Ponyville Crime: Rune Shredder

by SigmatheAwesome

Case 2: Cloudchaser

BEEP

Rarity grumbled.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

She swung a hoof wildly, trying to hit the alarm.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Shut up, stupid..."

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-

She finally hit the alarm, and released a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"Another day to go."

***

"Morning, sis!" A sparky young voice called out as Rarity descended the stairs.

"Morning..." She mumbled as she entered the kitchen.

"I made you something!"

"Is it food?"

"Uh..." She looked at the charred piece of something. "No, it's not."

Rarity sighed, opening the cupboards to look for coffee. She growled when the tin was absent. "Where'd the coffee go?"

"Was it that brown powdery stuff you always use in the mornings?"

"Don't tell me." She turned to face Sweetie Belle, an expression of incredible annoyance etched on her face. "You used it as ingredients for your whatever."

"Well... I thought that if I added it to the omelette, you'd be happy because you like your coffee."

Rarity sighed, and patted Sweetie Belle's head. "I appreciate the gesture, but coffee doesn't work well inside an omelette."

"Aw... If I keep going like this, I'll never get a cooking cutie mark."

"Maybe your talent isn't cooking." Rarity replied simply and walked into the lounge. "Morning Dad."

"Mornin', Rarity." Magnum, her father, replied cheerfully.

Rarity's family was unusual. They were all morning ponies, with large cheer and the unique ability to process charcoal as decent food. Except Rarity, who was not a morning pony and absolutely despised the taste of charcoal. And unless she had coffee in the morning, she was not terribly pleasant to deal with either.

"Morning, dear!" Rarity's mother, Martha, replied.

"Morning Mum." She groused, subconsciously looking for coffee. "Do we have any coffee that Sweetie Belle didn't destroy?"

"I thought I tasted something coffee-like in those omelettes."

"They weren't omelettes." Rarity replied. "They were lumps of carbon. They're carcinogenic. How you're even alive is debatable."

"Aww, looks like somepony's cranky." Martha playfully called out, walking up to ruffle the detective's short mane. Before she could get within a hoof, Rarity knocked her hoof away.

"Nopony touch me until I get some coffee."

This wasn't an entirely unexpected reaction from Rarity, so her mother barely reacted to the outburst save for a little giggle.

Rarity trotted into the kitchen, grabbed herself an apple (freshly supplied by Applejack), and set it aside once she entered the bathroom. She looked herself over in the full-body mirror.

"Wonderful, as always." She managed to smile. "Just brush my hair a bit, and then my teeth." She did both of those at once, thanks to her magic, and after a bit she returned to her front door and slipped her coat on. "Going to work now. See you later."

---

If there was a replacement for coffee that worked on Rarity, it was going to work eating an apple and listening to some music through her music player. Eventually she had broken out into a trot, reaching her workplace in little time. She removed the earbuds as she entered the lobby, and was honestly surprised to hear crying. She looked around and found, in a dark corner, a pegasus mare curled up in the corner. She trotted up with care.

"Excuse me, miss?"

The pegasus looked up, and recognised the longcoat Rarity was wearing. "Are you a detective?"

"I am. My name is Rarity." She took a seat next to her. "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Flitter." She curled up again, sobbing quietly.

"Something the matter?"

Flitter looked up again, eyes bloodshot. "It's... It's my sister. She's..."

Rarity recognised the look of the pony: Someone very close to them has been killed. She had seen it enough times to know it. She reached out and placed a comforting hoof onto her back. Flitter moved closer to Rarity in response.

"Do not worry, we'll find out who did it."

***

"Name?" Bon Bon asked the pegasus softly. She knew demanding these things was a bad move, having watched the previous pony in this position being fired for that exact reason.

"Flitter Gustwind."

"Age?"

"18."

"Relation to victim?"

"S-sister."

Rarity gave a warming smile, to which Flitter seemed to feel a little better from.

"Can you describe what you saw, if anything?"

Flitter gave a nervous look to Rarity, who simply smiled and nodded to Bon Bon. "I... I woke up this morning, ready for a nice day of weather patrol. Normally CC's up before me, but she wasn't this time. I approached her door, and knocked to see if she was awake. She didn't reply, so opened the door, and..." She swallowed hard. "I-I saw her there, on the floor... There was a knife, but I didn't touch it." She sighed shakily. "I locked the door, and immediately came here."

"Where I found you." Rarity mumbled. "I appreciate the fact that you didn't touch the knife, and you locked the door. Helps us greatly."

"And thank you for letting us know." Bon Bon smiled.

Applejack entered, smelling vaguely of cigarettes. "What's happened this time?"

