ACT FOUR

He began to chuckle, “I’m sorry, but you got to be kidding. We already have our prime suspects and all the evidence we need.

“Wait a minute!” snapped Twilight “If Rarity has some more evidence that will help in this case, it would be immoral not to hear her out.”

The captain wanted to protest, but one of his men said to him, “She’s got a point sir.”

The captain grumbled and rolled his eyes. Then he turned to Rarity and said “Okay, start talking. Who did it? Which of these suspects killed Numeral?”

Rarity looked back and forth and made certain that everyone on the room gave her their undivided attention.

“Um… I must have a chunk of snow wedged in my ear.” said Applejack “You said… WE ALL are responsible?”

“We first believed that Numeral had been stabbed with the knife in his side, and we know that Lip Smear is the only one to have entered this house at the possible time of the murder, because she had a key.

Spike claimed to have seen her enter the place at mid-afternoon, which led to our next clue: the feathers clipped from Numeral’s wings, some of which were covered in blood of the victim, and one of which was found in Lip Smear’s purse.

This instantly labeled Lip Smear as the primary suspect, and being a cosmetologist, she would have a fine knowledge in clipping feathers, and given that she screamed and called out on the murder at sundown, this only pointed the hoof on her all the more.”

Rarity glared at him annoyed, “When you investigated Lip’s purse, did you happen to notice something that was not there-- say a pair of scissors for grooming?”

The captain gasped. “That’s right. She would have had a pair of scissors if she had done the clipping herself.”

“Exactly!” said Rarity “Although, even had she any scissors, why would she even want to groom a pegasi’s wings, especially in such a way she knew that would render the pony incapable of flight?

Furthermore: since she screamed and discovered the body in this room at sundown, which would be at least three hours after entering the house; doesn’t that seem a rather long time for such a simple procedure to occur?

I myself have seen pegasi have their entire wings groomed and clipped in less than thirty minutes, but three hours?!”

Now the captain as starting to feel different about his initial thoughts of the case, and he turned to Lip Smear. “If you came into this house, then why did it take you three hours to discover the body?”

“I told you before!” protested Lip “When Numeral didn’t answer the door when I knocked, I figured he was out, and since I had a key to this place from when we were dating I figured I’d let myself in to return his things to him.

I also knew that he was having a hard time from our breakup when Steel told me he had threatened him to stay away from me.

So I decided to stay here in the foyer, and wait for Numeral to come home so I could try and talk this out with him.

I got bored of waiting and waiting and I wanted to get a drink from the kitchen, and that’s when discovered the body!

The captain felt embarrassed, and ashamed, but then he snapped, “Well that doesn’t explain why a piece of your hair was found on the murder weapon.”

“Which is my next point.” said Rarity “The knife in Numeral’s side was found to have no hoofmarks, indicating that it could have been levitated by a unicorn, but I doubt very much it was Lip who did it, seeing as said knife had come from the kitchen, where Lip claimed she intended to, but never set foot in, making it also improbable for her to levitate the knife from a distance and angle to use it.

Then, there is something else I remembered which every-pony noticed upon entering, but no-pony has complained about or questioned since…

Everyone did remember the cold upon entering the house, and then remembered that the bedroom window was open.

Rarity continued to explain, “Seeing as there were no signs of footprints in the snow, and the window was locked and could only be opened from inside, the only one who could have possibly opened said window, was said victim!”

“Why would he do that?” added Spike “It’s so cold out. No pony opens their windows in the wintertime.”

“Precisely Spike.” said Rarity “Which led me to the fact that Lip was in this house all the time and never felt the draft come into the room because of her winter garbs which she had never removed upon entering the house.”

Lip realized all this. With her scarf and her coat on she never really felt all that cold. “I only felt a slight chill, but I thought it was because I was standing in the foyer which is always coldest at this time of year.”

“Of course, there is still another matter; that of the poisoned apple-- the one that Applejack had brought here this morning.”

“Exactly, and I believe you.” replied Rarity “Never once in the history of the Apple Family has there ever been such a case. Perhaps a few rotten or bruised apples, but never a case involving an apple tainted with poison.

Yet, results of the autopsy proved, that the poison was ingested, and there were traces of apple in the victim’s teeth, which lead me to discover the seed on the floor, and the apple wedged within the sofa cushions.

