With Quick out buying things for me to cover my tracks, I walked down the path that I'd known so well. I'd gone down this road too many times to count, but it was different this time. Probably because I'm not Spike anymore; I'm Jack, or maybe I've become a mix of the two. I think I might be having an identity crisis of sorts, so I'll save this information for later. I walked along the street and picked up a piece of trash, throwing it away. Whilst looking upon the park, I spotted Rainbow Dash in an orange safety vest, her cyan hoodie, and running shorts while she picked up trash and grumbled to herself. The girls still had community service, and this was part of it. She saw me and came over, I didn't want her to, but I couldn't stop her, "Hey, it was Jack right?" Rainbow asked.
I looked away for a bit then turned my attention back towards the valkyrie. "That's correct. I can see that you're busy, as am I; given that I'm still conducting the investigation."
"I know this will only take a few minutes. I...I just wanted to apologize," Rainbow said.
An expression of confusion crossed my face, "What? Why?"
"Because of the things I've done to Spike," Rainbow said, "I can't apologize to him right now, so I think that apologizing to you would be the closest thing. As for why... it's because you're a drag-" Rainbow coughed before correcting herself, "You're a drakeblood."
"You were going to call me a dragon weren't you?" I asked her, and she nods.
"There was something that was brought to my attention," Rainbow started, "I'm actually a bit racist. While I never really noticed it while it was happening, in hindsight it's very prominent. So, I'm sorry for being insensitive towards drakebloods. As well as any other race; I swear from this day forward, I'm going to get better." Rainbow stood almost at attention.
I was still completely confused as to why she would do this to me of all people, although it could be a female intuition thing. I doubt it though, Rainbow was never good at all the girly stuff. "Thank you?"
Rainbow nodded and returned to the task of cleaning up the park. The thing I hate most, is seeing such a beautiful place ruined by trash, but I guess that's just the way the world works. People who work hard to make it beautiful only for others to come along and mess it up, and then there are guys like me. The ones who clean up the trash, which sometimes feels like an insurmountable task. However, sometimes there comes along someone who can clean up a lot more than others, and sometimes there are multiple people who do. Right now though, I've got to get back to the task at hand; Rarity.
She was a woman who I was absolutely enamored by. I couldn't get enough of her beauty, she could've said anything and I would've done it. She could've ordered me to go to the farthest corners of the earth to collect the most valuable gems in the world, and I would've gone there and come back in time for dinner. Something had changed between us, and while it started years in the past, I could remember it like it had happened mere seconds ago.
I was finished with my chores for Twilight early, and I was well on my way over to Rarity's boutique and everything was going well, I even had the chance to stop and pick up a rose. Money was tight for me right now so I couldn't get her more than one rose at a time, but nevertheless, there was a skip in my step and my spirits were lifted, hell, I was humming to myself. I walked down the path to Rarity's Boutique and entered, the bell above the door jingling. I made my was into the studio only to discover that Rarity wasn't alone, Applejack was with her, and Applejack was kissing her. Rarity pushed off Applejack and spotted me. I gripped the rose in my hand tight, there was a flood of emotions all coming to me at once. The most prominent emotion however, was the one of betrayal. The things I had done for the both of them and this is how I'm repayed?
"Spike!" Rarity started, "This isn't what it looks like! I swear!"
I dropped the blood stained flower, "No, there's no need for an explanation. I'd never get one anyway, just an excuse as to why I wouldn't understand."
"Spike." Applejack stepped towards me, and I stepped back.
"You could've at least told me." I said, before off running, which is what I've been doing ever since.
I shook my head, and wiped my eyes; I'd thought I had buried that part of my past. Maybe the embers of the torch I held for Rarity were still there, somewhere. I needed to be careful; embers could cause wildfires if left unattended. I continued down the path to Carousel Boutique. I finally came across the building, and it looked just as majestic as I remembered, with the exception of one thing that poisoned the beauty. Motorcycles, three of them in front of the store. I walked up and looked at the bikes, spotting decals stylized to look like hellhounds. "Diamond Dogs," I whispered to myself, "Shit."
Going in through the back door, I heard Spot talking to Rarity. I pulled out my brass knuckles and slipped them around my fingers. I act on the worst, not without seeing it, hence why I went with the knuckles instead of my gun. Besides, the cops will come, and I technically just broke into Rarity's home. The Diamond Dogs are a gang that primarily focus on peddling gold and jewelry, so they aren't big time crooks. Multiple sources say that they're just underlings for major drakeblood operations, which is another reason why I chose to become a private investigator, as most drakebloods are known for being in organized crime. Hell, if it weren't for my contacts at Manehattan police department I would've been profiled multiple times just for carrying a gun. Fortunately, I'm an asset to the MPD, so to they've kept to themselves. But enough about racism and profiling for now, I've got to listen in on this conversation.
"We need you to incorporate these jewels into your next dress," Rover told Rarity.
"Boys, I've told you multiple times. I'm not going to work as a fence for you." Rarity stated.
That's all I needed to hear, with a low whistle I caught the attention of all four of people in the room. "What was that?" Spot asked.
"Dunno, go check it out. I'll stay with the lady." Rover commanded.
"Why do we have to do it?" Fido asked.
