Chapter 3 "Big Top Fall From Grace"
Chapter 3
“Big Top Fall From Grace”
“Are you ever going to get your nose out of that comic?” I asked Spike as he rode on my back. He just held the newest issue of some new superhero group called the ‘Power Ponies.
“Are you kidding me?” Spike said excitedly. “I could read this all day! It has everything! Action! Superpowers! So many awesome heroes. Well, except Humdrum anyways, I dunno why they keep him around.”
“Well they have to get comedy relief somewhere.” I said. “I mean, you can’t rely on wit anymore in comic books. It’s always about how to make superheroes more edgy and dark nowadays.”
Spike frowned. “Look, you can just say you were disappointed by Batmare and Robinwing alright.”
“HOW DO YOU SCREW UP BATMARE!” I exasperated.
“Hey, maybe this Dark Horse guy could be a good replacement,” Spike suggested. “He’s kind of like you, uses a gun, sword, dark and moody and he’s dating Masked Matterhorn who’s kind of like Twilight.”
I rolled my eyes. “Spike, the day you see me in tights is the day Pinkie swears off sweets,” I grumbled as we rounded the corner to the office. The place itself was built into a shanty building. A neon sign out front had two cowboy boots kicking each other but it was clear that the lights hadn’t been replaced in years, so part of the boot just disappeared as it hit the other. Talking about a low budget account office.
The office was rather threadbear. Shabby gray berber carpeting covered the floor of the area. There were counters along the back wall that separated the customer service area from the back. There were small tables around so ponies could fill out the forms. The windows that the tellers interacted with their customers had bars on them. The wooden panelling was super cheap, probably covering brick to keep the money in the back secure.
Upon my entrance a bell rang and the most slimiest looking unicorn came up to me. His bluish coat was covered by a business suit that looked like it was taken out of a dumpster of a second hand store. His black mane was slicked back and reeked of hair gel and bad cologne. He rubbed his hooves together upon seeing me, “Oh, good sir welcome to Jingle Jangle savings and loan! My name is Compound Interest and you my friend have just walked into the haven of financial security! We have all manner of ways to help you make it through the month, or help you buy that cart you’ve always wanted. Looking to receive a low interest loan with almost no fine print?”
“Actually,” I said, smirking. “I’m not here for a loan. I’m here about another loan that was made from here, one to the circus that’s in town.”
The unicorn’s eyes grew wide and his horn glowed, “I, do believe we will be closed for...EVER!” He used a spell to shove the desk in my direction. I barely dodged it as he made a bolt for the back door. Spike and I chased after him,as he tried crossing the street. Taxi’s got in our way before Spike and I could cross. I then looked at Spike.
“What? He’s getting away?! What are we gonna do-” He was cut off when I suddenly lifted him into the air.
“What I am going to do is try out for the Equestria Games right here!” I said, chucking Spike across the street at Compound. Spike crashed into him causing the unicorn to land face first on the sidewalk. Spike then stood as if he stuck the landing.
I managed to cross the street at a crosswalk as Spike held the unicorn down. Spike smiled at me, “So, how’d ya do?”
“Eh, I think a solid eight,” I said, with my own smile.
“Unhoof me you ruffians!” Compound said, struggling under Spike. “If you do not let go I’ll call the police!”
I pointed Blackhawk at his muzzle, “Oh, I think you’ll find I’m with the police. I have a few questions about that circus loan. And if you don’t talk, I’ll have you make payments in dance moves.”
He gulped at that.
__________________________________________________________
As with the theme of Canterlot, the interrogation room was fairly nicely appointed. The walls were nicely plastered, the table was a high-quality oak, and it was a room that a noble troublemaker would feel comfortable. Thankfully the seats were not upholstered. That would have had me asking for “commoner chairs”.
Compound was looking very nervous as I came in, “Well, seems you have quite the record on you Compound. Threats in the mail, harassment, fraud, and not to mention running away from a cop. You’re looking at jail time if you don’t talk,” I said as I took a seat opposite him.
“Look!” Compound yelled, “My establishment is perfectly legal! My lawyer will be here in a sec to explain everything!”
I smirked. “You’d be surprised what can be accomplished in a second. Also, your lawyer will be lucky to have any luck in front of a jury.”
“Look! Just what is going on here?! You barge into my place, say something about a circus and then throw a dragon at me!” Compound said, nervously pointing at me. “That’s-that’s grounds for Police harassment!”
“You seem to ignore the part where you ran,” I said. “See, that’s the funny thing, they always run. It doesn’t help them, it just makes them look more guilty. But I’m not here on your fraud counts. I’m here about a murder.”
