//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 "Among Allies" 
// Story: Equestria Noir Case 21 "Blood is Thicker than Wine" 
// by Jacoboby1 
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Chapter 2

“Among Allies”


Sour Grapes made a face and then her violet eyes were down cast. “I was out,” she mumbled. 

“Out where exactly?” Thatcher asked, advancing on the chocolate unicorn. 

“I was out around town!” she suddenly snapped. “What? Am I not allowed to walk in town with my coltfriend once in a while?” 

Storm stepped in before Thatcher could get any closer and said, “I was with her all night." He gave a look to Sour. I didn’t miss the look she gave him. It was a look that meant that she wanted Storm to say something a specific way. Storm looked back at Thatcher and continued, "We were out for a night on the town.” 

“All night?” Thatcher asked, his voice ringing with suspicion. “Then explain why that night pony pup said you never came home?” 

“Hold it!” Sour growled, stepping around Storm. Her violet eyes filled with rage. “You talked to Earshot?” 

Earshot? Night pony? Those were real? I had heard about them from old stories. They were a nocturnal cousin of the pegasi said to have thrived a thousand years ago. Nowadays you don’t hear much of them. However their appearance has inspired many dark tales about them, including the Vampony. 

I looked over as Thatcher went on, “He was very helpful in poking holes in your testimony. He said he went to the farmhouse last night and didn’t find you there. He was the only one awake that night and at the vineyard during the murders.” 

“And just how willing was he to give you this info?” Grapes asked, her voice almost a growl. 

“He was a little less willing then he should be,” Thatcher replied, his tone ringing with disgust. “He should be proud to aid in a murder investigation, but what can you expect from a race of murderers and thieves?” 

Sour Grapes completely lost it.  "Excuse me?  Let me get this straight.  You intimidated, and generally bullied a ten-year-old colt, because you weren't getting the information you wanted to implicate the half-breed owner of one of the more popular wineries in Equestria for murder.  Then you go on to accuse the whole tribe of being murderers and thieves because of those thousand-year old mares' tales?  May I ask how in the hoary horseradished hay did you EVER become a detective?  You seem more suited to the slanderous journalism trade, because you most certainly are a master spin doctor."

“That’s enough,” I said, stepping in between them. I then glared at Thatcher. “I think you’ve said enough, I’m going to have to ask you to leave this crime scene.” 

“By whose authority?” Thatcher spat. “You're just some low life hybrid private dick horseshoe.” 

“So far, you’ve slandered a fellow officer, accused a suspect without proof, and threatened a colt to get what you wanted. You thought you could do this all while maintaining your honor as a detective? This isn’t the 950’s where you could get away with that kind of attitude. How is that going to look when I inform Princess Celestia herself about your performance? I’ll have you know, one word about this and she’ll make sure that not even a nursing home will take you in.” 

With that Thatcher spat on the ground in front of me and turned to walk away, snarling, “Fine! Solve your blasted case, but don’t think for a minute this is over.” 

Twilight stood beside me and glared back at him. Then she looked at me and said, “Just say the word, Private. I can have him taken care of in an hour.” 

“It’s fine, Twilight,” I said, shaking my head. “We’ll get through this without having to resort to using threats.”

I looked back at Sour Grapes, Storm had a hoof on her shoulder. I could tell she had a lot on her chest she had to let out. I walked to her and said, “Sour?” 

She shook her head and said, “I’m not going to talk about what happened last night. I had nothing to do with the murders.” 

“But, this cou-“ 

"Look, now's not the time to go into that.  Knowing that flankhole, he's probably scared poor Earshot to death.  He's used to ponies finding him different, because of all the old stories, but every time he's been bullied, he's had somepony there to stand up for him.  I want to make sure he's all right, first and foremost."

I slowly nodded and said, “Alright, but do not leave the vineyard. Not that I don’t trust you or anything. I just want to be sure.” 

Grapes nodded and her and Storm walked away towards the farm house. 

