//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Equestria Noir Case 17 "Marked" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Case 17 Epilogue Perspective: Private Eye “Are you sure she’d take me in?” Cross asked as we walked up to the front door of Carousel Boutique. The poor kid had been nervous all day to meet the pony he was going to be learning from. Out of all the options for Cross to hone his new talent, this seemed the best bet. I smiled down at my cousin and assured, “You’ll like Rarity, sure she can be a little dramatic, but deep down inside, she’s got a good heart and loves helping others.” I opened the door to find Rarity and Spike inside. The baby dragon was carrying a large pile of banners in his claws. Rarity glared at the banners disdainfully and ordered, “Spikey Wikey! Dispose of these insults to sewing with gratuitous amounts of fire!” Cross hid behind me upon hearing that outburst. Maybe I might have understated Rarity’s drama queen personality. “Whatever you say, Rarity,” Spike said amicably, as he walked out the back door. Upon his dismissal Rarity smiled triumphantly and turned around greeting us, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is…” Her blue eyes grew wide when she saw me. “Private, thank heavens you’re all right! I heard about what happened in Manehattan, it seems like you had things as bad as we did.” “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help,” I said apologetically, “I wish I could’ve helped stop Trixie from taking over.” Rarity dismissed my fears with a wave of her hoof. “None of that, I’m simply glad you made it home safe. Have you talked to Twilight yet?" the fashion unicorn asked. "She was terribly worried about you.” “I stopped by earlier,” I explained. “Anyway, I wanted to show you something.” I gestured with my hoof to the stitching on my trench coat. Rarity rolled her blue eyes in exacerbation and griped, “Really darling, I tell you to be careful and you go and ruin your coat again.” “The ripped coat wasn’t what I wanted to point out,” I replied as I pulled the coat off and gave it to Rarity. “Look at the patchwork.” Rarity looked with an expert’s eye at Cross' stitch work and then up at me curiously. “Did you see another tailor? This is very fine work.” “Not any tailor you know of,” I said with a sly smile, then I stepped aside to reveal a very self-conscious Cross. He looked at me for encouragement which I gave him with a smile. I put a hoof on his shoulder and spoke proudly to Rarity, “You have this colt to thank for not having to perform TLC on my trench coat.” Rarity smiled down at the colt, before speaking in a gentle tone, “I am Rarity, or Miss Rarity if you will. How do you know my dear friend, Private?” “Wait, you’re Rarity?” Cross’ jaw dropped in shock. “I thought I recognized you from the papers! You’re the element of generosity!” “Well, it seems my reputation precedes me,” Rarity said with a slight giggle, “and what is your name, little darling?” “I’m Cross,” he replied, looking down self-consciously at his hooves “I’m uh, Private’s cousin.” Rarity looked at me “First Tailspin and now this little charmer,” she said with a little laugh. “Does the Eye family always produce such Gentlestallions?” “Hardly,” I said honestly, “but this one has got quite the talent.” Cross blushed from the praise and rubbed the back of his head. “I only just got my cutie mark a while ago.” “Cross dear,” she said with a gentle smile at the colt, “could you excuse Private and I for a second?” Cross nodded and went about looking at the merchandise. I spent the next five minutes explaining the situation with Cross. Her expression turned dark as I finished the story. “The poor dear, I can’t imagine a father saying such horrid things to his son.” “Like I said,” I explained somberly, “the Eyes aren’t all perfect. We’ve all got our baggage to worry about.” “So, you’re saying I should take Cross on as my apprentice?” Rarity asked. “Darling, you have to understand, I can’t just take him because he’s your cousin. Ponies will believe I’m simply doing this because I owe you a favor.” “I know that,” I replied, nodding firmly, “but Cross has the skills.” “I’m sure you want to believe that because he’s your cousin,” Rarity explained gently, “but I’d have to see for myself befo-“ She turned her head and her eyes grew wide. I followed her gaze and saw Cross sitting at a sewing machine. Cross saw both of us staring and stopped the machine, turning bright red. “I’m sorry! One of your dresses had a hole in it, so I was fixing it,” the timid colt explained in