What happens when 16 ponies are trapped in a magic school, and have to kill eachother to leave?
Starlight Glimmer wakes up on the campus of a magic school, unsure of how she got there.. After wandering around, she finds a group of ponies that are also stuck in this place with her. Unable to use magic to open the doors, and unable to fly out due to a magical dome, the ponies have to find a way out and fast. But that isn't all, it seems some pony has a very particular set of 'rules' for the ponies to follow while they are trapped. The rules are pretty simple for a pony to grasp, but some of them are... 'strange' by all means.
It's up to Starlight and her friends to get down to the bottom of what's running this freakshow and what's keeping them trapped in this place. If they can find any way to escape, they need to find it quickly... before things go haywire.
"Ugh..." Starlight Glimmer feels her head aching as her eyes open. The sunlight hits her and she flinches, raising a hoof to cover her face. She recognizes the cold feeling of dirt and grass beneath her body. How did she get outside? She finally raises her head and forces herself to her hooves, stretching her back and legs. She feels like she's slept for days.
She looks around, blinking her eyes and still trying to adjust to her surroundings. Where in Equestria is she? She looks up and sees a tall, black, gothic-style fence that stretches 3 times her height. She's never seen a place with this style of fence before, at least not in the places she's come from before. She walks to the fence and stretches up on it, trying to deduce whether or not she could climb it. It doesn't seem like there's enough space between the poles to climb, she thinks.
She decides to step away from the fence, and turns around. The first thing she notices is the huge building behind where she had woken up. Its structure reminds her of the School of Friendship, but she's very sure it's not the same building. From this distance, she can't correctly deduce how big the school is. She begins to walk to the school, and quickly notices a path extending through the grass on either side of her.
She looks down each path, and her eyes catch onto a small group of ponies gathered by a large gate. She feels a sigh of relief leave her body. She isn't the only pony here! Her hooves are brought into a run, entirely ignoring the path as she makes her way to the group of ponies. As she approaches, she hears the familiar sound of magic being shot from a pony's horn, and the unfamiliar sound of magic fizzling out against metal. When she gets close enough to the group of ponies, one of them notices her. A blue pegasus with a rainbow coloured mane and tail turns her head to notice her, then looks down at the group.
"Everypony pause for a second!" She says, waving her hooves in front of her. "There's another pony here!"
"Another pony?" A purple alicorn looks up to the other mare. She moves her navy blue mane out of her face as she turns her head to look at Starlight. "Oh, hello there!"
"Hiii," Starlight waves a hoof awkwardly. "What are you all doing here?"
"We've got no clue, to be honest." The alicorn shrugs her shoulders. "We all woke up here so suddenly, and we've been trying to get through this gate since the beginning. We can't remember a thing about where we are, or who anypony is, but we do know we want to leave."
"We've been trying for Celestia knows how long to open this accursed gate," A white unicorn says. She huffs, flicking her curled, purple mane out of her face. "No matter what we do our magic is entirely ineffective. It bounces off like a ball."
"We've done everything," the purple alicorn says with defeat, hanging her head and wings. "We've tried using the key slot and inputting our magic into it, and we've tried using destructive spells to blast it open. Nothing works."
"I've even tried just flying out of here!" The blue pegasus flies up into the air. "Turns out some sorta 'magic barrier' is up around this whole place. Take a look." To showcase her point, she taps her hoof onto the sky itself. Under her hoof, a golden circle appeared. It quickly fizzled out, but it sparkled for the moment it was visible. There was definitely a magical barrier keeping even the pegasi trapped in this place.
"That's so strange..." Starlight rubs her chin with her hoof. "Why would some pony want to trap us in here?"
"That's what ah'm wonderin' myself," an orange mare speaks up. She sits on the ground and pulls her cowboy hat down over her face, which in turn drags her blonde mane over her muzzle and makes her sneeze. "This gate is locked up tighter than a chicken coop durin' a twister!"
"Have you looked around any more before coming to the gate?" Starlight tilted her head to the side.
"I looked earlier!" A pink mare pipes up from the back of the ground. She bounces forth to face Starlight eye to eye. "I was bouncing around while looking for other ponies, and I found a suuuper big stretch of restaurants near one of the fences! The sad news is, when I tried to approach it, I hit my nose on another magical barrier!"
"What? Why would they block off the restaurants?" Starlight was more worried now than before. Blocking off their food source could mean only bad things.
"That's what I said!" The pink mare complained, falling onto her hindquarters with a whine. "I'm sooo hungry after looking at those yummy dessert menus and the cute little icons on the signs! I've got the biggest possible craving for some Caramel Filled Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies with Pretzel Crusts! Curse you magic!"
"It is strange though..." The purple alicorn said while patting the pink mare's head with one of her wings. "We aren't even sure how many more of us are in this place. So far, it's only been the 6 of us until you showed up. There could very well be other ponies in this place that we don't know about."
"Well, if that's the case, then we should stop focusing on this gate." Starlight walked through the group to the gate, and tapped the keyhole with her hoof. "Obviously it's not going to open no matter what you do to it. There must be some sort of spell attached to it that repels magic and makes it immune to brute force. If that's how it's going to be, then we need to find out if there are other ponies here, group up, and try to find a new way to get out of here."
"I'm with this pony!" The blue pegasus landed beside Starlight, and draped her wing over her back. "We're wasting our time kicking and fighting with this thing if it ain't gonna open for us!"
"P-plus..." A light yellow pegasus finally spoke up for the first time. "I-if there are other ponies here, t-they could be hurt or just as s-scared as we are..."
"I agree," The purple alicorn said, and nodded her head. "Once we've all grouped up, then we should get introductions out of the way. We want to be sure that every pony here knows every pony else's name, and it only seems fair to do that once we've confirmed how many of us are here."
"And if we're lucky, some of the new ponies might be able to give us some info!" The blue pegasus lifted herself into the air again. "The sooner we can get out of here, the better for everypony, right?"
"Darn tootin'!" The orange mare pulls herself to her hooves. "Let's get goin' y'all! Those ponies ain't gonna wait on us forever!"
The group breaks out in a cacophany of approval before they set off. Starlight follows at the back of the bunch with the light yellow pegasus. The two exchange brief glances as they walk, but neither of them can make up much of a conversation topic. Starlight clears her throat every so often, but the whole group is silent for the most part. They're all focused on finding other ponies.
"This campus is pretty big," The alicorn mare says to break the silence. "I've never been to a school that had such a wide space to roam."
"Haven't you, darling?" The white unicorn hummed. "You look like the kind of pony who's gone to some quite large schools. Why, I've never heard of an alicorn going to a small school from any age."
"Well, I used to go to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns," The alicorn responded. "That's the smallest roaming space I've ever had. We didn't even have a playground because we were so focused on honing our magical abilities. Of course, that was before I became her student."
"You trained under Princess Celestia?!" The blue pegasus exclaimed.
"Well, that certainly explains why you're an alicorn!" The white mare laughed. "I suppose it's only fair one of Celestia's students would become an alicorn! How did you do it?"
"To be honest, I don't remember..." The alicorn mare sighed. "I suppose it's one of the memories that I've forgotten from being dragged into this place. I can only remember being a unicorn the day before, and the next day I woke up I had wings. I've got no clue what happened."
"So strange..." The unicorn mused. "I do hope we all get our memories back soon."
"I hope!" The blue pegasus groaned. "I'm tired of my head hurting like all hell whenever I try to remember how I got here."
"Everypony, look!" The purple alicorn stopped the group, and pointed in one direction.
Each head turned to where she was pointing, and even Starlight's eyes lit up at the sight. They had found 3 ponies near the restaurant part of the campus that had been blocked off. Two stallions and a mare! The mare was poking at the magical barrier, and firing beams of magic at it to try and break it. She appeared frustrated. The group began to approach the ponies at the barrier.
"Wait, is that..?" The alicorn spoke again, before dashing ahead of the group with sparkling eyes.
The stallions and the mare turned at the sound of hoofsteps close by. One of them, a white stallion, showed excitement seeing the purple alicorn. She leapt forth, hooking herself around the stallion and hugging onto him tightly.
"Shining Armor, what the hell are you doing here?!" The mare laughed as she got off the stallion.
"I could ask the same question to you, Twilight!" The stallion, Shining Armor, replied. "I never thought I'd get to see my baby sister in here, but it sure is a relief to see somepony that I recognize."
"Your sister?" The other stallion spoke up. He was a golden stallion with fiery orange hair, though most of his body was covered in a dark teal cloak. He was a unicorn, just like Shining Armor.
"Yeah, this is my sister Twilight Sparkle," Shining replied to the stallion. "And I guess she's made some friends in here."
"Honestly, we don't know eachother's names yet..." Twilight scratched the back of her neck. "We've been waiting to see if there's other ponies before we get introductions out of the way."
"Smart," The golden stallion spoke up. "I just happened to run into these two while exploring around, and we ended up finding this place."
"Yeah, right after you bumped into it," Shining laughed.
"I-I didn't do it on purpose!" The golden stallion's face bloomed with blush. "How was I supposed to know there was a magical barrier here? I-I've never been here in my life!"
"I know, I'm just teasing." Shining rolled his eyes, but he still had a playful smile on his face.
"That's my brother for you," Twilight snickered. "He's always been like this. When you've been his sister for as long as I have, you pick up a few things."
"Classic boys," The mare spoke up. She was a lighter blue mare, but her distinguishing feature was that she was a unicorn. It seemed like this whole group was made of unicorns.
"Well, that's 3 more ponies to our little 'pony arsenal,'" The blue pegasus chuckled. "How many does that make us now?"
"Let me count..." Twilight stepped to the side to take a headcount. "1, 2, 3..." Her counting quickly turned to whispers, and eventually to lip-syncing until she spoke up again. "Including myself, that makes 10 ponies. We've got 8 mares, and 2 stallions."
"Is that all of us?" The white mare spoke up.
"We shouldn't jump to conclusions," Twilight replied. "There could very well be more ponies here. We need to search the entire campus before we do anything."
"This might go a lot faster if we split up," Starlight chimed in. "We could go in small groups and search the whole campus, then meet up back at the gate with any ponies that we find."
"That sounds like a smart idea." Twilight nodded to Starlight. "Let's decide the groups first."
"Twilight, we can go together," Shining Armor tapped Twilight's shoulder. "Since we already know eachother and all."
"Can I come along with?" The golden stallion spoke up. "I don't know these other ponies, and I've known you and this mare the longest."
"I'd love to tag along too," The blue unicorn in question spoke up.
"Sure, I don't mind." Twilight rolled her shoulders. "That's me, Shining, this stallion, and this mare. That makes a group of four out of our 10. That leaves 6, so you guys can split in half."
"I'll stick with these two," The blue pegasus said as she flew down, dragging Starlight and the light yellow pegasus to her sides.
"That leaves us," The orange mare said, motioning to the white unicorn and the pink mare.
"I think this is pretty fair." Twilight nodded her head. "I'll head back with my group in the direction they came from."
"We can head back to the gate and search the surrounding area," Starlight spoke up for her group.
"We'll head towards the big fancy looking building!" The pink pony pointed to the giant school. "Who knows, we might be able to get inside!"
"Alright everypony!" Twilight tapped her foot. "Let's get to work and find any ponies that we can! We'll regroup at the gate to report what notable things we've found on this campus, and bring back any ponies that we've found along the way."
"Let's get a move on y'all!" The orange mare reared onto her hindlegs, and took off in the direction of the school. The white mare and the pink mare followed close behind her.
"Shining Armor, you can lead the way." Twilight patted her brother's side, the closest part she could reach.
"Can do," Shining Armor responded with a nod before he trotted back in the direction they had come. Twilight and the two other unicorns followed after him.
"That leaves us to go to the gate," Starlight said to the remaining pegasus mares. "When we get there, we can take a final look to see if we can break it open, and then we can figure out where to go to search for other ponies."
"Oh thank Celestia, I was hoping you wouldn't say we should just wait there for every pony else," The blue pegasus sighed in relief. "I'd rather not sit around."
"Um, I wouldn't mind..." The light yellow pegasus said meekly.
"I have to agree with the blue mare," Starlight said. "We shouldn't be sitting around if everypony else is doing something. We need to have something important to report back too. Or, well, somepony I guess."
"Yeah, so we need to get going!" The blue pegasus began flying in the direction of the gate.
She's fast, Starlight thought. She cocked her head, a silent motion for the yellow mare to follow. They both brought their hooves into a run to catch up with the blue pegasus. When they got to the gate, she was already waiting for them.
"You're awfully quick," Starlight said when they got to the gate. She was a bit out of breath from running.
"Of course! I'm the fastest pegasus alive!" The blue mare cackled, flicking her hair out of her face with quick turn of the head. "Now, what were we doing?"
"We're going to try one last time to open up the gate," Starlight reminded her. "I'll use some of my magic to see if I can open the lock. If not, I'll try and use a spell to break the gate. After that, we could leave."
"Mind if I try something first?" The blue pegasus rubbed her hooves together.
"Um... I suppose?" Starlight tilted her head. "What are you going to do?"
"You'll see!" The mare didn't give much explanation before she flapped her wings harder than before, and dashed off in the direction they came.
Starlight and the mare waited patiently, before deciding to step to the side. They both had a decent idea of what this mare was going to do, but they weren't sure why. Of course, they were proven right as the mare began rapidly approaching again, a rainbow trail behind her. She turned onto her back in the air, extending her back hooves before slamming into the gate. A loud dong! rang through the air as her hooves collided with the metal. She pulled back, rubbing at her hooves; clearly that hurt a lot more than she thought it was going to. Despite her best efforts, not even a dent was left in the fence.
"I-I suppose you were right..." The other pegasus tapped the area that had been hit. "Not even a dent, a-and she was flying so fast."
