I think I understand why my character froze in defensive mode. I'm thinking it was the connection to a certain variable. It was either a Boolean or an integer, or both, that wasn't connected to the result I wanted. I'm starting with testing the Boolean variable.

As I start the game, I have my character leave his bed, then defend himself. Again, my character's arms don't allow me to see anything beyond them. I try to order him to cease defenses, but he refuses to respond. Evidently the Boolean variable wasn't the problem, at least not on its own. I decide to shut down the program and try the integer variable.

After a few moments of changing the connections, replacing the name of the Boolean variable with that of the integer, I compile the program and run it again, choosing to resume the game. Once again, I order my character out of bed, then order him to defend himself.

This time he blocks, then immediately he ceases defending himself.

Again I order him to defend himself, holding down the appropriate key, to see what happens.

This time, he blocks and holds the defensive pose.

I release the key, and my character returns to his original stance. It seems I've found and corrected the glitch. Time to continue with the game.

My character opens his bedroom door to see the herbivorous dinosaur ready to knock.

Seeing the action unnecessary, she instead looks up at my character, and I can see, through his eyes, that she's holding a letter in her mouth.

My character kneels down and accepts the scroll from Weed Whacker's mouth, then opens it.

Though not aloud, I still read, “Mormon: you, Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Lyra Heartstrings, and Weed Whacker are requested and required to come to Canterlot Castle to take part in the trial of Pinkamena Diane Pie. You, Lyra, Fluttershy, and Weed Whacker will testify as witnesses against Miss Pie.

“Miss Pie will be given the opportunity to repent of her murders. If she does, she will continue as holder of the element of laughter. Otherwise, her element will pass to another, and she will be executed.

“This trial comes at great sorrow to all of us, especially considering the nature of this crime, and the fact that a bearer of an element of harmony is the criminal. We wish not to have to do this. But, we know what has been done, and we can only hope that Miss Pinkie Pie will repent of her murders. If there is any chance that you can help convince her to repent, we request that you visit her and do so.”

The herbivorous dinosaur looks up at the human and asks, “So, what does that mean, exactly?”

I'm guessing Weed Whacker must've read the letter before giving it to me, but that's not what matters to me right now. I say, “Go get Fluttershy and Lyra, and we'll meet in the kitchen. I'll discuss this then.”

Obediently, the dinosaur heads down the hallway to get the yellow pegasa first.

My character closes the door, then makes preparations to leave for Ponyville, then for Canterlot by train. When he's finished gathering two changes of clothes, as well as other necessary items, he heads to the kitchen to find Lyra, Fluttershy, Weed Whacker and Bon-Bon waiting for him there.

As I see the yellow earth pony sitting in one of the chairs, I say, “Bon-Bon, this meeting is strictly for Lyra, Fluttershy, Weed Whacker, and me. Why don't you go wait in the front room?”

Bon-Bon answers, “Lyra is my friend. I came all this way to see how she was doing. I'm fine to leave now, but if there's some way I can help, I'd prefer to stay.”

I sigh and say, “Alright.” Then, after my character moves behind Bon-Bon toward the sink, then faces the three ponies and one dinosaur, I begin, “Lyra, Weed Whacker, Fluttershy and I have been ordered to Canterlot Castle to testify against Pinkie Pie.”

Not surprisingly, the news hits Fluttershy worst of all, as she freezes up once again.

Lyra and Weed Whacker just look down at the table and start trembling.

Bon-Bon, seeing the reactions, turns to my character and asks, “Why would you testify against Pinkie? Has she done something wrong?”

I answer, “Pinkie Pie murdered two ponies and a griffon and made them into pastries.”

The yellow earth pony covers her mouth with both front hooves. Slowly shaking her head, she says, “No, it can't be true.”

Lyra specifies, “She killed Derpy Hooves and Rainbow Dash.”

I add, “She also killed Gilda, Rainbow Dash's griffon friend.”

At this point, my character moves to Fluttershy's side and starts stroking her mane.

In the mean time, Bon-Bon starts gagging, and it's clear that her front hooves cannot stop the contents of her stomach from escaping by way of her mouth.

Lyra jumps off her chair and moves to her friend's side, then strokes her closest leg as she says, “It's no easier for the rest of us to take.”

Bon-Bon, when she's finished vomiting, collapses her arms in front of her, lowers her head between them, and starts sobbing, calling out, “Derpy!”

My character picks up the frozen pegasa and holds her close, and I say, “I'm guessing Bon-Bon and Derpy were friends?”

Lyra answers, “She was a friend to all three of us. She may have been wall-eyed, but she was one of the kindest ponies we've ever known.”

I don't know if I needed such a testimony to indicate why the gray pegasa was going to be the next to hold the element of kindness in case Fluttershy was unable to. Looking at Bon-Bon, I say, “I think you understand, now, why I wanted the meeting to be strictly with Lyra, Fluttershy, and Weed Whacker.”

The evidently inconsolable earth pony is now wailing her dead friend's name.

Lyra, calling over her friends cries, asks, “So, when are we supposed to be there?”

My character gives me another look at the letter, and, after this further inspection, I answer, “There's nothing here about a specific time, but the logical assumption is that sooner is better.” Directing my character's attention to the catatonic pegasa in his arms, I say, “Fluttershy, you have a friend here that needs your help.” After that, he sets her next to Bon-Bon.

Fluttershy starts moving again, looking up at Bon-Bon, then starts stroking her closest leg. In a few seconds, she uses her wings to lift herself up to approximately the yellow earth pony's level in her chair and starts nuzzling her.

In response, the earth pony looks up at her, remnants of her vomit dripping from the front of her mouth and a sad look on her face, then asks, “Can I go with you? I don't think I should be alone right now.”

I answer, “I suppose that'll be alright. The letter didn't mention you; but if you want to join us, I can't see why not.” After a pause, I wonder aloud, “Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity were also mentioned in the letter. I wonder if they'll be meeting us at the train station.”

Weed Whacker answers, “It wouldn't surprise me. Spike can receive scrolls from on of the Princesses just as I can from both. He just has to belch them out in a flame. And, Twilight Sparkle can contact Applejack and Rarity, probably more easily than we can.”

My character nods, then I ask, “So, how many of us have eaten yet?”

Bon-Bon answers, “I'm not hungry right now.”

My character turns to her, and I respond, “I understand.” then, as my character turns to the others, I ask, “So, anyone else?”

The three shoot glances at each other, then at my character again, and, in unison, answer, “We're not that hungry either.”

I sigh and say, “Very well.” As my character turns to the yellow earth pony, I continue, “Why don't you take a bath or a shower, Bon-Bon? It should make you feel better.” As my character turns next to Lyra, I add, “I'm going to need help picking food for the trip. No one may be hungry right now, but that doesn't mean we won't feel like eating later.” My character then focuses on Weed Whacker as I say, “While Bon-Bon's getting cleaned up, I think you should clean up the table.”

As my character turns to Fluttershy, she says, “I'll take care of Bon-Bon. You'll be happy to hear that she's been walking without any pain for at least an hour, since she woke up. I removed her bandage, and her bite marks are healed.”

I answer, “That is good to hear. Thanks for helping her.”

In the mean time, Bon-Bon, numb now, I'm guessing from the news, dismounts the chair and stumbles toward the hallway, accepting assistance from Weed Whacker on her way to the bathroom.

As my character sees the herbivorous dinosaur return, I say, “Well, let's get going.”

Presently, Weed Whacker grabs the chair Bon-Bon had been sitting in and moves it to the kitchen sink, then climbs it to search for a dish rag.

Fluttershy, having observed Weed Whacker guide the yellow earth pony to the bathroom, slowly walks to the doorway, waiting for Bon-Bon to finish her shower or bath and exit.

Lyra, in the mean time, joins my character near the door between the kitchen and the front room.

Lyra and my character exit the kitchen, head for the front door, then make their way outside. Once there, once again I head to the orchard, while Lyra heads elsewhere, each of us to find food for the trip.

For once, it seems that my character is able to enter the orchard and look for fruits without running into the white alicorn. As my character gathers the fruits, mainly apples, pears, and a few summer fruits, I find myself wondering if Princess Celestia is occupied with preparing for Pinkie Pie's trial. But, that doesn't matter right now.

As my character exits the orchard, Lyra is approaching with forelimbs loaded with various vegetables and a few berries. She and my character make their way back into the house, where my character enters the kitchen and searches for and finds a bag and dumps the fruits into it. He then brings the bag back out to Lyra so she can drop her harvest into it.

Lyra, presented with the bag, looks inside and sees the fruits my character had already dropped in there. She looks up at my character, and he nods at her. Finally, the pale-green unicorn shrugs lightly and dumps her harvest into the bag.

My character then heads to the kitchen to see Weed Whacker has just finished drying off the table. All that's left is to see if Bon-Bon is ready to head out now.

As my character looks into the hallway, a solemn Fluttershy, seeing him, says, “Bon-Bon hasn't come out yet. I think she's still in the shower.”

My character turns to look and point to the door opposite Fluttershy, and I say, “The closet there should have some clean towels. You can get one of those out and give it to Bon-Bon so she can use it to dry off when she comes out.”

Quick to take action, Fluttershy opens the closet door and, seeing the towels, grabs one in her mouth and pulls it out. Still holding the towel, she closes the closet door. Then, she turns to me, spits the towel onto the ground, and says, “Thank you, Mormon. I'll give it to Bon-Bon now.”

As the yellow pegasa grabs the towel in her mouth again, my character turns and heads into the kitchen, then exits through the door and enters the front room again.

As soon as she sees me, I hear Lyra ask, “So, what about the Book of Mormon reading? Will we be continuing that in Canterlot?”

As my character turns to the unicorn, I answer, “I suppose it depends on how long we'll be staying. Do you have your copy of the Book of Mormon with you?”

Lyra, reaching under the couch closest to the door to the kitchen, answers, “Bon-Bon and I kept our copies under this couch.” As she manages to fish the two books out from under the couch, she asks, “Is it alright if we keep them?”

I answer, “Sure. In fact, if Bon-Bon wants to take her copy with her when she returns home, she's welcome to do so. As I said before, you are welcome to read ahead, read the introduction and testimonies at the beginning before First Nephi, or re-read the first chapter of First Nephi, whatever you want.”

Lyra smiles and thanks me.

Just then, Weed Whacker exits the kitchen and says, “I'm finished cleaning the kitchen table. I also had to clean the chair Bon-Bon was sitting in. I hope she'll be fine.”

Before I can say anything, Lyra turns to the herbivorous dinosaur and asks, “Do you have your copy of the Book of Mormon?” Eagerly, the pale-green unicorn continues, “We're going to have a reading in Canterlot.”

I state, “I didn't say that for sure. If we have to spend the night, then yes, we'll read chapter two of First Nephi there.” After a momentary pause, I add, “Still, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be ready, just in case.”

Before Weed Whacker turns and disappears through the kitchen door, she says, “I suppose we should all bring our copies, then. I just have to wonder, though, what if other ponies want to join us in the reading? Princess Celestia has her own copy, so she's set. But, what if her sister, Princess Luna, wants to read with us? For that matter, what if there are ponies besides them that want to read? What if Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity also want to read with us? And, what if Pinkie Pie wants a copy to read? You'll want to get more copies, maybe a dozen or so, just in case.”

It really hadn't occurred to me that we might have to spend the night in Canterlot. Now, there are possibilities that other ponies might want to read with our small group. I decide to get another bag to place copies of the Book of Mormon inside, to prepare for the contingency that Weed Whacker mentioned.

While my character is inside the kitchen, I hear Fluttershy say, “Bon-Bon, I've got a towel for you when you're ready to come out.”

As I listen, I note that I can no longer hear the sound of spraying water coming from the bathroom. My character grabs another bag, this one for the books, then heads for the door.

Just then, I hear a door open, this time from my character's right. As he turns toward the sound, I notice that Bon-Bon, still soaked, is halfway out of the bathroom. Before I can say anything, Bon-Bon sees my character, screams, and backs rapidly into the bathroom again.

Fluttershy turns to me and, glaring, snarls, “Get back into the front room, now.”

As my character passes through the door, I think aloud, “O...kay. I'd expect that kind of behavior from humans, but not from horses. Then again, these ponies are anthropomorphic. But still, why would creatures that don't wear clothes act like that around me after they've taken a bath?”

I then hear Lyra ask, “What happened?” As my character turns to her, she gasps and asks, “You didn't see her … “

I answer, “I didn't see anymore of her than normal. Actually, less. The only thing different about her was she was wet from taking a bath.”

The light-green unicorn closes her eyes and taps her forehead between them with a front hoof for a second, then puts the hoof down, opens her eyes, focuses on my character, and says, “Mormon, we ponies don't like strangers seeing us in less than dignified conditions, such as when we're wet.”

After a moment, I answer, “I didn't think I was that much of a stranger.”

Lyra asks, “You didn't laugh, did you?”

Noting in the mean time the opportunity I have, I go to the closet, open it, and start taking books out and putting them in the bag as I answer, “No, I didn't. I saw her mane soaked with bath water, but I didn't see anything to laugh at.”

I then hear Lyra's voice as she says, “Well, she must've thought you were going to laugh at her, or do something worse.”

Something I never intend to tell these ponies is that I have laughed at a wet pony, Rarity, when she appeared that way in that episode when she and Applejack had a sleepover at the library with Twilight Sparkle. Rarity'd accepted a dare from Applejack, to go out in the rainstorm and allow her hair to get wet. She did look less than dignified with her mane and tail weighed down with the rain water. Then, there was that episode where Zecora the zebra was introduced. Rarity didn't get wet, at least not the way she had during the sleepover, but she did enter the library resembling something of a sheep dog the morning after wandering with her friends into the poison joke.

But, Bon-Bon isn't that way. I had her take a bath, not to make fun of her when she was wet or take advantage of her in some carnal manner, but to allow her to clean up after receiving and reacting to the news about Pinkie Pie and Derpy Hooves, or, as I called the latter, Ataahua. She had taken the news hard, though not as hard as Fluttershy had taken it. The yellow earth pony has given me no reason to disrespect her.

Now, this is not to say that I have any disrespect for Rarity. It is true that she has had moments where she hasn't been the best example of what an Equestrian pony can be, but she has had her shining moments. All of the Mane Six have had their moments of least brilliance, not to mention moments when I've seen them shine the brightest. Just because an Equestrian pony demonstrates a moment of disgrace doesn't mean he or she doesn't deserve respect. After all, I, a human, am not always at my highest levels of grace. Should I disrespect a fictional creature because I see in him or her qualities that I have?

At this point, I have some twelve books in the bag, and I find I can't put in anymore and still be able to close it. Backing away from the door and closing it, I answer the pale-green unicorn, “Lyra, I have no reason to disrespect your friend. If I did want to disrespect Bon-Bon, I wouldn't have carried her back to Fluttershy's home. I wouldn't have cleaned her wounds and put the bandage over them. I wouldn't have carried her back to my house. And, I wouldn't have given her the copy of the Book of Mormon and encouraged her to read with us. I do respect your friend, and I mean her no harm. If you ponies really feel that way about situations like that, you could've let me know about it.” It's about this time that I notice that Lyra'd been pointing a hoof at me, the one she'd used to tap her forehead with.

