Day 15, 11:17

Pinkie Pie circled around Vinyl’s body, refusing to make eye contact with any of the ponies lined up along the bottom of the stairs. The silence following Pinkie’s declaration was stretching to breaking point, ended only when Fleur spoke up.

“So if we correctly guess the culprit,” she began tentatively, as if not daring to hope it was true, “the game is over? We can leave?”

The Mastermind only said if ‘I’ figure it out…

“Yes,” Pinkie replied curtly, rather than voicing her thoughts aloud.

The Mastermind had announced Vinyl’s death right after they finished talking to Pinkie, less than a minute later the others had all run in from different directions. As they did Pinkie observed the various expressions on display, ranging from horrified to indifferent, courtesy of Trixie.

“Well, I guess there’s no time like the present,” Trixie said dismissively, “we should probably fan out and…”

“Actually,” Pinkie cut in, her voice like ice, “I’d like to know where exactly you’ve all been.”

The room fell silent once more following Pinkie’s demand. Eventually Soarin was the first to speak up.

“Well I don’t know about everypony else, but I was sitting in the parlour all morning,” he explained.

“Which parlour?” Pinkie demanded impatiently, “if you haven’t noticed, there are several of them.”

“Oh, uh…” Soarin began taken aback, trying desperately to pick out some detail. “It was the one with that big painting of Orchid.”

“What were you doing there?” Pinkie asked coldly.

“I was just sitting there relaxing,” Soarin replied defensively. “Why are you getting so aggressive?”

“Because somepony here is a murderer, and I’d rather cut straight to the chase!” Pinkie exclaimed, “now who else?”

“I was outside,” Fleur answered, “and before you ask I was just wandering around the eastern side of the grounds.”

“If you were outside, how did you get the announcement?” Pinkie asked suspiciously.

“Through my hoof computer,” Fleur explained, holding up her forehoof to illustrate her point.

That’s fair enough then.

“Trixie was in the library,” Trixie began, “I had been talking to Vinyl at breakfast and we’d come up with an idea how to get through the stairs, I went upstairs to research into it.”

“Did you get anywhere?” Pinkie asked.

“Not before the announcement was made,” Trixie replied matter-of-factly.

“That just leaves you,” Pinkie said looking over to Redheart.

“I was in the kitchen, clearing up after breakfast,” Redheart stated.

“I looked into the kitchen and dining room on my way over here,” Pinkie began, “They were both empty.”

“You probably looked in while I was outside scraping out the leftovers,” Redheart proposed.

“Fine, guess we have to do this the hard way,” Pinkie said annoyed, “Alright Redheart, can you examine the…”

“Hold on a second!” Trixie shouted, cutting Pinkie off. “You still haven’t told us where you’ve been all this time.”

“I fail to see how that matters,” Pinkie retorted, “I didn’t kill her.”

“And you expect us to take your word on that?” Trixie replied sceptically.

“Well none of you seemed to care where I was all morning!” Pinkie countered.

“What do you mean?” Fleur asked confused, “Vinyl told us at breakfast you were heading over to the gym.”

“What?” Pinkie blurted out, “I was asleep until eleven. I never spoke to Vinyl this morning.”

“How were you asleep until eleven?” Soarin asked incredulously.

“Last night I wasn’t feeling tired,” Pinkie explained, “so I went for a walk outside, I didn’t get back to my room until sometime after two.”

“Well wasn’t that silly of you?” Trixie stated in a flat tone.

“Hey, I’m not on trial here!” Pinkie spat back, “you already accused me once and nearly got us all killed because of it. Vinyl Scratch was one of my best friends since I first moved to Ponyville; the rest of you hardly knew her!”

The room fell utterly silent, as everypony shot accusing glares at one another, no one daring to speak for fear it might incriminate them.

“Alright,” Pinkie said at last, “now as I was saying, Redheart can you examine Vinyl’s body?”

“Um, of course,” Redheart said nervously, “I’ll need my equipment though.”

“Where is it?” Pinkie asked curtly.

“In my room…” Redheart began to say before Pinkie cut her off.

“Right, Soarin, go with Redheart to get her equipment,” Pinkie ordered, “the rest of us will wait here.”

Soarin didn’t argue for a second, quickly bustling Redheart up the stairs and away from the entrance hall as fast as possible. This left Pinkie alone with Trixie and Fleur, neither of which were looking pleased with her.

“What?” Pinkie demanded, noticing their expressions.

“Pinkie, I understand you’re feeling upset,” Fleur began as calmly as she could muster despite the situation. “But we need to work together; if you treat us all like we’re guilty then you’ll get nowhere.”

Pinkie looked away from Fleur, refusing to admit she was right.

“One of us is a murderer;” Pinkie began still looking the other way, “that means the other four are innocent. I will get those four out of here no matter what.”

Fleur didn’t respond, and Trixie still hadn’t spoken up. When Pinkie was sure neither of them were going to say anything, she began walking around the room, taking stock of her surroundings.

Vinyl’s body lay flat on its back, her legs slightly spread out; giving the impression she had simply fallen backwards. Her head was turned slightly so the bloody eye socket was closer to the ground, the pool of blood around her head clearly having poured from there. Her glasses were lying quite close by, upside down with the temples lying crooked. Pinkie assumed they must have fallen off her face when… whatever happened to her happened.

The left lens was shattered, correlating with the wounded eye on the body, small fragments of purple glass scattered on the floor. Beyond this, there was nothing noteworthy about the body; whatever had killed her must have been extraordinarily quick.

Hopefully whatever pain there was was also quick.

Taking a step back, Pinkie examined the position of the body in coordination with the rest of the room. If she had indeed fallen straight back, she must have been standing slightly right to the centre of the room, the open door to her right, and the stairs to her left. But that would suggest the killer stood in front of her. Surely if that was the case there should have been some struggle, but Vinyl’s body looked so… peaceful.

Reaching down once more, Pinkie slipped Vinyl’s hoof computer off her leg. Turning it on she began fiddling about through the usual screens, trying to follow Vinyl’s own example when they searched Gizmo’s computer. Sure enough, she soon found her way to the messages section; there were only two entries that day.

10:00- Trixie- I think I’ve done it, meet me at the entrance hall right now!

Pinkie glanced over at Trixie who avoiding her gaze. Before looking back at the message, it definitely had a black background. Pinkie moved over to the second and final message that day.

10:30- Unknown- video chat request sent successfully

Pinkie raised an eyebrow as she read this; someone had sent Vinyl a request for a video chat?

No…

Pinkie then noticed the icons beside the two messages; prefacing Trixie’s message was an icon of an envelope with an arrow pointing inwards, while the other message had the icon of an envelope with an arrow pointing outwards.

Vinyl contacted someone before she died, but who?

The video request was sent just half an hour before Pinkie woke up, she must have died shortly after sending this.

Pinkie was saved from having to ponder this by the sound of hoofsteps, indicating the return of Redheart and Soarin. Looking up Pinkie saw Redheart carrying the same bag she had sent Soarin away for when they found Cloudchaser injured, except it looked far more bulky than it did last time.

“Alright, I’m ready to begin,” Redheart announced, setting her bag down beside Vinyl’s body. “Pinkie could you help me?”

“Sure,” Pinkie replied neutrally.

She was about to crouch down next to Redheart before a cough from behind her drew her attention to the others standing idly by.

“Pinkie,” Fleur began, “don’t you think we’d be of more use investigating the rest of the house?”

Pinkie internally sighed before answering.

“Fine, but stick together, all three of you,” she commanded, a rare instance where her voice radiated with authority.

Soarin, Fleur and Trixie all left up the stairs, the latter not looking too keen at being ordered about. Pinkie then set to work with Redheart.

Day 15, 11:54

“There definitely seems to be something lodged in there,” Redheart said, turning her torch off and handing it over to Pinkie.

“Any idea what it is?” Pinkie asked curiously.

“Not without getting it out,” Redheart replied. “Do you think you could reach into my bag and pass me the forceps?”

“Sure…” Pinkie began hesitantly, “What are forceps again?”

“They look like curvy tweezers,” Redheart explained, while scraping away some of the congealed blood from around Vinyl’s eye socket.

Pinkie opened the bag once more and began searching for the forceps, not an easy task considering how full Redheart kept this thing stuffed. Eventually Pinkie just began pulling random things out to try and clear some space, leaving them to the side. As she lifted a jar of morphine aside, something caught her eye lying in the bottom of the bag. Curious, she reached for the torch Redheart has set down, flicking it on and shining it into the bags dark interior.

“Something wrong?” Redheart asked over her shoulder.

“No, everything’s fine,” Pinkie lied, picking up the fragments of purple glass from the inside of the bag and examining them closely.

There’s no way these came from anything other than Vinyl’s glasses, so how did they end up in here?

“Have you got those forceps yet Pinkie?” Redheart asked politely.

“Uh…” Pinkie began, placing the glass to the side and looking back in the bag, spotting the curvy tweezers almost immediately. “Yeah, here they are.”

Handing the forceps over, Pinkie began piling the bags contents back inside, while storing the pieces of glass inside her own bag for safe keeping. Once the bag was repacked, Pinkie looked over to see how Redheart was doing; she then had to look away when she saw the forceps half way through Vinyl’s eye socket.

“Are you getting anywhere with that?” Pinkie asked, feeling her stomach turn slightly.

“Yes… I think…” Redheart began, “there we go!”

Pinkie looked back over to see Redheart holding the forceps up, ignoring what she could only imagine was liquefied brain coating them, she looked to the tip, where a small object was clutched.

“What is that?” Pinkie asked confused, staring at the small warped object.

“I’m not actually sure,” Redheart admitted, releasing it from the forceps and wiping it with a cloth dipped in ethanol.

When she finished, she dropped whatever it was on the ground between her and Pinkie. As it fell it clinked, indicating it was made of metal, and when Pinkie looked at it she saw it was a golden colour.

Quick as lighting, Pinkie whipped her own bags off her back and opened the compartment where she stored the master key, and found it completely empty. No master key and certainly no golden metal objects.

Somepony got into my bag, but how? When?

Thinking back, the last time Pinkie was sure she had them was when she was lying in the parlour before she overheard Vinyl and Redheart’s fight. Looking back at the object Redheart had just pulled from Vinyl’s skull, she saw that it was definitely shorter than then objects she had found. Although it was easy to imagine that if she removed the cylinder and left only the pointed tip, it could have become this.

“What are you thinking Pinkie?” Redheart asked unsure.

I need to find out what those objects were…

“I’m going to keep hold of this and go see if I can figure out what it is,” Pinkie explained, scooping up the object and storing it in the now empty compartment in the saddle bags. “Can you manage here on your own?”

“Sure,” Redheart said, still sounding unsure.

Pinkie stood up and slung her bags back over her back as she walked towards the stairs, thinking about where she should head first. She never got anywhere in finding out what the metal objects were yesterday, where was she supposed to begin today? Although, she never did show them to Fleur. After getting them back during lunch she had forgotten to ask Fleur about them. She could go and ask Fleur about them now, however she didn’t know where in the mansion they were at the moment, and there was something else she wanted to look into…

Looking back at Redheart, Pinkie saw she was still busying herself with Vinyl’s body. Turning back to the stairs, Pinkie began to climb them, but as she did something caught her eye. Leaning down, Pinkie brushed a step at random with her hoof.

Dust?

Day 15, 12:25

As Pinkie walked down the third floor corridor, she made a mental note of the still open doors to the master bedroom.

Well at least who ever stole the master key hasn’t gone and locked everywhere up on us.

Continuing down the hall, she instead turned right, heading in through the open door to the lab. To her dismay she found it deserted, while she hadn’t expected to find Fleur here, she had hoped she could hit two birds with one stone. Regardless, she still had one other purpose coming here. Her earlier search of the lab had taken her past a section of shelving which seemed to exclusively hold various tools and equipment. Making her way there now she began scanning the different labels, opening any she knew Redheart must have taken from in order to fill her bag.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, Pinkie slammed the forceps drawer shut. She didn’t know what she had expected to find coming up here, but Redheart had those glass fragments in her bag, that made her a suspect. And Pinkie decided the best way to investigate her was to go where she knew Redheart head been, this being the most obvious destination. However, her paranoid search had proved futile as she had found nothing of interest let alone relevance.

Hang on though, she had things other than tools in that bag… and I did find the glass under a bottle of…

Stepping away from the equipment shelf, Pinkie began navigating the room, looking for where she had found the bottles of ketamine.

Surely morphine while be nearby there.

It didn’t take her long to find the right shelf, seeing the loose nail that Lightning Dust had got her mane caught on. From there, Pinkie began reading the labels before skipping onto the next shelf and repeating. It turned out the morphine wasn’t very near by the ketamine after all, but Pinkie didn’t care so much about the time wasted, just that she had indeed found what she was looking for.

Just so long as this hunch isn’t a bust…

Taking a breath, Pinkie opened the drawer slowly, and sighed in disappointment. There was a single bottle missing, but nothing else out of the ordinary. Feeling peeved at her search here being for nothing, she slammed the drawer shut again, and heard a loud ripping noise as she did. Pinkie froze, confused by where the noise had just come from. The drawer had contained glass bottles, nothing that could have made that noise, but Pinkie was sure that’s where the noise had come from.

Tentatively she opened the drawer once more, if made no sound this time. Curious, she reached out with both hooves and lifted the whole drawer out of the shelf, as she did she heard a soft thud as something landed on the floor. Setting the drawer aside, Pinkie looked down and saw a balled up, squashed piece of paper that must have been lodged underneath the drawer.

Something like that doesn’t just end up there by accident…

Reaching down, Pinkie picked up the piece of paper, and began unfolding it carefully so as not to rip it any further. Once the sheet was open in front of her, it took her several seconds to register what it was from. Once she did however, she galloped from the room as fast as she could, not wishing to waste any more time. She ran down both flights of stairs, taking them three steps at a time. Once on the first floor she ran down the corridor to the parlour where the painting of Orchid had been. Once she arrived, she found it exactly as she had expected.

The top section of the painting had been torn off, so the top of Orchid’s head was missing. Holding up the sheet she found, Pinkie placed it over the missing section of the painting and found they fitted perfectly.

