Case: Fiery Inhibitions
Author's Note: Final Chapter is coming next. Sorry this case isn't exactly passed the 5k mark but I need a whole lot of time to work on the finale. I want to make it more than 7k, possibly 12k if I can even manage.
‘Every life begins with a flicker, a torch. As a life is kindled, it grows into a bigger fire. With every year, the small ember turns into a large flame that eventually becomes an inferno. The inferno is destructive, relentless, and has no target. It just consumes all in its path. The inferno continues to grow until it’s met with another flame or until it burns out. And after all that it’s done, the only thing left is ash. A world covered in ash.’
“Bend Over.”
Rarity’s words seemed to have caused Cole Phelps to freeze into a living statue. Her words rendered him immobile in the middle of the Ponyville Park as he remained somewhat nervous. When she repeated herself, Cole looked to her face as she smiled at him rather innocently. Sighing audibly, he stood up, hunching his back forward in a way of bending. Rarity moved closer to him and he craned his neck to see what she was doing.
“There. Here it is!” Rarity exclaimed.
Cole sat back down to see what she had in her hooves. In her hooves, laid a scroll that he had not seen before. He didn’t recall any kind of item being on the park bench except himself. Rarity handed him the message as he began to unfurl it.
“It was trapped between your legs.” Rarity explained.
“Oh..” Cole replied blankly. He took the letter to his face and began to examine its contents.
“Cole,
Get over here quick! Sweet Apple Acres is on fire!
- Spike”
Scratching his head at the shortly and hastily written message, Phelps stood up and handed the urgent message to his caretaker.
“Where’s Sweet Apple Acres?”
“Why, it’s not too far from here. I can take you there, but what’s going on?” She inquired.
“It’s on fire.”
After receiving a bemused expression from his compadre, Rarity read the letter and immediately began to gallop towards Applejack’s home. Having no sense of direction, Cole could not but follow in hopes of her being right. It was a relatively quiet run. They just ran and kept conversation to a minimum, trying to decipher just what was the magnitude of the situation.
Hundreds of trees bearing apples passed by as they made their way for the buildings dead set in the center. Within moments, the temperature changed from the mild heat to a scorching hot. Cole beheld what he had seen many times. All there was left was ash and the smell of ethanol. Smoke and fumes covered the entire area, making it hard for everyone to breathe. They had arrived a few moments too late.
Applejack and the rest of her family were being consoled by Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike. Rainbow Dash was flying in the air, most likely to find the cause of the fire. Taking his fedora off and wiping a single bead of sweat off his forehead, Phelps moved towards the Apple family. He reached into his coat and took out the notebook and pencil. He flipped through the first dozen pages until he reached a blank one.
As he neared, the family looked up and approached him swiftly.
“Detective!”
“Cole!”
“Mister!
“.....!” The last voice didn’t really say much, more it gave a stern, concerned look at the human.
Phelps took an observation of all of them. They were all related, of course. They were covered from head to toe in soot, most likely from trying to quell the flames. And they were all bedraggled and tired. The detective began his investigation.
“Okay, what seems to be the incident, ma’am?” He asked Applejack.
“Well, mah family and Ah were tendin’ the farm and such. Then, we hears this big ol’ crashin’ sound and we came back here. That’s when we saw the darn fire all around our house and barn. We tried to put it out, but as ya can see.....we didn’t exactly stop it..” Applejack looked to the ground. She began to kick at the dirt.
“Take it easy, Miss. No need to exert yourself.” Cole wrote down some of the key facts in her story and turned to the others. “So, Miss...”
“Apple Bloom.” The little filly gave him a weak smile.
“Right, Miss Apple Bloom. Did you see anything out of the ordinary?”
“Well, Ah saw that the house just magically got hot or somethin’. Ah didn’t see no random spark come out of nowhere. Ah think Ah heard some kinda clicky noise behind the barn. Before Ah could see what it was, the whole place was burnin’!” She recalled.
“Got that...” The human turned to the red stallion. “You?”
He closed his eyes and solemnly shook his head. “Nope.”
