Chapters Equestrian Bureau of Investigation: Indecisive
Manehattan
April 23
8:47 PM
The streets of Manehattan were soaked due to the stormy weather that was occurring. Almost everypony were indoors however there were still some that were outside either galloping away from the rain or calmly walking with an umbrella. The ones who didn’t have anywhere to be and who didn’t have any home took shelter under cardboard boxes or rooftops that slightly overpassed the dark building walls.
Frost Light was walking peacefully. He didn’t have an umbrella just a soaked leather jacket, a scarf and a dark brown panama hat that covered his dark mane. His cutiemark was a gust of wind which, as well as his wings and dark blue coat, were barely visible beneath the flailing brown jacket.
Frost stopped by a corner in where a bar was located. It had two windows and a big sign which said “The Pony’s Dawn”. It stood out thanks to its bright lights.
Frost heard a female voice coming from his earpiece.
“Do you want backup?”
“No, there’s no time.” Responded Frost in a dark, low tone voice.
As he stepped forward to the door, he immediately felt warm. He left the cold outside when he entered the building. It was big and filled with ponies of different races. This was a place where most ponies would get drunk, hang out or play a couple of pool games. On the right there were two pool tables both heavily occupied with ponies playing their games and minding their own business. And on the left, next to some bar tables, was a counter with a pegasus pony waitress and a big earth pony bartender.
After observing the place Frost Light finally spotted the pony he was looking for, the bartender. Frost slammed his right hoof towards the ground bending and splinting the wooden floor as well as causing a loud wooden crack that travelled throughout the room. All went quiet and all eyes were turned to Frost. He stuck a hoof into his pocket and showed his badge briefly before putting it back again.
“EBI, you’re under arrest,” Frost said.
Suddenly all ponies in the area stood back as the bartender pulled out a handgun and used the waitress as a shield. Frost pulled out his own handgun then quickly aimed it at the bartender.
“Don’t move! I’ll kill her!” Said the bartender, increasing his grasp on the waitress.
“Now, now I can move all I want. I’m not the one who currently has three trained snipers with their sights on you,” Frost said calmly.
Those words worried the bartender, he started to glance outside the windows then he fixed his eyes on Frost.
“You’re bluffing, you’re bluffing!” The bartender shouted.
“Oh am I?”
The hostage started to sob, she struggled flapping her wings. The bartender was holding her too tight for her to escape.
As for the rest of the ponies in the bar, too stunned to move or cast any spells to help her, all stood silently watching and listening to the scene unfolding in front of them.
“Stay still!” The bartender ordered the hostage while aiming his gun at her head.
“Don’t kill her Platter, you already committed a murder a few days ago. Do you really want to take another pony’s life?”
Platter just stayed silent, staring into Frost’s eyes with an angry look.
“I know what happened to your wife and kid,” Frost continued, still having Platter in his sights. “You couldn’t believe that you did it, right? And you wanted to fix that by killing another pony?”
“I needed to do what had to be done-”
“Murder is never mandatory,” Frost interrupted.
“You don’t get it, you don’t get it. Walls were closing in on me, I had to do it, I HAD TO!”
Everypony was silent. The only thing that was heard was the loud gust of wind outside and the rain drops falling on the sidewalk and rooftops.
But after the silence, Platter grinned manically.
“And now,” Platter chuckled. “I’ll be able to prove to ALL of you that I am a killer!”
“Don’t do it Platter,” said Frost, not showing any worry but slightly concerned inside.
“Don’t call me that! From this day forth, my name is-“ His sentence was cut short by a loud metal thump.
The waitress was suddenly free. Platter looked dizzy, after a few seconds he fell to the ground revealing the pony behind him. The pegasus mare had a sun with a lightning bolt on top for a cutiemark which was covered by a black suit and red tie. She had a light blue mane and tail with dark blue stripes on it. She was holding a pan.
The mare chuckled. “Stupid bastard, he actually thought he was going to get away with this.”
“What took you so long, Flare?”
“I had a ‘problem’ with the cooks in the back,” she said looking behind her and tossing the metal pan on the floor.
Frost leaned down, turned the body then cuffed Platter’s hoofs on his back. Flare just looked at him.
“So much for negotiation.” Flare said.
“You know I’m not good with that stuff. Shift is way better with negotiations.”
After a few clicks of the hoofcuffs Frost stood up and noticed the empty room. He did not notice how fast the ponies had evacuated.
“Talk to me guys.” The female voice is heard again in their headsets.
“Don’t worry Wave we got it.”
“Good, head to base. We got another case.”
“How about the body?” Flare asks.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m sending squads to secure him now.”
Frost and Flare walked towards the door. They opened the door then left the almost empty bar.
