Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 216: Cursed Beginnings

After I had that discussion with Twilight, she gave me a piece of magical parchment that was infused with some of Spike’s magic. It would automatically teleport back to her once signed. I took it and kept it in my coat as I went to visit Cozy for the day. A lot had happened in the last week that I needed time to think about. The fact that Grogar was still on his way here to reclaim her body was something that...scared me, to say the least.

Flash Drive and his brother had also taken down a reckless Zebra group with the help of Zecora--who I believe that Drive has started to feel a bit emotionally drawn towards. Couldn’t blame him. Hard workers like us were somewhat pulled in by good-looking mares who also worked hard. Cheerilee is a perfect example, so I hoped that it worked out between them.

Although, before I could get to Cozy’s home, something caught my attention. An ominous signature from one of the nearby homes in Ponyville. A very familiar one at that. So much so that my ear flicked.

“...?” There was no time to waste. I had to hurry. The rumblings of negativity grew through the earth beneath my hooves as I ran across the town towards the Eastern side. Surely enough, it was the home that we had given to Suri Polomare.

And then, I felt it. This was no regular magic. This was straight up dark magic. Unnatural, and exclusive to only a small handful of beings throughout history. I stopped dead in my tracks, and nearly kicked up a pile of dirt beneath the grass. Just what could it be? I had to find out.

I trotted up ever so slowly to the door of the home, and tapped my hoof against it. “...Hello? Anypony home?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m here,” I heard a mare’s voice from the other side, “C-come in. I-It’s open…”

Once I had permission to step inside, I gingerly opened the door and stuck my head in first to see if there was anything dangerous around.

Nothing.

So then, I made my way in completely only to find Suri Polomare curled up on her couch. Eyes bloodshot as if she witnessed her worst nightmare come to life before her. I knew this all too well, and individuals could often get violent if easily startled. With that in mind, I approached her with a clam grace as I put one hoof in front of the other towards the living room carpet.

“Erm...Ms. Polomare...is everything...alright?”

The mare didn’t make eye contact with me as she spoke. Her body shivered with cold sweat that ran down the side of her head and back. “H-he’s here...he tried to take everything from me…but I didn’t give in…”

“Wait what?” I stepped a bit closer, “Who came here? What happened to you?”

All of a sudden, Suri jumped up to me, and clung to my body. Her hooves pressed on my shoulders as if she sought shelter from an invisible force. “I saw...a ram. A demonic beast of some kind. It came right through my house and it...forced me to see things...things I would rather not explain.”

I resisted the urge to violently push her away. It wasn’t her fault, but somepony being this close to me rustled my feathers a bit too much. “Erm...right.” I pushed my hooves forward, and broke free of her grip. Then I placed her back down on the couch, and immediately took a step back so that I could listen to her. “Alright. I’ll do my best to find out what happened. But first, I’m going to need you to come with me to the agency so we can gather evidence--if any--from you. Is that agreeable?”

“A-alright,” Suri replied, “I’m willing to do that…”

With that established, I escorted Suri Polomare out of her home, and towards the agency. I already knew that I would head straight to Cozy’s place as soon as I was done there.

“Okay then,” I said to her as we trotted on our way through the marketplace, “Follow me, and we’ll be right--”

I stopped dead in my tracks once again.

I felt another negative force beneath the earth. Equal to the one that had affected Suri not too long ago. I clenched my teeth. I had to be swift in order to seek out the source. First, I turned my attention to the pink earth pony next to me.

“You head right to the office and ask for Corkscrew. He’ll help you get settled in and ask you some questions. Don’t dare deviate from the path--go straight there,” I commanded with a bitter tone, “You got that?”

“Y-yes sir,” Suri replied with a nod, and quickly pranced off in the direction I told her to go. I kept my eye on her until she made it there just to make sure nothing funny happened.

Once that was settled, I raced off in the direction that I sensed the new sensation from. It was Sugarcube Corner! First Suri now this? I dreaded to imagine what could possibly lie in wait for me there.

BLAM!

I burst through the doors with a dramatic entrance, much to the surprise of the patrons there who all gazed at me like deer in headlights. “Does anyone sense anything weird going on in here?!” I shouted, to which everyone in the room replied with slow, silent, and awkward shakes of their heads.

Well that was a bad way to make an entrance. But regardless, I needed to move. I hurried up to the front counter where Pinkie Pie had worked as always. Her eyes were like lasers, hard focused upon the sets of pastries she had to send out to the hungry ponies in her store.

I quickly flashed her my badge. “Pinkie do you mind if I--”

In fact, she was so focused, that she didn’t say a word nor break eye contact with the customer’s orders she was busy with. The pink party pony opened the gate that granted access behind the counter and the stairs which led to the residency of the building.

“Oh, uh--thanks?” I said before I hurried up the steps.

“You’re welcome!” she chirped, giddy as ever as she stacked sets of boxes on the counter. Likely filled with cakes.

Guess she knew I had business here already. But...how?

In any case, I needed to find out where that signature came from. It wasn’t long before my keen aura for danger went off like an alarm bell inside my head. The source was from one of the nearby rooms. I stuck low to the floor, and slunk up to the door it came from--last I checked, this was Pumpkin Cake’s room…

With an eerie creak of the hinges, I pushed the door open. What I found nearly made me jump out of my skin.

The unicorn mare lied down on her bed. Eyes wide open--also bloodshot. Just like Suri’s.

Comments

[Neo4K]

Damn it. Grogar is attacking ponies using psychological warfare. How is Pale gonna contend with that? My guess is, these attacks are a distraction away from Cozy.