Ponyville Crime: Rune Shredder

by SigmatheAwesome

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Romance, Rarity, Tragedy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack
Length: 21021

Rarity and Applejack are detectives, and have to try and find a mysterious arcane killer called 'Rune Shredder'.

Rarity and Applejack are detectives in the small town of Ponyville, a town gripped in fear of the 'Rune Shredder', a mysterious and sadistic entity who violently kills innocent ponies in the dead of night. The two of them must not only figure out who is responsible for these acts of careful and gruesome murder, but solve many other cases in their small town. Helping them is Pinkie, their Forensic officer with insane perception, and many other familiar characters.

<***>

This story is quite violent, and not really for the weak of heart. Also, cover image is by me.

Published 2012-08-29 09:04:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-22 23:45:35 UTC

Case 2: Cloudchaser

BEEP

Rarity grumbled.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

She swung a hoof wildly, trying to hit the alarm.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Shut up, stupid..."

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-

She finally hit the alarm, and released a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"Another day to go."

***

"Morning, sis!" A sparky young voice called out as Rarity descended the stairs.

"Morning..." She mumbled as she entered the kitchen.

"I made you something!"

"Is it food?"

"Uh..." She looked at the charred piece of something. "No, it's not."

Rarity sighed, opening the cupboards to look for coffee. She growled when the tin was absent. "Where'd the coffee go?"

"Was it that brown powdery stuff you always use in the mornings?"

"Don't tell me." She turned to face Sweetie Belle, an expression of incredible annoyance etched on her face. "You used it as ingredients for your whatever."

"Well... I thought that if I added it to the omelette, you'd be happy because you like your coffee."

Rarity sighed, and patted Sweetie Belle's head. "I appreciate the gesture, but coffee doesn't work well inside an omelette."

"Aw... If I keep going like this, I'll never get a cooking cutie mark."

"Maybe your talent isn't cooking." Rarity replied simply and walked into the lounge. "Morning Dad."

"Mornin', Rarity." Magnum, her father, replied cheerfully.

Rarity's family was unusual. They were all morning ponies, with large cheer and the unique ability to process charcoal as decent food. Except Rarity, who was not a morning pony and absolutely despised the taste of charcoal. And unless she had coffee in the morning, she was not terribly pleasant to deal with either.

"Morning, dear!" Rarity's mother, Martha, replied.

"Morning Mum." She groused, subconsciously looking for coffee. "Do we have any coffee that Sweetie Belle didn't destroy?"

"I thought I tasted something coffee-like in those omelettes."

"They weren't omelettes." Rarity replied. "They were lumps of carbon. They're carcinogenic. How you're even alive is debatable."

"Aww, looks like somepony's cranky." Martha playfully called out, walking up to ruffle the detective's short mane. Before she could get within a hoof, Rarity knocked her hoof away.

"Nopony touch me until I get some coffee."

This wasn't an entirely unexpected reaction from Rarity, so her mother barely reacted to the outburst save for a little giggle.

Rarity trotted into the kitchen, grabbed herself an apple (freshly supplied by Applejack), and set it aside once she entered the bathroom. She looked herself over in the full-body mirror.

"Wonderful, as always." She managed to smile. "Just brush my hair a bit, and then my teeth." She did both of those at once, thanks to her magic, and after a bit she returned to her front door and slipped her coat on. "Going to work now. See you later."

If there was a replacement for coffee that worked on Rarity, it was going to work eating an apple and listening to some music through her music player. Eventually she had broken out into a trot, reaching her workplace in little time. She removed the earbuds as she entered the lobby, and was honestly surprised to hear crying. She looked around and found, in a dark corner, a pegasus mare curled up in the corner. She trotted up with care.

"Excuse me, miss?"

The pegasus looked up, and recognised the longcoat Rarity was wearing. "Are you a detective?"

"I am. My name is Rarity." She took a seat next to her. "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Flitter." She curled up again, sobbing quietly.

"Something the matter?"

Flitter looked up again, eyes bloodshot. "It's... It's my sister. She's..."

Rarity recognised the look of the pony: Someone very close to them has been killed. She had seen it enough times to know it. She reached out and placed a comforting hoof onto her back. Flitter moved closer to Rarity in response.

"Do not worry, we'll find out who did it."

***

"Name?" Bon Bon asked the pegasus softly. She knew demanding these things was a bad move, having watched the previous pony in this position being fired for that exact reason.

"Flitter Gustwind."

"Age?"

"18."

"Relation to victim?"

"S-sister."

Rarity gave a warming smile, to which Flitter seemed to feel a little better from.

"Can you describe what you saw, if anything?"

Flitter gave a nervous look to Rarity, who simply smiled and nodded to Bon Bon. "I... I woke up this morning, ready for a nice day of weather patrol. Normally CC's up before me, but she wasn't this time. I approached her door, and knocked to see if she was awake. She didn't reply, so opened the door, and..." She swallowed hard. "I-I saw her there, on the floor... There was a knife, but I didn't touch it." She sighed shakily. "I locked the door, and immediately came here."

"Where I found you." Rarity mumbled. "I appreciate the fact that you didn't touch the knife, and you locked the door. Helps us greatly."

"And thank you for letting us know." Bon Bon smiled.

Applejack entered, smelling vaguely of cigarettes. "What's happened this time?"

"This poor dear's sister was found murdered this morning." Rarity said quietly, standing up to talk to Applejack in confidentiality. "Also you reek of ash."

"Hey, Ah said Ah was goin' fer a smoke." Applejack hissed back. "But on more important matters, who's the victim?"

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation in our office."

"Good idea."

***

"The victim is Cloudchaser Gustwind."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Holy crap, CC's been killed?"

"That she has, and her sister is distraught. As long as you're in her presence, keep your tongue still about Cloudchaser."

"And I was just gonna have a party for CC. It was her birthday in six days’ time." Pinkie mused.

"So, what do we do?" Trixie asked.

"Rarity and Rainbow, you go interview ponies close to Cloudchaser, literally and emotionally. Pinkie and Trixie, you run a forensics check on the weapons and crime scene. Ah'll keep everything running smoothly, and make sure things go together. And Ah'll provide temp accommodation for Flitter."

"Come on Rare, let's go see what we can get from some ponies." Rainbow drifted off, Rarity trotting behind.

"I'll go check the nearby apartment owners, see if there are any unicorns living close by." Trixie started walking off. "Then I'll cross-check the signatures, if there are any."

"I'll just wait until Trixie's ready." Pinkie bounced off.

"Good luck y'all!" Applejack called out before sighing. "Ah need a smoke."

"Always knew CC was a ground-living pegasus." Rainbow mumbled as she entered the apartments. The building was a five-story structure with a huge concrete courtyard in the middle. Each level had a series of metal walkways around the edge, and stairs leading to upper levels. "Rarity, you go and see if anyone's moved out since last night, or planning to."

Rarity nodded and trotted up the stairs. "Pinkie, Trixie, you know where you're going."

"That I do." Trixie replied. "I'd teleport there, but I'd interfere with any magic signature."

"Smart move. Be careful with your TK as well."

Pinkie bounced up the entire flight of stairs in one go. "I'm gonna get started. Good luck guys!"

"Rainbow, you go and interview the adjacent rooms."

"I'm on it!" Rainbow saluted and glided off to somewhere.

Rarity smiled, then continued on to the apartment manager's office. She knocked politely, and a second later a slightly-frazzled-looking stallion pulled the door open.

"Can I help you?" The stallion looked stressed.

"I'm Investigator Rarity, Ponyville Crime Team."

"Ah, you're here for the murder then." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on it. I'll help you any way I can."

"First, you might want to put a fan on or something." She smelled the musty air. "And second, I need a list of tenants who have, are planning on, or have tried to move out since this morning."

"Right, I'll be right on it. Make yourself at home. Do you want a drink?"

Rarity thought for a moment. "Some coffee, if possible."

***

Rainbow landed in front of the door her left to the crime scene, now blocked with police tape and a single streamer. She looked at the streamer for a second before dismissing it as Pinkie. She knocked on the door.

The door was opened by a huge, muscular white pegasus stallion. "Hello?"

"Hey." Rainbow waved casually. "I'm Investigator Dash, Ponyville Crime Team. Can I come in?"

"Sure." The hulking pony stepped aside to let Rainbow squeeze past. "I heard about what happened to Cloudchaser."

"Yeah. CC was a good friend." Rainbow replied. "Is it ok if I can ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead. I can tell you what I know." He sat down on the largest chair. "I'm Snowflake, by the way."

"Nice to meet ya." Rainbow smiled, taking a seat herself. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a quill. "Alright, so, your name is Snowflake..."

"Power. Snowflake Power."

"Power... Cool. Age?"

"22."

"Alright, cool. Ok, what was your relation to the victim?"

"Friend. I think. We were on good enough terms."

Rainbow wrote 'friend/acquaintance' on the sheet. "Alright. What were you doing leading up to when you heard about the incident?"

"Well, yesterday morning, I did some training, then I went out to lunch. After that, I did some resupplying, and then I practically fell asleep. I didn't even see CC that day, though that's normal."

"Anything unusual happen?"

"Not that I can think of..." He slammed one of his hooves onto the other. "Wait, there was something. There's a pegasus nearby, Thunderlane."

"I know Thunder. He lives here?"

"Yeah. He normally comes down every Monday when I leave for lunch, going on weather duty. He didn't yesterday."

"Well, it is possible he was sick."

"He did say he wasn't feeling well a few days ago."

Rainbow quickly jotted down some notes, then smiled. "Thanks, you've been a great help."

"Anytime." Snowflake smiled in reply. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yeah, do you have something to eat? I missed breakfast."

***

"Ok, these are the magika signatures of local unicorns." Trixie laid down twenty or so cards with a diagram of aura colour above a series of numbers. "I'll scan the rooms for any imprints of magic."

"Question." Pinkie raised a hoof. "Wouldn't your magic show up around here?"

"The detection spell I use has a filter for any magic being used during the active time. I made it myself." Trixie replied smugly. "Now, I'm going to start the spell up, and scan the house." Trixie's horn glowed brightly, scanning the nearby area. "There's a faint residue in the kitchen, on some of the knife handles. Likely that Cloudchaser had invited a unicorn to dinner and said unicorn was using this knife." She checked the aura cards. "A pony called Allie Way, I believe."

Pinkie jotted something down.

"Alright, scanning the other rooms... Nope, no, nothing, no..." She reached the room of the murder. "Nothing." She dropped the spell. "There's no unicorn in Ponyville with the ability to mask their magic, except me."

"Maybe you did the murder." Pinkie teased.

"Are you insane? I hardly knew her, and if I were to kill another I'd do it while we are both armed, awake and prepared to fight."

"Wonderful." Pinkie beamed. "Are you finished?"

"I am. You may now start your ministrations."

Pinkie smiled, and trotted into the room. The body of a young pegasus lay on the ground, throat cut, and a knife hastily thrown next to it. She pulled a strange, pink-coloured device out of nowhere and dropped it nearby, then with gloved hooves picked up the knife and placed it on top of a platform on the device.

"Pinkie, you're supposed to put evidence in a bag and we process it at the lab."

"But why wait to go back to the lab when you can make something to do it on location?"

"That's what that thing is?" Trixie eyed the device. "You are a strange pony."

"I get that a lot."

Pinkie's device whirred, spluttered and grinded, and eventually let out a card with information printed on it. Pinkie grabbed it and set it aside, proceeding to take more evidence and scanning it.

Trixie looked over the card. "Correction: We can do the processing here, but in order to find out who the numbers are we need the lab computers."

"There's one problem with this machine, I just realised."

"And what would that be?"

"How am I going to carry it back?"

***

Rarity scanned the list of ponies. "So, there have been a few tenants who wanted to move out."

"They say it's because they don't want to live anywhere where a murder has happened."

She flicked through the pages, going back a few entries, then she started to record all the tenants between a certain time period. "Well, this is a start. Thank you very much." She snapped the book shut and levitated it to the stallion.

"Thank you, and good luck with the investigation."

Rarity gave a small bow and exited the room. She took a breath of air, and sighed. "That room was musty."

"Rare!" Rainbow called out and landed next to her hard. "I found a possible suspect."

"I have some as well. Who's your pony?"

"A pegasus called Thunderlane. I'm on my way to question him now."

"Allow me to join you." Rarity replied. "If he is the culprit, he may be violent. You'll need backup."

"I was gonna ask you anyway." Rainbow said, taking to the air. "He's on the top level."

Rarity looked up. There were another three levels to go. "Ugh..."

***

Eventually Rarity made it to the top level. "So, which room?"

"That one." Rainbow pointed to a seemingly random door out of all of them.

The two trotted up. Rarity knocked politely, and the door was opened by a tired-looking grey pegasus with a blue mohawk.

"Can I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Investigator Rarity and this is Investigator Dash, Ponyville Crime Team."

Thunderlane sighed. "It's about Cloudchaser, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so. May we come in?"

"Sure, sure. Make yourself at home."

The two mares trotted to the lounge room and took a comfortable-looking multi-pony couch. Thunderlane took a seat on the other side of the small table.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"Firstly, I'll need your name, age and relation to victim."

"Thunderlane Drift, 20, friend."

Rainbow jotted some notes down.

"How well did you and Cloudchaser get on?"

"Like a wooden house on fire."

"It's true." Rainbow added.

"And what about her sister, Flitter?"

"Oh, Flitter." Thunderlane leant back. "She's a cute mare. Don't tell anypony, but I'm attracted to her."

"I see." Rarity thought for a moment. "Do you know why anypony would murder Cloudchaser?"

"CC was a little arrogant at times." Thunderlane replied. "I'd hazard a guess that somepony ended up finding her annoying to hang around. Unlikely, due to her natural charisma, but plausible."

"I have a thought myself." Rainbow raised a hoof. "It's possible that the culprit was focussing more on Flitter, let's say romantically for an example. Cloudchaser was incredibly defendant of her sister and unnaturally perceptive at times. She could tell a pony's harmful intent on Flitter a mile away."

"So, a rather... messed-up or incredibly desperate pony would try to get rid of her so that Flitter becomes an easier target..." Thunderlane though for a moment. "Clever. In theory, at least. They wouldn't know about how traumatised Flitter would be, or what would be worse is if they did know and didn't care."

