The Collectorby Pixel bronyChaptersDollsThe Investigation StartsPicturesMethodsDolls“C’mon, guys! We’re supposed to be at Zecora’s!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Quit worrying, Sweetie Belle! We’ll head over to Zecora’s once we find whoever is out here!” Scootaloo replied. “And who are we looking for out here for anyway?” Applebloom asked, “You said you heard somepony, but I don’t hear anything!” Scootaloo stopped, and looked at her earth pony friend with scowl. “What are you talking about? How can you not hear him? I’ve been hearing him for a while now!” “Hearing who? I haven’t heard a single pony besides you and Sweetie Belle since we came in here!” Applebloom said, putting her face up against Scootaloo, “And I think you’re just doing this to try and scare us!” “No I’m not! I heard somepony, and you’re just saying you don’t because you’re afraid of the forest!” “Am not!” “Are too!” “Am not!” “Are too!” As the pair of fillies argument became nothing more than a shouting contest, Sweetie Belle looked on from the side. Giving a hopeless sigh at her companions meaningless argument, the filly plopped onto her haunches. “Always ends the same. Those two are way too headstrong.” The filly concluded with a nod. As Sweetie Belle sat, watching the argument turn into a name-calling contest, she heard a faint whisper from behind her. “Hello there.” Sweetie shot onto all fours with a shriek. With panic filled eyes, the unicorn filly spun around and looked for the source of the voice. Looking around the foliage, she saw nothing. Through the foliage, however, the filly saw something. A small hill, obscured by the trees, with a stump at the top with something sitting on it. Curiosity overwhelming her fear for the moment, the filly started walking toward the clearing. A hoof on her shoulder made her jump. Turning, she saw the concerned face of Applebloom. “What’s the matter Sweetie? We heard you scream, but you were just standing there staring off into space when we looked.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo said, walking over to the other side of Sweetie Belle, “You see something, or, better yet, hear somepony?” “Oh, give it up Scoots,” Applebloom groaned, letting her hoof fall of Sweetie’s shoulder, “There is nopony out here! Just let it–” “I heard somepony, Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle Interrupted, then pointed a hoof toward the clearing, “Look…” Looking where their friend was pointing, Applebloom’s eyes widened at the sight while Scootaloo’s face grew a smirk. “Told you somepony was out here!” Scootaloo yelled triumphantly, running toward the clearing. “Scootaloo wait! It might be dangerous!” Applebloom yelled, running off after her. “Wait for me!” Sweetie Belle said, hesitantly trotting after the pair. Scootaloo reached the hill, her wings flapping excitedly. “Hey!” The pegasus yelled at the slumped figure on the stump, “I found you! I knew somepony was out here– Whoa!” Tripping halfway up the hill, Scootaloo found her face buried in the dirt. Catching up, Applebloom snickered as she approached her friend. “That’s what you get for running off like that,” Applebloom quipped. “Shut up!” the pegasus responded as she stood up, and continued on her way up the hill. Shaking her head, the earth pony followed her friend up the hill. Getting closer to the stump at the top, Applebloom noticed something about the figure atop it. “Hey Scoots, I don’t think that’s a pony…” Applebloom said worryingly. Stopping, Scootaloo gave a confused look towards her friend. Turning to look at the figure again, Scootaloo’s confusion tripled. “A doll?” Sweetie Belle said disbelievingly, as she caught up with her friends near the stump. “But I swore I heard somepony!” Scootaloo yelled, moving up to get a better look at the doll. The doll sat upright on the stump, its pure white button eyes staring out at the world. Two small pointy ears pointed towards the sky, like a ponies. The doll’s entire body was a worn brown, with four appendages sticking out of the skinny looking middle. The bottom two looked to be styled after a large dogs. Although the top two were overly long, stretching past the bottom two, almost to the ground. Ending with long spindly claws, like Spike’s, but not. “Its a really ugly doll if you ask me,” Applebloom said with a deadpan stare at the doll. “But I heard somepony out here! I swear I did!” Yelled Scootaloo with an indignant expression on her face, “Hey! Whoevers out there! Show yourselves!” She yelled toward the forest. “C’mon, Scoots. Thats enough,” Applebloom said with an irritated look on her face, “Maybe you did hear somepony, maybe ya didn’t. Lets just go to Zecora’s so we can try to get our cutie marks in something.” “Maybe you’re right,” Scootaloo said with a sigh, before looking at the doll with a scowl, “But I’m taking this doll!” “What?” Sweetie squeaked, “Why?” “I followed a voice out here, I’m getting something out of it!” Grabbing the doll, Scootaloo shoved it into her saddle bags. “Whatever, lets just get to Zecora’s,” Applebloom sighed. “I can safely say, potion making is definitely not our talent,” Sweetie Belle said with an affirmative nod, her fur and mane dotted with black scorch marks. The other two made sounds of agreement as they trudged along, similar marks adorning their coat. As the three walked nearing Sweet Apple Acres, a pair of familiar, arrogant, voices made themselves known. “On my, look at the blank flanks Silver Spoon, all covered in gunk. Again,” The first voice giggled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were, like, trying to become zebras,” A second voice added. The three fillies stopped and groaned. Turning their heads, the trio saw Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon trotting toward them. “Ugh, go away you two. We’ve been having a rough day. Leave us alone,” Applebloom tried to reason. “Why should we do that?” Diamond Tiara scoffed, “We give you blank flanks a day off, you all might start to think you’re, like, normal.” “Yeah, as ponies say, give an inch, and they’ll take a mile,” Silver Spoon added. “Hey!” Scootaloo yelled, spinning on the par causing them to stop in their tracks, “Just because we haven’t gotten our cutie marks yet, doesn’t mean were not normal! You both used to be blank flanks!” “Yeah, used to,” Diamond Tiara scoffed, “Now that we have ours, it makes us ten times the ponies you are!” “Yeah,” silver Spoon giggled as she went to walk past Scootaloo, “So get used to it blank fl– Ouch!” Jumping away from Scootaloo, silver looked down to her side. Three long cuts ran horizontally down her side, bleeding lightly. “You hurt Silver Spoon!” Diamond Tiara yelled in Scootaloo’s face. “What?! No I-” Scootaloo started to say “I’m telling my Daddy!” Diamond yelled, interrupting Scootaloo. The snooty pink filly turned and ran away, a Confused Silver Spoon following shortly after. While the three remaining fillies stared after the retreating pair, neither noticed the claw hanging out of a hole in the pegasus’ saddle bag. Nor did they notice it pull itself back in. “Grandma! I’m home!” Yelled Scootaloo as she closed the front door behind her. “Welcome home, Scoots.” An elderly voice called from the kitchen to the fillies right. “Dinners just about done, go get washed up.” “Okay, Grandma!” The filly replied, heading up the stairs. Turning left off the stairs, the filly headed straight toward her room. Opening the door, the filly flung her saddlebags off toward her bed, landing with a muffled thump. Turning around, and heading back to the stairs. Not even getting three steps, a second thump made the filly stop. With a quizzical glance back, the filly caught sight of the doll laying upside down at the foot of the bed. “Oh, I forgot about you,” The filly said with a frown. Walking over to the doll, the filly picked it up and studied it. “Ugh, you are creepy,” She said with a frown. Looking over the doll again, she noticed something she hadn’t before. A tag, tied to the dolls neck with a piece of string. With a hoof, she brought the tag closer to her eyes. With a raised eyebrow, she started to read what was written. ‘I sit upon my stump, Right upon my rump, Calling out to any who will hear, Hoping to catch their ear, If by some chance, Some find me by happenstance, I am the Collector, and I will be your protector. Do not take this lightly, I am not very sightly, My methods are ghastly, But they work vastly. I am the Collector, and I love you.’ “That’s not creepy at all,” Scootaloo deadpanned. “Scootaloo! Dinners ready!” Yelled the elderly voice. “Coming Grandma!” Scootaloo yelled, tossing the doll on top of her dresser to the right of her bed. Closing the door behind her as she trotted out of the room, the filly headed toward the stairs. Not even three steps away from the door, a loud thump came from behind the closed door. With a quizzical glance at the door, the filly made to turn around. “Scootaloo, hurry up!” Yelled the elderly voice, “I’m not going to call for you again!” “Sorry Grandma!” The filly yelled, turning around and trotting for the stairs again. In short time, the filly rounded the banister and hopped down the stairs. When the filly was out of sight, the bedroom door clicked and slowly started to open. A large pure white eye peered through the crack in the door, silhouetted by disfigured light brown head. Slowly, the door shut closed again. “G’night Grandma!” The orange filly yawned, as she entered her room. “‘Night, Scoots!” The elderly voice called back. Shutting the door, the filly turned and made her way to her bed. Wrangling her way up on it, the filly turned toward a small bed side table next to the head of the bed. Sitting on top of the table, was a simple photo frame. The photograph itself was worn, with small stains, and burned on one edge. The photograph depicted two ponies with a bundle of white cloth between them. The smaller of the two, obviously female, was beautiful. She had a purple mane, and a green coat. The male had an orange coat and wings, his mane a dark shade of blue. Their faces held nothing but pure happiness. “G’night, Mom. G’night, Dad,” She said with a small yawn, stretching her neck to kiss the frame afterwards. Turning away from the photograph, the filly stretched the rest of her body. When that was done, she lifted up the covers and slipped underneath. With a clap of her hooves, the lights in the room dimmed to darkness. Leaving the only source of light to the Moon that flooded into the room through the window. The only object left untouched by the light, was the dresser. The light appeared to bend around it. Not even noticing the weirdness surrounding the dresser, the filly continued to find sleep. Shifting for a little while, the filly finally found a comfortable position. After a few minutes, a light snore started to escape the filly’s lips. Soon, the snores abated, and the room was quite. Then, a slight crackling noise paired with rustling cloth filled the room. As the noise continued, two orbs of white appeared above the fillies dresser, and began to rise. As the noise grew in volume, the orbs continued to rise toward the ceiling. Suddenly, a light brown hand reached down from atop the dresser toward the floor. The hand had only three long, fleshy digits, that all ended with a metal scissor half. Soon after the first, a second claw descended from the dresser. Following soon after, two canine like legs landed in between the claws. As the figure entered the moonlight, the light seemed to bend around it, concealing its middle and head in darkness. The only thing that was visible on the head, were the two unblinking white orbs. Moving slowly, a claw reached toward the unaware filly. Turning its hand around, it began to gently stroke the filly’s mane. The filly giggled, making the creature retreat its hand in response. The filly sighed, and remained still. The figure remained as still as a statue, seeming staring at the filly with its pure white orbs. After a short time, the figure turned toward the window. After only two steps, the figure reached out with one of its long arms and opened the window. With a glance back at the filly, the creature disappeared through the window. “Ugh, I can’t believe this!” Diamond Tiara seethed, pacing around her bed, “First the blank flank good-for-nothing pegasus hurts silver, then my Dad doesn’t even do anything about it!” Kicking a stuffed bunny across the room, Diamond Tiara stomped her way towards her bed. “Oh, they’re going to pay!” Diamond screeched, “I’ll make them pay, even if I have to do it myself!” With a small jump, the filly made her way atop her plush bed. With a few mutterings of revenge, the filly reached for a switch on the wall. Flicking it, the lights in the room was replaced with the moonlight streaming into the room weakly through the balcony door. With a few more mutterings, the filly crawled under the covers. Tossing for a few minutes, the filly finally remained still. Then a loud click echoed through the room. Raising her head, the filly looked toward the balcony. The doors laid wide open, a slight breeze ruffling the curtains. With a groan, the filly threw off her covers, and hopped of the bed. Marching toward the balcony, the filly muttered about adding the balcony doors to her revenge list. Pushing them closed, one door at a time, the filly locked them. Trotting back to her bed, she hopped back up and settled back into her position. Just as the filly was starting to doze off, a pressure on the other side of her bed made itself known. The filly soon found three long fingers gripping her neck. With a rough yank the filly found herself torn from her bed, and her eyes staring into two pools of pure white. “Hellloo there…” The figure rasped in a light tone. Diamond wanted to scream for help, but the circumstances caused her to be mute. Movement to her left drew her attention away from the orbs. In the creature’s other hand, pinned between two of its fingers, was a doll. A very familiar looking doll. Holding it further into the moonlight, Diamond finally saw it for what it was. It was a doll of Silver Spoon, her friend. ‘Why would this creature have a doll of Silver Spoon?’ Daimond thought. The creature gave the doll a light squeeze. “Help me, Diamond,” Came Silver’s panicked voice from the doll, “It hurts.” Staring at the doll in confusion, something clicked in Diamond’s mind. ‘Thats not a doll of Silver,’ Diamond though, ‘It is Silver!’ Diamond’s voice returned in full, shrieking a bloodcurdling scream. Morning found Scootaloo in a good mood. Waking up with a light yawn, the filly stretched her extremities. Rolling of the bed onto the floor, the filly landed on her hooves. Lazily trotting toward the door, the filly yawned again. Opening the door once she reached, the smell of pancakes assaulted her nose. “Pancakes!” The filly yelled excitedly, running out of the room. What the filly failed to notice in her rush, was the two extra dolls on the dresser. One of a pink filly wearing a tiara, and one grey with glasses. The Investigation Starts“So what do you guys wanna do today?” Sweetie Belle asked, as she climbed the ramp to their clubhouse. “I dunno,” Yawned applebloom from the top of the ramp, “A nap sounds nice. Somepony came pounding on our door last night, yelling about something or other.” “Sounds serious,” Sweetie commented, cresting the top of the ramp. “You’re telling me. Applejack was in all sorts of a frazzled tizzy this morning. Wouldn’t even let me leave the house, till you and Rarity showed up.” “Now that you mention it, Rarity was acting a bit weird this morning.” Sweetie Belle said, finishing with a giggle, “Well, weirder than normal that is.” “What ever happened, must’ve been bad to make them both act like that.” “What do you think happened?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Dunno. Every time I asked, Applejack would just hug me and tell me not to worry.” “If its important they would tell us, right?” Sweetie Belle asked with a nervous squeak. The only reply the unicorn received was a half hearted shrug. Sitting in silence for a bit, the two sat and watched the world around them. A slight wind blew through the trees, making the leaves dance on their branches. The leaves themselves were starting to change into multitudes of different colors, telling that fall was upon them. As the pair sat and watched the world in content silence, a loud buzzing sound grew in the distance. “Scoots is here,” Applebloom said. “Yep. Late as usual for a Sunday.” The white filly commented. As the pair chuckled over the small joke, the figure of their pegasus friend grew in the distance. Riding atop her cherry red scooter, Scootaloo rapidly approached the clubhouse. Making a sharp turn with the scooter, the filly came to a screeching halt next to the ramp. “Morning guys! Sorry I’m late!” Scootaloo yelled up at her friends, taking of her helmet off as well, “But y’know. Grandma only makes pancakes on Sundays, so I make sure to get my fill.” With nods of understanding from the other two, the orange filly trotted up the ramp. “So whats on today's agenda?” Scootaloo asked, reaching the top of the ramp. “Not much. I’m not allowed to leave the farm today,” Applebloom replied. “And I was told to stay with Applebloom today,” Sweetie Added. “What for? What did you do?” Scootaloo questioned with raised eyebrows. “I didn’t do anything,” Applebloom replied with a touch of annoyance, “Something happened last night. I don’t know what, but its got the grown ups all shook up.” Just as Scootaloo was about to open her muzzle, a familiar voice to the trio called over the trees. “That’s Applejack,” Applebloom confirmed, “Wonder whats shes yelling for.” “You think shes calling for us?” Sweetie asked. “Most likely,” Applebloom answered, heading for the ramp, “Only one way to find out though.” After descending the ramp, Scootaloo mounted the scooter while the other two pulled a little red wagon from behind the ramp. Hooking the wagon to the scooter, the three doned their helmets. Buzzing her wings, scootaloo propelled the scooter and the attached wagon down the dirt path heading towards the farmhouse. At the farmhouse, a haggard Applejack paced in front of the front porch, her friend Rarity watching her friend carve a rut into the soil. “Applejack, you must calm down,” Rarity pleaded in a tired voice, “I’m sure the girls are fine, it is a long walk between here and the clubhouse.” With a sigh, the farmer came to a stop. “I know, Rares. It just… with what happened to those poor fillies…” Applejack gubbled, “I can’t help but feel worried.” “Thats natural,” A voice called from the front door, “It would worry me if you didn’t, considering what's happened.” Stepping from out of the doorway, a light blue unicorn stallion with a silver mane stepped out. Hanging from a string around his neck, a small badge swayed as he walked. He wore an easy smile as he walked out, his saddlebags bulging on one side with a red and white cloth hanging out. “I see Granny gave you some food,” Applejack smiled. “Yes,” He chuckled, “Apparently, I’m ‘Thinner than cider dumped into a pool’.” The stallion got a small chuckle out of the pair. Before they could continue their conversation, a small buzzing filled the air. “What's that?” The stallion asked, looking around with a confused expression. “That would be the girls, Detective,” Rarity said with a sigh of relief. “Ah, good,” The stallion replied, “And you can just call me Lawful, Ms. Rarity.” With a nod from the alabaster unicorn, the three waited as the buzzing grew louder. After a few seconds, an orange pegasus filly riding a scooter pulling a red wagon containing two other fillies approached the trio. Coming to a screeching stop, the three fillies dismounted the scooter and wagon. Cautiously, the fillies approached the three grown-ups. Stepping forward, the stallion offered a smile to the three