Iron Eyes

by Dramaro

Chapter 4 - And I Must Scream

Hearing the scream die down, I quickly pulled out my pistol, keeping it pointed towards the ground and against my torso. I turned the safety off and cycling a round into the chamber, all within a simple flourish. “Stay here! I’ll join the others!” I shouted. I noticed guards running towards the scream’s source.

Without even hearing Celestia or Twilight’s insistence for me to stay, I ran off through the hallways, following the royal guards in doing so. They all had their spears ready and the group began forming around a large door. Getting myself to the front, I quickly found the one in charge, a stallion unicorn with a two tone blue hair and a white coat.

“I’ll lead!” I exclaimed.

The guard looked at me, confused to why I was trying to take charge. “Ma’am, or whatever you are, I’m the Captain of the Royal Guard!”

“And I’m a Lieutenant of the Novimus City Police Department. I’m fully trained for this situation.”

He hesitated for a moment before noticing my pistol. “You’re unarmed? What if it’s an assassin?”

“Don’t worry. I am armed....” It was then he realized that my pistol was a weapon, though nothing like a spear or a sword.

Suddenly, the doors flew open, pushing me back. A white blur and a familiar blonde mane ran off out from the room. Seeing my opportunity, I gave chase. Being a human, I was obviously not meant for speed and the stallion was gaining some distance from me. We both passed a maid, who jumped and dropped her cleaning supplies. Suddenly, the stallion I was chasing turned around a corner. For a moment, I thought I saw a small glare but turning around the corner, I only saw another corner that he had probably turned, creating a full U shape. My feet carried me over and when I turned around the second corner, I found him.

“Freeze and get on the ground!” I ordered. My pistol was aimed straight at him but, he was obviously unarmed. It was Blueblood and he stared at me, confused to what was in my hands and why I was yelling at him.

“What are you doing?” he demanded in anger.

The guards, leaded by their captain, quickly appeared from behind me and tackled Blueblood.

“You’re under arrest for murder!” exclaimed the captain. Blueblood struggled for a moment under the pony pile. It didn’t work and Blueblood calmed down, confused and.... scared? He had a look of fear on his face, puzzled to what was happening. The captain turned to me. “Thank you Mrs?”

“Roya. Lt. Roya Sayid. What happened back there?” Noticing that the guards had already cuffed Blueblood and slipped some sort of ring around the base of his horn, I quickly placed my pistol back in its holster with the safety back on, seeing that everything was under control now.

The question made him frown. “A maid... She was found dead.”

“Take me.”

“What?”

“Take me to the body. I need to examine it.”

“I’m sorry but that’s enough being hero for one day.” He raised his hoof for a moment.

Knocking it away, I gave him a stern look. “I’m a Homicide Detective. It is my job to look at the crime scene make a proper judgement.”

“But we have the suspect. Both you and I saw that Blueblood fleeing the scene!”

“Well, you’re going to need to properly build a case. Even I have to find out why everything occurred, even with the killer standing over the body.”

The Captain sighed, understanding that he wasn’t going to stop me. “Fine. Come with me.”

I followed the captain back through the hallways to the door. Already, two guards were covering it, making sure nopony could see inside. Celestia and Twilight were already there, both confused to what had just happened.

“Can you tell us what happened, Shining?” Twilight asked.

Noticing some similarities, Shining looked quite similar to Twilight, minus the color scheme. “I can’t. Official Royal Guard investigation.”

“What about her?” Twilight pointed a hoof at me.

“I’m a police detective. I’m trained for these things.”

Celestia looked at me and Shining for a moment before speaking up. “Then I’ll let Roya help with the investigation as a secondary detective consultant. Shining, she is your responsibility. Please make sure she is welcomed temporarily and give her the resources necessary to complete this investigation.”

“Yes, your majesty.” Shining turned to me with a slight smile. "I guess we'll be partners." I gave him a smirk of my own. He seemed decent and, from how he acted, he obviously took his job seriously.

“Can you tell us what happened?” asked Celestia.

“A maid was murdered by a fleeing suspect. Both Roya and I saw who it was and we identified him as Prince Blueblood.”

The name was out of left field for both Twilight Clestia. I could see how surprised both were. Lost for words, I waited for them to calm down. Twilight was quite horrified while Celestia looked deeply saddened “We still need to find motive and currently, Blueblood is in custody. It will take a few days but a case should be built soon, assuming you have a proper judicial system in place," I told them.

Celestia nodded but was visibly disturbed by these events. “That we do. Please continue your work. It hurts deeply that this occurred but justice must be brought in a proper and orderly fashion.”

With a nod, I turned to Shining.

“Follow me.” he said.

Both of us walked towards the doors leading to the crime scene. Seeing that I was going to be working with the captain, I decided to properly get his name. “Is Shining your whole name?”

The captain shook his head. “It’s Shining Armor. I’m Twilight’s older brother.”

“Older brother, huh? Your sister has been of great help to me.”

