Episode 3: The Final Score
“So basically, this is what happened,” Cobalt took a sip of his cider and placed the mug on the table “I was playing my violin to get some bits and could you believe it, someone actually filed a complaint saying that my violin work was sound pollution?”
Cobalt laughed as he took another sip. “I spent the rest of the night locked up in the town jail with some psycho who believed a poptart cat that was flying around in space, spewing rainbows out of its ass and singing ‘nya nya nya’ was gonna destroy the world. “
“That must've been one hell of a night,” Pencil Point remarked.
“Oh, you have no idea.”
The airship to Manechester was a quiet one, so the gang went to the onboard bar to catch up on some lost time. Apparently after MBS had been disbanded, Cobalt met Lavender and after a year, they got married but their marriage wasn’t approved by their parents so they eloped to Ponyville and started the music shop. Pencil Point went back to her bread business and has been selling bread ever since. Whitemane on the other hand didn’t have much luck as he was unable to get a job due to the fact that fighting was kind of his way of life.
“So, this assignment,” Whitemane pushed aside his mug of cider. Though he made it clear he didn’t drink, they insisted he have one. “It’s just some guard mission?”
“More or less,” Cobalt ordered another round “Three days ago, Final Score, star striker for Manechester United, received a letter that he was going to die. For some ponies, they would’ve just shrugged this off for some prank, but the thing is, over the past few months there have been a multiple murders around the Manechester area, each of the victims received a letter telling them that they will die in a week and after a week they coincidentally die.”
“Coincidentally?”
“Well, that's what the local PD is saying. They’re not investigating it though. The deaths are too random. The victims have no connection to one another and each of them died a different way with no evidence that suggest foul play. There is no connection at all except for the letters that were sent to the victims.”
“So, why are we being sent to investigate?”
Cobalt had a baffled look on his face. “Didn’t you read the files that the princess gave us?”
“I was too busy… ermm… guarding Pencil Point’s van… yeah,”
“HA! More like sleeping next to the van,” remarked Pencil Point, a bit tipsy from all of the cider.
“So I didn’t read it. So, what?”
Cobalt sighed. “Anyway, the police aren’t trying to solve the murders so that’s where we come in and do remember we have to be quick. He only has four days left until…”
*DING*
“Attention all passengers, we will be arriving in Trottingham in a few minutes. Thank you for using Ponyhoof Airlines.”
*DING*
“Seems like we’re here. Let’s get this over with.”
Final Score took a deep breath. He ran across the field and with all his might and kicked the ball straight into the net. He took it back and returned it to its original position and stood where he was before.
“Are you still going to the match?” The red earth pony with a white streak in his red mane looked behind him and there stood a pink mare with a worried look on her face. He quickly turned his head not wanting to look at the worried mare.
“This match is important,”
“More important than your life?” Final score kicked the ball again.
“I just…” the pink mare placed her hoof on his muzzle and stared deep into his eyes .“Stay home with the kids. Please… I don’t want to lose you,”
“Sweetie Pie… those are just rumors,”
“I DON’T CARE! I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOU!”
Sweetie Pie couldn’t hold it anymore. She fell to the ground, her face filled with tears. Final Score quickly went to her, picked her up and embraced her.
“Nothing is going to happen, okay?” He wiped away the tears with his hooves and kissed Sweetie’s forehead as he adored her beauty. Even with the tears in her eyes she was beautiful.
“Nothing is going to happen.” He brought her lips to his and they both locked into a passionate kiss.
“Ah, Cobalt! It’s a pleasure to be able to meet with you again,” Switch began to furiously shake Cobalt’s hooves. “Two years seems like almost an eternity doesn’t it, old chap?”
“I’m not old, Switch,” Cobalt released himself from Switch’s grip “Just worn out.”
“Ah, still haven’t lost that sense of humor have we? And who might this fine mare be?” Switch bowed in front of Lavender cause her to blush.
“Lavender,” Switch took her hooves and planted a small peck on them “Lavender Diamond.”
