Little Filly Lost

by bkc56

5. Mysteries Revealed

At this point the Canterlot Police took over all aspects of the investigation and asked that I stand down. That was fine with me. It wasn’t my job, and it was time to stop dragging the kid all over town. Although, there were still a few unanswered questions I spent time thinking about.

With no new clues to follow, we took the next couple days off. The filly’s moods swung from sitting next to me in tears, to wanting to go out for a walk or to the park. I don’t know the first thing about grief counseling for someone this young. I just hoped my being there to sit with her as she cried was enough. And there was always the nagging question, sometimes asked, sometimes just lingering in the air: what would become of her now?

One other thought that would occasionally invade my mind: what if I kept the filly? Of course it was ridiculous. They'd never pick a single out-of-work stallion, with zero experience with kids, as a guardian. Still, she was a cute kid, and we did seem to get along.

It was getting close to dinnertime, and the filly was sitting at the table doing homework. Principal Greenwood had collected the homework assignments for the time the filly had missed along with the next few days. She didn’t need much help, which was good because school was a lot of years ago for me.

There was a knock at the door, and the filly jumped down from the table. “I’ll get it.” She opened the door. “Miss Citrine. Hi!”

“Hi, Windflower. May I come in for a bit?” The filly stepped aside as Citrine entered. I stood up and walked over.

“So, you have news?”

“Yes, good news, actually. I’m here to take you both out to dinner. My treat. I can fill you in then.”

The filly looked at me. “Can we go? Please? I like Miss Citrine.”

“Me too, kid. She’s a good friend. Sure, get your stuff.”

The filly got her saddlebag, took out a few things, added the paper and crayons, and announced, “I’m ready.”

The three of us made our way to a small café just down the street. It was a small place that mostly did take-out which I often took advantage of after work. Well, I used to, anyway. There weren’t many tables inside, and we selected a quiet one in the back. Once we’d ordered dinner, Citrine got to it.

Looking at the filly, Citrine said, “So I figured out who your dad is.” The kid’s face brightened. Citrine glanced at me. “Once I got back to the precinct and mentioned the name, somepony remembered a bulletin from the castle about him. We contacted the castle, and in less than an hour I had two members of the Royal Guard sitting at my desk.” She turned back to the filly. “It turns out Shadow Justice is a member of the Royal Guard, the investigation division.”

“So, my daddy’s…” She tilted her head. “A cop?”

“Pretty much, yes. And a very special kind of cop that works directly for Princess Celestia.” The filly sat silent, mouth agape. Citrine looked back at me. “He occasionally did undercover work, which is why he’d mask his cutie mark. Sometimes he’d dye his coat and mane too.”

The Royal Guard? Working undercover? I tried to make sense of this. It was as if I had been trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle of clues using the picture from the wrong box. Nothing worked. I now had a new box, and a picture started to emerge. But this picture wasn’t complete yet. There were still a few pieces missing.

Citrine continued, “They wouldn't tell me anything about his current case. And they’ll be launching their own investigation into his… into this. They ask for copies of all my notes. Steel, those include everything I’ve gotten from you too.”

I shook my head. “That’s not a problem. They can come talk to me if they want more details.”

Citrine smiled. “That’s what I told ‘em.” She turned to the filly. “They were very concerned about you. I told them you were with a friend of mine that I used to work with, and that you were safe and doing okay.” Citrine looked at me. “I explained that any disruption right now could be harmful and should be avoided. I emphasized that Windflower is safe and being cared for. They agreed that leaving her with you was the right plan for now, until a long-term plan is developed.”

I glanced down at the filly. “See, kid, looks like you’re stuck with me for a while longer.”

She touched a hoof to her chin for a moment. “I don’t mind.”

Citrine glanced back at the filly. “I also found out that your daddy asked if he could switch jobs. He didn’t like how much he was away from home. He wanted a new job that would let him be home with you so you weren’t alone so much.”

“My daddy wanted to be with me?”

“Yes, he did. And he was going to do whatever it took to make that happen. He loved you very much.”

The filly’s eyes started to fill with tears. “But where will I live now, without my daddy?”

Citrine smiled. “I have news about that too. Do you know you have an aunt and uncle?”

The filly looked a little sad. “I guess. My daddy said we’d go visit them when school was out. But I don’t know them.”

Citrine reached across the table to hold the kid’s hoof. “Don’t be sad. Yesterday I went to visit your aunt and uncle in Ponyville. Your aunt is Ruby Breeze, and she’s your dad’s sister. Your uncle is Rusty Moon. They were very sad to hear about your dad, but wanted to know all about how you were doing.”

