My Little Investigations: The Silent Dirge

by Metool Bard

Truth from Shadows

Dammit, we dallied too long. By the time we got to the ground floor of the building, Beauty Brass was long gone. That was not good. She could be anywhere by now, and I do mean anywhere.

"Well, this is a fine kettle of fish," mused Frederick.

"That's putting it mildly," said Parish. "What should we do?"

"Perhaps we're best talking to a police officer," I said. "Surely somepony saw her run by. The way she was going, she's not exactly hard to..."

A loud, booming scream cut across my train of thought. It seemed to be coming from the park.

"Or, she could be in there. That works, too," said Frederick.

This is where I envy Frederick. He can keep a cool head in situations like this. I, however, can't. As such, I took off into the park without a second thought.

"Octavia, wait!" Parish called out. "It's too dangerous to go alone! We need to stick together!"

Maybe it's because I'm panicking right now, but I don't give a flying toss about any precautions. Beauty Brass is in danger. She's my friend. I need to help her. Nothing else matters. Ignoring Parish's warning (and anything else he and Frederick were saying), I charged ahead, going deeper into the park.

Okay, that was not smart. I've been running around this park for Celestia knows how long, screaming for Beauty Brass until my voice gave out. And now, I've gotten myself lost. Brilliant.

Ugh, I've been doing so much running around today (while carrying a cello on my back, mind you), I feel like I'm going to collapse. My drive to find Beauty Brass is keeping me in motion, but I really have no Celestia-damn idea where I'm headed. I haven't heard Beauty Brass call out in a while, and that has me nervous. What if she's...?

No. No, I can't think like that. She's going to be okay. I'm going to find her. Somehow. Hopefully. Maybe.

I continued walking down the paved road in the park with no firm direction in mind. I was so deep inside that I could barely hear the sounds of the city anymore. All I could hear was the rustling of the leaves; an owl hooting in the distance; the clip-clop of my hooves; my shallow breaths. I didn't even hear Frederick or Parish calling for me. I'm, alone.

As soon as that thought dawned on me, my eyes began to sting as they welled up with tears. I know I shouldn't cry. I have to be strong in these dark times. But, I-I simply can't take it anymore. This whole fiasco has been one heart-wrenching disaster after another, and I'm this close to cracking. I-I have to find my friends. They can help me.

"Beauty Brass?!" I called out hoarsely. "Frederick?! Parish?! Anypony?! Hello~?!"

No response. I tried again.

"If anypony can hear me, please respond!" I hollered. "Let me know you're there! Please, help me..."

I felt my strength begin to dwindle, both from exhaustion and despair. I-I don't know what to do. I don't know where I'm going, Frederick and Parish are probably on the other side of the park looking for me, and I have no idea what happened to Beauty Brass. If this nightmare doesn't end soon, I-I'm going to lose it.

And just when I was about to break down, a new, eerie feeling washed over me. Is it just me, or am I being, watched? And furthermore, is that a good thing or a bad thing? As I pondered this, I heard something breathing heavily behind me. That's a bad omen if I ever heard one. With a swallow, I turned around.

What I saw almost caused me to jump. Towering over me was a large stranger draped from head to hoof in a black cloak. The only distinguishing feature I could make out was a pair of glowing green eyes that stared at me. I opened my mouth to speak to it, but before I could even collect myself, the stranger raised its hoof and smacked me to the ground.

Confused and frightened, I tried to get back on my feet. However, the stranger quickly pressed its hooves against my neck and side, pinning me to the gravel walkway. I tried to struggle, but the stranger was too strong for me. My mind and heart raced in unison. What's going on? Why is this happening?

"L-look, if it's money you want, I-I'll *ack* give you all I have!" I rasped. "J-just please don't *cough* hurt me!"

The stranger said nothing. It simply reached into its cloak and pulled out a large tuning fork, just like the one Mare-Do-Well found. My eyes went wide. Th-that meant...

"Y-you're the mastermind behind the attacks."

The stranger nodded, raising the implement over my head and leering down at me. My heart pounded. Tears began to roll down my cheeks. H-he caught me. He caught me, and now he's going to kill me. My worst fears have been realized. I scrunched my eyes shut and braced myself.

However, the impact didn't come. Instead, I felt the killer's weight lift off of me and heard a heavy thud. When I opened my eyes, I gasped. The killer was laying on his back, his weapon was flung several feet away, and standing between him and me was none other than Mare-Do-Well.

"If you want her, you'll have to go through me," Mare-Do-Well proclaimed.