“Ah, such a fine mare indeed. And Pencil Point! Oh, how beautiful you have become over these years,”
“Oh, stop it you.”
“Whitemane, those hoof blades working out for you right?”
“Better then the last one, that’s for sure.”
“Well, I would like to say that I did have a little help making those, and actually I think I have some new ones for you…” He began to rummage through the piles of mechanical junk that had been lying around the room “AHA!! Found them.”
He jumped from out of the pile holding a pair of gauntlets in his front right hoof while striking a pose with the hoof in the air as if he was showing them to the gods. He quickly tossed them to Whitemane for him to try on.
“They’re a bit of a snug, but….”
“Switch, we're here on business remember?” Cobalt interrupted.
“Ahh yes, almost forgot about that.” Switch quickly took out a projector and turned it on. “Alice, would you mind bringing up all the files on the Mail Murderer?”
“Very well.” said a computerized voice
The projector immediately projected detailed accounts of all the killing on the wall behind them.
“Mail Murderer?”
“It’s what the news is calling it now. Anyhow, as you might know the killings are quite random and without any type of foul play. Heart attack here, asthma attack there. The last one was actually a suicide. The poor chap jumped of a building.”
“Any idea how they are being done?
“Well I have a theory but well it’s just a theory,”
“Well?”
“I don’t think these are actually murders. I think the pony doing this is actually trying to warn these ponies.”
“So you think whoever is sending these letters know that these deaths are going to happen?”
“Precognition isn’t actually a well known type of magic, but it is possible none the less.”
Cobalt smiled “And when did you ever start studying about magic? I thought it was all science and computers for you?”
“Well, two years is enough to change anypony’s perspective, my friend,”
Cobalt pondered for awhile.
“So… What're we gonna do?” Asked Pencil Point.
“Wait a sec, let me think… Oh god… I wish Lucky Sanity was here…” He looked around the room trying to clear his head for ideas, “Were the Police able to trace who sent the letters?”
“Nope, they were all sent by hoof.”
“Pencil Point, is it possible for you to draw a scene and see what has happened?”
“Never tried, but I think I could possibly do that.”
“We'll get to it, go to Final Score’s house and see who sent that letter. Whitemane you follow. Lavender and I will go to the Magic University in Oxford to see if we can find anything about this Precognition Magic.”
Pencil Point and Whitemane nodded and walked out of the room only to be stopped by Switch.
“Wait! I got something for you guys,” He quickly went to a counter and picked up what seemed to be ear pieces. “This was designed by a friend of mine, Boomer Ethman. It’s a device to relay voice communications via radio waves. It works just like a walkie-talkie but fits just in the ear. It’ll be easier to communicate and relay messages between you guys this way.”
He gave them both the ear piece and gave one to both Lavender and Cobalt “Before you go Cobalt. Could I have a word with you, in private, perhaps?”
“Ok, why don’t you guys go on first,” The others nodded and left the small cramp basement that was Switch’s workshop.
“So, what do you wanna talk about?”
“There is something I need you to know. I had Like Spam hack into the Equestrian database like you asked me.” He pulled out a few files from a drawer and gave them to Cobalt “As you can see, I found some…”
“Switch,” He interrupted “I’m blind.”
“Ahh… forgot about that… Speaking of being blind. I made a little gadget that can attach itself on…”
“Switch, the files.”
“Ah, yes. It seems Princess Celestia does know everything there is to know about us. Everything that we had and have been doing from the point MBS was founded until well… now. What worries me is the fact that they are all detail accounts of everything and I mean everything of what we have done. Even what we ate for breakfast,” Switch giggled “I never thought you to be a fan of hay fries.”
Cobalt sighed and began to walk to the door. Counting the steps in his mind “We ran out of pancake mix.”
He opened the door and closed it shut. “Ermm… Cobalt, that’s the closet.”
Cobalt swung the door open, took a few steps to his right and grabbed the correct door this time “I meant to do that,”
“Oh, come on. It’s just 3 words.” Pencil Point said as she teased Whitemane.
