I slammed my hooves onto the dark oak of Swift Wing’s desk and leaned over his desk, glaring at him with intent anger. He looked up at me with a slightly confused expression. His white muzzle, which stood out from his blue coat, but matched his hooves and mane, twitched and his brows lifted apologetically as soon as he noticed that I was not there to joke. I could see in his icy blue eyes that he was sorry.
“What in Equestria were you thinking?” I demanded with my purple glare.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with an awkward laugh. He rubbed the back of his head, his white hoof brushing against the blue ends of his white mane. He really was a horrible liar.
“You scared me half to death!” I lectured. “What were you thinking, sneaking up on me like that in the station when you knew I would be alone, and why in Equestria would you then run off like that?!”
“Woah there,” he said, leaning over in his chair and looking me over with a quizzical expression. “Sneaking up on you? Why would you think I would do that?”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” I said, my tone edging towards threatening. He seemed sincere, and he never really did seem so with a lie, but who else could it have been in the station? “You left that note in the box under my badge. It was obviously you in the station.”
Swift Wing let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, but I put that there before I even left the station. Why would you think I was actually in the station when you were there?”
“Who else could it have been then?” I asked.
“Wait, what? So you actually saw somepony in the station?” he asked with concern.
My fears returned instantaneously. “I did. So you can stop playing dumb.” I was beginning to worry, and wonder if it could have been somepony else in the station, but I was sticking to the theory that it had been Swift Wing. It was a simpler explanation—and a less concerning explanation.
“It wasn’t me, Lily. I swear.”
I looked at him. He seemed to be telling the truth, but as much as I wanted to believe him, I didn’t want to accept that truth. “You know if you were there, you really should admit it,” I said wearily. “Don’t have us go into a useless investigation.”
Swift Wing rolled his eyes. “Do you honestly think that I would put everyone here through that just to avoid a little bit of lecturing from you? We have enough on our plates as it is!”
I dropped my head forward as I let out a sigh.
“Now what?” Swift wing asked.
I stood up and rubbed my temples with my hoof. “I’ll let the chief know. I have to talk to him anyway. The bakery has been blocked off and they wouldn’t even let me in.”
“I heard about that actually,” Swift Wing mentioned. “Not that they wouldn’t let you in, but that it’s under strict watch now. Mrs. Cupcake has been furious. I don’t think I have ever seen her mad before. I didn’t know that she could get mad.”
“Do you know what happened?” I asked.
“A young mare apparently went over to Night Watch’s last night in a panic. I think she was your case actually. The one you were mentioning that had some memory loss. Well, she told the chief that she went back there to try and remember and I guess she noticed something strange.”
“What?” I was shocked; I didn’t know what else to say. If the mare bought the Chief’s attention to something real in this case, I would have to cover it up. Getting that done would be an extremely difficult task now that the whole area was being watched and blocked off to the general public. This was way too much attention for that case in particular. If only I had gone down to the bakery earlier, I might have been able to avoid the whole situation.
“I don’t really know anything else about it,” Swift Wing said with a shrug. “You’ll have to talk to Night Watch.”
Before I could say another word, a mare’s voice filled what was originally a quiet and busy atmosphere. “I know what I saw!” the mare bellowed. “I know what I saw and you need to do your job to figure this out!” The yelling was then finished off with the sound of a slamming door.
I let out a sigh. “Ponyville used to be so peaceful,” I said.
Swift Wing rolled around in his chair and hopped up onto his hooves. “We should go see what’s going on,” he pointed out as he stood. He was almost a head taller than me now that he was up on his hooves. He was a pretty tall stallion, with a little extra muscle mass as well.
I nodded as he walked around the desk and we both trod over to the front of the station. We walked right past the front desk and noticed a red maned mare with a white coat storming up to the front door. I recognized her instantly; she was the mare from one of my cases.
A door on the other side of the front desk opened and Night Watch stepped out. “Mrs. Jubilee, please be reasonable. I am trying to help you, but I can’t do that if you storm off like this.”
Cherry Jubilee pivoted around on her back hooves. “Be reasonable?” she asked in an outrage. “You’re asking me to be reasonable?” She gritted her teeth as she spoke, but then relaxed her jaw to continue on with a shrill tone nearing another yell. “I came to Ponyville for a peaceful vacation, and what do I get?”
“Mrs. Jubilee, you have been getting our full attention since this morning,” Night Watch put in.
