Episode 1 - The Missing Derp (Chapter 1 - Brief History Of Los Pegasus)
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Episode 1 - The Missing Derp (Chapter 1 - Brief History Of Los Pegasus)
CHAPTER ONE: BRIEF HISTORY OF LOS PEGASUS
Most ponies in Equestria don’t talk about Los Pegasus for one reason. It’s simply not like the rest of the land. Los Pegasus is full of crime. Nopony exactly knows why, but that doesn’t stop ponies from moving there or the flow of tourism. Los Pegasus is the third most visited big city in Equestria, next only to Canterlot and Manehattan. Full of hotels and casinos, the city was never dark. It truly was a city that never slept. The surrounding towns, such as Hooferson and Summarelin, however, were more like Ponyville (in the sense that it was calmer than the city at night). There was still crime in the areas however. Crime ranged from every type of crime imaginable. It ranged from things as simple as pickpockets on the street to murder, with murder being very uncommon. Even though it was Los Pegasus, it was still Equestria, and murder wasn’t tolerated beyond anything. The point is, however, that crime was rampant through the city.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna did their best to change the goings-on in the city, but their efforts were in vein. Whenever they stopped crime, the next week, it would start up again. They tried several ideas. On the first attempt, Princess Celestia used her magic to put anti-breaking spells on the windows and doors of the shops to prevent theft. This seemed to work for a while, until she noticed that there was a sharp increase in street crime and thefts during the day while stores were open, thus putting more pony’s safety at risk. Princess Celestia decided it was safer to take down the anti-breaking spells and did just that. While crime at night picked up again, there were fewer crimes taking place during the day, which increased the pony’s safety. Princess Luna then had a new idea. It was similar to Celestia’s idea, however, instead of it preventing ponies from breaking in, it allowed the owner of the property to know when there was an intruder. It too worked for a while, but the criminals just got quicker and managed to escape before the owners got there. Also, if they weren’t quick enough, they would hurt the owners so they could escape. Again, the Princesses had to stop the plan to ensure the safety of their subjects.
After a few years of failure, the Princesses came up with a new plan, possibly the best of them all. They decided to set up the first ever Equestria police force. It was to be the greatest plan in the history of Equestria since the uniting of the Pegasus tribe, Unicorn tribe, and the Earth Pony tribe. Each Princess selected a hoofful of royal guards each down to Los Pegasus to deal with the crime. All in all, there were about 50 guards sent down. These ponies became the first 50 police officers in Equestria’s history.
Eventually, crime slowed down. The princess’s plan seemed to be working. Arrests were made, and the streets of Los Pegasus were safer than they’ve been in a long time. That is, until crime prevention started getting a lot tougher. Criminals were getting smarter and started covering their tracks. Arrest levels were going down, and crime was on the rise once again. Ponies went missing, and there was no way to track them down. And, as mentioned before, every now and then, a body of some poor pony would be found, with no way to avenge them, or console their family. The police were arriving at scenes of reported crimes and found nothing what-so-ever that could help them. Crime in Los Pegasus was worse than anypony had ever seen it, and by now, it was too late to do anything about it. The criminals knew how to outsmart police so even if they were disbanded, the criminals would still know how to evade capture.
Back when the police force was first set up, Princess Celestia had asked Shining Armor to head up the force as police captain. Because that would have involved moving from their home in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor thought he should run it by Cadance before accepting. When he brought it up at dinner, to his surprise, she completely agreed. She knew that it was important to all of Equestria to stop this problem, at the very least slow it down. So within 2 months of accepting the offer, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance had packed up all of their belongings and moved down.
When Shining Armor got back to his and Cadance’s home one night, after finding yet another home broken into and the resident pony missing, he collapsed onto the couch in the living room. “Is everything alright?” Cadance asked, walking into the room from the kitchen, levitating a cup of tea for each of them. “It’s getting worse” Shining Armor said, using his magic to take one of the cups and sipping it, “This is the 5th missing pony in 2 weeks.” “That bad huh?” Cadance asked. “Yes” Shining Armor said, taking another sip from his cup. “Tell you what” Cadance said, “I’ll talk with Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna tomorrow and see what we can come up with.” “That sounds great” Shining Armor said. They sat for a few minutes to finish their tea before going to bed.
