Twilight, Mare of Power

by Banops

A Detective and a Purple Mare

This was her, no doubt… My eyes widened when I realized this was the mare I was looking for. It matched her description perfectly. Purple coat and mane, a cutie mark made up of little stars, I guess that meant something with magic. She lay a few feet in front of me on the ground, not even struggling, which I found strange. The subdue spell that my partner cast seemed to be working.

But how, this felt too easy. Based on the warrant papers, this mare was easily the most dangerous pony in the entire known world. And yet here she lay subdued not even trying to escape.

She came to me… Cases were never this simple.

I went over in my head the events leading up to this point.

***

I had just arrived at the EEPD. It was about ten in the morning, the same morning I had investigated the murder. At least this time I was able to look a little more presentable. Hay, I even wore my favorite hat, an old-fashioned gray fedora that I’d had since I became a detective, and it matched my freshly pressed gray duster coat. The only thing I needed now was to get some more tobacco, which I hadn’t had a chance to get yet.

The chief, who was waiting for me, approached, levitating a slip of paper. It was a warrant for somepony’s arrest.

The chief spoke, not even bothering with a ‘good morning’. “Alright Hartigan, take a look at this…” He turned the slip of paper around to where I could see it clearly.

It was a picture of a grape purple unicorn mare. She had purple eyes, a purple mane and tail. Beneath the picture sat the name “Twilight Sparkle” which I said out loud as I read it.

The chief nodded. “Familiar? This just came in about a minute ago.” He said.

I shook my head, and was about to say no, but then I remembered something. The foals… she matched the basic description of the murderer they had given, a purple unicorn mare.

Where were those little colts?

“Wait, Chief, where are the boys from earlier this morning?” I asked.

“They should still be in one of the holding cells. We made some calls earlier and their uncle should be here soon.” He said. He seemed to know what I was thinking, giving me the picture of the wanted mare which I promptly stuffed into my coat pocket.

The chief gestured to the area where the holding cells were. The young’ns had slept there for what was left of the night. I trotted to the cells. Only one of them was open currently and that was the one they were in.

I stepped in and saw that both colts were awake. They actually looked even more tired then when I seen them hours earlier despite them having slept since then. Both of their manes were scraggily and unkempt. Their eyes were just as blood shot. They had been crying, I realized. They probably didn’t have a decent sleep after what they had seen, and I felt sorry for them. No foal should ever have to experience something like that.

At least we made an attempt to make them feel at home. There were blankets and pillows scattered all over the room. A few snack cake wrappers littered the ground, and they sat in the middle of all of it. They lounged next to each other half covered in blankets looking adorable.

I drew their attention as I stepped in the cell. They looked as if they were waiting for me to say something or give them some sort of instructions so I spoke to them.

“Hey there kiddos,” I began, “do you think you could help us find somepony?” I wasn’t really sure how to approach them (I mean they had been through hell recently and asking for their help seemed really unfair) and it showed in my voice and presence. I felt awkward standing here in front of them.

One of them began to open his mouth. I think it was Wheaty, not that I could tell by looking at the two since they were identical but Wheaty seemed to be the outspoken one. He closed his mouth, not able to find words, and just nodded his head.

I put my hoof in my coat pocket and slid out the photo of Twilight Sparkle. “Does this pony look familiar to you?” I asked, half expecting the answer I received.

Both of them perked up immediately. “NO!, That’s the monster, that’s her, that’s her, make her go away!”

Yeesh, well I guess we had found our prime suspect.

“That’s all I needed, thank you boys, you have been very helpful.” Now I felt guilty, having disturbed their road to recovery. They now looked terrified, as if at any moment the pony in the picture was going to jump out of the paper and eat them. Their eyes focused on the paper all the way up until I stuffed it back into my coat pocket. After a brief moment of silence and mild tension, I said goodbye.

“Oh, and your uncle should be here in a few minutes to pick you up.” I added. I guess I hadn’t really considered what that implied…

I turned and began to leave the cell when one of the colts asked me something that caught me off guard.

“Did… Is… Is… Daddy and mommy dead?” He asked, his voice cold and distant, as if he had no strength left for crying.

I was taken aback. For some reason I had thought these boys would be too naïve to know what death was. What should I tell them? Should I say, “Yes your dad is dead and your mom is missing?” Could they handle that? Was it really in my place to tell them? UGH in just a few minutes their uncle would be here to explain things so I wouldn’t have to.

I turned my head and looked at them. My eyes met theirs and for a moment we were quiet, then I said, “Thanks again for your help.” I turned my head back towards the door. I put my right hoof on the brim of my fedora and pulled it down so that it covered my face, perhaps to cover the shame and embarrassment of me not being able to say the truth. I walked hurriedly out of the cell, but before I was out of view, one of them said one last thing, something I again did not expect.

“Mister, if you find that monster…” There was a brief pause in which I stopped so I could hear what he had to say, “…kill it.” He said dryly.

