Investigation of a Nightmare
A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
by milesprower06, in collaboration with Ace2401

PONYVILLE
SUGARCUBE CORNER
2:01 AM

The two Alicorn ponies flew down from the night sky and landed majestically inside the circumference of the yellow tape barrier that had been set up by Ponyville's local law enforcement. The commotion had roused some of Ponyville's inhabitants, who kept a curious watch outside the barriers. They silently looked around, and walked up to the entrance, where the captain of the royal guards was directing his ponies.

“Captain.” Celestia greeted.

“Your Highness. The scene is down in the basement. The trap door under the stairs.”

The pearl Alicorn nodded, and made her way into the building with her sister. A couple of investigators were looking around, but everything seemed to be in it's place. Save for the front door having been splintered from the deadbolt. The pair of royal sisters made their way around to the trap door down to the basement. Their hoofsteps echoed off the cobblestone stairs, walls and floor. Old light fixtures dimly illuminated the corridor, and they came to the rearmost door, that had again, been splintered by force.

Here, it got interesting.

Three crime scene photographers flashed away with their cameras. If Celestia and Luna were at all surprised or shocked by the grotesque scene before them, they hid it well. The scene had yet to be disturbed in the slightest. The photographers were merely capturing the scene as it was.

The room, 20 feet by 20 feet, reeked of blood and excrement. There were a couple tables set up by the right wall, next to a power box. All manner of knives and surgical blades were either on the table or scattered on the floor around them; all of them had blood on them. On the other table, baking trays and utensils. Copper wiring went from the power box towards the center of the room, where they had been cut, the tips still smoldering.

On the left side of the room, were two more tables. This pair of tables had skulls, bones, and all sorts of pony remains, not to mention the entrails that had been strung up on the wall and ceiling. It looked like the most grotesque form of party decorations imaginable.

At the center of it all, was a rotary plank table, now in a nearly vertical position. It was here where most of the blood was. Severed leather straps were hooked on the top and bottom of the planks. Luna followed a trail of fresh droplets of blood leading from the planks to the door, and as she did so, she noticed the lifeless figure slumped against one of the table legs.

It was a pink pony, her hair all poofy and wild. Not to mention blood-stained. Her eyes, blue irises were contracted almost completely. What Luna found most disturbing, however, was the attire of the pony. A garment sewn of cutie marks. Different Pegasus wings were sewn up the back, and around her neck, was a crude necklace of unicorn horns.

“Dear child, what have you done?” Celestia asked somberly.

The only reply was silence, Pinkie's lifeless eyes staring into infinity.

“I'm going to find out.” Luna declared.
“Hmm?”
“Yes. I'll take command of the investigation.”
“Are you sure, Luna?”

The night Alicorn nodded firmly.

“These disappearances happened for months, during my nights. I'll do everything in my power to get to the bottom of this, and hopefully help the citizens of this town sleep peacefully again.”

Celestia stared at her younger sister, and accepted.

“Very well, Princess Luna. The investigation is yours. I hope you bring a quick end to this. Best of luck.”

With that, Celestia left the basement with a pair of guards. As she approached the stairs, she heard a commotion in the lobby.

“I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on here!”

Celestia ascended the stairs to see the guard captain struggling with Mrs. Cake, her husband also trying to get his wife to calm down.

“It's alright Captain, release her.”

The captain immediately did as was commended by the familiar voice, and as soon as Mrs. Cake realized who is was, she gave a quick bow, but was still determined to get answers.

“Princess Celestia, your Highness, what is going on here? Why are your guards surrounding my business?”

“Mrs. Cake, something terrible has happened.”

“What are you talking about your highness? Where's Pinkie?”

“It seems we've found the source of the disappearances in the past months.”

Mrs. Cake looked like she had just seen a ghost.

“Oh...oh, in all of Equestria...here? It happened here?”

“Down in the basement.” Celestia replied solemnly.

Mrs. Cake fought to keep her composure, as well as keep herself on her feet, and in her silence, her husband stepped up.

“Your majesty, you have to believe us, we had no idea. We had nothing to do with it.”

“I do believe you, Mr. Cake. And what you can do right now, is try and remain calm. It's over. Please, go back upstairs and try to rest. Princess Luna and our investigators will do everything they can to get answers.”

The two bakers nodded confusingly, and Mr. Cake led his wife back upstairs, and returned to their room.

BASEMENT

Princess Luna took another look around the room, and one of the investigators came up to her.

“Where should we start, your Highness?”

Glancing left and right, Luna settled on the lifeless Pinkie against the table.

“Get that dress and necklace off of her.” she instructed to one detective.

She then looked at the drops of blood leading out of the room.

“Did somepony escape?”

“More along the lines of rescued, your majesty. Rainbow Dash, just tonight. One of her friends came looking for her. That's how we were alerted to this. She was taken to Ponyville Urgent Care, and is being treated as we speak. They're...they're not sure if she's going to make it yet.”

Luna looked back at the lifeless pony as her attire was carefully removed. She recognized her; a holder of one of the Elements of Harmony, that helped her let go of her jealous and selfish alter ego when she escaped the moon.

She looked to the rotary table. It was not easy to look at. The entire piece was covered in blood; some weeks and months old, some just hours. A few cyan feathers were scattered around the contraption.

On the left wall, was a still-burning cobblestone coal furnace. If that wasn't on, the basement most likely would've proven to be quite chilly. Hanging out of the burning coals was a set of iron tongs, with an aluminum can on the end.