So somepony ripped this off the painting… but why? What does that accomplish?

Pinkie stood there feeling like a bit of an idiot as she stared at the painting, she had hoped to receive some divine inspiration once she put the two pieces together, but instead she just felt confused as to what the purpose of it was. With a sigh she took back the torn piece, folding it neatly and storing it in her bag. Looking back up at the painting, she stared at Orchid now with only half a head… or half a skull!

The skull was missing the exact amount Orchid is in this picture!

That only succeeded at confusing Pinkie even more, was this a clue? Did somepony want her to know the skeleton was Orchid’s? Pinkie thought about her next step carefully, in retrospect her discovery of the missing piece of the painting was nothing short of amazing considering what a stretch it was to search that drawer. She still had to talk to Fleur, but this opened two new options for her. Go back to the crypt, or go examine the skeleton again.

Trixie had been at the crypt yesterday apparently, and after that message Vinyl received from her, I should probably look into why exactly she felt the need to go back there.

With her mind made up, Pinkie left the parlour, heading back the direction she had just run from, towards the kitchen.

Day 15, 13:04

Pinkie reached the Plaza with the familiar engraved crypt entrance in good time; she still had five hours before the Mastermind said they would call the trial. Rather than jumping straight to opening the crypt, she instead began circling around the stone tablet.

Last time I was here, Trixie didn’t know that I was the one who opened the crypt; she assumed it was her magic. So then how did she get in yesterday?

It was perfectly reasonable that either Trixie stumbled upon the false slab, or that she never did get in, but just said she did so as not to lose face in front of Pinkie and Fleur. Not finding anything odd on the outside, Pinkie returned to where she found the slab that she had first noticed to be out of place. Putting all her weight on it, she felt it sink into the ground and heard the rumbling of the tablet moving to reveal the passage to the crypt.

Walking over and looking down the staircase, Pinkie found the crypt pitch black. The last time she was here she had relied on Trixie’s magic to allow her to see, this time however Pinkie whipped out the torch she had borrowed from Redheart. Flicking it on, Pinkie descended the stairs, using the dim cone of yellow light as her guide. Reaching the cramped chamber, Pinkie began examining the inside of each sarcophagus, from the empty ones, to the ones still occupied by long dead bodies.

Pinkie wasn’t surprised that she found nothing of value, but that was why she saved Orchid’s sarcophagus for last. Walking over to it, Pinkie leaned in, shining her torch into the empty container. The base was filled dust and bone meal, beyond that it looked entirely empty. Not wanting to leave here empty hooved, Pinkie reached in and began sifting through the dust. It wasn’t as unpleasant as she imagined, the trick was to pretend it was something other than a pony’s remains she was dipping her hoof into.

Nothing. Nothing but dust and more dust and…

Pinkie’s hoof froze as a flash of colour caught her eye, which was impressive considering whatever it was was almost entirely coated in grey. Reaching out once more, Pinkie grasped hold of the dusty strand, pulling it free from the pile. Holding it tightly she waved it a little before whipping it on her coat. Looking at it once more, she found it was a long strand of pink hair.

Pink, that means it could belong to either Fleur or Redheart…

Pinkie’s torch began flickering threateningly, knowing she didn’t have long, Pinkie hurried out of the tomb just as her torch died. Now in the light of day, Pinkie examined the hair once more. Besides its colour, there was nothing else defining about it. However this did give her another reason to go look at the skeleton once more. Storing the hair along with the gold object they removed from Vinyl, Pinkie began walking back towards the manor.

Maybe I was wrong, maybe you haven’t learnt anything.

Pinkie didn’t stop walking, but her breathing did intensify as the thought passed through her mind.

What’s that supposed to mean?

It means, you spent all day yesterday trying to figure out what you learned from your experiences, and yet today it’s like you’ve completely forgotten them.

I haven’t forgotten anything!

Oh really? Lesson number two?

That was…

That’s what I thought. I guess I was wrong, looks the Mastermind will win after all.

“The Mastermind won’t win!” Pinkie shouted out loud, bursting into a run.

Really? Because from what I’ve seen, you’ve been running around for… two hours now, doing exactly what they want you to.

What’s the heck is that supposed to mean?!

…

Maybe if you helped me!

I have helped you. You have the knowledge; you just need to apply it.

Who are…

“Pinkie?” a voice said, cutting Pinkie’s thoughts short.

Pinkie looked up to see Soarin gliding alongside her.

“Oh, hey Soarin,” Pinkie said, disappointed by the distinct silence in her head.

“Are you alright?” Soarin asked, looking concerned as the pair slowed down now that they were nearing the kitchen door. “You looked kinda… distracted.”

“I’ll be fine,” Pinkie assured him, before remembering something. “Oh yeah, have you seen Fleur? I need to talk to her.”

