Still counting...
Having just finished reading the open file in her hooves, the mare closed it, set it down, then gave a disgruntled sigh as she gazed at the stallion sitting across the table from her. The stallion, who was an Earth pony, had a slightly lanky yet mildly athletic build, was wearing a black wool sweater over his creamy, beige colored fur, had piercing green eyes that were staring back at the mare, and a red mid-length mane that was smoothly slicked back, but, due to recent events, now had a few strands out of place. Strangely, the stallion's expression was pretty relaxed for a pony sitting in a dark holding cell, his forehooves cuffed, chained, and secured to the table before him.
The mare still found it hard to believe what the stallion sitting before her did--correction, what he tried to do--that resulted in him being hauled off here to Canterlot P.D. where he was to be processed to the fullest extent of the law. And even that wasn't the half of it...not even close...
Hours after being brought in, the stallion started speaking of things, things that, outside this room, quite possibly still had the mare's coworkers debating if this stallion was the real deal or was simply a wack-job looking for his five minutes of fame. Whether it was the former or the latter, C.P.D. didn't want to take the risk, so they decided to send an officer into the holding cell with him to record his statement, and, unfortunately for the mare, she was the one who drew the short straw.
With neither the mare nor the stallion speaking to one another, the mare took the time to better angle the light sitting atop its stand besides her, making sure its light was focused solely on the stallion. The whole having-a-light-focused-on-a-pony-in-a-dark-room thing was a little cliched, the mare would admit that, but it was a standard procedure used to whittle what nerve it could from suspects; not that it was working on the stallion however, as he seemed unfazed, still as calm as he was when he was first brought in. So far, the most the light seemed to do was make it impossible for him to fully see the mare, and for that she was thankful for at least.
"Alright," the mare eventually said, satisfied with the position of the light. Bending over to her side, she pulled up a tape recorder off the ground were she had left it earlier, and placed it atop the center of the table. "You know," she spoke, staring at the stallion with indifference as she folded her forelegs over the table, not bothering to turn on the device yet. "I'm only gonna ask you this once, off the record: Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
The stallion lightly grinned in response to that. "What, didn't you hear it from the others?" he asked.
The mare nodded, but immediately rolled her eyes when she realized that he couldn't have seen the gesture. "Well, the short version, yeah, which is why I'm asking... What you're confessing to, well...the others are looking into it right now, just to make sure you're not full of shit. But on the off-chance you're not," she stretched her hoof out into the light, then gave the recorder a few taps, "I'm here to take your confession."
After looking at the recorder, the stallion raised his gaze and smiled. "Well that's great, means that they'd get to hear my voice and all; much more exciting than reading it off paper, wouldn't you agree?"
"Uh-huh," the mare answered in a disinterested tone. "So I'm guessing you want to go through with this then? We can get this show on the road?"
Nodding, the stallion gave a carefree shrug. "Please, by all means."
With a disheartened sigh, the mare leaned forward a bit and pushed down the red switch on the recorder, turning on a small red light as well as causing the two tape reels on the machine to slowly spin.
"Please state your name, race, age, and occupation into the recorder," instructed the mare.
"So...I just talk into this thing?" he asked, seeming to be enticed by the spinning reels.
"Yes," the mare replied, a bit annoyed that she had to state the obvious. "Now please, your name."
"Alright," he said, straightening his back as he rested more comfortably in his chair, the chains lightly clinking with his movements. After taking the time to clear his throat, he began to speak, his voice underlined with excitement. "Hello, my name is Score Keeper, Earth pony, thirty-six years of age, and as for occupation, well, I don't like to brag, but you might have seen me announcing at several sporting events, though I wouldn't blame you if my mug doesn't exactly ring any bells."
Now that he mentioned it, he did seem a bit familiar; the mare recalled being at several hoofball games, taken there by a few bad dates, and could vaguely place this Score Keeper there in her memory, always wearing a nice and tailored suit while discussing the games with another, equally dressed announcer during halftimes.
"Well that's a start," the mare said, glad that, so far, this wasn't as difficult as she had originally thought. "Now, Mr. Score Keeper, how is it that you--"
"If I may interrupt, Officer...?"
There was no way she was going to give Score her name, especially if everything he claimed to have done turned out to be true.
"Officer None-of-your-business," the mare coldly answered.
