Chapter II
The very next day, Twilight returned to the precinct. She came determined. She had promised herself today was the day she broke this opponent of hers. She had made the decision as soon as she had walked out of that dreadful room the last time.
She believed that she had been unprepared yesterday, which was not usual for the mare who was known to keep agendas within agendas. She figured it was why she had a little panic attack during the interrogation. But not today, though. Today she knew what she was up against. She would let nothing break her balance. It was time to put an end to this madness.
She walked in and saluted her brother ceremoniously, just like yesterday, and accepted another hot cup of coffee. She was going to need its fuel.
She walked into the interrogation room, material and coffee in hoof. She headed straight for the table and sat down.
Diane was already there. She sat back, hooves cradling the back of her head. Her challenging grin and piercing stare, unstable while always remaining fixed on Twilight, were still ever present. It was not a look of arrogance, but rather one of amusement, like a fascinated child watching a spider weave its web around alive prey, knowing there was no escape, and happy to admire the deadly situation while remaining untouched by it.
When Twilight looked at the pink mare, she seemed to her as if she had not moved an inch since Twilight was last in the room. She wondered if Diane had slept, or if the insane thoughts raging inside her allowed her to sleep at all. Nonetheless, she took no apparent notice of the creepiness of the situation. She appeared calm and focused, as if this was a run-of-the-mill formality for her. She knew that's where true professionalism lay.
Diane was slowly licking her lips again. Perhaps she had thought of the same analogy and pictured herself as the spider. Unmoved by the mare's theatrics, Twilight pulled out the tape recorder.
"This is message log number 2 for case file num--"
"With your host, the lovely Diane!" cut in the other mare.
Twilight made no move for a while and kept an icy stare focused on her interrogation suspect.
"Watch it," she said menacingly.
Diane let out a sigh. "And here I thought you had learned to be fun," she said wistfully.
Twilight paused and took the recorder again, never breaking her stare.
"This is message log number 2 for case file number 165902. The date is August 13, 2012. Officer Twilight Sparkle conducting the interrogation of suspect Pinkamena Diane Pie.
During yesterday's interrogation I tried to assert the suspect's situation at the time of the crime," Twilight continued. I have determined the suspect was present at the crime scene when the officers arrived there, which was shortly after the crime was reported by an anonymous tip to the police."
"You're welcome," said Diane.
There was a short pause before Twilight continued. "Furthermore, the suspect admits, in addition to being present at the crime scene at the time of the incident, to having substantial amounts of blood splattered on herself when she was found". A wiry grin formed on Twilight's face. "Early this morning a report given to me by the forensics' team established that the blood found on the suspect came in two types and was found to belong to both victims, confirming initial police suspicion," she said.
Diane's grin grew wider as well. "The plot thickens!" she said with a signature cackle.
Twilight put her stoic expression back on and continued speaking into the recorder.
"This newly-found evidence seems to point clearly towards the suspect. However, this evidence is all circumstancial and cannot definitively be held against the suspect. While waiting for more substantial evidence, we will interrogate the suspect today about her psychological background and possible psychotic antecedents, so as to establish a possible motive the suspect might have to commit this crime". Diane raised a curious eyebrow at what she was hearing.
"The questions I will ask the suspect do not have to be directly relevant to the case at hand, and neither do her answers. I will remind the suspect she has the right to plead the 5th amendment of the Revised Human Constitution of America if there are questions she feels might indict her against her will as the author of the crime if she answers them. Do you understand, suspect?"
"I do," said Diane after a moment. She was trembling with anticipation.
"Very well, let's begin then," said Twilight, setting down the tape recorder.
"Question is, do you understand, Twilight Sparkle?"
Twilight folded her hooves in front of her on the table, and gave Diane a quizzical and slightly condescending look, keeping her eyebrows raised and her eyes half-lidded. She was briefly reminded of yesterday's seance when she had asked the suspect if she would cooperate.
"Running out of witty retorts?" asked Twilight.
"Don't worry," said Diane. "As long as you have patience, I'll have witty retorts. I expect them to run out at some point, though."
"You wish," replied Twilight.
Diane giggled. "Oh don't play dumb," replied Diane. "I can feel it, Twilight. Slowly but surely, your patience is seeping out of you like the sand in the hourglass. Not one you can flip. The fatal kind."
Twilight said nothing. This psycho picked the wrong toy to play with.
Diane spoke again. "Allow me to rephrase that," she said. "What I meant to say was, do you fully grasp what your little introduction entails?"
"You seem to infer that there's something amiss in my understanding of the situation?" said Twilight. Allow me to rephrase that: bitch please, she thought.
"Yes there is. You want to talk solid evidence, motives, confessions...?"
There was a long silence in the room.
"But you will get nothing," whispered Diane. "Nothing. What do you think? That I'm some kind of complex puzzle for you to unravel? That you will make a map of my thoughts, and use it to find a nugget of truth? A motive, a quirk of reasoning that will give you the key to how to shut me down like a machine? That I live on a parallel plane of thought from this Pinkie friend of yours, and that you can switch from one to the other with the right words?" she said, sounding incredulous. Twilight winced internally at hearing this terrible mare speak the name of her beloved friend with such venom.
"Well you won't. You know why? Because I'm not some kind of psychological wonder. There is no maze in my head you can explore through to the truth, because the truth is, I'm just who I am. It's that simple. You can have many scornful names and ideas for me, you can disapprove of my sole existence, but you will not change me. Believe it or not, I am the mare you knew who worked at Sugarcute Corner. My hair is different, and my mood is a little more serious, but I am, nonetheless, who you are looking for. Think of it as a big mood swing, and not a curiosity of the sentient mind. I am Pinkie Pie, Twilight, a little more mature and less goofy, but Pinkie Pie nonetheless. And you will respect me as her, and not as some monstrous stranger, or an imposter."
Twilight simply stood there, as she was before. Diane was actually demanding respect, like a heartfelt apology out of Twilight. She could say she was Pinkie all she wanted, the real Pinkie would never have forced that kind of selfishness and cruelty upon others.
"I don't have a deeply thought-out motive, or a subconscious drive for murder that you think escapes my control and that you can point out for me. And as for substantial evidence? What's a little blood going to do? You don't have a shred of evidence you can actually use against me, and if your boys haven't found it now, they will never, do you hear me, never find it."
Twilight Sparkle was on the verge of tears. Outside she looked unperturbed. But inside she was shook up, no matter how much she had woved not to be. This mare had a way of getting to her. Here she was, spitting poisonous words about how she was legitimately a pony, her friend Pinkie, and that she would just have to put up with her.
But as the tears welled up inside Twilight, she forced them down with a long draw of breath. I guess this is what they call tough love. Edging a little closer to the table, she spoke, barely above a whisper, and she sounded as cold as could be.
"Do you seriously expect me to believe all this drivel? That you're Pinkie Pie, the one I know? A little more mature, is that what you call taking over someone's soul? You could tell me forever that I'm supposed to accept you as Pinkie Pie. But Pinkie Pie is a kind soul welcomed by all. Not a cold ruthless psychopath, who murders others and brags about it. You aren't half the mare she is."
Diane giggled. "There you are accusing me of murder again with nothing in the world to back you up. What's the point? The only way you'll ever get me behind bars is if I tell you I did it, right here, right now."
"Did you?" said Twilight.
Diane set her hooves on the table, squaring her shoulders, just like yesterday. Advancing closer to Twilight, teeth bared in a wide smile.
"I plead the fifth," she whispered.
