Octaves - The Chronicles of

Chapters

The First Chronicle - Chapter 1
The First Chronicle - Chapter 2
The First Chronicle - Chapter 3
The First Chronicle - Chapter 4
The First Chronicle - Chapter 5
The First Chronicle - Chapter 6
The First Chronicle - Chapter 7
The Chronicles Of - Prelude

The First Chronicle - Chapter 1

The First Chronicle

• Fear - To fear or be afraid of something or somepony is merely the conscious weakness all hold within themselves. But to break free from such feelings of pity and terror...is to set in motion something that will change the course of history forever.

• That change...will be mine to make...

Chapter 1

5 Years Earlier

"Woo! Have I got a day planned for us or what Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie cried as she hopped alongside her rainbow-maned companion. It was still early in the morning for Rainbow Dash. The sun hadn't risen over the tops of the houses quite yet, but Pinkie insisted on getting an early bird's start on the day.

Like always, Dash had grudgingly agreed to wake up in the morning to meet the little pink pony. "Yeah, sure Pinkie." She replied, as usual. It was difficult, nearly impossible, for her to say no to those bright cyan eyes. Pinkie only seemed to use them with Dash, which was all the more frustrating. The pegasus moaned in her head about how easily she could be talked into these things...it never failed. "Alright Pinkie Pie, so what are we gonna do first-? Ooph!!"

Before she knew what was going on, Dash was tackled into an alleyway by Pinkie. She always marveled at how strong the mauve mare could be in certain situations; Dash often wondered how she could be so strong when all she ate were sweets. All she could do right now though was cough as the pony was unknowingly crushing Dash's wind pipe. "Shh! Somepony's following us!"

Do I have a choice? The cyan mare thought as Pinkie still took no notice of the poor pegasi's dilemma. "P...Pinkie- get...off me." Dash managed to sputter out at last. It seemed to do the trick.

Pinkie hopped off of her friend and looked back at her with apologetic eyes. "Sorry Dash. I just know there's somepony out there watching us." The pink mare proceeded to paste herself to the side of the building closest to her and peer around the corner suspiciously.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Dash replied, rubbing her chest as she sat upright. "Come on Pinkie, you've been acting like this all week. Nopony's out to get us. This is Ponyville for Celestia's sake." Still, the earth pony glanced around the streets trying to spot the "pony in question". Dash shook her head and rose to her hooves. She walked over to Pinkie and put a steady hoof on her shoulder. "Come on Pinks. You can show me the first thing you wanna do today."

The sudden contact seemed alien to the mare at first, but Pinkie only shook slightly before relaxing and turning to look at Dash. Pinkie smiled. "Yeah, okay. You're right. We have a lot to do after all. We can't miss a thing over some spooky feelings."

"Right." Dash smiled back and took to the air, waiting for directions.

Pinkie giggled and bounced back into the light of the sun on the cobbled road. "Come on Dashie! We've got ponies to see!" With that, Pinkie began bounding off to their first destination: Sweet Apple Acres.

***

The two ponies made it onto the Apple Family's property at around 9 AM. The sun had only just risen over the top of the barn to grace the fields with a good ray of sunshine. Pinkie bounced through the entrance happily and came to a halt at the beginning of the apple orchards.

It was always an amazing sight to see so many trees lined up and bursting with apples. Of course Dash didn’t care too much for the apples so much as the delicious cider that most of them were made into. Now though the leaves were already changing colors and falling gracefully to the ground in preparation for the winter months.

Dash would never admit it to anypony, but sometimes she just liked to sit and watch the leaves change color and fall from the trees. It was kind of a calming feeling to see them rustled gently by the cool breeze in autumn, while the other ponies were busy working all day.

It didn't take long before the two ponies were noticed. Applejack was already out in the orchards bucking off the ripe apples from the trees when she saw them come by. "Yeehah! Howdy Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. What brings ya to Sweet Apple Acres on this fine morning?"

"And an early morning at that." Dash added sleepily.

Pinkie Pie grinned and hopped forward to greet the orange mare. "Hey Applejack, whatcha doin'?" She asked in her cheerful way of asking anypony what they were doing.

Applejack tipped her hat and gestured to the tree beside her. "Shoot. I'm just gettin' a head start on these apples. I got a heck of a lot ta do 'round here before the autumn season ends. Winter's not too far away I reckon."

"Oooooh, that sounds like fun. Can we help you Applejack?" Pinkie asked excitedly as the cowgirl pony bucked an apple tree. The ripe apples tumbled down into the baskets she had placed there, while Applejack moved onto the next one.

"Well, ah suppose ya'll could help a little bit. Ah remember ya'll bein' a great help ta me when ah needed a couple extra hooves. Sure ya can, if it's not too much trouble." Applejack smiled at Pinkie and Dash gratefully.

Pinkie shook her head quickly in response. "Oh nononono! Not at all, right Rainbow Dash?" She asked, turning to the cyan pegasus beside her.

"H-hey, Pinkie Pie!!" Dash yelled at hearing what Pinkie was agreeing to for her.

"See? Nooo problem!" Pinkie laughed in quick succession, cutting off Dash's protest.

Applejack nodded patiently, looking from one to the other. "Well alrighty then. Thanks gals, I owe ya one."

When Applejack was out of earshot, Dash bumped the pink pony slightly to get her attention. "What did you do that for?" She whispered. "Please tell me this isn't the first thing we have to do today; I'm just waking up as it is."

"Oh Rainbow Dash," Pinkie soothed, waving a hoof at her dismissively. "It won't be that hard. We don't have to clear the whole apple orchard with her; I just wanna help a little is all." Dash huffed and turned her head away from the pink mare. Pinkie hopped back into sight of the mare. "Come on...pleeeeease?"

Those pleading eyes again. Light blue spheres that got her whatever she wanted from the pegasus. Dash sighed a long, tired sigh. "Ugh, fine. But when I've had enough, we go to your next list item. Got it?"

"Yay!" Pinkie screamed, hugging the cerulean pegasus tightly before letting go. "You won't regret this Rainbow Dash, I promise!"

Happily, Pinkie sprang off after Applejack to see what she and Dash could do. Dash on the other hoof just grumbled under her breath as she followed behind. "I think I already am."

***

The morning drew on in Ponyville, and the sun rose high into the sky so the ponies could enjoy another splendid day in the small town. Dash however, was not enjoying her morning so far. Normally she would be sleeping until noon, but instead she was bucking apples off trees while half asleep.

At least Pinkie wasn't breaking into song or dance or anything.

She was actually beginning to wonder about that though. After they had started, Pinkie grew quite quiet, as if she’d forgotten she or Applejack were there. It was something very unusual for the pink pony, and Dash was just about to ask her about it when Applejack spoke.

"Ah really appreciate ya'll helpin' me this morning. It means a lot." She said with that unmistakeable Southern twang of hers.

Dash took a step to the side and bucked the tree behind her. The apples fell and neatly piled into the baskets underneath. "Sure thing Applejack. I suppose it's better than sleeping and doing nothing." Yeah right.

Applejack chuckled at that. "Well ah know how much ya like yer sleep, and Pinkie's always glad to help me out. Thanks to ya both, but if ah may ask...why did ya come ta help me Rainbow?"

"Oh, I uh, well..." That caught Dash a little off guard. For some reason she suddenly became worried about telling Applejack about Pinkie's plans for the day.

Pinkie looked up from the basket in front of her to look at the two ponies in conversation. "It's okay Rainbow Dash. You can tell her."

Dash coughed and turned to look at Applejack. "Well it's...cuz Pinkie Pie has a list that she made for the two of us to complete...by the end of the day. I just didn't know bucking apples was first on the list."

The orange pony nodded in understanding. "Ah see. So that's why."

"Yeah."

The three ponies were silent for a moment. None of them looked at each other, and only stared at apples or the trees or both.

"Hey," Applejack said, breaking the long silence over the group. "Did ya hear about the other disappearance a while back?"

Dash sighed after another long quiet. "Yeah, it was all over town. I can't believe nopony’s investigating it further. We haven't seen any of them since, but nopony knows or is telling us what's going on...I want some answers, you know?"

"Knock it off, Dash. I'm sure they've got it handled. How would ya'll go about gettin' answers anyway?" Applejack retorted, kicking her back legs out to hit the tree behind her.

"I just hope everypony's alright..." Pinkie said, moving the dirt around under her hoof.

***

When it was time to leave, Dash was getting restless and Pinkie's list was far from on schedule, the two ponies said goodbye to Applejack and returned to the road heading to Fluttershy's cottage.

"So whaddya think of that Rainbow Dash? Was it fun-a-fun, fun?" Pinkie questioned hopefully as she bounced along the path.

"Yeah I guess." Dash answered lazily, looking a bit sidetracked. "It coulda been worse. I still don't know what brought that missing pony subject up with Applejack."

Pinkie shrugged as she bounced and adopted a trot to match Dash's stride. "I dunno. What do you think is going on?"

"I'm not sure, but I wanna find out...and I think I know how." Dash's face was serious and focused. She quickened her pace on the path and turned her head towards Pinkie.

The little pony looked confused, but interested. Pinkie tilted her head to the side curiously. "You do? How?"

Dash responded, smiling in that determined way she always did, "By becoming an agent of the EBI."

"Ooooh, that sounds cool. What do ya think you'll be doing?" Pinkie asked.

The cyan pegasus took to the air suddenly and floated in front of Pinkie. "The only thing I want to do is find out what's happening to these ponies. I'll do whatever it takes."

Pinkie only smiled and continued walking. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Rainbow Dash."

*****

3 Months Later

*****

"Congratulations Rainbow Dash. You are now a special agent of the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation."

"Thank you ma'am, I won't let you down." Dash replied, standing up and saluting in front of the Bureau. She stood in line with three other graduates, but Dash was the first to be called up to receive her badge.

The chief of the Bureau smiled warmly. "I have no doubt that you won’t Agent Dash. You have been our best graduate in years, and I'm not saying that lightly. Good work."

"Thank you." Dash shook her hoof and accepted the grad scroll. She shook the other board members' hooves and proceeded back to her seat.

***

As the ceremony ended, the rainbow maned pegasus strolled out of the conference room with a proud smile on her face. She was asked to visit the chief's office to be assigned her uniform and equipment.

Dash walked down the large white cobblestone hallway to the head office of the Bureau. It had been a long time since Dash saw any of her friends; and although she wrote to each of them often, she needed to get back to them soon. However, there was something she had to confirm first.

***

The cerulean pony sat in her seat in front of the chief's desk, waiting patiently for him to return. He stepped back in from the second room and laid out Dash's equipment. "Here is your uniform and coat, and your badge and gun..." The chief sighed. "Now I understand that you put in a request to work on the disappearance case in Ponyville, is that correct?"

"Yes sir. It's why I joined the EBI." Dash answered nodding her head. She picked up her badge and held it in her hoof for a moment.

The chief raised his eyebrow at the colorful mare, curiously. "Oh?" He said.

"I don't believe these cases are simple disappearances, sir. Somepony is taking these ponies and keeping them hostage. What ponies are saying; that all of them are just on vacations or-or away on business is horseapples and is afraid to admit the truth. I want to find out who's doing this and why."

"Well Agent Dash, you are one of our best new graduates...one of the best I've seen in a while, but I must advise against such a request." The chief reasoned, shuffling papers that covered his desk.

Dash persisted, standing up from her chair and holstering her gun at her hip. "Please chief. I know I'm asking a lot, but I can do it. It's in my town that this is happening and nopony seems to have discovered anything worth looking into."

The chief chuckled after a few minutes. "Well...that isn't entirely true."

Dash's ears perked at hearing this, focusing on what her superior was about to say.

