CHAPTER 18

I'm back with a new chapter, everypony. This story is turning out to be longer than I thought it would be, which isn't a bad thing. Having Drake's last big case be such a long and in depth story is only fitting. It's also been really fun working with the two new OC's in the story, especially Masada. After this series wraps up, expect to see a few stand-alone stories centered around Masada, as well as ones featuring Shadow. So moving along, I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter.

The body lay on the floor of Twilight Sparkle's study where we had brought it. Twilight and Spike had left the house already. There was no way the Princess of Friendship could stand the sight of her old friend laying dead in her house. I couldn't blame her, honestly. She and her assistant had gone to Applejack's farm to ride out the investigation, and I had advised her to round up the rest of the Elements of Harmony and a few police officers and turn the apple orchard into a small fort until we figured out what was going on. She had obliged without much hesitation. Dashie had gone to the morgue to make sure Pinkie's body was still there. Now, it was Myself, Steele, Masada, Budder, Shadow and Scootaloo standing in a room with a pony who had seemingly died for the third time.

Our team was gathered around the corpse, staring down at it, each one of us just as confused as the other. I knelt down and examined Pinkie Pie's body for any indication that this was somepony else. It had to be. The body that we had exhumed was badly decomposed. There was a chance we missed something, that somehow another dead pony had been substituted for the body of the murderer, and I just overlooked some subtle clue. I was more than certain that the Pinkie killed on the roof was the real deal. It was obvious to me that whatever had happened, Pinkie had survived the fight in the basement five years before, only to end up dead now. But here she was again, a different Pinkie, laying Dead in Twilight's house. Leave it to a hard-charging career soldier like Steele to sum it all up.

"What the Hell is this...Micky Mouse Bullshit?!" He finally exclaimed. I slowly turned my head to look at him. Captain Steele had his jaws clamped shut, staring at the corpse like he was about to kill it all over again. "That bitch was dead..."

"Well, now she is." Shadow commented.

"Until we have to kill her again." I muttered. "Anything, sis?" I turned to Budder, who was scanning the body with a device engineered to detect spiritual energies or whatever. Budder had been going over the body with half a dozen different instruments while I racked my brain for believable answers to this ever-darkening mystery.

"No...like...there's no electromagnetic energy to prove she's a ghost or a demon or anything." My sister replied. "And there's just a little bit of residual magic from somewhere, but it's not enough to mean anything."

"Residual magic?" I asked.

"Oh, like if somepony cast a cloud-walking spell on you, or you ate an apple grown with magic or something like that, for a few days after, you'd still have a little residual magic inside you." She explained.

"So it don't mean anything?" I pressed. My sister shrugged.

"Probably not." She replied. "When Luna and Tia were foalsitting me, Luna did an invisibility spell on me so we could prank Celestia. I couldn't use my own equipment for a week cause of the residual magic messin' with the readings." I nodded.

"Golem..." I heard Masada mutter.

"What, sergeant?" I queried. The Bitsraeli soldier looked at the body as she spoke in a low voice.

"My people...we have a story...a legend of a being called a golem. It is creation of a pony close to the divine...um...like a priest, you know?" I nodded. "Made of clay and given life, it looks like a pony, but cannot speak, and it must do its master's bidding..."

"Somepony builds a fucking pony statue, prays it to life, and orders it around?" Shadow asked. "Dude, that's fucked up."

"It is part of our heritage, the story of the golem. But yes...the golem was...childhood fear of mine." Masada sighed. "Even though it was used to protect my people from enemies in the stories...it is terrifying thought...at least to me." She Looked into my eyes. "I hope it is just a story, and this is not a golem."

"I'm sure this has a perfectly ratio..." I caught myself. "At least a reasonable explanation."

"I don't know about reasonable, Lieutenant Drake..." Scootaloo squeaked from across the room. "This whole thing is really messed up..." I could see the filly starting to cry.

