Day 6, 12:05

Pinkie examined the splattered remains of Cheese Sandwich closely, the others gathered around, wearing mixed looks of revulsion and morbid curiosity. Not being able to attain anything more from the corpse, Pinkie stood up and turned to the others.

“Well it’s safe to assume that this happened sometime this morning,” she began. “The body looks fresh, and I was talking to Cheese shortly before bed anyway.”

“He wasn’t at breakfast,” Applejack pointed out. “Early or late, ah never saw him.”

“If we knew exactly when he died, we could rule out some ponies,” Fleur mentioned.

“Well I wouldn’t know how to begin figuring that out,” Pinkie said, craning her neck and looking up at the castle. “He must have been on the battlements outside the observatory; they’re the only ones non-flyers can access.”

“I’ll take a look,” Rainbow offered, rocketing into the sky.

“This is probably as simple as somepony lured him up there and pushed him off the edge,” Rarity suggested.

“I suppose, which doesn’t give us a lot to work with,” Pinkie added, as Rainbow fluttered back down.

“Well those battlements are right above here, and the door to the observatory is left open,” she reported.

“Alright then, Rainbow, you and the other pegasi get on up there and start examining the area,” Pinkie instructed. “I’ll go the long way up and check Cheese’s room while I’m at it.”

Rainbow saluted and her and the others took off, leaving Pinkie with the other earth bound members of her group.

“Shining and Applejack,” Pinkie said addressing them. “Can I leave the body with you? Search his clothes and bags, the usual.”

Applejack nodded, leaning down beside the body along with Shining who still looked queasy.

“The rest of us will head up to the observatory and check his room on the way,” Pinkie finished, looking over to Maud, Rarity, Octavia and Fleur.

Day 6, 12:27

Entering the residence tower was always a bizarre contrast with its bright dancing lights and soft carpeted floor. Following her map, Pinkie led them up the inclined hallway to one of the various indistinct doors which her map indicating to belong to Cheese. Without hesitating, Pinkie turned the handle and stepped on inside. The room was messier than any of the others Pinkie had seen, with the exception of Filthy Rich’s after they had turned it upside down. The bed was unmade, the curtains were ruffled and doors and drawers were left slightly ajar.

Rarity shuddered at the sight of such imperfection. Not being the least bit disturbed by a slightly untidy room, Pinkie went ahead and sat down at the desk while the others moved throughout the room in their own searches. Pinkie had been a bit wary upon agreeing to let Cheese help with the researching the day before, but he had taken his responsibility better than Pinkie had expected, indeed his desk was covered in books he had taken with him from the library.

Shifting through each of the history books, barley paying them any great degree of attention, Pinkie noticed a sudden flash of colour amidst all the dreary brown and forest green covers. Sliding one book aside, she revealed a brightly coloured square of paper. The paper was thin and flimsy, in the centre was a message written in big, multi-coloured letters.

Dear Cheese Sandwitch.

You are invited to a party in the observatory right now, please hurry.

Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie scowled at the party invitation. Somepony had used this to lure Cheese to the place of his demise, and they had made out that it was from herself. A small part of her was insulted just by how childish the invitation was, with its crooked letters, and crayon shaded background, that the killer actually thought this is what Pinkie’s party invitations looked like.

“What’s that?” Maud asked from behind Pinkie.

“Somepony must have slipped this under his door,” Pinkie said, passing it to her sister.

“What makes you say that?” Maud asked, “They might have handed it to him in person.”

“Maybe, but I think it more likely they did it anonymously so they could go on ahead and wait in ambush for him.”

“So he would have seen it when he woke up, and gone straight there,” Maud summarised. “That explains why he wasn’t at breakfast. If we knew when he got up we might be able to deduce the killer just by looking at who else was missing at that time.”

“It would be good to know,” Pinkie agreed, turning to the other. “Anything else?”

“I’ve found nothing,” Fleur called over, holding the mattress up in her hooves.

“Right, well let’s just head on,” Pinkie said, standing up from the desk chair. “I’ve already found something of interest.”

Day 6, 13:10

“And so, while there isn’t a strong wind,” Rainbow Dash finished. “He still would have to have been pushed from this spot, to end up where he did.”

Pinkie nodded approvingly, peering down over the section of wall Dash had indicated.

“What I want to know,” Fleetfoot interjected, “is how the killer managed to get him so close to the wall. I know he wasn’t the brightest light bulb, but you’d think he’d realise something was up when he was asked to look over the edge.”

“It does sound ridiculous,” Pinkie agreed. “We’ll just have to keep looking, we might find some evidence explaining it.”

