Author's Note

I apologize for the long wait, but I managed to finish the first chapter of my third and final Equestria Girls: Case Closed series, but I intend on making this last story of the trilogy the longest story. If I made any mistakes, feel free to tell me and I'll try to correct it in the next chapter, but once again, thank you all for your support and I hope you keep bronying on.

Trouble Has Arrived (Part 1)

Several months have passed since the incident involving Dinky's kidnapping and Seth getting shot, but over time, he had fully recovered from his injury and was solving crimes left and right. Seth was also stepping up as Dinky's brand new father and Derpy was given proper training as one of his brand new assistant in his detective agency after she quit her previous job and moved into the penthouse.

Seth had turned 21 years old during those months, but he refused to drink in order to keep his mind focused on his work and his family. But what was the biggest surprise was when Seth invited Derpy with him and the other girls to a trip over to a tropical island getaway. Everyone had pitched in to purchase the plane tickets and make reservations for a beach house for an entire week.

However, for Twilight, she got word from her parents that they were going on a boat cruise for a while and she had to bring her pet dog, Spike along with them. Despite how long she's had him, Spike was always a small dog by the type of breed he actually was. When Seth first met the little pup, he nearly lost his mind when he heard Spike speak, but Twilight managed to calm Seth down.

As of right now, The whole gang had arrived at their tropical island paradise and rented a beach house, along with unpacking all of their stuff.

After getting settled in for the whole week, the girls all split up, doing their own thing. Rainbow Dash and Aria Blaze surfed up some waves on the ocean, Twilight and Sunset relaxed in the shade on the beach under their umbrella and reading some of their favorite books, Sonata and Pinkie Pie hung out by the ice cream stand, Applejack and Adagio, along with Rarity and Fluttershy were out playing volleyball and Seth was hanging out by the beach with Derpy, helping Dinky build a sand castle.

The entire beach was crawling with children and adults, mostly between the ages of 6 to 37. Most of the people on the beach were college students. But Seth didn't pay any attention to them and only focused more on playing with his little girl.

"Daddy, this is fun!" Dinky says, happily.

"Heh, glad you like it, sweetie. Daddy's been working hard on his cases just so we could relax a bit," Seth replies

"Thanks, daddy."

"Oh, um, honey? Can you go get us some drinks? I could go for a nice orange soda." Derpy says.

"Daddy, can you get me a strawberry milkshake." Dinky asked.

"Heh, sure. I'll be back soon. Stay close to mommy and I'll be back soon." Seth replied, before giving Dinky a peck on the cheek and a peck on Derpy's lips. Seth then got up from the sand and walked down the beach, making his way towards the food stand.

The sounds of the ocean waves and people laughing and having a good time calmed his nerves. Seth was glad to finally take a break from all of the drama and crimes he and the girls solved. Best part about his trip was that he had his girlfriends and his daughter to tag along. Including Twilight's pet.

He made it over to the food stand and ordered the drinks for Derpy, Dinky and himself. He waited patiently on his seat for the drinks, all the while, some of the girls kept looking at him, giving him occasional winks before walking away and he ignored them.

'I needed this vacation. It's always nice to get away from work. Clears up the mind.' Seth thinks. Just then, the man came back with the drinks he ordered and Seth pays the man before walking back over to Derpy and Dinky and gave them their drinks.

"Thanks daddy," Dinky says, before drinking her strawberry milkshake.

"Thanks, babe," Derpy says.

"No problem," Seth replies. "Just looking out for my little girl." Afterwards, Derpy and Seth opened up their cans of soda and started drinking. Derpy and Seth notices that Dinky got a little bit of her milkshake on her lips and start laughing a bit.

"Mommy, daddy, what's so funny?" Dinky asks.

"Nothing sweetie, just that you got a little bit of a milkshake mustache." Derpy giggles. Dinky took her finger and placed it over her upper lip, and found traces of her drink on it. She laughed as well.

"Oopsies." Dinky says. Derpy and Seth couldn't stop themselves from laughing and held each other in a warm hug, trying to calm down. But then, just as things were simmering down, the sound of someone screaming bloody murder caught Seth's full attention. Dinky got scared. "Mommy, daddy, who screamed?" she asks, burying herself in her mom, not letting go.

"I don't know, sweetie." Derpy says, looking around.