"This poor dear's sister was found murdered this morning." Rarity said quietly, standing up to talk to Applejack in confidentiality. "Also you reek of ash."

"Hey, Ah said Ah was goin' fer a smoke." Applejack hissed back. "But on more important matters, who's the victim?"

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation in our office."

"Good idea."

***

"The victim is Cloudchaser Gustwind."

Rainbow's eyes widened. "Holy crap, CC's been killed?"

"That she has, and her sister is distraught. As long as you're in her presence, keep your tongue still about Cloudchaser."

"And I was just gonna have a party for CC. It was her birthday in six days’ time." Pinkie mused.

"So, what do we do?" Trixie asked.

"Rarity and Rainbow, you go interview ponies close to Cloudchaser, literally and emotionally. Pinkie and Trixie, you run a forensics check on the weapons and crime scene. Ah'll keep everything running smoothly, and make sure things go together. And Ah'll provide temp accommodation for Flitter."

"Come on Rare, let's go see what we can get from some ponies." Rainbow drifted off, Rarity trotting behind.

"I'll go check the nearby apartment owners, see if there are any unicorns living close by." Trixie started walking off. "Then I'll cross-check the signatures, if there are any."

"I'll just wait until Trixie's ready." Pinkie bounced off.

"Good luck y'all!" Applejack called out before sighing. "Ah need a smoke."

---

"Always knew CC was a ground-living pegasus." Rainbow mumbled as she entered the apartments. The building was a five-story structure with a huge concrete courtyard in the middle. Each level had a series of metal walkways around the edge, and stairs leading to upper levels. "Rarity, you go and see if anyone's moved out since last night, or planning to."

Rarity nodded and trotted up the stairs. "Pinkie, Trixie, you know where you're going."

"That I do." Trixie replied. "I'd teleport there, but I'd interfere with any magic signature."

"Smart move. Be careful with your TK as well."

Pinkie bounced up the entire flight of stairs in one go. "I'm gonna get started. Good luck guys!"

"Rainbow, you go and interview the adjacent rooms."

"I'm on it!" Rainbow saluted and glided off to somewhere.

Rarity smiled, then continued on to the apartment manager's office. She knocked politely, and a second later a slightly-frazzled-looking stallion pulled the door open.

"Can I help you?" The stallion looked stressed.

"I'm Investigator Rarity, Ponyville Crime Team."

"Ah, you're here for the murder then." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Come on it. I'll help you any way I can."

"First, you might want to put a fan on or something." She smelled the musty air. "And second, I need a list of tenants who have, are planning on, or have tried to move out since this morning."

"Right, I'll be right on it. Make yourself at home. Do you want a drink?"

Rarity thought for a moment. "Some coffee, if possible."

***

Rainbow landed in front of the door her left to the crime scene, now blocked with police tape and a single streamer. She looked at the streamer for a second before dismissing it as Pinkie. She knocked on the door.

The door was opened by a huge, muscular white pegasus stallion. "Hello?"

"Hey." Rainbow waved casually. "I'm Investigator Dash, Ponyville Crime Team. Can I come in?"

"Sure." The hulking pony stepped aside to let Rainbow squeeze past. "I heard about what happened to Cloudchaser."

"Yeah. CC was a good friend." Rainbow replied. "Is it ok if I can ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead. I can tell you what I know." He sat down on the largest chair. "I'm Snowflake, by the way."

"Nice to meet ya." Rainbow smiled, taking a seat herself. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a quill. "Alright, so, your name is Snowflake..."

"Power. Snowflake Power."

"Power... Cool. Age?"

"22."

"Alright, cool. Ok, what was your relation to the victim?"

"Friend. I think. We were on good enough terms."

Rainbow wrote 'friend/acquaintance' on the sheet. "Alright. What were you doing leading up to when you heard about the incident?"

"Well, yesterday morning, I did some training, then I went out to lunch. After that, I did some resupplying, and then I practically fell asleep. I didn't even see CC that day, though that's normal."

"Anything unusual happen?"

"Not that I can think of..." He slammed one of his hooves onto the other. "Wait, there was something. There's a pegasus nearby, Thunderlane."

"I know Thunder. He lives here?"

"Yeah. He normally comes down every Monday when I leave for lunch, going on weather duty. He didn't yesterday."

"Well, it is possible he was sick."

"He did say he wasn't feeling well a few days ago."

Rainbow quickly jotted down some notes, then smiled. "Thanks, you've been a great help."

"Anytime." Snowflake smiled in reply. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yeah, do you have something to eat? I missed breakfast."

***

"Ok, these are the magika signatures of local unicorns." Trixie laid down twenty or so cards with a diagram of aura colour above a series of numbers. "I'll scan the rooms for any imprints of magic."

