"Pinkie Pie." Trixie growled. "You're supposed to get at least eight hours of sleep per night."
Pinkie yawned again. "I thought I did... I went to bed at ten, and got up at seven. I slept like a log, too."
"Logs don't sleep."
"You know what I mean." Pinkie replied, taking a photo of the mare below. Like Junebug, her chest had been torn apart and the blood forming a rune. "What's this one say?"
"It says 'Consume', I believe." Trixie rubbed her chin. "So that's 'Open gates corrupt destroy consume' thus far."
"Ominous."
The tent opened, Rarity stepping in. "What have we got?"
Trixie rubbed her temple. "Rune Shredder. Another unknown ID."
Rarity sighed. "Anything? Anything at all?"
Pinkie shook her head. "I've found hoofprints and hairs, but they're all mine."
"Pinkie, go home and rest." Rarity announced. "We need you at peak efficiency."
"Okie dokie lokie..." Pinkie yawned, trotting. "If you need me I'll be in bed."
After half a second Applejack walked in. "Ah don't think Ah've ever seen Pinkie trot."
Rarity smiled, then turned back to the body with a serious look. "I don't think I recognise her."
"She's a new pony in town." Applejack replied. "Literally one day here." She readjusted her hat. "ID calls her Silver Jewel. Worked as a silversmith back in Canterlot. Family's been contacted."
"Any witnesses?"
"Nope." Trixie closed the large book on the fold-up desk. "This one's a complete blank."
"Well, that's annoying." Rarity replied.
"This Rune Shredder's giving me too much work. I can't wait to find this thing and crush its little skull in." Trixie growled, mimicking the skull-crushing action.
"'It'?" Rarity asked.
"We've recently discovered that the other two mass murderers of Ponyville are an insane cousin of mine, and a frickin' shapeshifting bug. Fifty bits that Rune Shredder isn't even a pony."
"Ah reckon he is, so ya bet's on." Applejack stuck her hoof out.
"Deal." Trixie pressed her hoof against hers and shook.
Rarity giggled. "Well, as much as I'd love to join, we've some work to do."
"Damnit, Pinkie..." Pinkie looked into the bathroom mirror. "What's wrong with me?"
Her reflection made no reply.
"On the one day you're supposed to be at your peak, you go all tiredy-like and screw it up."
She examined her bloodshot eyes.
"You keep stepping on the ground around the victim, you drop hairs everywhere... What's going on, Pinkamena?"
Pinkie saw something flickered behind her. A black, shapeless cloud appeared for a second before escaping her vision. She snapped her head back and saw nothing.
After a moment she shook her head. "Don't be such a silly pony, Pinkie. You're just seeing things from lack of sleep."
She ambled from the bathroom directly to her bed. With a very well-executed leap she bounced onto it, flicking on a television after a moment. There was nothing on.
"Hopefully I'll get some sleep next time..."
"Just curious, Applejack, who was in Silver Jewel's family?" Rarity asked, biting into a sandwich.
"The usual. Husband, two foals." Applejack bit into her apple.
"Oh dear." Rarity mumbled. "I sure hope they're going to do ok..."
"It'll take a while, but they'll be fine. Ah know Ah am."
Rarity paused her eating. "I'm sorry?"
Applejack replied with a blink. "Y'all don't know?"
"Know... What?"
"Mah... Mah da's passed away."
Rarity's mouth opened. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Eh, it was way back when Ah was 'bout Applebloom's age. Though Ah can't say it was exactly a... peaceful passing."
"Whatever makes you say that?"
"From what Ah found out, he was stabbed in the neck with some sort of sword, in a struggle."
"Was he armed?"
"Ah think so. The family sword was missin' after we found him that mornin'."
"You have a family sword?"
"Yep." Applejack pulled out a slip of paper. "Here's a sketch of it."
Rarity picked up the paper. "This looks... vaguely familiar. If I find it I'll let you know."
"Thanks Rare." Applejack patted her shoulder.
"Uh, Rarity?" Rainbow asked, a cup of warm chocolate drink on her wing. "What are you doing?"
"Going through the victims of Rune Shredder." She shuffled a bunch of papers. "Going through ages, genders and so forth."
"Anything?"
"Not as yet."
Rainbow placed her cup down and took a seat next to her. "Here, let me look."
