• Published 18th May 2017
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Ponyville Noire: Tails of Two Private Eyes - PonyJosiah13



Daring Do is a thief trying for a second chance. Phillip Finder is a private detective with no scruples. Ponyville is a city embroiled in corruption with war on the horizon. They may be the only hope for law and order left.

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Case Three, Chapter Nine: Negotiations

The two landed in the middle of the Industrial District, finding themselves back amongst the sea of wooden condos with their dull colors, standing alongside narrow, uneven sidewalks. The air was heavy with smog and the scent of grease and the few ponies that stood loitering on the corners or on their porches looked up at their invasion.

“Where are we going first?” Daring asked, looking around.

Phillip glanced down at the map that he’d borrowed from Twilight, studying the myriad markings of purple magic, then checked a street sign hanging over their heads. “Gearstrip Street. This way,” he said, pointing.

He led the two of them down several streets, through twists and turns that took them past several houses and small stores in varying states of repair. Finally, they reached a familiar home: a blue two-story house with two boarded-up windows, the property surrounded by a chain-link fence. Daring’s eyes fell on the “Beware of Dog” sign.

Right on cue, the big black Gerwhin Shepherd leaped at the fence, which rattled beneath its weight. It barked and growled at the intruders, slobber flying from its snout.

Despite expecting it, both Phillip and Daring instinctively jumped back. As if acting on its own, Phillip’s foreleg swung around to push Daring back behind him. She looked down at his foreleg, then smirked at him. He lowered his foreleg, his ears turning slightly red.

“Well, I’m glad to see an old friend,” Daring commented, staring at the dog. “But what are we doing here?”

“Look closely at the teeth,” Phillip said.

Daring looked at dog’s mouth, studying the teeth; a task which proved to be particularly difficult when the dog was barking at them. But after a few moments, she noticed an unusual feature: the dog was missing two of its front teeth on its top jaw.

“Leaf Dance was bitten by this dog,” Phillip stated. “It’s possible we might find a lead here.”

“So we have to get past the dog. Great,” Daring sighed.

“Can you keep him busy?” Phillip asked.

“Sure,” Daring nodded, taking flight. She flew over the fence and began to fly circles over the dog. “Hey, boy! Come and get me! I’m nice and juicy!”

The dog growled and began to leap up at her, jaws snapping in a bid to grab her. Daring began to lead the dog away from the gate, flying low enough to keep the hound’s attention on her, but high enough that he couldn’t reach her. The dog followed her towards the backyard.

While the dog was distracted, Phillip pushed open the gate in the fence and proceeded up a short brick pathway to the front door of the house. He knocked sharply. A few moments later, the door opened a crack and an old light green stallion with a leathery, weather-beaten face leaned out the door.

“What d’you want?” he sneered at Phillip. “Ain’t it obvious I wanna be left alone?”

“Won’t take a moment,” Phillip said. “Just need to ask you a question. Your dog bit someone recently.”

“Jessie bites a lot of ponies. That’s why I bought him,” the old stallion growled.

“You remember a gray earth pony, indigo mane, cutie mark of a pair of oak leaves?” Phillip asked.

The elder stallion thought for a moment, then nodded. “The dumb bastard got too close to the fence. Jessie jumped him, got him right in the leg.”

“You see which way he went?” Phillip asked.

“I see him walking past my house probably twice a day, most days,” the stallion replied. “He lives somewhere down that way.” He pointed towards the east.

“Thank you,” Phillip nodded, turning away and allowing the homeowner to close the door again. “C’mon, Daring.”

Daring flew high up out of the dog’s range and blew a raspberry at it, then followed after Phillip.

“Gonna change my appearance a bit before we start looking,” Phillip said, ducking into an alleyway. He took his vest off and flipped it around to reveal the bright blue interior. He put it back on and stuck his hat inside it.

“So you said that Leaf Dance was an NMD?” Daring asked, watching him don his disguise.

“Yes,” Phillip replied as he pulled out what looked like a pair of stickers that showed a simple black horseshoe and placed them on his flanks, covering his cutie marks. "Looks like the shootings were to try to force them to surrender and come to their side."

Daring was silent for a moment, watching Phillip take out a yellow hair tie and use it to tie his mane back into a ponytail. “Wouldn’t be the first thing that Sparks lied to me about, then,” she grumbled, helping Phillip gather his mane back.

