Moondrop

“Murder! Murder!” a hysterical voice screamed out, causing Twilight to lose her concentration and drop the mug she was holding, shattering it on the floor. The voice came from the lobby and sounded strained, as though the screamer was not accustomed to speaking loudly, and either belonged to a mare or a young child. Twilight sighed and turned to make her way to the lobby. Trixie, upon noticing her partner leaving, fell in step behind her, much to Twilight’s annoyance.

When they arrived at the lobby they saw the screamer in question, a mare with a coat the colour of cream and a striped mane of cyan. She was being calmed down by a policecolt, who was holding a jacket over her and trying to get her to explain yourself. “Miss, what happened?” he asked. “We can’t help you if you don’t talk to us.” The mare stared blankly, that blank stare that adorns the faces of those who’ve suffered some great tragedy and are trying desperately, helplessly to make some sense of their lives.

Twilight felt something poke her flank, and turned to see Trixie trying to get her attention. “Go talk to her,” she whispered before pushing her towards the young mare, “otherwise the great and powerful Trixie will have to steal the spotlight and do it for you!” Trixie urged her on, waving her towards the shocked pony, and Twilight glared back. She didn’t enjoy speaking to well-adjusted ponies, let alone ponies who were clearly in shock, but trotted forward anyway.

She waved the policecolt away and sat down beside the distraught mare. Twilight noticed, from her new vantage point, the dry eyes of the mare and mentally noted it down. She cleared her throat to get the mare’s attention, to no avail. “Hey there,” she started, putting on her game face. “What’s your name?”

The mare turned her head slightly in Twilight’s direction, which she took as a good sign. “I’m Twilight,” she said. “Can you tell me your name?” The mare looked down and shivered a bit, pulling the jacket draped around her shoulders tighter. “We can’t help if you don’t say anything to us.” The mare continued with her silence, and Twilight sighed and stood up. She made her way to Trixie, who was waiting eagerly for her partner to return. As Twilight was leaving, however, the mare spoke up.

“...Coco,” she said, her voice as soft as her demeanour. Twilight turned to her, surprised that the mare had finally found it in herself to say something.

“What did you just say?” she asked. The mare repeated herself.

“My name is Coco Pommel...” she muttered, looking down at the ground. Twilight managed to make out what she said this time and went back to her chair beside the mare.

“Alright, miss Pommel. Can you tell me what happened? Why did you come running in here, making such a ruckus?” Twilight put on her best smile, hoping it would be enough to get the mare to open up.

The mare gulped, and Twilight noticed how tense she seemed. “T-there was a m-m-m...” the mare seemed to be struggling to say the word, and was on the verge of breaking down again, when Trixie came forward and rubbed her back, telling her that everything would be alright now, a change in the unicorn’s demeanour that surprised Twilight greatly. What had happened to the arrogance from before?

Coco, after a few moments of comfort from Trixie, opened up again. “There was a m-murder,” she explained. “Downtown. I went to work this morning and found her lying there... all bloody and... oh my Celestia!” At that, Coco burst into tears, covering her eyes with her hooves and sobbing.

Twilight stood up and motioned for Trixie to follow her. Trixie obliged, got up and stopped comforting Coco without any warning, a scowl forming on her face. “Ugh,” she complained when she approached Twilight, “I think I got some tears in my cape.” The ease with which Trixie gave up on the distraught Coco shocked Twilight, but she kept her composure. Trixie was a good actress- and that meant she was a good liar. She’d have to keep an eye on her.

“Go down to town hall and pull up Coco’s employment records. If we can’t get her to tell us where she works, we’ll find it there. Think you can handle that?”

Trixie nodded and saluted, giving Twilight a nod. “I could do that in my sleep, boss!” She punctuated the last word with a smoke bomb to the ground, which hissed and released a small cloud of smoke into the air, before running off down a hallway.

Twilight sighed. The over-dramatic, arrogant mare she was stuck with was going to be hard to tolerate. Twilight briefly wondered why Trixie seemed to look up to her before brushing away the thought. It was likely all an act to get on her good side.

Twilight turned and went to go get her coat. They had a murder scene to investigate.

Trixie had been true to her word, quickly and easily finding the address of miss Coco Pommel. She worked at a small boutique in the heart of the city, on Bridle Road, right next to Ponyville’s first bar and a thrift shop.

Ponyville had grown exponentially over the last two decades, forming from a small farm town into a relatively large city, complete with the hustle and bustle that came with it. While it didn’t even rival the size of larger cities, such as Manehattan or Fillydelphia, it was still considered one of the largest and quickest growing cities in the country.

Twilight and Trixie opened the door of the boutique, causing the bell above them to ring. The boutique was a nice little place, with mannequins adorned in beautiful dresses and exquisite suits placed all around. An unoccupied counter sat near the back, a cash register lying on its side, open and empty. A CSI was taking photos of it, along with a shattered wooden door leading to the back of the building. When the CSI noticed the two detectives, she pointed to the wooden door.

“Stiff’s that way, detectives,” she informed them, a slight grimace on her face. “You may want to get a face mask.”

The detectives looked at each other. Trixie shrugged and grabbed a face mask out of a box that was offered to them by the CSI. Twilight did the same, and the two of them approached the door. Twilight pointed at the splintered wood that remained. “It had to have taken a considerable amount of force to break this,” she speculated. “We’re dealing with an earth pony or a unicorn.”

Trixie tutted and shook her head. “No offense, but Trixie doesn’t think you should be ruling out a pegasus culprit just yet. They may not be as strong as earth ponies or have magic like unicorns, but a pegasus that’s built up enough speed could easily break through that door!”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, if they don’t mind having a few broken bones afterwards. They wouldn’t have been able to commit a murder if they were injured, now would they? Besides, the front door and this door aren’t in line with each other; there’s no way they’d have been able to build up enough speed to break it down.”

Twilight stepped over the shattered remains of the door, leaving Trixie grumbling in her wake. As she stepped in, a burning scent assaulted her nostrils and she gagged, regretting not putting on her mask earlier.

Crates lined the walls of the concrete back room, and a long table covered in fabrics and sewing machines stood in the middle. A single lightbulb hung from the ceiling, casting a light glow on the room’s contents. The dingy workroom was a far cry from the glamourous showroom out front.

Lying on the table, the front of her body hanging off, her front hooves touching the ground, was the corpse of Coco’s boss, Suri Polomare. The smell of burnt flesh wafted off her and a pool of blood formed beneath the table she was so haphazardly thrown upon.

Twilight and Trixie put on their masks. “Well,” Twilight said, “it’s time to get to work.”