Spark

by ThunderChaserCreate

Miss Sparkle Plays Concerto Number 4- Part Two

I followed Twilight's brisk pace through the busy streets, following a familiar route that I had always taken to my practices. To tell the truth, I wasn't even sure why I was following her. She seemed a little crazy from what I'd seen, not to mention we were going to a restricted area where somepony had been murdered.

Nevertheless, I seemed to be staying right on her heels through the city.

Eventually, I had to break the silence. "Why me? I mean, why am I following you?"

She chuckled. "I don't know, you tell me."

"No, no. I mean... well, what I meant to say was..." I struggled to find the right words. "Never mind..."

Twilight shrugged. "Now, you're from Trottingham, right?"

"Well, actually--"

"No, no, no, don't tell me." She skidded to a halt, forcing me to stop short.

Twilight held up a hoof, letting it hover just inches off my coat. she ran this hoof over me, stopping for a generous time on my bowtie. She stepped back, looking pleased with herself. "Upper Coltchester."

I blinked, confused. "That's right. That's amazing! How did you do that?"

"Your bowtie."

I looked down at the pink satin bowtie and whit starched collar around my neck. "What about it?"

She sighed. "Well, two things. First: the way you've tied it. That's a style that is only used on a specific type of bowtie." A magenta glow appeared around the bowtie, removing it easily. "In total, this piece of cloth has three bulges. This kind is made exclusively, lowering its popularity and, therefore, availability. Second:" Twilight flipped the tie, showing me the back. "tag. I could see the edge of the tag and the first few letters of each line of text." Twilight took a closer look. "'Upper Coltchester Couturier. I was spot on, as usual."

"But you couldn't have guessed much from that! It-it could have been Upper Canterlot!" I insisted.

Twilight grinned. "No, it couldn't You have an accent specific to that area." Twilight went back to her brisk trot.

I stood there for just a moment, in awe, before galloping to catch up.

"So... what do I do? If I was to become your 'assistant,' what would I have to do? Would I get paid?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Ah!" We turned a corner, the dome of the Concert Hall finally coming into view.

Twilight made her way to the front door, which had been criss-crossed with caution tape. She took a shaky breath and just stood there, staring through the door to the wide room beyond.

"What? Shouldn't we go in?" I asked, trying to see what she was looking at.

"The tape..." she murmured, not moving.

"The... the caution tape?" I stared at Twilight. She nodded very slowly. "Well, what about it?"

"It's so... crooked."

"What?"

"It's crooked!" she shouted, sounding genuinely upset.

"So what?"

She stuttered. "It's crooked..." she repeated.

"I-it's meant to be that way," I explained.

Twilight sighed, drooping her head. She then perked up. "Guess I'll have to fix it." She used her magic to take off all five pieces of yellow tape, then stuck them back on one by one, making sure they were perfectly straight before she pressed it onto the door frame.

I laughed. "Do you want a level?"

"Oh! Do you have one?"

I sighed. "Look, can you just forget about the tape? You said we had to investigate, so let's investigate!"

"A-almost done..." Twilight whispered, as though she feared her very breath would cause the tape to be uneven. I rolled my eyes, waiting as Twilight gently placed the last piece of tape. "There!"

"Good! Now go through!" A gave her a small push.

"W-w-w-w-wait!" She stuck a hoof in my way. "It's too low. We'll have to use some other entrance..."

I was honestly close to slapping her across the face, but I contained my anger. "Here. I'll fix it," I muttered, tearing off the three on the bottom and stuffing them in a nearby garbage can.

"That works. Good thinking."

"Yeah..." I followed Twilight as she trotted through the now un-obscured door.

Now, I've never been to an actual crime scene. I had read about them once or twice, and even seen some pictures in the paper, but nothing really prepares you for it.

It was exactly the same as when I had been ushered out of yesterday. Instruments were strewn across the stage, cases left in their open and empty positions in the seats. Fluorescent green-yellow tape formed small circles on the floor where Noteworthy's hooves had been, and extended up to create the outline of his slumped, dead body. His cello leaned against the folding chair, a bullet hole still torn through the delicate wood. The sight sent small chills through me.

