A Dream of Death

Detective Raspberry Green

The room was silent. Only the sound of small raindrops hitting against the window emitted any noise. Detective Raspberry Green was sleeping on her couch, with pictures and sticky notes leading up to where she slept, in fact, pictures and sticky notes were lined up on all of her walls to the point where barely any white paint was noticeable. The light of the moon shone through the window onto Raspberry’s face, and reflected off the sweat that drenched her coat. The sweat was partially from the heat, but its main source was stress.

A soft tapping echoed through the hall as hoofsteps climbed the stairs of the apartment building, they were rushed, agitated. The sound eventually led to Raspberry’s door, and knocking broke the peaceful silence.

Raspberry’s eyes shot open. “Hello?” she asked.

An exasperated voice responded, “Detective it’s White, get up, we have to go!”

“What’s going on?” asked Raspberry.

White’s hyperventilation could be heard from inside the room, “It’s happening right now Detective, we need to leave!”

Raspberry ears twitched, “What? Now?” she asked groggily.

“Yes now,” he replied, “hurry, we don’t have much time, grab a gun and get out the door.”

Raspberry gathered herself and got off the couch, she headed toward her dresser and grabbed her gun, but found it wasn’t loaded. Panicking, she pulled out each drawer and threw its contents on the ground. After rummaging through several layers of paper she located a single clip. She loaded the gun, clicked on the safety, and headed for the door.

When she opened it she saw White covered in more sweat than she was, he bobbed his head toward the stairs and they headed for the door. “Does the agency know?” Raspberry asked.

“No,” he said, “but I got four of my guys on their way to the scene.”

“Where is the scene?”

White made a loud gulp. “Uh . . . detective, you shou–”

“White I need to know.”

Giving out a sigh White turned to his friend, a sadness fell across his face when he looked into her eyes. “Sunset Club.”
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Star Song

The lights of the club illuminated the night, and the sound of music as well as hundred dancing hooves shook the world. Star Song sat at a table in the corner of the club’s bar with her friends Daisy Petal, Water Flower, and Brown Sugar. “. . . I don’t think so, I mean he looked, but you know that could mean anything . . .” Star Song twirled the straw in her drink and watched the small water droplets splash lightly on the table. “. . . what do you think Star?”

Star Song turned her head to Daisy Petal, “What?” Daisy just rolled her eyes.

“Where you even paying attention?” she asked.

“Slightly, from the sound of it either a stallion was checking you out, or looking to buy your house.” Water Flower and Brown Sugar futilely attempted to hide their smiles. Daisy tried to maintain a straight face, but she cracked a smirk at her friend.

“Fuck it,” she said, “Is Raspberry coming tonight?” Star Song eyes went to the stage where the DJ was performing, she watched as green strobe lights warped through the cracks of empty space not occupied by pony’s bodies. The industrial sound of the music was grating on her nerves.

“No,” she said.

Daisy took a deep sigh and fell back in her chair. “That mare needs to take a break.” Hard to disagree with that, thought Star Song. Raspberry had been working for two weeks non-stop, no weekends, no days off, nothing. Small changes in behavior were spotted first, then a purple tint grew under her eyes, and pretty soon she was falling asleep during conversations.

“Whatever she’s working on I’m sure it’s important,” said Brown Sugar.
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Raspberry Green

No. This can’t be. Does he know, she thought, no, no that’s not possible, if he knew I would have been taken out already. But even then, why there, why now? There were too many questions for her to think about, what was important is that she get there as quickly as possible, and that’s just what Raspberry intended to do.

The lanterns led the way across the pavement, with the silence of the night further adding an unsettling feeling into Raspberry’s heart. The city was calm enough, most ponies were asleep at this point, except for a choice few who enjoyed exploring Canterlot’s night life, filled with nightclubs, strip clubs, and restaurants. But among the fun there was always crime, and it was Raspberry’s job to stop it.

