The Life Of D-Pad

by FoxVillain321

Chapter 6: Intrigue

“So, how long do you have to keep the bandages on?” Octavia asks me.

Finally out of the hospital. That was the longest two days I ever experienced. Now I can walk around, but I got to wear these irritating bandages. My abdomen is wrapped up, along with my left upper hind leg, my left foreleg, and my neck. I also have a large bandage on my nose.

“Two weeks.” I answer. “Then I got to go in and get the stiches out.”

“Two weeks ain’t too bad.” Vinyl comments.

“Yeah, but the damn things itch like Tartarus.” I reply.

Octavia rubs noses with me.

“I’m so glad that this is the only thing that happened to you.” She says softly.

I hug her.

“Even if I were to die and have to choose between the perfection of heaven and the vices of this world I’d fly back down in a heart-beat to be with you.” I softly whisper to her.

Vinyl makes a gaging noise.

“What? Too much for you?” I joke.

“No, it’s just so…sappy.” She replies. “Couldn’t you have thought of something, I don’t know…cooler? Like at least 20% cooler?”

“Sometimes the sappy stuff is the best stuff.” I laugh.

Vinyl rolls her eyes. Octavia and I laugh.

We all walk for a while.

“So, have either of you talked to Lance?” I ask.

“Nah, I’ve been too busy making remixes. Sorry.” Vinyl replied.

“And I’ve been busy practicing for a concert in Canterlot.” Octavia apologizes.

“It’s okay, I’ll just go talk to him myself. I’ll talk to you mares later!” I say, flying into the air.

I fly to my house. Well…there’s a gaping hole that’s in the process of being boarded up. Some of the wall is charred up and the door is absent from its hinges. I see a couple pieces of burned and blown up furniture outside.

Quicksilver and Swift Strike are moving a burned chair out of the house.

“Hey! D-Pad’s home!” Swift Strike shouts.

Both pegasi put the chair down and run over to me. They both hug me.

“Easy, bros! My body is still sore.” I chuckle.

“And here’s the badass motherbucker himself! Not even an explosion can keep him down.” Quicksilver jokes.

Lance walks out of the house.

“D-Pad! Glad to see you up on your feet!” He shouts, trotting over to me.

I trot over to him, and we meet half-way of each other.

“Hey, just the stallion I was looking for. So, what have you discovered?” I ask.

“Well, the bad news is that I can’t trace it to anypony yet. No hoof prints, no fur, no hair, no feathers, not even a trace of magic anomalies. There’s little evidence that conclusively reveals the identity of the culprit.” He replies.

“Damnit! So were screwed then?” I grumble.

“Not so fast, there is some very good news. I know what kind of explosive they used.” He comments. “I found some traces of diatomite and nitroglycerin around the blast area. Whoever it was used dynamite.”

“Dynamite? Where would they get that?” I ask.

“I have a hunch that they made it themselves.” He replies. “Usually dynamite is put together very well. While there’s not a lot of explosive residue, there seems to be an overabundance of nitroglycerin. This leads me to believe that they used way too much nitro in their explosive.”

“Nitroglycerin…wait, that explodes when hit to hard right?” I ask.

“More or less.” He replies.

“That would explain why the dynamite exploded when it hit the ground.” I assume.

“That or they used nitroglycerin as some sort of priming explosion to set off the major explosion. Either way, they wanted it to explode when it was knocked to the ground.” Lance adds.

“Well, this is good information and everything, but I would not consider that “very good” information.” I comment.

“I wasn’t finished.” He says. “Three months ago, just when I started my job in Luna’s guard, there were multiple cases I worked on that involved dynamite explosions killing bat-winged pegasi. They all died the same way. Explosion right by the door, blowing them away as they walked inside.”

“Interesting.” I say, grinning.

“Turns out, a couple of various ponies were setting the explosives in houses of bat-winged pegasi. The even killed a couple of new recruits for the guard. We never did find out who exactly made the explosives, but we came pretty damn close. Had a huge list of names and evidence linking them to the crimes.” He adds.

“A list and evidence links? Can I see them?”

A sudden look of uncomfortability appears on his face. He starts sweating and pacing, biting his hoof from time to time.

“I…really don’t think you should see it…” He replies, still sweating.

Oh…shit just got real…

“Somepony tried to kill me.” I growl. “And now I have a possible list of suspects and their links to the crimes, but you won’t let me see it…” I stomp over to him, glaring him in the eyes.

“I. Want. Those. Papers. Now.”

I hear him swallow hard.

“…this is not gonna end well…” he wimpers.

And here comes Lance now! I like is backpack, red and jet black. He lands right next to me and pulls off his backpack.

“Okay, here’s a copy of all the stuff, and don’t ask where I got it. I may or may not get in deep trouble for it.” He says.

I open up his backpack. Wow…look at all those files! I pull out a couple small files and skim through them. Don’t know that pony…neither that one…nope…nope…I pull out a couple more and look through them…Nada…Oh, nice moustache…no…

“Damnit, don’t even know anypony in these files!” I grumble.

I pull out a large file. I start looking through it…Wait…OCTAVIA’S DAD?!?!