“Not for a while,” Soarin admitted, looking around as if expecting to see her. “If I see her though, I’ll send her your way.”

“Thanks,” Pinkie said gratefully, “I just need to go check something out.”

With that she left Soarin at the kitchen door and headed into the house, her hooves carrying her towards the gym where the trunk containing the skeleton waited. Passing by the entrance hall, Pinkie saw Redheart talking to Trixie. Trixie looked up at Pinkie as she passed over the balcony, shooting her a cold glare.

She clearly doesn’t like being ordered around, or treated like a suspect. Well tough luck Trixie!

Leaving the entrance hall behind, Pinkie entered the west wing of the house. Reaching the gym, Pinkie looked over to the wall where she had moved the trunk after Redheart and her had finished packing away the skeleton, and her heart stopped in her chest when she saw it was no longer there. Running into the room, Pinkie began looking around wildly. This didn’t last long as she found the trunk placed against the opposite wall. Calming down, she began walking over to it.

Okay I shouldn’t have jumped to a conclusion, somepony clearly just…

But Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks once more when she noticed something sticking out of the lid of the trunk. A shred of purple material, adorned with stars. Reaching out, Pinkie unclasped the trunk slowly, mentally noting how much lighter it was now. Once she opened the lid, the torn piece of fabric fell free, revealing the trunk to be completely empty.

Day 15, 13:58

Pinkie was fuming as she marched along the third floor corridor once more, the piece of material now stored in her bag along with all the other pieces of evidence she’d gathered.

Somepony took the skeleton, who? Why? And where the heck is it now?

Storming into the master bedroom, Pinkie began turning the place upside down; searching for anywhere the bones might be hidden. She’d found them here in the first place; she was banking on finding them a second time. She found nothing under the bed or covers, she found nothing in the wardrobes of dressers, she didn’t even find anything in the bathroom beyond the purple tub. Re-entering the bedroom, Pinkie began cursing under her breath.

She wasn’t stupid; she knew that fabric was torn from Trixie’s cape. That along with the message she sent Vinyl and her presence at the crypt was seriously making Pinkie believe it was her after all.

This is a waste of time, the skeleton isn’t here. I should go confront Trixie now.

Pinkie began making for the door, but froze, as she noticed something in her peripheral vision. Looking around she saw the bedside table, its drawer open by a couple of inches. Pinkie definitely hadn’t opened it, it must have already been open when she came in and in her anger she completely missed it.

Walking back across the room, Pinkie stopped in front of the table and opened the drawer. Inside lay two objects, the first was a small velvet box, lying open and empty, the ring that once occupied it now absent. But it was the second object that drew Pinkie’s attention, which she reached for now, her curiosity growing as she examined it.

Pinkie had never seen anything like this before, the object appeared to be made entirely from some dark metal, and despite being relatively small Pinkie was surprised by the weight of the object. The shape was easily the most bizarre thing about it; for starters it seemed to have what Pinkie could only guess was a slightly curved handle on one end, with a long, slender barrel on the other end. Peering down the barrel Pinkie found it to be hollowed out; turning it to the side again she noted a semi-circular piece of metal jutting from the tip of the barrel.

The middle section was a little more complex, consisting of a hooked appendage sticking out the bottom, encircled by a thin ring of metal, making it impossible for Pinkie to touch the hook with her hoof. On the opposite side, there was a similarly shaped part, but this one was not blocked by anything, and Pinkie found she could pull it back. Doing so caused the object to make a small clicking noise, and for the large cylinder in the centre of the object to turn slightly as well as the inaccessible hook to tuck itself closer into the body of the object.

Moving her hoof down to the large cylinder that had just moved, Pinkie gave it a tentative nudge, but found that it was now rigidly stuck in position. Following along from this this, Pinkie’s hoof came to rest on a pin that poked out below the cylinder. Applying a slight amount of pressure, Pinkie felt the pin squeeze in slightly, but before she could try to push it in all the way, a voice spoke out behind her.

“Pinkie,” Fleur said, announcing her presence and making Pinkie jump a little. “Soarin said you wanted to speak with me.”

“Huh?” Pinkie said, having completely forgotten about the gold object. However as Fleur noticed what Pinkie was holding, her eyes became wide with horror.

“Pinkie!” she exclaimed, snatching the object from her hooves with telekinesis. “What are you doing with one of these?!”

“What?” Pinkie asked, completely nonplussed at Fleur’s sudden reaction. “I just found it in the drawer here; do you know what it is?”

Fleur looked at Pinkie, slightly confused. “You’ve never heard of a gun before?” Pinkie just stared blankly at Fleur who sighed and walked across the room to Pinkie, holding the gun out between them. “This is a weapon, a firearm to be specific, a little bit like a crossbow I suppose, or a small canon.”

