//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Hidden Eye. Private Investigator 
// by Speedball 
//------------------------------//


CHAPTER 1


I awoke to a rather pungent odor wafting over my bed. Exactly what the odor was or where it had come from eluded me as I was still half-asleep. Attempting to ignore the offending smell by burying my face in my pillow with hopes of giving sleep a second attempt proved unsuccessful. After what felt like at least a half of an hour of attempting to ignore the smell, I finally accepted the fact that despite my protest, I was going to be dragged into full consciousness.

I had enough of my senses with me to determine that this mildly nauseating aroma was emanating from the heating vent on the ceiling at the other side of the room and smelled like a combination of well-over-ripe banana, week old fish with just a hint of lavender to keep things bearable. Thinking back, those three items comprised all of the odoriferous materials I had deposited into my wastebasket last night in preparation for trash pickup today, which I sincerely hoped that I had not slept through. Prior to being deposited in the trash, the bananas and fish had resided on my counter and in the refrigerator respectively. The scent of lavender came from the interior of an aerosol can, the majority of the contents of which had been emptied into the trash in a feeble attempt to mask the smell of rotting foods.  In retrospect, it may not have been the best idea to place the trash can next to the heater intake vent, but it was the first actually cold night I had spent since I moved into my office, so I was willing to give myself a bit of leeway on that. I made a mental note to find a new place for my trash can.

My long journey to full sensory alertness was completed when I heard the ever familiar sound of a hollow wooden container being thumped repeatedly against a metal surface. In response to this sound, I quickly got out of bed. Perhaps a bit too quickly as shortly thereafter I once again found myself lying down. This time however, I was on the floor, not the bed, and indeed this episode was not a result of sleepiness, but rather a complete loss of motor coordination; a direct result of a lack of blood flow to the brain. I was not overly pleased with myself or my shiny new headache at that particular moment. On the plus side, I learned that the stars that I am so-often told accompany mild head injuries can be quite beautiful once the ringing in the ears stops. 

“Take two…” I thought to myself. I got back up on my hooves, slowly this time. Stars fading. Solid footing established. I made a mad dash for the kitchen where I succeeded in removing the over-filled trash bag from the can without spilling any on myself or the floor. From there it was out the door grabbing my coat along the way. Surprisingly successfully given my track record so far today, I propelled myself down from the third floor via exterior staircase. Fortunately for my sinuses I was able to get the trash to the side of the street by the time the garbage wagon passed by. It was only 7:30 and today's forecast was already mixed.

I was slowly trotting back up the stairs when a bright flash of light accompanied by a loud pop emanating from behind me caught my attention. Over my shoulder I saw a beautiful snow-white mare standing behind me. Protruding from her fashionably styled dark purple mane was a horn which was emitting a rapidly fading glow. In my career has been my experience that mysterious mares, however beautiful they may be, suddenly appearing at the base of your stairs usually spells trouble. Trouble was not exactly what I wanted to have for breakfast this morning.

“Mr. Eye? Hidden Eye? The detective? Is that you?” she said to me in a panicked tone. 

I studied her for a moment before responding, “Private Investigator, not detective and, no. I won’t be Hidden Eye until..." A brief pause while I tried to make out the clock tower in the distance, "10:00. Right now I am Getting Breakfast, the hungry unicorn. I’ll tell Hidden Eye to expect… who are you anyway?” 

“Oh my, how rude of me. Just because one is on urgent business does not mean one can simply forget her manners.” She replied, “My, my name is Rarity a-and I really must speak to you immediately Mr. Eye, i-it is extremely urgent.” 

“I told you. I am Mr. Breakfast. Mr. Eye does not get here until 10:00.” I replied with a tone that would have expressed my irritation to even the most oblivious of ponies. 

"A-are you sure I can't convince you to be Mr. Eye?" she retorted "You match his description perfectly you know. Light brown coat, jet black mane and tail, a-and a fedora cutie-mark on your flank."

I glared at her. That was probably not the smartest thing I had ever done. I was about to find out that she was emotionally unstable right now.

“Very well Mr. Eye, er... rather Mr. Breakfast. There is no need to be so abrasive, please let me come in. I will wait for you to finish eating. I’ll even make breakfast for you. I just can’t go back home, I can’t. It’s not safe. Somepony is out to get me. I… I… I… just don't know what to do.” She started to cry. 

“Fine, fine, fine, Hidden Eye just got here, come upstairs.” I said, “I’m not completely heartless.” She threw her forelegs around my neck. 