The next morning, Shining Armor went up to work while Cadance went to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. She informed them of what Shining Armor had told her and the three of them sat down to come up with a solution. After some discussion, the three Princesses came up with the best plan since the police force. They decided to set up the first ever Equestria crime lab. The lab would consist of ponies hoofpicked by Princess Celestia, would have new machines that Princess Cadance would oversee the production and use of, and, once everything in a case was ready, Princess Luna would hear from both the defense and prosecution and act as the judge. In short, there was a new legal system set up.
Princess Celestia chose the 6 best ponies she knew to be the head team in the lab: Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. It did take a bit of work however to get them to agree. Twilight Sparkle was the first to accept. As soon as she received the letter from Princess Celestia, she and Spike got everything in order and were all set to start the new job. Fluttershy took some convincing. She desperately did not want to leave her animal friends, but she knew that it was an important job. But once Princess Celestia said she could arrange for her to have an animal pen outside her home, she gladly accepted. Applejack also needed some convincing. She knew that she just couldn’t leave her responsibilities at Sweet Apple Acres. Apple Bloom noticed this and told her that she would write to their cousin Babs Seed and that together, they could take over her sister’s responsibilities. Applejack saw how serious Apple Bloom was when she told her, and knew Apple Bloom and Babs would do the best she could and agreed to go to Los Pegasus. Rarity was easy to convince. As soon as she was asked to take a job in the third most visited city in all of Equestria; and once she found a large home with plenty of space to keep up her fashion career, she gladly took the job. Rainbow Dash saw this as a great opportunity for some action and took the job. Plus, she knew the Wonderbolts performed for a week straight once every three months in Los Pegasus as part of their tour schedule. Pinkie Pie was ready almost instantly. All she needed to do was tell the Cakes she was leaving, pack, and plan a goodbye party for her and her friends and invite everypony in Ponyville.
The goodbye party was held in the ground floor of Sugarcube Corner. At the party, everypony in Ponyville showed up. A lot of goodbyes were said, and tears were shed by everypony. Big Macintosh assured Applejack that he, Apple Bloom, and Babs Seed would do everything they could to keep Sweet Apple Acres running just as it was and would write her if they needed help with anything. Applejack thanked them and gave them a big hug and promised she would visit as much as possible and would return as soon as she could. Meanwhile, Zecora was talking to Twilight. Twilight thanked Zecora for all the help she had given them, from the seeds of truth to determining why Spike kept growing that fateful day. Zecora thanked Twilight for helping her become less intimidating to the people in town and told her that she would keep an eye on Twilight’s library in her absence. As the party ended, everypony headed back home, leaving the mane 6 ponies alone in the deserted ground floor of the sweet shop. “I sure will miss this place” Pinkie said. “Me too” Rainbow Dash said, “A lot of good memories here.” “Don’t worry girls” Twilight said, “We’ll be back.” “When?” Fluttershy asked. “I guess when we finish the job in Los Pegasus” Applejack said. “Well” Rarity said, “I need to finish packing.” And with that, the mane 6 departed for their homes to rest up to depart the next day.
As the sun rose the next morning, the 6 friends left for Neighvada, and together, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity became Equestria’s first grave shift CSI’s.
Episode 1 - The Missing Derp (Chapter 2 - Searching The House)
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Episode 1 - The Missing Derp (Chapter 2 - Searching The House)
CHAPTER TWO: SEARCHING THE HOUSE
It’s been five years since the crime lab was started. Rainbow Dash had worked her way up from her entry level position to supervisor of the grave shift and Fluttershy has become her assistant supervisor.
The sun was setting in the city of Los Pegasus. A dark yellow unicorn pony with a light blue mane, and a moon and star cutie mark, was walking down the sidewalk in Hooferson, one of the surrounding towns just outside of the city. As she walked, she noticed a house practically in ruin. This wasn’t new to anypony who lived in the neighborhood. Outside on the mailbox was an image of seven bubbles. The yellow pony shook her head and smiled until she noticed something different about the house. The door, which was usually kept closed, was now wide open. If anypony knew Derpy, they knew that, without fail, you would always find her door closed. It was common knowledge that she valued her privacy above a lot of things. Nopony even knew if she ever had anypony inside for a visit other than her family. The yellow pony decided to see what was going on and entered the house. “Derpy?” she called, but there was no answer. As she walked through the house, she noticed a cracked table with a note on it. While the crack in the table wasn’t anything new (it was like clockwork that once a month, Derpy needed to get new furniture) the note caught her attention. After the pony’s bright pink eyes had read the note, she let out a scream.