"Derpy, take Dinky back to the beach house. I'll go see who's screaming." Seth says. Derpy nods and picks up her daughter, heading back to the beach house. 'Just when I finally had the chance to enjoy a nice vacation with my girls, crime just can't stop following me!' he thought. He rose up to his feet and ran into the direction where the scream was coming from.

His eyes lock onto a woman who's lying on the ground and looked like she was in pain. Rarity was standing near her with a cup of tea in her hand. Her eyes locked on Seth and signaled him to rush over.

"Darling, quick!" Rarity called out. Seth picked up the pace until he was close to her. He kneeled down to the woman and noticed two small holes on her hand. He gasped.

"Shit! It's a snake bite!" Seth says. He looked up at the crowd as their eyes were locked onto him. "Someone get me a rag, hurry, there's no time!" One of the men from the crowd gave him a rag. He tied up the rag around the woman's wrist, making sure the poison would spread further down her body. "Rarity, I need you to hand me that tea of yours right now!"

"What for?" Rarity asks.

"Just hurry! There's no time!"

"Oh, right!" Rarity gave him the cup. He thanked her and grabbed the girl's hand. He began sucking on the bite marks in order to drain the poison out. He spit them all out and rinsed his mouth out with the tea and spat it out before pouring some on the wound. "Seth, darling, I don't get it."

"Tannins. Most teas contain chemicals known as tannins. They act as a temporary antivenom to neutralize the snake bite once poured on the wound. Of course, as a necessary precaution, the person who sucks out the poison has to rinse out the poison with the tea." Seth explains.

Rarity never knew that Seth could use tea as a way to neutralize poison. She was able to take that into consideration before she finally grabbed her cell phone and called for an ambulance. While they waited, Seth kept watch over the woman lying down who was stabilizing for a bit. He held onto the last bit of tea in the cup just in case the poison started up again.

The woman was blonde and had slightly tanned skin and wore a one piece purple bikini. While she was stabilizing, Seth was trying to come up with a logical explaination as to how a snake bit her. Rarity kneeled down and scanned part of the woman's body to find any other bite marks.

"Darling, don't you think it's strange that it's strange that she was bitten? If the snake is still somewhere around, how come other people are still swimming?" Rarity asks.

"Because, specifically, the banded sea snakes around this part of the beach are usually docile, unless they're caught in fishermens' nets." Fluttershy says, walking up to Seth and Rarity, "The snakes here only get territorial during the mating season, which recently ended."

Seth's eyes widen in surprise. "A banded sea snake? But if that's the case, someone must've used the snake while they were underwater to have the snake bite this woman on the hand. It's not much to go on, but it's the best we've got, and if that's the case, someone tried to murder this woman." Seth says.

"You could be right." Rarity says.

Minutes later, the paramedics finally arrive. They carried the woman onto the ambulance. But before closing the doors, a man and woman ask to ride on board. The man had slightly pale skin with short brown hair. He was somewhere on the skinny side and looked to be in his mid twenties. The woman next to him had short black hair, but was a little longer than the guy's hair. She also had slightly pale skin and looked to be in her early twenties but looked younger than Seth.

The paramedics agreed to allow the two to ride with them to the hospital. The two stepped inside the ambulance before the back doors closed and the ambulance took off. Seth got up and picked Rarity up, rising her back up to her feet and he watched as the ambulance drove farther and farther away.

"Darling, is everything alright?" Rarity asked.

"We gotta head back to the beach house and change! After that, I'll get one of the rental cars ready for us and we'll head over to the hospital." Seth replied.

"R-Right!" Rarity and Fluttershy say. The three of them ran back to the beach house and didn't waste time. Upon arriving, Seth opened the door and got confronted by Derpy and Dinky.

"Daddy, is everything okay?!" Dinky asks.

"Is everything alright, babe?" Derpy asks.

"For the moment, things are calm. It's safe to head back to the beach, but I've got to go somewhere. I'm afraid that crime never takes a break." Seth explains.

"Aww, but daddy! I wanted to learn how to swim today! Do you have to work?" Dinky asks. The little 4 year old looked up at Seth with her big, starry eyes and sad look on her face. Seth leaned down and gently rubbed the top of Dinky's head and smiled at her.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But I promise that if I finish up early, I'll teach you how to swim." Seth replies. Dinky puffed up her cheeks making her adorable pouty face.

"Is it a pinkie promise?" she asks.

