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Chapter I: The Monograph1,039 words
Chapter II: Then There Were Nine1,000 words
Chapter III: Then There Were Eight1,017 words
Chapter IV: Then There Were Seven779 words
Chapter V: Then There Was One616 words

Chapter III: Then There Were Eight

The morning came like any other and Twilight had been in the kitchen cooking for everyone. Spike had woken up groggily but allowed himself to giggle slightly at the scene of Twilight trying to cook. Spike got up and looked at the sight of Rainbow laying on the floor. He sighed and sat her limp corpse onto a chair and put sunglasses on her. Not to fake her death, everyone already knew. He just thought this is what she would want.

"Spike can you come and get the plates and deliver the food to everyone else?" Twilight called from the kitchen.

"Sure Twilight!"

Spike had gone upstairs and began knocking on the doors and gave the food to everyone. When Spike had gotten to AJ and Appleblooms room he heard crying on the inside. He knocked reluctantly only to have the door be opened by Applebloom and suddenly the crying stopped. Spike had delivered the food and a high pitched scream came from the master bedroom. AJ, Applebloom and Spike all ran there to see Sweetie Belle shaking her sleeping sister furiously with tears running down her face and venom in her voice.

"WAKE UP RARITY! WAKE UP THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

Spike rushed over to her side and looked onto Rarity's motionless face. "R-rarity? P-please wake up..."

The apples looked upon the sight in horror as Spike and Sweetie Belle collapsed on Rarity's limp form crying and dripping tears all over her.

Suddenly the apples turn at the sound of Twilight, who had walked upstairs to the sound of the two weeping over Rarity, grimly speaking, "Nine little balloons one sat up very late, One overslept themselves then there were eight."

Hours had passed and the remaining eight stood in a circle around the poem. Sweetie Belle was off to the side holding Spike as they both sobbed. Fluttershy's eyes had lost all color as she seemed to have left her body so she didn't have to feel any of the pain of these deaths. AJ and Pinkie both had looks of fear on their faces. Twilight stared at the parchment.

"Sweet Celestia." Twilight spoke up. "This is getting out of hand. We need to start looking for clues."

The others nodded blankly. Twilight stood and took Pinkie and AJ to go look for clues. They went up to RD's body and Twilight observed the neck. It looked to be swollen and bloated. Twilight then searched her mind's archive of books and found one on medicine and poisons.

"This had to be done by an off breed of Poison Joke; Flowered Death." Twilight then looked to the glass and sniffed it cautiously. "Flowered Death has an aroma of lilies, and is has been in this cup but the punch over on the floor doesn't have the smell. That means someone had to put it in RD's cup."

AJ looked around the ruined table and called everyone to see what she had found. "Look here everybody." She pointed at a jar of dark purple petals hidden behind some books on a bookshelf behind the table. "Is this Flowered Death Twi?"

Twilight nodded in acknowledgement. They all then went up stairs to Rarity's resting place and saw that she had the same signs as RD's death. Swollen neck, and blue face. Twilight reached her hand in Rarity's mouth and pulled out a wet dark purple petal. "Someone must have snuck in here at night and dropped a petal in her mouth, she choked in her sleep."

The others then all stared at their generous friend and begun to tear yet again.

"Who could have access to the flower?" Pinkie spoke up.

"Let's see, I have some in my lab for experiments." Twilight confessed. "Anyone could have taken them at anytime, I haven't used them lately." Twilight looked to AJ, "Applebloom could have taken them when I taught her about potions."

AJ face grew red with rage, "ARE YOU SAYING THAT MY LITTLE SISTER WOULD DO SUCH A THING!?"

"No AJ, I'm just covering every possibility." Twilight defended.

The orange mare glared at her friend for even considering such an option. Pinkie then looked around trying to ignore the growing tension. She then laid her eyes on the ground. "Hey guys look." The others scurried over dropping their grudge. They all stared down a small patch of sparkling dust on a Flowered Death petal. Twilight tilted her head. "This looks like magic dust. The remains of a spellcaster's magic when their concentration is cut off quickly."

"So that means the killer is a spellcaster!" Pinkie exclaimed with slight suspicion to her her royal friend.

"Not necessarily Pinkie," Twilight quickly interjected. "It looks like it, but you also have access to edible glitter it could be that."

The three sighed in frustration. Then Pinkie spoke, "This is getting us nowhere. Let's go back down stairs."

AJ looked at the room. "I'll stay here and look for more clues, there might be more in here to find out who the killer is."

"Okay good luck." Twilight said as she and Pinkie made their way downstairs to see Sweetie Belle asleep on Spike's lap and Flutter shy staring into the distance. Scootaloo was being comforted by Applebloom.

"This is awful." Pinkie stated as she looked on her sister with proud and sorrowful eyes. "Everyone is losing their nerves."

Twilight thought for a bit, "I'll go make tea. That should help keep them calm."

Pinkie simply nodded and went to her yellow pegasus friend while Twilight made her way to the kitchen.

Fluttershy muttered one silent hushed word in her daze to Pinkie, "Help."

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