"You see a while back…when this case first arose we found some strange evidence." He coughed and stood up from his seat, wandering around his office as if in thought. "At that time, two ponies had already gone missing...without a trace or...anypony knowing where they might have gone. Now it seemed that...the two agents assigned to investigate there discovered a list...it had the names of those two ponies along with many others."

At that the chief stopped walking. He turned to face Dash, who was watching him circle the room intently. "Their names were Emerald Dust and Lyra Heartstrings. There might have been lists before the one we found, but we can't know for sure. Unfortunately, that list was not enough to investigate further and they found no more evidence of what might have happened. So the Bureau closed the case as unsolved. Nopony's offered to reopen the case since then." He exhaled deeply and strolled back to sit in his chair.

"So is there still a chance I can begin where those other two ponies left off?" Dash asked quickly, having even more of an interest in the case after being given information into it.

The chief sighed and opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out an envelope with the word ‘unsolved’ printed at the top and gave it to Dash. "Here's all we have of the case so far; all the names of the missing ponies and the dates of when they were reported in. The list of supposed victims is in a bag in there too."

Dash grinned at him and pulled her uniform on. "Thanks chief, I'll get right on it." She trotted up to the door when the chief spoke again.

"This case was never investigated further, Agent Dash...ponies in the unit, in the EBI, just became scared as to what this case actually was. Be careful." He warned, sorting through the sheets of paper littering his desk again. "Don't go too deep into this thing, or you might not come out the same way."

Dash turned to look into the chief's eyes and saw how serious he was about this. She nodded and said nothing, turning the doorknob and walking out of the office with her first assignment.

Author's Note

I've been working on this for a while and thought I'd finally publish it. I hope I can keep up with the story. Anyway, hope you like it. ^^

Edit: I changed the names of the victims from Lyra and Carrot Top to Emerald Dust and Lyra. I don't know how I missed that when I was being so careful of the plot's timeline, but you can't keep an eye on everything I guess. Sorry for the confusion in later chapters.

The First Chronicle - Chapter 2

The First Chronicle

Chapter 2

Dash soared through the clouds on her way back to Ponyville. She kept her suit on as she flew, but tucked her gun and badge away in her saddlebags. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and the sky was almost clear, except for a few cirrus or nimbus clouds in the area.

The words that Chief Whitecoat had said to her still repeated in her ears. Don't go too deep into this thing...or you might not come out the same way. Dash shook her head to dispel that thought in favor of seeing her friends again.

She was in Ponyville now and the cyan pegasus coasted down to the streets of the small town. Dash missed it so much. She'd had to move to Manehattan the entire time to work for the EBI and didn't have a chance to see or talk to anypony she knew.

By now, the streets were densely covered in snow and the chill of winter. The apple bucking season was over and the apple cider season was long passed as well. Dash had forgotten all about it until she reached her old home, but she had more important things to do now.

"It'll be good to see everypony again," Dash thought aloud as she trotted along the streets of Ponyville. Nopony seemed to be up yet. It was still early in the morning, but Dash had gotten used to rising up early in the mornings from her classes at EBI headquarters. "Hmm, I guess my questioning will have to wait for later- Ooph!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Dash was swiftly tackled to the dirt by something...or somepony and was now being hugged tightly on the floor. She could only really guess as to whom it was, but she was pretty certain it was- "Pinkie!" Dash wheezed.

"Hi Rainbow Dash! You're back. I'm soooo glad you came back." Pinkie tightened her grip on the poor pegasus with every word she spoke. Apparently even writing often wasn't enough to make the pink mare not worry about Dash.

The pegasus tapped on Pinkie's shoulder in an attempt to gain her attention. "P-Pinkie...you're...choking me." She managed to squeeze out even though her lungs were being crushed by the magenta maned pony.

"Oops! Right." Replied the hyper-active mare apologetically, as she let her vice-like grip on Dash relax. "I'm just so relieved to see you again. It's been like, foreeever!"

Dash chuckled at Pinkie's exaggeration, but she sat up and hugged her back quickly anyway. "I know Pinks, but it's really only been three months."

"Of course, that is a really really long time. You've missed so much. We've gotta get you caught up to speed on all the stuff that's happened while you were gone." Pinkie took Dash by the hoof and started walking with her.

Dash didn't even try to protest, being dragged through the snow by the little pony. She knew how Pinkie behaved better than anypony, and this was definitely one of those times that you just said nothing and followed along with her. "I'm sure you will Pinkie, but where are we off to?"

"Twilight's house," Pinkie replied, grinning widely as she bounded along the streets to the library. "We'll start there and work our way around town until you've met the others again. They really miss you."

Dash smiled softly as she kept pace with Pinkie's bounces. "Yeah, to be honest...I missed them and you too Pinkie Pie."

"Awww, well in that case we definitely have to get you to see everypony again."

"Yeah, just...don't tell anypony I said that." The case. Dash suddenly remembered the list of ponies that went missing months ago. It was worth a shot. "Hey, uh, Pinkie Pie. Do you know anything about the missing ponies’ case here?"

Pinkie shook her head quickly, beginning to bounce forward faster. "Nopey dopey. Well, not except who those ponies were, but everypony knows that already."

"Has anypony else gone missing since I left?" Dash pressed, picking up pace to match Pinkie's sudden increase in speed.

The pink pony pondered for a moment while they traveled down the road to Twilight's. "Mmm, nope, not that I know of. Nopony's been reported missing since the most recent one. Why? Are you on that case now Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie almost sounded disappointed when she answered, but Dash couldn't place what she was disappointed about or why. It worried her a little.

"Uh, yeah. It took a little convincing to reopen the case file, but I'm investigating it on my own. Nopony else wants to look in to or even think about it."

"Woo! That's great news Rainbow! We've gotta celebrate, and I know just the thing." Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up to and stopping just at the door to the library.

Dash raised an eyebrow and smirked. "A party?" She asked.

"How did you know?" Pinkie responded with a surprised look on her face as she knocked on the door.

Dash shrugged easily, holding in a little chuckle at her friend’s expression. "Just a guess I suppose."

"Oh you're good. I can see those three months of detective work has made you quite the agent, Dashie." Just then the door swung open and Twilight stood inside. She still seemed a bit tired, but when she saw Dash the unicorn perked up a little.

"Rainbow Dash, you're back! When did you get here from Manehattan?" Twilight asked, stepping aside to let the two ponies in.

"Ju-"

"Just this morning Twilight!" Interrupted Pinkie. She bounced into the center of the room and wiggled in place. "I'm taking her around to visit and catch up with all the ponies. You're first to be caught up with." Pinkie grinned her wide grin while Dash strolled in and sat down at the table behind her. “Well, besides me of course.”

"Yeah, pretty much. I'm-"

"She just graduated from the academy and is now an official EBI special agent!" Pinkie leapt in front of her, interrupting Dash again. Pinkie fell to the ground and giggled at her excitement.

Dash just stared at the pink pony for a moment before looking up at Twilight. "What she said."

Twilight smiled warmly. "That's great. I'm happy for you. Have you received your first case yet?" She walked into her kitchen and turned the kettle on.

The cerulean pony nodded enthusiastically. "Yes actually. I've been assigned to the case in Ponyville. About the disappearances."

"But nopony's been put on that case since the first two went missing." Twilight replied, as she poured her morning coffee. Her attention was completely on the two ponies in her house, the lavender unicorn almost spilled coffee on herself.

"But don't you remember Twilight?" Pinkie said, suddenly right in front of Twilight to lift up the kettle before it overflowed on her. "Rainbow Dash signed up so she could be on that case. To find out what really happened."

"I asked to work on it.” Rainbow Dash added firmly. “It...took a bit of time, but Chief Whitecoat said I could reopen the file."

Twilight exhaled deeply and took a sip of her coffee. "I hope you know what you're doing Rainbow Dash. It could be dangerous if you find anything."

"Come on you two, Rainbow Dash just got back. We're supposed to be celebrating remember?" Pinkie Pie yelled, suddenly bouncing around the two ponies happily.

"Yeah, you're right Pinkie. It can wait until later." Twilight trotted over to the stairs and began to ascend the steps. "Hold on, I'll have Spike send a letter to the others that you’re back and that they should come here."

Pinkie gasped loudly at that idea. "Why didn't I think of that? What a great way to set up a party!"

Dash chuckled and stood up from her seat. "Well, I suppose now you'll want to set up streamers and such."

"Of course. Help me with this!" Pinkie replied, giving Dash a pile full of party supplies from out of nowhere. Dash grunted and looked around the first floor. In fact half of the library was already decorated with streamers and balloons and party games.

Dash just shook her head knowingly. She sat down on her haunches and smiled at how quickly Pinkie could set up a party like that.

*****

When all the ponies arrived at the library, it was early in the afternoon. They were all happy to see Dash again and all proceeded to give her a hug when they entered the house.

The cyan pegasus sat by the window now, looking out of the library deep in thought. The party was in full swing, and all the ponies were busy with something. Rarity was playing pin the tail on the pony with Fluttershy, Applejack was bobbing for apples and Twilight was talking with Spike. Pinkie of course was eating some sweets that she made earlier for a "Just in Case" party. However Dash couldn't help thinking about where those lost ponies were.

"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy whispered from behind the mare. "Are you alright?"

Dash turned around and saw the yellow pegasi's worried face. "Hey, Fluttershy. Uh yeah, I'm okay. I'm just thinking about something."

"Oh? Thinking about what?" The shy pony asked.

Dash shifted in her seat as the other ponies became aware of their conversation. Rarity removed her blindfold and Applejack looked up from her apples.

Seeing how uncomfortable the pegasus was with the conversation, Fluttershy suddenly became nervous. She took a few steps back from the table, starting to hide behind her mane. "Oh, I...I mean only if you want to tell me."

"N-no, it's alright." Dash replied, trying to explain herself to Fluttershy. "I'm just thinking about this case, I guess. If I'll be able to find anything useful."

"Well, I for one think you will do a wonderful job." Rarity said walking over to stand beside Fluttershy. The other ponies nodded in agreement, and even Pinkie looked up from her cupcake to reassure Dash that she'd do fine. "But for right now, we should all celebrate your graduation and that should of course include you Rainbow Dash."

The cyan pony laughed lightly and nodded her head. "You're right, Rarity. I haven't really been doing much celebrating at this party have I?"

"So what're we all waitin' for? Come on." Applejack replied gesturing for the ponies to dance and have a good time.

Pinkie suddenly leapt into the center of the group and took Dash by the hoof. "Yeah, come on Rainbow Dash. Dance with us. That'll cheer you up."

"Heh yeah. Thanks guys, I appreciate it."

*****

The party continued long into the afternoon and right up to the early evening, but it eventually ended and the ponies had to get home. They all said their goodbyes and trotted out of Twilight's house.

Dash was the last to leave and flew off to her old cloud home. She told her friends that she would begin her investigation tomorrow because she was too tired from her flight back to know where to start.

She landed on her cloud floor and trotted up the stairs to her room. "The girls are right. I can't doubt myself. I'm the best graduate Whitecoat's seen in a long time after all. This case should be a snap for Rainbow Dash...but a Dash who's had a decent sleep."

Dash crawled into her cloud bed and immediately felt relaxed and happy to be back in this cozy nimbus cloud. She drifted off to sleep quickly and began to dream of what might happen in the days to come.

Author's Note

I really don't have much to say about these chapters do I? Of course it's been a long time since I've worked on these as well. I'm really happy with how it's turning out so far, and for anypony re-reading this I've made some edits on the chapters and will for the next one too. Mostly grammar mistakes and little name things. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash don't call each other by their shortened names much in the show, so I figured that they shouldn't here either.