Phillip swallowed as she secured the hair tie. “Daring, I’m sorry that—”

“Don’t,” Daring harshly cut him off. “I don’t need to hear it. Let’s just find them before more ponies get hurt.”

Phillip nodded and pulled out a pair of thick glasses, donning them to complete his disguise. “Take to the sky. I’ll search on the ground.”

Daring nodded and flapped up into the air, flying high above the streets. Phillip emerged from the alleyway, glanced down at the map, then started walking in the indicated direction.

Twilight had marked the area between Seventy-Three Way and Maple Grove Street as a possible hideout location, and the dog owner had pointed them in that direction. The pair of detectives reached the area and began to search. Phillip jogged up and down the streets, studying the houses on the streets as he passed by; Daring flew far over his head, scanning the ponies below.

Phillip jogged down one street, then turned the corner to proceed down the next one. He ran at a steady pace, scanning the houses that he passed. None of them seemed to match the description that Daring had given him: no two-story houses with a creaky porch on the back and white curtains in the windows across from a white and tan condo.

Daring scanned the ground underneath, trying to keep the clouds beneath her and the ponies below as much as possible. Her mind was racing, the same things flashing before her eyes like a kaleidoscope: Bright Sparks with her pickles, Boltstrike firing lightning and thunder from his BAR, Phillip’s exhausted, pitying look, the cold touch of Red’s gun barrel against her forehead, and most prominently, the scent of blood and cordite in her nostrils as she stared down at the twisted bodies of Miranda Right and the security guards. She shivered and her stomach twisted inside her.

“Dammit, Sparks, why?” she whispered. “You weren’t a killer.”

She was silent for a moment, her stomach continuing to squirm and sending bile up into her throat, then took a breath and steeled her gaze. “But you are now,” she muttered. “You crossed that line. I’m sorry, sis, but I have to stop you.”

Something beneath caught her eye. She looked down and spotted a pony walking past Phillip; a bulky, bald earth pony with a dark brown coat. Sledgehammer! she thought, the name flashing before her mind in recognition. Pausing in midair, she observed Sledgehammer pass by Phillip and turn the corner. She began to fly after him, watching where he went.

Sledgehammer walked down the street for some distance, then turned up Maple Grove street, walking at a quicker pace with his bald head lowered. Even before he turned up the pathway, Daring spotted the house he was heading for: a plain, two-story light yellow house with white curtains in the first-floor window, across from a tan condo.

Sledgehammer rapped out a rhythm at the pale blue door, which opened after a moment and allowed him entry. Darting away, Daring flew back to Phillip, who was just rounding the next corner. She swooped down just low enough so that he would see her and waved her forelegs to get his attention. He looked up and she pointed towards Maple Grove street, gesturing for him to follow.

He nodded and jogged down the street, rounding the corner and heading up Maple Grove Street. Daring hovered over the hideout and pointed down at it. He jogged past, studying the house out of the corner of his eye, then rounded the corner at the end of the street. Daring flew over and landed in front of him.

“You sure?” Phillip asked, breathing hard from his run.

“Positive,” Daring nodded. “I saw one of them going in there.”

“How many are in there?” Phillip asked.

“Ten, eleven ponies,” Daring replied. “We know they have the BARs and the Dragon’s Breath cocktails, and we’ve both seen what Boltstrike and Bright Sparks can do with their magic.”

“We need backup on this,” Phillip said, looking around and spotting a blue police gamewell attached to a telephone pole nearby. “I’ll call Trace and Red.”

“I’m going in there to talk to her,” Daring declared.

Phillip whirled around and stared at her, open-mouthed. “Do you have kangaroos loose in your top paddock?” he snapped.

“She deserves a chance to surrender peacefully,” Daring said firmly. “And I have to give her a chance to explain. I just want to know why.”

Phillip stared at her for a moment, then slowly nodded. “Just wait. And be careful.”

Daring nodded and watched as Phillip rushed over to the gamewell, yanking the door open and holding the phone up to his ear.

“Finder. Connect me to Evidence and Herring,” he said into the phone. There was silence for a minute, then another voice spoke into the hoofset.

“Did you find them?” Trace Evidence asked.

“Yes,” Phillip said. “I can tell you and Red where they are, but on one condition.”

“What?” Trace asked, clearly regretting the question.

“You take them alive if you can,” Phillip said.

