Everypony in the Dining Hall sat by quietly as Spike read the contents of each notepad to them.  Being sure to take notes, Twilight hastily scribbled key details on a piece of parchment laid out in front of her.  After all of the notes had been read and scanned over by other ponies, the guests sat back and listened as the pieces of the puzzle were put together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Taking into consideration everything written in all of the books, Spike took the notes from Twilight and started sorting them out.

“According to the notes Twilight took, I think we can narrow the possibilities down to only a few ponies here tonight.”  Spike began as everypony settled down to listen.  He paced back and forth in front of the table.  “Based on information presented in the filly’s rhyme book found by Nurse Redheart, and ‘About the Master:  Her Home’ found by Lyra, we can assume that the Master of the House is most definitely a mare.  Most likely in her late twenties and early thirties.”

Everypony moved forward in their seats, thinking through all of the possible culprits.  Spike continued, “I would now ask that all mares in the room move to this side closest to me.”  He waved a claw at the large portrait hanging on the wall closest to the door.  “All mares, no matter your age or type of pony.”

Happy to oblige, the mares moved to the designated side of the room.  Spike continued with a tone normally associated with an indifferent detective, “Amethyst Star, Applejack, Bon Bon, Derpy Hooves, Fleetfoot, Fluttershy, Trixie, Lyra, Octavia, Pinkie Pie, Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sapphire Shores, Twilight Sparkle, Vinyl Scratch.  You are the only ones capable of being the killer as it stands right now.”

Spike returned to the table, leaving all of the mares to stand in front of the crowd.  He looked back at the notes on the parchment.  “According to what was written in the filly’s rhyme book found by Nurse Redheart, ‘The Master of the House- The Truth’ found by Doctor Whooves, and ‘The Master of the House’ coloring book found by Iron Will, the Master of the House is an earth pony.”  He looked at the crowd of mares.

With a chuckle, Spike continued, “I would ask that all of you that are not earth ponies—Alicorns, Pegasi, and Unicorns—to please return to your seats.”  Once more happy to oblige, all of the non-earth ponies returned to their seats.

With a laugh, Spike named off the remaining mares, “Applejack, Bon Bon, Octavia, Pinkie Pie, and Sapphire Shores.  You are the only five that remain.  Would you like to go ahead and admit your guilt, or would you care for me to finish this investigation?”

The mares looked at each other with confused looks of uncertainty.  Without waiting for a response, Spike continued, “According to ‘The Master of the House- My Thoughts’ found by Photo Finish, we can assume that the mare has a sparkling and influential personality.  The author states that he finds himself ‘mesmerized by the positive aura that is emitted from the Master.’  This being the case, it must be someone who has directly influenced many people.  Although the gender is not mentioned in this notebook, it is quite clear that the mare has a pull in social circles.”  Spike turned on his heel, pointing a single claw directly at the group of mares still standing against the wall.

Spike screamed, “We can rule out Applejack, Bon Bon, and Pinkie Pie, simply because we never once hear about anything they do influencing another pony outside of Ponyville.  To put it simply, the culprit must be a Canterlot celebrity!”  With sighs of relief, the three remaining Ponyville ponies rejoined the group and took their seats.

Both of the two remaining mares shared horrified looks.  Spike shouted even louder than before, “I’ll ask again:  Care to come clean, or would you rather drag this out to the end?  You’ve already been caught, you know!”  Spike returned to the table.  Neither of the mares spoke.

Spike picked up the coloring book.  “Based on the color-code of pictures in this coloring book, the Master of the House is depicted as having a beautiful blue mane, peach coat, and orange eyes.”  He looked over at the two mares.  He smiled as he pointed a claw directly at Sapphire.  “If this isn’t enough to prove your guilt, then think about this:  The book Hoity Toity found was entitled ‘SS Plot’.  Plot obviously referring to your plan, and SS referring to your initials.”

The ponies in the room stared at the mare standing in front of them with anger and shock.  Sapphire turned her head to the side, trying to hide the smile that was growing on her face.  Nopony in the room moved or said a word.  They were all too shocked by this sudden realization.  Sapphire began to laugh as the seconds ticked by.

