No One's Star

Twilight slept, far too late yet again, but she slept and when she awoke it was to an unhappy Spike carrying the latest Ponyville news. Twisty Pop had been killed. Dead, just as Lost Sun said he would be, having been smothered in his sleep. Twilight’s heart sank. She had tried to help, but without knowing everypony in Ponyville there was little she could do. She’d tried, though.

It was late afternoon, but Twilight needed to do something about this. She returned to the Mayor’s office and tried to speak with Mayor Mare again.

“But I need to talk to you! This is important!”

“Twilight, please. I know you’re concerned about the murders, but everypony is! There’s far too much work to be done to try and mitigate panic. I have the volunteers that need trained, the princess in Canterlot to contact.” She turned to look at Twilight. “If you wanted to do that, that would be appreciated.” She turned back to her papers. “I know you were sent by the princess herself, so we would appreciate your help, but I can’t talk about the radio station right now.”

“But it knows the murders before they happen!”

“Then I will assign somepony to listen to it for clues, but I need to ensure Ponyville’s protection first and foremost. We haven’t had something like this happen in decades, and the citizens are my first concern. Leave me a note with the radio’s frequency and the time of the broadcast, but please, let me work!”

Twilight was escorted out of Mayor Mare’s office and given a quill and paper to write her information on. She made sure to get the names and addresses of the volunteer guards, but all she could do after that was leave for home. Night fell around her sooner than she would have liked, but that was the price she paid for staying up so late.

She returned home and paced, thinking about what she could do. Since the mayor wasn’t going to help her, she might have to take the problems into her own hooves. Vigilantism wasn’t high on her list of activities she wanted to take part in, but if that’s what it took to protect Ponyville, she would do it. It’s what he wanted, and she couldn’t help but feel like it was some sort of trap, but what other options did she have?

Twilight rummaged through her boxes she had brought from Canterlot and not yet unpacked. She hunted through the boxes for her radio equipment, trying to locate her antenna. She found it, but to her dismay it had been bent quite a bit during the move.

“Dammit. Royal guards don’t know anything about shipping delicate equipment. It even had ‘fragile’ written on the side,” she grumbled as she started trying to fix it. She worked well into the night, Spike bringing her things she might need and food to eat. He even brought her the radio before turning in for the night.

“Don’t stay up too late, Twilight. If you can’t hunt him down, you need to take care of yourself instead,” Spike said. She waved a hoof and he went to sleep, leaving her alone in her library with the static issuing from the radio.

She tuned in to the right channel and waited. She had the antenna mostly bent back into shape and had connected it to the rest of her equipment. It was hopefully working the way she needed it to work, and she was prepared with a quill and parchment to triangulate the location it came from. She just hoped Lost Sun was a unicorn like herself, because then she might be able to pinpoint the magic he was using, if he was powering his equipment with his horn like she was.

Twilight was rewarded when the radio came on, and Lost Sun played the opening ditty to his horrible little show. He sounded tired and a little frustrated.

“Well, good evening and good morning, Ponyville. It’s been a day since last we talked and I can finally see you waking up around me. It’s good to know that you’re receiving my message loud and clear, and we’re communicating on a level that only good friends communicate on. I speak, you listen, and you react accordingly. This is how it should be.

“But we’re still not communicating as well as we could be. You see, I happened to see the Princess’s protégé in town, and although I couldn’t hear the conversation, she was talking to Mayor Mare about something.”

Twilight felt a chill go down her spine. He had seen her? That meant he had been there at city hall when she was, at the exact same time! She tried to remember all the ponies that had been there, all the stallions, specifically, but there were so many! Which one was he? She didn’t know any of them, and she hadn’t paid any attention to them!

“Mayor Mare, I know you mean well. You’re creating a police force because murders are happening, and you’re doing your very best, but I happen to know that the librarian, Twilight Sparkle, is an important pony for our dear princess. She’s one of the elements of harmony, you see. How do I know? Well, information is the name of the game, and since this is a topic so close to my heart, I make it my business to know who I’m expecting to come stop me. If Twilight wants to mobilize and help out, then you really need to let her. To that end, I’ll make this next one a contest between the two of them.”

Twilight panicked when she realized she hadn’t been tracking him this whole time! She’d been so engrossed in his impassioned speech that she had been listening instead of working! Hurriedly, she tried to triangulate where the signal was coming from while he finished. She kept one ear trained on the radio to try and hear what contest she was being volunteered for.