“Hey, I only said that because I thought I would never see you again. That’s all,” Whitemane quickly turned the other way.
“But you did say it,” She giggled “Come on, say it.”
Whitemane sighed in defeat “I… I lo…”
The train suddenly halted in a one large screech. Whitemane quickly stood up and went to the door.
“Come one. We got a job to do.” he tried to hide the embarrassment but the blushes on his face were to obvious making
Pencil Point chuckle in amusement.
Manechester was the largest Victorian city in England. The city streets were laid with cobblestone and the houses made of bricks. Unlike Equestria, England had gone through a steam powered revolution. Steam powered automobiles now litter the streets of Manechester and factories with thick black smoke coming out of their chimneys could be seen in the distance.
Final Score’s house was just a few blocks from the train station so they decided to walk it out which turned out to be a nightmare for Whitemane because Pencil Point was still bugging him on saying those 3 words which he tried full heartedly to avoid. After what seemed like an hour of torment to Whitemane, they had arrived at Final Score’s house and after introducing themselves, Pencil Point started drawing a portrait of his Mailbox.
“So, all you need is to draw a portrait of my mailbox?” Final Score asked
“Yup.” Pencil Point quickly answered.
“But how would a drawing help?”
Pencil point laughed out loud “If I had a bit for every time a pony asked that question I would have a million bits.”
Final Score made a reluctant snort. “Okay then. Well, if you need anything I’ll be at the stadium getting ready for tonight’s match.”
Pencil Point continued drawing while Whitemane looked around for anything that might lead them to who was sending these letters. So far he couldn’t make out anything that could help. Everything now depended on Pencil Point’s drawing.
“Done.” She cheerfully said as she finished. She held the drawing with pride before letting it stand on her table top.
She called out to Whitemane and as soon as he was there started her spell. It took a few moments for her to concentrate but after she was done the drawing came to life. The trees in the background began to sway just as they did in real life. Her horn glowed a second time and the portrait suddenly stopped before going in reverse. They began to see themselves walking up to the house, automobiles going back and forth, day turning into night before going back to day. And then they saw it.
A dark yellow pegasus with a flowing red mane and brown streaks flew in out of the blue and before putting a letter in the mailbox, checked if any other pony was on the street. He had no indication that he was a mailcolt and his nervous and careful behavior was quite noticeable but what stunned them was the fact that one of her wings was actually half mechanical.
“I think we got our culprit.”
“You think you can enhance the image?” asked Whitemane nonchalantly, “I can’t seem to see the cutiemark”
Pencil Point frowned “This is a drawing Whitemane not a computer,”
“Then how are we supposed to know who it is?”
“Beats me.”
They both sighed.
Pencil Point’s horn glowed as she reverted the spell making sure the picture stopped at the most visible frame in which the colt could be seen. “Well at least we have his face. Let’s see if Cobalt and Lavender had any luck,”
Pencil Point pressed the little ear piece in her ear.
“Pencil Point here. I got a possible pic. Anything on your side?”
“We just met with the dean of the university and it seemed that Precognition is a very high level magic and not many unicorns can actually do it even if they did learn it. So I’m pretty sure we can rule that out.”
“You can say that again. The one giving all these letters is a pegasus. Dark yellow, red mane and get this, a mechanical wing”
“Well then take the drawing and meet us back at Switch’s workshop. We’ll settle things there.”
“So what’s the plan Final Score?”
“I think we better go on the defense for the first half and on the second just give everything we’ve got,” Final Score said to his team “Their team has many good players but their stamina isn’t that much. If we tire them out in the first half we can easily get through their defenses on the second.”
“Got it.” The team spoke all at once.
“I know that is match is very important and I won’t lie, I’m nervous as fuck. Just remember to do your very best,” Final score sighed. “I’m glad that I’m about to lead a team such as you guys. We would have never gotten this far if it wasn’t for the determination and the spirits of colts and stallions like all of you. Whatever happens tonight, win or lose, I’m proud to say that this team will always be in my books as the best team I have ever played for.”
