***
Most days were ordinary days, things happened or they didn’t. Whatever came was in the realm of possible, sometimes improbable. Then there are those days when things change for better or worse. My life changed in ways I never imagined on one of those days though I wouldn’t know it until after everything was said and done.
The day that changed everything for me started like any other. I rose before the sun, earlier than normal but nothing too unusual. The sun slowly rose to its place in the sky guided by the Mages of the Astral Council, then morning settled like usual on Canterlot, nearly clear skies only a few wisps of clouds and only a slight chill in the air.
Left the apartment after breakfast with Spike, my Draconic roommate, friend, assistant, the list goes on for a while. It’s a funny story of how a Dragon ended up in my life. It all began with family, House Sparkle has a long history of serving in military or law enforcement. You know the list; Soldier, Triumvirate Guard, Police Officer, Battlemage, and so on. I’m a Private Investigator, could have been a Police Officer but preferred the solitude of working alone besides I still had good ties with Canterlot Police; brother’s a Triumvirate Guard of the Unicorn Division, and father’s now one of the Deputy Police Chiefs.
All of this begins with my father, as you know black markets sell some rather interesting things, many of them illegal, Dragon eggs and newborns are one of those illegal goods and they fetch quite a handsome sum. A late night raid on one from father and his partner netted them a Drake, freshly hatched. I was young and father’s current partner was green and not much for rules. Took a detour by our place for some rest and one magical incident later and the Drake was now mine.
Not mine as in a possession never that, but he imprinted on me in some bizarre way I likely would never understand. But a lot of paperwork later along with some fuss and anger raised by the Police Chief about father and his partner over the incident and Spike became legally a member of House Sparkle.
He now lives and works with me, had to deal with some crying foul over a youth working with me mostly due to Spike looking far too young to work. I say bullshit, Spike’s four years my junior and his age makes him legally an adult by our laws. Also outcries about species and aging differences be damned, he’s mature enough to know whether he wants to stay or not.
But back to that day, it was a quiet day like I had expected. Winter was encroaching and if there was one thing I disliked about here was the intense cold in the depths of winter. Not even the Weather Council could do much about it. Cold winter usually meant less clients but also more possibility for violent crimes. My plate would be full come spring.
Then she walked in, the first thing on my mind was how gorgeous she was. She was tall, certainly taller than most mares but not unusually so, with a coat so white it made the white walls look yellow. Unicorn I could see from her horn, not the only tall white Unicorn I’ve heard of. A model from somewhere in this city was rumoured to be tall and white but I knew this lady here was no model despite her fine features. Her face carried not a hint to her age but her eyes were aged and weary, she held herself with more poise than I usually see, and her clothes draped across her back and withers were easily worth more than what I made in a year.
Solaris, was the name she gave, something told me it was fake, an alias. That’s all she gave nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t react to the less than helpful self-introduction, we all carry secrets, usually these are not worth prying into. Alias usually signalled it might be something shady except something about her spoke of calm and trust. Regardless I didn’t trust her, didn’t know her so didn’t trust her especially with her using an alias. I would do the same thing as I did with any client, keep the investigation as legit as possible and record everything about case and client. It would probably help in the end regardless of whether the client and case turns out to be shady or not.
She told me she wanted help to find a stolen object, told me she had gone to the Police before but they hadn’t had any luck or really any time. I nodded, I knew full well how busy the Police are. A missing item while important often ranks lower than finding a missing person, nothing unusual.
I asked for a picture, she told me all of them had been lost. Something about that line screamed bullshit but I had no proof and no desire to scare off a potential client. She used some magic to bring up a fuzzy image of her item in question, barely could make anything out. But she told me it was one of a kind and unique, a necklace, gold with a gem set in the shape of a star, six pointed and carved from amethyst. It looked fairly ordinary to me but I was informed it was old, so heirloom and valuable was the assumption. Told me she had no suspects or anything, just whisked away from her home one day. Although it strange that the star looked, from what little I could make out, and sounded like how my Sigil looked but I paid it no heed. Many Unicorns bore stars as their Sigils, I was no different.
Sigils marked every pony, marked a facet about us. Our talents, interest, skills, and so on. I enjoyed magic hence my Sigil but I was drawn to serving in law enforcement like many in my family. Magic was not my bread and butter but there was still room for it, never know when some spells can come in use for finding the suspect or entrapping one.
She offered me a tidy sum for the job, told me to do the best I could though I could have sworn she sounded urgent or desperate to find it. I had Spike draft out a contract and had her sign it, with that the contract was sealed. What I didn't know was that things from long ago had been set into motion, things were changing including my life even though I didn't know it at the time.