Author's Note

Warning: There will be a point in this story that will both be triggering and graphic to read. Viewer discretion is advised.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter. If you do, then comment, like, follow and favorite. Have a nice day, everyone.

Chapter 2: The Investigation Begins

-/-Sprout Cloverleaf-/-

“What the heck is going here?” He said quietly, walking back to work to get back on his shift.

Sprout wondered where every pony was heading off too. After seeing those three fillies run past him, looking terrified as all hell, that’s when a lot of ponies started to walk off somewhere in a big group.

However, what REALLY stood out to him, was Hitch and Zipp leading the way. He wanted to know where they all were going. It must be pretty serious.

He also looked on with envy. It was pretty clear that Zipp had replaced him as Hitch’s deputy. He had heard about all the gadgets and technology shit that she had, and how skilled at finding things she was. She certainly was a worthy one to replace him.

What was worse about this whole thing, was he couldn’t do a thing about it. He knew Hitch didn’t like him anymore. Neither did Sunny, seeing as how he destroyed her old home, which had memories of her father, whom he knew she loved and missed very much. He ESPECIALLY knew Zipp didn’t like him either. He saw that look she gave him not too long ago when they passed each other on the street. He didn’t know about Pipp, but she had to have not liked him either.

Izzy, well, he knew she didn’t like him now after his little outburst at her 2 weeks ago. He ruined a good chance at having a friend, instead of being alone. Hell, even if his mother did love him and was kind enough to give him a job at her factory, she was barely around anymore. Always taking business trips out of town to Bridlewood or Zephyr Heights. She was even on one of those trips right now. Wouldn’t be back until next week.

He was alone. Isolated. Friendless. And worst of all: It was his own fault.

And he would NEVER let ANYPONY see that it got to him. That’s what both Phyllis and his father, Bright Cloverleaf(before he passed away of a random brain aneurysm when Sprout was but an 8 year old colt; what a day that was), had taught him all his life. If somepony is giving you shit, friendly or maliciously, NEVER let them see that they get to you. Just let it go and ignore it.

That’s what he’s done all his life, and that’s what he’s gonna do now. If his new coworkers treat him like shit, call him names(behind his back or to his face), or try to fuck with him on the job, then he’d bottle it all up. Keep it inside.

He also wasn’t gonna snitch either. That’d make ponies hate him more. So, just deal with it.

As he approached his mother’s factory, he put his hard hat back on his head, and proceeded to finish his shift for the day.

-/-Maretime Bay Beach-/-

Hitch was the Sheriff of Maretime Bay. Had been for a while now. And by all accounts, he was a damn good one. Everypony would agree to that. Not to mention, one of the five heroes of Equestria to bring magic back. Also, helping in uniting the pony races was one of the things that made Hitch a hero.

But, what truly made Hitch a great Sheriff, was that he would always be there for anypony in need. Whether it be a thief stealing something from somepony, a missing foal, or even a small complaint about too much noise in an apartment complex, he would take it and help out to the best of his abilities. Because he LOVED it. He truly loved being the Sheriff of Maretime Bay.

However, even the Sheriff of Maretime Bay had not done things like this. Yeah, he helped save Sunny and his friends from his ex-deputy, Sprout Cloverleaf, and his giant machine of doom. But, despite the wreckage of Sunny’s lighthouse, no pony was ACTUALLY hurt or even died.

Here, a young mare was found dead. On the beach, one of the most attractive tour spots in all of Maretime Bay.

Murdered.

As he heard Zipp Storm vomit a few feet away from him, as well as every pony who followed them down to the beach watched from a distance(Hitch told them to stay back, as this was now a crime scene), all Hitch could do was just stare. Stare down at the victim.

He had NEVER done anything like this before. He had never solved a homicide investigation. This truly was a first time in the life of the Sheriff of Maretime Bay.

