Twilight Velvet's "Pseudo Facade"

by ZhaoZoharEX

Heart of Stained Glass ~ Chapter 2

The nightlife of Las Pegasus was what made the city prosper. The clubs, the casinos, the entertainment industry, there were many reasons to be active after dark and many found it more appealing than the mornings and afternoons. However, the crepuscular and nocturnal lifestyles weren’t all fun and games for some. It was also when the criminals often came out and when the cops would have to be more alert.

In all fairness, the more simple crimes did not pose much of a problem for police, especially on a good night; dumber crooks were easier to catch. Besides the resident thief, it was the organized crime ring that was a bigger issue. The collective underground knew their turf just as well as the authorities did and then some. Above all, the crime lord of Las Pegasus was among the most feared ponies out there.

This was a thought that Professor Cherub held in his mind as he walked in from the evening rain into the Viceroy Hotel lobby. The albino unicorn took the time to dry off his raincoat before folding it and placing it into his bag, afterwards walking to the front desk.

“Hi, how can I help you today,” the mare at the desk greeted.

“I was supposed to meet the executive manager here in one of the reserved offices. My name is Professor Cherub Mannequin, Las Pegasus University.”

“Okay, give me a moment to find your name.”

The clerk flipped through the pages of her book, scanning ever so carefully for the scheduled appointment. Every second spent made the professor more nervous. Truth be told, he did NOT want to be here. Though the zodiac motif of the lobby gave off an intriguing vibe, he felt various degrees of pressure building. His heart was pounding so hard that he feared it would burst out of his chest at any given moment.

“Ah, here it is. Hold a moment,” the clerk pressed a button on an intercom located near the book. “Mr. King, your seven o’clock has arrived.”

~”Good, send him up.”~

“Right away, sir. Okay Professor, your office suite is on the twenty-seventh floor and it’s room eighteen B. Would you like me to hold your belonging?”

“No, thank you.”

Cherub picked his bag up with his magic and headed towards the elevator. As he ascended the building, he tried his best to calm himself. He did not want to give his client a bad impression, not when he was offering so much money. At the appropriate floor, he stepped off into the hallways and looked for his room number. It was the very last one on the south side and as he approached it, he saw four stallions in gray coats, sunglasses (which were all in their breast pockets), and driver hats.

One of them, a muscular crimson stallion, halted the professor with a rather disinterested glare. “Have you seen the full moon tonight?”

Cherub took a small breath before lightly stomping the ground twice. “It casts a glow worthy of her majesty’s reign.”

The red stallion glanced back at the others and all three ponies, a white unicorn, a black pegasus, and a pale green pegasus, each nodded. The first stallion gestured the professor to follow them inside the room.

He was greeted to a spacious office with windows that gave a fantastic view of the city. The room itself though was very dimly lit by only the light of the moon and the sickly green light of a lava lamp on the desk where a couple other ponies were sitting. One of them was a pegasus who appeared to be in his thirties. It was difficult to tell what the color of his coat was from the combination of his charcoal suit and the lighting of the room, but the mint green shade was easily made out once he stepped forward and offered a hoof shake.

“Professor Cherub. Thank you for meeting with us here tonight. We apologize for the inconvenience, but I pray you understand.”

“Jade King II,” Cherub responded accepting the hoof shake before sitting at the empty table side. The remaining ponies, besides the suited stallion, was an older jade colored stallion with long bleach blonde mane, and a celadon colt who appeared to be between ten and thirteen years of age. Neither the colt nor the younger stallion intimidated him very much.

It was the older figure in the center and his menacing glare at him that increased the pressure in his chest, especially with the non vegetarian plate set to his side.

“So, professor,” the elder stallion began in a quiet, deep voice. “I understand your major is engineering.”

“Yes sir.”

“You have handled volatile materials, have you not?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then allow me to be straightforward. Do you have the know-how on building explosives?”

