Sanguine Joy

Chapter 6: Old Mare’s Tale

It was quite warm, for an autumn night, with a soft breeze ruffling Pinkie’s straight hair. She was returning from the café this late, because the whole meeting took longer than anypony had expected. Pinkie Pie would describe the whole thing as a great success with lots of fun, however, the voice, who was in control throughout the whole ordeal, would describe it as boring, awkward and a waste of time. She walked towards the bakery, while the street lamps bathed the road in light in the moonless night.

Alright, let me back in control.

So you can blab out everything? I don’t think so. It was a nice try– oh, wait, it wasn’t. This was poor even for you.

Pinkie rolled her eyes as she turned a corner, laughing at the silliness of such a request.

I won’t tell them anything! You saw how scared they were – they would never accept me!

Nice to see that you finally realized something that I did ages ago. Still, I won’t give you your body back. Why should I? You’ll get it back eventually, but I might not be so fortunate.

She was now standing in front of Sugarcube Corner and started opening the door, slowly, so they didn’t creak. Her next waypoint was the Cake’s bedroom, where she crept silently.

What are you doing?

Visiting the buffet.

Smiling, she leaned over the sleeping body of Mr. Cake. His neck looked tender and juicy, just as always, so she licked her teeth at this tasty treat and bit down.

Stop! You are sucking too much! This will kill him! You are trying to kill him, stop!

Don’t worry, you milksop.

Pinkie continued sucking the blood out of Mr. Cake, who was getting paler and paler, until she stopped abruptly at the point, when Mr. Cake started panting.

He’s... He’s alive! You are not as bad as I thought, you let him live!

Well duh! Killing him would endanger my cover. But don’t get ahead of yourself – this was just an appetizer. Now is the time for the main thing, and I don’t want you disturbing me.

Before Pinkie had the time to realise what it meant, she was back in the black abyss again.

———

“Sir? Sir!” Greenleaf screamed as he barged into Scisco’s office. The owner was now looking at him from behind the newspaper with his brow up and putting his legs down from the mahogany table.

“What is it, Corporal? Can’t find the toilet?”

“No, sir, there was another attack!”

Scisco laid down the newspaper and fixed the Corporal with a stony glare.

“Where did it happen?”

“Right behind the barracks, sir. Sergeant Ignavus already sent some of his men there.”

Scisco opened the door and walked down the hall, calculating the shortest way towards the building in question.

“What is he thinking? Murders are solely in my jurisdiction; he has no business sending anyone anywhere!”

“Not this time, sir,” Greenleaf said, trying to keep up with detective’s brisk pace. “The victim was one of his men, so he has the same right to be there as we do.”

“A member of the guard was killed?”

The detective stopped suddenly and Greenleaf bumped into him. After shaking his head and giving the Corporal a disapproving look, Scisco turned around and went back to his office, where he started rummaging through his drawers.

“Um... Sir? What are you doing, sir?”

“If that bucker managed to kill a guard,” Scisco said, while continuing to rummage, “then I’m definitely not safe either. Therefore I’ll take a long, sharp knife and a little surprise with me. I suggest you do the same.”

Greenleaf stopped mid-nod and furrowed his brow. “Surprise, sir?”

“Yes, Corporal. A miniature model of crossbow I ‘borrowed’ from the archive, after catching the killer who invented it. Very practical and very deadly. Now, prepare yourself and lead me to the crime scene.”

“Right away, sir!”

———

They were standing in a bleak alley, blocking Scisco’s way: two burly guards, their muscles barely fitting into their own armour, staring in front of themselves without even batting an eye.

“Would you mind getting the hay out of my way?” Scisco said, giving them a wide smile.

“No civilians are allowed to enter the crime scene.”

The smile vanished, replaced by a scowl.

“Civilian? Do you know who I am, you stupid, ignorant clodhopper?”

“I know who you are, but it changes nothing. The Sergeant specifically told us not to let you in.”

“What? I have a decree from the Princess stating that...”