Score lightly shook his head with a smirk. "Heh, what an unfortunate name. Anyway, what I was going to say was, and if you'd allow me, I'd like to tell my story the way I wanna tell it."
The mare closed her forelegs over her chest and reclined back in her seat. "Eh, sure, whatever, go nuts. I'm getting paid by the hour here, and it's either this or paperwork, so yap away."
"Thank you," Score Keeper said, closing his eyes as he took a calming breath. Reopening his eyes, he began to speak again, his voice clear and his earlier excitement toned down some.
"Like I said earlier, my name is Score Keeper, and I was born in Baltimare to two unicorns of minor nobility. I say 'minor nobility' because my folks weren't high enough on the upper crust to personally know the princesses, but were still on a tier where they could afford a leisurely and luxurious life."
"Huh, must have been nice, being the foal to rich parents and all," the mare chimed in.
"I guess you could say that," Score said, casually rolling his neck. "Growing up as a young colt, my parents spared no expense for me; my education, health and so on, all covered by them." He gave an amused huff. "Fed with a silver spoon and all that. But besides all that money, I guess you could say that they were ideal parents...well, almost."
"Almost, huh?" the mare asked, deciding to humor Score. "And why's that?"
"Well don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to hint that they physically abused me or anything like that, no no, quite the opposite in fact; they were supportive parents," his shoulders slouched as he sighed out the next few words, "but not exactly loving...
"You see, they would never have admitted it, but they were...shall we say, disappointed that I wasn't born a high and mighty unicorn like them. The only reason I knew this was because they did a terrible job hiding their displeasure, as I would often wake up in the middle of the night to find them arguing with one another. They would blame the other's genes as the reason why I was born an Earth pony, claiming that my birth had besmirched their noble lineage, that I would never amount to anything because of that fact. The only reason they kept me at all, rather than leave me in a basket at the doorstep of some orphanage, was because it reflected better on them if they maintained the image of a happy family to their friends and neighbors--friends and neighbors who were well aware of my birth before my parents could do such a thing.
"I'm not aware if they ever knew that I was eavesdropping on them, maybe they were and simply didn't care if I was listening, but it was always the same and it'd happen every few nights; they'd argue and discuss what a disappointment I was to them for an hour or two, go to bed, then have breakfast with me in the morning and act as if what occurred the night before never happened. Heh...my father would put up a smile that I could tell wasn't real as he'd ask me to pass him the syrup..."
Sighing, Score Keeper's gaze shifted downward. "So, never telling them that I was aware of their 'talks', I began to push myself to my very limits; I excelled at my studies, taught myself several skills, learned to play a few instruments, all in the hopes of earning my parents' affections, to have them speak of me in a positive light for once." He lightly shook his head. "Sure my parents would smile and nod when my instructor would tell them of my excellent grades, but their 'late night discussions' were still the same regardless of my efforts, simply because I lacked a horn protruding from my forehead...
"Could you imagine how I felt, Officer?" Score asked, facing forward. "A young colt, not even old enough to earn his cutie mark yet, constantly hearing his parents speak of him like that no matter how hard he tried to measure up to their expectations and win their admiration. Heart-breaking? Yes. Soul-crushing? Oh, most definitely.
"Still, I guess I should thank my parents, as they taught me a valuable lesson, a lesson that came in handy several times throughout my life."
"And that lesson is...?" the mare asked with a roll of her hoof, trying to coax him into continuing, hoping to get this whole thing over with sooner.
Smiling, Score breathed out his nose. "That the most effective masks aren't the ones you cover your face with, but rather your face itself."
Raising a curious brow, the mare asked, "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Hold on, hold on," Score said, raising his cuffed hooves in a defensive gesture. "Be patient, I'll get to it eventually." He coughed into his hoof before continuing.
"One night, my parents were deeply asleep in their room, and, unfortunately for them, a fire had started downstairs. Anyway, long story short, it quickly spread and the whole house went ablaze! When the fire department arrived to put out the inferno, they had found me outside of my home as it burned, but were unable to save my parents' lives... They said that it was nothing short of a miracle that a colt of my age had escaped the fire unscathed."
"Wait," the mare said, catching something. "How did you get out of that building when your parents couldn't? If they were asleep, wouldn't they have woken up and escaped just as easily as you did?"