"Question." Pinkie raised a hoof. "Wouldn't your magic show up around here?"

"The detection spell I use has a filter for any magic being used during the active time. I made it myself." Trixie replied smugly. "Now, I'm going to start the spell up, and scan the house." Trixie's horn glowed brightly, scanning the nearby area. "There's a faint residue in the kitchen, on some of the knife handles. Likely that Cloudchaser had invited a unicorn to dinner and said unicorn was using this knife." She checked the aura cards. "A pony called Allie Way, I believe."

Pinkie jotted something down.

"Alright, scanning the other rooms... Nope, no, nothing, no..." She reached the room of the murder. "Nothing." She dropped the spell. "There's no unicorn in Ponyville with the ability to mask their magic, except me."

"Maybe you did the murder." Pinkie teased.

"Are you insane? I hardly knew her, and if I were to kill another I'd do it while we are both armed, awake and prepared to fight."

"Wonderful." Pinkie beamed. "Are you finished?"

"I am. You may now start your ministrations."

Pinkie smiled, and trotted into the room. The body of a young pegasus lay on the ground, throat cut, and a knife hastily thrown next to it. She pulled a strange, pink-coloured device out of nowhere and dropped it nearby, then with gloved hooves picked up the knife and placed it on top of a platform on the device.

"Pinkie, you're supposed to put evidence in a bag and we process it at the lab."

"But why wait to go back to the lab when you can make something to do it on location?"

"That's what that thing is?" Trixie eyed the device. "You are a strange pony."

"I get that a lot."

Pinkie's device whirred, spluttered and grinded, and eventually let out a card with information printed on it. Pinkie grabbed it and set it aside, proceeding to take more evidence and scanning it.

Trixie looked over the card. "Correction: We can do the processing here, but in order to find out who the numbers are we need the lab computers."

"There's one problem with this machine, I just realised."

"And what would that be?"

"How am I going to carry it back?"

***

Rarity scanned the list of ponies. "So, there have been a few tenants who wanted to move out."

"They say it's because they don't want to live anywhere where a murder has happened."

She flicked through the pages, going back a few entries, then she started to record all the tenants between a certain time period. "Well, this is a start. Thank you very much." She snapped the book shut and levitated it to the stallion.

"Thank you, and good luck with the investigation."

Rarity gave a small bow and exited the room. She took a breath of air, and sighed. "That room was musty."

"Rare!" Rainbow called out and landed next to her hard. "I found a possible suspect."

"I have some as well. Who's your pony?"

"A pegasus called Thunderlane. I'm on my way to question him now."

"Allow me to join you." Rarity replied. "If he is the culprit, he may be violent. You'll need backup."

"I was gonna ask you anyway." Rainbow said, taking to the air. "He's on the top level."

Rarity looked up. There were another three levels to go. "Ugh..."

***

Eventually Rarity made it to the top level. "So, which room?"

"That one." Rainbow pointed to a seemingly random door out of all of them.

The two trotted up. Rarity knocked politely, and the door was opened by a tired-looking grey pegasus with a blue mohawk.

"Can I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Investigator Rarity and this is Investigator Dash, Ponyville Crime Team."

Thunderlane sighed. "It's about Cloudchaser, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so. May we come in?"

"Sure, sure. Make yourself at home."

The two mares trotted to the lounge room and took a comfortable-looking multi-pony couch. Thunderlane took a seat on the other side of the small table.

"So, what do you want to know?"

"Firstly, I'll need your name, age and relation to victim."

"Thunderlane Drift, 20, friend."

Rainbow jotted some notes down.

"How well did you and Cloudchaser get on?"

"Like a wooden house on fire."

"It's true." Rainbow added.

"And what about her sister, Flitter?"

"Oh, Flitter." Thunderlane leant back. "She's a cute mare. Don't tell anypony, but I'm attracted to her."

"I see." Rarity thought for a moment. "Do you know why anypony would murder Cloudchaser?"

"CC was a little arrogant at times." Thunderlane replied. "I'd hazard a guess that somepony ended up finding her annoying to hang around. Unlikely, due to her natural charisma, but plausible."

"I have a thought myself." Rainbow raised a hoof. "It's possible that the culprit was focussing more on Flitter, let's say romantically for an example. Cloudchaser was incredibly defendant of her sister and unnaturally perceptive at times. She could tell a pony's harmful intent on Flitter a mile away."

"So, a rather... messed-up or incredibly desperate pony would try to get rid of her so that Flitter becomes an easier target..." Thunderlane though for a moment. "Clever. In theory, at least. They wouldn't know about how traumatised Flitter would be, or what would be worse is if they did know and didn't care."

