The Perfect Party

Canterlot, the prime capital of Equestria, home of the supreme royal guard and harborer of most gifted sorcerers. It was a bright and sunny day, the air was warm and breezy, and the citizens of Canterlot walked the streets, getting to their destinations like there was no tomorrow. While the streets were busy, there lies a building just right near the castle, a place called 'The Academy,' a private school for gifted unicorn sorcerers. Inside the academy, every single Unicorn student were roaming the hallways, some getting to their classes, others communicating with one another. The academy was founded by both princess Celestia and princess Luna, reasons for it is to recruit these young, talented minds and put them to certain tests, only to see if they are capable of protecting Equestria from evil threats. However there is a certain catch, though as gifted as these students are, they still have to pass a certain test before being enrolled into the academy, and that test... is the screening test. It's a very strict test, every Unicorn has to be physically and mentally stable in order to pass, however...

There was one Unicorn who didn't pass the procedure, but is still in the academy, doing her studies, reading books and taking notes. While the Unicorn was swimming in her studies, she takes a small break and walks towards the window, looking up the clouds. She then starts remember the time she tried to get into the academy, it began with her going through the screening test, after a few tests, things did seem pretty good. Although... after the tests were done, they told the unicorn that her physical well-being was accurate, but her mental well-being was questionable. Then the administration had rejected her for being unstable and therefore this Unicorn wasn't able to get in, she really wanted to enter the academy and be apart of something greater but because of her mental stability, that wasn't going to happen. Fortunately, she was able to get in, with the help of princess Celestia, she convinced the administration to let her in, believing that she may have some potential that the Academy needed. Although the administration had doubts about what Celestia was telling them, how could they argue with the princess?

"But your highness... the rules clearly states that in order to be enrolled in the academy, the pony must be healthy, physically and psychologically." Then one of the administrators looks at lavender pony and tells the princess; "And I don't want to sound rude but... The unicorn, Twilight Sparkle... she's..."

"I'm listening..." Said Celestia.

And as she was looking at the one administrator with an uncomfortable glare, waiting for him to finish what he had to say, he then starts to swallow a huge gulp, breathes in and finishes what he had to say.

"Princess Celestia, though she may be useful here based on performance, Twilight Sparkle is... unstable."

And while this argument was taking place, Twilight was just sitting there, feeling uncomfortable as they were talking about her as she was in the room. It wasn't her fault that she had mental problems, it's just that her thought process works differently from others, her thoughts are much clearer, so vivid, her imagination is so great that she fears it. Causing her to have this instability in her head. Twilight Sparkle has an ability that she finds haunting, the ability to think like anyone or anything, read them like books, empathize with them. It's because of this ability, Twilight can help catch wicked creatures and low-life criminals, that was the potential that princess Celestia is talking about. Thought the board still believed that it was still a bad idea, they had no choice but to reluctantly allow Twilight enrollment in the academy.

"I can assure you all, that Twilight Sparkle would make a valued student here at the academy, her gift to read anyone like a book would be proven great use, she would serve a noble cause for all of Equestria. I am putting all my faith into her, I know she'll do fine." Said Celestia with a smile.

Twilight couldn't be any luckier to have one of the princesses to vouch for her, it was a memory she couldn't forget, so now that she had finished her little break, she went back to her desk and resumed her studies. But before she could resume, her mentor; princess Celestia walks into her room, wearing that same smile as she did on that day. Twilight was happy to see her teacher visit her on one of her study sessions, she then puts down her quill and puts her focus on Celestia.

"Princess Celestia, what a pleasant surprise." Stated Twilight. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to see how my faithful student was doing, I see you are preoccupied on your studies again." Said Celestia. "Tell me, Twilight. Are there other places that you go to, besides the academy library?"

"The library is my usual place to go, so many books to read, so much to learn... and then once you're done with them, you read them again for the sake of reading them." Twilight said as she began to open a book.

"Ah yes. I almost forgot that you were a huge fan of reading." Said Celestia.

"I can't help it, I just love to read. Anyways, enough about me... how are you doing, princess?"

