Chapter 8

Epiphany

Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it. No, she refused to believe it! Only a few minutes ago, Dash had been appointed as Twilight's loyal assistant, but now the unicorn was calling her a foalnapper. Everything had started to spiral downwards once that mangy white unicorn with the hard to pronounce name had started talking! Everything! That liar was bullying everypony around and Twilight didn't even care! Friends were supposed to help each other... weren’t they?

As her confusion morphed into anger, Rainbow started grinding her teeth so hard that it hurt. “Twilight,” she seethed. Heart pounding in her chest, Rainbow pushed her wings violently outward. She couldn't handle this anymore. If Twilight wasn’t going to stick up for her, then she could say goodbye to her ‘loyal assistant’!

Rainbow tried to convince herself that she was angry as Twilight, but a more pressing emotion kept her from feeling anything else. Fear. Fear that the Everfree Forest was reaching out to take them. Fear that her friends had abandoned her. Fear that she would be alone for the rest of her life.

With indignation coursing through her body, Rainbow began to flap her wings. As her hooves left the ground, she steeled her heart. Rarity was right. Friends don’t accuse friends. If Twilight was going to admit that Rainbow was guilty, then maybe Rainbow didn’t need to be her friend anymore, much less her ‘loyal assistant’. How could she be loyal to somepony who betrayed her like that?

“Um, Rainbow?” came a soft voice from beside her.

“What?!” Rainbow snapped, her inner turmoil beginning to boil over. As she turned to face the source of the voice, she instantly wished that she could take everything back and put a lid on her explosive anger. Fluttershy stood beside her, eyes trembling and mouth agape with shock. “No, Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I-I didn’t—”

The yellow pegasus, instead of backing away like Rainbow had expected, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, the fear and hesitation had vanished. “Rainbow, it’s okay,” she stated. Her voice terrified, but her demeanor was calm. “I’m sure that Twilight has a good reason for this.”

Rainbow said nothing. What could she say? Fluttershy, who was still forcing herself to be brave, continued on, but the uncertain wobble in her voice was starting to get worse. “You just, um, have to trust her. Okay?” The mare took a shaky breath. “She trusted me about coming back here. I trust her. You should too, Rainbow.”

Without even thinking, Rainbow began to lower her wings, bringing them flush against her sides as her hooves touched the cold floor again. Seeing Fluttershy speak up like that was enough to make anypony stop and listen, but there was still a painful amount of truth in her words. Friends needed to trust each other, and they needed to know that a good friend would always have their friend’s best interests in mind. Rainbow saw the consequences of doubting that lesson when Pinkie had nearly lost her mind. Friendship wasn’t a one way street, so if one friend did something wrong to the other, only a true friend would forgive her.

Maybe that... was what loyalty was all about.

Rainbow, starting to feel her eyes water, blinked a few times to try and keep herself from crying. She had always known that she had a chronic fear of failure, which had always made it difficult for her to accept help, even from her friends, but Applejack had gone through something similar, hadn’t she? The cyan pegasus began to realize that these lessons in friendship that Twilight had always been writing about weren’t for Celestia's eyes only.

Chest heaving, Rainbow bit her tongue and forced the words out, regardless of whether or not she really meant them. “I trust you, Twilight,” she whispered hoarsely before turning away and facing the wall. She couldn’t let them see how close she was to crying. She was tougher than this. Tough ponies didn’t cry. “Just cut it with the s-sappy stuff already, okay? Show that mare who’s boss! I’m just gonna clean out my eyes over here. Y-you know, allergies and stuff.”

Over the sound of her own sniffling, Dash could still hear Twilight’s response.

“Thanks Rainbow. I know you didn’t do it. I trust you too.”

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Twilight could tell that Dash was about to cry, so she politely turned back to face Caesura. The off-white unicorn, who had been flaunting her power a few moments ago, now appeared flabbergasted. Silently, Twilight wondered if the mare in front of her had ever had somepony she could call a friend. The thought disheartened her a little bit.

“Caesura, with the evidence you’ve given, you’ve reached a logical conclusion,” Twilight began, trying to draw the unicorn’s attention back towards their debate. “But now you have to explain how Page was still in the room after Nightowl and I searched through it. Start talking.”

It took a moment for the speechless mare to collect herself, but Caesura didn’t have the same demeaning presence as before. It was almost like their roles had reversed. “W-well,” she stammered, beginning to sweat. It was as if she hadn’t expected Twilight to admit Rainbow Dash’s possible guilt, raising the question of whether or not she had actually thought about how Page had disappeared from the room. “There could have been a, um, spell! Of some sort! One that made Page invisible! What if—”

Caesura’s desperate attempt at explaining Page’s escape made Twilight’s suppressed anger come to a boil. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” she shouted, snorting like an enraged bull. “So you’re not satisfied with blaming one of my friends? Now you have to drag Rarity into this?!”

