Decapitating Harmony

by HardRockLlama

Rating: mature
Tags: Slice of Life, Dark, Sad
Length: 42215

Twilight goes missing

When Twilight Sparkle misses an appointment with Rainbow Dash, the ensuing investigation unfolds a mystery no pony was prepared for.

Story diverges from Season 4 episode 3.

Now, with illustrations! - 9/19/2014
Complete! - 9/26/2014
Changed to incomplete while I do a through re-review. - 10/26/2014
About halfway done proofing the story, illustrations are also nearly done - 2/18/2015

This is my first literary endeavor. Be mean, be rude, be brief, be cruel, et cetera. I will not get butt-hurt. I promise.

NOTE: It starts out pretty (G) rated and descends consistently into mature; thus, the mature rating.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-26 19:42:23 UTC

Epilogue - Decapitated Harmony

Epilogue – Decapitated Harmony

Following Trixie's suicide an investigation was launched against the Canterlot Detention Center. Scroot was the lead investigator of the case and concluded that he had personally witnessed the versatility of Trixie's vaginal muscles; therefore, no fault could be attributed to anypony unable to find the rope in time to prevent her from taking her own life. He also noted a particularly troublesome inmate whom had probably incurred enough attention from the guards so that proper sight checks were unable to be completed. Additional staffing was added to the unit to remedy the issue.

Rarity and Scroot continued their relationship without changing much from being close platonic friends. They were both workaholics and found very little intimate time together. He tried to quit smoking for her, but just reduced himself to two packs a day.

Scroot replaced his sign at the front of his home to read, “Office of Investigator Majesty Envoy” officially becoming her partner to her cases. He told her that she had proven herself to be very diligent, and he felt that he served better as an assistant.

Rainbow Dash waited a year before bringing herself to say that she forgave Scroot for the misunderstanding about the same time Pinkie's mane regained it's bubbly and curly appearance. He had asked her for a favor to which she obliged bringing him a cloud once a week to water his oak tree.

Fluttershy took Spike in as her number one assistant. He kept after her pets, and helped her with research projects concerning animal rescues.

Applejack asked Scroot several times for a rematch to prove that he didn't let her beat him, but he declined citing that a stallion should never hit a mare even if she is literally asking for it.

The two sisters took control of the Elements of Harmony as they no longer provided defense to the kingdom, and they were placed in the Canterlot Archives in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing along with the other thousands of archaic spells and artifacts.

Twilight's Day became a memorial to the first death of a Princess in Equestria, and Twilight was buried alongside Owlicious in the Canterlot Memorial Cemetery in a sealed tomb next to a statue of her likeness where thousands would gather to remember her every year.

Prologue - The National Random Holiday Party Day

Prologue – The National Random Holiday Party Day

Although Pinkie Pie’s eccentricity never took the form of deceptive fabrication, a national holiday purposefully centered on celebrating nothing of any intrinsic value was difficult to believe, but Pinkie Pie was adamant of National Random Holiday Party Day’s continuation, or possible reprisal, through her and her friends; therefore, Pinkie gathered her four closest friends at Sugar Cube Corner to discuss preparations. Rainbow Dash, caught up in her latest action adventure novel, had failed to arrive.

While confusion clouded the conversation throughout, the four other ponies eventually, albeit reluctantly, agreed to help Pinkie with the festivities. Twilight Sparkle offered her Tree House Library as a venue while the other ponies struggled to provide anything of any use due to the obscure topic. Rarity vaguely suggested colorful decorations, Fluttershy elected to provide music of indefinite genre, Applejack afforded the opportunity for party-goers to play games with equivocal themes, and Pinkie Pie informed the group of the “Secret Punch” which would be provided in abundance.

Content with the rather unclear game-plan, they began to depart from Sugar Cube Corner when Twilight asked everypony to keep an eye out for Owlicious. She continued telling them that the pet owl must have flown away during the night and that he had not returned. Rarity empathetically offered hope that Owlicious would return safe and sound concluded with a brief explanation of Owl behavior from Fluttershy that convinced Twilight not to worry about her feathered friend. Four ponies left the confectionary going to their homes to begin their individual contributions to the party slated for the following Tuesday.

* * *

Rainbow Dash was airborne on her way to Sugar Cube Corner hoping that she wasn’t too late for Pinkie’s “super-secret-meeting”. She spotted Twilight whom was outside her Tree House Library and dove landing on the soft dirt behind her.

Rainbow Dash eloquently called for the recently coroneted alicorn princess's attention, “Hey, Egg-head!”

Twilight stopped and looked back to the blue pegasus while giving her a warm smile, “Hello, Rainbow Dash. We missed you at the meeting.”

Dash rolled her eyes with an entertained look. “I’m sure. What was it all about?”

Twilight searched in her head for the right words. “It was about a party… I think… but, I still don’t know what for.”

“So, typical Pinkie stuff." Rainbow Dash chuckled in the thought of yet another Pinkie excuse to make cupcakes, mix punch, and hang streamers. That pony occasionally appeared to manufacture reasons to party.

“More or less.” Twilight agreed with amusement.

Rainbow Dash grabbed the latest Daring Do book from her small shoulder bag and said through gritted teeth gripping the binder, “Here, you can have this back. The new one comes out tomorrow and I’m going to be the first pony in Equestria to have it.”

Twilight’s horn began to glow a deep pink and a shimmer encapsulated the book levitating it away from Rainbow Dash.

"Thanks," said Twilight as she expertly slid the book in its proper place inside the Library, "If you ever need it again, all you have to do is ask."

Rainbow Dash relished in the thought of reading the new addition to the series for a moment when she remembered why she stopped in the first place. "So, the way I have it figured," she started, "A.K. Yearling has more than a few fans in Ponyville. If we get to the bookstore a bit earlier than it opens, we could be the first ponies to read the high-flying adventures of Daring Do."

Twilight brightened, "That's a great idea! We could go together!"

"That's what I was thinking!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Twilight raised a brow at the sporty pony, "Can you be here at 5 o' clock? I don't remember you getting up that early for anything." she said with sardonic expression.

"Absolutely!" Rainbow paused, "Hold on! I've got an incredible idea!"

Twilight remained steadfast in anticipation of Rainbow Dash's brilliance.

"We should have a sleep over. I'll dash back to the Cloudominium and grab some things, and then we can hang out until we go to the bookstore!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and hovered curling her forelegs toward her chest in her excitement.

"Oh! A sleep over! We can spend all night reading dissertations and discussing chemical properties!" Twilight danced lightly as the grin on her face spread to her whole body. "I can't wait to hear your informed take on the ecological effect of pony presence within the biosphere!"

Rainbow Dash recoiled twisting her face at the proposed activities for the evening. She set down and shifted on her hooves, "On second thought..."

Twilight looked confused, "What?"

"I'm starting to think that maybe I should stay at home."

Disappointment faded from Twilight's demeanor as she recalled the proposal realizing what pony she was talking to. "That doesn't sound like fun?" She laughed.

"Well, you know, we got to rest the old' eyes to be ready to delve into Daring Do right out of the gate." She gave a reassuring smile in the best attempt she could muster trying to say, 'Oh yeah, that sounds like a blast, but you know... the eyes.'

Twilight shrugged and chuckled again, "Alright, then be here at 5?"

Rainbow Dash side stepped to the purple alicorn wrapping a wing around her friend. She gave a warm squeeze, "I'll be here at 5."

Twilight started toward the library noting the sun making its way toward the horizon like a destructive fireball sure to destroy them all. "Okay, let's get to bed and rest up. I don't know about you, but I have some serious reading to do in the morning."

Rainbow Dash beamed before springing off the ground, "Oh, yeah we do!"

The blue pegasus took flight back to her Cloudominium doing all she could to forget the incredible moment of laying her hooves on the book she has anticipated for so many months, if only for a moment, to get a good night's sleep.

Chapter One - Raise The Alarm!

Chapter 1 - Raise the Alarm!

Night fell upon Ponyville in the passing hours while Rainbow Dash tossed and turned in her bed. She wasn’t sleepy, but rather wished to hasten the transitory time between now and with Twilight. Her mind careened into the previous adventures that she enjoyed in the Daring Do series. Athletic as she was, she spent quite a bit of time reading and re-reading the tales of the A.K. Yearling books nearly memorizing word for word each passage of compelling literature.

She looked over to her pet tortoise that was retreated inside his shell sleeping suspended by the tiny whirring blades of the helicopter strapped to his middle. Dash thought about waking him up for a midnight flight lesson to get her attention off the books, but decided to leave him be. She crept from her bed bouncing with each step on the cloud floor as she made her way outside thinking Tank will be alright if she goes out for some brain clearing flight.

The sky was speckled with thin clouds brightly illuminated by the half moon over the dark blue grass and winding dirt routes leading north-west into town. Ponyville truly slept with light pollution only coming from the train station where commuters travelled to and from Canterlot to the north in all hours of day and night.

The pegasus leapt from the porch and zoomed south leaving behind a wake of rainbow. She straightened extending her hooves forward and accelerated feeling the wind screaming through her mane. She ascended sharply and barrel rolled downward in a spinning and looping display of acrobatics. A thought made its way into her mind that she wished somepony was there to see her tricks as she cut the sky south-bound.

A streaming rainbow streaked over the Everfree Forest as the pegasus reached sonic speeds. Sweat beaded and flew from her body while she squinted in the wind's resistance. Approaching Ghastly Gorge south of the Everfree Forest over Froggy Bottom Bogg, she thought back to her pet tortoise that helped her out from under a rock in the canyon during a silly pet competition. She came to a stop above the chasm observing the serene tranquility set in the dark hue of night with dead trees stippling the bank of the canyon creek and the moonlit Froggy Bottom Bogg’s eerie array of black swamps to the northwest. Further north, past the Everfree Forest, she could make out the Ponyville train station lights reduced to a tiny dot like a single star resting in the heart of the progressive town.

She wiped the moisture from her forehead as she treaded air with a steady beat of her wings. She had to be kilometers away from home, and she wondered if Tank had woke up finding that he was alone. He wouldn’t be worried; she thought to herself.

Logging in her mind that she shouldn’t stay out for very long, she came to the conclusion that if she was going to make her soothing venture a success, she’d need a to perform an awe inspiring finale as she fired toward the moon bursting tiny clouds on the way up. She arced backwards folding her wings and shooting herself downward with the force of gravity. She tucked her head between her hooves pointing them straight toward the ground making herself into a bullet speeding against the sound barrier. Her eyes struggled to stay open against the wind when she realized the ground was coming up a lot faster than she expected. The low light destroyed her depth perception.

She fanned her wings grabbing onto as much air as possible and kicking her legs in a futile attempt to stop. She extended her hooves to try to catch the earth, but crashed hard into the dirt bouncing a few meters and slamming head first into the grove of flowers that grow along the bank of the gorge. Her body lay perpendicular to the ground for a moment before her rear legs collapsed and she came to rest on her belly.

She spit a mouthful of flowers from her teeth and picked herself up craning her neck trying to remove the knot growing at the base of her skull. It wasn't the first time she'd wiped out, and it wouldn’t be the last. She dusted herself off and gave her wings a couple of good flaps.

"At least you guys are okay." She said to her wings while taking flight back to the Cloudominium. “Maybe just a relaxing stroll through the sky would have been smarter.”

Her joints ached more and more from the jarring impact they sustained, and the stiffness in her neck subsequent being forced to bend unnaturally upon collision endured throughout her flight home. As she set down on the porch and cantered to her bedroom with a slight limp finding Tank still asleep in his hovering shell, she was beginning to feel better already. Her back felt like it had been twisted in a taffy machine, her knees were still a bit sore, and her neck was tight, but she was able to get comfortable enough to doze. Unfortunately, she remained plagued with unrest laying in the silent darkness. Hours ensued with no sleep to quicken the passing time.

She sighed and decided that Twilight may be a brainiac book-worm, but they could find something interesting to do. Anything was better than simply watching the inside of her eyelids; so, she jumped from her bed and poised on her hooves stretching her back.

"I know it is a few hours earlier than Twilight and I agreed on, but I can't sleep!” She told the sleeping tortoise pausing as if he was going to respond. Tank blinked and swallowed slowly as he brought his head out from inside his shell. She rubbed the back of his head while scrunching her nose against his.

“Be back with the new one before you know it, buddy!" She said as she began to gallop to the exit slowed by her aching knee. She stopped at the front step before jumping into a spear and rocketing herself straight toward Twilight's Library. Cloud genocide resulted in the wake of her speed as they were sucked into non-existence and destroyed by head-on collisions while she rose above the rooftops of Ponyville.

A shrill from below that was unmistakably Pinkie Pie caught the pegasus' ears.

"Hey! It's Pinkie!" The pink earth pony shouted from outside Sugar Cube Corner. Rainbow Dash dropped rapidly and dug her hooves into the ground skidding herself to a halt. She shook out her foreleg and thought that she should take it easy on the knee.

"What's up?" Rainbow greeted.

"You're clearing the sky awfully early, you know. A little cloud cover is good in the morning, I think! It reminds me of cotton candy breakfasts!" Pinkie chattered quickly and some of her words came out combined.

"Cotton candy br-...?" Rainbow shook her head, dismissing the statement, "If you just want to say hi, I'm on my way to Twilight's and I'm trying to get there early.”

"Rainbow, it’s, like 2:30am. Why are you going to Twilight's at 2 am?" Pinkie asked.

"I couldn't sleep. We're going together to get the new Daring Do book." Rainbow Dash replied smiling, "I'm sure she is as excited as me. So, I'll be doing her a favor getting her up a few hours early."

Pinkie shrugged, "Okie, dokie, lokie!" and the pink earth pony bounced back toward Sugar Cube Corner.

"Wait. What are you doing up this early?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm making the Secret Punch." Pinkie said turning around and leaning closely to Rainbow Dash's ear. "I'm using a secret ingredient that is..." She paused and checked for potential eavesdroppers before whispering, "... a secret."

The pegasus rolled her eyes. "That's great… See you!" She flapped her wings taking off for a brief moment.

Pinkie suddenly screamed in a voice that sounded painful like being electrocuted, "WAIIIIT!"

Rainbow Dash fluttered back down to the ground wondering what this disturbed pony could possibly need at this hour. The utmost disinterest in making punch tugged at Rainbow urging her to pretend she hadn't heard the excitable pink pony and continue onward.

"Okay, I'm not really in a rush, but I kind of want to get going." Rainbow stated flatly before noticing that Pinkie Pie was left peculiarly staring into space just past the pegasus. Pinkie’s face was frozen in chilling expression with her eyes wide as if she was seeing something daunting. Rainbow Dash turned around and looked into the distance trying to see what Pinkie was looking at, but there was nothing there; no ghosts nor monsters.

Facing Pinkie again, "What is it?" Rainbow Dash asked, but Pinkie remained completely still. Rainbow brought up a hoof and poked Pinkie in the shoulder observing no consequences like time had stopped around her.

Pinkie's rear legs gave out from under her as she plopped on her rump sending a small cloud of dust spiraling around them. Rainbow furrowed her brow and frowned asking the pony once more, "Pinkie. What is going on?"

Rainbow was petrified to spot Pinkie's ears vibrating, her eyes separating from center cocking outward slowly, and then Pinkie’s mouth dropped open unexpectedly sounding a gurgle from her throat.

Rainbow Dash stepped back from the extreme Pinkie Sense phenomenon while trying to block the idea of Pinkie Pie becoming so excited that she literally explodes taking the lives of anypony within the blast radius. Unluckily, to Rainbow Dash, it was becoming a more real possibility with each passing second.

Pinkie abruptly stood meeting Rainbow Dash eye to eye with a quizzical look washed over her and her pink fur appearing sweaty.

"Whoa." Pinkie rubbed a hoof behind her ear, "That was a doozy."

"Are you okay?" Rainbow asked trepidatiously.

"Yeah, I think so. Did anything happen?" Pinkie said shaking the dizziness.

"That was some extreme Pinkie Sense. Should we get help?" Rainbow Dash lifted Pinkie's chin with a hoof looking into her eyes with concern. She appeared to be okay, but Rainbow wasn't a doctor.

Pinkie looked down, "I've never blacked out during Pinkie Sense."

Rainbow Dash nudged Pinkie, "Come on, let's get you to the hospital."

* * *

Pinkie assured Rainbow that she was okay and probably didn't need any medical help while they walked south to Ponyville Medical University. The emergency room was nearly empty save for one pony that was cradling his right foreleg calmly as he awaited attention. Their hooves clopped on the tile as they made their way to the receptionist. Rainbow Dash checked them in and they waited.

The hospital was probably the largest building in town, and was the only building, in concurrence with the Ponyville Train Station, which remained in operations twenty-four seven. Each wing of the structure stretching west to east entered from the north and was labeled with a color coding of the ceramic floors, drapery, and furniture. Passages leading deeper into the hospital from the three main lobbies were lined with patient quarters, lecture galleries, and operating rooms. The trio of hallways convened in the southern cafeteria where students, doctors, and some patients could dine.

The white floors and walls of the ER lobby were accented with dull avocado colored couches, benches, and chairs placed in an ergonomic arrangement with faded emerald tiles marking the pathways that carved their way through the seats of the waiting area. They sat next to a small end table which hosted a very simple ivory lamp with a green shade over an assortment of outdated magazines and trash novels.

Pinkie Pie made small talk with the stallion about his assumed broken bone and insensitively joked about him being put down. The pink pony seemed completely like herself and, after what seemed like days of waiting, they made their way back to the doctor whom released her after a battery of testing finding nothing wrong.

Rainbow Dash hugged Pinkie, "Well, it looks like you're alright. I was genuinely freaked out by your little episode."

Pinkie hugged her back and patted her on the shoulder, "With you to escort me here, and make sure of my health, even when you were in such a rush, pro-"

Rainbow Dash shot off the floor, "Daring Do!" Her eyes locked onto the clock showing 6am before flying out of the door and speeding straight to Twilight's Tree House.

She weaved through buildings and trees catching many still waking ponies unfortunate enough to have come out to enjoy the warmth of the sunrise off guard. She fanned her wings catching a wall of air and slammed her hooves into the dirt uprooting weeds as she skidded across the ground. Her leg throbbed as she galloped to the door of the Library and knocked.

"I know I'm late, but do I have a story for..." She stopped as the door eased open from her knocking. She peered inside to the loft where Twilight's bed rests. No Twilight?

Rainbow Dash stepped inside where an overwhelming smell of lemon scented cleaner permeated the still air. Rainbow thought to herself that she was right in assuming Twilight couldn't sleep. She was up all night cleaning her house to bide the time. So much for dissertations.

She made her way upstairs to find Twilight's bed neatly made, and her dragon assistant's basket also unoccupied in a disorganized array of bedding.

The pegasus raised a brow in suspicion as a tightening of irritation and betrayal grew within her.

"She went without me!" She exclaimed before she drew her wings and bolted out the door. Soaring to the bookstore, she carved a quick line between the dwellings of Ponyville when suddenly a yellow blur popped up right in Dash's path. She broke right clipping a bush with enough force to turn her upside down as she crashed into the dirt. She slid on her head before coming to rest on her back while painful stinging and numbness on her forehead perpetuated the idea that her face had been torn from her skull. It just wasn't her day for flying.

A soft voice came from Rainbow's side, "Oh my! Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?"

The blue pegasus propped herself up. "I'm fine, Fluttershy. At least, I would be, if that traitor who represents the element of magic hadn't left without me to get the new Daring Do book!"

"She's not at the bookstore if that's what you mean." The yellow pegasus reassured.

Rainbow Dash twisted her face in confusion, "Well, she's not at her house."

Fluttershy shrugged, "I was at the bookstore for several hours tending to their garden. The owner asked me to try and draw in more humming birds. So far, no luck."

"You were there all morning?" Rainbow asked interrogatingly.

Fluttershy cowered, "Um... yes. I just left from there."

Rainbow shifted her eyes in thought searching her brain for any possible location that Twilight could be. She was so wrapped in her brain that she didn't notice Pinkie Pie trotting to them.

"Hey, fillies!" Pinkie greeted.

Fluttershy waved and smiled while Rainbow ignored her continuing to churn her mind selecting locations and silently evaluating the likelihood that Twilight would choose now to go to them.

Pinkie jumped in alarm, "Uh, oh. Is it contagious?" She covered her mouth quickly with both hooves, "Do you have Rainbow Sense?!"

Rainbow picked herself up and joined the collective conscience, "What? No. I just can't find Twilight anywhere. She wasn't at home and she's not at the bookstore."

Pinkie Pie shrugged with her entire body, "Well, you were late, so she went outside to enjoy the beautiful morning and smell the flowers that grow behind the Library just as you arrived. Then, you must've left assuming she left without you, and now she thinks you're super-duper luper late!"

The ponies stood in silence taking in the string of syllables spewed onto them. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy realizing that Pinkie Pie actually may have come up with a plausible scenario for once.

Rainbow Dash immediately made a beeline for Twilight's house leaving her friends squinting through the dust. She flew through the doorway landing in the middle of the library and quickly found that Pinkie wasn't correct. Twilight and Spike remained missing.

She looked over the house noting the ordinary cleanliness and the couple of books left out from what could have been assumed as the previous nights before bed reading. Questions circulated in her mind as the gears tried to crank out an answer to the missing pony and her assistant. Abruptly, a wrench was thrown into the machine by Pinkie announcing her entrance.

"Twilight!" Pinkie shouted looking up to the loft. She stopped bouncing as she swiveled her head around the room. "Huh. She's not here."

"Where could she be?" Fluttershy asked the room.

Rainbow Dash shrugged in disappointment and shook her head without answering the yellow pegasus' rhetoric. Where could that egg-head be? Had she the aforethought to wake that lazy dragon early enough to actually leave the house prior to Rainbow's arrival? It takes that girl so long to prepare for a grocery run it's not even funny; so, what caught her attention enough to leave without notifying her friends first?

The blue pegasus' goose egg growing on the right side of her forehead pounded like one of Vinyl's technical bass beats while the tension in her neck crawled up the back of her head. Her eyes squinted hard squeezing her face into a knot of cognitive effort through the dull ache of her recent wipeouts spreading a warm sting in her chest and foreleg.

"She keeps a pretty tight schedule of activities." Pinkie began as she scrunched her face at the tiny print on Twilight's schedule. "Maybe she moved on to the next thing on her list."

Fluttershy sauntered to Pinkie's side surveying the convoluted to-do list.

"Well... um... this says she's at the bookstore." Fluttershy said with a conquered expression. The next event which was to analyze a disquisition on the causation of migratory behavior in butterflies wasn't intended to begin for several hours, and it appeared that Twilight planned on researching entomology for a greater portion of the day. It was unnecessary to mention aloud that Twilight wasn't at the library reading about the regional climatic effects to aesthetically pleasing insects at the moment.

Pinkie Pie bounced to one of Twilight's magnifying glasses and began examining the residence exaggeratingly observing every crack in the floor and every speck of dust.

Rainbow Dash watched for a moment, "What are you doing?"

"It's simple. Twilight wouldn't have left home without something to tell us where she went. It's just uncharacteristic for her to up and leave." Pinkie reasoned.

Pinkie must be on her game today; another reasonable statement from the hyper-active pony that usually wastes her breath on nonsensical vernacular.

Rainbow Dash flew quickly to the door, "I'm going to Sweet Apple Acres. I'll ask Applejack if she's seen her. Fluttershy, you go to the Carousel Boutique and see if Rarity knows anything."

Fluttershy chirped in agreement before following Rainbow out of the library.

Pinkie stayed in the house wandering in a disorganized and careless search of the alicorn's home. A thought formulated beneath an image in her brain of frosting being freshly squeezed onto moist red velvet cupcakes: She didn't always understand Twilight's version of fun, but she could definitely see Twilight reading about something really neat while waiting for the tardy pegasus and going out to immediately begin experimenting to see the author's results in real time. Losing track of her appointments due to more recent despite less appealing activities is something Pinkie could wrap her mind around as she imagined crisp sprinkles falling regally into the frosting becoming embedded into the sugary green fluff. She examined all of the open books in the house. All two of them.

Well, that's a dead end. Pinkie doubted Twilight feeling the need to test the efficiency of various insulative materials or purchasing the services of a contractor to facilitate the installation of hydroelectricity with any amount of urgency while Pinkie's imaginary cupcakes were shaped with generous amounts of fondant into tiny edible tree house libraries.

Pinkie thought maybe Twilight got hungry and left for take-out. She bounced to the cooler which, to her disappointment, had more variety than the Ponyville Cafe so that couldn't be it. Maybe Twilight became ill, but she couldn't be at the doctor, because Pinkie was just there with Rainbow Dash. Although while she mentally sunk her teeth into the soft squishy miniature library, it occurred to her that it'd be all the more reason to find Twilight curled up in bed.

Conversation outside caught Pinkie's attention, but she wasn't relieved to see only four ponies enter.

"Y'all find anything?" Applejack asked in her natural drawl.

Pinkies ears drooped as the cupcakes vanished from her mind, "No."

Rarity swung her deep purple mane from her face, "Is it not a possibility," she began, "that Twilight simply was called to Canterlot on short notice by Princess Celestia?"

Applejack answered, "Something that serious would require all of us, right? Elements of Harmony and all that?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head, "No. We gave up the elements to the Tree of Harmony, remember?"

"But, the elements are present in all of us." Fluttershy retorted.

"Arguing!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration, "I'm going to look for her!"

"Rainbow's right. I say we just get out there and ask everypony we see." Applejack suggested as she made her way to the exit gesturing for the other ponies to follow.

