//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Old Scars, Fresh Bodies 
// Story: An Epitaph 
// by TimeSolidMetal 
//------------------------------//







Chapter 8


Princess Luna gasped for breath, cold sweat dampened her brow as her anxiety strengthened. She felt hopeless and confused as she stumbled out of her bed and onto her four legs, it was 4am, nearly time for the sun to rise. She took in a deep breath and exhaled a few moments after, trying to regain her composure. 
"I'm okay, I'm okay..." She reassured herself, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath before walking to her balcony doors, her horn glowed a dark blue and the doors swung open, revealing the fresh, damp open air of her high up balcony; dark storm clouds began to pool in the sky above, as scheduled by the local pegasi. "I have to tell Celestia about this, these... 'dreams' are getting worse and worse..." She rested her fore hooves onto the stone railing and gazed down at the Canterlot streets below. Even at this early hour, many ponies were already in the streets on their way to their work. She sighed quietly and thought to herself: In an hour or so Celestia will be awake to raise the sun, I'll see if I can't speak with her then..."

And down below, along the streets of Canterlot, Mixed Number trotted along to the Castle, wearing a light grey poncho to protect himself from the coming rain. The first few drops of rain began to fall when Mixed Number noticed an unusually large crowd gathering in front of a fancy red bricked apartment building, yellow crime scene tape blocked off the area as to keep ponies from wandering in too close. I wonder what's happening over there? He tilted his head to the side and wandered over, nudging lightly through the crowd. 
"Alright, everyone, stand back!" A grey guard pony in golden armor was working his best to keep the prying eyes of the public and the press away from the scene. "We need to conduct the proper protocol for this, please, everypony take a step back!"
"What's going on over here?" Mixed Number piped up, hopping up occasionally to try and see over the heads of the ponies.
"They found a body!"
"Yep, looks really familiar, too... is it an actor, or some TV talk pony?"
"No, you idiot, it's Senator Feather Quill!"
Mixed Number raised an eye brow and shoved through the ponies in front of him to get a glimpse of the scene. It was true, the body of a female pony was lying on the stone steps up to the apartment complex's lobby. Her green eyes were wide and her light red coat was matted with blood, an open wound was caked with blood on her neck and her dark red mane was frizzy and dirty from lying out all night. Standing by the body was a green pony with a short brown mane, he wore a collar and tie around his neck, along with a blue poncho with the word POLICE written in bold yellow on the back.
"That makes two bodies in the past week." He notes to himself, seemingly unfazed by the gruesome entailment of the crime scene. "Where are we on that Medical carriage?" 
"It's on it's way, sir." One of the guard ponies responded, there were a total of 5 ponies and 1 carriage on the scene.
"The wounds inflicted here are similar to the wounds on Senator Iron Sides. The stab wound is an inch in length, stabbed past the shoulder blade and straight to the heart." The blue poncho wearing pony bent down to examine the body further. "And there seems to be impact damage to the spine, it's snapped by the 3rd and 4th vertebrae, did she fall onto the stairs from a window?" He looked up at the 6 story apartment building, it was more than likely that there was more evidence up there. "I'm going to head upstairs, what apartment number was she in?"
"Uh... room 409, Mr. Lense. That's what the receptionist said, anyway." One of the ponies responded.
"Alright, thank you. Make sure the coroner examines the body right away."
"Yes, sir." 

Mr. Lense walked up the stone stairs to the front door of the apartment, his hooves clacking lightly against the hard surface; at this point the rain was falling at a light, but constant, pace. The door swung open easily to the now completely empty lobby, there wasn't even a pony behind the counter. Mr. Lense did not waste any time, he quickly walked over to the elevator and pressed the button with his hoof and, once the elevator had arrived, stepped inside and proceeded to the fourth floor. The hallway of the fourth floor was just as quiet as the lobby, aside from the pitter patter of the rain outside against the windows. The doorway to room 409 was not forced open, nor was it unlocked, in fact, there appeared to be no signs of a break in at all. What, did she just stab herself and jump out a window? Unlikely..." He looked left, then to the right, then nudged the doormat to the room aside with his hoof, and, as he had figured, a bronze key was taped snugly to the furnished wood floor. Using the key, he opened the door and stepped inside. 
Upon entering the apartment, he noticed that everything was very clean and orderly, there was a short hallway that led to the main living room, and in the corner was a very updated kitchen and across from that was the doorway to the bedroom. There was a heavy draft, and upon further inspection, Mr. Lense noticed the large window in the living room was wide open.
"Aha." He approached the window, the wind was blowing through and dampening anything in the area with the cool rain. Best be careful not to contaminate anything. Let's touch as few things as possible. He pulled the hood of his poncho down and quickly shut the window before wandering off to examine the crime scene, but to his surprise, it was as if this place has never been touched before. The bed was made, the dishes washed and put away, the only thing that stood out were small droplets of red blood staining the otherwise white carpet in the living room by the window. Mr. Lense crouched down and examined the blood stain close, squinting his eyes. There were 5 large droplets of blood crusted into the fibers, along with dozens of smaller satellite droplets around them. A very clean wound... He thought to himself. A few minutes after the start of his inspection, a rather shy looking, grey furred guard pony poked his head in, his golden armor riddled with droplets of water.

"Sir, did you find anything? And uh... the coroner's here, he took the body back to the morgue for an autopsy." He spoke out lightly from the doorway. 
"Hm? No, no just looking. I'll talk to the coroner later..."  Mr. Lense snapped back to reality, standing back up and rubbing his eyes. "Just give me a moment."
"Yes, sir." The pony nodded once and closed the door on his way out.

Mr. Lense nodded once more, then looked out the window, at the rainy streets below. An odd, yet familiar, feeling began to accumulate inside of him. He scratched the back of his head with his hoof lightly, then turned around and scanned the room once more. He couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched.