//------------------------------// // ...And Then There Were Seven // Story: Ten Little Ponies // by Forefront1 //------------------------------// ...And Then There Were Seven Cadence went motionless as the castle went quiet. From all of the evidence given, and the sudden silence, anyone could have figured that the killer had claimed their second victim. Cadence carefully looked around each corner, as she was trying not to see what happened to Rainbow Dash. The hallways were perfectly silent, even more silent than before. Cadence took very light steps, as to not make any noise which could attract unwanted attention. She thought about flying to be even quieter, but noticed how tight the hallway was and figured she couldn’t fully extend her wings. Sighing she folded her wings and kept walking.         The castle seemed larger now since she was travelling at a snail’s pace. The corridors all seemed to twist and turn around one another, and the entire place seemed like a maze. Cadence had never visited Twilight’s castle before, so she wasn’t sure how big it was. From the outside it seemed only as big as Twilight’s old house, but, as Cadence turned the corner, she realized that it was a lot larger than she thought. In front of her was a flight of stairs heading down to a lower level, despite the fact that she was already on the ground floor, at least she was pretty sure that she was on the ground floor. Looking down into the room, Cadence could see that the light was dimmer down there. It wasn’t pitch black, but one could easily hide in the shadows. At first, Cadence was going to go back, but as she turned she realized that she would probably be the only one down there. Plus, she figured the lower level would be smaller and easier to navigate. Figuring there was no reason to backtrack, she took one last look behind her as she descended the stairs into the shadows. ===============         Celestia took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle. She heard the Rainbow’s screams and was now checking nearby rooms to make sure there wasn’t someone hiding, someone who could easily follow her in silence. So far she had checked a few, finding mostly empty closets or small empty rooms waiting to be furnished. Yet, every time she went to open another door she was always prepared for anything to be on the other side.         Celestia slowly turned the handle and began to push the door. All of a sudden, she jumped into the room while flinging the door open. As she landed on the other side of the door she quickly looked around for any other pony.         “Oh thank goodness it’s empty.” Celestia sighed.         “What’s empty?” said Pinkie Pie as she poked her head in from the hallway behind Celestia.         This, of course, caused Celestia to nearly jump to the ceiling and spin around to face the puzzled pink pony.         “Pinkie Pie?! What in Equestria are you doing?” Celestia shouted grabbing the pony by the shoulders.         “Well, I was with Applejack, but then I got lost so I was wandering around here…) The Pinkie said as she began to ramble on.         “Oh, nevermind.” Celestia sighed, taking her hooves off of Pinkie and walking past her.         “So what you up too?” Pinkie said hopping behind the alicorn.         “Well, I was trying to sneak up on the killer, but so much for stealth...unless.” Celestia said stopping in her tracks.         “I’m not the killer.” Pinkie pie said bluntly.         “Oh, thank goodness…” Celestia sighed as she continued walking down the hallway.         “Soooo, see any good movies lately?” Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully.         “Pinkie, not that I don’t trust you or anything, but can you please leave me alone?” Celestia said turning around and pointing down the hall.         “Why?” Pinkie said, with a slight frown.         “Because I don’t trust you.” Celestia stated flatly. “And, I don’t want the killer to get both of us if they find us.” She continued, noticing the mare getting sadder.         “Oh, ok I get it.” Pinkie said, slightly upset as she began to walk down the hall.         Celestia turned around again to begin her search again, as Pinkie chimed in for the last time.         “But if we meet again and you want to chat I will be happy too!” The pink mare cheered as she hopped down the hallway, going who knows where. =============== Fluttershy sat alone in the party room, her eyes constantly looking around her. She had run out of ideas. Running seemed obvious, she even wanted to run, yet something was holding her back. On the other hoof, leaving the castle was out of the question, since she didn’t know how to unlock the security system. Which brought her once again to her final option, hiding. It seemed like a good idea at first, however the more she thought about it, the more she decided against it. She knew putting in all of the energy to creep silently through the castle, find a spot to hide, only to get found in the end was a waste of her time. So she sat, staring vacantly out into the equally as vacant room. The silence was maddening, Fluttershy, even quiet as she was, could barely stand it. Some days she would take a walk around the town border, ponies rarely walked there. She would walk for hours and only be accompanied by the sound of a light breeze, or the faint chirp of a bird. This silence, was unnatural, uncomfortable, and unearthly. Fluttershy needed to talk, just to break it. After a quick look to make sure nopony was around, Fluttershy began to sing a comforting song to ease her nerves. She chose one of the latest songs that the Ponytones were practicing, she couldn’t remember all of the words, but she was calmed all of the same. As she sang, she began to sway her head back and forth. She couldn’t help it. Whenever she heard a song from the Ponytones it just filled her with such joy. Her voice began to get louder. After a few more verses, she got out of her seat and began to sway and dance around the table. Her voice got louder. She hopped up on the table and sang out to the empty room as if she were performing for the world. Her voice got louder. For a second, Fluttershy opened her eyes and could have sworn that she heard someone else in the room. Her voice got louder. As she belted out the last words of the song, a loud crash came from right behind her, followed by her scream. Her