What a weird place Tumbleville was. A snow-white mist covered every street everywhere, no street, no house, no alley was safe from the cloudy fog. The place, not like any other in Equestria was completely silent, ponies here didn’t talk much, they were busy with their own business most of the time, and you could see them running across the street, only looking at each other in weird ways. The landscape, though beautiful, consisting of giant mountains covered in pine forests, was almost completely destroyed by the never changing weather, of clouds and rain. The houses were simple, old-fashioned, made of stone and hay on the top, like in some middle-age village. The lights inside were giving them all a mysterious, even a bit terrifying look. It was like a town from one of those horror story that Twilight Sparkle always read. It looked sinister, dark and evil. What a surprise it was for the purple unicorn to find out that it was actually the opposite. Yes, Tumbleville was a weird place, but it was also a very interesting place. Ponies were living different here, instead of befriending everyone in town, they preferred to stay in small groups, pairs, and even families. The bonds were strong here though, maybe even stronger that in Canterlot or in Ponyville. Everypony prized calm and silence the most, completely different to the completely insane residents of Twilight Sparkle’s hometown. She thought that it was actually a nice change of pace after she got to know this little town. It actually saddened her that she wasn’t here on holidays with her friends, or anyhow in different, less hectic circumstances…
She stepped out the door of the small, wooden cottage she was given permission to for the time of her stay, and she breathed heavily with the fresh mountain air. Thankfully today was a little less cloudy than before, and she could see the beautiful view of the dark, deep lake surrounded by giant, green mountains nearby. The mist only added to the sheer beauty of this place. She smiled slightly as she sat at one of the small benches nearby.
“Spike!” She called her baby dragon from the outside of the cottage, looking at the entrance door. “Did you finish unpacking things?!”
She heard a slight noise coming from the interior of the house. Like a thousand of metallic objects just fell to the floor. Her face changed to slight worry.
“Well now I did!” The muffled, a little squeaky and childish voice came out of the cottage. It seemed that Spike was upstairs.
Twilight heard slight, silent sounds of steps coming from upstairs. She looked inside and saw her small purple friend slowly stepping down the stairs and slowly out of the house. She noticed that one of his scales fell of, and was replaced by him with two small plasters.
“Uh…” Twilight looked at her dragon friend worryingly and put her hoof forward not sure if he needed help or not. “Are you fine?”
He sighed, slowly raising his body onto the bench nearby Twilight and sitting here.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He answered calmly looking at the landscape.
Twilight calmed down a bit and looked at him and then at the lake where a small boat currently swam by, catching fish. Even though ponies were herbivores, they still fished. If it wasn’t for sport, it was because they had trade routes with actual carnivorous races outside, or ever inside Equestria. She followed the boat with her sight and slowly changed her attention to the mountains.
“Pretty isn’t it?” She asked Spike gazing into the beautiful view, enjoying it whole hearty.
“Yeah.” Said Spike yawning a bit, maybe not so interested in the sight of natural beauty. He stretched his muscles. “It’s sad that we can’t just sit around in here and relax”
Twilight thought about this fact for a bit and then giggled realizing the irony of it. “Why is it always that Equestria’s fate is in danger that we go somewhere interesting”, she thought . It was almost like some weird rule. The purple unicorn was almost sure that there actually was a rule of nature written somewhere in God’s notebook which stated: “ Twilight Sparkle cannot get a holiday, never.”. She almost burst out of laughter at this thought.
“Well Spike,” she answered with a smirk on her face, trying to fake pride. “Dealing with magic threats is serious business.”
The little dragon sighed heavily, as he thought about Princess Celestia first giving them an order to investigate this little town. What was she thinking sending only him and Twilight to this place? Something didn’t feel right…
“Actually, what is the problem with this town exactly?” He asked her having still having Princesses words in mind. “Disturbance in magic” was pretty vague after all. “I don’t see anything wrong as for now.”
Twilight’s expression changed to a face of seriousness. She gazed off onto the landscape again as she thought about the same words that Spike has thought about.
