//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: The Down Low (3rd Person POV) // Story: A Disguise for Love // by BrightMind //------------------------------// It was early evening, and Spy Glass and Simon were waiting outside of the Spy's work building, still full of highly trained detectives and investigators working on their cases. "So how exactly are we are we supposed to get this case without anyone noticing us?" Simon asked. "Well, we can't just walk in, obviously and my office is up towards the top floor, the most high-traffic area in the building. So, we not only have to get in without being seen, but also without being heard. The window to my office doesn't open, and I don't know if anyone will notice if anything goes missing in my office. I'm going to be honest with you kid, I'm stumped," Spy Glass told him. "But, I think if we put our minds together, we can probably figure something out." Simon looked up at the building and thought for a moment. "I suppose it's better to sneak in while no one's there," Simon suggested. "Clearly, but this place is running 24/7, they're never not going to be there," Spy Glass said. "Unless they're forced to leave..." Simon stared up at the floor where Spy Glass's office was. "What's the fire protocol in this building?" Spy Glass turned to him, surprised. "I hope you're not planning on doing what I think you are!" "Well we can't just pull the fire alarm. That's a felony and this building is full of detectives! I don't plan on setting the building on fire. We just need to set off the smoke detector," Simon argued. Spy Glass turned away and began pacing. He thought for himself for a moment. "I think..." Spy Glass began before looking back at Simon. "I think you may be right, Simon." Simon looked up at him, hopefully. "Really?" He asked, seeming a little surprised. "Yes, but we can't be simple about it... We need to go bigger than that," Spy Glass said sternly. "Wait! What are you saying?" "Look, kid, even after all is said and done, there's no guarantee that things are going turn out just fine. Even after all is said an done, I still have a pretty big chance of getting figured out and getting in trouble for this case. If an alarm goes off and the ONLY thing that goes missing is my briefcase afterwards, they'll come looking for me first. We need to take some risks!" "You want to burn down the whole building?! That's insane!... I like it! What's the plan?" We're not burning the whole place down! We're just burning the top couple floors. If the whole floor is on fire, than we can grab my briefcase and it can be presumed destroyed in the accident. There will also be enough damage to the structure of the area to be able to break into that floor directly, without having to pass a lot of ponies on the way in. There will be enough ponies in the crowd for you to slip by to the ally without being seen. All you have to do from there is fly up to my office and slip in through a gap of the destruction and snag the case," Spy Glass told him. "And what will you be doing during all of this?" "I'll have to wait at a rendezvous point, I won't be able to sit safely in the crowd, much less be able to slip by with you. Meet me at Icey's Café, I'll talk to Mr. Red, and he can make sure that no one important see's us. Just keep the case hidden until you can get to me." "Who's Mr. Red?" Simon asked. "He's an old friend of mine, he runs the joint." "Perfect, now we only have one problem," Simon said. "What's that?" "How are we going to start this fire without being seen or raising suspicion?" Spy Glass thought for a moment. "Well, fires here are rare but most commonly are started in the live-in quarters," "Live-in quarters?" Simon asked. "Yeah, sometimes investigators get stuck working late. So they have these areas in the building where they are welcome to sleep at night. They are complete with shared-bedrooms, bathrooms, and even a kitchen. I never really use them but I have seen them and let me tell you the guys who use them are slobs. The housekeepers canceled on us this week, so there should be enough junk in there to set the place off like a tinderbox," Spy Glass explained. "But we won't be able to just throw a torch or something through the window. That would be to obvious... We'd probably need to do something simple, like leave a stove on or something. But there's no way anypony can just turn on a stove and walk out without being seen..." Simon reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his little friend. "Well, It, are you ready to commit arson?" Simon said jokingly. The mouse nodded his head and Spy Glass let out a sigh. "Please don't say it like that... Look I'd estimate you have roughly an hour before ponies start turning in, but I reckon that this place should be completely in flames long before then. Does your mouse know where to find my office?" Spy Glass asked seriously. Simon turns to It, and in return he nods. "Good, I would imagine that it's not hard for a mouse to find the kitchen from there. If It can start a fire there and then meet you in the office after the floor is evacuated, you both should be able to come out safe, understand?" "Understood! You know what to do, boy," Simon said to his mouse before setting him down on the ground. It hurried into the building and made his way to the determined location. As they waited outside the building, Simon looks up at it. "So how exactly did they manage to become such a big company?" Simon asked him. "What do you mean?" Spy Glass asked in response. "Well, it's just that this place is so well funded for being a private investigator company. Usually companies with this career path are small businesses made of individuals or groups of contractors. But this place is FULL of them, they get so many cases and a lot of them are real criminal cases! Don't the correct authorities have their own branch of detectives for that, and shouldn't they be handling those cases?" "Well, kid, your not wrong. It's true that the guard has their own branch of detectives, but because of certain laws that dictate who can and can't be a royal detective, that branch tends to be a very small one. Law says that in order to be a royal detective, you need to have a major in criminal justice as well as five years of experience in the royal guard. Being a private detective only requires the former. Because that branch is so small the princesses require help solving cases that exceed the amount of work that branch can do, so they outsource to us." "Is that legal?" "Yes, it is. The princesses are allowed to outsource to any business they please. In fact, they do it all the time for catering, supplies, and other industries anyway. And when it comes to dipping your hoof in the field, it's easier to become a private investigator." "Doesn't that undermine the need for that branch? If that's the case, why would anypony want to become a royal detective?" "Well