Art Class

Rainbow Dash paced the hallway of the hospital room, her thoughts occupied with the five fillies that were currently lying in the room behind her, bandaged and battered. She hated having to stay here, to wait; the urge to do what she did best--to go out and do something instead of just standing here, waiting for the families to comfort the little ones and for the guards to get here with their questions--grew greater with every passing moment.

Somepony needed to pay. That was all she cared about. The anger that she felt at the thought of somepony in this town who would try to murder little fillies in cold blood made her blood boil. Her mind raced to create a variety of extremely painful punishments for whoever did this (she rather favored flying them up into the upper atmosphere and seeing what shape stain they made when they hit the ground).

Of course, she couldn't do that until she knew who to punish. So for now, she had to do the one thing in the world she hated the most--wait. Wait while time was wasted, while the anger cooked her from the inside out.

But then came the sound of rapidly approaching hoofsteps. Rainbow looked up and realized with relief that she might not have to wait much longer.

Phillip skidded to a halt in front of her, out of breath. "It's them, isn't it?" he said.

"How--oh, right. Crime sense." Rainbow filled him in on what had happened, adding that she'd seen the wreckage of the cart in the woods, flown down to find the five unconscious and injured, and immediately dashed to the hospital for help.

"The doctors say they should be okay, but they won't be crusading for a while."

"Good," Phillip replied, having recovered his breath.

"Did you find who you were looking for?" Rainbow Dash asked, eager to go out and do something.

"No, but now I'm needed here," Phillip said, putting his hat back on. "But I do need you to do something for me."

"Will it help find who did this?"

"Yes." Phillip took out a pencil, grabbed a sheet of paper off a nearby table and wrote out a letter that he handed to Rainbow. "Go to the Cloudsdale barracks and give this to Corporal Falcon Wing. He knows me, he'll do what I tell him."

"Will do!" Rainbow said, delighted at the chance to do something of value. She turned to go, but stopped as Phillip started to enter the room where the fillies waited.

"You are going to find out who did this, right?"

Phillip gave her a look over his shoulder. "Have I ever given you reason to doubt me? Now get going."

Rainbow nodded and shot out the window in a rainbow blur. Phillip turned back to the door.

Years ago, on a night not unlike this night, he faced the door to his home, having returned from a nightly run. He opened the door and stepped inside, just as he had done hundreds of times before.

But this time everything changed. Because this time, when he looked, he saw the scarlet stains on the wooden floor. He stepped into the foyer and saw the corpse lying on the carpet; the eyes that had once shined with life and kindness now stared blankly upward in death, and he saw his world falling apart in their reflection.

Something inside him began to scream...

He shook himself out of the chilling memory. Focus. He had to focus. He could not...would not let his first failure get in the way of this.

He entered the room. There were five beds, each containing one bandaged filly and surrounded by concerned family.

"I always told you that this crusadin' business would get you in trouble one day," Applejack told her younger sister, shaking her head sadly.

"Sweetie Belle, what have I told you about talking to strangers?" Rarity said to her younger sister, her anger mixed with concern.

Tootsie Flute was being coddled by Lyra and Bon Bon, and Dinky was receiving the same treatment from Ditzy and Time Turner. Scootaloo was being looked over by a unicorn mare with white fur, sunshine yellow eyes and a pale blue mane, the ensemble giving her impression of a partly cloudy day. Her cutie mark was of a sun, partially covered by a cloud. Phillip recognized her: Rain Breeze, Scootaloo's mother. She was slowly stroking Scootaloo's mane, a mournful look on her face.

Rarity looked up when Phillip entered. "Oh, Phillip, I'm glad you're here. It's simply awful what has happened!"

"I know. May I speak to you lot for a moment?"

The adults gathered around Phillip. "I want to try something to help them remember any details that may help me. But I'm gonna need to ask you all to leave."

"But--" several of the adults started to protest, but Phillip cut in; "It works best if it's just us."

Rain Breeze looked at Applejack and Rarity. "Do you trust him?" she said in a soft voice that sounded like it came and went on the summer wind.

Applejack looked at Phillip for a moment, then returned her gaze. "Yes. I'd trust him with my life if I had to."

"As would I," Rarity replied. "If there's anypony who can find out who did this to our loved ones, it's Phillip Finder."

