//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: Murder on the Ponyville Express - Part 2 // Story: Knight of Equestria - On Distant Shores // by SupraMacPringles //------------------------------// With a single motion, the Doctor lifts the sheet to reveal the victim. A small pool of crimson dots the floor near its body. The sight isn't pretty, but neither of them turn away so they can study all the details of the body. "Female… Pegasus…" the Doctor says as he moves to a better space to observe what appeared to be the source of the red that stained the floor. "Looks like two wounds, in the back, between the wings." Matt too, was inspecting the unfortunate victim. Her coat was a cream color and she had a wavy, mid-length, chestnut mane. Her eyes were closed and she looked almost peaceful. "Do we know what caused them?" Matt inquired. "The guard said they were inflicted by shards of glass, from that window over there." The Doctor responded. Matt glanced about the room and spotted glass shards that were far larger than the rest scattered around. The shards were also dabbed in red. "I see… What else do we know?" "That's it. The staff is bringing us her possessions to see if we can find some kind of clue." The Doctor threw the sheet back over the mare's body while the pair waited. "… What would drive someone to this, Doctor?" Matt asked, leaning against the wall of the train car. "Revenge, money, love, nuclear fission, Vashda Narda, anything really. Basically for the same reasons people murdered back on earth. That is to say, our earth." He said. "I honestly don't believe that. I've read countless books back in Twilight's library, and none of them even hinted at violence like this. I just thought ponies weren't capable." Matt replied. "Oh, they're as capable as humans, in most senses." The door to the car opens suddenly, and the same guard who brought them there had a suitcase in tow, carrying it with the handle clamped between his teeth. "Sirs? This is all we could find." the Guard said, leaving the suitcase on the floor before going back out the way he came. "I don't feel right going through a dead person's belongings." said Matt. "This is the only hope of finding any leads." the Doctor responded as he began unzipping the luggage. Matt shrugged and knelt down to help him search. There were clothes, hair accessories, and numerous little knick-knacks. "Says here that her name is… Merriweather. She isn't a local, seems like she was traveling here from… somewhere." The Doctor said, finding what seemed to be identification. "Ah-ha, what do we have here?" Matt said, discovering a book-like object. The Doctor leaned over his shoulder as Matt opened the book, discovering that it was actually a photo album. "Ponies have Polaroid cameras…?" Matt questioned "Every intelligent species does eventually." said the Doctor is response. Matt began flipping through the album. It was almost like flipping the entire life of the Pegasus called Merriweather. The earliest pictures were her and assuredly her family when she was a foal, and the latest looked like it could have been recent. Most of the pictures after a certain point included a female Unicorn. Her coat was a saturated cream color and her mane was a bright orange streaked with yellow, which contrasted her maroon eyes. She seemed camera-shy and always had an annoyed smile on her face. Further down the photo-timeline, the Unicorn appeared less and less, while a particular yellow-orange stallion began showing up more and more. He was far more photogenic than the Unicorn, seeming to love being captured on film. He had a dark brown mane and dashing green eyes. Matt, for a moment, felt like they looked familiar. "Don't these two seem kind of familiar? Do you recognize them?" Instead of responding, the Doctor stared at the photos before trotting back towards the passenger car. Matt followed, eager to see what the Doctor had realized. When he caught up, he saw the Doctor staring through the glass of the door, and Matt joined him. He then saw something he didn't expect; the Unicorn and the Stallion were on-board the train. "I wish I hadn't." he replied. Meanwhile, inside the very passenger car Matt and the Doctor were observing, the four mares who came along with them were trying their best to relax. Everybody was still shaken up by current events and silence dominated most of the car. Vinyl was tapping her hooves to the rhythmic beat of the train while observing the other ponies on-board. At one point, she had to do a double-take and lifted her glasses. "Hey, guys?" she asked her three friends. The three mares turned to face her. Vinyl pointed a hoof at another mare wearing a beige dress. She had the defining feature of being the only other Unicorn on the train, aside from Vinyl and Lyra. She looked incredibly down in the dumps. Vinyl and the others approached her. "Hey… you uh… you alright?" asked Vinyl. The Unicorn sighed, but didn't break her gaze from the floor. "I'm… I'll be fine." The stranger replied