"That must be a pretty powerful spell if even a pony of her speed couldn't break it," Starlight mused. "There's got to be some way to break the spell and this gate. Let me try my methods instead."
"is it really worth it though?" The blue pegasus landed on the ground, and quickly sat down to get the pressure off of her aching hooves. "We were trying this for so long before, and nothing happened!"
"There's always a second chance for everything." Starlight tapped her horn, blue sparks dancing off the tip and landing onto the stone path below her hooves. "You might want to stand back."
The mares took her advice and scooted off to the side. They sat comfortably in the grass on the side of the path. Starlight took a deep breath, preparing herself for this spell. She couldn't remember the last time she had used it, but it had definitely been a while. She closed her eyes, igniting her horn and silently reciting the steps of the spell to herself. She tilted her head down, her horn pointed at the gate. She spread her hooves apart, giving herself plenty of support so she wouldn't go flying from casting this spell. She clenched her muscles, and expelled a large beam of magic towards the gate. It collided with the metal. Shocks of magic and lightning exploded from the spot, and sent dirt flying in smoke clouds around them.
The pegasi flapped their wings, beginning to clear the smoke from the area so that they could see if any damage was done at all. As expected, not even a dent was left. Starlight sighed, and rubbed her horn, which had begun to turn red from the intensity of the spell.
"It always hurts to cast that spell, and even that wasn't enough to do anything to it..." She shook her head, and stepped towards the gate. She waved her hoof in the air to clear some more smoke still left behind. "I'll just try opening it the normal way."
Luckily, the keyhole was just big enough for a horn. She tilted her head down, pushing her horn into the hole carefully. She sighed softly so she wouldn't move too quickly. She ignited her horn again, pouring magic into the keyhole, in turn making it pulse through the gate like a river. She pulled back and stood back, allowing the magic to flow through. The gate lit up with the colour of her magic, glowing through the metal itself. It seemed like it was going to work, but then the light suddenly faded, and the magic was expelled back into Starlight's horn by force. She nearly fell back from the force of the magic being launched at her.
"Well, that didn't work," Starlight grumbled in annoyance.
"See, what did I tell you?" The blue pegasus clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth and shook her head. She flapped her wings and brought herself back up into the air. "C'mon, we should get going. I bet everypony else has already found at least one pony outside of the group by now."
"Yeah, you're right," Starlight mumbled.
Starlight couldn't help being disappointed, but she tried not to be. Twilight and the others had already tried countless times to open the gate, and the blue pegasus even had a new method to try that didn't work. They may as well push on if this gate didn't work. It couldn't be the only entrance, surely?
"Don't be upset," The yellow pegasus said. She draped her wing over Starlight's back, and smiled sweetly at her. "We'll find another way out."
"Yeah, I know," Starlight smiled gently at the mare. "Let's get going."
The yellow pegasus nodded, and took her wing off Starlight's back. She stepped back, and the group began to walk forward again. Starlight had no idea where they were going, but she was sure nopony had explored the other side of the school. It would be worth checking out, at the very least.
"What do you suppose is down this way?" Starlight decided to break up the silence of the group by starting off the conversation.
"Only Celestia knows I guess," The blue pegasus responded with a laugh as she did a barrel roll in the air. She had to adjust herself with the pace of the group afterwards.
"Hopefully nothing s-scary..." The light yellow pegasus whimpered.
"I'm sure it won't be anything scary," Starlight assured the anxious pegasus. "And if it is, there's going to be two strong ponies here to protect you from whatever it is."
"Yay..." The mare quietly cheered. She definitely seem relieved with the reassurance.
They fell into silence again, the only sounds being their hoofsteps on the soft ground. As they approached the other side of the school, one major thing they became aware of was what looked to be a market plaza. Stalls were littered around the area advertising various things. Starlight took a closer look at one of the stalls in question. It appeared to be selling a variety of antique trinkets, ranging from small figurine statues to golden jewelry and helmets. She'd never seen a stall like this before, or ever at all; she figured these kinds of things were always used to sell food and jewelry.
"I never expected there would be a market over here," she said. "This is starting to seem less like a school and more like a small city."
"Yeah, why in hay's name would there be a market here of all places?" The blue pegasus landed on the ground, poking around in one of the other stalls that appeared to be advertising hay cakes.
"Maybe t-they have dorms?" The yellow pegasus said. "T-then the students would l-live here and could buy things t-that they need..."
"Well, even then, why would they be selling things like this?" Starlight tapped her hoof on the antique stall's sign. "I don't see what some kind of magical statuette would be needed for."
"Probably just some unicorn stuff they teach here that you don't quite know about," The blue pegasus pulled her head out from behind the stall and walked over to Starlight. "If you went here, you'd probably get it."
"Maybe." Starlight rolled her shoulders. "I wish there was somepony here we could ask."
"The only ponies we've come across have been just as lost as we are!" The blue pegasus groaned. "So far it seems like we've got no answers what so ever!"
"U-um, t-there seems to be some ponies coming..." The light yellow pegasus weakly spoke up before hiding behind the rainbow maned mare.
Starlight and the other mare looked up. It appeared a group of three ponies were approaching this area. One of them waved their hoof in the air, calling out a 'hello' to the group. Starlight nodded to the two mares before trotting over to the group of ponies with them following her.
"Hi!" Starlight tried to sound cheery as they stopped in front of the group. A unicorn and two earth ponies made up the group.
"Hi there," one of the earth ponies said. He was a white stallion, with a smooth voice and a mane that was barely a different shade from his coat. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are, do you?"
"Not a clue," Starlight sighed. "We all just woke up here and have been wandering around trying to get our bearings. There are more of us, but they're still exploring."
"This is getting uber ridiculous," the other earth pony said, flipping his hair up in the air.
This stallion had a cocky aura surrounding him, heightened by the blonde streaks in his caramel coloured hair. Something about him made Starlight even less excited to get to know him by more than just name. The vibes he was giving off weren't exactly ones that she wanted to associate with by any means.
"If somepony doesn't start giving us some answers, I'm gonna try busting in that big building to look for some myself," the stallion said with an annoyed snort.
"Don't do anything rash," The unicorn finally spoke as he put his hoof on the annoyed stallion's shoulder. He was a lighter blue, with hair that looked just as messy as the pink pony's that Starlight had met before. They gave off the same vibes to her. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this, we just need a little patience."
"And you said there's more of us?" The white stallion cocked his head to the side.
"There is," The blue pegasus trotted up beside Starlight, gently nudging the light yellow pegasus off of her back hoof so she could move. "I think in total there's been 10 of us from what that alicorn told us?"
The rainbow maned pony passed Starlight a glance. A silent nod was all it took to confirm that the information was correct. Starlight turned back to the other ponies/
"So that makes 13 of us with us finding you guys," Starlight said as she gestured to the stallions in front of her. "We've got no clue if the other groups have found more ponies. We're supposed to meet back at the gate to report things that we've found when we're ready."
"The gate?" The white stallion said. "You mean, an exit?"
"Don't get excited." Starlight shook her head. "We've already been trying to open it. Our magical inputs don't work, we've tried hitting it with magic, and this mare-" She motioned to the rainbow maned pegasus. "-even tried flying into it at full force. Not a dent. There's some sort of magical spell that's keeping the gate from being unlocked by normal means, and is also making it entirely indestructible. We've tried a few times to open it, but no dice."
"Damn," The stallion with the streaked hair cursed quietly. "So we just have to find another way out."
"At the moment, that's our only option," The blue pegasus replied. "We've got no real choice but to walk around this place until we get some clues as to what the hell's going on."
"Hey guys," The unicorn stallion spoke up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but it seems like some ponies just arrived over that way. That must be the gate this mare talked about." He pointed in the direction that a group of 4 ponies was occupying.
"That looks like that party pony's group," Starlight said. "Seems they've come across all that they could find at the school, and it looks like there's a new pony in the group. We should head over and say hello. Twilight and her group might come back soon as well."
The group nodded in silent agreement. They allowed Starlight to lead them again as they trotted to the gate. The group quickly noticed them approaching. More specifically, the excitable pink pony was the first to catch that they were approaching. She leapt onto the back of a golden stallion's, waving and shouting at the group. The stallion didn't mind, and in fact had a wide and playful smile strapped firmly to his face.
"Hey hey, look who we found!" The pink mare exclaimed. She sat down on the stallion's back, pulling back on his cheeks to widen his smile. "Doesn't he look like a super duper fun pony?"
"Well, you two certainly look like a good pair," Starlight laughed. "So, you found him while you were exploring?"
"Eeyup." The orange mare nodded her head. "He was out wanderin' behind the back of the school, not far from where Twilight and her group were actually."
"It seems they found some new ponies too," The white mare said. "A few more stallions for the bunch. They should be back at any moment and we can... recap."
"That sounds good to me." Starlight looked back at her group. "These 3 actually found us when we were exploring. We got distracted and the yellow mare alerted us to the fact that were approaching."
"Well, how many does that make us now?" The white stallion said.
"At the moment, there's 14 of us in total," Starlight responded. "And if there's more ponies with Twilight's group, then that should be our full total. I'm pretty sure we've explored every inch of this outer area. The only place left is the inside. Did you guys try getting inside the school?"
"I tried," The orange mare said. "Door's locked tighter than a cellar during cider season. Couldn't pull it, couldn't push, and buckin' it didn't work."
"It might be locked from the inside," The white mare mused. "I know I had the doors back in my boutique replaced so that they would do the same. It helped to prevent thieves in my establishment. A very smart business idea, if I do say so myself."
"Whoever's got us trapped in here must be waiting until we group up," The blue pegasus flapped her wings to fly above the group. "Why else would they keep us from getting in? We don't even know why we're here, it's not like we're going to ransack the place!"
"The only thing we can do is wait for Twilight's group to get back," The orange mare said. "Maybe they found somethin' useful."
"We don't have to wait long!" The pink pony hopped down from the stallion's back and pointed in the direction of the school. "They're coming back! Yippee!"
"Oh thank Celestia," Starlight sighed, stepping forth in preparation to meet them again. "Twiliiight!" She waved her hoof in greeting, bringing a smile back to her face so she looked welcoming.
"Hi again everypony!" Twilight said once the group had come close enough, even waving back at Starlight. "We found these two stallions while we were out."
Twilight motioned to the two stallions in question. Both of them were decently fancy looking. A white stallion with a long unicorn horn stood tall, almost taller than Shining Armor. His blonde mane was done in a slick and regal style. He looked like he was going to be worse to deal with than that stallion with the streaked hair; he didn't exactly give off the most friendly aura. The other one looked more manageable; a light brown earth stallion with spiked brown hair and a fancy bowtie on the neck. He looked smart, like he knew exactly what he was doing.
"I don't suppose any of you have any answers either?" The white stallion spoke up with a raised brow and judgemental gaze.
"Unfortunately, we're just as in the dark as you," Starlight replied, trying to be nice despite the insufferable tone he held. "But we're all in a group now, we should be able to report our findings."
"We'll go first," Shining Armor spoke up, stepping to the side so the eyes could be on him. "At the back of the school, there's a garden with a fountain, and bird baths all around. There's a larger entrance at the back of the school that connects to it, but we weren't able to open it to get inside. These two stallions were talking in the garden, so that's how we found them."
"We can go next," Starlight spoke up. All the eyes on her felt a little uncomfortable now that there were so many ponies. "On the left side of the school, there is a market plaza. It has stalls for antiques and foods, but they appear to be empty. While we were looking around, these three ponies approached us. We would've talked longer, but we saw the other group coming to the gate and decided to join them."
"Our turn!" The pink pony clapped her hooves together.
"Yep," The orange mare cleared her throat. "We explored around the front of the school and the right side. Door won't budge, so we can't get in for now. Right side of the school has the restaurant place, blocked up with that magic barrier. There's also a big ol' pool with some benches around. It's behind some of the restaurant buildin's, and thankfully we can get to it without bein blocked off. We found this stallion swimmin' about, havin' fun in the pool."
Oblivious to the gazes of the other ponies, Twilight was counting off to the side. For each pony she counted, she raised one feather in each wing. She opened the feathers on both her wings once, and opened four feathers when she had run out of the rest. When she had finished her counting, she spread her wings fully and spoke up.
"And with all our groups coming together, that makes 16 of us," Twilight said. "I took a headcount while we all were talking. It seems we've explored the entire campus, so this 16 should be our final number."
When Twilight finished talking, suddenly the ground shook. Each pony pressed their hooves further into the ground to get a hold so they wouldn't fall over. They looked up to see several poles extending from the ground. They looked like light poles, randomly strewn about on each of the paths. Once they were fully extended and pointed to the sky, a group of 3 megaphones sprouted in a triangular shape on each side. The sound of a mic turning on was heard, before a voice spoke.
"Testing testing, is this thing on?" It squawked, tapping the mic it held or was in front of.
It sounded like some sort of bird was on the other side of the microphone. It cleared is throat before it continued speaking.
"Good afternoon every pony, may I have your attention?" The creature asked. It didn't wait for an answer before it continued. "Now that you've all been acquainted, please report to the main lobby for your introductory ceremony! Don't be late; I won't wait forever!"
The doors to the school flew open, a loud thud echoing as they collided with the walls of the building. They opened so quickly it was a miracle they didn't snap off the hinges. The group exchanged glances, silence entirely encapsulating them. All at once, as if they read eachother's minds, they began to trot to the entrance of the school. They had no idea what would be inside, but they did know that they wanted to find out. Whatever this thing was that wanted their attention, they did know that they were afraid of it. Regardless of their fear, they had to have answers, and it seemed like this 'thing' was going to give them up.
