chapter 1: Equestrias Most Wanted
You can still see Luna's moon on the horizon, but to him the first foothills of Celestia's sun can already be seen. As since the beginning of time, the night has to give the date and Equestria slowly fills with life again. The birds begin to sing and everywhere small animal crawl from their bivouacs.
More and more land is being illuminated by sunlight. A well known stone farm is no exception. Still, it seems that the main building is pretty calm. No lights are burning in the house, no silhouettes of busy ponies can be seen at the windows.
Without warning, the entrance door opens. A small pink figure leaves the building slowly. It's more of a stumble and falter, then a real walking. Just a few meters from the building the little filly collapses. It is stained with blood from head to toe and her eyes are already red undermined from crying . Your mane hangs limp and she trembles like branches in the wind.
With her last strength, the young Pinkemina Diana Pie raised a bit. Desperate, she looks in all directions, but there is no one to comfort her or help. Her head falls to the ground again and she starts to cry even more. For minutes the little filly lays there and cries her eyes out, but over time the sniffles and whimpers take a strange sound.
At the beginning you can barely hear it, but it´s getting louder with the time. Laughter. It is now so loud that it already echoing over the whole yard.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haha!" laughed Pinkie Pie. Her face becomming a fearsome grimace.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
15 years later
Perfect Picture recorded as fast as she could. The Horn of the young mare sparkles in the same dark green as her mane. The pencil almost danced on the paper while sweat ran down her forehead.
"Faster! Faster! Come on! " she whispered frantically, as the image took shape. Otherwise, it would take her several hours for such work, but shecouldn´t afford such luxury they now. She was hunted. And her hunter would be here pretty soon.
She was sitting in front of a small fire which she had quickly kindled with her magic. Deep in the forests of Baltimare she had no hope to reach civilization or even a different pony.
A week ago she thought it would be a good idea to uncover the identity of the serial killer. An act that would make her famous. But she had been too daring, finding the hiding place of the mare and even was so stupid to take some photos. So she had given her more than one reason to kill her. To top it all, during her escape Pictures camera had also fallen in the swamp water.
She was indeed able to shake off her pursuer, but that would not remain so for long. She had to warn the other ponies. Show them the face of evil, while she still could.
The pen stopped, the picture was finished. Now she just had to write the most important informations on the backside. The pencil just touched the paper as something behind her broke from the shadows. The dark figure grabbed Picture Perfect in one quick motion at her arm and the back of the head and pushed her face first into the fire.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! NOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! " cried the helpless pony, but her attacker showed no mercy. The smell of burning fur and meat rose in the air as Picture Perfect kicked wildly around to shake of her attacker. The pain became more and more unbearable and the young mare almost longed for the redemption of death.
Suddenly and without warning, she was pulled back and smashed hard on the ground. For a brief moment, the whole world turned in Pictures head. She did not know how long she lay there dazed, but the pain quickly cleared her head.
Above her was a pink mare, with a limply hanging mane. She wore a patch made leather coat and a cylinder in the same style. With cold, heartless eyes she stared at the drawing. Then a sardonic grin formed on her face.
"Not bad.Pretty well made. But my ears aren´t so sharp and the evil in my expression you really could have done better. It´s not easy to draw, when you're scared. Am I right?" she said with a false friendliness.
Perfect Picture was breathing heavily and she could only see with the left eye, since most of her right face was burned. She tried to get up but the mare kicked her painfully on her chest and pushed her back down. Fresh pain shot through Pictures body and she coughed out some blood.
"You .... * pant * ... you monster!" was all she could say. The mare had to hold back a laugh and then picked up the pencil from the ground.
"Please. Call me Mad Hattres!" she said and signed the picture. Then she held it to Perfect Picture´s face .
"Here! With autograph the picture probadly is worth a lot of money. Too bad you´ll have none out of it. " she scoffed and held the picture into the fire. But instead of slowly burning down, it puffed out in a green cloud of smoke, which flew away quickly. Mad turned to Picture.
"That was ... m-magic paper. The image is flying... * pant * ... straight to my publisher ... *cough* ... in Baltimare. Soon... everyone in E-Equestria knows who you are ... " said Picture Perfect triumphantly.
It was everything the young mare could say before a kitchen knife pierced in her skull. As Pictures last twitches stopped, Mad Hattres pulled out again. She licked some blood from the blade and then looked up at the night sky where the small green cloud of smoke just disappear into the direction of the city.
"Even better," she said with a devilish grin.
