Good Intentions

5
"HerRING"

The next morning Twilight came to the shack, finding a terrible surprise...

The glass to the machine cloning was smashed, the crystals for its consoles all over the floor. Tables were cracked, with a few thin, blond hairs all over them. It smelled of waste and fear, with no sign of either left aside from her work. Why somepony did this didn't matter to Twilight. That was beyond even her mind... all she could think about was who could to do this... Who would do this?

"Wha-what happened?" Spike asked.

Twilight, who had been silent up to that moment, stamped her hoof:

"Isn't it obvious, Spike!?! Somepony trashed my laboratory!"

Twilight snorted in a rage, but remained still for a moment.

"Aren't you going to try to figure out who did this?"

An idea flashed in Twilight's mind with a red sparkle:

"The crystal!"

Twilight had placed the red crystal above the lab, looking down directly on it. It could tell her something...

She went to look for it where she had left it, and found it wasn't there.

"No, no, no!" She cried. "Whoever it was took the crystal, too!"

"What about the hairs?" Spike asked. "Couldn't you look them over under a microscope or examine their DNA?"

"That won't necessarily tell me who's they are without a sample to compare it to, but that's still good idea, Spike," said the purple Unicorn, approaching the table by the glass. "Examining them is liable to tell me something!"

Twilight walked up to the hairs, bent down and looked at them closely. Spike picked up one and looked at it in his claws. They were longer... mane hairs.

"There's only one pony I know with a mane like this," Twilight mused aloud. "Applejack!"

* * *

With Spike on her back, Twilight headed to the farm without wasting a second. She found Apple Jack out in the open air, bucking trees. She had an unusual short, almost masculine manecut... it had to be new, since Twilight had just seen her a couple days before and her mane was long.

"Apple Jack, I need to talk to you!" Twilight sounded, running towards her friend. "It's very important!"

The farm pony immediately stopped bucking.

"What is it, Twi?"

"Did you come into the shack last night?"

"Heck no!" Applejack yawned. "You know I'd never go there without you, and besides... Ah had to be up much to early this mornin' to engage in that type of nonesense... why'd ya ask, Twi?"

"The whole place is trashed and the red gem Celestia gave me is gone!"

AJ grew faint, and looked as though her heard skipped a beat.

"I assure you, Twilight, Ah had nothing to do with that..."

"There are blond mane hairs everywhere that look just like yours..."

Apple Jack shifted from concerned to angry in a flash:

"Ah just said I had nothing to do with it, Twi!"

"And I believe you..." Spike patted Twilight on the back. "I just don't know where to start!"

Apple Jack smiled sympathetically:

"Well, alright..." Apple Jack set down her basket. "Let me take you inside, maybe make you a cup of tea... no sense in ya running all over Ponyville without a plan."

"Okay Applejack," Twilight said, eyes still bugging out slightly in shock. "I can stay for only a bit, but while I'm here Spike's going to be taking a letter to the Princess."

"Fine by me... just come to the house and kick yer hooves up before y'all turn even more white and faint on me!"

Twilight walked with her friend up to the farm house. In the distance they saw Big Mac working hard planting new apple saplings with a short tree spade and a bag of fertilizer. He looked up, smiled and waved. When he heard Twilight's voice, however, upset and disturbed... he got a very concerned look, and casually walked towards the two mares:

"What seems to be the trouble, girls?" he asked.

"The shack was broken into last night," said AJ, calmly. "Some stuff was stolen and the place was trashed!"

Twilight started breathing heavy just hearing this. Big Mac looked at her:

"Is there anything Ah can do to help?"

"Do you know anything?"

"Eey-nope," he replied, looking sympathetically into her eyes. "But if anything comes up, I'll be sure ta let ya know."

Twilight was led to the house, sat down in the kitchen while AJ went to make some tea. Spike took the letter, but Twilight knew it wouldn't do any good... this would not only be a major security breech, the Princesses would be disappointed in her. Somehow, the pony who had broken in knew that the gem was there and quite possibly what it could do. That means most likely one of the ponies that knew about it wasn't trustworthy.

"Why didn't I just ask for a lock?" Twilight asked rhetorically, as Apple Jack brought her tea. "Just a simple bolt?"

"It might've made it too obvious there was something in there," the earth pony replied, tenderly. "What's done is done, Twi. We have to focus on what we can do, not what we could've done!"

"You're right, AJ," replied the Unicorn, sipping her tea.