//------------------------------//
// Day 3, Early Morning 
// Story: Troubled Water 
// by Twisparkfiles 
//------------------------------//

Day 3, 7:25 a.m.
The heat returned to bear down on Equestria once more. Fortunately, cool breezes blew for the first few hours of morning. The breeze was every reason for everypony to wake up early and hurry outside, a good way to cope with the thirst but not good enough to last forever.	Despite the slight noise outside and the sun flashing through her bedside window, sleep kept Twilight’s eyes shut and ears plugged. She knew about ponies getting up in the wee hours of the morning, but she wasn’t about to partake in the blessing. Then again, as the room grew warmer as sunlight poured inside, it was clear that some sleepyhead has to wake up soon.
Nevertheless, nothing could prepare her for the collective grumbling that filled the air that morning. As the light of day pried her eyes open, she gave up sleeping the entire morning out and checked out what was going on. Before she could open the door, however, a frantic Applejack opened it for her, pinning Twilight behind the door like a cliché gag. “Twilight?” she called. “Are you here? Twilight?”
“Hey Applejack,” greeted Spike, oblivious to Applejack’s tense look. “What brings you here?”
“I need to see Twilight,” said Applejack hurriedly. “Is she here?”
“Yeah,” Spike chuckled as he pointed at the door. “But she can’t see you.”
Applejack quickly caught a glimpse of Twilight’s horn sandwiched between the door and wall. The latter’s groan told Applejack to let go of the door and tend to her friend who, luckily, only escaped with bed mane. “Oh, sorry Twi,” she said humbly. “You okay?”
“What has you on edge so early, Applejack?” Twilight asked after a quick recovery.
“We have a problem,” cried the farm pony in a paresthetic voice. “A big one!”
Twilight shook her head, struggling to get the incessant ringing out of her head. “AJ, you are not Princess Luna. Now tell me what’s going on calmly.”
“It’s Fluttershy,” Applejack replied without missing a beat.
“Fluttershy?” 
“I saw an angry mob take her away from her cottage. They’re headin’ to the water tower.”
Twilight couldn’t process the keywords “Fluttershy,” “angry mob,” and “water tower” right away, especially after recovering from a solid hit on the noggin. She could only return a blank stare into the unknown, leaving Applejack and Spike to snap her out of the trance. Mornings aren’t kind to ponies with a Starswirl-level IQ.
“Uh, Twi?” said Applejack. “You okay?”
Twilight shook her head, a sure sign of her return to reality, and said: “Did you just say ‘Fluttershy,’ ‘angry mob,’ and “water tower’ all in one sentence?”
“Uh…maybe?” answered Applejack.
“I gotta get out of here!” Twilight yelled, dashing through the open door faster than ten seconds flat. Applejack and Spike, after a brief pause, followed.
Outside, a mass exodus of unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth ponies with varying degrees of scowls unfolded before Twilight’s eyes. The stream of grumbling ponies flooded the road to the water tower at the edge of town. It seemed only like yesterday when she traveled the very same route to restore order. But on this day, a stark realization had set in; she would have to do the same to an even bigger crowd.
“Is it some sort of holiday today?” Spike said.
“This is no holiday, Spike,” Twilight replied, terrified. “It’s the day I fear.”
“Fear?” asked a confused dragon. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m guessin’ the water woes have finally got the best of everypony,” said Applejack. “But why Fluttershy?”
“I’m guessing our little talk yesterday leaked out,” Twilight said.
“But it was just you, me, and Fluttershy yesterday,” replied Spike. “How could’ve word of it spread around town so fast?”
“Y’all don’t think somepony dropped an ear, do you?” asked Applejack.
Twilight shrugged and said: “Not that I know of.”
Unfortunately, Ponyville won’t wait for a savior to deliver its verdict. Twilight’s decisive action held her friend’s fate. It was about to slip. “No time to think about that now,” she said. “We need to hurry before who knows what they might do to her.”
