My Little Pony: The Equestrian Mole

by BubbleBerry Pop

Chapters

• The Game Begins
• Who can you trust?

The Game Begins

ON A CLIFF NEAR BUCKINGHAM

Day 1

A lone pony sat quietly up at the edge of a cliff in Buckingham. His name was Esquire but for the duration of the show he would simply be referred to as Mr.E, he was to be the host for the challenges, quizzes, and executions to come within the next few weeks. He was standing proudly as he awaited for his guests to arrive, the guests that will partake in the quest for a potential prize of one million bits. Twelve contestants will take part in this grand adventure but one of them is not who they seem... one of them is a saboteur, the mole purposely placed into this game to cause chaos and disarray for the other contestants as the attempt prevent victory and keep as many bits as possible from getting into the final pot. Any and all bits they can keep out of the pot, they them self will receive when this game is all said and done. So with that it leaves us with one question, Who is the mole?

As if on queue a bright yellow carriage came into view, traveling just up the trail carrying the first two contestants ready to start their adventure. Slowly the carriage came to a stop just a few feet away from Mr.E, prompting him to trot over instantly ready to introduce himself to the first of many to arrive. As he approached the carriage a small ruckus could heard within as the door suddenly flew open and out stepped a large brown and white Griffon. The first contestant was Gilda.

Name: Gilda:

Alias/Nickname: G

Birthday April 11th

Favorite Color: Brown

Hometown: Mt.Griffsburg

Occupation: Flight School Secretary

GILDA: I don't know why I even came here, this wont even be a challenge. Nothing but a bunch of dweebs ready to be picked off one by one.

"Greetings and welcome contestant number one, Ms. Gilda I am Mr.E, your host for the duration of the competition." The black host pony gave one of his signature grins as he held out a hoof.

"Yeah, yeah... lets get this show started so I can get my bits and get out of here." Gilda completely ignored the outstretched hoof and just waited outside the carriage in her position as a second figure started to emerge from within the carriage. It was contestant number two, he was a light blue pegasus pony, his mane a darker shade of blue gently swaying with the wind as he stepped out in his Wonderbolt uniform. Contestant number two was Soarin'.

Name: Soarin'

Alias/Nickname: Bottomless Pit

Birthday: December 12th

Favorite Color:  Sky Blue

Hometown: Cloudsdale

Occupation: Stunt flyer/performer

SOARIN': I'm so excited for this! I've honestly never been this excited since I first joined the Wonderbolts! Oh and when I found that mare that had made that amazing pie at the Grand Galloping Gala last year! That was some good pie, and an even greater mare!

Completely ignoring the rudeness from the griffon Mr.E quickly set himself to introducing himself to the newest contestant, "Greeting Soarin', I am your host for the entirety of the game." Once again he held out a hoof, one that wasn't ignored as the two shook hooves and continued to chat, "and you may already know a little bit of your travel companion Gilda correct?"

Soarin' shook his head frowning slightly as he removed the hoof of his costume, "actually she hardly talked to me at all, I tried talking to her but she mostly ignored me. The ride was rather awkward to be honest." The blue pegasus rubbed a hoof through his mane but before he could continue a deep growl erupted from his stomach causing him to blush slightly, "is there any food around? I'm so hungry!" The host laughed as Gilda just glared and rolled her eyes.

GILDA: I hope he goes first, he did nothing but eat in that carriage! It was border lining disgusting and infuriating!

SOARIN': She seems kind of harsh, but I cant tell yet really. May have to keep an eye on her.

Before the conversation could go further, or a fight could break out, a new carriage was pulling in and parking next to the first. This one was a deep violet and the first contestant to trot out wasted no time pulling all attention to himself as he seemed to be talking down to whoever was unlucky enough to share the carriage with him, "I'm going first, it's my royal right! So just wait for your turn, you commoner. Not that you deserve one." The third contestant was none other than Prince Blueblood

Name: Prince Blueblood

Alias/Nickname: Blueblood

Birthday: March 13th

Favorite Color: Gold

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Unspecified

BLUEBLOOD: The whole idea of making this a contest in the first place is simply ridiculous! No commoner could ever do better than me! They may as well just call me the winner and go home.

Mr.E just shook his head as he gave the same greeting he gave the others, and not so surprisingly it went ignored much like the first one as the prince took his place standing proudly in front of the violet carriage. "Hello, Is it my turn?" Carefully stepping down from the carriage with a very surprisingly cheerful attitude was contestant number four, a dark pink earth pony whose mane and tail were two shades of a lighter pink. Happier than ever, contestant four was Cheerilee.

Name: Cheerilee

Alias/Nickname: Lee/Ms.Cheer

Birthday: February 14th

Favorite Color: Burgundy

Hometown: Ponyville

Occupation: School Teacher

CHEERILEE: I'm so happy to be here, my students are at home cheering for me and I want to do the best I can for them!

The host wasted no time shaking hooves with the merry mare, "Pleased to meet you Cheerilee, I am Mr.E your host for everything to come!" He flashed her one of his signature smiles as he got closer to her, almost whispering, "so how was the trip with the prince? I hear he can be... well to put it frankly, the biggest jerk around."

Cheerilee just smiled, something she seemed to do nonstop as she shook her head, "he seems nice enough to me."

CHEERILEE: He didn't really seem that bad in my opinion, at least he didn't say anything to really get upset over.

As the dark pink pony was taking her place next to Blueblood, a dark red carriage began to arrive traveling up the trail just as the previous two had done and soon parked itself right next to the second carriage. Before the doors could open everyone present could already hear singing and music coming from within. The voice was certainly a definitive one, and sure enough the pop diva herself stepped out of the carriage. Contestant five was Sapphire Shores.

Name: Sapphire Shores

Alias/Nickname: Sapphire

Birthday: November 18th

Favorite Color: Sapphire

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Pop Artist

SAPPHIRE: MMMMMMMmmmMMMM, I am so excited to be here! That mole wont know what hit him!

"Hello Ms. Shores, it's  a pleasure to have you here. Are you ready for the challenges to come?" Mr.E had on a big grin as he shook hooves with the pony of pop.

"I was born ready honey, and please call me... Sapphire!" Sapphire was already reaching into her singing voice as she took her spot, allowing her fellow traveling pony to exit the carriage. The unicorn to walk out was a light mint green with a few streaks of white showing throughout her mane and tail. This unicorn was quickly identified by the lyres she had for cutie marks. Contestant six was Lyra.

Name: Lyra

Alias/Nickname: N/A

Birthday: June 28th

Favorite Color: Teal

Hometown: Ponyville

Occupation: Musician

LYRA: I kind of feel bad for leaving Bon-Bon for this, but it's the chance of the lifetime to get my name known so I can provide a better life for us both. She has already given so much for us, it's my turn to return the favor. This is for you Bon-Bon!

"Good morning Lyra. I am your lovely host! Are you excited to be here?" The black stallion turned his attention to the mint green unicorn as he once again put on one of his signature smiles.

Lyra merely nodded as she took her spot next to Sapphire, "I am, I left a lot to be here so I'm not leaving without those bits and my name known around Equestria."

"Good, you'll need that determination to win!" The host flashed the unicorn a wink before turning his attention to the sky blue carriage making its way just like the few before it, and soon enough it was parked next to the rest. Mr.E waited with a grin as the doors slowly opened revealing the pegasus inside. The mare stepped out, confidence easily seen on her face as she shook around her rainbow mane. Contestant seven was Rainbow Dash

Name: Rainbow Dash

Alias/Nickname: Dashie

Birthday: August 7th

Favorite Color: Rainbow

Hometown; Ponyville

Occupation: Weather pony

RAINBOW DASH: Ha, Pinkie is going to be so jealous I get to be here! This is going to be so awesome!

"Judging by that smile on your face, I'd assume you're quite excited to be here." Mr.E was chuckling as he watched the rainbow maned pegasus look around already sizing up her fellow contestants.

"You bet I am, I'll wipe the floor with them all in ten seconds flat. The only competition I see here is Gilda, I've known her for a long time so I know what she's capable of and that I'm still better." The cyan pegasus puffed out with pride as she looked over the colt in front of her, "who the hay are you anyways?"

"My name is Mr.E, and I will be the host for The Equestrian Mole. I will see you all through this little adventure of ours." The jet black stallion was puffed out in pride as he introduced himself.

RAINBOW DASH: Mole shmole they wont be able to stop me!

GILDA: I can't believe that dweeb is here, I cant wait to see the look on her face when I win!

"YEEHAW!" The sheer exclamation of joy drew the hosts attention back to the sky blue carriage as a yellow farm pony was stepping out. The colts mane and tail were yellow and orange and he wore a brown vest and cowboy hat, his smile only growing bigger as he shook hooves with the host. Contestant eight was the farm pony Braeburn

Name: Braeburn

Alias/Nickname: Brae

Birthday: September 30th

Favorite Color: Orange

Hometown: Appleoosa

Occupation: Farmer

"Welcome Braeburn," The rest of his introduction went the same way as the rest had that morning and the yellow farm pony eagerly talked with the host.

BRAEBURN: Yeehaw, this is going to be fun! We sure can really use them bits back in Appleoosa!

Braeburn barely had time to get into place as the next carriage was already pulling up, the orange carriage was the second to last and was pulling in right next to where the black host pony was standing.  The door opened and a grey earth pony with black hair carefully trotted out, she was being extra careful as to protect the instrument she carried in the case on her back. The next contestant, and number nine, was Octavia.

Name: Octavia

Alias/Nickname: Tavi

Birthday: July 22nd

Favorite Color: White

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Musician

OCTAVIA: These challenges shouldn't be too hard for me, it'll pay to be able to keep a level head like I can.

Once again and with as much enthusiasm as he has had all morning, the host immediately went to introducing himself as a small squeak was heard from the carriage. The nervous yellow pegasus peaked out from the side and instantly hid again as she saw how many ponies were actually there. After a few deep breaths and some coaxing from the host, the pegasus finally made her way to join the others outside the carriage. The tenth contestant was Fluttershy.

Name: Fluttershy

Alias/Nickname: Shy/Miss Rose Papillonne

Birthday: May 2nd

Favorite Color: Yellow

Hometown: Ponyville

Occupation: Animal Caretaker/Veterinarian

FLUTTERSHY: Oh.... umm.... I'm happy to be here.....

"Nice of you to join us Miss Rose Papillonne" the host flashed another smile as the yellow pegasus squeaked in surprise as he called her by her supposed to be secret pen name.

"Wait, Papillonne? As in THE Rose Papillonne?" Sapphire was already trotting over eager to meet the timid pegasus, "You are quite the author Miss Rose, I'm definitely a fan!" The pony of pop laughed as she shook hooves with Fluttershy, who seemed to only shrink more and more from the attention.

"Oh...," Fluttershy's face was pink as she avoided eye contact with the other pony, "if it's okay... please don't call me that. No....nopony was supposed to know about that."

Sapphire Shores only laughed more as she started to get into her singing voice, "OOOooooohhhhhHHH! I want to be in a coalation with you! You and me can get far in this game!"

SAPPHIRE: Anypony that can write like that is going to be a good friend of mine!

FLUTTERSHY: I... I don't know.... how they...found out...... it's so embarrassing.....

Mr.E had to break up the conversation quickly as the last carriage started to arrive, "alright ladies, can we keep the game talk for until after the game starts?" He flashed them both a smile as he turned to Fluttershy, "I am Mr.E, the host of Equestrian Mole. And if you'll excuse me I must introduce myself to our last guests."

Just as he finished the last carriage pulled in, it was a dark navy and everyone present looked to it with anticipation to know who the last contestants would be. The air would have been quite, but the azure unicorn exiting the carriage was loudly proclaiming how Great and Powerful she was, her cape waving in the wind . The eleventh contestant was The Great and Powerful Trixie.

Name: The Great and Powerful Trixie

Alias/Nickname: Trixie/Tri

Birthday: October 27th

Favorite Color: Violet

Hometown: Canterlot/Ponyville

Occupation: Show Mare/Entertainer

TRIXIE: Ha, like any of these ponies stand a chance against Trixie! What foals!

"Hello Trixie, I am-"

"Trixie is The Great and Powerful Trixie! Not just Trixie!" Trixie huffed as she turned her head, now completely ignoring the host.

RAINBOW DASH: Are you kidding? I thought this was supposed to be a challenge! Of course Trixie is the mole!

"......right so that just leaves us with one more contestant." All eyes went back to the navy carriage as a purple hoof accented by a shining silver shoe tentivly stepped out. The hoof belonged to one of the most well known ponies in all of Equestria, just short of only her sister. Contestant twelve, and the final contestant, was none other than Princess Luna.

Name: Princess Luna

Alias/Nickname: Lulu

Birthday: January 1st

Favorite Color: Midnight Blue

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Royal Ambassador

LUNA: Well, I don't really need the bits, but Celly thought this was a good way to get other ponies to know me.... and for me to know them.

The princess let out a sigh as she took her spot next to Trixie, allowing the host to trot himself over and give a quick introduction before heading back to address the group as a whole. "Now that everypony is here, we can get to explaining the game! As you all now know, I am Mr. E. Mr. E Colt to be exact. You all know why you are here, some for the experience but most for the bits. And, you also know that there is a mole among you, a saboteur only here to hinder your progress and keep you from winning anything. They them self will win whatever is kept from the group total. So keep you eyes and ears open, you will need to know as much as you can about the mole if you want to stay in this game. The pony-" Gilda snorted as the host seemed to ignore her presence entirely.

GILDA: I am not a pony, and I never will be something so lame!

"Pardon, the contestant that scores lowest on the quizzes, or is the slowest in case of tie, will be executed and immediately put on a carriage home." Mr. E took a moment to pause for dramatic effect as he let his words sink in. Everyone present already knew everything he was saying but now that it was happening and set to start in just a few moments, everything was just becoming real. "Now, the competition begins!" A cheer came out from a few of the contestants, but most shifted slightly uncomfortably as Mr.E trotted over to the edge of the cliff. "First I will need the two of you who are good with numbers or have a good memory."

RAINBOW DASH: Finally we're starting, but numbers and memory? Seriously? Who is good with that?

"I'll do it," Octavia stepped forward nodding to everypony as she took a place next to the host.

Trixie stepped forward next ready to challenge anypony who would challenge her, "The Great and Powerful Trixie will nominate Princess Luna to be the second. Trixie knows that without a doubt she is the best with numbers."

TRIXIE: Trixie saw her with her abacus when she was teaching The Great and Powerful Trixie. Nopony will be better!

Princess Luna looked around nervously as everyone was now looking at her, "I suppose I get the job then." Slowly she trotted to Octavia and Mr.E, who was smiling bigger than ever.

"Excellent, now you two will be carried back down the cliff in one of the carriages and all you will have to do is memorize the combination given to you one number at a time as everypony else here jumps down this cliff to meet you at the bottom." A loud gasp came from the group as the reality of the challenge sank in. "If you two can manage to relay back the correct numbers in order you will get 10000 bits for the pot. Good luck ladies."  

Both mares were taken to the first carriage and were quickly driven off back down the trail as Mr.E turned his attention back to the others. "So now your job will be to jump down into the lake below and deliver to the two you just sent down there your respective numbers that will range from one to twenty. Any question?"

Not surprisingly enough to most ponies Blueblood was the first to vocalize some objection, "I refuse to put myself in any kind of danger like that! I am a Prince, I am too important to risk myself so recklessly like some commoner!"

BLUEBLOOD: What kind of crazy pony would even expect someone like me to even try that!

Mr.E simply smiled as he looked over the group, "each of you that makes the jump will add 1000 bits to the group pot, so if you refuse to jump then you are costing the group the bits. I might also add that if three of you refuse, the whole possible 10000 is then lost."

BLUEBLOOD: I refuse to do this, those bits are not worth it!

GILDA: Oh he is jumping, I will make sure of it.

TRIXIE: He's going, Trixie will not allow some foal to keep her from any bits!

"Everyone will choose weather or not to jump in just a few moments, but first as I am sure of it some of you may want to take off some of what you wore here as to not get it wet correct?" There was some agreement from those with clothes, while those without just shook their head and shrugged, "so everypony will have two minutes to take off what they want and join me over here, then the jumping will begin! So your time starts now!"

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Cheerilee, Lyra, and Gilda all immediately went  over to join Mr.E right off the bat. Soarin' and Braeburn followed soon after deciding not to take anything off, leaving just Trixie, Sapphire, and Blueblood. Trixie and Sapphire managed to take everything off and joined the others but Blueblood refused, fully aware his mind was made up and that he wasn't going to jump.

"And three.... two.... one.... TIME!" As Mr.E looked over the group he nodded in approval, "seems you are all ready to go, but if any of you remove anything or add anything to how you are now your jump will not count. Is that clear?" Clopping his hooves together he smiled bigger than before, "so, who's first?"

Immediately Blueblood stepped forward," I refuse to go, just give me my number and send me down the trail!"

Gilda was next to step forward, already getting in the prince's face, "you ARE going, in fact I'll make sure you go first!" Quickly she picked up the prince and started walking to the edge.

"Unhand me you filthy bird! You have no right to do this!" Blueblood was struggling with all his might, but the griffons hold kept him still.

Mr.E cringed as Gilda turned looking to his direction giving him some sort of death glare, "what's his number?"

"Eight" Mr.E was shaking but smiling as she watched her hold him just over the side of the cliff.

"Eight! You got that? Forget it and I will hurt you!" Blueblood was never given the chance to respond as he was suddenly sent screaming and flailing down the side of the cliff, the lake of water quickly approaching.

SPLASH

TRIXIE: Trixie likes that griffon, if she hadn't done it Trixie would have!

Prince Blueblood was in a panic as he slowly realized what happened to him and where he was, slowly he floated and paddled his way to shore to a slightly chucking Octavia and a grinning Luna. "Eight, the number is eight!" He glared at them both as he trotted to the mat holding towels for them after their jump and started to quickly drying himself off.

BLUEBLOOD: That bird will pay for the damages to this suit! I will personally make her pay!

Octavia quickly regained her composure as she looked to the princess next to her, "how about I get the first half and you take the second? Remembering five numbers should be much easier than ten."

The moon princess simply smiled and nodded in reply, “sure.”

LUNA: I probably could have memorized them all myself, but Celly says to try and not argue with anypony....

