Hello then all of you who are still with me on this story! How many of you actually got the references of my Easter Eggs? Not many I'll assume.
Incredible Potential is my parody of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
Epsilon Hoof is based off of Sir Maurice Newbury from George Mann's Newbury and Hobbes Investigation series.
So, enjoy this chapter.
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Ch. 2 Of Cults and Scientists
"Ah! Daring Do! My, my it has been a long time!"
Daring Do was in the office of the head of Canterlot Yard, Whinney Pennworthy. The male earth pony had a dark, well trimmed moustache. His black mane was beginning to show gray. A cutie mark of a police badge was visible on his flank. He was leaning heavily on a cane.
"I can see it from the lack of color in your mane Pennworthy," Daring Do said with a smile.
"I only wish it was on more pleasant matters. Honestly, I'm getting a bit too old for this kind of thing."
"It's too bad you're just so darn good at your work Whinney," Epsilon interjected.
Pennworthy shook his head. "I'm still not so sure about involving the lady here. I'm sure you can take care of yourself. You've proved it before countless times," Pennworthy added hastily at Daring's look. "But, a card stating her exact name on a murdered pony? It's just too obvious a trap. You obviously already figured this Epsilon, being the chief investigator of Canterlot Yard."
"I assure you Whinney, I've told Miss Do about the danger of a trap. But she's as headstrong and stubborn as she was last time you saw her."
"And I'm certainly not gonna miss out on a chance to find a treasure like the teardrop keystone," Daring said.
"Well then, we should be off to question Bunsen Bren," Whinney said heading out the door. Bunsen Bren was the remaining scientist of the group researching the keystone. As they left the building, Daring Do took in the smell of Gallopolis. The sun was obscured by heavy cloud cover and a mist hung all over the city. The air smelled of the exhaust released from the steam powered automobiles that drove over the cobbles. They were a relatively new invention brought into Gallopolis.
"Should we hail a cab?" Whinney asked.
"No way! I'm entirely for the progress of technology, but these things reek something awful!" Epsilon said.
So they walked to the house of the scientist. It was nestled between two apartment buildings and seemed to be leaning on them as if it couldn't support itself. They were greeted by a police at the door. He tipped his hat to Pennworthy. "Sir. You'll find the pony in question in the living area."
Pennworthy nodded at him. The living room was clean and incredibly organized in such a way that it made Daring Do uncomfortable. She liked some sense of disorganization. Bunsen was a pony who liked to find things easily and immediatly. He sat in a chair reading the newspaper when he noticed the trio. "Ah. Pennworthy. Are these police of yours going to be following me around much longer? It's quite an uncomfortable position."
"Safety precautions Bren. You were targetted by an assassin which could very well try again," Pennworthy said, as if he had delivered this speech before.
"Well then, let's get this interrogation over with." Bunsen gestured toward a sofa and they took their seats.
Epsilon started. "So. What exactly were your findings on the teardrop keystone?"
"I'm not sure how much I can help you with there. I was the rookie on the research team. I'd only just joined a few weeks before, when they were well under way on their studies. They were loath to admit anything to me. Worried about the information being given to the wrong person." Bunsen shrugged. "The teardrop keystone is an artifact that according to Magia legend held the arch of reality in place and kept it from collapsing. While the keystone may not do that, it does indeed have strange properties involving shadow magic."
"What kinds of properties?"
"Well that's something the other ponies kept from me. But the meager scraps of information that I could draw out of them suggest the keystone is needed for some kind of summoning ritual."
"To summon what?"
"As stated before, I don't know. The unicorn that expiremented on the keystone with shadow magic thousands of years ago, was Nezerra the Mystical."
Daring Do interrupted. "Weren't a bunch of shadow magic ceremonies and rituals found in her tomb? Ones still done by cults today?" Daring knew this was true because she herself was on that dig when they discovered this.
"Yes. But none of those documents had anything to do with the keystone. At least, none that you retrieved."
"What could you mean by that?" said Pennworthy with the hint of a threat in his tone.
"I believe that the researchers here might have discovered that tomb before you and taken the documents about the keystone. That theory's rather outlandish though. A better one would be they intercepted those documents after they were unearthed."
"And that's all you know about the keystone?" Epsilon recieved a nod from Bunsen. "What about your assassin? What did he look like?"
"Well, it's hard to say, but I believe he was a stallion. Large, muscular fellow. He was wearing dark clothing that covered all his body, and a mask covered his face."
"Well that's to be expected," Pemmworthy said.
"As I was saying," Bunsen said, obviously annoyed, "there was a patch on his sleeve that had a symbol of some kind."
"What did it look like?"
"Well, why it looked like that! Like your cutie mark Investigator Hoof!"
