“The cake’s done,” Spike announced, peeking into Twilight’s study from the stairs of the Ponyville Library. He had a small pink apron tied around his stomach. “I’m finished with the icing and everything. Do you want a piece?”
Twilight peered up from her books, which were all scattered neatly on her desk. “Did you remember to not include gemstones?”
“Don’t worry. I didn’t put any gems in the batter and instead put them on after the icing was done. I could cut a piece for you that doesn’t have any if you want.”
Twilight smiled. “That was a good idea Spike. Yes, I’d love a piece of your cake.”
“You got it, Twi.” Spike said as he gave a thumbs up and zipped down the stairway.
Twilight took a deep breath in, detecting the faint odor of tree leaves in the background and exhaled slowly, enjoying every single second of it. Birds chirped up in the branches of the Library and their songs could be heard inside through the open window in the wall. Sunlight flooded through the split glass and fresh noontime air quaintly drifted inside the building, bringing a certain Ponyville quality with it. Particles of dust could be seen through the rays of light, and the tiny specks spiraled upward until they graced the ceiling and spread apart, just to fall back down again. Twilight tried to keep her home as tidy as possible, and both she and Spike had weekly sessions of simply dusting the place out to try and get rid of the extra residue that lingered from the aging books around them. But no matter what the two did, they seemed to end up with more dust then they started with. Still, Twilight was glad that she wasn’t sneezing every time she wanted to pull out a book that hadn’t been used in a long time.
The magician turned her attention back to her work. She had a sprawl of books, tomes, scrolls and other various reading materials set along her workplace. A stack of books tall as herself was sitting beside her, ready to be grabbed for reference at any time. She shifted in her seat a little, and inwardly was thankful that Spike got her a bright red cushion for her desk chair to be sat on so she didn’t have to study on a hard wooden surface for hours on end. Her focus returning to her, she lifted up her quill with her telekinesis and examined it. The end was still pointy and fine enough to write with and the feather was still in fine condition. It was nice to have her own personal supply of quills, especially since she didn’t have to send Spike off to that terrible, terrible store of Quills and Sofas, which by contrast to its name, never seemed to have any quills in stock. Her ink pot was still full of black liquid, so she was good to go. She found the last line she was working on when suddenly a voice from behind her made her jump.
“By the way Twilight, the mail just got in,” Spike said, appearing once again. Twilight frowned, a bit peeved that he didn’t mention it twenty seconds ago, but quickly shook it off when she heard what he had to say next. “I think your new telescope arrived. Ditzy came along and had me sign for this big box. I dunno what’s in it, but considering that the shipment was from the Royal Starlight Sanctum, I think it’s safe to say what it is.”
A wide grin appeared on her face. She pushed her chair back and got up, trotting over to where Spike was. “Thanks Spike. I’ll go see what it is right now.”
Making her way down the stairs, Twilight had to hold herself back from flinging herself down the steps out of excitement. She’d been waiting for her new telescope for two months now, and it finally arrived! Now she could see four times as far as her old one could, and the modern, sleek design of the 400 model could just make her squeal in joy! It was an astronomer’s dream come true! Well, she didn’t consider herself to be a true astronomer in the sense, but she always did like to broaden her studies as much as she could, and she had been interested in the night sky and its details ever since she was a little filly. When she originally moved to Ponyville, she was already sad that she wouldn’t be able to access Celestia’s private (except for Twilight) telescope in the Canterlot Observatory. But, when she learned that there was a telescope already placed in the Ponyville Library, her worries all melted away. It seemed that the Princess thought of everything.
Her hoofsteps rang out clearly as Twilight made her way down to the front door. There, she could see a lengthy box lying beside the bookcases. She rushed over the last few feet and took a closer look at the object, placing her two hooves on the top while giddy like a schoolfilly on the last day of the school year. There was no doubt that this was her new telescope.
But then, something squeaked to her right, followed by the sound of hinges swinging to and fro. She peered off to the right and looked to see a black envelope with white trimming on the floor right beneath the door’s mail slot.
“What’s that?” Spiked asked behind her. Twilight didn’t say anything and instead walked up to the object and picked it up with magic. She stared at it, squinted and frowned, flipping it forward and back. She opened it and inside was a tiny piece of paper folded up neatly to fit the space of the envelope.