"One last thing, Thunderlane." Rarity cleared her throat. "Where were you around the time of the murder?"

"I was laying here, sick." Thunderlane coughed violently. "I'm still a little ill, sorry."

Rarity stood up smiled. "Thank you for your help. Hopefully we can meet up in better circumstances."

"Indeed, and good luck with your investigation."

The two mares trotted outside the apartment, and Rainbow closed the door behind them. "He did it."

"What makes you so sure?" Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"He was acting way too calm for somepony who's crush's sister had been killed that morning. It just doesn't seem right."

"Some ponies react coldly to try and cope with the loss."

"It still doesn't seem right."

"Well, we'll see when Pinkie's processed the genetic material."

"Ah still don't think Thunderlane did it, Rainbow."

"And I know he did." Rainbow replied.

"Girls, please, we'll find out once Pinkie's finished processing the samples." Rarity tried to calm them down, to no avail.

"Oh please, AJ. Let me guess, you have one of those 'hunches' you work with."

"Of course Ah do."

"They haven't been wrong before." Rarity offered. "But she doesn't always have hunches either."

"Guys!" Pinkie called out. "The samples are done!"

The three ponies entered the lab, where Pinkie was holding a bunch of cards and such.

"Ok, so I tested the knife for DNA. Oddly enough, it was only Flitter and CC's."

"That could mean that Flitter might be the murderer." Applejack thought.

"Well, actually, that knife isn't what killed her." She held up another sharp implement. "This was the attacker's weapon. The knife happened to just get bloodied too."

Rarity looked over the blade. "A pocket knife."

"It was under her. Just to make sure, I checked the wounds on her body, and they match the pocket knife both in shape and some scraps of metal."

"In addition," Trixie, who had been uncharacteristically silent up to then, added. "I detected a trace amount of magika residue on the grip of the pocket knife, only the amount known for throwing an object of this weight."

"So it's a unicorn then?"

"Yep." Pinkie answered. "It could be one of two. Identical twins. They share magic sigs."

"A Hokey and Pokey Pierce." Trixie read aloud. "We'll need to track down which one did the murder and why."

"Look for the one with wounds." Pinkie pointed out. "There was some of their blood on the large knife."

"Right." Rarity nodded.

Applejack gave a sharp single laugh. "Ah was right."

"Don't rub it in, AJ." Rainbow murmured.

"Oh, Ah'm gonna rub it in alright." She smirked. "Y'all deserve it fer bein' such a hothead."

"Alright, girls, break it up." Rarity stepped between them. "We have a job to do, so let us do it."

Rarity knocked politely on the Pierce house. After a long moment a somewhat familiar muzzle poked out. "Hello?"

"Hello, I'm Investigator Rarity, Ponyville Crime Team."

"Hey." The pony replied. "I'm Pokey Pierce. Wanna come in?"

"I'd love to." Rarity stepped inside and followed Pokey.

"So, what's the matter?"

"I'm investigating the murder of Cloudchaser Gustwind."

"Huh." Pokey froze for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. "Can't say I've heard of her."

"What do you know, if anything?"

"Eh, I think my brother mentioned something about a pegasus or two. That's about it."

"Where does your brother live?"

"He lives on the other side of town." He gestured with his hoof. "Kinda close to the library, or that unique pink house."

"Well, that's a start. What's he like?"

"Weird." He said bluntly. "Sometimes I wonder if he's just going to go mad one day and go on a mass murder."

Rarity winced at 'mass murder'. "Thanks for the help anyway. I should be going."

"Well, good luck." Pokey smiled.

Rarity exited the premises calmly, but as soon as she was out of earshot she made a loud, whining noise of a mix of fear and stress. "Why must I deal with the psychopaths?!"

"Because you're actually good at it." A cloud with Rainbow Dash's head replied. "Don't worry, I'll be there."

"I thank you for the attempt at making me seem better than I am, but it's not entirely working."

"Eh, better than you wallowing in despair without me." She smiled. "Hey, you wanna bring AJ along? She's great at the whole fighting thing, so if you get in trouble you'll have good help."

"I can fight, thank you very much." Rarity grumbled. "But I would appreciate that."

They reached their headquarters and noticed Applejack on the balcony, smoking.

"Yo, AJ!"

Applejack looked down. "Hey RD, hey Rare. Ah'll be right down."

After a long moment Applejack emerged from the front.

"Howdy. Any luck?"

"We found that Pokey wasn't the pony responsible." Rarity replied. "And I've also heard that Hokey, his twin brother, is probably insane."

Applejack thought for a moment. "So y'all want mah help in case things go south."

"Of course."

"Shoot, Ah'd love ta help." She smirked. "The big ol' farmer protectin' the pretty little mare."

"Applejack!" Rarity blushed. "I am more than capable of fighting, I just don't want to take any risk."

"Hey, at least y'all can use a gun better than Ah can."

Rarity pulled out her custom revolver from its holster, and examined it. "That is true." She placed it back. "But I still want help."

"Relax, Rare, Ah'm not gonna abandon ya." Applejack smiled. "Your mah friend, honest."

"Guys, cut the sappy crap out, ok?" Rainbow pitched in, drifting above the two ground-bound ponies. "This ain't a romance novel."

Rarity scoffed. "Obviously you don't have any taste in literature." She flicked her head dramatically to hide her slight blush.

"Girls, you can bicker later." Applejack interrupted. "We're here."

In front of them was a relatively standard Ponyville building, but it was run-down and carried a sense of foreboding due to the occupant's rumoured nature.

Rarity gulped. "I don't suppose any of you wish to go first?"

"What's the matter, scared?" Rainbow taunted.

"To be frank, I am absolutely terrified and-" Rarity gasped when Applejack trotted up to the door. "What are you doing?!"

"Ah'm knockin' on th' door." Applejack said as she did just that. "Come on, it's just-"

A small hole was blown into the door from the inside, narrowly missing the orange pony's muzzle. A split second later Applejack dived for cover and pulled her revolver out from under her duster.

"You'll never take me!" A stallion's voice shot out of the barred windows of the house. Rarity's unicorn mind noticed a magic amplification to that voice, like he was putting on a show. "I'd rather die!"

"You wanna die? Fine!" Rainbow called out, extending her wings aggressively. Before she could fly off Applejack bit her tail, grounding her.

"We gotta take this calmly." She said slowly over Rainbow's struggling and through her tail.

"I agree." Rarity added, then cleared her throat. "Hokey Pierce?"

Hokey made a loud wailing noise, followed quickly by mad laughter. "You're not going to get me out of here! I know what the Government's up to, and you don't even know it yourself!"

"Before we do anything, I just want to know something."

"Noo!" He wailed. "I'll never tell the secrets!"

"No, I just want to know why you killed Cloudchaser, if you did."

Hokey was quiet for a painfully long time. "Maybe because I wanted to."

Rarity gasped. "What?!"

"I just decided that she had to go, so I made her sleep." He chuckled deeply and menacingly. "Forever."

"He's clearly nuts." Rainbow muttered. "We should just kill him and be done with it."

"Rainbow!" Applejack replied angrily. "It ain't right to kill a pony just because her mind's all funny."

"Hold on girls." Rarity interrupted softly, before turning to the madpony. "If you come out now, we won't hurt you at all."

"I might." Rainbow added.

"We won't hurt you in any way." Rarity added.

Hokey laughed. "Well, if you want me out..." The door creaked open. "Come and find me!"

The three ponies cautiously walked up to the door. Rarity peered inside using a mirror.

"Solid Wall-type home." Rarity mumbled one of the types of Ponyville house types. "You know where to look."

"Ah'll take top." Applejack muttered, much to Rainbow's sniggering. "What the hay's the matter with ya?"

"Oh, nothing." Rainbow steeled herself. "I'll take mid-level. Rares, you take ground."

"And then we check the basement as a group." Rarity added. "Watch your backs."

Applejack pointed a hoof to the closest door on the bottom level, which Rarity dived for, pulling her weapon out. She watched Rainbow dash up the stairs, and Applejack approach the same steps.

"Good luck, Applejack."

"You too." Applejack dived up the stairs and out of her sight.

A maniacal laugh rang out. "Look at you all, following orders like the ants you are. Just what the Princess wants from her minions!"

She chose to remain silent, and, in a low crouch, approached the kitchen area. Like she expected Hokey was absent.

"Oh, giving me the silent treatment, aren't you?" Hokey's voice laughed. "Well, it's not going to stop me."

Rarity crawled her way to the next room, what would normally be the lounge room. Unlike the kitchen, which was surprisingly pristine and brightly, the lounge room was filled to the brim with all manners of objects, from bits of bikes to snips of manes. One wall was coated in a map of Equestria, strings connecting to photos and other things of some apparent significance. The entire room was dark except for a flickering light on one side and a dim light bulb on the map wall.

"I can see that the pretty mare has found my research."

Rarity spun around and fired a blind shot. The bullet hit a wall, the echo rumbling throughout the building.

Hokey laughed. "Go ahead and take a look."

Rarity slipped out a camera from her coat pocket and moved it around quickly behind her, taking pictures of the wall without turning back.

"Oh, you're no fun."

Rarity proceeded to crouch again, walking on through the room. She reached a door she knew was a cupboard and pulled it open slowly.

"Why, yes, I am related to Trixie." Hokey replied to one of the other two. "We're cousins, actually."

Rarity peeked into the cupboard. Nothing except clothes.

"So my cousin's part of the same conspiracy? Well, that makes things personal."

Rarity leaped out the lounge door and pressed herself against the staircase wall.

"I know you're angry, pegasus."

She nudged the stairwell door open with her magic. Her ear twitched at a faint click, followed by a flurry of arrows from a now fully-open door. She shrieked instinctively, and paused to catch her breath.

"Oh wonderful, the pretty unicorn found the death-trap." Hokey said with glee, likely an attempt to scare the other two. "Don't worry, I have plenty for you two as well."

Rarity peered into the room that would've spelled death for her. A huge array of crossbows were lined up on a make-shift frame, slightly jolted out of place. She quickly snapped a picture for evidence, and then glanced around. No other doors lay around to check, and she heard the sounds of hoofsteps storming down the stairs.

"Rarity!" Applejack, fear in her voice, called out, jumping the last ten steps and turning to see Rarity waving a hoof. Applejack nearly collapsed from relief. "Thank the stars y'all safe."

"I knew you two would've gone checking on her." Hokey mumbled, not seeming very confident in his answer. "Oh, spoiler alert: I was never really in the house."

Rarity glanced at Applejack. "Basement?"

"Ya read my mind." She tilted her hat as Rainbow drifted down behind her.

"I may have forgotten to mention this to your government-twisted minds, but I can actually hear you speaking." Hokey casually remarked. "From all the way underground."

The trio paused at that last statement.

"Rare," Applejack started, whispering. "D'y'all have some telepathy spell?"

"I know Trixie does." She replied. "Sadly I have not learnt it myself."

"I'm sure he won't mind us talking about his location." Rainbow said casually.

"Not at all." Hokey remarked. "I can wait as long as I want."

Rarity cleared her throat. "Here's an idea. You know how he said he's underground?"

"Yep." Applejack replied. "He's in the basement."

"Not necessarily." Rarity started pacing slowly. "You see, he also said that he was not in the house. Unless he is lying, he may be elsewhere."

"And these types of houses have a magic-proof basement. No magic in or out." Rainbow added. "So he can't be there."

"Well, we have our course of action. Follow me."

The trio trotted slowly outside, making sure not to trigger any traps that may be around. Rainbow called out from her sky-based vantage point, pointing to a small metal dome.

"There's something here." She added as she alighted next to it. "Rares, use that magic of yours to open it, in case it's a trap."

Rarity nodded, using her magic to turn the crank on the dome's top.

"Fools!" Hokey called out from the magic in the house. "I'm not there!" He proceeded to laugh madly, but slowed down when Rarity continued turning the crank. "T-that place will be your doom!"

"We ain't fallin' for that trick." Applejack said casually.

Rarity wrenched open the dome, then flicked some sweat off her brow. "That was harder than it looked."

Rainbow peered down, scanning the area. "It's a wide hallway," She leant down further, using her wings to support herself. "That leads to big door."

"Well, let us proceed." Rarity stepped daintily down the opening, landing softly at the bottom. Applejack's hard thud resounded through the hallway, which was smoothly-cut stone with a few gems jutting out of the walls.

"Wow." Rainbow muttered. "Impressive."

Rarity inspected one of the crystals. It was a glowing emerald, the glow vaguely eye-shaped. "He's enchanted crystals along the hallway to spot intruders." The camera snapped a picture.

"Boy, he ain't takin' a break with his security." Applejack readjusted his hat. "Hey, Pierce! Can y'all hear me?"

Applejack's voice rebounded off the walls.

"Nope." Applejack sighed. "He must be settin' up defences."

"Or," Rainbow started. "He hasn't got that magic talky spell down here."

"Or maybe," Rarity added. "He isn't in here, and he might've broken the ward in the basement."

Applejack took a few cautious steps forward. "Still, Ah wanna make sure of that. Rare, take the left door, Dash, take the right."

The two ponies set themselves up next to the doors. Rarity reached out with her magic, only for her aura to flash a jagged red shape before cutting out, and she yelped in pain.

"Rare-"

"I'm alright..." She replied breathlessly. "He's warded the door against magic. You take the door."

Applejack nodded and quickly took Rarity's place. Rarity stood close beside the orange mare, lifting her weapon up in her magic.

"On th' count'a three..." Applejack whispered. "One... Two..."

Rarity braced herself for anything.

"Three!" Applejack yelled, gripping the handle in her mouth and yanking it open hard. Rainbow followed her actions.

There was a painfully long silence. Rarity leant slowly to look past the door, and found that there was a barren room.

"Trick number three of a unicorn Illusionist!" Hokey's voice rang out from all around. "Cloaking magic!"

The trio snapped their heads to face behind them, and found that the opposite wall was grinding itself open, changing into a pair of brass plates as the illusion was removed.

"You honestly think I would've gone with such an obvious base of operations?" He cackled maniacally. "You were wrong, Detectives!"

A bandaged, mad-eyed stallion trotted out of the brass gateway, head cocked and grinning like a madpony. The bandages covered his right eye, and in his blue aura of magic was a floating kitchen knife.

