Cheerilee's Garden(车厘子的花园）Part.4

转自Fim Fiction,原作者系Unahim
下为原文
A week or two had passed since the incident, and a lot had happened. Several investigations had looked into the cause of the fire, but the fire itself and the water that followed had destroyed anything that could’ve given the investigators even the slightest clue.
Cheerilee always looked confused and heartbroken whenever she got questioned, claiming she was taking care of something on the other side of the complex when the fire broke out. Although someponies wondered if this couldn’t be considered some form of negligence, no official complaints against her were filed.

The cleaning effort had been ongoing for an entire week, and even now bits and pieces of rubble still turned up here and there.
During the weekend following the “disaster” a joined burial ceremony was held for all the fillies and colts who died at once, although all of the caskets had been filled with stone and belongings of the dead, since none of the bodies had been found.
Everypony got very emotional, including Cheerilee, who cried tears of joy as her struggle finally came to an end. A lot of ponies came to tell her that “It was ok.” and “Things would be alright.” or that “It wasn’t your fault.”

Cheerilee constantly had to take care not to accidentally respond to these in the wrong way, so she was quite relieved when it was finally over.
And so two weeks passed.
Cheerilee grunted and moaned, sweating profusely in the warmth of the sun. It had taken her a lot of effort, and she’d certainly be sore in the morning. But she didn’t care. She’d finally done it.
She took a few steps back to admire her work, and marveled at the perfect state her garden was, once again, in. There and then she made a solemn vow, a sacred pact with herself.

“I, Cheerilee, will never let any weeds take over my garden, ever again.”
Word in Advance
Scarlet Harvest does not strive for the same amount of "disturbing" as Cheerilee's Garden. However, the same disclaimers apply. If you somehow ended up here despite a burning hatred for gore, leave now. You have been warned.
Some knowledge of the events in Cheerilee's Garden is required for optimal understanding, but you should be able to get most of it without that. If you read it but "can't really recall the details", you'll be fine.

I split it into two parts for reading convenience. It is, however, one story, so the point of separation is rather arbitrary.
I dedicate this story to everyone who read the first one, and cried out for a sequel. Hopefully you will not regret what you wished for.
Special thanks to Aurebesh, for brainstorming and early proofreading, and to Pea for providing feedback every step of the way.
Foal Free Press
Exclusive interview!
Tensions are still high-strung across the land as the infamous Ponyville theater fire--now already two weeks ago--continues to beg the question: Is the Equestrian Guard really capable of keeping up with the demands of our rapidly changing society? The Foal Free Press was able to score an exclusive interview with the esteemed Sherlock Hooves, Professor in Criminology, to talk about these issues. His answer? A resounding “no”.

Foal Free Press (hereafter abbreviated as FFP): “So, Mr Hooves, you are the founder of the scientific discipline known as “criminology”. Could you briefly explain what this field of study is all about, for the benefit of our readers?”
Sherlock Hooves (hereafter abbreviated as SH): “Absolutely. Criminology is still very much in its infancy. My aim, and the aim of every criminologist, is to eventually devise a number of diverse methods and strategies that can help solve crimes and criminal cases more efficiently. For instance, we still know very little about the differences between ponymade and natural fires, or how weather conditions affect the rate at which bodies decay. We’ve started discovering distinct patterns here and there, but we are nowhere near formulating conclusive hypotheses yet. That’s why I founded the study of criminology within the Canterlot Academy to help speed up this process.”

FFP: “Sounds fascinating, but is such knowledge really of much practical use? Not many crimes are committed, and can’t a variety of spells do exactly what you just described?”
SH: “Those are both fairly common misconceptions. Yes, crime rates are very low, but I am convinced this is an illusion generated by our inability to separate crimes from accidents. If we got better at that, I am sure many more events formerly presumed to be accidents would suddenly be exposed as criminal offenses. On the topic of magic: it does exist, but its usage is more limited than we are often lead to believe. Take the fire that occurred here two weeks ago, for instance. Unicorn investigators arrived at the scene, but couldn’t uncover anything worth mentioning. Why? Because the copious amounts of magical energy released by Miss Sparkle during her--well intentioned, yet misguided--attempt at dousing the flames completely threw their readings off. Not to mention how spells like that generally become useless if the crime has been committed more than a day or two prior to their casting. I’m convinced we’d have found better leads if only our grasp of criminology had been more well developed.”

FFP: “So you think the fire was lit by somepony, then?”
SH: “I’m saying we cannot confirm or dismiss that claim with our current methods. We actually have a sizeable list of possible suspects, if you think about it. There’s the teacher who was the only one to make it out alive, the unicorn who just happened to level the entire building in an effort to ‘help’, and even a few others. However, we lack both proof and motive. I’m not trying to cast blame on two very likely innocent ponies; I’m merely trying to point out that our lack of knowledge severely hampers our judgement. The Equestrian Guard isn’t equipped to handle crime scenes like this, and they do more harm than good when they try, honestly. That is why my colleagues and I hope to one day set up an organisation either inside or alongside of the Guard, in order to facilitate collaboration on tough cases like this.”

