//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 // Story: 64 vs. The Underground // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// Chapter 24 64 POV I was shaken awake by one of the Lunar Pegasi, who informed me that we had arrived in Las Pegasus. I blinked away the sleepiness in my eyes as I looked at my watch, and saw that it was 6:42AM. “Huh, nice guess Luna…” I muttered, sitting up and stepping off of the carriage. “If I need you guys, how can I contact you?” “Simply use your communicator on channel 17. We will rest for the day until your return.” One of the Pegasi said, as they all suddenly extended their wings and folded them over their entire bodies, making these weird sleeping cocoons. I stared at them for a while until I simply turned towards the large city of Las Pegasus, looking at it in its entire splendor. It was the largest city in Equestria, with Manehatten bringing up a near 2nd. There was the large tourist part of the city, which consisted of sky scraping hotels, massive arenas, and many places to drink and be merry. Then there was the actual city, which consisted of many small suburbs hiding in the shadows of the large desert city. Due to the sun barely raising, the sun cast a beautiful orange and pink hue on all of the large reflective buildings, making a spectacular light show which counted as a tourist attraction in itself. “Damn… maybe I should have taken my vacation here…” I whispered to myself, seeing the shining city. I looked at the first address, the one of Cardinal Berry’s parents. “2301 Seamount St.” I looked up and took a look around to see where I was, seeing a huge desert surrounding me in all areas. There were Pegasi Transports coming in and out of the city, coming from and going to the McMarean Transport Hub. It was the quickest way to get to Las Pegasus, but for cautionary reasons, we landed about a mile away from the cities border. I started the walk towards the city, heading for the less prominent part of the city, the Burbs. After about a half hour of walking, I found myself walking down one of the roads which led towards the Suburbs, and I was already getting strange looks from the ponies that caught a glimpse of me. I pulled up the hood that Rarity attached to the shirt and pulled it up over my head, at least sparing them looking at my menacing looking eye. I looked up at the Street signs and made my way to Seamount Street, before sighing and looking down at my right hand. It was always kind of a painful memory to use this spell, knowing that she had gotten me out of so many situations with it. I held my hand out as I channeled magic into it, before a Red line of light shot out of my hand and zoomed down the road and around a corner, showing me the way to the address. I walked along the road and looked at my watch, seeing that there weren’t that many ponies awake on a Saturday morning at 7AM. I wondered if this was a bit early to ask Cardinal’s parents some questions, but my mind just said ‘fuck it’. I saw the house down the street, and saw it was 2 story house, with a very clean cut lawn. This description didn’t really do anything, because it looked like the same design was used for every single house up and down the street. “How the hell do these ponies get home?” I muttered to myself, before shaking my head and walking up to the house which my Locator was leading to. I knocked on the door loudly, bringing out my Badge to show it to them. I heard the soft footsteps of a mare on the other side of the door, before it cracked open slightly, letting the mare inside see who was outside. “Yes…? Who is it?” She asked, not even batting an eye at my figure. I didn’t pay it any mind and began to explain myself. “Hello ma’am. My name is Project 64, and I’m here from the Equestrian Special Forces.” I said, flashing my badge. “I’m here to investigate the disappearance of Cardinal Berry, along with many other disappearances. May I come in and ask a few questions?” She looked up with a quick look of optimism, before quickly making it disappear, as if she didn’t want to get her hopes up. “O-Ok… Come on in… Red? Come down stairs honey, there’s someone here to investigate what happened to Cardinal.” She called in a sort of half happy tone, as if she had felt defeated. A large blue stallion with red hair came down the stairs with an angry scowl on his face, walking up to me. He looked me over before grunting and walking away, to what I guess was the kitchen, because when he came back, in his hoof was a 12 ounce bottle of Beer. “So they finally decided to do something about my daughter? It’s about time they got their heads out of their asses and actually did something for once.” Red grumbled, chugging down the beer in his hoof. “Red, please. All that matters is that now