//------------------------------// // One // Story: The Sharpest Tool // by Samey90 //------------------------------// It was one of the biggest funerals Twilight had ever been to. Apple Fritter’s last wish was to be buried in Ponyville, where she was born, and the whole Apple family gathered there together to farewell her. The Elements of Harmony, except of Rainbow Dash, who was still in Detrot hospital (Twilight had called Flammenwerfer and Falter, telling them to keep an eye for her, just in case) also arrived to support Applejack, who was devastated by the death of her cousin. Scootaloo also was there, embracing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with her wings. “Our little bushel just lost one apple,” said Granny Smith grimly, when the coffin was lowered to the ground. Applejack was trying to wipe the tears with her hat, while her sister was crying openly in Scootaloo’s grip. The orange pegasus was staring at the grave with blank face, similarly to Big Macintosh. Twilight couldn’t calm down. Since she returned to Ponyville, none of her friends were killed or otherwise assaulted, but she still was freaking out to the point when she nearly hit Spike with a magic beam when he had woken her up in the morning. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Rarity, who was standing next to her, and went through the crowd of Apple family members. Although some ponies considered it strange, she actually liked cemeteries. The silence and solemn atmosphere was always helping her to collect her thoughts. She went down the hill and saw that there’s another funeral near the neighbouring alley. Unlike Apple Fritter’s, there were only six ponies standing there. She looked at them closer and saw a distinctive mane of one of them. For a moment she froze, remembering the last time she’d met that pony – three years ago, on the same cemetery. When she approached them, the gravedigger was just burying the coffin. Cloudchaser was watching it with tears in her eyes, accompanied by Thunderlane. In some distance from them stood a cream mare whom Twilight recognized as the one who had pretended to be Golden Heart. Guarded by two well-built stallions, she was staring at the grave with a faint smile. “Hello, Cloudchaser,” Twilight said. Just like the last time they met, the pegasus looked at her with a feared expression and backpedalled. Thunderlane embraced her with her wing, in a manner that made Twilight think of Scootaloo: a protective gesture, universal for all the pegasi. “Hi Twilight,” she replied, “I… she…” “It’s ok,” said the unicorn, “Please, accept my deepest condolences…” “I… I don’t know if I should mourn her,” Cloudchaser cried, “She… she was…” “She was your sister,” Twilight said, “No matter what she did, she was your sister, and it’s normal that you mourn her.” Cloudchaser stopped crying, though her eyes were still red. “I have something for you,” she said, “I planned to go to the library after the funeral, but since you’re here…” she took an old potion book from Thunderlane’s saddlebags and gave it to Twilight. “I found it when I was searching through her belongings. It’s probably long overdue…” “Don’t worry about that,” said Twilight, “See you later.” She trotted back to her friends. A large group of Applejack’s relatives was now heading to Sweet Apple Acres. *** During the wake, Applejack got drunk. It hadn’t happen until Granny Smith went to sleep. Twilight had seen that coming, noticing her friend’s wistful stares at the bottle, and she’d told Apple Bloom and Pinkie to watch her, but the filly was still glum after the funeral and soon went to sleep, leaving her older sibling with guests, and Pinkie, her hair deflated, was too lost in her thoughts to notice Applejack refilling her mug repeatedly. When Twilight, who went out for a moment to call Rainbow Dash, came back, it was already too late. Luckily, unlike the cyan mare, Applejack wasn’t an obnoxious and aggressive kind of drunk, she’d just fallen asleep, resting her head on Fluttershy’s arm. “Stay with the guests, Big Macintosh, we’ll take care of her,” said Twilight quickly and helped the yellow pegasus support Applejack. “Eeyup,” he replied. They trotted down the corridor. “Watch out, Jackie, stairs ahead,” said Twilight. The orange mare muttered something incoherently, and carefully placed her hoof on a step. Walking upstairs while trying to carry her was tricky, fortunately Twilight had some practice after helping Trixie, and Fluttershy could use her wings to balance herself. They managed to half lead, half drag Applejack to her room and put her in her bed. She opened her eyes and look at them half-consciously. “Um… are you ok, AJ?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah, Ah… Ah’m just… I don’t know…” Applejack slurred, “Y’all saved my cousin from the fire, and then…” her head fell on the pillow, “That’s just unfair.” “I know,” said Twilight, “But I don’t know how it happened. The guards from Baltimare are investigating this case, and ETSB is investigating the crash.” “Dat’s all a bunch of horseapples, sugarcube,” Applejack exclaimed, “Ah want ya to investigate it…” “I’m afraid I can’t,” said Twilight, “Royal Guard’s captain from Baltimare doesn’t allow me to help them, and since Flitter died in a crash, I have no proof that these cases are connected.” “Proof!” Applejack raised from her bed, and Fluttershy had to calm her down, “Who needs a proof, Ah’d just shoot anypony who…” her head fell on the pillow again, and she fell asleep. “I’ll stay with her, in case she needs help,” said Fluttershy. Twilight nodded and went downstairs. The gathering was slowly