“I’m comin’ with you, Twi,” said Applejack. “Ah can’t stand here and watch mah friend get pelted with apples and stuff.”
“Then let’s roll!”
As precious seconds trickled, Twilight and Spike made haste to the site of the first and biggest civil tribunal in Ponyville history. Applejack followed suit but not before a punch line at the most inappropriate time. “In fact, I don’t want ponies pelting apples at all.”

Day 3, 7:34 a.m.
The crowd in front of the water tower swelled as a wagon towing Fluttershy in a cage drew near the makeshift stage of boxes. Glares from the angry mob froze every joint, clearly seeing the intent to crush her spirit. Not that fear had completely prevented any attempt to escape; she chose to face the disharmonious music. As soon as the carriage stopped in front of an even bigger and angrier mob, foodstuffs and other items took to the air, nearly blocking the sun en masse. The cage shrugged off most of the shots, but small tomatoes—among other items—painted the accused red. The color hardly suited her well, not because she was yellow and pink.  
For a place where all three pony races live in unity and harmony, the exasperation on the locals’ faces tells another side of the town. As much as Fluttershy tried staying calm, the sea of furious faces and rain of tomatoes tore her apart inside. Just as a new wave of tomatoes were primed for firing, Twilight’s voice echoed across the crowd. “Everypony, STOP!”
Fluttershy snapped her head to the source of the voice as the crowd’s noise collapsed. Like a sudden gust, Twilight magically appeared close to the caged suspect while Applejack and Spike climbed up the stage from the side. The crowd instantly recognized them as Fluttershy’s close friends and responded with a mixture of scowls, glares, and tantrums.
“Hey!” cried one colt. “Why is Ponyville’s investigator defending a culprit?”
“She’s not guilty,” cried Twilight in reply. “Well, at least not until proven guilty.”
As the crowd exchanged looks of confusion, Twilight cleared her throat in preparation for Fluttershy’s defense. “Anyway,” she began. “I know everypony is upset by recent events. But all the more reason to remain calm.”
Unfortunately, the crowd responded with a fresh wave of produce. Twilight quickly erected a magic barrier around her and Fluttershy, fending off the attack and saving their skins from hard-to-remove stains. The crowd stopped for now, but it was clear that everypony had thrown calm out the window.
“Twilight, what are you doing?” Fluttershy asked.
“You’re coming out of this mess with clean hooves, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied, looking at the crowd intently. “Or Celestia help me.”
“But…why?”
“Isn’t that what friends do?” asked Twilight. “Stand up for their friends until the end?”
Fluttershy hesitated for a moment and said: “I’m no friend. I caused everypony so much trouble. I deserve this.”
“Listen,” Twilight said sternly. “If you want to bathe in produce, be my guest. But I made a vow to get to the bottom of this. And you’re not the bottom.”
“I’m…not sure I’m getting you.”
“Just leave it to me.”
Despite her friend’s pep talk, Fluttershy’s confidence levels hardly budged. However, the cage limited her options to one, which was to trust Twilight with all her heart. It made her wonder, though. Where did she get her sudden boost of confidence? 
After a quick glimpse of the angry mob, Twilight began betting everything at stake including her reputation.

Confrontation I: Twilight Sparkle (5 CP) v. Ponyville citizens (2 CP)
I found myself protecting a suspect instead of pressing her for info. Maybe friendship moves in mysterious ways, but that can’t help me now. Thanks to my heart as big as my brain, I inadvertently challenged Ponyville to back up their claims and assured Fluttershy of clearing her name. Everypony knows that once I made my word, I can’t turn back. I can tell they’re waiting for me to make a wrong move.
I’ve barely made headway with the investigation, but there must be something in my notes I can use. I know that somepony…or someone has been sucking our wells dry from outside Ponyville. I know that the pipe that was recently installed belonged to Fluttershy who refused to spill the beans despite my warning. I know that a major river in Equestria is all but a bare riverbed. Come on, Twilight, think! Make sense of things that don’t!

