The First Chronicle
Chapter 6
When the paramedics arrived, it was twenty minutes after twelve and the sun was already on its downward climb from the sky. The cyan pegasus wondered briefly how the princess managed to keep the sun on such a steady decline all through the year. She had been pacing around the small clearing as she waited for the forensics team, and sometimes she glanced up at the sky to wonder how many killings were committed by this mad pony under the sun’s gaze.
When they arrived, the team began to close off the area with rope. Two ponies came up to stand with Dash as she stood over the crime scene.
The two pegasi took out their badges and showed Dash. “I’m Special Agent Solstice and this is Special Agent Ember.” The dark brown pegasus said. He had a blue mane and tail and a forensics briefcase for a cutie-mark.
Dash looked to each pony in turn and took out her own badge. “Special Agent Dash. Did Chief Whitecoat explain what case this is about?”
Solstice shrugged his shoulders. “He said not to ask questions about it, so we won’t.”
Dash turned to Ember, who nodded silently.
“So what do you figure happened?” Dash asked the dark brown pegasus.
He paused for a moment to think about where to begin. “It’s hard to say. This body seems to have been out here for days. Body’s cold, but…no blood, no cuts…no sign of a struggle and no hoofsteps to or away from the area. Winter’s done this killer a favor and made our job more difficult.”
Ember, a mare with a purple mane and light blue coat huffed. Her cutie-mark was a magnifying glass on top of a hoofprint. “Seems like this pony has a calculated mind. Any ideas as to why the killer decided to produce a body out here?”
Dash shrugged, beginning to back away from the two pegasi. “I’ve got a few, but they’re only hunches. Nothing to go on until an autopsy can be done. See what you can find first, alright?”
The brown stallion nodded. “We’ll get right on it.”
The cyan mare hadn’t heard them. She was already making her way out of the Everfree Forest. Dash lifted the tape and stepped under it to continue walking. She was going to test one of her hunches out right now, and that hunch included a second visit to Fluttershy’s cottage.
*****
Being the closest house to the Everfree Forest, Dash thought that the timid pony would have noticed something odd about one night. Having a home full of critters meant that rude awakenings in the night would be common for her, and maybe the animals heard a pony carrying a body into the Everfree Forest. At the very least it was a start, and Dash might find some tracks under the snow leading in and out.
Once she cleared the tree line, the pegasus spread her wings and flew the rest of the way to Fluttershy’s house. It was only half past twelve, so she was probably just settling in for lunch. That line of thought seemed to awaken something in Dash’s stomach, as she remembered she hadn’t eaten in a while.
Dash landed at the front of the cottage at about forty minutes past and knocked on the door. Soon enough she heard hoofsteps becoming increasingly louder, and no sooner had Fluttershy opened her door to the pegasus.
The yellow mare seemed surprised to see her again at first, but not unhappy by any means. “Why, hello Rainbow Dash. What brings you here again? Oh, not that I’m not happy to see you- I’m quite happy to have another visit from you…it’s just that…I thought you would be out investigating by now.”
“Actually, I am,” Dash began after a moment. “I came here to ask you something. A few things to be honest, can I come in?”
Again Fluttershy looked puzzled, but she obliged and let the rainbow-maned pony into her home. She offered her to sit at the table, which Dash accepted, and sat herself down opposite.
The yellow pegasus looked a little worried. She bowed her head and rubbed her fore-legs together nervously. “So, um…what did you want to ask me?”
Dash cleared her throat, but didn’t say right away. After a few seconds she asked, “Did you see or hear anything unusual this past week? Probably at nighttime.”
It looked like the question confused the pegasus for a moment, but Fluttershy started to think after. “Well…what kind of thing?”
“Your animals might have heard something. Did they wake you up at night at all? Maybe because they heard a strange noise outside?” Dash encouraged, trying to get her friend to remember.
