Storm Shade adjusted the grip of the pencil in his teeth as he filled out the paperwork for yet another missing pony; the third one in the past two months. He didn't understand what could be happening. Talks had been going on around the department that a serial killer might be responsible, but since no bodies has turned up, or anything concrete to go on, for that matter, nothing could be done to follow that particular train of thought.

Storm Shade spat the pencil out onto his desk and pushed the report into a nearby folder for the sergeant to pick up whenever he came around next. He groaned and stretched his wings out. He'd be happy when all of this was over.

"Filing out another missing pony report?"

Storm Shade glanced behind him and saw his partner, Wind Racer, smirking at him. He gave an amused scoff and tilted his head in a nod.

"Second one this month." He shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "There's gotta be something more to this, Wind. Ponies don't just disappear like this."

"You buy into that serial killer theory, Storm?"

Storm Shade shrugged. "Kinda. I mean, this isn't the first time that Ponyville has had this happen, you know? I mean, I get that we live right next to the Everfree Forest, and it's an insanely dangerous place with the manticores and whatnot, but the average citizen knows not to go in there. Maybe a couple of punk teenagers going in on a dare once in a while and one goes missing, but this is something else. There's a pattern here. It's not just timberwolves."

"After this last one, I'm not so sure I can argue with you," Wind Racer murmured, pulling up a nearby chair and settling into it. "One missing pony is normal. Two is coincidence, though still suspicious, and three or more? Yeah, My bits are on serial killer too at this point."

"Which we definitely don't want." Storm Shade sighed. "Sixty years since the last one, and it took us way too long to catch her."

"Yeah that's right." Wind tapped her jaw. "She poisoned, what, her mother, two sisters, one of her mothers-in-law, two daughters, a nephew, a grandson, and four husbands, right?"

Storm grunted and stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Don't remind me. My dad worked that case. She laughed the entire time during her confession." He sighed and shook his head. "If we have another serial killer... Equestria can't handle that. I can't handle that. They're just the most horrific kind of ponies I can imagine. No sympathy, no emotions, nothing. They're just empty shells of ponies who get off on killing ponies. That's all there is too it."

"Can't argue with that," Wind said with a nod. "I wouldn't even call them ponies."

Storm opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a loud shriek echoed throughout the halls of the police station from the direction of the front entrance. Storm and Wind's eyes widened and they bolted to the front, pushing past other officers moving in the same direction. Sensing that the crowd wouldn't give, Storm nudged his partner and pointed to the ceiling. Wind nodded, and the two took to the air, flying straight to the source of the commotion.

What they saw made their blood freeze.

Standing just in the lobby of the police station was an orange earth pony with straw blonde hair. Or at least, Storm thought it was blonde. He found it hard to tell, as the mare in question was covered in blood. Tears fell from her eyes, and she shivered like it was freezing. He touched down next to her.

"Medic!" he screamed. "We need a medic over here!"

"It's okay, Miss, we're going to help you out, alright?" Wind cooed, landing next to the pony. "You don't have to worry. Where does it hurt?"

"N-no!" The mare moaned. "Y-you d-don't understand!"

"Wait, I recognize this mare." Storm examined her for a few more seconds before nodding. "Her name is Applejack. She's the Element of Honesty. She runs and apple farm on the edge of town." He gently nudged Applejack's back legs, guiding her to sit down. "Miss Applejack? Miss Applejack, can you hear me? Who did this to you? Did somepony hurt you?"

Applejack collapsed on the ground and curled up in a fetal position, her tears and the blood staining the ground. "Ah'm so sorry!" she wailed. "Ah didn't think it would go so far!"

A medic ran up and took her kit off of her back. She sat down next to Applejack, opened her kit up, and pulled out a roll of bandages. "Okay, hon, where are you hurt?" The medic began checking Applejack's body, looking for the source of the blood. "Where did you get hurt?"

"Ah'm so sorry!" Applejack cried, a little louder this time. "Ah didn't mean it! Ah thought Ah could stop it!"

