Pinkie Pie, Gilda, Nurse Redheart, Dinky Doo-----Basement E Wing

Pinkie Pie bounced enthusiastically as she led her group to the large wooden door between the east and west staircases of the foyer.  She didn’t too much mind being grouped up with Gilda or Nurse Redheart, but it was Dinky Doo she was concerned about.  Pinkie was a party-loving pony, but even some things have their limits.  She didn’t want Dinky to end up like Diamond Tiara.

Nurse Redheart carried Dinky on her back as she followed the over-enthusiastic pony in front of her.  As much as she hated to do it, they had to investigate the basement just as much as the other floors.  She only wished they had been assigned a bit closer to the exit.  Dinky happily sat on Redheart’s back as they followed Pinkie through the large doors into the basement.  She was ready to help do whatever she could to find the horrible pony responsible for all of this.

Gilda couldn’t have hated it any more than she already did.  Although she tried to hide it, she obviously still didn’t like Pinkie.  After what had happened at that party a year or so back, she still held a grudge.  But knowing that complaining wouldn’t help anything, she decided to go ahead and help search the basement.  The sooner they found the host’s identity, the sooner they could leave.

Spike had told them to go down into the basement and investigate the eastern wing.  Pinkie happily agreed to do so, and without hesitation, set off to the underground floor.  Leading the group with optimism and a smile, she trotted down the stairs to the basement’s wooden door.

Although the main room was fairly blank, light music played from a speaker in the far corner.  It was a light-hearted tune.  Nodding back to her teammates, Pinkie pointed at the large wooden door that would lead them into their wing of the basement.  With enthusiasm, she turned the knob and swung the door open, bouncing inside.

Gilda rolled her eyes as she watched the party pony enter the room with minimal care for traps or secrets.  She stormed into the room with an angry expression on her face, but was caught off guard by just what exactly she found.

Nurse Redheart mumbled to herself as she entered the room, “I guess this place was set up for the fillies…”

Gilda scoffed, “You got that right.”

The room was decorated by colorful streamers and balloons scattered about here and there, and little games were set up all throughout the large expanse.  There was a ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ area set up, some bean-bag chairs in one corner, and a bunch of other miscellaneous games.  Pinkie smiled as she looked around the room.  She hadn’t seen so many games in one room in a long time.

Not taking a chance with missing anything, Gilda ripped the donkey poster off of the wall with a claw, making sure there was nothing behind it.  She also tossed the bean-bag chairs out of the way, looking for any type of unusual object.  She didn’t find anything as she scoured the room.  With an annoyed grunt, she glanced over at Pinkie, who was examining the far corner of the room.

“You find anything yet?” she asked bluntly.

Pinkie shook her head, giggling, “Nothing besides a few finger-paints and decks of cards.”

Gilda rolled her eyes, glancing over to see Redheart and Dinky reading a book.  “What’ve you two got?”

Redheart looked over at her and said, “Our host’s name.”

Gilda’s eyes lit up at the sound of that.  “What do you mean by his ‘name’?  You know who it is?”  Gilda stomped over to Redheart’s side.

With a smile, Dinky exclaimed, “Yep!  This book has a picture of her in it!  All we gotta do is take it back to everypony!”

Gilda snatched the book from Redheart’s hooves, looking over the page carefully.  Her eyes lit up with excitement as she read the words written on the page.  Pinkie walked up beside her, curious to hear the reading.

Gilda read aloud, “’The Master of the House is a very kind pony, wouldn’t you agree?  She has so many games to play, want to see?  All you have to do is simply behave and play nice, then we can have fun all night long.  This party you’ve been invited to is a trap that is very obvious.  Sadly, it will be too late to stop it by the time you see this.’”  Gilda paused to think about what she was reading.  She looked around carefully to make sure nothing suspicious was going on around her.

