Incredible Insight
“Argh, leave me alone!” yelled a frail Pegasus, trying his best to escape from the talons of his friend. Chuckling, the childish, golden Griffin soared through the skies and took aim, ready to rip off the pony’s head. As he shot down with faster than ponies could blink and the young, grey colt dived to the ground, thin strands of hair were torn from his mane by the incredible speeds reached by the majestic creature.
“Alright, alright, settle down you two,” encouraged a creature with the body of your average Earth pony, but with alternating black and white stripes going down the length of his visible body. The parts of his body you couldn’t see were covered by the finest of materials, and the most luxurious of clothing. Despite his humble occupation as a doctor who never charged his patients, he certainly didn’t look that way. From head to hoof he was dressed in black, and across his neck he tied a stunning, onyx bowtie. His forelegs and the top of his torso were both wrapped up in the same, silky smooth, suit, and his hind legs were hidden under the fabric of seemingly brand new trousers -- something you rarely see ponies wearing. Finally, on all four of his hooves, he had on some of the finest black leather shoes that ponies like Sapphire Shores only ever saw once or twice in a every year.
Where he got the money for such luxuries is a mystery, but he obviously didn’t mind spending the bits, since he wore some of the best apparel the world has ever seen around two children, who were bound to splatter dirt all over the fabric. Sure enough, as the two quarrelled in a heap before him, dust clouds surrounded him and planted some particles on him, tainting his clothes whilst the damp mud from the rain that ended no more than two hours ago attached itself to his trouser legs.. Instead of getting angry at the two, he just smiled and extended a hoof, pushing one away from the other. As the dust settled, the faces of the white maned Pegasus and the sadistically grinning Griffin became apparent as they sat on the ground, angrily glaring at each other.
“Now, now you two,” began the doctor, trying to contain his laughter. “What has you so riled up this time?”
“He tried to kill me!” screamed the colt, fire in his green eyes.
“Oh, shut up you pansy,” mumbled the Griffin, sticking out his tongue at his friend and squinting in a demeaning manner. “Don’t be so melodramatic.”
“Don’t be so evil!” retorted the pony, standing up, hooves ready to strike.
“Calm down Fetlock,” insisted the Zebra, patting him on the head and lowering his hoof. Begrudgingly, he took a deep breath and composed himself, still maintaining the death like stare at the Griffin. “And you Micah. Stop bullying Fetlock, doesn’t it ever get boring picking on someone so much younger and smaller than you?”
“Ha! Don’t make me laugh doctor; it’s always a blast,” Micah’s remark seemed to drag out the fighting spirit inside of Fetlock again and he pounced on the unsuspecting Griffin, beginning round two of their tussle. In no time at all, the dust cleared again and Fetlock’s head was pressed against the dirty, paved roads of Ponyville, frowning in defeat as his “friend” laughed at his failure.
“There’s nothing to be done about you two is there?” murmured the Zebra, chuckling under his breath.
“I guess not,” admitted Fetlock, picking himself up from the ground as his companion stepped off of his face, and let him properly breathe again.
“This is much more fun,” added Micah, strutting over to where the Zebra was, adjusting the bracelet her wore above his left claw. “So Dr Bell, why have you come here today? Do you have something interesting, or are you just dropping by?”
“A bit of both I suppose,” replied Bell, contemplating as he spoke. “Something has come up that is worthy of noting, and I have been made aware of it.”
“Well, it obviously isn’t too important then is it?” remarked Fetlock, joining the other two.
“Now why would you say that?” asked Bell in a suggestive and knowing tone, eyeing the young Pegasus.
“The only reason you’d come to us with news like that is so you can take us with you to investigate. If you’re going to let two amateurs assist you, then you need to be sure that neither of us will be in danger, and that it is something that we can both handle. You would never bring us a case that was beyond our capabilities, or was even remotely important. This is just another individual case isn’t it?”
“Well,” began Bell, chuckling at Fetlock’s conclusion. “You’ll have to decide that when we get there won’t you?” The lavender blue Pegasus let out a distempered groan at the doctor’s reply, and let the other creature there speak up.
“Well, what’s happened then?” asked the Griffin, much calmer and much more composed now.
“Have you ever heard the name, Anvil, around Ponyville?”
“The blacksmith? Yeah, he’s pretty important,” answered Fetlock, unsure where Bell was headed.
“He’s disappeared.”
“What?” exclaimed both of them in hushed excitement. “You can’t be serious. Ponyville’s still functioning?”
“Thanks to the hard work of all the ponies that are willing to keep this a secret. I’m sure you both know that for the past ten years, Anvil has never missed a single day of work, so when we find out that he hasn’t been at his stable for three days, you can imagine just how concerned we are.”
“Well, do you have any idea where he is?” questioned Micah, somewhat concerned.
“Three ideas so far, but I’ve only managed to get one glance at the inside of his house, so it’s possible that I missed something.”
“That’s interesting...” remarked Fetlock, raising a hoof to his chin. The doctor saw his automated movement and grinned.
“What is?” he asked in a sarcastic tone.
“You went to his house before you went to his stable. Surely, the latter would have more clues. The way he forged his latest creations could offer a lot of insight into how he felt when he made them. That means...”
“Go on,” urged Bell, grinning.
“That means...” mumbled Fetlock, pressing his hoof between his eyes, trying to think.
“It means that this is more important than you thought it was,” interrupted an antsy Griffin, calling out to a taxi cart and signalling for it to stop. “We better get going.” He leapt onto the seat inside the cart pulled by a buff Earth pony, and Bell followed closely behind, beckoning for Fetlock to follow. The Pegasus still looked a little bit confused, but he pieced everything together slowly and eventually understood what Micah meant.
“Fetlock,” called out Bell as he lifted himself into the taxi.
“Hm?” mumbled Fetlock, tossing on a black fedora.
“Don’t be so quick to judge a situation. There may be more to it than you think.”
“Excuse me, you can’t just walk into a crime scene,” asserted a police mare, denying the three of them access to the house.
“Crime scene? I thought he just disappeared,” replied Fetlock, confused once again.
“Well now there’s a dead body in there, and it’s not a pretty sight. Dr Bell, you can come in, but I don’t recommend they follow you.”
“It’s OK. They’ll be fine,” reassured Bell as he escorted the other two youths in with him to be greeted by the stallion inside.
“Ah! Dr Bell. Always good to see your face. Brought them with you this time I see,” exclaimed a jubilant, purple Unicorn, elated to see the Zebra.
“Hello Seb. Yes I did bring them; I hope that won’t be a problem. Who died?” he asked, leaning his head to the side and observing a headless, cerise body, and noticed that already, on of his group was headed towards it.
“The body’s unidentified as of yet, and odds are she won’t be identified for a while. We really need to find Anvil now don’t we?”
“Why would you say that?” asked Micah, speaking up from behind them, shifting the corpse despite the complaints of the officers around him.
“Well, when you find a dead body in somepony’s house, finding the killer is obviously the most importa-”
“So you think Anvil killed her?” interrupted Micah, unimpressed with his explanation.
“Of course. How else would you explain everything that’s happened?” retorted Seb, getting angry.
“Please don’t say that Seb, you know I hate it when you say stupid things,” added Bell, tutting his friend.
“Ugh, what did I do this time?” groaned an impatient inspector.
“You have one explanation of some of the facts, but there are still things left unexplained, like that body for example. Don’t give preference to one theory over all the others before you have all the evidence you can get.”
“Well, do you mind telling me what I missed then?” requested Seb, arrogantly.
“Only everything important,” joked Micah, standing up after flipping the corpse onto its stomach. “Tell me inspector, how was this mare killed?”
“Well that’s obvious, she was decapitated.”
“Wrong,” announced the Griffin, beaming. “She was killed by somepony who attacked her from behind with an axe.”
“Wait, I know there’s a gash on her back, but how can you tell?”
“I’ll get to that point in a minute. Tell me, where was she killed?”
“Here...?” mumbled Seb, almost afraid to answer.
“Wrong. If you were hacked in the back and then had your head chopped off, don’t you think there’d be a lot of blood?”
“Yeah...”
“So why is there none in here to be seen? There’s not even a speck of blood anywhere, and before you say that she cleaned it up, she didn’t. This floor is absolutely filthy. If she cleaned the blood away, don’t you think that she would have cleaned off this layer of dirt as well.”
“OK...” mumbled Seb, accepting the young Griffin’s words. “Why do you keep saying she?”