FFP: “One last question: Despite your good intentions, many oppose your ideas. Why do you think this is?”
SH: “For the same misguided reasons you brought up earlier: They believe our work is superfluous and unnecessary, and a waste of taxpayers’ bits. We’ll prove they’re wrong, in time.”
FFP: “Well, that’s all the questions we have for you today. On behalf of the Foal Free Press, I’d like to thank you for this interview.”
SH: “It was my pleasure.”
***
Twist slowly put the newspaper down on the desk in front of her, staring aimlessly off into the distance. Even though it had happened over two weeks ago she found it hard to take her mind off of it, to forget. It seemed like everywhere she looked little things reminded her of the fire, and of the friends it had taken from her. Images of Apple Bloom, in particular, haunted her waking thoughts and her every dream. They hadn’t been in the same class anymore, and Apple Bloom had been hanging around with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo more and more, true... but deep inside she had never stopped thinking of her as anything less than her best friend.

And now she was gone.
Other fillies started entering the classroom for the first lesson of the day, and their cheerful voices pulled Twist from her melancholy and solitary thoughts. Two fillies--Noon Harp and Raindancer, currently her closest friends--walked right over to her, and snuck a peek at the newspaper in front of her.
“Huh, they still reporting on this crap?” Raindancer asked. “I know nothing exciting ever happens around here, but it’s been over two weeks!”

Noon Harp shot her an indignant glance behind Twist’s back. “How can you be so insensitive, Rain? Can’t you see Twist is still down in the dumps about all of this?”
Raindancer’s blue cheeks suddenly flushed a deep shade of purple. “Oh, euh... my bad, Twist,” she said rather awkwardly. “But hey, cheer up! We got a new teacher to look forward to, at least!”
Twist looked at the two of them for the first time, one of her eyebrows raised. “New teacher? What do you mean?”

“Oh, you didn’t hear?” Raindancer said. “Miss Bluebottom’s husband had an accident back in Trottingham this weekend, she booked a ticket out of here as soon as she heard the news. Or so they say.”
“Huh,” Twist mumbled. “Tho who’s going to teach uth now?”
“Oh, well, I’ve got some theories on that,” Noon Harp said quickly. “If you ask me, the likeliest candidate by far is-”
“Please take to your seats, children!” an eerily familiar voice interrupted.
As her two friends sped off to their respective seats, Twist turned her head back towards the front of the class slowly, an inexplicable feeling of dread suddenly coming over her. As she had expected, the pony standing in front of the class was none other than Cheerilee, apparently back from two weeks of much needed rest and relaxation. Twist swallowed. Surely the board couldn’t have... ?

“Now, as most of you know, Miss Bluebottom has had to leave us due to some very urgent matters that required her presence,” Cheerilee said in her usual, pleasant tone of voice. “That’s why they asked me to come teach in her place instead! Now, I know some of you from previous years, but most of you I’m seeing for the first time. Let’s all do our best to get along, shall we?”
Cheerilee beamed her friendly smile across the room, and as Twist looked around she realised Cheerilee was getting mostly enthusiasm and smiling faces back in return, yet she herself was mortified.

There’s the teacher who was the only one to make it out alive...
The sentence from the newspaper article struck her like a meteor, sending ripples of panic coursing through her entire body. Nothing had been proven, of course, and nobody except for ponies like Hooves seemed to pay any heed to the thought. Yet there was still a small chance her best friend’s killer was right there in front of the classroom. And she was there to stay, to boot!
“Twist, is everything alright?” Cheerilee asked with a concerned look.

It was only then that Twist realised she had been pressing down upon her desk hard enough to nearly topple the entire thing over, and her eyes were virtually popping out of their sockets. She looked up at her ‘new’ teacher, and smiled the biggest smile she could muster. “Oh, erm.. Yeth! Everything fine, juth fine. No problem here, ehehehe... heh.”
Cheerilee lifted an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. “Well, if you suddenly start to feel dizzy, be sure to tell me and we can have the nurse take a good look at you, alright?”

Twist swallowed, and nodded slowly.
The rest of the morning passed by quite uneventfully for most of the class, but for Twist it was an absolute nightmare. Cheerilee’s mere presence served as a constant reminder of her lost friends, and to top that off images of a cackling Cheerilee running around with a lit torch wracked her nerves. Even during recess she barely spoke a word, oblivious to the hushed whispers and furtive glances the other fillies shot in her direction.