She continued, “’My Master has asked me to write a book that will entertain you fillies…but I cannot do that.  There is nothing fun about her plan!  All I can tell you is that she cannot be allowed to get her wish.  She has no wings and has no horns, yet she is a bitch!  You must warn your party guests the moment this is read…  I’m afraid that by the time the party starts…I shall be dead…’”

Gilda stopped.  She couldn’t shake the feeling that somepony was watching her.  She wasn’t sure why, but she felt that something bad was about to happen.

Pinkie exclaimed, “So the host is a mare that doesn’t have wings or a horn?  She’s an earth pony!”  Redheart and Dinky smiled.  That narrowed it down to several choice guests at the party.

Gilda scoffed, “And wouldn’t she have to be rich, since she owns this mansion?”

Pinkie thought about it for a second, “Not necessarily.  There can be any number of explanations as to why she would have a mansion.  Maybe a relative is super rich and this is a vacation home…?”

Redheart nodded in agreement.  “I think we should return to the foyer.  This is big news.”

Turning to leave the room, Gilda’s heart skipped a beat when the doorknob didn’t budge.  Her head darted back and forth, examining the room.  Pinkie gave her a confused look.  She screamed, “Get down on the ground, now!  The door’s sealed shut!  This is a trap!”  She fell over on the ground with a thud, wary of anything moving in the room.  She expected some sort of projectile to launch from a random hole in the wall.

After a minute on the ground and nothing happening, Redheart sighed, “Are you sure you didn’t just turn the knob the wrong way?”

Gilda shot her an angry glare, “Of course I’m sure!  The door was sealed, which means something’s about to happen!”

Pinkie looked around the room.  She stood back up when she didn’t see anything.  “I think you may be losing it, Gilda.  I don’t see anything wrong.”

Redheart raised herself off of the ground, “I agree with Pinkie.  There’s nothing wrong here.”

Gilda let out a sigh and lifted herself up.  She looked around nervously.  “I’m telling you there’s something wrong.  The door won’t open!”  She twisted and turned the knob every which way, but it was to no avail.  The door wouldn’t budge.

Redheart turned to look at Pinkie.  As she did, something horrifying caught her eye.  There was a tiny red dot aimed at Pinkie’s neck.  Looking to the wall, a small needle was sticking out, a laser right above it, aiming.  With a scream, Redheart darted toward Pinkie, tackling her out of the way as the needle launched from the hole in the wall.  The laser shut off, and the needle made direct contact to one of Redheart’s blood veins.

In a short, throat-shredding scream, Nurse Redheart fell limp on the floor, her body convulsing wildly.  With a mortified expression on her face, Gilda leaped to Redheart’s side, plucking the small object in her neck out without hesitation.  She looked at the black needle at the end of the object.

With a groan, she tossed it to the far end of the room.  “Poison needle.  You oughta be fucking thankful, pony!  She gave her life to save you!”  She gave Pinkie Pie an extremely angry glare.

With a faint clicking sound, the door swung open.  Gilda lifted Dinky off of the ground and placed her on her back.  “Sorry kid, but this ain’t a place for you.  Let’s go.”  With a sigh, Gilda walked out of the room.

Pinkie followed, unable to say anything, her cheery demeanor replaced by a depressed frown.  Hearing a loud banging sound coming from the direction of the stairs, Gilda darted over to the door.  She couldn’t get it to budge.  She tackled it a few times, but it didn’t move.  Suddenly, a voice called to her from behind.

“Need a helping hoof, griffon?”  Gilda turned to see Iron Will standing behind her, two other ponies accompanying him.

“Sure, why not?”  Gilda shrugged her shoulders and tackled the door once more.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound rang out, and the walls on either side of the large rectangular room began sliding toward the center of the room.  With a shriek of angry horror, Gilda picked up the pace with her tackles…

Iron Will, Fluttershy, Soarin’, Derpy Hooves-----Basement W Wing

Iron Will took long, determined steps as he led the way into the basement of the mansion.  The baby dragon had given his group specific orders to check out the western half of the underground floor.  With an encouraging voice, he called his teammates to follow him.  He may have seemed over-enthusiastic, but he really wanted nothing more than to end this nightmare.

