//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Murder at Sugarcube Corner // by LeenaWrites //------------------------------// Chapter One Pumpkin Cake was having a bad day. Actually, the term "bad day" was a bit of an understatement. Her parents and twin brother were suspects in a murder case and could lose their lives if nopony could find the killer. To add to that, the whole town thought she was a psychopath and it looked as if the police were going to close the case due to complications. "Complications? Heh... what a load of horse apples," she muttered bitterly. She knew "complications" was just a fancy way of saying they didn't care about the case. They were happy as long as they could pin it on some poor innocent ponies. Namely, her family. And frankly, she wasn't about to let them do that. Why else would she traveling to the crime scene? She had to do something and her best bet was to talk to the pony in charge of the case. Maybe she could convince him to keep it open. Tucking a strand of orange hair behind her ear, she gnawed at her lower lip. What would she do? What would she say? Hell, what if they didn't even let her speak? She shivered as a gust of chilly morning air swept across her small, slender form. Shaking off the chill, she continued forward. She would not turn back. The clopping of her hooves on the sidewalk echoed through the empty streets. No doubt everypony had seen her coming and hidden themselves. Out of the corner of her eye, Pumpkin saw the flash of shades being drawn. Once or twice, she saw pairs of eyes peeking out at her from between closed curtains. As Sugarcube Corner grew closer, Pumpkin swallowed hard. Her home, the place she had trusted and loved, was surrounded by harsh yellow tape. Ponies in blue police uniforms surrounded the place, scribbling information down on clipboards and guarding the crime scene. Two unicorns in white where levitating a stretcher toward the waiting ambulance. When they passed in front of her, Pumpkin stomach lurched as a bloody blue limb fell out of the stretcher. Trixie's leg. Pumpkin swooned, feeling lightheaded as an officer quickly scooped up the useless appendage and gave it to the ponies in white. Pumpkin, frozen with disbelief, watched the rest of Trixie's remains disappeared into the ambulance. As the doors swung shut with a creak and a harsh bang, she winced. She had known Trixie. Pumpkin had always gone and seen her shows when she came to town. In fact, she had once talked to her. She had been about 9 years old, on a field trip to Canterlot. They'd met and spoken briefly at Doughnut Joe's shop. The blue unicorn had ordered a jelly filled doughnut and mostly just talked about herself. But, Pumpkin had listened to every word. She'd liked Trixie, despite her boastful tendencies. And now, she was... "Hey! Move along, lady. This is a crime scene, in case you haven't noticed." Pumpkin tore her gaze from the ambulance to find a stern yellow earth pony frowning at her. -------------------------------------- Inquiring Eye had never felt so insulted in his life. The force's efforts to keep him in the dark were just plain sad. It was if they thought he was a moron just because he was new. However, he knew the moment he was assigned this case that the whole investigation was half ass, fake and only being conducted to avoid problems with the higher ups in Canterlot. Why the hell this case so blatantly staged? Well, drawing from the simple body language of the ponies on the force and the way they spoke to him, he could rule out corruption within police ranks. These cops seemed honest enough, so why all the hush hush bullshit? He deduced that there was somepony bigger and more intelligent using the police force. Obviously somepony highly intimidating... perhaps a gang leader was involved? "Hey, newbie! You paying any attention?" barked the head of the forensics unit, swiftly breaking the dark green stallion's consentration. The white unicorn was obviously miffed at Inquiring Eye's apparent lack of interest in the case. His golden eyes regarded the younger stallion with an annoyed and disdainful air, as if he was a pile of dirty socks he had to deal with. It was really bucking irritating. Well, two can play at that game, asshole. Inquiring Eye thought in a rather devious manner. Yawning, Inky reclined in his seat lazily. He looked up at the pony with a smirk and answered, "Oh, I'm listening. Please, continue," in the most sarcastic way he could muster. Inky grinned, satisfied, as a disgusted and affronted expressions chased each other across the other pony's face. Then, as quickly as it had come, his moment of triumph was over as another member of the force entered the front door. Or rather, he