. “What does he…” I paused, piecing it all together, "Oh."

“What is he talking about?” Cross asked.

Dad looked down at the colt and said guiltily, “Lazarus has always tried to impress our father since the day he was born. As the second son he had trouble getting attention from him, however. Adamus put everything into me, Lazarus got everything second hoof. This whole scheme, was probably so that he could impress our father.”

“If the coin was never found,” I said slowly, “Lazarus would’ve had me conclude that Gear Grinder was the thief because he had motives. Then he’d swoop in saying he knew it all along and taking the credit for solving the problem. All just to impress Adamus.”

“That’s so sad,” Cross said somberly.

“Your father loves you,” Dad said comfortingly. “He just wanted the best for you in the end. Maybe he thought if he could beat me, and then he would gain favor in your eyes.”

Cross didn’t look totally convinced, but then Seeker came up with Zecora beside him. I smiled at both of them, and asked, “What are you doing here, Zecora?”

She replied in her typical rhyme, “I had to help your friend, Twilight, she and Trixie got in a magic fight. I trained her as best I could, and kept Ponyville from being enslaved for good.”

“Trixie came back?” I exclaimed.

“Yes,” Zecora nodded, “she gained a powerful amulet of the Alicorn, created long before anypony alive was born. The magic corrupted her very nature, but after her defeat I kept it to insure, nopony will ever use it’s power, to bring about Ponyville's final hour.”

That’s Twilight for you; I guessed I should say hi to Trixie when I got back In the meantime the question remained. “So, what took you two so long?”

Dad answered, “I was already on the train when Trixie put a dome around the town. For some inexplicable reason, all of the wheels disappeared when the dome appeared.”

That’s weird; I thought but decided to move on. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Eye of Truth. “I believe this belongs to your people, Zecora.”

She took it reverently in her hooves and looked at Seeker, “You have aided my friend in this duty, and you have performed with absolute beauty.”

“Aunt Zecora!” Seeker groaned like a teenager. I guess even he can be embarrassed.

“Seeker, your duty has been done,” Zecora said firmly. “Now, I have something of my own to give this one.”

Zecora held her hoof in front of me. I looked at Seeker who mimed me bowing. I complied and bowed low in respect before Zecora, removing my hat as I did so. She closed her eyes and laid her hoof on the top of my head. “From now on, you will be known as Kurudisha among us. Despite its inconvenience, you have done what is just.”

I rose at her indication and she smiled at me. Dad smiled proudly at me as Seeker drew closer, a faint smile on his face. “You will always be welcome among the zebra, my friend.”

I returned his smile and asked the nagging question, “What does Kurudisha mean?”

“Reclaimer,” Seeker replied, with a smile. “You have found what is lost, and returned it to our people. Words cannot express what this means to us.”

“You were never one for words anyway,” I said with a laugh.

For the first time in my life, I heard Seeker chuckle. He then walked away before I could express my shock. But then Zecora looked at me gravely, and then walked to my ear. She spoke in a hushed tone…

The drums will sound again,

When this world faces its end,

You must stand and face your fear,

But even you must keep clear,

For the green eyes are upon you,

They tempt you with mists of blue,

But green eyes are what you should fear most of all,

For if you falter, they will cause you to fall.

I gave Zecora a look before she walked away, her cryptic prophecy ringing in my brain. Just what did it mean? Green eyes are upon you?

It was vague to be sure, how did she hear it?

I left these questions in the back of my mind as Dad came up to me. Cross looked up at me as well, his eyes still shining in admiration. “That was so cool! You got accepted by the zebra! Should I call you Kur, Kura…kuras…?”

“It’s Kurudisha,” I said with a smile, “but I’ll always be Private to you.”

“So what should we do about Cross?” Dad asked, and then he looked at my cousin “Shall I take you home?”

Cross shook his head and said, “I don’t want to go back. If dad gets out of prison, he’ll be there. I don’t want to be there when he gets back.”

“Then what will you do now?” Dad asked, with a tilt of his head.

Cross pointed to his cutie mark and said proudly, “I’m going to make something out of this mark. I want to use my special talent to help ponies. I’m going to show dad that I’m not useless!”

“That’s the spirit,” I said, ruffling Cross’ mane affectionately, causing him to laugh.

“The only question is,” Cross mused, tilting his head in thought, “where am I going to find a sewing teacher?”

“I think I know the perfect candidate,” I replied with a smile.

Epilogue

Case 17

Epilogue

Perspective: Private Eye

“Are you sure she’d take me in?” Cross asked as we walked up to the front door of Carousel Boutique. The poor kid had been nervous all day to meet the pony he was going to be learning from. Out of all the options for Cross to hone his new talent, this seemed the best bet.

