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// This one hurts the most. 
// Story: Count the Shadows 
// by StapleCactus 
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Ponyville is experiencing a rash of insanity. The stranger thing is: only the bearers of the Elements of Harmony seem to be affected. After learning of her faithful student’s willing incarceration within the Institute for Not Sane Ponies, Princess Celestia hires the best detective duo Equestria has seen in five hundred years.

Detective Keen Eye: Intelligent with a sharp eye for details, nothing gets by her. She’s lighthearted, only getting serious when in the face of wrongdoings. A penchant for finding the truth, she won’t let anyone escape justice, no matter the reason for the crime. When not working, she enjoys puzzles and brain-teasers, occasionally getting “Regard” to join in. She loves the stories of Sighted Light and his assistant, Regard, which led her to become who she is now. She has a knowledge of basic magical theory, but defers to “Regard” for most of the more technical stuff.
Mannerisms: An anomaly in her brain causes a speech impediment, one that allows her to talk normally only when she’s detailing what she’s thinking instead of being able to parse the thoughts into proper speech. This only happens when she’s excited about something, mostly solving a case, and in rare instances, she can speak with near perfect clarity. Most of the time, she has trouble talking at all, spending a prolonged amount of time just to say a simple greeting. 
History: Grew up in Manehattan, where crime is more rampant, though very few murders occurred, mostly theft and corrupt dealings. She was teased during her foalhood, until the students learned of her skill in deducing things. One day, the teacher’s apple was taken and nopony could figure out who did it. Keen found the culprit by the way he was acting and the apple was returned. That was when she got her cutie mark: an eye inside a magnifying glass.

“Regard”: Unicorn. Knowledgeable in multiple studies. Calm and insightful. Keeps Keen in line on the rare chance she puts off work too much, though she doesn’t most of the time and is actually studying when “Regard” thinks she’s just sightseeing. Will study constantly to help Keen in her work, though doesn’t have the ability to see what she does. The duo has a symbiosis when it comes to work, Keen’s cues and mannerisms will tip “Regard” off on what needs to be said or explained. “Regard” has a penchant for anxiety under stress, hoping not to fail Keen in any way. Though Keen does try to keep her assistant from worrying too much, sometimes it gets the better of “Regard”.

PPD Officers:
1 Bright Light: small scuffle with PP
1 Point Range: dark blue w/ grey mane Earth pony, 3 bite wounds FS, small scuffle PP
2 Quick Flight: green pegasus
2 Phantom Wind: fired tranq at RD

1 responded to PP and FS instances
2 responded to RD instances

Pinkie Pie: Severe depression with onset violence as a result of sugar dependency and withdrawals (or so it’s thought at first). Mind warped to see fun as destruction. She no longer wants to see ponies happy, but see them as miserable as she is. During bouts of violence, she only wants to kill, warping anything that could resemble a pony into party favors in a mass delusion. Intelligent and cunning, she matches Twilight, but only with help by her Pinkie Sense (which isn’t as strong as it used to be)

Twilight Sparkle: Perfectionist. Mind warped to see perfection as something only she can create. She demands it from everyone and will stop at nothing to create her perceived world. Perfection in herself no longer stops her from augmenting her own body if need be. She cites random diction from textbooks she has memorized when she gets upset. A true powerhouse, under extreme conditions, she can now hold her fiery mane and white coat.

Fluttershy: Constant neglect, she sees this from mind warp. She demands respect and love or she will attack (possibly kill). Cruelty is the name of her game; everyone that gets close is insulted in the least. Pranks can range from the schoolyard bully to life-threatening, all to have her laugh at their expense.

Rainbow Dash: no longer trusts anyone, fears backstabbing at every turn; fears failure most of all. Constant flight has caused claustrophobia as a side-effect when the mind warping drug took effect. Loyalty is lost to her; if she does anything for someone, she either does it for something in return or she is guaranteed not to fail.

Applejack: Pathological liar, or maybe speaks the brutal truth. Will say anything to get someone else to leave her alone. She fears help as she feels it will lead to repayment later. Stubbornness increases to the point of self-destruction. Any form of help given to her is immediately thought of as a threat to her or her family. She will stop at nothing to get everyone to see the value of working hard and continuously fights with anyone from the city.

Rarity: Orderly. Everything must be orderly. Straying from her design will cause mass panic and violence. Skilled in kung-fu. Doing anything to her will result in bodily injury or death, from a simple dirtying of her hair or coat, to going against her wishes. She believes herself a princess and demands respect at all times.










Order of what happened:

Pinkie falls and comes back through friends.
AJ falls much later and doesn’t come back (Why did she fall? [honesty and lying])
Trixie shows up with vial from Zecora and attempts to make amends (made by Zecora to actually promote goodwill, not avarice.)
AJ forces Pinkie to fall through STUFF
Trixie talks with Twilight (Attempts forgiveness by letter when she was unavailable: A torn letter)
AJ talks with Fluttershy at farm and makes her question things
AJ slips poison in vial while everyone is sleeping (Damaged bush by window)
Trixie uses vial on Twilight during tea (Goes to bathroom when no effect: Broken vial)
Spike infected with poison as well, visits Fluttershy to see how she’s doing (slip of tongue)
Rainbow grows concerned when Fluttershy falls
Rainbow shows up at library
Twilight attempts to explain things, notes a mess
Trixie visits Rarity to resolve things as Twilight comes to a conclusion
Twilight falls (closer to when Rainbow does)
Rainbow falls 