“That was a rhetorical question Mr. Watch! Do not interrupt me!”
“Wow,” Swift Wing muttered. “Talk about a drama queen.”
I kicked his foot as Night Watch gave a reluctant, “My apologies.”
“See here, Mr. Watch,” Jubilee continued as she stormed up to him to stand directly in front of him. Her expression was fierce, but the height difference between her and Night Watch made it difficult to take her seriously. Night Watch was a bit taller than most stallions, about the same height as Swift Wing. Cherry Jubilee, who wasn’t exactly tall for a mare, looked very fragile in comparison, though her hair did put her up to a close height. She went on.
“Since my arrival, I have been hearing nothing but stories of these strange happenings in Ponyville. If I knew about them sooner, I would not have come! I came here requesting protection, and you all brushed it aside as if nothing, but you know what? It clearly isn’t nothing. If it was nothing, I WOUDN’T BE HERE IN THIS STATION. A day after having my request refused, I actually experienced these-“
“Mrs. Jubilee, we kn—“
“Do not interrupt me Mr. Watch! Right after I was refused, I experienced a memory loss, and since nopony here seems to take that seriously, I decided to take things into my own hooves and check things out, and after all that I had already gone through here in Ponyville, I WAS ATTACKED BEHIND A BAKERY! After all of that, you have the audacity to ask ME to be REASONABLE?”
After all of that, the only thing I managed to keep in mind was that she had been attacked. On one hoof, I was honestly relieved that an attack was the focus of attention. On the other, who attacked her? I was beginning to wonder if she was possibly blowing things way out of proportion. I knew that she wasn’t lying about the memory loss, but an attack just didn’t fit into the equation. It was possible that it was a coincidence, but it was also possible that Cherry Jubilee just wanted us to look more into her case.
I stepped forward. “Mrs. Jubilee, why don’t you let Mr. Wing take you back to my office? I’ll talk to Night Watch and then I can come right over and help you out.” I tried my best to sound sweet. I needed things to go smooth from this point on.
“Finally, somepony with some decency around here,” Cherry Jubilee said, “though I have been trying to find you, Lily.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Jubilee,” I said, sounding as sincere. “I have been working on a lot of cases these past few days, but if you just let me talk to Night Watch alone for a moment, I will come talk to you. I would like to get this figured out and solved as quickly as possible.”
“Alright, Lily,” Jubilee said before turning to look at Night Watch with a glare. “That’s reasonable.”
Her shoes tapped sharply against the tile surface of the flooring as she walked past myself and Swift Wing.
“Wait a minute,” Swift Wing mumbled, realizing he was supposed to be showing her the way. “Right this way Mrs. Jubilee!” he called after her.
I walked around the desk over to Night Watch, who was trotting back into his office. He took a seat on a chair and rolled himself close to his desk, wedging the arms of his chairs under the desk so that he would stay still.
“She was attacked?” I asked skeptically.
“So she says,” Night Watch said with a sigh. “I need to retire.”
Night Watch’s mane and mustache were entirely grey, and even his dark brown coat had a few grey spots. He wasn’t terribly old, but running a station did take its toll on a pony’s body.
“Don’t say that,” I said. “We need you down here, and we both know you love this job. We just need to get through this rough patch. I’m sure things will blow over eventually.”
It was true that I did respect Night Watch and I did think he was just the pony for the job, but more importantly, Night Watch trusted me. What I needed from a chief now was trust and room to stretch with my position. I didn’t need a new chief to prove myself to. I didn’t have time for limitations.
“What was it that you needed?” Night Watch asked, getting straight to the point. “A briefing?”
“Well, yes, but before that, there is something that I need to tell you,” I said.
“What is that?” Night Watch leaned over and rested his chin on his hooves. He looked worried. “You aren’t planning on going back to work on your own again are you?”
“No, nothing like that,” I assured him. “Though, this might be a little more serious.”
“Is something wrong at home?” he asked, “or with long distant relatives? You don’t have any family in the area, do you?”
“No, I don’t have family in the area,” I said with a sigh, “and this isn’t a personal matter; though, I do appreciate your concern.”
“Alright,” Night Watch said, leaning back in his seat. “What is it then?”
“Somepony was in the station last night,” I told him, “in the middle of the night.”
“What?!” Night Watch yelled, slamming his desk with his hoof.