Chapter 1
Fillydelphia was one of Equestria’s bigger cities, a sprawling mass of gridded streets butted up against a thriving port. While it lacked the impressive skyline of Manehatten, Fillydephians were still proud of its tightly knit knot of skyscrapers.
The impressive cloud/brick hybrid buildings still buzzed with activity, even with the Luna’s moon reaching the midway point in its nightly journey. However, the activity our heroes are presently concerned with is happening far from the looming shadow of the massive structures.
In one of the town’s less well-off neighborhood, two ponies dressed in absurd trench coats and fedoras were making a mad dash for their lives. Exploding through a steel door and out into a grimy alley, the pair darted quickly around the corner of the building and out onto the street.
The cyan blue mare fumbled with her coat, picking at the buckle with her teeth attempting desperately to get free on the confining clothing. Unable to pay full attention to where her hooves were going, she promptly tripped over a pothole in the ill maintained street and fell into a heap. A creamy yellow hoof shot out to her aid, and upon accepting it the blue mare was quickly back on all fours again.
“C’mon Dashie we gotta run!” The butter yellow mare squeaked to her companion, fear and concern etched across her face.
“No, Flutters, what we have to do is fly! If I can just get this dumb thing off my-” Rainbow’s frustrated retort was cut shot as the air between the two mare was rent by the all too familiar whizzing of a blast of magic. Had the shot been better aimed, it was odds on either Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy would be waking up six feet under or at least in intensive care ward of Our Lady of Celestia Hospital. Instead the blast had landed a few feet wide, carving yet another pothole in the rough street.
“Of course there’s a unicorn,” Dash grumbled as she and Fluttershy once again sprinted away.
Ducking into another alleyway and behind a dumpster, the pair held their breath as their pursuers sprinted past the mouth of the alley. Rainbow returned to her task of undoing the buckle on her coat once more. Fluttershy held a hoof to her lips as an unneeded reminder of silence. Rainbow shot her companion an annoyed glare as her teeth were finally able to undo the belt that had too long confined her wings.
She turned to her companion and whispered hastily, “Do you have it?”
Fluttershy nodded rapidly and indicated her coat pocket with a hoof.
“Spread out they can’t have gotten far!” Came a stallion’s shout from out on the street.
Fluttershy went rigid with panic as she heard the slow clip-cloping of hoofsteps on the uneven brick of the alley. She shot a panicked glance at Rainbow who was busy shrugging off her coat. There was no time for Fluttershy to remove her own jacket and secure the package; one of the assailants would surely be on them in a matter of seconds.
Without preamble Dash scooped up Fluttershy in her hooves and blasted off into the night sky, leaving a rainbow trail and a cloud of dust in her wake. As she sped away she wasn’t sure if she heard, or simply imagined, a unicorn stallion shaking his hoof at the sky and saying something to the effect of, “Curses foiled again by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy!”
Once Rainbow had put a few neighborhoods behind her and any possible pegasi pursuers, she touched down on one of the main thoroughfares of Fillydelphia’s north side, making sure that despite the lateness of the hour there would at least be a witness or two to any assault. After quickly scanning the sky, the cyan mare laid into Fluttershy.
“Why in the name of Celestia’s pale flank did we have to wear these stupid disguises?!” Dash shouted animatedly at her companion, tossing aside the fedora that had somehow remained perched on her head despite the wild flight.
Fluttershy flinched at her partner’s volume, “B- because, they… the gang… was given our descriptions… C’mon Dashie, you know we needed to hide out wings and manes…”
Rainbow exhaled a sigh and looked into her fellow detective’s aquamarine eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I know but still. I like to know that if things get hairy I can fly us away, that was too close.”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement, that one had certainly been a close call and she was hoping to not have another like it for a good long while. She reached into her trench coat’s pockets and fished out the package they had been hired to retrieve: a simple brass pocket-watch.
“Can’t believe all this was for a stupid clock…” RD said with as much grumble as she possibly could.