Back up on the cliff, Gilda turned back to the group fully satisfied with her work, "anyone else?" Her smile grew from the silence as she looked back to the host, "then I'm next!"

Mr.E simply nodded but stepped in her way before she could go, "very well, but first..." The host pulled out some rope from what seemed like nowhere as he smiled back to the griffon. "I will need to tie your wings since you are able to fly, only to make things fair of course."

Gilda rolled her eyes as she stood still, "fine whatever just do it so I can go!"

Mr.E made sure to tie the rope nice and tight before stepping back to admire his work, "alright, now your number is Fifteen"

"Yeah yeah, I got it," in a flash Gilda jumped and started her dive into the water below, much unlike the jumper before her she managed to enter the water barely making a ripple and quickly made her way to the awaiting Octavia and Luna. "Fifteen, and you better remember it."

OCTAVIA: I really don't like that griffon but I'm going to hold my tongue.... Unlike her I actually have class and manners.

The next three ponies to go all went off without any problems. Rainbow Dash, The Great and Powerful Trixie, and Soarin' each reaching the bottom and filling up the last three numbers for Octavia to remember: Nineteen, Three, and Seven.

Five ponies remained up top, one of which was shaking in fear refusing to even look at the cliff. "I.... cant do it...." Fluttershy could feel her eyes watering as everypony's attention went to her.

Braeburn stepped forward ready to comfort the trembling pegasus, as he looked to the others that remained "ya'll may have ta go first, it'll take a while to get her ta go, if she does at all...." The cowpony sighed as he went to trying to convince the cowering pegasus.

BRAEBURN: She aint gunna make this easy, ah'll tell you that! Ah don’t mean ta be rude or anything, considerin she’s mah cousin’s friend n’ all…. but why come if ya aint gunna compete?

Sapphire was next to step forward as Cheerilee and Lyra didn't seem so eager, "Alright, Mr.E looks like I'm next!" She had on a simple smile as she trotted to the edge.

"Alright Sapphire, your number is fourteen," Mr.E had a big smile as he pointed a hoof to the cliff, "after you."

With deep breath and a little tune to calm her nerves, the pony of pop was soon off heading straight down for the lake. Leaving two to go while Braeburn was busy trying to calm down the frightened yellow pegasus.

The pink earth pony turned to Lyra with a comforting smile, "I'll go next if you want to wait a little longer, I don't mind."

Lyra shook her head as she stepped forward, "No, I'll go, I'm here for Bon-Bon I need to do this." The unicorn slowly approached the edge of the cliff as she peaked over looking down, only the thoughts of Bon-Bon keeping her there as she looked back to the host, "my number?"

"Twelve," With a quick nod from Mr. E the mint green unicorn leapt off the cliff leaving Cheerilee up next, as Braeburn was now getting frantic with Fluttershy.

The teacher slowly made her way to the pegasus as she gave her a small pat on the shoulder and a warm smile, "It's alright Fluttershy, nopony will force you if you don't want to go." Cheerilee turned back to the host smiling as big as ever, "I'm ready."

"Then your number is six," Stepping aside Mr.E was smiling as Cheerilee took her place and jumped making a decent sized splash as she hit the water. Slowly as she made her way to the shore Octavia appeared in deep concentration as Luna was there waiting with a smile, "my number is six." And with her job done the earth pony made her way to start drying off.

CHEERILEE: Oh my, that was definitely something! My students will have hay day when they hear about this!

With that there was only two ponies left up as Mr.E slowly made his way to them, "so who's next?"

Fluttershy immediately squeaked and balled up more, "I cant..... I just cant!"

Braeburn was nudging her softly trying to help her relax, "hey it's alright, ya’ll will be fine alright? Ah can personally guarantee it." The yellow pony was smiling proudly as the pegasus looked up to him.

"How....can you guarantee that?" Fluttershy was slowly unballing herself, there was just something about the farm pony’s voice she felt she could just trust.

Braeburn was completely caught off guard by the question, putting him in a frantic search for an answer, "by..... ummmmm...." He could see that she was intent for an answer so he needed to act fast or risk her actually not jumping, "here, with this." Braeburn slowly took off his hat and placed it on the Fluttershy's head, "that there is mah lucky hat, nothin' bad will happen to ya with it on. Ah promise!"

The timid pegasus looked up from under the hat, "Pinkie promise?"

The earth pony tilted his head now completely confused, "Pinkie what now?"

Fluttershy actually giggled slightly as she stood up leading Braeburn through the motions of a Pinkie promise until he finally managed it right even if he still didn't completely understand. Slowly the pair made their way to the cliff, Fluttershy still very scared and shaking but she was still standing there next to Braeburn as he looked to the host, "can we go together? It's tha only way she’ll go."

Mr.E just shrugged and nodded, “that’s fine by me, Fluttershy your number is thirteen and Braeburn you are seventeen." Taking out his last piece of rope he went about tying Fluttershy's wings.

Braeburn gave Fluttershy one last comforting pat on the back before they both finally jumped off together causing the biggest splash as they hit the water. There was cheering all around as they made their way to shore, Rainbow Dash immediately coming to bring Fluttershy a towel, "You did it Shy!"

Fluttershy turned a deep red as everyponies attention went to her, “I did.... I did it!" For the first time since arriving the shy pegasus was actually smiling.

Everyone was so caught up in the moment that Princess Luna had to clear her throat to attract everyone's attention back to her, "not to be rude, but I still need the numbers."

"Oh.... umm.... thirteen" Fluttershy offered a small smile as Luna looked over to Braeburn.

"Mah number is seventeen." The yellow earth pony stood proud as the host finally came down the trail to meet them.

"Good job everyone, that would be a total of 10000 bits," everyone was cheering as their first success boosted their morale, "however.... 2000 was lost due to a penalty."

"WHAT?" Trixie was infuriated as she stepped forward, "how did we lose bits?"

Mr.E was smiling as she signaled over to Braeburn and Fluttershy, the realization dawning on their faces. "A certain somepony took off a hat while somepony else put it on."

Braeburn’s ears fell back immediately as he looked to everypony, "ahm sorry guys, ah wasn't thinking up there.... ah just wanted to help...."

TRIXIE: Trixie would think that farmer did it on purpose, but he probably isn't smart enough to be the mole. Trixie will have to watch Fluttershy more carefully....

Fluttershy moved over closer to Braeburn before everypony could get upset with him, "please don't be upset... he just wanted to help...."

SOARIN': Could it have really been sabotage? From what I know they're both nice ponies.....

Mr.E quickly brought the attention back to himself as he looked to Octavia and Luna, "We still have one more challenge to finish. Do you two have all the numbers in the correct order?"

Octavia stepped forward as she simply nodded, "Eight, Fifteen, Nineteen, Three, Seven."

Luna was quick to finish the rest as she stepped forward, "Fourteen, Twelve, Six, Thirteen, and Seventeen."

The host stood silent for a moment as if he was thinking it over, "Is that your final answer?" The two mares nodded in unison as he looked from one to the other, "then the pot now sits at 18000, good work!" As everyone cheered the carriages all made their way back down the trail, parking back in front of the group. "That wraps things up for tonight, so lets get to the hotel you will all be staying at for the next few nights so you can all unpack your things and relax.

THE GALLOPHRY PALACE

As the carriages parked, all the contestants were finally able to get their first looks at their new home for their time during these challenges. The hotel stood tall above them all as they were lead inside into the main lobby where Mr.E was already waiting for them with a big smile, twelve black duffle bags were lined up behind him, each labeled with everyone’s cutie mark , and a table sat nearby lined neatly with several journals numbered one through twelve. “Hello and welcome to The Gallophry Palace everyone. This is where we will be staying while we are on our little adventures of ours. Now it’s time for us to choose journal numbers, and your roommates.”

BLUEBLOOD: They’re expecting me to share a room with some commoner? I don’t think so!

“So let’s get this started shall we?” Taking a small bag he had behind him, Mr.E reached in and pulled out a small chip, “the first contestant in room 201 is…” The host was smiling as he paused for drama before reading the name on the chip, “Prince Blueblood! Come on over here Blueblood, grab the bag with your cutie mark and select the journal you want. Remember that these journals are for you and you alone to take notes in to help you figure out who the mole is, so use it as much as you see fit.”

Blueblood stepped forward and lifted his bag from the ground as he trotted to the table looking over all the journals there, “I’ll take number one, since I am the most important pony here.”

BRAEBURN: That prince toots more horns than a marchin’ band, it’s kinda crazy.

Mr.E looked back to the group as he reached back into the bag and pulled out a second chip, “and your roommate is….. Gilda!”

The griffon stepped forward almost smiling at the clearly disgusted prince, “Perfect!” As she looked over the bags she grabbed the only one without a cutie mark and just grabbed any journal off the table, her’s was number five.”

GILDA: Ha, I kind of like sharing a room with that dweeb of a prince, he probably hates me after today and you know what? He probably should!

As the griffon and the prince left arguing for their room, Mr.E turned back to the rest of the group as he reached into the bag and pulled out another chip, “next up and first for room 202 is….. Trixie.”

“It’s The Great and Powerful Trixie! How many times will Trixie have to say that?” The azure show mare huffed as she stepped up taking her bag and proceeding to the table, “Trixie is taking number nine.”

As she stood next to the host, he was already reaching into the bag, “alright and your roommate is….. Cheerilee!”

“Me?” The pink earth pony stepped forward smiling as she took her bag and trotted to the table, “I think I’ll just take six.” And with that the school teacher was off heading to her room with her Great and Powerful roommate.

“Next is room 203, and the first spot goes to….” Mr.E made sure to take his time as he reached into the bag swirling around the remaining chips before finally pulling one out, “Rainbow Dash!”

“Yes! My turn!” The rainbow maned pegasus flew over quickly picking up her rainbow lightning bolt marked bag and gliding to the table, “I’ll take seven.” Finally collecting her stuff she landed herself next to the host looking over who all was left. “So who is my roomie?”

Mr.E flashed a smile as he reached into the bag, “lets find out!” Slowly he pulled out the next chip before reading it out loud, “next for room 203 is….. Soarin’”

RAINBOW DASH: YES! This is so sweet!

The Wonderbolt just smiled as he collected his bag and started looking over the remaining journals, “I think I’ll take ten, it was my audition number for the Wonderbolts so I’d say it’s my lucky number!”

“Well let’s see if that number works for you then,” The host nodded to the two as they took their leave, allowing him to turn back to the rest that remained, “Alright, first for room 204 is…..” Reaching into the bag he instantly pulled out a chip, “Octavia!”

OCTAVIA: To be honest I’m hoping for Lyra, that way she wont mind me playing music just as I wouldn’t mind her.

The grey musician stepped forward and grabbed her bag as she trotted with grace to the table and selected her journal, “Mine will be number Twelve.”

As she took her place next to him, the host reached back into the bag and pulled out the next chip “Now, your roommate is….. Braeburn!”

OCTAVIA: Well it’s not who I wanted but he is on my watch list so this may work out.

The yellow cowpony stepped forward smiling, “yeehaw, it’s mah turn!” Braeburn quickly grabbed his red apple marked bag and went over to the table looking at the journals that remained, “Ah suppose ah’ll take four!”

And with his selection made the two earth ponies made their way to their room, leaving only four ponies left. “Alright, lets see who is the first for room 205.” Mr.E shoved his hoof back into the bag and pulled out one of the remaining chips, “First up is…. Sapphire Shores!”

“MMMMMMMMmmmmmMMMM yeah yeah!” The pony of pop was singing away as she grabbed her bag and went to take a journal, “I’ll take number eight!”

Fluttershy was avoiding eye contact with the pony of pop as Mr.E was busy pulling out the next name, “please no….. please no….”

“Next up is….. Fluttershy!” Mr.E couldn’t contain his laughter as the earth pony celebrated and the timid pegasus recoiled before slowly stepping forward, her head hanging low.

FLUTTERSHY: Ummm…… I don’t want to be mean…. but Sapphire scares me….

Slowly Fluttershy grabbed her bag with the three pink butterflies before looking over the last three journals, “I guess…. I’ll take number eleven?”

Mr.E was still chucking as the two turned to leave and he was left with the final two ponies, “Alright Princess Luna and Lyra it appears you two get the last room number 206! Please just grab your bags and take whichever journal you want.”

Princess Luna stepped aside smiling as she let Lyra go first. The mint green unicorn took number three so she was left with two, “Shall we head to our room then?”

“Lets go,” Lyra wasn’t entirely sure how to react so she just trotted silently next to the Princess as they headed for their room.

Everyone was left to their own business for a few hours before they were once again summoned to the main lobby. Mr.E was waiting for them all as they slowly got there in different intervals until the last of the group finally arrived. “So how is everyone liking their room and roommates?“ The host didn’t even bother to wait for a reply as he just continued, “So is everyone ready for the next challenge? For this one you all must divide yourselves into two teams of six. One group is those who will fight when a challenge arises, and the other group is those who choose to avoid the altercation altogether and flee.” Immediately Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Soarin’, Braeburn, Gilda, and Sapphire took to the fight team, leaving Luna, Octavia, Blueblood, Fluttershy, Lyra, and Cheerilee on the flight team. “Good, now flight team I need you to follow me, the fight team you all get the day off. Your challenge isn’t until tomorrow morning so kick back and relax.” With that Mr.E turned and started to leave the hotel, the six members of the flight team following close behind. Three carriages were awaiting outside to take them to their unknown destination.

A CORN FIELD JUST OUTSIDE BUCKINGHAM

As they arrived at the cornfield the sun had already set and Luna just watched as somewhere in Canterlot her sister raised her moon while she was here competing.

LUNA: I can still raise the moon here, but Celly was insistent that I focus fully on this game….

The host brought attention to himself as everypony was busy looking around at their surroundings, “Alright flight team, I need you now to decide amongst yourselves which three of you are followers and which three are leaders. The followers come to my left and the leaders to my right.” Mr.E took his spot just in front of the cornfield as he waited for them to make their decisions.

Blueblood was again the first to step forward, “I refuse to be a follower, I am a leader!” Before anypony could argue he already went to standing to Mr.E’s right.

Since nopony felt like arguing with him they let him stay and went to deciding the other two who will be leaders, eventually it was settled with Luna and Octavia so they took their spots next to Blueblood as the other three went to Mr.E’s left. “Great, now you will all be paired up and the simplicity of this game is this. The followers will be blindfolded and sent into this corn maze behind me with only a flashlight and a radio ear piece. It will be the leaders job to lead them through the maze without getting them caught by any of the three the guard ponies patrolling around in there. The leaders will be watching from a hot air balloon up above, so be sure to keep track of your follower and escort them to safety, every follower that make it out safely will earn the team 10000 bits. Does everyone understand? Or any question?” After a few moments of silence Mr.E just smiled, “good, then lets get started!”

After a quick shuffle up Fluttershy was teamed with Prince Blueblood, Princess Luna teamed with Cheerilee, and Octavia with Lyra. The three followers were blinded and placed in three different starting points within the maze with only their flashlights and radios as the leaders were sent skyward into the air in the hot air balloon. From above the three leaders quickly went to planning their routes just as the bell was rung signaling the start of the game.

Luna was quick to get started as she levitated her radio in front of her, “Cheerilee, can you hear me? Go forward quickly you have a good distance to go before your first turn comes alright?”

Cheerilee happily trotted along as she followed as directed, “got it!”

Octavia was also managing her leader role quite well as Lyra already turned the forth corner, only bumping into the wall twice now. “Lyra, you have a guard pony heading your way from behind. Turn right now and keep going!”

LYRA: This was pretty intense, I couldn’t see anything with that blindfold on and with only Octavia’s voice to lead me…. My heart was pounding!

Fluttershy was still barely out of her starting position as she kept bumping into wall after wall, the fact that Blueblood was only just yelling at her through her earpiece not helping her in the slightest, “MOVE! Come on, Hurry up!” Fluttershy was trying her hardest as she continued to stumble around hitting every wall she came across. “What are you useless or something? The guard pony is coming! MOVE!” Blueblood was about ready to quit as the sound of crying was now very evident to all in the balloon.

Fluttershy was soon grabbed by the first guard pony and escorted out of the maze leaving just two left in the field and a lost 10000 bits for the group. Luna and Octavia just shook their heads in disgust as Blueblood just stood there not caring about how bad he just hurt the poor pegasus pony who was still crying down below.

OCTAVIA: How could anypony be that heartless? First his refusal to jump and now this? If he’s the mole he isn’t doing a very good job of being subtle….

LUNA: I’m going to have to talk to Celly about this…. She isn’t going to like how he is acting….

Luna did her best to clear her head of what she just witnessed as she focused back to her partner, “Cheerilee, take a right now there is a guard pony heading your way from the left.”

“Alrighty!” Cheerilee was still happily trotting along completely calm as she did her best to listen to Luna. “Where next?”

“Go forward then hang a left when I tell you, your almost there but the guard pony is closing in so you need to hurry.” Focusing ahead of the maze Luna was now able to plan out the last of the escape route. “Go left now quickly!”

Octavia remained calm and collected as she continued with Lyra, but with two guard ponies nearby her escape paths were almost all blocked. “Lyra, go right and get ready to gallop. The guards are nearby but I’m leading you to a decent straight run so you can get away alright?”

“Alright, just tell me when to go,” Lyra bumped into a wall as she turned right but continued on slightly dizzy.

“A left here and run!” Octavia was now planning ahead from the end of the straight path as the guards seem to know they were on her trail.

Lyra took off as fast as her hooves could go as soon as she cleared the turn, “how far do I go?”

“The turn is coming up so slow down and turn right…….. Now!” Octavia let out her held breath as there was now a comfortable distance between Lyra and the guards, now she could focus on getting the unicorn out of the maze.

Cheerilee continued as she had been and happily trotted out the maze with Luna’s directions to the awaiting Mr.E. “Congratulation, you have earned 10000 bits for the group!”  The host took off her blindfold as he led her to the still sniffling Fluttershy, “that just leaves just one team still out in there.”

Octavia was watching as the third guard pony turned and was now patrolling dangerously close to Lyra, “quick, turn right…. The guard is blocking your exit we need to get around him.”

“He’s blocking the exit?’ Some aggravation was apparent in Lyra’s voice as it came through the radio. “So which way do I go now?”

“Just turn the corner, it will turn to the left almost immediately, just stay there and hide…. We’ll have to wait for him to pass by and hope he doesn’t turn…”

“What are you crazy?” Lyra was about to panic as she pressed herself against the wall of corn, “and what happens if he turns?”

