"Sunset," Principal Celestia said soothingly as she strode into the nurse's office. "I am so sorry. Despite what you think, you don't deserve this-",
"Don't I?" Sunset said with a mixture of fear and frustration. "I must have done something bad if they followed me into the bathroom just to drown me."
"Sunset, you're not meanie anymore," Pinkie Pie said in a reassuring tone.
"You may have done horrid things," Rarity said ,"but whoever this person is has crossed a serious line."
"Yes he or she has," the principal said with a fierce gaze. "That's why I'm here. To find out who did this to you."
"Well I don't know," Sunset said with a shrug. "Almost everyone here has it in for me." Principal Celestia pursed her lips.
"Well, lets narrow it down a bit," Principal Celestia said, looking at Apple Bloom."Ms. Smith," the principal asked the freshman, "what do you remember about this person?" The young farmer pursed her lips.
"They were covered in black and had a creepy mask," Apple Bloom said ruefully. "Ah don't really know much else. I couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl. All I know about the monster is that he/she was really, really tall. And they must be as strong as an ox and good at wrasslin' to pull shove Sunset down."
"I have an idea of who it might be," Rarity said, her eyes widening in realization.
"As do I," Sunset said with a bit of a whimper.
"The second you tell the truth, you'll feel a lot better," Principal Celestia said empathetically to the suspect.
"Or maybe you want to talk about it in the juvie," Vice-Principal Luna warned with an edge to her voice. To their frustration, their suspect looked more amused than intimidated. The person even had the audacity to lean back in her chair and put her boots on the desk.
"I reserve the right to remain silent," Gilda said with an toothy smile, repeating what she said several times.
"Gilda, I understand you have a history with Sunset, but this doesn't excuse anything," Celestia said sympathetically.
"Maybe a word with your foster father will get you to tell us the truth," Principal Luna warned. Suddenly Gilda started laughing like crazy.
"I reserve the right to remain silent," Gilda repeated. Celestia frowned in annoyance, while Luna menacingly put her hands over the phone. Gilda started cackling like crazy.
"Man you two are so cute," the statuesque girl said in between fits of laughter. "Acting like a bunch of big bad police officers. Playing good cop or bad cop." She ended her fits of laughter. "Scratch that, you two are so pathetic. You couldn't even scare a chicken."
"I wouldn't be so arrogant. There is a lot that points you as the culprit," Vice-Principal Luna said firmly. "Your juvie background, your permanent record, your history of anger and temper issues."
"Not to mention we've been told of several incidents in which you tormented Sunset," Principal Celestia said. "Giving her a swirlie, knocking her books down, and one incident in which you planned to put inching powder in her clothes. There was an incident before the drowning when she accidentally dumped a chocolate cake on your chest, which provides a motive. You also share a lunch period with her." To Celestia's anger, Gilda didn't crumple in the face of such evidence. Her grin got bigger.
"Congratulations on your fine detective work," Gilda said with fake applause. "Or lack off. Now I know why you tried this pathetic little good cop, bad cop routine. You two are so stupid, you couldn't bother to find any actual evidence."
"I assure you, we have-,"
"All you have is circumstantial evidence and some eyewitness testimony," Gilda interrupted. "Both of which are flawed. Those girls could easily be making things up to get me in trouble. Sure you have some mens rea, which would establish a criminal intent, but you don't have any actus reus, or hard evidence that I did that." The two principals looked at Gilda with astonishment. "Surprised? Well I've been in this situation before: idiots in badges who tried to manipulate me into saying things I don't mean because they are too lazy to actually get off their swollen hides to find evidence. But like with them, if you want to keep me here or send me to juvie, you need hard evidence. Do have any proof beyond mens rea? Like the mask or the clothes I supposedly wore. If I did it of course," she said teasingly with a wry grin.
"Otherwise, I can walk out of the room," the grey-skinned girl finished with her eyes becoming catlike. "Or maybe I can call the Colonel's lawyer, and say you're violating my civil rights by declaring me guilty without proof?" A very uncomfortable silence followed. "Well? Any hard evidence?"
"Well...no," Principal Celestia. With that, Gilda jumped up from her chair.
"Nice chatting with you two," Gilda said with a smug smile, before walking away.
The two let out a frustrated sigh as the military brat strutted out of their office.
"Hey Applejack," Rainbow said to her tan-skinned friend, who was emptying things out of her locker, "how's it-," Applejack slammed the locker door in frustration.
"Applejack, what's wrong?"
"You didn't hear?" the farmer girl asked with a mixture of fury and fear.
