The New Recruit

Spitfire hadn't slept in two days. She'd been watching the interviews as everypony said where they had been and what they were doing at the time that Ace was attacked. That is, any time between when Soarin left and when they found him. It was a nine-hour period, and while all of them had alibis, not all of those were provable. Peregrine, for example, had been in Cloudsdale, and Fleetfoot had a record of that. Even so, Spitfire was pretty sure Peregrine was innocent. Others, like Silver Fleece, had been locked up most of the night for drunk and disorderly conduct. According to the guard she'd kissed, she tasted like rum half an hour before Spitfire left the boys, and had gone to a holding cell being released to the infirmary when she woke up to rehydrate. They could prove that they had nothing to do with it.

Unfortunately, most of them had either no alibis or bad alibis. Security could account for some of them being at some places at some times, but other students would say things like "I don't remember her being there," or "He might have arrived after I left," so it was difficult to distinguish where everypony was.

Classes were supposed to start yesterday, but everything was being compacted, and almost nopony was allowed to leave. A few students had tried to escape, and had been locked up for their trouble, but this was all starting to turn ridiculous. Somepony had to admit to something, and unless they did, she wasn't going anywhere. She was perfectly willing to keep everypony in a constant rotation until somepony confessed or pointed out the real culprit. Eventually, everypony would break, and if she would go down as the cruelest captain in the history of the Wonderbolts, then so be it. She would rather be known for her cruelty than be the captain that let her students commit hate crimes.

"Ma'am?"

She looked up. "Lieutenant. I told you to keep an eye on Ace."

Soarin stepped forward. "I have six guards watching him right now, plus Princess Luna. He can be in no safer hooves."

"And if he wakes up, who's going to be there?"

"Oh, he already did. I spoke with him."

"And?"

"He remembers what happened. Kind of. A few head wounds tend to make things fuzzy, but he remembers seeing these ponies." He pulled out of his pocket a list of names. "That's not the order. He doesn't remember the order. Though he's pretty sure Gentle Giant didn't beat him up."

Spitfire nodded. Gentle Giant had once protected Ace from harassment. She'd seen from across the room one of the third-year students prodding at Ace and running his mouth, and before she could make her way over to the scuffle, Gent had taken the student by the shoulder and brought him down to his knees. Not ideal, but she had no reason to suspect animosity from him.

She looked at the rest of the names on the list. "Everypony else here had a motive. A motive and no alibi. Except..."

Soarin leaned in. "What?"

"Golden Pomade has his father's protection. One of those rich kids with a big, fancy lawyer. We can't directly go after him without evidence. The rest of them, we can single out for suspicion, but the only reason we're allowed to go after him right now is because we're going after everypony." She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Why did he have to be there?"

"Does he have another alibi?"

"Three. Not the tightest. He was seen at nine o'clock, one-thirty, and six-forty-five. The third one, we know for sure. The first time, he walked into a party and broke a lamp. He denies having broken the lamp but admits to being there. The second time, he was having a loud argument with a mare. He claims he was having an argument with a stuck-up bitch, she claims he was a pompous arse. Then, a few hours later, he checks into the infirmary with a fat lip and a black eye. He claims she hit him, she claims she was in bed with another stallion, the other stallion claims he's never met her."

"Then they were probably in bed together," reasoned Soarin, "and the other stallion's covering his arse. They should both know that's against the rules, but she's admitting to it because her other option is battery. What about the others?"

"Eight Ball says he was in his room all night. We know he's lying about that, because eighteen students each said he was out and about. See, when you threaten them with drug testing, they'll suddenly admit to what they took, because while taking something means the stocks, taking something and lying about it triples the sentence. We're still looking for his stash, but we know he wasn't in his room. Plus, he has his thugs."

"Okay."

"Blitz Break and Poinsettia have both been warned and punished for bullying Ace. Lots of extra laps. I was also able to note their alibis. Poinsettia was around when Pomade broke the lamp, then called him a pompous arse, then went and slept with Coal Smoke."

"So she's..."

"No longer dating Golden Pomade? About to be removed for gross misconduct? Probably telling the truth about everything else that happened that night? All of the above?"

"Perhaps we should bring her back in?" suggested Soarin.

"Perhaps we should. Good work, lieutenant. Why don't you go hit the showers before you return to Canterlot and see if Ace remembers anything else?"

"Right away ma'am. And captain?"

"What is it, lieutenant?"

Soarin placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You should rest. He wants to see you, and he's not going to be impressed if you look this ragged."

Spitfire lowered her head, but did not try to shake off his hoof. "That's a shitty thing to say, Soarin."

"Well, you look a mess. Pull yourself together, captain. For his sake."

Spitfire raised her head and took a deep breath. "Tell him I'll swing by tomorrow on my way to court. I'll try to sleep tonight. Just... Don't tell him I'm this upset, would you?"

"A little too late, Captain."

"Out, before I revoke my shower order."

"Captain..."

As Soarin's hoofsteps retreated, Spitfire grabbed a hoofkerchief out of her pocket, using it to wipe her face before putting on her mirrored sunglasses. It was time to interrogate another student, and she couldn't do that if she was crying.