I smiled down at my cousin and assured, “You’ll like Rarity, sure she can be a little dramatic, but deep down inside, she’s got a good heart and loves helping others.”

I opened the door to find Rarity and Spike inside. The baby dragon was carrying a large pile of banners in his claws. Rarity glared at the banners disdainfully and ordered, “Spikey Wikey! Dispose of these insults to sewing with gratuitous amounts of fire!” Cross hid behind me upon hearing that outburst. Maybe I might have understated Rarity’s drama queen personality.

“Whatever you say, Rarity,” Spike said amicably, as he walked out the back door.

Upon his dismissal Rarity smiled triumphantly and turned around greeting us, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is…” Her blue eyes grew wide when she saw me. “Private, thank heavens you’re all right! I heard about what happened in Manehattan, it seems like you had things as bad as we did.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help,” I said apologetically, “I wish I could’ve helped stop Trixie from taking over.”

Rarity dismissed my fears with a wave of her hoof. “None of that, I’m simply glad you made it home safe. Have you talked to Twilight yet?" the fashion unicorn asked. "She was terribly worried about you.”

“I stopped by earlier,” I explained. “Anyway, I wanted to show you something.”

I gestured with my hoof to the stitching on my trench coat. Rarity rolled her blue eyes in exacerbation and griped, “Really darling, I tell you to be careful and you go and ruin your coat again.”

“The ripped coat wasn’t what I wanted to point out,” I replied as I pulled the coat off and gave it to Rarity. “Look at the patchwork.”

Rarity looked with an expert’s eye at Cross' stitch work and then up at me curiously. “Did you see another tailor? This is very fine work.”

“Not any tailor you know of,” I said with a sly smile, then I stepped aside to reveal a very self-conscious Cross. He looked at me for encouragement which I gave him with a smile. I put a hoof on his shoulder and spoke proudly to Rarity, “You have this colt to thank for not having to perform TLC on my trench coat.”

Rarity smiled down at the colt, before speaking in a gentle tone, “I am Rarity, or Miss Rarity if you will. How do you know my dear friend, Private?”

“Wait, you’re Rarity?” Cross’ jaw dropped in shock. “I thought I recognized you from the papers! You’re the element of generosity!”

“Well, it seems my reputation precedes me,” Rarity said with a slight giggle, “and what is your name, little darling?”

“I’m Cross,” he replied, looking down self-consciously at his hooves “I’m uh, Private’s cousin.”

Rarity looked at me “First Tailspin and now this little charmer,” she said with a little laugh. “Does the Eye family always produce such Gentlestallions?”

“Hardly,” I said honestly, “but this one has got quite the talent.”

Cross blushed from the praise and rubbed the back of his head. “I only just got my cutie mark a while ago.”

“Cross dear,” she said with a gentle smile at the colt, “could you excuse Private and I for a second?”

Cross nodded and went about looking at the merchandise. I spent the next five minutes explaining the situation with Cross. Her expression turned dark as I finished the story. “The poor dear, I can’t imagine a father saying such horrid things to his son.”

“Like I said,” I explained somberly, “the Eyes aren’t all perfect. We’ve all got our baggage to worry about.”

“So, you’re saying I should take Cross on as my apprentice?” Rarity asked. “Darling, you have to understand, I can’t just take him because he’s your cousin. Ponies will believe I’m simply doing this because I owe you a favor.”

“I know that,” I replied, nodding firmly, “but Cross has the skills.”

“I’m sure you want to believe that because he’s your cousin,” Rarity explained gently, “but I’d have to see for myself befo-“ She turned her head and her eyes grew wide. I followed her gaze and saw Cross sitting at a sewing machine.

Cross saw both of us staring and stopped the machine, turning bright red. “I’m sorry! One of your dresses had a hole in it, so I was fixing it,” the timid colt explained in a panic.

Rarity walked over to where Cross was, and pulled the dress out of the sewing machine, inspecting the patchwork. She levitated over a set of red glasses to more closely inspect the craftsmanship. After two minutes of silent inspection she smiled down at Cross. “I can hardly tell that the dress was ripped in the first place. Private was not exaggerating your skills it seems.”

“Thank you, Miss Rarity” Cross said, trying to sound as humble as he could.

Rarity removed her glasses and lowered her head to look at Cross directly in his green eyes. He was a little self-conscious from being addressed by a mare as beautiful as Rarity. “Cross dear, would you like to learn under me?”

“Yes, I would!” Cross shouted in excitement. “I promise I won’t let you down!”

Rarity gestured to some dresses on a nearby table “Could you finish with those while I make arrangements with your cousin here?”

“Yes, ma'am!” Cross dashed off, getting straight to work, eager to put his talent to good use.