Soarin’ followed Iron Will’s directions, not wanting to impose on the minotaur’s dominance.  For a minotaur, Iron seemed to be fairly gentle.  Soarin’ let out a sigh as he looked at the group he’d been cast into.  He had an over-zealous minotaur, a super shy Pegasus, and a cross-eyed mail delivery Pegasus.

It didn’t take long for the groups to reach the door that would take them to their wing of the basement.  With caution and optimism, Iron Will pushed the door open and stepped inside.  He scanned the room with his eyes before signaling the ponies to join him.

As they entered the room, Derpy made a comment that sent shivers down Fluttershy’s spine.  “This place sure is pretty.  I wonder what kind of games the host was actually gonna play with the fillies…”

Thoughts filled Fluttershy’s mind as Derpy said this.  Looking around the room, she noticed it was empty, aside from a few tables with coloring books on them.  Fluttershy thought about what the host would have done to the children that actually went to the basement to play.  There could have been any number of traps and tortures prepared for the innocent ponies.  She shuddered and let a squeak of fear escape her lips.

Looking at Fluttershy with a sympathetic expression, Iron Will cheered, “We’ll all be perfectly fine!  Just follow Iron Will’s guidance and we’ll be outta here in no time!”

Iron nodded at Soarin’, and the two began searching the room.  Derpy sat on the ground beside Fluttershy, trying to keep her company so that the fear wouldn’t completely get to her.  After only a few minutes of searching, Iron Will exclaimed, “Eureka!  Iron Will has outdone himself this time!”  He held up a thin coloring book.  It contained multiple pages of the same picture.  It was one of those color-by-number coloring books.

He handed the book to Fluttershy along with some crayons to color it with.  Looking at the book, Fluttershy read the title aloud, “’The Master of the House’?”  She looked at the picture in the book.

Derpy exclaimed, “It’s a coloring book to tell us who the host is!  If we color the picture, we’ll know what she looks like!”

Soarin’ scoffed, “More or less, I’m sure.  There has to be more substantial evidence around here.”

Soarin’ turned to look at the wall behind him.  With a single horrified scream, he was thrown against the wall with a loud bang.  The other three looked at him in horror as blood poured from his chest.  Looking at the wall, smoke wafted from a hole in it.  Iron Will walked over to Soarin’s body, unsure of what to think.  He pulled a poster from the wall and covered the Pegasus’s body with it.

Looking back at Fluttershy and Derpy, Iron sighed, “We need to leave.  Now.”  He tried to push the door open, but found that it was sealed tightly.  Looking back at the two mares, he tried to remain calm.

Derpy looked at him with a worried expression.  “We’re stuck, aren’t we?”  She placed a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder as she let out another squeak of fear.

Iron looked around the room.  His eyes frantically searched for some other way out, for anything out of the ordinary that might help them get out.  With a sigh, he fell to the ground.  They were stuck in the room with no way out, Soarin’ lying against the wall, dead.

Derpy shook her head in disbelief, taking the coloring book and crayons from Fluttershy.  Iron watched as Derpy began coloring the picture.  He opened his mouth to speak, but Derpy cut him off, “If this picture tells us who did this…then I’m gonna find out!”  She had tears in her eyes and anger in her voice.

Fluttershy watched in fear as Derpy colored the picture with vigor and purpose.  She couldn’t help but admire her composure during all of this.  With a sigh, Fluttershy choked out, “H-how long do you think we’ll be s-stuck down here?”  She looked at Iron Will.

Iron shrugged his shoulders, not being able to even take a guess.  They might be stuck in there forever, but he would never say that.  Some time passed as Derpy colored the surprisingly detailed picture in the book.  She closed the book with a smile on her face.  “I got it done!”  She laughed as she tossed the crayons to the side, stuffing the book into a pouch at her side.

When a faint clicking sound rang out, the door swung itself open.  Without hesitation, Iron Will lifted Fluttershy into his arms and waved for Derpy to get out.  They three of them fled the room as fast as they could.  Iron Will heard a series of loud thuds coming from the main doorway into the basement.  Running over to see what it was, he put Fluttershy down and stopped right behind the group of ponies in front of him.  Seeing Gilda tackle the door made something in him click…

“Need a helping hoof, griffon?”  Iron Will called from behind her, two other ponies accompanying her.