we have a chance of finding Cardinal. Thank you for coming 64. My name is Marion Berry, this is my husband, Red Berry.” She introduced, walking over to her husband and draping her right foreleg around his shoulder, which he paid no mind to. I pulled out a small notebook and a pen and cleared my throat, not really used to questioning somepony without smashing them through a wall or something. “Ok, can I ask what you both were doing the day before Cardinal got kidnapped?” I asked, trying not to bring up any bad memories. "Yes. We were at the Maresco Park about 2 blocks down the road. Little Cardinal was playing on the jungle gym with her toy Donkey, Big Heart.” She explained motioning to a picture on a shelf next to us. It was Cardinal, hugging what looked like a plush donkey with a large heart sewn onto the surface. “We came home later that night, with Red having to carry her home. She played so much that she was exhausted after we had to go home, so she fell asleep.” “Did you see anypony suspicious at the Park before you left? Strange stallions lurking around or anything like that?” I asked, writing down notes from what she said. “No. For the 4 hours that she was there, nopony else showed up to the Park. Red and I were watching our daughter like a hawk, we would’ve seen somepony else in the park.” “Alright, continue please.” “The next morning, Cardinal woke up and realized that she forgot the she had left Big Heart at the park when she fell asleep, and she went running out the door to go and find him. I was about to follow her… but Red convinced me that she was just going to the park to get the toy and back…” Marion sniffed, as tears began to well up in her eyes. I knew what would happen next, so I nodded and looked away, letting Marion get what she needed out. She went to embrace Red, but he simply sat there, chugging the alcohol in front of him, not even acknowledging that his wife was crying on him. “I hate to ask this, but what time did Cardinal leave the house?” I asked softly, with Red answering me this time. “9:32 exactly. I remember watching the clock above the door as she ran out towards the park, hoping that she would come back within a few minutes. She never did… It wasn’t until 10 that we called the police, who did fucking nothing after they asked us a few questions…” He said, getting up and pushing his wife off of him in the process, leaving the weeping mare all by herself. I could easily see what was happening here. Red blamed himself not only for not going after Cardinal, but for holding his wife back from going. Although, if I was ever a parent, I would never let my child out of my sight for more than a few seconds without going after them. I looked down at my notes and saw that I had a good amount of information from this family. Foalnapping took place between 9:32am and 10AM on January 5th, two days before Discord returned. No correlation between victims found yet, and no suspects. “Alright… I thinks that’s all I needed to know so far. I’m going to visit the Park to see if I can find anything, although I’m doubtful that after 2 weeks that there’s going to be anything left.” I told them, folding up my notebook and heading towards the door. I felt a hoof grip my arm tightly and saw that Red was grabbing me, a look of rage in his eyes. “Please… bring our daughter back… and make the ponies who did this pay…” He said with a growl, although tears were streaming down his puffy eyes. I looked into the eyes of the lost father, not knowing what to do, and scared for his daughter. I couldn’t possibly fathom to what he was going through, but I knew I had to do something. “I’m gonna try my damn hardest to find Cardinal back. I’ll make that promise right here.” I said, slowly pulling away from Red. He nodded as he went to go comfort his wife, wrapping his forelegs around her. She went ahead and started to sob into his chest, as I finally walked out and closed the door behind me. That was physically painful to see, but all it did was fuel the fire in me to try and find out who the hell would go around kidnapping foals from their parents. “Alright… Maresco Park…” I muttered, casting the Locator Spell in front of me. It zoomed off down the road, leading me in the direction of the park. Once I arrived, I saw the remains of what looked like Police tape littering the area, and nopony was around. There was a large sign hammered into the ground which read, “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.” I entered anyway, knowing that I had full jurisdiction. Plus it was a sign, not a cop. It wasn’t a very big park, with a grass field about the size of a Hoofball Field, a bright Orange and Blue Jungle Gym with 2 stories, and a large Sandbox next to it. I didn’t know what I was looking for exactly, but I knew