The group departed the library leaving Pinkie again to hold down the fort, so to speak, as well as let Twilight know that they were looking for her if she were to return. The four scouting ponies agreed to meet back at the library in an allotted time as they broke away to search Ponyville. They approached businesses, questioned travelling salesponies, asked their friend's friends, and Applejack went to Zecora's home in the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy was the first to come back to the library sitting in the middle of the floor with her head hung in defeat. Applejack returned without useful information just before Rarity entered the library reporting that everypony's response was invariable in that they may have seen Twilight yesterday. Rainbow Dash hovered into the library and said that her numerous flyovers of Ponyville and the surrounding areas in conjunction with the interrogation of many ponies in town yielded no results.

Uncomfortable indecision amongst all of the ponies formed an emotional rigidity that manifested the inability to move. Everypony was trapped in a motionless stumble over their anxiety as wordless conversation of their worst fears drained from them and unknowingly was projected onto one another.

"I'm starting to get scared." Fluttershy said.

"Let's not panic, guys!" Rainbow Dash demanded. She flew to the loft and gestured to her friends vehemently above them, "Remain calm!" Her eyes grew wide as she darted to each of the others becoming more violently assertive in urging tranquility.

"Rainbow!" Applejack yelled snatching the pegasus' tail and dragging her from the air. Rainbow Dash jumped up and grabbed Applejack on her shoulders with a pained expression in her eyes.

"I was supposed to stay here last night!" She said inches from Applejack's nose. "I didn't because she wanted to do egg-head stuff. If I had just gone ahead with that inevitably boring sleepover, she wouldn't be missing!"

"You couldn't have known she was going to go missing and, you never know, she could think that we're all missing right now. We just need to find her." Rarity explicated.

Silence fell upon them again as Rainbow Dash dropped her hooves from Applejack and collapsed into a seated position on the floor. Guilt twisted the proverbial knife deeper into her heart.

Applejack studied her friends around her seeing their thoughts worn plainly on their faces as anxiety quickly overcame their hopes that this moment would be the funniest story to Twilight when she walked into her home to find them all standing in her study space staring at one another. Her element tugged at her vocal cords to say what they were all thinking despite the probability of causing more heartache.

Her voice quivered and nearly fell upon deaf ears over the screaming silence of discomforting imaginations run rampant, "We may have an emergency on our hooves, gals."

They all looked to Applejack who appeared to have read the tragic hopelessness straight from her friend's minds. They glanced amongst each other waiting for one of them to lift their spirit or crack a joke to reduce the weight of the room which Fluttershy had begun to believe was going to crush them into a mealy red paste at any moment.

Rarity looked away from everypony else and to Twilight's work bench settled in the far side of the loft near her bed with wet eyes. She began slowly up the stairs with weak steps as if she was making her way to the gallows. Her horn shined blue encompassing and levitating a quill and parchment from Twilight's bench beginning an alarming letter to Princess Celestia.

Chapter Two - Investigator Whinny

Chapter 2 - Investigator Whinny

They included all of the details of their search and the longevity of Twilight's absence in the letter to the princess. Rarity gave it a review and, after finding a teleportation spell among the literature of the library, floated the letter briefly in a blue cloud of magical dust before zapping it in a flash off to its destination. The five ponies made their way outside and stood in the mid-afternoon sun watching the castle built on the bluff of the plateau in the distance as they nervously awaited a response from the Princess.

A series of popping sparks in an incandescent array of magic dropped a sealed parchment on the doorstep of the library. Rarity pointed out the laugh they will all enjoy when they find Celestia and Twilight together, but her statement was met with further discomfort rather than the relief she intended it to bring as she opened the message.

The letter contained instruction for the ponies to await Princess Celestia's arrival, and her brevity only increased their unease while they looked to the northern mountain seeing the Princess's chariot departing from the castle jetty. She wasn't coming alone evident the sea of shadow in the mid-afternoon sky as the small army of Royal Guard pegasi followed the Princess's vehicle.

The ponies bowed as the chariot landed before them along with the Royal Guards who stood in formation exemplifying their power under the whim of the majestic 2,000 year old immortal Princess Celestia.

Her soft voice had a command presence in an awesome combination of compassion and rule instructing the Guards to fan out asking everypony if they had any information about Twilight Sparkle's whereabouts from Las Pegasus to Manehattan. While the Royal Guards took flight in every direction, Princess Celestia turned her attention to Twilight's friends.

"Who was the last pony to see Twilight?" Celestia asked them.

Rainbow Dash went into it including the unappealing activities that Twilight suggested and all of the details of her search. Celestia listened to the other ponies spill over with their recollections of the previous day's events while she submitted orders to hundreds of Royal Guards beginning a massive search of neighboring cities and the questioning of thousands of residents.

As more and more reports returned without any leads, Celestia became uneasy searching her brain for productive ideas. The last group's message returned from Applewood to the far west further increasing the situation's perplexity in providing no useful information.

Celestia gasped upon reviewing a message received directly in her magic grip.

"What is it?" Applejack asked her.

"It's..." Celestia paused unsure of the words on the page and what they meant, "It's Spike."

They spotted two Royal Guards cantering in from the south carrying something on a small cart in a determined pace. As they arrived, the ponies looked over the purple dragon lying unconscious on the cart with dull scales and mud caked on his face and body. His eyes were slightly open and furthered the appearance of death with a leaf stuck under his right eyelid.

"Where did you find him?" Celestia asked them.

"We were going to question the zebra when I spotted him in a bush just inside the Everfree Forest. Somepony tried to hide him." One Guard answered.

"Is he dead?" Fluttershy asked between sobs while tears poured down her face.

"No." Celestia said, "Guards, take him to the medical center and tell them to have their very best give me a full report on his condition."

"As you wish, your majesty." The guards answered simultaneously as they galloped south to Ponyville Medical University with Spike.

Applejack stood strong hugging Fluttershy whom cried into her shoulder and Rainbow Dash's chest was constricted in the feeling of misplaced responsibility. Rarity stared at the departing guards thinking of what discovering Spike like that meant for Twilight while Pinkie Pie's mane slowly deflated into a lifeless heap. Hopelessness floated amongst them almost as tangibly as the dust in the air.

Celestia became sobered wallowing grievously in the dark scenarios that clouded her mind while Twilight's friends stared intently awaiting reassurance or explanation, but she remained unfaltering in cerebral exertion.

Applejack broke the silence, "What can we do?"

The magnificent princess drew in a cleansing breath and retrieved a parchment from her chariot. The feather of the quill gyrated above the page as she said with her voice unwavering, "I must go back to Canterlot immediately." She paused visibly choking on emotion tilting her head back and inhaling her sorrow. If the others could see her consciousness physically, she would be stomping her feelings unrecognizable with anger and frustration.

"You must go north." She continued with regained composure rolling the page into a cylinder and sealing it, "There is a small cabin just outside of Ponyville which houses the office of Investigator Scroot Whinny."

Rainbow Dash cocked her head, "With all due respect, Princess, all you want us to do is deliver a message to somepony who never met Twilight before?"

Celestia nodded floating her message to Rarity whom grasped it in her magic aura, "Yes. I trust you all completely. That being said, I am absolutely certain that if there is anypony in Equestria that can find Twilight Sparkle soon, it's Scroot Whinny. He is the best of the best. Give him this letter when you arrive."

The Princess carried herself with enduring sophistication although her mane flowed dimmer walking to her chariot. As she boarded, she warned, "Scroot Whinny has an abrasive personality, so be prepared to be met with unjust judgment and scrutiny. He means well, but has no concept of communication as you or I." She gave them an empty reassuring nod and departed.

* * *

They couldn't bring themselves to split up, but Pinkie Pie and Rarity eventually conceded in going to the hospital to stand by Spike's side hoping to gather a report on his condition. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy began trotting to Scroot Whinny's cabin while their shadows lengthened against the ground. Rainbow Dash watched the setting sun noting to herself that it had now been over 24 hours since she had seen Twilight. Fatigue was barely kept at bay with the determination to find her friend.

The area between Ponyville and Canterlot was largely unpopulated with square kilometers of grassy hills unfit for structure building. Following a narrow trail, the grass gave way to dirt and the earth leveled for enough distance for a small dwelling to be appropriately erected where they found the modest wooden house settled next to a lone oak tree curling over the north east corner of the roof.

The walkway leading to the front door was well maintained gravel lined with neatly placed railroad ties. A series of two by four maple beams artistically burned with flowing paisleys decorated a sign adjacent to the trio of steps leading to the artisan glass and rosewood door. The sign read, 'Home and Office of Investigator Scroot Whinny'. Upon approach of the entrance, a small carved sign hanging from the bronze doorknocker read, 'Come on in! We're open!'

The three ponies filed into the office through the west entrance where they found the inside much unlike the exterior. The walls were covered in gray wall-paper and the auburn carpet accented the unpolished mahogany desk spanning from one edge of the room to the other separating each half of the main room. The north wall sported a blackboard with indiscernible white chalk while the south wall appeared supported by a long table where neatly stacked papers hid the surface. The office had a pungent odor about it despite the cleanliness like a warm fresh bowel movement had been lit on fire a few days ago.

A small grey unicorn sat behind the desk and behind her was a labyrinth of white file cabinets with two doors in the east wall leading deeper into the depressing confine both with opaque windows marked with small black print reading 'Investigator Whinny's Office' and 'Investigator Whinny's Other Office'. The unicorn's mane was cropped short enough to be mistaken for a colt's cut while her bangs remained long enough to hang over her right eye. She shuffled through papers with her magic diligently skimming before looking up from the desk raising a brow at the ponies entering the office. She gently brushed her bangs from her face with a hoof and sat up straight adjusting her long sleeve red button down blouse.

"Welcome to Investigator Scroot Whinny's Office. I'm Majesty Envoy, how may I help you?" She said scowling at the hovering Rainbow Dash. "No flying in the office."

Rainbow set down, "Sorry. We're missing a pony; our friend."

"How long has the pony been missing?" She asked with emotionless demeanor.

The concerned ponies stated in unison, "26 hours."

"That was cute." The little unicorn said sarcastically as she levitated a plaque lying on the north edge of the desk and brought it to herself. She held it up to showcase that it read, 'Missing Ponies Must Be Missing for 48 Hours before investigations begin'.

"But, Princess Celestia sent us." Applejack reasoned as she blinked trying to shake the smell from her nose.

Envoy's eyebrows furrowed, "The Princess?" She asked in disbelief. "Who exactly are we looking for?"

"Twilight Sparkle." Applejack stated matter-of-factly while giving Celestia's letter to Envoy.

The unicorn raised both brows at the paper and leaned closer, "Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

They again answered in unison, "Yes."

The unicorn stood and went to the door marked as Investigator Whinny's Other Office. She knocked, "Scroot? I know you just got your newspaper, but we just had three very important clients walk in."

The distinct whoosh of a toilet flush sounded just before the door opened revealing an older gray-mane, tan earth pony whom was wearing a crisp blue dress shirt under a smart gray summer jacket. He bumped the hat rack between the doors and allowed the gray fedora to fall on his head over his right ear. The hat's black band matched his tie that was neatly folded into an Eldredge knot.

Approaching the desk, Scroot observed the ponies as they awaited introduction. He looked at Majesty Envoy and raised a brow.

"They said they were sent by Celestia. Princess Twilight has gone missing." She explained gesturing to exemplify the importance and excuse her interruption.

Scroot Whinny nodded, "Huh. Ain't that some shit."

Rainbow Dash uncomfortably exchanged a look with Applejack who noticed Fluttershy's mouth agape. The words, "Such Language!" were practically written on her forehead.

With a voice like the gravel leading to the entrance, Scroot continued, "Well, I guess that's a case worth prematurely pinching one off for. How long has this Princess been missing?"

Majesty Envoy answered, "26 hours, sir."

"And Celestia sent you, huh?" He asked. "Where was she last seen?"

"At her Library in Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said.

Scroot nosed his way into his breast pocket and retrieved a short filtered cigarette, "I knew that old bitch was going to call in the favor. I was just hoping it'd be after I was dead."

Rainbow Dash recoiled in offence, "What did you just call the Princess?"

He nudged the unicorn. "Envoy, light me." The tip of her horn glowed a warm yellow. He leaned toward the horn touching the tip of the cigarette to the light and drew in a deep puff exhaling thick gray smoke. So, that's the smell: Cowpony killers.

"Don't get your mane all tangled." He took a long pull from the cigarette. "Me and Celestia go way back. See," he exhaled more smoke, "When I was younger, I had myself a bit of a gambling problem. Old Celestia shut down the illegal casino in Dodge and admonished my debt because I helped her find some asshole named Tirek back in the day. Put that bastard in Tartarus and he's been there ever since."

Rainbow Dash still didn't like him for that. He could show some respect to the Princess that bailed him out. She raised a brow at her companions questioning their approval. "So, what exactly did you do to earn her 'mutual' respect?"

"It wasn't like I did much. I found out where he was hiding after his asshole brother ratted him out." Scroot continued. "Maybe that's why I still owe the favor."

Applejack scoffed, "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"I kissed your mother with this mouth." Scroot smiled. "Listen, sweetie, I'm a retired detective for the Manehattan Police Department. I've seen some shit. I'm entitled to a bit of linguistic freedom."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and met Applejack's gaze where a silent agreement of distaste for the investigator took place. Fluttershy's mouth was beginning to look dry.

Applejack shrugged, "We're just asking for a bit of respect with females being present and all."

Scroot lowered his head apologetically, "Oh, yes, absolutely."

Applejack smiled to Rainbow Dash and gave her a wink.

The investigator cleared his throat and continued, "Well, if y'all are done fucking around, can you take me to the missing princess's house?"

* * *

Reluctantly, the ponies brought Scroot and Envoy to Twilight's house. Each of them had the hopeful thought of Twilight being there when they entered, but their wishes failed to come to fruition. They led the investigator into the home while telling him everything they knew on the way there. Rainbow Dash did most of the talking as she told him about the Guards finding Spike, the events that took place before the disappearance, and Celestia's search of Equestria with the assistance of the Royal Pegasi.

Scroot didn't say anything upon arrival. Envoy stood aside and instructed the other ponies to do the same. He walked slowly and deliberately while his eyes scanned the library. He took a brief tour of the house going upstairs and swiveling his head taking in all of the details in the home.

Envoy levitated a notepad and quill from her saddlebag as the investigator began to explain more to himself than to the audience, "Assuming the obvious signs for reason of departure; ergo, a message by mouth, a note, or schedule, is not present, we need to find evidence of the subject's travels outside of the aforementioned locations as mentioned by the friends."

The quill wrote as fast as Scroot spoke recording every word as he cantered down the stairs. He squinted at the floor looking left and then right. "There is inconsistent cleanliness. The upstairs is definitely cleaner than down here."

"Is that bad?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Scroot held a hoof up and shushed the pegasus before continuing, “At the conclusion of searching the home, we will need to canvass the surrounding area and identify potential witnesses.”

“Witnesses of what?” Dash asked.

The detective flashed an angry look at Rainbow Dash and said calmly, "Shut. Up."

"Look, I'm just trying to help." Rainbow explained.

"You're not. So, shut the fuck up, alright?" Scroot said while he pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash punctuating his desire for her silence.

"Hey, buddy! I'm had just about enough of-" Rainbow Dash was interrupted by Applejack grabbing the blue pegasus' rainbow tail and pulling her outside. Rainbow sat on the ground outside the library in a huff.

"Rainbow, listen." Applejack held Rainbow on either side of her face staring seriously into her eyes. "We're under stress that we've never known before, but you need to cool it, okay?"

"Applejack, I'm dying for answers here. I need to know something. Anything!" Rainbow pleaded.

The orange earth pony shook her head in understanding, but disagreement. "Dashie, it ain't that easy. Complicated situations call for complicated answers. We're going to have to wait until the answers flow to us 'cause this is one hog we can't chase."

Rainbow Dash frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean: If we start trying to force things together, we'll just get all confused." Applejack explicated.

Rainbow's eyes caught pink dancing in her peripheral and looked to see Pinkie sulking toward them. Her mane nearly dragged the ground when it was straightened like that. She stopped a few meters from them and looked up to meet her friends. Applejack released Rainbow's face.

Pinkie Pie's voice crept together words with less excitement than delivering a eulogy, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Pinkie. How's Spike doing?" Applejack asked fearing the worst.

"Spike just woke up. I was coming here to see if you were back so I could tell you. It looks like you're here, so..." She paused for a moment, "Spike's awake."

* * *

Inside the library, Scroot continued his search of the home casually pointing out details while Envoy jotted down notes. He raised a brow at Envoy looking for a sign that she had realized the same possibility that he did. She cocked her head gesturing her query without words.

Scroot looked up to the loft surveying it's lack of settled dust in suspicious places, "I think we have a ponynapping here."

Envoy mutely surveyed her surroundings trying to see Scroot's intuition, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. She had only been working with him on small cases around Ponyville for a couple of years; therefore, she hadn't yet gained the ability to observe miniscule details presenting themselves so obviously to Scroot.

She pressed her lips into a thin line and said, "I'm not seeing it."

Pointing with a hoof, Scroot explained, "The loft has dust settled on the desk near the window, and yet the end table is spotless. The basket where the dragon sleeps is messy, but the bed itself is neatly made."

Envoy shrugged with the inability to make a connection, "So?"

"So," He began, "Considering Celestia had the entire Royal Pegasus Guard search all of Equestria, she can only be somewhere witnesses would not have seen her. That means that somepony is hiding her. I would assume against her will or they wouldn't have found Spike in the Everfree Forest."

"No, Scroot. How does the cleanliness mean she's been ponynapped?" She asked.

"It means that somepony tried to hide their presence, Envoy. They had to have returned and cleaned up the mess they made in the struggle while predictably neglecting the rest of the house." Scroot explained.

Envoy shook her head, "I find it hard to believe that somepony could have overcome the alicorn known for her magical prowess."

Scroot's eyes darted across the floor as he slowly walked to the stairs, "It's unlikely; not impossible, but a crime was committed here, I'm sure of that."

They had worked this kind of case before, and ponynappings were the most difficult to solve in their field due to the stakes. If an heirloom is stolen, the pony responsible doesn't cover their tracks as well because there isn't as much on the line. In these types of cases, they're usually working against somepony that is aiming to get away with it.

Envoy found herself a bit intimidated by the circumstances. It wasn't very often they were contracted by members of the monarchy, but they had never been given an official document granting peace officer status with an arresting capability. She began to think that the stories Scroot spun of his past work with Celestia must be true.

"What would a pony do with a Princess?" Envoy asked.

Scroot laughed hard and shook his head dismissing the question as rhetorical.

Chagrin fluttered Envoy's eyes, "What?"

"Everything," He said. "You could demand bits, you could demand power, or you could just be looking for infamy."

Scroot stopped walking abruptly becoming ensnared in a concentrated study of the corner of the first stair and the wall where he found a tiny blue speck lying on the wood floor. He leaned closely to it slowing his breathing and squinting. He raised a hoof and waved Envoy to him.

"You see that?" He said pointing with his forehead. "Is that what I think it is?"

Envoy raised a brow and looked closely observing a jagged fragment of a brilliant blue flower pedal. She stood straight, "Poison joke?"

Scroot shook his head lightly, "Look at the veins." He pointed with a hoof and drew magnified squares over the pedal in the air. "Veins that cross over one another in perfect squares like that are only found in one plant in Equestria."

Envoy whispered, "Candy-lions?"

The investigator nodded, "That’s decidedly lucky. Black light me, and we'll see if there are any oils."

The unicorn's horn flashed red, and then decayed into blackness emitting a shadow of unseen materials hiding in the light. As if looking into a negative, small incomplete semi-circles marked a path up the stairs.

Envoy asked quietly, "Why is that lucky?"

"Those hoof prints are glowing green. That's candy-lion oils." Scroot observed before returning to the floor examining the shadow projected by Envoy's horn. She continued to take notes as they followed the hoof-steps up the stairs.

“Candy-lions are an interesting flower taking the evolutionary trait of appearance mimicry. They also grow in only one place in Equestria.”

"The Everfree Forest." Envoy said.

Scroot nodded without taking his careful gaze from the floor, “Candy-lion oils are resistant to destruction just like the pollen. So, even if the suspect showered, they'd leave it behind on hard surfaces like this."

As they arrived at the top of the stairs, Envoy could see the indelicate cleaning that was evident in the bits of sand on the rug beneath the bed among other signs. They swiveled their heads trying to map out the pattern and draw a path that the pony took through the loft, but the movement was so erratic that the hoof prints appeared as though molten emerald had been dribbled all around the bed. The hoof prints could be seen fading away down the stairs as the source depleted its available transferring material.

Envoy shifted her sight upward to the head-board of the bed and noticed a glow that looked like a sea of black tentacles reaching upwards that was imprinted into the wood and on the wall. Large blotches of dark glow covered the pillow and bed covers and a sharp gasp quietly struck her alerting Scroot to her find.

Scroot shook his head staring into the spots on the walls. He cantered to the end of the bed and craned his neck to see the large oval shape on the floor beneath the bed. "You're in for a big case, Envoy." He drew a sobering breath looking into Envoy's nervous eyes, "Ponies will be talking about this for centuries."

Envoy knew what he was saying and she knew what the black stains were. She began sinking into the feeling that their small time investigations office may be in over their head. Her career had been primarily spent on recovering run-away colts and fillies on bad days, and finding lost or stolen scooters and carts on good days. Never did she anticipate that one day, in Ponyville for Celestia's sake, that she would be investigating anything of this magnitude.

Scroot sighed, "We're not looking for Twilight Sparkle anymore." He shook his head grimly. "We're looking for her body."

Chapter Three - Trauma Center Traumatic

Chapter 3 - Trauma Center Traumatic

Envoy's hooves trembled with every note, every photo, and every collection of evidence. Somepony died here in this very spot, and it made her nervous to be there alone. She found herself simply staring at the bed in wonder at the evil that somepony would need in order to kill before shaking off the feeling and continuing her work.

Scroot Whinny had left with the others to rope-off the area where Spike was found, gather physical profiles of all the ponies who had been in the home after the murder took place, and compile statements while Envoy took down all the details of the home. Hours were spent making sure that the notes reflected exactly what she was seeing. She mapped out the blood spatter and noted the perfect right angle cut into the pool on the floor which indicated that, after the blood stopped flowing, something was removed from that spot. She assumed it was a rug that was used to wrap the bodies which may have been too small, but the killer probably couldn't get the one from under the bed. Envoy took custody of the hundreds of hairs found inside the home all of varying color and length. She couldn't imagine that Spike would be quick to answer any questions due to whatever condition he was afflicted with which must be why Scroot hadn't returned by now.

She paused once again staring at the black glow of the blood pools where Twilight's life came to a violent close. It wasn't that Envoy was a stranger to death because both of her parents were deceased, but they had passed on peacefully in the comfort of strong medications and a hospital bed. Even her very special somepony from years ago who fell 5 stories to his death while washing windows in Canterlot was nothing compared to this. She was sad that he was gone, but not sad in the way he died like Twilight's poor friends were going to be. Twilight appeared to have gone slowly in a losing fight while Envoy's very special somepony impacted his brain against the cobblestone and died instantaneously.

Her cruel imagination began to churn images of how this bloody mess could have occurred. Twilight could have been beaten with a blunt instrument, and with each strike, the object would have splashed the walls before she laid unconscious pouring blood onto the floor and soaking the bed. A stabbing is also likely whereas Twilight's heart would be pumping the blood directly to the walls. Envoy doubted the use of magic due to the novice skill required to cast a shield spell which would have prevented the blood from spattering all over the place, but she couldn't imagine how an earth pony or pegasus could get out of the house without leaving a blood trail to the door. She blinked the images out of her head and made her way outside.

Scroot had given strict instructions that Twilight's friends were to be out of the loop in regards to the apparent death of the alicorn. He felt it more appropriate to break the news after they recovered a body, and even then, he was going to let Celestia do it. Envoy convinced him that he didn't have a compassionate way with words, and she didn't want to make this whole experience more traumatizing than it inherently was going to be.

Envoy sauntered groggily hanging her head with fatigue and staring into the dirt in front of the library. The sun began its emergence from the horizon in a metaphorically cruel display of life. Although, sleep wasn't going to come easy after the scene she's studied all night.

Suddenly she realized what she was looking at: Two perfectly congruent lines softly pressed in the dirt just outside of the door leading away from the house disappearing into the grass a few meters away. Envoy took photos and made note of the cart tracks while taking measurements to make a cast of the hoof prints. The grass was very disturbed, but it was still hard to discern in the early morning light. She followed them making her way south to the train station where they vanished into the sea of cart tracks in the heart of Ponyville.

She began to think that the cart tracks were unrelated to the crime, but they looked too fresh to be so. This area was so populated during all hours of day and night especially by twenty-four seven delivery and commuting that it wouldn't make sense to parade a fresh kill straight through here. It was possible that the killer brought the cart here specifically to be lost in the disarray that stirred the dirt constantly, but she couldn't figure out how the tracks simply ceased to be.

Packing her notes and evidence containers in her saddle-bag, she started off toward the hospital to see what was holding up Scroot.

* * *

Scroot stood outside the hospital taking in the toxic smoke through the fiberglass filter of his cigarette. The dragon wasn't going to be talking for a day or two at least. He didn't know why he kept trying to talk to Spike. The doctors have done all they can, and he is getting better, but they know so little about dragons that the whole process has been experimental and slow. He swore that the next RN to tell him that they're doing the best they can, and that they're sorry, was going to get bucked in the mouth.

He let out a cloud of smoke thinking, 'This is for RN safety.'

Nurse Redheart made her way outside and stopped next to Scroot looking over him as he smoked. Sensing his frustration, she turned her gaze to the dirt path leading north-east into town.

Scroot remained motionless and silent only showing signs of life when the cigarette would glow as he pulled in deep and let it out like an exasperated sigh. She turned back to him opening her mouth like she was going to say something, but turned away again.

