//------------------------------//
// ...And Then There Were Four 
// Story: Ten Little Ponies 
// by Forefront1 
//------------------------------//


...And Then There Were Four


        The group stared at one another intently, eyes wide in shock.
        “Has anyone seen Fluttershy?” Celestia asked, hoping for an answer.
        The group shook their heads in reply.
        “Not since the lights went down in the first place.” Applejack muttered. 
        “Sorry.” Pinkie Pie sighed in response.
        “Nevermind that.” Luna said laying a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “At this point we are all now trapped in a castle with a psychopath intent on killing us all. We need a plan.” Luna declared.
        “Luna’s right. At this point all signs point to Fluttershy as the killer.” Celestia agreed. “I suggest we take the only hunch we have.” She added.
        “Ah agree.” Applejack said chiming in. “Plus, if one of us turns out to be the killer…” She said shooting a quick glance to Pinkie Pie, “then the other three can stop her.” She finished.
        “That’s right!” Pinkie Pie agreed. “I’m in!” she declared putting a hoof in the middle of the group.
        “Let’s do this!” Applejack chimed in, putting her hoof in as well.
        “It’s now or never.” Celestia added, laying her hoof on top of the others.
        “We are not going to die tonight. Not on my watch.” Luna said, joining the other three.
        The group cheered with enthusiasm and lifted their hoofs in the air. The looked around the rest of the room with determination as they planned their next step.
        “Soooo...What now?” Pinkie Pie asked bluntly.


===============






        The group travelled through the castle together, still skeptical of each other's innocence, as they searched for Fluttershy. They called out to her multiple times at first, with no response. After a while, they decided it was a fruitless effort and continued on in silence. With no way to track her down, the group began to lose hope.


        “Do you think she made it out?” Pinkie Pie asked the others.


        “I don’t think so. Besides, if she is the killer then why would she want to leave?” Luna responded.


        “So what exactly are we going to do when we find her?” Applejack asked the others.


        “We should question her, calmly.” Celestia responded. “We don’t want her to suspect anything, and besides she might not be the killer.” She reasoned. 


        “Agreed, we need her alive if she is innocent.” Luna said to her sister.


        The group continued to walk through the hallways without another sound coming from anyone. It must have been sometime in the early morning, still before dawn. But the hunt was still far from over. As much as they hated to admit it, the poem still called for the death of four more ponies. They knew that only one person would make it out alive.


        After a few more moments of search, a muffled cry for help was heard coming from down the hallway.


        “Did anyone else hear that?” Pinkie Pie asked, looking around.


        “It sounds like it’s coming from that door down there?” Applejack said pointing down the hallway. 


        The group quickly ran down to the door and surrounded it. The muffled cry was heard again, coming from right behind the door.


        “That must be her.” Celestia whispered to the others.


        Taking a deep breath Pinkie Pie walked up to the door and put a hoof on the handle. She closed her eyes and quickly threw open the door. Inside was a coat closet with some of Twilight’s winter coats. On the ground was a toppled bookshelf, most likely put away for storage, and a few coats lying on the ground. Suddenly the pile of coats shifted and the muffled noises came again. 


        “Fluttershy!” Applejack said quickly picking up the coats.


        Fluttershy was facedown on the ground, trapped underneath the weight of the bookshelf. She struggled to free herself but the shelf would not budge, despite her efforts. 
        “Luna help me lift this up.” Applejack said trying to lift the shelf up.


        It was heavy, but the combined efforts of the farmer and the alicorn were enough to put the shelf upright.


        Once the shelf was standing up, the group once again looked to Fluttershy. The pegasus struggled to stand, breathing heavily from her struggling. 


        “You alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked, holding a hoof out to her friend.


        Fluttershy looked at Applejack’s gesture and then quickly looked to the rest of the group. Her eyes shot fully open and she bolted out from the closet, pushing past the others. She quickly ran down the hallway and turned left without a second thought.


        “She’s getting away!” Luna yelled as she began to run after Fluttershy.


        The group sprinted after Luna, trying to catch up to the pegasus. As fast as Luna was running, Fluttershy was always just out of reach. The group could tell that they were headed back to the main room and they didn’t want to lose her there. As the group turned another corner, their faces fell as Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen. They could still hear her hoofsteps so they knew the chase was still on.


        “Everyone split up!” Luna shouted, continuing to sprint ahead.


        Celestia and Applejack turned down the left and right hallways respectively and Pinkie Pie turned back around to see if she could find another way. They continued to dash around looking for Fluttershy but it looked like she had eluded them.


===============


Fluttershy ran at speeds she rarely reached as she bolted from the group. She didn’t know how long she had been stuck in the closet, but she knew she had to get away from the others. She wasn’t sure what would happen when they found her, but she feared the worst. She knew she just had to make it until the morning, however long it would take.