“Because obviously a mare killed her.”
“Obviously?”
“The wound wasn’t very deep in her back and only just managed to kill her, and it took more than one swing to chop off the head. You can tell because there are still little flaps on flesh on her neck dangling. Finally, how many stallions wear fake lashes?” asked Micah, holding up the evidence in his claw.
“Alright, fair enough. So how do you know she was killed by the axe to the back.”
“There is an astounding lack of blood around the neck, don’t you think? There’s some, but not a lot.”
“Maybe the killer cleaned it off?”
“Why? Because she didn’t want us to check the blood for something? Then why did she leave the blood on her back where it is? You can see that it’s completely soaked through the shirt on her back and turned it from white to crimson.”
“Maybe-”
“So Micah,” interrupted Bell, smoking his pipe carefully and casually. “Where’s Anvil right now?”
“Well, I’m not sure yet. Give me a minute and then I’ll tell you,” replied Micah before turning and leaving the living room to make his way through the rest of the house.
“Why did you have to bring him with you, doctor?” asked Seb, annoyed and disgruntled.
“I have to bring my students with me, otherwise they’ll never learn what it takes to be a detective.”
“I don’t mind Fetlock, he never talks when you bring him, but that Griffin can be such a twat.”
“Now, now Seb. He’s just a child. There’s no need to be so harsh towards him, even if he does undermine you,” retorted Bell, grinning to his friend as Micah came back to the living room, walked right past them, and headed over to the front door. As the minutes passed, they stood in silence as Dr Bell puffed out rings of smoke whilst he took slow drags from his favourite clay pipe, and they watched as an enlightened Griffin strutted back to them, brimming with pride.
“By that look on your face, I presume that you’ve worked it all out?” chuckled Bell, removing his pipe.
“Correct doctor,” assured Micah, grinning at the inspector.
“Go on then.”
“Alright. In the kitchen, there are countless wrappers and cartons in the bin, so he’s obviously been here for a while. There are also a few unwashed plates inside the sink. The food stains on them are still quite recent, and haven’t completely hardened into a thin crust yet, so they were left there no more than some hours ago, maybe twelve or so. By the front door, there is a pair of shoes and if you’ll look closely, they are completely dry. Since it has been raining for three days straight in Ponyville, it’s not very likely that he wore them and they stayed dry. Conclusion -- he never left.”
Inspector Seb dropped his jaw as he stared dumbfounded at the pleased Griffin, who puffed out his chest with pride as he beamed, waiting for adoration. Meanwhile the other two who came with him both shook their heads in disapproval, and tutted at his insolence. Micah didn’t take well to their condescension, and almost instantly his anger and frustration took over him, and dictated what he screamed.
“What? What did I get wrong?” he demanded, beak turning red as he stomped his paw hard on the ground.
“Alright then genius, if he’s still here, where is he hiding?” sang Fetlock, speaking up now that his friend had a minor blunder.
“I don’t know, I haven’t been here that long.”
“Well then you shouldn’t give a deduction like that,” concluded Bell, putting his pipe away. “Especially when it’s wrong.” Micah was furious to hear these words, but he knew that if Dr Bell was siding with Fetlock, then odds were that he was wrong and that he should just shut up and listen.
“Alright, fine Fetlock. Why don’t you tell me where he is?”
“I can try I guess,” he mumbled, looking over to Dr Bell for reassurance. The Zebra nodded encouragingly at his student, and beckoned for him to begin, hoping that he’d do better than the careless Griffin. Seb glared at him, waiting for him to speak, but the young Pegasus closed his eyes and stood completely still, only moving to breathe. The inspector found this behaviour strange and soon after Fetlock entered his trance-like state, Seb called out to him.
“Hey kid,” he began, reaching a hoof out to him. “Are you OK?”
“Don’t disturb him Seb. He’s a special child, and he has his quirks -- much like we all do.” Seb opened his mouth to speak but promptly clamped his jaw shut as Bell turned his head back to face Fetlock and saw that he tightened his closed eyes. Of a sudden, his eyelids flew open and his two big, green eyes appeared and stared lifelessly at the floor beneath his hooves. Turning his head slightly, he looked at the front door, and then he lifted his chin, taking a big whiff of the air around them.
“There are scratches on the keyhole of the front door...” he mumbled, eyes wider than a grapefruit.
“You can see the door from here?” joked Micah, laughing at the Pegasus.
“Don’t be stupid, at least I didn’t think that Anvil was still in the house.” Instantly, Micah quit his giggling and glared at Fetlock instead, threatening to attack him if he insulted him again, but Fetlock didn’t care. “No, I noticed it on the way in, and the welcome mat was also tilted instead of properly arranged.”
“So what? Not everypony is as OCD as you mate,” retorted Micah, attempting to knock his friend down to his knees.
“That’s not my point you idiot. A lot of ponies keep spare keys under the welcome mat. If it’s out of line, then it’s likely that the key isn’t there anymore. Also, the scratches around the keyhole obviously show that somepony broke in. Dr Bell only told us that Anvil disappeared, so at the time he came to the house and took a look around, the body wasn’t here yet, meaning it was placed here afterwards. Another thing to note is that the mat was moved before it stopped raining. You can tell because there’s no dry patch on the stone beneath it, and I would wager that if you lifted it, you would find a dry area with an irregular shape.”
Micah thought over everything his friend had said, and carefully looked for a fault to find or for an assumption that shouldn’t have been made; but unfortunately, he was unable to perform such a task. Anger started to build up faster than he had ever experienced before, and his beak once again returned to its almost-natural, hellish hue. Bell placed a hoof on his shoulder and persuaded him to calm down, but he still glared at Fetlock with murder in his eyes.
“So,” began Seb, more confused than he was when Micah spoke. “What does that mean?”
“It means that Anvil took the key from under the mat and left. Then, somepony left the body here, probably in an attempt to frame Anvil for murder, but that was a stupid mistake on their part since no Unicorn would kill without the use of their magic. After that, the real killer left and Anvil returned to find the body here. Realising that he was in a lot of trouble, he fled for his life.”
“I suppose that explains some of the facts...” mumbled Micah, biting his tongue as he spoke. “But where is he now then?”
“I don’t know, he could be anywhere.”
“Oh dear...” groaned Bell, shaking his head slowly with a big grin on his face. The two boys both turned to face him and watched as he tutted Fetlock this time, and brought out his pipe again. Seb also looked to his old friend, and hoped that he would soon explain his disappointment, and finally get him out of the dark.
“What did I get wrong?” asked Fetlock, slightly ashamed and almost afraid to ask.
“If those were really the only pieces of evidence available, then yes, your deduction is perfectly valid. But there is so much more that neither of you have noticed, because you don’t know where or how to look.”
“Well, what else is there?” questioned Micah, raising his voice at his mentor.
“Go over to the couch and tell me what you can observe,” commanded Bell, calmly smoking his clay pipe again. Obediently, the two boys made their way over to the aforementioned piece of furniture, and almost hypnotically, Seb followed closely behind. Micah was the first to take action and he almost tore the couch to pieces, much to the annoyance of all the other ponies who were there and who worked hard to keep the scene pristine and identical as to when they arrived. Fetlock just stood there on the side and watched as his Griffin friend almost murdered the ugly furniture. Carefully, Micah eyed each and every cushion and golden bit that he extracted from the couch, but he never noticed anything interesting. Fetlock raised a hoof to his muzzle and scratched at the itch before taking a deep breath to relieve the uncomfortable sensation.
“Ahh...” moaned Fetlock, realising why they had been called there by the doctor. Micah turned to him, confused, and demanded to know why he just made such an awkward outburst.
“What the hell was that?”
“Perfume...” replied Fetlock, eyes wide open again and organising his thoughts.
“Perfume?” Micah raised an eyebrow at the pony and sniffed the couch a little, cautiously and carefully. Of a sudden, his pupils shrank as the realisation sank into his mind, and he finally understood why Bell sent them over there.
“What perfume?” asked Seb, confused.
“The perfume scent on this couch,” explained Micah, pointing behind him. Seb moved his head closer and sniffed the fabric of the couch before noting that there was in fact a faint scent of rose there.
“OK. But what’s so important about the perfume?”