"Beats me," Score said, shrugging as he raised his gaze towards the ceiling. "Maybe it was the fact that they were drugged, but who knows how that could have happened." Facing forward again, Score smiled. "I was too busy at the time trying to impress my parents by cooking them dinner that night, so the idea as to how still illudes me." Scratching his chin with a hoof, he then said, "You know, I don't exactly remember what I then did with the matches used to light the flambé..." He shrugged. "Mm, must have been nothing important."
"You killed them..." The mare uttered, wide eyed and baffled as to how a pony could speak of their parents murder like it was a nice conversation topic.
"Wait, how do you know that?!" Score Keeper exclaimed, his face adopting a look of surprise. Seconds later, his facade broke when he began chuckling. "Pfft, I'm just messing with you! Of course I did! I wasn't exactly being cryptic now, was I!"
Already sick of hearing him talk, the mare positioned her hoof over the tape recorder, ready to turn if off, but before she could do the deed so she could leave, she was stopped when Score said, "Whoa there, I didn't say I was done...we've only just begun."
Great, there's more, the mare thought, reluctantly sitting back in her seat.
"Anyway," Score Keeper continued, "when the fire department found me standing in the street, watching both my home and my parents burn, something happened to me that I failed to notice at the time."
Annoyed, the mare started to wonder if he was pausing on purpose just so he would force her into asking. "And what was it that happened?" she asked.
"Well I'm glad you asked," Score happily replied, tapping his forehooves together atop the table and confirming the mare's suspicion. "You see, what happened was that I had received my cutie mark that night; a single, black and vertical line, that's what it was...
"At the time, I absolutely had no idea as to what it was that my cutie mark was supposed to represent. Was it it an 'I'? An 'L'? Perhaps maybe a '1'? I was baffled, and I remained clueless as to what my destiny was for a good portion of my young life!"
A single line? That can't be right, the mare thought to herself. Not bothering to make the motion of simply leaning around the table to see his flank, the mare opened the file again and began searching for the picture of his cutie mark that was taken earlier when he was brought in. Finding it, she was perplexed by what she saw. Instead of one line, the cutie mark in the picture was of seven; four were bundled together with one going through them, forming a tally mark, while two sat side by side under it.
Reclining in her seat again, and moving her forehooves behind her head while resting one hindleg over the other, the mare said, "Ok, I think you just proved to me that you're making all this up. Your story doesn't exactly match up with what's on your flank."
"Well believe what you want," Score said, "but all I ask is that you, and whoever would be listening to this recording, bare through my ramblings; hopefully things will make much more sense once we reach the end of my tale."
Clearing his throat, Score continued.
"Yes, I drugged my parents and started the fire that resulted in their deaths," he smirked, "and I got away with it as well... I mean, who would suspect me? A colt murdering his parents? It's unheard of really!" Playfully shaking his head, Score said while giving a dismissive wave of his hoof, "No, instead fire investigators theorized that my parents must have forgotten to put out of the fire in the hearth when they had gone to bed, and a stray ember must have made its way onto one of the nearby curtains."
Score's expression straightened. "Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't proud in any way for what I had done, as I had spent my entire foalhood wondering if maybe I shouldn't have done what I did, that perhaps I might have overreacted. Of course it was far too late for me to take my actions back, so I simply kept my mouth shut and moved on with my life.
"Anyway, after both of my parents had suffered an untimely demise, I had moved in with my mother's elderly aunt who had offered to take me in; she didn't live that far and socially she was on par with my parents, so my standard of living remained unchanged." Almost as if recalling a pleasant memory, Score momentarily closed his eyes and smiled. "Oh Auntie--that's what I called her: 'Auntie'--I really liked her...maybe it was because she never had any foals of her own, but the affection she gave me as I grew up under her care felt...I don't know, real... But, sadly, just when I had finally reached adulthood, her life had expired due to natural causes; she was up in her years after all. The tears I shed as I mourned for her were genuine...unlike that of my parents'...
"With Auntie's passing, I soon discovered that she had left me as the beneficiary in her will, leaving me her home and almost all that remained of her wealth." Turning away from were the mare before him was, Score gave a single, quiet chuckle. "Heh...I heard that my parents made a similar arrangement when they discovered that they had conceived, but later changed it after I was born..."
