Stuffed Toys

Princess Celestia arrived in Ponyville not too long after sunrise. All of the villagers were up and ready by the time she had landed, and ponies had gathered in the town square. Celestia patiently waited as everyone slowly quietened down. She cleared her throat, then turned to look at her subjects with a stern look.

"There has been a change on how things works around here..." Celestia announced. "I have noticed that ponies have gone missing, so to prevent more ponies going missing, we have shut down all of the train stations. My guards will protect the perimeter, making sure no-one leaves. I know this might seem like an unnecessary precaution, but if we want to catch the pony that has been doing this AND find the missing ponies, we have to do this to narrow our search down."

The sound of multiple ponies groaning and moaning could be heard from the crowd that had gathered. Celestia nodded in response to their distress, and turned to look at five ponies behind her. Five ponies stepped by the princess' side, there were two earth ponies, one pegesus, one unicorn and an alicorn.

"One of the elements of harmony has gone missing due to these ponies." Celestia informed the citizens of Ponyville. "Here is how this is going to work... During the day, I will guard the village. At night, my sister Luna will take over my role. We will switch duties every morning and night. Hopefully we can catch the pony in the act."

Ponies nodded in agreement, thinking that the new system was a good idea. Since the recent missing cases were in Ponyville, it would be a good place to start. And with a Princess looking after them, they felt even more safe. The elements of harmony were also walking around, looking after the citizens. It seemed to be the best way to make sure that no one else goes missing.

StitchedHeart was in the crowd when the announcement was made. She wasn't impressed, not by the slightest. But she was impressed. Trapping the killer in a town and then catching them in the act. Yet she did realise a flaw... How would they know who the killer was if they take the ponies in their homes? Cameras? Does she follow them in? It didn't matter. Stitched was too hooked on her next victim: Colgate. She had always wanted to experiment with unicorns, and since she found Colgate's mane very attractive, she decided that she would be the next victim. Stitched just had to make sure that the elements of harmony and Celestia wouldn't see them.

"Tomorrow, at dusk. I'll come to yours." Colgate said. That was when she would come over for 'tea'. The pony didn't seem the slightest bit curious on why Stitched and Nightlight wanted her to come over. They had never talked to her, and she had only saw their daughter once or twice that week, and yet she didn't ask 'what's the occasion?' or 'is there some kind of catch?'. She, surprisingly, went along with it. Stitched thought that she would've at least asked 'why', considering the changes that had happened, but all she said was the time she would come. It seemed strange at first, but Nightlight thought that she probably felt safer now that Celestia was looking after everyone.

She really should have been more careful.