//------------------------------//
// A Prologue 
// Story: Civil Patrol: A Five Score Tale 
// by Slicer Jen 
//------------------------------//

When the dried blood was wiped away, the now visible mark on the forehead clearly resembled a crescent moon, the points turned downward.

"Goddammit. This shit doesn't get out, you got me?" The lieutenant groused as he eyed the two patrolmen behind him in the morgue. He looked back at the poor woman lying on the slab. "All we need is the fucking media getting a hold of this. Then we get nonstop coverage of the goddamn Moon Killer or some shit."

The medical examiner standing across from him glanced up from her work. The corner of her mouth quirked slightly. "Moon Killer? You coffee guzzlers have an active imagination."

The lieutenant never got tired of her accent. One of the few reasons he came down here. He waved his hand dismissively, eyes drifting back to the knife wound between the body's ribs. "Not imagination, just experience. I'll be damned if I help them sell ratings." He leaned in closer to the wound. "Same injury as before?"

Tapping her chin, the doctor shrugged, "On the surface, I would say so. I have not probed the cavity it created, but the surface tissue damage shows to be a similar instrument, a stiletto with a sharp point possibly, no edge down the blade."

A cough from one of the patrolmen got everybody's attention. The officer was young, yet his eyes were alert. He had a look on his face that showed he wanted to say something. The lieutenant waited a second, then waved a hand, "Go on, Jimmy, out with it."

He stepped forward and muttered softly, "Ah, I know I'm no doctor and all. It's just that...well, you brought me here because I was on the last one, in case I had any insights." When he paused, his supervisor raised a brow for him to continue. "The last one had blood all over the place, like she bled out completely. This one was a lot cleaner. Maybe some drops here and there as she stumbled about, but not nearly as much." The M.E. furrowed her brow and reached over to the left side of the ribcage, pressing on different areas. She clenched her jaw.

"He's right. She bled internally." Her gaze lingered back on the head wound of the corpse for a few seconds before looking up. She met the lieutenant's dubious gaze with one of annoyance. "Same weapon though, just a different angle, at least until I get inside. Like I said, I hadn't gone in yet, but that is different from the last one."

The lieutenant sighed heavily and rubbed his brow. "So the last one bled quickly and this one bleeds internally. Sloppiness, killer improving his skill, or something else?"

She shook her head slightly, turning to her tray of saws and vices. "Theories and motis operandi. I deal with what is in front of me. Remember, you gentlemen are the ones with the imagination."

That draws a dour chuckle from the lieutenant. "Yeah, guesses and gumshoe work. Doc, if you find anything else, text me, okay? I have to put together a morning report that doesn't freak the fuck out of this city." Movement from the other officer who had come in with Jimmy gets his attention. The young man was messing around with his smart phone. "Grayson, I swear to god if you are looking up astrology shit, I'm going to smack you." The officer's fingers freeze. A quick push of a side button and slip into a pocket, the phone is gone.

"Not at all sir."

The first officer takes his position next to the other one. When their boss looks away, Jimmy elbows his partner and whispers, "You know that pisses him off. He's already grouchy as it is."

The older one rolls his eyes. "I just wanted to check something-"

"Check it after your shift." The lieutenant remained focused on the body as he addressed them. "And thanks for the psych eval, Jimmy. Find this fucker and I'll be less grouchy. For now, head back to the substation." They both stiffened to attention, then took their leave. Their supervisor spent several more minutes watching the doctor as she prepped the body for a standard autopsy, marking places she planned to cut. Those included special attention to the head and stab wound locations. He mumbled, "Protests about skin color, religion, non-talking animals, now talking pony animals, if you can believe that." The M.E. glanced up but said nothing. He tended to vent like this after particularly gruesome finds, figuring the dead and their caretaker were not too politically motivated to report him. At least, none of them ever complained openly. "Now this. I swear, if the world doesn't destroy itself, God will, just watching His children do this to each other."

The scalpel hovered just above the ink mark where she planned on beginning her cut, her eyes focusing on the only other living person in the room. "I wouldn't know about God, but we have to believe there is something greater than ourselves, that what we do matters beyond our lifetime, no?" She puts the knife down gently across the woman's chest, covering it with her hand. "Not that I have had much experience in religion, adding to the fact I deal with death all the time." Her gaze sweeps around the room for emphasis, then alights back onto the senior officer. "A single life may or may not matter, but our actions will always move beyond what we can see. Is that not where God is, beyond where we can see?"

Silence reigned as both of them contemplated what she said. The officer shook himself, blinking hard to stay awake. "Yeah, Doc. Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy. And you say you don't have an imagination." His light-hearted accusation was met with a similar smile from her. "Anywho, I have to get back and handle cleanup of all....this." His arms half rose, the energy finally starting to leave him. "Text me on anything you find, 'kay?" She nodded and he gave his goodbyes, leaving her to her business.

She replied, "Adieu." Her smile stayed on her face until he left. Then she looked down, frowning slightly. "And where was God when you needed him, my poor dear?" She gently touched the body's cheek, the flesh stiff and cold. After a moment, she picked up the scalpel and made a clean slice down the centerline where she previously marked the cut line, beginning her work.

***

Celestia sat up in her bed quickly, heart thumping loudly. The last vestiges of her nightmare were already departing her psyche, yet the importance of it remained. Where was Luna when you needed her, she thought to herself. A single glance out the window showed the pale moon still high in the sky, its face bereft of any image. Not unlike another smaller white landscape bereft of an image she knew of. Aside from a certain pegasus weighing on her mind, she had half-expected to see the image of her sister up there, but remembered Luna was still on Earth and not banished to the moon. So much time wasted in squabbling, never enough in simply enjoying the existence of loved ones, she mused to herself.

And just like that, her head was clear. She hopped out of bed and quickly trotted to the doors of her room, throwing them open. Her guards were already at attention, not that they normally weren't, but they had to have heard her trot across the room. They both answered in unison, "Yes Princess!"

"Yes yes, I need you to track down Civil Patrol and prepare him for a trip to Ponyville. The opening is in a few days and there is too much left to do to let this fall by the wayside." They snapped salutes and sped off...for maybe three paces, before skidding to a stop and looking at each other. One guiltily turned around and raised a hoof. Celestia answered, "Yes?"

"Nopony has seem him for several days."

She stared at them, her waving mane slowing down to almost a standstill.

The other pony answered up, "But we can definitely find him, your highness!" With that, they both took off.

Celestia sighed and stared after the two. Perhaps her dream was an omen, the universe giving her a nudge. Wouldn't be the first time. A passing maid caught her attention and she waved her over. "My dear, can you do me a favor and fetch one of the wizard adepts? I need a tome fetched from the deep archives. Tell him to search right away, do not even bother coming to me first. The book is titled 'The Warped Mind, a Treatise on Space, Time and Thought.' Arranged under Starswirl's forbidden tomes. They have my permission to access them." The maid dipped her head and scampered off toward the mage section of the castle. The monarch hoped it wasn't too late to implement her plan, though she knew he would hate her for it.

Wouldn't be the first time a good deed received punishment.