Playing Detective

by garatheauthor

Chapter 3

“So, who would like to go first?” Rarity asked.

The girls all looked at each other, none of them volunteering. Rarity studied them closely, wondering which of them had planted the blade. First into Sunset’s chest and then later into her bedside drawer. She thought she could trust them all, but clearly, she had been mistaken.

“Have you done this before?” Rainbow asked. “Do you even know what to ask?”

“Yeah, I don’t mean to question your qualifications, Rare,” Applejack said. “But I don’t know if a few crime novels really make you an expert.”

“I’ll admit that I’m basing this off of tropes, but what else can we do?” Rarity asked, spreading her palms.

“We could drive the van into town and go get the police.”

“Think your van can make it without getting stuck in the mud?” Rainbow asked.

Applejack sighed. “Fair point.”

“Then I suggest we stay busy and continue our investigation so the police have something to work off of once we can get in contact,” Rarity said, flipping open her notebook. “Now which of you wants to go first?”

Once again, the girls all looked blankly at each other before Applejack finally sighed.

“I’ll do it,” she said.

Rarity nodded, scribbling Applejack’s name at the top of the page. “Applejack, did you have any reason to murder Sunset?”

“Of course not, she was my freaking girlfriend,” Applejack grumbled.

“Oh, come on Applejack, we all loved her but it doesn’t mean that she hasn’t wronged each and everyone of us at some point in the past. We may have all claimed we moved beyond that, and let bygones-be-bygones, but evidently one of us potentially didn’t.” Rarity twirled the pen between her fingers. “So, I’ll instead ask this. Did Sunset Shimmer ever wrong you?”

Applejack sighed. “Yes.”

“And how did she do that?”

“Do I got to answer the question?”

“It could help us in solving this murder.”

“It’s going to do nothing but drag our girlfriend’s name through the mud.”

Rarity sighed. “Very true, but I think finding her killer is far more important than that.”

“Why are you so gung-ho on thinking one of us did it?” Rainbow Dash growled. “Maybe you’re trying to deflect the guilt away from yourself?”

Rarity’s heart skipped a beat. She probably should’ve seen this coming

“She has a point,” Applejack muttered. “How about you answer your own question first?”

Rarity adjusted her posture, offering a tight smile. “Very well.”

She took a deep breath and settled her nerves, if only a little. “Back in high school, during her more… rebellious times, Sunset Shimmer had a keen interest in sabotaging my designs whenever she had the chance. I’d find gowns torn, costumes for plays missing, and new designs stolen from locked storage rooms. I discovered it was her after she had stolen a gala dress I was making for the Fall Formal, and had the audacity to wear it herself. Now, all of this was hard enough, but as time went on her attacks grew more vicious. Soon she began to target my suppliers, slandering my credibility. She ran her rumour mill, with its usual efficiency, and got me banned from several fabric shops, claiming that I was paying for these fabrics with less than legal means. Soon, I was travelling across town just for a few yards of satin or coloured cotton. In those days, I was on the brink of quitting, of putting aside my hobby and never going back. She nearly killed the Rarity you all know and love.”

She sighed, tapping the tip of her pen against the pad. “That is how Sunset Shimmer wronged me.”

The room was silent, the girls all looking nervously at each other.

Yet again, Applejack broke through the collective anxiety of the room. “I guess I owe it to you to explain my own troubles with her then.”

“It’d be nice,” Rarity murmured.

Applejack sighed. “This is strictly between us, since the story deals with something that is a mite illegal.”

Everyone looked at Applejack with a mixture of intrigue and shock.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she grumbled. “It was just tax evasion. Wasn’t like I was smuggling moonshine or coke or something.””

“And how does Sunset Shimmer factor into this?” Rarity asked.

“Running a farm isn’t cheap and a fair share of our profits are given to the state every year. So, it’s pretty common for farmers to lie about their yields, keep a small portion off the books, and then sell it for cash. You know, just a little fun money or cushion for your rainy-day fund. A few thousand bucks at most. And while I do call myself an honest girl, even the Apples do this.”

Rarity nodded. “And I’m guessing Sunset Shimmer found out about this… asset?”

“Yeah.” Applejack sighed. “Got a letter from the tax collectors saying they got credible evidence that our family had been lying on our taxes for the past decade. Slapped us with a pretty hefty fine that drained almost all our savings. We nearly had to start selling off chunks of land because of her. And if you know me girls, you know how important that land is to my family. I could handle the cancelled vacations, the loss of much needed upgrades, and the lean months where we ate nothing but beans, rice, and chicken. But to lose our land? That was too much.”

