Hours later...
Zipp had returned to Maretine Bay a lot later than she expected.
The wait at the vet was ages! Not to mention, she needed to chase and track him though the city for over an hour! For a dog with a broken leg, he can move fast! Sucks how Queen Haven had to do important royal business right on the day and time Cloudpuff needed to get his injured leg checked. It was healing, however. So there was a bit of positivity in a dark time like this.
But when she arrived back in Maretine Bay, every pony was getting ready for dinner. She entered the Brighthouse slowly. Sunny was looking very glum, everyone was. But Sunny was basically the opposite of her normal self. Perhaps she had heard about what happened. Nah, it was obvious she knew what happened. No doubt she heard it from somepony or watched the news.
“Oh... hey Zipp...” Sunny greeted as Zipp walked to the table and sat in front of her plate, it was filled its food. Her tone was quieter as she slowly at her vegetables.
“Hey Sunny... I see you found out what happened to Jazz...“ Zipp said quietly, Sunny slowly nodded in response. She partly blamed herself.
Pipp was slowly eating hers. Sniffling as she did so. Poor thing, “Why did this have to happen?” She asked. “I had stuff planned for us, and she’s gone...”
“Hey... Where’s Izzy?” Zipp noticed the lack of unicorn in the room.
“Oh... she said she wanted some fresh air and went outside...” Sunny explained as she looked down at her plate. “I can’t believe I let this happen...”
“Hmm?” Zipp’s ears perked up, “You know something about the murder?”
“Not exactly...” Sighed Sunny as she swallowed some food, “I’m supposed to be helping everypony live in harmony! But... somepony ended up d-dead... could I have said or done something different that could have ended... better?” Tears formed in her eyes as she looked down.
“Sunny...” Zipp sighed, “It’s not your fault... You changed many ponies minds... but some ponies aren’t going to listen...” She looked at her highly concerned, “Besides... I’m gonna get to the bottom of it, okay?”
Sunny nodded slightly. No more words were spoken during dinner...
Izzy didn’t eat her dinner that night, claiming she didn’t have the appetite. Sunny was less perky than normal too, eating her dinner more slowly. Pipp was kinda isolated from everyone else on the table, hoping that Jazz was not dead at all. But deep down, she knew she was gone. But she didn’t want to believe it. She didn’t want to accept it...
Now it was late, everypony except for her, were getting ready for bed. Sunny was sniffling in bed while Izzy was tossing and turning. But Zipp wasn’t going to sleep. It wasn’t the time for sleep. She needed to get there.
She already scanned the drink and mouth foam before leaving for Zephyr Heights. Both oddly contained very little toxins, only enough to make a pony sick if enough is consumed. They’d get sick and stop consuming way before any ill effects. So they’d have to do it on purpose.
So somepony must have poisoned Jazz in a different way... Good thing she had the footage on her computer monitor. Pipp agreed to send the footage to her earlier, when she spoke to her.
However, it had seemed she had forgotten to send her some footage from one of the cameras, but now wasn’t the time. She was sleeping peacefully after crying herself to sleep, and Zipp didn’t want to wake her up. So she had to ask for the missing footage in the morning. Hopefully it wasn’t as important, and she could find the mystery out without it.
She turned it on, to the time just before the lights were apparently turned off. Carefully, she watched the footage to not miss anything. Just as Rocky and Pipp said, the lights did flash off. Also, Dr G did leave his seat when Pipp went to get something. He went into a corner not viewed by the camera. Seemingly, wondering what happened.
The camera could still view the dark room, however. Zipp has no worry at all! Until suddenly it all went black, causing Zipp to gasp in shock. She rewinded it, and played in slow. Wondering what on earth happened.
On a closer inspection, she noticed that some cloth was quickly placed on the camera. No sign on who it was. She didn’t even see the hoof. But she kept watching, the cloth was removed by someone unknown. But she kept paying attention.
When Rocky came out of the room after putting the berries he had away, Jazz turned the power back on. Also, he did leave early, like noted. Dahlia entered a few minutes after he had left.
