“‘Still No Leads in Search for Zugzwang,’” Daring read out loud from the front page of the Foal Free Press. “‘New Police Chief Cold Case vows to continue ponyhunt for former Silvertongue associate.’” She grunted and turned the page of the paper. “And also vows to keep Finder and Do out of it.”
“You’re still going on about that?” Phillip asked exasperatedly, turning from the partially sawed-open thigh bone on the experiment table in front of him.
“It’s been a whole moon since we took down Monopoly,” Daring complained, keeping her eyes on him instead of the bone. “And we haven’t had a decent case since. I’m dying over here.” She flopped back on the couch. “I can see the autopsy report now. ‘Daring Do. Cause of death: fatal levels of boredom.’”
Phillip rolled his eyes and turned back to the bone, completing his cut into the still fresh limb and starting to take marrow samples.
“Wonder what he did to piss off Silvertongue,” Daring mused, studying the photograph of the former bodyguard on the newspaper print.
“Maybe he betrayed him,” Phillip suggested, placing the marrow samples in bags and labeling each before pushing the bone aside for later. “Maybe he was Janus.”
Daring considered the possibility for a few moments. “Maybe...but what’s his endgame? What does he get out of it?”
“Money, power, side with the winning side,” Phillip suggested, placing a sample onto a microscope slide and carefully placing it under the microscope lens.
“Winning because we’re on it,” Daring observed.
“That’s the dinky-di of the job, Daring,” Phillip stated. “Take down one wanker, there’ll be two or three others waiting to replace him.”
“And you can bet that all of them are as bad or worse,” Daring muttered, moving on to the next headline: "Cerberus CEO Denies Knowledge of Employees' Wrongdoing." She let out a bitter sigh. “Like I said: being a good guy sucks sometimes.”
Phil let out a grunt of agreement, then turned to a letter and envelope sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Maybe this will turn into something interesting,” he commented, pushing it towards her. “See what you can make of that.”
Daring looked at the envelope first, which had been previously cut open with Phil’s letter opener. The address, which listed both of their names, was written on the envelope in neat blue inking, but instead of a return address, there was merely a name: Sunny Skies. “Canterlot postmark,” she noted before turning to the letter.
The same blue ink with the same neat, precise cursive writing adorned the letter. Daring read in silence:
Dear Mr. Finder and Ms. Do,
I recently read in the Canterlot Herald of your involvement in the exposure and arrest of Monopoly. You have my sincerest approbation for your success; you were able to remove a dangerous criminal from the streets of Ponyville with your cunning, intelligence, and determination. It is those qualities that I require from you now.
I am writing this letter to inform you that I would like to hire you both for an investigation. I wish for you both to understand from the start that this investigation involves information of a sensitive nature; it is for this reason that I am hiring you rather than entrusting the police. It is also for this reason that I cannot discuss further details over a letter or telephone, in case it is intercepted.
I will come down to Ponyville and meet with you at your home in pony on the twentieth of the Moon of Snow, at approximately ten o’clock to discuss further details. I can guarantee at this time that if you take my case, you will be paid double your normal rates.
I look forward to meeting you face to face!
Sincerely,
Sunny Skies.
“Double our rates? Seems a bit too good to be true,” Daring mused.
“Possibly,” Phillip said. “But what can you learn from that letter?”
Daring turned back to the message, studying it carefully. “It’s hornwriting,” she concluded. “You can tell from the inking on some of the words: it’s less bright at the beginning and ends from the pen being lifted off the paper.”
“Good,” Phillip nodded, gesturing for her to keep going.
“They’re an intelligent pony, or old-fashioned,” Daring continued. “Most ponies don’t use words like ‘approbation.’”
“What else?” Phillip said.
“This is high quality paper,” Daring said, testing the thick, stiff stationery. “You couldn’t buy this from any old store. They’re probably good for the bits.”
“Hold it up to the light,” Phillip suggested.
Daring held the letter up to the window and a faint watermark appeared within the paper: “Dida P Co.” in swirling, pale blue-white letters.
“‘P Co….’ Paper company?” Daring theorized. Phillip nodded. “But what’s Dida?”