Twilight pressed herself into my side and asked, “You okay?” 

I sighed and replied, “That guy has never liked me because of what I am.” 

“How can he go off saying all those things,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “It’s despicable to even think that way. Just because you have a mixed parenthood doesn't make you any less of a pony.” 

“Thatcher comes from the Hook family,” I explained. “They are one of the biggest noble families in Manehattan. In public, they are a rich and generous family, giving a great amount of support to government programs. In private, however, they are a bunch of pompous unicorns who believe they're better than anypony else. They especially hate even the notion of hybrids too.” 

Twilight then nuzzled me gently on the neck. I moved my head to nuzzle her back. “Don’t listen to him, Private,” she said warmly. “You’re not any less of a pony because your father loved a pegasus. You prove guys like him wrong every day.” 

“Thanks, Twilight,” I said, laying a kiss on her horn. “I needed that.” 

She returned with a kiss on my cheek and said, “I’m going to go scout around the perimeter. See if the murderer dropped anything.” 

I watched her leave with a small smile on my face. I walked into the vines of the vineyard and felt slightly better about this. Twilight just seemed to brighten my day no matter how bad it got. Man, I hope my day keeps getting better li-

Suddenly a huge weight fell on my back. I struggled and managed to look up at another pegasus. 

"AVAST, ye scalliwag!  Ye'll not be  searchin' for anything else to be framin' Grapes fer!  I'll see ye keelhauled first," bellowed a grizzled seafoam blue pegasus in a striped shirt and sailor's hat. 

“Wait!” I cried, afraid of whatever getting keelhauled meant. “I’m not working with Thatcher!”

"Yer not?" he asked, eyeing me skeptically.  "So why are ye here, then?"

"I'm detective Private Eye!" I said, sweating a little. "I'm working with Twilight to help clear Grape's name! Please don't keelhaul me!”

"Friend of Twilight's, eh?  If that lass likes ye, ye can't be all bad," the sailor said, rubbing the black patch on his muzzle.  "I be Summer Squall.  Sea and hurricane specialist in the Royal Equestrian Rogue Storm Emergency Response Team.  Supervisor, an' Applejack Wager Quality Control Specialist for Grapevine Hills Vineyard and Winery."

Squall pulled me to my hooves with surprising strength.  "I can tell ye, now, lad, Grapes didn't kill those lagabouts.  She was tryin' to find hard evidence to fire 'em, but she'd never kill anypony."

I nodded and levitated out my notebook, asking, “What can you tell me about the victims?”

"Eh.  Typical run o' the mill temps.  Though at least that Parsley feller wasn't as bad as that one lad, Fritter.  Hear tell that Fritter ate half a basket, while harvestin'.  Parsley just stole a bunch or two.  Nary a clue what he intended to do with them," Squall said leading me to what was obviously a weigh-in area.  There was a scale, and the baskets, which came to a pony's shoulder.  "Treebinder tended to find ways to sleep on the job.  We'd have covered for the lad, if he were a mite friendlier.  'Bout as useless and a Blunderdolt, in my opinion.  Last one, that Maribell...  Storm and thunder, was she a primadonna.  Complained e'ery moment.  Like she was 'sposed to get special treatment or summat."

I nodded as he went on with his testimony about the temps. 

"'Case yer wonderin', Fritter was another temp, from way back when Stormy started workin' 'ere.  Overweight fellah, an' ole Grapes couldn't figure out why he wasn't bringin' in as much grapes as he shoulda been.  Then she figured a way to get the lad on the scales, here, before an' after his shift to prove that he was eatin' the grapes insteada harvestin' 'em.  She had solid proof to fire the lad, so she gave him the boot.  Right over the gate."

I was a little unnerved by what he meant by getting it over the gate. However, I let that slide and decided to move on. "So, where were you last night around midnight?” I asked

"Restin' me old bones, lad," Squall replied.  "Used to be quite the Tartarus-raiser in me youth."