Half an hour later, members of the Equestria police force (EPF) were standing outside of Derpy’s home. Shining Armor was interviewing the yellow pony. “So your name is?” he asked. “Moon Bright” the yellow pony said. “Alright Ms. Bright” Shining Armor said, using his magic to levitate a quill and notebook, “what did you see?” “Not much” Moon Bright said, “I was taking a walk when I noticed Derpy’s door was open.” “Is that so strange?” Shining Armor asked. “For Derpy, yes” Moon Bright said, “she ALWAYS keeps her front door closed. She values her privacy. Anyway, I went inside to ask her why the door was open, and I found the note. I read it, screamed, dropped it, then called for help.” “Alright, thanks” Shining Armor said, putting his quill away into his vest, “If you give this officer your contact info, we’ll get in touch with you in case we need to speak with you some more.” Moon Bright nodded and went to the officer Shining Armor had indicated.
Passing Moon Bright as she was giving the officer her info, Rainbow Dash and the others walked over to Shining Armor. “Hey Shining Armor” Rainbow Dash said, “What have we got?” “Apparent foalnapping” Shining Armor said, flipping through his notes, “A Miss Derpy Hooves.” Rainbow practically froze when she heard, but continued walking as Shining Armor continued. “A pony on a walk noticed something unusual about the house…” “Other than it not being condemned?” Pinkie Pie joked. “Yeah” Shining Armor said, “Anyway, when she got inside, she found an apparent ransom note, dropped it, then ran out.” “Has anypony been inside since?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “Not that we know of Twily” Shining Armor said. “Well,” Applejack said, “Let’s get in there.” “Agreed” Rarity said, “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can get out of there and I can clean off.” “I’m going to head off girls” Shining said, “I need to get started on the paperwork.” “Alright” Twilight said, giving her brother a hug before he walked away.
As the six ponies walked inside, they had a good look around. Inside, there was practically all grey furniture (about half of which was damaged), with a bright yellow rug, and a yellow cabinet with seven bubbles on it. Spread across the floor was several papers, as well as some glass fragments from what appeared to once have been some picture frames. “Are we supposed to determine if there was a struggle in this?” Twilight asked. “I hope we can” Fluttershy said. As the team started searching the room for evidence, Rainbow just stood still, looking the room over. Rarity finished looking through the cabinet (which happened to be full of bubble juice and wands), when she noticed Rainbow still standing in the doorway. “Is everything alright darling?” Rarity asked. Rainbow just stood there, “I just don’t know what went wrong.”
Theme Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSnnWyWa_1o
Back at the police department building, Shining was walking back to his office when the secretary behind the desk called his name. “Yes?” Shining asked, changing his course to the front desk. “Somepony is waiting for you in your office.” the secretary informed him, “Princess Celestia sent him down to help out.” “Ugh…alright” Shining said. If there was one thing he didn’t need on his mind right now, it was the training of a new guy. “What’s his name?” “Spark” the secretary said, “apparently, he used to work in the Cloudsdale weather factory loading the storm clouds with lightning bolts.” Shining Armor nodded and headed back to his office.
Shining’s office was set up pretty simply. It had the standard desk and plush chair. File cabinets lined one of the walls, each filled with files he had written up for each case in the police department’s history. In one of the corners, the Equestria flag hung, and in the opposite corner, the Neighvada flag hung. On the desk, there was a finished wooden nameplate with “Capt. Shining Armor” etched in a gold plate, a stack of papers, a stray quill and bottle of ink, and some photos. Most were of Cadance and himself, one of which was taken at their wedding. One picture was of him and his parents from when he was first given the position of Captain of the Royal Guard. Next to that picture were a few pictures of Twilight, one taken when he was teaching her how to fly a kite. Behind the desk was a table lined with plants. In front of the desk was a set of simple wooden chairs.
