Day 1, 10:07

Pinkie Pie’s let out a pained moan. The first thing she felt upon regaining consciousness was a dull throbbing in her temple. Eyes still clenched shut; she reached up with a heavy hoof and gingerly touched her forehead. The wound was small, hardly substantial. It was already clotted, and from there she followed the trail of dried flaking blood that ran down to just over her left eye. It wasn’t anything to worry about, but still, how had it happened?

Forgetting the pain which was now more prevalent in her head than around the wound, she struggled to remember what had happened.

She had been at the gala; she had been talking to… Fluttershy? No, she definitely remembered leaving Fluttershy, well, running away from her. After that she returned to the entrance hall, or somewhere nearby it. She remembered seeing Celestia and… Fleur. She had interacted with somepony, but it wasn’t them, it was… Derpy. She had a letter for Pinkie, a letter that said…

Pinkie’s eyes snapped open and she leapt to her hooves, only to scream out as a sharp pain shot up her left foreleg, and she collapsed back to the cold masonry beneath her. Breathing heavily, Pinkie twisted herself around to see what was wrong with her leg. When her eyes fell over what was causing her discomfort, they widened in horror.

A familiar metal hoof cuff was clamped around her fetlock, bolted into her very leg, more blood congealed around the screws. Turning it around Pinkie saw the ominous black screen, all the while muttering pathetic denials to herself.

No! This can’t be happening again! It’s over! It can’t…

Pinkie stared at her hoof for what felt like forever, feeling something growing inside of her, something she couldn’t quite identify. Anger? Despair? It didn’t feel… negative.

As her breathing began to regulate, and her mind cleared she was able to focus. Unfolding her legs from beneath her, she fought once more to get to her hooves, this time taking it slowly. Despite the pain in her leg where the hoof computer had been forcibly augmented to her, she was able to stand on all four legs and get her first bearings of her surroundings, as well as her own appearance. She was still wearing her red gala dress, along with the pendant and link belt. Besides a little dust it looked as good as new, which she wasn’t going to complain about. Reaching up she found her mane was still lying flat.

Looking around she saw she was in a courtyard of some sort, she would have called it cosy but that might have made it feel warm. On the contrary, the space she found herself in was confined, dark and overbearing, like the walls were watching her and steadily moving in when she wasn’t looking. Looking up past the tall, dark brick walls, Pinkie gazed into a vast sea of inky blackness. The sky was utterly devoid of light, no sun, no moon, no stars, only darkness.

Through the infinite blackness she could vaguely make out the tall twisted shapes of buildings in the distance. Turning her attention back to ground level, Pinkie examined the courtyard itself. A plain, stone well sat in dead centre, edging closer, Pinkie peered in but saw nothing but more impenetrable blackness. Beyond a couple iron drainage grates, the courtyard was bare and featureless.

Satisfied there was nothing of further interest for her here, she turned her attention to the wrought iron gate set into one of the walls. Walking over, Pinkie found it lying ajar. Pulling it open she found a long, plain key in the other side.

Odd, why would this just be left here? I could understand locking me in, but what would be the point of leaving me here with the key?

Curiously, Pinkie pulled the key out. She had nothing to carry it in, so she settled for tucking it down her dress, the tightness of which made doing so slightly uncomfortable, but she ignored it and continued out through the gate. She now stood in a narrow alleyway, this too was comprised a dark stone walls, giving Pinkie a vaguely gothic vibe from the place. This certainly didn’t feel like Canterlot anymore, which raised the question, where was she?

As she crept down the alley way, both to avoid putting too much weight on her injured hoof and to remain wary of anyone watching her, she thought back once more, trying to remember what happened after Derpy had delivered the accursed letter.

It had been chaotic, no doubt. A lot of ponies running and screaming, and yet amidst the panic, Pinkie could not have for the life of her, known what was actually happening. What she did know however, is what happened to her head. It had been one of the dull waiters, who had chosen that moment to spring into what Pinkie could only describe as ‘fervent’ action. The stallion seemed zoned out, but not like before when he looked like a zombie, this time he looked like a man with a mission, although that mission probably didn’t involve running head first into Pinkie, unicorn horn and all.

That was all she remembered, blinding pain followed swiftly by collapsing and loss of consciousness around the horde of screaming guests. Certainly not the most dramatic or indeed refined ways of getting knocked out, although beggars can’t be choosers, if they could, Pinkie would have chosen not to be knocked out at all.

Reaching the end of the alleyway without incident, Pinkie found herself at a fine wooden door with yet more black iron fixtures. This one had a lock, but when Pinkie pushed lightly against it, it opened without a struggle. Stepping through, closing the door gently behind her, she found herself in… another courtyard. Pinkie would have groaned if not for the fact that this one seemed to be considerably less bare than the previous two areas.

This new courtyard was pressed between two slightly taller buildings, Pinkie could even see windows in them overlooking where she stood. The courtyard itself was filled with crates, loose planks and barrels. It was messy, and yet Pinkie got the feeling that it was all intentional, that every box was purposely placed all as part of some odd aesthetic. Carrying on forward, Pinkie hobbled across to a narrow stone archway opposite of where she came out.

Pressing herself flat against the wall, Pinkie glanced around the archway, ready to snap her head back at a moment’s notice, however there was no need to. Pinkie stepped out, now standing in a cobblestone street, lined with various squat stone buildings with wooden buttresses, iron brackets and slate roofs. Looking to her right, Pinkie saw a small, tightly packed town traveling down a slight gradient. Beyond this lay only blackness.

Turning to her left, Pinkie’s jaw dropped open. A little further up the street stood a tall, imposing iron gate, beyond which stood the tall structure she could make out from the place she woke up. It was a castle, tall, twisted spires and warped towers jutted out in random directions, giving the whole thing a bizarre, yet frightening quality.

Looking around once more, Pinkie confirmed the street she was in was deserted, from the looks of it the whole town could have been. Turning back to the castle, she began marching forward, only to be swiftly distracted by a light hovering around her hoof.

Coming to another dead halt, she looked down at her hoof computer which had come to life at some point. Lifting it up she examined the screen, on it was a digital image of herself, surprisingly still with her straight mane and gala dress on. To the left was a table displaying random facts like her date of birth, her height, her weight, and heading it all was her name alongside an unfamiliar accolade.

Pinkie Pie, Detective.

Day 1, 10:16

Pinkie Pie wasted no time in traversing the final few steps to the caste gates, as she stepped up; she couldn’t help but be reminded of the gates outside the Arcane Manor. In fact, they almost looked exactly like them, same intricacies and colour…

Pinkie shook her head; she didn’t know what to think, of the gate, the letter, the computer bolted to her leg, of any of this. Looking through the gate she saw the main castle courtyard, it was incredibly spacious, but despite being so close to her, Pinkie found it almost impossible to make out any details through the veil of shade that seemed to lie across the gate. Reaching out she unlatched the heavy gate and pushed forward, with a little difficulty she managed to push it open several inches, enough to squeeze through.

As she did, the shade that was impairing her sight of the courtyard was lifted, revealing the entire area to her in full. At the very end lay the castle gate, a gargantuan archway with a thick metal portcullis blocking the way. Directly above the gate was a large, ornate clock, which looked completely out of place being made from some delicate gold metal on a stark white face. The hands indicated it was roughly a quarter past ten; Pinkie would have had no clue whether it was morning or evening if not for the digital clock on her hoof computer telling her it was still a.m.

The rest of the castle was typical gothic fashion, dark stone, gargoyles, ornate buttresses and lattice windows. Turning her attention down from the castle itself, Pinkie looked at what lay dead in front of her, and forgot exploring her surroundings entirely when her eyes fell on a circle of unconscious ponies.

They were all there, her friends, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. But the pony that really drew her attention was…

“Maud!” Pinkie exclaimed, rushing forward and crouching down beside her sister, cradling her head in her forehooves.