fillies. “Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo, this is Detective Lawful. Hes here to ask you a few questions,” Rarity said to the fillies. A few mumbled hellos came from the fillies. “You can just call me Lawful,” The Stallion said, “Oh, and Scootaloo, one of my co-workers has already talked to your Grandma. She said it was okay to talk to me, okay?” “Okay,” Scootaloo responded, with a hint of curiosity. Sitting down on his haunches, the stallion’s horn lit up as a writing pad and pen floated out of his saddle bags. “Okay, I’m going to start off easy, okay?” The Stallion asked with a smile, receiving nods in return,” Alright, now you three are familiar with Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon, correct?” “Yeah, they bully us almost everyday,” Scootaloo huffed. “Oh? Did they do so yesterday?” The Stallion asked, his pen scratching away on the writing pad. “Yes,”Sweetie squeaked. “Did anything out of the ordinary happen when they were talking to you?” Three thought for a second. “Oh! Silver got these weird scratches on her side out of nowhere!” Applebloom said. “Yeah, then she tried to blame it on me!” Scootaloo confirmed, “I wasn’t even anywhere near her!” “I see,” The Stallion muttered, “And what happened after that?” “They ran off, yelling about telling Diamond Tiara’s dad on us,” Sweetie belle answered. “And which direction did they run in?” “Uh… East, I think,” Applebloom answered, “We were heading back to the farm, and the road runs west towards here.” “Did any of you notice anypony near by, besides yourselves, Diamond, and Silver?” The Stallion asked. “No… Nopony that we noticed,” Sweetie Belle meekly offered. “Hmm… Unless you three have anything to add, I think I’m done here,” The Stallion said, standing back up on all fours. “I don’t have anything to add, but I have a question,” Sweetie Belle said. “Alright, shoot.” The Stallion responded with a nod. “What happened to Diamond and silver?” Sweetie Belle asked, “You only asked about them, so I figured something happened. Did it?” “Do you mind if I tell them?” The Stallion asked, looking to his sides at the mares. “They’ll find out eventually,” Rarity sighed. “Eeyep,” Applejack gulped. With a sigh, the Stallion turned back towards the three fillies. “Last night, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were attacked,” The Stallion lifted a hoof in a calming gesture at the gasps he received from the fillies, “They’re in the hospital, both in a coma. The doctors say that they are both fine despite the… wounds, they received in the attack.” After the Stallion had finished, he looked towards the mares and gestured at the three shocked fillies. Without much more provocation, the two mares trotted forward, grabbing all three fillies into a group hug. “Well, I’ll leave you all to the rest of your day,” The Stallion said, and started to walk around the group. Floating out a card, and slipping it into Rarity’s saddle bags, “There’s my card, for if anything comes up.” With a nod from the fashionista, the Stallion began to walk away from the farm. “Found anything new?” Lawful asked as he entered Silver’s room. “Not really,” An earth pony stallion in a grey jacket replied from his crouched position in the middle of the room, “Nothing besides what you would expect to see from the injuries on that filly.” With a nod towards the stallion in the grey jacket, Lawful looked around the room. The walls were painted a light blue, while the floors were hardwood. Toys sat in organized piles, or chests around the room. A table and silver tea set sat in one corner of the room. The room was surprisingly clean and orderly, besides the small traces of blood spatter throughout the room. In the center, a small distance from the bed, a small puddle of blood soaked into the carpet. “Do we know how whoever did this got into the room?” Lawful asked. “Yep,” The stallion in the grey jacket responded from his spot by the puddle. The room lapsed into silence as Lawful stared at the grey jacketed stallion. “Well?” Lawful asked impatiently. “Hold on,” The grey jacketed stallion responded, “Theres some wierd pieces of something mixed with the blood.” After a few seconds, the grey jacketed stallion stood up from the puddle. A pair of tweezers were in his mouth, and a tube with small red colored blobs inside it. Sealing the tube with his free hoof, the stallion put the tube in his saddle bags. “Alright, how they got in,” The stallion muttered, turning towards Lawful, “Well, there were no signs of forced entry anywhere in the house,” The stallion said, walking towards the window, “But, I did find scratch marks on the window.” “Oh?” Lawful said, following behind. “Yeah, I had a pegasus patrol pony check the wall outside, and she found a few leading all the way down to the ground below the window.” The stallion explained, stopping next to the window. Opening said window, the stallion pointed to three pieces of tape with a number next to three different scratches ending in gouges. Leaning his head out of the window, Lawful saw the series of numbered tape marks all the way down to the ground below. Pulling his head back slightly, Lawful looked closely at the marks. The scratches were not that deep, and were very long. The gouge at the end closest to the inside, were thin, but deep. “We can rule out a pony doing this,” Lawful stated. “How do you figure that?” The other stallion asked. “Well, the window is on the second story, so that rules out an earth pony. A unicorn might have teleported in, but we didn’t find any magical burns anywhere. A pegasus would have just opened the window, but would lack the dexterity of the wounds inflicted, as would an earth pony. A unicorn might have been able to float themselves up here, but floating yourself is a hard task in of itself. Add opening a window to that, and it rules out most unicorns in the area,” Lawful paused to look at the scratches, “And these add a whole new factor. The first thing that comes to mind, is a diamond dog, seeing as they go all they way up from the ground. But diamond dogs capture ponies to use as slave labor, they don’t kill them. Next would be a griffon. They could have flown up here, or climbed, and used their talons to open the window. But the marks are way too thin to be from a diamond dog, or a griffon. They look to be from a knife, or some similar object.” Stepping away from the window, Lawful took a look around the room. “If it was a griffon, maybe using a type of climbing gear to throw us off?” Lawful asked, “Coroner, what can you tell me about the blood?” “Well, the spatter is to expected, but its really high up,” The stallion, now known as Coroner responded, “The puddle, while it is also from where the filly bleed out, it is also gravitational. Which means she was held up in the air as she bleed.” “About how high up?”Lawful asked. “Oh… one, one and a half meters, I’m guessing.” “Hmm… A griffon, even sitting on their haunches would only come up to one meter at eye level. To get that high, they would have to be flying. A diamond dog could have done it from that height when standing, but they would have to balance on their hind legs for a long time, and seeing as they are built top heavy, it wouldn’t work...” Lapsing into contemplative silence, Lawful looked around the room. Eyeing all the blood splatter, Lawful began to notice something. Walking to stand in front of the bed, he looked the slightly ruffled sheets over. “Theres no blood on the bed,” Lawful stated, “The perp must have been standing in front of it.” “I could have told you that, all the blood is on the other side of the room,” Coroner added. “Its just… ugh, I don’t know,” Lawful sighed, turning to look at Coroner, “A lot of things just won’t add up right now.” “Well, you have been up since three A.M.,” Coroner stated, “Go get some lunch, take a nap if you can, and then look at it all again.” “Thats not a bad idea,” Lawful thought, then sighed, “I need to head to the Hospital first, get the medical reports, and meet up with Night.” “Go do all that, then get some lunch with Night,” Coroner shrugged, “All I know is that I have a lot to do here, and you have things to go do. So, get.” Lawful shook his head at Coroner’s antics, then turned and left the room. Pictures Entering Ponyville Hospital, Lawful made his way towards the reception desk. “Welcome, how can I help you today?” A mare with a white coat and a red mane asked from behind the desk. “I need to talk to the doctor in charge of the fillies brought in this morning,” Lawful flashed his badge. “Right away, officer.” Humming in a nonchalant way, the mare turned and opened a white folder behind her. Lawful yawned as the mare flipped through the folder. Pulling out a pocket watch from his saddle bags, Lawful clicked it open. Looking down at it, he saw that it was a little past noon. With a sigh, he floated it back into his bag. “Here we are,” The mare called out, pulling a piece of paper out of the folder, “Second floor, room two thirty-seven. Doctor Tender Heart is looking over them.” “Thank you,” Lawful said as the mare turned to face him. Turning away from the desk, Lawful began trotting towards a door on the far left of the reception area. A sign above the door read ‘Stairs’. Taking the stairs up to the next floor, Lawful exited the stairwell. More signs on the wall guided him towards the correct room. After a small walk, he arrived at the door marked two thirty-seven. The door was slightly ajar. A distraught voice greeted his ears as he got near. “-I heard her scream, then ran straight to her room,” A male voice talked somberly, as a mare cried in the background, “As I ran, I could h-hear more screaming. It took me so damn long to get there… When I finally got to her door, a few servants were were trying to buck the door down. I never should have got her that damn dead bolt! I-If I hadn’t, then maybe we would have gotten to her quicker!” “Calm down, Mr. rich,” A third voice said gently, “Your daughters