“Think about it inspector,” began Fetlock, getting impatient. “Why is there perfume on the couch? If you assume the killer brought the scent with her when she left the body here, then think about why she would take the time to put on perfume right before she tries to frame a pony for murder. Also, think about how the body doesn’t have this scent as well. What’s the conclusion then? Anvil sprayed perfume around this room after he came back home from whatever he was doing. This means he came back after Dr Bell left, saw the body, sprayed the perfume to show that he was being framed, and then left.”
“Good, good. What else?” asked the doctor, grinning from behind his pipe. He puffed out another ring of smoke, and Fetlock pondered a reply, he found himself mesmerised by the perfectly symmetrical, gaseous formation. In a matter of seconds, the ring dissipated and faded as a single streak was pulled towards the door. Again, Fetlock’s eyes grew wide and another cog in his head turned as he finally understood what Bell meant.
“There’s a room behind that wall,” proclaimed Fetlock, running over to it and trying to push it open. Bell smiled with delight as his student finally found one of the missing puzzle pieces and watched as he vigorously worked to try and gain access to the secret room that he’d already seen. After a few more attempts, Micah decided to help and with their combined weight, they knocked a hole through the wafer thin wall.
“How did you know there was a room here?” asked Seb, amazed that this child managed to see all of this before he did.
“There was a thin crack in the wall that went from one side to the other, and when Dr Bell blew the smoke ring, it was sucked in by the draught,” explained Fetlock, tearing open the hole and stepping through, entering the secret chamber of Anvil’s home.
The room itself wasn’t that big, and if compared to the living room, then it was probably something similar to a fifth of its size. There wasn’t a lot in the room either, and the first things everypony noticed were the desk propped up against one of the plain walls, the chair placed haphazardly in front of the desk with a coat draped over the back, and the countless, mint green, bronze statues of a mare holding a book close to her heart. On top of the desk, the three ponies and the Griffin noticed three letters scattered and creased. Instinctively, Fetlock took one, Micah another, Seb the last, and together, they all read their letters out loud.
********
“Dear cousin, I write to you because there have been events going on in my life that are not exactly normal, and I don’t think I can handle this life anymore. On top of all that, this hag is killing me inside, and I don’t think that I can contain my rage much longer. There’s still a lot to be done, but if everything goes exactly as I’ve planned, then in three days’ time, you’ll find her dead. Don’t try to stop me cousin, there’s no stopping me now.”
“Dear cousin, yesterday, I sent a letter to you about a very sensitive subject, and it has only just occurred to me that you might take it in a very negative way. Don’t you dare tell on me, or I will turn this all on you, and get you into a stable-load of trouble. I’m warning you, if I find out that you’ve grassed on me, then I’ll ruin your life!” Don’t bother coming to find me either, you’ll never find me. I’ve even sent you a few packages to see if you can find me, but I bet you never will. You’ll never see me again after this.
“Dear cousin, guess who sent me a telegram today? My mother! She’s on to me, and this is all your fault! Oh be prepared cousin, because today, I will destroy your good name, and send you deep into the depths of Tartarus. You will never see the light of day again, and you will have all eternity to rue your actions and your betrayal. See you soon cousin.”
********
“Wow,” exclaimed Micah after hearing everypony’s reading of their individual letters and piecing everything together. “This is an eye opener.”
“What, what is it? What do these letters mean?” begged Seb, sensing that this was a very serious matter, and that he was the only one who didn’t understand.
“The murderer wrote these letters to Anvil, and she tried to frame her own cousin for murder,” explained Micah, taking a good look at all three of the letters that had now been placed flat out of the desk in front of them. Meanwhile, Fetlock crawled along the floor until he finally found what he was looking for, and started scavenging through it.
“Wait, so Anvil’s cousin is the murderer, and that mare in the living room is her mother?” asked Seb, bewildered.
“Yep,” answered Fetlock, kneeling on the floor and dumping out the contents of a small rubbish bin onto the floor and spreading them out. Satisfied with the result, Dr Bell puffed another ring of smoke from his pipe and grinned as he watched the other three discuss everything.
“Wait, didn’t she mention something about sending Anvil some packages? If we find them, then can’t we find her?”
“We don’t need to find those packages...” mumbled Fetlock, standing up and looking at the single shelf held up by the wall.
“What do you mean? Of course we do! If we know what’s inside of those packages, then we can catch her, and-”
“Well, take a look right there,” commanded Fetlock, pointing at the bronze statues they all noted when they entered the secret room. “They’re right there.” Micah and Seb both approached the objects the Pegasus indicated, but only Micah understood the true implications of it all.
“What is this? A lot of Statues of Harmony? These are just things tourists buy. What’s so important about them?”
“Well inspector, began Fetlock, taking a few steps back. “They are all identical. Obviously, this means that she only decided to send him these things after she realised that Anvil could rat her out to her mother, and bought them on impulse. Now connecting this with her final line in the second letter, everything becomes obvi -- whoa!” cried Fetlock as he slipped and fell to the floor, right next to the chair.
“That. Was. Pretty freaking funny,” laughed Micah, mocking his hurt companion.
“Are you alright boy?” asked Seb, more anxious than concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” groaned Fetlock, using the chair to help himself up.
“So what were you saying about the statues and her letter?”
“He was saying that she’s going to kill herself now,” explained Micah, answering in the place of his friend. “She didn’t realise that sending her cousin a letter about this was a mistake, and that odds were he was going to grass on her. After she realised that she accidentally gave her cousin leverage, she bet on the worst, and decided she’d kill herself after she left the body here. Doctor, when were you here? Before you came to get me and Fetlock.”
“I’d say about 10:00 am,” answered the Zebra, putting his pipe away. “So about two hours ago. We’re not going to make it by train Fetlock.”
“Not going to make what?” questioned Seb, looking from one detective to the other.
“Anvil’s a Unicorn, so it’s more than likely that he’s already arrived at the station with his magic but his cousin isn’t, so she’s probably on a train right now,” replied Fetlock, now back on his hooves.
“How do you know she isn’t a Unicorn?”
“The letters were mouth-written. A Unicorn would write with their magic,” explained Micah, impatient.
“OK, so where’s the train headed.”
“The Big Apple,” revealed Fetlock.
“In other words, Manehattan,” added Micah, prepping his wings. “It’s no use, I can’t outfly a train. The last train for Manehattan left an hour and a half ago, and it’ll take me a good two hours to fly there, but I only have about twenty minutes. Even if we went by air-carriage, it would take the same amount of time as me flying to get there. The next train leaves at 11:00 am. We can’t make it that way.”
“Oh look at that, you memorising the train schedules is somewhat helpful for once,” mocked Fetlock, gritting his teeth. “Guess we’ll just need to find somepony willing to help us out then aren’t we?”
“Well, we have a Unicorn right here...” remarked Micah, grinning almost maliciously at Seb, who returned his glare with the same, old confusion.
“What...what is it?”
“Seb old friend,” began Dr Bell, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “We need your help to take us all to Ponyvania station in Manehattan. Do you think you can do it?”
“Well...” mumbled Seb, looking at everypony around him, and thinking about how good he was with his magic. After evaluating his skills, he came up with his reply. “Sorry doc, but I can only take two of you with me.”
A hushed silence came over the group of four as they looked at each other and tried to determine who of them was going to stay behind whilst the rest went on ahead. Sadly, the best in the field of what can only be loosely referred to as “magical science” have yet to determine a way in which Unicorns can efficiently teleport long distances. Their breakthrough a few years ago was already a sensational discovery, but for a Unicorn to go so far with so many passengers, a few more centuries were needed. As the doctor opened his mouth to speak, his student beat him to it.
“I can find somepony else to take me,” suggested Fetlock, contemplating who to employ.
“Are you sure?” asked Bell, voice void of emotion and not really interested in the Pegasus’ response.
“Yeah, I have an idea of who can take me there. You two go on ahead, and I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
“How long do you think you’re going to be?” pressed Micah, ready to leave Ponyville.
“Twenty minutes at the most. Not too long.”
“Alright then, we’ll meet you at Ponyvania station. Keep an eye out for Anvil in case we miss him.”
“OK doc, I’ll see you guys later.” With those final words, Fetlock tipped his fedora to the other three, and ran out of the house, heading towards the home of the helpful Unicorn, who was always happy to do everypony a favour. As the Pegasus ran out of the two storey house they were all in, the three creatures of different species all stood there, hesitating before they took action. Before anypony could break the awkward silence, Dr Bell trotted over to the desk again, and took another look at the letters Micah placed there, and noticed something he hadn’t observed earlier.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked Seb, warming up his horn with a few, basic, telekinesis spells.