“What?” Trace asked coldly.

“I know that you’d like to just blow the hell out of all of them,” Phillip said patiently. “But enough ponies have died already. And if they’re alive, we can still get more info out of them.”

“You’re gonna be a pain in the ass about this, aren’t you?” Trace sighed.

“Yes, I am,” Phillip said flatly.

“You’re going in there no matter what, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“There’s way too many of them for you to take on your own, isn’t there?”

“Probably.”

Trace was silent for several moments of contemplation, then sighed. “No promises if they start shooting at us,” he grunted. “Where are they?

“Thirty-five Gearstrip Street,” Phillip said. “Bring some officers that we can trust; call them by phone, not by radio.”

“Why?”

“Trust me on this,” Phillip said.

“All right, if you say so,” Trace said, and the line clicked off.

Phillip hung up the phone and walked back to Daring, who blinked at him in confusion. “Why’d you tell him the wrong address?”

“You remember what Roger Breaker, the dispatcher, told us?” Phillip said. “They can track the cruisers and plainclothes vehicles. Cold Case will probably rain down hell the moment she sees where Trace and Red are; I know how she thinks, we worked together for years.”

Daring blinked. “You do realize that she’ll be raining down hell on some innocent family’s home, right?”

“Empty house I saw when we landed,” Phillip said.

“So we get to make Cold look like an idiot?” Daring asked.

“Basically,” Phillip nodded.

Daring grinned. “Cool.”

“Wait for Trace and Red at that place. Bring them over here on hoof,” Phillip instructed, turning his vest back the right way and putting on his hat. “I’ll watch the house.” He jumped over the backyard fence of a nearby house and began to slink his way towards the back of the hideout.

Daring flew up into the air, heading back towards Gearstrip Street. She perched down on a cloud and watched patiently.

A few minutes later, a familiar Hayson Commander pulled up to the corner, followed by a cruiser and a police motorcycle. Trace and Red exited the Commander as Prowl and Bumblebee jumped out of the cruiser and Flash Sentry swung his legs off the bike.

Daring whistled and Prowl looked up, her ears twitching. Their eyes met and Daring flew off, heading back towards the hideout. Prowl shouted indistinctly and began to fly after her, with the others chasing after.

Daring landed at the end of Maple Grove Street and paused. Prowl flew down and hovered a few feet over her head, glaring at her. Flash Sentry joined her, followed by Red and Trace.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Prowl growled at Daring.

“Helping you find a bunch of cop killers and thieves,” Daring replied flatly.

Prowl glared challengingly at Daring for a few moments, then turned and looked at Trace Evidence. “Are you sure we can trust her?” she asked.

Trace looked at Daring. “We can trust that she and Phil are going to go in there no matter what. We might as well make sure that they don’t kill themselves.”

“And on the upside,” Daring added, looking at Red. “You catch them, you get the credit.”

Red raised his eyebrows ever so slightly as Bumblebee ran up, panting and huffing.

“Where are they?” Trace asked.

“There,” Daring said, pointing at the hideout several yards behind her. “I’m going to go in to try to talk them out.”

“Are you nuts?!” Flash shouted. “How do you know they won’t just kill you?!”

“I don’t,” Daring admitted. “But I know Bright Sparks. She was my friend once. She’ll at least listen to me.”

“Until she decides to shoot you,” Red said.

“You’d just love it if she did that, wouldn’t you?” Daring snapped at him. Red blinked and looked down at the ground at his hooves.

“At least take a gun or a bulletproof vest or something,” Prowl offered.

Daring shook her head. “I have what I need.” She turned around and walked towards the blue house, leaving the officers behind.

“Prowl, Sentry, you two take position above,” Trace instructed the two pegasi. “Bee, hold position out here in front with me. Red, head around to the back.”

“Yes, sir,” Prowl nodded, flying up into the air with Flash. The two of them began to hover over the house, staring down at it. Red Herring flew up after them, then swooped down to perch in one of the trees that marked the back property line, hiding amidst the golden and brown leaves. Trace and Bumblebee stood on the sidewalk out front, watching from the cover of a parked truck as Daring walked up to the front door.

Daring paused at the door, taking in a deep breath. She reached up and patted her pocket. The weight of the gift that she’d made back at home was comforting to her. She reached into her pocket and momentarily gripped the kusarifundo.