"So, I was young and had acquired a decent amount of wealth over night, but I didn't do anything moronic like squander it all at once like so many stallions would have done in my position; after all, it was Auntie's money that she had left for me...and I was going to spend it wisely. And spend it wisely I did, I used it to pay for the rest of my education at one of Baltimare's most prestigious universities, graduated with top honors, and managed to pursue a career announcing at sporting events."
Facing the dark void were the mare was, Score slightly grinned as he titled his head to the side. "Now I know what you're probably thinking. Why go into announcing with my level of education? Why didn't I start a business, or become a politician?" Placing his forehooves atop the table, Score sighed as he lowered his gaze, his face still baring a hint of a smile. "Well...I guess you can say that Auntie was partially responsible... Like any other colt, Auntie thought that I'd like it if we'd attend a few hoofball games, and she was right, I did. She'd always get us skybox seats, and because of her failing eyesight, I'd tell her what the players on the field were doing." His hint of a smile turned into a hearty one. "Heh...she'd say I was like her little announcer..."
Sighing out his nose, Score moved to sit more comfortably in his chair. "Getting back on track here, I did the announcing thing, made a few friends here and there--well, they saw me as a friend, but to me they were simply acquaintances; because I still harbored some guilt over my parents' murder, I saw myself as undeserving of friends. Anyway, things were going great for me until an incident happened a few years later.
"See, it was late one night, and I was in one of Baltimore's many bars trying to get myself hammered in the hopes of forgetting that it was the anniversary of my parents' murder; I only had two shots, so I was pretty far from my goal. Right when I was about to order a third, this...Earth pony buck sits in the stool next to mine. The guy was at the bar much longer than I was, so he was kinda drunk. So he sits next to me and accuses me of giving him the stink eye all day, which was impossible because I wasn't there for more than ten minutes!
"I tell him exactly that and try to ignore him, but to my surprise, he shoves me, trying to start a fight! Before things got any further than that, the bartender kicked him out, telling him that he had enough. Once the buck was gone, I was offered a free drink for the trouble, but I refused it, as I was no longer in the mood."
"Deciding to go home and wallow in my guilt there, I walked out the front door and began my trek. But as I was heading there, I was stopped when I heard a voice calling me from the alley besides the bar. It was the drunk buck from earlier, and he was very upset that he was dismissed from the bar, even though it was entirely his own fault. Not wanting to pay him much mind, I ignored him as I continued on my way, but was soon shocked when, with the dexterity and speed surprising of a heavily intoxicated stallion, the buck caught up to me, bit my tail, and pulled me into the alley with him.
"Left with no other option, I immediately defended myself. I got him off me, I bucked, I shoved, and eventually overpowered him. And just as quickly as it had started, the stallion was laying on the floor before me, dazed and groaning. I could have left and that would have been it; we'd go on with our lives and never see each other again... But that wasn't what happened...
"I don't know what possessed me to do so, but I picked up a discarded metal pipe left in that alley and proceeded to hit him with it...hard. It started with one swing to his head, which I doubt he felt, followed by another, then another, then another after that! I just kept going, swinging away at this defenseless pony like I was a cackling mad-stallion, not stopping until his face was a red and unrecognizable mush! By the time I regained control of my faculties, it was far too late for the stallion, as his breathing had stopped, a clear indication that he was dead.
"Knowing that the body would soon be discovered, and under the fear of being caught, I began to work quickly as I started removing evidence of my involvement. Not wanting to run the risk of being seen elsewhere with the murder weapon, I soaked a nearby rag with alcohol from almost empty beer cans left in that alley and used it to wipe my saliva off the pipe. After that was done, I dropped that length of metal, then ran home as if my life depended on it. Despite having crimson spatter mat my fur, I was able to make it home with no pony none-the-wiser; I had taken the darkest of routes in order to ensure that. The body was found in a few hours, and, fortunately for me, it seemed that my anti-forensic countermeasure had worked, as the newspaper the next day claimed that the police had arrested a stallion, one who was also kicked out of that same bar for trying to start fights as well. Even though the police weren't looking for me, I was still in a state of panic as I cleaned myself off, absolutely horrified by my actions. But...that panic was soon replaced with confusion when I stepped out of the shower, having just spotted something new in my reflection.
"It was my cutie mark, it had changed! Instead of one dash, it was now two! 'How can that be?' I thought to myself at the time. I was positive that there was only one the day before, just like the day before that, and the one before that! Standing before that mirror, I mulled over what could have caused my cutie mark to change!"