“These letters...” mumbled Bell, eyes full of shock and mouth hanging open.
“What’s wrong, doctor?” asked the Griffin, concerned about whatever it is his mentor’s found.
“These letters were written by a Pegasus.” As soon as the words left the Zebra’s mouth, Micah mirrored his mentor’s expression and exemplified bewilderment as he stood there, speechless, and effectively killing Seb with his curiosity.
“Why’s that important?” asked Seb, exhaling as he spoke, now accustomed to never knowing anything.
“A Pegasus wouldn’t take the train, a Pegasus would fly!” cried Micah, furious with all of their incompetence. “Doctor, are you sure she’s a Pegasus?”
“Yes Micah. See here, the letter starts off being written by your standard issue goose quill, but here, the nib clearly breaks off. After that point, it’s obvious that the writing implement has changed, but it’s definitely not a goose feather. It’s a Pegasus feather,” concluded Bell, showing Micah his train of thoughts with the help of the letter he noticed all these minor details in.
“Then, where do we go?” asked Seb, finally saying something useful for once.
“Isn’t it obvious Seb?” laughed Bell, scoffing at the detective inspector’s remark.
“We need to get to the top of the Statue of Harmony,” declared Micah, confident and demanding. Instantly, he grabbed the only Unicorn there and pulled him closer to Bell. Once he recovered from his state of shock, Seb composed his thoughts and projected his magic to reach out to the other two and together, the three of them disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared 250 kilometres away.
A little ways away from the house of Ponyville’s most beloved blacksmith, Fetlock ran along the paved stone paths of his hometown, and ran towards the home of somepony who always regarded herself as his friend, but he only ever saw as a talented yet annoying designer.
There were some twists and turns needed to get him out of the general area that Anvil lived in, and he was glad to be out of such a bad neighbourhood, but he still had quite a bit to go before he could arrive at the door of Rarity’s home, and he was still oblivious to the newest of revelations made by his mentor and shared by the other two.
Time passed slowly as he ran as fast as he could and one single drop of sweat trailed down his face as he panted and continued running, heading towards one of the most strangely shaped homes of Ponyville. He refused to fly anywhere because of a small defect that he had, and he was ashamed of this weakness of his, but he had no other choice, and whenever his sister tried to help him get over his fears, he would either faint or chicken out.
At one point during his lengthy run, he reached a road that he needed to cross, and ignoring normal safety procedures, he dashed across the stone ground with no regard for his own life, or the lives of the ponies around him. As he stepped into the middle of the road, out of nowhere, a taxi appeared and almost ran him over. Ironically, when he noticed the oncoming taxi, he stopped running and just stood there. If he kept running, then everypony would still be alive. Luckily for him, he was saved by a lemon yellow maned Pegasus with the two of the most gentle, green eyes he had ever seen -- except for maybe hers.
Thanks to this mysterious mare, Fetlock escaped this entire endeavour unscathed, but sadly, the same could not be said for her, and as he lay on the ground in her tight embrace, it became apparent to him that she wasn’t breathing anymore. Two mares ran up to them from behind, and just before they reached him, he freed himself from her air tight grip and jumped up onto his hooves. Taking one look at the disheartened mare with wall-eyes who was silently tearing up at this point, he turned from the two ponies and ran off again, heading in the direction of his “friend’s” home.
The near-death experience shook him up quite a bit, but it wasn’t very long before he composed himself again and almost reached the door of the odd house. Now, he was much more careful when he crossed the various roads he traversed, and finally, he arrived at his destination. Taking a few breaths outside and calming down a little, he raised his hoof up to the door and knocked on it three times. From within the abode he could hear the sound of metallic footsteps. Even when he was this tired, he could still be quite observant, and he noted that Rarity was wearing a new pair of shoes before she even opened the door.
“Why hello there Fetlock, do come in,” beckoned the indigo maned Unicorn, shutting the door behind him as he came in, panting slowly. “What brings you here today? Do you need my help with anything?” she asked, desperate to be of assistance, batting her eyelashes slowly.
“Uhm, no, not really. Is your mum home?” he asked, panting gently, trying to hide his exhaustion from the filly next to him. Her lips turned to a frown and the life in her eyes was sucked out in an instant, replaced with disappointment and annoyance as she responded.
“Yes, she is. Please wait here while I go get her,” she scowled as she dragged her hooves along the floor and made her way into the kitchen, and found a purple maned, pink bodied Unicorn sporting a pair of very out of place, white trousers. “Mother, Fetlock’s here,” she called out, alerting her mother of her friend’s presence. The mare wiped her mouth with a hoofkerchief and cleaned some dribble and food from her lips before she stood up and trotted over to the porch where the Pegasus stood, waiting patiently.
“Hello dear, having trouble with your sisters again?” asked the mare in a friendly tone, smiling at him.
“No ma’am, I need you to do me a favour, if you don’t mind.”
“Well, that depends. What is it you need me to do dearie? Do you need me to help with your homework?”
“No, no,” chattered Fetlock, hiding his laughs at the idea of this mare helping him with his homework. “I need you to take me to Manehattan, Ponyvania station.”
“Woah, that’s pretty far away. Why do you need to go there?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow and staring sideways at Fetlock.
“For practice I suppose,” he replied, half-heartedly, not wanting to tell her too much.
“Dr Bell?” she asked, changing her tone from cheery to harsh, and as cold as stone.
“Yeah...” he mumbled, hoping she wouldn’t pry any further.
She closed her eyes and hummed for a minute, pondering whether or not she should help him, and just what he’s up to. She was in this state for quite a while, and it was enough to make Fetlock really agitated, and annoyed that she was so slow when it came to making a decision.
“Luckily for you, I was a magic teacher, so I can handle something like this. Alright then, I’ll take you,” she decided, finally, relieving Fetlock.
“Thank you,” he muttered out of courtesy, thinking over everything else he needed to do, and where he would find Anvil.
“Rarity,” yelled the mare, getting the attention of her daughter. “I’m going out for a bit. Tell your dad that I might be late for our lunch.”
“Wait, what!” cried Fetlock as she almost rushed towards him, grabbed him by the neck, and lit up her horn. Before the reply from her daughter managed to reach her ears, the mare created a blinding flash of light and with Fetlock in tow, teleported almost 250 kilometres away.
“Where are you going?” asked Rarity, unaware that her question fell on deaf ears.
The second of a pair of flashes appeared on the very top level of the Statue of Harmony, and they stood there, precariously balanced on the edge of the mare’s “hat.” Seb almost toppled over, but luckily for him, Griffins have really fast reflexes, and he had a Griffin with him who didn’t hate his guts. After pulling the Unicorn up and saving his life, Micah realised that one pony from their ensemble wasn’t present -- although everypony knew that -- and that there’d be no way for Fetlock to know where they were. As he opened his mouth to speak however, the doctor mumbled some words to him, and prevented him from asking his question.
“Micah, go get Fetlock and bring him back here as soon as you can,” he ordered, eyes completely focused and voice reinforced like steel. The Griffin was caught off guard by his mentor’s sudden outburst, but he thought it over for a while and realised that it would be the fastest and safest way. After all, Seb was a police stallion, so by second nature he always carries a gun with him. Luckily, he had it strapped onto his left foreleg so that it was easy to reach. He was always more of a right legged pony.
Without another word, Micah flapped his wings and took flight, shooting up at first then directing all of his momentum in the direction of Ponyvania station, hoping to find his friend there, and praying that they’d be back in time for the festivities. Meanwhile, Seb and Dr Bell remained on the top of the tower, and the last tourist who was there flew off as well after seeing three strange creatures appear out of thin air.. Dr Bell reached into a pocket of his suit and extracted from it his beloved clay pipe, lighting it and puffing smoke rings out of it again.
After the first ring disappeared and dispersed through the air, Bell removed the pipe from between his lips and parted them in speech directed at his detective inspector friend. “Seb, Anvil will be at the bottom. Why don’t you go down there and meet him?”
“Hm?” mumbled Seb, surprised that the Zebra was talking to him, even though they were the only ones still there on the top of the statue, standing on the rim of a bronze hat.
“Go to the base of the tower and find Anvil. If he’s not up here, then he’ll definitely be down there. He’s probably hoping to stop his cousin before she jumps.”
“What do you want me to do then?”
“To keep him safe?”
