The Missing Pony Caper

PUTTING THE CLUES TOGETHER...

Twilight's eyes fluttered open as the sun hung high over her home. She had no idea how she had managed it. Maybe it was pure mental exhaustion or possibly just that she passed out due to lack of oxygen from hyperventilating so much. Either way she stood up wearily and looked around.

“Still no sign of Rarity....” Twilight thought to herself as worry and fear filled her again. Twilight took a few steps through her front room wondering how she was going to figure out who was the killer when suddenly she had an epiphany.

“You're in a library...Duh, Twilight!” Twilight said aloud to herself and began to concentrate to summon all the books relevant to criminals and criminal psychology to her. Moments later several books stacked themselves neatly in front of her and she began to read them.

Hours later....

“Ugh! All these books are useless!” Twilight said ejecting all the books around her in multiple directions with her magic in frustration and slammed her head into a book in front of her. A few moments later Twilight felt something hard land on her head and jolted up her head with one hoof on it rubbing it in pain as she looked towards her door to see a pony wearing a hooded cloak running off.

“Would you mind watching where you're throwing-eh?!” Twilight shouted in annoyance looking out the door then to the floor to see a portfolio in front of her. It wasn't titled but that didn't stop Twilight from opening it. Judging by it's condition it seemed to be pretty old. Twilight figured it had to be at least fifty years old if not more. The photos inside it were black and white with letters written on the side of each photo.

The first photo Twilight saw was a disturbing photo of a Pegasus pony with it's wings completely severed from it's back. “My very first....he was special....i'll never forget the rush of seeing the life drain from this pony's eyes...so exciting...” the words said aside of this picture.

The next photo was of a young filly with her legs spread wide however the fact that this photo was even more disturbing than the last was not the fact her legs were spread open but the fact the spot where the filly's vagina should have been was completely missing and looked as if it was gushing blood in this photo. “Her voice was so cute...even her horrified pained screams made me all warm and fuzzy inside....”

Twilight near got sick to her stomach at the sight of the young filly but she pressed on each photo more gory than the next. The last black and white photo however was not gory at all. In fact it was a picture of a small filly with long hair whom was smiling. “My Sweet and adorable Apprentice.....you will continue my work and my legacy will live on even after I am long gone...” The words read next to the photo. Twilight turn the page and saw a newspaper clipping.

SERIAL KILLER BRANDON HOOFSWORTH ARRESTED FOR MULTIPLE MURDERS

Brandon Hoofsworth also known as “The Baker” for his sickening methods of cooking his victims body parts in his baked goods and sold them to people was arrested today on over thirty counts of murder and is being investigated for fifty more counts of murder as this article is printed.

Officer Steelmane had this to say: “It's about time we brought this killer to justice. Now the victims families can at least find some closure to this chain of horrifying events.” said as he spoke to multiple press ponies. When questioned about a supposed apprentice Brandon could be hard screaming who would continue his work Officer steelmane replied with this: “We have found no evidence supporting these claims however we will continue to investigate this.” several days later however we found that the possibility of another adult pony being an accomplice was dropped. With the killer behind bars Ponyville can now sleep safely again thanks to Ponyville's finest.

Twilight read this article and let out a gasp as she flipped to the previous page quickly and stared at the picture of the smiling filly. “They didn't find his apprentice because the apprentice wasn't an adult pony...it was a young filly! But this doesn't make sense! If he only had one apprentice then how come there is more than one killer after me?” Twilight said aloud to herself then proceeded to flip the page forward twice. The pictures were now in color and more importantly, they looked recent. These picture looked even more gruesome if possible being in color and there was writing next to these as well but not in the previous style as the last. “He taught me well...I'm so glad he found me! I just hope he isn't upset with me for waiting so long to continue his work.” The words read.

Twilight pressed on each photo of a pony she either saw at one point or another looking horribly mutilated in different horrifying ways. Each more disturbing than the next. Finally Twilight was near the second to last page of the portfolio. The first picture she immediately recognized due to the fact she saw this pony just yesterday in the alley with it's head and hooves missing. Nothing was written next to this one however. Twilight glanced down at the next photo and her eyes widened in horror.

It was a photo of her with writing next to it. “My next victim...she got away from me once but oh well. She's going to be so fun so play with! After all she's my.....” The words read however the last words of the writing were fudged and illegible.

It took a few moments for her to figure it out but when it did the horrifying realization caused her to begin to hyperventilate. The killer knew her. She knew her! Twilight panicking began to try to think of every pony who knew her and shortly after tried to think of who it could possibly be. But no matter how much she tried..she couldn't figure it out she had no idea who it could be. She didn't want to think it possible but could it be one of her close friends?

“No,no...none of my five best friends would ever try to this to me....would they?” Twilight said aloud trying to think clearly.

Twilight tried to think rationally. But no matter how much she tried she couldn't. Twilight found herself questioning how well she actually knew her friends. When it boiled down to it..she realized she didn't know jack shit about them really.

“Stop it Twilight! You're not honestly going to consider your best friends to be killers are you?” Twilight asked herself aloud.

She had no choice. She had to visit Brandon Hoofsworth herself and find out who the killer was. “Twilight used her magic to lift her backpack on an put it in her back then put the portfolio in it and began to walk towards the local police station.