"If you're wanting to throw yourself at me, you're going to have to be a little more forthcoming." Scroot said with the cigarette bouncing in his lips.

"What?" Redheart recoiled for a moment, "That's not why I'm out here."

"Okay, than why else are you here and not in there trying to get my Spikey-wikey to start talking?" He said mocking Rarity's many pleas for the dragon to get better soon.

"I'm sorry, Scroot. I really am doing all I can." She said in an agitated tone.

Scroot looked at her with a raised brow imagining what her head would look like on the concrete steps after he kicked it off of her shoulders.

"I know." He sighed deciding to allow her pretty face to stay intact. "He's my only lead right now."

Redheart shrugged, "You never know if he'll remember anything. I'm surprised he's alive. That toxicology report was ugly."

"Don't jinx me, Redheart." He said returning to the thought of crushing her skull against the pavement with his hooves.

"I'm not trying to, Scroot. I'm just trying to let you know the reality of it. Poisoning like that destroys the brain." She explained.

"I know you don't know a lot about dragons, but how long do you think?" They're at a hospital. If he peeled the flesh from her face, she'd live.

"It could be hours, and it could also be weeks." She said looking to the north.

He nodded and thanked her for her services while coming to the conclusion that maiming her wouldn't do it. This bitch has got to die.

"Is that her?" Redheart asked pointing to Majesty Envoy cantering toward them.

"Yeah, that's my partner. Hey, do you happen to have a blowtorch?" Scroot asked.

"What?"

"Never mind."

Envoy approached them and nodded to Scroot without saying anything. Scroot sighed in a puff of smoke wondering why Envoy isn't giving him the details of the home immediately. So many ponies to kill and so little time.

"Well?" He asked finally while making his way to the smoker's butt can next to the door dropping his cigarette inside.

"I don't think you're supposed to smoke within 10 meters of the door." Envoy answered. Scroot rolled his eyes trying to come up with places to dispose of two bodies.

"I also don't think I give a shit. What did you find at the house?" He said.

She told him about the cart tracks and included that she wasn't sure if they were linked to the crime.

"Isn't it possible that the killer dumped the cart and didn't take them through the train station?" Scroot asked.

"Why would they dump the cart?" Envoy asked in return.

"To be less conspicuous." He answered.

Envoy cocked her head and asked, "How is carrying a couple of bodies less conspicuous than a cart?"

"If you're flying, Envoy." Scroot started back inside the hospital, "Our killer is a pegasus. You know what? On second thought; I'll have to take a look, but I'll bet bits to biscuits that they probably flew with the cart."

Scroot pushed open the door and sauntered back to Spike's room stopping outside as Envoy met with him with an incredulous look.

"Okay," She whispered, "then why dump Spike without her?"

"Weight." Scroot said simply. "Flying with a cart is risky because you'd chance losing your load. The dragon might have been throwing the distribution off."

She shrugged. She couldn't figure out why a pegasus would take a cart from Twilight's library in the first place. "Why not just fly from the crime-scene?"

Scroot shook his head, "Envoy, think. There isn't much from the train station to the Everfree Forest. There's a cottage and a couple of fields, but if you drop a body over Ponyville, what then?"

He started inside the room, but Envoy put a hoof on his shoulder, "Why take off in the busiest place in Ponyville?"

Scroot quietly laughed, "Because it's busy. If you're carrying something illegal, and you run into ponies, what do you do? You get the fuck out of there."

Envoy suddenly had a thought, "Why can't the killer be a unicorn? Levitation is easy and carrying two bodies would be simple enough with a fair amount of training."

"I guess it's possible," He said as he motioned toward the room, "but they had to have run through Ponyville with two dead bodies floating over their head. I don't think so. The suspect is a pegasus."

They entered the room finding the ponies sitting around Spike's hospital bed in silence interrupted by machines clicking and whirring. Spike's eyes lazily glanced between all of them half-shut. He looked up at Scroot without discern before continuing to shift his gaze around the room. He may have been awake, but he wasn't conscious.

Scroot said, "We're going."

Rainbow Dash looked over with a furrowed brow, "Don't you have work to do?"

"We've been up all night gathering evidence, profiles, and clues. Envoy and I are going to get a bit of rest and be back at this in the afternoon, alright?" Scroot said. He was slightly offended, but he'd been going off on Rainbow Dash all night; even he was tired of it.

It had been over 24 hours since Twilight was discovered missing; thus, with fatigue tugging their eyelids, the investigators went to their homes for a few hours rest before continuing their efforts.

* * *

Envoy closed the door behind her upon entering her tiny house. She had a modest one bedroom home which was only 250 square meters, but had plenty of room for her to do anything she needed. She wasn't a complicated filly.

She smiled at the pictures of her late very special somepony and asked him how he was doing while making her way to the kitchen where she left her saddlebag. She could imagine a romantic soundtrack playing as she was reunited with her bed.

The little unicorn went to her bedroom, pulled off her red button up, and carelessly tossed the shirt as she leapt over the bed landing on her back and bouncing to rest. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly closing her eyes awaiting slumber to overcome her consciousness much like Twilight did before being cut open and having her blood sprayed all over her room.

Envoy's eyes snapped open. She rubbed her face and cleared her mind shaking all thought out of her head. She turned over onto her side tucking a hoof under her pillow which is most likely the position that Twilight was laying when she was beaten by a blunt object that opened her skull and spilled her brains while she struggled to breathe through her broken face.

Staring at the ceiling, she tossed herself onto her back again. She thought to herself that she needed to replace these images with something else to get to sleep as she closed her eyes. Food was the first thing that popped into her head as transparent hay burgers floated around her. She could almost smell the fresh sliced tomatoes, seasoned hay bacon, and the warm buttery artisan roll bun. Her stomach gurgled as the feeling of emptiness filled her esophagus in an almost nauseating way.

She opened her eyes again, "Celestia, damn it. Now, I got to eat something."

Hopping out of bed, she cantered to the kitchen and put together a nice hot daisy with hay bacon bits, diced pickles, and mayonnaise on whole grain wheat bread folded over because she didn't care for hot daisy buns. She scarfed the messy creation and washed it down with a few sips of lemonade.

The unicorn pulled open the bedroom door and stared down the bed because it knew that it was going to get the shit slept out of it. She galloped across the short distance to the bed and tackled the comforter wrapping herself in its warmth and safety becoming still and restful.

She wasn't full, but that hot daisy sure hit the spot. She didn't feel empty like a gourd anymore which was helping her drift away from the tyranny of reality. Of course, if she was still too hungry to fall asleep, she didn't really have any more food to eat much in the same way that Twilight probably just didn't have any more blood to bleed.

Envoy jumped out of bed again, "Fucking son of a bitch!"

She retrieved her saddle bag and brought it to the living room beginning to analyze hair and research candy-lion forensic palynology.

* * *

It was 3 o' clock in the afternoon when Scroot trotted up the drive to Envoy's tiny clapboard bungalow. According to his friends, he had a signature 'cop-knock' that made occupants feel like they were in trouble no matter what their relationship to the investigator. He rapped two firm knocks on Envoy's door. He didn't understand the distinguished knock possibly because he had never been on the other side of it.

Envoy opened the door with a tug of her magic and stood in the doorway with a cup of coffee levitated by her head. Her mane was entangled and her coat appeared sticky in a disheveled display of sweaty concentration. Scroot leaned to peer inside seeing the spread of photos and notes scribbled over her easel in the unicorn's calligraphic print. She couldn't have gotten any sleep that morning.

"Did you sleep at all?" Scroot smiled.

She raised a brow not seeing the humor in her situation.

His light mood faded quickly, "I'm sorry, Envoy." He apologized. "I remember my first murder case. A foal had got to crying for too long so his mother gave him the pillow. I didn't sleep either."

She sighed as she began to explain what she had found. The hair was complicated due to a certain rainbow mane pegasus that was in the house after the murder, but she managed to nail down that the killer must be blue evident the blue coat hairs found on the bed covers. She explained that the killer was most likely female based on hoof size unless they were a small colt, and that the profile would remain too loose to come up with a solid suspect without a body or weapon.

She continued, "The palynology is going to be the major incriminating factor in this case. I think it's too early to start pointing hooves, but so far, candy-lion pollen is our biggest lead." Envoy took a sip from her coffee tasting the nearly unpalatable drink that had been cold for at least an hour.

Scroot nodded in thought, “Are you thinking of somepony in particular?”

Envoy sighed hard and pressed her lips into a thin line, “I don't know if there's enough evidence against her. Until we find something concrete, something at the scene of a crime which doesn't have a revolving door of ponies, I don't think we should bring it up to anypony.”

He looked over her notes giving her time to shower and get dressed. Scroot copied the easel onto his notepad finding himself impressed by Envoy's diligent and thorough work. Her suspect, however, disturbed him. Her finds were conclusive albeit incident from the relationship of the victim to the proposed killer, but he felt that it was probably appropos due to his interaction with the suspect.

Before leaving to Spike's dump site. Envoy went to the hospital to check on the little dragon in hopes of getting a testimony.

As he approached the scene, he noticed immediately the lack of candy-lions in the area. The bushes there were disturbed where Spike had been dropped between them. The outsides of the plants had been pressed toward one another in an attempt to cover him up. Hoof marks in the mud showed where the assailant scooped the earth to further conceal the body.

He took note of the cart tracks that pointed deeper into the Everfree Forest. He bagged a few rogue hairs that were embedded into the dirt and in the leaves of the bushes after taking more photos of the scene in the daylight.

He walked scanning the tracks figuring that the pegasus didn't want to risk dropping the body into the Everfree Forest for fear of not being able to recover it. The forest was consistently habited by potion makers and other ponies attempting to gather various materials which naturally made it an unfortunate place to leave a body. He could only assume that the killer intended to return for Spike, but possibly was rushed due to the approaching sunlight.

The trail led to an imposing looking cottage decorated in hoof carved wooden masks that communicated foreign meanings. They were decidedly dark in appearance and looked more like a deterrent than the welcome they intended.

He approached the door knowing of a Zebra that lived there and knocked announcing his presence, "Investigations."

The zebra answered the door with a raised brow. She was apparent in her lack of expectance to the unknown visitor as she introduced herself, "Hello, I am Zecora, Mister Investigator. I don't believe we've met before." She spoke in cadence with a deep punctual voice putting stress on rhyming.

"I'm Scroot Whinny and I'm investigating a disappearance of a pony in Ponyville." He explained pointing to his small P.I. badge on his left breast.

"A disappearance that calls for action indeed. I recently became aware of the missing pony. I consider Twilight Sparkle to be a dear friend. How do you think this investigation will end?"

Scroot wasn't sure how to answer. He scratched the back of his head searching for the appropriate words. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure."

She nodded, "This I understand, Mr. Whinny, but what is it that you need of me?"

"Evidence has led me to the Everfree Forest and I may need a guide." Scroot said gesturing south, "I'm looking for candy-lions."

Zecora exited the residence and closed the door, "If navigation of the forest is what you desire, I believe I have the knowledge and skill you require."

Scroot smiled, "Thanks, Zecora. Please keep in mind, until the investigation is concluded, anything we find is going to be extremely privileged."

"Rest assured that I am trustworthy. Anything we may see will stay between you and me." Zecora stated as they began to make their way south deeper into the Everfree Forest.

They followed the tracks along the dank trail while Zecora casually noted in her accented speech the foliage that was around them along the way. As they neared Froggy Bottom Bogg where a massive grove of small weeds grew under the canopy that blocked the sunlight almost completely, Scroot observed fearsome giant, thick vines which were outstretched into the tree branches. The vines were covered in irregularly placed spikes which were dripping with clear sludge.

Zecora gestured to the vines that lined either side of the path as they walked, "Beware of the Terror Spines with the deadly goo. One touch of the spikes would be the last that you do. The vines cannot move and will always stay still,” She pointed to a dead cockatrice lying against them, "unless something manipulates producing a kill."

Scroot peered through the vines from the trail. In the midst of the bright green weeds and black vines, there was a blotch of tan and brown. He pointed out the dead owl, "How many of those do you see in this area?"

Zecora stopped as her heart sank, "That creature I have seen before. The pet of the pony we are looking for."

"So, I am right to assume that you don't have a whole lot of owls around here." He noted the dead pet and his location.

Zecora became uneasy, "I was trying to remain in optimism for the princess we'd find, but I feel that this owl is a very bad sign."

The investigator sighed, "It's certainly not good, but we need to continue."

They made their way further south through Froggy Bottom Bogg out from under the tree cover where the enormous field of candy-lions grew. The trail was overgrown with the meter-tall flowers and led to Ghastly Gorge to the south-west. A patch of dirt conveniently hosted lines pointing to a small wooden flatbed sled hidden amongst the trees.

He wasn't surprised that he had found the source of the tracks, but the fact that it ended up not being a cart was interesting. The surface of the sled was covered in relatively large brown ovals where blood had soaked into the wood. He took photos from every angle and found Twilight's hair that had been caught in the splintered ends of the planks. The harness attached to the front was molded flexible rubber and had grasped onto several light blue hairs that presumably belonged to the killer pony that had pulled the macabre load.

Scroot looked to the cliff about a hundred yards from them with a sinking feeling. The area is untouched by ponies, secluded from civilization, and with kilometers of canyon stretching all the way to the San Palomino Desert, it was the perfect place. He couldn't quite place what was so emotionally stirring about the scene. He knew what he was about to find, and it hadn't bothered him on previous cases. He thought to himself that he had come to terms with never having to look at another gruesomely murdered victim ever again, but then this case falls into his hooves.

Taking a deep breath in preparation, he said to Zecora, "I think you need to stay here. There are hoof-prints that I want to remain undisturbed."

It was a valiant effort in lying about preserving evidence, but Zecora was too intelligent not to pick up the somber body language unintentionally displayed by Scroot as she pursed her lips and frowned in understanding of the situation that Scroot was prepared to walk into. The bright sun, brilliant smell of the flowers, and the cool breeze did little to hide the death shrouding them in bleak darkness.

Approaching the cliff, Scroot observed the crushed flowers on the edge of the bluff where it appeared that something was placed on them and pushed off the edge.

His breath slowed while looking over the bluff. The embankment was steep with small bushes riddled throughout the side of the valley, and a slender tree grew sideways from the dirt curling upward into the sky. The tree had a rug wrapped carelessly on its trunk hanging over several blemishes in the mud consecutively marking each mound on the way down as if drawing a line pointing to a barely discernible purple shape resting in the shallows of the creek below.

All of the bullshit he'd been dealing with from impatient ponies that hired him for the most meaningless crap had hardened his senses and made him callous. Seeing Twilight revitalized the sobering part of him that he hadn't accessed in years realizing once again the truly fucked up shit that ponies can do to one another.

Scroot returned to the zebra, thanked her, and dismissed her from further assistance before travelling back to Ponyville in the setting sun to retrieve Majesty Envoy.

* * *

Envoy could see the ache in his heart as she bagged evidence and used her magic to safely retrieve the body of Owlicious from the deadly plants. Nurse Redheart took custody of the owl and the sled was sent to their cabin to be locked away until they could take a closer look.

They made their way down to Twilight Sparkle's final resting place taking photographs of the small amounts of blood spatter on the rocks where her body had crashed before coming to rest in the creek. The duo split leaving Scroot to observe the body while Envoy examined the purple rug which had been used to wrap the body and must have gotten caught on the tree on her way down. All she could find was a single mane hair embedded in the rug's fibers before joining Scroot at Twilight's side.

The moon had begun its journey as Scroot and Envoy set up lighting to take photographs of the grotesque scene. Envoy swallowed emotion looking over the body and appropriately tilting the flooding illumination.

Twilight had landed on her back with her head hanging off the bank into the water and her right ear buried into the creek's sediment. Her left eye was wide open while her right was slightly closed, neither pointed in the same direction, but both sunken into her skull with a dull film over them appearing to hide signs of life. Her mouth was agape and her throat bulging with an object lodged in her esophagus.

There were deep wounds that started from the carotid artery and suddenly curved upward across her jaw. Albeit jagged and imprecise, multiple cuts appeared across her neck exposing muscles and tendons. The assailant managed to nearly decapitate the alicorn princess.

Envoy had never seen a dead pony before which hadn't been dressed and cleaned by an embalmer. The worst part was the bright yellow fat tissue squeezing through the cold muscle and leathery dead skin. The bones appeared fluorescent against the dark red flesh, and depression welled tears in her eyes at the sight of cuts on Twilight's legs and hooves from trying to hide her face during the attack.

After photographing every inch of the scene and taking down hours of notes, Nurse Redheart arrived to remove the body for autopsy. Rigor mortis made the body awkward to move with her forelegs having relaxed from the condition while her lower half and center mass remained stiff.

Scroot told Envoy to note the onset of rigor being that the symptom of death gained full contracture at 24 hours after expiry and the muscles would then begin losing rigidity in consecutive order of smaller to larger mass. He further explained that, in conjunction with a core temperature taken from Twilight's liver, they would be able to calculate, accurate to within a few hours, the time of death.

"Hey, Scroot." Nurse Redheart began as a few medical stallions carefully placed Twilight on a stretcher. "Your owl didn't die from the poison."

"So, I was right. He was dumped there by our killer." He said more to himself than to her. He noted that the killer had enough planning power to kill the owl first to avoid the potential event of Owlicious waking Twilight during the crime.

"Yeah, he got strangled. Just thought you'd like to know." She said plainly.

The medical stallions loaded the body and left to the hospital with the investigators following. Envoy refrained from conversation trying to give Scroot his space. She knew when he was upset he doesn't speak which was torturous to her. She wanted to talk about what was going on in her mind because she believed it would help her feel better, but Scroot would shush her and that would be the end of it.

When they arrived at the hospital, they predictably found that Twilight died from exsanguination due to severe lacerations of several arteries. They pulled a few green stones from her throat and blue coat hairs were found in her teeth where presumably Twilight bit her attacker in defense.

Scroot walked outside, and then he nosed in his pocket for a cigarette while Envoy joined looking over him for signs of emotion. She had started sweating in the effort for silence.

He placed his tiny tripod lighter on the ground before stepping onto the ignition bringing to life a tiny flame. The golden light danced on the concrete with the fruit of Princess Luna's royal labor poised in the center of the sky.

"It's a hell of a thing." He said flatly as he lit the cigarette. He balanced the lighter on a hoof and pushed it back into his pocket.

"I don't know how to feel," Envoy started, "I'm glad we recovered her body, but I think I feel worse than I did last night."

"Finding the body isn't closure, Envoy. It's putting the fucker that did this in a noose." He said pulling on the cigarette and blowing smoke from his nose. His eyes were fixed on the horizon; every breath filled with toxicity.

"You alright?" She asked after a few moments. The column of ash on his cigarette fell away from a slight breeze.

"I'm okay." He said through lips pursed around the cigarette, "I'm just starting to put this together and I'm not liking it."

Envoy nodded, but resisted saying anything.

With candy-lion pollen becoming a connection to the crime, just as Envoy had predicted, Scroot had regrettably found that they had a primary suspect with which they had probable cause.

"The facts of the case," Scroot continued, "Around midnight to 3am, somepony entered Twilight's Library and used a homemade concoction on the dragon in an attempt to kill him figuring that the blade would kill him too slowly and alert the princess. Then, that somepony drove a knife into Twilight's neck trying to cut her throat. In the struggle, Twilight bit her attacker acquiring the coat hairs found in her mouth and eventually succumbed to the blood loss. The perpetrator wrapped the bodies assuming that Spike was dead and transported them south to north-eastern Ghastly Gorge. Along the way, the murderer dumped the sled and the dragon before throwing Twilight off into the creek. Presumably, comfortable in the seclusion, I would guess that's when the rocks were shoved into her throat before she was dumped. I would also assume that's when one of the perp's blue hairs got caught in the rug. The same hair which would be coated with candy-lion pollen."

"No motive." Envoy shrugged.

"Jealousy. In the little bit I spoke with her, she was really proud of her flying." Scroot tossed the cigarette with his jaw onto the ground and looked at Envoy, "Maybe she thought Twilight was getting a bit too much attention for the wings."

"Alright," Envoy shook her head, "Let's bring in Rainbow Dash."

Chapter Four - The Element of Envy

CHAPTER 4 - The Element of Envy

Princess Celestia was almost unable to speak when she was charged with formally announcing the death of a princess. The untimely demise of the beloved student and friend of many was as tragic as it was heinous. Thousands attended the funeral procession where Princess Celestia promised swift justice to the assailant. None of Twilight's friends could bring themselves to deliver a eulogy, but they all said their goodbyes to the closed casket.

Scroot silently waited aside the crowd as the procession came to a close along with the morning hours and many weeping ponies were filing out of the courtyard. Last to leave were the friends of Twilight Sparkle. Envoy approached Rainbow Dash and asked her to come with them to the Canterlot Detention Center for questioning to which she agreed.

Rainbow Dash entered an interview room which was bare, tan, and housed a single polished cherry-wood table with three matching chairs. She took a seat on the west side of the table and uncomfortably glanced at herself in the south wall's one way mirror. The low light from the cloudy sky was provided by two small privacy windows in the north wall. The investigators entered from the door on the east side of the room.

"Rainbow Dash," Scroot began, "How are you?" He asked dropping a file on the table and sitting next to Envoy.

Rainbow Shrugged, "Not so good."

Envoy's horn glowed and she opened the file on the table. The cover page read, 'Homicide: Twilight Sparkle'. Envoy began reading Rainbow her Mare-anda Rights. The blue pegasus was suddenly alert and surprised as Envoy placed a Mare-anda waiver on the table along with a quill.

Envoy concluded, "Do you understand these rights?"

Rainbow furrowed her brow at Scroot, "What is this?"

"We just want to ask you a few questions. If you're willing to talk to us, you're going to need to sign a Mare-anda waiver." Scroot replied.

Rainbow Dash bent down and gripped the quill with her teeth. She touched the dotted line with the point and Scroot stopped her.

"Don't sign that unless you understand your rights, Dash." He explained. She glanced at Envoy then the waiver before looking back at Scroot.

With teeth gritted on the quill she said, "I understand." as she signed. Envoy's horn glowed picking up the waiver and placing it in the homicide file. She dipped her quill while stacking a few sheets of paper readying herself to record their transcript. The light scratching of Envoy heading her report with the date, time, and location against the silence caused Rainbow Dash to begin sinking into discomfort.

The earth pony investigator moved the file closer to himself, flipped a page, and then looked up to Rainbow Dash who remained silent as she grew more uncomfortable. He drew in a deep breath, "Are you ready to begin, Dash?"

Rainbow glanced between the investigators as nervousness settled deeper. Something about them wasn't right, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. She adjusted in her seat and nodded.

"Okay." Scroot began, "Where were you on the night of Twilight's murder?"

"I was at home." Rainbow dash replied.

"Ponyville Medical University," Scroot said as he placed a reception log in front of Dash, "has you checked in at just before 3am."

"Well, I left to go to Twilight's house." Rainbow Dash recounted.

Scroot raised a brow, "At 3am? How did you end up at the hospital?"

"I ran into Pinkie Pie on the way there. She had some kind of episode that looked pretty serious, so I took her to the hospital." Rainbow stated.

Scroot had a look of pure disbelief, "An episode?"

"Pinkie Sense. It's..." Dash paused looking for the words, "She gets twitches. It's really hard to explain."

The investigator chuckled grimly, "Naturally."

Rainbow Dash cocked her head, "I'm sorry, did I say something funny?"

The scratching continued while Scroot placed the log back in the file and replaced it with a few photos of the blue hairs.

"Do you know what these are?" Scroot asked sarcastically.

Dash raised a brow examining the photos, "Hair?"

Scroot nodded, "Right. What color is this hair?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head beginning to suspect where he was going with his questioning. Tears welled and her voice shook, "You're wrong, Whinny."

"About what, Dash?" He asked leaning forward.

"That hair is not mine." She clarified.

"You're a pretty good flier, are you not?" Scroot asked.

"I'm the best." She responded, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Scroot continued, "Twilight was getting a lot of attention over her wings, and her ability to fly. Was she outshining you a bit too much?"

Rainbow stood replacing her surprise with anger, "You've got to be kidding me? Are you saying that I was...?” She paused searching for the word, "Jealous?"

"So much for the Element of Loyalty." Scroot added.

Rainbow Dash walked to the windows, "This is insane. I can't believe you're accusing me! I came to you!"

"The Princess came to us." Scroot explained, "We have motive, your coat hair in her mouth, your mane hair at the dump site, hoof casts that match your hooves, and don't get me started on your alibi."

Rainbow Dash shot a glance back at them, "My h-" She stopped, "It's not my hair, there's no way!" She nearly shouted with tears rolling down her face. "She was my best friend. How can you honestly accuse me of doing that to my best friend?" Rainbow sat on the floor and continued, "I was at the hospital all morning. What's so murky about that?"

Scroot shook his head, "Based on the rigor mortis, her death was between midnight and 3am. That's up to 3 hours for you to cut her throat, dump her body in Ghastly Gorge, and return to the Library to clean it before Pinkie Pie caught you outside."

Rainbow stomped a hoof, "That's not true!" She sobbed.

"She caught you," Scroot added, "and you needed an alibi, so you cooked up a reason to take Pinkie to the hospital to create one. The only thing we can't figure out is the significance of the rocks you put in her throat."

Rainbow Dash shifted her eyes between the two investigators, "Rocks? I don't know what you're talking about. You think you have this solid case, but the real murderer is out there. You. Are. Wrong."

Envoy levitated a pair of leg shackles from her bag and floated them to Rainbow Dash who stood in utter disbelief as they were affixed to her hooves.

