Day 3, 13:52

It always felt like a walk to the hangman’s gallows, walking down these steps. Pinkie could see the circle through the castle gates, could see the others gathering, the looks of anticipation and dread clear as day on their faces. Together, her and Fluttershy stepped out into the courtyard, joining the throng of ponies around the would-be courtroom.

“So… what happens now?” Cheese asked awkwardly, glancing around at the others.

“Now,” the Mastermind answered, “you take your positions, you’ll know them as the spots where you awoke on your first day.”

Pinkie led by example, walking over to the circle closest to the town gate, the one that had been vacant when she first arrived. As soon as she stepped into the centre, the runes flashed into life, a semi-circular banister carved from stone rising up between her and the pool in the middle of the courtyard. The others began to follow suit, Maud taking the circle to Pinkie’s right, Derpy on her left.

Soon all spaces but one were occupied, the circle directly opposite Pinkie remaining empty once again.

“Are there any questions before we begin?” the Mastermind asked, almost casually.

“What in the hay are these flashy symbols?” Applejack asked, gesturing to the various glowing runes at her hooves.

“They’re binding runes,” Pinkie answered, “stops us leaving until the trial is over.”

“And these dials?” Spitfire asked, fiddling with her own absently.

“That’s how we vote on who’s guilty,” Soarin explained.

“Would you like to demonstrate for everypony Soarin?” the Mastermind asked.

Soarin jumped slightly before reaching out, he hesitated momentarily before turning his dial. As he did the pool rippled, but quickly returned to its clear, still state.

“Come now Soarin,” the Mastermind said, sounding amused. “I asked for a demonstration, nothing more, there’s no animosity in that.”

Soarin frowned before turning his dial again. This time when the water rippled, it left an image of Soarin’s own face mirrored in the pool in front of him. Pinkie realised the first time he must have pointed the dial at the empty slot to avoid appearing antagonistic. Pinkie looked over to the right side of the court, at the now empty slot between Rarity and Cheese, where Filthy had been when she first arrived.

“Obviously we’d hate to exclude Filthy Rich from his own trial,” the Mastermind said, as if reading Pinkie’s mind.

As the words were spoken, Filthy’s circle lit up and something tall and narrow erupted through it. Once the stand was erected, a large rectangle warped into existence upon it, transforming into a large portrait of Filthy Rich’s face, much like an enlarged version of the portraits in their bedrooms. The only difference between that picture and this one, was the lack of colour in Filthy’s face, and the bloody red X drawn across it.

“There, now without further ado,” the Mastermind continued, “let the first trial commence.”

Trial 1: Filthy Rich

“So how do these trials work exactly?” Rainbow asked, speaking on behalf of most of the gathered ponies.

“We discuss the facts of the case,” Fleur answered, “present evidence, debate theories, and ultimately try to reach a conclusion.”

“I guess we should start with the obvious stuff,” Soarin said. “Filthy Rich was found, dead in the aviary this morning at around a quarter past ten.”

“So he must have died earlier that morning, right?” Cheese asked.

“Wrong,” Pinkie interrupted. “Forgetting the smell from his body, the killer would never have found the time to do it this morning as the search started not long after we were all getting up.”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” Cheese said, laughing nervously.

“No need to apologise Cheese,” Pinkie insisted.

“Alright, so the next point is where the murder took place,” Soarin continued. “Pinkie already pointed out it couldn’t have happened in the tower itself.”

“No, because there was no blood right?” Derpy said.

“That’s right,” Pinkie agreed.

“So then where did it occur?” Applejack asked. “We must have searched this place top to bottom, and ah know ah didn’t find any blood.”

“Actually,” Maud entered, “I believe the murder happened at the foot of the spiral staircase outside the chapel.”

“Now how do you figure that?” Fleetfoot asked. “I went by that area, and there wasn’t a speck of blood.”

“That’s because the killer washed up after themselves,” Maud explained. “The smell of soap is obvious, but then the floor around the foot of the stairs is much cleaner looking than the rest of the corridor.”

“That would make sense,” Pinkie added, “Because as Shining pointed out, the bag Filthy was hidden inside was one of the coal bags. The coal was being kept in a storeroom not far from that very staircase. That way the killer wouldn’t have had to go far to obtain the bag, as well as then hiding the body, as the aviary is one staircase away from the chapel.”

“So it’s safe to assume that the victim was killed last night in that area,” Fleur concluded. “That doesn’t however; tell us who could have been responsible.”