Applejack obviously never set foot in this house, and therefore the apple had to have been clean and pure when she had given it to Numeral, further evidenced by the fact she had been delivering gift apples all around town, and those who had consumed them never felt ill in the least.”

“Well, then why is Applejack still labeled as guilty of committing the murder?” asked Starlight.

Even the captain was growing tense and sneered at Rarity, “Can you just get to the point already?!”

“Hold on!” shouted Rarity “There’s still our third suspect: Steel Hoof!”

“He was dating with Lip Smear, and he had threatened Numeral to stay away from her, and the fact that he had the injury on his leg from Numeral throwing a rock at him was quite the giveaway…

…Numeral was jealous that you were seen with his ex-mare-friend, and naturally, he would confront you for being a homewrecker!”

“That’s outrageous!” snarled Steel “I didn’t steal her away! I’m no homewrecker!”

“I never said that you were!” protested Rarity “I only said that Numeral believed you to be of one, but there was also another clue I discovered in the bedroom, or rather an entire set of clues!”

She slammed down the things she found in the trash-- the letters, the ring, and the photo album.

“I can’t believe we missed these!” cried the captain, and he looked crossly at his team, and they all admitted that they had searched the trash but they didn’t consider the items they saw as evidence in a case like this, what with this initially seeming so evident.

Lip looked at the photos, and then at the ring and put it all together, which made her eyes fill with tears.

Steel read her letter to Numeral out-loud, and he like all the others were most deeply shocked.

“You seemed like the perfect couple, and you wrote him a breakup letter?” asked Twilight in utter disbelief.

Lip shut her eyes tight, but her tears continued to fall through, and she finally confessed.

After Pony Pre-School, I moved from Ponville to Canterlot with my folks, hoping I could get the education that I needed.

Numeral and I met a month before we both graduated college. At first I was repulsed by his nerdy appearance, but he helped me while I was struggling in business class. He helped me with my numbers and my math so that I could succeed in my goal to open a chain of cosmetic outlets.

He wasn’t a nerd, he was a prince. He was so kind and loyal, and we grew closer and closer after graduation, and he became an accountant and helped me to start my business with his superb skills.

So he came here first, to set up his own office, and buy this house for us both and furnished it. Then I would join him this month, and we’d start our lives together.”

Then Steel asked, “If you loved him that much then why did you break up with him and started dating me?”

Rarity approached looking at her friend rather shamefully, “I believe I can answer that.

Lip Smear works in cosmetics, which is hardly different than how I work in fashion. Not only is it a business where good looks are top priority, but customers and fashion critiques expect nothing less than perfection!

From my own experiences while visiting Canterlot, I understand that many upper-crust or prestigious ponies are rather insulting and rude to those who do not made said level of perfection.

Some would even resort to gossiping and starting whole ways of discriminating against said ponies.”

She paused and admitted shamefully, “I myself have acted said way before while trying to boost or protect my own image. I unfortunately learned from this, but Lip on the other hand was worried of her reputation and her career being sullied, because her colt-friend, while regarded to her as a “Prince” on the inside, other ponies would never accept this and resort to taunting and hooting, which they obviously did…

Otherwise, Lip Smear would have no reason to break off with the love of her life and seek out a pony she knew would boost her image and protect her from humiliation.”

Everyone gazed at Rarity as if she were rambling like a mad pony, but Lip Smear’s silence, guilty expression and shaking could only confirm it true!

The longest, most sickening silence occurred as everyone gawked at her with shock, anger, and disappointment.

“You broke up with Numeral and dated Steel because Steel was better looking just to boost your image and further your career?!” said Spike.

Twilight looked at Lip with such shock, but she could find no words to even begin to describe how sick and cruel that was.

“He loved you, he helped you find your way in life, he bought you a home, and this is how you repay him, by running off with a better-looking pony?!”

Steel was just frozen where he stood, and he heard Numeral calling him “Homewrecker.” And attacking him again, it was no wonder he did all that!

“Don’t come near me right now.” he said coldly “I may be good looking, but I got principles, and this is all just… it’s… Ugh!!”

He turned around clutching his head, “I don’t think I can look at you right now.”

“Wait a minute here!” shouted the captain “Look, I’m all for all this romance, breakup jazz, but what does any of this have to do with the murder?

Rarity blinked twice with a naughty but serious smirk, “I said they were “Responsible” I didn’t say they actually carried it out.”