__________________________________________________________________________
Four months later
It was a dark night. Not a single star could shine through the thick black clouds. The rain fell in torrents. Every now and then the sky is lit by lightning, followed by loud thunder.
But this lousy weather doesn´t stop the Pony Express. Unstoppable he makes his way through the countryside on his way to Canterlot. For ponies in the train the outside world was relatively unimportant. They sat comfortably in the warm train and he wouldn´t reach it´s goal in less than 7 hours.
One of these ponies was Rabid Wolf. He had a white coat and a rust-brown mane. The 3-day beard and the tie hanging loosely on his white shirt with the sleeves turned inside out, didn´t help to improve the overall picture too. His cutie mark was a yellow wolf eye.
Sullen Rabid sat in his compartment and lit a cigarette with his lighter. He had made no secret of the fact that this journey realy pissed him of, but when the royal sisters call for one personal, then you don´t really have a choice. He took a deep drag and blew the smoke bored against the train window.
"Shitty weather! But fits well with my mood." he mutters with a view at the outside world, where again a lightning could be seen.
He put out his cigarette and took the invitation of Celestia from the saddle bag beside him. He scanned the letter casual and folded it together so that he could put it in his breast pocket. Then he took the current newspaper at hoof.
"I can already imagine what majesty sunshine wants me to do." he said, spreading the headline in front of him.
The big headline was "Princess Twilight Sparkle brutally murdered!". Among it was a picture of the young alicorn, shortly after her coronation ceremony. As Rabid had first heard of it he had been pretty surprised. Although he did not know all the details, but apparently it must have been no very pretty sight. Of course, one must try to distinguish the facts from the rumors of the ponies here.
Initially it was told that the offender had already been caught. Then, it was an assassination attempt by a radical Changeling group and in the end a few very brave ponies even claimed that it was Princess Luna because she was jealous of Twilight Sparkle. Rabid it shook the thought of his head.
He had his own opinion and knew exactly why he was invited. There was only one pony at large, which was capable of such an act . There were plenty of cases with her handwriting all over the country.
"Mad Hattres!" he muttered under his breath.
He had heard a lot about her.She always went with the same pattern. She comes in a city, kills five ponies in extremely brutal ways and disappears. But not without leaving a garment by last victim, which was made of parts from all five victims. Therefore, probably the name Mad Hattres.
Rabid had always been quite happy that this crazy mare never did set a hoof into Manehatten. But probably it´s been only wishful thinking anyway. Sooner or later Mad Hattres would have crossed his hometown too. It´s better to tackle the problem now. In addition, he was sure, at least, that if he works for Celestia, money wouldn´t matter.
He pulled a cigarette from the box and lit it on. Then he leaned back and looked out of the window again. Outside, he could see how a lightning struck a tree and this began to burn.
"Now if that isn´t a good sign." he said sarcastically and drew deeply on his cigarette. Once again, the sky lit up brightly. A slight tremor was felt and the light in the train went out. The only light in the compartment was now Rabid Wolf smoldering cigarette.
"Ah F ***!" he swore loudly.
__________________________________________________________________________
Celestia walked through the castle, two guards accompanied her. The Princess of the sun was on her way to her student Twilight Sparkle. Like every morning she had started the day and would now discuss the remaining daily routine. The still quite young mare was almost obsessed with checklists. Celestia couldn´t even remember how she could get through the day without Twilight. Her exact planning and the lifeblood that she put in every detail, made everything so easy.
Celestia had already taken Twilight into her heart, when she as best of the year left the Academy for gifted unicorns and became her personal assistant and student. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle was like a daughter to her.
Absorbed in thoughts Celestia had already reached the door to Twilight room in the east tower. As usual, she knocks first, before she entered the room.
"Good morning, Twilight! May I come in?" asked Celestia. When no one answered, she knocked again.
"Twilight! Are you awake?" she asked. Again, no answer. Celestia became nervous. Even if she had overslept, Twilight would have answered her by now.
"I'm coming in now Twilight." she said, opening the double doors with her magic.
Celestia was thousands of years old. She had lived through wars and overcome the loss of hundreds of beloved ponies. But nothing could have prepare her for the horror that was waiting in the room.
The whole room was red. Blood on the walls, the floor, and even the furniture had gotten something. In different places in the room were body parts and organs of her student. Neatly separated and stored so that they could be easily seen. But the worst was positioned on a small chair in the middle of the room.