“What?!” came a shrill shriek from the other side of the room. The crowd instantly parted to reveal Rarity, her bedraggled appearance only making her look even more frightened than she already was. Her bewildered gaze swept back and forth between Caesura and Twilight, unable to settle on either of them for longer than a split second. “You can’t be serious! How could I have done something like that? I was down here in the lobby! And even before that, when I went to drop her off, I had Nightowl watching me the whole time!”

“Uh, actually,” the watchpony interrupted once he heard his name. “When we dropped Page off, Rarity went out the side door to make sure the other room was secure. So maybe she—”

“You’re kidding! You’ve got to be kidding!” the furious fashionista gasped, staring daggers at Nightowl. “Are you seriously proposing that I cast some invisibility spell on Page while you were right there in the next room?! That’s utterly mad! Twilight, tell them!”

Twilight, more than happy to steer attention away from her friends, jumped right into the conversational fray. “Caesura, I know where you’re going with this. I was going to ask how Rainbow would have managed to put the note on the statue, or even how she managed to make all the ponies disappear from the lobby, but now you’re saying that Rarity did all of that, aren’t you?”

Slowly, the dirty white mare in front of her brought her gaze back towards Twilight. None of the malice from earlier was still present in her once confident expression. “Yes. Yes I am."

“It's good that you’re so confident, but I’m sorry, that’s just not possible,” Twilight countered. “Even if Rarity managed to knock out Red and Preston with magic, she couldn’t have scared the 17 ponies in the lobby into stampeding out the front door. Not to mention the fact that Page was quite visible, even from outside! Or are you saying that Red lied about seeing her?”

As Twilight paused to collect her thoughts and make sure that her deductions were correct, she caught a quick glance of Caesura’s disheveled frown. In that moment, she looked vulnerable. Every time that Twilight had seen before, the unicorn had seemed completely aloof to the world around her. Had that just been an act?

Before Twilight could get a glimpse of who the real Caesura was, the mare became openly hostile again. “She could have been mistaken!” she responded icily. “As for Rarity in the lobby, It would be easy to scare the ponies here! We’ve all been on edge for a month!”

While it was true that the ponies of Everdale were probably at their wit’s end, it had no bearing on whether or not Rarity could have pulled off such an impressive vanishing act. “That’s not what I mean. I may have been dizzy at the time, but I still remember what I saw. Rarity was found near the front door, meaning that she was in between the 17 ponies and their only way out! If she had tried to scare them, they would have all run upstairs, not outside!”

With that last statement, Caesura’s scowl softened, but there was still a malicious aura around her. In the brief moment of silence, Twilight wondered what the mare in front of her was thinking. She didn’t appear to be upset. In fact, she didn’t even try to argue back.

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight spotted Rarity glaring menacingly at the only other white unicorn in the room. There was hostility in her posture, all of it directed at Caesura, but her eyes betrayed how relieved she was to be off the hook.

Twilight was about to ask Caesura if she had a counter, but another voice cut her off.

“Chess, give it a rest, would ya?” The voice belonged to Preston, who had stepped out of the group as he admonished his speechless friend. “She’s right, ya know. Miss Rarity here had her back to the door the whole time we were down there. I know you want to find out who’s responsible for all this, but we still don’t know everything, Chess. We need to go over tonight’s events one last time before we start pointin’ our hooves all over the place.”

There were a few responses from the crowd of ponies, most of them in complete agreement. Caesura, who should have shot him down without a second thought, looked away. “You know, Preston?” she sighed, sounding like she was suppressing the anger in her voice. There was still energy in her posture. “You really are a nice guy. Maybe I was being a little hasty. I’m not sure if any new testimony will change anything, but I need to be absolutely certain about this. If I’m wrong, that means that whoever did this to Page is going to walk free. And I won’t let that happen.”

Preston nodded, but Twilight’s attention was drawn towards Red, who had had apparently decided to leave Page in the corner and join the group. The orange pegasus looked like an absolute wreck, thanks to the dark circles under her eyes and her frizzy blond mane. It was a miracle that this pegasus was still standing.

“I’ll go first,” Red volunteered, a sturdy sense of determination present in the way she spoke. “Page doesn’t look like she’ll be awake for a couple of hours. And hey, Chess?” The pegasus turned and gave a surprisingly sympathetic look towards Caesura. “I appreciate what you’re doing for Page. And from what I heard, you really made some good points, but please, I feel like you should stick to playing your instruments instead of playing the detective. We should leave that up to the professionals.”

