Investigation Files: Lady in Pink

“This... This just ain’t right.” Applejack said, slowly zipping up the evidence bag that now held the box Silver Spoon’s head was delivered in. I light my latest cigarette, the last in my pack while watching my superior struggle to maneuver the noggin of the late Silver Spoon into a separate bag. AJ said she didn’t want the head to get any more damaged than it was, out of respect for the girl who it used to belong to. But I could see she was lying, she didn’t want to touch the head any longer then she needed to. I felt the same way.

“Who...” Big Macintosh’s voice broke the few seconds of silence, “Who would do somethin’ like this? There hasn’t been a murder in Ponyville since-”

“Since the Cupcake Murders.” A new voice chimed in, a familiar voice to all of us. Twilight Sparkle stepped closer to the main desk of the small office, a hand over her mouth in shock. “I... It’s true then, what the papers are saying I mean.”

I nodded, “You shouldn’t be here Twilight, it’s not exactly a great sight for Celestia’s student to see.”

“She’s seen worse, Colt.” The sheriff said, her tired eyes glaring at me, “She can handle seein’ this.” And with that, AJ motioned for Twilight to come around to where she had placed the bag with the head in it. To me, it looked like the scholar almost fainted; however, she held herself up on the desk and shivered slightly instead. I was afraid for the girl, then again I had just met her. For all I knew, she was the toughest woman in this one horse town... And that’s when her shirt caught my eye. Purple fabric, a cotton/polyester blend by the look of it. Could Twilight have... No. I thought to myself, She doesn’t seem like the type who would just go insane and kill a teenager. Still... It’s better to stay on my toes.

I must’ve been out of it for at least a few minutes, because I never heard Twilight cast the spell she was using to examine Silver Spoon’s head. The scholar sighed and looked back at AJ and I, her hands still glowing with a light lavender aura. “It wasn’t magic, whoever did this isn’t a scholar.”

“You’re sayin’ this was done with some sorta saw?” Big Mac asked, cracking his knuckles nervously. It amazed me that a man so big, so muscular, could look so scared while cracking his knuckles.

“Couldn’t be Mac,” the sheriff replied, “cut’s too clean. We would at least see some sort of tearin’ in her muscles if it was a saw.” Applejack paused to sip her coffee, it had gone cold by now but it was the only solusos she had at the moment. “Plus, it looks like her spine was just... Pulled apart. See?” The boss pointed to the only vertebrate sticking out of the poor girl’s neck, and she was right. It looked like it was pulled free of the next disk, like how you’ld pull a Lego block off of another one. It was clean, smooth, and the slice through the neck was just like AJ had said.

I exhaled a small cloud of smoke just above Twilight’s silk, purple and violet hair. “The cut almost looks like it was made with a butcher knife. Not to mention, when we found it it had... Well, it was covered with cake icing.”

“You’re already thinking it too, ain’t ya Colt?” AJ asked, her arms crossed with a cold look on her face. “A copycat.” I nodded, which caused Applejack to sigh. The sheriff closed her eyes like she was praying to Luna for a good night’s sleep, a sleep that wouldn’t come anytime soon. “Ah’ve got no idea why anyone would want to bring these types of killin’s back into my town, but Ah’m not gonna let’em just waltz in here like a cat with a fresh bass. Mac!” AJ turned, just as Big Macintosh bolted up from his seat, “Get Diamond Tiara down here now, we need to know who was on Miss Spoon’s shit list. Twi, ya’ll go home. Colt’ll walk with ya, and Ah don’t wana here to ifs, ands, or buts about it. Ah’m catchin’ this son of a bitch before anyone else ends up like... Like Silver did.”

All I could do was nod, I didn’t want to leave my superior in that state but I wasn’t going to go against her. Mostly because, frankly she scared the crap out of me at this moment.

***

“Sorry about what happened back there,” Twilight said softly as we walked down the main street of Ponyville. “Applejack gets like that when she feels like her friends are threatened... Especially after what happened with, well you know.”

