A/N: well, I was bored around my house, so I decided to write another chapter for this story, and as I said before, the story will only get more interesting, hope you enjoy.
Trials of Redemption: chapter 4: mysteries unfold
It had been over a day since Twilight and her friends attended Fleet's party, they stayed late, dancing and having fun, until they finally decided to leave after midnight.
Twilight had been doing more studying the following day, and was up late; she was now sound asleep in her bed, the early morning sun shining in through her window, the promise of a normal day, but it would be far from it.
She just started to open her eyes, as the light shined in her face, she groaned and rolled on to her other side, and tried drifting off to sleep, but just as she settled in and closed her eyes, she heard what sounded like knocking, her eyes immediately shot open and she sat up in bed, she yawned and stretched as she looked down at Spike who was starting to stir, he also sat up in bed, and began rubbing his eyes, "uh, what is that?" he asked still half asleep, Twilight groaned as she got out of bed and made her way downstairs, as she did, she heard knocking again, this time at a faster pace, Twilight was now starting to get annoyed, "yes, I'm coming" she said as she made her way up to the door, when she was about to reach it, the door flew open, and in flew Rainbow Dash, a panicked look on her face.
Twilight cried out in surprise, but frowned when she saw it was just Rainbow, "Rainbow, what are you doing, why are you so impatient?" she asked, Rainbow turned to her with a panicked look in her eyes, one that Twilight had never seen before, "there's no time to explain, something's happened in town, and it doesn't seem good, we need to go" she said grabbing Twilight hoof and pulling her along, Twilight didn't need any more provocation and ran after her.
(PonyVille, town square)
As they arrived in town square, they all looked around; they turned and saw a crowd of ponies gathering in front of a house, they immediately rain to the crowd, and saw their other friends already there, Twilight and her friends pushed their ways in front of the crowd, and saw members of the local authority, standing at the entrance to the house, as well as others trying to keep the crowd back, "what's going on, what happened?" Twilight asked her friends, none of them answered, the only one to respond to her question, was Applejack, who merely pointed to the entrance, as two ponies came out carrying a black bag, with what looked like the outline of a body inside, Twilight gasped as two more ponies came out carrying another, followed by a fifth, who she recognized as PonyVille's chief of police, she pushed past the others, and walked up to him.
"Excuse me, what happened here?" she asked, he turned to her, a very solemn look in his eye, he sighed and took off his glasses, "it's not pretty, double murder, the same couple that owned the local jewelry store, the husband was stabbed and had his throat cut, the wife just had her throat cut, one of their neighbors, came to check on them, he found them in the living room, a pool of blood around them, definite signs of a struggle, no sign of who it was" he said as he put on his glasses and walked away.
Twilight felt her heart beat increase, almost to the point where it would burst out her chest, she looked around the crowd, as they all started to disperse, she saw something that caught her eye, in the crowd stood a familiar unicorn, it was Fleet, she watched as he stared as the bodies were taken past him, and placed in a carriage, and taken away, he watched as he looked back at the house, a shocked look on his face, she watched as his expression turned to that of guilt and sorrow, suddenly he turned to look at her, she saw a look in his eyes that she had never seen before in anypony, it was pure fear, unlike anything she had ever seen.
He immediately turned around and made his way down the street, Twilight continued to watch him, as he quickly ducked into an alley and vanished, as if to match the mood of the town, the sky had turned gray from clouds, but it did not rain, Twilight slowly turned around and made her way back to her friends.
Still knowing she watched him, Fleet ducked into the nearest alley, and leaned up against the wall, his heart thumping painfully against his chest, he was surprised he could even breath, he looked out and saw that Twilight and her friends had begun walking away, he sighed sadly, and sat up against the wall, he placed a hoof to his chest, disbelief written all over his face, "no, no it can't be happening again, not here, not now" he said quietly to himself, as he quickly made his way back to his house, and did everything he could to avoid Twilight.
(PonyVille, library)
After hearing of the events, Twilight and her friends returned to the library, the shock of the events of the past few minutes still etched on their faces, the clouds continued to swirl around the sky, they all sat around silently as Twilight came out with some tea and sandwiches, "I can't believe this happened, in PonyVille of all places, this town has never had such a horrible crime happen in it" Applejack said with a solemn expression, as she took a sip of tea, "I just want to know who could be responsible for such a tragedy, I've lived here quite some time now, I know a lot of ponies, and none of them could possibly be capable of such an act" Rarity said, levitating up her cup, Twilight walked over to the window, "I guess everypony has a secret to hide about themselves, I wouldn't be surprised if we don't catch the killer, he's probably long gone" Rainbow said, in a serious but calm tone.
Twilight listened to her friends, "no, as much as I would want to believe it, I have a feeling that the killer is still here, in PonyVille, he's probably right under our noses, where we least expect him, he would want to stay and admire his work, before striking again" she said in a solemn tone, her friends all looked at each other confused, "okay, who made you the professional on psycho killers?" Rainbow said hovering in the air, Twilight turned to them, "right before we left the scene, I saw Fleet there, he was staring at the bodies as they passed by him, there was this look of…guilt on his face, like he regretted something, and if you girls remember, he disappeared on us for the majority of the party, nopony saw him go anywhere, and then he appears at the scene again, of the things I read about them, killers always return to the scene of the crime" she said in a dark tone, they all looked at each other with worried glances.
