“Okay, well, it’s official. We’ve checked every book in the library.” Twilight stated, flipping a book over her shoulder. “And still nothing.”

“Twilight… What are we looking for again?” Fluttershy asked politely.

Twilight opened her mouth, then paused. “I’m… not sure.” She said. “I thought we were looking for something about the monster, but I just realized that we don’t know anything about the monster in the first place.”

“It’s black with tentacles.” Fluttershy suggested.

“Fluttershy, half the things in here are black and have tentacles!” Twilight said.

Fluttershy was about to respond, when all of a sudden there was a knock at the door. Twilight walked over and opened the door, only to find no one there.

“Hiya!” Pinkie said from behind Twilight.

“GAAH!” Twilight said, crying out. Then she shook her head, smiling. “Some day, you’re going to tell me how you do that, Pinkie.”

“Yes indeedy!” Pinkie said happily. “But until then, there was something I wanted to ask you…” Pinkie tapped her chin with her hoof and stuck out her tongue. “Hang on… It’s on the tip of my tail…”

Then Pinkie looked around, and plucked something invisible off of her tail. “Oh yeah! You guys are looking for Lovepen, right?”

“How did you-“ Fluttershy asked.

“I listened with my earsies, silly!” Pinkie said, smiling.  “Anyways, I know where you can find Lovepen!”

“Really?” Fluttershy said hopefully, but Twilight just scoffed.

“Pinkie, don’t be ridiculous. Lovepen’s dead.”

“What? Of course he’s not!” Pinkie said, frowning.

“Pinkie, it’s a proven fact.” Twilight picked up a book, rattling off a line. “Though Lovepen was born in 1921, he died at the young age of 31, in 1952.” Twilight looked up at Pinkie.

“Well, that book’s wrong!” Pinkie said, smiling and pointing a hoof at the book like the problem was solved.

“I can cross-reference it with two dozen other books.” Twilight stated.

“Well, all those books are wrong!” Pinkie said, her voice not changing whatsoever.

“It has a picture of his CORPSE.” Twilight flipped the book over to reveal a body in an open casket.

Fluttershy walked over, curious. Lovepen appeared to be a unicorn, and while he was a stallion, he was incredibly skinny. Even in the grainy black and white photo, Fluttershy could see his bones through the thin layer of skin stretched over them.

“Faked.” Pinkie said without hesitation.

“Pinkie… for goodness’ sake.” Twilight said, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. “Even if – for the sake of argument – Lovepen WAS still alive, he’d have to be over ninety years old at this point.”

“Yeah, he’s really old. Poor guy can barely walk anymore, what with the rheumatism.” Pinkie said, hopping in place. “I bring him chocolates on occasion, though, and that generally cheers him up.”

“Wait, you’ve seen him?” Fluttershy said, walking up to Pinkie. “You’ve VISITED him?!”

“Yepperoni!” Pinkie replied.

“Fluttershy, stop encouraging her.” Twilight said, opening up another book. “She’s just playing for attention.”

“But I HAVE seen Lovepen!” Pinkie said loudly. “And I can prove it!” Pinkie pulled a piece of paper out of her hair, and handed it to Fluttershy.

The paper turned out to be a photograph. In the photograph was Pinkie, standing next to Lovepen. She had her arm around his shoulder, and the two were smiling. Well, Pinkie was smiling; Lovepen just had a blank stare. Lovepen looked signifigantly younger and healthier than the picture Fluttershy’d just seen of his corpse. Oddly, the picture was a grainy black and white, as though it had been taken a very long time ago. The two were standing in a field of some sort.

“Pinkie… when was this taken?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oopsie! That’s an old one!” Pinkie said sheepishly. She plucked away the photograph and tucked it back into her mane, pulling out a different photograph. “THIS is the one I took when I went to see him last month!”

“You went to see him last MONTH?” Twilight asked, looking up.

