Taking Care of Animals

by Nicknack


Chapter 6

Well, call me molasses and put me on pancakes, ’cause it weren’t ’til then that I finally put two and two together. Her lean, twig-like body, all her energy that came in bursts, how she always had her eyes on the sky, the scars on her back…
 
Earth Pony weren’t an earth pony at all.

Course, at that moment, the finer points of… er, Pony’s race were the least of my worries. Smack dab afore us, smaller than a postage stamp, was an itty-bitty picture of her, Rarity, and me that I reckoned none of us remembered bein’ taken.

For what it was worth, I managed to get a grip on myself and think of a pretty forward-workin’ question. My voice sounded hollow and distant to me when I asked, “D… d’ya know who the other two ponies are? Yellow and Pink?”

Pony blinked at me like I was snappin’ her back to reality. “Uh... I think the yellow pegasus is a classmate of mine, from Cloudsdale High. I’m pretty sure she lived in Ponyville when I first got here, working at the bakery.”

I nodded. “So who’s Ms. Pink?”

That earned me a shrug, so I just stood and watched while she got dressed again. She put the photograph in her coat’s pocket and threw the broken frame of the magnifyin’ glass she’d dropped into Twilight’s otherwise empty trashcan. After rootin’ around in her coat’s other pocket, she held a hoof out to me. “Badge.”

I reached into my own coat’s pocket and handed it back over.

Once it was back in its usual pocket, she said, “I don’t know who the sixth pony is, but we’ve got to show this to Rarity.”

At the sound of her name, I remembered my own workin’ theory about how she looked mighty suspicious in all this. I put that away for the time bein’; there’d be time to bring it up after we heard what she had to say ’bout the picture.

The two of us headed down into the library, I picked up the copy of Coping With Loss, and we headed out into the night air. It was cool, but somewhat moist—the sort of weather that made me glad I’d worn my coat. Made it pretty comfortable, especially for gettin’ a breath of fresh air after bein’ in that dusty library all day.

Along the route north, I had to ask. “So, uh… Whycome you don’t really mind me callin’ you Earth Pony?”

Her eyebrow rose and she gave me a sideways glance. “Because. You’re not the type to do that thing in a mean way. I never told you my name, you gave me a generic one…” She shrugged. “It’s not the worst you could’ve done, anyway.”

I nodded and cracked a dry joke. “Yeah, like Butterfly Butt.”

She looked away and muttered, “Or ‘worthless cripple’.”

My throat grew a lump at that injustice. Odds were, ’tweren’t her fault she’d lost her limbs; anyone who’d poke fun at her like that deserved a firm kick in the teeth. And get called “Gap” after.

The conversation died on that note, or it wanted to. I couldn’t let it... yet. There was a practical matter at hoof. “So, uh…” I took a few awkward steps. “What do I call you?”

“You didn’t read my ID card?”

“Slipped my mind.”

She chuckled. “Well, Earth Pony’s worked for the past three days. At least... it’s growing on me. Just don’t be weird about it.”

“Will do, EP.” I nodded, rememberin’ the nickname she’d come up for me that mornin’.

“Too weird.”

“Fair enough.” I grinned at her. It felt a little awkward to keep callin’ her Earth Pony, but I reckoned I could stick to it. The obvious question flashed through my mind—the one anypony wants to ask any disabled pony. I filed that away for later, since I didn’t want things to get any “weirder”.

’Stead, I asked a happier question, “So, what’re you gonna do once you’re done with this case?”

Earth Pony let out a chirp of laughter. “Done? AJ, even if we catch the killer tomorrow, it’s probably gonna be months before I see the last bit of paperwork on this case.”

I shrugged. “Okay. But that’s still... September. How’re you gonna spend the fall?”

She took a moment to think. “I think I’ve got some vacation time saved up. But I haven’t taken a break from work since, like, summer vacation. In school. I don’t know what I’d do without work.”

“Well, I think I know how you can sort that one out.”

“Oh yeah?” Pony cocked her head at me.

I waved the copy of Coping With Loss at her. “I’m sure they’ve got somethin’ in here ’bout unemployment.”

