Justice Finally Served

Celestia worried sick about her latest protégé. As soon as Nightfall failed to show up for class, Celestia knew something was wrong and had the guard searching the city. But after searching the campus and all the places that Nightfall seemed likely to go, she came up empty hooved.

Each day that passed saw her worry increase until Celestia could barely perform her duties as Princess because of the distraction. It only got worse when several days passed without Luna being able to locate Nightfall in the dream realm, which meant she wasn't dreaming at all.

Celestia even tried spells to locate her, but that only confounded her more. She got no readings with even the most powerful spell, as if something was blocking her location or dulling her life signs. Yet it didn't read as non-existent either as if would if she'd been killed, just that it couldn't pinpoint her other than being in Canterlot.

Then one night Celetia awoke to the buzzing of a large book next to her; Nightfall's book. She'd gone to sleep early from the exhaustion of stress piled upon duty, so she wasn't sure how long it had been buzzing when she noticed. When she did though, she yanked the book over to her bed and opened it to the most recent page.

What she saw there left her breathless. A photo of Nightfall's corpse, emaciated as if having died from slow starvation or thirst. She'd been used repeatedly, her vagina gaping wide and oozing white fluid streaked with blood. Yellowish liquid drenched her body as she lay in a pile of trash. The shock of what she saw left her unable to function for several long moments, then her eyes shifted to the words beneath it:

Dear Princess Celestia

Have fun masturbating to this, slut.

• Killer Doctor

Celestia's ear-splitting scream of rage rattled the windows in her room. The royal guard outside burst in, prepared to defend her but terrified of what could make the princess scream like that.

"Your Majesty, what's....?" one guard said, but he trailed off quickly.

When she turned to look at him, he and the two guards behind him were taking a step back as if terrified. They couldn't see the book from there though, so why were they...?

Oh, it was her. She suddenly realized that the bed around her was smoldering, her mane having literally ignited from the rage of what she had seen. The princess took a deep breath to stabilize herself, her mane flowing into its previous form and the charred bed sheets cooling around her.

"P-princess?" stammered the guard. "W-what happened?"

None of the guard had ever seen her angry. The last time Celestia felt this kind of rage was before even their grandparents were born, but she had absolutely felt it. It was the reason she educated her students on the dangers that some rare ponies posed. She'd vowed to never lose a student to something like this again, and now she had.

Celestia didn't answer aloud, not wanting to frighten her royal guard more and knowing she was incapable of speaking in a reasonable tone. Instead she opened the book, turning it to where they could see it and holding it in front of them.

All her personal chamber guards knew Nightfall and adored the little one. Now as they beheld her fate, their muzzled dropped open, followed by looks ranging from confusion to disgust to rage. As other guards arrived, most turned away, a few rushing off to vomit at the sight.

"Come with me," Celestia's voice rattled the room when she spoke again.

Not as if they had a choice if they came. Her magic encompassed the guards that looked the least ill, taking them with her in a teleport. Now that she'd received a message through the book, it was easy to trace to where the message had been sent from.

They arrived in a darkened alley. The royal guards quickly got the idea, spreading out and searching the area. Celestia however immediately detected the magical residue of a teleport, only a few seconds old. She closed her eyes to concentrate on tracing it, ignoring the sound of a guard vomiting nearby that probably signified that Nightfall had been discovered.

The first was easy to trace, but led her to an open field just outside of Canterlot and to another teleport link. The second wasn't so easy, since they'd only relayed here and there was little signature left. Still, she was determined to follow it. Celestia pushed down her rage and concentrated again.

It was pointless though. The culprit knew she could do this and had teleported multiple times to provent it. Each relay was harder to trace, and each took longer to do. Whereas the first link took seconds to follow, it took an hour to get six deep, and by that time they had faded to the point not even she could follow further. Frustrated, she teleported back to the first alleyway.

As she appeared, she found several of the guards still here, though others had left, perhaps to search other nearby areas. The Canterlot police were also on the scene, and a serious-looking earth pony with a badge approached her before bowing. She recognized him as a chief at the local police district.

"Princess," he bowed as he came close. "Were you able to trace them?"

"No," said Celestia. The rage in her voice was still apparent.

He took a step back, and Celestia realized how angry she sounded. Though it could have just as well been from the heat once again boiling from her body. She took a deep breath to keep her aura from igniting again, but had already charred hoofprints into the pavement beneath her.

"I apologize," said Celestia. "What have you found?"

