Day 13, 14:21

“How could this happen?”

Just one of the many things Pinkie was asking herself as she watched Fluttershy sobbing into the body of her oldest friend.

How could this happen? Rarity said it herself this morning, of the six… five left, Pinkie couldn’t see any of them killing Rainbow Dash.

Then there was the other thing niggling at the back of her mind, the question of how Pinkie felt. True, upon first seeing her friend she had been distraught, but that didn’t last long at all. Her misery gave way to a new feeling, one that rubbed Pinkie in all the wrong directions… Elation?

“I… I don’t know,” Rarity replied weakly, trying to awkwardly comfort Fluttershy even as her own tears slid down her cheeks.

Maud was standing next to Pinkie, no contact or communication beyond their bodies leaning lightly against one another, but Pinkie appreciated it none the less.

Octavia stood off to one side, looking almost… lonely. Pinkie found herself wondering about the mare, recalling how she had known all the others personally in some way, all but her. On the outside Octavia seemed cold and uncaring, but Pinkie knew it was a façade, she still remembered her words to Chrysalis.

I’ve had a lot of practice hiding my emotions… Just like yourself I imagine.

Pinkie shrugged Maud off and walked over to where her three friends lay, Rainbow’s body lying in the exact spot Soarin had died.

Hardly a coincidence.

“We need to get started,” Pinkie informed the weeping pair. “You… should probably sit this one out, go wait in the study or your rooms.”

“No!” Rarity exclaimed, looking up a Pinkie with an indignant look in her puffy eyes. “I want to help… I have to help!”

Fluttershy on the other hand just slid out of Rarity’s embrace, allowing Rainbow to sink back to the floor. She stood up weakly and began walking back towards the castle without a single word to any of them.

“She might need some company,” Pinkie pointed out to Rarity who bit her lip, looking torn.

“I… I can’t just sit back and do nothing,” she insisted, her voice trembling.

“I’ll go to her,” Maud announced. “Rarity can stay and help, I’ll see to Fluttershy.”

Pinkie nodded approvingly as Maud strode away, leaving Pinkie and Rarity standing over their fallen friend, and Octavia who began approaching them.

“How should we begin?” she asked upon joining the pair.

“Examine the body,” Pinkie replied wearily, crouching down by Rainbow.

Pinkie rolled her out on to her back, stretching the limbs out flat. She still remembered the position she had found Rainbow in, curled up tight with her forehooves clenched around her body, so she didn’t consider this act disrupting the scene of the crime.

“Shouldn’t… she be… stiff?” Rarity asked, a hint of revulsion in her voice as she reluctantly leaned down beside the body.

“Rigor Mortis only sets in after a few hours,” Octavia explained. “Which means she hasn’t been dead long.”

Pinkie nodded, opting not to reply as she began her investigation. She was no Redheart, but she had picked up enough from all the investigation up to this point that she felt relatively competent in her examination. The first, most obvious thing she picked up on was the murky stain dribbling down Rainbow’s chin. The substance was dark, mostly dried out but still rather sticky to the touch. Judging by how it was flowing from Rainbow’s mouth, Pinkie guessed it was vomit.

“Rarity,” Pinkie said suddenly. “Maybe you could use that spell of yours, look for signs of a struggle or something.”

“I could do that,” Rarity agreed, perking up slightly as she stepped back from the body, her horn alight.

“This looks like vomit,” Pinkie informed Octavia, pointing to the substance running down her jaw.

“Hmm, her eyes seem very dilated,” Octavia pointed out, holding one of Dash’s clenched eyes open.

Looking over the rest of the body Pinkie failed to find any obvious causes of death, no wounds of any sort. Her fur all over felt rather hard and prickly, as if she had been sweating profusely which then dried out in her coat rather than getting washed out.

“I think we’re dealing with something internal,” Octavia stated, voicing Pinkie’s own thoughts aloud.

“It would seem that way,” Pinkie concurred, standing up and surveying the whole body.

Octavia reached over and opened Rainbow’s mouth wide, peering in.

“Other than the sick it looks fairly dry,” she reported, closing it again.

Pinkie left the body momentarily, walking over to where Rarity was standing, scanning the ground with her horn like a metal detector. As Pinkie got close she noticed that wherever Rarity’s horn hovered over, would light up in a miasma of colours, fading away as she moved onto another area.

“What’s all that about?” Pinkie asked, confused.