Final Score placed his hoof in the middle of the group as all the other placed theirs on top of his. “GLORY! GLORY! MANE UNITED!!”
They quickly left for the field and as they entered the stadium the heard the roars of millions of fans screaming and cheering. A bolt of lightning could be seen in the distance.
“Raining tonight?” Final Score asked one of his team mates
“Yup. Heard the pegasus weather team scheduled a thunder storm tonight of all nights.”
“That’s not gonna be good.”
Whitemane swiftly went towards the side of the door looking left and right to see if anypony else was there. He gave a nod to Pencil Point and she went to the door.
Switch had cross reference the pony in the picture with the police department’s criminal database and found a match to a pony by the name Maple Sunrise that had been arrested for trespassing on private property 6 days ago. In the report it had said that he was currently staying in a hotel in Manechester City.
Pencil Point quickly drew a ram and rammed the door down. Whitemane rushed into the room to only see the dark yellow pegasus heading out the balcony getting ready to fly. He launched himself from the balcony ledge as the pegasus flew away. He extended his hoof as far as he could, trying to get a hold on the pegasus’s tail.
He missed.
He looked down towards the ground below. It was a 10 story drop from where he was falling. Suddenly, a giant bird swooped from under him and picked him up. Pencil Point was on it maneuvering the bird.
“You are so hasty sometimes, you know that?” She quickly went into pursuit with the pegasus. “This spell won’t last long. The moment we get…”
Without warning an arrow came straight towards the pegasus and before it reached him, it exploded in a cloud of smoke and a steel net emerged from it capturing the pegasus in mid-air. Pencil Point quickly reacted by drawing a parachute which she attached to the net so the pegasus wouldn’t fall to his death.
“Do I have to do everything around here?”
They both looked to their right and standing on the roof of one of the buildings was a bright blue unicorn. Her azure mane was tied in a sidetail. The mare had a longbow in one of her hooves and a quiver of arrows hanging from her back.
“Well, what took you so long, Aimfast?”
“Was in Oatstralia, had to deal with a little diamond dog problem then had to get this ridiculous ear piece from Switch.”
“Well, glad to have you back.”
Pencil Point landed near the fallen pegasus who at the time was struggling to get out of his entanglement. Whitemane got him out of the net and slammed him to a wall before pointing a hoofblade at him.
“Don’t kill me! I’ve hid all of my data about all of you and only I know where it is!” He yelled. Both of them were confused by this sudden outburst.
“Data? What data?” Pencil Point asked as she scratched her head with a pencil.
“Oh,” The pegasus began to be less tense then he was before “You’re not them? Oh god I thought you were them.”
“Them?”
“There’s no time to explain. Final Score is in danger,” He tried to escape Whitemane’s grasp but Whitemane just pushed him back to the wall
“You aint going anywhere till you tell us what the fuck is going on!” The pegasus struggled but Whitemane had quite the hold on him. “We saw you sending one of those letters three days ago.”
“I didn’t send those letters. Somepony else did. I took that letter 6 days ago to see if I could find a magical signature that could lead me to who was doing all of this. I was going to put it back before anypony realized but I got caught by the police for trespassing. I told them I was trying to catch the killer but they didn’t believe me”
“Then why did you run?”
“Like I said, I thought you were one of them,”
“And who are ‘them’ exactly?”
“The Chaotic.”
Both Pencil Point and Whitemane looked at it each other in bewilderment.
“The what?” They both asked
“The… You know what? That doesn’t matter. What’s important now is that we need to…” Whitemane felt a drip of water on his snout. Then he felt another and another. It was starting to rain. “Oh shit! We need to go NOW!!”
“What do you think Cobalt?” Pencil Point asked. She had been holding the ear piece throughout the conversation letting Cobalt hear it on the other end.
“Well, Switch already did a background check. He’s clear. He wasn’t anywhere near Manechester when the first few letters were sent and I’m pretty sure trying to send a letter via teleport from where he was is quite impossible. Go with it for now but don’t forget to keep an eye on him.”
