Looking Glass, P.I: Coins and Crowns

by Kavonde

Chapter 15

A lot happened after Crown Jewel died.

I hadn't heard it during the fighting, but the cops had arrived in force. Apparently, a mole in the F.C.P.D had lured Calla and Cammy into an ambush by Nightingale's colts. They'd managed to grab Calla, but Cammy's tougher than she looks; she knocked the crooked cop on his ass and took off. Once she got back, the department was ready to go to war with the Union, but Cammy thought fast and grabbed my case notes from my office. With everything pointing at Crown Jewel, the chief leaned on one of the judges and got a warrant for his arrest.

When the doors to Crown's private sanctum burst open, I was expecting a mob of angry and heavily armed guards. Instead, it was Cammy and a squad of the bucks in blue. I'd never been so happy to see a heartless adulteress in my entire life, and I told her so. (She wasn't appreciative.)

A search of Crown's estate turned up all kinds of evidence, some of it bordering on the unbelievable. Contracts and agreements had been drawn up with a veritable Who's Who of Equestria's enemies, ranging from griffon clan chiefs to Queen Chrysallis of the changelings. On top of that were ledgers, memos, and other odds and ends that Crown's employees had been stashing just in case they needed to blackmail their boss or bribe the cops. Fully half of the First Equestrian's senior staff wound up on a one-way train for Canterlot, where rumor was they'd be making fine additions to Celestia's statue garden.

Somehow, nothing linking Crown to the Weather Union ever turned up. It didn't take long before many of the less-than-legal operations the First Equestrian had been secretly funding found themselves under new management. Of course, Nightingale didn't get to enjoy her new career as Fillydelphia's kingpin for a few days; she got pretty banged up in her fight, but at least she gave worse than she got. By the time Boulder and Hornet pulled her off of Blackguard, the big unicorn had gotten himself a permanent cockeye and a whole mess of internal injuries. She stopped by to visit me in the hospital as she was being checked out. She made fun of my fighting skills and called me a cream puff for getting the crap kicked out of me by a fat old stallion. She also told me I'd held up my end of the bargain, so we were even... for now.

Calla was pretty well traumatized by the whole ordeal, and it didn't help when Silver's body finally turned up in the Starswirl River. However, she got a pretty nice consolation prize: Silver had thought to update his will before that fateful night, and he'd left his entire estate to her. She'd lost a brother and gained a fortune.

Hot Air got to walk. I didn't say anything about his involvement in Crown Jewel's scheme; it was the least I could do for saving Calla's life. He stopped by to apologize to me on my last day in the clinic, and said that he had a lot of soul-searching to do. He wanted to live up to the examples the Coins had set. I read in the paper the next day that he'd liquidated all of his assets and donated them to various city charities. Then he vanished without a trace.

I, meanwhile, returned to my office a week later. To my surprise, it was clean; cleaner than it had ever been. The walls were freshly painted, my filing cabinets had been scraped free of rust, and somepony had even replaced the ceiling fan with a newer model that didn't creak so damned much. Even the frosted glass on my door was fixed, though the font spelling out my name looked a bit classier, and somepony had added a picture of my cutie mark in the center.

I paced around the office in wonderment, not sure what to make of it all. I didn't even realize I wasn't alone until somepony coughed politely.

There stood Calla Lily, clad in a simple but attractive white dress and matching purse. She sauntered towards me, a mischievous look in her eyes.

“Calla,” I said in surprise. “You did all this?”

“Well, I hired the ponies who did it, yes. I'm rich now.”

“I'd heard.” I settled back against my desk. “Sorry about your brother.”

She smiled sadly. “I suppose there was never much hope of finding him alive. I miss him, though. I wish we'd had more time.”

“Yeah.”

We stood there in silence.

“What can I do for you?” I asked after awhile.

“Oh! I came here to give you this.” She reached into her purse and placed a small envelope on my desk.

I looked at it in curiosity, opened it, read it, and immediately dropped it in surprise. “Calla, you don't owe me that much.”

She put a hoof to my mouth and stepped close to me. “I owe you everything, Mr. Glass. I owe you my life.”

I rubbed at the back of my neck, my cheeks flushing. “I just did what I had to do. Besides, it was Hot Air who-”

She pressed her lips to mine. I went rigid for a moment, then relaxed and sank into it, just enjoying the kiss. We separated a small eternity later.

“Uh, well,” I stammered. “Okay, I guess I can accept the check, but it's really gonna play hell with my tax return-”

“Shut up,” she told me, and we kissed again.

They call Fillydelphia the City of Filial Love. Whoever came up with that had a sick sense of humor. But for all the problems this town has, it's my town. And underneath the dirt and grime, all the crime and poverty and broken dreams, if you're willing to look hard enough, you can find the occasional bright spot.

Just keep in mind that it won't stay bright forever.

Comments

[Stereo_Sub]

Let's see. Good description, well-written, funny, and it's a genre I love. Take your like, follow, and fav. You've earned them.

[Kavonde]

584586 Hey, much appreciated!

[FashionablyHospitable]

And I read the Prince series before this... :)

Good old-fashioned emoticons.

[Nekonyancer]

Apparently, a mole in the F.C.P.D had lured Calla and Cammy into an ambush by Nightingale's colts.
F.C.P.D? You always called it F.P.D. before. Also, remember a . after D.