Manehattan
April 23
8:47 PM
The streets of Manehattan were soaked due to the stormy weather that was occurring. Almost everypony were indoors however there were still some that were outside either galloping away from the rain or calmly walking with an umbrella. The ones who didn’t have anywhere to be and who didn’t have any home took shelter under cardboard boxes or rooftops that slightly overpassed the dark building walls.
Frost Light was walking peacefully. He didn’t have an umbrella just a soaked leather jacket, a scarf and a dark brown panama hat that covered his dark mane. His cutiemark was a gust of wind which, as well as his wings and dark blue coat, were barely visible beneath the flailing brown jacket.
Frost stopped by a corner in where a bar was located. It had two windows and a big sign which said “The Pony’s Dawn”. It stood out thanks to its bright lights.
Frost heard a female voice coming from his earpiece.
“Do you want backup?”
“No, there’s no time.” Responded Frost in a dark, low tone voice.
As he stepped forward to the door, he immediately felt warm. He left the cold outside when he entered the building. It was big and filled with ponies of different races. This was a place where most ponies would get drunk, hang out or play a couple of pool games. On the right there were two pool tables both heavily occupied with ponies playing their games and minding their own business. And on the left, next to some bar tables, was a counter with a pegasus pony waitress and a big earth pony bartender.
After observing the place Frost Light finally spotted the pony he was looking for, the bartender. Frost slammed his right hoof towards the ground bending and splinting the wooden floor as well as causing a loud wooden crack that travelled throughout the room. All went quiet and all eyes were turned to Frost. He stuck a hoof into his pocket and showed his badge briefly before putting it back again.
“EBI, you’re under arrest,” Frost said.
Suddenly all ponies in the area stood back as the bartender pulled out a handgun and used the waitress as a shield. Frost pulled out his own handgun then quickly aimed it at the bartender.
“Don’t move! I’ll kill her!” Said the bartender, increasing his grasp on the waitress.
“Now, now I can move all I want. I’m not the one who currently has three trained snipers with their sights on you,” Frost said calmly.
Those words worried the bartender, he started to glance outside the windows then he fixed his eyes on Frost.
“You’re bluffing, you’re bluffing!” The bartender shouted.
“Oh am I?”
The hostage started to sob, she struggled flapping her wings. The bartender was holding her too tight for her to escape.
As for the rest of the ponies in the bar, too stunned to move or cast any spells to help her, all stood silently watching and listening to the scene unfolding in front of them.
“Stay still!” The bartender ordered the hostage while aiming his gun at her head.
“Don’t kill her Platter, you already committed a murder a few days ago. Do you really want to take another pony’s life?”
Platter just stayed silent, staring into Frost’s eyes with an angry look.
“I know what happened to your wife and kid,” Frost continued, still having Platter in his sights. “You couldn’t believe that you did it, right? And you wanted to fix that by killing another pony?”
“I needed to do what had to be done-”
“Murder is never mandatory,” Frost interrupted.
“You don’t get it, you don’t get it. Walls were closing in on me, I had to do it, I HAD TO!”
Everypony was silent. The only thing that was heard was the loud gust of wind outside and the rain drops falling on the sidewalk and rooftops.
But after the silence, Platter grinned manically.
“And now,” Platter chuckled. “I’ll be able to prove to ALL of you that I am a killer!”
“Don’t do it Platter,” said Frost, not showing any worry but slightly concerned inside.
“Don’t call me that! From this day forth, my name is-“ His sentence was cut short by a loud metal thump.
The waitress was suddenly free. Platter looked dizzy, after a few seconds he fell to the ground revealing the pony behind him. The pegasus mare had a sun with a lightning bolt on top for a cutiemark which was covered by a black suit and red tie. She had a light blue mane and tail with dark blue stripes on it. She was holding a pan.
The mare chuckled. “Stupid bastard, he actually thought he was going to get away with this.”
“What took you so long, Flare?”
“I had a ‘problem’ with the cooks in the back,” she said looking behind her and tossing the metal pan on the floor.
Frost leaned down, turned the body then cuffed Platter’s hoofs on his back. Flare just looked at him.
“So much for negotiation.” Flare said.
“You know I’m not good with that stuff. Shift is way better with negotiations.”
After a few clicks of the hoofcuffs Frost stood up and noticed the empty room. He did not notice how fast the ponies had evacuated.
“Talk to me guys.” The female voice is heard again in their headsets.
“Don’t worry Wave we got it.”
“Good, head to base. We got another case.”
“How about the body?” Flare asks.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m sending squads to secure him now.”
Frost and Flare walked towards the door. They opened the door then left the almost empty bar.
---
Equestrian Bureau of Investigation
EBI Base
April 23
9:03 PM
In the meeting room, Frost Light and Flare were sitting next to a long rounded wooden table. Wave was also there, a unicorn mare with small square glasses and a formal white shirt. She had an amber coloured coat and an orange mane tied up in a knot at the back of her head. She was holding a clipboard and was also sitting on a comfortable black chair like Frost and Flare.