Scroot escorted Rainbow out of the interview room and stated, "Rainbow Dash, you are under arrest chiefly for the murder of Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Two Royal Pegasus Guards took custody of Rainbow Dash and booked her into the detention facility. She felt humiliated to stand behind the plaque bearing her name and her new inmate number as her photo was taken. She was fitted with a bright orange and white striped shirt and given a pink paper informing her of the date of her arraignment court appearance. Bright red stamped text read, 'Hold without bond' at the bottom of the page.

Rainbow Dash was led to a three by four meter cell which was white concrete from top to bottom and opened with a heavy solid wood door next to a plexiglas double paned window set into the north wall. The bunk was just a flat piece of steel welded into the west wall, and a stainless steel column was wedged into the west and south corner where the sink was built into the tank of the toilet that was also welded to the floor.

Hours passed as Rainbow Dash tried to mentally catch up with what had just happened. Fear kept her awake and also kept her from getting hungry. She was especially afraid that her remaining friends believed as the investigators did.

The cell door opened making way for Princess Celestia to enter, "Rainbow Dash." She said casually getting the pegasus' attention.

"Princess!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she bolted from the bunk and bowed.

"I am saddened to see you like this Rainbow Dash." Celestia stated.

"I haven't been here long, and I already hate it. I feel cooped up like I'm going to go insane in this place." Rainbow poured out. "Can't you get me out of here?"

Celestia somberly shook her head, "I can't, Rainbow Dash."

"Why not? You're the Princess!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Because of the evidence brought against you, I am forced to leave you here to navigate the legal system. As much as I want to free you, and although you are special to me, you are not special to the justice system." Celestia explained.

"Justice is blind." Rainbow Dash said with tears in her eyes.

"Unfortunately," Celestia continued. "I can't begin to explain to you the amount of heartache this is causing me, but your friends are fighting for you."

Rainbow Dash looked up, "They are? How?"

Celestia smiled, "I granted them the power to submit their own evidence and statements. I have made them detectives and they have joined the investigation despite Scroot Whinny's protesting."

Rainbow cocked her head, "He didn't want their help?"

Princess Celestia smiled at Rainbow Dash with reassurance, "No, he didn't. He thinks they will be harmful to the case, but I believe that, as an 'old bitch', I know better than him."

* * *

The following day, after Twilight’s funeral and Rainbow Dash’s arrest, Scroot had moved the cabinets to accommodate a dull oak table placed in the middle of the main room of his cabin. He lined each side of the table with two of Twilight's friends seated across from each other and Envoy sat at the head watching Scroot pace in anger. They sat in silence awaiting Scroot to present evidence for their review.

He stopped at the end of the table and slammed his hooves on its surface. Fluttershy jumped while the rest of them just leaned away from him. He hung his head attempting to formulate sentences that weren't just long spiels of profanity. He finally looked up with his lips curled like he had just taken a bite out of a turd.

"Alright," He started, "So, you're detectives now."

"We've-" Applejack was silenced by Scroot holding up a hoof and looking away.

"One of you ponies felt the need, in the utmost childish display of retarded arrogance, to relay some choice words I used in reference to your precious princess; therefore, I have been instructed to apologize to you for calling that fucking cunt an old bitch." He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes before insincerely continuing scornfully with mocking compassion, "I'm fucking sorry."

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, "You're just not a very nice pony. Do you know that?"

"Indeed," Rarity agreed. "We have tried to be kind and helpful, but you just do not appear to have the capacity to be courteous."

Scroot laughed, "I just don't put up with stupidity. It's not my fault that you all are naive idiots."

Majesty Envoy shook her head putting a hoof to her face. She was used to Scroot's behavior and had become insensitive to his hateful ways, but even she was beginning to understand that he was going too far.

Applejack began, "Alright, we need a plan."

"No shit?" Scroot asked.

Fluttershy stood pushing the chair away and causing it to fall over. She marched to the investigator and placed a hoof on his chest and said firmly, "Whatever high you're on, you need to come down and quick."

Scroot stood his ground, but he moved his head away from her with surprise.

She continued poking his chest hard punctuating her frustration and resisting the urge to yell in his face, "I've stood idly by watching you curse my friends for too long. We're here to catch the pony responsible, and if all you're going to do is moan and complain like a foal not getting his way, the real killer is going to go free laughing at our efforts."

She placed her hoof back on the floor glaring sternly into Scroot's eyes as he absorbed the yellow pegasus' words. He pressed his mouth into a thin line, looked at the floor, and nodded.

He returned eye contact with Fluttershy again with a malicious smile, "I bet you're a scream in the sack."

The group let out a collective scoff at Scroot while Fluttershy swelled with irritation.

"How can you be this way?" Pinkie asked rhetorically.

"You know what?" Fluttershy said gritting her teeth, "The murderer will never answer for their crime unless you change your B.S. attitude!"

Applejack raised both brows at Rarity whom also apparently found it surprising that Fluttershy had such an acronym in her vocabulary.

The investigator shook his head and asked mockingly, "What has you so convinced that Dash didn't do it? Because you're friends and you know each other's little secrets?"

Rarity answered, "We have come to terms with the possibilities. We're not here specifically to exonerate our friend, but that will be incident to the capture of the actual killer. Rainbow is just not capable of this."

"Not capable?" Scroot gestured in his disagreement, "When I was a beat cop in Manehattan, I went to a burglary call, and when I got there, the home owner had been beaten to death. The burglar had stomped this poor pony's face in and tracked his brains all the way outside. The next day, a friend that I had grown up with confessed to the murder. Now, tell me again what ponies aren't capable of."

Envoy raised a hoof, "Listen up. We have work to do." She pointed at Scroot, "Fluttershy is right, you need to realize that we need the help."

Scroot shrugged with a recoiled expression as if Envoy was turning her back on him in his hour of need. He inhaled dropping his shoulders and shaking his head realizing the voice of reason that Envoy was trying to be. "We've never needed help before." He said calmly.

"Scroot, this is bigger than we can handle. The faster you come to terms with that, the faster we find this pony." She said levitating a stack of files and arranging them on the table. "Take a seat, Fluttershy. Let's get started."

Scroot stood silently watching Envoy move a file before each of Twilight's friends as she began explaining the facts of the case. Immediately, Scroot noticed their cohesion tearing him between feelings of betrayal and admiration. They attentively listened to Envoy's presentation as she displayed photos and reports.

Pinkie Pie jolted in her seat and stopped Envoy, "Hold on."

They paused watching Pinkie's eyes darting as if physically arranging her words on the table.

Pinkie continued, "Midnight to 3AM? I was with Rainbow Dash at 3am." She froze and her eyes grew wide as an epiphany formed on the edge of her tongue, "That was the doozy."

Rarity looked surprised, "Pinkie Sense?"

Scroot furrowed his brow at Rarity, "What is that?"

Applejack answered, "Pinkie gets twitches. Her body tells her when something is about to happen."

Envoy sat up straight quizzically, "How?"

Pinkie Pie shrugged, "I don't even know. Nopony understands how it works."

"What is a doozy?" Scroot asked.

"When something big happens. I..." Pinkie sank in her chair, "...The doozy... it was Twilight."

Pinkie's friends consoled her in their understanding of how scarring it was to know that she experienced Twilight's death first-hoof. Moisture flowed from Pinkie's eyes as she slowly dropped her head placing her forehead on the table. "How could I let that happen?" She cried.

Scroot shook his head, "Alright, I'm not going to buy into this. Let's move on."

The other ponies angrily glared at Scroot. Denying their firm belief in Pinkie's outlandish ability was as if questioning whether or not the table existed in front of them.

Envoy shook her head at Scroot and slid a file to each of the other ponies. "Rarity, you go to the library and see if you can find anything we didn't. In the file is my report as well as photographs of the scene. What we're looking for specifically is anything out of place that you don't recognize to be like Twilight."

Opening Applejack's file with a flick of magic, Envoy continued, "You go with Scroot to the Everfree Forest and Ghastly Gorge. The idea is the same in your assignment. We're looking for anything we missed."

Pinkie Pie picked her head up from the table, "What am I supposed to do?"

"We have a sled locked in a shed out back." Envoy explained, "We haven't looked over it much. We want to find out where it came from."

Fluttershy sat up straight anticipating instructions from Envoy, "Fluttershy, we need somepony at the hospital to monitor Spike." Envoy gave Fluttershy a quill and a tablet, "A statement from him could blow this thing wide open."

Envoy paused taking a breath before she said to everypony, "I don't want to ask this of any of you, but somepony is going to have to look over the body."

"Somepony that knew Twilight well could tell us if something is out of the ordinary like a missing charm, necklace, or something to that effect. They would also be able to tell us what injuries are relevant to the case and which aren't; however, the main purpose is identifying the items that turned up in the autopsy." Scroot explained, "Twilight Velvet identified the body, but couldn't stomach questioning."

"I'll do it." Fluttershy said sheepishly. Her friends mutely urged her to reconsider, but understood the necessity of the task and remained silent.

Envoy nodded, "I'm certain it will help, Fluttershy, thank you."

The ponies departed from Scroot's cabin except for Pinkie that was let into the shed. Fluttershy was perspiring in the trepidacious task of laying sight upon her deceased friend while the other ponies galloped in determination to their assignments.

* * *

Rarity sauntered into the library ducking under the tape on the door. The house seemed empty and cold with a tremendously creepy affectivity.

She opened the file and skimmed the notes comparing them to the scene. Dread overcame her steps as the report led her up the stairs stopping her at the side of Twilight's bed. She stared into the covers and the pillow imagining the dark glows that hid themselves in the light. Sadness slowed every breath as she attempted to maintain composure. Her friend needed her, and she wanted to contribute to the case.

Recalling her statement about Rainbow Dash, she knew that the blue pegasus wasn't responsible. It wasn't even a remote possibility in her mind. She thought, 'Even if Rainbow Dash confesses, I'll never believe that somepony I knew for so many years would ever do such a ghastly thing.'

Unexpectedly, a force tugged at her hooves. She hovered in the air as weightlessness overtook gravity. She tilted her head in a futile attempt to look at her horn which was glowing brightly picking her up from the floor.

The horn slowly floated her around to the north side of the bed and set her down before pulling at her head toward the rug beneath the bed. She resisted as the unstoppable force brought her horn downward.

The horn made contact with the rug and zapped into lifelessness. Her head snapped up in the absence of the horn's pull and she carefully stared into the rug.

"Okay, you stupid horn, what is so important about the rug?" She said to herself. She trotted around the edge of the bed observing the rug from the other side. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. It was a rug. Although, the last time she was brought to something seemingly benign by her horn, she got her cutie mark.

She started back to where the horn had brought her when scuffs in the floor caught her eye. She stopped and looked at the curved lines where something heavy and hard was dragged across it. They curved away from the bed's legs and followed the same path back to where the bed rests.

Rarity inferred that somepony must have moved the bed. She cantered back to the north side of the bed and put her head against the frame pushing it. The rug followed underneath the bed and it predictably rolled out from under the legs with an abrasive grinding across the polished wood. She stood back from the exposed floor observing a single plank that had small cuts in one end and loose nails holding it down. She put a hoof down on it finding that it insecurely rocked. Upon contact, her horn flashed briefly startling her. "This is it?"

She tugged at the board with her magic and it popped from the floor much easier than she expected almost hitting herself in the face. She peered down into the rectangular hole where tiny cobwebs were broken and collapsed by somepony placing the knife on them.

The knife was small, no more than 4 inches, and the stainless steel blade followed through the center of the wood handle. Dried blood had trapped several short purple hairs matted and entangled in one another.

Rarity coughed and choked on the sickness growing in her esophagus. She closed her eyes and shook her head encompassing the knife with her magic and placing it into one of the evidence bags that Envoy had given her. The sticky brown blood grabbed onto the bag as she wriggled it into the plastic only furthering Rarity's need to vomit.

Dropping the knife into her saddlebag, she galloped downstairs. She collapsed at the door with her strength drained into overwhelming sobs as she buried her face into her hooves weeping without the ability to shake the bloody knife from her mind.

* * *

Scroot and Applejack jogged silently toward the Everfree Forest making their way to Spike's dump site. He puffed casually as each step attempted to pull the cigarette from his lips. The afternoon air was warm despite the cloud cover hovering below the sun as they approached the bushes where Spike was discovered.

"Hey, Applejack." Scroot stopped her.

"What?" She asked with distain. Her southern inflection more noticeable in her resentment.

"I'm sorry." He said dropping the cigarette and crushing it with his hoof, "I am trying not to excuse myself for the way I've treated you guys, but I have always had a bit of an anger problem. It's not that I don't think you all are great ponies that had a great friend, I just get frustrated at ponies that are all about sunshine and lollipops."

"So, you're saying that you hate happiness?" She scoffed.

"No... Well, maybe... I don't know. I just feel bad about the way I've been talking to you ponies because it wasn't right and ..."

Applejack interrupted him, "Stop, Scroot. Just stop." She shook her head, "I don't like you, I have never liked you, and I will never like you. You're a shriveled up old fool and just a curmudgeon to society. If you're really going to choose now to start acting like a pony-being, Rainbow Dash is more deserving of it; so, don't waste your apology on me."

Scroot nodded, "I understand, Applejack, but apologizing isn't really for your benefit. I thought it'd make me feel better to tell you that I was sorry.”

"Well, do you feel better?" Applejack raised a brow.

"I didn't realize how much an apology's worth to the psyche depended on its receipt." Scroot smiled. "In short, no, I don't feel any different."

Applejack sighed starting to sink into her 'love and tolerate' paradigm rolling her eyes at herself, "Alright, Scroot. I appreciate the sentiment. Right now, you've got to understand that I can't help but think of you as an enemy for Rainbow's sake."

Scroot nodded again and motioned toward the scene describing what he had found. She looked over the scene carefully and tried her best to see something new, but didn't find anything of any use.

"Are you expecting me to actually find anything?" Applejack asked.

"No, I'm not." Scroot said flatly. "Shall we continue down the road?"

Applejack stared harder at the bushes wanting badly to find anything to show that investigator that she wasn't stupid. She walked to either side of the bushes, peered below them, and even observed the sled's tracks in a charade of diligent observation.

Scroot watched her trot back and forth for a few minutes and sighed loudly.

She stopped and looked at him, "You got a problem with my methods, detective?"

"Can we move on?" He asked without amusement.

She shrugged sarcastically with a hard inflection of strong distaste for Scroot, "I guess if YOU think we should, let's."

Applejack felt like he was wasting their time. If he didn't think there would be anything out there, why would he go through this facade? She thought, surely it wasn't at Envoy's command because she was a mare, and this stallion obviously favored doing business with ponies who had testicles. Certainly it wasn't to deliver his half-assed apology to Applejack, or he'd stop acting like the dick he loves so much. What was so great about being a stallion anyway?

Stewing in her recently acquired feminism, Applejack followed Scroot south to Owlicious' scene and Scroot explained to her about the Terror Spines' deadly poison. She weaved her head attempting to get a look behind the vines. She moved closer to them which made Scroot jump.

"Whoa, girl, those things don't fuck around." He warned.

"I ain't going to touch 'em." She said grabbing a fairly large stick from the side of the path. She continued with her teeth gripping the wood, "I'm just trying to get a better look is all. Call me childish, but I'm going to find something you didn't and prove to you, once and for all, that I ain't no dummy."

She swept the stick across the vines moving them and the lethal gel quickly crawled down the stick toward Applejack. Scroot darted to the orange earth pony turning quickly and bucking the stick accidentally catching her in the mouth. The stick flew from her teeth as she fell away from the Terror Spines bouncing her head off the dirt.

Applejack jumped to her hooves shouting, "Why, you little!" as she galloped at Scroot leaping into the air with a hoof brought back with intent on smashing him to pieces. He got up on two hooves with his forelegs guarding and swiped the attack away pushing Applejack further from the vines. She twisted in the air landing on her hooves and turning toward Scroot readying herself to make another assault.

"Wait! I didn't mean to hit you!" Scroot pleaded as Applejack ran hard to him jumping up on her hind legs throwing a heavy right hook.

Scroot swatted her blow and grabbed her around her middle pushing her over onto her back and landing on top of her. She bucked upward kicking him in the stomach and launching him over her head. He crashed into the ground on his side while she righted herself. He flipped onto his belly and held his hooves out pleading further for her to stop.

"Applejack, I'm sorry! Stop!" He was overcome with a hacking cough. She slowed herself walking to him and standing over him as he hacked.

"I guess all that smoking has caught up with you, Scroot." She said between panting, "Now, y'all best give me a good explanation as to why you done that to keep me from stomping you into the ground."

His throat roared in his congested fit of barking as he struggled to point at the stick which was completely engrossed in the vicious poison. She looked at the small log and raised both brows.

"Oh, so, you were trying to save me?" She said apologetically.

"Yes," He coughed again, "I wasn't thinking." He cleared his throat trying to shake himself of his newfound hoarseness, "I just reacted. I'm really sorry I hit you."

Applejack spat onto the forest floor and wiped the blood from her lips, "It ain't nothin'. You buck like a little filly anyway." She said logging in her mind the hypocrisy of her anti-mare words, but justified it with her satisfaction of her female power conquering the misogynist and literally adding insult to injury. It felt so sweet.

Scroot stood up still struggling to catch his breath and adjusted his hat left barely clinging onto his ear.

"Wait, if you can't move the vines with anything, how do y'all expect Rainbow Dash to get Owlicious in there?" She asked him leaning down to look at his face.

Scroot shook his head paying close attention to his breathing, "She had to have found a way."

"How did you get the little guy out?" She asked.

"Envoy used her magic." He said gesturing to the Terror Spines.

"You know what that means, right?" Applejack nudged his head up.

He grunted tapping his chest with a hoof, "No."

She smiled at her triumph over the esteemed investigator, "It means that your killer is a unicorn, dummy!"

Chapter Five - Lost and Lust

CHAPTER 5 – Lost and Lust

Envoy stood in place outside the hospital where Fluttershy marched to the entrance with bravery just to lower her head and sulk away in tearful failure again and again. Envoy wasn't willing to put kilometers on her hooves following the yellow pegasus from the breezeway to the dirt path repeatedly. She switched from consoling Fluttershy and offering words of encouragement to such an extent that her throat had become hoarse.

Fluttershy seated herself in the dirt dropping her head into her hooves and hiding behind her long pink mane. She was in another fit of crying which Envoy felt compelled to attempt to comfort; however, the gray unicorn was done with words because there was absolutely nothing more to say. She felt that being repetitive couldn't be helpful so she patted Fluttershy on the shoulder mutely conveying her condolences in understanding of the circumstance.

Fluttershy wiped her nose and peered at Envoy from behind her mane, "You've seen her already?"

Envoy nodded.

"Did it look bad? I mean, does it look like it hurt a lot? You know... for a long time?" The pegasus' face was soaked with tears.

Envoy's gaze shifted to the ground as she nodded.

They had been on the front step of the hospital for over an hour, and Fluttershy was beginning to wear on Envoy's patience. Envoy was trying the best she could to be supportive in the process and used much effort in hiding her frustration. ‘That would be too mean to get mad at her for being sad.’ Envoy thought.

"Is she...?" Fluttershy paused to brush the cascade of moisture from her cheeks. "Is she, um... disfigured?"

Envoy shook her head, "She isn't 'disfigured' per se, but she won't look the same."

Fluttershy closed her eyes cursing the second she had agreed to see Twilight, "Why? Why do I have to see her?"

"Chiefly because the items found in the autopsy are kept with her body." Envoy said.

"Items?" Fluttershy brushed her hair away from her face.

"Yes. Rocks." The unicorn gestured dispassionately, "They found them in her throat and we're hoping they can be identified because we don't know why they're significant."

Fluttershy nodded with the look of determination that Envoy had now seen at least a hundred times. She watched Fluttershy stomp her way to the door in certainty and was surprised when the pegasus actually went through the doors. She galloped into the hospital after Fluttershy and fell into the purposeful step.

They met with Nurse Redheart who offered to lead them to the morgue set in the right wall at the end of the center passageway marked as the Intensive Care Unit, but Fluttershy reneged once again, “I think I’m going to see Spike first.”

Envoy dipped her head understanding Fluttershy’s apprehension.

They were let into Spike’s room in the left side of the ICU hall where he lay staring out the window. He snapped a glance at the entering ponies as if nopony had entered the room during his stay.

“Hey, Fluttershy.” The purple dragon greeted weakly wincing as he adjusted in the bed.

The intravenous tubes tucked under his scales were taped to his forearms leading to pumps that whirred and clicked sounding quiet alarms indicating their actions. The rose colored accents of the drapery matched the pair of seats which represented the scheme of the ICU.

“Spike, you’re awake! I mean, you’ve been awake, but you’re talking!” She strode to his bedside with a wide smile. “I was beginning to think you’d never talk again!”

He smirked meekly with pain lurking behind his joyful eyes, “They told me that I’m going to be alright.”

“I would hug you, but you have a lot of tubes around.” She said giving him a virtual air embrace.

His scales were in full color and his eyes were once again bright with the youthful readiness to take in the beauty of the world. Fluttershy almost couldn't tell that he was still recovering except for the anguished expression tugging at the corners of his mouth accompanying each word.

Spike studied Envoy with uncertain familiarity, “Hello. I’m Spike. Who are you?”

Envoy stepped forward, “I’m Majesty Envoy. I’m an investigator.”

Confusion furrowed his brow while he pursed his lips in thought, “Am I in trouble?”

The gray unicorn smiled in assurance shaking her head.

"Where's everypony else?" He asked Fluttershy.

"They're helping Envoy right now. They will be so glad to hear from you when they're done. It will be so nice for everypony to have some good news after these last few days." Fluttershy empathetically smiled at the ailment hindering his movements.

"What happened?" Spike became concerned.

Fluttershy was quickly overwhelmed by dread hurriedly struggling to avoid being the pony that had to break the news to him. Anxiety overcame her delight of the dragon being conscious while tears brimmed and distress faded into her disposition.

"We were all here. Did you not hear us talking?" Fluttershy's voice quivered.

"Well, I could hear that you were talking, but I couldn't hear you, if that makes any sense." He explained settling deeper into anxiety reacting to Fluttershy's worried expression. He glanced between the investigator and Fluttershy, "Did something bad happen? Is that why you're here?"

Envoy began, “Over the last few days, we found out that somepony injected you with a poison…”

Fluttershy held up a hoof, “Stop, please. Let me…”

Spike tried to sit up in surprise, "Poison...?" He stopped quickly restrained with the discomfort of movement.

“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked holding a hoof over his claw softly.

He sighed in exasperation, “They can’t give me any more pain medications.” He laid his head back breathing slowly trying to alleviate the anguish in his joints, “They said they think it’ll drop my blood pressure too much.”

Fluttershy's glassy eyes slowly tracked across the room to Envoy, "Can you give us a minute?"

The unicorn nodded and left without a word.

Observing Fluttershy's tears falling onto the hospital blanket, Spike took a deep breath in anticipation of the pain and leaned forward grunting through the incredibly sharp stabbing in his muscles to cup a comforting claw on Fluttershy's cheek. He groaned softly trying to keep himself up while wiping a thumb under her eye clearing the way for more tears to make their way down her chin.

"What's going on, Fluttershy?" He asked softly managing a crooked smile.

She wrapped her forelegs around his back and laid him down slowly before involuntarily burying her face in his chest sobbing uncontrollably into the warm scales. He worked a claw under her long mane and stroked the back of her neck while patting her back with his other.

"Talk to me. What's happened?" He said gently.

Fluttershy brought her head up with her eyes clenched unable to speak to him directly, "Twilight..." She stopped from pain gripping her vocal chords shut.

His eyes wet with sympathy, "Of all the ponies," He smiled, "I thought she'd be the first pony I'd see, but you're nice too."

Fluttershy chuckled through her tears with emotions flooding in a confusing disarray of the utmost happiness for the dragon and pure excruciation to the situation.

"Spike." She shook her head, "She's..."

The purple dragon felt like he was going to fall off the bed awaiting explanation for Fluttershy's sadness when suddenly an awful thought crept into his mind.

"Where is she?" He felt his fluids drain into the far recesses of his body causing his face to tingle and his blood to run cold.

"She's here." Fluttershy cried. "At the end of the hall."

"What room is she in?" He said pulling the blanket off of himself and sitting up.

"Spike, you don't understand. The end of the hall is the morgue." Her voice came out shrill muscling to form each shaky word.

"The m..." He collapsed onto the bed staring into the ceiling. "She's dead?"

Fluttershy cried harder with her chest tightening in powerfully painful sobs. She gave up on controlling herself unyielding to the belief that each heave was bringing her ribs closer to being crushed under the contractions of her own muscles.

Spike's eyes leaked down the sides of his face with the moisture being sucked into the fabric of the pillow case. "How?" He squeaked to Fluttershy.

She took several sharp breaths trying to control her weeping long enough to say anything. "She was murdered!" She sobbed.

"By who?!" Spike barked.

"Nopony knows." She was panting in emotional exhaustion.

Panic and disbelief darted his eyes while a machine beeped incessantly alerting the medical staff to his elevated heart rate. His face was pinched in a tight knot as pressure built in his head like the unbearable sorrow was going to explode his skull. He shook his head vehemently attempting to hold in the onslaught of anger, pain, and loss, but he suddenly burst into a violent wail falling deeper into the bedding.

Fluttershy, hearing the chillingly woeful cries of the little dragon, became motionless watching him writhe in agony setting within her a firm obligation to see Twilight and bring her justice. She leaned onto him giving him the warmest hug she could, and he clutched onto her as if he was going to fall to his death.

"We're going to catch them." Fluttershy whispered delicately.