“From what I understand something… big will happen soon, and it will happen somewhere around here.” She smiled happily looking at Spike who looked at her in disappointment.
“But that tells me completely nothing!” He cried out in annoyance. But soon became silent when he understood what Twilight meant. “Oh, right, you know just as much as I do.”
In this moment the purple unicorn jumped off the bench straight on the wooden floor of the balcony. She smiled as wind moved her mane, even though it blocked her line of sight a bit.
“Right!” She said rotating around a bit on two of her hooves to face her cottage. “It seems that we have nothing to do but to wait for something to happen, as for now though, what would you say to a small snack?”
The dragon smiled as he too jumped off a bench, and quickly ran up to the kitchen. Just when she was about to enter the cottage, she stopped, looking at the hill nearby, she saw a yellow pony with a green mane running up to her cottage. She looked curiously at the little figure that with every second was getting closer and closer to her temporary home…
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“A murder?” Twilight’s voice was constantly accompanied by the sound of flashes and group of loud, colt voices that were echoing in the small building, creating one big chaotic mess.
She felt uncomfortable, it was too loud and too warm, due to the large number of guards occupying such a small space. The lightning was also annoying, the darkness, and the fact that she was In a large crowd made her unable to see almost anything expect for the one guard before her, the baby dragon standing beside her, and the scenery of the room on the left.
The guard was also making her want to get out of here as fast as she could. He was a white stallion wearing typical gold armor. He didn't looked anything different than any other guard, besides the fact, that he was far bigger and more muscular. High height made Twilight look up to see his face, which was for her, completely awkward, and again, uncomfortable.
The biggest thing that was making her troublesome was of course, the massacred body lying on the floor. The guts all over the place, the lack of eyes, and seemingly bitten off hoof…
The unicorn was actually pretty surprised that she hasn't vomited or reacted in any other way than feeling a slight discomfort. She has seen a body before… but that was in an accident, not in a murder case.
“So it seems.” Said the guard. His voice was strong and deep, as she suspected. He just gave the impression of a strong, reliable and responsible male. Many mares would love for him to be their husband. “Or maybe just an assault by a wild animal. We are still not sure.”
The stench of death floated around the room, filled it entirely. The mare had to stop herself from vomiting. She looked at Spike and saw that he deliberately avoided looking at the body.
“Are there any clues?” She asked changing her attention from her friend to the guard pony.
He gazed at the body and then turned his attention to Twilight again.
“Well, that’s where you come in.” He sighed heavily, visibly disappointed that he couldn’t do anything else. “Orders from Princess Celestia, we can’t interfere in your investigation.”
Twilight smiled noticing his disappointment and annoyance. He would obviously prefer to do everything his way, and probably distrusted her to take care of things properly. After all he was a professional, and Twilight was no one else than just an intelligent mare.
“Thank you.” She answered with a big warm smile on her face. “If we need help we’ll ask you straight away.”
He nodded slightly and slowly left the scene of murder, making his way to the exit. Twilight sighed and looked at Spike who was shaking a bit trying to not look at the body.
“You know, you don’t have to be in here.” She smiled reassuringly making the proposition that Spike should leave if he’s not feeling well. He shook his head.
“No!” He screamed, but immediately calmed down and turned his voice down as he realized everyone was looking at him. “I’ll manage Twilight, I want to help you.”
She looked at him unsure if she shouldn’t just make him leave but decided that would just make Spike angry as he would probably ignore her. She closed her eyes and very slowly turned around to the body. She then slowly opened them, and stared at the dead pony. No eyes, bitten off hoof, and guts all over the place. Blood splashed on the floor, the carpet and the wall. Also some near the fireplace. All the items around thrown out of their respective places, obvious sign of a fight. But was that just a wild animal, or something far more sinister? Even though an outsider could see Equestria as an Utopia but that wasn’t true in any way. Equestria was just an another country in the world, and it’s citizens could be as good, or as evil as any creature in the world. Ponies could be both sinister or caring, selfless or selfish. It was only through their culture that their society looked like a place without problems. But that wasn’t true. Murders, weren’t anything special…
Twilight smiled at this thought, what a horrible way of wording things. It sounded like she didn’t really care. She stepped closer to the body, trying to stand the horrible smell of it. The empty eye sockets stared at her, but she felt no disgust or fear. She was cool-headed, thinking only of solving the case.