“My next target will be somepony rather unpopular, but who will still be missed if he is missing. That disgusting pony who enjoys his jelly just a little too much. Him and his jars are a mockery of good taste and propriety. Hughbert Jellius will be next pony to pass if the elements of harmony do not come to stop me. This I promise. If Mayor Mare can stop me with her volunteer police, that should prove there is no need for the elements of harmony. If Twilight manages to stop me, well, then we’re right back where we started, aren’t we, and she’s proven herself. Either way, good luck to both of you.”

The radio descended into static and Twilight checked her equipment. She hadn’t had nearly enough time to target him, and so her triangulation didn’t provide her with anything other than, “West Ponyville somewhere,” which wasn’t nearly enough. Twilight didn’t know where Hughbert lived, so she couldn’t make any assumptions as to how far Lost Sun would be ranging afield, but she knew she had to do something.

Twilight grabbed a map and a quill, then dashed out the door. If Lost Sun was going to be hunting somepony, she would try to be there to stop him. If the last two days were any indication, he performed the murder immediately after his broadcast, so she had very little time. She followed the map to the area she had circled and began hunting.

The area was larger than she had been expecting. She was used to portions of Canterlot being bigger than they looked on a map, but Ponyville was still a mystery. Everything was much smaller in scale, but on hoof it was still a daunting task to try and get around. She raced from building to building, looking for anypony out and about, skulking in the shadows.

It was while she was doing her own skulking that she happened to run into an earth pony stallion. He was whistling as he walked down the streets, twirling a truncheon on a hoof, and sporting one of the Mayor’s nice new badges on his chest next to his tie. He spotted her and frowned, pointing his truncheon at her.

“You there! What are you doing?”

Twilight groaned and stepped into the middle of the street. “Good evening. Look, I’m just—”

He cut her off with a sweep of his hoof. “It’s 3:27 in the morning, what are you doing running about out here?”

“There’s… a murder about to happen!”

“Oh, is there? And how do you know? How would you know unless you were planning to commit it!”

“What? No!”

“Mayor Mare made it clear that anypony that wasn’t part of the volunteer force should stay off the street unescorted,” he said. “I’m sorry, miss, but for your safety and everypony else’s, I’m afraid you’re going to have to come with me.”

Twilight gaped in shock. “No! No, no! Hughbert is in trouble!”

“Ma’am, please be silent and come with me.” He advanced on her, truncheon at the ready.

“No, please! Hughbert Jellius! He’s in trouble! I don’t know where he lives, but he’s in trouble, please!” Twilight pointed at her map and held it out in her magic. “Does he live around here? He’s going to be attacked! He’s the next target!”

The stallion looked at the map, then looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “You seem to know a lot about the city for being so new. You’re the new librarian, right? Sent by the princess herself?”

Twilight smiled a panicked smile and nodded. “Yes, that’s me!”

“You don’t know where he lives, but you’ve circled the area he lives in? How did you find that much out if you don’t know him?”

“I don’t know him! This is the area the—” She trailed off in frustration on how to explain it. “—the killer radio station was broadcasting from!” she finished lamely.

“Killer radio station? Now I really think you need to come back with me. We’re going to need to ask you some questions.”

She stamped a hoof. “No! Hughbert Jellius! He is in danger! Check on him first!”

“Ma’am, I can’t leave you here alone, and everything you’ve said sounds incredibly suspicious. I’m going to need to call for somepony else first, okay? I’m certainly not taking you to his house so you’ll know where he lives.”

“Please!” Twilight begged, but the stallion just reached into his saddlebags and pulled out a walkie-talkie.

“Hey, can I get a pony to investigate Hughbert Jellius’ house, and somepony to come help me on the corner of Belt and 8th? I have a unicorn mare here, the new librarian. Claims she knows which pony is going to die tonight.”

There was a crackled affirmative response and he shoved the radio back into his bag. He kept his truncheon at the ready and pointed her toward the side of a building. Twilight could have easily stopped him and teleported away, but that would be even more suspicious, and she wouldn’t be helping Hughbert at all that way. She waited as patiently as she could, awaiting news from his fellow volunteers.

The stallion kept an eye on her until somepony else showed up, and they began escorting her somewhere. They talked among themselves, and she was loath to interrupt, until they mentioned the possibility of somepony else dying tonight.