“Whoa! Wait!” He yelled, his false air of sophistication was replaced by sheer panic. “I didn’t kill anypony!
I got up, glaring down at him. “Spindle Wire, one of the employees at the circus was killed because he found something out! You can take one look at the circus and the audience and figure something doesn’t add up. Now, just what do you know about the circus.”
“I told you! I didn’t know anything!” He yelled. “I had no idea what I was getting into when that circus lady showed up!” He covered his mouth with his hooves.
I just raised an eyebrow.
He sighed. “Okay, a few months ago, the circus lady, Bella, comes around to my place and asked for a loan. She sought my place out specifically! She said the circus was in trouble and she needed a loan. I gave her enough to make the circus play another day. Then the time came for payments to pony up and she showed up with a wad of cash. I didn’t think anything of it, I figured the place sold out.”
“But you knew better, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Then she asked me for a second loan about a month later, she said the circus was in trouble again due to poor attendance. I gave out a loan again and charged her interest this time. Then she comes by a week later with a wad of cash, enough to pay off the loan payments with interest but not much else. She then comes in a few weeks ago and asked for another loan. I told her she was pushing her luck but she just looked desperate. I give her the loan but tell her this is the last one, and I would charge double interest.”
“And she made the payment again?”
“Barely.” He said, “She was two bucks short, she was so desperate to pay it off she ran out into the street and begged for it.”
“And let me guess,” I said, “Spindle somehow found out about this little relation and you found out where he was practicing, and wanted to make sure word didn’t get out about your little cash cow. So, last night at midnight, you killed him.”
“That’s not it at all!” he yelled desperately. “I wouldn’t kill the guy! Sure I would have swindled him for everything he’s got but I wouldn’t kill him! You can check my alibi! I wasn’t anywhere near that circus! I was at Genie Bottle’s place!”
“Genie...what?” I said, tilting my head.
______________________________________________________
I stepped out of the interrogation room to find, Spike on the phone...I could just hear the conversation going on.
“Uh, hello?” Spike said.
“Hello, there, cutie. You’ve reached Genie’s Bottle. I may be the Genie, but I’ll be sure to rub you in all the right places.”
“Uh, what kind of place is this?” Spike asked nervously. “I’m calling to see if a guy named Compound Interest was there last night at around midnight.”
“Compound Interest? Yes, he was here… After he left I closed up for the night. That was around one on the morning. So… What can I do for you, sweetie? You sound very cute.”
“Uh... I...” Spike said blushing.
”Oh… A shy one? I love shy guys. They’re always so sweet,” Genie said. ”What’s your name, hon? I’m fine with just talking, if that’s what you like.”
“Uh...Spike..” Spike said, dumbfounded.
I should be stopping this, but this is too entertaining to watch.
”Hello, Spike. You in law enforcement? Checking on an alibi, and you’re talking with little old me. So… Is there anything… else… I can do for you? I’d love to meet you, you sound like a real sweetheart. I’m sure that any of the girls, here would love to meet you. You’d be quite the change from the usual jerks we tend to get. *sigh* Just because we’re escorts doesn’t mean we’re any less pony than everypony else.”
“Uh, actually, I’m in a relationship right now. Her name is Rarity.” Spike said, still looking nervous. I tried not to laugh.
Twilight would kill me if she saw this...
”Oh? Wait… I know that name… She’s designed some of our better outfits! You’re her coltfriend? Now I am totally jealous of Rarity. She got herself a nice guy. Wait… *laughs* You’re ‘Spikey-Wikey’? Oh my gosh! Let me tell you something important… Don’t worry about getting her expensive things, or the finer things. She’ll get those for herself, a lot of the time. Just make sure everything you do is from the heart. She may seem high maintenance, but she really isn’t.”
“Uh...thanks, I’ll...keep that in mind…” Spike said with a nervous laugh. He then quickly hung up. “That, was just plain weird.”
I laughed, “Come on, let’s get going and uh, don’t tell Twilight that happened okay?”
“What’s it worth to you?” He said with a cocky smile.
“Spike for the last time I’m not telling you where Twilight keeps the key to her diary.” I said with an eye roll.
“Well, so much for that idea. So, what’s next?”
“We find Bella.”
_______________________________________________________
Bella sat at her desk, frantically going over the books. She was, obviously, sweating bullets, and muttering to herself. Around her desk was wads of paper. The only sounds, aside from Bella’s muttering, was the scritch-scritch of her pencil on paper, and the clack of abacus beads.