The police pony was shocked at Twilight's request but he showed her to his cell all the same. “I have no idea why on earth you would want to see this psychopathic lunatic Twilight.” The Police pony said with a sigh.

“It's for my research on the past of Ponyville.” Twilight lied with a fake smile.

“I suppose that's-dear Celestia!” The officer pony exclaimed as they came to the cell.

Twilight gasped in horror. Brandon Hoofsworth was in there alright...well his head anyways. On thew cell wall letters clearly written in blood could be seen.

GUESS WHO?

IF YOU GUESS RIGHT YOU'LL WIN A SUPER AWESOME PRIZE!

HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!HA!

“Dear Celestia......she's always one step ahead of me...how am I going to stop her if I don't know who it is?! She's probably watching me right now!” Twilight thought to herself horrified as she looked around herself in a panic looking for the slightest hint of a head poking through a window.

“Who was here before me?” Twilight asked the officer who was still in shock.

“Umm..uhh....no one as far as I know. I just got on shift fifteen minuets ago.” The Police pony replied and began to take Twilight out of the holding cell hall.

The police pony then picked up his phone and dialed a number. “I need to know who was on shift this morning. Brandon Hoofsworth was just found dead! And it was recent! How recent? I don't know! Do I look like a freaking medical pony to you?! What do you mean the officer who was on shift earlier isn't responding to calls?! Every single Police pony is on call day and night!” The police pony shouted into his phone talking with another pony.

“They won't find him...she already got to him.” Twilight said under her breath as filled with fear all over again but for some reason she wasn't in a state of panic anymore. Was the fact she was finally losing it? Or maybe she's see so much blood and gore that it had simply made her numb? Whatever it was Twilight was able think perfectly clear now. If the killer is one step ahead of her. Then she had to very close to her to be able to predict her actions and smart. It had to be....Rarity. She was the only one smart enough to pull this off and she knew her very well. She must have faked being kidnapped but then wait...why was she acting strange at the bakery with Pinkie Pie? Was she involved too? But hold on..Applejack and Rainbow Dash were also behaving oddly. As much as she didn't want to consider it it made sense now. Her closest of friends had begun to act oddly ever since this began. She had no choice she had to confront them. The only one who wasn't a suspect was Fluttershy. Of course it couldn't be her. She wouldn't hurt a fly much less anypony.

Twilight went to each of her friends homes with the and invited them over except for Fluttershy as she didn't want to possible put her only friend whom she could fully trust in danger with 4 killers.

About twenty minuets later her three friends and to Twilight's shock Rarity came trotting into her home.

“I've brought you all here for one good reason...” Twilight trailed off and summoned clasps and shackles around everypony's legs.

“What the hay is this Twilight?!” Applejack exclaimed in shock.

“Ohh! Is this a kind of game?!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a smile.

“Goodness me! What's going on Twilight?!” Rarity exclaimed shocked.

“What gives?! I'm not into this bondage thing!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed then after getting looks from everypony lowered her head in embarrassment.

“Don't tell y'all is he killer?” Applejack asked in a fearful voice.

“Oh that's rich! You all have been acting odd ever since the day that missing pony poster showed up!. Tell me Applejack. Where have you been all this time? I normally see you in town selling your goods but these past few days you haven’t left the farm..or so I thought! You were the one who attacked me outside of Apple Acres weren't you?!” Twilight exclaimed causing Applejack to be taken back in shock.

“What the hay?! You think I’m the killer?! The reason why I haven't left the farm is because I wanted to keep my family safe! I was a little filly when I witnessed this happen so many years ago and I refused to let it happened to my family! You can ask Applebloom and Bigmac! I haven't left the farm once since I saw that poster!” Applejack exclaimed defending herself.

“Okay. Then what about you Rainbow Dash?! You tried to drop that Piano on me didn't you?!” Twilight exclaimed looking at Rainbow Dash.

“Heck no! Why would I do that to my best friend Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily.

“Then why didn't you come back that day you said you wanted to meet me huh?!” Twilight exclaimed staring at Rainbow Dash intently.

“I got called to do a whether job in the middle of my searching! I didn't know doing my job as the weather control was a criminal offense!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed defending herself.

“Well then what about you two?! You two were acting awfully odd that day I saw you in Pinkie's Bakery! And You Rarity. Why did you disappear and not come back that night?!” Twilight exclaimed looking at Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

“That red package was a surprise gift for you Twilight...i had Pinkie Pie keep it in her storage because I simply don't have enough room for it till recently...and as for why I disappeared that night. The killer tried to come after me!” Rarity exclaimed defending herself.

“Only a unicorn can take down another unicorn's spell Rarity. So tell me that!” Twilight retorted.

“You're spell stops ponies...not inanimate objects Twilight...i took down the barrier in a panic and ran out the door. By the time I stopped running I feared the worst for you! But I felt so bad I couldn't bring myself to come back apologize more so for the fact I was terrified I would find you....dead.” Rarity replied lowering her head in shame.

“This doesn't make sense! I was so sure you four were in co-hoots! If it's not any of you..then....who the heck is it?!” Twilight exclaimed in frustration.

“Twilight! Behind you!” Rainbow dash exclaimed trying to fly forward but the cuffs around her legs prevented this.

Twilight turned around only to get a large and heavy object to the head knocking her out....