//------------------------------// // Suspect and Investigation // Story: Berry's Test // by Maple Sunrise //------------------------------// The letter Mayor Mare sent had a reply during the Pegasus ambush on Berry’s group. It came in a flame of orange in front of Mayor Mare as she and the chief sat in the chief’s office. Mayor Mare hadn’t been expecting a letter so soon and concluded that it must have been serious enough a matter for him to respond so quickly. Mayor Mare unrolled the scroll and read its contents. Dear Mayor Mare, In response to your letter, I, Mayor of Trottingham, had the local police department carry out your request. The owner of the warehouse is a unicorn that I’m sure had stopped by Ponyville once. She was shunned for being a fraud and never came back. I trust you’ve heard of The Great and Powerful Trixie? According to our records, Trixie had bought the warehouse some six months ago, or a month after her rather unfortunate shunning from Ponyville. Trixie had written that she was using the warehouse as a storage facility for some of her equipment which she uses for her shows. To be frank, we were suspicious of her presence in Trottingham at first, but she did throw a very good show during her visit. And regarding the disappearances of ponies from Canterlot, Ponyville and Cloudsdale, we are not sure if this is relevant, but we’ve had a couple of ponies missing within a few days. The connection, if any, should be sufficient for us to obtain a warrant to raid her facilities, but until we are sure, we are unable to do so. Enclosed are the details of Trixie, with her intentions of the warehouse and what not. Should there be anything we left out, do not hesitate to send a message. The police department are worried over the two missing ponies, so getting them back safely, for the moment, is among our top priorities. -Mayor Snow Just as Mayor Mare had finished reading the scroll, another one appeared, this time in a flame of purple. Mayor Mare unrolled it, revealing it to be the details of the warehouse owner and former successful performer. Mayor Mare handed the chief the letter from Mayor Snow, and proceeded to read Trixie’s details. Trixie had graduated from Princess Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns, much to Mayor Mare’s surprise. She had been in the entertainment business since graduation, starting off first in Manehatten. Since the successful show, she had been travelling around Equestria, entertaining ponies and giving much inspiration to those who visited her shows. All of that had stopped six months ago, when a show in Ponyville went sour, thanks to the attack of an Ursa Minor. Mayor Mare wondered if Trixie had ever tried putting on another show. She read further down the list that since her carriage was destroyed during the attack, she was declared bankrupt. Mayor Mare wondered if the bankruptcy part was true, considering how Trixie had managed to buy a warehouse. The chief set the scroll down on the table and looked over to Mayor Mare, who was still going through the details. He let her continue as he pondered the probability of Trixie being the perpetrator in this situation. Revenge could be her motive since she was shunned by the Ponyville residents. He wasn’t sure if this would include Canterlot, Cloudsdale or Trottingham. Another scroll appeared in a flame of red in front of the chief. The mayor glanced briefly over before reading more on Trixie’s details. He unfurled the scroll and read it. It was from Mayor Snow again. Terribly sorry for not including this in the message earlier, but the two missing ponies had been troublemakers who messed with the fireworks display during Trixie’s last show. Not sure if this is connected to anypony else, but it’s probably worth considering. Should a link be established, notify me, and I’ll send a team over to the warehouse with a warrant. “Well then, looks like we’ve got another lead. Apparently the two ponies that went missing in Trottingham had been charged with troublemaking at Trixie’s show.” The chief got up, and left the room, leaving Mayor Mare behind to finish up on reading Trixie’s details. He strode over to Carrot Top, who was still at the file cabinet. Carrot Top looked up from a few files on the counter at the approaching chief. She gave the chief a nod, to which he nodded back and spoke, “We’re going to need a check on the missing ponies. See if they’ve got any criminal record or have done anything that could be considered a crime.” “Do we have another lead? Carrot Top’s eyes sparkled with excitement at a potential prospect in the case. “As of now, we’ve only got suspicions. We’re keeping contact with the mayor of Trottingham, who says that two ponies that went missing within the past few days had a criminal record, which was troublemaking during a public event. We could get further leads if we could link the criminal record with any of the ponies that went missing here. If the link is strong, then the mayor should be able to get a warrant for the warehouse.” Carrot Top nodded and went to over to another set of cabinets. The chief smiled at her