“Has anypony checked on Hughbert yet?” she asked.

They both looked at her, the second pony, a mare, looked alarmed. “She’s the one asking about Hughbert?” the mare asked the stallion, ignoring Twilight completely.

“That’s why we’re taking her in. I sent some ponies to go investigate, but she’s so adamant about investigating it, so I thought we ought to treat this seriously,” he said.

The mare gave Twilight a dark look, then turned back to the stallion. “No matter what, I think she could get the full punishment. We can’t treat jokes or false alarms with a soft hoof with everypony so panicked.”

“No, I would agree. We need to treat this seriously. We’ll see what the rest think.”

They stopped talking and Twilight hung her head as she was led along the streets of Ponyville. Eventually, a crackling sound came from them both as their radios received a message.

“All ponies, we have a situation here. As per Turner’s tip I checked out the Jellius residence. There were signs of a break-in, we have a body. I repeat; we have a body.”

Twilight went cold. She had been right, Lost Sun hadn’t lied, and now these ponies knew she was trying to get to the house where a murder had just recently taken place.

Her mind raced with possible ways this could play out, and none looked good. She might be just telling them about her plan so she could try to look innocent, throwing them off her trail. But she was a unicorn, and a unicorn had been thought to be the killer.

She remained silent as they glowered at her, taking her back to wherever their temporary headquarters were. She didn’t know the place, but it was a shop of some kind. Likely volunteered for their use because of its location in the center of town. Twilight was flanked by two earth ponies and a unicorn, trapped against a wall as they circled her. An older earth pony with a bushy moustache approached her, and she guessed he must be in charge as all the others seemed to be waiting for him to speak.

“Mind tellin’ us how you knew Hughbert was goin’ t’be a victim? Because as it stands, the fact that you’re the only pony who seemed to know is mighty suspicious,” the stallion said. His voice was deep and smooth, and probably would have sounded comforting if she weren’t being interrogated.

“I…” Twilight began. She sighed and spilled the whole story, telling them all about Lost Sun Radio.

“So this fella on the radio is the one committing the murders, you’re telling us?”

“Yes! He announces who he’s going to kill, then immediately goes out to do it! It wasn’t even a half hour after his announcement tonight!”

“And he’s doing this because…?” the stallion asked.

“Because he wants the elements of harmony to prove they exist,” Twilight said.

“So, if you and your friends just came out and did your harmony thing, this would all be over? Ain’t you all these elements? Just prove it. Simple as that.”

“We can’t just… fire off a rainbow or whatever. It needs to stop something supernatural. Like Nightmare Moon!”

The stallion folded his hooves and frowned. “Mighty convenient, that. Sounds to me like this fella’s got a point. We’re just expected to believe what you and the princess shove down our throats? Nopony saw Nightmare Moon be defeated.”

“What about her appearance in the town hall and Celestia’s disappearance!”

“Both were alicorns, and Celestia controls the sun. Not hard to just drop it for a moment. Mighty convenient, yet again.”

Some of the ponies surrounding them started muttering, and Twilight’s heart sank. This was what Lost Sun wanted to begin with! He wanted ponies to start questioning everything! She would have agreed, but to murder ponies over something like this was monstrous!

“She’s not expecting anything from you when it comes to the elements! Why does it matter?”

The stallion sighed and relaxed. “Look, miss… Twilight Sparkle, was it? Everypony’s heard about you. You came from Canterlot, favored student of the princess, and you were sent here to check on the summer sun celebration, right?” he smiled a condescending smile at Twilight.

“Yes, so?” Twilight was getting fed up with all this and would have liked nothing more than to just go home.

“So, you’re conveniently sent here, the princess gets kidnapped, you make some friends and go save her, using some mystical elements of harmony. Because of all this, you’re expected to stay out here in Ponyville, far away from the princess, and come into your own, right?”

Twilight didn’t like where this was going. “And…?”

“The princess is trying to get her protégé to stand on her own four hooves, and she’s expecting you to rule Ponyville. Like a nice little kingdom all your own.” He grinned at her. It was not a nice grin.

She also noticed his accent was gone.

Twilight gasped and looked up at him. He was grinning that shit-eating grin, and she wanted nothing more than to zap him to oblivion, but there were too many ponies around. He was Lost Sun, she was sure of it! That voice, without the crackling of the AM frequency, was Lost Sun!