A barkeeper, nothing more than a simple barkeeper . Time of the death last night, his skull appeared to be cracked, giving the impression that he was hit with a blunt object, but again, there were creatures in Equestria who could crack the skull in similar way with their limbs. But there were no scratches, no broken windows, no broken off doors, no signs of an animal doing such a thing. The seemingly bitten off hoof caught her attention, and to be fair, was one of few things that terrified her in this moment. What intelligent creature could be so evil, so animal, that it could eat another sentient life form’s flesh? Yes, there were societies of carnivores outside Equestria, and they also had their criminals and psychopaths. But they would be fairly noticeable and stand out from the crowd, if there was a creature like that in Tumbleville, it would be a primary suspect.
“Spike, could you check the other rooms?” Said Twilight still being focused on the body. Spike was obviously happy that he could leave the murder site.
The unicorn walked across the room checking other furniture. He was fighting… then fell to the floor, and hit with something in the head, smashing the skull and spraying the blood everywhere. His stomach was obviously from a straight cut. The guts fell out on the floor, probably the reason he fainted. There must have been obviously two attackers. One with some sort of blunt object, or weapon, and the other one… maybe with sword, or a scimitar. But again… that hoof. Did they bring some animal? Or were there a third one? A carnivorous creature that bit the limb off? Or maybe some sort of tool they used to make it look like it was an animal… there were many possibilities but none of them seemed plausible. There had to be something else… something…
“Hey Twilight you’ve got to see this!” The little dragon called her from the other room. Her thoughts scattered at one moment as her attention switched to the dragon. She gave a last curious look at the body and pushed the door leading to the corridor.
She was welcomed with a small corridor with puke-green disgustingly cheap wallpaper and a brown, long brown carpet stretching across the floor. Twilight walked across it to the door leading to the cellar, where Spike’s voice could be heard. She pushed the door slightly and could see that the light was already lit. Slowly stepping down, she watched carefully not to fall, and just as she stepped down the floor, she could see only one thing before her eyes. Ashes, ashes everywhere. And a small dragon standing at the center of the room.
“What the…” Said dazzled Twilight as she slowly approached the sight before her.
It seemed like this place was for some time full of different archives and papers. She could see a half-burned board, an open, frayed drawer, and… pins. All over the walls were pins. She could also see some strings that didn’t burn properly. Was this barkeeper building a web of some sorts?
“I found it just a minute ago.” Said Spike obviously proud of himself, even though to be true, everyone could find it if they have just entered the cellar. Twilight would probably roll her eyes at this moment, but she was too busy focusing on investigating the site. So many ashes… Somebody did a really good job of disposing the papers. But there was one thing that they couldn’t dispose of, or just didn’t care to dispose of. A large inscription on the wall, written with care, saying “The God is a dirty, dirty liar”.
“Well damn.” Said Twilight smiling curiously. “This is definitely something different.”
“Do you think this is the reason why he was murdered?” Asked Spike still visibly proud of himself. Twilight thought about it for a while. That would make sense wouldn’t it? Died because he knew too much. The motive seemed to be completely obvious. But then again, there could be more to it that they thought at first.
“Very plausible.” Said Twilight smiling curiously. “I’m not sure yet but probably yes.”
She looked at the ashes and then a small idea appeared in her head. She stood before the ashes , and closed her eyes, her horn lit up in purple as the ashes slowly rose from the ground, leaving only what didn’t burn completely on the ground.
“Wow.” Spike was visibly in admiration of Twilight’s spell. “Nice one Twilight.”
“That’s should make things easier.” She mumbled in a serious tone.
Once again she scanned the floor with her eyes. It was a lot easier to find clues now. Was there something white around the rubbish? She approached closer and found a small, almost completely burnt note. It read “Feathery Phoenix”. She could swear that she remembered a shop with that name somewhere nearby. Was that part of the web too?
