//------------------------------//
// I - Mr. Eagle Eye 
// Story: A Study in Amber 
// by Time Ponies are cool 
//------------------------------//

I - Mr. Eagle Eye
It was a bloody mess. That's the best way I can describe the Changeling invasion of Canterlot. Those vicious beasts were all over the streets, tearing up homes, terrorizing the ponies and overwhelming the entire Canterlot Royal Guard. Their ability to shape-shift did not make things any better. Everypony galloped about in complete disarray not having any idea who was a real pony and who was an enemy. The whole city was in a state of chaos, and the panic only helped the Changelings take over.
When the Guard finally broke apart, I fled to my mother's home, a nice little house in a residential area filled with other seniors, to check on the poor old mare, who must have been frightened to death by the invasion. I found her hiding under the sheets of her bed holding a spatula in her mouth and shivering in fear. I helped her back up and sat her down on a comfy chair. I locked the windows and the doors. Once the house was completely locked down, I boiled some water and served my mother a cup of tea to soothe her nerves. She held the cup with both hooves and raised it to her mouth. She sipped the tea loudly and finished it all in one go.
That was when I noticed something wrong. Mother never made a sound when she sipped tea, no matter what. She found the noise appalling and always scolded me when I sipped audibly. When it comes to her manners with tea, she was impeccable. She could be in the middle of cardiac arrest while having a cup of tea and still be absolutely silent.
Carefully, I checked around the room. I opened the door to her walk-in wardrobe, investigated and found another pony who looked exactly like my mother tied up with a rope, her snout muzzled, and hidden in a corner behind a few boxes. This was my real mother. The one having tea was a changeling.
Before I could turn and react, the changeling had already tackled me and snapped its two-fanged jaws at my neck. Its blue insect-like eyes glared and its transparent wings hummed violently. I could hear my mother's muffled screaming as I struggled to keep the creature from biting my throat. Finally, I just gave my all and swung my hoof up to punch the changeling across the face.
I was surprised by my own strength, since being a medic for the Guard did not demand as much physical exertion as being an ordinary soldier. The changeling immediately backed off and clutched its jaw. One fang was knocked out and its gums bled green slime.
I quickly untied my mother and, once she was free, I galloped at the intruder with the rope in my mouth. Now it was my turn to tackle it, and we were locked in the struggle for dominance. We rolled about the room, yelling and grunting, or shrieking and hissing, knocking over a lamp and denting a wall. When we were by a window, the changeling bucked at me from underneath and sent my flying out into street. I fell upon the stone pavement and lost consciousness.
I woke on the next day to find myself in an infirmary. Captain Shining Armour - who was now Prince Shining Armour - and Princess Cadence had defeated the Changelings and the city was now recovering.
I was lying on a cot with my right front leg wrapped up in a cast. My forehead was covered with a bandage and under my head was an ice-pack. I winced with every movement I tried to make.
To my right there was a mirror in which I could see my reflection. My light brown mane was ruffled, dirty and had little splotches of my own blood here and there. My white coat almost blended in with the white hospital gown I was wearing. Bruises were scattered all about my right side, and my right eye, with its lime green iris, suffered from a periorbital hematoma. I could see my cutie mark, half covered by my gown. It was a golden winged-scepter with two snakes coiled around it, the symbol of the Pre-Classical physician, Sweet Sting, who more or less created the position of field medic. In a little plastic sleeve attached to the frame of my cot was a slip of paper that read, "Captain Greenheart. 5th Canterlot Medical Cavalry."
~~~~~
I was released from the infirmary after a few days with a brace for my broken leg, and I would need that brace for the next two weeks in order to walk.
To add to my woes, I learned that my mother was so traumatized when I fell out her window, that she suffered from cardiac arrest and died. The news came to me as a shock, and yet at the same time unsurprising. Her heart had been slowly failing her over the past few months and it was only a matter of time before it finally gave in. She had grown very old indeed. What harrowed me was that her death was my fault. I fled from my duty as a member of the Guard. I came into her home and fought the Changeling. I proved an inadequate fighter. I fell out the window. I gave her a heart attack. It was my fault. And it was a fault I didn't think I could ever forgive myself of.
Her funeral was held the next week in Canterlot. My sister, Redheart, came up from Ponyville, where she was doing her nursing residency at Ponyville General Hospital. We stood by each other and mourned our mother together, her cutie mark of a red cross with hearts in the corners right next to and contrasting with mine. Her white coat was soaked in her tears and she wiped her blue watery eyes with her pink mane. 
I too could not hold back my weeping, no matter how hard I tried to keep up a soldierly composure. As our mother's coffin was lowered into the grave, we tossed in a pair of roses, along with the multitude of other flowers brought by our cousins, uncles, aunts and friends. We silently watched as the gravediggers threw the dirt over the coffin and buried our departed mother in the Earth.
"What are you gonna do now, Green?" Redheart asked after the funeral while we stood staring at our mother's name on the gravestone. The polished marble bore our reflections. My sister had quickly developed a Ponyville accent after spending so much time in that Earth Pony town. It was strange, as we had not spoken to each other for over a year and I had yet to get used to her new voice.