Pinkie looked past Rainbow and Fleetfoot to where Derpy and Soarin were still flapping about.

“Where’s Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked.

“She said she was going to take inventory in the infirmary,” Dash relayed. “I told her this took priority, but she seemed pretty insistent upon it.”

“Alright, I’m going to see if the others have found anything on the inside,” Pinkie said, leaving Dash and Fleetfoot to join up with the other two.

Walking back through the door that Dash had claimed was left open, Pinkie began making her way down the mesh ramp to where Rarity was pacing around with her head bent close to the ground, her horn glowing with a blue aura, and Octavia who stood examining the orrery once again.

“What’s that you’ve got goin’ on there?” Pinkie asked, walking alongside Rarity.

“Well, I’ve been adjusting my gem finding spell in the hopes that it could detect discrepancies in the environment,” Rarity explained, sounding pleased with herself. “I was originally hoping it would help with keeping the boutique tidy, but it might also come in handy here.”

“Neat, and how’s that working?” Pinkie asked, impressed with Rarity’s intuition.

“Not great I’m afraid,” Rarity said, her voice dampened greatly. “The spell still needs a lot of refinement, as it is I’m detecting disturbances at a microscopic level, which isn’t a lot of help to unless the Cheese was killed using bacteria.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that wasn’t the case,” Pinkie replied, thinking of the mulched remains outside.

“Indeed not,” Rarity agreed. “Still, I’m not going to be able to adjust the spell without putting it to practice. Although I’m no Twilight when it comes to magic, this I can manage.”

“Now that you mention it,” Pinkie said curiously. “I never used to think of you as the experimental type.”

“Spike has been giving me a few lessons,” Rarity replied, perking up slightly. “He’s actually quite the genius, but then he was Twilight’s assistant after all. Oh, I miss him so much; I hope he’s not too worried about me.”

“You said he was feeling under the weather,” Pinkie reminded her, “and that’s why he wasn’t at the Gala.”

“Yes, well,” Rarity began awkwardly. “He’s still having a hard time coping with what happened to Twilight. He always seemed to blame Princess Celestia for it; he would become terribly angry if she was even mentioned. I never really understood why until you told us how she’d lied to us about the circumstances surrounding what happened.”

“So you think Spike knew the truth?” Pinkie asked. “Shining didn’t.”

“I really don’t know,” Rarity answered, no longer focusing on casting her spell. “We didn’t talk about it much, and any time I did bring it up, it wouldn’t go well.”

“Well once we get out of here, everything can start to go back to normal,” Pinkie assured her. “Everypony can start to heal.”

Letting Rarity get back to her casting, Pinkie walked over to Octavia.

“Can this not wait until after the trial?” Pinkie asked, a little frustrated with Octavia’s obsession with the machines.

“Don’t you see?” Octavia asked simply, still staring at the orrery.

Pinkie was about to retort, but then followed Octavia’s gaze and quickly realised what she meant.

“It’s not moving,” Pinkie pointed out.

“Precisely,” Octavia stated. “And I know for a fact it was still moving last night before we went to bed.”

“So what’s made it stop?” Pinkie asked.

Octavia pointed to the floor. Beneath the orrery, a bowl shaped pit was embedded in the floor, containing all the gears and mechanical components. As Pinkie looked where Octavia was pointing, she saw a delicate metal frame, twisted and broken, and ultimately lodged inside the mechanism.

“Should we remove it?” Pinkie asked, figuring Octavia had a greater understanding of the orrery than her at this point.

“We shouldn’t,” Octavia specified, “but you could ask your friend to pull it out with magic.”

Pinkie returned to where Rarity was still searching and brought her back, where she tugged on the obstruction with her magic. Once it was wrenched free, the gears jittered for a moment before returning to their previous rhythm, starting the orrery rotating once more. Rarity tried to reshape the metal mess to the best of her abilities using her magic, and despite it still being near unrecognisable; she was able to offer a good guess as to what it might be.

“I believe this is one of the wheel chairs from the infirmary,” Rarity proposed.

“I dare say you’re correct,” Octavia agreed, examining it closely.

“Well this is a good lead,” Pinkie said. “I’ll head over there now and see if I can dig anything else up, maybe Fluttershy’s noticed something amiss.”

Day 6, 13:51

“Well nothing’s gone missing!” Fluttershy insisted, thrashing through sheets upon sheets of paper before pulling one up and thrusting it into Pinkie’s face. “See! I’ve kept lists and charts, nothing else has gone missing.”

“Fluttershy, it’s alright,” Pinkie insisted, pushing the chart aside. “Nopony expected a wheelchair to go missing, and I trust that nothing else has gone missing on your watch.”

