Equestria Noir
Case 2
“Dance of Death”
Chapter 1
“A Brand New Day”
Coming up with living arrangements wasn’t easy initially. With Twilight and I getting married we had to figure out who would live where. This discussion ultimately led to this result. It was decided that Spike would stay at the library and have Twilight’s old room to himself, the guy couldn’t sleep in a basket forever. Trixie was made to stay there as well, continuing to use Twilight’s spare room.
As for my house, Twilight moved in shortly after our return from the gala a few days ago. My bed soon became a double bed and my home book collection far bigger. Tailspin was happy to keep his living arrangements and I was glad to. This way, I can still keep track of him while also living out my married life with Twilight.
Twilight as a living mate came with it’s own issues though...for example...
SPROING!!
“GAH!!” I fell out of the bed as her wing flinged me onto the floor. Twilight groaned awake as Celestia’s sun entered the room. She saw me on the floor and tried her best to flatten her wings. “Oh Private, I’m sorry, I still can’t control them yet, it’s very annoying.”
“I’ll say,” I said, getting to my hooves and using my magic to fix up the bed.
Twilight looked at her wings and said, “You know, I’m starting to think these are more trouble than they’re worth.” She tried to flatten a wing, only to have it spring up in a random direction.
“It’ll just take practice.” I said encouragingly, I then climbed back on the bed and gently helped Twilight fold the wings into a position at her side.
She looked at me, “Thank Celestia your mom was a pegasus.” She smiled, “I just hope I can figure them out by the time we really need them.”
“You’ll figure it out,” I encouraged, running a hoof along her wing. “You only became a princess about a month ago, there’s plenty of time.”
She smiled and kissed me on the cheek, “Time to get your brother up.”
I watched Twilight head for the door, “I can get him.” I tried to implore, only to receive a head shake from Twilight.
“He’s my brother now too Private, and I think I proved myself capable of getting him ready in the morning” She smiled and trotted out.
“Only you would think to get Tailspin up and attum on a saturday” I said, rolling my eyes and chuckling.
I looked outside to Ponyville beginning it’s day. Ponyville was as good as new after all the repairs were done. Now, everypony was going about some semblance of a normal life here. The market stalls had been set back up, and the market was going on in it’s usual manner. Haggling, and selling, fruits and vegetables, various treats, and general harmony abounded in the square. There were ponies in the restaurants, and going into Sugarcube Corner. Rarity got the occasional customer, too, though most ponies went sans paltalones for most of their time. All in all, the Battle of Ponyville was becoming a memory, and an entry in the history books.
I left the picturesque view and went to get myself ready. After a quick shower, I donned my trademark, now restored, trench coat and slapped my Fedora on my head. It was, so good to be back in it again. Having to strut around in suit jackets or al naturale made me appreciate Rarity’s craft all the more.
I trotted over to the kitchen and went about trying to fix a breakfast. Twilight had tried cooking back on our honeymoon, sadly the best she could hope for in terms of getting food would be to teleport one of AJ’s pies over. So, I was relegated to head chef. I didn’t mind it one bit, just enjoyed the art of cooking.
I heard the sound of wheels and looked to see Tailspin enter. “Hey bro!” He said, rolling up to the table and digging into his breakfast.
Twilight followed soon after, “Tailspin don’t be so quick, you’re going to get crumbs all over you.”
“Twiliiight!” Tailspin groaned as Twilight began wiping Tailspin’s face with a levitated napkin. I couldn’t help but smile, Twilight was fitting into the role of sister in law pretty well. In all honesty, I’m glad to have another pair of eyes on Tailspin.
I looked in the fridge and examined our food stock “Looks like I’ll be taking a trip to the market.”
“The money is in the drawer Private,” Twilight said, before biting into some toast.
Twilight was the pony in charge of the money in our home. Her organizational skills came in unbelievable use since I’ve met her. Accounting is just a bunch of organizing, so she was more than happy to put it to good use on our checkbooks.