Rarity laughed a little and walked back to me. “I will get a room cleared for him. That way you need not worry about accommodating him.”

“Thanks, Rarity,” I said with a smile. “This means a lot to both of us.”

“Now, you have got a mare that’s waiting for you,” she said shooing me out the door. “Go on and see her!”

“All right, I’m going!” I said with a laugh as Rarity gently pushed me. I left Cross with his new teacher and walked happily down the snowy street. Everything seemed to be working out for the best.

_____________________________________________________________

I gazed, mouth agape, as Twilight finished performing her trick. It was amazing to watch. She twirled the animals in the air with more grace than I’d ever seen. Spike was nearby, trying to comfort the distressed Fluttershy while the trick was being performed.

It was well into evening, before the show was over. As Twilight and I walked home, she shot me a concerned glance and asked, “Are you sure Cross is going to be all right here? I mean, what has Tailspin said about his cousin?”

I smiled to reassure her and replied, “Tailspin is fine with having another colt his age to talk to. Granted, Cross is about as smart as you are, so sometimes Tailspin gets a little lost in Cross’ conversations.”

We walked to the door to the library and I held the door open for Twilight. She shook off some of the snow and sighed in relief as she warmed her hooves by the fire. “It’s good to see he’s settling in okay.”

I nodded and set my wet trench coat on the rack. I walked over to Twilight and sat down beside her. After about ten minutes of warming up Twilight looked over at me and asked, “So have you given any more thought to the prophecy Zecora relayed to you?”

“About the green eyes?” I mused. “Nah, I try not to think about it. The more I do the vaguer it becomes.”

“She’s never been one to dole out prophecy before,” Twilight said thoughtfully, while staring at the flames. “I wonder what changed?”

“You never know with Zecora,” I stated firmly. “We don’t really know that much about her, even after all this.”

“Kind of like you,” Twilight said with a small smile.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, looking at her curiously.

“Well, when Celestia told me about you, I had no idea what to expect,” Twilight explained. “I thought you were just going to be this cynical, stuck up, jerk that thought he knew better than anypony else.”

“Kind of true,” I said with a grin.

“Well, then you changed.” Twilight’s beautiful violet eyes gazed at me. “You started opening up your heart, and becoming a better stallion overall.”

“Well it snagged me you, so I guess it’s a good change,” I smirked teasingly.

“Do you think me some kind of floozy?” Twilight asked, in mock offense.

“I don’t know, when you first saw me, I could tell you were imagining me without my trench coat.”

“You aren’t half as charming as you think, mister.” Twilight stuck her nose in the air, pretending to be offended.

I put my foreleg around her and pulled her in close, kissing her on the cheek. “Hey, you know I didn’t mean it. You love me anyway, don’t you?” I asked, my grey eyes gazed at her lovingly.

“Why do you have to be so charming when you apologize?” She smiled and returned a kiss on the lips. It was then that I heard movement. Twilight’s horn glowed and an invisible form was levitated in magic. Both of us knew one pony who could go around invisible like that.

Trixie dispelled her invisibility spell and smiled sheepishly at the both of us. “Um, the Great, Powerful, and very sorry Trixie says hello?”

“Trixie I thought you were on the road again,” Twilight said with a sigh as she set Trixie down.

“Trixie was going to,” the blue unicorn explained, “but then she had an epiphany.”

“What epiphany is this exactly?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That Trixie has much to learn about magic,” she admitted, her violet eyes looked at Twilight and then down at her hooves. Twilight looked a little uncomfortable as the show mare took her hoof pleadingly and announced, “I wish for Twilight Sparkle to teach me!”

Twilight looked at me and then rubbed the back of her head self-consciously “Wow, Trixie, I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you will teach me” Trixie looked pleadingly at Twilight. “Trixie will do whatever you ask! Anything at all!”

“All right, Trixie,” Twilight said, raising her hoof, “I’ll teach you what I can. No more crazy amulets or anything like that though.”

“Deal!” Trixie said with a smile as she embraced Twilight. She then noticed I was still here and walked to embrace me as well. I’m guessing she still held memories of the case back in Canterlot.

I gave into Trixie’s eagerness to please and hugged her back. Trixie then left to set up permanent shop in Ponyville. Twilight looked at me with a mixed expression and asked, “You really think I could teach her?”

“Twilight,” I looked into her eyes and answered honestly, “You’re the most brilliant magician I know. You’re also one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Odds are, you can make a difference with Trixie.”

Twilight smiled and pressed her muzzle into my neck. I felt her hooves slowly wrap around me. Our eyes met once again and she spoke softly, “Private, I love you so much.”

