Twilight and her friends looked over the list of ponies and investigated each of them over the following days. It was true that each of the ponies had a rather believable story that had something or somepony that was able to vouch for them.

Twilight sat on a bench with Rarity who sighed. They, yet again ran into a dead end. They were running out of options and out of time. If they didn't do something soon, it was likely that whatever the velin had planned would be ready to take their next step.

It worried Twilight what all the victims were leading to. If only there was something she could do to connect the victims to somepony. She sighed at the idea that they had hit a dead end. Until a thought came to her.

"What if there were two ponies behind this?" Twilight pondered.

"What?"

"Think about it." Twilight explained. "We already confirmed that a unicorn was behind this. And that they were using animals against their will. But what if they had a companion?"

Rarity sighed. "That would put every unicorn we questioned back into the suspicion category. And we'd be back to square one. On top of that. We'll need to find evidence to suspect them."

Twilight thought for a moment. "Then we need to look at this in another way. Where are they hiding the animals?"

"Outside of town I would think." Rarity replied. "After all. With the number of animals that you said that were likely used in the attack. It would be rather hard to hide them in Canterlot if they had a place big enough to put them."

Twilight blinked in realization. "What did you just say?"

"They are likely hiding out of town?"

"No… though that is possible." Twilight replied. "A place big enough to hide them."

Rarity thought for a moment. "I can't really think of a place in town that would fit the bill."

"I can. Two places in fact." Twilight sighed. "The crystal caves and the sewers."

Rarity gagged. "I think it'd be best if I check the mines."

"I'll see if Applejack wouldn't mind checking the sewers. Fluttershy and I will look into the areas around Canterlot." Twilight explained softly. Rarity got up and started for the castle as Twilight looked to town. "We'll find you Rainbow. I promise. We won't give up on you. So please. Don't give up on us."

Applejack and Pinkie made their way down the halls of the castle as they talked with the guards about what they know about what's going on.

"Can y'all believe this Pinkie?" Applejack sighed. "We've been doing this for a month and still no luck."

"I know right?" Pinkie replied. "It's like the writer didn't want to come up with daily reasons for us finding dead bodies and no clues."

"What?"

"I'm just saying it makes sense for the passing of time so he can keep the readers interested…" Pinkie continued.

"Pinkie. What are you talking about?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie paused for a moment and blinked. "Talking about what, Applejack?" She giggled. "Come on. We need to keep up our search for Rainbow and the killer."

Fluttershy sighed as she sat in the garden with the detective as he looked over some reports. "Why are you hunting the thing that took Rainbow so desperately?" She asked as she pet a bunny.

"The dead bodies aren't a clue for you?" He replied with a huff.

"I don't think the thing that took Rainbow is responsible for the… other ponies." Fluttershy countered. "It's something more important than a search for a killer. Isn't it?" She asked.

The stallion fell silent for a few moments. "Would it really matter? The fact that your friend is missing is what matters. Right? Even if it's not the same culprit. We still need to find them. And save anypony we can."

Author's Note

A bit of a small chapter. But I hope it worked. For the most part. There's not much to say that wasn't mentioned in the chapter. So I'd like to ask what you guys think will happen?