//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Will of the Master // Story: Equestria Noir Case 2 "Death's Front Door" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 3 “Will Of The Master” We got to Canterlot around midday and boy was it a sight. Canterlot Castle towered over the many homes of Equestria’s elite. Somewhere in that castle was Princess Celestia performing her royal duties. Twilight tried to convince me to bring this matter to the monarch but Celestia had more important things to do. Twilight was a little disappointed that she didn’t get to see her mentor about a matter this serious. But she didn’t complain as we walked through town square. Spike was leading the way with a piece of paper in hand. “Canesboruough’s shop should be just up ahead” Spike pointed toward one of the smaller shops in Canterlot. I however was busy trying to avoid glances from some of the more well-dressed ponies of Canterlot. Twilight looked at me suspiciously “Run into trouble in Canterlot before Private?” I shook my head “No, just some of these ponies might know me and I don’t want to draw attention to myself” “How could they know you if you’ve never been to Canterlot before?” I sighed “Let’s just say my dad hosted quite a few parties in his day. Let’s go check out this cane angle” Twilight snorted in frustration at my vagueness over the whole subject. Another part of my life I didn’t feel I could share with Twilight yet. The three of us entered the shop and walked up to the counter. Spike hit the little bell and a well-dressed dark brown unicorn entered. He smiled as he trotted up to the counter “Ahh, welcome to Canesboruough’s Canes. Can I interest you in a fine oak cane or maybe maplewood?” I shook my head “I was hoping you could identify a cane for me” He narrowed his eyes and put on a set of bifocals. “Let me see it then” I levitated the cane head out its plastic bag and set it on the counter. He levitated it before his eyes and eyed it with scrutiny. “Redwood, I’d say from the northern provinces...very expensive to get the wood let alone make this cane” “Can you tell us who would own such a cane?” I asked “Mostly high class citizens...wait! This is my symbol! I made this cane! Where did you get it?” I decided to come clean “At a crime scene, I’m Detective Private Eye, these are my assistants Twilight and Spike. We believe the person we are looking for left this cane behind. We were hoping you could tell us who it belongs to.” Canesboruough looked at the cane then back at us. “I know who it belongs to. I made it for a client years ago. It was a gift for Prince Blueblood’s butler” “Prince Blueblood?” I asked raising an eyebrow. Twilight cut in “He’s the nephew of Princess Celestia, not exactly the most beloved noble.” I nodded “You said he made this for his butler? Who was he?” I asked the cane seller. He thought for a moment. “He was a pegasus by the name of Whitecloud. Very old war horse who lost his leg during the griffon wars decades ago” I’d read about the griffon wars in college. Apparently decades ago the griffons tried to invade some of Equestria’s territory and it sparked several small border wars between the two countries. Luckily a peace treaty was made between the two warring states with the rise of a new griffon leader and the two countries are practically allies now. The wars themselves were long and bloody lasting for years each. You were lucky to get out alive in those wars let alone with just losing a leg. “Do you know where Whitecloud lives?” I asked. He nodded “He’s retired now and has a small house to himself just outside of town. I’ll give you directions” He started writing down directions on a piece of parchment. Twilight raised an eyebrow “How do you know all this? You seem to know quite a bit for somepony who sells canes for a living” Canesboruough stopped and smiled “Young lady, you can learn a lot when every noble here thinks you don’t have ears” ______________________________________________ Whitecloud’s house wasn’t too hard to find. It was a small house on the edge of town far away from the town center. It wasn’t anything big or extravagant it was simply a one story house with a garden out front. We walked up to the door and I knocked on it. An old looking white pegasus answered it. He spoke in a very refined tone. “Can I help you sirs?” “Whitecloud, I’m Detective Private Eye....I was hoping to ask some questions” Whitecloud slammed the door in my face and locked it. I tackled the door but it wouldn’t budge. I could hear him scrambling on the other side. We didn’t have time, three legs or no he could still get away with his ability to fly. Spike pushed me out of the way “I got it!” Spike put his mouth to the lock and started blowing fire around the doorknob. He literally burned a hole around the knob and pushed it out the other side. “Good thinking Spike!” I levitated out my revolver and kicked down the door. It blew open and I ducked as a gunshot was heard. I looked at the side of the door where I my head would’ve been had I not ducked. The crazy horse had a shotgun and he wasn’t afraid to use it. “You’re under arrest Whitecloud! Give it up!” I was answered by another blast from a shotgun. “I will not have you enter my home! I’ve faced far worse then you Detective!” I looked at Twilight and made a little motion for her to head around back. She nodded and started sneaking to the back of the house with Spike. “I will shoot if you do not stop!” “I will fight to the end! We can stand here all day Detective” This old war horse was becoming a pain in the ass. “I know you took a filly! You kidnapped her and what I want to know is where she went!” “Over my dead-oof!” I heard something clang and I peeked out. There was Whitecloud on the ground knocked out. Twilight was levitating a frying pan with her magic. I smiled at her “Good work Twilight, Spike get the phone and call the police” Spike nodded and went to get the phone. Twilight looked at the frying pan “Who knew a cooking utensil could be such an effective weapon?” I chuckled “I’ll hoofcuff him. You look around for anything interesting” Twilight nodded as I bent down to hoofcuff the butler. About five minutes later the Police showed up to take Whitecloud to the detention center. Twilight trotted up to me with Spike on her back. Spike was holding a piece of paper in his hand. “Whatcha got there Spike?” Spike handed the letter to me. “A letter Whitecloud wrote to Dustmane, it shows he planned the whole thing.” I looked