Something seemed to light up in Fluttershy’s eyes when the cyan mare said that. “Oh! Actually, now that you mention it. My animals did wake me up four nights ago. They told me they heard some scary noise outside, so I thought I’d check it out.”
Dash nodded for her to continue. “Yes, and?”
Fluttershy shuffled in her seat nervously and then continued. “Well…it was dark out and I couldn’t see much…I only caught a glimpse of something entering the Everfree Forest, but I didn’t dare go looking. It looked like a pony.” She shuddered. “Oh, I can’t imagine what they would be doing so late at night wandering into the Everfree. I hope they’re alright.”
The cyan pegasus huffed. “I’m sure they’re okay, Fluttershy.” Dash replied easily as she stood up from the couch.
Fluttershy seemed hopeful at that. “Really? You’re positive?” Dash nodded her answer, but it wasn’t a pleased sort of nod. The timid pegasus stopped smiling and adopted a worried expression. “What is this about? Do you know who the pony was? Oh…if you don’t mind telling me of course.”
The cyan mare smiled softly, raising her head back up to look at Fluttershy. “No, it’s okay.” She bit her lip, wondering if she should tell her shy friend about the body found inside the forest. “I think the pony you saw might have been the killer from this case.”
The yellow mare gasped. “Oh my. Are you sure?”
“It’s only a possibility, so I can’t say for a certainty.” Dash assumed that sooner or later, word would cover all of Ponyville, so she might as well tell Fluttershy herself. “Two hours ago…I found a body in a clearing inside the forest. It was covered in snow and there was no sign of hoofprints in or out of the forest. The killer must have known it would snow and planned this to play with me. I have almost no way of finding out who put the pony there because of this.”
The shy pony gasped again and covered her mouth with her hooves. “Oh no! How…how could somepony do this?” She sat in silence, not moving from her chair and not uncovering her muzzle.
Dash walked over and put a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s fore-leg. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. I won’t let that happen to you or your animals. I’m going to catch who did this. Alright?”
That calmed the timid mare down a little and she nodded wordlessly. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”
Dash shook her head. “I’m sorry I told you about this. I just thought it would be better if you heard it from me now rather than from gossip in Ponyville. This won’t stay secret for long. I’ll see you later Fluttershy, I have to see what the team I called has come up with.”
Without another word between them, Dash left the cottage. However, before she made her way back to the Everfree Forest, she checked for any hoofprints. The cyan pegasus carefully uncovered some snow along the path. She shook the snow from her hoof, but saw nothing unusual. Whoever this pony was, they were an expert at covering up their tracks.
*****
Returning to the clearing at ten minutes to one, now marked quite well by the yellow tape, Rainbow Dash searched for the forensics team she had spoken with half an hour ago. They were still around the body of Lyra, so she trotted over to hear what they had found.
Agent Solstice was the first to speak, putting down some equipment to speak with Dash. “It’s strange. There was no cut or damage to the body and no prints on the victim. It’s almost like she did this herself. We’ll need to take her back to Manehattan to do some further tests, but I’m not hopeful.”
“A dead end.” Dash whispered; no pun intended in her statement.
“However,” Ember added. “We did find something of interest. Come and look at this.” She gestured for Dash to follow. The pegasus sat down and pointed to the pony’s mouth. “There’s something in her saliva. We tested the liquid and found that it was a poison, though from our test here it is unclear what type.”
“So either she drank this herself, or the killer forced her to drink it.” The stallion concluded.
The cerulean pegasus took a moment to think it over. Lyra always seemed to be in good spirits when she saw her; suicide would be out of the question for such a pony. “She was drugged.” Dash stated plainly.
The two pegasi looked surprised. “You’re sure?”
Dash nodded. “I don’t believe any of these ponies would want to kill themselves. I can only see one way this could have happened.”
Solstice shrugged his shoulders at his partner. “When did you say this pony showed up here?”
“It was four nights ago. The killer must have dumped the body for me to find.” Dash shook her head slowly.
The blue mare looked shocked. “He placed her here as a clue for you? What kind of game is this pony playing?”
