Chapter 1

The Detective
“Isnt it obvious, It was right in front of me the whole time. There were no coincidences”

“Detective Stripes?” The voice awakened me from a deep though

“Sorry?” I replied.

“Are you sure you want to take this case? It is awfully peculiar and it seems beyond your experience. It has stumped many who are more renowned than you.”

“Of course, do not try to underestimate me chief. If you read my resume, I have solved every case I’ve been assigned before and I was the valedictorian of the Canterlot School of Criminal Studies”

“Alright sign here and you can begin your work. Just do so cautiously.” I quickly levitated the pen and made a quick autograph and rushed out of the door.

I arrived at the scene of the crime later that day, although it was annoying to arrive there. First I had to take a train to Ponyville then get an escort deep into the Everfree Forest. Apparently it is too dangerous. However, in my escort group I didn’t see a single thing that led me to believe that there was anything to worry about. There were only two things that suggested the need of an escort. First the forest was huge, extending far into the horizon and it was thick, and therefore it is easy for somepony to lose a sense of direction. However, I didn’t have to go far into the forest before I we saw the body.

“So tell me the situation” I said to the royal guard who was guarding the scene of the crime.

“This pony was wondering through the forest and was killed by something”

“ Wow! That was probably the most limited explanation you could have given me. Who is this pony?”

“Unidentified”

“Wow, is there anything useful that you know?”

“Well isn’t that what you are here for?”

“Ugh, just let me look at the body.”

“No can do sir.”

“What do you mean ‘no can do’. It is my job to investigate! I have a legal warrant to access anything that will help me solve the case. That body is the case”

“I’m sor-“

“No I am seeing that body you babbling idiot. I have full documentation to do so. Now let me see the body before I have to report you to the Chief himself.”

“Fine but be quick” What an idiot.

Lying on the ground was a white mare with a rose red mane. Earth Pony. Her physique was very lean and fit. The hoofprints around the body suggest that she was at a full gallop when she fell. There were no other hoofprints besides her own suggesting that she was either killed at a range or from something that didn’t touch the ground. The wound in her body is quite odd. There was a small wound on her left side near her left shoulder and a much larger wound near the center of her right side. Several chunks of flesh are near the body that seemed to have originated from the right side. She had been instantly in her gallop because seems to be no struggle after her fall. It is likely that something went through her entire body. The entry point seems to be the left shoulder because of the way the flesh is ripped

The wound is very odd. There is no animal I know of that could produce such an impact. The likely source of the wound is magic, but I know of no magic that creates a wound like this. I will have to look at the Canterlot archives.

Before I go to Canterlot, I have to do more things in Ponyville to explore more evidence. First I had to identify the body. City hall had a record of residents. So I began my search there.

“Good afternoon,” I say to the secretary at the front desk of city hall

“What do you want sir?”

“I need to access your records of all residents in Ponyville”

“Warrant?”

“Right here.” I pull out my papers I had received from Canterlot

“Alright follow me sir,” She led me to a room dimly lit room filled with filing cabinets.

Shit. Of course I was in the one town who hasn’t modernized their town government. Is it too hard having a computer? It is going to take me all night to look through these archives. Armed with nothing more than a picture of the victim, I went file to file searching for this one mare.

After hours of searching through thousands of papers I had finally found what had appeared to be a match. Her name was Faith. No last name. She was an orphan who was never adopted. There was little about her life in the files, although what else would you expect from an orphan. Few ponies knew her. Of the ponies that did know her, almost all of them either left Ponyville or were deceased. All but one, Lyra Heartstrings.

Lyra Heartstrings was a permanent resident of Ponyville ever since she was a filly. A typical pony in most regards. As a filly she took up music. First chair lyrist of the Canterlot orchestra. However, many ponies see her as a conspiracy nut. I looked up her address. I might as well see her before I take that long trip back to Canterlot.

I knock on the door to be greeted by a light blue unicorn.

“Lyra Heartstrings?”

“Yes?”

“I am Detective Stipes. You were a friend of Faith?”

“Yes,” she looked past me for some odd reason, scanning the area around her house. “Come on in”
I reluctantly walked into her house. That conspiracy nut thing scared me a bit. I expected to see walls covered with newspaper articles and pictures connected by lines like you would see in the movies. No instead I was greeted by a normal house.

