//------------------------------//
// Red Eyes At Morning 
// Story: Mysterious Ways 
// by Peridork 
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Fluttershy was not having a good night. Fridays were her nights to watch  her shows she put on her DVR, and she hadn't caught up with her nature documentaries. That would have been the highest point of her problems if the Canterlot Vampire Coven hadn't chosen her to figure out who was murdered earlier today by what seemed to be a rogue hunter in their midst. It was a rather weird crime since wooden stakes were not a common thing for a murderer to be carrying about.

Fluttershy hadn't personally known Moondancer but she had heard that Moondancer had been a vampire for at least a decade if not longer.

Which was impressive since most vampires didn't last past their five year anniversaries without being found out and killed. There were cases of vampires living to a thousand years or more, but modern vampires were more brazen- thanks to that movie series that the whole world loved. Made being a vampire easier, but also more difficult when the fact that that movie pretty much lied about vampire powers.

Fluttershy sighed and walked into the nearby convenience store to grab a soda- vampires still needed some form of sleep, so staying up late usually needed a pick me up of some kind. Fluttershy didn't care. She'd done this routine so often since Fall Formal, that the whole idea of being a vampire caused more problems than it was worth sometimes. Like the ungodly amount she shelled out to get sunscreen. In boredom, she turned on her phone which picked up Canterlot High's radio signal.

The voice of Vinyl Scratch came over the radio waves. Fluttershy never knew why Vinyl didn't like to speak in public but was a radio announcer. Maybe she just felt more at home behind a microphone.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Mixer, the station where Canterlot High's prime students with an interest in radio and musical happenings gather and jam. I'm Vinyl and my co-host and bodacious friend is Octavia."

Fluttershy grinned at this as she walked out of the store. The radio station had nobody there now, but the automated system gave the station a sense that the most well known pair of hosts were still at the school and relaxing in the media room that seemed like the size of a closet.

"Yes, well, thank you Vinyl but I don't think that is the right thing to state on air. Since we do have time to kill, it is now time for the news. Police have released the fact that the found a body near the Cash Grab, owned by Flim and Flam. When questioned, the police sergeant, Shining Armor had to say that it was too early to tell if this was related to the spring of animal deaths in the area- but he believed that it was not. Adding that don't be alarmed since the Canterlot Guard is on the case."

Fluttershy waited to see if anything else important was said, but besides Vinyl's explanation that any words said by an interviewer did not mean that the Mixer supported this cause for alarm. Fluttershy hadn't remembered this kind of warning before so she chalked it up to Vinyl covering her bases if an angry parent called in about a scared kid or something.  

Turning towards the center of town and over the imaginary line that separated Crystal Prep kids from Canterlot High, Fluttershy got to the alleyway that Moondancer was found in. The thing about the police in this town was that they worked quickly, so there wasn't much to go on but even a scrap of information was better than nothing. She had prepared for the nasty part of the search for evidence, dumpster diving, by getting in an old hoodie and sweatpants. It wasn't completely flattering but she sacrificed some of her fashion sense for comfort and the ability to throw these old clothes away if she had to.

She tied back her pink hair into a bun with a scrunchie she pulled out of her pocket and went to work. Scanning through what seemed to be weeks of trash was a problem but Moondancer was at least a good victim of a random person- she knew when to have evidence stashed away. And the idea of a vampire going behind a pawn shop to meet someone meant that it had to be either a set up that Moondancer walked into blindly or that the murderer was a person that she knew well.

That would not be ideal. Either Moondancer knew a hunter, or she was killed by a vampire.
***

Fluttershy slinked back to her house, she hadn't found much of anything in the dumpster. A crumpled up address written quickly, half of Moondancer's glasses, and lots of blood greeted her when all was said and done. Which wasn't a bad haul for a quick look around Moondancer's last place she was found, but she didn't know where she lived. Fluttershy groaned. That meant that she was going to need to go into the library.

"Cheerilee is going to kill me." The Math Teacher/Librarian of Canterlot High was known for making sure that students did not use the computers for personal use. And her definition for "personal use" included everything that didn't involve sanctioned homework. 

Quickly jotting a note to herself and getting out of clothes that smelled like garbage, Fluttershy sat down on her coach in bunny pajamas. She may have been a bloodthirsty vampire, but she still enjoyed animals and cute things- she was just a bit different than what she was before in that she had been trained in the arts of vampirism by the leader of the Canterlot Coven himself- Superintendent Sombra. That had not been a fun experience but she grew to respect his own sense of teaching. 

Angel Bunny hopped up to see his owner and perched himself on her head. Angel was a silly bunny sometimes but Flutteshy didn't mind, he was just showing that he missed her in his own special way. Yawning, Fluttershy turned on her TV and queued up the first of her nature documentaries. The girls might not understand why she was an eco kid, well except for Applejack, but they begrudgingly let the yellow skinned human do what she wanted to do on Fridays. 

She just wished that the Friday marathon started sooner, but what was a vampire to do when she was called to coven business?