Apropos of the Sinners

by SpitFlame

Part VI – Chapter VIII – Still Remembered Among Us

A few hours earlier...

"What did you say?" muttered Cluster in a strained voice, staring at the guard as if unable to believe what he had just heard.

"I'm very sorry, sir," replied the guard with extreme readiness. "But it's as I said. Your father... he's—"

"What's going on?" asked Airglow, having instantly picked up on the terrible change in atmosphere. She started walking to them but stopped. There was a growing anguish in Cluster's expression.

Only a few more words were exchanged, but faint and scattered ones, hard to pick up on from the staircase.

"Listen, you and I are going to his house right now," said Cluster to the guard. The guard hastily nodded and started to take off. Then Cluster turned to his sister and said, "You wait there, got it? Stay here till I get back."

"But what's going on? What happened?" said Airglow in profound dismay. She had heard the word "father" and not much else.

"Just wait here, and don't follow me!" Cluster shut the door before she could get another word out, leaving Airglow in terrible shock.

* * *

Everypony was met with the astounding news that Bronze Pocket really and truly had been murdered in his house that late evening, murdered and robbed. It had been learned in the following way.

About an hour after having been struck down, Shovel Rod, bloodied and amid the darkness, came to his morbid senses. He started to crawl across the garden, saying in a weak, wailing voice, "Guards, guards... where..." He probably had crawled for some time and had even passed out several times. Shovel Rod kept muttering incoherently, "He killed... father... killed... must... stop..."

He saw that Bronze's window was open and that there was light inside. Shovel Rod managed to drag himself to it and began calling for Bronze Pocket, in spite of his premonition. But, looking through the window, he saw a horrible sight: his master was lying on his back on the floor, not moving. The side of his face, as well as the top part of his dressing gown, were soaked in blood. A candle on the table shed a bright light on the blood and on the motionless, dead face of Bronze Pocket. Now horrified to the last degree, Shovel Rod screamed, attempted to rush out of the garden, but fell unconscious again. The local police and guards, having gotten there per Sharp Heat's request soon after, found him there.

I will note that while most ponies were asleep by then in Ponyville, little by little they each started to wake up due to the general commotion which was spreading all over town.

And in regards to Sharp Heat, he stated that upon their arrival, he had heard the terrible and piercing cries of Shovel Rod from the garden, which could have been heard from quite the distance. Having found the servant in such a bad condition, they carried him to his cottage. His head was washed with water and vinegar; the water brought him back to his full senses, and he asked at once to the badged ponies, "Has the master been murdered?"

The guards, including the police commissioner herself, went in through the garden and saw the open window, while Sharp stayed with Shovel for a moment.

It was decided to act energetically. The assistant police chief was immediately ordered to round up as many as four potential witnesses, and, following all the rules, which I am not going to describe here, they broke into Bronze's house and carried out an investigation on the spot. The district doctor, that being Dr. Tubercuhoofis, all but invited himself to accompany the commissioner, the district attorney, and Sharp Heat (but not the prosecutor who was not present in Ponyville at that time).

I will give a brief outline: Bronze Pocket turned out to be thoroughly and utterly murdered, his temple having been smashed in against the corner of the table. They conducted the autopsy research, as well as scanning the whole room for abnormalities in comparison to the descriptions from Shovel Rod, to whom all possible medical help was administered. He gave a quite coherent, though weak and faltering, account of how he had been struck down.

They began searching near the fence with an illumination spell and found stains of blood across the grass. The unusual disorder in Bronze's room was noted: the rug beneath his hooves was out of place, the door was open, and the sheets upon his bed were thrown aside, from under which a little chest was supposedly missing. But after another minute of searching they found the chest resting next to a bush by the window, opened and empty.

One circumstance among others in the evidence, coupled with Sharp's testimonial, made an extraordinary impression on the attorney and police commissioner: namely, the guess that Nova would certainly shoot himself with the aforementioned crossbow towards dawn, that he had resolved to do it, spoken of it to Sharp, loaded the cartridge, and so on. And worse was when Nova had told Sharp, "I have no time," when the latter was unwilling to believe him. It followed that they had to hurry there, to Baltimare, in order to catch the criminal before he perhaps really decided to shoot himself.

