“Investigator from Canterlot coming through!”
The apartment was blocked by yellow tape and guarded by a large earth pony stallion dressed in an officer uniform and hat. The security guard was to keep away all civilians and unauthorized personnel. Yet he moved aside for the investigator with a nod. Behind the guard was a thick plastic drape that blocked the view into the apartment. Rough shapes moved on the other side of the drapes and a constant stream of words and murmurs came from the other side. The investigator took a sip from his coffee and rolled his neck with a pained groan. He then inhaled deeply before he pushed through the drapes and entered the apartment.
The area stank of death and blood. His blue eyes slowly drifted from the bloody knife on the floor to the body slumped against the living room wall. A frown sprouted from his lips but he did not rear back or look at the body with fear. Blood was smeared across the floor and above the body, something was written in blood. He took a few steps into the apartment to read what it said and was surprised to see it was written in Shamballa. The bloody letters simply read: ‘Neihkor’. Two mares dressed in white scrubs were examining the letters and they looked over the body. They both looked like they wanted to puke. There were so many stab wounds in the victim's torso and abdomen his guts were spilled out on the floor.
The forensics expert’s eyes slid from the body to the small yellow signs which were placed around the apartment. Each one bore a different number and signified an item of interest that could be connected to the crime scene. One sign was next to a bag of white powder on the living room table and another on a black lace sock which was thrown across the couch. His eyes turned from their pale blue to brilliant gold and he could now see the magic whisps and particles which swirled around the objects. The shatterpoints were everywhere, but they tore into the fabric of reality the most around the evidence. They twisted and pulled on the tears in time and space, some lashed out like angry vipers while others curled up and shrieked in pain. Each bore sounds of the night that had transpired. Moans, screams, laughs, blood splattered across the floor, angry yells, and sounds of steel buried in flesh. It made him scrunch up his snout.
“So you’re Nova then? Didn’t imagine you’d be so young or that you’d be dressed in that old-fashioned get-up,” a female voice said behind him.
Nova turned around and looked at a middle-aged pegasus mare. She held a red mane tied into a ponytail and she had dark rings underneath her wrinkled red eyes. Her light yellow coat was covered by a black trench coat and a chain around her neck bore a golden badge that had the MHPD rearing stallion and the golden sun grafted onto it.
“I graduated with top marks and with the approval of Princess Celestia herself if you are worried about my qualifications. Furthermore, a proper mage of the academy always wears his robes, whether or not he is in the private or public sector. I expect that your forensics mages will understand my dedication to that,” Nova said.
The stallion was in his early twenties, though he was still taller than most stallions twice his age. He stood half a head taller than the detective and his long white horn appeared more like a weapon than an instrument of spellcasting. Nova’s coat was pearly white yet most of it was hidden behind his long white cape which covered his entire body. The stallion’s golden mane was tied into a braid that ran down the side of his head and his blue eyes stared intensely at the crime scene. He normally looked magnificent. Though the dark circles underneath his eyes and the coffee cup which hovered next to his face killed the sense of awe.
“Aye aye. I am sure they’ll happily get dressed in those uncomfortable things for your sake. But jokes aside, we have a crime scene to investigate. I am detective Deep Dive, and I will walk you through what we have so far,” the mare said and lead him to the body.
"Deep Dive? I assume you are good with details then."
"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't."
Nova stopped on the other side of the corpse and leaned in to examine it. The corpse has a blue coat, black mane, and a cutie mark of a podium. He had been given a brief run-down of the situation before he had been sent to Manehattan. The victim was a politician, one by the name of Smooth Talker. The dead stallion had been in the process of running for office, and the popularity polls had heavily favored him. Nova did not know much about the victim's policies or political affiliations, however. He was not that well versed in Manehattan politics.
“Smooth Talker ran for the post of Manehattan mayor. He was well-liked among the liberals and promised more rights for the minorities who live in the city, specifically the minority group of Tarzin zebras that live by the north side of the city. The conservatives were not fans, but they still respected him. The stallion had a way with words. One of the other tenants heard a commotion from this apartment and found the door opened when they came to investigate. They didn’t see who did it,” detective Dive said and grimaced at the smell from the corpse.
