Day 3, 10:30

Great job Pinkie. You’re supposed to be the leader; you were supposed to make sure this didn’t happen again.

Pinkie stopped her circling of Filthy Rich’s body and turned to the others who were all lined up around her and the victim.

“I hoped this wouldn’t happen,” Pinkie began, “I really hoped we could get through this without casualties. But now we have one dead pony, and either the culprit pays the price or we all do.”

“But Pinkie,” Fluttershy interrupted, her face drained of colour and her voice trembling. “There has to be another way, what good does it do for anyone else to… to…”

Pinkie sighed and looked pityingly at her friend. It had all felt so surreal for them; even when ponies started dying they only ever saw it as a game. It wasn’t until it was over, until Twilight joined the ranks of the fallen that they really understood what had happened, what they had done. Pinkie had told the others that she had played this game before, but only now did they truly realise what horror they’d been thrust into.

“It’s not my choice Fluttershy,” Pinkie replied. “This is the Mastermind’s game, if we want to beat it we have to play by the rules.”

Fluttershy sniffed back tears as she crouched down, tucking her limbs close to her body.

“Alright, who did it?!” Dash demanded, sounding furious although Pinkie could detect the faint tremor in her voice. “Fess up!”

Pinkie wasn’t surprised when nopony spoke up.

“It’s never that easy Dash,” Pinkie said, breaking the silence. “The trial is in a few hours, and if we’re to have any hope of figuring out the truth, we have to investigate.”

“Well, where do we begin?” Shining asked.

Unlike most others, he appeared to be taking the situation well, Pinkie had no doubt he’d seen his fair share of bodies, maybe even taken a life or two in the course of duty.

“For starters,” Pinkie said, crouching down beside Filthy, “we need to examine the body and identify the cause of death. Could somepony help me with his clothes?”

“Not to question your methods Pinkie,” Applejack began warily, “but don’t yah think that’s a might disrespectful?”

“No more so than letting his murderer walk free,” Pinkie answered, looking Applejack dead in the eye.

“I’ll help,” Rarity said, stepping forward.

Pinkie was surprised; she had expected Rarity to stay as far away from the body as she could. Indeed she noticeably grimaced as they worked together to remove Filthy’s formal suit. Everypony reared back as the stench of death hit then, Pinkie didn’t react, a part of her feared she had gotten used to it.

“Well he’s obviously been here for a while,” Pinkie commented, wishing she had a nose peg all the same. “Probably killed last night before we went to bed since I doubt anypony left their rooms all night.”

Pinkie mentally chastised herself, she had checked in on everypony the first night; she should have done it again the night before. Once Filthy’s body was exposed, it was clear the only wound on him was the one they had already seen. The temple of his skull had been caved in, fragments of bone jutting into his brain.

“The head injury is the only one visible,” Pinkie announced, “doesn’t rule out internal damage, but it’s most likely this was the sole cause of death.”

“So what?” Fleetfoot asked, “Filthy and the murderer were in here together for whatever reasons. The murderer hits him on the head and he dies. Not a lot to go on.”

“Maybe,” Pinkie said before adding, “maybe not.”

Standing up, Pinkie began pacing around the room once more. She had already done so but she wanted to be sure. The other’s watched as she prowled around the floor before climbing up into the rafters and searching there. Eventually she returned and delivered her verdict.

“He wasn’t killed here,” she announced. “He was murdered somewhere else and his body was moved here.”

“Seriously?” Spitfire said, sounding impressed. “How did you figure that out?”

“Simple,” Pinkie replied, trying not to sound smug while crouching down by the body and pointing to the wound. “All this blood over his face, this was clearly a very messy job, and yet there isn’t a speck of blood in this room.”

“Huh, ah wouldn’t have thought of that,” Applejack commented.

“This is a good starting point,” Pinkie continued. “We need to know where the murder took place, so everypony spread out. Blood is the obvious indicator, but be on the lookout for more subtle things as well.”

After a bit of shuffling and moving about Pinkie turned to see only Fluttershy, Derpy, Fleur and Maud remained.

“Still as clever as always Pinkie,” Fleur commented sagely.

“I’d rather I didn’t have to be,” Pinkie replied. “Fleur, you should go check Filthy’s room. I’ll be over once I’m done here.”

Fleur nodded and departed. Pinkie then looked over to Fluttershy and Derpy, both of which were still shaking and trying not to break down.

