Playing Detective

by garatheauthor

Chapter 4

Rarity left the house for the second time that day, breathing in the damp coastal air. It felt marginally better to be out here than inside with the oppressive tension that settled in amongst her girlfriends.

Admittedly, a lot of that tension was due to her own activities.

She began her journey without too much of a delay, walking through the mud of the driveway towards the van. She didn’t stop as she passed it, instead following in its tracks, walking right between the two deep grooves in the muddy soil.

Her boots were sucked into the mud, slowing her, yet she persisted. Normally, she’d have an aversion to such filth but there were more pressing concerns in her mind.

She was about to leave the driveway, and head along the forest road, when she heard the manor’s door open behind her.

“Rarity!” Applejack called.

Rarity looked over her shoulder, watching Applejack march swiftly towards her.

“Applejack,” Rarity greeted. “What are you doing out here?”

“After I checked on Shy, I went back to the living room. Twi told me you were going for a walk to find more evidence.” She huffed. “What were you thinking?”

“That I’d hopefully find another lead since my previous attempts have not singled out the killer.”

“A killer who might very well still be on the loose around these parts. I ain’t letting you go out there alone.”

Rarity smiled. “Then you’re more than welcome to accompany me, darling.”

With a warm smile, Rarity managed to get Applejack to agree, and together, the two of them ventured off of the estate and pressed down the forest trails. Almost immediately they were immersed in the woods, with towering trees blocking them in from either side. It was dark and dreary, the perfect setting for such a grim adventure.

Applejack got a little closer and Rarity instinctively reached over and hooked her arm around Applejack’s own. The forest was spooky, but at the very least she had a rather burly butch there to protect her.

Rarity looked over and smirked.

Yes, and a rather handsome butch at that.

“So why are you so sure that it was one of us?” Applejack asked.

Rarity shook her head. “No other explanation made sense. We’re miles from civilization, and even then, that would require some random hillbilly to hike all the way out here and just happen to kill Sunset, the girl with the most out of the way room in the entire mansion? No this was premediated, I’m almost certain of it.”

“If you say so,” Applejack grumbled.

“I mean it makes more sense than some random villain lingering in these-”

A whoosh came from behind, followed promptly by the violent rustling of leaves.

Rarity yelped loudly and frantically looked over her shoulders, holding her breath as she watched a pair of nearby bushes jostle in the windless forest.

“Just a deer,” Applejack said. “Though good to know you’re just as jumpy as me.”

“I might be a little tense, yes.”

They continued forward in silence, following the tire tracks with heavy footfalls.

“What’s your plan if one of us turns out to be the murderer?” Applejack asked after a few minutes.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Rarity admitted. “Hopefully our cell phones will be working by then.”

Applejack shook her head. “I don’t know if I could…”

“Could what?”

“I don’t know if I could go on with this relationship if something like that turned out to be true. I mean Sunset was… gods she was a lot of things. But I loved her, Rare.”

“I loved her too.”

“And if one of us did her in like that? I don’t know how I could ever look at this relationship the same way again.”

“It’ll be hard, but we’ll find a way to get through it.” Rarity smiled and squeezed Applejack’s strong forearm. “We always do.”

Applejack snorted and shook her head. “This isn’t any old regular fight, sugarcube. This will take a whole lot more than just a few conversations and apologies to get through.”

Once again, the conversation died away and they continued to follow the tracks.

“Seems the driver wasn’t very experienced with dirt roads,” Applejack commented, gesturing to the set they were currently following.

Rarity looked at her. “Pardon?”

“Look at the way those tracks kinda jostle back and forth,” Applejack said, pointing at the tire tracks as they drifted for seemingly no reason. “Whoever was behind the wheel wasn’t comfortable in that position, that’s for sure. They seemed kind of nervous.”

“I mean, whoever was driving had likely just committed murder.”

“Still, whoever did it seems like a pretty novice driver.”

“If you had the venture a guess, which of us do you think was behind the wheel” Rarity asked, studying how Applejack handled the question.