"Well, I'm here." He announced in a normal-sounding voice. "Let's see if your corrupt leaders know what they taught you."

Rarity aimed down the ironsights of the revolver and pulled the trigger, only for the bullet that was supposed to hit his leg skidding off the concrete as the insane pony teleported a short distance. Applejack charged head-on, and just as she spun around to kick him square in the jaw he blinked again, standing in front of the bewildered mare. He flashed a grin and brought down a solid lump of magic onto her head, knocking her hard into the concrete.

Rainbow yelled and pulled out her pistol, as well as flicking on a razorwing spell. She fired several wild shots, all of them missing due to his blinking nature, then charged faster than any pony should be allowed to, still missing with her wings when Hokey teleported away again.

"Aim for where he will be!" Rarity called out, then froze as Hokey blinked to her side.

"You shouldn't play with guns, gorgeous."

Rarity felt a hoof press against the back of her neck and another on the base of her horn, both pushing and forcing her to look up. Her magic cut out completely and her pistol dropped to the floor. Cold steel cloaked in the soft tickle of magic pressed against her throat and she squeaked.

"Rarity!" Applejack called out, still splayed on the floor but bolting to get up.

"Don't move or I'll kill her!" Hokey yelled, causing the other two ponies to freeze. He smiled creepily and cast a glance at his captive. "So, your name's Rarity, huh?"

Rarity growled, trying to reattach connection with her weapon but failing.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" Rainbow cried, still hovering.

"Just a little something I learnt through studies." He remarked casually. "If you press a hoof on both the back of the neck and the base of the horn you cut out their magic flow for as long as you hold them in place. For some unicorns this may slightly paralyse them." He cast a glance at the pony between his hooves. "Like Little Miss Rarity here."

"Let her go." Applejack demanded, rising to her full height.

"On one condition."

"Don't..." Rarity choked out.

"You leave me alone, and make sure that no-one bothers me ever again."

Applejack lowered her head, trying to think. Rarity tried casting again and found only a fraction of her power was usable. She spotted her pistol lying near Rainbow, and sparked an aura around it.

"Well? Have you made a decision?"

Applejack sighed. "As long as you let Rarity go, Ah'll acce-"

"Applejack...!" Rarity tried to yell, her weakened body struggling in the grip of Hokey. "Don't...!"

Rainbow leant close to AJ. "Rare's trying magic. Kick her the pistol and I'll distract him."

"That ain't gonna work." She replied.

"Says the mare who operates on hunches." Rainbow quietly deadpanned, before clearing her throat. "We've made a decision!"

"Oh?" Hokey tilted his head. "And what would that be?"

"We'll leave you alone-" She nudged Applejack slightly as her cue to go. "-If you let Rarity go now and let us leave."

"How will I know you won't turn on me with that deal?"

"Ah promise," Applejack replied. "That we won't."

"Were we-?" Rainbow started.

"With this silly plan'a yers, we were never going to have that option." She mumbled. "Ah'm ready, Dash."

Hokey glanced between the three ponies. "How can I believe you?"

"Because," Rainbow started. "We are genuinely reliable according to our service records and NOW AJ!"

Applejack did a sharp turn and bucked the white-gripped revolver towards the two ponies. Before Hokey could react the weapon smacked him straight in the face, knocking him back. Rarity's magic almost instantly returned and she pulled the gun back to her as she leapt back with grace. Hokey growled and sat up, finding three guns now aimed at him.

"You honestly think you can shoot me, when I have the ability to telep-?"

Rarity squeezed the trigger and her last shot buried itself into his leg in a spray of red. He collapsed in pain, screaming. "And that's why I tell Trixie not to have monologues in combat."

"Damn you..." Hokey moaned, sparks of magic coming off his horn. In her usual quick-thinking way Rainbow pulled into her coat and slammed a magic dampener onto his horn. The shadecrystal interior prevented any magic from passing it.

"Nice job." Applejack smiled, lifting the weakened unicorn onto her back.

"I always carry some dampeners for this reason." Rainbow puffed her chest. "Because I'm that awesome."

Rarity looked at the angry unicorn on the orange pony's back with a subtle grin, the same time cuffing his hooves so that he couldn't get the dampener off. "You didn't really think this through, you know."

"Alright." Applejack started, pacing around the table. "Y'all have ten days until your trial. Yer gonna tell us everything."

"I already told you." Hokey said casually, despite being tied up and having his magic supressed. "I suddenly decided she had to go."

"Fer what reason?"

"I think he's gone mad." Rainbow casually added.

"Oh, I have a perfectly good reason." Hokey replied.

"What is it?" Rarity asked, her eyes focussed on the pictures of the map she had taken.

"You know of the Rune Shredder? Of course you do, everypony does."

"What does he have to do with this?"

"I did a bit of research, given what I could under such a corrupt law system. I found out that all the ponies killed by Rune Shredder are all young mares, between 19 and 21."

Rarity turned. "So what you've decided to do is to kill all the mares that are younger than that?"

"Only to prevent the upcoming disaster." He said with a chuckle.

"Disaster...?"

"Your leaders haven't told you why the Shredder kills things that way." He started laughing.

"We have asked if they have ideas," Rarity responded. "They have no idea. Not even the Princesses."

"Of course they wouldn't tell you." He smiled in a creepy way, pupils shrinking. "They don't want you to stop it."

"Stop what?" Rainbow demanded, slamming her hooves on the table.

"The Shredder is building an army, you brainless dolts!" He cackled maniacally. "Pulling them from the aether, to destroy our world!"

"Ok, he really is mad." Rainbow mumbled.

"Swords of fire and bows of storms!" He started twitching as he spoke. "Nopony, not you or I or Celestia herself can stop them!"

"Ah'm agreeing with you."

"As am I." Rarity stated, still jotting down what the apparent madpony was saying. Said pony was now just laughing and starting to be dragged off.

"Did'ja get that?" Applejack mumbled after the laughter was gone.

"All of it."

"You don't believe it, right?" Rainbow turned to face them. "All this stuff about bringing some mystical army from Celestia-knows-where to destroy our world? Doesn't make any sense."

"Knowing the most about runes in this room," Rarity replied. "There are no known runes or arcane circles that can do that. In fact, I've never heard of another dimension."

"Still, we should keep this in mind." Applejack commented. "I mean, y'all heard about Discord an' such? It ain't impossible."

"Just, hopefully, unlikely." Rarity sighed. "I'll put a copy of this in the RS folder."

Applejack nodded in reply and started walking away. Rainbow followed close behind, leaving Rarity with her photos. She trotted up to them and gave them a look.

"Ok, so we have..." She named several of the ponies, jotting them down on a second piece of paper. "Including Lyra and Ms Minuette." She sighed as she trotted out. "Well, best keep an eye on them."

Applejack sighed out a cloud of ash, stubbing her cigarette into the nearby ashtray. "Why is this job only gettin' harder?"

"It's because we have an enigma in our jurisdiction." Rarity's voice replied softly behind her.

"No, really?" Applejack replied with sarcasm. "Ah thought every town in Equestria had a mass murderer enigma."

Rarity took her usual seat on the balcony, carrying a teapot and some cups. "But now some a' the other murders are leakin' inta the RS case. It ain't right."

"The world is not always fair, Applejack." Rarity leant back. "Either in or against your favour."

"It just seems to be more against these days." Applejack lit up another cigarette.

"Don't worry, you'll persevere."

"And what makes you say that?"

Rarity smiled. "You're a tough, hard-working pony who won't let anything bring you down."

"Aww, thanks, Rare." Applejack blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"And don't forget that your hunches are almost always correct."

"Shame I haven't gotten any for RS." She replied, leaning back.

"When you do, we'll follow it outright." Rarity poured herself a drink and had a sip.

Applejack sighed out a cloud of ash. "Better than chasing loose ends all week."

"Absolutely."

Break: Dinner Date

"Applejack!"

The orange mare curled herself up closer in her bed, savouring warmth.

"Applejack, it's time for breakfast!"

"Ugh..." Applejack groaned. "Five more minutes..."

"It's yer favourite!" The filly's voice added. "Apple pancakes with maple syrup!"

Applejack blinked, then grinned. "Ah'm comin'!"

In about ten seconds (flat) she had literally kicked her door open, stomach growling. Fortunately she had missed Applebloom, who seemed to predict this barging out.

"Mornin' sis!"

"Morning!" Applebloom trotted alongside her sister to the kitchen area, equally excited with the breakfast.

"Mornin', AJ." Big McIntosh, currently doing some financial work, said as he watched his sisters trotting down the stairs. "How'd ya sleep?"

"Could'a been better, could'a been worse." She inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the pancake batter cooking alongside the smell of apples. "Breakfast smells good."

"Eeyup." Big McIntosh went back to his work.

"How'd ya sleep, Applebloom?"

"Ah slept like a log." Applebloom grinned. "Uh- Do logs actually sleep?"

"Nah, but it's a sayin' for a good sleep." She rustled the filly's mane. "Go an' check how long to breakfast please."

Applebloom mock-saluted and dashed to the kitchen. She took a seat on the table and smiled. "So, Big Mac, how's the farm doing?"

"Good." He said succinctly. "Our plough needs replacin', but otherwise the farm's up t' speed."

"Good." Applejack replied, then smiled when she saw food coming out of the kitchen. "C'mon Big Mac, time fer breakfast."

"Eeyup."

Rarity yawned slowly, currently preparing herself a cup of coffee. Meanwhile, she was trying to cope with her parents and sister going on about some inane thing.

"... So this Diamond Tiara girl just got her cutie mark, and my friend Scootaloo was all 'grr she's such a stuck-up brat' and I was all like 'yeah, she totally is' and we thought about starting a club together but we need another member."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find one, dearie." Martha replied, ruffling the filly's mane.

"Who knows, y'might find one tonight." Magnum smiled.

Rarity had a sip of her coffee and suddenly felt a bit more awake.

"That'd be awesome." Sweetie Belle said, taking a bite of her toast (not prepared by her, thank the stars).

"The probability isn't that high, but it's certainly possible." Rarity added. "We'll just see how the day goes."

Magnum bit into his own toast as Rarity sat beside them, levitating her own breakfast. "So, Rarity, found somepony you like yet?"

Rarity groaned and slammed her head into the desk. "Ugh, Dad... I am far too busy with work to find a special somepony."

"Have you tried one of your workmates?" Martha asked.

"No, but that's because I'm not trying." Rarity lifted her head up and brushed a single strand of her mane aside. "Besides, there's almost nopony I 'like' there."

"Almost?" Magnum leant closer.

Rarity growled and picked up her entire breakfast, trotting off. "I'll be in my room if you want to talk about something worthwhile."

***

Rarity nibbled her eggs, her mind not even on her well-cooked breakfast. "A special somepony..." She crossed her hooves. "Well, there's hardly anypony who I've got my eye on. Only, really, Caramel, Lucky... Blueblood, though from what I've heard from my Canterlot contacts he's not very sociable... And, say, two others, who are..." She swallowed her current food. "Mares."

She placed another bit of egg in her mouth. "Not that there's anything wrong with liking mares these days, from what I've heard. I may as well just accept it. But my family can't know, I don't even know if they'd accept it or not."

She went to eat more of her egg only to find that it had disappeared. Likewise, she felt satiated. She giggled quietly to herself. "Oh my, I must've been thinking so hard I forgot about my meal." She lifted up her empty plate and took it to the kitchen, somewhat satisfied that her family was absent and instead in the lounge. "I think I'll go out today. It is market day, after all."

Applejack sighed with boredom, currently setting up her stall in the market. It was an ingenious contraption, containing everything she would've wanted to sell in a compact, enchanted case, that when kicked some distance it would automatically build itself. She had it made for formal events, but due to her lack of drive that day (despite a great breakfast) she opted to use it for today.

In short order the structure had built itself and she had dragged a seat for her to sit on while waiting for customers. Just as expected, a customer made her way to the stall in mere seconds of the building's completion.

"Howdy." She said casually to the pegasus who was at the stall. This pegasus had wonky eyes and a klutzy-yet-upbeat attitude, but was a whole other pony on the inside.

At least, according to Pinkie Pie.

"How can Ah help you?"

The pegasus scanned the objects, but suddenly one of her eyes locked onto something. "I'll have that muffin, please."

"That'll be three bits."

The pegasus tossed her three bits and grabbed the muffin in her wing. "Thank you! Have a good day!"

"Y'all have one too." Applejack casually replied, watching the pony trotting off in joy. She let herself smile.

***

Three hours later, Applejack was tapping one of her hooves incessantly on the counter. "C'mon, Big Mac..."

Right on cue, her older brother walked up. "I'm here. Sorry, doin' some applebuckin'."

"Y'all forgiven." She stood up and started trotting off. "Good luck!"

She didn't hear McIntosh's reply, instead dashing off for some much needed relief.

***

A quick flush later, she trotted out of the bathroom stalls. She closed her eyes and inadvertedly ran into another pony, the two ending up in a tangle of hooves. She was momentarily stunned by a hoof being knocked into her jaw, but when she came too she felt something resting on her chest, having fallen on her back.

"Ugh... And the day was going so well too..." A mare's voice called out, and she felt the weight shift. She heard a gasp. "Applejack?!"

Applejack groaned and opened her eyes to see Rarity peering into her face. "Wah!"

"Aah!" Rarity leapt back, shocked by the outburst. "Oh, are you ok, Applejack?"

"A lil' shaken, but Ah'll live." Applejack smiled. "Not goin' into work today?"

"No, I have the week off." She sighed. "You?"

"Other than farm stuff, Ah'm free."

Rarity tapped her chin. "Perhaps you could come over to my place for dinner?"

No sooner than she had finished saying that had she realised that it, in hindsight, wasn't the best of ideas. Unfortunately Applejack replied before she could correct herself. "Sure, I'd love ta."

"E-excellent." She laughed nervously. "Well, I, uh, I should get going. I need to tell my parents about this."

"Alrighty then." Applejack smiled, oblivious to the other mare's thinly-veiled distress. "Ah'll let mah family know too. What time?"

"Oh, let's say... Is eight a good time for you?"