Nova stood back up and looked at the bloody letters that were written above the victim on the wall. “Are we assuming it was politically motivated?”
“That was the first theory. He had faced death threats in the past, but so do most politicians. But it is not impossible some angry loner wanted to get rid of the opposition and assaulted him here. But it doesn’t correlate with the evidence. There are no signs of forced entry and the victim shows signs that he was affected by euphoria powder before his death. Also, there is the lingerie and bedroom...”
“What are the signs that he was on euphoria?”
“Wide pupils and black saliva, and the bag of the stuff on the table. If he had been alive he would have had a hard time seeing or hearing. He would likely be lost in his own fantasy world as well.”
Nova nodded and hummed. “Do we know where the fight started?”
“No. So far we have no clear signs of where the fight broke out. One forensics expert thinks it may have been the bedroom due to the lingerie and that it was clearly used before the murder,” Deep Dive said and backed away from the corpse.
“And the bloody letters above the body?”
The mare shrugged. “I don’t know Shamballa, but it is the language used by the zebras here in Manehattan. Maybe it is an insult for his promises to secure more rights for Tarzin zebras in the city.”
Nova nodded and looked over the body a final time before he moved onto the knife. “But from who...”
The unicorn’s eyes glowed a bright gold and he touched the knife. Nova gagged as he was overcome with feelings of anger, hatred, alcohol, and disgust. For a second there was no sunlight in the apartment and he looked down at Smooth Talker. The stallion was still alive but he bled heavily. The politician moaned in pain and stumbled away. In Nova’s hoof, he held a knife. Nova set after the stallion and slammed him into the wall. The knife stabbed into the politician who cried out until he no longer moved. Yet the hoof continued to stab. Nova felt bile in the back of his throat as he felt a shiver of lust and satisfaction run through his body. The killer had enjoyed the politician's death, that much was clear.
“What in Tartarus are you doing with the evidence!?” detective Deep demanded and got right up into his face with a growl.
Nova blinked as he was broken out of the trance and he looked to the mare. A look of realization swept across his face and he took a sip from his coffee with a sigh. "I apologize, detective. I took the night train on Celestia's orders to get here, and I did not get much sleep. Excuse my rash actions."
“You are tampering with the evidence! Do not think you can come in here and act carelessly because you are from the capital! It does not matter if you are tired or not, this is my crime scene and I will not tolerate such behavior from my subordinates!” Deep Dive huffed.
Nova downed the rest of the coffee and yawned. “Once again, I apologize. I am not tampering, merely using my talents. Normally I inform the ponies in charge of my abilities before I arrive, but I was rushed out here to complete this investigation as quickly as possible. What you need to know is that all items are connected to people one way or another, and moments like these, when there are powerful emotions involved, are extra susceptible to leave a mark. I am… reading the history of these items if you will. Or rather I am seeing through the eyes of the last person who used them.”
“And you need to touch evidence to do so?” the detective looked at him with a frown and eyes the room, “Can you not just do it from a distance?”
“To view the moment in time I need to touch the item. Now mind you my testimony is not what is used in the courts, since I could lie, but the evidence I do find will be added with the rest. I am merely trying to figure out who killed him and why.”
“...Fine. Let the others take unsullied samples before you touch anything else though, is that clear?”
Nova nodded. “Very.”
The white unicorn waited for the forensics team to take samples of the blood, properly document the rooms, and examine the body closely before he went around to do his own investigation. He touched the remnants of the white powder on the living room table and suddenly he was the dead politician. He saw through Smooth’s eyes as he basically slammed his snout into the powder and snorted it as deep as it would go. Lust, anticipation, and arousal over how taboo it all was coursed through his- No, not his, Smooth Talker’s veins. Nova heard a feminine giggle from his left and a glass of brandy was put down on the table. Before the vision faded he felt a hoof run down his stomach and Nova shook his head.
“So how does it work? I have never seen magic like that before,” the detective leaned against a wall and she watched him intensely.
