Baltimare III
Stone remained back at the crime scene, for the time being, to ensure it remained sealed. Photographs, witness statements, and samples of evidence were all taken from the pet shop and put into our cubicle a sergeant assigned us.
The cubicle was rather tight. There were two desks with locking filing cabinets, a large corkboard dominating one side of the cubicle, an extra chair, and a trash bin.
I looked over to the extra chair that sat by the opening of the cubicle. Jett sat there wrapped in a blanket, holding her gecko. Snow was trying to see if she needed anything.
After a minute or two, Snow stood and came over to me. “How is she?” I whispered as she got closer.
Snow looked at the filly with concern. “She hasn’t said a word,” she whispered back. “She keeps looking over at you though.”
Perhaps she remembered me. I found that odd since we met once only for a few minutes. I barely remembered her, and I’m an adult. I know my memory wasn’t great at that age. “You want to take over pinning the evidence up? I’ll see if I can get through to her.”
“Yeah,” Snow said, stealing a glance at Jett.
I put a wing on her shoulder. “You okay?”
She looked me in the eye. “I’m just a little worried for her.”
“We’ll take care of her.” I paused a moment. “I promise,” I smiled at her. She smiled back at me. With my friend assured, I moved over to Jett while Snow got to work.
I moved slowly and sat down nearby the filly. She stared at me with wide eyes. I tried to not to look as if I was studying her. The Guard handbook was seriously lacking on how to deal with this kind of situation. But I had a feeling I was gonna be doing most of the talking in this conversation.
“Do you remember me?” I asked her. She said nothing and just continued to look at me. “You don’t have to say anything. Just nod your head if you remember.” I waited for a response, and thank Celestia, she nodded after a moment.
“If you remember me, then you know I’m not a bad pony, right?” I asked. She nodded slowly.
“You miss your mom?” Stupid question. Again with nodding. “It’s my job to find her, you know,” Her ears flicked up.
I stood slowly. “Well, in order to find her, I’m gonna need your help. When you are ready…” I fumbled a pen and a pad of paper off the table and put it on the armrest beside her. “...you can write down anything you saw or heard down on this paper. Okay?”
I looked over to Snow who was done putting up the evidence files. Subtly I signaled her toward the outside of the cubicle. Taking the hint, she followed me outside. Once there, we spoke in hushed tones.
“So, any ideas?” I asked her.
Snow shrugged. “About what?”
I pointed the tip of my wing to the cubicle. “Jett. You know, the little filly in there that has no parents to go home to tonight. How are we gonna deal with this?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really know, I thought we’d just take care of her until we found her mom. Shouldn’t take too long right?” She smiled at me hopefully.
“Well, that’s not gonna work. We can’t take care of a filly, not here. We’ll have to get Foal Services down here, they’ll take care of her until we can determine whether or not the mother is still alive.”
Snow looked shocked. “Why do you say that?”
“They killed the filly’s father. Who’s to say they won’t kill the mother too? Or it may have been the mother who killed him,” I said not wanting to hear myself say it.
Snow frowned. “Those are some negative options.”
“I’m just being realist—” I stopped when I saw Jett peeking her head out of the cubicle looking at us. I really, really hoped she hadn’t heard any of that. “We’ll finish this later,” I said to Snow just before walking back into the cubicle.
I walked in and Jett hopped back onto the chair and used the armrest to get higher. She waved a hoof for me to get closer. I leaned an ear in close. “You catch the bad ponies right?” she asked quietly.
“Well, yeah. I said that it is my job.”
“You and she are gonna find who hurt my daddy and took mommy?” she asked again.
“I promise,” I said retracting my ear.
Jett seemed to hesitate. “Three ponies came into the shop just before daddy closed the store. One was a unicorn, he wore a black hat with red on it, and a glowing red stick in his mouth,” she described.
“And the other two?” Snow asked.
Jett made a gesture with her hooves. “Big ponies. Like earth ponies, they wore black clothes. Mommy told me to go upstairs before I could get a good look. Once I was in my room I heard shouting and screaming. Once the noise stopped, I stayed in my room waiting for mommy.”