“Well,” Rarity began, stopping for a moment to dab sweat off her forehead with a handkerchief. “I’m getting quite a lot of… interference due to the frequency at which ponies walk around this area. The rune circles in particular seem to be throwing off my spells.”

“So you can’t figure anything out?” Pinkie asked, slightly miffed.

“Not exactly,” Rarity admitted. “But if I rule out the most recent activity as being our own walking about, then there appears to be a straight trail from where Rainbow was found all the way to here.”

Pinkie followed Rarity over to a seemingly random point somewhere between the statues of Celestia and Luna.

“But the trail goes cold there,” Rarity finished. “If I could examine the area where she was lying…”

“Of course,” Pinkie agreed absent minded, walking back over to Octavia who was still checking over every inch of Rainbow Dash. “Could you help me move her?”

Octavia nodded and hoisted one end of Rainbow’s body while Pinkie hauled the other. Rainbow was fairly light as far as ponies went, but that still didn’t make it a simple task, Pinkie was just glad both her and Octavia were earth ponies. Once Rainbow was moved a few metres from the courtroom setting, Rarity walked over and began scanning the area. Pinkie immediately saw what she meant about the runes disrupting her spell, the various colours fizzing and going haywire whenever she hovered her horn anywhere near the runes.

After a few minutes of watching the peculiar process, Rarity finally stopped and turned to face the pair of them.

“Okay, there’s a little more disruption in this spot as if she moved around a lot,” Rarity explained, “but just like the trail leading up here, I think it was all done by Rainbow alone.”

“Whatever killed her must have taken some time to have an effect,” Octavia proposed. “So the act must have taken place elsewhere.”

Pinkie rested her chin on her hoof as she pondered that idea; she knew Rainbow Dash had been locked away inside her own room until their argument yesterday. That gave them a window of around a day to work with, not counting the night hours.

“You both said you saw Rainbow this morning,” Pinkie began addressing the pair of them. “Where was she at the time?”

“I saw her coming out of her room this morning when I too was getting up,” Rarity replied. “Like I told you, I tried to get her to eat something, but…”

Pinkie nodded sympathetically before turning to Octavia.

“I saw her in the library,” Octavia replied, making both Rarity and Pinkie stare at her in bewilderment. “Is that out of character for her or something?”

“Very,” Rarity answered. “The only books she would ever pick up are those Daring Do novels, and I seriously don’t think she was in the mood for those.”

“Daring Do?” Octavia repeated. “Aren’t those books for a younger audience?”

“I agree with Rarity,” Pinkie said, ignoring Octavia’s question. “She wouldn’t have been reading those in her state of mind. Which raises the question, what was she doing there?”

They both looked at Octavia who stared blankly at them for a second before realising they expected her to know.

“Well I don’t know,” Octavia insisted, slightly exasperated. “I only saw her come in; I was too busy working on the hourglass to pay her much heed. If I’d known that reading was unusual for her I might have taken a closer look, but as it is I just let her be.”

Pinkie shrugged, it seemed like a fair enough reaction.

“Do you know when she left?” Pinkie asked.

“No,” Octavia replied. “When I left to meet up with you this morning, she was still there I think.”

“Okay, well that gives us one obvious area to search,” Pinkie continued. “But did either of you see her any other time, even yesterday?”

Both shook their heads.

“Alright,” Pinkie said at last, quickly thinking what to do. “If you both go search the library, look for anything out of place. I know it’s a long shot, but could you use your spell again Rarity?”

“I can try,” Rarity replied unsure. “But the interference out here will no doubt be nothing compared to the library.”

“I’m just asking you to try,” Pinkie clarified. “I’ll go find the others, see if they know where Rainbow’s been.”

Day 13, 14:59

Pinkie was glad that she didn’t have to traipse all over the castle to find her sister and friend, instead locating them exactly where she suggested they wait, in the study. Maud was sitting awkwardly next to Fluttershy, a strained expression on her face, a foreleg hung stiffly over her shoulder. She wasn’t used to comforting anypony other than her sisters and it showed, Fluttershy didn’t seem to mind though, looking far too out of it to even be aware of her presence.

Sitting down on the other side of Fluttershy, Pinkie waited in silence for a brief moment until Fluttershy finally looked up at her.

“When will it end?” she mumbled despairingly. “Will everyone we love die until there’s only one of us left?”

“I know you were friends for a long time…” Pinkie began, but stopped when Fluttershy gave an uncharacteristic bark of harsh laughter.

