Dead Loyalty
Chapter 4: Evidence and Cold Tears
A Week Before....
Rainbow Dash remained in the small room, sat on the very uncomfortable wooden chair that Lightning Dust had tied her down to. Her body had gone cold and shows no signs of her being alive, that being from the heavy blood loss. Soon enough, she knew she was going to die, and she had.
Rainbow Dash was dead.
The door to the room unlocked, and a mint-green pegasus walked in and went up to Rainbow Dash's dead form.
''Rainbow. Are you awake yet?'' She said, getting no response. ''Rainbow Dash!''. Still no response.
Lightning Dust went even closer, placing a hoof to Dash's chin, feeling that she was cold. Much too cold to be alive. At this point she started thinking the worst. She placed a hoof to her neck, searching for a pulse but found none. Her eyes shrunk to the size of needle-tips, her breathing becoming heavy as panic started to brew up within her.
''Rainbow?!'' She gripped Rainbow's shoulders, shaking her body in hopes she would wake up. ''Rainbow!? Wake up!''
Nothing.
''Oh, no...I never wanted this to happen! What have I done?!'' Lightning Dust weeped.
What can I do?! WHAT DO I DO!?
You've gotta hide the body!
How?! Where would I put her?! I can't risk getting caught! I never intended to kill her!
Bury her body, Lightning!
Lightning Dust carried Rainbow Dash on her back as she flew through the cold, night sky. At this time, barely anypony was awake, so Lightning Dust saw it as a better moment than any to bury Rainbow without any witnesses to spot her. As she flew, she could feel the cold blood off Rainbow Dash trickle off of her body and run down hers, staining small areas of her mint-green coat. After about a ten minute flight, Lightning Dust was running out of stamina and had to set herself down on a cloud somewhere, due to the extra weight of the dead Pegasus on her back, and surprisingly, she was heavier than she thought she would be.
She sat on the cloud just after setting Dash's bloody body down. She looked at her body, just imagining what would happen if anypony found her body, or worse - if they saw her burying her. After a short rest, Lightning Dust was about to get up when she saw a faint yellow figure come into sight. Panicking, she looked for a place to hide. She, without thinking, dove downwards and quickly found a bush to hide in. She looked up, recognizing the features of the yellow Pegasus above her. She had a long, pretty pink mane and tail and her cutie mark was that of three butterflies. It was Flutteshy.
From where she was, it didn't take much to know that Fluttershy could clearly see Rainbow on the cloud bleeding out, and on top of that, she could hear what she was saying.
''Rainbow? What are you- AHHHHHHHHH!!! RAINBOW!'' Fluttershy exclaimed as she set down next to her still bleeding, dead friend.
She touched Rainbow's shoulder softly, feeling that she was colder than ice, making her panic ever more. The next thing Fluttershy saw was the blood staining the cloud her dead friend was laying on. The blood was oozing softly from Rainbow's cuts and was touching Fluttershy's yellow hooves, coating them in a thin layer of crimson. From below, Lightning Dust could see fresh tears pouring from her eyes, and in an instant, Fluttershy flew away crying.
Seeing her chance, Lightning Dust hurriedly zipped back up to the cloud and almost immediately scooped up the body of Rainbow Dash and continued on with her plan to hide the body.
Somewhere at the edge of the Everfree forest, Lightning Dust was flying around with the dead, bloody mare who was once Rainbow Dash, looking for a discrete place to bury her body. Around after an hour of searching in various spaces, she found one. There was a lot of trees covering the part she chose, so if anypony saw her, which was highly doubtful, they wouldn't be able to identify her fully. She gently landed in the area and placed the pony's carcass on the floor and took the shovel she was carrying in her mouth in her hooves and began digging a hole.
By time Lightning Dust was finished, dawn was just setting in. She picked up Rainbow's body and gently placed her in the hole. Before she refilled the hole, she took one last look at Rainbow Dash's form. Her blood stained her now dulling, cyan coat and her eyes were closed, blood still seeping lightly from underneath her left eye.
''I'm sorry about this, Rainbow.''
And then Lightning Dust filled in the hole and left the area.
Noon had just gone by right before the memorial service ended. The event took place in the town hall and everypony, fans and non-fans of Rainbow Dash turned up, wearing a formal black attire to fit the mood of the saddening event. The five friends, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Twilight and Fluttershy were all saying their goodbyes for the afternoon, presumably to try and clear their minds, and just before Twilight left, Fluttershy had stopped her, wanting to have a talk with her.
''Twilight!'' Fluttershy softly called, catching the lavender unicorn's attention and making her turn on the spot to face her friend.
''Oh, hey, Fluttershy. Are you okay?''
''Twilight, I know I should of said something sooner, but please promise me you won't be mad...''
''Huh? What are you talking about?''
''Here.''
Fluttershy reached underneath her wing, pulling out three single mint-green feathers and presented them to Twilight, confusion shown clearly on her face.
''I don't get it.''
''Remember when I came to you the night I found Rainbow dead?'' She said softly, earning a nod from Twilight. ''Well, when we went to where I found her with Applejack, I found these near a bush. I know it sounds stupid, but I think it could help find whatever killed Rainbow.''
''Fluttershy...''
''Pleeeeeease, Twilight?''
''Fluttershy.'' Twilight said quietly, placing a hoof to Fluttershy's shoulder. ''I know you're upset, but so is everyone else. Anything could of done that to her. You saw how many cuts she had. I don't think this will prove anything...''
''But, you don't know if you don't try. All I'm asking you is to try once, Twilight. Please?''
Twilight stopped for a moment. She look deep in the eyes of her yellow Pegasus friend and saw her desperation, so much that it hurt her. She didn't want to let her friend down or upset her, but she couldn't fight it. Sighing quietly through her nostrils, Twilight spoke up.
''Alright, Fluttershy. I'll give it a try. But I probably won't have any results for about a week.''
As a response, Fluttershy snapped her hooves around Twilight's neck and hugged her tightly.
''Oh, thank you, Twilight!''
It had been a short while since Fluttershy had gave those feathers to Twilight, and she had already started to get a raised suspicion to whom they belonged to, but she wanted to make sure before she made a scene about it. She paced back and forth in her library basement, her lab equipment set up and in the process of finding a match to the feathers. The only progress so far is that she knew those feathers didn't belong to a bird, but a Pegasus. Now she knows that she is looking for a pony suspect, the only question is ''who?''. They certainly didn't belong to anypony around Ponyville, especially since there was barely anypony in town with a mint-green coat apart from Lyra, but she wasn't a Pegasus; she was a unicorn. Well, no matter what it takes, Twilight wasn't about to give up. She wanted to find whoever was responsible for killing her best friend.