Equestrian Bureau of Investigation
EBI Base
April 23
9:03 PM
In the meeting room, Frost Light and Flare were sitting next to a long rounded wooden table. Wave was also there, a unicorn mare with small square glasses and a formal white shirt. She had an amber coloured coat and an orange mane tied up in a knot at the back of her head. She was holding a clipboard and was also sitting on a comfortable black chair like Frost and Flare.
The room was spacious with a long whiteboard in front of the table, a door which opened up to the HUB of the base and another door which led to Wave’s office. There were also two big windows with a view of Manehattan. The city was dark, some of the lights from the buildings flickered on and off and the shiny yellow and red lights of the cars reflected on the wet window mirror making a few raindrops visible.
They were all calmly waiting for their boss to begin briefing.
“Do you have any info on the victims?” Flare asked. Frost was being his usual self, silent and discreet.
“What I can say is that the victims were a unicorn mare, 25 years old and a unicorn stallion with 28 years of age.”
“Married?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you have any more info on them?”
“Yeah but I think we should wait for Shift to mention those.”
In that moment a dark green coated Earth Pony stallion with a suit similar to Flare’s entered the room. He trotted quickly to the end of the table were everyone could see him next to the whiteboard. He was holding two orange folders.
“Okay fellas, this one’s an interesting one,” said Shift as he leaned forward to the table. “The victims were a unicorn mare age 25 and a unicorn stallion age 28, married without children. The mare was named Star Swift and the stallion Shock Cloud. Both quit their job 4 days before their death. After the loss of their jobs both were not seen out of their residence.”
“So the murders were committed indoors. The sudden resignation from their respective jobs and the choice to remain in their houses might have been because of a threat.” Wave clarified.
“Correct, the murder took place in the kitchen. The bodies were found both strapped to a chair, blindfolded and gagged. And of course there were fibres strapped tightly on both of their horns to prevent spells.”
“Cause of death?” Flare asked.
“Stabbed in the neck for the mare and in the gut for the stallion. Here are the photos of the bodies.”
He opened one of the folders then threw the photos on the table making them slid out of their holder. There were several of them. Some showed the female body strapped to the chair just as Shift said and of the stallion on the kitchen floor stabbed in the gut.
They all noticed something strange. One of the photos showed the unicorn mare with 4 holes on her horn. The horn colour was white, a different colour of the coat. Even Frost was surprised. The stallion’s horn on the other hoof, was perfectly fine.
“As you may see.” Shift continued. “The mare had her horn punctured 4 times.”
“How’s that possible? Unicorn horns are almost unbreakable,” Wave asked.
They all paused. Shift walked closer to the table, his eyes were fixed on Wave.
“Wave, have you ever heard the saying fight fire with fire?”
“Yeah,” Wave nodded with confusion. “what about it?”
“This case has a lot to do with that saying, except.” Shift, looked at everypony in the room. “This case would involve fighting magic with magic.”
All went silent, thinking about what he said. A unicorn horn was as strong, if not stronger, as the strongest mineral in the planet which is the solarc. If the murderer did in fact break the horn with his magic, it would require him to be a high level unicorn. This was too much information, it was unlikely that the murder was this disorganized.
“So you’re saying the unsub* was a unicorn?” Wave asked.
*Unsub: Unknown Subject Of An Investigation, in this case, the murderer.
“No, but this evidence is extremely important. If we prove that the unsub is a unicorn then we get additional information of him or her being a high level unicorn. And if we prove that the unsub is using some special tool then… Frost?” Shift offered lifting his hoof to Frost.
Frost turned making sure he sees everyone and everyone sees him.
“As you may know, unicorn horns are as strong as the solarc. This mineral was discovered 1500 years ago. The ponies back then, unable to mine them with regular pickaxes, made a new pick, one that can only be crafted with a combination of raw minerals that were only found during that age. It was called the gyropick.
“So as Shift said, if the unsub is in fact a unicorn they are a high rank. The unsub wouldn’t be hard to find since there aren’t many high rank unicorns in Manehattan. Considering the lack of Ranked Magic Schools.”
“But if the unsub isn’t a unicorn or simply not higher level enough to cast such spells then that means he or she has a big connection with ancient pony weaponry or tools. The unsub would not have been able to build it himself since minerals to fabricate it are now non-existent. That means he either is also a thief or has close contacts. And close contacts means-“
“More evidence.” Flare added.
There was silence in the room once again. Not long after, Shift broke that silence by removing photos from the other folder and stuck them onto the whiteboard.
“This is the first time that we see a punctured unicorn horn although we can connect this crime to this one.” Said shift pointing to the photos.