I returned her embrace and kissed her tenderly on the lips. Our tongues danced in our mouths as my hooves ran down her back. While I was kissing her, I thought I heard a small female voice say, "Daddy and Mommy, stay together forever…"

___________________________________________________________

Perspective: Irenius Eye

I marched out of the elevator leaving behind a group of very wary ponies. I can’t believe this! How dare he even think of pushing Lazy to this point! I tried everything in my power to be a good brother to him, but it seems one thing will never change. Once Adamus is in your life, expect hell.

I ran up to the desk where his secretary, a young mid-thirties unicorn mare with a bright auburn mane, sat. She looked up from her hoof file and saw me, her blue eyes grew wide.

I slammed my hoof on the desk and demanded, “Where’s Adamus?”

“He’s in his office now,” she answered nervously. “Um, do you have an appointment?”

“He shouldn’t need to make an appointment for his own son,” I growled.

“Go right in then, sir!” she said, almost hiding behind her desk from my fury.

I nodded thanks and entered my father’s office. It was spacious and had numerous antique paintings on the walls. A large window in the back overlooked Manehattan’s skyline. At a mahogany desk sat none other than my father himself.

He was well into his seventies by now. His grey coat was covered by the expensive black suit he wore. His mane was long and slicked back, it had turned silver long ago. His old eyes were blue, the ones I shared with him. Right now they maintained a steely look upon me.

“Father,” I said coldly.

“Irenius,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “This is most unexpected.”

“Don’t give me that garbage,” I spat with a frown. “You must know what happened to Lazy.”

“Of course I do.” he said smoothly, leaning forward and setting his hooves on his desk. “A terrible tragedy, that he would perform all that just to get favor from me. He was always the most loyal of my sons,” he said, put emphasis on the word loyal, “but sadly, never the smartest.”

“How can you say that about him?” I growled. “He’s your son! No different from Slant or I!”

“Slant is a degenerate who spends half his time in clubs and the rest in any mare’s bed.” He shook his head disapprovingly and continued, “Lazarus was always a fool, so eager to please, yet unable to do anything right.”

“Are you truly so cold?”

“You wanted my honest opinion,” he replied with a shrug, his blue eyes meeting mine. “You have it, neither of my subsequent sons could compare to my first.”

I said nothing as he got up from his desk and walked over to me. There was tension in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife. His gaze was cold, but also a tad sad, “You Irenius, were always the greatest of my sons. You were brilliant, cunning, and had a keen eye for detail. All qualities that made you into the stallion you are today.”

I kept my gaze on him, not giving into the flattery.

“Then you threw it all away for her,” he said in disgust, his tone developing a slight edge, “a Pegasus urchin with no future at all.”

“Don’t you dare!” I growled.

“I let you two become friends because I believed it would help your image,” He said his lip twisting into a sneer. “Irenius Eye, a charitable soul, would’ve made such a nice headline.”

“Then I fell in love with her” I said firmly, smiling at the memory of my beloved. But that smile soon turned into a sad frown. I missed her so much. Sometimes when I thought of her, even after all these years, the pain of her loss still took my breath away.

“You betrayed us!” Adamus shouted “Our family was one of the last pure unicorn families left! You were supposed to marry young Cantry; she would’ve made a fine wife.”

“Neither of us wanted to marry each other!” I fired back. “She was in love with another and so was I. We both agreed that we should pursue what our hearts wanted.”

“That chicken planted those ideas in your head!” I gritted my teeth at his slur, fighting the urge to buck him in the face. “You were a perfectly obedient son, until you met her!”

“Oh, so I’m not allowed to have a heart?” I growled. “No wonder mother hated being around you!”

“Don’t you dare bring her into this!” Adamus growled back.

“You’re right,” I said coldly with a nod. “I won’t bring her into this. We've had this same conversation over twenty five years ago.”

He stared at me for a long moment and finally asked, “So why are you here?”

“I’m here because I want to tell you that you can stop this,” I said, looking at my father pleadingly. “You’re still my father, and I want you to be a grandfather to my children.”

He just narrowed his eyes and asked icily, “You mean those bastard children you had with the bird?”

“They are legitimate and you know it,” I said as calmly as I could, through gritted teeth. “I’m giving you a chance, father, a chance to stop this stupid war.”

“I’m giving you a chance as well,” Adamus said smoothly. “Despite your age, there’s still a chance for you to start over. I know several mares who’d gladly take a widower.”

“I’m not starting over,” I said firmly, “I’m never remarrying.”

“What will happen to the family business?” Adamus asked coldly. “You would just let it rot?”

“No, I will hold onto it as long as I can,” I explained. “I’m also partnering with Fancypants to support it without your help.”

“You plan to cut me out?” he asked with an evil laugh. “You’d have to get through me first.”

“I plan on it,” I replied with determination.