Maud appeared uninjured, in fact Pinkie could have believed looking at her there that she was sleeping peacefully, but then she saw the identical computer similarly attached to Maud’s leg.

“Maud,” Pinkie said, shaking her sister slightly, “please, wake up.”

After a few seconds, Maud’s eyes flickered slightly before cracking open. She let out a small moan, attempting to reach up and grab her head; Pinkie imagined she was also suffering a small headache.

“Oh,” Maud groaned, seeing Pinkie there for the first time. “Pinkie? What’s going on?”

Pinkie opened her mouth to reply, but found that she couldn’t muster the words. Everything that she’d seen, the computer on her fetlock, the letter, the fifteen ponies gathered in the courtyard all pointed to one thing, one thing she didn’t want to believe.

“Pinkie?” Maud repeated, her voice clearer now, apparently picking up on her sister’s hesitation.

Maud then flinched and looked down at her own hoof computer. Pinkie could see the confusion in her face fade, as she began putting the pieces together.

“Pinkie, is this…” Maud began, her voice trailing off.

Pinkie let her sister go and backed up slightly, looking over the other ponies while Maud also began taking in their surroundings.

“We… we should wake the others up,” Pinkie said stiffly. Maud nodded, saying no more on their current predicament.

As Pinkie made to walk over to Rainbow Dash who lay on Maud’s right, she noticed the screen on her computer had changed at some point. It now bore Maud’s image along with her own details, headed with the usual message.

Maud Pie, Rock Scientist.

Looking over at her sister, Pinkie saw Maud too was looking at her own screen, her normally passive face betraying her curiosity. Carrying on to her friend, Pinkie began trying to rouse Rainbow Dash. It took a little longer than it had been with Maud, but eventually she too came around, signalling a beep from Pinkie’s hoof computer. Looking down she now saw Rainbow Dash’s details as well as her title.

Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolt.

Pinkie wasn’t surprised when Rainbow began having a small freak out, but she held off answering any of Dash’s questions, and was saved when Dash noticed Soarin lying on the other side of the circle. As Rainbow rushed over to him, another beep alerted Pinkie to Soarin’s details.

Soarin, Wonderbolt.

Pinkie then continued around each of her friends, receiving yet more beeps and information after each rousing.

Applejack, Apple farmer.

Rarity, Fashion Designer.

Fluttershy, Animal Carer.

Like Rainbow Dash, who was too focused on Soarin to pay the others any attention, they were all full of questions and varying degrees of panic at their current situation. Pinkie couldn’t blame them, she knew only too well what awaited them all, but she asked them to hold off for a bit and help her wake the rest, to which they obliged.

Pinkie crossed over to Shining Armour, while the others busied themselves in waking Cheese Sandwich, Filthy Rich and Derpy, all proceeded by more beeps.

Shining Armour, Captain.

Cheese Sandwich, Party Planner.

Filthy Rich, Business Pony.

Derpy, Mailmare.

Leaving Shining Armour to her sister’s attention, Pinkie crossed to the opposite side of the circle to where a very familiar unicorn lay. It didn’t take long to wake Fleur, who took the situation she found herself in surprisingly calmly considering her intimate relationship with it.

Fleur Dis Lee, Noble.

The familiar grey earth pony with her simple pink bow tie was next, Pinkie was surprised at how easily she was awoken and how unlike everypony else, she didn’t appear weary or in any kind of discomfort upon doing so.

Octavia, Cellist.

Finally were the remaining two Wonderbolts, Spitfire who accepted Rarity and Fluttershy’s care gratefully, and Fleetfoot who gruffly brushed Applejack off.

Spitfire, Wonderbolt.

Fleetfoot, Wonderbolt.

With everypony now awake and tending to each other, Pinkie took this opportunity to examine the area they were in more. It hadn’t escaped her notice the pattern that they were laid out in on the ground, as well as the carvings of circles and runes beneath each of them. The centre of the courtyard was laid out almost exactly like the courtroom at the Arcane Manor, only without the railings, benches and dials. Still, Pinkie was quick to realise that once again there were sixteen circles etched into the floor, despite there only being fifteen present. There were two which had been empty upon her arrival, one directly in front of the gate she came through, between Maud and Derpy, and the other directly opposite between Fleur and Octavia.

Something that caught Pinkie’s attention however, was the centre of the courtyard, which was very different from what she remembered. lying between them all was a circular pool of water, only an inch deep admittedly, but it remained eerily still, and throughout the waking process Pinkie had intentionally walked around the outside, not wanting to step into the pool for reasons she couldn’t put her hoof on.

“Alright Pinkie,” Rarity announced, approaching the pink pony who was still staring thoughtfully at the pool. “Everyone is awake, now could you explain what’s going on.”

Pinkie sighed, and bowed her head, not wanting to look at her friend when she told them.

“It’s a game.”

“Pardon dear,” Rarity said, sounding confused at Pinkie’s answer. Pinkie was about to repeat her answer, but a voice cut her off, a voice that caused her eyes to widen and her whole body to stiffen.

“Oh, don’t play coy Rarity,” the voice said, echoing across the courtyard, reverberating in their heads. “You heard her. This is a game.”

Pinkie had subconsciously walked over to the circle that had lay between Maud and Derpy and turned to face the castle.

“And am I to take it, that you are the Mastermind of this game?” Pinkie asked coldly.

“You are correct my dear,” the Mastermind said in a voice that sent chills up everypony’s spine; however Pinkie refused to react to it.

Looking around at the others, Pinkie wasn’t surprised to see almost all of them were just staring around in bewilderment. Maud was looking at Pinkie warily, knowing full well what was going on, Fleur stood with her eyes closed, remaining calm as always. Soarin however was sat on the ground trembling from head to tail, his eyes wide and terrified.

“So, here we are again,” Pinkie muttered bitterly before raising her voice. “I suppose this is the part where you tell us you want us all to live together here.”

“Oh Pinkie, I know full well you wouldn’t fall for that old lie,” the Mastermind responded, sounding amused. “No, I’ve decided to cut out the middle mare and skip straight to the chase. The fifteen of you stand here, and here you will remain unless you play the game.”

“What game?” Rainbow demanded from where she sat holding onto Soarin who was still shaking uncontrollably.

“I’m so glad you asked,” the Mastermind continued, “In this game, you must kill one other pony in this courtyard without the others finding out who is responsible.”

Pinkie wasn’t surprised when this elicited an uproar from most of the assembled ponies, but she chose to remain silent, her eyes fixed dead ahead.

“When somepony has been killed, you will be given time to investigate the murder, which will then be followed by a trial at this very spot. If the murderer is correctly identified, they will be duly punished for their crime, if they get away with their crime, they shall be free to leave this place, while everypony else will be punished in their stead.”

“Now why in the hay do you think any of us will be killin’ anypony?” Applejack demanded furiously.

There must be an incentive, something to kick start the murders.

“Oh, of course, I almost forgot,” the Mastermind said, feigning ignorance. “If the murderer does indeed get away with their crime, then not only they will be set free, but so will my hostages.”

Pinkie quirked an eyebrow, but at that moment a loud rumbling was heard as at each of the four corners of the courtyard, the stone slabs began shifting as something began rising up. Pinkie watched the corner to her rear left, and witnessed as a tall pedestal emerged, atop which stood a statue of a familiar figure.

Princess Luna encased in stone.

The gasps and yells from the others signalled for Pinkie to look around at the other corners where three other statues had emerged. Princess Celestia, Discord and…

“Cadance!” Shining Armour screamed, breaking away from the group and charging over to the statue to Pinkie’s rear right.

“As you can see, your precious princesses and their faithful jester are hardly in any state to be carrying out their royal duties,” the Mastermind explained. “I wonder how long Equestria will stand without them to guide it, hmm?”