By the time afternoon rolled around, Twist knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for very long. She’d turn into a nervous wreck if she had to go through all of this every single day for the rest of the year, or even worse: every day for several years to come. Deep down inside she realised she was being silly. Cheerilee had always been nice and kind to her, and any ‘proof’ that she’d had anything to do with the fire existed solely in Twist’s own head. On top of that, Twist became aware of a previously subconscious desire that was actually stronger than her fear: she wanted to understand what had happened, to know what her friends’ final moments had been like.

Class ended, and everypony slowly made their way out of the classroom, chatting cheerfully amongst themselves. Twist swallowed and mustered her courage, standing up from behind her desk and approaching Cheerilee, who was still busy cleaning the blackboard.
“Ummm... Mith Cheerilee?” she said shakily.
Cheerilee put down the blackboard cleaner and turned around, smiling encouragingly at the filly. “Yes Twist? Is there something I can help you with?”
Twist stuttered for a moment. She knew there was nothing to be afraid of, yet her knees shook as if she were about to enter a lion’s cave. “Well, you thee... I wath wondering if... if you could tell me thomething about how... how Applebloom... d-died...”

“Oh Twist,” Cheerilee said compassionately, ”I had a feeling this was what’s been bothering you all day. No need to lie, I could tell. I know it must be so hard on you... It’s been hard on me, too. But the truth is, there’s nothing I can tell you. My memories of that day are so hazy, the smoke clouded my mind you see, and then there was the flood, I... I just can’t remember.”
Twist hung her head in disappointment. “Tho you weren’t there when-”
“When they died? No. I was elsewhere in the complex. You need to let it go, Twist. Give the wounds time to heal.”

“But I-”
“No buts, young lady. Bygones should be bygones.”
“I juth want to-”
Cheerilee abruptly turned back towards the blackboard, effectively cutting off Twist’s train of thought. “Let it go,” she said coldly.
The sudden change in tone caught Twist off guard, and she involuntarily stumbled a step backwards. She had expected a certain amount of compassion, and had feared anger or open hostility, but nothing had prepared her for the complete lack of emotion in those last few words. This wasn’t any side of Cheerilee she had ever seen, nor any she had ever expected to see.

As Cheerilee picked up the blackboard cleaner again Twist hesitantly took a step towards the door, and then another, before sprinting out of the classroom altogether. She wasn’t sure what she had wanted to gain from initiating that conversation, and she wasn’t sure if it had gone good or bad either. All she knew was that the cramped up feeling still hadn’t left her stomach, and that Cheerilee had somehow felt... ‘off’ during the latter part of that conversation.
She had read that no evidence of malicious intent had been found, but that didn’t mean there really wasn’t any, right? And at the very least, seeing it for herself would surely put her mind at ease. Then she could finally leave all this insanity behind her, and live on in peace.

Well, unless she really did find something. But surely that couldn’t happen. Just a few more hours, and she’d once again have nothing in the world to worry about.
***
It didn’t take Twist long to reach the remnants of the theater building, and she looked out over the mess of splintered wood, theater seats and random debris melancholically. The fire and the flood had rendered most objects damaged beyond all hope of recognition, and the pile of debris hid many sharp edges and other dangerous objects from view. Twist found it slightly questionable that the ongoing investigations had managed to delay the cleanup so long, but at the same time she was thankful for the opportunity. She didn’t think they’d leave it like this much longer.

She threw her gaze over the vast expanse of wood and junk, and then went to work with a sigh. She tiptoed around the edge of the ruined building at first, hesitant to venture in between the debris and the many dangers it concealed, but soon she realized she didn’t have much of a choice. Even then she progressed only slowly, searching every nook and cranny and testing every plank before committing her weight to it.
An hour passed, and still she had found nothing of interest. Doubt started to form at the back of her mind, and her lonely investigation felt increasingly pointless as the seconds ticked away.

“It’th no uthe,” she mumbled to herself. “Ponieth much better at thith than I am have already looked everywhere...”
And that much she knew to be true. She’d seen investigators roam these ruins as much as a week after the incident, and they had seemed like they knew what they were doing. When she thought about how much force had to have been behind the flood Twilight crashed into the Theater she really couldn’t feel surprised that nobody had been able to find anything. After all, that wave must have made it all the way to the Whitetail Woods, anything with that kind of strength behind it would surely...

And that’s when the thought suddenly hit her. Many ponies had looked in and around the disaster area, that was true, but how many had actually followed the path of the water all the way to the end? A sudden rush of excitement filled her body and swept away the tendrils of despair that had been slowly taking hold of her. She made it out from between the debris in a third of the time it had taken her on the way in, making it out unscathed as if through some kind of miracle.

