With the giant diamond in hoof, the two unicorns descended the hill to reach the town. They’ll have to act quickly if they want to save what was left of it. It was quite a steep curve; they could fall if they aren’t careful with their steps, which is exactly what happened.
The stallion tripped on a branch sticking out of the ground and fell. The diamond hit the floor with a large thud, being half buried thanks to its surprisingly heavy weight.
The mare looked at the shining diamond, worried that it could have been damaged from the fall. “Hold on. This thing does look like a diamond, but it’s sure is much heavier than the real deal.”
The stallion picked himself up from the dirt with an embarrassed expression. “Well, it is official size, but not official weight...” He lifted the diamond, getting it out of the ground with a bit of effort. “Now let’s not waste any time; the village is being destroyed!”
Now, they’ve finally arrived at the village. Everypony around was fleeing in all directions, panicking too much to think clearly. The dragon was being smart about the whole assault, breathing down fire every time a pony reached the edge of town. This one was much, MUCH different from its peers, and unnatural at that. It was thinking smartly, carefully trying to keep the townsfolk inside for whatever reason.
It couldn’t be looking to feast on them, because if it did; it would have swept down to catch its prey. This was a pretty good reason to be worried right now, especially for our duo of unicorns who were tasked by Celestia to save this village. It was a test for sure, but the silver-lining here is that they both knew their mentor wouldn’t send them to their deaths. They can do it, they must be.
“We gotta get its attention!” shouted the stallion amongst the flames and rubbles. “Do you have a spell for that?” he continued as he looked at his companion.
The mare rolled a hoof through her hair with a smug look on her face. “Who do you think I am? Of course I have something!”
Her horn lighted up with a fierce spark. She began to exert an immense amount of energy as she was cooking up a powerful spell. Then, all the concentrated energy erupted, creating a jaw-dropping show of fireworks. Her hooves began to dig into the ground with the sheer weight of her magic weighing her down.
Thankfully, it worked. The dragon took notice of the sudden fireworks and quickly spotted the two below him. The stallion waved his diamond around like how a parent would wave a toy in front of its child’s face. The beast was enchanted by the beautiful jewel, and now had tunnel vision as it swept down to snatch it.
“Alright!” exclaimed the stallion while he pumped a hoof in the air. “We got its attention!”
The dragon was going down at a terrifying speed indeed. “Oh no... we got its attention.” repeated the stallion, this time being not so pumped up about the plan.
His companion ran way and hid behind a couple of barrels. “I’ll follow you closely in case things go wrong. Now go!”
The stallion sprinted as fast as he could to avoid the incoming flying monstrosity coming down on him. Thankfully, he did stay near the edge of the village, so getting the beast away from the townsfolk wasn’t going to be much of an issue. The real problem was to get it far enough to face it away from the bystanders, and to not die. Yeah, that too.
However, the dragon was coming down much faster than he anticipated. It was mere feet away from him now...
“Oh.”
Saturday Morning :
What a horrible night to be have been greeted by a murderer. Sunset didn’t go back to sleep once the police was done looking around. All she wanted to do now was to let her friends know what had transpired during this dreadful event for now, this was also their problem.
The sun rose, indicating to Sunset Shimmer that it was morning. Some of her friends were probably awake at this time, so she figured now would be the time to send the message. But just before, she made sure her door was locked as well as all her windows. Now feeling safe, she took out her phone and began typing.
Girls, something bad just happened last night! The killer broke into my apartment! I’m certain I'm going to be his next victim!
Sunset waited and waited for anybody to read her message. She desperately needed help right now. Equestrian magic was useful, but they all lacked the knowledge to properly use it, leaving them defenseless should the killer rear his ugly head.
Finally, someone was replying and unsurprisingly, it was Twi. This girl was quite the early bird, taking her studies very seriously to the point of waking up a few hours before school just to get her studies done before the day.
Are you ok, Sunset? Did he hurt you?
Sunset quickly typed a response, trying to sound more level-headed this time. Thankfully no. He did make his intention clear; he wants me dead.
Do you think we should ask for the pony version of me for help? I’ve heard you tried this before with the Dazzlings.
Asking Princess Twilight wasn’t initially part of her plan, thinking at first that they should try to solve their problems by themselves. However, her life is on the line and thus, she’ll make an exception just this once.
I’m going to do it right now. I’ll go through the portal and return as quickly as I can. She answered.