Using her magic, Fleur pushed back the hooked part Pinkie had moved, back into its original position. She then pushed the pin Pinkie had just been examining, causing the whole cylinder to swing out to the side.

“You see,” Fleur began to explain, “a gun uses a system of triggers, pins and hammers to propel small ammunition called bullets.”

To emphasis her point, Fleur turned the gun so the barrel was pointing at the ceiling, and knocked it so five gold objects slid out of the cylinder into her waiting magical grasp. Pinkie’s eyes shot open when she saw these.

“That’s them!” she exclaimed, causing Fleur to jump back in surprise. “The objects I found in Blossomforth’s room yesterday.”

Pinkie began desperately rummaging through her bag, fishing out the warped gold tip they recovered from Vinyl.

“Where did you get that?” Fleur asked curiously upon seeing what Pinkie was holding.

“Redheart and I pulled it out of Vinyl’s head,” Pinkie explained. Fleur flinched, apparently understanding the implications of this while Pinkie was still trying to work it out.

“I guess that makes sense,” Fleur said sadly, holding up one of the other bullets for Pinkie to see. “It’s only the tip that gets fired from the gun; the rest of the shell is just disposed of.”

“So you mean…” Pinkie began, staring at the gun still hovering between them.

“I’m afraid so,” Fleur confirmed, “Vinyl must have been killed with this gun… and the bullets you found.”

Pinkie was silent for a long time, staring at the bullets that had been stolen from her and used to kill her friend.

If I had been more careful with them… Vinyl might still be alive.

“Pinkie…” Fleur began, sounding concerned.

“How did you know what it was?” Pinkie asked, remembering why she had wanted to see Fleur in the first place.

“I told you about the civil war in my old home of Prance,” Fleur reminded her, continuing as Pinkie nodded. “The soldiers had guns imported from the Gryphon Kingdom; I saw enough ponies shot down with them to know what they are.”

Pinkie nodded, unable to reply. Fleur used her magic to push the still empty cylinder back into the gun, passing it and the remaining bullets over to Pinkie.

“Here, you should keep these,” she said, offering them to Pinkie, “You’ll probably need them as evidence.”

Pinkie nodded, taking the items and stowing them away in her saddle bags. With that Fleur turned to leave, Pinkie didn’t try to stop her, still reeling over the idea that she could have been indirectly responsible for Vinyl’s death. It wasn’t until Fleur was long gone and Pinkie was alone that she pulled herself together.

She couldn’t let guilt hinder her investigation, the pony who was directly responsible for Vinyl’s death was still out there, and it was her job to catch them. If the missing skeleton wasn’t here, Pinkie was left with no further clues as to where she could find it, however now she had two other pieces of evidence to go on, the missing ring and the newly found murder weapon. With regards to the ring, Pinkie couldn’t be sure it was at all relevant, and even if it was she didn’t know where to begin looking for it. The gun however was easy, Pinkie knew she needed to know more about this weapon, and that made her next destination clear as day.

Leaving the master bedroom, Pinkie made trotted the short distance to the library, which upon a quick scan appeared to be deserted. Pinkie was sure the information she need would be found here, and she had seen the very book that could give her the answers during one of her previous visits. Making her way across to the history section, Pinkie began scanning the shelves, looking for the title she knew was there.

Quite quickly she came across it, excitedly pulling the book out from between its neighbours and bringing it over to the nearest desk where she examined the title.

Mare at Arms: a Complete History of Equestrian Weaponry.

Opening up to the first page, Pinkie began scanning the contents, searching for any words Fleur had mentioned in her brief explanation of guns. About midway down the list she saw a chapter heading ‘Firearms’, and hurriedly flipped to the indicated page number. She was forced to sift through several pages of information on canons before her desired result jumped off the page at her.

The first gun recorded, was created by the gryphon engineer, Blighted Beak, in the year 740 Post Unification, roughly one year after the outbreak of the Great Gryphon-Equestrian War. The invention proved to be a devastating new weapon, credited by many historians as the sole reason for the majority of the gryphons’ victories during the Great War. Even today, almost all guns are made using Blighted Beaks original blueprints, making it near impossible for ponies to use them as they are specifically designed for the use of claws.

Despite this, ponies have been able to use guns themselves, primarily due to the aid of magic, but in some cases ponies have been able to use them with the aid of other devices, such as the appropriately named ‘gun gauntlet’. Alternatively there have been multiple models of guns crafted using levers to fire as opposed to triggers, allowing them to be used with ease by ponies and other creatures with hoofs. However due to the high frequency of ponies accidentally nudging the levers and firing the gun by accident, usually resulting in serious injury, these models were banned in Equestria in the year 1106 Post Unification, requiring a special licence and extensive training for one to be owned.