“They know about me?”

“Yes, honey, they know all about you. And they want you to come live with them.” While the filly absorbed that, Citrine turned to me. “It turns out that Shadow had designated them as guardians for Windflower. The news of Shadow’s…” her eyes flicked to Windflower for a second, “passing hit them really hard, especially Ruby. But their first questions were about Windflower even before asking for details about her dad. They have no foals of their own and were thrilled at the idea of having Windflower live with them. The castle provided me with paperwork which they signed during my visit. Everything will be official in a couple of days, and you can take her to Ponyville.”

The filly looked up at me. “So, I won’t be lost?”

“No kid, you aren’t lost. You’ll have a family that’ll take care of you and love you.” I was relieved she had somepony to care for her. Still, there was a tiny part of me that was... disappointed.

“Will I get ‘dopted?”

“Probably not right away. Adoption would mean your aunt and uncle would be your new parents. You’d be their new daughter. It’s something you and your new family will have to talk about one day.”

Our food came, and the filly stayed very quiet as she slowly ate her dinner. She had a lot to absorb.

Between bites, I asked, “So, Citrine, what else is going on at the precinct?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “You’ve heard about the museum burglary?” I nodded. “That one is really kicking our flanks. We have no clues at all, just a list of the items stolen. Lots of rare stuff, some of it quite valuable. I’ve got pictures of a few of them...” Citrine pulled a small stack of photos from her saddlebag and set them on the table. I didn’t look at them because Windflower began to use magic to flip them over one by one.

“The most significant is some Stone of Invisibility. It’s a small oval pearl white stone. The secret of its use is lost, but it’s considered the most val... “ She turned towards the filly. “Windflower, what’s wrong?”

I looked over at her. She’d stopped eating. Her head was down, and her hooves rested on her legs. Windflower pivoted to face me. “Please, don’t be mad.”

I glanced at Citrine and back. “Mad at what?”

“I… I may have messed up again. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Come on, kid, how many days have we been together? Have I ever been mad at you? Even once?” She shook her head. “Right. So I won’t be mad at you now. But remember your promise. You need to tell me, tell us what’s going on.”

She opened her saddleback and levitated a pearl white flat oval stone and sat it on the currently visible photo. It was the same as the picture, although the actual stone softly glowed with magic.

Citrine’s eyes went wide as I’m sure mine did too. “That’s the Stone of Invisibility! Windflower. Where did you get this?”

“They dropped it.”

“Who dropped it?” she asked.

“The three ponies dropped it as they…” She sat bolt upright and looked at me. “I just remembered. It’s the same three ponies that attacked me and daddy before the storm.”

Citrine lifted her hooves in total surrender and looked at me, shaking her head. All she could get out was, “What…?”

I held up a hoof at Citrine. “Okay, kid, look, you’ve just dropped a huge clue on the table. We need to follow this clue. So you need to very carefully tell us all about it. Do you understand?” She nodded. “Can you do that?” She nodded again. “Okay, start at the beginning and tell us about the ponies that dropped this.”

She placed a hoof on the stone and gently rocked it back and forth. “I was comin’ home late from a special program at school. It was almost dark. As I walked, the three ponies ran by. They dropped something as they ran. I called out, but they didn’t stop. As they turned the corner, they looked back at me. They were gone before I could call again.” She looked up a Citrine.

“I walked up to see what they dropped, and found the stone. So I took it home. It’s really special.” Her gaze shifted to me. “It sings to me.”

“Sings to you?” I shook my head. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

She picked up the stone, holding it in both hooves. "It sings. You can’t hear it, but... but I feel it in my horn. I decided to sing back to it.” She closed her eyes as her horn glowed. In a moment, there was a small flash, and she was gone.

Citrine jumped up. “Windflower!”

“Kid, where’d you go?” I reached out with a hoof and felt it hit something soft. She giggled. “Okay, please stop that now.” There was another small flash, and she reappeared. She set the stone back on the table.

Citrine sat down again as she whispered, “The Stone of Invisibility. After hundreds of years, and lots of really smart ponies working on it, you figured it out?” She picked it up and closed her eyes. “I can’t hear anything. How did you know what to do?” She sat the stone down again.

“I just sang back to it. As long as I sing, no one can see me.” She smiled. “I walked outside once, went up and down the street, and no one knew I was there.”

