Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library
05:30 AM
The sun is starting to rise. Another day in Celestia’s glorious Equestria. It’s amazing how magical the sunrise is when you don’t think about the mangled corpse of a book in the basement right now. I grimaced as I walked towards my saddle bags at the front door. With a small grunt I manage to pull them on. They seem a little tighter than the last time I had worn them. Am I getting fat? Perhaps I should cut back on the sweets, but that pink pony practically prances those pound packing products in front of me whenever I’m near. Yes, all those cupcakes with delicious frosting and cookies and cakes and… GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF TWILIGHT! The case, got to focus on the case!
Twilight pulled opened the front door of the library and called back inside, “I’m heading out now guys. I’ll be back soon.” Twilight closed the door and walked towards to afterhours book drop.
With the sun up I can get a good look at the crime scene. With yesterday’s early evening rain the ground should be muddy enough to catch any hoof prints left behind by the suspect.
Twilight levitated a magnifying glass from her saddle bag and slowly began to examine the ground near the book drop. After several minutes of staring at the dirt she came to the conclusion that there were no hoof prints to be found. Sighing heavily, she slid the magnifying glass back into the bag.
What’s this? I pull a feather out of one of the bushes surrounding the library. It’s a pegasus feather. A blue pegasus feather. I hold the feather up to the sunlight to get a better view of it. It’s a fully grown feather that has fallen naturally from its host. It could have come from whoever returned the book. This could explain why there are no hoof prints out here. But the book was checked out to Lyra, a unicorn. I’d better keep this still, just in case.
Twilight opened her bag and put the feather in a safe spot inside. After one last glance of the crime scene she turned and headed into town.
Ponyville, Lyra and Bon Bon’s house
06:00 AM
I knock on the door. It’s a fairly regular house for Ponyville, a single story residence with a thatch roof and plaster walls. I had known Lyra Heartstrings since I began attending Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. I was in the magic section while Lyra was in the music section. She had always been a decent pony. Friendly enough and not like a book breaking, ink smearing monster that my suspect seemed to be. Although we had never became “friends” so to speak. The door opens and a mint green and white unicorn is standing behind it.
“Oh hiya Twilight! It’s a surprise to see you here so early in the morning,” Lyra said as she extends a hoof in greeting.
I shake her hoof in return. This would be a great opportunity to make a new friend. And I could write a friendship report to the Princess about it. But I’m here for other business. Remember that poor defenseless trashy romance novel lying limp on the hard wood floor with its spine broken and pages torn!
“Hello Ms. Heartstrings,” Twilight replied in a serious tone. “I’m here about a book you recently borrowed from the library. Does the name Dusk: Solar Flare mean anything to you?”
“Shhh, don’t say that so loud,” Lyra blurted out at the mention of the title.
“Is there someone at the door, Dear?” Bon Bon called from inside the home.
Lyra quickly moved to block Twilight’s view of the interior of the home by standing between the partially open door and the doorway. “It’s just Twilight, Honey,” she called back inside. “She just needs to talk to me about something.” Lyra quickly stepped outside and closes the door behind her.
“Is there something wrong?” I question the mare. She was a weird one. Well as weird as one can get in a town that was once eaten by parasprites and over run by a stampede of bunnies. Still, it was an odd reaction for something as innocent as checking out a book. Or maybe not…
“It’s just that Bon Bon doesn’t like me reading those types of books,” Lyra replied in a whisper. She quickly peeked behind her to make sure the door was closed.
“OK, I guess. I just need to know why you did this!” With a flash of purple magic, a photograph of the broken novel appeared in front of the green mare’s face.
“Ahg! What!? Who? I didn’t do that!” Lyra sputtered and waved her hooves in front of her face.
“You were the last one to check out this book from the library!”
“Yeah I borrowed that book, but I lent it to Berry a few days ago.”
“You let someone else borrow a book you borrowed from the library?”
“Of course, it’s a library book right? Aren’t they meant to be lent around?”
“Library’s don’t work that way!” Twilight yelled at the unicorn. Lyra just gave a shrug in reply. “So who did you give the book to again?” Twilight said with a sigh.
“Berry Punch. You know, the mare that runs the Punch Bowl,” Lyra answered and pointed down the street.