"Ah'm free from six, so that works for me." She flipped out a business card and handed it to Rarity. "Gimme a call if it's alright with y'folks. Ah'll let ya back to y' business."

Rarity nodded and trotted briskly off to her home, which fortunately wasn't all that far away. In a matter of minutes she had arrived.

"Mum?" She called out. "Dad?"

"What is it, dear?" Martha's voice said.

"Is it alright if I can have somepony over for dinner?"

"Sure." Magnum said. "What time?"

"Is eight o'clock reasonable?"

"Absolutely. I'll start cooking at seven-thirty."

Rarity sighed with relief and trotted up to her room, where her own personal phone was. Pulling out Applejack's card, she dialled up her number and pressed the earpiece against her ear.

After a moment of dialling the phone clicked. "Howdy, Ah'm Applebloom."

"Hello dear, it's Rarity. Is your sister there?"

"Nah, she's out in th' market."

Rarity blinked, then facehoofed. "Of course she is... Thank you anyway, darling."

"No prob." Applebloom replied. "Can Ah help you with anythin'?"

"No thank you, I have what I need."

"Alright, see ya."

"Bye." Rarity replied casually, waiting for the phone to click off before she placed it back. Shortly after she trotted briskly to the door.

"Who're ya invitin' over?" Magnum asked before she pulled the door open.

"Just a friend." She exited her home before she could be forced into continuing. Much to her surprise Applejack was standing at a nearby stall, looking at some objects with curiosity. Rarity galloped up to meet her. "Hello dear."

"Oh, howdy." She replied, still looking at a trinket. "Didn't take ya long."

"No, I live very close by and I was merely wandering before."

Applejack put the object down to face Rarity. "So, what'd they say?"

"They accepted. It's at eight."

Applejack rubbed her chin. "Y'all have a little sister, right?"

"Sweetie Belle, yes. She's currently obsessing over her cutie mark and all that."

"Mah sis's like that too." Applejack smiled. "Ah could bring her over t' give Sweetie Belle a friend to play with."

"I think she'd like that." Rarity looked at the trinket. "Ooh, that's pretty."

"Yeah, and it looks an awful lot like my ma's old necklace. Ah know it's not, though."

"Probably the same maker." Rarity replied, lifting the necklace up closer. It was a loop of purple and blue marble orbs with solid gold between each orb. She levitated it around her neck to test it. "How does it look on me?"

"Pretty good," Applejack commented. "Although Ah can't really tell through yer magic."

"Oh, right." She turned to the store-owner. "How much for this?"

"Ten bits."

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Wow." She lifted ten bits out and dropped it on the counter. "Thank you."

"Rare, why did ya just-?"

"I have hunches too." She smiled. "Just in a different area." She admired the necklace, which she just put around her neck. "Besides, I think it looks good on me."

"Now that Ah can see it better, Ah agree."

Rarity shyly kicked the dirt. "Aww, thank you."

Applejack smiled brightly, but stopped when her watch beeped suddenly. "Darn, gotta get back t' work. Catch'ya at yer place at eight?"

"That would be nice." Rarity replied, still a little bashful.

For the next several hours Rarity spent most of her time wandering the stalls and bumping into friends. In the last hour or so of her market venture she had caught up with her pegasus friend Fluttershy. The two shared an interest in fashion, though the pegasus was more into it as a hobby. They ended up talking for ages, often getting side-tracked as most conversations do.

However, it was approaching eight, so Rarity bid her friend farewell and set off to her home.

When she entered the house she caught the whiff of something rather delicious. Despite her family's ability to eat charcoal without being poisoned, they preferred to eat well. It just meant that they were able to cope with accidental overcooking. Except Rarity, of course, but she made her own food anyway.

"That smells wonderful." She said as she popped into the kitchen.

"Well, you are bringing somepony over for dinner, so I thought I'd avoid the whole charcoal thing that you keep going on about."

"Well, if you need my help I'll be-"

The doorbell rang.

"Pardon me."

She sped to the front door and pulled it open with her magic. Standing at the door was Applejack and her younger sister. "Howdy."

"You're here early." Rarity replied with a smile, pulling the door open. "Come in, make yourselves at home."

Applejack nodded and stepped inside. "Ooh, fancy."

"I did most of the decoration." Rarity stated. "Gives the place a... unique feeling to it."

"Ah can certainly tell." Applejack said, taking a seat on the couch. Her sister bounced into her spot nearby.

"I'll just let everypony know you've arrived." Rarity said and trotted to the kitchen. "Mum?"

"He's here?"

"Actually it's my friend Applejack. And her sister, to keep Sweetie company."

"Oh, sorry." Martha smiled. "I just thought that..."

"... that because I was inviting somepony over it was someone I was romantically interested in, I understand your assumptions."

"Well, it'd be nice to meet them anyway."

"I'll just go let Dad and Sweetie know they're here." Rarity turned to leave, only to bump into her father.

"Heya Rarity!" Magnum greeted her with his usual cheer. "When's your friend coming over?"

"She's already here." She pointed behind him. "She also brought her sister along to keep Sweetie entertained."

Magnum turned to face Applejack, seemed to do a double take, then turned back with a smile. "Well, that's wonderful."

"Hello?" Sweetie Belle's voice seemed to say shyly.

"Howdy." Applebloom replied with enthusiasm. "Ah'm Applebloom."

"I'm Sweetie Belle." The unicorn filly greeted with a more excited nature. "Hey, I've seen you at school."

After their short greeting the two got on like a house on fire. All of the adults had trotted out to both greet Applejack and watch the instant friendship form between the fillies. Shortly after they had gallivanted off to Sweetie Belle's room.

"Well," Martha announced, grinning from the display. "I guess dinner is served."

***

The rather generous meal was laid out on a table large enough for six ponies. Rarity had taken to sitting on one side, next to her mother, with Magnum and Applejack on the ends of the table, and the fillies on the other side.

Rarity served herself a small helping of lettuce and other assorted vegetables, and offered some to Applejack. Applejack nodded and watched the unicorn placing some food on her plate.

"Thank ya kindly."

Applebloom grabbed some mouth-tongs to sort her own food out. Sweetie Belle seemed to be straining, attempting to cast a spell.

"Applebloom, could ya give Sweetie Belle a hoof with her food?" Applejack had a look of concern on her face.

"No!" Sweetie Belle replied through her teeth. Green sparks flew off her horn as she poured power into the spell. "I've... Almost... Got it..." Her horn brought up a green aura for an instant before both the magic and Sweetie Belle collapsed. "Ok..." She said between breaths. "Not just yet..."

"You came very close, though." Rarity offered her encouragement. "I think I saw a proper aura for a second."

Sweetie Belle smiled weakly then grabbed the tongs from Applebloom to serve her own food.

"Besides, I was a late bloomer in terms of magic too. I was a year or so older than you before I could really cast spells." She smiled.

"Y'all lucky you have all this magic 'a yers." Applejack bit into a piece of lettuce and finished it quickly before she continues. "I mean, y'all can grab things with yer mind, and better than any hoof can do."

"There are downsides, naturally." Rarity offered. "First, our bodies aren't as tough as earth ponies or pegasi. Second, we can get migraines. Third... Well, the saying 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' should explain it."

"Corruption." Sweetie Belle mumbled dourly.

"Exactly." Rarity continued. "We may be able to use our minds to bend reality, some more than others, but corruption is at least ten times more likely to happen in unicorns than pegasi or earth ponies."

Applejack smiled. "Well, Ah ain't a mathematician, but Ah can say that y'all unlikely to be corrupted. That an' y' sister."

Rarity blushed and looked away. "You flatter me."

"Besides, it ain't impossible for any other pony to be corrupted through magicks." She smiled. "I mean, remember that would-be serial killer?"

"Is that..." Rarity pressed her hooves to her temple. "The one who used a pair of hoof-mounted retractable blades?"

"Claimed t' be an assassin or somethin'."

Rarity spared a glance around the table, noticing the other four were in their own deep conversations. "What was that guy's name..."

"Iunno. Ah remember he was a pegasus, and Trixie detected some taint in his network."

"Taint..." Rarity shuddered. "Horrible stuff. Raw magika infused with corrupt energies. Rare as all Tartarus, but not impossible to create."

Applejack bit into her lettuce. "So, it ain't imposs-"

"Applejack, dear, please don't speak with your mouth full, it's dreadfully rude."

Applejack rolled her eyes and shortly finished her mouthful. "As Ah was sayin', it ain't impossible for other ponies to be corrupted. In fact, Ah reckon that the pointy horns and the twisting-o'-reality thing the unicorns have are more of a lure fer whatever causes corruption."

"Well, the horn makes sense for non-sentient corruption." Rarity looked at her horn. "It's a conduit to a pony's network in essence, a direct opening for energy to move out of... and into."

"Yup."

"Then, with that same logic, a pegasus wing is also a conduit of energy."

"Just ain't as open." Applejack offered.

Rarity tapped her chin. "Alright, you have a point."

"Don't Ah always?" Applejack leaned back, smugly grinning. "But yeah, Ah don't think y'all corruptible. Neither is y' sister." She leaned very close. "Though y' dad's been eyeing me this entire time. Now, Ah ain't a genius, but Ah reckon it's either that Ah'm damn good looking-"

"Which you-" Rarity covered her mouth. "D-do go on."

"-Or he ain't particularly fond of me or my kin."

"Why would Dad have a problem with your family?" Rarity questioned.

"Ah ain't sure. But if Ah could Ah'd poke around a bit to make sure."

Rarity spared a glance to her father. He was deep in conversation, but occasionally his gaze would flicker to the two of them. "It could be that he's concerned over me."

"Worried that the farmer mare is making moves on Daddy's little girl?" Applejack tilted her head, smirking madly.

Rarity stammered. "Applejack, please. Do not make fun of this situation."

"Sorry, Rare. All in all, we should sit up and eat."

"Let us. My neck is cramping."

The two simultaneously took a bite of their meals, then resumed their conversation. "Ah still reckon he has somethin' against me."

"I'm still not sure if I-" Before she could finish, her phone all the way up in her room started ringing. "Oh for... I'll be back."

Rarity dashed off, leaving Applejack without a conversation. She idly chewed her lettuce, trying not to settle her eyes on Magnum. She could feel his gaze though, even if it wasn't always on her in actuality.

A second later Rarity poked her head out. "Applejack, I'm afraid we're going to have to postpone this meetup."

"Why?"

"Somepony's been murdered."

Author's Note

I've had this ready for ages, and only now do I upload it -_-'

Case 3: Blossomforth

"Stars be damned..." Rarity mumbled as she felt a patter of rain on her hat. "It had to storm tonight, didn't it?"

"Yup." Applejack replied, instantly spotting the forensic tent in the darkness. "Oh good, Pinks and Trixie are already there."

Rarity pushed the flap open and spotted the two ponies hard at work, plus Rainbow.

"This doesn't make any sense..." Rainbow pressed her hooves to her temple. "A crowd of ponies witnessed Diamond Mint murder Blossomforth in the open, and all of them except Diamond Mint herself seem to actually be aware that she did it."

"That ain't makin' any sense." Applejack replied. "And she ain't aware the murder happened until ponies accused her?"

"I know, it's so bucking stupid."

"And we haven't found any evidence of magic signature or saliva." Pinkie added.

"Despite reports that she was using magic to stab Blossomforth in the neck." Trixie continued. "It's as if she never did it, and all of a sudden reality shifted and Blossomforth ended up dead and everypony though she did it. Which, might I remind you, is impossible."

Rarity tapped her chin. "Well, this is awkward. No evidence, yet literally dozens of eye-witness reports."

"We've done well on the vice versa." Applejack murmured. "But Ah ain't seen nothin' like this before."

Trixie placed a device on the fold-up table. "We'll continue working on the evidence. I believe you'll handle the witnesses?"

Rarity nodded. "Rainbow, if you could be so kind as to pass me the list."

Rainbow willingly handed her the list. "Lemme know if you need help."

"Right." Rarity turned to leave. "Come on, we have a job to do."

"So, what you're saying is..." Rarity pressed her hooves to the side of her head. "Diamond Mint killed Blossomforth, in public, with a knife, then ran off."

"Of course!" The beige pony with a deep-red mane replied. "If you were there, you'd have seen it."

"What happened next?"

"'Scuse me?"

"What happened next, after she ran into the crowd?"

"Uh..." The pony rubbed the back of her neck. "I can't remember. I remember her running off into the crowd then acting all shocked all of a sudden."

Rarity stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Was their much blood, Rose?"

"Heaps!" Rose flailed her forelegs. "It was everywhere!"

"Even on Diamond?"

"Duh. It got all over her."

"And when she was back in the crowd, was she covered in blood."

"Of cou-" Rose paused. "Um... I'm not sure."

Rarity smiled and pulled aside the curtain behind her. Behind the curtain was the very pony in question, a pink-coated mare with a blue-ish mane and a gem on her flank.

Being the paranoid pony Rose was, she immediately dived for cover, screaming. Diamond flinched, covering her face with a slightly-bloodied hoof.

"Rose, please, she's not going to harm you." Rarity leant down next to the scared pony. "Notice that she's only slightly covered in blood."

"W-what's that mean?"

"Whoever actually did the murder merely scraped Diamond on the way, hoping that the panicked minds of the nearby witnesses would forget that detail."

"Wow." Diamond trotted closer. "How'd you know that?"

"Once Rose here said that the Diamond doppelganger was coated in Blossomforth's blood, I pieced it together right quick. I have an eye for detail."

"How long have you been doing this job for?"

"Long enough." Rarity tapped Rose on the shoulder. "You're free to go, but don't make too much fuss, alright?"

Rose nodded and darted off.

"This mystery is being pieced together really fast." Rarity smiled. "Of course, we still have to figure out who actually killed Blossomforth... And that's the hard part."

Rainbow covered her ear from the grating curse of the pony in front of her. "Cloudkicker, calm down."

"Calm down?!" Cloudkicker screamed, wings flared. "I leave the town for a few days for a family visit, and you tell me Blossomforth was killed?!" She cursed loudly again and kicked the wall next to her.

"I know this is sudden." Rainbow reassured. "But you're a very strong-willed pony."

