//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 "Sonata" // Story: Equestria Noir Case 6 "Music Of The Night" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 “Sonata” Moongale leaned against me as we reentered the theater backstage. Spike had used some stage rope as impromptu police tape. I set Moongale down in a one of the audience seats and made my way to Twilight. She took one look at me then ran into my open front legs. She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay! Did the Phantom hurt you at all?” I shook my head “No I’m fine, he got away though” “Then why are we just standing here?!” A voice shouted from a nearby seat. Roland was sitting there having his leg wrapped in bandages by a medical pony. He glared at me with his icy blue eyes “He’s still out there! He kidnapped Moongale and murdered Raustam!” Remembering the corpse I made my way to the stage. Raustam’s corpse lay on the ground rather unceremoniously. Spike bent down to look at the body then looked at me. “I had a stage hand cut him down; he was hung from the rafters above the stage” I nodded and pulled out my magnifying glass. Even on a night out I was never unprepared. I examined the body of the theater owner. I noticed a set of bruises along the back of his neck “These bruises here” I gestured with my hoof “Were made pre-mortem” “Mort what now?” Spike said looking at me “Before he died” I clarified “He was hit in the back of the head by a very heavy object” “Any idea what could make that kind of bruise?” “Anything from a baseball bat to a vase” I speculated “Our killer hit him on the back of the head, and then hung him from the scaffolding” “Not a very glamorous way of dying dear boy” Fancypants said as he came to look at the corpse. I looked at the gentlestallion “Have you seen Fleur and Rarity?” “I believe they were depositing their dinner into the nearby *ahem* latrine” Like clockwork I tell you. I turned back to my dragon companion “Have you talked with the stage hands at all?” Spike nodded “I asked around and none of the actors or stage hands were anywhere near the door at the time. There’s only one way up onto the scaffolding” He pointed with his claw at a set of double doors. “Only stage hands are allowed to have keys to them. The key has gone missing since then” Fancypants smiled at the young dragon “Quite the resourceful young chap aren't you?” Spike flushed in embarrassment “I get it from working with Private” I spoke up “So somepony stole the key and used it to get to the scaffolding” Fancypants nodded “We find our key, we find our killer” I turned to Spike “You go looking around in the dressing rooms for that key. Also look for anything that could be used to cause this kind of damage” I gestured with my hoof at the bruises on the back of the theater owner’s neck. Spike nodded and ran off towards backstage. Fancypants looked at me “You think the Phantom did this?” I was about to nod then I stopped. Something about this whole set up with the Phantom just seemed too…convenient. “Let’s look into the other actors first. The Phantom isn’t the only pony who would want Raustam out of the way” I looked over to see Twilight returning with Rarity and Fleur. Both unicorns looked a little green but otherwise they seemed over their loss of dinner. Fleur was immediately at the side of her husband when she came in. To both of our disappointments Fancypants was too occupied with the body to notice. I looked to Rarity “You go help Spike backstage, Twilight and I will go talk to Ponder” The white unicorn raised an eyebrow “Ponder? Why are you going to speak to him?” My eyes turned to the director pony who was sitting a little off to the side. “He’s one of the ponies that wanted Raustam gone…” ____________________________________________________ “Raustam may have been a complete prick but that doesn’t mean I would kill him!” Ponder said from his seat behind his desk. “You were backstage during the performance” I said my grey eyes not leaving him. Twilight was circling the desk ready to pounce on Ponder should he make a break for it. “Nopony would question the director wanting to go up to the scaffoldings so you could’ve gotten a key easily” “I didn’t kill him!” “Then who did?” Twilight said matching my tone almost exactly. She was learning. “It was the Phantom! Think about it! Raustam ignored the demand of the Phantom! He paid for his mistake with his life!” My eyes narrowed “Has this Phantom ever killed anypony before?” Ponder slowly shook his head “No, he would make demands from time to time but only for small things. Sometimes money, sheet music, the occasional instrument but never anything as drastic as a cast change” “Did Raustam ever give a reason why he didn’t want to give in to the Phantom’s demands at all?” I didn’t break eye contact with Ponder. “His reasons seemed vague at best to me” Ponder then leaned forward “Truth is, Raustam apparently made this secret deal with Leopony” “Moongale’s father?” Twilight said observing “What kind of deal are we talking about here?” Ponder shook his head “I don’t know, the deal was made long before I came to the theater. He had some kind of contract that he kept locked up in his safe” “I have one more question” I said looking right at Ponder “Where were you when all this went down?” “I was backstage, talking with the head composer during the whole thing before the Phantom came by and hit me on the head and you found me” He said simply “The composer will testify I was there” _______________________________ “Well Ponder’s alibi checks out” Twilight said walking beside me. “I just talked to the composer and he said Ponder was arguing with him before Raustam died” “That checks him off the suspect list” I said crossing out Ponder’s name in my notebook. “Let’s hope that Spike and the others find that key” “You don’t think the Phantom really killed Raustam did you?” Twilight said looking at me. “So far he has motive and opportunity; I don’t want to put cuffs on him until we found out just what kind of agreement was struck between Raustam and Leopony” “Moongale said that Leopony was your violin teacher” Twilight observed “I wouldn’t think you would take up violin when your talent is solving crimes” I laughed a little “That’s what I always said whenever I became frustrated with the damn instrument. I would yell that I didn’t need to learn how to play it in order to become a detective. But Leopony would smack me upside the head and say” I imitated a very refined manehatten accent “Private, a pony should never limit himself. A great pony is a well rounded pony” Twilight laughed in turn “Reminds me of when Celestia tried to get me to take up knitting” “You knitted?” I said She shook her head “Never had the talent for it, I quit after my sweater was made to have five legs instead of two” We both laughed but then stopped when we saw an argument brewing in the theater. Moongale was glaring at Roland “I’m going to find him and that’s final!” Roland yelled back “You’ll do no such thing! He’s dangerous Moongale! He could’ve killed Raustam!” “There’s no proof that he killed Raustam!” Moongale fired back “He only took me to try and protect me!” “You’re obviously suffering from shock Moongale!” Roland shouted “You can’t see how lucky you were to have got out of there alive!” I got in between them before either could spout out more insults “This won’t help us find the real killer” I looked at each of them “For now I will investigate this and we will see if the Phantom had a hoof in this at all” Roland glared at me then began limping back to his seat. I looked over to see Rarity with Spike on her back come to me. “Did you two find anything?” Rarity smiled “Quite a bit darling, we found the murder weapon” She turned to her passenger “Spikey-wikey, if you’d please?” Spike pulled out a large bloodied vase. I picked it up with my magic and looked at it. After careful observation I walked to Raustam’s corpse. “The bruises match” I turned back to Rarity and Spike “Where did you guys find this?” Rarity smirked “In the dressing room of a certain insult to the name of the opera” _________________________________________ “You would accuse me of such a thing!” Madonna said as she sat on her coach in her dressing room “I have never been so insulted in my life!” “The murder weapon was found in your room Madonna” Twilight said firmly “You also must’ve felt terribly insulted by Raustam letting the Phantom embarrass you on stage” “I will not hear these insults!” “You will be hearing your rights if you don’t come clean” I said not wanting to play games with the drama queen. “You were on stage during the whole thing but you could’ve gotten one of the stage hands to do it for you” “Then why would I put the murder weapon in my room!?” The drama queen fired back. “I never would kill Raustam! He was going to elevate my career!” Twilight whispered in my ear “From where? From tarterus?” I turned my gaze back to Madonna “Did you see anypony suspicious at all backstage?” Madonna shook her head in as snobby of a way as possible “No…though...” “Though what?” I said leaning forward. “I did notice a unicorn stallion I hadn’t seen before…” Madonna tapped her chin in thought “He took a scaffolding key, I assumed he was a stagehand or something” “Did you get a good look at him?” I said writing all this down She shook her head “No, but I do remember he wore a suit coat…and a mask on the left side of his face” Twilight looked at me “Looks like the Phantom was there…” ____________________________________________ “Ma parole! What a stink!” Fleur exclaimed when we entered Raustam’s office. I had Spike and Rarity keep an eye on the other suspects along with Twilight. Fancypants and Fleur were flanking me as we entered the office which smelled strongly of goat cheese. All three of us held our noses as I desperately applied an air freshener spell. “I concur my dear!” Fancypants said still covering his nose as the air freshening spell continued its work “I will never touch anything made by goat again!” When the air became breathable me and my companions began searching the place. Fancypants lifted a painting with his magic “My dear boy I think I’ve found it!” I walked to him and sure enough there was a safe. I reached into my suit jacket and pulled out a screwdriver and some bobby pins. I worked the tumblers on the safe and lost three bobby pins before it finally gave way. The safe door opened to reveal a single document. I levitated it with my magic my eyes scanned the paper. “I can’t read it” I said in frustration after a while “It’s in legalese!” Fleur looked over my shoulder “Perhaps I could read it?” Fancypants looked at her astonished “You can read this?” Fleur smiled and levitated the paper with her own magic to eye level. “I am a semanticist; I study words and what they mean. I studied it before I married you mon amor. Legalese is merely a mish