Following Rainbow Dash's funeral, Aaron had moved his investigation and workplace to Sweet Apple Acres. There was a medium-sized room located on the second floor of the barn that Applejack had lent to Aaron for his investigative activities. His fellow investigators visited him from time to time when they weren't busy examining the orchard or interrogating the ponies of Ponyville. Some of the investigators had returned to Canterlot and now, aside from Aaron, there were only three other investigators in Ponyville. None of them, however, were as dedicated to finding the killer like Aaron was.

The night sky was lit up with a sea of sparkling stars as a dim light emanated from the barn. Aaron's fellow investigators had decided to call it a night and were now heading off back to the Hay and Stay Hotel.

"See ya in the morning, Mr. Crop," said a white pegasus investigator. Applejack stood outside the barn door and watched the investigators pass through the front gate and head off back to town. The orange earth pony then walked into the barn and up the stairs towards Aaron's office. She opened the door and saw Aaron and Twilight examining the piece of the garbage bag.

"It's getting late, Twilight. I think you should head off to bed," said Aaron. Twilight looked at the black unicorn and shook her head.

"I want to stay up and help you. We're so close," she said.

"You've been a huge help, Twilight, but, since we're so close, I think I can take it from here."

"Ah agree with Aaron on this one, Twi," said Applejack. "Ah was just about to hit the hay myself."

Twilight looked at Applejack and then turned back to Aaron. Aaron gave a polite nod and beckoned Twilight towards the door. She gave a sigh of defeat and began to walk out.

"Aaron," she said as she reached the doorway. Aaron turned towards the door to face the lavender unicorn. "Thank you...for everything you've done."

Aaron had the urge to smile but he resisted. He simply cleared his throat and gave a quick nod.

"It was no problem," he replied quickly. Twilight chuckled and proceeded out the door. Aaron was now alone in the room with Applejack.

"You're gonna find the one who did it...aren't ya?" she asked. Aaron sighed and looked at the anxious earth pony.

"This piece of plastic will either become definitive evidence or a piece of shit to be thrown into the garbage. I'll make sure to tell you the answer by tomorrow morning," Aaron replied. Applejack nodded and began to back out of the door.

"Goodnight then."

"Goodnight, Applejack."

The door closed with a soft click and now Aaron was alone. He turned his attention back to the piece of plastic and began to slowly make his way to the nitty-gritty of it.

Minutes turned to hours and the air quickly took a turn for the chilly. The barn got pretty cold but Aaron didn't mind. He liked being cold, especially during summer. Being cold, for some reason, helped him concentrate more. It removed all distractions and made him focus on what was important. He was getting close now. Something was hiding underneath the layers of dirt and microscopic filth that sat happily on the surface of the plastic. Something was there, waiting to be uncovered. Aaron was so focused that he didn't even notice the barn door downstairs slowly creaking open.

"Almost there...just a few last pieces of crap to remove," Aaron said under his breath as he used his magic to carefully clean off the plastic. Then he sensed it. Something was definitely on there. He reached into a nearby bag and pulled out a special powder used to identify hoofprints. He sprinkled it onto the plastic and it began to react actively to whatever was hidden on the dirty surface. Some of the particles absorbed the dirt and turned dark brown but most of the particles formed into a nice, clean circle. The white particles then began to change color. "This is it!"

The particles turned from white to bright pink and a strange, pink liquid began forming on the plastic. In a few seconds a bright pink circle sat on the surface of the plastic, looking up at Aaron. The smell of cotton candy began to fill the air and Aaron took in a big whiff. He had smelled this smell before. It had been a lingering aroma that was constantly emitted from a certain pink earth pony. Aaron's eyes widened and he let out a quiet, but deep, sigh.

"So...it really was her all along," he said sadly. "It's sad, really. This is going to break Twilight's heart."

Aaron's ears propped up at the sound of creaking floorboards. Aaron breathed slowly as he turned around towards the closed door. Somepony was out there. He was sure of it. As the footsteps drew nearer, he quietly shifted his way over to the side of the room and crouched behind a stack of cardboard boxes. He peered through the cracks and waited for his unexpected visitor to open the door.

Seconds passed and the creaking sound soon came to a stop. Aaron fell silent. He scanned the room for a weapon of sorts to defend himself but, sadly, found nothing. Then...the door opened. The doorknob emitted a soft click and the wooden barrier slowly slid open without giving off a single creak. A somewhat intimidating figure entered the room. It was a pony dressed in a completely black outfit. Black mask, black cape, and black jumpsuit. The only things that weren't black were the completely white eyes peering through the eye slits in the black mask. Something hung from the pony's mouth. It was a baseball bat with nails sticking out of it.