“Okay..and you, Miss...?”
“Granny Smith. Ya’ll can call me Granny!” She was enthusiastic to say the least.
“So what did you see, Miss Smith?” Cole bit his lip and leaned closer towards the old mare. His right ear was pointed towards her so that he could hear her better.
“Well, as usual, Ah was makin’ sure the bees were all god and happy. Then, Ah started thinkin’ ‘bout mah old Pappy. That’s when Ah saw the cutest little red ghostie on the farm runnin’ away.” Granny Smith’s dentures popped out of her mouth. “Oops!”
“Red ghost...”
“Yessem, sir!”
“That’s...definitely going to be useful...”
“Don’t mind Granny, she tends to speak in metaphors.” Applejack added.
Spike came over to Cole as Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity went to console the now homeless family.
“Hey dude, what do you think this is?” Spike inquired.
Phelps flipped through his current notes so far. He cracked his neck and then began to explain. “Well, so far it seems like a regular case of arson. From the descriptions they’ve given me, someone in red clothing or is red set fire to the barn and ran. Now, normally, I’d mark this up to just a kid playing with fire, but I smell ethanol. You only find that in gasoline and...”
“Alcohol.” Spike finished.
“Exactly. So I need to find out who has access to alcohol here and it’ll make the search that much easier.” Phelps closed his book and put it back in his coat. He moved up to the ash and began to look for any evidence or clues.
Coughing nervously and then giving a fake laugh, Spike moved up to the taller being. “Hey bro, that’s going to be a problem. More than half of the town owns just a but of alcohol.”
Cole sighed in return. Something in the corner of his peripheral vision caught his attention though. It stuck out from the grey and white powder, mainly because it was a solid item. He moved closer and picked it up. He eyes it carefully before grinning.
“That might be the case, but I doubt half of the town owns a matchbox from a tavern.” The human tossed the matchbox to the little dragon. The dragon, in turn, began to twist it to take in every detail. His eyes widened in realization after seeing the source of this item.
“Berry’s Tavern! Dude, I know all of the ponies who go there. Not many do, but it’s still the same ones.”
“Alright, who are they?”
“Well...you have Berry Punch, who runs the joint. Then you have Carrot Top, Daisy, Cheerilee, Caramel, Ditzy, and Thunderlane.”
Cole wrote down all of the names and began to narrow it down. “Do any of them seem like the violent type to you? Or someone who’d do something like this?”
“Not really....I mean, all of them have pretty good lives. I don’t think any of them would do it.”
Cole sighed for the fifteenth time this day. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”
Berry’s Tavern
7:16 AM
Cole Phelps moved onward towards the bar. Since it was one of the only sources of alcohol in the town, it was probably somewhere that the culprit of the arson frequented. Planning on heading alone, Cole was quick to move. But before long, Rarity began to follow him along with a discontent Rainbow Dash.
“Darling, do slow down. This running is making me sweat.” Rarity complained.
“I can’t. Besides, I didn’t ask you to tag along.”
“Yeah, Rare. He doesn’t need your prissy flank to go with us.” Rainbow Dash commented.
“I never asked you either.” Cole clarified.
Rainbow Dash huffed while Rarity kept in tow. “You do know that you need somepony with you on this, right?”
“Yeah, a partner is almost always needed in a case. But you two don’t exactly fit the bill.” He explained.
“Oh, pish posh, Cole. As long as I’m here, you can’t refuse the help, now can you?”
“Well...”
They stopped when they reached the building. It wasn’t exactly the best looking bar that Cole had ever seen, in fact, it would probably rank in one of the worst. But he had nothing to say considering their architectural advancement. The place was rustic, as was almost the rest of the town. The wooden sign that read “Berry’s Tavern” was made of an oak or mahogany wood that would swing back and forth from the direction of the wind. The bolts that held the thing together were rusty.
Cole made a mental note to start to make visits here in the future. He walked inside, Rainbow Dash and Rarity following. He had done many cases in which he had to extract information out of bar patrons. So he did the right action. He walked up to the counter, sat down, and ordered a drink.