GRANDEUR MEETING OF INDIVIDUALS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY AT 265 ACORN ST.
BE THERE BY 2:00 P.M. ON THE SPOT. OCCASION: ARRIVAL OF DISCOVERED UNKNOWN VARIABLE.
THIS MESSAGE IS CONFIDENTIAL. DO NOT SHARE IT WITH OTHERS.
Twilight shook her head and smirked. “It’s just Pinkie Pie again.” Twilight explained to Spike.
Spike made an “o” shape with his mouth. “Another party?”
“Another party.” She confirmed. “I just hope that you’re won’t be sick of cake by then.”
It was Spike’s turn to grin. “Trust me Twilight, I’ll never get tired of cake.”
Twilight eventually brought up the box of her new telescope to her study and cleaned up some of her books. She decided when she was leaving the Library later that afternoon that she could set up the telescope after she got back home from the party. As she made her way through town, Spike was chatting up on her back, pondering what kind of pony was the guest of honour at the party. Pinkie threw parties almost every day of the week, but she would rarely throw one for a new pony that had moved into town. There would only be a celebration for a newcomer once every two months, which was not that much considering the rate of which Pinkie Pie pumped out parties. Twilight and Spike could only guess who they would meet at the occasion, but every single time they made a new friend in some shape or way.
As the two made their way through Market Square, Twilight couldn’t help notice that the air around the streets were a bit more tense than normal. Sure, everypony was making their way around the stalls, buying and searching for the best prices they could get as usual, but they did it with a bit more urgency. There were tiny, quiet conversations that customers and shop owners alike were making between each other and the once loud hubbub of debate and business was slightly muted to more personal conversations. Twilight spotted ponies sitting in a patio for a local café talking to each other in a hush. She almost wanted to linger and listen to what they had to say, curious as to what was going on in the town. Was danger afoot again? It had been so long since Twilight had to solve a dangerous crisis in Ponyville that she was constantly expecting some kind of evil to pop up one day. Was this is? Or was the town in another fad where they made mountains out of molehills again? She couldn’t tell, and she willed herself to walk right on by towards the party, because as far as she knew, it was none of her business.
Twilight finally arrived at 265 Acorn Street. The house was located near the edge of town, which made a lot of sense. Most of the inner buildings already hade owners and the newer citizens of the town moved either into old houses around the rim of Ponyville or went into newer, more modern apartments that had been recently built. Since passing the café, Spike had gone quiet once he sensed Twilight’s unease. The two had approached the building from the back, and as Twilight rounded the corner of the street something went off in her mind. There was something very, very wrong that happened here. She could feel it in her gut, her instincts firing off in the depths of her consciousness that there was serious danger afoot.
And then she saw it. There were a multitude of royal guards and police ponies surrounding the front door of the house, or rather, what used to be the front door. There was a large hole that was blasted out from the entrance, and you could see clearly into the building through the gap. Police tape was wrapped around the hole and ponies garbed in blue uniforms and caps were stalking throughout the compound searching for clues and speaking with one another. Twilight peered across the street and saw that there was a hole in the house directly opposite of the first one that had exactly the same size as the other and was at the same level. She could also see a paramedics cart set up at the street near the house, but no paramedic ponies handling it. Twilight could only guess that they were inside already. Her mind suddenly recognized the shape of the gap in the wall and her eyebrows rose. She tried to calculate what kind of power would be needed for an object of that size to travel that far and break through two solid barriers of wood. Her head reeled back when she made predictions of what kind of creature – or pony – could ever do such a thing.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but this area is closed off for police investigation.” an officer told her when she tried to approach the house. Twilight couldn’t understand it. Wasn’t this the house that Pinkie told them to go in the invitation? Did Pinkie have an accident with the Party Cannon? What the hay happened?
“Twilight! Spike!” a voice called out from behind the unicorn. Twilight reversed direction and saw Rarity running up to her along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack following closely behind. Twilight was half expecting Spike to go into one of his ogling stupors again, but in reality he was still in shock at the scene previously to really notice the love of his life quickly approaching him.