"Ms. Applejack, we need to stop the bleeding! This is a lot of blood, and you're going to go into shock if you lose much more, so..." The medic faltered, and her eyes narrowed. She pushed Applejack's bangs up, but still found nothing. "I..." She frowned, then looked up to Storm. "I don't get it. I can't find any lacerations. No wounds of any kind; not even a paper cut. Certainly not something that would make this much blood come out."

Storm frowned and exchanged a glance with Wind. "So then..." His eyes widened. "It's not hers."

The medic shook her head. "No, it isn't."

Storm sat down next to Applejack and put a hoof on her head. "Miss Applejack? Whose blood is this? What happened? Why did you come in here like this?"

Applejack continued sobbing for a few seconds before sniffling and wiping her eyes. "Ah... Ah jus' thought if Ah came in th-then maybe some good would be done. Ah could save somepony. Lotsa someponies, maybe. No more ponies would have to get cut open."

"Cut open?" Storm lightly shook Applejack. "Miss Applejack, who has been getting cut open? Who has been cutting ponies open?"

Applejack took a deep breath, then, for the first time, glanced over and stared at Storm Shade with her emerald green eyes. She let out the ghost of a chuckle, and Storm thought he may have even seen a hint of a smirk flash across her face for a second.

"Ah have. Ah'll bet that with all of the missing ponies, y'all have been talkin' about a serial killer goin' around. That'd be me."

Princess Celestia walked into the Ponyville police station, flanked by two of her guards. Her gait was noticeably slower than normal for her, and even her millennium of practiced stoicism could not hide the aura of pain and sorrow that radiated from her. She ignored the bowing police ponies she passed, instead heading straight towards the interrogation room. Two pegasi officers waited outside of it, their faces blank. Despite that, Celestia could still sense a slight amount of shock and horror in the way they carried themselves. They looked up when they saw her and both bowed low, but she waved her hoof.

"No need for that, my little ponies. I am here for Applejack."

"Yes, Princess," said the stallion of the two. "We're the ponies assigned to her case. My name is Storm Shade and this is my partner Wind Racer. We've been handling Applejack since she surrendered herself to our custody."

Celestia nodded. "I see. And what has that entailed?"

"Well we've taken her confession..." Storm Shade sighed and draped a hoof over his muzzle. "Which isn't pretty, Princess Celestia. We're going to have a lot more missing pony cases solved after this. We've also cleaned the blood off of her and sent it to the lab. If the DNA matches anything in they system, we'll know whose it is. That'll take a fair amount of time to figure out, though."

"I see." Celestia looked over at the door to the interrogation room. "And did she name any of her victims?"

Storm Shade shook his head. "No. She just said what she did to them. I..." He hesitated for a moment. "I can tell you if you want, but it really, really isn't pretty."

"No need. I will hear it from her." Celestia took a deep breath and whispered a quiet prayer to whichever benevolent forces might be listening before looking back over to the police officers. "What's her temperament?"

"She's shaken, but she's cooperating," Wind Racer said. "If I had to guess, she's come clean because she couldn't handle the regret of everything she's done anymore."

"Perhaps..." Celestia sighed and motioned to the door. "Unless there is something else that you feel I need to know, I would like to speak to her now."

Storm Shade bowed his head and took a key ring off of his belt. "Okay. Do you want us in there with you?"

"No no, that will be alright. I'd rather this conversation remain private. Applejack will not harm me, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't."

"Yes, your highness." Storm Shade unlocked the door to the interrogation room. "Take as long as you'd like."

"Thank you, Storm." Celestia began walking towards the door. "I feel we shall be a while."

Celestia ignited her horn and opened the door. She slowly walked inside and closed the door behind her, locking it shut. She glanced over at the giant two-way mirror that made up the wall to her right, and, with another burst from her horn, the glass went black, shutting off the view. Celestia shook her head and turned to the single metal table in the drab, gray metal room. Behind the table on a hard metal chair was an orange earth pony, her fore and hind legs secured by hoofcuffs. She was staring at the table, not moving at all. Celestia grimaced and conjured up a larger, more comfortable chair for herself, which she placed on the opposite end of the table and sat down upon.