Cherub choked back a gasp. He did indeed know how to engineer such devices and could easily craft them if given access to such materials. But he knew who these ponies were and what they did. If they are asking him to do such a thing, he could only shudder at their purpose. There was no possible way out of this now though as if he were to deny, he would likely never leave the building.

“Y-yes sir, I do.”

The old stallion glared, as if to burn deep into Cherub’s mind that he should be thankful for being so merciful. He then stood up and walked over to the large windows to look out into the city. “Good. Junior?”

“Yes, father. Now, we have information from an informant that somepony among us is working against us. The problem is we don’t know who, our source was only able to gather that he had a white coat, and some blonde in their mane.”

The colt slid a folder towards the professor along with a vial. “This is a strand of hair one of our guys recovered from the target’s last location. May not be your specialty, but I’m sure that as a scientist you can find ways to analyze DNA. We suggest starting there.”

“Where do the explosives come in? And why are you asking me of all ponies to hunt down this pony? Couldn’t you send one of your guys after them?” Cherub asked incredulously as he took the folder and vial.

“You’d think, but we don’t want to draw attention from the feds,” Jade King II responded. “He’ll recognize our regular men. We need somepony outside the ring to ice him.”

“Like say a struggling professor,” Jade King III interjected with a smirk. “And we can easily compensate. Do this job, and you’ll be able to pay off your bills and then some.”

“And if you don’t,” Jade King I said looking back with one ice cold brown eye. “I’ll be holding a feast for the family later.”

Cherub gulped. He wouldn’t…. Would he?

“Now for the explosives part,” Jade King II said clearing his throat. “We not only want to roast the bastard, but we also wanna send a message. Nopony. Betrays. The Jade Kings. Do you understand, Professor?” Cherub nodded nervously as he stood up. “Good. We want to go over a few things with you later. We’ll place an ad in the entertainment section of the paper tomorrow. Make sure you read it, meet our guys there, they’ll tell you what you need to do.”

After backing up into one of the guards and being escorted out, the three generations of the Jade Kings were left to discuss amongst themselves. “So, you think it’ll work,” Jade King III snickered. “Think he’ll go through with it?”

“He will,” Jade King I responded without turning away from the window. “A pony like him is too cowardly to face his own demise. If all goes according to plan, he’ll be gone and so will the Jack of Clubs.”

“Do we really have to get rid of him, dad?” Jade King II pleaded.

“The professor has owed us much and has yet to-”

“No no, I was talking about Facade. Do we really need him gone?”

“...Oh. Not necessarily, but we don’t need him around either. Not with his MO. He’ll expose us if we give him too much leeway. Besides, he damaged my hotel the other day with that whole soap and water thing. I outta throw him off the roof.”

“That’s gramps, cold and ruthless as ever,” Jade King III grinned.

“Yeah, joy,” King II responded sarcastically. “Are you going to need anything else tonight, father? I best prepare a workshop for our... guest.”

“Go on then. I need to finish up here.”

---

The early morning in the villa was fairly quiet when Sleuth woke up from a rough slumber. In the previous night, he had been trying to get settled into his new home, albeit in a temporary room. Though arranged to marry, he felt sleeping together before the wedding was a faux pas, especially considering the bride’s age. With a glance at the calendar, marked off the previous day before looking further at a circled day.

November twenty-seventh, the eighteenth birthday of his future wife, as well as the day she would be old enough to marry.

That was still seven days away however and there would be other times to think about it. For now, he needed to get ready for work. The precinct would be expecting the new inspector and he would be remiss if he was late on the first day of work in Las Pegasus. After taking a shower and putting on his uniform, he stepped into the kitchen to retrieve a lunch bag he had prepared the previous night and placed it into his satchel before munching on a plate of sandwiches on the counter, set out for him by the staff. Once all set to go, he walked out the door where a stallion and carriage was waiting to take him to work. As he wasn’t yet used to the route, he would have to learn it.

Arriving at the station, he disembarked the carriage and thanked his driver before walking inside where he was greeted by a unicorn officer.

“Good morning sir. Officer Constable. Let me escort you to the war room.”

“Lead the way, Constable.”

