Day 2, 06:00

Pinkie stepped out of her bedroom, her entire body screaming exhaustion. Slowly she made her way down through the castle, threatening to keel over at any minute. By some miracle she managed to drag herself as far as the study and collapse face down on a sofa. For the first month or two following the last ordeal, she had suffered terrible nightmares; it was quite another thing spending the entire night with the nightmares right outside her door.

All night she heard her muttering, heard the soft sounds of her hooves on the carpet outside, heard her breathing. Every couple of hours, just as Pinkie would begin to believe it was over, the voice would return, begging Pinkie to let her in. More than once, Pinkie felt tempted to throw open the door, but she managed to restrain herself, managed to remind herself it was all a lie, but it didn’t make it any easier.

Pinkie was drained, both physically and emotionally, so when she heard hoofsteps approaching, she didn’t have the energy to look up and see who it was. It was only when she felt the weight sit down next to her, and felt the hoof brushing through her mane that she knew it was her sister. Rolling over slightly Pinkie looked up at Maud, no words were needed, they both knew the other one had suffered the same thing.

Pinkie noticed that like herself, Maud had put on her gala dress. As she had counted down the minutes to six, she had anxiously paced around her room, desperate for things to distract her, throwing on her dress and strapping on her saddlebags was one of the few things she could do. Over the next hour, pony after pony entered, all wearing their formal attire, all looking like they’d had their soul sucked from them.

There were very few words spoken, ponies just came in, greeted the others and sat in silence. Even Fleetfoot was severely lacking in her brash attitude as she entered, looking like she was about to throw up. Indeed it was only the last ponies who looked like they had gotten any rest at all. Rainbow and Soarin came in together, and while they both looked shaken up, Pinkie knew being there with each other helped greatly. Then came Octavia and Fleur, neither of which looked in the least bit off.

Must be a high class thing.

Once they were all gathered and seated, Pinkie stood up and addressed the group.

“I think it’s safe to say… we’ll obey the curfew,” she stated, nopony even thought to argue with her. “I had hoped we would all be well energised today, but that clearly isn’t the case… for most of us. First things first we need some food.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Applejack said, leaving the room without waiting for confirmation.

Pinkie didn’t mind, she could be filled in later, she was just glad Applejack was still so dedicated.

“Alright, as soon as we’ve eaten we need to get straight to work,” Pinkie continued. “Shining made it clear that we are in desperate need of food, so he’s going to lead a group into the town in search. I want Applejack, Fleetfoot, Spitfire, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and Cheese to go with him. Remember, perishable food is fine, but we need stuff that will last.”

Derpy raised a timid hoof.

“Derpy you don’t have to raise your hoof,” Pinkie said, “if you want to say something, just say it. As it is however, what did you want to say?”

“You said stuff that will last,” Derpy repeated, “and yesterday you were talking about the last game going on for three weeks. We aren’t going to be here for that long are we?”

“I really hope not,” Pinkie answered, “but we have to be prepared for worst case scenarios.”

Derpy looked very upset about that response.

“As for the rest of us,” Pinkie continued, “I am going to be going to the library, carry out some investigation. I want Fleur, Maud, Fluttershy, Octavia and Filthy to come help me.”

“May I ask what it is you want me to do?” Rarity asked politely.

“Applejack pointed out a good point yesterday,” Pinkie explained, “the kitchen is no state for storing or preparing food. You’re meticulously neat if you don’t mind me saying, I’d like you to make the place suitable.”

“I will do my very best,” Rarity replied.

“Derpy can go with you to give you a hoof,” Pinkie finished. “Other than that I need everypony to be on the lookout for medical equipment, I’m not a doctor but I know we can’t leave our legs untreated.”

“Alright everypony,” Applejack announced, entering with a tray stacked with sandwiches. “I know it’s not a lot, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it all the same.”

Day 2, 08:51

It was as Rainbow had said, they left the chapel and the spiral staircase to the ground floor behind them and ascended the staircase up, and after a few twists and turns they found themselves at the ornate double doors of the library tower. Pushing on ahead, Pinkie lead the way into what appeared to be the main body of the library, a truly impressive room, one that would have made Twilight Sparkle collapse under the weight of her own excitement.