Twilight Sparkles head looked at Celestia. Her horn cut of and stuffed in the mouth, the wings, in a fit of cruel humor, plugged into her ears. Her eyes stared at Celestia with a look of pure horror.
Celestia startled. Panicked, she looked around. She had fallen asleep at the desk. Who could blame her? Since this horror discovery she hadn´t slept a single night. The horrific images and the even worse nightmares kept her from any rest. Without Luna at her side, she probably would have been a broken mare long ago.
The door to her room opened a crack on the head of her sister looked inside. She had a look of worry on her face, but tried to sound normal.
"Sister! They have arrived. We're just waiting for you. If... if you don´t feel ready for it, then I can without you ... " begins Luna, but Celestia cuts her of.
"No! ... I can ... .I am right there. I need to be there. " she said, adjusting her typical white dress. Luna made room for her and Celestia stepped out of the room. Her younger sister gave her an encouraging look and she answered with a fake smile. Together they walked through the castle, neither of them said anything.
Two guards opened the door to the throne room, where four ponies already waited for them. One of these was Rabid Wolf, who continue smoking his cigarette, despite the upscale event and the presence of the princesses.
To his right was a pretty big Pegasus stallion. He had gray fur and a white mane, which was trimmed to the classic military cut. He wore a green combat vest and leaned on a cane. His Cutie Mark was a sword crossed with a magnifying glass.
Just off the two stood a young zebra mare. Her black/white mane was braided into a long pony-tail. She wore a long gray robe that almost touches the ground. She also had several gold bracelets at her front hooves, matching rings in the ears.
Right next to the steps of the throne was a unicorn stallion. By far the youngest of the bunch. He had purple fur and a bright yellow mane, which he had completely slicked back. The boy was wearing a white suit with a black rose in his buttonhole. His cutie mark was a black rose.
When the two sisters entered the throne room all looked to them. The older stallion stood at attention, the zebra lady bowed her head forward, the youth bows quite theatrical and Rabid Wolf just looked silently, as Celestia took place on the throne and Luna stood beside her.
“First of all I would like to thank you all for following my call so quickly. I assume that you know why your here. To each of you has an excellent reputation. You are the best. "Celestia starts and looks to the old pegasus stallion.
"Storm Force. In your early years you became famous when you've caught Ripper the Diamond Dog and just 2 years later, shattered the largest drug ring of all Fillydephia. "she said and then looked at the zebra mare.
"Leyla. So often you helped the police of Equestria as a medium and clarified many cases. The most famous was probably, as you uncovered the identity of the phantom of Cloudsdale." she continues, and then looks for young stallion.
"Black Rose. You're still young, but many high ranked ponies in Las Pegasus raving highly of you and your 100% rate of solute cases speaks for themselves. This will be your first major challenge." says Celestia and now also applies to Rabid.
"Rabid Wolf. You are indeed only a private investigator, but every policeman in Manehatten knows your name and you're known to solve cases that no one else could crack. I was also told that you often handle suspects pretty forcefully or even aggressive, but if it brings us closer to this murderer, then I'll gladly take it in stride." she said in the end and looked around.
The four ponies looked at each other and then back to the two sisters.
“We must find the murderer of princess Twilight Sparkle. Am I right?" asked Storm Force.
"This should not be a problem Princess Celestia. No murderer can escape my sharp mind "said Black Rose.
"Not just any murderer. We're talking about Mad Hattres. Right your Highness?" said Rabid Wolf and looks to Celestia. Who simply nods.
"Yes! Everything indicates that she is behind it all. I admit that my sister and I have underestimated the danger by this pony. But recent events have shown that she must be stopped. I put this task in your capable hooves." Celestia replied.
Luna took a step forward.
"We have reserved rooms you in the best hotel of Canterlot. The "Golden Moon" hotel will be your home until the matter has been resolved and Mad Hattres is captured. In your rooms are all documents relating to the recent murders of this mare. We have also posted guards at the hotel, they will support you as good as they can. If you need anything else, do not hesitate to ask." said Luna and uses her magic to give each of the four a hotel key.
"You can proceed as you like in this case. Do what is necessary to catch her, but do not injure innocents during your work." added Celestia.
Rabid Wolf took one last drag from his cigarette and grounded it out on the floor.
"Sounds good. Can we look at the last crime scene?" asked Rabid. Celestia wanted to say something, then turns away though. Therefore, Luna comes forward to answer for her.
"You can enter Twilight Sparkles room at any time. We placed two guards to guarde the room. He is relatively unaffected. We´ve only... ähm ...removed the last remains of Twilight Sparkle." Luna said.