Once all of the ponies were inside the school, the doors shut tight behind them. The force of the winds from the door closing nearly knocked some of the ponies over, cursing to themselves as they steadied their balance. Light murmuring went around the group as they looked around. For the most part, the inside of the school was relatively empty. There was a large staircase in the very center of everything, and a few rooms on either side. The floor seemed to be made of marble, and it was so shiny it must've been polished while everypony was outside. Starlight almost felt bad walking on it because she knew she would dirty it up.
Her attention was quickly brought back to reality when she heard the sound of something mechanical moving. She looked up just to see part of the floor disappear right in front of them. An oval shape was cut out of the floor, and 3 more oval shapes emerged creating a multi layered stage. In between each rise of the stage there were many sets of bright lights in blue, pink, and purple. At the very center of the stage, a small podium emerged. That somehow familiar squawking sound from over the speakers was heard again, and the room suddenly got a lot warmer.
The group ducked back and flinched as immense heat suddenly flared up at the center of the stage. A flame ignited at the top of the podium, but was quickly calmed when something else formed from the flames. On top of the podium, a large adult phoenix was perched. It seemed to be a female, and it preened itself while waiting for the group to look up at it. They all remained silent, confused with what was going on. The phoenix coughed, and tapped one of its feathers against the microphone. It clicked, and the sound of the microphone turning on echoed through the school. Starlight had to cover her ears because it hurt, but when it seemed like it stopped she relaxed again.
"Hello everypony!" The phoenix spoke with a happy chitter. "Let me get my introduction out of the way, my name is Philomena! Let me welcome each and every one of you to the Ultimate Academy of Gifted Ponies! You all have been selected as new students for this school year, and you will all be taught underneath me!"
"I'm sorry, the what?" The blue pegasus blinked. She was just as shocked as the rest of the group.
"You heard what I said!" The phoenix flapped her wings and adjusted on the podium. "I don't wanna have to repeat myself! Now, let me explain a few more things since you all seem to be confused. As some of you expected, there are dorms on this campus that you can live in as long as you're at this school, you can find them to my left!"
She extended her wing and pointed to a hallway of dorm rooms on the other side of the building.
"Are we allowed to ask questions during this... introduction?" Twilight inquired.
"Well you just did!" Philomena cackled, but she quickly composed herself. "So, the answer is yes. If you've got questions, feel free to speak up."
"Can you tell us how we got here?" Twilight asked again.
"I'm afraid that I cannot," Philomena cawed sadly. "It's against a very strict set of rules that I've been given by the headmare! All that I'm allowed to tell you is that you enrolled in this school before!"
"We don't remember ever doing that!" The white unicorn stallion from before said. "How do we know we can trust you saying that?"
"Well, because..." Philomena played with her feathers. "I'm the manager of this place! Everything done in this school falls under my supervision! I'm not allowed to lie to my students, it would break my moral conduct and I'd be another step closer to self-destructing. But, that's besides the point."
"Can you at least tell us why we're here?" Starlight demanded, stomping her foot on the floor. She didn't care about the nice polish anymore.
"To be my students!" Philomena squawked. "And we're going to play a little game!"
"A game? I love games!" The pink pony clapped her hooves together excitedly.
"Before we can fully get into this school year, we should get introductions out of the way!" Philomena flapped her wings and adjusted herself to sit on the edge of the podium. "I want you all to line up in front of this stage, single file! You can be sideways or diagonal or facing the podium, doesn't matter to me, but line up! We're going to go down the line and one by one you all are going to introduce yourselves by name and talent! Everypony understand?"
The group took a moment to adjust to the pace of what was going on, but eventually they each nodded and mumbled out a 'yes' here and there. They all began getting in line, deciding that they would form a line from the podium to the door. Starlight found herself in the middle of the line, but she didn't particularly mind.
"Alright, you're up first!" Philomena motioned for the pony at the front of the line to come up onto the stage, and they went quickly. The first pony to step up was the pink pony.
"Ahem!" She cleared her throat and adjusted herself so she stood tall to face the other ponies. "My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everypony just calls me Pinkie Pie! I'm the Ultimate Party Pony, here to bring joy and smiles to everypony around!"
To showcase her point she pulled a red balloon seemingly out of thin air. She blew it up and tied it into a balloon animal, more specifically a phoenix. Philomena excitedly squawked as the pony handed her the balloon.
"Well aren't you sweet!" The phoenix took the balloon and stashed it under the podium. "Very good introduction! Next!"
Pinkie stepped down off to the side of the stage, and plopped down on the ground.
"Some of you already know my name," said the purple alicorn as she stepped up onto the stage to face the line. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the Ultimate Magic Prodigy. It's nice to meet you all."
Twilight dipped her head, and stepped down off the stage to sit beside Pinkie. The blue pegasus from before took her place instead, spreading her wings and bringing a smirk to her face.
"They call me Rainbow Dash!" She introduced herself confidently. "I'm the Ultimate Professional Flyer, and a true Wonderbolt at heart! If you want an autograph, just let me know."
She winked and flew herself through the air a few times, showcasing her speed and her control over her flight. She skidded to a stop beside Pinkie and Twilight, and chuckled proudly as she situated herself to sit down. Starlight rolled her eyes. Glad to know we have a narcissist among us... She wondered if any pony rolled their eyes too. Judging by the unamused look on Twilight's face, she might've.
"So many interesting ponies so far!" Philomena clapped her wings together. "C'mon, keep the train rolling!"
"My turn!" The bouncy golden stallion stepped up, brown frizzy mane flowing around with as much excitement as was written on his face. "I'm Cheese Sandwich! I'm the Ultimate Party Planner! 🎵 When you've got a party, but don't know what to do, just call for Cheese Sandwich and he'll pull you on through, hey! 🎵"
The stallion clapped his hooves as he sang, and rolled himself off the stage in a ball. He sat down beside Pinkie, and they both laughed over the small performance. Starlight had to admit that little slogan was catchy. She'd have it stuck in her head forever...
"Such fun!" Philomena laughed, wiping fake tears from her face. "Who's next?"
"I am," Shining Armor stepped up on the stage and turned to face the crowd. "Like with Twilight, some of you already know my name. I'm Shining Armor, the Ultimate Guard. I lead the royal guard in Canterlot. Not a big deal, but... thought I'd mention it."
The stallion rolled his shoulders as he step down to sit with the rest of the ponies.
"Such an important pony!" Philomena cawed with surprise. "Who knew? Well now I wonder how they're going to lead themselves without their leader... Oh well, whatever, next!"
"My turn!" The white unicorn sang as she stepped up on stage, happily flaunting her beautiful mane. "The name is Rarity, and I am the Ultimate Fashionista. If I had the chance, I would showcase some of my work but... I suppose it will simply have to wait until we can leave."
She hummed happily as she stepped off the stage.
"Ah, is it my turn already?" Starlight noticed she was at the front of the crowd, and her own nervousness took hold of her. She cleared her throat and walked up onto the stage, trying to hide her fear. "I-I'm Starlight Glimmer." Dammit! I stuttered! "To be totally honest, I don't remember what my talent is... S-sorry about that, Philomena."
"It's fine!" Philomena waved her wing dismissively. "You'll remember sooner or later and we can update your file proper! Next!"
Starlight stepped down off the stage with shaky hooves, and sat down with Rarity.
"Don't be too upset, darling." Rarity patted her back to try and comfort her. "You'll remember soon, just like Philomena said. Don't stress."
"I know." Starlight smiled at the fashionista, feeling a little bit better about her horrible introduction now.
"Alright, my turn!" The stallion with the streaked hair looked awfully excited to finally step up on the stage. He flipped his hair and posed at the side. "Feather Bangs, that's the name. They call me the Ultimate Singer. I'm a bit of a big deal."
He glanced off to the side, catching Starlight's eye and winking at her. She hated to admit that she blushed. He stepped down with a chuckle and sat down beside her, making her just roll her eyes. She scooted closer to the other ponies she sat beside, wanting to be even the slightest bit further from that stallion.
"Me next, me next!" The light blue unicorn stallion hopped onto the stage. Now that Starlight noticed it, he was the third pony with super messy hair in this bunch... "Name's Party Favor! They like to call me the Ultimate Balloon Bender. I'm the best of the best when it comes to making balloon animals and doin' balloon tricks!"
Like Pinkie, he also brought out a balloon out of thin air, and created a balloon animal with it, this time of himself. He left it on the stage as he stepped down.
"My, there sure is a lot of party ponies here!" Philomena gently nudged the Party Favor balloon behind the podium. "This place sure is going to be fun filled and fantastical! Who could top three whole party ponies in one place? I know I couldn't!"
"I bet I could!" The blue unicorn mare hadn't said much this whole time, but she was sure to make up for it as she stepped up onto the stage. "I am the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon! I am the Ultimate Magician, ready to blow you away with show stopping spells, tricks, and stunts galore!"
Starlight wasn't sure why, but she felt like she recognized this pony. She had quite the interest in this pony's 'spells, and tricks, and stunts.' Trixie held her head high as she walked off the stage to sit with the others. The mare's cocky attitude was a bit of a turn off, but Starlight was sure she could adjust. Based on how many ponies shared that overconfident aura, she might have to whether she wants to or not.
"A magician and party ponies? Hot dog!" Philomena cackled. "This is shaping up to be a fun year!"
"Fun is one way to describe it," The golden unicorn stallion stepped onto the stage, ears twitching with nervousness. "Um, h-hi, I'm Sunburst. Ultimate Scholar. No big deal, haha."
Sunburst laughed nervously as he quickly stepped off the stage. As he settled beside the other ponies who had been introduced, he played with his cloak to calm down. Starlight couldn't help feeling bad for him, but she would feel awkward getting up to move and comfort him right now.
"Let's get my introduction out of the way," The white unicorn stallion spoke up as he stepped onto the stage. He held his head high and looked down on each pony like he was superior. "Prince Blueblood is what you will refer to me as. Full name only, please. I am the Ultimate Prince, and I expect to be respected for that reason."
As he stepped down, Starlight could only think of curse words to describe him. She was infinitely grateful that she wasn't sitting next to him. She felt bad for the ponies that would have to.
"Wow, this line is movin' faster than the jam line durin' Zap Apple season," The orange mare said as she trotted up onto the stage. "Y'all can call me Applejack, I'm the Ultimate Farmer and dang proud of it too!"
She crossed her legs in a sort of pose for just a moment. She tipped up her hat before she stepped off the stage and sat down with the rest of the ponies.
"I'm up? Aw, sweet!" The white stallion stepped up onto the stage, adjusting his hair so it was out of his eyes. "I'm Double Diamond, Ultimate Snowboarder. Snowboardin' champion for the last 5 years, I pride myself on that every day!"
Starlight couldn't help clapping her hooves together to congratulate Double Diamond as he stepped down and sat with her and Feather Bangs. He passed her a nod and a laugh as he sat down.
"Is it my turn already?" The light brown stallion looked around in disbelief. "My, that did go fast."
The stallion ran up onto the stage and adjusted his tie. Despite seeming so well put together, even this stallion was nervous to be situated on the stage. Once his tie had been fixed, he opened his mouth to speak.
"I've been called many things, from Time Turner to Doc," he began. "But, you can call me Doctor Whooves, and I am the Ultimate Inventor. I like to believe science and truth are the most important of all things, and my inventions are evidence of it! Oh, I do wish that I had brought some had I known I would be coming here..."
The stallion mumbled something to himself as he took a seat with the rest of the crowd.
"O-oh..." At long last, it came down to the last pony, the most frightful of all.
The yellow pegasus had intentionally moved to the back of the line so that she could be last. Starlight had noticed she moved back several times in the line as it got shorter. She had been directly behind Starlight before she did her own introduction, she remembered that much. Starlight could sympathize with the mare. Her legs were horribly shaky as she stepped up onto the stage and swallowed hard.
"F-f-fluttershy i-is my name," the mare said, barely audible even in the deathly silent room. "I-I'm... I'm the U-Ultimate... Ultimate A-Animal Caret-taker."
She whimpered pitifully as she quickly ran off the stage, hiding herself amongst the sitting crowd of ponies. Starlight definitely felt bad for her, her stage fright was horrible...
"So many wonderful introductions!" Philomena hopped from talon to talon. "Now that everypony is all introduced, it's time to get into the second most important part of our welcoming ceremony!"
As the phoenix spoke, the group stood, and moved to the front of the stage again to see everything properly. Philomena in turn adjusted herself to be at the front of the podium again.
"For the second part of this ceremony," Philomena continued. "I would like to give all of you your Phoenix Pads, and showcase the map of the school's first floor!"
"Phoenix Pads?" Starlight mused.
"Yes!" Philomena spread her wings, and some machinery descended from the ceiling above each pony. It lowered to showcase a tablet that was currently turned off. "Take a tablet, everypony! They have hoofprint verification!"
Starlight lifted up the tablet with her magic, and when she took hold of it, the machinery that had dropped it went back up into the ceiling. The sounds were always delayed, as some ponies were still afraid of taking the tablet. Eventually all the machinery went back into the ceiling, and all at once all of the devices turned on. They each asked for a hoofprint before access to the device would be permitted. Starlight wasn't sure if her hoofprint would really open this tablet. She had never used it before, so how would it know what her hoofprint was like?
She took a deep breath and decided to just test it out for herself. She lifted one of her hooves, placing it into the scanning section. A blue beam went across the screen, scanning her hoof. When it stopped, she could remove her hoof. Her hoof still felt cold from the screen as she set it back on the ground. It took a few seconds to verify, but the tablet unlocked and she was met with a welcoming sound and the homescreen. She heard the noise echo through the crowd as everypony activated their tablets, and Philomena seemed very happy that all the tablets were on.
