“And she smiled at me and said ‘Perhaps I could provide…persuasive compensation for information on the matter,’” Strider chuckled, affecting an oozing feminine voice as he pushed the knight forward.
Phillip snorted and lifted up his bishop, knocking Strider’s knight down and claiming it for himself. “What’d you do?” he asked.
“For a moment, all I could do was stare at her,” Strider explained, pondering his next move. “Then I laughed in her face and told her to leave or I’d have her arrested for trying to bribe a federal agent.”
Phil let out another amused snort, watching with the intensity of a bird of prey as Strider pushed a rook forward five spaces. “Young wanker up herself,” he said.
Strider hesitated before slowly releasing the rook with the reluctance of a first-time skater letting go of the railing before heading out onto the ice, a visible swallow cracking through his mask of impassiveness.
No sooner had he retreated than Phillip pounced, lunging with a pawn to take an unprotected knight. “Check.”
A bead of sweat ran down the back of Strider’s neck as he studied the board.
“Just give up, Agent,” Daring commented from the kitchen, finishing up the dishes from lunch. “You might be able to delay mate for four moves at best.”
Strider sighed and flicked his king over with a wing.
“That’s what?” Phillip smirked. “Fifteen to zero?”
Strider stuck his tongue out at him. “I’ll get you next time,” he declared.
“Yeah, sure,” Phillip replied.
A rapping at the door got their attention. Phillip stood up slowly, sliding his hoof into the strap of his .38 Filly Detective that sat next to him. Daring pulled her own weapon out of the holster hanging on the countertop, while Strider placed a hoof through the trigger guard of his revolver, rising from the table.
Phillip proceeded towards the door with cautious steps and pulled the curtain back to look out the window. A donkey barely old enough to grow facial hair in a blue uniform and cap was fidgeting impatiently on the porch step, his parked bicycle waiting on the street outside.
Phillip glanced up and down the street, seeing no sign of any attackers, then unlocked and opened the door a crack, grimacing as the biting wind of the Moon of Wolves stung his face. The donkey on the porch jumped slightly at the sight of the weapon on his foreleg but recovered and put a thin smile on his dry, chapped lips.
“Telegram for Agent Flame Strider,” the bike messenger chirped, handing him an envelope. The envelope was stamped with the label “RBI Agent Flame Strider, 221 Honeybee Bakery Drive, Ponvyille.”
“Thanks,” Phillip replied, taking the telegram and tossing the messenger a couple of bits. The messenger tipped his hat and turned back to his bike. Phillip closed the door and turned the latches with a pair of clicks. A purple glow flickered across the house as the security wards reactivated, prompting the messenger to pause on his bike briefly before continuing on.
Phillip swallowed, ordering the tension in his chest to release as he returned to the living room, where the other two were clicking the safeties on their sidearms and returning their guns to their holsters. “Telegram,” he reported, holding it up for Strider to see.
“Finally,” Daring sighed as a grinning Strider took the envelope for himself, tearing it open. “Some action. It’s been almost three weeks.”
“Or maybe it’s my boss telling me I’m getting a raise for my hard work,” Strider replied. “Either way, it’s good news.”
“That’s a nice pistol, by the way,” Daring added, glancing at his sidearm.
Strider smiled and patted his holster. “Piettrot Model 1855 .44,” he said. “It belonged to my grandfather.”
“Isn’t that a ball and powder weapon?” Phillip asked, tilting his head quizzically.
“I had it adapted to fire cartridges,” Strider explained, his face turning to a frown as he read the telegram. “Ah. You guys had better pack for the Griffish Isles. We’ve got a case.”
He turned the telegram over so that they could both read it.
Caballeron’s henchponies spotted in Portsbeak STOP stole a ship’s log from maritime museum STOP Merry Celestia STOP investigate immediately STOP bring Finder and Do
“The Merry Celestia?” Daring asked aloud. She dug around in the stacks of books that sat next to the coffee table, digging through the tomes on the history of Ponyville and the Everfree Forest.
“There you are,” she finally declared, pulling out Sunken Treasures and Shipwrecks. She flipped through it until she reached one of the middle chapters.
“Aha,” she declared, pointing to the heading. “The Merry Celestia, lost in the Lunar Bay in 1872. No one knows where the wreck is…but if they found the ship’s log, that might be enough to pinpoint where it was sunk.”
“If Caballeron wants the ship’s log, there must be something on the ship that he wants,” Phillip declared. “Best get to Portsbeak pronto.”
“I’ll handle tickets,” Strider declared, grabbing the phone and spinning the dial. “Good thing the Bureau has a stipend for transportation. Just wish that they’d spring for first-class once in a while.”
