Hatoful Ponyfriend - Bad Ponies Love

"Look away, Miss Hooves.  Looking will only hurt you." Princesses Luna places a hoof on my shoulder.  "A terrible and gruesome sight to behold. "

I turn around and see Rarity approaching us. "Derpy Hooves!" she calls, sounding angry. "I need to have a word with you."

"Rarity," I reply as she gets closer, "Please, I don't think you want to-"

"I received a very disturbing box on the doorstep of my house and I would like to know the meaning of this!" She refuses to stop walking toward us.

With a soft sigh, Princess Luna looks up and says, "There has been an incident. You may wish to keep your distance."

"Princess Luna, are you a part of this? When I opened the box on my doorstep, I found-" Rarity takes a final step and glances into the bloodstained box containing the head of the baby dragon. "Oh. Oh, dear. This is bad." She closes her eyes and looks away.

"Rarity," The alicorn says, "I received a box as well. I doubt that Miss Hooves knows anything about this.

"He. .." I take a moment to catch my breath.  "I saw him only yesterday. "

I remember flying to the library to drop off a book delivery, the tenth delivery in the same week.  For the last few days,  Spike had been ordering a great many new volumes for a pony who I never met or even saw. He had invited me to step in and have as cup of tea and...

"...I said no and left. I was the last one to see him alive." Everything's a blur, like everything that happened at the library never occurred. What else had I done that day?

"What are you babbling?" Rarity breaks my train of thought with her question. She speaks sharply, impatiently. "This is very disturbing for all of us, but we cannot afford to lose our heads. There's is a dangerous pony loose and we only put ourselves in danger if we stay here."

A loud, blaring alarm sounds from the center of town shortly followed by the voice of Mayor Mare. "All citizens please gather in the town hall. We are in a state of emergency. All citizens please gather in the town hall." The message monotonously repeats itself, as if the mare announcing it is unaware of the emergency that she broadcasts to every pony in earshot.

"I suppose we should go, then," Princess Luna says, straightening herself up. She and Rarity begin walking towards the town hall, but I can only look back to the box. There is no longer string wrapped around the box and it would be difficult to carry it on its own. Looking into the box, I consider taking the head out and carrying it on its own. I can't stand the thought of leaving him alone here.

"He is gone, Derpy." I hear Rarity call back to me. "That is not Spike anymore. We can't wait any longer, we have to go."

"It would alarm the other citizens to see you carrying a decapitated head, Miss Hooves," Princess Luna says, picking up the box with her glowing blue magic. She closes the box and sets it in a nearby bush. "We shall return for him."

By the time we arrive, the town hall is packed with ponies. It's much bigger on the inside, but I didn't really expect it to be able to hold all of Ponyville. Older mares and stallions sit with foals in their laps. Younger, impatient ponies pace around the borders of the room. There is barely enough room to move. Whispers of speculation come from the old and the young alike.

"Is this another emergency drill? It's too soon."

"Nonsense. It must just be a mistake."

"Maybe it's because of the box with a severed Dragon tail I received."

"I got one with a foot. It scared my poor filly half to death!"

"Mine was severed claws. At least it wasn't as pony or anything. "

"It was probably a fake."

I stand between Luna and Rarity, numbly listening the ponies talk amongst themselves. I can't see anypony I recognize, not in this crowd.

"It seems we have all come together calmly." The mayor's voice echoes through the room but we see no trace of her. The sound comes only from the loudspeakers at each corner. "As always, please remain here until we have made a decision on the disaster at hand. Thank you."

"What is this nonsense? " Rarity demands.  "Mayor, we require an explanation!"

She only repeats herself, as if she can not hear us at all. It is just like the emergency alert.

"We will be getting no answers from her," Princess Luna sighs. "Perhaps I will go retrieve the head. "

"She just said we can't go outside, " I protest, frowning. "Shouldn't we wait to go get it?"

"I respect the rules of your town," The Princess replies, "but I may need to report this to my sister. The head is evidence of a murder. I don't want to risk anypony tampering with it."

I follow as she walks to the door. "He was a friend," I say. "If this emergency has to do with Spike's death, I want to help. I want to find out who did this to him.

"I will follow as well," Rarity says with some hesitation in her voice. "He was crude, foolish, and had no sense of fashion, but he never deserved a fate anywhere near as horrible as this. I will find his killer and bring him to justice if it is the last thing I do, I swear."