“Yes. I’ve heard of you from the letter. You’re a “human,” right?”

“That is correct. I am a bipedal nearly hairless creature under the great apes.”

“I guess we’ll be working together, huh?”

I nodded before noticing the maid from before. “Get a guard to talk to her She’s a witness and her testimony will prove valuable.”

With a nod, Shining quickly barked an order out and a guard went over to the maid, making sure not to frighten her. The two of us entered the room and the first thing we saw was the lifeless body on the ground.

She had been making the bed, and was caught off guard. Turning to Shining, I noticed that the sight of the body made him nauseous. “Are you ok?”

He held back a small blob of bile down. “Yes... Just not used to this.”

“Really? I thought you had jurisdiction over Canterlot. Wouldn't you have seen plenty of bodies in your career?”

“I do but murder isn’t something you get everyday.”

“Hmm... I get a new case almost every few days back in Novimus City.”

“What? How?”

“The city holds over a million people. That and you’d be surprised what some people kill for.” I continued looking at the body for a moment. “I need gloves.”

“Gloves... I don’t think we have any... in your size.”

Realizing that he was right. I thought for a moment before remembering about magic. “Shining, could you lift the body a bit? I need to give it a closer examination.”

With a swallowing of his throat, he nodded and began levitating the body a bit, making sure not to ruin it. Oh how I wished I had a forensics team at the moment. The unfortunate mare had a pale white coat that was spotless, except for the blood from her wound. Her name tag read the name "Crystal Clear" and her cleaning uniform was heavily stained by blood. It was still fresh, leaving me being weary where I stepped less I get blood on my shoes. The stab would was large, as if something sharp but cone shaped had pierced her. Even though normally I'd rely on forensics to check the stab wound, I was limited and I examined it myself. "Shining, can you expand this wound for a moment?"

He reluctantly did so, keeping his gaze away as blood erupted from the wound. Looking carefully I could tell that the weapon had penetrated deep, piercing a lung and the heart. It even pushed ribs out of the way, meaning the weapon was stiff and strong as or stronger than bone, with sufficient driving force. She must have went to shock and died when her brain starved. “Stab wound... Impaled by something sharp like a horn. Broke a few ribs before piercing a lung and the heart. She didn't have a chance.”

I backed off a bit and allowed Shining to put the body back. From how he acted, Shining was deeply disturbed at seeing a poor mare murdered, something I would have assumed he was more understanding about. He turned me and sighed before giving me a slight scowl. “I need to ask, how are you so calm about this? She was just murdered and yet you treat it as if it was nothing.” he exclaimed.

I shook my head. “I don't see it as nothing but I also know that there’s a time and place for mourning the dead. Right now, there’s a job that needs to be done and I cannot allow emotions to blind me. Every body leaves a story, and we are the ones who need to put the puzzle pieces together.”

Shining was silent for a few moments but he spoke up. “I...I guess you’re right.”

“Good. Do you have cameras in Equestria?”

“Yes, why?”

“Records. I need every square inch of this place have a picture taken before we even begin to touch anything. The crime scene cannot be disturbed until then.”

“Right. I’ll get a few hard stomached photographers to get records.”

With a nod, I looked around a bit more. Looking over to the cleaning cart, in which the maid had kept her cleaning supplies. I noticed that a wad of cleaning paper was on the ground, covered in blood. “Well, there’s a reason why Blueblood’s horn was clean. He wiped it off before running.”

“Look, His shirtfront collar.”

“Yes... It’s the one Twilight spat on.” The collar had been folded and placed on the cart, probably so the maid could get it cleaned. The flower that was in the collar had been removed and placed nearby, revealing to be a simple fake one made of fabric; an accessory it simply was.

“Twilight? What do you mean?”

“Earlier, Twilight and I... ran into Blueblood. Let’s just say, it was less than savory. Nothing bad, just a simple stain.”

“Well, this just confirms that Blueblood was the one who murdered her.”

“I need an ID on the body and all names of her coworkers and friends. We still need intent, and motive would be very helpful for the jury, if there is one.”

“Got it... Wait, why am I taking orders from you?”

‘Because, I’m the one who specializes in homicides and, assuming you follow similar rules, I’m the one you want to listen to if you want a solid case. Make sure Blueblood is detained in an appropriate area. No unusual or painful punishment. He’s only a suspect, not guilty yet.” I tried my best to not make it sound insulting, I only want to explain it. If he wanted to, I would work with him his way.

“Anything else?” Apparently Shining had silently agreed to the idea that I could give some orders.

“That should be it. We'll interrogate Blueblood tomorrow, but for now. We can rest a bit. The day has already got hectic and I think every needs some time to calm down.”

“That sounds fair. Thank you Mrs. Roya.”

“Just call me Roya. We’re partners, remember?”

With a smile on his face, we left the room with the guards ordered to keep watch so that no one would touch the scene. Knowing that everything for today was done, I returned to Princess Celestia.