"That's good enough for me," Ditzy said.

"I don't know," Time Turner said, his usual, shy, nervous self. "Dinky is very nervous and I'm afraid that forcing her to go back to what happened might--"

"I will not allow any of those fillies to come to any more harm," Phillip said. His voice was soft, but the force behind them was as strong as a hurricane. "I swear on my life that I won't."

That was good enough for Time Turner. Bon Bon and Lyra both nodded assent, then Rain Breeze. Everypony left except Phillip.

He approached the beds of the fillies. "Hey, sheilas," he said with a quiet, assuring smile. "How y'all feeling?"

"My head really hurts," Apple Bloom said.

"Mine, too," the other four said.

"Well, you're here. That's something." Phillip took a seat. "Listen, I want to find out who did this to you. But I need you to help me."

"What do you want us to do?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I need you to go back to the accident in your minds. See if you can recall any details."

Panic momentarily flashed in the eyes of the fillies as the thought of being forced to recall the frightening incident. "I'll be right here," Phillip said in a reassuring tone. "You don't have to be afraid."

He allowed the girls time to think. He'd had practice talking to children. The key was patience; go slow, give them time to think, to understand.

"Okay, I think I can try it," Sweetie Belle said. One by one, the other four also agreed.

"Okay. I need you to take a deep breath. Close your eyes." The girls obeyed, listening only to the sound of his voice as he delivered a low, soft, slightly monotonous tone.

Some might call what Phillip was about to do hypnotism. In actuality, it was a memory technique that relied on using all of the senses to enhance a memory.

"I want you to go back to when you first woke up in the cart." He paused, allowing them time to recollect. "Stop for a moment. Look around."

"It's dark. I can't see anything," Apple Bloom said. "The cart's covered."

"You're sure you can't see anything?" Phillip asked.

"Wait...there's some light. There's a small hole in the side."

"What do you smell? What do you feel?"

"The cart's made of wood," Scootaloo said softly. "It's cold and sticky, the wood."

"And it smells," Sweetie Belle said. "What does it smell like? Some kind of plant...kind of sour..."

"Olives," Tootsie Flute said. "It smells like olives. I know because my mom used some recently."

"That's good. What else? Do you hear anything?"

"Outside," Apple Bloom said. "Voices. Two stallions. One of them's the stallion from the park. The other one's his...partner, I think."

"Is there anything distinctive about their voices?"

"I...it's too muffled. I can't tell," Dinky said.

"That's okay. Now what?"

"The cart's moving," Sweetie Belle said. "It's...it's being pulled."

"What side is the light on?"

"The...the left side. Towards the back of the cart."

"Wait," Scootaloo said. "There's something else. One of the wheels squeaks. I think it's one of the front wheels."

"Where's the cart going? How fast is it going?"

"Fast. The two stallions, they're running," Scootaloo said.

"We go on for about a minute," Dinky said. She was beginning to tremble; they all were. They knew what was coming. "Then we turn left, then right. There's a bump."

"Slow down," Phillip said. "Just slow it down. Focus on anything outside you can hear."

"It's...it's too loud with the rattling the cart's making," Apple Bloom said.

"We go across a bridge," Scootaloo said, her voice beginning to shake. "Then there's a slight left...we go for a long time. We stop...and then we...we..." She opened her eyes with a little gasp, ending the vision,

"It's all right," Phillip said soothingly. "Hey, look at me. You're safe now. Nopony's gonna hurt you."

The fear remained in their eyes, and they looked to him for comfort. Seeing them like this--vulnerable, afraid--made Phillip feel a burning inside. These fillies were innocent; they did not deserve to be hurt like this. They did not deserve to be afraid of a monster walking among them in their home.

No, he would find them, and he would make them pay. And these fillies would not need fear anymore.

"You did great, okay? You were very brave, all of you. And you've helped me out a lot." He started to get up.

"Don't go!" Tootsie Flute said.

I make them feel safe, Phillip thought to himself, touched by the realization of what they saw in him.

"I need to. I need to find them. But you're family's are still here. They'll take care of you, okay?"

They nodded. He turned back and exited the room, signaling the adults outside to come back in. "They're scared. They need you now."

"Where are you going?" Applejack said.

"I'm going to find a monster."