Strange Voice on the Phone

Twilight's five best friends, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, all sat silently in Applejack's room in Sweet Apple Acres, the only thoughts on their minds were of Twilight. They didn't know if she was okay, they didn't know if she saw safe, and they especially didn't know why she was the number one suspect in the murder of The Mayor. Once they had heard that she had been taken in for questioning under suspicion of three separate counts of attempted murder and one successful one, they immediately rushed over to the library to try and talk to her, to see if they could do anything or if she needed anything but they were met only by a half-dozen guards who turned them back immediately and told them to stay out of it. After that failed attempt to see Twilight, they had gone to apple Jack's farm to discuss their next course of action. "I can't believe it, I just can't!" said an agitated Applejack.

"None of us can!" said Rainbow Dash. "I refuse to believe that Twilight is even remotely capable of attacking anyone, much less not just one, but TWO of us, Cheerilee aside.

"Oh, yeah. Twilight would never even think about hurting Cheerilee. They're good friends!" said Fluttershy.

"Not to mention the fact that they think that she actually brutally murdered The Mayor. I think anypony who even remotely knows Twilight could tell right off the bat that she would never be capable of that!" said Rarity.

"Yeah, WE all know for sure that she didn't do it, how could she have? I just hope the guards see it the same way," said Rainbow Dash.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Twilight Sparkle was sitting in her room in her library home, staring sadly out the window. After a lot of arguing, and pulling rank, Shining Armor had convinced Battle Charge to simply keep Twilight under house arrest until the investigation of her was over, something which Battle Charge only grudgingly agreed to. Spike was not allowed to be in with her and had been moved to Zecora's house for the time being. Twilight had endured hour after hour of grueling interrogation by the royal guards, after which she was analyzed by three psychologists. She was asked how her cellphone could have gotten to Cheerilee's house, she was asked what she was doing last night as well as on the nights of the attacks of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, and she was asked a lot of questions about her mental state, but most of all, they asked her questions about The Mayor. They asked her what their relationship was like, why anypony would want to hurt her, and so on and so forth. She simply told them the truth and tried to keep the small feeling of hope alive inside of her.

As the hours and hours of interrogation combined with the stress of both the events of the past weeks themselves, and her being the number one suspect compounded on each other, Twilight discovered that it was very difficult to keep her mind straight through all of this and she became more and more disoriented as time had gone by. A good nights sleep was now a foreign concept for her and she found that she had also lost her appetite and as a result she was eating less.

Unfortunately the Princess had found out about her status as the prime suspect in the case but her attitude about the whole thing was one of cautious optimism. She believed Twilight was innocent but couldn't do anything about it until hard evidence arose of her innocence. Twilight hoped that they would finish their investigation soon as she was anxious to know just what they had on her. So far all it seemed to be was her cellphone and the word of Cheerilee. Twilight herself had actually had suspicions of what was going on. She had told her interrogators that she was framed, that someone had stolen her phone and used it when attacking Cheerilee and that she would never do anything to hurt any of her friends. She would never hurt anyone. They all seemed to do nothing with the information except quietly note it down. Twilight looked glumly out the window to watch the next group of guards stoically patrolling her house. She hoped this would all turn out okay.

Every time her brother came to see her, he saw that she looked worse than the previous time. She looked constantly tired and lack of food was beginning to take its toll as she was beginning to look almost skeletal. As a result of all of this, she had become even more disoriented. She was always happy to see him and he told her what he could, and he always swore that he would get her out of this. as time went by, she was starting to believe that less and less. After his latest visit, in which Twilight looked worse than ever and barely spoke, he met up with Battle Charge to talk about it. "Okay look," said Armor angrily "I think this has really gone on long enough. It's been almost two weeks since the death of The Mayor and we haven't gotten any useful information from Twilight about it! Nothing is indicating that she is The Killer!" Battle Charge sighed and nodded.