“Oh, thank goodness you are here, Twilight,” Rarity said in a sweeping breath as she slid to a stop in front of her friend. “Do you have any idea what’s going on around here?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, we just got here. I’m guessing none of you have a clue either?”
Applejack turned her head towards the two houses nervously. “No. We ain’ got a single clue.”
The party stopped to stare at the scene before them. It seemed so surreal to Twilight. Almost like a dream. She wasn’t a stranger to crime scenes, and Ponyville did get a few petty crimes and robberies once in a while, but she had never seen this many police in such a small area before with this much destruction. Normally when houses get wrecked a monster or some kind of extended evil was the cause of it, and Twilight and her friends would have been there to save the day before it got too far. But here, it was different. Much different.
“I’m not crazy, am I?” Rainbow Dash said aloud. “I mean, this is the place that Pinkie Pie told us to go, right? I didn’t expect her to host a party in the middle of a police investigation. I know Pinkie can be a little bit nutty, but this?”
“It’s not like her at all…” Fluttershy agreed.
‘It’s time we had a look of our own and see what’s going on.’ Twilight thought to herself as she spotted another police officer nearby. She trotted over to the young stallion while her friends behind her watched in confusion.
“Excuse me sir,” she began with a curious tone. “Have you figured out what happened here yet? Or are you still investigating?”
The officer was already on his path to denying her, but then realized who he was talking to. Twilight Sparkle, protégé of Princess Celestia, Bearer of the Element of Magic and Sister-in-Law to royalty from the Princess of the Crystal Kingdom was inquiring on the situation! He shouldn’t even have been the one to be asked! He was new to the job! This was only his first week! He paused with his jaw unhinged, searching for the right words. Twilight could see the inner conflict on his face.
“W-we’re still picking up the pieces here and there,” the officer stated, pulling at his collar a tad. “As far as we can tell, there was a scuffle at the house, over there.” He pointed to the house Twilight noticed first. “It was a matter of trespassing and personal safety. The trespasser broke into the house and the occupant of the house, who was a unicorn, claimed to have panicked and punched her magic into overdrive. A very strong blast of psychokinesis drove the trespasser through the front door and into the neighbouring house across the street. There no signs of violence except for that otherwise isolated incident. From what the occupant has told us, the trespasser appeared in her house all of the sudden with no warning and no permission to be there. She was not expecting any visitors at the hour and didn’t know anypony else in town. She just moved in Wednesday.”
‘But that would mean just three days ago!’ Twilight realized as she scanned the remains of the entrance to the house, mulling over his words. It made sense that a unicorn could freak out enough from an intruder to use powerful magic like that. But who in Ponyville would trespass in the first place? What were they doing there?
“According to her neighbours, she doesn’t come out much during the day and she doesn’t talk to anypony else. But anyways, the wave of magic was accurate enough that it hit the trespasser and only the trespasser. The door was shattered, but the rest of the front of the house was left unharmed.”
‘Then the caster was in enough control of her magic to aim and direct it properly when she shot it, even if she was panicking!’ Twilight concluded.
“Aaaand that’s all we have. But before you go, you know, that all was somewhat classified information, heh, so could you please not tell my boss? Please?” the officer mentioned, his sight searching left and right for his superior.
Twilight smiled. “Your secret’s safe with me. Thank you, officer.” Twilight said, turning around to leave. The officer tilted his hat, grinned, and walked away in his own direction. Twilight didn’t realized that her friends were behind her the entire time. They were all still staring at the scenery, their emotions varying.
“Where is Pinkie Pie, anyway?” Spike asked. Twilight almost forgot about him on her back. That happened sometimes when she was deep in thought. Her friends all swapped looks at each other, shrugging and not knowing the answer. They couldn’t believe that they hadn’t thought of Pinkie’s location previously. Twilight’s gaze went directly towards the neighbouring house. The paramedic ponies were pulling out a stretcher through the hole from the inside of the building, and on top was a body of a poor injured pony who was caught in the blast of the telekinesis.
The body of the prone pony was female, Twilight realized. The paramedics blocked the view of most of the figure, but a curly tuff of mane stuck upwards from the flat of the stretcher. She was also pink too.
A very familiar shade of pink.
“PINKIE PIE!”