Pinkie skipped by the rest of the history lesson, before finally stopping at the section describing the functions of different types of guns. To her great surprise, she found and entire section and diagram dedicated to the gun in her possession, which she learnt was called a ‘colt revolver’. From what she gathered, the trigger on the top of the gun was called the ‘hammer’, which pulling back ‘cocked’ the gun and turned the cylinder so the next bullet was aligned with the chamber. Then, by pulling the trigger she couldn’t reach, the hammer would spring back, causing the ‘firing pin’ to connect with the bullet, causing a chemical reaction inside the shell, causing the tip to be fired through the barrel.

“Seems simple enough,” Pinkie commented as she closed the book over. She had after all built her own party canon, so a lot of what she read was familiar to her, if not immediately recognisable.

Now this raises the good question, who could have used the gun? Since it’s not a lever activated model, it would have needed to have been a unicorn… unless another device was involved, which would mean anypony could have done it.

Pinkie sat there, starring at the book sitting before her. Sure she now knew a whole lot more about guns than she had this morning, but it didn’t feel like anything she’d read could help her. Giving a small sigh, she stood up from the desk, looking around the still empty library.

I suppose I could always get back to looking for that skeleton.

With a new goal in mind, she began walking out of the room, disappointed that her research hadn’t revealed anything more substantial to her. As she waked however, she caught sight of something sitting on one of the desks. Stopping in her tracks, she looked over at a book titled ‘Advanced Chess Playing’. It was the book she had seen Fleur reading the day before.

Pinkie decided to ignore it, instead choosing to carry on walking, but less than a few steps ahead she came to another stop, looking back at the book. Was it her imagination, or had that book moved slightly?

Curious, and a little disturbed, Pinkie edged her way towards the book, which was now remaining stubbornly still. Standing right next to the desk Fleur had been sitting at, Pinkie could now see the book clearly.

It’s just a book, nothing strange whatsoever…

Pinkie was about ready to turn away, before she recalled finding the piece of the painting in the drawer of morphine, and the hair in the crypt. Her instincts had served her well that day, unusually well admittedly, but still, maybe this too was important. Reaching out, Pinkie picked up the offending book, opening the front cover slowly, her eye twitching as she saw what lay beneath it.

Lying just underneath the cover, the pages of the book had had a large circle cut out of their centre, leaving a slot in the book, perfect for hiding the gold diamond ring that lay inside.

Day 15, 15:37

Pinkie paced around the parlour for the dozenth time, straining her memory for any little piece of useful information.

I definitely had the bullets when I was here, I put them right back in my bag after I was done looking at them. I then went outside to talk to Vinyl and Redheart; nopony entered the parlour in that time… well, not through the door at least.

Pinkie approached the fireplace, peering up in, as if expecting to see the culprit staring back at her from the secret passage.

Still, I wasn’t outside the room for that long.

Leaving the fireplace behind, Pinkie departed the room, retracing her steps from the day before.

I stuck around the parlour for a while, until Soarin came and told me dinner was ready, at which point I went with him to the dining room. We were never close enough for him to have taken the bullets while we walked.

Arriving at the dining room, Pinkie approached the end where they had eaten together, making sure to avoid any leftover debris from the chandelier.

I kept my bags bellow my chair the whole time, nopony left their seats. Although a unicorn wouldn’t have to, and Trixie and Fleur both use magic to lift their cutlery. Could it be possible that they slipped the bullets out of my bag during the meal while they held their forks?

Neither Trixie or Fleur were looking particularly innocent right now, so Pinkie wasn’t finding it very hard to believe either of them were capable of pulling such a feat off as she scanned the underside of the table.

After dinner I went straight to bed, I was alone, and once inside my room I locked the door. I didn’t take my bags with me while I walked outside, but my room was still locked.

Deciding there was nothing left to be found here, Pinkie began walking out of the dining room, intending to head back to her bedroom. As she walked however, she forgot to watch out for junk littering the floor, and soon found herself sprawled on the ground after having skidded on something curved.

Groaning, Pinkie looked over her shoulder at what she had slipped on, spotting a pale, sausage shaped rock.

No, not a rock… a rib!

Scurrying to her hooves, Pinkie rushed over to where the rib lay amongst the wreckage of the table. Picking it up she confirmed that it definitely was a bone, looking around wildly; she half hoped the rest of the missing skeleton would leap out at her. To her dismay, it never did, but she refused to give up, so turning around she began climbing over the ruins, searching for any other bones.

It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately for the skeleton thief, Pinkie was the Ponyville needle in haystack finder champion for six years running, and she very quickly found a second bone, this one resembling the splintered half of a femur. Pinkie looked around but couldn’t find any more pieces in the pile.

Where exactly did they put the skeleton? And why are these bones specifically down here?

