//------------------------------//
// Investigation (Part 6) 
// Story: Live By The Sword... 
// by redandready45 
//------------------------------//

"Ok," Rainbow said, pulling out a blue notebook and writing down notes. "So what do we now about the creep."

Rainbow, Sunset, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy used their study time to try and figure out who Sunset's villain was. They sat in a commons room, trying to drum up some ideas.

"He's probably really, really fast," Pinkie Pie commented. 

"Girls."

"Tall and strong enough to bring down a girl trained in military combat," Rarity opined.

"Girls."

"Really, really mean," Pinkie Pie.

"He really hates me," Sunset observed.

"Girls."

"Sneaky."

"Girls."

"And crazy-"

"GIRLS!" Fluttershy yelled in exasperation. Everyone at the table, as well as their surroundings, were shocked by the butter yellow girl screaming. Fluttershy realized what she did, forced a sheepish smile to her face, and blushed.

"Sorry," Fluttershy said. 

"Its OK Fluttershy," Sunset said to the shy girl. "What did you want to say?"

"Well," Fluttershy said. "I have an idea of who did this."

"Who," Sunset said.

"Someone who is really, really nice," Fluttershy said.

"Is this one of those, 'the one you least suspect' things," Rainbow said in somewhat exasperated tone. 

"Well, not exactly," Fluttershy said. "I mean, do you remembering, um...Suri." Rainbow's eyes narrowed, and then widened. 

"Oh yeah, of course I remember," Rainbow said with tiredness.

"Suri?" Sunset said. 

"Um well," Fluttershy said nervously. "When I was 11, I had this really mean bully named Suri."







Young Fluttershy was playing with her hula hoop in front of her house when she heard footsteps. She turned around and saw the sneering face of Suri Polomare staring at her.

"Well, hello Klutz-ser-shy," Suri sneered.

"Hello Suri," Fluttershy said with a whimper. Without a word, Suri took Fluttershy's hula hoop from her.

"Why thank you," the girl said.

"That's mine," the yellow girl.

"What was that?" Suri said with a nasty grin, before shoving Fluttershy to the ground.

"Nothing," Fluttershy said quivering.

"That's right," Suri sneered. "Everyone would be better off if you said that. Nothing. K?"

"K."






"Wow, she sounds like...me," Sunset said sadly. 

"Oh no," Fluttershy said with nod of her head. "She was much worse." Sunset stared at her. "Well, except for the whole becoming an bloodthirsty demon...thing."

"How?"

"Well," Fluttershy said, "she did all of the things you did, actually."






"Enjoy your new house," Suri said, before shoving Fluttershy into a locker. 





"Your lunch is mine," Suri said before stealing Fluttershy's lunch box. "K?"





"Hey Butterbutt," Suri yelled. "Lay off those cookies." Everyone laughed, while Fluttershy looked shamefully in the mirror.







"But there was one thing you didn't do that...well...made me explode on her," Fluttershy said.

"What was that?" Sunset asked Fluttershy





"Hello Mr. Floppy," Fluttershy said to an adorable little rabbit, "I've got your favorite lunch for you," she said, pouring a fresh bag of baby carrots into the glass case. South Canterlot Elementary's animal nursery was her favorite place ever, since she got to care for a bunch of cute critters

"Aww, don't eat so fast," Fluttershy cooed, watching the little rabbit munch on those tasty carrots, "or you'll get a tummy ache."

"Hey Butterbutt," a mean voice yelled. Fluttershy whimpered and saw Suri in the room. 

"Suri," Fluttershy whimpered, "what are you doing here?"

"Just trying to check on my best friend," Suri sneered. "K?"

"Please just leave me alone," Fluttershy said. 

"Why would I do that," Suri said in her deceptively sweet voice. "You're just too much fun. No matter what I do, you always squirm." With a nasty smirk Suri shoved Fluttershy out of the way, and walked up to the glass case and started shaking it.

"What are you doing?" Fluttershy said with horror, seeing Suri shake the case and scaring the poor bunny.

"Scaring the stupid rabbit because I know it upsets you," Suri said with a nasty grin. Fluttershy looked with dismay at how the poor little creature was shaking with fear. Suri shook the case harder this time, her grin becoming wider. Fluttershy felt something she never felt in her life. She began to feel a bit of anger.

"Leave...leave..." Fluttershy muttered.

"What was that?", the pink-skinned girl said with sneer.

"Leave her alone," Fluttershy muttered.

"Or what," Suri mocked. "Whine to your mommy? Whine to the teacher? My mommy gives money to this school. If I wanted to, I could take the stupid rabbit, feed it to my pet cat, and you couldn't stop me." She began sticking her hand in the case, and began trying to capture the white ball of fluff. 

"Leave her alone," Fluttershy repeated a little more loudly, her hands balling into fists. Suri ignore her and began painfully lifting the animal by its ear. The panic of the poor bunny made Fluttershy see red.