I smiled at her, “It’s ok, after my Canterlot training I’m used to other officers taking things a little personal.”

“A little personal?” The scholar said with a quick laugh, “Yeah, this is a ‘little’ personal.” Twilight looked off into the sky as we walked past the memorial wall that stood over the ruins of SugarCube Corner, not that I blame her. The farmer’s market was in full bloom that Sunday, the smell of vegetables, fruits, and flowers filled the air as we walked down the main street of Ponyville. I looked off to the side at one of the booths selling flowers... I wish I hadn’t. My mind suddenly filled with memories of a pink haired girl with a huge smile covering her face, the warmth of her hugs as she put her arms around me... The deep red color of the blood that stained the pink dress she wore when Wool and I found her. Images of the hundreds of skulls that lined the basement of SugarCube Corner pounded at my brain, I could hear the voices of each of those poor souls screaming at me.

“Let us free!” they called, their bleach white jaws unmoving as I shook. “Let us free!” Suddenly, the warm sunny day turned into a swirling black night sky with no stars. The stalls and road turned into a nearly pitch black basement, filled with inflated organs and dripping gore from the walls. I turned to Twilight, hoping this was all some sort of sick dream I was having... In place of the purple clothed scholar was a rainbow haired woman in a pair of cyan jogging pants. She was topless in every sense of the word, the skin on her chest and stomach torn away to reveal throbbing, bleeding muscle. Patches of bright green pus oozed out of deep cuts along her chest, and when she smiled a river of black blood flowed from her mouth like a waterfall.

“Are you ok?” the disgusting form of a half dead Rainbow Dash asked. My breathing was getting ragged and tight, my lungs felt like they were clamping shut as I watched the barely alive woman take a step towards me. Then, it all stopped. My breathing slowed and I could see the bright blue sky of Ponyville once more.

“Colt!” Twilight called, her voice echoing in my head, “Oh god, Colt are you ok?” I turned to face the worried scholar, my hand in hers as she looked deep into my eyes. Her own eyes were filled with fear and worry.

“I... I’m fine Twilight,” I said, lying, “Just a bad dream or something.” I looked around, and suddenly realized we were at the library. I was laying on Twilight’s bed with her on one side, and Spike on the other. Even if the kid hated me, he looked just as worried as his mentor.

“You almost passed out once we got onto Main Street,” the librarian continued, “You’re lucky that I could teleport us to the library in time. What happened?”

I bit my lip, not wanting to scare Twilight or her student, “Nothing... Like I said, it was just some bad dream or something.” I stood and walked down the stair, Twilight following me as Spike just stared at the two of us.

“Maybe you should sit down for a bit, I’ve got some tea in the kitchen that my friend Zecora made. It usually helps calm me down, so maybe-”

“Twilight,” I turned to face the girl, my voice a little gruffer than needed, “I’m fine. I’m just gonna head back to the station and help AJ with the interrogation. I promise I’ll be ok.”

“Colt...” that was the last word I heard from Twilight for a while. I closed the door on her and took a back alley back to the station. My head felt like a swarm of angry parasprites where devouring it in a frenzy, but I couldn’t let her know that. I felt like it would only hurt her more... For a detective, I’m a bit stupid when it comes to dealing with people. That was always Wool’s department, and since my old partner was gone it seemed like I couldn’t handle victims or friends to save my life. I stepped into the precinct doors, hoping that Twilight would forgive me somehow.

For the time being, I needed to stop this killer before any other people died.

***

As soon as I got to the interrogation room, Big Mac handed me a hot cup of coffee. I took a sip, and it felt like all my troubles has melted away with it’s sweet blend of bitter, black liquid and pure, fresh from the cow milk. “I didn’t know you could make a good cup of joe.” I said out loud, not meaning it to sound like an insult.

He didn’t take it as one, and the farmer/cop smiled slightly. “Just because Ah don’t touch the stuff, doesn’t mean Ah can’t make it for my sisters every so often.”