We tell nopony as we leave, as to prevent a panic. Princess Luna exits first, Rarity and I follow. I can't help but wonder. Who would do this to Spike? Why? And why wouldn't the Mayor explain what was going on, if there was a real emergency?

The first thing we notice when we get outside is that the sky is completely black and there is no warmth of Celestia's Sun.

"What is this nonsense? " Luna exclaims, stomping a hoof. She flaps her wings in irritation and a soft blue light glows from her horn.

"Is this not your doing? " Rarity asks.

"There are no stars," I point out. "This isn't nighttime, it was noon only a few minutes ago."

"I shall check." Princess Luna takes off toward the inky blackness, leaving us in darkness. As she flies away, up and over us and out of sight, Rarity lights her own horn, giving us a bit of light.

"Howdy, there. " I hear a voice I could recognize anywhere. An orange earth pony wearing a hat approaches us, holding a lantern. "Y'all notice the sky too? "

"It is quite hard not to miss, Applejack," Rarity says before I can say anything.  "I suppose you decided to come back to civilization, then? "

"Hey now," says Applejack, calm as ever, "That's not nice, Rarity. I still live in a house just like everypony else."

"Calm down, you two," I step in before an argument breaks out.  "Applejack, do you know about this at all?"

There is a pop in the distance, like a firework, followed by a blue explosion of sparks in the distance. Other than a fading fog, the darkness remains solid. In a matter of seconds we can see the glow of Princess Luna's horn and she is landing with us again.

"It appears that a solid wall of stone or crystal has been erected over Ponyville," Luna states. "None of my spells are able to break through it and I can not find a way over or under it."

"So we are stuck here?"  Rarity asks.

"It seems to be."

"We are stuck inside with whoever killed Spike, " I say. I feel my knees tremble a bit.

"Ah, yes. Applejack." Rarity pulls herself up to her full height and speaks in a formal, authoritative tone. "Do you know of the murder? "

The farm pony nods sadly. "I received a box with a green dragon leg in it, I could only assume the worst."

"Tell me, what else do you know about the murder?" The white unicorn takes a step closer, lowering her head ever so slightly.

"Rarity..." Luna warns.

"Naw, it's okay. " Applejack waves a hoof. "She's just got the town's best interests in mind. I was not in town at all yesterday or today. This morning, I was with Zecora in my orchard, testing out a new fertilizer formula."

"Zecora is here? " I ask suspiciously.

"Yup. She is gathering Spike's body parts for examination. "

"Whatever for?" Luna asks, raising a brow. "Surely there are detectives and surgeons here. "

"They are all in town hall," I say. "If we were to go in there and ask for them, everypony would know that something is wrong. Still, I don't like the sound of Zecora wandering around freely. Especially now of all times. Where is she now?" Rarity frowns at me.

"She's probably in the hospital," Applejack says. "If either of you have parts of Spike, maybe you should go get them, in case she missed them. We want as much information as possible, right?"

Rarity nods stiffly. "Fine. I'll meet you three at the hospital." She turns to head back to her home.

"Wait, Rarity." I fly to her side and raise a wing in front of her chest, stopping her. "We can't risk going out there alone if there is a murderer on the loose."

"I'll go with her," Applejack says, walking to Rarity's other side. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of her."

"Hmph. I don't need your help." Rarity flattens her ears and turns up her nose, but makes no further protest as she heads to her home.

I shake my head and say, "I suppose we go to back to the town square now?"

Princess Luna nods and the two of us take off into the sky. I follow the glow of the alicorn's horn back to the place where we left the box.

"You do not seem to like Zecora, Miss Hooves," she says as we fly. "What makes you uneasy?"

"She's not from around here. When she is, she hardly ever speaks to anyone. She lives in the Everfree Forest, you know."

The princess frowns lightly. "You should not judge her just because she is different." She puts stress on the word 'different.'

I nod in reply, closing my eyes for a moment. "I know, but there's something about her that just... it worries me. I always feel like she's hiding something."

"She could be, she could not be." We land, and Princess Luna continues talking as she walks over to the bush where we hid the box. "We can't let idle rumors and suspicions get in the way of what could be right in front of our-" She stops.

"What's wrong?" I trot to her side and look into the box at her hooves. It's empty.