“Yes, I guess you could say that,” she continued, her voice humourless. “We lived next to each other when we were fillies. She’s been my friend as long as I can remember, she was my only friend in school, sticking up for me when nopony else would. And when I chose to leave for Ponyville, she dropped everything to come with me. She would have been in the Wonderbolts years ago if she’d stuck through flight school, but she threw it all away without a second thought so she could come with me. Working a menial job and training harder than anyone to get to where she would have been if I hadn’t dragged her down…”

Pinkie and Maud glanced at each other, both had their mouths clamped shut, daring not to speak during Fluttershy’s heartfelt recollection.

“She was my oldest and dearest friend,” Fluttershy finished. “But… at least her and Soarin will be together again. She would never have admitted it, but she loved him more than anything.”

“Yeah, silver lining and all that,” Pinkie muttered weakly, unsure how she was expected to respond to that story. “So, I need to know if either of you saw Rainbow Dash since yesterday.”

“I passed her in the central chamber yesterday,” Maud informed her. “I was walking past the infirmary level and she was heading up. I tried to talk to her but she just ignored me.”

“Any other times?” Pinkie asked

“Yeah, again early this morning,” Maud continued. “Same place sort of, except I was heading to the observatory to pick up something for Octavia when I saw her further up the stairs.”

“I saw her outside late yesterday,” Fluttershy chipped in. “She was looking at the statues, she seemed… angry.”

No surprise there…

“Did she say anything?” Pinkie pushed.

“No!” Fluttershy replied, far too quickly, and they all knew it.

Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably even as Pinkie and Maud stared at her.

“She…” Fluttershy continued in a shifty voice. “She brought up some… personal things. It really doesn’t matter.”

“Did you see her any time after that?” Pinkie asked, choosing to avoid the obvious question for now.

“No,” Fluttershy replied miserably. “That was the last time I saw her…”

Her voice caught in her throat and her eyes welled up once more.

“Alright,” Pinkie said standing up, feeling a little bit drained. “I’m going to take a look in Rainbow’s room, the usual search about. You girls can stay here until the trial, it might be best as I’ll know where to find you if I need you.”

“Of course,” Maud replied, standing up and walking with Pinkie over to the door.

Once they reached the door and Pinkie was sure Fluttershy was paying them no attention, she leaned into Maud and began to whisper.

“See if you can’t get her to open up about that personal stuff,” she suggested. “Don’t be too pushy, just try to figure out if there’s more to it that’s relevant.”

“I was already planning on it,” Maud assured her. “You should go on; I’ll take care of her.”

Exchanging a curt nod to one another, Pinkie opened the door and stepped out into the corridor just in time to see Rarity walking her way.

“You were quick in the library,” Pinkie noted as Rarity walked up beside her.

“Well, there wasn’t a great deal to look through,” Rarity replied bitterly. “All those books and research materials we had strewn about the place since we got here have been tidied away; there isn’t a loose book in sight.”

“They were put away? When?” Pinkie asked, surprised as she hadn’t heard any mention of this.

“I have no idea,” Rarity insisted. “And neither did Octavia, she seemed insistent they were all still out last time she saw, and she’s running back and forth between the library and observatory most of the time as you know.”

“Then either somepony did a little spring cleaning or they’re covering their tracks,” Pinkie muttered as she began walking towards the entrance hall. “It’s possible that Rainbow was lured to the library by somepony, which would explain her presence there, and whatever occurred resulting in her death happened there. Did your spell pick up anything?”

“Nothing useful,” Rarity replied dully. “Like I said, far too many ponies have been through the library since we first got here. If I was going to split everything up into time frames I would be there for days.”

“And we don’t have days,” Pinkie finished as they arrived in the entrance hall. “Where’s Octavia?”

“She left before I did,” Rarity explained. “I think she was going to check Rainbow’s room or something.”

“That’s where I was about to go,” Pinkie noted. “Maud noticed Rainbow heading up in the central chamber a couple of times, so if you head on over there and start searching the throne room up, I’ll catch up as soon as I’m finished with the bedroom.”

“Of course,” Rarity said, walking quickly ahead, up the staircase and out of sight.

Pinkie stopped briefly in the entrance hall, glancing out the door at the body that was still lying where they had left it. Fluttershy’s words swam to the forefront of her mind as she forced herself to look away. How many more would die before this came to an end?

Enough?

Day 13, 15:33

Pinkie ascended the corridor of the residence tower, not stopping until she reached the very top where she knew Rainbow’s room was. She arrived just in time to see Octavia stepping out, closing the door behind her.

