Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 2: A Fright On Nightmare Night

by XombieSlayr


Chapter 1: "The Nightmare."

Chapter 1: "The Nightmare."

"To those who love me, I am the most generous of souls. There is no pain I would not take unto myself for their sake, nor burden I would not gladly carry. To those who do not love me, my kindness remains all the same. Now and forever."
- The Goddess

Fire.

Burning brightly in spite of the storm, as masked ponies danced around it.

A stallion stands with a mare. His face contorts in horror as she turns into a monster and attacks him.

A medallion falls to the ground as blood spatters it.

A snake coils around the stallion's neck.

Now I see outside my house. Something is watching me sleep. Then it suddenly lunges towards my window.

I yelled out as I woke up, nearly tumbling out of bed. Cold sweat sticking to my forehead, as I was still panting heavily. Another nightmare. Just another nightmare.

I yelped as my curtains were suddenly thrown open. A warm face greeted me from beside them. "Another Nightmare, Morning?" she said smiling at me as always.

It was the face of Heartland, my maid. She had always taken care of the estate when I was away, Which I was most of the time. She was actually the same age as me, and though she had worked for the family for a while, I had always thought of her as my sister. She was a beautiful sunshine colored Pegasus with a neat and tidy golden mane and a smiling sun for a cutie mark. As always she was adorned in her maid's uniform, which she kept spotless, like the rest of the manor.

Oh. Yes. I live in a mansion. But I'm far from rich, trust me.

You see I come from a wealthy family. My parents are a team of scientists working at The Equestrian Institute Of Arcane Sciences. The number of inventions and breakthroughs they've made would take a week to go through. Lets just say that you can thank them for a lot of stuff you use daily. I've always looked up to them. Maybe they are the reason why I so heavily deny everypony's favorite thing to say about me: That I'm "The Smartest Pony In The World." But my parents are true geniuses. Obviously, money has never been a problem for them. And I visit from time to time, usually when I just want to get away from the hospital for a bit. They're almost never home though, so its usually just me and Heartland.

As I got out of bed and stretched, I heard her sigh aloud. "So...how many nights does that make it now?"

I yawned as I answered. "Seventh night in a row. Always the same one."

Heartland shook her head as she hovered in the air and began making my bed. "I told you its those voodoo books you're researching. That stuff can seriously screw with your head." She said matter of factly.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yes. I'm sure it's got nothing to do with the fact that Nightmare Night is only a few days away." I retorted smartly.

"Heh. That too."

Since my encounter with The Dark Ones in my last case, I had been studying and researching all the supernatural phenomena I could get my hooves on. This week's topic was Voodoo. Voodoo wasn't a terribly talked about subject In Equestria, namely because it came from Tribal Zebrican Culture, which Zebras brought over when the borders between Equestria and Zebrica was taken down, many centuries ago.

It alone made for a fascinating read, and the supernatural element about it, made it perfect for my research.

As Heartland made my bed, I got dressed in my favorite blouse and butterfly bow tie, tried in vain to smooth out my eternally swirly mane, then headed downstairs to breakfast.

Heartland had prepared my favorite breakfast (Chocolate Chip Pancakes with mango iced tea and a grapefruit) and as I sat down to eat, I noticed that once again, my parents were nowhere to be seen. Heartland came down a few minutes later with the morning paper.

I looked over at her as she sat it in front of me. "What was it today?" I asked.

"Discovered a new element. Apparently it'll revolutionize arcane technology as we know it. Y'know the usual."

"Fair enough"

We both laughed, before I started reading the paper. More talk of what everypony's gonna be doing for Nightmare Night. Me, I'll probably be at the hospital till noon before coming home and watching scary movies with heartland, before we go out and join the rest of the ponies out getting candy and other treats. I had always adored Nightmare NIght, and Heartland and me had had fun every year with it.

I smiled to myself as I read my Horoscope. "Aquarius: Potential storms ahead. Proceed with caution and do not get involved with anything new at this time." I read aloud.

