Playing Detective

by garatheauthor

Chapter 5

Once again six girls gathered in what passed for the manor’s living room.

Rarity surveyed them. Her gaze was soft though it sharpened as it landed upon one of the girls. She knew of her guilt yet she didn’t quite play her hand, yet.

Instead, she let Twilight take the lead.

Twilight held up a small bottle of black fluid. “I found this bottle of ink. With it, I should be able to get pretty well-defined fingerprints. Once those are taken, it’ll be child’s play figuring out which set best matches those found on Applejack’s bottle opener.”

“Come on Twi,” Rainbow growled. “You know that none of us did it.”

“Let her take the fingerprints,” Applejack warned, her voice far cooler than it had once been.

Rarity smiled tightly though her blood ran cold. “Yes… it could be rather informative.”

Rainbow looked like she was about to rebuff the idea but held her tongue, instead waving her hand dismissively.

“Fine, fine,” she grumbled. “Take your damn fingerprints. It isn’t like this is my first time getting them done.”

Twilight nodded and stepped forward, placing a piece of blank paper on the table. She then motioned to Pinkie Pie.

“Do you mind going first?”

Pinkie nodded quickly. “Of course not, silly. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that none of us did it.”

Twilight popped open the bottle and brought forth a shallow dish, pouring the dark liquid into it. She then instructed Pinkie on how to proceed and before long, there was a perfect set of prints on the paper.

With great care, Twilight set this aside and replaced it with another white sheet.

“Rainbow,” Twilight said.

Yet again, the process went off without a hitch and another pair of blackened prints were left behind. These were placed next to Pinkie’s and another white sheet was set out to replace it.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight listed off.

The girl didn’t move, petrified in place.

“Fluttershy,” Twilight repeated, her voice now far softer as she glanced at her.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” Fluttershy whispered.

“What? Why’s that?”

Rarity’s gaze narrowed. “Yes dear, why isn’t it a good idea?”

“Because…” Fluttershy swallowed before shooting a cold glare at Rarity. “Because your whole investigation is tearing us apart when we need to be there for each other. You’re just making us fight each other, when we need to be comforting one another, not pointing fingers over your flimsy accusations.”

Rarity paused for a moment before simply shrugging her shoulders. “Very well.”

Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight gasped at the same time. “Wait, what!”

“Yes, because while those prints would’ve been nice…” Rarity glanced at Applejack who simply nodded her head, “I don’t need any additional evidence to prove that Fluttershy did it.”

Fluttershy paled.

“No!” Rainbow growled. “There’s no way that…”

Rarity reached into her pocket and pulled out an object, still covered in dirt from its burial mound. She tossed it onto the table, where it landed with a soft, yet effectively deafening, thud.

It was a dog collar, worn from age, thought its once vibrant fabrics still held traces of the bright colours it had originally bore. A tag, shaped like a dog bone, dangled from the bottom and engraved upon it was a name.

Snowball.

Rainbow looked at it, then at Fluttershy, before she scooted as far away as she could.

“Fluttershy,” Pinkie Pie whispered, her voice on the verge of failing. “You… you did it?”

For a moment there was silence then Fluttershy laughed, it was such a hollow and harsh noise, more pain than amusement.

“I may have lied to you a little,” she admitted.

“That’s an understatement,” Applejack muttered under her breath.

“Always the quiet ones,” Twilight added.

“Let her speak,” Rarity said.

“I lied when I said I never saw Snowball again,” Fluttershy said. “About a year after Sunset released him, I got a call from a local vet.” She shivered and a tear ran down her face. “He… said that someone left a dog outside his office. The pup had been a victim of dog fighting. He’d been starved, beaten, and eventually, torn to shreds. The vet did everything in his power to help but… this dog was too far gone by then and passed away during the night.” She clenched her hand into a fist and slammed it against the table, causing the dish of ink to shudder and spill part of its contents. “That dog was Snowball. And you know what?”

“What?” Rarity said.

“When I went into that vet’s office and saw what had happened to Snowball, I knew I’d get back at everyone involved. I would make each and everyone of them pay and suffer like Snowball had suffered. So, when Sunset made her little confession, I played my part. I forgave her, but I plotted and I planned and I knew that one day I’d get my chance.” She laughed again before a sob racked her. “Except no amount of planning prepared me for the moment. I’ll freely admit I was more than a little clumsy in my get away but tell me any of you could’ve done better.”

“Is this why you planted your knife in my bedside table?” Rarity asked.

Everyone’s attention snapped to Rarity. Yet, she did not waver under their gaze.

Fluttershy frowned. “Partly I wanted to get rid of it as quickly as I could. But also, when you started playing detective, I knew that I needed to get you to stop. I was hoping that you’d keep quiet when there was a chance of you getting caught with the murder weapon.” She sighed. “But clearly, that didn’t work.”

When no one spoke up, Fluttershy simply shook her head. “So yes, I killed Sunset Shimmer. I did it because she let my dog loose and subjected my poor puppy to months of hell. Tell me, what if she had done the same to Spike, or Winona, or any of your pets? Would you be so level-headed and forgiving? Would you let her live after seeing your pet dead, seeing the months of abuse they endured drawn upon them in a mosaic of scars?”

Fluttershy looked around the room, snorting dismissively as she saw nothing but shocked and blank faces.

“So, what are you going to do to me?” she asked, glaring at Applejack. “Lynch me?”

Rarity reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, flicking it on. “Well, dear, the storm has passed.” She smiled tightly. “And I now have three bars. So…”

Comments

[TyrakatheDragonFan]

Believe it or not, I think I could actually picture Fluttershy doing something like this, were she just a touch more mentally-unstable than she already is.

[LemonMist]

It was Knox compliant.

[Ice Star]

The idea of Fluttershy being willing to date someone she is eventually entirely willing to kill still stands out as a questionable character choice. The final line/action really stands out well as some subtle badassery from Rarity, and the conclusion and culprit are entirely believable. However, the chapter as a whole feels rushed compared to the others, especially when Fluttershy, who is prone to emotion and hesitance, just throws out why she did things with a villain-esque monologue that made up most of the chapter and was delivered with minimal interjection from the others. Applejack did make a nice distraction, though. Probably to Rarity, too.