Epsilon's cutie mark was a star made up of five different lines. "Hoof, what did you say that was called?" Whinney struggled to remember.
"It's a pentagram." Hoof turned to Bunsen. "You're saying the attacker had a pentagram on his sleeve."
"Yes. Although it didn't look exactly like that. It was upside down, with one gray jewel at each point and one in the center."
"It doesn't sound like any cult I might know," Hoof said.
"Could be the rise of one," Pennworthy said.
"And that's all you have to tell us?" Daring Do asked.
"No. I do know where the alleged location of the keystone is."
"What?! Why didn't you mention that earlier?" Daring Do said incredulously.
"You didn't ask. Anyway, we believe the keystone is in a temple only accesible through an entrance in the temple of their capital city, Dabylon."
"And that's all you know?"
"Yes."
Epsilon put away his notepad. "Well thank you Bunsen. You've been a great help to our investigation." After they exited the building, Pennworthy and Hoof discussed something out of Daring's earshot. Hoof returned to Daring Do and said, "Pennworthy has some business he needs to take care of. Would it be fine if I accompanied you home?"
"Fine by me." This time, they did take a cab. The ride home was silent for some time, until Daring Do broke the silence. "So then. What's our next move? Are we going to Dabylon? I thought that would be the simplest form of action. Wait for the culprit to show up."
"That's exactly what we're going to do. Pennworthy went to take care of the travel arrangements. I was wondering if you could gather some of your old archealogical partners. Preferably ones who have been on digs in the area."
"Well that shouldn't be too difficult. I think I already know who to ask." After a brief lapse in conversation, Daring started again. "What do you make of that cult symbol Epsilon?"
Epsilon ran a hoof through his mane in an obvious gesture of discomfort. "It worries me. A new cult that starts with something big like this. They're not much for covert if they're willing to advertise themselves like that. We really don't need more like Celestia's Disciples."
"Who are they?"
"They're a cult that claims to be keeping order and peace in Equestria. I think they're terrorists. They've put bombs and the like in various churches and and other religious places and blown them up. They've assasinated religious leaders and stolen artifacts related to shadow magic. Their motives are extremely unclear. It just seems like they want to cause chaos."
"Wow. Ponies these days are getting such horrible ideas in their heads."
"We're not even sure they're ponies. They always wear black cloaks to conceal their identities. They're also larger than the average pony. Whenever they attack in numbers, they move with a kind of deadly grace and organization."
The rest of the ride was made in silence. Daring Do arrived at her house and said goodbye to Epsilon.
ooX~Xoo
Daring Do was awoken in the middle of the night by the doorbell. Grumbling to herself. She opened the door and found Pennworthy and Hoof at her doorstep. "Guys it's the middle of the night! Can't this wait 'til morning?"
Without preamble, Whinney said, "Bunsen's been murdered."
Daring became instantly awake. "Alright. Let me get my pith helmet."
Minutes later, they arrived at Bunsen's house. Police were already milling around despite the late hour. One of them approached Whinney. "Pennworthy. All the ponies are dead. All in the same gruesome fashion. Nopony's started investigating yet."
"Thank you. We can take it from here."
The pony that had greeted them at the front door earlier that day was now sprawled on the floor. Daring couldn't surpress a gasp of horror.
The police pony was unrecognizable. His throat and stomach were torn open and his innards were pulled out. Blood pooled around him. Epsilon bent over and examined him, frowning. He lead the way into the house. Surprisingly, it was as uncomfortably neat as when they left it. When they got to Bunsen's room, Daring Do felt bile rise in her throat.
It was hideously decorated with blood and organs everywhere. Bunsen was in the center, killed the same way as the police pony. After examination, Epsilon said, "This rules out the possibility of this murderer being the same as the other."
"This pony was killed horribly and messily. The other scientists had been killed with a clean cut through the throat with a blade. And I'm certain no blade did this. These are teeth marks."
"Teeth marks!" Daring Do exclaimed.
Whinney tapped his cane incredulously."That's impossible, Hoof! You're saying somepony tore out Bunsen's innards with their teeth?"
"Probably not a pony. These wounds have been made with much sharper teeth. Ah? Hello, what's this?" Stuck behind Bunsen was a note.
"What's it say?" Daring Do asked impatiently.
Epsilon read it aloud. "You're dealing with things you don't understand. Call off your investigation. Signed" - Epsilon sucked in a breath - "Celestia's Disciples."
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So, how many of you are still with me? Leave a comment of praise or one of constructive criticism, por favor.
Easter egg in this chapter: Canterlot Yard. Leave your guesses for what it's a parody of in the comments.
Welp, until next time!