"Applejack," she said softly. "My dearest Applejack."

Applejack's right ear twitched, but she otherwise didn't acknowledge her princess.

"Can you help me understand this? I need to know what happened, and more importantly why. Why would you do this thing to your fellow ponies? I know you: this is not like you at all."

Applejack let out a single, weak chuckle, and for the first time, she looked up at Celestia and stared at her with her emerald green eyes. "Y'all think so, huh? Well, Ah guess they didn't tell ya how long Ah've been doin' this."

"And how long would that be?"

"Long time." Applejack tapped her jaw thoughtfully. "Ah think ah killed mah first pony when Ah was seventeen."

Celestia quietly exhaled and slowly shook her head. "Eight years. You've been slaughtering my subjects, your fellow ponies, for eight years."

"On and off," Applejack muttered.

"I see. Where have you been hiding the bodies? Your time is over, Applejack. We need to give the remains back to their loved ones."

Applejack scoffed again, and when she spoke next, there was a hint of pride in her voice. "Y'all think that Ah've been hidin' them in one piece? Or anythin' like that?" She shook her head. "No. Y'all ain't never gonna find the ponies Ah..." Applejack's ear twitched, and her smile faded for a moment. "Hurt. When Ah was done with 'em, Ah'd cut 'em up into tiny little pieces. It'd take hours, but after a while Ah got pretty good at it. Threw most of 'em into the Everfree Forest where the timberwolves and the manticores and the like got 'em. Fed some parts to mah pigs. They loved them some pony intestines. AB didn't know it was in there. It just got mixed into the rest of the slop we fed 'em." Applejack chuckled and shook her head. "Some Ah'd mix into the fertilizer we used for the apple trees or the corn, or whatever else we felt like growin'. Stuff like that." She shrugged. "There ain't nothin' to find, Princess Celestia, and Ah'm sorry ta say that Ah don't rightly remember everypony Ah've killed. 'N fact, Ah didn't even know a lotta ponies Ah killed."

Celestia grimaced, but she decided it would be best to move on. "Whose blood was that on you, Applejack?"

The hint of a grin faded, and Applejack's ears flattened. A quiet sob escaped her lips, and she stared back down at the table. "Ah don't wanna talk about that," she whispered.

"And yet you came in here covered in it. Was the pony whose blood it was the reason you turned yourself in?" Applejack nodded glumly. "Then whose was it?"

"Ah ain't sayin'."

"I'll find out anyway."

Applejack nodded. "Yup. But not from me."

"Very well. It is as you said: I will know within a few hours anyway. But Applejack..." Celestia reached out her hoof and gently placed it on Applejack's. "Despite all you have done, I believe there is good in all ponies. You don't live as long as I have and not see that. You are the Element of Honesty, and I still wish to help you, despite the evil you have committed. Do you realize that you are likely going to die for this?"

Applejack leaned back in her chair, and a wry smile crossed her face. "Everypony dies, Princess Celestia. Everythin' dies. Ah've been around death too much ta be afraid of it anymore. Same's true of you, Ah reckon. Ah could die tomorrow, ten days from now, ten years, fifty, a hundred..." Applejack shrugged. "Don't make a lick of difference at this point."

"I see..." Celestia took a deep breath and began mentally preparing herself for the conversation to come before continuing on. "So you gave the guards your confession. What did that entail?"

Applejack shrugged again. "Methods, what Ah did, where, how Ah got rid of th' bodies, and such."

"No motives?"

"No. Ah didn't talk about that. Didn't wanna."

"Will you talk to me about it now? I can't help you if you are not open with me, Applejack. You have done many terrible things, but if I can help you, I will."

"Yeah," Applejack muttered, looking over to the darkened mirror. "Yeah..."