"There's very little that can make me lose my cool." Cloudkicker pressed her hoof to her muzzle in stress. "But the death of my best friend and kinda-sorta marefriend is one of those things." She sighed, wings falling to her side. "Thank you for telling me anyway, Dash. I'll need a while to recover."

"If you need somepony to talk to..." Rainbow pulled a card out from her coat pocket. "Gimme a call." Rainbow turned to leave but froze. "Actually, I have a question."

"Shoot." Cloudkicker leant against the wall in a calm and collected way, though her eyes were damp.

"Do you know of anypony who would've had something against Blossomforth?"

"Nah." Cloudkicker waved calmly. "She was a good-natured pony, so only a psychopath would want her gone."

Rainbow's mind flickered to a few weeks back, back with Hokey and his creepy illusionary tricks. "Yeah, I can imagine."

"Good luck with the thing, Dash." Cloudkicker gave her best winning smile. "And kick some psycho flank for Blossom, 'kay?"

Trixie stared at the knife. "Why can't I find any trace of magic?"

"Maybe it's not magic?" Pinkie offered.

"Dozens of pony say it was magic."

"Did they say what colour?"

Trixie scanned some of the many witness reports on the table. "More said that it was green than any other individual colour."

"Green..." Pinkie sat down and pondered. "Aha! Diamond's aura is purple. This must be the work of something else."

Trixie eyed the knife again. "Something else...?" She closed her eyes. "Let's see if Mage-Sight will pick up something."

She opened her eyes again and her world was suddenly full of wispy trails of magic. Pinkie was a bright, active pink, her own hoof a light-lavender. She eyed the knife handle and spotted a vibrant green smoke unlike any other she had seen.

"Woah, your eyes are all glowy and..." She heard Pinkie gasp. "What the hay?!"

Trixie snapped her eyes shut and opened them again, cutting off her magic. Her world was back to normal. "I'm fine. But I spotted something."

"Your eyes..." Pinkie leant closer.

"They're bleeding a little, I know." Trixie replied. "Only high-level unicorns can cast Mage-Sight without damaging something. As it stands, I am powerful enough to use it for ten seconds before I seriously hurt myself."

"Will you be fine?"

"Just let me do my job, Pinkie." Trixie wiped some blood off from under her eye. "I let you do yours."

"Okie dokie lokie."

Trixie leant closer to the knife and examined it. "We know now that whatever killed Blossomforth is by no means a pony in the standard sense of the word."

"So..."

"Now we need to find something... different."

"Maybe it's a shapeshifter?" Pinkie offered. "I mean, if ponies-"

"Pinkie, two things. One, shapeshifters are just foal's tales. Two, who has a PhD in Forensic Magic?"

"Me?"

"No, me." Trixie deadpanned.

"Well, if you remember the witness reports, they all seemed to say that Diamond ran into the crowd and then spontaneously lost her memory. A few said there was a burst of green fire and then she had stopped running. And finally we know that some said a random red stallion had appeared nearby shortly after the flame, but made it out as a minor thing."

"Out with it, Diane. I don't have all day."

"I put two-" She raised her forehooves. "And two-" Followed by her back hooves. "And two-" She raised some dummy hooves which happened to be hidden in her tail. "-Together, and it's probably a shapeshifter."

"Ok, I see your point." Trixie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "How does one go about looking for a shapeshifter, though?"

"You could use that Mage-Sight thingy-"

"Too awkward and risky." She rubbed her eye reflexively. "Magic scanners won't pick it up."

Pinkie suddenly beamed. "That's it!"

"What's i-?"

"Magic scanners!" Pinkie leapt up. "We set some big ones up and calibrate it to pick up only normal magic! That way, when a pony that looks healthy but has the magic of a corpse walks through we catch him!"

Trixie stared at Pinkie. "The scary thing about that plan is that you of all ponies thought of it." She clapped her hooves together. "But that's... a great plan. I'll let HQ know."

"That's a stupid plan."

Pinkie gasped loudly. "Whaaaaaaaat?!"

"We need t' set it up someplace where all the ponies in Ponyville will walk through." Applejack sighed. "And there ain't any place like that."

Pinkie sighed dejectedly. "Fine..."

"Actually," Rarity started. "Notice that Pinkie said 'big ones' and not 'a big one'."

"Y' point bein'?"

"We can set multiples around the town in commonly-travelled locations, with trained staff manning them."

Applejack sighed. "Alright, ya got me there. But Ah don't think we have the budget to relocate all of the ones we need."

"Well, we'll set up what we can and have Mage-Sight specialists on station in other areas."

"Ain't Mage-Sight eye-damaging?"

"Not if you cast it right." Rarity said smugly.

Trixie stammered, glaring daggers. "W-what?! Are you telling me I've been casting that spell wrong?"

"No, just that I've found a way to make it more efficient."

"How efficient...?" Trixie asked with scepticism.

"Ten to one time before severe damage."

Trixie grabbed Rarity by her shoulders. "Tell me your secrets."

Rarity smiled and brushed Trixie off. "Easy. Aside from only going half-Sight-" She followed up with a spiel of magical jargon that Trixie seemed to understand. "And that's it."

"Question!" Pinkie raised her hoof. "What's a Staswiirskonstend?"

"Starswirl's Constant. It's a formula used for magical calculations."

Pinkie mouthed an 'oh'.

"By the stars that is efficient." Trixie mused. "You even found a way to keep the magika consumption down, which is something I wouldn't have trouble with anyway."

Applejack loudly cleared her throat. "We've got a job to do. Discuss yer fancy magics some other time."

"Right, yes, the scanners." Rarity continued. "How many can we afford to use?"

"Two." Rarity deadpanned. "Two scanners. What."

"It's all Ah could get without blowin' too large a hole in th' budged used for more important things."

"Very well then." Rarity walked around the scanners. "Now, according to the records in Ponyville Hall, the two most travelled doorways are Sugar Cube Corner and-"

"I'll man the SCC scanner!" Pinkie called out.

"... And Golden Oaks Library. Pinkie, you and Bon Bon can command the SCC Scanner."

"Yay!" Pinkie bounced in the air.

"Sparkler and Lyra, take the Library scanner."

Lyra looked a little deflated, but Sparkler seemed pleased.

"Alright ponies, chop chop." Rarity said. "Make sure you only grab ponies who aren't showing any magic through the scanner."

The four ponies saluted before wheeling the scanners away.

"Trixie, you and I will walk around town and use Mage-Sight. Remember my tips, and you'll last for a long time."

Trixie flicked her hair dramatically before trotting off. "Like I'd forget that."

"And what am Ah supposed to do?"

"You can come with me." Rarity offered.

"Uh, sure." The two started aimlessly wandering. "Not sure what Ah could do though."

"You can pin the pony down when they run. My magic may be efficient, but it is nowhere near forceful enough to drop a pony."

Applejack chuckled. "No wonder your such a wuss when y' liftin' boxes of books."

Rarity stammered. "Applejack-!"

"Relax, Ah'm teasin'. Besides, y'all lucky t' have that magic o' yours. Ah have to use mah mouth fer too much."

"I can tell. Your pistol's grip is positively horrid." Rarity said seriously, but had a smirk tugging at her mouth.

"Tell me about it." Applejack chuckled. "Ah mean, Ah can't use some o' the fancy stuff you use to keep it lookin' sharp because it's poisonous an' all."

"Somepony should get around to fixing that." Rarity mused. "On an unrelated note, why do you smoke?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Because Ah can?"

"Oh come on, you know full well what you're inhaling. Be thankful you didn't start thirty years ago, they used tar and rat poison in those."

"Alright, fine... Ah got addicted as a filly. Ah had a little fling with the wrong crowd and some of it stuck."

"That also explains you taste for less-refined alcohol."

"Nah, that's a personal choice. Wine's too fancy fer my tastes."

"To each their own."

"That's another way of sayin' 'Ah think your tastes are crap, but Ah'm not gonna say it out loud'."

Rarity paused. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Eh, it's all fine. Ah know y'all were tryin' to be kind."

Rarity blushed slightly. "Aww, thank you."

Applejack craned her neck. "So, when are ya gonna turn your 'Mage-Sight' thing?"

"Hmm..." Rarity stroked her chin, then scanned the area around them. "We're currently surrounded by ponies, so this would be a good place to start."

Rarity closed her eyes slowly, and inhaled deeply through her nose. When she opened her eyes the world turned dark, the bare outlines of buildings only visible. All around her, the familiar pathways and twirls of pony magic were moving on their own, their owners acting like normal. She glanced at her hoof, a pulsing blue shape moving through it.

"Are ya eyes supposed to turn black?" Applejack asked, a little startled at the suddenly-black sclera on the unicorn.

"Oh, that's perfectly normal, darling." Rarity casually replied. "Just a side-effect of Improved Mage-Sight." She turned and smiled after a second. "You're magic's such a lovely shade of orange. And so bright, too."

Applejack blinked. "Uh... Thanks?"

Rarity giggled, before returning to her observations.

"Anythin'?" Applejack asked after a minute.

"Not as yet."

Another minute passed. "Now?"

"No."

Yet another minute passed. "An-"

"Applejack, if you are going to be such a bother please go and help Trixie."

"Alright, shuttin' u-"

"Wait a moment." Rarity blinked, then leaned forwards. "That's not normal..."

"What? What ain't normal?"

"There's a pony on the other side of the crowd. His or her-"

"Her."

"-Her magic is a bright green and more vapourous than ours."

Rarity kept her eye on the green shape. It was moving slowly in the crowd, approaching a pink-magic pony.

"Applejack..."

She saw a magical shape form in front of the pony.

"You might want to-"

The magic shape moved quickly, and the pink magic flickered brightly. A scream hit her ears, and she flicked back to normal sight. A great spurt of blood ascended into the sky as a pink-coated mare collapsed, a pony that looked like Lyra running off.

"Damnit!" Applejack dashed off, kicking dust into the air and deftly leaping over the crowd. Lyra looked around, stuck in the crowd, coated in blood and looking shocked. Applejack bounded high and crashed on the unicorn, pinning her. "Lyra, what the hay are ya doin' off duty?"

Lyra struggled violently, unable to move Applejack. She let out a monstrous hiss and burst into green fire. As quick as it had started the fires died out, leaving... Something behind. It was pony shaped, but instead of fur it has an ebony carapace. The horn was bent upwards and had no spiral groove, and a pair of insectoid wings sticking out the side. As it hissed, a mouth of sharp teeth greeted her, its bug-like eyes looking back at her.

"What the-!" Applejack shouted, pinning the bugpony further.

The bugpony hissed again and bit Applejack's foreleg. She screamed, gripping her injured foreleg as the changeling ran off...

Only to be caught by a wave of ropes, binding its legs and knocking them to the ground.

"Well, it seems it's my turn to save your life." A familiar, boastful voice resounded behind her. Applejack turned to see Trixie, using her lavender magic to spin a lasso around, a grin on her face. The grin dropped as she saw the blood coming from Applejack's foreleg.

"Applejack!" Rarity screamed, galloping like mad and grabbing Applejack in a protective hug. "Are you alright?"

"Ah'll be fine..." Applejack replied quietly, hissing with pain. "Ah think." She spared a glance at the bugpony, struggling under its bindings. "What the heck is that thing anyway?"

"If I knew I would tell you." Rarity replied, pulling a first-aid kit out of her saddlebags. She opened it up and pulled out a vial of a glowing red substance.

"What the heck are youAAAGH!" Applejack yelled as Rarity poured a small amount of the liquid into her open wounds.

"I'm sorry it hurts, dear, but we don't know what that thing's bite does." Rarity quickly pulled a bandage out and wrapped it over the bloodied leg. "The pain will pass, do not worry."

"What did ya pour in there?"

"Arcane antiseptic." She replied, re-packing the first-aid kit. "In addition to preventing infection, it also nullifies and eradicates all magical anomalies within the wound."

"... Come again?"

"It stops bad magic."

Applejack mouthed an 'oh', before attempting to stand. Her hoof sparked with pain as she put her weight on it, yet she still stood. "So," She started, limping up to the bugpony. "Just what the heck are you?"

The bugpony stopped struggling, instead glaring at the orange pony. "A soldier of the Queen."

"That ain't answering mah question, bug." Applejack replied bluntly. "What are you?"

The bugpony rolled its eyes. "I'm a Changeling, not a bug. And my name is Veska."

Trixie hoisted Veska into the air. "Enough talking. We've got a bug to interrogate."

"I told you I'm not a bug." Veska deadpanned.

"So... Veske."

"Veska." The Changeling growled. "By the Queen, if you can't even pronounce my name r-"

"Ah get it, Ah get it. Anyway, you are aware of the laws, right?"

"Section 7, Sub-section 1. Killing a pony with the intent to kill is an extreme crime, punishable by life in maximum-security, warded prison, or possibly execution."

Applejack blinked. "How-?"

"Just because I'm a member of a species that nopony knows about doesn't mean I'm stupid and/or ignorant."

"Whatever." Trixie stated, shifting to rest her head in her hooves. "If you know the laws, why the buck did you do it?"

"Survival." Veska closed his eyes calmly.

Everypony else, except Rarity, blinked. After a moment, Pinkie tilted her head. "Survival?"

"I've been cut off from the Hive of Chrysalis for at least a decade. Our species feed on strong emotions, the most powerful being love. Unfortunately, in this fear-stricken town, I couldn't find enough. So, I went for the next best emotion."

"And that'd be...?" Trixie asked.

"Fear." Veska leaned back. "The latent fear wasn't enough, so I resorted to a hit-and-run tactic. By killing a fellow pony in the middle of a busy crowd, said crowd gets nervous and panicky, and ergo I feed on those emotions while making my escape."

"And you did it, knowing full well of the consequences."

"If you had the choice between definitely starving to death and possibly being shot, what would you choose?"

"Y'all left out the part where you kill a pony to eat." Applejack replied, frowning.

"That is of minimal consequence to me. I know this frustrates you, but to Changelings, ponies are merely a food source." Veska grinned toothily. "Whether we feed of their love for another or use them as a... catalyst for a crowd's worth of emotion is irrelevant." He leaned forward. "Right now I'm feeding off your excess emotions."

"What?!" Applejack shouted, slamming her hooves on the table.

"For example, I'm feeding off your rage." He turned to Trixie. "And your surprise," He turned to Rarity, who was looking at the board of photographs. "And her trauma." He followed by turning to Pinkie. "The pink one I'm having trouble with, though."