Red's solemn voice came as a surprise to everypony who was watching. Considering how Red had acted in the past 24 hours, Twilight had expected her to jump to Caesura’s aide and start pointing hooves at everything that moved! For once, Red was the most levelheaded pony in the room.

“Red, you—” The unicorn started to say something, but bit harshly on her bottom lip before jerking her head to the side and staring at the floor. With visible tension in her trot, Caesura moved to the corner of the room to be with Page. “Fine, Red. Fine. I’ll trust you. I’ll even trust Preston and Nightowl, because that’s what friends do. But you can’t expect me to trust those six. It’s their fault most of this town is gone, you know.”

Grinding her teeth, Twilight forced herself to keep her temper in check. While she was grateful that Red had managed to tame Caesura, she still had a lingering doubt about where this mystery was going to go. So far, she had tentatively cleared Rainbow and Rarity of suspicion, but any kind of new evidence could easily overturn that verdict. With a respectful nod, Twilight silently thanked Red.

Before she could give her testimony, Cadance made an inconspicuous cough. “Would it be best if we left?” she asked hesitantly. Twilight had nearly forgotten that she was there, thanks to the sudden onslaught of improbable theories. It seemed that the heavy atmosphere, which Twilight had grown accustomed to, was starting to take its toll on her.

Shining Armor quickly jumped to her rescue. “Yeah, I think we should go. Sorry Twily, but I really feel like we’re intruding on something here. How about me and Cadance go and keep an eye on Page?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Twilight saw Red and Caesura both turn on him like wild animals. Thinking quickly, Twilight spoke up before things got any worse. “Well, I don’t see a problem with that! They did save her life, after all! Even if he wasn’t my big brother, I’d trust him.”

The lobby was filled with indistinct murmurs, but eventually Red and Caesura nodded in agreement. “Fine,” Red stated officially. “You have my permission. If you need to rest from your trip, one of you may sleep, but the other must remain on guard duty. As mayor of Everdale, or what’s left of it, I would be wrong to deny you accommodations like this.”

Red's indifferent tone of voice seemed out of place coming from the fiery pegasus, but it helped to remind Twilight that this mare was the mayor of Everdale. Cadance gave a respectful bow, subtly motioning for Shining to do the same, and once everything was set, the two began to walk slowly towards the stairwell with Page on their back. All eyes were on the weary couple as they disappeared onto the floor above.

“Trust me, nopony’s going to sneak up on my big brother,” Twilight giggled. “He held off a changeling invasion by himself for days, even after the queen had abducted Cadance! Page couldn’t be in better hooves.”

“Good,” Red responded flatly, closing her eyes. “I’m going to tell you everything that happened, so please do not interrupt me.” She turned around to face the crowd of 9 ponies. “Are we clear?”

Silence.

“Okay, I’ll start with who I am. My name is Red, and I’m the mayor of Everdale.” Twilight’s eyes were drawn to the mare’s cutie mark: three sharpened pencils in a neat row. What did that have to do with her name? “I’ve lived here my whole life, but Preston became my newly appointed secretary about a month ago. Caesura arrived about a month before that. She’s a traveling musician, so she wanted to settle down someplace rural. Page and Nightowl have both been on nightwatch for a long time, but I’ll let them tell you more about themselves. For now, I’ll move on to what happened after you six left.

“I took it upon myself to inform the nightwatch that you had left, so I paid a visit to the guardhouse and made sure that Nightowl and Page knew not to let you six back into Everdale. Obviously, they disregarded my advice, but I still had a backup plan. As a precaution, attempting to make sure that everypony would be safe the following night, I went around taping up all of the houses in Everdale, just in case our culprit decided to try again. If any of the seals were broken on the doors or windows, we would start to understand our foalnapper’s methods. But thanks to a few ponies, all of my work was for nothing.

“After sealing all but a few, I spotted Nightowl, Preston and a few others in the darkness, coming from the far side of town. Nightowl was carrying Page on his back. Of course, I stopped them and asked for some help and they quite happily agreed. After a few minutes, I asked what Nightowl was doing with Page on his back, since he was supposed to be on guard duty, and he handed me an invitation for th-this party. Of course I was upset, but I immediately ordered them to get to the hotel, since it would probably be safer with everypony else. Preston and his friends left, but Nightowl wanted to stay and help. Preston, being the gentlecolt that he is, offered to take Page in, but Nightowl refused, saying something about not wanting to wake her up. I told Nightowl to get going, and after a bit of convincing, I finally got him to take Page to the party. But before I could get started with my tape again, I saw Caesura leading a group of ponies to the hotel as well, not too far behind Nightowl.