Daring tucked the book beneath her fetlock and zipped upstairs to pack, her heart thumping with excitement as she grabbed her jacket and other tools, throwing them into a trunk.
“You’re excited,” Phillip commented, bringing their toothbrushes in from the bathroom.
“Haven’t had a chance to go diving for years,” Daring replied, taking the cigar tube survival cache and adding it to her gear. “That, and we get another stab at Caballeron and Sombra. What’s not to like?”
Phillip tried to smile, but his face was grim as he started to pack his own bags, adding a box of ammunition and some spare speedloaders to his kit.
A frantic rapping at the door made them pause. After a few moments, they heard Strider’s hoofsteps across the floor downstairs.
“Hey, Phil!” Strider called up the stairs. “There’s a half-dragon pony on the front step, and she really looks like she wants to talk to you.”
Phil and Daring exchanged quizzical glances. “Is she a redhead with green scales?” Phil called down.
“Yeah,” Strider shouted back up.
The two detectives smiled. “Let her in,” Phillip said.
The door opened and a set of hooves bounded in. “Hi!” a familiar voice chirped. “You must be Flame Strider! So what’s it like working for the RBI? How do you know Phil and Daring? What’s your favorite color? Wait, don’t tell me…red?”
“Let him breathe, Autumn,” Daring chided, descending the stairs to see Flame studying the kirin with a mixture of confusion and curiosity as she circled him.
“Hiya!” Autumn chirped, greeting Daring with a hug. “Didja hear the news from Portsbeak?” She waved a newspaper clipping from the morning’s Foal Free Press. The museum theft had only earned a couple of lines in the newspaper.
“We were getting ready to go, actually,” Daring replied.
“Great! I’ll come, too!” Autumn chirped. “You two heading to the Griffish Isles in search of treasure and bad guys, with Autumn Blaze, intrepid reporter, right on your tail! It’ll be just like old times!”
“There was only one time, and you got kidnapped,” Daring pointed out.
“And saved your lives!” Autumn replied. “Who knows, I might do it again! And besides, I’ve been thinking of taking a vacation.”
“And finding a new headline?” Daring continued.
“Well, yeah,” Autumn shrugged. “I mean, a girl’s gotta eat. And take a stand against bad guys.”
“Aren’t you investigating Alba Dorata?” Daring asked.
“Well, chasing my own tail only works for so long,” Autumn shrugged. “C’moooon, this could be something good!”
Daring frowned at the kirin that was currently giving her puppy-dog eyes. “You’re going to follow us no matter what I say, aren’t you?”
“Yup!” Autumn nodded.
Daring sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You and Rainbow both…” She frowned at Autumn. “Fine. Just don’t do anything stupid.”
“Please,” Autumn scoffed. “When did I ever do anything stupid?”
Daring narrowed her eyes at her. “Okay, I asked for that,” Autumn muttered. “So! Meet you at the train station for the train to Fillydelphia, right? Right! See you later! Nice meeting you, Agent Strider! Bye!”
And before Daring could say another word, the kirin zipped out the door and hurried down the street.
Strider blinked at the closed door, then chuckled. “She’s…enthusiastic.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Daring sighed, going back upstairs to pack.
“I still don’t see why we’re not going after Dorata,” Flash said, glaring at the newspaper clipping tacked up on the wall of Red’s office. The tan crystal unicorn smiled back at him from page three of the Foal Free Press, the photograph taken from a press conference announcing North Star Capital Industry’s funding of a series of mineralogy expeditions into the Everfree Forest. “I mean, we have the matching hair and hoofprint, he was at the fundraiser where Sunshower was probably drugged--”
“Kid, did you learn nothing about taking down mobsters from fighting Monopoly and Silvertongue?” Red Herring replied, spreading out the sheets of paper on his desk. “The Chief was right. Somepony like Dorata is going to have more money than all of us will see in our lifetimes and an army of lawyers at his hooftips. If we’re going to nail him to the wall, we need to be sure that we’ve got enough for it to stick.”
He pulled out a single sheet and slapped it on the table. This photograph displayed a middle-aged unicorn in a black suit with a coat the color of smog and a pale gold beard, the metallic blue eyes tranquil behind the thick glasses. A closeup shot of his cutie mark revealed it to be a steel girder crossed with a gold bar.
“And we start at the bottom,” he continued. “Starting with the Industry Kings and how they’re smuggling the Doctor’s poison into town.” He flipped the picture around. “Okay, class. Pop quiz. Who’s this?”