yes, it does. And the demand for that job has gone down for that reason too, it's sort of a hole that digs itself. But there are cases that only the authorities themselves can handle, so that branch isn't entirely useless. In a world where billions of sentient beings coexist, there is bound to be different thoughts, ideas, and opinions. That would be why a unanimous poll is so incredibly rare. Same goes for how ponies see the world, and also how they see themselves in it. So there will still be a portion of those ponies who decide that they want to put in the extra work for the the higher honor (and salary) of being a royal detective." "Wouldn't it be better just to change that law?" Maybe for the princesses, but they can't just change a law to benefit themselves, they still have advisors and citizens to answer to. Besides, it's not like anyone gets hurt this way and no laws are being broken." "Hmm... it's an odd system," Simon observed. "At least it works," Spy Glass said in response. "It could work better." "It could, but it doesn't matter much anyway. Sometimes, fixing a problem makes more trouble than the problem ever could in the first place. In other words: if it's not broken, don't fix it," Spy Glass said. Simon took note of this. It seemed to open up his eyes a little bit. Simon always looked for ways to try and better understand the world, doing this by looking into things that made sense to him. But when it comes down to it, it's probably safe to say that there's a lot of things that make little sense or don't make sense to us yet at all. After all, there are still a lot of cases that are unsolved to this day. Somethings are just easier to accept than to give them meaning, and usually it's better left that way. It made his away to the floor Spy Glass's office was on. Once there, he could see the door to the office, but he still didn't quite understand what Spy Glass meant when he said 'it's not hard for a mouse to find the kitchen from there'. Then it hit him. The scent of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other assortments of food caught him by surprise. It followed his nose to until he found the source of it. He looked up at a door seemingly on the opposite end of the floor as Spy Glass's office. There was a gap underneath the door just big enough for It to squeeze through. It was when It reached the other side of the door that he realizes how true Spy Glass spoke when he said these guys were slobs. There were robes, towels, and blankets scattered around the room. Whatever part of the floor wasn't covered in cloth and personal belonging, was covered in crumbs, empty water bottles, and half eaten or empty bags of chips. It took him a moment to even realize that this kitchen had a table, and not just a pile of dirty laundry and garbage. There were butter messes and dried milk spills all over the counter. Enough to make even a mouse uneasy. It began looking for the stove. It took him a full minute to find it as somepony had draped their robe over top of it, hiding its most distinguishing features. He rolled his eyes and began to climb it. Dangerous for them, continent for It. He slipped underneath the robe in order to turn on one of the burners. At his size, it took all he had to get a spark, but it worked. Once it was on, It leaped from the stove, and watched as the robe was almost immediately engulfed. It didn't take long at all. "I see smoke," Simon said, and it wasn't long before the fire alarm began ringing throughout the whole building. "Perfect! I better get going before a crowd starts to gather. Hey, kid, before I go, can I ask you a favor?" Spy Glass asked. "Anything!" Simon responded rather quickly. "The picture of the mare in my office... the one I showed you... do you think you could save it? I know I'm asking a lot as it is, but it's the last one I have," Spy Glass said as calmly as he could. He tried to sound composed, but a bit of fear ran noticeably through his voice. "You mean the one of your wife? Why? Shouldn't you have more at home?" Simon asked. "Look, Simon, I haven't been completely honest with you. That mare isn't my wife.... She used to be... I miss her a lot and I don't want to forget her face. Please, can you grab it for me?" Spy Glass asked him, trying not to sound desperate. Simon nodded in response. "Yes! You can count on me!" He said. "Thank you, kid! I'll see you at Icey's," Spy Glass said before beginning down the road. Just as Spy Glass had predicted, it didn't take long before the whole floor was in flames. And not long after that before a crowd had gathered around the building consisting of not just the evacuated staff, but also of passerby's who's attention was caught by the tragedy. Simon was able to slip by the crowd pretty easily, as most eyes were figuratively glued to the fire. Once out of sight of the crowd, Simon began steadily flapping his wings to lift himself off of the ground, slowly and quietly ascending the floors of the building. Upon reaching Spy Glass's office, Simon realized that he didn't have to look hard for an entrance. The fire had damaged the window sill enough to cause the pane to fall out of place. There was shattered glass all over the floor. Simon slipped in through the hole in the wall where the window used to be. The briefcase was next to the picture on the desk. The case and the picture frame were both singed, but it seemed the fire had not yet reached the contents of either of them. Simon's first thought was to put the picture frame inside the briefcase for safe-keeping, but it wouldn't open without the combination. So, he decided to just stuff them both under his overcoat. The minute he turned-tail to get out of there, he heard the faint squeaking of a mouse. "Right!" He said, "I can't forget about It!" Simon looked around the engulfed office for his pet mouse, all the while, calling his name. It squeaked again, this time catching Simon's eyes. "There you are!" Simon exclaimed. But before he could scoop up his friend, the floor crumbled beneath them and completely fell away the the level below their own. It fell through. "No!" Simon swooped down after him and, thankfully, caught It in his hooves before he could plummet any further into the flames. However, Simon couldn't save everything from the flames. Aside from the end of It's tail, that seemed to have burned off at one point during this whole ordeal that Simon is just now noticing, there was also the familiar sound of shattering glass. Simon turned his attention from his mouse's injuries to find the source of the sound, and when he found it, he was devastated. There he found the picture he promised Spy Glass to return safely. It had fallen to the next floor below, the frame was shattered and the picture was consumed by flames. Simon watched as it shriveled into ashes. Simon had nothing to say. He only flew back out of the empty window frame as quickly as he could.