"Thanks Squall," I said with a nod. "I'll need you to talk to some of the uniforms and make a statement. Are there any other ponies around I can talk to?"

Squall pointed towards a water pump not far from here. “Oh aye, lad.  Queenie's over there, if ye'd like to speak to her," he suggested.

I nodded and walked towards the water pump where he pointed. Right there I saw... oh boy...

She was beautiful.  There was no other word to describe her.  Nothing like Twilight, of course, but she would be one to make stallions swoon, and mares jealous.  Her coat was a light blue, and glistened in the light, like the sun on newly fallen snow.  Her mane and tail were golden, and fell in loose ringlets.

From the expression on her face I could tell she too was affected by what was going on. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

She turned toward me, head tilted and eyebrow raised.  "Yes?" she asked in a cultured accent.  Not from Canterlot, but definitely high class.  It seemed familiar, though.  

I gave her a gentle smile and said, "Detective Private Eye, I'm investigating what happened here. You are Miss..?"

"Ice Storm, of Avalanche Valley," she said with a rather cool demeanor.  "Commonly called 'Queenie' by my colleagues.  What can I do for you, Detective?”

"Avalanche Valley?" I asked blankly, then it dawned on me. "I thought your accent was familiar, you live near that winter resort up north."

"Yes, yes I do.  It's something of a family business, you could say," she said guardedly.

"I'm sorry," I said, giving her a sympathetic look. "If your opinion of me is colored in any way by Thatcher. Just to let you know, I hate the guy's guts as much as probably everypony here, if not more."

Queenie raised an eyebrow at that and asked, “So you're not going to try and frame Grapes because of her parents marrying for love, rather than wealth and status?"

I shook my head and replied “My parents married for love rather than wealth and status too.”

"Good to hear," Queenie said with a smile, and sighed.  "I'm sorry, but that utter twit seemed intent upon pinning this on Grapes, and I feared you were another of the type, but trying for sympathetic, rather than overt hostility."

I returned her smile and said, “I mean no harm to anypony here. I just want to find out what happened. I had heard that the victims were hardly good workers. Thatcher mentioned something about Grapes not being here last night, though?” 

"She and Stormfront went into town.  I can only imagine it was for a date. Took them long enough to admit their feelings, let alone act upon them," Queenie said with a chuckle.

I gave a small smile to that. "I figured that was their relationship. Though, in order to clear up her name, I need to know of any date spots they prefer. Any restaurants I can check out to give her a decent alibi."

"Then tend to go everywhere, honestly.  From the small diner, to Horsia's...  Fellow gives her a discount for providing their wine list.  We all head to the Shoe In for karaoke night every other Saturday, and sometimes Grapes and Stormy go to that club run by DJ Pon3.  Grapes got a VIP pass to it, before it even opened... Something about doing a salsa in the town square with Pinkie and Rarity."

I nodded and replied, "If you could get me a list and some phone numbers I can call I'd appreciate it."

"All right.  Let me get this water to Firestormer first.  He's been working like crazy to keep from doing something regrettable."

"Who's Firestorm?" I asked, about two seconds later I got my answer. An orange pegasus zoomed by a batch of grapes, gathering them at seemingly lightning speed.

"That's FirestormER," Queenie, said emphasizing the 'er', and waving a hoof at the orange pegasus. "FIRESTORMER!" she yelled.

He flew back, plopping a basket down, and panting a bit. He too, didn’t seem happy upon seeing me. 

"What, Queenie?" he asked, annoyed.  I don't want to talk to any cops, right now." 

"Not even one who's on Grapes' side?" Queenie asked, hoofing him the bucket of water.

He gulped down some water, then looked at me appraising. "You for real?" he finally asked.

I nodded and replied, "Detective Private Eye. I don't work with Thatcher, for a lot of good reasons."

"One of 'em being he's a prick?" Firestormer asked, his face seeming to naturally curve into a cocky smile.  "You seem all right, so far. What'dya want to know?" 

