Pinkie Pie eyed the small cafe from a distance. They were waiting for her there. Her friends were waiting for her there. She could see them sitting outside. There was Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, and...Aaron. She snarled angrily and kicked the dirt beneath her. The mere presence of the investigator angered her to no end.

"I can't wait to be rid of you," Pinkie said to herself as she glared at Aaron from a distance. The sun had already begun to set and the town of Ponyville was cloaked in an orange aura of comfort. Pinkie looked towards the bag that hung over her back and smiled devilishly. She couldn't wait to give Aaron her present. She turned back to the cafe, took a deep breath, and bounded towards the external dining area.

"Here she comes," said Rarity as the pink earth pony sat happily in an empty chair between Aaron and Fluttershy.

"Are you feeling better, Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked.

"Of course! I couldn't feel any better, even if I tried!" Pinkie replied gleefully. Twilight examined her friend cautiously. Something was definitely off about her. Come to think of it, something had been off about her for a while now. The mood she gave off was sort of mixed. It seemed, however, that Twilight was the only one to notice this change. That's what it seemed until Aaron turned to Twilight and gave her a quick wink. She sighed calmly, knowing that she was not the only pony there getting mixed vibes from the pink pony.

"I'm starving," Fluttershy exclaimed in her usual, shy voice. "I haven't eaten anything all day."

"Why not, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"I've been busy with Zecora recently. We're still trying to find that animal she came across over a month ago."

"I remember," Twilight said. "You told me and...Rainbow Dash about it."

Everypony at the table fell silent. It had only been a few days since Rainbow's funeral and the dead cyan pegasus was a touchy subject amongst the Mane 5, and just everypony in town in general. Rarity cleared her throat loudly in order to end the saddening silence.

"Well, Fluttershy, I have to agree with you. I too am quite starved at the moment," she said with a nervous smile.

"Well let's stop bullshitting around and order already," Aaron said bluntly as he looked down at his menu. Twilight giggled slightly. She had grown a certain friendly affection and respect for the blunt Aaron Crop. Everypony else at the table nodded and proceeded to look at their own menus.

Several moments later, everypony was enjoying a nice assortment of drinks under the soothing glow of the evening sun. Everypony ordered a cold drink aside from Aaron, who ordered coffee.

"Coffee in the evening?" asked Twilight with a raised eyebrow.

"Coffee is good at any time of the day in my book," Aaron replied with a snarky grin. Pinkie took a sip of her pink lemonade and looked down at the small satchel lying on the ground next to her seat. She wanted to give her present to Aaron now but she knew that she had to be patient. She had to wait for just the right moment.

"So how's your examination of that garbage bag sliver going for ya?" Applejack asked. Aaron took another sip of coffee and nodded. Pinkie's ears propped up and she immediately turned to face Applejack.

"What garbage bag sliver?" Pinkie asked.

"A few days ago, we were examining the spot where Rainbow Dash's corpse was found and we found a small piece of black plastic," Twilight replied.

"Black plastic?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes. A piece of black plastic that no doubt was part of a garbage bag."

"A bag used to carry Rainbow Dash's corpse out to the orchard to be dumped," Aaron continued.

"So...have ya found anythin' yet?" Applejack asked.

"I'm almost done. I should get down to nuts and bolts of that piece of evidence by tonight."

"You mean...by tonight...you could possibly find out the identity of Rainbow Dash's killer?!" asked Spike.

"If there's a hoofprint left behind."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and everypony looked to see that a waiter had accidentally bumped into a confused stallion.

"Please excuse me, sir!" the waiter gasped.

"It's alright," said the stallion. "No harm done."

Pinkie realized that everypony was looking away from her. This was her chance! She quickly reached into her satchel and pulled out a small flask of white powder. This, however, was no ordinary white powder. She cackled inside her mind as she quickly uncapped the flask and poured the powder into Aaron's coffee. The powder instantly dissolved and disappeared within the dark brown contents of the cup. Pinkie smiled and threw the flask back into her satchel. Everypony turned away from the waiter and the stallion, unaware of Pinkie's deadly deed.

"That sure woke me up," Twilight chuckled nervously.

"Yeah," Aaron said as he turned towards his cup of coffee. Pinkie waited in anticipation. This was it!

Twilight turned towards Pinkie and Aaron and felt a familiar pain in her head. At that moment, a familiar voice called out to her from the depths of her mind.

"Don't let him drink that coffee, egghead!" called Rainbow's anxious voice. Twilight looked at Aaron and saw his lips slowly drawing closer and closer to the cup of coffee. Pinkie gave a small smile of delight as she waited for Aaron's sudden death. Twilight had to act fast. She looked at Aaron, the cup, Pinkie, and the table. The table. That was it! Everything seemed to happen at once. Twilight felt that familiar sharp pain rocket through her skull as a surge of magical energy escaped from her horn. The table glowed white for a millisecond before flying up into the air and falling to the ground several feet from the cafe.

"What the fuck?!" cried Aaron as Pinkie's pink lemonade splashed on his face. The cup of deadly coffee simply fell to the ground and was absorbed into the earth. Seconds later, the grass that had absorbed the coffee withered into a patch of gray strands.

"What in tarnation?!" cried Applejack as the table landed on the ground several feet away. Everything then fell quiet. The other customers at the cafe, as well as the Mane 5, Spike, Aaron, and the waiters, all stared at the broken table lying on the ground. Fluttershy was curled up in a ball on the ground, Rarity was snarling due to her mane now dripping with the water from Applejack's cup, Pinkie was screaming in anger and disappointment on the inside, Applejack and Spike were just shocked, Aaron was cursing under his breath, and Twilight was putting on her best dumbfounded expression.

"Is everypony alright?" asked a concerned waitress.

"Don't worry," Twilight replied quickly. "I think everypony here is fine."

"My mane!" cried Rarity softly.

"Almost everypony, I guess," Applejack sighed. Spike leaned towards Twilight slowly.

"Twilight, did...did you do that?" he whispered. The unicorn turned towards Spike with a stern look on her face.

"I did no such thing," she lied. Spike mouthed okay, nodded his head, and leaned back.

"I think it's obvious that we're going to need a new table and a new round of drinks then," Aaron chuckled.

"Right away, sir," said the waitress as she disappeared back into the main cafe. Pinkie looked back at the satchel, which contained the empty flask, and nudged it angrily.

"And it looks like I'm going to need a new plan in order to take care of my little...problem," Pinkie said under her breath.