Later that very same night a unicorn stallion simply known as Ace High was sitting in a bar having a casual drink with a few mares as they were practically crawling all over him.  He smiled in bliss as his lime green coat seemed to glow in the dim light.  His leather coat was draped over the back of the chair he was sitting in.  As he kissed one of the mares to his right he failed to notice a crow perched on the window sill outside.  The crow tilted its head slightly and then took flight.

Ace glanced at the mare to his right, “Hey babe.  You’re really lucky you found me when you did, it’s not every day you play tonsil hockey with a rock singer.”

The mare turned bright red and kissed him as the other pressed hard against his body and grinded.  The barman took notice and cleared his throat.

“Hey this isn’t a show mare house, take it outside.”

Ace snorted in anger and stood up, “Fine whatever, c’mon girls.  Let’s go for a ride.”

*

Rarity crouched upon a roof in Canterlot as she ran over the vision the crow had shown her of the stallion.  She grimaced in disgust and started to run across the rooftops, she smiled in exhilaration at the sudden rush she felt.  She was much faster than she used to be, her vision was sharper and her reflexes seemed to be honed beyond comprehension.  She cleared a sizable gap with ease and continued to run until she reached the area the Tavern was in.  She glanced down and saw it was a pretty large drop.  She shut her eyes and spread her arms out and fell forward.  The wind whipped past her with great speed and she found herself landing on her back.  She opened her eyes at feeling no pain and that she was still breathing.

“Whahahahah!”  Her usual laugh however seemed to be tinged with a hint of malicious glee.

Far down the alley near the tavern behind a dumpster, Ace emerged as the last mare hobbled off.  He straightened his coat and casually strolled out.  He stopped for a moment when he noticed the shape of a unicorn mare in the darkness.  He smiled and slicked his mane back but froze when he saw her body language.  It depicted aggressiveness and possible deadly intent.  He reached into his coat and felt the handle of his knife.

“Back off I’m armed,” the mare continued her advance, “I’m WARNING YOU!”

Rarity stepped into the light and leapt at him.  She effectively tackled him to the ground causing his knife to skitter away.  Ace went for a hay maker to Rarity’s jaw which she caught with ease; she then brought her other hand hard into his elbow at an angle.  A satisfying crack followed by a yell pierced the air.  Ace’s arm stuck out at an odd angle as he kneed Rarity in the stomach and managed to heave her off with his good arm.  He rushed to his knife only to be hit hard in the back with something hard and very solid.  He looked up and saw the mare with a crazed look in her eye brandishing a broken wooden plank.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!”

The mare yelled back, “SOME CALRITY!”

She smacked the wood hard on his back once more and it broke apart.  Rarity advanced on the stallion and grabbed him by his coat and hurled him with amazing strength into the brick wall across the way.  Rarity then grabbed the knife off the ground and swooped down upon him and planted her forearm on his neck, the knife blade nestled at his diaphragm.

“Now I want answers,” Rarity’s eyes were cold and unmerciful, “Do you remember the first stop on your tour one year ago?”

A vision of him brandishing his knife to her flashed in her mind.

Ace was frantic and was struggling, “Yeah so what?”

Rarity gritted her teeth in rage, “Do you recall two mares, one old the other young and taking them backstage…murderer,” the last word was spoken with enough venom that it could be a lethal dose.

Ace looked down for a moment, “Two mares…wait a minute.”

Rarity smiled coldly, “Does the face of a mare in the background not register with you Ace?”

Ace looked at her in fear, “You?!  But I…killed you that night!”

Rarity then tilted her head and whispered in his ear, “And yet here I stand darling.”

She drove the knife into its home and planted her hands on Ace’s screaming face

Beside ace was a fiery red stallion with a short blond spiky mane wearing sunglasses and a leather vest that was a scathing white.  Beside him was a stallion wearing a modified straight jacket with a grey coat and bald with two toned eyes.  The next was a pair of twins.  Both had navy blue coats and was wearing black and white prison slacks, both had dyed their manes red and had piercing yellow eyes.

“The names of your bandmates,” she twisted the knife, “TELL THEM TO ME!”

Ace screamed and then raised his good hand, “The one wearing the strait jackets name is Mulls, the red stallion whose are drummer is named Poppa Fly, the twins names are Yin and Yang.  PLEASE LET ME GO!!”

Rarity stood up causing Ace to pull his knife out, blood spurted onto the ground.  Rarity gripped his jacket and ripped it off of him, “A jacket this fine does not belong on scum like you.”

Ace looked up at her, “Please don’t leave me here!  I need help.”

Rarity donned his jacket, “Yes you do, but unfortunately for you,” she picked up the pieces of broken wood, “It’s terror time Acey Wacey.”

Ace then screamed bloody murder as the dark mare descended upon him like an angel of death.

*

The following morning the two inspectors arrived at the alleyway, which was taped off.  Earl and Gleam entered and froze at the sight before them.  The stallion singer for ‘The Ash Bringers’ had by far seen better days; he was pinned to the solid brick wall by a pair of metal pipes in each of his palms.  The inspectors concluded that they must have come from some of the trash near the dumpster.  Driven into both of his lungs was a pair of wooden stakes.  And keeping his head upright and staring at the heavens via impalement, was a knife driven through his mouth and into the brick work.  Painted around his body in his own blood was the shape of some sort of bird.  Written on the ground in front of his body were the words, ‘Speak no evil’, in his blood.

Earl stifled a gag, “Who could’ve done this?”

Gleam shook her head, “Whoever it was must have the strength of twenty stallions.”

Earl shook his head as pictures were taken for filing in the report he would most likely fill out, “Well whoever did this isn’t going to escape royal justice, c’mon, we must inform the princesses of this development.”

As they turned to leave, Gleam glanced up and saw a black crow on the rooftop above caw then take flight.