“Here I go,” she whispered and pushed the door open. To her surprise, it opened up with no resistance. She entered slowly, closing the door behind her.

The house seemed empty and silent, but she could detect the faint sound of voices from downstairs. She descended the stairs, moving slowly and carefully, pressing her weight down on the edge of the steps to minimize creaking. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she descended; she fought to keep her breathing steady and slow.

She reached the basement to find the thieves, ten in all, gathered around the table, deep in serious discussion. Bright Sparks was sitting at the head of the table, her chin resting on her hoof as Boltstrike spoke.

“—had to get rid of Jimmy, the idiot thought that he could sell us out for a better deal."

"None of this would've been necessary if we'd just gotten in and out quietly," Red Licorice stated.

"Ponies need to know where we stand: on the throat of anypony who treats good citizens like dirt, including cops," Boltstrike snarled. "Now that we’re officially cop killers, we’re in even deeper shit than before. They’ll be on guard with us, but that also means that we’ve made the first move. If we’re going to keep this advantage, we have to…”

Boltstrike trailed off slowly, looking up. Everypony slowly looked up from the table and stared in a mixture of astonishment and suspicion as Daring entered the room.

“Daring?” Bright Sparks asked, her eyes widening as she stood up and walked over. “Where have you been?”

“Sparks, for the sake of everything, I’m going to be completely honest with you,” Daring said flatly. “The cops have this place surrounded. I’m giving you one chance to surrender peacefully.”

Bright Sparks eyes almost popped out of her head. The other thieves all drew back from the table with cries of shock and disbelief. Boltstrike’s horn lit up in a fury of white sparks and he glared at Daring.

“Sparks, out of the way!” he snapped.

But Bright Sparks stepped between Boltstrike and Daring, blocking whatever attack he was preparing. “How could you do this?” she shouted at Daring, the anger in her voice and her expression nearly alien to Daring. “You betrayed us all!”

“You brought this on yourself when you murdered those ponies,” Daring said calmly, trying to ignore the fact that her knees were shaking.

“Miranda Right worked for the mob!” Bright Sparks snapped. “He kept those thieves and killers out of prison with his legal maneuvering and lying and bribing—”

“And what about the officers?” Daring asked, aware that the other ponies were standing and watching with hungry anticipation, like wolves surrounding a lame elk.

“Y-You know what cops are like in this city!” Sparks shouted, even as flickers of doubt shone in her eyes, lifting her right foreleg off the ground slightly. “They’re all corrupt and killers! They killed Silent Step!”

“And how can you be sure of that?” Daring replied, her own voice raising to match her own rising anger. “What if they were just regular ponies trying to do their job and go home at the end of the day? And what about the security guards that you fucking shot just because they were in the way?”

Bright Sparks hesitated for a second, casting her gaze downwards, then glared at Daring. “They were in the way,” she replied. “That’s why they died. It was self-defense.”

Daring felt her mouth drop open as her heart fell into her stomach. “Sparks, this isn’t you,” she said softly. “You didn’t use to be like this…you weren’t a killer.”

“I wasn’t,” Sparks said. “But that was before. When I was just a scared pony trying to survive. When I was weak.” She straightened up, glaring down imperiously at Daring. “But things are different now. Now, we all fight for more than ourselves. Now, we are soldiers in a war. And in a war, you kill your enemies! I want my child, and all of this city’s children, to live in a city without the mob ruling over them! Do you really think that playing nice is going to get us that?!”

Daring looked up at Bright Sparks, who glared down at her, nostrils flaring as she breathed, and realized that she was looking up at a stranger. “Well, if that’s what makes you feel better about yourself, Mojo,” she spat.

Sparks stepped back slightly, flinching as the accusation struck her, then glared. “I’m sorry, sis,” she said. “But if you’re not with us, you’re against us. Kill her!

She stepped aside, allowing Boltstrike to fire his spell at Daring. The white magic trail streaked towards her, crackling and roaring as it carried its curse.

In one movement, Daring reached a hoof into her pocket and extracted a small round black object. She threw it down on the floor, and the sudden impact detonated the smoke bomb that she’d made as she threw herself to the ground to avoid the spell. There was a loud clap of thunder and the room was suddenly filled with a cloud of thick black smoke. The thieves staggered, coughing.