“I’ll have what’s on tap.”
“Alright, three bits.” A raspberry mare responded. She gave him a grin and passed him a filled glass.
Cole realized he didn’t exactly have their kind of money. He turned to his two friends who shook their heads in disappointment at him. Rarity took the money out of her saddle and gave it to Berry Punch. The proprietor happily took her earnings and moved to the opposite end of the bar to tend to two new patrons, a sea green unicorn and a blue pink-stiped maned vanilla mare.
Cole raised his glass up to greet Lyra and Bon-Bon, who in turn, waved back at him. Rarity plopped herself next to the detective and whispered in his ear. He could feel her warm breath gently rolling off his skin.
“I do hope you know what you’re doing.”
Cole took a small sip from the drink, which was beyond nothing. The seediest bars in LA had stronger drinks on tap. So he drank the whole glass, which left him unscathed, and turned to face the white mare beside him.
“Just mingle. Go with Dash over there and talk to some of these guys. If anyone acts suspicious, then I’ll look into them.”
Rarity began to speak, but stopped. Her opinion was withheld as she moved away from him and towards the other patrons. He laughed as he heard their weak attempts at poking for any information.
“Hello...Carrot Top. So...have you seen any fires lately?” Rarity asked.
From another corner of the room, Cole could hear Rainbow Dash having an even more useless chat.
“What’s up, Cheerilee? Burn anything good lately?”
Cole was left unsurprised at their adequate inspection skills as he turned back to meet the two reddish eyes from the barkeep.
“Your friends aren’t exactly the smartest around, are they?”
“I have no idea. So, how’s business?”
Berry Punch began to wipe the countertop with a rag.
“To be honest, not good. Sure, I have the same regulars, but they order the weakest stuff. I made more off of you than I do half of the time. I’m planning on throwing in the towel.”
“Well, there’s a bucket right there. Let’s see if you can make it.” He pointed at an empty bucket, motioning her to throw the rag she had at it.
“You’re funny. We don’t have a lot of that around here. Most of these ponies here just visit to get some steam off, celebrate something small, or want to forget everything. The only funny one here is when Cheerilee gets drunk. She talks a lot of hooey about the school fillies.”
“I see. So, any offers on this place yet?”
“Not really. I wish I had a better stride or something. Maybe if I could get some more money, I could fix the place up and get more customers. This place has been in my family for generations. And just my luck, I get it when it’s a dump.”
“That’s life for you, you get the things your parents left behind. And you have no say in it.” Cole turned his back towards her and made his way for the door. He whistled, gaining his two “partners’” attention as they followed behind.
“Hey!” Berry called out.
“What?” Cole turned to see her.
“Good luck on whatever you’re doing. I’d do whatever I could to get this place up and running and you should do the same!”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Cole, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash left the bar.
The two mares looked up at the human’s face, which was left blank and annoyed.
“Well, the only thing I got out of that was a good talk. That was useless.”
“Yeah, Rarity bombed with her thing. Hey, let’s go check out Twilight’s place for help!” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea. Let’s go.”
And so, the three left the bar for the library in hopes of gaining more insight to the matter. They planned to go straight to the hollowed-out tree but Rarity decided to stop in the market for some things. This caused them to postpone the trip for about half an hour. After finding nothing of her interests, Rarity led them to the library. What happened there was not what they expected.
Twilight's Library
8:01 AM
Twilight’s library was on fire. The tree line of the building was being burned through quickly. Small little embers were falling down and spreading to other parts of the place. Cole ordered Rainbow Dash to look for help and Rarity to use magic and teleport water onto the flames. Instinctively, Cole ran inside to see if anyone was there.
“Hello! Anyone here! Get out now!” Cole shouted as loud as he could.
The only thing he got in response was the sound of wood falling off of the tree. He ran upstairs to look for Twilight in her room. The ceiling was practically melting as he could feel heat being emitted. Luckily, there was no one inside. So that left the kitchen to be searched and then he could leave. He ran down the stairs and went towards the kitchen at full speed. And that was when he fell to the ground when he felt a piece of wood smack against his face.
