//------------------------------// // Medium Rarity // Story: JAWS & FINS // by Octavia_Melody //------------------------------// “Excuse me, darling...” announced an unfamiliar yet sophisticated voice, “I hate to interrupt, but I’m looking for the chief of police.” “You’re looking at her.” Twilight said without looking in the direction of the voice. A white unicorn with a perfectly permed purple mane and a brown satchel on her back offered her front hoof to Twilight. The lavender unicorn shook it nonchalantly. “Hello darling, I’m Rarity.” the white unicorn announced, “I’m with the Manehattan Oceanographic Research and Ontological Nature Society.” “Chief Sparkle.” Twilight muttered in response. “You’re with the MORONS?” Mayor Mare commented with a snicker. “That’s MORAONS.” Rarity corrected, “If you know anything about Equestrian history, then you’ll know that the Moraons, or Moranese, were a group of ancient indigenous sea ponies.” “And if you knew anything about acronyms,” the mayor argued, “you would know that as a conjunction ‘and’ is formally omitted from abbreviation. So that makes you a MORON.” “Why, I never!” Rarity scoffed, flicking her head so that her mane brushed Mayor Mare in the face. “Ladies, please!” Twilight shouted, “We are here to stop a killer shark, not debate grammar!” “If there really even is a shark...” the mayor muttered under her breath. “So, I was wondering if I might take a look at the remains, if they’re available.” Rarity suggested, “I understand that a young mare was killed while swimming a few days ago.” “She’s at the morgue.” Twilight said, “But I’m warning you, she isn’t pretty.” “I’m more than enough pretty for both of us.” Rarity whispered to herself. “What was that?” Twilight asked. “Oh, nothing, darling.” Rarity said, blushing, “Do lead the way.” One the two mares reached the morgue, Rarity more than agreed with Twilight’s assessment. The old coroner begrudgingly retrieved what was left of Vinyl Scratch out of a large, refrigerated corpse drawer. The two unicorns used their magic to levitate the large black bag onto a gurney. The bag unzipped itself with Rarity’s assistance as the pompous unicorn stepped away in horror. She gasped and started to gag, placing her hoof over her mouth. All that was left of Vinyl Scratch was a half-frozen pile of bones and intestines, a few chunks of flesh, and four hooves no longer attached to their legs. Rarity retrieved her horn-rimmed red glasses from her satchel, placed them over her eyes and cleared her throat. “Most of the flesh has been stripped away.” she observed, “The ribcage crushed. The head is completely missing, severed from the body during the attack. The legs have also been severed; damage on the hooves indicates a single bite between all four hooves and hips.” “Have you notified the RCCG about this?” Rarity inquired, her voice shaking. “RCCG?” Twilight questioned, “There you go with the acronyms again.” “The Royal Canterlot Coast Guard, darling.” Rarity said in all seriousness, “This wasn’t a boat propeller by any stretch of the imagination. This was a shark attack. And not just any shark attack. The size and shape of the bite marks suggests a species not native to these waters. I’m talking about a great white.” The coroner rolled his eyes and trotted out of the room. Twilight scratched her jaw with her hoof and pondered. “A great white...here in Sunset Shores.” she surmised, “And right in the middle of the summer season...there’s going to be dozens, if not hundreds, of tourists and swimmers here through the next few weeks.” “You have to close the beaches, darling.” Rarity ordered, “You have to close the beaches now and keep them clothes. Nopony goes into that water until that shark is hanging by its tailfins.” “We can’t.” Twilight admitted, “We can’t close the beaches for that long. One bad summer will kill our town’s economy. We’re Sunset Shores, not Windy Whores, I mean Windy Wharfs, that came out wrong...you know what I meant.” “So, would you rather kill the town’s economy, or just kill all the tourists instead?” Rarity questioned, “You have to make a choice, darling.” “Stop calling everypony darling!” Twilight complained, “What are you, some kind of jetsetter?” “Well...yes....precisely...” Rarity concluded, “We’re Manehattan unicorn breed, darling, not backwoods earth pony rabble.” “Next I’ll bet she’ll ask me to play tennis...” Twilight remarked. “So if we’re not too busy trying to catch a killer shark tomorrow and all that jazz, maybe you’d like to play a round of tennis?” Rarity added. “Sure thing, Rarity.” Twilight jeered, “Right after tea and crumpets.” “Well, you can’t play a round of tennis without a nice batch of tea and crumpets.” Rarity said earnestly, “That goes without saying.” “I think we should head back to see the mayor now.” Twilight advised. The two unicorns trotted back to the dock, and by the time they found Mayor Mare, she was shaking hooves with a group of fisherponies who had hooked up a roughly pony-sized purple reptilian creature by its tail. “A sea serpent.” Rarity commented, “A baby sea serpent.” “A sea serpent is a real rarity in these waters.” Twilight remarked, “Sorry, couldn’t resist.” “Twilight! Twilight!” the mayor called out, “Get over here! I think we found our ‘shark’!” Twilight trotted over and examined the creature. It was a round, scaly, serpentine creature, but as short and stout as an infant of its kind. Its eyes were closed and its mouth hung open, dripping its own black blood from its fangs. “A fascinating specimen.” Rarity said from behind, “So round, so purple.” “Take a look at your ‘great white’, Rarity.” Twilight said with pride. “The serpent!” Rarity stammered, “I was talking about the sea serpent!” “Hold it!” Twilight announced, dramatically pointing a hoof at the serpent, “If this one’s a baby, that means its mother and father could still be out there.” “A full grown sea serpent wouldn’t stay in one place for this long.” Rarity said, “They’re nomads. They trail the oceans and rivers, back and forth, going where the water takes them. But that’s what concerns me. If it were a sea serpent, you could open the beaches again in a few days. This specimen is probably a stray egg that floated away from the nest and hatched here. Not to mention the bite radius on the victim was the wrong shape. Sharks are territorial. They linger in one spot until the food source runs out.” “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Twilight said, putting her face in her hoof, “Please tell me you’re joking.” “There’s only one way to be sure.” Rarity said, “We have to cut the sea serpent open. Whatever it’s eaten recently should still be in its stomach. If we find pony remains, then perhaps I’m wrong.” “Don’t be a MORON.” Mayor Mare advised, “I’m not about to let you perform some half-flanked autopsy on a fish and watch that Diamond girl spill out all over the deck!” “You’re the only moron!” Rarity yelled, “If you want to be responsible for the deaths of everypony that goes into that water, then so be it!” “Let’s get out of here, Rarity...” Twilight said, “We tried...”