Anyway, enough of my chatter. Enjoy! ^^

The First Chronicle - Chapter 3

The First Chronicle

Chapter 3

When Dash awoke in the morning, around eight thirty; her cloud blanket was curled all around her uncomfortably. She had woken up at midnight from an odd and troubling dream and had a difficult time falling back asleep. Dash couldn't remember much about the dream, only that it was a damp, dark and unfamiliar environment and it was freezing cold. She just knew it was a part of what kept her awake though.

After much fussing and kicking at the cloud blanket, Dash managed to straighten herself out and jump up from her bed. It had never been that difficult for her to sleep or even get up before. She blamed the dream she had and really wished she could remember it better.

Dash flew into her bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were restless and had dark circles under them. At any other time it wouldn't have seemed like a big deal, but this time she had really needed to rest. Dash had to figure out what all the disappearances were about, and she couldn't do that if she were too tired to stay awake during an interrogation.

There was nothing to do but accept it and deal with it. She'd put up with tiredness before, plus she needed to get started quickly. "Alright," Dash began, as she stepped out onto the porch to begin her day. The pegasus pulled on her EBI uniform and coat, placing her pistol in the holster on her waste and stretching. She spread her wings and readied herself to take off. "It would probably be best to start with finding out where the missing ponies were before they disappeared." Dash crouched and kicked off from her cloud, speeding quickly to the house of the most recent victim listed: Lyra Heartstrings.

It was eight forty-two by the time she was ready to take flight. Except for a nip in the air and a chilly snowfall all around town, it was another perfect sunny morning in Ponyville. The pegasus ponies were readying themselves for a large downpour of snow to get caught up with the winter season, and unfortunately Dash had to investigate in it. Another thing the pegasus would quickly shrug off and deal with.

This was far more important than just some light snow storm.

Nopony was up and about around town, being too early in the morning for most folk to be wandering the streets. Dash didn't see Pinkie anywhere either this time, strange considering how much of an early bird she always was. She's probably stuck baking at Sugarcube Corner for the Cakes, Dash figured.

When the cyan pegasus landed at the front door of Lyra’s house, Dash immediately felt an air of gloom around her. The door was unlocked, having been left by the owner of the home, so Dash strolled in with her pistol drawn in case the foalnapper returned.

It was quite dark inside for it being a sunny day out, the blinds were down and the curtains drawn as if something happened here that somepony didn't want anypony else seeing. It was a bit unnerving for a house in Ponyville to feel so unpleasant to be in, but Dash couldn't think of that right now. She had to focus. She had to find some evidence that would lead her to whoever did this.

She looked around the room and saw how messy everything was. It could have been the team of investigators that did it, but something told Dash that it had to be a struggle between captor and captive. Tables were flipped and paper was crumpled on the floor everywhere; with no other option but to start at the beginning, Dash began to look for signs.

The cerulean mare searched through the piles of paper lying undisturbed on the ground to see if anymore lists of ponies had been left for her to find, but she came up with nothing. Only unsent letters and book pages that were torn from their covers lay there. Dash decided to keep some of the pages to be analyzed back in Manehattan and kept searching.

When she was crouched over one of the pieces near the bookshelf, Dash noticed some blood smeared on the edge. It was already dried up from being there for several months; she decided to take a sample of it for later tests.

Dash scanned the room again to see if she'd missed anything and saw some hoofprints on the carpet. They started near the bookcase, blackish red in color from the dried blood. It stained the carpet now; Dash followed the dried blood to the stairs and saw the hoofprints on the steps. The walls were covered in the blackish red all along the hall as well, until she reached the top.

Dash was beginning to piece this scene together; it was obviously a struggle on both sides, she only hoped that the blood would be tested and come up with two separate samples. "This pony was bleeding to death. This could never be a simple disappearance, how did this case get overlooked so quickly?" When she checked the upstairs rooms, Dash found nothing out of place or in a mess; whoever did this obviously knocked Lyra out on the stairs, but where did they go after that?

There were no tracks of blood leading back to the entrance and nothing else of value on the first floor, so Dash holstered her gun and thought about who she last saw before disappearing. She remembered that Lyra hung out with Bon-Bon a great deal. Seemed like the best place to start. Dash decided to go check on what she knew about this.

Leaving the house undisturbed for the most part, the pegasus sped off towards Bon Bon's home, eager to find out more about this haunting mystery in Ponyville.

*****

Arriving at Bon-Bon’s house at around half past nine, Dash quickly began searching the area around her house for any clues. She knew Lyra and her were close, so the pegasus thought it was possible for them to have met up before the disappearance.

The flower garden near the house didn’t seem to have been disturbed, but Dash suspected it would have been Bon-Bon’s doing. Her garden was always kept weed free and clean. Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, it was also evidence free.

Shaking off her disappointment of the unsuccessful search, Dash proceeded up to the front door and tapped it with her hoof. Shortly after the earth pony in question answered the door to find the cerulean mare on her step.

Before Bon-Bon had time to say anything resembling a greeting, Rainbow Dash pulled out her badge and showed it to the beige pony, saying, “I’m special agent Rainbow Dash, I’ve come to ask you a few questions about the disappearances occurring in Ponyville. Do you have any information regarding this case?”

The statement seemed to have the pony confused. For a few minutes Bon-Bon only stood there, with her mouth open a little, as she stared in shock at Dash’s question.

Dash waited for her reply patiently. She had learned to adopt a calm atmosphere when talking to ponies about the crimes they’d witnessed; and Dash also knew that some ponies needed time to collect their thoughts on the matter, especially one cutting as deeply as this did. Her attitude as an agent was quite professional and well thought-out; she got to the point quick and received the evidence she needed.

Still the ponies were all silence, neither one of them choosing to speak to the other or to look away. Only a few moments passed after that though when Dash saw a change in Bon-Bon’s stance. She almost seemed to shrink away, as if the situation had just dawned on her and she couldn’t help but break.

“I…I thought that case was already over.” Bon-Bon said, trying to keep her composure a little longer. Her head sunk a little and her ears drooped noticeably, but she kept her eyes on Dash. She still wanted answers, just like Rainbow Dash did. “Why are you asking me about this?”

At hearing such a response from the sweets-making pony, Dash knew there must be something more to the disappearances than just vacations. She had to press the subject further. She had to know what Bon-Bon knew. “I’ve reopened the case file. It never should have been closed, there’s gotta be something that the other ponies missed…and I’m gonna find out what it is.”

The beige pony blinked and glanced around to see if anypony else was within earshot. “How are you an EBI agent, Dash?” Bon-Bon asked. Even though she used her name, she looked upon Dash as just another stranger now. Just an agent, here to ask more questions.

“I’ve been in Manehattan for a few months, trying to get into the agency.” Dash replied, keeping constant eye contact with Bon-Bon to see what reactions the pony gave her. “The reason I joined was to figure this out, but I never expected the ponies on the case to be so lazy about it. I mean, they found nothing. No evidence to prove what really happened here and what’s still happening.” She stepped closer to the mare and placed her hoof on her shoulder. “I want to know what really happened to Lyra.”

The mention of her name took effect immediately. Bon-Bon turned her head away, not trying to keep her cool any longer but to keep from crying. Dash walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

It seemed to do the trick. Bon-Bon stifled her tears and sighed heavily before turning to Dash. “Please come in. I’ll make us some tea.” She stepped aside to let the cerulean pegasus through and quickly shut the door.

Once inside Dash was escorted to the living room while Bon-Bon descended to the kitchen. The earth mare offered Dash a seat, but the pony didn’t move.

Instead she opted to look around the room, scanning the table tops and shelves for clues until Bon-Bon returned with a tray of goodies. She set them on the table and took a seat on her couch. Bon-Bon still appeared to be nervous – her hooves shook as she placed the tray – but she was noticeably calmer than before.

Dash decided to cut to the chase. She strolled up to the distraught mare and stood over Bon-Bon. “What happened back then, Bon-Bon? Why did Lyra go missing months ago?” Her words were warmer than the beige pony imagined they’d be. It felt to her like they were having a secret conversation to which Dash had sworn to keep to herself with those two innocent questions.

Bon-Bon shivered slightly at the cold feeling running up her spine, but she knew with certainty now that she could trust the pegasus. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, the pony began, “It was the day before the disappearance…Lyra had just come by my house that afternoon with news that she had a concert to go to. One she could play her lyre at. She’d told me about it first, but it spread fast. I guess that was thanks to Pinkie…she had already heard about it and neither Lyra nor I remembered telling her about it. I suppose it was just her Pinkie sense.” Bon-Bon chuckled lightly and took a moment of silence, but soon she continued. “Anyway, the day before it happened Lyra came by with a letter from Pinkie…for a party at Sugarcube Corner. It was to celebrate her big chance. She was really excited and I was excited for her…she couldn’t wait to tell everypony at the party more about it.”

At this, she teared up and turned her head away slightly, unable to tell Dash what happened. But the cerulean pony had to know. Hadn’t she said the ponies on the case before questioned her on all this? Did they even ask her the right questions? What was going on? Why was this file closed so easily, with so much evidence reporting a foalnapping?

“Please Bon-Bon, I have to know. I have to catch the pony responsible for all these disappearances…I know they’re more than that and I know you think so too.”

Bon-Bon sniffed and took a glance at Rainbow Dash. She could see the sincerity in Dash’s eyes. She decided to keep going.

“I told her I would be there later, after I finished an order of sweets…but it took all night and I ended up falling asleep. I went over to Pinkie’s that morning, but she said Bon-Bon never showed up……it quickly turned into a disappearance case and I was interviewed for being her best friend a few days later. By that time the case had been closed, so it was just a light interview for the news.”

Dash stood in silence. She still stared at Bon-Bon, waiting to see if she was really done. Seeing if she was telling her everything she knew. When she said nothing, Dash placed a hoof under her chin. “Hmm.”

Bon-Bon nodded ever so slightly, as if just barely noticing her presence now. “I can understand why they would interview me just after it happened…back when the trail was fresh…but why bother now? Everything’s been taken down and…and you say that they didn’t even leave anything in a report? Are they trying to cover something up, or-or keep something secret?”

The pegasus shook her head. “I don’t know why they’d do that, but I’m trying to figure things out. Not all evidence is lost with time.” With that final thought, Dash turned and made for the door without touching her tea. When she reached the entrance, she turned, saying, “Thank you for your help. I hope what you’ve told me leads to more evidence for this case.”

“Do you want to take the letter?” Bon-Bon asked before the cerulean mare could leave.

“What letter?” Dash replied, already guessing what the earth pony meant.

Without another word, the beige pony trotted into the cellar by the front hallway and returned with a small note in her mouth. It was dusty, but the words could still be read easily. “Lyra left it here before she went missing. I decided to keep it…she never made it to her concert…or her party…”

Dash coughed at seeing the mare’s eyes run with tears again. Dash hesitated for a moment, but leant forward and hugged the poor earth pony. Bon-Bon returned it gladly and sniffed when the two separated.

Dash told her that she would find who did this and all the other foalnappings.

She promised.

Author's Note

Alrighty then. I have re-read and edited this chapter as well, ridding it of more grammar errors or otherwise. I'm quite happy with my past self's good work on these chapters. I've written quite the mystery and suspense story so far. Hopefully I can keep it up until the end. And hopefully you guys are surprised with the ending as well.

My mind is stirring with possibilities when it comes to many of the plot points, it's difficult to keep everything in order. But of course stories like these are always challenging to write, because you have to create the crime and work back from there. The reason for the character to be the killer must make sense and the time has to be spot on. It's fun to think of all these things though.