Lyra drops the hoof to her side and lowers her head, then says, “I had no idea that you didn't know. If you still respect her after seeing her at a less-than-dignified moment like that, I hope you'll let her know.”

As my character sets the bag of books on the nearest couch, I answer, “I think I understand you, though. There's a reason why us humans wear clothes, and I think you already understand why that is. Even when we need to urinate or defecate, we humans like our privacy. If a human, in the process of urinating or defecating, is interrupted by some intruding creature, chances are that creature's going to be in big trouble. You ponies have things that you consider sacred, and so do we humans. In that way, we're also similar.”

Through my character's eyes I see Lyra open her mouth to say something, when I hear Bon-Bon's voice behind him say, “I didn't expect to hear you say that.” As my character turns to see the yellow earth pony, she continues, “If you're searching for similarities between ponies and humans, I can only guess that means you really do respect us.” She then lowers her head as she says, “I'm sorry about thinking about you the way I did. After all, you've already shown me that you care. Will you forgive me?”

My character reaches out a hand and places it under Bon-Bon's chin and, stroking it gently, raises it slowly, forcing her to look up at him. A moment later, I answer, “It's alright. You've simply shown me something that you ponies consider sacred. As I said to Lyra, we humans also have things we consider sacred. One of those things I shared with you last night. Holding something sacred is nothing to be ashamed of, nor to try to change. On the contrary, it's something to respect and appreciate.” Presently, my character lets go of the earth pony's chin and stands up.

Bon-Bon continues to look up at my character and, once he lets go of her chin, squees.

Before I can say more, Fluttershy bursts in and, flying at my character, says, “I appreciate you helping my friends, and even suggesting a relaxing bath. But, you do not, I repeat, you do not violate any of them!”

If there's one thing I appreciate about the yellow pegasa, especially after her demonstration in that episode when she stood up to a full-sized dragon with a similar message to the one she gave me, it's her willingness to stand up for her beliefs in spite of odds stacked against her. As much as her anger toward me is misdirected, she feels she's in the right; and she just needs to know I have no intention of disrespecting her friends.

That lesson, as it turns out, comes from Bon-Bon.

My character backs away from the angry Fluttershy until she suddenly stops, and I then prepare to let her know I have too much respect for her friends to harm them. That is, until I notice that her sudden stop is followed by her looking behind her. My character follows where she's looking to the end of her tail, which Bon-Bon has gripped in her teeth; and she is holding on, both to tail and carpet, enough to keep her from advancing on my character.

I can hear in the yellow pegasa's voice that her anger has been replaced with concern as she asks, “Bon-Bon, what's wrong?”

As the yellow earth pony lets go of Fluttershy's tail, I notice Fluttershy doesn't move at all from her position, indicating to me that she's only flapping her wings enough to maintain her position in the air, and isn't trying to escape from Bon-Bon.

The yellow earth pony answers, “It's alright. Mormon just explained that he hadn't understood at the time that we don't like strangers seeing us undignified. He just informed Lyra and me that we appreciates that we ponies have things we consider sacred.”

Fluttershy turns quickly to my character again and, when he's looking into her eyes as well, says, “Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were going to do something bad to one of my friends. I didn't hear what you said to them.” When she looks down again, I can see through my character's eyes she's starting to tear up as she says, “I hope you can forgive me.”

As far as I know, there's no way to program a computer to sense the nuances in someone's voice. So, I doubt this Fluttershy would be able to hear the mirth in my voice as I say, “It's alright. What matters is that you understand now.” Seeing her perk up again, and, as my character turns to the other characters in the room, I ask, “So, is everyone ready to go?”

Lyra answers by asking, “Do you have your copies of the Book of Mormon?”

Fluttershy is the first to answer with, “I left my copy in my room.” As she lands and starts heading that way, she adds, “I'll get it now.”

I look through my inventory and find the Book of Mormon absent from it. I answer, “I'll need to get mine as well. It shouldn't take too long.” With that, my character follows Fluttershy back into the kitchen and into the hallway, where he turns to open his bedroom door and enter his room.

The quest for my character's copy of the Book of Mormon in his room takes a very short time, as it's clearly visible on the floor. He places the volume in the suitcase packed with the changes of clothing and other things and closes it, then picks up the suitcase and returns to the front room to wait for Fluttershy. The wait isn't very long, as the kitchen door opens, and Fluttershy floats into the front room, the book in her mouth, and nods, indicating she's ready to leave now.

Weed Whacker takes the bag of copies of the Book of Mormon and Lyra takes the bag of food as the group of creatures makes their way to and out the front door, then towards the gate.

Noticing my suitcase, Bon-Bon says, “I wasn't aware the Book of Mormon meant that much to you.”

My character looks down at the yellow earth pony, and I can see she's tapping her nose on the suitcase. I answer, “My copy of the Book of Mormon is in there. It's just that I also have other things in there.”

I hear Fluttershy start to say something; but it's clear her mouth is occupied with her copy of the book, as nothing she says can be understood. As my character turns to her, she sets the book on the ground, then turns to me again and asks, “Could we put our copies of the Book of Mormon in your suitcase, please?”

The short parade stops in the middle of the yard, and, as my character puts the suitcase down and opens it, I answer, “I'm sure there's plenty of room if anyone else wants to put their copies in here.”

One by one, each of the ponies, then the dragon, hands their copy to my character, who puts it in the suitcase. Lyra offers the bag of food, and Weed Whacker offers the bag of books, but I say, “The individual copies of the Book of Mormon are filling up the space that my clothes and other stuff isn't. The bags will have to hold what's in them.”

No more is said on the subject as my character makes his way to the gate and opens it, allowing the ponies and dinosaur to pass through it, then he goes through the gate and closes it behind him. From there on, it's a matter of perhaps an hour before the group has arrived at Fluttershy's house.

There, Fluttershy gives her rabbit pet instructions on caring for the other animals, informing him that she'll be going to Canterlot. After a few minutes, we head off again; and it's a matter of a few more minutes before the group has made it to the outskirts of Ponyville. From there, the group is joined by Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Applejack, and Rarity in the middle of town. Twilight leads the way to the train station, where she pays for the tickets, and the party of nine are then admitted onto the train.

Once we're in our places and the train is moving, Bon-Bon says, “I wasn't hungry after hearing the news about Derpy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie; but I am hungry now.”

As my character retrieves the bag from Lyra and starts fishing inside for something for the yellow earth pony, Twilight Sparkle says, “I wasn't aware you'd told everypony else about that.”

Before I can answer, Lyra says, “Yeah, about that. It was kind of inevitable. Bon-Bon was there, and refused to move when Mormon said the meeting was for us three.” My character finds an apple and starts pulling it out as Lyra concludes, “She took the news hard at the time, but she seems fine now. Still, she said she'd rather come with us than be by herself.”

As my character produces a dark red apple and hands it to Bon-Bon, Twilight, seeing the fruit, says, “Oh, you didn't need to bring your own food. If you're hungry, I'm sure we can order whatever we want from the train's kitchen.”

As the yellow earth pony graciously accepts the fruit from my character, I answer Twilight, “Yeah, we didn't know that at the time.” My character reaches into the bag to find something else as I continue, “I brought the food anyway just in case we got hungry on the way.”

As my character produces a pear for himself, I hear Applejack say, “Well, as long as ye'r offerin', do ya have a carrot in there?”

Lyra answers, “There should be more than one. I got five or six from Mormon's vegetable garden.”

As my character puts the pear on the seat next to him, then reaches into the bag to fish out a carrot, Rarity asks, “Do you have more apples in there?”

Before I can answer, Lyra raises a front hoof and calls out, “I'll have one too!”

Spike says, “I brought some gems to snack on.”

Weed Whacker asks, “Lyra, did you put any beets in there?”

Before Lyra can answer, an angry Twilight Sparkle waves her front hooves in the air and calls out, “Enough!”

From elsewhere in the train car, a male voice calls out, “Will you keep it down over there?”

A chorus of voices outside the immediate group murmurs in agreement.

I call out, “Sorry about that!”

As things quiet down again, Twilight closes her eyes and puts a hoof between them, above her muzzle, then says, “If Mormon's going to take orders, let's be organized about it.” Then, putting the hoof down and opening her eyes again, she turns to Applejack and asks, “Applejack, you wanted a carrot, right?”

Applejack answers, “That's right, sugar cube.”

That's when my character finds a carrot and pulls it out of the bag. He hands the orange root to Applejack, who, like Bon-Bon, accepts it graciously.

Twilight then turns to Rarity and asks, “And, you wanted an apple, right?”

Rarity answers, “That's right, dear.”

Again my character reaches into the bag, then, a moment later, produces another apple, this one a greenish-yellow, and hands it to Rarity, who accepts it with a word of gratitude.

Twilight then turns to the pale-green unicorn and asks, “Your name's Lyra, right?”

Lyra answers, “That's right.”

Twilight asks, “You wanted an apple?”

Lyra shakes her head and answers, “No, actually I wanted a carrot.”

My character reaches into the bag again, then produces a carrot which Lyra, like the other ponies before her, accepts with a word of gratitude.

Twilight then says, “I know Spike brought some gems with him. I saw him pack them himself.” Before her dragon friend can answer, she turns to Weed Whacker and asks, “And, you wanted some beets?”

Weed Whacker answers, “Actually, just one'll do.”

Lyra answers, “I did pick some, and I put them in the bag with the fruit Mormon picked.”

In the mean time, my character fishes in the bag and produces a large, raw beet, which Weed Whacker, like the ponies around her, accepts gratefully.

Twilight then turns to Fluttershy and asks, “Do you want anything?”

The yellow pegasa turns to my character and says, “I'll have an apple too, if you don't mind.”

My character again fishes in the bag for an apple, which he produces a moment later, this one red like Bon-Bon's.

With a similar word of thanks, Fluttershy accepts the fruit from my character.

Seeing that she's the only one without anything, Twilight turns to my character and says, “Now, the pear you took out of that bag looks good to me. Do you have another one?”

My character nods as he reaches into the bag one more time, then produces another pear from it and hands the fruit to the purple unicorn.

Twilight, like the others before her, accepts the fruit with a word of gratitude.

The fruits and vegetables are eaten in a matter of minutes, and Fluttershy produces a bag, which becomes occupied with the parts of the fruits that weren't eaten.

It's clear, as the ride progresses, that it is not in a straight line, nor is it without bumps.

During a particularly wavy patch, my character happens to look at Bon-Bon, and I can see through his eyes that the normally yellow earth pony's face has started turning green, and she's not acting well. I ask, “Bon-Bon, are you alright?”

Presently she gags lightly and covers her mouth, and her expression turns to one of worry.

Then I hear Lyra say, “Uh, oh.” Before anyone else can do anything, the pale-green unicorn grabs her friend and, helping hold her mouth closed, says, “Please give us a few minutes,” then guides the nauseated earth pony through the hallway, out of the car we're in, and into the one ahead of us.

Presently, after we hear the door to that car close, the cars run over … something.

As if we need evidence of that being a possible catalyst, we hear a loud, lengthy gag and an equally lengthy splatter from the car the two ponies entered, followed by exclamations of disgust and anger.

I say, “I guess Bon-Bon's prone to motion sickness.”

As we hear Lyra call out, “Sorry!” an angry Twilight Sparkle glares at my character and snarls, “And, you didn't know about this?”

I answer, “Trust me, this is my first experience with ponies on a train. She said nothing about that kind of problem.”

As we hear another gag and splatter, followed by another chorus of disapproval, Twilight says nothing more, just closes her eyes again, puts a front hoof between them, and slowly shakes her head.

As my character looks at the other members of the group, I can see through his eyes one look of worry after another.

It's just a few minutes later before Lyra and a sobbing Bon-Bon return and take their places between my character and Fluttershy.

Lyra takes a position between her friend and my character.

As a couple of ponies, carrying buckets, brooms, mops and other cleaning materials, pass through the hallway, Twilight turns to Lyra and says, “Why didn't you tell anypony about your friend getting motion sickness?”

As Fluttershy attempts to calm the yellow earth pony, a now penitent Lyra looks down toward the purple unicorn and answers, “I'm sorry. You're right, I should've mentioned it. I guess I didn't think she'd have troubles with what Mormon and I had picked.”

For the rest of the trip there is no further incident, mainly because, after what Bon-Bon went through, no one's even hungry.

At the train station in Canterlot, a solemn Princess Celestia is there to meet the party of nine.

Fluttershy and Lyra are supporting a clearly exhausted Bon-Bon.

Lyra is also carrying the bag with the rest of the food she and my character had harvested for the trip, while Weed Whacker is carrying the bag with the copies of the Book of Mormon.

My character is carrying the suitcase with all the things he brought with him, including the five copies of the book that he, Fluttershy, Lyra, Bon-Bon, and Weed Whacker had packed in there.

The white alicorn, seeing Bon-Bon, says, “I heard about the incident on the train.” Focusing on the yellow earth pony, she asks, “Bon-Bon, are you alright?”

Bon-Bon slowly looks up at the white princess, then looks down again. Suddenly her abdomen is seized by a convulsion, and once again the yellow earth pony vomits.

Presently, the white alicorn jumps back, flaring her wings out. Once clear of the biological eruption, she folds her wings again.

I say, “I'm sure she just needs a good night's sleep.”

Princess Celestia says no more about her, just turns around and says, “Follow me. I've prepared rooms for you in the castle.” As she starts her march, she says, “Mormon, I have some questions for you.”

Once my character catches up to her, I ask, “What kind of questions?”

Quietly, the white alicorn asks, “First of all, why is Bon-Bon here?”

As my character turns back to the yellow earth pony, still being held up by Fluttershy and Lyra, then turns back to Princess Celestia, I answer, “This morning, when we got the letter from you, I called a meeting with Lyra, Fluttershy, and Weed Whacker; and, Bon-Bon decided she should join in. She wouldn't leave when I let her know the meeting wasn't for her. And, that's when she learned about the deaths of Derpy and Rainbow Dash, and about Pinkie Pie being in jail. She took the news really hard, and said she didn't want to be alone. So, I agreed to let her come with me.”

The white alicorn nods quickly, causing me some alarm as it reminds me of a carousel horse from a survival horror game. Then, she says, “You did the right thing bringing her along. She was more willing to admit her need than Fluttershy, and you didn't refuse her.” Shifting to another subject, she says, “I've also been reading that book you gave me. I did not expect it to be so fascinating. It was all I could do to pull myself away from it to meet you at the train station.”

I answer, “I'm glad you enjoy it. Do you have any questions?”

The white alicorn answers, “I do have some questions. First of all, do you have any plans to spend the night here?”

