first investigation.

[thevisitors]

[Today's a still morning, mostly sunny with a few clouds in the sky here and there. It's chilly, peaking at 39F, and the birds chirping are likely what woke you up, like every morning thus far.

There's kind of a faint smell of... something metallic in the air when you step out of your cabins. But surely that can't be anything bad, right?


...maybe you should go out and check.]

Comments

[thevisitors]

[the graveyard is next to the town hall you pleb look at the map



But! If she's going through the graveyard, she'll definitely notice the smell of blood more pungent and Noticeable.

About as noticeable as the body laying on the ground over there.]

[pegathesis]

[LISTEN LEAVE ME ALONE MY HANDS ARE SHAKING AND IM DIRECTIONALLY CHALLENGED

But...as concentrated on her quest to Town Hall as Twilight is, of course she's not going to miss the smell of blood. It's...not an incredibly common thing you run across in Equestria unless you're in the forest with animals doing animal things, unfortunately!

She lights up her horn and turns to follow the acrid smell until she sees a form on the ground, startling her so badly that she nearly bolts then and there.

She takes a few steps closer.]

Hello? ...are you alright?

[dearboswell]

[Watson follows his nose to the graveyard, walking faster when he hears Twilight speak. He stops dead [ha] beside her at the sight of the body.]

Oh, God.

[thevisitors]

[The body doesn't reply.

The closer she gets to the body, the stronger the stench gets. It's enough to make your stomach turn, if the sight of a man laying in a pool of his own blood isn't enough on it's own. It's not immediately apparent what did him in, but there's something that Twilight will be absolutely sure of when she gets close enough to see the features of the body in front of her.



Armitage Hux is dead.]

[dearboswell]

[and nothing of value was lost]

[onlyexplainit]

[The Narrator is now Here.]

... In hindsight, I would be more surprised if he wasn't the first one of us that left.

[dragongod]

[It's hard to ignore the crowd gathering near the graveyard, given how close by the clinic is, so Martin wanders over to gaze at the body with only vague interest once he notices who it is.]

Quite frankly it's rather surprising that no one killed him sooner.

[He avoided Hux for the most part but he knows well enough that he is A Disagreeable Man.]

[onlyexplainit]

Well, one's morals tend to get in the way of what you desperately want to do.

It simply appears that someone has reached their breaking point for their morality.

[pegathesis]

...O....oh...o-oh...

[Twilight lifts a hoof and takes a quick step back, very nearly running into Watson as he's coming up behind her, because she's realized that she wandered too close to someone dead and has landed one of her hooves into his blood.

Her mouth hangs agape as she stares at the corpse just in front of her, not realizing that her entire body has started to tremble. The sight is ghastly, illuminated by her horn as it is.

Twilight opens her mouth to say something, to try and see if maybe he's alright or he might come to if she speaks to him, but all that leaves her is a choked noise that doesn't even sound like a proper cry. It's enough to attract attention if anyone is near.]

[whohastimefortears]

[With the commotion, Cheryl had wandered over and um YUP that's a dead body. She doesn't feel super sorry for this asshole. Poor Twilight though...

She quietly goes over and gives her an awkward pat.]

Hey... i-it'll be okay...

[pegathesis]

[The thing is, things like this don't happen often in Equestria. Of course ponies die, everything dies. It's just the natural order of things. But with magic and everything else, something as grisly as a brutal murder like this one just never sees the light of day. Ponies have a way of keeping that sort of thing under wraps, putting it in the hooves or paws of someone more equipped to deal with it.

She looks over to Cheryl with a little start when she feels her hand, but she doesn't say anything, her eyes welled with tears she hasn't even comprehended yet. She's rooted to the spot, frozen, like an animal stuck between fight or flight.]

[maedae]

[... Okay, so Mae might not have liked Hux, but the pony is good. The pony doesn't deserve this.]

Hey, uh... are you gonna be okay?

[pegathesis]

[Like with Cheryl, Twilight is somehow completely silent. She's shivering like a leaf, staring at Hux's prone form, her front hooves matted with blood. She does look to Mae when she's spoken to, but she looks...not at all like the in control Princess she'd been before, her ears flat against her head.

Maybe because she didn't know Hux is the one reason she feels such overwhelming remorse for his death.

Maybe she never thought somebody would do this to begin with.]

[dearboswell]

[Well. Christ. He hadn't liked Hux, certainly, but this means one of their number took up the Mayor's offer and killed someone. Watson's seen thousands of bodies iver his lifetime, but that doesn't really make it better- he's desensitized, not heartless. But-

Oh. Twilight.

Watson immediately moves to block Twilight's view of the body, though she's already seen it quite clearly.]

It's alright- it's alright, come now, Miss... You shouldn't have to see this.

[spiritoso]

[ Kaede goes over to her, patting her gently. ]

I wish you didn't have to see something like this.

cw emeto ment

[junosteel]

[Juno eventually stumbles on over to the growing crowd, and--]

Oh. Christ. Someone really went and did it.

[All this blood makes him feel sick.]

[howlow]

[ looks at the body ]

Hm. Unfortunate.

[ just keeps walking to go about his fuckin business ]

[hydrazine]

Huh. I wouldn't have bet it'd be him.

[why is everyone so calm about this except twilight]

[maedae]

Oh.

[...]

Well, at least it wasn't someone any of us give a shit about.

[MAE]

[protojoker]

He was so courteous, though!

[...]

Eh, no use cryin' over spilled milk! Not when it looks like someone got him good!

[fuckin. snaps a picture of his prone-ass body.]

[spiritoso]

[ It never gets easier, seeing something like this. ]

No...

[ She was so hopeful that nothing like this would happen, and yet. ]

[endlesscrush]

[ Oh, what a familiar smell! Mika nonchalantly strolls up, and... Huh.

This sure is a non-reaction. ] I guess we're going to have to start running and doing puzzles now. Oh well, at least he can tell us what happened when he wakes up.

[maedae]

... I don't think he's going to be waking up anytime soon. Or ever, actually.

[onlyexplainit]

. . .

I'm afraid that's not how death works, Ms Mika.

[hydrazine]

...What do you think is going on here?