Police officers milled about, talking in hushed tones. I noticed that almost none of the stallions were clean shaven; they all wore mustaches, beards, of both. This extra-long hair hung over their mouths, so that words were muffled and caused the hair to twitch about. Very few mares were present, but the ones who were seemed a bit wary of the hairy faces.

"Okay, here's what I need you to do:" Twilight jarred me from my thoughts. "You need to show me exactly what happened before I can start looking for clues. You were right next to Noteworthy when he was shot, so you probably have the clearest memory of the event. Go on."

"Um... well, we were practicing like normal--"

"No, don't just tell me. Show me."

"A-alright..." I hauled myself up onto the stage, sitting in the seat to the right of the taped one. "I was sitting right here, we were playing Beetcloven's fourth and everything was pretty normal. Then, I heard this shot. I saw the bullet go through the cello hit him in the chest. There was some shrapnel that flew, I actually got hit right here." I pointed to a spot on my side where I had been grazed by a chunk of the thin wood.

"Did you see the shooter?" Twilight asked, fooling with a trumpet case on the stage. She couldn't seem to get the angle on it quite to her liking, but she wouldn't stop until it was perfectly straight.

"I caught a glimpse of somepony up on the balcony, but it could have been anypony, really," I admitted.

"What makes you say that? It must have been somepony working for the concert hall, right?" Twilight asked.

"Well... no, not exactly. See, the practices are what we like to call 'open house.' We let seniors from the old ponies home come and listen during our practices. Also, if they were a pegasus, they might have been able to fly up through an open window. Let me show you." I trotted towards the set of curling stairs that led to the upper level. Twilight looked concerned.

"Um... how about I stand at the back of the stage, and you show me from here," Twilight suggested.

"Well... it is a crime scene. And you are investigating. What's the matter?"

"It's just a bit... well, high..." she squeaked out.

I rolled my eyes, sighing. "Oh, fine." I walked briskly up the stairs and moved to the window, which was still open a crack. "This window here!" I pointed to it dramatically, shouting at the top of my lungs.

The entire room was silent. I ran to the edge of the balcony, looking down at all of the police and Crime Scene Investigators below.

I could feel my cheeks growing hot as I saw them all staring at me, and slowly sank to the floor.

"Spark!" shouted a familiarly gruff voice. "What the hoof are you doing?"

I peeked through the bars and saw none other than Context Clues making his way to the stage. He started talking to Twilight, and I came back down the stairs.

"Wait! I have a clue!" Twilight shouted suddenly, swerving around Context and coming out to the middle of the stage. "Noteworthy was left-hoofed!" she declared.

"... So what?" I asked.

"So everything! If he was left-hoofed, then the cello was on his right leg. That means his heart was exposed! So, why did the shooter fire through the cello? Unless..." she prompted.

"Unless they weren't aiming for Noteworthy. The shooter was after something else!" I realized.

"Or somepony else," Twilight confirmed. "The question remains: what was his real target?"

Comments

[Gatekeeper]

[pixiestickz]

On that note, I'm really liking this so far! Great job!

[ThunderChaserCreate]

3337082>>3337024
So glad you're enjoying it! Mysteries are tough to write because you can't really wing it. I'm basically the queen of winging it.

[Daemon McRae]

This is proving to be a lot of fun. I look forward to more.

[ThunderChaserCreate]

3337893
Glad you're liking it.
Next chapter will probably take longer, so bear with me.

[Jonny5300394]

This is pretty good. I'm liking it. We always need more detective stories. And more Octavia stories. This is both, thus awesome.

Hopefully in later chapters we'll learn what happened to Spike.

[ThunderChaserCreate]

3354615
He's one of the six friends...

[Jonny5300394]

3355486

Wow, duh. I'm an idiot. xD The Mane 6 minus Twilight is 5 unless Spike is counted.

Don't look at me. Forget I even asked that.

[The Letter J]

So Twilight has merged with the one being in the multiverse who might be more OCD than her. This sounds like fun
Well, as long as we don't dwell too much on some of the rather dark undertones, that is.

I hope you pick this story up again sometime.

[BringBackSonicSatAM]

I'm surprised no one has linked this video yet.