I answer, “I have come prepared for such a contingency.”

Princess Celestia says, “Well, in that case, I'll save the rest of my questions for then. I assume you'll be reading the book together again?”

I answer, “I am planning on that tonight. Would you like to join us?”

The white alicorn answers, “I would, and so would my sister. And, I'm sure Fluttershy's friends would also like to read with us, as well as my faithful student's dragon assistant, Spike. And, I may have other guests that would want to join in on the reading.”

I say, “That's perfectly fine. Lyra, Bon-Bon, Weed Whacker, Fluttershy and I brought our copies of the Book of Mormon with us, and I brought a bag of copies of the book for anyone else who might want to read with us.”

The alicorn princess asks, “How many copies are in the bag?”

I answer, “I brought a dozen copies.”

Princess Celestia turns back to the ponies and dragons behind her, then turns to me again and says, “I'm sure my sister will want to read with us. And, with Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike, assuming each gets a copy of the book, that means seven copies for seven more ponies who might be interested.”

I find myself having to stifle a laugh at the reminder of a movie title. I cover the stifled laugh with a cough, then ask, “So, depending on the size of the group, would we be meeting in the library, instead of the room you assigned me?”

Princess Celestia answers, “You are welcome to meet in the library anyway, and the room assigned to you will also be for Lyra and Weed Whacker. I've prepared a room for Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity; and one more for Twilight Sparkle and Spike. If they'll agree, Twilight and Spike will be joined by Bon-Bon.”

Hearing about Applejack and Rarity having to share a room reminds me once again of the episode when the two had to spend the night at the library with Twilight Sparkle, and I have to wonder to myself how Fluttershy will handle the situation. Choosing not to say anything about it, I ask, “So, when we get our rooms, should I keep the copies of the Book of Mormon in my room, or should I pass some out to those who don't have copies yet, that we know will be at the reading?”

By this point, we seem to be approaching the castle.

After a second, Princess Celestia answers, “Perhaps you should invite everypony to the reading, and give books to those who accept.”

My character nods in agreement, just in time for the white alicorn to open the door to the castle and allow the rest of the group to enter. She lingers at the door while all enter, then afterward closes the door and takes the lead position of the group once again, as the group heads through the castle.

As my character catches up with Princess Celestia, I hear the voice of Twilight Sparkle say, “I heard you talk about a book reading.”

My character turns to the source of the voice as I answer, “Yesterday, Fluttershy, Lyra, Bon-Bon, Weed Whacker and I started reading a book together, one I've really learned to appreciate over the years. You probably wouldn't know anything about it. It's called the Book of Mormon.”

The purple unicorn tilts her head for a moment and says, “It doesn't sound that familiar. Do you have extra copies of it?”

I answer, “In fact, I do. I was going to offer copies to you, Spike, Applejack, and Rarity. I was thinking, if the group was large enough, we might choose to read in the library. Fluttershy, Lyra, Bon-Bon, Weed Whacker and I each have our own copies. And, Princess Celestia will be there as well.”

From above Twilight I hear Princess Luna's voice ask, “And, what about me? May I have a copy?”

My character looks up at the dark purple alicorn; but, before I can answer, Twilight Sparkle says, “I'll join my friends, and I'll ask them about the reading.”

As the purple unicorn stops to allow her friends to catch up with her, I answer Princess Luna, “I'd be honored to give you a copy of the book.” My character then turns to where Weed Whacker is, but the herbivorous dinosaur is prepared ahead of me, holding a copy of the book to my character to give to the dark purple alicorn.

As my character reaches out for the book, I see a purple aura surround it, and the book rises up on it's own and floats to Princess Luna.

The nighttime princess says, “Thank you. Tia's been obsessed with the book you gave her, hasn't been able to put it down. I have been curious about how a book could be so fascinating. If you'll dismiss me, I'll start reading the book immediately.” And, before I can invite her to the reading, Princess Luna disappears.

After allowing my character the time it takes to turn to Princess Celestia again, I say, “I guess you'll be the one to invite her to the reading in the library. Since the five of us have already read the first chapter of First Nephi, we'll be starting with the second chapter, and see where it goes from there. Among the five of us, we've each been reading a verse until we read through the chapter. If we can form a circle in the library, we can go around that circle, each reading a verse, and, as I said, see where it goes from there.”

Before the white alicorn can answer, I hear Twilight's voice on my character's other side say, “Applejack and Rarity are looking forward to the reading, they said, and Fluttershy wants her copy of the book as soon as possible. And, if I can separate Spike from Rarity for long enough, I'm sure he'll be interested as well.”

Presently I hear something of a thud behind my character. He turns around to show me that Weed Whacker is separating and pulling out four books to hand over to Twilight Sparkle.

Once the stack of books reaches four, Twilight nods to the herbivorous dinosaur and says, “Thank you.” Then, as she rises again and levitates the books with her magic, she turns to me and says, “I'll go ahead and pass these out to my friends now. Just let me know when the reading will be.” and, like Princess Luna, before I or anyone else can answer, she's off to deliver the copies of the book to her friends.

And, once again, Weed Whacker picks up the bag, which has evidently become lighter after five of the books have been removed. No doubt one of the reasons why she chose to stop then to distribute some of the books.

After a few more minutes, which include sounds of gratitude from the ponies and dragon, we arrive at the rooms we're assigned to stay in. The room for Twilight, Bon-Bon and Spike is first, followed by the room for Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity, and finally the room for Lyra, Weed Whacker, and my character.

As my character enters the room assigned to Lyra, Weed Whacker and him and begins the process of unpacking, suddenly a yellow pegasa and a yellow earth pony are in the room with him requesting their copies of the Book of Mormon.

My character can only step back as the two ponies sniff through the suitcase like dogs until they each find their copy, then grab it in their mouths, and return to their assigned rooms.

Next is Weed Whacker, who finds her copy easily enough.

Lyra is similar, leaving my character with the last copy.

After that, it's a brief period of time before my character has unpacked his suitcase and placed his changes of clothes in the drawer next to the bed, and the other belongings of his on top of the drawer.

I then realize I'd forgotten something. Looking at Lyra, I say, “You know what? Of all the things I talked to Princess Celestia about, I forgot to ask about visiting hours for Pinkie Pie.”

Almost on cue, Weed Whacker approaches my character with a scroll in her mouth.

My character accepts the scroll from the herbivorous dinosaur, unravels it, and reads aloud: “Concerning the trial of Pinkamena Diane Pie, events are scheduled as follows:

“The accused will be allowed visits until dusk.

“The trial starts at dusk, and ends when all the witnesses have given their testimonies concerning the accused, and have plead with the accused to change her ways.

“After all the testimonies have been given and pleas made, the accused will be given the opportunity to speak on her own behalf. If she promises to repent, she will be handed over to the custody of Mormon to prove herself. If she chooses not to repent, she will be executed.”

Lyra has come around to my character's side of the bed to hear me read the message. Hearing that Pinkie will be executed if she doesn't repent, uncharacteristically the pale-green unicorn drops down on all fours, looks down and starts mournfully whinnying.

Weed Whacker backs away from my character as he stands up and moves toward the pale-green unicorn, then kneels down and grabs her in an embrace.

As she starts to reciprocate, I say, “Now, it's alright. There's always the chance Pinkie'll choose to repent. She's not dead yet.”

I hear Lyra ask, “Do you really think she'll choose to repent?”

As Lyra pushes away from my character, and he looks at her face, I can see her eyes vibrating. I answer, “We have to hope she will.”

I now watch the pale-green unicorn's eyes close, and she buries her face in my character's shoulder and resumes her mournful whinnying.

I continue, “Right now, we have the chance to visit her. So, let's go and do that.”

Lyra pulls her face from my character's shoulder, then rests her muzzle on it, as she says, “Just … I … need a moment to compose myself.”

My character looks out the window to see the sun, which is at approximately midday. I say, “We don't have much time. If you don't feel like going, you can stay here with Weed Whacker. I, for one, need to visit Pinkie Pie.”

At my announcement, the pale-green unicorn backs away from me, then shakes herself out, then says, “Alright, I'm ready.”

As my character stands up, Weed Whacker hands a copy of the Book of Mormon to me and says, “I think you should offer this to Pinkie Pie. She might not be able to attend the reading, but she can at least read from the book to herself. Maybe it'll help her decide to repent.”

As my character accepts the book, I answer, “You may be right about that. It's worth a shot, anyway.”

Lyra rises to her hind legs, back to human posture, and asks, “So, are we going, or not?”

My character turns to Weed Whacker and asks, “Do you want to come with us?”

The herbivorous dinosaur answers, “I'll go with you, but I don't want to visit with Pinkie Pie, not the way she is now. She's too scary.”

As my character heads to the doorway, I say, “That's fine. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. So, let's go.”

My character opens the door and allows the unicorn and the dinosaur to exit first, then follows to close the door behind them.

In the hallway, the other six are there as well.

Fluttershy canters up to me and says, “I forgot to thank you for letting me get my copy of the book from you. Rarity, Applejack and I have already been reading the book together.”

Bon-Bon follows her and says, “Same here. Twilight, Spike and I have also been reading the book together.”

I say, “So, I'm guessing we're all headed in the same direction?”

Twilight answers, “We are, if you're headed to the dungeon to visit Pinkie Pie.”

I have my character nod in agreement, then gesture for the purple unicorn to go ahead of us.

Twilight, in response, leads the way as we head toward the dungeon.

I ask, “Are we all going to visit Pinkie at the same time, or one at a time?”

Twilight answers, “Equestrian law requires that visitors come one at a time, with a guard for safety. Oh, and gifts to prisoners are tested by the guard before the prisoners can receive them.”

I think aloud, “I guess that makes sense. I don't know how many in Equestria would try to hide, say, sandpaper in a cake, but it's not something I would try.”

Rarity stops until I've caught up to her, evidently hearing about the idea of the sandpaper in cake, and snarls, “Mormon, don't talk like that. It's enough that a pony is in trouble. And, it's enough that it's one of our friends. But, you don't have to get yourself in trouble saying things like that.”

Well, Rarity is right. I should've kept that thought to myself. Better yet, I probably shouldn't have been thinking of such a thing in the first place. As my character turns to the white unicorn, I say, “You're right. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful from now on.”

At the dungeon entrance, the guard at the door says, “By order of the princesses, Mormon enters first. When he is finished visiting and returns, then Twilight Sparkle will visit. Then, Applejack, then Rarity, then Fluttershy. Visits from anypony else are optional, unless they are relatives.”

As I hear my character's name, my name, my character proceeds toward the guard and, once he's finished with his statement, follows him into the dungeon and to the cell where Pinkie Pie is waiting. In fact, I seem to recognize the cell as the one Lyra occupied before.

The pink pony looks slowly up at me, and the blank expression on her face morphs into a glare as she says, “Well, I hope you're proud of what you've done. Do you realize how long it took the guards to cut away that rope you hog-tied me with? They had to prop me over a bucket so I wouldn't mess my tail. I think it took them three hours to get that rope off my legs. And, they were cramping for an hour afterward.”

As she looks down, I see tears form in her eyes. But, for some reason, I can't help being suspicious about the sincerity of those tears.

She continues, “I've never been so ashamed in my life. And, worst of all, I don't know if it was from being dragged out of that basement tied in that rope, peeing and pooping publicly, or being trapped in this cage!”

Presently, she jumps at my character and reaches for him with her front hooves, growling and snarling.

My character kneels down, and I say, “Pinkie Pie, no one, least of all me, asked you to kill Gilda, Derpy, or Rainbow Dash. You're the one that did that without anyone making a request. I gave you chances to repent, but you squandered them. If I'm guilty of any part of this, it's supporting your actions by eating that one griffon cupcake.”

Now, as I see the pink earth pony's face through my character's eyes, she seems horrified as she says, “You said you liked them.”

I answer, “Those weren't my exact words, but they're close enough. I also thought you'd have more respect for your element when I said the bearer of the element of laughter wouldn't do such things as you did. Evidently I was wrong.”

Pinkie Pie's horror turns to surprise as she says, “My element? My element had nothing to do with this.”

I answer, “Obviously.”

Once again furious, the pink mare reaches at my character through the bars of her prison as she says, “You just wait 'til I get my first chance. Then, I'm gonna hit ya, and you're gonna laugh. Then, I'm gonna look down, and I'm gonna fall!” Again she growls and snarls as she continues to reach for my character, for me.

My character turns away from her, and I say, “Pinkie Pie, I think you've fallen far enough.” My character then produces the copy of the Book of Mormon and hands it to the guard as I say, “This is for Pinkie Pie.”

I can only tell by the sounds, or the absence of them, that Pinkie Pie has stopped trying to grab at me. Instead, she calls out, “What is that?”

I answer, “It's a book that's come to mean a lot to me over the years. I have several copies of it, but that doesn't make it any less valuable. I think you should have a copy of it, and, if you feel so inclined, read it.”

A moment later, the guard says, “The book checks out. I'll give it to Pinkamena now.”

Oh, and by the way, it is Pinkamena I've been talking to. The pink pony I've been talking to has curly mane and tail.

I can hear her voice shake as she reads the title, “The Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ.”

I can see and hear the guard catch up as my character slowly moves toward the dungeon doorway.

Just then, I hear a calmer, Vulcan-sounding voice say, “Mormon, wait.”

As my character turns around to show me the pink mare, I recognize it isn't Pinkamena anymore. Instead of the mane being curly, it's straight, and all flowing on one side. I can't see the tail, as she's sitting canine-style on the bed. But, I'm sure if I could see her tail, it'd also be straight. I recognize her at once.

I ask, “Yes, Diane?”

She looks down at the volume in her front hooves, then back up at me, and says, “As much as it hurts me, I must thank you for stopping my twin sister. If you hadn't stopped her when you did, more than three lives would've been lost at her hooves. I understand you wanted her to repent, which is why you allowed her to escape. But, ultimately, you did the right thing.” She pauses before concluding, “I share this body with my twin, and we cannot be separated and even one of us survive. But, if my death means that no more ponies, no more creatures, die at my sister's hooves; then so be it. I won't be able to say much more than this. Now, go. Pinkamena is recovering.”

The strangely, and sadly, ominous words echo in my thoughts as I make my way through the hallway back to the door. I know the next time I see Pinkie's face will be in a courtroom setting, where I'll be testifying against her. The question in my mind, though, is will the book I gave her give her hope of repentance, or will it cause her to lose all hope? And, somehow, I already know the answer.

As my character enters the waiting room and Twilight enters the dungeon hallway, we say nothing to each other.

As my character takes a seat next to Lyra, Weed Whacker approaches me and asks, “Did you give Pinkie the book?”

My character nods as I answer, “I did, and Diane had a few words for me.”

The name echoes around the room in surprised and questioning voices.

Lyra asks, “And, what did she have to say?”

I answer, “She said she's willing to die if it means Pinkamena doesn't harm anyone else.”

At that moment, Lyra and Weed Whacker hug my character, and his vision blurs to near blindness once again.

