So bored...

Two days had come and gone since my encounter with Surefire and Snooty. While the girls and I had formulated a plan, it didn’t involve me at all, unfortunately. My job in the grand scheme of things was to sit here and do absolutely nothing.

Letting out a lengthy sigh, I shifted my position a bit to get comfortable again. Well, as comfortable as a pony could be with their hind legs in casts, anyway. To make matters worse, I had an awful itch on my hind leg, just above the cast, that I just couldn’t quite reach.

A perfect situation for even magic as weak as mine, and I can’t even use it.

This whole situation really sucked.

I miss Fluttershy...

I thought back to her smiling face, when she had come by to visit me yesterday. She had just been a bundle of joy and enthusiasm since our talk the other night. I never would have guessed that being in love would be this wonderful! Though I didn’t much care for the unbearable feeling of longing whenever she was away. Mother would always say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I think I have to disagree: absence of the one you love was, in my humble opinion, just plain awful.

Fluttershy had mentioned that Snooty had come to see her and the rest of the girls shortly after they had visited me. She had demanded that he leave, however, and had simply refused to speak with anypony until he had done so. I was actually quite envious of the way she had handled the situation. Whereas I had gotten hot-headed about seeing him and had lashed out in anger, Fluttershy had handled everything calmly and collectedly. Which was exactly what I should have done in the first place.

My special somepony hadn’t been my only guest in the past two days, however. In fact, I had received visits from just about everypony else as well, with the exception of Rarity. I think she was still angry with me over the fact of me having hit Snooty. Although, come to think of it, the other girls had mentioned that they hadn’t really seen much of her, either...

I dreaded to think that Rarity might have been spending time with Snooty, but, deep down, I knew that this was likely the case. Knowing Snooty’s obsession with the fashionista, he was probably milking his ‘white knight coming to the rescue’ status as much as he could. I could only hope that my dear friend would not make a mistake she would later come regret, when the truth finally came to light.

The truth...

I had faith in Twilight and Surefire; I just knew that they would find something to help me bring the truth of my case to light. But despite that faith there were still some lingering doubts in the back of my mind... What if Snooty really was that good? What if even those two couldn’t find anything solid on him?

I shook the thought from my mind.

I’d rather not think about that.

As the hours continued to pass, I was becoming desperate for something to occupy my racing mind. So desperate that I was actually thinking of asking somepony to retrieve my copy of ‘Dusk’ from the floor so I could read it again.

Okay, so maybe I’m not that desperate yet.

Fortunately, there was still one other thing I could do to keep from going mad. I looked over to the stack of ‘evidence’ that had been left behind. After Twilight and Surefire had reviewed all of it yesterday, it had found its way to the nightstand beside my bed. I had generally avoided looking at the pile of papers, ever since the two detectives had forgotten about them during their hasty retreat from the wrath of Fluttershy. They were a cruel reminder of the tragic fate that had befallen three ponies, and of the false crimes and lies that were being pinned on me.

With nothing better to do at that moment, though, my curiosity was piqued. I decided that maybe I should look them over again; perhaps I could find something useful?

The papers being out of reach, I was required to use my magic. I let out a small, preemptive groan, knowing full well what kind of pain awaited me. Using my magic was marginally less painful at this point, but it still hurt.

Steeling myself, I focused my magic on the papers, wincing slightly  at the stinging sensation that inevitably followed. As quickly as I could, I pulled the papers over to me and then dropped them out of my magic’s hold and neatly into my lap.

Looking down at them with a soft hum, I carefully analyzed the cover page. It stated the case number, as well as some other basic information regarding both myself and the detectives working the case. With a bit of struggle—given that I still only had the use of a single forehoof—I flipped over to the first page.

I was immediately met with a picture of myself. It had to have been taken recently, given that I wasn’t wearing my cloak. I couldn’t quite make out the background, however; the photo had been taken in such a way that I was the only thing in clear focus.

But why? Why is the background out of focus?

As I entertained this thought, I realized something: Surefire and Twilight would likely think nothing of seeing a picture of another pony at first glance. What they didn’t know, however, was that I absolutely hated having my picture taken, and generally avoided it at all costs. So I knew exactly when I had last had my picture taken—willingly, at least. It had been by my mother, back when I was still a filly.

So this photo was taken very recently, and without my consent...

Squinting, I studied the fuzzy background more closely. I could barely make out the blurry outline of what looked to be a... a house, maybe? And perhaps a bunch of trees and other greenery.

I examined the imagine for several moments longer.

I don’t have my cloak on, so that can only be Ponyville... A house with lot of vegetation around it...

My eyes widened with sudden realization as the answer hit me.

That’s Fluttershy’s cottage! Why is there a picture of me in front of Fluttershy’s cottage all the way over here in Manehattan? Who took it? When? And how did it get here?

I felt a sudden, cold chill running down my spine as I recalled the words Snooty’s had uttered during my foalnapping:

“And that’s when my associates reported that they had found you. At first—given the unforgivable damage you had done to my business—I was simply going to have them kill you...”

“But after I had gotten a full report, I learned that you had indeed met up with Rarity. Not only that, you two had appeared to have become quite close. So much so that you were allowed to stay in her guest room. ”

“This intrigued me, So I had you watched for a few days in order to gather some more information.”

Things were starting to add up; I was on the verge of discovering something important, but I still couldn’t quite put my hoof on it.

I need to point this out to Surefire and Twilight, maybe they could help me figure this out!

It was clear these documents were never meant for my eyes, or at least not for any kind of close scrutiny. They had just been something to wave about as ‘incontrovertible proof,’ and so rattle my cage.

I felt a sudden wave of empowerment as I quickly flipped to the next page. However, this rush was quickly crushed by the gruesome photos awaiting me on the following page. Horrifying images of the three stallions I had allegedly murdered stared back at me. I looked away, feeling a sudden wave of nausea swelling up inside of me, and tried not to retch. As horrible as these pictures were to look at, though, I had to take a closer look.

