Sunset Over Equestria

by Vict0r1994

Chapter V: The Invisible Hoof

Pinkie Pie was ready to leave the palace and follow the only pony who could have the missing piece of the murder puzzle, but her heart stopped beating for a second as she heard hoofsteps behind her. It could have been one of those guards the prince sent after her, and this thought haunted her and froze her hoofs to the ground. She could not move, she could not scream and she could not turn around and face the danger. She laughed in front of danger many times, but never did she witness murder before and neither did she have to face the ponies who committed it. Her eyes widened and her pulse increased as the sound of every step on the hard, cold floor, sent shivers through her ear and her entire body. She just hoped for a miracle as her Pinkie Sense did not prevent a disaster, but the murder scared her so much that she even doubted her Pinkie Sense now.

"Who knows in what sort of creepy dungeon will I end up? And I'll leave my friends alone when they need me to cheer them up the MOST! There'll be no friends, no talking, NO CUPCAKES… it will be a NIGHTMARE and I'll by eaten by the giant magically mutated rats which the evil prince will create for the sole purpose of devouring equine flesh to satisfy his pleasures, or, even worse, have prisoners fight to the death in underground dark arenas!"

The most horrible fantasies unfolded in her mind for a few seconds at an unimaginable pace, but she just sat there and waited for it to happen. If she was to run away, the soldier could never get her as her speed was high enough to catch Rainbowdash atop of a mountain, but what would happen to her friends once the "evil prince" finds out that she was the one spying on him? Something bad could happen to them, and she would never allow that! Also, her "unexplainable" disappearance might give Goldengem the chance to paint her as Lightningrose's accomplice and have her banished from Equestria. No! She could not run, and she was able to feel a cold and calm breath behind her. Her pinkie sense wasn't activated yet, so she put all her hopes into it, while waiting for the doom.

She could already hear the scary evil guard telling her "Madame, you are under arrest for crimes against the Equestrian…"

"Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?" A much more familiar, warmer and shyer voice than the one she expected came from behind her.

"Fluttershy? Fluttershy!" She then yelled loudly and hugged the yellow pegassus. "You can't believe how happy I am to see you! Uh Oh! Too loud! The soldiers! The messenger! Quick Fluttershy! We've got to catch him now before he escapes with the secret global conquest plans from the evil prince! Come on!"

"Messanger? Global Con" but before Fluttershy could process the information, Pinkie Pie dragged her outside on the streets of Canterlot before the guards could stall them at the gate with questions regarding their endeavors.

"Faster Fluttershy! The messenger went to the Royal boulevard!" yelled Pinkie Pie as they surfed between crowds of ponies to get him.

"Okay Pinkie Pie… But… what messenger?" She asked with a curious look as they were galloping on the street, but as she saw Pinkie Pie stare at her, she added a short "Sorry for asking if it annoys you!"

"No time to explain. There he is!" said the pink pony excitedly, and the Pegassus followed her in what seemed to be an endless pursuit, as their target observed he was being chased and accelerated at a very high speed.It was a long and narrow hall with a desk at one end, a door at the another, five cells on the left side of the door and nothing else than cold grey concrete on the right. Four of the cells were empty, with so much dust on the metal beds and the small wooden chair and table inside that one could think they weren't used in years, and indeed this was the case. Two flags of the kingdom of Equestria stood high above the entrance, giving the colorless deserted image of the room a more formal touch. The dust hovered in the air making it hard to breed, but the fears of the pony inside the occupied cell were the ones which made it even harder, at least from her perspective. She was a green pegassus with a curly turquoise mane and two golden corn-made brooms as a cutie mark, but nopony visiting the room would be able to notice these details, as she was cowered in a dark corner of the cell, standing still with a grim expression on her face. She did not mind the dust, the loneliness, the depressing silence broken from time to time by the hoofsteps of the nearby patrolling guards or the moans of pain and sorrow and the screams of madness coming from the… other side of the prison. Nopony ever walked those halls, except for the guards and the worst criminals in Equestrian history, and all she could think about was that she told the authorities nothing but the truth, and yet, this might be her ticket to that horrible place!

