Circumstantial Evidence

by Mad Hatter

Living Arrangements

Sun left the proceedings with a very mild confusion, but grateful for the stay of punishment - for the time being. She hardly noticed the stares of the other ponies in the waiting room as she passed through. They had better have checked this one. Just past the waiting room, standing calmly at the main doors to the castle, was a new guard. A young pegasus, with a deep brick red coat and flaming orange mane.

“Miss Sun Shower?” He queried. “That's right. Guess you're the one to follow me around while I sort this out, yeah?” Sun stared him right in the eyes. The gaze was met with a calm, only slightly stoic expression. Good, this one looks like he'll give me the time of day. Sun was pretty good at reading ponies, or specifically those under stress. It helped when working with the Ponyville police on suspicious fires. Royal guard was close enough in her mind, it had to be stressful. “Correct. Blaze Fire.” extending a hoof. “Transport back to Ponyville has already been arranged.” After completing the hoofshake, and noticing that Blaze was of a similar strength to her, though oddly of the standard pony build, she followed him to the station.

This time the direct intervention of the castle assured a smooth transition. Soon they were on the next train to the Ponyville area. The time was spent going over the details of the case, though few. “And so you found the body upon arrival.” asked Blaze.
“Right. Nasty that was. Still owe the cleanup crew a couple of drinks for that one.”
Blaze looked like he was going to be perplexed for a moment at that. “Why would you owe them drinks for doing their job?”
“Fire department, cops, forensics ponies, we're all pretty tight like that. When one of us has to deal with somethin' like that, the rest of us chip in on relaxing after.” After a moment it sunk in precisely how bad her owing somepony over that sounded. The resulting facehoof could be heard in the next car of the train. “You guards got anythin' like that? Or does nothing happen over there knowing your boss could take out any problem herself?”
“You're referring to the princesses Celestia and Luna, correct?”
“Yeah. Makes me wonder why they have guards at all.”
“Same reason we have the judges, accountants, and other ponies every other town has. There's only so much time in a day, even for the princesses. Or night, for that matter.”
“Makes sense. What doesn't is why that Stone jackass tried to plant the missing part of the letter. Or why I was charged in the first place. Everypony who knew about Java's inventing knew to stay away. He messed with dangerous stuff; kinda reckless. Lot of the ponies in my department knew something like this would probably happen sooner or later. I mean, it was sad, but it was basically expected ya know? We were ready for it.”
“I see.”

With that dispensed with, the conversation drifted to less serious matters. Small talk, other news from their respective towns, pony-interest stories. “Not entirely sure why Spitfire strings her name together like that. Stage presence I suppose, or perhaps because she always hated it when other ponies just called her Spit.” Blaze wondered aloud during a part about the Wonderbolts. Sun's eyes widened a bit at that. “Spitfire's your sis?” Blaze nodded. “I see the show when they perform in Canterlot. Royal duties, however, rarely have me outside of the city.”
“Least you can get some fresh air out in Ponyville then.”

Having run out of things to say for the time being, they trotted from the station to Ponyville, both thinking on where to start. The sun reaching it's nadir on the horizon shifted thoughts to that of sleep. With mutual agreement they headed to Sun's place. Surprising all this trial mess was only a day. “We'll get started tomorrow, shouldn't take long to get all the facts. Where're you staying?” Sun said while stifling a yawn.
“Here.” Blaze replied in a borderline monotone.
“...What? Oh hay no!” Sun snapped both to full attention and at the guard.
“It should not come as too great a surprise. You are still effectively on trial.”
“Oh, yeah... Well, guess I can't really argue that. Hold on.”

Sun went to a storage closet and dragged a spare mattress with her teeth to the parlor floor. “Good thing some ponies I hang with party a bit too hard sometimes. Don't try anything stupid, or -”
“That is not what I'm here for Ms. Shower.” Blaze interjected. “And remember to watch what you say.” She snorted at that “Gonna have to get used to that. Good thing it's only a few days.” Considering the arrangements Sun was surprised they didn't send a mare. Maybe he's getting punished for something, heh. Sleep came quickly despite the events of the day.

Comments

[Mad Hatter]

Originally this was going to be part of a larger chapter, but right now I'm kinda forcing myself to write a bit more to not disappoint. Hopefully I can get back into it on my days off.