Day 14, 08:26

Pinkie Pie felt as if she had been walking for hours, the gravel crunching under her hooves as she mapped the now familiar route around the manor.

And then there were six… Vinyl… Fleur… Soarin… Redheart… Trixie… and myself.

Pinkie thought back to Lightning Dust’s final words, ‘I know if anypony can beat this creep and get everypony out of here, it’s you’. It felt like forever since Pinkie had heard those words when in reality it was only a week ago.

Everypony keeps looking to me, like I’m something special, like I can be the one to save them…

Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks, craning her neck back and staring up at the mass of swirling colours masking the sky. Pinkie screwed up her eyes and yelled up at the heavens.

“I don’t know what to do!” she shouted before calming down, her voice faltering. “What would you do Twilight?”

The whistling of the light breeze was all the answer Pinkie received.

Well what did I expect?

“Everypony is relying on me,” Pinkie continued to her empty surroundings, finding that voicing her feelings aloud was quite therapeutic. “But I don’t know how to help them. We’ve been here two weeks, and nine ponies are dead. It feels like I’m running in circles, that no matter what I discover I’m no closer to figuring this all out.”

Pinkie received nothing but silence once more. Sighing, she continued her walk.

If Twilight were here she could have solved this mystery by now and everypony would be home. Instead they got me, and whoever’s not dead yet either will be soon or can look forward to spending the rest of their lives in this prison.

Pinkie vaguely registered the main door passing by her peripheral vision, as she continued waking around the east side of the manor.

Missing ponies, skeletons in trunks, white feathers and… ugh! It feels like the answers are right in front of me! Like I have the pieces but they’re not fitting together.

Crunch, crunch, crunch beneath her hooves as she continued walking.

Maybe it’s time to just give up, cut our losses while we can and accept our new lives.

Did you just say give up?!

Well what else am I supposed to do?! I’m just one pony, and not even a very special one at that. I’m not smart like Twilight. I’m not fast like Rainbow Dash. I’m not strong like Applejack. I’m not creative like Rarity. I’m not thoughtful like Fluttershy.

You can’t always compare yourself to others; nopony is the best at everything. But you have things that they don’t.

Like what?

Experience. Look at the things you’ve seen and done in just two weeks. Who solved all those murders? You did! We learn from our experiences, so what has your experiences taught you?

I… I don’t know.

Well think about it, you might be surprised what you can do when you understand yourself a little better.

But…

“Pinkie?” A voice said, pulling Pinkie from her thoughts, back to the real world where she had walked all the way around the house to the kitchen door where Vinyl stood at, giving her a worried look. “What are you doing?”

“Just walking and thinking,” Pinkie stated glumly, before her words fully registered in her own mind and her eyes widened.

Hang on! Who was that?!

“Pinkie, are you okay?” Vinyl asked, now sounding thoroughly concerned.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” Pinkie replied hesitantly, still thinking about the ‘conversation’ she had just had. Vinyl sighed.

“Pinkie, you’ve been walking around out here for a while now,” Vinyl said gloomily. “I think you should come in, we all need to talk.”

“Alright,” Pinkie said in a non-committal tone, shuffling after Vinyl back into the kitchen.

Pinkie was still so deep in thought she hadn’t even noticed the water on the kitchen floor until she was falling face first onto the tile floor. Clenching her eyes shut, she braced for the impact that never came. Peeking through her eyelid she saw herself being held in a blue aura.

“Yeah,” Vinyl said, laughing a little. “The floor is wet.”

Propping Pinkie back up, she saw the entire floor was covered in a sheet of water, a mop and bucket leaning against one of the counters.

“Did somepony clean up?” Pinkie asked redundantly.

“Actually no,” Vinyl stated, causing Pinkie to raise a questioning eyebrow. “I asked, and none of us did it.”

“So who…” Pinkie began before Vinyl cut back in.

“We actually have an idea about that,” Vinyl said cryptically, leading the way out of the kitchen into the hall way.

The pair walked towards the dining room doors in silence, Pinkie could hear faint murmuring coming from within. As they entered, Pinkie saw the other four standing at the far end of the room, under the Mastermind’s screen, a tray of sandwiches between them.

“Good morning Pinkie,” Fleur said in a calm tone.

“Morning,” Pinkie returned in an unenthusiastic voice.

“Well now that pleasantries have been taken care of…” Trixie began curtly.

Pleasantries?

“We can begin discussing how we are going to get out here,” Trixie finished. Pinkie glanced at her sceptically.

“You make that sound like it’s a certainty,” Pinkie muttered. Redheart and Soarin looked at her worriedly, but Trixie carried on as if she’d said nothing.

“Obviously we can’t afford any more deaths,” Trixie stated plainly. “Which is why we need to get this figured out as quickly as possible.”

“And I’m here to help with that,” Vinyl declared, sounding a little more upbeat. Pinkie looked over at her in surprise. “You all remember that underground room?”

Huh… Oh yeah!

In the aftermath of yesterday’s trial, Pinkie had completely forgotten about Vinyl’s investigation into the hidden room.

“Well I have good news,” she stated, everypony leaning in eagerly. “The room is in fact still there, and the door just has an illusion spell on it to make it look like the rest of the wall.”

“So we can get in?” Soarin asked hopefully.

“If I can get past those stairs then I think I have a decent chance of cracking it open,” Vinyl boasted, smirking at the group.