a panic. Rarity walked over to where Cross was, and pulled the dress out of the sewing machine, inspecting the patchwork. She levitated over a set of red glasses to more closely inspect the craftsmanship. After two minutes of silent inspection she smiled down at Cross. “I can hardly tell that the dress was ripped in the first place. Private was not exaggerating your skills it seems.” “Thank you, Miss Rarity” Cross said, trying to sound as humble as he could. Rarity removed her glasses and lowered her head to look at Cross directly in his green eyes. He was a little self-conscious from being addressed by a mare as beautiful as Rarity. “Cross dear, would you like to learn under me?” “Yes, I would!” Cross shouted in excitement. “I promise I won’t let you down!” Rarity gestured to some dresses on a nearby table “Could you finish with those while I make arrangements with your cousin here?” “Yes, ma'am!” Cross dashed off, getting straight to work, eager to put his talent to good use. Rarity laughed a little and walked back to me. “I will get a room cleared for him. That way you need not worry about accommodating him.” “Thanks, Rarity,” I said with a smile. “This means a lot to both of us.” “Now, you have got a mare that’s waiting for you,” she said shooing me out the door. “Go on and see her!” “All right, I’m going!” I said with a laugh as Rarity gently pushed me. I left Cross with his new teacher and walked happily down the snowy street. Everything seemed to be working out for the best. _____________________________________________________________ I gazed, mouth agape, as Twilight finished performing her trick. It was amazing to watch. She twirled the animals in the air with more grace than I’d ever seen. Spike was nearby, trying to comfort the distressed Fluttershy while the trick was being performed. It was well into evening, before the show was over. As Twilight and I walked home, she shot me a concerned glance and asked, “Are you sure Cross is going to be all right here? I mean, what has Tailspin said about his cousin?” I smiled to reassure her and replied, “Tailspin is fine with having another colt his age to talk to. Granted, Cross is about as smart as you are, so sometimes Tailspin gets a little lost in Cross’ conversations.” We walked to the door to the library and I held the door open for Twilight. She shook off some of the snow and sighed in relief as she warmed her hooves by the fire. “It’s good to see he’s settling in okay.” I nodded and set my wet trench coat on the rack. I walked over to Twilight and sat down beside her. After about ten minutes of warming up Twilight looked over at me and asked, “So have you given any more thought to the prophecy Zecora relayed to you?” “About the green eyes?” I mused. “Nah, I try not to think about it. The more I do the vaguer it becomes.” “She’s never been one to dole out prophecy before,” Twilight said thoughtfully, while staring at the flames. “I wonder what changed?” “You never know with Zecora,” I stated firmly. “We don’t really know that much about her, even after all this.” “Kind of like you,” Twilight said with a small smile. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, looking at her curiously. “Well, when Celestia told me about you, I had no idea what to expect,” Twilight explained. “I thought you were just going to be this cynical, stuck up, jerk that thought he knew better than anypony else.” “Kind of true,” I said with a grin. “Well, then you changed.” Twilight’s beautiful violet eyes gazed at me. “You started opening up your heart, and becoming a better stallion overall.” “Well it snagged me you, so I guess it’s a good change,” I smirked teasingly. “Do you think me some kind of floozy?” Twilight asked, in mock offense. “I don’t know, when you first saw me, I could tell you were imagining me without my trench coat.” “You aren’t half as charming as you think, mister.” Twilight stuck her nose in the air, pretending to be offended. I put my foreleg around her and pulled her in close, kissing her on the cheek. “Hey, you know I didn’t mean it. You love me anyway, don’t you?” I asked, my grey eyes gazed at her lovingly. “Why do you have to be so charming when you apologize?” She smiled and returned a kiss on the lips. It was then that I heard movement. Twilight’s horn glowed and an invisible form was levitated in magic. Both of us knew one pony who could go around invisible like that. Trixie dispelled her invisibility spell and smiled sheepishly at the both of us. “Um, the Great, Powerful, and very sorry Trixie says hello?” “Trixie I thought you were on the road again,” Twilight said with a sigh as she set Trixie down. “Trixie was going to,” the blue unicorn explained, “but then she had an epiphany.” “What epiphany is this exactly?