//------------------------------//
// Case Fifteen, Chapter One: With Much Ado 
// Story: Ponyville Noire: Misty Streets of Equestria 
// by PonyJosiah13 
//------------------------------//

The crisp, sun-kissed air smelled of fruit and honey. Beneath the baby blue sky, warmed by the sun that was approaching its apex, a Macintosh apple tree and a Bartlett pear tree dripping with fruit stood in the middle of a grove of apple and pear trees, both trees wrapped around one another like a close embrace. 

In the shade of the intertwined trees, two mares in short white dresses danced upon a makeshift dance floor, smiling at each other as they stomped and kicked in time to Country Roads, the melody carried on saxophone, trumpet, and clarinet. As she whirled around her wife, Rara gave a brief wink towards the raised stage where the band stood. Phillip nodded back as he went into the next measure, tapping his hoof in time to the beat. Next to him, Bobby swung his trumpet into an ad-libbed bridge, with Rain following close behind on clarinet. 

More ponies sat around the grove on tables covered in white tablecloths, the dishes taken from the long buffet table briefly forgotten as they watched the dancing couple. Phillip spotted Daring sitting at a table on the outskirts of the celebration and Joyful Sound sitting near the dance floor, smiling and thumping her cane against the grass in time to the beat that she could feel through her hooves. Steamed Carrot was singing along to the music as she manned a large grill, while Pinkie Pie stood near the buffet table, cradling a smiling and gurgling Endeavor. Apple Bloom was sitting with her two friends, all three fillies adorned in flower filly dresses, and nearby sat Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy. Granny Smith was beaming at her granddaughters, wiping tears from her eyes as she sat next to a golden earth pony stallion with graying brown hair, and Big Mac sat next to a small granite mare with a long gray mane, both of them sneaking glances at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. 

As the song reached the final chorus, Applejack gripped Rara’s arm and swung her into a dip, prompting Rara to burst out laughing. The newlyweds kissed as the song ended and the crowd burst into applause. Smiling, Applejack and Rara both bowed and joined the attendees. 

Rara trotted over to the stage and approached Phillip with a wide smile and wide forelegs. “Phil, I can’t thank you enough for being here,” she said, hugging him. 

“No worries,” Phillip said, returning Rara’s hug with a small smile. “But you’ve already thanked me a bunch of times. Starting to get kinda embarrassed.” 

“I know, but it really does mean a lot,” Rara beamed at him. “We’ve known each other for years now. You’re family, too.” 

Phillip turned away, but could not conceal his smile, nor the heat rushing up to his face. He turned his attention to Steamed Carrot, who was balancing two heaping, steaming plates on her wings as she carried them over to where Daring was sitting. She placed the plates next to the surprised Daring. The two mares spoke briefly, then Steamed gave Daring a tight hug, which she returned after a moment of surprise. 

“I see Steamed’s doing well,” he said. 

“Pinkie says her nightmares have gone away,” Rara smiled at her head chef and part-time singer. “And she’s getting more and more confident on stage, too.” 

“That’s great,” Phillip nodded, eyeing the heaping plate that Steamed Carrot had set aside for him. “And how’s Endeavor?” 

“He called Applejack mama last week,” Rara said with a warm smile, looking over at her son, who was currently being held by Applejack. The little golden colt was gurgling happily as Aunt Pinkie made faces at him. 

“I’m glad the anklebiter’s got a good family,” Phillip smiled briefly at Rara. 

“Thank you,” Rara said, giving him a peck on the cheek, which promptly began to heat up again. “Now, go on. I see you watching that plate,” she chuckled. “I’m sure your parents can keep the guests entertained for a bit.” 

“Yeah,” Bobby said with a smirk. “It’ll be good practice for when you and Daring get married!” 

He, Rain, and Rara laughed as Phillip hopped off the stage, his face now furiously scarlet. He trotted over to Daring’s table, where she was digging into a large gyro filled with grilled apples, lettuce, and tomatoes, all dripping with juices. 

“I’m just glad that AJ didn’t require formal dress,” she commented, tilting her pith helmet back. “Promise me that if we get married, I don’t have to wear a dress.” 