"Now that you're all acquainted with your little tablets, it's time to get into the next important part of the meeting!" Philomena hopped down from the podium, to stand at the very edge of the stage and stare out over the crowd. "It's time to get to know what your tablet is, and how it works, as well as what's been installed on it by yours truly!"
"On your tablet you have a few special features," Philomena explained. "You should have 3 apps on your tablets. The first app is your map, it showcases the current floor of the school that you're on! If you tap on it now, it will open up the map of the first floor, complete with labels!"
Starlight took the bird's advice, and pressed on the app labelled as 'Ultimate Academy of Gifted Ponies Map.' After a few seconds of showing a white screen, the map loading in.
That confirmed all the things that they had discovered before. The pool, the plaza, the garden... the only place that was new to Starlight was the fruit tree orchard. She was surprised she hadn't noticed it when she was at the plaza, and clearly Twilight's group hadn't noticed it at the garden either. She would have to look at it herself when she got the chance. She backed out of the app, and looked up at Philomena again.
"Now, for the second app!" Philomena flapped her wings and called attention from all the ponies. "The second app is all of your student profiles! If you open it up you can explore through the profiles of every student that is currently here on the school grounds! When you open the app, by default it will come up with your profile."
To test the theory, Starlight tapped on the app to open it up. She wasn't all that surprised when her student profile appeared on the screen.
She was shocked with everything that was written there, and honestly she was a little embarrassed. They even got her GPA! Though, she shouldn't be that amazed; this is a school after all, why wouldn't they showcase GPA's? But her likes and dislikes... it definitely made her face bloom with blush. She decided to scroll through some of the other profiles to see what they contained. The first profile she swiped to was Twilight's.
She wasn't at all surprised with Twilight's GPA. She seemed like a very smart pony, it just sounded right. She swiped to the next profile. The next profile was Trixie.
She was right. Trixie most definitely had an ego, and it showed 100%. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to get along with her very well. She was lucky the other mare was so focused on her own tablet. She decided to keep going through the profiles, and swiped to the next. This time instead of a mare, a stallion showed up; it was Sunburst.
She was pleasantly surprised with Sunburst's dislikes. Of course no one would like to be bossed around, but him being so outright with it was admirable. Though he was nervous on the stage, he seemed strong-willed in his own right. She might find herself hanging around him more often. She moves on to the next profile, and the Doctor shows up on her screen.
Well, it seemed he and Sunburst had one thing in common; they hated crowds. The Doctor sure seemed like an interesting pony. Starlight silently hoped that she could make time to get to know him as well. She'd never been much of an inventor, much more focused on magic and her kite craftsmanship, so it would be a new experience for her. She swipes to the next profile, which ends up being the pony right next to her; Rarity.
That wasn't surprising, Starlight thought. Her GPA might've been a bit of a shock, but she did seem to base her whole personality off her Ultimate talent. She passes a glance to the mare beside her, but quickly trains her eyes back on her tablet before their eyes can meet. She feels a sense of nervousness wash over her before she quickly swipes to the next profile. Ironically enough, she was somewhat relieved to see Prince Blueblood on her screen instead of Rarity.
What a prick, Starlight thought. He claims to dislike rude people, but he's most likely rude and uptight himself. Damn hypocrite. She quickly switches to the next profile before she can blow a fuse and set her horn on fire. The next profile is Shining Armor's.
Shining Armor was a very simple stallion, that much was obvious. He was like the protagonist of many stories Starlight used to read as a child. Her father would read them to her every night. At heart, she really loved the work those heroes did. Maybe she could be good friends with Shining if she really tried. She moved on to the next profile so she wouldn't get distracted. She groaned softly when Feather Bangs showed up on her screen.
Well, he could've been worse... She was glad nothing weird was written on his profile, though his GPA made her chuckle a little. He wasn't stupid, but he wasn't the highest of this class by any means. She almost felt bad for just thinking about it, but it did make her smile. She swiped to the next profile, and brought her attention to the fullest when Fluttershy's profile appeared on the screen.
Starlight expected no less from Fluttershy; she was too nervous to speak up most of the time she was with her. She hoped that she learned to get stronger as time went on. She couldn't imagine being eternally afraid like that. She passed a glance to the mare at the back of the group with sympathy in her eyes. She decided to keep looking through the profiles, and swiped to the next. The next profile was for Cheese Sandwich.
She would be more surprised if Pinkie's likes and dislikes were different from Cheese's. She could just imagine what her profile would be like. She knew those two would get along incredibly well. She swapped to the next profile, which just so happened to be Pinkie's.
Well, they weren't entirely the same, but Starlight expected they'd be similar. She was a bit worried about part of Pinkie's dislikes... for some reason, she felt like breaking a promise with Pinkie would be the worst possible idea. She was definitely a bit scared of the thought. She moved on before she could let it get to her. The next profile that showed up was Party Favor. Three party ponies in a row, what are the odds? Starlight hummed to herself.
So, he doesn't like loud noises... Starlight silently hoped when her group was trying to open the gate, they didn't startle him... She'd wonder the same with Fluttershy as well because she was close by. She felt bad for making so much noise now. She'd have to apologize to them both when she got the opportunity. She glanced back to Fluttershy again, and scanned the crowd for Party Favor, but couldn't see him from where she was standing. She looked back down at her tablet and kept on. She swapped to the next profile, which was of Rainbow Dash.
She didn't like the fact that Rainbow Dash had one of Trixie's dislikes too. They both had a pretty big ego, but it seemed like Rainbow Dash was more low-key about it. She seemed to be more focused on the ponies around her than Trixie was. She could admire that, and she honestly preferred it. She swiped to the next profile with a hum. The next profile was Applejack's.
Starlight wondered what it meant that Applejack liked traditions. Maybe she had some specific traditions on her farm that she wanted to keep around? She could understand that; traditions are important. She just hoped that Applejack wasn't too forceful with them. She took a breath as she got to the last profile, and she already knew who it was. The last profile to show up was Double Diamond's.
Ah, he likes muffins. A bit random, but fun, Starlight thought. She wondered if some of the party ponies would treat him once they got to the restaurant part of the school campus. It seemed that every pony was finally done looking through the profiles, because Philomena's squawks rang out around the lobby once again.
"I suppose everypony has had plenty of time to read while I've been bored?" She stretched her beak in a yawn and flapped her wings. After a few rounds of nodding from the group, her expression perked again. "Great! Now then, onto the very last app! If you'll all just head back to your homescreens, then you'll notice the last app next to all the rest. This one is the most important app of all. You'll need it if you're going to keep going to the school and if you want to leave too!"
Everypony backed out of the profile app. Starlight imagined some had already done so before Philomena spoke up. They each tapped on the last app. It was titled 'Gifted Academy Rules and Regulations.'
"I'll give you all some time to read through the rules, and I'll answer any questions that you have!" The phoenix situated herself on top of the podium, and closed her eyes. She appeared to be resting for now.
Starlight turned her head back down to the tablet as the page finally loaded, and she moved her mouth just faintly as she read every word on her screen.
'These are the rules that one must follow while attending the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Ponies. Failure to abide by school rules will result in rightful punishment as decided by Vice Headmare Philomena. The rules are as follows:
Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.
Rule #2: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. The front entrance is closed at night. Restaurant Row is inaccessible during this time.
Rule #3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.
Rule #4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore the campus at your discretion.
Rule #5: Violence toward Philomena, the headmare of the Ultimate Academy, is strictly prohibited.
Rule #6: Your Phoenix Pads are very important items. Please do not damage them.
Rule #7: Trading Phoenix Pads is strictly prohibited.
Rule #8: Students who violate the school rules will be forcibly removed from the academy.'
The rules seemed pretty straightforward and simple until... they got to rule #9. Starlight's ears drooped, her eyes widened, and a sick feeling filled the pit in her stomach as she continued reading the rules. She could only imagine the other ponies around her were feeling the same, and she could just imagine a smirk forming on Philomena's face.
'Rule #9: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.
Rule #10: Once a murder takes place, all surviving students must participate in a class trial.
Rule #11: If the blackened is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.
Rule #12: If the blackened is not exposed, all remaining students will be executed.
Rule #13: If the blackened survives the class trial, they will graduate and re-enter the outside world.
Rule #14: The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving students remain.
Rule #15: Unicorn magic is not allowed to be used to commit a murder. Pegasi are also forbidden from flying to commit a murder. Things must be fair for all ponies.
Rule #16: Philomena will never directly commit a murder.
Rule #17: The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more students discover a body.
Rule #18: The blackened may only kill a maximum of two ponies during any single "killing game".
Rule #19: If two different murders by different murderers occur at the same time, only the one whose victim was found first will be the blackened.
Rule #20: Destroying school property is not allowed, this includes surveillance cameras and monitors.
Rule #21: These rules may be updated as the Killing Game progresses.'
"W-wait, what does rule #9 mean?" Starlight heard herself speak, but she barely registered that she had spoken until Philomena awoke to respond to her.
"Well, can't you read?" The phoenix squawked. "Now that you've all read through the rules, you know how things are going to work in this school! And with that, I would like to welcome you all to the Canterlot Killing Game!"
"Excuse me?!" Rainbow Dash yelled out, flapping her wings and carrying herself into the air. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"In terms simple enough for even a filly to understand-" Philomena groaned with annoyance. "-you all are part of a fun little game that I myself have organized for you all! This is a Killing Game, and the only way to win the game is to kill. You can do it in any way you want! 🎵 Be subtle, be obvious, be specific or horrific! Tie up and beat or strangle while they plete! Any and every method works, whether it's horribly bloody or just slightly quirked. It doesn't matter as long as it's done, and for a bird that's the very definition of fun! 🎵"
Starlight couldn't help the sickness building up in her stomach as the phoenix sang her song. They had to kill eachother to escape this place?! What the hell..?
"Why would any of us kill eachother to leave this place?!" Trixie screamed out from the center of the crowd. "The Great and Powerful Trixie would never harm another pony for her own benefit!"
"Oh, but you will!" Philomena cackled behind her wings. "Trust me, you may think you're good willed now, but your puny pony minds at the moment can't comprehend the situation that you're in. I'll spell it out for you; there's a magical barrier that you pegasi can't fly through, and you unicorns can't shatter. Even an Alicorn can't break this barrier. All of the gates are locked with a specific spell that none of you remember to cast. Try as you might, you'll never undo that lock! And until some ponies start dropping dead, you're all going to be trapped here until you die!"
Philomena flew off her podium as Rainbow Dash darted forward, waving her hooves and trying to attack the bird.
"Hey hey hey!" Philomena cawed loudly. "Remember your rulebook, pony! You can't harm me unless you want to be the first punished victim!"
"D-does punishment mean..?" Fluttershy weakly whimpered, tears beginning to stream down her face and drip off her shaky body.
"Ding ding!" Philomena hummed happily. "If you're caught breaking the school rules, then I'll have no choice but to execute you!"
"Execute?" Rainbow Dash flinched. She still had that flame of anger in her eyes, but fear made her body quiver even if it wasn't obvious to every pony.
"You heard me correctly!" Philomena flew down and landed back on the podium, watching as Rainbow Dash descended back to the ground and stared at her in disbelief. "Regardless of what you all do, you're going to die someday anyways! I'm just speeding up the process!"
"If we have to kill to leave this place, then we won't leave!" Twilight yelled at the phoenix confidently. "I have faith that we all are going to become good friends in here, and no matter what, we will never kill another pony for any selfish reason!"
"You'll regret those words," Philomena said coldly. She blinked at Twilight, unamused with her words. "I figured you ponies would be so caught up behind the guise of 'friendship' that you wouldn't take your situation seriously, so I've prepared something very special for you all that might speed up the process."
The phoenix raised one of her wings, revealing she was holding a remote control. She pressed the red button in the center with one of her feathers, and the screen for a slideshow appeared behind her. A projector descended from the ceiling and lit up the room as it cast an image on the screen.
"As you all know, there is a restaurant street outside of the school. This area is blocked off by a magical barrier for the time being," The bird explained as she clicked through the slides, which contained pictures matching the words she was saying. "I will tell you all this; your first motivation to kill while inside this school is this exact location."
"How so?" Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes up at the screen.
"This area won't open until somepony dies!" Philomena cackled.
Her laughter bounced off all of the walls in the room as she tossed the remote to the side and crushed it under her talon. The projector and the screen began to ascend back into the ceiling. The pictures the projector was casting glitched out as the machinery disappeared into the ceiling.
"You ponies are going to starve in one week unless some pony dies," Philomena hissed angrily. "If you can survive until that point and simply die of starvation in the end, then you'll be the most stubborn bunch of ponies I've ever come across. But, I've heard it's not that easy! So, if some pony dies before the week is over, then I will take down the magical barrier, and you will be allowed to enter the Restaurant Row. You will be treated to a buffet and you'll be able to engorge yourselves before the investigation begins."
"So it's either we kill somepony, or we starve to death?" Applejack scrunched up her nose. "That's outright ridiculous! You'd be nuttier than a bull in a pig show to pull some trick like that!"
"Then I suppose I'm a squirrel!" Philomena waved her wings as her chest rapidly rose and fell as she laughed. "I'll give you ponies some time to think about what to do. Have fun!"
The ponies called out for the bird as she flapped her wings and disappeared into the upstairs. She seemed to find a small opening in the bars that made up the balcony so she could slip in. No pony could fit through to get into the upstairs; they had to figure out a way to unlock it. At the moment though, their minds were elsewhere. Starlight looked around the room, and didn't recognize the expressions of any pony she saw. Few were tearing up, Fluttershy was crying, many ponies had their faces scrunched up with anger and disgust. All of the warmth from before had disappeared into the air.
Starlight stared at the ground, seeing that she had dropped her Phoenix Pad. Thankfully, it didn't break, but she still didn't remember when she dropped it. Her widened eyes stared blankly at the item, and even her horn was unresponsive to what her body wanted to do; pick it up.
