//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 - Murder in the Woods // Story: Shadow Men: Where Light Can't Touch // by DragonsHeart //------------------------------// The glow of the sun has long since dispersed the darkness and now shines through the window of Twilight’s room, awakening her. She groans as she wakes up and slowly crawls out of bed. She notices Spike isn’t in his basket, but that doesn’t worry Twilight, he must of got up to make breakfast. Twilight yawns and stretches, she then checks herself out in her vanity mirror. She sighs when she sees the slight bags under her eyes. She didn’t really have a good sleep last night. Kind of hard with the thought of what she has got locked in the basement and the possibility of it escaping. After quickly combing her hair, she trots out of her room and heads downstairs, she then hears somepony knock on her front door. “I’ll get it, Spike!” she yells, not bothering to wait for a response. Twilight quickly trots up to the door and opens it, only to find somepony she doesn’t want to see… ever. “Good morning, Princess,” says the familiar and unwanted sight of Corporal Jack Ripper, Homicide, with his annoying coltney accent, “You remember me, right?” “How can I forget,” Twilight sighs, frowning slightly, “Can I help you with something?” “Captain Iron-Sight sent me to get ya,” he says, pointing towards the Everfree, “He thought you would want to know that there has been a murder nearby, with you being the local princess and all.” “What!” Twilight says, horrified and quickly rushing out the door, “Take me there at once!” “You wish is my command, princess,” he smirks, before heading for the forest, “But I warn you, it ain’t pretty.” “Spike! I’ll be going out for a while!” Twilight yells back inside, before closing the door. Once again not waiting for response. The two head for the forest with Twilight keeping a fair distance from the corporal. It doesn’t take long to get there, and they soon reach the forest. They find Captain Iron-Sight talking with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, by the forest edge near Apple Aches. Rainbow Dash quickly notices Twilight and gives her a wave, “Morning, Twilight!” “Morning,” adds Applejack, also waving. “Good morning, Princess Twilight,” says Iron-Sight, giving a polite bow, “Sorry to have to get you.” “It’s no problem,” Twilight says, waving it off, “So what happened?” “Murder is what happened,” Iron-Sight says, seriously, “Last night two stallions were killed by an unknown assailant, or assailants.” “How were they killed?” Applejack asks, worried by the idea of murder being so close to the her home. Iron-Sight opens his mouth to answer when a rustling behind him catches their attention. He and the girls quickly turns and faces the forest, they are relieved when it just turns out to be another member of homicide coming out of the forest. “Sir!” the homicide member says, performing a salute. “Speak officer,” Iron-Sight says, addressing the homicide member. “The pathway is now clear, sir, we can now take you, the princess, and company, to the murder sight, sir!” he explains, throwing another salute. “Good work, officer,” Iron-Sight says nodding, he then turns back towards the girls, “We can continue our talk when we get to the sight, it will be easier there.” “Ok, sure,” nods Twilight, not totally looking forward to seeing more dead bodies. Iron-Sight turns back to the homicide officer, “I will lead with Corporeal Jack Ripper and you will cover the rear,” he orders, walking past him. “Yes, sir!” he says, saluting and standing to attention while he waits for everypony to pass him. As Jack Ripper passes him to catch up with Iron-Sight, he stops suddenly in front of the officer and turns to him, smirking, “Lucky… You get to be in the rear, and as a extra bonus, get to look at all the nice rears!” “What! I would never!” he says, his face going red and slightly losing his stance. “You just keep telling yourself that,” smirks Jack, running off to catch up with Iron-Sight. The stallion continues to stand there, looking flustered and embarrassed until Twilight walks up and pats his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Jack is just being a arse,” Twilight says, smiling, “I trust you to not stare at my flank and do your job properly.” “Thank you for your trust, princess,” the homicide officer says, calming down, “It’s my first day as a member of homicide and I am kind of nervous to be guarding a princess on my first day.” “And you're doing fine,” Twilight says, smiling before walking off. Applejack just gives a friendly nod as she passes, but Rainbow Dash stops. “Yeah, don’t worry about you are doing fine,” smiles Rainbow Dash, before suddenly leaning in. “Plus if you want to stare at a flank you can look at mine,” smirks Rainbow Dash, giving him a playful wink, before following her friends. His blush returns... with a vengeance! “Can you please hurry up,” calls Iron-Sight, getting impatient by how long it is taking. “Yeah, hurry up slackers!” yells a smirking Jack, standing by Iron-Sight side. “Don’t start, Jack!” Iron-Sight warns, pointing a hoof at the smirking Corporal. “Ok, we are ready, let’s go,” Twilight says, walking up to Iron-Sight and then