“So why did we find you in the bench?” Snow asked.
“I was hungry...” she said looking at the floor. “...and I thought you were the bad ponies had come back, coming up the stairs.”
“That’ll do,” I patted her gently on the head with a wing. “Get some rest Jett,” I looked over to Snow and spoke in a hushed voice. “Get ahold of Foal Services, they’ll take care of her until we find something, and send a letter to the Ponyville mayor. There is a pony in that town who is an animal expert. See if you can get their help with the animals who were in the shop.”
“What are you gonna do?” Snow asked me.
“First, I’m gonna see if I can get the animals moved here. Then, I’m gonna see if there is any record of criminals in this city. Be back in a minute.” I left Snow with the filly.
I made my way across SI to where our science team hid. Hadvar was examining a white flower pedal under a magnifying glass.
“Hey, Hadvar!” I called.
He looked up from his work. “Oh hey. You’re one of the three newbies that were here earlier. What was your name?”
“It’s Strider. I was hoping I could get your help with something.”
“Shoot, I was already given some things to analyze from your case,” he said, picking up a piece of paper.
“Really? Anything from those samples?” I asked before getting to my other question.
He hoofed over the paper. “Just some info on your murder weapon. It’s a six-inch blade, steel with a seventy-two, twenty-eight iron-carbon ratio. If you find me something to compare it to, I can give you a match.”
“How’d you get all that, from just a few slivers of metal?” I asked examining the paper.
“We griffons have our talents too.” He went back to his flower pedal.
Unsure how to respond to that, I went back to what I came here for. “Animal Control took some animals from the crime scene. I need some of them brought here. Do you think we can keep them here with you?”
He looked up at me again. “Animals? Yeah sure, as long as there aren’t any cats. They don’t like me for some reason.”
“I’ll be sure to mention that. And who do I talk to about identifying a criminal from a very vague description?” Hadvar just pointed a talon over to Otulissa, who was painting something. I walked around some equipment and over to her.
“Let me guess,” she said without looking up. “Vague description, need to know who it is?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Over here. I’ve drawn and taken pictures of every criminal with a record, and a few who haven’t gotten caught yet,” She led me over to a bunch of photo albums. There were about seven albums altogether, and all of them were two inches thick.
“No way to narrow it down?” I tried.
“Well, what are you looking for?” Otulissa asked with a bit of impatience.
“Unicorn wears a hat with red on it, smokes. That’s all I got right now.”
“Okay, there is vague, and then next-to-nothing to go on. That is what you got. I can’t help if I don’t have more to work with.”
I sighed in agreement. “Yeah, I understand. I’m working on a solution to that though.”
“I hope it’s a good one,” Otulissa said going back to her painting.
A day and a half later and Jett was with Foal Services for the time being. Snow and I had gone over all the evidence, and we were running down the very few leads that we’d gathered.
Right now, though, the animals from the shop had arrived. I had gone over to the Animal Control office yesterday and told them only the animals closest to the door. Apparently, they didn’t hear that part. All of them were here. Luckily there were only about twelve cages. But the few birds had drawn a crowd.
“Guard First Class Strider, mind telling me why you’ve turned my science room into a zoo?” Lieutenant Strong Hoof asked me.
“Sir, I have a specialist on their way to help with my case,” I said quickly.
“You’d better. Then I want all of them gone by the end of the day. Am I clear?” he, “asked,” glaring at me.
“Crystal clear, sir,” I nodded.
He said nothing else and walked out of the room. Stone was with me right now; I was having Snow go get our guest from the train station. The mayor of Ponyville had merely replied with “She’s on her way,” in the letter.
Gary came up to me, drawn by the animals making various noises. “These are a lot of animals. You sure the shop wasn’t bigger?”
“I’m sure,” I said looking at the stack of animal cages.
“Look! Puppies!” Stone exclaimed as he knelt down to look into one of the cages. The puppies inside all started yipping happily and jumping up and down. Stone started playing peekaboo with the little puppies.