With a smug look on his face, Score Keeper smiled. "I didn't have to mull it over for very long, as the answer was obvious once I recalled what recently transpired. Finally, after so many years, my cutie mark made sense to me; I had discovered what my destiny was." Score took a long breath before continuing. "For every murder I committed, I would earn a new dash. My cutie mark...tally marks."
"Wait?" the mare added after being silent for so long. "If that's true, then why didn't you have two when you supposedly murdered your parents? You know, one for each?"
"Mm," Score Keeper sounded. "I was going to get to that eventually, but I might as well tell you now since you're getting impatient. Over the following years, I would eventually learn, through a little trail and error, that there were certain rules that had to be followed in order for me to earn another tally on my cutie mark. For one, race and species play a factor; I wouldn't earn a mark killing another unicorn, which would explain why I only received one from my parents' death, seeing as that's what they both were. Two, I can't kill in the same manner; for example, lets say I were to...I don't know, bludgeon a pegasus to death...I won't get a new dash because I had already murdered an Earth pony with that method. Three, the creature must be sapient; meaning that ordinary animals like cats and dogs wouldn't contribute to my tallies."
Unimpressed, the mare whistled. "Wow, and exactly how many did you kill in order to figure this out?"
Score Keeper tapped his chin in thought. "Hmm...I'd say, in total...I've killed twenty...twenty-six." He nodded. "Yes, twenty-six."
"Huh...and not once did you say to yourself 'Hey, I should probably not be a psychopath and murder all these ponies'?" the mare asked.
Rolling his eyes, Score smirked. "Oh, believe me, that thought occurred to me several times, but I was driven by...well... You know that adrenaline-pumping rush you felt when you first earned your cutie mark? Feeling like that day was all about you?"
"Meh," answered the mare with a dismissive shrug that Score failed to see.
"Deny it all you want, but I know you did," Score said. "That rush was what drove me; each time I earned a new mark, it was there. I was...am an addict, and that's my drug. I would go to extreme lengths just to feel that surge again, often stalk my potential marks for weeks or months at a time, learning everything I could from them before adding them to my tally..."
"Uh-huh... So uh, are we done here?" asked the mare, hoping the answer was yes.
"Not quite." It wasn't. "I do have seven marks, and I think they deserve to be recognized..."
Rubbing her temple with a hoof, the mare released a defeated sigh. "Just...just get them over with so I can go home already."
"I guess I'll do you a favor and spare the boring details then," answered Score Keeper.
"My third mark was a she-griffon. She was a splendid example of her species, what with her majestic wings ending in red and violet feather-tips, intimidating beak and talons, as well as her fit and slender frame despite being in her late thirties. I had discovered her when an acquaintance of mine took me to this lovely restaurant in the country-side town of Ponyvile called The Everfree Moon. It's a nice establishment, I recommend it; five stars! Anyway, as my 'friend' and I sat at one of its tables, the griffon herself approached to take our orders. I learned, through my later study of her, that she was part of a herd that owned and ran the place; even had a batpony in said herd.
Contently smiling, Score then said, "As she took down our orders, I knew that I just had to have her as a mark; she was a griffon after all, which are a rarity here in Equestria, and she lived in a town that was naturally filled to the brim with suspicious characters! Seriously, I kid you not, I once saw a stallion there bathing in a literal tub of jelly and nopony batted him an eye!
"Anyway, returning to the griffon. I might have given her my order a little too excitedly, as I had accidentally called her 'Three'. At that moment, I learned that I had formed a nasty habit of referring to my potential marks by the number they'd soon represent on my cutie mark. Thankfully, she didn't pay that much mind, left, then later returned with our orders.
"Since my announcing career paid very well, and I was accustomed to traveling from city to city because of what the job entitled, I had purchased a decent-sized cottage there in Ponyvile in order to be closer in proximity to that griffon. I stayed in that town for nearly a month, silently watching her from afar as I made mental notes of her schedule and habits, wondering how I should go about killing her. That task was an arduous one, as how could I, an Earth pony, hope to take down a creature that had the combined deadliness of both a lion and an eagle? Even if I was brazen enough to make a move, she could still escape by simply flying away. It took a lot of careful planning, but I eventually came up with a solution.