“Anything?” Pinkie asked, causing Octavia to jump in surprise.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied quickly, in a voice very unlike her own.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes at her, something was up.

“Really?” Pinkie asked sceptically.

“Yes, really,” Octavia insisted, her voice quickly regaining its usual composure. “You just startled me was all.”

“Alright,” Pinkie continued slowly. “I think I’ll take a look myself though.”

“By all means,” Octavia replied, stepping aside and presenting Pinkie with an open path. “Although you’ll only be wasting your time.”

“We’ll see…” Pinkie muttered, not even trying to hide the suspicion in her voice as she strode past Octavia and entered the room.

Rainbow’s room was fairly inconspicuous, the bed was messy, her flight suit and goggles were discarded in a heap outside the wardrobe, the portrait of herself had been set face down while Soarin’s sat upright in its place. Walking over to the bed, Pinkie ran her hooves through it. While there was nothing eye catching about the covers, she noticed several dark patches over her pillow case. Pinkie didn’t need the title of detective to know they were tears.

Moving away from the bed, Pinkie approached the window, opening and checking all the drawers as she went. Finding nothing, she stood facing the window, the blinds drawn. Reaching out she threw the curtains open, and immediately hopped back. The glass pane was nearly opaque, cracks covering almost every centimetre of its surface, which coupled with the lattice gave it a rather eerie appearance. Leaning in, Pinkie noticed a few spots of blood gathered at the centre, it looked like the worst had been wiped off.

“She probably just punched the window in frustration,” Octavia pointed out from the doorway. “I was about to go see if she had any injuries on her hooves that would match up.”

Pinkie nodded slightly, stepping away from the window and leaving the room.

“Alright, go ahead and do that,” Pinkie agreed. “I’m going to head up to the higher floors; Maud says she saw Rainbow heading up there a couple of times.”

“I’ll head on up when I’m done then,” Octavia assured her before striding off, a little faster than was necessary.

Once again Pinkie was left standing alone before making her own way down the tower at a much more relaxed pace.

Yes, no need to rush it. Take your time, savour it…

Pinkie stopped dead in her tracks, shaking her head to rid herself of the alien thought. She quickened her pace a little as she continued walking, trying not to let her thoughts stray again. Reaching the bottom of the tower she hurried towards the central chamber, walking out onto the landing she craned her neck, staring up at the highest points. Wasting no time, she began ascending the stairs, taking it two steps at a time, only slowing when she had put the armoury and the infirmary behind her and was steadily approaching the throne room.

Glancing in through the wide open doors she detected no evidence of Rarity’s presence, she was presumably already further up. Ducking back, she trotted up the next flight, arriving at the open door to the alchemy lab where she immediately picked out Rarity’s stark white coat in the dark room as if she were emitting a beacon. As Pinkie began walking down the aisle towards Rarity, her friends ears perked up and she glanced her way.

“Ah Pinkie, excellent timing,” Rarity greeted.

Her horn had ceased glowing when she looked up, but now it was alight once more as her saddlebags opened themselves up and something levitated out.

“I discovered this in the throne room,” Rarity explained, hovering it over to Pinkie. “And I think you’ll agree it’s quite interesting.”

Pinkie blinked as Rarity’s sapphire aura faded and a cyan feather landed in her outstretched hooves.

“One of Rainbow’s?” Pinkie queried, looking from the feather to Rarity.

“It must be,” Rarity answered. “I found it caught on the broken stained glass window.”

“The one Applejack was pushed out of,” Pinkie whispered before raising her voice. “It could have been there from when Rainbow flew off after discovering Applejack’s body.”

“Possible, but surely you would have noticed it then,” Rarity argued.

“I’d like to think I would, but we shouldn’t rule out the possibility,” Pinkie countered, offering the feather back to Rarity.

Rarity returned the feather to her bags before reigniting her horn and lowering it to the floor.

“Now, if it weren’t for Fluttershy walking up and down all these aisles this room would be easy,” Rarity reported.

Indeed each aisle just appeared to be very solid lines of red running up and down each of them, but then there was very limited space for anypony to walk around here.

“So you can’t tell if Rainbow came here?” Pinkie asked, slightly disappointed.

“No, this spell has a lot of potential it’s not meeting purely because I haven’t developed it enough,” Rarity admitted, letting the light in her horn die down.

“Well there’s still the last floor,” Pinkie reminded her. “I don’t suppose you’ve been up there yet?”

“No, shall we head up now?” Rarity asked, indicating towards the exit with her head.