“Girls,” Pinkie said as gently as she could. “Could you search through his clothes? Check his pockets and saddlebags for anything of interest.”

Fluttershy nodded, scooping up the pile of clothes Pinkie and Rarity had removed and taking them to the side where she and Derpy began sorting through them. Pinkie then returned to the body, this time turning her attention to the computer bolted into Filthy’s leg. Maud crouched down at her side.

“I’m sorry Pinkie,” Maud said, her voice weak.

“For what?” Pinkie asked absent mindedly, flicking through different pages, unsure what exactly she was looking for.

“All those months, trying to take look after you and help you…” Maud began, “I thought, just because you told me what had happened, that I understood. But I could never have understood what you had to go through… I could never have helped you.”

“Don’t say that Maud!” Pinkie said sternly, turning to her sister. “The only thing you will never understand is just how much it meant to me that you were there for me, there to listen to me, there to comfort me. Don’t ever say you couldn’t have helped me, because you did! You really did!”

“I don’t think I did,” Maud said sadly, standing up and leaving the room without another word.

Pinkie looked over to Fluttershy and Derpy who were sitting awkwardly, trying to pretend they hadn’t overheard it.

“Anything?” Pinkie asked simply, Fluttershy shook her head rapidly, still not meeting Pinkie’s gaze. “Alright, you two take those down to the wash room and get them cleaned up. That seems… respectful.”

Derpy and Fluttershy hurried from the tower, leaving Pinkie alone with the corpse. Standing up she returned to her pacing.

Fifteen ponies, take Filthy and myself, that leaves thirteen. Thirteen suspects.

Pinkie didn’t want to believe that her sister or her friends could have been responsible for Filthy Rich’s death, but she knew all too well that anypony was capable of committing terrible things, even best friends…

Day 3, 11:18

Examining Filthy’s computer had served one purpose, after all it would have been rather difficult to find his bedroom in the tower had she not checked it. She hoped Fleur hadn’t had too much difficulty identifying it; however her doubts were dismissed when she opened the correct door and found Fleur staring out the window.

“Nothing?” Pinkie asked as Fleur turned to see her.

“Nothing,” Fleur clarified disappointed. “It seems he barely used his room, but then he was only here for two days.”

“I suppose,” Pinkie said opening the desk drawers.

“I already searched in them,” Fleur reminded her.

“I know you searched in them,” Pinkie said, wrenching the drawer from the entire desk.

Fleur watched on, her eyes wide with surprise. Pinkie turned the drawer over to reveal a sheet of paper stuck to the underside.

“How…” Fleur began bewildered, “how did you know that was there?”

“I heard the paper rustle as I opened the drawer,” Pinkie explained.

It hadn’t been the first time after all, her mind drifting back to the memory of a torn painting under a drawer of morphine. Pinkie pulled the paper free from the drawer, seeing immediately it was a newspaper clipping.

Did he find this while we were researching in the library?

On one side Pinkie read the headline ‘Thunderhead retires following love affair scandal’. Pinkie read through the story with mild disinterest, it talked about something that had occurred when she was just a filly where the Wonderbolt captain retired after negative publicity surrounding his affair with another member.

Pinkie flipped the clipping over, half expecting to see more drivel, but instead what she read made her heart stop.

Missing camper found dead in rock farm.

It was the news coverage of the body she had found when she fell into the pit in the quarry all those years ago, the one who’s smell she could remember so well. The newspaper article even made reference to the discovery being made by a young filly whose parents stated was ‘deeply traumatising for her’. Pinkie’s whole body shook as she read the article; she didn’t even hear Fleur trying to get her attention behind her.

Why did Filthy have this? What does that camper have to do with anything?

“Pinkie!” Fleur shouted, shaking Pinkie’s shoulders.

“Huh…” Pinkie muttered, snapping out of her daze.

“Are you alright?” Fleur asked, sounding deeply concerned.

“I’m fine, it’s just…” Pinkie began, staring back at the offending clipping. “Nothing.”

Pinkie shoved the article away in her bag, preferring not to think about it at all or why Filthy Rich was reading about that.

“Can you make sure there isn’t anything else hidden around here?” Pinkie asked, Fleur nodded. “I’m going to check in on the others.”

Standing up, Pinkie hurriedly made her way out of the room and didn’t stop striding until she found herself in the entrance hall running headlong into Shining Armour.

“Whoa, Pinkie, are you alright?” Shining asked, sounding concerned.

“I’m fine,” Pinkie lied. “Have you found anything?”

