• Published 18th Jul 2012
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Equestria Noir Case 1 "The Big Macintosh Case" - Jacoboby1

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Chapter 4: Party Time!

Chapter 4

Party Time!

“Never thought I’d see you in a bar again, let alone drinking apple cider” She said with that tone of voice she always uses where you can’t really tell what she’s thinking. I was all too used to hearing that voice.

“I’m not here for recreation Larksong. I’m looking for somepony and you know everypony so it should be easy” I said making an effort to state my annoyance. I didn't want her to think for a minute I enjoyed this.

“Really? Because for a moment there I caught you looking at me with those...eyes of yours” She said in that silky smooth voice of hers.

“I’m not in the mood for your flirting Larksong...”

“Whoever said I was flirting? I’m just making light conversation about the fact you still find me attractive”

“Look, can you help me find these ponies or do I need to see somepony else?” I said with an edge in my voice that got her attention.

“Well I suppose, that pink party pony thinks she knows everypony" she smirked a little "But I know those that you don’t see at her parties” I guess every town has that one pony who throws parties all the time.

“Spend a lot of personal time with these" I narrowed my eyes "Ponies whom you know?”

“Don’t get jealous Private, I haven’t held a serious relationship since we split”

“Don’t get cute Lark, just help me and I’ll get out of your mane”

“Here I was hoping you could stay in my mane.... and other parts of my body” She made a show of sliding towards me around the corner and to my side of the table. “Who can I help you find?”

“Two ponies; One is a Pegasus described as being big and black with a scar on his eye”

“Ahh, you're talking about Scarwing”

“You know him?”

She nodded “Yes, He’s a hitpony who works for some high up brass”

“Do you know where I can find him?” I asked inquiringly

“He has a hangout not far from here in an old shack” She said firmly, using her magic to write down an address on a napkin.

“How’d you find out about that? Seems awfully personal to tell some mare you meet in a club”

“You’d be surprised what one is willing to tell a beautiful mare after having too much to drink” She said smiling teasingly

“I should’ve guessed" I then moved on "What about a small red stallion with a top hat?”

“Yahtzee?! That bastard is still in town!?” She said her eyes alight with fury.

I chuckled a little “You two had a falling out?”

“That worthless son of a donkey had me pay the tab for HIS drinks! The nerve of some Ponies, and he even thought I was going to spend some time alone with him! I’d rather sleep with a hydra!” She slammed her hoof on the table in frustration. “You can find that asswipe at the winery and if you see him, give him this!” She slapped me on the cheek and I got the hint.

I rubbed my cheek as I said “I get the message, thanks for the help” I started to get up when she reached up and put her hoof on mine.

Her blue eyes looked at me; I couldn’t read what they said “I still miss you, you know. It gets awfully lonely at night without you there Private”

I pulled my hoof out from under hers. “Should’ve thought of that before you did what you did” I said as I trotted out and didn’t look back at her
_________________________

I levitated my notebook filled with Larksong’s descriptions of the suspects. I had two leads on this case so far and things were looking up. I should be excited that I was getting somewhere, but seeing Larksong again stole away whatever excitement I may have had. She is a long and incredibly complex case that I just wanted to avoid. Part of me wanted to go back to her, pick her up in my magic and reminisce about the old days. But I knew it wouldn’t help me or Big Mac if I did so. That’s what was important now...the case, not my own personal problems.

I trotted up to the library, the lights were off and Luna had sent up the moon. I guessed Twilight went to sleep or something. That perception was thrown to the moon when I opened the door and suddenly the lights came on. I covered my eyes from the sudden brightness and heard noisemakers going off.

“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!!!!” A pink mare with a wild darker pink mane was in my face when I removed my hoof from my eyes. I looked around and saw that the entire place was decorated with balloons, streamers and a huge sign that said “Welcome to Ponyville!” Cakes and all sorts of party treats were on a table nearby. Several Ponies were there as well but my attention was on this wild fireball that was the pink pony.

She got right up in my face and looked at me with excited bright blue eyes. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie! Twilight said you were new in town and I was like WHAT!?! A pony I haven’t met is one less pony who can be my friend! I hope you like all the decorations and enjoy the cake I made for you mister!” She started talking on and on a mile a minute...make that a hundred miles a minute now that I had her attention. I noticed Twilight at the cake table levitating some cake, a guilty smile on her face.

I left behind the pink sugar rush and walked to her frowning “What is all this Twilight? I never asked for a welcome to Hic-I mean Ponyville party”

She looked at me apologetically “Well, when I mentioned you to Pinkie Pie she insisted on doing it. Who was I to deny her?”

“You could have told me Twilight so I wouldn’t be mobbed by Miss Party Crazy over there” I said as Pinkie Pie got a DJ going. I had to hoof it to her; the mare could definitely get a party going quickly.

“That’s just how she is Private, just humor her and whatever you do don’t insult her parties”

“Why would I do that? This party is great! She did all this while I was out. I have to hoof it to her, she’s brilliant at this”

“Just a precaution...” Twilight said shuddering a little.

“Whatcha talkin bout?” Pinkie Pie said behind me causing me to leap out of my coat.

“Where’d you come from!?” I yelled in shock almost falling over at the sudden appearance of the pink fireball of energy.

“Well mister when a Stallion and Mare really like each other...”

“No! I mean when did you appear behind me?”