Now, on one hoof, Hitch felt, somewhat ashamedly, very excited. Deep down, there was a part of him that always wanted to solve bigger cases then the small stuff he had been doing for a while now. He remembered all the crime dramas, which did contain murder, rape, foal molestation, and all sorts of heinous, unforgivable crimes, that he watched growing up with Sunny and Sprout. Watching said crime dramas, he knew INSTANTLY that that was what he wanted to be. And he did.

However, on the other hoof, he also thought of the victims here. He hadn’t started on her yet, and therefore didn’t have an ID to identify her. But, as he looked down at this mare, he started to feel a lot of things.

Sympathy for Glory, Seashell and Peach Fizz for finding this horrible discovery, and at such a young age. No pony that age should be witnessed to something like this. They may have lost a part of their innocence today.

Sadness for the victim. This poor mare, who looked fairly young, about 23 years old, had her life taken away from her by some evil, psychopathic creature. Why was anypony’s guess right now, but Hitch felt it just gave the suspect a sick, twisted pleasure. An excitement. This mare was too young to die.

Anger for the suspect. What did this mare do to make whoever did this brutalize her to this extent? What did she do to deserve this? What kind of heartless pony could do this to another pony?

Hitch closed his eyes and took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down a little bit. He was successful in not losing his lunch. Or his breakfast either.

He looked back down at the mare and started to get to work. The mare laying on her right side. He gently moved her on her back.

He had gloves on and his chemistry kit in a bag he always carried around. The first thing he noticed was there were hoof marks on the mares neck. Big ones at that. Was she strangled to death by a pony’s bare hooves? Was that the cause of death?

Next, he looked at her face. Her left eye was swollen shut. Her nose appeared to be broken. There were even some bruises on her ears as well.

It was very clear to Hitch that this was a sign of pure, unadulterated rage. Whoever did this, showed ABSOLUTELY no mercy on this poor mare.

He then noticed a small red line near her muzzle. It looked like dried blood. Now he felt he really would throw up. Because he knew he had to do it.

Slowly and gently, he proceeded to pry the mare’s mouth open with his gloved hooves. The smell of decay, which wasn’t that long, permeated out of her mouth and went through Hitch’s nostrils.

The smell was unbearable. But, he wouldn’t throw up. He refused to throw up.

Don’t throw up, Hitch. Don’t throw up. Whatever you do, don’t throw up. Come on, Man.

He was yelling at himself in his head. He was starting to feel his lunch come up. He tried so hard to keep it down.

“You okay, Hitch?” He heard a voice ask him, turning his head toward that direction.

It was Zipp. She looked nauseous. There was still a look of uncomfortableness in the way she looked. She shivered a little from the vomiting earlier.

All of a sudden, Hitch didn’t feel like he had to throw up anymore. He was able to keep his lunch down, thanks to Zipp’s interruption.

Hitch gave her a sad look. “I should be asking you that.”

“I’ll be okay. I’ve just…never seen a dead body before. It’s my first time, ya know.” She said, looking away from the dead mare in discomfort.

“I know.” Hitch said. “Mine too.”

The two smiled a warm smile at each other for a brief second before Hitch continued to get back to the mare.

He looked back into her mouth. He saw there was blood and fur in it. And a huge chunk of fur at that. However, what surprised Hitch about the fur was that it wasn’t the same color as the mare’s coat.

This mare was an earth pony, who had a light yellow coat and a dark purple mane. The fur in this mare’s mouth was red. A darker shade of red.

“The mare bit the pony who attacked and killed her. She bit him HARD.” Hitch said, emphasizing the hard part.

Zipp shivered. “At least she went out fighting, right?”

“Yeah.” Hitch muttered. He closed her mouth.

He looked over her torso area. There only appeared to be one huge hoof mark near her stomach. The do’er punched the mare in the stomach. Possibly to cut her off if she started it fight back.

He tilted her on her left side to look at her back. There did appear to be markings there too. Thought, these weren’t hoof marks. They looked more so like marks from being pinned up against something. Like a stove or a wall.

“The suspect had her pinned against something.” Hitch said.

Before he could lower her back down, he heard Zipp gasp, and then let out a whimper.