The room Sleuth was lead into was populated by a few other officers, among them Bobby and Mounty along with Gavroche. Items in the room itself all related to the city’s thief, such as a photo album with pictures of his loot, a map of the city with circled parts he had struck, and a billboard of sketches depicting his possible appearance based on past cases.

“Good morning, Inspector,” Officer Mounty saluted, as did the other officers with Sleuth returning them.

“Shall we get down to business? What’s the itinerary for today?”

Gavroche pointed to an opened letter on the desk behind Sleuth, who used his magic to pick up the letter and read the typed out words.

On the twenty-second, the Mirage Knight’s Medallion shall mimic its master’s fate under the silver windswept currents. With the new inspector joining us this time, I am curious to see what he can bring to it. I sincerely hope he will provide more of a challenge than the mature bird.

~The Jack Of Clubs

“Egotistical bastard. The Museum of Mythic Arts received this letter and as usual came to us,” Gavroche grunted, chewing on the end of a pencil.

“I thought you transferred out of the case,” Sleuth inquired.

“I did. But since you’re new around here, I want to spectate a bit. This guy is cocky, but he’s pretty good. I’ve been chasing him ever since I was assigned to the case over thirty years ago. Practically spent half my career just trying to nab him. After the last time, I had it.”

“Thirty years, huh?” Sleuth pondered. ("If that’s the case, this Facade would probably be somewhere between his mid forties and early fifties. If he’s been doing this for that long, then he’s got to be both bold and smart to be able to outwit the police and still be free.")

“This is a little weird though,” Gavroche continued. “Just about every other time, he would always send his note within two weeks of his heist and would always strike on the promised day, no earlier and no later. Yet now, he’s given both us and himself two days to prepare and the letter was a lot less elaborate this time around. That’s not like him.”

“Yeah, I found that kind of odd too,” Officer Bobby added.

“I believe he wants to make things clearer because of me joining the hunt,” Sleuth said sitting down in a chair, still analyzing the note. He had subtly switched his magic to use an analysis spell used by many forensic scientists, checking for any aura residue or DNA traces, none of which were found. “Like Inspector Gavroche said, he is cocky. This note is clearly a challenge to me specifically. Somehow, he knows about my presence. Well, if he wants a battle, we’ll give him a war.”

“What do you propose we do, Inspector?” Officer Constable asked.

“First off, I would like to go to the museum to record its layout so I can plan accordingly. I would also like to talk to the owner and staff, as well as obtain a record of any visitors and maintain constant surveillance for the last forty-eight hours. I want everypony to keep a close eye on any patrons that come in during that time, especially during the red hours.”

“Yes sir, I will notify the security as soon as you give the word.”

“And I want you to do a full body search on the staff as well, including security. We need to rule out a possible inside job. We don’t know yet if Facade is using any accomplices and if he is, we can cripple him a bit at the very least by taking away that advantage.”

“Roger.”

Constable left the war room to inform other officers of this part of the plan. Sleuth went on to detail and explore several options with the other officers. By the time the day of the heist would come, he would be ready to capture him. But part of him also wanted to see the legend in action. Part of him wanted to see the impressive escapes he was famous for.

Alas, he was an officer of the law. It was his job to capture criminals and bring them to justice. Even if Facade was the occasional Robin Hood, he was still a felon. Sleuth was confident in his abilities. Maybe he wasn’t as experienced as his father or Gavroche, but he made up for that in eagerness. He was confident that somehow, he would catch the uncatchable.

And he would smile when that time came.

---

A museum wasn’t usually a place most teenagers would choose to spend their Saturday off from school. Most would prefer the malls or other places where they could hang out with friends. While that was fun and all, Soprano took an interest in a particular section recently, thanks to her own work. And of course, the museum gained several visitors that day because of this.