I took the money out of the drawer and stashed it into my trench coat. Tailspin finished his meal and spoke up, “Cross, Tyran, and I are gonna go meet up for today. I’ll see you guys later!” With that, the colt put his dishes in the sink and dashed out the door.
Twilight walked to me, “Eleven years old and still full of life.”
“Ponyville’s been good for Tailspin.” I said, “He never would’ve made this many friends back in Manehatten.”
“Helps he has the Eye trademarked charm.” Twilight said with a laugh.
I smiled and kissed her on the lips, “I’ll take care of the food, you got some alicorn magic to experiment with.”
Twilight got that twinkle in her eye that I always loved to see. When it came to her newfound alicornhood, she was most excited about her new spell repertoire. I haven’t seen her this excited since that one time she decided to try and figure out the timeline of Star Trot.
Twilight gave me a kiss and said, “I’ll be at the library, see you than, Privy” She smiled, using my nickname.
I smirked, “See you too, Twi” I didn’t really have a gooey pet name for her. Maybe I should drink love poison to come up with some names. Nah, bad idea, next thing you know I’ll be falling for a plant and name it George or something.
________________________________________________________
Twilight and I stepped out into Ponyville and she made her way towards the library. I went a different direction to find the market. Everypony around me was either waving or trying to get my attention on a particular product. But, I knew one stand had what I needed. Good ole Apple family tre-
I felt somepony bump into me and turned to see Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were the culprits. The pair shook their heads, Applebloom smiled up at me “Howdy Private, care tah buy some apples?”
I smiled at Bloom, “Well yeah, you don’t need to try and sell them okay, I’d like not to take half your sister’s stock.”
Bloom blushed in embarrassment as Belle giggled. Everypony remembers Applebloom’s early attempts at getting a haggling cutie mark. Suffice to say, she remembered it too.
Sweetie then stopped laughing. “Actually, Private, have you seen Scootaloo anywhere?” she asked.
I shook my head, “No why?”
“See,” Applebloom spoke up, “We were gunna try and ‘elp Dinky get her cutie mark. All three of us Crusaders got our own cutie marks, we think it’s time fer helpin’ the new batch.”
“But we can’t do it since we’re one crusader short,” Sweetie said, shaking her head “Lately, Scootaloo disappears like this every Saturday. We have no idea where she goes and we need her help right now.”
I nodded, “If I see her, I’ll tell her that you girls are looking for her.”
“Mighty ‘preciate it Private.” Bloom said, smiling up at me.
“Come on!” Sweetie started walking off, “You can crush all over Private later! Let’s go!”
“AH AIN’T CRUSHIN!!” Applebloom cried, chasing after her friend who was giggling the whole way.
“Seems Bloom’s still got a soft spot fer ya.” I looked to see Applejack occupying her stand.
“I’m just glad it’s just a filly’s crush.” I said, walking over to the stand. “She’ll grow out of it eventually.”
AJ smiled, “Out of apple merchandise huh sugarcube?”
I nodded and reached to toss the bits onto the stand. “That should be more than enough.”
Aj then took only half the bits.
“AJ,” I said, looking at her, “You can’t seriously...”
“Hero discount,” AJ said, walking over to her bushel of apples, “‘sides, we got a surplus this year and the harvestin’ is still young. Think of it as a way of showin’ appreciation to the stallion who saved Big Mac’s tail.”
“How is the soon to be husband?” I asked, leaning against the stand.
AJ chuckled “More nervous than you were. Whenever Ah try to ask ‘bout his proposal tah Flutters he gets more shy and quiet than his fiance.”
“Some things never change.” I said with a laugh.
“Now, let’s pick out a good...” AJ plucked out an apple, but then her eyes went wide. “Well ah’ll be, Scootaloo what’re you doin in here?”