"One last thing, Thunderlane." Rarity cleared her throat. "Where were you around the time of the murder?"

"I was laying here, sick." Thunderlane coughed violently. "I'm still a little ill, sorry."

Rarity stood up smiled. "Thank you for your help. Hopefully we can meet up in better circumstances."

"Indeed, and good luck with your investigation."

The two mares trotted outside the apartment, and Rainbow closed the door behind them. "He did it."

"What makes you so sure?" Rarity raised an eyebrow.

"He was acting way too calm for somepony who's crush's sister had been killed that morning. It just doesn't seem right."

"Some ponies react coldly to try and cope with the loss."

"It still doesn't seem right."

"Well, we'll see when Pinkie's processed the genetic material."

---

"Ah still don't think Thunderlane did it, Rainbow."

"And I know he did." Rainbow replied.

"Girls, please, we'll find out once Pinkie's finished processing the samples." Rarity tried to calm them down, to no avail.

"Oh please, AJ. Let me guess, you have one of those 'hunches' you work with."

"Of course Ah do."

"They haven't been wrong before." Rarity offered. "But she doesn't always have hunches either."

"Guys!" Pinkie called out. "The samples are done!"

The three ponies entered the lab, where Pinkie was holding a bunch of cards and such.

"Ok, so I tested the knife for DNA. Oddly enough, it was only Flitter and CC's."

"That could mean that Flitter might be the murderer." Applejack thought.

"Well, actually, that knife isn't what killed her." She held up another sharp implement. "This was the attacker's weapon. The knife happened to just get bloodied too."

Rarity looked over the blade. "A pocket knife."

"It was under her. Just to make sure, I checked the wounds on her body, and they match the pocket knife both in shape and some scraps of metal."

"In addition," Trixie, who had been uncharacteristically silent up to then, added. "I detected a trace amount of magika residue on the grip of the pocket knife, only the amount known for throwing an object of this weight."

"So it's a unicorn then?"

"Yep." Pinkie answered. "It could be one of two. Identical twins. They share magic sigs."

"A Hokey and Pokey Pierce." Trixie read aloud. "We'll need to track down which one did the murder and why."

"Look for the one with wounds." Pinkie pointed out. "There was some of their blood on the large knife."

"Right." Rarity nodded.

Applejack gave a sharp single laugh. "Ah was right."

"Don't rub it in, AJ." Rainbow murmured.

"Oh, Ah'm gonna rub it in alright." She smirked. "Y'all deserve it fer bein' such a hothead."

"Alright, girls, break it up." Rarity stepped between them. "We have a job to do, so let us do it."

---

Rarity knocked politely on the Pierce house. After a long moment a somewhat familiar muzzle poked out. "Hello?"

"Hello, I'm Investigator Rarity, Ponyville Crime Team."

"Hey." The pony replied. "I'm Pokey Pierce. Wanna come in?"

"I'd love to." Rarity stepped inside and followed Pokey.

"So, what's the matter?"

"I'm investigating the murder of Cloudchaser Gustwind."

"Huh." Pokey froze for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. "Can't say I've heard of her."

"What do you know, if anything?"

"Eh, I think my brother mentioned something about a pegasus or two. That's about it."

"Where does your brother live?"

"He lives on the other side of town." He gestured with his hoof. "Kinda close to the library, or that unique pink house."

"Well, that's a start. What's he like?"

"Weird." He said bluntly. "Sometimes I wonder if he's just going to go mad one day and go on a mass murder."

Rarity winced at 'mass murder'. "Thanks for the help anyway. I should be going."

"Well, good luck." Pokey smiled.

Rarity exited the premises calmly, but as soon as she was out of earshot she made a loud, whining noise of a mix of fear and stress. "Why must I deal with the psychopaths?!"

"Because you're actually good at it." A cloud with Rainbow Dash's head replied. "Don't worry, I'll be there."

"I thank you for the attempt at making me seem better than I am, but it's not entirely working."

"Eh, better than you wallowing in despair without me." She smiled. "Hey, you wanna bring AJ along? She's great at the whole fighting thing, so if you get in trouble you'll have good help."

"I can fight, thank you very much." Rarity grumbled. "But I would appreciate that."

They reached their headquarters and noticed Applejack on the balcony, smoking.

"Yo, AJ!"

Applejack looked down. "Hey RD, hey Rare. Ah'll be right down."

After a long moment Applejack emerged from the front.

"Howdy. Any luck?"

"We found that Pokey wasn't the pony responsible." Rarity replied. "And I've also heard that Hokey, his twin brother, is probably insane."

Applejack thought for a moment. "So y'all want mah help in case things go south."

"Of course."