that Marion had last placed Cardinal playing on the Jungle Gym before she fell asleep. That was probably where she left Big Heart, and it would also be the first place she would start looking if she came back. There were woodchips surrounding the Jungle Gym, so it would be impossible to see if they left any hoof prints. I stepped up onto the Jungle Gym and looked around, using magic to scan the area to look for anything out of the ordinary. As I scanned, I found that children were fucking disgusting. Vomit, feces, urine… there was absolutely nothing that wasn’t littering the jungle gym. “Ugh… I’m wearing my shoes and this feels disgusting…” I said, continuing to scan. It wasn’t until I found something standing out from all of the disgustingness. “Hello… what’s this?” I whispered, kneeling down to analyze the strange substance. The iron in the mixture told me all I needed to know. Blood. It trailed from the first level down the steps, before disappearing in the wood chips. I followed it until it stopped and kneeled down, brushing away some of the wood chips at the surface. I found that the blood trail continued, but that this time, there were two different blood types. I took a sterile swab out of my Satchel and made sure to take a sample of both types of blood, before sealing them into separate bags. The blood stopped at the edge of the wood chip floor, leaving me at a dead end. I would need to get the samples back to Canterlot before I could find out who they belonged to, so from here, I decided that it was time to investigate the other missing Foal, Crescent Rose. 3rd Person POV The father of Crescent, Wilt Rose, actually lived in an apartment on the Strip, which meant 64 was going to have to walk through the now bustling public. He already got strange stares from the sober ponies in the Suburbs, so he couldn’t wait to see what all of the Drunk and High ones that of him. He saw a carriage service near the Outskirts of the Strip, which he thanked Celestia for. “Hey, how much to get to East Palmer Blvd?” He asked the carriage driver, who suddenly recoiled at the human staring at him. “HOLY! What in the hell are you?” He asked bewildered, making 64 roll his eyes. He pulled out his badge and flashed it discreetly, seeing the many eyes of ponies who were staring at the sudden outburst. “Agent 64… Equestrian Special Forces. I’ll repeat myself. I need to get to East Palmer Blvd.” The carriage driver suddenly started to sweat and stuttered out. “O-Oh! W-Well then.. uh, go… go ahead and hop in! I’ll get you there, no problem!” He said nervously, as 64 stepped into the small carriage. The driver then began to pull it down the road, as 64 looked about the window. On both side of the Strip, ponies of all shapes, colors, and creeds were walking about, taking in the sights of the illustrious city. The air smelled of cigarette smoke and smog, not a very pleasing spell, and the air had a slightly greyish smog lining over it. “Well, I wonder if spending enough time here get somepony used to the smell.” 64 thought, watching as he approached the apartments. They turned right into a small side street, and he saw the building which housed Wilt. “Alright, right here is far enough.” 64 called out, making the driver stop abruptly. He tossed him a Cut Sapphire without listening for the actual cost, instead just leaving him there to gawk at the gem. 64 looked up at the Apartments and took a quick look at Crescent Rose’s Profile, seeing that she lived in room R-25. Despite the floor being marked as R, it was only 3 floors up. 64 looked for the room numbers, and eventually came to the door marked as 25. He knocked on the door loudly, waiting for a response. When none came, he knocked and called out at the same time. “Hello? Anypony home? Agent 64 from the Equestrian Special Forces, here to see Wilt Rose, regarding the disappearance of Crescent Rose.” A grumbling sounding on the other side of the door, along with the shuffling of glass bottles. “Wait the fuck up! Can’t a stallion take a nap without somepony bothering them every 5 fucking minutes!” A stallion yelled from the other side, with 64 guessing that it would be Wilt. He opened the door with a growl, scowling up at 64 “Yeah?! What the fuck do you want?!” He cursed, with 64 simply standing there. “I’m here to investigate the disappearance of Crescent Rose… your daughter?” 64 continued, not seeing Wilt react in anyway. “What about her? There’s nothing to investigate. She got kidnapped and is probably 6 feet under…” He grumbled, scowling down at the floor and turning to walk further into his apartment, which was littered with empty bottles of all kinds of alcohol. “Like her mom, my brother, my damn father. They’re all fucking dead, but that’s what I gotta live with I guess. Celestia Bless Equestria!” Wilt then began to once again open up another bottle of what looked like Buck Daniel’s Whiskey, all while continuing to drunkenly spew hate against the world. He sat back onto a recliner and took another large swig, belching loudly. 