Beware The Embers Of A Dying Light

Dr. Blood Hound had just finished telling the lead detective what he had found when the call came in. Sweet Apple Acres was less than 2 miles away and the apple orchard was burning and they wanted him out there. He already had a bad feeling about this as he pulled onto the farm and saw the burning car that had been rammed into the apple tree. Looking into the rear view mirror he could see the lights from the factory and knew where the car had gone, but why now? What had happened at the factory had happened hours ago and she could have driven here in just a few minutes. Then he realized that the crash was just the beginning and the fire was the end of what she had done here, but why? Getting out of his car, he got as close to the burning car as he could and saw where three of the doors had been ripped off and tossed aside. No, the driver's door had been torn off from the inside and the other two had been ripped off from the outside. Looking down at the ground he saw where she had dragged the two from the factory from the car and left them laying on the ground away from the car. Only they had woke up and ran away while she headed further into the farm.

Ignoring them, he followed her trail as she walked past the orchard and towards the barn. He ignored the firefighters and everything else as they fought the fire and found the doors had been ripped off the barn. Inside he found almost every single stall empty, almost. She had let the animals out, but why was there animal feed on the ground outside of the stalls. Someone must have heard something and came out to investigate. Only this person put up a real fight and her footprints and the rather large boot prints showed that they had staggered her and tackled her hard enough to dent one of the stall walls. Their footwork showed they had some skill, but against her strength, speed, and furiosity it had been a losing battle. At one point they had started protecting their right, but not the leg. Perhaps the ribs or the arm. Then something happened to their left leg and she had turned to leave, only they had tried to attack her from behind. Whatever happened next resulted in her staggering out of the barn while bleeding and them dragging themselves towards the back stall.

Following their trail, he found a large young man, out cold and barely breathing. It only took less than a minute for the E.M.T.s to get to him after he called it in, which meant there was more if they were already here. The man's jaw was broken, as well as his left leg and ribs, and his right shoulder and collar bone had been shattered. Next to him was written in the dirt: Sunset Shimmer__after the girls__Rainbooms__Anon-a-miss.

Leaving him with the E.M.T.s stepped outside of the barn and pulled out his phone. Googling Sunset Shimmer he was greeted with a picture of the girl from the phone in the factory only happy, healthy, and smiling. A highschool student at CHS and a member of a highschool rock band called the Rainbooms. Tapping on the Rainbooms brought up a picture of her and five other girls, one of which was the rainbow haired girl from the video. The reviews said their innovative costumes with proprietary technology that changed in the middle of performances and special effects brought in the crowds, but the music showed that they had real potential to be the next big thing. Googling Anon-a-miss was when things got dark. Someone had created a Mystable page with colors like her hair and a picture that was her silhouette and began posting the other Rainbooms secrets and then the school's. It only took one look to realize someone had framed her and that tonight some of the students had taken matters into their own hands in the worst way possible. But why come here? Did she come for help? No, her and the man wouldn't have fought in the barn if that was the case... Revenge? Did she blamed the other Rainbooms for what happened tonight? Maybe, but something about it didn't feel right.

He was missing something... She changed at the factory and everyone thought the band had some kind of special costumes and effects as a gimmick, only they didn't. They all could change like her and she had been injured in the barn, why?.. Energy! She was burning through her energy and one of the Rainbooms was Applejack Apple. She wasn't here for revenge. She came to what? To fill up the gas tank? But how and to what end? Was it keeping her alive and she was just living on borrowed time? Was she trying to get more time and what then? How far would this go? He called in and told them who they were after and to find the other girls before she did.

Putting away his phone, he followed her trail to a bloody pitch fork. She had been limping in a way that said the man had injured her left leg, only the blood stopped half way to the house and by the time she reached the house she had healed up. Looking back at the barn he figured it took her two minutes to heal from being stabbed. The ambulance was at the front door and another was just pulling up in front of the barn, but the trail went around the house and was more cautious, skirting the house lights. Being low on energy she was being careful. It was at the back door he found the crime scene technicians and the body. All that was left of Applejack Apple was a shriveled up husk that looked like it had been dead for years. One word was burned into her forehead: LIAR.

