//------------------------------// // The Events of the Night // Story: Ponies Without a Clue // by GeekCat //------------------------------// Everypony began freaking out. Rarity was still in shock. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were hyperventilating, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash had become completely pale. Twilight moaned from her place on the floor, tears leaking out from her eyes. She cried out when, with a burst of green magic, she was sent flying to Applejack's side. Applejack staggered on her hooves, but quickly found her balance and supported the semi-conscious Twilight. Key Keeper glared at the group. “As I was saying,” he started, “I know who did it.” Rarity snapped out of her shock, turning her head to glare back at him. “Key Keeper!,” she shouted. “I know our situation is bad, but isn’t the fact that there was a skeleton in the basement a little more pressing?” The others nodded in agreement. Fluttershy spoke up, “This is really bad. This was an actual murder.” She whimpered. Key Keeper glanced around the group and sighed. “I apologize. But the skeleton is likely just another crime of QC. But we still have six victims whose attacker is unknown.” He gave a small smirk. “Except that I have figured it out.” The others gasped and gathered around him. He straightened up, using his magic to smooth creases in his suit. “But, to understand what happened and why, we will need to go through the nights events step by step.” He walked slowly towards the Library door. He held a hoof out, gesturing into the room. “Sugar Belle was in here, preparing snacks and drinks. And in the Kitchen,” he pointed a hoof in that direction, “Coco was preparing dinner. And I was in the Hall, waiting for all of you to arrive.” He pointed towards Rainbow. “You arrived first. I brought you to the Library, after we discussed pseudonyms. You met Sugar Belle, and I went back to the Hall.” He whirled around to point at Applejack, “You arrived next.” Applejack grunted, helping the now-conscious Twilight steady herself on her hooves. “Yeah, ah did. Does this have a point?” Ignoring her, he continued, “I explained how I was the butler, as I led you here.” He smirked. “But I noticed that when you met Sugar Belle, your smile became just a little tighter at its corners.” A small blush appeared on Applejack's cheeks. “W-what’s your point?” Key Keeper shrugged and said, “Anyway, to keep a long story short…” “A little late for that,” grumbled Rainbow. “Anyway, one by one, you all arrived. Then, Coco rang the dinner gong, and we all went to dinner.” He rushed away from the Library, pushing between Applejack and Twilight. Twilight fell over, her legs still weak. Applejack helped her back up, and the group rushed after Key Keeper. They found him in the Dining Room, walking around the table and muttering about where they had all sat. He looked up at the group in the doorway. “Here, you met QC, and revealed you had all received a letter. But there is more then that.” He looked directly at Rarity. “You unintentionally revealed that you knew the cook. At dinner, you said the meal was one of your favorite dishes.” Everypony looked confused. Rarity protested, “Well, it could have simply been a coincidence!” Key Keeper stated blankly, “While fish is a popular meal in Abyssinian culture, it is not often to be found in Canterlot…or anywhere in Equestria.” Rarity opened her mouth, but closed it with a small blush. The group looked ill. Fluttershy especially, her entire face turning green. “F-fish?,” she squeaked, “W-w-we ate fish!?” Rarity paused, then gave a small nod. Fluttershy flew out of the room, holding a hoof to her mouth, her face still green. Key Keeper rushed back out the door. “After dinner, we went to the Study.” Twilight, exhausted and falling behind, panted, “Can’t we just…sit down and talk about what happened?” Key Keeper entered the Study, ignoring her. As he stopped in front of the desk, Fluttershy slowly came into the room, her face pale. “We discussed your blackmail, and you became angry at QC. He went to get his suitcase from the Hall, and gave you the presents–the gems.” He walked over to the light switch. “He explained what they were, and then switched out the lights!” With that, he turned the lights off. Fluttershy yelped. Rarity groaned in frustration, and used her magic on the light switch, dispelling the darkness with electric light. Eyebrows were raised when everypony saw Key Keeper kneeling down on the floor. “QC lay here, in this same spot, seemingly attacked with a gem.” “He was!,” protested Twilight. “I examined him. With a physical and magical diagnosis, both showing positives of a magically induced coma and total mid-mind transfer.” Seeing blank looks on the others’ faces, she explained, “He looked like he was in a coma, and my tools recorded high magic levels.” Key Keeper quickly got up and pointed an accusing hoof at her. “If that was the case, Miss Sparkle, then why was he attacked later with another gem- and given several injuries? For that matter, if the star gem–your gem–had been used, how did you get power from it later?” Twilight sat on her haunches. “Alright, so I made a mistake. My tool readings could have been incorrect, but how could he physically–" She groaned, placing a hoof to her forehead in frustration. “Ugh. Of course, he