Queenie left the conversation, and went into the bunkhouse.

I gave him a look over and asked, "Wait... I know you from somewhere, don't I? I think you were in the paper once."

Firestormer looked to the side sheepishly and replied, “Yeah.  Long time ago.  Look, I don't like to talk about that much."

"Right," I said with a nod. "I was hoping you could tell me a little bit about Sour Grapes herself. I understand she's not the murdering type. Did she have any enemies or somepony that would want to frame her, aside from her just being a hybrid?”

"Well, that's the thing, she didn't make enemies.  Even ponies she fired ended up respecting her, because she was always fair, and always very, if bluntly, honest.  She had an escaped convict from Altri-traz prison hiding out here, and she inspired him to go back and serve his time, because of how fair she was," Firestormer said.  "She's never fires on a whim, and always tries to have solid proof beforehand.  Anypony who's done a good job, gets a letter of recommendation.  Even the escaped convict."

That was certainly a good character cover. I nodded and said, "Did you find anything strange as you were flying around the vineyard?" 

"I found this," Firestormer said, showing me a bottle. "What can you make of it?"

I opened the bottle, looked at the contents and gave a sniff. It certainly smelled familiar. I used my magic to pluck a nearby leave and applied the chemical to the leaf. It shriveled up on contact. "It's modified Glyphosate, used to kill weeds, but somepony remade it so that it would kill any plant it touches," I replied.

"Whoa...Think somebody was going to spray the vines with that crud?" Firestormer asked, his ears going back.

"It's the only explanation I can come up with," I said, closing the bottle carefully. "Where did you find it?"

"Over by the bunkhouse. On the side with the weather vane," Firestormer replied.  "You don't think that pegasus had it, do you?"

"You'd make a pretty good detective one day," I said. "However, to be sure, I'd have to find traces on the body first."

Firestormer nodded.  "Glad you're on board, Detective," he said.  "As for enemies, she'd have for just being a hybrid you'd have to start with her grandmother."

I nodded and asked, “You got a name for me?

"Pave Diamond.  Crazy lady's probably thinking her whole family's rebelling against her, and taking it out on Grapes..."  

"Well yeah, dude, 'cos she's a total nag," added a tan unicorn with a blonde mane, tail, and goatee, as he walked in on our conversation. 

“And you are?” I asked. 

"Hi, I'm Diamond Dust.  Grapes' cousin from the Diamond side of the family.  Nice to meet 'cha, dude."

"I've heard of the Diamond family," I replied. "They used to do some work with my grandfather. I'm guessing it's no coincidence they stopped sending Hearth's Warming cards after my dad got married. From what I heard, they have as lousy an opinion of hyrbrids as Thatcher. Hard to believe somepony like Sour Grapes would come from them." 

"Well Dad would have continued, but Grandma would have flayed him.  He was already on her bad side for being 'unnatural'," Diamond Dust replied.  " Aunt Champagne is nice, and so's Uncle Champagne.  Er... Yeah, funny story.  Champagne Grapes meets Champagne Diamond in Canterlot, and...  the rest is history."

I laughed and excused myself leaving the two ponies and making my way back to the crime scene. It was relatively deserted now that the police had taken the bodies. I would say it was totally deserted, if not for one more inhabitant...

She was definitely not from around here. She was a pegasus, taller than your average Equestrian pony, with slender legs, and a mocha brown coat.  Her strong muzzle suggested Saddle Arabian origins. Her mane was a glossy black.

She frowned and said something in a language I didn't recognize. She picked up one of the broken bottles and then I cleared my throat and said, "Ma'am?" She almost dropped the bottle in shock.

She spun around, glaring at me.  "Do not sneak up on me, like that!  You nearly made my heart attack me!" she snapped.

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Um, don't you mean I nearly gave you a heart attack?"

She blinked and replied, “Ah, yes.  That would be correct. Your language is confounding sometimes."