“Well you have fun with that,” a loud voice said from above them, causing them all to jump in surprise as the screen came to life, displaying the usual grey. “But hey, while you’re wasting your time, I have a present for you all.”

The ponies all glanced warily at each other.

“Oh don’t be like that,” the Mastermind said, “You’ll like this, I promise. If you recall yesterday’s trial, I mentioned that I would let you visit your friends. Well I’ve decided to stay true to my word, so if any of you begin to feel the pangs of loneliness, head on over to the swimming pool.”

With that enigmatic statement, the screen switched off, leaving a perplexed group of ponies standing beneath it.

“The swimming pool,” Pinkie repeated, thinking back. “That was where one of the underground accesses was.”

“Yeah, I thought you said it wasn’t there anymore,” Vinyl directed at Trixie.

“Trixie said it probably wasn’t there anymore, as they would have had to renovate any lower rooms to accommodate the pool,” Trixie corrected irritably.

“So…” Redheart began, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed. “Should we go take a look?”

“I suppose we might as well,” Fleur responded. “The Mastermind is obviously up to something, we might as well try to figure it out before they implement it.”

Silently agreeing, the ponies began filing from the dining room, Pinkie dawdling at the rear.

Hello, is there anyone there?

The only thoughts in Pinkie’s skull were her own. Had she imagined the whole thing?

“The things I could do… when I understand myself…” Pinkie whispered to herself, before following after the others.

Day 14, 09:30

“Trixie did say probably,” Trixie reminded them as the ponies all looked into the bone dry swimming pool, within which the centre tiles had descended in similar fashion to the stairs in the entrance hall. “She has been wrong before.”

“Yeah, well next time let’s not assume,” Vinyl suggested, hoping down into the empty pool.

Trixie muttered something under her breath as she followed, Redheart and Fleur lowering themselves down gently while Soarin fluttered down. Pinkie jumped in easily and began walking with the others to the newly formed staircase.

“Are we sure going down there is a good idea?” Soarin asked tentatively.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Vinyl replied, earning a bemused look from Soarin.

“What’s the worst that could happen in a house where nine ponies have died in two weeks?” Soarin repeated.

“Yeah well, as long as we don’t kill each other we’ll be fine,” Vinyl said, marching down the steps.

Pinkie followed behind Vinyl, catching up so the pair walked down side by side. While the staircase wasn’t overly long, it was still roughly three times deeper than the courtroom. As they trotted down the steps, Pinkie began to notice a distinct chill in the air, her breath began to frost in front of her. She didn’t seem to be the only one as Fleur’s teeth began chattering by the time they reached the bottom, and she seemed to be shivering profusely.

Well what do you expect when you’re that thin?

The short corridor they found themselves in now was lit by a pale blue, electric tube light, making a faint humming sound. The doors in front of them were unlike any others they had encountered in the mansion. As opposed to the usual decoratively carved wood, they were instead faced with a clunky metal door, with a large valve in place of a handle. Approaching the metal, Pinkie touched it with her hoof, pulling it back almost instantly with a hiss.

“What’s the matter Pinkie?” Vinyl asked in a panicked voice.

“It’s so cold,” Pinkie replied, breathing on her hoof to warm it up. “It’s like ice.”

“Let me get it then,” Vinyl offered, reaching out with her magic and gripping the valve handle.

Pinkie watched, expecting to see it turn easily, instead she heard it screeching loudly while Vinyl gritted her teeth and groaned like she was trying to carry a massive weight.

“Little help here!” she demanded of the other two unicorns, no attempt to hide the frustration she was clearly feeling.

Once the other two joined in, the valve began shifting a lot more noticeably. After a few seconds it seemed to loosen up and begin rotating much more smoothly, as it did the giant door began creaking open, clouds of frozen air rising from the newly made gap. After another minute or so, the door stood completely open, and the clouds had mostly dissipated, leaving the new room relatively unobscured.

“You know what,” Fleur began through her chattering teeth. “I think I’ll wait upstairs, I don’t think I’d survive in there.”

“Eat the rest of those sandwiches while you’re at it,” Vinyl joked, Fleur just grimaced before turning and hurrying back up the stairs.

Pinkie led the way into the room, bracing herself against the cold that hit her. It really was like they had just stepped into a freezer. The room was relatively large, with a white tiled floor and a large metal table positioned in the centre of the room. The walls were made of metal, with dozens of square doors along them, each one with a handle and some with a small label on them. The whole room as well as everything inside it was covered in a thin layer of ice.

Pinkie followed Redheart to the table in the centre of the room, while the others fanned out around the wall. Now that she was closer, Pinkie saw that a series of metal surgical tools were laid out on top of it, all frozen.

“It’s an operating table,” Redheart explained as Pinkie looked over it curiously.

“And the tools?” Pinkie asked.

“Clamps, scalpels, retractors, bone saw, and surgical staples,” Redheart listed. Pinkie opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Soarin calling out.

“Girls,” he said, in a wavering tone. “You might want to come look at this.”

Curious, Pinkie walked over to one of the square doors Soarin was standing beside, Redheart following behind and Vinyl and Trixie walking over from their own respective areas. Reaching Soarin, Pinkie looked at the doors, seeing it was one of the few ones with a label attached. Looking at the label, Pinkie could see the printed words, ‘Twilight Sparkle’.

“Twilight…” Pinkie read in disbelief, looking over to the others, they all looked equally confused.

