Circuit looked at Crim for a moment. "Think we'd all be able to be pardoned for the day from school?" Crim chucked. "Yeah, suppose we could."
Sometime later... Octavia was able to get the remainder of the day off from school, as Principal Celestia was kind and understanding about the issue. Living on her own with Vinyl, she couldn't return home and not be worried sick about the vanishing of her best friend. Instead, her parents were called up and they offered to get her a lift back home. After Celestia understood that Crimson would 'Get the police involved', she pardoned the two boys and their friends to get the assistance of the police department. Since the new administration, the department had been working at almost peak efficiency, which hasn't happened within the city for quite a long time. Crime-rates, especially in some of the rough and tough areas of the city, were dropped by half, and Canterlot managed to become one of the safest cities in America by setting examples nationwide. Especially with the diplomatic involvement during the short-lived "Crimewave" that the city experienced not long after Christmas. As soon as the group of friends arrived at the front of the Canterlot police station, and what they seen was almost chaos. Loud talking came from inside, and it seemed to have been a very busy day. A receptionist in a pink dress was busy on the phone when they noticed the group of teenage kids walk into the building, and had just concluded a phonecall. "Hello, what can I help you with?" The Receptionist asked. "Well....um...we are here to report about a missing stude-" Rarity spoke before noticing Crimson head to the desk and signing himself in the "Visitors Tab". "We're here to report about a missing student. Vinyl Scratch, aged 17, Canterlot High School." Crimson told the receptionist. "Her roommate had not seen her since last night, and we might fear that she has been kidnapped or worse." "Oh....that case." The Receptionist spoke looking concerned. "We've received more then a couple phone calls from the missing woman that you are talking about. Her parents have been here this morning and talked to the Chief about it." "Is Chief Rush in the building right now?" Crimson asked the receptionist. "We can always come back lat-" "Nono, it's fine. She's in her office." The Receptionist said before pressing a button on her intercom. "Chief Rush, we've got a report about a missing persons from a group of teenage kids attending Canterlot High School. I believe your son is among them." "Send them in." A stern voice responded back to the intercom, sounding tired. "Give them escort to my office."
The group of friends were escorted across the police building to see the entire office working hard, and on the other side of the building in a secluded part of the office was the office of the Chief. It didn't look remarkably special, having only a singular wooden desk along with an office chair or two facing the Chief for interviews. However, behind the Chief's desk on the wall was the logo of the Canterlot Police Department, and just on the right side of the room was an extremely detailed map of Canterlot, almost the size of a small dining table that had details for every street, building and suburb in town. As the friends walked in to find Winter, she was found dressed in her standard uniform with the fabric adjusting around her figure, and a huge cup of coffee. Her tired eyes suddenly lit up when she seen the group of girls and the two boys she was so familiar with. "Hey kids.....it's been a busy day."
The group sat down on a bench towards the back of the office. "So, what seems to be the problem?" asked Winter. "Hey Mum, we're here to file a missing person report," replied Crimson. "Oh, another one of those?" said Winter with an exasperated sigh. "Alright, well... who is it this time?"
"We've got a girl from school that's gone missing. Her name is Vinyl Scratch." Sunset informed Chief Rush before looking sort of worried about the safety of the missing girl, although most of the concern on her face was focused on Octavia's feelings. "Her....um....friend said that she'd been missing since last night as she never arrived home." Winter took a minute to process the information. "This is the same girl as before then. I was speaking to her parents a couple of hours ago." "What happened?" Circuit asked the police chief. "They didn't take the news very well. Her mother was bawling her eyes out as she left the office and her husband did whatever he could to console her." Winter sharply replied before getting up and heading towards the map. "Hey kids? Mind if I ask something about your missing friend. How old is she?" "Oh....she's about 17. Chief Wi-" Fluttershy seemed to stumble for a moment. Winter smiled reassuringly at the girl. "In my office, it's just Winter. And well....if the previous reports are right....then we've got a serious problem on our hands." Rainbow gulped. "What do you mean?" "She's within sixteen to twenty-five years old, and most importantly, female." Winter said in a grim tone. "We've got a potential serial killer on our hands."