Thanks for reading guys. Next week is the next chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed this one. ^^

The First Chronicle - Chapter 4

The First Chronicle

Chapter 4

It was a quarter past eleven when the pegasus departed from Bon-Bon’s house. Her hunch had paid off well, and now Dash had a lead; one she was very eager to follow.

When the chance arose and the beige pony was settled back into her home, the cerulean mare bolted and flew straight for Sugercube Corner. She hoped that the pink pony would still be inside taking stock on the baked goods and not off trotting somewhere that Dash would have no chance of finding.

The wind howled passed her as she flew at top speed towards the Cake’s shop, dodging and diving through the crowds of ponies that now wandered about the cobbled streets. She didn’t take notice of any of them; only one goal ran through her mind: finding out what Pinkie really knew about these disappearances.

She said she didn’t know about them any more than Dash did, but Bon-Bon told her that she’d invited Lyra over the day before her foalnapping. Something didn’t add up, and Rainbow Dash wanted to have another talk with Pinkie.

Dash landed at the front door of the shop in record speed and pushed it open. Ignoring the other ponies at their tables waving and greeting her, Dash trotted up to the counter where Mrs. Cake was leaning on carefully.

She waved happily at the pegasus. “Why hello there Rainbow Dash, what can I get for you today?” Mrs. Cake asked with her usual cheerful attitude.

“I’m not actually here for sweets today Mrs. Cake. I’d like to speak with Pinkie Pie, is she here?” Dash retorted, trying to look over the store owner’s shoulder.

The older mare nodded slowly, but kept the smile on her face. Dash noticed a slight drop in her cheer though. “Why yes, she is…but she’s checking inventory at the moment dear. Do you think you could come back later?”

“Unfortunately it can’t wait. I’m here on EBI business,” Dash said, holding up her badge for Mrs. Cake to see. Before the mare could reply, Dash stepped into the back of the shop and spotted Pinkie in the cellar. She trotted over to the pink mare as she counted the boxes of sweets – which Dash imagined were the orders ponies had filled out for them. “Pinkie, hi, I need to speak with you about- Whoa!”

Before the pegasus could finish her introductions, she was tackled to the floor by Pinkie. The thought crossed her mind that she should have expected this right from the beginning, but somehow Pinkie Pie always managed to surprise her.

“Rainbow Dash! You came to visit me at work. It’s been a while since that’s happened, I’m so glad,” Pinkie said as she once again hugged Dash a little too tight, but luckily the pegasus had learned to focus her breathing and put up with the strangle hold.

“Yeah, It’s good to see you too Pinkie, but this time it’s about something else.”

After a few more seconds of squeezing and squirming, Pinkie let go and allowed Dash to stand on her hooves again. “What do you mean?” Pinkie tilted her head to the side quizzically. Dash noticed a little bit of concern on the pink pony’s face, but wrote it off as her just being worried for her.

“It’s about the disappearances here in Ponyville. I’d like to ask you a few more questions about what you might know.” Dash responded, showing Pinkie her EBI badge.

Pinkie stared a little bit too close at the badge for a few moments before backing up a bit and giggling. “Wow, you really are a big time detective now; all straight and serious with the badge and suit and everything. You don’t sound like you right now.”

“Pinkie this isn’t a game. I’m not kidding around. I’d like to know more about the investigation that started a year ago. I want to know if you saw Lyra before she was taken.”

That got her attention. Just like with Bon-Bon, Pinkie didn’t say anything in reply to her question. She just stared back silently at Dash. It was different this time though. Normally, Pinkie would never be this quiet or this focused. Something Dash had said obviously made the pink pony remember that day, but she wasn’t saying what it was.

Dash wanted to know why.

Their staring contest went on for a while longer than that with Bon-Bon. Both of them seemed to be interrogating the other with their stare, trying to understand each other’s motives for what they were doing. What was Pinkie hiding? Why was she so serious all of a sudden? To be honest, Dash had noticed a change in Pinkie even before she had left for three months. Like how she’d made that list of things for the two of them to do and how she seemed so suspicious all the time. She’d just written it off as Pinkie being herself, but now it was starting to make sense. Sense of what, Dash didn’t know, but she was going to find out.

They stared for a good few minutes afterwards, but eventually Pinkie relaxed her gaze. She knew she couldn’t stay like this forever. Sooner or later Mrs. Cake would come trotting in to see what was going on. Pinkie just sighed and walked forward slowly. Dash watched her and stepped out of her way to let her pass.

“Come on,” Pinkie said in a hushed voice. Secretive. “I’ll tell you about it in my room. Ponies might hear down here.”

As she was told, Dash followed the magenta-maned mare up to the second floor of the SC. She explained to Mrs. Cake that she’d only be a few minutes with Rainbow Dash before she’d return to the cellar; to which the older mare nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Pinkie stood outside the doorway to her room and gestured for Dash to enter, closing the door behind her when she too stepped in.

Dash watched her pink friend as Pinkie faced the door. She didn’t look back at the pegasus, but her head hung low as if in thought or in guilt of something. Dash didn’t know what that something was though. She knew it had to be about the disappearances, but what could Pinkie know that Rainbow Dash didn’t? The cerulean mare didn’t attempt to figure out these questions though; she only stood in the center of the room, waiting for Pinkie to say something.

While she waited, Dash took in the pink pony’s room. She’d never seen the inside of it before, but it was very Pinkie-like. Lots of pink decorations and fluffy pillows in every direction. Her bed was huge and poofy and it faced a mirror on the other side of the room. It was quite a large mirror – set on a dresser with brushes and other such things placed on top – something Rainbow Dash hadn’t been expecting exactly. She knew Pinkie wasn’t like Rarity, being all fancy with her make-up and such, but neither was she like her or Applejack. It made sense to her after a while that the pink mare would care a little about her appearance, but it was just a bit of a shock at first.

When she was finished glancing around the room, Dash turned back to find Pinkie spinning around to face her. She still didn’t look at her, keeping her head low as she sauntered over to sit on the end of her bed.

Dash followed her carefully and eventually sat down next to Pinkie on the extremely comfy, extremely pink bed.

Before the cerulean pegasus could gather her thoughts on this situation and ask any questions, the pink pony shuffled in her seat, saying, “I remember the day, Rainbow Dash. I don’t know what to tell you though.”

“Just tell me what you saw,” Dash said, leaning over and putting a forehoof over Pinkie’s shoulder consolingly. “Did you see Lyra any time before her disappearance?”

Pinkie nodded gently, seeming to find comfort in Dash’s embrace. “I saw her the day before…I heard that she’d received a letter to perform with her lyre in a few days, so I thought I’d congratulate her.”

Dash’s ears perked up immediately. Well that fits. She really did know about her notice, but what does that mean? How would she know about it without Lyra telling her herself? Dash wanted to ask her, but thought against it for now. She waited to see if Pinkie would say anymore, but she didn’t remove her hoof from the mare.

“…In the morning I came to visit her and gave her an invitation to a party at Sugarcube Corner. I thought she’d deserved it and I hadn’t had much of a reason to throw a party that week, so I took the chance, but…” She trailed off suddenly. She leaned in closer to Dash, so that their shoulders were touching.

“…she never showed up…” Dash finished, not taking notice of Pinkie leaning on her. “How could she be foalnapped without anypony knowing for a whole day?”

Pinkie shook her head, but kept her head low. “I don’t know…”

“Pinkie, uh…” Dash looked over and quickly noticed how Pinkie leaned on her. She blushed a little, but her hoof still didn’t move from the magenta-maned pony’s shoulder. “A-are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright.” Pinkie replied, still peacefully leaning on Dash’s shoulder for comfort. “I don’t really have any more to say then that. I waited for her to arrive for our party, but nopony showed up.”

Dash nodded uneasily. She tried to stay cool, but she couldn’t quite manage it with the pink mare leaning on her like that. She had to get out of there. Dash had got what she was looking for. Pinkie’s story was the same as Bon-Bon’s. She didn’t see Lyra either. “Okay, well, I should uh…get going then. I’ll see you around okay, Pinkie Pie?” Dash said as she pulled herself away from the pink pony, pushing Pinkie upright so she didn’t fall when she left.

“Alright Rainbow Dash…I’ll see you later…” Pinkie replied downcast.

Without looking back or giving a response, Dash opened the upstairs window and flew out. She didn’t really know why, but she just needed to leave that place. It wasn’t because she had other things to investigate or she needed fresh air; she just felt awkward with Pinkie leaning on her suddenly and without her knowing. How long had she been like that? Why did it feel so different from the other times she’d been the support for Pinkie?

Rainbow Dash didn’t really want to think about it. She coasted down to the ground and proceeded to trot along the path to Fluttershy’s house. Dash wasn’t really planning on going there; she just wanted to walk somewhere and had chosen that as her destination.

Then again, Dash thought. I haven’t really seen or talked to Fluttershy in three months…maybe I could talk to her. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see me.

With that pleasant thought in mind, Dash hurried along the road towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

*****

It was about twelve fifteen as Dash trotted along the path to her friend’s home. She was almost there, when she heard some sniffling over a hill just to the side of the timid pony’s cottage. Wondering who it could be, but guessing as to whom it probably was, Dash crept to the top of the hill and looked over. Fluttershy sat in the middle of a circle of woodland critters; they were trying to calm her down and stop her crying, with little success it seemed.

Dash ventured forward, and as her hoofsteps grew closer to the animals around Fluttershy, they looked up and saw the uniformed pegasus. Fluttershy however didn’t seem to notice Dash’s presence or that her friends were backing away for the cerulean mare to sit next to her.

For a few seconds Dash only sat there, listening to her friend cry, not knowing what to do. It was getting chilly outside by now, the snow was beginning to cover everywhere; the warmth and light of summer was long forgotten, but still Fluttershy remained.

The silence lasted until Dash cleared her throat, finally willing herself to say something to the sad pony. “Fluttershy?” She started in a whisper. The pony beside her had already noticed her clearing her throat and tried to hide her sadness from Dash, but it was already too late for that. “You okay? What’s wrong?”

Another sniffle. Fluttershy seemed to shrink into herself at the question. She moved some of the snow in front of her with a forehoof absent-mindedly, when she mumbled a response, “I…I…”

“Fluttershy…you can tell me what’s wrong. I’m your friend remember?” Dash said trying to coax the timid mare into sharing what was bothering her. The pegasus drew her wing over Fluttershy to provide her with some support.

This calmed the shy pony down a little. Fluttershy sighed and looked over at her friend with glistening eyes. “…I can’t find him anywhere. One of my chickens. He-he ran into the Everfree Forest and I can’t find him. He won’t come when I call.”

A lost chicken? In the middle of a snowstorm? Dash thought. This wasn’t good. It was beginning to snow heavily. If I don’t do something fast, the little guy might freeze. I can’t let that happen. The cerulean mare wrapped her forehoof around the yellow pegasus and looked her in the eyes, saying, “I’ll find him Fluttershy, but you’d better get you and your friends inside where it’s warm. I shouldn’t be long okay?”

“You-you’d do that Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked in surprise.

Dash got up without replying and folded her wing back to her side. She smiled at the shy pegasus as she started to walk forward in the snow. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’ll get your chicken back. Just get inside before you freeze.” Dash turned her head towards the wild forest as her wings flew open. With one powerful flap, she was speeding off in search of the lost animal.

Dash zoomed through the trees as the snow fell down on the area. She scanned the forest floor below, dodging and diving around the leafless trees of the Everfree. Dash didn’t see anything for quite a while and only circled the area, but then she heard a noise down on the ground.

Immediately she stopped and Dash perked her ears to hear the sound more clearly. It seemed to be coming from behind a pile of snow; fallen from a branch of a tree. Feeling that that was her only option, the pegasus descended to the snow covered floor.