"I said," Fluttershy whimpered. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" With a yell, Fluttershy tackled Suri to the ground, freeing the poor rabbit from the purple-haired girl's clutches. For several minutes, Fluttershy wailed on the little brat. Suri, unused to someone fighting back, found herself helpless as the seemingly helpless yellow girl mercilessly thrashed her. 

In a final act of rage, Fluttershy climbed onto Suri and began stomping on her head. Despite Suri losing unconsciousness, Fluttershy still continued to stomp on her.

"Fluttershy STOP!" a voice yelled. Fluttershy came down from her haze and saw the science teacher looking at her with horror. She looked down at Suri, and whimpered in shame at what she was doing.






"And then her mom took Suri out of school, and I never saw her again." Fluttershy finished her story, looking down at the table in shame while everyone looked at her in shock. 

"Wow, you stomped on someone's head," Sunset said with astonishment. "I really dodged a bullet didn't I?" Sunset said with a sheepish smile. 

"It was horrible," Fluttershy said with regret. "I know."

"Fluttershy, that wasn't your fault," Rainbow Dash assured her yellow friend. "Suri was a monster to you and that poor bunny."

"But I could've killed her," Fluttershy said remorsefully. "She was mean to that poor bunny, but I nearly cracked her skull. But I was so angry, I didn't realize what I was doing until the teacher showed up. Maybe the meanie who hurt Sunset is the same way."

"I don't know if it is quite the same thing," Rarity said with some thought. "What you did was on impulse and self-defense. This...fiend has methodically carried out his misdeeds through careful planning. All signs point to being someone who is deeply, deeply unbalanced."

"I don't think so," Fluttershy said. "Think about what Gilda said: the guy was afraid when Gilda came in. He was shaking. He also could've hurt Apple Bloom to silence witnesses, but didn't. He could've hurt Gilda even worse than he already did for getting in his way, but didn't. And I don't think he was trying to kill Sunset when he drowned her."

"Why not?" Sunset said.

"Why would he leave you a note if he was trying to kill you?" Fluttershy said. The question gave everyone pause. "Not that it makes what he did right. But maybe he's like me. A nice person who is so angry, that he doesn't realize what he was doing was wrong."

"My mother always said this," Rarity said. "A bad person would hurt you for fun, but a good person would make you suffer greatly if he believed it was right." 

"That's...actually a good point," Rainbow said with a nod of her head. "Maybe Fluttershy's right. Maybe we've got to look for the person who is so nice, so quiet, so timid, we would never suspect them of anything."

"Excuse me," a quiet voice said. Everyone turned around and saw some short, green skilled looking at them with nervous eyes.

"Do we know you?" Rarity asked the girl.

"I'm Wallflower Blush," the short girl practically muttered. "It is OK if you don't know me. I'm only in, like, five of your classes. I wanted to know if you-,"

"So lets see what we know about the nut," Rainbow Dash said, pulling out her notebook. "Really tall."

"I wanted to know if-,"

"Smart," Pinkie Pie said.

"Can you just-,"

"Tough enough to take down Gilda," Sunset said.

"Stop ignoring-,"

"Genial on a good day," Rarity said.

"Never mind", Wallflower muttered with disappointment before walking away. 

"OK, so who do we know who meets the criteria," Rarity said.

"Big Macintosh," Pinkie said. Everyone looked her, completely unimpressed. 

"Seriously," Rainbow Dash said. "You really think Big Macintosh would hurt his own sister?"

"It is always the least you'd suspect right?"

"Nah," Sunset said with a wry smile. "Big Macintosh quite graphically said he would blow my head off if I ever hurt his sisters again." Everyone looked at her with horror. "It was just an empty threat to put me in my place. If he really wanted to hurt me, he would've done it already."

"Alright," Rainbow said. "Who do we know who is all of those things?"





"You dated Sunset Shimmah did you not," Officer Garda asked Flash Sentry. The two were sitting in an abandoned classroom that had converted into an office for Garda.

"I did. Isn't there a good cop and a bad cop?" Flash asked the portly officer.

"You watch too many movies," Officer Garda said with a smile and a roll of his eyes. "Anyways, others described Sunset as being downright abusive, controlling and shrill to you."

"Well yeah," Flash said with a mixture of anger and sadness. "She basically used to me to take over...to win a school prom." 

"Mad to enough to want to drown her right!" Officer Garda abruptly yelled. To his frustration, Flash didn't take the bait, looking at him with a defiant frown.

"I was mad at her. I still kind of...am," Flash muttered comfortably. "But I don't want her gone."

"I don't know," Officer Garda said. "There are a lot of stories involving spouses who lash out at their abusive partners after years of torment."

"I didn't attack her," Flash said respectfully but firmly. "I can prove it. I have an alibi for when Sunset was pushed down the stairs."

"Really?" Officer Garda asked. 

"I was doing band practice with my buds in the music room when it happened."

"So your telling me on Novembah 5, when Sunset was knocked down the stairs, you were practicing the drums, or whatever."

"Guitar," Flash said.

