Day 2: Investigation: Reunited
February 13, 4:34PM
Ponyville
???
"I can't believe you dropped the evidence again." Twilight said to Sweetie Belle, who was riding on her back. "That ate more time then I'd like to give up."
"Hey, I have small hooves and weak magic. Give me a break." Sweetie Belle rebutted.
After a long flight back from Pinkie's home town, Twilight Sparkle and Sweetie Belle had returned to Ponyville. They didn't come back home with much physical evidence, but they learned a lot nonetheless. Twilight even found a book that still had a lot more information for her to read.
It wasn't just the book that Twilight had. Before she left, she hired Star Cestus to look for any other evidence to help her case. Because of this, the first thing she planned to do after returning home was to meet up with Cestus to see what he had managed to dig up. As they were flying, Sweetie Belle was looking down below to watch Equestria from a pegasi's point of view, but she found something of great importance.
"TWILIGHT! GO DOWN!" Sweetie Belle screamed.
"Please don't tell me you dropped my evidence again." Twilight asked
"No! Look down! It's Masquerade!"
"What!?"
Just as Sweetie Belle said, the serial killer that they were looking for, Masquerade, was right below them. Masquerade, as well as another pony lying on the ground, were right by an entrance to the Everfree Forest. Masquerade was right over the other pony, so it was impossible to tell who he was with and Twilight was too high up to tell what was going on, but none of that mattered. As soon as Twilight saw the grey pegasus, she allowed her anger to take hold of her and nose dived down to him.
"MASQUERADE!!!" Twilight foolishly screamed at the top of her lungs.
As soon as Masquerade heard Twilight up above him, he quickly jumped flew back several feet to keep away from Twilight. When Twilight landed and met the villainous pony face-to-face, she almost missed the pony that was right next to her. Laying down on the ground where Masquerade was before was the blue prosecutor himself, Hope Ray.
"Hope! Are you okay?"
He couldn't say a word, but after hearing a grunt from the prosecutor, Twilight knew that Hope Ray was alright. He looked hurt, but alive.
"Hey, royal pain!" Masquerade called out. As soon as Twilight and Sweetie Belle turned his head, he turned around and began to spank his flank at the girls to mock them. "I hope Pinkie liked prison food! Hahaha!"
After taunting Twilight, Masquerade took off and flew into the Everfree Forest, but Twilight wasn't willing to let him out of her sight.
"Hang on tight, Sweetie Belle. This will be intense." Twilight warned.
"What about him?" Sweetie Belle asked as she pointed to Hope.
"He'll be fine. He's one of our enemies anyway."
With all of her attention focused on Masquerade, Twilight zoomed into the Everfree Forest at her top speed while Sweetie Belle was barely able to hang on as her princess flew them into the forest. Masquerade didn't fly very fast at first, but as soon as he saw Twilight tailgating him, he picked up the pace.
The two fliers flew past many obstacles. Trees, rocks, even a few creatures native to the forest, but neither one of them allowed themselves to crash and kept moving at a consistent pace. Twilight tried to fire beams of magic at Masquerade to slow him down, but she wasn't able to land a direct hit. After several failed shots, her aim began to get sharper and sharper, getting closer and closer to shooting Masquerade down.
When it appeared that he was going to get caught, Masquerade made a quick right turn and escaped Twilight's line of sight. In response, Twilight stopped the high-speed chase so that she could look around to find him.
Where did he go?
"AAAHHH!"
In a flash, Twilight felt it when Sweetie Belle was yanked off of her back. She then saw Masquerade flying away as she carried Sweetie Belle away, prompting Twilight to keep chasing after him. Why he went and kidnapped Sweetie belle became very clear as soon as he brought Twilight to a small clearing. Right when it looked like Twilight was going to catch Masquerade and turn him in, he pulled out a weapon and pointed it at Sweetie Belle's throat. A quick look convinced Twilight that it was one of the black daggers.
"You let go of her!" Twilight ordered as she started to charge magic up in her horn.