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much Mr. Eye! I just don’t know what I would have done if you had not agreed to see me!” she exclaimed between suppressed sobs. 

I tried to calm her and break free from her hug at the same time, the latter being far more successful than the former. I guided her up the stairs and into my office through the customer entrance as the portion of my office which I had converted into living quarters was in no state to be viewed by eyes other than my own. 

“Ms. Rarity, please make yourself comfortable in this room while I go prepare myself some breakfast. You can tell me all about what is so important after I get some food in me. Can I offer you anything?” I asked her hoping she would say no; after all I wasn't sure if I even had enough food to make myself a decent breakfast.

“Just Rarity will be fine Mr. Eye.” She said, “No need to be so formal. But no, no thank you, I appreciate your offer but I am not in the mood to eat at the moment.” I had started to trot away when she said, “But… Oh please don’t judge me for it; I know it is very early. Could I trouble you for a mug of your strongest cider? I need something to calm my nerves after what happened early this morning.” 

I gave her a nod and said, “I’ll see what I can do. Oh, and Rarity. Remember, my first name isn’t Mister, it’s Hidden.”
Upon entering the kitchen I poured a half consumed mug of now stale cider into the sink, gave it a quick wash and put it on the drying rack with hopes that it would be reasonably dry by the time my breakfast was ready. Nopony likes weak cider after all. I lit the stove and placed a heavy and surprisingly clean skillet above the flames in which I placed a few haybacon strips, next I put my last two pieces of bread in the oven to toast them because toasters are for ponies with disposable income.

By the time my breakfast was adequately done the mug was nearly dry. I gave it a wipe down with a dishcloth do get the last bits of water out. I had a bottle of Sweet Apple Acres high-gravity cider I was saving in my fridge for a special occasion. I figured that this was as good an occasion as any. I left the Flim-Flam Bros. bargain 12-pack for later. If my feeling about how today was going to turn out was anywhere close to correct I would need it. I shrugged as I closed the fridge, cheap cider is still cider. 

I brought my breakfast, Rarity’s cider and the mug to go with it out to my office. I sat down at the table across from Rarity and poured her cider. The sound of the cider filling the mug seemed to calm her down. I took a few bites of my breakfast to give Rarity a chance to enjoy some of that cider.  “So, Rarity, now that you've calmed down, tell me everything about what happened to you early this morning.” I asked between mouthfuls.

She took an almost absurdly dainty sip of cider. “Well, Mister… Pardon me, Hidden Eye. Well, it started several weeks ago actually.” she began, “I am a clothing designer you see and I was in Canterlot for the fashion expo last week. I had originally planned to enter one of my ensembles in the exposition but unfortunately I was unable to acquire a number or rare gemstones that I needed to complete it in time and far be it from me to exhibit an incomplete ensemble.”

“Rarity, could you please get to the point. I don’t have all day.” I interjected. This was a complete lie of course. I did have all day. I had more than all day. I had all week. I hadn't had a client in far too long and my savings from the last case were running out. I decided that if she had any sort of case at all that could use my services, I would take it. Celestia knows I could use the bits that would come with it.

“Of course, I do apologize; I do tend to ramble a bit do I not? Let’s see, ah yes. Well, I had not originally planned to attend the expo but I received a letter the afternoon before it began informing me that one of my usual suppliers had been able to get his hooves on the gemstones I needed to finish my latest arrangement. I bought a ticket for the next train to Canterlot. I figured that I may as well visit the exposition anyway. I left Canterlot the day after the exposition; which might I add was very lovely. So many ingenious creations! I digress. The train ride back to Ponyville takes quite a while so I did not get back home until late that night.” She stopped talking briefly to take another ludicrously dainty sip of her cider.

I had finished my breakfast by now so I got out my notepad and started taking down some of the things she was saying. I asked what happened after she got home; a question which she seemed more than glad to answer.
“Well,” she continued, “I opened the door. Being night you see, of course it was quite dark so I used my horn to cast some light on the interior of the front room. It was then that I saw that the whole house was in a complete shambles. I ran straight to my work room. You see that is where I have my gemstones in a large chest for safe keeping. I thought for sure that anypony who would break in to my home would surely want to abscond with the most valuable items that I possess. Well, much to my relief and, might I add, complete astonishment, neither the chest nor its contents had been touched by the ruffian who had forced his way into my home. Naturally I ran to the police straight away. They sent a team of investigators over with intent of ascertaining the identity of the invader. The only thing they found was a black Pegasus feather a few feet from the back exit. The police didn't make anything of it because the back door is adjacent to a street. Since nothing was missing and there was no evidence of the intruder the police went back to the station and instructed me to contact them that should anything else happen.” 

