Stranglehold

Chapter II

I woke up the next morning, feeling as if a boulder was strapped onto my body. I didn't want to get up but I had to, even though I knew nothing bad was going to happen in this town. It was my duty to protect and serve the fine citizens of this town and I won't let laziness get the best of me.

I brushed my teeth and stepped into the shower, turning on the faucet. The cold water hitting my coat like icy daggers fully woke me up from my drowsiness. I then stepped out and dried myself with a towel. I reached into my saddlebag and got my police vest on. It was a blue vest with a silver star badge on it. I looked at myself in the mirror. Blue spikey mane, rough gray coat and a cutie mark of a silver star badge.

"Heh, not too shabby, Ranger... Not too shabby," I said to my reflection.

Afterwards, I put my sunglasses on and left the hotel room, ready to patrol the town for troublemakers. When I got on the streets of Ponyville, I saw some familiar faces from last night's party. The local citizens would politely greet me and I greeted them back.

I then found myself outside of Ponyville's library. It was a large tree that was turned into a public facility. I went in there to find myself a book to check out and read whenever I had nothing else to do. There, I was met by Twilight Sparkle and a purple and green baby dragon.

"Good morning Ranger, what brings you here?" Asked Twilight Sparkle.

"Good morning to you too, Twilight. I'm just here to look for a good book to read. Any recommendations?" I asked.

"Well, we have a large variety of mystery books if you're interested. Then, there's also the 'Daring Do' series."

"Alright, I'll check out 'Daring Do And the Quest for the Sapphire Stone.'"

With that said, Twilight gave me the book and I left the library, saying goodbye to the purple unicorn. The rest of the day was spent walking around and sitting around, eating and reading, as expected. Each hour spent on duty was painfully long, even with the book I checked out. Ponyville was simply too peaceful for a crime ridden city pony like me. I needed action, not sitting around, reading books and watching ponies conversing with one another.

My shift ended when it was night time. I went back to the Ponyville Inn and entered my room, dragging my hooves. I immediately took off my uniform and went to sleep, praying to Celestia that there would be some form of actual work to be done the next day.

Five Days Later

It became routine for me. Wake up, take a cold shower, walk around Ponyville and go back to the hotel to sleep. I felt like a lifeless drone as I patrolled the streets of Ponyville. Today,I stopped by at a local restaurant and ordered a daffodil and daisy sandwich at around noon.

While I waited for my food, I noticed a white unicorn with a purple mane looking around frantically, as if she lost something. I got up from the table and walked over to her. When I got closer, I saw it was none other than Rarity.

"Hi, Rarity, how's everything?" I asked.

She sighed in relief, "Thank Celestia, I found you! Something just AWFUL has happened!"

I raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"

"Fluttershy's gone missing!"

I felt a chill crawl down my spine and took off my sunglasses, "Alright, remain calm and-"

"Darling, how could I possibly remain calm when one of my best friends just randomly disappeared?"

I waved my front hoof, "Rarity, please! Look, I know this is alarming and all but the first thing we need to do is remain calm. That way, we can think rationally and come up with a solution to our problem. Do your other friends know about this?"

Rarity nodded her head.

"Okay, do you know a place to meet up and talk to them about this?"

"We were going to meet up at Twilight's library later."

I put my sunglasses back on, "Alright, good! We'll meet up there."

Just then, the waiter came back with my sandwich. I quickly grabbed ten bits and placed it on the table. I grabbed my sandwich and immediately left the restaurant with Rarity, heading towards the library.

When we got to the library, we sat down and waited for the rest of Rarity's friends to arrive. It was rare for somepony to just vanish in Ponyville but where I'm from, random disappearances were as common as taking out the weekly garbage. We sat in awkward silence. The atmosphere was so tense, I felt I could've sliced through it with a knife.

Just another day on the job, Ranger. I was used to cases like these. Somepony is reported missing, I use the information given to make an assessment and I end up bringing that missing pony back home safely.

After a half hour of waiting, Rarity's friends finally entered the library. They all looked relieved when they saw me, as if I took a large weight off their backs.

