The solitary pony strolled down the vacant hallway, barely illuminated by the faulty lighting system within this poorly maintained section of the college. The only source of light potruding from the tip of the male unicorn's horn. Most would shy away from being the test subject of a new substance, however having aleady experienced the mindblowing effects of the pill, any awareness of the dangers of partaking in this act had long since evaporated. As he approached the end of the hallway, his legs grew heavy as he filled with both anticipation and anxiety at the prospect of sampling one final hit before the product was to become available to every student in the CCGU. He came to an abrupt halt, clopping his hooves together in a rehearsed rhythm, a signal received by an ominous dark figure who appeared out of the shadows and squared up to the unicorn.
She scanned him thoroughly before returning to firm eye contact, "Did you come alone?" The voice almost unrecognisable apart from the indication this was a mare's voice.
"Come on! Surely you can trust me by now, right Sparkle?" The stallion questioned casually before his tone became more serious, "So... as we agreed, you'll get me my full scholarship? For everything I've done for you".
The cloaked mare turned away, making for a large saddlebag that had been tossed to the side. "Your aid has indeed been most valuable in the production process. Thanks to you, the profit from this endeavour will be quite large; therefore I intend to fulfill my end of the deal".
"Well yeah... that's good to hear"
The mare had found the desired item from her bags, then returned to her aquaintance. "Before you leave, surely you'd like to bless our business by taking a pre-release day pill?"
Without hesitation, the stallion snatched the small packaging from the mare's magical grip, a sly grin plastered on his face, "I was hoping you'd say that!" He tore open the pack and swiftly swallowed the drug, awaiting the kick to overtake him. Several moments later, the buzz took effect, though it was not as he'd expected. A strong fizzing emerged in his stomach, followed by blurred vision and weak limbs. Burning in his lungs prompted small amounts of blood to be coughed up into his limp hooves. "This isn't... What is this?" he choked as his head began spinning. Bewildered as to what was happening, with the last of his energy he turned back to the mare, who stood over him with a cold gaze. Slipping out of consciousness, the mare's last words delivered in an emotionless tone revealed to him her true intentions from the start;
"No loose ends..."
---------- 1 Week Later ----------
[Principal Aura Beam's office -- 10:04 am]
The older mare paced back and forward behind her desk, not once releasing her fierce stare on the confused purple unicorn opposite her. The stern expression she wore indicated to Twilight the her visit today would certainly not be to commend her ever prosperous studies, or even her recent sporting success. The tense principal eventually came to rest in her seat, tidying a loose stack of papers that had been quietly bugging Twilight since she'd entered the office. Using her magic to adjust her glasses, she returned her attention to the matter at hoof. "You know it's quite interesting, Twilight. I'd never have taken you as the type to break the rules".
Twilight remained silent, her scattered mind scimming through her recent memories, trying to dig up any possible action she'd taken that could have reflected badly on her in any way.
Aura continued; "And after a week of business, I suppose you thought you were going to get away with it too?" She grinned, "Not up in here!"
Despite her increasingly tight chest, the trembling unicorn managed to squeeze out some form of response, "What... what are you talking about?"
Aura's expression was unchanged, clearly not buying into what she assumed was a sad attempt from Twilight to deny responsibility. "Drugs Twilight, you know? The ones you've been selling, the ones that have been circulating around for the last week, the ones that put one of our students in an indefinite coma. Those drugs".
Twilight's fear was swiftly displaced by a cool relief; she knew she hadn't broken any rules, she'd simply been falsely accused of doing so. All she'd have to do is clear her name and return to her near perfect student reputation. "Well I'd heard rumours of some sort of illegal substance going around. But you're right, I'm not a rule breaker; how could you even think I could have anything to do with this?"
"I'm glad you asked" The smug principal threw forward the top sheet of the stack of papers to present them to Twilight. "You're clever Twilight, i'll give you that, but you'd have to get up pretty early to get one passed me!"
"Meaning?"
"You did well to cover up your identity with a little codename. Although it took me several hours to figure out, I managed to trace it back to you"
Twilight looked down at the sheet she'd been given and turned it over. There was an image of a dark, cloaked mare, with a photo of Twilight's head crudely stuck where the figure's would be. The title of the sheet was what truly left Twilight in shock, which read; 'Prime suspect, codename - Sparkle'. "SPARKLE? The codename is bucking SPARKLE?"