She pulled away from him and left him sobbing into his palms. She left the room seeing Envoy standing in depression having heard their conversation. The yellow pegasus stared into Envoy's eyes with a purposeful demeanor, "I need to see my friend."

* * *

She walked paying little attention to the tear drops dotting the dirt path below her hooves as she intently made her way to Scroot's cabin to enter the knife into evidence. She was so affixed on thinking only of the destination to cloud the image of the deadly luggage in her saddle bag that she didn't hear Applejack galloping to her from behind.

"Rarity!" Applejack called.

Rarity stopped and looked back to the running earth pony and wiped the moisture from her cheeks. She sniffed the congestive mucus in her nose and swallowed without a moment's thought of how unladylike that was. She spotted Scroot limping far behind.

Applejack slowed showing concern on her face, "Are you okay?"

The white unicorn ignored Applejack's question avoiding the potential heartache of having to talk about the weapon, "Is he okay?"

"Oh, yeah, he just got himself a good whoopin' from Buck McGhiloucutty and Kicks McGhee." She chuckled lifting her rear hooves respectively explicating their names.

"You beat up the investigator?" Rarity raised a brow.

Applejack smiled polishing her fore-hoof on her chest, "It turned out to be a misunderstanding, but at least he knows now what ponies he's tusslin' with."

"Did you find anything out in the Everfree Forest?" Rarity queried.

"I believe,” Applejack started as Scroot caught up with them, "that the killer is a unicorn."

The two mares matched Scroot’s canter on his way back to the cabin.

"How do you know?" Rarity asked Applejack.

"She doesn't." Scroot interjected.

Rarity smiled at the investigator, "Are you sore in more ways than one, Scroot?"

"Look, honey. I can take an ass kicking in stride. You win some; you lose some." Scroot stated flatly. "I'm saying that what she found was circumstantial; not conclusive."

"So, it doesn't sting that a girl beat you up?" Rarity continued feeling light.

Scroot groaned completely lacking entertainment, "Girls can really fuck shit up, Rarity. In my line of work, I have seen many fellow officers under estimate a female suspect and get their asses handed right to them on a silver platter."

"Have you ever had your flank kicked by a girl before?" Rarity prodded further.

Scroot quietly trotted next to them for a moment before answering trying to hold true to the apology he gave Applejack, "No, Rarity. That was a first."

It dawned on Rarity that she was smiling and her feelings were bright. Given the circumstances, she managed to have a light moment in the shrouding darkness, but her realization wasn't good to her as guilt wrestled the smile from her face. It didn't feel right to be happy in the wake of her friend's death.

"Did you find anything in the house?" Scroot asked.

"Yes." She said simply.

Applejack and Scroot jogged silently awaiting elaboration, but was met with a discomforting mute expression.

"What did you find?" Applejack asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Rarity looked ahead staring intently onward in a hopeless effort for them to change the subject.

"Rarity, we're a team now." Scroot explained, "We need to know what you've found however unpleasant it may be."

"I found… it." She said sinking into dismay. "It was in the floor underneath the bed."

Scroot bounced up the steps to the cabin and pushed open the front door holding it for the mares. Rarity hurried to the table and took off her bag tossing it carelessly onto the table.

"The thought of it makes me ill. Just look for yourself." She swallowed hard trying to keep down her emotion as well as her lunch.

"Rarity," Scroot began as he unclasped the fastener with his teeth, "Communication is the key in a team effort."

"I found it." She coughed as she lifted the knife from her saddlebag with her magic and averted her eyes.

Scroot looked over the knife floating in the incandescent magic grip nodding in approval. "This is good, Rarity." He said slowly. "This is very good."

Applejack stared into the blade like she was watching an oncoming train and preparing to be pulverized into a red mist. The blood had dried in chunks where bubbles were unable to escape the viscid material and bits of flesh had been interwoven into the matted fur grasped by the blood soaked handle. Her lip quivered as she finally took a breath and broke sight with the tool which delivered Twilight's demise.

Scroot squinted at the wood handle seeing through the blood noticing tiny dimples arranged in rectangular shapes near the top and bottom, "Wait a second, this could be big. Turn it over."

Rarity looked up to the ceiling with a queasy feeling furrowing her brow and curling her lips as she slowly spun the knife in the air with her magic.

The crescent shape stretching from the top of the handle to the blade thinning from the molars to the incisors and widening again showed a perfect imprint of the user's mandible.

"Those are teeth marks." Scroot said aloud.

Rarity looked at Scroot with surprise, "Does this exonerate Rainbow?"

"It may put the nail in the coffin," Scroot shook his head. "Not matching Dash is circumstantial, but if it does match, she's in trouble."

Applejack stomped a hoof, "That makes no sense! How can something be bad for Rainbow if it is true, but not good if it isn't?"

Scroot took a deep breath feeling like he was explaining basic facts to a foal, "Because if you can prove she was in contact with the murder weapon, it's bad for her. If you can't, then it doesn't mean anything. She could have used it, and not left these teeth marks."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "What does circumstantial mean to you?"

"Look, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here." Scroot explained, "I'm just telling you that the vines are explainable because she could have dropped Owlicious in from the canopy, and the teeth marks are explainable because not everypony that uses a knife bites the shit out of it."

Rarity's magic vanished and the knife clattered against the table, "What do we need to do to make this not 'circumstantial'?"

Scroot rubbed his face with a hoof in exhaustion. The ache in his stomach hadn't quite faded away and all of the questioning wasn't aiding his personal goal of being nicer to them. "Find a suspect and match them to the knife."

"How?" Applejack demanded.

"You're a detective, Applejack!" Scroot growled poising his hoof towards her. He clenched his teeth reeling back irritation before adding calmly, "You must detect."

Rarity gestured sensitively, "Scroot, we simply don't know where to start.”

Scroot let out a long slow breath, "There isn't a set of rules, Rarity. You don't have a formula for this kind of thing. You chase leads until you can't find anything else, and then you build a case on what you have."

The mares exchanged a quizzical look hoping to derive inspiration from one another, but both found nothing. Scroot grabbed the bind of a newspaper from the adjacent desk and started toward his 'other office'.

"I need to think." He said trying to keep his moist lips from the absorbent pages of the paper.

"Just give us somethin' to do, Scroot. We're tryin' to help." Applejack stated just as Scroot was closing the door.

"You have helped. You will continue to help. For right now, I need you both to leave me alone for at least 20 minutes so, in the midst of this chaos, I can grab me a shit, please!" Scroot pleaded in an almost desperate voice.

Rarity shifted on her hooves, "By all means, Scroot." She glanced briefly at Applejack, "We're not going to hinder you from pooping in peace." She said as eloquently as possible.

He dipped his head and said, "Thank you" as he closed the door.

* * *

The sled was pretty much a dead end. There was nothing that Pinkie could see that wasn't already noted in the report and she felt like she had been at it for hours. She thought, 'why couldn't she have gotten a more productive assignment?'

There was a copper identifier that had been scratched nearly unreadable except four letters, 'Tedd' and a few numbers, '012' on the outsides of the destructive etching. Pinkie surmised that whatever pony defaced the plate was hoping it couldn't be identified.

She wrote down the text and carried her note into the cabin hoping to find a directory. Rarity and Applejack were standing on either side of the table where the meanie had scolded them for being detectives. Although the flank chewing wasn't fun, Pinkie Pie had never felt haughtier than in that moment. "I got you in trouble. I got you in trouble!" She thought.

"Hey, fillies." Pinkie greeted as she closed the door behind her.

"Howdy, Pinkie." Applejack nodded, "You got any leads for us?"

"Maybe." The pink earth pony said plainly as she began her hunt for the directory. Luckily, the forty-fourth drawer she opened had a current one. Rarity followed behind with her magic and closed the file cabinets.

"What do you have?" Rarity asked.

"I don't know." Pinkie said placing the book on the table and flipping through cart rental and retail finding a promising advertisement for Teddy's Transportation in northern Apple Loosa. The logo on the page had a striking resemblance to the defaced plate on the sled. Pinkie Pie nodded mutely citing an "A-ha!" to her friends.

"What do you got, Pinkie?" Applejack leaned in as if closing the distance would aid Pinkie’s conveyance.

Pinkie looked up slowly raising a brow perching on the precipice of her find, "I don't know." She said profoundly.

Rarity dropped her shoulders and let out her breath feeling less than exhilarated by Pinkie's detective genius.

Applejack rolled her eyes meeting Rarity's gaze, "So, what do we do, Rarity? Go to Colgate's Office and start pulling dental records?"

Rarity shrugged, "If the pony that used this knife even went to Colgate's office, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of records to go through. We'd be comparing teeth for days with the relatively good chance of ultimately coming up with nothing."

Applejack watched Pinkie stare into the floor seeing the pink pony's eyes squeezed in mental effort. "Well, let's forget about Scroot, and go with the suspect being a unicorn. You think that'll narrow it down?"

"I got it!" Pinkie exclaimed shifting her glare to the directory. "Teddy's Transportation is where the sled came from. They'll know who the last pony to rent the cart was!"

"How do you know?" Rarity asked pointedly.

"There's a plate on the back of the sled. It looks just like this logo!" Pinkie declared tapping on the book.

"Well, there you go." Applejack nodded. "We got ourselves a lead, Rarity."

"Excellent!" Rarity stamped. She went to Scroot's ‘other office’ and knocked, "Scroot! We have a lead!"

Scroot's voice emerged muffled from behind the door, "That's great. Go away!"

Pinkie bounced, "We go to Apple Loosa, and we'll know exactly who-dun-did-doed it!”

"Their name will be right there in the records. The pieces will just fall together and we'll have solved this thing!" Applejack concluded.

Pinkie grabbed the top of the page and tore it from the book, "Come on! We're going to Apple Loosa!" She said as she dashed out of the cabin.

Applejack followed quickly, but stopped at the doorway looking back at Rarity whom hadn't moved. "You coming, sugar cube?"

"I think I'm going to stay," Rarity gestured Applejack onward. "Scroot will need my help with something, I'm sure."

"Alright, then." Applejack nodded and closed the door behind her.

Rarity knocked again on the bathroom door, "Scroot. You okay? I wasn't trying to make you mad."

"I'm fucking fine, Rarity. Jeez!" Scroot shouted over the flushing toilet. He swung open the door, “I’m really trying not to be an asshole anymore, but when my asshole needs relief, I just want to be left alone.”

"I'm sorry, Scroot. Should I just go with them?" She suggested attempting to remedy his rage. She backed away a few steps distancing herself from the flatulent smell emitting from the room.

"No." He shook his head and pulled the door shut, "I'm sorry, Rarity. You're going through a rough time, and you don't need me being an ass to you."

"It's okay." She nodded. "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing, honey. When you get to be my age, you can't force it. You just have to let gravity pull it out."

She recoiled, "No, pertaining to the case."

"Oh!" He laughed. "I'm sorry. We could go back to the house, and you can show me where you found the knife."

She shuddered, "Ooh. I don't think I could ever stomach going back in that house ever again. I'm going to have to burn that saddlebag knowing what's been in it."

Scroot sighed exasperatedly shaking his head, "Let me look things over, and I'll find something for us to do."

Rarity looked at her saddlebag and back to Scroot whom was rooting through a file cabinet trying to piece something together on the spot. She knew he wasn't going to come up with anything they hadn't already just by skimming some notes, but she appreciated his effort. Maybe, she thought, that ass kicking was exactly what he needed. He appeared more patient and more humble. Even in his recent outburst, he didn't try to justify himself, he just apologized and even explained sincerely why he was sorry. He was right, though. She did feel like she was on the brink of bursting into tears at any moment, and his yelling and cursing wasn't helpful to her emotions.

"Scroot," She started falling short on what words to choose, "Have you ever lost somepony?"

He glanced over to her attempting to see the subtext of her question watching her blink the moisture from her eyes, "Yes."

"Who?" She asked incredulously.

Scroot furrowed his brow squinting, "My parents, I'm a widower, and many friends. I'm fairly old, Rarity. I've seen many ponies pass in my time with the exception of the murders and accidents I worked when I was a cop."

"How did you get through it? All of the death?" She stepped closer to him as he closed the file cabinet and took a seat at the table.

"I don't know. Time just kind of did its thing. My wife's death was pretty traumatizing, but I got over it eventually." He said gesturing into the air exemplifying his 'the world keeps spinning' mindset.

"How did she die, if you don't mind me asking?" Rarity politely queried.

"A taxi driver lost control of his cart down a hill and hit her while she was crossing the street in Manehattan." He gestured with a hoof to the adjacent chair, "Now, if you don't mind me asking, what is this really about?" He made his voice soft and his sudden genuine concern was heartwarming to her.

Rarity took the offer for a seat and slumped over the table with her chin resting on her hooves. She’d never be able to explain what came over her, but opening up to him seemed logical at the time. "I just feel wrong. I apologize for the laugh we had at your expense, not for your sake, but for Twilight's. I feel guilty for continuing life without her." The white unicorn brushed her long mane from her face and returned the hoof under her chin "Wasn't it hard seeing all of that death? It didn't make you feel terrible knowing all of those ponies were dying around you?"

He smiled in a misplaced attempt to brighten the unicorn, "At first, it was hard, but I got used to it. Dead ponies became numbers, and I was a professional at detaching myself from the cases when I came home." The smile faded, "When it was somepony close to me, I was a professional at pushing my emotions deep inside when I went to work."

Scroot stood and continued, "What I found out eventually; nothing is going to seem to help now. Every time you laugh and every time you do something amazing, you're going to immediately think about how you'd love to share that moment or achievement with your friend. When I made sergeant, I was alone in my house wishing for a clairvoyant to burst in and tell me how proud my wife was of me."

"That doesn't make me feel better, Scroot." She sighed with a pained smile.

"Honestly, I'm not trying to tell you what you want to hear because that's not going to help you." He explained projecting a very real desire to lift her spirit. She began to find his gruff voice interestingly soothing.

Rarity mustered a chuckle, "I know. Everypony keeps telling me, 'It's going to be alright,' and, 'She's in a better place', but all of that seems to just make me feel worse."

Scroot waved a hoof towards her expressively, "Of course it makes you feel worse. The fact is that you're not alright right now, and the best place for your friend is right here with us; fuck all of that existential bullshit."

He calmed himself, "I don't want you to be sad, Rarity, but I know you will be. Eventually, over time, you'll see the time you had together as a blessing. Right now, her passing will feel like a perpetual missed opportunity, and you'll just have to ignore the idiots who've never lost somepony close to them. They'll spew those recycled phrases of obligatory pity, but you'll just say, 'thanks' and then forget them."

Scroot nosed in his pocket for a cigarette making his way to the exit, "I'm going outside for a smoke. I got to clear my head."

"So, I'm just waiting for time to help me?" She attempted to simplify his long winded speech while following him to the entryway.

He shrugged as he sucked the flame into the cigarette from the lighter on the porch, "Grieving is not a concrete process that comes in stages." He blew smoke leaving his lighter on the ground, "You'll be sad about it for a while, you'll be over it for a while, and then you'll be sad about it again. You never really stop grieving. You just get more used to that particular sadness."

As his profane words and animated vehemence settled deeper in her mind, she began to feel at ease. Somepony else understood what she was feeling, and she found comfort knowing that the guilt she had tormented herself over was shared in some capacity. He didn't look so old, but he had the wisdom which was developed with age.

She took a deep breath shoving more emotion aside as she began to think of something productive to do. She watched a warm smile spread across Scroot's face in reassurance with a small trail of grey drifting away from the cigarette's cherry. He dipped his head letting his hat fall on the wood flooring next to a small black ceramic ash tray resting on the natural finish porch.

The sun was beginning its descent to the horizon as the cooler air fell from the west. Without the brim of the hat over his features, his eyes looked younger and the dark blue iris appeared sharp and controlled in the cloudy light. His mane was full, dark, and the color nearly matched his jet black tie woven into that stylishly convoluted knot. The five ‘o clock shadow underlined his strong jaw, and his powerful stature was exemplified by the rigidly pressed sport coat perfectly accented with that crisp baby blue dress shirt. In the midst of her depression, she found herself suddenly flush with attraction to the older pony. She fixed herself on his smoking habit knowing that if it weren't for that disgusting vice of his, she probably couldn't help herself.

She stated flatly, "I'm going to go see Spike."

He nodded carefully resting the cigarette on the edge of the ash tray, "I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'll figure it out.”

Scroot turned to Rarity putting a hoof around the back of her neck. He warmly looked into her eyes as he drew a deep cleansing breath and a compassionate smile flicked the corners of his mouth. She closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and was caught off guard by the friendly hug from the investigator.

"I know it's hard, but feel better for me, okay?" He said releasing her and immediately biting down on the butt of the cigarette pulling deeply without further comment. She nodded mutely starting south toward town and praying that Scroot’s eyes had been closed, too.

Chapter Six - The Reveal

Chapter 6 – The Reveal

Rainbow Dash laid uncomfortably on the nylon mat staring at the walls where she had taped the papers she had received from her lawyer at the discovery hearing. All of the reports outlining her guilt stirred anger in her heart as she tried to come up with an explanation as to how she would have come to be falsely accused.

The other inmates had made it abundantly clear that she was lucky to have avoided a cell-mate, known colloquially as a 'celly' to the inmate population, in the few days she had been there. Rainbow felt fortunate to be allowed the opportunity to perform necessary bodily functions without the presence of another, but she was becoming lonely.

She couldn't wrap her mind around why anypony would come to the jail more than once without having some kind of epiphany altering the behavior that caused them to be detained there. When she was being transported to court on the previous day, she saw Gilda in shackles being led back to the Segregation Housing Unit. According to Rainbow's fellow inmates, that griffin was constantly being arrested for battery charges and petit theft being released and booked in so often that they began to think she enjoyed being in the system. Gilda was also known to knock a few skulls around during each visit which is why she was placed on a permanent assaultive status and housed in the SHU from booking every time. Rainbow Dash was surely not going to get the opportunity to talk with her flight academy buddy during her stay at Canterlot’s Involuntary Resort and Spa.

The words on the reports flooded her mind as she tried to block the wet smacking sounds of the 'cellies' in the adjacent cell having sex while the detention guard slept on her desk. It wasn't comforting that the activity sounded consensual. Homosexuality made Rainbow Dash uncomfortable having been teased about her tom-boy pattern of behavior which led many ponies to assume she was a lesbian all her life.

Forensic palynology was confusing. She didn't even know that was a thing, but according to that report, she had been in the area where Twilight's body was dumped linking her to the crime. Rainbow strained her mind trying to figure out how she had gotten candy-lion pollen in her mane.

A sudden penetrating image flashed across her vision; Ghastly Gorge. She sat up quickly recalling a certain 'brain clearing flight' and realizing that she had been to Ghastly Gorge the morning of the murder. She recalled mutely the wipe-out into the candy-lions which thusly secured her position as primary suspect. Fear welled tears in her eyes as the fortuity became fact in her brain. “They were right.” She whispered to herself, “I was there.”

The confined lovers' soft moans grew into wails of pleasure catching the attention of everypony except the napping figure of authority whom was supposed to put a stop to that kind of thing. The jail motto was, “No means no, and yes is not allowed.” Quiet calls of encouragement from the horny fillies all around the unit echoed from underneath the doors amongst a few other inmates whom shouted that they were trying to sleep, or whatever other reason for their protest.

She fell back against the mat forgetting its hardness and thudding her head against the steel below the nylon. She thought deeply through the new found ache in her skull searching her mind for a way to communicate with her friends and put their brains to work. She needed help conveying that she was at Twilight’s dump site, and yet completely innocent.

She rubbed her noggin with a hoof staring at the ceiling and worried about sending a letter through conventional mail. The guards read everything that leaves and enters the facility to control contraband and monitor gang activity; therefore, she felt like she would be signing a confession if she admitted it on paper.

Rainbow turned over on her side trying almost desperately to avoid talking to herself. She thought, that's the first step to going crazy; lying in bed and chatting herself up. All of the cognitive effort wasn't aiding her sore head, although the dull pain ringing her ears was welcomed as it drowned out the sound of the neighboring inmates climaxing together.

* * *

The morgue was smaller than Fluttershy expected which aided the ghoulishly unnerving feeling of casualty hidden behind the chrome doors. The florescent tubes above them did little to lighten the dark disparity.

Redheart asked them both to stand still as she applied a small amount of cream to their upper lips. It smelled powerfully like mangos and its soothing scent had no effect on Fluttershy's racing heart. The white nurse pony explained that it was to mask the bodies' odor which also wasn't soothing in any way.

They made their way down the thin corridor that was almost too small for them to walk three ponies wide. Fluttershy eyed the drawers with the tiny white name plates seeing all of the lost friends and family through the cold stainless steel. She had a brief moment of mortality thinking of the statistic she would inevitably become at the conclusion of her life.

Nurse Redheart gripped the handle of the door marked 'T. Sparkle' and pulled it open sliding the drawer outward as if revealing the contents of a file cabinet. A freshly bleached sheet covered Twilight's body appearing like a specter lying in wait to jump at them or show them the errors of their past, present, and future.

The nurse curved a hoof over the cover to pull it back when Fluttershy called out collapsing on the floor burying her face under her hooves, "Stop! Stop! I can't! I just can't see her like this!"

Envoy knelt attempting to peer through Fluttershy's hooves and into her eyes, "Fluttershy, we need you. I know this isn't easy, but you're helping her."

"What good am I?" Fluttershy clasped her hooves tightly against her face as she cried woefully. "I'm not going to be any use. This isn't going to work!"

The little grey unicorn stood and shrugged at Redheart, "Sorry, Nurse. We're not trying to waste your time. Just give me a few moments with her."

Redheart nodded and the room became silent save for the light clopping of her hooves on the bright linoleum floor as she made her way out.

Envoy patted the weeping pegasus, "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. You don't have to look at her, but I need you to see what we found. It's important."

"No." Fluttershy stood with her eyes closed, "I have to do this."

Her eyes peeled slowly releasing a river of tears as she made weak steps to Twilight's side and stared intently at the sheet covering her lost friend. Envoy watched Fluttershy struggle with herself from across Twilight's body awaiting a sign to continue.

“Are you sure about this?” Envoy asked poising a hoof on the sheet preparing to uncover the body.

“No.” Fluttershy said looking to the unicorn and nodded with hesitation. Envoy slid her hoof across the table's surface catching the cover and pulling it down to Twilight's chest.

Fluttershy took a deep breath appearing to hold it together very well when her head fell precipitously against the table reverberating a loud bang within the morgue as she wailed in anguish. She put a hoof on the table attempting to pick her head up, but the weight of her sadness prevented movement with the exception of her heaving sobs.

Envoy choked back her own sympathetic emotion striving to continue, “Besides her injuries contributing to the cause of death, do you see anything abnormal?”

Fluttershy's blubbering slowed as she brought herself up gazing upon the dead Twilight. She appeared peaceful in a state of rest, but the abhorrent gashes in her throat burned Fluttershy's mind urging her to look away.

“I don't see anything.” Fluttershy said slowly. “I'm sorry.”

“That's okay, Fluttershy.” Envoy assured as she levitated a notepad, “That just means that the injuries we found were all sustained during her final moments.” Envoy noted that fact on her tablet. “I didn't expect you to actually find anything.”

A light scratching echoed as Envoy wrote while Fluttershy stared at her friend's closed eyes and sunken features. Twilight's mouth was pressed into a thin line leading to the exposed lower teeth on the left side of her face. Fluttershy's demeanor faded into ease finding a peculiar closure in sight of her friend's tranquility.

“Twilight.” Fluttershy spoke to her deceased friend. “You were the best friend anypony could have. We're going to take care of Spike and everything is going to be okay.”

Twilight continued to lay unmoving as Fluttershy leaned down and softly kissed her cold forehead.

Envoy's glowing horn moved a small plastic sack with three small green rocks into the light, "The examiner found these." Envoy sniffled, "We aren't sure of their significance, but we're hoping that you had an idea."

The yellow pegasus shook her head before realizing what they were, "Those..." she paused, "Those are one of Zecora's doorstops."

Envoy wrote quickly on the levitated notepad, "Zecora the zebra?"

Surprise overtook Fluttershy's grief and was quickly replaced with betrayal followed by anger.

"That... that..." Words crammed into Fluttershy's mouth so quickly that she couldn't choose any of them when she suddenly shouted, "That BITCH!"

Fluttershy suddenly galloped as fast as she could out of the morgue and exiting the hospital in flight to Scroot's cabin with speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud.

* * *

Teddy's Transportation was a large dirt yard fenced with large cedar posts holding within hundreds of carts of varying size and style. In the northeast corner of the compound was a single wide trailer parked next to the chain link entry gate. A dilapidated steel license plate hung from the storm door by aluminum twine with 'Office' spray painted on the displayed reverse side.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack stepped into the trailer where a dusty mahogany desk rested in the center with a blue earth pony sleeping behind it. His gold mane was short and spiked in the front misrepresenting the shoulder length hair lying across the back of his neck. He had his rear hooves settled on the calendar in the center of the desk, his forelegs wrapped around his middle and tucked under each other, and his chin rested on his chest. In his slumber, he had begun to drool on his navy blue button up work shirt on which 'teddy' was embroidered in white on the left breast.

Applejack raised a brow at Pinkie Pie snidely before ringing the bell on the desk loudly.

Teddy didn't jump or otherwise react, but simply opened his eyes glaring at the ponies standing before him. He dropped his hooves to the floor and rubbed his face yawning. He allowed his forelegs to fall into his lap tiredly looking over Applejack and Pinkie.

“I'm sorry.” Teddy said in a heavy southern drawl. “The foal's been fussy overnight. Is there somethin' I can help you with?”

“Yessir.” Applejack nodded, “We're investigating a cart that may belong to you.”

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof, “It's actually a sled.”