Nudging past Soarin, Pinkie reached out for the handle. This time she was ready for the cold, and while it still stung her hoof, she ignored it. It turned out the doors were actually drawers, and as Pinkie pulled, a long metal shelf emerged, a black zip up bag occupying it. Pinkie stood frozen, staring at the body bag, unable to look away or close the drawer, and unable to reach forward and open the bag up.

“Do you want me to check?” Vinyl asked softly. Pinkie didn’t respond, just back away slowly. Vinyl stepped up, leaning over the bag so Pinkie wouldn’t see. A loud zip was heard followed by Vinyl’s breath catching in her throat, before she re-zipped the bag and stepped away. “At least… her family will have something to bury… when we get out of here.”

“You mean…” Pinkie began, Vinyl nodded.

What had Pinkie expected, she knew Twilight had died, but somehow knowing her body was here, locked up in a morgue, made it feel all the more real, as opposed to part of some stupid game.

Pinkie wandered away from Twilight’s drawer, navigating to the next one she saw with a label. For the next few minutes they went around as a group, opening the labelled drawers and examining the bodies. Trenderhoof with his caved in skull, the charred remains of Coco Pommel, the splattered remnants of Braeburn, the relatively unblemished Gizmo, and Cloudchaser. They all agreed not to open the bag beyond her face for unspoken but obvious reasons.

Obviously some bodies were absent, Doughnut Joe, Lightning Dust and Prince Blueblood. Pinkie wondered what had become of what little there was left of them. Once the final drawer was closed, the five ponies stood in silence, none of them noticing the cold anymore. They probably would have stayed there for hours if not for Soarin finally breaking the silence.

“We should go,” he suggested.

“Agreed,” Trixie said, making for the open door first. “There’s nothing but despair here.”

They all left the room one by one, but as Vinyl was about to leave, she looked back and saw Pinkie still hadn’t moved.

“Pinkie?” she said, but Pinkie wasn’t listening, she was staring at the drawer on the other side of the room.

“I have to see her,” Pinkie whispered, making for the one drawer she couldn’t face.

“Pinkie, it won’t do any good,” Vinyl tried to say, but Pinkie wasn’t listening. “It’ll only make you more miserable.”

Pinkie reached the drawer labelled ‘Twilight Sparkle’ and bracing herself, opened it. Vinyl waited beside the door, looking on forlornly as the black body bag was once again revealed.

Pinkie stared down at the bag, her heart thumping in her chest. It was so easy, just reach out and pull the zip down… so why was Pinkie finding it so hard to move her hooves?

There’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s just a bag… containing my dead friend.

Mentally slapping the thought from her mind, Pinkie bit the bullet and reached out, unzipping the bag before she could stop herself.

Twilight looked so peaceful lying there, her frosty form resembling that of a filly sleeping peacefully. Pinkie smiled despite herself.

I hope you’re happy wherever you are Twilight.

Pinkie was still smiling as she continued unzipping, only vaguely aware she was even doing so. It wasn’t until something odd caught her eye, that she dragged herself back to reality. A small, perfectly cut gem rested on Twilight’s chest, glowing with a soft green light. Pinkie reached out and picked it up, turning around to show Vinyl it.

“Is that…” Vinyl began, sounding both confused an astonished, “a power crystal?”

“A power crystal?” Pinkie repeated, she had no idea.

“Yeah, like the one used to power the screen in the dining room,” Vinyl explained, walking over to examine it more closely. “Except this one is green.”

“Why does that matter?” Pinkie asked, nonplussed.

“Well the crystal in the screen is yellow,” Vinyl explained, “it’s used for live feeds. But green power crystals are for displaying pre-recorded things.”

“So if we put this in the screen in the dining room,” Pinkie began, trying to wrap her head around what Vinyl was saying, “it will show us a film or something?”

“A recording of something, yeah,” Vinyl confirmed. “Where did you even find that?”

“It was on Twilight’s chest,” Pinkie explained.

“Ah, I only looked at her face,” Vinyl stated. “We should go upstairs and play this now.”

“Can you?” Pinkie asked as the pair began walking out.

“Of course I can,” Vinyl assured her, “easy peasy!”

Day 14, 10:43

“What will we do with them now?” Redheart asked as her and Pinkie placed the last of the bones back in the trunk.

“Well…” Pinkie began unsure, “it can stay here for now, at least until we have a better idea of who it belongs to.”

Nodding, Redheart stepped back as Pinkie dragged the trunk over to the side of the gym so it wouldn’t be in the way. As she did, Pinkie once again found herself admiring the sophistication of the trunk; it looked like the kind of thing Rarity dragged back from Canterlot saying it was a designer brand and worth every bit she spent on it. Once she had it pressed up against the wall she stood up dusting herself down, turning to face Redheart.

“We should go back now,” she said, “see if Vinyl’s got that crystal working yet.”

“Sure,” Redheart agreed, allowing Pinkie to lead the way out of the gym.

They walked in utter silence for a few minutes, the only sound being the clopping of their hooves. Redheart eventually broke it.

“Why do you think the Mastermind wanted us to go into that morgue?” she asked. Pinkie thought about it briefly.

“Well at a guess I’d say it was to demoralise us,” she began.

It certainly did that.

“Although I think there might be something more to it,” she continued, “but we won’t know for sure until we see what’s on that crystal.”

“You think the Mastermind wanted us t… er, you to find it?” Redheart asked, tripping up slightly in the middle.

“I’m almost certain they did,” Pinkie replied, trying to sound determined.

“You said ‘they’,” Redheart pointed out.

