Death By Puns (And Tentacles)

Celestia didn’t cry. Not because she didn’t care, but because she was pretty used to students being brutally murdered. She did tend to send them on dangerous missions after all; Twilight had actually lasted significantly longer than average, second only to Cadence.

Though still, this was a bit different. They hadn’t died for some cause; they’d just been murdered for no apparent reason and left to rot.

The first search of the castle had turned up nothing, and it was only when Celestia was told that there was a horrible smell in the palace that they couldn’t find the source of did she realize they might be in one of the many hidden rooms.

It wasn’t easy to remember all the rooms she’d hidden, and the original blueprints weren’t laying around, so they had to scour the palace taking measurements to identify where there was missing space. Now she was in her throne room, receiving a report from a guard.

“You found them then,” Celestia sighed.

“Yes,” the guard said carefully, looking as if he feared saying the wrong thing and setting her off, “We couldn’t find a trigger for the room so we just drilled through the wall... they were there, in a pile, just sort of left to rot, with maggots and beetles and...”

“I know what the definition of ‘left to rot’ is,” Celestia stopped him, “What evidence has been found?”

“That’s just it,” said the guard, “None at all. Unlike with the recent murders in Ponyville, there’s no blood anywhere else, nor any signs of them being dragged there. At the same time, there isn’t enough blood at the pile for them to have been killed there. The only thing aside from the bodies we found was strange green hairs, but we can’t identify what kind of creature they are from.”

“Same as the ones at the murder scenes in Ponyville?” asked Celestia.

“They’re the same type as was found at the scene of those crimes, yes,” sighed the guard.

“Continue your investigation,” ordered Celestia simply, “Take them alive if you can, so that I may torture them myself. Also have the bodies repaired for their funerals, especially Twilight's. We'll be adding them all to the collection.”

“Y-yes, your highness,” stammered the guard before turning away, a bit creeped out at Celestia's habit of keeping her old students like a hunter into taxidermy.

“Sister?” a voice came from behind Celestia, and she turned to see Luna.

“Did you find them?” Celestia asked.

“Indeed,” Luna nodded, “I believe I located the individual through their dreams, but it will take some time to locate them physically. I'll have to watch for hints, but have to be careful not to let them know they're being observed. Perhaps I can identify a next victim before they act upon them.”

“Continue then,” Celestia said, looking back over her throne room, “Also: we need to find a new student. I really hate starting over.”