"Now now, princess. I've already stuck one of these babies into one kid. Don't think i'd hesitate with another."
Twilight would've loved nothing more then to blast Masquerade with every ounce of magic in her body. Unfortunately, he had Sweetie Belle at knife-point, who was completely immobilized by fear, so Twilight couldn't take any risks. After powering down her horn, she began to talk to Masquerade.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting so many ponies?" Twilight asked.
"Why? Why, to get rid of Pinkie Pie, of course. It's a very simple goal." Masquerade answered with a smile.
"You killed three innocent ponies just so you could have Pinkie arrested?
"Arrested AND convicted." Masquerade corrected. "If you're going to be a fake defense attorney, at least get your facts straight."
Twilight was disgusted by the monster she was talking too. She had a hard time comprehending the fact that he was even a pony. If it weren't for the fact that he still had Sweetie Belle, she would've lost control of herself.
"I have to say, Princess, you came by much earlier then I expected. You almost ruined my plans. I was actually lucky that I got everything ready on time."
"Why? What more could you possibly be trying to do?" Twilight asked, but she almost didn't want to know the answer.
"Well for starters, this!"
After putting his dagger away, Masquerade flew back up into the air while keeping a strong grip on Sweetie Belle. After he got up high enough, he began to spin around and around until he couldn't go any faster. When he reached the peak of his speed, he released Sweetie Belle from his grip, sending her flying into the opposite direction, who then screamed at the top of her lungs. For that moment only, Twilight completely forgot about the fact that she was chasing after a murderer.
"SWEETIE BELLE!"
To keep the number of injured fillies to a minimum, Twilight chased after the falling Sweetie Belle as fast as her wings could move her. She was tossed awfully far, but Twilight had long since mastered the use of her wings, not that bad wings would've been a good excuse for letting a filly fall to her death. The sound of Sweetie Belle's scream alone gave Twilight all the more reason to catch her.
But, after a crash landing from Twilight who practically had to slide on the ground, she succeeded in catching Sweetie Belle, thus saving her life. After realizing she was safe, the filly smiled, jumped up, and gave Twilight a well deserved hug.
"You saved me! Twilight, you are now officially best princess!"
Oooh, I hope she doesn't say that around Princess Celestia. Twilight thought with unease. She wanted to think happy thoughts after saving Sweetie Belle, but she couldn't, especially after she found a wound on one of her wings. "Dang it. I think we lost Masquerade. I don't think I have what it takes to chase after him again like I did before."
"Can you still fly out of the forest?"
"I think, but I should probably be careful. Ugh..."
After letting Sweetie Belle back on her back, Twilight began to fly back into the air, but with great effort. She was able to slowly bring them both back out of the forest, but she wasn't able to keep airborne very well. The crash-landing injured her wing, so she couldn't fly nearly as fast as she did moments before.
Regardless, Twilight was able to fly out of the forest and landed safely at the entrance, right by where she found Hope and Masquerade. Hope had since then managed to get back onto his hooves too, but he was still disoriented. This at least gave Twilight somepony to talk to.
"Prosecutor Hope!" Twilight called out as she ran to him.
"Huh? What?" Hope said as he turned to Twilight. "Oh! Princess Twilight! Ugh...You wouldn't happen to know what just happened, would you?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing. Did you see Masquerade?"
Hope still looked dizzy, so he had to process what he had heard. "Mask...Demasque?"
Oh wait, he wouldn't know who that is. Twilight realized. "Never mind. Do you at least know why you're out here?"
"Oh! I do remember that. I was told to meet Inspector Cestus out here." Hope explained, happy that he was able to remember his meeting, but the memory made him rub the back of his head. "In fact, I think I got hit in the head as soon as I saw him."
Oh no. I hope he hasn't.... Twilight thought, fearing the worst case scenario. "We need to find him! Quickly!"
"Ughhh..."
"AHHH!" Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and Hope all shouted together.
