unfortunate circumstances
It was three am when her phone went off. Applejack groaned in discontent. The first night in three weeks that she was going to get a decent nights sleep and it had to be interrupted. Glaring at her phone as though that might make it stop ringing she answered.
"This'd better be important." She said tersely.
"Detective Applejack."
immediately Applejack found herself on high alert. Twilight didn't refer to her by her title unless it was serious. "What happened?"
"There was a death at sugarcube corner."
"Give me the details." Applejack replied beginning to get dressed.
"There were five ponies there at the time of death. The victim Rainbow Dash, her childhood friend Fluttershy, her friend Pinkamena Diane Pie, her protegé Scootaloo, and another friend, this one a known felon, Starlight Glimmer."
"What felony?"
"Organized crime. She was the leader of a small gang known as the villagers."
"What about the owners?"
"They were out for the night leaving the place in charge of Miss.Pie. They were throwing a party. We contacted the owners and the party was known about."
"State of the victim?" Applejack asked as she looked over her gun and grabbed her badge.
"No wounds, or any other kind of outside marking."
"No signs of a struggle?" Applejack said placing her hat on her head and heading for the door.
"No, and she was a member of the Wonderbolts so she was at the peak of physical health."
"Forensics been there yet?"
"They're at the scene as we speak."
"I'm on my way." She hung the phone up. Applerot. This was all she needed. She looked longingly at the bed then sighed. Just because she was tired didn't mean crime stopped. She began to trot in the direction of sugarcube corner pondering the information she was given.
Miss. Dash had been at the peak of health so that meant she probably didn't die of cardiac arrest. The fact she was a military pony meant she was unlikely to be an alcoholic or druggie. The Wonderbolts were pretty strict about that kind of thing. That didn't mean somepony couldn't have slipped her something.
No wounds meant she could rule out any kind of weapon based death. This wasn't too uncommon. Unusual was he fact there were no markings. This meant she couldn't have been beaten to death, though she could have died of internal injuries after being beaten. The fact that she had been at a party made that unlikely. Somepony would probably have noticed something that obvious.
Well there wasn't much else she could figure out until forensics finished doing their job. The most she could do was question the ponies at the party. She showed the two uniforms in front of the house her ID and ignored the annoyed looks they threw her way. She understood how annoying it was when someone higher up than you was called into your crime scene, but that wouldn't stop her from doing her job.
Entering the room she was immediately struck by now normal everything was. Aside from the corpse she couldn't see a thing wrong with it.Then again she wasn't a member of forensics for all she knew there was hundreds of invisible clues. She walked past the scene careful not to disturb the team.
When she entered the kitchen she began to look over the witnesses, gauging their reactions to the death of their friend. A Pink pony sat in the corner, an unnerving smile on her face. It was a smile that said 'I'm going to keep pretending everything is fine even though it isn't and the fact that I'm not acknowledging something is wong is taking a toll on my mental state.'
A yellow Pegasus sat on a chair a completely blank look on her face. It was clear she was in shock. Applejack wasn't even sure she'd react to her presence. Finally there was a small orange Pegasus sobbing into the shoulder of a lavender unicorn who looked like she had no idea how comfort the kid.
Applejack sighed, it was never easy to talk to witnesses just after a death. Let alone when they were friends of the victim. She pulled out her badge showing it to each of the witnesses in turn. "I'm Detective Applejack of the Ponyville Police department. I'm sorry for yer loss but I need ta question each of ya individually."
The Pink Pony smiled at her weirdly, the lavender unicorn composed herself, the kid looked in between wanting to cry into her shoulder and getting as far away from her as possible, the yellow Pegasus had no reaction. Applejack was pretty sure she needed shock treatment before she'd be able to answer anything.
She walked to the uniforms in the corner. "Do ya think ya could take her somewhere else until she calms down?" She said gesturing to the Pegasus. The uniform nodded looking relived to get away from the pink pony in the corner.
"Well let's start with you." Applejack said nodding at the unicorn. "You seem ta be in the best state of mind Miss_" She paused letting the unsaid question hang in the air.
"Glimmer. Starlight Glimmer." Applejack lead her into another room. looking across the coffee table she took stock of the mare in front of her. Starlight Glimmer, former felon, current friend of Rainbow Dash. Of the witnesses, all of whom were prime suspects, she seemed the most likely to have done it. But Applejack had done this job long enough to know that the obvious choice was not always the correct one.
