Shai Sideways In: Murder She Mocked

by XombieSlayr

Chapter 5: "A Dish Best Served With Justice."

It took several minutes, but using her powers, Shai managed to find the huge room where all the ponies that had been kidnapped over the last few weeks, including the missing bride West had been looking for, were locked in large cages.

Using keys she had 'borrowed' from the kitchen, Shai released every single one of them, telling them to quietly make their way out the back, and let the officers behind the hotel take care of the rest.

When every pony was now outside in the safe care of the PPD, Shai then followed the last remaining hallway back up to the hall she had first entered, and then back into the member's only section, where dinner was underway.

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Shai and Rosalina hid behind the counter, as all the members of the Talon Lodge, including Morgan happily enjoyed the meal she had prepared. (She felt a tinge of pride seeing how much they were enjoying her cooking) and waited for Morgan to make his big speech.

Sure enough, after ten minutes of eating, Morgan stood up and clinked his glass. "Everyone, everyone. I have an announcement to make." he called. At once all eyes were on him and all conversations ended. "Thank you."

After clearing his throat he began. "There was a time I can remember when were bound together, not as members; but as family. As a clan. And when our clan evolved over time, along with the modern age, we knew we stood to gain much."

He looked down into his glass, twirling the wine within. "Little did we know how much we would lose."

Some of the members looked around, confused, seeking confirmation from other equally confused members.

Morgan continued. "As a lodge, we have endeavored to sample the finest food and drink the world has to offer. But we are living a lie."

More confusion. Some began to shift around uncomfortably in their seats.

"There is a meat sweeter than the most corn-fed livestock. Many in the past have tasted it, most of you have forgotten it."

Most now were simply confused, but others simply sat and listened, knowing full well what Morgan was talking about.

"Among us, it is a crime to discuss the old ways that once united our clan, our tribe." Morgan's face had gone dark, but his evil smile could be seen by all. "Tonight, that all changes. The taboo ends."

Finally one of the members stood up, clearly outraged. "What is the meaning of this, Morgan!? Have you lost your mind?!"

"Let me finish, Connor." said Morgan cooly. "You don't know it yet, but you are all now guilty of a greater crime. One that ordinarily bears the harshest of punishments." Morgan locked eyes with Margaret who was now as white as a sheet, tears running down her face. He smiled a cold smile at her. "Even you ponies, have just joined us in our most sacred tradition. And in your heart you cannot deny that that taste, the meat of your own kind....is better than any oats or vegetables you all love so much. Am I right my dear Margaret?"

At once the room collectively lost it's shit. Members leapt out of their chairs, ponies collapsed on the ground screaming in horror, griffins, began pacing around, mortified by their actions, wild, frantic screams of denial and swearing filled the room. And Morgan was enjoying every second. "Surely now that you are all guilty, warrants renewed discussion? After all for our society to be truly elite, we must dine on the most delicious, the most exclusive food in the world. And tonight, you have all partaken in that, the most forbidden of meat, the way it was meant to be prepared."

He raised his glass. "Fellow members of the Talon Lodge!" he yelled over the chaos. "Bon appetit."

As he drank deep from his glass, enjoying his victory, he heard a familiar voice yell out behind him. "Wow! I mean, thanks Morgan!" he spun around and his heart nearly stopped, as he saw Shai and Rosalina at the counter. "I mean, I can't take all the credit, it was after all the good chef Jacques recipe, but really, hey man. Thanks. I think I'm a good chef too."

The chaos stopped as all eyes turned to Shai and the very much alive, uneaten Rosalina Maxentier, smiling away beside her. Morgan, looked like he had been shot. "Buh." was all he managed to get out.

"And I guess I do have to admit, I am rather proud of myself for being able to fool a sick bastard such as yourself." Shai looked over at the crowd of absolutely dumbfounded, terrified looking ponies and griffins and sighed. "Guys, get a grip. It's alright. I made the meal myself. And I am very happy you all enjoyed it!"

Morgan at last found his voice. "B-Buh....but, if she's....then...who are we eating right now?" he asked desperate for an answer.

"Who? Oh no one." Shai shrugged. "It's imitation. All vegan stuff from the kitchen."

"But...but then where's Jacques?"

Shai checked her watch. "Hmm...I'd say dead of hypothermia, but a bird that fat's probably got a few more layers than he needs to stay warm."

The members laughed at that, all now unimaginably relieved they had not become like Morgan. Many got back into their seats, others helped one another to calm down and shared water amonsgt each other. (They had all lost their appetite all of a sudden.) But every eye, every loathing, glaring eye, was now on Morgan, stabbing through him like knives.

Morgan looked back at them. Then at Shai. Then at Rosalina, who despite her lineage gave him a gesture so rude, even Shai gasped at it. "Whoa. She doesn't seem to be too fond of you, Morgy." Shai commented. "Although given that you had her kidnapped and then tried to serve her up to your own friends and family as a soup, I can see why."

"I-I....ergh, lies!" he yelled suddenly, feathers flying off his body. "All lies, all of it! THEY'RE FRAMING ME, CAN'T YOU SEE!? I never kidnapped anyone! NEVER! A-And even If I had, she's still alive, see!?"

Shai shook her head. "Too late Morgy. You already said too much."

Morgan, now drenched with sweat, eyes flaring wildly, suddenly started screaming at the top of his lungs "YOU'RE ALL HYPOCRITES!" he bellowed to the room. "All of you! You claim to be connoisseurs yet deny yourself the greatest of all meats!? You-You-"

"ENOUGH!!" a booming voice shook the room. Everyone turned to look at Connor, who was practically foaming at the mouth with rage. "Words fail me. Words sputter and die in vain in their attempt to describe the unimaginable, gut-wrenching disgust I feel in my heart, nay, in my soul as a member of this lodge and indeed as a griffin, looking at you, this miserable, cretin piece of filth."

His words stung even Shai's ears as he seemed to spit them at Morgan like fire.

"I am ashamed beyond the comprehension of my being, possibly more ashamed than that of any living being in our world, to have been so foolish as to have called you family. To have let you wear that pin, those clothes, as if you were one of us." He stuck a single damning talon out at the wriggling, weeping lump that was once Morgan. "I want you gone. Jailed for the rest of your days, dead, I don't care. But I want you removed from this lodge, this hotel, this very city, at once. And I never again want to see your face or even hear your damnable name for the rest of my time on this earth. You are a sick, miserable, evil monster, and I pray to Celestia you pay for your atrocities for the rest of your horrid existence."

Silence. Complete and total save for Morgan's pathetic sobbing.

Shai just looked at Connor as he sat back down wiping his brow with his handkerchief. "Wow." she thought. "I have got to get smack talk lessons from that guy!"

She looked over at Rosalina who also stood agape at the utter roasting that Connor had unleashed onto Morgan. "Hey, Rosie? Do me a favor and go open the front doors over there."

"Um...okay. Why?"

"You'll see." she called out to the rest of the room. "As for the rest of you, please stay in your seats. For those of you that were unaware what tonight's dinner was really for, you having nothing to worry about."

Her eyes flashed as she spotted a few members, shivering horribly in their seats, sweating buckets."But for those of you that thought this thing," she pointed to Morgan who was still sobbing loudly into the carpet, "was worth listening to...by all means, please try to run."

"I've already seen all your futures." Shai laughed as she poured herself a glass of wine. "You don't have any."