safe, thats the important thing.” Knocking gently with his fetlock, Lawful entered the room slowly. A disheveled light brown stallion sat at the end of a hospital bed on his haunches, slightly glaring at him. with her head and front hooves on the bed, a dark purple mare with a pink and white mane cried. On the bed sat Diamond Tiara, covered with bandages and hooked up to a number of machines. By the wall to his right, sat a light blue pegasus mare. In one hoof she held a notepad, in the other she held a pen. With a nod towards the pegasus mare, he closed the door and walked over by her. “Mr. Rich, Mrs Rich, this is my partner Detective Lawful,” the pegasus mare said with a nod towards him, as he turned and sat sat next to her. “Sorry for walking in like I did,” Lawful said with apologetically, “I know its a hard time for you.” “Its… Its alright,” Mr rich said with a sigh, losing the glare he held Lawful with, “Lets continue, shall we?” With a nod from the pegasus, Mr. Rich continued. “The, um… screams continued, as I joined in to get the door down. When it finally broke open, I rushed in, a-and… she was laying in a puddle of blood, and I saw some… thing jump out the window.” “Some ‘thing’?” The pegasus mare asked, “Could you elaborate, please?” “It was… big. Bigger than any creature I’ve ever seen. I didn’t get a good look at it. It was too fast. My main concern was my daughter, at the moment. One of the servants who was a pegasus jumped out of the window after it. He wasn’t able to find it.” “Was there anything else you remember? Anything out of the ordinary?” The mare asked. “Not that I can think of,” Mr. rich responded, looking at the floor, “I wish there was, but…” “I understand,” the mare said, putting her note pad and pencil in her saddlebags, “If you think of anything else, you already have my card. Even if you just want to talk about it, don’t hesitate to contact me.” With a nod towards Lawful, the mare got up and walked towards the door. “We’ll do our best to get the monster who did this,” Lawful said, standing up as well. With a nod, Mr. Rich shuffled towards the mare crying next to bed. The pegasus mare opened the door, and the pair left the room. Closing the door, they made their way towards the stairs. The pair sat down at their conjoined desks, a brown bag in their respective holds. “You have the doctors report for both of them, right?” Lawful asked. “Yep, right here,” Wingston replied, opening her bag with a wing and pulling out a file folder. “Alright, you look at these yourself?” Lawful asked, grabbing the folder with his magic. “Wish I didn’t have to, but I did,” Wingston said, pulling a sandwich out of the bag, “Who ever did that, has to be one screwed up individual.” “I wouldn’t disagree,” Lawful muttered, opening the top folder first. It was Diamond Tiara’s. The first thing that caught his eye, were the pictures. The pictures showed all aspects of the fillies body. The first showed the filly on her back, legs spread to her sides. An oblong section of fur and skin had been systematically cut of. It spanned almost entirely across her back and went down her legs. The removed portion of flesh was large enough to include all of her cutie mark. Grimacing, he moved onto the next photo. It showed the filly on her side, her legs lifted up to show her underside. Again, what appeared to be a single cut of flesh was removed. Lawful’s eyes squinted in recognition. Opening silver Spoon’s file, Lawful looked at the pictures here as well. “No…” Lawful muttered, dropping the folder on his desk and falling to his haunches. “What is it?” Wingston asked worriedly.” “The cuts… the removed skin… Its…” “Its what?” “Doll patterns.” Methods“Thanks for letting us stay the night here, Applejack,” Sweetie Belle yawned from atop the bed. “Yeah, thanks sis,” Applebloom said, pulling the comforter over her. “No problem, sugarcubes,” Applejack smiled, standing up from her position on the floor. “Yeah, I know I would have been fine at home, but I knew you guys would need me in case anything happened,” Scootaloo proclaimed, receiving eye rolls from the other ponies in the room. “Sure, sure,” Applejack chuckled. As the three fillies all got under the covers and found comfortable positions, Applejack walked towards the door. “Alright girls, you get some sleep, and if you need anything, just holler. I won’t be too far away,” Applejack said, flicking the light switch with her hoof, “G’night.” “Wait!” Applebloom yelled as her sister moved to close the door, “C-could you leave the hall light on, and the door open a bit?” Applebloom asked meekly. “Please?” Sweetie Belle weakly added. Scootaloo remained silent, but looked at Applejack with a pleading look. “Sure,” Applejack responded with a small smile. Closing the door to where it remained only a quarter of the way open, Applejack turned away, bumping into Big Mac in the process. Blinking a bit from the collision, Applejack looked up at her brother with a raised eyebrow. With a small jerk of his head, Big Mac drew attention to the pillow and blanket sitting on his back. With a smile, Applejack looked to the side of the bedroom door where another pillow and blanket sat. With a silent nod to each other, the siblings went to left and right of the door. Placing their pillows next to the door frame and draping the blankets over themselves, the pair settled in for that night's’ vigil. As time passed, the elder pair fell into sleeps embrace, and the house lapsed into silence. Suddenly and slowly, the window at the end of the hall began to slide open. When it was all the way open, two long, brown limbs snaked their way onto the floor. Soon followed by a head, with two bright white orbs where eyes should be. Ever so gently, the creature brought in its hind legs and lowered them to the floor, making nary a sound. Once its entire body was inside, it moved its head as if looking around. When the white orbs landed on the pair by the bedroom door, it cocked its head. Slowly and quietly, the creature moved towards them. Stopping right next to Applejack, it leaned its head towards hers. As it stared at her with its unblinking white orbs, it moved a scissor ended claw towards her mane. With a deft movement of its claw, it snipped a lock of her mane off. Grabbing the hair as it floated towards the floor, it moved its head away from her and slinked towards the big red stallion. Bringing its face close to the stallions, it snipped a portion of Big Mac’s mane as well. Standing back up to its full height, it brought the hair towards its face. With a sound of stretching thread, its mouth opened. Inside the mouth were lined with sewing needles the top and bottom of it mouth. With an intake of air, the hair flew into its mouth. Closing its mouth slowly, it tilted its head back in a swallowing motion. Without pause, the creature moved towards the bedroom door. Opening the door slightly with a claw, it moved into the room. As it moved into the room, its head snapped towards the bed. Stepping towards the bed slowly, the orbs looked over the three fillies. When its orbs landed on Scootaloo, it slowly leaned forward, its left claw snipping small portions of the fillies manes. Its right reached out towards Scootaloo. “Don’t you dare touch those fillies,” Halting its movements, the creature slowly turned around. Standing in the doorway, Big Mac glared at the creature, his hooves spread and head lowered, “You step away from them right now.” Bringing its left claw towards its face, its mouth stretched open, quickly inhaling the hair. The creatures eyes then seemed to focus on the red stallion before it. Big Mac twitched as the bright white orbs centered on him, but still held his ground. The creature then began to stretch its claws towards the floor. It raised its head, and took one step towards the stallion. Keeping his posture, Big Mac watched a the creature neared him. Then, when it was but one step away, Big Mac spun and his hind legs shot out. As his legs reached where the creature was, he expected to feel his legs smack into it. Instead, he felt one of the creatures claws wrap around one of his back hooves. With a strong pull, Big Mac felt himself being yanked off of his hooves. As the claw easily lifted his weight, Big Mac felt the other claw wrap around his neck. The claw holding his leg let go, and Big Mac found himself being pulled towards the creatures face. Looking at the creature, Big Mac found his vision filled with the bright white of the creatures eyes. “Hello there…” The creature rasped in a growl. Before big Mac knew what was happening, he felt a sharp pain ring out all across his back. Then he felt it on his stomach. He couldn’t even find the time to scream as razor sharp pain rang out all across his broad sides. As sudden as it began, it stopped. Not even realizing his eyes had shut, he willed them open to see what had happened. What he saw made him wish he hadn’t. The creatures mouth was wide open, the needles burying themselves into a red fabric at blinding speeds. Big Mac’s eyes widened at a small realization. His eyes hesitantly looked down. Most of his skin and fur was removed. Movement to his front brought his attention back to the creature. Its claw was reaching into its mouth. Pulling its claw back out, it held the fabric, his fur, between two fingers. Looking back at the creature, he saw thats its mouth was open wide. Big Mac then began to spasm. After a few seconds, Big Mac’s mouth open wide, and a white light shot out and into the creatures mouth. Snapping its mouth shut, it dropped Big Mac from his grasp. The red stallion hit the ground with a wet thump. A loud scream sounded from behind the creature. From behind the creature, Applebloom sat upright in the bed, her scream waking the other two. With a glance over its shoulder, the creature crouched and jumped forward. “What in tar-” Applejack burst into the room, mid yell, to be bowled over and sent smashing into the far wall. The creature ran past the dazed Applejack, and smashed through the partially open window.