She let out a skitterin’, hissy chuckle.

The rest of the trip, we kept makin’ idle chit-chat. It mostly centered around two things we agreed on, other than discussin’ the photograph—we wanted dinner, and we wanted our warm, cozy beds.

When we got to Rarity’s mansion-castle place, just like the first night, Earth Pony rang the bell. Unlike last night, we waited for a few moments without response. “She might be asleep,” Earth Pony noted. Before I could question if that was going to raise any difficulties, she reached into her pocket, pulled out a key, and let herself in.

Which I could respect. Bein’ a favored guest or no, I still preferred to knock before enterin’ a home that weren’t mine.

As soon as we closed the door behind us, I noticed the smell—like nasty, burnt cookin’. After I got past the smell, that creeping feelin’ that someone was watchin’ me came back. Only this time, it was so thick I darn near had to swim through it.

Next to me, Earth Pony hung her coat by the door and her eyes snapped around the room like she were on red alert. I hung up my coat and set my grievin’ book on a table before I followed her deeper into the house.

The smell got worse as we neared the kitchen. Soon as we looked in there, the source was clear: a big pot of black, burned tar that’d used to be food. Couldn’t even tell what it was by then, unless we were supposed to eat charcoal.

“She left the stove on?” Pony whispered.

I pointed a hoof at the ceilin’. “Lights, too.”

“They’re on timers...” She shook her head. Then, she darn near broke my eardrums by hollerin’ out, “Hey, Rarity!”

It only echoed through the rest of the house that now felt too quiet.

“I don’t like this…” Earth Pony muttered over the ringin’ in my ears.

I had to agree with her, though. That whole mansion creeped me out, but now, all of a sudden, we were alone in it. The place was big enough for a platoon of soldiers to comfortably spend the night, let alone for a single, solitary murderer to be hidin’ in the shadows, watchin us...

I shook that all out of my head, tryin’ to hide some of the shiverin’. I reasoned, “Either Rarity ain’t here, or she’s got earplugs in.”

“Yeah, let’s check her bedroom.”

Even if she were joggin’ on three limbs and a cast, it was difficult to keep up with Earth Pony. She led me through the place like she was intimately familiar with it—which made sense, given our destination.

Earth Pony stopped outside of one closed door, took a deep breath, and opened it. The room inside was dark, but enough light spilled in from the hallway to show it was empty. I tensed, honestly hopin’ Rarity’d been in there. Now, I didn’t know where she was, and that put my nerves right on end.

I looked over to Earth Pony, but she ignored me and walked forward, slowly, tremblin’. I forced myself to follow her again, not sure what she was goin’ after. Then I saw it:

The door, presumably to the master bath, had a crack of light shinin’ through beneath it.

Earth Pony hesitated at the door, probably weighin’ her manners. She finally knocked, gettin’ no reply. She tried the door, and it was locked.

By that point, tears had streaked down both sides of her face. I wanted to say somethin’ to put her at ease, or at least comfort her. In the spur of the moment, nothin’ really came. I wasn’t sure what was goin’ on, other than that my heart was beatin’ like a jackhammer in my ears by that point.

Pony turned around, bent down, and—cast or no cast—bucked the door clean off its hinges. I was off to the side, so I didn’t get a clear view inside the place.

If there’s such a thing as Hell, I reckon it’d be filled with the pitiful, moanin’ sound Earth Pony let out when she looked into the bathroom.

“No… no, no, no!” Her voice broke on the last word, and she darted into the bathroom. My mouth dried out as my gut wrenched, but I forced my heavy hooves to follow her into the grandiose bathroom anyway. The floor tiles shone like glass, and against the far wall was a bathtub big enough for four ponies to swim in.

From where I stood, I could see Rarity’s head, bent back with a white ribbon tied around her neck.

I froze in place. Heck, the room spun, and I felt like I’d start heavin’ chunks if I moved. Earth Pony forgot all notions of decency and jumped in the bathtub, cast and all, and started slappin slappin’ Rarity’s too-pale, white-furred face. “Come on! Qu… quit messing around!”