Fuck your fifth, thought Twilight. She so desperately wanted to hiss the words at the mare front of her and violently beat and choke her out of Pinkie's body. A whirlwind of hatred was whirring inside of her, making her convulse in pure anger.
"Yeah... well," said Twilight in a shaky, barely audible voice that made Diane shiver in delight. "I need to use the restroom."
And with that she got up nervously and trotted out the door.
Shining Armor bit his lower lip. It was still late morning, but he felt as if the exchange had been going on forever. He felt deeply for his sister; it must be one tough ride confronting evil in the form of a person so close to oneself. He could also sympathise with her as he had briefly met Pinkie at his wedding. She struck him, even though their encounter was brief, as the type of mare that was the embodiment of sheer joy. She had been the soul of the party that night. One way or another, Pinkie was not a mare you just forgot about.
But she was a mare of extremes. As bubbly and sweet as she was, she was not immune to breakdowns like everyone else. In fact, thinking about it, Shining assumed Pinkie would be in fact the type to be more prone to breakdowns than anyone else. When she no longer had the strength to shine as a beacon of happiness on everyone... her nerves got the better of her, crushing her mind in like the storm does the garden shack... and leaving in its wake a soul so unstable, and yet so strong, it overtook her personality.
Whoever was this beast Shining was looking at, it was not Pinkie Pie. He didn't have to be an element of harmony to know that.
As he examined her, Shining Armor noticed something about the mare. She was doing absolutely nothing, laid back and cradling her head in her hooves. And yet... he felt some kind of concentration about her, a certain intense focus. She...
She was staring intently at something on the table.
Twilight had gone fuming inside the bathroom of the precinct. But now she was stable again, ready to further the interview, if it could still be called like that. She found out that repeatedly bucking the wall made for effective therapy. Taking one hell of a deep breath, she stepped back inside the interrogation room.
Sitting down in front of Diane, she was ready to attack her with full force this time around. Perhaps she's sitting back right now, she'll be buckling over in mercy when I'm done with her.
"If you want to play games, let's play games," said Twilight.
"Ooh I love games. Especially mind games," said Diane.
Letting out a small sigh, Twilight spent a while plotting what she would say next. She hoped that either saying nothing for once would destabilize Diane somewhat, giving her an opportunity to strike, or that Diane would do the talking and she would wait for the perfect opportunity. But as the silence drew on Twilight was finding herself at a loss for words, and Diane's insolent stare was not helping. Perhaps a little coffee would kickstart her memory.
She lifted the mug and brought it to her lips, taking a warm and comforting slurp. As soon as she did so, Diane reacted. Slowly, her lips stretched into the widest, most devilish grin Twilight had yet seen on her face.
Looking back at Diane while she was drinking, Twilight immediately picked up on the smile. She frowned a little, irritated at how stupid the mare in front of her looked.
"What?" she asked rudely.
Diane didn't budge. Her silly grin grew even wider, if that was possible. Her eyes were boring holes into Twilight's.
"What? What is it?" Twilight asked impatiently. "If you got something to say why don't you just say it already? You like chatting don't you?"
The prolonged silence was making Twilight uneasy. She had planned for this situation to go the other way. She couldn't lose so soon. She was about to send the protocol to hell and lash out when Diane finally answered her.
"How's the coffee?" she asked, with a brief glance at the mug. Her voice sounded drained and raspy, and it was high-pitched, as if she was so jubilant about something she had lost her voice to it.
Twilight was quite taken aback. Subconciously she clutched the mug a little tighter. What about her coffee?
"What?" she asked.
"The coffee. How do you like it? Is it to your taste?" said Diane, sounding more psychotic than ever.
The gastly display was making Twilight quite alert. Why was Diane suddenly so interested about her cof--
It dawned on her, horribly. She'd left the mug in the room while she was out...
It was returning to her at full speed, that sense of dread and utter loss of control she had had yesterday. She was spinning again.
"Diane, did you spike my coffee?" she asked, with the same pitful and vulnerable tone to her voice than yesterday. Only it was worse than yesterday; yesterday she had tried to keep her focus even though it was difficult. Now she wasn't even trying anymore. Panic took an angry hold of her, and she felt her insides churn, waiting in dreadful anticipation for something to attack her guts while she witnessed as Diane's evil smile grew more cruel by the second.
But her brother had been watching!
Looking at the glass pane, Twilight almost yelled. "Did she do anything to my cup?!"
No, she didn't move an inch! sounded the voice of Shining Armor through her concealed headphone. He sounded very afraid as well. He proceeded to call an ambulance immediately.
Twilight looked back at Diane. "Wha... What did you do? What the hell did you do to me?" she yelled. It would've sounded full of rage, if Twilight hadn't been so mortified right now. There was a terrified, shrill edge to her voice that made her yelling sound like a plea for mercy.
Diane giggled, a laughter that echoed insanely in Twilight's head. "Oh, a little something sweet never hurt a soul, after all," she said casually.
Twilight was making herself positively deaf with all the screaming she was doing inside her head, and the sheer whimpering she was making in the room. Her trembling and squirming were destroying her ability to reason, and she was sweating so much you could make out the glistening of her coat, despite being at room temperature. She writhed and convulsed, more from the fear of not knowing if she was feeling the effects of a poison than from what she imagined being poisoned would feel like.
"N- no, no... no, no no no, n- no... no, no!" was the only thing her mind could translate into words, and she shuffled her hooves uncontrollably and looked about her with frantic eyes for nothing in particular.
Diane stood there, erupting in a sick fit of cackling.
"Now!" she suddenly said, and swiftly grabbed hold of both of Twilight's forehooves, resting them on the table, causing her to cry out. Diane's touch was ice cold and made her whole frame spasm violently.
"Now you see," said Diane loudly, outlining every word, as if giving a stern lecture to a disobediant child. "Now you see, what a hard boat to keep afloat sanity really is, Twilight Sparkle. If you want to toy with my brain and play games with it, you had best be prepared to pay that sanity as a price!"
"Please!" pleaded Twilight. She was crying profusely now, cold despair glinting in her large eyes. Her lower lip quivered as she moaned. She was begging Diane for mercy. But Diane was no longer smiling.
"You're all about going into my head aren't you? Then ask yourself this question, Twilight Sparkle! Is it you, that is here inside my head? OR IS IT ME, THAT IS INSIDE YOUR HEAD?!"
Twilight broke free in a terrified yell as Diane finished roaring at her with bloodshot eyes. Instantly she galloped at full speed, still yelling uncontrollably through the corridors of the precinct, like a rat in a maze. Shining Armor managed to get a grip of his struggling sister, who no longer recognized neither her surroundings nor the one holding her. Her brother managed to get her inside the ambulance, with help from a man or two, whose doors shut out her violent cries before driving off. He stood there, utterly shell-shocked at the fast and unexpected development. His ears were whistling, blocking out most of the noise around him. But he could still hear from afar, a certain pink mare laughing uncontrollably in a cackling guffaw, as she was being dragged back unceremoniously to her holding cell.
As the sky grew dark, Shining Armor escorted his sister, draped around in a blanket, out of the hospital. He had gone there immediately after they had called.
The doctor's diagnosis was surprising: There was no trace of poison or any other substance in Twilight's body. Nothing was wrong with her from the start. She'd just been subjected to psychological torture, and had had a nervous breakdown and a panic attack.
Shining Armor was flooded with relief, thanking the doctor eagerly for his help. Twilight also thanked him, but her words sounded dull. Her movements and behaviour were completely numb, and her eyes stayed unfocused and hollow. She looked drained by fatigue as they walked slowly to her flat. Shining offered to stay for the night, but she said she'd be fine on her own. Gingerly, Shining wished her well and set to home himself.