Rarity tipped her hat and explained, “They plus a handful of other ponies are also responsible, but there is one other suspect you didn’t add to the list.”

“He murdered his own self?!” the captain asked “Oh, come on! He would never do such a thing!”

“Wrong!” shouted Rarity “He would indeed do as just as any pony probably would in his position.

Being crushed by the love of your life so abruptly and without explanation can be extremely painful!

I speak not from complete experience, but I know how it feels to be rejected by other ponies I have felt infatuated with! The feeling is so intense why I don’t even want to be seen for days, and I can’t think straight!

Imagine how upset Numeral must have been when he received that letter! His hopes, his dreams, his future, all shot down in one thunderous page of writing.

And from what I heard from his sister, Shifty, he was already under tremendous pressure by his family disowning him simply because he chose to follow his own path and be an accountant than a mover.

Why it wouldn’t surprise that the poor stallion obviously lost part of himself that day, he couldn’t possibly concentrate at his work with such sadness and pain coursing through him, and thereby he messed up with the accounts and caused more trouble, and rather than being given a chance to explain, other ponies would not listen to him and pelted him out of petty rage and threatened him.

Rarity went on saying, “Numeral came home, obviously in a fit of stress, pain and woe, and he felt overcome with a hotflash under the stress so he opened the window to try and cool down with the winter chill.

Finally, he received his letter of dismissal from his job for his mistakes. That was the final straw for an already washed up and heartbroken stallion.”

Rarity took a moment to dab her eyes with a tissue. The story was so heartbreaking that it was making her cry.

She got a hold of herself and went on saying, “He did the only thing any-pony could have done; he decided to cut his losses.”

She levitated out of her coat pocket a pair of scissors and a bottle of glass cleaner, used for cleaning he lenses of glasses, but marked as “Poisonous if ingested”

“He sprayed the apple that he had from Applejack with the cleaner, knowing the poison would kill him if he had taken in enough, but he took extra steps to ensure he would truly die; hence the butcher knife.

As we had discussed, there weren’t any hoofmarks on the handle of the knife, and it all made sense to me.

Numeral didn’t wish anyone to be incriminated, and labeled as a murder suspect, so he used the lone oven mitt that I found in the kitchen.

Then, as Lip Smear had told me, he was great with numbers and calculation. Numeral had placed the knife up right on the table next to the sofa, balancing it on the tip of the handle.

Finally, he had gone into his room to clip his wings of feathers, to ensure that he could not flutter his way out at the last second, which is why his bedroom was loaded with feathers.

He stood on the sofa, and began to eat his tainted apple, only managing to eat it halfway through as the poison began to burn at him from within, causing him to drop the apple where it fell into the sofa, and he himself keeled over at the right angle so he would fall onto the blade of the knife, impaling himself in the side.”

Rarity had nothing more to say on the matter, and everyone felt there was no other explanation.

Even the captain was inclined to agree, “In the end, he would die from either the loss of blood, or from the poison, but he was really killed by his own broken heart, which was brought upon by many others, and Applejack’s only connection to this case was the apple which she gave to him.

As for the Lip's hair on the knife and the feather in her purse. We can blame the draft from the open window, which could blow light weight objects to any possible location while no one is looking.”

Lip Smear was so devastated and upset. Even though she was now cleared of all the charges, in many ways, she was truly responsible for Numeral’s suicide.

Finally, it got way worse, when a mail pony came to the house with a letter that Numeral had actually mailed to his own place before he killed himself.

“I don’t get why some-pony would write a letter to himself.” the courier said, and just went off on his rounds, not even bothering to ask for or care about the murder.

The captain decided to open it, since Numeral wouldn’t be able to, and he read it out-loud to everyone present.

“By the time this letter gets to my place, anyone reading this will have already discovered what I’ve done, and I ask they please pass on this message.

I’m sorry I’m always being such a pain to others, and a disappointment. So my hearths warming gift to every-pony this year… you won’t have to worry about me anymore, and I can’t ruin anyone else’s lives.

…I’m sorry for not being the pony any of you wanted me to be!”

Lip could only bow her head, and cry ever so softly, and everyone else hung their heads low in despair.

(Hour Long Movie) Murder on Hearths Warming

by DakariKingMykan

Act 4: Who done it?