Dolls“C’mon, guys! We’re supposed to be at Zecora’s!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Quit worrying, Sweetie Belle! We’ll head over to Zecora’s once we find whoever is out here!” Scootaloo replied. “And who are we looking for out here for anyway?” Applebloom asked, “You said you heard somepony, but I don’t hear anything!” Scootaloo stopped, and looked at her earth pony friend with scowl. “What are you talking about? How can you not hear him? I’ve been hearing him for a while now!” “Hearing who? I haven’t heard a single pony besides you and Sweetie Belle since we came in here!” Applebloom said, putting her face up against Scootaloo, “And I think you’re just doing this to try and scare us!” “No I’m not! I heard somepony, and you’re just saying you don’t because you’re afraid of the forest!” “Am not!” “Are too!” “Am not!” “Are too!” As the pair of fillies argument became nothing more than a shouting contest, Sweetie Belle looked on from the side. Giving a hopeless sigh at her companions meaningless argument, the filly plopped onto her haunches. “Always ends the same. Those two are way too headstrong.” The filly concluded with a nod. As Sweetie Belle sat, watching the argument turn into a name-calling contest, she heard a faint whisper from behind her. “Hello there.” Sweetie shot onto all fours with a shriek. With panic filled eyes, the unicorn filly spun around and looked for the source of the voice. Looking around the foliage, she saw nothing. Through the foliage, however, the filly saw something. A small hill, obscured by the trees, with a stump at the top with something sitting on it. Curiosity overwhelming her fear for the moment, the filly started walking toward the clearing. A hoof on her shoulder made her jump. Turning, she saw the concerned face of Applebloom. “What’s the matter Sweetie? We heard you scream, but you were just standing there staring off into space when we looked.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo said, walking over to the other side of Sweetie Belle, “You see something, or, better yet, hear somepony?” “Oh, give it up Scoots,” Applebloom groaned, letting her hoof fall of Sweetie’s shoulder, “There is nopony out here! Just let it–” “I heard somepony, Applebloom,” Sweetie Belle Interrupted, then pointed a hoof toward the clearing, “Look…” Looking where their friend was pointing, Applebloom’s eyes widened at the sight while Scootaloo’s face grew a smirk. “Told you somepony was out here!” Scootaloo yelled triumphantly, running toward the clearing. “Scootaloo wait! It might be dangerous!” Applebloom yelled, running off after her. “Wait for me!” Sweetie Belle said, hesitantly trotting after the pair. Scootaloo reached the hill, her wings flapping excitedly. “Hey!” The pegasus yelled at the slumped figure on the stump, “I found you! I knew somepony was out here– Whoa!” Tripping halfway up the hill, Scootaloo found her face buried in the dirt. Catching up, Applebloom snickered as she approached her friend. “That’s what you get for running off like that,” Applebloom quipped. “Shut up!” the pegasus responded as she stood up, and continued on her way up the hill. Shaking her head, the earth pony followed her friend up the hill. Getting closer to the stump at the top, Applebloom noticed something about the figure atop it. “Hey Scoots, I don’t think that’s a pony…” Applebloom said worryingly. Stopping, Scootaloo gave a confused look towards her friend. Turning to look at the figure again, Scootaloo’s confusion tripled. “A doll?” Sweetie Belle said disbelievingly, as she caught up with her friends near the stump. “But I swore I heard somepony!” Scootaloo yelled, moving up to get a better look at the doll. The doll sat upright on the stump, its pure white button eyes staring out at the world. Two small pointy ears pointed towards the sky, like a ponies. The doll’s entire body was a worn brown, with four appendages sticking out of the skinny looking middle. The bottom two looked to be styled after a large dogs. Although the top two were overly long, stretching past the bottom two, almost to the ground. Ending with long spindly claws, like Spike’s, but not. “Its a really ugly doll if you ask me,” Applebloom said with a deadpan stare at the doll. “But I heard somepony out here! I swear I did!” Yelled Scootaloo with an indignant expression on her face, “Hey! Whoevers out there! Show yourselves!” She yelled toward the forest. “C’mon, Scoots. Thats enough,” Applebloom said with an irritated look on her face, “Maybe you did hear somepony, maybe ya didn’t. Lets just go to Zecora’s so we can try to get our cutie marks in something.” “Maybe you’re right,” Scootaloo said with a sigh, before looking at the doll with a scowl, “But I’m taking this doll!” “What?” Sweetie squeaked, “Why?” “I followed a voice out here, I’m getting something out of it!” Grabbing the doll, Scootaloo shoved it into her saddle bags. “Whatever, lets just get to Zecora’s,” Applebloom sighed. “I can safely say, potion making is definitely not our talent,” Sweetie Belle said with an affirmative nod, her fur and mane dotted with black scorch marks. The other two made sounds of agreement as they trudged along, similar marks adorning their coat. As the three walked nearing Sweet Apple Acres, a pair of familiar, arrogant, voices made themselves known. “On my, look at the blank flanks Silver Spoon, all covered in gunk. Again,” The first voice giggled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were, like, trying to become zebras,” A second voice added. The three fillies stopped and groaned. Turning their heads, the trio saw Diamond Tiara and Silver spoon trotting toward them. “Ugh, go away you two. We’ve been having a rough day. Leave us alone,” Applebloom tried to reason. “Why should we do that?” Diamond Tiara scoffed, “We give you blank flanks a day off, you all might start to think you’re, like, normal.” “Yeah, as ponies say, give an inch, and they’ll take a mile,” Silver Spoon added. “Hey!” Scootaloo yelled, spinning on the par causing them to stop in their tracks, “Just because we haven’t gotten our cutie marks yet, doesn’t mean were not normal! You both used to be blank flanks!” “Yeah, used to,” Diamond Tiara scoffed, “Now that we have ours, it makes us ten times the ponies you are!” “Yeah,” silver Spoon giggled as she went to walk past Scootaloo, “So get used to it blank fl– Ouch!” Jumping away from Scootaloo, silver looked down to her side. Three long cuts ran horizontally down her side, bleeding lightly. “You hurt Silver Spoon!” Diamond Tiara yelled in Scootaloo’s face. “What?! No I-” Scootaloo started to say “I’m telling my Daddy!” Diamond yelled, interrupting Scootaloo. The snooty pink filly turned and ran away, a Confused Silver Spoon following shortly after. While the three remaining fillies stared after the retreating pair, neither noticed the claw hanging out of a hole in the pegasus’ saddle bag. Nor did they notice it pull itself back in. “Grandma! I’m home!” Yelled Scootaloo as she closed the front door behind her. “Welcome home, Scoots.” An elderly voice called from the kitchen to the fillies right. “Dinners just about done, go get washed up.” “Okay, Grandma!” The filly replied, heading up the stairs. Turning left off the stairs, the filly headed straight toward her room. Opening the door, the filly flung her saddlebags off toward her bed, landing with a muffled thump. Turning around, and heading back to the stairs. Not even getting three steps, a second thump made the filly stop. With a quizzical glance back, the filly caught sight of the doll laying upside down at the foot of the bed. “Oh, I forgot about you,” The filly said with a frown. Walking over to the doll, the filly picked it up and studied it. “Ugh, you are creepy,” She said with a frown. Looking over the doll again, she noticed something she hadn’t before. A tag, tied to the dolls neck with a piece of string. With a hoof, she brought the tag closer to her eyes. With a raised eyebrow, she started to read what was written. ‘I sit upon my stump, Right upon my rump, Calling out to any who will hear, Hoping to catch their ear, If by some chance, Some find me by happenstance, I am the Collector, and I will be your protector. Do not take this lightly, I am not very sightly, My methods are ghastly, But they work vastly. I am the Collector, and I love you.’ “That’s not creepy at all,” Scootaloo deadpanned. “Scootaloo! Dinners ready!” Yelled the elderly voice. “Coming Grandma!” Scootaloo yelled, tossing the doll on top of her dresser to the right of her bed. Closing the door behind her as she trotted out of the room, the filly headed toward the stairs. Not even three steps away from the door, a loud thump came from behind the closed door. With a quizzical glance at the door, the filly made to turn around. “Scootaloo, hurry up!” Yelled the elderly voice, “I’m not going to call for you again!” “Sorry Grandma!” The filly yelled, turning around and trotting for the stairs again. In short time, the filly rounded the banister and hopped down the stairs. When the filly was out of sight, the bedroom door clicked and slowly started to open. A large pure white eye peered through the crack in the door, silhouetted by disfigured light brown head. Slowly, the door shut closed again. “G’night Grandma!” The orange filly yawned, as she entered her room. “‘Night, Scoots!” The elderly voice called back. Shutting the door, the filly turned and made her way to her bed. Wrangling her way up on it, the filly turned toward a small bed side table next to the head of the bed. Sitting on top of the table, was a simple photo frame. The photograph itself was worn, with small stains, and burned on one edge. The photograph depicted two ponies with a bundle of white cloth between them. The smaller of the two, obviously female, was beautiful. She had a purple mane, and a green coat. The male had an orange coat and