glaring at the still smirking Jack. “Follow me then,” Iron-Sight says, walking into the forest with Jack by his side. They walk through the forest for quite a while. Like usual it is dark, humid, spooky and all around just a bad and scary place to be in. But it’s hard to imagine a murder happening here, yes you can imagine somepony getting killed here, but getting murdered? You would think there would be better places to kill somepony. They walk through the forest for at least half an hour, and are pretty deep when they finally reach their destination. “We’re here,” Iron-Sight states, as they pass two guards patrolling the area, he then turns to the homicide officer that is following them, “You stay here and wait until we need to go back to Ponyville.” “Yes, sir!” he says, standing to attention. “We are pretty deep into the forest,” Twilight says, wiping the sweat off her brow, “How did you find out somepony was murdered here?” “A pegasus was flying over the forest and noticed the timberwolves, eating what looked like ponies and reported it to the guards. Anyway the bodies are over here,” he says, as he passes through a bush, that is blocking their vision. “I’ll warn you again, it ain’t pretty,” smirks Jack, before following his Captain through the bush. The girls follow them through, gasping at the sight before them. What lay before them is two ponies bodies, both of which look like they have been devoured, for large amounts of their flesh have been ripped off. One of them has been decapitated and their wings ripped off. It is a gruesome sight. “I think I’m going to hurl!” Rainbow Dash says, holding her hoof over her mouth. “They look like they’ve been eaten!” Twilight says, staring horrified at the mangled and slight devoured corpses. “Yeah, by Timberwolves,” Applejack says, shaking her head. She has seen this before but to animals not to other ponies, “I thought you said they were murdered? They look these two just have been met their ends with a Timberwolves attack.” “Look, we would love to write this off as a Timberwolves attack, but we can’t,” sighs Jack, rolling his eyes. “Why?” Twilight asks, confused. “Like Jack said, we can’t, because the Timberwolves came after they were killed,” explains Iron-Sight, approaching the bodies. “How can you tell?” Rainbow Dash asks, trying to see if anything is weird about the bodies… while also trying not to be sick. “Jack discovered it, so he can explain it,” suggests Iron-Sight, looking at Jack. “I would be delighted, gov,” Jack smirks, walking over the dead ponies. “First off, this one here,” he says, pointing to the decapitated one, “He’s a pegasus and the amount of them killed by Timberwolves are basically nil and the ones that are, are usually foals. Also his head has been removed, a clear sign of assault…” “Couldn’t a timberwolf just of ripped it off?” Rainbow Dash interrupts, crossing her front hooves. “A strong timberwolf might be able to rip off a head, true, but no timberwolf can slice off a head!” Jack states, pointing to the dead pony’s stump. Twilight, being a bit brave, approaches the dead body and looks at the its stump, the sight of which nearly causing Twilight to be sick, but she can’t find any evidence of being sliced off, actually it looks quite chewed. “I can’t see anything Jack?” she says, shaking her head. “You gotta look at the bone, Princess,” suggests Jack, smirking, pointing at the spine that is sticking out of the neck. Then Twilight sees it, the vertebrae sticking out of the neck has been cleanly cut through the middle! “It has been cut!” Twilight exclaims, shocked that she didn’t see it before. “It’s not the only proof we have,” Jack says, pointing to a nearby tree, where two pieces of a spear stick out of the ground beside it, “He was at one point pinned to the ground by his wings with those spears, but the timberwolves must’ve ripped him off cause bits of his wings were left behind.” “Now that is nasty,” notes Applejack, horrified. “Now the second body,” Jack continues, seeming like he's enjoying this, “He was easy to figure out. Multiple sharp objects stabbed through the head. His dead body was then thrown through this fire,” he points to the remains of a fire, “causing it to extinguish, later letting the timberwolves approach.” “So what killed them?” asks Applejack, concerned. “Don’t know,” Jack shrugs, before then smirking, “Maybe a crazed granny with her knitting set and a butcher's knife, who also likes to feed dangerous animals.” “Jack, I told you not to mention that case again,” sighs Iron-Sight, rubbing his forehead. “Couldn’t a creature have done this?” asks Rainbow Dash, trying very hard not ask about the previous question, “I mean a lot of weird creatures live in the Everfree.” “I guess we can’t rule out the possibility…” mutters Iron-Sight, he then turns to Twilight, “Do you know of any such creature, Princess?” Twilight closes her eyes and thinks about it. Something does comes to mind, a clawed hand, each claw longer than a normal pony's leg, sharper than a sword and more pointed than a needle, gripping around a friend’s hoof… “I think I have an idea,” Twilight says, opening her eyes. “Really, what?” Iron-Sight says, surprised that she found a answers so quickly. “I have a feeling