Who could've done this to her? She was a simple pony who loved cleaning two days ago, and now she was Princess Celestia's supposed assassin, and she could not understand how this had happened. She knew the witnesses and the evidence pointed, for now, towards her, but she couldn't come up with a story which would explain who set her up and how did he/she do it! The depressing atmosphere, along with the powerless feeling of being surrounded by dust and filth without being able to clean it felt like a deep sadistic torture for her, and because of it, her mind even started to think that she was after all the killer.

There were all those stories about double personalities and unconscious sociopathic insight she heard from the royal psychologist every now and then, so what if she did poison Celestia? No! This were all the hallucinations of her mind! This couldn't be true! Right? She couldn't live the rest of her entire life in the most horrifying place in all of Equestria! Even an execution would've been more merciful, but she was innocent so she didn't deserve any punishment!

Lightningrose's mind was constantly raving as two ponies opened the door to the small "preventive arrest" section of the prison, where she was being held. Twilight and Shining Armor managed to get past the guards in the military headquarters without any problems, contrary to what Shining Armor expected, as nopony dared questioning him with the faked expression of anger on his face.

As they finally arrived, they stopped at the door for a brief moment, and started a short conversation.

"All right brother, what do we know? I'm here to find more leads for solving this mystery, not to question whether she's innocent or not, but I must know what did she tell you up to this point so that I wouldn't waste time asking the same questions you did." Said Twilight in a hurry.

"Well, she was very cooperative and seemed not to defend her case at all, which is quite strange for a murderer. She told us she was in the kitchen that night for helping her best friend, chef Sweetcakes, with closing the kitchen after dinner, which is true according to the chef. She could do it because she usually cleaned Luna's personal quarters after midnight, while the princess is on the watchtower. Also, she told us that she advised her friend to go home, as Sweetcakes looked very tired that night – which was confirmed again by the chef and her husband -, and continued cleaning alone. After a while, Princess Celestia saw her, and, as she didn't talk to her for a very long time – which was confirmed by Luna -, came by to say hello. Celestia told her she had a very bad day, and, to alleviate her bad disposition, Lightningrose proposed her to drink a glass of old red wine from an already opened bottle which was on the table. She said that the bottle couldn't have been poisoned by the chef or any waitress at the royal cafeteria as many ponies already drank from it, and this turned out to be true as well after the chemical analysis of a wine sample from that very bottle – and she had no reason to make this one up as it basically puts the blame on her!" replied her brother in a long speech.

"Not necessarily! Did she see the princess walking straight to her room? Maybe somepony poisoned her drink on the hallway…"

"That is the only hope she clings on at the moment. Celestia thanked her for being kind and told her that she was going to drink the wine in her room as she was pretty tired, waved goodbye, and Lightningrose didn't see her after she walked out the door. I mean, didn't see her alive…" Shining Armor laughed for a second at his attempt to a little humor, but observed that Twilight wasn't really in the mood for joking, so he proceeded with the information.

"She also seemed oblivious about the existence of jellyfish poison in the Zebralands, which could be easily interpreted as a stupid way of defending herself, and the witness who saw her go back to her own room could only prove that she is not likely to have stolen the spell as well, but doesn't help her at all with the murder accusations."

Twilight nodded and walked straight to the cell occupied by the green pegassus along with her brother. She wondered at first why most cells are empty, but then remembered that Shining Armor already told her that, as criminality is very low in Equestria, this is the only prison in the whole city of Canterlot and except the times of the civil war one millennium ago, it never got filled with prisoners. As she approached the metal bars of the cell, she saw Lightningrose hidden in the shadows.

"Hello there! My name is Twilight Sparkle, this is my brother Shining Armor, and we are here to help you!"

Lightningrose grew fearful as she saw Shining Armor's military uniform, because, after all, more questions could bring even more evidence against her. But for her carelessness, she wouldn't be in this filthy cell now fearing eternal darkness! She shouldn't answer more questions if she wanted to be free, or should at least try to invent some credible alibi, but nothing came to her mind, so she decided not to answer and hope the two ponies standing in front of her would go away. She wasn't informed about any further interrogation, so she still hoped that that wasn't the reason of their visit.

