The Cutie Mark Ripper

Luster Dawn hops off the train to Manehattan, taking in the sights of the city. However, she wasn’t there for sightseeing. It has been 2 days since she was given the case by the Princess, and she had no leads. Whenever she thought she had something, it led to a dead end. This was her last chance: Moonshadow Blaze’s family. The busy streets of Manehattan were difficult to navigate; Carnerlot was never as busy as this place, but she managed to find the apartment block where the Blaze family lived “Alright Luster Dawn. This is your last chance for a lead. You got this, you got this, you got thiiiiiiiiisssss….” Luster says to herself, less confident with every word. She enters the building and goes straight for apartment 42, climbing up 4 flights of stairs and straight ahead, “49, 40, 41, ah-ha, 42.” Luster knocks at the door and waits for a reply. The door slowly creaked open, revealing an older silver coat mare with dark blue eyes and a light blue mane with bangs, “Uh, hello. I’m Luster Dawn. And you are a member of the Blaze family, right?”

The sorrowful mare opens the door widely, “Yes… I am Sunspot Blaze. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you see, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle’s star student, and I was assigned to-” Luster stopped herself, remember the last 6 times she was blunt in that remark, and that she must choose her words, “To… To…” Luster breathed in then out, “To bring justice to the one who needs it.”

Sunspot initially looked shocked and shed a few tears once the shock wore off. She wiped away the tears and looked at Luster, “Yes yes… Please, come in.” She stepped aside, and Luster walked in. The apartment is nicely decorated with sunny imagery and flowers, however, the place was slowly decaying, as it seems to not be taken care of often, “Apologies for the mess. I didn’t expect company today, otherwise, I would have cleaned up.” Sunspot takes a seat on the couch.

“No no, I don’t blame you.” Luster hops on and sits as well, “I am so sorry for your loss.”

Sunspot sniffles for a bit before composing herself again, “It's ok… I’ve been slowly accepting it… But it hasn’t been easy… I’ve gotten so much love and support but it’s been 6 months when it felt like 6 years since she disappeared right in front of me! Oh my Celestia, I remember that day, clear as crystal…!” Sunspot begins to tear up, “We-we were cooking lunch together… Veggie stew, her grandmare’s recipe, when all of a sudden-” Sunspot gasped to stop herself from crying but to no avail, “that stupid, stupid circle appeared under her and burned, sinking her into the floor. Oh my Celestia, I can still hear her voice…! Her pleads for help…!” At this point, Sunspot let the dames break, covering her face with her hooves, unable to face the truth. Luster Dawn scooted over and rubbed Sunspot Blazes’ back to comfort her. After 10 minutes of crying, Sunspot rubbed her eyes to get rid of the tears, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“No no, don’t worry. Trust me, how you’re acting is reasonable. I mean, losing a family member? That can’t be something you just ‘get over’. You lost someone dear to you.” Sunspot sniffled a little and nodded, “And right now, the hammer of justice needs to rain down, and I know this next request may seem morbid, but I need to do this to see if there’s any connection, any rhyme or reason for this chaos-” Sunspot cut her off.

“Yes yes! Anything!”

Luster took a deep breath, bracing herself for yet another negative reaction, “I… I need to see her cutie mark. I know you were sent it and…” Luster stopped herself. Who is she to ask for the last remains of somepony’s loved one. Instead of the anticipated outcome of Sunspot crying some more, looking disgusted, demanding Luster leave, or some combination of the three, Sunspot looks at Luster Dawn with a scarily neutral face, slowly turning her head towards a door.

She points to it and says in a neutral voice, “In there, in the urn on the desk.”
Luster gives Sunspot one last hug, “Thank you.” Luster got up and headed for the door. The room was dark and dusty, as Luster experienced first hoove that the spiders were the real monsters for free loaning in a crime scene. Looking around, Luster sees a bed, a dresser, and lots of moon imagery. There’s even a Luna doll on the dresser. This was Moonshadow’s room. Looking to the floor by the dresser, and there was the teleportation circle and a dropped necklace on the ground. Luster picked up the necklace and examined it. It was a simple black string necklace with a charm that had a crescent moon and a glistening sun: Celestia and Luna’s cutie marks. Luster puts it aside and looks to the dresser. There, a large urn decorated with Moons and Suns with a plaque at the base of it that reads, ‘Moonshadow, loved by all and cared for in life, will be remembered forever as strong as she was.’ Luster couldn’t bear to think about what torment Moonshadow had to face to meet such a grim end. Luster Dawn shook the thought out of her head and took the urn off of the dresser, “Here does nothing.” Luster opened the urn and took out the stolen cutie mark. It was just like how the others were like: A perfectly cut square of skin from a pony’s flank, dried and mailed to the victim's family. Luster wasn’t fazed anymore at just a grim sight. After the first 3 times she got an opportunity to see the skinned mark, she stopped gagging at the sight. Luster took out her notebook and took a few notes, ‘Moonshadow, Tribe: Earth Pony, Cutie Mark: A Radenting Moon. Meaning: Destined to work for Luna and/or use moon magic.’ She placed the mark back into the urn and the urn back on the dresser, taking a moment of silence for the fallen, and walked back into the living room.

Sunspot was still sitting at the couch, now with a cup of tea, “Oh, you’re back already?”

Luster sat back on the couch, “Yes, and I must thank you for letting me do this.”

“It’s the least I can do. If the princess is doing a full-scale operation, then I must allow any evidence to be recorded. I should be thanking you for being so brave, Luster Dawn.”

Luster nodded in agreement, “It’s no problem really, though collecting evidence wasn't easy. I do want to ask a few questions about Moonshadow if you don’t mind.” Luster has parchment and a quill ready.

“Oh, yes, of course.”

“Alright. Was Moonshadow acting strangely during the week leading up to her disappearance?”

“Oh, no-no-no. She was as quick and cheery as ever. No change in behavior.”

Luster wrote that down, “What about her friend group? Anything weird there?”

“No, she had the same number of friends, nothing weird there.”

Luster frustratedly wrote that down, “Oooook… Did she talk to any pony suspicious?”

“No no, not that I knew of.” Luster wrote that down before scribbling on her paper angrily, “Uh… Are you alright?”

“Yes! Yes everything is fine! It’s not like I’m not able to get some leads!” Luster shouted angrily before planting her face into the couch cushions. After a minute of awkward silence from a slightly stunned Sunspot, Luster rose from her angry place and looked at Sunspot with a tired expression, “I’m sorry. It’s just… This case has been difficult to solve… I haven’t gotten a lead in the last 48 hours. When I did, it always led to a dead end. The Cutie Mark Ripper is an anomaly all in its…” A wave of realization came across Luster Dawn, and she jumped up from her seat, “That’s it! To find an anomaly, you gotta speak to an anomaly!”

“Wha- What in Equestria are you on about?” Sunspot quizzed.

“Thank you for your time, Miss Blaze, but I just hit a crack in the case!”

“I’m… Glad I could be of assistance?” And with that, Luster Dawn rushed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Sunspot Blaze for her part took a sip of her tea, “Oh Moonshadow… Justice will be brought forth, and you will have peace.”