“Why?”
“Come now Seb, surely you must be able to see this? Don’t you think our cheeky murderer knows that her cousin is a Unicorn, and that it is very likely he will try to stop her suicide, which she made so obvious in her letters? I haven’t a doubt in my mind that she plans on attacking Anvil and then running up here to kill herself.”
“Why does she have to kill herself here?” begged Seb, asking another intelligent question.
“That’s where it takes mind of a great detective to dissect her plans. She wants to make her death public, and above all she wants everypony to see her die with their own eyes.”
“Why would she want that?” questioned Seb, unsure of what Bell meant.
“Seb, I told you that I got to Anvil’s house at 10:00am, and I dare say I left at 10:05am. Also, I found the boys in the park. Can you work out the rest?”
“Uhm, no. Not really,” admitted the purple Unicorn, a little ashamed of himself.
“Come now Seb, at least give it a try,” urged the doctor, smoking his pipe again.
“Fine...” moaned the inspector, raising a hoof to his chin, scratching it gently as he contemplated and thought things over. Eventually, something that didn’t make sense became apparent to him, and he had his reply. “Why did it take you almost two hours to get back then? Anvil’s house is only ten minutes from the park.”
“Good work, Seb. You got there in the end. The reason it took me so long was because I saw the house, and it was oddly unhelpful so I went to his stable, looked around a bit, and then I met up with a mare to chat about it. She offered me her views and together, we constructed a chain of deductions that can explain everything. Suffice it to say, our murderer was forced to murder her mother, and it wasn’t of her own accord -- although she most likely genuinely wanted her to die. After she sent her letter to her cousin, somepony probably found out and threatened to kill Anvil too. At this point, she decided that it was safer for Anvil to be in prison, so she tried to frame him for murder. Him telling her mother only gave her a motive for framing her cousin, and to ensure that he would be safe after everything was over, she would have to kill herself and make sure whoever forced her to kill her mother could see her die with their own eyes.”
Seb was awestruck at the doctor’s words, and had nothing more to say to him, his jaw hanging low and his shock subsided. Soon, he composed himself again and made himself appear decent, getting over how amazed he was at Bell’s deductions. Eventually, he noticed one giant loophole with his story, and thought over whether or not to bring it up. His instincts took over, and he thought that it was worth a try.
“How can you possibly get all of that? There wasn’t nearly enough evidence anywhere in that house for you be able to deduce all of that, and how much could you really get from his stable? What’s the deal, Bell?” Bell puffed another ring of smoke and removed the pipe from his mouth, standing silent as his friend grew anxious behind him.
“Well Seb, there are facts known only to a few souls in this world, and the reason behind that is this level of information is very dangerous. I would tell you but I would hate to put your life in danger in any way. The ones who learn of this information learn of it unwillingly, and more often than not, we wish that we could un-see it, and forget it. However, you should know that in this imperfect world of ours, there are many a pony who love to cause destruction all around them, and even more who like to assert their authority and dominance over everypony else. Where these two groups intersect is where we meet some of the most malicious beings known to ponykind, and where we find the poor, tortured souls who are far beyond redemption, and are laughing before the gates of Tartarus. These are the ponies that everypony fears, but nopony can stand up to. It is useless for us to even bother trying Seb, so let it go. Forget about what I’ve said, and for now, just focus on keeping Anvil safe. Now go, go down those stairs, and stop her from getting up here. I’ll be waiting here should you fail, but I’m counting on you old friend.”
Seb was utterly speechless and he was barely able to flick his head to the side so as to shift his grey mane away from his eyes. He had no idea how to respond to the doctor’s words, but he sincerely hoped that he was doing a good job of keeping his true feelings a secret. He would hate for Bell to discover just who he knew, and who he worked with secretly, behind the backs of everypony on the force. He had been hiding the fact that he secretly worked for one of the ponies that Bell was talking about, and that he was well aware of the truth behind his case. Sadly, he would have to tell his employer that he failed to keep everything about this case a secret, despite his very specific instructions, but he did tell him that Bell isn’t just your average pony, and that he is very dangerous from his cause. Seb couldn’t really be blamed for his failure; he had predicted it long before this started.
“O...OK,” mumbled Seb, hiding his face and lowering his head as he headed towards the spiralling staircase that led all the way up to the top of the statue. Slowly, he made his way down and headed for where Bell predicted Anvil would be, and as soon as he saw his friend leave, Bell put out his pipe, and puffing out one last ring of smoke, he looked out over the big, beautiful Apple, waiting for the events to unfold. What would happen next could solidify his suspicions, and confirm what his daughter conjectured, but he sincerely hoped that he would be wrong, and that he wouldn’t have to do anything for the rest of that day. Of course, there’s more than one way to explain everything if that happens, but it was much more likely that his best friend isn’t who he thought he is.
Another flash of light appeared in the city of Manehattan, but this time it was in a much more crowded area, and it had a much bigger effect on the ponies around it, making some of them scream. As the light dissipated and the ponies calmed, a Unicorn and a Pegasus appeared on an exposed platform and listened as a deafening roar approached them from behind, drowning out their voices as they spoke.
“What was that?” screamed Fetlock, trying to yell over the top of the steam locomotive, referring to the mare’s words back in her house.
“Oh that? Nothing. I just don’t think your mother would like it if I knowingly sent you on a dangerous trip with Dr Bell again. After all, you know how she feels about him,” bellowed Rarity’s mother, quieting down near the end of her sentence as the train came to a stop, and ponies started pouring out from the various walkways leading off from the train. Seeking the opportunity, Fetlock used the crowd to try and distance himself from his guardian, and tried to get away, looking for Anvil amongst the sea of unfamiliar faces. He kept searching, but his lean frame was weak against the bustling bodies of the countless ponies that came by the train and in end, he had to just go with the false current and pray that it took him to the right place.
Behind him, the pink mare chased after him vigorously and her surprising strength coupled with her bodacious attitude allowed for her to keep one keen eye on the young Pegasus and manoeuvre through the crowd in an almost successful attempt at reaching him. Just as she was about to lay a hoof on his brilliant, long, white mane and his pitch black fedora, a creature shot down from the skies and with its talons, grabbed the Pegasus she was so close to catching, and flew off with him, pulling out shrieks of terror from the young Pegasus’ throat as they headed in the direction of the Statue of Harmony. Sighing, Garden Wishes grinned as she watched Micah fly off with Fetlock again, giving up on keeping him safe herself, and passing on the responsibility to his irresponsible friend. Closing her eyes gently, she focused her magic and generated another flash of light, spooking the ponies around her and preventing them from realising she disappeared, and returned home to her daughter and her husband, now able to make it on time for lunch.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” screamed Fetlock, louder than his lungs could handle and eventually his voice collapsed into a messy heap of fright and anger.
“Quit moving you dolt!” yelled the rebellious Griffin in reply, dangling the Pegasus by his wings, clenched tight in his talons. “I’m taking you to where all the action is, so just shut up and save your thanks for later!”
“Can’t we just run there?” questioned Fetlock, aware of the obvious answer but just hoping that he didn’t have to be so high up in the skies that he was being pulled through the faint wisps of the lowest clouds in the city, and being able to see the top of the towers that towered over him when he stood low down on the ground. His friend laughed at his suggestion, and loosened his grip on his wings, letting him feel the fear rush back into him and forcing him to curl into a ball, pissed off with his friend’s antics.
“What the hell do you think? Just shut up and hold still. I won’t drop you,” he assured, grinning happily at the thought that Fetlock was so very frightened of being so high up.
“Just like how you didn’t drop me the last time you dragged me into the air?” asked Fetlock, tone laced with despondent sarcasm.
“Shut up,” growled the Griffin, suddenly moody at the mention of his past failure. “That was one time!”
At the base of the tall statue whose name was synonymous with peace, Seb emerged from the tiny chamber accessed by the stone foundation at the hooves of the bronze mare that so many ponies saw on a day to day basis. Now out on the streets, he had a clear view of everything around him, and he could see with his own two, blue eyes, that the Unicorn he was sent her to look after was nowhere to be found. Turning his head from side to side, he searched vigilantly for the stallion, but nowhere could he see the body of the pitch black pony who so often worked with the darkest of metals.