“Promise,” Phillip said, reaching for a fork and a slab of hay steak. A moment later, he and Daring both realized what she had just said and they stared at one another, faces reddening and eyes wide. 

“If! I said if! It was hypothetical!” Daring sputtered. 

“Right, right,” Phillip nodded, trying to ignore the way his heart was dancing in his chest at the mental image of himself and Daring before an altar. He heard a giggle behind him and gave his mother a brief glare over his shoulder. She smiled and waved at him, eyes twinkling with humor. 

Phillip carved out a piece of the hay steak and started to chew it, barely suppressing a groan of delight as the wondrous flavor spilled over his tongue. He glanced over at Daring and noticed that she was staring at Endeavor, who was fussing as Applejack tried to feed him some mashed potatoes. 

“He’s going to have a good home here,” he said quietly, reaching out and taking Daring’s hoof. 

Daring swallowed, then nodded. “I know,” she said, turning back to her meal and poking at some salad with her free hoof. 

“How’s Sparks?” Phillip asked. 

“Doing okay,” Daring replied, reluctantly releasing his hoof. She gave a weak smile. “She said that after everything she’s done, the next three to ten years will be like a vacation.” 

“At least she’s keeping her head up,” Phillip said. Daring just grunted and kept eating, her right hoof twitching a bit. Phillip turned back to his meal and carved himself another piece of steak. 

“Uh-oh,” Daring muttered, looking up. “We got incoming.” 

Phillip turned around and blinked in surprise. The broadly smiling creature that was trotting directly towards them definitely wasn’t here for the wedding. She had a lion-esque mane and tail, the color of which matched the autumnal leaves around them, and her coat was the color of cream save for her back, which had a patch of apple green dragon-like scales. The dark red horn sticking out from her mane jutted out into two branches like a tree limb. 

“A kirin?” Daring murmured to herself. “Don’t see them outside their home country much. Wonder where she came from.” 

“Detectives Finder and Do!” the kirin cried, bouncing over to them with a wide smile. “I’ve been looking all over this city for you! I started at your place, 221 Honeybee Bakery--sounds like I’ve heard that somewhere else before--but you weren’t there, so I tried at the police station, the Apple Pie, and I was wandering around the city asking some of your friends because I thought they might know where you are, so I stumbled up here to ask Applejack, because I know she and Rara are friends of yours, but then I found this amazing party--oh, it’s a wedding, how sweet! Oh, right, I was looking for you and mmmph mmblm mgmm…” 

The kirin’s speech was cut off by Phillip stuffing an apple into her mouth. “One, who are you? Two, why are you looking for us?” he asked. 

The kirin chewed her apple and swallowed before answering. “I’m Autumn Blaze, I’m an independent journalist. I came down to Ponyville to write some articles for the Foal Free Press; I was doing a piece on Eagle Trust banking, and I think I found something that I need your help on.” 

Daring and Phil glanced at each other, then scanned the crowd around them. A few ponies were giving them curious glances, and a couple ponies were scowling suspiciously at Autumn. 

“Let’s go somewhere a bit more private,” Daring said, gesturing with her head. 

The trio walked over to a more secluded area of the grove, between a couple of pear trees that were still dripping with golden fruit. Autumn studied the late-blooming fruits with a lick of her lips before refocusing. 

“So, what do you know about Eagle Trust?” she asked. 

“I know that it was one of Monopoly’s companies,” Phillip scowled. “He started it up with his investment companies. We investigated it several times in connection with racketeering and money laundering, but could never prove anything. Bit surprised it’s still running after Monopoly went away.” 

“Their current president, Bottom Line, is a devious character,” Autumn Blaze reported. “He’s been working with Monopoly since ‘38 and was appointed president by the board when Eagle Trust was founded on the Eighth of the Moon of Frost, 1941. Since the founding--” 

“The point. Get to it,” Daring interrupted. 

“Sorry; I’m a bit of a talker,” Autumn said sheepishly. “Anyway, the reason why I was investigating Eagle Trust: I’m trying to shut them down.” 