’Tweren’t right for Earth Pony to have to see her friend like that, but slappin’ a corpse senseless never solved nothin’. I walked over to the side of the tub, leaned over, and put a hoof on her wet, blue shoulder.

Soon as I did, she trembled, broke down sobbin’, and buried her face in Rarity’s neck.

I wished I could think of somethin’ better to say. All that came out was, “I’m so sorry.”

The words sounded hollow, even to me. Course, I also had a pang of guilt ringin’ around inside my head; here I’d spent the past day suspicious of Rarity, thinkin’ she’d been the murderer… Why? I asked myself. Because she investigated the murderer who’d probably killed dozens of her friends?

In the tub, Earth Pony kept sobbin’ like… well, like she’d lost a part of herself. I let her stay in there as long as she needed to. After a while, she tapered off into silence, but her eyes looked dead and empty.

I rubbed her shoulder a little. “C’mon, sugarcube. You’d best dry off.”

She buried her face in Rarity’s mane. “No…”

I nodded and walked over to the toilet. Shoot, I didn’t need it, but it seemed the most comfortable place to sit while waitin’ for Earth Pony to make her peace with things. I sat there, in a haze, for Celestia-knows how long.

All that came through my mind were thoughts of how I wasn’t a detective. ’Tweren’t no excuse, but more like I was out of my element. I wasn’t good at dealin’ with the things that I’d had to see, smell, and worry about for the past two days since meetin’ Earth Pony.

A splashing sound drew my attention to the tub. Earth Pony, soaked to the bone, shook as she walked over to the sink. I headed over to join her, but I kept my distance after she punched the corner of the porcelain. The corner came clean off, fallin’ to the floor and shatterin’.

Why!” The word echoed a dozen times through that bathroom. She hit the sink again, and again, and again, punctuating each blow with the same question, until there weren’t much sink left.

I knew better’n to answer an angry rhetorical. All I did was stand by and watch as she slowly looked up into the mirror.

You…

Her word carried a dark, pain-wishin’ undertone to it. I piped up to defend myself, “Pony, I couldn’t—”

She threw a punch at the mirror, crackin’ it like a spiderweb. I shut right up again.

“If I hadn’t been so stupid, leaving her alone like that!” She left another web on the mirror. “Just ’cause she didn’t want me to get hurt.” Another punch. “Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

At that point, I’d gone through too many emotions to let a new sense of fear bother me. In an almost trance-like numbness, I felt impressed at how well that mirror held up to its punishment. It had to’ve been tempered or special made, to withstand all them punches. 

Earth Pony stopped swearin’ in words, and just screamed, punchin’ it even more. Finally, I knew enough was enough. “Pony, come—”

With one final crunching sound, the mirror finally gave in. Earth Pony went from hollerin’ to silent. I hurried over to make sure she weren’t hurt on broken glass. That was the last thing we needed.

Expectin’ to see blood on her foreleg, I was surprised to see her hoof was lodged deep in the mirror—far deeper than the wall on either side of it was.

She slowly pulled her hoof out, and both of us looked into the hole she’d made.

Behind the mirror sat a fancy-looking camera setup. I wasn’t an expert on motion picture equipment, but the three rolls on top of the camera were still spinnin’ as I saw both our reflections in the glass of the lens. Once again, I got that eerie sense I was bein’ watched; I guessed now, technically, I knew we were.

“What the… buck?” Earth Pony summed it up nicely.

Carefully, I picked up one of the broken fragments of mirror off the floor. I held it up, and Earth Pony snatched it out of my hoof. When she held it up to the light, I could see a dark, tinted version of the bulb. She asked, curiously, “A one-way mirror?”

I ain’t ever heard of such a thing, but seein’ it, I knew what it was. The bigger question I had was, “What does it mean?”

Earth Pony’s face fell for a moment, and her eyes closed. When she picked herself up again, she reached into the hole and carefully broke away bigger chunks. When it was wide enough, she pulled out the camera. “What this means, Applejack...” Her voice shook, but her eyes hardened. “Is that we finally nailed this son of a bitch.”