//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Snow-Covered Cases // by Dashkie //------------------------------// After the first murder of these cases of which I recorded, I was always curious about one thing that I knew bugged Rainbow Dash like nuts; why Ms. Cherilee? Was it a message to students that education is not important? Or maybe the killer just didn’t like Ms. Cherilee. I had a feeling that it had to be something complicated because usually things like this weren’t so easy. Even after the first case people still wanted to enjoy their holiday spirit, even I did. And so in this case, we all continued on through Christmas. After the first case, the bakery was being used as evidence and Rainbow Dash was the lead detective so she rarely had time to enjoy the seasons. To be nice to Pinkie Pie, I allow her to bake and sell in my house until the bakery is ready for her again. The students went onto an early winter break so the mayor could find a new school teacher. I know Princess Celestia has been going nuts, wondering who in the world was so horrid? Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and find out, but I know when you find out that you will be surprised with shock and disgust, because I was. “Yeeee-haaa!” Exclaimed Apple Jack as she rode through the apple orchids on their new horse. The horse was of a chestnut color with a soft, young mane. Apple Jack was wearing her flannel top with a translucent white undershirt, and not a bra was to be found. She wore blue jeans and brown cowboy boots that banged against the horse, giving it more power. The cowgirl stopped the horse in front of the barn and hopped off, brushing some sandy blonde hair out of her mandarin colored eyes. She remembered that Twilight wanted to talk to her about something that had happened yesterday. Or at least she thought it was Twilight, it was her voice but it didn’t really sound like she was talking. “She’s probably still all shooken up about the case, poor shug.” She waved off Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom. In town, everyone was trying to work hard on the set-up of the tree to keep their minds off of the murder from yesterday. Rarity was setting up bows on the branches and I was putting up ornaments. It felt like word vomit, to have to talk about the death of Ms. Cherilee, but I had to, to get it out of my system. “Hey Rarity, when do you think people will have in the time to work on the funeral?” Rarity’s face turned into a scowl. Today she was wearing a blue sapphire covered Santa suit with royal blue silk instead of red. “I’d rather not talk of such grotesqueness.” The miss claimed plainly. I nodded in understanding. Soon enough we saw Apple Jack running down the street, her hair bouncing with each step in its loose ponytail. “Twilight!” She ran up to Rarity and I, seeming exhausted from getting into town from Sweet Apple Acres so quick. “I heard from Big Macintosh that you wanted to talk to me about the case?” I was surprised, I hadn’t even seen Big Macintosh in a while, and all of the apples were at the acres. “I haven’t even seen Big Macintosh; no one has as long as we’ve seen you. Although it is nice to see you.” I thought it was just a misunderstanding of Big Mac’s non-talkative voice. Apple Jack stood there confused. “Hmm…Big Macintosh…oh well, the ol’ guy is probably loosin’ his marbles. How’s the tree comin’?” Rarity grinned nicely and put another bow on the tree. “Oh it’s going just lovely, I think. These bows I made for the tree are looking so wonderful.” I smiled as I looked for another ornament. Apple Jack looked at the tree. “Wow, how fancy. Well I’m gonna go back to my work.” Just as she was turning, she ran right into Fluttershy, who seemed completely dazed, like she was thinking about something. Since the meeting, everyone forgot about the accusations, except for Rainbow Dash. No one was accusing anyone of abnormal behavior, even though we should’ve been on our toes all the time. “O-oh, sorry Apple Jack…I just came here to talk to um…Twilight…” she said quietly in her shy, sweet voice. Apple Jack clamped onto Fluttershy’s shoulder, shocking the girl. “Oh don’t worry honey, no damage done.” And she let go, hurrying back off to the acres. I stepped forward to hear what Fluttershy had to say. Fluttershy blushed a bit; having eyes on her made her feel uneasy. “Um….I-I just wanted to um…tell you I think I know who the next victim will be…” Rarity turned over from the tree and we both wanted to hear what she had to say. “I think that the serial killer might go after…Sweetie Belle.” Rarity gasped. “Oh my, no! Not my little sister! I must go to protect her!” As she said this, she hurried off to her boutique, her boots clicking away with each step. I decided to go help Rarity. “I’ll help her. Thanks Fluttershy, you saved her life!” As I ran off to join with Rarity. Apple Bloom came running into town a few hours later, her red hair bouncing with its waving tendrils. She wore a yellow sundress a matching scarf. She stopped in the middle of the town. “TWILIGHT! RAINBOW DASH! ANYONE!” I and Rarity ran out of the boutique, Sweetie Belle following wearing a mini-version of Rarity’s Santa suit. “Apple Bloom, what’s wrong dear?” Asked Rarity, a little scared of what might’ve happened. Apple Bloom