Inside the office, a dark yellow pony with red eyes, orange mane, freckles on his nose, and a cutie mark depicting 2 yellow lightning bolts, which were hard to make out against his coat, was sitting on one of the wooden chairs. “You must be Spark” Shining said, closing the door behind him as he entered. “Yes Sir Captain Armor” Spark said. “And I hear Aunt…I mean Princess Celestia sent you down here” Shining said. Every now and then, he referred to Celestia as Aunt and not Princess. “Yes she did” Spark said, “She informed me that it was because of my ability to handle lightning.” “I don’t understand” Shining said, sitting down behind his desk. “Well” Spark explained, “to work with lightning, you need to be very careful, otherwise you’ll end up shocking yourself all the way from Cloudsdale to Canterlot.” “I understand” Shining nodded. “Anyway,” Spark continued, “I have a very gentle touch, so the princess thought I’d be good at collecting and handling the evidence.” “I guess that makes sense” Shining said with a sigh. This was noticed by Spark, “Is something wrong sir?” “It’s that you are the fifth new guy in a month” Shining explained, “It’s as if Princess Celestia doesn’t think we can do our jobs. We solve more crimes in one month than the Royal Guard does in one year, and we don’t need some new pony coming in right now…especially one who doesn’t know the job.” “With all due respect sir,” Spark said defending himself, “I thought our job included reserving judgment until all the facts are straight. And you’re prejudging me.” “Very well then” Shining Armor said, “I’ll see how you do first. Our Grave Shift CSI’s are out right now. When they get back, we’ll see how you do.”
Rainbow had finally moved from where she was standing. “Alright” she said, “Twilight, you and Fluttershy take the bedrooms.” “Got it” Twilight said. “Applejack, you get the kitchen and the bathroom.” “No problem” Applejack said. “Pinkie, you’ve got the dining room.” “Okey-dokey-lokey.” Pinkie said. “And Rarity, you get the perimeter.” “Alright” Rarity said. “And I’ll take the rest.” Rainbow said, finishing dealing out assignments. Everypony nodded and walked to their assigned areas, being careful not to disturb anything.
In the master bedroom, Twilight was searching the drawers, while Fluttershy was searching the bed. “How can anypony live like this?” Twilight asked, trying to pull a drawer out of the broken dresser. “I’m not sure” Fluttershy said, taking a set of tweezers and a little envelope out of her vest. “What have you got?” Twilight asked, walking over. “A blue hair” Fluttershy said, “I found it on the pillow. And Derpy’s mane is yellow.” “Nice” Twilight said, walking over to the night table. Using her magic, she pulled a jar of black powder and a brush out of her vest. She took the lid off the jar, dipped the brush in the powder, and started dusting the top of the table. Eventually, a hoofprint was uncovered. “Aha” Twilight said, putting the brush and powder away and pulled out a tape lift, “A hoofprint.” “But it could just be Derpy’s print” Fluttershy said as Twilight took a photo of, and lifted the print. “I know” Twilight said, putting the print in her vest, “But it’s the only print I could find. The only other prints I could find was a few dots, and I’ve only seen prints like that once before.” “When?” Fluttershy asked. “Back when we first started working here”, Twilight explained, “I wanted to practice, so Spike helped me out, and in the process, when I dusted for prints on things he touched, all I found were dots left behind from his claws.” “I guess that makes sense, but it seems strange for dragon claws to be in Derpy’s home when Spike is the only dragon around for miles.” Fluttershy said as they both got back to searching, finishing the master bedroom, and working their way into the guest bedroom.
Applejack was in the bathroom searching, having just finished the kitchen, and only finding a few dots like Twilight did with the powder (without realizing what they were), and a few scratch marks on the wall. She dusted for prints like before and found more hoofprints, and more of the little dots. “That’s a might strange,” she said to herself, “I found the same markings in the kitchen.” She took out her camera and snapped a picture of the markings, lifted them, and continued her search. She looked under the sink, but found nothing. Applejack then turned to face the shower. She pulled the curtain aside and again, found long scratch marks on the walls. Applejack took some pictures. “What in blazes went on here?” she asked herself.
Pinkie was searching the dining room. She walked over to a china closet, full of cracked or broken dishes, and opened the cabinet doors on the bottom. There wasn’t much inside. Just a few table cloths and a brown paper bag with smaller bags tied to it. “I remember that” Pinkie said, picking up the bags, “this was Derpy’s nightmare night costume.” Pinkie put the bags away and continued the search. After a while, she didn’t find anything. She then took out a spray bottle and shut off the lights. She sprayed the bottle of a chemical known as Luminol on the floor and table. Within seconds, small patches of bright blue appeared on the table. Pinkie took a swab out of her vest, swabbed the blue area, and sealed the swab. After putting the swab into a pocket on her vest, she continued to sweep the room. Her eyes were drawn to a trash can in one of the corners of the room. She trotted over to it and looked inside. Amongst the expected crumpled papers, and other trash, a discarded bandage was settled near the top. Pinkie used a set of tweezers she pulled out of her vest and picked up the bandage. On one side of it, a small bloodstain was dried, making it obvious that it was a few days old. Pinkie put the bandage in a small envelope and stuck that in her vest as well before continuing her scan of the room.