"Shoot, Ah'd love ta help." She smirked. "The big ol' farmer protectin' the pretty little mare."

"Applejack!" Rarity blushed. "I am more than capable of fighting, I just don't want to take any risk."

"Hey, at least y'all can use a gun better than Ah can."

Rarity pulled out her custom revolver from its holster, and examined it. "That is true." She placed it back. "But I still want help."

"Relax, Rare, Ah'm not gonna abandon ya." Applejack smiled. "Your mah friend, honest."

"Guys, cut the sappy crap out, ok?" Rainbow pitched in, drifting above the two ground-bound ponies. "This ain't a romance novel."

Rarity scoffed. "Obviously you don't have any taste in literature." She flicked her head dramatically to hide her slight blush.

"Girls, you can bicker later." Applejack interrupted. "We're here."

In front of them was a relatively standard Ponyville building, but it was run-down and carried a sense of foreboding due to the occupant's rumoured nature.

Rarity gulped. "I don't suppose any of you wish to go first?"

"What's the matter, scared?" Rainbow taunted.

"To be frank, I am absolutely terrified and-" Rarity gasped when Applejack trotted up to the door. "What are you doing?!"

"Ah'm knockin' on th' door." Applejack said as she did just that. "Come on, it's just-"

A small hole was blown into the door from the inside, narrowly missing the orange pony's muzzle. A split second later Applejack dived for cover and pulled her revolver out from under her duster.

"You'll never take me!" A stallion's voice shot out of the barred windows of the house. Rarity's unicorn mind noticed a magic amplification to that voice, like he was putting on a show. "I'd rather die!"

"You wanna die? Fine!" Rainbow called out, extending her wings aggressively. Before she could fly off Applejack bit her tail, grounding her.

"We gotta take this calmly." She said slowly over Rainbow's struggling and through her tail.

"I agree." Rarity added, then cleared her throat. "Hokey Pierce?"

Hokey made a loud wailing noise, followed quickly by mad laughter. "You're not going to get me out of here! I know what the Government's up to, and you don't even know it yourself!"

"Before we do anything, I just want to know something."

"Noo!" He wailed. "I'll never tell the secrets!"

"No, I just want to know why you killed Cloudchaser, if you did."

Hokey was quiet for a painfully long time. "Maybe because I wanted to."

Rarity gasped. "What?!"

"I just decided that she had to go, so I made her sleep." He chuckled deeply and menacingly. "Forever."

"He's clearly nuts." Rainbow muttered. "We should just kill him and be done with it."

"Rainbow!" Applejack replied angrily. "It ain't right to kill a pony just because her mind's all funny."

"Hold on girls." Rarity interrupted softly, before turning to the madpony. "If you come out now, we won't hurt you at all."

"I might." Rainbow added.

"We won't hurt you in any way." Rarity added.

Hokey laughed. "Well, if you want me out..." The door creaked open. "Come and find me!"

The three ponies cautiously walked up to the door. Rarity peered inside using a mirror.

"Solid Wall-type home." Rarity mumbled one of the types of Ponyville house types. "You know where to look."

"Ah'll take top." Applejack muttered, much to Rainbow's sniggering. "What the hay's the matter with ya?"

"Oh, nothing." Rainbow steeled herself. "I'll take mid-level. Rares, you take ground."

"And then we check the basement as a group." Rarity added. "Watch your backs."

Applejack pointed a hoof to the closest door on the bottom level, which Rarity dived for, pulling her weapon out. She watched Rainbow dash up the stairs, and Applejack approach the same steps.

"Good luck, Applejack."

"You too." Applejack dived up the stairs and out of her sight.

A maniacal laugh rang out. "Look at you all, following orders like the ants you are. Just what the Princess wants from her minions!"

She chose to remain silent, and, in a low crouch, approached the kitchen area. Like she expected Hokey was absent.

"Oh, giving me the silent treatment, aren't you?" Hokey's voice laughed. "Well, it's not going to stop me."

Rarity crawled her way to the next room, what would normally be the lounge room. Unlike the kitchen, which was surprisingly pristine and brightly, the lounge room was filled to the brim with all manners of objects, from bits of bikes to snips of manes. One wall was coated in a map of Equestria, strings connecting to photos and other things of some apparent significance. The entire room was dark except for a flickering light on one side and a dim light bulb on the map wall.

"I can see that the pretty mare has found my research."

Rarity spun around and fired a blind shot. The bullet hit a wall, the echo rumbling throughout the building.

Hokey laughed. "Go ahead and take a look."

Rarity slipped out a camera from her coat pocket and moved it around quickly behind her, taking pictures of the wall without turning back.

"Oh, you're no fun."