"Miss. Glimmer tell me in yer own words what happened as accurately as you can." Applejack said politely, there was no need to play bad cop just yet. In her experience playing bad cop with ex felons just made them defensive.
"Well this morning I got a call from Rainbow saying Pinkie was throwing a party in honor of the anniversary of her acceptance into the Wonderbolts. She said the party was going to start at midnight and go on until four. So of course I said I would come. When I arrived I found it strange that Pinkie had invited such a small group. Usually her parties are on a bigger scale, but she said this was the only time Rainbow had available because of Wonderbolt training so we had to keep the noise down."
In all likelihood the mare had the police called on her due to the noise ordinance before and wanted to prevent it from happening again. Especially if the owners weren't home. "Go on."
"Well Rainbow told us stories about her exploits in the Wonderbolts, going over the top as always. Then there was some dancing and I noticed Pinkie and Rainbow were dancing...closely."
"How close?"
"Like 'closer than friends' close. I saw both Fluttershy and Scootaloo staring at them and they didn't seem happy about it."
"Interesting." There might be a motive there... "And after that?"
"After that we had cupcakes and shortly afterwards Rainbow started to act weird. She was super out of it, kept drinking water, said she felt nauseous and occasionally muttered about changelings even though there weren't any changelings here."
This was important, clearly Miss.Dash had been under some kind of hallucinogen before she had died. Whether or not the hallucinogen was the cause of death would remain to be seen.
"We were all getting pretty worried so Fluttershy went to call an ambulance and then Rainbow started having trouble breathing." At this point Starlight ,who had previously remained composed, started to choke up. "By the time they got there she was dead..."
Applejack nodded sympathicly. Maybe the hallucinogen wasn't the cause of death but was connected to the death. Applejack looked up from her notes to find Starlight had tears streaming silently down her face. "If we had called earlier they might have been able to save her."
Applejack sighed, feeling guilty was something witnesses to a crime dealt with. Though she could not tell the mare everything was okay she could offer one very small bit of consolation. "Maybe they could've maybe not. We don't know yet. Thank you Miss. Glimmer if I need more information the police will contact you."
Slowly they exited the room entering the kitchen once more. The kid immediately attached herself to Starlight. Looking about the room Applejack found the yellow Pegasus, Miss Shy she presumed, had yet to return. In addition the pink mare in the corner was still smiling like the world wasn't crumbling around her.
Applejack was pretty sure it was going to be harder to get information out of Miss.Pie than Miss Glimmer, but the kid was in no condition to be questioned so she supposed it would have to do.
"Miss.Pie come with me please."
"Okie-Dokie Officer!" The mare replied in an all too chipper voice. Like the smile it held an undertone of madness.
"Detective." Applejack muttered, feeling a bit ashamed to care about her title at a time like this. She was getting a bit shook and her title was a reminder that she was on job so she couldn't afford to be emotional.
"Whatever same thing right!" Actually no it wasn't, but she wasn't going to argue about semantics.
Yet again she looked across the coffee table and took stock of the mare in front of her. Pinkamena Diane Pie Employee of sugar cube corner, And Rainbow Dash's close friend, maybe more than friend. She paused trying to decide which way she should tackle this interrogation.
"So Miss Pie. How has yer day been?"
"Fine! Its been fine everything is one hundred percent fine!" Miss. Pie's eyes twitched .
"What happened this morning?" Keep things away from the party for now, Applejack decided.
"Oh this morning! Well first I woke up,took a shower, had breakfast..."
Applejack continued to listen though she was annoyed. She knew this was Miss. Pie's way of avoiding the topic for as long as possible, but at least she was getting somewhere. It was a few minutes later that Miss. Pie said something that may have been pertinent to the case.
"Then Scootaloo came over to help me with the party! She took care of the decorations while I baked the cupcakes and a surprise for Rainbow Dash!"
"A surprise?" She asked, interesting Miss.Glimmer hadn't mentioned any food besides the cupcakes.
"Yep! A pumpkin cake for Rainbow Dash! I was gonna make a pumpkin pie but then I remembered she hates pie so I changed it to a cake. I had to go to the bathroom in the middle though, all that chocolate syrup goes right through you if ya know what I'm saying!"
Yes unfortunately she did know.
"Anyway I gave it to her a few hours before the party,"
At least Miss. Pie was so fixated on reliving her day she had stopped talking in that odd tone of voice. It was a long while before they got to the party. Miss. Pie having told her everything she had done that day whether it would help or not.
