Twilight looked through the telescope on her balcony. Starwatching was somehow soothing for her. That letter from the Solar Elite was the worst test ever. The high security prison on the dangerous offshore island crawling with dragons and age old creatures and STILL a criminal manages to get to Equestria, chooses to hunt in Ponyville for no logical reason, and Cobalt sends an archeologist to find him. All the while she wasn't allowed to intervene. Celestia told her it was a practice of patience. Sometimes a princess needed to stand aside. Something about lowering dependence on royalty to solve everything. Sounded lazy to her. But Granite at least had some basic combat training, at least according to his own test at Sugarcube Corner.
That amused her a little. Not even a whole year as a princess and she was already giving her own test, under the rules of another bigger test. She opened the door and stepped inside the library. She still lived there. She liked it, and nopony decided to argue the point, even though she was pressed to live in something nicer, something fancier. Truth was, she lived that life before. Her old place in Canterlot was an extremely nice and expensive property that she got at a steeply discounted price via "student privilege."
She flipped open a book with a bound leather cover titled '"Criminal Intent." Pages of pony mug shots flashed across her eyes. Backgrounds and possible motives filled the book. She moved all the way to the back section. Equestria's most wanted. Shadow King Sombra: Deceased . Changeling Queen Chrysalis: Banished. Changeling Princess Thorax: Unknown Refugee. Discord: Reformed.
She stopped on the one she knew about. Sideswipe: Imprisoned. She grimaced and her horn lit. The text changed, letters flying off the page and new one manifesting. Her horn calmed and the page now read Sideswipe: Ponyville. She read on, skimming over the background. Classic stuff. Orphaned and left behind, left the path of harmony and friendship yada yada yada. She paused over the motive section. She read in her head so Spike wouldn't wake. "Institution Test #12: Oddly enough, suspect doesn't respond to common criminal stimuli. Rejects anything of a sexual nature. Wealth takes a minor effect, only when needed for a greater goal. Understands friendship and takes advantage of the it. Brutally takes advantage of previous friends and often kills them after they give in. Likes to mutilate faces. Also cuts manes of victims. These seem to simply be enjoyable to him. Intelligence and strategy makes Sideswipe a deadly killer."
She grimaced and slammed the book shut in a fit. She hated standing by like a helpless...well bystander. She hated lying to her friends more. Nopony knew about this, and she wanted to keep it that way. It had to stay that way. National security demanded so. Unless Granite involved somepony else, which, according to his dad, was in direct violation of his mission, nopony would ever know.