“... so I showed her the scars, saying that I’m not gonna give a hoof to anypony. But she didn’t get it…”
Octavia chuckled and put her tea back on the table. “Well, I’m not surprised, actually…” she said. “Those scars really look awful. Don’t you want to have them removed?”
Minuette shook her head. “I’d rather keep them,” she said with a sigh. “You see, they remind me of how stupid I was…”
“You were trying to help…” Octavia muttered. She reached for her tea, but hesitated and put her hoof back on the armrest of her chair. “There’s nothing stupid with that.”
“Yeah… Though my idea sucked…” Minuette replied. She looked around Octavia’s place, wondering how nice and cosy it was. The wind was blowing outside, but the fireplace was making the house a much more friendly place. Even though it was still a couple of days till Hearth’s Warming Eve, everypony was in a holiday mood.
Dr. Stable entered the living room, levitating a bottle of wine. “Do you want some, Minuette?” he asked. “I bought it in Hollow Shades…”
“Hope there’s no blood in it,” Minuette said, smiling. “Octy, aren’t you bored of that tea?”
“Well, I can’t really drink wine…” Octavia replied, patting her stomach.
Minuette looked at it unsurely. Then she looked a Dr. Stable. Her smile widened and she hid her face in her hooves. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” she muttered.
“Kid-in-me? I have to remember that.” Octavia chuckled.
Minuette sighed. “I just… I didn’t expect that…”
“Well, I guess nopony did…” Octavia said. “Beauty Brass was shocked.”
“A propos,” Dr. Stable sat in his armchair. “She visited me at the hospital today, and said that Jet Set and Upper Crust invited us for a Hearth’s Warming Eve dinner. You’re invited too, Minuette…”
“A dinner with those freaky nobles?” Minuette chuckled. “I guess it’ll be fun…”
Octavia shook her head. “I know them… They’ll ask me to play something. But I guess leaving poor Beauty Brass alone with them wouldn’t be a good idea…”
“Yeah, sure…” Minuette muttered.
Even though the Hearth’s Warming Eve was close, the guards in Ponyville didn’t have time to sit at home with their families. Chocolate Donut was sitting in his office, surrounded by large stacks of photos he’d retrieved from Featherweight’s films. Front Kick entered the station and cleared his throat, seeing that his companion hadn’t noticed him.
“I’m kinda busy here, boss,” Chocolate Donut muttered. “We really need somepony else to help us… Maybe we should make Scootaloo our trainee?”
“Not yet,” Front Kick replied. “Are these all the photos he made?”
“Unfortunately not,” Chocolate Donut said. “Whoever killed him destroyed some films…”
Front Kick levitated one of the photos, depicting a group of young ponies drinking in a pub. “Hmm… Sweetie Belle, that future Wonderbolt, and Diamond Tiara? Front page material… But, of course, it’s not Diamond Tiara. I remember it. I, myself, figured out her pattern...”
“Though you caught her a bit late,” Chocolate Donut said. “I think it’s from the party Scootaloo told us about… It’s her wing, here...”
“I see,” Front Kick replied. “And I see Babs Seed sitting next to Diamond. But I guess our killer isn’t here. If they were, they’d destroy that one too.”
“Yeah…” Chocolate Donut muttered, looking at the stacks of photos. “This guy had the photos of almost all celebrities in Equestria… Did you know that Neon Lights is in rehab again?”
“Exactly, Donut,” Front Kick muttered. “Almost. Make a list of ponies who appear in those photos. The one who isn’t here may be our killer…”
Chocolate Donut sighed. “Who’d be stupid enough to destroy every single picture of themselves? They’d expect us to make such a list…”
“Still, I think blackmail was involved,” Front Kick said. “I checked this guy’s bank account. Somepony paid him two hundred thousand bits. Three times, every two months.”
Chocolate Donut sighed. “Boss, you don’t know how much those guys are paid… Maybe he caught Princess Luna on jaywalking? That’d be a hit...”
Front Kick didn’t laugh. “I checked other records. None of them is even close to those three transfers. Our killer did something really nasty and Featherweight took photos of it…”
Diamond Tiara looked into the mirror. She examined her reflection, making sure that it was really hers. With a sigh, she turned to the door, preparing to leave the flat. However, before she could open it, somepony knocked.
Diamond Tiara shook her head, trotted to the door and opened it to see Archer, resting herself against the door frame and flipping her mane nonchalantly.
“Hello,” Archer said. “Scoots told me to check on you.”
“I was about to go to you,” Diamond Tiara replied. “It’s still a few hours till our train arrives – just enough for Babs to see the town.”
“Yeah, Babs…” Archer muttered. “Where’s she?”
