//------------------------------// // Random Encounter // Story: My Little Doubt // by Knackerman //------------------------------// "He's dead? Just like that!?" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle. They had hit the killer pretty hard, but she hadn't intended to kill him in turn! Pinkie Pie and Rarity had now crowded into the room as well. Rarity was holding herself, shivering slightly, still shaken up from the whole ordeal. Pinkie seemed distracted by the scrying crystals. "She, actually. Look," Applejack prodded the beasts prone form, rolling it over. Just as she said, the killer was clearly a young female pegasus. The reason her head had looked so strange from behind was because she wore a grotesque mask. What Twilight had taken for horns were in fact long rabbit ears. Red plastic eyes stared blankly up at her from the floor. The mask was somewhat unsettling, but mostly made the pegasus look all the more pathetic laying there on the floor. "I think she might'a already been dead when we hit her. Look here." Applejack picked up a bottle that had rolled away from the grey mare when she'd fallen and gave it to Twilight. "Morphine. You might be right Applejack," said Twilight after a moments thought. "Morphine is a powerful pain killer, but it's also a narcotic." Twilight examined the ponies body more closely. Sure enough, she found a tiny wound on one leg, a perfect needle hole. "If she was trying to administer the drug herself and got the dose wrong, it would be easy for an accident to occur. This was likely death by asphyxiation, caused by the respiratory depression resulting from the muscle relaxing effect of the drug. Combined with the mask she's wearing, it would be hard not to suffocate." "So that's it then. The changelin' is dead. We survived," said Applejack grimly, taking off her hat. Pinkie Pie drew closer to have a better look. "Twilight...you've got kind of a scary look on your face." "Could it really be this simple? Don't changelings usually change back to their real forms when they're dead or unconscious? Was this seriously just some pony that randomly decided to mess with us, to murder one of our friends for no reason?" A strange mixture of anger, sadness, and disbelief roiled inside Twilight's heart. "We need to be sure." Carefully, she pulled back the mask from the young pegasus face. The mare was blond, with a gentle looking face, and looked almost as if she were sleeping. "Does anypony recognize her? Anypony at all?" "Actually," spoke Rarity, "I think I've seen her around before. She's one of those ponies that always seems to be around but never really in the spot light. What was her name? Dizzy...Dumpy..." "Derpy," said Pinkie Pie quietly. "Her name was Derpy. She was one of the mail ponies for Ponyville. I think she was the courier between our town and Cloudsdale. Why would she be the one behind all this?" "Well you know what they say about postal workers dear," was Rarity's only reply. As if in response to that, a loud banging rumbled from outside the room. It roared and shrieked, making the crystals and everyponies' teeth shake. "Whut was that?" asked Applejack, steadying herself against a nearby desk. "Was it Rainbow Dash again?" wondered Twilight aloud. "Can't that filly just sit tight and wait quietly?" groaned the farm pony crossly. Something flashed in Pinkie Pie's eyes and an uncharacteristic scowl crossed her face. "I think I've had just about enough of that from you! How would you like to be locked up all alone in a place like this with no idea of what was going on, huh!?" The pink pony almost growled as she advanced on Applejack. Moving quickly, Twilight intervened, placing a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "Calm down Pinkie. If you're worried about Rainbow Dash, we can't waste time fighting each other. If this pony was the one responsible for all this, then that means there has to be an exit around here somewhere. Once we find that we'll figure out a way to let Dash out." Twilight brushed away a few of the loose hanging locks in front of Pinkie's face and looked her friend in the eyes. "We have to stay calm, okay?" "I...I guess if you say so Twilight." the usually jovial party pony's anger subsiding, she merely looked sullen as she had before. Twilight had never really seen Pinkie Pie act this way. This situation was taking its toll on them all. They really did need to find an exit, and fast, before... The thought froze in her mind as something wrapped around her hind leg. She looked down, panic gripping her heart as a low groan rose from the floor. The grey pegasus was moving! Her eyes were open, yellow mismatched eyes that seemed to bulge in their sockets. The look on her face was a mixture of pain and hatred. Without warning she pulled Twilight to the floor and began to climb on top of her. As the pair rolled over and over each other across the filthy cavern floor, Twilight struggled to break free. It was no use, however weak Derpy had been before, she was strong as an ox now. "Get off her! Get off of her now!" screamed Pinkie Pie as she grabbed the struggling Derpy by the tail and tried to tug her off her friend. All she got for her trouble was a buck to the chest as the pegasus continued to writhe and struggle. "Help..." the