Twilight woke bleary-eyed the next morning, pain still running through her side. As she sat up, she looked down to see Spike sleeping on his bed, snoring lightly. She smiled before looking down at her ribs to examine the large bruise from where the manticore had struck her. She sighed and got off her bed and made her way downstairs to prepare breakfast. Twilight reveled in the quiet that enshrined the kitchen as she ate which was broken by footsteps on the stairs.
"Hey." Church muttered as he slowly made his way down the stairs.
"Good morning Church." Twilight said sweetly. She sniffed the air and turned to Church with a comical look. "You smell sort of funny."
"Probably something I ate." Church chuckled.
"Speaking of, do you want me to make you something to eat?"
"Nah, I'm good. I need to wash what's left of this stuff off." Church said as he opened the door to the bathroom.
"That sounds like a good plan." Twilight giggled.
Church came out of the bathroom several minutes later, with a smile spread across his face.
"What are you thinking about?"
"A lot of things." Church said as he sat down at the table next to her. "So you were up late last night, huh?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"My room is right next to yours, you woke me up when you kept running around your room."
"Oh." Twilight said quietly. "Sorry, I didn't know."
"I don't get much sleep anyways." Church shrugged. "So what are the plans for today?"
"Well a star hit nearby and I thought I would go and examine it."
"Sounds... fun."
"It should be, do you want to come?"
Before Church could respond a small knock came from the front door and the pair fell silent.
"Who is it?" Twilight asked.
"It's me." Fluttershy said quietly, barely audible past the door.
Twilight opened the door to see Fluttershy, eyes filled with tears, staring up at her.
"Fluttershy... what's wrong? Are you okay?" Twilight asked quickly.
"Twilight, it's horrible." Fluttershy said, hugging Twilight tightly.
"Fluttershy calm down. What happened?"
"Somepony got attacked a-at the edge of town."
"What do you mean attacked?" Twilight asked softly. "Tell me everything you know."
Fluttershy took some deep breaths to calm down before starting. "Aqua Dew was sitting on the bridge when the stars lit up the sky, when suddenly a star fell next to her."
"The star?" Twilight mumbled before snapping back to attention. "What happened next?"
"That's what the doctors can't find out. She just kept screaming about a tall monster that attacked her, and nothing else. I hope she'll be alright."
"How did she get attacked?"
"Her horn got torn off." Fluttershy said before wiping her eyes. "I talked to the pony that found her and I found out that the bridge nearby had been destroyed as well."
"What happened to it?" Twilight cooed, trying to squeeze out each and every last detail of the hysterical mare.
"It was blown up. That's how the pony found her, she heard an explosion and went to find what caused it."
"Where's Grif?"
"H-he went to go get the others and he told me to come here and tell you what happened."
"Let's wait for the others, then we'll try to figure this out, okay?"
Fluttershy nodded before releasing Twilight to go wait next to the door.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In a small house on the edge of Ponyville, a stallion was sleeping when he was awoken by a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" The stallion called out weakly.
A few seconds of silence lingered before the knock repeated, this time harder and more rapid.
"Hold on a second." The stallion grunted as he rolled off the bed and started to make his way to his door. As he reached out to open it, the door exploded in his face. The stallion recoiled and covered his face with a foreleg, deflecting the wooden remains that flew at him. He slowly lowered his hoof to see a light blue beast standing in his door, holding a bloody unicorn horn.
"W-who are you?" The stallion asked as he backed up against the wall. "What are you?"
"What I am depends on what your next move is." Carolina said as she took out her pistol and pulled the slide back.
The stallion’s eyes went to the pistol with the understanding that she brought it out for a reason and, judging by her attitude, he did not want to find out what it did.
"Well?".
"What do you w-want me to do?" The stallion asked.
"Answer some questions." Carolina said as she placed the pistol back in the holster
"Fair enough." The stallion said, motioning to a seat. "Why don't you have a seat, m-make it easier on the both of us."
"I prefer to stand." Carolina said quickly. "Now, do you know anybody named Alpha?"
"Can't say that I do."
"How about Epsilon?"
The stallion shook his head quickly.
"Church?" Carolina asked, this time with a darker tone.
"No..."
Carolina grunted and looked out the window of the house.
"Have you seen anybody that isn't a damned horse around here?"
"N-no, all the ponies I know are, well, ponies. And I know pretty much everypony in town."
"Has there been anything odd that happened in town recently?"
"Besides a... whatever you are... demolishing my door, not really..."
"That's too bad." Carolina sighed.
"Why's that?" The stallion asked quietly.
Carolina grabbed the stallion by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"What are you doing?" The stallion choked through the assailant’s iron grip.
"If you aren't going to be any of any help to me then I have no use for you. I'll ask you one more question, and you better damn well have an answer, has anybody new come into town recently?"
Suddenly memories filled the stallion’s mind. Memories that went back a few weeks to a certain pony. A certain pony that kicked him in the ribs, embarrassing him in front of everypony in town.
"Well?" Carolina snapped.
"I remember meeting a stallion in town a few weeks ago, and I could tell he wasn't from around here." The stallion choked. "He is kind of old, red fur, sort of has weird accent."
"His name." Carolina commanded, loosening her grip on his neck. "What is his name?"
"I think it was Sarge." The stallion wheezed as he struggled to get his breath back.
"Great." Carolina said, dropping the stallion to the ground. "Take me to him."