"She's already been here, then," Princess Luna says flatly. "Interesting, how she didn't take the box."

I shrug. "It just means she doesn't mind getting her hooves dirty." Or bloody, in this case. A thought occurs to me. "What if Zecora didn't take it? What if somepony else did?"

"We shall know soon enough," Princess Luna replies, levitating the bloody box into a nearby disposal can.

Our walk to the hospital is silent, but questions continue to come up, one after the other, accompanying the questions I was already trying to answer. Who would want Spike dead? What would they gain? What if somepony else slipped out of the town hall, the murderer, perhaps? Why is the dome over our town at all?

The lights in the hospital are on, but they are dim. We walk in and hear only our hoofsteps. Princess Luna holds her wings close to her body, and I can't say that I'm not any less tense. One of the rooms at the end of the hall has a light on and the door is unlocked. Inside, we see Applejack and Zecora inspecting something covered by cloth on the examination table.

The zebra turns and looks at us. "Applejack said to expect two more, a pegasus and an alicorn. Greetings, Princess of the Moon, and greetings to you, Miss Derpy Hooves." She bows her head.

I narrow my eyes

The princess politely dips her head in return and asks. "Have you found any information on the corpse?"

Zecora stares at me. "Why do you look at me with such dislike? Do you not want to know of the death of Spike? Do not allow your blind hatred to expand, simply because I come from a far off land."

I shake my head. "It's nothing," I say quietly.

"It's there anything we can help with, Zecora?" Rarity asks politely.

The zebra turns to look a Rarity. "The body? I have only finished assembling it. An examination will take more than a minute. Occupy yourselves, if you wish, mill about. Do what you like, but just get out."

"Thank you, Zecora," Rarity says, turning and walking out the door, Applejack following behind her. Princess Luna bows her head again before joining the two of them in the hall.

I turn to leave, but I hear Zecora say, "Miss Hooves, please wait before you go. I have something you should know."

"What is it?" I ask, turning around.

A small smile creeps onto the zebra's face. "You may choose to believe me or not, but tell me, is there anything that you forgot?"

My brow furrows and I think, trying to remember everything that had happened today. "I don't know. If I did, I can't remember what I forgot." I begin walking to the door.

"Your life crumbles more with each step you take. Be careful, or you could make a fatal mistake."

I sigh. She is most likely trying to lead me astray. I'm more suspicious of her than ever. As the door closes behind me, I hear her say one more thing.

"It’s a shame, if only you knew. She enjoyed mysteries too."

"She knows something," I say out in the hall.

Applejack frowns and says, "She might be talking about something else, you know." Neither Rarity or Princess Luna have anything to say. After a brief silence, the earth pony asks, "So what do you plan to do now?"

"I was thinking we could take another look at the dome outside. " Rarity says. "We could see if there's anything to see up close."

I shrug. "It's a start"

"Before you go," Applejack says,  "You might want to visit the cottage outside of town. The pony who lives there, Fluttershy, can help you. If she asks, tell her I sent you."

I frown. "You mean that pegasus hermit who never shows herself outside for more than five minutes\?" I don't know much about her, nopony does. Occasionally, we see her outside, tending animals or quietly walking into town to buy food, but that's always it. As far as anypony knows, she has always been here.

"That's her," Applejack replies. "She is a good pony, there's nothing really bad about her. She might know more than I do. "

"We will go there first, then," I say. Rarity nods.

"If you wish, I will stay here" Princess Luna says. "I will see to it that all is well. Be at ease, Miss Hooves."

"Thanks Luna" I say.  "It makes me feel better that you are here with him."

The princess nods and slowly blinks. "Good luck, you two," she says to Rarity and me as we leave.

As Rarity and I walk to the cottage, the unicorn's blue glow lighting our way, I mutter without thinking,"I don't like it."

"What, dear?" Rarity looks surprised.

"Zecora. She makes me nervous. She creeps me out."

I hear Rarity stop and I turn to look at her. "Do not speak badly of Zecora," she says. "She is a great healer. With the knowledge from her homeland, she has concocted many cures for ailments that were otherwise incurable by science and magic alike. One of these medicines she created personally, to save my mother's life."

"That may be true, but don't believe everything she says just because she did you one favor." I begin to doubt Rarity just a little bit.

"Nonsense," the unicorn shakes her head. "One favor it may have been, but a big favor nonetheless. Either way, we are here."

