//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 "Black Widow" // Story: Equestria Noir Season 2 Case 11 "On a Cross and Bullet" // by Jacoboby1 //------------------------------// Equestria Noir 2 Case 11 “On a Cross and Bullet” By Jacoboby1 Chapter 1 “Black Widow” “I just can’t believe how stubborn you are about this!” Twilight yelled at me. “It’s not a big deal Twilight, you just make it out to be!” I yelled back. Twilight and I had been arguing for a while, now in the middle of the library. Naturally, when you have two ponies living together, there isn’t, always, going to be sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes arguments break out… Only this one was… kinda over-the-top, considering the subject. As you would expect from a library inside a giant oak tree, it was circular, and filled with books. Naturally the walls and shelves were all made out of wood, what it being carved from a tree and all. The central table with it’s ornate horse head still stood there, in silent witness to our argument. I would imagine that our voices could be heard even outside the tree. Twilight glared at me, and pointed to the mystery novel laying on the table, open. “If you leave books open like this, the glue on the spines is going to crack, and they won’t close properly anymore.” “I was going to come back to it,” I said for the twelfth time. “If you wouldn’t be such a stickler for shelf organization this wouldn’t be a big deal.” “It’s not about shelf organization, Private!” Twilight snapped back. “It’s about making sure the books are well cared for! This is a library, and other ponies may want to read the books, after you have read them! Use a bookmark for Celestia’s sake!” “I don’t need a bookmark if I’m moving away for two seconds to go and add something to a case file,” I snapped back. “You’re just such a neat freak!” “I am not!” She yelled back. I frowned, and my horn glowed silver, I moved two books from the shelf and put them in the other’s place. Twilight looked about ready to kill at that point. “Now you’re just being a jerk!” “No, I’m showing my point!” I yell back. “You think you’re right all the time do you! You just won’t admit that you’re wrong!” Twilight yelled back at me. “I’m not that arrogant anymore!” I yelled. “You just are such a stickler for details. Probably more so than Rarity!” “Oh don’t you bring my friends into this!” Twilight yelled. “We’re already in it.” Before I could look a lasso was thrown around me, and Twilight was pulled away by Rarity and Rainbow. Applejack yanked me back and I glared up at her. She glared back at me, “Now Ah dun wanna hear ya two fightin. We could hear ya from outside.” “Yes, darlings, it is healthy for individuals to argue, but at some point we had to put our hooves down.” Rarity said. “But he-” “But she-” Fluttershy was the one who got between us, she looked at us firmly. “No more fighting you two. You both love each other very much and shouldn’t let fighting get like this.” Twilight and I sighed. We knew we were wrong if even Fluttershy was calling us out on it. I looked at Twilight. “I’ll use a bookmark from now on.” “I’ll try not to be such a neat freak and nag,” Twilight said. “Geez, I can’t believe you two would get hung up on something as stupid as that.” Rainbow said. “Hey, have you guys notice we’re one head short?” Twilight said. “Usually Pinkie would b-” Suddenly the door burst open, Pinkie was standing there. “Privy! Twily! There are police over by the abandoned old house!” She said quickly. “I was on my way to Sugarcube corner to get some cake for the Cake’s birthdays. That was when I saw the police there, I walked up to one and said, “Hi mister! What’s up!”. He looked at me and said, “This is a crime scene civilians are not allowed!” I then said, “I’ll go get Private then! He’s a detective who can really really help!”. So I zoomed over here! Maybe I should run in the leaves next year!” Twilight and I looked at each other. “Looks like we have our case.” I said. ________________________________________________________ The house, according to AJ, had once belonged to a group of merchants that came by during a booming harvest. They moved out a few decades ago, and nobody has ever bothered to use the house. Nightmare Night would see it transformed into a cheap haunted house but that was the extent of it’s purpose in Ponyville. It was a typical Ponyville house, with cream colored stucco, wood trim framed the upper storey and windows and pink planter boxes hung from some of them, and there was the usual hay thatch roof that most of Ponyville’s houses possessed. Police ponies were swarming the place, now, though, so apparently something happened, there. Twilight and I trotted up to the police line. We found Yang standing there, she smiled at us. “Well, if it isn’t the princess and detective. Your town seems to attract all the juicy cases