“My fillyfriend’s dad was a suspect!?” I ask, bewildered.

“That’s kinda why I didn’t want you to see it…” he mumbles “Yes, Concerto Melody was one of the major perpetrators in this case. One of the biggest lists of evidence I’ve ever seen. Witness testimonies, eye-witnesses, hoofprints, chemical and explosives evidence, hairs from his coat at the scene of the crime, and he openly admitted to setting explosives in some of the houses. And yet we could not place him as one of the bomb-makers.”

“Why not? The evidence looks conclusive to me.” I ask, flipping through the file.

“Something interesting happened…eyewitnesses started forgetting major details. Evidence started to go missing or was forgotten. He was only charged with murder in the third degree.” He replies.

“Well…I’d ask him about it, but I don’t think he’s forgiven me for that fiasco at the restaurant…”

“Wait…you caused the ruckus at that fancy restaurant in Canterlot?” He asks.

“Err…yeah, I’m not proud of that…” I say, rubbing the back of my head with my hoof.

I turn my attention back to the file…Yeah, look at all the evidence…Wait…torture with magic?...deformations?...Unrecognizable victims?...I turn another page to find some photographs of multiple bat-winged pegasi with horrifically twisted bodies and mangled faces…What have you been doing, Mr. Melody?...

“What the buck is all of this?” I whimper.

“That…is one of the biggest pieces of evidence that just showed back up…It went missing right before the trial, and found its way back a few days later…” He replies, obviously perturbed about the subject.

“What in the Tartarus was he doing?” I ask.

“He said he was “getting information.” You can guarantee I did not believe that at all. I don’t know what he was doing, but whatever he was doing wasn’t exactly legal.” He replies

“Do you think he had something to do with the evidence going missing?” I ask.

“Yeah, but I can’t prove it.” He grumbles, nodding. “He was locked up in the royal dungeon until his trial, and even if he used some sort of teleportation or invisibility magic, we would have known, and went on high alert.”

“Do you think he paid someone to take the evidence?” I ask.

“Definitely, but like I said, I can’t prove it.” He says. “I don’t know who he could have paid off that could have infiltrated the evidence room. We have multiple guards keeping watch of the room. You need a key to get in, and when you’re done in the room they give you a pat down, a strip search, and a body cavity search.”

I then picture in my head a guard putting his hoof up a pony’s…

“Ok…eww…” I say, squinting my face in disgust.

Lance laughs at me. He starts putting the files away in his backpack and puts his backpack on.

“Now, I got to get these back to the pony I “borrowed” them from. I’ll be back in a bit!” He shouts, taking off to the skies.

I watch as he fades to nothing but a speck in the sky. I start pacing, thinking to myself.

So, here’s what I know. A few months ago, group of ponies started setting up explosives in various bat-winged pegasi houses, killing a bunch of their targets. The explosive they used is the same as what the pony used to blow up my house. My biggest suspect is Octavia’s dad. He probably is still furious about what happened at the restaurant. But, even with a possible motive and a past in this kind of terrorism, I need more evidence. What I really need is something that links him to the scene of the crime. Hmm…I wonder if…

“I’m back!” Lance shouts, landing beside me.

“Good. I’ve been thinking…” I begin, starting to pace.

“What about?” Lance asks.

“Our main suspect is Concerto Melody. We can’t prove that he was the culprit and we don’t have enough evidence to link him to the crime. What can we do now?” I ask.

“Hmm…”

We both begin pacing. What DO we do? I don’t think beating the Tartarus out of my fillyfriend’s dad for evidence would be the most successful and legal thing to do. Hmm…

“I have an idea…” Lance speaks up.

“What’s your idea?” I ask.

“It’s a bit of a long shot, but hear me out.” He begins. “You and I both suspect that Mr. Melody had something to do with this, right?”

“Right…”

“And more than likely, he’s not going to be willing to admit he had anything to do with setting the explosive in your house, or willing to admit conspiring with anypony to set the explosive in your house, right?” He adds.

“Right…”

“So, here’s my idea...leverage.” He says.

“Leverage?” I ask.

“If we get some dirt on Mr. Melody, we could use it to get him to “spill the beans” as the saying goes.” He states.

“Wait…you want to get dirt on him by finding out how he had his evidence to his trial go missing. Am I correct in assuming this?” I ask.

He nods.

“That’s more than a long shot…That’s a shot from half the way across Equestria.” I joke.

“I know…but I’ve been thinking as I’ve been flying back and forth. I first thought whoever took the evidence would have to be a very powerful unicorn. Considering that the evidence mysteriously disappeared, I first thought magic had to be involved. However after further thinking, I have also concluded that maybe the person who took the evidence was so prestigious and trustworthy that the guards felt that they did not need to check that they took evidence. Then it hit me…maybe the pony that took the evidence was both…only more so…” He explains

“Only more so…what does that mean?” I ask.

“They may not be just a unicorn…”

He looks up towards the city of Canterlot. I follow his gaze towards the city.

“Wait…”

My eyes widen.

“You don’t mean…”

He nods.

“…Princess Celestia…”