"So shortly after Rainbow arrived Fluttershy took her into another room."
"Miss. Glimmer didn't mention this."
"Starlight came to the party ten minutes late so she didn't see that."
"Is it unusual for Miss.Glimmer to be late?"
"If it was a business meeting yes but she's usually late to my parties."
"Do ya know what Miss.Shy wanted with Miss.Dash?"
"Nope! Seriously did you think I stalked her all night or something?"
"No, it was just a standard question Miss.Pie."
"Well anyway after that Rainbow told us a whole bunch of stories from when she's with the Wonderbolts. Like the time they fought an Ursa Major! Then we all danced!"
Miss.Pie stared at the ceiling, distracted. "Would you say the dance was intimate?"
The mare blinked. "inta-what?"
"Did you feel close to Miss.Dash during it?"
"Well duh we are besties!" Applejack leveled a look at her, trying to discern whether she was being deliberately vague or was genuinely oblivious. Then again she only had an account from Miss.Glimmer who could have misread the situation. Sighing she moved on.
"And then?"
Suddenly the smile was back. "We had cupcakes." Her eye twitched and her ears seemed to be flicking invisible flies.
"Then what happened?"
Her smile, which had already been unnerving, grew unnaturally wide. "I don't know what you mean."
Applejack didn't want to force the information out of her, but she needed to know what had happened. She let her voice take a no-nonsense tone. "Yes ya do, and yer gonna tell me about it."
Miss.Pie began to sweat her ears becoming ever more active, her eyes darting around the room. "There's nothing to tell."
"Miss. Pie-"
"I mean she was acting a little weird sure but it was nothing to be concerned about."
"How so?"
Her hooves began to tap on the table. "She was just a little tired that's why she wasn't sure what was going on and thought there were changelings. Oh and she had to drink a lot of water but who doesn't after eating all that cake especially when the cake makes you nauseous."
"So what did ya do about it?"
The tapping became violent. "Fluttershy went to get a doctor for her upset stomach of course... but but."
"But what?"
"Hey you know what I think I hear Scootaloo calling me."
"What happened Miss. PIe?"
"Why is that important?"
"Miss PIe I need you ta tell me."
"You should mind your own business."
"MISS. PIE!"
"NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU PRY I'M NOT GONNA SAY IT!"
The uniforms moved in grabbing Miss.Pie's hooves as she flailed.
"ALRIGHT FINE RAINBOW DASH DIED! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR!" At these words all energy left the mare's body, she stopped struggling , her mane went flat. She slumped tears pouring out of her eyes. "She...died...okay."
Applejack nodded. "Thank you Miss. Pie. I'll take you back to yer friends."
Applejack felt bad for the mare. This was her only way of coping and she'd ruined it. As she lead her back to the kitchen she reminded herself that it had been nessacery to get all the information she could from the mare.
Upon entering the kitchen Applejack noted that Miss. Shy had returned. She paused it would be best if she interrogated her before the kid, but she would have to be gentle.
"Miss. Shy I need to ask ya a few questions "
The Pegasus nodded quietly, taking this as permission, Applejack led her to the room.
"Miss. Shy I need you to tell me what happened. I understand it must be hard to talk about but if we are to understand the cause of Miss. Dash's death I need all the information I can get."
"I know... and I want to know what happened as much as you do so I promise I'll do my best to help you. This morning Rainbow was excited because Pinkie Pie was going to throw a party for her and she felt it would be the perfect opportunity to do something she'd wanted to do for some time but couldn't find the right moment. She was going to confess to Pinkie."
The pieces were beginning to fit in place. Miss.Dash liked Miss.Pie but hadn't told her yet. Prehaps Miss.Pie had not noticed her feelings hence why she didn't think the dance was anything special.
"Of course I was happy for her but I was also...concerned. Rainbow didn't take rejection very well, and Pinkie wasn't the most aware of other's feelings. So when I got to the party I took Rainbow aside just to make sure she was prepared for if Pinkie said no."
So that was what she'd been doing. Of course it was possible the Pegasus was lying ,after all no one else had been there as far as she knew. It didn't seem likely though. The shock Miss Shy had exibited earlier that night was nearly impossible to fake. She was ninety-nine percent sure it had been real.