For the past three weeks the agency had gotten a lead that a very dangerous terrorist was planning an attack on the public, but after much research, they were no closer to uncovering it than they were when they first began . . . until tonight. One of White’s gang insiders heard that there was a plan to, what the insider described as, “reign chaos upon Equestria.” They didn't know much information, all they knew was there were guns, but that was all the information they needed to know what had to be done.

They arrived at Sunset Club, and it looked packed, ponies were still lined up to get inside, and the shaking of hooves against the dance floor could be felt from outside. The three ponies that White mentioned were scouring the outside. “What’s the status?” asked White.

“There are three entrances, back door, front door, and a door on the roof,” one said.

“Alright,” said Raspberry. Her eyes looked up to the roof, if they’re planning what I think they’re planning then they’ll be using the roof, she thought. “Okay listen up,” the others gathered around her, “White you head up to the roof with me, Trusty you go to the back, and Charger goes through the front. Rose Petal you get the ponies outside out of here, and don’t go inside, if they know we’re here it will be too late. If things go south . . .” she could feel the dread build inside her, “Just get as many out as possible.” failure is not an option. “Alright go, GO!”
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Star Song

“I got two beers, and an appletini, anything else?” Star Song looked at Brown Sugar who was still deciding what she wanted. Brown Sugar let out a sigh and glanced up at the waitress.

“Tequila. Straight.” The waitress nodded and took the menus.

“A straight tequila? You feeling alright Sugar?” asked Star Song. Brown Sugar yawned and looked to her friend.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just in the mood for something strong is all.” Daisy gave a small smirk, “Now if you’ll excuse me . . .” Brown Sugar stood up, “I need to use the restroom.” And off she went.

“Dear Celestia . . .” Water Flower stared at the stage with a face of both awe and disgust. Star Song turned her head to it as well and saw that a green pony had replaced the DJ. The party had ended and the karaoke began.

Star Song didn't think he was terrible, but his pitch was off and he was missing some of the lyrics. The only part that made the situation bad was he had turned the volume on the music to its highest. “Poor guy is just making a fool of himself.”

“I say we bail,” said Daisy.

“Agreed,” said Water Flower.

Star Song turned back to her friends. “Alright, when Brown Sugar gets out we’ll leave.”
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Raspberry Green

There were no stairs leading up to the roof, only a ladder that was wet and slippery from rainfall. White had reached the top and put his hoof down to help Raspberry, she grabbed hold and was pulled to the roof. At the south side there was a door leading to the inside. Raspberry tried to take note of the top, but it looked normal enough, just an air conditioning unit and a circuit breaker.

“C’mon, this way,” said White. They moved silently across the roof, drowned out by the loud music in the club. When they reached the door White found it locked. “Take out your gun.”

“What?” asked Raspberry, “are you kidding? We might as well light a spotlight.” White took out a silencer.

“Use this,” he said. Raspberry twisted it on to the weapon and unclicked the safety. “Stand far back, don’t want to hit anyone.” Raspberry moved back and aimed her gun at the lock, her hooves flinched as the weapon recoiled back with a silent pffft. The lock was hit with the bullet and the door clicked open. “Let’s go!”

White and Raspberry moved into the club, there were two cat walks that branched off each other, the end of one was empty, but the other held an object with a curtain laying on top of it. “I’ll go,” said Raspberry, “watch my back.” White nodded and took out his pistol. Back to back, they moved slowly to the concealed object, Raspberry’s hooves were shaking more and more violently as she approached it. Could it be a bomb, she wondered, if they knew I was coming they’d expect me to lift the curtain. Why here? Why now? “Okay, ready?” White nodded. She put her hoof on the curtain and felt something hard and uneven underneath.

“You okay?” he asked.

Shakily she said, “Yeah, just a little . . . you know.”

He knew.

“I could do it if you need me to?” he offered.

“No, its fine . . . here goes.” She grabbed hold of the curtain and lifted it off.

A look of confusion wiped over their faces, underneath the curtain . . .

. . . Were bricks.