apparently,” she said in good cheer. “It’s good to see you Yang,” I said. “So, can we come in?” “Well, good ol Insight hasn’t assigned a detective to the case yet,” Yang said. “This one’s, a bit interesting.” “How so?” Twilight asked. “Because this victim is very high profile,” Yang said. “You all remember Judge Gavel from the papers?” “Of course, who hasn’t?” I replied. “He was a scumbag judge who had an affair with a mare half his age. It was all over the papers, news stations, and especially the tabloids.” “And the mare’s identity was never disclosed,” Twilight said. “But this was months ago, back when Private and I were on our honeymoon.” “What’s a big city judge doing in small town Ponyville?” I asked. “Probably hoping to get away from bad press,” The yellow pony said with a shake of her head. “He’s been moving from place to place over the last few months according to our sources. Finally stopped here about two days ago.” “Let’s have a look at the place then,” I said, ducking my head under the police tape and entering the interior. Twilight followed along as I stepped inside. Thanks to the light colored stucco, the place was not too dark. Wood was the main material used flooring and trim, and it made the place look rather cosy. Arched windows let light into the room and while there was no furniture, I couldn’t help but wonder why the house has been abandoned for all this time. It was, to be honest, quite the nice little house. If I wasn’t living with Twilight, I’d have probably taken up residence, here. Too bad it was swarming with uniforms scanning every inch. I looked up to see a chalked outline of the victim on the wall. I looked over and saw Forceps was kneeling over the body as it was covered with a blanket. The old timer looked up at me. “Got a real big one for you this time, Private.” “What do we have?” I asked, coming over. “You may not want to lift the blanket, it’s not pretty,” Forceps said with a shake of his head. “Okay, I’ll trust you on this one,” I said. If Forceps said it was bad, I was eager to agree with him. “So what can you tell me.” “Cause of death was getting stabbed twice in the chest,” Forceps replied. “Stiff was stabbed one more time post mortem, and uh, how do I put this?” “Forceps, we can handle it, we’ve seen worse,” Twilight said firmly. “Okay,” Forceps said nervously. He took a breath and said, “His bits are off.’ “As in, he’s a gelding now,” I said, blinking. “No, he’s a gelding stiff,” Forceps said. “But, who would do something like that?” Twilight asked. “It seems so, morbid.” “It is, and that’s why we’re hoping to keep it quiet,” Forceps said. “We do have his belongings over there.” He pointed over to a set of items laid out. Something about this whole case seemed more than a little familiar though. Where have I heard this M.O. before…? I put it out of my mind, and walked over to the items. I looked at the first one, the victim’s wallet. I opened it up and saw the money was still inside, along with a license that identified the victim. “No money was stolen, so this wasn’t a random hit. Then again, Gavel’s new gelding status could attest to that,” I said to myself. I looked at the second item and saw it was technically two items now. It was a picture, torn right down the middle. I looked at the picture. It depicted a younger Judge Gavel and his wife, Tender Mercy. They were smiling, happy. “Probably from the early days,” I said to myself. “Back before everything went straight to hell.” I came to the last item, it was a simple pendent, a little sapphire shaped like a heart. “That got caught on one of the loose boards as the killer was probably making a run for it.” Forceps said. I looked back up at the old dark stallion. “Any idea of a time of death?” I asked. “I’d say around midnight, judging from the body temperature.” Forceps said. “Any sign of the murder weapon?” I asked. “Any idea what it could be?” “If I had to guess,” Forceps said, rubbing his chin with a hoof. “I’d say it was a kitchen knife, judging by how the cuts were formed and how deep the wound was. But honestly it could be a really sharp pair of scissors for all I know.” “Any way we can contact Tender Mercy?” I asked. “We already did, about an hour ago, we brought her by train over here to Ponyville’s detention center. Didn’t want to make a huge fuss over it to attract the oh so magnificent press,” Forceps said with a shake of his head. “You guys don’t think she did it, do you?” Twilight asked. “Right now, we need to at least clear her up as a suspect,” I replied. “But I’ve got a feeling in my gut that there’s something bigger going on.” “Doesn’t it always?” Twilight asked with a smile. “Well, you wouldn’t want our lives to get boring now would you?” ______________________________________________________ Tender Mercy’s profile said she was fifty years old. Looking at her now, she looked far older