Twilight shut the Pie's door a step behind Celestia. The sun was already sinking below the horizon, Princess Luna having lowered it to make way for the evening from Canterlot. The first few stars had begun peeking out and the moon was just starting to make its initial appearance over the skyline.

Unfortunately, they knew they couldn't linger and admire the scenery. Spike had gotten in touch with them not long ago, requesting they return to Ponyville as fast as possible. Twilight had yet to see the letter though and not because she hadn't asked to. Now was simply not the time to sit around and talk, even if for only a minute.

The Princess laid down on the ground and nodded at her back, silently instructing Twilight to climb aboard. They were a long walk from Dodge Junction where their train ride home was, so flying back was the fastest option they had. Hopefully it wouldn't be too late in the day to get a ticket and start making their way home.

"What'd that letter say, Celestia?" Twilight asked once they were in the air for a few minutes.

Spike followed Private Eye inside his front door, closing it softly. It had been another grueling day at the station and both parties were dragging their feet. The little dragon wished he could go back to doing the list of chores he had to do at the library. Though there weren't as many duties for him at the police station, the stress of what had been going on for the last few weeks now was starting to get to him.

It was barely half past five o'clock when they got home, welcomed by the smell of a loving dinner being prepared by the white earth pony in the kitchen. The mare came out to the living room to greet her husband and his purple companion.

"Hey sweetie," she said, kissing the worn out detective. "Hey Spike. You guys look beat."

"Hey hon. Yeah, another rough one today." He slowly followed his wife into the kitchen, taking in the pleasant scent as he walked. He wrapped a foreleg around her neck, curling up against her wavy, orange mane. "How was your day?"

"Eh, the usual. Just started putting together a casserole a few minutes ago."

"Sorry to interrupt," Spike said groggily, "but do you guys mind if I go lay down? I'm just...I'm just so tired lately. I wish this would all just be over and done with, y'know?"

"All too well," Private Eye said glumly. "Go ahead. We'll call you when dinner's ready."

With a yawn and a stretch of his back, Spike smiled as brightly as his exhaustion would allow. "Cool, thanks."

The dragon headed into the master bedroom where his basket laid in the corner waiting for him. He crawled into bed and pulled his blanket over his chest. Almost as soon as his head hit the feather-soft pillow, he drifted off to sleep.

He woke only a few minutes later. Strangely, he felt much more rested than he had in a few days. The young drake tossed the covers aside and rotated his head, working out the kinks in his neck. He started heading back into the kitchen, but stopped short upon passing through the bedroom doorway and entering the living area.

The furniture was overturned, shredded and burned in several places. The coffee table was split in two. The living room window was shattered, leaving pieces of glass all over the rug. The large bookshelf across from the couch had most of its contents scattered across the floor, many of the pages torn and crumpled up. The front door was barely hanging on by a single hinge. Spike looked to his left and saw the kitchen in similar disarray.

Plates and glasses were smashed against the floor, and the refrigerator had been pulled to the ground, one of its doors hanging open lifelessly. The dinner table was missing a chunk from one of its sides and one of the legs was mostly splintered, keeping itself together by only a few thin pieces of wood. Most of the counter tops were scratched and discolored from neglect and exposure. A dank, moldy smell hung in the air as the house looked like it had been abandoned and forgotten about for many years.

The terrified dragon crept through the house, finding disaster in every room he searched. He gradually made his way back to the central part of the house and stuck his head out the door.

"Hello? Hello?! Can anypony hear me?!"

The deafening silence didn't respond. He darted his eyes back and forth, trying to piece together when an apparent war passed through Private Eye's home.

"What's going...oh no..."

"Hm! I'm kind of impressed, Spike," a familiar voice rang out behind him. He spun around and found Pinkie slouched back on the broken couch, her hooves folded in her lap. "It didn't take you as long as I expected to figure out what was going on. Bravo!"

"Ah! Get away!" he shouted, quickly turning to run out the door only to slam face first into it. He patted up and down the suddenly solid barricade, frantically looking for a way through. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted with every ounce of his strength. It wouldn't move.