"Are you saying, that…Fleet's the killer, I don't know, he's just a new arrival, he seemed so nice" Applejack said in disbelief, Twilight frowned, "I'm not saying he is, but unless he has an alibi for that night, he's just as good a suspect as anypony, maybe I'll go talk with him later, just a friendly visit" she said with a serious look.
(Later that day…)
After they went their separate ways, to continue on with their day, Twilight headed off to see Fleet up at his mansion, she wanted to go and ask him a few questions, she looked in all directions as she made her way out of town, and walked along the path that lead to the house, as she walked, she thought of what to ask him, she continued walking until she eventually she got to the front door, the entire house seemed dark, only a few lights were on, the clouds in the sky began to darken.
She took a deep breath, and raised her hoof up and knocked, it was quiet enough she could have sworn she heard the knocking echo through the house, she waited for a few seconds when the door opened, revealing Fleet's head butler, he had a calm look on his face, Twilight cleared her throat, "hi, is Fleet here, I wanted to talk with him" she said, the butler was about to open his mouth when another voice answered, "it's alright Emerald, let me" came a familiar voice, the butler stepped back, giving a slight bow, and walking away before Fleet appeared in the doorway, "oh Twilight, it's you, I wasn't expecting you to come by, not exactly the best weather for a stroll, would you like to come in?" he asked gesturing for her to come in, Twilight did her best to smile, as she thanked him and walked inside, as she walked past him, he looked out the door, looking in all directions, as if looking for somepony, he quickly closed the door behind him and followed her to his library.
(Fleet's house, library)
Twilight sat down and made herself comfortable, while Fleet poured her a glass of wine and levitated it to her, "we never got a chance to thank you for the great party, I think Pinkie would be jealous" she said with a chuckle, he merely smiled and took a drink of his wine, "yes, I must apologize for my abrupt exit that night, I had…important business to take care of, stuff for the company" he said taking another drink, and sighing, Twilight looked down for a minute, and an awkward silence fell over them, "listen Fleet, I should apologize" she said, this caught Fleet's attention, "apologize for what?" he asked looking at her confused.
She sighed and looked up at him sadly, "I'm sure you saw the crime scene, nothing like this has ever happened here before, this is a peaceful and innocent town, or at least it was, I still can't believe that this happened, who could have done such a thing, I didn't know those ponies that much, but they were good ponies, they didn't deserve that kind of death" she said looking up at him, he wearily took a drink of his wine, Twilight saw a look of guilt in his eyes, which only raised her suspicion.
After he finished his drink, Fleet cleared his throat, "yes, the head of the local authorities was already here earlier, they asked a couple of questions, I gave my honest answer, the reason I left that night, at the party, was because I had to do fill out some paperwork, for the company, my butler was there with me" he said, Twilight gave a silent sigh of relief, obviously Fleet had an alibi, she couldn't hold anything against him, he stood up and walked back over to the shelves and began skimming them, "I'm sure this tragedy has affected the entire town, normally I would not want to live in a town where murder happens, but by this point in life, I'm used to being around death" he said in a solemn tone, that comment caught Twilight's attention, "what do you mean by that?" she asked, she waited for an answer, she watched as Fleet leaned up against the shelf, although she couldn't see his face, she could tell he was conflicted about telling her, finally he took shaky breath, "you read a lot of books Twilight, tell me, have you read about the infamous Baltimare murders" he said turning to face her, Twilight looked down thinking, she may have read something about them somewhere, but she couldn't recall.
"I think maybe I have, why?" she asked, he eyed for a few seconds and then, walked back and sat down, "it was a terrible tragedy, there was a murderer on the loose in the streets, he terrorized the city for years, claiming lives, the authorities never managed to catch him" he said in a solemn tone, he looked up at her, "I don't understand, what does this have to do with you?" she asked, he looked away sorrowfully, and then turned back to her, "when I was a young colt, my parents and older brother were killed in their beds, I was the only one left alive, they never found the killer, after that I was taken in by my uncle and aunt, they raised me, while my uncle watched over the company until I was old enough, then it would be passed to me, after that the killings stopped, just like that" he said in a solemn voice.
There was something in his eyes that told her he wasn't telling the complete truth, but she couldn't tell for sure, "I…I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't mean for you to think about that, I'm sorry" she said, he stood up and walked over to her, she looked up at him and stood up facing him, he simply smiled, "it wasn't your fault, I've been burdened by that memory all my life, there's no escaping it, I was very small, I don't remember much about my parents, but I know they were good ponies, I 'll have to live with it, the rest of my life" he said as he glanced up at the clock, and then glanced outside.
"Oh my, the clouds are getting thicker, you best make it home, before it starts to rain, come on, and I'll walk you out" he said as they exited the library, and made their way to the front door, he calmly opened it for her, she smiled and walked past him, but not before stopping and placing a hoof on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for everything, I know you're not a bad guy, you seem so pleasant and innocent, you don't seem capable of hurting anypony, I'll see you later" she said as she walked out the door, he watched her go, doing his best to smile, he watched her until she was far enough away, his smile turned to a frown, he sighed sadly and closed the door, he turned back and leaned against the door for a minute, taking in what she said, "innocent?" he said quietly to himself, as if mesmerized by the word, he slowly began walking away from the door, "if only that were true, Twilight, if only" he said as he made his way back up to his room.
A/N: well there you have it, that's all for now, the mysteries continue to unfold, come back next time to see what happens next, hope you enjoyed and peace.