Chapter 4
“Spera”
Clap...Clap...Clap...Clap...
“Bravo Blueblood, a most extraordinary performance of absolute insolence.”
Everypony in the room stopped speaking as we all saw him. He was my height, strong looking but not overly muscular and his mane was short and black. His eyes were a forest green and showed intelligence despite him being the same age as me. His coat was... the same shade of grey as mine. In fact, you could mistake us for brothers if you set us beside each other.
Everypony began whispering around me as the stallion approached a furious Blueblood. “I must say,” he grinned, his voice showing a slight Manehatten accent, “You do know how to be entertaining Blueblood. Have you considered a career in show business?”
Blueblood walked up to the smirking stallion. “And who are you, and why do you dare interrupt my moment of-”
“Making a fool of yourself?” the stallion interrupted with another smirk. “While it was entertaining to watch her highness slap you, I believe you have gone on long enough.”
“I asked who you were!” Blueblood demanded.
“Forgive my poor manners,” he answered. “I am Spera, Spera Imperictus.”
Imperictus? As in the family that owns the Imperial Group? A group that owns pretty much a whole quarter of Manehatten’s businesses?
Blueblood simply sniffed, “I do not understand, why do you speak of insolence! I speak the truth!”
Spera kept his smirk, “If you believe what you said to be the truth it’s no wonder your father’s embarrassed with you.”
That got Blueblood’s blood boiling. “You dare to spout such lies and insults at me!”
“I dare, because in all honesty I don’t know how you expect anypony here to take your word seriously,” Spera answered, his green eyes not leaving Blueblood. “Let's look at what's happened in the last couple years. You used a mare as a shield, got told off, lost any respect you had before. And then you pull a stupid stunt to try and kidnap the sister of the mare who wronged you." He laughed a baritone laugh. “I must say, it’s amazing how one can be so entertainingly stupid.”
I like this guy.
“There is no evidence that I was involved with any kidnapping, aside from that filthy hybrid noble-hating peasant’s word,” Blueblood said haughtily. “I merely wanted to show how this worthless piece of filth was using one of my family’s trusted servants to slander my family’s name, because he can’t be content with slandering me.”
“You want to know what everypony here is seeing you as?” Spera began, “but is too afraid to say it?”
“And what may that be, good sir?” Blueblood spat.
“A child.”
“And you’re a fine one to speak of my insolence, when you are spouting such yourself. A child? What poppycock,” Blueblood said dismissively.
“A stallion wouldn’t stand here up on stage and whine when something doesn't go his own way. A stallion grabs destiny by the throat and makes it follow his will. But a stallion also knows when to stand down and let words pass through. You on the other hoof, are simply an overpowered waste of space that is throwing a tantrum because he got a stain on his bib.”
The way he spoke, it forced everypony to listen to what he had to say. All eyes, including mine and Twilight’s, were on this guy. He was so intense and charismatic. Just, who was this guy?
“You dare!” Blueblood bellowed. “You dare to speak such insolent words! A noble such as yourself should be at my side! Defending the noble class from this insolent peasant!”
Spera then shrugged. “I see no reason to defend a child having a temper tantrum.”
“I will not stand here and be insulted!” Blueblood fired back.
“Then go stand outside where you can’t bother anypony!” Spera growled, glaring at Blueblood. “Stars above, I can speak for the whole crowd in saying we are quite tired of you. Nopony cares Blueblood.”
With that, Spera simply walked away from the conversation. His piece was said, and he felt he needed to say no more. At least that’s what I got out of this.
“Fine! Run!” Blueblood cried. “Hide like the coward you are! Any who stand with this peasant are fools and liars and....”
He didn’t see that the crowd had left him, following Spera’s lead and just ignoring Blueblood.
Who was this guy? That he could turn an entire crowd to ignore Blueblood?
_________________________________________________________
After everything was settled and the crowd fully dispersed, Twilight and I found Spera at the punch bowl. Twilight was the first to speak once we found him. “Sir, I think it’s our duty to thank you for that. You have no idea how much Blueblood has been harassing me and my husband.”
Spera looked at us both and smiled, “So, you are the famous Private Eye and Twilight Sparkle, I’m honored to meet you both at last.”
“The honor is all ours Spera,” I said with a smile. “You probably prevented a fight between me and Blueballs.” Grapes’ nickname for the guy kind of slipped out.
Spera broke into a laugh, “It would be far fitting if he had any. But given his recent whinings, I seriously wonder if he is a child, or simply a gelding pretending to be a stallion.”
“Either way,” Twilight said, “We really do appreciate it.”
“Think nothing of it your highness,” Spera said with a small smile. “I, unlike my more contemporary nobles, believe that the match was a good one.”
“You are seriously a breath of fresh air,” I said, laughing a little.
Spera then spoke a little seriously, “I have heard that you both are investigating the murder of that butler.”
Twilight and I looked at each other. “From Blueblood’s rant?” I asked.
He nodded, “I seriously doubt that you would force a maid to cough up a false story to please a desire to slander the nobility. I would’ve interrupted the rant sooner, but I thought I’d go ahead and aid you. I suggested to the guards that her pregnancy should be validated.”