"We found the body," the chief replied. "We have ponies searching the area for clues. We were about to take her to the morgue for an autopsy but... we were trying to wait for you."

Celestia didn't have to be told where she was. She walked over to the large bin and looked down at the little filly. They had cast a preservation spell on her, but it only made her look less decent by ensuring the fluids drooling from her innocent form hadn't yet dried. It was horrifying, but Celestia took in every detail, a sort of self-punishment for allowing it to happen. She took off one shoe and stroked a hoof down the filly's cheek gently with a bare hoof, but the filly's face was frozen in the last look of stunned terror.

"He put her in the trash," Celestia growled between clenched teeth. She could have sworn something in her head creaked; she'd never been closer to snapping completely. "Just threw her out. Left here while you... " She shook her head and closed the little ones wide-open eyes with her magic.

"Ah um, Princess you shouldn't um..." the police pony said, then took another step back when she looked at him, looking far more cross at him than she intended. She wasn't capable of looking anything else. "Sorry..."

"it is not for you to be sorry," said Celestia darkly as she pulled her hoof away. "But trust me, I will make the one that should be sorry more so than he ever thought possible. What else do you know?"

"He dropped her and her things here," said the chief. "We are running tests on the... bodily fluids, but will only be able to track them that way if it is on file. And if this is who we think it is, they won't be."

"Who do you think it is?" Celestia asked, trying her best not to be intimidating to the hard-working officer.

"Well, your Majesty," sighed the officer, giving another short bow. Celestia tried hard not to be annoyed by his over-reverence of her. "There's a serial killer called 'The Killer Doctor' that this crime matches perfectly. Even if he hadn't signed the letter that, this is always the way he kills, poisoning a mare and letting her die of thirst as he... uses her."

"And why was I not informed of a serial killer in my own city?" Celestia's voice quivered with barely contained rage.

"W-well," stammered the officer. "He's never killed in Canterlot. He moves from city to city, usually small towns, and... honestly it's surprising he'd come here at all. Anyway, he never has more than a few victims in a city before moving on. He usually chooses victims that few will miss, this is really out of the blue from what I've read in the reports. He doesn't normally prey on foals either, we couldn't have anticipated that he'd target a filly like Nightfall."

"So because his targets weren't 'important' enough, he was not seen to before?" Celestia raised her voice enough that other officers in the area looked over.

"I-I didn't mean like that," said the officer, but it wasn't like it was even his fault if that was the case. Celestia would have to work on better data sharing between police in different cities.

"The bottom line is we have a limited time to find him before he moves on," said Celestia. "Have you found any evidence of where he resides?"

"Well there wasn't anything too defining when we scanned the trash bag," sighed the officer. "There were a few wrappers from street vendors though. They're the kind of vendors that cater mostly to local residents, so it's safe to assume they live nearby."

The killer's stupidity surprised Celestia, leaving such obvious clues. Then again, psychopaths were a strange lot; he might very well want to be caught. He might have even targeted her student with that specific purpose. Maybe he was looking for fame.

"What area?" asked Celestia.

"The district along seventh street in the southeast corner of the city," said the officer. "It's not exactly the most reputable place, we busted a dark magic ring there last month if you remember. Unfortunately there are a large amount of transients there, so it'll be harder than just narrowing down residents that haven't been in the area long."

"Then we'll go another route," said Celestia.

In a flash she disappeared again, leaving them to look for new clues. She had what she needed to find him though.

The officer said the killer only targeted those that few would miss. Then why did he target someone so important? And why did he move to a city of such prominence? That told Celestia two things. First, he was getting sloppy, perhaps even trying to get caught out of sheer boredom. Second, he found her student an attractive enough of a target to both take a risk and, according to the officer, go outside of his 'preferred' age range.

Together that told Celestia the best way to trap him. The bait would be an equal target that he would target for the thrill of taking down another of Celestia's students. Of course, Celestia would never endanger her actual students, but she'd learned a thing or two about shifting magic.

Either way: This killer would pay for what he'd done.

Shapeshifting was easier than it used to be. Now that the changelings were on friendly terms, there were a number that had been happy to allow research into their abilities, and progress on such spells had surged forward. It still took a powerful spell to pull it off, but that was no problem for Celestia.

No one liked Celestia being the bait, particularly not her sister, but this was personal for her. She couldn't leave this to chance because if someone else did this and was killed, she'd never forgive herself. Celestia already had enough in her past that she'd always blame herself for.

