Strange Voice on the Phone

"Well, where is Twilight Sparkle?" asked Battle Charge angrily.

"Wouldn't you know that better than we would?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"She escaped from her house and two of the guards that were patrolling her house are missing. Are you hiding her and did you help her escape?" said Battle Charge.

"No, we didn't!" said Applejack. "We wouldn't want to get Twilight into any trouble and that's the honest truth!" Battle Charge glared at her but seemed slightly mollified by this.

"But we did just get a call from The Killer," said Pinkie. Upon hearing this, the seven guards led the five ponies into Apple Jack's room where they told them the whole story. when they were finished, Battle Charge nodded and turned towards a smaller guard.

"You, uh...you..." stuttered Battle Charge, clearly not knowing who he was addressing.

"Stuart is my name sir but everybody calls me 'Sticks,'" said the guard.

"Sticks? I don't remember you!" said Battle Charge quizzically.

"I've been on the force for 2 years now sir!"

"I...uh...I don't remember you," said Battle Charge. Sticks looked glum as the other guards suppressed a laugh.

"This is the 12th time we've had this conversation sir."

"Oh never mind that! Has Shining Armor been told about his sister going missing?"

"Uh, no I don't believe so," said Sticks.

"Well tell him then and be quick about it!" said Battle Charge sternly.

"Yes sir," said Sticks saluting as he ran off to tell Twilight's brother.

"So," said Battle Charge turning back towards the five "You have told us everything then?"

"Everything we know about sir. The Killer talked about where this was all going for a bit and we know she was watching us because she said stuff about what we were doing that she could only have known if she was watching," said Rarity. Battle Charge nodded and took a very serious tone with them.

"Okay. Now listen to me very carefully because this is important," said Battle Charge sternly. "Did you hear a voice, even faintly, behind the voice changer?" The five stuttered, trying to think of something to tell him which told him all he needed to know. "And that voice was Twilight Sparkle's wasn't it?" Once more their hesitation to answer told him everything. "I think you five had better stay here." he said. Silently the six guards left the room. The door shut behind them and they heard Charge order a search of Sweet Apple Acres as well as a few men to guard the house. The five ponies just stared at the door silently, not knowing what to do.

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

"THERE IS NO WAY!" said Shining Armor who was using every ounce of self control he had to stop him from destroying the entire building. "There is no way my little sister is The Killer!"

"What do you want me to say Armor? She's not in her house and since she has been missing, her friends got a call," said Battle Charge, who was doing his best to calm his friend down. Shining Armor gave a frustrated grunt. Battle Charge looked at Shining Armor uncomfortably. "Plus, there's something else we need to talk about."

"What now?" said Shining Armor, unsure of whether or not he could take more bad news.

"The psychologists who talked to Twilight turned in their reports a few hours ago. All three came back with the same diagnosis. They say she is likely a paranoid schizophrenic with violent tendencies. They said she kept ranting on to them about being set up and that she was really angry at them the entire time. All three said they were worried because they got the feeling that she was going to attack them at any moment. I was about to come talk to you about it when I got the reports that she had escaped." Shining Armor's anger gave way to shock and he sat behind his desk in Town Hall.

"And we have two men missing?" he said quietly. Battle Charge looked uncomfortable.

"No, no we found them both," said Battle Charge.

"How are they? Did they have any information on Twilight?" said Shining Armor perking up at the news.

"No."

"Let me talk to them!"

"You can't."

"Excuse me! I am the captain of the guard here I am in charge of this investigation!" said Shining Armor angrily.

"That's not the issue here."

"Then what is!?" Battle Charge looked dead in Shining Armor's eyes, a grim expression on his face. Armor looked back at him, confused for a moment but suddenly he realized what Charge was saying. "Oh," he said quietly. "Where did you find them?"

"Not far from the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. We had sent out a search party to see if we could find Twilight near the zebra's hut. The men who found them are pretty shaken up about it," Armor and thunked his head on his desk. "Do you know what this means Armor?" said Battle Charge trying to regain Shining Armor's attention.

"Yes. It means that we have a cop killer on our hands."

"Armor, we have to treat this delicately. The men think your sister is a cop killer. Do you know what that could mean if they found her before we got a chance to issue orders?"

"Yes I do. I still can't believe this," said Shining Armor who stood up and began nervously pacing around the room.

"If your sister is innocent, then we had better find her soon. I don't know if we can keep the situation contained much longer, which means that I will have to tell the Princess about this."

"I know, I know. Just go for now. I have to think about what I'm going to do here," said Shining Armor, waving his friend out of the room. Battle Charge nodded and left.

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

Any attempts the royal guards made to keep the news of Twilight's escape and the deaths of two members of the royal guards a secret failed miserably. Soon everypony knew that the killer had struck again and that Twilight Sparkle was on the loose. The school shut down, shops were seldom open, and there was very little interaction between the members of the community. The whole town probably would have left if travel in and out of Ponyville wasn't restricted. Only members of the royal guard were allowed in or out of the town. An Equestria-wide search for Twilight Sparkle was underway. All forces were under direct orders to contact Shining Armor and Princess Celestia immediately if she was found. The two of them were so worried about her that Celestia herself publicly swore that anypony who hurt her would be banished permanently to the moon (although rumors circulated that Princess Luna was trying to talk her out of this one). In short, a grim mood hung over Equestria with Ponyville at the center of it all.

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

Twilight's five friends were still confined to Apple Jack's house. They were constantly followed at this point whenever they needed to leave for whatever reason, as the guards suspected that if Twilight was still in Ponyville, she would try to contact them. Applejack had expressly forbidden Apple Bloom from leaving the house unsupervised by either herself or Big Macintosh. Rarity had imposed a similar rule on Sweetie Belle and even Rainbow Dash was taking more of an interest in how Scootaloo was doing. The three were annoyed at this as it limited their crusading time but they were still aware of the danger in Ponyville so they didn't complain about it.

The five of them sat in a circle in silence, racking their brains for any way that they could help Twilight. Rainbow Dash stood up with a grunt of anger, breaking the silence. "We have to do something!" said Rainbow Dash, slamming a hoof on the ground.

"But what can we do? We can't just go out looking for her, we're constantly being watched. I heard they're even considering protective custody for us! Everyone but Rainbow and Rarity have gotten the phone calls!" said Fluttershy.

"And with those two guards...you know..." said Rarity "The situation is even worse than before! The Killer just proved that he can take down two members of Celestia's personal guards! I'd say Pinkie and Fluttershy were very lucky!

"I've done some talkin' to the guards 'round here. Shining Armor has agreed that if they do find Twilight, then we can come along as mediators of sorts to make sure things go smoothly," said Applejack.

"But we can't help with the investigation?" asked Pinkie.

"They're worried we'd try to help her escape. I don't know, the whole situation seems hopeless. I sure hope they find her soon. Once we find her we can finally start to sort out this whole big mess," said Applejack.