dying down, most of the ponies went to sleep, leaving Big Macintosh talking with Braeburn, and Pinkie sitting alone by the table. “Where’s Rarity?” Twilight asked her. “She went with Sweetie to Carousel Boutique,” pink pony replied, still far away from her usual, happy mood, “Scootaloo went with them.” “Good. I think I’ll go home too.” They both headed to the door, saying goodbye to Big Macintosh. Twilight chose not to teleport, instead walking with Pinkie to Sugarcube Corner. The pink mare wasn’t in the mood for small talk, and after several failed attempts, Twilight decided to walk in silence. “Goodnight Pinkie,” she said when they stopped near the bakery. “Goodnight,” Pinkie yawned and went inside the building. Twilight sighed and headed to library. *** Twilight opened one eye and looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was 3 AM, and she couldn’t fall asleep. She looked around and noticed that Spike wasn’t in his basket. That was weird – usually she was the one to stay up late. I’m getting old… she thought, Irregular lifestyle, stress, and there goes the biological clock. “Hello, Twilight,” said somepony sitting on her bed, “I was waiting for you to wake up…” “Trixie?” she exclaimed, turning to her quickly, “What are you doing here?” “I thought that you’d need help with all that you’ve have to deal recently…” said Trixie, smiling seductively, “Trixie can ease your pain, get you on your hooves again…” she sang, leaning to her. “What are you…” Twilight jumped away, covering herself with her blanket, “Trixie, I appreciate your willingness to help, but I don’t need to relieve stress, especially not in that way… Besides, couldn’t you wait till the morning?” she asked, trying to keep herself as far from approaching Trixie as possible. “Oh, silly filly…” said Trixie, her voice suddenly changing a bit, “I didn’t mean to ease your pain in such a mundane way. I thought about something more permanent…” Suddenly Twilight saw an ancient crossbow in her hoof, and when she looked at her closer she noticed that the mare in front of her doesn’t look like Trixie at all, with wings, long mane tied with a pink bow, and a psychotic smile. “Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle…” she said, just before pulling the trigger. “NOOOO!” she screamed. “Umm… too big?” she heard a sleepy voice on her left. She opened her eyes and saw her bedroom bathed in sunlight. Spike was sleeping in his basket, still muttering something. Twilight looked at her chest expecting to see a bolt, but all she found was an undamaged purple fur, wet from sweat. She decided to go downstairs to take a shower and eat something, as the grumbling in her stomach was only a bit quieter than Spike’s snoring. When she was walking through the library lobby, she saw an old potion book Cloudchaser gave her. The seedy brown cover with silver letters was attracting her. She sat on the floor, preparing to open it with her magic, when something crashed into the wall of the library. “Dash?” she asked herself, but then thought that cyan mare is still healing her broken ribs in Detrot. She went outside to see Fluttershy trying to free herself from the entanglement of branches. “Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” “Quick!” pegasus shouted, surprising Twilight. It wasn’t often for her to shout, so unicorn knew something was wrong, “Applejack… somepony poisoned her!” Although the morning was warm, Twilight felt her body froze. She considered teleporting directly to Sweet Apple Acres, but she resigned, knowing that she could need all her magic to save her friend, and her form was still a bit low after overexerting herself during the airship crash. She decided to run there, followed by Fluttershy, who was surprisingly fast, flying at low altitude. “Applejack!” Twilight shouted, entering the farmhouse. “We’re here!” she heard Apple Bloom’s voice from the upstairs. She rushed there to see the orange mare curled on the floor in fetal position, wailing in pain, and her younger sister sitting helplessly by her side. “What happened?” Twilight asked, hoping that it was just a bad case of hangover. “She’d woken up and she was all right…” said Apple Bloom, “Then she asked for water, Ah brought some from the well, and…” “Sh-she threw up,” Fluttershy finished, “We thought that she’s just sick after the yesterday, but then she fell on the ground, saying that her stomach burns…” “Mah brother told the rest of the family not to drink the water,” Apple Bloom said. Twilight began channeling magic through her horn, trying to examine what happened to Applejack. Soon she found something that she visualised as a black cloud of magic, hanging above her friend’s stomach, liver and kidneys. Sweat started dripping from her face, when she tried to use her magic to dissipate it. Suddenly Applejack’s expression changed, and her body relaxed a bit. Her breath became more even, and although she was still pale, she didn’t look as if she was going to die soon. “That’s all I can do for now,” Twilight panted, exhausted, “I prevented the poison from damaging her organs, but it’s still there. I hope Zecora will be able to find the antidote.” “Ah swear, Ah’ll never drink again,” Applejack whispered painfully. “What was that?” Fluttershy asked. “I have no idea, I’ll take a sample from the well and examine it,” said Twilight. *** First thing she noticed when she got back to the library was a potion book, still lying on the floor. She could hear Spike bustling in the kitchen, so she stopped by the door to say “hello” to him and tell him what happened to Applejack. He proposed that he’d now try every dish