over the letter, the kidnapping, the escape plan, it was all here. But there was no mention of the next stage of the plan. “This proves that Whitecloud was a willing accomplice in the plan. It doesn't mention what Dustmane’s part in it was though.” Twilight thought for a moment “So Dustmane is still out there and we have no way of finding him” Spike shook his head “We gotta get Whitecloud to talk” I smiled “You leave him to me” _____________________________________ I entered the detention center’s interrogation room to find Whitecloud scowling at me. Nothing I wasn’t used to “You may as well talk now” I said flatly “You resisted arrest and shot at me...not going to look good in front of a jury” Whitecloud scowled at me “I will not speak to a ruffian who insists on burning one’s door knobs off” “My associate got a little carried away but it was necessary to get you arrested. Now do you know why you’re here?” “I have no honest clue and I won’t speak to somepony as uncivil as you” “You’re going to have to because you kidnapped a young filly from her home a couple of days ago” “You can’t prove that. I would never harm a child!” “You wouldn’t harm her...but you would make off with her” “You have no proof!” “I do” I tossed his cane head in front of him along with a bag of his feathers. “Both found at the crime scene. I noticed that you lost your leg in the war. Your back left leg in fact. Most ponies only use canes as a means of walking when they’ve lost a limb...” “And the feathers? They could belong to your kidnapper” “They were found on the ground outside of the crime scene and DNA tests can match them to you perfectly...You took the filly and tried to fly out a second story window” “If I were really the kidnapper I would’ve flown away instead of landing so clumsily” I frowned and tapped his wing with my hoof. The wince I got out of him was what I needed. “You are a very old war horse...you’d be lucky to stay in the air for five minutes with your arthritis filled wings” “I have no motive though, why’d I kidnap a filly from her home?” “You were ordered to frankly...by who I’m going to find out” “I don’t know where the filly is if that’s what you want to know” He said trying to keep himself calm. “You don’t, but somepony else does. A witness will testify that she saw you hand off the poor girl to another stallion named Dustmane” “That’s impossible! Nopony lives out in the Everfree Forest!” I grinned “Thank you for confessing dear butler...” “Damn...” he said under his breath. I was getting a kick out of seeing this butler squirm in his chair. But now it was time to get what I wanted out of him. I straightened my hat “You will tell me where Dustmane teleported to...my witness will testify in court that she saw a bright flash of light and then you two disappeared” “....Canterlot, we teleported to Canterlot and I went home after that” “Where is he now? Do you know where he lives?” “I’ve seen him at home. But he usually can be found at a little bar called Just Desserts, the password to enter is ‘Darkness rises’ you will find him there” I looked at him my blue eyes looking directly into his. “One more question...do you know who hired you to kidnap the filly?” He shook his head “I exercise my right to remain silent Detective...” “Bullshit! You know him don’t you!” I got in his face after that, I wasn’t about to let this detail go away. “No, I will not speak about this!” “You will damni-” I felt a hoof on my shoulder...I turned to see that it was Twilight. I backed off the table and walked out the door. I sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room. Twilight came by with some coffee. I levitated a cup and drank generously. “Sorry you had to see me like that Twilight...” Twilight sat beside me and put a hoof on my shoulder. I’ll be the first to admit it gave me comfort knowing she was here. She looked at me, her amethyst eyes looking in mine. “You really are shaken up by this case aren’t you?” I sighed “Yeah, I am. I keep thinking of the look Rarity gave me when I said I would take this case” I shook my head “Maybe I’m just getting too invested.” “No, it shows you care about your client. That’s not a bad thing Private.” She said trying to smile. “Twilight, thanks” I said turning away from her violet eyes to take a sip of coffee. Celestia, I needed it. “Anytime, I’m your assistant and friend after all” I raised an eyebrow “At what point did you consider me your friend?” Twilight smiled a little “Since you showed me there's something I can do to help stop ponies like Mandarin and Whitecloud” I smiled a little “Well we aren’t out of the woods yet. We still gotta find Dustmane” Twilight put a hoof on her chin “You think he’s the one who set this whole thing up? To get back at Rarity?” “Maybe, but why ask for bits? He could’ve asked for I don’t know, a sex tape or something” “Sex...tape...?” Twilight said her eyes wide “Either way, I doubt Dustmane would wait all this time to get back at Rarity. It just seems unlikely he would wait years before finally making his move...” Twilight nodded “You think he’s in money trouble?” “It’s possible he’s trying to kill two birds with one stone. but something about what Whitecloud said is still bugging me” “The whole exercising his right to remain silent?” I nodded “There’s nothing I can do about it. I probably could get arrested myself for infringing on his rights as a suspect had you not stopped me” She smiled “Hey, what are friends for?” Friends, until now I haven’t considered Twilight more than just an extra set of hooves. But who was I to argue against friendship? It did stop Nightmare Moon and Discord after all. Twilight took a sip of her own coffee then said “You think he knows who did it?” “If the butler isn’t going to crack, we’ll go for the stalker” _____________________________________________________________ We arrived at the bar and gave the password at the front door. We left Spike back at the detention center in case Whitecloud had a change of heart. Twilight was behind me as we entered the bar. It wasn’t as glamorous as the club in Ponyville but it was worth a look. I walked up to the bartender, a young unicorn stallion. “Can I help you?” he said eyeing me with some suspicion. “I’m Detective Private Eye, I’m looking for a regular named Dustmane” The bartender looked at me with surprise “You’re looking for Dustmane? I’d have thought you police types would’ve heard” “Heard what?” I said fearing the worst. “He’s dead, somepony shot him this morning”