Taking a deep breath, I once again steeled myself, before looking at the images again.

This is horrible... How could anypony do this sort of thing to another pony?

I may have hated these three for what they had tried to do to me, but I couldn’t help but feel pity and sympathy for them, after they had suffered such gruesome fates. I wondered if they had left behind families of their own... What if some mare had been made a widow, or a little filly had been left without a father? Surely they didn’t deserve to suffer for their husbands’ or fathers’ mistakes...

My face contorted into an angry sneer at these thoughts. Snooty had so casually sacrificed the lives of three of his own stallions; ponies who had been loyal to him... All just to cover up the mess that he had made.

It was a grim reminder of the type of pony I was dealing with. There was really only one word I could think of to classify Snooty for what he really was, under all the veils of lies and deception...

Monster.

Taking a moment to look at the big picture, my own situation, sucky as it may have seemed, suddenly felt so... insignificant.

Just how long had Snooty been getting away with his crimes? I couldn’t even imagine the number of lives Snooty must have single-hoofedly destroyed to get to where he was today.

I let out a long sigh as I flipped to the next page. Charts and graphs, detailing information that held no meaning for me whatsoever, covered most of the page. They appeared to have something to do with magic, judging by the listing and labels, but I had no clue as to what, exactly.

I really should have gone over these with Twilight and Surefire...

I scratched my head, making several more vain attempts to decipher the cryptic data.

Now I’m really curious. I’ll have to ask Twilight if she knows what all of this means later.

Putting that thought aside, I continued to look over the rest of the evidence. Detailed pictures of the crime scenes, together with small notes, took up the majority of the last few pages.

Without a doubt, those snapshots each told a tale of gruesome murder; all of them murders I did not commit. I took notice of the blood spattered along the walls and the floor, wondering how in Equestria they had ever made it look like I could have possibly done any of this.

Given the bloody mess in this picture, I would have had to have blood all over... me...

My eyes widened as an extremely important detail, which I had completely forgotten to mention, hit me like a brick to the face.

Hunter’s blood! It was all over me! ...It would also have been all over that hallway. How was all of this missed?!

I immediately reached to the side of my bed and slammed the nurse call button. After a few seconds, an unfamiliar nurse entered the room.

“Can I hel—”

“I need you find Doctor Ruby Heart for me right now, it’s extremely important!” I demanded, hoping my tone of voice could convey the deadly-serious nature of my request.

The nurse craned her neck back, blinking in surprise. “O-okay,” she replied, and then quickly left.

Somepony should have documented the blood; Ruby might know more.

I paused for a moment, my ears folding back as I considered this.

But if somepony recorded the data, wouldn’t they have noticed that—

My train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the door flying open. I looked over to find a heavily-winded, ruby red pegasus taking a moment to collect herself.

“What’s... wrong...” Ruby Heart began, taking another deep breath before adding, “Prism?”

“What happened to the blood that was found on me?” I quickly asked, anxiously awaiting her reply.

She was still panting, but now stood up straight and raised an eyebrow at me. “What do you mean?”

“The blood! From the other stallion!” I blurted out as soon as she had finished her reply. ”I know for a fact that some had gotten on me; it must have still been there when I was brought into the hospital... Where is it? What happened to it?”

She blinked a few times in surprise. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about, Prism,” she replied, her expression shifting into one of concern. “The only blood we found on you when you arrived was your own.”

I tilted my head, utterly perplexed by this response. “But... That makes no sense! I was literally covered in blood! It was from the stallion I was forced to injure in order to get away.”

Ruby Heart scratched her head before shrugging. “I don’t know what to tell you, Prism. I was there when you were brought in. There was very little blood on you at all, and during our analysis it all turned out to be yours.”

Something wasn’t right. Sometime between when I had blacked out in the warehouse and when I had arrived at the hospital, Hunter’s blood had been cleaned off of me.

I slammed the side of my bed with my forehoof. “Horseapples!” I swore, grinding my teeth in frustration at the premature demise of such a promising, potential lead.

“May I ask why you are asking this?” Ruby asked curiously, tilting her head.

“That blood did not belong to the three stallions who were murdered. It was from a fourth stallion, one who is missing from these evidence papers.”

Ruby paused for several moments before her eyes widened. “We need to call the police!” she said, spinning around and starting for the door.

“Wait!” I called out after her, extending my one good forehoof. “Don’t call the police!”

Ruby turned back to me, looking utterly perplexed. “What?”

“It’s complicated. Really... complicated.”

The doctor’s expression softened, and she approached my bed. “Okay... Well, what can I do to help?”

Her offer surprised me. I hadn’t expected her to do anything beyond perhaps retrieving the information regarding the blood. Normally, I would be inclined to decline such an offer from somepony I didn’t really know, but despite these misgivings and my general discomfort around strangers, I knew I had to press forward and take advantage of every resource I had available if I wanted to be of any help to Twilight and Surefire. And, most of all, if I wanted to help myself.

“I need you to locate Twilight Sparkle and Junior Detective Surefire of the Manehattan Metro Police,” I told her. “Tell them it’s important; they will understand.”

“Okay,” she said, quickly spinning back around and exiting the room before I could say anything else.

I sat there in silence for a few moments. I hadn’t been expecting that to go so... smoothly. She hadn’t even asked me why I wanted her to fetch these two ponies or anything.

Does she know more about my situation than I originally thought?

After reflecting on the other mare’s strange reaction for a while, I shrugged it off. Twilight or Surefire had more than likely spoken with her and told her a little about my plight. What really mattered was that I was now back on the game board and busy making my next move.

I looked back to the papers in my lap with a small smirk.

