When They Come: Pt. 3

>Your first stop is the home of one of the ponies you were out with the night before. Twilight makes an easy pace of it so you can keep up with her, but you can tell she’s impatient.
“Do you remember this girl’s name?” Twilight asks.
“Is she the blue one?”
“Yes, the one with a water related cutie mark.”
>She's quizzing you, you realize. Trying to see how much you really did know these ponies. Is she still worried that you did something indecent with them?
“Oh, she was...um...Sapphire Wave?” You know it was something to do with the ocean.
“Close, Azure Wave,” Twilight says. “You didn’t really know these girls very well, did you?”
“I know Wisteria pretty well, these were just her friends,” you say in your defense. “She comes into the Cakes’ a lot to buy strawberry shortcake cupcakes for her and her family. It’s how we started talking.”
“I see,” she says.
>There’s more lingering behind her words, but you can’t be entirely sure what it is.
>A small house appears in the distance and Twilight makes a B-line for it. You bring yourself to a slow jog in order to stay at her side.
“Should I let you do the talking?”
“That might be best, yes,” she says. “I’m not quite sure how her parents will react yet to you being there, so stay quiet if you can.”
“Got it.
>Twilight knocks on the front door and the two of you wait patiently. You hear the sound of hooves approaching the door and a shaky female voice calls to you.
“Y-yes? Who is it?”
“Twilight Sparkle,” she says. Then, more hesitantly “and Anon.”
>There is silence from inside.
“We’re here to ask a few questions, for the investigation,” Twilight says after a moment.
>A moment passes and you’re not sure the other pony is going to let you in. You can understand, what with the culprit still not being caught and all.Then, there is a click and the door creaks open.
>A gray pony with dark creases under her eyes stands before you. She looks older, not Granny Smith old, but still quite affected by age. She regards Twilight numbly and then shoots you a disapproving glance.
“My daughter is sleeping,” she says gently, though you can feel the heat behind her words. “She’s been having nightmares ever since last night, can’t seem to stay down for more than an hour or two.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Twilight says. “But we really need to talk to her about last night.”
>You look away from the pony. Until now no one has really blamed you for what happened. But it’s true that you did buy the cider, you did take them up there because it was a beautiful view of Ponyville. If it hadn’t been for you…
>You hear a shrieking whinny from inside. The older pony spins and dashes inside without any further word to you. Twilight gives you a look and motions inside with her head. You follow her into the house, uncomfortable about not having been invited inside but mindful that Twilight is in charge here.
>You follow her down a hallway and the two of you stand outside a partially closed doorway. Inside you can hear the pony talking, and you recognize the voice of Azure Wave.
“Mom, I had the dream again it was...and I was running but I couldn’t...”
“Hush now dear, hush. You’re safe and sound at home. You’re fine.”
>She sounds like she’s crying and shaking in there. There’s a wild terror to her voice, and you suddenly feel that questioning her right now is very wrong.
>Twilight clears her throat.
“Azure Wave? It’s Twilight sparkle and Anon here. Can we come in and speak with you?”
>There’s a hasty sound of hoofbeats and the mother pony’s head appears through the partially open doorway.
“My daughter is exhausted and terrified,” she hisses. “How dare you-“
“Mom!” Azure Wave calls from inside. “It’s ok. Let me talk to them. I-I want to help if I can.”
>The mother pony closes her eyes and takes a slow breath, obviously trying to calm her nerves. She fixes Twilight with a firm look.
“You have five minutes, then I want you out.”
“Of course,” Twilight says.
>She trots inside and you follow her, averting your gaze from the mother’s scornful look. The older pony makes a grumbling noise and steps out of the room, muttering something about cookies and milk.
“Hey there Azure,” Twilight says, smiling gently.
>Azure is sitting up n bed, hugging her hind legs towards her body. Her usually straight mane is tangled and unkempt and the fur around her eyes is damp from tears. She doesn’t return the smile.
“Hey Twilight. Hey Anon.”
>She says hello to you in a quieter voice, and she doesn’t look at you.
“Hi,” you say.
>You want to say something else, that you’re sorry about all this. But you’re not even sure where to begin with that, so you stay silent.
“We just want to ask you a little bit about what you remember last night,” Twilight says.
>Her horn glows purple and a notepad and pen float out of her saddle bags to hover in front of her, at the ready. Azure Wave shrugs.
“We were up there partying because we’re all getting ready to go to secondary schools or academies next year. We got Anon to get us some cider.”
“What about when you were attacked?” Twilight says. She must be very aware of that five minute limitation. “Can you tell me about that?”
>Azure Wave nods.
“We were looking up at the stars and making up names for constellations,” she says. “When Wisteria thought she heard something. We looked up and something was approaching us. Anon called out to them to come join the party. I think he thought it was a pony.”
