//------------------------------// // Pictures // Story: The Collector // by The dead Pixel Brony //------------------------------//         Entering Ponyville Hospital, Lawful made his way towards the reception desk. “Welcome, how can I help you today?” A mare with a white coat and a red mane asked from behind the desk. “I need to talk to the doctor in charge of the fillies brought in this morning,” Lawful flashed his badge. “Right away, officer.”         Humming in a nonchalant way, the mare turned and opened a white folder behind her. Lawful yawned as the mare flipped through the folder. Pulling out a pocket watch from his saddle bags, Lawful clicked it open. Looking down at it, he saw that it was a little past noon. With a sigh, he floated it back into his bag. “Here we are,” The mare called out, pulling a piece of paper out of the folder, “Second floor, room two thirty-seven. Doctor Tender Heart is looking over them.” “Thank you,” Lawful said as the mare turned to face him.         Turning away from the desk, Lawful began trotting towards a door on the far left of the reception area. A sign above the door read ‘Stairs’. Taking the stairs up to the next floor, Lawful exited the stairwell. More signs on the wall guided him towards the correct room. After a small walk, he arrived at the door marked two thirty-seven. The door was slightly ajar. A distraught voice greeted his ears as he got near. “-I heard her scream, then ran straight to her room,” A male voice talked somberly, as a mare cried in the background, “As I ran, I could h-hear more screaming. It took me so damn long to get there… When I finally got to her door, a few servants were were trying to buck the door down. I never should have got her that damn dead bolt! I-If I hadn’t, then maybe we would have gotten to her quicker!” “Calm down, Mr. rich,” A third voice said gently, “Your daughters safe, thats the important thing.”         Knocking gently with his fetlock, Lawful entered the room slowly. A disheveled light brown stallion sat at the end of a hospital bed on his haunches, slightly glaring at him. with her head and front hooves on the bed, a dark purple mare with a pink and white mane cried. On the bed sat Diamond Tiara, covered with bandages and hooked up to a number of machines. By the wall to his right, sat a light blue pegasus mare. In one hoof she held a notepad, in the other she held a pen. With a nod towards the pegasus mare, he closed the door and walked over by her. “Mr. Rich, Mrs Rich, this is my partner Detective Lawful,” the pegasus mare said with a nod towards him, as he turned and sat sat next to her. “Sorry for walking in like I did,” Lawful said with apologetically, “I know its a hard time for you.” “Its… Its alright,” Mr rich said with a sigh, losing the glare he held Lawful with, “Lets continue, shall we?” With a nod from the pegasus, Mr. Rich continued. “The, um… screams continued, as I joined in to get the door down. When it finally broke open, I rushed in, a-and… she was laying in a puddle of blood, and I saw some… thing jump out the window.” “Some ‘thing’?” The pegasus mare asked, “Could you elaborate, please?” “It was… big. Bigger than any creature I’ve ever seen. I didn’t get a good look at it. It was too fast. My main concern was my daughter, at the moment. One of the servants who was a pegasus jumped out of the window after it. He wasn’t able to find it.” “Was there anything else you remember? Anything out of the ordinary?” The mare asked. “Not that I can think of,” Mr. rich responded, looking at the floor, “I wish there was, but…” “I understand,” the mare said, putting her note pad and pencil in her saddlebags, “If you think of anything else, you already have my card. Even if you just want to talk about it, don’t hesitate to contact me.”         With a nod towards Lawful, the mare got up and walked towards the door. “We’ll do our best to get the monster who did this,” Lawful said, standing up as well.         With a nod, Mr. Rich shuffled towards the mare crying next to bed. The pegasus mare opened the door, and the pair left the room. Closing the door, they made their way towards the stairs. The pair sat down at their conjoined desks, a brown bag in their respective holds. “You have the doctors report for both of them, right?” Lawful asked. “Yep, right here,” Wingston replied, opening her bag with a wing and pulling out a file folder. “Alright, you look at these yourself?” Lawful asked, grabbing the folder with his magic. “Wish I didn’t have to, but I did,” Wingston said, pulling a sandwich out of the bag, “Who ever did that, has to be one screwed up individual.” “I wouldn’t disagree,” Lawful muttered, opening the top folder first. It was Diamond Tiara’s.         The first thing that caught his eye, were the pictures. The pictures showed all aspects of the fillies body. The first showed the filly on her back, legs spread to her sides. An oblong section of fur and skin had been systematically cut of. It spanned almost entirely across her back and went down her legs. The removed portion of flesh was large enough to include all of her cutie mark. Grimacing, he moved onto the next photo. It showed the filly on her side, her legs lifted up to show her underside. Again, what appeared to be a single cut of flesh was removed. Lawful’s eyes squinted in recognition. Opening silver Spoon’s file, Lawful looked at the pictures here as well. “No…” Lawful muttered, dropping the folder on his desk and falling to his haunches. “What is it?” Wingston asked worriedly.” “The cuts… the removed skin… Its…” “Its what?” “Doll patterns.”