A few minutes later, I hear a new, but familiar, voice call out, “What have you done to my sister?” Then my character is suddenly able to focus again, on the glaring, snarling face of a gray earth pony with light-purple mane. I recognize her by her coloring, if not by emotion which she doesn't normally demonstrate.

I then hear Fluttershy's voice ask, “Are you related to Pinkie?”

I then see the gray mare turn toward Fluttershy's voice and answer, “I'm Maud.” She then turns back to my character, tackles him, takes a position on his chest, and demands, “Answer me.”

Maud is evidently heavier than she looks, although that's not so surprising considering she has been shown in her first appearance eating a rock. It's not a stretch of the imagination to think she eats them frequently, maybe rocks are all she eats. At any rate, she's keeping my character from moving out from under her.

I answer, “I haven't done anything to her directly. I think she just misunderstood some things she heard me say.”

The gray earth pony settles on my character's chest, not unlike a cat, and says, “I'm listening. What exactly did she hear you say?”

I answer, “When I first came to Ponyville, I was attacked by a trio of stallions that tried to force me to leave. What I figured was my best chance of escape at the time was to tell them the story of my first taste of horse meat.”

Before I can say anymore, Maud Pie places a front hoof under my character's chin and applies pressure as she says, “You are a human. Why should I not believe you eat horses, or ponies for that matter, on a regular basis?”

I answer, “Like I said, it was my first taste of horse meat. But, it was my only taste of it. Besides, I didn't know at the time exactly what I was eating.” As Maud removes her front hoof from the vicinity of my character's throat, I continue, “I was introduced to it as a missionary by some Tongan missionaries in New Zealand. And, I'll admit I did like the taste of it.

“After telling the three stallions about my experience, I added that I didn't come to Ponyville to eat any ponies, but to make friends with them. That's still my objective.

“I proved that to Pinkie Pie by helping one of her friends, but that only came after she sought revenge on me for what I'd said to the stallions. I guess she's felt she needed to balance things between me and her ever since.”

The gray earth pony moves around so she slides off my character's chest and lands on her front hooves on the ground next to him. Slowly moving away, she says, “That sounds like Pinkamena Pie. When she started killing, you probably didn't know you could stop her by saying something about loving her.”

I don't mention it to Maud, mainly because she's a character in the game, and she need not know about it; but I do know about that. After all, I programmed this game. What I do say, as my character moves to a sitting position, is, “I said that the holder of the element of laughter shouldn't be killing other creatures.”

Maud pauses for a moment before saying, “You know by now, th-th-th … th-that was the wrong approach.”

I watch, through my character's eyes, Maud sniffle, then rub her nose with her front limb, or at least I'm assuming she was rubbing her nose. While this other demonstration of emotion also is evidently unusual for Maud Pie, I have to wonder if her having strong emotions isn't so outside of her character, especially when it concerns her sister, Pinkie. It's hardly a stretch of the imagination to parallel her with the Vulcans of the Star Trek franchise. And, they're known for hiding very strong emotions behind a wall of emotionless stoicism and logic. Could Maud be the same? When one Vulcan lost his self control on the Enterprise D, the ship was nearly lost in chaos. While I don't see that happening to Canterlot castle should Maud loose such control, there may still be some parallels. Whatever's going to happen, these are the thoughts running through my mind as I see the normally stoic gray pony's clay mask starting to crumble.

Everyone in the room, both pony and dragon, seems surprised when I say, “You've shown that you really care about Pinkie Pie, your sister.”

Presently, Maud turns to look at my character. I can see tears streaming from her eyes, and she pants somewhat as she asks, “H … h-how did you know about Pinkie … ?”

I answer, “I have a good source for my information.”

Maud takes a step toward me, but then the door to the prison opens, and Twilight Sparkle comes out.

At this point, before the guard can call out a name; Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity huddle, as close as equines can, and talk amongst themselves for about a minute. When they separate, Applejack turns to the guard and says, “If'n it's all the same to y'all, we've decided Maud should go next. Then, whoever you call will follow.”

The guard looks at the gray earth pony, but she doesn't answer immediately.

As my character stands up and looks at her, I say, “I've already visited Pinkie Pie. If the rest of the Mane Six think you should go next, I can't see why you shouldn't.”

Maud sniffles a couple more times as she turns away from my character and toward the guard. As she passes the trio, she says, “Thank you.” Finally, once she reaches the guard, she signs and says, “I'm ready.” Just before the door closes, though, I'm sure I hear her whimper.

Applejack turns to the others with her, now joined by Twilight Sparkle, and says, “We did the right thing, giving Pinkie's sister the next chance to visit her.”

Fluttershy says, “I know. I just can't help worrying about her. Do you think she'll be alright?”

After a second, I hear Rarity say, “I know what you mean. I can't help wondering, what if Sweetie Belle were in jail?”

Applejack responds, “Ah know. Ah wonder the same thing about Applebloom. And, then there's Pinkie Pie's crimes.” I see the orange pony's mouth vibrate, then the shakes away the emotion, dropping her hat. As she picks it up again, she says, “Maud didn't seem like the type that'd wear her heart on her sleeve. Ah get the feelin' this is especially hard for her.” Focusing on the yellow pegasa, she concludes, “Fluttershy, you asked just the right question.”

My character sits down in the nearest empty chair and turns to the doorway, and anymore talk from the ponies, or from any other source for that matter, quiets down to near inaudibility. A few minutes later, I notice some minor vibration in my character's vision, and I'm sure I hear Fluttershy's voice say something.

As my character turns to see the source of the sound, I see that it is indeed the yellow pegasa, trying to get my attention. I finally hear her say, “Mormon, are you alright?”

My character nods and reaches toward Fluttershy with the hand closest to her as I answer, “I'm fine. Is there something you wanted to talk about?” I notice the expression on her face, either sadness or worry, or both. I notice her wings twitching in turn, the tips seeming to play leap frog, indicating agitation.

The yellow pegasa accepts my character's hand, rubbing her cheek against it. She then says, “I'm just curious about how you know about Maud being Pinkie's sister.”

I answer, “Like I said to Maud, I have a good source for my information.”

I'm sure I hear irritation in Fluttershy's voice as I hear her say, “I'd hoped you'd tell me more than you told Maud.”

I answer, “Maybe later. Is there something else about Maud you want to ask me about?”

She nods, then answers, “My friends and I were talking about her, and Applejack and Rarity were theorizing about what they would do if they were in Maud's position, having a sister who'd committed murder.” She then canters a few steps so she's in front of my character, then sits canine style. Resting her head in my character's lap, she continues, “Pinkie Pie is the closest thing I have to a sister, and murder is something that just doesn't happen in Equestria. But, Pinkie Pie committed three of them. Do you think there's any chance of her repenting?”

My character strokes the yellow pegasa's mane as I say, “That's up to Pinkie Pie. She's salvageable as long as she believes she is.”

Fluttershy looks up at my character, lifting her head from his lap, and says, “That's what worries me. How does one repent of one murder, much less three?”

I'm given no time to answer as the door opens and Maud comes out.

She looks back at the door as it closes, pausing for a moment, then turns ahead of her again and slowly walks toward my character.

The guard says, “Applejack, come forward.”

As the two earth ponies pass each other, they don't seem to acknowledge each other.

All things considered, that doesn't surprise me.

As the prison door closes behind Applejack, I notice the gray earth pony staring at me for a moment. She then says, “I noticed a book in Pinkie's cell. Is it true you gave that to her?”

My character nods as I answer, “It is. I gave her a copy of a book known as the Book of Mormon. It's a book that's come to mean a lot to me, and I thought it'd be a good idea to give it to her.”

Maud, not moving, asks, “May I have a copy of the book?”

As my character stands up, I answer, “That was the only copy I brought with me to the prison. I have others in my room. If I'm allowed to go back there, I can get a copy of it for you, if you want.”

Is it just me, or did Maud just vibrate? She says, “I would like a copy of that book. I will go ask one of the guard ponies for permission.”

My character starts to stand up as I say, “I'm thinking you could ask Twilight Sparkle. She's the purple unicorn with the compass-like star and five white stars around it for her cutie mark.”

The gray mare nods and turns away, evidently searching for the pony I described, then, finding her, trots to her to ask.

I can't tell what they're saying, not even by their actions. All I know is when Maud approaches me again, she says, “Twilight has informed me that, since we've visited Pinkie Pie already, we no longer need to stay here. We are free to go to your room, as long as Lyra comes with us.” Before I can say anything, she turns away from me again and calls out, “Which one of you is Lyra?”

The pale-green unicorn turns as she hears her name. Trotting toward my character and the gray earth pony, she asks, “You want me for some reason?”

I answer, “Maud here wants a copy of the Book of Mormon, and I know I have some left in my room. Since Maud and I have visited Pinkie Pie already, we're free to go, but just as long as you come with us.” It's only then that I notice Weed Whacker next to her.

The pale-green unicorn answers, “Well, since I have Weed Whacker with me, I suppose there's no problem with us leaving right now.” And, with that, she leads the way to the door leading out of the waiting room and into the hallway.

Once out of the waiting room, Lyra turns to Maud and asks, “So, will you be joining in the library for the reading?”

Maud answers, “I don't usually read anything other than my own poems. And then, I usually read them by myself. But, considering I'm getting a book that's none of my own works, I suppose I could join others in reading it as well.”

Presently, Lyra says, “Mormon, Bon-Bon, Weed Whacker, Fluttershy and I read the first chapter of the book, a book within the main volume called the First Book of Nephi, yesterday. So, we'll be reading the second chapter next, maybe more than that. I don't know how many ponies will be reading with us, but I do know, besides us five, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, and the two Princesses will be joining us. And, Princess Celestia said she'd invite others to join us, as well.”

The party of four makes a turn and enters another hallway, lined on each side by doors.

As the four make the final stretch to the room for my character, Lyra, and Weed Whacker; Maud says, “It sounds as though you already have a large reading group. Are you sure you need one more?”

I answer, “I'm familiar with an old saying: the more, the merrier. Even if you're not interested in reading, you can just come and listen if you want. And, I'm thinking we're far enough into the book that anyone who has a question could ask, and anyone who has an answer can offer it.”

Maud asks, “Do you expect the book to be that complex?”

I answer, “There are parts of the Book of Mormon that are quotes from other books of scripture. In the Second Book of Nephi, for instance, about half of it is from the Bible, especially the Book of Isaiah. There are also quotes from the New Testament, as well as a story from the Book of Zenos. I doubt we'll be getting that far. But, that doesn't mean there won't be anything to ask about the chapter or chapters we'll be reading this evening.”

At this point the group has arrived at the door, and my character reaches out to open it.

Presently there seems to be a pale-green aura covering the door, and the door seems to open on it's own.

I'm aware it's Lyra who opened the door with her magic.

The four enter the room, and my character immediately heads to the bag containing the copies of the book. As he fishes out a copy and places it on the bed, I suddenly hear whimpering coming from Maud's direction. As my character gets the book and returns to Maud's side, I ask, “Are you alright?”

At the same time, Weed Whacker runs to the door and closes it.

Maud, in the mean time, starts sobbing and shaking her head.

For the moment, the book can wait. Right now, this earth pony needs some comforting. The problem is, how do I go about comforting this mare?

Then, a thought occurs to me, and I ask, “Did Pinkamena say something to you?”

The gray earth pony shakes her head again and sobs, “It was Diane.”

I ask, “What did she say?”

Maud looks at my character and says, “She told me to thank you again, first for giving her and Pinkamena that book, and second once again for stopping Pinkamena before she could do more damage.”

Something's telling me I should press the question about Pinkamena Pie. So, I ask, “Are you sure Pinkamena had nothing to say?”

Maud pauses to sniffle, then answers, “I asked her about what you'd told me about, telling the stallions about eating horse meat, then helping a friend of hers.” Her voice cracks as she whimpers, “She admitted to killing the griffon and the two ponies, and that killing one of her friends was nowhere near as satisfying as she thought it was going to be.” She gags, but nothing comes out. After swallowing, she continues, “When I asked about her repenting, she said she wouldn't be able to seek repentance to the ones she'd killed. I think she's already given up.” Finally, after a raspy inhale, she starts bawling.

My character closes his arms around the grieving earth mare and holds her close to him. I feel like if I were in Maud's place, I'd find my mane combed strictly to the side facing the human an advantage. But, I'm a human. Perhaps ponies think differently?

As it turns out, Equestrian pony instincts are more similar to my own, at least, then I thought.

The gray earth pony, in response to my character holding her, collapses onto his chest and allows the emotional release.

In the mean time, I have my character just stroke the side of her neck he can reach with his one available hand.

Some few minutes later, as Maud's regaining her composure, we hear a knock at the door.

Weed Whacker answers the door, opening it just enough to see who knocked. I hear her say, “Bon-Bon, what are you doing here?”

I then hear Bon-Bon's voice answer, “I came here when I didn't see Lyra come back. I've visited with Pinkie Pie, and I thought I'd come here and relieve Lyra so she could visit with her as well.”

Lyra canters to the door and, seeing her friend, says, “That's very thoughtful of you. Thank you. I would like to visit her before the trial.” Then, she and Weed Whacker back into the room.

Once the yellow earth pony has entered, Lyra makes her way out. Before Weed Whacker closes the door, I hear the pale-green unicorn say, “Keep an eye on Maud. She's Pinkie's sister, and Mormon's trying to comfort her.”

On the one hand, Lyra's last statement could be construed as insulting, suggesting that Maud didn't like having Pinkie as a sister. But, then, on the other hand, being taken the more logical way, I have been comforting a pony whose sister is facing trial, and perhaps execution, for three murders.

As Weed Whacker closes the door, Bon-Bon approaches my character and Maud and, seeing the gray earth pony sniffling every now and then, says, “You have a gift for comforting ponies.”

I suddenly find myself with the urge to ask what kind of gift I have, but then I think better of it, thinking it best to keep the thought in my head where it's more entertaining. So, I say nothing.

A few minutes later, Maud pushes away from me, then turns to me and thanks me for defending her.

I answer, “I'm glad I could help.” Then, my character retrieves the book from the bed and offers it to her as I say, “Here's a copy of the Book of Mormon, by the way.”

Maud bows to my character and says, “Thank you for the book. And, please forgive me for attacking you.”

I answer, “That's alright. I probably would've done the same thing if I were in your place.” As I watch Maud rise again, I say, “At any rate, here's the book.”

Maud says no more, just grabs the book from my character and proceeds toward the door.

It's Weed Whacker that opens the door and allows Maud to leave.

After watching the gray earth pony leave, my character turns to Weed Whacker, who closes the door after her, as I say, “I wonder if we should go back to the dungeon waiting room, and wait for Lyra.”

The herbivorous dinosaur looks at the window and says, “I don't know. It's getting time for the sun to go down. If Lyra hasn't gotten her chance by now, she won't get a chance. By the time we get there, anyway, they'll likely be on their way back here to find you so all of us can go to the courtroom together for the trial.”

