Cold Case stared at his laptop, scrolling through old police reports and local forums, doing the research his brother should have done earlier that day. Redeemer sat on the motel couch and tipped back a bottle of his favorite brew. A commercial for the Manehatten Nightmare Night Extravaganza played through the speakers of a small color television.

“Deem,” Cold Case said with mild agitation, “Wanna turn that crap off? I’m trying to concentrate.” Redeemer grabbed the remote and turned the volume down. He sighed and took another sip of his drink. Cold Case looked over at him and tapped his hoof impatiently.

“Look, I don’t know what you want me to do.” Redeemer shut the television off and rolled off the couch. “Want me go question the vic’s parents or something?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Cold Case clicked on a link and focused on reading the small text.

“Alright then,” Redeemer replied. He set his empty bottle next to his brother before leaving the motel room, letting the door slam as he exited. The only noise now was the ticking of the clock and Cold Case focused on his research. He wound up on the Manehatten Times newspaper archive and began scrolling through various headlines.

The city had deaths and murders year round but they were typically ordinary stabbings or shootings. The two brothers had worked many cases in Manehatten over the years and Cold Case smiled every time he saw a headline he recognized. “That one was a ghost…Those were demon attacks…Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that cursed mirror.”

Eventually, he came to the headline Redeemer must have seen earlier that day. “Third Victim of Nightmare Night Killer Found Decapitated.” The paper was dated five years ago to the day and had a picture of police carrying a body bag out of the woods.

“Police recovered a third body this morning just outside of Manehatten and fear is mounting. The attacks all bear the resemblance of the murders that took place five years ago at the same location. Authorities still have no leads to go on and are working fervently to find the culprit. Witnesses have reported seeing a tall pony-like creature with red eyes in the area. Read more on page A2…”

“Five years before this there were more?” Cold Case went to the directory and jumped back five years. Sure enough, October 29th’s headline read, “Death Toll Rises to Five in String of Grisly Murders.”

“A mare was found dead this morning and is believed to be the fifth victim of what locals call, Triskaideka, a monstrous stallion whose name derives from its “13” cutie-mark. Investigators still deny the existence of such a creature, claiming the attacks five years ago were that of a rogue timberwolf and this week’s attacks can just as easily be explained.”

Cold Case began to see a pattern and brought up the newspapers for every fifth year. Sure enough, going back almost a hundred years, several ponies died in horrific ways right before Nightmare Night. The source of the deaths alternated between murders and animal attacks but the modus operandi was always the same; young healthy ponies torn apart shortly before Nightmare Night, either limbs or organs missing from the autopsies and witness reports of a giant stallion.

Eighty years back, on a digital copy of a yellowing newspaper article was the headline, “Colt survives family’s massacre.” Cold Case scrolled through the article slowly and felt he finally had something.

“Little Ion Cosmos was the sole survivor after some-pony broke into his parent’s Manehatten home late last night and killed his entire family. His parents were found dead in their bedroom, having suffered from multiple stab wounds and lacerations. Upstairs, the body of Ion’s older sister Nebula was found in the same condition.

“Police arrived after the milk-pony informed them he’d found the house’s front door wide open and could hear crying from inside. By that time, the culprit(s) had already made their escape.

“Ion was found unharmed but in a state of mental and emotional distress. He told police he’d woken up after hearing his sister scream. Scared, the pony hid under his bed and listened as a set of hooves made its way towards his room. He described to the police a stallion that looked like a stitched up doll with different color fur and big red eyes entered his room and looked around. Just as it was about to look under the bed another pony ran into the room and began shouting. He called the tall one ‘Triskaideka’ and kept yelling until they left. Ion could not describe the other pony but stated the tall stallion was a unicorn with a ‘one-three’ cutie-mark.

Perhaps most peculiar was all three of the deceased had their hearts removed from their chests and placed next to them. The hearts were badly damaged from the attacks and possibly left as the killer’s signature. It is possible this case could be linked to the murders five years ago where three mares were all found missing various body parts.”

“Are you kidding me? It goes further?” Cold Case went to take a sip from the bottle his brother had left next to him, forgetting it was empty. “Damn it, Deem.”

The door swung open and a teary-eyed mare looked outside. “Not another one, look, I’ve already dealt with enough reporters today, so please, just leave us alone.” She went to close the door and Redeemer stopped it with his hoof.

“I’m sorry to bother you ma’am but I’m with the FBI.” He held out his badge for the mare to see. “I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about your daughter Libra.” The mare just wiped at her eyes and jerkily nodded her head before admitting him to her home. Redeemer stepped in and looked around. A pile of grievance gifts covered the kitchen table and a large picture of Libra was set in the middle.

“What do you need to know?” The mare cleared a spot on the table and offered Redeemer a seat. He sat and she went to pour herself a glass of liquor from an almost empty bottle.

“Well, first off, I’m sorry for your loss.” Redeemer watched as the mare emptied her glass and began pouring another. “Do you know if Libra had any enemies? Some-pony that wanted to hurt her?

The mare coughed on her drink and looked at Redeemer with wide eyes. “I was told it was an animal attack. Why would you ask such questions?”

“We’re just trying to cover all our bases, ma’am.” Redeemer squirmed in his seat nervously.

“Oh Celestia,” she put her hoof over her mouth and began sobbing. “Who would do that to her?” She continued sobbing and Redeemer waited for her to calm down. He looked around from his seat and saw an elderly stallion in a wheelchair sitting in the living room. The old timer just stared out the window and breathed heavily with the assistance of oxygen tanks.

“Who’s Father Time over there?” Redeemer asked when the mare finally stopped sobbing. The elderly stallion continued to stare out the window and rock back and forth slightly.

“That’s Grandpa Ion—my father.”

“Is he okay?”

“Stroke a few months back. It’s been tough on all of us…and now Libra.” The mare gently sobbed as she emptied her bottle of liquor straight into her mouth.

“Ma’am, I understand this is a very rough time for you, I just need to ask you a few more questions.” He waited for her to set the bottle down before continuing. “Have you ever heard of something called Triskaideka?”

The elderly stallion began screaming and shouting incoherently at the mention of Triskaideka. His daughter stumbled out of the kitchen as fast as she could to his side. Redeemer walked over and watched as the frightened stallion clutched his daughter and mumbled gibberish.

“Shhhhhh, it’s okay dad, it’s okay,” she whispered into his ear. After a few moments he released her and continued to stare out the window and mumble. She turned to Redeemer and glared at him angrily.

“Whoa, I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he said, putting his hooves up in front of him in defense.

“I’d like for you to leave, Agent.” The mare said sternly. She lifted the brake on her father’s wheel chair and began pushing him down the hall. Redeemer just stood there and watched as the stallion was wheeled out of sight.

Author's Note

Any guesses as to what's going on?