Rarity passed a piece of paper. "Well, to be honest I just started looking."
Rainbow blinked. "What? There are, like, four pages!"
"I just got here. Is that not too hard to understand?"
"Right then." Rainbow grabbed a few more pages. "Alright, this one here's a mare, aged nineteen, single."
"This one is also a mare, twenty, single."
"Wow. This one's a mare, nearing her 21st at her Time of Death. Had a boyfriend, but was still a virgin."
"And our second-most recent is Junebug. Mare, twenty, had a husband. Children were actually adopted, and she's still a virgin."
"Weird. What's Silver Jewel like?"
Rarity pulled over a new sheet of paper. "Mare. Thirty. Had a husband and two children."
"Wait." Rainbow paused her. "Hokey said that Rune Shredder only blasts young mares. Like, nineteen-to-twenty-one young."
"So Silver Jewel doesn't fit that category. He may be lying, though."
"Well, look at the rest. They're all virgins except Silver."
"How... Occult."
"So, thinking about it, Rune Shredder can only create proper runes through a specific type of pony. Namely, young mares who haven't had sex yet."
"How many mares are like that in Ponyville?"
"Well, I just turned twenty-two, so I'm out. Out of our staff, Lyra Heartstrings is turning twenty-two in a few months. And there's only one other girl I know, the dentist..."
"Romana Minuette."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Berry!" Colgate called out, waving to the slightly drunk pony.
She turned sharply and started trotting pleasantly along, looking at the moon.
"Ah, what a lovely night."
"It sure is."
Colgate snapped her head to the pony that was suddenly next to her. The pony looked incredibly tired, with a long, straight mane and a black hoodie, hood up. "Ah, hello there."
"Hello." The pony replied, not even looking at her. "Romana Minuette, I assume?"
"That'd be me. I don't know you, though."
The two ponies started walking alongside each other. "My name is Caster. I'm studying magical theory."
Colgate noticed the lack of horn on the pony. "An interesting subject, considering."
"Yes. I've always been fascinated by magika, despite not being able to directly use it." She replied in a... strangely familiar voice. "But my main area of passion is runes."
Colgate noticed Caster's right foreleg starting to glow. "Uh... Is that normal?"
Caster held up her hoof and examined it, breaking out into a toothy grin. Her teeth were pointed and her eyes became pinpricks. "Oh, not at all."
Without any time to react Caster slammed her hoof into Colgate's stomach. The dentist felt a searing pain and her own body being torn open, and she limply fell to the ground without a word. Peering down as her vision started fading, she could see that she was bleeding profusely, the blood falling in such a way that it formed a rune. As her world turned to black, she caught a glimpse of the blood-soaked pony above her, grinning madly and chuckling.
"I appreciate your assistance, Colgate."
"Fuck!" Rarity swore loudly as soon as her eyes fell on the dead pony.
"Woah, where did that come from?" Trixie murmured to Applejack.
"Ah have no idea."
Rarity yelled and kicked something, before slowing her breathing. "Get a hold of yourself, Rarity..."
"Rare, you alright?"
"I-I'll be fine. It's just that Miss Minuette was one of the two ponies that fit RS's victim lists."
Applejack looked at the dead mare. "This one's a little different, though."
"How so?"
"She looks like she passed out before she carked it. She doesn't have the shocked expression the others had."
Rarity looked at Colgate's face. Indeed, her eyes were closed and she was missing the shock that was etched on the others' faces. "Strange. I wonder why?"
"Iunno, this whole thing seems a might suspicious..."
"To top it off," Trixie added. "The rune created in this one is the same as the one used on Silver Jewel. 'Consume'."
"This is gettin' a little weird for me."
"Likewise. Any traces of magic?"
"As usual, no." Trixie stretched her neck. "But I made a... startling discovery."
"Oh?"
"I found some hairs this time. They're going to Forensics in a while, and it'll be another five or so weeks before they're analysed."
Rarity nodded. "I guess we're lucky this time. Keep checking for any evidence while we deal with Miss Minuette's family and such."
"Will do."
Pinkie opened her eyes slowly. "Another bad sleep?"
She sat up, stretched, and made her way to the shower room. She stood in front of the mirror, and her eyes widened.
"What the...?"