No it doesn’t, but could this…

Pinkie pulled the newspaper clipping from her bag and set it on the banister in front of her, straining her mind to figure out how that body she found as a filly factored into any of this.

“What about the murder weapon?” Shining asked, “I haven’t heard any mention of that.”

“Well we figured some blunt tool must have been used,” Soarin explained, “but we couldn’t find anything.”

“The killer could have easily disposed of something like that though,” Spitfire pointed out. “They could have dropped it down the central chamber, left it on the battlements, heck they could have thrown it into the labyrinth.”

“That seems surprisingly diligent for the same pony who tried to hide a corpse only a few rooms from the murder scene,” Octavia pointed out. “You’d think they could have done any of those things with the body and avoided this whole thing.”

“Yes, but if the body isn’t discovered then they don’t have a chance of winning the game,” Fleur reminded her, “and why would they go to the trouble of killing if not to that end?”

“You shouldn’t think so monocausal,” Octavia reprimanded. “Ponies are complex beings, there’s no guarantee any of this was done as part of the game.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Shining demanded.

“Look lady, if you know something we don’t, then you’d better spill the beans,” Fleetfoot threatened.

“Or what?” Octavia asked calmly. “You’ll come over here and make me spill them? Except you can’t, because you’re trapped in that little circle.”

“Octavia…” Spitfire began, in a warning tone.

“I have every faith you can get to the bottom of this,” Octavia said smoothly. “Think about the victim, who would have had cause to bring him harm.”

“Applejack,” Derpy said quickly, before slapping her hooves to her mouth, horrified with herself.

“Derpy!” Applejack exclaimed.

“That’s actually a good point,” Fleetfoot said slyly. “If Filthy really did kick the bucket last night, it can’t have been that long after you two argued. If I recall you were pretty touchy when he mentioned your gran.”

“Watch it!” Applejack warned. “The Apples and the Richs have been close friends for generations. Now me and Filthy may have had ourselves some disagreements, but ah would never raise a hoof to cause him or anypony else harm.”

“I can vouch for that,” Rarity agreed haughtily. “You’d be hard pressed to find a pony more honourable than Applejack, you on the other hoof Fleetfoot…”

“Are you implying something?” Fleetfoot said in an icy voice.

“That’s enough girls,” Pinkie interrupted. “We’re getting off track; we need more facts before we can make any kind of accusation.”

“Well none of this changes the fact that we don’t have a murder weapon!” Fleetfoot snapped.

“Actually…” Maud began, causing everypony to turn and look at her. “I may have found something.”

She held up her hoof, a small object resting in it.

“A rock?” Fluttershy said, confused.

“Of course it is,” Rainbow muttered.

“Actually,” Maud continued, “this stone was broken from the bottom step of the same spiral staircase we believe to be the murder scene.”

“So you think the killer broke the step and used it to kill Filthy Rich?” Cheese queried.

“No, but I’m saying it is possible that the killer pushed the victim down the stairs, and he cracked his skull on the step,” Maud elaborated. “Therefor there wouldn’t be a murder weapon to find.”

“Hang on,” Shining interrupted, “what’s to say that step wasn’t already chipped, this castle is pretty old?”

Hang on…

“Actually Shining,” Pinkie began, “I noticed something yesterday while in the central room. Despite how old and dirty this castle seems, all of the walls and floors are in perfect condition, not a single one chipped or broken.”

“Which would indicate that this was broken since we arrived here,” Maud finished.

“Well done Maud,” Fleur praised.

“Yes, well done,” Fleetfoot said sarcastically. “Filthy Rich died from falling down the stairs. Now how does that tell us who pushed him?”

“Or that anyone pushed him?” Fluttershy added hopefully. “This whole thing might have been once big accident.”

“But then why hide the body,” Soarin reminded her, causing Fluttershy to droop slightly.

“As for how does that tell us who the killer is,” Pinkie picked up, “it doesn’t. We had hoped we could figure out who had taken the cleaning supplies, but as you yourself said, nopony came in this morning.”

“Wait cleaning supplies?” Fleetfoot repeated. “You never said anything about that.”

“What? Yes we did,” Pinkie insisted, indicating to Maud. “We both asked you.”

“No, you just asked if anypony had come in while I was there,” Fleetfoot said, taking off her saddlebags and fishing through them. “If you had bothered to tell me why, I could have told you I found these.”

Fleetfoot pulled a wash cloth, stained red, and a scrubbing brush caked in blood from her bag and showed them to everypony.

“What?” Pinkie said in disbelief. “Where did you find those?”