I walked over to look and sure enough, there was Scootaloo’s head sticking out of the basket of apples. Everything below was covered by the apples as she glared at us. “Shh, don’t tell anypony I’m hiding!”
“What’re you doin?” AJ repeated herself “Does Rainbow know you’ve been hidin’ in ‘ere?”
“Well, sorta” Scootaloo said, a guilty smile came to her face.
“What do you mean sort of?” I asked, looking at the tangerine pegasus. “Sweetie and Applebloom have been looking for you. Are you three arguing?”
“No, we’re not.” Scootaloo said, looking away.
“Then why are ya hidin?” AJ reached her hooves into the basket and grabbed Scootaloo to pick her up.
“No wait!” Scootaloo said, struggling to remain in the apples despite AJ’s pulling. AJ pulled as hard as she could until...
Oh my gosh...
Scootaloo...was in a tutu...
Scootaloo’s face turned bright red as she was revealed. She was clad in said tutu, a pink tutu no doubt, along with a leotard and some...ballet slippers...
“Yeah yeah, get on with it, already,” Scootaloo grumbled.
“Aww,” AJj said, putting Scootaloo down on the ground. “Ya look pretty Scoots.”
“Geez,” Scootaloo groaned, “If either of you blab I’ll get Princess Luna to haunt your dreams I swear!”
“Come on Scootaloo,” I said, smiling at the orange filly “It’s not a terrible thing to be interested in dancing.”
“Wasn’t exactly my idea.” Scootaloo grumbled, crossing her hooves.
“Then who’s idea was it?” I asked.
“It was mine.”
I turned and saw a pretty earth pony mare in her late twenties walking towards us. Her coat was a soft cream color with a cutie mark of a pair of dancing shoes on her flank. Her mane was the color of bronze and was tied back and out of the way. Hey eyes were a soft golden brown, and they looked towards Scootaloo. The young filly was trying everything in her power to make herself smaller.
“Scootaloo, I was worried when you didn’t show up for your dance lesson,” She said, in a very sweet and gentle voice.
“Miss Tappy!” Scootaloo spoke up, “Do you want the whole world to hear I take ballet lessons?!”
“Not just ballet Scootaloo,” Tappy said, “But any form of dance is a good way to express oneself.”
She went on to lecture the young filly. I looked over at AJ, “I’ve heard of her, she’s Tappy Hoof right?”
Aj nodded, “Moved here not long before the Twi’s princessin’. She was here during the battle, after seeing how the kids were all sad with their town gettin busted up, she decided to offer up dance classes. Kids really like her from what I hear, she let’s them get their pain out through daincin’.”
I smiled, there seemed to be a lot to admire about Tappy. The mare finished her lecture to Scootaloo with, “Scootaloo, you have a great talent for agility.”
“In the air!” Scootaloo pointed out “I took the course because I thought it would help out with my flying! But I didn’t sign on to dance around in this frou frou dress!”
Tappy put a hoof on Scoot’s shoulder “Scootaloo, you have that talent both on and off the ground. I know you’re worried about what your friends will think.”
“I...” Scootaloo looked down at her hooves.
“You danced with Tailspin didn’t you?” Tappy asked.
Scootaloo blushed a little and said, “Well, yeah but, that’s because it’s Tailspin. He really wanted me to and well...”
Tappy just smiled, “I know ballet may not be the most, how do I say, cool of dances. But, it takes a lot of work and dedication. Not to mention intense physical strength, balance, endurance, and pain tolerance. But, I can guarantee that once your friends see you on that stage, they won’t judge you as weak or frou frou as you say. They will simply see a wonderful, beautiful dancer putting her heart and soul into something worth doing.”
Scootaloo smiled slowly, looked at Tappy and said, “Guess I’d better get to practice huh?”
Tappy winked at Scootaloo “I’ll walk you back, come along.”
With that, the pair walked away. Aj smiled after them “She’s done a lot of good things fer those kids. Ah’d sign up Applebloom, but we all know what happened the last time she tried dancin’.”