Applejack spared a glance at Rarity before glaring daggers at the Changeling. "Y'all stop that right now, ya hear?"

Veska nodded. "I'm full anyway." He smiled a surprisingly calm smile. "Do what you will, I readily accept my fate."

Applejack stood up and tapped on the wooden door. She watched a team of armoured ponies escort Veska out, sighing as soon as the door shut. "Buckin' hell, that's a weird one."

"You're not wrong there." Trixie replied, shuffling papers into a folder. "A very interesting species, I must admit. Sound dangerous too."

Rarity turned from the photos. "If it's alright with you, I'm going to go out for a breath of fresh air. See you girls later."

Pinkie watched her trot out. "I wonder what's got Rarity down in the dumps..."

Trixie shrugged. "Perhaps it has something to do with Applejack's injury?"

Applejack looked at her injured foreleg. The bandages had been replaced quite a few times before, so there was little blood showing. "Probably. Ah'll go check on her."

Rarity sighed deeply, taking another drink before continuing to watch the skies darken.

"There are only two times y'all drink hard liquor, Rare." Applejack stated, taking a seat next to the unicorn. "Ya either wanna party hard, or ya wanna forget somethin'."

Rarity spared a glance. "Hello Applejack."

"Hey Rare." Applejack leaned closer. "Ya alright?"

"I couldn't save her." Rarity spoke quietly after a while. "I could see the Changeling. I saw him raise a blade. I even saw him strike, right through the primary magika tract. And... I didn't do anything..."

Applejack sighed. "It ain't yer fault, Rare. Even Ah wouldn't have made it in time."

Rarity closed her eyes, a tear running down her alabaster cheek. "I-If I had just called out, made him pause... That might've been enough..."

"Ah doubt that." Applejack wrapped her hoof around the unicorn's shoulder. "He's a weird one."

Rarity leaned into Applejack, savouring her warmth. "I... I couldn't even stop him attacking you..."

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it. Ah've had worse. Ah mean, remember that griffon, or that Zebra with the strange-shaped dagger?"

Rarity chuckled sombrely. "And you always managed to pull through..."

"Ah'm a tough pony." Applejack smiled, rubbing Rarity's shoulder. "Oh, and Toxin did an analysis on his fangs. Other than traces of mah blood on them, nothin' else dangerous was there. Not even any strange magic thingy, and Ah even got Trixie to check."

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia..."

Applejack pulled her foreleg back and lifted Rarity's chin. The unicorn blushed slightly. "Now don't go about worryin' about today, alright? And if ya do, Ah'll be there to help."

"I hate to break the romance, but the media's swarmin' all over the place." Rainbow's voice called out.

"R-romance?!" Both ponies shouted, flustered.

"W-we ain't like that..."

"This is just a friendly discussion we were having, nothing more..."

"... Don't even like mares that much..."

"... I don't know if we like each other yet..."

"I don't care!" Rainbow shouted. "I don't care if you're not in love, in love and hiding it or whatever, just. Go. Deal. With. The media. Alright?"

"Alrighty then." Applejack stood up, offering a hoof for Rarity. "Y'all up for it?"

Rarity nodded, taking Applejack's hoof and pulling herself up. "Let's do this."

Rainbow watched the two ponies trot off confidently.

"Heh," She smiled. "You'd almost think they like each other."

Author's Note

Veska was originally supposed to be more violent and nasty, but I liked the idea of him being very intelligent.

As for how and why a Changeling is isolated in Ponyville, that'll be covered later...

Case 4 and 5: Rune Shredder's 5th and 6th Murder

"Pinkie Pie." Trixie growled. "You're supposed to get at least eight hours of sleep per night."

Pinkie yawned again. "I thought I did... I went to bed at ten, and got up at seven. I slept like a log, too."

"Logs don't sleep."

"You know what I mean." Pinkie replied, taking a photo of the mare below. Like Junebug, her chest had been torn apart and the blood forming a rune. "What's this one say?"

"It says 'Consume', I believe." Trixie rubbed her chin. "So that's 'Open gates corrupt destroy consume' thus far."

"Ominous."

The tent opened, Rarity stepping in. "What have we got?"

Trixie rubbed her temple. "Rune Shredder. Another unknown ID."

Rarity sighed. "Anything? Anything at all?"

Pinkie shook her head. "I've found hoofprints and hairs, but they're all mine."

"Pinkie, go home and rest." Rarity announced. "We need you at peak efficiency."

"Okie dokie lokie..." Pinkie yawned, trotting. "If you need me I'll be in bed."

After half a second Applejack walked in. "Ah don't think Ah've ever seen Pinkie trot."

Rarity smiled, then turned back to the body with a serious look. "I don't think I recognise her."

"She's a new pony in town." Applejack replied. "Literally one day here." She readjusted her hat. "ID calls her Silver Jewel. Worked as a silversmith back in Canterlot. Family's been contacted."

"Any witnesses?"

"Nope." Trixie closed the large book on the fold-up desk. "This one's a complete blank."

"Well, that's annoying." Rarity replied.

"This Rune Shredder's giving me too much work. I can't wait to find this thing and crush its little skull in." Trixie growled, mimicking the skull-crushing action.

"'It'?" Rarity asked.

"We've recently discovered that the other two mass murderers of Ponyville are an insane cousin of mine, and a frickin' shapeshifting bug. Fifty bits that Rune Shredder isn't even a pony."

"Ah reckon he is, so ya bet's on." Applejack stuck her hoof out.

"Deal." Trixie pressed her hoof against hers and shook.

Rarity giggled. "Well, as much as I'd love to join, we've some work to do."

"Damnit, Pinkie..." Pinkie looked into the bathroom mirror. "What's wrong with me?"

Her reflection made no reply.

"On the one day you're supposed to be at your peak, you go all tiredy-like and screw it up."

She examined her bloodshot eyes.

"You keep stepping on the ground around the victim, you drop hairs everywhere... What's going on, Pinkamena?"

Pinkie saw something flickered behind her. A black, shapeless cloud appeared for a second before escaping her vision. She snapped her head back and saw nothing.

After a moment she shook her head. "Don't be such a silly pony, Pinkie. You're just seeing things from lack of sleep."

She ambled from the bathroom directly to her bed. With a very well-executed leap she bounced onto it, flicking on a television after a moment. There was nothing on.

"Hopefully I'll get some sleep next time..."

"Just curious, Applejack, who was in Silver Jewel's family?" Rarity asked, biting into a sandwich.

"The usual. Husband, two foals." Applejack bit into her apple.

"Oh dear." Rarity mumbled. "I sure hope they're going to do ok..."

"It'll take a while, but they'll be fine. Ah know Ah am."

Rarity paused her eating. "I'm sorry?"

Applejack replied with a blink. "Y'all don't know?"

"Know... What?"

"Mah... Mah da's passed away."

Rarity's mouth opened. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Eh, it was way back when Ah was 'bout Applebloom's age. Though Ah can't say it was exactly a... peaceful passing."

"Whatever makes you say that?"

"From what Ah found out, he was stabbed in the neck with some sort of sword, in a struggle."

"Was he armed?"

"Ah think so. The family sword was missin' after we found him that mornin'."

"You have a family sword?"

"Yep." Applejack pulled out a slip of paper. "Here's a sketch of it."

Rarity picked up the paper. "This looks... vaguely familiar. If I find it I'll let you know."

"Thanks Rare." Applejack patted her shoulder.

"Uh, Rarity?" Rainbow asked, a cup of warm chocolate drink on her wing. "What are you doing?"

"Going through the victims of Rune Shredder." She shuffled a bunch of papers. "Going through ages, genders and so forth."

"Anything?"

"Not as yet."

Rainbow placed her cup down and took a seat next to her. "Here, let me look."

Rarity passed a piece of paper. "Well, to be honest I just started looking."

Rainbow blinked. "What? There are, like, four pages!"

"I just got here. Is that not too hard to understand?"

"Right then." Rainbow grabbed a few more pages. "Alright, this one here's a mare, aged nineteen, single."

"This one is also a mare, twenty, single."

"Wow. This one's a mare, nearing her 21st at her Time of Death. Had a boyfriend, but was still a virgin."

"And our second-most recent is Junebug. Mare, twenty, had a husband. Children were actually adopted, and she's still a virgin."

"Weird. What's Silver Jewel like?"

Rarity pulled over a new sheet of paper. "Mare. Thirty. Had a husband and two children."

"Wait." Rainbow paused her. "Hokey said that Rune Shredder only blasts young mares. Like, nineteen-to-twenty-one young."

"So Silver Jewel doesn't fit that category. He may be lying, though."

"Well, look at the rest. They're all virgins except Silver."

"How... Occult."

"So, thinking about it, Rune Shredder can only create proper runes through a specific type of pony. Namely, young mares who haven't had sex yet."

"How many mares are like that in Ponyville?"

"Well, I just turned twenty-two, so I'm out. Out of our staff, Lyra Heartstrings is turning twenty-two in a few months. And there's only one other girl I know, the dentist..."

"Romana Minuette."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Berry!" Colgate called out, waving to the slightly drunk pony.

She turned sharply and started trotting pleasantly along, looking at the moon.

"Ah, what a lovely night."

"It sure is."

Colgate snapped her head to the pony that was suddenly next to her. The pony looked incredibly tired, with a long, straight mane and a black hoodie, hood up. "Ah, hello there."

"Hello." The pony replied, not even looking at her. "Romana Minuette, I assume?"

"That'd be me. I don't know you, though."

The two ponies started walking alongside each other. "My name is Caster. I'm studying magical theory."

Colgate noticed the lack of horn on the pony. "An interesting subject, considering."

"Yes. I've always been fascinated by magika, despite not being able to directly use it." She replied in a... strangely familiar voice. "But my main area of passion is runes."

Colgate noticed Caster's right foreleg starting to glow. "Uh... Is that normal?"

Caster held up her hoof and examined it, breaking out into a toothy grin. Her teeth were pointed and her eyes became pinpricks. "Oh, not at all."

Without any time to react Caster slammed her hoof into Colgate's stomach. The dentist felt a searing pain and her own body being torn open, and she limply fell to the ground without a word. Peering down as her vision started fading, she could see that she was bleeding profusely, the blood falling in such a way that it formed a rune. As her world turned to black, she caught a glimpse of the blood-soaked pony above her, grinning madly and chuckling.

"I appreciate your assistance, Colgate."

"Fuck!" Rarity swore loudly as soon as her eyes fell on the dead pony.

"Woah, where did that come from?" Trixie murmured to Applejack.

"Ah have no idea."

Rarity yelled and kicked something, before slowing her breathing. "Get a hold of yourself, Rarity..."

"Rare, you alright?"

"I-I'll be fine. It's just that Miss Minuette was one of the two ponies that fit RS's victim lists."

Applejack looked at the dead mare. "This one's a little different, though."

"How so?"

"She looks like she passed out before she carked it. She doesn't have the shocked expression the others had."

Rarity looked at Colgate's face. Indeed, her eyes were closed and she was missing the shock that was etched on the others' faces. "Strange. I wonder why?"

"Iunno, this whole thing seems a might suspicious..."

"To top it off," Trixie added. "The rune created in this one is the same as the one used on Silver Jewel. 'Consume'."

"This is gettin' a little weird for me."

"Likewise. Any traces of magic?"

"As usual, no." Trixie stretched her neck. "But I made a... startling discovery."

"Oh?"

"I found some hairs this time. They're going to Forensics in a while, and it'll be another five or so weeks before they're analysed."

Rarity nodded. "I guess we're lucky this time. Keep checking for any evidence while we deal with Miss Minuette's family and such."

"Will do."

Pinkie opened her eyes slowly. "Another bad sleep?"

She sat up, stretched, and made her way to the shower room. She stood in front of the mirror, and her eyes widened.

"What the...?"

Author's Note

It's a short one this time, but still.

Break: Running of the Leaves

"Rarity, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle slammed her hooves on the door repeatedly. "Wake up!"

Rarity groaned, rolling over to turn her alarm off prematurely. "What's wrong, Sweetie...?"

"Nothing's wrong, silly! It's the first day of Fall!"

"Is that it?" Rarity yawned loudly. "I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, but I'm a little too tired to get up right now..."

"What if I told you that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had challenged each other to a race in The Running of the Leaves?"

After a moment, Rarity sighed. "You've won me over... Alright, I'm getting up..." She unceremoniously rolled off the bed and stood up slowly and awkwardly. She combed her mane almost by reflex, walking out to the beaming face of her little sister.

"This is gonna be so cool! Scootaloo's really excited and Applebloom's getting quite... prideful? Is that the word?"

"Uh huh." Rarity pushed the kitchen door open and started levitating a cup and a coffee strainer.

"I'm just looking forward to the leaves falling myself, but I like watching races too."

"Uh huh." Rarity busied herself making her ambrosia that was coffee in the morning. "Sweetie, I think it's a little early for this..."

"Hey, who do you think would win? I heard that Rainbow Dash isn't going to be using her wings, so that evens things out a little."

"Sweetie."

"Maybe Applejack will win because she can, like, kick trees and stuff, and Rainbow's more of a flyer."

"Sweetie." Rarity growled quietly.

"Or maybe Rainbow's faster on her hooves and Applejack's a little slo-"

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity shouted, instantly quieting her sister. "I appreciate you want to talk to me, but now is not the time."

"No coffee?" Sweetie Belle asked flatly, an unimpressed look on her face.

"No coffee."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, trotting off. "I'll be near White Tail Woods when you're all caffeinated."

"Okay. And sorry I snapped at you."

"Its fine, I'm used to it." Sweetie Belle, with a smile, trotted back and hugged her sister, before resuming her journey to the forest.

"Well then." Rarity turned back to her coffee. "Time to wake up."

After her morning caffeine Rarity made her way to White Tail Woods. As she approached the forest, orange and yellow leaves still on the trees, she spotted a familiar orange pony, a cyan pegasus pony hovering inches from her face. As she got closer she noticed they were giving each other a death glare.

"Hello dears." Rarity announced her presence. Neither pony looked at her.

"Heya Rares." Applejack responded.

"'Sup Rarity?" Rainbow replied at the same time.