"Guitar. Can I have your bandmates number so they can confirm your story," Officer Garda asked.

"Sure," Flash said.

After a few calls, the green-skinned man called the bandmates, and confirmed them, through words, pictures, and their practice calendar that Flash was practicing with them when Sunset was pushed.

"OK kid your free to go," Officer Garda said. 

"Thanks," Flash said.

"Stay out of trouble," Officer Garda said as the blue-haired kid walked out of the room. Officer Garda let out a sigh and crossed a name off of the list. 





"Are you sure you can't trace the guy's IP," Micro Chips asked Moondancer. The two were in a computer lab, trying to trace the threatening E-mail that had been sent to Sunset. 

"No," the red and purple haired girl said stoically. "This guy really knew how to cover his tracks, using encryption." Micro let out tired sigh, frowning over what this madman had done Gilda.

"Hey guys," a female voice said. The two turned and saw Sunset marching into the room.

"Hello Sunset," Micro Chips said with barely-veiled annoyance. Sunset let out a self-pitying sigh.

"Did you find anything yet?" Sunset asked.

"No," Moondancer said. Sunset let out another sigh.

"Listen, Micro Chips," Sunset said sadly. "There is something I wanted to tell you."

"What?"

"I'm sorry about having Gilda punch you in the face and stealing your logins," Sunset said.

"Oh you think one apology is gonna fix that," Micro said.

"What can I do to fix it?" Sunset asked helpfully. "I owe you for the punch-,"

"You think I care about the punch in the face?" Micro asked angrily, startling Sunset. "Do you think I'm some hypersensitive geldo [1] who gets upset over one punch?"

"Yes," Moondancer said without hesitation while working on her computer. Micro briefly glared at Moondancer before turning back to an upset Sunset.

"What made me mad was you making Gilda think I was perv," Micro Chips yelled. 

"Micro that was no big-," Sunset protested. 

"Imagine if Gilda had told everyone what you sent in my name?!" Micro Chips yelled. "Imagine if she shared that E-mail with everyone! My reputation would've been completely destroyed! Everyone thinks geeks like me are creepy pervs. And your little stunt could made everyone think that."

"But Micro-,"

"Even if you told the truth, many people would still think that of me," Micro said with dismay. "I could've ended up like Tubby Thompson."

"Who?" Sunset said.

"Tubby Thompson. Comedian," Moondancer said stoically. "Successful actor. Highest grossing star five years in a row. Was accused of rape and murder."

"What?" Sunset said.

"Some girl went to one of his parties," Micro said. "And died there. One of the woman there accused Tubby Thompson of raping and killing the person. Despite being completely innocent, his career was completely destroyed."

"What?"

"Yeah," Micro said angrily. "Even after he was exonerated, people still believed he did it. He stopped getting movie deals, his friends deserted him, and he was bankrupted."

"What happened to him?" Sunset said.

"Threw himself off the roof of his house," Moondancer said, still not looking up from the computer. 

"That's horrible," Sunset said.

"I don't know how it works in your pony world," Micro said with a sneer, "but in this world an innocent person can have their lives destroyed while being completely innocent, and the person who destroyed them can walk away a free person." He then gave Sunset a vicious smile. "But of course, you didn't think about that, did you? All you cared about was becoming a princess. Heck you were planning to make us part of your zombie army and drag us to your pony world, not caring that our family's would wonder where he were?"

"Micro Chips," Sunset regretfully. "I didn't-,"

"Everyone of us paid because of your selfish idiocy," Micro Chips barked angrily. "And you know what? Were still paying for it. Now we have some psycho running around our school because you had to piss off just about everyone. Gilda got hurt trying to capture the psycho you helped create," Micro Chips said, his face becoming red thinking about how hurt and upset Gilda was. "So no Sunset. It is not OK. It is never gonna be OK. And right now, I just want you to go away and leave me alone!"

"But," Sunset protested, only to turn around and walk out of the room when Micro continued to glare at her.

"How could I be stupid?" Sunset said regretfully to herself as she walked down the hall. Without noticing it, she bumped into Sandalwood. 

"Sorry Sandalwood," Sunset said to the tall, green-haired guy. "I've had a lot on my mind."

"I would know," Sandalwood said. "But just chill. I'm sure they'll catch the guy." He then walked away to do some other business. Sunset smiled at Sandalwood's kind words. But then she found herself confused by Sandalwood's words.

"I would know," Sunset parroted. "But why would he say that?" But then her eyes widened in horror.





"Yes," Officer Garda said to some elderly janitor.

"I found something in the dumpster you might be interested in," the old man said.

"What?" Officer Garda said. The man pulled out some black shawl. His interest grew when he saw red.

"Red on the...sleeve," Officer Garda said, his eyes widening. "It was just like the Griffon girl said."

"I also found this in the pocket," the old man said, holding up some folded poster. Garda took the poster and unfolded it. 

"Join us for peace, love and understanding tonight," the poster read. "With Sandalwood and the Doves."