"Shit!" Aaron swore under his breath as his eyes fell on the nailed baseball bat. The pony hummed a strangely happy tune as it scanned the room with its deadly eyes. Aaron turned towards the door and began to quietly crawl his way towards the door while remaining hidden behind the boxes. The pony looked at the evidence table and examined the piece of black plastic. Aaron was now right next to the door. He looked at the pony to see that it was still examining the black plastic. He quickly stood up and began making his way out of the door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" asked a dark voice. Aaron turned around to see the pony charging at him, the nailed bat at the ready. Aaron was never really good at magic but at least he was able to pull off a decent levitation spell. The attacking pony soon found a tower of boxes falling on top of them. Aaron turned around and made a quick dash for the exit. He wished that he could fight back but he would stand no chance against an armed pony when he himself was unarmed. The pony fought its way out of the cardboard boxes and ran after Aaron. Aaron was already downstairs by this point but that was no problem. The pony gripped the nailed bat in its mouth, took aim, and chucked the weapon at Aaron. Aaron was almost at the exit when he felt something sharp and blunt smash into his side.

"Fuck!" Aaron yelped as he fell to the ground. Aaron looked at his side to see the nailed bat carving into the right side of his body. Trails of blood began trickling onto the ground and Aaron couldn't help but groan and curse with pain. "Fuck! Fuck! Shit!"

"Nice vocabulary there," teased the pony as it made its way over to Aaron. It was at this point that Aaron realized that his attacker was female and he had a pretty good idea about who was under the mask. The pony was now towering over Aaron. She grabbed the bat with her mouth and yanked it out of Aaron's body. Blood splattered all over the front of the pony and onto the ground around Aaron. Aaron continued to curse as he looked at the series of large, jagged, bloody holes in the side of his body.

"Why don't you just...go ahead and remove that mask already...Pinkie Pie?!"

The mare laughed as she removed her mask. A straight-haired, sunken-eyed Pinkie Pie stared down at Aaron.

"I have to admit that I'm both disappointed and relieved by this. I expected you to put up more of a fight but, right now, I'm not really in the mood for a tiresome fight. I want you out of the way as quickly as possible. If only my earlier plan had worked. You should have died of poisoning earlier today during our little get-together at the cafe. Oh well. Now that you know that I'm the killer, I have no choice but to kill you now."

Aaron began to cough up blood.

"You fucking cunt. You stupid fucking cunt. If you think I'm done fighting...then you're incredibly mistaken," Aaron said with a bloody smile. At that moment, a series of barrels flew through the air and smashed into Pinkie. The nailed bat flew out of Pinkie's grasp and landed several feet away. Aaron began crawling his way to the exit. Pinkie got up and ran for Aaron. A pitchfork flew through the air and managed to cut Pinkie's cheek.

"Ow! Asshole!" Pinkie screamed as she picked up her nailed bat.

"Please stop!" cried the voice from within Pinkie's mind. "Stop it now! Let him live and turn yourself in!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Pinkie brought the nailed bat down on Aaron. The nails drove into his back and the black unicorn screamed in agony. Pinkie pulled the bat out and brought it down again and again and again. Soon there was a pool of blood rising out of Aaron's back and Aaron had lost feeling in the lower half of his body. Aaron tried to levitate something else but Pinkie had had enough. She grabbed Aaron's horn with her hooves and began to bend it. Aaron screamed louder and louder as the horn bent more and more. Pinkie quickly took a small mound of hay and shoved it into Aaron's bloody mouth.

"Could you be a good victim and stop screaming? I think it would be rude to wake up Applejack and her family at this hour. Now...let's see how far this horn will bend," Pinkie said sadistically. Pinkie continued to bend the horn more and more until there was a loud snap. Aaron's eyes widened as the horn was quickly pulled out of the top of his head. Pinkie examined the horn and tossed it off into the darkness. Aaron couldn't move. He was going into shock. Pinkie smiled as she rolled Aaron onto his back. "Does that make you feel better?"

"Fuck you!" Aaron said as blood bubbled up from his mouth. Pinkie slapped Aaron and then proceeded to stab the nailed bat into his stomach. Aaron slowly grew weaker and weaker with every passing second. The pain was intense and tears were streaming from his eyes. Pinkie then walked away for a few seconds and returned with an axe in her mouth. She placed the axe down and looked at Aaron's bloody rump.

"I may hate you...but I think your cutie mark is pretty nice," she said. Aaron's cutie mark of a shield with a magnifying glass on it stared back at Pinkie through a layer of blood. Aaron looked up at Pinkie with disbelief. This was it. He was going to die. Pinkie Pie, of all ponies, would be the one to kill him. She would probably destroy the evidence upstairs. He had failed the others. He had failed Twilight. He had failed Rainbow Dash. "Tell Dashie that I said hello!"

Pinkie picked up the axe and began to raise it over Aaron's head.

"I'll see you in the pits of hell, Pinkamena Diane Pie!" Aaron croaked. Pinkie's eyes flashed and she prepared to swing the axe downward. Just before the axe fell, Aaron watched as a second, ghostly Pinkie Pie appeared from the darkness. She approached Aaron and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm sorry," she said as tears rolled down her face. "I couldn't stop her. I couldn't save them. I couldn't save you. I'm sorry."

The last thing Aaron felt was the spiritual sense of ghostly tears falling onto his neck. Pinkie then swung the axe down. There was a small explosion of blood and Aaron Crop was dead.