I ignored him and let him look at the animals. I focused on the stairs leading down here. “Where is she? She should be here by now.”
“Perhaps the train was delayed?” Hadvar suggested.
“Maybe. But even so—”
“We’re here!” Snow exclaimed trotting down the stairs. A yellow pegasus with long pink mane and tail and three pink butterflies for her cutie mark followed. “Everypony, this is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy was wearing some saddlebags just forward of her cutie mark as well.
She saw the animals in their cages behind me. “I heard you had some critters that are witnesses in a case? Are they okay?” She seemed to be asking the animals rather than us.
I stepped up to her. “Hello, Miss Fluttershy. My Name is GFC Strider, I’m Snow’s partner. We need you to see if you can get some information about a pony from these animals.”
“Glad to be of help,” she smiled shyly at me. She looked over to a canvas sack that contained a snake and picked it up. “Oh, snakes don’t like these bags,” she said, opening it without flinching.
“I didn’t know,” I said, unsure of how to respond. She allowed the snake to slither up her foreleg and onto her shoulder. After watching the curious sight I pulled a slip of paper off the top of one of the cages. “From what Animal Control said, that snake you’re holding, the canary over there, and that hamster were closest to the incident.”
Fluttershy opened each of the cages I pointed to and each of them joined the snake on her back. Why they weren’t attacking each other or running was beyond me. “Could you please tell the nice guard what you saw?” she asked the animals in a sweet tone.
The Canary was the first to squawk. I couldn’t understand it but Fluttershy seemed to be listening with all ears, because she occasionally nodded, gasped in shock, or made a comment like “Oh, that’s horrible!”
“I don’t understand bird,” I stated plainly.
“Oh, right,” Fluttershy said, seeming to suddenly remember that I was still there. “He said, and I quote; ‘The blue and white unicorn pony in the black suit and hat with red trim. He was called Coin Shark. He was demanding payment from Mr. Nightpaw. He didn’t have the money they wanted so they took his wife, but Nightpaw was hurt in the process. They were going to take their child but they couldn’t find her,’” Fluttershy translated.
I felt weird talking to animals. “If we had a picture, do you think one of you could identify them?”
“Well?” Fluttershy asked the animals.
Unlike the other two, the snake responded by sliding off of Fluttershy and over to me. It slid up my armor and came to rest between my wings. “What’s that mean?” I asked Fluttershy.
Fluttershy smiled. “He wants to help and to go with you. He’s a Night Snake. They’re very unique; they look similar in appearance to rattlesnakes but don’t have the rattle. They are rear-fanged and do have venom, but they pose no threat to ponies. They are very docile snakes, smart too.”
I looked at the snake on my back. He was about two feet in length, with light brown scales, white belly, and dark brown splotches on his back. His head is slightly flat and triangular shaped. His eyes were orange with vertical pupils.
I grinned. “Well, I’m not one to turn down help. You need a name, though; I can’t just call you ‘snake’ all the time.”
“Wouldn’t that also mean we’d be keeping him?” Snow asked.
“We have a pet?” Stone asked with a smile.
“We have space,” I said while thinking of a name. “How about, Slithers?” I looked at him for a reaction. He just stuck his forked tongue out at me. “Belt, Slip, Kellogg, Quinn?” I listed off, getting the same reaction each time.
Snow stepped up beside me. “How about Dino?” she asked. The snake responded by making a long hiss sound and moving his head up and down.
“Dino it is. Dino, want to go with Snow and Otulissa to finish identifying that criminal?” I asked he slithered off my wing and onto Snow’s back.
“I thought you were afraid of snakes?” I asked Snow.
“Crocodiles. Not snakes,” Snow said, holding her chin high and walking over to Otulissa’s station.
I couldn’t help but steal a glance at Snow’s retreating form. I hadn’t looked at her that way since the case started. It was hard not to.
Okay, Strider enough sightseeing, back to work.
“Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy said from over by the cages.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Would it be too much trouble for me to take these animals home with me? I would like to find them proper homes,” she asked. “I am licensed to handle all animals and the land next to my home is a nature preserve.” She held out some legal papers.
