The following day, Twilight, with the help of Spike, made a list of things she’d have to investigate at the pizzeria in order to find the clues she’d need to find out who was killing Fluttershy’s animal friends, and using their meat for the pizzas’ ingredients. One of the things she knew she’d need to do was to get the list of employees that worked at the pizzeria, so she could ask each one questions and get more information about how things worked over there.

Also, before she’d gotten the list of ingredients from the Griffon Kingdom, she’d remembered hearing about how the pizzeria had hired a nighttime security guard. She considered him a likely source of information on what happened at the new restaurant. There was just one problem. That security guard had disappeared, and nopony had heard from him since. He’d become another missing piece of the puzzle.

Among the things Twilight Sparkle considered investigating were the props on the stage, if for no other reason than to confirm whether or not that unusually large chicken was actually a chicken. She’d been petrified by a cockatrice before, but she decided that, since the chicken, the cockatrice(?), on display was dead, she had nothing to fear from investigating it. And, maybe she could find out if either that bird or the bear had any incriminating marks on them. And, considering how long she’d been away from that restaurant, who knew but that there were other displays available?

If there was one thing Twilight Sparkle knew, at least from reading books on restaurants, it was that they usually had a room for storing ingredients, and it was usually kept a lot colder than the rest of the restaurant. Could such a room hold clues to who would be committing the awful crimes that had been committed against her yellow pegasa friend? There was just one way for her to find out. And, for that matter, what about the places designed for heat-preparing the foods? Those might have some vital clues as well.

Perhaps even the walls, the ceilings, the floors, the stage, even the furniture and appliances would have clues to who would do the things this pegasa might be doing to Fluttershy, if indeed it was a pegasa. Again, there was just one way to find out.

One thing Twilight knew was that it might not necessarily be a mare that doing these things. It could be a stallion. It could be a unicorn, or an earth pony. For all Twilight knew, it might not even be a pony that was committing these crimes against her friend.

As Twilight was completing her list, the door to the library opened; and Pinkie Pie entered.

The pink party pony, seeing her purple alicorn friend adding one last item to her list, asked her, “Twily, you’re not thinking of investigating that pizzeria, are you?”

Twilight turned to her earth pony friend and answered, “As a matter of fact, I am. Why? Do you wanna help?”

Pinkie Pie couldn’t keep the worry out of her face or her voice as she said, “Please, Twily, don’t do this.”

Twilight watched her pink friend start to tear up before she asked, “Why not?” When she didn’t get an immediate answer, she continued, “Listen. Somepony’s been killing Fluttershy’s friends, and serving their meat in pizzas. I can’t rest while whoever it is is attacking one of my friends, especially that way.”

As the purple alicorn strolled around her pink earth pony friend toward the door, Pinkie Pie grabbed her closest leg, the right front one, and cried, “Twilight, please. You don’t understand.”

Twilight stopped and looked down at her friend and said, “You’re right Pinkie, I don’t understand. That’s why I’m doing this.” After a brief pause, she continued, “Look, Pinkie, I’m just going in to have a look at the display items and get a list of the employees. It shouldn’t take very long. After that, I’ll come right back to the library. I promise.” Again she tried to move, but Pinkie Pie was refusing to let her go. So, she looked down at the pink earth pony again and asked, “Pinkie, is there something you know that you aren’t telling me, something you need to tell me?”

Pinkie Pie answered, “Oh, Twily, I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. If I even knew how I knew these things, then I’d tell you that. I just know you can’t go in there.” And, immediately she started sobbing.

Twilight lowered her head to the level of her crying friend and asked, “Pinkie, are you the one that’s been killing Fluttershy’s friends?”

Pinkie Pie cried, “No, you know I’d never do that. I only do things that make other ponies laugh. And, killing other ponies’ friends wouldn’t make them laugh. Killing my own friends wouldn’t make anypony laugh.”

Twilight nuzzled her friend, then said, “Somepony’s hurting Fluttershy, attacking her by killing her friends and turning them into food. That can’t be making Fluttershy laugh. In fact, she must be crying right now. I have to do something about this, at the very least for Fluttershy’s sake. And, if you’re not going to help me, then you’re going to have to let me go so I can help her.”