Extracting her kusarifundo from her pocket, Daring got up and charged through the smoke, spinning one of the weighted ends to gain momentum. The enchanted contact lenses that she wore protected her from the smoke’s harmful effects and allowed her to see more clearly. She focused on Boltstrike, who was still choking on the fumes. She swung the kusarifundo with a shout that tore itself out of her burning throat; the weight slammed into Boltstrike’s temple and he dropped like a stone, out cold.

But then a bolt of orange magic struck Daring in the chest with the force of a battering ram and she flew backward, crashing into the wall. Dazed, feeling the pain of cracked ribs, she looked up to see Bright Sparks glaring at her, her horn sparking; Daring saw the faint green glow of enchanted contacts in her eyes.

“Kill her!” she screamed, pointing. Sledgehammer charged at Daring, his glaring eyes red and streaked with tears, and seized her by the throat, slamming her against the wall. Daring’s vision blacked out momentarily and she dropped her kusarifundo. She looked up to see Sledgehammer drawing back a hoof as large as an anvil, preparing to cave her skull in.

But then there was a loud, familiar whistling sound and something struck Sledgehammer in the back of the head, causing him to stagger and drop Daring. Sucking in a quick breath, Daring lashed out with a roundhouse kick to Sledgehammer’s knee, driving her hoof through the blow. There was a snap like the breaking of a rotten tree, and Sledgehammer fell to the ground, bellowing in rage and pain. Daring looked around frantically for her kusarifundo and spotted it on the ground a couple feet away. She dived for it, snatching it up in her hooves.

Daring looked up at the other end of the room. Phillip had entered the room as soon as her smoke bomb had detonated; it was his boomerang that had saved her. Right now, he was engaged with Red and Black Licorice, who were swinging blindly at him.

He can handle himself, she told herself. Where's Sparks—?

A roar gave Daring just enough warning: she ducked just in time to avoid another spell from Daring. A flicker of movement behind her made her step back, narrowly avoiding Gear Shift swinging the butt of a BAR at her head. She wrapped the kusarifundo around the barrel of the gun and pulled Gear in close, driving her elbow into the side of his head and her knee into his stomach. Gear collapsed, coughing and wheezing. Daring somersaulted to avoid a third spell from Sparks, then flew at her, spinning her kusarifundo. Sparks erected a hasty shield in front of herself.

Not this time! Daring banked hard, using her wings to guide her in a sharp turn around the shield. She turned and kicked off the wall, punching a dazed Dusty Tail in the face as she passed by him and flew over Sparks' shield, tackling her to the ground.

"Enough, Sparks!" she shouted. "I don't want to hurt your kid. Just—"

"Get off!" Sparks’ horn lit up and Daring quickly rolled off her to avoid the concussion spell that would have sent her flying into the ceiling. Both mares scrambled back to their hooves, glaring at one another. Daring gripped her weapon tight in both hooves; the rope was stretched taut, almost to the point where she felt it might snap.

Sparks lunged, her punches fast and controlled, but with enough rage behind each one to crack her jaw. Daring ducked and weaved, then spotted her opening in a hook that Sparks overcommitted to. Sidestepping the blow, she snapped the kusarifundo out to crack some of Sparks' ribs, then stepped behind her as she looped the rope around Sparks' neck. Bright Sparks gagged and choked as Daring stepped in close, grasped both ends of the rope, and threw Sparks over her shoulder.

But as Sparks fell towards the ground, her body was suddenly surrounded by an orange glow and she stopped in midair, hovering a few feet off the floor. At the same moment, Dusty Tail seized Daring from behind, wrapping his forelegs around her and lifting her off the ground. Daring kicked and squirmed, but Dusty’s grip was as tight as an iron vise. A quick glance over to the other side of the room revealed to Daring that Phil was currently engaged in hoof to hoof with three other thieves; he blocked a low kick from one of them, but got punched in the face and knocked to the ground for his trouble.

Her face twisted in rage and pain, Sparks got up and punched Daring in the stomach; her breath exploded from her lungs with a loud whoosh. "You traitor!" Bright Sparks yelled at her.

Daring coughed and wheezed in a breath. "Least I'm better looking than you," she taunted. Sparks snarled and punched at Daring's face.

At the last second, Daring ducked, causing Sparks to punch Dusty in the face. There was a very loud, satisfying crunch as Dusty’s nose broke and he released Daring, staggering back and howling in pain. Daring snap kicked Sparks in the crotch, causing her to double over with a wheeze, then ducked beneath her foreleg and pushed her into Dusty Tail. A quick spinning back kick sent both ponies crashing to the floor.