He was sprawled on the floor as a shadowed figure loomed over his body. It was a mare, that was for sure. The voice was feminine.
“Should have listened to the griffons, Detective. You and all of your friends are going down. I need the money the bosses are paying.”
The figure galloped away as he heard the piece of wood, presumably a board that was used as a weapon, clattered against the floor. His vision was getting blurry but he had heard that voice before. It seemed so...familiar. He couldn’t think straight as his vision turned to black. He closed his eyes and was rendered unconscious.
“Cole!”
‘Who’s calling me?’
“Cole!!”
‘Who is it?..’
“Wake up! Cole!!!”
*Smack*
Cole bolted upright as he felt his cheek. It was red and warm, probably because of the way Rarity was standing over his body. Her hoof was arched in a way that made it seem like she hit something, which in this case she had hit him. He felt his face and looked at his hand. A crimson red stream trickled down his face. The metallic smell of blood was mixed with the smell of smoke and wood.
“Wha-what happened?” Phelps asked.
Rarity smiled at him warmly as she moved off him. “You were out cold. Luckily, Twilight came when she did and she took care of the fire. I rushed inside to see what took you so long and you were on the floor, a big blue bruise on your face and blood coming from your nose.”
“That broad hit me.” He remembered.
“Excuse me?”
“I got hit in the face when I ran for the kitchen. Tell me, did you see anyone come out of the library before you went in?”
“No, I was at the front the entire time. Although...there is a back door..”
“Damn, the suspect got away. If we can find some kind of trail, then we can find who did it.” Cole looked to his side and saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash watching him with concern. “Thank God you weren’t inside, Twilight.”
“I was with Fluttershy at the cafe when somepony ran up to me telling me there was a fire at my place. It was pretty tricky to stop it. The fire was everywhere. So I used a bubble spell to make all of the oxygen in the fire area get used up. Right after, the fire died out.” She told.
“Well, we got to find this firebug. This isn’t just a random act anymore. It’s someone that’s working for FFB. Let’s go Twilight. Rarity, go back home and take Rainbow Dash with you just in case.”
“I’m not a baby, Cole.”
“I just want you to be safe.”
“Fine!” Rarity scrunched up her nose and moved away.
Cole Phelps and Twilight Sparkle began to walk circles around the library. There had to be some sort of evidence left behind because in all of Cole’s years as a detective, no one had ever committed a crime without leaving a small trail. They neared the back door when Cole found a small shard along with a portion of some paper. The shard itself, looked to be part of a bottle or container. The one side smelled like whiskey or another powerful form of alcohol. The paper read “Celestia’s Finest. Red.”
“What do you make of this?” Cole passed his findings to his partner, who gasped upon looking at it.
“Cole, this is a special kind of drink that only two ponies in this town have! From what I know, only Cheerilee and Berry Punch own this.”
“Wait, aren’t they both raspberry-coated?”
“Well, yes...why?”
“We have our ponies. We have to know which though. Granny Smith said something about a red ghost, probably one of them. And I found a matchbox belonging to the same bar that they both were at. It has to be one of them.”
“Let’s go to the school. It’s closer so that way, we can focus on the tavern if it’s not Cheerilee.”
“Alright, move it.” Cole and Twilight moved swiftly towards the school house.
The case was wrapping up as they moved to confirm their suspicions. The ground passed them like thin air as they were encroaching on the school’s location. After this trip, they’d finally be able to identify the suspect of this horrendous crime. The sign of the school passed them within milliseconds. “Ponyville Elementary School” was within reach now. Cole drew his gun, which caused Twilight to give him a cold glare.
“I’m not going to shoot her. If worse comes to worse, then I’ll warn her. Then I shoot.”
“No, put it away.” Twilight spoke coldly.
“I’m keeping it drawn but I’ll keep the safety on.”
“Fine.” Twilight accepted.
“You go in the front. I’ll take the back.” Cole started fro the back. “Watch yourself.”