“What will you use?” Adamus smirked. “Those pictures? Easily destroyable, and nopony can prove I was with that mare. You have a bug on you? The magic at the entrance automatically destroys any bugs. You plan to undermine me? I have friends in businesses everywhere. There’s no possible way you can destroy me.”

I closed my eyes and said simply, “I’m giving you one last chance, be the grandfather to my children, or I will use the one advantage I have over you. The one advantage I will always have over you.”

“Irenius,” he said, putting a hoof on my shoulder, “You were always the greatest of my sons. Everything I did was for you. Every deal, every arrangement, every plan, it was all for you. Will you throw all of that away for some colts that want nothing to do with the business?”

The secretary from before peeked her head inside. “Um Mr. Eye, you have a call from Jet Set, something about a new deal on sky carriages?”

“Can you ask him to wait?” Adamus asked.

“No, it’s fine” I said turning towards the door. “We’re done here.”

“You still haven’t told me how you will destroy me” Adamus said smugly.

“I can topple this entire empire,” I said, turning back towards him and meeting his gaze, “with one question.”

“And what, pray tell is the question?”

I just turned, walked to the secretary, and whispered in her ear. One phrase, one phrase that fed into the advantage I had. The one advantage I will always hold over my father. The phrase will destroy him and his empire. I didn’t want to do this, but he left me little choice. It was time somepony stood up to him.

The phrase you ask?

“Doesn’t he look tired to you?”

With that, the first crack formed in his castle wall. Ready to be accompanied by several more. I’m sorry father; I only wanted you to see, but you will never understand.

___________________________________________________________

I set some flowers on Sparrow’s snow covered grave. It took all of my power not to break down in front of it. Oh Sparrow…

______________________________________________________

25 years ago…

I sat on my back, trying to sleep but couldn’t do it. Sparrow’s soft breathing could be heard as she slept soundly next to me. We’d be married for almost two years now. I still found myself wondering how lucky I am to have her as my wife.

But the reason I couldn’t sleep, was for another reason entirely. I looked over at my beautiful sleeping bride. Then down from her face to her swollen belly.

Inside there was my foal, and it was the reason I couldn’t sleep. We learned a while back that it was a boy. He would come soon, so very soon. I was scared to be honest, what if he didn’t like me?

I heard a groan and saw Sparrow open her grey eyes to look at me. A smile developed on her face and she asked softly, “The baby again?”

I nodded slowly; I couldn’t lie to Sparrow to save my own life. “I’m just worried, about being a father,” I admitted.

She put a hoof on my face and smiled that wonderful smile of hers. “Irenius, you have nothing to worry about. Our foal is going to love having you as a father,” she reassured me.

My ears flattened, not entirely convinced myself. “I just, never really had a father like you have,” I confessed. “Father was always so distant. What if I become like that?”

Sparrow gently kissed me on the nose, her smile infectious. “You’re such a dork, Irenius," she said with a chuckle, "you’re more nervous than you were before our wedding.”

I blushed in embarrassment at the memory. I'd botched the rehearsal when I fumbled my way through the vows. I just couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be marrying my best friend after all these years. I made a complete idiot of myself. Thankfully it didn’t spread to the actual ceremony.

“Truth is,” Sparrow continued, as she looked down at her belly, “I’m nervous as well about all of the things that will come from this little one.” She ran a hoof along her belly with a warm smile on her face.

“You have little to be nervous about,“ I said with a teasing smile. “If it becomes too much, we can always hire a nanny or something.” She'd already made her feelings on the matter known, but I loved teasing her about it.

She shook her head, her electric blue mane moving with her, “We're not going to hire a nanny or butler for him!”

“Sparrow,” I said earnestly, “What about your acting career?”

“My son is more important to me,” she said firmly. “He needs a parent in his life. I’m not going to be like those other nobles that see their children as just pieces on a chess board. Our boy is going to have us in his life as much as possible.”

“What will you do for work?” I asked

“Rainbow Shine said there’s an opening for me at the flight school,” she replied with a smile. “I always did like teaching others.”

“Always the selfless one,” I mused. “Isn't there anything you just want for yourself, Sparrow?”

She reached over and took me into her forelegs. She pressed her muzzle to mine affectionately. I knew the answer before she even said it. “You, Irenius, I want you for myself, most of all.”

I smiled and embraced the mare I loved, her wings folding over around me. She looked up at me and smiled encouragingly. “You are one of the most kind and sweet souls I know. You may be a total dork when it comes to romance, but I love you anyway.”

“You’re saying I'm a total dork?” I smirked. “Who was the pony who tried to hook up Fancypants with that super model?”

“They were adorable together,” Sparrow squealed. “Fleur was so happy when she met Fancy for the first time. I just had to help hook them up!”