Nearby the three ponies, there was a large bush that suddenly began to make moaning and groaning sounds as it began to shake. Before long, the source of the pain sounds, a familiar red stallion, made it's way out of the bush, stumbling as he took each step.
"Ow...did I lose my last boxing match?" The disoriented Cestus said as he held his head with his hoof.
"Cestus! Boy, I was worried for a moment there." Twilight said with relief. "What happened to you?"
"Agh...apples...tasers...I think there was something about a ladder." Cestus tried to answer, but he had trouble remembering anything. "Oh, and I think I got punched in the head."
"Let's tale you to Dr. Ratchet." Hope suggested. "We should make sure you're technically alive. Princess Twilight, could you help me bring him to the hospital?"
While Twilight's wings took a hit, her horn was still fully powered and healthy, allowed her to levitate Cestus off the ground, making it easy for her to carry him to Ponyville. Twilight could tell that Cestus had a very rough day before she came back to Ponyville, especially since she bribed him to help her investigation, so to help him to the hospital was the least she could do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 13, 5:19PM
Ponyville Hospital
Cestus's room
After Cestus was brought into a vacant hospital room, he was given a soft bed and a quiet place to rest his weary head. As he was resting and waiting for Dr. Ratchet to come to his room, Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and Hope had a conversation with another doctor. Or at least they thought the hippogriff in the room was a doctor.
"Don't worry, you're highness. He just needs plenty of bed rest and water and he'll be just fine."
Twilight sighed in relief when she heard her friend would be alright. "Thank you, Doctor Quill. Do you know what exactly happened to him?"
"Hmm...a good question. I should probably order for an autopsy."
"AUTOPSY!?" Sweetie Belle shouted in horror, but after a thought went into her head, she realized something. "Wait, isn't Mr. Cestus alive?"
"Hey...wait a second..." Cestus said as he gave a good long stare at the hippogriff. "Aren't you that fake doctor I met earlier today?"
"Huh? Oh, it's you! Well, you see...
The hippogriff began to think about what he should've said to Hope, but after thinking very carefully, instead of giving an actual answer to Cestus, he turned around, opened the door, and ran right out of the room. It all happened so fast that nopony in the room really understood what the hay had happened. Twilight in particular had the most confused look on her face.
So....that wasn't a doctor?
"YOU! GET BACK HERE!" Screamed a grouchy sounding voice. "GAH!!!"
As twilight and the rest of the group could tell, the real doctor, Auto Ratchet, wasn't able to catch up with the fake. As he had no other pony to chase after, he decided to take care of business he had with Cestus, bringing in an x-ray on his way into the room.
"Alright Cestus." Ratchet said. "It seems you've been electrocuted at some point and suffered a concussion from a blow to the head. But, I've seen you take abuse to the face, so I see no reason for you to be taking up a bed."
"Come on, Doc! My head is still sore." Cestus argued.
In response, Ratchet reached into his coat pocket, took out a bandage, and slapped it onto Cestus's cheek. "There, you're cured. Want me to kiss your boo-boo too?"
I think it would be smart if I didn't show him the boo-boo on my wing. Twilight thought wisely.
"Can you at least promise me you're treating Scootaloo better then you're treating me?" Cestus asked.
"Scoota-who?" Ratchet asked.
"Little orange filly, pegasus, has a scooter, adorable, but looks like a boy..."
"Cestus, you were the only one we found at the Everfree Forest." Twilight explained. "How do you even know her?"
"Oh, well that's an interesting story. The kid actually got past the security around the barn and forced me to let her hang around me. She helped me find evidence and..." As Cestus remembered the things she did with Scootaloo, he realized a possible explanation for what happened to her due to the last thing that happened to him. "Oh no! She and I were attacked by the real killer!"
"WHAT!?" Twilight shouted in shock.
"No...not Scootaloo too." Sweetie Belle said tearfully.
"Dagnabbit, Star!" Ratchet said angrily.