“Huh?”

“You referred to the Mastermind as they,” Redheart explained, “Trixie always refers to it as a male, I take it you don’t believe her theory that it’s Orchid.”

“I haven’t ruled it out,” Pinkie clarified, “but what about you? You said ‘it’.”

Redheart just shrugged. “I guess I just have a hard time believing any pony could be capable of this.”

I’d like to believe that too.

They finished their journey in silence, arriving at the dining room just in time to see Vinyl levitating the screen back onto the wall.

“Hey, you’re back,” Vinyl announced, hearing them enter. “You’re just in time.”

“You got it working?” Pinkie asked hopefully.

“Well it’s in there,” Vinyl confirmed, “It just needs a little magic to get it goin’.”

With that said, Vinyl’s horn began glowing, and the screen came to life. Pinkie had to admit she was a little thrown at seeing something other than a staticy mess on this screen, but what she was seeing was even more surprising.

The screen was displaying, in full colour no less, a perfect view of the main gate into the manor grounds, and standing outside it, laughing hysterically, were Pinkie and Twilight. Everypony looked over at Pinkie in confusion, but her eyes were glued to the screen as the pair stopped laughing and Twilight’s mouth began moving. There was no sound, but Pinkie still remembered with perfect clarity what Twilight had said to her.

Never change Pinkie.

Pinkie felt herself well up slightly, looking back at herself over the last two weeks, and hardly being able to recognise herself.

Sorry Twilight, you asked one thing from me and I couldn’t even manage that.

The pair on the screen then stepped through the gates, and began collapsing, quickly becoming unconscious heaps on the gravel drive. The screen then flickered and Twilight and Pinkie disappeared, instead they all saw Vinyl standing outside the gates looking in. Vinyl was looking down to her letter and back up again repeatedly as if clarifying she was at the right place. Eventually she seemed to accept it and stuffed away, opening the gates and stepping forward.

Pinkie watched as Vinyl too collapsed before the screen flickered to show Trixie standing outside the gate in the hat and cape she hadn’t worn since the first day. This kept up, showing each and every pony that had been there, living or dead, entering the gate and falling unconscious. Gizmo, Lightning Dust, Trenderhoof, Coco, and…

“Wait, hold it there!” Pinkie shouted as the screen flickered from Coco’s body slumped in the gravel to a white Pegasus standing outside the gate.

Vinyl had seen it two, and with a flash of her horn the image froze just as the Pegasus was stepping through the gate. The room was silent as all six ponies stared at the figure on the screen.

“Who… is that?” Fleur asked slowly.

Pinkie stared at the powder white Pegasus, with her cerise and green striped mane.

I know her…

“Blossomforth?” Pinkie said in utter disbelief.

“Who?” Trixie asked, sounding just as confused.

“She’s a Pegasus from Ponyville,” Pinkie explained.

“And you knew her?” Soarin asked.

“Pinkie knew everypony,” Redheart stated.

“Yeah I knew her,” Pinkie repeated, “not well mind you. I think she worked on the weather patrol with Rainbow Dash.”

“Is it just me, or do her feathers look awfully familiar?” Fleur asked.

Pinkie had figured that too; powder white feathers, now they knew who they belonged to.

The sixteenth pony is Blossomforth!

Day 14, 12:16

Pinkie leaned on the balcony in the entrance hall, quietly observing as Vinyl and Trixie debated how they would get through the stairs.

“I’m telling you, it’s fool proof,” Vinyl said, trying to assure Trixie.

“Clearly not if you are suggesting it!” Trixie retorted.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Vinyl asked in a deadpan voice.

“Where do I begin?” Trixie asked rhetorically. “Considering you got a jolt just from kicking a door, what do you think will happen if you take a conjured pneumatic drill to the secret underground entrance?”

Yeah I’m not going to miss much if I slip away and check on the others.

Pinkie stepped back from the banister and began walking away, the pair’s shouting fading into the distance as she rounded a corner and began heading for the stairs to the second floor. It felt weird as silence descended upon Pinkie and she reminded herself that there were six ponies inside this entire mansion.

No, not six… seven, can’t forget the Mastermind, where ever they are.

As Pinkie climbed the stairs, she found her mind stirring up the memories of that morning, and the foreign thoughts in her head as she had walked outside.

What have I learned from my experiences? Well first there was Twilight’s murder; I remember the tipping point in that case was the shirt Coco found, I could never have proven Doughnut Joe had mixed that poison otherwise. I guess what I learnt from that is despite how unrelated things may seem, there can be hidden connections, I just have to look for them.

Pinkie smiled as she reached the empty archway, the door that had occupied it still leaning against the wall outside after Braeburn had unscrewed the hinges. Walking straight in Pinkie was surprised to find the sixteenth bedroom looking fairly neat and tidy, the dresser standing up with all its drawers in. The remains of the bedside table had been gathered up and left in a pile beside the door along with the boards that had been nailed across the window. Finally the mattress had been stripped of all its covers which were nowhere to be seen, only Braeburn’s tool box now sitting on the bed.

“When you said you were going to strip this place down, I didn’t think you meant literally,” Pinkie commented, walking over to Fleur who stood peering out the window.

“It was a by-product of our investigation,” she replied, turning to face Pinkie. “I assure you, being the Mastermind’s maid wasn’t my intention.”

“So did you find anything?” Pinkie asked.

“Not a thing,” Soarin answered from behind Pinkie. She turned to see him walk out of the bathroom wiping his hooves on a towel. “Those feathers were literally the only evidence Blossomforth was ever here.”