I gave a gentle smile and said, "It's alright. You must be another one of the workers here. I'm Detective Private Eye, what's your name?"

"I am Sirocco," she said with a bow.  "I am the accountant for Grapes' Vineyard.  I am here assessing the damages."

I levitated one of the broken bottles and said "This was used during the murder. I think the label is still intact" I gave it to her and her eyes scanned it. 

She quickly wrote down the vintage, and some number that was along the side of the bottle. then she continued, "I cannot understand why someone would murder these poor souls.  Moreover, I cannot understand why that detective is so intent upon Grapes being the murder. She is a good pony.  Understanding of me and my problems with Equestrian, and is almost as good a big sister to Earshot as Lightening Stripe."
"If you think you can find out who bought this let me know" I said earnestly "I'm going to do everything in my power to help find out what happened"

Sirocco nodded.  "Gladly, I shall also check our stores, and see if it came from there."

"Thank you" I said, just then Twilight walked in.  

She looked at me and said “Private, Sour says that Earshot will see you now” 

“Okay,” I nodded, “Let’s see what the kid saw”

__________________________________________________

Twilight and I left the shed and made our way to the farmhouse. We went inside to find that Grapes was laying on the floor with a little gray-coated colt.  He had a dark purple-black mane and tail, and the bat wings the Night Ponies.  

The Night Ponies were still fairly new, and slowly introducing themselves to the rest of Equestria.  They looked a lot like the Lunar Stallions, to be honest, but came in all sizes, and in both genders.  

The young colt that Grapes was talking to was trembling, and I could barely tell that she was talking.  Grapes looked up at me, and then Earshot did, too. His yellow slitted eyes were fearful, obviously a hold-over from his encounter with Thatcher Hook.
I walked to him slowly and looked at the colt with a smile. I spoke to him in a gentle voice I usually reserve for when Tailspin had a nightmare "Hey, I'm Private Eye, you must be Earshot"

"Yes. Yes I am," he said, then took a deep breath. "Grapes says you're going to help her, not like that jerk, Thatcher Hook.”

I gave him a look over "You're awfully young to be so far away from home"

"Grandma sent me out to the Daylight Lands to see how the other ponies would accept Night Ponies," he said, with a smile.  "It was a big job, and others felt they should do it, but everypony, back in Stygian Cove, listens to Grandma."

"I guess we both have awesome grandmas" I said with a laugh. I then kept my gentle demeanor as I said "Earshot, I need you to tell me everything about what happened last night"

"Well.  I was keeping the bugs and rodents away from the grapes with my subsonics," Earshot started, sounding thoughtful.  "Miss Grapes has me do night patrol, as long as I get enough sleep to not be drowsy in school.  When I came back, I saw that Miss Grapes was gone."

Twilight gave him a long look "You mean, you eat bugs?"

"Well yes.” He answered “We kind of had to develop a flexible diet, during the difficult times after our fleeing from Equestria, after Nightmare Moon was banished."

Just so long as his lunch dosen't contain spiders we should be fine. "What did you do after that?"

"Well, I couldn't hear Stormfront in the Bunkhouse, so I went back out to take care of more bugs.  Then I heard the crashes from the shed, flew back, heard somebody screaming, and that's when I saw..."

I smiled and reached into the pocket of my trench coat. I withdrew a small bag of cookies I was going to save for myself later. I put them in front of Earshot "Here, you'll feel better when you have some treats in your stomach"

The colt brightened up at the sight of the cookies.  "Thank you very much," he chirped happily. 

"Foals are foals, no matter what they look like," Grapes said with a chuckle.  "You should have seen him when he was finally told about Nightmare Night."

I smiled "I have a brother his age, so I know what makes colts tick"

Earshot dug into one of the cookies and I went on "So, when was this?"

"Found them around two in the morning," Earshot said, after swallowing.