"I knew I shouldn't have let that kid stay with you." Hope said with a very disappointed look on his face.
I don't believe this. On his quest to frame Pinkie Pie, Masquerade has now caused harm to all three of the cutie mark crusaders. What kind of a monster is he? Twilight asked herself.
In the midst of the chaos, several police officers, who were guarding Cestus's room at the time, charged in to check out what was going on. When the officers entered, Cestus, despite still having the headache, jumped out of his bed to talk to his peers.
"Sir! Is everything alright?" One officer asked.
"Guys, I have a new job for you and everypony else! The pony who attacked me had also kidnapped a pal of mine! Once I describe her for you, I want to have every one of you guys to go out their and find her!"
While Cestus was giving his description of Scootaloo to one of the officers, the other walked over to Hope Ray to give a letter, which he then opened up and began to read. During this time, Twilight noticed that Sweetie Belle looked more depressed then ever. It was easy to understand since both of her best friends became victims to Masquerade.
"Trust me, Sweetie Belle. Once this is over, all three of you be back together. Once Apple Bloom checks out, we'll even have our Twilight Time again."
Even Twilight's motivational speech couldn't help Sweetie Belle. at that point. One by one, Sweetie Belle was losing her friends. "I'm starting to wonder if he can take anything else from out of my life. You don't think Rarity will be next, do you?"
"Have faith in me. I promise that everything that has been taken from you will be brought back. I guarantee it."
Sweetie Belle was still upset and didn't show much improvement, but she agreed to keep hoping for the best and have faith in Twilight. She would love nothing more then to see both of her friends in the same room smiling again and Twilight was her best chance to get that.
"That should be about it." Cestus said as he finished his description of Scootaloo. "Now spread the word and help me find her!"
"Sir, yes sir!"
OBJECTION!
"Wait a second, Inspector!" Hope said to stop Cestus. "I need a moment of your time."
Cestus wanted to go and look for Scootaloo, but since his boss needed him, his hooves were tied, so he had to let his men go and look for Scootaloo without him. Twilight noticed that Hope wasn't happy with something, so she tried to leave the room too.
"Just a second, Princess. This concerns you too." Hope explained. He then walked over to Cestus to show him the letter he received. "Inspector, what's the meaning of this?"
With her magic, Twilight took the letter from Hope and began to read it for them all. "Prosecutor Hope Ray. As someone who supports your cause, I feel the need to warn you that Star Cestus, the head of your investigation..." As Twilight read the last bit, she paused. The began to sweat bullets when she realized what was on the letter. "...the head of your investigation has been helping the defense, Twilight Sparkle."
"I thought your behavior in my make-shift office was suspicious. is this why you tried to suggest the defendant was not guilty?"
"Now hold on! That letter must've been sent from the guy who attacked me, pal!" Cestus argued.
"Answer the question. Have you been helping the defense?"
Hope was furious at Cestus, and as both a prosecutor and Cestus's boss, he wasn't willing to let Cestus go until he knew the truth. Since Twilight didn't want Cestus to get into too much trouble and that it was inevitable that the truth would be spilt, she spoke up.
"It's true. Star Cestus has been helping me. He's a good friend of mine and I asked him to help me." Twilight explained. Cestus and Sweetie Belle even noticed that she was trying not to bring up the bribery. "I was the one who had him gather up evidence to help Pinkie, so you can blame me for anything he has done."
Sweetie Belle was happy when she saw Twilight help Cestus the way she did. Cestus was touched that Twilight would defend him and try to take the fall. Hope, however, felt nothing from the sentiment, as he was beyond angry with both Twilight Sparkle and Star Cestus..
"Inspector Cestus, as my subordinate for this case, you had to show your loyalty to not just me, but the city of Canterlot and Princess Celestia, to whom you made an oath to work obediently for, but you instead abandoned that oath. If you couldn't take that seriously, then I have no further use for you."