“You asshole!” Shining bellowed at the sky, “If I get a hold of you, I will kill you!”

“Please Captain Armour, save that anger for your fellow players; as if you really want to save your beloved wife, it is them who will have to pay the price.”

“Why are you doing this?” Fluttershy begged, tears welling up in her eyes. “What did we ever do to you?”

“Oh Fluttershy, you did nothing, you’re simply a means to an end,” the Mastermind said in false pity. “The end.”

Pinkie had yet another eerie feeling that that final comment was somehow directed at her.

“If there are no further objections…” The Mastermind waited a brief moment, but everypony was either too stunned or furious to form a coherent response. “Then the only thing left for me to tell you is that you each have your own rooms inside the castle, your computers will lead the way. I suggest that you stay in your rooms between ten in the evening and six in the morning, this is not a rule, but I strongly advise you follow it none the less. Everything else will become apparent as time goes on, or will be filled in by certain members of your group who have more… experience with this sort of thing.”

Pinkie saw Fleur briefly glance her way before returning to her blind vigil.

“Now without further ado… Let the games begin!”

Day 1, 10:41

Pinkie was hardly surprised by the shouting that commenced following the Masterminds departure.

“This is nuts!” Fleetfoot declared loudest. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t plan on sticking around here to get ganked.”

Fleetfoot spread her wings but was swiftly shouted down by Spitfire.

“Fleetfoot, I order you to stay put!” she shouted, “as Wonderbolts it is our duty to stay and help the princesses.”

“Well what about the rest of us?” Filthy Rich asked nervously, “I’m not saying I want to abandon the princesses, but…”

“Ah don’t believe any of this for a second!” Applejack stated, “There is no way that Mastermind really turned the princesses to stone, this is all just some sick prank.”

“But what if it isn’t?” Fluttershy asked, sounding terrified. “What if we really can’t leave unless we… unless we…”

“Hey, cheer up Fluttershy!” Cheese Sandwich said, still sounding as bubbly as ever despite everything that had taken place. “Just smile and we’ll all be able to get through this!”

“Could you please take this seriously!” Spitfire snapped at him.

“What about our friends? And families?” Derpy asked sounding panicked. “Won’t they come looking for us?”

“I’m not sure Derpy,” Rarity said sadly, “I haven’t a clue where we are, how is anypony supposed to find us in such a ghastly place?”

“I’m telling you…”

“I don’t think I should…”

“Just smile, smile, smile…”

“Really now, there’s no need for such…”

“Fleetfoot I am ordering you…”

“Enough!” Pinkie bellowed, finally sick of everypony arguing. “This is getting us nowhere. Now I never wanted to be in this situation again, but here we are. Now before any of you say anything, we cannot run away, so if we are going to have any hope of escaping this place, we need to work together.”

Everypony fell silent and was now staring at her, Pinkie panned over them all. Shining Armour was still collapsed against the statue of Cadance, paying no attention to what was going on around him, Fleur and Octavia stood in calm silence, neither getting involved in the debate, Rainbow was still too busy attending to the terrified Soarin, and Maud had been by Pinkie’s side throughout the whole argument.

“Now I need you all to listen to me, and do everything I tell you,” Pinkie continued. “But first I need to speak to Fleur and Soarin alone.”

Fleur nodded curtly and followed Pinkie over to the gate that led to the town; Soarin was a little slower on the uptake, seeming reluctant to leave the comfort Rainbow provided. When all three of them stood by the gate away from the rest of the group, Soarin finally opened his mouth.

“This can’t be happening, tell me this isn’t happening.”

“Soarin, get it together!” Pinkie ordered, cringing slightly at how mean she had just sounded. “I know you’re scared, so am I, but we’ve been through this before, we need to stay strong for the others if we’re going to make it through this.”

Soarin gulped and nodded, still shaking slightly.

“Now, no doubt we’re trapped in this area,” Pinkie continued, “just like we were back at the manor, so our best bet is figure out who’s behind this and take them on directly.”

“Do you think we can?” Fleur asked.

“As long as nopony panics and kills anyone,” Pinkie replied. “First we need to get a bearing of our surroundings, I think it will be better if we stick to the castle and ignore the town for now, less ground to cover that way.”

“Shall we go in groups of three again? Like last time?” Fleur asked.

“Yes and no,” Pinkie answered, “We do need to spread out, but I don’t trust this place, so we should stay in larger groups.”

“Three groups of five then?” Soarin suggested weakly.

“Yes, that should work.” Pinkie looked over her shoulder at the others who were eyeing them curiously. “One last thing. We’re going to have to tell them what happened back at the manor… but, if we could avoid telling them who the Mastermind actually was…”

Soarin and Fleur both stared at Pinkie in confusion.

“They… don’t need to know that,” Pinkie said quietly. “Just pretend she died before the first trial, like we all thought.”

Soarin and Fleur nodded and the three returned to the rest of the ponies.

“Alright everypony,” Pinkie announced, “we need to search this castle if we’re to figure out who’s behind this. We’re going to split into three groups so we can cover more ground. Maud, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack, you come with me. Rainbow, Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Derpy, you all go with Soarin. Octavia, Shining, Cheese and Filthy, you go with Fleur.”

Nopony argued with Pinkie’s instructions, they all looked too surprised at how she was taking command of the situation to do so.

“We’ll all meet back here at…” Pinkie quickly looked at the clock overhead, “two. Does anyone have any questions?”

“Yeah, I do,” Fleetfoot said coldly, “who put you in charge?”

“I did,” Pinkie replied neutrally. “Now if nopony has any less stupid questions, let’s spread out.”

Day 1, 11:00

After a quick investigation of the castle portcullis, they discovered that it could be raised via two mechanisms two either side, Applejack and Shining Armour being the two strongest of the group did the honours, and very quickly the barrier was raised and they were granted access to the castle entrance hall. The first thing Pinkie picked up on was the striking similarity it bore with the entrance hall of the arcane manor, and judging by Soarin’s look he noticed it too.

After another brief discussion, Soarin and the other pegasi retreated outside to search the castle grounds. Fleur then led her group down a side corridor to search the rest of this floor, and Pinkie planned to search the higher floors. Before she did however, she crossed the room to the large staircase that led up to the balcony. Crouching down she ran a hoof across the bottom step, memories of Vinyl Scratch swimming to the surface of her mind.

“Pinkie Pie, dear,” Rarity said, breaking Pinkie from her thoughts. “Could you perhaps… explain what is going on? I know what that voice said, but…”

“But there is no way in Equestria this is fer real!” Applejack cut in.

“I’m sorry Applejack,” Pinkie said forlornly, turning to face her friends. “But this is very real.”

“But, how do you know all this?” Fluttershy asked.

Pinkie opened her mouth, only to close it again. Feeling a hoof on her shoulder, she looked up to see Maud her gave her a solemn nod.

“Because this is exactly what happened at the manor all those months ago,” Pinkie answered quietly.

“You don’t mean…” Rarity began.

“As soon as we arrived,” Pinkie continued, preferring to get it out of the way now, “we were knocked unconscious. When we woke up we were trapped in the manor and grounds. We started planning to escape, but some of us ended up giving in… Twilight was the first to go, poisoned.”

Rarity gasped, Applejack bowed her head, Fluttershy simply stared at Pinkie, a hollow expression on her face.

“Celestia made us promise not to tell anypony the truth,” Pinkie said bitterly, “that it was all some crackpot experiment of Twilights. I wanted to tell you girls, I really did, but I…”

Pinkie was cut off by three ponies embracing her all at the same time.

“It’s alright Pinkie,” Fluttershy whispered into Pinkie’s mane.

“You should never have been made to carry that alone,” Applejack said angrily.

“But you’re not alone anymore,” Rarity finished. “We’re together now, and we will not let you suffer alone ever again.”