She walked in the appartment, hanging her coat up on a hanger. She went to bed slowly and without a word. She lay down on the mattress. She did nothing but stare at the ceiling for a while.
And then she cried for all she was worth.
Chapter III
"Smile for me, Twilight."
It had been a week. A week to this day since Twilight Sparkle, the intelligent observer of the fragile mind, had been attacked. Shining Armor had been making a mental note of every day since. He felt terribly shook up by the incident, and he couldn't imagine what his sister must be feeling.
In fact he'd been scarcely able to focus on his job, on anything esle ever since. The turmoil of inner conflict clouded his thoughts. On the one side, he was desperately trying to find a solution, some kind of loophole in Diane's devilish calculations.
"They break."
He wondered if he or anyone could "break" Diane. If she could be sent back to where she came from. Did she come from anywhere at all? He imagined that place would be somewhere in Pinkie's subconcious, although he wasn't sure he could even fathom how that actually worked. He imagined some kind of virtual reality where Diane was confined, inside a much more material entity, Pinkie's brain. Were such realities possible? Did Diane ever really exist when no one was seeing her? Was she real, or just an illusion of Pinkie's? It boggled his mind, and he wasn't sure he could face the complexity of all this and come out victorious.
But whenever his resolve faltered, he would think of Twilight. Of how she had been mercilessly reduced to a screaming mess, an animal who couldn't grasp anything due to panic. He thought of her endless screaming.
And he then felt determination, in the form a great, searing desire for revenge. He saw red where there was pink.
And on the other hand, he told himself to be cautious. There were many questions, sure, but he could not afford to let them overwhelm him. Neither could he succumb to blind hatred, rushing in to destroy his opponent, with neither reason nor plan. Against an enemy who used cunning malevolence to worm its way into the mind of others, it would be like rushing to certain death. He realised that's how Diane "broke" others. She provoked, she set the bait for madness, and waited for it to crush down the rash opponent. And he would not let himself, and especially not his sister, suffer that fate.
For a week now he'd been playing back the interrogation tape left behind from last week. It sent shivers down his spine, listening to the cold voice of the pink mare. But he needed to listen. He wished to hear the voice of his brave sister again.
He also wanted to spot the flaws in Diane's line of thought. Admittedly, he was doing a poor job, as he couldn't really discern anything he knew would be a lead. He knew Twilight was the real mind doctor of the force. He smiled weakly as he remembered how as foals everyone always thought of Twilight as an intellectual gem, and of him as the strong bodyguard that shielded it. They'd always been a team, the brains and the brawn. He was an armor to her. He worried, and hoped he hadn't failed her in the end.
"Now you see, what a hard boat to keep afloat sanity really is, Twilight Sparkle."
Shining stopped the tape. He always stopped it at this point, he couldn't bear to go further. He wouldn't go through that again.
But this point in the tape, as dreadful as it was, had a positive effect on Shining Armor. It immediately gave him courage and determination to straighten this situation out. But he knew that if he still had it in him, his poor sister was still suffering terribly, and would not likely find it in her to go on with this case. Not before it was too late at least.
He would like to tell her she had done more than enough, and that he would take over her until the end. But he knew that no matter how much willpower he showed, he wouldn't be able to do this on his own. Twilight was the only one capable of beating Diane at her own game.
He had to save her. It was about time they broke back.
It had been a week. But for Twilight Sparkle, time was no longer, as she lay on her bed and stared endlessly at the ceiling. She wanted nothing. She expected nothing. It wasn't as if she refused it all, but she didn't accept it either. She was indifferent to whether she lived or died. Anything and everything had become worthless to her. Her eyes were devoid of any emotion or will. She no longer sparkled.
Events played in her head that she longer payed attention to. It was as if life was a movie she had seen countless times, and it was playing on a TV while she was in another room, doing something else.
But she could no longer focus on anything at all. She watched the ceiling because it was in front of her as she forgot to eat, forgot to sleep, and lay in the dark of her room, without a soul. She had shut down, and let silence claim her every thought and memory.
She still had the courtesy to open the door when the bell rang though. Her friends had all payed her a visit, probably told by Shining Armor about the last time she had gone to work. But that was all it was though. She opened the door and mechanically said hello to them, staring right through them into oblivion, unchanged by whichever face happened to pop up in front of her. They had all been very kind to recognize that this was not simply rude behaviour on her part, but rather a sign that their friend was more in need than ever. The incident with her being late for giving her weekly report to Princess Celestia was just a joke in comparaison.
And so their encounters were brief, often resuming themselves to one pony coming in, asking her if she was well, only to recieve a short, unconvincing 'yes', and leaving her for fear of interfering too much with the unicorn's recovery. Their wishes of her getting better and all their advice and comforting fell on deaf ears. Rarity had even set up a tea meeting with all of them, but Twilight had not showed up. They thought it would be wiser not to bother her and ask her why that was. Besides, they all knew the reason anyway.
All this worry, for Twilight as they felt her whisking away from this life, but also for their dear friend Pinkie, of whom they only knew that she was in a faraway place only Twilight could go to rescue her, was splitting the seams of the harmony that was their friendship.
Twilight was unaware of this. But she couldn't be blamed. Things had stopped registering themselves in her conscience. She was now an empty shell of useless, corrupted wisdom.
Eventually she got up, after another session of countless hours of nothing. She needed to go to the bathroom. Moving slowly and without a sound to the bathroom door, she used her hoof to push it open, having not used her magic ever since that day.
When she entered, she was greeted by the only thing that could cause any feeling inside her at all anymore. She gazed at it with shrunken, shaking pupils.
Diane was right there.
In her bathroom. Covered in blood.
Paralyzed by what she saw, she watched in horror as Diane, smiling like a pink scarecrow of madness, brought a hoof to her mouth and licked some blood slowly off of it.
"Mmm. Juicy."
Twilight could feel cold sweat sliding down her burning temples, and her veins pulsing in fast rhythm as her heart pounded strong enough to break through its bony cage.
"You're still mine. I guarantee... you will never forget that," said Diane, raising slowly and surely a grotesque butcher knife bearing black splotches. Her voice had changed, and she had many now, her usual, and much darker, twisted, sinister ones. To Twilight, they were the many voices of hell itself.
She ran as fast as she could out of the bathroom, moaning in fear. She ran straight to her bed where she burried her face as deep as physically possible in her covers, writhing as she struggled to control herself.
After a while, when her panting had returned to a nearly normal rate, she took a cautious peek from behind her pillow at the bathroom door. Nothing was there. It was wide open, and she could see the place where Diane stood moments earlier. She was no longer there. In fact she had never been, Twilight thought as she realised she had simply hallucinated.
She set herself back on her back in her usual do-nothing position. She looked at the familiar blank ceiling, panting a little before stopping and closing her lips. Closing her eyes as well, she let out a long sigh.
Nothing happened for a while. Anyone walking in on her right now would have assumed she was sleeping peacefully. Then her lips started to quiver, and her eyes scrunched a bit.
She started crying loudly, for no one to hear, as the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. For the first in many days, she felt a strong tidal wave of emotions, as if she had been holding a week's worth back. She would have been glad to feel a little alive again, but all these emotions were all negative. They were sadness, fear, despair, but also frustration, hatred, a deadly loathing for the mare in pink.
It was her lack of food, of fresh air, that was getting the best of her. Madness had come, and taken everything from her. She was left with nothing. Nothing but tears.
And the disturbing stare of the mare in pink hanging over her like a guillotine.