“How?” Phillip asked. 

“You know how they get most of their money?” Autumn said with a scowl. “Repossessing property and cheating creatures out of their money. They make scummy deals and investments, and when their clients can’t live up to them, they steal their homes, their money. Bottom Line and his company destroy families and lives because they’re thieving, greedy, cheating--” 

Autumn’s teeth gnashed, her brow furrowed as she glared. Her eyes began to glow pure white, her pupils vanishing into the milky glow, and then, bizarrely, purple and red flames flickered at the edge of her eyes. 

“Uh...Autumn?” Phillip asked, resisting the urge to step back. 

Autumn’s eyes widened, then she turned away from them and started taking several slow, deep breaths. Slowly, the flames faded away and her eyes returned to normal. 

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, looking down at her shuffling hooves. “It’s a...it’s a thing with my species. When we get angry, we uh…” She chuckled. “We start to literally heat up with magic fire. You can imagine how hard it can be in our homelands sometimes, what with the Firewatch patrolling around all the time, making sure that no one's about to try to burn down their neighbor's fruit stand. And raising kirin babies, woof! Good thing kirin milk is naturally calming, and we’ve gotten really good at building fireproof houses over the years!” 

She kept the fixed smile on her face and forced a laugh through it, her eyes darting nervously from Phil to Daring, a silent plea reflected in her golden irides. 

Daring raised a hoof placidly. “It’s fine. We’ve dealt with dragons, we can deal with kirin.” 

Autumn brightened up immediately, her smile becoming genuine. “Dragons? You worked with dragons? What are they like?” she asked, then shook her head. “Sorry, sorry. Gotta focus. Did you hear that there was a murder this morning?” 

“Not yet,” Phillip said. 

“A mare named Quick Step; she’s a dancer at the Heavenly Bawdy,” Autumn stated. “She was found dead at her apartment this morning from poisoning. Her coltfriend was Gold Signature, he worked for Eagle Trust for a long time. When I came to Ponyville two weeks ago, I started asking some questions about Eagle Trust, how they operated, their history. A few days ago, Gold Signature approached me, said that he had enough info to stop Eagle Trust, all of them: evidence of how they broke the law and bribed officials and lawyers to get what they needed. I was supposed to meet with him around noon today, but he didn’t show. And then I learn that his marefriend was murdered? Coincidence? I think not!” 

Phillip and Daring looked at each other with frowns. “Do you have any way to contact Gold again?” Phillip asked. 

“I already tried everything: tried his home, tried the office--they booted me out--tried his stepbrother’s place--he hung up on me,” Autumn shook her head. “He’s gone off the grid.” 

“What does he look like?” Phillip asked. 

“Tall paper-white unicorn with light brown hair like freshly turned soil,” Autumn reported. “His cutie mark is a pen and a gold bar. And he’s got a suitcase with his cutie mark embroidered on it. Carries it around everywhere: told me it was a gift from Quick Step. He’s probably got whatever he wanted to show me in it.” 

“We’re going to need everything you’ve got on Eagle Trust. Everything,” Phillip said. 

“You got it!” Autumn saluted. “It’s all over at my place at the Red Barn on Sweetgrass. We can go now!” 

“I’ll go with,” Daring said. “Someone needs to watch your back.” 

“Where does Quick Step live?” Phillip asked. 

“Twenty-eight Morgana Avenue, number 15,” Autumn said. “I think the police are just wrapping it up over there.” 

“I’ll go take a butcher’s,” Phillip said. “Meet you at the Red Barn.” 

“Got it.” Daring smiled and gave Phil a quick boop on the nose, causing his face to scrunch up briefly. “Be safe, Phil.” 

With a wave of her wing, Daring scooped up Autumn beneath her forelegs and flew off. Autumn gave an excited whoop as she disappeared over the treetops. 

“Who was that, ampa?” Rain asked, pushing herself towards him on her wheelchair with Bobby following close behind. 

“A client,” Phillip replied. “Sorry, mom, dad. I gotta go.” 

“No worries, son,” Bobby said, giving him a brief hug that Phillip returned. “We’ll take care of the music here. You go catch the bad guys.” 