Fluttershy relaxed, placing the paper down on what had essentially become her desk in the infirmary.

“Sorry, I was just afraid that my negligence might have been the cause of… of what happened to Cheese.”

“Only one pony is to blame for this, and that’s the killer,” Pinkie reminded her. “Now I’m going to go check in with the ones downstairs, if I need anything else I’ll check in with you.”

“Okay, be careful Pinkie,” Fluttershy murmured as Pinkie departed.

Once in the waiting room, Pinkie jogged down the staircase in the central chamber just in time to see Shining Armour starting up.

“I was just coming to find you,” Pinkie said, stopping midway. “Did you find anything on the body?”

“Not a thing,” Shining informed her. “I was just on my way up to see if anypony else needed help.”

“Head over to the observatory,” Pinkie instructed. “Rarity is using a spell to look for disturbances; maybe you can lend her an extra horn.”

“Sure thing,” Shining said, walking up past Pinkie before coming to a stop. “I wanted to apologise again for everything that happened yesterday. I’m not going to pretend I don’t have a problem, but that shouldn’t have to interfere with the rest of you. So I promise I’ll keep better control from here on out.”

“It’s alright Shining,” Pinkie replied softly. “I know this must be difficult, knowing Cadance is on the line.”

Neither pony said anything more, both just took their leave. Once at the bottom of the staircase, Pinkie left the central chamber and headed out towards the entrance hall. Descending the main staircase, she saw Fleur walking across the ground floor.

“Ah Pinkie, have you found anything else?” Fleur asked upon seeing her.

“Yeah, the killer stole a wheelchair from the infirmary,” Pinkie informed her.

“A wheelchair?” Fleur repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Whatever for?”

“We don’t know yet,” Pinkie admitted. “Have you seen Applejack?”

“I think she’s in the kitchen, I was just about to head that way myself.”

Pinkie nodded and together the pair left the entrance hall and headed towards the kitchen. Once they were within earshot of their destination, Pinkie could hear a great deal of clattering and swearing. Stepping through the doorway they found Applejack tidying up after a tornado had apparently hit the kitchen.

“What happened here?” Pinkie asked, her eyes wide.

“Like ah said,” Applejack began, disgruntled. “Those ones who were late to breakfast made a huge mess of this place, and it turns out they didn’t have the courtesy to tidy up after themselves. Look, ah know this ain’t a pressin’ matter right now, but could yah possible lend a hoof? We’d get it done a lot faster if we work together.”

Pinkie nodded and together all three of them went around clearing up the fallen pots and pans and wiping up various spills and stains. Pinkie was leaning down picking up a fork that had landed just beneath the stove, but as she reached under she spotted another object rolled to the far end. Reaching as far as she could, she tried to grasp hold of it, but her leg was too short. Pulling out she looked over to Fleur who was closing one of the cupboards.

“Fleur, there’s something underneath here, could you get it out for me?” Pinkie requested.

Fleur nodded and walked over, crouched down and reached under the oven with her much longer leg.

“Well, I meant use magic, but I guess that works too,” Pinkie said as Fleur began drawing her hoof out.

“Here we are, it’s…” Fleur stopped talking the moment she rolled the object into view, Pinkie’s eyes went wide.

Lying on the floor just in front of the oven, was a cracked syringe and needle.

“What in tarnation was that doin’ in mah kitchen?!” Applejack demanded, looking over Pinkie’s shoulder at the object.

“I have no idea,” Pinkie said, picking it up.

“It had to have come from the infirmary,” Fleur pointed out.

“I was just up there,” Pinkie pointed out. “I guess I’ll head back, something’s not right with Fluttershy’s charts.”

Day 6, 14:38

Pinkie walked briskly through the waiting room, not slowing down as she pushed through the infirmary doors, causing Fluttershy to give a little start from behind her desk.

“Oh Pinkie, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, calming down when she saw who it was.

“We found this in the kitchen,” Pinkie said, holding out the syringe.

“No!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Nothing went missing, I was sure of it!”

“Fluttershy, calm down,” Pinkie tried to say.

“Look, see,” Fluttershy said, gesturing to random numbers on random sheets of paper. “There is exactly the same number of needles now as there was when I first took inventory.”

“Then maybe it was taken before I assigned you here,” Pinkie reasoned. “Where are the needles kept?”

“Um,” Fluttershy began, calming down after Pinkie’s suggestion. “Over here I think…”

Pinkie followed Fluttershy over to one of the cabinets where she shifted a heavy text book to the side, lifting up the box beneath it. Fluttershy opened up the box; the needles weren’t stored in the safest fashion, simply chucked into the box and allowed to rattle around loosely.