“Okay.”
“Well you heard him,” Pencil Point released the button on her earpiece. Whitemane unwillingly frees his hold on Maple.
“Now, where to?”
“We need to go to the stadium.” He brushed himself of a bit before he readied himself for flight “The unicorn doing this is using the weather to kill those ponies.”
“And how exactly does he or she do that?” Aimfast had finally gotten down from the rooftops and was crossing the street towards their position. She had a tint of cynicism in her voice. “It’s not like unicorns can alter the weather. Only pegasi have that ability.”
“It’s called Meteomancy. It’s a mix of both Hydromancy and Aeromancy. One can use it to control the air pressure and humidity of their surroundings to alter the weather to suit their choice.”
“Okay then… but if this unicorn did alter the weather shouldn’t the Pegasus weather team know about it?”
“That’s the thing. The killer is using the weather that is scheduled for that day and just tweaking it here and there. You know the one that had a heart attack? Heat stroke. The victim who had an asthma attack? High humidity levels made it hard for her to breathe. If we don’t go now,” Maple looked into the sky and watched as a flash of lightning raged across the sky
“Final Score’s last breath will be electrifying.”
“Great,” Whitemane sarcastically commented “He even does puns.”
“And that’s it mares and gentlecolts. After the end of the second half Manechester united are tied with the Trottenham Spurs 1-1.”
“It’s been a marvelous match tonight but there can only be one team to get to the finals and after getting feedback from the weather team, the referee is going with a penalty shoot out to determine who is going with to the finals.”
“Yes, it seems the weather has gotten a bit out of hand and going into extra time seems to be out of the question, aint it?”
“Yes Mark, but the question that is on everypony’s minds right now is, will Manechester United be able to win this match and finally go on to the finals against Liverpool who miraculously won against Chelsea by 2-0 just moments ago.?”
“I don’t know, Lightweight. We’ll just gonna have to watch and see.”
The four of them quickly got out of the cab and after paying the driver, they quickly scanned the area. It was still raining cats and dogs. Thunder roared in the sky above while flashes of lightning became more and more apparent.
The stadium was grand. Towering over them at almost seven stories high, it flowed with life as the screams and cheers from the adoring fans from inside it synchronized with the sound of rain hitting the cobblestone walkway.
“So,” Pencil point yelled “What do we do now?”
“The killer will need someplace high to effectively use his magic. We should look for some high places that he might be in,”
Whitemane looked around. They were surrounded by tall buildings that almost reached the sky. “Well that’s very helpful! This whole place is full of high towers! We’ll never make it in time!”
“Well he’ll also needs to be near the stadium so we can cross out those buildings over there.” Maple pointed to some buildings in the distance.
“That only leaves these two towers here,” Pencil Point pointed to a tower left of the stadium and another on the other side. The latter higher than the former “Aimfast, you take the one on the right. Whitemane, you take the left. Maple and I will check the stadium in case he’s in there.”
They all nodded and immediately when into action. Maple quickly picked Pencil Point up and flew into the stadium. Aimfast wasted no time as she entered the skyscraper and after asking the doorpony, found the rooftop access while Whitemane toughed it out and just took the fire escape stairway that was on the side of the building.
Maple and Pencil Point quickly scanned through the entire stadium for any signs for any unusual unicorns but the stadium was packed and it was hard to spot anything out of the ordinary. Aimfast had reached the top of the building and after a quick sweep of the roof found nothing.
“I got nothing. He’s not… wait a minute… I think I see somepony on the other building. Is that you, Whitemane?”
“Nope, still climbing,”
“Pencil Point here, what can you see?”
“It seems to be a unicorn. Can make out much from all this rain but he seems to be channeling some kind of magic.”
Pencil Point relayed the message to Maple. “Ask her what color is his glow.”
She stared at him puzzled. “What?”
“Just ask her!”
Pencil Point wasn’t amused “What does his glow have anything to do about all this?”