“She should be here soon.” Diamond Tiara looked into the corridor, as if she expected Babs to appear. She didn’t see her, but the door of the opposite flat opened and Scootaloo stood in it. “By the way, where are you going to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
“With Apple Bloom in Sweet Apple Acres,” Scootaloo said. “It’s better than staying here… You know, Archer finds cooking recipes in a toxicology textbook…”
“It’s still better than your cooking…” Archer muttered.
“My cooking is fine.” Scootaloo raised her hoof. “At least it doesn’t taste of grease…”
“Yeah, it’s fine…” Archer said. “But how long can you eat pasta?”
“You know, when we’re back, you can eat with me from time to time,” Diamond Tiara said. Archer’s eyes widened; she smiled unconsciously. For a brief moment, Diamond Tiara thought of spiking her food with arsenic.
“What’s going on with Babs, anyway?” Scootaloo asked, causing Diamond Tiara to shudder. “Where’s she?”
“I don’t know,” Diamond replied. “She should be here soon…”
Archer turned to Scootaloo, smirking. “I think I know why are you in such a hurry, Scoots,” she said. “The two reasons wait for you in Ponyville, both wear the Wonderbolts’ flying suits, and their names start with R…”
“Oh, come on…” Scootaloo muttered.
“I was always wondering…” Archer said. “If you and Rumble are together, and Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane are together…”
“They’re not,” Scootaloo interrupted her quickly.
“Oh, I forgot. Rainbow Dash is too cool for relationships. One day she’ll simply divide into two smaller Rainbow Dashes…”
“Have you ever wondered, cousin, why everypony runs away from you?” Scootaloo deadpanned.
“I guess it’s because of my awesome personality,” Archer replied. “Also, Diamond likes me. Don’t you, Diamond?” She asked, wrapping her hoof around Diamond Tiara.
“Umm… yeah…” Diamond Tiara muttered, shaking Archer’s hoof off. She wasn’t sure what to think of Scootaloo’s cousin. She definitely was… overwhelming; that was a good word. Babs could be overwhelming too, but, unlike Archer, she knew how to tone it down when Diamond was around.
Just when Diamond Tiara wondered how to politely tell Archer to leave her flat and let her wait for Babs alone, she heard somepony climbing up the stairs. One look was enough for her to recognise the distinctive mane and a black leather jacket. “Babs!” she exclaimed. “Where have you been?”
“I kinda got lost,” Babs replied. “The taxis in this town are crazy…”
“It’s great that you decided to introduce your friend to us, Octavia,” Upper Crust said. They were walking through the crowded market between stands full of food, jewels, gifts, and other things ponies absolutely needed to have before the Hearth’s Warming Eve. A group of little foals was standing at the corner of the street, singing songs. Jet Set was smiling politely but Octavia noticed that he was throwing nervous glances at his wife from time to time. Minuette, on the other hoof, didn’t even pretend that she was interested in anything.
“So, who are you exactly?” Jet Set asked. “I think I remember you from Princess Cadance’s wedding…”
“Yeah…” Minuette muttered. “I’m just a humble dentist, though I indeed know Cadance… And I don’t really remember the wedding… You know, I kinda woke up in some creepy cave with Lyra and Twinkleshine…”
“Oh, I remember it,” Upper Crust said. “It was terrible… And now those caves are inhabited by bat ponies…”
“I always say Celestia should do something about them.” Jet Set shook his head. “Soon there’ll be more of them here than in Hollow Shades…”
“Yeah, I know somepony who had a great idea…” Minuette muttered, piercing Jet Set with her gaze. “Her name’s Cloud Kicker. If she behaves, they’ll release her from jail soon…”
“Minuette!” Octavia hissed.
“What?” Minuette asked. “It’s the same bullshit like saying that unicorns are better than, let’s say, earth ponies…”
“Earth ponies…” Jet Set sighed. “They always think they know everything better…” He looked at Octavia. “Not all of them, of course.”
“Maybe because they do,” Minuette said. “There’s that proverb I like: ‘a unicorn levitates it, a pegasus flies to it. An earth pony invents a ladder’. It’s a slow process, but earth ponies will rule Equestria one day…”
“Good,” Jet Set muttered, watching one of the ponies in the crowd, wearing a long cloak with a hood that was making her face invisible. Something about her seemed familiar. “Maybe they’ll find a way to deal with bat ponies…”
Minuette shook her head. She turned away, watching the stand with gingerbread and other baked goods, when suddenly a loud bang nearly deafened her. She heard Octavia’s scream, as if it was coming from a great distance. She turned back, hearing another two bangs in a rapid succession. Octavia was lying on the ground next to Jet Set. The snow around them was quickly getting red. Minuette froze; she saw a pony wearing a cloak with a gun attached to their hoof with a strap. Before Minuette could react, the pony looked back at her and ran away, undisturbed by anypony.