There were so many bookshelves, towering over them, most needing their own little ladders and walkways to access some areas. Pinkie wouldn’t have known where to begin reading; instead her attention was drawn to the mysterious centrepiece. It was a giant hourglass surrounded by various cogs and rings, all gyrating in alternating directions and speeds.

“A beautiful construct,” Octavia commented approaching Pinkie from behind. “Yet it feels so familiar to me.”

Pinkie nodded blissfully, she felt it too. It was only when Filthy Rich spoke that she finally snapped out of her daze.

“So what exactly are we supposed to be reading up on?”

“Anything,” Pinkie replied, “everything. Anything at all that can give us a better understanding of where we are, things we’ve encountered, who we might be up against.”

They weren’t the most specific instruction, Pinkie knew that, and what with the sheer size of the library tower Pinkie wouldn’t have blamed the others for showing the slightest bit of exasperation with her. As it was however, they admirably set straight to work without fuss, seamlessly coordinating around one another. With the others starting their own searches, Pinkie began searching the different shelves and sections for books on runes, both magical and linguistic.

For one she was still intrigued by the book in the chapel, and two she decided it couldn’t hurt to have a better understanding of the runes involved in the courtroom set up outside. As she wondered around half aimlessly for about twenty minutes, she began to wonder if there was an easier way to do this.

Day 2, 11:01

Pinkie slammed the heavy tome shut, placing it to the side along with all the others. A part of her thought she should re-shelve them, but the other part of her didn’t want to run the risk in case they would come in useful later. Standing up she cracked her aching joints and walked over to the other desks where the others were reading away.

“Anything at all?” she asked.

“I’ve been looking through history and geographical books,” Fleur began, “but I can’t find a mention anywhere of a place like this.”

“I’ve noticed a lot of marble used in the construction of this castle,” Maud pointed out. “So I’ve been looking into where marble has been quarried in large quantities.”

“And any ideas?” Pinkie asked, somehow not surprised that her sister was researching rocks.

“Actually the largest amount of quarried marble came from Canterlot Mountain,” Maud replied. “But it’s almost impossible to trace where it all would have gone, it could have been used in Equestria or traded overseas.”

“Well I’ve found that there’s a section of newspaper clippings,” Filthy Rich pointed out, holding up a book containing newspaper extracts.

“Well yeah, don’t most libraries have sections for that stuff?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes, but this library has cuttings from just about every paper right up to the day of the gala,” Filthy elaborated impressively, before realising that nopony was reacting to it. “Well… I thought it was interesting.”

“Every detail helps Filthy,” Pinkie assured him, not noticing him flinch at the use of his first name. “What about you Fluttershy?”

“Well I was looking into that chapel,” Fluttershy explained, holding out a book on religious history. “I noticed there was a lot of iconography around... a particular Pegasus, so I was maybe hoping to come across something about her.”

“Any luck with that?” Pinkie asked hopefully.

“No,” Fluttershy replied with a sigh.

“Well it’s a good lead, keep it up.” Pinkie assured her, before looking over to Octavia… only to realise she wasn’t present.

“She must be off looking for a book,” Maud suggested, realising who Pinkie was searching for.

“Alright, we’ll keep at this for another half an hour, then we’ll take a break,” Pinkie stated, walking back to her own desk.

As she did, she caught sight of Octavia standing in front of the hourglass, reading a book.

Day 2, 11:45

Filthy Rich was talking a way as the group began navigating the corridors from the library, but Pinkie still had her nose stuck in a small book entitled ‘reading magic for dummies’.

Well I guess I have to start somewhere...

“Pinkie?” Fluttershy said, snapping Pinkie out of her reading.

“Huh? What is it?”

“You’re going the wrong way,” Fluttershy informed her.

Looking around Pinkie saw she had indeed turned down the wrong corridor, while the others had walked straight on ahead, the staircase down the chapel corridor right ahead.

“Oh, woops,” Pinkie said embarrassed. She was about to follow them but then stopped. “Where does this way lead?”

“I’m not sure,” Fleur admitted, approaching Pinkie and looking down the corridor she had been about to walk down. “I don’t think we’ve searched it yet.”