I took a moment before answering, "Well, I can't stay in Canterlot. I won't be able to bear moving into mum's house and I don't have a place in the Guard anymore. They put me in an 'indefinite leave' for deserting in the middle of the invasion... I suppose I'll go to Londerby. I've always loved that city. Best city in Equestria if you ask me. I'll rent a flat, get a job in a hospital and all that."
I stood and turned away from the gravestone. I looked across the graveyard towards the black metal gates that led out to the streets of Canterlot. The ground was covered with a plethora of weeds and moss grew on the bark of the weeping willows scattered here and there. The mid-afternoon Sun was partly obscured by a cloud that strayed from Cloudsdale. I waited for my sister to finish mourning and when she stood we walked together towards the gates.
As we made our way through the graveyard, she spoke again to break the solemn silence. "If you want an apartment in Londerby, I have a friend who's found one and he's looking for somepony to split the rent with."
"Why are you at Londerby so often? You live and work in Ponyville."
"Oh, right, I should tell you about that. You know how in school I always wanted to be a forensic analyst, but dad wanted me to become a nurse and put me in a nursing college? Well, a friend of mine in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, she had some connections with ponies in Londerby and got me a job offering in the forensic lab in Trotland Yard. I accepted, of course."
"I see. Well, that's good for you. So, this friend who's looking for a flatmate, is he somepony I can get along with?"
"Well... he's an interesting pony. I think it's best you find out for yourself. He'll actually be in Ponyville tomorrow doing some research, so if you want to meet him..."
"I have plenty of time on my hooves. I can use it to get to know him over supper or something like that."
"Good, good. It's a date then."
"Um, no. It's just me getting to know a complete stranger, so please, don't call it that."
~~~~~
Redheart and I stood silently by the doors of a laboratory in the basement floor of Ponyville General Hospital. It was a rather dark place, in stark contrast from the colorful blissful town above. The room was only lit up by the lights in a shelf full of vials, beakers and other chemistry supplies, and the lights built into the surfaces of the tables.
By one of these tables stood a tall lean earth pony. He was easily taller than me by ten inches. His grey coat was well accompanied by his short black curly mane, his short black tail and the navy blue scarf he wore around his long skinny neck. His face too was quite a handsome one, with bony cheeks. In what little light there was, I could just barely make out the magnifying glass cutie mark on his flank. He gave off a dark air of mystery that I found rather intriguing.
The grey pony had his eyes, as well as all his attention, glued to the microscope. He did not even so much as twitch his pointy ears at the sound of the door opening and shutting when Redheart and I entered. Beside the microscope was a jar of zap apple jam, a local delicacy whose reputation of tastiness even reached Canterlot. My guess was that he was investigating something in the jam. He only glanced at us when my sister gave a loud, "Ahem!"
"You brought me your brother, a medic from the Canterlot Royal Guard, to be my flatmate?" he said. His voice was deep, cold and somewhat intimidating.
"His name's Greenheart in case you haven't figured it out yet. And you told me you didn't care so long as he wasn't an idiot," Redheart replied.
The stranger's first words took me by surprise. "Oh, you told him about me?" I asked my sister.
"No," she answered, evidently holding back a grin, "We haven't talked since I left Londerby three days ago week."
"Then... hold on, how did he... I'm confused." I furrowed my brows and looked back and forth between her and him.
Redheart let her smile go loose as she found my bafflement amusing. Clearly this was something I would have to figure out on my own. Meanwhile, my prospective flatmate had lost interest in the conversation and refocused on the microscope. He twisted a dial and then switched the lens as he studied the jam. I stood there awkwardly, not sure how to interact with this odd pony, and my sister gestured for me to try to interact with him.
"So... I suppose we should-"
"I play the violin, usually whenever I'm thinking," he interrupted me as he took his eyes off the microscope and began putting his things away in a saddlebag, "And my thinking can go on for days, during which time I don't speak, eat, drink or sleep. I smoke when I don't have anything to distract me, but I got started on using nicotine patches recently, so I'll be smoking less now. I often keep severed body parts in the refrigerator. But that doesn't bother you, so there no point in going on about me now."
After he put his full saddlebag on, he walked towards the exit and stopped in front of me and my sister, his piercing yellow eyes darting back and forth as he scanned my entire body, as he continued, "As for you, you're Redheart's brother. You at least won't be a nuisance to live with. You'll often try to get yourself a special somepony but such relationships never last long for you. You habitually wake up at 4:30 AM and sing in the shower. You're decently educated and more or less sensible and practical. You don't smoke, but you don't mind its presence. And when it comes to drinking alcohol - oh! You strongly disapprove of it. You're fond of writing and keep a journal full of daily entries. So far nothing that I won't be able to tolerate. You'll make a suitable flatmate. I found a rather nice place in central Londerby. Together we ought to be able to afford it. Sorry, I've got to dash. My train is in five minutes and I need to pick up a unicorn horn from the Trotland Yard's mortuary. Meet me at the flat tomorrow at three o'clock in the afternoon."
Then he quickly passed by and went out the door. Before the door closed, he stuck his head out from behind and, looking right at me, said, "The name is Eagle Eye. The address is 221B Baker Street."