“Let’s just hope our son doesn’t pick up that habit of yours,” I laughed. “He’ll try to hook up all of his classmates in school.”

“Then he’ll ask one girl out on a date,” she retorted playfully, "and eat all the flowers he was going to give her.”

“I was nervous,” I replied defensively, “and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast that day!”

She and I just laughed at the memories. Then she smiled at me and said softly, “Irenius, in all seriousness, I do believe you’ll be a great father.”

“I know you’ll be an amazing mother," I said as I returned her smile.

I reached a hoof and put it on her swollen belly. I felt my son kick inside her. We’ll see each other soon, my son.

I can’t wait to meet you…

_____________________________________________________

Present

Sparrow, I wish things would’ve gone better for us. I wish you could see Tailspin, and how much he’s like you. There is nothing I can do to change what has gone before, but I will set things right. I will be the father they deserve, and I will honor your memory forever...

My love, my life.

Chapter 1 "Uncle Lazarus"

Equestria Noir

Case 17

“Marked”

Written by: Jacoboby1 and ShatteredIllusions

Cover Art by: Skullman846

Chapter 1

“Uncle Lazarus”

“Darling, you really need to be more careful on your cases,” Rarity said, as she went about repairing my trench coat. She’s been doing all my personal tailoring since the first time my trench coat got ripped up. Bringing it back from the Alicorn summit did not help matters.

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly, standing off to the side. “I don’t mean to trouble you.”

“Not at all,” she replied, waving a hoof as she began fixing the holes in the coat with her magic. “Anyway to contribute to the stallion that helped Sweetie Belle is most welcome.”

“You’re really something else, Rarity,” I said with a genuine smile.

“Just one last stitch and done,” she said, smiling at her finished creation. "That should do it, but in all seriousness, Darling, try not to get it completely destroyed every case.” She levitated my grey trench coat back to me.

“No promises,” I said with a grin. I took the trench coat in my own magic and slipped it on, noticing a stack of fliers on a table. “What are those for?”

“Oh this?” she asked, levitating a pink flier in front of me.

I read the words aloud, “Looking to delve into the world of fashion? Stop by Carousel Boutique and interview for an apprenticeship.” I looked at her and tilted my head. “What brought this on?” I asked, curiously.

“Spikey Wikey suggested it to me,” she replied, smiling at the memory. “The little dear pointed out that all my talent and success is for nothing if I don't share my skills. So, he suggested I go about teaching a young filly or colt my craft.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said, nodding approvingly. “It’ll be a good experience, for you and the lucky foal.”

“I do hope so, Darling,” she said before turning her attention to several unfinished dresses. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. Dear Sweetie Belle is going on a camping trip with her friends and she wants me to tag along. I'll need to work extra hard to get these ready for Fleur’s order in time.”

“All right,” I agreed amicably, turning to walk out. “If I spot any candidates for that apprenticeship I’ll send them your way.” I left Carousel Boutique behind and walked down the streets of Ponyville at a brisk pace, putting my newly repaired trench coat through its paces. Rarity was always so quick to volunteer when it came to repairs. I hoped this new apprenticeship deal would allow her to get some much needed down time.

Maybe I should take my own advice.

_______________________________________________________

I settled down on my couch across from my dad and stated, “Somepony from our family needs my help?”

“Specifically, your Uncle Lazarus” Dad said, taking a long sip from his hot chocolate. I swear he’s addicted to the stuff. “Do you remember him at all?”

“A little,” I admitted, taking a sip of my own hot chocolate. “He’s your younger brother right?”

“He's the middle child,” Dad explained. “I was the eldest; he was next, followed by your Uncle Slant. Anyway, a family heirloom called the Eye of Serenity was stolen last night. He’s asked me for help in finding it, and you can probably deduce what happened next.”

“You pointed him to me,” I answered.

“It may seem trivial, but that eye has been in our family since your great grandfather’s time. It’s very important to our family, and especially to Lazarus.”

“What can you tell me about him?” I asked, taking another sip. “I don’t remember very much to be honest with you.”

“There’s good reason for that," Dad admitted. “Lazarus was one of the many voices who objected to me marrying your mother. He was more like your grandfather than he’d care to admit. Stubborn, a little arrogant, and always looking ahead, that’s Lazy for you.”

“Lazy?”

“My pet name for him,” Dad said with a smirk. “It always drove him crazy, that’s what I liked about it.”

“Why aren't the police to looking for the eye?” I asked.

“I asked him that as well, but apparently he wants to keep this whole business quiet. That, and also your cousin has been dying to meet you.”

“I have a cousin?” I queried, raising an eyebrow.