She could also write to her instead of crossing the portal, but it’ll be safer to simply leave the human world for the time being. Chances are that the killer probably doesn’t know about Equestria. Over there, she could safely ask Twilight to help her stop this monster from killing more people.
She putted on a coat, a cap and a pair of gloves to traverse the cold. It a misty morning yet again except this time, the mist was denser. Sunset was shivering even though she had all these extra clothes to warm her up.
Finally, she arrived at the statue standing before Canterlot High. With her magic, she could cross the portal and return to Equestria, a world where she’ll be hopefully safe from the killer. She took one confident step forward and reached out a hand to touch the portal. It passed through as excepted. Sunset felt relief as she began to go through the portal.
But then, something unexpected happened. Something absolutely abnormal; the portal zapped her. The pain was strong enough to send her back, falling and hitting the ground with her back. Shocked at what just transpired, Sunset was barely bothered by the pain, simply staring at the sky in disbelief.
“Hu hu ha ha!”
The laugh echoed through the silence of the misty morning. She recognised that voice; it was the exact same she had heard back at the gym during the principal’s speech.
She painfully stood up, being more stressed out at the idea that Equestria was no longer accessible than the terrible pain in her back. She ran up to the statue in mere seconds and tried once again to plunge her hands through it.
“No no no. Let me in. Let me in!”
Her hands went pass the surface as normal, but it felt as if something was blocking her from the other side. It was like an invisible wall hidden beneath the intangible. Try as she might, it was futile. Sunset couldn’t fully cross the portal to Equestria.
“Oh come on, how long is this going to take? You can’t get through, get over it. You’ll just have to deal with this serial killer on your own.”
She stepped back from the statue, horribly confused as to why it wasn’t working as indented. Even worse, she was now fully confident that there was something else out there. It was observing her, but she couldn’t see it. Its voice sounded like it came from every single direction at once, while being impossible to pinpoint where they came from.
But then she remembered that there was still another way to contact Princess Twilight. Yes, this could work too! All she had to do was to retrieve the book in her apartment and write to her friend. Even if she couldn’t come, they’d at least be able to stay in contact throughout the whole thing, which would be much better than to be left stranded without any outside help.
Sunset ran back to her home, arriving at the front door in just a few minutes. Nearly out of breath but still filled with so much energy, she fumbled her hands through her pockets and pulled out her keys, that she promptly dropped. She got down on her knees to pick them up and unlocked the door and entered. She took out her coat and boats in mere seconds before running towards her bedroom where she had left the magical book.
She opened the door and her eyes first laid on the most unexpected ever. The man in the pickle suit was there, and he had the book in his hand, examining it closely.
“Hey!” called out Sunset. “What are you doing in my apartment?! And give me back my book!” she shouted in anger.
Her shouts didn’t faze the strange man one bit. He still had that edgy tough guy expression, accompanied with those silly sunglasses to give him a cool edge, which was still contrasted by his dumb, dumb pickle suit.
“You use this book to write to a pony princess...” he said with a deep, gruff voice. “But you won’t call her for help.” he pointed a judgemental finger at her. “Only cowards run away from their problems.”
He bolted for the window, but Sunset didn’t think much of it. After all, how was he going to escape? They are currently on the fourth floor of this apartment complex. It’ll be quite the fall. No sane man would jump down a four-story building, except he did... sorta.
Sunset looked out the window and saw something even more unexpected. It was a long rope that descended to the streets. The man in the pickle suit was using this rope to rappel down to the ground. She wasn’t going to let him get away with it that easily. She climbed out the window and used the rope to slip down.
The man in the pickle suit had quite the head start in this hot pursuit, if Sunset was to slow down, she’ll lose sight of him. She finally got to ground level and began running after him. Luck was on her side, for the streetlights in front of the man turned red and the cars began to move. He’ll have to round the corner and then, she’ll catch up to him.
Well, that is what would happen under normal circumstances. Instead, what happened was both mind-blowing and absolutely ridiculous. The man in the pickle suit didn’t take a detour from his original trajectory, no, he ran into the streets while there were multiple cars still driving. One of them was going to hit him, but he narrowly avoided it by performing a move so graceful and stunning that it blew Sunset’s mind.
He dropped to the ground and rolled like a pencil under the car as it passed by him. Then, he got back on his feet and ran the rest of the way safely. Now, there were too many cars for Sunset to cross the streets and from the looks of it; she wasn’t going to get them to stop just so she can pass. All she could do, was to watch the man in the pickle suit get away.