"That's really clear, isn't it?" had said the prosecutor. "That's just how it is with these hotheads: 'tomorrow I'll kill myself, but before I die—a spree.' It's all very predictable, especially in our times."

This was all detained, of course, by the investigation, the search of Bronze Pocket's house, the paperwork, and so on. All this needed time, and therefore they sent to Baltimare, roughly two hours ahead of them, the commissioner Ruby Spirit with the attorney Honey Heart. Ruby Spirit was instructed to go to Baltimare and, without raising alarm, to keep watch on the "criminal" tirelessly until the arrival of the proper authorities, as well as to procure witnesses, deputies, and so on and so forth. Ruby Spirit did all that, preserving her incognito, and initiating only Bore Hoof, the innkeeper, and then only partially into the secret of the affair.

This coincided precisely with the time when Bore Hoof had been looking for Nova, when he had asked him, "Where were you, sir?" Thus neither Nova nor anypony else knew that he was being watched; his case with the crossbow had long been taken away by Bore Hoof and hidden somewhere safe. And only after three o'clock in the morning did all the authorities arrive together—the police commissioner, the prosecutor, and the district attorney—in separate carriages, and the interrogation took place, as you have already read.

The doctor stayed behind in Bronze's house with the purpose of performing a postmortem in the morning on the body of the murdered stallion.

But now, after such a long explanation, I will return back to the perspective of Cluster Tale, who had arrived at his father's house just as the investigation began.

* * *

A small crowd of ponies, some civilians egged on by curiosity, others guards and police, were bunched up against the gates to the house. One guard in particular had his hooves full: he was trying to keep the ponies at bay, telling them to step back, to go home, but alas it was largely in vain.

The first guard who had fetched Cluster brought him right through the crowd, up the gate, and declared at once, "Here is the son, Cluster Tale, as requested. He was indeed in Ponyville."

"Thank you for coming," said the second guard.

"Enough of that, let me in," Cluster interrupted with extreme imperiousness. The guards scrambled about, still holding off the growing crowd, but Cluster slipped inside and walked quickly across the front yard.

Two more officials were standing attentively at the porch by the front door. From the side, where Cluster spotted the garden, were more ponies wandering about, collecting evidence and analyzing the scene in general. The whole thing appeared to be in disorder, or rather in a sort of organized chaos. Voices, whistles, and flashes of unicorn magic could be heard and seen from all sides, as well as the exclamations which everypony produced that night.

"Cluster Tale, there you are!" called out Sharp Heat. Cluster fully turned this time to see Sharp jogging, almost running, from the garden to the front of the porch. He stopped in front of him, sounding almost out of breath. Expectation and suspense lingered on their faces.

Cluster noticed that Sharp was no longer in his wheelchair, but much of the bandaging remained. He had also donned a coat.

"I sent a guard to get you just in case," said Sharp again, "but I never thought you'd get here so soon!"

"Sharp, you have to take me to him," said Cluster with gravity. "I need to see him for myself."

Sharp blinked a few times. He wanted to lay the details on Cluster at an appropriate pace, but did not expect such hastiness. He responded in a clear though hesitant voice, "I... I mean, right! He's in there, in the study room... to the right hall. But, Cluster—"

"Did it really happen?" asked Cluster. "Are you sure he's been killed, and not just beaten down?"

"I'm really sorry..."

Cluster cast a glance at the shut gates, taking notice of the onlookers. He shook his head, as though clearing it of something. There was some terrible vigour burning up in him, a sort of anger that he did not know where to direct.

"Let's just go inside," he said.

Sharp looked at him for another second, as though unable to make up his mind. Then he drew him along, murmuring almost inaudibly, "Come."

Sharp gave a subtle gesture to the officials by the door and they opened it. With this they moved on towards the study, past several investigators and medical personnel. The whole house was essentially under lockdown.

On the way a certain darkness was clouding Cluster's mind, which prevented him from thinking beyond the margins. He could only bring himself to think seconds in advance, not being able to bother with anything else. But for some reason he was not exactly frightened; as a matter of fact, Cluster felt strangely calm, clearly perturbed by the whole situation but still not exactly in any kind of disbelief.

