Stormflower woke up to a ray of morning sunlight piercing through her bedroom window. It had always been her dream to spend a night in Canterlot Castle, but she wished she could have been in Canterlot for another reason rather than coming to visit a pony who once had a career of murdering children. Stormflower pulled herself out of bed and walked towards the door. She opened it to find herself confronted by a pair of guards.

"Did you sleep well, Ms. Stormflower?" asked the pegasus guard.

"Yes, I did," Stormflower replied awkwardly. "What are you-"

"We're here to make sure that nothing happened to you while you sleep."

"Well, thank you very much but I don't think that was necessary."

"These are dark and strange times. You, of all ponies, should know that."

Stormflower sighed and nodded.

"The Princesses will meet you at the front of the castle in about an hour. That is when you will go and talk to the prisoner."

"Thank you."

The guards nodded and trotted away. Stormflower closed the door and headed towards the bathroom to get herself ready.

An hour later, Stormflower was making her way down to the front entrance. The aura in Canterlot had a happier hue to it than the rock farms but it was still somewhat grayish. She spotted Celestia and Luna waiting for her by the front gate and she quickly made her way towards them.

"Good morning, Ms. Stormflower," said Luna happily.

"Good morning, your majesties," Stormflower replied as she gave a quick bow.

"Are you ready to talk to him?" Celestia asked. Stormflower nodded. Celestia then beckoned Stormflower to follow her.

Stormflower followed Celestia and Luna to the edge of Canterlot, where a small pub was located. The pub was mostly empty, save a few unconscious ponies and a bartender.

"Morning, your majesties," said the bartender.

"Good morning, Sal," said Celestia and Luna together. Sal looked at Stormflower and examined her with his abnormally large eyes.

"So this is the one you told me about?"

"Yes," Celestia replied.

"She doesn't look like the type of pony who would want anything to do with old Rufus."

"It's not wise to judge ponies by their appearances," said Stormflower. Celestia smiled and Luna giggled.

"Too true, Madame. Too true."

"Pardon me, but I'm confused. I thought Rufus was held in a maximum security prison? This is just an old pub."

"Like ponies, you should never judge places by appearance."

Sal walked over to a nearby door and opened it. He beckoned Stormflower inside. Stormflower turned to the Princesses and they simply nodded. She gulped and followed Sal into the next room.

The room behind the door was empty except for a single chair, a dusty table, a single window, and a peculiar, glass box standing in the middle of the room. The box was big enough to allow at least two ponies inside. Sal approached the box and opened one of the sides.

"Well, here it is," he said. Stormflower examined the box nervously.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's the visitor's entrance. You get in the box and I send you down for your conversation."

"How long do I have?"

"The limit is three hours, though I highly doubt that you'll be able to last that amount of time with him."

"He's really that bad to be around?"

"You know what he's locked up for, right? Ponies like that aren't right in the head. This pony has a lot to say and none of it is pleasant to hear. Are you sure that you want to go through with this?"

Stormflower walked into the glass box and tapped on the interior wall.

"Damn right, I am!" she said confidently. Sal smiled and closed the door.

"Good luck," he said as he walked over to the side of the room. A red button popped out of the wall and Sal proceeded to press it. The entire box shook and began to lower itself into the ground.

"An elevator," Stormflower breathed. "Of course."

The box disappeared under the floor and a single light turned on above Stormflower. At least three minutes passed before the box finally came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft. The door flung open and Stormflower exited. She was now in the middle of a concrete room lit up with white lights. She turned and saw that one of the walls was made entirely of magically-enhanced glass. A single cushion was placed about a foot from the glass wall. Stormflower approached the cushion and sat down. The room on the other side of the glass was almost completely dark. Just then, a guard's voice echoed from a speaker.

"Prisoner #874 entering the visiting chamber," said the guard. A door in the other room opened and a shadowy figure entered. Stormflower gulped.

"This is it. Don't be afraid. Be strong. Be strong for Rainbow Dash," she said to herself as the door in the other room closed shut. Stormflower watched as the shadowy figure trudged its way over to the glass wall. Soon, the figure was completely bathed in the light emanating from Stormflower's room. The figure was a stallion with a gray coat, a cutie mark of three red balloons, a skinny structure, a light-blue patient's outfit, and matted brown hair that covered his entire face. The only parts of his face that Stormflower could make out were his two bright, red eyes. Stormflower shivered as an eerie chuckle began emanating from the speaker above her. The stallion sat down on his respective cushion and proceeded to stare Stormflower down, refusing to blink at all.

"You...you're Rufus. Aren't you?" Stormflower asked. The stallion nodded and chuckled again. Silence fell between the two ponies. Stormflower didn't know what to say next. She simply beckoned for Rufus to say something.

"It's not often that I get visitors," he said with an almost lustful tone. "I've missed talking to other ponies."

"You don't talk to others much?"

"Why should I? The ponies in here are not the ones I wish to speak with. They're either strict and stern or mad and completely impossible to understand. I miss my friends."

"There's a reason why you're in here, you know."

"Oh? And I'm supposed to assume that you know the reason why I'm locked in here like an animal?"

"You're a monster. I know what you did ten years ago. You kidnapped, tortured, and killed children. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad that you're in here."

"You sound like a bitch. Did you know that?"

Stormflower fell silent. This was certainly not going the way she wanted it to.

"Look, I'm not here to play a game of twenty insults. I'm here to ask some questions."

"Really? I have some questions for you as well."

"I'm asking the questions here! You just give me the answers!"

"Tell you what. How about for every question you ask me, I get to ask you a question as well? Is that fair?"

"What if I refuse?"

"Then we sit here in silence until our time runs out."

Stormflower groaned. There was no other option. She would have to play his question game if she wanted any answers from him.

