Funeral Pyre

by VioletsInSpring

Firewood (4/3?)

Pinkie sat down on the park bench next to Applejack.

“How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” Applejack said.

“It’s okay to be tired.”

“I… I’m trying not to talk so much. I think… I think I’m gonna shout if I talk too much.”

Pinkie nodded.

“Don’t let me yell at Rarity. I don’t—”

“She won’t be mad at you if you do.”

“That doesn’t mean I want to yell at her. I mean… I guess we yell all the time, but…”

“You don’t want to be mad at her,” Pinkie finished.

Applejack stared at one of the trees in the park.

Rarity galloped up to them, panting. “Sorry I’m late, I… wanted to ask a few more questions of Bosc. She was happy to oblige.”

Applejack didn’t say anything, she was looking down at her knees.

“Do you know what we do next, Rarity?”

“Well… I think maybe we start talking about what we know, I suppose.”

“You suppose?” Applejack said, her gaze remaining downward. “Rarity, I don’t know what we’re doing anymore. We’ve been looking around for, what, a day now? Where are we in this ‘investigation.’”

“I feel like where getting somewhere,” Rarity replied, ever confident in her decisions.

Applejack asked sternly, “Where?” She stood up from the bench, her scrunched up, burning face invading Rarity’s space. She shouted, “All I’ve seen so far is that all the ponies that might’ve had a reason to do it had absolutely no reason to do it.”

Rarity’s confident smile faltered. Pinkie was paralyzed by indecision.

Applejack looked into the sky and shouted “Nature is just out to get the Apples this year! Just like last year! All for no good reason!” She muttered, “First the bats and now this.”

Applejack looked down at the ground beneath her hooves. She stomped hard.

Pinkie felt her left foreleg go numb. “Um… guys? I think there’s about to be a surprise of some kind.”

Applejack rolled her eyes at Pinkie. “What do you mean surprise? Like, a birthday cake?”

“No, that wouldn’t be a surprise, I don’t think.”

Rarity asked, “What about—”

“Bosc’s birthday isn’t for another three months.” Pinkie replied. “Maybe… maybe we’re close?”

“Why,” Applejack asked, staring her down, “‘cause your Pinkie Sense told you?”

“Well… yeah. It’s never lead me astray before.”

Applejack and Pinkie didn’t break eye contact immediately.

“Oh my goodness!” Rarity interjected. Both Applejack and Pinkie looked to her. “Of course that’s where we need to go!”

“Rarity, I don’t want to go on another wild goose chase without a good reason.”

“But don’t you see? It’s just like Shadow Spade always says.”

Applejack snorted.

Rarity ignored her. “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!” she exclaimed. “We’ll have to go to Tree Hugger’s!”

“Tree Hugger? But she’s not even a suspect!”

“She bought the tinderbox.” Rarity said with a smirk. “And she spoke with your mother. That’s two reasons it could be her.”

Applejack sighed. “Alright, we’ll go talk to her.” She gave Rarity a thin frown. “But, if this doesn’t go anywhere, I’m not doing anything else. This is… more than I can handle right now. I… need to get back to work on the harvest.”

“Of course, darling.”

---

“Rarity,” Pinkie whispered a few paces in front of Applejack, “I really don’t think this is a good idea anymore.”

The small hut had vines and trees growing into and out of its fractured walls. Smoke occasionally puffed out of its windows. Animals flew in and out of the trees and bushes nearby. Pungent smells from uncleaned grounds wafted around the grounds.

“Your Pinkie sense just told you it was a good idea.”

“No, my Pinkie sense told me there would a surprise and I thought it was maybe related to the case.”

“Just one more. I can feel it.”

“I think we should call this off.”

“Bit late for that, darling,” Rarity said knocking on Tree Hugger’s door.

“What’s going on with you two?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, nothing worth worrying about.”

“You’ve said that twice already today.”

Tree Hugger opened the door. She blinked at them twice before saying anything. “Uh…” she laughed. “Good afternoon? I… wasn’t expecting company.”

“Hiya Tree Hugger!”

“Do you mind if we come in?”

“Come in where?”

“To your house,” Applejack said.

“Do what?”

Pinkie looked at Rarity and Applejack. They looked back.

“We can come back later if now’s not a good time, darling.”

“No, now’s great, let me clean up a little.” Tree Hugger closed the door delicately. Shuffling could be heard from inside.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anything useful out of her today,” Applejack said.

“Might just be the ripe time for a confession, darling.”

Pinkie said, “I don’t think that happens in real life.”

Tree Hugger opened the door. “Come on in,” she said, “take a seat wherever you like.”