The immediate path of the water wasn’t hard to follow, at least not initially. All she had to do was follow the trail of broken wood, which was easy as pie. She stopped to inspect particularly large pieces of debris several times, but they were never of any significance. That was to be expected, as some of the investigators had surely gone this way as well. They’d have picked up on it if anything was out of the ordinary. No, Twist wasn’t out to beat them through intelligence, but rather through perseverance.

The trail of wood slowly became increasingly hard to follow: while at first there had always been a new piece to run towards in sight of the previous one, the distance between them gradually increased, until they were lying several minutes apart. By the time Twist approached the forest, she hadn’t seen any signs left behind by the water for at least ten minutes. Any investigator smart enough to come this way would have probably given up by now, but Twist pressed on. Partially because of her stubbornness, but partially because she just still hadn’t put her mind at ease. Only when she was absolutely certain could she finally turn back.

She walked into the forest, and her patience was finally rewarded. There--lying between a few trees--was a particularly large piece of wood not entirely unlike the others she had found previously. From the looks of it, it had once been part of the floorboards that made up the stage. What grabbed Twist’s attention, however, was the presence of (what appeared to be) blood, splattered all over it.
She let out a loud shrieked and almost stumbled, momentarily taken aback by what she had discovered. She was supposed to find nothing so she could go home relieved! She wasn’t supposed to discover... well, whatever this was. Of course, somepony could’ve just accidentally dropped a bucket of red paint, it didn’t have to be blood. And even if it was, the fire could have just brought the ceiling down upon somepony, right? This didn’t prove anything at all!

But it didn’t look like a spill of red paint, the shape was way too irregular. On top of that, Twist had never subscribed to the notion of coincidence. She had always been more of the “fate and destiny” kind. Destined love, foretold happiness and all that good stuff... But now destiny had apparently seen fit to deliver possible criminal evidence into her hooves. Possible evidence. She still wasn’t sure, and she didn’t dare kick up a fuss over what could be a mundane spillage of some innocent red substance or the other.

In truth, she just didn’t know enough about blood or its properties to make the call. But Twilight might. She knew a lot about everything, right? It was certainly worth a shot.
The unicorn who just happened to level the entire building in an effort to ‘help’...
She hadn’t forgotten the article had also implicated Twilight, but she just couldn’t bring herself to believe she was involved. There wasn’t really a rational explanation as to why she trusted Twilight, but not Cheerilee. It just felt natural that way. She had seen Twilight several times since the fire, and her behaviour hadn’t seemed out of the ordinary. She couldn’t say she felt the same about Miss Cheerilee, even though nopony else seemed to notice.

She looked at the “bloodied” floorboards, and made her decision. They looked quite heavy--and she couldn’t drag them through town anyway--so she’d just have to bring Twilight here instead. Committing the location to memory, she took off in the direction she had come from, blissfully unaware of the distant pair of green eyes watching her every move...
***
“I wish you’d tell me where we’re going already,” Twilight said with the slightest hint of annoyance. She’d have to make at least three new checklists to make up for the time she was wasting right now.

“You will thee thoon enough,” Twist replied as she lead the way through the forest. “I think we’re almoth there.”
“You think?”
“Well, you teleported uth thlightly too far...”
“It’s not easy, you know,” Twilight said defensively. “The first time I tried it it took me at least-”
She held her tongue abruptly as she bumped into Twist, who was now pointing at a piece of wood lying just slightly further up ahead. Twilight raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, increasingly sure the trip would all be for nothing.

“Well, it’s a piece of wood. In a forest. I’m not sure I see the- Oh my!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Is... is that what I think it is?”
Twist shook her head and shrugged. “I’m not thure, that’th why I brought you here. It came from the theatre.”
Twilight frowned. “How did it get from the theatre to- Oh, right,” she said with sudden understanding as she went closer to inspect.
“Tho, ith it... ?”
“Blood? I can’t be sure,” Twilight said. “I don’t know how to tell from just looking at it, but if I had a few books I’m sure I could find out...”

“Pleathe do,” Twist begged, “I want to know what happened to my friendth, and I don’t feel... I don’t feel thafe...” she said in a small voice.
“Well, we probably won’t find out who did it from just this.” Twilight scratched her head. “If this turns out to be blood, it could reopen the case and lead to a breakthrough, though...” She paused for a moment. “Alright, I’ll bring it back to the library with me.”
Twist flung herself at Twlight, wrapping her tiny forelegs around her neck. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how relieved I am right now!”