Part of me was glad I didn’t witness that infamous talent show.
I got everything I needed from the market and put it in my saddle bags. As I began my walk home I noticed somepony walking hammering a poster to a building. It was Lyra, the mint green unicorn had a sad look on her face as she finished her task.
“Lyra?” I walked over to her and said, “What’s wrong?”
She looked over at me and said, “You know Bon Bon and I were going to adopt right?”
Lyra and Bon Bon have been together for almost as long as Twilight and I have. They got married sooner however, around the time the crystal empire came back. I didn’t know they were thinking about something as big as this.
Lyra levitated over a picture of a filly, the picture showed that the filly was a young earth pony with a short baby blue mane and an aqua colored coat. She looked to be about five in the picture as she was holding a teddy bear.
“She’s really cute,” I said with smile.
“Her name is Minty,” Lyra said with a smile, “Bon Bon and I found her after the battle. Poor filly was hiding in our basement after a changeling chased her there. She just kind of entered our hearts after that.”
I saw the poster said missing on it. “What happened?” I asked.
Lyra shook her head, a tear starting to form in her eye. “I don’t know, she wasn’t at the orphanage yesterday, and just as we were about to take her home too. Bon Bon and I are posting these all over town, hoping that somepony finds her.”
I took the poster and said, “If I catch a hint, I’ll get right on the case.”
Lyra smiled wide, “You’d do that?”
“Hey, it’s my town.” I said, pocketing the missing poster in my trench coat. “I can’t have fillies disappear.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Private,” Lyra said, “Maybe you can help me investigate that human I know is in the Everfree Forest!”
I gave her a flat look. Her wife would not be happy is she found out I ran around the woods trying to find something that may or may not exist. I just said, “I investigate deaths and missing ponies, not missing humans.”
Lyra shrugged and then turned back to her picture. Her sad expression formed again, followed by a look of determination. “Don’t worry, Minty, mommy set the best detective on the job.” She put a hoof on the picture “He’ll find you.”
I only hope I can find a lead...
I didn't want to let Lyra, or anypony for that matter, down.
______________________________________________________
The next day...
SPOING! And suddenly, I was kissing the floor. This is getting to be a habit... I got up to find Twilight glaring at her errant wings.
“I swear if this keeps up I’m going to just chop them off!” Twilight growled, morning was not agreeing with her.
I got up, shaking my head “At least it’s not as loud as an alarm clock.”
“Just a lot more annoying,” Twilight said grouchily.
“It woke me up from a good dream I was having too,” I said, watching her rub sleepiness out of her eyes.
She then looked at me, a curious look in her eyes “What kind of dream?”
I smiled, “Oh, about some princess.”
“Really?” Twilight said, a grin coming to her face. “What was she like?”
“Smart, beautiful, a little nerdy though.” I replied, fixing up the bed.
“Says the pony with a crystal saber in our closet” Twilight said, giggling at my blush.
“That’s different! It’s geeky, not nerdy,” I clarified.
She laid down on the bed, her head in her hooves as she looked at me. “You know, I kind of like that side of you. Makes you seem like the rest of us.”
I smiled and was about to kiss her s-
DING DONG!!
“Who’s coming around this early in the morning?” Twilight asked.
I checked the clock, “Seven? Either it’s Pinkie hoping to snag a leftover cupcake, or it’s an emergency.”
I made my way outside and down to where the door was. I opened it and saw Cheerilee standing there. Her pink and white mane was frazzled and she was breathing heavily. She looks like she just woke up to. When she saw me, she sighed in relief “Thank goodness I found you Private.”
“Cheerilee?” I said, looking at the schoolteacher. “What’s wrong?”
Cheerilee’s green eyes bored into me “It’s Tappy! My friend Tappy! She came by my house this morning! She’s covered in blood! And it isn’t hers!!”