“Listen, everypony,” said Twilight while maintaining her magic barrier. “We can keep this up all day, but it’s not going to bring our water back. Let’s all calm down.”
The crowd instantly withheld their next shots, but their throwing hooves remained primed. A colt unicorn in front stepped forward to challenge the investigator; his hawk gaze trained to a nervous Twilight. “On behalf of the citizens of Ponyville,” he spoke with a commanding aura. “We demand an explanation.”
“I only ask for your patience, everypony,” said Twilight. “It’s not healthy for us to be pointing hooves aimlessly.”
“This is a different case,” said the unicorn, showing a great deal of confidence. “We have reason to believe that Fluttershy is the one responsible for our dry reservoirs.”
The unicorn’s confidence put Twilight on edge. If she hasn’t made any headway with the case, what are the chances that somepony else has? She raced through her notes in her head as she responded with utter silence. Meanwhile, the look on the crowd’s faces stretched the tense atmosphere closer to its breaking point. At this point, a few seconds of silence will surely mean admitting defeat.
“Where’s your proof?” Twilight said, breaking an eternity’s worth of stillness.
“The pond!” cried the confident unicorn. “Somepony saw Fluttershy taking care of her fishy pets in a pond.”
A spark of wisdom hit her at the most opportune time. Did the unicorn say something that sounded familiar? Did Lady Luck bless Twilight with an advantage she couldn’t refuse? Whatever the reason, she stopped short of shouting for joy, maintaining her collective composure. “So?” she said.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that—”
Twilight suddenly cut him off. “It’s the only intact source of water around Ponyville?”
The crowd let out a subtle gasp of astonishment, the confident unicorn left speechless. Perhaps it never occurred to them that he gave Twilight information she already knew. In As some in the crowd exchanged looks of disbelief, the tense atmosphere drastically turned awkward.
“I’m completely aware of that,” said Twilight to the crowd. “And I wouldn’t call out Fluttershy on that evidence alone.”
“What makes you say that?” asked the unicorn.
“Well, during our little talk yesterday,” Twilight explained. “Fluttershy told me how she gave up her water line to help Ponyville save up water for summer. Assuming that was the case, the line should’ve been shut off. But it wasn’t.”
“That doesn’t prove anything,” said the unicorn, pointing his hoof at Twilight. “She could have reopened it somehow.”
“That’s an interesting thought. Care to show us the evidence?”
The only thing her challenger could show was his embarrassment. Admitting defeat, he disappeared slowly in the thicket of ponies.
Ponyville citizens lose 1 CP (1 CP left)
Still, the crowd lent their ears but with the intention of looking for an exploitable mistake. Their tense faces were filled with mixed emotions from indignation to desperation. After a quick scan of the restless crowd, Twilight followed up her success with notes from yesterday. The crowd’s griffon-like gaze put her at edge, but a deep breath loosened her up. 
“Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “Can I trust you to answer a few questions?”
Locked in a cage and facing an angry crowd, it seemed foolhardy to resist any attempt at being questioned. “Okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy replied without second thoughts.
“Good answer,” Twilight said with a smile. “Now, you told me yesterday that you gave up your line, right?”
“Umm…yes.”
“How did you exactly do it?”
The question sounded off-topic to the majority, even for Fluttershy. But the latter gave her what Twilight wanted. “I asked the Mayor to shut it off for me,” she said.
“The Mayor, huh? Doesn’t your connection come with some sort of valve?”
“Well, it does. But, as far as I know, only the town’s utility service can shut down an entire water line for good.”
“Interesting.”
The crowd exchanged looks of doubt and confusion. With the water shortage spiraling to an entirely different field, they couldn’t help but ask where the investigator was going.	 A select few like Berry Punch, however, threw anger into the fray; even though that anger was mostly fueled by a few drinks this morning. 
“Hey!” cried Berry Punch in a drunken rage, complete with hiccups in between words. “What duz *hic* that have to *hic* do wiz *hic* anythin’?” The angry responses of her backers helped her point make more sense.