“Too right. We’ll be home soon.” With a nod, Phillip sprinted out of the grove, racing over rolling green hills and through the gate to the dirt road that led up to Sweet Apple Acres. Breathing deep the warm, crisp air of the farmlands, he raced after the dinging of a streetcar trundling down Grapevine. 





Twenty-eight Morgana Avenue turned out to be a modest brick and concrete edifice that sat near the corner of the block, four stories of darkened windows glaring down at Phillip as he trotted up. 

A single cruiser was parked in the lot before the oaken doors, along with a familiar rust-colored Diplomat 600, a low white van with “Medical Examiner” painted on the side, and a blue pickup truck with “Police CSU” displayed on the sides. 

As Phillip approached the door, he noted the panel of buzzers and a speaker next to the entrance. He reached for the buzzer for number 15, but the door opened from within as he did. A stretcher bearing a zipped-up black body bag exited through the door, followed by Doctor Mortis, who was pushing it along with her magic. 

“Hi, Phil!” Mortis chirped as she passed him. “You’re a bit late, but Red and his new partner are still up there, wrapping things up.” She shook her head. “It’s a terrible shame. She was a young, lovely girl with so much ahead of her.” 

“May I?” Phillip asked. 

Mortis nodded and stepped back a bit. Phillip carefully unzipped the bag to behold the pale face of Quick Step. Her formerly cyan face was pale with death, and he noted the beginning of lividity on the left side of her face. Her blonde mane was in disarray, shiny with sweat. Her eyes were shut and a few dried trails of blood ran from her mouth. 

Looking further down her body, Phillip spotted a small wound on her right hoof, blood staining the appendage. “No other wounds,” he noted. 

“There was some kinda gag gift on the floor outside her place: a box with a needle on a spring in it,” Mortis reported. “Looks like she opened the box up and the spring hit her on the hoof. Whatever it was, it killed her fast. I’ll know more once I complete the autopsy.” 

“Thanks, doc,” Phillip nodded, moving past her into the carpeted hallway. He proceeded upstairs to the second floor, nodded to the rookie officer pacing his patrol route along the trampled red carpet, and trotted down to the open doorway marked with crime scene tape. 

As he approached, a familiar figure stooped beneath the tape, but what surprised Phillip was that he was not clad in a police uniform, but in a pale blue suit and tie. 

“Flash?” Phillip felt himself smile. “Look at you, lad. A detective.” 

“Yeah,” Flash said with a broad grin. “Captain Oak promoted me himself.” 

“And you deserved it,” Twilight said, climbing out from under the tape and giving Flash a kiss on the cheek, causing a wide smile to spread across his now-glowing face. Phillip noted that Twilight was clad in a light blue vest with lime highlights and a replica of her cutie mark on the back, along with a trio of small blue diamonds on the collar. Multiple pockets lined the vest, which was slightly bulkier than a mere cloth vestment would be. He glanced down at his own vest, noting the trio of small blue diamonds sewn into the collar, and smiled briefly. 

“Don’t get your ego up, son,” Red Herring said, emerging from under the tape as well, still adorned in his familiar trench coat. 

“Sorry, sarge,” Flash coughed. 

“And don’t call me sarge,” Red grumbled, turning to Phil. “Should’ve known you’d be here sooner or later. What’s the stake in this one?” 

Phillip explained what Autumn Blaze had told him and Daring. 

“A kirin?” Twilight asked, her eyes brightening. “Amazing! It’s rare to see them outside of their homelands, and most of them have very strict beliefs about self-control. I--” She cleared her throat when she noticed Flash and Red both giving her quirked eyebrows. “Sorry.” 

“We did find evidence of another stallion living there, and a few of the neighbors did mention that the vic had a coltfriend,” Red commented. “None of them seem to know much about him, though.” 

“Walk me through what happened here,” Phillip said, walking up to the threshold. He noted the telephone laying on the floor beneath the hallway table, the hoofset next to the chalk outline that marked where Quick Step had lain. A purple set of glowing hoofprints, small and bare, appeared around the scene, leading down the hallway to the door, pausing, then stumbling back inside to where Quick had fallen. 