Your pawns have made a big mistake, Snooty.

* * * * * * * * * *

Waiting to get word back from the girls felt like an eternity, the hours crawling by like a snail in the Cloudsdale Olympics.

How would a snail compete anyway? A cloud-walking spell maybe? Would that even work on a snail? Then there is the jumping from the cloud to cloud, how would it pull that off?

As much as I was enjoying my musings on a snail beating the odds and becoming an Olympic gold medalist, a sudden knock at my door, followed by the all-too-familiar click of metal, quickly made me abandon further formulation of my ambitious master plan.

I looked to the door with a relieved smile as Twilight entered, accompanied by the junior detective. Both mares had what looked to be fairly full saddlebags dangling from their sides. I briefly wondered why they had both made it here at the same time, but quickly dismissed the notion; there could, after all, be any number of trivial reasons for it.

“Thanks for coming,” I greeted the pair as they approached my bedside.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we?” Twilight said with a warm smile as she slipped out of her saddlebags. “Ruby said you found something important in the evidence papers, something we had overlooked?”

I nodded. “Yes, I decided to take a look at them, too, and I found a few things that were off.” I shuffled the stack of papers in my lap and returned to the first page. “First off, this picture. It shouldn't be there.”

Surefire leaned in and took a closer look at the picture, before scratching her head. “What makes you say that?”

“I absolutely hate having my picture taken. The last time I begrudgingly allowed it must have been years ago, when I was still a filly. This, however, was clearly taken recently—without my consent.” I passed the photograph to Surefire. “Here. Look closely, particularly at the background.”

She hummed and narrowed her eyes, examining it closely. “It’s all a bit fuzzy... Can’t say I know where this is. Judging from all the green... Uh, Center Park?”

That’s right; so stupid of me! Of course Surefire wouldn’t even consider Ponyville.

“Twilight, why don’t you take a look, too, and tell me what you think,” I said, silently hoping that she, being familiar with Ponyville, would corroborate my own guess.

She approached the detective and leaned in to get a closer look at the image, also narrowing her eyes. She examined it in silence for several seconds, but then her eyes widened.

“That’s outside of Fluttershy’s cottage, isn’t it?” she said, looking over to me in surprise.

I nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.”

Twilight groaned and facehoofed. “How did I miss that?!”

“Well, you couldn’t have known that it had to have been taken very recently, in Ponyville,” I pointed out. “It could’ve been taken anywhere otherwise. I got the feeling I was never intended to get to see this picture, myself, since I’d obviously know of my own aversion to photography and would realize this picture was taken without my noticing.”

Surefire glanced between Twilight and I with a look of confusion, before looking back to the picture in her hoof. “Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Mind filling me in on what the two of you have just deduced, based on this photo?”

“Well, remember when I told you that Snooty was having me watched?” I explained patiently. ”Whoever was watching me must have been the one to who took this photo, when I was visiting my friend Fluttershy in Ponyville.” I tilted my head. “But... If whoever took it was spying on me for Snooty, then how did it end up in here?” I pointed to the documents. “I don’t understand.”

Surefire stared off into nowhere for a few moments before letting out a sudden gasp, the paper slipping off her hoof in the process. “After the investigation of the carriage crash involving the internal affairs agent, Hawkeye and Nitpick both took two weeks off to take a vacation...” Her expression hardened into a heavy glare. “...in Ponyville.”

Her statement frightened me. The dots were starting to connect inside my mind, and judging from Twilight’s expression, she was already way ahead of me.

“That would have been right around the time when Prism had first come to Ponyville,” she said, turning to Surefire with a small frown. “That can’t just be a coincidence.” Twilight looked at me for a moment, and we both nodded in mutual understanding. Then she looked back to the detective. “So, I think we can safely conclude that Snooty ordered them over to Ponyville so as to observe Prism. That would explain how this picture got in here, in these papers, all the way over here in Manehattan. Those two brought it with them.”

I looked to Twilight with a confused expression. “Wait, if they visited Ponyville, wouldn’t Pinkie Pie have eventually thrown a party for them?”

Twilight raised a forehoof. “I was about to get to that, actually. Pinkie did mention something about two stallions who were taking a vacation in Ponyville, a few weeks back. She was rather sad about it, too, worried about the fact that all the new ponies kept rejecting her parties.” Twilight scowled. “I thought nothing of it at the time, and simply told her they were probably vacationing in a quiet town like Ponyville to get away from it all and try to relax.”

Surefire sat down onto her haunches and reached into her saddlebags,quickly retrieving a pencil and notepad. Taking the pad into her hoof and the pencil in her teeth, she began to furiously scribble down some notes. Then she spat out the pencil onto the floor next to her.

“This needs to be looked into right away,” she said, closing her bag and standing up. “We may just be able to use this to derail the entire case against you. I’ll get back to you two soon.” She then spun around and made to leave.

“Surefire, wait!” I called out to her. “That isn’t all I found!”

Surefire turned back to me, sighed, and sat back down on her haunches, retrieving a fresh writing utensil from her saddlebag and looking up to me expectantly.

“The fourth stallion, Hunter—the one I said was missing? When I tackled him in that hallway my horn impaled him, and I was left covered in his blood. I mentioned that, right?”

Surefire nodded, jotting down these details as well. Then she eagerly hopped to her forehooves. “They should have analysed all of the blood found on your pelt when you arrived here at the hospital. I’ll go take a look, see if I can find the file.”

“Wait,” I again called out to the enthusiastic detective. “I already asked Doctor Ruby Heart. She said that they only found samples of my own blood. But also that there wasn’t a lot of it to begin with.”

To my surprise, Surefire nodded. “That’s what the case file said as well,” she said as she closed the distance to me, leaning in close to examine my horn. “However... I think I might know of a way to find out if there was any blood on your horn recently, even if it was cleaned off. I’m going to need a sample of some of your alicorn to be able to perform the test, though.”