hard work, before retreating back to his office. He didn’t knock, and just entered the room. The three scrolls were stacked up, forming a tiny pyramid. Mayor sat in her seat, lost in thought. After the chief sat down, he let out a long sigh and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t think we can get a warrant so soon.” “Well, we can at least bring Trixie in for questioning, right?” Mayor Mare asked. “That’s if we know where she is at the moment. If we can’t find her, we can’t question her.” The chief said, his stare still not broken from the ceiling. “We can contact the Cloudsdale Military Reconnaissance again and see if they could track Trixie down. Or we can ask for the assistance of the Canterlot Bereau of Investigation.” He lowered his gaze onto Mayor Mare. “They have some good tracking skills if I’m not wrong.” Mayor Mare shrugged. “The CBI is better off not involved. They could be on something else bigger than this at the moment. But there’s no harm in a little assistance though…” Mayor Mare thought in silence in a moment. Requesting for help might arouse suspicion from the CBI, which would probably prompt a bigger investigation. “I’m going to write another letter. I just hope that the CBI doesn’t ask too many questions. This may be serious, but we don’t want too many ponies involved now.” Mayor Mare stepped out of the chief’s office. The chief sighed. He managed to catch a glimpse of the wall clock hanging outside his office before Mayor Mare closed the door. It was around 8.52pm, if he saw the clock right. A sudden increase in temperature and a clatter on his desk informed him that a new scroll had arrived. The chief picked the scroll up and unrolled it. To : Ponyville Police Department From: Trottingham Police Department. There has been a recent development in disappearances of ponies in Trottingham. A couple of ponies arrived half an hour ago, informing us of suspicious activity around the warehouse on the outskirts of Trottingham. We had sent a team of three officers over, where we found the owner. We have Trixie with us for now, but should you need her for anything, do inform us now. She seems impatient, like she’s going to be late for something. -Officer Wilde The chief set the letter down and stepped out of his office. The Mayor was just about to send off a letter when the chief managed to catch her. “Looks like we won’t need to contact the CBI for this matter, Mayor Mare, Trottingham’s gotten a hold of Trixie. They can probably send her over for us so we can question her.” The mayor nodded. “In that case, do you write the letter to the Trottingham authorities or do I?” “I’ll handle that for now.” The chief glanced over at Carrot Top. “Carrot, we’re going to need the interrogation room ready for a potential suspect. Expect somepony to be in the room within the next hour.” Carrot Top nodded, and went off, leaving behind a few casefiles on a counter. The mayor retreated back to the chief’s office as the chief made his way towards the phoenix and the writing materials on the desk. He picked up the quill with his teeth and began writing on a blank scroll. To: Trottingham Police Department From: Ponyville Police Department We require a brief questioning session with Trixie. If it weren’t too much trouble, could you send her over? It would be much appreciated. Also, regarding the suspicious activity at the warehouse, was there anything out of the ordinary aside from the owner being around? The chief rolled up the scroll, and gave it to the phoenix, which incinerated the scroll in a flame of blue, and sent the letter on its way. He sighed and decided to wait at the table for the response letter. Now let’s see… Once we have her here, we can start having a little progress on our investigation. The chief exited the police station and breathed in the night air. Celestia help those that have to endure the loss of these ponies. He sighed, and proceeded to take out a cigarette from his pocket. He lit it and puffed it. The chief started thinking of plausible scenarios as to why these ponies have gone missing. I’m starting to doubt this was a ponynapping case if only Trixie is involved. She can’t be the only one. I’m sure of it. The chief made a mental note to ask if she had any accomplices once she’s revealed too much information. They always do that. It’s hard to keep one’s lips sealed when under pressure. The chief briefly considered murder and the hiding of the bodies, but it just didn’t seem right to have so many ponies disappear in one day and for all of the bodies to be taken care of in one day seemed impossible. Whatever the case, it seems Trixie can’t be the only pony involved in this shit. The chief wondered what her motive was if she were the ponynapper/serial killer. Maybe her failed show here made her go crazy. The chief chuckled, finished off his cigarette and lit another one before he started theorizing again. Revenge can be a powerful motivation here. I’ll just consider revenge a possible motive for now. The chief was about to think of another plausible motive when a letter materialized in front of him in a huff of