As my character looks out the window, I can still see the sun out at midday; but then I remember that Princess Celestia controls the sun. I can't seem to remember at the moment whether there's a gradient between the time Celestia causes the sun to set and the time Luna causes the moon to rise. For that matter, I can't remember whether there's a gradient between the time Luna lowers the moon and the time Celestia raises the sun. One thing I do remember is the episode when Twilight Sparkle had control of the sun and moon, and the entertaining event when she raised the sun and lowered the moon, twice. But, that's a story for another day. All things considered, Weed Whacker is probably right.

I say, “You may be right. We'll wait here for Lyra to return.”

I will only record that for the next few minutes Weed Whacker, Bon Bon and I talk about various things. I won't go into details about what we talk about. All I will say is that the door opens when I'm in the middle of a sentence, and Lyra walks in and tells us it's time for the trial to begin.

Considering it's an element holder that's on trial, specifically the holder of the element of laughter, it's not surprising that very little or no conversation takes place. In fact, save for the foot- and hoof-falls, there's really no sound coming from the group, lead by Twilight Sparkle, making their way through the hallway. In fact, considering the level of emotion that must be going through everyone in the group, what is surprising is that Twilight Sparkle leads the group so easily. In a matter of minutes, the group arrives at the courtroom.

Once there, each member of the group is lead to their chosen seat.

A sad-and-scared-looking Pinkie Pie is sitting in a wooden-barred cage on one side of the room next to the judge's desk, while there's another wooden-barred cage on the other side of the desk. A soldier pony stands guard next to Pinkie Pie, perhaps as much for her own protection as for those around her.

Lyra and Bon-Bon sit with other ponies in a group of benches. I'm guessing that's where witnesses to the trial sit. Weed Whacker and Spike are with them, in between.

The rest of the group is seated, Princesses Celestia and Luna enter from doors on each side of the judge's desk and meet and sit next to each other where traditionally the judge would sit. Evidently the Princesses are going to be the judges.

In the presence of the Princesses all the ponies and dragons in the courtroom bow to their Princesses and stop whatever conversations they were having amongst themselves.

After a few seconds, Princess Celestia says, “All arise. The trial will now begin.”

Princess Luna looks at my character and says, “Mormon, you will stand and give testimony against the accused, Pinkie Pie.”

Another soldier pony approaches my character, who stands up and moves around the desk. As he and the soldier meet, my character follows the soldier to the cage opposite Pinkie Pie. Once he's inside, the soldier pony turns around and says, “The plaintiff, Mormon, will now speak.”

In response, I say, “I don't know Pinkie Pie as well as I'd like to; I only met her maybe a week ago. Before I can tell you more, though, I have to tell you about what happened when I first came to Ponyville.”

Princess Celestia taps a front hoof twice on the desk and asks, “Is this important to the case?”

As my character turns to her, I answer, “It is.”

The white alicorn points at me with the hoof she tapped on the desk and says, “If it isn't, it will be removed from the record.”

I answer, “Fair enough,” after which my character turns back to the audience, and I continue, “When I first arrived in Ponyville, I was met by three stallions who tried to drive me out again. To make a long story short, I was able to stave them off partly by telling them of an experience I had as a missionary, when I had my first taste of horse meat.” As my character turns to the white alicorn again, I ask, “Should I tell the story, or go on with how Pinkie Pie and I first met?”

For a few seconds there's a discussion between the two Princesses. When it's over, Princess Celestia says, “You don't need to tell the story. Just go on with your first meeting with Pinkie Pie.”

As my character turns back to the main audience, I continue, “Well, after effectively stopping the stallions from attacking me, promising that I was here to make friends of the ponies here, not meals, I met Pinkie Pie a little further into town.

“She attacked me, wanting to get revenge for what I did, what I said, to the stallions. Suffice it to say, my successful effort to keep the stallions from attacking was not a tidy one. What Pinkie Pie doesn't know is I went back and cleaned up the mess I'd caused. And, I did make friends with those three stallions.

“Later, I proved to Pinkie Pie that I intended to make friends with the ponies in Ponyville when I helped one of her friends, Fluttershy, guide a family of ducks through town and back to her cottage. I can only guess it was my efforts helping Fluttershy and driving off a mean-spirited griffon that caused Pinkie Pie to believe she had a debt of some kind to pay to me.

“A day or so later, after a party that both the griffon and I were invited to, Pinkie Pie had some cupcakes she invited me to have a sample of. When I ate one of the cupcakes, I noticed it had two flavors of meat, that were somehow blended together and seasoned so that the flavor combination tasted just like chicken. That is to say, I liked the flavor. I'd heard somewhere that griffon meat is supposed to taste like to different kinds of meat. Pinkie Pie and I met later in a different location where it was confirmed that what I had eaten was indeed a cupcake made from griffon meat.

“I wasn't able to stop Pinkie Pie from killing Derpy Hooves and trying to turn her into muffins. When I gave her one last chance to repent, instead she killed Rainbow Dash. And, as I promised, I apprehended her myself after that.

“I admit I failed to stop Pinkie Pie from killing any ponies. And, I even encouraged her by eating one of those cupcakes made from griffon meat and saying that I liked the taste. It can be argued that Pinkie Pie could have decided to change course at any point, and that's true. But, that doesn't excuse me from my part in her crimes. It's already been agreed, from what I understand, that if Pinkie Pie agrees to repent, she'll be handed over to me so I can help her.” As my character turns to Pinkie Pie again, I conclude, “I hope you will repent. It'll give me a chance to make amends as well.”

As I look through my character's eyes at the pink earth pony, her face looks like melted wax. Her ears are drooping, the normal smile is replaced by a frown, and even her eyebrows could form an arrow pointing upward. Not only that, but there's a waterfall from each eye. This time, as she reaches for me, she squeaks out, “Mormon, I'm so sorry.” And, unlike in the prison, the reach is not of a pony wanting to attack my character, to attack me. I'm not really sure why she's reaching out to me this time, i just know she doesn't want to hurt me.

Before I can determine what Pinkie Pie wants, I hear Princess Luna say, “Fluttershy, you will be next to testify against Pinkie Pie.”

As my character turns to look at the yellow pegasa, I hear her say, “No. Please, no. I can't. I just can't.” While she's pleading not to go up, she shrinks behind the desk.

Through my character's eyes, I watch Twilight turn to her and say, “I know how you feel, Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie is my friend, too. But, we have to do this. If we want to get Pinkie Pie back, we have to testify against her. You saw, you heard, how Mormon did it. You just have to tell everypony what you saw her do. And, after that, you can plead with Pinkie Pie to change her ways. That's all you need to do.”

Looking at the poor yellow pegasa, I wouldn't be surprised if she's on the verge of leaking from more than just her eyes. She's already terrified, she doesn't need to be disgraced as well.

As my character turns to the Princesses, I say, “If you'll waive from Fluttershy the requirement of testifying against Pinkie Pie, I'll show you two videos, two recordings of events. Both are murders that Pinkie Pie committed. The first is Derpy's murder, the second is that of Rainbow Dash.”

Presently, Twilight Sparkle stands up and says, “If you're going to excuse Fluttershy from testifying, you'll have to excuse me as well. And, for that matter, you'll have to excuse Applejack. All three of us have watched at least one of the events recorded on Mormon's … device. I don't know if Fluttershy has watched both events, but I know Applejack and I have each watched one of them. If watching at least one of those videos makes a pony a witness, then Applejack and I also qualify. And, if everypony in this room watches those events, that makes them all witnesses.”

When the purple unicorn is finished speaking, I hear Lyra stand up and say, “Well, if watching those events makes a pony a witness against Pinkie Pie, then Weed Whacker and I qualify as witnesses as well. We should testify against Pinkie.”

My character turns to the pale-green unicorn as she speaks, then turns to Princess Celestia for her agreement or disapproval. I notice something for the first time about the white alicorn: she's trembling.

Princess Celestia looks down, and I'm sure I see her lower jaw quiver. She sniffles, then rubs her nose with a forelimb, then looks up again and says, “Very well. I will forgo all further testimony, but only if we watch the two events on Mormon's device.” Turning to me, the white alicorn asks, “Do you agree?”

I answer, “Yes. But, I'm going to need a projection device first. If you don't have such a device, you just need the components and I can make one. We just need a couple mirrors, a box of some sort, and maybe a convex lens, just in case the image needs to be flipped right-side-up.”

The white alicorn turns to the soldier pony guarding me and asks, “Do we have the device Mormon's talking about? If not, do we have the components to make one?”

The soldier pony answers, “As far as I know, we do not have such a device. But, we do have all the items Mormon mentioned, and he should be able to make this projection device with those items. In fact, I believe we have two or three boxes that Mormon can have.”

Princess Celestia turns to my character and asks, “How long will it take, once you have all the components, to make this projector?”

I answer, “It shouldn't take that long. It depends on certain factors, but I'm thinking it shouldn't take more than ten minutes.”

Princess Celestia says, “Very well,” before continuing, “The wall behind the audience should be perfect for a surface for viewing the projection.” Then, she points to the benches and says, “It'll take everypony to turn all the benches to face the wall. In the mean time, Mormon will build his projector, then all witnesses that have not already done so will be exempt from testifying against Pinkie Pie, but you will still be required to plead with her to change. Otherwise, Fluttershy, you will be next to testify.”

To my surprise, I hear Fluttershy say, “Very well.”

With that, commotion ensues.

The soldier pony guarding my character escorts him back to the long desk, then leaves to accumulate the items I requested.

Other ponies show up with tools to loosen bolts under the benches.

In a few minutes, the materials I requested arrive, and my character begins the process of assembling the projector.

I hear Fluttershy's voice say, “Thank you, Mormon. You really didn't need to do that.”

As my character turns to the yellow pegasa, I say, “That's alright. If you need to use the mare's room, you can do so now, I think.”

Fluttershy looks down as I hear something inside her growl. Timidly, she says, “I didn't think I was that obvious. Thank you. I'll go now.” Then, as she rises, my suspicions are confirmed as she starts to urinate in her chair. Quickly she sits down again, splashing her urine around her. She squeaks in disgrace and says, “Now what do I do?”

Twilight Sparkle, unable to ignore the situation, just closes her eyes again, places a front hoof between them, and shakes her head.

Applejack taps Fluttershy on the shoulder and says, “Oh, Sugar Cube, why didn't ya say anythin'? Ah'm sure Princess Celestia would've dismissed y'all to go. Y'all could've asked while Mormon was a'testifyin'.”

I can see from the yellow pegasa's expression that Applejack's statement is just making her feel worse. Fluttershy likely didn't need to use the bathroom, didn't feel the need to go, until attention was drawn to her.

Rarity, grimacing, says, “I don't usually use my magic this way, but … if it helps, … I could hold your … you know … closed and follow you to the mare's room, then let you go when you say you're ready.”

The fact that the white unicorn suggested such a violation surprises me. If I were in Fluttershy's position, I think I would prefer to stand up and eliminate in front of an audience. But, I'm not a pony. It could be that such a course of action would be acceptable among ponies. I'll just have to see how Fluttershy responds.

If Rarity's offer surprises me, Fluttershy's response surprises me even more.

The yellow pegasa says, “I appreciate the offer. But, I've already wet myself. Even if you keep me from doing any more, I'm still sitting in my own pee. Maybe, once that's cleaned up, I'll take you up on your offer. But, in the mean time, we'll have to wait.”

Well, if that works for ponies, then who am I to argue about it? My character still has a job to do.

But, as it turns out, the matter isn't quite settled.

I hear behind my character a young male voice call out, “Ew, gross!”

As my character turns around, I see through his eyes a cream-colored foal stallion with a brown circle around each eye pointing at Fluttershy and the ring of yellow liquid around her and her chair.

If that's not enough embarrassment for the poor yellow pegasa, more ponies notice and start pointing and making comments of disapproval about an uncivilized pony urinating in the courtroom.

Having heard more than I want to hear of the subject, I call out, “That's enough out of all of you!” Once the room is silent, I continue, “Now, all of you, get back to work. If you can't work without getting distracted, then leave now. And, while we're at it, I may as well mention that the events I'll be showing are going to be very gruesome; so, unless you need to be here, anyone that has a weak stomach better leave as soon as these benches are switched around. For those who have a weak stomach and need to be here, you'd better have a container next to you just in case.”

Just as I finish my speech, the door from which we entered the courtroom opens and some white earth mares enter, one carrying buckets, another carrying cleaning utensils, another carrying what looks like a stack of white bed sheets.

The one carrying the buckets sets one of them next to the chair where Fluttershy is sitting.

Two or three others remove the white bed sheets, unwrap them, then surround Fluttershy with them, one of them holding the bucket in place next to Fluttershy.

As they close in on the yellow pegasa, the one directly in front of her encourages her to slide off her chair and over the bucket.

All three of them support her as, once she's directly over the bucket, I hear the sound of splashing into wood(?), followed by a few seconds of silence, then solids splashing into liquid.

After that, Fluttershy tells the ponies surrounding her that she's finished, and as the pony that was holding the buckets enters the sheet behind the yellow pegasa, I can only assume she's preparing to clean Fluttershy's backside.

My suspicions are once again confirmed, or so I assume, by Fluttershy jumping forward a little in evident surprise.

But, Fluttershy and her friends have been enough of a distraction. It's time for my character to get back to work on putting the projector together.

The assembly of the device isn't that difficult. The mirror goes in the corner, where it can make an isosceles right triangle, in each of two equal-sized boxes. Once the mirrors are securely in place, put them on top of each other, removing the connected sides so the mirrors can face each other, more or less. Then, place the lens in the third box, removing a space in the second box so the third box can be held secure. Also, open a hole in the first box to allow light from the tablet to enter the sequence of boxes. Finally, a few test runs to show that the projector will display the image from the tablet onto the wall. When the background image of the tablet shows up clearly on the wall, that indicates the projector is ready.

In the mean time, with the help of all the ponies that can help, the benches have all been turned around and secured once again to the floor.

At the same time, it appears that Fluttershy has been cleaned and dried, her chair has been replaced, her urine ring has been cleaned up, and the bucket containing her urine and feces has been carried out of the room.

In other words, everything is ready for the trial to get back under way.

As soon as the Princesses are informed, they enter and take their positions, and Princess Luna orders me to play the first event.

I have to remove the tablet from the projector to find and start the video, and I request that the lights be turned out, which is done. Before the lights are turned off, though, I notice that the population of the audience really hasn't changed in size since my speech. Once I'm confident the video is playing, I place the tablet in the projector, and the event begins to play on the wall.

