//------------------------------// // Returning Home // Story: The Curious Case of the Unicorn Twilight Sparkle // by The Rising Tide of Night //------------------------------// Night Eye reached out and turned the tape recorder off. He looked up at the shaking unicorn in front of him, watching the shudders ruffling her fur. Tears had matted the fur under her eyes, tracking down her cheeks as she had told her story. He could still see the residual fear in her eyes from her experiences as she fought to control her emotions. Silence permeated the interrogation room as Twilight fought for her composure. Even the unicorn technician, a veteran of recording confessions, knew enough to remain quiet for as long as necessary. Finally, she swiped a hoof at her eyes and looked up at Night Eye. He turned and nodded to the technician, who collected the tape recorder and notes and left the room. As the door closed behind him, Night Eye looked back to Twilight. “Thank you for sharing that, Miss Sparkle. I appreciate your willingness to open up to us.” He stood, offering her a hoof to help her stand, which she took hesitantly. “If I may ask, what did you do with those missing pages from your journal?” “I… I burned them. I’m sorry, Mister Night Eye.” A half smile appeared on Night Eye’s face as he thought of the disappointment he would face when his men learned of that fact. “Ah, well. I’ll still owe them a box of Joe’s finest,” he murmured. Twilight gave him a curious look, but he waved it away. His face became serious once more as something she had said during the statement returned to him. “Miss Sparkle, you said that Pinkie… two, was it? Pinkie two had killed Pinkie one in the library basement, rather gruesomely as I recall, is that correct?” She nodded, confused. He pressed on in the face of her uncertainty. “When my men and I were scouring the library for your journal, we saw no indications of any death there, let alone one as horrific as you indicated. Care to explain?” He saw Sharpshot’s ears perk up at the question, but ignored his partner in favor of watching Twilight’s response. Her confusion only deepened, but turned quickly to pondering. “I… don’t know for certain. But I guess that perhaps when I cast the spell on her it caused them both to disappear after they recombined? I may have to make a note of that…” She saw the look on his face as her statement trailed off, and she folded her ears back. “Sorry,” she finished lamely. A flash of fear crossed her face as she considered an alternate reason for his question. “You… you believe me, don’t you?” He paused for a moment before answering, his face expressionless as Sharpshot watched the exchange. “I believe that you are telling the truth,” he finally replied. She sighed in relief, and he gestured for her to exit the interrogation room, Sharpshot leading the way. As they walked the quiet hallways of the station, he glanced over to her and asked, “Would you like to visit your friends now?” Her ears drooped, but she nodded, anxieties building. Taking a deep breath, she slowly let the air out, trying to calm herself as the blood suddenly started pounding in her ears. “Yes, I want to see my friends.” Night Eye nodded. “I’ll have somepony escort you over to the hospital then. I need to make sure my men finish putting your library back together anyway.” She nodded once more, a faraway look in her eyes. “Yes. That would be nice, thank you.” They arrived at the front desk, and Night Eye proceeded to make the arrangements for one of the officers to escort Twilight to the hospital for as long as she needed, and then to escort her back home. She tried to brush off the second escort, but he simply gave her a look and she quieted down. Later, as they watched Twilight and the officer leave the station, Sharpshot turned to his partner and proceeded to make an uncannily accurate observation regarding the entire situation, one born of years of experience in the Equestrian underworld. “Man, she’s messed up.” Night Eye let out a small snort of laughter before his expression became somber once more. “Yes, you’re right, like usual. This entire ordeal took something out of her, and I get the feeling we might be seeing her sooner than we both would like.” They both turned to make their way back to their respective desks as Night Eye muttered to himself. “I just hope it’s not in the way that I fear.” The cool evening air flowed over Twilight as she made her way home from visiting the hospital, her officer escort pacing her on one side and Spike walking on the other. It had been an exhausting but nice visit with Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow herself had been doing just fine, as she had just needed a few stitches and icepacks after her fight with Pinkie two. Rarity was still under observation for her horrible wounds, and the doctors wanted to make certain that