I thought about it for a moment as I looked the documents over. “I don’t see why not. Not like Animal Control wouldn’t do the same. If you’ll follow me I’m sure we can find the proper paperwork. I would also like to hear about how to care for a Night Snake.”
Dino identified three potential suspects from out photo lineups. Two large brown and green earth ponies who had both been previously arrested on assault charges, and Coin Shark, who had been charged with extortion but nothing ever stuck. I wanted to go have a chat with the unicorn. With Stone assisting Fluttershy in getting the remainder of the animals to her train, Snow was with me filling the sergeant in on our progress. Dino had tucked himself into the collar of my uniform to stay hidden.
“So you got the identification of the suspect from a snake?” the sergeant asked. “And now you want permission to go ask Coin Shark questions?”
“That is correct Sergeant,” I said, trying to sound confident.
The Sergeant glared at me. “How long have you been on the job?”
“Over six months, Sergeant,” I answered truthfully. It was starting to occur to me that I may not have thought this completely through.
“Well that is plenty long enough to know that we don’t make accusations on so little evidence!” he shouted. “Permission for questioning denied. Come back to me when you have more evidence. Now get out of my office!” he shouted.
We hurried out of his office. “That could have gone better,” Snow commented dryly once we were back at our cubicle.
“The evidence has run out. The autopsy turned up nothing that we didn’t already know. We’ve been over the crime scene multiple times. We need something definitive in order to continue to the investigation,” I said aloud pondering our options.
“Well, we were just told that we can’t go question Coin Shark,” Snow reiterated. “How are we gonna keep the investigation open?”
I was busy searching my brain for a solution. “Perhaps going around the problem?” I said aloud.
“This sounds like it could potentially get us in trouble,” Snow said, raising an eyebrow in response.
“Probably. You up for a bit of surveillance?” I inquired. “The Sergeant said we couldn’t go ask questions. He never said we couldn’t go have a look at what the pony does throughout the day.” I looked at the Coin Shark’s file.
“Breaking the rules?” Snow started to ask.
“Not breaking; it’s perfectly acceptable for us to keep an eye on a potential suspect. I have his address. Let’s go see what he’s up to.” I started my way out of the campus.
Snow trotted to keep up with me. “If anypony asks, this was your idea.”
“It was my idea,” I smiled.
“Precisely.”
It’s not like finding Coin Shark was hard. He wasn’t exactly hiding. As a matter of fact, he was walking around his neighborhood flanked by the exact two earth ponies that Dino had pointed out. Since I had the advantage of being able to fly, I stayed on the rooftops, while Snow tailed him from the street.
He went inside a small diner. His bodyguards sat outside among some more shady ponies who were hanging around the alleyways. I retrieved some small binoculars from my pocket and peered through the window. He sat inside the diner with a unicorn mare. She had a white coat and a red and white mane. She was favoring a red dress, and a matching white and red fedora.
I could see Snow getting close to the diner. She stopped a few buildings short of the diner, trying to look casual, as though she were just out for a walk. She spotted me on the roof across the street. I signaled with a wing for her to stay there. From this distance I could see her nod and lean against the wall she was next to, pretending to wait for somepony.
I looked back through my binoculars at the meeting inside the diner. The mare was shouting at Coin Shark. Coin Shark’s ears were down and he shrunk into his seat, looking scared of the mare in front of him. I watched him pull a bag out of his jacket pocket and set it on the table in front of the mare. The mare snatched it up and put in a purse on the seat next to her. She waved him off. Coin Shark scrambled back to his hooves and ran out the door, looking as though he couldn't get out of there fast enough.
Coin Shark’s bodyguards stood up and followed him like obedient dogs. He started walking south toward some warehouses, still looking shaken from his meeting. I continued to follow via the rooftops, and Snow followed on the street.
It was starting to get dark, the sun encroaching on the horizon, casting long shadows across the city. In the waning light, I watched Coin Shark move into an alley and go into an old office building on the right. These offices probably once belonged to the warehouses when they were still in operation. Pipes and ventilation ducts decorated the walls of the alley, like some kind of urban jungle gym. A single fire escape went up the left side of the ally.