“Well it’s not very long,” Pinkie pointed out, indeed the door at the end was only a dozen or so metres away. “I’m going to take a look.”

Without waiting for the others to follow, Pinkie strode down the hallway to the old wooden door that stood at the end. Turning the handle she found it unlocked, briefly glancing at her hoof computer showed another tower had been revealed on her map. Stepping on inside, Pinkie was hit with cold air. The tower was tall but narrow, with wooden ladders and walkways ascending all the way to the top where a Pegasus door was, letting all the cold air in.

“This looks like an aviary,” Fluttershy commented brightly, looking between the alcoves in the wall, the wooden perches, and the straw on the floor.

“I don’t imagine it’s kept birds for some time,” Pinkie commented.

“Maybe this is where the gust of wind came from yesterday,” Maud proposed. “Soarin’s team might have entered though there and opened the door.”

“I guess,” Pinkie stated.

Satisfied there was nothing more of interest in this room she turned to leave. As they did, she spotted a nail in the wall next to the door with a metal key hanging on it, not unlike the one she found after waking. Taking it off the nail as they left, Pinkie tested it on the once again closed door, hearing a satisfying click.

“We should hold on to this,” she said depositing it in her saddlebags. “It might work on other locks.”

With that, they carried on their way towards the kitchen to see if the other group had returned.

Day 2, 12:07

Pinkie nodded approvingly, pacing around the now sparkling kitchen, literally, it could have passed for the royal kitchen in Canterlot after Rarity had been allowed to work her magic on it.

“I don’t know how you did it,” Pinkie said happily, turning to Rarity and Derpy. “But this place looks amazing.”

“Thanks,” Derpy replied, “though really, it was all Rarity.”

“Now dear don’t be so modest, it was a team effort,” Rarity insisted.

Pinkie then turned to Shining and Soarin who were just about finished rearranging the freezer and cupboards.

“No trouble then?” Pinkie asked the pair.

“Not really,” Shining replied. “Fleetfoot stayed in line, everypony stuck together. We moved slowly but we managed to find a few houses with stashes in them. I’m pretty sure they were purposely put there for us to go find.”

“It would seem we aren’t getting everything served to us on a silver platter this time round,” Pinkie said despondently. “I’ll go tell Applejack the kitchens ready, I’m sure she’ll be over the moon when she’d sees the good work done in here.”

“I’m sure she would be if there was a moon in the sky,” Soarin muttered.

Pinkie left the kitchen and headed towards the study. She knew the first floor well already, but even if she did need help, she could just follow the raised voices. Pinkie groaned as she reached the study and heard the shouting; she then braced herself, ready to walk in and have to deal with Fleetfoot. As she entered however, she was surprised to see the source of the noise was in fact Applejack, who was facing off against Filthy Rich.

“And how in the hay is this the time to be discussin’ this anyhow?!” Applejack demanded. “Things are messed up enough here as it is, so I’ll tell you once more, Sweet Apple Acres is not for sale!”

All the other ponies in the room were just looking on bemused, Pinkie decided to stick her hoof in and put a stop to whatever was going on.

“You’re making a mistake Applejack,” Filthy stressed. “Granny Smith would have wanted you to do what’s best for…”

“You don’t get to tell me what mah granny would have wanted, you hear?” Applejack snapped.

“Applejack, calm down!” Pinkie ordered stepping up between the pair of them.

“Did you hear what he…” Applejack began, but Pinkie cut her off.

“Yes I heard him,” Pinkie stated flatly. “And I’m not saying he was right, but I am saying that this is not the time for this argument. We need to stay focused, but most of all we need to stay united. If we start breaking apart, we’re all put at danger.”

Applejack sighed and Filthy Rich scratched his head awkwardly.

“You’re right, sorry Pinkie,” Applejack said before looking to Filthy. “Sorry too Filthy, uh… Rich, I know Barnyard Bargains has been having a tough time and you’re not in the best state money wise. But I’ve made my decision; I’d like you to respect that.”

“Alright, I’ll drop it…” Filthy said in a neutral tone, although Pinkie had the distinct feeling he just caught himself on before adding ‘for now’.