I would hate to have to call Lyra a liar. Despite how heinous the crime had been, I don’t think Lyra would mislead me. She seems to be telling the truth and her reaction to the photo seemed genuine. I’ll just have to play along for now and go see Berry Punch.
“I know of the place,” Twilight said as she placed the photograph back into her saddle bag with her magic. “I’ll be going there next to talk to her. You had better not be lying to me.”
“Me, lie? Come on now Twilight. We’ve known each other for years. Why would I lie to you?” Lyra asked back. She placed her right forearm over her chest and gave Twilight a hurtful look.
“I’m not playing around Lyra. This is serious business,” said Twilight as she gives Lyra a withering glare.
“Yes, I can see that,” the mint unicorn replied. “Just go talk to Berry, she’ll tell you the same thing.”
Ponyville, The Punch Bowl
06:30 AM
The Punch Bowl. The only place in Ponyville that serves drinks of the harder variety. It wasn’t a large place. Berry Punch was the proprietor and ran it out of her home. Not many ponies in Ponyville drank alcohol on a regular basis, but there was always one or two ponies a night that had an itch for something more powerful than Pinkie’s party punch mix. I had never been inside, but I knew where it was in the town. I also did not know much about the pony Berry Punch. I’ve seen her about town and at various functions that I’ve been to, but never really talked with her. Whenever there was a party, she seemed to show up. I think I even saw her in the Crystal Empire once, but I must have been mistaken. There is no way she could have made to the Crystal Fair with Sombra lurking around outside. I finally make it to the watering hole and knock on the door.
…
There is no answer. I knock louder.
…
Still no answer. I give the door a slight push and it opens. Using the power of exigent circumstances and fearing for the safety of the residents within I power up my horn and enter the bar.
“Hello! Is anyone home?” I yell inside. “It’s Twilight Sparkle! I’m coming inside!” I immediately notice the smell. It’s not pleasant. The air stank of old cigar smoke and alcohol. There is no one in the main bar area. I check behind the counter and find nothing of interest. The bar area takes up most of the ground floor with a small kitchen in the back. I peek in the kitchen to see if anyone is home. The only thing there is a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I make a quick sweep of the rest of the ground floor and find nothing. I see a set of stairs leading up to where the living quarters must be. I walk up the stairs slowly with my magic ready for anything. When I reach the second floor I take a quick look around. The second level is a lot smaller than the first; only a single hallway with a few doors.
“Hello? It’s Twilight Sparkle, is anyone home?” I call again. I hear a rustling noise coming from behind the door at the end of the hallway. I slowly inch my way there, casting a quick fortification spell on myself just in case something decides to jump out at me. I knock on the door and yell, “Berry? Is that you?” I hear more movement and a low grunt. I open the door and gasp at the sight in front of me. A plum colored earth pony lays sprawled out on the floor of the bathroom drooling. I rush up to the mare and check for vital signs. A quick scan shows that she is fine.
“Whatagrble?” the mare responded as Twilight slowly brings the partially conscious mare’s limbs back into a more natural position. On her flank is the cutie mark of grapes and a strawberry.
“Berry Punch, can you hear me?” Twilight asked once she realizes who the pony is.
“Twiglit?” Berry managed to say. “Whatare you doin here? The bar’ses closed.”
She was drunk. From the smell of her breath I can guess with a fair amount of certainty that she had been drinking the Apple family’s famous AppleJack Daniels hard cider. Great. How am I going to get any information out of her now?
Ponyville, The Punch Bowl
07:30 AM
Berry Punch woke with a headache. It was a normal occurrence for her and she tried to ignore it. She slowly opened her eyes and quickly realized that she wasn’t where she thought she was.
“What am I doing in my bed?” Berry asked out loud. “I thought I was spending the night on the bathroom floor again?”
“Oh I brought you here,” Twilight answered. She was sitting on a chair across from the bed in the room. A steaming mug levitated in front of her.
“Twilight? What are you doing here?” Berry asked in surprise. She pulled the sheets up higher around her, suddenly becoming embarrassed.
“Oh I came here to talk to you when I found you in the bathroom.” Twilight levitated another mug up to Berry. “You want some coffee? I hope you don’t mind that I used your kitchen.” Berry graciously accepted the cup and took a small sip. The hot coffee helped ease her headache and she sighed in relief.
