Funraiser

Funraiser

Chapter 2

Puzzle awoke in a sticky odorous mess of crap, blood and semen. He was going to need a cleanup. The strange puzzle box sat on a table. Puzzle wondered where the crap came from. He figured that he took a dump when the chains first tore into his legs.

A quick glance out the window showed it was midday. Thank goodness, his job allowed for him to have a lax schedule. Puzzle did not feel like going to work today. He needed a shower and then the house would get cleaned up. Puzzle shuffled off to the bathroom.

Hours later, the room was so clean, you could not tell what had happened. Puzzle felt bad about the pictures, he would have to buy new frames. The wall that had turned into a doorway just looked like a wall now. No cracks marred its smooth white surface.

While Puzzle cleaned up the living room, he had two major thoughts. The design of the puzzle box enthralled him. He had to get to work and draw up some specs for new puzzles. The other thought was how to get Canehead off of his back. Those images she showed him were probably just the tip of the iceberg. Worse torments probably awaited him, he could not refuse and let her take him away. The idea of giving her another pony to torture was not pleasant either. He was no monster. Puzzle decided to go back to the store to see if the storekeep knew something.

Two hours later, he could not find the store or that side street. How could he have made such a mistake when the gallop home was engraved on his mind? What if he went back and Canehead is waiting for him? Some of that almost excited him. For a few seconds, his fear of Canehead fought against his lust. Eventually fear won.

Puzzle did not want to go home, he did not trust himself. Maybe he would just jump on Canehead and have all eternity to regret. It seemed like a good idea to him to go to a bar to think about what to do next.

Half drunk, Puzzle brought home Summer Sky, a pretty yellow pegasus mare with entrancing eyes. She shook her mane sexily and posed in front of him. Yeah, Puzzle was going to party soon because he could smell her readiness.

“Summer Sky, are you ready to party?” Puzzle asked.

A smile and a wink was his answer.

She sauntered up to Puzzle and then her eyes fell on the box.

“Puzzy, whats this?” The curious mare asked.

“Um, its a prototype for a game-” Puzzle’s explanation was interrupted by a big yawn.

Summer’s entranced face was reflected in the shiny puzzlebox as Puzzle slowly dozed off. Puzzle almost woke up when he heard the ecstatic scream. It sounded familiar.

Morning arrived and Puzzle was lying in a pool of semen and some blood. He felt drained but the feeling of Deja Vu again was annoying. Was that my blood or somepony else’s, Puzzle wondered. He sniffed the disgusted mess, yep it was his. Over the years he had been in small accidents and the blood had the same smell. If this was somepony else’s blood, Puzzle did not have a clue what he should do.

Puzzle wondered what happened last night. He remembered taking a pony home, but maybe that had been a dream. After thinking about it more, Puzzle checked out his empty apartment. No mare could be found. He sighed, time to clean up, again. After Puzzle cleaned up, he took the puzzlebox to work with him.

Puzzle's Office
He was in the zone! Finally, he had been able to sketch out some designs. Also he was able to come up with some good ideas on necessary mechanical parts. The builders would have no problem making prototypes. Maybe instead of metal, they could use fancy woods. Mahogany and polished pine would be good suggestions. Puzzle was putting the finishing touches on a spec sheet when Punchcard came in.
Puzzle could feel the positive energy of his day drain away like whiskey from a broken bottle.

Punchcard was a dark gray earth pony with a shiny black mane and tail. The word around the office was that she was a pain in the plot. Her orange eyes narrowed. Puzzle braced for what was coming next. The head of ER, Equine Resources was probably going to say something that Puzzle would not like.

He did notice her orange eyes on the puzzle box though.

"You know Solver, you need to familiarize yourself with the proper procedures on employee time scheduling. You do know that Curio is having money problems and one less unicorn would not be missed. You designers think you are above company procedures. This is my last warning. Comply with our schedule or face the consequences," Punchcard threatened in a soft voice.

She turned around, swished her tail and left.

Puzzle thought a bit, he felt betrayed. Gearbox, his boss and friend, never really bothered him about his work schedule. Most of the time Puzzle worked ten hour days or more, so a few days off or half days were OK. Well, according to Punchcard, not so much anymore. He left his office to go see Gearbox.

Gearbox was an earth pony who had been with the company for ten years. He had warm brown eyes and a brown tail and mane. Curio’s recent problems were adding some gray to his tail and mane.

"This time ER is cracking down, we have to hoof the line like everyone else now," the portly, beige pony said with regret.

"Can't you do something to rein her in?" Puzzle asked with anger.

"Things are bad at Curio. The economy has forced a lot of ponies to cut back on spending on Hearth Warming Day presents. Our toys are luxury items. I have tried to shield the designers from the harsh realities, but now I can't do that anymore," Gearbox's ears and tail drooped.

"I have some ideas on how to make new mechanical puzzles," Puzzle said with enthusiasm.