Something about the words ‘horn’, ‘alicorn’ and ‘sample’ being in the same sentence didn’t sound too good to me.

“Will it hurt?” I asked, leaning back instinctively

Surefire said nothing for a moment, and flashed me an uneasy smile. “Ehh... I, uh... I have never had to take a sample from a live subject before,” she admitted with a sheepish laugh. “So probably? Well... um, actually, yes, it definitely will.”

My heart sank; given how much I hated simply having my horn touched, this was probably going to be extremely unpleasant. However, reluctant as I was, I knew had little choice in the matter. If this was what was required to prove my innocence, then it had to be done. Even so, not knowing how bad the procedure would hurt beforehoof didn’t exactly make me feel any better about it.

The junior detective slid out from under her saddlebags and proceeded to rummage through their contents. From what I could see, they contained all kinds of small instruments and devices. After a few moments, Surefire retrieved a rather sinister-looking tool. It was a small metal rod with a series of hooks on one end and bladed edges on the other.

What kind of pre-equestrian-era torture device is that?!

“Oh, you have an alicorn pick with you?” Twilight said, seeming quite surprised by sight of the tool the detective was holding in her hoof.

Surefire let out a sheepish laugh. “Well, when Doctor Ruby Heart said Prism found something important and I had no idea what to expect, so I kind of, sort of... brought all of my personal equipment with me.” She looked down her stuffed saddlebags with another, nervous laugh.

Twilight glanced down at her own, equally full saddlebags briefly. “I think I know what you mean,” she admitted with a smile.

Surefire spun to face me. “All right, so I’m going to need you to—”

“You are not bringing that thing anywhere near my horn,” I said, pointing at the ominous device she was holding.

The young mare craned her neck back in surprise at my protests. “But... I need to get a sample for testing.”

“Would you feel better if I were to take the sample, Prism?” Twilight said sympathetically.

Inexperienced junior detective? Or super-genius researcher and scientist? Hmmm...

The choice was pretty obvious.

“Please.”

The tool lit up with a soft purple glow as it levitated over to Twilight. “Now... let’s see if I remember how this goes.”

Surefire raised an eyebrow curiously at the unicorn. “Just how familiar are you with the structure of unicorn horns, Twilight? Have you ever had the opportunity to actually dissect one?” There was a mild hint of irritation to her voice.

I think I might have offended her...

“Well... no, I haven’t,” Twilight retorted somewhat snarkily, ”but I have read a lot of books on unicorn anatomy, so I know just about all there is to know regarding their horns.” She shot the detective a subtle glare.

Suddenly, my relief about Twilight taking the sample evaporated. In fact, now I wasn’t sure if I wanted either of them to do it.

It would probably be better if a doctor did it. Maybe even a surg—

Surefire returned the unicorn’s glare. “If the procedure isn’t done correctly, you could potentially hurt her really, really badly,” she stated matter-of-factly, pointing a forehoof at me, disapproval clearly evident in her voice.

I quickly glanced between the two uneasily. “Um, girls? Maybe we shou—”

“I know what I am doing!” Twilight’s glare at the detective intensified.

“Fine, suit yourself!” Surefire exclaimed, throwing out a forehoof in frustration. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you if she ends up getting hurt.”

My ears fell back as Twilight approached me. I couldn’t help but shrink back when she leaned in to closely examine my horn. After a brief moment’s pause, she brought the tool just inches from my horn.

“Um, Twilight? Maybe we should wait and let an expert do—”

“You’ll be fine, Prism,” she said sternly, attempting to radiate as much confidence as possible but only partly succeeding.

I felt a cold chill run down my spine, a mild panic beginning to well up inside me. I glanced over to Surefire, who was sitting on her haunches a few paces behind Twilight. Her ears were folded back and her forelegs were crossed, and she was still casting a look of irritation at Twilight. Suddenly, however, her expression drastically changed; Surefire’s eyes widened and I saw her scrambling to get to her hooves.

“No, not there!” she cried out, extending a forehoof to Twilight.

But her plea came too late.

I couldn’t sum up the sensation I felt flaring up in my horn with any single word. What I felt could only be described as a horrifying nightmare from the darkest depths of my innermost fears, which had somehow manifested itself into a living reality.

An instant later, everything faded into silence and darkness.

* * * * * * * * * *

“I don’t want to! I won’t do it!” I said with a pout, stubbornly standing my ground in the center of the narrow hallway which led to the front door of our apartment.

Mother let out an exasperated sigh as she leaned up against the open door’s worn frame. “Prism dear, it’s just a picture!”

I took a moment to blow a loose lock of unnecessarily over-styled mane out of my face. “I don’t care, I hate them!” I said obstinately. ”And this dress is so itchy!” I used my forehoof to scratch a particularly itchy patch of snowy fur on my side, hidden beneath the equally white Caterlotian gown that was covering it.

My mother’s expression softened, a look of sympathy in her eyes. She pushed herself off the doorframe and closed the distance between us, leaning down to me. “You’re excited for school, right?”

I paused, not quite sure what that had to do with the horrible experience she was planning to put me through. “...Yes,” I said reluctantly, eyeing her with a mix of curiosity and skepticism.

“Well, you need to have your picture taken for school,” she informed me, before shooting me a quick wink.

This mollified me, but only a little. “Do I really have to, mom?”

She gave an affirmative nod. “I’m afraid so, dear,” she replied. Then a small smile played along her lips. “You can either have it taken now, beforehoof, or on your very first day of school instead, along with all the other little ponies who didn’t want their pictures taken.”

My eyes widened and I let out a gasp. Leaping at her, I latched myself onto my mother’s foreleg. “No! Not that!” I cried out, nuzzling into her leg. “Anything but that...”