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “That Trixie has much to learn about magic,” she admitted, her violet eyes looked at Twilight and then down at her hooves. Twilight looked a little uncomfortable as the show mare took her hoof pleadingly and announced, “I wish for Twilight Sparkle to teach me!” Twilight looked at me and then rubbed the back of her head self-consciously “Wow, Trixie, I don’t know what to say.” “Say you will teach me” Trixie looked pleadingly at Twilight. “Trixie will do whatever you ask! Anything at all!” “All right, Trixie,” Twilight said, raising her hoof, “I’ll teach you what I can. No more crazy amulets or anything like that though.” “Deal!” Trixie said with a smile as she embraced Twilight. She then noticed I was still here and walked to embrace me as well. I’m guessing she still held memories of the case back in Canterlot. I gave into Trixie’s eagerness to please and hugged her back. Trixie then left to set up permanent shop in Ponyville. Twilight looked at me with a mixed expression and asked, “You really think I could teach her?” “Twilight,” I looked into her eyes and answered honestly, “You’re the most brilliant magician I know. You’re also one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Odds are, you can make a difference with Trixie.” Twilight smiled and pressed her muzzle into my neck. I felt her hooves slowly wrap around me. Our eyes met once again and she spoke softly, “Private, I love you so much.” I returned her embrace and kissed her tenderly on the lips. Our tongues danced in our mouths as my hooves ran down her back. While I was kissing her, I thought I heard a small female voice say, "Daddy and Mommy, stay together forever…" ___________________________________________________________ Perspective: Irenius Eye I marched out of the elevator leaving behind a group of very wary ponies. I can’t believe this! How dare he even think of pushing Lazy to this point! I tried everything in my power to be a good brother to him, but it seems one thing will never change. Once Adamus is in your life, expect hell. I ran up to the desk where his secretary, a young mid-thirties unicorn mare with a bright auburn mane, sat. She looked up from her hoof file and saw me, her blue eyes grew wide. I slammed my hoof on the desk and demanded, “Where’s Adamus?” “He’s in his office now,” she answered nervously. “Um, do you have an appointment?” “He shouldn’t need to make an appointment for his own son,” I growled. “Go right in then, sir!” she said, almost hiding behind her desk from my fury. I nodded thanks and entered my father’s office. It was spacious and had numerous antique paintings on the walls. A large window in the back overlooked Manehattan’s skyline. At a mahogany desk sat none other than my father himself. He was well into his seventies by now. His grey coat was covered by the expensive black suit he wore. His mane was long and slicked back, it had turned silver long ago. His old eyes were blue, the ones I shared with him. Right now they maintained a steely look upon me. “Father,” I said coldly. “Irenius,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “This is most unexpected.” “Don’t give me that garbage,” I spat with a frown. “You must know what happened to Lazy.” “Of course I do.” he said smoothly, leaning forward and setting his hooves on his desk. “A terrible tragedy, that he would perform all that just to get favor from me. He was always the most loyal of my sons,” he said, put emphasis on the word loyal, “but sadly, never the smartest.” “How can you say that about him?” I growled. “He’s your son! No different from Slant or I!” “Slant is a degenerate who spends half his time in clubs and the rest in any mare’s bed.” He shook his head disapprovingly and continued, “Lazarus was always a fool, so eager to please, yet unable to do anything right.” “Are you truly so cold?” “You wanted my honest opinion,” he replied with a shrug, his blue eyes meeting mine. “You have it, neither of my subsequent sons could compare to my first.” I said nothing as he got up from his desk and walked over to me. There was tension in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife. His gaze was cold, but also a tad sad, “You Irenius, were always the greatest of my sons. You were brilliant, cunning, and had a keen eye for detail. All qualities that made you into the stallion you are today.” I