Author's Note

Apologies for the long long wait, but I managed to get my rear in gear and put some effort into this chapter, and let me tell you, it was not as easy as it looks. So as always, I thank you for your patience and support and remember to stay tuned for more chapters to come in the future and remember to keep bronying on.

Fatal Lullaby (Part 1)

The next day after everyone had gotten up and had their breakfast, the gang all went and started either doing their own thing either by themselves or each other. Seth chose to go out with Derpy and Dinky for a little walk on the beach, the former sirens all went out to relax at the beach, reading a few magazines underneath the shade of their umbrellas, Twilight stayed inside, catching up on her reading and spending some quality time with her dog, Spike, giving him belly rubs and watching movies.

Rainbow Dash was out catching some waves on the beach while Applejack was relaxing and getting a tan on her already smoking-hot body. Rarity took the opportunity to enjoy a nice relaxing day at the spa with Fluttershy while Pinkie Pie was out getting herself some ice cream. Sunset took the opportunity to squeeze in an opening at a local karaoke bar and even invited a few of the girls to tag along.

The only thing about that particular opening was that a few of Rainbow Dash's friends would be there, along with a certain girl who got a little too reckless as a former soccer captain. Dash didn't want to have to deal with her former rival ranting on and bringing up the past. The last thing Dash needed was some drama started up with a certain individual, especially when she's trying to relax.

In just a few hours time at around 3 PM, Sunset brought along Sonata and Derpy. Seth decided to not go in order to look after his daughter, Dinky. He had her inside the beach house in the living room, watching some of Dinky's favorite shows. Seth agreed to look after his daughter in order for Derpy to enjoy a little time with the girls and she was very grateful he gave her a brake.

A couple of blocks north of the beach house, Sunset, Sonata and Derpy were inside a karaoke room with three other people from their old high school. One of them was a girl with turqoise skin and amber eyes and had orange and yellow hair that reached past her shoulder blades. She had on a dark blue short sleeved shirt that was hidden under her white, long-sleeved thin overcoat and black shorts with the addition of these dark blue wrist bands and had D-cup breasts. She was Rainbow Dash's former high school rival who went by the name of Lightning Dust.

The other one was a guy who had dark grey skin and golden yellow eyes. His had silver hair which was done in a mohawk and had on a black tank top, but it was also covered by an overcoat that looked exactly like Lightning Dust's overcoat. He had on short tan jeans and a small metal necklace with his name engraved on it. This man was Thunderlane.

The other guy sitting next to Thunderlane had dark blue, spikey hair slid back and light blue skin. His eyes were a green like fresh spring grass. He had on a sky blue shirt with a sticker of a lightning bolt with wings on it and wore black jean shorts. This man's name was Soarin. Rainbow Dash's ex-boyfriend. He and Rainbow Dash had a bit of history together during their freshman and sophomore years in high school. But when their junior years came, Rainbow Dash had to stop seeing him because he moved away with his parents, but even though they were splitsville, they still kept in touch as good friends.

As of right now, everyone was chilling out at the karaoke bar, taking turns singing songs and chatting about what has been happening throughout the years.

"It was really nice of you guys to let us join in on the fun." Sunset said. "I wish I could have brought some more of my friends with me, but they all had other plans."

"Hey, don't sweat it, Shim." Thunderlane said. "I just can't believe that we all got to see each other again. But let me tell ya, life was pretty rough."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I've had to go through a lot of hoops to get where I am now. I even got myself a date planned out for later on tonight with Spitfire." Soarin said.

"Really? What's the occasion?" Derpy asked, smiling.

"Well, there's this." Soaring reaches into his pocket and shows Derpy a little ring box. She gasped and beamed excitedly for what Soarin had planned. "Spitfire and I have been dating for at least 3 years ever since high school and now I think I'm ready to take the next step."

"That's so sweet! Congratulations, Soarin!" Sonata said.

"What about you, Thunderlane? Are you dating anyone?" Sunset asked.

"Well, I'm in love with this one girl, but she kinda changed. She thought she could win my heart just by changing a few of her bodily features and I just don't like it when girls do that. They think it's cool to try to look hotter for the sake of competing." Thunderlane said, looking down, disappointed.