“Quiet, it’s a calculated risk I know but from what I’ve seen odds are he wont turn.” Octavia was really taking a risk with this, but she trusted her observations he wouldn’t turn. “Just stay absolutely quiet.”

Lyra put a hoof to her mouth as she could hear the guard approaching, his hoof steps louder than ever with her heightened sense of hearing since being blindfolded. Slowly he got closer and her heart began to beat faster, soon enough the big moment came but he continued forward. Lyra let out a sigh of relief as she heard him pass by, “can I move now?”

Octavia watched in shock that her plan actually worked as the guard continued on his way, “y…yeah just turn left then immediately go right…. You’re almost at the exit.”

Lyra slowly moved away from the wall as she turned left, the sound of the hoof steps slowly getting quieter but she didn’t turn fast enough as she walked straight into the wall of corn making them rustle a lot louder than she would have liked, “oh no….”

The guard was all the way down the hall of corn but as soon as he heard the sound he immediately turned around and saw Lyra, Octavia just watched in horror as he charged at full gallop in Lyra’s direction. “RUN LYRA RUN!” Octavia now had to act fast, the guard was catching up quick so there was no room for errors if Lyra was going to make it in time without getting caught, “Right now! LEFT! Come on Lyra you’re almost there! Left!”

Lyra was running at her full gallop, but no matter how hard she pushed herself the hoof steps behind her just kept getting louder and louder. The guard pony was catching up quickly and if she didn’t hurry she was going to get caught. “How far left?”

“Last right, turn now!” Octavia fell back on her haunches with a loud sigh as Lyra completed the last turn and got out of the maze just seconds before the guard grabbed her.

Mr.E immediately went to removing the unicorns blindfold, “Congratulations Lyra, you made it… but just barely. That puts the group total earnings at 20000 for this challenge and puts the group total to 38000 bits.” Octavia, Luna, and Blueblood finally rejoined the group as Mr.E continued, “there is actually one other little detail I need to share with you all.” Everyone’s eyes were immediately set on to the host as he smiled, “there was an exemption at stake here tonight, the way to get it was simple. Either have the pony placed at the specific starting point and escape for the leader of that team to get it, or get caught for the follower to get it… so can I have Fluttershy, Luna, and Octavia step forward?” Immediately the three stepped forward as they were now the only ones eligible for the exemption, “and for this challenge, the exemption goes to………… Fluttershy!”

BLUEBLOOD: Are you kidding? She gets the exemption? She was useless!

LUNA: Although with what she went through the pegasus deserves it, but still….. She now lost us 12000 bits….. Maybe she knew about the exemption if she got caught…..

With the last of what was needed finally wrapped up everypony got back into the carriages and headed back for the hotel.

THE GALLOPHRY PALACE

The flight team finally made it back to the hotel just in time for dinner as they quickly took their seats with the rest of the group. “So how’d it go?” Braeburn was smiling as the group as he asked the question everyone was obviously thinking.

Luna was the first to respond as she got settled and started to grab some food, “we earned 20000 bits out of 30000.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as the next obvious question came up, “So what happened to the other 10000?”

Fluttershy squeaked instantly and sank into her chair as Octavia started rubbing her back offering a comforting smile, “Fluttershy and Blueblood failed the challenge due to…. communication difficulties… he basically yelled at her until she cried and got caught.”

Blueblood turned his head up as she snuffed at the rest of the table, “It’s not my fault she was-”

The pompous prince was quickly cut off as Rainbow Dash quickly flew into his face, “You made Fluttershy cry? I should hurt you for that!”

Braeburn was quick to get up and try to pull Dash away from the prince, “Careful Rainbow, ya’ll aint wanna go home on account ah him do ya?”

Fluttershy decided to add in before anything bad could happen, “it’s okay Rainbow….. I got an exemption from it….”

“MMMMMMMMMhhhhhmmmmmmmm,” Sapphire was clopping her hooves in joy, “Miss Rose is here to stay!”

Fluttershy squeaked again as she sunk back into her chair, now a very deep red, “please….don’t call me that….”

TRIXIE: Trixie has known Fluttershy for some time now, and has never heard of this name…. Trixie will have to ask Twilight when she gets back home but for now she’ll definitely keep an eye on that pegasus.

Mr.E finally walked in with a big smile, “Good evening everyone, I’ll take it the events of the challenge have been shared fully by now?” His smile grew bigger as the group nodded, “good, so tomorrow morning will be the fight team’s turn and then you all will be taking your first quiz. So I hope all of you are making good use of your journals.”

OCTAVIA: I’ve been taking very detailed notes, and from what I’ve gathered the only possibilities for the mole right now are Fluttershy first, then Braeburn and Prince Blueblood next.

Rainbow Dash was looking at Mr.E with a smile, “so what will we be doing tomorrow anyways?”

“In due time Rainbow Dash, you and everyone else on your team will find out first thing tomorrow morning.” The host bowed to them all as he turned to leave, “be sure to sleep well, you will need it! Good night everyone.”

Dinner ended soon after Mr.E left and everyone excused themselves to their rooms since at least one from each room, excluding Luna and Lyra’s, needed to be rested for the challenge the next day. The two that stayed up the latest was the light blue pair of pegasi, both were too excited for the challenge to come.

Soarin’ still had some snacks with him that he was happily chowing down as he talked with his fellow flyer, “so what do you think the challenge will be?”

Rainbow Dash was pumped as she glided around the room, “I’m not sure, but I hope it’s something action packed! I’m ready to kick flank and fly!” The rainbow pegasus landed on the floor and crouch low in an attack ready stance.

Soarin’ chuckled slightly as he stretched out his wings, “I know what you mean, if it has anything to do with flying then I’ll have this in the bag! Flying is the name of my game!”

Rainbow watched her roommate and friend with a big smile, “hey Soarin’ you and I are close considering your relationship with Applejack and all, and we are both good friends with Fluttershy who now has Sapphire! So if you and I work together we can get pretty far in this game.”

Soarin’ actually stopped eating for once as he listened to Rainbow’s speech, it actually made a lot of sense. “So you and I work together since we’re rooming together makes sense, but the only thing I am concerned about is Fluttershy, she has already costed us quite a few bits….. do you think she can be the mole?”

RAINBOW DASH: Fluttershy the mole? Well I suppose it makes sense… but I still think it’s Trixie!

“Honestly I don’t know, so far everything she has done is something she would normally do…. We both know that.” The rainbow pegasus waved her mane around as she thought about it, “I still say it’s Trixie!”

Now the stunt flyer nearly choked in what he was eating, “Trixie? Why? She hasn’t done anything yet!”

Rainbow Dash just scoffed, “Are you kidding? It’s Trixie! What more reason do you need? You should at least know her a little bit!”

“I don’t know she seems fine when around Twi and Luna, and they do have Midnight,” Soarin’ just shrugged as he kept eating, “what about Brae and Blueblood?”

Rainbow rubbed a hoof under her chin as she thought about it for a second, “That prince is probably just some jerk but Braeburn? You really think he can be the mole?”

Soarin’ reclines back into his bed as he looked up to the ceiling, “I wouldn’t say no, but I cant say yes either….I’m just going to keep an eye on him. But for right now, consider us partners in this game!”

“Deal, but you better not end up being the mole!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she jumped onto her own bed. “Good night Soarin’!”

“Night Dash!” And with that both flyers finally went to bed.

MAIN LOBBY

Day 2

The next morning the fight team was quickly assembled into the main lobby where Mr.E was waiting for them to arrive with a big smile as they lined up in front of him, “alright, are all of you ready to head out for your challenge?”

BRAEBURN: Ah am so ready, ah need to redeem mahself for the mess up in tha first challenge!

TRIXIE: Trixie has been ready for this, Trixie is too Great and Powerful to lose!

Mr.E quickly led the group outside as they all got into their carriages and were quickly carried off to their destination.

BUCKINGHAM COLISEUM

Mr.E led the group of six to the center of the arena as they entered the coliseum, six other ponies were already waiting for them there. Of the six two were earth ponies, two were unicorns, and the last two were pegasi. “Alright fight team, the basis for your challenge is simple. This will be like an olden time gladiator battle of five on five.” The six there looked at each other slightly confused as the counted to make sure they had their numbers right, “the other remaining member of your team will be Caesar, or the king/queen for your team. The sole objective for this game will be to take out the enemy Caesar. So I will need you to pick out exactly who you want to take that role, but bear in mind that their role will be big in success for the challenge they themselves will not be of major use to the rest of the team as the rest fight to defend them. Those who will be fighting please stand to my right while the designated Caesar please head over there to the table for further instruction.” With one hoof, the host pony pointed to the table a few feet away.

Gilda and Trixie wasted no time lacing themselves to the right of Mr.E leaving just Braeburn, Soarin’, Rainbow Dash, and Sapphire. “Alright guys how are we going to figure this out?” Soarin’ immediately took charge as he looked to his fellow ponies.

Rainbow Dash looked over to Mr.E before turning back to Braeburn, “listen Brae, I don’t mean to be rude, but out of us all here you are the only one who has costed us some bits….”

The yellow farm pony quickly cut her off as he nodded, “ah understand, ah’ll take the job to prove ah really didn’t mean to lose us them bits.” With a nod from the other three they all took their place next to Mr.E as Braeburn looked over to the table, “ya’ll just make sure to protect me okay?”

Mr.E joined Braeburn in his walk to the table as five separate helmets and a laurel could now be seen on the table, only one of which was silver while the rest were gold. “Alright Braeburn, since you are Caesar the laurel is yours, but now you must name who on your team is more likely to be a traitor. They will receive the silver helmet, but choose carefully and present them all with their helmets as I tell the opposing team that they too will have an earth pony Caesar.”

The farmer had to remove his cowboy hat to put on the laurel as he carefully looked the silver helmet over, “more likely ta be a traitor?”

BRAEBURN: Well how am ah supposed to know? All ah had to go on was what ah knew about everyone…. And that wasn’t much.

After finally making his decision he called everyone over and started handing out the helmets, the silver one going to Trixie as she looked at him quizzically as to why hers was a different color, “and why does Trixie not get a gold one?”

As if on queue Mr.E trotted back to the group, “I see the silver helmet has been given out, then Trixie this is for you.” The black host pony held out a small piece of paper in which the stage mare quickly grabbed from him and began to open it up, “I’d recommend reading it away from everyone before we start.”

Trixie just rolled her eyes as she left a few feet away from the group and opened the note reading it to herself in a hushed voice, “You have been selected as the most likely to be a traitor by Caesar, now is your chance to prove them wrong or right. If and only if your team is victorious in this challenge then you will have an important decision to make. You can do the good thing and let your Caesar live allowing your team to keep the bits earned or you can sacrifice those bits and slay Caesar yourself to earn yourself an exemption for tonight‘s execution. The choice is yours.” The magician had to read the note over twice more to make sure she fully understood it and made up her mind on what she was going to do before she rejoined the rest of the group ready to compete.

“Alright now that we are all ready I just need to explain a few things. First everyone of you will be wearing one of these specially made harnesses,” Mr.E held up one of the black harnesses for an example, “they all have two sensor plates that will stay in place on both sides of the body, the challenge is to simply take out both plates. The first team to take out the opposing teams leader wins. Also it will be good to note that they have sensors in them to instantly break if you go out of bounds, so watch the boundaries. Another thing to note is that you all will be provided with a spear as your only weapon, excluding for Caesar who will be provided a shield. They are specially made so that they only affect the plates and will not pierce skin or harm anyone in any way but they do not have to be used to smash the plates. Oh and one last note goes to Trixie specifically, you can use magic but only to form a small shield or to shoot bolts at an enemy target. So now is everyone ready?” With a quick nod they all began to suit up.

Rainbow Dash: This is going to be sweet, the other team wont know what hit them!

“Oh before you begin I might add that your opponents are specially trained fighter ponies, so they will not make this easy. Good luck!” Mr.E trotted to the sidelines as the two teams each lined up at their starting positions, the challenge was about to begin, “READY….. SET…….GO!” The host blew hard on his whistle and everyone quickly took off.

Soarin’ instantly took to the sky flying straight up to the edge of the arena boundaries, if there was anything he knew it was to get a good view of the battlefield, “time to shine and prove why the Wonderbolts are the best!”

Rainbow Dash took off along the ground bobbing and weaving as the enemy ponies charged in her direction, but after a quick glance it quickly became apparent that none of the opposing pegasus ponies were after her. Looking up the rainbow pegasus finally realized who the first one was targeting, “Soarin’ look out!” As quick as she could Rainbow took off up into the sky, but she wasn’t fast enough as she had to watch the pegasus instantly smash into the Wonderbolt, sending him several feet out of bounds instantly smashing both of his plates. Soarin’ was out.

SOARIN’: How could I screw up so badly…. Spitfire will have my hide when she hears about this!

Rainbow Dash quickly shot up to the pegasus who was now flying directly at her. The two were locked in a game of chicken as both refused to give the other an inch. The two were in full speed as they got closer and closer, their collision just about guaranteed when suddenly out of nowhere a brown and white blur swooped in and instantly smashed both of the enemy ponies plated with her talons, “sorry Dashie, but you’ll have to be faster than that if you want to win!” Gilda let out a loud laugh as she took off after the remaining enemy pegasus.

Trixie had her hooves full as she was left dealing with both unicorns. Braeburn was behind her with his shield but he wasn’t much use to her as she returned the shots heading in her direction from the enemy unicorns, “come on is that all you got? Trixie can do this all day!” The two on one battle continued fiercely as both sides continued shooting and dodging, Trixie only managing one good shot to take out a plate on one of the other unicorns.

The only one on the fight team having a problem now was Sapphire Shores, no matter what the pony of pop tried the other earth pony always had her on the ropes barely able to dodge his strikes. Sapphire was quickly getting desperate as she looked up to the sky for anyone to help and quickly spotted the rainbow maned pegasus, “Rainbow, help me!”

The next few moments were a blur as the cyan pegasus instantly swooped down at the earth pony causing him to roll out of the way just in time while simultaneously taking out one of the pegasus’s plates, but the move provided the golden opportunity as Sapphire swung her spear like crazy and managed a lucky hit to one of his plates smashing it on contact. The unicorns from both sides were quick to act and soon both Rainbow Dash and the enemy earth pony found themselves out and on the sidelines, leaving a very shocked Sapphire in the middle of the battlefield alone. The only thing she could think to do was run, so she did straight to Trixie and Braeburn.

“What are you doing over here go! Trixie has this covered!” The stage mare was not amused as the singer looked around franticly for what to do next, “look, Trixie will have you covered with her shield so all you need to do is charge over there and take out there leader and we win.”

In an instant Sapphire could feel the unicorn pushing her forward as a shield appeared in front of her, “alright, then….” Sapphire Shores took off as fast as she could straight at the two unicorns as the shield deflected their attempts at stopping her and soon she found herself barreling through their defenses straight for the last enemy earth pony and her target.

SMASH

Trixie quickly shot off two shots taking out one plate on each of the unicorns as her distraction idea worked, but what amazed her the most was that Sapphire actually managed to take out a plate on the earth pony before going down herself. So now the teams were left with both teams having one unicorn, a flyer, and their leader, and out of all that were left she and Braeburn were the only ones still with two plates. They were  winning.

Braeburn was busy dodging whatever stray shots were fired his way as he mimicked the other earth pony’s method of staying behind their unicorn, but eventually that wouldn’t be enough. He will have to be able to defend himself if Trixie lost so it was either defend himself now or possibly become a sitting duck later, the choice wasn’t hard. Slowly and inch by inch the cowpony stepped away from the unicorn fully aware that he was attracting the enemy unicorn’s attention as he turned and leaned onto his front hooves just as she shot at him. Giving the kick all he can Braeburn bucked the bolt straight into the sky and luckily managed a direct hit on the enemy pegasus, but he quickly found himself on the floor as his body went limp from the magic behind the bolt. He was definitely now a sitting duck and sure enough one of his plates went quickly.

Trixie acted quickly as she got in front of Braeburn, but with him not moving her job instantly became harder and she quickly lost her first plate. The performer tried her hardest to keep up as she shot bolt after bolt but she was quickly losing ground. Deep down she knew they were going to need a miracle to win this, and now that just didn’t seem likely.

SMASH

All jaws dropped as Gilda now stood over the enemy Caesar, both of his plates now fully destroyed, “and that’s how it’s done!” The griffon stood proud as the rest of the team cheered from the sideline.

Trixie finally let out a sigh of relief as the end game whistle was blown and she was able to turn to Braeburn as he slowly started to get up, “Trixie wanted to thank you for giving her this helmet.” The azure unicorn smirked and with a quick flash of light a bolt from her horn quickly smashed the cowpony’s last plate.

Mr.E stepped forward almost instantly as he blew the whistle again, “looks like you made your choice Trixie, you have now earned an exemption for tonight and no bits are earned.”

“WHAT?’ Gilda was quick to get into the unicorns face, “how dare you cost me the bits that I earned!”

Trixie just huffed and turned her back, “The Great and Powerful Trixie will do whatever it takes to ensure she makes it to the end of this game, so if some bits are lost along the way then so be it!” With that the magician quickly headed back to her carriage.

The rest of their group just shook their head in disbelief, how could anyone be that selfish? They all knew they would have something to think about when they got back, slowly they all climbed into their carriages and were on their way back to the hotel.

THE GALLOPHRY PALACE

The rest of the six sat patiently in the lobby as they watched the returning six walk into the door. The looks on most of their faces made it apparent that whatever happened wasn’t very good. Luna was the first to speak up as they sat with them, instantly opening her journal to take notes, “what happened?”

Rainbow Dash just shook her head as she looked to Trixie, “ask her! She costed us 20000 bits!”

Once again Trixie huffed as she looked back to group, “and Trixie got an exemption from it! The Great and Powerful Trixie will dare any of you to say you wouldn’t accept the offer!”

Rainbow was already in her face, “I can guarantee I wouldn’t! It’s called loyalty, ever heard of it? I would have thought Twi would have at least taught you that!”

The unicorn was now pushing back as she glared at the pegasus, “Trixie doesn’t need to be taught anything! If you would refuse that kind of offer than you are a foal!”