purple smoke. The chief finished off his cigarette before picking the letter up and retreating into the police station. He pushed the door open, and greeted Rose, who was at the reception desk filing some papers. The chief set the letter down by the desk with the phoenix and unrolled it. To: Ponyville Police Department From: Trottingham Police Department We have sent a group of three policecolts and a carriage to escort Trixie over to Ponyville. I hope you enjoy your questioning session with Trixie, and hopefully find the answers everypony might be looking for. Anyway, regarding the suspicious activity at the warehouse, we’ve sent over another three officers to help the three officers earlier. It seems the warehouse is too big for a team of three officers to tackle. If we find anything at the warehouse, we will contact you, rest assured. We’re hoping you would do the same with Trixie. She’ll be there in another four minutes. -Officer Wilde The chief nodded, and proceeded to his office. Mayor Mare sat in her seat, re-reading the details about Trixie again. She looked up as the chief strode over to his chair. “That took you a while.” She regarded him. “We’re going to have Trixie over in about three minutes. So let’s just wait for her. I’ll be planning the questions in my head if you’re still going to continue reading.” He said. “Whatever goes then.” The mayor said. The carriage tore through the skies as it made its way to Ponyville. There were a couple of pegasi pulling the carriage as it continued its journey. There was another pegasi following behind the carriage should any of the pegasi pulling the carriage want to switch. A policecolt, a unicorn, sat inside the carriage with another unicorn that seemed to be questioning the decision to bring her to Ponyville. “Look, Miss Trixie. The police are just going to ask you a few questions. It’s nothing to worry about unless you’ve done something wrong.” He said. “Trixie assures you, Trixie has done no wrong that is to need the involvement of police. Trixie will never stoop so low.” The light blue unicorn mare said. “Not that Trixie would do any wrong in the first place.” “I’m sure you wouldn’t do anything wrong. Even so, it’s best to just go along with their requests. It happens from time to time whenever police just want clarification on a certain matter. It’s nothing that big.” The policecolt gave a reassuring smile. The mare merely shrugged. “Trixie is sure she has done nothing wrong, but Trixie will play along just to satisfy the police. One question though. Why were the police at Trixie’s warehouse earlier?” she asked. “We were merely responding to a report from a couple of ponies. They claimed that there was some suspicious activity going around your warehouse.” “Strange, why is it suspicious activity when the owner of a warehouse is on her property but when not when there are a couple of ponies snooping around on private property?” Trixie asked accusingly. The young colt stammered a bit, before quickly regaining his posture, “The two are still being detained for being on private property in the first place. However, the response to the suspicious activity would still have to go. I’m sorry, it’s protocol.” The unicorn said nothing for a moment, and the transport continued in silence until Trixie asked another question. “May Trixie know the description of those two ponies?” The colt shook his head. “No can do, Miss Trixie. Besides, I wasn’t there when the couple were at the station. I was only told to transport you over to Ponyville.” Trixie sighed, before smiling. “Then it’s okay. Thanks anyway.” At the same time the carriage was en route to Ponyville and the chief entered his office to plan his questions, a group of six ponies were investigating the surroundings of a warehouse right on the outskirts of Trottingham. Their carriages had to be left outside the fenced area, not that the ponies that pulled the carriages minded. The group of six had appointed a Pegasus stallion, who went by the nickname of Falcon, as the leader of the temporary squad. The three that had arrived first, the ones that had brought Trixie into custody, were showing nervous signs. The other two were rather composed as they listened to Falcon instruct the group. “This is probably the first time we requested more hands on deck to search an area. You all know how this thing goes right? Search around for anything suspicious, and report back if there’s anything you find.” The five nodded and separated into three groups that had two officers, one officer and Falcon, and another two officers respectively. Falcon took to the skies, opting to have an aerial view of the whole compound while the other officers made their way around the structure. The groups had been told the purpose of the warehouse as a storage facility, but they were unsure as to how big be the land on which the warehouse was on. Falcon looked down on the whole compound. The whole area, Falcon estimated, was roughly four hundred square metres. He gave the land another glance and recalculated for another few moments before concluding that four hundred was more or less