The inside of the small hut had a musty smell. The room was messy and dark, lit only by the cloudy day outside.

“I hope I’ve got everything I need for you today,” Tree Hugger said.

“Oh, we’re just here to ask you some questions,” Pinkie said.

“Oh, just some questions? That’s good.”

“So, as I’m sure your aware,” Rarity said, “Applejack’s parents died recently.”

“Yeah, I feel really bad for her. I figure she needs something to cheer her up. Are you putting together something?”

“I’m… over here,” Applejack said from the armchair.

Tree Hugger blinked a few times. “Oh, hi Applejack, I didn’t see you there.” She chuckled to herself.

“We… Applejack was putting together a eulogy,” Rarity said. “She thought you might have something to say, since she knew you had talked to Pear Butter about a month ago.”

“Oh, yeah I did.”

Pinkie watched as Tree Hugger unfocused a bit.

“What did you talk about?”

“With who?”

Applejack groaned and rubbed her face. She raised her voice, “What did you and my ma talk about?”

“Oh, right.” Tree Hugger chuckled. “She wanted to ask about the bats.”

“The bats?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah, she had to chase them off her farm the previous night. I originally wrangled the swarm after they ate some of Carrot Top’s crop. I was planning on relocating them, but I needed a cave they could live in. I got them some fruit to keep them pacified while I searched. I kept it stocked, and for a while they were fine. And then, as I was sleeping one night, they disappeared. At first, I was kinda worried. But when they didn’t come back, I thought they had found their own place nearby. Then, Pear Butter came.

“She wasn’t very happy she had to chase away the fruit bats. I’ve been looking for them, since they still seem to be too close for comfort. But I still haven’t found them. They’re probably in a cave I haven’t been able to find.”

“So that’s it? You just talked about the bat swarm?” Rarity asked. “Nothing else? You weren’t cross with her?”

“Nah, she had every right to be mad at me. I could’ve seriously hurt their living. Way I hear it, I probably did hurt Strawberry’s, Sour’s, and Rind’s. Probably some others I haven’t heard about.”

“So, what?” Applejack stood up, shouting, “everypony’s just going to have to deal with the loss of crops?”

“Huh?”

Applejack let out a yelp of frustration.

“Will everyone just have to deal with the loss of crops that the bats caused?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, no. There’s paperwork getting bounced around that might mean everypony gets a rebate for the eaten fruit. Hopefully it gets approved. If it does, they’ll just have to prove that the bats did eat some of their crop, which shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Wait, why doesn’t anypony know?” Rarity asked.

“Know what?”

Applejack slumped back into the arm chair.

“Why doesn’t anypony know about the rebate from the bats?” Pinkie asked.

“I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I don’t know if it will get approved.”

“Alright, this was helpful,” Applejack said. “Let’s go.”

“One more thing, first,” Rarity said. “Did you…” she gave a dramatic look at Tree Hugger, “lose a tinderbox recently?”

Pinkie saw an old, worn, handmade tinderbox on the windowsill, just behind Tree Hugger’s head. “Uh, Rarity—"

“Oh, yeah, I had to buy this one from Filthy’s a few days ago.” She held up a tinderbox from the table.

“Do you know where you might’ve lost it?” Rarity asked.

“Nah, I’ve got no real idea. I’ve been around a lot recently.”

“Rarity—”

“So you have no way of knowing where the tinderbox is? Have you been on the Apple’s farm recently?”

“Rarity—”

“No, why?”

“Tree Hugger, I think I found your tinderbox,” Pinkie said.

Applejack was glaring daggers at Tree Hugger, who seemed not to notice. She stood up, and was breathing heavily.

“Yes, we do believe we have,” Rarity said with a smirk.

“Really? Where?”

Rarity’s magic lit up and she opened her saddle bags. “Right—”

“There,” Pinkie interjected, “behind your head, on the windowsill.”

Rarity and Applejack froze.

Tree Hugger turned around. “Oh.” She grabbed the tinderbox. “Huh, I’ve been looking all over the countryside to find this baby.” She started laughing. “I even looked for it where I was looking for bat caves.” She fell onto the floor, convulsing in fits of laughter.

Rarity closed her saddlebags and snuffed her magic. Applejack’s shoulders slumped and she started for the door. Tree Hugger’s laughter died down.

Pinkie got up to leave. Rarity thanked Tree Hugger for her hospitality.

Outside, they walked in silence back towards town.

After a few moments of walking, Applejack said, “We won’t be getting a rebate. I expect.”

“Don’t say that, darling. I’m sure the paperwork—”

“All the fruit that was eaten was on the trees that burned down.”