“Have you photographed this?” she asked another detective. After they nodded, she carefully took hold of the tongs and took it out of the coals, and set it on top of the cobblestone furnace, and opened the lid.

Burning, red-hot nails.

Dropping the tongs, Luna's eyes, for the first time, went wide, as the night princess showed her shock, looking back again at the lifeless Pinkie.

The detective had removed the dress and necklace, Luna pointed to the table of baking trays, and the pony went over and laid it out on the table next to them. Luna studied it carefully.

“Pony fur and skin. Thirteen...thirteen cutie marks and three different pairs of Pegasi wings.” she said, studying the dress. She looked briefly at the center piece of fabric, which had a moon crescent, but was not a cutie mark or piece of skin at all. She then turned her attention to the black leather strap that had served as a necklace band, with...

“Four unicorn horns.”

After she had looked over the nauseating garment, she turned to the small team of investigators.

“Alright. We have at the very least, 13 victims, maybe more. At least three Pegasi, four unicorns, and the rest may be Earth ponies. Who's versed the best in anatomy?”

One of the investigators on the left of the group raised a hoof.

“Sort through those bones. See if we can match up skeletal remains. And you, bag the body, take it to our lab in Canterlot. The first thing I want is an MRI of her brain.”

She got nods of acknowledgment from the small team.

“Gentlecolts, we have more than a dozen victims whose loved ones are fearing the worst. Lets bring them some answers and closure. Let's get to work.”

The ponies set to work, and Luna slowly and silently trotted over to the rotary planks again, reeking, red, and sticky with blood. She closed her eyes in deep thought for a moment.

“Laughter...” she whispered to herself.

“I remember ponies telling me about you at the Gala. How you were one of the most lively. You giggled harmlessly at my trees in the Everfree Forest.”

She turned to Pinkie one last time, looking into her dead eyes just as one off the investigators was zipping up the black bag.

“You held the Element of Laughter, and yet you tortured these poor souls...why, child? Why did you do this?”

Only silence answered her.

CANTERLOT ROYAL PALACE
THE NEXT MORNING

Luna came over the drawbridge into the main hall, yawning. Celestia floated down beside her, just finishing rising the sun.

“How goes the investigation, sister?” she asked. Luna yawned again.

“We've gotten started. The body is here at the lab. I've requested a brain analysis. Something can't...can't be right. She was one of the keepers of the Elements of Harmony. Laughter. I can't imagine how someone like that could do this...”

“Hopefully you'll get an answer in your search, dear sister.”
“What about the last victim? Rainbow Dash. Is she going to make it?”

Celestia nodded, and Luna breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yes, I just heard. But unfortunately, she's badly scarred. They weren't able to save her wings. I hope Twilight and her friends can cope. Both Pinkie and Rainbow were close friends.”

“Sister, our search warrant was for the entire building, right?”
“That's correct. The entire property is yours to cover.”
“Alright. I just don't want to focus too hard on the basement, and possibly miss something elsewhere. But right now, I need some sleep.”

“Alright. And don't worry about the proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. I'm giving them accommodations here in Canterlot until the investigation is done.”

With that, Luna retired to her personal quarters for the day.

PONYVILLE
SUGARCUBE CORNER
SIX NIGHTS LATER

Luna gracefully landed just inside the yellow tape barrier around Sugarcube Corner. Activity had died down considerably since the investigation began three nights ago. She had spent the last five nights in Canterlot, focusing on Pinkie, and probing the coroner with questions. As far as they could gather, Pinkie had very slowly developed a severe split personality over the past months.

The papers and Ponyville may be satisfied with that much, but Luna wasn't. Not for one of the ponies that had saved her from herself.

The watch had been reduced to just two royal guards, who she acknowledged upon going into the building.

After the investigation team had gotten everything they could over the past 72 hours, they had begun the process of cleaning up the basement. Mr. and Mrs. Cake depended on this place to support themselves, and they wanted to allow them to open the business again as soon as they could.

Luna had just finished a late night visit to Sweet Apple Acres, where Rainbow Dash was currently living and recovering. She gave her the information that she and the coroner had gathered from the MRI, and Rainbow was somewhat satisfied, but also seemed very concerned that she and her friends had done something to cause this.

But Luna wasn't quite done. Instead of going down to the basement, she went up the stairs, and at the top, looked at the end of the hall to the door on her left, with a heart-shaped window carved through the wood. Her horn glowing, the door opened, and she walked into Pinkie's room.

For the most part it was clean. A queen-sized bed took up much of the left side of the room. On the right side, there was a table that was big enough to seat six ponies. Luna turned her attention to the left side of the room. There were all sorts of party supplies neatly stacked underneath the bed.

The night princess then turned her attention to the closet next to the bed. Opening the doors, she let out a gasp at what she saw.

Four short stools. Each with an odd item on them.

A pile of rocks, a hunk of lint, a bucket of turnips, and a sack of flour.

On the floor, at the center of the stools, was a 2-foot by 2-foot polished wooden lockbox.

Picking up the box, Luna brought it over to the dresser. Her horn glowed brightly, and the lock mechanism clicked open. She slowly opened the lid, and her eyes widened.

There was a book. A hardcover, leather-bound book. There were bloodstains all over it.

On top of the book, was the Element Necklace of Laughter.

For just a moment, Luna wondered if Pinkie's element played a part in why she did this.

Luna gently set the necklace aside, and picked up the book.

“What's this...?” she asked herself, in the otherwise unoccupied room.

Glancing once more at the four stools with the items on it, she turned her attention back to the book.

And opened it...