She straightened her legs and stood up one last time looking around the room. But it seemed that there was nothing else. She stepped back from the room, and left the cellar, Spike following her behind.
“Let’s search the rest of the house.” She said heading upstairs. Spike nodded slightly, he made his way to the kitchen. The purple unicorn looked in the direction where the stairs led her. Her hooves clopped gently as she was going up the stairs. She contemplated on what she already found and did what she always did, made a small checklist in her head.
Get to the murder site – Check
Investigate the murder site and the ground floor – Check
Investigate the second floor
Question the witnesses
Find new target and investigate it.
Find new clues and contemplate about them.
Repeat step “5” and “6” until you find the murderer.
Catch the murderer
Try to connect the murder to the magical disturbance.
Investigate magical disturbance
Get to the source of the magical disturbance
She will think about this point when she gets here
That was the plan at least. A minute later she stood before an old wooden door. It was probably supposed to be red but now the paint has gone off and only dark brown color of wood was left. The handle was full of dust, but the door was open. She had no idea if anybody was here at the time of the murder. She pushed the door gently with her head and entered a small room which appeared to be a bedroom with a small bookshelf in the corner. She looked around and first thing she did was step to the bed and see if anything was under it. She saw nothing expect dust and… something suddenly moved into her sight and before her eyes appeared a disgusting eight-legged creature with eyes red as the cleanest of blood. She quickly moved backwards terrified of the monster. She breathed heavily looking at the ground and sighed in relief. It was nothing more than a spider. She looked at it with a smile which started slowly disappearing from her face. So dead bodies don’t move her but spiders do? Oh the irony. She thought about it for a while. Why was she so calm? Anypony else than her or a Royal Guard would be shaking in fear in the corner or vomiting in the bathroom from disgust. But she? She didn’t feel like it. Actually quite the contrary. Did she enjoy this? It was horrible to think that she would take enjoyment from something as horrible as a murder case but…
“Maybe I should think about becoming a detective.” She joked to herself. She decided to not worry about her actual state in this situation. It’s better that way, at least she can do what she’s supposed to do.
But she worried about Spike a little. He too seemed to take it all extremely well but Twilight was not sure if his calmness was as sincere as hers, after all he was just a baby dragon…
The purple unicorn decided to check on him after she investigates this room.
She raised the quilt with her magic, and immediately she noticed something shining near the pillows. She stepped further to investigate it and saw a small, shining button laying on the bed. She gazed at it for a few seconds and then decided to raise it to her eyes. It was a small symbol, seemingly of a skull, being crushed by two gearwheels. Definitely a weird, and sinister design. Not what a normal pony would have…
She took it with her, not even realizing how much of significance for her this small thing will have in the future.
There was only one thing to investigate in the room and it was the bookshelf. She smiled as the victim had quite an admirable collection.
“Hello here.” She smiled approaching the shelf and looking at few of the books. Encyclopedias, philosophy books, adventure stories… it didn’t seem like anything out of ordinary. She read some of the titles in a random order. Then in alphabetical, one after another, from the top, trying to find some kind of pattern. After that cryptic message in the basement, she thought that she could find something here. But there was nothing, or at least she found nothing. Disappointed she opened the door to the hallway and left the bedroom. In her mind though, was only the weird metallic object that she found on the bed.
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A blue earth pony with beautiful red mane. A young foal, no more than eleven years old. Tears dripping from her blue eyes. Her cute tail moving slightly as every muscle of her body was shaking from fear. Poor child. To find out something so horrible as a murder.
“Now, now.” Said Twilight with a warm voice. “There’s no need to be scared. We only want to know what happened.”
The steam coming from the hot chocolate before her, the smell of the coco beans coming from the warm drink. The cozy warm, all made the room fell very comfortable. But the atmosphere, certainly wasn’t. She looked at Spike which was taking notes, sitting on the bench besides them.
The foal sobbed slowly as she tried to form a sentence but only nervous gibberish and cry came out of her mouth.