After minutes passed, she finally spoke to the crowd of ponies.  “Very good deduction skills Spike.  In fact, I simply must give each and every last one of you praise.  You’ve all done so well to survive the countless traps I’ve laid about the mansion.”  A psychotic grin covered her face as she spoke.  She stared directly at the ponies in the crowd, all of which were staring back with a burning rage.

Mr. Rich was the first to speak, having woken up just moments before.  “So…you’re the bitch that killed my daughter?!”  In an instant, he was on his feet charging at the killer in front of the crowd.

“Tsk tsk, Mr. Rich.  You simply should go back to sleep.”  She reached a hoof to her side, and with a flick of her wrist, electricity engulfed Mr. Rich in mid-run.  With a single throat-shredding cry, he fell limp on the floor, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air.

Fleetfoot’s hoof slammed down on the table as she leaped from her seat.  “Call me daft for saying this, but that’s cheating!  I thought you said you were going to play by the rules?!”

Everypony stared at Mr. Rich’s limp body as Sapphire replied, “Please explain to me which rule I broke?”

Twilight stood up from her seat, her hoof hitting the ground hard, “You said you wouldn’t use the collars unless another pony broke the rules!”

Sapphire smiled slyly, “Oh, but Mr. Rich did break the rules.  I seem to recall him landing a few punches on Doctor Whooves.  You know, rule number two did prohibit physical harm.”

Nopony in the crowd responded to that statement…because they all knew it was true.  Mr. Rich had broken the rule in a fit of rage after seeing his daughter’s corpse.  Without any sort of counterargument, nopony dared say anything else.

Sapphire continued, “But I do suppose that by that logic, I should kill Big Macintosh and Doctor Whooves as well, right?  I mean, they did hit one another.  Not to mention the karate chop to Mr. Rich.  But I think I may let you live for now, if you behave.”  She laughed a maniacal laugh, identical to the distorted ones in all of the recordings.

Flim stood up from his seat and took a few steps towards Sapphire.  He chuckled, “So, whatever happened to dinner, eh?”

Flam followed him, chuckling, “You really should be a better host for the guests you’re going to kill.  It’s simply not fair to kill us on empty stomachs!”

Sapphire placed her hoof back on her side, “Don’t come any closer you sales-freaks!  It will be the end of you if you do!”  Flim and Flam stopped their advances.

Sharing a smile, they both said, “What’s it matter if you kill us now, or later?”  They took a few more steps forward.

Everypony at the table looked at them as if they were crazy.  For the whole crowd to see, they were definitely crazy.  Sapphire exclaimed, “I said don’t come any closer!”  She moved her hoof closer to the box she had stuffed under her dress.

Fancypants stood up from his seat, walking toward Sapphire.  “This has been a simply lovely party, my dear Sapphire.  But I’m afraid the FlimFlam Brothers are correct.  We simply must be allowed a last meal, right?  Wouldn’t want us to remember you as a rude host, would you?”

Sapphire stepped back toward the door to the foyer.  She shouted once more, “Stop where you are!  Don’t come closer.”

Sighing deeply, Flam shook his head in disappointment.  He removed his hat and threw it back into the crowd.  Craning his neck to look at them, he winked.  Looking back at Sapphire, he shouted, “Now!” and lunged at the mare in front of him.

Without a second’s hesitation, Sapphire pushed another button, and Flam lit up just like Mr. Rich had.  Only this time, Flim sprang into action, tackling the murderer-pony while she was preoccupied pushing the button.  Being sure to avoid the side that the controller was on, he wrapped his limbs around her, restraining her arms and legs.

Sapphire let out a horrified scream, “Let me go!  Get off of me!”

Everypony was on their hooves, advancing toward their host.  She squirmed and struggled to break free from Flim’s grasp, but it was to no avail.  He was simply too adrenaline-pumped to let go.  Watching as his brother’s body fell limp on the ground, his grip tightened around the murderer.

“I’m afraid this is the end of you, Sapphire!”  Flim’s grip tightened even more, his eyes filling with rage.  He had every intention of killing her on the spot, if Big Mac hadn’t intervened.