He was nevertheless thankful for Sharp, who remained an incredibly sharp (mind the pun), resourceful, and dependable pony. He then remembered what Olva had said to him, about how Nova had run in there earlier, to Golden Oak, followed by Sharp. The dreary state of his mind began to connect several misplaced dots.

He recalled with perfect clarity the last image of his brother Nova, as the latter was leaving Fillydelphia, without a word of warning. He especially recalled how cryptic and ominous the whole thing presented itself as, but the worst part is that this had not surprised or shook him. Something terribly twisted and spiteful flashed in Cluster's face, but this was seemingly directed at himself.

In any case, there was not much time to dwell on that. He was led to the study room and found something large covered up in a blanket, laying motionless on the floor, and surrounded by more investigators.

Sharp Heat exchanged some words with them. They recognized that the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, as well of the son of the victim, had showed up. Cluster stepped up, waited for a moment, then the blanket was lifted. He was met with the horrible image of his father's face, pale and bloodied, flat on the floor, verifiably dead.

Cluster tried to say something but did not manage it. He took two steps back. A hazy look seemed to bend over his face. He put a hoof over his forehead, feeling that a headache was imminent. Sharp Heat observed him and quickly shook his hoof to the investigators, and they covered the dead pony again.

"I'm really, really sorry," said Sharp in a low voice, after they left the room and stood in the foyer.

But Cluster did not respond all at once, as though working out what he had just witnessed.

Sharp was silent, too, reluctant to comment any further, but after thirty seconds he added, "I wanted for it to be a gradual reveal, but then I considered that you might be in Ponyville early and that you wouldn't want to waste a second."

"Unless this was all some accident, how far have you gotten? Who's the prime suspect?" asked Cluster.

"For the time being," Sharp began, frowning, "it would have to be your brother, Nova Steel."

"Did anypony see the murder take place with their own eyes?"

"For the time being, no, not that we're aware of."

"When did you last see Nova?"

"Well, he came to my house around eight-ish, covered in blood. It had really bothered me, seeing him like that," he added in a mutter.

"Eight-ish. Hmm..." Cluster hummed in thought, with a look of extraordinary concentration on his face. Most of that previous anger and animation was replaced with a boundless concentration. He thought back to when Nova left for Ponyville.

"More importantly, it would be very useful if you could answer us some questions," said Sharp, but then he reconsidered the unnecessary hastiness of this proposition, all things considered. "Just a few things, doesn't have to be now, 'cause now you probably need some time to... In any case... uh, maybe that could be put off..."

But Cluster was entirely uncommunicative and decidedly uneasy. He gave a weak nod to Sharp, to show that he understood, and began walking back to the front door. He overheard some dispersed mumbling behind him, something about an autopsy. He spotted Dr. Tubercuhoofis. He was gradually passing into a new, somehow conciliatory mood.

When he exited through the main entrance he was entirely caught off guard by Airglow, who had run all the way from the front gate, with a guard behind her.

"What're you doing here!" exclaimed Cluster.

"The lady here says she's your sister, sir," the guard threw in, but Airglow stepped up.

"Cluster, what's going on?" she asked with a distraught look.

"I thought I told you to stay put!"

"But you just bolted out with no warning! What else was I supposed to do?"

"Look"— he stepped down the porch and put an arm around her —"just go back to my house. I'll explain everything. I promise."

But Airglow did not budge. She fixed her eyes on him, waiting impatiently.

Cluster looked to the side, thinking very hard about what to say.

"What happened here?" she pressed on. "Why are there so many ponies surrounding the place? Is dad okay?"

Cluster's strained expression and uncomfortable position visibly heightened. He looked at his sister with a very strange, very defeated gaze, but he did not reply in full.

"I..." he began, struggling, but could not get anything else out.

Airglow was not ready to let him stall for time. She huffed and started walking ahead, but his arm stopped her.

"Airglow, please go back to the house," he said quietly. "Just... It'll be better this way. Let me handle this."

"I just wanna see dad. Where is he?" she exclaimed, her annoyance growing.

The further she pushed him to answer, the graver the look on his face became. She observed all of this, and then began making sense of the presence of so many investigators and guards. It all started to come together. She stopped resisting and took a step back. Both brother and sister stared painfully into each other's eyes.

"Cluster," she said again with visible anguish, "I won't go inside. But... just tell me where dad is. That's all I want to know."

