Coltstein returned to the Canterlot Mental Facility, where his final suspect awaited his arrival; the witch doctor, known as Zecora. He had pieced together most of the case, but two questions still remained. Why did Zecora give Apple Bloom a medicine strong enough to drug her, and what happened the night of the final unmarking? Coltstein knew that only one of those questions could be answered by Zecora, but he knew where he needed to go for the answers of what ever happened that night in the clubhouse. For now, his main focus was his only suspect.
Coltstein walked through the double doors, leading to Nurse Daisy's desk, where she sat, watching Apple Bloom closely. Daisy didn't notice the doctor's presence, so he gave three hooftaps on the desk to catch her attention. She turned her focus away from the monitor, and looked up at the doctor. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked exhausted, due to her shift being a 24 hour shift. She did her best to give the doctor a smile, as he looked at her.
"You look like...
He was cut off by Daisy.
"Like a pile of manure," she said, in an exhausted tone. "I know. I've been up for over twenty hours."
Coltstein giggled, giving her a smile.
"Why don't you go home?" he suggested. "I can take things from here."
"If anypony needs a rest, it's you," she claimed. "You haven't rested ever since the beginning of Apple Bloom's case."
"All in the day's work, Daisy. Besides, I hate to sleep. The nightmares are truly terrifying, and I need to stay focused, because I'm close to putting this case to rest. I just need to interrogate Zecora, and lastly, figure out what the hell happened in that clubhouse that night."
Daisy gave him a strange look, at the mentioning of the nightmares.
"What are the nightmares about, doctor?" she asked.
"It's nothing for you to be concerned about," he replied.
"But, I am concerned, doctor," she claimed. "What sort of nightmare could be so terrifying that it prevents you from sleeping?"
Coltstein knew that she wasn't going to subside from the subject, so he turned to her, giving her a gaze that seemed both sad and troubling.
"When you have worked in a field as bold as mine, you learn and see many things," he confessed. "I've seen so much blood and death to the point of where I have become so used to it, it's only second nature to me. However, there's always that ONE case that will traumatize you for the rest of your life. Not just in your career, but for the rest of your natural life. That one case involved a young filly committing suicide inches from my face."
Daisy gasped, tears forming in her eye sockets.
"I will never forget that night for as long as I live. There was blood everywhere, I found her under the floorboards, and I tried to pull the gun away, but before I had the chance, gunfire erupted. The sight was horrifying. A filly once innocent with no troubles in her short life had a gaping hole through her skull, and I was drenched in her blood. The case was so traumatizing that I went into seclusion for over a year, took therapy, hoping to forget, and even considered suicide myself."
Daisy was speechless. She knew that Coltstein had been through many troubling cases, but the way it was described made her entire body quiver. She couldn't even picture such a horrid scene in her mind, and she didn't want to.
"I-I had no idea that it was that horrifying," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Now you know. If I sleep, I re-visit that night and the horrors of it," he confessed. "It's a night I never want to relive, and I can't sleep because of that reason."
Daisy placed her hoof on his hoof.
"I feel for you, and even though I didn't know before, I'm glad I do now," she confessed.
Daisy and Coltstein had started to lean close to each other, nearly kissing. Coltstein retracted, pulling his hoof from Daisy's grasp.
"Now's not the time, Daisy," he said. "I do care for you, but right now, I need to focus on the case. Maybe someday, but for now, I must solve this case."
Daisy nodded in agreement.
"I understand, and I'm sorry," she said.
Coltstein nodded, as he made his way into the interrogation room.
The room was quiet, as Coltstein entered the room, shutting the door behind him. Zecora sat a metal table, her hooves constricted by heavy metal shackles, and a confused look on her face. She was unsure why she was here, but Coltstein could care less what she thought. He was only focused on getting Zecora to spit the truth, and he knew ways of getting his suspects to talk, even if it resorted to much more violent ways. Zecora looked up at the doctor with fear and confusion in her eyes.
"I'm just going to cut straight to the facts, Zecora," claimed Coltstein. "I already know that you gave Apple Bloom a medicine strong enough to drug her."
Zecora tried to hold a poker face, as Coltstein continued.
