1 – The author does not own My Little Pony, its characters or elements.
2 – Tale for entertainment purposes only.
3 – Opinions, suggestions, "aw-c'mons" more than welcomed
"See, Spike, the old Equestrian Fort. And over there the Water Griffon Islands. This is so exciting; it's like Equestrian History live."
As the train approached Mareami, the dragon fanned himself with some comic book. "I am feeling something, Twilight, but surely is not excitement."
In Canterlot, Celestia's Sun seems to shine behind a veil, alone in a baby blue sky, caressing gently the buildings bellow.
In Mareami, the sun just hits. Hard. Without filters or barriers. The sky itself is of a stronger blue, the very ponies in the street seem to have more vivid colours. That made Twilight's Royal wagon to stand even more. As soon as she walked out of the wagon, ponies start to surround her. Twilight shyly waved here and there, trying to move to a more discreet place.
"Now, what, Twilight?"
"I think the first step is to talk to the authorities, Spike, to understand what happened."
They started to move towards the city hall, Spike looking the locals.
"There's lots of griffons around."
"Like I said, Mareami was one of the sites of the Second Griffon War. Now, we're in peace and harmony, and is natural that the descendants of the Water Griffons live here. The very mayor is a Griffon."
As they reached a corner, they found a group of ponies holding signs and screaming keywords against the City Hall. Spike sighed.
"So much for peace and harmony."
The leader of the protesters group soon saw the newcomers.
"Listen, everypony. The crown finally heard our plea. There's Princess Twilight Sparkle." A loud cheer was heard, as the orange unicorn with yellow mane got close to Twilight.
"Your highness, I am Fiery Trot. I was supposed to be one of the city councilor, but they went as low as rigging the election. Sad!"
Twilight was a bit unconfortable near the imposing female unicorn. "Uh… yes… Fiery Trot. I have a meeting with the mayor…"
"Of course, your highness, of course, me and my patriotic ponies just want to warn you mayor Golda is part of the problem. She does not want anyone to find the real murderer."
"She does not?"
"We saw the body, Twilight. The poor Trixie was obviously killed by a griffon claw."
"What?"
"I will say what, we'll talk later, if you grace me a meeting. Just… don't trust the Griffons."
As they walked inside the City Hall, the mayor rushed to greet the visitors. Golda Pennacious was a bit shorter than Twilight, with light gray feathers unlike the more earth tones of the Griffons from Griffonstone.
"Princess Twilight. It's an honor to have you in Mareami. Please, come in my office."
"Thank you, mayor Pennacious. You can call me just Twilight."
"Only if you call me just Golda."
After some pleasantries, they went straight to business.
"I'd wish you have come to our city in more auspicious situations, Prin… Twilight. Everypony around is quite shocked with the incident."
"Thank you, Golda. I have most of the details of the case, but would like to understand other things. What about that Fiery Trot?"
"Oh. I am ashamed you saw that. Would you care about some recent sad history of Mareami?"
"Please, go on."
"Two decades ago, Garth Talon was the first griffon to be elected mayor. It started as a joke. With a griffon mayor, Mareami would be called Griffonland-upon-Sea again. Then the conspiracy theorists start talking about Griffons wanting to return to the old country borders, and not only the Islands, and them we started to hear about hidden armies from one side to other… at the point of my election, it stopped being a laughable matter when the group of Fiery Trot made 'the griffon menace' their political platform. She is even trying to put Trixie's death on us."
"She mentioned something about a griffon claw."
Golda shooked her head.
"Nopony knows what weapon was used. But ponies are starting to believe, and some griffons are becoming belligerent, too… In the end, that murdering is destroying everything we building generations in this city. Ponies and griffons are mad with other, and saying the most absurd things about Trixie… dark flyers and such…"
"Dark Flyers?"
"Think nothing about it, Twilight. It's a rumor about griffons in dark clothes flying over the place where Trixie died. In the end, nopony wins anything with this situation."
Twilight got out of Golda's office, and talked with Spike:
"Not true, Spike. Fiery Trot wins a reason for getting votes."
"Do you think she has anything to do with it?"
"I think I will indulge miss Trot a meeting and find out. But first, I want you to write a letter, Spike. I want Rainbow Dash to find something for me, regarding some… dark flyers."
In retrospect, Twilight thought, it was a big mistake. Fiery Trot cramped the room with every reporter she could find, clearly trying to use the princess for her agenda.
"And Princess Twilight Sparkle understands that the hideous act of murdering a pony – a pony like you – puts the balance of the species in jeopardy and she is here to discuss solutions for the problem."
Twilight tried to smile "Actually, I am here to talk with you about the night of the murder."
"Yes, yes, we're all worried about that. What will be the next act of violence done against ponies and how can we prevent the griffons from doing it again?"
