The night was dark with a chill in the air that left Rover's breathe fogged in the wind as he made his way home, the snow crunching underneath his feet. Anon-A-Miss had gotten worse and worse as the time for winter break neared, targeting everyone without any restriction, even at her worst Sunset had never been this bad. Rover had his own experiences with the she-demon in the past yet she always had a plan in those experiences, now she seemed more focused on randomly targeting everyone. He continued his train of thought as he passed by a dark alleyway where a shadowy form stood in waiting before coming out and following him, the figure matching his footsteps completely. The added sound of footsteps coupled with the feeling of being watched snapped him out of his thoughts and forced him to take pause, the feeling he got was one that made his skin crawl and his hair stand on end, he quickly turned around to see who would be following him.

He found nothing, not even footprints other than his in the snow. After a moment he shrugged it off thinking that it must have been his mind playing tricks on him he continued forward. Not long after the sound started up again, and the feeling of being watched returned... Yet there was something strange about this new feeling, it felt more intense, and much more deadly. This sent a shiver of fear through the diamond dog, something he'd never truly experienced before as he was one of the ones who caused the fear in others.

Deciding that he would have to take care of the problem, he took a detour from his normal path home as he made for what appeared to be an abandoned florist shop that had seen better days. Entering the building he quickly got into what he thought was a perfectly good hiding spot to attack his pursuer when they came in to follow him. Drawing his switch blade he waited, listening to the sound slowly making it's way towards the shop... And nothing, the footsteps just stopped, as his impatiences started to get the best of him he heard the footstep begin to leave. With a breath of relief he didn't know he had been holding his shoulders sagged in a relaxed motion.

As he got ready to leave the sound of a window breaking in the back of the shop startled him back into action, tensing up he rushed to the back of the shop ready to fight, what he found was a broken window and a broken brick that must have come from the wall outside. Chuckling to himself, he got ready to leave but then felt an arm wrap around his neck pulling against it and a knife pierce his upper back causing him to gasp in pain before the need to cough over took him, causing him to cough up large amounts of blood. The knife was pulled out and stabbed back in two more times leaving Rover unable to put up any resistance that he might have otherwise. With that down he felt the arm leave his neck allowing him to fall onto the floor, blood pooled around him as he felt the world slowly slip away. The only sound he heard before the darkness took over completely was that of a females laughter before speaking.

"That's a good boy, play dead....." The voice said before leaving as a blurred object of yellow and red.

Later that day…..

Red and blue lights filled the area as officers surrounded the front of the shop in bright yellow caution tape. Civilians in the area stared in shock as a medical examiner loaded a body into the back of his van. Officers were already on scene, asking anyone nearby if they’d seen anything. A black car, nondescript in color and model, pulled up to the curve behind the police cars.

Daring Do sighed as she watched the people mulling about the scene. She had only JUST gotten back in town and already there was a case to solve. ‘Well, better get this over with,’ she thought, stepping from her vehicle and making her way toward the crime scene.

An officer with ivory skin and deep blue hair stepped into her path and Daring rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Ma’am,” the officer stated. “Civilians aren’t allowed in the crime zone. Body has already been loaded. If you are related to the victim, please meet the ME at-.”

“I’m the detective on call,” Daring interrupted, not interested in hearing the usual spiel.

The officer’s eyes widened. “You’re Detective Daring Do?” he asked, his eyes alight with excitement.

“That is correct,” Daring watched the officer squirm for a moment, a smirk coming to her lips as he stood straighter.

“P-pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ma’am!” he said, puffing out his chest. “Officer Shining Armor at your service. Allow me to take you to the scene of the crime.”

The detective couldn’t help a small sarcastic smile. “How kind of you, officer.”

Shining Armor led Daring inside of the rundown flower shop. The detective side-stepped broken pots and random gardening tools as she followed the officer to the very back of the shop. There, on the ground, was a puddle of blood, clearly the place where the victim had bled out. Squatting to get a closer look, Daring found traces of blue hair and droplets of what could have been saliva, most likely discharged when the victim was stabbed.

Reaching into her hip pouch, the detective removed a pair of gloves and some evidence bags, beginning to collect the evidence. As she worked, she asked, “Can you tell me all you know so far, Officer Armor?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” From the tremble in his voice, it was clear Shining Armor hadn’t thought she would really need him. ‘He must be a rookie,’ Daring inwardly sighed.

“From the information we have now, we know that the victim was a member of the Diamond Dogs gang. He was part of the Canterlot sector, went by the name Rover.”

Daring’s eyebrows furrowed. “What was a Diamond Dog doing in this part of Canterlot?” she mused aloud. “Last I checked, their headquarters always remained on the opposite side of town, just on the edges of the Sweet Apple Acres farm.”

“We’ve no idea what he was doing out here, Ma’am, er, Detective,” Shining explained. “Our best guess is that he was coming home from school. ME said that he had died about five hours ago.”

“Who called in?” the detective asked, finally standing. Her legs protested and she grimaced. Might need to work out a bit more. She’d been getting lazy on her squats.

“Some teenagers who were sneaking through the building. Said something about looking for some valuables they’d stashed here. Officers Soarin and Lightning Dust have already taken them in for questioning.”

Daring nodded her approval. “Good, good. The victim being a member of the Diamond Dog gang means we can’t rule out the possibility that there might be a gang war brewing. Better safe than sorry.”

She stowed the evidence bags into her hip pouch and turned to face Officer Shining Armor. He stood attentively. “Thank you for your assistance, officer,” she said. “Here is my card if anything new arises on the case. I’ll be taking this evidence to the forensic labs for testing.”

“Of course, Detective Do.” Shining saluted her and turned to go.

Daring watched him go for a moment before looking to the puddle of blood. She hoped this was just an uncoordinated kill, but considering the location and the affiliation of the victim, she didn’t have much hope. Sighing one last time, Daring exited the shop and slipped into her car. She hoped the forensic techs had coffee. It was going to be a long night for them all.

Author's Note

I really hope ya'll enjoyed this, I most certainly did making this as well as my two gracious and helpful collaborators.

the lovely Snowflake Dissonance and the great Demegor. Two really good author's and friends. They helped proof read, collab, and come up with some of the ideas for this chapter.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful day and I will see ya next time with the next chapter