The chemical mixture the killer used had no known cure once it was administered, but it was something that could be countered in advanced. It wasn't difficult to formulate an effective vaccine for the chemical, which Celestia had injected into herself prior to leaving. Even if he jabbed her, it would have no effect. In fact, she looked forward to the look on his face when it didn't work.

Becoming a filly the same age might be suspicious and according to his profile he preferred older, anyway. Celestia had been over the list of known victims, and she'd also noted that the wicked stallion favored pregnant mares. So Celestia took the form of an older filly, young enough to be a student at Celestia's school but old enough to be pregnant. She gave herself a lanky body to accentuate a swollen belly and breasts, making the pretend pregnancy obvious to passerbys. If this wouldn't draw him out, nothing would.

Celestia chose bright colors that would be easy to see in the dark: a bright yellow coat and flame orange mane. She used a magic wand cutie mark and carried saddlebags with the emblem of her school on them. Hopefully this wouldn't be too overt; she may as well have put a flashing neon sign over her head that said 'try to kill me'.

After some digging and from the notes in Nightfall's saddlebags, Celestia had figured that Nightfall had been looking for a rare spell component that wasn't in the more reputable shops. Doing the same thing might be suspicious, so she put another swing on it.

She'd pretend to be another filly from the school that was out looking for where her friend Nightfall disappeared to. Since the murder hadn't been made public yet, it was believable that the students wouldn't know and one that figured out what she was looking for might search here.

Over the first few hours, a half-dozen ponies approached her as she wandered around aimlessly, asking what she needed. Most were very helpful. There was one that flirted with her, which she flirted back and even went home with him in hopes he was the culprit. But when she got there and 'changed her mind' about having sex with him, he let her go with only mild disappointment on his part. Obviously he wasn't the one she was looking for.

There was also an off-duty guard that insisted she escort Celestia everywhere she went. Celestia was certain the guard had heard about what happened and decided to patrol the area in her free time. She was finally forced to reveal her identity in order to keep the guard from chasing away potential suspects, but noted the guard's name, Astraea. They'd earned a promotion without knowing. Every guard should be so enthusiastic about protecting Equestria's subjects.

So she found herself standing back outside, disappointed that not a single pony had attempted to rape or murder her. Now there was a thought she didn't think she'd ever have.

Then finally he approached. Celestia knew as soon as she saw him. Not because he looked perverted, but because he looked completely civil and friendly in an area where even the nice ones were at least rough looking. She held in her anger until she was certain though and smiled at him in return when he approached.

"Hello there little miss," the stallion smiled. "I've seen you pass by a few times, like you're going in circles. Are you lost?"

"Well um, not exactly," Celestia stammered, giving a good approximation of a nervous teen. "It's just, one of my friends at Celestia's school went missing recently, and this morning I remembered that she'd mentioned going to this area to look for something for class. I've been looking for anyone that has seen her."

"Oh?" he smiled, his eyes flicking briefly to her swollen belly before looking back at her. "All alone? And you look pregnant? You might be the youngest pregnant mare I've ever met. How old are you?"

"I'm 14," Celestia blushed as she lied convincingly, quietening. "I-I'd rather not talk about the pregnancy, if that's okay. It's... not something I asked for. Anyway, the police didn't seem to believe me because I was the only one she told, and I didn't want to wait for them to come around so I came to look myself. Um, my name is Purity."

Celestia wiped a tear from her eye, and she could see the stallion forcing himself not to grin wider. She figured implying it to be a rape foal would get a pyschopath's juices flowing and make it harder to resist her. Even the name she gave was designed to tempt him; could a serial killer resist the irony of defiling a filly named Purity?

"Oh you poor dear," the stallion looked concerned. It seemed fake to Celestia, but it might have fooled many. "I'm Doctor Fox Quill. Why don't you describe her to me?"

"Her name is Nightfall Gleam," said Celestia, hope in her eyes. "She has a dark purple coat, blue mane, green eyes, with a white and yellow wand as a cutie mark. She's young, just got the mark. Have you seen her?"

"Hmm, I think so," Fox tapped his chin with a hoof. "You know I was taking pictures around town the other day and could swear there was a filly of that description in one. Want to come back and look through them with me to see if she's in one?"

"Oh yes!" Celestia's eyes brightened.

"Good then, let's go," he smiled.

He glanced at her belly again, seeming to focus on the swollen breasts before turning back around and trotting away. Celestia could swear she saw him lick his lips as he headed off, so she followed behind. Did she have the right one this time?