Those words out of a child’s mouth, and I completely understood. That family had been something beautiful, and this mare, this monster, this damned monster had destroyed it. Even though it wasn’t my family, I felt sorry for the little colts. I felt like it was my responsibility to carry out retribution, to avenge their father, and perhaps their mother.

My throat became sore from the emotions I was feeling. Was I really choking up? I usually was capable of maintaining a more apathetic appearance. I’ve worked arson, cases where families lost literally everything in a fire. I’ve worked missing ponies cases, where ponies would run away and leave a family behind. I’ve seen families, decent families, who didn’t deserve what they got, completely destroyed. But this, no… THIS was different. I couldn’t explain why, but it struck home in a way no other case had. It didn’t really make sense either. The only loved ones I had ever lost were my grandparents, and they died peacefully. I’d never been a victim. But seeing these colts, so torn apart, and to have one of them tell me to avenge their parents, it seemed… I had no words.

An image of my grandson formed in my head. I imagined him, Little Bucky his nickname was, telling me that he wanted me to kill somepony else.

…

I looked at the little colts and said one last thing, all of a sudden feeling pride in my line of work. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.”

***

So we were headed to Ponyville eh. I’d never been myself, though from what I had heard, it was a decent town, good food, good ponies, good climate… just an all around good community. The chief had sent us to Ponyville because as our culprit’s papers said, she was from there, so I guess we could ask around there and search for any leads on where to look for her.

Us…

The chief had found me a partner for this case, even though he knew I preferred to work alone. No ponies to hold me back right? This new meat was a scrawny tan coated unicorn with a greenish blue mane. Chief had said that he graduated top of his class at the police academy, as well as second in police magic self-defense, so I guess he would be helpful. According to this paper, this Twilight Sparkle character was the most dangerous pony in Equestria. Guilty of, get this, treason! TREASON!

I knew how these warrant papers were made. Every type of crime was listed on a machine in the form of a button. When that button was pressed, an ink-covered mallet would strike these pieces of paper forming the appropriate crime on the page. Now all I could do was wonder how long it had been since the “treason” button had been struck.

My partner and I met up in front of the department, where we had a cab with two drivers waiting for us. Seeing him up close I realized how young this kid really was. He was barely even a stallion.

“Heeey partner!” he said extending a leg to shake my hoof, “My name is Rafferty, Jack Rafferty.”

Oh goddesses he was full of pep, must’ve had his grande-latte enema. I could already tell this was going to be a long trip…

“Yeah well, just do as I do rookie.” Who puts a rookie on a murder case? Guess this guy was really good in class.

***

He kept talking and talking and talking. After about an hour on the road to Ponyville, I felt like I had known the pony his whole life. He kept talking about himself and his new family. He told me of his dreams and aspirations. It even so happened that he would hit a sensitive topic… Politics. I put my hoof on my face. I couldn’t believe he was sharing his political views. And boy were they some pretty idealistic stuff.

He managed to start up a heated debate between the driving stallions. Now he’d done it.

We were about twenty minutes outside of Ponyville when the drivers started going at it.

“But that’s not fair the hard workers like us!” said one driver turning his head towards the other who looked back with a dissenting look. “I understand the need to expand our borders, but now’s not the time. I’m barely able to afford my house working as a taxi pony and you think the government should tax us more so that we can fund construction in unknown lands? I’m sorry but you sir are just wrong.”

I really wished they would just watch the damn road.

The other was about to retort but then we hit something in the road. Hard. What ever we had run over tipped over the carriage, which sent my partner and me hoofs up. We rolled out of the carriage and onto the side of the road, luckily unhurt.

I stood up, shaking the dirt off my coat. Dammit! I knew this would happen.

My intense frustration only grew the more I thought about how this could have been prevented.

I turned my head… What in the…

I figured out what we had run over. Or more appropriately, who. Had she been sleeping in the middle of the road or something? There she was, a grape colored mare, she, she looked just like…

She stood up and faced the two driver ponies who were still laying on the ground, trying to get themselves untangled from the carriage and its reigns.

Yeah that was her! Looks like Jack realized this as well. His usually peppy look changed to one of determination.

“That’s her Jack! Take her down!”

And all I could think about was what little Wheaty had said to me…

“…Kill it.” the words kept playing in my head.

Comments

[Banops]

Took a while, but here it is... I hope you like it, so drop them comments...

I usually wait to write my chapters until I get that moment of "YES THIS IS IT, THIS IS GOING TO BE MY NEXT CHAPTER" but that moment took forever this time...

[Wing Dancer]

Worth the wait I believe. But do not leave us hanging long from that cliff. I have very weak arms, I might just fall off

Some minor grammar issues here and there don't break the story too much. Really nice job, can't wait to see the next chapter

[Banops]

1103181
Ha them pesky errors. Thanks for the heads up... well hopefully I cleared them out.

[TwilightsmyMare]

Still very intersting... Horrifying but interesting.

[Banops]

AH Im glad you find my story interesting!

And I hope you continue to do so.