“True.” I added, my eyes now focused on the one way mirror that closed the interrogation room proper off from the observation room. Inside, Applejack was sitting across from Diamond Tiara. The younger woman was still wearing the short dress from the night before, my guess was that she went out to party after her father had forced her to come to the burning ruins of his store. Tiara glared at the sheriff, but AJ just seemed to shrug it off as she looked through the file her, Mac, and the CSI’s made for Silver Spoon’s case.

“So,” Applejack finally said, breaking the silence like a hammer through a pane of glass, “you expect me to believe that ya’ll don’t know anybody who would want ta burn down your daddy’s store?”

“Yes, I do.” Diamond spat back, her eyes an unbreaking glare, “You’re the sheriff, aren’t you supposed to be interrogating a witness or some-. Wait... You don’t think-”

“Don’t think what?” the sheriff asked, “Ah don’t think you’re tellin’ us the whole truth Tiara. Ah think you know who would do this, and Ah think you might’ve helped them.”

“Why the hell would I do that?!”

“Because of who died in that fire!” AJ slammed the file onto the table in front of the young woman and flung it open. Inside the file where coroner's reports, pictures of the scene, and a blown up picture of Silver Spoon’s head covered in cake icing in the pink SugarCube Corner box.

Mac and I could see Diamond Tiara’s eyes grow wide in fear, her hands trembling as she picked up the photo. “S... Silver...” she said softly, tears falling from her eyes as she sobbed silently. I had seen at least three cases of pure shock on a witness’ face befor this point, but it looked nothing like this. What Diamond Tiara was feeling at this point was pure sorrow, and that I had only seen once. It was six years ago, during the investigation into Case File # 9876650. I was interrogating someone very close to the last of Pinkamena’s victims, a Miss FLuttershy. I could see the sorrow of that day creep into the poor woman’s soul then, but I had never seen it like this. “... What do you want to know?” Tiara said, her voice as emotionless as it would be when she ordered a soda.

“Who had a grudge against Silver Spoon?” my superior asked.

“You already know their names...”

“Well then, re-educate me.”

It seemed like that was the straw that broke Tiara’s back. The young woman stood, her face inches from Applejack’s as she screamed her answer, “Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and motherfucking Scootaloo! The Cutie Mark Crusaders!” I turned to Macintosh to ask him what a cutie mark was, but his face... I didn’t need to spend a lot of time with Big Mac to see that he was a calm man, I could see that from last night’s drive to the scene. Even when he was frantically telling me about when had happened to Applejack that night, his eyes were clear and calm. Not to mention his driving was smooth, steady, like a man on his way to work. Now, however, Big Macintosh was gritting his teeth, his fists were balled up tight, and his eyes were set in a glare of pure hatred at the young woman yelling at his sister.

Sheriff Applejack stood, and calmly placed a pair of cuffs on Diamond Tiara’s wrists. I learned later that AJ had picked Diamond up on an underaged drinking charge, but I knew that wasn’t why Mac looked like he was ready to kill the girl. As my boss took Tiara to her cell, I could only make out one short, hate filled sentence that Mac whispered under his breath. “Ah’ll be damned if Ah let that little bitch talk about my sister that way again...”

Royalveil stared out the window of the train car his superior had called The Canyon. He had heard the story about Officer Caramel and ‘Queen’ Chrysalis so many times that he had lost count, and now there he was in the very car the story happened in. The veteran Canterlot officer sighed as his gaze moved to his left, at the rookie the commissioner had given him to work with. She was a good looking scholar girl, fresh out of Celestia’s school, apparently second in her class for defensive magic. But magic ain’t everything. Royalveil thought to himself.

“Hey, Royal?” the rookie asked, her hands clutching the yellow book tied to her hip. “Who is this prisoner anyway?”

“You honestly don’t know?” the older officer said with a laugh. Across from the two was a shackled prisoner, bound in a black straight jacket with her head covered in a hood. “That’s the crazy chick from Ponyville who cut up all those people, and turned them into cupcakes.”

“It wasn’t just cupcakes...” Pinkamena said calmly, as if she were on a long, boring car ride. Royalveil took advantage of her speaking by hitting her across the arm with his baton.