“Although it is obvious from what we were able to gather, that this room has been unoccupied for several days at least,” Fleur added.

“Where’s Redheart?” Pinkie asked, noticing she didn’t follow Soarin out of the bathroom.

“She left a while ago,” Soarin said, “something about the labs.”

“She’s probably taking inventory,” Fleur proposed, “speaking of which, I’m going down to the kitchen now to do the same.”

“Um, do you girls need me to do anything else?” Soarin asked unsure, “If you didn’t, I was going to head over to the gym for a bit.”

“That’s alright, if we need anything we’ll send you a message,” Fleur said as she left the room, heading in the direction Pinkie had come from.

“Great,” Soarin said looking over to Pinkie, sounding relieved, “I don’t know about you but I could really use some stress relief.”

“Well it wouldn’t go a miss for me either,” Pinkie replied, “but I don’t think now is the best time for throwing a party.”

“No I guess not,” Soarin admitted walking towards the bedroom door. “We’ll have plenty of time for that once we get out of here.”

With that, he left, leaving Pinkie alone in the empty bedroom. Pinkie walked across to the window, not for the first time she found herself wishing these windows could be opened. Suddenly a thought occurred to her.

Can I turn on the air conditioning in other rooms?

Bringing up her hoof computer and searching for the ‘room settings’ screen. To her surprise and elation she quickly found the desired screen. Scrolling through the usual options she hovered her hoof over ‘air conditioning’, before giving it a small tap and bringing up the metre. Pinkie began to move the slider up, but to her confusion, there was no familiar rush of cool air, instead she heard a violent rattling noise coming from the floor opposite the bed.

Turning the air conditioning off, Pinkie approached the source of the noise. It was a section of the skirting board which Pinkie knew barely covered the air vents. Giving the board a tentative knock, she found it shook loosely. Giving it a slightly harder tug she was disappointed when it wiggled but remained attached to the wall. However a light bulb went off over here head as she remembered the tool box still sitting on the bed.

Opening the box up, Pinkie began shifting through the various tools, trying to find one that suited her need. In the end she settled for a chisel, and returning to the wall, she angled the tool into the gap between the wall and the board, and began prising them apart.

She was swiftly rewarded when the skirting board snapped clean off the wall, revealing the metal air vent running behind it. Peering into the vent Pinkie could make out a number of shiny objects lodged inside. Retreating to the tool box, Pinkie retrieved a pair of tin snips, easily the largest tool in the box. Bringing them back she set to work cutting the grill of the vent off. Once that was done, she dropped the tin snips and reached into the newly opened space, fishing out the six small objects.

As Pinkie pulled them out one by one, she dropped them onto the floor where she now examined them. They appeared to be tiny golden cylinders, with one end tapered into a sharp point. Picking one up she found it to be very smooth as well as incredibly bitter upon giving it an experimentory lick.

I’ve never seen anything like these before; I wonder if the others know what they are…

Scooping them up, Pinkie deposited them into her saddlebag, in the same small compartment with the master key. Standing up, Pinkie walked out of the room, making for the stairs.

Day 14, 12:51

“Where did you say you found these again?” Vinyl asked, examining Pinkie’s discovery very closely.

“They were stuck inside the air vent in the sixteenth room,” Pinkie repeated. “Do you know what they are?”

“Me? No,” Vinyl answered, causing Pinkie to groan. “But Trixie should be back soon, if you leave them with me I can show her them.”

“Sure,” Pinkie agreed, handing over the other five, which Vinyl stored in her own bag.

With that, Pinkie left Vinyl to her examination of the stairs, and returned back the way she came, hoping she could put together a snack while she checked in on Fleur. It was only now occurring to her she hadn’t eaten anything all day, and her stomach wasn’t too happy about it. Arriving at the kitchen, Pinkie found Fleur checking the final tick on a list before nodded with satisfaction.

“Everything accounted for?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes,” Fleur replied. “Would you like some tea? I have the kettle on.”

“Actually I was going to get something to eat,” Pinkie explained, opening the fridge, finding it fully restocked. As she began preparing a sandwich, Pinkie remembered her discovery. “Oh yeah, I found something in Blossomforth’s room after you left.”

“You did?” Fleur asked surprised, “Where?”

“Lodged in the air vent,” Pinkie explained. “There were six little gold things.”

“Gold things?” Fleur repeated, sounding confused.

“I’d never seen anything like them before,” Pinkie continued. “I showed them to Vinyl and she hadn’t either. She’s holding on to them to show to Trixie.”

“Show me what?” Pinkie and Fleur both turned to see Trixie standing in the kitchen door, apparently having just come in from the grounds.

“I found something in the sixteenth room, Vinyl said she would show you once you got back,” Pinkie repeated. “Where were you?”

“Trixie had taken a quick trip over to the crypt,” Trixie explained, walking cross the kitchen. “I had an idea about how to get through the stairs and needed to confirm something.”

“Alright, well let us know if you get anywhere,” Fleur requested, Trixie just nodded as she left the kitchen.

Pinkie carried on making her sandwich while Fleur poured her tea.

Tea and sandwiches, you’d think we were taking this lightly.

“I think I’m going to head up to the library with this,” Fleur announced, stirring her tea. “Would you like to come?”

“Sure,” Pinkie replied, wolfing down her sandwich.

Day 14, 14:26

Pinkie slammed another book shut, leaning back in her chair and sighing in exasperation.