“Alright, now that that’s sorted,” Pinkie said relieved, “Rarity and Derpy and finished in the kitchen Applejack, do you want to go take a look?”

“Sure ah do,” Applejack said, brightening up immediately. “And with the food we gathered up, ah’ll be able to fire us all up a decent lunch.”

Pinkie collapsed into an armchair, completely exhausted. She’d almost forgotten that she hadn’t got any sleep. Still, fighting her desire to drift off, she opened her eyes and looked around the room at the others. Filthy now sat off to the side, looking mildly put off by what had just occurred. Octavia was off to one side, pacing back and forth as if lost in thought. Cheese was making an admirable attempt at getting a smile out of Fleur, who seemed to be having none of it, remaining utterly focused on the empty fireplace. Rainbow, Spitfire and Fleetfoot sat in a group chatting amiably, and Maud sat opposite Pinkie, watching her carefully.

“Is something wrong?” Pinkie asked her sister.

“No, I was just thinking…” Maud began before hesitating. “You haven’t had any panic attacks since you got here.”

“Not really,” Pinkie admitted, not really having thought about up until now. “I guess I’ve just been too focused.”

Maud nodded, saying nothing. Pinkie could tell something was bothering her sister, but before she could ask, Derpy, Soarin and Shining re-entered the room.

“Alright, Applejack and Rarity are getting us some lunch together,” Shining said, sitting down next to Pinkie. “What do you want to do afterwards?”

“It hardly feels like we’ve made a dent in this castle,” Pinkie said looking over her map. “But I think we’ve got more than enough to wade through at the moment. I never did ask, the town, what’s it like?”

Shining shuddered slightly.

“Eerie,” he admitted. “The whole time it felt like we were being watched. The main road outside the castle is open, but everything else is confined and claustrophobic, feels like it’s squeezing in around you.”

Great, more spooky things for us to deal with.

“And then there was the houses themselves,” Shining continued, his voice sounding dark as he reached into his saddlebags. “For the most part they were stripped bare, but every now and then we’d find something… disturbing.”

Shining pulled whatever it was free from his bag and hovered them out in front of Pinkie. Reaching out, Pinkie took one at random and held it out before her. It was a framed photo, showing a mare and stallion along with what Pinkie presumed was their new-born foal. The frame was worn, the picture faded.

“Family photos?” Pinkie said quizzically, looking over the others, all displaying various ponies grouped together.

“Looks like it,” Shining said, telekinetically stacking the pictures and passing them across to Pinkie who accepted them. “Whatever or wherever this place is, it seems ponies used to live here, however long ago.”

“Maybe,” Pinkie began warily, “just don’t jump to any immediate conclusions, this could just be the Mastermind trying to throw us off.”

“I don’t know Pinkie,” Shining said unsure, “that town, this castle, it all feels so…”

“Soups on everypony,” Applejack announced cheerily, interrupting Shining Armour.

As the ponies began filing from the room, Pinkie put the pictures away in her saddlebags before following after them.

Day 2, 14:40

Pinkie peered through the bars into the darkness beyond.

“So you think it leads to a dungeon?” Pinkie asked, fishing the key she found in the tower out of her saddlebags.

“Possibly,” Octavia answered simply as Pinkie attempted to feed the key into the lock.

The key didn’t even fit, and after a few hopeless jangles, Pinkie accepted it wouldn’t fit and removed it.

“The locks are completely different Pinkie,” Octavia pointed out.

“Yeah I get that now,” Pinkie replied, slightly annoyed.

“Perhaps it will open other towers,” Octavia suggested helpfully.

“It’s a thought, yeah,” Pinkie replied, re-depositing it in her bag.

The pair continued walking until they arrived back in the entrance hall. As they walked up the main staircase, Pinkie slowed down, her thoughts drifting back to the entrance hall of the Arcane Manor and the stairs that led to the courtroom.

“Is something wrong?” Octavia asked, noticing Pinkie had stopped moving all together.

“In the last game,” Pinkie began, “there was a room that looked just like this one, but the stairs moved so we could access a floor below. That’s where the courtroom was.”

“Do you think these stairs would do the same?” Octavia asked curiously.