But just then and there Sharp Heat emerged from the front door, carrying a small stack of papers in his hoof. He was heading somewhere, by the looks of it, but came to an abrupt halt.

"Airglow? You're here?" he said in astonishment.

"Sharp, what's going on!" Airglow fell upon him instantly, without ceremony. "Where's our dad?"

But much to her agitation, Sharp himself was stunned just like her brother, then a whole wave of melancholy came over him. He and Cluster exchanged brief glances. Airglow stood there staring at them, slowly passing into indignation.

"Oh, uh"— Sharp darted his head back and forth —"I'm not sure if I should be the one to..."

Something dreadful struck Airglow. She almost stumbled backwards, as if in a semi-dazed condition. Given the impression, as to how both stallions could not speak to her with straight words, she reasoned it out. But she did not want to believe it.

"Look, Sharp," she said in a weak and shaking voice, forcing herself to smile bitterly, "I just want to talk to dad, just to hear his voice. Can you..." She paused, ears drooped.

Cluster sighed, dropping his arm at last, not wanting to shift the burden to Sharp. He bent down and replied, "I'm really sorry, sis. Dad... he's been..."

"He's been what?" she asked quietly.

"He's... dead." The word struck out like a stab to the chest. "Murdered, most likely."

Airglow's hardly sincere smile vanished instantly; she all but fell down. Her face was unmoving, eyes clouded over. She opened her mouth but did not say anything. It was as if her whole body had frozen.

Sharp gave a quick nod to the guard from behind, who quickly dispatched himself from the scene. Then, walking by, he said, "I'll handle the questions on your behalf, Cluster. You two could leave if you wish. I'm... very sorry for your loss. Very. Please excuse me." And he was off.

Cluster could hear the shortness of Airglow's breathing, and not much else. She was staring down to the ground, entirely unresponsive. He lifted her hoof up, without resistance, and held it with both of his, helping her up.

"Come on," he said, "I'll walk you out of here."

As for Sharp, he had been approached by the commissioner in regards to the papers he was holding. Sharp was asked for the basic biographical descriptions of any close relations of the victim.

"I have it here, in official documenation," said Sharp, handing over the papers. "First there's the oldest son. Name: Cluster Tale. Gender: male. Race: unicorn. Age: twenty-eight. Occupation: magic researcher, as well as Princess Celestia's personal student. The second son is Nova Steel, who happens to be the main suspect. Male, earth pony, twenty-five, former street guard. Precautions will be taken, don't you worry. Last there's the daughter. Name: Airglow Sky. Gender: female. Race: pegasus. Age: fifteen. Occupation: assistant librarian at Golden Oak Library."

There were a few more details discussed, but I will not relay them here.

To Cluster's relief, Airglow followed him quietly, but mechanically, as if her mind was completely blank. At first Cluster was confused, but not all disconcerted. He and his sister walked through the gate, past the wandering stares of the onlookers, who had been made aware that the son and daughter of the murdered victim arrived on the scene, but they were ignored.

On the way out, once or twice, Cluster glanced at his sister. A shade of dead grief was visible on her face, which grew with every passing second as she walked alongside him. Probably she was unconscious of her own movements; but this very unconsciousness added to the worriment of its suggested meaning.

After having walked for about three minutes, when they were on the gravel path away from Bronze's house, Airglow stopped. Cluster stopped, too. They were next to a solitary tree and a yellow bench. He looked straight into her eyes, and read all there was to read. She was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks in silence.

Then she plopped to the ground, sniffling, stammering, almost choking and all but shaking violently.

"Just... why...?" she said at last, quietly. Tear drops started to hit the ground beneath her. "Why couldn't he... why did... it have to be this way..."

Cluster gave a start. He strode over to her, gently threw his arms around her, for comfort. And she suddenly burst into bitter tears. She cried bitterly for some time. He was completely stuck, and simply embraced her, annoyed with himself for not knowing what to say to calm her. As she wept he felt the continuous sting in his heart.

"I didn't want this to happen," he muttered, with a strange note in his voice. "But I don't know why..."

He felt Airglow's whole body go rigid. She was still crying, but not so loudly anymore. She had loosened her hold on him, too.

"I think Nova left before we arrived," Cluster continued, after a stretch of silence, "so I think that gives us something to consider. I also think that... huh?"

