A few policeponies waited outside the door of the Carousel Boutique, preventing any customers or curious passerbys from coming inside. Twilight, Spike and Sweetie Belle were in the lobby talking to the same, gray earth pony detective, Private Eye, that stopped by the other day at the library after what happened to Applejack. Fleur de Lis and Fancypants were speaking to Private Eye's partner. The upstairs had been taped off to let the police do their work.

"Miss Sparkle, could I speak to you alone for a moment please?" Private Eye asked. The two went into the kitchen out of earshot of Spike and Sweetie Belle.

"I was hoping not to see you again so soon, Private Eye," Twilight said. Her ears hung sadly on her head and she had worn herself a bit ragged after crying for so long with her assistant and the little unicorn. "Well, at least not under these kinds of circumstances, I guess."

He nodded in agreement. "Could you tell me where you were the last few hours, please?" Private Eye had asked the same thing to her and her friends the day before when inquiring about Applejack. Twilight knew what was coming when she heard the question. She was a bit insulted that anyone could ever think she'd harm any of her friends, especially after they all saved Equestria a few times by now. But, at the same time, she understood he was just doing his job.

Twilight thought for a moment, replaying the day in her head, "Spike and I got up at about a quarter to noon. We had lunch and came to the market to pick up some things about an hour or so later. Spike asked if he could go see Rarity about twenty minutes or so before I found him here."

Private Eye removed the pencil out of his mouth after scribbling down some notes on his pad. "I remember talking with Spike the other day. Can you tell me what he's like in a little detail?"

"He's my assistant in the library. He's a hard worker, very generous and kind. Can be a little sarcastic sometimes but he doesn't mean anything by it."

"You said he came here ahead of you. Why is that?"

Twilight shrugged, "He wanted to see how Rarity was doing. He's..he really cares about her a lot. I can't even begin to imagine how much he's hurting over this." She looked at Spike and her heart ached.

Private Eye nodded and wrote down some more things. "How did Rarity feel about him? Any idea?"

"I know she liked him as a friend. I honestly don't know how much more than that though. But I've always kind of suspected it may be something beyond that," Twilight chuckled. "I don't think she would ever admit it though. She always wanted to keep up appearances."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's a grown mare. He's a rather young dragon. I don't think she would've felt comfortable right away in such a relationship. She'd worry that others would see her as a.. a deviant or something," Twilight explained. The detective nodded and continued his writing. "Wait, are you thinking he had something to do with what happened to her?"

Private Eye raised his hoof trying to calm the angering unicorn. "Miss Sparkle, we know there was a struggle. Once we find some evidence at the scene, we'll be able to figure out who did this. Whenever we have a case like this, the spouse or coltfriend is usually one of the first ponies we take a look at. It's standard procedure, nothing more."

Twilight raised her voice, "I can tell you right now he didn't do anything. I've raised him since he was hatched and he's a good pony! You have my word! You can have Celestia's word when she returns!"

"Miss Sparkle, calm down," he sighed, "I don't believe he did it either. I told you the last time we spoke that I know about you and your friends and the Elements of Harmony. You don't do what you've done here in Ponyville without getting a little famous. But you also don't do what you did without making some enemies," Private Eye said.

Twilight listened as the detective shared his thoughts when the air suddenly chilled. She remembered this feeling. The last time she felt her spirit freezing like this was at Sugarcube Corner, the day of Pinkie's funeral. She heard the haunting sound of children laughing and she turned around to see the Cake twins playing pattycake.

"One, two, Pinkie's coming for you...
Three, four, better lock your door...
Five, six, get your friendship fixed...
Seven, eight, gonna stay up late...
Nine, ten, never sleep again..."

Screams of her friends, living and dead, bombarded her mind. She slammed her eyes closed and covered her ears as the panicky shrieks blinded and deafened her. Twilight's heart raced and sweat started trickling down her brow.

"Miss Sparkle? Miss Sparkle?" Private eye asked with a hoof on her shoulder and a quizzical look on his face.

She snapped back to reality in an instant, breathing heavily. "Huh? What?"

"I asked if the little filly lived here."