“In the library, just before you came to talk to me,” Fleetfoot answered. “Somepony stashed them behind a bookshelf.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us this until now?!” Rainbow demanded, sounding furious.

“I didn’t think it was relevant.”

“How is blood soaked cleaning supplies not relevant to a murder investigation?” Spitfire asked frustrated.

“Am ah the only one who’s beginnin’ to get an idea of who the killer is?” Applejack asked bitterly.

“You think I did this?!” Fleetfoot demanded.

“It’s like you said, nopony else was in the wash room this morning,” Shining pointed out. “And yet you manage to produce this piece of evidence you’ve been hiding up until now.”

“If I was the killer, why would I show you this at all?” Fleetfoot asked, giving Shining a deadpan look. “And I already told Pinkie, I was barely in the wash room this morning. Anypony could have come in after I’d left.”

“Plus Fleetfoot was in the study all of last night,” Fleur added. “So she couldn’t have committed the crime when we suspect it occurred.”

“Thank you,” Fleetfoot said, sounding exhausted. “Finally, somepony who sees sense.”

“So…” Derpy began suddenly. “Who is the killer?”

Everypony stood silent.

So the murder occurred last night, the killer pushed Filthy Rich down the stairs where he cracked his skull. They then got a coal bag from the store room and moved his body to the aviary. The cleaning up of the crime scene had been done recently, so they must have forgotten about it until this morning. So they probably did it while we were searching for him. They then went to the library to hide the cleaning supplies, which means…

“Applejack…” Pinkie began suddenly, drawing everypony’s attention.

“Yeah?” Applejack answered curiously.

“When you and I split up this morning,” Pinkie continued, “just before we found the body, you headed to library. Who else was in there at that time?”

Applejack put a hoof to her chin and pondered the question.

“Ah don’t rightly know off the top of my head,” she admitted. “Oh, Rarity was definitely there, ‘cause ah was talking with her just as we got the announcement. Other than that, I’m pretty sure Spitfire and Derpy were both there.”

“Alright, thank you Applejack,” Pinkie said slowly.

“Pinkie dear,” Rarity chipped in, “what ever are you getting at?”

Pinkie didn’t answer, appearing deep in thought.

It feels like I’ve got all the pieces, I just don’t know how they fit together yet. Is there something I’m missing? Something obvious…

Pinkie’s head snapped up, her eyes wide as realisation hit her.

Bingo!

“I think I know who the murderer is,” she announced.

Everypony began either muttering or staring in surprise at her as she reached into her saddlebag, pulling out a key.

“This is the key to the door of the aviary,” Pinkie explained. “I used it to lock the aviary yesterday after looking inside for the first time. I never unlocked it until we went and discovered the body.”

“But, if the door was locked,” Maud began, “how did the killer move the body there?”

“There is one other way into that tower,” Pinkie continued, “a Pegasus door. Now I’m sure I know who the killer is…

“Spitfire!”

“Wait, what?!” Spitfire exclaimed, jumping slightly in surprise.

“Spitfire?!” Soarin shouted. “Pinkie, that’s ridiculous.”

“We know only a Pegasus could have left that body there,” Pinkie said, “and that the killer handled the coal bag. After Shining searched the store room, he was covered in soot. Well I remember this morning, Spitfire made an offhand comment about her flight suit getting dirty. She was of course referring to the black soot stains on her legs.”

Everypony looked, even as Spitfire tried to subtly position her legs behind the banisters. The black stains against the blue where clear as day.

“And the killer was likely in the library this morning to stash the cleaning supplies they’d just used to clean up the crime scene,” Pinkie continued. “According to Applejack, there were only two pegasi in the library at that time, Spitfire and Derpy. But Derpy couldn’t have done this, because as she told us all on the first day, she has trouble flying at high altitudes, I doubt she would have been able to fly up to that pegasus door while carrying the body of a fully grown stallion. A trained athlete on the other hoof…”

“Hey now,” Spitfire tried to say, “You’ve got this all wrong. I have no idea where these stains came from, but I’ve never been in that store room.”

“Oh really,” a cool voice said, “then how do you explain this?”

Everypony looked over to Octavia who was holding out a yellow feather for the world to see. Spitfire began mouthing like a fish out of water.

“I recognised where that bag came from as soon as I’d seen it,” Octavia explained, “and so I went straight to the store after Pinkie had dismissed us. Care to explain how your feather ended up there if, like you say, you’ve never been in that store room.”

Spitfire stood stalk still, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open slightly. Pinkie thought she was going to break down, but then her body sagged, her eyes shut and she let out a long sigh.