It all went just as her suspects said.
But she kept watching to the point of the drinks. At this point, Mane Melody was closed for the night, Zipp watched carefully. Pipp walked out of the room with a tray. On it were two glasses filled of the same drink. Jazz smiled as she grabbed hers, she took a sniff and made a weird face.
There was no sound, but judging by the shaking of heads and the movements of mouths, Jazz asked Pipp a questioned. Once it was seemingly answered, she started to sip it. Of course, as she proceeded to drink it, Pipp was making a happy smile on her face.
Then they seemed to have a bit of a chat, Jazz nodded as Pipp finished her drink. She then started to pile some stuff on a cart as Pipp helped before seemingly glancing at her phone. At the time, Zipp sent her a message. They seemed to chat before coming to an agreement.
Jazz waves as Pipp left the salon. She drank her drink through a straw as she pushed the cart into the storage room. This must be when she met her demise. With a shudder and a gulp, Zipp changed to the storage room camera’s footage. She watched sombrely as she went into the storage room.
As she entered, she seemed to stop. She stumbled a bit, seeming a bit dizzy, she also looked tired. Zipp didn’t want to watch this, but she had to do it. Her gut hurt as Jazz stumbled around, poor thing looked ill and confused. Then after a while she coughed after stumbling into a wall. As she coughed, bits of froth were coming from her mouth.
When she noticed them, she gasped as stood in one place. Legs where shaking as if they were going to give way. It hurt to watch and she looked so scared as she grabbed her phone. Only to drop it as she stumbled sideways into the cupboards.
She slumped to the ground, trying to get up. But her legs had stopped working, it seemed, like they were paralysed, and shaking uncontrollably. Jazz started to cough and choke up more froth and foam. Shaking, she curled up against the cupboard, hooves on her stomach.
She was shaking in fear, looking towards the door, seemingly trying to call for help as she shouted. This went on for a few minutes...
But no one was around to help her, tears were rolling down her cheeks as she coughed up more froth and put her head down. Until her last moment... her hind leg twitched, and then she never moved again...
Zipp turned the footage off, sniffling. It was horrible. It was worse than she thought, she didn’t see it coming, she tried to call for help! But it was all too late and quick for her! Also, there was no sign of anything else poisoning Jazz!
Then she was hit with regret.
If she hadn’t texted Pipp that her dinner was getting cold, and reminding her of her chores... Then she could have been there to see Jazz was suffering and call for help.
Jazz would still be alive! Zipp looked at her trembling hooves, “Wh-what have I done?” She sobbed, “I’m sorry...” She put her head down, regretting her actions.
She knew Pipp hated cold dinner... but as a result of warning her, she killed her friend. This was mostly her fault... she blamed herself as her gut hurt! She killed her sister’s friend! What did this mean!? Her gut hurt as she thought about it. Why didn’t she know!?
But wait... it wasn’t intentional... someone was still behind the murder, and they did intentionally kill Jazz. Feeling bad was for later. Pipp would have to give her the footage from the forgotten camera tomorrow... but her diary was on the table near her bed. Maybe there were some hints in that.
Of course, she needed to be stealthy. Pipp hated it when someone else touched her diary without permission.
Quietly, she sneaked over to Pipp’s bed. Careful to not wake her up, of course, she quickly snagged the book and grabbed her phone. Pipp muttered and snored, Zipp gasped, she needed to hurry. She did have a plan, however. All she needed was to take a picture of the pages that took place on the day!
She was quick to take a photo of the pages she needed. Facing away from Pipp with wings spread, so the phone’s flash didn’t wake her. Hurriedly, she put the diary back in its spot and hurried to her bed. Hoping that the entries would provide some answers to the mystery. Deep down she felt that maybe Pipp was behind it, she did give Jazz the drink...
Also, that pink fluffy feather she found on Jazz was hers according to the scans. At first, she assumed the feather was a result of Pipp moving around in panic when she and Rocky found Jazz, but... There could easily be more to it.