“What the fuck?” Raspberry turned to her partner. “There’s nothing here! What happened?”

“I-I don’t know, I swear to Celestia my source was true, I–”

“Well then why the fuck is there nothing here?!” she yelled, but the music drowned out her voice to the point where only White could hear.

“I don’t know!” he shouted.

“Well there must be something here!” she yelled. White’s face grew pale, and he could only shrug.

“I-um . . . I–”

“C’mon White focus! Did he give you anything else, anything at all?”

“No,” he said, “they just said it was going to happen here.” Raspberry turned away, no, she thought, there’s something missing. Something was going to happen here, I could feel it. Did they know we were coming?

“Something’s missing,” she said aloud. She looked down the catwalks railing and saw three hundred ponies slow dancing to the beat of a green pony’s karaoke. “The others!” she shouted, “the other four, maybe they know some–”

She froze. Down below she saw the others, but they weren’t holding position. They were locking doors. Turning back towards White she asked, “Didn’t you say there would be four of your guys coming here,” a small, barely noticeable smirk started to form on White’s face.

“I did,” he said giddily, “because there are four guys.”

A forehoof wrapped around Raspberry’s throat pulling her body upward, she stood on her hind legs to get more leverage and White lunged at her hooves, grabbing for the gun. Raspberry tried to aim the gun for his chest but he grabbed the hilt and twirled his back to her stomach, silenced shots fired at the roof and bullets clanged against metal. Pulling his forehooves back as hard as possible, he elbowed her in the stomach. Raspberry and her assailant fell to the catwalk, his forehooves still locked on her throat.

His body weight crashed on top of her knocking the wind from her lungs, and she gasped for breath, but the assailant didn’t let up. White moved over and kicked her jaw, a soft crack could be heard as her face exploded with pain. She screamed, but the music was too loud for it to be heard. White grabbed a cloth and put it in her mouth, tying it to the back of her head.

“I got her,” said the pony behind her, “go kill the power!”

White got up and dusted the dirt from his clothes; casually, he started trotting toward the door. Raspberry tried to catch her breath from the fall, but the cloth was constricting it. The pony behind her took notice and loosened the cloth, air refilled her lungs and her eyes felt heavy.

“Good evening Detective,” he said in a breathy voice.

Lights began to shut off one by one, and the ponies below took notice. Raspberry tried to yell, but it was drowned out by the music which remained fully functional. “No one can hear you,” he said, “I've made sure of that!” she looked down and saw the green pony still singing as he looked up to the catwalk. “So scream my dear, scream, it won’t make any difference. You’ve lost.” Tears began to run through her eyes. Star, I’m so sorry.

White came back up from behind, “Power’s out, ready for the finale?”

“Indeed we are.” The pony lifted her up and put a knife to her throat. “An eclipse is about to run through Equestria Detective, luckily you'll sleep through it.” The knife slashed through her throat and blood trickled into her lungs, she tried to cough, but the cloth kept it in her mouth, and blood splattered out from the wound. The knife’s cold bite hit her stomach and her eyes rolled into her head.
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Star Song

Darkness washed over the room, only the small flickering of glowing horns provided any source of light. Star Song tried to look for her friends, shout for them even, but the green pony atop the stage would not stop singing. She reached out a hoof and felt someone next to her, the pony grabbed her hoof and pulled her close. “Hello?” she asked.

“Hello,” Star replied. Star Song knew that unless she found light, they would be stuck in the club for a long time. She concentrated on a spark, and light erupted from her horn. The mare holding her hoof was Daisy, and relief washed over her, until she saw that to her left was Water Flower . . .

Who was covered in blood.

Star Song bolted from her chair and leaned in over the table, “Water what the fuck happened to you?” Water Flower looked back at her fur and saw the blood leaking down her back.

“Oh what the fuck?!”

BANG!