“But Dashie, it’s an heirloom and those meanie thugs were using it to blackmail that nice family.” Fluttershy said as she removed her coat and placed the watch in a small pair of saddle bags she had kept hidden under the coat.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Yeah that nice family whom you allowed to pay us our fee in carrots and daisies instead of cold hard bits.”
“But that was the whole point, they couldn’t afford the blackmail and they certainly couldn’t afford us. At least now our kitchen is well stocked,” Fluttershy replied as she stretched her wings as she spoke; the time under the coat had done them no favors.
Dash scoffed, “Yeah… Kitchen…”
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After returning the watch to its sleepy rightful owners, the pair of pegasi entered the shabby office building that housed their home base. Rainbow was the first through the painted glass door which read ‘Ragged Wings Detective Agency.’ She ventured into their office, carrying in her mouth a bag of fresh daisies, with Fluttershy followed soon after, her saddle bags bulging with carrots.
The office had clearly seen better days. The bitter scent of burnt coffee washed over the pair like a wave, but despite its pervasive presence in the office the two had come to regard it as comforting. ‘Who needs scented candles,’ was a favorite joke of Dash’s. The main room of the office had once been a waiting area for a smaller office that resided just off the room, behind another door. Now it seemed that the former reception area was pulling its weight as the main work room. A single desk sat facing the door, two chairs set on either side of it. One set for Dash and ‘Shy, the other for clients. Behind the desk was a pair of windows that looked out over the Fillydelphia skyline. The room felt entirely too big for the sparse amount of furniture, but two detectives made do.
Dash trotted over to the small kitchenette in the far corner of the room. Back in its waiting room days this is where guests may have been able to help themselves to some nice coffee or a bagel while they awaited their appointment, but now the kitchenette obliged not only to hold a coffee pot, but a hot plate and mini-fridge as well. She opened one of the cupboards and retrieved a four slices of bread.
“Daisy sandwich okay?” She called over her shoulder to her partner.
“Sure, Dashie,” Fluttershy said as she pulled up next to the blue mare at the counter, depositing the carrots as she did.
The pair hadn’t intended to be roommates, but their business was in a slump and each was left unable to afford their rent. It had been a bit of a shock the night Rainbow had carefully crept into the office only to be greeted by Fluttershy’s soft snoring. The unexpected company had caused Rainbow to spring into what she had called ‘attack mode.’ Dash had ended up inadvertently pinning her partner to the ground and threatening her with jail time. The effect this had had on Fluttershy was… strange… to say the least. The half-asleep Fluttershy had mumbled something along the lines of: “Why don’t you just kiss me you big sexy mare,” before the whole mess went to hell in an awkward, blushing hand-basket.
In order to keep their mess mostly tucked away, the pair had agreed to commandeer the office room as their new bedroom. The back office now housed a pair of cloud-cots (which Dash had expertly retrieved from a passing front) and a couple flat pack wardrobes, which held the few pieces of clothing the pegasi owned, a bookcase, and whatever furniture the pair could salvage from their apartments.
After the few moments spent preparing the meal, Rainbow and ‘Shy sat down at the desk to eat their sandwiches.
“Look it’s not that I don’t like daisies…” Dash began between mouthfuls.
“I know…” Fluttershy averted her aquamarine eyes, unable to meet Dash’s rosy orbs. “They just needed our help so badly… but I know we could use the bits…”
“Damn straight we need the bits Flutters, we got bills to pay!” Rainbow realized that she had raised her voice and shook her head, hoping that if she jerked her head hard enough maybe the stress would melt out of her ears. “Look I’m sorry, I know we needed the food too… and it did feel good helping those folks out...”
Fluttershy nodded, still not quite looking at Rainbow Dash as she took another bite of her sandwich.
“What we need is a rich client…like an obscenely rich client…” Rainbow said tapping her hoof to her chin.
“What about a Filthy Rich client?” Asked a stallion from the doorway.