"Some time later came the arrival of Equestria's annual wind surfing competition, and, being well connected in the athletic world, I had suggested a few days prior, straight to the ponies hosting it, that the perfect location for the event is right over the empty plains near Ponyvile... Despite the event being away from the town by a good mile or two, Ponyvile was plagued by near hurricane-level winds the pegasi were generating for the competitors." Score smiled a toothy grin. "Just as I had planned.
"Following the next step in my agenda, I called in sick for the competition that I was supposed to announce at, then spent the next few hours hiding within the leafy canopy of a tree. Why was I hiding in a tree in the middle of a windstorm, you might ask? Well, the tree was one of many that resided in Ponyvile's park, and I had endured its swaying and rocking caused by the winds for one good reason. You see, I had learned through my time in Ponyvile that the griffon was a stubborn one; she wouldn't allow something like high winds to keep her from the restaurant that she ran with the rest of her herd...and, seeing that she couldn't fly because of said winds, she would be forced to walk through the park, the quickest route leading from her home to the Everfree Moon.
"When I finally saw her approaching in the distance I became joyful to see that weeks of meticulous planning were coming to fruition, and the thought of adding another tally to my mark had made it difficult to contain my excitement. But, I restrained my eagerness; if I had jumped the gun too early, then all of my efforts would have been for naught... I only had one chance to get it right.
"Right when the she-griffon was beneath me, I pounced from the tree, catching her totally by surprise! Landing on her back, I began to wrap my hooves around her neck as she struggled to get me off of her. I held tight and in response she flapped her wings, bringing us both off the ground for a few feet before being forced back to the ground by the winds. Once we tumbled back onto the earth, I held her head firmly in my hooves and I began to twist.
"It was difficult, as she was fighting me the entire time, trying to keep her head from turning any further while she attempted to slash me with her talons. But, I am an Earth pony, so my strength and endurance was marginally better than her's; it became a battle of attrition, who's stamina would fail them first? When it became clear to the griffon that it was her strength that was beginning to falter, she began to scream, a bird-like screech escaping her beak, only to drowned out by the howling of the wind. Everypony in the town was taking shelter in their homes, so nopony had witnessed me when I eventually snapped her neck with an audible crack of vertebrae being forced out of alignment, her body giving one last jolt before becoming lifelessly still.
"Releasing her, I confirmed that she was dead--a task that was easy enough for me to determine, what with the fact that she was no longer breathing, coupled with the clear sight that her head was twisted to an unnatural degree--then immediately turned to my flank and was filled with a euphoric-like elation as I witnessed my third mark appear."
"I quickly fled the scene after that and was never suspected. In fact, nopony believed that a murder had taken place." Chuckling to himself, Score then said, "When the town later discovered the body, they assumed that the rather heavy branch that I had planted near her had been ripped off from one of the trees by the wind, striking her and ending her life. 'It was just bad luck', was what the whole town was saying.
"I had managed to kill the she-griffon, but it wasn't until I returned to my cottage that I noticed that she had left me a little something. This." Using what free movement of his forehooves he had, Score lifted up his black shirt and revealed three pink scars running vertically down his chest. "As painful as it seems, that high I rode when I earned my new tally kept me from feeling it." Covering it back up with his shirt, Score then shrugged. "What really hurt was when I had to disinfect it later." He grinned. "It was simple for me to hide these scars...ponies were already used to seeing me wear suits...
"My fourth mark came from a minotaur who's name I believe was Dozer. Dozer used his natural and immense strength to run a moving business, and I had learned of him from his ad in the paper. Just like the griffon from before, I ran into the same obstacle of how I could take down such a beast; I'm homicidal, not suicidal, so there was no way I could repeat what I had done with the griffon...I had to be smarter.
"And smarter I was, I came up with a plan, did the necessary preparations for it, then contacted the minotaur a week later, claiming that I was interested in hiring him. After meeting up with him outside of Ponyvile, I told him of my 'cabin' not that far into the Everfree forest, and that I needed his assistance relocating the furniture within towards my new place of residence. He agreed, then willingly followed me as I led him into the forest. The town knew of the dangers residing within the Everfree, so they regularly stayed clear of it, guaranteeing that nopony would bare witness to what I had in store for Dozer.