“Thank you girls,” Pinkie said, pulling back gently. She blinked and realised she had begun crying at some point. “But I never would have made it this far without my family.”

Pinkie turned to look at Maud who gave her a small smile in return. Taking a breath and blinking back her tears, Pinkie turned back.

“After Twilight… I was the one who took over the investigation,” Pinkie continued, “so you have to trust me when I say I know what I’m doing here.”

“Sure thing Pinks,” Applejack said nodding, “we’re right behind you, you give the word and we’ll follow.”

“Thank you,” Pinkie finished before returning to her professional tone. “Now the manor only had three floors, but this castle is clearly a lot bigger, so we have a lot of ground to cover.”

Pinkie Pie led the way up the stairs, the others following in her wake. When she reached the top she looked at her computer, she barely noticed the pain in her leg now. Tapping a few times led her to a new screen showing a digital map of the room they were in as well the courtyard they came from. Pinkie walked over to the left of the balcony and experimentally opened the door and edged into the room. The new room appeared on her map.

“Alright girls,” Pinkie said looking back, “these computers have maps on them, but unlike last time they only fill in as we discover rooms.”

Setting her hoof back down, Pinkie carried on into the new corridor. As the group travelled she couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty.

I didn’t lie, I told them the truth… maybe not the whole truth, but it’s for the best, better they remember Twilight for who she was than what she became.

Day 1, 11:39

The five ponies walked down what Pinkie imagined was some kind of chapel. The walls were lined with stone pews and columns, a red carpet running down the centre to the altar at the end. Rarity fell back, examining the statues that stood vigil alongside each pillar. The statues were identical, depicting a Pegasus pony with its wings spread out above it; however all of the statues had had their faces smashed off the rest of the head.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack arrived at the altar, looking up; Pinkie saw a rose window overlooking the chapel. This two depicted a Pegasus, but something dark had been smeared across its face, obscuring it from view. Turning their attention to the altar itself, they found it was a fairly plain structure, roughly carved from a lump of rock. Pinkie was sure Maud would be able to identify it as soon as she stopped looking at the seating.

Applejack was examining the objects that rested on the altar. One was a large tome; its cover bore a title in some strange runic language. Looking closer, Pinkie saw it was sealed shut with a clasp that had a strange indent, almost like the book was locked. Setting it to the side she joined Applejack in examining the second object, a flat wooden box with gold trimming. Applejack looked to Pinkie, as if seeking permission to open it, Pinkie nodded and she reached out.

Inside the box was a red velvet cushion, upon which was placed a large, ornate dagger. The blade was curvy etched with more runes, the hilt encrusted with red jewels.

“Some kind of… sacrificial thing?” Pinkie suggested her voice heavy with disgust. Applejack nodded and closed the lid.

“Ah don’t see a reason to keep a weapon just lying about,” she said. “Ah’m not sayin’ ah don’t trust everypony, but it might be best to keep these sorta things where we can see them.”

“I agree, do you think you can carry that box?” Pinkie asked, Applejack nodded and lifted it onto her back, expertly balancing it.

“Ah’m no stranger to haulin’ stuff about, how about that book?”

“It can stay for now,” Pinkie replied, “we need to find saddlebags; we all had our own last time and it made things much easier.”

“Maybe there’s something in our rooms,” Maud suggested, approaching the pair of them. “Didn’t the Mastermind say our computers would lead the way?”

Pinkie brought up her map, it now showed several rooms trailing from the entrance hall, mostly rooms that were empty or had had nothing of interest in them. Although the map did also take into account the number of locked rooms they had encountered, displaying their doors as red on the green lines that were the walls. The first time Pinkie had tried to open one of these doors, she received a beep on her computer, and upon checking it she found it displaying a familiar message stating that forcing open doors would result in punishment.

Shifting through her options, Pinkie found one labelled ‘Safety’. Curious she pressed it and a flashing line appeared on her map, leading back to the entrance hall down the right of the balcony.

“We’ll head there next,” Pinkie said, allowing the others to look at where her map was directing them.

Leading the way back to the corridor they came from, Pinkie stepped out through the double doors, only to be knocked down by a sudden gush of wind surging through the corridor.

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy exclaimed, crouching down to help her up. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Pinkie answered, looking down the corridor for the source of the gale.

“I don’t like this castle at all,” Rarity said following her gaze. “It feels… alive.”

“Last time, the Mastermind observed us and communicated with us through monitors and our computers,” Pinkie explained. “I haven’t seen anything vaguely modern since we arrived.”

“Let’s get to our rooms,” Maud suggested, “we shouldn’t get distracted chasing ghosts.”

Pinkie nodded, and ascending to her hooves, led the way back to the entrance hall.

Day 1, 12:04

After passing through the entrance hall and a few short corridors they found themselves in one of the towers. It was a bizarre structure, the best way Pinkie could describe it was as a square spring, where the corridor rose in a gradual gradient, taking a sharp left turn every several metres. As they ascended the tower, Pinkie counted sixteen wooden doors along the right wall, each adorned with golden handles and knockers. While the gradient wasn’t so steep that they were at risk of falling down, the carpeted floor offered extra grip as they ascended.

Like the rest of the rooms they had explored, it was constructed of dark bricks, but this hallway was lit by ethereal balls dancing around the ceiling as opposed to the usual dim candles in iron brackets. It gave the corridor a much more homely feel; indeed the flashing trail on Pinkie’s computer led her to one of the doors, suggested these were their rooms. Upon turning the handle, she found it unlocked and together they all walked in. The room was very confined, but well furnished with a luxurious double bed, cabinets, wardrobe, desk and armchair.

“Now this is more like it,” Rarity commented, running her hoof up and down the red curtains, while Fluttershy stood next to her looking out the window.

“Well, I guess this is my room,” Pinkie said picking up a small framed portrait of herself from the bedside cabinet.

She shuddered slightly as she set it beck down, trying not to think when the picture of her in her gala dress was taken. Pinkie approached Applejack who was examining the inside of the door, specifically the large sliding bolt used for locking the door from the inside.

“I don’t know if I like the idea of not being able to lock the door while I’m not in the room,” Pinkie said, testing the locking mechanism. “But I suppose it will be good not having to keep an eye on our keys all the time.”

“Didn’t you say your old room had an en suit?” Maud asked, gesturing to the distinct lack of bathrooms.

“Yeah,” Pinkie said fiddling on her computer. “It also had a bunch of room service things that we don’t seem to have now.”

Pinkie then walked over to the wardrobe and opened it up, inside it was almost entirely empty, bar a pair of saddlebags hanging from the rail.

“Convenient,” Pinkie muttered, taking them out and throwing them on over her dress.

Rarity cringed at this, no doubt the two clashed horribly, but Pinkie wasn’t about to sacrifice function for form. After tightening the straps she walked over to Maud and took hold of her hoof, bringing up the map on Maud’s computer and hitting the ‘Safety’ option. Another blinking line appeared, leading them to the room neighbouring Pinkie’s own.

“Alright girls,” Pinkie said, “we’ll go to each of rooms so we all know where they are, then get back to searching.”

“Sure thing, do yah want me to leave this here?” Applejack said gesturing to the box still on her back.

“Put it on the desk for now,” Pinkie instructed, leading the way out as Applejack did so.

Upon stepping out, Pinkie nearly ran headlong into Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, hey Pinkie,” Rainbow greeted, backing up slightly so she was closer to the rest of her group trailing behind. “Sorry, didn’t know you guys were already searching this area.”

“It’s alright, if you don’t already know, these are our rooms,” Pinkie explained.

“Yeah we looked in a couple higher up,” Rainbow explained. “There’s an open balcony at the top of the tower so we were able to enter through the top while flying.”

“Are there many Pegasus doors?” Pinkie asked curiously.