"I must say that I agree with you about this. All of the evidence against her is circumstantial. it is completely possible that The Killer stole her phone and used it to call the schoolteacher. We have no real hard evidence against her so once the psychologist's reports come back we'll let her go. I still suggest keeping an eye on her, but I agree that the house arrest should end," Armor breathed a sigh of relief at this. Because of his new duties as the interim mayor and basic protocol, he had very little control over what was happening to his sister and as such, Battle Charge had to take the lead on the investigation.

"I'm glad that you agree. When do their reports come back?" said Armor.

"I expect them in the next two or three hours."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The five pony friends of Twilight were still discussing what to do now that Twilight was, in the eyes of the law, the most likely attacker. "We've got to do somethin'!" said Applejack determinedly.

"But what? The guards know we are her friends and warned us not to get involved in the investigation! They're watching us right now!" said Pinkie Pie.

"How do you know that?" asked Fluttershy.

"Pinkie Sense. Got a left hoof cramp, right eye flutter, back scratch, and my tail straightened. It means I'm being watched."

"How often does that come up?" asked Rainbow Dash quizzically.

"More often than you think and a lot more since this started happening," said Pinkie.

"That's not important right now," said Applejack. "We've got to..." suddenly the phone rang. All five gasped and looked at it. "Do you think it could be...him?" said Applejack.

"Answer it!" whispered Rarity. Apple Jack walked slowly over to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?" whispered Applejack.

"Hello AJ," said the voice on the other end. Applejack's eyes widened, the voice was unmistakably that of The Killer. She looked at the other four, pointed to the phone and nodded vigorously. The Killer chuckled. "Oh AJ, there was no need to tell the other four I was on the other end."

"What do you want?" she asked, looking out her window to see if she could see where The Killer was hiding, but all she could see was row after row of large apple trees. The Killer could be hiding behind any one of them.

"To talk. I hear the royal guards finally have a suspect," said The Killer. Applejack brightened at this.

"Yeah, our friend Twilight, but since you are callin' me here and Twilight is still at her house under guard, that means she couldn't be the one!" she said triumphantly.

"Oh really? Are you so sure she's at the house?" asked The Killer. "Maybe she escaped and nopony knows about it.

"If she wasn't she certainly wouldn't be dumb enough to call here. We're bein' watched by Royal Guards too ya know!" said Applejack, hope rising inside of her.

"Oh my goodness," the other voice on the end erupted in laughter "did Pinkie think her Pinkie Sense meant that royal guards were the ones watching her?" As the voice on the other end continued to laugh at this, Applejack made eye contact with Rarity and then moved her eyes to Rarity's bag. Rarity gave a confused look, trying to figure out what Applejack was telling her.

"Oh uh, so it was you watchin' us then?" She moved her eyes to Rarity's bag again. Rarity's confusion suddenly changed to one of understanding and she pulled her bag slowly towards her and got out her cellphone.

"I think we can reasonably think that," said The Killer. Rarity slowly started dialing.

"So why don't you think that Twilight is in her house?" said Applejack who was merely trying to stall The Killer at this point while Rarity called the guards.

"Well that would spoil the surprise would it not? AND RARITY PUT THAT PHONE DOWN!" The voice was loud enough that Rarity heard it and dropped it on the ground with a small yelp of shock. Applejack looked at her friends and all of them had looks of pure terror etched across their faces. "Well, I think I have enough information out of all of you. But I can tell you this, what is about to happen, could redefine your whole lives." Applejack heard the dial tone as The Killer hung up. The other four looked at Apple Jack expectantly.

"I can't believe it, I just can't," said Applejack, shock dripping from every word.

"What is it? asked Fluttershy nervously.

"When The Killer yelled, I heard her real voice behind the voice changer. Cheerilee was right, it was Twilight's voice!" The other four just stared at her in shock. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. The five of them rushed to answer it. When they opened the door, they saw six royal guards led by Battle Charge in front of them. The five friends were uneasy as all seven guards had looks of pure fury on their faces. "Okay, where is she?" said Battle Charge, who was clearly trying to keep his anger in check. "Where is Twilight Sparkle?"