Well that was a bust, but I suppose if Trixie couldn’t find anything useful in these books, why would I?

Looking across the library, Pinkie saw Fleur engrossed in her own book. Looking back at her own pile, Pinkie internally groaned at the height of it. She had never been one for long reading sessions.

That certainly hasn’t changed over these two weeks; my experiences didn’t teach me that.

With that thought in mind, Pinkie cast her thoughts back to what she had been thinking as she went to the sixteenth room.

The second one was Trenderhoof, Soarin had looked pretty guilty, even I nearly believed he was responsible. But I didn’t just accept that, despite how things looked I still gave him the benefit of the doubt, and it paid off, Soarin was innocent. I guess I relearnt what Twilight had taught me, I can’t assume somepony is guilty until I have all the facts.

Accepting she wasn’t going to get anywhere with these books, Pinkie stood up and began walking to the library door. As she passed Fleur she managed to spot the title of the book she was reading.

Advanced Chess Playing… and there I thought she was doing work.

Ignoring this, Pinkie left the library and instead headed towards the lab to see if Redheart was still there. Once she got to the lab however, she found it deserted; Redheart must have finished taking stock and headed downstairs. Pinkie walked in anyway; having nothing else to do at that point she decided she might as well have a look around.

As she weaved in and out of the aisles and shelves, she half expected to find something out of the ordinary, two of the murders had involved chemicals taken from this very room after all. To her surprise but not disappointment, nothing caught her eye. As far as she could tell, everything was where it was supposed to be; clearly Redheart was doing a good job of maintaining this room.

A beep caused Pinkie to stop her search and look down at her hoof computer, which was now showing a message from Vinyl Scratch. Pinkie’s heart missed a beat upon seeing this.

Did they get it open?!

Quickly opening the message, she found it simply read ‘we’re breaking for lunch, do you want any?’. Pinkie sighed in dismay, closing the message. She did feel pretty hungry already, and she wanted to ask her if she had found out anything more about the objects she found. Mind made up, Pinkie left the lab, as she did she ran headlong into Redheart who was passing by the door at the time.

“Oh, sorry Pinkie,” she said hurriedly.

“No worries,” Pinkie assured her, “Are you heading down for food too?”

“Yeah, I take it you got Vinyl’s message as well,” Redheart asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be honest, I had got my hopes up it would be something a little more important,” Pinkie admitted, leading the way to the stairs.

Day 14, 15:05

“So in conclusion, Trixie does not know what these are,” Trixie finished, placing the piece of golden metal back in front of Pinkie.

“You neither?” Pinkie said exasperated, before turning to Soarin and Redheart. “Do you either of you know what they are?”

“Not a clue,” Soarin admitted, rolling his across the table to Pinkie.

“I’m afraid not,” Redheart concurred, passing hers over as well. “Maybe Fleur will know. Where is she by the way?”

“Probably still in the library,” Pinkie suggested, looking down the table, or at least the small end that wasn’t still crushed under the chandelier.

“Hey,” Soarin said, getting everypony’s attention. “What are you guys looking forward to most about getting out of here? Not seeing friends or family, that’s obvious. I mean little things; personally I can’t wait to see the sun again.”

“Getting back to work and being to help ponies again,” Redheart answered, a nostalgic look overcoming her.

“Music,” Vinyl said simply.

“Having free reign over my magic again,” Trixie stated.

Pinkie thought about it for a moment. “Making ponies smile like I used to.”

Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s Party Pony Prodigy… feels like a life time ago.

“What about this place?” Redheart asked, looking around the dining room.

“Frankly,” Trixie began bitterly, “I think the best thing for it is to be torn to the ground.”

“Yeah, good riddance,” Vinyl agreed, biting into an apple. “But before that I plan on raiding it, I swear I’m going to get something out of this ordeal.”

“You mean besides your life?” Redheart asked in a slightly stern voice.

“That too,” Vinyl said with a small shrug.

“Would anypony like to know what I’m looking forward to most?” the Mastermind asked in an overly cheerful voice.

“No,” Vinyl answered simply, glancing up at the screen that had just turned on.

“Sometimes, I get the feeling you don’t like me very much,” the Mastermind said sarcastically.

“Whatever gave you a crazy idea like that?” Vinyl asked in a similar tone. “In my experience, sadistic psychos are the life and soul of every party.”

“Still too narrow minded to see the greater purpose in things I see,” the Mastermind responded enigmatically.

There they go again, talking like there’s something more to all of this. If that is the case, then what is the purpose?

“But,” the Mastermind continued, sounding cheery, “it hardly matters. I have a funny feeling our little game will come to a close soon… one way or another.”

The screen switched off once more, leaving a chilly atmosphere in place of the fairly upbeat one that had been growing moments before.

“Another thing I look forward to,” Trixie began, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife. “Is killing him.”

Day 14, 18:33

Pinkie lay on the sofa in the parlour, squinting as she held the golden cylinder up to the light. She felt utterly intrigued by them, despite the distinct possibility they were nothing more than broken pieces from the air conditioning unit. Pinkie didn’t believe that however, while she couldn’t put her hoof on the reason why, she knew these pieces of metal were important for something. After all the last mysterious gold object she found had certainly proved to be important.

The last golden object Blueblood found more like. I think in the end the master key was more trouble than it was worth, we found a bathtub of purple paint, and a shed filled with murder weapons.