Quickly Mr.E stepped in pushing the two apart, “alright ladies, now isn’t the time for that. If everyone will take their seats I will be happy to show you all the events for both challenges.” Mr.E held up two disks as he smiled, “that way you all know exactly what happened if you were not there. Make sure to take good notes or you may miss something crucial. The first quiz is tonight!”

As the movies ended everyone went their separate ways to think and study for the first quiz. None of them wanted to be the first to go.

GILDA: I’ll admit I hate Trixie, but I would have done it too…. So the mole has to be either Soarin’ for losing so quickly, Blueblood for not even trying to be helpful, and Fluttershy for losing twice.

OCTAVIA: After watching everything today, I may have to change up my ideas on who the mole is.

LUNA: I personally know Trixie, so I wouldn’t put it passed her to do what she did…. She isn’t a suspect for me.

Cheerilee was trotting to her room smiling but as she was walking by the rooms a mint green unicorn pulled the earth pony into her room looking at her intently, “Cheerilee, I need to talk to you.”

“Oh? What about?” Cheerilee tilted her head slightly but was still smiling as big as ever.

“About the game, what else? The quiz is coming up and I want to make sure we don’t go home!” Lyra sighed as she sat on her bed pulling out her journal, “after what we saw today I think we can say Trixie isn’t the mole.”

“But didn’t she cost us 20000 bits?” Cheerilee was genuinely  confused, she had been thinking about Trixie being the mole since she saw the videos.

Lyra quickly flipped through her journal to prepare for more notes, “I know that, but think of why… she did it for the exemption. I mean, I know I probably would have done it…”

“You’d give up bits for an exemption?” Cheerilee was taken aback, she wouldn’t expect Lyra as such a game player.

“Well yeah, it’s not like I have a choice. I’m doing this for Bon-Bon, so if I need to give up bits to guarantee my spot then I’d do it.” Lyra nodded her head as she dug through her bag and pulled out a picture she had brought of Bon-Bon.

“I suppose I could see that, and it does make sense.” The pink earth pony sat as she thought about it, “then who do you think is the mole?”

Lyra put the picture back in her bag as she flipped through her journal, “right now my guesses are still on Braeburn and Fluttershy, but mostly Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy? Well she did lose us bits so I suppose that makes sense, but Braeburn? Wasn’t he just trying to help at the cliff? What else did he do?” Cheerilee was now writing in her journal as she really started thinking about it.

“Braeburn did lose us the 2000 bits, but he also wasn’t that helpful at the gladiator challenge. Which also brings me to Soarin’, he’s a Wonderbolt right?” Lyra was busy scribbling away as her thought process started to go, “Aren’t they suppose to be the best flyers in Equestria? He lost that challenge in under a minute easily putting our team at a disadvantage.”

“But Braeburn was put in that position wasn’t he, by the others? Though Soarin’ is a Wonderbolt, so he should be the best flyer here… maybe he just wasn’t paying attention?” The school teacher was now getting more and more confused. “Well it’s something to think about, but right now I just want to take a nap. See you later Lyra.”

CHEERILEE: Was Lyra trying to confuse me? She didn’t seem too helpful after all that… could she be the mole?

The rest of the day went by quickly and soon everyone found themselves at dinner once again, but this time the conversations were kept down as everyone was anticipating the upcoming quiz. After tonight, one of them was going home and none of them wanted that to be them. Causally Mr.E trotted in either oblivious to the anxiety in the air or ignoring it completely as he smiled to the group. “I hope you all studied up because it is time for the first quiz, who would like to go first? Once you’re done you may head back to your room until you are called back down for the execution ceremony.”

One by one the contestant walked to the booth set up for them to take their quiz.

Question 1: What color carriage did the mole arrive in?

A. Violet

B. Red

C. Sky blue

D. Orange

E. Yellow

F. Dark blue

RAINBOW DASH: How in the hay am I supposed to remember that? I think Trixie came in the sky blue one…..

Question 2: What is the mole?

A. Pegasus Pony

B. Griffon

C. Earth Pony

D. Unicorn Pony

E. Alicorn

LUNA: Well I know it’s not me so I can scratch that answer

Question 3: Was the mole selected as good with numbers or having a good memory?

A. Yes

B. No

CHEERILEE: Both Luna and Octavia have been so great so far, I don’t think they can be the mole.

Question 4: What number was the mole to jump?

A.1st

B.2nd

C.3rd

D.4th

E. 5th

F. 6th

G. 7th

H: 8th

I: 9th and 10th

J: Did not jump

SOARIN’: You have got to be joking…. I need to take better notes…..

Question 5: Which team was the mole on for the second challenge?

A. Flight

B. Fight

LYRA: I’m going with fight, they just have more potentials for the mole than our team did….

Question 6: In the corn field maze challenge was the mole a Leader or Follower?

A. Follower

B. Leader

C. Did not compete

GILDA: I’m pretty sure I know who the mole is so this quiz is too easy.

Question 7: What role did the mole play in the gladiator battle?

A. Caesar

B. Fighter

C. Traitor

D. Did not compete

FLUTTERSHY: Oh…ummm… I don’t really know….

Question 8: Was the mole selected for Caesar or the traitor?

A. Yes

B. No

RAINBOW DASH: YES, Trixie was the traitor!

Question 9: Is the mole exempt tonight?

A. Yes

B. No

SAPPHIRE: Well odds are with no so I’m going with that!

Question 10: Who is the mole?

A. Sapphire Shores

B. Prince Blueblood

C. Fluttershy

D. Braeburn

E. Lyra

F. Cheerilee

G. Octavia

H: Princess Luna

I: Rainbow Dash

J: Gilda

K: Soarin’

L: The Great and Powerful Trixie

BLUEBLOOD:  I doubt anyone actually knows that, but I’ll figure out soon enough!

Soon after the last quiz was done all the contestants were once again brought into the main lobby, only now a giant screen sat in the middle of the room on a makeshift stage with twelve chairs neatly lined up in front of it. Mr.E stood next to the screen with a small laptop sitting on the podium next to him,  his smile as big as ever as they all walked in, “greeting in welcome all of you to your first execution, here is where we find out which of you knows the least about the mole and is therefore going home.” Slowly they all took their seats as he turned on the giant screen to show a giant green hoof print in the middle screen with all of their pictures around it, three in each corner. “One by one I will pick your picture and hoof print will blink from green to red. If it turns green then you are safe, if it turns red then you have been executed from the game and are therefore the mole‘s first victim.” Mr.E then turned his attention to Fluttershy and Trixie, “you two have exemptions for this quiz so you are automatically safe.” After a few quick taps at the laptop the pictures of Fluttershy and Trixie turned green. “Now then, who wants to go first?”

Cheerilee took a deep breath as she raised a hoof, “I’ll go first!”

“Very well,” once again the host went to tapping at the laptop and soon the hoof print began to blink from green to red. “Cheerilee you are….”

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GREEN

“Safe,” Mr. E smiled to the earth pony as her picture also turned green, “alright then who’s next?

“Ah’ll do it,” Braeburn was the next to raise his hoof and soon the screen’s hoof print resumed it’s blinking.

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GREEN

“Yeehaw!” The earth pony celebrated as his picture was now the fourth to turn green.

Next up was Princess Luna, she watched the screen intently as it flashed from red to green.

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GREEN

The princess nodded and smiled slightly in approval as her picture turned green.

LUNA: I was actually kind of nervous…. Celly would have teased me to no end if I lost first!

Octavia was the next to volunteer, she held her instrument close as she watched the hoof print. Outside she was as calm as can be, but inside she was as nervous as everyone else

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GREEN

Blueblood was now the next to go as she sat there proud and fully certain he wasn’t going anywhere.

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GREEN

BLUEBLOOD: I knew I was safe, there is no way I’d lose to some commoners and Luna was already safe!”

“Alright now it’s my turn,” Gilda stood up as she watched the host tap on the laptop once more. The hoof print doing as it has done and blinking from green to red.

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RED

“WHAT?” Gilda’s jaw dropped as the red hoof print was staring her in the face, “no way, this cant be right! How can I lose to a bunch of dweebs?” The griffon quickly stormed off as she grabbed her bag, “you know what I didn’t even want to be here anyways! Laters lameos!” Gilda quickly stomped outside the awaiting carriage, unlike the ones that brought them here this one was simply all black with a picture of the world and a pony in the middle of it.

“And with that, Gilda is the first to be executed by the mole. Good job making it through the first execution everypony.” Mr.E quickly went to turning the rest of the pictures green as he also deleted Gilda’s from the screen entirely, “Eleven of you are left, but come next execution there will be only ten.”

BLUEBLOOD: Good riddance! Now I get my own room like I deserve.

RAINBOW DASH: I wasn’t expecting Gilda to go so early…. but it just means that my competition got a little easier!

Everypony slowly made their ways back to their rooms to get a good nights sleep, tomorrow was just going to bring another challenge and they needed to be ready.

Who can you trust?

The Contestants

Name: Rainbow Dash

Alias/Nickname: Dashie

Birthday: August 7th

Favorite Color: Rainbow

Hometown; Ponyville

Occupation: Weather pony

Name: Cheerilee

Alias/Nickname: Lee/Ms.Cheer

Birthday: February 14th

Favorite Color: Burgundy

Hometown: Ponyville

Occupation: School Teacher

Name: Soarin'

Alias/Nickname: Bottomless Pit

Birthday: December 12th

Favorite Color:  Sky Blue

Hometown: Cloudsdale

Occupation: Stunt flyer/performer

Name: Braeburn

Alias/Nickname: Brae

Birthday: September 30th

Favorite Color: Orange

Hometown: Appleoosa

Occupation: Farmer

Name: The Great and Powerful Trixie

Alias/Nickname: Trixie/Tri

Birthday: October 27th

Favorite Color: Violet

Hometown: Canterlot/Ponyville

Occupation: Show Mare/Entertainer

Name: Sapphire Shores

Alias/Nickname: Sapphire

Birthday: November 18th

Favorite Color: Sapphire

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Pop Artist

Name: Fluttershy

Alias/Nickname: Shy/Miss Rose Papillonne

Birthday: May 2nd

Favorite Color: Yellow

Hometown: Ponyville

Occupation: Animal Caretaker/Veterinarian

Name: Princess Luna

Alias/Nickname: Lulu

Birthday: January 1st

Favorite Color: Midnight Blue

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Royal Ambassador

Name: Octavia

Alias/Nickname: Tavi

Birthday: July 22nd

Favorite Color: White

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Musician

Name: Lyra

Alias/Nickname: N/A

Birthday: June 28th

Favorite Color: Teal

Hometown: Ponyville

Occupation: Musician

Name: Prince Blueblood

Alias/Nickname: Blueblood

Birthday: March 13th

Favorite Color: Gold

Hometown: Canterlot

Occupation: Unspecified

DINING HALL

Day 3

Princess Luna sat alone peacefully eating her breakfast as she watched the sun slowly begin to arise. With her normal schedule back in Canterlot having her awake throughout the night and asleep through the day, she was only now getting tired but now everypony was set to start waking up so there was no chance of sleep now. Until she can get used to the new schedule the princess of the night was going to have to rely heavily on her excellent note taking skills to get her through this game since she couldn’t rely too much on thinking clearly when she is as tired as she is sure to be soon enough.

The Great and Powerful Trixie was the first to join the princess downstairs and quickly started to fix up her own breakfast, “didn’t sleep well Trixie takes it?”

“Not too much sleep really, but I’ll manage,” Luna let out a soft sigh as she finished off her breakfast that had been sitting in front of her for some time.

“So then is it safe for Trixie to assume you have been thinking about the game?” The show mare was already smiling as she looked up from her food, “of everypony here Trixie will obviously only trust her teacher.”

TRIXIE: The Great and Powerful Trixie will always trust Princess Luna, there is no way she is the mole.

The princess was already shaking her head but a small smile formed across her muzzle, “Yes actually I have, I’ve been up for quite some time so it was something that came up. Did you care to discuss anything in particular before the others arrive?”

The azure mare laughed slightly as she nodded, “but of course Trixie does! This is a game after all, and The Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t against making a coalition or two to help her get farther.”

Luna was giggling softly as she looked over her pupil, “not one to make too many friends are you Trixie?”

“Trixie doesn’t need friends here, she has all she needs in Ponyville,” a small blush was now finding its way to the magician’s face as she smiled, the show mare was furiously rubbing her cheeks as she tried to rub away the blush, “With all Trixie has she doesn’t need anything else.”

The conversation was cut short as slowly the others started making their way downstairs and helping themselves to breakfast. There was some small talk as everypony ate, but most decided to just stay quiet and to themselves. “Good morning everypony!” Mr. E burst into the room with a big smile as he looked over everypony present. “Did you all sleep well knowing you made it passed the first execution?” There was various replies from the group as Mr. E continued, “Well today is a new day and as we all should know, with a new day comes new adventures!” Some of the group let out a groan as the exuberant host continued on, “now once again the group will be split in two. One side the doers the other thinkers. I need five doers and six thinkers so go ahead and decide that now.”

RAINBOW DASH: Thinking? What do I look like? An egghead?

In an instant Rainbow Dash, Trixie, Blueblood, and Soarin’ took to the doers side while Lyra, Luna, Fluttershy, Cheerilee, and Octavia took to the thinkers side, leaving just Braeburn and Sapphire left to decide.

Sapphire took a quick glance of one team then the other and was quick to start heading to the thinkers side as she looked back to Braeburn with a smile, “I’d like to take this side, if you don’t mind.”

The yellow cowpony just simply smiled and nodded as he looked to those he was left with, “not at all, as long as ya’ll actually let me do something this go around.”

“There will be no doubt about that Braeburn, trust me.” The was the host was smiling mixed with how he talked made most everyone uneasy as they all started to get seated again. “Right, so now that that is settled you all need to know that the doers will be taken to their challenge just after lunch, as for the others your challenge will take place tomorrow. Until then you are all free to go.” With a simple nod the host pony quickly dismissed himself and left everypony to do as they pleased.

OCTAVIA: Why is it that every time that pony opens his mouth I get a bad feeling about what is to come?

After a few more minutes Fluttershy was the first to excuse herself from the table as she went to study her notes and soon after everypony else started to leave as well most leaving in groups as they all went their separate ways leaving just Sapphire sitting by herself. As she watched everyone leave she wanted to talk to somepony but it already seemed everyone was set with their small groups or just themselves. Eventually the pony of pop decided she’d just head to her room for a quick nap, she was sure her roommate wouldn’t mind while she studied. Slowly the singer made her way to the room but as she neared the door she could just barely hear the canary yellow pegasus inside narrating to herself whatever it was she was writing. With curiosity quickly getting the best of her Sapphire quickly found her ear pressed to the door and only after a few words her eyes popped open as she realized that Fluttershy wasn’t writing notes.

Inside the room the usually shy and quiet pegasus was quickly narrating to herself through her excitement as she was just now getting into a more intimate part of her new novel, “the younger mare was laid across the bed a deep blush across her face as she was fully spread for her soon to be lover, “m…. make me sing,” the words were soft and low as the mare’s blush only deepened. Scarlet Skies chuckled softly as she slowly leaned down, kissing the bridge of her lovers nose, “anything you wish.” The two ponies lips met in a passionate embrace as Scarlet’s tongue quickly- EEEK!” In an instant Fluttershy was red faced and trying to hide away her book as Sapphire Shores quickly barged into the room with a wide knowing smile.

“Please tell me I can read that!” Sapphire Shores was quickly approaching the pegasus as she eyed the journal she was trying to hide. “Or better yet, just continue! I’ll just sit here and listen!” The singer was getting into her sing song voice as her excitement only grew.

Fluttershy’s head only got lower and lower as her blush deepened, “b…. but it’s now finished…… nopony is….. supposed to know about it yet.” The yellow pony had her journal well tucked under her as she looked as Sapphire, “wh….what are you doing here a….anyhow?”

Sapphire Shored just raised an eyebrow as she looked to Fluttershy, “this is my room too you know, I was going to take a nap but this just seems so much better!” The earth pony let out a slightly sung giggle as she continued to watch the journal. “So do you take any actual notes in there at all?”

Fluttershy looked down at her journal before picking it up and flipping through the pages, her blush remaining as she finally notices how much of the journal was already taken up by her new novel, “well some.”

SAPPHIRE SHORES: Does she want to go home? Come on! I may love her books more than the next pony but even I know I need to take notes in this game!

Sapphire quickly went to her bed and retrieved her journal before looking back to Fluttershy, “Now I trust you so I’ll share my notes, but you have to promise not to tell anypony else alright?”

“Oh um okay…” Fluttershy just sat there as Sapphire opened up her journal and began going over everything she had written so far. The two sat there for the next few hours until it was finally time for lunch, as they made their way downstairs it seemed everypony was already seated and talking as they ate.

Soon enough Mr. E made his appearance once more with his signature smile as he looked over the group, “Did everypony enjoy their morning?” Without waiting for a full response he continued, “now then as soon as you are finished I will need to see the five doers in the main lobby the challenge starts as soon as the last one arrives. Everyone else enjoy the rest of your day you will be informed on how they do later this evening.” As quickly as he came the host was gone once again leaving everypony to talk amongst themselves again.

TRIXIE: The Great and Powerful Trixie isn’t afraid of anything, she can do any challenge blindfolded!

Without wasting time Trixie, Blueblood, and Braeburn made their way to the lobby as Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ took their time as they walked, “listen Soarin’ I’m telling you Trixie is the mole! Just keep an eye on her and you’ll see.”

SOARIN': To be honest I’m not really sure why Rainbow dislikes her so much, but maybe she is right to watch her…… or maybe she is just trying to trick me. Ugh, I’m just more confused than ever!

Soarin’ threw the thought around in his mind for a while but the more he thought about it the more the fact that Rainbow was so adamant about somepony else being the mole made her seem more suspicious than anything. If anything all he knew was that he couldn’t truly trust anypony.

GALLOPHRY PALACE LOBBY

As soon as Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ were seated the host took his spot in front of the group of five, “Alright everypony since you all decided to be doers, your challenge will have you do a dare based upon what you roll. One by one I will take you into the next room, in there is a simple craps table with a colored die sitting on top. All you have to do is roll the die and then do a dare according to what you roll. Simple enough to understand? The prize for this challenge is 40000 bits, now to make sure you earn those bits for this challenge at least three of the five of you need to successfully complete your dares. Again simple right? Though I would also like to mention that these dares are specifically made for each of you so don’t expect anything easy.” With a smile he looked over the five in front of him before deciding to start with the magician, “alright so Trixie follow me and we shall begin!”

