The silence of the foals

An hour after the path was magically locked, the black portal faded to white again. That time only Luster crossed it. "Alright, doctor Canterlin!", she said before even getting close to Canterlin's cage.

Canterlin was training his abdominals on his bed "Thirty one. Thirty two...", he was counting. He briefly looked at the approaching alicorn then looked back at the ceiling. "One second! Thirty three. Thirty four. Thirty five. Alright!" He rolled over his body and got up from the bed. "Yes, filly Dawn? What is it now?" He exhaled a bit, exhausted from his workout.

Luster got close to the dividing crystal. She was staring at Canterlin. "Oh, sorry to bother you, sire!" She said in a mocking tone. Then, she cleared her throat. "Will you finally hear me out?" She had already sat on the floor, and, with her magic, was wiping her round glasses with a cloth she had got from one of her saddlebags. She exchanged glances between Canterlin and the object.

Canterlin smiled, standing only on his hinds. With a hoof, he rubbed his belly. "Well, since exercise clears my mind, I guess we could give it a shot". He approached the crystal. "You mentioned something about a criminal..., uh..., proof or profile?"

Luster's eyes opened wide. She put the cloth back to her saddlebag and put her glasses on. "Yes! A criminal profile!" She got up from the floor. She got closer to Canterlin. Her eyes locked with Canterlin's. Her mouth was slightly open, and she breathed through it.

"Oh, okay, commissar. This time, I'm really all ears". His ears perked up and pointed at Luster.

Luster inhaled. "You may not be aware of what's going on outside. But let me tell you, it's not pretty. Not when you have members of the same species..." She emphasized those two words. "...Killing each other when they are supposed to be protecting each other in these times of war". She took a seconds long pause after that. Canterlin had closed his eyes, still standing on his back legs. He smirked slightly. He nodded and Luster continued. "Alright. So, we have a case far away in Fillydelphia. We believe there's a lone serial killer. The case's name: the Fillydelphian". Canterlin opened his eyes after Luster finished speaking and looked at her.

"How are you so sure he or she is a lone one?" Canterlin asked, looking at Luster. He still rubbed his belly from time to time.

Luster sighed. "We hope he is. And I use the pronoun he because we believe he's a stallion. A unicorn one".

"Why do you assume that? Why do you even assume he's a pony at all?"

Luster hit the floor with a forehoof. "Let me get to that, Celestia dammit! You are making things more confusing if you keep questioning everything I say!" She sighed, looking down. Then she looked up at Canterlin. "I'm going to tell you everything I know about this case. Just hear me out, okay?"

Canterlin nodded. He ran a forehoof from one corner of his mouth to the other.

Luster exhaled and inhaled deeply. She took a look at the vents in the ceiling. They looked like they could be like the ones on a factory. They were of a beige metal. Then, her eyes fell on the painting inside Canterlin's room. It was the picture of a high castle on a mountain, surrounded by dozens of pine trees. The artist's signature was the one of Fleud Tahler. Then, her eyes fell back on Canterlin's. "Okay, here I go again". She cleared her throat. "So, in Fillydelphia there's a pony serial killer. And yes he is a pony that kills ponies. He's a unicorn, to be more specific. To make things clear, we know all of this thanks to the few witnesses that had a few seconds long encounter with him. And also, we are sure he's a male because he raped some of his female victims".

Canterlin had stepped back and sat on his bed. He kept looking at Luster. "Got it", he simply said.

Luster coughed once, and wiped her muzzle with the cloth from her saddlebag. She looked at Canterlin's beautiful sheets of his bed, and then back at him. "We believe he's a lone wolf because of his modus operandi. He commits his crimes mostly at night. He leaves the victims on the place he found them. But, if he acts during daylight, he first foalnaps the victim and then kills them in secluded places like abandoned stables or down the sewers". Luster took a breath and sat on the floor.

Canterlin lay in his bed. Looking at the ceiling, he spoke. "Who are his targets?"

With a forehoof, Luster softly rubbed her muzzle. "Well..., uhm..., one second..., if I remember correctly, my agents told me that his victims..."

Canterlin jumped out of the bed. He rushed to the crystal and put his front hooves on it. His eyes were wide open. "Don't you tell me you haven't even been there yourself!"

Luster's lower lip trembled for a second. "Uh, no. I haven't been there for like half a year". She pawed the floor with a forehoof once. "So what?"

Canterlin lowered his head, shaking it. He looked at the floor. "You don't seem to understand. In order to catch a wolf, you gotta go and enter his cave. Otherwise, your efforts to get him are useless. It's as simple as that".

Luster snorted. She tilted her head to a side. "Yeah, right. And then you're gonna tell me that it was a local of Canterlot who caught you".

Canterlin looked Luster in the eyes. He raised his head. He took his forehooves off the crystal, and stood on his hinds. "I'm actually from Ungulate Kingdom. But I've lived in Canterlot since I got accepted in the School for Gifted Unicorns".

"Wow, thanks for telling me something I don't care about. At all", Luster said.

Canterlin grinned. "Do you know who was the pony that brought me to justice?"

"Uh, I don't have time to remember that. Besides, that was like what, a decade ago?"

"Well, just for your knowledge: He is or was a private detective, originally from Vanhoover. Although he worked here in Canterlot. I helped him with criminal psychology", Canterlin said.

"So?" Luster raised a foreleg, shaking it back and forth.

Canterlin sighed and facehoofed. "Don't you get it, filly Dawn?! Vanhoover is next to Ungulate Kingdom. Let's call that my secondary wolf's cave. But he, just like I did, was living for years in Canterlot, my main wolf's cave. Do you get it now!?"

Luster stood up and approached the crystal wall. Her face was less than half a leg away from Canterlin's. She gulped. "So, are you suggesting me to go to Fillydelphia? To the wolf's den?"

Canterlin nodded once. "Come back when you've been there for atleast a day".