Shining Armor walked up the stairs of the building of his sister's appartment. He arrived at her flat and knocked. There was no response for a while, until a voice sounded through the door. It was Twilight.
"Who is it?" she asked.
Shining Armor immediately felt a pang of sadness. His sister's voice sounded so weak. He'd come every day for the past week, and knew of course how deeply wounded she was, but her voice had usually sounded just... sleepy, if he could call it like that. Now it was desperate and fleeting, like a candle flame burning on what last few drops of wax were left.
"It's me," said a concerned Shining Armor. "Can I come in?"
There was a brief pause. "The door's open," said Twilight miserably.
Oh god, though Shining Armor. Now he was worried. Ususally she came to open the door herself. He could feel her slipping away from where he was.
He entered the appartment. The air had a stale quality to it from being unkept. Quickly, Shining Armor went to his sister's bedside where he found her gazing into space. He noticed heavy creases under her eyes, and unkept strands of purple hair scattered messily above them, although she seemed to take no notice. She had returned to her catatonic state.
"Twilight," he said, a worried edge to his voice. "Are you okay?"
He knew it was a silly question to ask, but he needed to ask it nonetheless. She did not answer, or show any sign of acknowledgement that he was there.
"Oh, Twilight...I'm... I'm so sorry this had to happen to you," he said sadly. He kneeled down by her bedside, and gently put his forehead on hers. He delicately took her right hoof in his own. She offered no resistance. Tired and weary, Shining felt himself crumble and decided to let it all out.
"I know how things are. Things are so tough right now. And I understand nothing seems to matter anymore since your friend was robbed of you by that demon. But you have to hold on, Twilight. You have to hold on for me. You have to hold on for your friends, who love you, and think of you every second that goes by. And most of all you have to hold on because there is a friend of yours out there who needs your help, stuck in a dark place only you can pull her out of. You have to face the darkness that's taken hold of her, and dispel it so you can move on both to a brighter future. So please, Twily, please... please don't let go."
She said sothing, and only her slow and shallow breathing showed she was still there. After what seemed like an eternity to Shining Armor, she finally spoke.
"I saw her today," she whispered.
Shining Armor lifted his head as soon as she had spoken. He didn't really understand what she meant, but hung on to the first thought Twilight had shared with him in a long while.
"What?" he asked.
"Today. I saw Diane in my bathroom," she said.
She turned slightly to face an incredulous Shining Armor.
"I went to the bathroom, and she was there. She was... oh, it was just horrible. I ran in fright, and when I looked behind me, she was gone. It was just a dream."
She turned back to face the ceiling.
"But it made me realise something. That whenever I think of that pink mare... who do I see? Not so long ago, I would have told you it was a young girl with a fluffy mane called Pinkie Pie. But today, I look inside my memories... and all I see is her."
She paused. Tears formed slowly under her eyes and slid gracefully down her face.
"She used to be so happy, Shining. She used to be so bubbly, and made everyone smile. When things were pitch-black and serious, she always showed us that there was a light in everything dark. She made us laugh and cry, and no matter how eccentric she got, it was always worth it. She was a kind soul no one could replace. She was the one, who taught me there was something in this world of which I could never have imagined the power. A magic that couldn't be taught in books and which was greater than any magic that was. That there was so much more than what I could learn and make mine, that it was there inside of everyone."
Her voice sounded damp with tears. Shining felt the tears welling up as well.
"But now... now she's gone," Twilight said shakily. "She's gone, and who's that mare in pink that made me smile when I saw her, the one who taught me how to love and the value of making friends? Now there's a devil in her place, a monster that knows no love or feeling but the greed of power over others. She stole everything bright in my life and she turned it to ash... now that magic has run out, and without it she'll crush me and everything I hold dear!"
Halfway through her talking Twilight had been overtaken by sheer emotion again. She held nothing back that she could feel any longer, and had difficulty pushing the last of her words through all the crying she was doing. Yet it felt somewhat good. Tremendous weight had just been lifted off of her. She felt like a great, stone-cold dam had burst inside her. But it didn't make her forget that things were still terribly bleak.
Shining Armor was very much shook up by what he had just heard. But in a curious way, he felt more joy out of all of this than pain. His sister was back. She was talking again, and no longer just in short answers. He had thought she might have been too far gone. But she was still there. There was still a chance.
"Listen, Twily," he said with composure. "No matter how much of a challenge Diane presents, she can also be broken. I know it. And you will be the one who beats her. I can only imagine how a big a task it is. I mean, I can't possibly know. But what I do know is that you can't possibly do this alone. And neither can I. You need to face this madness. You are so brave, I know you can do it... let me help you. We'll overcome this, you, me, and Pinkie as well. We won't be reduced to this ugly state."
Twilight turned to face her brother again. He was pleading her not to give up, and for the first time she felt sensitive to his distress. She realised how much every one of her friends cared for her, and how she'd grossly overlooked that. And how, without Pinkie, none of this would have been possible. If she had found herself alone, she would have stayed alone until she faded away. She couldn't just give up and let herself go like this. She had to get up and fight back, for Pinkie's sake. She felt that if she didn't, it would mean disrespecting Pinkie and nullifying everything she was about. She would then be the one who had erased Pinkie, not Diane.
Diane. Diane. She was the one, the source of this chaos, the enemy of her soul. Thinking about her heated a forgotten feeling in Twilight, rapidly mounting to her head in an angry surge. It was determination. Resolve. Love of life in the face of a being that cherished nothing.
She was ready to go back. No, to go forward.
She clasped Shining Armor's hoof and gave him a weak smile.
"I'm ready," she told him.
Her brother gave her a huge smile of relief. Leaning in closer, he spoke.
"Let me tell you how we'll do it. I got a plan."
The next day, two figures walked steadily down the familiar corridors of the police headquarters. They turned every single head they passed by, without a word or second glance.
Twilight Sparkle, the shrink who'd been tortured by that scary prisoner no one knew of save for the many rumours going on, was back.
It had only been a week, but in the end it had been a long week for everyone concerened or not. They all watched as she walked with that famous stoic gaze of hers. But there was something more to her now. Something strong one could just feel about her. She had a new, cool aura about her. It felt like experience, as if she had paid all her dues, gone through all her share of hardships, leaving her nothing to lose. It was quite intimidating, but it was also alluring in some way. A few male employees considered asking her out for coffee at the end of the day.
Walking together with Shining Armor, case file and tape recorder at the ready, Twilight arrived in front of the notorious Interrogation Room 03. They were about to separate, Twilight entering the white room, and her brother going to his usual post behind the glass pane. They looked at each other.
"You good?" asked Shining.
"No more games," said Twilight.
"Let's go grab a drink when this is over. With all five of your friends. Sound good?"
Twilight looked at him thoughtfully. "Sounds good," she said.
She walked inside. Here goes.
Sure enough, Diane was there. As always, she sat laid back, her hooves resting at the base of her neck, knowing nothing could attain her.
She was almost getting bored. They told her she was being interrogated today. This had surprised her. Could it be... her? No, surely not. She'd left quite remarkably last time, and it was doubtful she would ever come back. Diane thought about the little number she had pulled off last time... it made her shiver with glee.
But look who was here? It was indeed her, Twilight Sparkle. Back from the dead, as it were. She could not seriously expect to win more terrain today. Or had she learned nothing from last time? It was making her grin widely, that she could play with this mare's sanity without mercy, and her colleagues would offer her seconds. They were either foolish, or treacherous. She hoped for the latter, for it would mean they knew what an undefeatable foe she was and wanted to see the purple stuck-up get what was coming to her. Magic.