Maple slowly placed a hoof on his face. “Don’t you get it? All unicorns have a specific glow when they do magic. The killer’s glow is red. Bloody red.”
“And how would you know that?”
“Just trust me.”
There was another round of cheers and screams as a red earth pony took to the penalty box. It was Final Score. A bolt of lightning flashed from above and then another. Pencil Point knew the unicorn was about to strike.
“Pencil Point, what should I do?” Aimfast asked through the ear piece.
Maple look deep into Pencil Point’s eyes. “If you don’t do something right now, we might lose him!”
“Damn it Pencil Point! What should I do!”
Final score took a deep breath. It all came down to him. He tried to calm his nerves but the flashes of lightning and continuous roars of both thunder and the ponies around him overwhelmed him. The referee placed the ball on the ground and blew the whistle.
It was time.
He closed his eyes and emptied his mind. All he could hear was his breathing.
In.
Out.
He opened his eyes.
He shoots.
He stood there stunned as the ball went to the back of the net just barely missing the keepers hoof. He’s teammate all rushed to him tackling him to the ground. He couldn’t believe it. They were going to the finals.
Aimfast gazed as Whitemane checked the unicorn. He was dead and she knew it. She only meant to disable him but the wind had pushed the arrow upwards and it hit the side of his head. She sighed and slowly clicked on her earpiece.
“I got him.”
“Yeah, I know. Whitemane just told me. Cobalt is sending the CSI team to take care of the body. Why don’t you get back to Switch’s workshop we’ll head back there after everything here is done?”
“Okay.”
“Hey Aimfast… you did good.”
“Did ‘good’? I KILLED HIM! It was suppose to just hit his side not his… arrghhh!”
Pencil Point heard a sudden click as Aimfast went off. “Well thanks for the help Maple. We…”
She looked around. There was no sign of Maple anywhere. She franticly looked through the crowd of joyful ponies celebrating Final Score’s last goal. Nothing. He was gone. She kicked the floor with angst knowing she should’ve kept an eye on him.
Maple looked at the sky. It was beginning to clear up. The rain had begun to subside and he could almost see the gleaming stars that were in the night sky.
“Sorry, guys,” he said under his breath. He took out a scroll and began to scribble a few notes on it before rolling it up. He took out a lighter and as he flicked it, green fire came out of it. He burned the scroll with the flames and watched as it magically disappeared into thin air. “This isn’t your fight. Not yet.”
“So it seems the unicorn was actually a student who was studying on theoretical pegasus magic. He was kicked out of the university after he started experimenting on other students. I guess he was trying to continue his studies on a much more grand scale.” Cobalt explained to them as they got on the airship to Equestria. “I asked Like Spam to looking for more info on Maple Sunrise and his so called ‘The Chaotic’ but so far he hit a dead end.”
“So, that’s it?” Aimfast retorted “We’re just gonna pack up and leave?”
“We got the killer and unless you have any other information, we’re done here,” She went silent.
“Man, why do we always get pulled into these situations,” Whitemane whined.
“I guess it just comes with the territory of being a freelancer.”
There was a brief silence. The kind of silence everyone has when everyone is just too tired to say anything. It had been a long day and now that they were all on their way back to Equestria, all they wanted was to just get some rest.
Whitemane went to take some shuteye while Aimfast hung out with Pencil Point and Lavender having a nice girl chat. Cobalt took the time to think about all that was happening.
He knew right away what he was going to do when he gets back. He was sure of it even if there was a possibility that he was wrong.
‘The princess must at least know something about The Chaotic.’ He thought to himself ‘Why would she send us here if it wasn’t’
His train of thought was suddenly cut off as an unpleasant stink filled his nostril.
“Ahh, don’t you just love the smell of the fresh air in the morning?” Said a pony beside him
“Not if this is what it smells like.” He answered
“Oh, sorry about that. Not a lot of people actually like durians,” The pony beside him chuckled “Hi, I’m Fruit Fall.”