I knew I had quite a few cousins on Mom's side of the family. Mom and Dad’s families were pretty different when it came to size. Mom’s family size was basically equivalent to the Apples. She had four sisters and two brothers. Dad’s side was much smaller. Mostly because nobles had the smallest amount of foals possible. This was the first I’d heard of a cousin on Dad’s side.

“You never met him before because he was born not long after Tailspin was. They’re about the same age,” Dad explained. “His name is Cross, and when he heard you could take on the case he was overjoyed.”

“I guess I have an admirer,” I said, with a slight laugh. “I’ll clear some things up here, and I’ll have to tell Twilight I can’t make it to see her animal levitating trick. You got an address for me?”

“Here,” he replied, handing me a card with the address written on it. “It’s uptown, not far from where our old home was.”

“All right, I’m going to call Sparkler and-“

Dad raised a hoof, silencing me. “Before you leave, I heard that you'll be attending a dinner with Twilight’s parents soon?” he asked with a sly gleam in his eyes.

My face turned red and I tried to play it cool. “Yeah well, you know, they are curious who she’s constantly working with.”

“I see,” he said with an impish grin. “Things are getting serious are they not?”

“Dad,” I groaned, feeling like a teenager again.

“I just want to know when I can be expecting grandkids…” My dad broke into laughter as my jaw dropped.

“I, no wait, she, I arrgh!” I stomped my way outside. I was not going to have this conversation with him. He was getting too much of a kick out of seeing me embarrassed.

Though, the thought of Twilight and I getting married had crossed my mind. So had the thought of starting a family with her. The idea scared me, but excited me as well. Maybe dad was right, things were getting serious.

That vision I had, way back in Appaloosa. Was that filly truly mine and Twilight’s? I still remember her words, I love you daddy.

I always did want a girl…

___________________________________________________________

After explaining the situation to Twilight I left via train to Manehattan. She was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to see her perform her trick, but she understood it was a family matter and I needed to deal with it.

As I stepped off the train onto the platform I bumped into somepony trying to get on. “Hey, watch it!” I shouted in true Manehattan style.

The mare was clad in a black cloak with some kind of amulet holding it on. I couldn't see her face under the cloak but I somehow knew she was looking at me. She just walked right past me, her gaze lingering a moment too long as she entered the train. I just shrugged and walked out of the station.

When I got outside I saw a strange sight, all around me, a bunch of zebra families were getting off trains. I’d never seen so many zebra in one place before. Most were carrying only basic belongings, and didn’t give me a second glance. Though I’ll admit I gaped openly.

As I stared I noticed that the zebra were being led by police escort. Many of them were being directed by officers to various parts of Manehattan. Other officers were trying to keep a crowd of protestors away. The protestors held up signs that basically boiled down to "We don't want them here". I saw Shinebadge walking over to me. He gave me a half smile and said, “Didn’t expect to see you back in town.”

“I have family business to attend to,” I explained. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to steal a case or anything.”

His dark eyes were trained on me; I could tell what happened with the Discord case still rang in his mind.

I sighed, “Listen Chief, I wasn’t-”

“I don’t wanna hear it,” Shinebadge interrupted. “Ya reacted how I would’ve. I couldn’t ask for more, Private.”

“Anyway,” I said, ready to drop the whole subject. I looked at a family of zebra, trying desperately to contain their eager children, asking an officer for directions. “What’s with all the zebra?”

“They’re immigrating,” Shinebadge explained. “There's a plague running rampant through their homeland. Some decided they’d rather venture here than be stuck in some prairie without a future.”

“Where are they all staying?” I asked.

“Most are taking on factory jobs,” Chief explained, watching a zebra couple as they looked around in awe at the city. “They got a whole section set up downtown, used to be an old slums area until the Zebra took it over. We call it Zebra Town now.”

“How many are there?” I asked.

“Too many if ya ask me,” Shinebadge replied, as he gestured to the protesters. “See them nut jobs? They believe that the zebra have faked the whole plague to steal our jobs or somethin'. Just means more trouble for my boys keeping the peace.”

Just then, I saw him. It’s hard to tell with zebra, but he looked about my age, maybe a year younger. His mane was stylized like a Mohawk, similar to Zecora’s but with a more rebellious style I guess. His stripes adorned his body almost like tattoos that added to the mystery of him. His tail was braided and on his flank was a cutie mark of an eye, a single teardrop falling from it. His ice blue eyes met mine for a moment before he walked past.

I noticed he had a black vest on, as well as some brown bracelets on his forelegs. What really caught my eye though was the badge on his vest. I had to ask, “Who’s the new guy?”

Shinebadge looked at the Zebra and gave a shrug “Apparently he’s somepony the zebra trust. Sort of like a detective for them. He doesn’t talk much, only gave me his name, explained why he was important, and asked for a badge so that he could investigate something. He seemed all right, and the zebra listen to him, so I gave him the badge.”