“Maybe,” Pinkie replied thoughtfully, “we never did figure out how to move them. My friend was obsessed with figuring it out, and I think she did in the end… but she died before I could ask her how.”

“Don’t dwell on it,” Octavia said, “we can consider that possibility later.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, her voice still sounding distant as she thought back to Vinyl.

The pair continued walking until they arrived in the central chamber where the Wonderbolts were already gathered discussing away.

“Found anything yet?” Pinkie asked Spitfire as the pair joined the group.

“A couple areas join to places we’ve already been,” Spitfire explained, pointing to the areas on her map as well the coordinating staircases and bridges above them. “But most of them, especially the higher up ones, don’t lead to anywhere we can get to.”

“So how are non-pegasi expected to get there then?” Pinkie asked, more to herself than anyone in particular.

“Well there’s always the locked rooms,” Rainbow suggested, “we’ve seen plenty of them. Although we’re struggling to see how most of them could lead back here.”

“There is the possibility,” Fleetfoot chipped in, sounding surprisingly professional, “that the staircases are mechanical, and there’s a way to move them.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Pinkie admitted, running her hoof along the railing of the nearest staircase and peering down to the bottom of the room.

They were currently standing on the lowest section of floor, everything below was just darkness. Pinkie looked around for something to cast down, like a stone chipped from the wall or floor, but everything appeared in perfect condition.

“Will this do?” Soarin asked, guessing what Pinkie must be looking for.

He handed her a wooden tankard he had been drinking water from. Knowing cups were one of the things they didn’t have a shortage of; Pinkie accepted it and dropped it into the abyss. To her surprise it didn’t take very long at all until she heard it clatter to the floor.

“Maybe it’s a spell or something,” Spitfire proposed, leaning over the edge. “A bit like when you look at the castle from the town.”

“Could be,” Pinkie agreed, “at least we won’t die right away if we fall down from here.”

“Do you want us to keep looking for a way to move them?” Spitfire asked.

“See what you can do,” Pinkie said, beginning to walk away with Octavia in tow. “If you don’t get anywhere in about an hour, just leave it and we’ll figure something else out.”

As the pair walked back the way they came, they passed by the residential tower. Outside it Cheese Sandwich and Filthy Rich were standing together, it appeared that Cheese was telling him a joke or singing a song or some combination of the two. As they got nearer Pinkie began to make out what was being said.

“Could you please give it a rest?” Filthy asked, sounding tired. “Honestly you’re more annoying than that stupid Mailmare.”

“I’m annoying?!” Derpy asked, sounding hurt as she stepped out behind Filthy Rich from the open door to the tower.

“Oh, uh, Derpy, I didn’t hear you there,” Filthy began to say quickly, “what I meant was… goodness, would you look at the time! I have to go… be… somewhere.”

With that he quickly dashed away just as Pinkie and Octavia reached Cheese and Derpy, the latter looking like she was about to cry.

“Am I annoying?” Derpy asked, sounding heartbroken.

“Of course not,” Cheese said giving her a reassuring hug. “He was just being grumpy; he didn’t know what he was talking about.”

“I know I didn’t give you pair any specific instruction,” Pinkie began, “but what have you been doing since lunch?”

“I was helping Rarity do some research in the study,” Cheese explained, “but she said I could take a break, said she could manage on her own.”

Yes, I can imagine one head would be better than two when the second one is Cheese Sandwich.

“Me and Fluttershy were looking for medicine like you asked,” Derpy said, “but we couldn’t find any.”

“That’s alright,” Pinkie said, glancing down at her hoof.

She could walk perfectly fine on it, and as far as she could see the others were having no trouble either. But she had noticed a light swelling beginning.

“At least they’re waterproof,” Cheese said, as if trying to put a brighter spin on it.

“Yes, that is a nice touch,” Pinkie said walking on from the pair towards the entrance hall once more.

As her and Octavia descended the steps once again, they saw Fluttershy and Shining enter from outside, talking quietly with one another. They stopped when they saw Pinkie and Octavia walking down the staircase.

“Oh, hi Pinkie,” Fluttershy greeted.

