Rarity and Pinkie had been walking around town all day, shopping and laughing together. They had seriously bonded since they had been left together near Dodge. In fact, all of their friends had grown closer together in the time they had been together. Fluttershy had gone through that assertiveness training recently, and she had really changed. All of them had started bonding wonderfully after that.

Yet things were not perfect in Ponyville. Lately, there had been rumors of a murderer in Ponyville, shocking many. Murder was a foreign concept to almost all of them. Murder was a fleeting myth, having not been heard of since Discord’s reign. It was the thing of grim fairy tales.

That was why Pinkie and Rarity were so happy to be together today. Why spend your life fretting and worrying when you should enjoy it the best you can? Besides, they were only rumors. Rumors only took away the life you had, draining away the seconds of sand. Rumors come every day, in every form…

Such a shame that life doesn’t last long….
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Wee!” Pinkie shrieked, jumping into the deep water. A large splash of water flung out from her cannon ball, causing Rarity to jump back in alarm.

“Pinkie! Watch what you’re doing! I just had my mane done!” Rarity touched her mane softly, sitting by the water. They had come to cool off and relax after the long day, and this pool was home to some of the coolest, most refreshing water in Ponyville. Of course, with how hot the pegasi had made it today, the water did little.

Pinkie giggled, staring at Rarity from the lake surface. “Oopsie! Sorry ‘bout that Rarity!”

Rarity grinned back at her, Pinkie’s laughter being contagious. “It’s quite all right, darling. You were merely enjoying yourself.” She turned back to her little drama she was reading – A romance, of course. She became entranced with the story lines – A mysterious kidnapping led a detective and a lonely damsel crippled in each other’s hooves. All the while, a villain rested beneath the scenes, and she was constantly left guessing who the culprit was. Her money was on the quiet one, the secretary of the detective. She read on for awhile longer, until she finally registered Pinkie’s voice. She looked up, startled. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry dear. I got distracted. What was it you were saying?"

“I said, ‘Hey, wait, weren’t we supposed to check with Fluttershy earlier?’” Pinkie motioned towards the clock tower. “Then I checked the time and realized it was, like, twoooo hours since we should’a been there, and I thought poor Fluttershy must be so sad, and then-“

Rarity looked at the clock as well with a start, cutting Pinkie off with a gasp as her fast words were finally processed. She had nearly forgotten about it – She and Pinkie had planned to have the morning to themselves, then meet Shy at noon. “Oh, dear, you’re right! That poor pony must have been waiting for us all day!” She pulled Pinkie out of the water, frowning. “I cannot believe we forgot our picnic today! And after all of that planning!” If there had been a sofa, Rarity would have fallen back on it in anguish.

Pinkie quickly cleaned herself up, her hair poofing back up as she dried it. “Come on, we better hurry! I’m never one to miss a pa-a-ar-tay!” Without further ado, Pinkie hopped away, smiling all the while. Rarity straitened her mane once more and ran off after her, hoping they weren’t too late for their picnic. As an afterthought, she teleported her book home. No point carrying it around as extra weight.

The path to town was a short one, yet Rarity was shocked as she was stopped by armed guard near the town. Many ponies milled about, and all of them looked concerned. “Please, step away madam. Police buisness.” With that, he pushed Rarity back into the throng of ponies, a tad bit roughly.

Rarity looked flustered, confused, annoyed, and most of all, a tad bit worried. “What on earth made armored guards show up in Ponyville? Perhaps something to do with the Elements? Or Canterlot?” She knew a possible answer, however. And that answer shook her to the bone. Were the rumors true? Was there really… Her curiosity burned. Rarity walked up to the nearest pony, whom she recognized as Lyra, and tapped her on the back. “Excuse me, dear, could you please tell us what is going on? We’ve been away all morning, and came back to this.”

Lyra turned quickly, calming down when she saw it was Rarity behind her. That brief moment of panic in her eyes made Rarity’s curiosity and trepidation grow. “You haven’t heard the news…” Rarity shook her head. Lyra sighed softly.“They… found somepony’s um… body.”

Pinkie stopped hopping for a moment as both her and Rarity’s hearts skipped a beat. “Body?” Pinkie said lamely, her eyes wide.

Lyra nodded, her mint fur looking a tad bit greener than usual around her face. “Yes. Apparently, the pony was so… disfigured, they… they couldn’t see who it was… they know it was a pegasus though. Something about leftover wings… S-she was athletic too… S-strong… muscles…” Lyra fell silent, looking queasy.

Rarity was in shock. Somepony she knew, somepony she was possibly friends with was gone forever. And somepony had killed that pony. Somepony had done this. She shuddered, feeling suddenly cold despite the summer heat. She suddenly didn’t feel safe, surrounded by all these ponies. Many there were unknown variables, ponies she had little contact with. Somepony there could easily be… “S…so the rumors are true? There is a… a murderer in Ponyville?”

Lyra nodded, sadness etched into her concerned face. “I suppose they sort of have to be true. I mean…” She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “I can’t believe anypony would do something like this. What would cause them too? I mean, they even say that the pony was… skinned,” She added softly, almost in a stunned whisper.

Pinkie tapped Rarity lightly, causing the mare to jump in fright. All this talk about murderers had set her on edge. “Rarity, maybe… Can we go check on Fluttershy now?… All this talk about murderers has me… worried.”

Rarity looked at her friend, seeing concern written on her face. Somehow, Pinkie Pie being concerned made her far more shaken up than she had been in awhile. Even with all this talk about a murderer… Suddenly, she put two and two together. What Pinkie was so scared about. “Oh my word, she’s been alone all day with a murderer on the loose… Quickly, we must hurry!” She quickly said goodbye to Lyra, then started galloping with Pinkie towards Fluttershy’s cabin.

Lyra watched as they left. Both of them were acting strange today – Of course, a murderer did that to ponies. She sighed. “Well, I better get home… Bon Bon might be worried…” She took one last glance at the roped off murder scene.

Nopony knew why the body was left there. It wasn’t much of a body. Torn muscles and bits of bone lie on the ground, and it looked like all of it had teeth marks on it. The only things that were truly left of the pony before were the eyes – A rosy sort of magenta color, with the last look of despair and anguish still trapped in them.

Lyra shuddered and turned her head. Despite who she was, she still got chills from this sort of thing. She sighed one last time and started the somewhat longer journey home – At least, it felt longer with the weight of a dead pegasus resting on everypony’s minds.

Author's Note

*yawns* Not gonna edit this one, cause my editer is asleep right now
But I hope you all have fun. Found this buried in HW, and wooooow, did I forget I wrote this~
Noticed a lack of grimdark shy. *rubs head* Took charge, made it happen.
Guess you all find out now, I'm a grimdark lover.
And Horror is a favorite genre~