Gearbox perked up. This was his passion and something more interesting than worrying about the future of the company. The talk was cut short when a secretary called and said a police detective was in Puzzle's office waiting for him.

"Puzzle, be careful," Gearbox warned.

Why are the police here for Puzzle, he wondered. Designers were a strange lot and sometimes the cops came by. So far it was just for petty stuff like public drunkeness or bar fighting. Gearbox knew Puzzle for at least five years and figured it was something minor.

Puzzle rushed out and missed Gearbox's heartfelt warning.

A green coated, red maned and tailed pegasus stallion with red eyes walked up to Puzzle to shake hooves.
"My name is Finder. I work for the Manehattan Missing Ponies division," Finder said professionally.
Puzzle just stood and looked. He had no idea what was going on. Why was a cop in his office? Finder pulled out a picture of a familiar looking pegasus mare from his saddlebags.

"Have you seen this mare recently?" Finder questioned with a neutral voice.

"I took her home, we had a good time, she left," Puzzle replied.

"Really?" Finder asked with curiosity.

"What?" Puzzle asked.

"Did you see her leave? Did you call her home?" Finder asked.

"No. I was sleeping," Puzzle replied.

He was trying to keep the anger out of his voice. Puzzle did not like what the cop was trying to insinuate.
"Let me be straight with you Mr. Solver. Summer Sky is missing. She did not return to her home. You are the last one to see her," Finder said, his voice going up a bit in volume.

Puzzle was surprised. If she was lying around his apartment, he would know. He just kept thinking, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Hello? Hello? Mr Solver?" Finder said loudly to get Puzzle's attention.

"Yes?" Puzzle replied.

"I would like to have your permission to search your apartment," Finder asked gently.

"Um, OK," Puzzle replied.

He was in a bit of a daze as he followed the cop to his apartment.
________________________

Puzzle's Apartment
The cops and the forensic techs went through his apartment while Puzzle sat in a neighborhood bar with a cop. Before Puzzle left, he gave a sample of blood.

Finder could smell Summer Sky's scent in the apartment, she was here. Before he went to Puzzle's apartment, he checked out her apartment to get her scent.

One of the forensic tech unicorns cast a blood finding spell. The blood drops glowed with a bluish tint. Finder felt like he got his murderous pony.
"Sorry sir, this blood matches the occupant," The tech declared as the red glow faded from his horn.

Finder was angry. He knew at a gut level that Puzzlesolver was responsible. Finder focused and pushed his anger back. What evidence did he have of any wrong doing? None so far.

He took a few more deep breaths to calm himself. Finder took a bit of time to think this through. There were cases in which the last pony to see the missing alive was not the guilty party. Then again his hunches were rarely wrong. Finder decided that he had to take his time and look at this situation from another angle.

Finally, Puzzle was allowed back into his apartment. Finder shook his hoof and apologized for the inconvenience. Then he left while still thinking how Puzzle was connected to the missing mare.

Puzzle took the puzzle box out of his bag and carried it into his room. He called for a delivery of garlic shiitake mushrooms and lemongrass fried rice. After he ate, it was back to work on more designs. About halfway through, he started to yawn. It was getting hard to concentrate. Time for bed.

Sometime during the night, he felt something rubbing him. Wow, it was going to be one of those dreams! He closed his eyes and gave in to the sensations. Now he was being sucked. It felt good but there were these stinging pains. They were not intense enough to interfere with the pleasure. Somehow, they made the slow climb to climax even better. He must have shot gallons into the mouth of the mare. Wait! Was it a mare? How did she get into his room? The burst of fear grew worse, it overwhelmed his afterglow. Puzzle turned on the light.

No. He was not dreaming! Summer Sky's mutilated head was above his crotch. Her face had been changed to resemble a mare's marehood. Shiny pointed teeth glinted from inside the hole. Some blood and semen dripped off of her "face" onto his bedsheets. Puzzle screamed. Summer Sky or whatever was that thing was faded away. He thought he heard a familiar giggle. The rest of the night Puzzle could not sleep.
When Monday came, Puzzle was happy to get to work. He still wondered what he was going to do about Canehead. After what happened Friday night he definitely did not want to be carried away, but giving a pony to that fiend still felt wrong. Maybe he could talk to someone at the Manehattan Mage Guild. Maybe he had a chance?

Curio
Puzzle’s Office

Two hours into his day, the secretary called him and said he had to go to Gearbox's office. Dread crawled in his stomach.
Seeing Gearbox's drooping ears and tail did not make Puzzle feel any better.

"Sit down Puzzle, we have to talk," Gearbox said gloomily.

Puzzle sat in a chair in front of Gearbox's desk.

"I did not know that Curio was doing this bad. The rumors flying around the office were just a pale shadow of the truth. Even if your designs made this year one of the best, the company may not last beyond March. Woodshaper, the President of the company said that Curio owned a lot of money and could not even pay the interest on the loans. Even if they could pay the interest, the loans still need to be dealt with," Gearbox stopped and looked at Puzzle sadly.