Twilight went to the table, and sat down. She looked at the pink mare that was already grinning victoriously at her.
She was surprised that despite all that had happened, despite the fresh wound not yet healed in her head, one that would no doubt leave a permanant scar... She was not afraid one bit by the mare opposite her. She had expected to be unable to see her, even from afar, before breaking down again. But now that she was there, sitting mere inches away from her, Diane seemed unimpressive to her. There was neither a scary, nor an ominous way about her anymore. It was something Twilight could stand up to.
But she didn't feel any more boosted by this thought. Not that she wasn't confident; she could just no longer feel moved by what stood before her. It was over; she had crossed a great line of illusion. Madness was no longer foreign to her.
But for the frontier she had passed, what a toll she had payed. She had been stripped of some of her feelings, and had been hardened by her last encounter with Diane. She felt nothing for this mare; nor fear, nor pity, nor the blind anger she had felt so many times before. Emotions were out of the window when it came to dealing with a creature who had no heart to recieve them anyway.
She had payed a bit of her soul. But she knew now it was the price to pay to end this fight.
"You had best be prepared to pay that sanity as a price!"
She had payed it now. She was complete.
Slowly she picked up the tape recorder. Never breaking eye contact with Diane, she pressed the record button.
"This is message log number 3," she said in a cold, quiet voice.
Diane expected her to go on a little further. When Twilight didn't, she raised an eyebrow, and nibbled her lower lip.
"Surely that's not good protocol," she said.
Twilight took notice of how familiar that voice of Diane's had become. When they first met, Twilight thought it was sinister. Now she thought nothing of it. They were mock words that left no impact for her to feel.
She said nothing. Today she would not open the discussion. She'd said everything she had to say. Well, almost everything.
After a long while, Diane made a move. She put a forehoof on the table and waved the other one in Twilight's face. But Twilight just stood there, elbows resting on the table, hooves over her mouth, a studying look played across her face.
"Hellooo? Anypony in there?" said Diane mockingly. "My god, I thought I had at least a little effect on you with my little trick from last time. But now it's like it left you utterly speechless!" she cackled.
"Oh, but it did," said Twilight without raising her voice above the murmur it was. "For a solid week."
"Yeah, well, not a very good trait you want to have as an interrogator. You might wanna keep that in mind."
"I've told you everything I wanted to tell you."
Diane was actually a little surprised for a second. "Well, that is what you came to do today, right? Interrogate me?"
Twilight looked away and shrugged, giving a small makeshift pout. "Who knows?" she asked.
Now Diane was a little stumped. It was nagging her. "Who knows?" she asked back, with a little annoyance.
"Yeah," said Twilight casually. "Who knows? You know all the rules of the game here. I don't have to remind you of any protocol, you seem to know just fine what it is. I come in, and we talk about the case that brings you here today. And if you cooperate, we can get some interrogation going on over here, if that's what you'd like."
"Cooperate?" asked Diane defiantly. She was back to her scornful self. "Oh are you still on about cooperating, Twilight Sparkle? You silly goose, we've been over this! What do you expect me to cooperate about! There was a murder, and I'm the ideal candidate for such a deed, but you have not a piece of evidence, not even a word against me! You have a neat little case file, and you have that little tape of yours, but you d--"
"What tape?" cut in Twilight Sparkle effortlessly.
Diane stopped talking, looked at her incomprehensively. "Pardon?"
"What tape?" repeated Twilight. She took the tape recorder and opened it in front of Diane, who looked at it with a hollow expression.
It was empty.
"There's no tape in here," said Twilight innocently.
Slowly, Diane lifted her eyes up to meet Twilight's own. She wore a very dark look.
"If you thought I would put in a different tape every day just for you, you overestimate your importance, I'm afraid," said Twilight, unfazed.
There was a small, heavy silence.
"You said this was message log number 3" said Diane, her tone low and murderous.
"I did. Protocol," said Twilight
The tension would have been unbearable to anyone in that room, and to Twilight, a few days ago. There were some very, very dark intentions brewing in the air. But now that Twilight was master of herself, there were now two ponies in this Interrogation Room, not just one, that could deal with it.
Though perhaps Diane was having some trouble after all. Twilight observed the way she was looking at her. Her eyes were low, her pupils mere dots, covered in the shadow of her brow. Those eyes of hers could have been made of fire, as they were practically glowing with raw hatred. She was not hiding the gnashing of her teeth.
"You..." she said, in a low, severe grumble.
Twilight's eyes squinted a little.
"Me."
Diane was shaking like a kettle about to burst. And like steam, fury blew its lid off in a bang.
"FINE!" she roared, banging her hooves hard against the table's surface, virtually foaming at the mouth. "You win, Twilight Sparkle, you win! I did it! I killed the two sluts! I did it, because I needed to destroy something worthless, and by god did I enjoy it!! I had no reason to do it, I told you so, it wasn't complexly thought out. I needed to kill, because that's what I do! And you know what, Twilight Sparkle? They screamed, oh yes they SCREAMED so hard it would blow your ears apart!!"
After the fast-paced heated monologue, Diane slowly spoke to Twilight. "But it wasn't anywhere near as loud, or delectable, as the screams of terror you fed me the last time, and when I think about it today, I realise I would never kill you, ever, if it meant I could hear your shrill cries of delirium again!" she hissed acidly.
"That's nice," said Twilight.
Diane slowly sat back, looking at Twilight as if the latter had slapped her mid-sentence. She had said it as if they were discussing clothing tastes around a nice cup of tea. Had she even listened to any of that?
Neither said anything, until Twilight let out a big sigh and spoke.
"You see, Diane," she started in a weary, matter-of-fact tone, "I hope you had a nice week off these last few days. I, unfortunately, did not, but it allowed me to do a lot of thinking. And I learned something from it."
She edged closer and looked at Diane without emotion.
"When we first met, there was something that struck me about you. You had this... grandeur about you, an ominous feel that made me act carefully when adressing you. You were a killer, after all; it would've left an impression on anyone. For me it was a challenge, an intricate obstacle that promised sure knowledge and wisdom, once I had cracked your head open and revealed its secrets. And when I tried to rise above it to get the upper hand, and the truth out of you, it was this mysterious feeling you had that threw me off the mental balance. You even used it to attack me, with that coffee stunt. And we both thought that it would rock me off the hinges of my mind so much, that it would be the end of me as a sane person."
She got even closer. At this rate she was invading Diane's personal space. She didn't care.
"It broke me. I could no longer focus on anything but what you had inflicted upon me. And it made me fearful, depressive even, for I knew that that pink body wasn't yours to begin with. You had stolen it from another, one of my very dearest friends, whom I started to miss very, very much. I made myself crazy with fear, that I would never see her again, and that I would lose her to a psychotic soul.
And then suddenly, it hit me. All of this thinking, this analyzing, this worrying... it was all part of my unrelentant efforts to tear you down, to overcome you. I thought you were a demon, a strong one who had violated the shell of another soul. But what if that was what you wanted from the start? What if, by trying to win over you by force, I was unwillingly in fact feeding you all the force I used, by making you out to be some sort of mighty foe? I thought about it. In the end... it's quite simple. You're not such a challenge at all aren't you? A violent, disturbed personality, who knows nothing but how to kill and torture... you fuel this drive by making yourself out to be an important threat. But you are no such threat. You are not a demon.