Pinkie slipped the object back in her bag and allowed her eyes to shut.

Still, the third murder was Coco’s, what did it teach me? Never trust Blueblood! Well I should already have known that, but I don’t think things would have turned out half as bad if not for the Mastermind’s involvement. We would have totally missed that if not for the small things like the colour of the message. I guess I learned there’s often more to something than meets the eye, more factors at play that you wouldn’t see if you didn’t look at the big picture.

Pinkie rolled over and looked to the door which was sitting slightly ajar, she could hear approaching hoofsteps and what sounded like raised voices.

“Because you’re not taking this seriously!” one shouted, Pinkie guessed it was Redheart.

“I’m not taking this seriously?!” the other spat back, clearly Vinyl. “I don’t know if you’ve stopped to notice, but I’m the one trying to get somewhere while you count jars of protein.”

Pinkie leapt to her hooves and ran to the door before things could escalate. She entered the hall just as Redheart’s mouth opened.

“What’s going on?” Pinkie asked, drawing both their attention.

“Nurse Joyless here thinks I’m too laid back, even though between the two of us, I’m the one doing all the work,” Vinyl explained angrily.

“I do plenty of work around here!” Redheart exclaimed, sounding offended. “Just because my work doesn’t involve firing spells at one staircase for two weeks and getting nowhere!”

“You wanna try and move those stairs?!” Vinyl demanded. “Be my guest! While you do that and get nowhere, I’ll sit on my plot for two weeks and occasionally get up to tell everyone the blood soaked corpse is in fact dead!”

“Enough!” Pinkie bellowed, silencing the pair instantly. “We are this close to getting out of this hellhole, the last thing we need right now is ponies at each other’s throats. Everypony is helping in their own way, that includes both of you. So please, let whatever this is go, if asking you to be BFFs is too much at least tolerate each other until we escape.”

“Alright, sorry Pinkie,” Redheart said looking a little ashamed before walking away.

“Yeah Pinks, I was out of line, it won’t happen again,” Vinyl assured her, taking her glasses off and rubbing her tired looking eyes.

“That’s alright,” Pinkie replied wearily, walking back into the parlour. “You should go get some rest, you don’t look too good.”

“Oh, thanks!” Vinyl said, chuckling weakly before walking away in the opposite direction of Redheart.

Pinkie sighed in exhaustion as she slumped back onto the sofa.

I said we were ‘this close’ to escaping… Well, whatever makes them happy. When did I become the group mediator?

Day 14, 20:00

The six ponies sat around the end of the dining table, eating their diner in total silence. Pinkie looked up and saw Vinyl and Redheart pointedly avoiding making eye contact.

Well I did say tolerating each other would be good enough.

“Stuff like this doesn’t happen, does it?” Pinkie asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Everypony looked at her, unsure what she meant. “Like murder, murder doesn’t happen very often in Equestria. So this… does this happen at all?”

“Not in any of our times,” Fleur admitted thoughtfully. “There have been serial killers in the past, but I don’t think any of them ever did this to their victims.”

“I always heard King Sombra liked to torment the Crystal Ponies in creatively brutal ways,” Trixie pointed out.

“What about Discord?” Soarin asked. “Isn’t turning ponies against each other the kind of thing he always did?”

“Sort of,” Pinkie replied. “I asked him once and it turns out he doesn’t like killing, says there’s more fun to be had with them while they’re alive.”

“Yes, there was one time he was visiting Princess Celestia during court,” Fleur informed them, “he boasted to me that during his entire rule, not a single pony ever died, whether it be through old age or anything.”

“Didn’t Discord’s rule last for a hundred years?” Vinyl asked confused.

“Give or take,” Fleur confirmed. “He did admit there was a small overpopulation crisis due to this.”

“Still, living forever doesn’t sound too bad,” Vinyl commented, “maybe Discord had the right idea.”

“Seriously?” Pinkie asked incredulously. “Being murdered is one thing, nopony wants that, but could you really live forever?”

“Could you not?” Vinyl countered.

“I used to think I could,” Pinkie admitted in barely more than a murmur. “Living forever sounds… difficult.”

“But wouldn’t Princess Twilight have lived forever?” Fleur asked, before adding, “or an incredibly long time at least.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie replied forlornly, “we didn’t like to bring it up, but we all knew that would be the case.”

Not anymore I suppose.

“I imagine there’ll be a state funeral for her,” Soarin proposed awkwardly.

“Yes, I suppose there shall,” Fleur agreed, leaving another awkward silence to descend upon the group.

Well isn’t this riveting.

Day 14, 21:59

Pinkie relished the hot water of the shower, imagining it rinsing all her worries away for a brief period. Reaching out she grabbed one of the plastic bottles labelled shampoo, as she applied it to her frizzy mane she couldn’t help but remember the pile of empty plastic bottles lying in the bath tub of the master bedroom.

Maybe the Mastermind is Rarity, and they can’t call a trial without a perfectly styled mane.

Pinkie smirked at the thought; of course if Rarity was the Mastermind she would be utterly confused and devastated. But then, Rarity did have a flair for the dramatics, and the Mastermind’s final line certainly wasn’t short of that.

I have a funny feeling our little game will come to a close soon… one way or another.

Pinkie shuddered despite the hot water running over her.

The Mastermind knew Vinyl was checking the secret room before yesterday’s trial, I doubt they miss anything that happens inside this house. So why aren’t they stopping us from trying to access the underground or figure out their identity? Was it all part of their plan, their reason for bringing us here and pitting us against one another?

