The Lulamoon Files

The Lulamoon Files

Chapter Six: Mystery Letter

Written by TheCrimsonDM

We arrived at the bar, a nice little place just off the street with a lone unassuming staircase down to an old wooden door. There was a sign on the front of the door that read, “This establishment is protected under the neutrality accords. If you want to fight, do it outside.”

I pushed open the old oak door and was greeted with a warm room full of brightly lit lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Spirals had been carved into the wood. A smell of delicious food filled the room being pushed by a few lazily spinning ceiling fans. The place had just barely opened for business, and I knew that it probably wasn’t a good sign that I was already in the mood for some alcohol.

Since it was so early the place was empty. I took a seat at a corner table and Applejack followed me. From behind the counter the giant stallion that ran the place, Big Mac, stared at us with a flat expression. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, well aside from the fact that he was probably worried about what his little sister was going to do to me.

The moment my rear hit the seat Applejack sat herself down and asked, “Okay, Ah waited until we were here. Now tell me, what in tarnation is going on here?”

I knew that I couldn’t tell her everything, not even close to everything. The knowledge alone would put her life at risk and I wouldn’t dare be responsible for that. Still I was being paid as a consultant and I needed to do my part to give her some information.

“We’re sitting inside a bar about to have a serious conversation where I drink some cider, you get increasingly mad, and I leave here with a bloody nose.”

The look she gave me told me at least the last part was going to be true. “What was that thing Ah killed?”

Big Mac stopped by the table just long enough to leave two apple ciders, homebrewed for me and his sister. Applejack gave him a glare that could melt steel. I took a drink of mine allowing the warm liquid to begin working its magic. “Killed is sort of subjective here. I think that was a construct, a forest one if I guessed right. You can’t really kill what’s not alive. Though we certainly stopped them. It’s kind of like a broken car, you didn’t kill the car, you simply broke it.”

“So… it can be repaired?”

“Probably, just like with cars there are some types of damage that can’t be fixed. These things were either designed to break apart when wounded to lesson damage over the long run, or they were very cheaply made. I wouldn’t know which, artifice is not my domain when it comes to magic.”

She glanced at her cider. “You said there was a manticore.”

I took a swig of my drink. “Yep. Not good either. Those things are very dangerous, claws like swords, teeth like wood chippers, and poisonous tails that have been known to kill a person in minutes flat.”

“Uh-huh, and the warlock?”

This one was harder to talk about, it went beyond book knowledge and was connected to unicorn society at its heart. I could only tell her so much. Even if she proved her worth in battle against a few wooden constructs, I wouldn’t dare presume she could handle a warlock. “An evil unicorn.”

“Okay, and what is he doing here?”

“Getting himself into serious trouble.”

“Why’s that?”

I bit my tongue. Oops, shouldn’t have said that.

“Trixie…”

“I… I’m not sure how much I can tell you.”

She slammed a hoof onto the table. “Darn it, Trixie! This warlock brought monsters into mah city, monsters that might very well go around killing ponies. You owe me some answers.”

“The knowledge I have could get you killed.”

“And it’s your right to judge whether or not Ah want to take that risk?”

“It could get me killed too.”

“How do Ah know you aren’t working with this warlock?”

That hurt, and I looked away trying to hide the pain from my expression. Even if she was mad at me, to accuse me of something as wrong as that. I had thought only Twilight to be so cruel. “I am not.”

“Look, Lulamoon, Ah like you,” Applejack said. “But you can’t keep secrets from me. Even if you don’t want to share it because we’re friends, think about what you're doing. Obstruction of justice is a crime.”

“Heh, I’m so sorry, but I can promise you that I won’t hide anything that would actually help you.” Of course I wasn’t going to let her catch this killer either. If she caught up with the warlock he’d kill her faster than she could blink.

She scowled but seemed to accept me at my word, for now. “What were you doing there?”

“I was following a lead to find out what’s going on. You asked for information, and I found some.”

“Oh, like the fact that Cloud Bounce was working for Mr. Rider?”

I cringed.

“So you already knew that? What else are you keeping from me?”

“I was going to tell you, I-“

“You were just busy?”

I lowered my head a little. “I found out that Cloud Bounce might have been selling things under Rider’s nose.”

That revelation had Applejack silenced for a moment.

I decided to add some fuel to the fire to support my standing. “He was working on some illegal trade of constructs from what I heard. Still I didn’t have enough information to go to you yet. I wanted to be sure.”

“And are you sure now?”

“Yes, I am. This warlock probably killed Cloud Bounce for knowing about the monster trade.”

“That doesn’t make sense, why would the warlock be killing ponies that are selling his product?”

I froze. That was a good point, why would the warlock be doing that? I mean if Cloud Bounce had betrayed him than I could see it, but as far as I know Cloud Bounce had betrayed Rider. Rider would be the threat that Cloud Bounce should have worried about, not this warlock. I took a deep plunge of my Cider.

“Lulamoon, Ah think we’re missing pieces of information here.”

I nodded. “I don’t think we can even form a very good theory of why Cloud Bounce was murdered yet. Though how seems obvious now. He was killed by some sort of monster. Not the intelligent kind either, but a savage beast that’s under this warlocks control.” Maybe that was still a bit presumptuous of me, but I felt it was the right direction to go in.

“How can anypony control monsters?”

That question struck me and I stared at her with a dumb look on my face. “What?”

“How does somepony control a monster?”