The photos showed a unicorn stallion strapped to a chair, blindfolded, mouth gagged and stabbed in the neck. Same as the current case although, the top of his head just below his horn was damaged and bleeding.
“Moon Rush age 27 also quit his job 4 days before the crime, he also remained indoors. This happened one month ago.”
“That’s the same unsub then,” said Flare.
“He might strike again. Wave, I want all locations of ancient tool shops.” Shift ordered.
“Yes sir,” said Wave heading towards her monitor filled office.
“Flare, Frost, go to the crime scene. Special agent Glass Code will be waiting for both of you there. Here’s the location.”
Flare and Frost both got up from their chairs without a word and walked to the door.
“Oh and another thing.” Shift added. The two agents stopped and turned to him. “Welcome him to the team, will ya?”
They only nodded then exited the room and headed to the crime scene.
Equestrian Bureau of Investigation: Indecisive
Manehattan
January 23
9:26 PM
Frost Light and Flare were in a car heading towards the crime scene. It was a wet night with a soft breeze. As for the rain, it died down a bit but was still audible from the inside of the car. Frost was in the driver’s seat and Flare was right next to him leaning against the window, calmly watching the raindrops as they slid down from the wet glass.
Remembering something, Frost put a hoof to his ear then down again. “Listen, I forgot to ask Shift, do you have any idea as to why the photos showed the stallion on the floor instead of on the chair? Shift said that they were both found on different chairs.”
“He told me that the pony who found the body tampered with the crime scene. Apparently, she thought that Shock Cloud was still alive so she unstrapped him from the chair and laid him down on the floor to start CPR. Not long after, she realized that he was long gone,” Wave replied.
“Who is this pony?” Flare asked.
“Crystal Moon, pegasus, age 23 and Shock Cloud’s sister. She lives two blocks to the east of Cloud’s house.”
“We’ll talk to her later,” Frost said with his deep voice as usual. He stopped the car right next to the house. “But first, we need to investigate the crime scene.”
The two agents stepped out of the car, into the rain and then walked closer to the big house. It had a brown rooftop where rain drops fell and leaked onto the yellow walls. And two big windows sealed shut with beautiful red curtains. The garage was on the right of the door and the entry to the garden on its left. The door was wide open.
After observing the house, they walked closer to it. Flare took the first step in only to be stopped by a police officer.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” He asked them.
Flare raised her badge, allowing the officer a sight of the letters EBI. “We’re with the EBI, we got this.”
Before the officer was able to respond, Flare and Frost Light walked past him as well as other ponies further into the room.
While they walked onto the brown wooden floors, they spotted a big flat television screen to their left. A few metres in front of it was a comfy orange couch. There were some shelves on the left next to the TV where shattered glass vases could be seen on the floor. There was also an entry to another room opposite the bookshelves next to a set of stairs.
They turned to the entrance of the room and saw a red coated unicorn mare. The mare noticed the agents.
“You must be EBI. Glass Code is waiting in the kitchen,” said the pony.
“Thank you,” said Flare.
As the mare stepped away, Frost and Flare walked towards the kitchen: the crime scene.
The kitchen was a big square room. There was a stove, dishwashing machine and a counter to their left. To their right they saw a couple of sinks, a counter and a wooden chopping board on it. In front of them stood a chair which held one of the victims still strapped to it. The lifeless unicorn mare just sat there with her horn damaged, eyes still blindfolded and mouth still gagged. Apart from the stallion, everything else in the crime scene was left untouched. Next to her was an empty chair and a few feet in front of Flare and Frost was the unicorn stallion on the floor. Same as the mare. Lifeless.
In the same room was a grey unicorn stallion standing beside the mare’s body. He had a formal orange shirt that matched his orange hair. He was observing the mare’s stab wound on her neck. Not long after, he noticed the two agents and walked up to them while extending a hoof.
“Hello, you must be with the EBI, good to see you, I’m Glass Code,” he said while shaking Flare’s hoof with a smile.
“Good to see you on the team,” said Flare.
“Good to be on the team,” Glass said while turning to shake Frost’s hoof.
Frost shook Glass’s hoof.
“I’m Frost Light, welcome to the team. How long have you been here?”
“About fifteen minutes. I was trying to retrace the unsub’s steps.”
“Any luck?”
“There is no sign of forced entry so it’s either that he teleported in or was invited.”
“Are there any signs of wards*?” asked Flare.
Wards*: In this case they are magic particles that spread once a spell has been casted. These particles, when collected and scanned, it reveal the caster’s physical description.
Most unsub unicorns try to avoid casting spells to prevent the possibility of being caught.
“They haven’t scanned the place yet,” responded Glass.