“I finished the last house and made my way here. As I already told you, I saw Page in the window of room 201, arguing with somepony. I ignored her and came in to politely ask you what was going on.” Twilight wanted to interrupt the pegasus’ story, but it wasn’t worth antagonizing her over something as trivial as the word politely. “From there, everypony panicked and ran upstairs, leaving Preston, Rarity, and myself to deal with 17 terrified ponies. I wanted to go check on Page, but as mayor, I have my duties to protect everypony, not just my friends.” An accusing glare was thrown in Twilight’s direction. “Rarity took charge, suggesting hide and seek. She then turned out the lights, pretending that you had all gone upstairs to hide. Shortly after I started counting—I think I got to 10 but it’s a bit hazy—I was struck on the back of the head and knocked unconscious.”

Twilight showed her approval with a nod, satisfied with everything she had been told. The only new information was her testimony about sending Nightowl to the hotel, but that was crucial. While Red’s testimony didn’t prove anything yet, there were still 3 more ponies to go.

“My turn then,” Preston sighed, trading places with Red. The two of them shared a sympathetic glance as they passed each other. Twilight realized that she had never gotten a good look at the olive-green stallion’s cutie mark before, which was nothing but a simple image of a newspaper. “As ya already know, I’m Preston Paper. Moved here when I was young and my family started up a newspaper in the area.” His eyes glinted with nostalgia. “As Red already told ya, I became her secretary about a month ago, back when these disappearances started happening.”

Preston paused, looking worriedly around the room. “Now, after you lot were, uh, kicked out, I tried to talk to Red about it. But, for some odd reason, she just went off with a dozen rolls of tape and started tapin’ up everypony’s doors and windows. I admit I was feeling a little under the weather, so I went back to my flat and tried to think of a way to bring you six back. But hey, luck smiled down on me! There was an invitation on my doorstep inviting me to this crazy party at the hotel.

“Now, I may not be the brightest, but I picked up on what you all were doin’ right off the gun. So I figured I’d help ya out a bit by gathering up some of my friends... and bringing them here.” There was a noticeable dive in the pegasus’ mood as he mentioned his friends. Twilight hadn’t thought about it, but Preston and the others probably knew everypony that had been abducted so far. The thought made Twilight's chest tighten with guilt.

Barely missing a beat, Preston continued. “But while I was making the rounds to their places, I ran into Nightowl, who was comin’ out of the guard house with Page hoisted up on his back. Wanting to stick together and all, I called him over and had him help me get my friends over to the hotel. Once we were done, we ran into Red. Now, we were gonna help her out, but once she saw the invitation, she insisted that we go and join everypony else. As Red said, I offered to take Page in, since Nightowl said he wanted to stay and help, but he was worried about waking her up if he hoisted her onto me. So I told him that I’d better see him inside pretty soon, since Page was looking pretty bushed. Then me and my friends go inside just in time for Pinkie’s legendary comedy routine. Nightowl came in a little bit later.”

Twilight had to interrupt the story for a moment. There was one very important thing that she needed to ask everypony, just to be sure. “On your way in, did you see anypony in the window of room 201?”

“Of course not,” Preston laughed, his humor sounding painfully forced. “Sure, I couldn’t really see the room that well, but I definitely didn't see any movement in there. Anyway, you know the story after that. You dash upstairs, Rarity turns out the lights, I count to 10, and thwack!, I’m out cold. I think it was 10. Maybe. As Red said, my memory is kind of hazy about the whole thing.”

“Thank you, Preston,” Twilight sighed, going through the facts. A large amount of ponies had seen Nightowl and Page that night, and if both are to be believed, they were under constant watch the entire time from when they left the guard house to when they arrived at the party.

“You all keep mentioning me, so I guess I’ll go next.” Nightowl slowly traded places with Preston. He looked like he wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. Despite his somber smile, the gray earth pony had cheered up since Page had returned, but there was still a worry in his eyes. Refreshing her memory, Twilight got a good look at his cutie mark, which appeared to be a constellation that looked like an eye.

“You should know me already," Nightowl began, "but I’m Nightowl, part of the nightwatch here. I’ve lived and worked here my entire life. If you're wondering, I can confirm what they said. I was on nightwatch duty with Page. We started as soon as you left, but Red came over and told us about the whole banishment thing. She told us not to let you guys in, but—I’m sorry, Red—I wasn’t going to turn you away if you came back to help us.” Red didn’t look too pleased that her orders had been ignored, but Nightowl pretended that he didn’t see her. “So after Red left, Page and I just argued about what the plan was, since our only source of help had just left.”