From the perspective of the camera, it's difficult to tell exactly what Pinkie Pie is doing to Ataahua. Considering Ataahua's crotch is frequently covered by Pinkie Pie's head, it isn't hard to get the idea that Pinkie Pie is violating Ataahua's reproductive organs in some way. That is, until Pinkie Pie moves out of the way of the camera to get a blade of some sort. Then, it's evident the progress the pink pony is making in disassembling the gray pegasa. Then again, it's all too evident when Pinkie Pie surgically removes the cutie marks from each of Ataahua's hips, and as the pieces of thigh are set aside, the images on them start to fade almost immediately, and they fade gradually. Then, when it comes to Pinkie Pie cutting open Ataahua's abdomen, first to control her excretions, then to remove her internal organs, the only evidence is when Ataahua looks up or away to soundlessly scream. The only blood the audience sees is when Pinkie Pie removes Ataahua's heart, which produces a fountain directly into the pink pony's face. Finally, I notice that the gray pegasa evidently died approximately the same time in the harvest that Rainbow Dash died: shortly after the removal of her heart.

During the play of the video, I hear a familiar male voice call out what sounds like some kind of poem, perhaps the lines of some type of requiem. If certain keywords were intended to be another character's name, they've been replaced with the name “Ditsy Doo.”

As my character turns to look at Pinkie Pie, it's clear that the poem is as emotionally painful for her to hear as it seems to be for the familiar male voice to say. Then again, as my character turns back to watch the video playing on the wall, I suddenly realize something … scriptural about it, as though I read it from the Book of Mormon somewhere? I may have to look into that after I've saved and closed the game. Besides, I find it admirable that there have been no gagging or retching noises around the room. I have to wonder if my luck will hold up through the next video.

Once again, I have to remove the tablet to get the next video to play. One might think that finding one more video on a tablet that just has two would be easy, I thought so. But, as it turns out, it's a little more difficult than that. In fact, it takes at least five minutes before I can find that other video, then it's a matter of clicking on it to make it play. After that, I put it back in the projector so it'll play on the wall for its audience, just in time for all to see Pinkie Pie do that human action that caused me to wonder if she was challenging me.

I hear a moan of shame from Pinkie Pie, and my character looks at her to show me the pink earth pony is hiding her eyes in her front hooves. As I see that she clearly regrets the action, my character turns back to the wall to continue watching the event unfold. If she had intended to challenge me at the time, she's clearly feeling differently about me now.

I, with the rest of the audience, watch as the pink earth pony finishes fastening the blue pegasa to the cement bed on the wall, then proceeds again toward the table with the blades.

At this point, I hear Rarity say, just barely above a whisper, “Rainbow Dash, no. Pinkie Pie, why are you doing that?”

It's then that I remember that this is the first time Rarity has seen this video. There's no way I can reach out to her to comfort her easily, most certainly not without alarming her. All I can do is monitor her to see how she reacts to the events unfolding on the wall. She hadn't gotten sick from watching what happened to Ataahua. I can only wonder if she'll be fine watching what happens to Rainbow Dash.

This time, I don't hear the voices of the two ponies as Rainbow Dash begs, either for her own life or for her friend to commit no further murders.

Then again, there was no audio for the previous video, either.

I am unable to see when Rainbow Dash urinates on her tail, although I can see Pinkie Pie cleanly chop off the blue pegasa's wings. However, I, as well as the rest of the audience, get to see the shame of the blue pegasa as her bowels move once Pinkie Pie moves out of the way of the camera.

The sight triggers gasps and shouts of surprise and disgust around my character.

We also get to see Rainbow Dash vomit, which triggers gagging and retching sounds throughout the room. Then we see the blue pegasa electrocuted, and I'm sure I hear a chorus of instances of the zipper sound effect from the benches in front of my character. Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if various ponies messed themselves watching that scene.

I have to wonder how many of those sounds are coming from ponies that had been pointing at Fluttershy and talking about her being so uncivilized as to urinate in the courtroom, things that had made her feel all the more ashamed when she'd wet herself earlier. If my suspicions are confirmed, it's poetic justice on them. At the same time, I'm sure Fluttershy wouldn't wish such a thing on them.

Again we watch as the pink pony begins harvesting her friend's internal organs. I remember, as I watched the video at my character's house, that Pinkie Pie had named each organ as she removed them from Rainbow Dash, although there's no audio, at least none that I can hear, as the video continues. And, as I mentioned earlier, as with Ataahua, Rainbow Dash dies not long after Pinkie Pie removes her heart. But, all we can really see, during the harvest, is the pink earth pony appearing to bow to the dying blue pegasa. We also see Pinkie Pie try to wake her friend before realizing she's dead. Without a clear shot at the pink pony's face, there's no clear information of her anger at Rainbow Dash having died at that moment, nor what appears to be her acceptance a moment later. But, the video ends a short time after that.

As my character removes the tablet one last time, I say, “That's all the evidence I have.” As the lights turn back on, I turn to the pink earth pony and add, “I'm sorry to have to expose you like that. But, if you hadn't done those things, I wouldn't have had to show them.”

Pinkie Pie lowers her front hooves from her eyes and looks at me. Sniffling and rubbing her nose, she tries to speak; but all she can do is stammer before she starts sobbing again. But, something tells me that she wouldn't have been making excuses, at least not for herself. It's clear to me that the holder of the element of laughter understands how badly she's betrayed that element.

Before I can think about it any further, I hear Princess Celestia call out, “All arise.”

My character turns to the benches, showing me that indeed there had been some ponies that had messed themselves during the course of the last video.

Not all the ponies rise immediately, and those that rise more slowly have the hair of their tails glued to their backsides by what looks like a dark-green, opaque slime.

My character turns to the white alicorn, and I see her face starting to turn green, not unlike the slime on the backsides of the ponies that had risen more slowly. After a few seconds I clearly see her swallow; then she turns and runs to the door where she'd entered the courtroom. Impatient, she rears up on her hind legs and kicks the door down with her forelimbs, then lands and runs into the room opposite the door.

As we hear loud belches and splattering sounds, Princess Luna taps a front hoof on the desk, then says, “There'll be a short recess. In the mean time, you ponies that need to get yourselves cleaned up, please do so in the bathrooms. The rest of you clean up the benches and get them turned around again. And, get the messes on the floor cleaned up as well.” Again the dark gray alicorn taps her front hoof on the desk, then heads to the broken door to tend to her sister.

As my character turns his attention to the remnant of the Mane Six, I see Fluttershy rise and say, “I need to help those poor ponies that soiled themselves.”

As I watch, through my character's eyes, the yellow pegasa making her way to help her targets, I can't help developing a new respect for her. She reminds me of a certain human, one of whom there are three or four known testaments.

My character turns to the three other element holders, but they're already on their way to help return the benches to their original positions, and perhaps to clean them as well.

With the four friends in action, my character turns his attention to Pinkie Pie. Before he can get too close to the pink pony evidently still in mourning, the soldier pony guarding her moves to a position between her and my character.

The soldier pony says, “There'll be time to visit later. For now, either help with the benches, put your projector away, or sit back down.”

My character nods, and I say, “I just wanted to know if Pinkie Pie was alright.”

As my character turns around and walks back to the projector, I hear Pinkie Pie stammer, “I-I've killed … I-I-I … “ Then, as my character turns to her again, she finally says, “You heard how they reacted to what I did! I'm disgusting to them now! No, I'm not alright!”

I find myself unwilling to have my character do anything more than sit down in his place. Again, I have the remainder of what I really intend to do, which is to lose this first game and show what happens as a result. But, just because I intend to do so doesn't make it easy. Somehow, though, the most difficult part isn't deliberately failing Pinkie Pie; it's the damage control. I've succeeded in failing the pink earth pony, and I think I've succeeded in keeping the damage from getting any worse. But, there's still the final results. And, because I don't expect to be the only one to play this game, to lose this game, I've provided hinds in the game to let others know how to win. And, that's also one of the reasons why I'm playing this game, the first time to lose, and the second time to win. Then again, in this first play with the objective of losing, I find myself feeling that I'm betraying a close friend, perhaps an adopted child. But, then I remember, if I don't lose this first time, my win the second time I play this game won't mean as much. But, somehow, that doesn't make it any easier.

In spite of me not feeling like doing much, my character still proceeds to disassemble the projector. He manages to separate the three boxes before I hear Twilight's voice say, “You don't have to take that apart completely. It could be that the Princesses will have their own uses for it.”

As my character turns to the purple unicorn, I find myself at a loss for words. All I can think to say is “Thanks.”

Twilight tilts her head and asks, “Are you alright?”

After a moment, I answer, “I'll be fine.” Maybe I won't be for a while after losing this game, but eventually I will be.

The purple unicorn straightens her head again and, gently putting a front hoof on my character's hand closest to her on the table, says, “You're worried about Pinkie Pie. It's alright. Everypony's worried about her.”

I appreciate Twilight's attempt to sympathize with me. While it isn't necessarily the reason she may be thinking of, I admit there is a part of me that's worried about the pink earth pony. As much as I intend to lose this game, and am sure I've already succeeded, as I mentioned before, I do feel like I'm betraying a friend or an adopted relative. But, this is not something I can talk about with Twilight Sparkle, or, for that matter, any other character in the game. But, seeing that I have to say something to her, I finally say, “Thanks for caring.”

The purple unicorn looks down for a moment, then lifts her front hoof off my character's hand and, I assume, puts it down on the floor again. She turns away from my character and starts walking toward the door as she says, “Follow me, Mormon.”

My character obeys as Twilight Sparkle leads him out of the courtroom.

Once just outside the door, she turns to me and says, “There's something you're not telling me. What is it?”

I answer, “It's not something I can talk to you about.”

The purple unicorn groans under her breath. Looking away from me, she says, “Well, if you can't talk to me about it, then you'd better find somepony to talk to. Because, it's clear it's really bothering you.” Turning to me again, she concludes, “If this interferes with this case, we could lose Pinkie Pie. Either sort out your thoughts and feelings or find somepony to talk to about them. Now, let's get back before somepony comes looking for us.” With that, she circles around my character and opens the door, holding it open for my character to enter before her.

As my character enters the courtroom, I say, “Thanks for the advice.”

As my character makes his way to the long desk, I notice most of the benches have been switched around again, and there are still some soiled areas on some of those that I can see. As he sits down and turns to Pinkie Pie, I can see her ears are limp, but she still smiles and waves at my character, though weakly.

A few seconds later, Princess Luna enters through her sister's doorway, walks up to the desk, and says, “My sister isn't feeling well. She's given me authority to carry on with this case until it's conclusion. With that in mind, I invite volunteers to step forward and invite Pinkie Pie to repent.”

With that, Pinkie Pie is brought out of her cage and led to the midway point between the judges' desk and the witnesses' desk. Her chains are removed, and the soldier pony that's been guarding her calls for volunteers.

As each of the remaining members of the mane six approach Pinkie Pie and petition her to repent, their pleas are very similar: appeals to her sense of friendship, requests that she allow my character to help her, offers of forgiveness, and similar invitations. In fact, most of the petitions follow those lines.

Then, Maud steps toward her sister and offers the following petition: “Pinkamena, you always favored me above your other sisters. I was uncertain why until I met your twin sister, Diane. It was your body, but with straight mane and tail, just like me.

“Pinkamena, not until now had you shown any hint or even tendency toward evil; but your twin sister was always good. No, she was better than that. And, she was more than logical; she was wise. I looked at her, and it was me, but the best kind of me. I realized that you, Pinkie, were seeing your twin sister Diane when you were looking at me. And, I am honored that you see me that way.”

The gray earth pony closes her eyes tightly and turns so that her mane keeps her face hidden from Pinkie. But, I can see her fighting with her emotions, and evidently losing. When she's finally able to rein them in, she continues, “I don't know what happened to you, Pinkamena, but, if you'll repent, and if it's allowed, I want to help Mormon reform you. He gave me a copy of the book he gave you, and I've been reading from it. If anything can help you, at least reading from that book can. Will you promise, Pinkamena? Will you Pinkie promise? And, will you let Diane help you again?”

Pinkie might not have been able to see her sister Maud fighting with her emotions, but I'm sure she could read it in the silence in the middle of her plea.

When the gray earth pony is finished with her petition, the two sisters hug and sob on each other. While for some reason I am unable to hear what Pinkie Pie says to Maud, while I'm not even sure it's Pinkamena saying it, I know one of the spirits in Pinkie's body says something to Maud. Considering Maud is not the type to show emotion, her release is all the more meaningful, all the more poignant.

When the two finally separate, my character rises and approaches the pink earth pony. After watching Maud return to her place, my character turns to Pinkie Pie again; and I say, “I hardly know where to begin. I wasn't in Ponyville for very long when I first met you. I'd already met a trio of stallions that tried to drive me off, but you already know that story now. It really was an honor to help Fluttershy, and to show you that I intended no harm.” As my character kneels in front of her, he strokes her under her chin as I continue, “I would've been honored to be a friend of yours, if only I'd known how.”

I notice streamers forming from inside Pinkie's nostrils as she sobs, “I tried to be your friend. I took everything I knew about you, and I tried so hard to be your friend. But, you wouldn't let me.”

Ouch. If anything she could've said could sting, that does.

I continue, “As I told you, I never regretted eating horse meat; and, I never will. But, neither will I regret only ever having eaten it once. But, didn't I let you know that I wasn't here to eat you or your friends? Didn't I mention that I was here to make friends with these ponies? And, while I have made friends with many ponies here, I failed with you.

“I learned too late how I could've gone about making friends with you. Is it too late to show you how you can be my friend? And, is it too late for me to learn from you how I can be your friend? If not, then I plead with you to repent. Remember the gift I gave you. I would be honored to share it with you. But, if you won't allow that, will you at least read it for yourself?”

Even if I did have more to say, I'm interrupted by the pink mare suddenly jumping into my character's arms. Again she sobs, and I can only allow my character to hug her in return.

When the two finally separate, my character returns to his place behind the witnesses' desk.

There are several others from the audience that plead with Pinkie Pie to repent. Many say that it isn't her but her actions, her murders, that they find disgusting.

When all pleas are made, Pinkie Pie is chained again, then led back to the wooden cage.

Princess Luna sniffles and rubs the end of her nose with a forelimb before saying, “Seeing that all have made their pleas to Pinkie Pie, we will now hear her decision.”

The pink pony raises a front hoof to look at the chain on it, then looks at her audience and says, “After what I've done, there's no doubt in my mind that I deserve these.” Putting the hoof down again, she continues, “I'm grateful for your pleas to me. They mean a lot. But, how do I seek forgiveness of Gilda the griffon, or of Derpy Hooves and Rainbow Dash? Because of me, they aren't here, they aren't alive anymore. Of course, if they were alive, I wouldn't have to seek forgiveness for murdering them.” The pink pony looks down and sighs, then looks up again and continues, “If I could seek forgiveness of those three, if I knew I could even begin to repent, I would.” Her voice cracks as she concludes, “I've murdered one griffon and two ponies. I don't know if there's a punishment worse than death, but if there were such a thing, I'd deserve it. I can't repent of my crimes.”

I find my character buzzed by a gray earth pony with purple mane and tail as she jumps over the witnesses' desk on her way to her sister. As soon as she can reach the pink earth pony, Maud pleads, “Pinkie, you must repent. Do you want to fail your favorite sister, or fail Mormon?”