“Don’t fucking talk bitch!” the veteran officer said. Pinkamena just sat there, silent as a mouse in a church courtyard.

“You shouldn’t do that Royal,” the rookie scolded, “what if the chief finds out?”

“Like he’ll care. Listen rookie, we’re taking this dumb bitch to the Appleoosan Sanitarium, right?” Royalveil asked, his voice gruff and hardened as most older officers voices were.

“Yeah...”

“When have you ever heard of a prisoner goin’ there and gettin’ a good treatment. She’s lucky I don’t bend her over and hit her little ass like her daddy did!”

“My father didn’t beat me like that.” Pinkamena said, her head still hidden by the hood.

“I said shut up!” Royal lunged at his prisoner, one hand on his baton and the other grasping the bound woman’s throat. The older officer squeezed hard, biting his lip as a slight bulge began to form in his pants. After years of being a guard at the Dodge City women's correctional facility, Royalveil had gotten a sort of fetish for choking women... Especially helpless prisoners that he knew no one gave two shits about. Royal turned to his new partner and smiled, “You tell anyone about this rookie, and I’ll cut your neck wide open.” The older guard raised his weapon high, ready to bring it down on the hooded woman’s head hard.

However, Royal’s hand never moved from that position. Somehow, the hooded woman had gotten loose from her bonds, and her long, unkempt fingernails dug deep into the older guard’s neck. Slowly, blood began to drip out of Royalveil’s wounds and onto the black hood of Pinkamena Diane Pie. In some twisted way, Royalveil knew that this was always how it was going to end. Killed by a woman, he thought, how fucking ironic... Pinkamena’s nails then met each other as she ripped through the now dead officer’s throat, tearing it out like it was some growth on a piece of fruit. A loud, wet plop echoed through the car as she dropped what was left of the late Officer Royalveil, followed closely by the sound of teeth ripping through flesh. It was a sound that the rookie officer would never forget for the rest of her short life.

Slowly, like the rise of a curtain for the second act of a play, Pinkamena raised the rest of the hood off her face. Her long, pink hair looked slightly disheveled; however, her large, ocean blue eyes looked calm, relaxed, as if she was finishing a big meal that made her sleepy instead of part of another human’s neck. The pink haired murderer looked down at her guard and smiled wide, “Hey Trixie.”

Trixie Lulamoon could only stare at her former prisoner in fear, the muscles in the scholar’s body had seized up in terror. After a few moments, The Great and Powerful Trixie finally gained her voice back, “H...hello... Pinkie.” As the train entered a tunnel, the sounds of screams could be heard coming from the car dubbed The Canyon.

When the light of Celestia’s sun returned to the car, only one person remained inside. Shackled to a bench was Trixie Lulamoon, covered in blood and holding her scholar spellbook close to her breasts. The back door of the train car swung in the breeze, bits of black material clung to the corners. Once Trixie entered Appleoosa, she refused to talk about what had happened those few moments that she and the killer known as Pinkamena Diane Pie where alone in The Canyon car; however, she made one comment when her partner, Royalveil, was mentioned. “Lunch,” she said, over and over, “lunch, lunch, lunch, lunch...”

Pinkamena smiled to herself, the feeling of a familiar warm wind blew through her hair. She walked onto the nearly empty Main Street, her body shaking in her black asylum uniform and tattered straight jacket. Her bare feet seemed to stay warm somehow, probably the familiar dirt that was coating their soles now. The killer slowly made her way to West Street, hoping to get to Greenvale Boulevard as quickly as she could. Pinkamena rubbed her eyes as she walked into the grey colored police station, the long, blonde hair of Big Macintosh was a welcome sight to her. Before the deputy could look up, the pink haired woman hit the small bell on the main counter, getting Big Mac’s attention. The deputy stumbled back, falling clean out of his chair as his eyes gazed upon the blood caked face of Pinkamena Diane Pie.

“Hi Macy Wacky,” the smiling killer said, “could I get a room please. Oh, and tell Colty I’m here.”