Heartland chuckled. "So that means you don't want to hear any of your messages, then?"

I smiled at her as I sipped my iced tea. "What is it today?"

Heartland took out a notepad and read off the messages left for me by "a few" ponies who wanted to speak with me. As always, there was a great many of them. (This was the price to pay for being the most famous doctor in Equestria.)

"First off, we have another message of thanks from Princess Celestia, for your numerous contributions and advancements in pioneering the medical industry of Equestria."

"Great. Be sure to send her back a letter of thanks, and my assurance that I will continue my efforts to expand the medical community."

Heartland made a note on her list, then read the next message. "Next we have several more fan letters from a one "T. S" telling you how amazing your theories on Magically Augmented Cellular Synthesis are, and that you are one of her greatest heroes."

"How sweet!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "Message her back, with my thanks and let her know I have another theory referring to the science of augmenting personal magic through cutie marks, if she is interested."

Heartland made another note, before reading off another message. "Next, you have a card from a ms. Pinkamena Diane Pie, wishing you a Happy Nightmare Night. I'm told that everypony in Ponyville also received one in the mail."

"Oh yes, Pinkie! Send her a card back, wishing her the same. And as always, put as much glitter on it as possible."

"This last one comes with a letter." And Heartland handed me a carefully sealed envelope with a wax seal. It had only one word on the front: Ms. Meir.

I opened it and found that it was not a letter but a clipping from a news article. The top read "Nawlans Times" and the main article was quite obvious: "Voodoo Murders Terrify Citizens."

"Voodoo Murders?" Heartland repeated aloud. "What could that be?"

"I have a feeling I should find out." I said, knowing full well who had sent this, and what I was entitled to do.

I summarized the article: "Six murders over a course of two months. Always displaying some form of ritual trappings at the crime scene. And always a tourist, visiting Nawlans."

Heartland gave a shiver. "I don't like stuff like that. That voodoo stuff is just creepy."

I set the article down and took another sip of my tea. "Only if you don't understand it. There is actually quite a bit of history surrounding it, and many parts of it borrow heavily from some other major beliefs we know. Even Celestialism."

Heartland raised an eyebrow. "So, how is somepony using it to kill people?" she asked.

"That's just it. They aren't. I'm not entirely sure , but I don't think the Voodoo element in these murders is genuine." I explained.

Heartland looked at me, impressed. "You can tell that from just reading that article? You never cease to amaze me, Morning."

I felt my cheeks redden as I smiled at her. "It's just a theory for now. I would need an expert's opinion before I make any conclusions. Any ideas?"

"In Ponyville? Not many places have so much as heard of Voodoo, let alone specialize in it in Equestria. But I know there is that one fortune teller in Canterlot, Miss Fortune."

"Miss Fortune? Creative." I chuckled.

Heartland rolled her eyes at me. "She's a zebra, but she grew up in Equestria. Her family brought over a lot of their stuff from Zebrica, and she's said to be very learned in the history and practices of Voodoo."

"Perfect! I'll head up to Canterlot and see if I can find her."

Heartland gave me a look. "Whoa! You're not seriously thinking of taking a case, a few days before Nightmare Night are you?"

"Relax. I promise I'll be back in time for us to enjoy it." I promised her.

"It's not that! Nightmare Night is when all sorts of crazy, scary stuff happens! You could get yourself into real danger out there!" She exclaimed, clearly worried.

I put my hoof on her shoulder. "Relax, okay? I've dealt with stuff like that before. Y'know, dark gods and evil starlets. I'm sure this whole thing is just some nutjob trying to scare ponies before Nightmare Night with this fake Voodoo nonsense."

"Fine. But if you aren't back by Nightmare Night, I'm going out, without you. Deal?"

"Deal."

With that I gathered my things and left for Canterlot, taking the noon train up through Ponyville.

As I sat in my seat, I began to ponder how best to quickly wrap up this fake Voodoo case I was now on.

I had no idea at the time, just how wrong I was.