To her misfortune, the words "We'll only ask you a few questions" came out of Twilight's lips, but the continuation was the one which really surprised her - "about the ponies who could have set you up and what you saw that night."

"Do you really think someone set me up? Do you really believe me?" asked the green pegassus with tears of shock and even happiness in her eyes.

"Yes, both of us do. But we don't have much time to spend here, so I need you to give me three honest answers to my questions. It is the only way to discover the real killer!" pointed out Twilight.

After taking a deep breath and coming to the front of the cell, Lightningrose answered her. "I just wish I could go back in time and stop all of this from happening… Fine. Which are the questions?"

"First of all, I must know whether there was anypony left at the cafeteria, and by anypony I mean ANYPONY, before Celestia came in. Maybe a waitress who could barely see you from a distant table, or a filly who sneaked up to steal some cupcakes… Could somepony you recognized see you when you poured the wine in Celestia's glass, apart from the witnesses down the hall?"

"Well, there was really nopony inside the cafeteria, but I saw many faces passing down the hall while Celestia was with me. Why would you be interested in the persons who saw me?"

"I have a theory, but it's far from confirmation yet. So, nopony else, except our 4 witnesses, saw you?" asked Twilight again as if this was a crucial issue.

"Yes, nopony did." Replied Lightningrose confidently.

"Hmm… interesting. Okay. Second, did any of the four witnesses know you, and if the answer is yes, what was their relationship with Princess Luna and Duke Goldengem? In case you are not familiar with the witnesses, one of them is an unicorn royal guard called Silver Horn, the second is an Earth pony diplomat called Whitecollar, the third is a pegassus senator called Champagneflow and the last is another Earthpony, this time a young royal tailoress who goes by the name of Peachy Blossom. Now, what can you tell us?" Asked Twilight in a very intrigued manner.

Shining Armor knew his sister was trying to establish some kind of murder complicity likeability hierarchy of the suspects with this question, but he couldn't figure out how any of them could be responsible yet, as they couldn't predict the maid would give Celestia a drink, so they could not have poison in their possession. Could they really get it fast enough? Maybe he was too impressed by Lightningrose's innocent appearance… Still, his sister had some kind of theory involving Luna and Goldengem and couldn't get another chance to be here, so he didn't say a word and let her continue.

"Well… I know the diplomat and the tailoress. Both are lovely ponies! I went to the Zebralands together with Whitecollar, and she was even nicer than mistress Luna sometimes. She never ordered me to do anything, and although she was very formal, she even gave me some money to buy local souvenirs. Mistress Luna had a good relationship with her, as I remember her praising Whitecollar for being quite a shrewd negotiator, and I also saw them laughing together many times during the visit. I don't know anything about her relationship with Goldengem though."

The green pegassus stopped for a few seconds, and then proceeded. "As for Peachy Blossom, she is Sweetcakes's smaller cousin, and I can assure you that she is not the killer! I met her a few times, and she is always shy, nice and polite. She takes refuge in sewing and in making clothes, and that's why she became a royal tailoress. She fixes everypony's clothes pro bono and lives only on the state-paid wage she receives monthly, unlike the other royal tailors… She never complained about money, and she isn't even capable of hurting a fly, so I'd never suspect her! She's such a dearie!"

Lightningrose's answer didn't seem to convince Twilight to overlook these two suspects, especially Whitecollar as she could obtain the poison as well and her relationship with Goldengem was unknown yet. The magenta mare nodded as if she was testing theories and piecing the info together, and finally broke the silence with one last question.

" You said that about 10 minutes after Celestia went back to her room, you walked back to yours as well. I've spent some time in this palace myself, so I know that in order to reach the servant quarters from the cafeteria, you have to pass by the Imperial bedroom. Now, listen to me carefully: Did you hear anything from inside the bedroom when you passed by it? Like, maybe, hoofsteps? Or any kind of noise?"