Phillip’s response was to walk over to his bookshelf and pull down a large green volume titled “Equestrian Gazetteer.” He flipped through the atlas. “D…D...here it is. Dida: Dimondia District, an upper-class district in Fillydelphia. Named after King Dimondia of the Unicorns, father of Princess Platinum.”
“Paper sent from Canterlot, produced by a mill in an upper-class Fillydelphia neighborhood,” Daring concluded, turning back to the letter. “Wait, this is weird. The top part of the letter’s been cut at an angle.” She traced a hoof across the top of the letter, which was indeed at a slight angle compared to the bottom. “Somepony cut something off the top of the letter.”
Phillip pulled out a magnifying glass and studied the top of the letter. “Sharp pair of scissors,” he observed. “Line’s very smooth; again, likely used magic.” He glanced down at his watch. “Well, it’s almost ten now. We’ll know soon enough.”
The faint sound of wings flapping attracted Daring’s attention. She walked to the kitchen and looked out the window to the snowy street outside. A tall, willowy pegasus mare had just landed on the sidewalk in front of 221 and was looking up and down the street. She had a greenish coat and her conservative mane and tail were colored green, white, and purple, like the northern lights. Her cutie mark was a pair of connected sixteenth notes, and she wore a simple brown winter jacket that was slightly too big and a silver necklace with an emerald dangling from it. She was holding open a map of Ponyville and looking down at it, frowning.
“That can’t be Sunny,” Daring mused. “Maybe she got lost.”
A taxi pulled up to the sidewalk and paused. The door opened and after a moment, a different, smaller pegasus mare stepped out. She had a cream colored coat and light rose-colored eyes; her mane and tail were sunshine yellow with blue highlights, both tied in a long braid at the back. Her cutie mark was a sun with a pair of sunglasses. She wore purple diamond-shaped earrings and a white winter coat with matching saddlebags. She paid the driver a sizeable stack of bits with a smile and a wave, then walked up to the door and rang the bell.
“That must be our client,” Phillip said. He walked to the door and opened it wide to admit their guest.
“Ah, thank you!” the mare said, stepping through the door. She stuck out a hoof to shake. “Detective Finder, so glad to finally meet you! I’m Sunny Skies!”
“G’day,” Phillip said, shaking her hoof. “C’mon inside.” He shut the door behind her and led her over to the living room. As he entered with her guest, he exchanged a glance with Daring. She made eye contact with him for a beat, then nodded.
“Detective Do!” Sunny Skies chirped, walking up to Daring and shaking her hoof as well. “It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you as well!”
“Ma’am,” Daring said, taking a seat in one of the two chairs opposite the couch. Phillip sat down in the other one as Sunny Skies climbed up onto the couch.
“Right,” Phillip said. “‘Fore we get started, think it’s best if we all be completely honest with each other.” He gave Sunny Skies an even look. “Your Highness.”
Sunny blinked in surprise, then smiled. Suddenly, her body was awash with a bright golden light. When the light cleared, in Sunny’s place sat a pony with a pure white coat, wings, and horn, taller than an average pony by a full head and shoulder. Her teal, aquamarine, and lavender mane spilled gracefully down to her hooves, and her tail draped down to the floor. The sunglasses had vanished from her cutie mark, leaving behind just the sun; her eyes were now a lighter shade of rosy pink, sparkling with humor.
Daring quickly jumped off her seat to kneel upon the floor. Phillip followed suit, prompting a giggle from their client. “How did you know?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Logic,” Phillip answered, looking up. “The letter was hornwritten, but Sunny Skies is a pegasus, so she either dictated that letter, or she’s using a disguise spell. Letter was also clearly written by an upper-class pony from Canterlot, possibly a royal, enforced by the fact that you cut off the top of the letter to remove the embossed seal. Then there’s your bodyguard outside, the pegasus. Saw the strap from her holster beneath the collar.”
“But I could’ve been just another noble,” Celestia pointed out, still smiling widely.
Phillip and Daring both turned their gazes from her to a point behind the couch. “Not many ponies can pull off a disguise spell like that, and even fewer can afford a bodyguard who can turn invisible,” Phillip pointed out.
