1:00 AM

An old cottage sat at the edge of the Everfree forest. Rotting wood, moldy straw and cobwebs decorated the house in and out, while the only residents were squirrels and birds whose nest littered the upper rafters. This was not some warm and welcoming place.

Tonight however it would have its first pair of visitors in years. A patient unicorn was waiting in the shadows, his deep black coat and very messy dull white mane made it easy for him to blend into the rafters overlooking the upper floors

Then she came. Through a hole in the roof flew a gray mare pegasi with a blond mane; the unicorn smiled from the shadows.

"Hello pretty bird" he said in a warm but somehow still arrogant voice.

"Hello Echo!" the mare answered in a cheery voice, not even surprised he was there, then blushed. "Why do you keep calling me that?"

Jumping down from the rafters, landing more like a cat than a pony, he answered "Because there are so many sins in my life that I look forward to seeing such an innocent face; it's like the first ray of sun after a storm." He answered her with real sincerity in his voice.

Her face only darkened even more then she smiled at him like it was an everyday thing for him to say, "You're always so sweet to me." Echo could charm any mare or stallion to melt in his hooves, but this one was different. Her response was not that of some pony in heat but a mare truly happy to be speaking to him. Like something that could last not something that would end when his work was done. She was the one constant in his life, a life full of deaths and truths.

"And why wouldn't I be? Should not a pony treat the wonders in his life with care?" replied Echo smiling as if he just gave the mare the greatest gift of all. All he got in return was fits of laughter.

"How many times have you used that line, Echo?" she asked after hardly calming herself.

"On about 17 mares, 2 stallions, 28 griffons 3 diamond dogs, 8 Minotaurs and 1 dragon," He replied as if it was a normal question, "Oh and a princess to."

"Ooooh, what happened with the stallions?"

"They died." He replied as if it was nothing

"Why were you trying to seduce a dragon?" asked the mare.

This time Echo laughed, "Wasn't trying to seduce a dragon, I was cranking up the charm. The dragon had some much needed info."

"I bet you could seduce a dragon if you wanted to" the mare replied

"If that were true I would have seduce you a long time ago," Echo said as he made his way towards her. "So why haven't I?"

"Because I'm not a dragon, silly" the mare answered clearly amused by her answer.

"No your most definitely are not a dragon, you're my pretty bird." he responded and nuzzled her neck.

"Well this bird has a delivery for you" she said pushing his face away playfully. She then handed him a parcel with no markings; his next target.


1:55 AM That same night.

One would consider Echo a talented magic user; but this is only because he uses magic that few know or even have use for. One of his favorite was one that allowed him to walk up walls. This was ideal when dealing with an earth pony, unlike pegasi and unicorns, earth ponies don't tend to look up.

When Echo was in the parlor room at the entrance of the house he casted yet another spell on his hooves; one that would turn his hooves into weapons. His horn had a black and white aura that started to engulf his front hooves, which started to form 2 inch long blades in the front of his hooves. Satisfied and ready Echo crouched down into the darkness of the ceiling using his dark coat to camouflages him. Echo's target soon entered the room.

The target was showing signs that he was about to leave his home. Echo had to act fast, a public death was not ideal. He quickly position himself behind his target before canceling his spells causing him to land right behind the pony with just enough sound to make him stop in his tracks. This was Echo's desired results; with the stallion's hesitation to his advantage he plunged his fronts of his hooves down into his back and pulled him close enough for Echo to be standing just above him.

This technique was used to puncture the lungs and deflate them; removing the targets ability to scream. This became painfully clear to the victim when he tried to cry for help and found he couldn't even breathe. Fear, panic, and even pain barely had time to register when Echo finished his target with swift head but to the back of the stallion's head piercing his brain with his horn.

His target down, Echo went to work on cleansing the house of any residual magic. With Echo's job done he cracked the door so that the body could soon be found and left through one of the back windows. When he was far away enough so that they could not detect his magic he teleported in a flash of black and white smoke.


3:26 AM

Why three in the morning? The chestnut color stallion thought to himself. The body would still be here in the morning. Ponies die all the time, but this was different. Two holes in the back, one in the head with nothing missing or damaged. The intention of the scene was obvious. This was murder.

Murder was not something that happened often in Equestria, even in Manehatten, and this wasn't just any pony, it was a member of the pony congressional named Two Tongues, A blue stallion with a darker blue mane and a quill for a cutie mark. So the Manehatten Police Department wanted their best there; and that meant Puzzle Solve. An older stallion whose gruff demeanor and buzzed cute style mane gave people the impression he was once one of the guards in Canterlot. He sported a tan trench coat that was hiding his cutie mark from public eye, kept his tools on him at all times, not to mention dry. For some reason it was always wet in Manehatten. Puzzle Solve was waiting right outside the Manehatten house waiting for the CSIs to finish up. It was a typical home of a politician, large, well furnished, expensive, and a lot of places to hid things. He was still standing outside when the chief showed up.

Chief Iron Back; a light green stallion aged even more than Puzzle Solve. Small gray whiskers jetting out of his lower jaw and very bushy salt and pepper eye brows accented his face. Because of his age the only thing left of his mane was some white hair on the very top of his head that he combed over. It was said that he had the longest career in the MPD, and his cutie mark didn't do anything to extenuate this fact for it was a MPD shield.

"Chief Iron Back.", grunted Puzzle Solve.

"Detective Puzzle Solve" The Chief, like Puzzle Solve, was thinking the same thing. Its 3 in the fucking morning.

"How the investigation?" asked the Chief going through the motions.

"Barely even begun," replied Puzzle Solve, "All I have is a statement from Night Watch." He tilted his head to a gray stallion with a black mane. "He found the body of Two Tongues around two and he called it in."

"How did he find the body? It looks to me that the crime scene is inside the house," Asked the Chief.

"Night Watch noticed the door was cracked and the lights turned off. Went to go checked it out, what he found gave him a nasty scare." Puzzle Solve answered.

"Oh?" replied The Chief. "Yea I'm pretty sure Night Watch had a black coat before tonight." Night Watch suddenly sneezed into his hoof.

"When is the last time you saw a murder Chief?" ask Puzzle Solve.

"When I was a rookie," Chief answered. "Some Pegasi was killed in her home, one of the cloud units. Her magic eventually left her body and she fell through the floor of her room, and landed right on the table of a couple having their first date. It would have been all over the news if it wasn't for our beloved princess visiting without notice; completely overshadowed the event."

Puzzle Solve gave a shudder to the Chief's tale.

"Look at the bright side detective;" the chief went on, "This is a case that few will ever come across, a rare case to be solved by none other than Detective Puzzle Solve himself. You'll be a household name."

Puzzle Solve was a very solemn pony whose only joy in solving his case, he saw not much else in his life's purpose so ideas of grander was almost beneath him. Chief Iron Back, however, was chief for a reason. He wanted to ride Puzzle Solve political current as high as he could.

"The moon's not even out; there's nothing bright about this event." Puzzle Solve responded. He then squinted through the dark into the house. "They're still working?" With nothing more to add to the case at the moment Puzzle Solve continued the conversation. "So it must have been another Pegasi?"

"What? Oh. Yea, you might be right," Answered the chief, "Don't think the mare on the case thought of that would have made investigation easier; maybe would've caught the perp."

"Wait, it wasn't solved?" Puzzle Solve asked a little stunned.

"Nope," Iron Back answered.

"You mean to tell me the only other murder case that I have heard of was never solved?" Puzzle Solve asked with slight irritation.

"Like I was trying to point out; solve this and you'll make a name for yourself."