It was dark. That was the first thing that came to her mind. It was so dark, in fact, that she could not even see where she was, or the hoof in front of her face. She was summoned here, and now she wasn't entirely sure what she had just gotten herself into. All she knew now was that it was pitch black, it smelled clean and flowery, and she was not alone. Every time the strange figure moved, she could see a shadow or two of a real outline.
"Greetings, Miss Roseluck. Thank you for joining me today."
A voice. Out of the darkness. Definitely feminine, and definitely one she had heard before. But she couldn't place it. Her head whipped around and around, trying frantically to find a shred of light, or any actual being which owned the voice. It was thanking her for joining it. Had she been kidnapped on her way to fulfill the summons? Panic shot through her, and she kicked her back hooves, which were the only things not bound to the thing she was uncomfortably sitting upon.
"H-H-Help me!" She yelled into the nothing, only to hear her voice reverberate right back to her instead of echoing. It was tinged with fear, with notes of desperation and the growing panic.
"Please do not yell, Miss Roseluck. I promise not to harm you in any way. I just want to ask you some questions, and I'm not exactly sure if you can help me with them or not."
"W-What do you want?" she blubbered, fighting tears and hysteria.
"Recognize this?"
A minuscule spiderweb of light appeared, and followed a sliding something across the room and to where she was bound, and fell ever so slightly upon it. She leaned forward as best she could, and let her gaze sweep the object.
It was a greasy-looking envelope, one that she clearly and painstakingly did not recognize in any way. It looked battered, weathered and beat-up, as if somepony had thrown it across a pit of lava in hopes that it would make the other side, and the hoofwriting was unlike any she had ever seen before. It wasn't by her own hoof, thankfully. She was innocent; she had never seen a letter of this nature before. The panic cooled within her in an instant. The figure was merely asking if she had written the note or if she knew who did, and fortunately, both questions were refusals on her part.
"I.....don't recognize this letter." she said, finally, the shakiness and fear gone from her voice. Sweat cooled all over her body, and her muscles relaxed. She was no longer fearful of this figure. She was merely fearful of how she was expected to get out of her current and pitch black surroundings. She was sure that she would need a nice long nap when she returned home.
"Are you positive?" the voice changed. It was still a low and feminine one, but this time she detected anger. Rage, even. Anger that she herself had never experienced, seen, or known. This made her precarious sense of safety break, and fresh panic, sweat, and even tears found places all over her body.
"Yes!" she said, the shakiness returning. She was breathing heavily now, and she knew that if she was not taken out of this horrible place soon, she would surely hyperventilate and possibly have a heart attack.
"Don't lie!" shouted the voice very suddenly, anger rising as well as pitch in the voice.
"I'm not lying to you!" she shouted right back, still breathing heavily. Sweat began to slowly trickle off her forehead and down by her mouth.
"Why would you, somepony I d-don't even know, think that I, the victim here, would be lying?" she yelled, nearing hysteria.
"I'M TIED TO A BLOODY CHAIR, FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!" she screamed, making her voice as loud as equinely possible, breathing frantically now.
Her screams came right back to her, and pierced her ears, but she did not care. She wanted this....this madpony to release her, and that instant. She would report this to the princess that had summoned for her. Clearly the lavender alicorn had no idea that such crime was about in the Empire that she was overseeing. This madpony was looking for a killer, and had obviously suspected her, and tied her to a chair, even, in an attempt to get answers.
She was, as she had convinced herself earlier, completely innocent! She paid her taxes and sent her foals to the local school. She was never violent and never complained about the way things were run in Equestria. She had never gotten involved with the shady folk, the ones who lived on the streets and sometimes ate their own sewage. No! She was nothing like them! And she never would be!
However, before she could demand to be released, there was a loud and very unmistakable sound. It was fairly close to where she was bound, and she felt tension in the room increase. Her captor cursed softly, but loud enough for her to hear, and relief flooded through her as she finally embraced the sound. It was a frantic and very loud knocking on something. It was a hoof, surely, perhaps even a police force, waiting to arrest the madpony and take her to safety.
They would question, surely, and she would give the entire story as it was, and see to it that this weirdo was arrested and put away immediately. Then, she would go see the princess, and tell her of this crime. Afterwards, she'd probably be escorted to the train station, where she'd be on the next train to where she resided, and she'd go into her house and take a nap in her bedroom. Under the covers. With all the doors and windows locked.
However, whoever was knocking did not come into the room immediately. Surely her captor was devious enough to lock the very door in which they resided behind. The knocking persisted, and grew steadily more violent by each passing minute.
"PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" A yell, much louder than she could emit, pierced and filled her ears. All at once, her brain stopped working, and she almost fell over in dead shock.
"What?" came the reply, trying desperately to be innocent.
That madpony has the princess!!, her mind screamed throughout her conscious, causing her to panic even more. And then, another noise came to fill the room.
WHAM!