“So that temporarily leaves us with the fact that the unsub was invited in. But why? They were clearly being threatened so why open the door?” questioned Frost Light.
“Well it could be a family member,” Flare answered.
“Not really. I would avoid any contact with my family members if I was being threatened. You know… to avoid endangering them,” explained Glass.
“Unless,” Flare spoke. “It was a high authority or at least somepony who looked like a high authority. Maybe a disguise.”
Everypony thought for a moment. Not long later, Frost Light walked outside of the kitchen and into the living room. Flare and Glass followed him.
“And where are you going?” asked Flare.
Frost walked for a few seconds and stopped at the front door. “Let’s just say I’m the unsub. What would I do? Surely the pony who let him in didn’t know that he was a murderer. The victim would greet him then bring him to the kitchen to offer something to eat or drink.” Frost entered the kitchen, Glass Code and Flare stayed in the living room. “The unsub would subdue and strap the victim.” Frost walked back out. “Then go for the kill.”
They were all silent for a moment. Glass had a hoof bellow his chin looking down. He then shook his head.
“But there were two victims. Surely the murderer wouldn’t be able to strap two victims at once,” Glass disagreed.
“The unsub could have had a gun and could have forced the husband to tie his own wife up. And after that the unsub would have tied the husband,” Frost said.
Glass kept shaking his head slowly. “No, there’s more to this. Like, why puncture the unicorn’s horn and not the stallion’s?”
“Glass is right, this crime must have had more to it than just being a cold blooded murder,” Flare agreed.
The room suddenly fell quiet. Dead quiet, as the agents were deep in thought. The silence was broken when suddenly a lightning strike was heard then Frost spoke.
“I heard of a myth talking about unicorn horns.”
“Do you remember it?” Glass asked.
“Not really, Wave?”
“Sup?” Wave is heard once again through their earpieces. Except Glass’s.
“Who are you talking to?” Glass questioned, unable to hear her.
“I’ll give you an earpiece later,” answered Frost. “Wave, type in the search engine, ‘unicorn horn myths’.”
After a few seconds passed, Wave spoke.
“There’s only one.”
“Read it to us,” ordered Frost.
“It talks about unicorn horns representing the unicorn’s personality, behaviour, thoughts, family, friends, and etcetera. And that every sparkle in a unicorn’s horn was a memory
that briefly escaped the unicorn’s mind. This was 2000 years ago.”
Everybody stood silent for a while…
“Ok Wave, now search Dark Pupil,” said Frost.
Wave did so. “You want me to read the whole Wikipedia?”
“No, just how he was buried.”
“Okay then. Dark Pupil, AKA the most hated pony in the world back then, was burnt in the Zebrican land 1800 years ago in the plaza of the Stripe city.”
“Read me the condition that his body was in before he was burnt.”
“Once Dark Pupil died the citizens wanted to humiliate him so they carved-“ Wave stopped speaking.
“Wave?” Flare asked.
“They carved 4 holes in Dark Pupil’s horn,” she added. “Isn’t that the condition of Star Swift’s horn?”
“Indeed it is,” said Frost.
“Indeed what is?” asked Glass in confusion.
Frost quickly walked back to the kitchen, the two agents followed him. “Dark Pupil had 4 holes punctured in his horn.” Frost stopped. “The same as Star Swift’s,” he said while pointing at her head.
“Okay, so this reveals that the unsub disliked Star Swift. It wasn’t just a random cold blooded murder.” Flare clarified. “But why did he kill her husband?”
Frost kept looking at the bodies then spoke. “This doesn’t only reveal that the unsub disliked Star Swift for some reason, it also reveals that he is disorganized.”
“How?” Glass questioned.
Frost looked at Glass and Flare. “Star Swift let the unsub inside the kitchen. When given the chance, the unsub subdued and strapped Star Swift to a chair, blindfolded her, gagged then murdered her.” Explained Frost.
“How about Shock Cloud? Where was he during all this?” Asked Flare.
“He must have been nowhere near the kitchen or living room within the first 5 minutes of the unsub’s entry. This action proves that the murderer is disorganized since he had absolutely no idea that Shock Cloud was in the house with her. He didn’t bother to look at their daily routine, he just went in for the kill. So while the crime was happening, Shock Cloud entered the kitchen only to find his wife strapped and an unknown pony in the room with her. He then tried to stop the killer but the unsub stabbed Shock Cloud in the gut. After that he strapped the husband to the table and made it look like Star and Shock were killed in the same manner or to confuse.”
“The problem is.” Frost continued. “I still have no idea how the vases fell. The shelves are pretty sturdy and well placed, it would need a big enough force to make something fall from it.” He said while trying to shake the shelf, testing its heaviness. “If we do not come up with a theory we won’t be able to put the murderer’s steps into consideration which will eventually lead us back where we started.”