“Yeah actually,” Rainbow admitted, “most of the towers seem to have them.”

“And what about outside?”

“Just a lot of gardens and courtyards,” Rainbow answered, “although there was a hedge maze as well, a bit like the one back in Canterlot.”

“I think we should steer clear of that,” Pinkie said warily, not fancying whatever surprises the Mastermind could hide in such a place. “Where are you headed next?”

“Well we were coming down this way, but if you’ve got this place covered we’ll head back up and search the other towers,” Rainbow replied.

“Alright,” Pinkie said checking the time on her computer. “We’ve still got a couple hours before we meet back up.”

Taking that as their leave, Rainbow and the other pegasi turned and returned back up the corridor, leaving Pinkie and the others to find the rest of their rooms.

Day 1, 12:28

Pinkie surveyed the room before her, it was… tall. Agonisingly, dizzyingly tall. All above her, her vision was marred by staircases and bridges jutting out and zigzagging across. According to her computer they were standing at the most central room in the castle, and Pinkie could believe it, it looked like she could go to just about anywhere from this one room.

“Have you had any thoughts about where we might be Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, approaching Pinkie from the side.

“Not really, it’s like nowhere I’ve ever seen,” Pinkie admitted, still looking above her.

“Actually Pinkie,” Fluttershy began awkwardly behind them. “I actually find this place… a little familiar.”

“Yah do?” Applejack said in disbelief.

“I’m not sure, but it feels like we’ve been here before,” Fluttershy clarified.

“Now that you mention it…” Rarity chipped in, joining the group with Maud. “I’ve been having a strange vibe for a while now.”

Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and thought about it while Applejack hummed contemplatively next to her.

There’s no way we’ve ever been here before, I’d definitely remember a place like this… but still, something about it seems…

“Of course!” Applejack exclaimed, snapping Pinkie from her thoughts.

“You know where we are?” Pinkie asked surprised.

“Yes! Well, no… Ah mean…” Applejack stammered, “it’s on the tip of my tongue, but ah just know we’ve been here before.”

“Maud?” Pinkie asked, looking to her sister.

“I’m sorry,” Maud replied in her usual monotone voice, “but I really don’t find any of this familiar.”

“We can discuss it more later,” Pinkie said, deciding they shouldn’t dwell on it. “Rarity, did you find anything?”

“I could only get onto one staircase,” Rarity explained, “I’m not sure how we get to all those other floors.”

“I guess I could fly up,” Fluttershy offered looking to the next lowest staircase.

“No, we need to stick together,” Pinkie stated. “Come on, we’ll check this way, we might find a way around.”

Day 1, 13:05

Pinkie closed the door of the furnace after confirming it to be completely empty bar soot and ash. Looking around she saw the others sifting through crates and stacks of armour and weapons. Walking across to them she tapped her hoof on an anvil in thought.

“I guess this was some kind of armoury,” she said, stating the obvious.

“Ah reckon so,” Applejack said holding up a halberd. “Not sure what we’re gonna do about all this, it seems easy to take one knife and keep an eye on it, but all this?”

“We’re going to have to find some way of sealing off this room,” Pinkie pointed out, “it probably isn’t the only one either.”

“Didn’t you say you had a master key last time?” Maud asked examining a helmet.

“Yeah, but we only had that because the Mastermind gave it to Blueblood to plant on me,” Pinkie corrected her. “No, we aren’t just going to come across one.”

Bringing up her map again, Pinkie scanned all the areas they’d been to. It was kind of demoralising that she knew despite how much they had filled in, there was still so much more they hadn’t searched, and that wasn’t even taking into account the grounds around the castle and the town. As it stood however, they seemed to have discovered all they could from this end. When they turned right from the entrance hall they were able to reach the bedroom tower and the central room, which in turn led them here.

We could always retrace our steps and go back to the chapel; there was still areas beyond it we hadn’t explored.

Pinkie opened her mouth, intent on conveying her plan to the others, but was cut off when Rarity spoke up.

“Where’s Fluttershy?”

Pinkie’s head snapped around, scanning the room. Applejack was stacking weapons, Rarity and Maud were sorting through the armour, but Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. Pinkie sprinted from the room, returning to the corridor that led to the central room, she could hear the others following her, but she didn’t slow down for them to catch up. Arriving back in the room she saw Fluttershy at the bottom of the staircase they had climbed, looking ready to take off.

“Fluttershy!” Pinkie shouted, galloping down the stairs to her friend, who looked at her in surprise. “What are you doing?! Don’t run off like that!”

Fluttershy shrank under Pinkie’s gaze, her face stricken with guilt.

“I’m sorry Pinkie,” Fluttershy stammered, “I tried to get your attention, but you all looked so busy and I didn’t want to disturb you so…”

She was cut off by Pinkie grasping her in a tight hug.

“Don’t scare me like that again,” Pinkie muttered into Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, I won’t worry you like that again,” Fluttershy said, stronger this time.

“What were you doing?” Pinkie asked, pulling out of the embrace.

“I thought I heard someone calling my name,” Fluttershy explained, “I followed the voice out here, they sounded like they were in trouble, like they needed my help.”

Pinkie kept quiet, listening intently. After a moment or two of silence she turned back to Fluttershy.

“Can you hear anything now?” Pinkie asked curiously, Fluttershy shook her head. “Well if you do again, let me know, don’t go chasing it on your own, alight?”

“Alright,” Fluttershy replied. Maybe Pinkie had imagined it, but the look Fluttershy gave her and the tone in which she spoke seemed awfully akin to…

“Everything alright here?” Applejack asked, hurrying down behind them, snapping Pinkie out of whatever that had been.

“Yeah, everything’s okay,” Pinkie answered as the other two joined them. “Come on, we’ll go back in the direction of the chapel, we still have a little time before we have to meet back up with the others.”

Day 1, 13:44

The chapel was just behind them, Pinkie walked at the head of the group, but she kept glancing back to make sure none the others were straying off. She wasn’t sure what Fluttershy had heard, but she would bet money on it being one of the Mastermind’s tricks. However, she was playing safe this time, she beat the game once; she’d do again, this time without casualties.

Beat? I pretty much did what I was supposed to right up until the very end.

Pinkie grimaced, trying to ignore that grim reality. Once at the end of the corridor they found a spiral staircase on one side leading down, and a regular staircase leading up, and naturally they found no source of the gust of wind earlier.

“Up or down?” Applejack asked, trying to peer down the curve of the spiral staircase.

“Down there probably just leads to the area Fleur was searching,” Pinkie figured, “we’ll head up.”

Just as she was about to start ascending the steps however, she heard a faint noise in the distance, growing louder. Turning to the spiral staircase, she listened as whatever it was drew closer.

“Is that… singing?” Fluttershy asked confused.

Indeed Pinkie could start to make out the words as well as the melody with which they were being sung, and as she did she internally groaned.

“The super-duper party pony–that pony is me! I always knew that was the kind of pony I would be!” Cheese Sandwich sang as he bounced up the spiral staircase, almost smashing straight into Applejack who was forced to leap out of the way. “Oh hey girls, what’s cookin’?”

“Cheese, what are you doing here? Where’s your group?” Pinkie asked impatiently.

“Huh? Oh yeah, they sent me to find you,” Cheese explained happily.

“Why what’s happened?” Pinkie asked worriedly.

“We ran into the pegasus group in the entrance hall,” Cheese began, “one of them got injured, so Fleur suggested we regroup early.”

“Damn!” Pinkie swore, taking her hoof off the step. “Alright let’s hurry.”

She swiftly began walking back the way they came, the others matching her step while Cheese bounced ahead, continuing his song. Pinkie had to fight the rising urge to hit him.

Day 1, 13:49

“What happened?” Pinkie asked, trotting down the steps in the entrance hall to the rest of the gathered ponies.