“...That you are to be given access to all the evidence. And you will be gained access to it,” the guard said, a smirk forming on his face. “...After we’ve gathered it.”

A pulsating vein appearing on Scisco’s forehead and neck, but before he had the opportunity to start another river of insults, Greenleaf spoke.

“Soldier, as your superior I order you to let us in!”

“I’m sorry, sir,” the guard replied in a completely different, polite, tone, “but that is directly against Sergeant’s orders, who is also your superior.”

“Fine. Then I order you to tell me why he prohibited our entrance. That is not against his orders, is it?”

“No, sir. He said: ‘I’ll be damned if that little gumshoe takes all the credit.’”

Scisco spat on the ground, centimetres from the guard’s hooves, and turned around.

“Come, Corporal. These morons have their heads so far up their own arses, that reason can’t even reach their ears. Just remember,” he yelled in the direction of the two guards, “that if anypony else dies, it is your fault for not letting us in there!”

He then snorted and walked back to his office.

———

You can do this, Rarity, there is nothing to be afraid of...

Rarity was standing atop a rooftop, looking down upon the street behind barracks. She, just like everyone else in Ponyville heard about what happened, and immediately decided to investigate on her own. The guards were clumsy buffoons, after all, and Rarity was praised for having great eye for detail. Surely there was no one better suited for the job than her, was there?

You should hurry. It will be dawn soon.

I know.

Rarity had been observing the guards for about an hour, waiting for the right moment. This was it – one of the guards went inside to get some cider while the other was already half asleep, squinting his eyes and leaning onto his spear.

It’s now or never!

Rarity jumped from roof to roof and from balcony to balcony, until she landed on the ground. Her jumping was completely silent – something she added to her growing list of new vampony skills.

Good. You got to your next victim: the guard. Since I know you don’t want to kill him, maybe you should hand your body over to me?

I am here to search for clues, not to kill another poor soul. But go ahead, and take it. You are welcome to try.

Rarity hid in the doorway of a nearby building, feeling a growing pain in her horn. It grew and grew and... nothing. The pain vanished.

What did you do?

When you vanished after I dealt with Berry, I went to Twilight’s and asked her for a spell to protect my mind. Poor girl thinks I’m paranoid now! You know what else is great? I can force you to be quiet if I want to, so behave yourself!

Rarity smiled, admiring her own genius. She moved closer to the body of the unfortunate guard, which was lying there with a white chalk outline around it. Rarity lowered towards the body, inspecting closely every last inch of it, but apart from two bite marks, found nothing.

I need more time! Is there some spell to put the guard to sleep? Something that won’t kill him? Don’t lie to me, or I will block you out of my mind forever!

Alright, alright, the spell is there, I’m sending it to your horn. And I expect some reward for this!

Like what?

Like letting me in control the next time you feed, so I have at least some pleasurable moment. But focus on the spell now, we’ll talk more about this later.

Just like last time, the spell was unusually easy. It was accompanied by a dark glow interwoven with red ‘veins’. It reached out to the guard from behind, entering him through his nose. The guard continued standing for about five seconds, and then collapsed on the ground, snoring. The same fate awaited his friend, who returned with a flask of cider in his hoof about a minute later.

Happy?

Yes, thank you very much. I’ll see what I can do about that ‘reward’ you asked for.

Rarity started snooping on the ground, looking under every rock and into every crack, until she, after half an hour spent searching, found what she was looking for: a short, yellow hair, caught in one of the little cracks. However, instead of a triumphant smile that any detective would wear after such a discovery, an angry scowl appeared.

This gets me nowhere! There are dozens of ponies with at least the cutiemark in yellow, not mentioning the ones with whole coat in it. I need a new approach...

She jumped back onto the roof and sneaked her way back into the boutique.

———

The first rays of the new day shone through the window onto Scisco. He had wanted to do some research – to send letters all around Equestria, inquiring about Sergeant Ignavus and any mention of corpses without blood being found. Cults, psychopaths, lunatics... he wanted to ask about all these things, but sleep overcame him before he could do so.