Her heart began to thump. It thumped so hard she could feel it in her stomach and her head. It made her sick to her stomach, and she didn't like it one bit. But either way, she had to accept what the reality was here. Were these ponies going to accept their fates and starve to death in this academy? Or... was some pony really going to kill another to escape from this wretched school?
It's still taking a lot of effort to adjust to what just happened. Starlight still finds herself blinking as if trying to get sleep out of her eyes. This had to be a dream, right? She's still asleep somewhere else in Equestria, isn't she? That must be it, she must be back in her village fast asleep in her house. There was no way this was real. She used her magic to pinch herself, but the pinch hurt her. No, that can't be... She knew what that meant.
"This is ridiculous!" Shining Armor finally broke the despair-filled silence. "There's no way that I'm going to commit murder just to be able to eat!"
"I won't either!" Twilight spoke up with him. "I would much rather starve to death than have to harm another pony!"
"Me too!" Applejack stomped her hooves on the ground. "Ah'll eat the grass on the campus if it means stayin' alive without gettin' somepony killed!"
"We're ponies, we could do just that!" Double Diamond spoke above the crowd in agreement. "We don't need fancy foods like cakes and hayburgers, surely we can survive off of that!"
The crowd gradually became louder as more ponies joined in to voice their disdain for the new rules. Starlight even felt herself agreeing with them, but as she looked through the crowd she noticed that not every pony was feeling the same. Few were still huddled in the background, their faces petrified and filled with tears. They didn't want to eat grass, but they didn't want to kill another pony either... Starlight picked up her tablet, turning it on and going to the rules page again...
'Rule #14: The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving students remain.'
She felt nausea pool in her stomach again, and swallowed hard as bile tried to crawl up her throat. It made her throat hurt, but she didn't care. She didn't need to spoil their appetites any more than they already were. Then, she covered her ears as the sound of a microphone turning on was heard once more, and Philomena's voice echoed throughout the school.
"My fellow ponies!" She cawed. "I would like to officiate that it is 6 pm! We officially have 4 hours left until it will be considered nighttime! Please use your first day on campus wisely, and make sure that you know where your dorm is before nighttime officially begins!"
Her voice faded from the speakers, and the group was left in deafening silence again.
"This bird is fucking crazy if she thinks we're going to adhere to these rules!" Rainbow Dash cursed as she set her tablet down and stepped on it. She didn't break it, because she knew what would happen if she broke that rule, but it truly looked like she wanted to.
"We may as well listen to what she has to say though," Twilight sighed, adjusting her wings on her back. "If we're going to be stuck here just like the rules say, then we need to know our location. Let's look around this building now that we're inside, we may find new things."
"Should we split up again?" Starlight asked.
"That would be a good idea," Twilight answered. "We're a full group now, so let's split up evenly. We can split up in groups of 4. We can all decide our own groups."
"I'm happy with our group from before, Twilight," Shining Armor nodded to his sister.
"Alright." Twilight smiled to the stallion. "That'll be me, Shining Armor, Sunburst, and Trixie in one group."
"I can take Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash again," Starlight spoke up before another pony could. "But, we still need a fourth member."
"I'll join," Double Diamond waved his hoof and walked to stand beside Starlight.
"So Starlight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Double Diamond are in the next group," Twilight nodded to the ponies. "Everypony else?"
"I like my group too!" Pinkie waved her hooves in the air. "It waaaas me, AJ, Rarity, and then Cheese!"
"Alright, that just leaves Party Favor, Feather Bangs, Prince Blueblood, and Doctor Whooves," Twilight pointed her wings to the ponies. "You all need to do your part too."
"Whateves," Feather Bangs said dismissively as he ran his hoof through his mane.
"So should we meet back here once we're done exploring?" Party Favor inquired.
"Same rules apply as before," Twilight hummed. "We meet back at the starting place when we're done exploring, and share our information. We'll meet here in front of the stage and staircase when we think we've explored all that we can. Now that we're in groups, we need to decide where to go."
"Twilight, there were a few things on the map that we didn't look at," Shining put his hoof on Twilight's back. "But they're outside. Should we still go look at them?"
"We can, but we should be quick," Twilight said. "We should still put our focus on the inside since it's brand new."
"It's just one location, we can be fast." Sunburst adjusted his glasses as he spoke. "It doesn't sound like there's going to be anything inherently 'mind-blowing' there anyways."
"I'd like to explore the dorms," Starlight stepped forward to make her decision. "Like Philomena said, we need to make sure that we know where our dorms are before nighttime. We can't be caught sleeping outside because we don't know which dorm is ours."
"We can check the lounge at the back," Applejack piped up. "It looks like it's connectin' to the garden, so we can see if the door's opened up."
"I suppose we can check this 'trial room' then," Prince Blueblood decided to chime in. "We might as well get familiar with the location if we do end up having to conduct an investigation in a few days."
"Ay, don't jinx us man," Feather Bangs bumped his elbow against the stallion's side. "We ain't gonna have to use that room. We got grass to eat and fresh dew to drink. We're gonna be just fine."
"Hmph!" Prince Blueblood stepped to the side, holding his chin up. "Well, I for one hope that we do! I would much rather let the 'blackened' get away with the crime if it means I don't have to eat like a common cow."
"We'll look for your clues at the crime scene then," Trixie hissed at the stallion. "You seem like just the pony who would kill another for their own gain!"
"As if I would ever dirty my hooves in such a way!" The prince scoffed.
"Every pony, please quit fighting!" Twilight stepped between the two ponies. "We have more important things to do than sit around and argue! I don't care what you think of eachother, we can't let Philomena think she's got the better of us! We don't need to hate eachother this early on!"
"Hmph!" Trixie snorted and returned to standing with Shining Armor. "Let's get going then, the Great and Powerful Trixie does not need to deal with common pests."
"Common?!" Prince Blueblood hissed.
"Trixie!" Twilight glared at the unicorn. "That's enough! Let's get going!" She flapped her wings and carried herself into the air. She began flying off to the entrance of the building, and let the unicorns follow in behind her.
"The audacity," Prince Blueblood quietly cursed to himself.
"Shut up," Party Favor jabbed his horn against the stallion's side. "You heard what Twilight said, and she's right. We need to try and calm down and focus on the task at hoof. Let's go to the trial waiting room and see what we can find."
Prince Blueblood finally fell into silence, unhappily agreeing with Party Favor's statement. He turned on his hooves and began walking to the waiting room with the other ponies following in behind him.
"Let's get to that lounge," Applejack nodded to her group. "We might be able to find somethin' out about this place. There could be some books that've got some good information in em'."
"Let's go!" Cheese bounced from hoof to hoof. "And even if the books don't have anything, at least we've got good reading material!"
"True that!" Applejack laughed as she began walking behind the staircase. The two party ponies hopped after her, with Rarity trailing behind. Doubt and concern was still written on her face, but she tried not to let it show too much.
"Let's head to the dorms." Double Diamond tapped Starlight on the back to draw her attention. "At the very least, we should explore our own dorms."
"I've got an idea," Fluttershy spoke up meekly. "W-we can go into our own dorms, look around and see what there is to see... t-then we can come into the hallway a-and talk about what we found? I-it would be rude going into somepony else's dorm..."
"I agree with Fluttershy," Starlight said with a smile. "My dorm might even have some clues about what my Ultimate talent is, and that would be helpful."
"Let's go then, we don't have all day!" Rainbow Dash flailed her hooves impatiently, and began flying off to the dorms. Everypony else trotted after her. As they reached the dorms, the first thing they noticed was the nameplates on each door.
"Each dorm is labeled," Double Diamond pointed out. "We should be able to find our dorms easily."
"On the map, they're organized by stallions on one side, and mares on the other," Starlight explained as she opened the map on her tablet, and focused on the dorm layout map. "Double Diamond, your dorm is the first one on the stallions' side."
"I see," Double Diamond looked behind them and noticed his dorm. "I'll start exploring, and I'll wait outside for you all to get done." He didn't wait for a reply before he walked to his dorm. There was a keypad beside each door, and a scanner. Double Diamond lifted his hoof and put it on the scanner. After a moment of scanning, the door opened up, and the stallion disappeared into his dorm room.
"Rainbow Dash, your dorm is the third on this side," Starlight said as they went down the other side of the hallway. She and Fluttershy stepped out of the way when they reached the dorm. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground, and scanned her hoof on the scanner.
"Oh, sweet!" Her eyes sparkled as she saw her room. She ran inside and shut the door behind her. Starlight wasn't curious enough to try looking inside.
"Ours are at the end of the hallway, yours is the very last one," She said to Fluttershy. Once they got to the end of the hall, Starlight used her magic to put her tablet away. They scanned their hooves on the scanners, and entered their rooms. Starlight flinched as the door shut behind her, but she decided to focus on her room.
The room reminded her of her old room in Sire's Hollow, but less... full of cringe. It looked much more comfortable, and this shade of blue was somewhat comforting. She walked to the bed, putting her hooves on it. It was felt like it fit her size perfectly, and she was pretty excited to sleep in a bed instead of on the ground. She looked around the rest of the room, taking notice of the space theme. Stars were scattered around in the shape of her cutie mark, and comets were all over the wall and ceiling. If she didn't know any better, she'd think this room was intended for Princess Luna or Twilight. The carpet was a bright white, and covered in light blue and yellow stars. She moved her hooves through the carpet, watching it make shapes under her.
She noticed the nightstand, and pulled it open with her magic. Inside the drawer were some booklets with word searches, and a pair of reading glasses. She felt herself blushing at the revelation she needed reading glasses. She shut the drawer and looked in the nest. Her eyes sparkled at the contents; kites, and kite making material. Well, at least she could have some fun while she was in here. Maybe she could share some kites with the other ponies. She shut the drawer again, and sighed. She wished the dorms had windows; she would love to get fresh air at night.
She didn't think there was anything else important in the room, so she decided to leave. Another scanner was inside the room, probably a security feature. She scanned herself to open the door and exit the room again. Double Diamond waved to her from across the hall, and trotted over; it seems he finished early too.
"How was your room, Starlight?" He asked.
"Comfortable," She hummed softly. "What about yours?"
"It was cold, which I appreciate," He laughed. "It seems they've got custom air conditioning for me. It's a completely different temperature in that room than everywhere else. If anypony but me was in there, they'd be freezing I bet."
"It's that cold?" Starlight snorted. "Okay, well, I'll make a note to never go into your dorm."
They sat down at the entrance to Starlight's dorm, waiting patiently for the other two ponies. It didn't take long before Rainbow Dash emerged from her dorm, and flew over to the two ponies.
"Oh let me tell you, my dorm is sooo totally awesome!" Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves. "It's just like my bedroom in Cloudsdale! Wonderbolts posters, awesome pictures of me, and they even have a full collection of Daring Do books!"
"Huh, I never took you as the type to read, Rainbow Dash," Double Diamond teased.
"I'm not an egghead, I just want to make that very clear," She countered. "The only books I really read are from Daring Do. You should totally read them sometime, I'd be more than happy to lend them to you."
"Once things are more settled down, I just might take you up on that offer," The stallion laughed. "I've never read a Daring Do book."
"You've never read a Daring Do book?!" Rainbow Dash covered her mouth in awe. "You're missing out! She's the most awesomeest, coolest, most amazing adventure pony in history! She kicks butt and collects treasure, and she does it all by herself! She's so cool!"
"If you like her so much, why don't you marry her, Rainbow Dash?" Starlight snorted.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash pouted, crossing her hooves over her chest. "If you read the books, you'd react the same way!"
"Oh, I have," Starlight nodded a few times. "And I can't blame you, she is pretty cool."
"See?" Rainbow Dash landed by the ponies, and sat down. "Anyways, where's Fluttershy? Is she still in her dorm?"
"I guess so. Her dorm is right next to mine." Starlight pointed to the door beside them. "She shouldn't take too much longer." As soon as Starlight said that, the door opened, and Fluttershy stepped out.
"O-oh, did I keep you waiting l-long?" She rubbed her leg nervously.
"No, it's alright," Starlight said as she stood up. "We weren't waiting long. We all just got done ourselves."
"Since we've explored our own dorms, should we consider this place done?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head.
"I think so." Starlight nodded. "Let's head back to the staircase, and we can share what we've found out with everypony else. We've still got a lot of time before night falls on us. We can keep talking while we wait for everypony else."
The group nodded in silent agreement as they began walking back to the staircase to wait for the other ponies.
I wonder what the second floor of this school has to offer, Starlight found herself thinking as she sat with her group in front of the stage. None of them knew what to talk about, they just wanted to be patient. She didn't like when things got quiet anymore. The awkwardness was killing her inside.
"What do you guys think is on the next floor?" Double Diamond broke the silence and lifted his head. He adjusted his sitting position so he was a bit more comfortable.
"I hope there's a gym," Rainbow Dash was the first to respond. "Or some kind of obstacle course. I would looove to have more space to stretch my wings."
"You fly around all the time," Starlight snorted. "Why would you need any more reason to stretch?"
"Your wings get tired eventually!" Rainbow Dash countered. "Flying around isn't stretching, it's repetitive and even we pegasi don't like to fly all the time!"
"I can agree..." Fluttershy mumbled, the floor squeaking as she drew invisible shapes on it with her hoof. "I-i don't like flying around all the t-time. My wings get sore after a w-while."
"See? Fluttershy gets it!" Rainbow Dash trotted over to the mare and sat down with her. "And I fly around more than her! If it hurts for her, imagine how it can get for me!"
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Starlight covered her mouth and giggled. Somehow, she just had a feeling that Rainbow wanted an excuse to show off what else she can do with her wings other than fly. Rainbow yawned, and lay on the ground beside Fluttershy with a hum. It seemed like she didn't feel like continuing the conversation, so Starlight was once again lost in silence.