“Hehe, alright, alright! Let’s go,” said Twilight slightly embarrassed, as she pressed down upon the piece of wood with one leg and held Twist in place with another.
A bright, purple flash lit up the area as they made the jump, arriving noisily in the middle of the first floor library.
“Twilight, you’re back!” Spike said enthusiastically as he looked away from the cleaning he’d been doing. “And you brought Twist, too. And... Wow, what is that?”
“I’ll explain later, Spike. Just bring it up to my room for now; can’t leave it lying around here where visitors could see... Oh! And bring my copy of Criminal Criminology up too, I’ll be needing it,” she said as she lead Twist towards the door.

“When will you know more?” Twist asked excitedly.
“Well... There’s a lot I’ll need to read up on. Tomorrow’s reparations to the dam are also quite important, so I can’t skip out on overseeing those. And then there’s this week’s friendship report... so not within the next two days at least,” she said, only to quickly add: “But I’ll have found some time by Thursday afternoon for sure, so why don’t you... Oh, but you have school then, right?” when she saw Twist’s expression of disappointment.

Twist seemed to regain some of her cheerful composure. “No, it’th Tholar Thun Day, tho weekend beginth early!”
“Ah yes, Solar Sun Day, so Thursday afternoon then?”
“It’th a promithe!” Twist said before bursting out of the door, presumably headed for home.
Twilight scratched her head and threw a worried look at Spike as he struggled to carry the piece of debris nearly thrice his size up the flight of stairs. They were potentially playing around with the darkest secret Ponyville had ever known, and she didn’t like it one bit. Not one bit at all.

***
The very next morning, Twist felt like she could take on the world. There finally seemed to be some movement in the weeks-old case, and she felt like she’d found an ally at least. Before Twilight, she hadn’t mentioned her concerns to anypony, for fear of being reprimanded by her parents. They were very strict ponies, and wouldn’t take kindly to badmouthing such an “exemplary pillar of the community,” the fact that they were currently out of town notwithstanding. They’d find out eventually.

“Well look who’s in a good mood today!” Noon Harp chimed as Twist entered the classroom. “Feeling better, I see.”
“Oh, erm, yeth. Much better,” she replied. “Where’th Raindancer?”
“When I passed by her house, she said she was coming down with the Pony Pox. The kind that miraculously heals in one day, I bet.” Noon Harp rolled her eyes.
Cheerilee entered the classroom, cutting their little talk short as everypony scrambled towards their respective desks. Twist found out just how short-lived her newfound resolve really was, as it melted like snow before the sun the very moment Cheerilee as much as looked at her. Something in those big, green eyes just seemed to scream “I know” right into her face, but of course that was impossible. She couldn’t possibly know of Twist’s suspicions, and even if she did, the others would’ve picked up on it if their teacher was constantly looking at at one of them funnily. She couldn’t just happen to be the only one to notice.

Or so she hoped, anyway.
During the rest of the day she tried to keep up appearances, which she managed to do fairly well. Her concentration wasn’t always all that great--and her hoof painting was fairly messed up--but she managed to avoid a repetition of yesterday’s scene. However, she just couldn’t shake the feeling that Cheerilee was constantly watching her in secret, even though she never managed to catch the mare in the act. It slowly but surely put her on edge, and by the end of the school day she felt just about ready to explode.

As soon as the bell announced the end of class she shoved everything into her bags, and dashed off towards home.
“Huh,” Noon Harp said. “I guess she had things to do?”
The other fillies nearby just shrugged. Everypony had the right to be a bit off from time to time.
It started from the top again the following day. Twist got up, feeling slightly better than she had the night before, only to fall right down into the dumps again the moment Cheerilee showed up.
She managed to regain some of her footing when she realised it was Wednesday, but her depression just got that bit worse when she remembered they’d have to listen to guest speakers all afternoon, as it was the day before Solar Sun Day. To make matters worse this gave Cheerilee a convenient excuse to place herself at the back of the class, where Twist couldn’t see her, but she could still see everypony else. Twist felt her gaze press down upon her like lead, slowly but surely burning a hole in the back of her skull.

By the time the third speaker showed up to recount yet another boring tale about the history and relevance of Solar Sun Day, Twist felt about ready to scream. She managed to keep herself from simply fleeing the scene only for fear of making the situation worse. After all, she still had no proof. She was very likely imagining it all. But if she wasn’t, then at least right now Cheerilee had no idea Twist was suspecting her, either. Odd behaviour or thoughtless comments could change that, so it was in her best interest to play it cool and act as if nothing was bothering her.

At long last the final presentation of the day came to an end, and Cheerilee stood up to wish her students a pleasant weekend, and a happy Solar Sun Day. Twist rose form her seat calmly--bolstered by the thought of four Cheerilee-free days-- and walked out of the door alongside Noon Harp and Raindancer, who had indeed made a miraculous recovery.
“And so that’s when I told him- Hey Twist, where’s your bag?” Noon Harp frowned.
“You called Pip Twist and asked him where his bag was?” Raindancer asked in utter confusion.