After getting scolded, Cestus looked to the ground in shame, acknowledging that he did commit a treasonous act to the Canterlot Police force for something like money. The only thing he was grateful for was that Hope didn't know about the money, but that wasn't enough to cheer him up.
"As for you Princess Twilight, it's bad enough that you tried to interfere and made a mockery of a profession that is law by pretending to be an attorney, but now your influence has caused me to doubt Canterlot's best officer and, from what I've heard, caused a child to go missing! Why somepony like Princess Celestia would allow you to play pretend like this is beyond my comprehension."
Twilight didn't expect to have been talked down the way she, but the things Hope said weren't entirely false. She really did make a pony from Canterlot's police go against the force, and by doing so, another child was in trouble. If it weren't for the fact that she was confident in Pinkie's case, she would've taken the attorney insult serious too.
As Hope Ray made his way to the exit, he said one final thing to them in his rage. "I prey the two of you keep your trust and respect with each other, for neither of you will have any of mine!'
Twilight and Cestus were left shocked and uneasy after everything that they heard. Cestus in particular looked completely destroyed after being talked down by his boss, but Twilight heard nothing that did any lasting damage to her.
"Doctor, could you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Twilight asked Ratchet.
"Sure. And uh...sorry, Cestus." Ratchet said. Afterwards, he left the room to get back to work and leave Twilight, Sweetie, and Cestus alone.
"Cestus...I'm sorry about what just happened. I know I'm part to blame for what happened, but--"
"Nah, forget about it, pal." Cestus interrupted. "I knew exactly what I was doing and I'm willing to take responsibility for it."
"It still stinks that you got in trouble for it." Sweetie Belle added.
"That it does, kid." Cestus said, which was followed by a heavy sigh. "That it does."
"Don't look to glum. Twilight is still going to pay you." Sweetie Belle reminded.
For some reason, that makes ME feel guilty. Twilight thought.
"I guess, but you want to know something? After awhile, it wasn't even about the money. Or for a friend either." Cestus explained, feeling a sense of strength that he originally lost from Hope. "It became about finding out the truth. I kept learning so much during my investigation that I kept wanting to find out who really had been killing those ponies. At this point, I'm just as certain as you are that Pinkie Pie is innocent."
Twilight was pleasantly surprised by Cestus. She felt that the only way she got any support for her case was because she had to pay for it, so to see Cestus feel genuinely concerned about the case caused Twilight to feel a newfound sense of respect for him. Even if Cestus's investigation rights were revoked, Twilight still felt that she could trust him to help.
"Even now, are you still interested in finding out the truth?" Twilight asked.
"Of course. I would love to know who the jerk that took my new little friend from me."
"Funny you should say that. I've actually learned the name of the pony we are after. And maybe I'll tell you the name if you start sharing some of your evidence too."
As they had some time alone, Twilight and Cestus spent several minutes talking about their day and sharing the information they obtained. Cestus talked about his run-in with a fake Applejack, his experience with watching Pinkie Pie blow up a tree, and he gave Twilight the one piece of evidence he had kept with him after getting attacked. She also took it as an opportunity to reorganize her evidence, separating the relevant bits and taking out anything she wasn't expecting to use.
"A hoofprint and a bottle of sleeping pills. That's all you could get me?" Twilight asked.
"Well, Scootaloo stole something from Hope, but...I guess she still has it on her." Cestus explained with a sad look on his face. "But hey. At least nopony will have it."
"That's the spirit." Sweetie Belle said. "If we can't have it, then neither can he."
That seems mean-spirited. Twilight thought. "So Cestus, what's your next move?"
"Good question. Hope probably won't want to see me until tomorrow, but I still need to see him before then. Even if I'm pretty much fired from the case, I'm still going to be his prime witness for the trial tomorrow. By the way, you didn't hear that from me. And if I were to share some information from you once he tells me it..."
"No. You've done enough as is. I wouldn't want to risk getting you to even more trouble. If you still want to help me though, could you do me a favor and escort Sweetie Belle home?"