>You don’t recall this part very well. You must have been a little more tipsy than you thought.
“And then the thing just started running at us. And it was tall and carrying a long metal stick and Marigold screamed. We got up and began running but I guess Marigold must have fell down or something. Anon stopped to help but we just kept running. And then...”
>Her voice has started to tremble. You can see tears beginning to form in the corners of her large violet eyes.
“And then we heard screaming. It was Marigold and she was just screaming for help over and over. And then she was screaming in pain. I think she called my name once. But we were running, and scared and we didn’t…we couldn’t…”
>She starts to cry.
>Twilight who has been writing things down on her note pad quickly stows the items back into her saddlebag and moves to the bed. She places a hoof on Azure’s knee, patting reassuringly.
“Azure, it’s alright now. We’re going to catch whoever did this, but you need to be brave and tell us more. Just tell me, hurry, what did the creature look like?”
>How can she ask so much of this girl? Between sobs, Azure Wave tries to speak.
“It had two...legs. And...and I think...”
>Her mother bursts through the doorway.
“That’s five minutes,” she says. Then she spots her sobbing daughter and her face grows flush with anger.
“I want you OUT!” She yells, rushing to encircle her daughter in a hug. “Look what you’ve done here, don’t ever come back!”
>Twilight gives a little bow of the head as a respectful parting word, then motions you towards the door. >You follow her out, glancing briefly over your shoulder at the two ponies. Azure has her head buried against her mother’s neck, and she’s sobbing openly now, shoulders heaving as her breath comes irregularly. The sight of it makes you feel a little sick.
>Once outside, Twilight lets out a slow sigh.
“Well, that was hardly helpful,” she admits. “But at least we have that the attacker is bipedal and does use some sort of metal weapon. It’s a start.”
>You nod in agreement.
>You’re not entirely certain why you haven’t told her about what you saw that night, the face amidst shadows. Maybe you want to believe it wasn’t real. Maybe you are even more afraid that it was real and that this thing, this monster, might be another person. What would the ponies think of you then? Only two humans here and one of them is a killer? They might start to assume...
>Either way, you deem now is not the time to come clean. Not until you have some sort of evidence to back this up, or you might just be imagining it after all. That would be the better option, and you pray that's the case.
“Come on,” she says, already heading away from the house. “We need to talk to the other girl.”
“Wisteria.”
“Right.”
>You jog up to walk alongside her.
“Hey Twilight?”
“Yeah?”
“You were…kind of harsh back there, demanding she keep talking. I mean, she was crying and everything. Couldn’t we have waited till later? Till she was less shaken up?”
>Twilight spins to face you. Her expression is bleak, eyes narrowed.
“Anon, I want to be nice about all this to everyp0ny, but there’s a problem with that,” she says. “We need to keep everyp0ny safe, that’s our first priority. So we need to work fast, just in case that thing comes back.”
You’re startled by how carouse she’s being. It’s rather unlike her, even if the determination is something
you’ve regularly seen before.
“But couldn’t you have been, you know, a little nicer?”
“Anon!” she barks. “You think I don’t feel terrible about how I made her cry? You think I wanted to scare her? I did it because I have to, for the better of Ponyville. I’m sorry if that offends you, but it’s the truth.”
>Without waiting for a response, she starts walking away.
>You stand there watching her go for a moment, bewildered. She’s right, of course, but you hadn’t guessed that she’d get so thick skinned in this sort of situation. How fast these sorts of situations change people. With a shake of your head you follow her.

----

>After the third knock on Wisteria’s front door, a neighbor pony pokes his head out a window to inform you that they’ve left town to visit relatives in Manhattan, where Marigold’s parents are. They wanted to tell the poor folks in person and deliver her remains.
>You thank him for the information and leave without any additional information.
“Sorry the leads went dead, Twilight.”
“That’s fine,” Twilight says with a shrug. “I did a medical write-up of what I saw about the injuries already. I’m glad her parents will have someone to comfort them when they hear the news. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a child.”
>Her voice sounds far away, and the emotion is back in place of that stubborn one-track motivation that was there before.
“Besides,” she continues. “I still have one witness to interview, but I think we’ll do that at the scene of the crime. If you’re up for it?”
>Oh. Of Course. She’s talking about you. You cringe at the thought of going back up there, but you suppose it’s necessary.
“Ok, I’ll take you there,” you say. “But nightfall is coming soon, so we can’t stay up there too long.”
“Oh don’t worry Anon,” Twilight says with a smile. “I’m pretty quick with writing things down and collecting evidence, that sort of stuff. We’ll be back in Ponyville before you even know it, trust me.”

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End Pt. 3