The Lovely Bones: Afterlife of a Murdered Pegasus

Chapter 19: The Investigator

Aaron Crop was a unicorn pony that most ponies preferred not to piss off. He had a long, vicious track record of fights, beatings, and often bloody disputes. However, he was also extremely talented in the area of solving crimes, mysteries, and getting answers from ponies. He was a tall black stallion with a black mane and dark blue eyes. He had a strong, muscular figure and a deep, booming voice. Aaron was the first pony to step forward to take on the Rainbow Dash hunt. Twilight wasn't very keen of Aaron but, by this point, she was at least glad that somepony was willing to look further into the case.

Twilight found herself sharing a train compartment with Aaron on the trip back to Ponyville. The head investigator slowly nibbled his way through a green apple as Twilight explained the details to him. He was only halfway done with his apple by the time Twilight had finished her explanation.

"Did you get all that?" Twilight asked. Aaron turned away from the apple and looked at Twilight sternly.

"Of course I got all that," he stated. "What do you think I am? Deaf?"

"No. I was just making sure that you didn't miss any of the details."

"Don't worry. I'll find your friend or her corpse sooner than later."

"Please don't talk like that!"

"Talk like what?"

"Talking as if she were already dead!"

"Ms. Sparkle. If there's one thing I've learned from all these years of solving crimes, mysteries, and et cetera, it's that it's always best to assume the worst so that you're not too disappointed when the worst scenario turns out to be the eventual outcome."

"I try to stay positive when it comes to things like this."

"And that's all fine and dandy. Just work the way you normally work, I'll work the way that I normally work, and we'll both get through this. Okay?"

"Fine."

Twilight had to admit to herself that she held some form of respect for the blunt investigator but she still didn't completely like him nonetheless. Aaron was calm and collected. He was positive that he would have this case wrapped up before the month's end. There were many different scenarios to come up with. This Rainbow Dash could have simply run away. Maybe she was struck by lightning and fell into a river. Maybe she got lost in a storm. She could have even been ponynapped or murdered. Aaron didn't like to think about the possibility of murder but he had seen enough death in his life to know that that was a highly possible outcome.

"Tell me, Twilight," he said as he took another bite out of his apple. "Did Rainbow Dash have any enemies?"

"Enemies? Not that I know of," Twilight replied. "Everypony pretty much loved her."

"Come now. There is nopony out there who is loved by everypony. Trust me, I know."

"Well...she had this friend a while back, a griffin named Gilda. She and Rainbow Dash had a falling out after Gilda began being rude to everypony in town. But she was just a jerk. I wouldn't see Gilda coming back to ponynap or...or kill Rainbow Dash."

"Still, she's a possible suspect. Were there any others?"

"There were these pegasi up in Cloudsdale but they were just bullies."

"It's best to assume that even the most unlikely pony can be a suspect. What were their names?"

"Let's see...there was Dumb-Bell, Hoops, and...Score."

"Got it. Anypony else?"

"There was a unicorn a while back named Trixie who Rainbow Dash had a short quarrel with. But she was just a braggart and a showoff."

"Possible suspect. Any others?"

"Let's see. There was Princess Luna when she was Nightmare Moon, but she's returned to normal, and then there was Discord, but he's currently a stone statue. I honestly can't think of any other possible suspects."

"That's good enough. I'll look into the ponies you mentioned and see if they have anything to do with your friends disappearance. Don't worry about them possibly lying. I have a talent for getting the truth out of ponies."

"I don't doubt that."

The two ponies fell silent and Aaron returned to munching on his apple.

"Can you tell me who were the last ponies to see Rainbow Dash?" Aaron asked.

"Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Applejack was technically the last pony to see her. She told me that she saw Rainbow Dash running down the road. She seemed to be incredibly afraid of something."

"What about this Pinkie Pie?"

"Rainbow Dash went over to Sugar Cube Corner and they baked cupcakes for a few hours."

"Who spends several hours just baking cupcakes?"

"Pinkie Pie. That's who."

"That sounds a bit fishy."

"Wait. You can't be suggesting that Pinkie Pie's a possible suspect!"

"You'd be amazed by the identities of many killers I've faced in my life. A fair amount of them turned out to be family members or close friends with dark agendas. For all we know, this Pinkie Pie could be Rainbow Dash's killer."

"Pinkie Pie, a killer? That's highly illogical. Trust me, Mr. Crop. Once you meet Pinkie Pie you'll immediately feel stupid for even thinking of such a possibility."

"I never think of stupid possibilities, Ms. Sparkle."