Fox led her back into an alleyway which itself was very suspicious. Was this where he led Nightfall? If so, Celestia cursed herself. If one of her students willingly walked into a dark alley with a stranger, Celestia hadn't taught them well enough how to avoid these situations. It was hard to get young foals to understand that dangers existed they'd never been exposed to.

"I'm afraid the front door is stuck," explained Fox. "We'll need to head in through this window."

He opened the window nearby, and slowly walked around behind her as if to let her go first. Celestia knew what was coming, but had to verify, so she stepped towards it. She intentionally looked away from him, giving him time to act.

It was a good thing that she'd had herself injected with a vaccine to the concoction, because no sooner was he out of her sight than she felt a sharp prick in her neck. He grasped her head, jabbing her with a needle and injecting the whole contents.

"I'm going to enjoy raping out your rape foal, little filly," he whispered to her with a smirk and shoved her in through the window.

Rage burned within her, but Celestia controlled herself for the moment. The drug had no effect as had been promised by the doctor that gave her the antidote, but she let her body fall limp as if it had. After he shoved her roughly in through the window, he shut and locked it behind her, flicking on the light.

She got a good look at the room, likely the same room Nightfall had found herself in, though with one probable difference. There was the limp body of another victim laying on the bed. It was a green earth mare with yellow mane and aqua eyes, tied with limbs outstretched. Her eyes were glazed, obviously having been fed the drug, and both her muzzle and slit were freshly used as if he'd been using her just before he decided to step out and get Celestia.

The other mare looked weak, but not yet severely dehydrated. She'd live, but whether her mind would ever be fixed was another thing entirely. Celestia cursed herself again for not acting in time to save his next victim.

"I remember now!" Fox said as he walked to the bed, turning his back to Celestia. "I did see your friend a week ago. I did exactly what I'm going to do to you: I paralyzed her and raped her a dozen times a day for a week as she died of dehydration."

Then it was absolutely confirmed; there was no more need for a ruse. Celestia stood up and shifted back into her true form. However Fox was still turned away and kept talking without having seen this as of yet.

"But you'll be so much more fun," continued Fox. "Those plump pregnant breasts are going to be delicious to drain. And thanks to the drug, you'll miscarry that precious foal within a day. Sadly you won't be coherent enough to see it by then, but I promise to give your fresh abortion a good fucking before tossing it in the trash."

Celestia couldn't believe what she was hearing. She concentrated, signaling Luna and the royal guards that had been waiting to arrive. Only then did she speak.

"Gotcha," Celestia said almost playfully.

He froze, slowly turned, and stared in confusion.

"I'm afraid, Doctor Quill," Celestia said sternly. "The only one getting fucked here today is you."

Even as reckless as he'd been, Celestia expected him to panic or at least show some hint of fear at this realization. At the very least, it should have been awkward to realize that he just said all that in front of her.

Instead, he burst out laughing.

"What took you so long?" he laughed. "I expected to be caught after a few dozen, but you've let me get away with over 200! I guess your subjects don't matter until your own personal fuck toy gets used by somepony else!"

He didn't even stop laughing when Luna and the royal guards flashed into existence in the room. He just pointed at Luna and laughed harder.

"Oh and look it's the Moon slut!" he laughed. "I guess I'm going to be having some really vivid dreams from here on out, but jokes on you! I'm ironically a bit of a masochist!"

"Two hundred?" asked Celestia, too stunned by that alone to focus on anything else.

"Oh don't worry," Fox chuckled. "I kept track and will give you a full list. No point in hiding it now; I'm going down in history for this shit."

"What is the meaning of this?!" Luna cried out so loudly that it was a miracle the building didn't collapse. She turned to the royal guards. "Get this mare to the hospital immediately!"

One unicorn guard nodded, rushing to the mare on the bed and taking hold of her before teleporting himself and her away.

"Going down in history?" growled Celestia, her eyes locked on the maniac. "No, I don't think you will."

"Oh come on," Fox said even as another royal guard pinned him to the floor and clamped a horn restraint onto him. "Every pony is going to want to see this trial. It's not like you can just not give me one."

"Oh?" Celestia whispered darkly. "I 'have' to, do I?"

Celestia had many systems in place to be fair, so she supposed it was no wonder that he'd forget that she was still a Princess in Equestria's diarchy. Just because she never overrode the system didn't mean she couldn't or wouldn't in a particular situation.

But she said nothing more for the time being. She'd let him make a foal of himself by gloating, but he'd regret every giggle.