Twilight then got out of her desk and check to see if she still had a book that she needed for another lesson, as she kept looking through her huge stack of books, Celestia begins to tell her the actual reason to why she suddenly came to visit her. She starts by asking Twilight a simple question;

"Twilight, I was wondering do you ever communicate with any of the students here?"

"No, not really. I really do not have time for social interactions with other ponies... it just isn't my thing." Twilight responded.

Then Twilight began to get curious as to why Celestia would ask her such a question, so she starts to ask her why she would ask a question like that.

"I only asked, because I require your services on a special assignment that just might be right for you."

"A special assignment, for me?"

Twilight asked in confusion. She never thought that she would actually hear princess Celestia, asking for her help on a case. After all the time Twilight has spent in the academy, she is now being tasked with an actual assignment. And the assignment being, hunting down an intelligent creature that has been stalking and abducting ponies of all kind.

"Twilight... are you familiar with a creature that the Canterlot Chronicle have dubbed; the 'Equestrian Ripper'?"

Later in the Afternoon...

Twilight and princess Celestia were walking down to the train station, discussing about the Equestrian Ripper murders and why she's made the ripper their number one priority. She was telling Twilight that the ripper has always been a problem around Equestria, everypony have been getting abducted by the creature, Celestia have even send her best guards to find and catch the ripper but have no such progress. She even states that the creature is intelligent, sadistic, methodical, meticulous and worst of all... patient. That's why no pony was able to catch it, they had no luck, no progress, nothing that could get them close to the ripper. But Celestia hasn't given up, so that is why she asked Twilight Sparkle to work on the case and hope that she'll be the one to catch this monster.

"I assume that you have all the information you need to catch the Equestrian Ripper, Twilight?" Celestia asked.

"I have everything I need, princess Celestia. All the reports of the ripper's previous cases, previous victims... you name it. It's all in here." Twilight responded with confidence.

Then princess Celestia asks one of her guards to get at least 3 tickets to Ponyville, Twilight was reviewing the files of the previous Equestrian Ripper murders, but while she was reviewing the files, she couldn't help but overhear the word; 'tickets' meaning plural, meaning she's not doing this assignment alone.

"I'm sorry princess, but I couldn't help overhear you saying, getting 3 tickets to Ponyville?" Asked Twilight.

"I did." Celestia Replied. "And even though I believed that you can solve this case, it never hurts to have friends who can help you."

Twilight wasn't comfortable with the idea of having 'friends' tagging along with her while on this assignment, she basically admitted that she wasn't very sociable, but now she's put in a situation to where she has to be sociable. In other words, she could get a lot more on this assignment, if she had insight from other ponies, besides her own. So, even though she doesn't like the idea of working with partners, she probably have to try to make the most of it, for Celestia's sake. So as the guard came by with the tickets, so did Twilight's new partners.

They were both rushing down to the station, hoping they have gotten to there on time, and they seem to be carrying all sorts of equipment. Just by looking at  them, Twilight finally gets the chance to meet her new partners; these two colts, one of them a unicorn, and the other a Pegasus. The unicorn has a yellow orange coat, long, shaggy, dark brown mane and wears glasses. As for the Pegasus, he has a white coat and has a slick back spiky blue mane. Then she looks at Celestia and starts to tell her about those two.

"So, these are the two... that are going to accompany me on my trip to Ponyville?"

"Yes." Said Celestia. "They may appear to be quite silly, but I assure you... these two are the best in the business. Just, give them a chance."

So as Twilight's new partners finally arrive, they place their stuff down on the ground, trying to catch their breath from all the running they did, just to get here. Twilight was still unsure about these two tagging along for the ride, but again, she just had to make the most of it. So as they were still trying to catch their breath, she starts to introduce herself to them.

"Um... hello. And good afternoon. My name's Twilight Sparkle. I take that you two are going to be joining me on our trip to Ponyville... to uh... help catch the ripper?"