The news that Curio was so close to closing hit Puzzle hard. This was his dream job.

"Maybe there are companies that would buy Curio? Hoofmacher & Schlepper or maybe Horsebro?" Puzzle guessed.

"Hoofmacher is not too much bigger than Curio and they will not want all of that debt. Horsebro might be interested. It would complement their toy division. My Little Human has been selling well. They have enough money to cover our debt but Horsebro is a large company and it will take them too long to decide to buy us. If they want us," Gearbox sighed.

"To reduce costs Curio will have to layoff ponies. I had hoped that when I retire, you would be sitting in this seat but it is not going to happen. Puzzle, I am really sorry but we have to let you go. Your tenure here will be over by Wednesday of next week. I had to twist Punchcard's leg to get you the extra days. I figure that the builders will need your help in making the prototypes. I am again so sorry," Gearbox finished and sighed.

Puzzlebox felt like his whole world fell in on him. Goodbye dream job. Goodbye designing cool things. Seeing his ideas come alive in wood and or metal. A lot of other places would not let some kid come in off the street and go straight to design. Most of them had to be builders for years before moving up, if at all.

"So Punchcard put my name on the list to be fired?" Puzzle queried in a cold quiet voice.

Gearbox shook his head slowly.

"Don't go that way. This industry is a small world. Stories get around. Just like you arrived here a class act, you should leave a class act," Gearbox said with a warning tone.

"Tell me Gearbox, is Punchcard responsible for my name being on the list?" Puzzle pushed.

"For some reason Punchcard has had a bad stink in her muzzle about you. I have seen her treat ponies that have done worst treated better than you. I do not understand her hatred of you. Please promise that you will do nothing to her," Gearbox pleaded.

"I will do nothing to her, I promise," Puzzle said in a flippant tone of voice.

Inside, he was seething with anger. Puzzle shook hooves with Gearbox and went back to his office to finish up his work. Visions of hurting Punchcard marched through Puzzle's head. He resented her interference in his career. Puzzle wished he had just a few more months at Curio.

His eyes fell on the puzzle box.

One side of his mind thought it would be too cruel, but the other side wanted to punish her. Puzzle raged at why that pony should be allowed to ruin his dream job. Almost without thinking, Puzzle put the puzzle box in a bag and went to Punchcard's office in ER. Nopony noticed when he put the puzzle box on her desk. Puzzle went back to his office to go over his specs for the builders.

The rest of the week and weekend flew by, Puzzle focused on making sure the first prototypes would work. They did flawlessly. Now it was up to the builders to work on the final products to be sold. Puzzle helped out with that also.

Monday came around and Puzzle was starting to clean out his office. He decided to not come in on his last day. There was a rumor that Punchcard who almost never missed a day of work was missing a lot of days now. It was so not like her to be late or not come in without notifying anyone. Puzzle gave neutral answers when other ponies asked him about Punchcard. Inside, he was happy that nag got what she deserved. Puzzle thought he would feel more guilty but he did not. He decided that tonight he would hit the bars and maybe bring home a mare. Since the puzzle box was gone, she would be able to concentrate on Puzzle.

He also thought about the cops but had no clue why they visited him. Puzzle hoped that he would not see any more cops.
___________________________

Manehattan Missing Ponies Office

Finder looked at the report. A mare was missing at Curio. Damn, that Puzzlesolver is up to his antics again, he thought. It was too much of a coincidence. He left the office to ask questions around Curio about the missing mare.

Everypony at the office knew that Punchcard did not like Puzzlesolver. It was part of the hidden resentment some ponies had for designers. Finder found out that Punchcard was responsible for Puzzle's termination. That was enough motive but it was not enough for Finder to arrest Puzzle.

The ponies shadowing Puzzle reported that the areas that Puzzle frequented did not overlap with the missing mare's haunts. Yeah, that is a good word, he thought. Finder did not want to fail those who needed his help. It was possible that somepony else was responsible for Punchcard going missing. Finder was quite sure it was Puzzlesolver. He headed over to ER.
_________________________________________________________________

Curio
ER Offices

"Are you sure you did not see anything strange?" Finder asked Whiteout, the secretary for ER.
The cute red eyed earth pony glanced to the side for a second.

"Yeah, now I remember. Someone gave Punchcard a cool gold and black puzzle box. She was so surprised someone would give her a gift," Whiteout replied with a flirty smile.

Finder was more interested in solving the case but maybe afterward he could hook up with her.. Gold and black puzzle box. He knew where he had seen one of those. Puzzlesolver's desk!

Now he had to get a mage to come with him and study the box. Maybe Summer Sky encountered the same box. Finder wanted to celebrate but he kept his cool. He hurriedly left Curio offices to go back to police headquarters to find a mage.

Puzzlesolver is going down!