Chapter 1: Fried or Grilled?
The subtle rays of sunlight gently woke me up.
I awoke in my little apartment, which was a total mess. No surprise there.
Tons of pizza boxes and chip bags littered my floor. It gave the room an awful smell. I always promised myself that I would clean it, but never got around to it. Which, was funny, because it’s not like I have had that much work recently. That’s probably why I have been eating leftovers for the past week. As a living pony, I need something to eat.
I got up and opened the door. I walked into my living room, which was quite a bit nicer than my bedroom. A couch and a love seat made an L-shape around a nice coffee table. Hey, I can’t have ponies thinking I’m a slob, now can I?
I was starving, so I quickly trotted to the kitchen, and opened the fridge. Inside was not much, to say the least, but I found a remaining slice of hay pizza. I quickly devoured it and stood up from the kitchen table, stretching my wings.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I put on my coat and opened the it.
It did not surprise me at all who was at my doorstep. It was Bliss.
Bliss is the head police commissioner of Ponyville, and as such always has crime reports flowing out of her ears. She is a light pink Earth Pony with a beautiful blonde mane and tail. Almost every pony on the police force has a crush on her, even the mares. But every time somepony has the balls to ask her out, she always politely declines.
I’m sort of a consulting detective of hers, even though I’m a Bounty Hunter. Whenever there’s a tough case, she comes to me. After the case is solved she pays me for my work. We have kind of a “business only” relationship.
“Rust, you’re coming with me now.” Bliss said, seriously.
“Oh, I’m fine. How are the foals? Oh, they are just peachy. And you?” I mocked.
“Rust, could you at least try not to be a smart ass for once?” Bliss sounded annoyed.
“Sorry, not in my nature.” I said with a smile.
“Look, there has been another murder, and I need your help.” Bliss said, staring at me.
I sighed, “Fine, let me get ready at least.” I opened up the door more to let her in. “Feel free to relax as you wait for me.”
Bliss trotted in and sat down on the couch. Usually I would make a joke about a hot mare being on my couch, but I know Bliss isn’t in the mood, in more ways than one.
I walked back to my room, and looked at myself in mirror. I was, a standard looking stallion Pegasus. I have a brown coat and mane, and that’s pretty much it. No fancy colors or anything. Knowing that my mane was always a mess, I put on my black fedora. I guess I have a special reason why I wear my cape and fedora…
Anyway, I started looking around for my crossbow. Eventually I found it under my bed, and quickly strapped it on. Next, I clipped the wingblades to my wings, and then I was ready.
I walked out, all decked out in my gear. Bliss gave me a funny look, and not a “ha-ha” funny, more of a “are you freaking kidding me?” look.
“Rust, you do know it’s the middle of summer, right? The cape and hat aren’t necessary.” Bliss said.
I gave her a subtle glare. “I have my reasons.”
Bliss looked at me, confused, then shrugged. “Okay then. You ready?”
I nodded and we headed out.
Ponyville has definitely seen better days. Most of the population are now homeless or poor. It doesn’t surprise me, though. This town used to be prosperous, but after the Retribution happened, things have not gone so well.
Bliss and I trotted through the streets of Ponyville, eventually coming up on an apartment building, similar to mine.
We walked through the door and the stench hit me immediately, making me gag. It smelled like something died. Okay that one was pretty obvious.
Police were everywhere in this building. One was talking to the landlord, another was taking notes, so on and so forth.
Then there was Saph. Oh, Saph. Dead Celestia bless him.
Saph’s full name is Sapphire, but he thinks that’s a girly name, so he changed it. He has a dark grey coat and a ruffled up black mane with a blue stripe in it. Of course Saph being Saph, he was the one puking in the corner.
Bliss took me to the room where the atrocious smell was coming from. I peeked into the room and saw a horrible sight.
This pony was burnt, and I don’t mean microwave burnt, I mean scorched with fire burnt. The kind of burnt that I enjoy on toast, but not on ponies. I like my ponies at room temperature, please.
Joking aside, this was definitely murder. I mean, unless this unfortunate pony died from lighting one spot on fire and dancing around in it. I took a closer look and discovered that this was a mare, from the skull shape. I looked around the smoking hot mare for any personal belongings that she may have had. The only thing I could find was a piece of paper that had been ripped in half.
“Bliss, can you come here?” I asked politely.
Bliss trotted up to me. “We’ve spoken with the landlord and she says she didn’t see anyone enter or leave the building.”
“Do we have identification?” I asked.
Bliss nodded, “Her name was Frost Stream. She worked as a mailmare.”
I looked at her, “Really? She didn’t look like a Pegasus.”
Bliss shrugged, “Maybe her wings got burned off. Anyway, did you find something?”
I nodded, “Indeed. I found this” I showed her the note.
Bliss took it and looked at it. “I…. can’t…. this…. I…. Good? It’s ripped in half."
“I looked everywhere. The other half is nowhere to be seen.” I said.
Bliss looked at me, “So, you think that the killer has the other half? What if it burned in the fire?”
“No, smell it.” I said.
Bliss took a sniff of the piece of paper, and glared at me. “It smells like paper.”
“Exactly. If the other half was burned, wouldn’t that smell like smoke?” I asked.
“What if Ms. Stream ripped it and then burned it?” Bliss retorted.
I smiled. “Well, there’s only one way to find out.” I trotted over to the landlord. “Excuse me miss, do you have anything that Ms. Stream may have written down?”
The landlord nodded, and pulled up a sheet of paper. “Here’s the contract for the apartment.”
I grabbed the half sheet of paper and placed it next to the contract.
I looked up at Bliss and smiled.
“Perfect match.”