The guys were still catching their breath, making this an awkward situation for Twilight, and as they were still breathing, princess Celestia turns to Twilight, telling her that she has to go back to her castle to take care of some important matters that really require her attention. But before she leaves, she offers Twilight good luck on her assignment and she then gives her a hug, calming her down, giving her a sign that everything will be fine. And soon after, Celestia flies back to her castle, leaving the rest to Twilight and her new teammates. The two colts are now breathing easily and they begin to introduce themselves...

All right. let's see how do we do this... mumbled the unicorn. "Ah! Here's a good intro. Afternoon Ms. Sparkle, my name is Klever Detail, with a K of course. And this is my partner; Light Breeze."

"Hey there. I'm uh... Light Breeze." he added.

"Well then... since we got the introductions taken care of, shall we be on our way?"

The train had finally arrived, Klever and Light Breeze were excited for this trip, and as for Twilight... well, she was having mixed feelings about the trip. She really wanted to get this assignment done with no interruptions, no distractions and definitely no social interaction with her partners or anyone she'll meet along the way. She kept thinking to herself that once she gets this done, she can finally get back to her studies.

"All aboard!"

The train was ready to go, so Twilight, Klever and Light Breeze grab their things and head on inside the train and as they were in, they immediately find and take their seats. Light Breeze and Klever sat across each other, while Twilight had a seat all to herself, she was just sitting there watching outside the skies, feeling anxious as if she was beginning to think that this may have been a bad idea... she starts thinking to herself that this is the first time that she has left Canterlot to go to a place that she is not very familiar with. True, she has to be sociable when it comes to going to a new place, communicating with the locals about the ripper, uncomfortable as she may be, she still needs to remember why she's doing this. So, she then turns her attention to her bag, which contains the files, she pulls them out and takes a look inside.

There was so much information in the reports, the reports stated; mutilation, incisions, the victims were tortured, organs were harvested and more or less bodies were displayed. There was one little detail that did catch Twilight's eye, everypony's cutie marks were removed, she was rather curious as to why the ripper would remove the cutie marks off it's victims, not having an idea just yet, she pulls out her notepad and her quill and ink, dabs a bit of ink onto the quill and writes down the cutie mark detail. After that, she takes a good look at the photos of the latest victim; Moondancer, reads the reports on how she was murdered. Then she takes all the evidence available, closes her eyes, breathes in and out... and then begins to reconstruct Moondancer's murder.

Twilight opens her eyes, waking up in her own little world, her surroundings, nothing but darkness. There is one light though, the light shines over Twilight like a spotlight, then another spotlight shines down behind and the pony who was under that light... was Moondancer. She was just standing there, not moving an inch, calmly, very still like a statue. Twilight then approaches her slowly, walks around her, looking at her from every different angle.

"I stand here before you..." Said Twilight. "Standing close to you, visualizing you, hoping that you'll notice me right here beside you. This will be our last moment together, even though... we really don't know each other. However, that didn't stop me from trying to get to know you."

Then, as Twilight comes right back in front of her, she uses her magic to move Moondancer to the side, looking at solely at her cutie mark. She was focusing at it as if it was the first thing that comes to mind, then she states out...

"Your cutie mark will be the first thing to go, I will take your cutie marks, they will be mine-- They SHALL... be mine."

Moondancer's cutie marks automatically remove themselves from her flank, leaving the inner flesh exposed. Then Moondancer approaches Twilight, Twilight starts focusing on her head, starting with the horn. Forming a line around the horn, then separates itself from the head, leaving a circle on her forehead.

"Your horn will not save you, not anymore. I could have removed your horn first, but you were to weak to use your magic. So really, it didn't seem to matter... I was not worried."

Then the upper part of Moondancer's head was removed, followed by the upper part of the cranium, then the brain tissue had disappeared, exposing only the brain.

"The Brain... the brain is the most essential, the most crucial ingredient of the body. An organ that we cannot function, couldn't live without. It's a marvelous thing to see, isn't it? The brain is a... miraculous creation." Stated Twilight.

Twilight starts picking at the brain, removing a piece just to see it up close, then she starts to rub it across her hooves.

"It feels so... moist. So mushy... it looks very delicate. Good enough to eat."