was a changeling. Even if he couldn't keep up an illusion forever, he could still put up an illusion for a time!” She groaned louder, burying her face into her hooves. “Exactly,” confirmed Key Keeper. “He would have realized he was the target of the gem, not me. After it missed, he still pretended to have been hit–so that he could later escape.” He walked over to Rarity. “Then, you drank the water, we suspected poison, you screamed, etcetera. It wasn’t poisoned, so no major event there.” Rarity gasped, and huffed, “Well, major or no, I think the event was quite traumatic for me. So–" Key Keeper cut her off, saying, “But then, there was more screaming! Sugar Belle, in the Billiard Room!” He rushed out, the others following, Rainbow and Applejack rolling their eyes. He leaned against the edge of the pool table. “Yes, we had all rushed here,” he said as they gathered at the entrance. “All except one.” Everypony gasped, their eyes widening with surprise. “Oh yes,” he continued, “One of you, as the rest of the group was leaving the Study, grabbed the diamond gem off of the floor. They rushed down the hall, and attacked the cook.” He rushed out of the room, pushing past the group, who groaned as they followed him. In the Kitchen, he opened the freezer and pulled on one of the hooks. The others gasped as the back opened on unseen hinges. Pinkie chirped, “Hey, that's the passage I found earlier!” She glared at Key Keeper suspiciously. “How did you know it was there?” Key Keeper stated, “I’ve worked here for years. I've known this whole time.” He explained, “The cook’s attacker would use this secret passage to get to the Study, where they would join the rest of the group without arousing any suspicions.” Fluttershy piped up, “Wait. If you knew about this passage the whole time, couldn't you have done this?” The rest of the group mumbled and nodded. Key Keeper scoffed. “Please. If I was the attacker, why would I tell you how I did it?” Fluttershy opened her mouth, holding up a hoof, but closed her mouth and began to scuff at the ground. The others stopped mumbling. Key Keeper continued on, “So Sugar Belle joined our group. And we rushed here, where the unconscious cook fell out of the freezer!” He stood up on his back hooves and fell backwards to demonstrate. Fluttershy had been right next to him, and ended up being pushed onto the ground. He landed on top of her, and continued to talk. “And after that, I told you all about QC, and who he was.” Rainbow stepped forward. “Wait a minute,” she said, rubbing at her temples, “Why was the cook attacked in the first place? She didn’t have anything to do with any of this.” Key Keeper got back up onto his hooves, ignoring Fluttershy, who was struggling to get back on her hooves. “Haven't you figured it out yet?,” he asked. “Everypony here tonight had something to do with this. Everypony was either QC's victim…or his unwitting accomplice.” With everypony's eyes on him, he began to pace. “QC could get close to ponies, had methods of learning their secrets… or rather, the secrets of the ponies they knew. Each pony that was here tonight gave QC some information about one of you.” Rarity helped Fluttershy up, as Rainbow stepped forward again. “So whoever–" “No time!,” cut off Key Keeper, who was rushing out the door again. Everypony trotted after him, giving groans of frustration. In the Study, he stood next to the painting. “Now, while I had been telling you about QC, one of you snuck through the same secret passage, saw the undisguised QC get up, and chased him down the hall. After being struck with the dark spell, he was dragged to the restrooms.” He came to the open cupboard. “I placed the unused, potentially dangerous artifacts in the cupboard. You urged me to throw away the key, and so to the front door we went!” He pushed past the group, who grumpily trundled after him. “But as I was about to throw the key away, there was Scootaloo! In shock, I dropped the key. Before I could pick it up, somepony–anypony in the huddle–picked it up and switched it with a fake key.” He smirked at the group. “So you see, it would have been safer on my key…ring…” The whole group was giving him glares that could have melted diamonds. Wiping his brow, he continued, “W-well, the young pegasus was another informant of QC's. I invited her, as well as Soarin and the dragon, in the hopes that I could tell them about how they were involved in the plot, too, and could help press charges against QC. But I couldn’t involve anypony in this…this scandal of dark magic.” Pinkie piped up, “What kind of secrets could that mean changeling get from such a young pony?” With this, Rainbow flopped on the nearby couch with a groan, holding her head in her hooves. “Scoots was…well, she was just a civilian, not part of the Wonderbolts, but… she came with us a lot, wanting to help us. Wanting to help me.