Following the trail through the door and into the house's kitchen where he noted the overturned table and the door ripped off the refrigerator and the meat inside tossed onto the floor along with a mostly eaten corn cob. She had gorged herself on fruits and vegetables, but stopped. Why? Standing there he tried to puzzle it out. Did she hear something? Did she see something? Because all he could see was a bunch of old, slightly faded photos, newspaper articles, and a few old report cards. He couldn't see how an article about Applejack Apple winning a greased pig competition would stop her, yet it was the one that had a fresh smudged handprint on it. A handprint with claws. Then he remembered he had glanced at a few Anon-a-miss posts and one about Applejack called her Piggly Wiggly and said it was a family nickname. She knew who Anon-a-miss was, she saw it as clear as day and dropped the corn on the cob she had been eating.

He then looked at the photos, it wasn't the old woman, or the young man, or Applejack, that only left the girl wearing a bow in her hair. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling, Sunset Shimmer had been beaten, raped, and tortured because of Anon-a-miss. What would she do when she caught her? Turning and looking out the back door as they zipped up the body bag with Applejack Apple in it. With everything she had already done was she past the point of no return? And if she was, what wouldn't she do?

Turning back around, he did the only thing he could do, he followed the trail. He followed it up the kitchen stairs and down the hall to a girl's bedroom that had been torn up, but no body. At first he thought it had all been her, but then he stepped on an empty shotgun shell. Then he noticed the holes in the wall and remembered the old woman in the photos. Looking down he counted 7 shells and no body, even at close range. Not even a drop of blood. The old lady had dropped the pump shotgun and ran. Down the other stairs and into the living room where she had grabbed an old double barrel shotgun and fired both barrels at once. Only Sunset had grabbed the barrel and shoved it up towards the ceiling as she pulled the triggers, leaving the shotgun blast in the ceiling. Then she yanked it away from the old woman and broke it with her bare hands, leaving the broken pieces on the floor. Looking out the front door he saw them loading the old woman onto the ambulance. A quick question told him everything, seeing a teenage girl take several hits from a shotgun and then break a gun like a twig had been to much and she had passed out and hit her head on the coffee table.

Following the trail back up stairs he found the man's bedroom window open and a few strands of red hair suggesting the girl had climbed out the window and took off that way. Only Sunset had checked, just to make sure. It was in Applejack's room he found the strange message burned into the wall:

Little filly, little filly honor the Sun. For she'll protect you when Discord has his fun.

Little filly, little filly honor the Moon. For the old mare will be coming back soon.

Little filly, little filly honor the Heart. Or the Queen of lies will add you to her cart.

Little filly, little filly honor your true friend. For they will stand by you until the end.

Little filly, little filly honor your mark. For it will lead you back to me from the dark.

Turning towards the window he saw the trees burning as the sun started to rise and then he went back down stairs and followed the trail out the front door towards the orchard. Eventually he had to give up as it lead straight into the fire. Once he got back to the car he called the lead detective and told him everything. Let them sanitize the official story, he was going home to bed.

As he drove home he thought about the case and all the other cases he had been called in on. Technically he wasn't even a cop, just a well paid consultant who kept his mouth shut about things that would never be written down. Only was this really what he wanted, dealing with the worst humanity had to offer just to briefly catch glimpses of the things his great grandfather had told him about. As he pulled into his driveway he thought again of just quitting only what else was there, teaching kids whose only exposure to mythology was their level whatever elf ranger with a griffon mount in a video game.

Waving to his neighbor, what was her name again? Sonata, nice girl who had some crazy ideals about pegasi being able to control the weather and dragons eating gems as the reason they hoarded treasure. Of course he humoured her little fantasy about being a siren. Heading inside, he went to bed and dreamed about Sonata's weather controlling pegasi.