For a brief moment, the singer stopped and everypony stared in silence at the scene. On top of Star Song’s table, was the body of her friend Raspberry Green. Star Song felt paralyzed, her heart pounded and she could only stare in terror at the body, her throat was cut open, and a hole was in her stomach. The silence was ended as Daisy a bloodcurdling scream.

The singer ran down the stairs, and ponies started scrambling to get out the door. Tears began to run down Star Song’s face and screams were yelled, but not heard. Everything was a blur. The doors were locked and ponies were scrambling for exit. The room was in complete darkness, as nopony could concentrate enough to make a glow.

Daisy’s soft sobbing could be heard faintly in the chaos. On the catwalk a pony began to bang on the railing, not many paid much attention, but Star Song looked up to see a sole horn glowing. The pony was black, and his face was covered with a mask. At the top of his lungs he began to scream, “HIT IT BOYS!”

Across the table from Star Song, she, in what little light they had, saw a pony run up to a couples table, take out a knife and slit the stallions throat, in horror she watched the mare scream as blood poured from the stallions throat onto his dinner, the pony proceeded to stab the mare in the stomach, thrusting the blade in and out. She fell from her chair and convulsed on the floor writhing in pain and desperately grabbing at the air.

Around the club shouts could be heard, Star Song grabbed Daisy and pulled her toward the back door, desperately pushing ponies out of the way. The pony on the catwalk took notice and began to laugh. “Oh no you don’t!”

Even in the loud club, Star Song heard a soft click clear as day, her body clenched up and the bang of the gunshot was the last thing she heard before her ears began to ring. Daisy opened her mouth to scream, but it was never heard. Daisy’s head exploded; brain matter and bone fragments flew all around the area covering Star Song’s face. Daisy’s body went limp and fell to the floor, Star could only look at her friend with dead eyes.

The room erupted with light as bullets flew everywhere, some ponies dropped dead on impact, others were left to suffer as bullets riddled their bodies. Blood splattered across the floor and onto the walls. Star Song tried to run but slipped on the gore and fell to ground, ponies trampled on her to get to the exit, but were mowed down. A hoof pressed down on her stomach and her ribcage cracked. Star yelled for the pony to get off her, but he wasn’t listening, a bullet tore through his back and pain erupted from Star Song’s leg as the bullet went through to her knee.

The gunshots went on until every single pony in the club lay on the ground, dismembered by bullet impact. Star Song sobbed and pushed her forehooves along the bloodied floor trying to find Water Flower, her tears burning her eyes, blinding her. Her hooves slipped on the blood and she fell onto her chest. She looked ahead a saw a masked pony trot over to her.

“Well lookie ‘ere,” he yelled, “little bitch made a fine attempt didn’t she?” Star Song turned away and tried to bury her head in her hooves. The pony kicked her back and she turned back onto her stomach. Laughing emitted from the bathroom as two ponies came out holding Brown Sugar’s head.

Star Song began to shake as another pony approached her. He leaned down to her face and began to speak, “We’re gonna have a lotta fun with you missy.”

“Let’s not be rude to our guest here boys,” said the black pony, “give ‘er a chance to speak.” He bent down to greet Star Song who could only remain speechless. The black pony became irritated and grabbed her head, in a charmingly sinister voice he said, “if you aren’t going to talk then we’ll just take you as you are, the boys will be wanting their reward.”

Star Song looked toward the black pony and tried to speak, “P-please don’t p-p-please, I don’t wanna . . .”

“Hey, hey shh, it’s okay,” leaning in closer he put his mouth to Star Song’s ear, his hot breath making her twitch, “to tell you the truth, the boys don’t really like their girls alive.”

The black pony began to chuckle softly as the only pony unmasked, a white earth pony, began to smirk. Star Song mumbled incoherently as the white pony held her hooves above her head. The black one approached and put the knife to her throat and slid it across the skin. The white one began to speak, but Star Song couldn’t hear, for the pain was too much for her to bear. “. . . not quite quick enough eh?” A gun pressed against Star Song’s forehead, a shot fired and her world went black.