“Twilight… I really think you ought to see this.” Fluttershy said quietly. Twilight got up and looked over, then stared at the photo alongside Fluttershy.

In the photo, in full color, Pinkie stood next to an old-looking unicorn. They stood in what looked like a room with bare, blue-painted walls. The unicorn had a ragged, unkempt beard. He and Pinkie were grinning wildly. Fluttershy noticed, though, that the unicorn’s eyes had a slightly worried tone to them.

“What… how…” Twilight snatched the photo from Fluttershy with her magic and looked at it closely. “Pinkie, even the greatest unicorn scholars couldn’t possibly forge a solid photograph this well! How – who –“

“I told you – I went to visit him, sillyhead!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Then she pulled out a big book from her mane, and opened it. “This is my scrapbook with him! He’s practically family to me!”

“Then how come we’ve never heard about-“ Fluttershy said, but Pinkie cut her off.

“See? Here’s him and me eating lunch together!” Pinkie said, pointing to one photo where she and Lovepen sat at a table eating pizza. Pinkie kept pointing at photos, while Fluttershy took a closer look at the photos. In all of them, Lovepen had a worried look on his face, although he was obviously trying to hide it behind a big smile.

Then Fluttershy blinked, and leaned forward. In that photo on the bottom right… was that…

Fluttershy snatched the book from Pinkie, and pressed her nose right up to the page. “Hey!” Pinkie said indignantly.

“Do you girls see that?” Fluttershy said, pointing to one photo. Twilight and Pinkie looked closely. In the photo, Lovepen was making a silly face at the camera, though the worried look was still faintly there.

“In the very back corner, against the wall, in the shadow!” Fluttershy directed them hurriedly, and pointed at one corner of the photo.

There, half-hidden in the darkness of the room, a single eye shone dully.

“Is that it?” Twilight asked, astonished. Fluttershy nodded, pulling the book back to her, and staring at the monster.

For a moment, Fluttershy kept her eyes trained on the monster, unblinking, as if wishing for it to tell her its secrets.

The eye blinked.

Fluttershy screamed shrilly and threw the book across the room; it landed on the floor with a dull thud.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked, immediately coming to her friend’s aid. Pinkie bent over Fluttershy, too, a worried look on her face.

Fluttershy just shivered, curled into a fetal position, scared to answer. “I’m fine, Twilight… just a little spooked…” Fluttershy eventually responded.

“If you say so.” Twilight said, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes a moment more before turning to Pinkie. “Pinkie, can we go visit your… friend?”

“Are you kidding?” Pinkie cried. “I visit Lovey all the time!”

“Lovey?” Twilight asked, astonished.

“What? It’s the nickname I made for him! He and I are good friends, after all.” Pinkie hopped away happily, out the door. “Oh boy, a vacation! I’ll need to tell the cakes I’m taking a bit of a break, then it’s off to the train station! Hooray!”

“Pinkie….” Twilight called after her, but Pinkie was already long gone. “That mare… sometimes I swear…” she said quietly, before turning back to Fluttershy. “Are you sure you’re okay, Fluttershy?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.” Fluttershy said, standing up again. “I just got startled… my mind’s playing tricks on me…”

“If you say so.” Twilight said, a nervous tone still to her voice. “Remember though, Fluttershy, I’m here if you need me. You can talk to me about anything.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” Fluttershy said, nuzzling Twilight. Then she stood back, rather awkwardly. “So we’re going to go see Lovepen, then?”

“Yes.” Twilight nodded. “After seeing the monster in that picture, I’m confident that this pony – Lovepen, or whoever he is – holds the key to this mystery.”

“I’m baa-aaack!” Pinkie said, holding three slips in her mouth. “Here are your train tickets!” She said happily.

“What? Where did you – “ Twilight asked, before she was stopped by Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry about it.” Fluttershy replied. “You should know by now, it’s just… Pinkie being Pinkie.”

Next Chapter: 4: Snakes on a Train Estimated time remaining: 8 Minutes