Town of Salem
1802
Eight ponies, four Alicorn princesses, a baby dragon, a zebra, and a draconequus all stood together in the middle of town square one sunny afternoon, the looks of serious concern upon their faces as they stood silently, waiting for somepony to break the ice. Strewn about the town lied the bodies of ponies who have, one way or another, died, whether it be the attempt of taking one’s own, being burned alive until the body was unrecognizable, or even stab wounds left upon the victims. Before long, the remaining fifteen found themselves the sole survivors of the town, the only clues available to them being the fact that not all the villains were dead just yet.
“So,” Twilight finally spoke. “Anypony care to tell me why the entire townsfolk is lying strewn dead about the town save for us?” Immediately all eyes shifted over to the draconequus who was staring blankly about the town.
“Seriously?” he asked. “One night of mass slaughtering and you all suspect me?”
“Well how else do you explain a town full of ponies being killed off in one night?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Need I remind you that we have four Alicorn princesses and a zebra who does mystical voodoo?” Discord questioned. “Anyone of them could have been behind the attack.”
“Ah hate to say-eth it,” Applejack spoke. “But Discord does have a point.”
“You can’t be serious!” Rainbow Dash outrageously said. “Have you forgotten what Discord can do? All it takes is a snap of his paw for an entire town to lie dead.”
“While that may be true, that doesn’t go to say that Discord is completely guilty,” Celestia spoke up. “We still have a few members of the Mafia left as well as a serial killer on the loose.”
"Not to be suspicious or anything but how would you know, Princess?” Rarity asked.
“Call it a hunch,” Celestia replied. “I have a feeling that not all the killers were taken out. A few remain, but of whom I can’t be certain.”
“Wait,” Discord said. “Didn’t you just say we had a few members of the Mafia left as well as a serial killer?”
“That I did,” Celestia answered.
“Then how can you not know of who remains if you just admitted out loud of the survivors?”
It was now Celestia who was in the spotlight as everypony turned their attention upon her. “You know,” Sunset Shimmer said. “I have taken notice that Princess Celestia seems to know a lot more than what she lets on. Maybe SHE’S the one who’s a member of the mafia!”
“Take that back!” Twilight yelled, coming to Celestia’s defense. “You dare accuse Princess Celestia of being in the Mafia? Ha! Anypony who goes around accusing another of being as such is surely the real pony who is in the Mafia gang!”
“And just how would you know?” Sunset asked angrily. “You don’t know for a fact she’s innocent.”
“How do I know you’re not?” Twilight retorted.
“All right stop! The both of you!” Applejack yelled. “Pointing hooves at one another isn’t going to help solve anything.”
“Applejack is right,” Shining Armor agreed. “We don’t know-eth for sure Princess Celestia IS a member of the Mafia.”
“What do you suggest we do then?” Sunset asked.
“We examine the ponies who have all been killed and find out just who they really were,” Shining Armor surmised. “That way we can determine all who remain.”
“Seems like a good idea,” Sunset said.
“Everypony else in agreement?” Shining asked, to which he received a nod from all. “Great! Let’s break and find out who’s who.” With that, the fifteen survivors roamed through the town, examining every pony who lied dead before re-gathering in the town square fifteen minutes later.
“So?” Shining asked. “What has everypony found out?”
“I found who our arsonist was,” Rainbow Dash said rather awkwardly. “I never would have expected Bulk Biceps to be a pyromaniac.”
“He did have that look about him,” Pinkie Pie commented, which she received blank stares for. “What? Don’t all arsonists come as big, muscularly, strong, hyped up ponies?”
“Come to think of it, none of us really knew any of the other ponies outside our group,” Twilight commented thoughtfully. “Sure we’ve casually talked with them, but we never really got to know them personally.” A sniff from Big Mackintosh drew everybody’s attention to him.
“Big bro?” Applejack questioned. “Is everything all right?”
“N-nope,” was his response, tears running down his eyes. “I-i-it’s Cherilee. Sh-she’s dead too.”
“Oh Big Mac!” Rarity exclaimed, placing a hoof over her mouth in shock. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sh-she was… she was the spy!” Big Mac wailed. “She kept me up-to-date with who was who ‘round here.”
“What does he mean?” Rainbow asked.