Mother covered a small laugh with her free forehoof. “Well, we should go in and have it taken now, then, or you won’t have any choice!” She paused for a moment. “Hey, want to know a secret?”

My ears perked up, and I met her eyes curiously. “What secret?”

Mother’s horn lit up with a soft green glow for a few seconds, and then a book from somewhere in the room behind me floated overhead and landed right in front of me. Looking over the cover, I could tell that it was very old. It also bore a number of multi-colored paint-stains, rendering the scattered bits of visible text printed on it utterly illegible.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked back up to her. “What is this?”

“Something very special to me.” She opened the book with her magic and flipped over to a particular page.

Blinking, I leaned down to the open book, still not really sure what I was looking at—or for. But then a soft-pink forehoof pointed to a photo in the bottom left of the page. It depicted a small, pink filly with a heavily-styled white-and-lavender mane, all dressed up in a white Canterlotian dress that was very similar to mine.

I glanced down at the pristine white gown I was currently wearing, before examining the picture again, a bit more closely this time. Taking another look at the filly in the outfit, I realized she, too, looked awfully familiar...

“Is that...? Is that you in the picture, mom?”

She gave an enthusiastic nod. “Yup, that’s me!” She pointed a hoof at the gown. “And that is the selfsame dress I was wearing. It was for my first school picture.”

“Really?!” I craned my neck around and turned in place, studying the dress. So that’s why I thought it looked exactly like the one in the picture—because it totally was!

This is mom’s dress... She wore this for her own school picture, when she was my age; a long time ago...

I felt a large smile crest my face at the fact that I was wearing something that had belonged to Mother; something that was special to her. A little piece of history, of her life, her past... Being passed down to me. That realization made me feel really happy, for some reason.

“Mom?”

Mother raised an eyebrow at me. “Yes, dear?” she said with a small smirk.

“Can we go now?”

She let out a small laugh before nodding. “Yes dear, let’s get going.”

* * * * * * * * * *

My right ear twitched as the faint sounds of a pen on paper stirred my consciousness awake. I slowly opened my eyes, emitting a soft groan when I finally became aware of where I was. I took a few moments to gather my strength before sitting up as best I could, and then took a look around the room. I immediately noticed Surefire, sitting alone in one of the green chairs in the corner of the room and writing in a small, pink book.

The book was littered with glittery stickers of hearts, suns, and other miscellaneous, cheerful images. Small doodles and lots of filly’ish “X”s and “O”s also decorated the cover, giving it a very personal feel.

Is that... a diary?

I watched the young mare for several seconds longer. As much as I didn’t want to interrupt her, I was intensely curious to know where Twilight had gotten off to, not to mention how long I had been out.

“Um, Surefire?”

The junior detective let out a yelp, nearly jumping out of both her skin and the chair she was sitting in and accidentally launching her book into the air out of sheer surprise. Surefire frantically fumbled to catch it on the way back down, nearly dropping it several times before finally managing to snatch it out of the air with her teeth.

She slowly turned to face me, book still firmly in mouth. I could see her face flushing, and she hastily took the book from her mouth, scrambling to stuff it into a nearby saddlebag. She let out an embarrassed, nervous laugh, and began fidgeting with her forehooves a little.

“Err, sorry about that.” She scratched the back of her head, glancing back at her saddlebags. “You uh, kind of startled me.”

I sank down a little in my bed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you...”

She shook a forehoof at me dismissively. “No, no, it’s fine! Absolutely fine!” she insisted, her unconvincing reassurances quickly followed by another nervous laugh.

I gave her a curious look, puzzled by her awkward behavior, but then shook my head and decided not to pry. “How long was I asleep?” I asked, looking about the room, still feeling a little dazed and confused. “And where is Twilight?”

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘sleeping,’ but you weren’t out for very long. Maybe about, uh,” she said, glancing at the clock in the room, “thirty, forty minutes? And as for Twilight...” Surefire’s ears fell back, and she frowned deeply. “I, um, kind of, sort of... scolded her for what she did to you. She ran off. She seemed really upset at herself. I hope she’s all right...”

While I wasn’t exactly thrilled about what Twilight had done to me, I still didn’t harbor any ill will towards her.

“Oh... Well, I hope she comes back soon.”

Surefire nodded, her expression sinking. “Me, too... I hope she’ll forgive me.”

“From what I have seen, she isn’t one to hold grudges,” I reassured her with a quick wink. ”I’m sure everything will be fine, once you two get a chance to talk things out.”

The young mare managed a small smile. “Thank you, Prism. I’ll do that.”

“No problem.” I returned with a warm smile of my own.

A few moments of silence passed, but then I started to wonder why Surefire had stuck around this long.

Wasn’t she just about to leave earlier?

“Um, Surefire? Don’t take this the wrong way, but... why are you still here? You didn’t have to wait for me to wake up, you know.”

“True, but after a quick review of my notes I realized I really should go over all of those evidence papers with you before I leave.” She pointed a forehoof to the stack of document on my nightstand. “Since you already found several inconsistencies by yourself, it made me wonder if there’s anything more in there that we could use.”

My ears perked up as I remembered my mental notes from earlier. “Oh right, speaking of which, I did have a few questions about some of the charts and graphs in there.”

“All right, let’s see if I can’t explain those for you.”

Surefire dipped her head into one of her saddlebags and retrieved a small notepad with her teeth before making her way to my bedside.

Excited to get some answers, and without really thinking about it, I looked to the papers and focused my magic. A familiar prismatic aura covered the pages as I lifted them up and brought them over to me. I hadn’t even really been thinking about it, but I immediately noticed that my horn felt really... funny. It didn’t hurt, but it didn’t feel quite right either.

What happened to my—

There was a gasp, then, and the dull sound of something being dropped, derailing my train of thought. I looked over to find Surefire staring at me in wide-eyed disbelief, her notepad most likely having fallen when her jaw dropped.