True, the thief could have dropped them, but why would they have been carrying the skeleton over the wreckage of the chandelier anyway? Unless they had wanted to hide it in the wreckage, but Pinkie could already tell that wasn’t the case, so that only left somewhere close by. But Pinkie hadn’t found anything under the table when she looked, that only left…

Pinkie craned her neck, looking up at the gaping hole in the ceiling left by the chandelier ripping from it.

Bingo?

Pinkie had to admit, it was a clever hiding spot, and it could explain why those bones were lying in the wreckage below, but without being able to reach the ceiling, she couldn’t know for sure.

But there’s a room above this one… Cloudchaser’s room.

Day 15, 16:14

Pinkie continued turning the door handle despite the door remaining stubbornly locked. At this point in the day she was half tempted to try bucking the door in, but she still hadn’t forgotten to Vinyl when they tried forcing their way into Gizmo’s room. Once again she found herself wondering where the room keys went, did the Mastermind come out of their hiding place to collect them? They certainly hadn’t found any of the deceased personal effects with their bodies in the morgue.

This did leave Pinkie with one other option though, one she knew worked. Leaving the door to Cloudchaser’s room, Pinkie traversed the hallways until she came to the still open door of Blossomforth’s room. Braeburn had been able to remove the door without incurring the Mastermind’s wrath; surely Pinkie could do the same. Entering the room, Pinkie retrieved the tool box from the bed, carrying it back to Cloudchaser’s room, dangling from her mouth.

Setting to work, Pinkie began unscrewing the door hinges. She had watched Braeburn do the same thing, and it hadn’t looked too difficult. No, it wasn’t difficult, just slow. Time was running out, and despite the various discoveries she’d made, Pinkie felt no closer to understanding who was behind this murder. First there was the message sent to Vinyl from Trixie, whose cape was also caught in the empty trunk.

The broken pieces of Vinyl’s glasses were in Redheart’s bag, and Pinkie found the torn piece of the painting lodged beneath the morphine drawer. She found pink hair in the crypt, that could either have belonged to Fleur or Redheart, it was light enough to be either of them. The gun was in the same drawer as the empty ring box, which Pinkie found in the book Fleur had been reading. And now to top things off, the missing skeleton appeared to be stashed away in the dining room ceiling, unless the thief had the key to Cloudchaser’s room, they would have had to have put it there from the dining room, requiring either wings or magic.

Pinkie groaned as the last screw dropped out of the hinge and the door fell into her waiting hooves. As far as she could see, they were all equally likely to have done it. However as she shifted the door to lean against the wall, she couldn’t help but think what the voice in her head had told her.

You’ve been running around doing exactly what they want you to.

Why would the Mastermind want her to find evidence to the identity of the killer? Especially after establishing the new reward for winning. After setting the door to the side, Pinkie stepped inside the room. It looked just like every other bedroom on the second floor, the only difference being that somepony had laid a towel across the centre of the floor like a carpet.

Cloudchaser probably put it there in case any of us came in here to investigate Braeburn’s death.

Pulling away the towel, Pinkie found a number of hastily replaced floor board, all missing the nails previously pinning them into place. Reaching down, she pulled each of the boards away, revealing a small square hole overlooking the space between the floor and by extension the dining room via the new hole ripped open by the chandelier. Flicking on the torch she had taken from Redheart, Pinkie began shining the light around the darkened gap beneath the floor boards and above the ceiling.

The light very quickly spilled over the pile of bones, hidden just over the lip of the hole in the ceiling. Reaching through the square hole with her hoof, Pinkie tried to reach where the bones were. It was no good, whoever put them in there didn’t use this room, meaning they needed to have levitated or flown the bones up there from the dining room. Pulling her hoof back, Pinkie stood up, leaving the hole exposed as she left Cloudchaser’s bedroom.

Pinkie checked her hoof computer as she entered the hall; it was approaching five, giving her one more hour before the start of the trial. Without any more leads to investigate, Pinkie decided to retire to her own room, in the hopes of assessing what she had gathered in peace. She had little over an hour to come up with a solution to this case, victory meaning freedom for her and whichever of her friends were innocent.

What happens if we lose?

That… remains to be seen.

Pinkie shook the memory from her mind. Before if they had guessed the incorrect culprit, it would result in all their deaths. Pinkie couldn’t even imagine what the Mastermind had planned for if they failed this time.

We won’t fail… I won’t fail. Today we end this game once and for all.

Author's Notes:

Apologies for how late this chapter was, There was a bit of an issue regarding my research into guns which took several days to iron out.
Regardless, here we are, standing at the precipice of the final part of the final chapter. So get your thinking caps on and throw your wildest theories at me, I've already received a few and from what I can see there is a LOT of variation in people's ideas for this chapter, some very right, some very wrong, all very clever.
The date for the third part has been pushed back to Thursday, it's already written and uploaded to the site, but I forgot to add this deadline earlier.