Celestia turned to the spot they were looking at with a smile. “You may as well reveal yourself, Sergeant. They knew you were there the moment you walked through the door.”
The air rippled and a blue unicorn stallion with gray eyes and a short blonde mane and tail appeared. He too was wearing a coat, but it was open, allowing the ponies to see the black bulletproof vest and shoulder holster with an automatic pistol tucked inside. He too had a necklace with a plain-looking emerald jewel hanging from it around his neck.
“You weren’t exaggerating, Your Highness,” the unicorn grinned. “They really are as good as you said. So what gave me away?”
“Your sound shadow,” Daring said. “When you walked through the door, you muffled the sounds of the street outside.” The unicorn nodded in approval. She turned back to Celestia. “There is one other thing.”
“What’s that?” Celestia asked.
“Your cutie mark,” Daring said, grinning. “I mean, it’s just your cutie mark with a pair of sunglasses. What, did you run out of ‘I’m not Princess Celestia’ shirts?”
Celestia stared at Daring for a moment with an expression of mild disbelief, then threw her head back and let out a loud bout of laughter, her shoulders shaking in amusement as though Daring had just told the funniest joke in the world.
“Ah, that was good,” she sighed, wiping her face with a wing. She turned to the blue unicorn. “You may as well let Mythic in, they know who she is.”
The unicorn walked over to the kitchen window and tapped at it, gesturing for the pegasus mare standing outside to come in. A few moments later, the door opened and the pegasus mare walked in, stamping snow off her hooves as she entered the living room. She too wore a bulletproof vest and holster beneath her jacket. She took her place at the doorway, scanning the room with a frown.
“Detectives,” Princess Celestia said. “This is Sergeant Arc Light—” She nodded to the blue unicorn stallion, who saluted with a grin. “And Sergeant Mythic Aurora.” The mare scowled at Daring and Phil and gave a curt nod.
“Right,” Phillip said. “So, what’s so important that you need to come down here in pony?”
Celestia’s smile vanished quickly. She reached into her saddlebag and extracted a photograph of a donkey with a chocolate brown beard and icy blue eyes wearing a suit and tie, carrying a leather suitcase.
“His name was Josephus,” Celestia said as Phillip and Daring both studied the picture. “He worked for the palace as a confidential messenger. He came here two days ago to receive a message from an incoming ship.”
“Which was?” Phillip pressed.
Princess Celestia paused for a beat, then said, “A draft of a treaty between Equestria and the zebra tribes in the Grasslands.”
“Your Highness…” Mythic said in a warning tone.
“This is my decision, Sergeant,” Celestia said in a quiet, calm tone. Mythic scowled, but fell silent.
“Josephus was killed in a mugging that same day,” Celestia continued.
“Yes, there was a note in the paper,” Phillip nodded. “Don’t know if they’ve got a suspect.”
“They haven’t,” Princess Celestia confirmed. “I’ve been in touch with Chief Case.” Phillip noticed Daring’s hackles subtly raising at the mere mention of her name. “She told me that Josephus had a briefcase with him, and it appeared that somepony had attempted to open it. There was a copy of the treaty inside the briefcase.”
“Maybe the mugger just took his money, opened the briefcase to see if there was anything inside, and booked it,” Daring suggested.
“That is possible,” Celestia admitted, tactfully ignoring the icy look that Mythic was fixing Daring with. “However, I cannot take that risk.” She frowned for a moment, then added in a quieter tone, “If Silvertongue got his hooves on that treaty, the results could be disastrous.”
A buzzing silence settled into the room at the mention of his name. Even after the fall of Monopoly a moon ago, even after Cold Case had taken the reins of the PPD and evicted all of the dirtier officers from its halls, the art collector remained, untouched and defiant.
“You want us to find out who killed Josephus and if Silvertongue has a copy of the treaty,” Phillip concluded.
“And, if necessary, retrieve the copy and ensure that it cannot be used against national interest,” Celestia added.
Daring grinned. “A chance to stick it to Chuck and getting paid extra for it? How could I say no?”