kept my gaze on him, not giving into the flattery. “Then you threw it all away for her,” he said in disgust, his tone developing a slight edge, “a Pegasus urchin with no future at all.” “Don’t you dare!” I growled. “I let you two become friends because I believed it would help your image,” He said his lip twisting into a sneer. “Irenius Eye, a charitable soul, would’ve made such a nice headline.” “Then I fell in love with her” I said firmly, smiling at the memory of my beloved. But that smile soon turned into a sad frown. I missed her so much. Sometimes when I thought of her, even after all these years, the pain of her loss still took my breath away. “You betrayed us!” Adamus shouted “Our family was one of the last pure unicorn families left! You were supposed to marry young Cantry; she would’ve made a fine wife.” “Neither of us wanted to marry each other!” I fired back. “She was in love with another and so was I. We both agreed that we should pursue what our hearts wanted.” “That chicken planted those ideas in your head!” I gritted my teeth at his slur, fighting the urge to buck him in the face. “You were a perfectly obedient son, until you met her!” “Oh, so I’m not allowed to have a heart?” I growled. “No wonder mother hated being around you!” “Don’t you dare bring her into this!” Adamus growled back. “You’re right,” I said coldly with a nod. “I won’t bring her into this. We've had this same conversation over twenty five years ago.” He stared at me for a long moment and finally asked, “So why are you here?” “I’m here because I want to tell you that you can stop this,” I said, looking at my father pleadingly. “You’re still my father, and I want you to be a grandfather to my children.” He just narrowed his eyes and asked icily, “You mean those bastard children you had with the bird?” “They are legitimate and you know it,” I said as calmly as I could, through gritted teeth. “I’m giving you a chance, father, a chance to stop this stupid war.” “I’m giving you a chance as well,” Adamus said smoothly. “Despite your age, there’s still a chance for you to start over. I know several mares who’d gladly take a widower.” “I’m not starting over,” I said firmly, “I’m never remarrying.” “What will happen to the family business?” Adamus asked coldly. “You would just let it rot?” “No, I will hold onto it as long as I can,” I explained. “I’m also partnering with Fancypants to support it without your help.” “You plan to cut me out?” he asked with an evil laugh. “You’d have to get through me first.” “I plan on it,” I replied with determination. “What will you use?” Adamus smirked. “Those pictures? Easily destroyable, and nopony can prove I was with that mare. You have a bug on you? The magic at the entrance automatically destroys any bugs. You plan to undermine me? I have friends in businesses everywhere. There’s no possible way you can destroy me.” I closed my eyes and said simply, “I’m giving you one last chance, be the grandfather to my children, or I will use the one advantage I have over you. The one advantage I will always have over you.” “Irenius,” he said, putting a hoof on my shoulder, “You were always the greatest of my sons. Everything I did was for you. Every deal, every arrangement, every plan, it was all for you. Will you throw all of that away for some colts that want nothing to do with the business?” The secretary from before peeked her head inside. “Um Mr. Eye, you have a call from Jet Set, something about a new deal on sky carriages?” “Can you ask him to wait?” Adamus asked. “No, it’s fine” I said turning towards the door. “We’re done here.” “You still haven’t told me how you will destroy me” Adamus said smugly. “I can topple this entire empire,” I said, turning back towards him and meeting his gaze, “with one question.” “And what, pray tell is the question?” I just turned, walked to the secretary, and whispered in her ear. One phrase, one phrase that fed into the advantage I had. The one advantage I will always hold over my father. The phrase will destroy him and his empire. I didn’t want to do this, but he left me little choice. It was time somepony stood up to him. The phrase you ask? “Doesn’t he look tired to you?” With that, the first crack formed in his castle wall. Ready to be accompanied by several more. I’m sorry father; I only wanted you to see, but you will never understand. ___________________________________________________________ I set some flowers on Sparrow’s snow covered grave. It took all of my power not to break down in front of it. Oh Sparrow… ______________________________________________________ 