wings, his mane a dark shade of blue. Their faces held nothing but pure happiness. “G’night, Mom. G’night, Dad,” She said with a small yawn, stretching her neck to kiss the frame afterwards. Turning away from the photograph, the filly stretched the rest of her body. When that was done, she lifted up the covers and slipped underneath. With a clap of her hooves, the lights in the room dimmed to darkness. Leaving the only source of light to the Moon that flooded into the room through the window. The only object left untouched by the light, was the dresser. The light appeared to bend around it. Not even noticing the weirdness surrounding the dresser, the filly continued to find sleep. Shifting for a little while, the filly finally found a comfortable position. After a few minutes, a light snore started to escape the filly’s lips. Soon, the snores abated, and the room was quite. Then, a slight crackling noise paired with rustling cloth filled the room. As the noise continued, two orbs of white appeared above the fillies dresser, and began to rise. As the noise grew in volume, the orbs continued to rise toward the ceiling. Suddenly, a light brown hand reached down from atop the dresser toward the floor. The hand had only three long, fleshy digits, that all ended with a metal scissor half. Soon after the first, a second claw descended from the dresser. Following soon after, two canine like legs landed in between the claws. As the figure entered the moonlight, the light seemed to bend around it, concealing its middle and head in darkness. The only thing that was visible on the head, were the two unblinking white orbs. Moving slowly, a claw reached toward the unaware filly. Turning its hand around, it began to gently stroke the filly’s mane. The filly giggled, making the creature retreat its hand in response. The filly sighed, and remained still. The figure remained as still as a statue, seeming staring at the filly with its pure white orbs. After a short time, the figure turned toward the window. After only two steps, the figure reached out with one of its long arms and opened the window. With a glance back at the filly, the creature disappeared through the window. “Ugh, I can’t believe this!” Diamond Tiara seethed, pacing around her bed, “First the blank flank good-for-nothing pegasus hurts silver, then my Dad doesn’t even do anything about it!” Kicking a stuffed bunny across the room, Diamond Tiara stomped her way towards her bed. “Oh, they’re going to pay!” Diamond screeched, “I’ll make them pay, even if I have to do it myself!” With a small jump, the filly made her way atop her plush bed. With a few mutterings of revenge, the filly reached for a switch on the wall. Flicking it, the lights in the room was replaced with the moonlight streaming into the room weakly through the balcony door. With a few more mutterings, the filly crawled under the covers. Tossing for a few minutes, the filly finally remained still. Then a loud click echoed through the room. Raising her head, the filly looked toward the balcony. The doors laid wide open, a slight breeze ruffling the curtains. With a groan, the filly threw off her covers, and hopped of the bed. Marching toward the balcony, the filly muttered about adding the balcony doors to her revenge list. Pushing them closed, one door at a time, the filly locked them. Trotting back to her bed, she hopped back up and settled back into her position. Just as the filly was starting to doze off, a pressure on the other side of her bed made itself known. The filly soon found three long fingers gripping her neck. With a rough yank the filly found herself torn from her bed, and her eyes staring into two pools of pure white. “Hellloo there…” The figure rasped in a light tone. Diamond wanted to scream for help, but the circumstances caused her to be mute. Movement to her left drew her attention away from the orbs. In the creature’s other hand, pinned between two of its fingers, was a doll. A very familiar looking doll. Holding it further into the moonlight, Diamond finally saw it for what it was. It was a doll of Silver Spoon, her friend. ‘Why would this creature have a doll of Silver Spoon?’ Daimond thought. The creature gave the doll a light squeeze. “Help me, Diamond,” Came Silver’s panicked voice from the doll, “It hurts.” Staring at the doll in confusion, something clicked in Diamond’s mind. ‘Thats not a doll of Silver,’ Diamond though, ‘It is Silver!’ Diamond’s voice returned in full, shrieking a bloodcurdling scream. Morning found Scootaloo in a good mood. Waking up with a light yawn, the filly stretched her extremities. Rolling of the bed onto the floor, the filly landed on her hooves. Lazily trotting toward the door, the filly yawned again. Opening the door once she reached, the smell of pancakes assaulted her nose. “Pancakes!” The filly yelled excitedly, running out of the room. What the filly failed to notice in her rush, was the two extra dolls on the dresser. One of a pink filly wearing a tiara, and one grey with glasses.
The Investigation Starts“So what do you guys wanna do today?” Sweetie Belle asked, as she climbed the ramp to their clubhouse. “I dunno,” Yawned applebloom from the top of the ramp, “A nap sounds nice. Somepony came pounding on our door last night, yelling about something or other.” “Sounds serious,” Sweetie commented, cresting the top of the ramp. “You’re telling me. Applejack was in all sorts of a frazzled tizzy this morning. Wouldn’t even let me leave the house, till you and Rarity showed up.” “Now that you mention it, Rarity was acting a bit weird this morning.” Sweetie Belle said, finishing with a giggle, “Well, weirder than normal that is.” “What ever happened, must’ve been bad to make them both act like that.” “What do you think happened?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Dunno. Every time I asked, Applejack would just hug me and tell me not to worry.” “If its important they would tell us, right?” Sweetie Belle asked with a nervous squeak. The only reply the unicorn received was a half hearted shrug. Sitting in silence for a bit, the two sat and watched the world around them. A slight wind blew through the trees, making the leaves dance on their branches. The leaves themselves were starting to change into multitudes of different colors, telling that fall was upon them. As the pair sat and watched the world in content silence, a loud buzzing sound grew in the distance. “Scoots is here,” Applebloom said. “Yep. Late as usual for a Sunday.” The white filly commented. As the pair chuckled over the small joke, the figure of their pegasus friend grew in the distance. Riding atop her cherry red scooter, Scootaloo rapidly approached the clubhouse. Making a sharp turn with the scooter, the filly came to a screeching halt next to the ramp. “Morning guys! Sorry I’m late!” Scootaloo yelled up at her friends, taking of her helmet off as well, “But y’know. Grandma only makes pancakes on Sundays, so I make sure to get my fill.” With nods of understanding from the other two, the orange filly trotted up the ramp. “So whats on today's agenda?” Scootaloo asked, reaching the top of the ramp. “Not much. I’m not allowed to leave the farm today,” Applebloom replied. “And I was told to stay with Applebloom today,” Sweetie Added. “What for? What did you do?” Scootaloo questioned with raised eyebrows. “I didn’t do anything,” Applebloom replied with a touch of annoyance, “Something happened last night. I don’t know what, but its got the grown ups all shook up.” Just as Scootaloo was about to open her muzzle, a familiar voice to the trio called over the trees. “That’s Applejack,” Applebloom confirmed, “Wonder whats shes yelling for.” “You think shes calling for us?” Sweetie asked. “Most likely,” Applebloom answered, heading for the ramp, “Only one way to find out though.” After descending the ramp, Scootaloo mounted the scooter while the other two pulled a little red wagon from behind the ramp. Hooking the wagon to the scooter, the three doned their helmets. Buzzing her wings, scootaloo propelled the scooter and the attached wagon down the dirt path heading towards the farmhouse. At the farmhouse, a haggard Applejack paced in front of the front porch, her friend Rarity watching her friend carve a rut into the soil. “Applejack, you must calm down,” Rarity pleaded in a tired voice, “I’m sure the girls are fine, it is a long walk between here and the clubhouse.” With a sigh, the farmer came to a stop. “I know, Rares. It just… with what happened to those poor fillies…” Applejack gubbled, “I can’t help but feel worried.” “Thats natural,” A voice called from the front door, “It would worry me if you didn’t, considering what's happened.” Stepping from out of the doorway, a light blue unicorn stallion with a silver mane stepped out. Hanging from a string around his neck, a small badge swayed as he walked. He wore an easy smile as he walked out, his saddlebags bulging on one side with a red and white cloth hanging out. “I see Granny gave you some food,” Applejack smiled. “Yes,” He chuckled, “Apparently, I’m ‘Thinner than cider dumped into a pool’.” The stallion got a small chuckle out of the pair. Before they could continue their conversation, a small buzzing filled the air. “What's that?” The stallion asked, looking around with a confused expression. “That would be the girls, Detective,” Rarity said with a sigh of relief. “Ah, good,” The stallion replied, “And you can just call me Lawful, Ms. Rarity.” With a nod from the alabaster unicorn, the three waited as the buzzing grew louder. After a few seconds, an orange pegasus filly riding a scooter pulling a red wagon containing two other fillies approached the trio. Coming to a screeching stop, the three fillies dismounted the scooter and wagon. Cautiously, the fillies approached the three grown-ups. Stepping forward, the stallion offered a smile to the three fillies. “Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo, this is Detective