"I cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"OOH! I think I'd better come along so you do keep it!" Pinkie shouted from behind the girls and Seth. All of them, except Dinky, jumped in shock and looked over at Pinkie who was in the doorway, but weren't sure how she even got there in the first place.

"Pinkie, how'd you get here?!" Seth asked, surprised.

"Ask the writer of this story." Pinkie replies.

"W-What?! What are you talking about?!" he asks again.

"Try not to question it, darling. Remember, Pinkie knows a lot of things we don't understand." Rarity says.

"R-Right. Anyways, I'll try my best to make sure I keep my promise, Dinky." Seth says to Dinky.

"Hmm, okay. Be careful, daddy. I love you." Dinky replies, moving forward to hug Seth. Seth hugs her back.

"I love you, too, sweetie."

"We'll be waiting for you, babe." Derpy says. Seth stood up and hugged Derpy and planted a kiss on her lips before walking past the girls and went upstairs with Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie followed him close behind and went into their rooms. Inside Rarity's room, she kept her two piece bikini on and put on a dark purple shirt with no sleeves and a dark blue skirt.

"I knew it was too good to be true! I hate it when crime gets in the way of our vacation. I was really looking forward to my trip down at the spa." Rarity says. "Well, I guess when you're a co-worker for a big detective agency, crime just seems to stick to you like glue. Not to mention the experience you get from all the cases that have been taken care of and developing that keen eye for details."

When all is said and done and Rarity finished dressing, she walked out of her room and waited. Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were sharing a room and getting dressed.

"So, Fluttershy, what's today's big case? Is it murder like it usually is? OOH, not wait, maybe it's a kidnapping, or maybe it's a robbery or something?" Pinkie rants on rapidly.

"N-No, Pinkie. For now, it's probably attempted murder. Someone was bitten by a banded sea snake and now she's at the hospital getting treated." Fluttershy says.

"How is that attempted murder? Snakes can't be charged."

"Someone used the banded sea snake as a weapon to poison the victim. Usually, the banded sea snake is very docile and doesn't attack unless it's caught in a fisherman's net or when it's mating season, which had ended for quite some time."

"Hmm, you know, when you put it that way, it does make sense. Alright then!" Pinkie quicked put on a white t-shirt with pink sleeve trims and a light blue skirt. Fluttershy put on a sleeveless light green shirt and a pink skirt before she and Pinkie went outside their rooms where Rarity was.

Seth was in a seperate room from the other girls and had a lot on his mind as he stripped himself of his swim trunks and put on his regular clothes.

"So far I've only got part of the puzzle solved, but there's still too many clues lingering about. One way or another, whoever it was that planned this is gonna wish hadn't done it. Thank god I got the girls backing me up, or I'd probably be stumped." he says to himself.

Seth finally got dressed in his black tank top and matching black shorts. He walked out of the room and went with the three girls down the stairs and towards the front door. He grabbed one of the car keys and pressed the unlock button, making the rental car near the garage beep twice. He walked over to the car and entered into the driver's seat and Rarity took her seat next to Seth. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy got into the seats behind Rarity and Seth and all locked the doors before Seth started the car.

He backed up away from the garage and drove down the road, never taking his eyes off the road, having that determined look on his face. Though, he wanted to make time, he didn't want to take any chances and end up getting pulled over by the local cops around the resort.

Meanwhile, back at the beach, Applejack and Rainbow Dash got a little bored with their volleyball game and went out into the water, splashing each other.

"You think you got what it takes to out-splash me, AJ?" Rainbow calls out.

"Ah can sure as hell try, sugar cube." AJ replies. She and Rainbow Dash kept on splashing each other and chasing each other and having all sorts of fun. But just then, a big wave swept the two straight back to shore and landed then near the ice cream stand where Sonata was probably on her 3rd ice cream cone and had some ice cream stuck on the tip of her nose.

"Heh, don'tcha think you've had enough, Sonata?" Rainbow asks.

"I can't help it if the ice cream is so yummy." Sonata replies with a squee.

"Now, just you be careful not to eat too much. Ya don't wanna get cramps when ya go out swimmin'. And ya might want to go easy on them cones or we won't have enough fer food." AJ says.

"Aww, but it's so tasty!" Sonata pouted. AJ still looked at her with a stern look. She wasn't going to take "no" for an answer and it was only a matter of time until Sonata caved. "Oh, alright. After this, I'll take it easy, sorry Applejack and Rainbow." she says.