solemnly. "Oh… alright, then…" Vinyl responded. "I'm sorry, miss, but… do you know where this train is headed?" Octavia asked. "… Canterlot." She responded, for the first time turning to face the group. Her expression changed upon finally seeing them, sadness fading from her face. "You… the two of you are… Unicorns?" she asked, somewhat ignoring the two none-horned members of the group who were present. "… yeah?" responded Lyra, confused. The Unicorn tilted her head before blinking softly, regaining composure. "I've never seen another Unicorn before. That's why we were going to Canterlot…" she trailed off, seeming to remember the cause of the melancholic state. "We?" asked Octavia. "My... my friend and I. She and I were going to… before…" the Unicorn blinked back tears before refocusing on the floor in front of her. Bon-bon was the first to surmise who her friend had been. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry." She said, which had apparently clued in her three friends to whom the Unicorn's friend was. The mood had darkened even more than it already had given the current situation. "I-I'm sorry for making you feel bad." The Unicorn said. "I'll be alright. I know Merriweather would want me to be strong. It's just… difficult." She said, forcing a smile. "Did you know them long?" asked Lyra in her usual deadpan tone. "Since we were fillies. We were practically sisters, her mother used to say." She answered. "Oh, forgive me. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Stardust." …... While the group befriended the mourning Unicorn, they were unaware of the staring eyes of Matthew and Doctor through the train car's door window. "That's definitely her." Matt said. "I noticed." The Doctor responded before shifting his gaze to the depressed stallion who was sat closer to the door. "And that's definitely him." "Why haven't they said anything yet? Didn't the staff ask if anyon- pony knew the victim?" Matt inquired. "That means they must have something to hide." stated the Doctor. "Does it? Maybe they just don't want to talk about it." said Matt. "If someone killed your friend wouldn't you want to help in anyway you could?" the Doctor asked. "I see your point." Matt replied. "… do you suspect one of them?" he pondered solemnly. "It's too early to tell, but they're our only lead." "So what do we do?" "Who would you rather interrogate?" The Doctor asked, somewhat whimsically. "Seriously?" was Matt's only reply. ... The two left the crime scene and approached their group of friends. They had seemed to have befriended the suspect Unicorn. "Oh boy." said Lyra, noticing their approach. "It's the bow-tie brigade." Matt and the Doctor adjusted their respective bow-ties. "Have you two made any progress?" asked Bon-bon. "A bit." Matt replied. "We actually wanted a word with you, miss...?" he said, gesturing to the cream Unicorn. "You want to talk to Stardust? Whatever for?" Octavia said. "We understand you and Merriweather were close?" Matt asked. "... yes, we were. I'll answer your questions." Stardust replied. "Fantastic, if you could just head down to the dining car I'll be with you momentarily." Matt said, directing her down the hall. She went on ahead and Matt turned to the Doctor. "Where will you take the other?" he asked. "We'll be in the cargo area. Be careful." the Doctor said. "Understood." Matt replied. "Is anypony gonna tell us what's going on here?" Vinyl asked. Matt and the Doctor must not have heard her, as they split up to get back to investigating. Lyra, Bon-bon, Vinyl and Octavia were worried for their new found friend Stardust, but hopeful that she could help solve the case. ... Meanwhile, in the present, Twilight Sparkle was struck with confusion. "Spike? You've glanced over this once before, right? Wasn't there only one disappearance?" he asked. "Nope, I'm pretty sure it's always been two." her assistant responded. Twilight glanced the compilation of reports all throughout, before shrugging and concluding that she must've remembered it wrong. ... At a small table in the empty dining car, Matt Nabal pulled up a chair across from the mysterious Unicorn. "Let's just get straight to the point, Stardust, was it?" he asked. "Yes." she replied. "Right, well, Miss Stardust, my first question would have to be; why were you on this train to begin with?" "I simply wanted to meet others of my kind." she replied. "I assume you mean Unicorns?" Matt asked. "Yes. You see, I am not from Equestria originally. There were only two Unicorns in the town I grew up in, myself and my father. Unfortunately, he passed while I was still young." Stardust explained. "I see... and Miss Merriweather? Why was she on the train?" Matt noticed a small twitch in Stardust's eye when he spoke the name of the victim. "Merriweather was my best friend for as long as I could remember. She wanted to come with me and see the majesty Equestria is famous for." "Did Merriwether have any enemies? Anyone who would want to bring her harm?" "The town we're from is very small, we knew practically everypony