Some minutes passed with him running around the base of the statue, anxiously looking for the stallion who was so important to Ponyville, and who couldn’t currently be replaced. It took some time, but due to his persevering efforts and his hard work, Seb managed to find the pony his employer thought about killing, and remembered what the doctor had said to him before he descended those countless flights of stairs. Now, his magic was back, so if he needed to teleport back up, he could, but he probably wouldn’t need to. He could stop everything he needed to from down here.
There, hidden from sight behind a single pull cart parked at the side of the road and up against the curb, Seb could see that faintest outlines of a pony that resembled nothing apart from a buff silhouette, despite the fact that it was only a little bit after noon. It was unmistakable, and Seb had found Anvil. As he approached him however, just before he could call out to him, he saw Anvil run off back in the direction he just came from, and pass straight by him, even taking a second to look in his blue eyes and convey the deepest and darkest feeling of fear that Seb had ever seen in anypony’s eyes apart from his own.
Stunned for a second, Seb stood motionless in his tracks as he watched Anvil run towards the entrance to the staircase leading up the Statue of Harmony. A few seconds passed before Seb realised what was going on and persuaded his body to make haste and chase after the surprisingly agile and speedy Unicorn, who dashed towards his destination. As Seb ran however, he noticed that he and Anvil weren’t the only ones heading towards the staircase, and that there was a minty green Pegasus, flapping her wings with vigour and heading towards the same point in space as the stallions. Out of nowhere, she accelerated almost against the laws of physics and rammed into the black stallion, tackling him to the floor before sitting on his chest and trying her best to pin him down.
Seb was shocked to see this happen, as were a few of the ponies who were just passers-by, and saw them there as witnesses to the ruckus. Once Seb reached the duo of ponies, he restrained the Pegasus as best as he could and clamped his chest to her back, pressing down on her wings to prevent her from flying away. “Who are you?” he cried, trying his best to keep her still.
“Let me go, this has nothing to do with you!” screamed the mare, furious and frightened, aware that her plan was falling to pieces at the mere presence of this pony. “This is between me and my cousin!” After that, Seb realised who this mare was, and what she wanted with Anvil. He remembered Dr Bell’s deductions and he recalled what his employer told him about this mare, how she was mentally unstable, and how it would be fun to watch her crash and burn.
He remembered that he was bound by loyalty to that pony, and that he had no other choice but carry out his wishes, even if it meant that he had to put the life of his old friend in danger. Leaning closer to her ear, he whispered four words to her, and they let her piece everything together. She still didn’t know who this stallion was or why he was restraining him, but she knew that he was here to help her, and that he wasn’t the enemy. She just needed to get this all over and done with, and he was giving her the tool to do it with. “I have a gun,” Seb whispered as he let her go.
There was a single moment in time where she stopped writhing and trying to escape but instead stayed motionless and thought about everything that would happen if it all worked out. Sadly, she realised that her own untimely end was approaching, and that there was nothing for her to do to save herself, but she could save her cousin. In an instant, she twirled around and grabbed the gun that was strapped onto Seb’s hoof, pointing it up at the sky as she fired one bullet. The loud bang resonated through the air and reached the ears of ponies some hundred yards away, alerting them of her actions. Then she took aim at the pony that offered her the weapon and mouthed the words “thank you” before pulling on the trigger twice with her flexible wings and shooting two bullets -- one into each of his fore hooves. Finally, she turned to her cousin who was frozen in place, far too afraid to actually move and just sat there on the ground, waiting for her verdict. Her mind had been made up long ago and she knew what she had to do. Taking a deep breath and watching as the other ponies ran towards them, she let a single tear roll down her face as she did it. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed, pulling the trigger two more times.
Two more bangs which just caused the crowd around them to cry out again and rush even faster either towards or away from her. Her cousin now had two pieces of metal lodged in his body, but luckily shots to the flank and the shoulder don’t tend to kill, and his life wasn’t in any danger. The same couldn’t be said for the minty mare though, since she knew that if the crowd got to her first then she wouldn’t be able to off herself. Another thought occurred to her as she stared at the asphalt black tool she held in her hooves and widening her eyes, she gently placed the barrel in her mouth. Listening to the booming cries of her cousin, she closed her eyes and prepared herself for the deafening noise that came next.
A single, quiet tick was the only thing she heard. She was out of bullets, and she couldn’t take the easy way out. There was no other choice, and she had to go up to the top of the tower. Tossing the gun aside and dashing towards the staircase she was already so close to, she hopped over a single Earth pony and dashed through the large, double doors, bolting up the stairs almost as fast as the Wonderbolts could fly, and started to scale the tall monument from the inside.
Halfway up, she cursed her foolishness and hated the fact that she didn’t just fly up the side. It was too late now though since there were no apertures or windows and the only sources of light in the vertical tunnel were the various, ponymade torches and light bulbs that had been so precariously fitted and wired. She just had to keep running and hoping that the ponies behind her wouldn’t be able to catch her. In such a confined space, her wings would be useless, and she would be no different to the ponies that followed suite below her.
Meanwhile, Seb lay on the ground in pain, surrounded by a sea of ponies who were concerned about his well-being, despite not having a single clue as to who he was. He couldn’t do too much about it, and he knew that he needed to get to the top of the tower soon, before anything is ruined, and before she met him. He hadn’t planned on her wasting those two bullets to warn the crowd, and because of that, now he needed to try and fix everything, or else, Dr Bell might deduce the truth about him. There was always the chance that he’d be so enthralled in all the action that he’d miss the obvious clues, but Seb has never known the Zebra to be so careless, and he feared for his life.
Just less than seventy metres above the ground, Dr Bell stood on the very edge of the “hat” worn by the Statue of Harmony, and as he heard the loud bangs of the gun, and the faint sounds of hoofsteps racing up the metallic staircase, his heart sank and his worst fears came to fruition. His daughter was right, and sadly, so was he. He had a lot to take care of however and sure enough, in almost no time at all, the minty mare appeared behind him and sealed the door with a metal pipe, sliding it in between the handles of the large double doors. Then she dashed to the precipice and stood over it, staring down at the ant-sized ponies down below and preparing to jump.
“What’s your name?” asked Bell, walking over to the door and picking up another metal pipe that he found on the floor, he slid it into place, parallel with the previous one and serving the same purpose. His question caught the mare off guard and made her realise that she wasn’t alone, and that there was somepony else there with her.
“What do you want?” she cried instinctively, even taking a step back and moving away from the edge to face him completely. He just smiled and trotted towards her slowly, motioning for her to back away from the edge and abandon the idea of suicide completely. She didn’t comply with his wishes, and instead threatened to jump off instantly should he come any closer, and that was enough to persuade him to stay where he was, and talk to her from there.
“I told you,” he replied, putting a hoof in the air as a sign of peace. “I want to know who you are.”
“Why?” she asked, eyeing him and reinforcing her stance by shifting her hooves a little.
“Oh, well if you plan on killing yourself, and I’m going to watch, then I want to know who you are.”
“Why are you here?” she demanded.
“Oh, because I know that you killed your mother, and that you tried to frame your cousin, and that you planned on killing yourself afterwards. I know all of this, but I don’t know your name, so please, tell me.” The doctor’s words rang true in her ears and she contrasted them with the events that were really going on, and realised that he wasn’t far off at all. She saw that he was still missing a few details, but the big things were all there, and he knew. She frowned in defeat and recognised that this Zebra knew the truth, but she still looked behind her and at the tremendous fall down, thinking about her choices.
“How do you know?” she questioned, lowering her head and letting her eyes dampen again. The doctor laughed at first, but then realised that his response wasn’t appropriate to the situation, and stopped it immediately.
“Come now, do you really want to ask me as question like that? Is it not obvious that I’m a detective? How else would I have been able to deduce everything so quickly?” After hearing those words, the minty mare acknowledged that her question was stupid, and thought for a while, trying to create a response to the Zebra. Soon, she noted that there was nothing more to say to him for now, apart from what he’s asked of her.
“My...my name’s Verde,” she mumbled, tears streaming down her cheeks and falling down to the ground where her cousin lay in pain.
“Hello Verde,” chimed Bell with a smile, trying to warm her cold features with the most infectious of expressions. Sadly, it didn’t work, and when she saw the dumb grin on his face, she scowled and spread out her wings in an attempt to intimidate him.
“Oh shut up!” she cried, furious with his kind nature. “Why are you here? Are you trying to save me?”