The room was spacious with a long whiteboard in front of the table, a door which opened up to the HUB of the base and another door which led to Wave’s office. There were also two big windows with a view of Manehattan. The city was dark, some of the lights from the buildings flickered on and off and the shiny yellow and red lights of the cars reflected on the wet window mirror making a few raindrops visible.
They were all calmly waiting for their boss to begin briefing.
“Do you have any info on the victims?” Flare asked. Frost was being his usual self, silent and discreet.
“What I can say is that the victims were a unicorn mare, 25 years old and a unicorn stallion with 28 years of age.”
“Married?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you have any more info on them?”
“Yeah but I think we should wait for Shift to mention those.”
In that moment a dark green coated Earth Pony stallion with a suit similar to Flare’s entered the room. He trotted quickly to the end of the table were everyone could see him next to the whiteboard. He was holding two orange folders.
“Okay fellas, this one’s an interesting one,” said Shift as he leaned forward to the table. “The victims were a unicorn mare age 25 and a unicorn stallion age 28, married without children. The mare was named Star Swift and the stallion Shock Cloud. Both quit their job 4 days before their death. After the loss of their jobs both were not seen out of their residence.”
“So the murders were committed indoors. The sudden resignation from their respective jobs and the choice to remain in their houses might have been because of a threat.” Wave clarified.
“Correct, the murder took place in the kitchen. The bodies were found both strapped to a chair, blindfolded and gagged. And of course there were fibres strapped tightly on both of their horns to prevent spells.”
“Cause of death?” Flare asked.
“Stabbed in the neck for the mare and in the gut for the stallion. Here are the photos of the bodies.”
He opened one of the folders then threw the photos on the table making them slid out of their holder. There were several of them. Some showed the female body strapped to the chair just as Shift said and of the stallion on the kitchen floor stabbed in the gut.
They all noticed something strange. One of the photos showed the unicorn mare with 4 holes on her horn. The horn colour was white, a different colour of the coat. Even Frost was surprised. The stallion’s horn on the other hoof, was perfectly fine.
“As you may see.” Shift continued. “The mare had her horn punctured 4 times.”
“How’s that possible? Unicorn horns are almost unbreakable,” Wave asked.
They all paused. Shift walked closer to the table, his eyes were fixed on Wave.
“Wave, have you ever heard the saying fight fire with fire?”
“Yeah,” Wave nodded with confusion. “what about it?”
“This case has a lot to do with that saying, except.” Shift, looked at everypony in the room. “This case would involve fighting magic with magic.”
All went silent, thinking about what he said. A unicorn horn was as strong, if not stronger, as the strongest mineral in the planet which is the solarc. If the murderer did in fact break the horn with his magic, it would require him to be a high level unicorn. This was too much information, it was unlikely that the murder was this disorganized.
“So you’re saying the unsub* was a unicorn?” Wave asked.
*Unsub: Unknown Subject Of An Investigation, in this case, the murderer.
“No, but this evidence is extremely important. If we prove that the unsub is a unicorn then we get additional information of him or her being a high level unicorn. And if we prove that the unsub is using some special tool then… Frost?” Shift offered lifting his hoof to Frost.
Frost turned making sure he sees everyone and everyone sees him.
“As you may know, unicorn horns are as strong as the solarc. This mineral was discovered 1500 years ago. The ponies back then, unable to mine them with regular pickaxes, made a new pick, one that can only be crafted with a combination of raw minerals that were only found during that age. It was called the gyropick.
“So as Shift said, if the unsub is in fact a unicorn they are a high rank. The unsub wouldn’t be hard to find since there aren’t many high rank unicorns in Manehattan. Considering the lack of Ranked Magic Schools.”
“But if the unsub isn’t a unicorn or simply not higher level enough to cast such spells then that means he or she has a big connection with ancient pony weaponry or tools. The unsub would not have been able to build it himself since minerals to fabricate it are now non-existent. That means he either is also a thief or has close contacts. And close contacts means-“
“More evidence.” Flare added.
There was silence in the room once again. Not long after, Shift broke that silence by removing photos from the other folder and stuck them onto the whiteboard.
“This is the first time that we see a punctured unicorn horn although we can connect this crime to this one.” Said shift pointing to the photos.
The photos showed a unicorn stallion strapped to a chair, blindfolded, mouth gagged and stabbed in the neck. Same as the current case although, the top of his head just below his horn was damaged and bleeding.
“Moon Rush age 27 also quit his job 4 days before the crime, he also remained indoors. This happened one month ago.”
“That’s the same unsub then,” said Flare.
“He might strike again. Wave, I want all locations of ancient tool shops.” Shift ordered.
“Yes sir,” said Wave heading towards her monitor filled office.
“Flare, Frost, go to the crime scene. Special agent Glass Code will be waiting for both of you there. Here’s the location.”
Flare and Frost both got up from their chairs without a word and walked to the door.
“Oh and another thing.” Shift added. The two agents stopped and turned to him. “Welcome him to the team, will ya?”
They only nodded then exited the room and headed to the crime scene.