“Here chicken. Come on out little guy,” Dash called as she climbed up the small white hill to peer over at whatever it was making that noise. She hoped it was the chicken, so that it would not only end her search and she would be able to be in the warmth of Fluttershy’s cottage, but that it would also prove not be a dangerous creature.

She reached the top and slid down onto the other side. The area was all silence. Dash was in a clearing; no trees or shrubs grew from where she stood and only snow was present there. She stepped further into the clearing, still calling out to the chicken to follow her back to the house when she saw a shivering pile of snow.

It clucked once as Dash drew near and, when she was a hoofstep away brushed the snow off the little guy and placed him on her back. “There. You’ve got Fluttershy worried sick you know?” Dash scolded the animal while she turned back around to leave, but something stopped her. A cold shiver went up her back, as if somepony or something was watching her. The clearing became suddenly very eerie, and the only thing Dash wanted to do was get out of there. The only problem was she couldn’t. She was stuck.

Not from being cold and especially not from fear of that something glaring at her; it was just that her legs and wings weren’t behaving themselves at the moment. With the chicken sitting comfortably on her back, Dash eventually forced herself forwards and quickly broke into a run. She trotted up the snow-covered hill and kicked off at the top, spreading her wings and zooming out of that spooky spot in the forest. She glanced back only once at the clearing before she was out of the forest and landing swiftly on Fluttershy’s doorstep.

It was six in the evening when she’d gotten out of there; the sun was already setting in the sky. Dash had never noticed how late it had been, she could have sworn it was one in the afternoon when she found Fluttershy crying. Perhaps the Everfree Forest was the cause? Time lost all meaning when inside that place, and a few minutes inside was much longer than that of anywhere else. Dash knocked on the door a few times and shortly after the timid mare answered it.

Rainbow Dash turned to the side with a grin to show that she’d recovered the missing chicken. “Oh thank goodness, you found Brock. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t find the little guy. Thank you Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy hugged the pegasus lightly and took the chicken off Dash’s back.

“Ah, it was nothin’ really. Piece o’ cake,” Dash’s stomach rumbled when she said that. She blushed and chuckled at her empty tummy calling for food. “Uh, yeah, hehe. Well I should get outa your hair. I should get back to my house too.”

Fluttershy rubbed her mane softly. “Would you like to come in for a snack?”

“Uh, well…”

“We could catch up on what the other did over the three months a-and you could get a snack before you go…oh, I mean, if you want to that is.” Fluttershy interrupted persistently.

Dash stared at the timid pegasus and saw how much she wanted to chat with her. She could never say no to Fluttershy. “Oh, alright. Chatting and eating does sound like fun, so I’ll come in for a little.”

Fluttershy smiled gladly at the cerulean mare and stepped aside wordlessly for her friend to enter.

Author's Note

I did some editing on this chapter too. Mostly spelling errors like the last chapters, but I changed some narration to Rainbow Dash's thoughts instead. Seemed to fit better with the story.

I was in a bit of a bad mood when I posted this a while ago, so I didn't write anything here, but now that I read it over again I'm really happy with this chapter. All of the story seems to hold together plot wise so far, I just hope you all don't think it's forced or unreal or something.

Thanks for reading.

The First Chronicle - Chapter 5

The First Chronicle

Chapter 5

It was twenty past eight when Dash left Fluttershy’s cottage. The two pegasi spent the last two hours discussing what they’d done over the three months Dash had been away in Manehattan, long into the night.

Fluttershy had been quite busy with her animals over that period; many sick or injured creatures which she had put herself in charge of nursing back to health. Dash always marvelled over the fact that Fluttershy would care for so many animals even though she was so timid, but still she took very good care of all of them. She admired her for that at times; how she could be so patient when Dash herself always had to be on the move. Dash supposed that was why she found it so easy to talk to the shy pony; she trusted her to listen and to help her with anything she might be having trouble with.

While the yellow pegasus was happy to talk about her multitude of animals, for the most part she just listened quietly to Dash reminisce about her graduation into the EBI. She spoke of being the top of her class in all aspects of the training and how even her superior, Chief Whitecoat, mentioned her prowess; to which Fluttershy grinned vibrantly and congratulated Dash for her achievement.

Dash also went into detail about how she caught a criminal in a hostage situation in Manehattan while she was still only a rookie. She had taken the initiative on the case and organized – a little bit hastily and on the spot – a team to capture the unicorn with no casualties on her record. The pony in charge of the robbery, who had been injured during the crime, commended Dash’s quick thinking and spoke to the Chief of his interest in her continued service. Fluttershy listened to it all and ‘ooh’d and ‘ahh’d at all the right places, while she made some tea and cookies for their chat.

And while Fluttershy talked about how Angel, her pet bunny companion, had come down with a cold from being outside in the snow too long, Dash munched away on the delectable treats. She tried the tea, which she sort of enjoyed, but decided to stick with apple cider and cookies. Fluttershy told her that the poor rabbit had refused to come inside until he received the meal he demanded of her; to which Dash replied that it was his fault for being stubborn.

The timid pegasus chuckled lightly and dismissed the allegation. As the conversation died down at last, and as the sun fell behind the mountains, Dash realised how late it must be getting. The cerulean mare got up and stretched, saying that she should be flying on home. Fluttershy nodded her understanding and the two friends said their good-byes.

It was eight thirty in the evening when Dash arrived at her cloud home. She entered through her front door, peering once more out at the mountains and the sky that she loved before flying up to her room. The day had been long and arduous, and the only thing on Rainbow Dash’s mind was a good night’s sleep.

She slipped her uniform and coat off and hung it up on a hanger. She took off her holster and lay it on her bedside table for the next day of duty. Then she slunk lazily into her nimbus cloud bed and was soon fast asleep.

*****

Dash tossed and turned in her sleep as thoughts of who could be foalnapping ponies ran through her head. The pegasus woke at a quarter past ten at night, requiring a quick drink of water. Dash wandered down to the bathroom and took a much needed drink from the cloud tap before turning back to her room and strolling into it, crawling back into her bed.

At eleven o’ clock, the pegasus woke from a dream about being captured and tortured by the criminal, but the face of the pony was hidden behind shadow. When Dash tried to remove the haze covering their face, she opened her eyes to see an outstretched hoof in the air. She sighed and turned on her side, pulling the white cloud sheet tightly over her.

It was half past twelve when she awoke again, to a cold chill running down her spine and a whistling noise approaching from outside. It was more like a howling sound to Dash’s half-awake ears. The pegasus lay in her bed listening to the eerie sound until her mind was focused. Dash scolded herself for being startled by such a din and closed her eyes, falling at last into a deep disturbed sleep.

A thick black haze greeted her when she opened her eyes once more. It almost suffocated the pegasus to breathe in the fumes surrounding her. When she looked down to see if she were still in her cloud home – only to find that it was pitch black all around – Dash saw that she had her uniform and gear on. The cerulean mare drew out her pistol from her holster, feeling more comfortable with exploring the expanse of dark mist. Even walking through it felt strange; the fog almost solid against her coat, the pegasi’s fur stood on end with the chill that now pervaded the area. For the longest time Dash walked in silence. It was a troublingly eerie environment to be in and not only that, Dash was quickly coming to suspect somepony or something was following her. As she crept along an unseen path cautiously, she was wondering what would happen if she did speak; and who might answer her in the dark.

So for a while the pegasus wandered around in the blackness, catching small glimpses of tall, broken and horribly twisted trees and wide ugly overgrown shrubs through the haze. Dash could see lights flickering in the distance, but when she raced after them thinking they would lead to a way out of this bone chilling place, the light faded and Dash was once again left in the darkness. It felt like hours had passed by and still the cerulean pony could only search the seemingly endless mist for an exit. She had no idea whether she’d been walking in circles the entire time, but Dash could feel her patience running thin. She was beginning to wonder why she hadn’t been calling out for help this whole time.

“Hello?” Dash shouted into the haze of shadow, breaking the hour long silence hanging about her. But silence was the only thing that answered. No response came to her ears, but after she spoke, the mare felt a breeze catch her mane. The haze lifted above her and revealed to Dash a deeply wooded area. She was standing on the edge of a snow covered clearing. It was snowing, but Dash couldn’t feel the snowflakes on her face or the snow between her hooves as she stood. Something caught her attention as she thought about this odd place and turned her gaze towards the object.

It was poking out from a snow back; just barely visible over the falling white crystals, so carefully placed but easily missed in such a dreary place. A bloody hoof lay on the snow; so obviously yet so mysteriously. Dash couldn’t tell if the rest of the pony was there as well, but as she yelled out to make certain, the mare sat up sweating in her cloud bed. She was panting and glancing around in a panic as the morning light crept steadily into her room.

Her wings felt tense against her sides; when she attempted to unfurl them, a shot of pain ran through her wings and into her stomach. Dash relaxed her muscles and sat up carefully on her cloud bed. She massaged her sore spots and managed to stretch with a bearable difficulty. That dream must have been more unnerving than I thought. After a few more minutes she figured her wings had had enough rest, so Dash flapped her wings, rising up to the ceiling of her room, and cruised into her downstairs kitchen. She rustled through her pantry for something to eat as she thought about what her dream could have meant. She’d had these experiences before, but never quite knew how to deal with them.

Where have I seen that clearing before? Why was there a dismembered leg lying in the snow? Finding no answers to those questions in her fridge, Dash decided on a bowl of yogurt with oats and raisins, and apple juice for breakfast. She sat herself down at her table and continued contemplating her bizarre early morning alarm. Rainbow Dash knew it had to do with her investigation, but she couldn’t remember where she’d been besides Ponyville. She tapped her spoon against her chin a few times, thinking. It happened yesterday, She thought. Yesterday afternoon, when I’d gone to see Fluttershy. The Everfree Forest. I tracked Fluttershy’s chicken there and felt a chill about the clearing. Creepy or not now, Dash had to investigate this further. She raced through her breakfast and pulled her uniform and gear on. Dash holstered her gun at her hip and flew out of the front door of her cloud home, heading rapidly to the spot she’d seen in her dream.

It was a quarter past ten when she disembarked from her house. Ponies were already out and about at work or school or going about their daily routine as usual, but Dash had no time to stop and greet them. She sped past them all in such a hurry that not only did they not see her to say hello, they hardly even saw a blue streak fly past them and felt a sudden breeze kick up in the blur’s wake. A few ponies looked back behind them, trying to figure out what had just occurred before continuing on with their daily business.

Normally, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have been so inconsiderate of her friends and would have at least wished them a good morning, but this was too important to her to be distracted by formality. After all, she’d never been one for being formal anyway; this just gave her an excuse. She needed to fly to the Everfree and see if her hunch was right; if her dream was giving her any viable evidence or clues to this case. Even if it was a dead end, Dash had learned over her three months at the academy that all ends must be investigated to their respective ends. She couldn’t leave any details missing from her reports, and the dream place seemed so familiar to her. It was always a possibility.

So making swiftly for the forest, Dash landed at the treeline at a quarter past ten. There was a nip in the air just on the border of the Everfree, making the cerulean mare’s fur stand on end. Dash shivered by the abrupt change in wind direction, but shook her sudden anxiety about this idea off, wrapped her coat around her more tightly and proceeded into the dark wood. Even in the light of day Dash had to admit there was something unsettling about the trees and the shrubs that appeared to close in around her the deeper she chose to venture inside. This was only the second time the pegasus wandered into this forest alone. The other times had either been with her friends or when she soared over it, clearing the skies overhead effortlessly. Now that she was actually in the Everfree all by herself, Dash couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. The air was thick around her, as if the environment itself was alive and unwelcoming of strangers; there was a fog also present – low to the ground – and Dash felt many pairs of eyes on her from the deeper mists. She was much more nervous now than she had been in her dream, but still the stubborn pony had to press on; now that she had found the place the dream showed her. Creatures stirred and noises funneled into Dash’s perked ears as she made her way – almost instinctually – to the clearing.

