Fluttershy frowned. "I did see her right before she left the Boutique, but I don't know where she went after that."

"Oh, this is just great! We just had to deal with a crazy Pinkie Pie at first, but now we've got a missing Twilight Sparkle too! Will the craziness ever end?" Rainbow Dash groaned, facehoofing. She was clearly irritated; a mere glance at her expression would have proven that to any skeptic.

Applejack snorted. "Missin'? Oh, c'mon, Rainbow. Twi's a princess! Ya'd think that at least somepony would recognize her if she went missin'!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "It's possible that somepony ponynapped her or something."

"Darn right," Applejack answered, her voice dripping with barely repressed sarcasm, "the Element of Magic herself got ponynapped."

"What's to say that it didn't happen, huh? Her captor could have put a magic-binding ring on her horn and made her unable to use any magic!" Rainbow retorted defensively.

"Girls, please stop arguing," Fluttershy interrupted before Applejack could respond, her expression deadly serious, "we can find Twilight later, but before that we'll need to focus on Pinkie."

Two ponies turned to stare at her in disbelief, mouths agape.

Pinkie Pie grinned as she casually wiped off - with a hoof, of course - the blood coating her silver knife, having just finished with her latest victim. At this rate, I'll find Rarity's killer in no time!

She raised her gaze to the darkening sky, her glee increasing tenfold. Under the cover of Princess Luna's night, she would be able to get away with murders much more easier since nopony would be able to see her while doing so. As simple as it sounded, however, it still left one more question: who'd have the honor of being her next victim?

Immediately, the answer came to her head. The poor little thing would never suspect her, especially considering the current circumstances...

It was the perfect plan.

Fluttershy, her shy instincts taking effect, immediately recoiled in surprise. "W-Was it s-something I s-said?" she squeaked, shrinking down.

"No, everythin's just dandy," Applejack spluttered, masking her mixed emotions with much difficulty.

Rainbow shot a sideways glance at the farmpony, her eyes wide. "Do you think we should tell her?" the Pegasus asked, mouthing the words.

Applejack frowned, giving a brief shake of her head. "She's Fluttershy, Rainbow. Ya can't expect to tell her that without damagin' her confidence," she mouthed back, her lips moving silently.

Rainbow shrugged.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Fluttershy breathed in relief, her terror fading away. "I was scared that I'd said something wrong... are you okay, Applejack?" She stared at said mare, whose face now bore a troubled expression.

"Did ya hear that? It sounded like... somepony screamin'." Applejack glanced in the direction of the screams, which everypony could now hear easily.

Fluttershy gasped. "That pony's in trouble! We need to go help them now!"

Rainbow nodded, her wings flaring open.

"Follow me then, gals!" Applejack yelled over her shoulder as she broke into a quick gallop, heading toward the screams.

Immediately, the others took flight to the skies, beating their wings rather hard in order to catch up with Applejack.

The Elements of Harmony would never deny a request for help... even if it wasn't genuine.

Pinkie paused, her eyes narrowing. She was currently in a dark alley, using it in order to get to her destination quicker. Still, despite all the strangeness that usually occurred in a place like that, voices and loud hoofsteps were definitely not a part of them.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie...," the slightly disembodied voice she'd heard from earlier hissed. Hoofsteps once again sounded from behind her - it always did whenever she heard that unnatural voice.

"Who are you, and why'd you know my na- real name?" Pinkie caught herself with a scowl, inwardly cursing, before whirling around at the speed of lightning. As expected, there was nopony there, although she could have sworn she'd seen two heterochromic eyes glinting in some nearby shadows.

"Relax, Pinkamena," the voice reassured her, taking on a more friendlier tone. "I do not wish to cause harm to you in any way. All I want is to have a little... chat with you."

"You only want to chat?" Pinkie repeated in disbelief, her suspicions growing.

"Indeed. But who am I to ask when I have not even introduced myself yet? You may call me the Mastermind, Pinkamena."

Author's Note

And let the theories begin!

Just saying that you're allowed to send me your theories via PM if you want to. I won't tell you if you're right, though.