“Hey you two,” Pinkie said back. “Shining, what do you know about mechanisms?”

“Next to nothing,” Shining admitted curiously, “why?”

“Fleetfoot thinks the stairs in the centre room might be able to move,” Pinkie explained, “you were the only one here I thought might have known something about it.”

“Sorry Pinkie, not really my area,” Shining apologised.

“No, it’s fine,” Pinkie insisted, looking past Shining at the courtyard where the statues of the princesses and Discord stood. “Are they alright?”

Fluttershy fidgeted nervously and Shining just deflated.

“We’ll help them,” Pinkie assured them, “I promise you.”

Day 2, 20:20

Pinkie didn’t know how, despite there only being an old stove in the kitchen, they managed to get hot water for the showers in the wash room, but she wasn’t about to complain. She scrubbed her coat and washed her hair, occasionally bumping into Fluttershy, receiving a squeal and an apology every time.

“It’s fine Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, almost bored at this point, after this happened again.

Looking around she saw Fluttershy staring at her curiously.

“Is everything alright?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, yes, it’s just…” Fluttershy began awkwardly. “Your hair…”

Pinkie looked over at the steamed up mirror where she could just about make out her hair hanging poker straight around her head.

“Yeah, I know it’s not as… lively as it used to be,” Pinkie admitted.

“I miss it,” Fluttershy said, Pinkie glanced at her just as she herself seemed to realise what she said and flushed furiously. “I mean…”

“Yeah,” Pinkie interrupted, “sometimes I miss it too, like it’s from a better time or something…”

The pair stood in silence for a few minutes, the only sound being that of the running water.

“So…” Fluttershy began. “When this is over, will you come back… to Ponyville I mean?”

Pinkie didn’t reply, she had been far too focused on getting everybody out of here to think that she might do if they did. Thankfully she was saved from answering by the arrival of Rarity and Applejack, the latter still singing Rarity’s praises at her job well done of cleaning the kitchen.

Pinkie and Fluttershy finished getting cleaned up, exchanged a few friendly words with the other two while getting dried, then took their dresses and saddlebags and departed for their rooms. As they neared the tower, Pinkie’s mind began drifting back to her unexpected guest the night before. Glancing over at Fluttershy, Pinkie could tell she too was dreading it.

“Hey,” Pinkie said, getting Fluttershy’s attention. “Don’t worry, whatever you hear, it’s not real.”

“I know that,” Fluttershy said sadly, “I just wish that made it easier.”

With that Fluttershy carried on to her own room, leaving Pinkie standing by her own door. Entering, Pinkie bolted the door behind her and draped her dress over the armchair once again, placing her saddlebags on the desk and opening them up. She now had two keys, both of which remained in her bag, lest she need them on short notice, a couple of books on magical runes which she set on the desk, and the photos Shining Armour had given her.

She looked once more at the couple and their foal, smiling slightly, they looked so happy in the picture. She propped all the pictures on her desk, looking at each one as she did, each happy family.

I hope Ma and Pa are alright, I hope they aren’t too worried.

Looking at the time on her computer, Pinkie saw she still had over an hour before the curfew technically started, so she sat down beside the desk and flipped open one of her books.

Day 3, 07:25

Pinkie walked down the hallway to the study, feeling in much better spirits than she had the morning before. A part of her wasn’t surprised that she didn’t hear Twilight again, instead she would wake up every hour or so to the distant sound of fillies and colts laughing and playing. It had been odd, it seemed so joyful compared to the night before, but it still gave her a bad feeling, and she was more than happy to keep her door locked and try to sleep.

Entering the study she found she wasn’t the only one who looked a little brighter this morning. Cheese looked his usual delighted self, Fleetfoot looked fine, and Applejack chatted warmly to Fluttershy who appeared fine as far as Pinkie could see. Still, Rarity looked stressed, Spitfire appeared exhausted, Derpy looked downright depressed, and Shining Armour looked like he was cradling a migraine. Pinkie took a seat as they waited for the others to arrive.

“You know what ah’ve noticed?” Applejack said suddenly, drawing everypony’s attention. “We’re all still wearin’ our gala duds.”

Indeed, it seemed to have become an unspoken dress code among them all. Pinkie had just put on her dress that morning out of habit mostly.