Rarity looked at them in confusion. "What's the matter?"

"She called me a turtle covered in rocks." Applejack squinted a little more.

"And she called me a dodo covered in rocks." Rainbow drifted an inch closer.

"And because of that you're glaring each other to death. Right, I'll just go grab lunch, find a cute stallion, get married and have a few kids, then I'll check how you're doing."

Applejack's eyes flicked to her for a split second. "Y'ain't serious, aren't ya?"

"Not in the slightest." Rarity smiled, walking closer. "And you two should break it up before you burst a blood vessel or something."

"Ah ain't budgin' until she ties her wings up."

"And I'm not moving until she lets me use my wings."

"Not to sound like I'm siding with Applejack here, but this is a running 'race' and not a flying race. You either run or you're not in the running at all."

"So?"

"Which means, in all technicality, you'd instantly lose against Applejack as you are supposed to be running in a running event, not flying."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "So even if I reached the finish line way before AJ, I'd still lose because I was flying?"

"Yes, darling."

"Oh." She broke her gaze and landed softly. "Well, I guess it's probably win or definitely lose."

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief, turning to the alabaster unicorn. "Thanks, Rare. Ah wasn't gettin' to her."

"You just have to explain it in ways she understands. She doesn't have as much of a 'being equal' drive as a 'lose in an embarrassing way' drive."

"Got it." Applejack filed the fact away in her mind.

"Anyways, I'm going to go get some lunch, and I'll try and avoid the cute stallion for you."

"Fer me?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "What-?"

Rarity blushed slightly. "B-by that I mean so that you don't have to spy on him to make sure he's nice enough or something." She giggled nervously, walking backwards a little. "See you!"

Applejack blinked as Rarity trotted off to the barbeque nearby. "What the hay was that all about?"

Rainbow alighted next to her, a very subtle grin on her face. "No idea."

"Either ya gettin' better at lyin' or you seriously have no idea."

"Ok, I lied. But it doesn't mean that my idea is actually true."

"Ah still wanna hear though, if anythin' so Ah can just tell you how absurd it is."

"How about this." Rainbow started. "If you cross the finish line before me, I'll tell you. If I cross it first, then you forget I ever said anything." She shot her hoof out

Applejack smirked. "Deal."

Much to the two racers' surprise, the entire event, which was normally a relaxing jog through the forest, had actually been turned into a race because of their decision.

What surprised them even more was that competing with them were Trixie, Pinkie...

And Rarity.

Applejack blinked. "Why-?"

"Well, I was originally signed up for the standard running event, and I decided to join you."

"Aren't ya worried you're going to get some dirt on your hoof or something?" Rainbow asked, nearly laughing at her own joke.

"Please, Rainbow. I'm long since past that. After all, it is hard to do one's job when one is afraid of getting dirty."

"Ah've seen her gettin' covered in mud and she didn't even freak out."

"It wasn't pleasant, but at least I got through it. I had to cut my mane short, though."

"Ah think the shorter mane style suits ya more anyhow. Curls and stuff ain't my thing."

"Well well well." Trixie's voice resounded behind them. "It seems the entire Ponyville Crime Team command is competing against each other."

"This is gonna be fun!" Pinkie's voice followed.

The three ponies saw the Forensic team trotting up. Trixie was wearing a smug grin and Pinkie was smiling as she usually was.

"Howdy Trixie." Applejack tipped her hat to the unicorn, undaunted. "Y’all are racing too?"

"If it wasn't obvious." Trixie nodded back. "I assume you and Rainbow are the cause of all this?"

"Pretty much." Applejack turned back to Rainbow Dash, who was stretching her legs.

"Well, then it shall be an... interesting race."

"Pinkie, why aren't you wearing a number?" Rarity asked.

"I'm announcer!" She smiled. "I get to ride in the big balloon and say what's going on and stuff."

Rarity looked at her flanks, the number 15 adorning them. "Perhaps I could join you. After all, we need someone with a keen eye to pick out important details."

"Okie dokie lokie! Just go up to the desk over there with your numbers in hoof and say that you're assisting me."

Rarity nodded, trotting off. Pinkie bounced behind her

"So," Trixie started. "What are the stakes?"

"Stakes?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"You know, what does one pony get if they win? Such as, for example, I made a stake with somepony. If I win, I get them to do something like, I don't know, kiss me. If they win, then I am at their mercy, within legal limits of course."

"Oh, in that case, yeah." Applejack replied. "Rainbow has an interestin' theory on somethin', and she said if Ah crossed the finish line first she'd tell me."

"That's... Not terribly interesting."

"Well, it ain't like Ah'm gonna get her t' kiss me or somethin'."

"That was an example!" Trixie replied. "I-it's not like I want somepony to kiss me."

"Now that's a bare-faced lie." Applejack retorted with a massive grin.

"S-shut up." Trixie huffed, blushing slightly.

"We need to find you a partner, Trix." Rainbow said, stretching her foreleg. "Before you do something weird like that."

The feedback of a microphone being tapped brought their attention. "Everypony, may I have your attention?"

The murmuring of the crowd died down quickly.

"Welcome to the one-hundred and fifty-seventh annual Running of the Leaves, and the first Running of the Leaves race!" The mayor announced. "Before we begin, here are some ground rules. One, no magic, technological assistance or flight. Legs only. Two, follow the path as indicated with the arrows. Three, no cheating by altering the signs or taking shortcuts. Other than that, have fun!"

All the ponies in the race lined up, many of them giving each other glares, not least of which were Applejack and Rainbow.

"On your marks..." The mayor started. "Get set..."

All the ponies prepared to run, their legs ready to spring them forward.

"Go!"

And just like that, the ponies charged forwards into the forest. The ground thundered underneath them, kicking dust into the air and knocking leaves off the trees. Naturally, Applejack and Rainbow were in front of the herd, winding along the path in determined concentration.

Meanwhile, above the forest in a bright pink balloon, Pinkie and Rarity watched the crowd below.

"Wow, those two are fast." Rarity commented, watching the cyan and blonde manes streaking along the path. "And they're neck-in-neck too."

"Mhm." Pinkie replied, before reaching for the megaphone. "Aaaand Applejack takes the lead! Oh, wait, now it's Rainbow Dash!"

Back on the ground, Applejack galloped on, trying to keep ahead of her winged rival.

"I ain't even breakin' a sweat." Rainbow announced, trying her best to hide the effort she was using.

"Me neither." Applejack turned her head to face Rainbow, wearing a smug grin.

And then gravity did a 180.

Applejack's hoof hit something, preventing her from pulling it forwards. This upset her pacing, causing her to fall flat on her muzzle, then onto her back as momentum refused to go quietly.

She was just starting to recover when the herd of other racers galloped past.

Applejack spat on the ground, checking herself for cuts. "Rainbow..."

Trixie, who was trotting at a relaxing pace, stopped near Applejack. "Something bothering you?"

"Rainbow tripped me." Applejack stood up, fixing her hat.

"Actually," Trixie replied, pointing to a slab of rock jutting above the ground. "You tripped over this stone here."

Applejack sighed. "Yeah, Ah guess Ah'm just gettin' a little hotblooded."

"Probably." Trixie started her trot again. "You might want to hurry, though, the herd's going far."

Applejack groaned. "Great..."

After a moment she spotted a particularly long branch jutting out into the path, one that Trixie had to duck under just to pass.

"Ah hope it's strong enough..."

With some effort, she pushed the branch into a make-shift catapult, thanking Celestia that the branch held. She gripped the tree with her hoof and sat atop the straining branch, and prepared for launch.

Rainbow shot a glance behind, smirking. "Heh, I knew she couldn't beat-"

An orange, yelling blur shot right over her head.

"... Me." Rainbow snorted in annoyance, speeding up to where Applejack had landed and was starting to gather her original speed. By the time she had caught up, the earth pony was back to her normal speed, and the two were in a heat again.

"Miss me, Dashie?" Applejack taunted.

"Like poison ivy." Rainbow rebutted, grinning.

Applejack looked ahead for a split second, then back at Rainbow. "Ah hope y'all ready to get yer tail kicked!"

"Heh, like that's-"

Rainbow's hooves landed on a patch of damp leaves. Her muscles, instead of pushing against solid ground, pushed away the leaves, shooting her balance completely. She fell with a squish, and tried to pull herself up, hooves slipping against the loose muck and dropping her back down.

As she finally managed to get a hoof firmly on the ground, the herd of racers passed, splitting in half to avoid the leaves.

"Applejack!" Rainbow screamed out.

"You tripped on the leaves." Trixie replied calmly, trotting past without a care. "You'd better hurry up."

Rainbow growled, and started galloping forwards, leaving Trixie in her dust. She eyed a slightly-worn path in the forest itself and leading on to the front of the path, and with a grin cut through.

"... And Rainbow Dash has stumbled, leaving Applejack in the lead!" Pinkie announced.

Rarity watched the orange speck gallop along the path, leaving all the other ponies in the dust. "She's really going for it, isn't she?"

Pinkie pulled away from the megaphone. "Yeah. It's quite amazing considering what happened. And that leg injury years ago."

Rarity hummed in agreement. "Didn't happen long after I was teamed with her." She gave a slight chuckle. "Almost blamed me for it too."

Pinkie giggled. "I can imagine." She returned to the microphone. "Aaaaaaand Applejack is nearing the finish line... What's this?"

The two ponies spotted the azure dot that was Trixie suddenly pick up pace, passing by the herd of ponies who had by then slowed down from exhaustion.

"Trixie's suddenly gunning for it!" Pinkie announced in excitement. "Meanwhile, Applejack is a few seconds off the finish and Rainbow is cutting a path through the forest to try and make up! Ooh, this is intense..."

Rarity's heart beat faster. Rainbow's path would allow her to possibly beat Applejack, if she really went for it. Trixie was edging up to Applejack, and Applejack was painfully close to the finish.

The cyan pegasus disappeared under the warm-coloured canopy of the forest, a few leaves falling in her wake. Then silence.

Then a scream.

Trixie slowed a fraction and turned her head in surprise, allowing Applejack enough room to dash right past the finish before she did.

The tree leaves rustled, before breaking apart in a burst of orange as a rainbow bullet shot skywards, turning sharply towards the balloon.

Rainbow stopped inches before hitting the basket, a wild look on her face. "Guys, I just found something!"

Pinkie blinked, then inched over to the mic. "And Rainbow Dash is disqualified for fly-"

"I don't give a buck about the race, Pinkie!" Rainbow shot her hooves up into the air.

"Whatever's the matter, dear?" Rarity asked, her calm demeanour hiding the fear she was feeling.

"I'll tell ya when we get Trixie and AJ in earshot." Rainbow replied. "Come on."

Applejack took a big swig of the light cider, sighing massively. "Well... That was fun..."

Trixie gasped for breath, pressing a hoof to her chest and the other against a wall. "Remind me... Never... To do... That... Again..." She coughed a few times.

"How didja get so close anyway?"

"I... Read in... A book... Gimme a moment..." Trixie fell into the seat next to her, grabbing a cool glass of cider and taking a big gulp of it. "Anyway... I read in a book that... If you save your energy... For when the rest of the group... Slows down... You can use it in the final leg of the race..."

"Must'a been real slow for ya to catch up t' me."

"Probably..." Trixie sighed, having another drink. "Still, your endurance is commendable... Particularly after the leg accident..."

Applejack chuckled, taking a cigarette out of her pocket. "Yeah..." After she lit it up, she looked skywards, watching a rainbow streak heading straight for her. "So there's Dash..."

Trixie smiled. "She sure looks like she's in a hurry."

Rainbow alighted in front of - Well, more like skidded across the ground and nearly crashed into - Applejack, wide-eyed.

"Heya, Rainbow." Applejack replied calmly, placing her cup down and dusting herself off slightly.

"Applejack, there's something real important you have to see, right now." She turned to Trixie. "You too."

Trixie groaned. "Do I have to-?"

"Yes you have to bucking move!" Rainbow nearly shouted, turning to go. "Rarity and Pinkie are waiting ahead."

Applejack sighed, fixing her hat and standing up. "Alright, let's go."

Trixie followed, albeit slower and with grunts of pain. The three ponies walked across the dusty road, where they saw Rarity conversing with the mayor. Pinkie was tethering the balloon nearby.

"... going to have to call the announcement for the winners later, we've got some urgent business apparently." Rarity was heard to say as they approached. Shortly after she turned, and smiled, particularly at Applejack. "Hello, girls."

"Howdy." Applejack replied. Trixie weakly rose a hoof in a vague wave.

"Pinkie will be here any moment, don't fret." Rarity turned to Applejack. "Congratulations in your victory, Applejack."

Applejack tilted her hat, smiling. "Thank ya kindly, Rares."

"And very well played, Trixie."

Trixie chuckled weakly.

Rainbow shifted from hoof to hoof in agitation, keeping on glancing at Pinkie, who was bouncing back to the group.

"Hey!" Pinkie waved mid-air, before landing close by. "Dashie looks like she's on edge, we'd better go."

"Agreed." Rarity replied, turning to go. "Lead the way, Rainbow."

Rainbow glided to the front of the group and cantered quickly ahead. Within a few minutes they had broken past the tree-line, and that's when Rainbow's pace slowed to a walk.

"So, what's so important, Rainbow?" Rarity tilted her head, watching the leaves overhead.

"Don't tell me, it's another murder." Applejack muttered. "That's usually what happens."

After a moment Rainbow paused, a bright column of light shooting through the broken canopy. "... Yeah, it kinda is."

The four ponies trotted past to get a better view of the spotlight. In said spotlight was a beige pegasus pony, lying in the dirt, half-coated in red and brown specks. She had a great big gash along her side, and one of her wings was broken with a bloody bone stabbing through. Her mane was jostled, but seemed to be generally blown back.

Rarity turned her head away from the scene, and towards Applejack. "Why does this always happen...?"

"Ah dunno..." Applejack replied quietly.

Case 1: Rune Shredder's 4th Murder

"Well," The orange mare's worn-in coat fluttered in the wind, as she pulled her hat closer to her head. "It was him, alright."