Once Coin Shark and his bodyguards were inside, Snow showed up again. I hopped onto the roof of the building opposite of the offices and signaled for Snow to come up. Seeing her nod at my signal and move into the building I was on, I got settled and watched the building across from me.
After a minute I heard a door behind me open. I turned to see Snow closing the rooftop door behind her with her magic. “So how was the ground approach?” I asked keeping my voice down.
“Oh ha ha, not all of us can fly or teleport you know.” She bumped my side as she crouched beside me. She was so close to me, I could feel her body heat combine with mine.
I cleared my throat. “Did you happen to hear anything while you were following them?” I asked.
“Only that they are all afraid of that mare in the diner. I think she is their employer,” Snow guessed.
“Anything is possible, but let’s focus on our current suspect before adding to the list.” I looked back over to the building and waited.
What seemed like hours went by, even though it was mere minutes. Lights were on in the building we were watching, but I just couldn’t see anypony. I glanced over at Snow who had her eyes on the horizon.
Looking past I could see that she was watching the dimming light of the sun and the stars returning, welcoming the moon behind us. “What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Oh, nothing. I just think that it’s kinda pretty.” She paused before clarifying. “The city at this hour.”
And just like that my focus was shattered. The look in her eyes looking out across the amber light of dusk, the light hitting her in just the right way. I couldn’t help but stare. My grandmother’s words echoing in my head. “Ask that mare out, or I’ll do it for you.”
I glanced back at the building and still no change. Deciding that this was as good a time as any, I took the jump.
“Hey Snow,” I said, hoping I sounded casual.
“Yes Strider?” she asked, looking at me with those beautiful eyes of her’s.
I hesitated. “Um, I was just wondering, when this case is over that is, if you wanted to, I don’t know, go out?” I tried to look away, but those efforts were in vain.
“Like on a date?” she asked, her cheeks reddening and her eyes flicking away.
“Yes?” I managed to get out, as I looked away. “Look, I know that we're partners and we already live in the same room, I’d understand if you didn’t want—”
I was interrupted by Snow placing a kiss on my cheek. I froze. A warm sensation rushed through my body.
She scooted up closer to me and I put my wing over her. “It’s about time you asked,” she smiled. “Yes.” Snow rested her head under my chin.
“Why do you say it like that?” I asked.
Snow giggled. “Remember back in the Academy, when we were on that first eight-mile march?”
“I remember.” I also remember being soaked and covered in mud.
“I was struggling to keep up with everypony. You were the only one to stop and help, even when our instructors yelled at you not to. Remember what you told them?”
“Rule One of being a guard. Never leave another guard behind,” I answered.
“The look of determination you had, I swear that's what made them leave you be. Anyway, you helped me all the way back to the barracks.”
“I helped you put away your gear, and then help you to med-bay when I saw that your ankle was swollen,” I continued.
“You fell asleep in the chair, while you waited for them to fix my ankle.” Snow paused remembering the moment. “That was the day I fell for you.”
“None of that screams ‘romantic’ to me.” I chuckled.
“I know. I fell for you all the same.” She tried getting closer to me as a cold breeze rushed by.
“Cool,” I whispered. I took a deep breath and noticed another light had turned on across the alley. “Time for work,” I commented pointing a hoof at the lit up window, retracting my wing.
Snow and I both refocused. Through the window, we could see Coin Shark sit down at a desk. He stabbed a switchblade knife into the surface of the desk and visibly sighed, rubbing his forehead with a hoof. The window was cracked open allowing some sound to carry through.
I nudged Snow with a wing. “How long would you say that blade is on his desk?”
She squinted her eyes. “Hmm, I’d say about six inches. The same as our murder weapon.”
“We need to get that knife back to Hadvar,” I said, thinking on how we could do that.
Snow shook her head disapprovingly. “We can’t, that would be obtaining evidence illegally.”
“Perhaps we could get a judge to sign a-woah.” Dino suddenly shifted, reminding me of his presence around my neck. I had forgotten he was there.