"I had scouted the forest in advance and had worked on my preparations while doing so, one of which was covering a rather large, upcoming hole in the ground with a grass-painted sheet. When we approached it, I walked around it of course, but dear Dozer wasn't as fortunate, as he had fallen through the rug and broke both of his legs when he landed in one of the Everfree's many underground cave systems. I remember him shouting in pain, crying for me to go get help. I left, but not to get help. Instead I returned to my Ponyvile cottage and waited there until my fourth mark arrived when nightfall came." Score grinned. "You see, I had failed to mention this earlier, but there were things living in those caves...things like timberwolves...
"My fifth mark was a little more simpler, a pegasus stallion who was such a promising candidate for the Wonderbolts. It shouldn't be surprising how I had learned of him, since I have announced at many of their shows and watching ponies is my job..." Clasping his hooves over his chest, Score smiled as he reclined in his chair. "Ooh, it's just too bad what happened to him...slipping in the shower and cracking his skull open...he could have gone places...
"My next and sixth mark I had learned of when I was preparing for Dozer in the Everfree. He was a diamond dog, born with a love of gems and built to dig for them in soil...but not so great for digging through solid rock. He had to learn the hard way after following a trail of gems I left for him that lead him into a small alcove by the side of a mountain, which I then caved in with a controlled explosion right over the entrace. He only had a few days of air in there before I earned my new mark via suffocation.
"Some time later, now accustomed to using the area, I was busy preparing in the Everfree for another of my potential marks when I had a chance encounter with a male zebra looking for a friend of his who happened to live in that same forest. I was aware of who he was mentioning, as I had considered making her one of my marks, but I decided against it when I realized that she was too well known for me to make her death appear as if it was an accident.
"Curious, the zebra asked me what I was doing in such a dangerous forest, and I lied to him by saying that I was an adventurer of sorts. With no reason to think otherwise, he believed me, and, seeing that I had two sandwiches with me at the time, it was then that I offered to share my lunch with him. He accepted and we sat there and talked as we ate. It was difficult for me to keep a straight face in his company, what with nopony else being around, but my parents were great teachers; I could have done anything to him, and nopony would have ever known he was there.
"During our discussion, he told me that he was looking for the other zebra because he was hoping to give her some rare ingredients found in their native land that could be used for special concoctions and elixirs; one of said ingredients was a vial of deadly wasp venom. From what he said, it was so potent that the venom could kill through skin contact alone.
"Coming up with a method that I hadn't used before, I distracted the zebra twice. The first distraction was to swipe the vial from under his muzzle, and the second was to empty its contents into his food without his knowledge. Minutes later, I watched him writhe in pain, his life snuffing out before me as I contently ate the rest of my own sandwich. Satisfied by a filling meal and my new tally, I returned to my cottage and left his body to the same pack of timberwolves in the area that had taken care of Dozer for me."
Alright, that's seven, the mare thought before reaching for the recorder, hoping to turn it off and leave. "Ok, I think we're done here," she said right as her hoof was over the red switch.
"Not quite," Score replied with a calm shake of his head, much to the mare's dismay. With an annoyed huff, the mare flopped back onto her seat, prompting Score to respond with, "We're almost done however, so relax and be a little more patient with me."
Once again clearing his throat, Score continued.
"So, I had earned my seventh tally mark yet yearned for more, but it wasn't long before I eventually came to an settling conclusion: there were no more sapient creatures that I could kill...well, no more in Equestria, but I wasn't stupid enough to become an obvious suspect in a foreign land. The thought depressed me really; would I no longer feel that joyful rush again? Increase the number of my tallies?
Score smiled. "But then I hear that Equestria had gotten itself a new alicorn princess, one who lived in Ponyvile of all places...with a baby dragon! It was none other than Princess Twilight...the Princess of Friendship... Oh it was too good for me to pass up; a dragon and an alicorn under one roof?! Oh, and it got even better! I did a bit of studying and learned that, unlike the other princesses, she had no guards! It was only her and that dragon who lived in that castle! I just...just had to; it was like that old saying: killing two birds with one stone.
"But before I would kill the birds, I had to get a stone. After deciding to take a vacation from announcing, I returned to Ponyvile and was surprised to find a new addition to the town that came in the form of a monolithic and crystalline tree sitting right at the edge of the town... It was her castle, and baffling still, coupled with the fact that Princess Twilight had no guards, she allowed just about anypony into her home! Once I did a little digging into her life in order to gather some information on her, I learned the reason as to why. It seems that, before she was a princess, Twilight's home was once the town's library which was then destroyed during that whole Tirek fiasco. When the princess then got her castle--which, from what I hear, literally sprang there overnight--she devoted a whole room to serve as the new library for the town, so, during certain parts of the day, anypony would be allowed in.