He shifted in his sleep, searching for a more comfortable position on his soft, wooden chair while his head lay on various documents, files and note-paper.

The whole idyll of the scene was shattered by a loud pounding on the door and Corporal Greenleaf barging in. “Detective Scisco! Detective Scisco!”

Scisco woke with a start, almost falling out of his chair. After finding balance, he shot Greenleaf a glare.

“Detective Scisco, there was another attack!”

Scisco no longer looked like somepony who was woken from a beautiful dream by some screaming idiot, now he looked like the detective he was: a detective with piercing eyes that can see into very very soul of a criminal. A detective with his jaw protruding forward, prepared to look into death’s eyes and ask ‘Did you see anything suspicious lately?’. A detective who had ink smeared over half of his face.

“Another attack? But there was one just a few hours ago!”

“I know, sir, but this one is different. Perhaps it would be best if you followed me to the scene, so you can see for yourself.”

Scisco reached for his coat and motioned Greenleaf to go. “Lead the way, Corporal.”

———

“What exactly do you mean by ‘different’, Corporal?” Scisco asked as they walked towards their destination through the morning fog.

“Well, sir, the cases we had so far were rather... clean. Even the first one was just a slashed throat – a quick and clean job, just one wound and that’s it.”

“So, I assume that this wasn’t the case?”

“It’s better if you can see it for yourself, sir.”

Scisco nodded and quickened his pace.

“Here we are, sir,” Greenleaf said after they turned the corner right next to the town hall.

The victim was a pegasus mare with a medium-purple coat, a shooting star cutie mark and a light-blue, spiky mane. Her belly was open and her guts strewn all around the dusty road, forming morbid symbols and strange letters, all arranged in a circle around the body. Strangely, there wasn’t even a drop of blood anywhere, even though the usual bite marks on the neck weren’t present this time.

“By Celestia, this smell is unbearable! Who is the unfortunate mare?” Scisco said, as he pulled out a hoofkerchief, and pressed it against his nostrils, unsuccessfully trying to block out the smell of decay, urine and feces.

“Cloudchaser, sir. She worked at the Cloudsdale weather factory.”

“And she’s a pegasus.” Scisco sighed and frowned. “So far I hoped that the killer will target only earth-ponies – that would narrow it down quite a bit, but it seems that there is no racial motive after all. Any ideas, Corporal?”

“There are rumours among the men that a vampony is doing this, sir.”

Scisco started laughing, but when he saw the blank expression on Greenleaf’s face, he scowled. “A vampony? Don’t be ridiculous, Corporal! We are not catching old mare’s tales here!”

“Actually, sir, there was a confirmed attack of a vampony ten years back in the outskirts of Manehattan. It was considered to have been a result of some crazy magical experiment, so it was all classified in order not to give a bad example to some of the magic users.”

“So, what you are implying is that it was actually a remnant of some ancient species?” Scisco said, and started circling around Greenleaf, who was now biting his lip. “That there is some blood sucking creature of the night that suddenly appeared out of thin air, without anyone noticing, and went on some kind of rampage?”

Scisco’s sneer was wiped out of his face, after hearing Corporal’s response. “Yes, sir. That is exactly what I am implying.”

“Corporal, you better be joking, or I will have to find a new sidekick.”

“Sir, please consider that Ponyville is right next to the Everfree Forest, where things like manticores or hydras are common sightings. Things that were thought extinct, like parasprites, suddenly come out of it without any apparent reason. So hearing about vamponies really doesn’t seem that unreal to me.”

Scisco glared at Greenleaf while grinding his teeth, until he smirked. “You know what, Corporal? I will send out letters asking about cults, lunatics and the like, to see if there were any similar cases before, and until I get the response, which might take some time, you are free to pursue this... avenue of research. Let me know when you finally realise that it’s just a load of nonsense.”

Scisco turned around and headed back into his office. “Oh, and have somepony decipher those symbols. They are bound to give us some sort of a clue about what we are dealing with,” he called out, disappearing in the fog.