"Heard what?"
"Someone tried to drown Sunset," Applejack said furiously. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.
"What?" Rainbow said a quietly furious tone.
"Someone snuck up on Sunset while she was in the shower," Applejack said. "Attacked her, and shoved her head underwater. This wasn't just some prank. If Apple Bloom wasn't there to give CPR, Sunset would've died." Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth.
"Do you know who did it?" Rainbow Dash asked, a severe edge in her voice.
"Ah have one idea," Applejack said. "Gilda." The name made Rainbow clench her fists.
"Is she going to juvie?" Rainbow said in a vicious tone.
"She should, but we don't have any evidence that she did it," Applejack said sadly.
"Ok, you and me. After school," Rainbow Dash said in a tone that brooked no argument, "we're going to hunt that monster down and get the evidence we need."
"You want to spy on her after school," Rainbow Dash asked her farmer friend.
"Sounds like a plan," Applejack said.
"Ooh, ooh," Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down. The farmer and athlete turned toward their pink-skinned friend in confusion. "Can I come and be your fellow sleuth?"
"I guess," Rainbow Dash said tiredly.
"Yay," Pinkie Pie said. She ran away then came back with some weird detective hat. "Detective Pinkie is on the case."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack let out annoyed sighs.
"OK Darlings, here are you're disguises," Rarity said. She presented them thick white sweaters, white winter boots, white mittens, white sweat pants, boulder hats, sunglasses, and fake red beards. "This should help you in case Gilda spots you."
"Thanks Rarity," Applejack said a small amount of dismay. The three began putting on their disguises.
"I LOOK AWESOME!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.
"What matters is we catch Gilda," Rainbow Dash said with a touch of vicious glee.
"Uh girls," Rarity said sheepishly.
"Yeah," Applejack said.
"Are you really sure Gilda is the culprit?" Rarity said sheepishly.
"Why wouldn't she be the culprit," Rainbow Dash said with burning eyes, "she's a monster."
"Gilda certainly is...brutish and...a bit scary," Rarity said nervously, "but she isn't really a bully. The only time she actually attacks others is when she is provoked. And while I did catch her with itching powder, I was able to...persuade her to leave Sunset alone and give her a chance to make amends."
"And then Sunset accidentally dumped that cake on her and got mad again," Applejack said. Pinkie Pie let out a tear.
"Oh that poor, poor cake," Pinkie Pie said sadly. "You didn't deserve such a cruel fate. You deserved to be devoured, dissolved in the stomach acid, and-,"
"Please Pinkie Pie," Rarity said with disgust, "don't go any further. The point is, Gilda is working on getting into the military. I doubt she would risk her military career and try and drown Sunset over something so petty."
"Oh really. Gilda loves ruining lives," Rainbow Dash said with a growl.
"Well, first of all, Sunset was guilty of far more of that than Gilda," Rarity said. "Second of all, Gilda may have been a horrible delinquent, but nowadays, she keeps to herself."
"You don't know her like I do," Rainbow Dash said.
"Well ah know you better than you do, Dash," Applejack said in a stern tone. "And to me, your just using this as part of your grudge against Gilda."
"No I am not!", Rainbow Dash in a defensive tone. "I-I wanted to help Sunset too."
"Then are you finally going to sit with us again and we then we can become the Super Six?" Pinkie Pie asked her blue-skinned friend. Rainbow Dash looked down sheepishly and rubbed her arm.
"You know, what happened to Blossomworth was also kind of-," Rarity began, before Rainbow's glare deterred her from saying anymore.
"Anyways, let's just get this over with," Applejack said, changing the subject back to their mission.
"Alright bitches, I'm headed out," Gilda said in front of the entrance to the building, giving fist bumps to both Rolling Thunder and Lightning Dust. She was wearing a gym bag over her shoulder.
"Smell ya' later G," the blue skinned girl said in jest.
"Bye," Rolling Thunder said simply. After one wave, Gilda walked to the school driveway. After 15 minutes, Bus 17 for Downtown Canterlot pulled in.
"Downtown," Gilda said to herself. She entered the bus through the door near the driver.
"Hey Mhamiaji [1]," Gilda said cheerfully. The middle-aged bus driver, a striped-Zebrican immigrant wearing an official blue uniform, gave her his own happy grin.
"Hello Gilda, my friend," the bus driver said magnanimously ,"has school come to an end?"
"Yep," Gilda said. "Just headed downtown to run some errands. How's Kupika [2] doing?"
