//------------------------------// // Case Six, Chapter Five: Relationships, New and Old // Story: Ponyville Noire: Tails of Two Private Eyes // by PonyJosiah13 //------------------------------// Ponyville General Hospital was decorated for the season, with miniature fake trees and holly accenting the white hallways, their scents mixing with the ever-present odors of cleaning fluid, floor wax, and body odor. Flash and Bumblebee sat on a bench in the hallway, having already been poked, prodded and questioned by the nurses. “Still can’t believe that there were only three casualties,” Bumblebee said. “That was a nice shot with that pegasus, by the way,” he added to Flash. “Thanks,” Flash nodded numbly. Bumblebee looked sideways at Flash, then patted him on the back. “Hey, chin up, Flash. You did a great job.” “Still don’t like shooting ponies.” “If you ask me, if you like shooting ponies, you shouldn’t be wearing that badge,” Bumblebee said sagely. Across from them, Prowl was speaking on a telephone mounted on the wall. “No, ma’am, he’s dead,” she reported. “Phillip interviewed him...yes, all above the board.” She was silent for a few moments, then, “Yes, I understand, ma’am. We’ll stand by.” She hung up and returned to her partners. “You both all right?” she asked. “Doing okay, boss,” Bumblebee confirmed. “Okay. Once Phil’s done, we need to get back to work,” Prowl said. “Flash!” a voice cried from up the hallway. Flash looked up to see a familiar purple unicorn wearing a light orange scarf and earmuffs running up to him. An instant later, Twilight had seized him in a hug. “Are you okay?” she cried. “I’m...fine,” Flash wheezed. “Twi...can't breathe!” “Sorry!” Twilight squeaked, releasing him. “I...when I heard that you and the others were involved in a shooting, I was so worried.” “We’re all okay,” Flash said, smiling reassuringly at her. “Well…” he admitted, his smile vanishing. “Three ponies are dead and there are a few wounded ponies, but…” Twilight swallowed and looked down for a moment while she composed her words. “Well...I’m just glad you’re all okay,” she said. “Where are Phillip and Daring?” “In there,” Prowl said, nodding at the door. “Phil’s pretty badly hurt: he took a hit in the leg and the…” She paused and cleared her throat. “Buttock.” Bumblebee had to cover his mouth to stifle his giggling while Flash bit his lip. Even Twilight had to fight down a smile. “He’ll be fine once they get the wounds bandaged and cleaned up,” Prowl said, maintaining her stoicism even as she bapped Bumblebee over the head with her wing. “Excuse me,” a female voice said. The ponies looked up to see a blonde pegasus with rosy eyes walking towards them, followed by a blue unicorn and a green pegasus, all of them wearing large coats. “My name is Sunny Skies. I’m looking for Phillip Finder,” the blonde pegasus said, her eyes lingering for a beat on Twilight. “What’s your business with him?” Prowl asked. “I’m his client for this case,” Sunny Skies said. “Are you working with him?” “Yes,” Flash said. “A pleasure to meet you,” Sunny smiled, shaking his hoof. “My bodyguards, Arc Light and Mythic Aurora,” she introduced her companions. “Phil’s in there,” Flash said, tilting his head towards the door. “Once the doctor’s done with him, we can go in and see him.” “I’ll go in, too,” Twilight said. At that moment, the door opened and a creamy yellow earth pony doctor exited the room, sighing wearily. “Oh, looks like you have some visitors,” he called back into the room. “How is he?” Flash asked. “Nothing serious,” Doctor Hoof replied. “They were both only minor injuries. He’ll have to keep the bandages on for a week or two, but they’ll heal up in no time.” “Thanks, doctor,” Flash said. “May we see him?” “Yes,” Doctor Hoof nodded. “If you’ll excuse me.” He turned and walked down the hallway. “Arc, Mythic, stay out here, please,” Sunny Skies instructed her bodyguards, who both nodded. Sunny, Flash, and Twilight entered the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Arc, Mythic, Bee, and Prowl outside. “So what’s it like, being a bodyguard?” Bumblebee asked Arc Light. “When it’s not exciting and dangerous, it’s usually pretty boring,” Arc Light replied, leaning against the wall next to Bumblebee. “Sounds kinda like my job,” Bumblebee said. “But once in a while, you see some pretty interesting sights,” Arc grinned, scanning Bumblebee up and down with an intrigued glimmer in his eyes. Bee blushed slightly and turned away. “Uh, you didn’t see anything suspicious around here when you came in, did you?” Arc pondered the question for a moment. “Has anypony asked you out for Hearth’s Warming?” “Well, no…” Bee said, blushing even harder. “Then that’s the only suspicious thing around here,” Arc said, causing Bumblebee’s entire face to turn red. Further down the hallway from him, Mythic and Prowl both sighed. “Stallions,” Mythic said. “He reminds