But then she heard a distinctive clicking noise behind her. She turned to see that Gear Shift had gotten up and was aiming his BAR at her, a blood-smeared grin plastered across his face. The barrel of the gun was a black hole in the world, promising death. She prepared to throw herself out of the way, knowing that it was too close for her to dodge.

A single gunshot sounded like a crack of lightning and she almost flinched. Gear Shift cried out and dropped the BAR, clutching his shoulder; blood oozed out from beneath his hoof.

“Nopony move!” Red Herring barked, smoke rising from the barrel of his Filly M1912 as he entered the room. Trace, Flash, Bumblebee, and Prowl were right behind him, the officers quickly spreading out and taking control of the room. The thieves who were surrounding Phillip immediately backed away, raising their hooves.

“What the hell took you so long?” Phillip asked, panting and wiping blood from his lip as he got up off the ground.

“Don’t act like you’re happy to see us,” Trace said with a roll of his eyes.

“Give me a reason, cop killer. I’m begging you,” Red snarled to Gear Shift. Gear Shift slowly lowered himself to the floor, placing his hooves atop his head, glaring all the while.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Flash Sentry announced to the room. “Anything you say can and will be used—”

Daring’s eyes focused on Sparks, who had gotten back up on her hooves. Her former sister stared at her, emotions tumbling through her eyes like debris in floodwaters; fear, anger, pain, and then, cold steely determination. Her horn lit up with an orange glow.

“Stop her!” Daring shouted, spreading her wings and racing forward, but it was too late. With a flash of orange light, Bright Sparks vanished; Daring’s hooves grasped nothing but air.

“You coward!” Boltstrike screamed at the place where she’d disappeared from. “Running and hiding like a little bitch!”

“He said you have a right to remain silent,” Red Herring interrupted him, aiming his sidearm at Boltstrike’s head. “If I were you, I’d feel free to exercise that right.”

Boltstrike snarled at him. At that moment, there came the sound of sirens from outside, announcing the late arrival of more police. Trace, Red, Prowl, Bumblebee, and Flash placed the thieves in hoofcuffs and escorted them up out of the basement and out onto the street outside, Trace carrying the crippled Sledgehammer in his magic.

A half dozen cruisers were parked outside the house, their lights spinning. Officers were crouched next to their vehicles, their weapons trained on the arrested ponies: as one, they moved forward and began to push them into their waiting cruisers.

Daring noticed Red and Black Licorice shivering as they were guided into a waiting cruiser. They huddled close to one another in the backseat. She forced herself to turn away, looking up at Phillip instead. He returned her gaze with a weary downward look that emphasized the growing bags beneath his eyes and the etching crow’s feet.

“You must think you’re so clever,” a voice like an oncoming blizzard spoke. Daring and Phillip turned to see Captain Cold Case glaring at them.

“We found them, and we got almost all of them alive,” Daring shot back. “You wanted a side of fries with that?” Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Phillip trying to hide a smirk.

Cold’s eyes narrowed in a display of unamusement. “You let the leader get away.”

“By accident,” Daring replied.

“A likely excuse,” Cold snorted. “Your interference ends here, thief. Detective Evidence, Detective Herring, arrest Do and Finder.”

Daring froze, then instinctively started to crouch down to spring into the air, her wings spreading open a bit. Cold’s horn lit up and her trenchcoat parted a bit to reveal her holster.

But Phillip grasped Daring’s foreleg, stopping her. She followed his gaze towards Red and Trace to find that neither of them had moved; they stared at the ponies with unreadable, mask-like expressions.

“I said, arrest them,” Cold Case repeated.

“On what charges, ma’am?” Trace Evidence asked flatly.

“Interfering with a criminal investigation,” Cold Case replied, never taking her eyes off of Daring.

“Ma’am, he and Daring are consultants. We pay them to interfere with our investigations,” Trace replied dryly.

Cold Case turned to glare at Trace Evidence. “Also accessory to murder, lying to the police…”

“And your evidence for that?” Trace replied flatly.

Cold Case froze for a moment, her eyes widening momentarily, then narrowing. “Are you disobeying me, Sergeant Evidence?”

“No, ma’am,” Trace replied. “I’m just saying, that I have been on this case since the very beginning, and without their help, we wouldn’t have gotten this ending.”