correct. A few meters aren’t that much of a difference anyway. He was about to descend to join his officer, when he noticed a light coming from one of the windows of the warehouse. At the same time, the third group, consisting of a unicorn and an earth pony, had reached an orifice in the base of the structure. The orifice seemed to lead into the warehouse foyer. The two debated on whether or not they should enter the orifice, as they were the only around to look for suspicious activity. “It’s probably against the law of we enter. I think that would be classified as trespassing should we do so.” The unicorn said. The earth pony, however, shook his head. “We’re here to find suspicious things, so who’s to say there’s nothing suspicious on the inside of the warehouse?” The unicorn was adamant. “Don’t you think we should wait for the others before we try to enter? I mean, Falcon did say we had to report anything unusual back to him.” The earth pony hummed, contemplating what the unicorn had just said. “Maybe you’re right. There might be something dangerous in there anyway. Let’s stick to the outside, for now.” As the two were about to depart, a sound came from the inside of the orifice, similar to that of a groaning pony. The two looked at each other, and popped the same question. “Did you just hear that shit?” The first group, twin pegasi, were investigating the entrance into the warehouse. The two brothers eyed the two doors that were boarded up. The elder of the two shone light all around the entrance with the torchlight in his mouth. The younger one, named Red Sky, hated when his brother, Sky High, boasted that he was older because he was born a few minutes earlier than Red was. Red leaned in for a better inspection of the boards. The nails that were holding the boards in place seemed rather new and couldn’t be older than one week by Red’s estimates. The boards that were in place, however, were semi-broken. “Seems like the wood is gonna give way soon. Why not we make it sooner?” Sky grinned. Red glanced over at his brother with a bewildered look on his face. “Are you serious? We’re only supposed to look for anything suspicious. Nothing’s suspicious about the boards being half broken!” Sky shrugged. “Hey, the nails seem new, which is rather weird considering how shit quality wood is being used to board off the entrance.” Sky extended a hoof and brushed it against the surface of the wood. “Hell, this thing’s dusty as well.” Unknown to the two, a tripwire was attached to one of the boards that were boarding up the door. The board seemed broken, as if somepony had bashed it in with a sledgehammer. Sky continued examining the other boards on the door as Red now held the torchlight for his brother. “I still don’t think it’s safe to be messing around here. We should really report back to Falcon about the nails and the boards and shit and wait for a conclusion.” Red suggested. Sky turned around to face his brother. “Don’t be such a coward, Red. We’re supposed to look for anything suspicious. There might be some shit inside there that’s being hidden.” He grinned, and bucked at one of the boards. That board was the same board he had touched earlier and a hook could be heard being released. Red dropped the torchlight, grabbed his brother, and rolled backwards off the wooden floor the two were standing on. One second later, a pendulum blade swung down from the wooden boards of the roof and smashed into the entrance, completely destroying it before coming to a complete halt. “Well fuck.” Sky said. “Still want to investigate there, ‘coward’?” Red teased. Sky shook his head. “Let’s just report back to Falcon.” Said pony was hovering near a window, squinting in an attempt to peer inside the warehouse. His eyes were just about to adjust when he heard a thud from the entrance, followed by the sound of metal breaking before there was complete silence. “The fuck is going on?” Falcon lowered himself onto the ground, right in time to see the twin pegasi brothers untangle from the heap of limbs they were a moment ago. The two got up and trotted over to him as he observed the destroyed entrance doors. “I am to assume that the two of you were responsible for the destruction of the doors?” Falcon droned. The two stammered, before nodding in unison. Red spoke first, completely cutting off his brother who was about to speak as well. “Well, we didn’t directly destroy the entrance. Sky accidentally set off a trap,” Red gestured at the pendulum blade, “and that thing just destroyed the door for us.” Falcon shook his head in exasperation. “Did you find anything else prior to the destruction of the doors?” This time it was Sky who cut Red off, “Prior to the trap, the entrance doors were boarded up. However, we believe that the boarding had occurred recently, since the nails were quite new. Also, the wooden boards used to board up the doors were semi-broken, probably not to make the trap obvious or something.” “Did any of you check what was inside after the door got smashed?” Falcon asked. The two shook their heads. “We were just untangling ourselves when you came down. I should