"Alright. I guess it sounds fair enough."

"Goodie. Well, mares first."

Stormflower wanted to ask him about Pinkie Pie, but another question popped into her mind.

"Why...why did you do it? Why did you kill all of those innocent children?"

Rufus rolled his eyes, sighed, and said, "Many ponies have asked me that question. Not one of them has been satisfied with the answer."

"Try me," Stormflower challenged.

"I wanted to play with them and ultimately make them feel happier than I could ever be."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"See! I told you that you wouldn't be satisfied!"

"Okay, fine! I'm not satisfied! What do you mean by that, exactly?"

"Ah! Remember! You ask me a question and I ask you a question."

"Okay then. What's your question?"

"Do you masturbate?"

"What?!"

"Do you masturbate? It's a simple yes or no question."

"What the fu...of course not!"

"Are you sure that you're telling me the whole truth, Stormflower?"

"How...what...huh?!"

"The guard told me your name, by the way. I just decided to tell you that so that you wouldn't waste any of your future questions on that. Now, Stormflower, do you masturbate?"

"NO!"

"You're lying."

"No I'm not! Why would I masturbate? I have no reason to do such a thing!"

"Hmm...okay then. I guess I'll take that answer, for now."

Stormflower had the sudden urge to break through the glass and kick Rufus right in the groin. How dare he ask her such a question! Well, the others did warn her about how screwed up he was. She might as well continue his game so that she could get some answers.

"What did you mean by what you said earlier about making them happy?" she asked.

"This world is a fucked up place, Stormflower," Rufus replied.

"Yeah. No shit."

"Anyway, this world is a sad and depressing place. Lots of the ponies I helped had some pretty depressing lives. I merely wanted to play with them and make them happy. You see, I've had a really sad life. I just wanted to make them feel happy forever."

"Butchering and killing isn't the right way to make a child happy."

"What do you know? You have quite some nerve to challenge my logic. From my point of view, you're just some random bitch who's appeared out of the clear blue to ask me a series of questions about my choices in life! Why the fuck are you here anyway?"

"I'm taking that last statement as your next question."

"What? Oh...dammit! Hmm...nice work. You're pretty sleazy yourself, Stormflower."

Stormflower sighed. She was thankful that he slipped up. At least she was two questions away from another question that probably involved topics that she preferred to not discuss.

"I'm here because my younger sister, Rainbow Dash, was murdered."

"Oh. My condolences."

"Bullshit. Anyway, I'm here because I want to find her killer, and what better place to get info about finding a killer than from an actual killer?"

"Interesting. You're certainly more intelligent that what you appear to be. But you're still pretty bitchy."

"Tell me, Rufus. Do you remember two young fillies by the names of Pinkie Pie and Bellamina?"

"Do I? Of course I do. Bella, the last pony I played with. I would have gotten to play with Pinkie Pie too if that pony hadn't ratted me out."

"Joan Silver."

"That's the fucker! He ruined everything! Everything was going perfectly! Then he had to come along and destroy it all! So many young, sad ponies out there! All of them unable to be cured by me! It's all his fault! If I ever get out of here, I'll make sure to play with him next!"

"Well too bad! You're in here for life! You might as well accept that fact!"

"I wonder what Pinkie Pie is doing now."

"She's doing fine."

"Really? How is she? What's her life like?"

Rufus leaned in closer to the glass wall. A lustful gleam appeared in his eyes. Stormflower gulped as she prepared to answer.

"She lives in a bakery with a nice family now. She doesn't remember anything about you or what you did to Bellamina ten years ago," Stormflower replied. Rufus leaned back and pouted.

"Fucking cunt. She couldn't spare a few brain cells to remember me?" he snapped.

"No. Nopony would ever want to think about what you did."

"Oh spare me the riot act, Princess. I've heard it enough already."

"My sister was disemboweled and turned into a taxidermy puppet. She was killed in an eerily similar way to the way you killed your victims. Tell me, is there a chance that, maybe, Pinkie Pie is the killer?"

"Hmm...that's very...interesting. It seems that our dear, little, pink friend may remember me after all."

"Huh?"

"It seems there may be somepony out there continuing my work. I would assume that the best candidate for my successor would be none other than dear little Pinkie."

Stormflower stood up and looked back at the glass door. Something was telling her that that was all she needed to hear.

"Uh...thank you. That's all I needed to hear for now," she said. She turned around to leave when Rufus banged on the glass.

"Hey! I still get to ask you one final question!" he snapped. Stormflower gulped and turned around.

"What is it?"

"Your sister is gone. Is there anypony else left that you truly care about greatly?"

Stormflower looked at Rufus with surprise. She had expected another sexual or disturbing question. She wasn't really prepared for this. Suddenly, five ponies materialized in Stormflower's mind.

"My parents, my brother, Joan Silver, and Scootaloo," she replied. Rufus glared at her.

"You're in love with Joan Silver," he sated darkly.

"Yes...yes I am."

"Enjoy your little fuck sessions with him while you can. I may just get out of here one day. And if I do, he's number one on my list."

"Well, you'll have to get through me first, asshole."

Rufus gave one last laugh as Stormflower turned around and walked back into the glass elevator. The door shut and the elevator rose up towards the pub.

Celestia and Luna were sitting quietly in the pub when Stormflower returned.

"How did it go?" Luna asked.

"I hope to never talk to that psychopath ever again," Stormflower replied.

"She actually lasted longer than I thought she would," Sal admitted.

"Never judge a pony by their looks," said Celestia happily.

"So did you get your questions answered?" Luna asked.

"In a sense. I'm not sure about a lot of things at the moment but there is one thing that I know for certain," Stormflower replied.

"And what is that?" Celestia asked.

"I need to return to Ponyville as soon as possible."