“You go on ahead,” Pinkie suggested. “I’m going to give this place the once over, just to be sure.”

Rarity nodded, and after edging past Pinkie, departed from the lab. Once alone, Pinkie began creeping down each aisle, scanning the counter tops as closely as she could. Nothing jumped out at her however, at least nothing more than usual with such curious plant specimens filling so much of the room. Pinkie didn’t even realise she was on a familiar track until she saw the book cover, ‘Advanced Scientific Methodology’.

Looking about, she realised she was back in the same spot she had been in just a few hours ago, except much had changed. The pot had been taken off the heat, the burner now out, and had apparently been drained, not counting the dregs clinging to the bottom. A sieve was balanced on top of it, some dark mush gathered in it. The book too seemed to have been shifted from its original position, revealing a slip of paper with the characters 'PH2' scribbled on it sitting just underneath the book. Pinkie wasn’t sure why this little set up bothered her so much, but without thinking she found herself scraping the mush into an empty jar, screwing on the lid before popping it into her bag.

Next she turned to the book, however her bags were now packed to bursting point, and try as she might she couldn’t squeeze it in. Something would have to go, but Pinkie wasn’t willing to let any of it out of her sight. Making a snap decision, she stuck the slip of paper inside the front cover of the book and balanced it on her back, although still in the dark as to what purpose these would serve her, she departed from the lab in time to see Octavia climbing the stairs towards her.

“Were you correct?” Pinkie asked, receiving a nod in reply.

“Some slight scuffs and shallow cuts on her right hoof,” Octavia explained. “Nothing serious, like I said, probably just done out of frustration.”

“Alright then,” Pinkie replied, nodding in acknowledgement. “Rarity’s already upstairs, if you could go help her out I’ll catch up in a minute.”

Octavia didn’t question Pinkie’s request, she did briefly glance at the book she was carrying but immediately set off up the stairs while Pinkie trotted downwards. One quick trip to her bedroom and the shaking out of her saddlebags found all its contents spread out across her bed. Surveying it all, Pinkie tried to decide what was essential. She packed the key as it was small enough that it didn’t take up any significant space, as well as the jar and the book she had taken from the lab.

She wasn’t willing to part with the knife or the gun, but she reasoned that it wouldn’t be too risky hiding Twilight’s documents and Trixie’s assessment under her bed. Satisfied that they were sufficiently hidden, she turned her attention to her final item which was the portrait of Twilight’s family. Without any real use for it she set it up on her bedside cabinet next to her own portrait, when this was all over she could return it to Twilight parents.

Assuming I even make it out of this in one piece…

Her bags once again packed and strapped to her back, Pinkie exited her room, wishing not for the first time that she could lock it from the outside. With no other options however, she left her bedroom door behind and trotted off to catch up with the others upstairs.

Day 13, 16:16

“So this floor was a bust,” Rarity concluded, closing the door to Celestia’s quarters behind them as they re-entered the foyer. “I can’t imagine why Rainbow Dash would ever come up here at all. Indeed, the only evidence we’ve found that she was ever in any of these rooms was a feather that might have been left from a different day altogether.”

Pinkie gave Luna’s door an experimental tug, confirming it was still locked before turning around and leaning against it.

“It’s always possible she was just walking up the stairs to clear her head,” Pinkie pointed out, faintly aware of how cold the door was as she pressed her back against it. “Maybe looking for a high point to fly around.”

“She would have done that outside I’d think,” Rarity countered.

Pinkie just shrugged.

“Whatever reason she was up here when Maud saw her doesn’t tell us who killed her or how,” Pinkie continued.

Rarity bit her lip, glancing down at her hooves. Pinkie waited a moment for her to say what she was thinking.

“Is it possible…” Rarity began tentatively. “That Maud lied about seeing Rainbow? Just to distract us.”

Pinkie breathed in deeply as she stared down her friend.

“You’re accusing my sister of killing one of my best friends,” Pinkie said at last, her voice utterly humourless.

“I didn’t say that!” Rarity stated quickly, already regretting her choice of words.

“But it’s what you were implying!” Pinkie bit back, standing up from the freezing door.

“Relax Pinkie,” Octavia interrupted.

Pinkie had almost forgotten she was there as she had been oddly silent for a while.

“To each of us there are only four suspects,” Octavia reminded her. “We can’t ignore one possibility simply because of our relationships, otherwise we’d have no suspects.”

“Coming from you,” Rarity muttered.