from there and none of them are on this train." Matt was silent in contemplation at that statement. He thought about the stallion seen in Merriweather's photo album. He was on the train, and surely Stardust had to have known him if he was around Merriweather. Matt's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound of light sobbing. He looked up to see Stardust wipe tears from her eyes. While he agreed with the Doctor that stopping the murder seemed unlikely, it hadn't fully donned on him that someone had truly died until that moment. "... I should have said this sooner, but I'm sorry for your loss." Matt said in an apologetic tone. Stardust replied with a forgiving smile. "I understand that you're just doing your job and I appreciate you for doing it, but..." she trailed off, formulating her next statement. "Do you know what it's like to lose somepony close to your heart?" Matt's expression changed to a grim one. "I do." he replied. There was silence as both interrogator and suspect thought of what else could be said. Before anyone could continue, the door to the room they were in opened and the Doctor stepped in. "Matt!" the Doctor exclaimed. "And, uh... you..." "Stardust." "Ah, yes, you. Could I have a moment?" "Of course." Matt replied. Matt and the Doctor stepped out of the dining car. "What is it, Doctor?" Matt inquired. "I wanted to speak with her a moment, i have an idea of what's going on here. Go check on the other one." The Doctor replied. "Understood." The Doctor stepped back into the car with Stardust as Matt preceded to the cargo area where the other suspect was no doubt waiting. ... Back with Lyra, Bon-bon, Vinyl and Octavia, the four mares were discussing the reason as to why Stardust was taken in for questioning. "They cannot seriously believe she had something to do with this, can they?" asked Octavia. "Of course not! They probably just needed to know more about the victim." Bon-bon answered. "I dunno, she seemed kinda weird to me." Lyra declared. "Wow. That's cold, Ly." Vinyl responded. Lyra reclined back in the sitting pose she was so fond of. "I just mean she had a weird look in her eyes, that's all." "What do you mean by that?" asked Bon-bon. "She just didn't look sad enough." Lyra replied. "That's called composure, Lyra." Octavia retorted. Lyra shrugged. "I guess. I've always been pretty bad at reading ponies." "You can say that again!" Bon-bon teased. The group laughed at Lyra's expense while she held her chest as if wounded. ... Matt slid open the door to the cargo room, noting that the TARDIS was still in the corner. His interrogation subject was sat on a small crate in the opposite corner. The pony looked relieved to see him. "Finally, you've come. Did you find out anything?" the eager earth pony asked. "We're working on it. My partner wanted me to talk to you a bit first, mister...?" The pony hung his head dejectedly. "My name is Ripple." "Well then, I assume my friend already asked you some questions. Can you summarize them for me?" Matt asked. Ripple closed his eyes, straightened his posture, and inhaled deeply. "I'm originally from Ponyville, Equestria but have a home in Canterlot. I spend most of my days wandering the world to see and learn all that I can. My favorite color is red, and yes this is an ascot." Matt mentally made a note to ask the Doctor why he had asked about the suspect's favorite color or about his fashion accessories, then noticed that Ripple hadn't mentioned anything about his relationship with the victim. "And what about Merriweather? How did you know her?" Matt asked. Ripple's eyes narrowed at the mention of her name. "Merri... she was my lover." he said softly. Matt's eyes widened at his statement. Ripple paused before continuing. "We met as I passed through her town several months ago. I was only meant to stay for one night, but I was enraptured by her beauty and found myself practically living in the small inn there." "I-I see... and why did the two of you board this train?" Matt inquired. "After proclaiming our love for one another, Merri had confessed to me that she desperately wanted to leave her small town. I told her of my home in Canterlot. You should have seen the twinkle in her eyes when I asked her to live with me..." he trailed off, before breaking into a loud sob. He put his head in his hooves and cried loudly. "Oh, my love! I will never see your beautiful form filled with life again! I will never hear your laugh again..." Ripple continued his sobbing as the door to the cargo area slid open, revealing the Doctor. "I think I've got it." the Doctor declared. Ripple ceased his sobbing. "You do? You know who did this?" "Come along, Matt. We need to discuss something." the Doctor stated, ignoring Ripple's questions. "Alright, I'm coming." Matt replied, approaching the door. "Wait!" Ripple shouted. The two investigators turned back to face him. "I know you can't tell me anything, but at least tell me; did you find her necklace?" Ripple asked. "Necklace?" Matt and the Doctor said in unison. "It's