The killer snarled as he flipped over onto his stomach and got to his feet. In one swift motion, he turned and threw a punch at Mare-Do-Well. Mare-Do-Well ducked under the punch and countered with an uppercut. The killer reared back on his hind legs, and then brought his forelegs crashing down. Mare-Do-Well rolled out of the way, and the killer's heavy hooves slammed into the ground with a great thud that caused my heart to stop for a moment. The two continued to exchange blows, with neither side backing down. I couldn't help but stare at the fight, hoping beyond hope that Mare-Do-Well would defeat the villain.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash as one of the killer's punches sent Mare-Do-Well to the ground. As she made impact with the walkway, a glowing object flew from her body and landed a few feet away from her. The killer looked at the object, and then at Mare-Do-Well. Then, instead of pinning her to the ground, he stepped on the object. Mare-Do-Well grunted in pain and clutched her chest. I'm, not entirely sure how that works, but at this moment in time, that doesn't matter. Mare-Do-Well, the pony who dedicated herself to protecting us, was going to be vanquished. I-I couldn't let that happen.

"Hey, you!" I blurted out. "I'm the one you want!"

The killer looked up at me and released his hold on the object. Good, I've got him distracted. Now I can...

Wait a minute. What the buck am I doing?! Dear sweet Celestia, I really don't think things through when I'm panicking, do I?

But before the killer could charge at me, Mare-Do-Well grabbed one of his hind legs and tripped him (oh, thank goodness). When the killer tried to shake her off, she clutched the leg with both hooves and twisted it, causing him to howl in agony.

"You never know what a cornered beast might do," growled Mare-Do-Well, releasing the killer's leg. "If I may make a suggestion, run while you still can."

With an angry snort, the killer got to his feet and limped away. When his hoofsteps couldn't be heard anymore, Mare-Do-Well collapsed.

"Ms. Mare-Do-Well!" I exclaimed, running up to her. "Are you alright?"

"Nngh," Mare-Do-Well grunted, struggling to pick herself up. "I-I'll be okay."

I, found that hard to believe. "Do you need a doctor?"

"No! No," Mare-Do-Well snapped, catching me off-guard for a moment. "I just..."

She trailed off and collapsed again. I hate to say it, but that's just sad.

Then, I remembered the glowing object that somehow caused Mare-Do-Well pain when the killer stepped on it. I walked over to it and picked it up. It was a strange vial attached to a necklace, and whatever was inside it was creating a strong illumination that forced me to shield my eyes. Although it was difficult to tell, I managed to find a few cracks in the vial.

"Um, what's this?" I asked, showing the object to Mare-Do-Well.

"N-none of your concern. Give it here," said Mare-Do-Well, reaching out her hoof.

I shook my head. "No. I've had enough of being kept in the dark. I have been driving myself mad trying to solve this mystery..."

"And whose fault is that?" interrupted Mare-Do-Well.

"That's not the point!" I snapped, taking a moment to compose myself. "The point is that we both want the same thing. Ergo, we should help each other. And that means you should stop trying to do everything by yourself, because you clearly cannot. Trust me, if I tried to do this alone, I would've had a nervous breakdown long ago."

Mare-Do-Well obscured her eyes with her hat and sighed. "Ms. Melody, do you know what a ponunculus is?"

I blinked. "Um, no. Should I?"

"Not really. It's not a common term amongst those that don't use magic," said Mare-Do-Well. "A ponunculus is an artificial pony created by magic, and that's what I am. What you're holding right now is my core."

"I'm sorry, your what?" I asked, trying very hard to process this.

"In layman's terms, my heart," said Mare-Do-Well. "If that vial breaks, I die."

I know I should probably be surprised by this, but I've seen stranger things in Vinyl's rock operas (don't ask; you're really better off not knowing). In fact, I'm more shocked that I'm essentially holding somepony's life in my hooves.

"Oh. OH!" I exclaimed as the realization dawned on me. I quickly gave the vial back to Mare-Do-Well. "I do apologize."

"It's, fine," said Mare-Do-Well, observing the vial. "Hmm, it's not as bad as it could've been. I can probably hold off on repairing it for at least a day."

"Wait a tick," I said. "So, when I called out to the killer and distracted him from crushing your core, I saved your life."

"Yes, I suppose you, did..."

Mare-Do-Well trailed off and became silent for a time. After a pause, she let out a great sigh.

"Alright, Ms. Melody. You win," she said.

I tilted my head. "I what?"

"It appears that you were right. I can't do this alone," said Mare-Do-Well. "I didn't want you to get involved because I didn't think you could handle it. You obviously have proven me wrong."

"W-well, I'm not that great," I said sheepishly. "Truth be told, I came rather close to breaking down tonight."

"Regardless, I feel that I owe you," said Mare-Do-Well, fastening the necklace around her neck. "So, I'll help you out. Here."