“There’s no way you would know if they were all there before you first took stock,” Pinkie pointed out. “Still, we need to figure out what this syringe was used for.”

“Well there’s still some dark residue in it,” Fluttershy said, indicating to the thin brown sludge stuck to the insides of the syringe. “We just need to figure out what it is.”

Fluttershy took the syringe and walked over to a different cabinet where she began taking out various bottles. Meanwhile Pinkie looked down at the text book Fluttershy had moved to get at the syringes.

“Fluttershy, did you bring this here?” Pinkie asked.

“Hmm?” Fluttershy hummed, looking up at what Pinkie was talking about. “Oh no, it was already there.”

Pinkie nodded, picking up the book. It appeared to be a modern encyclopaedia on medicine and chemicals. Turning the book over so the spine was turned away from her, she noticed a slight disruption in the corner of one of the pages. Opening the book to that page, she found the corner dog-eared.

“Curare…” Pinkie read aloud.

“Curare?” Fluttershy repeated, looking up when she heard Pinkie speak.

“It’s a section marked in this book,” Pinkie explained. “Does it mean something to you?”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy said eagerly. “That’s the poison found in certain species of tree frog.”

“Poison?” Pinkie repeated, surprised. “What does it do?”

“It’s a paralysis,” Fluttershy explained. “It’s also found in certain plant extracts.”

“And is there any in here?” Pinkie asked, setting the book down at the open page.

“Give me a second,” Fluttershy said, hurrying over to yet another section where she began rummaging through more bottles.

Pinkie looked down at the book once again while Fluttershy searched.

Causes weakness to skeletal muscles…

“Here we are,” Fluttershy announced, holding out a bottle of dark, heavy looking paste.

“Only in this game could we find a bottle of poison in the infirmary,” Pinkie said walking over to inspect the bottle.

“The bottle isn’t full, it’s possible some of the contents were taken,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“And does it match the stuff in the syringe?” Pinkie asked.

“I think so,” Fluttershy began. “I’ll take a closer look.”

“Alright, I’m going to go check on the others quickly,” Pinkie said as Fluttershy placed both the bottle and the syringe on her desk. “If I’m not back before the trial is called, be sure to bring both of those as evidence.”

“I will,” Fluttershy said as she began busying herself with her new task.

Pinkie entered the waiting room and set off for the observatory, a good idea of what had happened forming in her mind. However none of it told her who could be responsible. Entering the observatory she found Rarity, Shining and Maud gathered around a specific spot on the floor.

“Did you find something?” Pinkie asked, joining the circle.

“Well it’s not clear,” Rarity began. “But it would appear some kind of struggle took place here.”

“So the killer and the victim struggled with one another?” Pinkie concluded. “That would make sense; we found evidence pointing to the involvement of drugs.”

“So do you have any idea who’s responsible yet?” Shining asked.

“Not yet,” Pinkie admitted.

“I had a thought,” Maud said, pulling out the invitation that Pinkie had discovered in Cheese’s room. “Where did the killer get the crayons?”

“Well that was the weirdest sentence ever to walk in on,” a voice said behind them.

Pinkie turned to see Fleetfoot standing with the other three pegasi.

“There’s nothing more we can find out there,” Soarin explained.

“How are we gonna figure it out though?” Derpy asked in a despairing tone. “Anypony could have pushed him off the edge.”

“Well we think there’s more to it than just pushing,” Pinkie replied, hoping to raise Derpy’s spirits. “As for the crayon thing, I actually have no idea. They certainly aren’t the kind of thing you would just randomly come across in a castle of all places.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Maud agreed.

“Alright, can you guys fan out and search for crayons?” Pinkie asked the pegasi. “I can’t believe I just said that, but still.”

“Sure,” Rainbow said slowly, sounding unsure.

“I know it doesn’t seem like a promising lead but it’s all I’ve got for you right now.”

“That’s fine, we’ll get on it,” Soarin assured her.

The three Wonderbolts zoomed off, and Derpy trailed after them.

Day 6, 15:30

Pinkie trotted towards the kitchen, Maud at her side. It might have been seen as an invasion of privacy, but Pinkie didn’t have any intentions of telling the others they had just searched all the bedrooms. They hadn’t found a single crayon or any other piece of obscure evidence to the case; however Pinkie was given the perfect opportunity to search the sixteenth room. Up until this point she had ignored the empty slot in the courtyard, but as they searched the rooms she was reminded of it, and having no other leads, decided to take a peek.