"We don't know who did it. And, about problems between griffons and ponies, I learned nothing beats a good friendship. To sit down together, talk, recognize the feelings of each other."
"Princess, we all are feeling bad about spilled pony blood. You and Celestia own Mareami a more direct solution, right?"
Twilight didn't liked it, but the only way to get out of this discussion is to attack herself.
"What were you doing at the night of the crime, Fiery Trot?"
The electric silence could be felt on the room. Reporters were holding their pencils waiting for the response. A princess just accused a local politician of murder? Fiery just smiled.
"I see our mayor poisoned your mind, princess. If I must answer, I was in a meeting with some friends and sponsors. We were trying to find a way to win the next elections, already rigged, as all can see, by baseless accusations. Sad! Why would Goulda make you suspect me? I didn't even knew this Trixie."
She is good, thought Twilight. Again, maneuvering the press and herself to support her and her cause.
"You are, at least, using this poor pony as a tool for your misguided politics. Trixie was my friend, and I will do what I can to find the culprit. Whoever it may be. At meantime, I'd suggest you, Fiery, to stop putting fire in the situation. It's time to remain calm and support each other."
She bit her lip. She didn'twant to do that, she hates to use her authority, but the situation demands. With a deep breath, Twilight went:
"This meeting is adjourned. Let's go, Spike."
"Wow, Twilight" said the Dragon. "I barely recognized you there."
"That's how that kind of pony act, Spike. They threw you off balance to serve their purposes. I hope I will be able to make amends later. Now, come. I have a meeting with the manager of the hotel Trixie was in."
"Two nights of shows, yes, Princ… Twilight. She used part of her cache to book a room for five days."
The hotel manager, a thin earth pony with thick glasses, was a bit nervous as Twilight flipped through the pages of the guests register. She found Trixie's. The only difference from the others was the bill total, replaced with the word "performer". Otherwise, her name, tribe, date in, date out, occupation, register of expenses, signature. She flipped some of the other guests, stopping at one in particular. Her mind rang a bell. Something was wrong, but what?
"Anypony looked for her?"
"No, and just one note. It's with the Royal Guard, now, but was from miss Jolly Horsing, setting a day and time for their meeting."
She looked at the odd register, from a unicorn named Book End. Finally noticing what was wrong, and smiling. It was silly, really.
"Thank you. If you remember anything else…"
"I wish I could forget. And everypony else, too. There's no many ponies wanting to stay in the same hotel of a murdered pony… sorry, princess, huh, I mean, Twilight, but can I ask…?"
After signing a wall "I recommend Desk Bell's Hotel – Her Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle", an exhausted Twilight and Spike went to their wagon.
"We could stay at Desk Bell. Or accept the mayor offer and sleep in her house."
"I don't want Fiery Trot to think Golda is bribing me, and we will not spend taxpayers money in a hotel. The wagon it is."
"Pheh! You're becoming a politician, Twilight…"
"I just want to make a final stop today."
One could see the soil was still soft, sign of being worked not many days ago. Even the fastest grass was still to cover it. As a headstone, a simple wooden plank with her cutie mark engraved carelessly, in a hurry, the gentle curves transformed in the angles carved by someone without will, skills, or both. At its side, burned in the wood, the crest of the sun and moon, supposedly showing her nationality, alliance and religion, in reality the usual placeholder when some of this are unknown. Under the two symbols, the dates of her birth and death. Nothing really hers, nothing that shows someone cared about her. Even the usual engraving of the name was forgotten here.
"Spike" said Twilight, between tears "could you please write my first Royal Decree?"
The dragon simply got a parchment and quill ready – it was not the time to interrupt the alicorn. As she dictates, her tears became more and more abundant.
"Her Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, by her grace and her sovereign, free and spontaneous will, decrees:
1 – That the body of Trixie Lulamoon, also known as 'Great and Powerful Trixie', be transported from Mareami cemetery to the Citizen's Cemetery at Canterlot.
2 – That a marble headstone with the usual engraving must mark the place of her final rest.
3 – That the following epitaph must be added to it: 'In the end. To the end. A true friend'
So let it be registered; so let it be done."
Spike hand over the quill so Twilight could magically sign it.
"Apart from finding who did it to you, that's pretty much all I can do for you now, Trixie. I'm so sorry. Send it, Spike."
After breathing the magic flame that would send the parchment, the dragon sighed.
"You know, Twilight, lately I was wondering what your first decree would be, what I would feel sending it. I did not imagine anything like this."
The duo embraced for a while.
"Let's get back to the wagon, Spike."
Who do you suspect so far?
Sugar Skull with an arrow
Limestone Pie with a pickaxe
Fiery Trot ally with a fake Griffon Claw