"Because, the boss put me in charge" Rover said, "Last time you two were in charge we lost a lot of money because someone can't do basic math."
The two others grunted and came my way, and I reacted the moment I saw one. It was Spot, I struck him squarely on the jaw and knocked him out, possibly breaking or dislocating his jaw in the process. This lost me the element of surprise, and Fido tried to get me in a sleeper hold. It wasn't as effective as it could've been, and with a couple of strikes to his kidney via my elbow, he lost his grip and I tossed him in front of me using a judo throw. I still had a grip on his arm, which I used to my advantage put him to sleep by choking him out using my legs. Having taken care of those two, I pulled some handcuffs out of my jacket and cuffed them both, securing both their hands and feet. That left just the one, but now I had a potential hostage situation on my hands. I grabbed both Spot and Fido and pulling them out of sight and storing them into a broom closet. "Rover, come out and play~" I singsonged, turning off all the lights via the circuit breaker. Now in the dark, I used my memory of the place to my advantage. Rover was somewhere in the kitchen, and I heard the distinct click of a pocket knife. My eyes adjusted to the dark within a few seconds, thank you draconic senses.
"Where are you?" Rover asked.
Whilst he was busy flailing a knife around in the dark, I dropped to all fours and practically slithered into the kitchen. I stood up into a crouch and swept his legs with one swift movement. I took him down quickly and attempted to put him in an armbar, hopefully to dislocate his arm. Upon grabbing his arm, I learned that it wasn't the arm with the knife in its hand. Shit, he's a southpaw!
I had no time to react as he brought the blade down, stabbing it into my shoulder as I grunted in pain. The shoulder straps on my gun as well as my two layers of clothing did little to stop his recent actions. In retaliation for the stab wound, I raised my size 12 dress shoe and had my foot acquaint itself with Rover's face, stomping as hard as I could to not only break his nose as well as knocking out a few of his teeth. He released his grip on his knife, and in return I released the grip on his arm. He reeled back I got up and pulled the knife out of my shoulder, pain searing my senses as I tossed it aside. I quickly spotted the frying pan on the stove and grabbed the handle. While Rover was turning around and presumably drawing his gun. I brought the frying down on his wrist, making him drop his firearm, I grabbed his hand and promptly backhanded his head with the frying pan. This knocked him out. Suddenly, the lights came back on and I heard a click. This direction this sound came from was behind me; I dropped the frying pan and raised my hands; I knew from experience, it was the click of a hammer being pulled back on a gun.
"Mr. Drake?" Fortunately, the owner of the firearm was one Rarity Belle, "What are you doing here?"
"Weeeell, originally, I came here to ask about Spike. And then I heard these gang members harassing you from outside and snuck in from around the back." I explained with my back still towards the seamstress.
"And the lights? Was that you?" Rarity asked.
"Yep. I saw the circuit breaker while I was coming in from the back." I said with my eyes darting side to side, wracking my brains to come up with a halfway decent answer to keep from revealing the truth.
"Did you come from the laundry room?" Rarity asked, as that was where her backdoor and the breaker were located.
"Yes." I lied, as I had actually come in from the home door. Since she almost always left that one unlocked. Carousel Boutique had three doors, one to the backyard, one to the home, and the last one to the storefront.
"I suppose I can forgive you for breaking into my home, you did deal with those ruffians. Speaking of which, where are the other two?" Rarity asked.
"Broom closet." I answered, with my mind seemingly absent from my skull.
"And how in the world did you know where my broom closet was?" Rarity asked, becoming more and more suspicious.
Shit, shit, shit. "My sense of smell!" I nearly blurted, trying to keep my cool.
"I beg your pardon?" Rarity asked again.
"I could smell ammonia coming from behind the door. Dragonblood's senses are on the higher end of the scale." I explained whilst making a pun in the process.
"I suppose that does make some sort of sense." Rarity said.
Thank Bahamut. I sighed, not enough to be heard, "May I put my arms down now?" I asked.
"Oh!" Rarity pushed the hammer forward, back to its original position. "Yes, I'm sorry. Truth be told, there weren't even any bullets in here. I just have it to scare away people who don't take no for an answer." I turned around and Rarity spotted the hole in my jacket which had begun to draw blood through itself. "Oh dear! You're bleeding!"
"Nothing to really worry about, I got shot in the chest with a shotgun a while back," I said, "Hurt like hell, but I'm still kicking."
"You may not be worried about it, but I do not want blood to be dripping all over my nice hardwood floor." Rarity said.
"One moment please." I went over to Rover and pulled out two sets of handcuffs, I cuffed his hands behind his back and bound his feet. "You'd better call the police."
"I dialed them before I retrieved my gun." Rarity said, placing the weapon on the table.
I sat down in one of the chairs, "Do you mind?" I asked, after the fact.
"Go ahead, it's better to bleed on a table than the floors I suppose. I'll go get the first aid kit." Rarity ran off to the bathroom and I spied the gun on the table. It was a Sig Sauer P229. I just smirked to myself. Atta girl, Rarity. I leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. I could hear the sirens in the distance and Rarity rushing back to the kitchen. I looked back down and took my gun out of its holster, pushed out the chamber and emptied the bullets into my hand, stashing them in my pocket and waiting for both Rarity and the police to arrive.