Teddy opened a drawer in the desk and balanced a binder on his hoof presenting it to the mares. “This is our log. I know I may not've given the impression of bein' diligent, but it's up to date.”

He allowed the book to fall on the surface of the desk with a light clatter. “What's this all about, anyway? If I'm allowed to ask. I hope we ain't in no trouble.”

Pinkie shook her head, “We're not investigating you, silly. Just trying to figure out who was the last pony to have your sled.”

Applejack's heart thudded against her chest in anticipation of the information she and Pinkie were about to uncover. Pinkie glanced at Applejack a few times before taking initiative and nosing open the binder. The date of Twilight's murder headed the page in bold red over small rectangular fields in which the renter's name, the cart's number, and the projected return date would be written.

Three carts had been rented that day. One that hadn't been returned numbered 30012 under the name “B&N Frisky.”

“I assume you're here for 30012.” Teddy began, “Did Charlie hire y'all? 'Cause I don't want no investigation over a missing cart on the company bit.”

“No pony hired us, sir.” Applejack said without looking up.

“Well, golly darn. Y'all just helpin' a neighbor out? Ain't that peachy.” Teddy smiled. “I sure appreciate you.”

Applejack intently stared at the name on the page searching her head for a face to put to it. She thought so hard she hadn't realized she had said it aloud to herself several times.

“Don't hurt yourself, girl.” Teddy said. “That name there's what fancy folk call a pseudonym.”

Applejack became quickly panicked fearing that they had lost their lead, “A fake name?! Why in the hay would you let somepony put a fake name in your log?”

Teddy held up his hooves to Applejack calmingly, “Simmer down, now. I only did it because that filly was stirring up quite a scene.”

“How did you know it's a fake name?” Pinkie asked with a raised brow suspecting Teddy knew the pony prior to doing business with her.

“Everypony knows that crazy broad.” He said matter-of-factly. “She came in here with a terrible disguise declaring, 'Pay no particular attention to The Benign and Negligible Frisky!' Which is funny because everypony that was here has mentioned her at least once a day since.”

Teddy laughed while closing the book and putting it back into the desk, “Then she said she wanted a sled. It's spring! I asked if she wanted one of the cheaper carts. You know, with wheels!?”

He leaned back in his chair kicking his hooves up again. “And you know what she says? Get this, she says, 'The Benign and Negligible Frisky doesn't trust wheels.”

Pinkie Pie stopped Teddy sensing that he was going to continue, “Who is she?”

Teddy gave them a look as if they were asking him what color the sky was before answering.

* * *

Ponyville was winding down quickly with ponies in their homes performing some before bed chores, some outside tending small flower pots, and a few parents hustling colts and fillies inside for the night. The sky had been cleared to make way for the moon to shine upon the sleeping town as the sun descended. The air was sweet, crisp, and cool except around Scroot's head where the hot thick smoke floated away from his nose.

Scroot wondered down the main street of Ponyville deep in thought without direction. Doubt shrouded every piece of evidence and everything he believed he knew about the case. He didn't want to admit he was wrong without something hard to prove it, but he had begun to exclude Rainbow Dash from the murder.

He crossed his eyes looking at the burning filter just beyond his nose before dropping the butt and extinguishing it with a hoof. He stood for a moment looking around the peaceful neighborhood shaking his head at the thought of the residents being subjected to the first major crime in their blemishless history.

“It's a hell of a thing.” A high pitched soft voice came from just in front of Scroot.

“Ain't it?” Scroot said to the stocky black unicorn stallion attached to a cart which had aluminum placards on either side with 'Trash' in bright green block letters on them.

“You're that big wig investigator?” The trash unicorn asked. His voice was calming and surprised Scroot that he wasn't a mare. He wasn't as big as Bulk Biceps, but he might give that muscle head a run for his money.

Scroot nodded then nosed in his pocket for another cigarette, but instead retrieved the empty box. He mutely cursed to himself having forgotten to grab another pack.

“You had Rainbow Dash arrested.” The black unicorn said flatly.

He looked up to the unicorn unsure of where that statement was leading. Rainbow Dash was a good friend to many ponies in Ponyville, and her arrest made him not too popular around town. The seasoned investigator knew a few tricks about fighting which may help him with a pony his own size, but he was pretty sure this unicorn would swat him like a fly.

Scroot proceeded cautiously, “Yeah, I did.”

The unicorn's horn glowed a cold green that matched his crew cut mane raising a pack of menthol 100's from the outside pocket on his large saddlebag, “You really think she did it?”

A thin white cigarette floated to Scroot encompassed with the green magic as the unicorn placed another one in his lips. Scroot took it in his teeth trying not to show his relief for the unicorn's civility on his face. He pressed his pocket for his lighter feeling nothing but his chest underneath his coat.

“I did.” Scroot said through his teeth. “I'm starting to think I got the wrong pony.”

A sudden pop like a bolt of lightning from the horn struck the tip of unicorn's cigarette lighting it. Scroot searched himself for his lighter not wanting to test the unicorn's accuracy with the little party trick of his when a flash blinded Scroot for a moment catching him off guard. He jumped so hard he nearly dropped the recently lit cigarette.

“There you go, buddy.” The unicorn stallion smiled.

Scroot blinked a few times trying to rid himself of the jagged spots covering his vision, “Thanks.”

“The name's Grand Overture. Most ponies just call me Randy.” The unicorn extended a hoof.

“Scroot.” The investigator nodded shaking hooves with him. Scroot leaned over to take a gander at Randy's cutie mark which was a simple white bass clef.

“You checking me out, Scroot? I don't swing that way.” Randy chuckled.

“It's just, with a name and a cutie mark like that; I just wonder how you got the garbage gig.” Scroot said without reaction to Randy's joke.

“It pays the bills.” The black unicorn said simply. “I can play the ever loving crap out of a bass guitar, but I don't do well in bands. The musicians around here are into that electronic junk or classical.”

Scroot raised a brow, “What's wrong with classical?”

“It's not heavy. Besides, those classical ponies are real snooty.” Randy pulled on his cigarette.

“Go to Manehattan. There's a pretty decent rock scene around there. I crashed many a party and arrested many a rocker pony when I was a cop.” Scroot nodded in recollection thinking, 'good times.'

Randy blew smoke while shaking his head resembling an angry dragon, “I had a band in Manehattan quite a while ago. I had to quit and come to Ponyville for my mother's sake. I couldn't put her in a home.”

Scroot smiled, “Noble. Especially if you guys were any good.”

Randy sucked on the cigarette again before saying, “We were good, too. They got signed right after I quit and the producers gave them some studio bassist jack-off. You may've heard of Two Hoof Death Buck, but they're nothing like we used to be.”

“I've seen articles about that band in the paper every once in a while, but that metal shit is just noise so I've never given it a listen.” Scroot said. “I prefer music with rhythm and intelligible vocals.”

“Oh! I see,” Randy laughed. “Sonic violence is the point.”

“That doesn't make it any more appealing.” Scroot shrugged. “You metal ponies are some fucking strange folks. I wouldn't get involved with that crowd if I had a fifth leg growing out of my ass.”

“There are some hot freaky mares, though.” Randy smiled with a raised brow.

“I wouldn't fuck any of them with a ten foot dick.” Scroot said with smoke rising from his mouth. “I don't stick my dick in crazy.”

“I'm guessing you lived in Manehattan. You came to Ponyville to get away from crazy?” Randy took another puff from his cigarette.

“These ponies are good folk and half-way normal.” Scroot said shrugging.

Randy laughed hard with a grey cloud wafting from his throat, “Normal?!”

“Yeah.” Scroot nodded. “What's not to like about them?”

“Don't get me wrong, Scroot. They're likable, but normal? Please.” Randy's horn glowed as he adjusted his saddlebag. “Seriously though, what part of this populace is normal? Like the other day, I was doing my rounds, and I saw this idiot pulling a sled in the middle of the night.”

Scroot froze. His cigarette fell from his lips as his mouth dropped open, “A sled?”

“Yeah, over by the train station. So, I asked her if she needed help because, you know, it's the middle of spring, for Celestia's sake, and she was having a rough time traversing the dirt.” Randy recalled.

Scroot's face remained frozen as he said, “Uh huh...”

“Then this idiot screams at me to get away from her and proceeds to pick up the entire cart with her magic and take off with it in a dead sprint. I've never seen such a pretty mare so sweaty.” He laughed.

“Uh huh.”

“So, it's teetering in her magic because it's got to be heavy. She drops it, tries to drag it, and then picks it up again trying not to lose the load. It was hilarious!”

“Uh huh.”

“She runs off and I'm left thinking, 'Boy, this town has got some strange ponies in it'. And the truly crazy part is that kind of thing happens daily. Just plain and simple weird stuff.” Randy concluded beginning to realize that Scroot isn't laughing, smiling, or reacting in any way.

“Where was she going?” Scroot asked interrogatingly.

“I don't know. South.” Randy shrugged.

“What color was she?”

“Blue,” Randy answered with uncertainty, “Why?”

Scroot cantered to the cart's harness gripping the release with his teeth and dropping it to the ground.

Randy looked down at the harness and then up to Scroot, “What the hell?”

“You need to come to my cabin right now.” Scroot commanded.

“Dude, I don't swing that way.” Randy said with genuine concern.

“No.” Scroot waved his hoof dismissively, “I need you to submit a statement.”

Randy recoiled raising a brow, “What for? Am I in trouble?”

“Randy! That pony with the cart was the killer!” Scroot almost shouted.

“How do you know?”

Scroot groaned in frustration, “I can't explain it to you. That'll poison...” Scroot paused and shook his head, “I need you to tell me everything you saw and everything you know about that pony, Randy. You may be the key to solving this case.”

“I don't know much about her.” Randy shrugged, “She's just another town weirdo. I only really know her name...”

* * *

Fluttershy head butted the front door sending splinters from the broken frame onto the floor. The door swung open slamming into the inside wall as she leapt over the front desk and madly pulled files from the cabinets throwing them onto the table. She laid out the dozens of photographs of the hair found at the scenes shuffling through and arranging all of the blue ones in front of herself. Her eyes were wide in a half-crazed examination of the photographs carefully scrutinizing every detail. Her comparison settled her belief of the killer's identity deeper.

“Fluttershy, dear. What happened to the door?” Rarity asked as she entered the cabin.

Fluttershy shot a glare of insanity to Rarity and shouted, “It doesn't match Rainbow!”

Rarity looked over the broken door jamb, “Scroot is not going to be happy about this.”

“The hair in these pictures is clearly deep cornflower!” Fluttershy stomped a hoof on the floor, “Rainbow Dash is cerulean!”

Rarity nodded, “You're preaching to the choir, Fluttershy. I know Rainbow is innocent. You're acting a little crazy.”

“What you're not understanding is that cornflower is exactly what I thought the hair color would be before I even left the hospital.” Fluttershy explained. “I was just confirming it.”

Rarity made her way to Fluttershy's side and patted her, “What did you find at the hospital?”

Fluttershy became calm, “I know who did this.”

“You, what?!” Rarity exclaimed. “Who? Who?!”

“Celestia’s mercy!” Envoy shouted seeing the destruction at the door. “Scroot is going to be pissed! What the hell?!”

Fluttershy looked up to Envoy, “Oh, I'm really sorry. I just got excited.”

Rarity stepped between them, “Fluttershy, who did this?”

Envoy scanned the floor eyeing the bits of wood, “This is ridiculous! I stand up for you when Scroot is around. Are you just testing my abilities to keep him from killing you all?”

Fluttershy craned her neck to see Envoy around Rarity, “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

Envoy shook her head and blew air, “Being sorry is good and all, but we’d better start coming up with a damn good story to explain this.”

Rarity grabbed Fluttershy’s face, “Fluttershy, who did this?”

“I did.” Fluttershy admitted. “I really am sorry. I should have used the knob.”

“Do we have Timberwolves around this time of year?” Envoy rubbed her chin. “We could say you were being chased.”

Rarity turned to face Envoy with a hoof pointed, “Envoy, please stop talking!” Rarity quickly turned back to Fluttershy and hadn’t realized that she had begun shouting, “Who killed Twilight?”

Fluttershy said, “Oh! No, that wasn’t me.”

Rarity stifled a frustrated groan making her pink in the face. She drew in a cleansing breath and said calmly, “I know, dear. Who did?”

Fluttershy gave pause preparing to be asked how she came to the conclusion and said...

* * *

At that very moment in a miraculous concurrence of fortuitous coincidence, three ponies, in three separate locations, were led by three different series of events to unknowingly state in unison, “The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Chapter Seven - The Farm

Chapter 7 – The Farm

The early morning sunrise cast dark shadows across the town while birds sang to welcome the day. Scroot groggily punched the power switch of his coffee pot looking over the messy office. Files were still laid out on the table and the front door had been wired shut with twine.

He went back to the bedroom thinking that it was too early to deal with that bullshit. He opened his dresser and laid out one of hundreds of black ties which were barely discernible from one another. Each tie bearing its own hoof stitched design hidden in the dark color. He held it down on the end-table with a hoof as if it were going to escape upon release and folded it expertly into his famous eldredge knot. It was an exercise that his wife had given him when he was a police officer. She told him that if he was unable to tie the knot before shift, he wasn't mentally sharp enough to work that day, and he especially wasn't safe to go out and contest with criminals.

He slipped the tie over his head and flattened it under his collar before taking it in his teeth and tightening it. The coffee maker gurgled as final drips of the black liquid disturbed the vessel's contents. He pulled one of dozens of stark white ceramic coffee mugs in the cabinet below the coffee maker and poured the drink into his cup. The plastic sandwich boat next to the coffee maker that he'd taken home from the Ponyville Cafe was filled with packets of cream and sugar which had remained untouched for years. He thought to himself, “I'll throw it out tomorrow,” much in the same way as the previous day, and the day before that, et cetera.

Movement in the window next to the front door caught Scroot's eye as he looked up mid-sip. Speaking of bullshit, Envoy waved excitedly with a wide grin worn on her whole head. She pointed at the door mouthing for Scroot to open it.

He announced loudly, “Nopony's home!”

Her smile fell from her face staring flatly at Scroot before pointing once at the door again.

Scroot smiled and left his coffee on the table. He fiddled with the twine for a moment and pulled open the door, “You're up early.” He said.

“Yeah,” She invited herself into the office.

Scroot nodded, “Coffee?”

“Sure.” She said as her horn glowed quickly straightening up the office placing files in their place and pouring herself a cup of coffee simultaneously. He swore he'd marry that filly if she wasn't so young.

“Did you get a report from Pinkie and Applejack?” Scroot asked leaning to the table and taking another sip of his coffee.

“Ugh!” She exclaimed recoiling from the strongly bitter taste of the coffee.

“I thought you liked it black.” Scroot chuckled.

“This is like year old motor oil.” Envoy said emptying the coffee back into the pot.

“Pinkie and Applejack, Envoy.” He said trotting to the front desk. He retrieved a fresh carton of cigarettes tearing open the box and tossing a pack onto the table before returning the carton to the drawer.

“They got very detailed statements from a few ponies that saw Trixie rent the cart from Teddy's Transportation.” She said pouring the harsh coffee into a craft and starting a milder brew.

“That's good. I was sure they'd fuck it all up.” Scroot said removing a cigarette from the pack.

“They thought they would too, I guess. Pinkie interviewed Teddy and was very thorough. We know he went to primary school in Dodge Junction, his favorite color, and they way he likes to eat spaghetti.” Envoy explained spooning grounds onto the filter.

Scroot walked to Envoy mutely holding the cigarette towards her horn. She lit it for him as she filled the reservoir with water and closed the lid on the coffee maker. Envoy's magic flashed yellow over the power button.

“So, how does he eat his spaghetti?” He asked pulling deeply on the cigarette. That first puff of the day from a fresh pack mixed with the dark coffee on his palette was always the best part of life for him. “We may need to know that if this thing goes to trial.”

“He's a slurper.” Envoy chuckled.

Scroot shook his head with a smile pursed around the cigarette, “That bastard.”

“More importantly, Pinkie gave us another lead.” Envoy said in a professional tone.

“What's that?” Scroot said sitting at the table while Envoy slid an ash tray next to his coffee mug.

“Trixie used to work on that Rock Farm east of here when she was forced to take a break from the travelling magician stuff.” Envoy said also taking a seat as her coffee brewed.

“Travelling magician?” Scroot laughed filling the air with smoke, “In a world where unicorns use magic to wipe their asses, why the fuck would anypony be interested in a magic show? Maybe that's why she had to take the break.”

Envoy smiled, “Actually, she was ostracized having been shown up by a better unicorn, and it put an end to her little magic act.”

Scroot leaned down placing the cigarette on the ash tray and then took a sip of coffee, “Somepony showed her up, huh?”

The grey unicorn leaned in closely with a raised brow, “Guess what particular somepony.”

He looked up from his coffee at Envoy, “Who?” He felt the need to ask although he already knew what the answer was going to be.

Envoy leaned back crossing her hooves, “None other than our Twilight Sparkle.”

Scroot nodded mutely settling into a strange emotion that he didn't feel very often. As the evidence built, Rainbow's innocence became more apparent. He felt worse and worse for making the decision to detain Rainbow Dash from society in a deep seeded sorrowful regret for having arrested her.

“That sounds like probable cause, Envoy.” Scroot finally said.

She poured a cup of coffee from across the room with her magic. A sizzle of the coffee still dripping and boiling on the burner was silenced when she returned the pot. The mug floated to her as she watched Scroot staring into his own cup in gloom.

She took a sip from her coffee and asked, “Are you okay, Scroot?”

“I just feel bad for Rainbow.” He said.

“It’ll all be okay eventually.” Envoy assured. “We’ll go up to Canterlot when the District Attorney’s Office opens and withdraw the complaint.”

“Admonishing her from the crime is great and all, but I still fucked up.” Scroot shook his head, “How am I supposed to ask her forgiveness for taking the last four days from her?”

Envoy furrowed her brow and set her cup down on the table. His cigarette was slowly smoldering away with ghostly gray ash clinging to the front of it. He appeared shaken.

“The fact that you’re this worried about her feelings makes me believe you’re coming down with something.” Envoy said. “Should I get a thermometer?”

Scroot rolled his eyes, “I’m not sick.” He tapped the butt of the cigarette releasing the ash into the tray before picking it up in his lips and drawing on it. He sighed in a cloud of smoke and shook his head again. “I think I’m turning gay.”

Envoy smiled and let out a half-chuckle and half-scoff, “Why would you say that?”

“These ponies are getting to me. I have a respect for Applejack, Rarity makes me smile, Pinkie Pie has been very helpful, and Fluttershy is ballsy. I’m starting to like them.”

“Enjoying the company of other ponies doesn’t make you gay.” Envoy stated with a smile.

“I don’t know. I feel sad right now. I’ve arrested the wrong pony before, and I just said, ‘my bad, you’ll get over it’ and told them to trot on.” He explained.

“You probably didn’t have a relationship with those ponies’ friends.” Envoy pointed out.

“No, I didn’t, and they usually also had convinced me that they were guilty of something else that they hadn’t got caught for. They were usually piece of shit inner-city ponies that would get hemmed up for stumbling on the body of their dealer or other type of shit like that.” Scroot dabbed the cigarette on the ash tray extinguishing it before continuing, “They wouldn’t have been falsely accused if they didn’t have bad intentions in the first place.”

Envoy attempted to mix a packet of sugar into her coffee, but the caked powder refused to drop out of the packaging. She set the packet down and met Scroot’s discouraging gaze. His face looked old with wrinkles presenting his sorrow.

“She will forgive you eventually.” Envoy said.

“I’m sure, but I doubt she wants anything to do with me right now.” Scroot shrugged, “I can let Celestia do it.”

Envoy raised a brow at Scroot, “So, have the princess issue the release because you’re afraid of seeing Rainbow Dash and admitting that you were wrong?”

Scroot flashed an angry glare at Envoy, “What the fuck is with everypony insistent on taking me down a peg or two?”

She shrugged, “I’m just pointing out what appears to be going on.”

His eyes squinted and his lips pursed together. His face became rosy before he stood abruptly nudging the table and spilling his coffee.

She sat in surprise at his outburst and stared wide-eyed trying to comprehend the source of his tantrum. He had never acted this way towards her, and she was one of the few ponies that could say whatever she wanted to him without retort.

“Fuck you, Envoy.” He growled as he made his way out of the cabin leaving Envoy dumbstruck seated in the silent house with nothing but the light patter of his coffee dripping on the floor.

* * *

After lying for hours without sleep, Rarity got out of bed and went to the wardrobe. She pulled open the double doors with her magic and viewed the contents trying to piece together an outfit that may catch a certain somepony's eye. She needed something that would compliment a hat which was certainly required to hide her restless features. A little make-up does go a long way, but if she tried to cover her sleeplessness, she'd look like a clown; thus, a nice outfit should take the attention off her puffy tired eyes.

Magically encompassed foundation pads, mascara brushes, and shadow pens floated around her as if in automation while she layered her 'go outside face' under her eyes and on her cheeks. She levitated a cerise cloche affixing it to her head and pushing her ears through it. She shook her head and tossed it back into the closet carelessly. She lowered a black banded boater over her left ear, but rejected it as well.

She settled on a simple wide brimmed amethyst sun hat accented with a braided moderate lemon colored yarn cord around the torso of the crown. It was a perfect match to her dull canary chiffon scarf laid casually around her neck secured with a shiny yet unpretentious gold and violet sapphire brooch. She doubted that Scroot would notice purple and yellow aren't in season for another month, and besides, it gave her a chance to finally wear that plum alligator leather clutch with the gold cross body chain. An impulse buy becoming a handy accessory means it's going to be a good day.

Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister, was in the kitchen creating a culinary mystery and filling the home with a smoky smell.

“Sweetie Belle, dear, what is it that you're trying to make?” Rarity inquired startling the little white unicorn that nearly fell from the stool on which she was standing.

“Pancakes, sis! You want one?” Sweetie Belle answered with the spatula in her mouth. She hadn't quite gotten the gist of using magic to manipulate objects heavier than a few ounces with any amount of accuracy, but she was working on it. She practiced once a day on one of Rarity's brooms.

Rarity looked over the lumps of brown batter, “No, I don't think so.”

“More for me!” Sweetie Belle declared lifting a 'pancake' from the skillet and taking a bite. She glanced over to Rarity with a pained look and struggled to maintain her smile, “Are you sure you don't want any?”

“I'm sure, thank you.” Rarity smiled.

“Why are you all dressed up?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“We’re going to Canterlot to get Rainbow out of...” Rarity quickly attempted to think of a vague lie, “...Rainbow is coming back to Ponyville, and we’re meeting with her in Canterlot.”

“That's good.” Sweetie Belle said passively.

Rarity levitated a stack of bits from her bag and placed it on the counter, “Whenever you’re done trying to burn down the house, you can go to the cafe with your friends for some real food.”

“Oh.” Sweetie Belle looked disappointed, “I was just getting warmed up. The Crusaders are coming over so we can get our cooking cutie marks!”

Rarity shook her head, “Not in my house.”

Sweetie belle stepped down from the stove with a defeated sigh, “Fine.”

“Well, I'm off. Please, Sweetie Belle. Don't burn the house down.” Rarity said as she tugged open the front door with her magic and closed it behind her.

As she cantered north through Ponyville, she averted her eyes from the library and paid close attention to the bustling ponies. The carts squealed with rickety whines as they traversed the dirt paths, and the indiscernible words of stern bargaining from customers to vendors contributed to the dull roar of the town’s early morning crowd.

Rarity spotted Scroot in the distance walking right toward her prompting her to quickly adjust her hat and chiffon. She was surprised to see him because she and the others weren’t meeting with him for another hour.

She waved daintily with a bright smile, but Scroot stomped his way toward the train station with a cigarette clenched in his teeth right past Rarity without a word. She followed him with her eyes with her mouth agape.

“How rude!” Rarity called.

Scroot stamped in a sudden halt flashing a heated look at Rarity preparing to verbally destroy her before realizing who she was. He choked back his anger and greeted, “Oh. Hey.”

“I was waving at you.” She said as she mimicked her movement.

He stepped closer, “I’m sorry, Rarity. I’m having a rough morning.”

“I’m quite sorry, dear. What is the matter?” She asked politely.

“Just a little lover’s quarrel.” He said shrugging.

Rarity’s heart sank and she immediately began to feel stupid in her bright colors while everypony else was fashionably dressed in appropriate spring pastels. “What, ummm...” She stuttered. “Who?”

“Envoy was...” He paused and shook the words from his mouth, “It’s nothing.”

“You and Envoy?” Rarity sighed.

“Rarity?” Scroot asked looking serious, “Am I an asshole?”

“Well...” She gave pause trying to come up with something that wasn’t mean spirited. She felt a bit angry at herself having not seen why he treated Envoy so much differently than her friends, and she didn’t want to express that to him. She finally answered, “I wouldn’t use that exact word.”

“What word would you use? Applejack said I was a curmudgeon.” He said.

“Applejack did?” Rarity focused on her surprise of the work-pony’s vernacular trying to rid herself of the disappointment of Scroot’s relationship status, but she failed involuntarily asking, “How long have you and Envoy been together?”

Scroot cocked his head trying to decode the question, “You mean as a partner of the office? A few years, but we’re not in an actual relationship if that’s what you’re asking.”

Rarity chuckled uncomfortably, “Oh! I thought... you just said, ‘lover’s quarrel’ and I thought...”

Scroot smiled, “No. We had an argument that was stupid. That’s what I meant.”

Rarity brushed her bangs protruding from under the front of the hat with a hoof and laughed, “Okay. I see.”

Scroot’s quizzical smile didn’t falter with a light hearted suspicion tugging the laugh lines on his eyes, “Why do you ask?”