"WHAT?!" Pinkie Pie shouted in terror, seemingly lifting off the ground as she did so. "Not just any serial killer, either..." Winter continued grimly. "Circuit, tell me... what do you know about the Dark Web?" Circuit shuddered upon hearing that phrase. "It's a part of the Internet that can't be accessed by normal search engines. One would need a special browser for it," he replied, "because the content is so depraved and illegal that these sites need to be hidden as well as possible from government surveillance." "Exactly," replied Winter. "Because around the time the investigation began, there were rumors on Reddit that an actual Red Room site had appeared on the Dark Web." "You mean the sites that are supposedly the livestream equivalent of snuff films?" replied Circuit skeptically. "But, those sites don't really exist... do they?"
"Well, they do now." Winter sighed before flipping over a page in a nearby book. "I took the liberty of checking some prior missing persons cases, and I've started to notice a trend. Point being, there was....on case, that kinda gave me alarm bells" The kids remained quiet as they prepared to listen, much to their own horror. "July 2nd 1999." Winter said before clearing her throat. "Not exactly a missing case, but the similarities are alarming. Triple homicide right near downtown, entire family was murdered in such a gruesome way. Even the dog had its throat slashed. The parents were killed first, but what's interesting is that the next victim relates to other material I've been researching." Fluttershy looked visibly sick, even gagging when Winter mentioned the dog's unfortunate demise. "The next victim was a girl, who after reading some other cases of murder and missing persons, appear to fit the details of your friend perfectly. Since 1999, at least 49 women between 16 to 25 years are considered dead are merely vanishing without a trace. Everyone's eyes went wide. "Problem is. This....monster is still lurking the streets. We've got no lead or evidence on this man whatsoever. We can't even begin to to start searching that, well, doesn't exist. Not since I took control anyway, which is why I'm dedicating myself to this
"That's... horrible..." muttered Fluttershy meekly while rocking back and forth in the fetal position. "What kind of person... would do such a thing?"
Winter sighed. "I don't know, that's the problem. The possible killer might have been living in Canterlot for decades. That's if he is even responsible for one of these possible murders, or if he even lives here at all. Hell, he could even be dead, we don't know. Hence, no lead." "I don't want to sound above the law or anything, but you kids have proven yourselves time and time again." The Chief sat upright. "I don't want any of you kids to get hurt or get yourselves killed for being reckless. I just want you to be careful from now on. Imagine the backlash that yo-" "Mum, that ain't gonna happen." Crimson firmly told her, holding his ground. The Police Chief sighed. "I knew you were gonna say that. Just....leave it to the professionals this time, okay? Drop it." "But we've made promise to Octavia. We can-" Crimson defiantly talked back "I said DROP IT." Winter suddenly snapped, almost looking menacing. Everyone in the room jumped back in shock, especially Ivy, having not dealt with the woman before. Realizing her outburst, she sighed, exhausted from what was already a long-day. "Sorry kids...I'm not gonna risk it this time. I can't afford to lose any of you."
Crimson sighed. "Mum... you're a good cop and all, and I understand why you don't want us risking our necks for Vinyl's sake, but... the last time we left it to the professionals, it got personal, and you and the rest of Canterlot's finest ended up needing our help anyway."
Ivy looked confused about what was going on, but before she could ask, Winter responded back. "Hence why I don't want to do it again." Winter said in annoyance before going into deep-thought, her mind going back to what had happened before. "I know it's just me trying to protect all of you. But....alright. You kids can help....if you see anything weird or suspicious, report that back to me and we will get right on it. Okay?"
Crimson smiled upon hearing this. "Thanks, Mum." Ivy gasped. "Now wait a moment! I've only been in this country for a week, and I'm now helping take part in a criminal investigation?!" she exclaimed in shock, "I... I know Madamoiselle Melody is concerned about her friend, but I... I..." She sighed. "I wasn't prepared for this..."