“Maybe next time you group a bunch of pegasi together,” Fleetfoot began angrily, “make sure they can all fly first!”

“Excuse me?” Pinkie said, narrowing her eyes at the aqua mare who was scowling at her.

“Cool it Fleetfoot,” Spitfire ordered, approaching the pair of them. “Derpy had a bit of an accident in the air.”

“Is she alright?” Pinkie asked, pushing through to where Derpy lay on the ground being looked over by Shining Armour.

“A few bumps and bruises,” Spitfire explained, “luckily Rainbow Dash caught her before she was seriously injured.”

“Thank you Rainbow Dash,” Derpy murmured from the floor.

“Yeah, you already said that like… a dozen times,” Rainbow said awkwardly.

“So she’ll be okay?” Pinkie asked again, sounding relieved.

“Yeah, but I don’t think she should be flying,” Shining Armour pointed out. “I’m no expert at Pegasus anatomy, but these wings don’t look right formed to me.”

“Yeah, it’s a disorder I have,” Derpy said sadly, “I can’t remember what the doctors called it, but I can’t really fly at high altitudes well.”

“Hey, you were doin’ well kid,” Spitfire assured her, “it was my fault for forgetting you weren’t a professional flyer and expecting you to keep up with us.”

“Well, maybe Derpy should go lie down for a bit,” Pinkie suggested. “We’re probably not going to be doing any more, um, reconnaissance today anyway.”

“Alright I’ll go with her,” Spitfire offered, helping Derpy to her hooves and leading her up the steps.

“Should I go to?” Fluttershy asked. “In case she needs… medical attention?”

Pinkie opened her mouth, but then closed it and nodded, allowing Fluttershy to run off after them.

I do trust Spitfire, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe, I know Fluttershy sees it that way.

Turning back to the others who were now all looking at her expectantly, Pinkie addressed them.

“So are we all ready to report back our findings?” They all nodded, except Fleetfoot who was sulking off to the side and Filthy Rich who stood looking awkward, as if he felt out of place.

“Well, for starters we should address the living accommodations,” Fleur pointed out. “Now we managed to get around most of the first floor, a lot of it is empty rooms and corridors, but there is a kitchen and some kind of banquet hall, there’s also a wash area.”

Fleur lifted up her hoof computer, showing everypony the map of the first floor.

“No parlours or game rooms this time,” she continued, “but there is a small study area, it’s got a few bookshelves, nothing substantial, a fireplace and some seating.”

“We found a library so we did,” Soarin chipped in. “One of the towers, it’s basically nothing but libraries and studies.”

“You can get to it from this staircase,” Rainbow said, pointing to a particular spot on Fleur’s map. “After a few twists and turns that is, but it’s the only way we’ve found for non pegasi.”

“Is there anything else on the first floor?” Pinkie asked.

“We did find a number of entrances to what appear to be subterranean floors,” Octavia answered. It occurred to Pinkie this was the first time she’d heard the musician speak, her voice was very calm and measured, clearly hailing from the upper most districts of Canterlot. “Dungeons and cellars and the likes, but all of them are locked up tight, and we received a message indicating that we would be punished if we tried to force our way into them.”

“We got that message too,” Applejack chipped in, Pinkie nodded.

“What about food?” Pinkie asked. “You mentioned a kitchen.”

“Yes,” Fleur began, noticeably frowning. “It’s not good I’m afraid, there is a little stock, but not nearly enough to last us for a single week let alone three, and that’s assuming we aren’t trapped here any longer than we were last time.”

“It’s possible that there’s some food in the town,” Shining Armour pointed out.

Pinkie didn’t like the thought of that, she had hoped to keep them confined to as small an area as possible to manage their escape better, but if the food situation really was as dire as it sounded she probably wasn’t spoiled for choice.

“We’ll see about it,” Pinkie said, mentally noting to address it later. “What about your group Soarin?”

“Well, we stayed clear of the town like you said,” he began, “although from the air it doesn’t look that big, we could probably cover it in an hour or two tops.”

“I said we’ll see,” Pinkie repeated, her voice laden with authority. “And the grounds?”

“Well it’s like Rainbow said,” he continued, nodding towards said Pegasus. “A lot of gardens, not so much plants but fountains and statues. It’s all pretty samey, once you’ve seen one you’ve pretty much seen them all.”

“So what about the castle itself?”

“Well there are some battlements here and there,” Soarin explained, “there’s ballista’s and catapults, same models used by Equestrian forces.”

“Like we said,” Rainbow joined in, “one of the towers is pretty much one huge library. Apart from that we found living quarters and the likes, all pretty normal, although there was one observatory, pretty cool.”

“There were some towers we couldn’t get in,” Soarin stated, “You’d probably have to go up through the castle itself. Which reminds me, there seemed to be this alternating pattern in floors, like most staircases would bypass a floor and take you to the one above it.”

“So… a staircase on the first floor would take you to the third floor?” Maud queried.

“It seems like that for the most part,” Soarin said with a small shrug. “This whole place is a nightmare to navigate.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we have our maps,” Pinkie said looking at her own, biting her lip. “It’s a shame we can’t somehow… connect our computers to fill in each other’s maps. I bet Vinyl would have known how…”

“Alright, so we know our way around,” Fleetfoot said loudly, getting everyone’s attention. “That’s all well and good but how does it help us escape.”

“Are you always so negative?” Fleur asked, not bothering to hide her distaste. Fleetfoot shot her a glare but didn’t retort which Pinkie was thankful for.

“The Mastermind is playing a game with us,” Pinkie began to explain. “If we want to escape, we have to beat them in their own game, and to do that we need to figure out who they are and why they’re doing this. We can’t investigate if we don’t know where to start.”

“And do you know where to start?” Fleetfoot asked impatiently.

“Not yet,” Pinkie admitted, ignoring Fleetfoot’s derisive snort. “I’m going to have to see a lot of these places for myself, the library in particular.”

“We could head there now,” Fleur proposed.

“Not now,” Pinkie stated, “I want to check this food situation first, and I don’t want to be working after ten.”

“Why not after…” Filthy Rich began confused. “Wait, you don’t mean to say we should obey this maniac’s curfew do you?”

“Like hell that nutjob is telling me when my bedtime is!” Fleetfoot snapped.

“I’m not about to take any risks,” Pinkie said flatly. “This castle is every shade of creepy and I don’t think for a second the Mastermind was bluffing.”

“If you think that’s what we should do, then we’ll trust you,” Fleur said, offering Pinkie what she imagined was supposed to be a warm smile, but just looked strained.

“Whatever,” Fleetfoot muttered.

“Now,” Pinkie continued, “take me to the kitchen.”

Day 1, 14:18

The kitchen was very dingy, two old fashioned stoves was the height of their technology, none of the cutting edge equipment that had been available at the manor. From the looks of the cabinets, which were grimy and half rotting, there was probably an infestation of something at one time or another. What little food that was stored in them had clearly been put there recently, and in this environment the various fruits and breads wouldn’t stay fresh for long.

Most of the food was stored inside a chest freezer, which Pinkie was looking through with Shining Armour.

“You weren’t lying,” Pinkie said in dismay. “Even if we can make this stuff last longer than a week, it won’t all stay good for that long.”

“There must be more food in the town,” Shining insisted, “The Mastermind doesn’t want to starve us all to death.”

Pinkie thought about it for a long moment before nodding and closing the freezer.

“Alright, first thing tomorrow, you can lead a group into the town,” Pinkie instructed, “don’t go too far and don’t split up.”

“Alright,” Shining replied obediently.

“Right now we need to ration out what we’ve got, can I leave you in charge of that?” Shining nodded and Pinkie turned to Applejack who was examining the stove. “Applejack, could you manage the cooking and preparation?”