He heard Twilight enter the red schoolhouse’s front door as he edged along the side. No one was going to escape this time. He quickened his pace to get to his destination faster. He heard liquid being poured onto a surface. As he neared the corner, he heard a gasp as an all-too-familiar mare ran away. She dropped the bottle of wine to the ground and dropped dozens of matches.
(Chase music. Play on loop until the end of the chapter.)
“Stop! You’re not getting away, Berry!”
He took his gun and put it back in the holster as he bolted after her. Her hooves clopping against the cobblestone followed by his loafers clacking against it filled the air. She spoke no words, as did Cole. Occasionally, he would shout some threats, rights, and pleads as to her causes of this crime. She spoke none.
Ponies passed by the two runners like a blur. As they moved closer into town, more crowds began to form, making the chase all the more difficult. They reached the marketplace as Berry Punch knocked over a cart full of cabbages. Cole jumped over the majority of them but tripped on the last few. Dusting himself off, he hastily took his fedora and began his chase again.
Berry Punch had gained a good distance from his mishap but he wasn’t about to relent. They neared a haphazard collection of buildings as Berry Punch took a sudden right. Cole was on her tail. She moved to the left, edging around a corner. Cole slammed into the sudden appearance of the building but continued. They reached near the end of the alleyway as the criminal tossed a few garbage cans at him. He jumped over and charged. She went inside of a building and shut the door behind her.
Cole ran up to the door and kicked it down. He ran inside, his weapon drawn as he heard frantic hoofsteps above him. The room was dimly lit but he saw stacks of alcohol containers all around the room. This place had to be the back of the tavern. Putting the thought aside, he turned left and ascended the staircase. He could hear more frantic pounds from above. As he reached the top, there was another set of stairs. He ran up those until he reached a room filled with all sorts of papers, pictures, and chalkboards, all of Cole Phelps and the Elements of Harmony. He saw a small file labeled “FFB Final Plans” but marked it off to read it later after apprehending the perp.
He ran up a last set of stairs and found a large wooden door. He tried to open it but it was locked from the outside. So he slammed into it with his shoulder. It had no effect. He did not relent as he tried a second time. That didn’t work either. Not having the patience he normally had, he shot the four corners of the door and charged for a final time, causing him to stumble along with the door. He recovered quickly and looked up. Berry Punch was grinning at him.
“You have nowhere to go left, Berry! Give it up and it won’t be too bad.” Phelps pointed his finger at her. She was on the balcony of the building, barely balanced.
“You think this is all about that money? This place is a dump and I couldn’t care less about it. No, this is about being famous. The bosses’ plan would’ve gotten us all famous and rich. But you and your friends had to nose into everything, didn’t you? No, this is more. They’ve been hiding in Ponyville the entire time, scheming and developing ways of making the Elements of Harmony pay for what they did. I guess you can say what happened with Applejack’s farm was payback. But nevertheless, this plan is gonna go off without a hitch.”
“Who are they?!” Cole drew his gun and pointed it at her. “You’re trapped.”
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. And I have nowhere to go, do I?” Berry Punch revealed a side of her that Cole had yet to see. She had a kind of feel to her that one would get from a Hollywood starlet or addict. “Smell ya later, Detective Cole Phelps. The House Always Wins.”
And with that, Berry Punch turned and gave the detective a wink. She leaped off of the building, sprawling her limbs in their respective positions. Cole ran up to the balcony to see what happened but was met with a gust of wind hitting his face. After recoiling, he saw Berry Punch flying away in a contraption that seemed to be a developed version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s flying machine.
She had a pair of goggles on as she glided farther and farther away from the good-willed human. He stomped the ground in frustration as he turned back towards the staircase down. But something landed on his hat as he walked. He moved a hand up to see what it was and found a note. He read the yellow piece of paper.
“To the thorn in our side,
If you’ve made it this far, then we applaud you, good sir. But you’ve been annoying us for far too long. We’d like to meet you face to face, under....mediated conditions. Without you in the picture, this would’ve gone off without a hitch. But since you seem to be insistent in stopping us, then we have called on our endgame. If you refuse to meet us, then let’s just say..your pampered marefriend will be swimming with the hydras. Meet us at the Ponyville Dam, by yourself. If we even see another face, you can say goodbye already. We hope to see you soon.