Nova walked around the couch and examined the lace stocking which had been haphazardly thrown over its backrest. “I have been able to do it since I was a colt. I could pick up a pencil my sister had used and suddenly I found myself sitting in a class for advanced theoretical magic. I am not certain how it works, but I can read history by touching items that hold a significant impact on someone. Sometimes I am also able to read people's histories the same way. It can be invaluable during investigations, though it is often limited in its scope. It is hard to see other people unless they are intimately connected to the memory. I picked up my brother’s comic once and I found myself in a memory where he is being chastised for something or another by our mother, but I can’t make out her face and her words are all scrambled. My brother did not really care for her words at the time and so the focus is put on the comic, not our mom or her words.”
"Must be useful to solve cold cases. They have plenty of those backed up both in the capital and here," she said.
"No, not very. The items become..." Nova picked up the stocking and examined it closely, "My father called things like them rifts, but I call them shatterpoints. They can stay for days after the event has taken place, but they do eventually fade. Sadly I can't solve murders that occurred hundreds of years ago. Trust me I have tried on orders by Celestia herself."
The detective nodded. “And what have you gotten so far from these 'shatterpoints'?”
“That our politician lived up to his name. He indeed had a lady friend here the night when he died, one he felt particularly excited about. I am going to learn more now,” he said and concentrated on the tear around the stocking, which promoted his eyes to glow again.
Nova found himself on his back. He looked down to see Smooth Talker above him like a giant pine in the woods. Nova could see that the body he looked through had the black and white stripes of a zebra, and was indeed female. Fear, anticipation, conviction, and lust coursed through her as the politician grabbed a hold of a stocking that covered her back leg and slowly pulled it off with a grin. Yet she held up a hoof to stop him.
“B-Bits first...” came the mumbled request. The voice was indeed that of the zebra female as Nova heard it was feminine, held a Tehnsian accent, and it carried an innocent and scared tone.
“Of course,” Smooth Talker said and grabbed a wallet. The politician quickly pulled out a checkbook and quickly signed one of the many checks inside. Smooth Talker handed the check to her with a grin.
Dedication and resolution ran through her body as she saw the check which read ‘700 bits’.
Nova shook his head as the vision faded and looked towards the table. He noted the wallet was not there. He looked under the couch and sure enough, he magically pulled out the wallet. Deep Dive walked up to his side with interest and saw as he pulled out the small checkbook from the wallet and placed it on the table. It was clear the politician had used it to pay for most things in the city since it was well used.
“He paid her for her… services. She was an escort, a zebra escort. He gave her a check for seven hundred bits, so this was not just some street corner whore. She must have been very beautiful or he was just very desperate for some zebra flank,” Nova said.
Detective Dive snorted. “Fucking degenerate. Promises better rights and better working conditions for zebras during the day and funds zebra prostitution by night. You can never trust politicians it seems.”
“You did before this?” Nova said and walked over to the bedroom.
Inside the bedroom, there was plenty of lingerie on the bed and floor. The scent of sweat and nightly activities clung to the bedroom almost as much as the scent of blood clung to the living room. Nova grimaced as he approached the bed and the detective eyed him with amusement.
“I am certain it doesn’t carry diseases. They rent the apartments on a day-by-day basis here, like a hotel, so they clean often,” she said with a smirk.
Nova just grunted in response. “Yeah, thanks.”
As his hoof touched the sheets his eyes glowed golden once more and he found himself on top of the zebra mare. He whinnied and thrust into her while moaning her name. Alicia, Alicia. It wasn’t her real name, but he didn’t care. He molded her after him, only his cock would satisfy the zebra bitch once he was done with her. His pants grew labored and he shook his head in desperation. He wanted to enjoy her a bit longer. But he felt himself grow close. His groans grew in intensity and he began to pull out, only for her legs to wrap around him. He moaned as he sunk into her warm flesh once more and his legs shook from exhaustion as he tried not to blow. He had paid for unprotected sex, he had wanted to sink his member directly into her wet folds, but he couldn’t risk going all the way. Yet she did not give him a choice. It was with a desperate cry he unloaded rope after rope inside her and he collapsed on top of Alicia. He panted but soon his satisfaction turned to anger and he growled at the zebra mare beneath him.