The stage mare followed close behind as they both entered the next room. Sure enough it was just a simple room with the craps table sitting directly in the middle with an azure colored die right on top, Mr. E took his place behind it and with a smile beckoned her over, “So what does Trixie have to do then?” A soft blue glow covered the die as Trixie lifted it up to inspect it.

Reaching under the table Mr. E pulled out a card and began reading it out loud, “Trixie for your dare should you roll a one through three you will have to dye your mane green or pink, we’ll leave that up to you. Now should you roll a four through six you will have to dye your coat green or pink.”

Trixie just stood there with her mouth hanging open as she looked at the host in disbelief, “there is no way The Great and Powerful Trixie will color any part of her body! Trixie is a performer and is well known as the beautiful and amazing mare that is blue and silver! Trixie is not going to do this!”

“Now hold on, you haven’t even rolled the die yet! Besides this is for 40000 bits, just roll and go to the salon then you can make your choice on whether or not you’ll do this alright?” Mr. E was practically grinning from ear to ear now as he sat there watching the stage mare huff and puff about the scenario.

“Fine, Trixie will roll and go,” with that she threw the die on to the table and watched as it bounced around before finally stopping and settling on the number two, “Trixie is still not going to do it though!”

“Please send in Rainbow Dash on your way out please,” Mr. E continued to smile as he watched the obviously annoyed mare leave taking his time to replace the die on the table with a new blue die but this one had rainbow edges. Soon enough the weather pony flew in with a smirk as she approached the table, “so what did you make the braggart do? She seemed rather upset.”

“You all will find out each other’s dares later, in the mean time I’m sure we should be going over yours right about now.” With a quick grin the host grabbed the second card under the table and began to read, “So your dares are, if you roll a one through three then you’ll be saddled with a ball and chain until lunchtime tomorrow, and a four through six will reward you with a cell to yourself for the night.”

The weather pony let out a slightly unsatisfied groan as she thought it over, “so basically it’s no flying or no nice bed then?” As the host nodded she put a hoof to her chin trying to figure which she’d prefer, “well then I guess I’ll hope for a higher number then, I can do without a bed but no flying would drive me crazy.” Rainbow grabbed the die and tossed it across the table, her nerves working as she watched it continue to roll willing it to land as she wanted until it finally slowed and stopped, “Yes, a four!” The mare gave a small hoof pump as she looked to the host, “so now what?”

“You’re free to go, you’ll be shown to your new room for the night later this evening.” Mr. E shooed the pegasus out as he replaced the die with a new white one, “and if you please send in Prince Blueblood.”

RAINBOW DASH: Just stay in some cell for the night? That’ll be easy! We should have this challenge in the bag!

The prince quickly made his way to the room as he was summoned by the blue mare, “is it finally my turn then? Honestly I’m the prince I should have been first!” The white unicorn sat at the edge of the table not really paying attention as he simply just look himself over, “and can we get this over with? I can probably think of better ways to use my time.”

“By all means roll the die now if you want, or you can let me at least explain your dares first if you are so inclined enough as to actually listen.” The host rolled his eyes a bit, the prince was by far one of the worst ponies to be around in his personal opinion.

With a soft white glow the die flew into the air and tumbled around a few times before finally landing on the number five, “there now can I go so I can get this over with?”

Mr. E tried and failed miserably to hide his glee as he looked to the card he had for Blueblood and to the number he had rolled, “certainly, your carriage is waiting for you just outside. If you please send in Braeburn next on your way out.”

The host was just barely able to replace the white die with a yellow as the cowpony finally stepped through the door, “Hey there, Ah reckon it’s my turn now right?” With a slight nod from the other pony Braeburn stepped forward and took a seat just in front of the table, “so what do ah do for mah dare then?”

As the farmer leaned forward taking the die in his mouth the host took his chance to grab the next card and start reading aloud, “Alright Braeburn, if you roll a one through three here then you will have to go the rest of the day and until noon tomorrow without food of any kind.”

BRAEBURN: Ouch, ah don’t think ah can go without eatin’ for that long…..

The host continued on despite the seriously scrunched up face Braeburn was making at the first dare, “and if you roll a four through six then you will have to go the rest of the day and again until noon without any sleep.”

“No sleep? Not even at night?” Braeburn was slightly stunned silent as he thought it over, in truth he didn’t like the sound of either dare but if he had to pick one over the other he would probably go with the lack of sleep in account of him always able to eat back on his farm. Food was just something he was used to on a regular basis, and going a day without just didn’t seem pleasant. “Alright, then ah guess here goes nothing’.” With a quick flick of his head he released the die from his mouth and watched as it rolled across the table bouncing off the opposite wall before slowing and finally stopping, “six…. That was which one agin?”

“No sleep,” The host said it so nonchalantly that it almost didn’t sound that bad, “you will be given a place to stay overnight so we can watch you and still allow your roommate some sleep, so now please send in out last guest for this challenge please.” There was a slight grin on the host’s face as he replaced all the dies back onto the table alongside the one Braeburn had used. As he placed out all the cards used he smiled once more when the stunt flyer flew into the room.

“Hey, so it’s finally my turn? Alright let’s do this!” Soarin’ sat at the end of the table and tilted his head slightly as he looked at the dice and the table, “so…. What exactly do I do?”

Mr. E pulled out the last card from under the table as he looked over the wonderbolt sitting there ready for action, “You Soarin’ now have the chance to win exemption from the next execution, but only if you complete all the dares given to your fellow contestants.”

SOARIN’: Alright this will be easy! I’m pretty much guaranteed to stay now!

The host picked up the first die and placed it in front of the performer, “For your first roll if it’s three or lower then you will have to dye your mane pink or green, four or higher then you will have to paint your coat one of those two colors. Got it?’

“Wh….what?” Soarin’ was caught off guard as he thought it over, “I have to color my mane?”

“Or your coat, depends on what you roll and if you really want the exemption,” The host was more than pleased as he continued to smile, a certain smile that was almost challenging Soarin’ to do the dare.

“Alright then….’ The flier took a deep breath before taking the first die and throwing it across the table watching it intently as it bounced around before finally stopping on the number one, “So then….. My mane is going to be dyed green?”

“Or pink, and personally I’m leaning more to pink!” The host gave a small laugh before moving the first die from the table and pushing the second closer to Soarin’, “now, with this one a one through three will earn you a ball and chain until lunch time tomorrow and a four through six will earn you an overnight stay in a not so comfortable cell for the night. Which would you prefer?”

The sky blue pegasus tapped his hoof to his chin as he thought it over, “well I guess I’d prefer the ball and chain, I’m a wonder bolt after all can’t say I’m used to less than the best when it comes to sleeping habits.” With that the pegasus picked up the second die and tossed it across the board watching as it stopped on a four, “horse apples……”

SOARIN’: Ugh, this is not turning out so well for me at all……..

With a smirk the host continued on as he replaced the current die with the next one, “so with this die the lower numbers will win you a full cast on the lower half of your body until lunchtime tomorrow and the higher numbers will win you a second jump off the cliff from challenge one.”

“Another jump?” Soarin’ hoof pumped the air as he thought about it, “I’m so doing that!” Quickly he grabbed the die and tossed it across the table, his gaze never breaking away from it as it bounced around. His mind was frantic as he willed the die to land in his favor until it finally stopped and he immediately did a flip in the air, “YES a six! When can I go? Can I go now?”

Mr. E did nothing to hide his amusement as he shook his head, “sorry, but you still have to roll one more die, then you can go get started on your growing list of dares.” With that said, the host went to pushing the next die in front of the Wonderbolt. “Now this last one is a little more special than the rest, the dare itself was chosen for Braeburn but we did keep you in mind when deciding what the dare should be.” An almost mischievous grin spread across the host’s face as he continued, “So one through three will leave you with….. no food at all until lunchtime tomorrow.”

Soarin’ immediately broke away from his happy place as his ear and eye twitched from what he just heard, “wh…..what? NO FOOD?”

“That’s right, but four through six leaves you with no sleep until lunchtime tomorrow. So which would you prefer?”

“Are you kidding? I can’t go without food! I’d die!” Soarin’ slowly reached for the die mentally pleading for the second dare. “Please no sleep…. Please no sleep…. Please no sleep.” With a deep breath he tossed the die and waited, the seconds that passed seemed like hours as he watched the die bounce around going from a high number to a low before finally stopping and making his worst fears a reality. The three on the die just stared back at him in an almost mocking way as he shook his head, “can I roll again?”

“Sorry, but all the dares are now set Soarin’ your carriage to your destinations is waiting outside, and remember this is for both 40000 bits and for you exemption.” The host left the room leaving the stunt flier sitting in silence with his head against the table.

SOARIN’: I really want that exemption…. But no food? FOR A DAY? I’m not sure I can do that…..

Slowly the pegasus picked himself up off the floor and started heading outside where sure enough the carriage was waiting to take him to his first stop, “the Salon then I assume?” The carriage ride went by much too slow as his mind was left a jumbled mess, he had to choose now whether or not to do the dares. It was an all or nothing concept so if he said yes here he’d have to go through with the rest, and a no meant that he and the rest of the team was left with only one other no…. the sudden stop by the carriage pulled him from his thoughts and nowhere near ready to make a decision.

As Soarin’ stepped from the carriage a very loud voice was clearly heard from within the salon and as he entered the mare yelling was none other than The Great and Powerful Trixie, “Trixie has already told she is not doing this! Now get that dye away from her!” The stage mare turned around huffing as only scowled more as she saw the wonderbolt at the door, “what do you want? Here to see if Trixie is going to do this? Because she isn’t!” The azure mare stomped out around Soarin’ and started to get into her carriage.

“Wait, you’re just leaving? What about the team?” Soarin’ didn’t know what to think, the fact that she wasn’t even thinking about doing it seemed almost too much. It was like she was deliberately trying to sabotage everything.

SOARIN’: She is just refusing to do anything, and losing us a lot of bits! It’s like she is trying to look like the mole! So… maybe she isn’t? I don’t know….

With a sigh the wonderbolt slowly made his way further into the salon, with one guaranteed no already he couldn’t risk saying no now. “Good bye food…..” Soarin’ gave his head one good shake as he approached the salon pony. “Hey, I guess I’m here to get my mane colored?”

The salon pony was a very light pink pony with a hot pink and purple mane, he was simply shaking his head as he watched the unicorn leave before turning his attention to the newcomer. “Hey there, the name is James, but most call me Hairspray! You actually going to go through with this?” The earth pony smiled slightly as he shook his head again, “that last mare to come here wasn’t exactly….” The pony had to take a moment to figure out how to say anything without coming off as rude,  “willing to go through with it.”

“That’s kind of why I have to, she already said no so now I definitely cant….” The wonderbolt hung his head low as he let out another sigh.

“Then if you please take a seat over here, and don’t worry I’ll do my best to make sure you still look as good as you do now alright?” James gave a small laugh as he turned and started grabbing his supplies, “Now from what I’ve been told you have the choice between green and pink right? Well just a suggestion, but for you I’d go for a nice darker shade of pink. With that blue coat of yours the green would just clash in a very unappealing manner.” The colt shook his head distastefully as he thought of it, “but it is still your choice.”

Soarin’ was quick to stick his tongue out at the idea but as the thought it over it didn’t seem to be too bad, and if he was stuck doing this he may as well go all out, “Sure, do what you want and make me look my best. I do have a marefriend back home and I’m sure she’d love to see this.”

“Oh? A marefriend huh? Now you do know that know you’ll have to talk to me more about this right? I do love gossip as I work, and with this mane of yours it may take a while.” With a playful wink the salon pony started getting to work.

“Hey, what’s wrong with my mane?” The wonderbolt crossed his fore hooves as he glared slightly.

“Nothing, I’m just saying it’s a lot of hair is all so come on tell me about this marefriend of yours.” The other pony kept his grin as his hooves worked through the acrobats mane.

“Oh…” The light blue of Soarin’s face was quickly starting to turn a slight red, “well her name is Apple Jack. I met her at the Grand Galloping Gala last year when my team performed that night. She was selling apples and apple based accessories there that night, though I only had one apple pie it was the single most amazing apple pie I ever had.” The flier was rubbing his stomach now just at the thought of it.

“So classic story of getting the guy through his stomach huh?” James laughed as he worked and listened, after an hour and a half his work was finally done and he managed to take a step back to admire his work. “The pink really does look good on you there Soarin’.”

“Does it?” Soarin’ turned around and looked at himself in the mirror tilting his head back and forth so he could see his mane fully, he had to admit it wasn’t as bad as he was expecting though not something he’d like to keep permanently. “Thanks Hairspray, you did amazing considering what you had to work with.”

With a polite nod stylist was smiling, “I was more than happy to do it, you were by far one of the best clients I have ever had. Good day and thanks for sharing your stories! Good luck with whatever else you have to do.” With a wave and a quick light hearted shooing motion he pushed the flier out the door.

Turning around the wonder bolt stepped into the carriage and quickly driven off to his next destination in a much lighter mood this go around. Throughout the trip his hoof was often in his mane as he inspected it over and over, the more he looked at the pink the better it just seemed to seem and if the rest of the dares were going to be like this then it should be a problem at all. As the carriage finally stopped his happiness and excitement just grew more as he saw the familiar scene of the cliff they started the game on but what surprised him was the unicorn standing there already with the host waiting as he got out the carriage. “Prince Blueblood?”

The prince still had his nose in the air as he watched the approaching pegasus, “what do you want? I already told this insistent host that I’m not doing this!”

“Really? But this is so awesome! Why would you not?” Soarin’ looked over the edge with a very large smile as he looked back to the host.

“Whether or not you do this is your choice Blueblood, but keep in mind you could potentially be costing the group 40000 bits by making that choice.” The host stood obviously unamused as he shook his head.

“I don’t care, I was forced off that cliff the first time and I’m not going to do it willingly!’ The white unicorn had his back to the others as he pushed his nose up even higher.

“Alright then, your carriage will take you back to the hotel when you are ready to leave.” Mr. E wasn’t surprised as the prince immediately took off, “anyways Soarin’ you seem rather excited to do this so you ready? Today is just a simple jump alright? No numbers to memorize.”

“Got it!” The blue pony was already at the edge of the cliff and ready to jump as he gave the host one last look, “do I need rope again or can I just go?”

“No, no rope needed just jump when you are ready.” Before the pegasus could jump the host interrupted him once more, “oh and Soarin’ I really like the mane.” With that said and a very large grin he watched the wonderbolt jump up into the air to get higher before diving down and disappearing under the water.

SOARIN’: THAT WAS AMAZING!

BACK AT THE LOBBY

The ride back to the hotel was rather uneventful and soon Soarin’ found himself inside the hotel lobby once again, but what he wasn’t expecting was everypony already sitting there just staring at him as he walked in, “what? Why is everypony staring at me?”

Rainbow Dash was the first to react as she suddenly fell over in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, her legs kicking into the air sporadically, “S…… Soarin’! Wh……what happened…..” The light blue pegasus was struggling for breath as tears welled up in her eyes, her hoof shaking as she tried to point at his mane, “w….why pink?”

Soarin’ just waited for her laughs to die down before he finally responded, “well it was actually suggested by the stylist, and I think it looks pretty good.” He flashed a quick smile before finally joining the others and taking a seat next to Rainbow.

“Now that the distractions are out of the way, we can go over today’s results if anyone is interested,” The room quickly went silent as the focus went to the host, “right so today’s challenge was for the doers to do a dare based off what they rolled on a die. If at least three of them successfully completed their dares then the whole team wins 40000 bits.”

OCTAVIA: 40000 bits over some measly dares? That sounds way too easy…..

If they weren’t before all eyes were now locked onto the host as he continued to read, “the first to go was Trixie.” With a smirk he looked to the stage mare who refused to look back at him, “would you like to tell them your dare and how you did?”

Trixie rolled her eyes as she looked over the group, “fine The Great and Powerful Trixie will tell you. Trixie rolled a two so she was told she was supposed to dye her mane green or pink. As you can see Trixie refused, she was not about to ruin her image with some horrid color!”

RAINBOW DASH: I knew she was the mole! It’s so obvious!

LYRA: You have to be kidding….. does she have to be that stuck up?

“Moving on, next up after Trixie was Rainbow Dash,” Flicking his attention to the weather mare he continued on, “she has yet to do her dare but she hasn’t said no yet. Care to explain further Ms. Dash?”

“Yeah sure,” with over the top dramatic gestures the mare brought all the attention back to her, “So I went in and rolled a four so basically I get to spend the night in some cell or something but whatever I’ll do it easy peasy!”

The group let out collected sigh mostly sure that they had at least one completed dare now, the host was only grinning more and more as he continued, “Next up after Rainbow was Prince Blueblood. Care to take it from here?”

“I actually don’t care to thank you!” Once again the prince huffed and turned his nose away as if uninterested.

“Alright then I’ll continue, he came into the room and basically rolled before I could tell him anything. His dare was to jump the cliff once again from the first challenge.” The group groaned and looked away knowing what was coming next, “he refused.”

“Now in order to win this challenge everypony left has to successfully completely their dares, on that note lets move on to Braeburn. Care to elaborate for your dare?”

“Basically ah just have to stay up ‘til lunchtime tomorrow, so no worries ah can do it!” The cowpony flashed the group a smile as he looked to Soarin’, “So ahm guessin’ we‘re a shoo win?”

“Not unless Soarin’ completes his dares as well.” The host drew all the attention back to him as he continued, “Soarin’ care to explain your unique situation?”

“Sure,” Soarin’ gave his mane a give flip and flashed a smile, “basically I was offered an exemption.” Again the group groaned fearing the worst, “hey hold on, I didn’t finish. Long story short is I have to complete just about every dare the other four got. I rolled a one for Trixie’s dare which is why my mane is pink. I got a four for Rainbow’s dare so I have to stay in a cell too.” The two blue pegasus gave each other a high hoof before he continued, “then I got a six and had to jump like Blueblood and I did it.” Soarin’ suddenly stopped as he remembered the last dare, the idea of it lowering his excitement level dramatically, “and I got a three on Braeburn’s…… so I can’t eat anything until lunch tomorrow….”