“No, no, far from it Verde. I am here to help you save yourself.” She looked at him now and made eye contact with the Zebra, staring deep into his brown eyes. She didn’t know what to think but her first reaction was one of complete and utter shock as she contemplated why this complete stranger would say something like that. He knew nothing about her, yet he claims to be here to help her. The second thought that came to her mind was that he didn’t know the truth, and that he was there to get in her way, as nice as he might seem. Anger started to build up inside her as she glared at the Zebra who tried to be helpful and gritted her teeth as she formed the words with her mind.
“You don’t know anything about me!” she screamed, voice booming through the streets of Manehattan, tears cascading down her features and her wings stretched out at her sides. “You have no idea what I’ve done in life, and all the sins I’ve committed. You only know I killed a mare, but you don’t know anything else! You don’t know-”
“That you were forced to kill her?” interrupted Bell, cutting her sentence short. “That there are forces behind you stronger than anypony can imagine, and far too much for any single pony to handle? Believe me, I know, and I am here for a reason. Although there are ponies in this world whose sole purpose is to wreak havoc upon the world and ruin the lives of the ponies around them, but there are also those with minds just as great as these criminals, and the biggest difference is that we choose of our own free will to side with the angels. We are on the side of justice, and it is our duty to thwart the efforts of those that impose fear in the hearts of many, and knock down the pillars on which they stand; towering over everypony else and dominating the world around them!”
Dr Bell’s words rang true in Verde’s ears, and as his incredibly loud voice faded into the wind, the minty Pegasus calmed herself, and even stepped down from the tiny ledge that she hopped onto again, resuming her position on firmer ground; further away from the edge and closer to the Zebra who shocked her with his incredible insight into the situation. The tears stopped at this point and the final drops skimmed down her face, following in the tracks laid by their predecessors, and her lips tasted the final salty beads. She knew he was right, and that there was indeed somepony else behind all this -- a child no less- but he wasn’t going to let her off easy, even if Bell offered to help her.
“So what if you know the truth?” she mumbled, looking down at her hooves as they shuffled. Her response came as a surprise to the doctor, who obviously didn’t anticipate such a bold reply and was caught off guard by her words. “So what if you think that you can beat him? None of that matters! At the end of the day, I’ll still have to die, and Anvil will too. It’s far too late for me now,” she growled, flapping her wings and taking herself over to the precipice, staring down for an instant before looking straight into the dark brown eyes of the Zebra. “But I can still save my cousin!”
“No! Don’t do it! Think things through, Verde! There are a lot of ways around this, and we can help you, but only if you give us a chance. We need your cooperation in order for us to get the upper-hoof, and so that we can save both you, and Anvil!” screamed Bell, taking a step closer to her despite her earlier warnings and her empty threats of jumping. She wanted to do it, but the innate fear inside everypony -- the very sense and instinct that keeps all ponies alive, and defines them as ponies -- stopped her, and procrastinated her decision, making her falter on the edge between life and death.
“Don’t come any closer!” screamed Verde, warning him again. “I may not have lived up to any of my promises before, but I swear, I’ll do it! My life no longer has value, but Anvil is innocent -- he hasn’t done anything wrong! It’s my fault that his life is in danger and it is only appropriate that I fix all of this!”
“No, you’re wrong,” yelled Bell in return, urgently trying to approach her without provoking her, and pushing her over the edge. “Why are you so arrogantly denying our help, even though we are holding out our hooves to you, and offering you the protection you need? Who is this pony who you are so afraid of, and who is so capable of ruining your life?”
Verde’s pupils shrank as her heart skipped a beat, and the sight of that malicious, blood maned Unicorn came to her mind again. He was still young and inexperienced, but in spite of all of that he still did a pretty good job of manipulating her. She did have something she could use against him though, even though it wasn’t really that helpful to her at all. However, it was possible that this Zebra would find it very useful, and it could possibly help him in keeping Anvil safe. Verde didn’t care about anything else at this point and just wanted to make sure that her cousin never has to meet a pony like that. She and her mother were both unfortunate enough to fall under his influence, and it ultimately cost them their lives.
“Do you really think that you can beat him?” she questioned, chuckling under her breath as she raised her body up onto her hind hooves and shuffled them, only half of their lower surface still on the bronze rim. Bell could only let out a low, indiscernible gasp of horror as he jolted forwards slightly then pulled back in fear, not wanting to force her to jump. Unbeknownst to both of them, off in the distance against the azure canvas of the mid-noon sky, a light chestnut body soared towards them, dangling a madly convulsing creature in its talons.
“Yes, I do, and if you just give me some time, then I can save you both, now please, step away from the ledge!” Verde blinked and the liquid that collected at the bottom of her eye broke away and trailed down her features again, eventually falling down to the earth and crashing hard against the stone pavement.
“Maybe you’re right,” she mumbled, grinning as she stared at the meretricious clouds above them that just went wherever the wind took them without a care in the world. “But then again, maybe you’re wrong. If you are wrong, and I put everything in your hooves, then tomorrow morning, my cousin and I will both turned up dead in the darkest alleys of our separate homes. It’s far too risky, and I want to insure that Anvil will be OK, so there is no other choice.”
“No, you’re wrong,” retorted Bell, now almost angrier than she was scared. The two flying boys were now even closer than before, but they were still deaf to the words being thrown by Verde and Bell, and they were just an audience to the scene at the top of the statue. Behind the large double doors that they locked, Bell and Verde could hear the powerless ponies slamming their hooves against it, trying to break it down and no doubt attempt to save Verde’s life. “I can help you, but I just-”
“Need my help?” Verde finished for the doctor, cutting him short much like he did to her earlier. “I am not denying you my help, but rather, I am unwilling to follow your advice, and stay alive. No, I am very willing to help you, on the condition that you promise to save my cousin, and do nothing that will put his life in danger.”
“I’m sorry Verde, but I can’t promise you that. It is my job to keep everypony safe, and to do that we must find the pony responsible for your actions. Inevitably, that would put the lives of Anvil and anypony else this criminal has met in danger, but at the end of the day the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and we need to give precedence to the safety of that majority. We need to put Anvil in the line of fire in order for us to make sure that the triggers of war are never pulled again!”
Bell certainly had a way with words and should he want to, he could make anypony swoon from the sheer poeticism of his speech, and the unfathomable beauty he painted with his vocals, but that skill proved useless here. Verde bit her lip and stifled a sob as she lowered her face, letting her long mane cover her eyes and cast a shadow over them as she dangled above the ground and stared into the face of death, praying for it to be painless. Lifting her face, she stared into the brown eyes of the Zebra for what she thought would be the last time and took one deep breath before continuing.
“I’m sorry,” she began, voice trembling as she spoke. “But I can’t help you, if you aren’t willing to grant me the one thing I asked.” She paused for a moment and looked out of the corner of her eye behind her at the bustling city and the prospect of suicide. Bell glared at her and hoped that she would reconsider, but knew that it wasn’t likely and that odds were he had to act as fast as he could in order to keep her alive. Micah and Fetlock were insanely close now, and they could guess what would happen next, so they were ready too, even though Fetlock was pissing himself in fear. “I guess this is the end,” hummed Verde, grinning up at Celestia’s delightful star -- the only bright part of her day.
“Game over.”
Everything that happened next happened so fast that not many ponies alive can recount exactly what happened based solely on their visual memory. The first of the long chain of events that occurred was the most obvious of them all, and it was Verde gently closing her eyes before she felt a gentle breeze blow through her mane and the falling sensation as her body tipped over the edge and started on its acceleration towards the earth. The next event that came was perhaps less predictable, but in no way was it unlikely, and it was almost destined to happen if you factor in the doctor’s personality. Without missing a heartbeat, Bell leapt over to where she was and carefully knelt down and gripped her left wing tip in his teeth, hanging her in mid-air and suspending her above her death.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end, and there was a lot more that came to follow. The first of the second portion was Bell losing his grasp on the slippery, bronze surface that had been washed with rain from the early hours before the sunrise, and plummeting down the side of the Statue of Harmony with Verde still in his teeth, both of them staring at death. Luckily, there were two others there that were capable of amazing feats of agility, or at least enough to be able to reach both the Zebra and the mare. Micah dropped Fetlock who did a small roll the second he landed on the statue and dissipated some of his momentum before rushing over to the precipice. Meanwhile, Micah dashed down and grabbed Bell’s very short tail with his beak, prompting a very high-pitched scream from the doctor. Lamentably, the Griffin alone -- even though his race is well known for their incredible physical strength -- was unable to keep all three of their bodies suspended in the air, and only delayed their impending descent, but that’s where his friend came into play.