than that. She sat in the interrogation room, looking around a little. She may have been a beauty at one time but those looks have long since passed. Her mane was silver, tied back in a bun. Her coat was a soft baby blue and her eyes were a darker shade of blue. She was also wearing a dress with long sleeves that practically covered her from the neck down. She held her purse as I came in. “Mrs. Mercy?” I said, gently. “Where is my husband?” She asked, her voice quivering a little. “I need to see him.” “Your husband’s body will be given back once the investigation is over with,” I said, keeping my voice gentle and calm. She looked about two steps away from breaking out in tears. “Oh, Gavel,” She said with a sigh. “It’s so sad to see him pass.” “Even after he cheated on you with mare half your age?” I asked. She looked up and looked a bit frantic. “I already told the police, I had nothing to do with his death! Gavel and I talked about the affair, everything is fine! It really is!” I gave her a look and said, “Could you, roll up one of your sleeves for me?” “What kind of request is that?” She said, looking very nervous. “Please,” I said firmly. She looked very reluctant, but knowing she was backed into a corner, she gently pulled up the sleeves on one of her legs. The bruises along her leg were very visible and down right awful to look at. Along her baby blue coat was dark blotches that looked almost a day old. Some of the more faded ones looked like they healed over a length of time. I closed my silver eyes. “He abused you.” She slowly nodded, “I, we were in love when we were married,” She said firmly. “But, as we got older, Gavel, changed. He started drinking, getting very stressed from work, and after our children grew up and left, he started taking his anger out on me.” “Why didn’t you divorce him then?” I asked firmly. “You had every right to, especially after the affair.” She looked down and said softly, “I, hoped that maybe I could change him. Get him back to the way he used to be, so happy and loving. But, last night he left before dinner. He told me he had important business to do. I didn’t argue with him.” I’m guessing because arguing at this point is the reason some of those bruises exist… “Were you at home all of last night?” I asked. She nodded slowly, “Yes, I never left my house and my neighbors can testify to that. I had no idea, that I would never see my poor Gavel again…” At that point, she broke out into sobs. ___________________________________________________________ “How can mares want to stay with monsters like Gavel?” I asked Twilight as we sat in the lobby of the detention center. We were waiting for Forceps to process Gavel’s body. “You heard what she said.” Twilight replied. “She hoped she could change him. Though, I wonder though, if she should’ve stuck around. Especially with the affair.” “Her alibi checks out though,” I said firmly. “I called the neighbors and they did see Gavel leave last night, but not Tender.” “But the way this was done,” Twilight said, “this had to have been by somepony who had a vendetta against Gavel.” “He was a pretty fair judge back in his day,” I said. “I don’t think he had any enemies I could think of. I even asked Tender after she was done sobbing, he said he wasn’t threatened recently by anypony.” Suddenly I saw some uniforms about to run outside, “Hey what’s going on?” I asked. “There are some protesters outside,” One of them said. “We’re ready to make sure there isn’t going to be trouble.” Twilight and I looked at each other. Unless Madam Mayor was being ousted from office because Ponyville was monster attack hot spot number one I don’t think there is any real cause for protest. Twilight and I both went outside to investigate. There was shouting coming from the town center. Everypony from town had gathered around to see what all the fuss was about. Standing in front of town hall were a large group of mares. All of them shouting and holding up signs. I caught a glimpse of some of the, rather disturbing messages. Down with Stallion oppressors! Black Widow for Justice! Freedom for Mares! At the head of the rally, standing on the Town Hall’s front steps, was a young, light green coated earth pony mare with a long brown mane. Her sea blue eyes were behind a pair of glasses. She held a megaphone to her lips and shouted. “My sisters! Black Widow has returned for the first time in twenty years! Now is the time for us to cast aside the oppressive attitudes of stallions! No longer will they hold us mares back while disgusting, abusive stallions like Gavel get to run free and rut whoever they want! The Black Widow is behind us and saw that justice was finally given! Let it be known now, that the Mares for True Equality are to have our voices finally heard! For Justice!” The mares around her began to chant along with her. This...was going to be interesting...