Beside the Last Gateway, the Sun Shone Warm and Bright

by Mockingbirb

The Sun Shone Warm and Bright

A few minutes later, Luna excused herself, and sought out the physician in charge of Swift Bark's case.

"Doctor Apple Day?" she said quietly. "When you have the time, I need to speak with you in your office. I would discuss a difficult case."

"No time like the present," the cinnamon-colored stallion said. He led her into his office, where she closed the door.

Day bowed to her. "Princess Luna. How good of you to help us with the Swift Bark case. I'm so glad to have it cleared up."

The Princess said softly, "That is the question. IS it cleared up?"

"Last I checked," Doctor Day said, "the patient appeared to be recovering."

"Yes," Luna said. "The colt who was found in a remote location, with two different poisons in his system. One of them very difficult to recognize."

The doctor sucked air between his teeth. "When you put it that way...are you telling me you suspect suicide? Or perhaps foul play?"

"At this point," Luna said, "I am reluctant to rule out anything. When I walked into Swift Bark's dream, he did not want to talk about what had happened to him. He found it too painful to think about. I carefully drew him out, and he eventually told me a story."

"A story?"

"A story about a colt, colt's name not stated. The colt in the story had taken heartsleep for a perfectly good reason, as a desperate gamble to try to slow down his death from manticore venom, after a manticore surprised him."

"You're not sure you believe him."

Luna shrugged. "At this point I don't know what to believe. Maybe he really did get stung by accident, and used the heartsleep to try to buy time.

"Or maybe he felt he had a compelling reason to take two deadly poisons. Maybe whoever found him, found a suicide note next to him. Maybe they had a motive to hide the note, or destroy it.

"Or maybe the colt was poisoned by somepony else, with motives we don't know enough to even guess at. Yet. And for some reason the colt doesn't want to talk about it.

"Or maybe," Luna continued, "he just felt too embarrassed to talk about how he'd gotten into so much trouble in the forest on his own. That happens, sometimes. Or maybe when he was under the influence of heavy sleep and two different poisons, he simply had a harder time talking to me rationally. That can happen too."

Doctor Day said, "It sounds like you think we've barely begun on this case."

"I don't even know. If it were my case, I think my next step would be to call in a psychologist. A forensic psychologist if you can get one. And hope the consulting can find something where you and I have failed. At some point I HOPE to check in on the colt's dreams again, but as you know, I am a very busy pony, what with half of Equestria needing my attention. Whatever half happens to be asleep, that is."

Day nodded. "At least I know what my next step is. Thank you very much, Princess Luna."

Luna said, "Thank you too, Doctor Day. Dreamwalking can be a very lonely job. A dreamwalker usually has no backup available, and often has only nightmares for company. It's nice knowing I don't have to handle this one on my own."

Doctor Day bowed again. "I'm glad that in this case, you have help. Do you have anything else you want to discuss? Or should I go get started on requesting a psychologist?"

Luna returned the bow. "You may." She opened the door and trotted back through the hospital, on her way to catch up with Twilight.

The Night Princess looked forward to joking about cake, and pretending for a little while that the world's worst problem was overdue library books.

Comments

[Wild Stallion]

I am going to have to point out something your readers may likely ask questions about; namely the fact that if Swift Bark or another pony did in fact poison him wouldn't the absence of a sting mark reveal that to be the case? Or is there some other reason as to why the Princess is in doubt over the accuracy of his claims?

[Mockingbirb]

10324721

All of the spoilered stuff below this paragraph is largely irrelevant to this story's actual virtues and flaws as a story, which have more to do with the relationship between the story and its audience. Because you are a member of the audience talking about your relationship to the story, your comment is pretty much guaranted to be a clue towards writing better stories, if I have the wit to properly interpret and use it.

If I just take your question as a question, I think the easiest and most convenient way for some ponies to get manticore venom into a pony is to go (or take the pony) to a place where there is known to be a manticore, and provoke the manticore.

If you're trying to commit suicide, you can provoke the manticore.

If you're trying to get a colt poisoned, maybe you can bring the colt with you, anger the manticore, and run away faster than the colt can run.

Either way, the physical evidence of the manticore poisoning is a manticore sting mark. The most objective cause for suspecting murder or suicide is the fact that one colt was poisoned in two different ways in such a short time, which is somewhat unusual, and might be a clue that someone REALLY wants that colt dead. The later part of the investigation would be closer to a police procedural, and is not really the part of this that Luna was most involved in. If I wanted to write a police procedural instead of a look at the various things Luna was doing, that would be a good place for me to focus.

[Angel Midnight]

No. That CAN'T be the ending. What actually happened to Swift Bark? I NEED A SEQUEL!!!!

[Lore Horse]

Sequel, Sequel, Sequel, Sequel! This is a mystery story waiting to happen, please don't stop now!