P.S. Oh, and if you think that you’ll be using any of the plans from our previous home for evidence, think again. Berry’s already set the place on fire. Watch your feet, don't want you to get burned.
-The House Always Wins”
Cole read the letter and sighed. But then he said “What the hell” as he looked at the last part of the letter again. And indeed, it had said that the building was being set ablaze. Cole saw smoke stacks just beaming out of the doorless doorway. Having no buildings nearby that he could jump onto, he looked around for something. If there was just one thing that he could..
“Oh hey, Ditzy. Carrying your trash out of town, already?”
“Yeah. It’s a big cartful this time. I..hehe...ate too many muffins.”
“I can tell, there’s practically a swarm of flies just buzzing around it.”
Cole looked down the balcony and saw a giant pile of garbage just in the middle of the street below him. There were no other means of escape, and he would be burned alive if he didn’t jump. Sighing, slapping himself, and cursing aloud, he held his breath and jumped down.
‘Rarity’s going to kill me.’
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The House always wins... unless the 'House' is actually you.
I noticed that this story and Carmine and Carmine have abrupt final chapters. I mean, the final chapter's next, for crying out loud. Not complaining but it's kind of a weird feeling I have. What do you think it is?
Good chapter, though.
902956
Well, I can't complain about you with that one. I did end this rather quickly, but you have to realize, this fic has the longest chapters I've ever written. So I think it's rightfully so. And this story, being a good story idea, needs a sad and long worded feeling to it. If I had time, I'd have made this longer but I have like ...50 (exaggeration but I still have at least 20) stories with their first chapters done. I want to get to them. For the Carmine one...I did promise a sequel, right? So....
902982 I don't want this story to end.
902982
It's a feeling of emptiness I have, yeah? But it's not bad, yeah? You're stories are still good, yeah?
Dude, favoriting now.
And I'm the goddamn Auditor.
903131
Yeah...
903135
Auditor?
903145
The dude in my picture, big villain, eats babies for breakfast, uses nukes and flips off boxes of kittens.
And I'm the goddamn Auditor.
903154
He looks like something out of this cartoon series I saw on newgrounds..Madness Combat or something? I used to watch it..loved Jesus in it and it had a clown.
903172
Yup, Madness combat, I never ate Deimos though. Should get around to doing that, but the pony fanfic, IT IS TOO GOOD!
Well, not all stories have to go on for months. Anyways, good chapter.
Knew it was berry Punch when she said she would do anything. FFB= Flim Flam Brothers?
guides.gamepressure.com/falloutnewvegas/gfx/word/348353656.jpg
The House always wins...
Well damn...
Somepony is going to get a bullet in the head...
media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzhzswWAw41qao74p.gif
Oh man! It seems WAY too soon to end this story! Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Looking forward to the final chapter!
'They reached the marketplace as Berry Punch knocked over a cart full of cabbages.'
In my mind; Cabbage man: MY CABBAGES!!!
Nice Avatar ref there.
Fuck the house... the house can burn for all I care... the house is an idiot. Call in Adam Jensen, he can take down the house and expose them all. No one messes with Rarity and gets away with it!
910897
No. We need the Courier.
909093
I made the Fallout NV reference fairly obvious in this. But I'm glad someone caught onto the Avatar reference there. Cabbage man is the best character, followed by his son.
911646 oh, I didn't know about the Fallout NV Ref cause I've never played it
911161 Fuck the courier, he doesn't even have a name.
> “I’ll have what’s on tap.”
No relation to me, but it did make me giggle.
902926
In which case the House still wins
931486
You have learned well.
Fallout New Vegas reference?
Only 3 mares know of the planes:
Luna, Twilight, and Celestia.
Twilight's been attacked, it couldn't be her. Why would Tia attack her prized pupil? Which leaves...
No...
You... You... You made Luna evil!