Luckily, one of the other groups was returning to fill the room with noise again. Starlight looked up and caught a glimpse of Applejack's group returning. She got to her hooves, and stepped forward to meet with the ponies.
"Welcome back," she said. "How was the lounge?"
"The sofas are worse for wear." Rarity fake gagged talking about them. "So blah and dusty. For a school, it appears they didn't put much time into making even their lounge comfortable. I do hope my dorm room is better."
"Sure it is." Applejack rolled her eyes. "There were some bookcases with em', but it doesn't seem like they've got anythin' we can use. Lots of fiction, not a lotta fact."
"I picked out some fun books!" Pinkie bounced in place. "They even had a cookbook stashed away behind some old scrapbooks! That tells me that there's a sweet little kitchen I might be able to bake some things in!"
"I want to join!" Cheese nodded to her. "I haven't cooked anything in a while. I hope I don't burn the place down!"
"Promise you'll try not to?" Starlight chuckled nervously. "A-anyways, was there anything else of note?"
"Nope." Applejack shook her head. "Pretty empty for the most part. Couple of tables with lamps, but the bulbs don't work... and other than them shelves and seats, ain't nothin' important."
"Great," Starlight sighed. "Well, I didn't expect much from a lounge. I do hope that the others have found a few other things worth mentioning."
"Oh! We explored the bathrooms too!" Pinkie draped herself over Cheese's back and looked at Starlight upside down. "They're big! They've got showers too! Only two of em', suuuper weird. Guess they don't want anypony getting any ideas, if ya know what I mean."
"Don't say that," Starlight squeaked, her face blooming with blush at the mere thought. Pinkie became a snickering, snorting mess as she rolled off of the stallion's back. His body was lightly shaking with laughter too.
"You sure get embarrassed awful fast, sugarcube," Applejack laughed and pat Starlight on the back. "You're gonna turn redder than a ripe apple, and I'm gon' get confused."
"It's her fault for saying that!" Starlight gently nudged the farm pony's hoof off her back. "I never thought I'd hear even the implication of that from somepony like her."
"You'd be surprised!" Pinkie giggled. "I know more than meets the eye, Starry Glims!"
"Pardon?" That's a new one, Starlight thought.
"The next group is coming back," Double Diamond distracted the group, and motioned to the ponies walking back from the trial room.
"Welcome back," Starlight welcomed the ponies, and stepped away from Applejack's group. She tried not to let her obvious embarrassment show. "Did you find anything interesting?"
"There's an elevator, just like the map says," the Doctor said. Starlight was suddenly aware of how little he had spoken. "Not much else. Most of the time was quite unenjoyable, as this so called 'Prince' was complaining while the rest of us searched the area. I almost left myself on a few occasions."
"Suppose you were lucky havin' me around, bud," Feather Bangs nudged the stallion's side. "I got my ways of makin' ponies talk, and makin' em shut up."
"Well that's one way of saying you make ponies so uncomfortable they'd rather not talk to you," Party Favor hummed.
"I wasn't uncomfortable," Prince Blueblood denied. "I simply find his presence horribly annoying."
"So, in other words, you were uncomfortable." Starlight raised an eyebrow. Prince Blueblood didn't respond to her. He simply lifted his head and looked to the side.
"Was there anything worth noting, you know, outside of the elevator?" Starlight spoke to the rest of the group.
"Lots of paintings," Party Favor recalled. "Mostly old portraits and tapestries of the two sisters. There's even a stained glass depiction of the Crystal Princess."
"Very interesting." Starlight tapped her chin with her hoof.
"Seems there's also some sorta 'leaderboard' by the elevator too," Feather Bangs noted. "Got no clue what it's for, but there's checkmarks by every pony's name." I'd like to look at that myself when I get the chance, Starlight thought.
"Other than those distinguishing features, there was nothing else of interest," the Doctor spoke. "The room was quite spacious, and the elevator is quite large. All 16 ponies could fit in there and still have enough room to wander."
"Could you tell which direction it was going?" Starlight asked.
"No clue," Party Favor shrugged his shoulders. "Since it's listed as the trial waiting room on the map, we can only assume that the second floor has the trial room."
"Or there's a basement that isn't on our map where the trial room is located," the Doctor added. "I would much rather think that option is the truth. It might take up too much 'classroom' space on the second floor."
"Ding ding ding!" A squawking voice called out from the back of the crowd. The ponies jumped out of the way and stood in defensive positions as Philomena exposed herself amongst the ponies. "Why, you all act as though you've seen a ghost! Am I that scary?"
"After the shit you said during our 'welcoming' ceremony, I think you should've expected this reaction!" Rainbow Dash seemed to growl.
"Oh, you're all so dramatic," Philomena covered her beak and yawned behind her feathers. "You act as though you've never heard of murder in your mortal lives."
"Not every pony likes murder in the real world." Starlight stood her ground. "In novels and comics, things are different. This is real life; we don't want to kill eachother."
"I didn't know you all had such a fetish for starvation," Philomena cooed. "Well, I'm not one to judge! I just came to check in on all of you, and see how you were adjusting to the school! Though, it seems like some of you are missing..?"
"They're exploring," Starlight explained. "We want to be sure that we know all of the locations and what they're for. The last of us are checking the last location that we haven't had the chance to look at yet."
"Oooh, very very smart!" Philomena bounced in place. "There's a reason so many of you have such a high GPA! I had to admit I was surprised seeing the averages for this class. Were most of you raised in Canterlot by any chance? I hear that the smartest of ponies come from that city."
"I'm part of the Royal Guard in Canterlot," Shining Armor spoke as his group returned from their exploration. "Why are we talking about birth places now?"
"Philomena came to 'check up' on us," Starlight explained to the stallion. "She was just curious to see if we were raised in Canterlot because most of us have a high GPA."
"It's the truth and you all know it!" Philomena danced on her talons. "I'm not saying ponies raised outside of Canterlot are stupid, but I'm not not saying it either!"
"You wanna repeat that?!" Rainbow Dash raised her voice and spread her wings in preparation for flight.
"R-rainbow..." Fluttershy lifted her hoof, gently placing it on the mare's shoulder. Rainbow Dash reluctantly stood back, a scowl on her face. She let her wings curl back against her sides, and glared at the bird.
"So temperamental," Philomena hummed quietly. "No matter! It's almost nighttime, so I would suggest you ponies head back to your dorms now! If you're done exploring, it's time to put an end to your first day here at the academy! Nighttime begins in 2 hours, and I expect you all to know your bedrooms before then!"
"And what if we stay out after nighttime?" Rarity spoke up and raised her head high.
"Well," Philomena tapped her wings together. "It doesn't matter if you stay out after night, but if you are out for too long you might feel quite tired. You all haven't eaten yet today, so you'll feel more tired than usual. If you don't sleep well, the hunger will knock you out. You do remember the rules in your Phoenix Pad, right? If you pass out from starvation or if you sleep on purpose it doesn't matter, sleeping outside of the dorms will be punished accordingly. Now, goodbye every pony!"
Rainbow Dash dived for the bird, but Philomena was too quick. She cackled as she flew up into the ceiling and disappeared into the second floor once again. Rainbow snorted, and stomped her hooves angrily. Starlight was happy that she had missed. She would hate to find out what would happen if Rainbow broke the 'no violence against the headmare' rule.
"We have plenty of time left before nighttime," Trixie said. "Why would we waste our time sitting in our dorms, waiting for night to fall upon us? Not all of us have explored the entire campus, and Trixie suggests we do so!"
"I'm inclined to agree with her," Twilight spoke up from the back of the crowd, and emerged beside Shining. "I haven't had the chance to properly look at the magical barrier at Restaurant Row, or the pool. I'd like to look at them myself while I've still got time."
"Well, I'm going to take that bird's advice for the first time," Rainbow said before yawning loudly. "My dorm looks awfully comfortable, so I'm going to head to bed. The more sleep I get means the faster I can fly the next day!"
No pony really objected to her idea. Rainbow lifted herself with her wings and carried herself off to the dorms. She scanned herself at her door, and disappeared inside. A few ponies took her advice. Starlight watched as Prince Blueblood, Double Diamond, Doctor Whooves, and Feather Bangs took to their dorms, leaving the rest of the group. Twilight took to walking off on her own to explore, and Trixie followed shortly after. As the ponies dispersed, Starlight found herself on her own in front of the stairs. She sighed, deciding to follow the first few ponies.
She spun on her hooves, and walked back to the dorms. She scanned her hoof on the scanner, and walked back into the dorm. She jumped up on her bed and sprawled out on her back. The bed really was comfortable, she had to admit that she really liked how it felt against her coat. She took a deep breath, the cold air of her dorm filling her lungs. She sighed and rolled onto her side, using her magic to pull the bed's blanket up over her body. She could feel her stomach growling; she couldn't believe she was already so hungry. Now that there was no pony to talk to, and there was no noise to fill her mind, she was well aware of what bad shape her body was in.
She was hungry and she was tired; there was no way she had had proper sleep, even before she woke up in this academy. Her mouth felt dry as well, and despite the hunger, she felt nauseous. She knew she was going to have a hard time sleeping, but she would make due with what she had. She let the warmth underneath the blanket engulf her and carry her into the land of dreams.
Starlight wakes up in her dorm's bed, and the first thing she's aware of is her stomach growling. She forces herself to get out of bed, and feels nausea in her stomach and chest as she gets up. The hunger seems to be getting to her, and when she walks to the door she hopes to get to her kitchen and get some food. Only... she notices the scanner to the door again, and she's reminded of where she is. She can't get food; the only place where food exists is blocked off. She sighs, and scans herself out of her room.
She remembers when this motive was put into place by Philomena, how insistent most of the ponies were that they would go outside and eat grass. She decided that with the pain in her stomach, she was going to join them. If she had to eat grass to survive, then she could do that. It's not like it tasted horrible, anyways; most hayburgers she had eaten before used grass instead of lettuce anyways. Granted, she never ate it entirely by itself, so she didn't know how it really tasted without additives. She walked down the hallway and out to the entrance.
She covered her eyes when she got outside, having to adjust to the bright sun beating down on the world around her. She blinked sleep from her eyes, feeling her eyes adjusting slower than usual. She walked onto the path, and soon turned onto the grass. She noticed other ponies were out eating grass too, even Prince Blueblood had gotten off his own saddle and chose to bend down to bite blades of grass off. Though he was royal, even he wasn't immune to the effects of going hungry, and it was already starting to show.
Starlight bent her own head down, snapping some grass between her teeth. As she ate what she had grabbed, she found out she definitely preferred the grass being on some kind of sandwich. The taste was bland and watery from dew. At least she was getting hydrated, she didn't even think they had anything to drink as long as the Restaurant Row was blocked off. She swallowed down the chewed up grass with some difficulty, but she hoped her stomach would appreciate the little food she could get. It didn't have much nutrition, but something was better than nothing. She bent down and bit off a few more blades from her spot.
"Hey Starlight," She heard a voice behind her. She turned her head, seeing Feather Bangs walking to her. He had an entirely different aura about him. He looked tired. He's hungry too, Starlight thought.
"Hey," She said when she had swallowed down the grass she was eating.
"Guess you're taking what Applejack said to heart, huh? About eating grass?"
"I am." Starlight bent down and took another bite of the grass.
"I don't blame you." He cleared his throat and looked around. "Everypony else seems to be doing that too. My stomach's been growling since I woke up... I really didn't wanna have to join them, but the headache from not eating yesterday is reeeally killing my vibe."
"You might want to eat then," Starlight said when she had finished eating. "It's not doing much for me, but as long as it's edible, then we have to eat something. I just wonder how Philomena is going to react seeing us all eating grass..."
"We're ponies, why does she care?" Feather Bangs said before bending his head down and taking a small bite of the grass beneath him, just to get a taste of what it would be like to eat it. He let himself finish before he looked at Starlight again. "Besides, it's like you said, it's just something edible. It ain't gonna do much for us in the long run, but it might prolong us starving."
"That's the goal." Starlight patted the stallion on the back with her hoof. "I'm gonna talk with the other ponies, I'll just eat as I go. You get your fill of this spot as much as you can."
"Be careful, Starlight." Feather Bangs nodded to her. "Eat while you talk, it's more worth it."
"Thanks for the advice." Starlight smiled before she walked away, letting Feather Bangs 'enjoy' his grass.
The first pony her eyes locked onto when she walked away was Rarity. She was laying down on the path next to the grass, staring at it with disgust. Starlight could see discomfort in the pony's eyes, and disgust in her frown. She knew the mare was unhappy with the realization she would have to eat grass. She walked down the path to meet with the fashionista.
"How are you holding up, Rarity?" As if she had to ask. Starlight bent down and ate some grass again so Rarity could talk.
"Horribly, darling," Rarity groaned. Her stomach growled for a moment, and Rarity rolled onto her back to hold onto it. "Having to eat grass is not settling with my designer stomach. I'm not sure if it's hurting me, or begging for more, but whatever the case may be it is not settling right with me!"
"You probably just need to eat more," Starlight said. "Any food you can get is important, plus the dew that's on the grass can help keep you hydrated. I don't think there are any drinks anywhere but the Restaurant Row, so we'd have to suck the water off the grass anyways."
"I know..." The white mare complained as she got to her hooves. "I never thought I would drop so low as to eat grass, but it is for the best if no pony truly wants to hurt another. Though, I'm sure some of us are thinking of it."
"Honestly, I get it," Starlight coughed into her hoof. "It's not that I'd want fancy foods or soda to drink, I just want something to eat that's going to give me a bit more nutrition and stop my stomach from hurting. If we're already feeling horribly from not having eaten for just a few days, imagine how bad things could get later on down the line."