Noon Dancer just sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Oh, right, I muth have forgotten it in the classroom,” Twist said. “You two go ahead, I’ll thee you tomorrow, perhapth!”
The two fillies bade their forgetful friend goodbye and went on their way, as Twist ran back towards the school. She didn’t think twice about it, as her good mood had completely driven Cheerilee-related fears from her mind--at least for the time being.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the classroom hadn’t yet been locked for the day. She spotted her bag as soon as she entered the room, right where she had left it. She pranced over to it and picked it up, only to drop it again with a start as the door slammed shut behind her.

“I was hoping you’d come back,” Cheerilee said ominously as she stepped out of the corner closest to the door. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, you and I...”
Twist slowly edged towards the back of the room, away from Cheerilee. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she rapidly looked from left to right, searching for a way out. Cheerilee was blocking the path to the only door though, and it was doubtful she could get out through the windows either; the locks were simply too high up for her to reach, and the crossed frames made them look mighty sturdy.

“T-talk? I d-don’t have anything to t-ta-”
“You’ve been snooping around the theatre, Twist,” she said as she approached menacingly. “And you’ve been shivering in your boots whenever I come near, I wonder why?”
Twist yelped as she finally bumped into the back wall, sweat dripping down her flanks as fear threatened to overwhelm her senses. “N-no! I-I don’t think y-you did it at all! Honetht!”
A sly smirk spread across Cheerilee’s face. It didn’t reach her eyes, which looked darker and more terrible than anything Twist had ever seen before. “I never said anything about that.”

Twist turned pale as she realised what an incredible mistake she had just made; if Cheerilee had only been acting upon suspicions before, she had now taken away all doubt. The murderous glint in her eyes had driven off Twist’s doubts as well, but she wished it hadn’t. She had longed to know the truth just a short while ago, but now nothing seemed more desirable than a return to blissful ignorance.
She threw herself to the side, attempting to take Cheerilee by surprise and make a beeline for the exit, but the mare had been expecting it. With a single swift kick she send Twist barrelling into the wall, and the filly collapsed into a heap at the bottom.

Cheerilee smiled. She had thought she’d rooted out all of the troublemakers last time, but apparently she had been mistaken. This one had been hiding under an innocent exterior, but now that she had exposed her as the weed she was she just couldn’t ignore her anymore. If even just one was allowed to remain, it would certainly corrupt or otherwise damage the others. Her efforts had almost been for naught, but she could finally rectify that today.
Cheerilee glanced at the unconscious filly, and then towards her desk, where she had hidden just about everything she needed to keep Twist unconscious and unseen during transportation. It was a good thing fillies her size still, more or less, fit into the larger variety saddlebags, at least if you tried hard enough.

Wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait until nightfall, though. She mused as she glanced at the sun shining brightly outside. She could afford to wait. Nopony liked being at school in their spare time, so the two of them wouldn’t be disturbed. She had already prepared everything she needed, so there was plenty of time to set her plan into motion. She’d have had even less time if she had been forced to go through with her plan of abducting the filly from her home, anyway. Making the world a brighter place on Solar Sun Day... she liked the inherent symbolism in that.

It was a shame she had to head out into the woods for this, but she couldn’t risk any evidence lingering around. That first fire had been pushing it already, and she realised she only barely got away with that one. A second fire so soon would be fairly suicidal. It was far better for the filly to just disappear, proof and all, and never be heard of again.
And as luck would have it, she knew just the place...
***
It was pitch black by the time Cheerilee carried her burden into the Everfree, but it didn’t matter. Her legs still knew the way. She hadn’t gone out this way in many, many years, but some things you just didn’t forget. Some things you just couldn’t forget--no matter what.

She continued onwards, undaunted by the wailing of the wind and the distant cries of strange and ferocious creatures. There was always a chance you’d run into something unpleasant out here in the woods, but compared to the risk of discovery that seemed almost insubstantial.
She finally reached her destination: an ancient stone fortress darker than the black of night, impervious to the whips and scorns of time. As far as Cheerilee could tell it had been completely forgotten by the world. She almost regretted the need to travel under the mantle of night, as she had always enjoyed seeing it in its full glory. Memories of how they’d first found it came back to her, it seemed like an eternity ago...

Cheerilee dug out a small, red gem from one of her saddle bags as she walked towards the massive, stone doors that served as the only entrance into the building. She still remembered the day they had just found it lying in the woods. She didn’t know how it had gotten there, but she knew it to be the only one of its kind. As it drew closer to the gate, the gem let out a bright, inner light and the stone doors swung open silently.
Cheerilee smiled, as she stepped into the hallway which lay beyond, illuminated by an invisible source of light.