She adjusted in her seat, sitting up straight and staring Rarity down. “But I forgave Sunset for that. Just like I’m sure you forgave her for attempting to ruin your career.”

“I did,” Rarity said, finishing with her notes. “Thank you, Applejack.”

She looked around the room, holding the bottom of her pen out as she surveyed the girls. With Applejack out of the way, she decided to point to the one she personally suspected the least.

“Twilight,” Rarity said. “Do you mind answering that question?”

“I don’t really know what I can add,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “I never knew Sunset when she was…”

“An evil meanie?” Pinkie Pie offered.

Twilight nodded. “The Sunset I knew pulled me back from the brink of making the worst decision of my life. She gave me friends, something I’d never had before, and was also the first of you to date me. I loved her more than anything in the world.” She sniffled back tears, the first Rarity had seen her shed, as she fidgeted with a ring on her finger. “So no, I had nothing against Sunset.”

Rarity was about to stand up but Pinkie was quicker, sliding over to Twilight’s side and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Pinkie then gave Rarity a look that told her that there was no productive reason to continue this train of thought.

So, she instead looked to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow?”

Rainbow shook her head. “There isn’t really a whole lot to say. She nearly cost me my spot on the soccer team which pretty much would’ve killed any dreams of getting into university for me.”

“Ok but,” Rarity bit her lip. “How did she do that?”

“Same way she always used to do that shit. She started a rumour about me, telling everyone that I was secretly doping on testosterone. Soon enough the rumours started gaining enough traction that I was forced to take a couple tests.” Rainbow’s hand clenched into a fist. “I still don’t know how she did it but she managed to swap my blood with someone who was doping on that shit. I would’ve been kicked off the team if it wasn’t for the fact that Spitfire was our coach and knew that something wasn’t right. Thankfully they let me redo the test and this time it came out crystal clear. But still, everyone knew about the first test and the string’s Spits had to pull for me. So, I was pretty much avoided by the team for a couple years and had that stigma hovering over me for even longer. It fucking sucked man, I hadn’t even done anything wrong.”

“None of us did,” Applejack said, offering a comforting hand which Rainbow promptly jerked away from. “That was just Sunset’s MO back in the day. She wasn’t…she wasn’t well.”

“Yeah well… I can still be bitter about it,” Rainbow grumbled before her eyes widened and she frantically waved her hands. “Not that I was bitter enough to kill her or anything!”

“We never said that you were.”

“Bullshit, you all probably think I did it. Especially after that BS Rarity pulled about my boots.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Rarity began. “One piece of evidence hardly makes a case. And you have a fairly common shoe size. I will not throw any of you under the bus until I am one hundred percent sure that one of you actually did it.”

Rainbow sighed. “Sorry, I’m just a little tense.”

“We all are,” Twilight said. “But the last thing we need to do is go after each other like this.”

“Rarity, why don’t you finish up these interviews?” Applejack asked before grumbling under her breath. “So, we can move onto something actually productive.”

Rarity nodded, ignoring that last part.

She then looked at Pinkie. “Pinkie?”

“Yes, Detective Pone-rot?” she asked, grinning.

“What did Sunset Shimmer ever do to wrong you?”

Pinkie’s smile instantly vanished. “Two years of not being able to throw a party, because I had no friends, was pretty much the worst thing she ever did to me. Do you know what it’s like to be Pinkie Pie and not be able to throw a party because everyone hates your guts over some stupid rumour? It’s torture. All I had for company were my imaginary friends and gods were they boring.” She sighed and shook her head. “Plus, she started that rumour about me having clap?”

“Sunset told everyone you had clap?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow winced. “Actually, uh that wasn’t Sunset.”

Pinkie gasped. “Rainbow, that was you?”

“Only because I thought you started the rumour about me sucking Soarin’s dick in the locker room!”

“I mean I totally did, but that’s because you started the one about me peeing the bed!”

“Now girls,” Applejack said. “We all said a lot of shitty things about each other behind our backs. But do try and remember that we’re dating now and that we kind of all love each other very very much.”

This seemed to head off any further signs of an impending blow up.

It also offered Rarity the silence to conduct her final interview.

“Fluttershy?” Rarity asked. “Are you able to answer?”

She nodded meekly. “I think so.”

“You sure?”

She nodded again.

“Alright, Fluttershy, what did Sunset Shimmer do to wrong you?”

“She did a lot of things.”

“Like?”

“Well for starters, she constantly bullied and harassed me.” She rubbed at her forearm through her sweater. “Gods, the rumours she spread were so terrible. She told everyone that I used to fuck dogs. Said that they were the only thing that had a low enough standard to be attracted to me.”