With a wistful chuckle, Nightowl sat down and raised his hooves in front of him like he was reading a large billboard. “We kept joking around, saying things like ‘I can see the headlines now! Rainbow Dash files restraining order against crazed fan Nightowl!’, like we always did. But then we saw you coming back! I’m telling you, it was like watching a scene from a movie. The heroes were trotting back, framed by the sunset and determined to save the ponies that they pledged to protect!”

There was a theatrical aspect to the way Nightowl talked, but Twilight assumed that he was always like this. Getting back on track, the watchpony continued. “Almost immediately afterwards, Pinkie showed up at the door and gave us an invitation, and I may or may not have gotten her to sign it. Me and Page took a few minutes to talk it over, but I eventually convinced her to take the night off. And of course, being the big ham she is, she did the whole swoon and faint act, forcing me to carry her to the party. On my way out, I ran into Preston and helped him gather some ponies up, then immediately ran into Red, who asked if I could help her tape up the doors. While we were working, I told her about the party and gave her the invitation, which—Hey, Red, do you still have it?”

Red, who was still working hard to make sure that the stallion appreciated how livid she was, grimaced. “Nope, dropped it when I came in. Now get back to your—”

“Oh man!” Nightowl hung his head and pouted for a moment. “Well, maybe I could get another one when this is all over.”

Pinkie Pie, with her usual amount of energy, bounced up and down from the back row. “Got you covered!” she shouted. Most ponies would dismiss Pinkie’s attitude as unwarranted, but there was always a method to the pink pony’s madness. This time, Pinkie was trying to get Nightowl back on track with his testimony.

It worked. “Awesome! Now where was I? Oh yeah! I’m pretty sure Page actually fell asleep while I was carrying her. She hadn’t slept well after you six had arrived, so she was really beat. Anyway, I wanted to stay and help Red tape up the houses, but I probably would have woken up Page if I let him carry her, so I told him I’d be there in a minute. Red, being as stubborn as she usually is, finally convinced me give Page some proper rest.

“So I made my way to the hotel, where I met Rarity at the door. I mentioned putting her somewhere close, like 201, so we did. When we walked into the room, she looked a little confused. I asked her what was up and she told me about the barrier. After that I had Rarity light the candles in the room and set her down gently on the bed, but I was still a little anxious, so I had her check the adjoining room as well. You should know the rest of the story. Me and Twilight ran to room 201 and broke down the doors. We couldn’t find Page. Me and Twilight left the room, but then she panicked and shoved me out of the way to go downstairs. I was dazed for a second, but eventually heard some other ponies running down as well and followed them. That’s all.”

“Now, final question. Did you see any movement in 201 when you came in?”

“No, nothing at all. Somepony might have been in there, since it was hard to see, but I’m pretty sure the room was empty.”

Once again, Twilight was glad that she had taken the time to go through everypony’s explanations. It was extraordinarily helpful that Twilight could cross check everything that these ponies said about each other, making it harder for them to lie. If everything was to be believed so far, she nearly had this case solved.

“Am I, uh, done?” Nightowl asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Twilight responded with an appreciative smile. “Last but not least, Caesura, you're up. Tell us about yourself.”

The messy unicorn, who had calmed down, took her spot in front of the group of ponies. “Caesura, reporting for jury duty,” she announced sarcastically, giving a mock salute. “As Red’s already told you, I came here about 2 months ago. I’ve been a traveling musician all my life and was starting to get sick of life on the road. Finally ended up here and got a job as the official entertainer for all town functions, which apparently includes motivational pep rallies held in town square. So yeah. I’m not really from around here.”

“I knew it,” came Rainbow Dash’s hushed voice from behind.

Twilight paid Rainbow no heed and tried to be as supportive as possible. “Thank you. Now please, tell us what happened.”

“Gladly. I went back home like Preston did after you six turned tail. I must have gotten my invitation pretty late, since I went around gathering ponies and never caught a single glimpse of Preston. Once I was sure I’d gotten everypony, I saw Red taping up the houses and Nightowl heading into the hotel ahead of me. I walked in, and I’ll admit that I was a little hesitant about your plan at first, but when I felt the barrier around the hotel, I knew that you had it covered.” She breathed quietly before snarling in Twilight’s direction. “Guess I was wrong, eh?”

Caesura had no need to make her words so caustic, but Twilight let it slide. “Then let me ask you as well. Did you see Page in the room when you walked in?”

“Well, I noticed when the lights came on in her room. I didn’t really bother to look, since I was busy keeping track of a bunch of nervous ponies. Anyway, I went in, ran up with Pinkie, and came down. I haven’t even left the lobby since.”

