This is where we part ways (Patreon)

 For this part of my Equestria dreamscape there was a lot hopping around to different locales. Hopefully this will flow well for folks. 

  
  It was 3am when Spring Meadow the mayor of Manehattan came storming into her office. The mare's mane and dress were disheveled and there was a frantic look in her eyes. She'd been attending a late night gala when she'd received word of a warrant for her arrest by the crown. It made no sense. Why would there be a warrant for her arrest? 

  She sat down at her desk and after lighting an oil lamp at her desk the unicorn put her head in her front hooves. This had to be a set up. Some how somepony had convinced the crown to do this, but who and how? She needed to contact her attorney and start formulating a defense against these trumped charges. She'd just started forming a plan of attack when she heard the door to her office. Looking up she saw her personal secretary Purple Sage. The mare came trotting over with alarm in her eyes.

   
  "M'am, m'am! I just got woken by a messenger from City Hall, and they said there was a warrant out for your arrest? I assume that's why your here as well?" 

  The mare looked at her secretary. "Yes! This makes no sense! Sun and Moon! I'm going to get to the bottom of this! The parties that have slandered my name are going to pay for this!" To punctuate this point she slammed her right front hoof down on desk with a enough force to make the ink pot on the desk to jump. 

  Purple Sage nodded her head. "Of course m'am, but if you're going to start drafting a counterattack to this smear you're going to need a clear head. Let me get you a glass or sherry. That always calms your nerves. Then I'll start dictating for you."

 
  "Oh bless you Purple! Yes, yes a glass would be wonderful."

 
  The earth pony nodded her head and trotted over to a cabinet on the other side of the office. Soon she came back carrying a small tray with a small glass of fino sherry on it. Gracefully she set the tray down on the desk. 

  
  "There you go m'am. Now let me pull up a chair." In quick order the mare had a chair and had retrieved her dictation pad and pen. Then she sat down and looked at the Mayor. 

  Spring Meadows took a large sip of the sherry noting it was a particularly dry batch. Setting this thought aside she started outlining her plans to defend herself in court. However as minutes went by she found it harder to organize her thoughts. She shook her head and wrote it off as being a result of her  being up well after her bedtime and the stress of the evening, but she pressed on. She wanted this dictated down so it could be passed on to her attorney since she didn't know when agents of the crown would arrive and arrest her.     

        It was only after several more minutes that she noticed that her secretary had stopped writing and was just looking at her. 

  "Purple? Please read back to me what you've dictated. I think you've missed...."

"Please be quiet." Said the earth pony. As she spoke those words the Mayor lips went silent. A few seconds later a look of panic raced across your face.

 
  "Don't move either." Said her secretary. Slowly rising from her chair the mare stepped around and stared at the seated mare with a blank look on her face.  

 
  "Good it's taken effect. By now you've probably have figured out that I spiked your sherry with something. It was a potion. A very complicated, exotic, and hard to make potion. I won't bother you with the boring details but it makes the pony who consumes it very vulnerable to following audio commands and instructions. Especially in large doses. However large doses result in permanent damage to the brain. Lethal in the amount I gave you recently." 

  Spring Meadow strained and tried to move. Purple Sage notice this. "I said don't move!" She glared at the mayor. The unicorn went stone still. The earth pony nodded her head and continued speaking.  

 
  "That's better. Now you are correct. You're being framed for something that you didn't do, but that won't matter because dozens of witnesses are going to swear you did!" 

  As the mayor watched the earth pony morphed into a perfect copy of her. Her doppelganger looked down at herself. "I made sure to mimic you down to finest detail. I even went to the trouble to review your medical records. Also I obtained hair samples from your brush and chair and made certain they got left at several location where you were a very, very, naughty pony." 

  "Wwwwhhhyyyyy." Said the mayor as tears started trickling down her cheeks. 

  Her duplicate shrugged. "Don't know why. I just had my orders. Now the potion I gave you was a lethal dose, but unfortunately it will also leave residual traces in your brain that any reasonable doctor would detect in an autopsy, so we need to deal with that. Please open the top drawer of your desk now." 

  Spring Meadow watched in horror as her limbs moved against her own accord and opened the desk drawer. Sitting in it was an envelope that had not been there earlier today. 

  "Please remove the envelope and place it on your desk blotter." Her duplicate watched as she moved in a wooden fashion and placed where she'd been told to.

 
  "Good. That is your suicide note professing your remorse for what you're being accused of. I've spent the last year learning how to properly mimic your writing style." Said the duplicate. "Now open the large drawer on the bottom left side." 

  Trying desperately to resist the mayor found herself leaning over and sliding the drawer open. Her eyes went wide as she saw the crudely sawed off double barrel shotgun sitting in it. 

  
  "Ive taken the liberty to rig it so both barrels will fire simultaneously. The shot along with the expansion gases from the gunpowder will more than adequately destroy your brain, and any tissues samples will be contaminated by the powder and other substances in the room. I hope you weren't planning on an open casket funeral because you're going to be a mess in a moment." 

  Spring Meadow's substitute flared her horn and sphere of silence engulfed most of the office. With this accomplished she levitated some cotton wads from her purse and jammed them into her ears. Then she looked at the terrified mare. 

  
  "Please pick up the shotgun and place it with both barrels under your chin."

 
  Shivering and with teeth chattering the mayor slowly placed the shotgun where she'd been told. 

  "Now I know that you're scared and you're trying to resist, but your shaking is also a result of the damage the potion is causing. So we should get this over with."

 
  Spring Meadow watch as her doppelganger walked to the edge of the silence bubble about 20ft away, and then turn around one last time and look at her.

   
  "This is where we part ways. Please pull the trigger." 

  The silence bubble expanded violently as it contained the thunderous roar of the shotgun. The mayor's face vanished, and the wall behind was splattered like some grotesque abstract painting.  

 
  Her double smiled and then headed for the door as she did she removed the cotton wads, dropped the silence bubble, and morphed into one of the ponies on the nightly cleaning staff. Exiting the office the changeling headed downstairs and then left the building. Stepping out onto the street. The changeling threw the cotton wads in a random trash can and watched as troops started arriving at City Hall. Then it wandered away. 

 To be continued.