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she choked out, “She was like a sister to me. We were close. That's how she found out…” With a snivel, she started, “Well, about a lot of things. About my narcolepsy. My embarrassing relationship with my parents. I wasn't blackmailed for those things, but the thing I was blackmailed for was… I sent letters about our planned attacks to a friend of mine in Griffonstone. That's why every place we went to was empty.” The others’ mouths were agape. Rainbow sobbed, “I sent those letters to Gilda to keep her safe. I didn’t know she’d tell everypony else in the area. I didn’t know I would get caught, either. I made Scoots promise to not tell anypony else. I never thought of her telling the blackmailer. She couldn’t have! We might have parted ways, but I know she wouldn’t break… she wouldn’t have…” Rainbow hid her face in her hooves. Fluttershy and Pinkie sat next to her, giving her consoling pats on the back. “It’s okay,” Fluttershy said softly, “Key Keeper said QC had methods of getting secrets from ponies. I’m sure Scootaloo kept that secret with her.” Rarity huffed. “Well, what if the griffons hadn’t just left the area? What if they had attacked?” Applejack roughly jabbed her in the ribs as Rainbow tried to muffle a louder sob. Rarity closer her mouth, looking chagrined. “What about… Soarin?,” panted Twilight, who was looking less pale. Rainbow wiped her eyes and looked up. “Soarin never found my secrets. He had left before he would have been able to find out about…” her head bowed again, her eyes red and puffy. Pinkie raised her hoof. “I knew him,” she confessed. “He came by my party business every once in a while. He really loved Sugar Belle's pies.” Her ears drooped. “I think he was supposed to inspect us. But he would leave after we gave him a pie. I think he fudged our reports.” She fell onto her knees, gripping the front of Key Keeper’s jacket. “I didn’t mean to bribe anypony! It's all an honest mistake!” Key Keeper looked annoyed and tried to push her off. Applejack pulled her onto her hooves, leaving Twilight to steady herself on her own hooves. “Oh sugarcube,” she assured, “We all can understand honest mistakes. We all know you’re too sweet to mean any harm.” Pinkie sniveled, her lip curling into a wobbly pout. Waterfalls of tears poured from her eyes as she gave Applejack a non-crushing hug. “T-t-that's one of the nicest things anypony's ever said to me-he-he!,” she bawled. Applejack blushed in embarrassment, but gave the bawling pony a small pat on the back. Rainbow's head perked up as Fluttershy also left her side. She followed her as she approached Twilight, who was staring at the door to the Study, a pained look etched across her face. “What is it, Twilight?,” whispered Fluttershy. Not seeming to hear her, Twilight shambled to the door as quickly as she could with her weakened legs. The whole group followed, Pinkie drying her eyes with a swipe of her hoof. They paused in the doorway as Twilight fell to her knees in front of the dragon. Tears quietly flowed down her cheeks. “Oh Spike,” she whispered. “I'm sorry I couldn’t find you. I'm sorry I couldn’t give you w-wings… or be there for you when you got them. I'm sorry I couldn’t keep you safe.” She cradled him in her hooves, and placed a small kiss on his forehead. The others watched quietly, eyes becoming damp, not daring to disturb the two. Key Keeper cleared his throat. “I do hate to break up a moment, but shall we continue?” Twilight looked guilty and reluctantly pulled herself away from Spike. He continued, “Well, after Scootaloo came, we split up on Rainbow's suggestion.” Rainbow rubbed at the back of her neck. “Yeah, that probably wasn’t such a great–" “The attacker used the key to unlock the cupboard and take the lightning gem.” Pinkie broke in, crying, “That's when we found Scootaloo in the Lounge unconscious!” Key Keeper grunted and started again, pacing towards the Lounge, “Sugar Belle took the star gem and gave it to Twilight. After using it to unlock the door–" a chunk of charred wood fell from the gaping hole where there was once a doorknob "–the gem was dropped on the floor, over there. You’ll notice that it is not there any longer.” As the others murmured and stared, he continued on. “Before we could split up again, the doorbell rang.” Everypony turned their heads, expecting it to suddenly ring out. Key Keeper, glad to be uninterrupted, said, “This was Soarin. He and Rainbow had their moment, and then I put him in the Library. Until–" The doorbell fiercely rang. Key Keeper gave out a sound of frustration, somewhere between a grunt and a scream. Rarity gasped. “Oh, they have to get away from here before they get tangled in all this!” She ran towards the doors quickly throwing it open. On the porch stood a grey unicorn stallion with a black mane and red eyes. “Hello!,” he greeted. “I'm looking for somepony.” Rarity stepped forward. “They’re probably not here. You have to go, now! If you stay here–" Key Keeper slammed the front door shut, relocking it with his keys. “What are you doing?,” cried Rarity. Key Keeper snapped, “I'm trying to go over all the clues that point to whoever did this! We don’t have time for distractions!” Applejack stepped forward to say something, but was silenced by a glare from Key Keeper. He ranted, “Pinkie made Soarin think it was a party, and bribed him with pie! He went back to the Library, we split up again, and somepony switched out the lights!” He marched over and slammed the lever to the power down. Rarity groaned in frustration, and both Pinkie and Fluttershy yelped. Applejack cried out, “Quit messin' around and turn the lights on! You’re the one who’s wastin' time!” Rainbows eyes, shrouded by darkness, began to droop closed. They flew open suddenly as the lights flared back up with a snap.