“That’s all well and good but I’m not sure what you need me for.” I said. “I certainly understand your distress, but his seems like a fairly typical burglary where the intruder did not find what he or she was looking for, for some reason or another. In such cases usually something scares the burglar away before a thorough search can be completed.”

“If that were the only thing that I experienced this week I would hardly think I would need your services as well Hidden Eye.” she said with an affronted air to her voice. 

I apologized for any offense that I may have caused and invited her to continue. “Three days ago I started to get the feeling that somepony was following me whenever I left my home. I tried to convince myself that it was just nerves resulting from the break in several nights prior. After all, if a lady cannot feel safe in her own home, where can she feel safe? Try as I might I just could not shake the feeling that I was being followed. This went on until early this morning when I learned for certain that I was indeed being followed.  I was sound asleep in my bed when I was woken by the sound of somepony fiddling with the lock on the back door. I snuck downstairs hoping to block the door so that should the would-be intruder unlock the door he would find access quite impossible. When I made it all the way downstairs I saw that there was a black Pegasus standing in my foyer rummaging through my belongings. Naturally I screamed. Needless to say this alerted the intruder to my presence. Instead of attempting to flee the scene as one would suspect, he came charging straight for me with an evil look in his eye. Well, I barely managed to dodge his tackle which caused him to collide very ungracefully into the side of the stairs. This gave me just a moment to get a head start. I fled out of the back door, twisting left and right through the streets of Ponyville attempting to evade my pursuer. He was a Pegasus so of course he was able to quite quickly close the gap that knocking his head into my wall had allowed me to create. Luckily for me I was able to duck into the library without him seeing me. I hid among the stacks in the library for several hours until I felt sure that he had gone. When I emerged from the stacks I saw my friend Twilight Sparkle studying away at one of her desks. She asked me what I was doing there so I told her most of the story I just told you now. Once I mentioned how... helpful the police had been, she said that somepony like you may be able to help me. You were listed in one of her directories as the closest Private Investigator to Ponyville. So I came straight here.”

I found her story a little far fetched, but then again, who was I to make conclusions without any sort of evidence. I did not believe that I was the closest Private Investigator to Ponyville. I was almost certain that there were others who were closer. Manehattan isn’t exactly nearby Ponyville by most definitions of the word. She certainly seemed to believe that she was telling the truth anyway. I didn't sense any deception from her but something didn't seem quite right. I made a note to have a word with this friend of hers who had referred her to me.

I looked at the beautiful mare sitting across the table from me for a moment and thought about her situation before offering a response. “It sounds to me that your friend… Twilight was it? ... was right. You definitely could use the services of somepony like me. Before I agree to take the case, we must discuss my fee.”

“Oh! I will pay you anything! Just help me stop this horrible man!” She exclaimed.

I responded, “Well I’m not going to charge you just anything, I am going to charge you exactly one-hundred bits a day, plus expenses and 50 bits up-front. That goes up to one-hundred-fifty bits if somepony tries to kill me.” I probably could have charged her more than my standard fee. She certainly looked like she could afford it. Those diamonds on her flank probably had something do do with it. No matter how wealthy she seemed, I could not bring myself to overcharge a mare who seemed to believe she was in so much danger. Sometimes I loathed when my sense of honor decided to show itself.

“Oh I’ll pay! I’ll pay. Whatever your fee is I’ll pay it!” She said. The fear she wore on her face when I first met her had been replaced by a glimmer of hope. I just hoped I wouldn't let her down.

“Rarity, you have just bought yourself the services of one Hidden Eye, Private Investigator. We should leave immediately. I can’t very well investigate something going on in Ponyville from my office in Manehattan can I? You head on outside, I’ll be right behind you. I just need to grab my coat and hat.”

As we walked down the stairs a torrent of questions ran through my head as so often happens at the start of a case. Why could somepony possibly want to harm her? Did they even want to harm her or did they just want to give her a good scare? That would beg the question "Why?", and it was that question that kept playing itself over and over again. "Why?" Nopony did anything without having some sort of reason for doing it. I kept pondering that as we reached the bottom of the stairs and turned left onto the street headed towards the train station.



END CHAPTER 1