I blinked. “I… I don’t know.”

“Well do you have any way to find out?”

I looked toward the door. “Like I said, constructs, monsters, and that sort of stuff is not my domain. But I think I can learn pretty quickly.”

“How quickly?”

I shot her a glance. “Why?”

“Because Ah want to know where to focus mah efforts. Ah am trying to stop a bad guy here, Trixie.”

I nodded. “Well I’m not rightly sure just how quick it’s going to be. I will work on it though. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have some information.”

“You’re being paid by the hour, don’t you dare drag this out for a few more bits to yer paycheck. Ponies lives are at stake.”

I rose from my seat, placed a few bits on the table for our drinks and walked toward the door. “Applejack, you wound me. I am the timely and punctual Trixie.”

***

I only lived a few blocks away from the bar, and thus it wasn’t too hard to make my way back to my apartment. Of course when I got to my apartment I noticed a letter stuck through the front door. I pulled it out and walked back inside. Locked the door, and went over to my fireplace. After stocking the fire a little I was able to sit down and take a look at the letter properly.

It was addressed to me though it didn’t say who or why. The envelope was a faded yellow, and looked old. Using just a bit of magic I was able to open the letter and see what was inside. An elegantly written letter lay inside.

Dear Trixie Lulamoon

It has come to my attention that you may be in serious danger. Normally I wouldn’t involve myself in this sort of situation but there are parties involved that might pose a threat to more than you know. You will have precious few allies in the coming conflicts but I assure you that I am one of them. I may not be able to offer much assistance, but I will offer what I can, when I can, and where I can.

Right now I can offer you a place of interest. Have you checked out the place where that key was found?

That was it, the only thing in that letter. No names, return addresses, nothing. Just some cryptic advice about where I could find some answers. Speaking of answers, I wasn’t drunk, yet, and I still had the key in my office. Deciding it worth my time, I decided to go and speak with Spike.

Downstairs I found him on his shelf like always. I didn’t hesitate when I asked him rather pointedly, “Spike, how would somepony control a monster?”

“I don’t know, how?”

“Spike.”

“Fine,” Spike rolled his green fire eyes at me. “There are a few methods one could use. There are mind control spells, the dumber the monster the easier it is to use. That requires a constant connection though and is very taxing. Next you have command objects. Things that would allow for somepony to give out commands to a monster which then follows it, like a dog collar. They’re not as precise as mind control spells but are a lot easier to maintain. The Houses use them sometimes.”

“Where would a pony get one of these collars?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where do the unicorn houses get them?”

He sighed, which felt odd considering he was just a skull. “Silver House is all about artifice right?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled. This had led me nowhere closer to my target. “Okay, so if a warlock was looking to get some command collars, where would they go?”

“Maybe they hit up the local shopping market?”

I scowled. “Shut it, I’m thinking.”

Likely this meant the warlock in question either had materials and skill enough to make the collars, or he was getting them from a supplier. I couldn’t think of anywhere somepony would easily get a hold of magical trinkets like that. At least nowhere legal. Then again I was talking about a warlock, surely he was going somewhere illegal.

“Spike, Owlicious should still be upstairs napping.”

“Oh here it comes.”

“I have a favor to ask of you. I want you to watch the dock, find out where the warlock is going with the animals, or where they come from. And where he’s getting the darned collars.”

“No.”

“But-“

“Not unless I get twenty four hours to explore the city.”

I shook my head. “You know I can’t do that. After the last time-“

“Listen, Trixie. I just want some free time starting at midnight tonight. I’ll be back in twenty four hours, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Really? What’s the worst that could happen? Are you serious?”

If fiery eyes could smile.

“Okay, but before you go I would like to create a couple of things. I need your alchemic knowledge.”

“Oh come on, can’t you just write this stuff down yourself and remember it? I have to do all the work here, it’s completely unfair.”

“Tell you what, when you’re the one facing down evil warlocks I will be willing to let you talk like that. Until then we better just get these done before it’s too late.”

I checked my box of supplies, I still had three smoke pellets left so I could use those. As for the potions I needed a few simple ones. A potion of refreshness, to help me push further if I needed too. A potion of invisibility, because heavens knows that my invisibility spell sucked, and a potion of healing. One of the few skills I had in magic was alchemy, generally I created things that went boom in my youth, but now I’ve gotten pretty good with potions as well.

For the potion of refreshness we used a bottle of Ultra Cola as a base and added some various peppers and cinnamon to spice it up. Making potions was easy. It wasn’t about the ingredients so much as it was about spending time with them, adding a little bit of yourself into the potion, and maybe just a hint of magic as well. Even well trained earth ponies could make potions.

The potion of invisibility was mostly just water and ice. And the healing potion had alcohol in it as well as some minty things. After that was done I opened up the trap door and watched as the green fire leapt from the skull and into the air. It danced its way across the room and back to my bedroom where I heard my owl shriek for a split second. A moment later the owl was flying into the living room with a pair of very familiar green eyes. I opened my window and out flew my possessed owl. As a spirit Spike could possess the minds of animals, even those as sharp as my owl.

He’d be back tonight, and then I’d get my report. Hopefully before my date. Still I had something else I could be doing right about now, a glance at my clock told me it was only about one pm. So I went to my bathroom, cleaned up my scrapes, bandaged my cheek up, and went to bed. I would just take a short nap and get to that key later. After all, it was just like Spike said, what’s the worst that could happen?