//------------------------------// // Know Your Enemy // Story: Marewell, My Lovely // by libertydude //------------------------------// It was well past midnight by the time Twilight and I waddled back into town. Her face remained as stoic as ever, even when I suggested we stop by the Night Stand to get some food. Or at least, get me some food. My stomach couldn’t handle the growling much longer, and I needed a little time with weight off my hooves. I also needed to convince the princess of my plan if I was to solve this case before daylight.          The joint came into view as a rinky-dink wooden stand sitting along two abandoned buildings, both former grain stores whose owners had long since bounced. Four stools sat before the table jutting out from the open stand. A chubby grey stallion with a blue beard and lazy eyes stared at us in apparent disinterest before muttering what we wanted.          “Hayburger, plain,” I said. “Anything for you, Princess?”          “A ginger ale will be fine,” she muttered, sitting on the stools with a hesitance reserved for children tasting broccoli for the first time.          The stallion shrugged, then flopped a spoonful of lard upon the grill. Pops and sizzles filled the night air, the only sound for blocks in a town already long asleep.          “So what do you recommend we do next?” Twilight said. The words came off as annoyed and exhausted.          I tapped upon the stand. “Well, there are a few things we can do. The first is impose a city-wide search and poke through every house to see where he’s holed up.”          “He’s probably long gone. Probably took off not long after he sucked the soul out of the clerk.”          “Soul?” The hayburger flopped in front of me, still gleaming with grease. “How do you know it was his soul that was sucked out? For all we know, he just got an epileptic attack.”          Twilight pursed her lips. “I’ve seen cases like this before. Ponies who got their souls sucked out, leaving their bodies as jittering husks.”          My head bobbed up and down. “So that’s why you were so squirrely when you first showed up. Why didn’t you tell us what was up?”          She shrugged. “Caution, I suppose. Tell ponies in a quiet town that there’s somepony that can suck out their very essence, and things are liable to get crazy.”          I took a bite of the hayburger, letting the mayo dance across my tongue and grass get stuck between my teeth. Twilight’s face betrayed no regret or apprehension at her previous statements. Lies were necessary in her mind. In that moment, before I could finish chewing, I knew my plan needed to go through.          “And the Alamon angle?” I said, smacking my lips. “You know something that I don’t?”          She took a deep breath. “The amulet Sunburst took isn’t just one of many jewels Alamon had. It’s the one his very essence is inside.”          I cocked my head. “And you think this essence might’ve escaped?”          “It all adds up. Hoofson complained about her employees being tired all the time, like something was slowly sapping their energy. Then Zephyr and Sunburst get into a huge argument, causing the amulet to go haywire and suck Zephyr dry. Or maybe Sunburst discovered its power through his research and decided to test it on the first pony he could find. He could use the amulet to build up his own magical abilities over time, his magic growing with each soul he stole.”          “Nah. The second scenario doesn’t jive. If Sunburst is as smart as you and Starlight say, he wouldn’t be testing dangerous artifacts in a little antique store anypony could walk into. My money’s on the amulet going haywire.”          “Well, then I hope your police pension is good, because my whole body is saying we’ve got a soul-sucker on the loose ready to drain this town dry. Maybe all of Equestria.”          “For a Princess of Friendship, you don’t seem to have much faith in your friends.” I put the hayburger down and licked my lips. “For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re right. Sunburst’s a budding little sociopath who decided to become the Soul-Sucker Supreme once he got the power. Why’d he panic and break the store window when he fled? If he’s as smooth an operator as you say, he should’ve gone out a back door or walked out the front like nothing happened.”          “Ponies can panic. It’s one of their primary traits whenever something bad happens.”          “An optimistic ruler you are.” I took another bite of the hayburger. “For now though, let’s operate as if he might still have a shred of morality within him and didn’t mean to drain Zephyr dry. What’s the first thing a regretful pony would do after this incident?”          I cast a glance her way, half-expecting her to finish the rest of my thought. I got only a blank stare.          “I don’t know,” she said impatiently. “What would they do?”          “Well, he’d first be curious if he was a murderer or just an assaulter. One carries more jail time than the other, and with the connections he has around town, he might be able to talk down a battery charge. Thing is, he won’t know until tomorrow’s paper hits the stands.”          “So you want to wait until morning?”          I gave her my own impatient glance. “That is, unless he decided to check out his handiwork as soon as possible.”          “What’re you--?” Her eyes flashed in recognition, then happiness. “The hospital.”          I nodded. “I knew you were princess for a reason.”          “This is, of course, assuming he’s mournful and would bother returning to see his victim.” I finished off my hayburger and shrugged. “Even if he isn’t, he’d still go back. Zephyr’s still alive, even if he’s the newest addition of the produce section. A living victim is a potential testimony. And given how fast he rushed out, I doubt Sunburst knows whether Zephyr’s still kicking or not. Either way you cut it, Sunburst’s only option is to go back to Zephyr.” She listened with an intense look upon her face, my reasoning filling her head with each syllable. The decision was set, however, when I heard the words: “Let’s go”. The hospital was easy for us to get into. The uniform instantly deflated any resistance from the staff about visiting hours being up, as did the monarch at my side asking for us to see the stallion brought in earlier. So enamored by our visit that the front desk nurse didn’t notice the little green glass I nicked from the medicine box beside her. I didn’t bother reading the label; it would serve its purpose tonight all the same, and I doubted they'd shove hydrochloric acid into a medicinal box. We walked down the empty hallways, only the faint breaths of sleeping patients proving somepony was in the place. We came to a room with a plain white door, indistinguishable from the others save the name scrawled on the miniature whiteboard beside it: Zephyr Breeze. Zephyr himself sat propped by pillows, an oxygen mask across his face, and his eyes still half-open. His legs twitched every few seconds, the covers ruffling with each thrust, and his hair glistening with sweat. “Poor guy,” I said. “Probably got into antiques for the lack of excitement. Now he’s going to be our bait.” “Life’s unfair like that,” Twilight grumbled, a tint of impatience in her voice. “Now let’s hide ourselves. I don’t want to be caught unawares.” I reached into my coat pocket and brought out the light green glass. “We just have to hope Sunburst is the one caught unawares.” “What’s that?” Twilight whispered. “The milk of the poppy,” I lied. It came easier to me than most ponies, and I hoped Twilight bought it as easily as others. “Normally used for sleeping aids, but an exceptionally powerful knock-out if distilled in the right portions. Don’t even have to breathe it in; just getting a few drops against your skin would render you out for hours.” Twilight nodded. “Alright. As long as it keeps us from losing Sunburst again.” We flipped off the lights and stood behind the curtains of the next bed over, luckily empty of any patient. I shot a glance out the window towards the moon starting to peek above the treeline. Only a few minutes left until I could put this all to rest. “I hope you’re right in your suspicions,” Twilight whispered in my ear. “Otherwise, Sunburst will be long gone and the Amulet of Alamon will be lost forever.” For Zephyr’s sake, let’s hope that’s not true, I thought. For a few minutes, only Zephyr’s beeping machines and the crickets outside signaled we were still in the land of the living. Then, as softly as a butterfly’s flapping wings, I could hear the door open. The shadow across the room denoted a figure with a wispy little beard starting to inch across the floor. I glanced back at Twilight. She nodded in the darkness. I jumped out and let loose the liquid towards the figure’s body. The glass cracked and the figure coughed in the wetness starting to careen down his side.          “Give on up, Sunburst!” I shouted. “We know about you and Zephyr!”          “No…” a meek voice panted. “I need to… save…” The figure collapsed onto the floor. I flipped on the lights to find the witness description matched his features. The thin beard, the disheveled red mane, the wizard get-up. He even had the big-framed glasses. Around his neck was where my and Twilight’s eyes went, however, as a bright gold locket hung around his neck. The unmistakable sigil of a dark stallion covered the front, and the chain jingled as Sunburst twitched ever more.          “Well, looks like we got both Sunburst and the amulet. Guess we can--” I felt a blow across the back of my head and flopped to the floor. The squiggles in my vision turned into smudges resembling Twilight Sparkle. I could just make out a smile across her face.          “You stupid mare,” she said in a deeper voice. “You played right into my trap.” Her horn lit up and ripped the locket away from Sunburst’s neck. The closer the locket came to her, the more Twilight’s form began to shift into a dark red. Soon, where Princess Twilight had once stood, now an imposing stallion with crimson fur and a dark purple mane stood.          “Now,” the new figure said, “you've just ushered in the Next Age of Alamon.”