The EBI agent had her pistol drawn as she approached the snow covered field. It was snowing over the clearing, but a lull hung around it as well in the chilling atmosphere of the Everfree. That in itself felt wrong to Rainbow Dash; like something was inviting her in to find something she didn’t actually want to uncover. It only served to put the pegasus on high alert as she patrolled the perimeter, looking for what she’d seen last night. A decapitated leg, Dash thought as she held her pistol close. She was no stranger to dead bodies. Rainbow Dash had seen many during her training and rookie examinations; she was quite comfortable with being assigned to murder investigations. Not many actually came up as such a category, which disappointed the cerulean mare at first when she was given a routine mission. But soon in quite a few cases it became apparent that her investigation was more than what her superior had let on. This made things much more interesting for the agent in training. Now was different though. This case was odd, and Rainbow Dash loved it.

Her hoofprints dotted the snow covered clearing as she made her rounds of the tree line. Her hooves were beginning to freeze, but Dash was too concentrated on finding what she saw lying here in her dream to notice. The search of the perimeter came up with nothing. It shouldn’t have discouraged the pegasus so much, given that this was all started because of a lucid dream she’d had, but something told her she would find that body here. She just didn’t know where it was, how it got here or why it was here at all.

“Maybe it was just a pointless dream,” Dash considered briefly. The cerulean mare stood more or less at the center of the clearing now, with a hoof placed under her chin in thought. She tilted her head back and stared at the flickering snow falling above her. There’s no way it’s been like that any other time. Come on, think Dash. What’s here now that was in my dream? Trees, shrubs, a clearing…this clearing.

Snow blanketed the clearing with yet more fresh snow as Dash’s mind raced for a reason she’d come here. It was in the winter, a body found…behind a snow bank. Her head shot up and twisted around at that realisation, trying to spot the hill of snow. On the outskirts of the field lay a lump of snow, large enough to hide the limb and body of a diseased pony.

For some reason now, Dash stood still, not knowing how to proceed. She had never had any trouble with dead bodies before, so she didn’t really understand what was keeping her; Dash’s legs just didn’t move. She looked up at the snow and the clouds above, trying to obtain what she needed to lift her hooves. A snow flake landed on the tip of her nose and Dash blinked, shaking her head. She rubbed her snout and brushed the quickly melting ice crystal off of it.

With a stern look ahead, Rainbow Dash took a step forward, “Come on Dash, you’ve gotta stay focused. This is your first real case. On your own. You have to give it all you’ve got.” She sauntered over, up to the snow pile, and lifted a hoof. I know what’s going on, She thought suddenly. I’ve never had to deal with a pony I knew in life before…this pony…could be any of the victims, and I saw them almost every day. But those feelings must be left behind for now. If I want answers, I have to disconnect myself from that life and become a stranger.
Dash took a deep breath and brushed a hoof over the snow bank, revealing a hoof turned white from the cold. Wrapping her hoof around the dead pony’s, the cyan mare pulled whoever it was out from under the snow. She recognised the pony as Lyra Heartstrings.

The pegasus sat back, startled by what she had discovered. She pondered what this find meant for the case. No bodies were said to have been found, according to the file. Of course the cyan mare was not inclined to believe that all of the information in that file was truthful. If she were to say at least some of the details weren’t sound, this meant a huge boost to her evidence.

These killings had gone on for months and not one body or even pieces of them had been found. Now Rainbow Dash had discovered this on her second day of investigating the case. But why would the killer leave some evidence so obviously? Was it the killer’s mistake to dump the body here? Dash didn’t think so. The killer would never try something like this when their original method left no body. Was it planned? And if so, for whom? A challenge to me perhaps, saying, ‘Just try and catch me’? If that was the case, am I being followed? Nopony really knows I’m investigating these crimes, except Chief Whitecoat.
Whatever the possibilities, Dash smirked. She almost hoped it was a direct challenge to her abilities. Rainbow Dash was never one to back down from a competition. But this wasn’t the time for that. Dash had to understand this new turn of events more clearly, and to do that she needed an autopsy done on the body. For that she needed to contact her superior.

She took out her mobile and dialed EBI headquarters. “Hello? Chief Whitecoat, I need you to get a team down here to Ponyville immediately. I’ll be in the Everfree Forest. It’s a big clearing, you can’t miss it. I’ve found a body.” Dash hung up, having told him the details and her whereabouts, and looked down at the body again. “Lyra, huh? I’m sorry to see you this way, but you might be what gets me inside this killer’s head.”

Author's Note

Hi everyone! Sorry to be gone for such a long time, I kind of lost interest in this story for a while. Anyways, I'm back and will be posting chapters at a more regular basis hopefully.

This is where shit gets real. No going back for Rainbow Dash now.

Enjoy! ^^

The First Chronicle - Chapter 6

The First Chronicle

Chapter 6

When the paramedics arrived, it was twenty minutes after twelve and the sun was already on its downward climb from the sky. The cyan pegasus wondered briefly how the princess managed to keep the sun on such a steady decline all through the year. She had been pacing around the small clearing as she waited for the forensics team, and sometimes she glanced up at the sky to wonder how many killings were committed by this mad pony under the sun’s gaze.
When they arrived, the team began to close off the area with rope. Two ponies came up to stand with Dash as she stood over the crime scene.
The two pegasi took out their badges and showed Dash. “I’m Special Agent Solstice and this is Special Agent Ember.” The dark brown pegasus said. He had a blue mane and tail and a forensics briefcase for a cutie-mark.
Dash looked to each pony in turn and took out her own badge. “Special Agent Dash. Did Chief Whitecoat explain what case this is about?”
Solstice shrugged his shoulders. “He said not to ask questions about it, so we won’t.”
Dash turned to Ember, who nodded silently.
“So what do you figure happened?” Dash asked the dark brown pegasus.
He paused for a moment to think about where to begin. “It’s hard to say. This body seems to have been out here for days. Body’s cold, but…no blood, no cuts…no sign of a struggle and no hoofsteps to or away from the area. Winter’s done this killer a favor and made our job more difficult.”
Ember, a mare with a purple mane and light blue coat huffed. Her cutie-mark was a magnifying glass on top of a hoofprint. “Seems like this pony has a calculated mind. Any ideas as to why the killer decided to produce a body out here?”
Dash shrugged, beginning to back away from the two pegasi. “I’ve got a few, but they’re only hunches. Nothing to go on until an autopsy can be done. See what you can find first, alright?”
The brown stallion nodded. “We’ll get right on it.”
The cyan mare hadn’t heard them. She was already making her way out of the Everfree Forest. Dash lifted the tape and stepped under it to continue walking. She was going to test one of her hunches out right now, and that hunch included a second visit to Fluttershy’s cottage.
*****
Being the closest house to the Everfree Forest, Dash thought that the timid pony would have noticed something odd about one night. Having a home full of critters meant that rude awakenings in the night would be common for her, and maybe the animals heard a pony carrying a body into the Everfree Forest. At the very least it was a start, and Dash might find some tracks under the snow leading in and out.
Once she cleared the tree line, the pegasus spread her wings and flew the rest of the way to Fluttershy’s house. It was only half past twelve, so she was probably just settling in for lunch. That line of thought seemed to awaken something in Dash’s stomach, as she remembered she hadn’t eaten in a while.
Dash landed at the front of the cottage at about forty minutes past and knocked on the door. Soon enough she heard hoofsteps becoming increasingly louder, and no sooner had Fluttershy opened her door to the pegasus.
The yellow mare seemed surprised to see her again at first, but not unhappy by any means. “Why, hello Rainbow Dash. What brings you here again? Oh, not that I’m not happy to see you- I’m quite happy to have another visit from you…it’s just that…I thought you would be out investigating by now.”
“Actually, I am,” Dash began after a moment. “I came here to ask you something. A few things to be honest, can I come in?”
Again Fluttershy looked puzzled, but she obliged and let the rainbow-maned pony into her home. She offered her to sit at the table, which Dash accepted, and sat herself down opposite.
The yellow pegasus looked a little worried. She bowed her head and rubbed her fore-legs together nervously. “So, um…what did you want to ask me?”
Dash cleared her throat, but didn’t say right away. After a few seconds she asked, “Did you see or hear anything unusual this past week? Probably at nighttime.”
It looked like the question confused the pegasus for a moment, but Fluttershy started to think after. “Well…what kind of thing?”
“Your animals might have heard something. Did they wake you up at night at all? Maybe because they heard a strange noise outside?” Dash encouraged, trying to get her friend to remember.
Something seemed to light up in Fluttershy’s eyes when the cyan mare said that. “Oh! Actually, now that you mention it. My animals did wake me up four nights ago. They told me they heard some scary noise outside, so I thought I’d check it out.”
Dash nodded for her to continue. “Yes, and?”
Fluttershy shuffled in her seat nervously and then continued. “Well…it was dark out and I couldn’t see much…I only caught a glimpse of something entering the Everfree Forest, but I didn’t dare go looking. It looked like a pony.” She shuddered. “Oh, I can’t imagine what they would be doing so late at night wandering into the Everfree. I hope they’re alright.”
The cyan pegasus huffed. “I’m sure they’re okay, Fluttershy.” Dash replied easily as she stood up from the couch.
Fluttershy seemed hopeful at that. “Really? You’re positive?” Dash nodded her answer, but it wasn’t a pleased sort of nod. The timid pegasus stopped smiling and adopted a worried expression. “What is this about? Do you know who the pony was? Oh…if you don’t mind telling me of course.”
The cyan mare smiled softly, raising her head back up to look at Fluttershy. “No, it’s okay.” She bit her lip, wondering if she should tell her shy friend about the body found inside the forest. “I think the pony you saw might have been the killer from this case.”
The yellow mare gasped. “Oh my. Are you sure?”
“It’s only a possibility, so I can’t say for a certainty.” Dash assumed that sooner or later, word would cover all of Ponyville, so she might as well tell Fluttershy herself. “Two hours ago…I found a body in a clearing inside the forest. It was covered in snow and there was no sign of hoofprints in or out of the forest. The killer must have known it would snow and planned this to play with me. I have almost no way of finding out who put the pony there because of this.”
The shy pony gasped again and covered her mouth with her hooves. “Oh no! How…how could somepony do this?” She sat in silence, not moving from her chair and not uncovering her muzzle.
Dash walked over and put a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s fore-leg. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. I won’t let that happen to you or your animals. I’m going to catch who did this. Alright?”
That calmed the timid mare down a little and she nodded wordlessly. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”
Dash shook her head. “I’m sorry I told you about this. I just thought it would be better if you heard it from me now rather than from gossip in Ponyville. This won’t stay secret for long. I’ll see you later Fluttershy, I have to see what the team I called has come up with.”
Without another word between them, Dash left the cottage. However, before she made her way back to the Everfree Forest, she checked for any hoofprints. The cyan pegasus carefully uncovered some snow along the path. She shook the snow from her hoof, but saw nothing unusual. Whoever this pony was, they were an expert at covering up their tracks.
*****
Returning to the clearing at ten minutes to one, now marked quite well by the yellow tape, Rainbow Dash searched for the forensics team she had spoken with half an hour ago. They were still around the body of Lyra, so she trotted over to hear what they had found.
Agent Solstice was the first to speak, putting down some equipment to speak with Dash. “It’s strange. There was no cut or damage to the body and no prints on the victim. It’s almost like she did this herself. We’ll need to take her back to Manehattan to do some further tests, but I’m not hopeful.”
“A dead end.” Dash whispered; no pun intended in her statement.
“However,” Ember added. “We did find something of interest. Come and look at this.” She gestured for Dash to follow. The pegasus sat down and pointed to the pony’s mouth. “There’s something in her saliva. We tested the liquid and found that it was a poison, though from our test here it is unclear what type.”
“So either she drank this herself, or the killer forced her to drink it.” The stallion concluded.
The cerulean pegasus took a moment to think it over. Lyra always seemed to be in good spirits when she saw her; suicide would be out of the question for such a pony. “She was drugged.” Dash stated plainly.
The two pegasi looked surprised. “You’re sure?”
Dash nodded. “I don’t believe any of these ponies would want to kill themselves. I can only see one way this could have happened.”
Solstice shrugged his shoulders at his partner. “When did you say this pony showed up here?”
“It was four nights ago. The killer must have dumped the body for me to find.” Dash shook her head slowly.
The blue mare looked shocked. “He placed her here as a clue for you? What kind of game is this pony playing?”
A game. Pinkie said she had invited Lyra over for a party before she disappeared, but when she told her that, Dash was a little sceptical. The way Pinkie had acted during their last conversation was strained at best. Other than that showing of emotion over the events of Lyra’s disappearance, the pony seemed totally unaffected. Like Rainbow Dash said before, if she was to solve this case she must push the connection with her friends aside and have the ability to suspect anypony if the evidence lead to them. If she managed to get Pinkie to follow her on this case, she might be able to find out if the pink mare wasn’t telling her something important.
“All we really know about this pony is that he’s killed at least three ponies in a matter of months.” Dash said. “He is officially a serial killer and these killings don’t seem to be slowing down.”
*****
It was half past one when the cyan pegasus left the crime scene once more. Dash asked the team to take the body back to Manehattan for further analysis and now they knew what to look for: signs of poison in the system. They said they would contact her once they found anything of interest.
The first place the cyan mare checked was Sugarcube Corner, hoping that Pinkie Pie was still at work. Opening the front door to the sweet’s shop, and hearing the chime of the bell, Rainbow Dash walked up to the counter and saw Mrs. Cake in the kitchen. She asked her if Pinkie was around, but the older pony shook her head.
“She’s probably off playing somewhere by now.” Mrs. Cake guessed.
That wasn’t what Dash wanted to hear. Now she was looking for a pink pony, which was probably even more difficult to find than her killer.
“If she comes back, tell her I need to talk to her,” Said Dash, turning quickly on her hooves and trotting out the door again. If she’s not here where would she be? It’s only passed lunch time, maybe she’s at the park eating.
Rainbow Dash decided to check through the marketplace first, seeing as how it was on the way to the park and that Pinkie Pie might still be buying something. At a quarter to two, the pegasus arrived at the market and began to search for the pink pony. The thing was ponies didn’t find Pinkie Pie so much as she found you, or bounced you rather.
And at that moment, the earth mare did in fact, find her victim and swiftly bounce her to the ground. “Hiya, Rainbow Dash!” She said, “Looking for somepony?”
Pinkie didn’t look at all bothered by the goings on with Dash’s case; she just smiled happily at the cyan pony, which only made the rainbow maned pony more suspicious. Pinkie knew everypony in town; shouldn’t she be at least a little broken up about these missing ponies? Of course, she could just be hiding it for when she was alone.
But all of this occurred to Dash later, because at the moment she couldn’t breathe; either from having the wind knocked out of her or from the way Pinkie was staring at her with those big blue oceans of hers, she didn’t try to figure out.
“I need to talk to you, Pinkie,” She said, regaining her voice, “Could you hop off, please?”
With a happy nod, Pinkie Pie obliged, standing up and stepping a few hooves back to let the mare sit up. “So? What did you wanna talk about? Ooh, ooh! Let me guess. Was it- Mmph mm mf?!”
Dash had stuffed a hoof into the pony’s mouth before she could guess; knowing Pinkie wasn’t even trying to predict what the answer was. “I’ve been thinking for a while about all of this disappearing stuff and I thought I could use a little help. You knew Lyra better than me, probably all of the ponies that have gone missing so far, so I figured I would let you tag along as I gather information.”
“Really? You’d let me go with you on this case?” Pinkie’s eyes lit up brightly.
Rainbow nodded, tugging on her trench coat to position it comfortably. “Yes. You can probably get a better idea of what state of mind Lyra was in before she disappeared.”
“Okay, sure. Wherever you wanna start Agent Dash.” Pinkie replied, nudging Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow smirked. Typical Pinkie. However, she didn’t even flinch whenever I mentioned the missing ponies. “We need to talk to Ginger Snap for starters.”
“Why’s that Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie said, sitting down next to the cyan pony and tilting her head curiously.
“According to this list of victims, she is the next to disappear.” Without another word, she strolled off in the direction of Ginger Snap’s house.