The mare gasped for air and the moonlight showed her face. Long locks flowed down the sides of her head and she had a fractured moon tattooed on her forehead. A noticeable scar could also be seen on her left cheek. She was stunningly beautiful, and he felt such anger in his chest he wished to melt it all away.
“What did you do?” he hissed to her.
She collected her breath before she answered. “I want you to break your promise to the Tarzin tribe that lives in the city. You will not implement the law which gives them the full legal right to practice their faith and protection from prosecution. You will also give me thirty-thousand bits. I drank a fertility potion before our meeting, and I know this will make me pregnant.”
He snorted at her words and slapped her across the face. She shrieked in pain and he leaned in close. ”You think you can blackmail me, bitch? Who do you think they’ll believe, me or some whore from the street? Nothing you can say will stop me from winning this election. And I will give them those rights. I have been promised their chief’s daughter if I do. So you can go back to that dirty slum you call home and tell the rest of your tribe that I couldn’t give less of a fuck for your threats!”
The mare glared up at him with tears in her eyes. “You’re disgusting...”
“So are you. Get the fuck out of my apartment.”
The mare stood up and went to grab her lingerie, but he stopped her and shoved her out into the living room. “No, those stay with me.”
Nova shook his head in disgust and stepped away from the bed as the vision ended. He rubbed his forehead and looked at the detective. “She tried to blackmail him. He wasn’t wearing protection and she didn’t let him pull out. Revealed she had taken a fertility potion and threatened to tell everyone unless he broke his election promise to the Tarzin zebras in the city. She also wanted more money. She had a… broken moon tattooed on her forehead and a scar on her left cheek.”
“So that’s what this is about… The Ilmar tribe is at it again. I should have seen it coming, after all, that was Shambala written on the wall. The Tarzin and Ilmar have always been in conflict, especially back home. Ethnic and religious tensions. Their whole country fell apart because of it. First, the Ilmar arrived and joined the already prospering community of their fellow peers who had made the journey to Eqsutria a decade prior. Much later Tarzin refugees arrived, and there has been violence ever since. Smooth Talker’s promise of giving the Tarzin equal right to the Ilmar would have solved many issues around protecting them, but with him dead… By Celestia this is complicated. But I think I know how he died now,” Deep Dive said and walked out into the living room.
“Me too...” Nova mumbled and walked out after her.
The white unicorn walked over to the kitchen doorway and noticed blood on it. He touched it and saw a final vision. He was once more Smooth Talker and he felt the drugs kick in. He laughed at the angry zebra mare and insulted her family and her people. He laughed as she ran into the kitchen and he laughed even harder when she slammed him against the kitchen doorway. The laughter died down and was replaced by a sharp pain in his side as the mare slid the knife into his stomach. He stumbled back as she stabbed him two more times. He began to crawl and moaned in pain.
Nova opened his eyes. “He tried to get away, but the drugs robbed him of his reason and motor functions. He crawled to the wall and begged, but she just continued. Even after he died she continued to stab him. She wrote what I assume is an insult on the wall and then took off running to not be caught.”
“But she will be. Alicia, even if it is just an alias, and a check for seven hundred bits from mayoral candidate Smooth Talker are good leads. Furthermore, you have seen her face, so you will be instrumental in finding her.”
Nova nodded and looked at the corpse. “This will only create more tension between those two groups, isn’t it?”
The detective grunted in response. “It will, and it will be a pain in the ass to handle. With Smooth Talker dead the second most popular candidate is going to win the seat. She happens to be a conservative mare who holds no love for the zebras in the city. I only see dark days ahead of us...”
Nova looked over the crime scene and nodded. “Agreed.”
Author's Note
This was an idea for a story that just popped up in my mind. To stop it from breeding more plot bunnies I wrote it down and left it as so. Thank you for reading.