Rarity proceeded to crouch again, walking on through the room. She reached a door she knew was a cupboard and pulled it open slowly.

"Why, yes, I am related to Trixie." Hokey replied to one of the other two. "We're cousins, actually."

Rarity peeked into the cupboard. Nothing except clothes.

"So my cousin's part of the same conspiracy? Well, that makes things personal."

Rarity leaped out the lounge door and pressed herself against the staircase wall.

"I know you're angry, pegasus."

She nudged the stairwell door open with her magic. Her ear twitched at a faint click, followed by a flurry of arrows from a now fully-open door. She shrieked instinctively, and paused to catch her breath.

"Oh wonderful, the pretty unicorn found the death-trap." Hokey said with glee, likely an attempt to scare the other two. "Don't worry, I have plenty for you two as well."

Rarity peered into the room that would've spelled death for her. A huge array of crossbows were lined up on a make-shift frame, slightly jolted out of place. She quickly snapped a picture for evidence, and then glanced around. No other doors lay around to check, and she heard the sounds of hoofsteps storming down the stairs.

"Rarity!" Applejack, fear in her voice, called out, jumping the last ten steps and turning to see Rarity waving a hoof. Applejack nearly collapsed from relief. "Thank the stars y'all safe."

"I knew you two would've gone checking on her." Hokey mumbled, not seeming very confident in his answer. "Oh, spoiler alert: I was never really in the house."

Rarity glanced at Applejack. "Basement?"

"Ya read my mind." She tilted her hat as Rainbow drifted down behind her.

"I may have forgotten to mention this to your government-twisted minds, but I can actually hear you speaking." Hokey casually remarked. "From all the way underground."

The trio paused at that last statement.

"Rare," Applejack started, whispering. "D'y'all have some telepathy spell?"

"I know Trixie does." She replied. "Sadly I have not learnt it myself."

"I'm sure he won't mind us talking about his location." Rainbow said casually.

"Not at all." Hokey remarked. "I can wait as long as I want."

Rarity cleared her throat. "Here's an idea. You know how he said he's underground?"

"Yep." Applejack replied. "He's in the basement."

"Not necessarily." Rarity started pacing slowly. "You see, he also said that he was not in the house. Unless he is lying, he may be elsewhere."

"And these types of houses have a magic-proof basement. No magic in or out." Rainbow added. "So he can't be there."

"Well, we have our course of action. Follow me."

The trio trotted slowly outside, making sure not to trigger any traps that may be around. Rainbow called out from her sky-based vantage point, pointing to a small metal dome.

"There's something here." She added as she alighted next to it. "Rares, use that magic of yours to open it, in case it's a trap."

Rarity nodded, using her magic to turn the crank on the dome's top.

"Fools!" Hokey called out from the magic in the house. "I'm not there!" He proceeded to laugh madly, but slowed down when Rarity continued turning the crank. "T-that place will be your doom!"

"We ain't fallin' for that trick." Applejack said casually.

Rarity wrenched open the dome, then flicked some sweat off her brow. "That was harder than it looked."

Rainbow peered down, scanning the area. "It's a wide hallway," She leant down further, using her wings to support herself. "That leads to big door."

"Well, let us proceed." Rarity stepped daintily down the opening, landing softly at the bottom. Applejack's hard thud resounded through the hallway, which was smoothly-cut stone with a few gems jutting out of the walls.

"Wow." Rainbow muttered. "Impressive."

Rarity inspected one of the crystals. It was a glowing emerald, the glow vaguely eye-shaped. "He's enchanted crystals along the hallway to spot intruders." The camera snapped a picture.

"Boy, he ain't takin' a break with his security." Applejack readjusted his hat. "Hey, Pierce! Can y'all hear me?"

Applejack's voice rebounded off the walls.

"Nope." Applejack sighed. "He must be settin' up defences."

"Or," Rainbow started. "He hasn't got that magic talky spell down here."

"Or maybe," Rarity added. "He isn't in here, and he might've broken the ward in the basement."

Applejack took a few cautious steps forward. "Still, Ah wanna make sure of that. Rare, take the left door, Dash, take the right."

The two ponies set themselves up next to the doors. Rarity reached out with her magic, only for her aura to flash a jagged red shape before cutting out, and she yelped in pain.

"Rare-"

"I'm alright..." She replied breathlessly. "He's warded the door against magic. You take the door."

Applejack nodded and quickly took Rarity's place. Rarity stood close beside the orange mare, lifting her weapon up in her magic.

"On th' count'a three..." Applejack whispered. "One... Two..."

Rarity braced herself for anything.

"Three!" Applejack yelled, gripping the handle in her mouth and yanking it open hard. Rainbow followed her actions.