Rarity’s anxiety kicked into high gear, “Well, I... I just...” She struggled to form words, but nothing came out except a jumble of unintelligible syllables.

He nodded reaching up to adjust his hat with a hoof grabbing nothing but air. His eyes rolled up trying to see his own head where his hat always was.

Rarity jumped on the opportunity to divert the subject, “You don’t have your hat on.”

“Yeah, I don’t.” He felt his chest and was slightly shocked that he had left home without his jacket as well.

“I think the shirt and tie is conservatively nice, Scroot.” Rarity offered with assurance.

He shrugged, “I guess. I can’t go to Canterlot like this, though.”

A light puzzled smile tugged at Rarity’s lips, “And why not?”

“I’m going to talk to the Princess, and I’m wearing casual dress.” He said dreading the thought of returning to the cabin and facing Envoy after his unwarranted emotional outbreak. No matter what he did at that point, he’d have to admit he was wrong to somepony. At least if he goes to Canterlot now he could still get the Princess to be his proxy.

“I could go with you.” Rarity suggested. “I’m in a casual dress, and the Princess and I are in cahoots. I’m sure that will make it okay.”

Scroot shrugged dismissively toward his inner turmoil, “That’s a good idea.” He nodded.

A grin parted her lips, “Alright, then. Shall we catch the next train out?”

Scroot agreed as they started toward the station. Rarity wore her gleeful expression the entire way having remained cool enough in the hang-up to make her plans come to fruition. A train ride together alone was exactly the environment for which she was aiming in order to make the tiniest of confessions.

* * *

The farm was a massive lot of rocks where a winding gravel drive led to a quaintly modest wooden cabin under a straw roof and gray brick chimney. The house was settled next to a silo and a windmill fenced by two by four cedar posts in the south field. Dead trees outlined the area with square kilometers of dirt and large boulders dotting the entire region.

Pinkie Pie trotted down the drive with her small saddlebag bouncing on her back with the light clatter of her notepad, quill, and pocket watch that Envoy gave her inside. Her parents had done nothing with the house since she was a filly bringing back not so fond memories of when she and her sisters were barred from talking and smiling while they worked the fields.

The pink earth pony knocked on the door and stood silently hearing her father's heavy hooves clop against the wood floor. The door opened revealing her father standing with his eyes slant and his mouth curved downward.

“Hello, Pinkimena. It's nice of you to drop by.” He said without emotion.

His golden eyes were penetrating, but they were offset by his dull gray mane which extended into long bushy sideburns. His short cropped tail matched the grey band on his Stetson along with his pearl snap button down shirt fitted with a short black tie knotted in a double Windsor. His brilliantly orange-brown coat did little to liven his appearance.

“Hi, dad. How are you?” Pinkie hugged him although the action wasn't reciprocated. Ever.

“Igneous, who's at the door?” Pinkie’s mother, Cloudy Quartz, called from the dining room. She was crocheting again. That's good.

“It's Pinkimena.” He stated flatly.

“Oh, that's nice.” Cloudy said without looking up.

Pinkie smelled a salty odor in the air which wasn't pleasant, but Pinkie knew her parents, “What's cookin'?” She asked.

“It's lilac chili.” Igneous Rock answered moving aside and gesturing for her to enter.

“Ooh! It smells good.” Pinkie said politely as she approached her mother and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hi, Mom.”

Pinkie certainly had Cloudy's eyes as the brilliant blues looked up from her project. With the same lifeless temperament as Igneous, she greeted, “Hello, Pinkimena. I hope you’re feeling better.”

Cloudy folded the yarn over and placed it on the table removing the needles and sticking them in her dark bluish-grey mane. She looked older than she was due to her grey coat and gold framed crescent eye-glasses working negatively against her wrinkled brow. Her black and white plaid blouse was pinned together at the collar by an ostentatious emerald set in a gold brooch.

“I’m glad that you visited. I was worried about you. Losing a friend is tough.” Cloudy said.

Pinkie sat down at the table with her mother, “Thanks, Mom, but I'm actually not here to visit.”

Her father walked to the stove stirring the chili passively, “What are you here for then?”

“I need to ask you a few questions about a previous employee that you employed.” Pinkie said as she retrieved her notepad and quill.

“Who would that be?” Cloudy asked. To anypony else, she would have sounded cynical and impartial, but Pinkie heard the subtle nuances in her mother’s voice that indicated her perked interest.

“Trixie.” Pinkie said. “Did she come back by anytime soon?”

Igneous ladled the reddish brown soupy chili into a trio of bowls, “Yes.” He answered, “We told her that we were not interested in her work.”

“When was that?” Pinkie asked noting the answer on her notepad as Igneous placed a bowl in front of Cloudy.

“Three days ago. She asked if we needed help again. We weren’t enthused by her previous work with us, so we told her to seek employment elsewhere.” Pinkie’s father reported.

“Do you know where she went after that?” Pinkie asked continuing to write.

Igneous set two bowls at the head of the table, and slid one with a hoof to Pinkie whom didn't notice. Igneous answered, “She was angry and didn't say much. She just said that she’d come back with a vengeance, and that we would rue the day that we rejected the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

Pinkie stopped writing and looked at her parents feeling a pang of unsettling fear. Sweat beaded and clung onto the fine hairs of her nape realizing that Trixie may actually carry out her threat in light of Twilight’s murder. Her father watched her sink into trepidation through the steam of the chili.

“Are you okay, Pinkamena?” Igneous asked with barely noticeable concern.

“I’m not sure if you’re safe here.” Pinkie said resting her notepad on the table.

“Why is that?” Cloudy asked inactively.

“I don’t know if Trixie is making an empty threat, Mom. I have reason to believe she may be serious about trying to harm you.” Pinkie wrote down verbatim what her father had quoted from Trixie on the notepad. “I think we need to put you somewhere safe.”

Her father shook his head, “No. She may try what she likes, but I’m sure she knows better.”

Pinkie gestured to him, “Dad, you don’t understand. She killed Twilight. I can’t let you take that risk. I couldn't sleep at night knowing my parents are in danger.” Her voice grew louder and more vehement as her father consistently shooed away every one of her words. “I can’t lose any more of my family! Be reasonable!” She had begun yelling and slamming her hoof on the table with wetness growing in her eyes.

Cloudy and Igneous appeared to intentionally disregard Pinkie’s demand as they passively sipped the soup and chewed the chunks of flora.

Igneous swallowed and set a stern gaze upon Pinkie, “We’re not going anywhere, Pinkamena. That’s final. I assure you that we will be okay. She has seen me demolish boulders with my bare hooves, and I am sure that she knows I will do the same to her skull if she returns with malicious intent.”

Pinkie gathered her things and shoved them into her saddlebag. She stood and began making her way for the exit with frustration weighting her steps.

She was stopped at the door by her father’s voice, “Pinkamena. Please, don’t be angry.”

She looked back shifting her fearful gaze from her mother to her father. “I’m not. I’m just scared, and obviously there is no way to tell you that in a way that you will understand. I’m going back to Ponyville to search for another lead because when I find Trixie, I know you’ll be safe.”

With that, Pinkie Pie departed in a determined canter with a course of action in mind. The thought of losing her parents reflected in her speed as she gradually accelerated into a sprint.

It didn't take long to reach the northern edge of Sweet Apple Acres where Applejack’s hard southern drawl rang in Pinkie’s ears slowing her to a casual jog. She looked in the direction of the sound to make sure she wasn’t just hearing things.

Applejack was carrying a wooden basket full of red apples on her back as she trotted to the pink pony. Pinkie diverted her direction to meet with her friend.

“What’s got the gallop in you?” Applejack asked setting down the basket and wiping sweat from her forehead.

Pinkie glanced at the basket and back up to Applejack as offence began a warm sensation in her face, “What are you doing? We have to find Trixie!”

The orange earth pony nodded, “I agree, but I got a farm to run here, Pinkie.”

“Applejack, I just found out that Trixie threatened my parents!” Pinkie exclaimed feeling the heat rise and spread over her head.

Applejack’s mouth dropped open, “What do we do?”

Pinkie stated simply, “Snips and Snails.”

“That’s right. They’re her little yes-ponies; fawning over her and all.” Applejack nodded.

Pinkie Pie gestured toward Ponyville before trotting away with Applejack following, “Let’s get Envoy and muscle some answers from those two.”

* * *

Envoy had just cleaned up the coffee from the floor when Fluttershy slammed into the front door. A metal whine sounded as the twine unfurled itself under the pressure and the door swung open.

“We need you!” Fluttershy shouted, and then her voice immediately lowered to a soft coo as she continued, “If you have time.”

“What’s happened?” Envoy asked already starting toward the door.

“Applejack and Pinkie Pie said you need to question Snips and Snails. They said if anypony would know where Trixie would be it’d be them.” Fluttershy explained joining Envoy’s cantering gait. Fluttershy led the way south-west to the Ponyville Schoolhouse.

“Why are we running?” Envoy asked.

“Because Pinkie Pie’s parents were threatened by Trixie!” Fluttershy shouted back.

They picked up pace as they met with Applejack and Pinkie Pie standing outside the Schoolhouse with Snips and Snails. Ms. Cheerilee, their teacher, was with them and every student inside was craning their necks to watch the questioning.

“Come on, AJ.” Snips pleaded. “We didn't do anything. Honest!”

“Yeah, we put the carrots back!” Snails said.

Envoy stopped in front of the two unicorns, “You’re Snips and Snails?”

“Yes.” They affirmed in unison in shame still believing that they were in trouble.

“What is this about, Envoy?” Cheerilee asked.

“We’re just asking some questions. We think they may know the location of somepony of interest.” Envoy explained.

Cheerilee gently pushed the Schoolhouse door closed much to the dismay of the occupants. “They’re not in any trouble are they?” She asked looking sternly at the colts.

“No, ma’am.” Envoy said.

“Alright, then, go ahead.” Cheerilee nodded to the investigator.

Envoy lowered her head to the young ponies’ level. She had never questioned anypony on her own before, so she tried to follow Scroot’s lead, “How are you guys doing?”

They exchanged a look before simultaneously answering, “Scared.”

“Don’t be. We’re just going to ask you some questions about somepony you know.” Envoy answered in a soothing voice.

They nodded.

“Do you colts know who Trixie is?” Envoy questioned levitating a notepad and giving it to Pinkie Pie.

“The great and powerful?” Snips asked.

Applejack winced at the reciprocated question. “Great and Powerful.” She scoffed resentfully under her breath.

Envoy split her face in a forced grin, “The one and only.”

Snails spoke up with his throaty slow voice, “Oh, we don’t know The One and Only Trixie. We only know The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Funny all these ponies would start copying her.” Snips noted.

“All these ponies?” Envoy repeated with a raised brow.

“Well, that’s only the second one we heard of.” Snails said.

“Who’s the first?” Envoy asked. Pinkie Pie watched the questioning and remained poised ready to jot down information, but was disappointingly met with nothing so far.

Snips shrugged, “We thought we were following Trixie to see some amazing magic, but it turned out that it wasn't her. She wasn't great or powerful.”

“What made you think she was Trixie?” Envoy pressed.

“She looked like her except her mane was black.” Snips explained. “We figured she dyed her mane for a magic show or something.”

“And she wasn't wearing a hat either.” Snails added.

“So, why do you say this pony was a copyist? Just because they looked alike?” Envoy asked sitting on her haunches beginning to feel a tightening in her neck. Their stupidity was unnerving enough to wear on Envoy’s professionalism.

Snails shook his head, “Not alike. They looked exactly the same, but her mane was different.”

“Did you catch her name?” Envoy leaned closer as if trying to transmit a few I.Q. points in their direction.

“The Benign and Negligible Frisky.” Snips answered in a disappointment.

“Yeah. We thought Trixie was trying to keep a really awesome magic trick a secret with the fake name, so we got on the train with her. But, when she couldn't even give the coach attendant her ticket with her magic, we knew she wasn't Trixie.” Snails said.

“Where were you headed?” Envoy asked gesturing to Pinkie Pie to write down the answer.

“To see some cool magic!” Snails answered.

“What city was the train heading for?” Cheerilee explicated noticing Envoy becoming annoyed.

“Manehattan.” Snips said.

“Yeah,” Snails began, “She said that because she was so benign and negligible, she didn’t perform magic, and so she was going to work at a theater.”

He rubbed his chin, “I think she said she was going to Carneighie Hall.”

Chapter Eight - Cat and Mouse

Chapter 8 – Cat and Mouse

They had become deaf to the muffled clicking and clacking of the train’s wheels against the rail ties. Rarity had not said anything, and neither did Scroot, as she awaited him to break the ice. She figured an investigator with the experiences and wisdom that he had would enjoy talking about it, but she found that he appeared to enjoy the silence at that moment. Their bodies rhythmically swayed next to each other slightly as the train bounced between the tracks against the nearly imperceptibly uneven rails.

Rarity finally said something, “Are you okay, Scroot?”

He sighed nodding slowly, “Trains just make me nervous, and I can’t smoke in here.”

“We could’ve gotten in a smoking coach if you had preferred.” Rarity sympathized.

“You wanted first class.” He said simply. “I’m okay with that. We’ll be in Canterlot in a bit. It’s really not a big deal.”

Rarity smiled at him, “You really are sweet.”

He peered at her without moving, “What? Two days ago, you said that I was incapable of being considerate.”

“You’re a bit rough in your speech, but I can see you have a heart.” Rarity rested a hoof on his. She wasn’t trying to be comforting or apologetic. She was more testing him to see how he would react to her touch. He didn’t shoo her hoof away nor did he move himself away from her. He just allowed her to touch him.

He smiled and looked at her, “Everypony has a heart, Rarity, and I’m not referring anatomically.”

“Not like yours, Scroot. Yours is one softened by the experience and ache of aged wisdom.” She slowly slid her hoof over his allowing their forelegs to cross over one another. To anypony observing them, they appeared to be a pair in honeymoon.

He didn’t say anything, but wore a warm smile in positive reflection to Rarity’s compliment.

“Can I ask you a question?” Rarity asked.

“Sure.” Scroot said.

She gave pause with uncertainty that her question would go over well. “Have you dated since your wife passed?”

“No.” He said with a light chuckle. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, honey, but I don’t get along very well with other ponies. My wife just fell onto my back all of those years ago, and I decided to keep her around.”

“You haven’t even tried to since then?” Rarity asked with a raised brow.

He shook his head. “I would agree with you, but that’s not entirely true because I didn’t try before her either. Like I said, she barged into my life, was convinced that I was the one, and chased me.”

“So, you don’t date?” She asked removing her hoof back to her lap with disappointment.

He studied her face as she looked away, “Rarity, what are you getting at?”

She glanced at him, but couldn’t maintain eye contact in her embarrassment, “I like you, Scroot. I don’t know why, but I find your vulgarity to be strangely charming. You’re seasoned, you’re honest, and your weathered appearance works for you.”

He cocked his head, “Thanks?”

She laughed falling onto him, “That’s a good thing.”

Scroot accepted her collapse wrapping a hoof around her and holding them up. They smiled to each other for a moment with Scroot’s expressive eyes displaying his flattered happiness.

“Sweetie, I like you, too.” He said.

She wanted a reason, but was apprehensive believing she would ruin the moment with a stupid question like, “Why do you like me?” So she simply rested against him and enjoyed herself in his strong embrace.

“Applejack said she thinks of me as an enemy because of Rainbow. I assume you don’t feel the same way.” He said.

She pressed onto his chest picking herself up, “At first, I was angry at you, yes, but I realize that you were simply mistaken and mistakes happen during the course of investigations all the time, I’m sure.”

He nodded, “If it makes you feel better, I do feel bad for having her arrested.”

“You don’t have to console me.” She returned to her own seat, “Applejack is much like you in that she has an unfiltered honesty although you’re much more profane.”

The train attendant announced their arrival in Canterlot as a light pull affected the passengers as the train came to a halt in the station. Old white buildings stippling the mountainside held the image of the city’s pristine royal importance and never failed to take Rarity’s breath away. Scroot hailed a taxi coach and relayed their destination to the driver whom pulled them to the massive and majestic Canterlot Castle.

The driver let them off at the front gate and gave them directions to the gift shop with the assumption that Scroot and Rarity was another pair of tourists. Scroot told him he was an idiot and led Rarity to the guard station just outside the gate. It was a small outpost where a unicorn royal guard sat behind a marble desk reading a magazine. The pegasus guard in the rear corner bounced a red rubber ball off the concrete wall slapping it back and forth with his right hoof. The consistent pounding was immediately offensive to Scroot’s ears although Rarity didn’t seem to notice.

“Investigators to see the Princess.” Scroot said placing his P.I. identification on the desk while watching the pegasus continue his obnoxious passing of time.

“Do you have an appointment?” The unicorn asked without looking up.

“No, but it’s important.” Scroot said feeling like he had to talk over the light squeak emitted by the ball as it collided against the wall and again against the pegasus’ hoof.

“Likely story.” The unicorn answered. “How about I take a message, and we’ll get back to you?”

“Hey.” Scroot called to the pegasus. “Knock it off for a second.”

The pegasus didn’t look away from the ball as he tracked it and hit it again, “You’ll be alright.”

Rarity said, “It is quite irritating, sir.”

“So?” The pegasus asked bouncing the ball again.

Scroot cocked his head and furrowed his brow, “So, I’ll bounce your head off that wall if you don’t quit.”

Rarity put a hoof on Scroot’s shoulder, “Applejack is half his size, and she kicked your ass.”

The pegasus snatched the ball out of the air with his forelegs and shot a deadly glare at Scroot. He gave Scroot a sinister smile with a raised brow, “Sir, you have to be careful with threats like that.” He gestured to the unicorn while continuing to talk to Scroot, “You’re the size of pony that I’d pick up to beat his ass with.”

“I need to speak with the Princess, right now.” Scroot said firmly.

The pegasus sarcastically agreed, “Oh, absolutely, but I can’t guarantee that she’ll see you today.”

“I can.” Scroot assured. “Tell her these exact words.”

* * *

Princess Celestia shuffled through papers in her small private office trying to find something worth while of her decree. The gray stone walls were remarkably contrasting to the extravagant throne at which she normally did business, but she couldn’t bring herself to face public scrutiny with the death of her most promising student still fresh in her mind. Every time she thought about it, anger and frustration would take hold of her usually elegant and poised presence. The ordinances and legislation she skimmed were dwarfed in importance as she struggled to continue her duties with so many ponies concerned with such infinitesimal details and minuscule issues. It was working down her patience more than usual.

Celestia upheld the image of a princess without effort, and she had grown tired of everypony walking on eggshells around her as if one false move would earn them a lifetime in a dungeon. The most irritating ponies were the ones which would assume that a few passing conversations would earn them some sort of special privilege. The sheer number of snooty Canterlot ponies that name drop because they said hello to her once at some random event continually surprised her. That attitude was especially displayed by municipalities led by some jackass whom wanted a national ban on the stupidest things like what direction somepony could walk on certain days of the week.

A knock at the door caught Celestia’s attention before a muffled voice came from behind the door, “Princess. You have a stubborn and foul mouthed earth pony with a unicorn saying he wants to see you as soon as possible. He said it was concerning Rainbow Dash.”

It wouldn’t have been the first pony to demand entry using Rainbow as a fulcrum. When the news broke of the Wonderbolt hopeful being arrested, she had at least three ponies a day send a Royal Guard to her office with that same message.

Celestia gestured pointlessly to the disembodied voice behind the door, “Please ask them to come back another time.” She said the same way she had a dozen times before.

“Your majesty, please don’t take this the wrong way, but the earth pony asked me to tell you something that I’m not entirely comfortable with.” The deep gritty voice said.

She raised a brow and opened the door with her magic. “That is?” She asked.

“That you’re... um... a bitch, your majesty.” The Royal Unicorn Guard said with an upward inflection as if asking a question.

Celestia stood unmoving for a moment giving pause to Scroot’s dry sense of humor. She said casually, “Send him in.”

The unicorn guard recoiled in surprise, bowed, and left to retrieve Scroot and Rarity.

Upon entry, Rarity bowed while Scroot remained upright. He approached Celestia with a haughty brow raised standing strong in her majestic and powerful presence.

“You get my message?” Scroot asked her.

The princess smiled, “Do you think you’re funny?”

Scroot returned the smile, “Oh, I know I’m funny. You’re the killjoy in this hell-hole you call a kingdom.”

Rarity froze in her bow and didn’t look up. She simply affixed her eyes on the rug below her hooves in surprise at Scroot acting like he was talking with an old bar buddy.

Princess Celestia addressed Rarity, “You may rise, Rarity.”

The white unicorn did shifting her eyes from Scroot to Celestia expecting at any moment for her horn to flash a laser and obliterate Scroot’s arrogance into a fine pink cloud. “Princess, we’re here with sufficient evidence to exonerate Rainbow Dash.”

Celestia nodded, “I had a feeling you were.”

“Look at that. You’re still insightful and shit.” Scroot chuckled.

Celestia raised a brow at him, “If you think for a second that I won’t call that Royal Guard back in here to stuff you in a trash can specifically for my amusement, you’re about to be sorely mistaken.”

Scroot laughed, “I believe you.” He bowed briefly, “How are you, Celestia?”

The princess blew air and considered her situation, “I've seen better days.”

“I understand.” Scroot nodded. “Can you issue the release to the jail?”

“I deputized you in my authority over that situation. Why haven't you gone?” Celestia asked.

“Because...” He gave pause remembering Envoy's words, “I just think it'd be better that I wasn't the first pony she saw.”

Celestia's face twisted in a smirk knowing the investigator wasn't being entirely truthful. She knew him too well to believe that he was that considerate, “I agree. Rarity, have one of my guards escort you to the jail with this message.” She said floating a sealed parchment into Rarity's bag.

“Yes, Princess.” Rarity nodded. Princess Celestia gave Rarity a dismissing nod, and Rarity left with the Royal Pegasus outside the door.

Celestia raised a brow at Scroot. “What is this really about?”

“What do you mean?” Scroot returned her quizzical look.

“Are you afraid to admit you were wrong?” She said.

Scroot shrugged, “I was wrong. I'm not afraid to admit that.”

“But facing Rainbow Dash?” Celestia sat on her haunches cocking her head in his direction.

He sighed and shook his head. “I've never been good at this kind of thing.”

“Scroot, I've known you for a long time, and you haven't changed. I'll have you know, that letter instructs Rainbow Dash to come here upon release.” She said.

He lowered his head shamefully, “Somehow, that doesn't surprise me.”

Celestia's magic flickered under his chin picking his head up, “I'm sorry. I can't let you hide from her.”

Silence fell upon them as Scroot contemplated the words he would use to apologize to Rainbow Dash. He shook her magic from his face and walked to the small privacy window looking over the south-west. Ponyville appeared as a dull tan grid amongst the green grass in the distance.

“It seems so obvious now that Rainbow Dash didn't do it.” Scroot said under his breath without looking away from the window.

Celestia stood and went to Scroot's side, “Retrospect is always clearer.”

Scroot sighed and shook his head again, “Why didn't things work out between us?”

She gave him a light-hearted scoff, “Scroot, there wasn't an 'us'.”

“There wasn't?” He smiled, “You bailed a lonely earth-pony out of a gambling debt just from the goodness of your heart?”

“Yes.” She answered simply.

“My ass.” He turned to face her. “You wanted my body, but politics kept you from having it.”

Celestia rolled her eyes, “I don't allow my perception of public opinion affect my decisions, and you know that.”

“Right. That's why you let me arrest Rainbow Dash when you knew she was innocent.” Scroot said.

Celestia raised a brow at him with slight offense, “You were unbiased in your findings, and you have proven yourself to be trustworthy. I allowed that to happen because I trust you, Scroot.”

“Then why can't I go back to Ponyville, and let this thing blow over without me?” He asked in a nearly desperate whine.

Celestia laughed, “Because I believe she needs to hear it from you. Being detained is not an easy experience, and she will need closure.”

Scroot shook his head, “What do we do in the meantime? Stand here awkwardly and talk about the weather?”

She smiled, “You may go where you like. You know this castle fairly well.”

He thought for a moment. The library sounded like a nice quiet place, and the Castle Cafe had quite the selection, but he didn't really want to leave her. They hadn't spoken in over a hundred years, and although he had aged quite a bit, she still looked as if she wasn't a day over 500.

Scroot watched the world through the window trying to affix himself on the fact the Earth would continue spinning if Rainbow Dash decided to hate him. He also tried to remain optimistic that he could have a relationship with Rarity despite Rainbow Dash's hatred for him. Maybe facing Rainbow and grovelling for her forgiveness might help that, but he wasn't sure.

His wife's death had left him alone and bitter. He didn't want Rainbow Dash to hate him, and he didn't want to be alone anymore. Her forgiveness might solve both of those problems, but how was he supposed to justify himself?

He had become lost in thought when he realized that he was staring at Celestia, “I think I'll stick around.”

“I knew that you would.” Celestia nodded returning to her paperwork leaving Scroot to script the impending conversation in his mind.

* * *

Rarity was in a casual canter alongside Rainbow Dash as she hovered up the castle drive escorted by the Royal Pegasus. Rainbow took deep breaths one after another enjoying the freedom of clean outside oxygen. The moist city air was liberating, and she almost couldn't contain herself from flying off into the sky.

“So, where is everypony else?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“They're in Ponyville. Scroot and I...” Rarity said before being interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, Scroot! Just wait till I get my hooves on him.” She wrung her hooves together.

Rarity looked away from Dash, “That's just the thing. We're not visiting the princess per se.”

Rainbow Dash set down with a flat look staring at Rarity, “He's here?”

The white unicorn rubbed the back of her neck nervously, “Yes. He wants to talk it out.”