The empty room was the first in the residence tower, the very lowest, and it was completely identical to every other room with the single exception of having no framed portrait of the owner on the bedside cabinet. Pinkie was satisfied to conclude that the Mastermind had simply included a sixteenth slot as part of some twisted homage to the last game.

“Maybe the pegasi had better luck,” Maud proposed.

Pinkie was about to open her mouth to reply, but was cut off when she heard somepony shouting for help. Wasting no time she broke into a gallop, Maud right behind her. Passing the kitchen she ran to the cellar door, which was closed tight, a pair of orange hooves wrapped around the bars on the other side.

“Applejack,” Pinkie said, running up to the door and seeing her friend on the other side.

“Pinkie, thank goodness,” Applejack said, sounding relieved. “Ah was beginning to think nopony would pass through this way.”

“What’s going on?” Maud asked trying the door which wouldn’t budge.

“The damn things locked!” Applejack exclaimed. “Ah was down here looking about, thinkin’ maybe I’d find something to do with the murder down here. Then ah heard the door slam and the lock click. Ah ran up but whoever it was already gone, heard ‘em running towards the entrance hall.”

“Can’t you force your way out?” Maud asked.

“Ah tried, believe me,” Applejack said in a furious tone. “Bucked the door hard enough to put it through that wall, instead got a shock which put me on my ass.”

“We’re aren’t allowed to force doors,” Pinkie muttered.

“Tell me about it,” Applejack said bitterly.

“Hold on,” Pinkie said, stepping back and raising her voice. “Mastermind! I know you’re watching this, let Applejack out.”

“Now what fun is there in that?” the Mastermind asked rhetorically.

“The trial is soon, and we all have to be present,” Pinkie reminded him. “So unless you let Applejack out, you’re going to have to rethink your rulebook.”

“Oh, clever as always Pinkie Pie,” the Mastermind said, sounding disgruntled as the lock clicked, allowing the door to swing open. “Never let it be said I don’t play fair.”

“Good thinkin’ Pinks,” Applejack sad gratefully as she stepped out into the hallway.

“Now why would somepony lock this door?” Maud queried. “Perhaps there is something down here they don’t want us to find.”

“You mean the killer has the key?” Pinkie asked.

“Most likely,” Maud responded. “Although I can’t imagine what’s down there that has anything to do with this case.”

“Well ah didn’t find anything,” Applejack said, placing the torch she had taken with her back in its bracket.

“How long have you been locked in there?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, around…” Applejack began, scanning her memory. “Ten? Twenty minutes? Ah was in only there for about five minutes before ah got locked in though, but ah certainly didn’t find anything of relevance.”

“They probably didn’t know you were in there,” Maud offered. “Still, it’s probably better that you were, now we know exactly when they locked the door, and probably why too.”

“Find Soarin and the others,” Pinkie instructed. “One of them might have seen something.”

“Or been responsible,” Applejack added, still sounding annoyed.

Day 6, 14:03

Pinkie was alone in the study. Unable to find any of the pegasi or reunite with Applejack or her sister, she had retired here. Sitting down in her armchair she examined the map on her hoof computer.

Applejack says whoever it was, ran in the direction of the entrance hall, but they could have gone anywhere from there.

Sighing, she turned the screen of her computer off and turned her hoof over into a more comfortable position. As she did, she noticed a familiar indent in the casing. She thought back to when she first noticed it the morning after the first trial, how she immediately forgot about it once Fleur came in.

Maybe if I lodge a narrow object in there…

Looking around, Pinkie saw a quill lying discarded on the coffee table. Reaching out, she picked it up and angled it towards the tiny slot in her hoof computer. Pushing it in, she gave the quill a little wiggle, feeling it jam against something. Giving it another hard twist, the quill snapped, but she had succeeded.

Her hoof jerked out as two metal prongs snapped out from the metal casing, extended and folded into little hooks at the end. Pinkie stared in confusion at the alteration to her hoof gauntlet, twitching the muscles in her leg ever so slightly caused one of the prongs to retract slightly, snapping back out as soon as she relieved the tension.

“What on earth?” Pinkie muttered to herself.

“Attention everypony,” the Mastermind announced. “The next trial is about to begin, please make your way to the courtroom so that we may begin.”

Pinkie looked down at her hoof computer one last time. Whatever this was, it could wait. Reaching out, she pulled one of the prongs back, the other following suit on its own as she folded them back in. Once they clicked back into place, it was almost impossible to distinguish them from the rest of the casing.

Standing up, Pinkie turned her attention to the study door. She took a single deep breath, before setting off to the second trial.

Author's Notes:

So here we are, second trial in bound. As usual, theories are all welcome and correct guesses will be rewarded with a shout out in the next part's Author Notes.