Now THAT surprised him. In all the times he’s known Zipp Storm, she was always so brave, brash, fearless and ready to take on anything. So, hearing this was out of the norm for him.

He turned back to face her. “Zipp, what’s wrong?”

“I just saw some blood drip down her legs when you tilted her.” She said, with fear in her voice.

Hitch couldn’t say anything. Blood near her legs? That means….

Oh no.

“Zipp, maybe you should look away. I’ll look.” He told her, trying to console her as well.

She couldn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say in this instance. What was she even supposed to say?

Hitch took another deep breath. He went toward her legs. He REALLY didn’t want to check there. But he had too.

So, he slowly, but surely, opened her legs. Revealing her marehood.

“Oh God!” Hitch loudly exclaimed, horrified at the sight he saw.

Before he was able to keep his lunch down, pretty well. But now, after seeing this awful discovery, he couldn’t anymore. Hitch then walked a few steps away and proceeded to lose his lunch.

While he was doing that, Zipp decided she NEEDED to see. She just had to. She knew it must be that bad, due to Hitch’s reaction, but it had to be done.

So, she walked over to the open legs and looked at the marehood. And when she did, she didn’t lose her lunch, but she started to openly cry. Just weep at what this poor mare had went through, before she was finished off.

The victim’s marehood was cut to ribbons. Viscous stab wounds all over. The wounds hadn’t exactly closed, even with most of the blood around her legs were now dry. Her marehood still bled.

It was as clear as day to both Hitch and Zipp: This mare was raped with a knife.

Both Zipp and Hitch walked up the beach and back into the town square. Where every pony was waiting for them. Hitch had called for the ME’s to take the mares body and bring it to the morgue for any DNA testing. Hopefully, they find something soon. As well, hopefully they could find an ID to find out the poor mares name.

Hitch walked with huge discomfort after losing his lunch, like he did NOT want to do, while Zipp still had tears in her eyes, wiping them away. Though, anypony could tell she had just gotten done crying, with her puffy cheeks, stuffy nose, and red eyes.

As they made it back into town, every pony who followed them earlier and were told to stay back, had came up to them and bombarded them with questions. Asking what was found, who the mare was, things like that. It was like they were reporters without cameras.

While all that was going on, Zipp looked over at a nearby picnic table where her younger sister and her fans, her Pippsqueaks, were sitting at. Though, there wasn’t any giggles or happiness or excitement on the three fillies’ faces. They all still looked as terrified as ever when they told them about their discovery.

As Zipp walked over toward them, it was then that Pipp looked over at her older sister as well. She saw the look on Zipp’s face. She was shocked. She had not seen her like that in a long time. Not since their father’s funeral back when they were just little fillies. The same age as her little Pippsqueaks.

She got up and, with a very concerned tone in her voice, asked Zipp, “Hey, are you okay? What happened? What’s going on?”

Zipp thought her crying fit was over when they left the dead mare. But, hearing her baby sister sound THIS concerned and worried about her, she couldn’t hold back again.

She grabbed her sister and hugged her. Hugged her tight, and just bawled. Bawled her eyes out.

Pipp was again surprised at Zipp’s outburst. Again, not since their father’s funeral has she seen Zipp cry this much. It was almost unsettling. What had she seen to make her act like this?

But, she gave in and comfortingly wrapped her forelegs around her big sis.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Pipp softly and quietly said, consoling Zipp as best she could. All Zipp could do was just cry.

Pipp didn’t see her Pippsqueaks, because her back was turned, but the three fillies stared to cry again too.

Hitch witnessed all of what he just saw. Seeing Zipp break down in tears was just gut wrenching. Heartbreaking. Even the residents of Maretime Bay looked on in sympathy, some with tears in their eyes as well, as they looked on at the Royal Sisters hugging each other, while one cried her eyes out.

At that moment, he knew that Maretime Bay wasn’t gonna be the same again for the next while. Hell, Maretime Bay may never be the same again. And he was just getting started on this case.