“Octavia!” Minuette shouted, running to her friend. “Shit… Octavia! Don’t be dead...”
Octavia raised her head when Minuette sat next to her. “I’m okay, I think…” she muttered. She looked around and retched, seeing Jet Set’s blood. Behind her, Upper Crust screamed, holding her husband’s body in her hooves.
“W-who the fuck was that?” Minuette asked. She examined Octavia and saw that while the bullets were aimed at Jet Set, one of them grazed her flank. “How’s the baby?”
“I… I don’t know…” Octavia muttered, panting heavily, her voice drowning in Upper Crust’s cries. “Oh Celestia…” She grabbed her stomach, suddenly getting pale. “I hope it’s okay…”
“Don’t move…” Minuette whispered, shuddering. The ponies were running around them; it seemed that the killer disappeared before someone could tear their cloak off. Foals were screaming, but Minuette didn’t care. Octavia was much more important. “Everything will be alright…”
Diamond Tiara, Babs, Scootaloo, and Archer were walking through snowy Canterlot, watching the shop windows. Even the usually pragmatic Archer livened up a bit seeing the jewellery store. Diamond Tiara couldn’t take her eyes away from it – recently she started to draw her own projects again and was looking for a possibility to start working as a jewellery designer. Only Babs was silent. She was trotting slowly behind the rest of the group.
“Seems that there’s some commotion in the market,” Scootaloo muttered, seeing a large crowd of ponies surrounding one place in the middle of it.
“I guess two mares are fighting for the last piece of cake,” Archer muttered. “We’d better not go there – dunno how about you, Scoots, but I like the shape of my nose…”
“Is it coroner’s carriage?” Scootaloo asked, watching the black vehicle standing near the centre of the crowd. “Also, I can see the guards there…”
“Oh, come on…” Archer muttered. “It’s nearly the Hearth’s Warming Eve… I don’t want to watch any crime scenes…”
“Since when don’t you like crime scenes?” Scootaloo asked. She saw that Babs was walking towards the group. “Hey, Babs! Where are you going?”
“I wanna see what happened,” Babs replied.
Scootaloo shrugged and followed Babs. Archer and Diamond Tiara went with them.
“I’d rather stay behind,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m not sure how I’d react…”
“Okay, no biggie,” Archer muttered. “Excuse me, I’m a guard!” she yelled when they reached the crowd. Several ponies made place for her and Scootaloo. Babs tried to follow them, but got stuck between ponies.
Charge, the guard who was leading the investigation was one of Scootaloo and Archer’s teachers from the academy. He saw them and quickly trotted to them.
“You’d better not go here,” he said. “Technically, you’re civilians…”
Scootaloo looked at the crime scene and, to her surprise, saw Minuette being questioned by some guards. She was sitting next to crying yellow unicorn mare, gesturing widely and apparently yelling at the guards.
“Somepony was shot here?” Archer asked, watching a large patch of red snow.
“I can’t tell you,” Charge said. “You’d better go away…”
“This sucks…” Scootaloo muttered when they were pushing themselves back through the crowd. “We’ll soon be guards…”
“Don’t worry, cousin,” Archer said. “I think I have a plan…” She guided Scootaloo to the coroner’s wagon. A younger guard, Archer’s friend called Riot Shield was standing next to it, hiding from the cold wind and smoking a cigarette. Scootaloo noticed that Babs was following them. For a moment she considered telling her to go back to Diamond Tiara – they couldn’t be there even though they were guards in training and Babs was definitely a civilian.
“Hello, Riot,” Archer said. “What’s going on?”
“Some freak shot one of those rich guys, Jet Set,” Riot Shield replied. “I feel for anypony who’ll have to put the witnesses’ testimonies together. Apparently it was an earth pony with a horn, wearing a cloak hiding her wings, who shot three times at the guy and disappeared. Not to mention that we have at least twenty descriptions of how the killer looked like…”
“Three times?” Archer asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “Failure drill? Twice to the chest and once to the head?”
“More like failed failure drill,” Riot Shield replied. “One shot to the chest, one that grazed the victim’s leg and a flank of a mare walking next to him, and one that tore his ear. Definitely not an ex-soldier...”
“But definitely someone who’d heard of that technique,” Scootaloo said. “Maybe some military fan…” She looked at Archer briefly. Suddenly, she shivered. “Or someone who spent a lot of time among the ex-soldiers…” She turned her head, but saw that Babs wasn’t with them; instead she went back to Diamond Tiara.
“Hmm… It kinda makes sense,” Riot Shield muttered, blowing the smoke from his cigarette.
“You can tell it to Charge,” Scootaloo said before leaving. “And remember, you haven’t seen us…”
“You?” Riot Shield asked. “Who are you?”
Archer only smirked at him before following her cousin.