Realizing he was trapped with a psychotic mare approaching him, Spike slammed his back against the door. His pulse was skyrocketing and he was having trouble keeping air in his lungs. He shrank away in horror, shaking like a leaf with every step she got closer.

"Silly little dragon. Even if you were able to run, do you honestly think you can escape me here?"

She bit down on Spike's arm and flung him across the room, smashing him into the couch and knocking it over.

"I really had hoped I didn't have to see you again," she groaned as she continued stalking her prey. "But unfortunately, there's nopony else I can get in touch with about this...little situation."

"Wh-what's that?" Spike asked, pulling himself off of the floor, never taking his eyes off the pink menace bearing down on him.

"The other night, I smelled Twilight somewhere. It was a brief, barely noticeable scent, but there was no mistaking that it was her. I haven't felt her anywhere since then. Now, I'm only going to ask this once," –she dove into his face, bumping her snout into his nose– "where is she?!"

"She's with Celestia!"

"I figured she was, but that still doesn't answer my question!"

"I-I don't know! I swear I don't know where she went! They're probably trying to find some..."

Spike huddled into a ball, frozen in fear. He couldn't finish his sentence lest Pinkie be thrown into a rage over what he suspected his two mother figures were doing.

"To find something to get rid of me?" she finished for him, grabbing the baby dragon and holding him up against the wall. "Don't be stupid! There's only one thing I want and then maybe I'll go away! I'm going to give one last chance, shrimpy. Tell your mommy that I want her in Ponyville, and I want her there now. I want the rest of the town to watch the last of the Elements go down screaming! And, for every night she isn't there, I'm going to kill a random pony! So far, everypony who's died I've had a reason to kill. Now, it'll be for fun. We'll see how she likes that on her conscience, won't we?"

"Alright, alright!" the dragon hollered. "I'll do whatever you say! Just don't hurt me, please!"

"I won't, so long as I get what I want. But I'm going to tell you right now, Spike. If I have to come visit you again," –she reached up and broke a piece of her mane off, the hairs merging together into a single, sharp dagger just below his chin– "then that's it. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-y-yes! I'll get her the message, I promise!"

"I know you will." The insane pony let the helpless dragon go, landing him hard on the floor. "Keep this in mind, Spike," she said, sliding the make-shift blade down the front of his body as she went on, "if I'm not mistaken, the weakest part of a dragon is below the belly, right?"

In a flash, she dragged the shank across his stomach and disappeared. He shrieked in pain, his short life suddenly flashing in front of him.

"Aaah! Aaaaaah!"

Private Eye and his wife burst into the bedroom, running straight for the petrified sleeper.

"Spike! Spike! Wake up!"

The cop shook the dragon out of his slumber, surprised for a moment that more was required to bring him out of his nightmare. After registering that Private Eye was in front of him, his claws felt around his stomach, still hidden beneath his blanket, and found a strange warmth. He lifted his hands up and saw bits of blood, making him scream again.

His guardians yanked the blanket away and spotted the wound. "Go get some towels or something! Hurry!"

The mare dashed into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth, wetting it down in the sink. While she did this, Private Eye scanned over the slash across his belly, carefully rubbing a hoof along it to inspect the damage. Though the wound was a bit deep, the skin was mercifully not split all the way through.

He took the wet cloth from his wife when she arrived and applied it firmly to the dragon's injury. "Spike, it's okay! It's okay! Calm down! It's a nasty cut but it'll be alright!"

The detective's wife took the dragon's chin in a hoof. "Spike, look at me. Look at me!"

"Ah! It's...I'm...agh!"

"Shhhh. Sweetie, it's alright. We're here. Nopony's going to hurt you, we promise."

Spike slowly caught his breath and calmed back down while Private Eye tended to the bleeding cut. Even though it wasn't life threatening, it still stung horribly, and tears welled up in his frightened green eyes.

The detective looked over his patient with worry, and he felt his stomach drop. He was more than used to seeing ponies seriously injured or dying in front of him at crime scenes; it was another thing to see it happening in his own home, caused by somepony that he couldn't do anything about. At least Spike would be fine. Private Eye couldn't imagine how devastated Twilight would become if he somehow managed to lose the little guy. He had been with her all his young life. If anything happened to him...