She then reached into her cloak and pulled out a piece of paper.

"What is that?" I inquired.

"This, is what led me here," said Mare-Do-Well. "Open it up."

I did as she asked. On the page was a set of notes: G, D, C, B flat, A, F, G (for those who can't read music, that's Soh, Rei, Do, Ti-flat, La, Fa, Soh). I stared at the page blankly.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Sing the notes," said Mare-Do-Well.

I did so. Right before my eyes, the notes on the page swirled and spiraled around until they formed words. It read as follows:

Only one person could've written this note and encrypt it using music. There's no doubt in my mind now; Pan knew about all of this ahead of time.

"How did you come across this?" I asked.

"Pure chance," said Mare-Do-Well with a shrug. "I can only speculate, but I believe Pan sent this note with his music, intending to find somepony who could help. As it just so happened, the music chose me. It's as they say, I suppose: Magic is as magic does."

"I suppose," I said. "Well, it looks like Pan has a lot of explaining to do."

"It seems so," said Mare-Do-Well. "And I do believe our encounter with our quarry has led to some, interesting clues."

"Like what?"

"His fighting style is odd," said Mare-Do-Well. "Normally, an equine's strength is in their hind legs. However, our quarry never used his hind legs to attack me."

"So, what does that mean?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Mare-Do-Well. "But unlike before, I'll let you know when I figure it out."

I smiled. "Thank you," I said with a bow.

"No, Ms. Melody," said Mare-Do-Well. "Thank you for the lesson in humility."

"OCTY~!"

Before I could respond to that, I heard Beauty Brass calling out to me. I turned around, and sure enough, there she was, with Frederick and Parish not far behind.

"We heard some sort of commotion," said Frederick. "Are you alright, Octavia?"

"I'm fine. Nothing broken," I said. "Thanks to..."

I turned back to where Mare-Do-Well was standing, only to find that she had once again disappeared. Is this a thing with her? Does she do that to everypony she talks to? I can imagine that getting quite irritating after a while.

"Thanks to what?" asked Parish.

"It, doesn't matter," I said with a sigh. I then looked at Beauty Brass. "What about you? Are you alright?"

Beauty Brass sniffled and shook her head. "N-no. I'm scared, Octy," she whimpered. "I-I talked to Pitch Perfect, and she told me everything. We all got death threats, Octy. Someone's trying to kill us for doing what we love."

I walked up to Beauty Brass and nuzzled against her cheek. "No wonder you were so frightened," I cooed.

"Octy, we're next," Beauty Brass murmured. "Th-the killer is going to attack us next. I-I don't wanna die."

Fear gripped my heart as she said that. She's right. My ensemble is next on the itinerary. We're supposed to perform tomorrow. I sat down and wrapped my forelegs around her.

"I know, Beauty Brass," I said softly, tears streaming down my face. "I'm scared, too. But we can't give in to this madman."

"What's this all about, Octavia?" asked Frederick. "You knew this all along?"

"Yes. And I'm sorry for not telling you," I said. "I just, didn't want Beauty Brass to panic."

"Well, so much for that," said Frederick. "But, what now?"

I sighed. "It's a long story, and I really don't have the energy. I promise, I'll tell you everything over breakfast tomorrow. But rest assured, we're not bowing out."

Frederick smirked. "I wasn't going to suggest that," he said. "Come, let's get back to the hotel. It's been a long night, and we have a big day tomorrow."

That was so true, in more ways than one. I'm not sure if Frederick was taking a jab at me or not, but then again, it's Frederick. It's never easy to tell with him.

"Right, sure," I said, releasing Beauty Brass. "Do you need any help, Beauty Brass?"

"No, I'm fine," said Beauty Brass, giving me a sad smile. "I'm sorry for making you guys worry. I just, got scared."

"The same goes for me," I said, looking over at Frederick and Parish. "I should've listened to you two. I wasn't thinking."

"Nopony blames you for that, Octavia," said Parish. "Now, I think we've dallied here long enough."

"Indeed," I said. And with that, we all went back to the hotel. It's, strange. Part of me feels very, very scared right now. The killer knows what I've been doing. He's poised to attack me and my ensemble tomorrow. If it's anything like what happened to Pitch Perfect, it's probably going to be quite nasty. I should be petrified right now, but I'm not.

I'm afraid of losing my life and my friends, yes. But I can't let that stop me. It's because of that fear of looming disaster that I'll do everything in my power to avert it. I might not have saved Fiddlesticks and her band, but I'll be damned if this monster lays one hoof on my ensemble. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: These are not just my fellow performers. They're my friends, who have my back through thick and thin. And I have theirs. That means that tomorrow, no matter what it takes, I'm solving this mystery.