"Hoofsteps… yeah, heard'em! Heard'em hoofsteps, but I forgot to tell the guards, as they didn't ask about the latter events of the night. There were constant hoofsteps inside, but I just assumed the Princess was circling around and thinking. Now, I answered all your questions. Can you get me out of here pony? I can't bear this place any longer, and what is the last question good for anyway?" asked Lightningrose with a slight touch of anger in her voice. It was obvious to Twilight that she was losing her patience because of the fear of being sentenced to execution or life arrest and because of the feeling of uncertainty and lack of understanding she experienced, but regardless, Twilight answered calmly to the green pegassus's enquiry.

"Solving the mystery…" she said as she nodded again in silence.

"But this doesn't make sense. Sorry to bust your bubble sis', but there were no hoofprints around the room – they were only in between the door and the body" Shining Armor interrupted them, and then looked towards the prisoner. "Didn't you hear them from another room? Are you sure?"

"I damn sure am! What does it mean?" asked the prisoner with even more curiosity now that she hear about the contrary evidence.

"Many things… You might've heard Celestia or the killer, but what is sure is that the wine you gave her wasn't the cause of the death. I'm still not sure about my theory, so I can't tell you now, but you've been very helpful Lightningrose. Thank you very much, and we'll do all we can to get you out!" said Twilight.

"Can you explain to me what is happening here, sis'? I didn't believe you when you found out about Cadence, and I probably won't believe you know but… can you at least give me a chance?"

"All in due time brother. We've got to go back to the funeral before somepony notices our disappearance, and tomorrow, Spike and I will have to check the Library for books about hoofprints erasing spells. I think I just understood what happened here…" said Twilight as she was walking back towards the entrance, while Shining Armor followed her and refrained from asking more questions. He knew how uncommunicative his sister used to be when investigating, and it seems to him that some things never change. As the big metal door closed shut, the only hopes of a green pegassus leaved the room as well. She remained a prisoner of darkness, loneliness, filth, and now, after this strange unexpected visit, a prisoner of curiosity as well. Still, if it hadn't been for this odd conversation, she would've been hopeless, so, in a certain way, she was thankful to this magenta pony she had just met and her soldier brother. At least somepony out there could save her and uncover the truth… but what was it?After a long and tiresome chase, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy found themselves in the Canterlot industrial quarters, a rather big and less known part of the city. Stretching towards the mountains near the city, the industrial quarter doesn't have the glamour or the luxury of the historical center. It wasn't surrounded by a 1000 years-old wall, crowded with fancy carriages or filled with luxurious homes, parks and a huge palace. It had narrow streets, tall apartment buildings housing the masses of workers at the nearby factories, lots of travelling ponies struggling to reach their destination without bumping into somepony else and also many freighter carriages. It had a grimy look even in the night, because, despite the fact that it was emptier now, clouds of grey smoke covered most of the sky and the darkness on the poorly electrified streets combined with some unpleasant smells coming probably from the sewers here and there did their best to make this side of the city an undesirable destination. The commemorative rain was the last element painting a desolated modern landscape which seemed to be antagonistic with happy countryside settlements such as Ponyville, and it was this desolated grey mass of stone, coal, cement, steam and heavy metals which pumped the engine of the equestrian economy. Many freighter trains were hauling in the distance, as the tears of a colorless world were dropping regularly from the skies. Poverty was visible at first sight, but during Celestia's rule, all the ponies living here and working in the state industries earned a decent wage which allowed them to go to the countryside quite often for some relaxation, and soon enough, this was going to change.

The two ponies arrived here after approximately an hour of chasing the soldier sent by Goldengem, but they had lost his track in the maze of streets and buildings called the industrial quarter.

"Where did he go? He was behind that carriage ten seconds ago! Fluttershy, fly above the city and search for him!" yelled the Pinkie pony in desperation, and then begged her pegassus friend to do it with an enthusiastic "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!" followed by a cute long "Pretty Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaassse!".