The cottage is small and the lights inside are on. We can hear animal noises coming from inside the house, as well as from all around us as we approach the door. Rarity knocks on the door and it's a few moments before it opens and a yellow pegasus peeks her head out.

" Um. .. didn't you hear the alarm? " she asks in a voice barely higher than a whisper. "Everypony else is in the town hall."

"My name is Rarity, and this is Derpy Hooves." Rarity speaks formally, with an air of authority. "We are investigating a murder, Fluttershy. Why aren't you in the town all?"

Fluttershy shrinks back behind the door. "No panic, no noise, no opening the curtains. Ever. That is what I do when something like this happens. You two should probably do the same."

I step forward and say, "Applejack sent us. She said you could help us solve the mystery of Spike's death."

"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy says, her voice raising an octave. "Come in, tell me what happened." She opens the door so we can barely squeeze through, as if opening it any wider would let in some sort of horrible beast.

As we walk into the little cottage, I say, "Rarity, could you...?"

"Of course," she says, speaking kindly. Our brief argument about Zecora seems to have blown over.

Rarity begins speaking, telling the story starting from when she found her piece of Spike. Every now and then, I add in a word or two, but I am mostly silent. It feels like I will break down if I try to say more than two or three words about what had happened.

When Rarity finishes, Fluttershy nods. "I'm so sorry, Derpy Hooves. I will help you in any way I can. If you want me to."

"Please, do what you can," I reply.  I can't be sure how this timid little Pegasus can help us, but we could use any help possible at this point.

"Alright." Fluttershy nods. "If you find anything out, or you just need a place to hide, come back to me. I'm going to check something." She walks to a painting on the wall and pulls at it to reveal a large, thick book. She never struck me as the reading type, but when I look around, I notice there aren't any other books in the room.

When she turns around and sees us still here, she hesitantly says,  "Maybe you can go look at the dome outside. See what else you can learn. Maybe there's something about it here." It sounded like a nice way of telling us to leave, so we show ourselves out.

"Do you really think she can help us, Rarity? " I ask. She strikes me as a pony who means well, but might not be very helpful.

"Do not turn down an offer of this sort Derpy Hooves. Even if she is a bit odd. "

"Right."

We walk quietly until we reach a part of the dome. It encloses Ponyville from all sides, so no matter what direction we walked in, we would have found it anyway.

"It's like stone," I say, pounding at it with a hoof. "It sounds dense. I wonder if we could break it."

"If Princess Luna couldn't, I doubt that we could," Rarity replies. "You saw that explosion. This thing must be many inches thick."

We check the perimeter, Rarity walking on the ground as I fly above her. We check for cracks or inconsistencies.

"It's smooth. Too smooth. " Rarity says. "Like metal, maybe."

I sigh as I land next to her. "Do you think Princess Celestia will notice that something is wrong?"

Rarity frowns lightly. "She is the most powerful being in all of Equestria, and if she can't break this wall, nopony can. Maybe she's out there, right now."

We fall silent, as if waiting for a miracle. We see nothing and hear nothing for several seconds. Suddenly we both hear a soft creak, but we can't pinpoint where it comes from.

"Did you hear that?" Rarity whispers, her light dimming.

I nod. "Yeah, do you think that's someone on the outside?"

"No, it sounds close."

Silence, then we hear it again. A creak, a thump, and a scraping sound. We can hear it getting closer and it becomes easier to hear where it comes from.

Creak, thump, scrape... Creak, thump, scrape...

It comes from behind us.

Creak, thump, scrape...

We turn around and Rarity's light falls on a creature, a thing, that nopony has ever seen before.

It walks on two legs, standing well past Princess Luna's height, a stained burlap sack where its head should be. Its torso appears to be a another, larger, burlap sack wrapped with string, causing folds of the material to sag out in certain places. More burlap wraps around thin, heavy legs with vaguely-shaped metal feet, also wrapped in string. Its upper limbs are bare. The left arm seems to be nothing more than a burlap limb hanging at its side, stuffed with straw. Its right limb reaches to its legs and scrapes on the ground as it walks slowly but surely towards us. It is made of solid metal ending in sharp blade-like claws, clearly dangerous to anypony who would dare get within its reach.

"Run, Rarity," I whisper.

It lunges at us.

"RUN!"