“Emergency dispatch received a call from her at 0946 this morning,” Twilight reported, her horn lighting up. An illusory image of Quick Step laying within the chalk outline appeared on the floor. “Officer Grove arrived to find the victim already deceased and called in the crime scene. We arrived here at 1024, about an hour ago.” 

A ghostly image of a box and a layer of discarded wrapping paper appeared on the floor just inside the threshold. A spring with a needle on the end was uncoiled from within the box, laying around it like a coiled serpent. 

“Based on the scene, we believe that Quick Step found the box laying on her doorstep when she opened it to leave,” Flash said. “The spring stung her and whatever toxin was on it overcame her when she tried to go back inside and call for help.” 

“And that’s when the intruder came in,” Red added. 

“What intruder?” Phillip asked, his ears perking up. 

Twilight lit up her horn and a new set of hoofprints appeared on the ground, glowing a darker shade of purple. They led from the end of the hallway and into the room, stepping over the body before proceeding into the apartment proper. 

Phillip scowled as he ducked beneath the tape and entered the apartment, slowly following the intruder’s trail with Twilight and Flash on his tail. The intruder went straight into the bedroom and the hoofprints circled around the room. The glowing prints passed beneath clothes and bedsheets that had been flung onto the floor. 

“He was looking for something,” he murmured. “Flash?” 

“Skytrotter brand horseshoes, size thirteen. Worn by a three-foot eleven pony with black hair, we’ve already collected hair samples for analysis,” Flash reported. 

“Aces,” Phillip nodded, noting a proud smile briefly glowing on Flash’s face. They followed the trail out of the bedroom and into the hallway, where they met with a frowning Red Herring. Twilight’s magic revealed that the intruder had run back down the stairs and back outside into the parking lot. The trail led to a pair of glowing tire tracks that ran back onto Morgana Avenue, disappearing amidst the overlapping trails of other vehicles. 

“And that’s how he got away,” Red concluded. “Bet Trace could--” 

Silence fell like a gavel striking. Red visibly flinched and his eyes sank to the ground, studying the asphalt. Flash and Twilight both bowed their heads. 

Phillip turned away, closing his eyes, but the visions came just the same. Trace, grabbing his hoof, bracing against the threshold. Black serpents lashed out overhead, stabbing into the unicorn’s eyes with a horrible squelching sound. The scream echoed in Phillip’s eyes, the sound rumbling in his heaving chest, where his heart throbbed violently. 

It’s not happening. It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re here. Here and now. 

He took control of his breathing, slow inhalation, pause, slow exhale. Repeat. His heart began to slow down bit by bit and the images and sounds faded away, departing with the ghost of a slimy touch on his face. Phillip opened his eyes, wiping away a few tears. 

“The hoofprints show that the intruder was hovering in the stairwell for a good while,” Red said, a throaty edge to his voice as he frowned at the tire tracks. “I figure he put the box there for Quick, then entered when she went down. We wondered what he was looking for: guess we know now,” he nodded to Phillip. 

“I don’t know,” Flash said. “The box thing is kinda convoluted. Why not just use a gun?” 

“What I want to know is how he got in,” Twilight mused. “None of the other tenants that were here said that they let anypony in around that time.” 

“They might’ve forgotten, or just don’t want to get involved,” Red grunted. “We’ll probably learn more once we get the stuff down to the lab. In the meantime, probably best we speak to the vic’s friends at the Heavenly Bawdy. Bet somepony there knows something.” 

Phillip frowned and looked up at the sunny sky, with only a few white clouds floating around. “I’m going to meet up with Daring first,” he reported. “Can you give me a lift to Turnip Avenue?” 

“I can take you down,” Twilight offered, beckoning him over to the crime scene truck. 

Phillip nodded his thanks and proceeded after her, nodding goodbye to the detectives. He kept his face neutral as he climbed into the passenger seat of the cab, but a sick feeling was twisting in his stomach. As the truck pulled out far too slowly, visions flashed before his eyes of Daring being caught in a net and dragged into a van by figures in masks. 