Cluster was caught off guard by the new and sudden expression blazed in Airglow's tearful eyes. She stared fixedly at him and rose from the ground.

"You 'didn't want this to happen'?" she said in low voice. "Is that what you said?"

Cluster listened to her with a decidedly grave look. "Are you..." he began, cocking his head back. A shadow seemed to have dawned over her whole face.

"Don't you remember what you told me?" she continued, forcing the words out with shaking lips and almost distorted features, evidently not pleased with a single word he had said. "Remember, back at the Summer Sun Celebration? You told me... that you'd 'gladly let it happen'... let them kill each other. Don't you... remember that?"

Cluster immediately understood where things were trending.

"That's not what you think," he said, frowning.

"The way you looked at me then..." she said again, ignoring him. "And when you told me that Nova was leaving without us..." She started to shake for real, as if a chill ran through her. She could hardly sustain the pitch of her voice. "Why didn't you stop him? Why?"

It crossed his mind that she suspected Nova just like he and the others did. But this hardly surprised him.

"Look, sis, why would I ever want this to happen?" As he spoke he reached out to her. "I really couldn't have seen this coming. This wasn't supposed to—"

But she retreated from him. Sudden fury came over her. "Am I supposed to believe that!" she snapped, new tears emerging from her eyes. "You come back after going who-knows-where, after you told me that you'd let our dad be killed, after acting all nice... Was that just an act to make up for it? Was it? You tell me that you didn't want it to happen, as if you couldn't have stopped it... But now that he's gone, it's only now that you pretend to care about him? Are you kidding me!"

Airglow hardly believed a single word of her own tirade, but, at the same time, she was for some reason doing her utmost to prolong the moment of self-deception.

Cluster stared at her, utterly speechless. An inexpressibly painful expression came over his face. Airglow seemed to have noticed this herself, and it was as if all that rage which had boiled up to the surface died down all at once. She stopped, almost choking, and breathing with difficulty.

"Cluster, I..." she said again, with a despairing face that softened once she realized the extent of what she had said. "I'm sorry... I just... I didn't mean to..."

She almost fell back in a staggered daze, but Cluster quickly caught her.

"It's okay," he said to her quickly. "Sometimes you just have to let it out. It's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm not upset."

But she was looking aside, not exactly at him but more towards the dark horizon. Her eyes started to stain from the flowing tears. She hid her face in her hooves, sniffling, and said senselessly, "He's gone. He's really gone. I never thought... that... why did..."

Now she rose up, took a step forwards, then stopped. All was silent; they both waited in some kind of expectation. Cluster had no idea what to say.

Though he had seen it with his own eyes, it truly dawned on him that their father, the very pony who had represented so much significance in their livelihoods, for better or worse, was dead. He was never going to speak with him again, even if he had intended to. It had all slipped away.

I thought I tried, swept through Cluster's mind in that dark and silent moment. I thought I... was going to do it right this time. Like you wanted, Snowfall. But I... I think... But something prevented him from thinking too far, like before.

Airglow looked back at him with senseless eyes, something in them was quivering, almost bloodshot.

"What do you wish for, Cluster?" she asked him at length, pointblank.

"I don't know what you mean by that," he replied.

"I mean," she began again in a timid voice, as if compensating for her prior outburst, "what do you wish could happen with this family? With Nova. With you. With... with me. Now that you have a family of your own..."

Cluster stood there, deep in thought. What does she want me to say?

Airglow dropped her eyes, hunched her shoulders, and said apologetically, "Forget it. I don't know why I asked that."

But Cluster took in a deep breath, with a new and expansive expression, steeling his nerves, without the least intention to hide anything.

"I wish," he said, walking up to her, "that you were born in a different family."

Something seemed to twitch in Airglow's face. She looked at him with some sort of reserve, but did not say anything right away.

"I wish you were born in a more caring, more loving family, one that would never disappoint you, never abandon you; one that would always be there for you, would always show you affection and guide you to the right path. I wish you never had to experience something as terrible as us."

"Cluster..." muttered Airglow inaudibly.

"You... don't deserve this. A sweet, honest, incredible pony like you—why did it have to be with us? If you had never met me, or Nova, or dad, you might have been happier. I wish you could have had a happier childhood. It just isn't fair. I'm so sorry... for what I put you through... what all of us put you through."