Just like the other three, Caesura’s entire story was simple. In fact, it was infuriatingly simple. The only pony that could account for her actions before the party was Red, who had only seen her in passing as she and the other ponies entered the hotel. But still, there were enough clues to start forming a theory. If she could just get far enough, she could—

“Well, Twilight?” Caesura remained in the spotlight, her eyes shifting back and forth between Rainbow and Rarity. “Did you learn anything? If not, we’re right back where we started. And you know what that means.”

Twilight could hardly control herself anymore. Everypony was so impatient! But instead of acting on her anger, she took a deep breath and cooled herself down, just like Cadance had taught her to. “It doesn’t change the issue with the barrier, but it brings up a few other points as well.”

Instead of Caesura, Red stepped up and responded. “Rainbow Dash and Rarity working together to abduct Page still doesn’t make much sense. I saw Page in the window with my own two eyes. There was no invisibility spell.”

Blinking, Twilight tried to figure out what the fiery pegasus was trying to say. She hadn’t expected Red to defend them, especially after the way she had treated Twilight and her friends before!

But Red wasn’t done. “You know who is even more suspicious than the both of them?” she asked, gaze locking viciously onto Twilight. In that moment... the unicorn’s heart sunk into the floor.

“You.”

The room fell into silence. Twilight’s racing heart had begun to pound deafeningly in her chest, making the ambient sounds of the storm seem like they didn’t even exist. Even Caesura was speechless.

“You’re clever. Very clever.” Red began to stalk forward, narrowing her intense gaze on her prey. “You almost had me. But I won’t let you take Everdale, not even if Princess Celestia gave the order herself! Which is probably what happened, now that I think about it.”

All eyes were on Twilight. “No, no, no!” she blurted out, caught between the predatory stares of Red and Caesura. “That makes no sense at all! Why would Princess Celestia want to get rid of this place?! Okay, so I’ll admit I’d never heard of it before, but still! The princesses wouldn’t want something like this to happen!”

Red let the responses bounce off of her. The lifeless way that she had carried herself after Page had been abducted had apparently rebounded, creating a merciless, vengeful mare with eyes of fire. “You keep saying that everything is impossible, making this investigation even more difficult than it needs to be with your voodoo barriers and all that nonsense! All that you and your friends have done is cause trouble, pointing hooves in every possible direction! Every direction other than at yourselves, that is. You...! You almost had me.” The pegasus chuckled mirthlessly, sounding more like haggard breaths than laughter. “And I hate myself for believing you.”

“I—no, wait!” Twilight urged, beginning to shrink. Why had she suddenly flipped like this? Only moments ago she had been calmly giving her testimony! “Can’t we just remain calm? If—”

“No, you are not leading any more of these rigged trials!” the pegasus barked. “You’re the reason we can’t figure anything out. You can’t just waltz into town and start ordering everypony around like you’re the mayor! You may be smart, but you’re not smart enough. You did well with drawing attention to the letter and using it to create mistrust among your victims. You even used it as an excuse to wipe out the entire town in one night! You knew that you would be coming back, so you created some mystical third party to keep us all chasing our tails until it was too late. But no, it wasn’t just you. All six of you are in on this!”

The candles on the wall began to flicker, almost as if the oppressive atmosphere was affecting them as well. Twilight had been prepared to defend every single one of her friends from being wrongly accused, but she hadn’t expected to defend all of them at once! How was she supposed to argue back when she was being blamed as the culprit?! In a flash of humility, Twilight realized how helpless Rainbow Dash must have felt when Twilight had admitted that the pegasus could have thrown Page out of the window. Once more, her chest constricted around her heart.

Rarity, having apparently recovered from her earlier ordeal, was the first to object. “How dare you?” she hissed. “We come to help and this is the thanks we get? So, you want to accuse me? Fine, I can forgive a little mistake like that. But not only do you accuse me, but you accuse my friends as well? That is simply unforgivable!”

“Don’t play dumb, Rarity,” Red countered, completely unaffected by the prim unicorn’s indignation. “Isn’t it awfully convenient that you turned out the lights in the lobby, allowing for the culprit to knock everypony out without being seen? And how could one pony make 17 ponies disappear out of a room? Magic. That’s how. And did I see any other unicorns down there? No!”

“H-hey Red, hold on,” came a stammer from Caesura. Of all ponies, Twilight hadn’t expected her to object to this. Twilight almost thought that Caesura might start helping the six of them for a moment, but the mare's uneasy expression wasn’t one of doubt. It was one of fear. “If all 6 of them were in on it, then why...? Why are we still here? We’re in serious danger! They even called an alicorn for backup!”