“Oh.” Rarity said lamely.

They walked in silence for a few moments.

“Big Mac was right.”

Pinkie put a hoof on Applejack’s back, but it was shrugged off.

“I’m going home. There’s still daylight. Maybe I can get some bucking done.”

“Applejack, I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, Rarity. We were all wrong about the arson. Nothing but nature hating Apples this year.”

Pinkie said, “We can—”

“Don’t,” Applejack said. “I… just… We’re not detectives.” She walked off, languidly, home. Rarity and Pinkie stayed in the cloudy day she left behind.

“This is my fault,” Rarity said softly.

Pinkie hugged Rarity, which Rarity leaned into. “No, it’s not.”

She started crying softly. “I didn’t need to drag her into this until we knew.”

“We did what we thought was best.”

“No, we did what I thought was best.” Rarity sobbed. “I should’ve let you stop me.”

“I could’ve pushed harder.”

Pinkie let Rarity cry into her shoulder, hugging her tight. She tried not to cry herself.

---

Pinkie and Rarity eventually made their way to the gazebo outside of town. Rarity had cried herself out, her makeup had run down her cheeks, it still smeared her face. They sat on the benches as Rarity stared into the Everfree.

“You know, I still don’t believe that was a monster we saw. Do you?”

Pinkie thought for a moment. “No.”

“Too bad we’re out of leads. Unless we want to try and find any traces of a burning creature in the swampy and damp Everfree. I doubt there’d even be a single mote of ash.”

“I guess… sometimes a criminal is too good to leave a trace. Or maybe we just… aren’t good enough detectives to solve an arson.”

“No… I suppose not,” Rarity said. She paused for a long moment. Then, she sat up straight and her eyes brightened. “Pinkie I have an idea.”

“We are not getting Applejack. She’s been—”

“No, I know. We can do this without her.” Rarity started trotting into town. She shouted behind her, “Come along, we’re going to go talk to the guards again!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to fix your makeup first?” Pinkie shouted, running to follow.

“A perfect first stop!”

Author's Note:

Is Tree Hugger hiding anything? What did she write on those forms? Did I fool you with Firewood (3/3)? And, of course...

Who really set Sweet Apple Acres ablaze?

Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion!

This really is your last chance to get in any guesses of whodunnit! Be sure to take that chance today before it's gone forever! Also, be sure to put on spoiler tags for anyone who finds this after you!

If you find any perceived errors, please send me a message! Other kinds of criticism are appreciated in the comments

Comments

[RB_]

Hello there! Lovely work so far. My guess going into the final chapter is Spear Point. I figure it has to be someone in the government for them to have arranged it so there were no rain clouds on the day of the fire, and the fact that the Apples would have gotten a rebate for the apples eaten by the bats if not for those specific trees being burned seems like a motive, and for that to work the perp would need to know about the rebate, and since none of the farmers knew it would have to be someone in the government. Spear Point is the only pony we've met so far that comes close to fitting that bill, so assuming you have set this up in such a way that we've met the culprit already, I think he's our man. I don't think the killing of AJ's parents is intentional; he has no motive for that. I don't know what the motive would be for wanting the Apples to not have their rebate, though, so I may be wrong.

That's my current thinking. Looking forward to seeing what the final chapter brings!

[Bicyclette]

“But don’t you see? It’s just like Shadow Spade always says.”

Applejack snorted.

Rarity ignored her. “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!” she exclaimed. “We’ll have to go to Tree Hugger’s!”

love this moment for Rarity, def see her getting onto two hooves to dramatically pose for this

The inside of the small hut had a musty smell. The room was messy and dark, lit only by the cloudy day outside.

dang Treehugger you live like this?

“Wait, why doesn’t anypony know?” Rarity asked.

“Know what?”

Applejack slumped back into the arm chair.

“Why doesn’t anypony know about the rebate from the bats?” Pinkie asked.

“I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I don’t know if it will get approved.”

“Alright, this was helpful,” Applejack said. “Let’s go.”

Applejack is very relatable here

“No, we did what I thought was best.” Rarity sobbed. “I should’ve let you stop me.”

“I could’ve pushed harder.”

Pinkie let Rarity cry into her shoulder, hugging her tight. She tried not to cry herself.

augh i just want to hug them both

Pinkie and Rarity eventually made their way to the gazebo outside of town. Rarity had cried herself out, her makeup had run down her cheeks, it still smeared her face. They sat on the benches as Rarity stared into the Everfree.

so true

[VioletsInSpring]

11858617

Applejack is very relatable here

This is based on multiple conversations I've had with friends of mine while they were incapable of fully realized speech.