I stared back at her blankly, blinking idly for a moment before I had the presence of mind to follow her eyes to the stack of papers levitating above me.

She doesn’t know...

I let out a sharp gasp and quickly withdrew my magic from the papers, dropping them on the bed in front of me. I had gotten so used to the fact that the girls all knew about my magic that I had actually gotten reasonably comfortable about using it in front of them. However, I had quite forgotten to inform Surefire about its unique nature, and, by the looks of things, so had Twilight and everypony else.

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Surefire shook herself from her daze, her eyes meeting mine with a look of unadulterated shock.

“What did Twilight do to you?!” she said with alarm, running up to my bedside and closely examining my horn in a state of panic. “The doctor said your horn would be fine—but this is serious! We need to let them know right—”

“Surefire!” I called out to the distressed mare, thankfully managing to garner her attention. “Surefire, relax; this is perfectly normal for—”

“Normal?!” she cried, taken aback. She withdrew a step from my bedside. “I have never seen or, or even heard of, of anything like that before, ever.”

I cowered down a little in my bed, overwhelmed by her rather extreme reaction. It was stuff like this that had always made me so reluctant to use my magic.

As I looked away from the young mare, my eyes caught sight of my damaged right forehoof. I recalled how they had said I might never regain full control of it, and that I would have to start relying on my magic for more mundane activities. This would, of course, mean I’d have to deal with ponies’ reactions to my magic on a daily basis; it would be inescapable.

I decided I’d better get used to it, starting now. Steeling myself, I dug down deep and found the resolve needed to address the still-flabbergasted Surefire. “This is normal for me. My albinism affects my magic in very specific ways, and—”

“But the color! It’s—”

“Prismatic, yes. My natural magical color is just that.”

The junior detective seemed to lose her hoofing, falling back onto her haunches and looking absolutely stunned. I was silently wishing that one of the girls were here to help explain it better, but I knew that was on my own for this one.

“My magic has been like this all my life; no recent injuries have changed it,” I informed her, gesturing to my horn. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I haven’t once used my magic in your company before now. I think you can see why...”

Slowly getting to her hooves, Surefire finally shook herself out of her daze. “I’m really sorry, it’s just... Wow. I mean... wow!” To my surprise she flashed me a wide smile. “That is simply amazing! I mean, prismatic magic? That’s got to be some kind of record or something; it’s definitely super-cool!”

I shrank away bashfully at the unexpected compliments. Even after showing it to all my new friends—and a few other ponies besides—I still wasn’t used to receiving compliments about my magic’s color.

“May I see it again?” Surefire said hopefully. ”I promise I won’t freak out this time.” She let out a sheepish laugh.

I nodded, albeit slowly. Looking to the papers on the bed, I focused, enveloping them in my colorful aura. With a gentle, mental whisk, I got them to float in front of an enraptured Surefire.

She stared wordlessly, as if entranced by the spectrum of colored lights dancing in front of her face.

As for myself, I once again experienced a bizarre feeling in my horn as I struggled to hold my magic steady.

Shouldn’t this be hurting, like before?

“Surefire? Did somepony do something to my horn? Other than Twilight, I mean.”

The junior detective shook herself out of the daze before looking back to me. “Sorry, um... Your doctor applied some sort of numbing-agent to your horn. Creamy stuff. She said you likely won’t feel much for a few hours.”

I reached up and touched my horn with my forehoof. “Well, that explains why I can suddenly use magic without any pain.”

Surefire again looked to the prismatic aura surrounding the papers, smiling vaguely. “I still can’t get over it. I mean, looking at you, all white and colorless and stuff, being an albino and all, one would never in a million years guess that your... magic...” She trailed off. Her expression went blank and eyes grew wide.

“Surefire?” I said, recognizing an epiphany when I saw one. “What is it?”

“They didn’t know either...” she whispered to herself breathlessly.

I tilted my head, still confused. “Surefi—”

“THEY DIDN’T KNOW!” she boomed suddenly, eliciting a small squeak from me and nearly making me jump out of the bed.

Surefire quickly snatched the stack of documents out of mid-air and dropped them to the bed, furiously scanning and then tossing away the top few pages. Then, when she reached a particular page, her already-manic smile only widened further. She promptly picked up the paper and held it out in front me, right up in my face.

“They didn't know about your magic!”

I leaned sideways to look around the paper that was blocking my vision. “Huh? Who? What?”

“Look!” she insisted, barely able to contain her excitement. She brought the paper even closer to my face.

I craned my neck back to get a better view. It was the page with all the mysterious charts and graphs on it. Scratching my head, I dutifully studied its contents once again, but I still wasn’t able to make heads or tails of all the data. Finally, I gave up.

“Um... I don’t really know what I’m looking at?”

Surefire stared blankly at me for a moment before letting out a sheepish laugh, and helpfully set the paper in my lap in front of me. “Sorry, sorry... This graph right here,” she said, impatiently pointing to a small graph in the bottom right corner of the page, “displays three different attributes of your magic. The first line, the blue one, is the frequency with which your magic naturally travels; the second line, the red one, details the volatility of your magic; and finally, the yellow line displays its visible spectrum.”

Being unfamiliar with these concepts, I still had no real idea what all these values meant. “So, what does it say about my magic?”

Surefire flashed me a smirk. “The listing says that your magic’s color is a soft ruby-red; the same color as your eyes. However, as we now both know, that’s totally wrong, and we can prove it!”

I finally understood what she was getting at. “If my magic doesn’t match the description in the evidence papers...”

“Then their validity becomes questionable at best, and will require further review. Which will clearly show that this magical data is definitely not yours!” she said triumphantly, before leaning in close. “This is the weak link, Prism! Between your alicorn sample and this, we can blow the entire case against you wide open!”

