The next day found Citrine and I back at Fancy Pants’ office. She remained by the door as I crossed the room. Mr Pants jumped from his chair as I walked over to his desk.
“My dear Mr Steel.” He shook my hoof vigorously for several seconds. “Congratulations on solving the case. I hear the perpetrator is in custody and Quicksilver has been released.”
I nodded. “Yes, all true. And thank you.”
“I read the article in this morning’s paper. I have to say I was a little disappointed that the police took all the credit for solving the case. Their only mention of you was that they received some investigative assistance from Discrete Discovery Private Investigators. They didn’t even mention your name. I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
“I requested it.”
His head jerked back. “What? Why?”
“Well, in my line of work, it’s actually better to not have everypony recognize you.” I reached up and tilted my fedora forward just a bit to obscure part of my face as I smiled.
“Ah, I see. That makes sense. Still, being named as the pony who solved such a case would also have been great advertising for your business.”
“It’s okay. Just having the business name mentioned gave us visibility. It’s generated a lot more inquiries than we are able to take on as new clients.”
“As long as business is growing. So, to what do I owe the honor of your visit today?”
I tapped the floor with a hoof. “First, I wanted to thank you again for your help yesterday. That quite literally saved my life.”
He waved a hoof. “Pssh, think nothing of it. It was a tiny investment towards solving the case and restoring Quicksilver’s credibility.”
I tapped the floor again. “Second, the other day you talked about how important knowledge is to you. I may have some knowledge you have yet to acquire by your own methods.”
His eyebrows went up. “I am intrigued. Please, go on.”
“Well, you know the guilty pony was caught, and that his name is Astral Rune.” He nodded. “There’s some additional information that hasn’t been released yet. Something that affects you. You see, Astral had a pseudonym he used for some of his illegal activity… Kaafe Mane.”
His eyes went wide as he whispered, “Message Fire.”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid that mixture was fraudulently filed. You will be visited later today or tomorrow and given an injunction to cease all development and sales of the Message Fire mixture as the license is invalid.”
He slumped into his chair as small beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. “Oh, this is bad. We have wagons of bits invested in development. And the contract negotiations…” I could hear the grinding of the gears in his head as he calculated the losses piling up.
“I may have a solution to your problem… if you’re interested.”
His head snapped up. “Interested? Are you kidding? I’ll take anything I can get.”
“It just so happens that I know the inventor of the original mixture: Dragon’s Fire. I also know he has yet to make any licensing deals on what is clearly an extremely valuable mixture. I suspect that if somepony were to move fast enough, with a sufficiently generous offer, they just might be able to secure exclusive rights.”
I turned and nodded to Citrine who opened the door. Quicksilver and Misty confidently entered the office and walked forward. Fancy immediately put on his best salesman smile and stepped over to greet the couple. “Quicksilver, Misty, so wonderful to see you both again.”
I walked around them and headed for the door. As I went past, I caught Quicksilver’s eye, and we both nodded once. Yes, he’s going to be just fine.
Citrine and I left the office and strolled down the hallway.
“That was a nice thing you did for Quicksilver and Misty back there.”
“He’s too invested to lose that license. He’ll do right by them.”
After a few moments, she looked at me with a sly grin. “By the way, your mane today looks totally... fabulous. What’s your secret?”