"So, tell me, Zecora. Why did you give Apple Bloom something strong enough to possibly make her do strange things?"
Coltstein's tone was of only irritation and anger, as he closed into Zecora, giving her a look that made the zebra quiver.
"I don't understand," said Zecora.
She was immediately cut off by Coltstein.
"Cut the slack, Zecora!" he snapped. "I have the evidence!"
Zecora could see that the doctor was serious, and that if she didn't speak, he'd result to much more physical tactics.
"I did give her a medicine, but I had no idea it would give her these side effects," Zecora confessed.
Coltstein shook his head, stepping closer to Zecora, until he was standing right above her.
"That's a lie, Zecora," he claimed. "In your personal records, found and recovered by Ponyville Police, it was found that you document EVERY ingredient in every single concoction that you make. Therefore, you knew every ingredient and their side effects that was in the medicine you gave to Apple Bloom."
Zecora's facial expression sunk to only fear and guilt.
"Now, I'm only going to ask one more time. Why did you give Apple Bloom a medicine strong enough to possibly make her do the unthinkable? Lie to me one more time, I'll make you wish you hadn't!" Coltstein's temper had begun to rise.
"I swear I didn't know it would be that strong!" Zecora snapped.
Coltstein had grown tired of Zecora's lying, so he resorted to another tactic.
"Fine. You want to keep lying, I'll make you wish you didn't," he said, making his way back to the front of the desk.
Coltstein quickly smashed Zecora's face onto the surface of the table, head-first, jolted her head back up, then punched her hard across the face. Blood had started to leak from her nostrils, seeing he had broken the zebra's nose, and she spat out some blood. Coltstein folded his hooves, looking at the zebra with disgust. Zecora struggled to even look at him, but there was no need, as Coltstein stood before Zecora, now that he had shown the zebra that he wasn't joking around.
"You going to tell me the truth now, Zecora?" asked Coltstein, as Zecora looked up at him.
"You can't do this!" she snapped, referring to his physical tactic.
"Sure I can," he said, punching Zecora hard again. "I can do anything to liars like you, because ponies or zebras like you are nothing but scum to me, now last chance before I do worse. WHY DID YOU GIVE HER THAT MEDICINE!?"
Zecora struggled to say anything, as she spat out more blood, along with some tooth fragments. She caught Coltstein preparing for another punch, so she quickly reacted.
"ALRIGHT!" she shouted in desperation.
Coltstein had finally broken Zecora, and stood back, folding his hooves in victory.
"I only gave her the medicine, because she wasn't going to leave without it! I warned her of the possible side effects, but she refused to take anything else! I swear! That's the truth!"
Coltstein thought about Zecora's words for a second, wondering if she had only said that to escape his violent tactic. Would Apple Bloom have been stubborn enough to accept something that could make her do horrible things? Only Apple Bloom could answer that.
"Stick around, Zecora," he said. "I'm going to find out if what you say is the actual truth, and if you are lying, so help me. I'll make matters worse," he said, making his way out of the interrogation room.
Coltstein returned to Daisy's desk, noticing her half awake, watching the monitors for Apple Bloom's room. To catch her attention, he cleared his throat.
"How did it go?" she asked.
"You might want to get somepony to clean up the mess Zecora made," he replied.
"For Celestia's sake!" she exclaimed. "You really went to that level?!"
Coltstein nodded his head.
"Liars need to be taught not to lie, Daisy. Only then, can the truth be found," he claimed.
"I suppose you're right," she stated.
"Yes. Now, I need you to get Apple Bloom into my office, first thing tomorrow," he asked. "I need her to confirm if what Zecora says is true."
"I can do that, but why tomorrow?" she asked.
"Because, I need to return to the crime scene. I need to know what in Celestia's name happened that night."
"I'm not sure if the sheriff would allow that, doctor."
"I don't care what he thinks!" he snapped. "He's only trying to keep me away, because he wants to get off on the case with the obvious conclusion! I won't allow that! I'm going to find out what really happened!"
Daisy smiled, looking at the doctor, and kissing him lightly on his cheek.
"Go get em, tiger," she said, as Coltstein smiled back, and made his way out of the facility, back to the crime scene.