me of my husband,” Prowl commented. “He proposed to me four times on the day we met.” “When was that?” Mythic asked. “On the chopper flight from his village back to base, after I pulled him out of a river,” Prowl explained. "Granted, he had a concussion and was high on morphine, but still." Mythic turned around to look at Prowl, scanning her up and down. “You Air Force?” she asked. “Staff Sergeant, Twelfth SAR,” Prowl said, rolling up the sleeve of her uniform and showing off her “Angels in Flak Jackets” tattoo. Mythic looked at the tattoo for a moment, then held out her hoof. “Sergeant, Third Cavalry.” “Hooah,” Prowl said, bumping her hoof against Mythic’s. “Mjolnir Down is a hell of a company.” “That they are,” Mythic agreed. “So how’d you end up bodyguarding some idle noble?” Prowl asked. Arc let out a loud snort, then quickly cleared his throat when Mythic glared at him. “You’d be pretty surprised where life takes you,” Mythic said, smirking a little with the half of her face that Prowl couldn’t see. “I’ve heard of turning the other cheek, but this is taking it a bit far,” Daring snickered, standing next to Phillip’s bed as Doctor Hoof bandaged his wounds. Phillip shot her a glare over his shoulder as he lay chest down on the bed. “Your bedside manner needs work,” he growled. “Because I’m better at my bed topside manner,” Daring purred with a smirk. Phillip grumbled quietly, his ears turning red. “Ow!” he yelped a moment later. “Hold still,” Doctor Hoof scolded. “You’re lucky that bullet just grazed your leg. Otherwise, you’d likely be in a cast for a solid month or two. As it is, you’d best keep these bandages on for at least a week.” “Which is about how long it’ll take for her to shut up,” Phil said, glaring at Daring, who continued to grin back at him. Doctor Hoof finished bandaging his leg. “There: those bandages will help accelerate the healing. Now, no extraneous activity until that heals completely.” “Darn it, doc,” Daring pouted. “I was just planning on having some extraneous activity with him when we got home.” Doctor Hoof blushed deeply. “You got any more of those bandages?” Phillip asked. “Might need some for her mouth.” “Kinky,” Daring said, wiggling her eyebrows. Phillip growled and rolled his eyes as Doctor Hoof exited. "You know, maybe after this, we could try ana—" “Oh, looks like you have some visitors,” Doctor Hoof interrupted before disappearing. A few moments after he left, Sunny Skies, Twilight Sparkle, and Flash Sentry entered the room. “You okay?” Flash asked. “I’m fine,” Phillip said, turning over so that he was lying faceup on the bed. “Damn lucky you were there.” “Indeed,” Sunny Skies said. “When I heard that you were involved in a shooting, I…” She paused and cleared her throat. “I am so relieved to see that you are unhurt.” “Me too,” Twilight agreed, glancing sideways at Sunny Skies as she spoke with a contemplative expression. “His ass deserves a medal,” Daring said. “Nearly took a bullet up main street for a kid.” “‘Preciate the concern,” Phillip grunted, sitting up with some difficulty. “But we have work to do. Those ponies that attacked us, they’re Mareish Mob. They targeted Skeleton Key specifically, and then us. That tells me something: we’re getting close to something.” “Agreed,” Daring said. “The Mob works for Silvertongue here, and Silvertongue wouldn’t try something this big unless he was scared of something.” “Skeleton Key turned himself in to protect his brother Rusty, and his wife Meadow Dance,” Phillip explained. “She was kidnapped two weeks ago.” “I do remember hearing about that case,” Twilight said. “I read once that if a kidnapping victim isn’t found within forty-eight hours, their chances of being found alive are very slim,” Flash commented. “Don’t say that!” Twilight said, glaring. “I’m just saying…” Flash started to reply. “We’re not giving up on that,” Daring said. “It’d be in Silvertongue’s advantage to keep Meadow alive so he can keep Rusty in line.” “First of all, we need to start looking into Meadow Dance’s disappearance again,” Phillip said. “There’s gotta be some lead there we can pull on. Gonna have to do it discreetly, though: if Silvertongue knows we’re looking into her, it might put her in danger.” He paused a beat. “I promised Skeleton we’d find her and keep her safe,” he muttered. “We will,” Daring said firmly. “I’ll pull case files, see what I can find out,” Twilight said, stealing another glance at Sunny and quickly looking away when the pegasus glanced back at her. “What about you?” Flash asked. “Skeleton Key told me that Silvertongue keeps all of his blackmail material in a notebook in his mansion,” Phillip explained. “If we’re going to have any chance of stopping Silvertongue for good, we need to find that.” “We could try getting a warrant,” Flash suggested. Daring scoffed. “You think the word of a now-dead pony is gonna be enough?” she asked. “No, we