Author's Note

Hello everyone,

I thought I would post this before I put this story on hiatus as well. I really don't want to, but it's been probably two years since I've worked on it. I have another chapter to post after this one, which I forgot about a while ago. So here is the sixth chapter of the story and I will shortly post the seventh one.

I will be back to finish this story one day, just as I will with ES, but at the moment I am simply too busy. I hope that you all understand.

Thank you and my apologies to everyone. Ta ta. ^^

The First Chronicle - Chapter 7

The First Chronicle

Chapter 7

At a quarter past two the ponies set off for Ginger Snap’s house, hoping to see her there and warn her of the threat on her life. Rainbow Dash also secretly hoped that by interviewing a target of a foalnapping, she would get into the mind of what made the criminal tick. To find out what about these ponies was so enticing.
It wasn’t exactly seen as noble when she thought of such things, but Dash had evidence few and far between as it was. She needed to have something on the case yesterday, and it wasn’t looking much better.
The body was a good start. Nothing like that had been found at any time throughout the year that this case spanned. It lead Rainbow Dash to believe that whoever was doing this had changed his game plan. This wasn’t just some run of the mill, one thing does it character; he could manipulate the way in which he behaved and killed in order to keep the investigators guessing.
“Cleaver little bugger,” said Dash.
Pinkie tilted her head to the side as she followed just behind the cerulean mare. “What did you say?”
Dash didn’t reply. Her mind was already racing with the thrill of the chase. She was organizing in her mind what she should do first; what was most important for her to accomplish, and where she would acquire the best information into the investigation.
As they walked through the crowds of ponies Dash stayed silent, but Pinkie Pie waved and greeted all of the ponies going by. When asked about why Rainbow Dash had such a serious face, the pink pony replied that it was top secret EBI info and left it at that.
Maybe Pinkie Pie does take this more seriously than I imagined, The pegasus thought, overhearing her retorts to the more need to know questions.
Arriving at the door to Ginger Snap’s home at twenty-five past, Rainbow Dash knocked a couple times at the door and waited. Pinkie was standing next to her, trying to stand as straight and as calmly as her friend, but Dash still noticed the ponies hooves tapping on the ground.
A few minutes ticked by while Rainbow Dash waited, until she heard the door unlock and open. Stepping out from the home, a mare with a brown coat and white mane greeted them.
“Oh, hello you two,” Said the mare with a bright smile, “what brings you here?”
“Important business actually, Ginger Snap,” Dash said, holding up her badge, “I’m special agent Rainbow Dash with the EBI. I have a few questions for you, about the disappearances.”
Ginger Snap flinched at her statement. “I see,” Her smile faltered. The pony stepped aside to let the mares in, “you’d better come in then.”
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie looked at each other and sauntered into the house. Ginger asked if they wanted to have a seat, but the cyan pegasus declined. She preferred to stand when interviewing ponies. Pinkie couldn’t sit either, being too excited to rest in a chair.
“So what do these disappearances have to do with me?” Ginger asked, having a seat on her couch. The living room was rather large, and was decorated with many pictures of the goodies that she baked. Dash only took a quick glance around the room before looking back at the pony to give her explanation.
“I believe that the foalnapper, responsible for the disappearances of two ponies in the last year, is targeting you as the next victim,” Dash stated, leaving out the third occurrence. There was no need to reveal a third disappearance to the public just yet.
Ginger opened her mouth to speak, but found no words. “What? I…I don’t…” Was all she managed. She lowered her head, holding back tears.
Rainbow Dash stepped a little closer and lowered her voice. “It’s alright, you’re safe here. Nopony’s going to get you now; I know it’s a lot to take in, but try to think of anypony mysterious. Has anypony suspicious approached you or spoken to you recently?”
She shook her head, a little shaken now. “Not really,” Said Ginger Snap, reflecting on the past week.
“Has anything happened to you in the last few days?”
Ginger shook her head. “No. Nothing unusual like somepony trying to take me,” She said, out of breath.
Damn, I was hoping to get a little bit out of her. Dash thought, clenching her teeth. No matter, once she’s calmed down it’ll be easier. “Alright don’t worry; you’re under protective custody now. I will have two ponies assigned to you soon. Now do you have anything important to go to in the next few days?”
Ginger Snap took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to think. “Um, yes. I have been asked to bake some of my sweets for a store over in Canterlot. They heard about my gingerbread from some customers traveling around, and asked me to bake as many as I could. I made extra, so I’ve decided to hold a bake sale for the ponies here this week.”
“Whoa. Really?” Pinkie Pie said enthusiastically. She bounced at the prospect of throwing a party. She hadn’t thrown a party in so long. Not since yesterday at least. “That’s great, here Ginger Snap. Congratulations!” She pulled a cupcake out of nowhere, accompanied with an invitation equally out of nowhere.
“Why did you have those, Pinkie Pie?” Dash asked out of curiosity.
“Oh, you never know when somepony will be doing something special to celebrate for, so I just carry a few of these with me…just in case.” Pinkie smiled and gave the two items to Ginger Snap, who accepted them gratefully, but confusedly as well.
“Um…thank you, Pinkie Pie.” Ginger Snap said, wiping a tear from her eye and smiling gently at the pink pony.
Pinkie shook her head with a grin, still bouncing a little in place. “Not a problem. They normally come in a dozen, but I’ll get the other eleven to you later.”
Dash shrugged at the display. She began to walk towards the front door, followed soon after by the pink pony. Turning around, Dash said, “I’ll have two ponies over here shortly. Just stay put until then and be careful, alright?”
Ginger Snap nodded her understanding and thanked Rainbow Dash again.
The two ponies left and began to walk west from Ginger’s home.
Rainbow Dash took out her phone and dialed the police, “This is Special Agent Rainbow Dash,” She said when the police station picked up. “I need two police officers over at Ginger Snap’s house…yes…I’ll let you know later, just get over here quickly. She’s in danger. Thank you.” She put her phone in her jacket and caught up with Pinkie Pie a few hooves ahead of her.
“So where are we going to now, Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked, skipping at a pace equal to the pegasi’s fast walk.
Dash stopped about a block from the house of Ginger Snap and took out the file. Looking at the list of victims once more, she pointed right at the top of the list. “We’re going to the house of the first victim in this case. I think I might have some sort of idea what makes these ponies so interesting to the killer, but I have to be sure. Usually the first victim in a killing will reveal the most evidence into the mind of the criminal.”
“Where did you hear that?” said Pinkie.
“When I was still just a recruit in the academy, we had meetings with EBI field agents; ponies that had already experienced situations like this,” Dash stopped and glanced at the file again to make sure she was going to the right address, “They spoke to us about investigating crime scenes, and how the first victim of the criminal reveals much about the intent of whoever did it and why. They built their case from that one crime scene and saw how much of those details continued into the next killing, piecing together the mind of the pony.”
“Oh.” Pinkie Pie said, sounding impressed with what Rainbow had learned from training to become a special agent.
The pegasus didn’t notice how silent the little pony beside her was; she was already conducting her investigation, completely focused on getting any evidence about the case. Dash kept moving, making short time of the distance from each house. The snow had started up again, and it showed no signs of stopping. Still, it was a good, warm day outside. Winter wasn’t in Ponyville yet. At ten minutes to three, the two ponies reached the dimly lit home of the late Emerald Dust; the snow was a quarter way up their legs. “We’re here,” Dash said, “recently had a job as a construction worker. Green mane and tan coat, early twenties. Indicated missing.” She read aloud from the file on the former owner of the small plain colored house.
There wasn’t much to go on, Rainbow Dash thought now, but even so, something as small or insignificant as a length of hair could be the key to solving a mystery like this. Even the kind of house the victim lived in, or the neighborhood around it could be invaluable to the crime.
The door was swung open and the yellow tape was removed long ago, but it still hung in the air that this was where another murder took place. Since it happened, few ponies ever came around this way, all of them fearing that whatever happened to this stallion could happen to them as well. Just as the home of Lyra Heartstrings, the construction worker’s living quarters were quite dark and unsettling, even during the day.
Dash entered first, taking her flashlight out so that she could see more clearly. The snowstorm seemed to have settled down a little, but clouds were still rolling in. It was already beginning to darken outside as the sun set behind the trees of the Everfree, so the cerulean mare hastened. “All we really have to go on is that the killer seems to be targeting ponies that have accomplished something. Pinkie, can you check Emerald Dust’s room for anything suspicious? Anything that he could have done that would warrant a celebration?”
“On it, Dashie!” Pinkie shouted, giving a quick salute, before disappearing into the home for clues.
In the living room a sofa and glass table sat in the center, surrounded by bookshelves and dressers adorned with wilted flowers. The stifling atmosphere inside added to the conclusion that nopony had been in here for quite some time; looking to the right, Dash spotted a bookcase, but few books were stacked on the shelves. Not much of a reader, She thought, scanning her hoof across each title. Dash took out the file again and flipped through the pages, stopping on one marked with pictures of Emerald Dust’s rooms.
One such photo showed the bookcase she was in front of, but there seemed to be a larger collection of books in the photo. Another, showing a floor shot of the room. There was mat in the photo, a fairly large one at that, with one corner spotted with blood. It was still fresh in the photo. This must have been taken soon after the actual killing, Dash figured. Looking up from the photo she turned to where the mat should be, but found only carpet. “Where’s the mat?”