"Hey...Scoots...no..." My sister said comfortingly, making her way over to the filly. "It's okay...I know this is weird and scary and stuff, but we'll be okay. I told you, me and my bubby have seen some bad stuff, but he always saves the day. We were stuck in a house with a bunch of demons once, and we made it out. Right, bubby?"

"Ugh, don't remind me..." I complained.

"See? Everything's gonna be alright, Scoots." Budder said. "I ain't letting anything bad happen to you." she gave Scootaloo a hug just as news arrived.

"Drake!" Rainbow Dash called, running into the house.

"What did you find out?" I asked.

"It's her...I mean, Pinkie's body is still at the morgue..."

"Then it's official." I stated, looking around the room. "There's too many damned Pinkie Pies.."

"Drake?" Dash panted, obviously trying to get my attention.

"What?" I asked. I noticed her expression. "What's wrong?"

"There was another murder." She said softly. All eyes were now on my marefriend.

"Where?" I asked.

The six of us stepped into the house, past the officer guarding the door, me in the lead. It was a normal, run-of-the-mill home in Ponyville, the whitewashed exterior giving no indication of the horror within. As we entered, I scanned the front room, a small living room, for any signs or clues. Seeing none, I led my team silently into the next room. It was there that we found the victim.

The mare was seated at the dining table in the kitchen of the house. Despite the fact that she wore a cone-shaped party hat, and had a leis around her neck did little to make the darkened room feel festive. The smell of blood hung in the air, and the feeling of death was almost oppressive. I moved closer to the body. She was a middle-aged mare, red in color, with a pink mane and tail, interspersed with streaks of blue. I began to put the facts together.

"She lived alone." I stated. "No family photographs on the wall, except for the one of the two older ponies in the living room. Probably the parents." I took another look around the room. "She's older, probably in her forties...a spinster. Few friends."

"How do you know all that?" Steele demanded. I pointed up at the banned hanging from the ceiling. It read 'Happy Birthday'.

"I'm guessing it was her birthday, and she was alone. It looks like the killers wanted to throw her a surprise party..." I said.

"That's fuckin' sick." Shadow commented.

"Drake..." I heard Dashie gasp. "D...Drake!" I rushed over to see what had terrified my marefriend so much. What I saw made me freeze. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

"You alright, Drake?" Shadow asked.

"Fuck...no." I replied.

"What is it, LT?" Steel pressed. I pointed to the platter of pink-frosted cupcakes on the counter by the oven.

"So? It's a bunch of cupcakes. What's the big deal?" Captain Steele shrugged.

"Masada?" I said in a low voice. I took a deep breath, trying to get my heart rate under control.

"Yes Drake?" The sergeant asked nervously.

"Can you check the body? Um...I want you to see if she has had her...organs removed." I hugged Dashie close, knowing what this was doing to her. She was shaking. I knew that she needed to be off this case now, that it was going to affect her too deeply if she kept on it. I just hoped that my fears wouldn't be realized...

"Lieutenant Drake..." Masada began. I gulped. "Yes, it looks like she was completely disemboweled. How did you know?"

"Because...Pinkie Pie always removed the organs...when she killed somepony..." I returned, almost too stunned to speak.

"Why?" Shadow asked. "Why the hell would somepony do that?"

"And where are the guts?" Steele added. I pointed shakily toward the platter.

"Right there...in the cupcakes...she bakes the vics into...fucking cupcakes."

"The actual fuck?!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Guys..." I stammered. "Pinkie Pie's not dead...there's more of them out there."

Things just got bad really fast, didn't they? It looks like the old cupcakes routine has made a comeback now. How is the team going to be able to stop what appears to be a possible army of Pinkamenas? I will attempt to have the next chapter up tonight or tomorrow evening. Budder has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll probably be a little later than usual in getting the next chapter up. So until then, send me your precious reviews and comments, and please stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading, everypony. -Drake