“Why the service?” yelled a fellow Earth pony behind Berry Punch. “Without water, they can’t do anything!”
“I have to agree with them, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Where are you exactly going?”
Ponyville’s blind rage became more apparent. They may as well get somepony to blame to vent their frustrations. Nowhere in the last few minutes did Twilight mention that the town’s plumbers were to blame. “Subject of interest” is a totally different thing, but sadly everypony and their grandma were still grinding their teeth. 
Twilight simply gave their anger a sigh of dismay, alluding to the irrational replies she has received from the get-go. “Berry,” she said to the drunken pony. “At least get sober before contradicting me.”
“And waz *hic* dat supozd to mean?” said Berry Punch.
Once again, the crowd fell into a deafening silence. With all ears on her amazing eye for detail, Twilight elaborated her findings. “Okay, let’s get some things straight,” she said. “Based on what I know, Ponyville’s water comes from the reservoirs, but it’s up to the local utility to distribute them.” 
The crowd agreed, albeit with a bit of animosity.
“Fluttershy,” Twilight continued. “When did you give up your water privileges?”
“Umm…two weeks ago,” replied Fluttershy. “Or maybe three? I don’t remember.”
“If Fluttershy asked for reactivation,” said Twilight. “The utility would’ve given it to her. But there’s no way they could simply direct all the water to just one route.”
“Why’s that?”
Most of the ponies may not be as bright as Twilight, but even a filly could’ve guessed the following: “Come on, Ponyville. The pipes are no bigger than my telescope at home. Do you honestly believe an entire reservoir system could simply empty itself in one night? I’ve seen the pipes. I went down there yesterday.”
Finally, common sense finally returned to most ponies, if not all. For the record, the thief had to be as big as an Ursa Minor to steal all the water, but his huge footsteps would wake everypony up. The more everypony thought about that possibility, the more elusive the case grew. But it also helped widen the gap between Fluttershy and the gallows. Backs against the wall, the foundations of false accusation trembled.
This part of a tense moment deserves a facehoof, more or less. However, for now, this confrontation is over.
Ponyville citizens lose 1 CP (0 CP left)
Twilight Sparkle wins decisively (5-0)
A burst of magic shattered the lock and freed Fluttershy, now cleared of any wrongdoing, from detention. Several tomato stains ruined her beautiful yellow coat, but they were washable. The harrowing experience pushed her to hug Twilight out of the blue, a telltale sign of their friendship restored. Applejack and Spike smiled at the sight of hugs, but couldn’t show the same face upon looking at the crowd.
As quickly as they grew restless, the citizens were wrought with sadness. Parents hugged their young who probably needed the water more than anypony else. Some already broke into tears beneath the shadows of their sad fellowmares. Applejack, apparently oblivious to the faces of a distraught Ponyville, scolded them. “No more nitpickin’ on Fluttershy now!” she yelled. 
Fortunately, Twilight wasn’t. “Applejack, stop!”
“Err…was it somethin’ I said?” replied the dumbfounded farm pony.
“They already hate the situation as it is,” said Twilight. “Let’s not add fuel to the fire.”
A quick glance at the mood of the crowd finally made sense for Applejack. She couldn’t help but apologize for her choice of words. “Um…sorry, everypony,” she said.
The crowd responded with utter silence. Not even a Pinkie miracle can bring their smiles and optimism back. Not even the intense heat fazed them. Twilight couldn’t help but sympathize with them. This confrontation isn’t worth winning, her mind said. 
Suddenly, a Eureka moment hit her. “Everypony!” she cried to the audience. “You’ll get your water back by evening.”
The hundreds of faces of Ponyville turned their gazes toward her. Twilight’s investigation failed. Accusing Fluttershy based on visible evidence failed. Conserving water failed. Why would she be making promises she couldn’t possibly keep out of the blue?
“If I don’t get your water back by six in the evening,” Twilight added. “I will turn in my investigator title.”
“Twilight,” Applejack responded in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“It’s a small price to pay,” Twilight answered. “This town doesn’t need a failure.”