“Well no, not really,” Shining answered. “I went back to the tower to find you and tell you we were having no luck with the first task, but then I noticed something.”

“Really? What?” Pinkie asked, forgetting momentarily about the newspaper clipping.

“That bag Filthy’s body was in,” Shining began, “it was one of the bags used to hold coal in that store room, the one I told Applejack about when we were in the kitchen together.”

“Seriously?” Pinkie asked amazed, “Have you checked the store room yet?”

“No, I was heading there now,” Shining said.

“Alright let’s go together.”

Day 3, 11:50

“Are you sure you’re alright on your own?” Pinkie asked as she made to leave the store room.

“Yeah, I’ll keep looking here,” Shining assured her, “you go check on the others.”

Pinkie nodded and entered the corridor. The store room had been a bust, after an initial search they found nothing, but shining had offered to stay and keep looking while Pinkie did something more productive. Picking a direction at random Pinkie headed down, looking out for anyone else. Turning around a corner she spotted Maud crouching down, examining something on the floor.

“Maud!” Pinkie called as she approached.

Maud looked up and nodded before continuing her observation of the floor.

“Do you smell that?” Maud asked causing Pinkie to halt in her steps.

“Smell what?” Pinkie asked.

Maud didn’t answer, so Pinkie began sniffing the air. At first she was sure there was nothing and was going to call Maud up on it, but then she managed to detect then faint whiff of something.

“Is that… soap?” Pinkie asked, confused.

“That was what I thought,” Maud replied, “And take a look at this, notice anything?”

Maud was indicating the floor she was looking so hard at. Pinkie stared, panning from between where Maud sat and the floor she stood on.

“It’s really clean,” Pinkie answered.

“Exactly,” Maud stated, standing up. “It’s possible there was blood here, but the murderer cleaned it up.”

“Excellent deduction,” Pinkie replied happily. “That makes sense too, because if the murder took place here, then it stands to reason that the killer got the bag from nearby.”

“The bag?” Maud queried.

“I’ll explain on the way,” Pinkie assured her. “Let’s head to the wash room, any cleaning stuff used will have been obtained there.”

Day 3, 12:09

As Pinkie entered the washroom, she looked around, half expecting to see Fluttershy and Derpy, but instead only Rarity sat by the wash basin.

“Is Fluttershy and Derpy not here?” Pinkie asked, walking over to Rarity.

“No,” Rarity said stiffly, “poor dears, they’re taking this very hard. I offered to finish up here and let them go get some rest.”

Pinkie nodded, she didn’t mind. Walking past Rarity, Pinkie made her way over to the cupboards where Maud was already busying herself.

“This all looks fairly inconspicuous,” Maud commented, “it’s possible they disposed of anything they used elsewhere.”

“I guess,” Pinkie agreed with a sigh.

She felt like they’d hit a dead end. Turning around she saw Rarity watching them quizzically, still handling Filthy’s suit.

“Rarity,” Pinkie began, a sudden thought occurring to her, “do you know who was searching this area this morning? When we were still looking for filthy.”

“Oh, um,” Rarity said, pondering for a second, “I’m not sure, but I think I saw Fleur and Fleetfoot around this area.”

Pinkie glanced over at Maud briefly, who nodded.

“Alright, thanks Rarity,” Pinkie said standing up. “We’ll go talk to them.”

“Wait, you mean they might have done this?” Rarity asked disbelieving. “Fleetfoot has been quite crass I know, but Fleur? Surely not.”

“I’m just going to talk to them,” Pinkie reassured her. “They might have seen something.”

Rarity was still watching her as the pair left the wash room.

Day 3, 12:28

Fleur was lounging on a loveseat in the study when Pinkie found her, looking thoroughly exhausted.

“I feel my age catching up to me,” she said as Pinkie sat opposite her. “I just don’t have the same energy you do anymore for running around, investigating.”

Pinkie wanted to ask Fleur how old she was exactly, but decided against it, figuring it might be rude of her. Still, she doubted she could be that old, she still looked so young.

“This morning,” Pinkie began, “when we were searching for Filthy Rich, where were you looking?”

“Just the various rooms on this floor,” Fleur answered, “all empty, obviously.”

“What about the wash room?” Pinkie pushed.

“No, I looked in there but somepony was already covering it, so I decided to look elsewhere,” Fleur explained.

“Who was it?” Pinkie asked.

“That white manned pegasus, the one who’s always so snappy,” Fleur answered bitterly.