By the time Micah reached the duo and lifted them back up by an inch or so, Fetlock was in position and the second Micah was close enough, Fetlock went against every bone in his body and leant forward, biting down on the Griffin’s tail, which was obviously much more painful than when Bell had his tail bitten, evident from Micah’s shriek. Fetlock’s white mane dangled in front of his eyes again and denied him the sight of the frightening height, but sadly hair is not the perfect barrier and he still caught a glimpse of the ant-sized ponies below, which was enough to petrify him.
The only thing Fetlock was good for now was holding onto Micah, and relieving some of the pressure on his wings, so with a few more, powerful flaps, he lifted everypony up and dropped them down on the large bronze hat at a safe distance from the dangerous rim. Just like that, Verde’s plan had been ruined, and there was nothing more for her to do. They had a grip on her now, and there was no way that she could kill herself with them there. There was no more point, and she had to admit defeat, hoping that her inevitable arrest would be enough to persuade The King to let her off the hook, and leave Anvil alone.
Only allowing them a few seconds to regain their breath and for Fetlock to let his fear-induced daze wear off, Seb appeared before them in a bright flash of white light and the blood still oozed out of his open wounds, but the flow was subsiding and it was starting to show the early signs of coagulation. Seb saw the four of them there, all sprawled on the floor and panting heavily due to the events that had just transpired, and just grinned at them as he looked to Dr Bell for approval. Once the Zebra saw that his “friend” was staring at him and remembered the deductions that his daughter had come up with and warned him about, he nodded to him, and motioned for Seb to take Verde away, knowing that he’d have to limp every step of the way.
Reluctantly, Verde stood up and let the purple Unicorn lock her wings with the magic that he spent five minutes or so on the ground recovering. Frowning, she sighed and turned to leave as Bell stood up and extended a hoof to Micah, helping him up whilst Fetlock still remained flat on the floor, close to tears but calming down slowly. Seb placed a shaky hoof on her shoulder, enveloping her in a coat of purple magic as he prepared to teleport the two of them away, taking her to meet her fate. Just before his magic was finalised though, she recalled something from earlier and called out to the Zebra behind her.
“Hold on,” she started, turning around and disrupting Seb’s focus. “Do you still need to my help?”
“Yes, I do. If you don’t mind,” replied Bell, grinning at the mare, delighted that she was willing to comply now that he had saved her life, and that she was willing to aid him in his efforts.
“I can give you a name, and nothing more,” asserted Verde, turning her face to the side and looking at Bell out of the corner of her eye, smirking secretly behind her facade.
“That’s alright; a name’s all I need for now.” Verde giggled silently and bobbed her head as she stood with her back facing the doctor and her lime mane being blown gently in the breeze, majestic and serene, the tears now gone from her eyes.
“Merlin,” she sang, voice high and mighty as she chimed the name as if it were the lyrics to her favourite song. “His name’s Merlin,” she assured, humming as Seb reconstructed the skin of magic around them and prepared to take her far away from where they stood, taking her away from Dr Bell. The instant before they disappeared, Verde took one last look at Dr Bell and mumbled her final words to him under her breath, barely audible to anypony.
“Thank you, Mr Detective.” Chuckling, Bell grinned as a flash appeared out of the thin air and when it dissipated, he observed that now, there were two less ponies on the hat than a few moments ago, but he didn’t realise that he would never see that pony ever again. At this point, Fetlock finally stood up again, and had recovered from the shock of being so high up for so long. Unsure of what had happened, he and Micah stood in silence behind Dr Bell. Never before had they seen Bell so quiet, but he just stood there, motionless, speechless, and lost in his thoughts.
He contemplated what the renowned cellist told him that morning, and how shocked he was to learn the truth about his lifelong friend. He realised that it was possible that he was just being used, and that he wasn’t doing this of his own free will, but Bell didn’t feel that this was the most likely solution, and as much as it killed him inside, he knew that his friend was lying to him.
After a while, Micah couldn’t take the silence anymore, nor could he stand the whistling wind, so he decided to try and bring Dr Bell back to reality. “So doctor,” he began, looking down as he tapped his talons on his floor, grabbing the attention of the doctor and getting him to turn around and look at his sharp, yellow beak. “What do we do now?” Bell grinned at him and thought for a moment before he replied.
“Well, I suppose we should go find Anvil shouldn’t we?” he asked sarcastically, rubbing his muzzle with a hoof. “Do you want to go get him Micah?” he prompted, completely aware that the Griffin couldn’t say no to his request.
“Alright, I guess,” mumbled the Griffin begrudgingly, bored by the concept but aware that it was a necessary. Flapping his wings a few times, he waved to the Zebra once with his claw, shaking his bracelet and dived down the side of the statue faster than bullets could fly, starting to search for the black Unicorn who was so essential to the life of the Ponyvillians. Meanwhile, Fetlock trotted up to Bell and stood beside him, gathering the courage to speak up and talk to him.
“What will you do now?” asked Fetlock, trying to guess that conversation that he and Micah completely missed. Bell anticipated this question long ago, but he still hadn’t thought of a response yet, so he just made something up on the spot.
“I suppose I’ll keep my promise,” he began, smirking mischievously. “I’ll find that criminal pony, and I’ll make sure that young mare gets to live her life without the fear of knowing somepony is watching her.” Unsurprisingly, Fetlock hadn’t a clue what he meant, but the white maned Pegasus didn’t pry and instead just left everything as it was, knowing that Bell could handle it.
Some more minutes passed with them just standing there, not saying another word, not moving another muscle, and just watching over the Big Apple. Eventually, another thought came to the mind of Fetlock and he remembered something else that was pressing on his mind that he wanted an answer to. “Why did you save her?” he asked, eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.
Upon hearing his apprentice’s words, Bell couldn’t help but chuckle and almost giggle like a filly at the absurdity of his inquisition. But, Fetlock was young, so Bell could forgive him and his ignorance of the basic ethics of detectives. He knew that he had to answer his question somehow though, and he had the perfect reply in mind.
“Well Fetlock,” he began, looking away from his student and up at the delightful skies and the ornamental sun, revelling in the natural beauty of the heavens above him where he wished to one day spend eternity. “There are things in life that ponies know by instinct, and other things that we learn by experience. As a detective, it is important that you answer these kinds of questions on your own, because that is the only way in which you can learn how you yourself think, and just how worthy you are of being a detective. We all share the same views on a lot of things -- or at least the best of us do -- and we all learnt these principles on our own by employing our ethics. You see Fetlock, one day, you’ll have the answer to your question, and you’ll have it because you’ve worked it out on your own, and when that day comes, that is the day that you know for certain you are meant to be a detective. It might seem very strange now, and you might be convinced that I am either a mad-stallion or I’m just purposely avoiding the subject, -- and I can’t say you’re wrong, -- but just trust me, one day, you’ll be where I am today with your own apprentice, giving this same lecture, because you will know exactly what I mean. I ask that you wait for that day to come before you ask me this question again, and see if by then, you have your own answer.”
As always, Bell managed to avoid providing the confused Pegasus with anything similar to an answer and instead just gave him a request, asking a favour of him. However, Bell knew what he was talking about and he knew that he was right, even if his response wasn’t something that Fetlock wanted. The young, white maned Pegasus was tired of complaining as well, and had long ago grown accustomed to the enigmatic and dogmatic eccentricities of his black and white mentor. Now, Fetlock would ponder over the near-philosophical lectures that the Zebra gave and was grateful merely for the fact that it was he who got to listen to them, and not the arrogantly sadistic Griffin who was often with them.
Letting the faintest signs of a disappointed grin appear on his face, Fetlock watched as the doctor started to move his hooves and began his slow trot towards the door, removing the metal bars and unlocking it as his shadow started to make its way out from under him. Gently, he stepped aside as a wave of ponies crashed through the doors and fell to the bronze surface, yelping in pain. Chuckling under his breath, Fetlock removed his gaze from Dr Bell and instead lifted his stare to the careless clouds above him, enjoying the refreshing breeze, the whistling of the wind as it ruffled his mane and the feel of the warm yet wet bronze under his hooves. Slowly he closed his eyes and began to form his own answer to his question, the last thing he saw being the oddly effervescent cotton balls and the stunning star of Celestia against the frail, azure heavens above him, home to the angels with whom he sided.