“Yes... and they have Page as a hostage,” Red hissed. “How could I have been so stupid?! I never should have let her out of my sight!”

Twilight could hardly believe what was going on. This was crazy! Somehow, Red had managed to convince herself that she was in some kind of hostage negotiation!

The paranoid pegasus began to back away like a cornered animal. “So tell me! What does the princess have against us? Why are you doing this?! What did we do wrong?!”

The Elements of Harmony had no answer for that question. Twilight wished that she had some way of talking sense into the two ponies, but fear had already taken root, and where fear had taken root, there was nothing that they could do. If Twilight, in her situation, had believed that all 5 of them were involved, Page included, she wouldn’t even bother listening to their explanations. For some reason, Twilight didn’t feel afraid anymore. Instead, she only felt sad. Somehow, she had pushed this poor pony to the breaking point. The stress from having to deal with these disappearances for a whole month must have finally hit her.

As Twilight began to think of a way to douse the flames in Red’s eyes, a blur of gray shot across her vision.

“We haven’t done anything wrong!” Nightowl shouted, but his words weren’t directed at Twilight. “You two already said it yourself. If Princess Celestia wanted to wipe Everdale even further off of the map than it already is, we wouldn’t be sitting here arguing about it! Even if she, for some reason, insisted on using the Elements of Harmony instead of doing it herself, these six could have vaporized us before we even knew they were here!”

The stallion’s words had a startling effect on Red and Caesura, but he wasn’t going to stop there. His determination was stronger than that. “Don’t treat them like criminals. They risk their lives and reputations to try and save us... and you’re calling them murderers?!”

With a flurry of her wings, Red looked like she was about to charge the strong stallion, but instead of taking off, she began to mount a defense. “If they hadn’t shown up, We would still have 17 more ponies! Why would they come back if they knew that was going to happen?!”

“If they hadn’t shown up, we’d have been picked off one by one! They came back because they cared about us. And what do we do? We treat them like liars, thieves, and swindlers. Look, Red, if this is something that even the Elements of Harmony can’t handle, do you really think that a few little ponies like us could have done anything about it? They defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, and saved Canterlot and the Crystal Empire from enemy invasion. If you think that you’re up to any of those tasks, feel free to let me know.”

Caesura opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself short and ground her teeth together, shooting a dark glare at Nightowl. While the unkempt unicorn was absolutely furious, Red appeared to understand what Nightowl was saying. Her fierce eyes began to lose their fire, bringing it down to a simmer.

Rarity, who still seemed to be recovering from shock, took a step out from among her friends. “Nightowl?” she asked, voice shaking.

She didn’t say anything else, but Nightowl still nodded and turned to face Twilight and her friends. “I’m glad you came back. Red is just a little on edge, that’s all. Caesura too. I mean, imagine what it’s like. Caesura finally finds herself a home, and even some friends. Some family, too! And then one by one, they start to disappear, some of them coming back like completely different ponies. Or imagine being in charge of helping all of them and being completely helpless. Please. Cut them some slack.”

Twilight swallowed air, the Nightowl’s heavy words still fresh in her thoughts. She imagined what it would be like if this had happened in Ponyville after she had first arrived. It would have been devastating. Not only that, but it would have been like losing the Crystal Empire to Sombra. She had been responsible for saving them all, but if she had failed, she would have lost not only the entire Crystal Empire, but her brother and Cadance as well. In that moment, Twilight silently forgave Red and Caesura for everything they had said.

Twilight could only nod in response. Her friends were all staring silently, but she could hear Dash beginning to cry again. Smiling warmly at the knowledge that she still had her friends on her side, Twilight nodded. They could still salvage what was left of this town.

Before she could apologize out loud, she felt a hoof on her shoulder, making her nearly jump out of her skin. When she turned, she saw that Fluttershy was gingerly trying to make her way towards Red, who was staring holes into the ground.

“Um... Red?” Fluttershy asked quietly, earning an intimidating stare. Twilight saw her friend nearly collapse under the weight of Red’s hostility, but there was a courage inside of Fluttershy that nopony could hope to match. “I just wanted to apologize. You see, well, I was...! I was the one who convinced Twilight to come back.”

Those words seemed to earn Fluttershy even more of Red’s loathing, but the shy pegasus didn’t back down. “So... I’m, um, sorry. I just thought that you reminded me of my bunny, Angel. He’s always the most rude whenever he’s lonely, so I just thought that you really needed our help. But... I guess I—”

Fluttershy’s speech was interrupted as Red raised a quivering hoof, but the orange pegasus never tore her eyes off of the floor. “I get it,” she whispered. There was an immeasurable warmth in those nondescript words. It was as if Fluttershy had somehow given her the strength to carry on, despite the burden that she had to carry.

