Author's Notes:

Hello! I just wanted to say that chapters for this story are going to be shorter than I usually write. More because I want to update this one often, and I have more free time. And it helps that I've seen the show at least five times, not even exaggerating. Please tell me if you see any errors with this chapter, enjoy and thanks for reading!

“Gummy! I’m home!” Pinkie said as she opened the door to her apartment, the severed unicorn horns around her neck clacking together she did. A wide, welcoming smile on her face as she looked around for her pet.

Her apartment was a small and simple one. Not because she couldn’t afford afford a bigger or better one, she was one of the best forensic analysts in Canterlot, if not Equestria. But she simply didn’t see the need in one, she didn’t spend that much time here, as she was usually at work, scoping out targets, or buying supplies for the next kill room. Which was actually quite expensive, with a mixture of having to buy a lot of plastic sheets, film for her camera so she could print out photos of the victims her targets killed, and buying new tools and a face mask every year. But, she never bought the stuff at the same place twice. And always paid in bits, so it was near impossible for anything she bought to be traced back to her.

The room had a lightbulb in the center, but she didn’t feel she needed to turn it on. The windows beside the door gave her enough light.

Her apartment had four rooms, each of them only as big as necessary. They all had the same wallpaper, a simple plaid with no stripes or any kinds of patterns. The carpet was exactly the same, though it was significantly softer than the walls. Blinkie said it was boring, but Pinkie thought it express something about her, that she was nothing special, just like the place she lived. Her living room, which comprised of a dark brown leather futon, capable of being pulled out to a bed if she had a guest who wanted to stay the night, which was pretty rare. Occasionally, her sister would spend the night when she felt like they hadn’t spent a lot of time together or she just didn’t want to go home.

There was a nightstand to the left of the futon with a lamp on it, and besides that was a bookshelf with several books. She liked to read, helped her understand how other ponies think. There wasn’t really anything else in the living room except for Gummy’s space, which consisted of a small, circular bed that he liked to take naps in. The inside was purple and the outside was green, meant to match his color patterns. He also had two small, plastic bowls beside his bed that were usually for food and water, and a chew toy shaped like a pony that would squeak whenever it was bit. Though she wasn’t sure how much chewing he could actually do, considering he had no teeth, hence why she called him Gummy.

All this was in a corner between the futon and the wall, that was where Gummy usual was before she got him any of that stuff, so she figured that might as well be where she put all his stuff. Currently, Gummy was taking a nap on his bed. When she called his name, he slowly opened his purple eyes, beginning to walk towards him.

As she did, Pinkie reached into her tool bag, pulling what looked to be a pair of dentures meant for an elderly pony. Though instead of normal teeth, it had sharper, more metallic teeth. They had been painted to be whiter to look like actual teeth, but it was clear they were made out of some harder material. The dentures were small enough to fit into Gummy’s mouth, but not too big to where he could accidentally bite himself with them, which is exactly how Pinkie designed them.

She put the carnivorous dentures into his mouth, using her hooves to curve the corners of his lips so it looked like he was smiling. Then she pulled the foreleg of Sparkle that she kept and put it on the floor in front of him, watching as he eagerly scarfed down on it.

“You were hungry, weren’t ya? I’m sorry I made you wait so long, that priest took longer than I thought.” She said as she reached down and began to pet him with one of her hooves, enjoying how the scales felt.

She had found him on one of her trips to The Everfree Forest a few months ago, hiding behind a bush, seeming to be hiding from other animals rather than her. He was much smaller and skinnier then, with a couple of bruises and scratches on him showing predators had been attacking him, it was a miracle that he survived for as long.

He had been born with no teeth, which was a defect she had never heard of before, and was one that would make survival nearly impossible. And since there were no other alligators around, she had guessed its mother had abandoned it, thinking that he would be took hard to provide for and his chances of survival were too low to be worth it.

Something else she found special about him, is unlike every other animal she’s ever met, he didn’t seem afraid of her. When she approached him, he didn’t cower away or try to get as far from her as possible, he didn’t even look afraid. He didn’t try to intimidate her or bite her, though that would have been pointless. He just looked at her with that deadpan expression like he always did.

She wasn’t sure if it was because he was too stupid to sense what was wrong with her like all the others did, or if he could and just didn’t care for whatever reason. She also felt that she could relate to the alligator. An outcast, born so vastly different than others of its kind. The main difference was, what made him different was physical and very obvious, and also made it hard for him to survive.

When she was done throwing the body parts of the pony she had killed at the time, she had decided to take the alligator with her in her good mood, and had kept him ever since. She had to buy special food for him at first, but she had the idea of making him some teeth to eat with. She had a bit of experience with making things, so just making some teeth wasn’t that hard for her.

Plus, she’s tried some liquid versions of meat before, and she knows how different it was from the real thing.

He wasn’t very needy at all, only needed to eat every couple of days, and needed about as much water as you’d give a cactus. Occasionally, he would bite her, though he only ever did it when he didn’t have the dentures in. She was pretty sure it was his way of showing affection to her, trying to thank her for saving his life.

Or it was just his way of telling her he was hungry, hard to tell.

“Well, enjoy your meal Gummy. I’ve got some things to do before I can call it a night.” Pinkie said as she turned around, beginning to walk towards her kitchen, walking past her bathroom in the process.

It was a very basic bathroom with just the necessities. White tile floor and walls, a toilet with a sink and mirror beside it, the mirror also functioning as a medicine cabinet whenever it was opened. Though she had very little medicine in there, outside of some headache medicine or something to help her sleep. And a shower, which she usually used every day if she had the time.