"Then Rainbow said that if she didn't tell Pinkie her feelings she would never know if Pinkie liked her back and that was worse than being rejected. Shortly after that she started to tell us stories like how they'd taken on an Ursa Major. Of course when it first happened she told me it was an Ursa Minor but she always did like to play things up for an audience. "
Miss.Shy was speaking of Miss.Dash in the past tense. Applejack hoped that meant she had accepted her friend's death.
"Then we started dancing and I knew from how close Rainbow was holding Pinkie that she was trying to confess but Pinkie didn't seem to be catching on. It didn't seem to be going well and I was worried Rainbow was going to be disappointed."
That explained why she didn't seem happy about the dance.
"Then we ate cupcakes and soon Rainbow started to act weird. I thought about calling for an ambulance earlier but she didn't seem too bad off. She was thirsty and out of it but it didn't seem like the kind of thing you call over. Until she started to ask about changelings. Then I hurried to the phone as fast as I could. It was too late, by the time they got there Rainbow was..."
"Dead." Applejack finished.
"Yeah..."
"Thank you for your coöperation Miss. Shy."
Only one more witness to interrogate and she could check in with forensics. Unfortunately it was going to be the hardest one yet.
"Miss.Scootlaloo I need ta ask you a few questions. "
The kid didn't seem to want to go with her but after some reassurance from Miss. Shy and Miss. Glimmer she came back with her. Applejack wasn't quite sure how to approach this. So she started simple.
"What happened this morning?"
In an unsteady tone of voice the kid began. "Pinkie and I were getting ready for the party. I had all sort of ideas for the decorations ,rainbow streamers, Wonderbolt symbols and banner for the best Wonderbolt ever. I thought throwing this party was a great idea because Rainbow deserves it."
"What about the party?" The kid seemed to be taking this better than she had thought she would.
"Rainbow told us all these amazing stories about her time as a Wonderbolt! She's amazing fighting off bad guys, doing death-defying dives, no one is better than Rainbow Dash! "
It was then that the tone of conversation took a turn for the worse. "I know I shouldn't have been but I was really jealous of Rainbow dancing with Pinkie. I mean she's my idol and I don't think Pinkie is good enough for her."
This was a pretty normal reaction to your idol liking someone besides you. Even if the kid was too young for Miss. Dash that didn't mean there weren't any feelings there.It certainly explained what Miss.Glimmer had described.
"Then we had cupcakes! The kind with rainbow sprinkles in the batter it was my idea, then..."
The kid shut down, her mouth closing, tears once again pouring from her eyes. Before they had been talking about the party and preparations for it so the kid had been able to distance herself for what had happened.
Sighing Applejack conceded. "Ya don't have to finish I have three other ponies who told me how it happened so I won't make a kid like you relive it.
"I just don't know what happened. One moment she was fine then out of nowhere she got sick."
Applejack couldn't provide the kid with an answer. "We're doing the best we can to figure out what happened I promise. Now I'll take ya back ta Miss. Glimmer."
Finally she was on her way to the station. It was always easier to work at the station rather than at the crime scene. It allowed her to distance herself from what had happened. As she finished filing her report she saw Twilight in the doorway to her office.
"Did forensics find anything yet?" Applejack asked.
"Not much. So far we know there aren't any needle marks, still no sign of bruises or any outward physical damage."
Applejack nodded absently. So the hallucinogen wasn't forced on her, and it wasn't administered via Injection. The most likely explanation was that Miss.Dash had accidentally inhaled or eaten it.
Twilight looked at her, concerned. "You look tired. We won't get anything more concrete in the next few hours. You should get some sleep. We need you at the top of your game."
Applejack hesitated, this was her case and ,though she knew Twilight was right, she still felt bad about going home.
"I promise if we find something out you'll be the first one I tell."
Applejack conceded. "Alright thanks Chief." As she began to pack up,Twilight gave her one last command.
"And Detective?"
"Yeah?"
"Try not to overwork yourself this time."
At home Applejack lay in bed trying her best to take Twilight's advice. Yet this was not as easy as one would think. Despite being exhausted sleep would not come. A whirl of thoughts about the case flew through her head. A tumultuous state of mind.
Sighing Applejack decided to bake an apple pie. Baking always calmed her down and if she got sleepy she could always finish it later. She rummaged through her cupboard for a pie crust mix, usually she made her own but it didn't seem worth it at the moment.
She mixed the crust ,setting it in a pie tin and starting the pre baking. While that happened Applejack took a paring knife and began to peel the apples. Already she could feel her mind calming. She had often baked apple pies as a child and ,though her fate lay outside the farm, There was something soothing about it.