"Aww, but I want to keep helping you." Sweetie Belle complained.
"I understand, but I need to get ready for the trial. I still want you by my side though, so don't worry. If you really want to help me, then make sure you're well rested for tomorrow."
Sweetie Belle wasn't pleased, but she couldn't argue with Twilight. "Fine. I'll make sure I'm the first one there so you can't start the trial without me!"
"You've got a deal. Oh, and Cestus, when your not busy, be sure to stop by my home in Golden Oak library. I've got some unfinished business with you."
"Understood. Come on, kid." Cestus said to Sweetie Belle.
With everypony's plan set Cestus grabbed Sweetie Belle's hoof and brought her out of the hospital room so he could bring her home. Twilight herself was ready to leave and head home to prepare for the upcoming trial. However, as she was ready to leave, she took a look through the room's window. A pony had caught her eye.
Making her way to the hospital was Twilight's currently dishonest friend, Applejack. As Applejack walked, Twilight noticed she had a certain something being carried with her: a big, shiny, red delicious apple. On an ordinary day, Applejack having an apple would be completely normal, but due to the recent events, the last thing Twilight needed to see was Applejack with an apple.
It looks like I have other unfinished business that needs to be taken care of. Twilight thought. Applejack's dishonesty, her vendetta against Pinkie....and those black psyche-locks.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
829 users online
766,153 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
To be honest, I'm not sure that's really Cestus....
4836010 Hehehe. Gotten paranoid now, have you?
The black psyche locks are supposed to be about hidden deep secrets that can leave deep wounds inside a soul if they're not properly broken. So what is it that AJ has buried so deep inside of herself? I wonder if it's worth bringing the secret out?
No! Not Scootaloo! Masquerade better not lay a hoof on her!
Can't wait to see what happens next!
4836052
Playing Ace Attorney makes you wonder if everything is a contradiction....
4836053 Some secrets needs to be shared in order to help the soul.
4836064 Don't worry. Our little angel will be fine.
But...maybe "angel" isn't the best word right now.
4836236
Yeah but sometimes the truth can be too painful to bare, I wonder how deeply this is going to affect Twilight, Pinkie and AJ's friendship? Keep writing curse you, I must know!
This would be the point where I give my theory. We seem to be having many things rapped up though so I'll guess at what we don't know.
Mask is part changeling and wants to get vengeance on Pinkie because...um...she's best pony and he's jealous.
Yes I like that. We'll stick to that.
4836286 That really seems to be the only logical explanation at this point. I mean, unless Pinkie literally butted Masquerade out of fun times post-Rainboom.
also, "wrapped up".
4836053 Well, I doubt it's as bad as Kristoph Gavin's black locks, considering that involved literally ruining someone's career for at least 7 years (plus or minus however many years between Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies). But, with the Elements' friendship being prized above most/all, it might very well be close.
4836327
Oh um... 
No! This stories a rap battle can't you see that? I was right all along.
4836286 Honestly, I still think it's because Pinkie makes others happy, and he doesn't like it. I mean, when you look at who he's based on, it kinda makes sense.
Those black locks... I still have memories of A.J.A.A and D.D, the secrets held behind the were pretty shocking and gruesome respectively, so I can't help but feel fear when I try to guess AJ's black lock secret.
Should I be feeling like that, or am I worrying about nothing?
Oh and about Scoots, IF SHE'S HURT IN ANY WAY, I WILL END YOU!!!
4851560 You might be worrying just a little too much. Just a little.
Black psyche-locks are weird things, and in both of their appearances in the games, they hid secrets in a very different ways and for vastly different reasons. Applejack too has them for different, yet similar reasons.
I was going to say something else regarding them, but I think it would be better if I explained it in the story. It can be hard for a writer to talk without giving away spoilers.
4852853 Very encouraging doc.
4852853 Applejack better not be completely mind-bucked like Kristoph Gavin was after his broke, in other words, help her remember not force it.
You totally went there, didn't you?