Unable to look and maintain her composure, Twilight turned away, finding herself face to face to with Rarity, who was staring anxiously in her direction. “Oh, Rarity, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“I understand, Twilight” she interjected. “But I cannot think of any way that I could have been knocked unconscious in the lobby back there. I probably seem quite suspicious now, even to you. You see, I barely managed to count to 8 or so before, well, you know what happened. Red and Preston were both in the back of the room, by the stairwell, meaning that there were 17 innocent ponies between them and myself. If one, or even both of them had flown over to attack me, they would not be able to do it so quickly and quietly. Now, I had my eyes closed and the storm was making it difficult to hear, but surely one of the 17 would have noticed a pegasus flying at full speed over their heads!”

All of those facts were important, but they only served to make the situation even more confusing. The lobby was proving to be one of the toughest cases to crack, but the disappearance of Page was still the most perplexing puzzle of all! There had to be something that she was missing in both cases, but the answer wasn’t coming to her. Maybe if she followed through on her suspicions from the testimony she could—

Preston, from behind, gave a quick shout to get everypony’s attention. “Oy, listen up!” he called out, nodding to Fluttershy, giving her silent thanks for her sympathy towards Red. The olive pegasus was obviously trying to fight a few tears from his eyes, but his smile was as bright as ever. “Okay, so I admit that Red has a point about you all being suspicious, but I don’t care two bits about it. We’ve been fumblin’ ‘round in the dark here ever since the abductions started, but now that you six have arrived, we’re finally starting to see a little light! Uh, sorry. Pardon the terrible metaphor. I’m a journalist after all, it’s what I do.”

Twilight managed to giggle, despite the somber mood, but something that he had said made the gears in Twilight's head begin to turn.

See the light...? See the light?

Everything fell into place. All of the puzzle pieces began to align themselves, one by one, until the entire image was nearly complete. There was only one piece missing. Twilight’s epiphany didn’t last long, but it was enough to give her a clear picture of this tragic scenario. If she was right—

No. I don't even want to think about it. There was still that one missing piece, but she already knew its shape. Just like how puzzles were put together by finding the right pieces that matched the holes, Twilight already knew what the last clue would be. Part of her hoped that she was wrong.

“Everypony. We’re going upstairs.” Twilight spoke clearly and confidently, cutting through the white noise of the storm. There was a grim urgency in her voice that she couldn’t hide.

Murmurs of confusion began to rise from the other nine ponies in the lobby, but Twilight didn’t have long to explain herself. The four testimonies combined with her own experience had shown her the way to the truth, but in a way, she wished that she had never figured it out. “I’ll explain when we get there, but I have check on something. If I’m right, I can explain everything.” She was about to say that she could prove that her friends were innocent, but she remembered what Red had said. She was responsible for everypony... not just her friends.

Without waiting to see if everypony else was following, Twilight turned and bolted up the stairs as quickly as she could. There was a way that Page could have exited the outer barrier without going through the inner one. A way that didn’t involve Rainbow Dash.

It didn’t take long for Twilight to reach the second floor. A faint pink glow enveloped room 205 like a bubble, protecting the occupants. Through the glow, Twilight could see her brother sitting at attention in the doorway, protecting the two mares behind him who were fast asleep. While the strong stallion had dark circles under his steely eyes, his posture showed that he would not be resting anytime soon.

“Shining!” Twilight shouted as she ran over to him. “I have something to ask you!”

Shining Armor moved his mouth, pointing to his lips with a hoof, but no sound came from the other side of the barrier. Apparently the barrier had soundproof qualities as well.

Before Twilight could explain that she couldn’t hear anything, a cold breeze crept up on her from behind, sending chills down her spine. Deep down, she already knew what this meant. But just to be sure, she slowly turned around to look across the hall into the darkness of room 201. The other nine ponies were finally beginning to pour out of the stairwell behind her, looking bewildered. As if their heads were attached to strings, they all turned to follow Twilight’s gaze in perfect unison.

The window in room 201 was open, letting the pouring rain soak the carpet. The sight made Twilight’s heart pound heavily in her chest. Not only did this open window make Rainbow Dash much less suspicious, but it also confirmed Twilight’s fears. She could solve all of these cases without involving any of her friends, even Shining Armor and Cadance.

Inwardly, Twilight was conflicted. She had always loved solving puzzles and mysteries, but solving this one didn’t bring her any joy. In a way, she should have been happy that she had finally managed to crack this case without involving her friends, but one question still remained in the back of her thoughts.

Why?