There was a painfully long silence. Rarity leant slowly to look past the door, and found that there was a barren room.

"Trick number three of a unicorn Illusionist!" Hokey's voice rang out from all around. "Cloaking magic!"

The trio snapped their heads to face behind them, and found that the opposite wall was grinding itself open, changing into a pair of brass plates as the illusion was removed.

"You honestly think I would've gone with such an obvious base of operations?" He cackled maniacally. "You were wrong, Detectives!"

A bandaged, mad-eyed stallion trotted out of the brass gateway, head cocked and grinning like a madpony. The bandages covered his right eye, and in his blue aura of magic was a floating kitchen knife.

"Well, I'm here." He announced in a normal-sounding voice. "Let's see if your corrupt leaders know what they taught you."

Rarity aimed down the ironsights of the revolver and pulled the trigger, only for the bullet that was supposed to hit his leg skidding off the concrete as the insane pony teleported a short distance. Applejack charged head-on, and just as she spun around to kick him square in the jaw he blinked again, standing in front of the bewildered mare. He flashed a grin and brought down a solid lump of magic onto her head, knocking her hard into the concrete.

Rainbow yelled and pulled out her pistol, as well as flicking on a razorwing spell. She fired several wild shots, all of them missing due to his blinking nature, then charged faster than any pony should be allowed to, still missing with her wings when Hokey teleported away again.

"Aim for where he will be!" Rarity called out, then froze as Hokey blinked to her side.

"You shouldn't play with guns, gorgeous."

Rarity felt a hoof press against the back of her neck and another on the base of her horn, both pushing and forcing her to look up. Her magic cut out completely and her pistol dropped to the floor. Cold steel cloaked in the soft tickle of magic pressed against her throat and she squeaked.

"Rarity!" Applejack called out, still splayed on the floor but bolting to get up.

"Don't move or I'll kill her!" Hokey yelled, causing the other two ponies to freeze. He smiled creepily and cast a glance at his captive. "So, your name's Rarity, huh?"

Rarity growled, trying to reattach connection with her weapon but failing.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" Rainbow cried, still hovering.

"Just a little something I learnt through studies." He remarked casually. "If you press a hoof on both the back of the neck and the base of the horn you cut out their magic flow for as long as you hold them in place. For some unicorns this may slightly paralyse them." He cast a glance at the pony between his hooves. "Like Little Miss Rarity here."

"Let her go." Applejack demanded, rising to her full height.

"On one condition."

"Don't..." Rarity choked out.

"You leave me alone, and make sure that no-one bothers me ever again."

Applejack lowered her head, trying to think. Rarity tried casting again and found only a fraction of her power was usable. She spotted her pistol lying near Rainbow, and sparked an aura around it.

"Well? Have you made a decision?"

Applejack sighed. "As long as you let Rarity go, Ah'll acce-"

"Applejack...!" Rarity tried to yell, her weakened body struggling in the grip of Hokey. "Don't...!"

Rainbow leant close to AJ. "Rare's trying magic. Kick her the pistol and I'll distract him."

"That ain't gonna work." She replied.

"Says the mare who operates on hunches." Rainbow quietly deadpanned, before clearing her throat. "We've made a decision!"

"Oh?" Hokey tilted his head. "And what would that be?"

"We'll leave you alone-" She nudged Applejack slightly as her cue to go. "-If you let Rarity go now and let us leave."

"How will I know you won't turn on me with that deal?"

"Ah promise," Applejack replied. "That we won't."

"Were we-?" Rainbow started.

"With this silly plan'a yers, we were never going to have that option." She mumbled. "Ah'm ready, Dash."

Hokey glanced between the three ponies. "How can I believe you?"

"Because," Rainbow started. "We are genuinely reliable according to our service records and NOW AJ!"

Applejack did a sharp turn and bucked the white-gripped revolver towards the two ponies. Before Hokey could react the weapon smacked him straight in the face, knocking him back. Rarity's magic almost instantly returned and she pulled the gun back to her as she leapt back with grace. Hokey growled and sat up, finding three guns now aimed at him.

"You honestly think you can shoot me, when I have the ability to telep-?"

Rarity squeezed the trigger and her last shot buried itself into his leg in a spray of red. He collapsed in pain, screaming. "And that's why I tell Trixie not to have monologues in combat."

"Damn you..." Hokey moaned, sparks of magic coming off his horn. In her usual quick-thinking way Rainbow pulled into her coat and slammed a magic dampener onto his horn. The shadecrystal interior prevented any magic from passing it.

"Nice job." Applejack smiled, lifting the weakened unicorn onto her back.