words came from Derpy as a choking gasp, "please...help me....hurts..." Twilight noticed the tears in her attackers eyes. Derpy wasn't attacking, she was convulsing! "Make it...stop...please!" Without warning, the grey flier vomited a stream of blood, splattering Twilight's dress. Sickened, she tried to pull herself away, the blood slicked material allowing her to slip more easily out from under Derpy's increasingly violent seizure. Twilight quickly looked around for a stick, a strap, anything she could put in the pony's mouth to keep her from swallowing her own tongue. She needn't have bothered. With one last gurgling whimper through blood stained teeth, a gout of blood gushed from Derpy's throat and she slumped over dead. Though it seemed to have lasted forever, the entire scene only went on for a few seconds. "What in the world was that about?" asked Rarity, cringing from the terrible sight. Applejack put one hoof to Derpy's neck. "Well she's defiantly dead now. Sorry Ah didn't check before, y'all. That was mah mistake." She took off her hat again and bowed her head in mourning for the dead. "Are you okay Twilight?" asked Pinkie Pie, having come to Twilight's side after recovering from the kicking she had taken. "I'm...not sure," it was difficult for Twilight to process what she felt. She was pretty sure she had just watched a pony die. For all her magic, she had been helpless to stop it. "Ah think Ah know what happened. Look here," Applejack had turned over the mask. It looked like it was made from a strange mixture of ceramics and paper mache, with a soft fuzzy exterior. What the farm pony pointed to, however, was a small, sharp thumbtack taped to the inside of the mask. Pinkie Pie reached out to touch it and Applejack hurriedly pulled the mask away "Don't touch it! Ah'd be willin' ta bet a whole bushel of apples this here little prick is what did Derpy in. It was rigged in such a way that it would prick her skin if'n the mask were removed. There'd have ta be some mighty powerful poison coating it to get a reaction that severe, that quickly, from a full grown mare." "If the mask were removed? Then that means..." it took a moment for Twilight to absorb the full horror of that statement. She covered her mouth with one hoof, but quickly pulled it away as it was covered in the grey pegasus' blood. "I'm the one who killed her. I'm a murderer!" "Don't go blaming yerself just yet sugarcube. It was rigged so that if anypony took the mask off she'd die. Ah mighta taken it off if'n you hadn't. Even if we'd left it alone, Derpy herself woulda likely taken it off after she'd come around from being drugged," said Applejack logically. "Ah'm sad to say it was bound to happen one way or the other. Poor thing." "But wait a moment. I thought she was the changeling, or murderer, or whatever." said Rarity perplexed. "Ah doubt it," the blonde pony said sadly, putting her hat back on. "Ah think she was just another victim. Which means this sick and twisted game ain't over yet. Not by a long shot." Unseen by the others, their eyes still upon the sad corpse of a pony they barely knew, Rarity took the opportunity to pick up a rusty scalpel and hide it in her mane. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight did what she could with her dress. Washing it, and herself, off in the bathroom sink gave her time to reflect. Even if it weren't for the fact she could see that the bloodstains weren't coming out, she knew she wasn't going to wear this dress ever again if they got out of here. She was about as useless at cleaning cloths as she was at saving her friends. What good had being a princess done for them? She was just as trapped as they were in this horrible pit. Her fledgling wings were of little use underground. Twilight's head was still throbbing, but at least she'd managed to make her horn glow a bit again. That was about as strong of a spell as she felt she could use comfortably without passing out again. The truth of the matter was she blamed herself for everything. She was convinced that whatever was going on, it was somehow her fault, her responsibility, and it was her friends that were paying the price for her not being the kind of princess they deserved. Lost in her own thoughts of grief and self-loathing, Twilight didn't notice as Pinkie Pie crept up behind her. "Hey." Twilight jumped, startled. "Sorry," said the pink pony. "Applejack was wondering if you were almost done. She wants to open up another door." If Pinkie Pie saw the sudden expression of guilt on Twilight's face, she pretended not to. "Are you okay? I mean as okay as anypony can be given, you know, everything that's been going on." Smiling as tears spilled from her eyes Twilight replied, "No...no I'm not okay." Pinkie Pie wrapped her in gentle hug, ignoring the dampness of her dress. "I should be. I mean obviously I shouldn't be okay with any of this, but I should be strong enough to...to put that aside and figure a way out of this mess. I shouldn't be...be worried about my stupid frilly dress, or just how much my head hurts, or how useless I've been so far." "Shhh," said the pink pony, stroking Twilight's mane comfortingly. "You haven't been anymore useless than the rest of us. It's okay, Twilight." "No it's not okay and we both