“Ace... I’m back.”
***
Twist had never felt so heavy. She tried to compare it with the lazy drowsiness that could come over you during a hot summer’s day, or while blissfully snoozing in bed on a lazy Sunday morning. But both of these came accompanied by a sensation of heavy limbs that most ponies would be quite familiar with, and which wasn’t altogether unpleasant.
This was different.
It was as if she could feel a weight pressing down upon her chest, which troubled her breathing and left her unable to move. She tried to open her eyes, but found she couldn’t. She felt she ought to be disturbed or even frightened by this notion, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her mind had been weighted down as well.

Time became a malleable principle to her, without much use or merit. She didn’t know how long she’d been like that, but she knew it didn’t matter.
Slowly but surely, the effect lessened. She began to become aware of things she had once known, but which she had forgotten. The thumping sound in her ears became the beating of her heart. A gentle whisper became the rhythm of her breathing. She became aware of a crucial distinction. There was the world, and there was her body, and these two were surely not the same. For the world was the world, and she was... Twist. Yes, that was her name, Twist.

And so she finally opened her eyes. It proved to be rather anticlimactic, as she didn’t seem to be able to see anything at all at first. Her eyes adjusted to the poor light conditions slowly, but all she could see was one big blur of dark, depressing colours. She could hear stone groaning under its own weight all around, and the clanking of metal to her left. She tried to move, but to her great surprise she still was not able to. This puzzled her. Didn’t she finally wake up? Where was she anyway?

The memories started flooding back to her... Her bag, the classroom, Cheerilee, a horrible taste in her mouth... With a shock she realised what had happened, and so the reason why she couldn’t move became abundantly clear. Finally fully awake, she could tell that some kind of metallic clasps were holding her legs in place, so that the back of her body was pressed up against some kind of cold, rough surface--presumably one of the walls.
She did her best not to panic, but she could already feel the build-up of adrenaline inside, ready to be released at the first useful, or not-so-useful, opportunity. She started struggling against her bounds, letting out a few grunts and moans of effort in the process.

“Ah, you’re finally awake.”
The voice originated from somewhere to her left, and Twist turned her head towards it as best she could. The only thing she was able to make out was a hazy, fuchsia blob amidst the dull blacks and greys, which rapidly approached her. It slowly expanded until it filled almost her entire field of vision, and Twist closed her eyes fearfully when she felt something being slid onto her head. When she finally worked up the courage to open them again, she could see her surroundings crystal clear. She had regained her glasses, but wished she didn’t.

She found herself inside of a stone building of sorts, although it wasn’t any she had ever seen in Ponyville. The stone slabs the room had been constructed with were huge, and of a peculiar shade of black as well. The room was fairly small, and much wider than it was long. The ceiling was surprisingly high up--which gave the room an extra sense of space--and peculiarly enough the blocks of stone gave way to a series of metal bars just underneath the ceiling. Twist thought she could see another room or perhaps a hallway, behind the bars, but she just wasn’t sure.

There was an open doorway right across from her, and it lead off into a hallway illuminated just as badly as the room. Twist noticed she couldn’t actually see a source of light anywhere. It was almost as if the room had a supply of light all its own. Two saddlebags were lying on the floor to her left, but she could not make out the contents, although some were definitely metallic in nature.
Twist took in all of this in the second it took her to become aware of Cheerilee, who was standing right in front of her, staring at her intensely while wearing a pleasant smile.

“I hope you slept well, because you probably won’t be sleeping for awhile,” she said in an almost motherly tone of voice. “But then again, you’ll be sleeping for a long, long time right after that, so it’s probably not worth losing any sleep over it.”
Twist felt a block of ice descend into her stomach, the strange contrast between her teacher’s tone of voice and the meaning of her words only serving to increase the dread she was feeling.
“P-pleathe, y-you can’t... k-kill me... I... I haven’t done a-anything wrong,” the filly stammered, her eyes slowly starting to glisten with tears.

Cheerilee walked over to her saddlebags and started to rummage about inside, clearly looking for something. “But I’m afraid I must,” she said with obvious excitement. “It’s not so much about what you’ve done, but about what you’ll end up doing. I had forgotten how strong your ties with Apple Bloom were... She got to you.”
She pulled out a leather pouch containing various clamps and knives, and threw it down in front of Twist. “But more importantly, I can’t have you talk,” she said as she took a knife from the pouch and brought her lips next to Twist’s ear. “You didn’t tell anypony it was me, right?”

Twist swallowed, her entire body shivering in fear as tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. Her situation appeared hopeless, but even though she was scared she didn’t want to give up just yet.
“I...I told lotth of people! I told everypony it wath you! They didn’t believe me, but if I dithapear, they’ll know! Tho... tho you... b-better let me g-go... If.. if you l-leave me alone... I’ll tell them I wath wrong!” she shouted at Cheerilee, putting on the most defiant face she had in her. Which wasn’t all that defiant, but the effort was certainly there.