Flash looked around at the other ponies gathered in Red’s office, the most experienced detectives of the Ponyville Police Department. A thrill of pride ran down his neck when he realized he was counted among them, the best Ponyville had to offer.
That thrill was suppressed when a yawn forced its way out of his mouth. He rubbed his shadowed eyes and tried not to think of what he’d seen last night in his dreams, allowing the voices of his colleagues to pull him back to the moment.
“That is Steel Bar,” Detective Rising Dawn declared, the cloud-white pegasus’ wings twitching in eagerness to get moving. “Millionaire owner of several manufacturing and distribution companies based in Ponyville and the current leader of the Industry Kings.”
“If the Plague Doctor made a deal with the Industry Kings to smuggle his shit into this city, then that’s the guy he made the deal with,” Red said. “So we’re gonna start with that and keep working our way up. Dawn, start running through our contacts. Anyone who knows anything. If one of the Industry Kings talks about the Doctor in their sleep, I want to know about it.”
“On it, boss!” Rising Dawn saluted with a wing before zipping out in a blur of yellow and blue hair.
“Asphalt, I want to know where Steel Bar is, what he’s been doing, and what he puts on his eggs for breakfast,” Red said, passing the file with the gang leader’s photograph on it to a tar-black unicorn with a scruffy, chalk-white mane.
“I’ll see what I can dig up,” the unicorn replied, heading out.
“Folder, somepony built the Plague Doctor’s hideouts. I want to know who and when and who paid them,” Red added, pulling out another folder and passing it over to a manilla-colored earth pony with wiry brown hair and thick glasses.
“I’m on it,” Hidden Folder replied, grabbing the documents and leading his partner out.
“Rivers, we need to know where the Sealight Delight went,” Red continued, pulling out another file, this one with a photograph of a mid-sized cargo ship with rusted white paint, its name declared in scratched purple paint on the hull. “Head down to the harbormaster and see what you can find out about where it went after last Moon of Frost and where it is now.”
The donkey nodded as he took the file. “So, what are you and the dream kid going to do?” he asked.
“We’re going to be doing some snooping at the docks, see what we can figure out,” Red replied.
“Sounds like fun,” Rivers snorted.
“Barrel of laughs,” Red nodded. “We’ll reconvene tonight and compare notes. I’ll bring the chips.”
“Rather have booze,” Rivers replied, exiting with his partner.
“Wouldn’t we all,” Red answered, standing up. “C’mon, kid. Let’s get to work.”
Flash grinned as he followed his senior partner out of the office.
“What’re you grinning at?” Red grunted at him as they passed down the line of cubicles.
“Just…” Flash beamed. “Seeing you so eager to fight the bad guys instead of moping and grumbling like you used to.”
“Yeah, yeah, big change, character development,” Red rolled his eyes. “Wipe that grin off your face and come on. And get some coffee on the way out. Did you get any sleep last night?”
“At least some things never change,” Flash sighed.
The white unicorn adjusted his glasses and frowned at the worktable before him.
“How goes the restoration, amigo?” Doctor Caballeron asked, looking over his shoulder at the yellowed tome that sat on the table.
“Slow,” Doctor Papyrus sniffed. “I don’t see why Lunam Alis bothered to keep the log if he wasn’t going to take care of it in the least. Probably left it in a damp basement for years.”
“Ah, we’ve faced worse, eh, amigo?” Caballeron smiled, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Anything for the knowledge that we will gain,” Papyrus nodded grimly, daubing a page with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol. “I’m working backward from the end. Once I find enough data, we’ll be able to more accurately fix the Celestia’s path and final position.”
“What have you found so far?” Caballeron asked eagerly.
Papyrus turned and favored him with a rare, beaming smile, his eyes glimmering madly. “Illumination, my friend,” he reported.
Caballeron grinned back and clapped him on the shoulder once more. “Muy bien. Let me know when you are finished.
“Eh, boss,” Withers called from the doorway. “Got word from Ponyville.”
Caballeron exited with his henchpony. “What is it?”
“Little bird told us that Finder and Do are on the move,” Biff reported, handing Caballeron a missive and giving a glance to a crow that was currently standing atop a nearby display case, sipping from a bowl of water. “They, the RBI agent, and that kirin reporter were seen at a train station getting tickets to Fillydelphia.”
“They’re coming here,” Caballeron smiled. “Perfecto.”
“Doc, all due respect, I don’t see why that’s a good thing,” Biff frowned.
“Because we have such secrets to show them,” Caballeron grinned, turning his attention to another display case. The contents within, a pair of warped silver candles with runes etched into the masterfully sculpted form, sat ready within.