Frost and Flare thought for more than a few seconds. It felt like half a minute. One thing that they teach agents in training is that every single detail counts. Glass Code knew that seasoned agents such as Frost Light and Flare would not leave until they figured out how those vases fell.
“The unsub could have fallen on the shelves causing enough force to shake the vases off,” said Flare.
“How? The living room floor looks pretty dry and there is no liquid to cause a slip,” argued Frost pointing at the floor briefly.
While Frost and Flare kept talking about possibilities, Glass just stood there thinking harder and harder. Suddenly, it hit him.
“The unsub was nauseous after the murder of Shock Cloud.”
The two agents stopped speaking and just turned to look at him. It was pretty clear that they wanted Glass to continue his explanation. So he did.
“According to the unsub, Shock Cloud was innocent. Some murderers find anypony except their victims innocent. If this unsub is in fact one of those murderers, he would have felt awful for killing Shock Cloud since he wasn’t the primary victim. My theory is that Shock Cloud lunged towards him and the unsub stabbed him accidentally. He then was nauseous and stumbled onto the shelves.”
The two agents just stood there, silent for a few seconds.
Frost walked towards Glass and offered a hoof shake. “Good job, looking forward to working with you.” He shook his hoof again but this time it felt a bit more energetic. “But.” he stopped shaking his hoof. “I think that the unsub was in fact nauseous because he was close to Shock Cloud.”
“Family member?” Flare asked.
“Maybe but it could always be somepony from work or a close friend.” Frost put a hoof up to his ear. “Wave, I want information on every single family member of Shock Cloud who lives in Manehattan. While you’re at it tell me where they work.”
“Got it. I’ll narrow down the possible suspects then contact you ASAP.”
“Thanks Wave.” Frost turned to Glass and Flare. “Wave will have the possible suspects in a few minutes. In the meanwhile we should split up. Glass Code, search the house, contact me once you find something.”
“I’ll ask Crystal Moon, Shock’s sister, some questions” said Flare. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll go to the police department to profile the unsub.”
“Didn’t you say that we’ll have the possible suspects anytime soon?” Glass asked.
“There is still a big possibility that the unsub doesn’t have any connection family wise with the victims. In the meanwhile we should have all our eyes open,” Frost explained.
Glass and Flare nodded. Frost turned then walked outside with Flare. It was no longer raining.
Manehattan
January 23
9:44 PM
Shift stood outside an antique shop. The sky was still grey, the roads wet but the drizzle had completely stopped.
“This is the last antique shop in the vicinity. There are other squads checking the rest of Manehattan,” said Wave.
“Okay, thanks,” responded Shift.
Shift checked out the shop before entering. The bell on the door frame rang as he opened the door. The shop was small and smelt of wood which was coming from the wooden walls and shelves that surrounded the place. There were glass cases to his left containing different statues and artefacts that shone thanks to the powerful lights that were located on top of the glass panels. To his left he saw a counter with a blue unicorn standing behind it. Glass walked towards the counter where he saw different armour types on the wall next to a wooden door behind the cashier.
“What can I get ya?” Asked the blue unicorn.
“I’m with the EBI, I wanted to know if you sold any gyropicks recently,” said Shift in a serious tone.
“Oh, well let me check. I’ll be right back.” The pony walked through the door behind him.
While he was gone, Shift scanned the room. He looked at the different types of guns which were displayed on the wall, the artefacts inside the glass cases and the statues as well. He noticed how perfectly detailed the statues were and was impressed. But apart from the magnificently carved figures, he noticed something else. In one of the glass cases he saw a sign that said:
Gyropick
Price: 800 bits
Below that sign was an empty space. Realization hit Shift. And hard. Without wasting any time he vaulted over the counter then slammed open the door. He found himself in a tight alley. Buildings surrounded him. His eyes darted left and right trying to figure out where that unicorn escaped to. He noticed fallen boxes to his left then galloped in that direction dodging trash cans and jumping over shattered glass.
He needed to find and catch the cashier and he needed to do it now.
Equestrian Bureau of Investigation: Indecisive
Manehattan
January 23
9:46 PM
Shift was dodging around all types of obstacles. He may have missed a few jumps and failed to dodge a few but that was not enough for him to give up on catching that unicorn. The cashier was definitely involved in this crime and Shift knew that.
He saw the unicorn teleport about 5 metres away from him every 10 seconds. If he made it to the exit of the alley way, he would teleport further into the crowd losing Shift and actually going incognito.