Lightning Dust glared at him when he wasn't looking. Sunset looked at Lightning Dust and wondered if she was the one Thunderlane was in love with, but it didn't seem like she was his type. Derpy, on the other hand, thought Lightning Dust actually was the woman he was in love with, but didn't understand why. From her point of view, Derpy thought that Lightning looked pretty attractive.

"Hey, come on, bud. no need to bring up that kind of drama right now. We've all come here to have a good time and sing our hearts out. So, what do you guys say we get this party started?" Soarin asked?

Thunderlane sighed and put on a small smile. "I guess you're right about that. No use in crying over spilled milk, so which one of you wants to go first?" he asked.

"I'll go." Lightning Dust said, standing up. "There's no point waiting for someone else to say otherwise." Lightning made her way over to the mic and grabbed it, before selecting a song she loves. As soon as the song started, Lightning Dust took off.

As soon as she finished her song, everyone cheered for Lightning Dust, except for Thunderlane. He only gave her a very slow clap at her performance.

"That was so amazing, where you learn to sing like that, Lightning?" Derpy asked.

"Practice makes perfect," Lighting says, checking the back of her hand, smirking.

"Well, that was pretty good, but how about I show you all how I handle the mic? I did use to be a big part of this band called The Rainbooms." Sunset said, standing up. She walks over to the mic, also having a confident smile on her face as she picks it up and strolls through the selection for any good songs. But before she could select her song, Sonata ran up to her with a beaming smile on her face.

"Sunny, Sunny! Can I sing with you?" Sonata asked.

"I don't see why not. Get on up here and grab a mic!" Sunset encouraged. Sonata squeed and got up on stage with Sunset and strolled through the selection of songs. Sunset and Sonata didn't just want to sing any ordinary song, they wanted to sing a song that would involve a duet. Luckily, both girls came across the song they found to their liking. Sunset selected it and waited for the song to start. Everyone in the room got all excited when they saw the name of the song on the monitor. Soon, both girls took off.

Soarin and Derpy cheered their hearts out after witnessing that amazing performance. Lightning scoffed, thinking she could do so much better than them, but deep down, she knew they were very talented. Thunderlane gave them a round of applause, smiling at the two talented girls. Sonata was still full of excitement from that performance, so she let it all out by hugging Sunset, giggling.

"Okay, easy now, Sonata." Sunset says, patting Sonata on the back. "You did very good, Sonata."

"You both did so amazing. I don't think even I can top that." Derpy says. However, Sunset begs to differ, since she's seen how well Derpy could sing back in Canterlot High during a talent show, but it was cut halfway when people would always pick on her because of her eyes. Sunset hated that part of high school so much, but luckily, she taught those bullies to never mess with Derpy ever again.

"That's not true, I'm sure you've got a wonderful singing voice. Go ahead and give it a try." Sunset insists, as she puts the mic back where it was. She then walks off the stage and guides Derpy to the stage.

"I-I-I don't know, Sunset. What if everyone hates me? What if I mess up? They might laugh at me!" Derpy panicked, rubbing her arms nervously. Sunset shushed her and gives Derpy a big hug to help calm her down, which works a few seconds later.

"Come on, Derpy. You should know that we're not going to laugh at you. You won't mess up either. You just gotta believe in yourself, okay?" Sunset kept pressing on, smiling warmly at Derpy.

Her words of encouragement somehow got through to Derpy. Her panicking frown disappeared and was replaced with a smile, beaming with confidence. "Then I'll give it my best shot!" she said. Derpy walks up to the stage and grabs a hold of the mic and didn't even bother to look through the selection of songs, her eyes already locked on the song that she wants to sing. She selects it and takes a deep breath, finally taking off as the song had begun to play.

Sonata cried uncontollably from how emotional the song was and even clapped at Derpy's amazing singing, she sounded like an angel. Everyone else clapped and cheered for Derpy. Thunderlane's eyes grew wet from his tears, he truly loved how well Derpy sang so well. Derpy blushed and bowed when the song ended and she never felt so happy about singing in her whole entire life.

Derpy gently sets the mic back up where it belongs and walks off the stage. Sunset walks over to Derpy and gives her the longest, heart-warming hug anyone's ever given her.