The truth is, my friend Pinkie, as adorable as she is, is prey to a mental disorder called schizophrenia. She's prone to breaking down so badly, eventually, that she clouds her own self in an illusion. She forfeits her mind to a strong, inflexible personality, that she deliberately creates to be unlike her in every way, as she imagines she is nothing but weakness. You are that personality, Diane. You think you are real, but you're not. You're just one side of a coin.
And that's how I knew I would break you. Because you're neither a demon, nor a monster, nor a challenge. You're not even a threat. You are nothing but a disease, Diane. And I will not treat you differently than the cancer you are."
For the first time, Diane had lost the ball.
She stood there, helplessly, as Twilight exposed her, through words. She had been reduced to the shadow of another pony. A stupid, childish, irresponsible mare who could do no good, and would smile foolishly at everything and anything.
She trembled with a mixture of helplesness and loathing. She would not be ridiculed like this.
"You will not get away with this," she said through gritted teeth.
Twilight threw her a quizzical look
"What do you think you're doing?" she continued. "Exposing your oh-so-dear friend like this. You just told me it was Pinkie who was really the person in front of you. Are you prepared to declare this, right after I admitted my guilt?!" she gave a loud, nervous laugh. "You'll be sending her straight to jail for life!!"
"No I won't," said Twilight without missing a beat.
She took the empty tape recorder and dangled it in front of Diane.
"How can anyone prove anything about this case?" she said. "There's not a single recorded piece of evidence pointing towards her as the murderer. No confession. No evidence of her presence there. Not a thing."
At this point Diane was no longer smiling.
"But rest assured. I don't have anything against you either," said Twilight. She then edged so close to the pink mare, who was getting quite uncomfortable, that she only spoke in an eerie whisper the next words.
"But does it matter? After all, you'll be gone by the time we finish this talk. Pinkie will be in your place. The case will be shut without any more evidence. I'll take care of Pinkie. Schizophrenia can be held at bay with the proper medication. You will have been nothing but a short-lived parasite."
"Who cares about evidence? Why, I bet with all the screaming I did, someone outside these walls is bound to have heard my confession!" said Diane.
Twilight sat back, and looked away at the walls. Diane waited a while, and allowed herself a cautious, mischevious grin. She had won. Twilight Sparkle had made a commendable effort, but now she had nothing. She had lost the back and forth! She would never see her friend again, and things would not just blow over like she wanted them to.
"I always wondered what the holes in these walls were for..." said Twilight wondrously.
She looked back at Diane, whose smirk had vanished.
"Turns out they're for cancelling noise," she said.
Diane's mind raced. No!
"What has transpired in this room tonight, no one will ever know of. It was lost forever in these little holes..."
There! thought Twilight.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it. It jolted her senses, but she made an effort to let nothing show on her face. On Diane's perfectly straight mane, a few strands of hair were starting to curl and increase in volume.
But the pink nightmare was not done yet.
"An illness? Is that what you think I am?" she asked through gritted teeth. "Well let me tell you something that clearly you've shut out. This disease of yours beat you senseless in a mental arm-wrestle the other day. You forget, you idiotic slut, that mental states are what I know best! If I want to, I can snap your pretty nerves again like twigs. Just give me an opportunity, and by god I swear I will rip your brain to shreds you will struggle to pick up, while I--"
"No you won't, Pinkie," said Twilight in a clear voice.
More hairs wormed their way into curls. "What did you call me?" said Diane in incredulous anger. She knew the answer, but would not hear it.
Twilight sensed fatigue and, for the first time, fragility in the pink mare's voice. It was time to deliver the coup de grace.
"Pinkie, you won't do what you say," she said in a warm, comforting tone. "Because no matter how much you think you are this dark soul, it's just not you."
The pink mare stared at Twilight, breathing heavily. Her expression alternated quickly between fear and furiousness. "No..." she growled.
"I miss you Pinkie. We all miss you, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow and Fluttershy, they all miss you. Let's go home, Pinkie."
The mare opposite Twilight, whoever she was now, was writhing and cracking up. "No..." she continued.
Quickly, it escalated into a torrent of cascading cries. "No, no, no, no, no, no...!". Some were filled with venimous hatred from Diane, others were conflicted sobs from a new personality Twilight had not seen in a long time.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!" As the pink mare struggled to be taken by one of the two facets of her mind battling for contol, the last hairs of her mane curled in frizzled pink strands and blew up in the familiar shape of cotton candy. Hot tears poured down her glowing blue eyes. Twilight closed hers as she felt tears of her own slowly forming. But they were tears of a different nature. It was over soon.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!"
And with a last deafining yell, Pinkie Pie crumbled to the floor in an uncontrollable fit of painful crying. Twilight rushed to her side, immediately cradling her.
"I'm sorry!!" said Pinkie in a damp, heartbreaking cry as she huddled against Twilight.
"Shh, it's okay, Pinkie," she said, as she stroked the mane of the pink pony who cried loudly and twitched while Twilight released tears of joy, letting them flow freely and silently. "It's all over now."
From behind the glass pane, a speechless Shining Armor admired the scene in great relief, although it was taking him time to fully comprehend the situation. He admired his sister. She really was the greatest damn shrink in the whole force.
"To Pinkie! And to Twilight!"
The close circle of six ponies cheered as they raised their glasses in unison at the table of a small bar, attracting many curious glances from the other customers. Twilight reveled in what was now finally the time for celebration and harmony. Pinkie was not present however, still too fragile and emotionally shook to participate; Twilight herself was exhausted. The pink pony, the real Pinkie Pie, was currently sleeping at the precinct for one final night under the cover of police security.
From the next day on, she would follow rehabilitation therapy in a psychiatric ward, where she would be comissioned but still would be allowed a little time to see her friends every day. After a while she would be allowed residence in the flat she still owned, and would be given medication she would have to take rigorously and for life. Twilight thought that telling her to imagine it was a free supply of special, Pinkie-exclusive candy for life would make things much easier for her.
In the midst of all the festivities, Shining Armor walked in the bar. The pony heads turned to face him.
"Well if it ain't Shinin' Armor, also hero of the day, I reckon!" clamored Applejack, clearly making the best of the drinking streak she had going on against Rainbow Dash's. "Surely ya'll come chug down a few o' these here babies with us?"
Shining gave a hearty laugh at the suggestion. "Thanks a ton Applejack, but I gotta get going. I need to check on Pinkie's well being at the precinct tomorrow. I just came to have a quick word with Twilight and I'll leave you to it."
Applejack gave him for an answer a suggestive wink before returning to her beverage. Blushing slightly at the gesture, Twilight got up and went to see her brother.
"Hey," she said peacefully. Shining Armor felt warm inside; it was good to see his sister smiling again.
"Shining, I... thanks again. Thank you so much for your help," she continued.
Shining Armor brushed the air with his hoof. "Uh unh," he said, indicating he disagreed. "You did a pro's work tonight Twilight. And you owe this victory entirely to yourself. I had nothing to do with this."
"But you did!" Twilight argued. "It was you who came up with the whole No Tape plan! I may have psychological smarts, but without your help in technical matters, I could have never gotten through to a solution like that". Shining Armor was about to protest, when Twilight continued. "And you didn't just save Pinkie tonight. You saved me. If it weren't for you... I probably would have killed myself with sadness and exhaustion. You pulled me through and gave me the courage I needed when all I could see was failure. You... Thank you, Shining. Thank you so much."
She embraced him in a great hug. When they broke it, Shining looked at her with a slightly serious expression.
