28 Days To Armageddon

Tensions abounded between Pinkie and the sergeant throughout the night and into the next day. They’d snap at each other over every little thing. At dinner, the two nearly came to blows over a salt shaker. The investigation might have been weighing heavily on everypony, but the incident from the day before had crushed Pinkie and the sergeant’s bond. This only made it rougher as everyone prepared to head for the famous Transylmaneia Statue Garden that afternoon. For the first time since they’d known her, they witnessed Pinkie in a bitter, angry state. She would twitch at the tiniest movement, reacting with violent emotional disarray.

On the way to the garden, Mist decided to speak with her pink friend. She’d been told about the werepony’s death and the fight that ensued, but she wanted to hear Pinkie’s side of the story more. It seemed that both ponies had this idea that the other one was completely in the wrong. Mist knew that there was so much more to friendship than a ridiculous argument, so she determined to find out just what was going on. But by the time she caught up to Pinkie, the party lover was in yet another argument with the sergeant. This one concerned what type of sandwiches to have for lunch.

“…and I said that hay and cheese is better!” The sergeant yelled, “since I’m leading this team, we’re gonna have hay and cheese!”

“Oh, YOU’RE leading this team?” Pinkie shrieked, “Mr. ‘Magically blast first and ask questions later?!’”

“For the millionth time, I was well within my right to use lethal force!” The sergeant thundered, “the werepony was a threat to the town!”

“You can’t make those decisions unilaterally!”

“YES, I CAN!”

“STOP IT!” Mist suddenly screamed, “both of you! You’re acting like immature school foals!”

The sergeant and Pinkie looked at each other, and then back at the ground. Blushes painted both of their faces. It became apparent that they understood Mist and that she was right. They’d both been arguing over silly things because of their fight about the only serious thing. Talking it out like friends seemed like the logical step they’d both been missing. It was disgraceful for ponies their age to act in such a manner, especially when they were trying to help out a dear friend. How could they possibly hold their heads high and say that they’d helped Twilight when they didn’t even espouse friendship to each other?

“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” the sergeant said, “I was out of line.”

“So was I,” Pinkie said, “I didn’t even know I had that in me! Honestly, it was kinda scary.”

“Yeah,” Mist said, “VERY scary. Look, you two, if we’re gonna solve this mystery, then we need to do it together. I’m not saying we have to go bounding through meadows hoof in hoof, but we need to have some form of composure. We need to be friendly to each other.”

The other ponies all agreed with Mist and the incident was put behind them. They resumed their trek to the statue garden, with the sergeant at the head of the column. Along the way, each pair of eyes was kept sharply peeled for clues. A strand of hair here, some spit there. Anything could point them in the direction they needed to go in. But as they went along, they found that clues were few and far between, although Rarity did find a small tuft of purple fur along the thoroughfare. She gave it to the sergeant, who ran it through the portable DNA analyzer. When it came back as a match for Twilight, the ponies began hurrying.

They reached the statue garden and stopped dead in their tracks. In stark contrast to the jagged architecture and haunting nature of the town, the garden was gorgeous. A small stream ran through the middle, splitting it into two halves. On one half, huge rose bushes bloomed beautifully. On the other, large begonias split the air with their yellow petals and perfectly green leaves. Each half also held two trees, all apple and all bursting with fruit. But the signs hung from their trunks warned passersby to leave them be.

Then came the centerpiece of the entire thing. Four large statues bedecked the garden with their mighty loftiness. One appeared to be of a stallion, huge and foreboding. Not only did he have a rather large physique, he was also dressed to the nines. A top hat was on his head, and a smart tuxedo on his chest. The nameplate read “Gossamer Gold, the richest wizard in the land.”

The second was of a very beautiful mare. Her mane flowed behind her, and her figure was one that would magnetize stallions everywhere. She was dressed in a beautiful gown, where even the stone couldn’t hide the lace. Mist was somewhat shocked that she didn’t have more than the one bouquet of roses laid at her hooves. Her nameplate read “Misty Morning, the most beautiful of all enchantresses.”

The third statue was another stallion, although this one looked to be much more bookish than his compatriots. Thick rimmed glasses formed the centerpiece of his small face. It peeked out from under a hood, which was connected to a long flowing cape. In one hoof, he held a magic wand, and in the other, a book full of incantations and spells. His eyes were sharp, even for somepony with glasses. His nameplate read “Flint Filament, AKA Spellcaster, the only Earth Pony in Equestrian history to be adept with magic.”

“These three ponies are…amazing!” Rarity breathed, “I mean, the statues are exquisite! Look at the precision with which the figures are cut! Oh, this has to be hoof done, for no machine could ever create something so fabulous! True, there’s some ivy growing here, but with a little cleanup, these could reside in a museum!”

“Can you stop fawning for two seconds, Rare?” Rainbow Dash asked, “I mean, they’re just statues.”

“Just statues?! Darling, these…are…”

Rarity stopped, for at that moment she noticed the fourth statue…or at least, what was left of it. The nameplate read “Dark Thorn, the most evil sorceress in the land. Possessed ponies to do her bidding. May she rot in hell.” Above these words, where the statue should have been, there was a large hole in the air. Dark Thorn…was gone!