"I think it's best if we look around immediately. Maybe we'll find something important." suggested Storm Force.
Luna nodded and led the group to the east tower. Celestia remained in the throne room. Probably the sight of this room would have been too much for her. During the small tour through the castle Rabid noticed that the zebra mare kept looking at him, almost as if she was waiting for something.
"Is something wrong? Your staring at me for quite a while now." he asks.
"Forgive me. It's just that I feel a very strong aura around you. It's almost as if fate itself sits on your shoulder." said Leyla.
"I do not believe in fate. Each pony is responsible for his own life. Or do you really think that it was the fate of Sparkle that her head is issued on a chair?" he said skeptically.
"The ways of fate are inscrutable. The future will show us what will happen in this case for all of us." she replied.
"If you say so." Rabid Wolf said.
The group arrives at the east tower and the two sentries open the door. The room still looks bad. They maybe had removed the body parts and organs of the princess, but everywhere you could still see the dried blood and the stench of death enveloped the whole room.
"Nice! Someone indeed had been raging here." said Rabid and lit a cigarette.
Luna gave him a harsh look, but he ignored it and began to look around. Storm Force and Leyla followed his example, only Black Rose stopped in the middle of the room and looked around bored.
"This mess must have taken quite some time. And no one did hear a thing?" asked Storm Force.
"No. Twilight always used the late evening hours for her research. So to ensure her peace, the entire castle staff was ordered not to enter this tower during the night." said Luna.
“When does she usually start with her studies and when did you found her?" asked Leyla.
"Mostly around 22 o´clock. Most of the staff had closing time and then only the night shift is still active. My sister has entered Twilights room around 8:30 clock and found her...dead." Luna replied with a small lump in my throat.
"Hmm. This is quite a large time window. More then enough to do all this. And there still remains the question of how Mad Hattres has come in here." said Force, which stood on the balcony and looked down.
Rabid stood next to him and also looked down. Probably both thought the same thing. If the rumors were true, then Mad Hattres is an earthpony. The front door was locked and only alicorn magie or guard posts with a key could open it. Climbing up would certainly have been noticed by one of the vigils. Rabid turned back and entered the room. Leyla stood at the bedside of the dead mare and apparently deep in thoughts. Then she stuck a hoof out and touched the blood-stained coats.
Immediately her face twisted into a pained grimace and for a moment it looked as if she was having a seizure. Luna and one of the guards ran to her side and supported Leyla.
"Everythings okay with you?" Luna asked, worried.
Leyla took a moment to catch up, but then again stood firmly on her hooves and shook her head.
"Thanks, but I´m all right. I have felt the pain of Twilight Sparkle for a moment. The whole room is poisoned with a terribly dark aura. I have never experienced anything of this magnitude. And yet .... " she began and proceeded with an outstretched hoof through the room as if she hoped to touch something invisible.
"... Here is something else. I can not assign it though." she said.
"Probably a cold sweat. The whole room smells of it." Rabid threw in.
Storm Force and Black Rose looked at each other questioningly, but decided not to ask. Rabid Wolf stood in front of a large mirror. Probably Twilight Sparkle had used him to control her appearance before big events. Nothing on the mirror looked suspicious, so he quickly arranged his tie in the mirror image and then turned to the desk next to it.
He also was stained with a lot of blood. On it layed a book on constellations, but the open page was completely ruined. Carefully, he flipped through the book, in the hope of a hidden message or comments. Something that Twilight Sparkle may have left before Mad Hattres has overwhelmed her. Unfortunately, without success.
The group examined the room a little longer, but found nothing worthwhile. Later all four detectives sat in a coach to the hotel "Golden Moon". The sky was still covered by dark clouds, but at least the rain had stopped.
None of them said a word. Leyla seemed inwardly meditating, Storm Force took the ride for a little nap and Black Rose looked bored out of the window. Rabid sat across of him and also looked outside.
So that was it. The great case of his life. Together with the best of the best he chased the most wanted murderer of all of Equestria. He pulled out his lighter and stared at it for a moment. It had been a gift from his father. It´s been the only object in his possession that was close to his heart. His great-grandfather had once made it. On one side a normal pony head was engraved, on the other the head of a Diamond Dog. He got it for his 18th birthday.
Before he could sink into bitter memories, he put it away again and looked out the window. From a distance you could already see the logo of the "Golden Moon" hotels.
"What did I get myself into?" he sighed and leaned back.