need some actual evidence.” “Or maybe some influence,” Phillip said, looking at Sunny. Sunny blinked back at him, frowning slightly. “Influence?” Twilight asked, puzzled. She looked back at Sunny. “You said you were a noble, but…” She paused, then recognition dawned on her face, her jaw dropping open. “P-Princess?” she whispered. “Oh, shit,” Daring muttered, her eyes widening. Sunny turned to Twilight and smiled. “Hello, Twilight,” she said sweetly. “I should’ve known that you wouldn’t be fooled for long.” Twilight let out a little squeak of shock and quickly knelt upon the floor. Celestia chuckled and walked over to scoop Twilight up in a one-armed hug, which Twilight quickly returned, smiling happily. “Huh? Who? What? What’s going on?” Flash sputtered, looking bewildered. “Twilight, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” Celestia asked, smiling at Flash. “Princess, this is Flash Sentry,” Twilight said, gesturing to Flash. “Flash, this is Princess Celestia.” Flash froze in his seat, his wings spreading open in a display of shock and his mouth opening and closing silently for several seconds. “Y-Your Highness,” he finally stammered. “Y-you’re, um...y-y-you’re a lot sh-shorter than I th-thought you’d be.” A moment later, his eyes widened into the size of saucers as he realized what he’d just said, and he quickly knelt in an attempt to hide a blush so red, the other ponies could almost see the steam coming out of his ears. Celestia covered her mouth to quiet her giggling. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she said, separating from Twilight. “So this is the stallion you were writing to me about?” “Princess!” Twilight cried, blushing. “Y-you were writing ab-about me?” Flash stammered, looking up. “He does seem quite sweet,” Celestia said, smiling kindly at Flash. “And he’s very handsome, too,” she added in a stage whisper to Twilight. Flash fell back into his seat, mouth hanging open. Twilight hid her reddening face in her hooves, wordlessly whining in humiliation. “Need to stay focused,” Phillip cut in. “Yes,” Celestia said, climbing back into her seat with a heavy sigh. “I came here because Josephus was one of my messengers,” she explained. “He was carrying a treaty that Silvertongue no doubt stole to use himself.” She looked Flash and Twilight over. “You must understand, it is necessary that my presence here remains a secret.” “My lips are sealed,” Flash promised, miming locking his mouth shut. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Twilight promised, crossing her hoof over her chest and pretending to poke herself in the eye. “What?” Celestia asked, smiling. “Oh, it’s a little promise thing that Pinkie Pie made up,” Twilight explained. Daring cleared her throat pointedly. “Can we move on?” “Right, sorry,” Twilight said. “I was going to say, I cannot simply command that Silvertongue’s mansion be searched: I may be a Princess, but I am not above the law,” Celestia said. “However, the word of the Princess does carry a lot of weight in some circles. I will discuss this with Chief Case, and we will see what can be done.” “In the meantime, right now our biggest priority should be finding Meadow Dance,” Phillip said, sitting up. He winced as pain raced up his flank once more, then grunted as he pushed himself off the bed. “We should head back to the precinct and pull the files on that.” “I shall return to my quarters and call Chief Case,” Celestia declared. She pulled a notebook out of her coat pocket, scribbled down a note, and handed it to both Phillip and Twilight. “That is the hotel where I am staying. If you need to contact me again, or if you’d like to visit.” “I’d love to, once this is over,” Twilight smiled. The group exited the room, Phillip limping and grunting quietly in pain every time his injured leg struck the ground. “Back to the precinct,” he said to the two officers. “We have work to do.” “Mythic, Arc, let us go back to the hotel,” Sunny said. “I have a few calls to make.” Prowl followed after Phillip. Bumblebee hung back long enough to write down his phone number in Arc’s notebook. Arc winked and followed Sunny and Mythic, heading the opposite way down the hall. The group of officers entered a lobby and proceeded towards an exit, walking past clusters of ponies speaking to nurses and sitting on cushioned benches, waiting their turn to be seen. As they walked through the crowd, Daring’s attention was grabbed by a lone unicorn stallion, sitting by himself in a seat off to one side with his head lowered. He had a light yellow coat and dusty brown hair with blue highlights, and his cutie mark was a brown key. “Phil,” Daring whispered. “I see him,” Phillip whispered back. “Should we do something?” Daring asked. “No,” Phillip said. “If Silvertongue finds out we’re onto Rusty, it’ll put Meadow in danger. Keep your distance.” The group exited the hospital, back