I nodded, "Keep the rest of the cookies" I then gave an affectionate rub of the 
colt's mane "You deserved it for all that you've done to help"

"I hope you find who did it. Those three were finally coming around." Earshot said. 

I nodded and stood to look at Sour "Grapes, can we talk for a minute?" I asked, the three of us left Earshot to his cookies and we got outside.

Twilight was the first to speak up "Care to tell us why you wouldn't tell us where you were last night?"

Sour Grapes’ face returned to a scowl "Do I pester you about what you and Private do, when you're off by yourselves?"

"Grapes" Twilight said, reaching a hoof for her "We're just trying to help..."

"I know.  It's” She backed away from Twilight, her face betraying that she was hiding something “just a situation I'm not ready to share yet," Grapes said quietly.  "I've still got to get my mind wrapped around it, myself."

"Grapes you're my friend" Twilight said, trying to be gentle "Surely we ca-"

"Argh!  Cut it out!" Grapes snapped, then sighed.  "Sorry, Twi. Just... give me a bit, okay."

With that, Sour ran back inside and slammed the door behind her.

Twilight looked down, guilt evident on her face.

"What's wrong Twi?" I asked. 

She sighed "Sorry, it's just hard when a friend won't tell me what's wrong. Makes me feel like there’s more that I could do"

I smiled and put a hoof on her shoulder "Hey, it's okay, she'll come round eventually"

There was a foalish giggle off to the side. I looked over to see Earshot with his bag of cookies. Twilight and I blushed a little at having been caught by the colt. "Earshot, how long were you sitting there?" I asked, trying to contain my embarrassment.

"Not very long.  I found something I thought you should look at... And honestly, it's nice," Earshot said with a smile.  "Reminds me of Stormy and Miss Grapes, or Queenie and Dusty."

He then reached into his worker’s vest and pulled out something. "I found this in the trash," he said taking extra care with the object.  The care was needed, it being a syringe.  "I thought you should see it."

I looked over the syringe with a tentative eye. I read the label "Calcium Channel Blockers...it's a heart medication" 

Twilight looked at Earshot "Do you know anypony here who has a bad heart?"

Earshot shook his head “Not that I know of” 

"Alright then" I looked over at Twilight as I put the syringe in a plastic bag "We should head back to the office. See about calling up some places to see if Grapes has been to any of them. The sooner we can get grapes an alibi the better"

Just then Queenie trotted out from the Bunkhouse.  At about the same time Sirocco came over from the Office. 

"Here is that list of Stormy and Grapes' favorite spots," Queenie said, hoofing the list over.  "Sorry it took so long, but there's a couple of places in Maneland, and Fullpint's tavern in Seaside, and I was looking up their numbers."

"Thanks a lot" I said, pocketing the list "We'll run these by the office and see what checks out"

I heard somepony clear their throat and turned to find Sirocco standing there, a small smile on her face and a list of her own. 

"Also, I have found where the bottles were sold.  One to a wineshop in Canterlot and one to a store in Fillydelphia," Sirocco said, giving Private a slip of paper with the names and phone numbers of each.

"Thank you all" I said, pocketing the list.

Twilight looked over at Queenie "Watch out for Sour okay? Something is really on her mind"

"I shall," Queenie said with a nod.

With that Twilight and I left the vineyard behind. I looked over at Twilight. I could tell she was still thinking about how Sour Grapes reacted. I pressed into her gently “Hey, you know sometimes you have to give friends some space” 

She pressed back and smiled at me “Private, I want to say I’m proud of you. The old you would’ve just have gone along with Thatcher and attacked Sour Grapes for her flimsy at best alibi” 

I slowly smiled “I, honestly have you to thank for that” 

She smiled in turn and laid a kiss on my cheek “Come on, we got a friend to help” 

With that, we walked down the path and ventured towards our office. Here’s hoping this case gets solved soon. Grapes may have been a hard pony, but her team cares about her deeply. I wanted to do my best to help bring their lives as back to normal as possible. 

Twilight’s right…I really have changed…