"I came to tell you something," he said. "What we did today... purposefully not taking any record of the interrogation. We might have saved Pinkie from jail... but we did a pretty sneaky thing. We concealed evidence, in the form of a critical confession. This case is going to be investigated before it gets shut down eventually. And when it is, we're going to have to explain the change of personality in our prime suspect in a way that makes flawless sense. No one can know of this but us. If the truth gets out, we will be in very serious trouble." He lowered is voice as he continued. "I just wanted to make sure you understood we broke the law today, and we can't afford to be careless about it. Do you understand?"
Twilight looked back at her brother with an expression that surprised him. It was that cold, stoic stare. The very same one she used to interrogate Pinkie's alter-ego hours ago. Seeing it for the first time, and not behind a tinted glass pane, was quite unsettling for the stallion.
"What we did today was illegal. We could go to jail for what we did, and I understand that," she said with seriousness. "But we did it for a good cause. We saved a life today. Surely that's gotta count for something. And if this is the reward we obtain, hitting under the belt and bending legal formalities is a risk I will take to do the right thing. I don't fundamentally approve of what what we did, but I don't regret it either."
There was a serious pause between the two of them, before Shining continued, with a smirk.
"Would you like me to take all of that down for the Princess?"
Twilight Sparkle giggled. It was indeed quite the load of lessons she had learned in the last few days. She had learned to appreciate life more than ever before. And to appreciate the value of having friends by your side. It was truly a matter of life or death, she thought, as she looked at them now, feeling a little ashamed at how she had blocked them out in her depressive state...
"Hey," said Shining Armor putting a hoof under her chin. "You okay?"
She gave him a weak but sincere smile. "I'll mend," she said.
And with that she returned to the festive table. Shining Armor watched her, and knew she was right. She would mend what mental wounds she had, because she had her friends, and she had time. And time, like a blissful river, mended all hurts and wounds alike.
THE END
Tape
Chapter I
"Officer Twilight Sparkle, reporting for duty, sir!"
The stallion officer she had spoken to turned around from the papers he was examining behind his desk. She was standing rigidly before him and looking back at him with what could be called a professional expression. After examining her silently, the officer chuckled heartily. The way she had come in with a steadfast pace and how she was looking and speaking to him with such seriousness. It was almost cute.
"You really don't have to keep it up so much around here, Twily. Especially with me."
Twilight's brow furrowed a little.
"Shining I just want to make a good impression. I have to keep a professional façade with everyone working here, at all times."
"C'mon, with your big brother?"
Twilight gave a little sigh and decided to drop the issue.
"Coffee?" asked her brother.
"Thanks."
He poured her a hot mug, which she magically levitated, taking a cautious sip.
"Alright, so where is she?"
Shining nodded towards a nearby room. The plate on the door read "Interrogation Room 03". She looked at it, and felt an imperceptible shiver run down her spine. It was just a door, one she had passed in front of many times. But now that she knew what was currently behind it, an ominous feel surrounded it like the magic surrounding her cup. She'd been called yesterday about this particular job, being told she had "personal interest" in this case. She'd accepted as soon as she'd heard the shocking news, and she welcomed the cup of coffee she had, as she'd had trouble sleeping yesterday. This was no ordinary mental breakdown case. Her friends didn't know about it yet, but she decided it wouln't be a good idea to trouble them with that right now.
"Are you sure you want to do this? I can get someone else to do this if you'd like," said her brother, breaking her from her trance. She did look a little nervous.
Gravely, but with a certain confidence, she nodded to him.
"Yes, I can do this."
Shining nodded back, looking at his papers, twirling a pencil with magic of his own.
"Then she's all yours," he said.
Twilight stepped into the interrogation room. Closing the door behind her, she sat down at the plastic table in the center of the room, coffee and case file at the ready.
It was already a purposefully unsettling room. The lighting was bright, and sickly pale. The walls, made of a large grid of metal tiles with many small holes, reflected this lighting all around. She never understood why these holes were there, or if they served any purpose. The decoration was scarce, to say the least: there was a small plastic table in the middle, two chairs, white as well, and the large window pane of a contrasting, unrevealing black, although everyone who watched TV knew it was one way see-through glass.
And of course, the other person in the room. A pink mare in this case. Her hair was as straight as daggers.
She sat there, chin resting on her hooves, elbows resting on the table. She wore no expression but a sly grin.
Twilight sat down in front of her. Yesterday she was her friend. Today, she was the suspect.
There was a graveyard silence hanging in the room. And like a spectre, it haunted the atmosphere, as the two mares looked at each other dead in the eye, one unwavering, the other calculating.
After a while of this contemplating of the situation, Twilight spoke with calm composure.
"Hello Pinkie."
The other mare grinned a little more and spoke as well.
"Well good morning to you too Twilight."
Twilight tensed up. This mare sounded nothing like the Pinkie Pie she knew and loved. She had a mocking tone to her voice, and spoke in a distinctively lower key. She reminded Twilight in this instant more of Discord or Chrysalis, rather than Pinkie. It sent a shiver, but also a sharp pang of sadness coursing through her. Nonetheless she only inhaled and stood a little straighter, giving away nothing, internally vowing to herself to deal with this swiftly and effectively.
"Let's get this over with," she said. Ignoring the dark smirk on Pinkie's face, she took out from beneath the papers she had brought in a tape recorder. She looked at the glass pane. She needed someone to look at while saying this, and she could feel Shining Armor's gaze from behind the window, no doubt moodily admiring the show. She took a small breath and clicked the recorder on.
"This is message log number 1 for case file number 165902. The date is August 12, 2012. Officer Twilight Sparkle conducting the interrogation of suspect Pinkamena Diane Pie."
The latter gave a soft cackle that made Twilight feel a little hollow.
"Oh, my little Twilight. You were always so organized."
Twilight looked at her with a sideways glance.
"You don't know me," she said coolly.
"Oh? How do you figure? I mean I am litteraly the first pony you stumbled upon back in Ponyville. I threw a nice party for you and everything. Oh the many things we've been through together... I do miss those days," said the pink mare with a giggle.
Twilight instantly picked up on how unusually slow and rather little this pony spoke. She decided she would not let this imposter get the upper hand.
"If you are insinuating that we have a history of friendship together, you are mistaken. I have a long standing friendship with Pinkie Pie. And not with you..." Twilight sat straighter in her chair, now focusing solely on the mare opposite her.
"... Diane."
Diane, as she was called, mimicked a pout with a little smile to it.
"Awww. Are you saying you don't know me?"
"Yes. You're a stranger to me. And a cold blooded murderer to boot." She was determined to keep a level-headed poker face the whole way through.
Diane dropped the pouting act and laid back in her chair, hooves behind her neck, stretching out.
"Then why did you introduce me as her on your little tape?" she asked. It didn't sound like a question though. It sounded like a challenge.
"For professional purposes. In fact let's keep it on that side, shall we?"
"As you wish."
Twilight picked up the tape recorder and held it closer to both of them.
"I'm going to ask you some very specific questions, and you shall answer them honestly. You will give answers relative to the case at hand. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law. Do you understand?"
"Yes," said Diane. She seemed amused.
"Will you cooperate?"
"Now what's the point in asking me a question like that, hmm?"
"Just answer the question, Diane."
She put her hooves on the table and edged, slowly, a little closer to the recorder, lips slightly parted in a mischievous smile. She hadn't once broken her gaze since Twilight had walked in. Not even once. It made Twilight nervous, and Diane was making her blood boil with anger. But she would not let it show. In an even lower and quieter tone, barely above a whisper, Diane answered the question.
"I don't know, will you?"
Twilight made an effort to keep up her own gaze. I guess you're not, she thought. I'll have to force you.