Pinkie Pie turns to Maud and answers, “Everypony here already sees me as disgusting, and I don't blame them. It's not just that I murdered Derpy and Dashy, it's how.” Turning back to the rest of her audience, she continues, “You saw how I killed Derpy Hooves and Rainbow Dash. I also harvested Gilda's organs, but if she hadn't fought so much, … I wouldn't have enjoyed torturing her, … wouldn't have enjoyed killing her so much. And, that's why I deserve the punishment I'm getting. I tortured three creatures to death, hoping to get as much enjoyment from the last two as I got from the griffon. I don't know what's wrong with me, but it's gone too far. How can I seek forgiveness from anypony else if I can't even forgive myself?”

I can see through my character's eyes Maud searching her sister's face for even the slightest doubt in her decision. When she can find none, she pushes away from the wooden cage, turns around, and slowly canters back to her place in the audience.

My character's attention turns to Princess Luna, who's clearly struggling with her own emotions. As she opens her mouth to speak, no sound comes out, and I can see her lower jaw quivering. She closes her mouth again, swallows hard, pants for a moment, then finally says, “Th-th-the … P-p-pinkie P-p-pie … “ then, unable to hold in her emotions any longer, the dark gray alicorn collapses on the judges' desk and just sobs, pounding her front hooves on the wooden surface.

The soldier pony guarding Pinkie Pie says, “We have Pinkie Pie's decision. She will be executed by beheading tomorrow morning. Everypony is dismissed.”

As my character looks around the room, it's clear that Princess Luna isn't the only one grieving over the doomed pink mare. In fact, the only ponies who aren't in tears are Pinkie Pie, who has evidently accepted her fate, and the soldier pony, who was programmed with that level of stoicism. Something of a testament to the influence Pinkie Pie has had on the world she lives in. Now, all that's necessary is to find out which pony, which filly, will hold the element of laughter after her. Then, there's Rainbow Dash. Who will be next to hold the element of loyalty? I suppose we'll find out tomorrow, that is, the game's tomorrow.

Surprisingly enough, time doesn't just fly by when we're having fun. I don't even notice the time between when all are dismissed and when all are back in our rooms. I finally become aware of my character's surroundings when I hear Lyra say, “I don't feel much like reading right now.”

I answer, “I know how you feel. I'm sure all of us were hoping Pinkie Pie would decide to repent. And, not only that, but Princess Celestia is sick. It's a dark time for Equestria.”

Before I can say anymore, I find my character's arms full of grieving, pale-green unicorn.

As my character strokes her mane, I continue, “I can't blame you for not wanting to read. But, our darkest hour is the best time to seek comfort in the word of God. We need to get together and read from the Book of Mormon. It might not take away all the sting, or maybe it will. But, we can't just sit here, stewing in our misery. Pinkamena Pie wouldn't want that, and neither would Diane.”

Lyra looks up at my character's face, sniffles, and says, “You're right. The Pinkie Pie I know and love wouldn't want us to wallow in grief. I don't think she'd want us to celebrate her being lost, but she would want us to celebrate her life. She's not dead yet, and maybe she'll be allowed to read with us just this once.”

I think aloud, “There are two possibilities, both worth trying. Either everyone else meets Pinkie Pie next to her cell; or Pinkie Pie is allowed, most likely under guard, into the library.”

Lyra smiles, albeit weakly, and says, “Well, I think we'd better consult Twilight Sparkle before we do anything. She's a bookworm, and she most likely studied up on the matter before coming here.”

My character turns to the door, and I can see through his eyes Weed Whacker there, ready to open it. The herbivorous dinosaur says, “Well, wherever we're going, we'd better go now.”

The pale-green unicorn rises and canters to the bed near where my character's suitcase is and says, “Well then, let's get our books.”

As my character also rises, I hear Weed Whacker say, “That's right. And, I know exactly where I put my copy of the book.” And, with that, she disappears under the bed for a moment, then comes out with her copy.

In the mean time, Lyra searches the room with her eyes, focuses on something behind my character, then gallops to it. As my character turns to see where the pale-green unicorn ran to, I can see through his eyes a book with a dark-blue cover on the dresser.

The book, presently possessed by a familiar pale-green aura, rises and approaches Lyra, hovering over her back, as she turns to my character and says, “I have my copy of the book. I'm ready to go when everypony else is.”

By this point, Weed Whacker is back at the front door, ready to open it, and holding her copy of the book. When the other two approach, she opens the door and proceeds through it, holding the door open for Lyra and my character, and closing the door behind them.

Lyra follows after her, leaving my character to bring up the rear.

On the next door down, Lyra knocks.

After a moment of sudden evidence of life, the door opens, revealing a depressed-looking Twilight Sparkle on the other side.

Before anyone else can say anything, Lyra asks, “Is there a chance that we could go to Pinkie Pie and read with her?”

I can't help noticing an incongruity, and, before the purple unicorn can answer Lyra, I ask, “Just a minute, why are you in this room?”

Twilight looks at my character and answers, “Applejack and Rarity were worried about Fluttershy. She wasn't responding to them talking to her or touching her, so they hoped I could get her to respond.”

The purple unicorn looks like she's going to say more, but she's interrupted when I hear Fluttershy's voice roar out, “You monster!” and my character is presently assaulted by the yellow pegasa. I can't tell if she even moved my character, but still she pounds (or maybe taps?) away at his chest as she rants, “You killed two of my best friends! All you had to do was save Pinkie Pie, and you couldn't even do that! Why don't you leave before you do any more damage?”

As my character wraps his arms around the raging pegasa, closing her wings against their connected sides, her punches slow and stop, and she buries her face into my character's chest and bawls.

My character then looks at Twilight Sparkle, and her blank expression either indicates a flood of emotions all at once, or that she's gone numb. That, coupled with the actions of the yellow pegasa in my character's arms, gives me nothing to respond to.

Applejack peers past the door, behind Twilight. Seeing Fluttershy in my character's arms, she says, “Well, good news is she's respondin', at least.”

Lyra, having watched the drama, turns to the purple unicorn again and asks, “Uh, Twilight, about reading with Pinkie Pie?”

The pale-green unicorn's question snaps Twilight out of her trance. After shaking her head, she turns to Lyra and answers, “Oh, yeah, about reading with Pinkie Pie. I suppose I could go and ask about it. The rules are, during visiting hours, it's one pony at a time. But, visiting hours are past. And, if Pinkie Pie joins us in the library, it's got to be under guard, and in chains. Criminals have a limited amount of freedom, but I think they are given the right to make their own decisions under certain conditions, including the final request after the death sentence is passed.” Then, tilting her head, she asks, “Do you think Pinkie Pie will request to be part of the reading before she's executed?”

Lyra lowers her head and answers, “I'm hoping so.”

Twilight sighs heavily and says, “Well, I suppose it won't hurt to ask.” then, looking at Lyra, she says, “You go to Spike and Bon-Bon and tell them I'm going to see about allowing Pinkie Pie to join us in the reading. She does have a copy of the Book of Mormon, after all.” Turning to my character, she adds, “You come in and take care of Fluttershy while I'm gone. The whole thing shouldn't take very long.”

Weed Whacker asks, “What about me?”

Before Twilight can say anything, I answer, “You can come with me. You can help me take care of Fluttershy.”

The herbivorous dinosaur salutes me, then approaches Twilight Sparkle, clearly intending to enter the room.

The purple unicorn moves aside to allow Weed Whacker to enter, then looks at me and nods, saying, “Alright then. I'll go on ahead and ask about Pinkie Pie. I'll let you know the answer as soon as possible.” With that, she walks through the doorway and toward the dungeon.

My character enters the room carrying Fluttershy. I wouldn't be surprised if he's carrying the yellow pegasa the way any human would carry their own child.

Once the two are inside the room, and after Applejack closes the door, Fluttershy pushes away from my character and says, sniffling, “I'm sorry. I didn't mean those things I said.”

I answer, “That's alright. You needed to vent. I understand.”

Fluttershy opens her mouth to say something, but before she can speak, there's a knock at the door.

As my character turns to see who's at the door, I see through his eyes Applejack open the door to reveal Lyra, Bon-Bon and Spike ready to come in.

Bon-Bon, the first to enter, says, “We've brought our books with us. As soon as Twilight Sparkle returns, we'll decide where to go from there. Never hurts to be prepared.” Then, seeing my character holding Fluttershy, she adds, “We heard the commotion in the hallway. Anything we should know about?”

My character turns to the yellow pegasa, showing me that her expression and posture suggest some level of disgrace. As he turns back to the yellow earth pony, I answer, “It's nothing.” I think about adding more, but then decide what I said is enough.

Once the three are inside the room, the orange earth pony closes the door, leaving us to wait for Twilight Sparkle to return.

After a minute or two, Spike turns to Lyra and asks, “Are you sure it's a good idea to invite Pinkie Pie to the reading?”

Lyra glares at the purple dragon, leaving me to wonder exactly why.

I answer the dragon, “What harm could it do? I did give her a copy of the book. It's all up to her whether she accepts or not.”

Spike, turning to my character, says, “But, she's killed three creatures already. And, two of those were ponies, and friends of hers. Aren't you afraid that she'll kill all of us?”

The pale-green unicorn's glare at Spike intensifies.

Directing my words first at her, I say, “At ease, Lyra!”

In response, Lyra backs away from Spike, but continues to glare at him.

Directing my next words at the purple dragon, I say, “I'm sure Pinkie Pie's already punishing herself more than we could for what she did. She had said she doesn't trust herself anymore. And, she's accepted the death sentence.” After a momentary pause, I continue, “Making the offer is a risk on our part. But, I don't think it'll hurt to make it. If she accepts, there's also the question of where the reading will take place. None of us knows if the decision will be hers or someone else's. Whether the reading takes place here, in the dungeon, or at the library, at least we'll have our answer. And, as for Pinkie Pie killing all of us, and making cupcakes out of us, I sense she won't be doing anything like that.”

Spike looks down, sighs, then looks back up at my character, and says, “I hope you're right.”

None of us says anything more.

Fluttershy falls asleep in my character's lap, Lyra leans on his shoulder and also doses off.

Applejack and Rarity look at each other; and I can see, through my character's eyes, the looks of worry on their faces.

Bon-Bon paces between the front and back walls.

Spike appears almost ready to cry, and Weed Whacker takes a defensive position in front of my character and the two ponies asleep on him. That is, until perhaps ten minutes later, when the door opens and Twilight Sparkle enters the room.

The two sleeping ponies immediately come to life again as the attention of every other creature in the room turns to the purple unicorn, who's head is lowered, ears drooping, and is generally frowning.

She sighs and says, “Pinkie Pie appreciates the offer, but she doesn't want to be bothered, or to bother us. I don't know if she read the book you gave her, Mormon, but she said something about appreciating the gift.” Sighing again, she continues, “Besides, visits are only allowed during designated hours, and then only one at a time. There's no way all of us would be allowed in the dungeon with Pinkie Pie at the same time.”

Lyra's inhale and exhale sound somewhat labored to me.

As my character puts his closest arm around the pale-green unicorn, I say, “Well, it was worth a shot, anyway.”

Her voice trembling, she answers, “Yes, you're right.”

It's Applejack who asks, “So, are we still goin' to the library for the readin' then?”

While the other ponies are rising and getting ready with their books, Spike says, “You can go ahead. I don't feel like reading right now.”

That's when Weed Whacker gives him the speech I gave Lyra. When Spike says, “Really?” Weed Whacker answers, “Well, that's what Mormon says.”

I find myself smiling at what the herbivorous dinosaur said, although I'm sure they can't see it. I say, “I'm sure Rarity will be there.”

At that moment, Spike hums with interest.

Twilight turns to her assistant and asks, “So, are you coming?”

The purple dragon disappears in a puff of smoke or dust, then returns a moment later, holding a book with a dark-blue soft cover, and says, “Sure, I'll come with.”

The purple unicorn smiles at me curiously, but doesn't ask the questions she clearly wants to ask. Instead, she backs out of the room, saying, “So, let's go. Just follow me.”

Bon-Bon doesn't need to say anything, but still, after all have exited the room and are following Twilight to the library, the yellow earth pony catches up with me and says, “If anypony knows where the library is, Twilight knows. I'll bet she knows where every library in town is.”

I can think of many responses to what the yellow earth pony said, but none of them seem appropriate or pleasant to say in the present situation. I find myself wondering if she expects a response to her statement. But, now I find myself thinking of nothing else but her statement, leaving me with nothing to say.

Then I hear Lyra groan and say, “Bon-Bon, don't you think at all before you say anything?”

I hear Bon-Bon respond, “What do you mean?”

Lyra says, “You put Mormon on the spot. How many libraries do you think are in Canterlot, anyway? And, what about Twilight's feelings? Ugh! We'll talk about this later.”

Lyra's last question seems to have put the yellow earth pony in her place. As my character looks at her, I can see her head lowered, and I'm sure the appearance of closed eyes is just because she's focused on the ground, and not wanting to look at anything else.

As my character turns to focus on the pale-green unicorn, I say, “Lyra, I'm sure she didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings.”

Lyra answers, “I heard what she said. How do you respond to something like that without saying something that'd hurt somepony else?”

I can't argue with her on that point. I find myself respecting the pale-green unicorn even more now. I say, “In the mean time, I appreciate you watching out for the feelings of others the way you did. I really respect that.”

Lyra says nothing more, just looks up at me and grins, somehow managing to communicate gratitude to me in that smile.

Then I hear Twilight on my other side asking, “Is everything alright?”

At first my character focuses on the lead position, and I notice a white alicorn there. He then turns to the purple unicorn's position next to him, and I say, “Everything's fine. Just a difference of opinions. Nothing to worry about.”

The purple unicorn sighs and says, “I heard something about me and libraries. Anything I should know about?”

I hear a moan from Bon-Bon, and my character turns to her to show me that she's evidently trying to hide from Twilight behind me and Lyra.

After a second, I hear Twilight's voice behind my character asking, “Are you alright, Bon-Bon?”

Presently, the yellow earth pony starts, running ahead to Princess Celestia's side, then slowing to her pace. As my character watches her canter next to the white alicorn, I can't help noticing her trembling.

I then hear a reasonably confused Twilight ask, “What was that all about?”

I open my mouth to say something, but Lyra beats me to it. She says, “I think it was something I said.”

Before Twilight can ask the obvious question, I say, “I see Princess Celestia is feeling better. That's good to see.”

The purple unicorn seems at a loss for words for a moment. Then, she says, “Yes, I guess alicorns don't remain sick for very long. She'll be there for the reading.”

As much as it's clear that my change of subject was successful, it's also evident that Twilight probably didn't want to pursue the matter with Bon-Bon any further.