Airglow was silent for some time, but not exactly out of pity. She was simply processing all of his words, unexpected as they had come out. The only sounds that resounded were her now-infrequent sniffles.

"And that's just how life is: some are born with a better deal than others."

"But how could you say that?" she said suddenly and reproachfully. He gave her a surprised look. She pressed a hoof to her chest, lowered her shoulders, expressing herself in some reserved yet melancholic agitation. "The brothers that I love are you and Nova. I don't care about some other hypothetical siblings or parents. Cluster, you're the one I got to meet, you're the one who matters to me. Who cares if I might have been happier with some other family? How could that 'happiness' ever be worth it if I never met you?"

She stopped, as if checking herself from speaking too much.

"I wouldn't give this away for anything," she said again after a few seconds, a very pale blush infused on her cheeks. "Not if it meant I would have to give up knowing you. Or Nova. You're my family, aren't you?"

"That's not..." he said, his voice having become awfully dry. He swallowed.

"Aren't you?" she asked again.

"Yes, but... That's not how a pony should live," said Cluster, twisting his mouth. "Airglow, who in Equestria could admire that kind of rough and broken path a pony would follow in life? Who actually dreams of that?—of willingly being surrounded by such dysfunctional ponies, without regard for their own happiness? No pony would ever envy a life like yours, Airglow. No pony. Sometimes you can't make the ponies you care about happy. Sometimes all you can do is seek something better and let go."

She almost winced at that last remark, as if some other memory struck her very strongly in that moment and made itself known before anything else.

"Just... let go...?" she said in a half-whisper, with a sidelong glance at her brother. But another sensation seemed to take precedence in her mind a second later. "But it's all set and done, isn't it? No, I don't even know why I'm thinking about it," she said again with solemn resolve.

"Airglow, listen—we'll find Nova and talk to him, and get to the bottom of this. There's still a lot that we don't know."

"I don't—" Airglow bit her lip, sensing her eyes start to water again. She seemed to be shaking all over, as if in some inner-conflict which could not be resolved. "But I can't think about that now. I want to believe it wasn't him, it just can't be him. I don't want to let go, not yet anyway. But... I'm sorry, forget it..."

She continued walking down the path, wiping her tears, with Cluster tailing behind her. He was pensive now, contemplating over their conversation, but she suddenly said, "I think I'll go back to Golden Oak now. I-I think... I think it might be for the best."

"Sure. If that's what you want," he said. A few more seconds slowly swept by.

"I guess this is goodbye for now..."

Is she trying to keep a stiff upper lip about this? he thought. But he considered otherwise.

Cluster stopped in front of his house and watched as an awfully familiar, low-spirited sensation stirred in him, watching his sister leave with her head hung low. Yes, this felt all too familiar. This must have been what she felt when he left her, back during the Summer Sun Celebration. Only now far more uncertainty lay ahead than ever before.

* * *

A dark and tragic event took place in Ponyville, which is still remembered and discussed among our good folk to this day: the dark and tragic death of the infamous Bronze Pocket. From this moment onwards, the topic of his death had held dominance over what everypony in Ponyville talked about for many days, unsurprisingly. This was a very small, humble, and in many respects boring town that did not tend to gather much in the way of controversy. Complications arose from his lack of a will, as well as who would be the rightful owners of his property. Ponies discussed the hundreds of thousands of bits tied to his name, what all that meant for the household, and how it was to be handled. But I will not bother to elaborate on these financial problems, because quite frankly, it makes very little difference in the long run.

Unfortunately, this was not the main "point" of the story from the very beginning. Yes, this was a tale about Bronze Pocket's death, but everything else that had been brewing in the background, from the mysterious artifact known only as the "elixir" to those political pamphlets, for a while forgotten by some, nevertheless had to take center stage sooner or later, and I am sure that you, the reader, have been keeping all of these oddities in mind.

There are times when the most grand and significant events of life come unannounced, unprepared for, and unexpectedly from the side. Everything from here on out was about to change radically.

The "point," so to speak, will at last be revealed to you at once. I only hope that I, the narrator, will manage to do it justice.

Author's Note:

This marks the end of Part 6. I'm pretty hyped for the next arc.