"I told you that you'd do well and you proved it. That was so beautiful." Sunset says, holding in her tears of joy, obviously the song really got to her. Derpy hugs Sunset back for a while before they finally pull away and make their way back to their seats, waiting for the next singer to take the stage. But then, another song started playing, which caught everyone off-guard but in a good way for Thunderlane.

"Hell yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about! Alright everybody, watch and learn!" Thunderlane said, getting up from his seat and running up on stage.

Lightning Dust shook her head, like she knew what song he was going to sing, but she wasn't smiling. Soarin, on the other hand, was chuckling at his old pal and knows exactly whyhe was getting so excited.

"Hey, what's going on? Why are you looking so down, Lightning?" Sunset asks.

"Oh nothing. It's just that ol' Thunderlane's got this annoying habit of singing this one song that he never gets tired of, you might even call it his theme song."

"Sit back everyone and watch as I strut my stuff." Thunderlane boasts. Thunderlane grabbed his overcoat and threw it over his left side before he finally took off like the professional singer he dreamed of being.

Right after the song ended, Thunderlane bowed as Sunset, Sonata and Derpy clapped. Thunderlane folded his arms and didn't stop smirking until he walked back to his seat and sat back down.

Thunderlane soon walks off the stage and sits back down with his friends, sighing in relief. Just then, the door opens up and a man in a waiter's outfit comes in and leaves a few plates of food on the table. The gang had ordered some pizza, egg sandwiches and a couple of jugs of beer and soda. "I bet you all must be pretty hungry from all of the singing right now." said the waiter. "The other employees were all crazy, saying stuff like "did we just invite some famous celebrities in here?"

"Well, they're half-right. I do plan on making a career in singing." Thunderlane said.

The waiter chuckled. "If that's the case, I wish you the best of luck on your future career." he said.

"Oh hey! Here, take this." Soarin said, reaching into his pocket and giving the waiter a $5 tip.

"Thank you, and enjoy your meal." the waiter said. He then walked out of the room and closed the door behind him and let the group enjoy their food. Thunderlane reached out first and grabbed an egg sandwich, but accidentally dropped it on his black tank top. He grabs it again and dusts off some of the eggs that splattered on his shirt and started eating.

"So, you're actually going to be performing as a singer?" Sunset asked.

"Yup. As soon as I get home, I'm gonna make plans to audition. I'll still keep in touch with the others, but I something tells me that..." Thunderlane paused and noticed a piece of egg stuck to his thumb, which he licks off, leaving it spotless. "I got a feeling that my agent won't even give me breaks."

"Well, you gotta understand, Thunderlane. Being a celebrity comes with sacrifices. But judging by all of that confidence, you don't look too worried about it." Soarin said.

Thunderlane give Soarin a confident smirk, but then. Thunderlane grunted and gripped his throat. He stumbled onto the floor tried to shout. The others all gathered around to try and help him. But then, Thunderlane completely sank down into the floor, not moving. Sunset grabbed Thunderlane's wrist and put two fingers on it, checking if he still has a pulse.

"Guys... it's no use... he's dead." Sunset said, shaking her head left and right. Derpy backed away, short of breath, shocked at what just happened.

Soarin reached into his phone and dialed the number for the cops. He explained the situation in specific details and gave them the exact location of where they were. After that, Soarin hung up and kneeled down, clenching his fist from the sight of his dead friend. "Damn it!" he said.

Sunset took a quick look at Thunderlane's corpse and caught the scent of a familiar smell and gasped. "Cyanide," she said quietly to herself.

Minutes later, the cops showed up at the scene of the crime. Sunset, Sonata and Derpy stayed inside of the crime scene, seeing as how they were detectives themselves. Soarin and Lightning Dust had to stay out of the crime scene and answer some questions the police had for them.

While they were being questioned, an inspector who went by the name of Bronze Knuckles, was given the details by Sunset on how Thunderlane was killed. Bronze Knuckles was a man who was in his mid 40s, African American, stood at a solid 6 feet tall and was bald. He also had a muscular build.

As he glaced at the victim's body, one of the forensics team showed up with the results on the cyanide and where they had found it. "We got the lab results back, inspector. The victim had cyanide all over his finger, his skin, and even the mic came back positive as well, sir." he said.