"I always carry some dampeners for this reason." Rainbow puffed her chest. "Because I'm that awesome."

Rarity looked at the angry unicorn on the orange pony's back with a subtle grin, the same time cuffing his hooves so that he couldn't get the dampener off. "You didn't really think this through, you know."

---

"Alright." Applejack started, pacing around the table. "Y'all have ten days until your trial. Yer gonna tell us everything."

"I already told you." Hokey said casually, despite being tied up and having his magic supressed. "I suddenly decided she had to go."

"Fer what reason?"

"I think he's gone mad." Rainbow casually added.

"Oh, I have a perfectly good reason." Hokey replied.

"What is it?" Rarity asked, her eyes focussed on the pictures of the map she had taken.

"You know of the Rune Shredder? Of course you do, everypony does."

"What does he have to do with this?"

"I did a bit of research, given what I could under such a corrupt law system. I found out that all the ponies killed by Rune Shredder are all young mares, between 19 and 21."

Rarity turned. "So what you've decided to do is to kill all the mares that are younger than that?"

"Only to prevent the upcoming disaster." He said with a chuckle.

"Disaster...?"

"Your leaders haven't told you why the Shredder kills things that way." He started laughing.

"We have asked if they have ideas," Rarity responded. "They have no idea. Not even the Princesses."

"Of course they wouldn't tell you." He smiled in a creepy way, pupils shrinking. "They don't want you to stop it."

"Stop what?" Rainbow demanded, slamming her hooves on the table.

"The Shredder is building an army, you brainless dolts!" He cackled maniacally. "Pulling them from the aether, to destroy our world!"

"Ok, he really is mad." Rainbow mumbled.

"Swords of fire and bows of storms!" He started twitching as he spoke. "Nopony, not you or I or Celestia herself can stop them!"

"Ah'm agreeing with you."

"As am I." Rarity stated, still jotting down what the apparent madpony was saying. Said pony was now just laughing and starting to be dragged off.

"Did'ja get that?" Applejack mumbled after the laughter was gone.

"All of it."

"You don't believe it, right?" Rainbow turned to face them. "All this stuff about bringing some mystical army from Celestia-knows-where to destroy our world? Doesn't make any sense."

"Knowing the most about runes in this room," Rarity replied. "There are no known runes or arcane circles that can do that. In fact, I've never heard of another dimension."

"Still, we should keep this in mind." Applejack commented. "I mean, y'all heard about Discord an' such? It ain't impossible."

"Just, hopefully, unlikely." Rarity sighed. "I'll put a copy of this in the RS folder."

Applejack nodded in reply and started walking away. Rainbow followed close behind, leaving Rarity with her photos. She trotted up to them and gave them a look.

"Ok, so we have..." She named several of the ponies, jotting them down on a second piece of paper. "Including Lyra and Ms Minuette." She sighed as she trotted out. "Well, best keep an eye on them."

---

Applejack sighed out a cloud of ash, stubbing her cigarette into the nearby ashtray. "Why is this job only gettin' harder?"

"It's because we have an enigma in our jurisdiction." Rarity's voice replied softly behind her.

"No, really?" Applejack replied with sarcasm. "Ah thought every town in Equestria had a mass murderer enigma."

Rarity took her usual seat on the balcony, carrying a teapot and some cups. "But now some a' the other murders are leakin' inta the RS case. It ain't right."

"The world is not always fair, Applejack." Rarity leant back. "Either in or against your favour."

"It just seems to be more against these days." Applejack lit up another cigarette.

"Don't worry, you'll persevere."

"And what makes you say that?"

Rarity smiled. "You're a tough, hard-working pony who won't let anything bring you down."

"Aww, thanks, Rare." Applejack blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"And don't forget that your hunches are almost always correct."

"Shame I haven't gotten any for RS." She replied, leaning back.

"When you do, we'll follow it outright." Rarity poured herself a drink and had a sip.

Applejack sighed out a cloud of ash. "Better than chasing loose ends all week."

"Absolutely."

Comments

[SigmatheAwesome]

Well, that was a long chapter. And great fun to write.

Oh, and if anyone has any ideas for crimes, cases and whatnot I'll be willing to listen to them. If the story is complete at the time you say so, I'll make it an extra chapter. Or maybe even include it in a potential sequel

[StormbadgerXIII]

That was an awesome chapter. I speak for a lot of people here when I say I DEMAND MORE.

[SigmatheAwesome]

1647313 Good thing I'm enjoying writing this.

[Kail]

Well either that was the ranting of a madman or he'r right about RS. Either way, seems like things got more complicated.

[StormbadgerXIII]

So. When can we expect more of this?

[SigmatheAwesome]

2138648 Soon...