“I did it,” she muttered.

“What?” Soarin said in disbelief. “Spitfire no, you’re talking crazy, you couldn’t have done this, you wouldn’t…”

“I did,” Spitfire said, louder and clearer this time. “But I didn’t mean to.”

“He black mailed you,” Pinkie said without thinking, the final piece clicking into place as she flipped the news article over to the story about the Wonderbolt retiring.

Spitfire looked surprised and slightly panicked, but nodded none the less.

“Applejack, you said yesterday how he was having money problems,” Pinkie said.

“Yeah,” Applejack said, her voice sounding dry. “His business was hittin’ hard times.”

“But he overheard something,” Pinkie said, looking back to Spitfire. “At that first dinner in the banquet hall, he arrived shortly after you two.”

“I caught up with Fleetfoot outside the washrooms,” Spitfire explained. “We had an argument and she… brought up some stuff. We stopped as soon as Dash came and found us, but I guess he overheard everything he needed to hear.”

“I don’t understand,” Soarin said, his voice sounding weak. “What did he hear? What…”

Soarin drifted off as Spitfire looked him straight in the eye. Rainbow Dash was looking back and forth between them. Pinkie just stared on, remembering a conversation she’s had with Soarin so long ago.

She must be worried about you…

Probably, god I hope I see her again someday…

Sounds like somepony has a crush…

Pinkie, don’t say that. She’s like a sister to me…

Looking down at the article about the Wonderbolt love affair, it all suddenly made a lot more sense.

“I’d only ever told Fleetfoot,” Spitfire said. “Despite her attitude, she’s still my friend and I knew I could trust her with it. But when Filthy Rich approached me about it, I panicked. I tried to stop him walking away, but he must have thought I was attacking him because he leapt away from me and… fell.”

Spitfire was now leaning on the banister in front of her, her shoulders shaking slightly. Soarin was watching in utter disbelief.

“I didn’t want to hurt him,” Spitfire said, her voice trembling now. “Even if he told somepony, I wasn’t going to harm him over it. But now he’s dead, and I’m responsible.”

Spitfire stood up and looked over at the statue of Celestia.

“I can’t even say I did it to save the princesses I’d sworn to protect,” she said, her voice heavy with disgust now. “And yet when he was discovered, I remained silent, I put everypony here at risk because I was afraid to admit to my mistake. I’m so sorry.”

“I just don’t understand,” Soarin said. “Why did you never tell me?”

“You always said I was like a sister to you,” Spitfire said miserably. “I knew you didn’t see me that way, but so long as I never asked, I could continue living with the belief that just maybe, you did.”

Soarin never answered, he couldn’t seem to find the strength to look up anymore. Spitfire turned to Rainbow Dash who was looking completely at a loss of how to feel.

“And I’m sorry I never told you Rainbow,” she said, “You both deserved to know the truth. Just… promise me you won’t take him for granted.”

Rainbow opened her mouth, but seemed to decide against whatever she had been about to say, instead settling for a small nod. Finally Spitfire looked over to Pinkie.

“I killed Filthy Rich,” she said, her voice clear. “Now what happens?”

“Now,” the Mastermind said suddenly. “Now everypony must cast their vote, should be easy since the killer has confessed.”

“But,” Fluttershy began, horrified. “It was an accident. You heard her, it was an accident.”

“Yes, I heard her,” the Mastermind agreed, “I also saw her carry out the act so I know she isn’t lying. However, this changes nothing. Cast your votes.”

“No!” Soarin shouted out, “I won’t sentence my best friend to die! I’ll take her place if I have to!”

“Soarin, don’t be stupid!” Spitfire snapped at him. “I made my mistake, if anyone is going to pay the price for it, it will be me. Now I need you to stay and help get everypony else out of here, help them and help the princesses, that is an order.”

Soarin didn’t reply, his whole body was shaking. Spitfire looked over to Pinkie.

“I’ll be honest Pinkie Pie,” she said. “When Soarin told me you were the one who saved him, I didn’t believe him for a moment. But now I do, now I know if anypony can get everypony out of here, it’s you.”

“I will,” Pinkie assured her.

Spitfire gave her one final nod, and Pinkie turned her dial to Spitfire. One by one, ponies began following suit, none of them looking in the least bit happy about doing so. Finally, only Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Soarin and Fleetfoot remained. Fleetfoot looked over at Spitfire, an unreadable expression on her face.

“It’s been an honour captain,” she said, her voice measured as if to avoid showing any emotion.