Lawful. Hes here to ask you a few questions,” Rarity said to the fillies. A few mumbled hellos came from the fillies. “You can just call me Lawful,” The Stallion said, “Oh, and Scootaloo, one of my co-workers has already talked to your Grandma. She said it was okay to talk to me, okay?” “Okay,” Scootaloo responded, with a hint of curiosity. Sitting down on his haunches, the stallion’s horn lit up as a writing pad and pen floated out of his saddle bags. “Okay, I’m going to start off easy, okay?” The Stallion asked with a smile, receiving nods in return,” Alright, now you three are familiar with Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon, correct?” “Yeah, they bully us almost everyday,” Scootaloo huffed. “Oh? Did they do so yesterday?” The Stallion asked, his pen scratching away on the writing pad. “Yes,”Sweetie squeaked. “Did anything out of the ordinary happen when they were talking to you?” Three thought for a second. “Oh! Silver got these weird scratches on her side out of nowhere!” Applebloom said. “Yeah, then she tried to blame it on me!” Scootaloo confirmed, “I wasn’t even anywhere near her!” “I see,” The Stallion muttered, “And what happened after that?” “They ran off, yelling about telling Diamond Tiara’s dad on us,” Sweetie belle answered. “And which direction did they run in?” “Uh… East, I think,” Applebloom answered, “We were heading back to the farm, and the road runs west towards here.” “Did any of you notice anypony near by, besides yourselves, Diamond, and Silver?” The Stallion asked. “No… Nopony that we noticed,” Sweetie Belle meekly offered. “Hmm… Unless you three have anything to add, I think I’m done here,” The Stallion said, standing back up on all fours. “I don’t have anything to add, but I have a question,” Sweetie Belle said. “Alright, shoot.” The Stallion responded with a nod. “What happened to Diamond and silver?” Sweetie Belle asked, “You only asked about them, so I figured something happened. Did it?” “Do you mind if I tell them?” The Stallion asked, looking to his sides at the mares. “They’ll find out eventually,” Rarity sighed. “Eeyep,” Applejack gulped. With a sigh, the Stallion turned back towards the three fillies. “Last night, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were attacked,” The Stallion lifted a hoof in a calming gesture at the gasps he received from the fillies, “They’re in the hospital, both in a coma. The doctors say that they are both fine despite the… wounds, they received in the attack.” After the Stallion had finished, he looked towards the mares and gestured at the three shocked fillies. Without much more provocation, the two mares trotted forward, grabbing all three fillies into a group hug. “Well, I’ll leave you all to the rest of your day,” The Stallion said, and started to walk around the group. Floating out a card, and slipping it into Rarity’s saddle bags, “There’s my card, for if anything comes up.” With a nod from the fashionista, the Stallion began to walk away from the farm. “Found anything new?” Lawful asked as he entered Silver’s room. “Not really,” An earth pony stallion in a grey jacket replied from his crouched position in the middle of the room, “Nothing besides what you would expect to see from the injuries on that filly.” With a nod towards the stallion in the grey jacket, Lawful looked around the room. The walls were painted a light blue, while the floors were hardwood. Toys sat in organized piles, or chests around the room. A table and silver tea set sat in one corner of the room. The room was surprisingly clean and orderly, besides the small traces of blood spatter throughout the room. In the center, a small distance from the bed, a small puddle of blood soaked into the carpet. “Do we know how whoever did this got into the room?” Lawful asked. “Yep,” The stallion in the grey jacket responded from his spot by the puddle. The room lapsed into silence as Lawful stared at the grey jacketed stallion. “Well?” Lawful asked impatiently. “Hold on,” The grey jacketed stallion responded, “Theres some wierd pieces of something mixed with the blood.” After a few seconds, the grey jacketed stallion stood up from the puddle. A pair of tweezers were in his mouth, and a tube with small red colored blobs inside it. Sealing the tube with his free hoof, the stallion put the tube in his saddle bags. “Alright, how they got in,” The stallion muttered, turning towards Lawful, “Well, there were no signs of forced entry anywhere in the house,” The stallion said, walking towards the window, “But, I did find scratch marks on the window.” “Oh?” Lawful said, following behind. “Yeah, I had a pegasus patrol pony check the wall outside, and she found a few leading all the way down to the ground below the window.” The stallion explained, stopping next to the window. Opening said window, the stallion pointed to three pieces of tape with a number next to three different scratches ending in gouges. Leaning his head out of the window, Lawful saw the series of numbered tape marks all the way down to the ground below. Pulling his head back slightly, Lawful looked closely at the marks. The scratches were not that deep, and were very long. The gouge at the end closest to the inside, were thin, but deep. “We can rule out a pony doing this,” Lawful stated. “How do you figure that?” The other stallion asked. “Well, the window is on the second story, so that rules out an earth pony. A unicorn might have teleported in, but we didn’t find any magical burns anywhere. A pegasus would have just opened the window, but would lack the dexterity of the wounds inflicted, as would an earth pony. A unicorn might have been able to float themselves up here, but floating yourself is a hard task in of itself. Add opening a window to that, and it rules out most unicorns in the area,” Lawful paused to look at the scratches, “And these add a whole new factor. The first thing that comes to mind, is a diamond dog, seeing as they go all they way up from the ground. But diamond dogs capture ponies to use as slave labor, they don’t kill them. Next would be a griffon. They could have flown up here, or climbed, and used their talons to open the window. But the marks are way too thin to be from a diamond dog, or a griffon. They look to be from a knife, or some similar object.” Stepping away from the window, Lawful took a look around the room. “If it was a griffon, maybe using a type of climbing gear to throw us off?” Lawful asked, “Coroner, what can you tell me about the blood?” “Well, the spatter is to expected, but its really high up,” The stallion, now known as Coroner responded, “The puddle, while it is also from where the filly bleed out, it is also gravitational. Which means she was held up in the air as she bleed.” “About how high up?”Lawful asked. “Oh… one, one and a half meters, I’m guessing.” “Hmm… A griffon, even sitting on their haunches would only come up to one meter at eye level. To get that high, they would have to be flying. A diamond dog could have done it from that height when standing, but they would have to balance on their hind legs for a long time, and seeing as they are built top heavy, it wouldn’t work...” Lapsing into contemplative silence, Lawful looked around the room. Eyeing all the blood splatter, Lawful began to notice something. Walking to stand in front of the bed, he looked the slightly ruffled sheets over. “Theres no blood on the bed,” Lawful stated, “The perp must have been standing in front of it.” “I could have told you that, all the blood is on the other side of the room,” Coroner added. “Its just… ugh, I don’t know,” Lawful sighed, turning to look at Coroner, “A lot of things just won’t add up right now.” “Well, you have been up since three A.M.,” Coroner stated, “Go get some lunch, take a nap if you can, and then look at it all again.” “Thats not a bad idea,” Lawful thought, then sighed, “I need to head to the Hospital first, get the medical reports, and meet up with Night.” “Go do all that, then get some lunch with Night,” Coroner shrugged, “All I know is that I have a lot to do here, and you have things to go do. So, get.” Lawful shook his head at Coroner’s antics, then turned and left the room.
Pictures Entering Ponyville Hospital, Lawful made his way towards the reception desk. “Welcome, how can I help you today?” A mare with a white coat and a red mane asked from behind the desk. “I need to talk to the doctor in charge of the fillies brought in this morning,” Lawful flashed his badge. “Right away, officer.” Humming in a nonchalant way, the mare turned and opened a white folder behind her. Lawful yawned as the mare flipped through the folder. Pulling out a pocket watch from his saddle bags, Lawful clicked it open. Looking down at it, he saw that it was a little past noon. With a sigh, he floated it back into his bag. “Here we are,” The mare called out, pulling a piece of paper out of the folder, “Second floor, room two thirty-seven. Doctor Tender Heart is looking over them.” “Thank you,” Lawful said as the mare turned to face him. Turning away from the desk, Lawful began trotting towards a door on the far left of the reception area. A sign above the door read ‘Stairs’. Taking the stairs up to the next floor, Lawful exited the stairwell. More signs on the wall guided him towards the correct room. After a small walk, he arrived at the door marked two thirty-seven. The door was slightly ajar. A distraught voice greeted his ears as he got near. “-I heard her scream, then ran straight to her room,” A male voice talked somberly, as a mare cried in the background, “As I ran, I could h-hear more screaming. It took me so damn long to get there… When I finally got to her door, a few servants were were trying to buck the door down. I never should have got her that damn dead bolt! I-If I hadn’t, then maybe we would have gotten to her quicker!” “Calm down, Mr. rich,” A third voice said gently, “Your daughters safe, thats the important thing.” Knocking gently with his fetlock, Lawful