stuttered, her words were inaudible. Finally she found the words to speak. “Apple Jack was the next victim! She’s dead! I-I don’t know what to do!!” We all looked at her with utter shock. Fluttershy said that Sweetie Belle was the next victim…was she lying? Or just was wrong…oh well, we left it to Rainbow Dash to find out. We all ran as fast as we could to Sweet Apple Acres to find that the whole town was already there, including Rainbow Dash. Apple Bloom directed us to the barn, assuming that’s where the crime scene was. Inside was Apple Jack pinned to the wall exactly how Ms. Cherilee was except there were a few slight differences; in the first crime scene there were 36 ornaments and decorations pinned into Ms. Cherilee, but on Apple Jack there were only 30. Already there was a pattern, so we went over to Rainbow Dash to see how far she had gotten. The rainbow haired detective looked over, wearing black sunglasses. “There’s a pattern in these murders. If my theory is correct, there will not only be one more killing but four more. You see,” She walked over to Apple Jack’s body. Apple Bloom couldn’t stand to see the sight of her sister’s corpse so she ran out of the barn, most likely to get into Big Mac’s comfort. Rainbow Dash started pointing out the decorations. “Ms. Cherilee’s body had 36 all together, Apple Jack has 30. Every murder will have 6 less decorations, the last murder having only 6 decorations. A possible fifth murder could be put in the equations without any decorations. I think what the killer is trying to portray is a hate or fear of Christmas, a bad connection with it, considering all of the corpses are decorated like Christmas trees.” We were surprised at this deduction. Rarity made a sickened face and turned away. “Well, these are the most revolting Christmas trees I’ve ever seen.” Rarity turned around and headed back out, knowing Sweetie Belle was waiting for her outside of the barn in tears. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a little sister to comfort.” As she walked out, Rarity almost sounded angry with these serial killings. Of course who wouldn’t be angry that someone was killing the people she cared about. Rainbow Dash slammed her fist against the wall of the barn, angry. “Why can’t I help this…why?!” The only way to help her would be to comfort her, so I tried to help her by giving her a hug. “It’s not easy, but I have complete faith that you’ll stop the murders reaching to number 6. We all do.” I smiled warmly as we both walked out of the barn, finding Rarity and Sweetie Belle hugging. Rainbow cracked her knuckles. “Alright, it looks like we need to get everyone back together. This time the accusations will get more strict.” Fluttershy came out of the barn looking very pale like she was going to be sick. After an hour of opening the second case, Rainbow Dash growled at everyone. “I’m extremely disappointed. Disappointed in the fact that I allowed a second killing to happen! No accusations have been made, and I’m getting to the point where there need to be suspects for the case to continue. Now we have lost Apple Jack, a dear friend to all of us, and it just disgusts me that everyone seems like they don’t care! Christmas this, Christmas that, people are dying here!” Fluttershy looked down, feeling upset that someone was yelling so loudly, considering her shy personality. “Um…can you calm down…please…I mean, if you want…” The athletic detective glared at her. “You would want me to calm down Fluttershy, wouldn’t you?! Maybe you’re afraid of one of us accusing you…maybe you’re afraid of getting caught!” Fluttershy sniffled and sobbed quietly to not disturb anyone else. Rarity got up to go comfort Fluttershy. “Rainbow Dash, you’re just being down right mean rather than using evidence to find suspects. Now you’re hurting a friend of yours. Perhaps we should appoint someone else to take care of this case rather than a brute.” Rainbow Dash scoffed and glared at Rarity. “Oh yeah, sure, so you can protect Fluttershy…or maybe yourself!” “Rainbow Dash, stop making wild accusations. If we look at all the evidence correctly, we can make liable people suspects and start questioning. We’re losing valuable time that we need to keep.” Pinkie Pie had agreed with me. “Yeah! What she said!” The detective sighed and sat down in her chair at the head of the table. Looking over the evidence laid out in front of her, she seemed like she was ready to list a few suspects. “I have five suspects I want to point out and to begin questioning immediately. My list of suspects is not in any order whatsoever. Twilight, you never liked Ms. Cherilee and are booksmart, you would know how to cover up a murder. Pinkie Pie, the autopsy confirmed Ms. Cherilee was not drugged and you were at the bakery the whole time. Rarity, you’re particular about ornaments and decorations and you could’ve framed Pinkie Pie since she was taking all of the business. The mayor, who doesn’t like too many people in PonyVille could be trying to shrink the population. The fifth suspect is put into the equation to assume that the killer could not be a resident of PonyVille. Those who are on my list of suspects excluding the non-resident will be questioned by me starting tomorrow. I suggest you guys get good lawyers because I’m not gonna play nice anymore.”