Cheerilee pulled back slightly and looked Twist in the eye, a bemused look on her face. “Oh Twist... You’re such a bad liar,” she hissed.
The filly’s eyes exploded with fear, and Cheerilee instantly stabbed forward, driving the knife deep into Twist’s right shoulder. She screamed, and blood welled up around the blade as it sliced through muscle and tendons. It hit bone soon enough, but Cheerilee didn’t care. She simply threw her weight behind it again, jamming the knife right into the shoulder joint. The sharp pain almost made Twist’s eyes roll back in her head, and her screams transformed into a choked gurgling. Cheerilee drank it in with intense fascination; it had been too long, really.

She lessened the pressure on the blade a bit. “Ready to tell me the truth?”
Apart from some scraped knees, Twist really hadn’t experienced much pain before, and Cheerilee’s crash course was shocking. She could feel a hot, throbbing pain where Cheerilee had sliced up tendons and muscle, and it felt like a thousand needles got jammed between her shoulder blade and her upper leg bone every time she breathed in or out. It was almost too much for her, but she didn’t feel like giving up just yet. She was probably doomed, but there was a chance Twilight would discover something, and one day bring Cheerilee to justice...

“No... nopony... I... Unghh... t-told... nopony...”
Cheerilee smiled, and then suddenly twisted the knife around in Twist’s shoulder joint. She licked her lips, as the screams send shivers down her spine. “Very cute... But as I said: you’re such a bad liar...”
“Ok... Ok! Tw-Twilight, I... showed her... bl... bloody planks... theatre,” she sobbed.
Cheerilee pulled back the knife, finally satisfied. Twist whimpered as the blade left her, and the sensation of pain changed again; it became less pressing, but the wound pounded all the more. She looked down at her own body, and the trail of blood that flowed down it. It had already begun pooling underneath her right hoof, and the sight sickened her. She’d never realised just how much blood there was inside of her before. She felt herself go green when Cheerilee casually licked the knife’s blade.

“Mmmmm... So, Twilight Sparkle,” she said ponderously. “If it’s her she might find us here... She’ll only be looking for you, though, not me. There’s no reason to kill her, either, and she’ll probably bring her frie-”
Her friends.
The realisation shocked her like a plunge in an icy lake right after the sauna, as several isolated facts and ideas gathered together to combine into one, glorious whole. For many months she had asked herself one single question: How could so many fillies suddenly go so bad, in a town where everypony was exemplary? But now she finally understood why.

Twilight’s friends. Rarity was Sweetiebelle’s sister, Applejack was Apple Bloom’s and Rainbow Dash was Scootaloo’s idol. Snips and Snails seemed to have taken quite a liking to her as well, and they ran into the entire bunch often enough, anyway. Pinkie Pie had been with the girls fairly often, and it was no secret that Fluttershy was Rarity’s preferred babysitter. Or sistersitter, whatever. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had had the least contact with those five, but she supposed there were always exceptions to the rule. They could’ve been rotten from the start--she could accept that happening to one or two fillies, just not seven at once--or else they had just felt the need to “step up their game” to match up to their rivals, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Their corruption could all be traced back to the influence of those five mares, and they in turn had been influenced by... Twilight Sparkle. She had heard that the bigger cities had become more immoral and filthier in the last few years, and that the Royal family had it especially bad. She had just never imagined it was this bad.
There was no way she could set everything right, but she could protect Ponyville. She could make a stand.
“Yes... Yes!” she exclaimed almost triumphantly. “Let them come! They won’t be arriving until tomorrow at the earliest, if they come at all... I’ll be ready, I can finally end this, once and for all!” She could see it now... The culprits, and the punishment she’d bestow upon them...

“You... you’re crazy,” said a still teary-eyed Twist through clenched teeth. “Twilight ith powerful, the will...”
Cheerilee laughed heartily. “Oh, but that’s the beauty of it. No matter how fancy her magic is... It’s useless in here.”
She drew closer with the knife again, and Twist didn’t dare move or utter so much as a single syllable. She stared at the bloody knife fearfully, the pounding of her violated shoulder reminding her of the damage and agony it could inflict. She realised the pain in her shoulder would probably have already left her unable to think straight if not for the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

“I’m surprised you didn’t try asking me where we are yet,” Cheerilee said as she rested the knife against Twist’s chest. “But, you know, I’ll tell you anyway. A little story from Cheerilee, before you die.”
The filly wanted to protest her bleak future, but she had used up all of her courage and energy already. Just coping with the pain was hard enough already. Her lip trembled as tears again rolled over her cheeks, and she breathed only shallowly for fear of the knife pressed against her chest.