//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Millie 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

	The thought never occurred to me that I might be too hard on the Lunar Guard.  He deserved all the rudness I threw at him, although a few times I had at least paused to consider it.  Like now, when he delivered the nugget of information about the white feathers.
It was an interesting detail, but unfortunately didn’t prove very much.  I shrugged.  “So what?”
“It narrows our search somewhat,” he said.
“You mean my search.  You haven’t done very much that I can see.”  Maybe that wasn’t true.  He had told me a few things and provided money, but the killer wasn’t any closer to being caught.
The Guard stared but didn't look like he actually resented my comment.  His eyes looked away. "I've done all I can."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Bigger things are at work here," he murmured.  "Bigger than either of us."
That gave me pause.  Something about his turnaround in attitude was different.  Considering my words carefully, I said, "I can understand how catching a multiple-murderer would be important."
The Guard looked at me intently and opened his mouth, pausing a moment before closing it again.  His face looked conflicted and he appeared to reconsider before saying anything. After a moment to collect himself he shook his head and turned away.
"Hey," I called.  "What aren't you telling me? You can't just hint at something like that and not go into detail!"
Despite my protests, he unfolded his wings and flew away without another word.  I had half a mind to try grabbing him telekinetically, but it didn’t cross my mind until he was already out of sight.
Grumbling, I went into the hotel.  Vinyl would at least listen to my complaining.  What are friends for, right?
We were seated wherever we could among her electronic gear.  I perched on an amplifier while Vinyl lay back on the bed with her hooves folded behind her head.  She listened patiently to the story of everything that had happened since I’d left the hotel earlier that day; my survey of the crime scene, the interactions with Fleur and Ice, and the small amount of information the batpony had given me.
Vinyl took a moment to process it all.  “So, white feathers were found.  That doesn't necessarily mean anything.  You know, it’s not exactly uncommon to find white feathers.  Heck, even Princess Celestia has them.”
“Yeah, so do swans,” I mused.
“Storks,” she chuckled.
I nodded.  “Even so, I’m still thinking it’s a pegasus.  Not that our killer was a giant bird or anything, but if it was another species you’d think there would be some other kind of injuries on the victim.  As it was, the attack was blunt force trauma.”
“Hmm,” Vinyl mused.  “It could also be an earth pony.  Or a unicorn trying not to look like a unicorn.  Have you checked into this killer’s other victims?  Do you know if the other attacks are all similar?”
“I was hoping to get that information from Ice.”  I sighed.  “I think we’re at a dead end on that.  It’s starting to seem like we should look elsewhere.”
“Like where?” Vinyl asked.
“Maybe we should think about the big picture.  The serial killer is at the forefront, but the way the Guard talked, there’s something else going on.”
Both of us fell silent, trying to figure out what that might be.  Vinyl shrugged.  “Maybe that bench where you woke up - twice - has something to do with it.  Remember back in Canterlot how you first appeared near the castle?”
I facehoofed.  An accident at Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns had brought me to Canterlot.  What were the chances that a directed snatching of myself would also transport me to nearby the spell casting site?  “Why didn’t I think of that?  Yeah, we should check it out.”
Vinyl grinned.  “Do you want to go tonight?”
I was in the mood to accomplish something.  Going downtown to find the bench sounded like a great idea.  The two of us left the hotel.  The clerk at the front desk looked a little surprised to see two guests going out instead of coming in at that time of night.
I was a little worried that nighttime temperatures would drop even further, but my eagerness seemed to make the cold a little less bitter.  We walked for a few minutes to find the place that I seemed to have a connection to.  It was the first time I’d ever really taken to study the location, having previously been focused on leaving it.  It was not quite a park, rather just some benches, litter bins, and trees installed along the street.  The buildings around the place looked just like every other part of the city.
“Here it is,” I said.  Both of us walked around, just to make sure there wasn’t something magical about the bench itself.  Even with my limited experience, I couldn’t feel any magical influence and Vinyl didn’t seem to notice anything, either.  There were no runes or anything else to indicate that it might be something more than a normal bench.
Our attention shifted to the nearby buildings.  One or two of them had a few lights on.  I commented, “There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly special about any of them.”
Vinyl turned to me.  “Yeah.  Then again, maybe one of them is concealing a secret base.”
It seemed far-fetched, but at this point I was willing to consider anything.  I was just about to speak when Vinyl suddenly stiffened.  Her head cocked a fraction of an inch.  Her sunglasses concealed where her eyes were looking.  “Don’t look, Millie, but there’s a pony watching us from a bench at the end of the street.”