Shift, being an earth pony, caught up to the unicorn quite quickly. But as he caught up to him, the teleportation spell of the cashier prohibited Shift from getting close enough for a tackle.
There was still no sight of the alley’s exit just of the black wall that surrounded the alley as well as, cracked windows, hanging clothes, trash cans and containers filled with all kinds of junk. Shift decided not catch up with the pony and went for a different tactic instead.
“Wave! Where am I?” Shift shouted.
“Uh… you’re at 236 Youth Street, alley way.”
“Any agents at 210 Youth Street?”
“Checking… yes, special agent Frost Light is about 1 block away from 210 Youth street.”
Frost Light just dropped off Flare at Crystal Moon’s house. He drove the tinted black car towards the police department to begin profiling. The radio was on but inaudible due to the loud car honks and engines, he didn’t care. The shiny city lights brought colour to the night sky. Ponies and zebras walked calmly on the sidewalk and across the roads. It was a beautiful night, even for Frost. But that was long forgotten after he received a call from Shift.
He picked up. “Frost Light…”
“Frost! Head to Youth Street 210 alley way to your left!” Shift ordered.
Without wasting any time, Frost pulled the steering wheel to his left, changing car lane, turning on the sirens and accelerating at maximum speed towards his destination.
Adrenaline was pumping hard for both ponies. But a bit more for the cashier. Shift was worried but tried to put that thought to the back of his mind as he tried his best not to lose the pony while avoiding glass shards and items that were spotted on the floor. Suddenly, the cashier began teleporting faster than before. This time every 2 to 5 seconds. Shift thought that the pony would get tired soon since he was using a big amount of his magic energy. After a few seconds, the unicorn’s stamina began to drop and Shift could see his sweat and exhausted face even from behind him. But he was so close to the exit that the unicorn kept pushing his limits.
The pony-filled streets could now be seen and the cashier, as well as Shift, began to sprint a bit faster than before. The cashier was just about 20 metres away from freedom, Shift was 4 metres away from the cashier. As the unicorn got closer to the exit, Shift started to see the gentle yellow glow of the pony’s horn preparing for his last teleportation.
Not a second too soon, a loud car horn was heard dispersing the pony civilians that were at the end of the alley way, scaring some birds away. The loud sound of sirens was also heard very clearly. The two ponies saw the shiny black car that was easy to spot thanks to its luminous lights that shone and reflected around the dark alley walls and floor. The car stopped right in front of the unicorn, blocking his exit.
The cashier stopped in his tracks. Looking shocked and worried, he then turned but was immediately tackled by Shift. As the unicorn’s air escaped his lungs just for a brief second, he gasped and coughed continuously trying to regain it. He opened his eyes only to feel his face pressed against the wet and dirty road whilst feeling the cold hoofcuffs being put on him and to hear Shift’s voice saying.
“We’ve got some questions for you.”
Manehattan
January 23
10:16 PM
Police Department
Shift and Frost were looking at the blue unicorn through the one-way mirror. He was in a room surrounded with grey walls and floor. It had a white table and two chairs on each side. One of them was occupied by the unicorn.
Frost was on his phone. “Okay… good job, help Glass’s search, we’ll contact you if we get anything.” He closed his phone then put it in his pocket. “Flare is done talking with Crystal Moon. She’s heading towards the house to help Glass.”
“Good,” responded Shift.
“What was the cashier’s name?” asked Frost.
“Water Flow.”
Frost just nodded.
Shift turned to Frost. “Frost, do you want to begin the interrogation?”
“Sure, I’ll do it.” Frost walked towards the door. Before he left the room he turned to Shift, “just out of curiosity, is there a reason why you always want me to interrogate?”
Shift smiled. “I just love how your personality changes when you do it.”
Frost gave him a smirk. “Yeah, me too.”
As he opened the door to the hallway, he walked to his left and opened the door to the interrogation room. Water Flow looked up to meet his gaze. Frost closed the door then took a seat. To his left was the one way mirror in where Shift was observing them from the other side. Through Frost’s perspective, he could only see his reflection.
“Good day Water Flow. I’m special agent Frost Light, how are you doing?” Frost asked with a smile.
Water looked annoyed. “I’ve just been chased through an alley way, tackled, cuffed and arrested. Now I’m being interrogated, what do you think?”
Frost kept smiling. “Technically speaking, being cuffed is being arrested,” Frost corrected. “Oh and I’m glad you’re doing alright.”
Water Flow was very annoyed by Frost’s fake attitude. Water didn’t know that, instead, he thought that Frost was just new to the EBI.
“Look, I can tell that you’re a noob in the EBI so make this quick. I’m even surprised ponies would actually let you interrogate me,” said Water.