She set the recorder down and pulled the case file before her.
"Now according to the case file, you were found at the scene of the crime. Do you admit being there?"
"There's little sense in denying it. Silly."
"You don't have an alibi for yourself?"
"Nope."
Twilight raised her eyebrows a little.
"But the case file says you were splattered in blood. Do you admit to that as well?"
Diane grinned.
"As I said, no sense in denying it. Or will you believe me if I tell you it was cupcake frosting? Because that's what it was of course."
That cheeky grin of her's was playing on Twilight's nerves like wildfire. She would make it a personal honor to wipe it off. She would get her friend back.
"Two bodies were found, seriously mutilated. Their throats were slit, and showed multiple stab wounds and cuts, as well as multiple contusions." Twilight said the words with difficulty, and through gritted teeth. She knew Diane was lapping them up. From the corner of her eye Twilight could feel a huge, crooked smile, spread on the other mare's face as she was reading the case details. She tried to ignore it, but it threatened to break her concentration. But she had to state it all for the sake of protocol.
When she had finished, Diane giggled, completely unfazed.
"That must have been quite the scene," she said.
"You tell me, you were there."
"... Yes, it was quite the scene."
"The report also states that there was the word..." Twilight paused at the weirdness of what she was reading. She could feel Diane begging her to go on, as if waiting impatiently for some twisted crescendo.
"... the word 'Smile' painted in large bloody letters on the wall at the scene, is that correct?"
To Twilight's surprise, Diane looked genuinely thoughtful. She raised a hoof to her chin and spoke to herself.
"Was it Smile? I thought it was Happy?"
Tapping her hoof with her chin, mouth slightly agape, Diane looked at Twilight who was observing her. After a moment, she stopped tapping her chin and her lips curled into a toothy smile.
"Heh. I forget," she said in a whisper, drawing out the words.
Enough.
Twilight stared into Diane's deceptively sky blue eyes. In Twilight's mind she had stolen them from Pinkie, like she had stolen everything else. She was going to make that bitch understand she wouldn't bend under the pressure that was being applied to her. That she would come out of this victorious, hoof in hoof with Pinkie.
"Let's just cut to the chase, ok Diane?"
"Sure. I like... cutting."
"Why don't you just tell me why you did it?"
Diane's reply was a cackle and a snort. They were loud and harsh.
"I didn't kill those two ponies!" she said in a fit of creepy laughter.
"Yeah, no way, you were just there at the time, which is no alibi, and you were covered in the victims' blood."
"And I suppose you have proof that the blood found on me belonged to them?"
Twilight stumbled on that one. It was true that they didn't have any such proof.
"We're waiting for lab results," she simply replied, without any emotion at all.
"Yeah I thought so. Save yourselves the trouble".
Twilight raised a mental eyebrow at that one. Was Diane saying what Twilight thought she as saying?
"Are you saying you know the lab results will prove that the blood found on you was indeed that of the victims?"
"Of course not. I'm saying that it will prove anything but that." A second or two passed before Diane resumed. "Or am I...?" She gave yet another insincere giggle. Twilight was taking upon herself not to choke her right there on the spot.
"But who else's blood could it possibly be with that kind of amount?" she asked.
"I dunno, said Diane. I really don't care. And neither will a judge, by the way. Having hunches is nice and all, but without evidence, you don't have shit. But... let's say I killed those two... I believe they were whores?"
Twilight perked up at that statement. Checking the case file she said,
"Yes, the two of them were indeed prostitutes."
"Whatever, nobody misses them anyway. Ok then let's imagine that I did them in."
She leaned in closer to Twilight, just like before. She looked at her with those hungry, callous eyes. And she started licking her lips. It was all Twilight could do not to grimace and keep showing she wouldn't be destabilized by this freak. She figured Diane was doing so because she knew that by saying something so close to an actual confession, Twilight's interest would be considerably piqued, and she would be in a hightened state of alert or anticipation. A mental state killers craved, and sought in their panic stricken victims. She probably felt such a thrill, by thinking she was in control of Twilight by waving the carrot in her face like that. It was there, but not yet in the unicorn's grasp. There was still no real confession to use here. And Diane knew it.
"Would you like to know why I would do such a thing?"
And perhaps she was right. Perhaps Twilight was succumbing to this teasing... No, thought Twilight. I can't let her win me over like this.
"I'll be the one leading this interrogation, Diane. But yes, I would like to know why you'd do it."
There was a long silence in the room thereafter. So long it was positively screaming inside Twilight's head. She couldn't help but feel Diane was drawing out this silence on purpose to regain control, like a wild beast struggling not to be tamed. She armed herself with patience.
"Smile for me, Twilight."
After this deadly silence, the words that Diane had just uttered shocked her like a surprise gunshot.
"I'm sorry?" she cracked. She was no longer able to keep a stoic confident tone. She sounded genuinely bewildered, and her voice was fragile. This wasn't good.
Diane picked up on that and tried to add just a little less cheekiness and a little more command to her own voice. The control of the situation was shifting to her side.
"I said smile for me."
Twilight tried to force a smile upon her lips. But she not in the mindset for it and her lips wouldn't respond, and just quivered. It was obvously not the right time, and certainly not the easiest time to do so.
"Come on, Twilight, give me a flash of that smile! It's not so hard, see? I can do it just fine!" Diane said, giving her yet another obscene grimace that she called a smile.
Twilight blinked, and her lips quivered noticeably. She felt her heart hammering in her chest. Dammit why couldn't she just force a hypocrite smile on herself?
"You said you'd cooperate!" Diane said in a singsong tone, mocking her ruthlessly.
The lavender mare was spinning out of control, losing her edge, this mare's craziness was slowly creeping up on her, and--
Keep it together Twily. You're still in control.
The soothing voice of Shining Armor whispered at her through a small concealead earpiece. Suddenly she felt less isolated. Her breathing became less erratic. She could still win this battle of wits. After a short moment, he managed to curl her lips in a most awkward and unpleasant smile.
"There we go, said Diane in a falsely encouraging tone. Now," she continued. "That was actually pretty difficult, as simple as it sounds though, wasn't it?"
Twilight agreed without another word.
"Do you know, Twilight Sparkle, how hard it is to make ponies smile like that, all the time? Well I do know. I try to make ponies smile smile smile all day, everyday. And I do enjoy it." She tried to coax her into having sympathy for her, without sounding apologetic, but Twilight had decided not to let her toy with her mind again.
"But that kind of activity, you know, trying to be that twinkle in everypony's day... it really takes a toll on your nerves. Nerves, and ponies who carry them, are both fragile things, Twilight Sparkle. And do you know what happens to fragile things that are handled too roughly?"
She slowly set her hooves flat on the table, squaring her shoulders, and brought her face unbearably close to Twilight's, who didn't move a muscle.
"They break."
Diane spoke with such gravity and heaviness to her voice it scared Twilight. There was no more of this giggling business now. She was getting to a new, colder, darker area of the pony's mind. And she didn't know if she had the strength to carry on wandering in this bleak place. So without breaking her gaze on the pony murderously looking at her, she took the tape recorder.
"This is the end of message log number 1" she said, before turning off the device.
Diane sat herself back in her seat, as if nothing had happened over the last two hours. She stood there undisturbed. Unrepentant. Unforgiving.
Twilight magically gathered her belongings. Her coffee had gone cold, among other things. She got up, and looked at the suspect with a stern look.
"We'll continue this talk tomorrow."
Diane grinned.
"I'll make sure of it," she said.
Twilight silently turned away and closed the door without letting a single one of her many conflicting emotions show.