The door suddenly swung open, and a familiar ruby-red pony hastily entered. “What’s with all the shouting in here? Is everything all right?” Doctor Ruby Heart frowned at us, and closed the door behind her. “You’re not in any pain, are you Prism?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine, it’s just that we found some inconsistencies in these reports, and that got somepony a little excited.” I glanced to Surefire with a small smirk, which she met with a sheepish laugh.

Ruby raised an eyebrow as she approached us. “What did you find?”

Well, that was rather... direct.

I paused for a moment before shaking the thought away. “Oh, we discovered that the description of the color of my magic in the evidence papers does not match its actual color,” I explained.

“Is that so?” she leaned in and looked me directly in the eyes, appearing to be examining them. “You’re not married to another unicorn... are you?” Her expression was one of disapproval.

It took my a moment or two to realize what she was insinuating.

She thinks that Fluttershy and I are have...

I blushed furiously, flailing my left hoof at her dismissively. “N-no! I-It’s nothing like that, no!

“What Prism means,” Surefire cut in, ”is that her magic is actually prismatic in color, rather than the soft ruby-red mentioned in these papers.” She grabbed the page in question from my lap and held it out to the doctor. “I’ve just learned that it’s a, uh, a feature of her albinism, which the pony who compiled this data must not have been aware of, much like myself. So they got it totally wrong, which means at least part of this report has been falsified.”

She took the paper from the detective, holding it up with her right wing whilst she looked it over for a few moments. “I see... So, what’s next?”

“What we need now is a unigram test to record Prism’s actual magical characteristics.”

My ears perked up at Surefire’s words. “Twilight probably already has all of that in her research notes. She did all sorts of tests on me, and she’s extremely thorough.”

Surefire nodded. “I don’t doubt it, but I’m not sure we could get away with using her data.”

I tilted my head curiously. “What do you mean?”

Surefire pointed a forehoof to the report still held in Ruby’s wing. “For data to be considered valid evidence, it has to be an official test performed with the right equipment, by a certified operator.” She closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh as she shifted her weight around on her hooves. “I’m guessing Twilight probably meets those criteria, but I have no idea where she is at the moment. And it’s doubtful that she’d have access to the proper equipment here in Manehattan.”

“I could do it,” Ruby said, raising a forehoof. “I’m certified, and I do believe we have a unigram machine here, in the magical ward.”

Surefire tilted her head, eyeing Ruby Heart skeptically. “A general physician with a unigram operations certification?”

The doctor’s ears folded back as she met the younger mare’s gaze with a small glare. “I’ll have you know that I was also involved with medical research during my internship at Canterlot General,” she said matter-of-factly.

Despite Ruby’s explanation, Surefire’s expression held. “Well, if you would be so kind, Doctor, we could really use your help with this.”

The crimson mare rolled her eyes. “Please, just call me Ruby. And I would be glad to lend you my expertise.” She looked over to me and flashed me a smile. “That way, nopony is going to question the validity of the results.”

Surefire brought a forehoof to her chin with a small hum. “Yes, you have a point, they wouldn’t.”

The doctor returned the evidence paper and made her way to the door, but then looked back over her shoulder as Surefire. “There’s be some paperwork I need you to fill out if this unigram is to be used as official court evidence, detective, so if you would be so kind as to join me, I can begin to prep for Prism’s analysis right away.”

Surefires expression softened, and she smiled. “All right. Thanks for being so prompt, Ruby.”

Ruby covered a small laugh. “Of course! It’s my job to look after my patients.”

With that, the two mares exited the room together, while I was left alone, dumbfounded by this remarkable turn of events. To think that, mere hours ago, I had feared that there was no chance of getting out of this mess. Now however, with knowledge of my magic out in open, it seemed that Surefire held the power to completely destroy the case against me.

As I reveled in this unexpected triumph, a sudden click of the door snapped me out of my contemplations. I briefly wondered who it could be, but I soon got my answer. The new guest turned out to be somepony I certainly wasn’t expecting, and had absolutely no desire to see.

“I thought that little brat would never leave,” said the yellow stallion in a posh tone, as he adjusted the small set of reading glasses perched atop his muzzle.

I narrowed my eyes, shooting an intense glare at my unwelcome guest. “What do you want, Snooty?”

The stallion raised an eyebrow at me curiously. “Why, I don’t want anything, my dear. I’ve simply come to warn you, that is all.” A small smirk played across his face.

I felt a twinge of anger at the sight of that smug, insufferable smile. “Warn me of what?” I asked, irritated by his mere presence.

Snooty’s expression suddenly turned very serious. “I know what you are up to, my dear,” he said as he began pacing in front of my bed. “Your friends have been very busy little bees, these past few days.”

I felt a cold chill running down my spine as I silently watched the stallion walking to and fro, disturbed by his words.

“That little brat detective-friend of yours has been poking her snout where it does not belong. For her sake, and yours, I would advise you to insist that she stop. I really don’t want to have to clean up another mess, if I don’t have to.” He suddenly stopped his pacing and spun to face me. “And do you mares take me for a foal? I know who Twilight Sparkle is; I know of her importance, and the significance of the connections she has. Did you really, honestly think I would not see right through her while she clumsily tried to prod me for information?”

Snooty’s blatant arrogance was grating on my last nerve. “I don’t care what you think you know, Snooty. Just know this: we are on to you. Your corrupt little detective-friends made a huge mistake.” I pointed my left forehoof to the evidence papers on the bed in front of me, conjuring up a little smirk of my own. “They left us this lovely stack of evidence to go through.”

Snooty scoffed at me with complete disregard. “Please. I knew of this; they informed me of that insignificant little oversight right after they became aware of it. The only reason you still have them in your possession is because I knew for a fact that there is nothing in there that could possibly be of any use to you. I have eyes and ears everywhere, my dear.”