that it’s Sorrow,” sighs Twilight, to the surprise of her friends and the confusion of Homicide members. “But wouldn’t that mean she escaped Twilight?” Applejack says, nervously. “After all the trouble we went to capture her,” whines Rainbow Dash, facehoofing. “I think the more important part is that she escaped,” Applejack says, glaring Rainbow Dash. “Excuse me, ladies, if you don’t mind me asking but… who the buck is Sorrow?” interrupts Jack, looking confused and a bit annoyed. Twilight looks around makes sure no other ponies are in earshot, when she sees that is the case, she becken everypony to come close. “I can tell you only if you promise to keep it a secret,” warns Twilight, lowering her voice. “I promise on my honor as Captain of Homicide,” Iron-Sight says, bowing slightly. “What about him?” Twilight asks, looking at Jack Ripper. “I promise of my honor as a complete bastard,” Jack smirks, throwing a mock salute. Twilight throws an unimpressed glance at Iron-Sight. “Despite what he just said he is actually very trustworthy,” Iron-Sight sighs, facehoofing. “Ok, but if you tell anypony I will tell Celestia,” warns Twilight, glaring at them. “Oh scary,” smirks Jack, showing mock horror. “Shut it, Jack,” warns Iron-Sight, looking like he’s about to hit Jack. “Me and my friends captured the thing that destroyed the university,” Twilight whispers, causing everypony to lean in. Both Jack and Iron-Sight eyes widen in surprise. “And it’s called Sorrow?” Iron-Sight whispers back. “Sort of,” Twilight answers, before noticing their confused expressions, “It’s hard to explain, but it has claws that I think could have inflicted the wounds you mentioned.” “But if it did do this than it has escaped,” adds Rainbow Dash, crossing her hooves again. “I would've noticed if it escaped,” Twilight says, defensively. “Princess, stop giving us mixed messages,” sighs Jack, scratching her head, “Did it do it or not?” “We’ll have to check out my basement to find out,” Twilight says, shaking her head. “Argh, does that mean we have to walk all the way back to town,” groans Jack, stomping his hoof in frustration. “Fraid so, Jack,” answers Iron-Sight, he then waves over another officer, “We are going back to town to follow a lead, finish up things up here!” “Yes sir!” he answers, saluting. “What needs finishing?” Applejack asks, as they start to leave. “For one we still need to figure out who they are, but we have some leads in that regard and are following them up,” explains Iron-Sight, leading them out, “Also we are trying to track down the poor stallion's head. We think a Timberwolf ran off with it when we chased them off, and we got to get the bodies back to base to be properly examined.” They reach the edge of the crime scene and meet up again with the officer who came with them, who is still waiting for them to return. “All done sir?” he asks, throwing a salute. “Yes, Officer Fawkes, we can head back to town now,” Iron-Sight says, walking ahead with Jack beside him, the girls behind him and Officer Fawkes behind them, like before. After a while Jack speaks up. “If you mind boss, I think I will fly the rest of the way and keep watch,” Jack says, spreading his wings. “If you must, Jack,” sighs Iron-Sight, watching as Jack suddenly takes off, disappearing above the trees. “I didn’t notice Jack was a pegasus,” Twilight says, surprised, though she has never really looked. “He prefers to walk,” Iron-Sight states, smiling slightly. “That’s weird,” Rainbow Dash says, wondering why a pegasus would rather walk than fly. “Argh, this forest is thick!” Iron-Sight complains, knocking away a branch, “Sometimes I wish I could fly like Jack.” “Why is someone like Jack in the guard anyway,” Applejack asks, ducking under the branch, “He seems almost like a criminal himself sometimes.” “That is because he sort of is,” Iron-Sight explains, smirking, “He has the mind of a master criminal, but he knows the differences between right and wrong, and chooses right. He is extremely valuable to any investigation and that is why he is a Corporal, even if he does piss everypony off.” “So he can think like a criminal?” Rainbow Dash asks, wondering what that exactly means. “Yeah, it means he can work out a criminal’s motive, its reasons and other stuff like that, he’s also very good at working out what a criminal next move would be,” Iron-Sight continues to explain, “I’m just glad he is on our side, he would be a real nightmare as a criminal.” The girls and Iron-Sight continue to talk about Homicide the rest of the way back to town, but soon the forest starts to thin, and they are soon out of the forest. But when they do they see Jack talking to a very upset Rarity. “I said calm down miss,” Jack says, trying to calm down upset pony, “Your friends will be back soon, now if you can tell me...” But before Jack can continue Rarity sees her friends leaving the forest and rushes past Jack. As she approaches they can see Rarity’s mascara is in a mess and her eyes are red and puffy. “Twilight, oh Twilight, it’s awful *sniff*,” Rarity sobs, as she reaches Twilight, “It’s Spike, he..*sniff* he…” “Spike? What’s happened to Spike!?” Twilight asks, eyes wide with worry and some fear as panic enters. “He… HE HAS BEEN KILLED!!”