“Ah this doesn’t go anywhere Twilight.” Said Spike mildly irritated at the lack of progress showing from the interrogation of the small pony. “She’s just too scared.”
The unicorn looked at the child, which just looked terrified into the floor, unable to speak even a word after what she saw. She felt really sorry for her, but still she had to get some information out of this kid. She couldn’t just disregard a viable source of information just because it’s hard for her to acquire the means necessary. Somepony just died, and another lives may be at stake. There was no other way.
She sighed levitating a cup of hot chocolate to her lips, sipping it slowly to not burn her tongue. She closed her eyes for a while trying to calm down before trying to get to the filly before her.
“Will I be in trouble if I tell you miss?” She asked, not stuttering in any way, to surprise both of Spike and Twilight who immediately looked at the pony before them. The purple unicorn smiled warmly.
“There’s no way you would be in any trouble.” She said still remaining calm and gentle about the whole situation. “Why do you think you would be in trouble?”
The tears appeared in the eyes of young earth pony, as she squinted her eyes trying to hold them inside.
“I’ve heard many stories of how pony murder other ponies and then come after the ones who told the guards what happened.” She said fearfully, but still without stuttering, when just before she couldn’t, or maybe didn’t want to form a sentence. “I’m scared that that bad pony will want to do the same things to me.”
“Pony” that single word stuck into Twilight’s mind at instant. She was referring to the murderer as a pony, even though it was more common to address an intelligent creature of unknown race just as a “person”. So at least one of the suspects had to be a pony. And considering the time when the body was found, at least one of them has come back to the scene of murder. Because, this little earth pony must have seen it. But why did they come back? That was the question that stuck in Twilight’s mind. The answer could be obvious, but she couldn’t yet claim it as a fact. She needed more information.
“Don’t worry.” She said in almost motherly reassuring voice. “Nothing will happen to you, and if anything, the guards will protect you.”
The foal sobbed for the last time and began to talk.
“It was a cloudy morning and I was playing outside with my sister.” She shook, her whole body showing signs of stress and fear. Even years after this event, it will imprint scars on her mind that will haunt her forever. And Twilight knew about that perfectly. “We were just playing with our ball, when accidentally she kicked it too hard and into the house that…”
She stopped, she looked like she would cry again but she didn’t instead she stared blankly at the table for a while before she decided to continue talking.
“I-I went in for her, she is younger than me and she was afraid that she would be screamed at when she didn’t do anything wrong.” For the first time when she was talking she stuttered. “I opened the door and…”
She couldn’t stand this anymore, tears fell from her eyes like from a waterfall and both Twilight and Spike looked at themselves awkwardly. Forcing a foal to remember such events was definitely cruel. But they need to know. They absolutely need to know.
“I saw it, and a… I don’t know, something… someone was standing there.” She grabbed her head trying to remember as hard as she could. “For some reason… it seem that I can’t remember. A pony… that I’m of sure… I think she was a mare… or was she?”
The foal suddenly fell on the table. Twilight immediately stood up from her chair and run up to the young mare. Grabbing her by the hoof, checking her temperature and then casting a small spell that allowed her to see…
“Somepony cast a memory cleaning spell on her!” She called out loudly to her dragon friend who immediately started to look around the room, searching for the magician that casted the spell. And just as Twilight looked out of the window. Their eyes met… The magician had beautiful blue eyes. And just for that one second they stood there, looking at each other, before the one who casted the spell turned around. Her black cloak waved in the wind as she ran back from the café. Just as that, Twilight rushed through the door, opening it with one bash of her body. Just as she left the building, it started raining, making it harder to see. What a horrible luck, she thought. There was no time to waste so she ran the way she thought she saw the pony last. And just as she turned around she saw it. A small dark silhouette running away from her into one of the alleys between two stone houses.
“Stop right there!” She screamed making the one she was chasing stop for a sheer second to turn back and look at her. Then she continued her escape. Twilight ran right after the pony, entering the alley.
Just as she laid the hoof between the two houses, a barrel , kicked by the magician rolled right at her. Twilight didn’t even flinch.