25 years ago… I sat on my back, trying to sleep but couldn’t do it. Sparrow’s soft breathing could be heard as she slept soundly next to me. We’d be married for almost two years now. I still found myself wondering how lucky I am to have her as my wife. But the reason I couldn’t sleep, was for another reason entirely. I looked over at my beautiful sleeping bride. Then down from her face to her swollen belly. Inside there was my foal, and it was the reason I couldn’t sleep. We learned a while back that it was a boy. He would come soon, so very soon. I was scared to be honest, what if he didn’t like me? I heard a groan and saw Sparrow open her grey eyes to look at me. A smile developed on her face and she asked softly, “The baby again?” I nodded slowly; I couldn’t lie to Sparrow to save my own life. “I’m just worried, about being a father,” I admitted. She put a hoof on my face and smiled that wonderful smile of hers. “Irenius, you have nothing to worry about. Our foal is going to love having you as a father,” she reassured me. My ears flattened, not entirely convinced myself. “I just, never really had a father like you have,” I confessed. “Father was always so distant. What if I become like that?” Sparrow gently kissed me on the nose, her smile infectious. “You’re such a dork, Irenius," she said with a chuckle, "you’re more nervous than you were before our wedding.” I blushed in embarrassment at the memory. I'd botched the rehearsal when I fumbled my way through the vows. I just couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be marrying my best friend after all these years. I made a complete idiot of myself. Thankfully it didn’t spread to the actual ceremony. “Truth is,” Sparrow continued, as she looked down at her belly, “I’m nervous as well about all of the things that will come from this little one.” She ran a hoof along her belly with a warm smile on her face. “You have little to be nervous about,“ I said with a teasing smile. “If it becomes too much, we can always hire a nanny or something.” She'd already made her feelings on the matter known, but I loved teasing her about it. She shook her head, her electric blue mane moving with her, “We're not going to hire a nanny or butler for him!” “Sparrow,” I said earnestly, “What about your acting career?” “My son is more important to me,” she said firmly. “He needs a parent in his life. I’m not going to be like those other nobles that see their children as just pieces on a chess board. Our boy is going to have us in his life as much as possible.” “What will you do for work?” I asked “Rainbow Shine said there’s an opening for me at the flight school,” she replied with a smile. “I always did like teaching others.” “Always the selfless one,” I mused. “Isn't there anything you just want for yourself, Sparrow?” She reached over and took me into her forelegs. She pressed her muzzle to mine affectionately. I knew the answer before she even said it. “You, Irenius, I want you for myself, most of all.” I smiled and embraced the mare I loved, her wings folding over around me. She looked up at me and smiled encouragingly. “You are one of the most kind and sweet souls I know. You may be a total dork when it comes to romance, but I love you anyway.” “You’re saying I'm a total dork?” I smirked. “Who was the pony who tried to hook up Fancypants with that super model?” “They were adorable together,” Sparrow squealed. “Fleur was so happy when she met Fancy for the first time. I just had to help hook them up!” “Let’s just hope our son doesn’t pick up that habit of yours,” I laughed. “He’ll try to hook up all of his classmates in school.” “Then he’ll ask one girl out on a date,” she retorted playfully, "and eat all the flowers he was going to give her.” “I was nervous,” I replied defensively, “and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast that day!” She and I just laughed at the memories. Then she smiled at me and said softly, “Irenius, in all seriousness, I do believe you’ll be a great father.” “I know you’ll be an amazing mother," I said as I returned her smile. I reached a hoof and put it on her swollen belly. I felt my son kick inside her. We’ll see each other soon, my son. I can’t wait to meet you… _____________________________________________________ Present Sparrow, I wish things would’ve gone better for us. I wish you could see Tailspin, and how much he’s like you. There is nothing I can do to change what has gone before, but I will set things right. I will be the father they deserve, and I will honor your memory forever... My love, my life.