“Noob is usually used in violent video games. Do you love violent video games, Water? A bit of practice before you do the real thing?”
Water Flow bent towards the table. “I didn’t kill anypony,” he said defiantly.
“Then why did you run?”
“I was in a hurry.”
“For what?”
“A meeting.”
“Why did you exit the store with an EBI agent waiting for you? We have video footage of you doing that so don’t deny it.”
Water Flow looked down with an annoyed look and just stayed silent.
“After all,” Frost continued. “You’re already being charged for obstruction of justice so you’ll be locked up for a while. So why don’t you confess?”
Water still looked down and still stayed quiet.
“There was an empty gyropick space in your store, Water. It costs a lot of money, somepony wouldn’t be able to afford it. It would make sense to me that you’re the pony we’re looking for.” Every single word that was coming out of Frost’s mouth made Water’s patience drop. “You wouldn’t have to pay for it. You just use it, clean the blood off and then put it back. You punctured every single hole in her horn with your merchandise-“
Water Flow banged his hoofs on the table and looked at Frost in rage. “I WON’T TAKE THE BLAME FOR SOMETHING HUNTER DID!”
Water only then noticed that Frost was no longer smiling. Frost gave him a stare with his normal look.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” said Frost.
He got up and exited through the door leaving an angry but confused Water Flow inside. A few seconds later Water came to the realization and shouted loudly across the room knowing that he would be locked up for a long time.
Shift and Frost Light were heading to the exit of the police department. They were walking quickly past all the cop ponies.
“Hunter? That’s not a real name,” said Frost.
“He played video games, maybe it’s an online friend,” explained Shift.
“His house is miles away, we need a separate squad to search it. Wave, send a squad to search Water Flow’s house.”
A few seconds passed. “Got it, sending squads to 145 Apple Shore Street.”
“Tell them to search gaming consoles and computers for a nametag that starts with Hunter, he’s the unsub.”
“Copy that, squads are sent and heading to Apple Shore Street, ETA 15 minutes,” said Wave.
“Okay, Shift, we should rendezvous with Glass Code and Flare at 38 Fresh Road Street.”
“Good idea, I’ll call them up.”
Manehattan
January 23
10:32 PM
208 Fresh Road Street
Frost drove to the destination while Shift contacted Glass and Flare. After a talk with them, Shift put down his phone and faced Frost.
“They’ll arrive at the rendezvous point soon. Once Wave gets the location of the unsub we’ll need to breach in.”
“Glass too?”
“Yeah, why are you asking?”
“Well, because he’s new.”
“He’s going to have to start eventually Frost, this is a team effort.”
“Yeah, right.”
As they approached the meeting location they spotted the two agents waiting for them. Frost stopped the car and got out with Shift.
“Hello, I’m Shift,” he said while shaking Glass’s hoof.
“Good to meet you sir,” said Glass.
“We’ll have plenty of time to chat after the case but for now we need to standby for the unsub’s location. We’re breaching it.”
“Me too sir?” asked Glass, a bit worried.
“Yes Glass, we need the whole team.”
“Yes sir.”
Flare approached Frost. “Frost, what did you find out?”
“I just interrogated somepony but he’s not the murderer, apparently its somepony called Hunter in his video game console or computer.”
“Hunter?”
“Yes. Wave will send us his real name and address once squads search his computer and gaming consoles.”
They all waited for Wave’s call. Frost already gave Glass his earpiece so he could hear Wave. Flare and Frost stood next to the car while Shift leaned on it. Glass removed his small water bottle and drank sip by sip continuously. Not long after, he had drunk the whole bottle in less than half a minute. Frost noticed that then walked towards him.
“Umm, Glass? Why are you drinking so much water?”
“Hm? Oh this? I usually drink a lot of water when I’m nervous. It’s just a habit of mine.”
“Are you nervous because you’re about to breach a house?”
“Yeah, I’ve never done that before and I literally just got my shooting license yesterday.”
“You’ll do good rookie, I know it.”
In that moment they all heard Wave’s voice.
“Hunter465’s real name is Cross Trace, he’s an Earth pony and he’s 27 years old. He was a friend of Water Flow for 3 years on his gaming console. He just sent a message 47 minutes ago saying and I quote:
“‘I can’t handle this anymore. I just killed a good friend of mine. I will finally be free in one hour. Don’t try to stop me.’”
They all thought for a split second. The realization hit all the agents quite quickly.
“’I will finally be free, he’s going to commit suicide,” said Glass.
“Sent 47 minutes ago saying ‘in one hour’, that’s in 13 minutes. Wave, what’s his address?” asked Shift.
“He’s about 10 minutes from your location. He’s in 4 Fallen Oaks Street.”