Over the course of her career, Soprano gained an appreciation for the relics that withstood time itself. Some of the stories surrounding them held more importance than her demographic really cared for. The artifacts themselves also had a very archaic feel to them that appealed to her materialistic side, something that she can’t seem to feel in jewelry or fashion trends lately. What she was concerned with most today was the exhibit of the Mirage Knight, the armor of said Knight in a display case along with the glossy medallion that gave off a gorgeous shimmer from which Soprano could not look away.

“Oh my,” Soprano said thinking aloud. “To think the prop guys have to make a replica of this. I only wish I have the real thing.”

“Oh my gosh! Soprano? Soprano Serenity, is that really you?”

The young actress pulled her eyes off the exhibit and looked in the direction of the voice who addressed her, belonging to Officer Mounty with Officer Bobby standing near. Instantly, Soprano assumed her appropriate posture, not wanting to look unladylike in the face of company.

“Why hello there, officers. How are things today?”

“Soprano Serenity!” Mounty squeed before Bobby pulled her to the side.

“Sorry about that, Lady Serenity. You’ll have to forgive her, she’s a huge fan.” ("Geez, Mount. This is why nopony takes the police seriously anymore.")

“Hey, it’s quite alright. I meet many fans on a daily basis. Trust me, you get used to it.”

“Yes, I’m sure you do. Err, we’ll just continue about our business. Come on Mounty, Inspector Slewfoot needs us running the perimeters.”

“Wait, Sleuth is here?” Soprano asked at the name Slewfoot.

“Uh, confidential business. Not at liberty to give away details-”

“Let me guess. Facade?” Soprano grinned.

“Uh… Well, we… Err.”

“It’s alright, guys,” Sleuth said walking into the area. “I’ll take it from here.”

Bobby snuck one last glance at the mare before practically dragging Mounty away, taking note of how much prettier the celebrity was in person. ("Damn, Slewfoot. How did you ever get so lucky?")

“So, may I ask what brings you here today?” Sleuth asked his fiancee in a subtly annoyed tone, a tone which Soprano identified right away.

“If you must know,” Soprano said with a huff. “I came here to do a little research, thank you very much.”

“Is that so?” Sleuth responded as he removed her straw hat from her head, exposing the bun tied hair underneath.

“Hey! What, may I ask, are you doing?” Soprano responded irritated.

“Checking to make sure you aren’t Facade or an affiliate. I wouldn’t put it past him to disguise himself as you to slip right past me.”

“Ugh! The nerve, accusing me as being that hunk- THUG! Yeah, thug is what I said. Totally.” Soprano blushed a little as she tried to recover from her verbal slip, growing a scowl as Sleuth adopted a grin as if he was about to laugh. “Shut up! How do I know you aren’t Facade.”

Soprano pulled on Sleuth’s cheeks as she attempted to check for mask. “You don’t hath to pull sho hard,” Sleuth slurred with his speech affected. He retaliated by tickling the armpits of the offensive mare, sending her into a laughing fit. Both were thankful no other patrons were around, lest the embarrassment be unavoidable.

“No fair,” Soprano said in a mock pout but still giggling from the ‘security check’. “How do you know my one weakness?”

“I looked after you, remember? I still remember things from six years ago. Besides, we’re to be married soon.”

“Oh shut up. Anyway, was I right earlier? Is all this going on because of Facade? He’s going to strike here, isn’t he?”

“I’m not at liberty to say either, Soprano. Confidential information.”

“Oh, okay then. At least I know my soon-to-be husband likes to keep secrets from me. That’s a great sign right there.”

“Dammit Soprano. Fine. He plans to steal the Mirage Knight’s medallion. Happy?”

“Quite… You do know I was only kidding, right?”

“Quite, but you do bring up a point. I suppose I can’t keep everything from you. But I hope you understand when it comes to top secret information. I can’t go around telling it to everypony.”

“Yes, yes. I will tame my lips for now.”

“Well, I do need to go to lunch soon. Maybe we can go together?”

“I’d love that, Sleuthy. Let’s.”

After informing the others over radio of his lunch break and putting Officer Constable in charge for the leave, Sleuth followed Soprano to a small diner across the street. Thankfully for Sleuth, there were few other ponies dining, aside from a few elderly stallions who either didn’t know of their celebrity company, or didn’t care.