“What’s his name?” I asked with curiosity

“I can’t pronounce his real name,” Shinebadge admitted, “but he just goes by Seeker. Like I said, he doesn’t talk much. I can’t really tell you anything else about him."

I caught Seeker’s gaze again, just the way he looked at me. It was like he was trying to assertion whether I was worthy of his time or not. Funny, Twilight mentioned I gave such a look to the criminals I was investigating. I simply shrugged and walked off. Shinebadge didn’t need me complicating matters.

Still I couldn’t shake the look Seeker was giving me. I couldn’t help but feel he was watching my every move. It was kind of creepy to be honest. Now I know how some of my suspects feel.

_____________________________________________________________

I stepped out of my taxi and gazed at the mansion towering over me. It was well over four stories tall, the walls made entirely of marble. The gardens outside were lush and teeming with all sorts of plants. Uncle Lazarus was definitely not worrying about his next meal anytime soon.

I paid my fare and watched as a young mare in a maid's uniform approached me. She was a teenager, probably still in high school, with a golden coat and a dark brown mane tied up under a bonnet. She curtsied before me and spoke in a rather refined voice, “Welcome Detective, Master Lazarus is awaiting your arrival in his office.”

I nodded and replied, “Lead the way then.”

She led me inside the mansion; I couldn't help but notice the walls were lined with various expensive paintings and some statues of ponies. Geez this guy was rich. I couldn’t help but feel a little peeved that for all his money he'd never even offered to help Tailspin out.

Then again, I might not have accepted it.

The maid opened a door leading into a lavish office. To the left over a small fireplace I spotted a painting of Adamus Eye. Even in paintings he looks like he thinks you are dirt. I never understood how my dad, who was at least a decent stallion at heart for all he'd done, could have come from a stallion like Adamus.

I looked towards the window and saw my Uncle Lazarus for the first time in over a decade. He was a unicorn, a few years younger than dad. His mane was jet black with streaks of grey in them. His coat was a lighter shade of grey then dad’s. A set of glasses rested on his muzzle, giving him an air of intelligence. He smiled upon seeing me and said, “You’ve grown a lot, Preventus.”

“Please, Uncle Lazarus,” I said, raising a hoof, “I prefer Private.”

“Whatever you say," he paused, narrowing his green eyes, "Private.” I could tell he wasn’t taking the fact I insisted on the name well, but he shrugged and said politely, if somewhat coldly, “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Dad says you had something stolen?” I asked.

“Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chair that the maid brought up. I sat in it politely, as he explained, “The Eye of Serenity has been in our family for generations. Going all the way back to your great grandfather, Jeremiah Eye. He acquired it many years ago in a faraway land. Your grandfather left it in my care after everything that happened with…”

“You don’t need to get into that,” I reassured.

“Good,” Lazarus sighed in relief. “I was hoping we wouldn't have to open old wounds while there’s a bigger crisis at hand.”

“This heirloom, what is it exactly?” I said, taking some of the tea offered by the maid.

“Your grandfather never told me what it is exactly” Lazarus admitted, passing a photo across the desk to me. It was a sigil etched in some kind of black stone. It depicted an eye with a single tear drop falling from it. “Apparently it’s so important that somepony snuck in the middle of the night and stole it right out of its display case.”

“You picked me out so that word doesn’t get around that you couldn’t take care of a single artifact,” I deduced.

“You are quite clever,” Lazarus complimented. “Irenius was right to send me you.”

“I’ll investigate the crime scene and see what I can find,” I volunteered, as I took a sip of the tea. Then I looked Lazarus in the eye and spoke frankly, “I can’t guarantee anything, Manehattan is a big city, and the odds of finding the item are as small as the city is big.”

“Even still, I want you to do what you can,” Lazarus replied firmly. “It’s imperative that this heirloom be found.”

“I’ll see what I-“

“Dad?”

I turned and looked behind me, there in the doorway stood a colt, same age as Tailspin. He was a unicorn, with a Lincoln green coat and a short mane of black. His lime green eyes were hidden behind a set of black rimmed glasses. That wasn’t the most striking feature about him though; he was wearing a grey trench coat like mine.

Those green eyes grew wide upon seeing me as he squealed, “Dad, is this-“

Lazarus chuckled and looked at the colt. He walked to him and smiled at me “I don’t believe you two have met, Private, this is my son Cross. Cross, this is your cousin, Private Eye”

Cross stared at me as I walked to him. I held out a hoof in greeting and introduced myself, “Hey there, I’m Private. It's nice to meet you.”

Cross looked at my hoof for a long time before taking it. He smiled wide and said, “I’m Cross! It’s so amazing that I get to meet you! I’m your number one fan!”

He’s my what now?