Big Mac tackled his way through the crowd, knowing exactly what Flim was going to do.  Sliding up beside him, Big Mac delivered a kick right into Flim’s chest, causing him to lose his grip.  Before Sapphire could do anything, Big Mac was on top of her, pinning her hooves to the ground.  With a fire in his eyes, he simply said, “The shit you did tonight ain’t gonna be forgiven.  I ain’t lettin’ him kill you…because you don’t deserve to be able to die.”

Big Mac sent a hoof flying right into Sapphire’s face.  With a single pain-filled groan, she was out cold.  Making sure she was unconscious before shifting his weight, Big Mac carefully stood up from the ground.  He looked down at the murderer, barely resisting the urge to continue pummeling her with his hooves.  Everypony stared on as he backed away from the horrible pony.

Without wasting any time, Celestia stripped Sapphire’s dress from her body and ripped it to shreds, the controller falling as she did.  She carefully placed it on the table, aware of just what would happen if a single button was pressed on accident.  She looked around to the rest of the ponies.  “I think it’s safe to say we should remove these collars.”

Immediately, every hoof began fiddling around with the collars on their necks.  It didn’t take a minute for everypony to have their collars removed and tossed in a heap on the ground.  The group gathered around Sapphire’s unconscious body, anger and hatred evident in each pony’s eyes.

Doctor lifted her onto his back, laughing, “We should go someplace less crowded.  That way we can decide what our next course of action is.  We need to learn how to work that contraption and turn off the barrier.”  Nopony disagreed with him.  They followed him into the foyer, Celestia grabbing the controller from the table.  

Once in the foyer, Doctor tossed Sapphire onto the pile of towels that were now soaked with the blood of the ponies she had murdered.  Staring at the blood-soaked towels and the murderer on top of them, something began to make everypony curious.

Cadence was the first to speak up about this curiosity.  “Something doesn’t fit here.  Sapphire was with Lyra and me when Vince and Hoity were dropped from the chandelier.  She didn’t have enough time to leave and throw them off.”  Everypony looked at her with curious horror.  If what she said was true, then she couldn’t have been the actual killer, right?

Lyra supported Cadence, “That’s right!  She was with us when I found the book!  She couldn’t have thrown them from the chandelier!”

Everypony shared horrified looks.  Fancypants spoke up, “Another thing that doesn’t fit…  She was speaking with Hoity, Photo, and me when Diamond Tiara was hanged.  She didn’t have the chance to leave the room and take Diamond.”

A horrible realization came over the crowd of ponies.  Sapphire was obviously their host.  She had the controller and admitted to setting the traps.  But what if she wasn’t the only one?  What if she had an accomplice?

Applejack’s eyes darted to the double doors on the second floor.  She screamed, “Why the heck was Butler so freaked out when they fell from the ceiling?  His muscles were twitching and his eyes were wide…  What if he wasn’t actually freaked out by it at all?!”  Applejack looked at Shining Armor.

Armor knew what she was getting at.  “What if Butler was leaning over the ledge with the scared expression…because he thought he had been caught?!  What if he pushed them from the chandelier with some sort of tool, one that he was able to hide just in the nick of time?”  He clapped his hooves together excitedly.

A clapping sound rang out from above them.  Everypony’s eyes darted forward as Butler’s voice rang out to them.  “Very good, Mr. Armor.  You’ve pieced it together.  I must admit, I never thought you would make it this far.  You’ve spent the last two hours letting all of your friends die.  Is this really a success?”

Luna stamped her hoof at him, “And why would you help such a psychotic killer?!”

Butler shook his head before continuing.  He sighed, “I was taken from the back alleys of Canterlot and changed from a homeless, starving pony into a comfortable, well-fed stallion.  I was in Master’s dept.  I made a vow on my life to help her with whatever she needed.  And she needed to kill.”

Twilight shouted, “That’s just crazy!  There was no reason she needed to kill!”

Butler laughed, “Ah, but she needed to get it out of her system, so as not to snap in public.  The first time she played her game, it was with simple ponies that didn’t stand out too well.  The second time, the ponies became feisty, and actually stumbled upon some of her secrets, as you found out.  This time, she wanted a true challenge.  I simply suggested she invite all of you.”  He stopped to catch his breath from all of the talking he was doing.

Flim screamed up at him, “What the hell did you want with us?!  Most of us are just simple ponies trying to get by!  Why the hell did you invite us?!”

