The head hung limply through the rough, rugged rope; the ponies body slumping through to the floor and scraping against the cold stones. His neck cracked and creaked as the weak air pushed his lifeless corpse to and fro. The remnants of his jaw slept on the floor, dyed a putrid red from the flowing pool of clotted blood that swept over the mangled leg hanging from his torso. The Cutie Mark shone in the darkness, barely recognizable of what it once was.
The killer stared at the body and snorted. It was done. It needed to be done or trouble could have befallen them. They shifted their hooves and made their exit from the scene of the crime, the crowd seeming to not notice them moving through the Ponyville square in their clothing. A note drifted from the wall to the floor underneath the body. Two eyes peered from the crates at the back and gulped. A hoof reached forward and took the small piece of notepaper. They turned their head checking left and right outside of the alleyway before running off through the crowds into the bright sunshine. None of the other ponies were any the wiser; it was all just a normal day in Equestria’s Ponyville.
The Police hadn’t given up searching yet. Each one worked day and night to find the rest of the gang members that could have had a hoof in all of these murders. So far they had not found any of them anywhere. The young orange pegasus refused to tell them anything of their whereabouts. She’d even gone as far to spit in the eye of Captain McFly when he’d questioned her last; not that anypony blamed her. Most of the Police ponies wished they could do that to the old stallion, and they would have if he had not been their boss.
Soft-shoe had been sent home a few days before to recuperate after his long ordeal. Siren felt somewhat sorry for him. He was a nice colt; a very nice colt in fact, it seemed a shame that this should happen to him especially as he had not been working as a Deputy for too long. He had spent many more years as an Admin on the front desk of the station. The story went that Longshot had noticed his determination and patience and had hoof-picked him out of all the trained officers to become his new partner. McFly would have never done that for her, Siren was sure.
Siren sighed and looked at the blurry words in front of her. She had been staring at these papers for so long and hadn’t slept for days. Still she didn’t want to give up while she was still ahead of the game. This could be her one and only chance to show off her skills by herself without her stupid boss showing her up. Thankfully he’d gone off to drink some more ‘grape juice’ at the local bar. Siren shook her head. Grape juice? Not unless he’d spiked his own drink with alcohol it wasn’t. He always reeked when he came back to the office after one of his many journeys down there.
She rubbed her eyes and yawned. She was so tired.
“Here, you need some of this.” The young mare looked up and saw Longshot stood over her with a steaming cup of coffee. She shook her head and he sat down on the desk, peering at her work and shaking his head.
“You shouldn’t work so hard Deputy. It’s dangerous for your health.” He snorted. “Then again, what do I care about health?” Siren stared at him, confused, and he chortled. “Little secret I learnt back in the days of the Griffon War.” He pulled out a large bottle of cider from a draw nearby and slowly poured a large swig into the drink he was holding.
“Here,” he said shoving the warm mug into the mare’s hooves, “drink up. It’s make you feel better.”
Siren turned to his face. He was very distinguished looking for a Ponyvillian—a most charming look you’d only expect from somepony who worked for the Canterlot police. A look that McFly did not have, and was intensely jealous of other stallions for having. She smiled at him and took a long swig of the drink. It wasn’t too long before the whole of the liquid had vanished inside of her veins. Ah that made her feel a lot better.
“Thank you,” she said politely giving him the cup back. His mouth didn’t smile back at her but she could feel intense warmth radiating from his heart. Now she could see why all of his workers supported and listened to him so well; you could trust that he would do whatever it took to bring criminals to justice. And most importantly, he accepted that it wasn’t all up to him; others had to play a part as well.
Her shoulders slumped as she began to shift through the papers again. Longshot moved away to his own desk in the corner, preparing a drink for himself on the way over. The clock ticked on the wall crossing one hour onto another, and then onto another. Time felt so slow—and yet too quick for them to solve all of the actions of this case. Siren’s stomach gurgled at her. Had she eaten recently? She couldn’t remember. Either way it was making her feel quite dizzy. Longshot noticed from far away and swiftly moved over.
“Deputy Siren.” He towered above her meaning she had to crane her neck upwards to see him again. “Can you please take this letter to the Postpony? It needs to be sent off urgently.”
“Yes sir, of course sir,” she said, glad of the opportunity to spread her legs in the open air. Longshot noticed her woozy expression and handed over the envelope.
“Then you can go home and get some rest. Even young-un’s need some sleep, y’know. I learnt that the hard way.”
Siren made to start a defence against this idea but the old stallion shook his head.
“Go sleep Deputy. You’ll need it.”
Siren couldn’t help feeling he was right. She tottered onto her hooves and walked outside into the Ponyville centre. Off she went to the Postpony and gave him the letter for the Postmare the next morning. Then onto the Bed and Breakfast she was staying at near the Library. It was tiring work all of this walking, she hadn’t noticed that until now. Even whistling seemed far too exhausting for her to try; her usual tactic of entertaining herself while she trotted anywhere.
A smell drifted through the air. A dank, horrible blocked-drains sort of smell. Wait, no, she recognized that smell. It was a smell that seemed to be drifting around a lot recently. Her head slowly turned to look into the alley next to her head. The body crumpled into pieces and bleeding onto the floor.
“Oh my—“her voice faded off and she felt herself falling to the floor. Ponyville became a blur and chattering birds chirped their happy tunes to the daisies. Just a perfectly ordinary day in Equestria.
Eleven.