//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: "Seeking Answers." 
// Story: Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 2: A Fright On Nightmare Night 
// by XombieSlayr 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 9: "Seeking Answers."

"Truth is only a word. But to know in your heart, what is true, is to never be wrong."
- The Goddess

Nawlans Police Station (4:00 pm)

I sat there, lost in thought as Crash was wheeled out on a gurney to the ambulance. I had been asked to go with him to the hospital, but I knew there was nothing I could do for him there. What had happened only one hour ago, was unlike anything I had ever seen.

I had watched as a young colt suddenly went into cardiac arrest, despite not showing any signs of heart problems or health issues. As if somepony else had caused it to happen. And that was the fact I couldn't ignore here. 

Somehow, this individual had caused Crash's heart to basically turn against him, without any warnings, and seemingly without even being in the vicinity of him.

Crash's words echoed in my brain: "They can get you from miles away just by saying your name!"

"From miles away...merely by saying your name." I thought to myself.

Whoever was behind all this had power. Real, terrifying power. Despite my accomplishments of late, I was still only a doctor and I knew I was out of my league here. We all were. On our own, we didn't stand a chance against this Cartel. 

No...we needed help. and I knew just who to ask.

Station Lobby (4:02pm)

Miss Fortune's deep but beautiful voice answered from the other line. "Hello, Miss Meir." she said pleasantly. "What can I do for you today?" she asked, equally as pleasantly.

I didn't know where to start. With everything that had been happening, I struggled to find words to explain it all. Luckily, I didn't need to, as Miss Fortune had already known what I was calling her for.

She spoke calmly, like a therapist to a patient. "I know how things must seem right now, Miss Meir. But you must not lose hope. You have overcome great odds like this before, after all."

"Maybe. But never anything like this. I'm worried about all this, these murders, this cult...what if I can't stop it?" I asked.

"Of course you can. You just need help. And I am more then willing." Miss Fortune said with determination."Now, what is it you need me to do, Miss Meir?" she asked.

I thought for a moment. "Miss Fortune, what kind of voodoo allows somepony to make another pony's heart turn against them, without even being near them?" I asked calmly.

I heard Miss Fortune gasp on the other end. "Dear Celestia..."

"Miss Fortune...do you know what it is?"

"...Indeed I do....I will look into this personally. If it is what I think it is, then we may need much greater help then I can provide. I will call you again once I have found something."

"Thank you, Miss Fortune."

"Do not doubt yourself, Miss Meir. You will solve this. You will stop them. I know it."

With that I thanked her once more before hanging up the phone. Miss Fortune knew what this was, and even she was afraid of it. But at least she was willing to look into it for me. I knew I should do some digging myself. Maybe I've been looking in the wrong places. 

I turned to head back to Karosta's office, but froze in mid-step, as the phone in the lobby rang again. Had Miss Fortune already found something? No, it was too soon. Maybe it was meant for one of the officers? I looked around, but all the officers were clearly too busy with that fact that somepony almost died in their station to bother with a ringing phone. So I went over and gingerly picked the receiver. "Hello?"

"Ms. Meir? Good, I was hoping to reach you there."

I recognized the voice on the other line instantly. "Dr. Pensipony?"

"Yes. We need to talk, Ms. Meir."

I laughed at that expectation. "You already had your chance to talk, and it seemed you'd rather belittle me and waste time. Time that I could be using to solve this case." I said angrily. "Give me one good reason, why I should listen to you now."

Dr. Pensipony hesitated before answering. "Because I have something on the cult. It could lead us to whose behind all this."

I was surprised and curious, but kept calm as I questioned her. "Do you really? And how did you find out?"

"My family has many connections all over Equestria. I did some digging and...I need to share with you what I found. It's important."

"I thought you didn't care about the case. That this city meant little to you besides as a source to build up your already massive ego." I said bitterly. I won't lie. I didn't have the highest opinion of Pensipony, after our "chat" in her office. Besides, she had a chance to help before, and didn't. So what changed?