“Let’s go.”
All the agents entered the black car and seated themselves. Frost changed gears and headed to Fallen Oaks Street.
Manehattan
January 23
10:57 PM
3 minutes until suicide
208 Fresh Road Street
They arrived at the address. Frost stopped the car not minding the flower pots on the small house’s porch then they all went out. Pistols were all equipped.
Shift went to the right side of the door while Frost to the left. Glass and Flare were next to them providing cover while they entered.
“EBI! Come out of the house!” Frost shouted.
After a few seconds of silence Shift looked at Frost and then they nodded. Shift stepped back and kicked the door open, Frost was the first one to enter then Shift. Glass and Flare followed.
Glass’s heart was pounding yet he stayed calm knowing full well that the task at hoof needed his upmost attention. Once they entered they stopped and looked around. There were 3 doors in front of them. Glass went to the left one, Flare to the right and finally Shift and Frost went to the door in the middle.
Glass was clearing the left room so far, there was nopony but him in it. Flare did the same with the right room which appeared to be a dirty and messy kitchen. Shift and Frost cleared the living room which was also messy. It had a fireplace with a small table on the left wall containing pictures and another table on the right containing more pictures. There was nopony in the room.
But, out of a corner, next to the couch, slowly walked a dark yellow earth pony who appeared to have a pistol. He slowly faced Frost and Shift. Only then did the two agents realized that his pistol was aiming at his own head. Frost and Shift aimed at him quickly.
“Cross Trace! Put the gun down and-“
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll kill myself so I won’t be a burden anymore,” Cross interrupted Frost.
Frost looked to Shift. “Crap, I think I missed something while working on his profile.”
Shift kept looking at Cross as well as the whole room around him. He noticed a round clock hanging on the wall. The short arrow pointed at 10 while the long one pointed at 58. The sound of the tick tocks were heard every single second.
“I will pull the trigger once the clock reaches 11:00 PM, you can’t stop me,” said Cross.
“Cross,” Shift spoke. “You need to stop, you just need help, we can help you.”
“No you can’t, you don’t even know what’s wrong with me.”
“I don’t, because there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just indecisive, there’s no problem with that.”
“Why did I kill ponies then?” shouted Cross.
“Because nopony came to give you help when you needed it. I’m looking at your place, very nice. You have a nice small table with pictures of you and your family. There are pictures of you, your wife and son, they are all in black in white. But on the other table is just you and a couple of friends.
“You made it look like you ordered the pictures from the left table and the right to be placed differently because of color scheme. But you didn’t do it like that, did you? The pictures to your left were a long time ago yet the ones to your right, the ones with you and friends are recent. Where is your family now, Cross?”
Cross stayed silent with watery eyes. He was still aiming at his own head.
“We missed something in your profile,” continued Shift. “Even though we never gave a profile, we still had the wrong idea.” The clock released a loud tick. Everypony in the room quickly glanced at it.
Shift had no time to waste, he continued. “The cause of the reason you started killing was because of the lack of friends and family. You needed to channel that anger towards your worst enemy, the pony who probably made fun of your loss or probably the one who mistreated your long lost wife and kid. You got used to it so you started to kill more ponies while damaging the ones that had horns in the process.
“Every single day you wish you’d wake up from this nightmare but you never do. You wish for a way out, for everything that you’ve done to disappear. That was your one goal ever since the day you started committing murder. The thing is, your goal is right in front of you. We can help you.”
Cross Trace stared at them. “R-really?” he asked with a shaky voice.
“Absolutely, only if you let us,” answered Shift.
There was suspense in the room, dust could be seen thanks to the bright light of one of the lampshades and cars could be heard. The clock ticked.
54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59.
Cross dropped the gun and fell to the ground. Frost walked quickly to him to cuff him. Both of the agents were relieved.
Manehattan
January 23
12:48 PM
EBI Base
In the HUB, where a number of agent desks were situated was Glass getting a coffee from the coffee machine. Shift walked up to him.
“Hey Glass, I just wanted to say you did a really good job today.”
“Thank you sir but don’t you think I was a bit too scared while breaching?”
“It’s completely normal if a new agent such as yourself gets a bit scared during a breach. It happens to everypony.”
Glass smiled.
“Well I’m heading home,” said Shift while turning to the exit.
“Yeah, I’ll be heading out in a few minutes. See you tomorrow.”
Shift grabbed his jacket, put it on and then exited through the door. Glass walked towards his desk and began doing the last few checks on his computer. Glass Code was glad he joined the EBI. He’s prepared for the worst.
Author's Note
Hope you enjoyed the story. Do you want a sequel? Let me know in the comments.