She felt like she was going to lose it. None of this made any sense. A ghost was seemingly haunting her and preventing her from returning to Equestria and now the man in the pickle suit turned out to have been a ninja from the start. What else is going to happen?! The killer would reveal to her that he was part of the Illuminati? No no NO! This needs to stop!
No choice... she’ll have to solve this bizarre mystery without the help of Princess Twilight.
It was quite dark outside. In such darkness, any and all girls would be terrified at the idea of even being outside. Well, perhaps not the Great and Powerful Trixie, who was strolling around without a care, accompanied by an acquaintance that sure did look awfully nervous.
“T-Trixie, ar-are you sure this is safe for us to be outside at night?” she said, looking in every direction constantly while Trixie herself didn’t show the slightest hint of fear.
“You’re all making these murders out to be much worse than it is. WE, are probably not going to run into this killer.”
The girl didn’t seem convinced. “What makes you think that? He could be stalking us for all we know!” she said in a fearful voice.
“Canterlot is a big city. Chances are he’s probably somewhere else and not in this block. Plus, do I need to remind you that the Great and Powerful Trrrixie is....” She waved her arms around flamboyantly as she was holding her sentence in suspension. “Great and powerful?”
She groaned and facepalmed after hearing Trixie’s ego speaking yet again. “You know what? Screw this! You do it alone! I’m going back home!” The girl spun around and left spontaneously, finally getting Trixie to stop her confident march.
“Wait, hold on! You aren’t seriously leaving the Gr... me?” Yes, yes she did. Now Trixie was all by herself. That got her confident attitude to completely fall apart. She looked around, now feeling unsure about her initial plan. She just wanted to scare Sunset Shimmer with her magic, her REAL magic mind you. But now, she was far too scared to go through with the prank.
“Maybe I should just head back home...”
On the other end, the girl was fast walking back to her house which wasn’t too far away from this block thankfully. This night was especially cold for October. Really, really cold. She was trembling, coming from both the fear and the cold. Just a couple of streets and she’ll be back home in no time...
Bones cracked; she swore she could hear bones cracking just ahead of her. The sounds were accompanied by shuffling. There was someone out there in the dead of night.
“H-Hello? W-Who’s there?” she asked in a trembling voice.
A man suddenly came into view, his entire front covered in shadow casted by the light behind him. He was quite big and burly, but that was pretty much all she could make out. It wasn’t easy to discern any detail seeing as he was a couple of steps away from her.
One of his hands reached out for something in his pockets. The girl could barely see what it was, but from the shape of the object, it must have been a pair of maracas. It was quite out of the ordinary for a random person on the street to pull out maracas on you. Most of the time, you’d expect a gun or a knife to be drawn, but not this!
Then, he began to shake them as his eyes turned into shining spirals. Even though he was only playing the maracas, more instruments joined in to play a soothing and enchanting melody that felt really good to the ears. In no time, the girl was losing control of her own body, though she wasn’t aware of what was going on.
“They weren’t joking, music really strengths magic in this world...”
“We're interrupting this program to deliver yet another tragic new. A high school student was found murdered on the streets this morning! The victim was a young girl who attended Canterlot High in its music program. Her throat had been slit with a knife which was still present at the scene of the murder. The police have checked the murder weapon for fingerprints and found something truly disturbing; the knife only has her fingerprints on it. Normally, this case would be chalked up to suicide, but one important detail has convinced the police that this tragic incident was indeed, a murder. Right next to the body was a message written in her blood.
It specifically says; I could have accomplished so much... What this message is supposed to signify is still unknown, as with the serial killer’s motives. Stay tuned for further updates on this murder case.”
Sunset shut down the television. She sat there in silence as the news was starting to sink in. Once her brain had finally processed the whole event, she took out her phone and immediately went into the group chat.
Ok, this has gotten worse! We have a serial killer in town! She wrote in a hurry to her friends.
Twi was unsurprisingly the first to respond. Did you ask Princess Twilight for help? I think we’ll greatly need her help.
I tried, but I couldn’t get through the portal! And worst of all; someone stole the magical book that allowed me to stay in contact with her! Sunset answered.
No! Don’t tell me we’re gonna have to deal with this without her! Typed Rainbow Dash in a hurry.
I find it quite troubling how his recent victims have mostly been girls of our age. Especially since he’s marked you as his next victim. Shared Rarity, throwing in some nervous emoji into the mix.
Now, it was Applejack’s turn to share what was bugging her. But if he marked Sunset as his next victim, then why did he kill that girl on the streets? Was it just to send a message?