“Looking for something?” I asked nonchalantly as we entered.
“Oh!” She said, suddenly dropping papers as she saw us. “Detective I, uh, didn’t see you there. Any luck on finding out about Spindle’s killer?”
“You can get rid of the act,” Spike said, “We know about Compound Interest.”
Bella’s face paled at that name. “I-I don’t know what you are talking about!”
“We know that you’ve been taking out a lot of loans,” I said. “What happened? The Circus lose business and you became desperate enough for money? Poor attendance get you down?”
“Look! You’ve got it all wrong! I didn’t kill Spindle!” She yelled.
“We never said you did,” I replied, “But, you seem to have been in serious enough trouble that simply knowing about it would be cause to kill. Spindle found out about your loans, and when he confronted you about it, you didn't want him to talk. So, just what are you hiding Bella?”
Bella was, quiet for a bit and then she said, “When, I was little I always dreamed of owning the circus. I was so happy when I finally inherited it. But, it was around this time I realized it was one ginormous vacuum. No matter how big our sets got, no matter how elaborate our stunts or performances, our audience just kept getting smaller and smaller.”
“Yet, you kept making the loan payments,” Spike said. “In smaller and smaller amounts.”
“If you needed a loan in the first place, how were you able to pay it off so quickly, let alone two more times,” I asked.
Bella looked down, “I...when the audience wasn’t looking, some of our workers...I had them steal from the guests.”
“You told them to steal!?” Spike yelled.
Bella nodded. “Not a lot, but just enough that nopony would really notice.”
“And everypony went along with this?” I asked firmly.
“If they wanted to keep their jobs they did! All of us put everything we had into this circus! We kept it a secret so that we wouldn’t get in trouble! It was to keep the circus open! We were desperate!” She said, almost crying.
“And when Spindle found out, he wanted to expose you,” I deduced.
Bella wiped her eyes. “He, when I first told him about it, he did threaten to tell the police. But, I didn’t kill him! I swear I didn’t! Spindle is a good friend of mine! I wouldn’t kill him to cover up my mistakes!”
I then reached into my pocket, and pulled out part of the rope taken from the handle Spindle used in his last moments. “This, is rope from the crime scene. We stoped to pick it up before coming here. We found something very, interesting…” My horn glowed...and the rope glowed green...as well as Bella…
“DNA spell,” Spike said. “You, did kill him.”
Bella looked down, “I...I only wanted to injure him, I just, cut the rope a little. I figured it would put him out of commission, that he wouldn’t go snooping for any more evidence...I...I had no idea...no idea it would...kill him…” She broke down in sobs after that. “I...it’s all my fault...it’s all...my fault…”
“Now,” I said, pulling out hoofcuffs. “Bella I’m placing you under arrest fo-”
Suddenly, the phone rang…
I picked it up and said, “Ringmaster’s office…”
A familiar, male voice on the other end said, “If you want this loudmouth show off to live! Kill the Ringmaster right now!”
“What the hell is this!?” I yelled.
“I’m serious! Listen!” The stallion said...and then I heard…
“Private...I...Trixie is in most deep trouble…”
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OH SHIT!
Hooo-boy, Jigsaw conundrum time! Kill the ringmaster or have Trixie die? CHOICES!
Damn, next chapter shall be interesting. Also it looks like Private is also training for the pony (dragon) tossing event.
Mr. Mystery Voice:
vfrworld.com/forums/customavatars/avatar4795_7.gif
Bat nipples Private. Bat nipples are the answer.
i.imgur.com/VntqIsN.gif
Don't beat yourself up, man. We all have lives here.
That case was closed real fast. The killer was the ringmaster...typical.
However, the one who hold Trixie hostage does put a spin on things...
And I am just going to say: Dark Horse is Private. You couldn't had made it more f*cking obvious.
I laughed at the whole Spike scene.
Even when the cased is solved it's never that easy, it never is.
Love the twist.
This was interesting. I do agree with the pace of the story though. You mentioned earlier that Trixie would get kidnapped, so this seems to flow well. I can't wait for the next chapter. I also have a hunch on who is the kidnapper.
Wait, I just realized something...in your summary, you said that a note is found "If you want her to live, Kill the Ringmaster",
But in the last chapter, there was no note...just an angry pony saying the same thing. It kinda contradicts each other, doesn't it? But that's just me.
4420365 Technically the summary works, because in the next chapter they will find a note.
4420388 Ah. I see,
Now I want to see a "Equestria Noir" story with Private going inside that Power Ponies comic alongside the girls.