"I know what you think of me, Ms.Meir....and you're right. I know I'm not the nicest or friendliest of ponies but...I truly do care for this city. It's my home. I was born here, raised here. I'd do anything to protect it. I am sorry for how I acted before. Please, just come to my office, and I'll explain everything." Dr. Pensipony said in a surprisingly considerate tone. I could tell she was telling the truth. Despite how she was, it seemed she did truly care about Nawlans. 

I decided to give her a chance. I had nothing to lose by this point and anything was better then nothing. "Alright. I'll come to your office and hear you out. But, please don't let this be a waste of our time."

"Thank you. And I assure you it will not be a waste of time. For either of us."

She hung up without another word. Pensipony was clearly very no-nonsense. And again, my opinion of her had been entirely based around our not-so-friendly chat from earlier. But if she did really want to help...then I couldn't say no to her. We definitely needed more allies in this. And Nawlans foremost authority on voodoo was a good start for an ally.

Dr. Pensipony's Office (Nawlans State University, 4:35 pm)

"Dr. Pensipony? It's Morning Meir! You said you wanted to talk?" I exclaimed knocking on her office door. But there was no answer.

Gold Digger stood to the side, trying to look in through her office windows, but it was too dark to see anything. She had insisted she come with me, so I had some "backup" if Pensipony was trying to trick me. I accepted, not really having a valid reason to say no to any "backup" at this point.

Gold Digger peered through the glass windows, but still saw nothing. "Why would she call you down here, if she wasn't even going to be here."

"I don't know, I...this doesn't feel right. I think something's wrong." I said, getting a bad feeling. "We have to get in there."

I pushed open the office door rather easily (It hadn't been locked) and we carefully stepped inside. There at her desk, Dr. Pensipony sat, looking down at a book. At once Gold Digger was on her for ignoring us. "Oh, so you have time to read a book, but not enough to answer the door?" she scolded. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Quit ignoring us!"

But Dr. Pensipony didn't respond. She wasn't moving. I suddenly felt dread in the pit of my stomach. "Dr. Pensipony.....?"

I went over to her, and gently nudged her shoulder. I jumped back as she slumped back in her chair, dead. Gold Digger screamed, but I put a hoof over her mouth to stifle her. We didn't need the guards in here. We didn't want the school to panic. "Goldy! Just...calm down. Okay?" I whispered soothingly, still holding her from screaming. "It'll be alright...just don't scream. Okay?"

She nodded, but I knew she was still scared. I let go of her and she uttered a terrified sounding whimper. "I-Is...Is she-

"Unfortunately, whatever Dr.Pensipony wanted to tell us...the cartel got to her first." I said sadly. I felt horrible that she had died for this. For helping me.

"You think it was them?" she asked, in a still clearly terrified whisper. "What am I saying, of course it was them!"

I went over to the body and bowed my head. "I'm so sorry, Amalia. You were trying to help me. I shouldv'e been here sooner." If had just come over as soon as she called...I could've saved her.

Gold Digger put a hoof on my shoulder. "Meir, you can't be upset with yourself about this." she said in a heartfelt tone. "There was nothing anypony could've done for her." she said, further consoling me.

I looked up and nodded. "You're right. There's only one thing we can do for her now." 

There was nothing we could do for her. Except investigate the crime scene. Maybe we could find out what she wanted to tell us, before...this happened. I truly felt sorry for her. She may not have been nice, but...in the end she wanted to save her home. And whatever she found out, the cartel clearly saw it as a reason to kill her for it. I wasn't about to let her have died in vain.

Investigation (Nawlans State University, Dr. Pensipony's Office, 4:37 pm)

I approached Dr. Pensipony's corpse and examined her. The bulge in her veins and drool in her mouth, along with the clearly bloodshot eyes, were obvious signs of cardiac arrest. The cartel was behind this for sure.

Time Of Death: By the lack of any discoloration, save for the pale shade of her coat, Dr. Pensipony was killed very suddenly, and very quickly, without warning, by a sudden and severe heart attack. She didn't even have time to call for help. Poor thing.

Then without any warning, As I turned back around, Dr. Pensipony suddenly bolted up straight in her chair, and took in a loud, long gasp of air, as her eyes were as wide as I'd ever seen eyes go.