shaped like half of a heart. She always had that thing on. If you didn't find it, someone must've stolen it." he told them. "We'll keep an eye out. You're free to go, for now." Matt said as they closed the door. "Doctor, I found something very odd in my conversation with him." "Let me guess; he or Stardust didn't mention each other at all, right?" the Doctor guessed. "Exactly." Matt replied as they made their way back to the crime scene. "It seemed pretty odd to me, since Stardust was apparently Merriweather's best friend and Ripple was her lover. Maybe they didn't get along?" "I think it's more than that." the Doctor said, flipping open the photo album they had found earlier. "This must be the necklace Ripple had mentioned." He pointed to a picture of Merriweather leaning against a tree. Around her neck was what looked like a half of a broken heart. "Well, I certainly haven't seen it. Do you think the killer took it?" Matt asked. "More than likely. So, if we have all the passengers empty their luggage, we should have our killer within the hour." "Do you think they'd all comply with that?" "If they don't, it'd look awfully suspicious." "I see your reasoning." Matt responded. "By the way, what happened with Stardust?" "After questioning, I told her she could leave. She's probably in the passenger car now." Matt nodded and they both headed into the full passenger car to start the search. ... Ripple sadly walked back towards the passenger car, he passed an open washroom. Inside, he could barely make out the outline of a pony, using the sink. He stepped in and turned on the light on. He saw a saturated-cream colored Unicorn. "Oh, I'm sorry for barging in." he said. The Unicorn turned to face him. "Oh, uh, it's alright..." she said. "I'm just a bit on edge at the moment, what with... current events." Ripple replied. "Yes... So am I." He turned to leave her, before turning around. "My name is Ripple, by the way." "... Stardust." the Unicorn replied. Unbeknownst to the two of them, the sink had started to overflow. "Oh!" Ripple exclaimed. "Let me help you with that." "N-no that's alright-" Ripple was already swabbing the floor with a towel nearby as Stardust quickly turned off the faucet. There was an awkward silence between them as the cleanup commenced. "I knew her, y'know..." Ripple said wringing the towel out. "Who...?" Stardust asked, her expression turning dark. "The victim. She and I were probably going to spend the rest of our lives together." A glow appeared in the room and the light bulb blew out. Ripple turned to face the source of the glow, which turned out to be Stardust's horn. "It was you!" she shouted. The object she was washing floated out, revealing itself to be the half heart necklace Ripple had been searching for. It was stained dark red. Another glow appeared on Stardust's chest, when out from her dress came another half of a heart necklace. The two halves snapped together and rested against her chest. "I-I... You...!" Ripple stammered. The water still in the sink floated out with an eerie red glow, and thrust itself towards Ripple like a spear. Back in the passenger car, Matt and the Doctor had enlisted their four friends to assist going through the various luggage on-board, when the Doctor stopped in place for a moment. Matt, who was stood nearby, took notice. "Is something wrong, Doctor?" he asked. "Everything." "What?" "Everything is wrong!" he said, pounding his hooves on the ground with each syllable. The Doctor took off towards the murder scene, Matt quickly following. "We have a possible motive, we have suspects! What do you mean everything is wrong?!" he shouted. "What's the one thing we overlooked? What's the one thing that's been staring us in the face the whole time?" the Doctor asked, sliding open the door to the crime scene. They both stepped over the newly added caution tape to block the door off, before the Doctor continued. "We know what the murder weapon was. Glass, from that window." he said, gesturing toward said window. "Yeah, okay, what's the problem?" Matt replied. "You're missing the obvious question!" said the Doctor, walking towards the broken window. "How did the weapon end up over there?" he asked, pointing at the crimson glass on the other side of the room. Matt looked at the window, then towards the weapon, then at the body. He approached the victim and threw the sheet off. A closer look at the entry wound made it some sort of projectile, but then he noticed something obvious. "There's no exit wound." Matt said. "Exactly. Meaning that they had been removed." the Doctor stated. "And thrown across the room, indicating immediate regret and frustration." Matt added. "Meaning this couldn't have been a murder in cold blood. The killer knew her." the Doctor concluded. "The only two people on-board this train who know her..." "Ripple." "Stardust." The two of them hadn't before considered either of the two ponies as the killer, but now they were both aware that they had each interrogated the killer and suspected nothing.