“So, that’s why they searched your apartment. They were trying to find that stone.” I looked at Citrine. “If we assume they watched the neighborhood until they spotted her and her dad, how did they know where she lived?”

“I have an idea,” she replied. “There may have been more in Shadow’s saddlebag than we found. Perhaps some ID, or even just a letter with the address on it. They took everything that would tell us who he was, but left the rest so we wouldn’t realize anything was missing.”

I looked back at the filly. “Why didn’t they find the stone?”

“Under my bed, there’s a loose floorboard. I hide special treasures under it. It was still there when I got my stuff the other day.”

I pointed at the stone. “Please put that back in your saddlebag.” She levitated it off the table and into her bag. “You realize you have to give that back to the museum, right? It’s not yours. It was stolen.”

She nodded. “Yeah. Am I in trouble?” The question sounded almost automatic, but there was a certain lightness to her tone, as if she suspected the answer.

I put a hoof on her back. “No! Absolutely not! The museum will be so glad to get this back. You’ll be a hero for saving it.” I gave her a gentle shake.

Her eyes brightened up. “You think so?”

I patted her hoof. “I know they’ll be happy to have it back. But I bet they’ll be even happier when you show them how to sing to it.”

---

Later, as we walked back from dinner, it occurred to me that it had actually been a pleasant evening. As much as I hated to admit it, there was a certain family feel between the three of us. I snorted and shook my head. Such thoughts, such feelings were just not for me.

Glancing at me, Citrine asked, “Is something wrong, Steel?”

Feeling just a bit like a suspect under interrogation, I simply replied, “No, just clearing my head.”

Suddenly, an earth pony stallion stepped out of an alley just ahead. He walked towards us, blocking our path. We stopped. Windflower whispered to me, “That’s one of the bad ponies.”

Citrine added, “There’s one to the left too.” I glanced across the street to see a pegasus standing at the mouth of an alley, watching us.

I then looked over my shoulder to see the third pony, a unicorn, closing from behind. I growled at myself. See, that’s what thinking about stuff does. It distracts you from what’s important. And now we’re in a bind.

Citrine and I had extensive training for situations like this. Years on the streets had refined those skills greatly. Blowing through any of the three ponies would have been no problem, except for the little filly cowering between us.

I softly whispered to Citrine, “We need to draw them in as close as we can. If you can keep that unicorn’s magic off me, I can take the other two.” The slightest nod of her head as she turned to face the unicorn told me she understood. I looked down at Windflower. “You need to stay behind us. If I tell you to run, you do just like your dad taught you. I will find you again.”

The earth pony spoke, “We just want the stone. Let’s not make this difficult.”

Keeping my voice neutral, I responded, “What stone would that be?”

“You know exactly what stone it is.” He pointed at the filly. “I saw her put it in her saddlebag. It’s ours, and we want it back! Now!”

Holy scat! They’ve been watching us? How in the Tartarus did they do that? How long have they been watching? And how did I miss it? I never would have made that mistake a couple months ago. I was absolutely furious with myself.

I replied, “I don’t think we’re going to be able to do that.” It was hard keeping the turmoil in my head out of my voice.

“Look,” he said, “it’s three against one--”

“Two,” Citrine interjected.

All three ponies snorted. This was advantageous. They were completely discounting the magic pony who was an alternate instructor for the street defense class. They had no clue what she was capable of. I’m not sure I knew what she could do if cornered. Add in the instinct to protect a filly... Celestia have mercy, because Citrine won't.

“What’s say we keep your pretty little mare out of this. Just give us the stone before this gets ugly.”

I sneered at him. “I’m afraid it’s too late for you to avoid that ugly part.” I needed him angry. Angry meant stupid, and stupid meant mistakes.

“Oh, I’m gonna enjoy beating you half to death.” His eyes grew narrow as he gritted his teeth. “Perhaps more than half…”

I trusted Citrine to handle the unicorn. But how to deal with my two. Take out the weaker one to even the odds, or take out the biggest threat first? I decided on the pegasus. If he flew over me, he could reach the filly. He might even be able to carry her away. I had to remove him from the equation first.

We slowly backed away from them towards the storefront behind us. They still had us trapped since we couldn’t escape with the filly. But they could no longer surround us or attack from behind. It was a defensive position Citrine and I could work with. They foolishly continued to advance. Citrine faced the unicorn. I stood at her rump, facing the other two. Citrine’s tail would occasionally flick me in the side. Without looking, she knew right where I was standing. Windflower stood in the pocket between us and the wall. Come on… Closer… Closer… Just a bit more…

I didn’t see who fired first, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the explosion of magic. The two unicorns had engaged. The pegasus lifted his wings and bent his knees. He was a split second from launching himself into the air.