really thank Red for his quick reflexes, if not I would have been the one that was smashed through the doors.” Red grinned, albeit for a short moment. “Anyway, Falcon, I think we should go inside and see if there’s anything else that we should investigate.” Falcon shook his head. “No can do. After hearing about the pendulum blade, it’s probably safe to conclude that the rest of the structure might be booby trapped as well, don’t you think? Also, we still have to wait for the other group. I think the officer I was with has joined the other two on the other side of the warehouse.” The carriage arrived right outside the Ponyville Police Department and officer Roseluck can be seen waiting outside for the suspect. The carriage came to a complete stop as the two ponies pulling the carriage halted. Rose gave a nod to the two carriage pullers, and they responded with salutes. The carriage door opened, and a familiar unicorn stepped out, followed by a policecolt. The light blue unicorn paused in front of Rose, as if trying to identify her. She shrugged, and waited as the policecolt spoke with Rose. “I hope that she won’t be that much of a trouble for you guys here. She seems well behaved.” He said, the last sentence earning a huff from said pony. The policecolt nodded to Rose, who nodded back. “Miss Trixie, you may proceed inside now. Officer Carrot Top should be waiting for you by the receptionist’s counter.” Rose instructed, to which Trixie complied and entered the structure. Rose opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, but was cut off by the sound of the Ponyville Clock Tower chiming. The ponies pulling the carriage, the policecolt, and the backup officer behind the carriage all glanced at the towering structure. Rose knew it was 9pm, though she wasn’t sure if the Clock Tower was a few minutes off or not. The chiming didn’t last that long, being over in twenty seconds. Rose now had her chance to speak. “Anything on the suspicious activity at the warehouse? I know it’s a little too early to be asking, but I just wanted to know.” The policecolt shrugged. “No information received yet. We can only assume that there’s some progress going on while we’re back at headquarters.” The colt looked at the night sky for a short moment before resuming, “I guess it’s time for us to get back. If there’s anything you need, feel free to contact us later.” Rose nodded, and the colt entered the carriage. She saluted the group as they took to the skies once more, heading straight back to Trottingham. Rose went back inside, noting that Carrot Top was not at the counter, which probably meant that she was bringing Trixie over to the interrogation room. Rose sighed, and went back to what she had been doing earlier, going through case files. “It’s just the usual questioning just to clear things up Trixie, you don’t have to worry so much.” Carrot Top reassured Trixie as the two made their way to the interrogation room, which was some fifty meters away from the chief’s office. “Trixie still feels that it is not necessary for Trixie to be here.” She muttered. Carrot Top shrugged. “We still have to bring you in for questioning. It’s nothing I have control over actually, but I have to follow orders.” Feeling that Trixie still disagrees to the situation she’s in, Carrot Top decided to change the subject. “By the way, why do you always refer to yourself from a third pony type of view?” Trixie was silent for a few seconds as the two finally reached the door to the interrogation room. “In a sense, it gives Trixie more confidence in what she does. Everypony deserves confidence in whatever they do, don’t you agree?” Carrot Top nodded, and ushered the mare unicorn into the interrogation room. “Now, wait here. Somepony will be here soon to ask a few questions. If you need anything, I’ll be outside.” Trixie shrugged, and entered the room. The room was roughly a six by eight meter cuboid, containing a steel table and a couple of wooden chairs. On one side of the walls were a series of one-way windows, which acted as mirrors from the inside of the interrogation room. Trixie sat down on a wooden chair furthest from the door, as she glanced around the room. Aside from a couple of fluorescent lights hanging above her head, there was a framed picture of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna right above the door. Trixie leaned back in her chair, waiting patiently as she thought of the officers that were outside her warehouse when she was checking up on something. The Sky brothers and Falcon were flashing their flashlights along the interior of the warehouse as the other three other officers explored the orifice on the other side of the warehouse. Falcon hovered above the ground by about a meter as he shone his flashlight into a corridor. Alarm bells were sounding inside both the heads of the Sky brothers, but they had to push on, knowing that they couldn’t back out now. That would mean being disloyal to the Trottingham Police Department, and the Sky brothers knew that their parents would be disappointed. Falcon paused, making the two brother crash into each other as