Butler shrugged his shoulders.  He explained, “You see, the Master wanted a challenge with her next game.  I suggested she invite the Royal Family, but she was hesitant.  She knew that if she invited the Royal Family by themselves, they would be suspicious.  So I suggested she also invite the Elements of Harmony, the heroes of Equestria.  She decided that together, she would invite the two groups.  To seem less suspicious, she also tracked down information on the heroes’ friends and families, and any other connections they had.  That is how every last pony here was invited.  You were either friends with a hero, or a hero’s family member.”

Everypony looked around at one another, realizing that it was true.  Everypony that had been invited was connected to one of the Elements of Harmony, whether it was a rival, a friend, a relative, or the friend of a relative.  And then there was the Royal Family and the Royal Guard.

Butler continued, “I thought it was a crafty plan, don’t you?  I had her invite you here so she could kill you, and played along with her orders.  I knew that it would only be a matter of time before she was caught.”

Everypony shared confused looks.  Shining Armor called to him, “What the hell are you talking about?  You wanted to get caught?”

Butler started winding his way down the stairs.  He had a smile on his face and tears in his eyes.  He didn’t speak until he reached the very bottom, and was standing face to face with Armor.  He sobbed, “I’ve been put through this twice before.  I’ve been forced to kill ponies to stay alive.  I couldn’t take it anymore, so when she asked for a challenge, I gave her one that she wouldn’t be able to beat…”  

He fell to his knees, tears pouring from his eyes.  Everypony stared on in shock.  “I’m sorry so many of your friends had to die, but I couldn’t tell you anything about her.  If I had, she wouldn’t have let any of us leave alive.  But now that you’ve caught her, I can end my wretched nightmare!  I don’t care what happens to me.  I don’t care if I’m sent to the dungeon or exiled from this country…I just don’t want to do this anymore!”  He sobbed, his face nearly touching the ground, his hooves covering his head.

Shining Armor looked at him with a sympathetic expression.  He sighed, placing a hoof on his head, “We can end this right here, right now.  All we have to do is disable the barrier.  I can take you both into custody, and you can be sentenced in court when we get back to town.”

Butler looked into Armor’s eyes, a deep sorrow filling them.  “You don’t get it, do you?  There’s only one sentencing for a pony like her!  She has to die, Mr. Armor, don’t you see that?!”

Armor shook Butler away from him.  Celestia stepped forward and said, “That is not for you to decide, Butler.  You will both be sentenced when we get back to Canterlot.”

“No!” Butler screamed.  “I won’t let her live after everything she’s done!”  He leaped to his hooves and shoved Armor to the side.  He yanked a small dagger from the pocket of his suit.  He darted over to Sapphire’s side, raising the dagger high.

Before anypony could intervene, Butler let out a relieved sigh as he brought dagger down hard into Sapphire’s throat.  He shouted as loud as he could, “Now the nightmare is over!  Now we can end this!”  He relaxed his muscles, his facial expression reverting back to that of a sad victim.  He breathed heavily, looking around at everypony.

He sighed, “I don’t care what happens to me once we get back.  I don’t care what my sentencing is.  I’ll be happy knowing that this sociopathic murderer is no longer able to kill.  I would also suggest sending a recovery party here to gather the bodies of all the dead ponies.  I feel sorry for the killing I had to do, but it was for the greater good…”  He closed his eyes and sat down on the pile of towels, right beside Sapphire’s now-dead body.

Looking on in both shock and admiration, everypony felt the burdens in their hearts lift as they realized the nightmare was over.

Butler pointed a hoof at Celestia.  He asked quietly, “Let me see the controller.  I think it’s time to get rid of this barrier.  You can magic yourselves back to Canterlot, right?”

Celestia handed him the controller.  “For the most part, yes.”  She looked around at all of the ponies.

After pushing a series of buttons on the controller, the front doors swung wide open, and a cool breeze of fresh air engulfed everypony.  Butler set the controller on the floor and fell back, worn out from the burden that had been lifted off of his shoulders.  He smiled as he listened to the chatter of the guests as they exited the mansion.  He waited for the guards to show up that would be carrying him away and gathering the bodies from the traps in the mansion…

With a chuckle, he muttered to himself, “The nightmare is finally over.”