Twilight places the brain piece back where she picked it from, then displays the body upside down, looking at her waist being cut open, organs were flying out of her... including the brain. The harvest was complete, Twilight visualizes the hotel room where Moondancer was last seen, placing her corpse into bed, everything was complete, but... there was something off. The liver makes it's way back into Moondancer's body, Twilight was puzzled as to why the liver would go back inside, then she gets a closer look at the liver, seeing it turning purple, getting all bubbly, rotting from the inside out. She didn't get it at first, but then a thought had occurred to her, but before she could stated it out, she is interrupted by voices in the background.

She then wakes up, back to reality, only to see Klever and Light Breeze sitting right across from her, looking at the reports and photos, talking about the case. The boys were pretty much discussing about the organ harvest, then Light Breeze reads a statement on the autopsy report; "It says right here in this report, that the liver was removed, and then... the ripper puts it back in."

"Huh. Why would it, cut it out if it's just gonna sew it back in?" Klever questioned.

Twilight intervenes in their conversation by answering Klever's question. "There's something wrong with the meat." The boys then simultaneously look at Twilight, with a surprised look on their face when she spoke, then what she said got Klever to double check the report to see anything about the liver detail and noticed something very peculiar.

"She has liver cancer."

"Yeah um... the Ripper is uh..." Before she could even finish that sentence, she shows a look of disgust and discontent. She then swallows a gulp and then finishes her sentence.

"...it's eating them."

Meanwhile in Ponyville...

Today was warm and sunny, everything was looking so peaceful, and everypony in Ponyville was having a glorious day. The town square was bustling and crowded and busy ponies filled the streets. Along the way, a few young foals were just leaving school and were headed to Sugar Cube Corner for a snack. While they were inside, the kids were filled with excitement, jumping for joy as they wait for somepony to arrive to sell them sweets. Speaking of which, the wait was over as a pink pony with a poofy mane and tail shows up with a tray of baked moon pies. The tray was set on the table, the moon pies were put on a plate, the kids gathered around and gazed upon the delicious and wonderfully decorated treats. The decoration on the moon pies was very unique, as the icing was white, with a light purple crescent moon with tiny red stars. the design on the pies are almost identical to Moondancer's cutie mark. And so, once they were ready to be eaten, Pinkie Pie shouts out to the crowd...

"All right everypony, the moon pies are ready, Fresh from the oven! Get em' while they last!"

Everypony began spend their bits and immediately grabbed their moon pies, they got as many as they possibly could, the tray was almost empty. Each and every one of them took a single bite out of them, Pinkie was watching eating the pies, all the 'mmm's' and 'yums' got Pinkie really happy. Just hearing them enjoy those delectable treats, was like music to her ears. Then Pinkie turns to the plate and notices that there were only two moon pies left, so as she was about to grab one, she sees a white hoof grabbing the other one. Then she looks up to see who was getting the last one, it was a young mare with a red poofy mane and was wearing purple glasses, named Twist. Pinkie then stares into the little mare looking at the moon pie, she was so intrigued by the beautiful decoration, the intoxicating aroma, that's right... Pinkie knew that she couldn't resist so she continued to watch her as she took that first bite.

Her eyes were closed as she was chewing on it, she felt the sweet, sensation in her mouth. It was that good, and as Twist opened eyes and looked directly to Pinkie, she starts telling her how wonderful the moon pies were.

"I love these Moon Pies, they're are oh-so good. Do you think you can make more?"

"Oh, as much I would love to, I can't. I can only make them once, but I'm really glad that you enjoyed them." Pinkie replied.

Then the excitement in Twist's face began to fade when she heard that Pinkie couldn't make any more, but Pinkie was going to this sad sack leave the shack like this. So she tries to make it up to her by asking her to stay for a little while longer.

"Hey I got a better idea, how bout, you stay here and as soon as the other boys and girls leave, I can make you something special, just for you. On the house."

"That sounds like a great idea. Thanks, Pinkie Pie!" Said Twist with a smile.

Afterwards everyone continued to snack on the moon pies, filling their faces with delight, then Pinkie gets her last piece and starts to eat it, so that she can enjoy the flavor herself.

"Mmm! Not too shabby."