“Now, Miss Twilight, if we could have you please return to your home, we have another casualty to deal with. We might be stopping by to check on you sometime in case we have any more questions, but I don’t believe you have the wherewithal to murder anypony, wouldn’t you ponies agree?” the stallion said.

There was muttered agreement from the surrounding group, some of the ponies she knew in passing, others were strangers, but Twilight didn’t say anything. She stood up and let the stallion who had discovered her lead her back to the library. He didn’t speak, and neither did she, he just left her alone to think while they walked.

She was certain that stallion in charge of the volunteer group was the killer. He was Lost Sun. She had no proof other than his voice, but she’d listened to him rant long enough that she was more than passingly familiar with it. He didn’t look like she had imagined, but if she made assumptions about a pony willing to murder, he fit a lot of her criteria.

What would be the best way to deflect doubt about you? Join the volunteer group hunting you down! In fact, since he was in charge of it, he was probably the pony who had offered to set it up for Mayor Mare! That would explain how he had encountered her and seen her during her trip to the mayor’s office to ask about the radio stations! He hadn’t been stalking her, it had all just been a coincidence! A strange coincidence, to be sure, but just a coincidence. Unfortunately for Twilight, it had put him in a position of power over others, better able to keep them from ever discovering what was really going on. It also helped him cast doubt on Twilight, making other ponies treat her like a spoiled unicorn from the city.

She had come from a position of wealth and influence, for sure, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d had different experiences and she was willing to put her money where her mouth was and fix this, by hook or by crook! The elements of harmony weren’t necessary to stop a murderer, she could do that herself! She just had to outsmart him, and outplan him!

She slammed the door to the library in the stallion’s face before he could even offer her a “good night” and went right to work, fixing her radio equipment so she would be prepared for tomorrow night. It was all quite bulky, but she could modify it a bit so she could carry it with her. She got some headphones so she could listen while she walked, but it was important that she be able to follow the signal while she listened.

Lost Sun broadcast his intent, then immediately went out to kill, wasting no time. Ponyville wasn’t huge like Canterlot, but it was still big. The fact that he had completed the murder within half an hour of broadcasting either meant that Lost Sun had picked these out a long time ago and was just waiting for an excuse, or he followed them during the day and broadcast nearby before the murder. Twilight was leaning more toward the former, because during his speeches, Lost Sun got quite heated, and anypony nearby might hear it. Yelling about murder isn’t the best way to make friends or influence ponies.

So that meant that he had planned this ahead of time, and he had to be broadcasting from somewhere near the murders. She didn’t know where Lily or Twisty Pop lived, but she could find out from Mayor Mare in the morning. She could go get a census and just hope that it was still accurate.

Twilight stopped and tapped a hoof against her chin.

She couldn’t go to the Mayor’s office. At least, not without arousing suspicion from any of the ponies who had seen her last night. Not to mention, Lost Sun might be at the office and he might overhear. She couldn’t alert him to her continued work any more than she already had. He was way ahead of the game and had premeditated all of this, just waiting for a reason or a scapegoat. If she went to the office and let him see her plans any more than he already had, she wouldn’t catch him in the act, and he would get away with what he had done.

Twilight began pacing, trotting back and forth around the library while she pondered what she could do about the problem. She was still pacing when Spike woke up and found her.

“Twilight, did you stay up all night again?”

“Sorry, Spike. I found out what the murderer looks like, and he’s in charge of the volunteer police force!”

“He’s what?”

“Mayor Mare set up a police force. Well, not a full one, just volunteers, and it wasn’t really her idea because the pony who is doing the murders and is on the radio, Lost Sun Radio? I call him Lost Sun, well he’s in charge of the police force because I think it was his idea in order to put himself in a position where he can influence ponies who might be trying to stop him so that he can keep murdering!” Twilight gasped at the end, hooves waving in the air.

Spike blinked.

“I… think I followed some of that. But Twilight, I know this is bad, and you want to help, but you really need to sleep. You can’t save anypony if you’re tired.”

Twilight stamped a hoof in frustration. “No! I can’t let him get any further ahead of me! He’s planned this out, I can plan this out better than him! It’s what I’m best at!”

“Twilight…”

“No, Spike! Today will be a day of hard work! Prepare me some breakfast and get me some coffee. Lots of coffee!”

Spike sighed. “Yes, Twilight.”