If she had intended for Octavia not to hear that, she was disappointed. Octavia rounded on Rarity, her eyes cold.

“And what does that mean?!” she demanded. “Just because I’m not part of your close knit group of friends, I’m the outcast?”

“I didn’t mean that, I’m sorry,” Rarity replied in a tired voice. “I wouldn’t dream of discriminating, especially after how invaluable you’ve been when it comes to looking at an orrery for a week.”

The sarcasm was plain as day, and Pinkie found her own anger towards Rarity draining away as she mentally prepared herself for the explosion to come. To her surprise, it never came. Octavia, who looked for a split second like a volcano about to erupt, quickly regained her calm exterior and strutted away. When she reached the archway leading to the landing, she turned back to them.

“This game won’t last much longer,” she stated in a neutral voice. “I just hope that when it does end, you’ll appreciate the things I’ve done… the things that were given.”

While Octavia appeared to be looking at the pair of them, Pinkie couldn’t help but feel her eyes were piercing into her own, penetrating to her very soul, the same look she thought she had been given when she saw Octavia at the Gala. Pinkie was still trying to comprehend the sudden feeling of nostalgia that she didn’t even notice Octavia turn and leave. Once her mind cleared, Pinkie turned and stared at Rarity.

“Don’t give me that look,” Rarity exclaimed, although her voice wavered slightly. “Let’s thing about this logically, she’s the only one of us who would ever kill Rainbow Dash.”

Pinkie kept staring.

“And think about what she just said,” Rarity insisted, sounding almost desperate now. “That statement sounded an awful lot like the Mastermind, you must admit.”

Pinkie kept staring, Rarity sighed.

“I didn’t mean it,” she muttered in a dull tone. “I just needed someone… anyone to blame. If it isn’t her, I’ll apologise. Celestia knows I already regret saying such a thing… What was I thinking?!”

Pinkie pulled Rarity into a weak hug.

“You should go sit down for a bit,” Pinkie told her. “Try to clear your head before the trial.”

Rather than argue, Rarity just gave a meagre nod, slipping out of Pinkie’s embrace and shuffling away. Pinkie was once again left on her own, a scenario she found herself in rather a lot lately, one she would never have tolerated during her old life in Ponyville. Pinkie shook her head, dragging herself back to the present. She needed to figure out who had killed Rainbow Dash, but she was out of ideas as to where to investigate, she wasn’t even sure how she died.

Pacing up and down the foyer, Pinkie scanned her computer map, searching for somewhere she hadn’t looked yet, somewhere obvious. The answer hit her like a brick, literally making her groan in frustration for having forgotten to check there to begin with.

Soarin’s room.

Day 13, 16:31

Soarin’s bedroom was dark, the curtains drawn here too, although the lack of a portrait on the bedside cabinet didn’t help either, it made the room feel much emptier somehow. Approaching the bed Pinkie found them still crumpled, stained in dry blood. Clearly the Mastermind didn’t have the courtesy to clean up after abducting him. Pinkie scowled, if Soarin’s body hadn’t been taken Rainbow might have been able to keep it together, and if Rainbow had kept it together rather than disrupting what little peace they had, she wouldn’t have been killed.

Not sure what secrets this room could possibly hold, Pinkie just set about searching it as she would search any other room. Opening drawers before taking them straight out to check the undersides, checking under the mattress, bed covers and pillow, but nothing yielded any results. Pinkie flopped down onto the bed, paying no heed to the effect the blood stains may have on her dress. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt certain that something should be in this room.

If I was to hide something, where would I put it?

It didn’t take long for the irony to set in as the answer became obvious. Pinkie resisted another groan as she slid off the bed, sinking to her stomach and sticking her outstretched leg under the bed. Her hoof connected with something, something that shifted slightly as she knocked against it. After a little scrabbling she managed to get the lightest of holds on it, sliding it awkwardly out from under the bed.

She was a little surprised when a modern textbook emerged before her. Pinkie’s eyes widened with recognition as she read the title, just as the Mastermind’s voice began booming around her.

“Your time for investigation is up,” they announced. “Please report to the courtyard so the trial can begin.”

Natural Remedies and Medicinal Plants.

Author's Notes:

Alright, here we are, a little later than usual but since we're so close to the end I might as well take a little more time between updates. As such the next update will either be on Wednesday or Thursday.
By now you all know the drill, comment or PM your theories, if you're correct you'll get a shout out in the author notes of the next part. Good luck and have fun, I hope you're all still enjoying the story.