Rainbow and Fluttershy were the first to wrap a hoof around Soarin’ for comfort as he hung his head, “ouch dude, that won’t be easy for you….. Sorry about that but at least you’ll earn an exemption from it right?” Rainbow was trying to be helpful but other than that she didn’t know what else to say.

Fluttershy chimed in as the others got silent, “and just think of how much it’ll mean to everypony if you help win this challenge.”

“And with that I’ll leave everypony to their own business until dinner time, but I must tell you all it will be in your best interest to bring your journals to dinner tonight. I have special surprised for everypony.”

All the ponies present quickly went about their separate ways leaving the three left still together as they looked around at one another, Soarin’ was still a little down with his situation but he decided to change the subject in favor of something else to keep his mind off food. “So Fluttershy, any ideas on who the mole can be?”

Fluttershy was completely caught off guard as she looked at her fellow fliers, “Oh…. Umm…. I don’t really know who the mole can be…” The canary yellow Pegasus just squeaked as she hid behind her mane.

“Oh come of Shy, you have got to at least suspect somepony! I mean look at Trixie! How can anypony NOT suspect her?” Rainbow Dash already had her journal out as she went to scribbling in it the recent details of the last challenge.

Soarin’ shook his head as he thought, “I’m not really sure I believe Trixie is the mole but the possibility is there I suppose.” The wonderbolt was tapping his chin as he thought, “what kind of notes do you have Fluttershy?”

In an instant the timid pegasus went from yellow to a dark pink, “o…oh n….nothing that…. would be of use…..” Fluttershy was already trying to hide her journal as she slowly slid it behind her. “M…maybe you two…. can help me?”

“Sure thing Shy,” Rainbow Dash gave her a soft smile as the three of them went to sharing their notes and discussing the game thus far.

RAINBOW DASH: Sometimes I don’t think that Fluttershy is cut out for a contest like this…… but I’ll do my best to help her.

ROOM 202

Upstairs The Great and Powerful Trixie was sitting in her room as she heard two ponies walking and talking just outside her door. With a quick peek outside she noticed the light green unicorn and grey earth pony walking down the hall in her direction. “HEY!” In a forced whisper Trixie caught the attention of the two mares as she waved them over to her room.

Both Lyra and Octavia were skeptical as they stepped into the stage mares room, Trixie wasn’t exactly the most trusted pony of the group left after her actions in the last two challenges. “Yes? Where’s Cheerilee?” Octavia gave the group a quick look over to make sure the pink mare actually wasn’t in the room.

“She went to go talk to somepony else but that doesn’t matter, Trixie was thinking that she may need to form a sort of coalition with a few ponies if she is to get farther in this game. And to Trixie you two seem to be some of the more smarter ones of the group.” The magician’s horn began to glow as she sprawled out on her bed and opening her journal with a pen in hand. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is willing to share any notes she has in return for the same.”

Lyra stood there thinking about it but before she could respond Octavia stepped in arching and eyebrow, “and why exactly should we trust you? So far you’ve done nothing but come off as the mole this whole game.”

OCTAVIA: Trusting the stage mare? That’s a laugh, but if I can get some useful information from her then maybe it’ll be worth it….. maybe.

The blue unicorn let out a small sigh as she looked both Octavia and Lyra in the eyes before talking, “Trixie knows she hasn’t been doing the best to make friends here but for right now she is just covering her own tail. And besides if everypony like you believes Trixie to be the mole then she will just make it farther as they all get executed one by one.”

Lyra simply nodded as she opened her journal sitting upright on Cheerilee‘s bed., “well, that logic actually makes sense. It may not be the best way to play the game but I’ll admit it is effective, so I‘m in. How about you Tavi?”

Octavia let out a small sigh as she took a spot next to Lyra, but lying down as she tucked her legs under her. “Alright fine, I’m in. Trixie really isn’t one of my suspects anyhow.”

Trixie missed the agreement entirely as she watched the other unicorn sitting in a way she had never seen, “why do you sit like that? Is it comfortable?”

LYRA: Again with the questions about how I sit…..

The mint green unicorn rolled her eyes as she tapped her pen to her journal, “how about we cover something more important right now? Like who you suspect as the mole?”

The Great and Powerful Trixie quickly flipped through a couple of pages before starting, “Alright then, Trixie has been studying her notes carefully and has come up with Fluttershy as a suspect, or the one who helped her lose bits in the first challenge.”

“Braeburn? Really, to be honest I was actually thinking the same thing.” The grey earth mare cracked open her journal as she started scanning her notes, “he just comes off as trying to be too nice. It’s like he’s putting on an act or something.”

“I can maybe agree with Braeburn because I don’t know him, but you really think Fluttershy? Why? Back home me and Bon-Bon sometimes have lunch with her, she doesn’t seem like somepony well who could be able to be the mole.” Lyra shifted slightly as she tried to think about it, “I just can’t see it.”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has known Fluttershy for quite some time since her second visit to Ponyville and with her personality it would be easy to hide the fact that she is the mole. Trixie will keep an eye on her that’s for sure.” The stage mare continues writing notes as she went, “then who is on your list Lyra?”

LYRA: Octavia is actually the top of my list, with the way she almost got me caught in the maze challenge but I couldn’t tell her that so I just made something up.

“My picks? Well personally I’m actually leaning to the royalty here. Blueblood and Luna.” Lyra quickly scanned through her journal as she went, “I mean can royalty really lose a game like this? I figure one of them has to at least be the mole.”

“Trixie is the personal student of Princess Luna! There is no way she is the mole, Trixie would more than definitely know!” Trixie simply shoved her nose up at the idea, “however Trixie can agree with the guess on Blueblood. Unless he is playing like Trixie is then he’d be high on Trixie’s list too.”

“So the consensus we seem to be coming to as of right now is Blueblood and Braeburn then?  Writing the quick note the earth pony closed her journal and started for the door, “this has definitely been at least somewhat enlightening. I do hope we can stay partners for the duration of the game then Trixie?” Lyra followed quickly after and joined Octavia just outside the door.

“Trixie would more than happily agree, now if Trixie isn’t mistaken it is about time for dinner correct?” The magician climbed off her bed as she joined Octavia and Lyra. “Should we be heading downstairs then?”

GALLOPHRY DINING HALL

Soarin’ had his head on the table as he let out a very loud and slightly annoyed groan, “Why do I have to be here? This is torture!” Every pony around him continued to eat watching as he continued to complain, “those dice must have been rigged.”

“I can answer your question with ease; really it’s simple the challenge would be too easy for you if there was no temptation. You are free to bow out of your dares at any time but if you do then the whole challenge is lost.” The acrobat let out a frustrated sigh as he placed his head on the table leaving Mr. E to continue, “Now as a special treat for everypony I took the liberty of ordering special dessert for tonight.”

“What?” Soarin’s head was immediately up again as he watched a table be rolled in with ten covered plates, the fact he was getting one apparent, “can I just go? Please?”

“I think just watching dinner was fine for you so yes you may leave, I have somepony ready to escort you to your temporary sleeping quarters for the night. Rainbow will be joining you shortly.” With the mention of her name Rainbow was instantly alert to the conversation. “Good night Soarin’ we should see you in the morning.” Waving slightly the host just smiled as he watched the wonderbolt give the dessert table one last longing look before leaving.

“So what’s for dessert anyway?” Rainbow was already hovering over to the table ready to lift one of the lids.

Mr. E was quick to swat the mares hoof away before she could peek, “I have three different dessert specially ordered for tonight so if you’ll take your seat we can get started.”

“Fine…” Rainbow had her hooves crossed as she mumbled back to her chair.

“Good, so with the desserts I ordered three different types of cake and three different frostings but to make things fun I had them all shuffled up so that even I don’t know what’s with what. Meaning you all get to draw names to decide the order then you all get to pick which plate you want. Simple right?”

“So what’s the catch?” Octavia was already attempting to form some kind of plan for this, there was just something she definitely didn’t trust going on.

“No catch what so ever, just meant for you all to enjoy and to get a little amusement for me out of it. Just watching Soarin’ was amusing enough for me though.” The host gave a slight chuckle as he pulled out a velvet bag with everypony’s name in it. “So then is everypony ready to begin?” Without waiting Mr. E shoved a hoof into the bag and pulled out a name, “Princess Luna looks like you get first pick.”

The princess of the moon quickly made her way over to the table as she looked over the shining silver lids and neatly places numbers covering each lid. “I’ll just take my number, two.” Using her magic she lifted the tray and floated it back to her seat before finally removing the lid and just staring at her generously cut piece of cake with a dark blue colored frosting on top.

“Oh carrot cake with blueberry icing, very nice.” Without skipping a beat the host already had his hoof in the bag and was pulling out the next name, “next up is….. Sapphire Shores.”

“Seeeeeensational!” The earth pony was quick to get to the table as she grabbed tray number eight and went back to her chair just as fast as she got up. “I have….” In an instant the lid was off and the pony of pop looked down to her cake instantly noting the brown colored cake and similar colored frosting, “Chocolate my favorite! With blueberry filling!” Sapphire was practically singing as she started biting into her cake.

“So we know two types of cake but only one frosting, lets see if the next pony can change that then.” Once again the host dug around the bag before pulling out the next name. “Octavia, you’re next.”

The grey earth pony slowly got up from her seat, her mind still at work trying to decide about how to go about this. As time went by Octavia just couldn’t figure and rhyme or reason to the numbers so she just decided to go with ten since she knew it was Soarin’s number and he wasn’t going to pick it for obvious reasons. Grabbing the tray with her teeth she promptly made her way back to her chair and removed the lid. The black frosting first caught her off guard but the cake she recognized as carrot. “So carrot cake but the frosting is?”

“That would be blackberry frosting, one of my personal favorites.” The host was once again smiling as he nodded to the musician before reaching back into the bag and pulling out the next name, “Next to choose is Braeburn.”

“Alright, mah turn.” The farmer mad his way to the table and following the others lead he simply picked his number four and went back to his seat. As he lifted his lid he was greeted with a yellow colored cake with a dark red frosting on top.

“Lemon cake with raspberry icing, not too bad I do enjoy both, and that covers all three cakes and frostings! Well done.”

“Thanks ah guess?” Braeburn shrugged as he started into his cake.

Mr. E already had the next name picked as he looked over those who remained “Now next we have Trixie, whom I’ll assume will take your number as well?”

Trixie got up from her chair with a smile as she approached the table, “Actually the Great and Powerful Trixie will take number seven."

“Hey that one is mine!” Rainbow was up in a flash as she got in the show mares face.

“Trixie thinks otherwise, considering she just picked it!” The magician stuck out her tongue as she levitated the tray over to her chair lifting of the lid as she sat down again. One her tray sat a dark brown cake with a red frosting. “Seems Trixie got chocolate cake and raspberry frosting.”

Rainbow Dash huffed as she sat back in her chair with her hooves crossed.

RAINBOW DASH: Ugh, honestly I think she does this just to annoy me, and it works every time! How can Twilight stand it?

Seemingly oblivious to the stare down between the two mares Mr. E went on with drawing a name, “next up is Cheerilee.”

“Me?” The school teacher didn’t waste time as she got up grabbed her tray marked six and made her way back to her seat. “My cake is…” Lifting her lid she quickly noted the chocolate brown color and the dark blue frosting on top. “Chocolate with blueberry, I’m sure this will taste great.” The pink earth pony smiled as she took her first few bites into her cake.

“Moving on,” Mr. E held up another name as she read it over, “Prince Blueblood, you’re up.”

“Obviously I’ll be taking plate one, the others are lucky they didn’t take what’s mine.” The prince kept his nose up in superiority despite the many rolled eyes and rude remarks made by the group. As he sat down again his magic quickly removed the lid and set it aside, leaving him staring at another chocolate cake but this time with blackberry frosting.

“Fluttershy you’re up!” The host was smiling as he waved the name in the air.

“Oh… umm.. okay…” Letting out a slight squeak Fluttershy slowly made her way to the table, “I… I’ll just take five…. If that’s okay.” The last of her sentence trailed off as she kept her head low taking the tray back to her table and finding a lemon cake with blueberry icing under her tray.

“That leaves just Lyra and Rainbow so then…… the one who gets to pick is….,” reaching into the bag the host pulled out one of the two remaining names. “Lyra! So then Rainbow you get whichever tray is left over.”

Lyra wasted no time grabbing tray number three, leaving Rainbow with tray nine which was Trixie’s number. “Oh great, I bet it’s something gross and dumb.”

As they both sat down Lyra opened her tray to find a carrot cake with raspberry icing and Rainbow found a lemon cake with raspberry icing.

“Now that we are finished with that I have just one more thing to inform you all with, “for tonight there will be a curfew that will be starting in one hour, so if any of you are found outside your room after one hour there will a 10000 bit penalty to the group pot. Is that clear with everypony?” After receiving a chorus of agreements the host turned and left then for the night but just as he reached the door he turned back around, “oh and before I forget Octavia since Braeburn will not be sleeping tonight just inform the receptionist when you are ready for sleep and Braeburn will be escorted downstairs to where he will be spending the night, and Rainbow Dash as soon as you are finished here somepony will escort you to your cell for the night.” With that Mr. E turned and left.

With the generous portions of cake given to them some of the ponies were taking longer to finish their dessert while others were quick to leave the dining hall. The first out were Rainbow Dash as she was escorted out, Trixie, Sapphire Shores, and Princess Luna who all, with the exclusion of Rainbow, went back to their rooms to avoid punishment with the curfew in place soon.

As she was working her way through the cake Octavia started to notice something sticking out from under her cake, and after a few scratches with her fork she finally noted it was an envelope. As she looked around it was apparent nopony else saw it so quickly she stashed the envelope into her collar and pushed her plate away announcing she was done. Stepping into the lobby and making sure the coast was clear the musician pulled the envelope out and quickly ripped it open pulling out the letter inside reading it to herself.

Congratulations on picking the special topping in the secret berry game. As you may have noticed there was only two blackberry frostings while there was four of the other two. Being one of the two who picked the blackberry frosting you are now offered a chance at exemption for the upcoming execution, but for that luxury it will cost the group. By now you know of the curfew so all you have to do to earn the exemption is keep a fellow contestant out of their room until after curfew costing the group 10000 bits but earning you what could be a life saving exemption. The choice is yours but remember the consequences could be great so choose wisely.

OCTAVIA: I knew something was up with the desserts! But now the question is should I take this or not…..

Octavia just sat lying down on one of the lobby couches deep in thought as she watched what remained of the ponies who were still eating start to leave the dining hall. Cheerilee and Fluttershy left together so even if she wanted to get one of them, it was probably out of the question. Though as the next two started leaving the dining hall what caught her eye was the fact that it was Braeburn and Blueblood leaving together. As far as she was concerned she never knew the two to even talk to each other but as clockwork the reasoning quickly clicked in her mind, Blueblood also had blackberry icing and was therefore attempting the same thing she was. “I’m going to have to stop that somehow…” Before her mind could work out on that Lyra was finally making her way out of the dining hall prompting Octavia to get up and follow after the unicorn. “Hey Lyra hold on I wanted to talk to you about something!”

Lyra turned around and smiled as she saw the other mare, “about?”

“What do you think? About Trixie, do you really think we can trust her?” Octavia looked around trying to act normal but she knew she needed to keep Lyra from getting to her room if she was to earn that exemption. Though she felt bad that she was using Lyra she knew it was better for her to be safe even if she was positive she was on the right track to figuring out the mole.

“I don’t see why not, she seemed right in most of what she said and honestly I think I can applaud her for playing the way she has thus far. Getting the others to think she is the mole is pretty genius even if she is trying a little too hard.”

“That’s the thing though, I don’t think she is trying. She is probably legitimately trying to lose the bits that she has been losing. I mean look at today she didn’t want to get her mane dyed and that’s not even a big deal.” Octavia stole a quick glance at a nearby clock noting that eating the desert had taken about half an hour so she only had to waste another half hour with Lyra before she could win her exemption, but she also had to get Braeburn away from Blueblood the only problem was she couldn’t think of a way to do that.

“Helloooo earth to Octavia,” Lyra was waving a hoof in front of the mares face obviously unamused as it became apparent her explanation went unheard, “is there something on your mind or what because you completely just tuned me out there which is rude considering you asked me in the first place.”

“Sorry Lyra, maybe I’m just tired maybe we can move to my room for a bit and continue there? I’m not sure I feel safe talking out in the open anyways.” Octavia did her best to fake a yawn as her eyes fell on the reception desk, causing her mind to instantly fix her main problem in seconds. “Just let me tell the receptionist so Braeburn will have a place to be since I’ll probably fall asleep as soon as we’re done okay?”

“Yeah sure fine,” Shaking her head Lyra made her way upstairs to room 204.

Octavia waited patiently as the receptionist seemed to take her time answering the bell on the counter, when the mare finally did arrive Octavia wasted no time saying how tired she was and explaining the situation with Braeburn. “No problem at all, we’ll have that sorted out in just a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” With that out of the way Octavia turned and headed upstairs amazed to find Braeburn already being escorted out of room 201 by a pegasus pony with Blueblood looking on unamused as he ticket to safety just walked out his door. Octavia feeling a bit over excited with her achievement shot the prince a quick wink before heading to her room and leaving him fuming.

“Took you long enough didn’t it?” Lyra was once again sitting upright in a position that still baffled Octavia to no end.

“Sorry, the receptionist took a while to realize somepony was dinging the little bell on the counter, “anyways though back to what you were saying?” Octavia took her spot on her bed as she carefully tucked her legs under herself and opened her journal, but before the two could continue a steady stream of hard knocks on the door interrupted them once again. “Ugh who is it?”

“Who do you think Ms. Octavia?” The uptight voice behind the door was unquestionably Prince Blueblood.

Lyra was left rather confused as she turned her attention back to Octavia, “what does he want?”

“I don’t know, but I suppose I’ll have to find out,” With a sigh Octavia was already up and opening the door to greet the unicorn staring at her with a wide smile.

Blueblood stood at the door as he looked over the gray musician, “I must admit that was well played there Ms. Octavia. I wasn’t aware somepony else was even capable of being that masterful, but I feel I must warn you now that in what could have been a rather powerful alliance you just made a very big enemy.” The smile Blueblood had just seconds ago quickly faded as he looked up finally noticing Lyra sitting in the room, “oh and might I add that it is almost curfew so maybe you should be heading back to your room hmm? Before some other pony here benefits from your slight of mind.”