“About two seconds ago when you two started talking about how awesome this party is!” Several ponies in the room yelled in agreement at the last statement.

I facehoofed...this was going to be a long night “Twilight, we need to work on the case and we can’t-”

Pinkie Pie interrupted again “Case? What case? Oh! You’re that detective! Twilight said you were the detective but I didn’t think so when I saw you. Most detectives have a trench coat and a cool hat but you just have a brown coat and a weird hat! So I guess that’s why I got confused” She trailed off on her endless tangent. I finally put my hoof on her mouth to get her to stop talking. My grey eyes looked at her dead serious.

“Pinkie this is a very important case that I need to discuss with Twilight and I can’t have any interruptions. So please for the love of Celestia stop talking!”

Pinkie sat on her rear and nodded. I swear her mane drooped a little, like a balloon losing some of its air. I removed my hoof and she spoke somberly “Well...okay...I just made this party and everything...I hope you and Twilight can solve the case...” I suddenly felt extremely guilty for saying what I said.

“I’m sorry Pinkie Pie" I said "Your party is great. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. If you want, this party can still go on” I smiled at her and she pulled a 180 and was back to her normal cheery self.

“Alright so does this mean I can help with the case?” this came out of nowhere. I looked at Twilight who shrugged at this.

“Pinkie I don’t know" I said warningly "I appreciate the help but it could get dangerous”

“I can handle it! Danger is my middle name!” She proclaimed

“I thought it was Diane...” Twilight said.

“That’s not what’s important!" She said dismissing Twilight's comment with a wave of her hoof "Applejack’s brother is in trouble! As Applejack’s friend I should help out!” She didn’t lack for confidence that was for sure. I sighed and gave in. Damn it, I couldn’t resist her after seeing her almost deflate like that.

“Alright but you gotta promise me that if it gets too dangerous you back out. Got it?” I said, my voice firm.

“I promise, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye” She even stuck her hoof in her eye to drive home her statement.

“Alright I guess you can help then” I said.

She leaped twenty feet into the air “YES! Everypony! I’m going to be a detective!” Ponies stomped in response to Pinkie Pie’s statement of glee. She dived into the sea of dancing and partying ponies.

I turned to Twilight and sighed “Just when I thought this case couldn’t get any more strange”

Twilight smiled a little “Just let her come along and if she causes trouble I’ll tell her to back off”

“If you say so Twilight, now about the case-”

She put a hoof on my mouth before I could say anything “Just enjoy the party that Pinkie Pie worked so hard to make and cut loose for once. We’ll solve the case in the morning I promise”

“Alright, I’ll try to....cut loose” Suddenly I was yanked onto the dance floor by Pinkie. Twilight waved as I was drawn into the sea of ponies. I’ll admit it was fun just dancing the whole night away. I don’t have many memories of what happened next. I just remember dancing out on that floor. My hooves were stomping to the bass that the DJ was pounding out like there was no tomorrow. I do remember seeing Twilight on the outside of the floor. Her being shoved onto the floor by Pinkie and…dancing with her. For a moment, everything was pure joy and laughter again. Maybe Ponyville isn’t such a bad place after all if it had ponies like Pinkie and Twilight in it.

__________________________

I woke up the next day tired, groggy and with a strange feeling in my stomach. I’m pretty sure the feeling was a result of loud music and a hell of a lot of cake. Did this happen to everypony who went to a Pinkie party? That’ll teach me to ever cut loose during one. I sat up realizing I was on Twilight’s coach with a blanket over me. I shook my head to try and get the grogginess of sleep out of my head. Twilight came down the stairs from her room smiling at me.

“Have fun Private?” She said in a mockingly sweet voice.

“Ha ha” I smoothed my brown mane with a hoof. “Next time you warn me when somepony is going to throw a party no matter what a certain pink pony says”

She laughed a little “Who would’ve thought mister super serious detective was such a good dancer?”

“Where’s Pinkie?" I said looking around "She said she was going to help out but-”

“SURPRISE!!!!” I leaped ten feet into the air and slammed back down onto the floor. I looked up into the blue energetic eyes of Pinkie Pie.

“So mister detective! What’re we going to do first!? Interrogate suspects? Look for clues? Walk around everywhere with a magnifying glass?!” She was hopping up and down with glee. How did she hop with hooves?

“Okay Pinkie, first rule. No startling the detective with the weak heart” I said after getting up and dusting myself off. “Okay Twilight you said you had something?”

We spent the next two minutes getting Pinkie and later Spike up to speed on the case. I hated getting so many ponies (or dragons) involved but the more heads the better in Twilight’s book. I explained to everypony what I learned about the two ponies that Applebloom saw. I took care to omit where I got the info, they didn’t need to know about Larksong.

After I finished my side of the story I turned to Twilight. “Okay Twilight, what did you find?”

Twilight levitated a newspaper and set it down in the center of the floor so we all could see. The headline is what got my attention.

APPLE AND ORANGE FEUD ENDS WITH ORANGE FAMILY LEAVING PONYVILLE!!

An old black and white picture portrayed two stallions and their families glaring at each other. One was a stallion wearing the exact same cowboy hat that Applejack wore and the other stallion was in a business suit with a cutie mark that was an orange. As if this wasn’t strange enough, Tangerio was among the ponies in the background, I could recognize his cutie mark of a split open orange.