“Oh no you don’t!” She said as her horn lit up and a large magic bolt destroyed the object that was rolling towards her. The chase was still on, and Twilight Sparkle wasn’t giving up until she caught her suspect.
The magician performed a beautiful slide on the wet ground to change direction and loose her tail of sight for a few second. It worked only temporally as the purple unicorn run quickly and almost caught up with the runaway.
After that the unicorn in a cape ran to the left, leading the chase to the cemetery. Just as they ran through the gate, Twilight’s suspect found out that she has nowhere to run for as she is restrained from every way by a fence. The white graves beautifully reflected the moonlight as it shone on the one hole in the ground, a new grave that hasn’t been yet filled with ground even if the body was still here. Twilight slowly approached the pony before her. They stood face to face, the cape covering unicorn’s face.
“This is the end of the line for you.” The purple unicorn said with a serious tone. “Surrender, maybe you can explain yourself.”
She just stood here , no word coming out of her mouth. No sign of movement. Straight like a pole, sturdy like a rock. It was pissing Twilight off.
“Do you hear me?” She said coming closer with every second. “If you don’t answer me I’ll have to take you by force.”
Again no response. Even though she couldn’t see her eyes, Twilight was sure, entirely sure that she was looking at her in this very moment. Even if the unicorn used her magic… Twilight knew that she could beat her. She couldn’t be beaten in her own game. She was cornered, she had no way of running away.
“Are you speak or not?” She said a little bit more angry. “Speak! Move! Do something!”
And then something unexpected happened. A knocking sound could be heard that seemed to surprise both ponies. Twilight looked in the direction where it was coming from, she turned her head just for a second, and only slightly so she could still see the pony. And her eyes widened when she saw the source of the sound. The newly dug grave. They both looked at it not knowing what will happen next. And then, a crash. Twilight blinked and as she slowly opened her eyes she saw a hoof, of what seemed to be a dead pony, slowly raising from the grave. Then the slightly rotten head, then another boney hoof. She backed out a bit in fear and that gave the other pony the distraction she needed. She ran past Twilight who just for a moment turned her head to look at her, but it was too late. She already stormed out of gate, closing it behind her with her magic, what worse, taking the key with her.
“No…” The unicorn said in fear, running up to the gate and trying to open it as the dead body groaned and slowly rose from it’s grave. She shook the gate trying to open it but it was for nothing, and she wasn’t agile enough to jump over the gate.
“No!” She screamed, her whole body shivering, as the undead approached her every second. Her thoughts racing in panic, trying to find an exit from the situation and run away from danger. But only things that came to her head were the ways that the zombie could kill her in that moment.
Shut up! She screamed in her thought as she tried to think about the way out.
“Okay Twilight teleport, you can do this, if you only concentrate enough…” She said closing her eyes trying to focus her magic, but the body was getting closer. She knew that if she fail she would get killed in a few seco… no! Focus, focus, focus. You can do it, you can do it. Her blood boiled and her heart pounded as she tried to slowly concentrate the teleport spell.
And just as she was ready to cast it, she opened her eyes and saw the empty eye sockets of the once living pony before her. She panicked, lost her control and let go of the spell. The zombie approached her and she had nowhere to run.
“No please…” She said almost crying.
The zombie wasn’t listening and still pushed forward, getting closer and closer to the gate.
“No please!” She screamed, tears running from her eyes, she was so afraid, she couldn’t even move anymore.
The dead pony was just a few millimeters before her, almost pinning her down to the gate, she was sure that she would die in a few moments . She was sure, this thing was going to kill her. She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to die yet. She had so much more to do . She didn’t want to leave her friends, she didn’t want to leave Spike and her mentor. What would her mother think? How would she cry, how many tears would she and her husband shed over her body? No, she couldn’t die! She couldn’t die in that moment!
“Please Stop!” Completely panicked, with no knowledge what to do she screamed those words and closed her eyes. And to her surprise, the death wasn’t coming. And just as she slowly opened them again, she saw, that the previously living body, was now lying motionless before her. She looked around, and she noticed one thing.
The sun was rising.