"Well don't make me think like that Starlight!" Rarity squeaked as she dove into the grass, ripping free full blades and chewing them down. "I'll eat this entire field of grass if you make me think so dreadfully!"
"Sorry..." Starlight chuckled nervously. She knew Rarity wasn't seriously mad, but she still felt nervous. "A-anyways, just try and eat as much as you can. I'm going to talk to the other ponies."
"You should eat too, darling." Rarity patted the mare's back. "Starvation must affect our magic in some way, and we want to be able to use it well in the future."
"Thanks." Starlight walked away from the mare and let her eat. She looked around, not sure who she could talk to now. She spotted Rainbow Dash sitting up in a tree with her legs crossed. Suddenly, Starlight got an idea. She ran from the area to the market plaza in a frenzy. Some ponies must've gotten concerned with how fast she ran away. She looked through each of the market stalls again to find food, but found nothing. Her last resort was the one place she hadn't seen herself; the fruit tree orchard. She trotted there, as it was just behind the plaza. The trees there were huge, and looked like they were full of fruits. She noticed Applejack was already there before her, and was bucking the trees with all the force in her back legs.
"Are you trying to get fruit, Applejack?" She asked.
"Tryin'!" Applejack replied with another strong buck to the trunk of one tree. "Ain't got nothin' so far. Ah can't see any fruit, but Ah figured it could be stuffed up in them leaves there. Ah've almost tried all of em, and ain't found nothin. Seems like the trees got picked cleaned b'fore we got here."
"Dammit..." Starlight sighed and facehoofed. "They had this motive planned from the start it seems. I was for sure we would get a one-up on them with these trees."
"They gotta only have these trees for Restaurant Row," Applejack moved to another tree and slammed her legs into it. "Whatever's growin' on em is an important ingredient in makin' food in there. Ah ain't got a clue in the dang world how they gon' get any other food while even we're locked up tighter than a barn's cider cellar. And Ah know that for a fact, if you're wonderin'."
"I figured." Starlight rolled her shoulders. "Well... I'm going to head back to the entrance. If you find anything, there's no point in bringing it back, since you'll likely be the only pony who can enjoy it."
"Ah doubt that Ah'm gonna find anythin' at all, sugarcube," Applejack said as she bucked another tree. "But ya might be right, and Ah'll do what Ah gotta."
Starlight left the farm pony in peace and walked on her way to the entrance. She stopped and ate some of the grass from beside the paths. It was the least she could do. Everypony would have the front entrance cleared of grass eventually, that only left the rest of the school to feed from. She sighed as she swallowed another lump of grass down. Her growling stomach hadn't calmed down at all, but she hoped that it would eventually.
"Having fun, Starlight?" A caw called down from the top of one of the speaker poles.
"No, I'm not," Starlight said as she looked up. She glared at Philomena directly in the eyes. "Starving ponies and telling them to kill eachother is not fun!"
"Well, it seems to be working!" The phoenix cackled as she flew down to land in front of Starlight. "I heard it from you and Rarity yourselves! Even you'd consider it because you don't like starving!"
"Just because we'd consider it doesn't mean we're serious." Starlight stomped her hoof defiantly. "I for one would never want to act on my violent thoughts in any circumstance."
"Hah! That's rich!" Philomena laughed, falling onto her back and clutching her sides with her wings as she did so. "You're embarrassing yourself! Every pony cracks at some point!"
"Well, I won't." Starlight stepped over the phoenix and began walking down the path again. "I'll eat grass for the rest of my life if I must."
"Good luck, cause the rest of your life ends at the end of the week!" Philomena raised herself into the air, and disappeared into the school once again.
Stupid bird, Starlight thought. She continued to defy the ideal of her murdering a pony for her own gain. She'd never be so selfish in her life. Well, not again at least. She could never see herself committing a murder, and especially not here; it's not like she really has the tools for it anyways. No, don't think like that Starlight! She vehemently shook her head in defiance. She couldn't be thinking about murder, that would tempt her further. She stepped off to the side and bit into the grass again. She made it her new main focus. The grass taste was starting to grow on her, and she actually found herself liking it.
She returned to the courtyard, seeing ponies finally beginning to talk again. They still looked tired and hungry, but at least there was noise in the courtyard. Starlight was happy that the ponies were trying to talk again; she hated the silence more than anything else in the world. She looked around, wanting to talk to somepony but she wasn't sure who. She noticed Twilight sitting off to the side on her own, diligently plucking pieces of grass from the ground with her magic before she would eat them. Starlight decided to approach her, wondering what she was doing.
"What are you doing, Twilight?" She asked when she was near enough.
"Selecting grass to eat," Twilight replied when she finished her mouthful. "Not every blade of grass seems to be good. Ponies have walked on them and gotten germs on them, or the grass is dying is some places and needs to be picked out because it's inedible. I've been combing this area getting rid of grass that is covered in bacteria, and grass that's dying. It's a process, but it's the one way I can make sure that I don't get sick from eating it."
"Wow, that's really smart Twilight," Starlight said. "I never even considered that. I've been so hungry that I've just been diving headfirst into the grass and eating as much as I could. I hope I don't get sick."
"I'm sure you'll be okay." Twilight patted the mare's head. "Besides, if some of us do get sick, I'm sure there's a medical station somewhere on the campus, but Philomena hasn't said anything about it."
"It might be on the second floor, but we have no way of getting up there," Starlight sighed. "There are locked bars all over the second floor railings and around the staircase itself. Either Philomena has to open them for us, or we need some sort of key to get in."
"Or..." Twilight gulped down some more grass, and nervousness came to her face. "Maybe when some pony dies, Philomena will reward us by opening up the second floor."
"Don't make me think of that, Twilight," Starlight groaned and covered her face in her hooves. "We don't need another reason for ponies to be killing eachother. I'd rather we don't do it at all."
"Sorry, but I'm thinking of every possibility," Twilight whimpered. "One way or another, I know some pony here is going to die. I can just feel that it's going to happen. We're not going to be able to keep our promise of refusing to kill somepony. Somepony is going to shatter out entire philosophy because they're too hungry to think straight."
"Maybe you're right..." Starlight sighed in defeat. "But let's just try and keep our heads high. At the moment, I have faith that we're going to be alright. When we get through getting our strength back by eating the grass, we need to find a way to get to the second floor and start looking for a way out of here that isn't through the magical dome and the front gate."
"Right." Twilight nodded, feeling her confidence growing back. "Y-you're right, that's exactly what we should be focusing on. I should keep eating myself, and you look like you haven't ate much either. You need to eat so you can think straight too."
"Trust me, I've been eating as I've been walking around." Starlight smiled. "I'll be sure that I can keep my strength up this time around."
The two fell quiet as Starlight walked away. The courtyard was growing silent again, and Starlight was not a fan. She was doing her best to focus on eating grass, but she could only focus so long. It was getting to the point where she didn't want to eat, but she forced herself to so she had a better chance of staying alive. For the majority of the day, that's all that any pony did. They sat around a talked very little, and were eating as much grass as they could get their hooves on. Starlight was surprised when she heard the sound of a microphone turning on, and realized just how dark it had gotten.
"Greetings everypony!" Philomena's annoying voice rang out over the speaker. "Ahem. This is a school announcement! It is now 10 p.m., so it is officially nighttime! The pool and Restaurant Row are going to be closed off, as well as the front gate! Please make your way to your dorms to get a very good rest for your next morning at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Ponies! Good night everypony! Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!"
"It's already nighttime?" Starlight said in disbelief. She blinked, and was made aware of the dark sky overhead. She had been so engrossed in eating grass that she ignored virtually everything else. The growling in her stomach had slowed, but her anxiety was through the roof. She couldn't believe how much time had passed... Every pony around her was already walking back inside the school before the doors could close, and she followed along only so she could think when she was inside.
When she walked inside, she watched other ponies enter and head to the dorms. Many of them had tired expressions, and some were even hanging their heads. The entire school was filled with despair. She spotted Feather Bangs and Party Favor chatting on their way to the dorms, but couldn't quite hear what they were saying. She did know that Party Favor didn't look happy, and that worried her. The doors shut behind her, making her jump and look up at them. The building was so dark at night, she hadn't realized just how dark it could be. She ignited her horn, using her magic as a light source so she could safely make her way back to her dorm.
"Oof-" Some pony bumped into her, and she recognized the voice. "O-oh, sorry Starlight."
"It's okay Fluttershy." Starlight patted the mare's back. "Here, let's use my horn to make sure you get in your dorm safely."
"O-okay..."
Starlight helped Fluttershy see where her scanner was so she could get in her dorm, and she brightened her horn so she could see inside. Fluttershy looked back at Starlight with a smile before the doors closed. Starlight hummed before she scanned herself into her own dorm, and let the magic from her horn fade out. She took a deep breath, and headed to her bead. She pulled herself underneath the covers, and stared at the dark wall. She couldn't deny the horrible despair that she was feeling. It was a mix of the headache and her stomach growling, but maybe Philomena was getting to her, as well as her talk with Twilight.
She had to be realistic; some pony was going to do something that they were going to regret, and she was going to have to help her fellow ponies find out who made the mistake. The thought filled her with anxiety, and made her want to sick up all the grass she had eaten throughout the day. She screwed her eyes shut, and curled in on herself. She wished she had some of the plushies she had as a foal. She felt like a helpless foal again, and she just wanted to act like one. At some point in the night, she drifted off to sleep, entirely oblivious as to what was going on in the night, if anything at all. She trapped herself in dream land with the comfort of white clouds and a land made of food.
When she woke up, the first thing she was made aware of was the sound of voices outside her door. She yawned, and rubbed sleep from her eyes. She stretched her limbs and groaned as she felt her stomach growling again. She stepped outside and rubbed her eyes.
"What's going on..?" She yawned, and stepped into the crowd of 5 ponies.
"Something we didn't expect to see," Twilight said, horror in her voice.
"L-l-look at the d-d-door..." Fluttershy stuttered and pointed to the door of Party Favor's dorm. Starlight looked up, her eyes widening in shock and her ears flattening. Underneath Party Favor's door, blood had pooled out and dried overnight.
"H-how could this happen?" Sunburst could barely keep his composure.
"We need to get in there and see what happened!" Shining Armor stomped his hoof. "Maybe there's still something that we can do!"
"But we can't get in!" Rarity whined through tear filled eyes. "O-only he could, and he has to be in there!"
"I might be able to help!" Philomena squawked from the back of the crowd. The ponies parted the way to allow Philomena to come forward. "You actually don't need to scan your hooves on the door! There's a special code in your Phoenix Pads that allows you to open the door! I manufactured that part to make for more easy killings, hoho!"
Philomena covered the scanner so she could punch in the code without other ponies seeing it. The doors open, and the crowd audibly gasped as what they all expected dropped in front of the door... Party Favor's dead body.
"Alert alert!" Philomena screamed as she flew down the hallway, leaving the ponies to be in shock at what they were looking at. They were just barely aware of the fact that Philomena was speaking on the speakers. "A body has been discovered! After a short period of investigation, the class trial will begin! But before we officially begin the investigation, please head to Restaurant Row for a special feast!"
"A feast..." Starlight whispered. Philomena still expected them to eat after seeing this? Rarity was still crying, and even Shining had a horrified look on his face. He was a guard, and even he was shocked that some pony had died. Party Favor...
"E-everypony…" Twilight tried to strengthen her voice to speak. "I-I... I know this is upsetting b-but, we need to listen to Philomena, and think rationally. The only way we're going to be able to do this investigation p-properly is if we get a full stomach. We need this food so that we can think straight. L-let's head to Restaurant Row, we can come back."
The crowd was mostly silent, but they agreed with Twilight. They knew that they had to eat, and Starlight knew it too. She had hoped that no pony had to die just so they could eat... but it was necessary. She was grateful that they could eat now, but horrified that a pony's life was sacrificed for it. The group turned and began to walk out of the school, and to Restaurant Row. Other ponies were beginning to pour into the crowd as they walked, coming from the dorms. Some ponies were already at Restaurant Row, waiting for the others to show up. Feather Bangs, Prince Blueblood, Applejack, and Double Diamond were already there. Feather Bangs seemed the most upset, refusing to look up from the table; a terrified look was in his eyes. He must've seen the body too.
"Welcome everypony!" Philomena leapt onto the table when every pony had arrived, and took a seat. "I know it is under unfortunate circumstances that we are doing this, but we are going to have a feast! Some pony has boldly sacrificed their life for this feat, and we should all be grateful! You all may eat to your heart's content!"
Philomena hit a button on the table with her talon. The button disappeared, and she flew into the air, making her way back to the school. When she was gone, a wide range of food appeared out of the table and rested on it. Vegetables, fruits, cakes and cookies, and many drinks were scattered about. Every pony instantly forgot their discomfort and fear seeing all this fresh food. They instantly dug in, grabbing plates and silverware. They grabbed what food they could, not worrying about any potential risks. Starlight could hear everypony's stomachs growling, even her own was screaming out with joy. Most ponies chose to drank something first, Starlight included. She had gotten a glass of orange juice and it was gone within seconds. She refilled it before she began eating.
She made herself her own personal hayburger with a salad, and dug straight in. Every pony was quiet; no conversation could be had at the moment. The hunger had been all too much for them to deal with, and they were finally able to eat as much as they wished. Starlight still wanted to pace herself, however. She needed to be fit to do the investigation, and she didn't want to immediately sick everything up. Some ponies were taking the smart route as well, choosing to eat nutritious things but not too many of them. Fluttershy had gotten herself a small salad, and was eating small bites. She still was incredibly nervous, and Starlight could understand.