“What did you find?” Twilight asked.
He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a pregnancy test in a little bag. “She was distraught but she managed to get the result out in time for me to arrive here.”
I held the pregnancy test to my eye as the result came up, a little pink plus sign was there. I sighed, “You can argue with a negative, but a positive is a positive.”
“Poor Squeaky,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “She really is carrying Lord Blueblood’s foal.”
Spera closed his eyes for a minute, then said, “I hope you will not let her do anything drastic to the child. It’s not the fault of the child for how it was born.”
“You sound like you speak from experience,” I said sympathetically.
He smiled, “It is a long story, but I do hold a soft heart for children. I do not wish any child harmed.”
“You are a noble spirit,” Twilight said with a smile. “Like Private.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek.
I chuckled and Spera laughed a little. “Count yourself lucky Private Eye, many would kill for a mare such as her.”
“I think I found that one out the hard way,” I laughed in turn.
“Your highnesses!”
All three of us turned to see Flash run up to us. He saluted and said, “We got a pathologist to examine the body, I’m to take you there at once.”
“Who’d you get?” I asked.
_________________________________________________________
“Do you have any idea how late it is?!” Forceps yelled in my face. The old black coated stallion pointed a hoof at me. “Right when I was about to spend a wonderful night with Appely, you had to go and find another stiff!”
The basement had been converted into a makeshift lab. Bastion’s body laid on a table, cleaned by some guards so it was sanitary. Lab equipment was set aside on a nearby desk and other chairs. Twilight was standing beside me, a little freaked out. “First of all, I’m a little weirded out you know Granny Smith’s first name. Second, could you focus on the st-I mean, body please?”
“Alright, alright,” Forceps sighed, holding up his hooves. “Forgive an old timer like me for being grouchy.”
“So, what can you tell us about the body?” I asked, stepping over to Bastion.
“Poor feller got himself poisoned real bad. Almost pure cyanide,” Forceps explained. “Got into his bloodstream and basically stopped him from breathing, turning him into the grand glorious stiff before you.”
“How’d the cyanide get in? I didn’t detect any traces in his saliva so he couldn’t have drank anything.”
“Here’s how it got in.” Forceps’ magic wrapped around a bag. I looked up and saw a needle inside, a small dart. “Poison dart, so small I missed it the first time. Got the poison inside and did the job.”
“Where was it?” I asked.
“Got him in the flank.” Forceps said. “Right where his cutie mark was.”
“So the killer must’ve attacked him from behind.” Twilight concluded.
“It would have to have been levitated,” I pointed out, “Otherwise somepony would’ve noticed him getting stabbed.”
“Doesn’t help that all three of the ponies in there were unicorns.” Twilight said, shaking her head.
Forceps went back to work on the needle. ”I’m looking to see if we can extract DNA, but it’s awfully small so it could take a while.”
I nodded. “Right, let’s go back to the crime scene and see if we missed anything.”
_____________________________________________________________
We arrived back at the crime scene, a pair of guards were standing in the open doorway. Along with another pony, Tabletop. The host looked over at us. “Your highness,” he bowed, ignoring me and directly addressing Twilight. “How goes the investigation?”
“We’re doing the best we can to find the killer,” said Twilight.
“I do hope so,” Tabletop sighed. “Dear Fantasia is terribly distraught and I only wish for this thing to pass.”
“She called you brother earlier,” I pointed out. “You guys are family?”
Tabletop nodded, “Yes, she is my younger sister. I had hoped that by inviting her here she could find some peace.”
“Her marriage isn’t exactly golden is it?” Twilight asked.
Tabletop then shook his head. “No, she married Lord Blueblood at a young age. It was an arranged marriage between our families. After our parents died from sickness we had little choice but to accept the offer, lest we lose our home and wealth.”
It wasn’t exactly the most moral thing I’ve ever heard. But, he just wanted to give a better life for his sister. Sadly, the plan sort of backfired.
“Everything was going swimmingly,” Tabletop explained. “At least until about two years ago, after Blueblood’s scene at the gala.”
“The flying cake incident?” Twilight replied flatly.
“Yes indeed,” Tabletop said with a slight nod. “After that she and her husband constantly got into fights. I remember her calling me one night and saying that a vase was broken in one argument.”
“The fights were about Prince?” I concluded.
“Yes, Lord Blueblood was terribly embarassed over his son’s behavior.” Tabletop answered “Before, nopony bothered standing up to Blueblood because he was a noble. On top of that, the Bluebloods are direct descendents from the original unicorn king Izanagi. That alone made Prince a ‘nephew’ to the princess.”
“But everything changed when Rarity stood up to him,” Twilight said, a slight smirk on her face.
“After that everypony realized that they could stand up to Prince,” Tabletop said with a shake of his head. “Nopony was willing to take him seriously anymore. That got Lord Blueblood angry to the point where he took it out on my sister.” I noticed a slight shake in one of his hooves.
I spoke up, “Thanks for the tip, we’ll take it from here Tabletop.”
The stallion recomposed himself and said, “Anything to get this all behind us.” He then walked away without another word.