She rifled through the other photos, but nothing struck her as curious. Another thought occurred to Rainbow as she looked at the file. She placed it down on the table in the room and called EBI headquarters.
“Whaddya want?” A scratchy voice asked upon picking up the phone.
“Scotch, I need you to look something up for me,” Dash said, sifting through the photos on the table until she came to a photo of the west wall. On it were picture frames of Emerald Dust at multiple worksites.
“Rainbow Dash? I didn’t think I’d hear from you so soon after you became an EBI agent. What can I do for you?” The boredom was still present in Scotch’s voice, but at hearing Rainbow on the line, she seemed more tolerable of the distraction.
“Actually, it’s about the case I joined the bureau for.” Dash picked up the photo to look at it more clearly, but couldn’t make the pictures out. “Can you look up Emerald Dust’s file? What his jobs were leading up to his disappearance if possible.”
“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to? Just give me a minute.”
Dash smirked at the response, having already guessed the answer to her question. She obliged and soon heard many clacking noises from a laptop keyboard. The pegasus took this time to take in the atmosphere of the house. Even if the forensics team hadn’t cleaned this place up, aside from the blood-stained carpet, it still seemed like this home would have been tidy. What else could this killer’s motive be? Dash thought. Lyra had also been known for being organized; not so much as Twilight, but she was quite clean. Even in the state the musician’s home was, the inside looked neat, if not for the books fallen from the shelf. Perhaps this killer disliked organization.
“Dash? Agent Dash?” Scotch called, breaking Rainbow Dash from her thoughts, “can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” The cyan mare answered, staring down at the file again in a bit of a daze, “go ahead.”
“This Emerald Dust has been through several construction sites, especially recently.” Scotch paused to type on her computer again. “He’s been all over, repairing or building jobs here and there in Ponyville and even one in Fillydelphia. He only lasted a few weeks or even days on each. He must not be very good at his job.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. The killer seems to target anypony, but only when they have something special coming up that warrants a celebration.” Dash ground her teeth in frustration. “This case is going around in circles.”
“Are we done here? Can I go now?” Scotch asked, as her boredom seemed to be returning.
Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded, collecting the file on Emerald Dust from the table. “Yeah, thanks for the help.” She hung up her phone as a call came from the next room.
“Dashie!” Pinkie cried suddenly, from the other room. There was a bathroom just off to the left, where the prints lead, but Dash turned and trotted back down the steps.
“What is it, Pinkie Pie?” Dash asked, as she entered the living room. It was a mess as well, but of a different kind. Rubbish and boxes everywhere, there was almost no room to move. The cyan mare flew over it all and landed beside Pinkie to see what she found.
Pinkie held a hoof out to reveal a small vial. “Look at this,” She said, frowning.
It seemed empty, but as Dash peered closer, she saw a few drops remaining at the bottom. Taking the vial in her hooves, the pegasus tilted it so the liquid spread to the side. It was a cloudy liquid, but clear otherwise. “I’ll have to get this to the lab back at HQ. Good work, Pinkie. I’m not sure what it is, though, anything else near it that could help with identification?”
“There’s no label or anything, and it didn’t spill on the desk that I found it on.” Pinkie turned her head to look at the mentioned furniture. “What do you think he used it for?”
Rainbow Dash studied the desk from afar for a few seconds; the room was a complete wreck, except for the area around the desk. There was nothing in the file about Emerald Dust’s drawing hobby. She walked over and opened the drawers of the desk, but nothing was in it. Strange, Thought Dash. “This could be the poison the killer used.”
“Poison?” Pinkie asked, her eyes widening in shock.
Dash nodded, eyes still focused on the liquid in the vial, “I’ll have it analyzed, but right now it’s just speculation. It could easily be some kind of cologne he made for a special date.” Rainbow smirked, and looked at Pinkie, but she just tilted her head in confusion. “Right, well, I suppose we should look through this pile of junk as well. Might have some clues the investigation team missed.” But by accident, or on purpose? Dash pondered.
Pinkie grinned widely at her discovery and replied, “Okie dokey lokie! I’ll start over here.” She bounded over to the left and began sifting through some books.
Rainbow Dash, placing the nearly empty vial into a pocket in her coat, picked up some torn out papers. The cover and back lay in the cluster, but the pages were her main interest. The book was of the history of Equestria, but the papers were written over with black ink and dotted with blood. It read, From paper to paper, the young pony dreamed; of a day to be proud, of the gift unworthy deemed. “The killer knew about his drawing hobby. There’s a poem here about Emerald Dust’s dream to be an artist.”
“That’s good, right?” Pinkie said, stepping out of the jumbled mess with a book on her head. “Now we know why the killer targeted him.”
Dash shook her head. “No, this makes no more sense than when we didn’t know about his secret. Why would the killer attack him before he was known for his talent?”
Pinkie put a hoof to her chin, the book falling to the ground. “Hmm. Oh, maybe he was in a hurry and couldn’t wait?”
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked, curiously.
“Well, you said he had that list made up for keeping track of those victims, but maybe he made a mistake in putting Emerald’s name first.” Pinkie seemed even more confused now than she had appeared before, but she kept going. “The killer wanted to get him out of the way first because he would be the most difficult to throw a party for, but in his haste he didn’t account for his drawing passion being a deep secret. He couldn’t exactly find something else to celebrate for and tell everypony about. That would be pretty suspicious. But he had a dead-line, maybe? The killer needed to take care of Emerald Dust first before moving on.” The entire time Pinkie was speaking, she was pointing her hooves in different directions, tangling them up and making her seem off balance. “I’m confused. That was waaay too much thinking.”
Rainbow Dash stared at her in bewilderment. It was times like these that made her think Pinkie was secretly a mastermind at mysteries and puzzles. Though there were many details that lacked any proof to support them, but the pegasus thought it made a little sense. How is she so weird and silly one moment, then somepony with a mind like Twilight’s?
“Rainbow Dash!” Came Pinkie’s sharp voice. It broke her out of her imaginings as she looked over to the mare.
“Yeah?” Pinkie had moved silently over to the window and was crouched underneath it. She kept waving her hoof for her to follow, so, Rainbow snuck over to sit next to her. “What is it?”
“It’s him!”
“Him?” She tilted her head to the side quizzically. Pinkie you’re gonna have to be more detailed than that.
“It’s the pony I thought was following us three months ago! He’s right outside!” She pointed her hoof out the window as she narrowed her eyes at Rainbow.
She took a quick glance at the window. Dash saw who she was pointing to and nodded toward Pinkie once. She didn’t know if this was the pony supposedly tailing the pink mare, but right now she couldn’t let any leads slip by. So silently, Rainbow made her way to the front door hoping that the pony would remain without.
As soon as Rainbow Dash stepped out of the house, the pony noticed her and began to gallop out of the area. He swerved around ponies as he made his escape, with the cerulean pegasus giving chase. “EBI! Stop where you are!” she screamed above the noise of the multitude of ponies.

All of them moved to the side, to let Rainbow pass, but it quickly became apparent that she could not catch the pony on the ground. She spread her wings and tried to spot the stallion that had run from her, but even from her vantage point, she could see nopony suspicious. Growling and punching the air, Rainbow Dash landed outside of the crowds of ponies.

Pinkie hopped up to her, tilting her head once she saw how upset the EBI agent was. “Where’s the pony from before?”

“I lost him,” she groaned. As the two made their way back to the house, Rainbow Dash sighed and looked back at the spot where Pinkie had pointed the pony out. One lead - one that could probably blow this case wide open - and I blow it. Now I don’t know what to do.

Author's Note

Alright, so here is the seventh chapter of the story. I hope you all enjoy the two chapters I have posted, and happy reading with all the other stories out there.

This is where things become suspicious and more information into the case is found. I really like this chapter. The whole thing is quite interesting, so I'm really happy with how it is written.

Thank you for reading. Ta ta! ^^

The Chronicles Of - Prelude

Octaves – The Chronicles Of

Fear - An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

Anger - A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.

Hate - Intense or passionate dislike: feelings of hate.

God - The creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme…

Chronicle 0 - The Ending

How long?

998

How long has it been… since I was outside?

2099

Where I could feel the breeze on my face and through my mane?

1000

How long since I could run around and enjoy myself… pulling pranks and planning parties?

1492

It seems so long ago now.

800

The seconds tick away, compounding into minutes and further into hours.

45 : 57 : 02

Countless time has passed; it would seem… since I was alive.

3.141592654

What happened to me… to put me in a place such as this?

***

What does it matter?

It doesn’t.

I am here now… under the ground, dirt, and grass.

Why should it?

Under the sun which gave me life… and now allows me the sweet smell of death.

I am free.

Why should I bother figuring out what happened to me?

Free from voices.

I’m happy here; where I can think about nothing.

Thinking…

Nothing.

… plotting for my return.

How boring to think about that for the rest of eternity.

Numbers…

It’s better than being up there though; where everything is real.

… times…

Perhaps, though, there may be some time when I can remember things… and will want to.

… they calm my mind.

I can’t say I feel that way yet.

0 : 00

Time's up.

“The right to be a god? That right is now mine.”

Author's Note

The first part of the story.