Pinkie began scrubbing her coat, trying desperately not to think about what the Mastermind had meant, instead her thoughts returning to a now familiar subject.

Number four, Braeburn and Gizmo. I never could have believed Cloudchaser was capable of something like that. Doughnut Joe I barely knew, Lightning Dust was brash and arrogant when we first got here, Prince Blueblood… well I should have seen that coming, but Cloudchaser? I knew her and her sister when we were kids, they attended my parties. Sure, we weren’t the closest of friends, I didn’t even realise Flitter had a brain disorder, but still, I never realised she could be capable of that. I guess what I learned is that a pony's background and situation can tell you a lot about them, and to really understand what a pony is capable of you first have to understand the pony.

Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to do with myself by asking these questions? Do I now understand myself better? Will these experiences and lessons help me? I don’t feel any different, and I certainly don’t feel any closer to uncovering the truth.

Pinkie sighed; having finished her wash she turned off the shower and stepped outside to towel herself off. She had felt tired before the shower, but now she felt wide awake.

Maybe a walk outside will help me sleep…

Day 15, 11:01

Pinkie groaned as her eyes blinked open, squinting against the sunlight pouring in through her window. Rolling over she grabbed her hoof computer off the bedside table and checked the time. As soon as she did, her eyes snapped open and she leapt out of bed.

“I’m late,” she exclaimed, running into the bathroom and throwing water from the sink over her face to help wake her up. “Hopefully the others won’t be worried.”

Leaving the bathroom Pinkie grabbed her saddlebags and left her room, almost forgetting to lock after herself in her rush. As Pinkie hurried down the corridor towards the stairs, she couldn’t help but feel a chill running up her spine. Something felt off, the house felt eerie. Slowing her pace, Pinkie listened carefully. There wasn't a sound to be heard beyond her own hoof steps, this wasn’t such an unusual occurrence, so why did it bother Pinkie now?

Reaching the kitchen, Pinkie found it deserted, same with the dining room, although there were some plates left lying around suggesting somepony had been eating. Carrying on down the hallway, Pinkie headed for the entrance hall.

Vinyl and Trixie are probably hard at work, I’ll go talk to them and this feeling will disappear.

Yes that was the plan, and it was a good one, Pinkie couldn’t help but smile to herself and hum an improvised tune as she walked. Although anypony nearby would see her smile was strained and her humming was shaky.

Pinkie stopped humming as she arrived in the entrance hall, walking across the balcony to the top of the stairs.

“Hey Vinyl, hey Trixie,” Pinkie began loudly, “How’s it…”

That was as far as she got before she looked down the stairs at the entrance hall.

Trixie wasn’t there, but Vinyl was. Vinyl Scratch was there, lying down, her signature sunglasses discarded nearby with one of their lenses shattered, a small pool of blood forming around her head.

Pinkie felt time come to a standstill, the world around her dissolving until only Pinkie and Vinyl remained, Pinkie looking down at the dead body of her old friend.

Pinkie screamed a horrific melody of anger and anguish as she rushed down the stairs and scooped up Vinyl’s limp body in her forehooves. Vinyl’s cool as ice smile gone, only one of her purple eyes staring back at Pinkie, the other now a pulverised, bloody mess.

As Pinkie stared down at Vinyl, her body began shaking. Not from sorrow, but from rage. Gritting her teeth, she laid Vinyl gently down, standing up on unsteady legs, turning to face the staircase.

“MASTERMIND!” Pinkie screamed at the top of her lungs to the entire room. “I know you’re there, answer me!”

“Something wrong?” the Mastermind asked innocently.

“Shut up!” Pinkie screamed at the phantom voice. “Show yourself right now so I can send you to Tartarus in pieces!”

“Why Pinkie, it sounds to me like you’re not enjoying our little game anymore,” the Mastermind began in mock horror. “Very well, would it make you feel any better if we changed our game?”

“No!” Pinkie shouted. “I’ve had enough of your games!”

“Don’t be so hasty Pinkie,” the Mastermind interrupted, “I think you’ll like this…”

Pinkie didn’t answer, she just stood breathing heavily, waiting for the Mastermind to say their bit.

“I’ll give you until six to investigate this murder,” the Mastermind began, “at which point we’ll have another trial. The difference being, that if you can correctly guess the culprit this time… I’ll let you and the others all walk free.”

Pinkie’s anger dissipated a little as she was so taken aback by this.

“What’s the catch?” she asked suspiciously. “What happens if we lose?”

“That…” the Mastermind said enigmatically, “remains to be seen.”

Pinkie was torn, on the one hand this whole thing sounded too good to be true, and she would still rather kick the Mastermind to death herself, but… there were still four other ponies here who were relying on her.

One of which is the murderer!

“So, do we have a deal?”

Pinkie bit her lip, and looked back at Vinyl’s body.

“Deal,” Pinkie whispered reluctantly.

Pinkie could almost hear the Mastermind’s grin on their next words.

“Then let the game begin!”

Author's Notes:

Oh Pinkie, didn't your father ever tell you not to make deals with the devil? (mine did)
Here we are! The last case! *cough* Everyone's last chance to correctly guess the culprit's identity! *cough* So get your thinking caps on, there's no punishment for getting it wrong... there's no prize for getting it right mind you, but let's stay positive!
The next part should hopefully be released by... I actually have no idea, I need to do some research for it so I'm going to hazard a guess it will be some time near the end of the week.