Rarity was outside searching, happy to be out of the dirty house. While walking around the perimeter, she didn’t find much. While she did find hairs and feathers, there was no way of knowing if they were connected to Derpy’s disappearance, just blew onto the yard on the wind, or fell off a passing pegasus or bird. Regardless, she bagged them. Rainbow had once told the team ‘Everything is relevant in a case, until it’s not’. As Rarity was approaching the front door to head back inside, and the end of her search, she saw some paw prints and dots embedded into the ground outside the window. Rarity looked at the hoofsteps she was leaving. The depth of her prints weren’t even half the depth of the paw prints, as if somepony heavier than her had jumped right on that spot. “That’s peculiar” Rarity said as she took out a bag of plaster and poured it into the paw prints. After a few minutes, the plaster hardened and she picked them up and, reluctantly, went back inside.
Rainbow was finishing up in the living room. She had finished searching down the hallways, finding the same scratch marks Applejack had found running down the walls. As she was searching, she discovered the ransom note, picked it up, and read it.
To Whom It May Concern
I have Derpy Hooves. If you want her back, place 10 million unmarked bits in a saddle bag next to the Princess Luna statue out front of the Celestia’s Castle casino this Saturday, or get her back one hoof at a time.
Anonymous
It was extremely difficult for Rainbow to admit to herself that this had actually happened. Pushing the thought to another part of her mind, she continued searching the room for evidence. Among the debris of scattered papers and the glass fragments, were some photos, proving that the fragments were in fact from picture frames. Rainbow looked at the pictures briefly before sealing them inside evidence bags and continuing by looking for hoofprints, a weight in her heart increasing slightly after having viewed each photo. After uncovering the last set of hoofprints she could find, she bowed her head and closed her eyes as the reality of the events in the case entered her mind. “I’m sorry Derpy” Rainbow said to herself, not noticing her team entering the room.
“Sorry for what?” Fluttershy asked as the team regrouped. “Uh, nothing” Rainbow said, pushing the thought to the back of her mind again, “So what did you fine?” Twilight had a feeling that Rainbow was hiding something, but just let it go…for now. “Well,” Twilight said, “There wasn’t anything in the guest bedroom, but Fluttershy and I found some hairs, hoofprints, and some claw marks revealed by the hoofprint powder in the master bedroom” “I found some scratch marks, hoofprints, an’ some strange dots revealed by the hoofprint powder.” Applejack said. “Can I see them?” Twilight asked. Applejack nodded and passed Twilight the slip with the dots she lifted. As everypony looked, Twilight nodded, confirming her thoughts. “As I thought” she said, handing them back to Applejack, “these are just like the dots Fluttershy and I found. These are claw marks.” “Are you sure darling?” Rarity asked. “Positive” Twilight said, “Spike helped me train for this job when we first got here, and these look just like the prints he left with his claws after I lifted them.” “Nice Twilight” Rainbow said, “At least we know what they are now. Pinkie, what have you got?” “I found some blood on the dining room table” Pinkie said, “though it looks as if somepony tried to clean it up. I also found a bloody bandage in the trash can. It’s dried, so my guess is it’s a few days old.” “I found some hairs and feathers,” Rarity added, “though they might not even be related to the case, just some debris blown onto the lawn. I also found some paw prints and those claw marks embedded into the ground. What’s weird though is that my hoofsteps didn’t even reach half the depth of the paw prints.” “Strange” Rainbow said, “And I found some scratch marks, hoofprints, and claw marks.” “There’s one thing we don’t understand” Fluttershy said. “Yeah” Twilight continued, “The claw marks look like they’re from a dragon, but Spike is the only dragon within the city.” “Good point Twilight” Rainbow said, “We should get back to the lab. We need to get this stuff processed ASAP.” Everypony nodded and left the house for their crime lab.