“Sure thing,” Applejack said standing up to face her. “But I’ll need fuel for this stove, and a light.”

“There’s bags of coal in one of the rooms down the hall,” Shining offered, “and I can use magic to light it up.”

“That reminds me,” Pinkie began, “have you been having any difficulty with your magic since you got here?”

“Not really, no,” Shining answered thoughtfully.

“What about teleporting?” Pinkie asked.

“I haven’t tried; leaving you all behind wasn’t on my mind.”

“We appreciate it,” Pinkie said sincerely, “but you should still try as it might come in useful.”

Shining nodded and closed his eyes, focusing energy into his horn. Pinkie wasn’t surprised when the energy dissipated but Shining remained firmly in place.

“Is something blocking you?” Pinkie asked, remembering the pain Twilight had suffered upon trying to teleport.

“Not exactly,” Shining admitted, rubbing his horn, “it just felt like something sucked out my magic at the last second.”

“We can see about looking into that,” Pinkie promised before addressing the pair of them. “So can I let you two get on here while I go check on the others?”

“No worries,” Applejack assured her, “we’ll take the food to that there banquet hall.”

Pinkie nodded, and departed from the room. Once outside, Pinkie saw Octavia walking down the hallway towards her.

“Fleur and some of the others have gathered in the study,” Octavia stated, anticipating Pinkie’s question. “The rest have gone to their rooms.”

“Thanks,” Pinkie stated. “Where were you going?”

“Your friend Rarity mentioned a chapel upstairs,” Octavia explained, “I wanted to see it for myself.”

“Well be careful if you’re heading off on your own,” Pinkie warned.

“Do you not trust the others?” Octavia asked in an odd tone.

“It’s not a matter of trust,” Pinkie stated, “everypony is capable of murder under the right circumstances, I’m trying to avoid those circumstances.”

Pinkie wasn’t sure, but for a brief second, it looked like Octavia had broken her calm demeanour and given Pinkie the tiniest of smiles. But by the time Pinkie had thought she saw anything, Octavia was already walking away. Pinkie found it odd, all the other ponies here she knew personally, but Octavia she had only encountered once very briefly. A long time ago in another life she would have leapt at the opportunity of meeting a new pony, a new prospective friend, now however…

Day 1, 14:25

Pinkie entered the study to find Fleur, Filthy Rich, Cheese Sandwich, Maud and Rarity all seated on various armchairs and sofas.

“Right now, our best hope lies in Pinkie Pie,” Fleur was saying, apparently unaware that Pinkie had entered the room. “She beat this game once, she can do it again.”

“Yeah, but from the sounds of it,” Filthy chipped in, “she only beat the game after most of you had kicked the bucket. Eleven if I remember correctly.”

“Really now Mr Rich,” Rarity said irritably, “have some faith in Pinkie, I trust that she’ll get us all home safely back to our friends and families.”

Pinkie took a deep breath, reassuring herself of that fact before making her presence known.

“That’s the plan,” she said loudly, announcing herself as she walked forward. “But don’t forget, it took all of us to get out of that manor, we all played our part.”

“And we will all play them again,” Fleur assured her, nodding before looking pointedly at Filthy Rich. “Won’t we?”

“Of course I will,” he replied hurriedly. “I trust you, I do, and I will help, but forgive me for being a little nervous, my family's probably sick with worry wondering where I am.”

“We all have loved ones we want to get back to,” Rarity said sadly, receiving a reassuring pat on the back from Cheese.

“I promise I’ll get you all out of here,” Pinkie assured them. “I just came here to tell you that Shining and AJ and preparing some food for us, so in a bit head on over to the banquet hall.”

After receiving four nods of affirmation, Pinkie was about to leave, but then the fireplace in front of the others caught her eye. Walking across the room with the others eyes on her, she crouched down, put her head in and looked about.

“Um, Pinkie dear,” Rarity began confused. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for secret passages,” Pinkie answered.

“Oh,” Rarity stated bluntly, “Of course you are.”

Day 1, 14:39

“Go fish.”

Derpy picked up another card from the deck, adding it to her ever expanding hand. She stared at it in confusion and scratched her head. Fluttershy looked nervously at her one card, while Rainbow reclined, having already ridded herself of cards and claiming first place. Pinkie watched all this from the side-lines, occasionally glancing over at Soarin who sat by the window, staring out forlornly.

“Derpy…” Fluttershy began awkwardly, “do you have any threes?”

“No…” Derpy said slowly.

“Oh that’s okay,” Fluttershy said quickly, scooping up another card from the deck, only to squeak and place it back. “Actually I don’t need another card right now.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes and approached Derpy’s bed where they were sitting; flipping up the card Fluttershy had just placed back in the deck, revealing a three.

“Fluttershy, it’s no fun if you just let ponies win,” Pinkie explained, slightly exasperated. “And Derpy… you have tonnes of pairs! You have all four aces!”

“But none of them are the same suit,” Derpy said innocently, eliciting a groan from Dash.

“Maybe we should play something else,” Fluttershy suggested quietly.

“Actually we should probably head down now,” Pinkie pointed out, looking at the time on her computer. “Where’s Spitfire and Fleetfoot?”

“Spitfire went looking for Fleetfoot,” Dash said grumpily, “she’s being a right bi…”

Fluttershy coughed loudly, giving Dash a warning look while her eyes flicked over to Derpy who didn’t seem to notice anything.

“Oh, uh, she went looking for Fleetfoot because she flew off somewhere,” Dash corrected herself.

Pinkie groaned, Fleetfoot was being incredibly difficult, if there was one weak link she had her worries about, it was her.

“It’s a shame these don’t tell us where the others are,” Soarin muttered, holding up his own computer.

Indeed, Pinkie had tested it, but they no longer displayed flashing dots to mark each other’s locations.

“Rainbow, can you go help look for them?” Pinkie asked.

“Sure thing,” Dash said, hoping off the bed and leaving the room.

The others left the room shortly after, descending through the hallways until they arrived at the banquet hall where the others were already gathered.

“Just in time,” Applejack commented, setting a bowl of stew down in front of Rarity. “Pinkie, ah don’t think that kitchen is suitable for cooking in.”

“Why not?” Pinkie asked, taking a seat.

“It’s filthy,” Applejack stated, “if we keep our food in there we’re all at risk of dying from poisons and diseases and the likes.”

“We’ll see what we can do about it,” Pinkie assured her, preferring not to deal with anything more until she got some food in her. “Speaking of filthy, where’s Filthy Rich?”

“He had to go to the little colts’ room,” Cheese explained, trying to clean a stew stain from his multi-coloured tuxedo.

Pinkie was about to start eating when the doors opened, she looked up expecting to see Filthy Rich walk in, but instead she saw Spitfire and Rainbow Dash march in, flanking a very pissed off looking Fleetfoot. While Fleetfoot sat down as far away from the rest of them as she could, and Rainbow sat next to Soarin, Spitfire came over and whispered into Pinkie’s ear.

“She tried to fly off,” she explained, “but that dark sky repelled her. We managed to catch up with her and have a talk; hopefully she’ll stay in line from now on.”

“Thank you,” Pinkie murmured back allowing Spitfire to go sit down herself beside Derpy.

Pinkie hoped that would be the end of Fleetfoot’s disobedience, but was she ever so lucky? At least it seemed Spitfire could keep her in check. As she finally started into her own stew, Filthy Rich appeared, still doing up the belt on his suit trousers along with Octavia who Pinkie hadn’t even realised wasn’t present up until that point.

Day 1, 16:10

While Pinkie had never seen Discord in his initial statue prison, she had later seen pictures of it, the statue she was looking at now reminded her heavily of that pose he once had, smug, flamboyant, always very sure of himself. Moving away from the draconequus, she approached the statue of Cadance. Even encased in stone she looked as beautiful as ever, Pinkie wondered how hard this must be for Shining, but then her thoughts drifted back to the gala, to the moment when Shining snapped at his wife.