Twilight looked at Sweetie Belle. "No. She visits a lot because she goes to school at Ponyville Elementary, but she lives with her parents. I don't know where they are though. She could tell you."

"Alright. I'll send a couple of the stallions to take her home and give her folks the bad news," he sighed. "It's always the worst when children are caught up in the middle of things like this. My partner and I are going to talk to your friends after we're finished here." He tapped the pencil on his head, "What were their names again?"

"Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash," Twilight clarified. "They're.. they're the only other ones still around." Her heart sank and she sniffled, feeling tears welling up again. "Private Eye, could you do me a favor? Can you ask them to come see me at the library when they're done, please?"

"Sure," he smiled and headed over to his waiting partner.

Twilight sat in the kitchen and looked back to where Pound and Pumpkin were a moment ago. It was the third time she heard their song, but the first time she listened at all. 'One, two, Pinkie's coming for you,' she thought to herself. She repeated it in her head over and over. It didn't make any sense though. Pinkie was dead; the dead can't 'come for' anypony. 'Never sleep again,' Twilight then remembered. Did they mean that literally or.. ?

She felt like she was going crazy. Was what she was thinking really all that crazy though? Applejack and Rarity were gone now as well, and the six of them had seen some pretty crazy things together. Even if she her idea was correct, the question was 'why?'.

She needed to get back to the library. Despite telling herself at the start of her day that her books weren't going to be good company, she needed them again. She composed herself and walked up to Spike, who had been sitting against the wall by the stairs with his arm around Sweetie Belle, staring at the floor.

She sat beside her assistant and caressed his head. She hoped he'd understand what she was about to say. "Spike, I know you're going through a lot right now, but there's something.. strange going on, and I need to look into something. I need to go back to the library, but you don't have to come with me right away. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash will be joining me later and I'd like you to be there too."

Spike nodded as Twilight reached over and picked up Sweetie Belle and held her. "I'm so sorry, for both of you." The filly said nothing and just cuddled up to Twilight.

"Sweetie Belle," Private Eye said, kneeling beside them, "my name is Private Eye. My friends are going to bring you home and talk to your mom and dad, OK?" She looked up at the detective and sniffled. He put his leg around her shoulders and led her outside.

"Be strong, Spike. I'll see at home, OK?" He nodded and hung his head back down. With a soft kiss on his head, Twilight walked up to Fancypants and Fleur de Lis, who had been finished talking to Private Eye's partner for a while but looked to be waiting for the devastated unicorn. She caught their patient glances from time to time and had also wanted to speak to them.

"Miss Sparkle, our hearts go out to you," Fancypants said. "We are so deeply sorry for your loss. How are the young ones holding up?"

Twilight looked back at the heartbroken dragon, "Not so good. Spike.. he.. "

Fancypants glanced over his face from a distance, "He loved her." Twilight was taken off-guard that the Canterlot pony was able to figure it out so quickly. She frowned and nodded. Fancypants sighed. "I've seen that look a thousand times. Poor soul."

"It isn't odd to you that he's a dragon and she's a pony?" Twilight asked.

"Not in the least. Love is love. It doesn't care about appearances or silly little things like that," he explained. "I don't know how his love for her came to be, and ultimately, it doesn't matter. The fact that his story won't have a happy ending.. " Fancypants and Fleur looked at each other sadly, wishing they could somehow fix things.

"Miss Sparkle, if you ever need anything, let us know," Fleur spoke up. "We'll do whatever we can."

"Thank you. Thank you both," Twilight smiled. "If you'll excuse me, there's something I need to do back at home. Again, thank you, for everything." She left the Boutique and trotted back home, the eerie nursery rhyme repeating in her mind.

Books were unceremoniously sprawled all over the library floor. Hours had passed and Twilight's search hadn't seen much in the way of results yet. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash came over a while ago. Unsurprisingly, all they could discuss to pass the time was the bizarre events happening recently.

Rainbow addressed the bookworm, "Twilight, you asked us to come over to talk to you about something, but you've had your nose in books since we got here. What's going on?"

"I'm waiting for Spike to return. I really need to hear everypony's opinion on.. something," Twilight said.

"What's that?"