know it! I'm supposed to be the smart one! I'm supposed to be the alicorn who's talent is magic! So far the most magical thing I've done is watch another pony die!" Twilight couldn't help sobbing now. "She was clinging to me for dear life and I didn't even realize it. I was holding her when she died! I should've realized what was happening sooner. I should've noticed the signs of a seizure. But no, I had to scream and freak out, just like who ever's sick game this is probably wanted!" Twilight wailed. "Twilight there was nothing you could do," soothed Pinkie. "We were all there and we were all just as afraid as you were. You can't beat yourself up about this." "I know, I know, it's just..." Twilight took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She swallowed hard and tried to compose herself. "It's just in the end she was only another victim of this stupid game. We didn't even have a chance to talk to her before she..." Twilight's eyes suddenly went wide. She pulled away from Pinkie Pie's embrace, missing the hurt expression on her friends face as she whispered. "Another victim!" Twilight darted out of the bathroom and ran back to the room that could best be referred to as the clinic. Rarity and Applejack had both been busy, shifting Derpy's body onto the ruined hospital bed. They looked up, surprise on their faces at Twilight's sudden entrance. "Has something happened?" asked Rarity, alarmed. "Yes! There's another, we just have to find it! Help me turn her over!" exclaimed Twilight in a feverish babble. "Slow down there Twi,"said Applejack as she watched Twilight scrabble at Derpy's corpse, turning it this way and that. "Just what are ya lookin' for?" "This!" as the others looked where Twilight indicated, they saw the soft glow of another sigil, this one blazing gently on Derpy's right shoulder. "She was another victim, just like the rest of us, so she had a key as well!" "Ah see...well, Ah guess Ah'd better give ya a hoof then," sighed the farm pony matter-of -factly, positioning herself on the other side of the hospital bed. "Give her a hoof with what?" asked Rarity, perplexed. "What the hay are you girls up to?" asked Pinkie Pie from the open doorway. "Well, Ah reckon miss Derpy has got one more job ta do..." said Applejack, smiling joylessly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Supporting the dead body between themselves, Twilight and Applejack guided her shoulder to the nearest of the doors they had yet to open. They pressed her against the crystal, causing a thin trickle of blood to spill from her mouth and puddle on the floor. "Nothing?" asked Rarity. "But I was so sure that her sigil would be like ours! Why wouldn't it be!?" shouted Twilight in frustration. "Easy. So it don't work on this here door? Fine, maybe the spell, or whatever, is broke. Lets try the other door down yonder." Applejack shifted her weight beneath Derpy's corpse and started moving to the other door. The sound of Derpy's hooves dragging along the ground, and the occasional splash of blood as they went, was enough to turn anypony's stomach. Pinkie flinched with each step and couldn't seem to take her eyes off the smeared scarlet trail her friends were leaving behind. Rarity, for her part, was covering her mouth and nose with the shawl she had been wearing earlier. The scent of blood was too much for her delicate sensibilities. "Is this really necessary?" moaned Rarity. "If'n ya want to get out of here darlin', yes," replied Applejack. "The more of these doors we can get open, the better chance we have of findin' a way out." Applejack drug Derpy the last couple of inches to the next door, while Twilight guided the grey fliers shoulder to rest against it. If this doesn't work, Twilight thought to herself, next up will be... But a soft grey glow suddenly lit the rune on Derpy's shoulder. Apparently even with the host dead, the magic was still strong. The grey light enveloped the crystal door and with the slightest push, it slowly swung open. "Please be the exit, please be the exit, please be the exit..." Pinkie Pie chanted under her breath with her eyes tightly closed, willing the doorway to lead outside, or to a mine shaft, or anywhere but here where her friends were dying and there dead bodies were being used as little more than keys. However, as the door swung open, it revealed just another room, about the same size as the others. The walls here were covered in shelves and the shelves themselves were filled with dusty books, binders, and old file folders. Cobwebs clung to the moldering paperwork and there was the distinct, damp smell of mold and old paper filling the room. "Is this...some kind of library?" asked Twilight. Applejack dropped Derpy's corpse, leaving its full weight leaning against Twilight. Without warning she rushed into the room and started sweeping books off the shelves. "Applejack what are you doing!? I know this is frustrating but there's no reason to...wait." The other three ponies noticed it at the same time. The reason Applejack was sweeping the books and folders out of the way was to reveal what she had already noticed. The room should have been dark, but instead it was lit by gentle moonlight. Moonlight streaming in from a window that was hidden just behind the shelves.