"It's alright, sugar cube. But Ah still got one question. Where's Pinkie Pie? I thought that sugar-crazed gal would be stuffin' her face with ya."

"Oh, she said something about her Pinkie Senses tingling. Something about how Seth is off on another case and she couldn't stand to sit and watch."

"WHAT?!" AJ and Rainbow ask in unison.

"Aww man! Why can't crime just take a break? We've worked hard to get here!" Rainbow complains.

"Now, now, don't get yer bottom bikini in a bunch. Ah'm sure that with Pinkie by his side, Seth'll have no trouble with whatever's goin' on right now. Remember, he's helped us gain more experience as his partners and sharpened our minds to look out fer even the tiniest details. He's got faith in all of us just as much as we have faith in him, Rainbow Dash." AJ says.

"I hope so." Rainbow says.

Meanwhile, Seth had just barely managed to catch up with the ambulance and followed it steadily to the hospital and parked the rental car in a shady spot near the entrance. Seth, Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy exited out of the car and walked inside the hospital.

There, they found the same man and woman who rode in the ambulance. Seth confronted them.

"Excuse me, can I have a word with you?" he asked, getting their full attention.

"Huh? Who are you?" the man asked.

"My name is Seth Brooks, I'm a detective." Seth pulled out his wallet and presented his business card, and when he does, the woman got a shocked look on her face. The girls took note of her reaction and thought it was kind of strange to react like that.

"Oh? What seems to be the problem, detective?" the man asked.

"I noticed you and this woman riding the ambulance with the other girl earlier. She had recently been bitten by a banded sea snake and is being treated here." Seth replies.

"Yeah, I found out from the peramedics."

"However, we have reason to believe that this wasn't a freak accident, darling." Rarity jumped in.

"That's because the banded sea snake doesn't attack anyone unless it's been caught in a fishing net or if it's the mating season, but there were no fishing boats out at sea earlier and their time to mate had ended some time already," Fluttershy also steps in.

"Yup yup, and the only other option for the attack was that someone used the snake as a weapon to try to murder the woman earlier today." Pinkie also steps in.

"Umm... okay? Who are these girls?" the man asks.

"These are my co-workers: Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They've been working with me for over a year now and they've learned from experience as detectives themselves." Seth replies.

"Oh, well my name's William James. The girl who got bitten was my fiance, Catherine Heathers."

"And I'm Ericka Smith." the woman next to him says.

"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, why don't you tell me what happened earlier today before your fiance was almost killed?" Seth asked.

"Right. You see, a couple of friends and I were having a little get together at a hotel that's only a couple of blocks away because I've recently gotten engaged." William says.

"There are more in your group? How many more?" Rarity asked.

"Just two more. Their names are Keith Jackson and Katie Monti. They're on their way here." William says.

"Good, this'll help in getting us more leads. We'll wait out here in the lobby until further notice." Seth says.

Everyone else in the group nodded and took their seats, waiting patiently. For a while, nobody said anything and Seth's eyes just scanned the whole waiting room for no reason. Just then, his eyes lock onto Ericka who had her head turned away and had a strange look on her face. Seth was getting a suspsicious vibe from her and felt like she has something to do with this, but he couldn't address it because of lack of evidence.

He grabbed his chin with his index finger and thumb, doing some thinking.

"What's the matter, Sethy? Something bothering you?" Pinkie asked.

"It's probably just a hunch, but somehow I think know who did it. But it's still too late to pursue. We're still missing some pieces of the puzzle." he replied.

"Ooh! I didn't know we were playing puzzle games! Where is it?" she asks, all excited.

"Pinkie, what I meant was that a crime scene is a like a puzzle. Just like putting all the pieces in their proper place, you need to find the right evidence to back up your claims in order to find the culprit."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so?"

"Pinkie, darling! Now's not the time to act so chipper! That woman might die in the emergency room!"

"Sorry, I was just trying to have fun."

"There's a time and place for you to have fun, just not on the job, Pinkie. Okay?" Seth asks rubbing her shoulder and giving her a serious, but calm look.

"Oh, okay." Pinkie leaned in and gave Seth a peck on the cheek. He smiled at her and waited for the rest of the victim's friends to arrive.

'I'm not gonna rest until I find out if my hunch is correct and the culprit is who I think it is. But I just hope I can solve this case quick enough to spend some quality time with Dinky. I make a pinkie promise to my little girl and I intend on keeping my word' Seth thought to himself.