into the snowy streets. As the door swung shut behind them, Daring shot a final glance back at Rusty Key. He had placed his face in his hooves, clearly weeping. We will find her, she promised and turned away, climbing into the back of the waiting cruiser. Doctor Suunkii looked up when the troupe entered and his eyes widened. “Phil...you are hurt,” he observed. “I’m fine, Suun,” Phil said, raising a hoof. “We need some assistance.” “Yes, yes,” Suunkii nodded. “What do you need?” “Meadow Dance’s kidnapping,” Phillip said. “That’s one of our big priorities right now.” “I found the files!” Twilight said, trotting back into the room with a manila folder and a cardboard box in her magic. She placed these on one of the laboratory tables and opened up the box, neatly spreading out the files and evidence. “We need to look at this case from fresh eyes,” Phillip said as he, Daring, Twilight, Flash, Suunkii, Prowl, and Bumblebee gathered around. “If we’re going to find her—” “Finder, step away from the table. Now,” a cold voice called. Everypony looked up to see Cold Case entering the room, flanked by three police officers. “I said step away,” she repeated icily. “What do you want now?” Daring groaned. “If you—” “This doesn’t concern you,” Cold Case snapped at her, never taking her eyes off of Phillip. Phillip stared back at her, slowly stepping away from the table, from the others. A tension spread across his shoulders, and though his face was passive, his tail twitched several times in agitation. There was a moment of hesitation, then Phillip’s eyes slowly cast themselves downwards towards the floor. His posture slumped as though in defeat, in recognition. As though he knew what was happening. “Phillip Finder, you are under arrest,” Cold Case declared. Daring felt like she’d just been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer, her mouth dropping open. “For what?” she cried. “For the murder of Lucky Dice,” Cold Case said. At her signal, the other three officers moved in, surrounding Phillip. One of them extracted a set of hoofcuffs from his belt. “No!” Daring cried, lunging forward, drawing her kusarifundo. But as soon as she moved, Cold Case fired a beam of white light at her, striking her in the hind leg. Her leg instantly felt as though it was encased in ice, and she stumbled with a cry as the muscles failed her. “Don’t interfere,“ Cold Case warned her, watching impassively as Phillip was hoofcuffed. The pain that flared across her hind leg mixed with the burning agony of the branded hoof, both of them cutting off Daring’s thoughts. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see Prowl standing over her, shaking her head warningly. The group watched in stunned silence as Phillip was led out of the room by the officers. He did not resist, nor did he look up to face them. Cold Case followed them out of the laboratory, closing the door behind her without a word. “Murder?” Twilight whispered, horror in her voice. “That’s not...that can’t be true! That can’t! It’s…” She looked down at Daring, fear in her eyes. “Is it?” she whispered. Daring looked up at her, a denial forming in the front of her mind, but the burning of the brand seemed to reach her jaw, silencing her. She could only look up at Twilight for a moment, then look down and away, tears forming in her eyes. Twilight raised a hoof to her mouth, eyes wide. Flash stared at the closed door, his jaw slack. Suunkii slowly turned away and placed his forehooves on a table, breathing heavily. Prowl and Bumblebee both looked at one another in disbelief and confusion. “There has to be a mistake,” Flash continued to protest. “I know Phil. He’s...he’s a good guy.” "I...I don't understand," Twilight murmured. Daring grunted and forced herself up. "I'm going to get him back," she muttered. "Do what now?" Bumblebee asked. "No, you're not," Twilight said, blocking the door with her magic. Daring glared at Twilight. "Let me pass." "No," Twilight said firmly. "Don't make this worse for yourself by interfering." The pain of the cursed brand turned white-hot, searing through Daring’s entire body. “You—!” she snarled, lunging at Twilight, who let out a cry of fear and jumped back. Flash, Prowl, and Bumblebee all grabbed Daring and wrestled her away from Twilight as Suunkii placed himself protectively in front of his pupil. Prowl shoved Daring against the wall, panting. “Out,” she ordered Daring. Daring glared back at her, trembling with rage and pain. “Out!” Prowl repeated. “Or I’ll have you arrested too!” Daring glared for a moment longer, then turned and stalked out of the laboratory, slamming the door shut behind her. She walked up the hallway, up the stairs, pushed through the lobby, and exited the precinct. Out in the snowy air, she took to the sky and flew away, not caring where she was going, and not caring that tears were falling from her eyes to mix with the snow.