A game. Pinkie said she had invited Lyra over for a party before she disappeared, but when she told her that, Dash was a little sceptical. The way Pinkie had acted during their last conversation was strained at best. Other than that showing of emotion over the events of Lyra’s disappearance, the pony seemed totally unaffected. Like Rainbow Dash said before, if she was to solve this case she must push the connection with her friends aside and have the ability to suspect anypony if the evidence lead to them. If she managed to get Pinkie to follow her on this case, she might be able to find out if the pink mare wasn’t telling her something important.
“All we really know about this pony is that he’s killed at least three ponies in a matter of months.” Dash said. “He is officially a serial killer and these killings don’t seem to be slowing down.”
*****
It was half past one when the cyan pegasus left the crime scene once more. Dash asked the team to take the body back to Manehattan for further analysis and now they knew what to look for: signs of poison in the system. They said they would contact her once they found anything of interest.
The first place the cyan mare checked was Sugarcube Corner, hoping that Pinkie Pie was still at work. Opening the front door to the sweet’s shop, and hearing the chime of the bell, Rainbow Dash walked up to the counter and saw Mrs. Cake in the kitchen. She asked her if Pinkie was around, but the older pony shook her head.
“She’s probably off playing somewhere by now.” Mrs. Cake guessed.
That wasn’t what Dash wanted to hear. Now she was looking for a pink pony, which was probably even more difficult to find than her killer.
“If she comes back, tell her I need to talk to her,” Said Dash, turning quickly on her hooves and trotting out the door again. If she’s not here where would she be? It’s only passed lunch time, maybe she’s at the park eating.
Rainbow Dash decided to check through the marketplace first, seeing as how it was on the way to the park and that Pinkie Pie might still be buying something. At a quarter to two, the pegasus arrived at the market and began to search for the pink pony. The thing was ponies didn’t find Pinkie Pie so much as she found you, or bounced you rather.
And at that moment, the earth mare did in fact, find her victim and swiftly bounce her to the ground. “Hiya, Rainbow Dash!” She said, “Looking for somepony?”
Pinkie didn’t look at all bothered by the goings on with Dash’s case; she just smiled happily at the cyan pony, which only made the rainbow maned pony more suspicious. Pinkie knew everypony in town; shouldn’t she be at least a little broken up about these missing ponies? Of course, she could just be hiding it for when she was alone.
But all of this occurred to Dash later, because at the moment she couldn’t breathe; either from having the wind knocked out of her or from the way Pinkie was staring at her with those big blue oceans of hers, she didn’t try to figure out.
“I need to talk to you, Pinkie,” She said, regaining her voice, “Could you hop off, please?”
With a happy nod, Pinkie Pie obliged, standing up and stepping a few hooves back to let the mare sit up. “So? What did you wanna talk about? Ooh, ooh! Let me guess. Was it- Mmph mm mf?!”
Dash had stuffed a hoof into the pony’s mouth before she could guess; knowing Pinkie wasn’t even trying to predict what the answer was. “I’ve been thinking for a while about all of this disappearing stuff and I thought I could use a little help. You knew Lyra better than me, probably all of the ponies that have gone missing so far, so I figured I would let you tag along as I gather information.”
“Really? You’d let me go with you on this case?” Pinkie’s eyes lit up brightly.
Rainbow nodded, tugging on her trench coat to position it comfortably. “Yes. You can probably get a better idea of what state of mind Lyra was in before she disappeared.”
“Okay, sure. Wherever you wanna start Agent Dash.” Pinkie replied, nudging Rainbow’s shoulder.
Rainbow smirked. Typical Pinkie. However, she didn’t even flinch whenever I mentioned the missing ponies. “We need to talk to Ginger Snap for starters.”
“Why’s that Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie said, sitting down next to the cyan pony and tilting her head curiously.
“According to this list of victims, she is the next to disappear.” Without another word, she strolled off in the direction of Ginger Snap’s house.