was shoved through the door with a black eye. The poor yellow stallion was flushing in shame as he looked up at Inky and muttered, "Hey, Ginger? There's a young m-mare here to see you..." Inquiring Eye blinked, his eyes traveling from the thouroghly embarrassed stallion to the bruise on his left eye and up to the door, in which stood the mare in question. A rather pretty little thing with large blue eyes, a pale yellow coat and an orange mane and tail. A pumpkin cutie mark graced her rump and a small blue ribbon was tied in a knot towards the bottom of her mane, the ends hanging freely, brushing against her neck. Her demenor was angry, her eyes where boring holes into the back of the yellow policepony's head. Obviously, the moron had said something tacky and rude, so she hit him. Simple as that. But still... it took a mixture of desperation, stress and guts to hit a cop. This kind of mare, he could use to his advantage. He needed info and she could be his ticket. Time to turn on the charm. "Why, hello there," he said, speaking smoothly while moving a few steps forward and flashing her his most sauve smile. "Is there anything I can do to help you, Ma'am?" She stood her ground, her eyes meeting his directly as she answered. "Yes. I heard you were in charge of this case and that you plan on cutting it short. Is that true, sir?" She said 'sir' as if it were an insult, speaking the word forcefully and almost mockingly. Inky took another step forward, placing himself only 2 feet away from her. He then straightened his black fadora, sweeping a stray clump of ginger hair out of his eyes as his hoof traveled back down to touch the floor. He then asked, sweetly, "And why would a pretty mare like you be worried about a case like this?" She blushed slightly and bit her lip, but held herself steadily, keeping her head held high and her stance solid. Impressive. "This case could put three innocent ponies on death row. Is it wrong I'm worried about the well being of three upstanding Ponyville citizens?" "Easy, tiger. I never said anything about this case closing early." "Well, is it closing early?" Inky smiled and turned away, flipping a notebook and pen off of the nearby table with his wing and catching them both neatly. He then opened the small, blue book and began flipping through it as if looking through notes. He quickly wrote a message on one of the papers and moved on, flipping through a few more pages before snapping it shut. "According to this, the case is nearly closed. There is very little evidance and what evidance there is seems to point to the Cakes." The reaction was instantanious. The mare looked as if she had been slapped. Her pupils contracted slightly as her eyes widened, her ears flattened to the sides. Her legs began to tremble slightly, her demenor shifted from determined to slightly afraid in mere seconds. So, this case was important to her on a personal level... how interesting. "Hey, Ginger! We need you at the crime scene, so move your sorry flank in here!" yelled the forensics pony, right on cue. Inky smiled and simply said, "Duty calls. G'day, Ma'am." and moved toward the next room, placing the notebook on the table as he left. But, with a flick of his tail, he quickly knocked it off the table and let it fall to the floor. Pretending he hadn't noticed, he continued through the door and into the next room. He grinned. There. I'm pretty sure that should peak her interest. -------------------------------------- Pumpkin sat down on a bench at the park, hovering the stolen notebook in front of her. This was her chance to find wrongful information and help prove her family's innocence. After all, if the head investigator owned this book, there had to be something of use within its pages. She felt bad about stealing the book, naturally, but she would return it. Maybe. She opened the book, expecting to find plans, photos and notes. But instead, she found it was blank. It. was. bucking. BLANK. "Empty?! Are you bucking kidding me?!" she yelled, slamming her hoof down on the bench in frustration. No, that couldn't be all! She rifled through page after page at a feverish pace, sweat beading her forehead and her frustration mounting with each empty page she turned. NothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingWAIT! She froze, a small balloon inflating in her chest at the sight of it. Writing. She saw the edge of a page with actual writing on it. Was there something there? Something useful? She felt a smile cross her face. Slowly, she opened the page fully and read its contents, her eyes drinking in each sloppily written word. Hey, tiger. You want information? So do I. Meet me outside the crime scene at 10:00 tonight. Signed, Inquiring Eye