why was this downvoted? This is a great story

Going to have to agree, this story is a good read and deserves a higher vote.

Nice... detective stories are so rare it is good to see a new one!

This is awesome!

Liked and tracking. There's a noir vibe to it that Hammett and Chandler would've liked.

After rereading this I do have a single small complaint:

Rainbow Dash's name is Rainbow Dash. Not Dashie. Dashie is a nickname (specifically by Pinkie?), and Anon doesn't know Rainbow well enough to just start calling her Dashie. Rainbow is her first name and she has no problem being called that (some stories do, mostly because they think Rainbow is an odd name to use so they focus on calling her Dash, but in the canon ponies call her Rainbow all the time), or Dash, or her full name.

Anon calling her Dashie I might understand (though I think it'd be rude), but my complaint is when Dashie is used in the narration (and not just dialogue) it's like calling Twilight just Twi in the narration, or Applejack AJ, or Rarity Rares, etc.

I understand you did the same with Mad Star -> Maddie, but Anon has a relationship with Mad Star, and by his own admittance he doesn't interact with Rainbow Dash much at all.

5535175 For convenience's sake, I referred to characters by shorthand (i.e. typing Rainbow Dash as opposed to Dashie is a pain). But I get you. Consider the inconsistent naming conventions revised by next chapter.

This story seems to be a great noir chapter.