mash of words no?” Both I and Fancy dropped our jaws at this. I wasn’t expecting Fleur to be helpful to be perfectly honest. She ignored our faces and put a set of glasses to better read the document. She mumbled to herself as she read the document “Ah! It says here that should Moongale ever appear on stage she would be allowed to venture out to a career of her own” “This was made by Leopony correct?” Fancypants said looking at his wife with new eyes. “Oui! This document would’ve guaranteed that Moongale move to a great career in music…however” “However what?” I said my grey eyes not leaving the lanky unicorn. Fleur removed her glasses and looked at both of us seriously “It says that should anything happen to Raustam…Moongale would be forced to stay here” Fancypants looked at me “That would explain why the Phantom would want to kill Raustam. You said he was close to Moongale right?” I nodded “Moongale did say the Phantom seemed lonely…maybe he killed Raustam to make sure she would stay here?” Fleur shook her head “I don’t know whether to hate him for trapping her here or pity him for having to take the action he did to keep the one he cared for” Fancypants nodded firmly “For now, we should begin a hunt for the Phantom…if he didn’t kill Raustam then he could probably tell us who did” I nodded to both of them “Alright, let’s go” Fleur left first and I noticed that Fancypants was simply staring at her. I walked up to the gentlestallion and looked at him “Something wrong?” “She never told me she did anything" He fought for the right words "Intellectual prior to our marriage” “Fancy, I hate to pry but…she might’ve said it and you probably didn’t hear it” His blue eyes looked at me with a puzzled expression “What do you mean dear boy?” “I mean that you’ve been ignoring her” I said rather bluntly “I haven’t been ignoring her!” Fancy snapped back at me, his usual calm long forgotten. “I just…hadn’t noticed some things before" He sighed and looked down "I thought I was doing everything right…I’ve given her anything she ever asked for” I smiled and walked past him “Well, there’s one gift that will win a mare’s heart any day of the week” “And that is?” “Affection from the pony she loves…” I said after walking out the door. I didn’t bother to see Fancy’s expression. But for Fleur’s sake, I hoped he got the hint. ____________________________________________ “I shall have my men guard the outside” Roland said, a bunch of thug ponies behind him. “We will cover any and all exits from the catacombs” I nodded at him “Just keep Moongale safe alright?” Roland nodded “I will, I won't let that villian touch her!” Just then a loud voice spoke over the theater YOU DARE CALL ME A VILLIAN!!?! We all looked up and there on the top box was the Phantom himself. He glared at us with his dark blue eyes. I held up my revolver at him “Come peacefully Phantom and I will hear you out!” He shouted back at me “You would have me thrown to the true villain! I refuse to come quietly to you or to anypony while I am still in suspect! Everything I do…” He casted his blue eyes at Moongale, who was looking back at him with a mix of fear and…longing? “Is for her…” Roland stood protectively in front of Moongale “You will never have her!” Moongale tried to push past Roland to no avail “Wait! Don’t fight you two! Don’t hurt him Private! He only wanted to protect me!” I was conflicted…On the one hoof the Phantom was a suspect in the case. I had to bring him in. But he wouldn’t come if I went in guns blazing. I set my revolver on the ground. I looked up at the Phantom. “I will make you a deal Phantom! I will enter your lair alone like last time! I will hear your story and nopony gets arrested!” The Phantom looked at me for a long time. His mask that covered the right side of his face didn’t obscure his expression. He was wondering if I could be trusted…he turned his eyes to Moongale. She looked at him for a long time then slowly nodded. The Phantom looked to me and said simply “Deal…but enter my home alone. If Anypony follows inside they will be trapped forever!” He dropped another smoke bomb and vanished. I turned to my five companions. “I’m going to venture down there. Wait here in case the worst happens” Twilight shook her head “I’m not letting you go down there alone again. I’ll take you as far as the lair. I can’t risk losing you twice…” Spike spoke up and walked to his surrogate sister's side “If Twilight is going then I’m going to!” Rarity stepped forward next “I will not let that brute lay a hoof on my Spikey-wikey. I’m going to.” Spike flushed a little at this statement by Rarity. Fancypants spoke up next “I shall come as well; you will need somepony to help protect these fair ladies” Fleur stepped forward next to her husband “I shall not let you go alone mon amour” Her violet eyes looked into his blue ones. “I will be there at your side like always…” Fancy’s expression softened at this and he touched a hoof to his wife’s cheek. “Thank you Fleur…Je serai heureux de vous avoir à mes côtés mon amour ...” he spoke in Prench. Accented and stilted, but prench that seemed to make Fleur’s smile grow. I looked at each of them in turn, and then we began to lead the way into the catacombs. I was very lucky to have friends such as these. I stopped for a second and came up to Twilight. She looked at me with those beautiful violet eyes of hers. “What?” I planted a kiss on her forehead “Just…glad that you all are here…”