"Oh my dear wife is enjoying life," Mhamiaji said. "She-," he paused as the alarm went off signaling it was time to go. "Gilda, I have a schedule to meet," the man said somewhat sternly. "You must take your seat."
"No probs," Gilda said, moving toward one of the seats in the front. She glanced toward the back and saw three bearded dudes in white coats that weren't normally there.
"Oh my gosh," Pinkie Pie said fearfully as Gilda was giving them an odd look, "has our cover been blown?"
"Pinkie, shush," Applejack said with a harsh whisper, "you'll blow our cover if y'all freak out." The three sat nervously as Gilda observed them with those deep yellow eyes. After staring at them for a few moments, Gilda turned away from them and pulled out her smartphone. The three girls let out a sigh of relief.
After a 12 minute ride aboard the bus, Gilda got off near the somewhat dilapidated downtown.
"OK, time for us to go," Applejack said. The three girls followed Gilda off the bus. They saw the grey-skinned girl was walking toward Clover Community Center. The building, little more than a concrete brick with darkened windows, was an important hub of youth life at Canterlot.
"What do you think she's doing here?" Applejack said.
"Probably spray-painting the wall," Rainbow Dash said as the three girls followed Gilda into the building. They followed her into the locker room. The three girls watched as Gilda removed her jacket, her military cargo pants, and her boots and put them into a locker. She then began opening her gym bag.
"Her disguise has got to be in there," Rainbow Dash said. The three girls looked intently in the bag...
Only for her to pull out some green sweater, a pair of green sweatpants, and a pair of white sneakers.
The three girls let out sighs of disappointment. The sweater itself had "Clover Community Center" written on it in red, bold letters. With an odd smile, Gilda walked out of the room.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity followed the white-haired bodybuilder down the hall toward some place called "The Reading Room." Gilda opened the door and strode in. After a few moments, the three girls followed her in, only to be greeted with the sound of childish applause.
"It's Auntie Gilda," one little girl said happily. The other children in the room, many of them kindergarten age, let out a whole chorus of yays as Gilda entered the room.
"Hello, my little munchkins," Gilda said in a cheerful voice, walking over to a bookcase and reaching for some book. "Today we'll be reading the story of a brave little duck who wanted friends called the 'Tale of Michael McQuack'". Another round of youthful cheering went out as Gilda pulled out the book. Before she took her seat near the door, Gilda noticed someone sitting in the corner. Gilda walked over there with the goofiest smile ever.
"Sweetheart," Gilda said kindly to a girl sitting in a corner, "why are you sitting here by yourself? Do you want to be with everyone else?"
"I dunno," the little girl said, shaking her head cutely. Gilda looked more amused than annoyed at the kindergartener's stubbornness. Gilda bent down to look at the girl at eye level.
"Don't you want to go on an adventure?" Gilda asked her excitedly. "Every time you read, you can go on a journey."
"No," the little girl said simply, shaking her head again.
"Alright," Gilda said with fake disappointment ,"I guess you don't want ice cream." The little girl perked her head up as Gilda got up and began walking away. "Only the good little girls who listen to the story get ice crea-,"
"Yay, ice cream," the shy kindergartener said excitedly, running over to join the group. With that, Gilda sat in a wooden seat in front of the room, and began reading the story.
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash stood near the door and looked at the scene with utter disbelief. By putting on a large sweater that covered her well-built body and large breasts, and letting a genuine smile on her face, Gilda had gone from being the semi-delinquent military brat everyone at CHS knew and feared to a motherly librarian who these kids were happy to see.
"Did some alien kill Gilda and steal her body?" Rainbow Dash asked with frustration.
"Maybe she hit her head," Applejack quipped. Try and they might, there was no mistaking it: Gilda apparently read to children in her free time.
"Come on, let's go," Applejack said with annoyance.
"Why," Rainbow Dash asked.
"Even if Gilda was plotting to hurt Sunset," Applejack said, "I doubt she would do it here." Rainbow Dash tried to argue, but she saw that the bodybuilder did genuinely enjoy reading to these children, if the kindly way she was reading it was any indication.
"Fine", Rainbow Dash said with frustration. The two girls walked away from the room. Pinkie Pie, however stayed near the door. Applejack came back to get
"Pinkie Pie," Applejack hissed under her breath, "let's go."
"But I want to know about what happens to the poor duck," Pinkie Pie said happily, eagerly taken in by the story.
"Pinkie Pie," Applejack said with frustration. "I've read this story before. The duck dies."
"THE DUCK-," Pinkie Pie began shrieking, before having her mouth covered by Applejack's right hand and being dragged away from the door.