The door that the somepony was knocking on fell completely over, and landed inches from her spot. Light flooded the room, and she blinked rapidly to make some use of where she actually resided. When she finally focused, she saw that it wasn't just one pony knocking, it was three. And each was dressed in recognizeable armor and all had the same familiar sheen to their coats. Noticing her, more fire exploded across their faces, perhaps more than had originally resided there. Quick as a wink, they threw on a lightswitch, and nothing was hidden any longer.
She was in a plush and very comfortable suite, with milky white carpet as far as her grass green eye could see. There was a floor length window(with curtains tightly drawn) just to her left, and a little ways beyond that stood two doors, both shut. There was a chandelier above her that glittered and relished in the newly discovered light. The room was finely decorated, with expensive wallpaper adorning the walls and a few intersting but very pricey decorations atop the wallpaper.
She faced a four-poster queen bed with a shimmery and very soft looking bedspread peeking out among the milky white canopy draped around the entire frame. Beside the bed stood a small table, piled high with novels of every size and color, and just beyond that stood an ivory vanity, stool, and mirror, though the only things atop it were a single bottle of perfume, a manebrush, and what appeared to be a tube of mascara.
And sitting on the stool, but facing her and now the guards, was the lavender princess herself, looking simply horrible. Her mane and tail were in complete and utter disaster, as if she hadn't brushed either in a month. There were at least 6 layers of dark grey bags under her now bloodshot violet eyes, and she wore a look of shock, disbelief, and unreplaceable pain.
A shadow came up behind her and she felt her bounds magically loosen, then finally fall off. The letter that was slid over to her was levitated away by magic. The guard who had freed her helped her out of her seat, which appeared to be a simple old wooden chair, and she tottered on all four hooves, trying not to collapse. Shock was coursing through her, as well as disbelief. Surely the princess that she wanted to rely on was going....well.....insane.
The other two guards were sustaining the alicorn, who took it upon herself to kick and fight their restraints. Her yells of protest echoed across the suite as they finally stuck a piece of fine cloth into her mouth to silence her. They wrestled her off the vanity stool, all the while her still fighting and muffled screams coming from the cloth, they finally managed to remove her from the premises, leaving the first guard and she alone. He turned to her, his face sympathetic behind the usual guard neutrality. He, like everypony else that had occupied the room, looked completely frazzled and shaken up.
"I'm very sorry you had to go through this, Miss-?"
"Roseluck." she answered for him.
"Miss Roseluck. As you can probably tell, Princess Twilight isn't feeling herself these days, for obvious reasons."
She knew these. It was all they ever talked about in the papers and news anymore. She had seen the photos of all the victims, including the whole, now hospitalized, royal family of this very Empire.
"What....will become of her?" she asked, quietly. Although she was still shocked and angry at Her Highness, worry filled her senses now. What would Equestria come to if there were only two princesses? Surely they would crown new ones? Would they.......could they.......
The mare dismissed that horrible thought away from her mind. The princess was just going through depression or grief. It was nothing that a good visit to a psychiatrist wouldn't cure. As if he could read her mind, the guard looked at her reassuringly, as nothing of that nature would happen.
"I do not know why I feel inclined to tell you this, but when Princess Twilight was sent here to look over this Empire, Princesses Celestia and Luna instructed everypony who works here to send for them immediately if something of this nature occured. I've only just sent for them, and those guards will sustain her until they arrive, which should be in due time. In the meantime, I've been assigned to escort you home, Miss Roseluck. I do hope that Princess Twilight did not harm you in any way."
"She didn't," she said, pondering the information that was just shared with her.
"She merely asked if I wrote this letter, and I assure you I have done nothing of the sort." After she finished, the guard pondered this.
"I believe you. As I said, she hasn't been herself in a very long time. But, on a brighter note, I believe that she will shape up if she continues to reside here. This Empire is a beautiful and happy place; I myself have enjoyed residing here for many years, and I'm sure this will get to her eventually. I must apologize again to you for everything that she has put you through." he said, and bowed.
"It's....alright, actually." she said, scarcely believing her own words. Even the guard looked surprised. He had expected her to fly into hysteria the moment that the princess was taken away.
"I can almost understand what she's going through. Especially after she insisted for the longest time that the deaths were murders. What if.....they really were? Maybe they aren't coincidences like the media says they were?" she inquired, her voice quieting. He pondered this once more. The rumors......were they correct?
"Perhaps. But we shouldn't dwell on said thoughts. Come, Miss Roseluck. I'm disregarding my orders. We must leave at once." he said, and turned towards the exit, shoving the previous thoughts away.
"Okay," she said, happy to finally depart. She didn't look back as she crossed the exit and left the room completely, with her escort, her nap drawing ever near.
As the two left the room, one of the two doors off to the side slowly but surely creaked open and watched them go, and was alone in the alighted room. For a few moments, the one behind the door was quiet, to make sure that it was fully and truly alone. Then, when it was sure that the coast was clear, the room was softly filled with a low, dry, and unmistakable cackle. The plan was working perfectly.