Somehow, the conversation between the yellow earth pony and the white alicorn is sufficiently quieted that I, as far as my character is behind them, only hear mumbling. I can only guess the two are discussing the matter between Bon-Bon and me, and what Lyra had said to her about it.

As my character turns back to Twilight, I ask, “Have you been reading from the book Weed Whacker gave you?”

The purple unicorn answers, “I've been too busy to read anything from the book. Why? Do you have any questions about it?”

I find myself smiling at the question. I answer, “I was going to ask you that question, just in case you had read it.”

Twilight says, “Oh. I'm sorry. Like I said, I've been busy.”

I say, “That's alright. If you have any questions during the reading, don't be afraid to ask. If I don't have the answer, maybe someone else will.”

Twilight nods and says, “If I have any questions during the reading, I'll be sure to ask.”

It's not long after that when the parade arrives at the library.

As we enter, I can't help noticing another alicorn, this one pink, on one side of a long line of tables with a white male unicorn with blue mane and tail on the other side. Somewhere midway in the line of tables, Princess Luna sits opposite where we enter, talking to a pale-gold pegasa with mane and tail of varying shades of gray. The pale-gold pegasa, facing away from us, sits on the opposite side of the table from Princess Luna.

Three of the ponies, seeing Princess Celestia enter the library, rise to attention, prompting the pale-gold pegasa to look behind her, then also rise when she sees Princess Celestia.

As all of the four bow to the white alicorn, each one rises as she points to him or her with her horn and says, “You already know Princess Luna. Our guests are Princess Cadence, Daring Do, and Shining Armor.”

Now I realize I forgot to bring extra copies of the Book of Mormon.

In the mean time, I can't help noticing Twilight's reaction to the three ponies in the room. In fact, considering her reaction, which reminds me somewhat of Pinkie Pie's reaction at first meeting Twilight Sparkle in Friendship is Magic, I wouldn't be surprised if she expels something. She runs up to the pink alicorn, Princess Cadence, and performs with her a dance while reciting some poem, reminding me of a Maori war dance, although nowhere near as scary. She then runs around Daring Do to Shining Armor, and the two share a hug. Finally, she approaches the pale-gold pegasa and talks rapidly about being her biggest fan, having all her books, and a few things I have trouble making out.

That's when Princess Cadence steps in and says, “Alright, Twilight, calm down now.” Turning to me, she asks, “Did you bring extra copies of the book?”

I answer, “I did bring extra copies, but I left them in my room.”

That's when Lyra steps forward and says, “If you'll give me a moment, I'll go get them.” Without waiting for a response, she disappears, then reappears perhaps half a minute later with three more copies of the Book of Mormon, which she hands out to the three guests.

At this point, all the remaining ponies proceed to take places around the line of tables.

I find my character taking a position next to the pale-gold pegasa, with Lyra occupying the space on his other side.

Twilight takes a position next to Shining Armor, while Princess Celestia takes a position next to her sister, across from my character.

Weed Whacker takes a position next to Lyra, opposite my character, while Bon-Bon sits on Daring Do's side opposite my character again.

Rarity takes a position next to Princess Cadence, while Spike takes a position, predictably, next to Rarity.

Applejack takes the position between Bon-Bon and Twilight, while Fluttershy takes the position between Princess Cadence and Weed Whacker.

Once all are seated, I have my character open up his copy of the book as I say, “Yesterday, five of us read the first chapter of First Nephi. If it's alright with the rest of you, we'll start tonight's reading with the second chapter.”

In the subsequent commotion, which reasonably doesn't include Bon-Bon, Lyra, Weed Whacker, or Fluttershy, I hear remarks of irritation about having to catch up in the reading later, consent based on having already read the chapter, and one voice that doesn't seem to care. Princess Celestia's is the final voice, as she announces agreement.

As my character looks around, I notice each of the creatures has turned to the right page. I ask, “Do I have a volunteer to start the reading?” When I hear nothing from anyone, I have my character turn to the pale-gold pegasa while I ask, “Daring Do, will you start?”

Daring Do nods in agreement, then looks down at her copy of the book and begins, “Lehi takes his family into the wilderness by the Red Sea … “

Before she can continue, I state, “You don't have to read the chapter's introduction. Just start with the first verse.”

The pale-gold pegasa looks up at my character, hearing my statement, then quickly looks down at the book again. Looking back up at him again, she says, “Oh, I see. I'm sorry.”

I answer, “That's alright. Go ahead.”

After a quick “Yes,” Daring Do looks down at the book again and reads, “For behold, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto my father, yea, even in a dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy life.” Looking up from the book, she says, “I know what that's like.”

After a brief wave of laughter subsides, I turn to the yellow earth pony and ask, “Bon-Bon, will you read the next verse?”

Bon-Bon agrees, and reads.

Applejack, noticing the evident pattern, reads the third verse after Bon-Bon, followed by Twilight Sparkle reading the fourth.

Shining Armor reads the fifth verse, and Princess Luna reads the sixth, followed by Princess Celestia reading the seventh.

Spike then reads the eighth verse, Rarity reads the ninth, and Princess Cadence reads the tenth.

Fluttershy reads the eleventh verse, Weed Whacker reads the twelfth, Lyra reads the thirteenth, and I read the fourteenth.

Daring Do, seeing the single-line verse in front of her, looks up and says, “Well, here's a long one,” then looks down and reads, “And my father dwelt in a tent.”

After another wave of laughter, Bon-Bon reads the sixteenth verse, followed by Applejack reading the seventeenth, Twilight reading the eighteenth, Shining Armor reading the nineteenth, Princess Luna reading the twentieth, Princess Celestia reading the twenty-first, Spike reading the twenty-second, Rarity reading the twenty-third, and finally Princess Cadence reading the twenty-fourth verse.

Sensing disappointment in the sigh I hear from Fluttershy, I say, “Well, let's go ahead with chapter three.”

Taking that as her cue, the yellow pegasa presently reads, “And, it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father.”

Weed Whacker then reads, “And, it came to pass that he spake unto me, saying: Behold I have dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem.”

From Lyra I hear a confused grunt before she reads, “For, behold, Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers, and they are engraven upon plates of brass.” Looking up, she then says, “Now, wait a minute.” Having everyone's attention, she continues, “I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but this kind of makes the Lord sound absent-minded. I mean, first He has Lehi take his family from their home in Jerusalem and travel for a few days, then He orders him to send his sons back to get the records? Why couldn't they get the records and then leave?”

As my character focuses on the curious pale-green unicorn, I answer, “Lyra, that's a good question. We'll get the answer to that in the rest of this chapter, and in the next one. Now, I'll continue reading.” My character then looks down at his copy of the book, and I read, “Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren should go unto the house of Laban, and seek the records, and bring them down hither into the wilderness.”

Daring Do reads the fifth verse, Bon-Bon reads the sixth, and Applejack reads the seventh.

Twilight Sparkle reads the eighth, Shining Armor reads the ninth, Princess Luna reads verse ten, and Princess Celestia reads verse eleven.

Spike then reads, “And he desired of Laban the records which were engraven upon the plates of brass, which contained the genealogy of my father.”

Then Rarity reads, “And behold, it came to pass that Laban was angry, and thrust him out from his presence; and he would not that he should have the records. Wherefore, he said unto him: Behold thou art a robber, and I will slay thee.” Looking up from her copy of the book, the white unicorn says, “That seems harsh, does it not, wanting somepony dead just for stealing something?”

As my character turns to her, I answer, “I can't argue with you on that.” Then, as he looks at the rest of the group, I add, “But, this statement from Laban will play an important role in later verses.” As my character turns to Princess Cadence, I ask, “Will you continue?”

The pink alicorn swallows, but nods and reads verse fourteen, followed by Fluttershy reading verse fifteen, Weed Whacker reading verse sixteen, Lyra reading verse seventeen, and me reading verse eighteen.

Daring Do reads verse nineteen, followed by Bon-Bon reading verse twenty, Applejack reading verse twenty-one, Twilight Sparkle reading verse twenty-two, Shining Armor reading verse twenty-three, and Princess Luna reading verse twenty-four.

Before she reads verse twenty-five, Princess Celestia turns to my character and says, “This may be one of the verses you were talking about, when you said that Laban's statement would play an important role in later verses.” Turning to Lyra, she adds, “This may also help answer your question about why the Lord would order Lehi to take his family out of Jerusalem, then send his sons back to get the records after they've been traveling for so many days.” She then looks down and reads, “And it came to pass that when Laban saw our property, and that it was exceedingly great, he did lust after it, insomuch that he thrust us out, and sent his servants to slay us, that he might obtain our property.”

Presently, Applejack grunts derisively and says, “Now who's the robber?”

I answer, “Indeed,” then say, as my character turns to the purple dragon, “Will you continue?”

Spike growls, but nods and reads verse twenty-six.

Then Rarity reads verse twenty-seven, Princess Cadence reads verse twenty-eight, Fluttershy reads verse twenty-nine, Weed Whacker reads verse thirty, and Lyra reads verse thirty-one.

As my character looks around at the ponies and dragons, I say, “I think we should read one more chapter. Then, we'll call an end to the reading, for now. We'll see what happens afterward.” Turning to Princesses Celestia and Luna, I add, “If you want to continue readings after this here in Canterlot, I'll be happy to send you more copies of the Book of Mormon, and you can invite others to read with you.” As my character turns to Princess Cadence, I add, “If you want to set up a time of reading in the Crystal Empire, I'll be happy to send you copies of the book for you to read with those who want.”

Now, before I continue the story, let me state right now that I know this comes after Pinkie Pie has already accepted the death sentence, and there's no way to reverse that. And, I know that this game will end with the death of Pinkie Pie, which will happen on the game's tomorrow. But, having established that, it doesn't mean I have to give the characters in the game the idea that I've given up. I still want to give these characters the idea that life will go on. Now, let's continue with the story.

Daring Do, before I can say anything to her, says, “I seriously doubt I'll find anypony who'll want to read this book with me. I'll continue to read it on my own.”

I answer, “Excellent.” Then, as my character turns to Twilight, I continue, “After this, when we return to Ponyville, I plan to continue readings at my house on the other side of the Everfree forest. If you and your friends want to join me in the reading, you're welcome any time.”

Twilight squees at my character and says, “Well, thank you, Mormon. I may just take you up on that.”

As my character turns back to his copy of the Book of Mormon, I say, “Well, with that taken care of, let's continue.” With that, I read, “And it came to pass that I spake unto my brethren, saying: Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord, for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?”

After making a comment about Nephi having a lot of confidence in the Lord, Daring Do reads verse two.

Bon-Bon follows by reading verse three, then Applejack reads verse four, followed by Twilight Sparkle reading verse five.

Shining Armor then reads, “And I was lead by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.”

Princess Luna reads, “Nevertheless I went forth, and as I came near unto the house of Laban I beheld a man, and he had fallen to the earth before me, for he was drunken with wine.”

Princess Celestia reads, “And when I came to him I found that it was Laban.” As my character looks at the purple dragon, I notice an unnerving, predatory look in his eyes as he hums and says, “Interesting.”

Spike reads, “And I beheld his sword, and I drew it forth from the sheath thereof; and the hilt thereof was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine, and I saw that the blade thereof was of the most precious steel.”

Rarity reads, “And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit … that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrank and would that I might not slay him.”

Looking up, the pink alicorn says, “I don't like where this is heading.” She then reads, “And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.” Looking up again, she says, "Now it's just getting worse."

Fluttershy swallows and reads, “And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands;”

Weed Whacker reads, “Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.”

I read, “And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spoke unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.”

Daring Do reads, “Yea, and I also thought that they could not keep the commandments of the Lord according to the law of Moses, save they should have the law.”

Bon-Bon reads, “And, I also knew that the law was engraven upon the plates of brass.”

Applejack reads, “And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records according to his commandments.”

Twilight reads, “Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head, and I smote off his head with his own sword.”

Vocalizations of horror ripple across the group at hearing Laban's fate.

Before the next pony can continue reading, I say, “We'll read later on that Nephi and his brothers returned with the brass plates, which Nephi retrieved from Laban's treasury. I got and watched a live-action moving picture of this story, comprising all of First Nephi and much of Second Nephi. And, while this isn't written in this record, later on when Nephi's older brothers Laman and Lemuel rebel and try to return to Jerusalem, in the movie Lehi says, 'You killed Laban.' It took me hearing that to realize why the Lord had Lehi lead his family so far into the wilderness before sending his sons back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates from Laban. He knew Nephi would have to kill Laban in order to get the records.” As my character turns to Lyra, I continue, “Had they gotten the records from Laban before leaving Jerusalem, seeing it would've required killing Laban first, then left, the people of Jerusalem would likely have hunted them down and imprisoned or killed them on suspicion of the murder of Laban, leaving them either way unable to make it to South America and start a new life there. There would've been no Nephites and Lamanites, no one to reclaim another group that had left Jerusalem and made it there earlier, no one for the Christ to meet in the Americas, and no Book of Mormon altogether. God knows what he's doing, even when we don't.” As my character puts a hand under her chin to gently force her head upward to look at him in the face, I ask, “Does that answer your question?”

The pale-green unicorn smiles, even squees, and answers, “It does. Thanks.”

My character lets go of Lyra's chin and turns to the others as I ask, “So, shall we continue reading, or call an end of it now?”

It's Shining Armor who answers, “Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I want to see how this chapter ends.”

At this point, staggered comments of consent ripple around the table.

Hearing that, as my character focuses on him, I say, “Well, everyone agrees. So, go ahead.”

Shining Armor begins the rest of the story, and the rest of us, in turn, read as Nephi directs a servant of Laban, Zoram, to lead him to and retrieve the brass plates, then follow him out of the city to meet his brothers. We read about the promise made between Nephi and Zoram, that Zoram would have his freedom if he would go with them, and how they make their way back to the camp of their father Lehi.

After the reading, all are dismissed, and, while five remain in the library, the party of nine, my character included, makes it's way back to our rooms, where we separate and enter, and eventually retire to our beds.

This has been quite a chapter. And, the story isn't quite over yet. Clearly Pinkie Pie has given up. We need to find out who'll replace Rainbow Dash as the holder of the element of loyalty, and who'll replace Pinkie Pie as the holder of the element of laughter. And, finally, Pinkie Pie must be executed for her crimes. But, since this is just a video game, it can wait.

I save and close the game, in preparation for the final day of this story. But, still, I'm left to wonder, what happened to Maud?

Author's Notes:

Quite a lot of story to pack into one chapter. A day that started out with Mormon and Company on the edge of the Everfree forest concluded with them spending the night at Canterlot Castle. And, in between, there's been a motion sick pony, a visit with Pinkie Pie in jail, a special appearance by Pinkie's sister Maud, a trial where Pinkie Pie made her final decision, and a scripture reading in the Canterlot library.

Don't expect the chapters to get longer than this one. Since Pinkie Pie has made her decision in this chapter, there's really not much more to do. There won't be a scripture reading at the end of the next chapter, the last enumerated chapter in this volume, The Execution of Pinkie Pie.