“Gods,” Applejack growled. “I remember that one.”

“You know it isn’t true right?” Twilight offered, reaching over and squeezing Fluttershy’s hand.

Fluttershy nodded. “Then there was that time my dog went missing. Came home from school and found out someone had left the gate open. I always had my suspicions that it was Sunset but she didn’t confirm it until a couple months ago.” She sniffled. “I never saw Snowball again. Do you know what can happen to a stray dog out there?”

The girls all looked at each other and Applejack leaned over, gently placing her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“And, and,” Fluttershy sniffling grew more depressive. “And even after all of that she just kept up on me. Day after day… It almost got too much for me to bear. I never told you girls this, but there was a night where I tied a noose and went up to the attic and threw it over the rafters.”

Twilight shuddered.

“And I climbed on a chair,” Fluttershy continued. “And I had it around my neck. And the only reason I didn’t jump was because… because Angel was looking at me. And I knew he’d miss me and I knew all my animals at the shelter would miss me. But gods, I was so close girls. So close…” She looked at Rarity, tears running down her cheeks. “And that’s what Sunset Shimmer did to me.”

The room was once again silent as Rarity finished her notes, forcing her gaze to the notepad and not the five grim faces looking at her.

Without a word Fluttershy got to her feet and fled the room, followed close behind by Rainbow, begging her to slow down.

Pinkie Pie looked at Applejack before she too got up and left.

“I hope that was worth it,” Applejack said. “That wasn’t easy for any of us.”

Rarity sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “No… no it wasn’t.”

Applejack didn’t say anything else before she got up and went to follow her girlfriends.

“Did you find anything out from that?” Twilight asked.

Rarity looked to her. “Besides the fact that our dead girlfriend may have been a sociopath, no, nothing that screams ‘I am the murderer.’ At least, nothing that singles out any of the girls.”

“I still can’t believe Sunset would do half the stuff you girls were talking about.”

“She was…” Rarity sighed, “she was a very troubled girl when we first met her.” She shook her head. “Are you sure you can’t figure out a way to fingerprint somebody?”

Twilight bit her lip. “I have been thinking of a couple approaches but honestly it’s all guesswork at this point. I’d kil- er… I’d do a lot of things for an internet connection right now.”

“Any ideas would be appreciated. I’ll admit, I’m at a bit of an impasse.” Rarity tossed her notepad onto the table. “So, I’ll gladly grasp at any straws right now.”

“Maybe if we can find an ink well,” Twilight said, nodding to herself.” If we could do that, then I can just use ink for fingerprints.”

Rarity beamed. “There’s bound to be one in this manor. Would you be comfortable trying to find one on your own?”

“Why?” Twilight asked, cocking a brow. “Where are you going?”

“There’s one final lead we haven’t followed up on, yet.”

“And what’s that?”

“The tire tracks, Twilight. I need to know where they lead.”

Comments

[Ice Star]

She took a deep breath and settled her nerves, if only a little. “Back in high school, during her more… rebellious times, Sunset Shimmer had a keen interest in sabotaging my designs whenever she had the chance. I’d find gowns torn, costumes for plays missing, and new designs stolen from locked storage rooms. I discovered it was her after she had stolen a gala dress I was making for the Fall Formal, and had the audacity to wear it herself. Now, all of this was hard enough, but as time went on her attacks grew more vicious. Soon she began to target my suppliers, slandering my credibility. She ran her rumour mill, with its usual efficiency, and got me banned from several fabric shops, claiming that I was paying for these fabrics with less than legal means. Soon, I was travelling across town just for a few yards of satin or coloured cotton. In those days, I was on the brink of quitting, of putting aside my hobby and never going back. She nearly killed the Rarity you all know and love.”

I'm not sure how you can pay for fabric illegally except if you were using some kind of dirty money. Is this perhaps Rarity's way of saying Sunset started rumors about Rarity being involved in crime (since Rarity doesn't seem to have a motive for tax evasion, I'm guessing it was something more slanderous like suggesting Rarity was involved in other fraud, prostitution, or selling something she wasn't supposed to? Something that would be especially dire for a high schooler to be accused of?) to pay for fabric? That's just my guess.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” she grumbled. “It was just tax evasion. Wasn’t like I was smuggling moonshine or coke or something.””

There's an extra quote mark there. Also, so far AJ and Flutters seem to have the strongest motives for anything. Though, AJ would have a common murder motive in general with this. It's also hard to believe Flutters would be willing to date Sunset after all this.