"It was Pinkie, wasn't it?" Private Eye asked.

After a few long breaths, the dragon whispered, "Y-yes."

Sighing, the officer said, "We'll get you taken care of. You won't have to go to a hospital or anything, so that's good news."

"Gotta...gotta...s-send letter."

"Easy, kid. You just had quite a scare. You need to take it easy for a minute."

"No. Pi...Pinkie said she...she wants Tw-Twilight here, or sh-sh-she'll kill more...just because."

"What?!"

"Yeah."

The couple shared a nervous glance. Scowling, Private Eye knew there was no way around the maniac's demands. "Here, take the cloth for a minute. I'll be right back," he said to his wife. A moment later, the detective returned with a notepad and quill and laid down beside the still-shaking youth. "Tell you what. I'll write it for you, and when it's done and you're ready, we can send it. Just take your time, okay?"

About forty five minutes passed by the time Celestia landed at the train station. Once Twilight dismounted, they raced off to the ticket window, hoping beyond hope that there was at least one more train leaving for Ponyville that day. They turned a corner and arrived at their destination to find a dark green stallion working at the window.

"Your Highness!" he gasped, bowing. "I-I didn't know you were here. What can I do for you?"

"Are there any more trains heading to Ponyville tonight? We need to leave as soon as possible."

Wincing, he turned to his left and looked over the daily schedule hanging on the wall. After finding the answer, he bit his lip and turned back to the Princess.

"I'm sorry, your Highness, but the last one left about twenty minutes ago. The next one goes out tomorrow at 7:50 in the morning."

Twilight and Celestia's eyes met, horrified at the implications. It was already going to be a day and a half's travel from Dodge Junction to Ponyville alone. Adding another night into the mix meant that, if Pinkie was serious – and there was no reason to believe she wasn't – somepony else could very well die.

"Please. There's nothing you can do? Maybe a ticket to someplace on the way and they could move us to a different train, something!" the Princess begged.

"I'm sorry, but even if I put you on a train to a different destination, they'd likely be do such a thing by the time you arrived. The nearest town on the way to Ponyville is seven hours from here. I can't imagine that anypony would still be there so late."

The majestic alicorn's head slowly sank and she fell to her haunches. She could feel her heart breaking.

"Princess," the stallion spoke up, "if you need to get to Ponyville in such a hurry, can't you just...fly there over the night?"

"She's not really in any condition to fly such a distance," Twilight said. "It's too long and painful a story to get into." She looked up at her mentor, who had begun to weep. The young unicorn's spirits sank at the sight. "Princess, I...I don't know if there's anything more we can do right now. Please, let's just get the tickets for tomorrow and...well, if Pinkie does do what she said she would, then...then we just have to hope she runs into somepony who can deal with her."

"And who would that be?" Celestia growled, wiping a tear away. "Aside from myself, my sister, you, Spike and Private Eye, who else knows how to handle her?"

Twilight had no answer. Defeated, she hung her head in regret, trying and failing not to think about who may be next on Pinkie's sick mind. It didn't help being chewed out by the one pony she respected more than anypony else.

Sighing heavily, the Princess turned back to the stallion. "Just give us the tickets, please. How much is that?"

The worker slid the stubs under the metal grate separating them without a second thought. "Don't worry about it, your Highness. I wouldn't think of charging you, and you're obviously very upset. It's not much, but if it helps make you feel a little better in any way..." the stallion murmured.

Celestia took the tickets in her magical grasp and stood back up, clearing away the last of her tears. "We appreciate your generosity, sir. Thank you."

"You're welcome, your Highness, and good luck with whatever it is you're looking to do."

One of the tickets floated its way down to the melancholy unicorn beside the large royal mare. She glanced up, seeing her mentor's pained face looking down upon her, and took hold of her pass. Together, teacher and student started heading slowly back toward the center of town. Several silent paces passed before anypony said anything.

"I apologize for snapping at you earlier, Twilight," Celestia sighed. "I had no right to take my frustrations out on you."

"You don't have to apologize, Princess. This hasn't been easy on any of us."

"I suppose not, but it still doesn't excuse my actions. Come, we need to find some lodging for the night."