To say we were terrified is to be a comedian. Gold Digger straight up leapt into my arms, and wrapped her hooves around my neck, as we both screamed bloody murder. I had just seen a pony, who was dead not mere moments before, literally spring back to life before my eyes. I had no words. (But plenty of screams.)

We were both shut up by Dr. Pensipony clamping a rough hoof over both our mouths. She looked around the room, as her razor tipped eyes darted all around her, and stopped at the office door. She took a breath and closed her eyes. "Listen to me...listen to me, very carefully." she spoke very softly, and very calmly.

We nodded.

"Are you listening?"

We nodded again.

"Carefully?"

We nodded yet again.

"Okay. I'm going to put my hooves down. And when I do, I won't hear any more screaming. No yelling. No voicing of disbelief. Just calm down, and I will explain, everything. Okay?"

Once more, we nodded.

Pensipony put her hooves down. I had no way of thinking at this point, I was still in shock. But, good Celestia, did I have questions.

Investigation Complete (4:39 pm)

Result: What the hell just happened!?

Questioning (Dr. Amalia Pensipony, Undead?, Zombie Pony?, ???)

We just sat there staring at Pensipony, like she was an alien. Even in my state of shock, I managed to ask the only question I needed to.

"Dr. Pensipony?"

"Yes?"

"How are you not.....?

"Dead?"

"No, you were already dead. So how are you....no longer dead?"

"Ah...yes, of course."

Dr. Pensipony unbuttoned her shirt and jacket to reveal a very small brown cloth bag with a strange symbol on it, that hung around her neck. But taking a closer look, I saw that it was not hanging around her neck but it was in fact surgically stitched onto her chest with professional expertise. Pensipony looked down at it, then back at us. "This is called a Loa Legba." she explained. "Not only does it protect me from other voodoo, but in the case were I am killed by a hex, it will resurrect me in a few moments, and turn the hex back on my killer."

We both looked down at it in disbelief. "They are very,very, very hard to make, and require the heartfelt blessing of a Loa to even function properly. It took me seven years to make it, and another year to make it so it can't be removed from my body. Magic or otherwise."

My eyes were still wide as dinner plates. "So...the cartel really did get you?"

Pensipony nodded with a smile. "Yes...but I got them back. When it comes to voodoo, Ms. Meir, I am NOT to be underestimated."

That was very clear. Naturally.

"Now" Pensipony said closing up her shirt and readjusting her jacket and tie. "About what I called you for....I need to show you something. Over here." she gestured for us to follow her, which we did, to her desk where she took out what appeared to be a very new looking document of some sort.

She laid it down on her desk for us to see. Seeing it clearly, It was a copy of a city issued address, disregarding any and all claims of a "secret hounfour" in Nawlans. And for citizens to go about there normal lives. At the bottom it had been signed by Mayor Fairmont, and was dated from earlier today.

"How in the world did you get this? This is an official city document!" I exclaimed.

"As I said before, I have connections. But read it again...carefully."

I did so, and then it hit me: How did the mayor know what voodoo hounfours were? Anypony else would have just said voodoo cult or sect, but he KNEW they were called Hounfours. Which meant...

"He knows something about them. About voodoo, obviously, but more then that."

Pensipony nodded. "Exactly. If the mayor's apart of it...who's going to question him? Nopony would ever know."

Gold Digger put a hoof to her mouth in shock. "The-The Mayor!? He's behind all this?" she gasped.

I shook my head."No. I think he's only apart of it. He couldn't be the one leading the cartel. He has an image to maintain."

"Right. He just does their dirty work, and keeps ponies from getting too close." Pensipony said, disgusted. I shared the emotion. "No wonder this cartel has been in power for so long...the damned mayor is working for them!" Pensipony exclaimed.

Gold Digger looked down at the document with us. "So...what do we do now?"

I turned to leave. "We take this back to Karosta. She NEEDS to hear this." Pensipony gathered her things, including the document and joined me by the door.

But Gold Digger looked hesitant."Um...are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, we've seen how much of a temper she's got. If she sees this-

"Then at least she'll have somepony to direct it at." I said with a smile. With that we all left the university, bound for the Nawlans Police Station, with our strongest lead yet, finally in our grasp. I just hoped Karosta would take it well.

(Or at least leave a building standing, after she was done.)