“So what kind of research are you doing?” Sleuth said as he picked up his menu. “Another project?”

“Yep. I’m staring in a musical adaptation of The Mirage Knight’s Hour and I wanted to know a little bit about the story behind it. I’m playing la Duquesa de Vidrieras, you know the royal who tamed the rowdy warrior and my very own ancestor. I was also kind of curious to see what the historical armor and stuff looked like.”

“Armor and stuff, huh?”

“I don’t know what the word for it is.”

“Paraphernalia. I’m not actually familiar with the story by the way. Would there be any reason Facade would be after that little medallion over everything else? I mean, the armor I can understand but…”

“That medallion is sort of a symbol for our city. The Mirage Knight was a real historical figure who played an important part in the founding of San Palomino Province and was indirectly involved in the founding of Cloudsdale too. Basically, he was a pegasus warrior named Fata Morgana who had a perpetual rage and thirst for blood. One day, he wandered into a city, the precursor to Las Pegasus, and entered a tournament. He became the champion and he was approached by Duquesa de Vidrieras, the duchess of the city. The warrior eventually became her partner in politics, military, and in overall life.”

“Oh? Wasn’t he supposed to be a brute? How did he get that far?”

“You would be surprised how powerful love can be, romantic, platonic, or otherwise. See, Fata Morgana never had a family or any friends to speak of. He was called Mirage Knight because he blended in with his surroundings, both in environment and society. An optical phenomenon was even named after him. Duquesa de Vidrieras was kind of his first friend and he adopted her as sort of a sister figure. It really says a lot when you devote yourself to a pony you love and respect. ‘I weep for my passing yet I gladly discard my future as I vanish under the silver windswept currents to ensure yours.”

Those words caught Sleuth’s attention. “Silver windswept currents? Does that have any significance now?”

“According to the modern version, it’s an archaic term for the common nighttime winds the city gets. Fata Morgana supposedly died on ten o’clock exactly under a full moon, but his body was never recovered. It was like he just disappeared like he was a mirage. All that was left was his armor and his medallion, the prize he won in the tournament that was said to bring him luck in all his major battles.”

("Ten o’clock. Full moon. Windy.") Sleuth made a mental note of these details. Perhaps he would do some more research, but those particular things stuck out to him as it wasn’t just a poetic setup for a story, it was also a possible condition for a crime to be committed. ("Facade said that the medallion would mimic its master’s fate under the silver windswept current. If the Mirage Knight vanished at ten o’clock, perhaps thats when Facade will strike. It’s just a hunch but it’s worth checking into.")

“Sleuth? Hello? Sleuthy, say something. You’ve been a little too quiet,” Soprano said irritated.

“I just thought of something that I need to inform my men about. I’ll be right back.”

“What? Wait, Sleuth!”

The blue unicorn rushed out of the diner, oblivious to the waitress passing by with the food he had ordered. Soprano remained seated at the table with a scowl decorating her face when the waitress place her food on the table.

“And daddy wonders why I question the whole marriage thing...”

---

On the night of the heist, the officers were all prepared for the arrival of their target. The surrounding blocks were closed and a patrol blockade was set up to prevent foot entry into the area surrounding the museum. In the air, a police chopper hovered with its spotlight lit and scanning. The interior of the building was tightly secured with SWAT level officers, patrolling in teams of four in strategic areas. Aside from the museum director who was given a thorough body search, the entire area was occupied with law enforcement officers and only they were given clearance to be there.

“Radio check,” Sleuth said into his walkie upon entering the building.

~“You’re clear, Inspector,”~ Bobby responded.

“Good. Constable, what’s your status right now?”

~“I’m at zero point with Popo and Noncom, sir.”~

“Mounty, how about you?”

~“On Overlook A. Bobby is en route to Overlook E with a beanbag rifle.”~

“Actually Mounty, I need a pegasus with me to run a quick check of the building. I want you with me, I’m going to have Centurion take your place at Overlook A. Do not leave your current position until he gets there.”