"You have no idea how happy we are to see you, Ranger! Fluttershy's gone missing!" Exclaimed Twilight.

I nodded my head, "I know, Rarity told me. Don't you worry, we'll find her but first, let's go over what we know. Now, Applejack walked with her to her home after the party. Was there anypony following you?"

Applejack shook her head, "Nope, we were the only ones."

"Alright, and who was the last pony to have seen her before she disappeared?"

Pinkie Pie raised her hoof, "I did! I asked her to come by and try a new cake recipe that I made. She said yes but she never showed up."

"And when was this?" I asked.

Pinkie Pie scratched her head, "Um... Gosh, I don't- WAIT, IT WAS THE MORNING AFTER THE PARTY!"

I frowned and cupped my chin, "So nopony was following her back to her home, Pinkie Pie saw her the next morning and she never showed up to the meeting... None of you have seen her for the past five days?"

The mares all shook their heads.

"Same here... I haven't seen her during my patrols. Perhaps there was an emergency and she just had to leave her home?" I suggested.

"Fluttershy would never go anywhere for that long without telling us to take care of her animals. In this case, her animals were also gone!" Said Rainbow Dash.

"Wait, her animals are gone too?" I asked.

"Yeah, her cottage was empty! Well, it wasn't exactly empty but her and her animals are gone," replied Rainbow Dash.

I scratched the back of my head, "Okay, we might need to go further back than this. Let's start at the party. Did anypony see or hear anything suspicious?"

Applejack frowned, "Well, there were two stallions who Ah never seen 'round before."

"Do you remember what they look like?"

"No, but Ah do remember overhearin' one of the stallion's conversations with a mare. Somethin' about lovin' animals and visitin'."

"Hmm... Loving animals and visiting... Kinda vague but at the same time, there isn't any pet shops or vets around here. Has Fluttershy made any enemies recently?"

Pinkie Pie laughed, "Fluttershy making enemies? That's silly, Fluttershy's the NICEST pony you'll ever meet. No way she's made anypony mad!"

Rarity cleared her throat, "Actually, there WAS someone who could possibly still be angry at Fluttershy."

"Who?" I asked.

"A minotaur by the name of Iron Will. He wanted Fluttershy to pay for his seminar but she refused to pay, claiming that she wasn't satisfied with the results of his training," replied Rarity.

"So, Applejack saw two unknown stallions, overheard one of their conversations that might have referred to Fluttershy, took her back home and Pinkie Pie saw her the next morning but she hasn't been seen since, her animals are gone as well and now this Iron Will character is in the picture..."

I took a notepad out of the pocket on my police vest and began writing everything down. As a police officer, it's vital for me to have written testimonies for future references. After I wrote down the report, I placed the notebook back into my pocket.

"Now, anypony have a scroll and where is the post office?" I asked.

"I have some scrolls but why do you need them?" Asked Twilight, as she handed me a scroll.

"If I'm not mistaken, there might be more to this than Fluttershy running away for no reason. Something must've happened to her sometime after Pinkie Pie visited her cottage. I'm sending a request for a search warrant so I could collect evidence."

Rainbow Dash shook her head and sighed, "That's gonna take forever! We're her friends, we'll just go in, get your evidence and go out. Besides, your boss is in Manehattan. What he doesn't know, won't hurt."

"No, it doesn't work like that. In order to prosecute a pony, we have to show, not just the evidence, but the legal authorization behind the collecting process. If the local courts find out that I searched a house and collected evidence without a warrant, they'll dismiss the evidence."

Rainbow Dash scowled but I don't blame her. Police paperwork was a pain in the butt to go through but the procedures have to be done. I finished writing my request, "Don't worry though, the Chief always gives me a search warrant ASAP. Now, to send this..."

"I know where the post office is," said Rainbow Dash.

I nodded my head, "Alright then, you go to the post office and send this for me. Me and the rest of the girls will go around town to find more leads on Fluttershy's disappearance."

Rainbow Dash gave me a salute and immediately blazed out of the library door while the mares and I began to split up. As I left the library, I chuckled.

"Now, to find this Iron Will..."