“A pony has died, and somepony needs to pay. I’m in,” Phillip said, handing the photograph of Josephus back.
“Thank you,” Celestia said, taking the photograph. She stared at it with a sad, wistful look on her face. "His wife bought him that suitcase when he got the job nine years ago," she said quietly, her words seemingly directed towards nopony in particular. She sighed and tucked the photograph into her saddlebag. “I hope that Clarabelle and their two children will take some measure of comfort if we find who did this to him.”
Phillip leaned back in his seat. “Tell me about Josephus,” he said.
Celestia regaled them with a brief overview of her messenger, telling them of his quiet, introspective nature, his tendency to focus on the job at hoof above all else, and his devotion to his family and to the crown. “He would rather die than betray this nation. I would bet my crown on it,” she declared.
“Do you know when he got here, and where he was staying?” Phillip asked.
“He took the six o’clock train to Ponyville that morning,” Celestia said. “He would not have stayed anywhere in Ponyville; he would’ve met the ship that the treaty came on, taken the draft, and come back to Canterlot as soon as possible. He hated this city, and made that very obvious to me several times.”
“Wonder why,” Mystic muttered beneath her breath.
“The ship the treaty was aboard arrived at about noon,” Princess Celestia continued. “He phoned me around 12:15 to tell me that the pickup had gone off without a hitch and he was headed back on the next train. That was the last I heard…” She paused, blinking, then took a deep breath. “That was the last I heard from him.”
“We’ll find out what happened to him,” Phillip assured her.
“Assuming Chief Bi...Case cooperates,” Daring muttered bitterly.
“She will,” Princess Celestia assured them. “I will see to it. She doesn’t know I’m here, but she does know that I have an interest in this case.”
Daring blinked. “Well, that helps.”
“I will be finding a place to stay within Ponyville. Once I’ve done that, I’ll give you a way to contact me if you need further assistance,” Celestia informed them, climbing off the couch. “I will trust you both to keep my presence here a secret.”
“Not a word,” Phillip promised. Daring nodded in agreement.
“Thank you,” Celestia smiled. Her body glowed with a golden light, and then Sunny Skies reappeared in her place. She shook hooves with both Phillip and Daring. “Thank you both.”
“Not a problem,” Phillip said. “We’ll drop by the precinct and see if we can get some more info on Josephus.”
“Good. I trust that you both will keep this discreet, and that you will do everything you can to help.” Celestia gave them both a brief bow. “Good luck to you both. I will be in touch soon.” And with that, Sunny Skies turned and walked out the door. Mythic shot Phillip and Daring a brief glare, then followed after her.
“Let me know if you need another set of eyes,” Arc Light winked at them. “What ponies don’t see can’t hurt them...or us.”
Daring grinned at him. “I like him,” she said to Phillip.
Arc gave one last nod, then lit up his horn and faded from view. Both Phillip and Daring faintly heard hoofsteps retreating from the room, then the door closing and the faint sounds of three ponies walking away.
“So, the precinct?” Daring asked Phil.
“The precinct,” Phillip agreed, standing up. "Oh, hang on." He walked over to a corner of the room and picked up a small shopping bag, which he hung around his neck by the long straps.
"What's that?" Daring asked, putting her pith helmet on.
"Gift for Suunkii," Phillip said, swinging on his vest and placing his trilby on his head.
The two of them stepped out into the snowy streets. A pickup truck rumbled past them; Daring caught a glimpse of Sunny Skies sitting at the trolley stop down the street, waiting patiently. Snow fell lightly from the gray clouds that hung overhead.
Phil let out a heavy exhalation, his breath condensing as it left his mouth. “What’s the point of snow, anyway?” he muttered, mainly to himself, as he turned and started walking up the street.
A grin slithered up Daring’s face. She scooped up some snow off the sidewalk with a wing, packed it up into ball, and launched it at the back of Phillip’s head. The wet snow spattered against the nape of his neck, eliciting a loud yelp from the stallion. “Oi!” he shouted, whirling around.
Daring flew up into the air out of his reach and blew a raspberry at him, then flew towards the precinct in a grey blur. “Get back here, you tosser!” Phillip shouted, chasing after her.