Applebite

by Matthias Ramsey

Denial

Denial, in ordinary English usage, is asserting that a statement or allegation is not true. The same word, and also abnegation, is used for a psychological defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.

Twilight stared at the newspaper in front of her, unable to believe her eyes. She read the headline once, twice, three times, but she still couldn't believe it.
Sweet Apple Acres Farmer Applejack Found Dead In Home; Cause Of Death Suspected Homicide
Applejack? Dead? Who could have done it?
Twilight flexed her wings. She was determined to find out who had done it.
"But who could it be? Who would have any reason to commit an act this...for lack of a better word, mean?" She started to think about it.
After an hour or so, she realized that her friends weren't calling or otherwise contacting her to give or seek comfort.
"Maybe one of them did it. Maybe they all did it."
She decided to start where Applejack had wound up: in the coroner's office of the Ponyville Police Department.

The coroner, and acting sheriff until a new one was found, was Officer Cornell, a previously retired police officer who had come out of retirement to serve as a coroner.
"Officer, this is very important. I need to see the body."
"Sorry, I have orders not to let anyone see the body until it's been claimed."
"Urgh...can you at least tell me what kind of injuries she sustained?"
"Well...i suppose I can. She sustained a ruptured left eardrum and a gunshot wound right here, in the left temple." Officer Cornell tapped the side of her head. "She was either being held hostage at gunpoint and they shot her, or-"
"I don't want to hear about the cause. I just wanted to know the injuries." Twilight about-faced and marched away.
"I'll start interrogating them, one by one." Twilight stopped. She realized that there was a blank spot in her memory.
"They must have had Rarity wipe my memory so I wouldn't turn them in. I'll find them, and I'll make sure they get brought to justice."