64 looked around at the dirty apartment and decided that he wanted to be out of this place as quickly as possible. “Alright, are you right enough in the head that you can answer a few questions about Crescent’s disappearance?” He asked, with Wilt nodding his head slowly. “Yeah, sure. Ask away.” He droned, obviously uninterested. “How the hell can you be so indifferent about your own daughter going missing? The family I visited before this was absolutely devastated 2 weeks after their daughter went missing, yet here you are drinking your ass off!” 64 yelled, slamming the coffee table in front of him with his hands. Wilt looked unfazed and simply looked down, letting 64’s word simply go past him. “Why the fuck should I care… my family is dead… friends left me… now my daughter, the last fucking thing I had in this world… GONE!” He screamed, throwing the now empty bottle of Jack at 64, who ducked underneath it. “Crescent isn’t gone! I can find her! But all you have to do is help me!” 64 yelled, holding Wilt down to the chair he was sitting in. Wilt struggled against 64, but it was all in vain. He eventually stopped struggling and relaxed, falling into a fit of drunken tears. 64 held him down until he stopped crying, not wanting to take any chances if he lashed out. He eventually calmed down, as 64 slowly took his hands off of him. “Ok… now, do you feel good enough to where you can answer some questions?” 64 asked slowly, as Wilt nodded. “Yeah… I’m cool… but first…” Wilt whispered, as he suddenly turned over in his chair and vomited onto the floor, making 64 cover his nose. When Wilt was done, he turned back to 64. “Now I’m ready…” 64 used magic to levitate the vomit over into a nearby trash bin before pulling out his notepad, flipping to the next page. “First question, what were you doing the day before Crescent went missing?” Wilt looked out of the window and sighed, closing his eyes. “All I remember from that day is thinking about jumping out of the at window, and landing head first onto the concrete…” Wilt said morosely, as 64 looked at him with a concerned look on his face. “Suicidal tendencies? Shouldn’t you be getting help for that? Maybe get put into Rehab Center for your alcohol abuse?” “You think I can afford that stuff? I can barely afford to keep this shithole of an apartment. I remember the reason that I was thinking about jumping was because that way Crescent would at least be put into an Orphanage, where she would be fed and have a warm bed. Look at this fucking letter.” 64 looked over to one of the many letters littering the coffee table, and saw a note with a large ‘Eviction’ printed on the front. “Next month I’m getting booted outta this place if I don’t come up with 400 Bits at the end of the month. I work over at the Rock Quarry about 3 miles from the city, and my boss up there is coming down on me for my drinking… IT’S TOO FUCKING MUCH!” Wilt yelled, slamming the sides of his head with his hooves. 64 just continued to let him vent, knowing that he was going through a hard time. “Anyway… I don’t remember much after that… the next day I remember waking up with the phone ringing and some broad from the school Crescent goes to saying that she didn’t come in that day. I brushed it off saying that kids ditch school all the time, but she never came home. I called the cops a few days later, but they told me that nothing came up a week after.” 64 let Wilt gather himself before he continued, sighing as he did. “Do you have any idea where she might have gone? What route does she take to school?” 64 asked, making Wilt shake his head. “Hell if I know… I never walked her… she went over to Hoofer Elementary 6 blocks south of here. Maybe you could try walking there and asking some of her friends. I know she hung out with some colt named Lucky Guess…” 64 wrote the name and sighed, feeling that he was going nowhere. The trail was probably pretty cold, and the only lead he had was a colt still in elementary school. “Alright, I think that’s enough. I have what I need for now. Thank you for your time.” 64 said, putting away the notebook in his hand and stuffing it into his Satchel Pocket. “64… if you ever find the motherfucker who took the only thing I have left in the world… make him pay.” Wilt said, reaching for another bottle of alcohol on the table. He hesitated, before eventual pulling away from it completely and swatting it off of the table. I grinned at him as I walked out the door, ready to go and find out what the hell could have happened to Crescent Rose.