before giving it to her. “No, thanks,” she laughed, “Your dragon metabolism would digest every poison, and with your “trying” I’d die of starvation quickly…” “Hey, I’m trying to help!” “Besides, whoever is this now, he doesn’t want to just kill me,” Twilight muttered to herself, carrying the bottle with the water from Sweet Apple Acres to her lab, “but to make me watch helplessly as all my friends die... Flitter’s methods exactly.” In her basement she levitated the pipette and the box of tips to share the water between the test tubes. She then started adding various chemicals to the tubes, watching them carefully and taking notes if any of them changed colour. Some of the reactions, however, needed time or temperature. She started to look for the heated bath, and noticed the book she took with her. Curious, she opened it, and found a mind-controlling potion recipe. She only skimmed the ingredients, as she already knew most of them. What interested her the most, was the effects of it. Mind-controlling potion, invented: 124 after Discord by Charming Masquerade. Status: strictly forbidden, used only for magical research. Characteristics: An individual treated with this potion may show various symptoms, depending from the pony controlling them, and their mind’s strength. When controlled by weak minds, they may either be emotionless, or overly emotional, there were also several cases, when a victim overcame the effects. The victim may be controlled for about a month. Further administering is usually ineffective, due to the build-up of organism’s tolerance, which is sustained for about a year [Starswirl The Bearded, 201 A.D.]. A physical wound of a victim usually causes the bond between them and a controlling pony to break, although it also depends of the magical and psychological properties of both ponies. It is known, that if the both ponies are of the same race, the bond is stronger and more stable. The potion interferes with unicorns’ own magic, causing controlling an unicorn to be extremely difficult. Also earth ponies’ bodies, due to the higher level of hepatic enzymes, cleanses the potion more effectively. An interesting effect was allegedly observed, after Charming Masquerade was killed in a duel by young Starswirl the Bearded in 152 A.D. As Starswirl wrote in his memoirs, the soul of his defeated opponent was transported into the body of a young earth pony colt Charming Masquerade was controlling at that time. Unable to perform any magic in this body, he was captured and imprisoned. His exact fate is unknown, the Starswirl the Bearded’s incomplete manuscripts states only that “their souls tangled together and no force was to part them” Twilight closed the book, staring blankly at the distance. Flitter was dead, there was no doubt. Yet, the night she was crawling through the forest to meet her fate, somepony slipped into the Apple Fritter’s room and stabbed her. It could mean only one thing: somepony was still in her control when she died, and after that her soul (or, as Twilight would say, imprint of her personality in victim’s brain) moved itself from the old, broken body to a new one. Who could it be? she thought. She immediately rejected Vinyl Scratch: when she collided in mid-air with Rainbow Dash trying to catch her, and later hit the pavement rather hard, the bond between her and Flitter broke instantly. Besides, the DJ was now lying in the hospital bed, unable to move, and according to Rainbow Dash, under recently-arrived Octavia’s tender care. The ponies Flitter used as her tools three years ago were out of the picture: most of them were dead, and even if she was still controlling somepony when she was caught, the bond broke after a month. She recalled the ponies Flitter met on her way to Detrot. Rainy Waters, who drove her to Cloudsdale, was out of question – she encountered him just after running away from the asylum, without any possibilities to spike his drink. Cloudchaser – that could be it, according to Sharp Shock, there were bottles everywhere, some spilled alcohol on the floor – maybe Flitter had a hidden stash of the potion at home, and gave it to her sister after knocking her unconscious, just in case? Could it even be usable after spending three years in some kind of compartment? Twilight highly doubted it. Also, Cloudchaser spend all that time in Cloudsdale, at first in hospital, recovering from concussion, and later at home, probably crying in Thunderlane’s shoulder. There was no chance she flew to Baltimare and back in one night. There was Trixie then. According to the late Surveillance’s documents, they’d accidentally met with Flitter in some Celestia-forsaken inn. Trixie was drunk at that time, so Flitter had a possibility to give her a potion. The blue unicorn also happened to be in Baltimare at the time of murder, she even stayed at the same hotel. Yet, this version also had flaws: Twilight still didn’t knew if Flitter had any potion at that time. Also, neither Trixie, nor hoofcuffed Flitter could set the airship on fire. Twilight herself walked Trixie to her room, and the mage, even sober, wasn’t a master of teleportation. Heck, even if she teleported to Apple Fritter’s room, then why would she leave the door open? Suddenly Twilight recalled a minor detail she almost forgot about – a silver lighter found on the crash site. She slammed her head with her hoof. “V” meant, of course, “Vinyl”. Whom could the DJ give it, and when? Twilight thought about all the events of the night when she wandered through the sewers with bat-ponies, when Vinyl got into Flitter’s control and helped her... “Oh crap…” Twilight said loudly.