It’s really strange that he’s going this far just to scare you, Sunset. Started Fluttershy. I don’t think he sees you the same way as his other victims.
Sunset Shimmer felt unnerved at Fluttershy’s remark. Was it possible that she already met the killer before? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to assume so.
He must know me. And considering he has only killed people that have something to do with Canterlot High, we can assume that he must attend or work there.
So, we got ourselves a mysterious serial killer X who goes to Canterlot High and kills female students. Great... wrote Applejack.
Twi was intrigued at the idea of calling him serial killer X. How about we refer to our mysterious serial killer X as just SKX for short? We’ve got to give him a name so we can know for sure we’re all on the same page.
Pinkie had an idea. I see where this is going... we’re going to suss out potential suspects and interrogate them! It’s a good thing my Pinkie senses can flair out suspicious people!
You’re describing it as if it was a superpower. Mocked Rainbow Dash.
What says it can’t be one? Pinkie Pie said, bombing her sentence with multiple different kinds of emojis. It was her eccentric style of texting.
Twi agreed with Pinkie’s method. That sounds good to me, Pinkie. We’ll just need to figure out who could have committed these killings first before proceeding with our investigation.
Sunset closed her phone; it was now time to get down to business. Onward to solve that mystery!
Sunday evening:
Rarity knocked on the door and awaited a response.
“I’m coming!” Sunset responded from the other side. She opened the door to let her friend in.
“Sorry if it took some time to come. You see, I had to work overtime.” informed Rarity with an apologetic voice.
“You don’t have to apologise. All that matters to me is that you came in the end.”
Rarity followed her friend as she walked over to the kitchen table. Though one thing was bothering her, and it was the tired look Sunset Shimmer had. But she refrained from asking right now, preferring to wait and see what this was all about. “So, you had something really important that you wanted to say to me in person?” she asked politely, curious as to what warranted a face-to-face meeting.
“Why yes! It’s right here, come on.” Sunset walked over to a wall by the fridge.
Rarity followed her with her eyes and found something absolutely worrying. The wall was an incoherent mess of pictures and staples and lines, exactly like those you’d see a conspiracy theorist use to figure out a mystery.
“D-Darling, what is that?!”
Sunset took a sip from her cup of coffee and spun around to face Rarity. “Okay, so I really really REALLY don’t know what in tarnation is going on and it’s the bothering the hay outta me!”
She slammed her coffee on the table and started pointing at the pictures on the wall. More specifically, at an image of a man in a pickle suit. “So, I've been visited by this man in a pickle suit, and he keeps telling me cryptic things like he knows who I am and it’s super weird! Worst of all, he stole my magical book that I used to write to Princess Twilight.”
She walked up to Rarity with a crazed look on her face. “Which leads to me to believe one thing.” she started giggling before spitting it out. “First! SKX is actually two people working under the same name! There is the man in the pickle suit, and there is the one who killed the students.”
“S-Sunset, what are you going on about?!” asked Rarity, sounding horribly confused at this theory that came out of nowhere.
“I know this because I saw the killer. He’s big and burly, which the man in the pickle suit clearly is not! But that’s not it...”
“Please, snap out of it Sunset! You’re losing your mind!”
“There’s still the unsolved mystery of the evil ghost. I believe he’s working with SKX and the man in the pickle suit. Therefore, it’s actually a team of three that’s behind the killings. There, I figured it out! It’s a conspiracy, they’re conspiring against me! I must owe them like five dollars or something I don’t know!”
Rarity started playing around with her hair out of nervousness. “You’ve lost your mind. You’ve actually lost your mind.” Her limbs started to tremble. “I think I’m starting to have a panic attack.”
“Here, take a cup of coffee; it’ll calm you down.”
“I am!” responded Rarity, having already taken a sip from her cup.
“You know what, fine. Blast, give my friend a stress ball.” proposed Sunset as she was looking at the man in the kitchen.
Rarity stared at her friend in confusion. “Huh who?”
“Blast. He’s the guy that tipped me off about the conspiracy.”
“Blast? Who in tarnation is Blast?!” shouted Rarity in a mix of confusion and desperation.
“You don’t see Bl- Wait, what? Where did he-” This Blast guy Sunset was referring to was nowhere to be seen.
“Sunset. You should perhaps get your mind off this whole investigation for a day. It’ll do you a lot of good.” proposed Rarity in a concerned tone.
“Okay, yeah. You’re totally right.”