they snapped out of their reverie. “Did you guys hear something?” Falcon whispered. The two brothers listened, but the only sound they heard was the sound of the breathing coming from the three. The two shook their heads, and Falcon turned around once more. He stopped hovering, and decided to continue the exploration on hoof. As the three continued their silent exploration through the warehouse, the sound of groaning could be heard emitting from a part of warehouse. Falcon turned his head around and nodded to the two officers behind him before switching off his flashlight. Falcon shut his eyes as the Sky brothers switched off their flashlights and did the same. As the three waited for their vision to adjust to the darkness, the sound of the groaning started growing fainter. Falcon opened his eyes, and whispered to the two officers behind him. “Let’s keep moving. At least we’ll have no trouble without the flashlights for now.” The trio continued making their way towards the source of the groan. They rounded a corner, only to come face to face with the other three officers that were investigating the same noise. Falcon leapt back a few meters, crashing into the Sky brothers as the three other officers reacted the same way. Falcon quickly got back on his hooves as the officers recuperated. “Seems we’re not the only ones who know when to turn off their flashlights.” The group chuckled, before the reason they were investigating in the first place returned to their thoughts. “Did you guys hear the sound of groaning as well?” Red asked the three. The earth pony nodded, “We heard it from an opening from the outside and decided to check it out. It could be serious.” “The least you could have done was inform us before you did anything else.” Falcon hissed. The officer shrugged. “Regardless, you came in without informing us as well.” Before Falcon could retort, the officer spoke. “Let’s keep moving. We found a few rooms a few minutes ago but we decided to keep moving forward to see if there was anything else that we might miss.” Seeing as to how Falcon and the Sky brothers had not encountered any rooms during their part of the exploration, he went along with the young officer. Falcon switched on his flashlight again, as did the young officer a moment after he did. The sound of their own hooves colliding against the floor made the whole group sweat as they feared detection from anything that could be within the vicinity. Soon, the group reached a crossroads, and the group distanced themselves from each other. “Alright, the orifice in which we came in is just ahead. To the left and to the right are corridors that have two rooms on each side. Where the groaning originated from is a mystery to us, for now.” The earth pony glanced around. Falcon was looking left down the corridor when the sound of groaning returned. All ears were perked up as each pony tried to pinpoint the location of the groan. Just as soon as the groaning started, it stopped. The Sky brothers switched on their lights and shined it down the same corridor Falcon was. “I have a feeling it’s down this way.” Red deduced. Sky, on the other hoof, felt that the groan originated from one of the rooms in the right corridor. “I don’t even think there should be any groaning in such a place. If this Trixie character is as innocent as we’ve been told about her, then we’ve been told a whole lot of other shit as well.” The earth pony shook his head. “It’s better if we split up if it’s going to be this way. We can group into the same groups we did earlier and see from where the groan is from.” “We will do no such thing!” Falcon hissed. “No divide and conquer crap here. The last thing we would want to happen now is for each of us to randomly disappear because we’ve split up. We HAVE to stick together.” This time, it was the unicorn that spoke up. “If we stick together, progress will be Celestia-awfully slow, and it could be a while before we can conclude where the groan was from.” He cleared his throat before continuing, “If we all go together, that doesn’t guarantee safety.” Falcon flashed back to the pendulum blade trap at the door. The officer had a point that safety doesn’t necessarily come in numbers. If there were an even bigger trap, the six of them would be in trouble, and nopony, save for the carriage pullers outside, would know about it. And even if the carriage pullers realized we were gone for some time, there is no guarantee that they would not check out the situation inside and endanger themselves in the process. The leader sighed, before nodding in defeat. “Alright, we’ll split up. But the moment anything goes wrong, please call out to each other.” The members of the group nodded, and split into their original members. The sky brothers and Falcon went left, while the other three investigated the right corridor. Falcon shone his light along the path as the Sky brothers randomly shined theirs at the ceiling, wondering as to why the lights are not on. The place would have been very dark without their flashlights, but the two could rely on mild night vision should they need to. The corridor came to