Snooty approached the foot of my bed and reached down, picking up a large clipboard which, presumably, contained medical information, before looking at me with a sinister smile.

“Everywhere...”

Has he... Has he been having me watched? Even here?

I felt a wave of nausea swelling up in the pit of my stomach. If this was true then I wasn’t safe in this room, or even this entire hospital.

Snooty took notice of my horrified expression and let out a low, nefarious laugh before returning the clipboard to its original position at the foot of my bed.

What am I going to do...

I suddenly remembered something else I could confront him with. “Hunter! You tried to clean his blood off me, but you couldn’t have gotten it all out of my horn’s alicorn.”

Snooty let out a long sigh, nodding his head a few times in reluctant agreement. “Yes, yes, you are correct, I could not. However, I am not particularly worried about that,” he said with another affirmative nod. “All that will prove is that there was another, unknown stallion involved who was fortunate enough to have survived your vicious attacks. The scene of the crime will show this as well, so in the end, discovering the blood will only delay the inevitable. All of it was a royal pain in the flank to stage, but then again, sometimes one must go above and beyond to keep one’s nose clean, my dear.”

It seemed that no matter what my friends and I did, Snooty was always one step ahead of us. His unfathomable arrogance and confidence left me both furious and terrified at the same time, but I could do little more than sneer at him, for the time being.

The stallion turned to look at the clock. “Well, I would love to stay and chat, but unfortunately my time is short.” He casually adjusted the collar of his vest. “You see, I have an appointment with a certain up-and-coming fashionista which I wouldn’t dare miss.” He punctuated his message with a pompous laugh.

A cold chill crept its way down my spine at his words. I already knew that Rarity had likely been spending time with him, but having my worst fears confirmed like this was beyond unsettling.

Snooty gave a small frown, seemingly dissatisfied with my lack of response to his carefully-crafted taunt. “Well... I’ll be off then. Do have a nice d—”

“Wait!” I called out as he turned to leave.

There’s still one more thing I need to check...

“Before you go,”  I asked politely, ”would you mind telling me what this graph means?” I picked up the page with all the charts from the stack and held it out to Snooty. “The one in the bottom left? I don’t understand it.”

I tried my very best to keep a straight face. I was never very good at lying, but I didn’t want Snooty to catch on to me just yet. Thankfully, my act appeared to be sufficiently convincing, given that his face lit up with a condescending grin.

“Well, I suppose I could at least do that much. It’s really no surprise that an uneducated, home-schooled pony such as yourself is unable to grasp the complexities of this graph.”

I looked daggers at Snooty, deeply insulted by his latest taunt. I took great pride in the fact that Mother had provided my education for me in order to get me out of that horrible school, and knew for a fact that she had done an excellent job.

Snooty feigned a pout. “Oh my, if looks could kill... Did I strike a nerve? What a temper.you still have. Didn’t I warn you about keeping that in check, my dear? You’re really not doing yourself any favors with such continued aggressive behavior.”

I was fighting desperately to restrain myself from furiously exploding at him. “Just... Just tell me what the graph says. Please?”

He shot me another disappointed frown, but then cleared his throat. “This is a unigram diagnostics sheet. It displays three distinct values of your magic: frequency, volatility and spectrum,” he explained in a bored, monotonous drone. “Not that these variables mean anything to you, but since you asked nicely, I suppose I could point out that your magical frequency is quite high. While unusual, it still isn’t particularly special. The volatility values, however, are; they are really quite absurdly high. But then again, with a temper like yours, should we really be all that surprised?”

I hoped that my expression adequately communicated how utterly unamused I was by his constant, petty jabs, without showing any of my giddy excitement. Little did he know, he was playing right into my hooves.

“And the last one?” I inquired, trying to sound casual.

“Ah yes, the aforementioned spectral analysis. Utterly unremarkable. They show a dirty, reddish sort of color, obviously; the same as your eyes. This is the case for every unicorn, as I’m sure you know.”

His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but I held my tongue.

“Really?” I said, feigning interest.

Snooty raised a brow. ”Unless of course they have ever been married to another unicorn, which you, unsurprisingly, have not.”

“Does it really show my magic’s actual color?” I asked, hoping that he would repeat himself and dig his own grave a little deeper still.

Snooty rolled his eyes at me. “I just said so, did I not? A soft ruby-red was the official conclusion, if you must know.”

I fought hard to keep a victorious smile from creeping up the corners of my mouth. “Oh, I heard you, but there’s just one tiny problem with that...”

Snooty snorted impatiently, although I could detect just the slightest hint of doubt in his eyes. “Oh? ...And what would that be, my dear?”

I could no longer hide it; a large, predatory grin appeared on my muzzle. “My magic is not red.”

I would have paid any price for a picture immortalizing the look of flustered confusion on Snooty’s face in that moment.

However, I was not finished just yet.

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I focused on the paper in Snooty’s hoof. In an instant, the prismatic glow of my magic enveloped it. A bright, iridescent glow reflected vividly in the stunned stallion’s eyes as he stared wordlessly at the spectacle before him. I pulled the page from his grasp and made it to levitate right next to me.

Snooty seemed to lose the strength in his legs and dropped to his haunches. He weakly pointed a shaky forehoof at the paper I was holding in the colorful magic he had obviously not been expecting. His face went pale, which I took to mean that the full extent of his folly was fast beginning to dawn on him.

I met his fearful gaze with a victorious smile. After all the trouble he had caused me and my friends, I had finally managed to concoct and play a winning move to finally wipe that arrogant look clean off his face—and I was enjoying every second of it.

“You don’t look too good, Snooty. Is something wrong?” I asked sweetly, shifting positions so that my head was resting on my left forehoof.

“You seem awfully scared...”