Retirement Blues
By Alaborn
Standard disclaimer: This is a not for profit fan work. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro, Inc. I make no claim to any copyrighted material mentioned herein.
Epilogue: Case Closed
Gold Watch nuzzled his wife. She met him with a kiss. “I know that look,” she said. “You’re planning something.”
“You know, we didn’t really talk about a honeymoon,” Gold Watch said. “I found a nice little resort in San Caballo. Warm air, whirlpools, a full spa, gourmet restaurants....”
“You know I don’t need anything like that,” Green Tea said. “The only thing that matters is that I’m with you.”
Gold Watch pulled her close. “And I’m with you.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Gold Watch smiled. Green Tea understood, just like Blue Opal had. He could face the worst scum of Equestria during the day, as long as he had somepony to love at night. A simple embrace washed away all the negative feelings.
“Yes. But it didn’t get any easier.”
Two days prior, Gold Watch had joined several guards and police officers in the dungeon under Canterlot Castle. They stood in an observation chamber, where an enchanted mirror showed the image of a windowless cell, illuminated by magical light.
A single mare resided in the cell, looking different from when she had been captured. The dye was scrubbed out of her coat, returning it to its natural white color. Without the disguise, her cutie mark was revealed to be seven cloudberries.
Her eyes were back to normal as well. Gold Watch had suggested checking her for curse magic, knowing what Poison Joke had done to Sharp Eye. Sure enough, the condition of her eyes was not natural.
“Where is she being held, Chief?” Gold Watch asked.
“You don’t need to call me Chief anymore, Chief,” he replied.
“Sorry, you’ll always be Chief to me. And you didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’t know the answer. All I know is that nopony enters that part of the dungeon unless Princess Celestia is magically observing it.”
“It’s rare to have her take a personal interest in a case.”
“This mare hurt her little ponies. Not even she could hide the fury in her eyes,” the chief said.
“No wonder she authorized mind reading.” In Gold Watch’s career, he could think of fewer than ten cases where Princess Celestia allowed the normally forbidden magic of mind reading to be used on a suspect.
“That poor stallion, though. Her mind was a mess. Worst he had ever seen.”
Gold Watch nodded; he had read the report. The spell only captured what the subject believed, and the mare’s mind was a confused jumble of two lives. It was as if she tried to convince herself that she was Ditzy Doo, and that she had a daughter named Dinky Doo, while trying to erase her past as Berry Sky of Cirrusburg. “That just means we cops need to do our work.”
Around the room, the police officers nodded in agreement.
“So what have we learned from our investigations?” Gold Watch asked. “Cirrusburg?”
“We’ve interviewed the major figures in Berry Sky’s life, confirming the details in her memory,” said the police chief from the cloud city near Fillydelphia. “She was born to Summer Sky and Berry Heart. Her mother grew cloudberries, and she found her special talent in the same field. At the age of eighteen, she married Equinox, a stallion from a prominent family.
“By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one, but after trying to have a foal, Berry Sky learned she was barren. Equinox wanted an heir by blood, so he divorced her. And that broke Berry Sky’s heart.”
“Broke her mind, too,” Gold Watch said.
“In all likelihood. Shortly after the divorce, Berry Sky disappeared. Nopony knew where she went. Her parents even filed a missing ponies report, but without evidence of foul play, there was nothing we could do.”
Gold Watch turned to a plum mare. “What did you learn in San Caballo?”
“Not much. A mare matching her description worked on the weather team for about two years, but she called herself Clear Sky. The ponies who worked with her didn’t know her well, but they do recall seeing her with Ditzy Doo. That mare was working at a soda shop.”
“Cloudsdale?”
“Ditzy Doo’s mother died when she was a toddler, so she was raised by her father for most of her life. He worked in maintenance at the weather factory. By all accounts, he loved his daughter, but he couldn’t afford things like flight tutoring or treatment for her eyes. He died in an accident when she was fourteen, and she spent the rest of her foalhood in an orphanage. As soon as she could leave, she did, ending up in San Caballo. The rest we saw in Berry Sky’s memories.”
“Berry Sky befriended Ditzy Doo, a mare with no family and few friends, learning enough about her to fool ponies who had met her in the past,” Gold Watch said. “It’s not clear how she learned about Morning Sun and Shining Star, but she fixated on their newborn foal. And so she planned her crimes. Three murders and one foalnapping.”
“But why Ponyville, Gold Watch?” his old chief asked.
“Ponyville is an earth pony town by founding, but it’s known as a town that embraces all kinds of ponies. A pegasus mare with a unicorn daughter wouldn’t be seen as unusual. Plus, it’s known as the town where nothing happens.”
“How’s that been working out for you, Gold Watch?”
“About as good as the coffee at the Canterlot police station.”
A subdued laughter filled the room.
“So you’re going to San Caballo to investigate the murder of Ditzy Doo?” Green Tea said.
Gold Watch nodded. “We know from her memories that she took her on a picnic by the river. But that’s a lot of terrain to cover.”
“Do you think Princess Celestia will show her mercy? Because of her mental state?”
He shook his head. “Her lawyer will plead for mercy, but I don’t think she will escape being banished to the sun.”
Green Tea held her husband tightly. “Thank you for letting me help you bear this burden, Gold Watch.”
“And thank you for understanding.”
Four days. For four days, Gold Watch trudged through marshy terrain near the San Caballo river. All they had to go by was a vague memory, of a picnic, followed by Berry Sky luring Ditzy Doo into the thick marsh grasses. His only company was a group of San Caballo’s finest, and one unpleasant unicorn, who did nothing but complain about his special talent. His ability to find minerals couldn’t be used to find gems, but it could find other things.
Like the minerals in bones.
“Emeralds are known to be found in this area. Sure would be nice if I could find them. Would make a lot of ponies happy,” the unicorn complained.
“Please just check this bog,” Gold Watch said. They started with what seemed like the most logical picnic sites, and used the impressions picked up by the spell to find terrain that looked right. But who knew if the grasses were the same as nine years prior?
“I’m sensing something.” The unicorn concentrated. “It’s the right minerals, and the right size.”
“Okay. Send up the flare.”
Soon, dozens of officers were attacking the crime scene with shovels. Ponies combined their magic to pull the water out of the soil, enabling the digging.
It took until well past dusk, but when the remains were recovered, the evidence was clear. This was a pegasus mare, whose skull showed signs of the same blunt force trauma as Berry Sky remembered inflicting.
That night, Gold Watch held Green Tea tight, until sleep finally claimed him.