As he rounded a corner I noticed he dropped something. I picked up a hoofkerchief on the ground. He dropped it, the same hoofkerchief he was using when he saw the body. I put it in a plastic bag. Twilight gave me a look. “A hunch?”
“I guess,” I said with a nod, before pocketing it.
We both stepped into the room again, the guards outside making sure that nopony entered. Twilight and I looked everywhere inside the study. Under desks, tables and chairs. “Nothing,” Twilight called. “Nothing more than there was last time.”
“Locked door cases can be tricky,” I explained, putting a desk back to where it was. “It either means two things, one, the killer was inside and somehow poisoned Bastion while his back was turned, or two, the killer was outside and somehow used a means to poison Bastion remotely.”
“I don’t see any dart guns set up in here,” Twilight said, “And there aren’t any windows where the killer could’ve shot from. If only we knew the positioning of where everypony was. That way we could get a trajectory.”
“Looks like it’s back to the suspects.”
______________________________________________________
“This is insanity!” Lady Blueblood cried. “Bastion was a good stallion, he’d never harm anypony and I will not hear accusations that I or my husband killed him!”
We got Lady Blueblood in the dining room with great difficulty. The guards had to practically drag her thanks to her struggling and constantly demanding a lawyer. Thankfully it was too late in the night to get a lawyer here quickly. But something tells me she won’t be needing one the way she’s been acting.
Twilight spoke, trying to keep her voice gentle, “Lady Blueblood, nopony is saying who killed who. We just want to know what happened.”
“You want to know what happened?” Lady Blueblood yelled. “That miserable tramp of a maid killed Bastion! It’s the only explanation!”
“You were aware of the affair he was having I see,” I concluded.
She got quiet after that and said, “When I married Pure, I thought I was the luckiest mare in the world. A rich noble who was a direct descendent of unicorn royalty. When I had Prince I was happy that he so resembled his father. But, in the end, I couldn’t keep Prince from making that mistake at the gala.”
“Using my friend as a shield,” Twilight grumbled under her breath.
“Then that tramp stole everything!” Lady Blueblood cried. “Because I could not have a child that wench used the opportunity to sneak into my husband’s bedchambers! She seduced him in the hopes of replacing me!”
Here I thought Prince was delusional. She honestly believes her husband so upright and morale after this?
Twilight went on, “Bastion knew about the affair too.”
Lady Blueblood looked genuinely shocked. “He, knew?”
“You didn’t know?” I asked. “He’s your butler.”
Lady Blueblood shook her head “More of Pure’s butler, but I always thought he respected our privacy. I had no idea he knew my husband was being seduced by that tramp!”
Judging by her tone, she wasn’t lying. She couldn’t be the killer because she had no idea that Bastion knew about the affair.
I held up a piece of paper, drew a diagram of the room with the door on the bottom left side with a pen. I then slid it over to Lady Blueblood, the door facing me. “When Bastion died, where were you and everypony else standing?”
Lady Blueblood gave it a thought, and then said, “I was standing here I believe.” She took the pen in her magic, and drew a little x on the top right side of the room. “My husband was right in front of me,” She drew another x just to the left of hers, right in front of the door. “That tramp was about here,” She drew a final x in the bottom right corner. “Bastion was right in front of the door.” She drew an x in that very spot.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the diagram back.
“I hope you will use it to prove that skank the killer,” Lady Blueblood growled, raising her nose.
“Squeaky didn’t exactly want to be your husband’s plaything!” Twilight yelled.
“Pure is an upright and moral stallion! A noble through and through and I will not hear these ludicrous accusations of him!”
“Just because your husband is a noble does not make him a perfect pony!” Twilight argued.
“As if you never defended your husband when accusations were thrown at him,” Lady Blueblood sneered. “Like my son, I have no idea what you were thinking marrying a hybrid stallion such as he.”
Oh great, this again.
Twilight remained calm and didn’t take the bait. “I will kindly ask you to allow the guards to escort you out.”
“Very well,” Lady Blueblood said. “I grow tired of listening to the prattles of a girl anyways.”
Twilight looked down as the guards took Lady Blueblood away. I put a hoof on her shoulder. “You were smart not to fall into her bait like I did with Blueballs.”
“That doesn’t mean I like it any more,” Twilight grumbled, looking at me. “How can she be so blind to the truth?”
“When you’re in love,” I sighed, “A lot of flaws go under the surface.”
Twilight put a kiss on my cheek. “But true love is loving despite one’s flaws. Not ignoring them, but learning to work past them and do what is right. Nopony is perfect, love is something you have to make work.”
“I see somepony’s starting to sound like me,” I chuckled.
Twilight smirked, “Somepony has to keep track of your self help book sayings.”
Twilight and I smiled at one another, and were about to kiss aga-
“Please! You must let me in!”
We both looked up and saw the guards holding back Fancypants. Twilight spoke up, “It’s alright, he’s a friend!”
The guards let the gentlestallion go and he gasped, “I have information that may be useful to you both!”
“What kind of information?” I asked.
“The kind where I know how the killer offed poor Bastion!”