“Hey, you fillies want to hurry it up?” The pegasus guard called.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity continued with Rainbow now apprehensive to the visit when the unmistakable roar of pegasus wings against the sound barrier streaked across the sky. Rainbow looked up and saw a bright yellow blur speeding right up to Princess Celestia's private office window and pound on it.

“Is that Fluttershy?” Rarity squinted. “I didn't know she could move that fast.”

“She can't!” Rainbow exclaimed, “Something's wrong.”

Rainbow shot off the ground toward Fluttershy just as she was let into the office window. The Pegasus Guard flew after her, and Rarity galloped hard into the castle racing to the office as well.

* * *

Fluttershy panted hard unable to get out a single word.

“What?!” Scroot asked for the third time.

Rainbow Dash flew in through the window, “What's going on, Fluttershy?” She saw Scroot and squinted at him, “You!”

All of Scroot's scripting became murky immediately, “I know you're mad, but...”

“Manehattan.” Fluttershy panted.

Rainbow Dash set down on the floor stalking to Scroot, “Four days, Scroot. I'm beyond mad.”

Celestia stepped forward, “I think we all need to calm down and take things one at a time. Fluttershy appears to have urgent news.”

Scroot agreed, “Right.”

“Of course you care what we have to say now. I'm going to hurt you no matter how long you stall.” Rainbow growled.

Rarity finally made her way into the office, “Rainbow! Don't hurt him!”

Fluttershy panted again, “Carneighie Hall.”

“Let's calm down, fillies.” Celestia said.

Scroot held a hoof to Rainbow Dash whom was closing the gap between them, “I'm sorry, Rainbow. I'll let you do and say whatever you need. I'm sorry! Really, I am!” He sat down holding his hooves out. “Do whatever you need to do. I just don't want you to hate me.”

“Trixie!” Fluttershy yelled.

Rarity cantered to Fluttershy, “Trixie is at Carneighie Hall?”

Celestia gasped, Rainbow Dash froze, and Scroot looked over to her.

Fluttershy caught her breath, “Yes. Trixie went to Carneighie Hall three days ago.”

Scroot stood, “We need to go, now.”

Fluttershy continued, “Envoy, Applejack, and Pinkie are on their way. She wanted me to get you to meet them there.”

Celestia stared into the floor, “Trixie did this?”

Scroot nodded, “Yes, she did.” He looked at Rainbow, “Envoy isn't prepared to take down a dangerous criminal. She needs my help. I'll gladly take an ass beating if it will make you feel better, but right now, we need to get to Manehattan as soon as possible.”

Rainbow stared at him with a look that could kill him. Hatred burned in her eyes and seared Scroot's gaze. “Okay, but it's coming.”

Celestia's horn flashed sending orders to Pegasus Guards that galloped into the room as soon as they were notified. She told them firmly, “Take these ponies to Carneighie Hall in Manehattan immediately. Follow the instructions of Scroot Whinny, and arrest Trixie.”

* * *

They landed at the Manehattan Station just after Envoy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie exited the train terminal. Envoy shouted to Scroot as they galloped toward Carneighie Hall.

Scroot caught up with her, “Stop, Envoy!”

She stopped and gave him a quizzical look, “Why? We have her.”

“No, we don't.” He said. “If we run in there nine ponies deep screaming and hollering, we'll tip her off.”

“Okay,” Applejack started, “Then, what's the plan?”

“Envoy is going to go in and speak with the manager. If Trixie works there, we can find out where she lives, and anything else they know, but we need to chill out and do this easy.” Scroot explained.

“Why me?” Envoy asked.

“Because I know the manager of Carneighie Hall.” Scroot said. “His son is a piece of shit that I arrested over and over. In short, he and I have a bad history, and he is going to give up information to a mare easier.”

“What do you need us to do?” One of the Royal Pegasus Guards asked.

“Stand aside and let Envoy work her magic.” Scroot said. “Envoy, we'll be in the coffee shop over here waiting for you to come back.”

Scroot gestured down the street dismissing Envoy as she trotted away to Carneighie Hall.

They settled down in the coffee shop where a bad trio of acoustic guitar players filled the shop with terrible covers of old rock ballads on the small stage in the south-west corner. Alligator leather couches and recliners lined the outside and snooty ponies with one too many pins in their berets and baseball caps were seated enjoying coffee and talking about their world peace views.

Scroot sat them in a large section in the north-east corner of the shop. Rarity forced her way next to Scroot on a love seat across from Applejack and Pinkie Pie's couch. Rainbow Dash sat in a recliner between the couch and love seat. The Royal Guards chose to stand.

One of the other occupants asked if they were a famous band having been escorted by the Royal Guards. Scroot simply said, “No autographs, please.”

“What was it like?” Pinkie Pie asked Rainbow Dash.

“It was boring.” She said. “There just wasn't anything to do. The other ponies would leave their cells to talk with the other inmates, but I didn't want to associate with them too much.”

“Was the food bad?” Applejack asked.

“No. There just wasn't a lot of it. I was starving to death the whole time.” Rainbow Dash said.

Rarity nudged Scroot. “Now's your chance.”

He looked up to Rainbow Dash, “Hey, I'm sorry for all of that.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed, “I'm sure.”

A waitress unicorn approached them, “Welcome to Star Buck. Can I get you anything?”

“Arabica. Black.” Scroot said.

“You sound so apologetic.” Rainbow continued.

“We might be here a while.” Scroot explained. The other ponies ordered on Scroots tab except for Rainbow Dash who refused service.

“Scroot, you ain't a bad pony, but you're going to have to give her some time.” Applejack said.

Scroot nodded, “I understand, but I'm fucking hurting over here. Rainbow, I don't know how to convey that I really am sorry, and I don't want you to hate me, in a way that you'll believe me.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, “I don't hate you.” She rolled her eyes, “Applejack's right. You need to give me some time.”

* * *

Envoy approached the reception desk of the Carneighie Hall lobby. The desk was in the middle of the rear wall in between the massive entrance and exit double doors on either side. A colt pegasus with a bad haircut between a mohawk and a ceasar sat behind it.

“Can I speak with your manager?” Envoy asked.

“Maybe I can help?” He said looking up from his book.

“No, I need to lodge a complaint against an employee.” She said.

“Is it me? I know I'm not supposed to read on the job. I didn't see you, I'm sorry!” He pleaded.

“It's not you.” Envoy touched his hoof with hers, “It's Trixie.”

He cocked his head, “Who?”

Envoy sighed with irritation, “Can I just talk to your manager, please?”

The colt agreed and went in through the entry doors for a moment and returned through the exit doors with a tall, handsome green unicorn with clean and short white hair swept right behind his horn.

“Can I help you?” He asked. His voice was sultry and like butter in Envoy's ears.

“Yes, I need to ask you about one of your employees. Do you have an office where we can talk?” She said sweeping her mane from her face with a hoof. The manager thought she was being flirtatious.

He raised a brow with a naughty smile, “Absolutely.”

They entered his office, a small room with an artistic mahogany desk in the middle and several pictures of him with famous performers. He took a seat behind the desk and gestured to one of the smoking chairs in front of him.

She sat down, “Do you have an employee by the name of Trixie?”

“My name is Green Berry.” He ignored the question.

“Alright, Berry.” She smiled.

“Most ponies call me Green.” He said leaning on the desk.

“Oh.” She shifted her eyes, but continued her smile, “Okay.”

“I assume you're looking for a job.” He said dipping his head trying to explicate some kind of subtext, but Envoy didn't get it.

“Not really.” She said finding humor in his sad come on. Green believed her to be buying it not realizing that she was laughing at him.

“Which job do you prefer? Hoof or blow?” He said softly.

She coughed and sat up, “Whoa! I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm just here to get some information.”

He shrugged, “I'd be willing to talk in exchange.”

Her eyes narrowed. Apparently his son wasn't the only piece of shit in their family. An evil smile flicked the corner of her mouth, “Talk first.” She made her voice breathy, “and I'll do whatever you want.”

Green Berry grinned as his horn glowed opening a drawer on the desk and levitating a pair of fuzzy green hoof-cuffs, “Absolutely. What do you want to know?”

She eyed the cuffs, “Do you employ a unicorn named Trixie?” They were safety cuffs. They had a small lever on the outside so that the wearer could free themselves with their rear hooves.

He stopped and searched desperately for the correct answer, “I may have.”

“She will only have been working here for a couple of days. You would have hired this pony recently.” Envoy explained trying to maintain her stupid come-hither voice.

His magic clicked the cuffs around Envoy's fore legs, “I've only interviewed one mare in the last few days.” He stood, made his way around the desk, and leaned closely to Envoy's face. “She wouldn't even rub me off with her hooves.”

Envoy became increasingly uncomfortable, but managed not to show it, “What was her name? The prudish bitch.” Envoy gave her best fake smile.

He kissed her neck and ran his tongue up the left side of her jaw which made Envoy's skin crawl. Between his wet smacking against her fur he said, “I think it was Frisky.” He sat up and met Envoy's gaze again, “There was a few more words involved, but I don't remember them.”

His magic flicked the seat's back release leaning Envoy on her back as his sweaty body forced itself on top of her. She gritted her teeth and tried to keep cool, “You didn't hire her?”

The buttons on her shirt popped off one by one as he answered, “No, and it upset me. She was damned good looking. Nothing like you, but worthy of a strip joint. I'll bet that's where she got the idea.”

Envoy tried to sit up but was met with his hoof holding her down. She could feel 'it' on her stomach. “What do you mean? She went to work at a strip club?” She recoiled as he wrapped his lips around hers with his corroded slimy tongue finding it's way between her teeth. He seemed to be trying to scoop out her tonsils with it.

He appeared to notice that Envoy wasn't into it, but he also didn't seem to care. He sat up running a hoof down her chest, “I haven't had a good lay in a while. This won't last long.”

“Look, I don't want to do this. I just need to know where Frisky is.” Envoy pleaded.

“That's not the way this is going to work.” He gave a sinister smile. “I'll get mine. You might as well pretend to enjoy it.”

“Where is Frisky working now?” She demanded readying herself to buck him off.

“Enough talk.” He said placing a hoof on her mouth.

She threw herself forward and landed her forehead in his chin. He grabbed at the air trying to catch himself as he fell onto the desk. She kicked the cuffs from her hooves, flipped over, and bucked hard into the soft organs.

He yelped but not much screaming came out. She leaped onto the desk and put her hoof on his throat. His rear hooves tried to find leverage on the floor, but he was trapped under her. She wasn't sure if his testicles hurt more than the desk ornaments stabbing into his back. His split lip poured blood onto the wood below his head and his right eye was already beginning to swell shut from her horn hitting it.

“Where does Frisky work now?” She screamed releasing his neck just enough to allow him to take a breath.

“Fuck you!” He shouted. She cut off his air again and brought the other hoof down gashing his eyebrow. She tried to hit him again, but he caught the blow with his magic. “I'll sue you into jail, bitch!” He choked.

“Where is Frisky?!” She screamed. “Tell me or I'll break off your horn and fuck you in the neck with it!”

Green's mouth opened and formed a word, but had no oxygen to voice it.

Envoy reduced the pressure slightly, “What was that?”

“The Plot!” He coughed out.

She stomped his throat hard and left the office with Green Berry choking on his own blood.

Chapter Nine - Requited Chagrin and Back Again

Chapter 9 – Requited Chagrin and Back Again

After returning and relaying what had happened at Carneighie Hall, Scroot and Envoy walked into the club together leaving Twilight's friends at the coffee shop and placing a Royal Guard at each entrance to the building. Two Royal Guards obliged Scroot's request to remove their uniforms and escort the investigators into the club in disguise. Their swollen muscles and black t-shirts helped them blend in with the bouncers of the club.

A unicorn with a cold blue slicked back mane bobbed his head with the punching beat of the electronic music. He moved sliders on the soundboard and changed records as he seamlessly blended one bass heavy driving technical beat into a softer, but faster electronic song. The digital vocals underscored the song's underlining reason: Illicit Sex.

Although it wasn't abnormal for ponies to walk around without clothes on, the nude mares strutted explicitly showing off their private parts. Scroot remembered this club in particular. It had gone through dozens of name changes, but it hadn't changed at all, and he was certain that the prostitution that was rampant during his days as a detective was persevering.

Scroot strangely appeared like the rest of the strip-club goers in pressed button-ups and ties. The narrow room had three stages, and one in the center. The bar across from the stages had servers dressed in lingerie, the tables had poles rising to the high ceiling from them, and a few of them had dancers that welcomed horny stallion's faces into their flanks.

The thick smog from smoking ponies was almost too much for Scroot to handle. He looked over the club trying to discern the colors of the dancers in the low light. The strobes and flashing colors of the stage lights didn't help him.

“Coming on stage,” The DJ announced with a hard inflection explicating his innuendo, “While being anything but, feast your eyes on the Benign and Negligible Frisky!”

Scroot laughed over the music and nudged Envoy. “That's just too fucking convenient.”

A cornflower unicorn mare with jet black mane strutted from the stage smoke with a levitated rag wiping down the highly reflective silver pole. The stallions in the front row whistled and cheered as she grabbed the pole near the floor with her fore-hooves and straightened her rear legs towards them. She moved her tail with her magic and wiggled her hips.

“This is disgusting.” Envoy said.

Stallions with bits in their teeth leaned as close as they could to the dancing Trixie. She leaned back into their faces picking the bits from their mouths. Scroot found himself a bit impressed.

“You want us to nail her now, sir?” One of the Royal Guards asked Scroot.

“Interesting choice of words.” Scroot nodded. “Yeah, let's get her.”

The Royal Pegasi walked onto the stage led by Scroot. He flashed his badge at the bouncers and approached the unicorn suspect. She stopped dancing and stared wide eyed at Scroot whom was placing his badge back in his breast pocket.

“Trixie?” Scroot said over the music. “We finally meet.”

She glanced behind her at the perverts approaching the stage blocking her escape. “Who are you?”

“I'm Investigator Scroot Whinny. We have the building surrounded, and you're coming with us.” He answered.

Trixie was suddenly flush with panic as they approached her. She mirrored their movements backing away, “You won't take the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Her eyes narrowed, and her horn flashed a powerful pink.

Scroot swiveled his head quickly looking for anything lit up with the same color. His heart stopped observing the stage light rig glowing and being pulled from the ceiling. He shouted at the Royal Pegasi and leaped forward onto his belly barely escaping the collapsing steel. One of the Royal Guards dove backwards, but the other didn't react fast enough as his head exploded against the stage under the rig.

The music stopped abruptly while the DJ shielded his face from the splash of blood and brains. A bloom of red grew on the stage where the Guard's head used to be.

Trixie jumped over the ponies on the front row and dashed for the exit. Scroot gave chase seeing Envoy trying to trip the fleeing Trixie with her magic. The remaining Royal Guard took flight to the top of the high ceiling and fired downward to catch Trixie.

Envoy's plan worked. Trixie's hoof failed to obey her forward motion and she landed square on her face. The Royal Guard flew over Scroot's head and landed hard on Trixie's rump with a hoof smashing her leg. Bits and blood spewed onto the floor.

A loud crack echoed among the screams of the confused occupants of the club as bone was crushed through Trixie's skin. Blood poured from the wound as Trixie cried in pain and defeat. She laid on her side under the Royal Guard watching her leg soak the carpet below her.

“Celestia's mercy!” Trixie screamed. “Please, stop the bleeding! Trixie doesn't want to die!”

“You're under arrest for the murder of Twilight Sparkle, Trixie. It's over.” Scroot shouted gesturing for Envoy to send for an ambulance.

Through Trixie's crying and screaming Scroot put a hoof on the Royal Guard's shoulder, “Thank you. That was smart to incapacitate her like that.”

He shook his head, “I missed.”

Scroot cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

The Guard looked back at the dead pegasus, “He was my friend. I was aiming for her skull.”

* * *

Trixie was refused by the jail due to the compound fracture of her left rear leg. She was taken into the hospital under Canterlot Detention's supervision. She'd lost a lot of blood, but they were certain she would live to answer for the murders.

Rarity followed Scroot to the hospital room with Envoy. “What if she doesn't tell you anything?” Rarity asked.

“It won't matter. If we can get a confession, it's good for us, but it won't matter if she doesn't.” Scroot said.

“Interviewing her at this point is a formality.” Envoy explained.

“I have a morbid curiosity as well.” Rarity admitted.

Scroot smiled. “Hopefully, she'll oblige that for you.”

“Let's get in there and do this.” Envoy said.

Scroot nodded in agreement and kissed Rarity softly. “This shouldn't take long. I'm not going to give her a bunch of chances to talk.”

The investigators entered bare white room where Trixie lie in a bed perpendicular to the north wall. A small stack of books sat on an end table next to a Canterlot Deputy who was watching the heart monitor intently.

The earth-pony deputy looked up and recognized Scroot, “Detective! Long time; no see.”

“Deputy Coal. I figured you'd at least be a captain by now.” Scroot smiled.

“If I wasn't late everywhere I went, I'd probably be a chief. What's going on?” He said.

“We're here to relieve you for a moment to do an interview.” Scroot said.

Coal smiled big, “By Celestia's mercy! Isn't that great? I was bored out of my mind in here.” He started out of the room, “I'm going to the cafe to grab me a bite. Send for me whenever you need me back.”

Scroot approached the hospital bed with Envoy at his side. She prepared to record a transcript on a levitated notepad and gave Scroot a nod notifying him that she was ready. Trixie looked them over knowing who Scroot was and trying to place where she had seen Envoy before.

“Trixie.” Scroot started, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford a council, you will be appointed one. Do you understand these rights?”

Trixie exercised the first right and simply looked away from the investigators.

“You have dozens of witnesses that saw you kill a Royal Guard, Trixie. You're through. You might as well tell us why you murdered Twilight.” Scroot explained and was met with further silence.

“I'm sure they'll cut you a deal if you just cop to it. You might be able to stay out of Tartarus.” Scroot continued.

“Tartarus?” Trixie asked fearfully.

“Yeah, Tartarus. A literal hell on Earth. It's a place where the demons of the world are imprisoned. There aren't many ponies that can even survive there. I don't know why Equestria has no death penalty. Sending ponies to Tartarus, even unicorns, just means that they'll be tortured for weeks until they die. They don't stand a chance against all of the demons kept there.” Scroot cruelly explained.

He continued, “Although you did a good job on the Twilight murder, you won't beat it, and you definitely won't beat the Guard murder.”

Wetness swelled in Trixie's eyes, but refused to let go of the tears as they just clung to her eye lashes. She closed her eyes squeezing the moisture down her cheeks, and she dropped her head into her hooves crying.

Scroot patted her shoulder, “Tell us what happened. Why did you do it?”

Trixie began through her hooves, “The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't know why she did it. She was mad at Twilight for making her look stupid in front of all those ponies. She hated her after Twilight made her look stupid again when the Greater and More Powerfuller Trixie returned to Ponyville with the Alicorn Amulet with vengeance.”

Trixie looked up at the window dropping her hooves into her lap. She shook her head and tried to stay quiet. She opened her mouth without voicing words and silenced herself thinking that she should request that a lawyer be present.

“How did you do it?” Scroot asked with a soft and genuine tone trying to butter her up. Envoy wanted to shake the unicorn inot submission. She wanted to shout at her, 'You're going down for it anyway, just talk, you dumb bitch.'

Trixie sniffled and the words flowed from her nearly involuntarily, “She went into the house when Twilight was asleep and strangled the owl with her magic. He didn't last very long, and it felt great to watch his life fade from his large eyes. He was taken to the Everfree Forest where nopony found him for a few days. Trixie went back to the house, but didn't know how to kill a dragon quickly because she feared that choking him to death wouldn't work. They're too strong.”

She looked at Scroot. “She made a poison and used her magic to inject him with it. She watched him die. It looked painful which made Trixie feel very good.”

Envoy wrote at as fast as she could writing down everything Trixie was saying verbatim. Trixie's third-pony speech made for an interesting narrative because usually she had to convert confessions from first-pony perspective on the fly.

Trixie continued, “She thought about using her magic to stab Twilight, but Trixie wanted to feel her die in her jaws. She wanted to feel the blood on her face. Trixie hated her so much. She stabbed her in the neck, and Twilight woke up with a fight faster than she thought she would. She bit Trixie on her leg, very hard. It hurt. Trixie panicked and just kept stabbing her until she stopped moving. Twilight made very strange sounds. Gurgling, and it sounded like she was trying to scream.

“Trixie pulled her off the bed with her magic trying not to drop blood onto the floor. She put Twilight and Spike onto the sled, and she pulled them to the Everfree Forest. They were so heavy and ponies kept trying to see what Trixie was hauling. The dragon was heavier than Twilight which surprised Trixie.” She stopped and wiped her nose as she wept almost not being able to believe that she was telling them everything. She had kept it a secret for a week, and she was just relieved to be telling anypony.

“Trixie dumped Spike, and she pulled the sled easier with just Twilight on it. She went to Ghastly Gorge and put Twilight on the edge and realized what she had done. She became scared of what would happen if she got caught, but was also sad that she was capable of murder. She felt scared of herself.

“She thought of her humiliation, and it made her angry again. She thought about the fake amulet that Twilight fooled her with, and she was unable to control herself again. She took it in her hoof and shoved it into Twilight's mouth. She spent a long time trying to get it as deep in her throat as she could. She was so angry she beat the dead Twilight for a long time until she was too tired to continue. That was when The Great and Powerful Trixie covered Twilight again with the rug and pushed her off the cliff. Trixie watch Twilight fall. She watched her crash into the ground with the rug getting caught on the tree. Trixie thought about going down to the creek and putting her in the water, but she was scared that somepony would find the blood in the house so she went back to Twilight's.”

Scroot nodded after a long pause and added, “And you cleaned the crime scene.”

Trixie cleared her cheeks of tears, “Trixie cleaned a lot, but she couldn't get all of it. The blood wouldn't come out completely. Trixie had to leave because Rainbow Dash knocked on the door. She had to make a quick escape so Trixie went out of the window by Twilight's bed.”

“You almost got caught by Rainbow Dash?” Scroot asked in surprise.

“Yes. Trixie felt relieved that Rainbow Dash was ironically arrested for the murder. Trixie hated all of them. Trixie went to Manehattan to start a new life under a new name, but nopony would hire me until the pervert manager of the Carneighie Hall suggested the strip-club. He said that mares like Trixie make lots of money dancing there. She assumes you found out Trixie was working there from him.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny.” Scroot said.

“Trixie is sorry she killed those ponies. Honestly, she is more sorry that she was caught, but nonetheless she is sorry that she killed anypony.” She cried harder.

Envoy became disgusted at Trixie's apology and almost felt ill from it. She put her notepad away and nodded to Scroot telling him that she got it all down.

“She humiliated you, so you stabbed her to death?” Scroot asked.

Trixie lowered her gaze and fiddled with her own hooves in shame. “Yes. The Great and Powerful Trixie tried to let it go. She apologized to Twilight to try to make herself feel better about it, and it was well received, but Trixie still was met with scrutiny over the events. She stewed in hatred for everypony that enjoyed Twilight's company. Trixie wanted to take her away from them just like Twilight took her performances away. She had to die. I...”

Trixie paused reflecting the words she was about to speak, “I had to kill her.”

* * *

In the following months, Trixie recovered from her broken leg, but was unable to walk on her own ever again. She was sent to trial where she was tried by a jury that was difficultly selected to receive the most unbiased verdict although she was still convicted of two counts of murder, and one count of cruelty to animals and sentenced to life in Tartarus.

She was transported back to the maximum security Special Housing Unit of the Canterlot Detention Center where she had nothing in the cell. Each wall was bare and cold, there was a water fountain built into the floor, and a hole for bathroom purposes, but the cell was specifically constructed to prevent suicides.

Trixie contemplated how she would die in Tartarus. She had heard stories of mares like her being raped to death by gigantic magical demons. Ponies starving, beaten, or skewered all reaching their demise within a few weeks of being brought there. She may live longer if a demon manages to protect her in order to prolong the perpetual raping she would be forced to endure. She wished she could figure out a way to kill herself; thus, sparing her of the horribly grotesque fate she was doomed to suffer.

A metallic whirring caught her attention as the steel door opened revealing Princess Celestia entering the cell. Trixie bowed out of habit.

“Get up.” Celestia commanded.

Trixie stood. Her tears dripped from her chin as she gazed upon the angered face of the 2,000 year old actually great and powerful Celestia. They stared at each other in a moment of silence at the first time Celestia had seen Trixie since the murder. Celestia had a primordial urge to smash her into an unrecognizable pulp.

“Princess-” Trixie began.

“Don't speak.” Celestia silenced her.

Trixie noticed she was not accompanied by an entourage of intimidating Royal Guards. The detention officers appeared to have been dismissed from their posts. Trixie and Celestia were alone to speak in confidence.

“Why-” Trixie started again.

Celestia's horn glowed squeezing Trixie's mouth shut. “Don't say a word.”

Trixie didn't struggle against the powerful magic grip holding her jaws closed. She simply awaited for Celestia to explain her presence.

“You have committed a crime which is unspeakable. As if decapitating harmony, you have broken apart the Elements and left Equestria without it's most important means of defense.” Celestia said through gritted teeth. “You will be transported to Tartarus for these crimes where you will live a short life. The burning fires, stabbing rocks, and choking smoke will end you soon if the demons imprisoned there don't eat you alive or use you as hunting game. Or worse.”

Her horn continued to glow as a thin rope slid over the threshold of the cell. Celestia's magic dissipated from the rope just in front of Trixie's hooves. It was braided nylon. Very strong.

Celestia turned to exit the cell. “I can assure you that nopony will bother you until you go to Tartarus in the morning.” Her magic gripped the cell door as she began to close it behind her, “For I am a forgiving princess.”