Next she cored the apples and cut them into eighths. At this point the crust was pre-baked enough and she began to fill it with apples, cinnamon, and sugar. she was about to put the top on when she paused. Wasn't she forgetting something? Oh yeah she forgot...
Suddenly Applejack felt wide awake as a thought occurred to her. 'A hallucinogen that could be ingested or inhaled, whose side effects include, being out of it, nausea, thirst, and illusions?' Miss. Pie's words from earlier echoed in her mind. 'A pumpkin cake for Rainbow Dash.' It would be awhile before she could confirm her suspicions but she felt she'd made some progress towards the case. Without that weighing on her mind she was able to sleep.
Weeks later Applejack sat at her desk working on another case when Twilight brought her the results.
"I have the autopsy report."
Applejack looked at the report. The cause of death was organ failure brought on by nutmeg poisoning. She had suspected this and while the news was good to have confirmed it also implicated Miss. Pie. She had given Miss. Dash the cake she believed to be the vehicle. The question was had she done it on accident? It was time to have a chat with her.
Applejack found to her dismay that sugarcube corner was not vacated,, though she had come after closing. She sighed perhaps it was a good thing the other witnesses were there. They deserved to know how she died.
"Evening Detective do you have any news for us?" Miss.Glimmer asked. The others looked at her hopefully.
"Yes but I'm afraid you ain't gonna like it."
"We're listening." Miss. Shy replied.
"The cause of death was organ failure brought on by nutmeg poisoning. Miss. Pie ya said ya gave Miss. Dash a pumpkin cake correct?"
Everyone looked at the mare in question. Miss. Pie swallowed. "Yes."
"Did the cake contain nutmeg?"
Miss. Pie sighed. "Yes but not enough to hurt anypony!"
"I don't know." Miss.Glimmer said suspiciously. "You do have a habit of not measuring ingredients."
Miss. Pie looked outraged. "I always measure nutmeg! I know how dangerous it is in large amounts!"
Applejack sighed, she hadn't wanted to do this. "Miss. Pie all the evidence points to you. I'm gonna have to take ya in fer more questioning."
The mare looked as though she wanted to argue but stopped before she started. "Okay."
She was just about to lead Miss.Pie out when a voice cried. "Wait it wasn't her!" Everyone turned to face the last pony they expected to say those words. Applejack frowned, was she just trying to cover for Miss.Pie?
"Miss.Scootaloo what do ya mean?" Applejack asked tentatively.
"Well that morning I was decorating for the party when I noticed Pinkie making the cake." Tears were streaming down the kid's face, the words barely making it out of her mouth in an unsteady mess.
"I knew Rainbow was going to love the cake because she loves all of Pinkie's cakes. And I was jealous because lately Rainbow was spending more and more time with Pinkie and less time with me."
The kid paused attempting to swallow the lump in her throat. "Then I recently found out she liked Pinkie as more than a friend so I really didn't want her to have more reasons to like Pinkie."
"Wait Rainbow liked me?!" Miss.Pie seemed genuinely confused.
"That was the worst part! The greatest pony in the universe liked you and you didn't even notice!"
At this point the kid was angry, though whether at herself or Miss.Pie wasn't clear.
"So when Pinkie went to the bathroom I decided to play a prank. I-I picked up the nutmeg and..." The kid was unable to finish.
"How much did ya put in?" Applejack asked grimly.
"The whole container." She choked out. Applejack exchanged a glance with the others. That would have done it. The kid sat in the fetal position ,her eyes filled with tears ,her body shaking. "It was supposed to be like that time we put too much ginger in the gingerbread men. They tasted awful but nopony died!"
Miss.Shy tried to comfort her. Glancing at Applejack she asked. "What will happen now?"
"Well she's a minor so they can't press charges. We'll notify the family and get Miss. Scootaloo the therapy she needs."
It was one of the few times, she reflected, that she would have prefered it had been murder.
Author's Note
So for the purpose of this fanfic can we pretend nutmeg has the same effect on Ponies as humans?
and on that note:
Disclaimer: Nutmeg is not toxic until the amount of two teaspoons and you wouldn't die until you ate much more. The amount of nutmeg in most recipes is 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon which is then split among the people who eat it making the effect neglegable. So enjoy your seasonal treats just make sure you follow the recipe if you're making it.