Dino slithered to where he could see Coin Shark, flicked his tongue rapidly. “Is that him? Is he the one who killed Nightpaw?” Snow asked.
Dino responded by making a nodding motion with his head and body. “Great, now we need to prove it,” I said as Dino slithered to my side.
“That would require the knife, but there is no way to obtain it legally,” Snow repeated.
I grumbled. “I know that. But we have to try, maybe we could—” Snow poked me with a hoof while looking past me. “What?” She pointed to a pipe that had Dino sliding across the gap between the two buildings. All I could do was stare and watch.
Dino slid across the pipe and reached the other side just as Card Shark got up and exited the room we were looking at. Dino stopped to wait for Card Shark to walk away before slithering through the window. We lost track of him once he entered.
“That snake is scary smart,” Snow observed.
“Glad he's on our side,” I mumbled, as I looked for him.
Dino’s head popped up from behind the desk. He slid over to the knife that was still stuck in the surface of the desk. He coiled himself around it, bit the handle, and pulled it out. Dino slowly made his way back out the same way. When he got back to us with the knife in his mouth, Snow and I both were unsure of how to handle this.
“Is that legal?” Snow inquired.
“As far as I'm concerned, it was ‘found,’” I shrugged. “You got an evidence bag on you?”
“Yeah.” Snow levitated the bag out and then took the knife from Dino putting it into the sealed bag.
“Climb aboard, Dino,” I told our new stealthy companion. “Let’s get this back to Hadvar.”
Snow and I had collected Stone from our quarters and brought the knife to Hadvar in the basement laboratory. It had been about an hour, and he was still doing chemical tests on the knife, taking swabs and various other things.
Dino curiously poked his head out from beneath my armor. I suppose he liked hanging there because he was absorbing my body temperature. I looked over my shoulder at Snow who was sitting nearby and chewing nervously, but adorably, on a strand of her mane. Stone was reading a mini comic book had kept in his pocket.
Taking advantage of Stone’s distraction, I went over and sat down next to Snow. “The nervous hair chewing is new,” I whispered.
She spat out her mane and blushed. “Well, you weren’t exactly around to keep me from doing it while I was working in Canterlot,” she jabbed.
I grinned. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“That you are. But I do have one question,” she started. “Where are you taking me?”
“Hm? Oh right. I thought I’d keep it as a surprise,” I told her.
“Well, I just wanted to know if I needed to wear a dress or not.”
Oh, the ways I could have answered that one. “Best save the dress for the second date.”
“A second date? Somepony is confident,” she said, bumping me with her shoulder.
“One of us has to be.” I bumped her back. She giggled behind a hoof and blushed. I smiled as I looked to see if Hadvar had made any progress.
He was finishing writing something on a clipboard he had been filling up with pieces of paper. He threw the pen down and rushed over to us, looking excited. “It’s a match and I found Nightpaw’s fur and blood in the handle of the blade. This is definitely the murder weapon.”
“Great!” I said, standing. “Now all we need is permission from the lieutenant to go and arrest him.” I started toward the stairs.
“Hold on!” Hadvar called. “There is one more thing.” I looked back at him. “There was more trace blood on the blunt edge of the blade. It belongs to a thestral mare. That’s as much as I could get from the sample.”
Snow and I locked our gazes, and we had the same thought. “Moonluck!” we said together.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Snow added levitating the clipboard out of Hadvar’s claws.
“We need to see the lieutenant,” I said turning back to the stairs. “Come on Stone, time to work!” I called.
I could hear Stone and Snow climbing the stairs behind me. We got up to SI and made our way through the usual crowd of guards and investigators to the lieutenant's office. The three of us lined up. I knocked on the door thrice and we waited.
“Come in!” I heard the lieutenant say from beyond the door. We entered and stood in a straight line within the door.
“Ah, my dynamic trio,” the lieutenant commented dryly. “What trouble have you gotten into now?”
“Sir, we need a few extra guards to make an arrest and a possible rescue,” I said getting the request out of the way.
“Make your case,” he ordered.