voice went silent. =============== Twilight let out a sigh of relief as she shut the door behind her. It had been much more stressful than she wanted, but she finally made it to her secret room in the basement without being seen. She hadn’t told anyone about this room, not even Spike. She wanted a room, away from all of her troubles, where she could just relax. Granted, this was not a time that she could relax. Twilight knew that sooner or later, she would have to come out, and she did not want to meet what would be waiting for her. Twilight walked slowly over to the lounge chair that she put in there and sat down. Letting out another sigh, Twilight looked over to the book on the small table that was next to the chair. It was a new novel on the history of the Ponyville Express. It was not exactly a page turner but Twilight was about halfway through and she was not one to leave a book unfinished. This time however she wasn’t in the mood to read. She was absolutely drained, emotionally and physically. Twilight looked at the clock in the room and saw that it was only 11:30 pm. With a tired yawn, Twilight decided to get some shut eye to try and wait out the night. She knew it was a bad idea, but it was the only thing she could think of. As Twilight slowly drifted off to sleep, she began to slouch in the chair. One thing she forgot to notice, however, was that in her tired state she left the door unlocked...and it slowly began to open. =============== Rarity walked down the hallway in front of the throne room admiring the many tapestries that draped elegantly from the ceiling. Despite being in a life threatening situation, Rarity could always spend a few moments admiring a beautiful piece of art. Plus, she needed the distraction. She never had time to truly admire the magnificence of the castle undisturbed. Stopping halfway down the hallway, Rarity looked to her left to see a purple tapestry bearing a picture of Twilight’s cutie mark. Sighing, Rarity sat down underneath the tapestry, a little upset. She hated to admit it, but Rarity was jealous of Twilight. At first, Rarity held her breath. When Twilight became an Alicorn, which was Rarity’s absolute dream, Rarity understood. She told herself that Twilight was better with magic and Twilight was Celestia’s student, but eventually it got harder and harder to stay quiet. Now, Twilight has this castle, this luxurious castle. Rarity always wanted a castle. She tried to find any reason to go to Canterlot and visit just to look at the castle there. Now, one of her best friends had a castle that Rarity could look at every day. It mocked her. Every moment that Rarity looked at it, she wanted it to be hers. It wasn’t fair, she was more regal than all her friends, yet Twilight was the one to get the castle and the princess title. As much as this upset Rarity, Twilight was her friend, and it wasn’t her fault she got all of this recognition. So Rarity kept quiet, only sometimes venting to herself. Figuring she had spent enough time complaining to herself, Rarity got up and continued to walk down the hallway. As she continued to walk she noticed that the last tapestry was missing, due to her eye for detail, however this didn’t bother her that much. Rarity then turned to face the door of the throne room and cautiously go inside. Inside the throne room she saw the map of Equestria surrounded by each of the chairs that her friends and she sat on. Rarity walked over to her chair and took a seat, looking down at the map. Suddenly, Rarity thought she heard hoofsteps coming to the door behind her so she turned around quickly. She noticed that she forgot to shut the door and that the hallway was empty. Rarity nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders and turned around. As she turned she noticed something that soured her mood. Looking at Twilight’s chair she noticed that it was, in fact, just a bit larger than her and her other friends. “Well that’s just great.” Rarity said quickly standing up out of her seat. “Not only does she get a castle, but her throne is bigger than ours.” She huffed. Rarity knew she was overreacting, but she was too annoyed to care. Rarity walked over to Twilight’s throne and sat down with regal posture. “Well, if little Miss princess doesn’t make it out of this then I suppose that I will take her place. I think this life really suits me.” Rarity said with a smirk as she sat on the throne. Out of nowhere, a loud crash came from behind her taking the breath right out of her lungs. Rarity pressed her back against the back of the throne, motionless staring straight out into the room. Then, a loud scraping, worse than nails on a chalkboard, began to inch closer and closer to her. Rarity began to cry, she couldn’t look at what was coming, nor did she want to. The scraping on the ground reached the back of her chair, the began to move next to her right side. It finally stopped right next to the arm rest. Rarity did not dare look down. She simply sat in silence, hoping whatever just entered the room would leave. Every second dragged on, never ending as Rarity waited for peace. Suddenly she got it as the door behind her slammed shut. Rarity quietly caught her breath, tears streaming down her face as she was practically screaming in her mind. After another moment she let out an audible sigh as the threat seemed to pass. Without any delay a hoof swung around the throne striking Rarity on the left side of her face. Rarity was knocked to the side and off of the chair falling to the floor. Just a moment before she went over the side, Rarity caught sight of what caused the horrible scraping sound. On the ground below her was some sort of case, and inside the case was a few dozen butchers knives, sticking straight up in the air. She tried to dodge them but Rarity hit the knives and screamed in agony as they cut into her. She slid down farther on the knives until she was pressing against the ground. Below her, a pool of blood began to grow rapidly. Rarity tried desperately to push herself off the knives, but her strength was gone. Her head went limp as the blood continued to drain out of her body. With her final moments, she saw a shadowy figure running out of the throne room into the hallway, away from the crime. Then with a final gasp from pain, her eyes finally shut. One was dethroned, and then there were seven.