a dead end some twenty meters from the crossroads. When Sky turned around to look at the other group, there was no sign of them. Sky said nothing though, he was sure the group was safe. Falcon shone his light from the door on the left, to the right as he contemplated which door to go through first. He gestured the two officers behind him to slow their breathing, to which they complied. They waited for a moment, before the sound of groaning could be heard. It seemed to be coming from both rooms at once, much to the trio’s disbelief. Falcon held up a hoof as he listened intently. He recoiled in horror as he realized that the sounds of the groaning emitting from both rooms were synchronized, as if the two were made two mislead anypony that wandered within range. Falcon whispered, “Guys, I have a feeling that this might be another trap. It would be wise for the six of us to regroup before anything else happens.” The Sky brothers didn’t hesitate, and the three doubled back to the crossroads. However, when they reached there, they only found the unicorn officer panicking. He was running his hooves against a wall that had seemed to appear out of nowhere as he levitated his flashlight behind him. The sound of bucking could be heard from the other side of the wall as Falcon grabbed the unicorn by behind. It was the unicorn that was in Falcon’s group at the start of the search. He had an acetate nameplate with the word Macchiato written on it. “Take it easy, there. Tell me what the fuck happened.” Falcon glared. The unicorn paused for a short moment, catching his breath before he barrelled out several sentences in a single breath. “I was right behind the two when I crashed into this barrier that seemed to appear out of nowhere! I started banging on the wall, wondering what was going on. I was like, a couple of meters behind the two when this wall appeared! I don’t think they realize I’m not behind them though, since I can’t hear them replying to my bangs on the wall. It’s either that or the wall is pretty fucking thick.” It took a couple of seconds for Falcon and the Sky brothers to digest the whole thing, but when they did, they did not like what they had just heard. Falcon contemplated abandoning the search right then and call for backup. But then I’d be risking more lives. Macchiato resumed his banging on the wall, not giving up on hope that he might be able to contact the two officers. “Dude, I say we stand down for the moment. I really hope they’re safe, but I’m feeling rather sceptical right now. I say we back out while we still can and devise a plan before we do anything further.” Falcon said. “Write a report back to headquarters first. We’re going to have to let them know that this Trixie character might be hostile.” The Sky brothers stood flashing around their flashlights like guards as they awaited further instructions from Falcon. Falcon took out a bottle of ink, a quill and a roll of parchment from his saddlebag and laid it on the floor in front of Macchiato. Using his magic, the officer enveloped the quill and dipped it into the bottle of ink before scribbling on the parchment. Unbeknownst to them, the other two officers were trying their best to stop the ever enclosing wall as they began running out of space. They had noticed too late that a wall separated them from the crossroads, and were about to find out that it was far too late to get out of the situation they were in now. The two were panicking. When the earth pony had opened one of the room doors, the doorway was covered with bricks. However, the moment the unicorn opened the other door, he didn’t have to worry about being crushed to death. The room may have been small, but it was just big enough to fit another device. The device discharged, firing a harpoon. The harpoon had no resistance as it went clean through the throat of the unicorn, before the wire was pulled back by a pulley mechanism hooked to the harpoon gun. His body was dragged some twenty centimetres into the doorway, but his rearhooves were sticking out. He knew he wouldn’t feel them breaking off as the wall continued its slow journey to the end of the corridor. The officer quickly bled out, leaving the earth pony officer to accept his fate alone. The last thought that went through the officer’s mind was rather comforting, bringing a smile to the officer’s face as the wall was merely inches from his face. Dying in the line of duty. Though this might not be the best way to go, at least I gave my life for Equestria. He shut his eyes, and stood on his rearhooves with his back against the wall. He inhaled sharply as he felt the closing wall against his nuzzle, and something warm and wet crash into his rearhooves. He only managed a glance down at his partner’s rearhooves before he was gone. Author's Note : Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand this dead story is revived. A million apologies for the extremely long pause on this story. No excuses this time, I kept procrastinating. *shrug* Next chapter should be out within the next.... few weeks, once I'm done with a few more fics XD. I'll be seeing y'all later