I recited everything involving the case that had happened since he gave us the assignment. I, of course, replaced Dino with an unnamed snitch in the story. Only lying a little, right? Snow filled in a what details she had and Stone just stood there nodding and agreeing with what we had said. Halfway through explaining our case the lieutenant started writing something down.
He finished the document on his desk and slid it over to us. “You have five of our reserves at your disposal. Keep it quiet. Dismissed.” the lieutenant waved us off.
Snow took it in her magic. Once out of his office we turned toward the stairs up. “So how are we gonna handle this?” Snow asked looking over the “Granted Permission” document in her magic.
“You ever hear the one about burning the candle at both ends?” I asked.
“No.” Snow said confused.
“You soon will,” I stated.
I had selected two pegasi guards to go with me and enter through the roof exit of Coin Shark’s’ building. Snow, Stone, and the other three guards I selected, two earth ponies and a unicorn, were to go through the front door.
One of the other pegasi and I were poised by the roof door. We held the crossbows in our front hooves and used our wings to stay upright. The third pegasus was at the edge of the building waiting for Snow’s signal, crossbow folded and on his side. I had requisitioned the tranquilizer arrows from the armory with light crossbows as to not damage our quarry too much.
Stone and the earth ponies were to engage any resistance with melee combat while Snow and her unicorn were to provide magical support. All of this was a distraction meant to drive Coin Shark my way.
I heard a crashing door, shouting, and the sounds of spells being fired. “Go!” the pegasus signaled. We entered the building from the roof, sweeping the fourth floor. The single guard received a tranquilizer arrow to the shoulder and was out in seconds. Some documents were scattered around the tables; we’d have to examine those later.
On the way down to the third floor, a single earth pony thug was climbing the stairs. I flapped my wings and spun mid-air to drive the earth pony’s face into the railing with a hind hoof kick to the head.
Once on the third floor, we found Coin Shark. He instinctively fired off a spell as soon as he saw us. I ducked behind cover. The pegasus beside me fired three bolts toward Coin Shark as covering fire. All missed but caused him to retreat further into the room. Snow approached from behind me.
“Lower floors secure,” Snow reported.
“Is there a basement?” I asked.
“Why would there be a basement?”
“Every low-level villain has a basement. Take your team and go check,” I told her. She didn’t question it further, and she went back downstairs to look. “Move up,” I said to my team.
We moved further in and found Coin Shark trying to pry a window to the fire escape open. Judging by the look of panic on Coin Shark’s face, it was nailed shut.
“Freeze!” I barked. The two pegasi and I held our crossbows up. “If I see so much as a flicker from that horn, you’re getting a bolt to the shoulder. Cuff him,” I instructed my teammates.
A moment later Coin Shark’s hooves were shackled and an inhibitor ring had been placed on his horn. Gathering up the other criminals, we began moving them down to the first floor for transport.
Snow came back up from the basement. I did not like the look on her face. “I’m not gonna like the news you have, am I?”
“Moonluck.” Snow’s expression said the rest. Moonluck was dead. I felt the weight of the situation. But I felt the worst for Jett; the little filly had no parents anymore, and I had broken my promise.
I looked to the two pegasi with us. “Go get a transport for these scum, and bring the coroner.” I looked back over at Snow who was having trouble keeping it together. I pulled her aside and out of view of the other’s to give her a hug.
Snow cried lightly. “We were too late.” She buried her muzzle into my shoulder.
I hugged her tight. “It’s not your fault.” It was mine, I thought to myself.
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I hope there'sa happy ending for Jett
Sweet Celestia, I guess it was too much to hope for. Seems like Coin Shark bit off more than he could chew when he used his trusty little friend on Nightpaw. Better to tie up loose ends, but my money is on his boss lady ordering the discarding of said loose ends.
Good use of Fluttershy. And here's to hoping Dino sticks his snoot into more cases when occasion calls. Especially if evidence is hard to "find."
8111782 I'm working on it.
8111848 Innocent Whistling
8112067 What? No, no that wasn't the plan at all.
I'm never going to be able to stop hearing all his lines in Hodges' voice.