Fleetfoot turned her dial. Now only three remained.

“You have to do it,” Spitfire told them, but none of them moved.

Sighing, she turned her own dial. The pool was now swimming with images of Spitfire’s face.

“I think we have a clear majority anyway,” Spitfire announced.

“I suppose you do,” the Mastermind stated, sounding a little put off. “Alright, now that the votes are in, it’s time to reveal the culprit.”

The pool rippled and cleared the images of Spitfire’s face, leaving two clock hands identical to the ones of the clock over the gate, both pointing at the blank circle opposite Pinkie Pie. Slowly they began moving in opposite directions from one another, the minute hand rotating clockwise, the hour hand rotating anticlockwise. The hands rapidly began to pick up speed until they were spinning blurs in the water. Finally, after what Pinkie assumed was an intentionally long time, they began to slow down.

The hands passed by Applejack and Octavia, coming to rest together in front of Spitfire. There was no victorious fanfare this time, just the Mastermind’s smug commentary.

“Congratulations, you correctly identified Filthy Rich’s murderer,” The Mastermind said, like there had been some final doubt on the matter. “Spitfire, you are hereby sentenced to death!”

“No!” Soarin shouted one last time, but it was too late.

The runes beneath Spitfire flashed once and the floor gave out under her, leaving her to fall into the black abyss below.

“At… at least it’s over,” Derpy said weakly.

“It’s not over yet,” Pinkie said coldly, everypony but Soarin turning to look at her.

As expected, the pool rippled, the clock hands fading away, it their place the image of a mound of random wooden debris, with a single stake jutting up through the centre, Spitfire tied to it. Fluttershy gasped, and she wasn’t the only one to cry out in horror at what they were seeing. Pinkie simply watched on, fully aware that it was out of her hooves.

It all began with a single, tiny spark falling into the base of the wood pile, then the structure went up like the sun. Flames engulfed the piles of junk, the barrels and crates, the pallets and planks, all of it was swallowed up by the fire as it climbed higher towards Spitfire, devouring everything in its wake, chewing it up and spitting it out as ash and cinder.

Spitfire struggled against her bindings, but it was hopeless, the fire didn’t give her a chance before reaching the stake and licking at her hooves. Spitfire yelled out in pain as her flightsuit began melting from her, her coat singing and burning away, leaving raw, scorched flesh beneath which only bubbled black and charred. Spitfire was now screaming in agony as the flames enveloped her whole body.

The ropes eventually snapped off her, falling into the pile below, but it was too late for Spitfire. All that was left of her legs were ash and embers, her wings merely scorched husks of their former glory, she hadn’t a hope of escaping as she too fell onto the pile of flaming wood. It was only as her face began peeling from her skull that her screams finally died away, leaving a silent, unmoving carcass upon the stack. Pinkie watched until the blackened body was lost to the fire and smoke, until the pool rippled and there was no more.

Pinkie looked around at the others. Fleur and Octavia both stood with their eyes closed, appearing unphased by what had transpired. Shining Armour and Fleetfoot looked hollowed out. Maud bowed her head. Applejack was shaking where she stood, her eyes refusing to believe what they had just witnessed. Rarity was bent away, as if throwing up. Derpy sniffled while Fluttershy sobbed openly. Cheese Sandwich looked deeply shaken, shaking his head as if trying to wake himself up. Soarin had collapsed in a heap; Pinkie was unable to see his face. Rainbow Dash just stood, staring into space.

Suddenly, all the banisters retracted into the ground, the runes ceased glowing, and they were free to leave, but nopony moved. After several long drawn out minutes, Pinkie finally found the ability to move her legs. Stepping away from her circle, she began making her way along, past Derpy and Shining Armour until she was standing behind Soarin. She placed a hoof on his shoulder to which he didn’t react.

“I’m sorry,” Pinkie murmured, so quietly he might not have even heard her.

Lifting her hoof, Pinkie walked past Soarin to where Fluttershy was still crying. Leaning down she put a hoof around Fluttershy’s shoulder, encouraging her to stand up. Reluctantly, Fluttershy obeyed, and allowed Pinkie to lead her away from the others into the castle.

Author's Notes:

Here we have it, the first trial, the first execution.
So firstly thanks to everyone who proposed theories, however only one person was in fact correct. Well done to ClickClackTheBrony for correctly guessing the culprit as well as noticing certain details like the soot stained flightsuit and how only a pegasus could have entered the aviary.
Hope you're all enjoying it so far, the first part of chapter 2 will be released on Tuesday.