Applejack shook her head and pursed her lips. “Well you or Twilight would be my best bet, she doesn’t drive and you’re very much an urban creature. Beyond that, Fluttershy and Pinkie have only a bit more experience. Only person I’d safely rule out would be Rainbow. That girl is more comfortable on dirt roads than even myself.”

“She is?”

“She’s been dirt biking since she was twelve.”

Rarity nodded.

“That is,” Applejack continued. “If it wasn’t some rando behind the wheel.”

“Of course, of course. Though why would a random murderer return the van to the house instead of ditching it?”

Applejack didn’t respond.

“Also, wouldn’t anyone from these parts be rather experienced with these roads?”

“Like you said,” Applejack grumbled. “Probably nervous since they had just committed murder.”

They were maybe a kilometer and a half from the estate when the tire tracks veered from the dirt trail and onto a grassy plain. The tires had mulched the turf, cutting angry trenches through the soil.

Rarity and Applejack continued to follow them. Both were silent as if sensing that they were close to their final destination.

A few dozen meters further and they found the area where the van had looped around, following its tracks out of the little alcove in the woods. A couple steps from that was a mound of recently disturbed earth with a shovel sticking out of it.

As they approached, Rarity noticed a little metallic shimmer. Whatever it was, it had only been partially buried within the mound. She bent over and grasped it, finding that it was a piece of a potato chip bag.

“All Dressed,” Rarity whispered before looking at Applejack. “Wasn’t that the flavour Sunset was eating on the way up here.”

Applejack nodded. “It’s her favourite.”

The two of them stared at the mound and then glanced at each other.

“Well no point in waiting any longer,” Applejack said as she stepped forward and grabbed the shovel.

She then plunged the spade into the mound, throwing the recently disturbed dirt off to the side.

A deathly silence settled between them, with only the sound of Applejack’s laboured grunts offering any noise in the eeriness of the forest. Slowly, little by little, the hole was dug out and after about a metre of depth Applejack took in a tense breath.

“What is it?” Rarity asked.

Applejack bent over and pulled out a pair of familiar boots. They were bought from a certain niche, but very familiar, Canterlot vendor. Both were absolutely covered in a mixture of black topsoil and the rusty crimson of dried blood.

“Rainbow’s boots,” Rarity whispered. “We found them.”

She also noted that one of the laces was missing while the other was untied to the point that only the bottom rung held it in place. It wouldn’t take too much effort to accidentally come loose and scatter somewhere it didn’t belong.

Like the back of Applejack’s van.

“Is there anything else?” Rarity asked, kneeling beside to take a look.

She moved a little soil aside with her hand and found an orange piece of fabric buried underneath. As she pulled it out, she knew exactly what it was. It was a beautiful orange blouse that Sunset had owned. Like the boots it was covered in gore and mud.

Then below that was a pair of Twilight’s jeans, also bloodied and dirtied by its intended final resting place.

Three pieces of clothing from three different girls. However, this pretty much confirmed the guilt of somebody in the manor. No random murder would have the means to collect this clothing, murder Sunset, and get away without anyone in the house noticing. It was impossible for it to be anyone but one of the girls.

Just as she was about to abandon her excavation, Rarity caught a glimpse of something made from a coarse looking multicoloured fabric, poking through an additional layer of soil.

“What the…”

She reached for it, and as she pulled it free, her heart skipped a beat.

“Is that…” Applejack began.

“It is,” Rarity answered.

The case had just been cracked wide open.

Comments

[Ice Star]

So, AJ's behavior here has some notable parts that stuck out and made me uneasy reading them. She's oddly helpful in a way that came across as... odd, to say the least. Her suggesting who could be the driver and their state of mind was one thing. It also seems more and more like she had a chance to be the killer, with her admitting to getting little sleep, possibly being able to steal Rainbow's boots, and being from a rural area. She also would've been among the most likely to be able to drive in a storm without any accident.