28 Days To Armageddon

For safekeeping, Applejack was taken into police custody. She kept making verbal threats to Twilight. These ranged from tearing her throat out, to raping her with a tree branch. The anger in the farmer’s eyes was horrible to behold, and for the first time, her friends shrank away from her. None of them wanted anything to do with her…at least…not at that time. Her mane seemed to blaze with a fury blessed by some evil entity. She tore at the bars of her cell overnight, screaming death threats to the sick pony who’d, apparently, taken her family from her. Everything was spiraling downward, so the next day, the sergeant called a meeting of their little group.

The conference room inside the Ponyville Police headquarters was roomy and comfortable. Unfortunately, nopony could sit still. They all fidgeted about in their chairs, feeling their tails toss this way and that. Their teeth had been set on edge, and their emotions whirled about in a tornadic fashion. Mist was the worst of all, as the blame she placed on herself for Twilight’s sickness grew steadily worse. She planted her face on the table, trying hard to fight back the tears but having middling success. She did not take into consideration the indirectness of her connection with the crime. In her mind, she had created the monster by failing to rescue Twilight when she was abducted. She didn’t know who’d taken Twilight, but she swore up and down to find the pony.

“Thanks for coming,” the sergeant said as he trotted into the room and sat at the head of the table. “We need all the help we can get in apprehending this particular offender.”

“You mean the pony who kidnapped Twilight?” Dash asked.

The sergeant nodded. “Yep, and also the pony who gave Twilight the illness.”

“Do we know anything?” Rarity asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” the sergeant responded, “we searched Sweet Apple Acres for clues all night long. Nothing we found points us to Twilight’s abductor. All we saw were the claw marks she left…and the fur she tore out.”

The vision of Applejack’s family lying dead in the rubble was too much for Fluttershy and Pinkie. So, they excused themselves, went out in the hallway, and wept against each other. They each had such fond memories of the kind ponies who were no longer with them. It was especially hard on Fluttershy, who had shared a small bond with Apple Bloom. The aptly named Cutie Mark Crusaders would often hold slumber parties at her cottage. She watched them with the tender eye of a mother deer, but the fierce protection of a mother bear. After their first jaunt at her place, she’d learned to be much more assertive, both with them and with potential predators.

“She’ll…never get her…cutie mark,” she sniffed, “oh, Pinkie…this is awful!”

“Tell me about it,” the pink pony responded in a broken voice, “it’s the worst thing that could’ve happened to us!”

Meanwhile, back in the conference room, the sergeant continued discussing details. He said that the case looked to be open-and-shut, but never to take anything for granted. His sharp eyes dashed around the room, ensuring that everyone understood what he was saying. The clues in this case were superficially easy, yet they must look deeper. He noted that all the ponies nodded at him, especially the pretty white one named Rarity. A faint blush painted his cheek as he scanned her rapturous body, wondering what it would be like to kiss someone so ravishing.

Rarity noticed his behavior, but basked in the spotlight. She loved it whenever somepony took their time to make love to her visually. She narrowed her gorgeous eyes, batting her lashes just so. She knew how to act ladylike. A typical mare might have made a move on the sergeant, but she was not about to. She’d string him along a bit, waiting for just the right time…and then drop an anvil of beauty on his heart. Soon, my handsome sergeant, she thought, the arrow of love shall strike you…and I’ll be the one holding the bow.

“Alright,” the sergeant said, shaking his head a bit, “now, does anypony have any questions?”

Mist’s hoof shot up. “Yeah, I’ve got one. How can we be certain Twilight committed this heinous crime?”

“Ah…what a dunce!” Rainbow Dash thundered, “I mean, we all saw the claw marks!”

“Rainbow,” the sergeant warned, “remember what I said about not taking anything for granted? Mist, here, is taking my advice to heart. Never assume that your first suspect is the correct suspect. For instance, we had a murder case here last year. A pony named River Flow was, ironically, drowned in the stream that runs through town. Since the body was so inundated with water, hoof prints were impossible to find on it. However, we did find a note claiming responsibility and we pulled prints from that.

We ran them through the Equestrian database, and they were a match for Lyra Heartstrings. So, we brought her in on probable cause. She begged us to let her go, weeping and carrying on. That only made her look even more guilty. I’ll never forget it. We were about to send her in for arraignment, when our forensic analyst came back and said that he’d found some magic within the note. Since all unicorns have their own special aura, he’d run it against all other magic users. It was not a match for Lyra, and thus we learned she’d been framed.”

“So…did you ever find who did it?” Mist asked.

“No,” the sergeant said, “unfortunately, somepony hacked into our computers and removed the trace just as it was beginning to show results.”

“So…do you think that whomever killed the Apples…is the same pony who framed Lyra?” Rarity asked.

“Could be,” the sergeant said, “Celestia knows I’ve seen much odder things on this force. But my point is that we mustn’t take clues as they come. Hell, they could be prepackaged with a little bow and the criminal’s name and address on it! We must always look deeper. Only by doing this will we find our perpetrator…and save Twilight.”