"The way I see it, the killer must have coated the microphone with poison so the victim would get it on his hands, then the victim ate and went possum on the floor," Bronze Knuckles said. "Only problem is that he wasn't playing possum and only those who recently sang before the victim had the time and opportunity, but you girls don't have any poison on you, right?" he asked.

"That's right, inspector," Derpy said, trying to remain calm. "Plus, I never really knew Thunderlane up until just now and he didn't seem like a bad guy. In fact, he was probably the type you'd want to go out for drinks, even though I'm not a drinker."

"I suppose that leaves us with his two friends over there," Bronze gestured to Soarin and Lightning Dust who were sitting in the lobby. The girls and the inspector went over to the two friends just as one of the investigators came back with what looks like a suit case.

"Inspector, we have the victim's suit case and found only his clothes and a small box with music stuff," they said, setting on the front desk. Then, something fell out of the luggage and floated down to the floor. Sonata noticed it and picked it up, looking at the picture while the other girls talked with the accused.

"Alright, you two, I've got some questions I've gotta ask you: Did the victim ever have any enemies that he was or wasn't aware of?" Bronze asked.

"No, as far as I'm aware, he was pretty much loved by everyone, including his little brother back home. He was even gonna send him a couple of postcards to him." Lightning replied. "But, now that I think about it, he and I would sometimes get into a few fights every now and then, but that's as far as it went."

"And what about that song that he sang? Don't you think it's strange how that one song played on it's own, or perhaps that someone requested it?" Derpy asked. The inspector looked at both Lightning and Soarin, but both of them shook their heads, same with the waiter who brought them their food.

'I wonder if it sounds fishy to ask them what's on my mind. Hmm, well, it couldn't hurt to try,' Sunset thought to herself before approaching them. "Hey, this might sound like an odd question, but did Thunderlane always throw off his coat when he wanted to sing?" she asked.

"Only during that one song he always sang. He's always loved to sing that one song ever since he was just a child, it stuck to him like glue," Soarin replied.

Just then, 'Hmm, maybe this is the clue we can work with,' Sunset thought. "Inspector, the forensics team said that there was poison found on the victim's skin, can you tell me where?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure the poison was found on his left elbow and his right fingers," Bronze replied.

"What about on his coat, was there any poison on that, too?" Sunset asked again.

"No, it was checked out thoroughly, there was no trace of poison whatsoever," Bronze confirmed.

Sunset gasped quietly, 'Of course! Now I get it! Okay, I figured out exactly how the murderer got the poison on Thunderlane and only two people were able to pull this off! It had to have been someone with the same coat as the victim's, so Soarin checks out. But I don't have enough evidence to confirm what the motive was for killing him, what do I do?' she thought to herself.

While Sunset was coming up with a motive, Inspector Bronze looked through the suitcase with all of Thunderlane's stuff, trying to see if there's anything that could give them a lead, but found nothing.

But when he wasn't looking, a small picture fell onto the floor. Sonata took notice of the picture and picked it up, checking out the picture. "Wow, I didn't know you and Thunderlane were in a band," Sonata said. Soarin got curious and walked over to Sonata, looking at the picture.

"Oh yeah, that was our old high school band. That was during our senior year, we wanted to end our teenage years with a bang and back then, Lightning and Thunderlane were like two peas in a pod," Soarin said, putting on a sad smile on his face.

"Wait, you mean Thunderlane and Lightning didn't fight that much back then?" Sonata asked.

"No, they were inseperable up until after a week after graduation," Soarin confirmed.

"Ooh, can I show this to Sunset and Derpy?"

"Go right ahead."

Sonata smiled and went over to Sunset who was still lost in thought. "Sunny! guess what!" she said, scaring Sunset a little and breaking her concentration. "Oh, sorry. Listen, I just got some info about Thunderlane and Lightning Dust, take a look at this," she said, giving Sunset the picture. "This was them during their senior year of high school and..." Sonata paused and leaned in, whispering in Sunset's ear. Right as Sunset turned the picture over, Sunset gasped at what she saw, now finally having all the pieces of the puzzle together, an uneasy feeling made itself known to her.

'So that's it, huh? If that's the case, then a terrible tragedy has just taken place,' Sunset thought.

"Hey, is something wrong, Sunset?" Derpy asked, walking over to Sunset. She wasn't happy with what she was going to explain to the girls, as well as Lightning Dust and Soarin.