The mare in front of her had her stomach violently mutilated, eyes vacant and glossed, lying on top of a strange splatter of her own blood. Surrounding her was a disturbingly neat, bloody circle. The mare had a terror-stricken expression etched and petrified on her, which sickened Applejack more than the wound. A white unicorn, clad in a stylish coat, walked up, and nearly turned back in disgust.

"See, Applejack," Rarity chimed, fighting back regurgitation. "This is why I deal with the witnesses and you the evidence."

All of a sudden, a pink pony lurched out of one of the forensics’ toolkits. "And I make sure that not even a smidgegram of stuff is unchecked!"

"And yet y' never seem t' be able t' find out who th' Rune Shredder is." Applejack's mocking of Pinkie's inability to catch this murderer, despite being able to tell who someone is from a coathair, didn't seem to break her spirits.

When Pinkie covered the dead mare with a sheet of material, Rarity sighed with relief. "Any witnesses?"

"Ah think there's a few." Applejack replied, fighting the increasing wind for possession of her stenson hat. "Y'all in charge a' that, remember?"

Rarity paused, mane whipping in the wind. "But I haven't received my report yet, and I was expecting that they gave it to you by accident." Another pause. "Again."

Applejack checked her pockets. They were as empty as the corpse's life-force. "Nope."

With convenient timing a stallion unicorn galloped up, carrying a sheet of paper. "Here's the list of witnesses, Investigator."

The white mare took hold of the paper with her magic, and, thanking the officer, scanned the sheet with confusion. "There's only one witness." She checked the other side to make sure that her claim was true, and then looked back at the singular name. "A Ms. Romana Minuette."

Applejack tilted her hat. "Well, Ah'll go have a lookabout fer anythin' that can lead to-" She halted as she saw her pink colleague dose off. "Pie, stop fallin' asleep."

Pinkie woke up suddenly, hardly able to keep herself upright. "Wha...? Oh, sorry. I must've had a late night."

"Don't let it happen again, alright?" She replied in a demanding tone, before reverting to her normal voice. "Anyways, Ah was saying Ah'll look around fer anythin' that can lead us t' this madpony fer once."

"And I shall interview Ms Minuette," Rarity added. "And soon we should have enough to find and convict this villain." She looked at what hadn't been covered from the crime scene, which was mostly the circle. "Particularly after the last three's evidence combined."

The orange Earth pony scraped her hoof on the cobblestone. "An' I guess Lulamoon will deal with the magic-y stuff again, right?"

Rarity smiled calmly. "It's not like I can, Applejack dear."

"Don't call me 'dear', Gemstone." Applejack only used Rarity's surname when she was being a might irate. This only made the unicorn's smile widen. "But yeah, it's her job."

"Well, tell me how it goes." Rarity said, as she turned and let her coat flutter in the wind. "I look forward to catching this monster."

Rarity walked up to the dental care facility. It was a two-story building, like most in Ponyville, and had a large toothbrush adorning the top of the thatch roof. It only made sense that the dentist (and rumoured time-traveller, which was based off her cutie mark only and had no solid ground) lived in the second story. She approached the wooden door, which was covered in various dental plans and prices, and knocked on it loud enough to be heard from the second story.

"We're closed!" A voice, seemingly friendly, chimed out. "Unless you're not here for an appointment."

"No, I'm not." Rarity replied in a voice that could be heard through the door. "I'm Investigator Rarity, Ponyville Crime Team."

A window from the second story opened. A (very tired looking) blue pony looked down. "Oh, hey there. Come on in."

Rarity thanked the mare and pushed the door open. As she walked calmly through the first floor, the dentist's office, she spotted the gleaming equipment of the trade. In the dark lighting, the whole setup looked a bit nerve-racking, and Rarity managed to look away before bumping into the desk. Eventually she made it to the second floor, where she was greeted by the same mare offering tea.

"Romana Minuette, I presume?" Rarity said, noting the disturbed furniture. Only slightly, but still enough for her keen eye to pick up.

"Please, just call me Colgate." She said, stirring her milk with a spoon coated in a brilliant blue aura. "Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess. So, how can I help?"

Rarity smiled as she stirred her own tea with her pale blue aura. "I'm Chief Investigator Rarity, and I was just wondering if I could ask you some questions."

"If it's about the time-traveller thing, it's only a ru-"

"No no no no no!" Rarity said with a chuckle. "It's about last night."

"Oh." Colgate's smile dropped, then returned in a slightly strained form. "Sure."

Rarity gestured to the couch, and they both took their places. "It's to my understanding that you actually witnessed the event."

"Yeah, I don't really want to remember that." The blue mare was rubbing her foreleg over her other's elbow. "But I can tell you what I can without breaking."

"Very well."

"Well," Colgate started. "I was sitting about there-" She pointed to the window, the same one she had opened before. "- Late at night. When I saw Junebug walking through the street, I was surprised. She's normally asleep by nine or so."

Rarity listened with intent, which the blue unicorn didn't notice.

"I was going to call out to her, when a cloaked stallion suddenly appeared behind her. And I mean 'suddenly appeared'. That guy was fast." She shifted uncomfortably. "One of his hooves started glowing, and when it hit Junebug-" Colgate faltered.

Rarity placed a hoof on her back to comfort her. "It's ok, Colgate. In fact, you've helped us more than anything else we've found before."

Colgate smiled weakly, tears streaming from her eyes. "Y-you're welcome..."

"But, I have one question, though." Rarity sipped her tea before continuing. "You say this figure is a stallion. How can you tell?"

Colgate paused for a long time. "I never thought of it being a mare... Something that... horrific... has to be a work of a stallion."

Rarity sipped her tea again, finishing it off. "Thank you for the tea, Colgate. I must be on my way now."

Colgate nodded. "You must be busy, I presume."

Rarity made her way outside. In front of the dentist's was the tent that covered the victim, fluttering slightly in the breeze. Rarity sighed, and walked on.

Applejack knocked on Junebug's door. Its response was to open slightly.

She pushed it the rest of the way open, surprised at the lack of misplaced furniture. In fact, there were almost no signs of disturbance.

"Freaky..." She continued searching her home, finding nothing wrong in any of the rooms. There was a hastily written note on the door to her room, though.

Sunflower,

I'm working late tonight, won't be back until after midnight.

Look after the kids for me.

Junebug.

"Excuse me?"

Applejack spun around to see a pale-yellow earth pony stallion with a fire-red mane. Around his hooves were two fillies of similar colours.

"What are you doing here?"

Applejack took her hat off. "Ah'm Detective Applejack, Ponyville Crime Team."

Sunflower looked nervous suddenly. "Sunflower. Did something happen to Junebug?"

Applejack looked at the fillies with equal nervousness. "Uh... Mind if we talk outside?"

The stallion gestured to the fillies to head elsewhere, and then followed the mare outside.

"What happened?"

Applejack gulped. "Ah'm sorry, but... Junebug was..."

"Murdered?"

Applejack nodded solemnly. Sunflower swore and kicked the wall.

"How?"

"You've heard of th' Rune Shredder, I presume?"

Sunflower's eyes widened like dinner plates. "Oh... Don't tell me..."

Applejack looked down. "I'm afraid Ah can't lie..."

Sunflower kicked the wall a few times in anger. "That madpony doesn't know what pain he's causing families like mine..."

Ah suspect he doesn't care... Applejack thought to herself. "Ah'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Sunflower..."

"I understand. I'll tell the girls." Sunflower started to enter the house, when Applejack placed a hoof on his shoulders.

"Ah'm proud of ya, Sunflower." She replaced her hat. "Most stallions would've been on the ground, bawling like mad."

Sunflower managed a grin. "I feel like doing that, but thanks." He walked into the doorway before turning. "Good luck with your investigation, Detective."

"Ugh, I must be getting sloppy..." Pinkie said while lifting up a strand of her own hair from the crime scene.

"That must be a pain to you." The azure mare said, holding a complicated device near the body. A stream of paper with various jagged lines spewed out the bottom and into a box that the mare had in place. "Try to get more sleep."

"Okie dokie lokie, Trixie." Pinkie continued sifting through the evidence, taking out what was obstructive. "What have you found?"

"The same." Trixie looked at the sheet. "High-level network latent magic residue found in runes, a light sprinkle of positive energy from an unidentified source-"

"-And a similar scatter of negative energy?"

"Don't interrupt me, but yes. No traces of standard magic residue, however."

"So that means?"

"What we've already deduced since the second victim." Trixie placed the readings on the table. "It's not a unicorn."

"So what is it?"

"Latent magic is found in all ponies. Its how pegasi can fly and earth ponies do their thing."

"Do their thing?"

"It depends on their talent. Anyway, positive energy is found in all ponies, as is negative energy. Standard magic, like what I'm using to hold this scanner, is exclusive to unicorns and the Princesses."

"But what if," Pinkie started. "A unicorn used her latent magic instead of her normal magic, for making this rune?"

"That's impossible. Even if the unicorn would try that, it would come out as a mix of latent and standard, known as rune magic. This rune is just... latent magic."

Pinkie's tired gears processed the info. "So, no unicorns?"

"No unicorns." Trixie smiled to herself. "Which means I'm not guilty, nor is a third of Ponyville." She turned to the earth pony. "How's the sweep?"

"Hairs of mine keep falling out. I should've brushed it this morning, but I forgot."

"I doubt you could brush that huge fuzzball you call a mane." Trixie muttered to herself, only to have Pinkie suddenly look at her upside down.

"I've done it before! It actually kinda shifts when I br-"

"How are you standing on the roof?" Trixie asked calmly.

Pinkie paused, and then fell on her head.

"Ow..."

The tent doors flew open. A spectral maned pegasus entered. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Investigator Rainb-"

"Dashie!" Pinkie leapt up and gripped the pegasus in a tight grip, grounding her.

"Pinkie..." Rainbow managed to say. "You're crushing me..."

Pinkie immediately let go. "Anyway, nothing new has turned up."

"Damn." The pegasus looked over the scene. "No new scans?"

"I'm afraid not."

"What about the rune shape or something?"

Trixie's ears perked up. "Oh, that's different. This rune is the rune for 'destruction', sometimes translated to 'destroy'. This make the four so far 'open', 'gates', 'corrupt' and 'destroy."

"Sounds bad. Does it fit any known runes?"

"No, unfortunately." Trixie placed a spell tome, with photos slipped between the pages, on the table with a thud. The table, being a simple foldout one, nearly collapsed. "Anyway, Investigator Rarity has gone to talk to the witness, and-"

"Woah woah woah." Rainbow interrupted. "Did you say 'witness'?"

"Yes, but I don't see how-"

"We've never had a witness for this creep. This is perfect!" Dash hoofpumped. "And before you say anything, one is better than none."

"I wasn't going to-"

"I guess I have to tell the family about her?"

"Ya don't have t' tell her husband and kids." Applejack replied, pushing the tent flap aside. "Ah was checking her place."

"Did ya find anything, AJ?"

"Only a note telling the family she was working late." Applejack sighed. "I wonder where-"

"There you are, Applejack!" Rarity called, short-cut purple mane fluttering slightly. "I've got some news."

"... And thus we have a basic appearance."

Rainbow Dash, lying on the couch that was designed for guests, sighed. "We never had a gender on this guy, and anypony can wear a cloak. Hell, Rarity, you make cloaks in your spare time."

Applejack hung her head, defeated. "So, we're still at square one."

"Not necessarily." Rarity added. "I know for a fact that stallions prefer to... do unspeakable things to mares before they kill them. I assume that means that this killer being a mare is more likely."

"But sometimes they don't rape 'em before they kill 'em." Applejack added. "Remember Trot the Ripper?"

"He was an exception. He was mentally ill."

"This guy could be too."

"If he is even a guy." Rainbow added. "RS could be a mare for all we know."

"But mah point is that we're still stuck on nothin'."

Rarity placed her head on her desk. "I guess we are... Wait."

"Huh?"

"Trixie. She could compile the magic tests; get an estimate on the latent signature of the pony."

Rainbow Dash sat up immediately. "That's a brilliant idea!"

"Ah'll let her know." Applejack stood up to leave. "Don't forget to add a witness report, Rare."

"I won't."

***

"Lyra, I have a report for you." Rarity lifted a sheet in a blue aura, which shifted to gold as the unicorn took it.

"Cool, who's it for?" She scanned the list, and her eyes widened. "Is this a joke?"

"No. We actually have a witness for the Rune Shredder."

The six or so ponies around the room gasped. Lyra beamed.

"About bloody time, I was getting annoyed at the lack of work." She set the list down, and the white unicorn left her to her devices.

Bon Bon looked over from her desk, which was adjacent to Lyra's. "Finally, you can actually do something on this guy."

"I know, right?" Lyra pulled over her computer and started typing. "Just gotta add this to the database, then print out a hardcopy, and then I'm done."

***

Rarity and Applejack shared an office. It was spacious enough for them to both work. Behind Rarity there was a huge window, with a sliding door and a balcony. Many times, Rarity and Applejack simply sat on the balcony, looking over their hometown, trying to rid themselves of stress. It was also a haven for Applejack, as Rarity didn't allow her to smoke indoors.

Currently, Applejack was outside, Rarity inside organising her desk as usual.

Applejack sighed, a cloud of ash spreading out. "This is getting harder..."

The door opened. Rarity took a step out, and breathed in some fresh air before taking a spot next to her. "Do you ever think about this?"

"What?" Applejack questioned.

"About why ponies murder each other. It doesn't make sense." Rarity sighed, then levelled a playful glare at Applejack. "I also wonder why some ponies poison themselves with those cigarettes."

Applejack chuckled, taking her cigarette out of her mouth. "They're not as poisonous as you think. Equestria finally found a plant that works for these things without adding rat poison and stuff."

"But still, it's a filthy habit."

Applejack grinned evilly, and moved the cigarette threateningly close to Rarity. Rarity shrieked and kicked it away, knocking it to the ground. Applejack frowned.

"Ah was busy with that."

"Don't do that again!" Rarity composed herself. "I enjoy being clean, thank you very much."

Applejack chuckled. "Whatever, Rare." A moment of silence passed. "But, Ah have thought why ponies kill each other. So far, all I have is emotions."

"But why would this Rune Shredder kill? He has no motive, no reason to kill random ponies."

"Well, we'll find that out eventually."

Author's Note

Edit 21/02/2013: Fixed the title from '3rd' to '4th'.