nothing developed an infection, especially considering how deep some of the cuts had gone. Both of them had listened to her story with apprehension, disgust, and some measure of pity. She had done her best to tell them the truth, but had omitted some of the more gruesome and difficult details she had already shared with Night Eye. It had been hard enough going through them the first time, let alone having to relive the experience yet again. Rarity had been fighting the effects of her pain medication the entire time Twilight had been speaking, but had finally given in and had fallen asleep shortly after she had finished. Rainbow had offered to continue to stay after seeing just how exhausted Twilight was and had sent Spike home with her to make sure she was able to get some sleep. The pegasus had felt torn between her two miserable friends, but in the end felt certain that Spike would be able to take care of Twilight, just as he always had. As she approached her library home, gazing up on the welcoming lights shining in the windows and the two officers stationed at the entrance, she felt a mixture of fear and relief. She was about to step back into the place where the whole nightmare had both begun and ended, and she found her steps starting to slow the closer they came to the familiar door. She wasn’t aware that she had stopped moving until she noticed that both Spike and the officer had turned around with questioning looks. Spike waddled back to join her, grabbing her shoulder and giving it a tug. “C’mon, Twilight, let’s go. I’m sure you wanna get some sleep, don’t you?” She looked down at him blankly for a moment, then shook her head to clear her thoughts. Of course there was nothing there to worry about. The ordeal was over. And really, she was exhausted. Perking up slightly, she allowed herself to be led past the watching officers, through the door, and into the library proper. She turned to thank her officer escort, who simply gave her a lazy salute and left her and Spike to their own devices. She looked around the library, as if seeing it truly for the first time. Night Eye had been as good as his word. Every book had been re-shelved, as he had said (not everything was in its proper place, but that would be a job for tomorrow). The floor had been cleaned and the table in the center had been moved back to its proper place. There was even a small fire in the fireplace, which felt heavenly after the walk through the cool night air. Spike offered to brew up some calming tea for her, which she accepted with a smile. She slowly made her way up the stairs towards her bedroom as Spike rushed off into the kitchen to get the tea going. He knew that he would probably have to add some sleeping weed to her evening tea for quite some time after tonight. Twilight slowly pushed the door to her room open, and froze as her eyes landed on her newly made bed. For a brief second, she had thought… She looked again. Nopony was there. It’s just nerves, she told herself. I’m probably going to be seeing things like that for a while yet. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she moved into her room, leaving the door open behind her. She knew Spike would be up in a few minutes with her tea and didn’t want to make him have to open the door while carrying her drink. She flopped onto her bed, not even bothering to pull back the covers. Glancing up at her window, she used her magic to open it a crack and let some air into the slightly stuffy room. Rolling over so that she was facing her door, she smiled as she heard the click-clack of Spike’s claws on the wooden stairs as he came up to her room, tea tray at the ready. He smiled wanly at her as he set the tray down on her nightstand, seeing the pain in her eyes vying with the smile on her face as she lay there. He hesitated for a moment, then quickly leaned forward and gave her a peck on the cheek before turning and hurrying out of the room, closing the door behind him. She watched him go, feeling the love behind the small gesture, before pushing herself up into a sitting position and picking up her teacup. Sipping the warm drink, she tasted the familiar bitterness of the tea leaves mixed with the slight tartness of the sleeping weed, and sent a silent thank you to her number one assistant for looking out for her once more. As she finished her drink, she glanced out of the window once more, listening to the sounds of the night as they floated through the open window. Setting her cup down on her nightstand, she briefly considered pouring herself another cup, but decided against it as she felt the exhaustion catching up with her, amplified by the soothing effects of the sleeping weed. She lay down, settling herself onto her pillow, and was just about to allow herself to drift off when another sound drifted in through her window that promptly froze her blood. Giggle…