Mane 6 Mystery: A Royal Murder
Chapter 1
It was 3:00 am in Canterlot when the body was discovered dumped in a dark alley. It had been raining most of the night and had only let up in the early hours of the morning. Caramel, one of the Royal Guards discovered her shortly after coming off duty and heading home. Caramel lived in the seedier side of town where rent was cheap. Being a low ranked member of the Royal Guard didn't pay very much and his apartment that he rented just above a bar had only one entrance in the back alley. Walking down the alley at that time didn't usually concern Caramel, after all he was a strong capable soldier so no mugger would get him. He never expected to see the body of a young pony dumped outside the door that led to the back stairs.
Caramel was startled to see that the pony was a winged unicorn which meant she had to be a member of the royal family! But who was she? He glanced down at her cutie mark, three yellow umbrellas. This brought no recollection to Caramel who as part of his training as a royal guard could name the entire royal family tree. This was going to be a difficult situation to explain but the longer he stood there staring at the body, the more explaining he'd have to do. Caramel immediately went to alert the Canterlot police
A short while later Caramel was sitting in his living room with a cup of coffee waiting for the police to say he was no longer needed. He was exhausted and all he could think of was sleep.
The Canterlot police were busy outside along with the ponies from the Canterlot Medical Examiner's Office. The sun was coming up and to Caramel's surprise his boss Shining Armor head of the Royal Guard knocked on the door. Caramel answered and Shining Armor came in.
"I was told you found the body." He said quietly.
"Yes Sir." Said Caramel. "At first I thought it was a member of the royal fam –
" – Shut Up!" Shining Armor said gruffly silencing Caramel. He had never seen his superior so on edge before.
The Chief of Canterlot Police, Chief Berry a blue Pegasus with a shield cutie mark, walked in the open door and shut it. Chief Berry sat on one side of Caramel and Shining Armor sat on the other side. Chief Berry spoke first.
"I just need to get your statement." Shining Armor told the chief everything stopping just short of telling him that he initially thought she was a member of the royal family. Chief Berry said very little and took some notes. Then when the account was finished he glanced at Shining Armor who cleared his throat nervously.
"The pony who was murdered was Dazzleglow, Princess Celestia's cousin." Shining Armor explained.
"But sir, I don't remember her from Guard training and we had to memorize all the royal family." Said Caramel.
"She was a wild young filly and was eventually disowned by the royal family, shortly before Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon. The royal family no longer spoke of her, and she herself changed her name I believe or at any rate went into hiding or something. No one had any contact with her until, well until…"
"Until you reported her dead." Said the Chief solemnly.
"Unfortunately, since she was still technically a member of the royal family and the only person to find her was you, a member of the royal guard, you are going to have to be put on administrative leave until this is solved." Said Shining Armor.
"But – " Caramel started to protest.
"But nothing." Said the Chief who was eyeing him suspiciously. "Right now until this gets sorted out, you are our number one suspect. And, this is super sensitive material so you are on house arrest until you receive further instruction from your supervisor. This thing is so sensitive, Princess Celestia isn't letting the Canterlot police handle it fully on our own. Although in my opinion –"
"Enough." Said Shining Armor and his tone implied that the Chief's opinion would not be welcomed anytime soon. The Chief began muttering under his breath and left. Shining Armor turned to Caramel. "Look, I'm doing my best to get this cleared up and you back at work. Princess Celestia has set up a special investigation task force led by my sister Twilight Sparkle . They are on their way from Ponyville as we speak
…
Twilight Sparkle stared out the window of the train to Canterlot deep in thought. Because of the sensitive nature of the investigation, her and her friends were not permitted to talk about the investigation on the train ride to Canterlot. Twilight stared down at her book, Techniques of Crime Investigation, but she could not concentrate. She only knew the basics of the case and that her brother's friend and a member of the Royal Guard was in trouble. She glanced over at her friends.
Spike was asleep next to Twilight Sparkle. She hesitated bringing him, since this may well be a dangerous mission, and after all he was a baby dragon, but Spike had proved himself brave many times before now and he was invaluable as he could quickly and securely get letters to Princess Celestia and her brother.
Rarity was lounging by herself with several fashion magazines spread out on the seat beside her. She was never one to let an opportunity to look at and criticize the fall fashions get by her. After all, she often got some wonderful inspirations from the articles and she had been oh so busy in her boutique lately that she hadn't had a chance to really delve into some of them yet. She dreaded the pile of work waiting for her when she got back to Ponyville. Hopefully this problem in Canterlot would be resolved in a short time.
Fluttershy did not want to go on this trip. But, being the great friend that she was and after Twilight reminded her that the elements of harmony might be needed since they had no idea what they were ultimately were up against, she reluctantly agreed to go. However, her nervousness could not be hidden, no matter how much she might try. Fluttershy tried to read or think of the names of here rabbit friends in alphabetical order but still nothing calmed her.
Applejack was seated next to Flutershy and was doing her best to calm her nerves.
"Now don't you worry your head sugarcube. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as it all seems. And remember we are all together for this."
Fluttershy nodded and looked out the window. Applejack continued to patiently reassure her.
"Remember we need you like we did when we had to get rid of that Dragon way back that was blowing all that smoke into Ponyville."
Rainbow Dash sighed with exasperation and wondered down to the other end of the car. There was no calming that pony and Rainbow Dash was tired of people trying to. She was always like this and it was sometimes just plain exhausting.
Pinkie Pie watched as Applejack reassured Fluttershy. Applejack just had a wonderful way with ponies Pinkie Pie thought to herself. She could just about handle any situation and was always so calm and composed and generally knew just what to say. Pinkie Pie admired that about her, as it was a quality Pinkie Pie never had. She always wanted to help and was willing to do just about anything to make a pony smile, or laugh but sometimes she was a bit over-the-top and she knew it. She just couldn't help herself she was just too full of energy sometimes.
The train came to a stop and Shining Armor and some of the Royal Guards boarded their car with great haste.
"Twilight, the situation is even worse." Said Shining Armor almost in a panic. Twilight had never seen him this on edge before. "Princess Celestia has received a letter from the murderer. We must quickly go to the Palace where Princess Celestia and I will explain everything.