Pinkie Pie tried to think of something, anything, to keep Twilight from going back to the pizzeria. But, when she opened her mouth, all she could do was stammer. Finally, she let go of her alicorn friend’s leg. Unable to move, to convince her friend, she just lay there and bawled.

Twilight strolled to the door and opened it with her magic. But, before she left, she turned to her pink earth pony friend and said, “I’m sorry about this, Pinkie Pie, but this is something I need to do.” And, with that, she left.

It wasn’t until the door closed that Pinkie Pie finally found her voice and called out, “Twilight, wait until nighttime!” But, by then it was too late.

A frightened Spike approached the fallen mess that was now Pinkie Pie and said, “Twilight’s right. She needs to know who’s killing Fluttershy’s friends. Wouldn’t you do the same if you were in Twilight’s place?”

What Pinkie Pie said through her sobs and sniffles alarmed the baby dragon even more: “But, you don’t understand. T-t-twilight’s—n-n-not—com-m-ming—b-b-back!”

As troubled as she was by her pink friend’s behavior, Twilight could not let the matter rest, not until she knew what was going on. She spoke to nopony as she made her way to the pizzeria and entered. Only once she was inside and was facing the pony, a pegasus, working at the cash register, did she start asking questions.

Unfortunately, all the pegasus would say was it was the wrong time to be asking questions, and that he would answer them when his shift was over, which would be once the pizzeria was closed.

Without ordering anything, Twilight made her way into the busy theater, only to find two more display items on the stage: a fox and a rabbit. Twilight didn’t recognize the rabbit as Angel, but she knew whoever was doing this had gone too far. It was likely that the fox was a friend of Fluttershy’s, just one that Twilight didn’t recognize.

The horrified alicorn backed out of the theater, only to bump into another pony behind her. Startled, she jumped and, in midair, turned a complete one hundred eighty degrees before landing. Only then did she recognize who she’d run into. After inhaling and exhaling a few times to try to relax, she said, “Oh, Fluttershy, I didn’t see you there.”

The yellow pegasa responded, “Oh, Twilight, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you alright?”

Twilight Sparkle put a front hoof on the closest shoulder of her friend as she said, “I’m fine. Look, I don’t know who’s doing this to you, but I need to find out. You have nothing to worry about.” And, it was then that she noticed the door open next to her, leading into a dark basement. More on instinct than anything else, she turned and marched into it.

As she made her way down the stairs, she began to realize that something about her pegasa friend’s expression was bothering her. As she thought about it, she realized that what she was seeing wasn’t fear. In fact, if she didn’t know better, she’d think her friend was puzzled about what she’d said.

Twilight made her way into the basement, and lit her horn up as she entered the darkness. Then, as she looked around, she suddenly regretted even entering through that door.

On one wall was the skeleton of what could only be a bear, along with the deteriorated wings of a cockatrice, and the stripped skeletons of a rabbit and a fox. And then, the smell caught up to her.

Twilight opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out of her mouth was her breakfast. She couldn’t even vocalize. And, worse than that, she couldn’t move. So unprepared was she for what she’d seen that she was barely able to register the sound of something metal penetrating something solid. And then the purple light went out. The only way she knew she was falling was the shifting scenery, tilting as she collapsed on her side.

She was awakened, maybe a minute or two later, by the sound of a door slamming behind her. As she arose, she realized that she was able to see clearly, in spite of how dark the room was. She knew her horn wasn't lit up, but she was still able to make out the objects she'd seen before in the room. She was even able to make out her body, a butcher knife stuck in her skull, at her side. Then it occurred to her what had happened.

When she turned to the door behind her, she noticed under it what she realized must have been some of the hair of the tail of the one who'd killed her. But, if the skeletons in this basement, not to mention the smell, had bothered her, the coloring of that tail hair bothered her even more. She hoped that what she'd seen was just an illusion, but something told her that she knew better than that. The color of that tail hair was ... pink. She didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was overwhelming to her.

As the restaurant was being built, Twilight had told one of her friends, Rarity, that she was dying to find out more about it. But, this was not what she'd had in mind. Still, the good news was, now separated from her body, she could investigate the pizzeria without anypony stopping her. The bad news was ... well, she knew she'd be investigating ... one of her friends.