“Fleetfoot,” Pinkie muttered, not surprised.

“That’s the one,” Fleur agreed, “I mostly left just because I didn’t want to have to put up with her. That sounds awfully unprofessional of me, a noble and diplomat.”

“No, I think I can relate to that,” Pinkie said, thinking back to all her interactions with said Pegasus.

“Still, here we are again I suppose,” Fleur said enigmatically. “Did you really believe none of them would succumb?”

“I hoped,” Pinkie clarified. “I guess, in retrospect that was foolish of me.”

“What could you have done?” Fleur asked rhetorically. “Locked them all up in separate rooms and tried to find a way out yourself?”

“Maybe,” Pinkie said wistfully. “Do you think it was wrong of me to try and take charge?”

“Somepony had to,” Fleur reminded her, “and I don’t think anyone could have taken the mantle quite like you. I know you said our last victory was a group effort, that we couldn’t have done it without each other, but we both know… it was really down to you. It’s like she said, it was about you.”

Pinkie turned away from Fleur and began walking from the room, her head hanging low.

By that logic, it’s also all my fault.

Day 3, 12:46

Pinkie peered into the chapel as she passed by, finding it deserted. Continuing on her way she briefly glanced down the spiral staircase before ascending the stairs to the library and aviary. The hallway was abuzz with activity; outside the library Pinkie could see Fleetfoot, Maud and Rainbow Dash, while down the other corridor she could see Octavia, Soarin and Spitfire in the aviary.

Approaching the library first she overheard Rainbow talking.

“Actually I barely knew him,” she admitted, “I once had an argument with him because his kid was bullying Scootaloo, but beyond that we hardly spoke.”

“He had kids?” Fleetfoot repeated, sounding surprised.

“Just the one,” Pinkie clarified, walking up. “He spoiled her quite a lot, but then he always had the money to do so.”

“Still, I’m sure she’ll be devastated,” Rainbow commented, sounding uncharacteristically serious.

“Fleetfoot,” Pinkie began, “you were searching the wash room this morning, did you…”

“This again,” Fleetfoot interrupted, sounding annoyed. “Your sister already pestered me over this, I did not see anypony else come in. I wasn’t even there for very long, I went outside to search the grounds with Rainbow Dash for the most part.”

“It seems weird that they’d stash the body inside,” Rainbow stated, “they could have dumped it anywhere outside and we might never have found it.”

“Ponies make mistakes when they panic,” Pinkie informed her, “they don’t think clearly, which is good for us because that’s how we track them down.”

“Speaking of which, have you figured this out yet?” Fleetfoot asked impatiently.

“I’m still investigating,” Pinkie reminded her. “I won’t be able to form any solid theories until I have all the evidence.”

“Honestly I don’t see why we bother,” Fleetfoot stated. “I actually agree with your weedy little friend, we could just forget about what’s his face and nopony else has to die.”

“His name is Filthy Rich,” Pinkie said, gritting her teeth. “And Fluttershy is not weedy.”

“Could have fooled me,” Fleetfoot said nonchalantly, “hiding away in her room with Wall Eyes while we do all the work.”

“Hey!” Rainbow snapped before Pinkie could retaliate. “Those are my friends, so keep your mouth shut!”

“A cool chick like you needs to find some better friends then,” Fleetfoot responded, smirking.

“Oh yeah…” Rainbow began, but a voice cut them off.

“Would the pair of you quit fighting,” Spitfire ordered, approaching Pinkie from behind. “Fleetfoot, things are tense enough without you getting at everypony’s throats.”

Fleetfoot glanced away, scowling.

“Have you found anything yet Pinkie?” Spitfire asked Pinkie, more calmly this time.

“Bits and pieces,” Pinkie informed her. “We still don’t know anything about a possible murder weapon.”

“We were just discussing that,” Spitfire said, leading the way over to the aviary, Pinkie in tow.

Once inside Pinkie saw that Octavia had disappeared and Soarin was leaning down examining the body.

“We’re thinking it had to be something blunt, like a brick or a lead pipe,” Spitfire informed her.

“The injury resembles the one Trenderhoof had,” Soarin elaborated. “When Lightning Dust hit him with the fire poker. This one isn’t as bad, so maybe the killer only hit him once.”

“Wait, did you say Lightning Dust?” Spitfire asked, shocked.