"Of course, even if you did enter, it was easy to get lost in that crystal maze she calls a castle." Score Keeper grinned. "That was the excuse I gave, when in reality, I was taking mental notes of the castle's layout. Once I had it all committed to memory, I came up with a plan, as well as method of murdering both her and the dragon, then proceeded with it at my earliest convenience."
Gesturing at the shirt he was wearing, Score then said, "I bought a cheap and disposable black outfit, stuffed it in a bag, then took it with me as I entered Princess Twilight's library along with some other townsponies. I went in during the day, hid near the back, and stayed there hours after she announced closing time. Playing it safe, I waited until one in the morning then changed into the outfit in the event that somepony happened to see me skulking about.
"Positive that her and the dragon were both asleep because of the late hour, I snuck into the kitchen and procured myself the sharpest knife I could find. Once I had that in my possession, I made my way to the dragon's room; I wished to save Twilight for last, after all, there were only four known alicorns in the world, and many dragons.
For the first time during his whole confession, Score sighed sadly. "Oh, I had it all planned out... I would sneak into the dragon's room, kill him with the knife, earn my mark, then strangle the princess with my bare hooves and make it appear as if it was a political assassination, maybe frame the griffons. But...it wasn't until I crept into the young dragon's room, hovering over his bed with the knife held in my teeth, that I made one...fatal...mistake...
"And that mistake was...?" asked the mare.
With a roll of his eyes, Score Keeper then said, "Well...as it turns out...dragon scales, even when young, are much tougher than they appear... I might as well have been pricking him with a needle, because he awoke to my futile efforts to kill him and began yelling when he spotted me... I tired to shut him up by wringing his little neck, but it was too late... Twilight had awoken, burst into the room, caught me red-hoofed trying to murder her drake, then knocked me unconscious with some spell." He then gestured around him. "When I came to, I found myself in this very room." Score smiled in the direction of the mare. "I think you know how the rest goes..."
Narrowing her eyes at Score Keeper as he folded his forelegs atop the table, adopting a smug look on his face, the mare reached over the tape recorder and was finally able to press down the red switch, causing the reels to stop. Then, without a word, she got out of her seat and made towards the door.
"If I may ask," Score said after hearing the sound of a door being opened, "are you, by chance...a batpony?" Stopping in her tracks before exiting the room, the mare turned back to Score. Right when she opened her mouth to respond, Score interupted her. "You know what, you don't have to answer that...I know you are.
"You're not a unicorn, otherwise I would have seen you use your magic earlier. The only light in this room was always focused on me, so how else could you have been able to read that file in the dark? Also, I really didn't want to mention this, but this entire time your eyes have been giving off this...golden glow... I could, and still see, that your pupils are vertical slits..."
After giving him a hard glare, the mare coldly answered with, "And what if I am? Problem?"
Score raised his hooves up defensibly and shook them. "Oh no, no of course not! I'm just hoping that maybe, some time in the future, you and I become reacquainted again soon, E-Eight..." He couldn't help but beam a smile when he realized what he had said.
"Yeah... Well that makes one of us," the mare said with a shake her head, her face harboring an expression of disgust before finally leaving that dreadful room, slamming the door shut behind her. Running a hoof through her mane with a cleansing sigh, the mare took a few steps down the hall, then entered the room next to the holding cell. "You got all that?" she said to a unicorn in an officer's uniform, standing next to a two way mirror showing Score Keeper on the other side, still seated in his chair.
"Yeah Highground," the unicorn answered, lacking enthusiasm in his voice. "I got it...and it doesn't look good."
"What do you mean?" Highground questioned, pulling her head back slightly in confusion. "He's full of shit, right?"
Clenching his teeth, the unicorn paused in mid-wince. "We've still yet to ask permission from the families to exhume the bodies that we know of for a thorough examination, but...but the dates on his traveling records coincide with those who have either gone missing or turned up dead when he arrived in their vicinity..."
"Great," Highground sighed out, moving over to look at Score Keeper through the mirror.
As she watched him, Score's ear's perked up before he faced Highground; his eyes looking into her's even though there was no possible way he could know she was there, the both of them refusing to blink first.