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// Ending A 
// Story: Get a Clue 
// by S. K. RyDer 
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Ending A: 


STOP! THIS IS AN ENDING! GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING UNLESS LINKED HERE BY THE MAIN STORY! 


“None of us killed FoxTrot or Rainbow Dash.” Smiles grinned.
“So who did then?” Scarlet looked around, as if another guest would kill them.
“The one person who wasn't with us.”
Puzzlement filled the air while Smiles just stood there. 
“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza” He said after a moment.
“Cadance?” Six voices of incredulity rang out.
“Yes!” Smiles clapped, “She was in the Library, listening to our conversation. She heard the gunshot . . . she thought he was dead.  And while we all examined the bullet hole, she crept into the Living Room, picked up the dagger, ran to the kitchen,”
“Get back here!” Violet snagged the butler with her aura 
Smiles gave a small cough, sitting on the ottoman. He looked around, “We didn't hear the cook scream because Grey was screaming about the "poisoned" cider. Then, Caddy returned to the billiard room. She screamed . . . . And we all ran to her.”
Chestnut looked at the silent Unicorn “Well, when did she kill FoxTrot?”
Smiles made a face, and all figured he rolled his eyes under the goggles, “When I said, duh. We all ran to the kitchen to see the cook. Cadance hid in the study to check that FoxTrot was dead. He got up, and followed them down the hall, so she hit him on the head with a candlestick, and dragged him to the toilet.
Navy looked disturbed, “Why?”
Smiles threw his hooves to the ground, “To create confusion!”
Scarlet nodded, “T’worked.”
Violet shuddered, “Why did she do it?”
Smiles held a hoof out, Was it because she was acting under orders? From the person who later killed her.
The six voices on incredulity stuck again, “Who?”
Smiles looked around at the six guests, “Was it one of her students? Or was it a jealous worker? Or an adulterous Lord? No. It was her favorite filly ever;
“Violet Scholar.”
“That's a lie!!” Twilight Sparkle’s violet eyes glimmered blue with tears.
“Is it?” Smiles turned around to her, “You used her, the way you always used her. You killed Gilda when we split up to search the house.”
Twilight wiped her eyes, “How could I have known about the secret passage?”
“Easy.” Smiles gestured to the room containing the dead princess, “Caddy told you. So when we split up again, Miss Sparkle here turned off the electricity; it was easy for you, here on the ground floor. Then, in the dark, you got the lead pipe and the Curtain Tug, strangled Cadance, ran to the library, killed Shining Armor, and picked up the gun where Chestnut dropped it, opened the front door, recognized the singing telegram from her photograph, and shot her.”
Twilight gave a half-relieved smile, “You've no proof.”
Smiles shook his head, “The gun is missing. Gentlecolts, turn out your pockets. Fillies, empty your saddlebags. Whoever has the gun is the murder—“
“Brilliantly worked out, Smiles.” Twilight’s purple aura was enveloping the silenced pistol, “I congratulate you.”
Smiles merely shrugged off the praise.
“Me too!” Mustard Fire called to the bookworm.
She glared, “Shut up! Nopony here needs to know the truth! We can all go around as if nothing happened.” She turned to the butler, “Except you. You know my motives, and I'm afraid your moment has come.”
“Not so fast, Miss Sparkle,” The butler grinned again, “I do have a secret or two.”
“Oh yeah? Such as?”
“The games up, Twilight. There are no more bullets left in that gun.”
She heaved a mighty sigh, “Oh, come on, you don't think I'm going to fall for that old trick?”
Smiles shook his head, “It's not a trick. There was one shot at Fawkes in the study. Two for the chandelier, two at the lounge door, and one for the singing telegram.
“Wrong. There was only one shot that got the chandelier. That's one plus two plus ONE plus one.”
“Even if you are right,” Smiles waved the rest of the guests to safety in the Living Room “that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus TWO plus one plus one.”
Twilight thought for a moment, “Okay, fine. One plus two plus one—“She shook her head, suddenly enraged, “Shut up! Point is, there's one bullet left in this gun, and guess who's going to get it? Smiles, don't hate me for trying to shoot you . . .”
“Frankly, Violet?” He seemed none the troubled by the gun, “I don't give a damn. As I was trying to tell you, there are no bullets left in this gun. You see?”
He ripped the gun from Twilight.
BANG!
“Hang on a tick.” He looked at the dead Unicorn at his hooves, a hole in her chest leaking red blood.  “One plus two . . . plus one  . . . plus two, plus one . . . is—“
And the chandelier shattered on the floor behind him.