“I’ll explain later,” Soarin said, grimacing slightly. “Right now we need to find the weapon.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t come across anything already,” Pinkie said, before adding under her breath, “but then it wouldn’t be the only piece of evidence that’s gone missing.

“Where did Octavia go?” Pinkie asked, louder this time so they could hear her.

“She said she wanted to check something,” Soarin relayed, “not sure what, she just kind of up and vanished.”

“She seems…” Spitfire began, trying to find the words. “Independent.”

“I’ll see if I can track her down,” Pinkie offered. “I’d like to think she isn’t hiding anything from us, but just to be sure…”

“Of course,” Spitfire agreed, “I’ll round up the others and we’ll start looking for the weapon.”

Pinkie nodded her approval and left the room.

Day 3, 13:07

Pinkie stopped outside the kitchen, she could hear clanging coming from within. Curious, she opened the door and saw Applejack busying herself with that mornings would-be breakfast.

“Applejack?” Pinkie asked, announcing herself, making her friend jump slightly. “What are you doing?”

“Oh hey Pinkie,” Applejack answered awkwardly. “Ah was just fixing us all up something to eat, I’m sure you’re all mighty hungry.”

“Yeah, I suppose I am,” Pinkie admitted approaching Applejack. “But do you really think now is the time for that.”

Applejack sighed and put down the pot she had been holding.

“Yeah ah know,” Applejack began, “it’s just… after seeing how you handled everything this morning, ah don’t really know what ah can provide. Ah don’t know the first thing about deducin’ a crime, it just feels like ah’d get in your way.”

“Well I’m not going to force you to do anything,” Pinkie said, “but I know you’re more capable than you give yourself credit for.”

“So what would you have me do?” Applejack asked, sounding almost desperate.

“Spitfire and the others are searching for the murder weapon,” Pinkie explained. “We suspect something blunt was used. If you really want to help, you can start there. Even if you don’t find anything, it’s still helpful for ruling things out.”

“Alright Pinkie,” Applejack said slowly, “ah’ll do that then. Sorry for bein’ all moody.”

“It’s fine,” Pinkie assured her, picking up one of the apples that had been placed out.

As she left the kitchen, munching on the piece of fruit, she encountered a very soot stained Shining Armour.

“Anything?” she asked, although the disgruntled look he gave her told her enough. “Go ahead and get cleaned up.”

Shining nodded, ambling past Pinkie in the direction of the wash rooms.

Day 3, 13:39

Fleur had indeed turned Filthy Rich’s room upside down and inside out after Pinkie had left earlier. It was an unrecognisable state as Pinkie looked in briefly on her way to Fluttershy’s room. Arriving at the closed door she pressed her ear to the wood, she could make out the faintest sniffling noises.

“Fluttershy,” Pinkie called out. “I’m just checking up on you.”

The sniffling stopped, and a few seconds later Pinkie heard the latch on the door and saw it swing open.

“Oh, hi Pinkie,” Fluttershy said, trying to sound like she hadn’t been crying, although her bloodshot eyes gave it away. “Thanks for checking, but I’m fine, really.”

“If you’re sure,” Pinkie said slowly, although she knew Fluttershy couldn’t be further from fine.

Fluttershy looked away, probably realising her eyes were a giveaway. Pinkie thought desperately of what to say. With everypony off doing their own thing, and so many details about the case missing to her, Pinkie was left at a loss of what to do, so she did the first thing that came to mind that wasn’t go to her room to review the evidence, and that was check in on Fluttershy. Now that she was here however she hadn’t a clue what to say.

“So, how are the animals?” she asked weakly.

“They’re good,” Fluttershy began, “I hope. Big McIntosh agreed to look after them while we were in Canterlot… I hope he still is, although I know he has his own responsibilities.”

“I’m sure he’s doing a great job. I did miss Gummy while I was away,” Pinkie said. “But I wasn’t worried about him. I knew you’d look after him.”

Fluttershy smiled briefly, Pinkie smiled back, then they both stopped when a voice echoed out around them.

“Attention everypony!” The Mastermind announced. “The trial is about to begin! Everypony please make your way to the courtyard in front of the castle.”

Pinkie looked over to Fluttershy who looked terrified once more.

“Well,” she said, bracing herself. “Let’s go.”

Author's Notes:

"Pinkie has not the tremors, yes"
Random factoid, I did have bad tremors while writing this chapter, don't know why...
Anyway, this is the last part before the first trial, so if you have a theory please share it, and if you are correct you will get ashout out in the next parts author notes.
Next part will be published on Sunday.