“Thank you,” Berry nodded her head in agreement and took another sip. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Did you borrow a book from Lyra Heartstrings called Dusk: Solar Flare?”
“Yeah. It should be downstairs if you want it back.”
“It’s not there. I also hope you don’t mind that I looked around while I was making the coffee,” Twilight said sheepishly. Berry gave her stare that showed no emotion.
“It should be on the bookshelf to the right of the bar.” Berry placed her mug on the nightstand next to her bed and pushed the sheets off. She got up and motioned for Twilight to follow her downstairs.
I follow the barista to the bottom floor. She leads me to the bookcase by the bar. There are several books on it, but of course not the one I wanted.
“That’s weird,” Berry said as she placed a hoof under her chin, “I swore I left it right here so I could read it later.”
“You won’t find it here because I have back in the library. Someone returned it like this!” I show her the photo of the body. She makes it to the kitchen in time before she empties the contents of her stomach involuntarily. I hear running water before she returns to the bar. With a few wobbly steps, she goes behind the bar and pours herself a glass of water.
“What, what happened to it?” Berry asked in a shaky voice.
“Someone decided to put it out of circulation if ya’know what I mean,” Twilight replied. She placed the photograph on the bar in front of Berry. “You were the last person with the book. What happened?”
“I told you, “Berry answered and took a gulp from her glass of water. “I borrowed the book from Lyra a few days ago. I put it on the shelf and that was the last place I saw it. I swear I saw it yesterday too. I remember walking into the bar and seeing the book, reminding myself that I wanted to read it.”
Twilight levitated a small scroll and a quill from her saddle bag and began taking notes. “When was the last time you saw the book?”
“It was yesterday afternoon. I had just gotten back from shopping to restock the bar.” Twilight scribbled a few lines in her scroll.
“What happened last night?”
“It was a slow night. None of my regulars came by, probably because of the storm. I was about to close early for the night when a bunch of weather pegasi came in.”
“How do you know they were weather pegasi?”
“They told me they came in to celebrate another successful storm.” Berry took another sip of water. “One thing led to another and I started having a few shots with them. The next thing I remember was lying on the bathroom floor.”
“I need to know who was here last night,” Twilight said to the earth pony. She levitated another scroll from her saddle bag along with another quill. She set them both onto the bar in front of Berry. “Start making a list of everyone you can remember.” Berry sighed and picked up the quill with her mouth to begin writing.
Another dead end. There is no way she could have returned that book without leaving hoof prints behind. But there were pegasi here who could have.
Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library
09:00 AM
Talking with Berry Punch had given me more leads, and I need to narrow them down some more. I better check in with the Lab to see if they found anything yet. I head down to the basement where the lab tech was busy working on the victim.
“Spike, how are things going?” Twilights asked the little dragon. Spike was sitting at a wooden work bench with the book spread out in front of him. He had removed the binding and spread out all the pages to dry them evenly.
“The spine can be easily be fixed with a new binding, but some of these pages are completely ruined,” Spike replied as he pointed to a few sheets of paper on the table. “I did find this though.” The dragon picked up the rear cover of the book and held it up to the light at an angle. “There is a horseshoe print on the back cover.”
I take the cover from my Number One Assistant with my magic and bring it closer. He was right, a hoof indentation could be seen in the cover along with a horseshoe. I move it closer to the light and can barely make out some markings, a single wing stretched in a stylized swoosh.
“It’s a Mercury brand shoe.” Twilight set the cover down and picked up a ruler that was at the edge of the table. She laid it across the impression and noted the measurement. “It’s a size five. Too large for the average mare, so it probably came from a stallion.”
Things are starting to fall into place. Mercury brand horseshoes are more commonly worn by pegasus ponies. They are made with light weight materials, making them a favorite for ponies who needed to keep the weight to a minimum when flying. But due to their lighter construction, they cannot withstand constant walking on hard surfaces that a grounded pony would do. A non-pegasus wore Mercury’s to show off how rich they were. So rich that they didn’t need to walk on their own four hooves. There weren’t any ponies like that in Ponyville. A pegasus stallion shoeprint on the victim. A blue pegasus feather found in the crime scene. A bar full of pegasi with Berry Punch… I pull out the list that Berry had made and quickly scan through the names. There were several stallions, but only one with blue feathers.
“Blue Skies.” I’ve got you now, you book trashing son of a manitcore!