“Do you really believe that’s them?” A voice asked from behind Pinkie. She turned to see Maud approaching her from behind. “That they are really imprisoned in those statues?”

“I’m not about to rule it out,” Pinkie stated. “Do you even know what kind of stone this is?”

“Marble maybe,” Maud suggested. “It’s difficult to tell, there’s something about them, enchantments maybe, but I don’t know enough about magic to be sure.”

Pinkie glanced up at the large clock face above the castle gate; they still had roughly six hours before they had to be in their rooms. A lot could be done in six hours, but everypony seemed so drained already, they were in a frightening and stressful situation after all, Pinkie couldn’t expect too much of them.

“Where are the others?” Pinkie asked, making up her mind.

“In the study,” Maud replied, “even Fleetfoot.”

“That’s fine; I’m going to look around myself for a while,” Pinkie explained, “could you keep an eye on everyone?”

“I can, but where are you going?” Maud asked.

“I’m not sure, there’s still so much ground to cover,” Pinkie said looking around. “I think I’ll take a look around the grounds myself.”

“Well… okay, but be careful,” Maud said in a worried tone.

“I will,” Pinkie replied flatly. “Now you go on get back to the others, I’ll talk to you later.”

Maud nodded and left, leaving Pinkie alone in the courtyard. Pinkie walked across between the statues of Discord and Cadance towards a gate covered in dead ivy. Pushing against the gate she found it unlocked, however doing so reminded her of something, something tucked inside her dress pressing against her barrel. Reaching down her dress, Pinkie fished out the key she had completely forgotten about. Up until this point she hadn’t questioned why she had been left in a different area from the others, but now…

Leaving the grounds behind her, Pinkie made for the entrance gates leading to the town. As she slipped out through them the shade descended around the castle once more, obscuring its details from view. Walking casually the way she had come, she dodged into the courtyard filled with crates squeezed between the two houses. As soon as she was in however, her eyes widened in confusion. There was no door.

Day 1, 20:59

Pinkie entered the study, pleased at finding all fourteen ponies gathered there. A few were chatting quietly with one another, most sat in silence and barely disguised dread.

“And where have you been?” Fleetfoot demanded from the bookshelf she was leaning against.

“I was just looking around the grounds,” Pinkie said, holding up her computer to show her map filled in with all the different gardens and patios around the castle.

“So it’s okay for you to go off on your own, but when one us tries to…”

“Fleetfoot, let me stop you right there,” Pinkie interrupted. Fleetfoot silenced, waiting for Pinkie to say whatever she was about to say, and while she waited Pinkie walked away.

“Did you find anything interesting?” Fleur asked as Pinkie approached.

“Nothing Soarin and the others didn’t already report,” Pinkie admitted, taking a seat. “I took a few steps into the labyrinth, hoping my map would fill in the details, no such luck.”

“Well, while you were gone,” Fleur began, glancing over at the others, “we took it upon ourselves to seal off the armoury you found.”

“How did you manage that?” Pinkie asked, surprised but pleased.

“A lot of heavy lifting mostly,” Shining explained. “Basically there’s no way anypony can get in there on their own now.”

“That’s good,” Pinkie said nodding, “we should probably retire now, it’s getting close to ten.”

“And you really believe something bad will happen if we’re not in our rooms by then?” Octavia asked from the corner where she sat.

“Better safe than sorry,” Pinkie stated, “besides, we’re going to need our energy for tomorrow.”

“Alright then,” Shining said standing up and turning to address the room. “Alright everypony, lights out!”

Day 1, 21:35

Pinkie patrolled the crooked corridor, making sure everypony knew where their own room was. She needn’t have bothered, besides a small mix up between Derpy and Cheese there were no issues. Satisfied everyone was in their own rooms, Pinkie turned to head to her own.

“Hey Pinkie,” a voice called, causing Pinkie to look over her shoulder.

“Oh, hey Rainbow,” Pinkie said as the prismatic Pegasus glided down the decline to her. “Shouldn’t you be getting to your room?”

“Yeah I’ll go in a sec,” Rainbow said in an odd tone, “but I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment… in private.”

“Sure, let’s go to my room.”

The pair walked down the tower to one of the lowest rooms, opening the door Pinkie walked in with Rainbow close behind.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Pinkie asked, opening the box on her desk to make sure the knife was still there.

“It’s… about Soarin.”

Pinkie closed the lid of the box and looked over at Dash, from the tone of her voice and the look on her face Pinkie could tell it was serious. Walking across the room Pinkie sat down on the bed and patted the duvet invited Dash to join her.

“What’s the problem?” Pinkie asked as Dash got comfortable.

“Well, ever since we got here,” Dash began awkwardly, “he’s been a lot more distant, he’s just not himself. I’m worried about him Pinkie, I didn’t know about any of that stuff that happened at the manor. I knew something had happened to him, but when I joined the Wonderbolts, Spitfire asked me not to bring it up, said he’d tell me in his own time. I never would have guessed it was to do with what happened to you and… Twilight.

“The gala was the worst I’d ever seen him,” Dash continued, Pinkie listening politely. “But then this happened. I know what happened at that manor must have been awful for you, but for it to have this kind of effect, I’m just… afraid for him, you know?”

“I understand Rainbow,” Pinkie said sincerely, “what happened was difficult on all of us; we saw and did a lot of things we aren’t proud of. When it was over all we could think about was the ponies we let down, the ones we couldn’t save. The last I heard of Soarin, all he wanted was to fly, to drown out the memories and pretend it never happened. Now I know I’m hardly the best example of coping mechanisms, but he could have dealt with it in better ways.

“It’s going to take time Rainbow,” Pinkie continued, “He has a lot he needs to work through, a lot that needs to heal. But I believe that we… that you can help him. You just have to be there for him.”

Dash nodded, gulping slightly.

“I hope I will, no… I will,” Dash said with determination, standing up. “Thank you Pinkie.”

“It’s no problem,” Pinkie said as Dash began walking towards the door. “Oh, and Dash…”

“Yeah?” Rainbow asked, turning around to face Pinkie once more.

“You two make a cute couple,” Pinkie said offering Dash a genuine smile. Dash blushed slightly, trying to supress a grin.

“I would have said we were an awesome couple,” she said leaving the room.

“That you are Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie muttered, lying down and smiling to herself.

Day 1, 21:59

Pinkie looked at her hoof computer, by now she couldn’t feel the pain in her leg. She didn’t doubt it would become infected, hopefully they’d find a lab or something tomorrow. Her gala dress was thrown across her armchair beside her desk along with her saddlebags which were empty bar from the key she found upon waking up.

Glancing at the digital clock she saw it was quickly approaching ten.

Five… Four… Three… Two… One…

Nothing, nothing but silence. Pinkie let out a breath she didn’t realise she had been holding in. No doubt Fleetfoot would leap on this tomorrow, claiming that she was right and Pinkie was a bad leader, but Pinkie would stick to her guns, it was better to be safe than sorry.

A knock on the door broke Pinkie from her thoughts.

Who’s not in bed? They could at least wait until morning before coming to complain.

Pinkie stood up and began walking towards the door which was currently bolted shut.

“Pinkie, can you open up?”

Pinkie froze, her eyes wide, her breath dying in her lungs.

“Pinkie, please open up… It’s me… Twilight.”

Author's Notes:

So This ended up being much longer than I had anticipated, but that's what happens when you try to establish an entirely new setting which is times bigger than the one used in the last story. As such the first chapter will be broken up into 4 parts as opposed to the usual 3 parts, the other chapter should remain the same.
Shout out to ClickClackTheBrony for getting 14/15 players correct... and being the only person to actual offer a guess.
Next part will be released on Tuesday.