“And what’s wrong with being a little fashionable one in a while?” Rarity asked.

“But every day?” Applejack replied.

“Yeah, I mean I like my flight suit and all, but they’re gonna get filthy after a while,” Spitfire commented, rubbing absently on a black stain on the one the legs of her suit.

“Well we have a wash room for that,” Rarity reminded them.

While the discussion burned out over the next few minutes, Maud, Fleur, Octavia, Rainbow and Soarin all arrived.

“Alright, if that’s everypony ah’ll get started on breakfast,” Applejack said, making to leave before Pinkie interrupted her.

“Hang on; we’re still waiting on Filthy.”

“Well where is he?” Rainbow asked, “I’m starving here.”

“I’ll go wake him up,” Cheese offered, dashing from the room.

“Ah’ll go get started anyway,” Applejack said, leaving after him.

Pinkie reclined in her armchair while Fleur sat next to her.

“I can see love is in bloom,” she whispered to Pinkie, nodding over at Rainbow and Soarin who sat with Spitfire and Fluttershy.

Pinkie smiled and nodded subtly, Fleur grinned. Several minutes passed and Pinkie was just about to ask Dash to go see where Cheese and Filthy were, when the former returned, looking perplexed.

“Is he not here?” Cheese asked.

“No, you went to look for him, remember?” Fleetfoot said impatiently.

“Well yeah, but he wasn’t in his room,” Cheese explained, “I figure he must have headed this way from a different direction while I went looking for him.”

“Well we haven’t seen him,” Soarin said.

Pinkie sat up straight, a creeping feeling in her gut.

“Has anyone seen him?” she asked, receiving negative responses from everypony. “Well we should fan out and look for him, he’s probably just lost.”

The last comment was meant to reassure them, but they all knew what Pinkie was thinking. Pinkie left the room and headed for the kitchen where she informed Applejack what was going on. Together the pair left and headed off towards the entrance hall.

Day 3, 10:12

“Where has that pest gotten himself to?!” Applejack asked out loud for the dozenth time as her and Pinkie marched up the staircase towards the library.

From quick conversation with ponies they’d run into during their search, it seemed nopony had found him yet. Pinkie was seriously beginning to panic now, it only took one murder to get the ball rolling… There was still the town to search, hopefully for whatever reason they’d find him there, alive and well. As they began walking down the corridor they ran into Maud and Cheese walking down the corridor to the aviary tower.

“I think Pinkie has the…” Maud was beginning to say just as she noticed her sister. “Oh Pinkie, do you still have the key for the tower over there?”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said before turning to Applejack. “You head on to the library and see if there’s anypony already searching there.”

Applejack nodded and headed off while Pinkie followed Maud and Cheese down towards the wooden door. Fitting the key in, she turned it and heard the click of the lock. Pushing the door open, the trio stepped inside. Looking about the straw strewn floor, they found the room deserted. Pinkie was about to leave when Maud spoke up.

“What’s that up there?”

Pinkie followed Maud’s gaze, she was looking up at one of the rafters where a dark mound was barely visible over the edge. Cheese scurried up the ladders and made his way towards it.

“It’s just a bag,” he shouted down.

“Is there anything in it?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah there’s something,” he called, crouching down and opening it up. “It looks like…”

His voice died and his normally upbeat, cheery face went pale as he looked inside the bag. Pinkie closed her eyes and sighed as the voice began echoing around her.

“Attention everypony, the first body has just been discovered!”

Author's Notes:

And so it begins.
As a reminder, here is how the game works: you can comment or PM your theories, if you're commenting be mindful of spoilers for other readers. You can alter or amend theories as much as you want, but only the last one will be accepted. You can mention other characters as possibilities, but you must come down on a single culprit, theories saying 'I think it was ?, or ?, or ?, or ?, or ?...' will not be counted. Anyone who correctly identifies the culprit will receive a shout out in the author notes of the trial chapter, if nobody guesses it correctly, then I'll give shout outs to anyone who was close in their theories regarding the process of the crime.
I hope you all have a go, and enjoy playing.
The next part will be released on Thursday/Friday.