Citizens A-E: Raindrops, Roseluck, 2 others (a construction worker and a night-pony), Ditzy


Set up hotel rooms
Meet Trixie while in hotel
Recap/Sleep
Meet with precinct (what was in the basement)
Study Ponyville
Talk with Cakes
Investigate patient house 2 (Pinkie)
Meet a patients P, T (Screwloose instance 1)
Investigate patient house (Twilight first)
Research at Twilight’s (only understand parts [that do nothing for the case it seems]
Talk with civilian A, B, and Trixie
Recap/Sleep
Talk with AJ or Rarity (get story on Party of One)
Believe Spike had a hand in it(but obviously not a criminal) Return to Twilight’s and find Spike this time (find broken vial in bathroom)
Visit Patient F (get concerned and leave early and see S again)
Talk with civilian C
Investigate F house (a mess)
Talk with civilian D (backs up rumor of shadow running around from A and C)
Rarity falls (attempt to investigate, but halted. Since there, visit R)
Talk with Trixie (noise outside window)
Investigate R house with help from Trixie
Investigate Trixie’s hotel room (damage to bush and window)
Recap (Time between them going insane is lessening, think Trixie is getting involved to shift blame. Motive: revenge)
Sleep
Head to Everfree and talk with Zecora (feels she is telling truth about potion)
Lets Trixie off (lets her study T’s notes)
Talk to citizen E (learn of talent show)
Denied access to R (see DP again)
AJ shows up
Spend rest of day studying material
Idea formed, but still little evidence
Sleep
Meet with Trixie and discuss notes to find the truth.
Go to Institute talent show (use it as excuse to study patients without them realizing it)
Stunned by dog pony’s song (everypony is except Keen and “Regard”)
Duo trying to find the patients the whole time
Song ends and they realise they have escaped.
Escapees flee into Everfree
AJ missing
STUFF UNTIL TRUTH

Truth: Weakening of the elements (Celestia knew, that’s the real reason she didn’t investigate) as they were not made for mortals. The vial was poisoned with something that increased this effect that should have taken a lifetime. Murder may be the loss of life, but no crime is more heinous than the complete annihilation of one’s core. Insanity because of a complete breakdown of their souls.

Riddle answer: Darkness, the lack of knowledge or unknowable specifically: the unknown



I've been thinking since the beginning of CoSh that I'd have the detective die.
To show the mares have truly lost it and to force the assistant into being independent
But I'm unsure if I should actually DO that, because at that point of the story it isn't really a detective novel...

Enfan: I like it personally
It would still be a detective novel
The detective novel is about solving the case

Well, the only thing left to figure out is.... oh.... Ohhhhh... OOOOHHHHH
What if she dies BEFORE she has a chance to explain what happened?
At that point she has solved the case, but what if she didn't get to tell anyone?
That would tie into the whole assistant as viewpoint/narrator thing as well as him needing to become independent, and I won't have to go crazy trying to figure out how to expositionize the answer out of the detective!
Oh that's brilliant
...but what will the readers think?
Am I going to be that author that when people think about my stories (Yeah, big IF there considering how small time I am) they'll say "Oh, this is the guy that kills someone in every story," and expect it? Then the whole death scene won't even be potent like it should.

Enfan: It'll be great man
I would read it
;p


Ponyville’s police headquarters was built in the same fashion as the rest of its structures. Without the large light fixtures with the letters ‘PPD’ written on them, any tourist could have mistaken the white walls and wooden supports as some random home. With the actual houses of many ponies surrounding it, I wouldn’t have put it past the local governing body to have renovated one when the need for their own department was made apparent.

We stepped up to the plain wooden Dutch door and opened it without regard, entering into a spacious entryway with a desk placed on the opposite wall. Officer Quick Flight sat behind it, shuffling through papers, until she heard the door creak when it reached the end of its hinges’ range.

“If you need some assistance with an event, fill out the sheet to your right. There’s also a form for witness protection there as well, but I wouldn’t recommend it. If you’ve come to report a disturbance, please check that the problem is still present before approaching, and if you—” At this point, she finally looked away from her reports to see us looking at her in confusion. “Ah! It’s you guys. Find anything useful?”

“We’ve only been to the institute. I think we have the general idea now, but we only have so much to go on so far,” I said as I stepped forward and looked over her paperwork. Outside of the occasional unimportant report, the desk was covered in forms for leave or injury, most of which lay blank. “Any new information?”

Her eyes followed my superior moving towards the forms she spoke of earlier before speaking. “No, nothing really.”

“I thought as much. But we’re really here for you and the other officers to recount your experiences with the victims.”

She exhaled slowly, closing her eyes, before turning away from us. “Point, Phantom, Bright, the detectives are here! They want us to tell them what happened!” A grunt and two acknowledgements echoed from the back. Her eyes shifted towards me before she nodded towards the back. “Go ahead and go on back. We’ll be using the conference room, first door on your left.”

At her words, Keen turned from her study of the forms and headed down the only hallway in the building, myself following her diligently, until we arrived at the aforementioned door. It was open and we let ourselves in, sitting at the end of an elongated dark-stained oak table occupying the majority of the space.

I allowed my gaze to wander, taking in the plain beige walls and sparsely placed photographs of officers and town executives, before expectantly staring at the entrance. “You haven’t answered my question, you know,” I called behind me.

A light sigh escaped my superior, but she didn’t speak, not that she would have had time to do so. Quick Flight entered, followed closely by two ponies we had yet to meet.