Her kitchen was also very basic, having the bare necessities of what she’d need. A large black refrigerator that had some milk, a couple of beers, and some meat in the freezer. She only had beers in their because she drank socially, seemed to be a very common thing in Canterlot. The oven was beside that, which she used mainly to cook the meat or make some breakfast food if she had the time. And beside that was the dishwasher, a microwave sitting on it, which she used a lot more than the oven. And a cabinet above that was filled with cups and plates, most of the utensils were in a drawer between the fridge and the oven, which is where the sink was.

Unicorns had spells that could heat up meat or meals for them, but earth ponies like herself or pegasi didn’t have such luck. She usually had some microwavable food in her freezer with the meat, usually only eating it when she didn’t have a lot of free time, or was just feeling particularly lazy.

The only other room she had in her apartment was her bedroom, which is where she kept most of her stuff. The door to her bedroom was in a corner to the left of the kitchen, being a simple wooden door painted white. She opened the door and immediately smelt the fresh and cleanliness of her room, she was a bit of a neat freak, even outside the kill rooms. So she tended to having everything cleaned and organized, her bedroom most of all.

Inside, she had her bed, which was queen sized and big another to fit three ponies at most. It had one sheet, one blanket, and several pillows. She found it easier to sleep the more pillows she had, and she made her bed every morning before leaving. She had another nightstand beside her bed, this one also having a lamp on it, being the second light source in her room. The other being a lightbulb on the ceiling, which was somewhat smaller than the one in her living room. It was really only there in case she wanted to read a bit before going to bed, which she occasionally did.

There was nothing else in the room of significance, she didn’t see a need for anything else. In the far right of her bedroom, however, was where she kept all of her important stuff. It looked like a normal closet, two brown doors with handles on them that went to the side that opened. And, partly, it was.

She walked over to the doors, opening it and revealing the few outfits she had. She had a dress or two for whenever The Grand Galloping Gala came around, or she wanted to go to some other fancy party. She had a specific dress for funerals or weddings, which she was invited to once or twice a year. And a couple of casual outfits for normal parties, though she typically didn’t wear any clothes at all, a good portion of ponies in Ponyville didn’t.

It was kind of a cliche, but there was a hidden compartment in the very back of the closet. In a lot of mysteries she’s read, there was usually some kind of hidden compartment or something somewhere that the killer used to sneak around or get away from the scene of the crime. Luckily, a lot of ponies who read books would never think anyone in real life would actually do that. So they would almost never be looking for one.

The compartment was significantly easier to make than he thought, it only took her about two and a half weeks to hollow out the part of her closet she wanted it to be in. And only about a week to repurpose that removed wood to be a panel, and the rest got burned along with stuff from her previous kill. It wasn’t even big enough to be considered a room, more like a secret compartment than anything. About as wide in her microwave, while being a little deeper.

The compartment was only made to contain two things: The cutie marks from her victims, which are her trophies. And her dress, which she puts in their folded after removing the wings and horns, and after thoroughly cleaning it.

She always checked it when she came back, even though she was confident that no one would find it. It was more because she was just a very paranoid pony, it’s how she is by nature. She slowly opened the compartment, which was done by placing her hoof where it was and pushing it to the side. The only thing currently inside were about five cutie marks, all of them having been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before being put in zip bags and being stored in the compartment. Which is what she intended to do with Sparkle’s before adding it to the pile, there’s no such thing as too clean.

“Day one thousand three hundred and fifty three of no one finding my secret compartment.” Pinkie mumbled to herself with a smile as she closed the compartment. She had started counting more or less just for fun, but she knew it was about as pointless as those signs in some workplaces that are meant to show the last time since there was an accident.

Almost all the other stuff she could place somewhere else and say it has a different purpose, after thoroughly cleaning them, of course. The butcher knife can go with the other utensils, her other tools and her face mask were put into her tool box, which she said she used whenever something broke. And the dentures, after Gummy was done, were also put in the secret compartment, hard to explain that.

“Welp, now it’s time to start cleaning stuff.” She said as she walked back into the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

Gummy had more or less finished his meal, bits of blood had hit the carpet, but not nearly as much as before. Pinkie had trained him to be as neat as possible while he was eating, mostly because it was a pain to clean it up. She knew it was impossible to completely prevent any blood from getting on the carpet, but she appreciated him trying.

She also enjoyed that he usually ate the entire thing, bone and all. She was somewhat worried that he might get choked on the bone, but that hasn’t happened yet.

“Good job Gummy!” She said as she patted his head, he didn’t seem to respond at all.

She walked over to the sink, putting her satchel and her tool bag on the counter beside it, while also taking off her dress, setting it on the floor beside her.

“Let’s see...hydrogen peroxide for the blood…” She said as she reached into her satchel, pulling out a small, brown bottle. “Some disinfectant...and that should be everything I need.” Pinkie said as she pulled out another brown bottle, setting it down beside the sink.

Pinkie began pulling the tools out of her tool back, pouring hydrogen peroxide on them and then washing the blood off with relative ease. Then covering the same tool in disinfectant and beginning to clean it with a washcloth. It was a bit hard to do with hooves, but she usually just put the object in the sink, cover it in hydrogen peroxide and then flipping the tool and doing the same, and then holding the item between her hooves and drying it with a washcloth in her mouth.

Little bit dangerous, but it works.

She did all of this with a wide smile on her face, humming the tune of her smile song, still feeling very happy and relieved after her latest kill.

At this very moment, Pinkie did feel something. Saying she felt nothing was only a slight exaggeration, normally she didn’t. But while killing someone, and for the few hours after, she was happy. Genuinely happy. There was no Evil Companion, no desire to kill, no having to fake who she was.

And that is what made this place home to her, because almost all the time she’s here she’s happy. For her, home isn't where the heart is.
It was where she cleaned up after stopping someone else’s heart, and felt safe and happy. For now, that’s all she needed.