entered the room slowly. A disheveled light brown stallion sat at the end of a hospital bed on his haunches, slightly glaring at him. with her head and front hooves on the bed, a dark purple mare with a pink and white mane cried. On the bed sat Diamond Tiara, covered with bandages and hooked up to a number of machines. By the wall to his right, sat a light blue pegasus mare. In one hoof she held a notepad, in the other she held a pen. With a nod towards the pegasus mare, he closed the door and walked over by her. “Mr. Rich, Mrs Rich, this is my partner Detective Lawful,” the pegasus mare said with a nod towards him, as he turned and sat sat next to her. “Sorry for walking in like I did,” Lawful said with apologetically, “I know its a hard time for you.” “Its… Its alright,” Mr rich said with a sigh, losing the glare he held Lawful with, “Lets continue, shall we?” With a nod from the pegasus, Mr. Rich continued. “The, um… screams continued, as I joined in to get the door down. When it finally broke open, I rushed in, a-and… she was laying in a puddle of blood, and I saw some… thing jump out the window.” “Some ‘thing’?” The pegasus mare asked, “Could you elaborate, please?” “It was… big. Bigger than any creature I’ve ever seen. I didn’t get a good look at it. It was too fast. My main concern was my daughter, at the moment. One of the servants who was a pegasus jumped out of the window after it. He wasn’t able to find it.” “Was there anything else you remember? Anything out of the ordinary?” The mare asked. “Not that I can think of,” Mr. rich responded, looking at the floor, “I wish there was, but…” “I understand,” the mare said, putting her note pad and pencil in her saddlebags, “If you think of anything else, you already have my card. Even if you just want to talk about it, don’t hesitate to contact me.” With a nod towards Lawful, the mare got up and walked towards the door. “We’ll do our best to get the monster who did this,” Lawful said, standing up as well. With a nod, Mr. Rich shuffled towards the mare crying next to bed. The pegasus mare opened the door, and the pair left the room. Closing the door, they made their way towards the stairs. The pair sat down at their conjoined desks, a brown bag in their respective holds. “You have the doctors report for both of them, right?” Lawful asked. “Yep, right here,” Wingston replied, opening her bag with a wing and pulling out a file folder. “Alright, you look at these yourself?” Lawful asked, grabbing the folder with his magic. “Wish I didn’t have to, but I did,” Wingston said, pulling a sandwich out of the bag, “Who ever did that, has to be one screwed up individual.” “I wouldn’t disagree,” Lawful muttered, opening the top folder first. It was Diamond Tiara’s. The first thing that caught his eye, were the pictures. The pictures showed all aspects of the fillies body. The first showed the filly on her back, legs spread to her sides. An oblong section of fur and skin had been systematically cut of. It spanned almost entirely across her back and went down her legs. The removed portion of flesh was large enough to include all of her cutie mark. Grimacing, he moved onto the next photo. It showed the filly on her side, her legs lifted up to show her underside. Again, what appeared to be a single cut of flesh was removed. Lawful’s eyes squinted in recognition. Opening silver Spoon’s file, Lawful looked at the pictures here as well. “No…” Lawful muttered, dropping the folder on his desk and falling to his haunches. “What is it?” Wingston asked worriedly.” “The cuts… the removed skin… Its…” “Its what?” “Doll patterns.”
Methods“Thanks for letting us stay the night here, Applejack,” Sweetie Belle yawned from atop the bed. “Yeah, thanks sis,” Applebloom said, pulling the comforter over her. “No problem, sugarcubes,” Applejack smiled, standing up from her position on the floor. “Yeah, I know I would have been fine at home, but I knew you guys would need me in case anything happened,” Scootaloo proclaimed, receiving eye rolls from the other ponies in the room. “Sure, sure,” Applejack chuckled. As the three fillies all got under the covers and found comfortable positions, Applejack walked towards the door. “Alright girls, you get some sleep, and if you need anything, just holler. I won’t be too far away,” Applejack said, flicking the light switch with her hoof, “G’night.” “Wait!” Applebloom yelled as her sister moved to close the door, “C-could you leave the hall light on, and the door open a bit?” Applebloom asked meekly. “Please?” Sweetie Belle weakly added. Scootaloo remained silent, but looked at Applejack with a pleading look. “Sure,” Applejack responded with a small smile. Closing the door to where it remained only a quarter of the way open, Applejack turned away, bumping into Big Mac in the process. Blinking a bit from the collision, Applejack looked up at her brother with a raised eyebrow. With a small jerk of his head, Big Mac drew attention to the pillow and blanket sitting on his back. With a smile, Applejack looked to the side of the bedroom door where another pillow and blanket sat. With a silent nod to each other, the siblings went to left and right of the door. Placing their pillows next to the door frame and draping the blankets over themselves, the pair settled in for that night's’ vigil. As time passed, the elder pair fell into sleeps embrace, and the house lapsed into silence. Suddenly and slowly, the window at the end of the hall began to slide open. When it was all the way open, two long, brown limbs snaked their way onto the floor. Soon followed by a head, with two bright white orbs where eyes should be. Ever so gently, the creature brought in its hind legs and lowered them to the floor, making nary a sound. Once its entire body was inside, it moved its head as if looking around. When the white orbs landed on the pair by the bedroom door, it cocked its head. Slowly and quietly, the creature moved towards them. Stopping right next to Applejack, it leaned its head towards hers. As it stared at her with its unblinking white orbs, it moved a scissor ended claw towards her mane. With a deft movement of its claw, it snipped a lock of her mane off. Grabbing the hair as it floated towards the floor, it moved its head away from her and slinked towards the big red stallion. Bringing its face close to the stallions, it snipped a portion of Big Mac’s mane as well. Standing back up to its full height, it brought the hair towards its face. With a sound of stretching thread, its mouth opened. Inside the mouth were lined with sewing needles the top and bottom of it mouth. With an intake of air, the hair flew into its mouth. Closing its mouth slowly, it tilted its head back in a swallowing motion. Without pause, the creature moved towards the bedroom door. Opening the door slightly with a claw, it moved into the room. As it moved into the room, its head snapped towards the bed. Stepping towards the bed slowly, the orbs looked over the three fillies. When its orbs landed on Scootaloo, it slowly leaned forward, its left claw snipping small portions of the fillies manes. Its right reached out towards Scootaloo. “Don’t you dare touch those fillies,” Halting its movements, the creature slowly turned around. Standing in the doorway, Big Mac glared at the creature, his hooves spread and head lowered, “You step away from them right now.” Bringing its left claw towards its face, its mouth stretched open, quickly inhaling the hair. The creatures eyes then seemed to focus on the red stallion before it. Big Mac twitched as the bright white orbs centered on him, but still held his ground. The creature then began to stretch its claws towards the floor. It raised its head, and took one step towards the stallion. Keeping his posture, Big Mac watched a the creature neared him. Then, when it was but one step away, Big Mac spun and his hind legs shot out. As his legs reached where the creature was, he expected to feel his legs smack into it. Instead, he felt one of the creatures claws wrap around one of his back hooves. With a strong pull, Big Mac felt himself being yanked off of his hooves. As the claw easily lifted his weight, Big Mac felt the other claw wrap around his neck. The claw holding his leg let go, and Big Mac found himself being pulled towards the creatures face. Looking at the creature, Big Mac found his vision filled with the bright white of the creatures eyes. “Hello there…” The creature rasped in a growl. Before big Mac knew what was happening, he felt a sharp pain ring out all across his back. Then he felt it on his stomach. He couldn’t even find the time to scream as razor sharp pain rang out all across his broad sides. As sudden as it began, it stopped. Not even realizing his eyes had shut, he willed them open to see what had happened. What he saw made him wish he hadn’t. The creatures mouth was wide open, the needles burying themselves into a red fabric at blinding speeds. Big Mac’s eyes widened at a small realization. His eyes hesitantly looked down. Most of his skin and fur was removed. Movement to his front brought his attention back to the creature. Its claw was reaching into its mouth. Pulling its claw back out, it held the fabric, his fur, between two fingers. Looking back at the creature, he saw thats its mouth was open wide. Big Mac then began to spasm. After a few seconds, Big Mac’s mouth open wide, and a white light shot out and into the creatures mouth. Snapping its mouth shut, it dropped Big Mac from his grasp. The red stallion hit the ground with a wet thump. A loud scream sounded from behind the creature. From behind the creature, Applebloom sat upright in the bed, her scream waking the other two. With a glance over its shoulder, the creature crouched and jumped forward. “What in tar-” Applejack burst into the room, mid yell, to be bowled over and sent smashing into the far wall. The creature ran past the dazed Applejack, and smashed through the partially open window.