Rainbow placed a hand onto her new friends shoulder. "It's alright Ivy. Stuff like this ain't exactly new to us, I mean, it's not the first time something as....crazy has happened." Ivy nodded. "Oh....okay." Winter couldn't help but try and hide the smile on her face.
"Not that that helps me feel better about this situation, but at least I know I'm not in too much danger," said Ivy, relieved. "Oh, yeah," said Crim, "We forgot to introduce you... Mum, this is Ivy Wind, a new student who moved here from Quebec. Ivy... Canterlot Chief of Police, Winter Rush." The two shook hands.
"Well....I suppose that we might as well get a move on." Circuit stood up, respectfully being careful about his surroundings. "Thank you for your help, Winter." Winter smiled at all of them. "It's a pleasure, really. Just don't stay around too late. Oh, and Crim, I'm gonna be home a bit later tonight. You'd need to buy dinner tonight." Pizza it is!" Crimson said with a chuckle. Winter giggled as soon, she waved the group of friends away. She sighed almost at the fact that they'd be leaving her alone to attend back to work, but at the same time, she had plenty to catch up on.... Tonight was gonna be a long night.... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Spoiler: Music for scene As the others left the police station, they were all thinking of what could have been the identity of this murderer. And as Winter said, she didn't really know where to start other then the nearly unusual vanishing girls within nearly the past twenty years. It wasn't out of the normal, but as soon as Winter began to sense a pattern, she at least narrowed down the killers preference within age-group, gender and everything. Sunset sighed deeply, almost saying what everyone was thinking. "How can such a terrible person live in Canterlot?" Crimson reassuringly tried to keep Sunset happy. "I'm sure we wouldn't run into him right away, like we'd hailed a taxi cab" Sunset seemed to sound annoyed, looking towards the crossing and pressing the button. "I know....doesn't make it sound any better..." "I'd like to believe that...." Sunset sadly told her friends, sighing deeply before walking across the road. Crim's eyes lit up before he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back, as the sound of screeching tires suddenly echoed. The group of friends looked shocked. Had Sunset walked just a moment earlier, she would have been hit by the car. "Hey, look out, Sunset! Don't cross the road when you're all spaced out." Crim seemed to almost warn her, to which the red haired girl looked in utter shock and surprise. The driver had his window down and was glaring at Sunset. Sunset looked over towards the driver, feeling incredibly guilty. "S-sorry..." The driver stared down the girl and the group of friends with a pair of eyes, before his window went up and he drove off once again. Pinkie tried to at least calm everyone down. "Let's get something to eat."
----- The group sat down inside a fast food restaurant, discussing what they had just seen. "Anybody notice anything weird about that guy who almost ran me over?" asked Sunset, as she ate a bit of her salad. "I didn't really like the way he was looking at us."
"Maybe he thought that you got in his way. I mean, you kinda zoned out there darling." Rarity told Sunset. Ivy looked at her newfound friends in curiosity, drinking a milkshake. "Just try to relax Sunset. Get your bearings straight...." Circuit tried to happily reassure her. "It was a tense meeting. I mean, Crim's mother can be like that when she works..." Crim rolled his eyes and kept eating his burger.
Rainbow Dash ate her burger slowly and silently, a look of slight irritation on her face. "But he was looking RIGHT AT ME as he drove away... like something out of that movie with the British people Crimson showed me," replied Sunset nervously. "You mean A Clockwork Orange?" Crim asked. "Yes." "Sunset..." said Circuit, putting a hand on Sunset's shoulder, "relax. You're probably still freaked out from nearly getting hit." "She might have a point, hun," replied Applejack. "The people in this city can be a darn weird bunch sometimes." Rainbow Dash finally decided to break her silence. "I saw him too," she said, a hint of contempt in her voice.