I jumped forward, spun, and bucked as hard as I could. My aim was true. I hit the base of his wing. The snap of bone echoed in the street. He screamed in pain as the wing flopped down to his side. He collapsed to the ground. One down.

I twisted around to face the earth pony. Fortunately, he missed his shot while I was distracted with his partner. He was as big as I was, perhaps a bit bigger. His eyes flicked to his companion taken out with a single buck. He locked eyes with me. There was a shift in his stance as he prepared his opening move. I noticed him subtly twist a rear hoof. That would be his first buck. Whatever it connected with would break. I needed it to not be me.

Suddenly there was a small flash of magic from beside me. His eyes shifted, and he hissed, “Where…” I snatched the split-second advantage. I shifted my weight and kicked his front leg. The knee buckled, and the leg folded backwards. His front half collapsed, a look of shock on his face. A second kick landed square on his forehead. He saw it coming, but there was nothing he could do. He went down, unconscious. I adjusted and prepared to buck him again. Just to make sure he stayed down, perhaps permanently. As I turned, I realized that Windflower was still here, somewhere, and probably watching me. I instantly decided. She would not see me attack a downed pony. I dropped my leg.

“Citrine?” I called out.

“I’m good,” she replied.

I turned to see the unicorn attacker down, with Citrine already putting on hoof restraints. The entire fight, if you could call it that, had lasted just a few moments.

I spun back around. “Hey, kid, where are you?”

There was a flash by the alley the earth pony had come out of, and I saw the filly’s head peeking around the corner. I took a step forward. She bolted from the alley and galloped to me. She grabbed my neck in a tight hug, which I returned. She was scared, but I noticed she was not trembling. It had only been a few days, and already there was growth. She was stronger.

Her voice was muffled by my mane hanging over her. “I was scared, and just wanted to hide. Then I remembered, I could hide, just like before.”

I released the hug, and she stepped back. “Where’s the stone? You’re not holding it? How could you hide without the stone?”

With a slight grin she explained, “I don’t have to hold it, it just needs to be close. I could feel it in my saddlebag, so I sang to it.” She paused for a moment. “D’I do okay?”

I gave her a big smile. “You did perfect. You were scared, but you came up with a plan to escape. And that distraction was just what I needed to win my fight.” I reached out to stroke her head. “I’m very proud of you, kid.” Her head leaned into my hoof.

I heard the approach of a galloping pony. Turning to look, I saw it was a beat cop drawn by the commotion. Citrine trotted out to meet him, pulling her badge out of her saddlebag. “Detective Citrine. We need help to get these three suspects medical attention and then to a nice cold cell.”

He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, and leave me your hoof restraints.” He hoofed them to Citrine, then took off at a gallop.

She walked over to the two ponies and looked back and forth between them a couple of times. “Wow. I’m not sure either of them are going anywhere, even if they were conscious.” She decided to cuff the pegasus since he still had four working legs. “Steel, when you drop a suspect, they stay down.”

I surveyed the aftermath. The unicorn was unconscious. His horn had a crack in it and was throwing off very small magic sparks. I hadn’t seen the exchange, but he clearly paid the price for underestimating Citrine. I looked at the pegasus moaning on the ground. A good doctor should be able to fix the break, but if there’s enough damage he may never fly again. And the earth pony will no doubt have a limp for the rest of his life. Of course, none of them will have much use of their magical traits where they’re going.

I shook my head. They deserved so much worse for what they’d done. I wanted to… But no, that wasn’t for me to dish out. I’d done my job. Well, it wasn’t exactly my job any more. But I’d done my part, and I’d let Canterlot justice take over from here.

“Hey, kid, come with me.” I led her across the street and sat down, blocking her view of the scene. “I’m sorry, but I think we’re gonna be stuck here for a while. You can break out your paper and crayons if you want.” She sat down, opened her saddlebag and pulled out her drawing pad and crayons. She ran a hoof over the pad to smooth out the top sheet, and just sort of froze staring at it.

I reached out and straightened her mane. “Hey, kid…” She looked up at me. “You were very brave and did great. Your dad would be so proud of you.” She smiled, picked up a crayon, and started drawing.

Comments

[BucketHelm]

Congrats on the feature!

[bkc56]

11128234
Thank you. It's my first one, ever. But it's gone already, so not much visibility...

[Airy Words]

Definitely a deserved feature!