“The curfew!” Lyra quickly sprung up and started for the door before the final words of the stallions statement finally sunk in, “wait, what do you mean benefits?”

Octavia could do nothing but glare as Blueblood’s smile returned, “oh so she didn’t tell you? And here I thought you two were in a coalition together.” Faking a yawn the prince turned and started heading back to his room, “my job is done here and it is getting late so good night ladies.”

Lyra watched him go before finally turning back to Octavia, her expression clearly demanding an explanation, “well?”

Octavia let out a sigh as she slowly grabbed the letter out of her collar and holding it out to Lyra, “Just don’t get mad alright?”

Lyra quickly scanned over the letter before crumpling it up with her magic, “You were going to use me? Just like that? For your own benefit… That’s just low Octavia, especially for you.” With a flick of magic Lyra tossed the letter back before storming off to her room. Leaving Octavia nothing to do but just go to bed and wait for her challenge the next day.

LYRA: Oh Celestia I feel so used! For all I know she’s been using me from the start!

OCTAVIA: Well that didn’t end well and now I probably just lost an ally and mad an enemy…… wonderful.

BLUEBLOOD: And that makes one less team to worry about, if anything I can probably get one to join me after this.

DAY4

MAIN LOBBY 1 AM

Braeburn let out a very exhausted yawn as he turned to the clock for what seemed like the millionth time that night, “just one in the mornin? Ah still have about four hours until ahm supposed to be up back home….” Once again he yawned as he repositioned himself on the couch trying to get comfortable again.

“Mind if I join you?” Luna carefully trotted around the couch as she watched the farmer for any signs of rejection.

“Not at all princess, though ifin ya don’t mind me askin’ why are ya’ll up at this hour?” Braeburn once went about repositioning himself as the bigger pony took a spot on the couch laying in a similar position as himself with her hooves tucked under.

“I’m normally awake during the night anyways,” The princess of the night let out a slight sigh as she looked out the window admiring her stars in the sky, “other ponies may not be prone to staying up to enjoy what I do every night but I do.”

Braeburn was quick to pick up on the tinge of sadness in the other ponies voice and was determined to do what he could to help, “well if it helps any, most of us over in Apploosa enjoy the night stars. Our lights aint as bright as they are in some other town and cities so we still get a clear view every night.”

“Really? Well it’s good to know somepony else appreciates my nights…. Thank you. The Apple family stallions all seem to be quite the gentlepony.” Luna gave a slight smile before looking back to the window letting out a slight sigh.

Braeburn tilted his head slightly as he looked up to the princess, “You know the Apple family?”

“Not personally no, but I know the ones that live in Ponyville. First I met Apple Jack then I met her little sister Apple Bloom then I met Granny Smith and finally I met Big Macintosh.” Again the princess sighed but this time it seemed to be more happy than anything as a slight blush started to form across her face. “Though now I guess I can add you to the list of Apples I know.”

The blush didn’t go unnoticed as Braeburn smiled for the first time that night, “So ah take it you know Big Mac pretty well then? He can be quite the gentlepony.”

Luna’s blush only deepened as she turned her head trying to hide her face, “Macintosh can be very wonderful company when you can get him talking. He’s very passionate in what he does and cares for. I find it very…. admirable.”

Braeburn’s smile only grew as he tried to sound as nonchalant as possible, “and I’m sure he finds you….. just as admirable.” Luna’s reaction alone left in a fit of giggles as he rolled on the couch holding his stomach. “A….ahm sorry… princess… it’s just…. you’re not….. very good at…. subtly.”

Luna was now reaching shades of red that could rival Big Mac himself as she lowered her

head, “well just don’t go telling anypony alright? Telling everypony about Midnight blew up into national news that, well, has yet to die down in Canterlot so we agreed to try to at least keep it under wraps for now.”

“Not a problem princess, ah can keep a secret. It’s just good to know ol’ Mac has found himself somepony nice considerin how much time he spends working the farm.” The excitement from the conversation was quickly dying out as Braeburn let out yawn. “By the way princess ah do appreciate your company, it does help me stay up through the night.”

“Well to be honest I appreciate the company as well,” Once again a blush appeared on Luna’s face, “I suppose I got used to Mac’s company during the night. Despite having to work in the morning and through the day he always insisted on staying with me through the night.”

“Big Mac stays awake at night and during the day? Ah knew he worked hard, but not that hard.” Braeburn had his hooves crossed as he rested his head letting out another yawn.

“Well he tries at least but he usually ends up falling asleep after a few hours into the night, not that I mind though he needs his sleep.” Luna gave him a slight nudge as he let out another yawn, “Hey now, I let Macintosh sleep but you aren’t going to get that luxury.”

“Ahm not asleep,” Braeburn shook his head talking more to himself than replying to the princess. “Ahm not asleep. So princess, who are you lookin’ at for the mole then?”

“Well as of right now considering Trixie is my personal student I know her and how she acts, which isn’t far from how she acts here so I’m fairly certain it’s not her. Though for all I know that could be my downfall if it turns out she is.” Luna smiled slightly as she thought about it, “but as I said I’m fairly certain it’s not her. How about you then Braeburn? Who is on your list?”

“Well to be honest ah was thinking Trixie, but not ya got me thinkin otherwise... so maybe Blueblood?”

“I don’t know, even though both Blueblood and Trixie have been the ones to basically cost the group bits I’m not sure I believe the mole to be either of them.” Princess Luna’s eyes went back to the window as she just watched her stars twinkle in the sky, “It’s like they’re trying too hard to seem like the mole to the point where it just seems unlikely.”

Braeburn rubbed his chin with a hoof as he thought everything over, “ah suppose that makes sense so then who?”

“My guess would be the one trying to cast blame onto somepony else by calling them out as the mole in front of the group, but also capable enough to outperform everypony in challenges at the right times to keep suspicion of themselves.” Luna’s gaze shifted from the window to Braeburn to see if he was catching on to who she was hinting at but his blank expression made it apparent he wasn’t following. “My suspicion is on Rainbow Dash as of right now.”

“Rainbow? Hmmm, ah suppose that does make sense….” Braeburn opened up his journal and was immediately scribbling away.

BRAEBURN: Ah feel like ah can trust the princess, so I have no reason to doubt what she says.

LUNA: It was definitely nice to have company throughout the night again, even if it’s only for one night.

ROOM 204

6 AM

Octavia tossed in her bed again and again as she tried to will herself back to sleep, the backfire of her plan the last night kept her up most of the night and when she finally did find sleep it didn’t last nearly long enough. So here she lay tossing in bed chasing something to elusive to catch. “Ugh… maybe some music will help…” Gathering her case the musician slowly made her way out of her room and started heading down stairs towards the lobby. Octavia was lost in thought as she entered the lobby and began going through the motions of setting up. Soon enough the mare found herself carefully balancing herself on her hind hooves and letting her bow do the work as she vented her frustrations through music. It wasn’t until after about the third song that Octavia finally opened her eyes to find she had a very attentive audience of two, “oh….. I’m sorry did I wake you?”

“Not at t’all, we were both awake already. But your music was very amazing.” Braeburn clopped his hooves together in applause.

“Oh well thank you, I couldn’t sleep anymore so I decided to play some music.” Octavia carefully placed her pride and joy back into its case as she turned to the two still watching her. “Mind if I ask why you two are awake?”

“Well I suppose I have the same reason as you,” Luna for the first time let out a yawn as she stretched slightly, “though that was actually quite a while ago. I’ve been talking with Braeburn here since basically.”

“Mhm, since ah can’t go to sleep the company was greatly appreciated.” Braeburn flashed the princess a smile as she yawned again, “Though if yer fallen asleep you are free ta go to bed ya know? The sun is already up so I’m sure I can handle mahself until lunch.”

Finally accepting what was apparently obvious Luna just nodded and turned to the stairs, “wake me for the challenge when it’s time please.”

“Sure thing princess!” Braeburn waved as she left before turning to Octavia with a smile, “care to join me for breakfast then?”

“Sure, just let me put my stuff away and I’ll meet you there.” With a nod Braeburn left for the dining hall as Octavia made sure her case was securely locked before sliding it onto her back and heading up the stairs. “So he starts talking to Blueblood and Princess Luna?” Putting her instrument back in its proper place Octavia was sure to grab her journal before starting out the room again. “Seems like my roommate has been busy making friends with just about everypony here…”

OCTAVIA: I really don’t trust him… making friends with everyone just makes him seem suspicious. Add to that his record of losing small amounts of bits here and there and it just makes sense that he is the mole.

As Octavia entered the dining hall Braeburn was already seated with a bowl of outs smiling at her just as he did with Luna. “Anything good for breakfast today?” The musician was trying her hardest to seem normal, but deep down she knew she really couldn’t trust this farm pony. So for now she’d have to play friends to see if she could get anything from him.

“Just oats, though ahm not complaining. We all eat oats all the time in Apploosa.” Braeburn was doing his best to hold conversation as he added more oats into his mouth, “So, why couldn’t ya sleep?”

Octavia busied herself with her own bowl of oats as she sat a few seats away from Braeburn, “oh, well it’s nothing really just antsy about the upcoming challenge I suppose.”

“That all?” Braeburn was smiling as big as ever now, “well don’t worry about it none, ahm sure your group will do just fine. Considerin’ ya’lls got a more compliant group than we did.”

Octavia couldn’t help but giggle slightly, “you may have a point, a group with both Trixie and Blueblood must be…. interesting…. to say the least.”

“Tell me about it, but at least we get some entertainment from it and this time we get to keep our bits. So that’s a plus.”

Again Octavia found herself giggling as she nodded in agreement, “but even with their antics and such you still managed to pull through a win so it seems.”

Braeburn smiled in return, “only if ah can stay awake for a few more hours an’ we keep Soarin’ from eatin anything, yeah.” As if on cue Braeburn yawned showing off a rather unattractive mouthful of half chewed oats.

Just the sight of his face had Octavia cracking up and laughing, “It seems sleep deprivation makes us forget our manners hmmm?”

OCTAVIA: Honestly I don’t know if he does it intentionally or not but now I realize why he can make friends with everypony so easily… he’s definitely somepony to watch.

Braeburn could only smile sheepishly as he finally finished his bowl of oats, “sorry, ah suppose lack of sleep can do that…”

As the two continued on slowly the rest of the group began to join them for breakfast. Lyra made it apparent she was still rather upset as she avoided talking to Octavia entirely which would have been fine, but the fact that Blueblood came in and sat next to her was a bit of a shock to Octavia.

OCTAVIA: What a dirty little creep, but it’s Lyra’s choice to trust a snake. If she gets bit it’s not my fault.

The last to arrive was Rainbow Dash who let out a big yawn as she took a spot next to Fluttershy, “let me tell you, that bed in that cell was not comfortable at all…”

“Sorry to hear that Rainbow,” Fluttershy gave her friend a comforting hug as she looked around noticing Soarin’s absence, “what happened to Soarin’?”

“Oh he just went back to our room, he didn’t even want to look at breakfast. To be honest I kinda feel bad for him, he really loves food.” Rainbow Dash shrugged before diving into her own breakfast.”

Not one to miss a beat Mr. E made his usual appearance as everyone got situated with their breakfast, “seems some ponies decided to sleep in today? I trust everyone here will fill them in later than?” His smile was as big as ever as the group nodded, “good, then we  can move on. So first things first Rainbow Dash has completed her dare and Soarin’ has completed another part of his. So if both Braeburn and Soarin’ can complete what is left of their dares then the group earns 40000. Not too bad really. Though the money could have been guaranteed by now if other ponies had done their dares right?” Trixie just huffed and looked away as Blueblood simply ignored the comment entirely. “So then the next team to go today is the thinkers. Your competition will be just after the others ends, so just after noon alright? See everyone then!” And just as quick as he came Mr. E once again left the group to themselves.

Immediately Octavia’s eyes went to Lyra, she needed to at least talk to her, “Hey Lyra, I kind of wanted to ask you something do you have a minute?”

Lyra didn’t even bother to look up form her breakfast, “I’m still eating Octavia, besides I already made plans to talk to somepony else after breakfast.”

“Fine, just find me when you’re done then.” Octavia just rolled her eyes as she left the dining hall.

Breakfast went normally for the rest of the group as they slowly made their way back to their rooms or just elsewhere. Eventually the only two that remained were Lyra and Blueblood. “Now that the all other ears are gone, we can have ourselves a nice little chat and maybe strike a deal or two.” Blueblood was smiling as he turned to the mint green unicorn.

“Listen here Blueblood, I know how you work, as if last night wasn’t proof enough of that.” Lyra was more than certain she knew what she was getting into with this unicorn so she knew to set things straight as soon as possible. “Before I strike any sort of deal with you I’m demanding a certain guarantee from you first.”

“Oh? And in what position are you in to demand anything exactly?” The way the prince spoke was already pushing Lyra to the edge. “what’s to stop me from just going to somepony else if you wont agree?”

“Maybe the fact that nopony likes you perhaps?” Lyra could only smirk as she saw the prince’s smile fading. “Honestly with how you’ve acted so far the only pony that would possibly give you the time of day is Trixie, and good luck getting far with her.” Lyra turned and was ready to leave as she started trotting to the door.

“I still have the princess as well you know.” Blueblood didn’t even bother moving as he used his magic to open the door, challenging Lyra to leave. “So for me that makes two, and you what do you have? You already lost Octavia so now you all you have is what? Some school teacher? Admit it, you need me.”

“Need you about as much as I need Octavia, goodbye then Blueblood.” Without another word the unicorn mare left not bothering to look back.

BLUEBLOOD: Well that went smoothly…. No matter I’ll have her on my side in no time.

MAIN LOBBY

Mr. E stood smiling in front of the group with Braeburn barely keeping his head up and eyes open on his left and Soarin’ holding his now very agitated and very loud stomach in his hooves. “I’d say a congratulation is in order. Both Soarin’ and Braeburn have officially completed their dares adding 40000 bits to the group total, making your total earnings to 78,000 bits.”

“Can ah go ta sleep now?” Braeburn yawned as he looked up the stairs longingly wanting so bad to just curl up in his bed for the rest of the day.

“And can I go eat? I’m so starved right now” Soarin’ was doing his best to stand up straight but with a hoof over his stomach it just wasn’t working out too well.

“Yes, you both are free to go. All I need right now are those in the thinking group, if you all will follow me it is time to start your challenge.” Mr. E simply turned and trotted out the front door soon followed by the thinking team.

CHEERILEE: Well here we go! This should be fun.

BUCKINGHAM ART GALLERY

Mr. E sat patiently as the ponies with him were obviously distracted admiring the art around them, “As you all seem to have noted by now we are in an art gallery, this will be the location of your next challenge.” At the word challenge everypony’s head instantly turned in his direction, “but before we can get into the specific details I need you all to form three teams of two.”

“I’ll team with Fluttershy,” In a flash Sapphire Shores was next to the canary yellow pegasus, startling her into hiding behind her mane.

“I believe I should be with Cheerilee then,” Luna smiled to the pink earth pony as she trotted over to her side.

“What, no” Lyra was the first to vocalize her complaint as she realized who that left her with.

Octavia wasn’t too far behind as she tried to change partners. “No hold on, maybe we should shuffle this up a bit more.”

“Lyra and Octavia will make up the last team then,” Mr. E just smiled more as they both reluctantly moved together. “Now that we have that settled let’s get on to the challenge shall we? In the next room you will find an exhibit featuring fifteen paintings, each team will then have only five minutes to memorize where each painting is. After your time is up you will be escorted to another room and there you will have to recreate the room you just saw. Each team to successfully recreate their room within ten minutes will add 20,000 bits to the group total. Making for a possible 60,000 bits total to be won. Any questions?” After a moment of silence the host clopped his hooves joyfully, “Good, then which team would like to go first?”

“I suppose we can go first,” Cheerilee stepped forward with Luna right behind. “Best to get it over with and do our best right?”

“Right,” Luna nodded as they joined the host who was already trotting off to the door to the next room.

Mr. E held open the door as the two stepped inside, the gallery room itself was about as simple as it gets, a completely white room with two square columns dividing the room in half. Two painting were on the left and right walls, three were hanging on the back wall and there was four painting on each column, one for each side. “Alright you two have five minutes starting now.”

Luna and Cheerilee wasted no time as they immediately went to the left side wall, the first of the two paintings made it apparent what the theme of this particular gallery was about. The painting featured Soarin’ flying through the sky but with a pink mane like he has now. The second of the two paintings on the wall featured Fluttershy standing at the edge of the cliff from the first challenge, Braeburn’s hat clearly sitting on her head.

“Alright simple enough,” Luna nodded her head as she focused on the paintings, making sure to fully commit them to memory. “So left wall is Soarin’ and Fluttershy. Both pictures of pegasi with pink manes.”

“Left is pegasi and pink manes, got it.” Cheerilee made the mental note as she started moving to the back wall. “That was a great way to memorize that Princess Luna.”

Luna just smiled at the compliment as she turned her attention to the first painting on the back wall. This one was simply the violet carriage that had dropped off two of the contestants on day one. “Cheerilee, do you remember who was in this carriage?”

“I was!” The school teacher was smiling brightly as she looked at the painting, “it was me and Blueblood.” Slowly Cheerilee started looking over the other two paintings on this wall, the last of which also featured Blueblood. “Look princess, Blueblood is there too.”

“Good, that makes this wall easier for us.” Noting the two ends had to do with Prince Blueblood, Luna then focused on the middle of the three paintings. The painting itself was very plain, only featuring the Equestrian Mole logo in various shades of green. “Alright I believe we have this wall down as well.

The two then moved to the last of the three walls, the first of the paintings caught Luna off guard. This one was an exact copy of the painting she was just looking at, except this one was done in various shades of blue rather than green. “Seems they are trying to make this a bit trickier.”

“Seems so,” Cheerilee was still smiling as big as ever as she attempted to note which color logo went where.

As they moved on to the second painting it became apparent that it also was similar to another painting, this one simply featuring the orange carriage from day one.

“Alright so, right wall is Blue logo and orange carriage. Two opposite colors if I’m not mistaken.” Luna stood silent with her eyes closed for a few moments as she mentally walked through what they had so far. “So from the top, left is pegasi pink manes, right opposing colors, and back wall is ends Blueblood and middle green logo”

“We’re running out of time, should I just take one column and you take the other?” Cheerilee was eyeing the clock placed over the door, so far they had just over a minute left.