“It means that she knew who everypony was,” Sunset told her. “But now that she’s gone, all that leaves is the investigator. Not unless he or she wounded up dead too.”
“Well…I may not know who is or was the investigator, but I did find a member of the Mafia dead,” Spike spoke up. “Though you won’t like who it is.”
“Who is it?” Twilight asked. “Which of the Mafia members are dead?”
“The disguiser,” Spike replied. “Oddly though, I wouldn’t have taken Granny Smith for identity thefting.” Big Mac let out a bigger wail upon hearing the word of Granny smith being dead, receiving annoyed glares from several of the ponies. “What?”
“Well in addition to the disguiser being dead,” Rarity interjected. “I found that gray Earth pony who loves to play classical music was the consigliore. What was her name again?”
“Oh!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I know that pony. That’s Octavia Melody Harmonious. She’s best friends with that DJ pony Vinyl Scratch who just so happened to be the mayor.”
“Sunova-” Applejack muttered. “We lost our mayor?”
“I’m more surprised at the fact our mayor was a DJ,” Shining Armor said. “Even more so that Donut Joe was the werewolf.”
“WHAT!?” the Mane 6 ponies exclaimed.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Spike cried in despair. “Who can I go and get donuts from now? No one made donuts better than Donut Joe.” Discord only gave a deadpanned look towards Spike.
“Well what about the rest of you?” Twilight asked. “Have the rest of you discovered anything?”
“Well…” Princess Celestia said. “There was this gray mare with a bubble cutie mark. She had a document of pictures of the DJ and the classical pony making out.”
"I knew it!” Rainbow said excitedly. “I knew those two had a thing going.”
“Really, Rainbow?” Applejack asked, an eyebrow raised.
Rainbow blushed with embarrassment and chuckled sheepishly as she landed on the ground. “Sorry.”
“It looks like we found our blackmailer though,” Twilight said. “I found that that blue pony with the minty colored mane was our witch.”
“Now there’s a surprise,” Pinkie said. “I wouldn’t have expected Colgate to be as such. Usually that job title would suit Zecora. Er, no offense.”
“None taken,” Zecora said.
“And what about the rest of the townsfolk?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t think the rest of them had any titles,” Cadence said. “I passed by a few and saw they were just normal townsponies.”
“So then Celestia was right,” Sunset said. “There are a few more members of the Mafia left.”
“Don’t forget the serial killer~” Pinkie said in a singsong voice. “I saw several stab wounds on several of the ponies.”
“Great!” Sunset said unenthusiastically. “Looks like I’ll have to keep my door locked another night.”
“So, um, if you don’t mind me asking, which one of us IS the serial killer?” Spike asked. “On top of that, who exactly is whom?”
“Well, who are you, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “What’s your position?”
“I can’t say,” Spike quickly said. “I can’t have anypony knowing who I truly am!”
“Well then the same goes for the rest of us,” Applejack said. “If none of us is willing to step forward and reveal who they are, then we may be in for a long night.”
“Well then I say bring it on!” Rainbow Dash challenged. “”Ain’t nopony gonna get the drop on me!”
“Careful what you say, Rainbow Dash,” Discord said. “You just may be the first one to go!”
“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash questioned. “Well we’ll see about that, Discord. If that truly is your name.”
“Well I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you wake up to see that your assumptions are wrong, that is, if you ever do wake up!”
“Why you-!” Rainbow Dash said angrily as Discord bust out laughing.
“That’s enough!” Celestia commanded. “Sitting here arguing with each other won’t help us find each other’s positions. I suggest we remain in our houses and wait to see what happens from there.”
“Sounds like-eth a most brilliant-eth plan, your Majesty,” Applejack said.
“Yeah whatever,” Rainbow Dash said as she turned back towards her house. “Just you wait and see. Those you think you’ve always been able to trust aren’t always the ones to be trusted. I’ll be one of the few remaining to survive before long.” With that, Rainbow flew straight into her house, locking up the door behind her.
“Ah forget her,” Applejack said. “She’s always mighty full of herself. Still though, the lot of ya’ll be careful. No telling which of us may strike.”
“Agreed,” Celestia nodded in agreement. “Be safe, everypony. And I hope to see you all tomorrow.” The remaining fourteen then separated and returned to their respective homes, preparing for the night to come.