"I - can't! I – am – too – tired! I'm – sorry – Pinkie – Pie!" said Fluttershy while panting and resting a little bit after a long time.

"But you have to! If you don't, the evil prince is going to attack the Dragonlands, steal all their riches with his army and then proclaim himself the emperor of the world and replace everypony with a race of obedient ponydragons he would create magically to rule over both lands! Or maybe he'll just send his granny a letter we won't know about because we lost the courier…" Pinkie Pie scratched her chin with her forehoof a little bit, but then bursted again into talking "Either way, the fate of equestrian rests in your wings! We need to know what is his secret!" continued the pink pony.

Fluttershy regained her composure in this short while, and tried to give her friend the same answer. "I really can't Pinkie Pie. I'm so so sorry… but I can barely gallop right now, and flying is harder!" Despite her pleadings, Pinkie Pie did not take no for an answer, and she finally hovered over the streets in a surveillance flight. There was no sight of the soldier they followed in the surroundings of their position, but it didn't take long for Fluttershy to see him on a small alley between a steel factory and a warehouse not far to the north, and to her surprise, their target was not alone now. He walked towards a blue unicorn in a royal guard uniform who was circling around as if he was waiting for somepony.

Fluttershy pointed the right direction to Pinkie Pie, advised her to be quiet with a short "shh!" accompanied by a gesture with her forehoof, and then approached the alley in silence and hid on the balcony of a warehouse office only two floors above the ground in order to hear their discussion, but it was not the first words which shocked her, but the face of the blue unicorn wearing uniform. "He" was actually a "she", contrary to what the shy pegassus thought at first, but, more importantly, had a familiar face she could never forget.

Pinkie Pie was so shocked by the sight that she even forgot to hide after the discovery, but managed to crawl in silence behind a huge box in the end, as she kept her eyes peeled on the blue pony. She could not believe what she saw, because that unicorn was certainly not a part of this murder even in the strangest scenarios she had imagined. The great and powerful Trixie was standing in front of them disguised in a military uniform!

Fluttershy glared in awe over the balcony fence, and could barely process the information in the first few seconds. What was Trixie doing here, and why did she wear a military uniform? There was no way that selfish unicorn could take orders from somepony else, so she was obviously disguised. Was she working with the duke? Many questions haunted her mind, but couldn't wake her up from the shock until Goldengem's courier broke the silence.

"Sorry for being late, but I had to get away from two… problematic ponies."

"Do you have it? Trixie's time is valuable."

"Yes. Take it, and retrieve all the money from the account at the national bank of Blackburg, Eqvancashire, as soon as your train arrives there early in the morning! Nopony has to see you around the palace, so you'd better teleport directly to the central station. The uniform might work in massively populated areas like this one, but the elites in the center of the city know the guards and could start asking questions about you!" said the courier while handing Trixie his special item, which was, contrary to what Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie believed in the first place, a check.

"Trixie knows how to work undercover, you puny guard! Trixie doesn't need your advice." Answered the blue unicorn angrily before snatching the check from the soldier's mouth with her magic.

"I'm just following orders here. The duke sends you his regards, and is very pleased with your… accomplishments. After you get the money, be sure to disappear! Nopony can find you."

Without another word, the blue unicorn's horn started glowing, and within a few seconds she disappeared traceless, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust behind her. The two friends waited for the dust to clear and for the courier to leave, and only then did they speak to each other. Thunders could be heard in the distance, as Pinkie Pie watched her pegassus friend and suddenly changed her shocked expression into a very excited one.

"Just wait until Twilight hears about this!" said the pink pony cheerfully. They both thought that they made a huge step towards solving the mystery, but were Trixie's "accomplishments" really related to the murder? None of them knew for now, but they had to go back and tell the others about this.

Author's Note: This chapter's title is a refference to Adam Smith's "invisible hand" concept, which represents the market intervention in the economy, and as Trixie's intervention was "invisible" to the rest of the ponies, and she worked for Goldengem who wanted to implement a capitalist agenda in Equestria... I thought the correlation might work. Oh, and please fav or follow if you like the story!