“Please, sit down” she insisted as we passed through her living room. She went into the kitchen and brought out a teapot. “Tea? Just made it.”

“Thank you very much.”

“So what do you need to know?”

“Well, Faith, as you know, was recently found dead in the middle of the Everfree forest. You were the only person she knew still in Ponyville. I was hoping you would know anything that happened before the incident and any reason as to why faith was in the Everfree forest.” Lyra began to tear.

“I know why she was there. It’s my fault. I gave her the idea that there might be something beyond the Everfree forest. I told her this a couple months ago and she was obsessed over the idea. I warned her that it wasn’t a good idea, it was too dangerous. But she wouldn’t listen.”

“Okay first it seems like an odd thing to suddenly become obsessed about. Did you suggest as to what might be beyond the forest?”

“Ugh,” she moaned. She was reluctant to tell me, almost fearing my disappointment. “Something…new. Another world almost. Well world is a bad word. Another… society. A society that would greatly vary from our own. I’m not sure how but I believe that there are other ponies out there, those who have never heard of Equestria.”

“Alright.” Not terribly crazy. A bit out of the ordinary but nothing too extreme. “And secondly, you described the Everfree forest as ‘dangerous’. As I am not from here can you explain to me how exactly it is dangerous.”

“Well there are relatively aggressive beasts in the forest. I’m not too knowledgeable about them if you think about it they are just wild animals. No different from encountering a bear in another forest.”

“So it’s not dangerous?”

“That is debatable. Baisicly most ponies are scared of it. Me not so much.”

“Then why would you tell Faith that it is dangerous”

“Because other ponies are afraid.”

“I don’t understand, you tell your friend not to enter a forest that you think is safe merely because other ponies think it is haunted?”

“Not haunted. Think about it, if you wanted to hide something, would you tell people that the place you hid it is haunted. No. That would spark curiosity. You tell them it’s dangerous. A serious threat. Ponies don’t believe in ghosts but they do believe in guard dogs and electric fences. If you say a place is lethal, no pony will go near it.” There’s the conspiracy nut

“So you believe that somepony is hiding something deep in the Everfree forest?”

“That’s my only guess. I’ve been in the forest many times and it’s not that bad. So why would everypony say it is dangerous? I don’t know, I just didn’t want Faith to go in too deep and have her encounter something she never should have.” That might actually make sense. She was killed by a pony… probably.

“Okay, makes sense.” I scanned the room as I thought of more things to question. There are several books lying around. Astronomy, Astrology, Magic, Biology, Chemisty, and books on new scientific theories. There is a very advanced telescope pointed out the window. I’d say she’s more of a science nut than a conspiracy nut.

“I see you like science. You have a great book collection.”

“Yup, I like to stay updated with the latest scientific theories.”

“Really, what do you like to focus on?”

“Anything really, all science interests me. I tend to explore the modern theories. There’s a lot of revolutionary ideas going around. Quite intriguing.”

“Really, would you care to enlighten me on such theories?”

“Well there is this one I was recently describing how the sun follows a specific pattern in the sky. The author claims that using calculus he can predict the path of the sun in the sky through certain trends he discovered.”

“Interesting, I should look into those theories, I’ll look through them on my own time.”

Our little chat continued for about another half hour. I left her house obtaining much knowledge about Faith and her relationship with Lyra. Lyra and Faith met at the orphanage. Lyra wasn’t an orphan, but her parents both had working jobs and needed a daycare center. I was shocked at the parents for abusing such facilities as a cheap fillysitter. So anyway, Lyra and Faith met as young Fillies and remained good friends until Faith’s death. Once Faith was too old for the orphanage, she had economic issues and Lyra would do what she could to support her. Faith never seemed to be completely financially stable and if she wasn’t homeless she was in danger of being homeless. For that reason Lyra would let her good friend live with her whenever she needed to, even for months at a time. After Lyra explained her history with faith, I had to leave in order to catch the train to Canterlot. She lent me a couple of her science books and let me on my way. Tomorrow I will examine the canterlot archives to look for the possible ways that Faith could have died.

Notes:
Just to be clear Faith is not Bon Bon
I intend to change the name of the Dectective, I just cant think of a good name right now

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