The Red Barn motel was a long, single-story building with a red-tiled roof that sat in a block of asphalt that had been carved out of a thick copse of trees. The sign of the picturesque barn stood next to the sloped driveway, with “Vacancy” flickering beneath it. 

“Right there, number eighteen,” Autumn said, pointing to the door marked with a golden number eighteen nailed to it. Daring dipped out of the sky and landed in front of the door. 

“That was fun!” Autumn declared with a broad grin. “Wish I had wings! You ever look around up there, see all the sky stretching out before you with all the beauty of the sun and the moon and the stars, and it feels like it’s all looking back at you, smiling, welcoming you?” 

“No,” Daring replied. 

“You’re such a grump,” Autumn pouted as she unlocked the door with a key she plucked from her mane. “You should learn to look at the bright side. Life is short and when it’s over, it’s over. Why not enjoy it?” 

Daring followed Autumn into the motel room. The brown-walled sitting room was covered in a light red shag carpet and featured a large double bed, a sofa and desk, and a television with rabbit ears. One door led to a closet, while another led to a bathroom, both of them shut; a window on the wall admitted sunlight filtered through the layers of green leaves. Notebooks with shorthoof writing splashed over them were scattered over the bed, along with several photographs. A camera, boxes of film, a tape recorder, and rolls of tape were strewn around the room, and a typewriter sat on the desk. Tacked up on one wall was a dartboard with a photograph cut out of a newspaper. Daring recognized the ink-black earth pony with the silver hair and goatee wearing a charcoal suit and tie, his fat flank adorned with the image of a piece of paper with a bit sign on it: Bottom Line, president of Eagle Trust and four-times acquitted fraudster. His photograph was pockmarked with holes and two of the six darts were embedded in his chest and face; clearly, Autumn had gotten a lot of practice in. 

But what made Daring quirk her eyebrow were the several arts and crafts pieces littered around the room. Sketches in various mediums, from pencil to charcoal to watercolor, were taped up on the walls. Lined up on the dresser and the windowsill were several small gourds, balls, and rocks, all with faces painted on them. 

“Didn’t know it was a party,” she commented as Autumn relocked the door. “Looks a bit crowded in here.” 

“Yeah,” Autumn said with a slightly embarrassed chuckle. She went over to a dirty baseball with two eyes painted on it so that the seam formed a wide smile. “I like having someone to talk to, but it turns out that being known for turning into a raging fire monster when you get angry kinda makes it hard to make friends, so you try talking to inanimate objects because they won’t leave you or make fun of you or be scared of you, only then it makes real creatures think you’re not just a raging fire monster, you're a crazy raging fire monster.” She let out a humorless laugh through a forced smile and looked at the baseball. “Talk about a vicious cycle, eh, Speedy?” She tilted the ball to make it look like it was nodding. 

A pang of emotion echoed through Daring’s gut, silencing any attempt at a dry comment, and she looked around for something to change the subject. She spotted a watercolor painting on the floor of a skyline, the sun setting behind a river displayed in glorious reds, oranges, and golds. “Is this from the roof of the Corral Market?” she asked, picking it up. 

“Oh, yeah,” Autumn said, putting Speedy back down on the windowsill. “I painted that on my first day here. Just managed to put the finishing touches on it before the owner chased me off.” 

“It’s beautiful,” Daring said earnestly. 

Autumn’s face brightened immediately. “You think so?” she asked. “I--” 

She paused, frowning. “Wait a minute. Jack, you were holding this.” She picked the paper up in a light opal aura and placed it back underneath a small pumpkin on the dresser. 

The hairs on the back of Daring’s neck stood up. “Autumn, where’s your stuff on Eagle Trust?” she asked. 

“Uh…” Autumn began to sort through the mess on the bed. “I really need to learn to be more organized!” she cried, tossing a few papers aside. “Where is it, where--?” 

The sound of the bathroom door squeaking open and the distinctive click of a .38 revolver made both mares freeze in their tracks. Daring slowly turned to behold the black-eyed abomination trot out the door, backlit by the unnatural red glow.