“Sure, why not?”  Gilda shrugged her shoulders and tackled the door once more.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound rang out, and the walls on either side of the large rectangular room began sliding toward the center of the room.  With a shriek of angry horror, Gilda picked up the pace with her tackles…

An Unforgettable Sacrifice

Iron Will watched as the two walls started closing in on the group.  Rapidly moving toward the center of the room, the walls would crush them in a matter of minutes.  Iron planted his hooves in the center of the room, extending his arms wide.  He was going to try and stop the walls as they reached him.  Everypony gathered close to the door as Gilda tackled it over and over again.

Gilda sighed after a few more tackles, “Pinkie Pie…Take the book.”  She pulled the book from the other room out from under her wing and handed it to Pinkie.

Pinkie looked at it in confusion, “Why do you want me to hold it?  You’re going-!”

The rest of the ponies watched as Gilda walked toward Iron Will.  She stood beside him, her head facing one wall and her hind facing the other.  She chuckled, “If I can’t open the door by force, then I can at least give you ponies a little more time for help to arrive.  And even if you don’t make it out…It’s nice being able to help.”  As the wall reached Iron Will’s hands, he let out a grunt.

If only barely, he was able to stop the wall’s advancement toward the center of the room.  Gilda let out a groan as she stretched her body to its limits, placing her front claws on the wall in front of her and her hind claws on the wall behind her.  Iron Will and Gilda were serving as lifelines for the other ponies.  If they weren’t holding the walls back, everypony in the basement would be crushed.

Hearing a loud scratching sound come from the other side of the door, both Derpy and Pinkie tackled it.  To their amazement, it finally opened.  A few leaves and twigs flew into the room in a gust of wind, but the door was open.  Iron Will called from behind them, “Hurry up already!  We can’t hold this forever!”

With a tear-filled nod of her head, Pinkie shoved the rest of the ponies out of the room.  She saluted the two creatures holding the walls back.  She took a deep breath and fled the room, not wanting to watch what was about to happen.

Gilda craned her neck to look at the minotaur.  “You know, you ain’t half bad.”

Iron will chuckled, “And you’re a saint among griffons!  There’s still time for you to leave, you know.”

Gilda rolled her eyes and scoffed, “I’m doing more work here than you think, minotaur.  If I move, we’re still gonna die.”

Iron Will sighed, “I know.  The name’s Iron Will, by the way.”

Gilda smiled, “Gilda.  Pleasure to meet you.  You ready?”

The two looked into each other’s eyes.  They nodded once, and shut their eyes tightly.  They took deep breaths and counted to three.  On the third number, they relaxed their muscles and let the wall do its thing.  With a loud squish, Gilda and Iron Will were no more.

Everypony in the foyer stared on in shock and disbelief as the two creatures in the room allowed themselves to be consumed by the walls.  They watched as blood spewed from the crack between the two slabs of stone.  With tears in her eyes, Pinkie Pie handed the book Redheart found to Shining Armor…

Basement Floor Reunion

Tons of towels were piled into the middle of the foyer, being used to soak up the pool of blood left by Hoity Toity and Vince.  Everypony gathered back in the Dining Hall to discuss exactly what had happened to each of them.

Each group went into great detail as to what had happened to them.  The last two groups to speak were the basement groups.  After explaining everything that had happened and discussing the books they had all found, the remaining guests decided to sit quietly for a little while.

That is, until Fluttershy spoke up.  “We all found some evidence, right?  We need to end this, now.”

A chatter of agreement spread throughout the room.  The clock in the foyer struck nine, and a ringing filled the ears of every guest.  Everypony that had found some sort of evidence piled it onto the table.  They had been able to recover the ‘SS Plot’ notepad, but it was too soaked in blood to be of any use.

Everypony gathered close to the table to listen as Spike read the contents of every book to them…