She searched for a good way to answer the question without coming off sounding nuts. The whole thing she had seen twice now was itself nuts, but she was always looked at as the headstrong leader of their group. She knew that if she appeared to be cracking under the stress, Rainbow and Fluttershy, especially, would likely follow right behind her. She owed it to them to look strong.

Twilight suddenly came across some texts in the book she had been looking through so feverishly that caught her eye. She carried it to the middle of the room where her pegasus friends were sitting. "It says here that- " She was cut off by the door creaking open behind her. Spike creeped inside, misery still written all over his face. He closed the door and dragged himself to the group. The pegasi glided over to comfort the baby dragon.

"Are you feeling any better, Spike?" Twilight asked solemnly.

"A little I guess," he shrugged.

"She was a lucky mare, Spike," Fluttershy reassured. The warm compliment made him smile slightly.

"Now that we're all here, what is it you needed, Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

Twilight finished skimming over the section she was reading and closed the book. "Please don't think I'm crazy when I tell you all what I think is going on. I've seen something.. disturbing.. recently, and I think it has something to do with Applejack and Rarity."

"What've you been seeing?" Fluttershy asked.

The unicorn took a deep breath and silently begged that her friends believed her, "I saw the Cake twins singing something.. creepy."

Rainbow smirked, "Twilight, you know the twins- "

"I know, I know! They're too young to talk, but they were. It was like a nursery rhyme or something, and the first line was," she gulped, "'One, two, Pinkie's coming for you.'"

Her friends were as perplexed as she expected them to be.

"Twilight, Pinkie's not with us anymore. She can't do anything," Fluttershy insisted.

"I know! That's what I was looking through while we waited for Spike. Things about.. the afterlife," Twilight looked away nervously. "I found bits and pieces about it in the other books you see on the floor, but this one here," she tapped the one before her, "had something in it that I think may explain things. At least, I hope. It's so hard to tell if these texts are just old mares' tales or if there's some actual substance behind them."

"What'd it say?" Spike asked.

"That sometimes, spirits of the dead stay among the living because they feel that something with their life isn't completed," Twilight explained. "When I heard the twins say that Pinkie was 'coming for you', I.. I started to think that maybe she's mad at us for some reason."

Rainbow frowned disappointedly, "Twilight, even if that stuff about spirits of the dead is true, why would Pinkie be mad at us? We were her best friends. She would never hurt us. If anything, she'd probably want to throw us a going away party."

The mild joke made Fluttershy and Spike chuckle slightly, but Twilight still looked worried. "I thought of that too. I just don't know what to think about this whole mess. It's just that.. the thing with the twins and then what I saw in this book.. " She slouched and rubbed her head.

Fluttershy laid a hoof on Twilight's. "It's OK, Twilight. This has been a rough few days. I, too, think that Pinkie wouldn't have any reason to be mad at us, but I don't think you're crazy."

"She's right, Twilight," Spike agreed, "we've all been under a lot of stress lately. It's probably just getting to you, that's all. But you'll pull through. You always do."

She sighed dejectedly. Maybe they were right. She reminded herself that she did have a tendency to blow things out of proportion. Private Eye did say earlier there were signs of a struggle at Rarity's. That could lead one to believe that somepony out there was after them. Maybe they'd been watching them for a while and took advantage of what happened to Pinkie, giving them the chance to go after them while they were weak or alone or something. Twilight was no longer sure if she could even believe her own ideas about the supernatural after repeating it to herself. But it still left her without any answers.

"I'm sorry if you feel I wasted your time, then."

"Hey, come on, Twilight. We're your friends. You'll always be worth our time, you know that," Rainbow comforted. The unicorn started to tear up. She was grateful that she had such great friends, even in the worst of times.

"Try and get some sleep, OK, Twilight?" Fluttershy pleaded. "We all could use some I think."

"I don't suppose you'd mind if I stopped by your places tomorrow just to.. check on you, would you? I'd just feel better if I knew you were both OK," Twilight asked.

"Of course not. You're always welcome at my cottage."

"Yeah, you don't need an invitation. Just some wings or a cloud-walking spell."

"Alright. Thanks for listening, girls." They hugged her and flew out for the evening.