===============


Applejack couldn’t believe what was happening. She was sprinting down the halls as fast as she could chasing down Fluttershy like she was a criminal. Fluttershy, one of the sweetest, most innocent, and kindest ponies she knew. Plus, the group was split up once again, with little knowledge of how to meet up again, the killer still yet to be identified. They were all in the final hours of the night It was four vs. one, but Applejack still felt that this was all too easy, too convenient, too...safe.


===============


Luna was right behind her. Every corner she turned, she saw the end of Fluttershy’s tail quickly dart behind a corner. Her heart was pounding at rates that she wasn’t normally used to, but she pressed on, staying one turn behind Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy! Stop running!” Luna shouted out to her friend.
The pegasus made no indication that she heard the princess, or that she cared. 
As they kept running, Luna’s vision began to blur as she was being pushed to her limit and Fluttershy’s gain on her began to grow. With a few deep breaths, Luna picked up her pace to keep up. She couldn’t let Fluttershy escape...she wouldn’t let Fluttershy escape.


===============


Celestia heard Luna’s shout coming from a few hallways over. She knew that in Luna must have been right behind Fluttershy. She also knew that Luna was furious, and the last time she was this mad ponies got hurt. A LOT of ponies got hurt, some guards were still recovering at the time. Celestia needed to get to Fluttershy and her sister before someone got injured, or worse. As she trotted down the hallway in search of a corridor connecting them, she realized something. Fluttershy wasn’t necessarily the one in danger.


===============


“Oh this is hopeless!” Pinkie Pie shouted to no one in particular as she walked back into the main party room.
After Pinkie Pie turned back to find another way to stop Fluttershy, she ended up walking back the way she came. By the time she thought of going back, it was too late, there would be no way she could catch up to the rest of them. Pinkie took a deep breath and slumped down in a chair, just waiting for someone to show up. 
The longer she sat in the chair, the more tired she grew. It just dawned on her that she had been up for almost 24 hours, and hadn’t even thought about sleeping. At first she gave into the drowsiness, but she knew she had to stay awake in case Fluttershy came back. Sitting back up in the chair to prevent herself from sleeping, Pinkie’s ears perked up at the rapid hoofsteps coming down the hall.
“Stop right there!” Pinkie could hear Luna shout from the same direction.
Quickly, Pinkie Pie got out of her seat to help Luna stop Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie began running towards the hallway just as Fluttershy was entering the room. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide as she saw the pink pony bolting towards her and so Fluttershy began running towards the opposite side of the room. 
Just as Fluttershy was about to get away again, Applejack and Celestia entered the room from two other hallways, blocking Fluttershy’s exits.
“It’s over Fluttershy, we have you surrounded.” Luna panted as she slowed to a stop.
“Stay away from me!” Fluttershy shouted, her eyes darted from one pony to another.
“Calm down sugarcube, we just need to talk to you.” Applejack said, trying to calm the pegasus.
“No! Stay back!” Fluttershy shouted as she was being backed into a corner.
“Fluttershy calm down, it’s alright.” Celestia said in a soothing voice.
Fluttershy was about to speak again when a nearby light switch caught her eye.
“I said...stay...AWAY!” She screamed as she clicked off the light.
What followed was four ponies simultaneously shouting “no”, a moment of silence, then five ponies screaming in horror. 


===============


Luna flew from the room with the sliver of energy she still had left, the killer was going to strike then, it was the perfect time. Luna was so scared she was even shouting in her Equestrian voice with the old Equestrian vernacular. 
“SOMEPONY GET THEE OUTSIDE NOW!” She screamed still flying through the castle.
As she flew she noticed that it was getting harder to fly due to her exhaustion and she began to lose control. The princess turned a corner and noticed a suit of armor on display at the end of it. However, that was about all she noticed as she flew straight into the side wall along the way. She then fell to the floor and slid into a dust covered suit of armor, causing the dust to fill the air around her. The armor shook in place as Luna began to cough and wipe the dirt off of her face.
“Someone get this dust and sod off of me!” Luna shouted, still speaking in the old
Equestrian vernacular.
Then her eyes widened as she remembered the poem. Bit the dust… she thought to herself. She then looked back up to the suit of armor. The suit of armor shook and rattled because of the collision and Luna knew it was too late to move. Piece by piece the armor came tumbling down on top of her. The heavy iron plating caused the armor to crush her fragile wings and injure the rest of her. She tried to move but found that the armor was too heavy and kept her in place. 
Then she looked up to see the final piece of armor falling off the stand. The final piece was the right hoof, holding a gleaming iron sword. The sword fell straight down to Luna, blade parallel with the ground. With one final moment Luna closed her eyes as the blade sliced through her back, quickly and cleanly. The sword fell to the ground with a loud crash as Luna’s body went limp, still crushed under the armor.





An pony bit the dust,
and then there were four.