“We could try arresting them for being pains in the ass, but I don’t think that’s a crime,” Red Herring deadpanned.

Daring felt her jaw drop. “Did...did he just tell a joke?” she whispered to Phillip. He slowly nodded, apparently unable to believe it, either.

Cold stared at them for several seconds of silence, then growled, “You’re not going to arrest them, are you?”

“No, ma’am,” Trace said, glaring at her with a warning in his eyes. "Are you?"

Cold turned and glared at Daring. She stepped forward, within reach of her. Daring forced herself not to flinch.

“Don’t think you’ve won,” Cold said icily. “This city doesn’t need two rogue vigilantes like you running free, ignoring the law and violating the trust of the civilians.”

“Yes, because your cops have that covered pretty well,” Daring replied flatly.

Cold’s eyes flashed in anger, but Phillip stepped in between the two mares, protectively pushing Daring backward with his foreleg. “If we’re done here,” he said coldly.

Cold glared at him for a moment, then turned and walked away without another word. Phillip lowered his foreleg with a slow exhalation.

“Thanks, mates,” Phillip said to Trace and Red.

“You can thank me by paying for my psychiatrist appointments after this,” Red grumbled, turning and walking away. Trace hesitated for a moment, looking as though there was something he wished to say, then sighed and followed his partner to one of the cruisers.

Phillip and Daring turned to walk away, but a voice called them back. “Uh, Phil?” They turned to see Flash walking up to them, his eyes directed at the ground.

“I’m sorry that I let the leader get away,” he mumbled, still not looking up.

“Not your fault,” Phillip replied gently.

“Yeah, that was my fault,” Daring replied. “I should have anticipated that.”

“But I was there,” Flash protested, looking up. “I should’ve—”

Phillip stepped forward and laid a hoof on Flash’s shoulder, halting his speech. “Listen, jackaroo. You can beat yourself up with should’ves, could’ves and would’ves, or you can do better next time. Right?”

Flash nodded.

“Aces,” Phillip nodded, clapping Flash on the shoulder. “You did good in there,” he added.

“Thanks,” Flash grinned.

Phillip paused for a moment, then added. “You didn’t tell Cold Case that you saw Daring at the firm. Why?”

Flash hesitated, glancing over at Prowl and Bumblebee; both of the other officers were standing next to their cruiser, occupied with the prisoners. He turned back and stepped in close, dropping his voice.

“Because I...I trust you, Phillip,” he replied. “You want to do this city right, even if ponies don’t agree with you. And if I trust you…” He looked over at Daring. “I guess that means I trust you, too.”

Daring blinked in slight surprise. “I...thanks,” she stammered.

“Yeah, thank you,” Phillip said quietly. “Really.”

Flash nodded and managed a smile. “Sure. Um, I should probably get back to the others,” he said, nodding to the other officers.

“Hoo roo, then,” Phillip said. Flash turned and walked away. Daring and Phillip both turned and started to make their way towards a trolley stop several blocks down.

As they walked, Daring was suddenly acutely aware of just how tired she was; her legs ached and her eyelids were heavy. But an image floated in front of her gaze: Bright Sparks’ face, just before she had teleported away. Every detail of her expression was burned into the forefront of Daring’s mind, and a realization slithered across her body like a cold wind. She hated her. Bright Sparks, whom she had been proud to call a sister, hated her.

“You okay?” Phillip asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Daring said, forcing herself to hold her head up despite feeling like she had a ball and chain wrapped around her neck.

She felt his gaze focusing on the side of her head like a pair of spotlights and sighed. “No,” she admitted, allowing her head to drop.

His foreleg slipped across her shoulders and he squeezed her to his side as they walked. She nestled her head against his chest as a light rain began to fall, raindrops pattering against their backs and dripping from the brims of their hats.

“Did we do the right thing?” Daring asked softly.

Phillip was silent for several seconds, then sighed. “I think we did the best we could,” he replied.

Daring frowned but didn’t say anything. They reached the trolley stop, a bench with a clear plastic roof, and sat down upon it, side by side, his foreleg still around her shoulders as the rain on the rooftop above them murmured musically. The trolley arrived fifteen minutes later, and they sat next to each other all the way home. Neither of them spoke a word.

Author's Note:

This was probably the best way that this could end. But at least both ponies are united in the end.

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