Looking to the clock Luna agreed and started for the further back column. The first painting that was facing the wall was Lyra running through the maze with a guard pony close behind. “Lyra in maze got it.” Moving around clockwise Luna’s next painting was the sky blue carriage. “Lyra in maze then blue carriage alright next.” The next side of the column held a painting of the yellow carriage. Making the mental note Luna continued around the column for her last painting. The last side featured a painting of the logo once again this time done in various shard of red. “That makes green Lyra in the back then clockwise around blue, yellow then red.”

Cheerilee started on the front side facing the door, her first painting was Trixie standing proud in the traitor’s helmet from the gladiators challenge. “Trixie, simple enough.” Moving around clockwise Cheerilee found a painting of the dark blue carriage. “Okay. Blue… like Trixie!” Smiling to herself Cheerilee continued around the column, the third painting was the logo again only done in purple. “Well it’s close to blue…” Moving on to the last side Cheerilee was slightly at a lose, this painting was the red carriage which obviously didn’t match with the other paintings. “hmmmm….” Looking passed the paintings to the wall behind the column Cheerilee finally got it, “Red goes on the side that can see the pink manes!”

As always Mr. E was right on time just as the clock reached zero, “And that’s time. Ready to start reconstructing the room?”

Luna gave her partner a nod before looking to the host, “I do believe we are.”

“Alright then if you will follow me into the next room,” Mr. E quickly turned and led the pair out and down the hall to a room similar to the one they were just in. “Inside you will find an exact copy of all the paintings all hanging on the wall like in the previous room only obviously not in the right positions. Just make sure every painting is in the right position within ten minutes and 20,000 bits gets added to the group pot. Good luck, your time starts now.” With that the host stepped aside and the two entered the room ready to go.”

“First find the four for your column first, that way we can get those out of the way alright?” Luna quickly took charge as she went to the left wall using her magic to collect the painting of Lyra in the maze. The back wall gave her a bit more problem though, the middle painting was her red logo painting but the two corners were both the blue carriages. Taking a closer look Luna chose the lighter of the two before continuing to the last wall which yielded no luck for her last painting. “How are you doing Cheerilee? And have you seen a yellow carriage?”

“I have two for my column, have you seen Trixie anywhere? And yes there is a yellow carriage on the first column I believe.” Cheerilee finally collected her third painting from the back wall as she continued to look for her last one.

“Trixie is on the right wall the one on the painting on the left.” Moving to the first column Luna quickly collected her last painting and moved back over to her column the princess didn’t bother looking at the paintings as she took them off, “Alright Lyra first in the back, next is the blue and yellow carriages, and finally red logo. Got it.”

Cheerilee, without magic to rely on was trying her best to get done as soon as possible. “Trixie goes first, then the blue carriage and blue logo, and finally red carriage. Alright all done Luna, what’s next?”

“Start placing the ones from your column and work from there.” Luna grabbing what was left from her column quickly set to work in placing Soarin’s painting on the left wall, the green logo on the back wall, the orange carriage on the right, and finally back to the left wall with Fluttershy.

Cheerilee was a little slower than the princess but managed to place the painting of Blueblood on the back wall, and the purple logo on the right wall. “Is everything where it goes? I still have one more painting.”

“Which one is it?” Looking around the room, Luna seemed satisfies with the looks of things thus far. The only open space was the left hand side of the back wall. “Which painting do you have?”

“Purple carriage, goes on the back wall right?” With painting in mouth Cheerilee went over and placed the final painting.

Together the two went and knocked on the door, in an instant the host opened up and strolled into the room. “I assume you’re finished already?” Looking up the clock had stopped with a minute and twenty seconds, “just wait outside while I check your work.”

Luna and Cheerilee sat together just outside the room as they waited, “so how do you think we did? Do you think we got it right?” Cheerilee was looking up to the princess as she smiled.

“I’m fairly certain we did, everything looked in order as I remembered it.” Luna gave a definitive nod as she smiled as well.

After about a minute or so Mr. E finally stepped out the room again, “It’s incorrect. You still have just over a minute to find the problem and fix it. Your time starts again now.”

Luna and Cheerilee jumped up as they shot into the room again, “alright we need to go over everything quickly.” Luna led as they started at the left wall, “both pegasi with pink manes. This side should be right.” Cheerilee simply nodded as they moved to the back wall. “You and Blueblood were in the violet carriage on the left, the green logo is in the middle, and Blueblood’s painting is on the right. This looks right too.” Turning to the right wall Luna could easily tell something was wrong, “this isn’t right; the purple logo doesn’t go here. We need the blue one. It’s supposed to be the opposite color of the orange carriage.”

“Oh, hold on I know where that is.” Turning around Cheerilee grabbed the blue logo off her column and traded it with the purple one. “I guess I mixed them up, sorry princess.”

“It’s a simple mistake; at least we managed to fix it.” Turning around the clock was just winding down to zero. “At least I hope it was the only mistake.”

Once again Mr. E made his way into the room and shuffled them both out to wait as he checked over the room once more. This time around the host reappeared faster as he came out of the room wearing his signature grin. “Congratulations you successfully managed to recreate the room; the group total is now 98,000 bits.”

CHEERILEE: We did it! The princess was really good at this.

LUNA: I’m not sure if I should be concerned about that mistake….it was an easy one to make but it still could have been intentional.

Luna and Cheerilee were moved to another waiting room as Mr. E went to greet the other two teams. “Alright everypony, team one has finished so which team will be going next?”

“Don’t we get to know how they did?” Octavia raised a brow as she had her hooves crossed.

“Of course not, at least not until later.” The host flashed her a wink before he turned to Lyra, “does that mean your team is up next?”

The unicorn just sighed but nodded, “the sooner the better I suppose.”

“Good, then follow me!” Ignoring the obvious tension between the two Mr. E led them to the first room. “As you know all you have to do is memorize every painting in this room then recreate it in the next room go it?” With a nod from both Octavia and Lyra the host opened the door and stepped aside, “you have five minutes starting now.”

Lyra immediately turned to Octavia as they entered the room, “Don’t bother me while I’m memorizing, just memorize on your own so we can get this done alright?”

“Alright by me then,” Octavia shrugged off the hostility as she took to the other side of the room.

Except for the sound of their hoof steps on the floor the rest of the five minutes went by in complete silence as the two mares focused intently on memorizing the paintings in front of them.

“Time’s up, you two got everything memorized?” Mr. E didn’t bother waiting for a reply as he led them to the second room down the hall. “Alright, inside you will find an exact copy of all the paintings you just saw hanging on the walls. Just put them in the right spaces within ten minutes to complete the challenge. Got it?”

“Ready Lyra?” Octavia tried to offer a friendly smile but Lyra just simply moved to the door.

“Your time starts….. Now!” Moving aside the two entered the room ready to go.

Octavia gave the room a good look around before deciding on what she thought was the best way to go about doing this, “Just grab a painting, figure out where it goes, trade it with the one there, and then repeat. That should make things simple enough.”

“I know what I’m doing, so start helping Octavia.” Lyra didn’t even look back as she was already levitating a painting off the wall and moving it across the room.

“The hostility is really getting old you know Lyra,” Octavia rolled her eyes as she set to work on the first painting she found.

“That coming from the one willing to just use her friends huh? That makes sense.” Lyra just shook her head as she floated another painting into position.

“It was for an exemption, sorry for taking the opportunity when it showed up.” Octavia was getting slower and slower as she worked, her attention mostly going to Lyra as they talked.

Finally Lyra stopped working entirely as she looked back to Octavia, “and that makes it okay? It never crossed your mind to just ask?”

“No actually it didn’t, considering I didn’t figure you’d go for it. I don’t see what the big deal is anyways.”

“No you don’t, and that’s the problem. Do you know my last name Octavia? It’s Heartstrings, a name I’m sure you’ll recognize.” Lyra didn’t try to hide her aggravation as she said her name.

Octavia just stood silent as the name rung in her head, “Heartstrings? As in Heartstrings music company? The biggest music company in Canterlot?”

“That’s my parents company, and do you know how they got that company?” Lyra stood there her expression challenging Octavia to respond, but when she didn’t Lyra just continued, her eyes already starting to water “They used me! I was just a filly and they used me! From the moment they learned of my special talent, I was pulled out of school to perform for any absurd amount of bits they could get the Canterlot elite to agree to. I earned everything my parents have, and I never saw a bit out of it. The only friends I had turned out to be other ponies I could perform with or had important enough parents to spread my name around. I left after I figured it out, but by then they already had enough and started their company. ” Finally all the held back tears flowed freely and Lyra was just left shaking where she stood.

“Lyra I’m sorry I-”

“NO! It’s too late for apologize,” Look up to the clock Lyra started for the door, “I’m done.”

Octavia had just enough time to look up just as the clock reached zero, “great….”

Mr. E walked into the room looking around at the obviously unfinished, “Octavia, you and Lyra failed to complete the task. So no bits will be added to the group total.” Octavia just sighed as she followed the host to the waiting room where Lyra was apparently absent.

OCTAVIA: Well knowing that now, I can’t say I blame her for hating me….

Walking back to the front the host greeted the only two ponies remaining, “Alright then, are you two ready to start your challenge?”

“You know it!” Sapphire Shores was already singing while Fluttershy simply nodded her head.

“Then follow me, just remember you will only have five minutes to memorize all the paintings. Then just ten minutes to recreate it. You ready?” Mr. E waited at the door as they nodded, “then good luck.”

Stepping into the room Sapphire decided to take lead, “don’t worry Fluttershy, I have this covered alright? You can just sit back and relax.”

Before Fluttershy could reply Sapphire Shores was already up on her hind hooves starting to sing and dance around the room. Only stopping every few moments to take a close look at the current painting or to figure out lyrics for her song.

After the five minutes were up Mr. E walked into the room to find Sapphire still singing and dancing with her hooves outstretched high in the air above her head.

“Time’s up, now if you’ll follow me to the next room.” Turning around the host lead the two down the hall before stopping in front of the next room. “Inside all the paintings are already hanging, but they are mixed up. Just put them in the exact order as in the last room in under ten minutes and 20,000 bits will be added to the group total. Got it?”

“We are ready!” Sapphire continued on into the room with her high energy as Fluttershy simply followed slowly behind, slightly hiding behind her mane.

“Then good luck, your time starts now.” Closing the door the host left them to their work.

“This will certainly be eeeeeasy!” Sapphire wasted no time getting into the groove of her song made up for the challenge. “Fluttershy, if you please just bring me the paintings I sing about and I’ll have them up in no time.”

“Oh umm… okay…” Without skipping a beat Sapphire was already singing and dancing, leaving Fluttershy to attempt to hurry around the room to gather all the painting just in time before Sapphire started on the next one.

Within five minutes Sapphire was already wrapping up her song, smiling as she looked around the room. “Great job Fluttershy, I believe that should be it!”

Fluttershy simply nodded as she silently panted behind Sapphire. Keeping up with the pony of pop proved a lot harder than she initially expected, as she had to move much faster than she was normally used to.

“You’re done already?” Mr. E checked the clock as he stepped into the room, “I didn’t expect anypony to be done that quick. Well if you’re sure you have it right just wait outside while I check your work.”

Outside the door Sapphire pulled the pegasus into a close hug, causing a light squeak from the startled Fluttershy, “you did fantastic!”

Fluttershy immediately went to hiding her face as she heard the compliment, her bright yellow face turning a slight pink “oh well thank you… but you did do most of the work.”

FLUTTERSHY: Maybe Sapphire isn’t as bad as I thought… she still kind of scares me though…

Mr. E stepped out of the room just moments later, his expression showing he was obviously amused. “Well I’m surprised but you did replicate the room perfectly. Congratulations.” After a brief celebration both Fluttershy and Sapphire were ushered into the second waiting room where the other four were waiting. “The results of this challenge will be revealed once we get back to the hotel, see you all there.” Flashing the group a wink the host turned tail and left.

GALLOPHRY PALACE LOBBY

Mr. E once again stood in front of the group as everyone sat patiently to hear the results of the latest challenge. “So for the thinking group’s challenge they were split into three teams of two and shown an art gallery room filled with fifteen paintings. There job was to memorize it in five minutes, and then they were given ten minutes to recreate the room with all the paintings in the same positions. If the team was successful they would earn 20,000 bits for the group total. Making for a possible 60,000 bits, however only two teams succeeded adding only 40,000 bits to the pot. Making the group total 118,000 bits out of a possible 170,000 bits. Whoever the mole is, they’re going to have to step up their game if they want a decent amount of bits to take home.”

“Are we going to find out which team didn’t succeed or what?” Rainbow had her hooves crossed as she glared to the host.

“I was just about to get to that Rainbow Dash, wouldn’t want anypony missing out on possible clues as to who the mole is before tonight’s execution now do we.” Mr. E offered a slight chuckle as he put in the tape to be played for everypony.

Everypony sat in silence for the next forty five minutes as they watched each team go through the challenge, but what had everypony’s attention the most was the argument that broke out between Octavia and Lyra. Both ponies in question avoided gazes that the others threw their way and only turned back to the screen when it was the next teams turn. The whole group seemed to get a slight laugh as they watched Sapphire’s rather unorthodox method not only work but actually do so in record time.

Once the tape was over Mr. E once again gained all the attention, “alright so now that you all know what happened, and I hope you all took good notes, it will be time for dinner and one by one once you finish eating you will excuse yourself for tonight’s quiz. And then it will be time for the execution, in which only Soarin’ in safe from with his exemption.”

Dinner had a bit of an ominous cloud hanging over it as every pony sat silently eating their food and looking through their journals trying to study as much as they can before it became time for them to take the quiz. The first to finish was Cheerilee, with the rest of the group following soon after.

QUESTION 1:

Where is the mole from?

A. Canterlot

B. Ponyville

C. Apploosa

D. Cloudsdale

E. Ponyville/Canterlot

CHEERILEE: Most are from Canterlot right? Seems like the safe choice.

Question 2:

Was the mole a doer or thinker?

A. Doer

B. Thinker

LUNA: Considering who is on the doer side, I’d say odds are the mole was there.

RAINBOW DASH: Duh, Trixie was on my team. Obviously doer.

Question 3:

What number journal does the mole have?

A. 1

B. 2

C. 3

D. 4

E. 6

F. 7

G. 8

H. 9

I. 10

J. 11

K.12

BRAEBURN: Ah suppose it’ll just be a lucky guess….

Question 4:

Does the mole have exemption from tonight’s execution?

A. Yes

B. No

SOARIN’: I’m the only pony with exemption and I know it’s not me so this is easy!

Question 5:

Was the mole successful in their dare?

A. Yes

B. No

C. Did not do a dare

TRIXIE: Trixie knows she isn’t the mole and doubts Blueblood so she knows it’s not no.

Question 6:

Was the mole successful at the gallery?

A. No

B. Yes

C. Was not at gallery.

LYRA: I’m going Octavia; something just tells me it’s her…

BLUEBLOOD: My guess is they weren’t at the gallery; nopony in that group seems capable of being the mole anyways.

Question 7:

What topping did the mole select for dessert?

A. Blueberry

B. Raspberry

C. Blackberry

D. Did not get dessert

SOARIN’: Obviously it’s not D… great now I really want dessert…

Question 8:

Is the mole male or female?

A. Female

B. Male

CHEERILEE: There aren’t very many males here, safest choice is female.

Question 9:

Did the mole sleep in their room last night?

A. Yes

B. No

SAPPHIRE SHORES: More than likely yes, since only three didn’t.

OCTAVIA: Safest choice is yes, but I’m not so sure…

Question 10:

Who is the mole?

A. Fluttershy

B. The Great and Powerful Trixie

C. Princess Luna

D. Braeburn

E. Sapphire Shores

F. Prince Blueblood

G. Rainbow Dash

H. Octavia

I: Lyra

J. Fluttershy

K: Cheerilee

FLUTTERSHY: Oh my… I don’t know…

MAIN LOBBY

After everypony finished their quiz they all sat together in the lobby, where Mr. E stood next to the giant screen that simply showed one giant hoof print and had all their pictures around it. “Are we ready to begin then?” Mr. E started tapping away at his laptop and Soarin’ pictures took up the screen with the hoof print just below it. “Soarin’ you have an exemption, therefore you are safe.” After a few more taps at his laptop, the picture of the wonderbolt quickly turned green.

SOARIN’: Oh yeah, here to stay!

“Alright so now that those exempt are out of the way, who wants to go first?” Almost immediately Sapphire Shores shot her hoof up, and used her other hoof to lift Fluttershy’s as well. “Sapphire and Fluttershy it is then, we’ll just start with Sapphire.” Mr. E quickly went to tapping at his laptop once more and Sapphire’s picture soon took over the screen.

The hoof print flashing from red to green.

.

..

…

….

…..

……

GREEN

SAPPHIRE SHORES: I knew it, me and Fluttershy are going to stay here all the way to the end.

Smiling once more Mr. E went to work on his laptop again, this time pulling up the picture of Fluttershy, “Miss Rose Papillonne, you are…” Once again the hoof print started to flash between red and green.

.

..

…

….

…..

……

RED

“WHAT?” Sapphire was quick to get up and start hugging Fluttershy, “No, you can’t go yet! It’s still too early!”

Fluttershy just smiled as she slowly returned the hug, “its okay, I’m fine with it. Really.” Getting up from her seat the pegasus walked over to her bag before looking back to the group. “Try your hardest okay everypony?”

Rainbow was the next to hug the canary colored pegasus, “go tell our friends I say hey okay?”

“Sure thing Rainbow,” Fluttershy smiled and nodded as she turned to start leaving

Once again Sapphire went over to her wrapping her into yet another hug, “promise me you’ll send me your new book when you’re done okay? I am a big fan of your work.”

“Alright, I promise.” And with that Mr. E escorted Fluttershy out of the room as every just sat and watched in silence.

SAPPHIRE SHORES: I can’t believe she’s gone… now I need to win! For the both of us.

RAINBOW DASH: I kinda saw that coming, but it was pretty hard to see her go…

BLUEBLOOD: I say good riddance to bad rubbish. She was useless anyways.

Finally Mr. E came back in and all attention was one him, “that leaves only nine contestants left, and one mole. Get a good night’s sleep everypony you are going to need it.”

With that the group finally dispersed, each heading their own way ready to face whatever the next day was set to bring.