~“Ten-four.”~

“All other units, stand by.”

Sleuth passively observed the preparations until Mounty flew down from the second story balcony in the exhibit room. The inspector gestured for her to follow from higher in the air while he took the ground level. When in the halls, Mounty took to covering the rear while Sleuth’s observant eyes scanned for anything suspicious. At some point, the duo reached the roof of the building.

“Looks like the place is clean for the time being. It’s almost that time though, do you want me to stay by your side or do you want me to go back to zero point?”

“I’m going to stay up here for a few minutes, I have a feeling he’ll break in from the roof somehow. If you can offer it, I would appreciate your presence just in case I need back up.”

“Roger that. I just hope Bobby can handle my absence this time.” Mounty knelt down to the side of the door and place her rifle to her side.

“Worried about Bobby? He is an adult and an officer, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“I know, but I can’t help it. Big lug and I have always been close friends, like brother and sister. Heck, we lived together for awhile after graduating college, that’s how close we are. It’s a little hard not to be concerned for each other’s safety.”

“Interesting. I do see you two together a lot, come to think of it. Still, he is an expert shot from what I hear.”

“He always was the better markspony. Being a police officer has been his dream since he was a colt. Me? I always wanted to try out for the Wonderbolts, but I didn’t do very well at the academy.”

“And you became an officer after that?”

“Well, the police force has military characteristics and I could go though the police academy with my best friend, so it seemed like the next best thing. I ended up liking the idea of serving and protecting. What about you, Inspector? What made you join the force?”

Sleuth sat down beside the pegasus, fairly relaxed despite the impending deadline. From the information gathered, he was sure neither he nor Mounty was in any physical danger, but he still maintained an awareness of his surroundings just in case. “I’m kind of half and half. My family originally hails from Canterlot where my father was a Captain in the CPD. At some point when I was growing up, I had this fascination with the idea of catching bad guys and I always wanted to be the hero who saves the day. Now that I’m older and have gone through the experience, I realize how childish that sounds. But all the same, I want to restore the former glory of the police department.”

Mounty raised an eyebrow as she listened to her boss speak. Perhaps he and Bobby aren’t all that different. “So glory motivates you? That’s a little vain, don’t you think?”

“In my opinion, it really depends on how you look at it. Sure maybe it is a little foolish, but if I can help some people in the process, then I take pride in that. We both know that this job is never routine, but it’s also never boring. Most of us work hard to earn our living. That is what separates us from the crooks we apprehend.”

“Um, okay. I guess.” ("Maybe ‘glory seeker’ is a bit extreme.")

Sleuth stood back up while glancing at his watch. “Get ready, it’s almost time.”

“Indeed it is.”

The deep voice startled the two officers with its abruptness. Mounty quickly got to her feet with her rifle ready while Sleuth pulled his revolver from its holster. Both looked all around the rooftop for the source of the voice, but nothing yielded any findings.

“All units, we have a possible sighting of the Jack of Clubs on the roof. Please stand by and be on guard,” Sleuth ordered into his radio.

It wasn’t until the chopper’s spotlight illuminated the roof that the shadow of a cloaked figure stood in front of Sleuth, the feet of the shadow converging with a silhouette standing above the door. It was here that he saw the infamous pony with his own eyes.

“Facade…”

Comments

[Jasmine Tea]

this is really good, I don't know why no one is commenting on it?

[ZhaoZoharEX]

5581660 I'm not sure how I missed this comment for over a week, but thanks for taking the time to comment.

I think it's mostly because it's A) an all OC story, and B) it isn't really all that well advertised and thus probably isn't too well known. Either way, try the bets I can to make this acceptable at the very least. It is my attempt at an OC only story and I plan for it to be an ongoing series. It originally came from the idea that it was an in-universe book series written by Twilight Velvet.

Right now, I'm very behind in other projects so I can't really say when the next update for this story will be, though I am about 2/3 of the way through chapter 3.