"That's right"
Twilight's rage boiled, she was preparing to unleash a lengthy rant about the logical flaws in such a choice, though opted to regain her composure and collect her thoughts. "Let me ask you something. Let's just pretend for a second that I am the dealer. Do you really think that I would for a codename, choose my ACTUAL name?"
Aura rubbed her brow, starting to doubt her superb detective work. "Maybe. Maybe you wanted to hide in plain sight?"
"Oh? Then let me ask you another question" Twilight peeled off the photograph of her head from the image with ease and turned it to face the principal. "Does THIS pony, dressed all in black, standing in a dark hallway and covering their face with a hood seem like the type of pony to hide in PLAIN SIGHT?"
Aura submitted, "Ok Twilight, perhaps you have a point. Then I suppose you know who the actual dealer is?"
Twilight slumped back slightly, "Well... err... not exactly"
Aura's self pride returned, "Not exactly? Then I guess you'd better go and find out then"
"But, isn't that your job?"
"No Twilight! My job is to run this school! That's what a principal does. Your job is to investigate this case!" She stood up and trotted around the desk to meet Twilight, signalling her to the door. "You'd better hurry with it too; until you manage to clear your name, you're on double community service!"
"How is that fair?"
Aura was practically pushing her out the door by this point, "It's how it works; Guilty until proven innocent!"
"Wait, that's not..." This time it was Twilight's turn to submit, her head dropped as she made her way out. "Fine, i'll do my best. Before I go, it might help if I knew what I was looking for. What's this drug called?"
"I believe they're calling it 'Twilight' "
The purple unicorn sighed deeply. "Of course they are..."
--------------------------------
[CCGU Main Square - 10:42 am]
The college grounds were peaceful, various friendship groups sat circled in patches of shade, each one with stacks of text books filling the centre and clearly taking advantage of the pleasant weather to take their studying sessions outside. The overall atmosphere of the college was tranquil to say the least, it was hard to imagine there was a drug epidemic hitting the place. The warm air was relieving Twilight of her previous tension, though she would have to remain focused if she was to ever solve this case. "Why would somepony do this? Drugs are terrible things! They ruin lives!"
Rarity was walking several paces behind Twilight, seeming somewhat uninterested. "Yes... how terrible it is for somepony to have a little fun once in a while..."
Twilight snapped back around, causing Rarity to come crashing into her. "Rarity, this is serious! Whoever is doing this is using MY name! I'm being framed for this!"
Rarity was now more sympathetic towards her friend, "Oh, I see. That is quite bad"
The purple detective's eyes narrowed, "Rarity... Have you taken these drugs before?"
Her eyes remained locked on the ground in front of her. "Errrm, perhaps. But only one time!"
"That's... That's... Great!" Twilight gleamed, much to Rarity's amazement, "If you've used them before, surely you can tell me where you got them from, or who sold them to you?"
"Yeah, I'm afraid I can't remember that sort of information, darling. Short term memory loss, I believe it must be one of the side effects of the pill"
"Of course! That must be how the dealer has remained a secret the whole time! Darn! Now I have no idea where to start"
Rarity placed a comforting hoof around Twilight, pulling her in close. "Look darling, I'm really concerned for you here! I shall help you in this investigation as best I can!"
"Wow! That'd be great Rarity! I'd love to have you... Wait, no. This is my problem, I shouldn't drag you into it".
The white unicorn pulled her in closer, though trying to mask her desperation. "No I really don't mind, Twilight!"
Twilight used her magic to remove Rarity's arm from her, offering a reassuring smile. "No really, it's fine. I'll just get Spike to help me. Besides, I'm sure you have other things to do. What about those seven extra practise essays I set for you?"
She hissed through gritted teeth, "Gee, I forgot... Thanks Twilight"
"Well I'll see you around, Rarity. I better get started then" She began making her way down the path, though was closely followed by her friend,
"Start where? Do you have any suspects?"
"Well we know this mare is using my name, so it would have to be somepony who knows me. But who would already have so much of an unjustified grudge against me that they would try so hard to destroy my reputation... oh, of course..."
"Of course? Are you talking about..."
"TRIXIE!"