I paused, but did as she said.  In a low voice, I asked, “How do you know?”
Vinyl’s voice was just as quiet.  “Who else would show up after we got here and sit there pretending to read a newspaper at this time of night?”
It was a good point.  “What do they look like?”
“Their face is behind the paper, but it’s a grey pegasus.  It’s too far to tell the cutie mark.”
Was this paranoia, considering any random pony on the street as a potential stalker?  I wondered just how many enemies could I make after only being in Manehattan for a couple of days.  Who could this be?  The Lunar Guard not in disguise, some other pony from law enforcement, or maybe even the killer?
The first of those possibilities was shot down as the front door of the nearest building opened and that very pony stepped out.  His cat-like eyes narrowed as he spotted the two of us.
Well, it looked like my guess of a secret base might have turned out to be correct.  I didn’t have time to gloat, however, as the Guard came stalking over.  “What do you want?”
Vinyl jumped in.  “We were trying to figure out why Millie showed up here out of all the places in Equestria.  It looks like you just answered that question.”
“This is the Manehattan operations headquarters of the Lunar Guard,” he said tersely.  “It’s also secret, so we don’t need you hanging around and drawing attention.”
I wanted to point out how him coming out of the building was probably a bigger attention grab than me or Vinyl.  I was rather struck how he was actually addressing her this time.  When they first met back when the Guard had booted me off the train, Vinyl had been the next thing to ignored.  
Instead of questioning that or mentioning to the Guard about keeping a low profile, I asked, “So why did you bring me here?”
He eyed me.  “I’ve already told you.  To catch a killer.”
“But why here?  What’s going on in this building?”
“You don’t need to know.  Now, why did you visit in the middle of the night?  Do you need more money?”  He pulled a bag of bits out from under one wing and tossed it in my direction.  “Here.  Now leave.”
I instinctively caught the bag with magic.  I was getting better at that.  I stood there holding the bits while the Guard turned and marched back into the building.  The door slammed.
Vinyl and I both let out a steamy breath in the cold air, glad that the conversation had been cut short.  A little breeze blew down the street and I felt the chill a little more than before now that my mind wasn’t so set on a mission.
I was glad to have made some kind of progress tonight, but more than a little irked that the Guard continued to be so standoffish.  Sure I was being nosy, but how else was I supposed to find clues to track down the serial killer?  He didn’t have to be such an ass about it.  In fact, if he hadn’t come out of the building to run his mouth at me, I would never have learned that it was a Lunar Guard headquarters.  At least he was pretty loose with the bits.
“Come on,” said Vinyl, nudging my shoulder.  “If we’re up this late anyway, we might as well find something to eat.”
That sounded good to me and I turned to follow her.  As we walked away, Vinyl glanced down the street.  “Huh.  Whoever that pony was with the newspaper is gone.”
Well darn, and I was hoping they would introduce themselves and give me a package of information detailing every single thing I needed to solve the case because they liked me as a fine upstanding member of the community.  Of course, nothing was that simple. I would have been happy to force that aforementioned information out, however.  I wasn’t in any mood to be subtle, not anymore.  In fact, skulking around in the background hadn’t gotten me very far on the case and I was tired of it.  
I sighed.  Sarcasm and anger was not my style.  I really needed to unwind and see this case objectively.  Maybe we could start with the unknown watcher.  I had literally zero guesses as to who it might be.  Jeeze, maybe an as-yet unannounced player in this was following me.  I couldn’t imagine how this situation could get even more complicated.  Maybe it was time to be more active.
Of course, completely ignoring that thought, we decided not to go to the diner where the clash over lack of payment had happened.  I wasn’t in the mood to take guff off anypony, but only if it would help solve the case.  Other conflict I would try to avoid.
Vinyl and I ended up heading to the food court at the train station.  They at least had burgers, albeit veggie, so I was somewhat happy.  Maybe I should ask Gilda where to find a nice meat-serving restaurant.
On the way, the two of us talked a little and tried to make sense of what we had learned that night.  Vinyl wanted to go back and poke around covertly in the daylight.  I felt like I agreed, but thought that there might be a better way.  Perhaps take another run at Ice and see if he’d come off his stoic morals and would actually help me.
After ordering from the food pony at the burger bar, I pulled out the bag of bits the Lunar Guard had given me.  Inside were the coins I expected, but also a small slip of paper.  Curious, I pulled it out and held it along with the bag.
As my eyes quickly scanned the note my grip on the bag slipped and it fell to the floor, scattering bits everywhere.  I didn’t care.  I couldn’t tear my eyes from the message.
You have three days to solve the case, or you can't go home. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.