Other ponies chose to eat as much as their bodies could handle; Shining Armor was one of them. He wasn't being light with his huge plate of food. Starlight could figure he needed to eat more because his body was so much bigger than most other ponies, and he was a guard after all. She could only imagine how much muscle was in his body, and she almost thought she could see it. Prince Blueblood on the other side seemed disgusted that every pony was digging in like savages. He picked up small things from the feast and ate them before he moved on to something else. He must've been used to eating lightly, being a prince and all. Starlight would love to tease him over the fact that he was eating grass just yesterday.
Every pony began to slow down over time as they ate and drank, more than happy to get their fill. Empty plates and bowls were stacked up on each side of the table as they each finally decided that they had enough. They sat back and relaxed, ever grateful for this meal, and they could eat any time they wanted now.
"Now that we've all eaten, might I propose something?" Twilight spoke up. The ponies turned their heads, their fullness keeping them from moving too fast. "We'll be able to access Restaurant Row from now on, as Philomena said on our first day. "I would like to propose that we have breakfast here every day. We all can eat together, and bond as friends. We can use this table as a meeting place as well; we can all talk about things that we think are important and worth discussing, and that will help better us for class trials. Plus, we can learn new information outside of them that we can use in the future."
"I agree!" Starlight nodded to the alicorn. "It's a smart move getting to meet up here, and plus if we all have breakfast together then that means we have an idea of where everypony is in the mornings. In other words, we can find holes in alibis on the days that ponies have died, if any at all."
"I'm inclined to agree with you both!" The Doctor said. "Very smart indeed. I would love to just eat here in the mornings with my fellow ponies, but being able to talk about the events makes the breakfast exciting as well."
"Exciting surely is one way to put it," Sunburst chuckled to himself. "But it's a good idea. We can keep track of where everypony has come from, and what they look like, and that will help us in our investigations."
"I suppose it's settled then." Starlight tapped the table. "Everypony in agreement say I!"
The table broke out in a chorus of 'I's and hoof raising. Not a single pony didn't speak up, even Fluttershy showed her approval by raising her hoof just above her head. As the ponies quieted down, Philomena spoke through the speakers again.
"This is a school announcement!" She cawed. "The feat is now officially over, and the investigation has begun! Every pony, please make your way to Party Favor's dorm room to begin the investigation! You have one hour before the class trial. Spend your time wisely!"
Every pony knew what they had to do. Looks were cast around the table, and the mood return to dull and dreary. They nodded to eachother and got to their hooves. They went in a large group back into the school, pouring in through the door. They all took deep breaths, preparing their stomachs for the sight they were about to see once again. They all stopped at the dormitory, afraid of going down the hall. They could see the dried blood at the end of the hallway. Every pony put on their brave faces, forcing themselves to push on forward down the hall like a group of soldiers. Starlight pulled herself to the front of the pack, and faced the situation head on.
The investigation had begun when they reached the door to Party Favor's room; the scene of the crime. Were they truly ready to face such a task? Starlight knew she was. She would get to the bottom of this, and bring the culprit to justice.
"Before we get this investigation started, I got a gift for you all!" Philomena appeared again, bringing with her a large box. "To help your investigation, I've prepared a very special Phoenix File!"
"Phoenix File?" Starlight repeated, confused.
"Yes, a Phoenix File!" Philomena tore open the box with her talons. "The Phoenix File is a very special item used to document murders! It explains who the victim is, how they died, when they died, what their wounds are, and where the body was located! I think you'll find it very useful in your investigation!"
After the box was opened, Philomena passed out a Phoenix File to every pony in the crowd. They looked just like the Phoenix Pads they had received at the beginning. When she was done, Philomena disappeared down the hall to let the investigation continue. Starlight turned on her Phoenix File, and read the information on it. 'The victim was Party Favor. The time of death is estimated to be around 3 a.m. The body was discovered in Party Favor's dorm. He was killed by a stab wound in the abdomen. A large bruise is located at the back of the head.' Starlight brought her Phoenix Pad back with her magic, turning it on and looking around. She found a notepad on the sidebar, and knew she could use this to document things that were important in the investigation. She wrote down what the Phoenix File told her.
"We need to get in the room to see the state of the body for ourselves, and verify that the file is right," Twilight said.
"I'll move it," Starlight said.
She walked over to the dorm, and nervously lifted up Party Favor's body with her magic. She gently moved him out of the way into the room, trying to be as respectful as she could and not adjust how he looked. Few ponies walked into the room, wanting to see the body for themselves. Starlight looked around, making note that herself, Twilight, Shining, Feather Bangs, Doctor Whooves, and Rarity were in the room with her. Twilight stepped forth, examining the body herself and looking between it and the Phoenix File.
"The file is accurate," she finally confirmed. "There's no question about that. There's a stab wound in the stomach. It's a decent size too."
"What do you mean by that?" Rarity tilted her head.
"The stab wound is round, and deep," Twilight explained, pointing to Party Favor's stomach. "The weapon that they used to stab Party Favor with has to fit these dimensions accurately. If I had some tools, I could measure it myself."
"We can look for the tools," Starlight said to Twilight. "That will help us verify what weapon it was."
"Where would somepony get a weapon like that?" Rarity mused. "I can only imagine that something like that would be in Restaurant Row, which was blocked off last night."
"I'd like to bring up one important thing," The Doctor said. "It is that there were already ponies at the feast table before the rest of us arrived."
"Do you remember who exactly was there?" Starlight asked.
"I do indeed." He nodded to her. "I do believe it was Feather Bangs, Prince Blueblood, Applejack, and Double Diamond."
"So we have a few suspects then," Shining Armor said.
"Potentially," Twilight spoke up. "It is suspicious that they were there first, if they had seen the body already then we would've heard Philomena make an announcement."
"They could've seen the body separately," Rarity put in her two cents. "I'm unsure if that counts towards the rules, but it is a possibility."
"We can ask Philomena," The Doctor said before clearing his throat. "Philomena! We have something to ask you!"
"Yeees sir?" Philomena appeared in the room behind the Doctor, curiosity in her eyes.
The Doctor jumped in surprise at the Phoenix's sudden appearance and spun around, but he quickly composed himself to speak clearly.
"It is about one of the rules in the Phoenix Pads," he said, pulling out his own. "Specifically it is Rule #17: 'The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more students discover a body.' Does this rule apply when ponies see the body separately?"
"Well, you couldn't see it before!" Philomena laughed. "But if the dorm's door had been open, the answer would be yes! It doesn't matter if you're together or on your own, when enough students have seen the body, the investigation will start!"
"Thank you for confirming, Philomena," Starlight said. "This helps us a lot."
"Always happy to help!" Philomena saluted the pony before she flew out of the room, the lingering warmth of her feathers fading and making the room cold once more.
"So now we know that," Feather Bangs said as he adjusted his hair. "Well, I've got somethin' that might help with the investigation."
"What is it?" Starlight turned to the stallion.
"I was talkin with Party Favor last night," He explained. "Told me he wanted to see if the barrier blockin' off Restaurant Row turned off at night, when no pony would be around to verify whether or not it's there. Said he was gonna wait till everypony was in bed before he tried it out, so Philomena didn't suspect anythin'."
"That must be why he died so early," Shining Armor added. "He was out at night because he was looking at the barrier."
"But how would he get out?" Rarity questioned. "Doesn't the door close at night?."
"One of them does," Twilight mentioned. "It says in the rules that only the front entrance closes at night. There's a door at the back of the school, leading into the garden. The rule doesn't say that it closes at night."
"Party Favor must've used the back door to go to Restaurant Row," Starlight said as she wrote in her notepad. "That's the only way he would've been able to leave the main building at night. Was any pony awake at night?"
"I woke up for a short period of time," Rarity confessed. "I'm unsure of the time myself, but I had to go to the bathroom in the night."
"Did you see Party Favor when you were awake?" Starlight questioned.
"I did not," Rarity said and shook her head. "He must've woken up later to test his theory."
"So when Rarity was awake, Party Favor had not yet left his dorm," The Doctor deduced. "That lines up with the information written on the Phoenix File."
"If we're really going to get to the bottom of things, I think now is the time to leave the room," Twilight stepped over to the door of the room. "The door hasn't shut since we've been in here, that code Philomena used must be able to keep it open. Let's leave for now, and we can start looking around."
"Wait, Twilight look," Shining pointed at the blood puddle that had went under the door. "There are bloody hoofprints."
"Most likely from the culprit leaving," Starlight said as she walked out of the room to examine the hoofprints.
"Could the killer have left these behind and not realized?" The Doctor pondered.
"Not likely," Twilight said as she walked to the other side of the puddle. "It appears that some of the hoofprints have been washed away. These were left here on purpose."
"And look," Feather Bangs called the attention of the other ponies. "They're leading up to this dorm."
"That's Fluttershy's dorm," Starlight said.
"Could it be that..?" Rarity trailed off, but covered her mouth in shock.
"Let's not get to thinking about who did it right now," Twilight waved her hoof and fluttered her wings. "We don't have enough evidence to correctly deduce who did it. There's no point in us making assumptions until we get to the class trial, but... it's good to write down what evidence and theories we have."
"I'm writing things down in my notepad," Starlight said, showcasing what she had written down, including the most recent revelation. "We can go over the evidence before the trial."
"I'll make my own notes too," Twilight said as she pulled out her Phoenix Pad. She opened her notepad, and began writing down her own thoughts.
"I have my own thought I'd like to say while I have the chance," Starlight said. "And I think this is important, because I know some pony is going to bring it up. It's Rule #15 in the Phoenix Pads."
"What about it?" Shining tilted his head.
"The rule says that unicorns aren't allowed to use magic, and pegasi aren't allowed to fly to commit a murder," Starlight explained.
"The killer had to use their own hooves to commit the murder," Twilight realized. "But they still could have used a weapon. We aren't allowed to harm eachother using magic spells or taking advantage of being able to fly, but it never said that we can't carry weapons with our magic to attack ponies."
"The dorm is too small to do something like that," Feather Bangs pointed out. "They would've had to be close to him anyways; he was a unicorn so he could've very well done the same to fight back."
"Guys, we shouldn't be debating this right now!" Starlight stomped her hoof. "I just wanted to point that out because I felt that it was important... We need to save things like these debates for the trial. We're supposed to be finding evidence, not wondering what happened when."
"She's right," Shining said with a nod. "Let's save our thoughts for later. Let's go back to what we wrote down before; the fact that Fluttershy's dorm is in front of Party Favor's."
"I propose that we find Fluttershy and ask her what she knows," Twilight said.
"You guys can go on ahead," Starlight waved her hoof. "I want to take a final look around this room to see if there is any other important evidence I can write down. When you talk to Fluttershy, just tell me what she said and I'll write it down myself."
"Alright, who's coming?" Twilight looked around.
"I'll tag along," The Doctor said as he trotted out of the room.
"I'll come too, I don't think there's anything else I can find myself in here," Shining said and stepped out.
"I'll stay with Starlight," Feather Bangs hummed as he put his hoof around the mare. "She might like my company."
"Hooves off or I'll make you the next victim," Starlight glared at the stallion.
Feather Bangs quickly removed his hoof, and stepped to the side, looking away out of fear. The grin that came to Starlight's snout was an obvious sign that she was joking, but she was sure she had frightened Feather Bangs enough that he might take it seriously.
"Alright, don't kill eachother now," Twilight laughed at the small display. "We'll go talk with Fluttershy and take a look around. We'll come find you when we're done."
Starlight walked out of the room and followed the two stallions that had departed moments prior. Starlight went back to focusing on the room, scanning the room slowly to take in every detail.
"Hey, Starlight, look," Feather Bangs walked to the door and pointed at the inside scanner. It had a bloody hoofprint at the center of the screen, with blood trailing down the wall.
"There's a hoofprint," Starlight said, writing in her Phoenix Pad. "That might help confirm that he died in this room and wasn't dragged here."
"I've got an idea," Feather Bangs tapped his hoof on the ground. "I think the culprit knew they couldn't leave the room because of the scanner. After they killed him, they must have picked him up and used his hoof to scan their way out, and left him on the wall."
"That would explain why he fell over in front of the door after Philomena opened it for us," Starlight mused with an uncomfortable shudder. "It's a viable thought, even if I hate it... Good idea, Feather Bangs."
The stallion seemed happy with the praise. He flicked his hair out of his face and hummed happily to himself.
"Is there anything else in here that could give us some clues?" Feather Bangs asked and looked around. He examined the body himself temporarily, wondering if anything had been left behind.
"Not that I'm seeing, it seems like most of the incident happened right here. But, there is one thing," Starlight said as she approached the body.
Beside the body, she pointed to a small collection of glass shards.
"Glass?" Feather Bangs tilted his head. "Could that give us any idea as to what the weapon was that he was killed with?"
"There's a slim possibility, but it might tie into something else here," Starlight stepped to the other side of the body, and carefully moved some of Party Favor's mane out of the way to reveal the bruise mentioned in the Phoenix File. "This bruise is also pretty important. The file doesn't say how he got it, just that he has it."
"He must've hit his head," Feather Bangs said with a shrug. "Seems like the only reasonable outcome to me."
"That's all that we've got to work with for now." Starlight scribbled the information into her notes. "There has to be a link between the glass shards and the bruise, or even the stab wound itself."
"We'll have to find that out during the trial." Feather Bangs patted Starlight's back. "I don't know how much time we've got left for this investigation, but we can't stay in here forever. We need to move out into the hall like the other ponies did."
"I know where to go." Starlight looked at Feather Bangs with confidence. "Some pony mentioned before that they explored the bathrooms here, and said there was a shower. It only makes sense that after the culprit did the crime, they wanted to wash away the evidence. So, here's the plan. I'm going to explore the mare's bathroom to look for any evidence the culprit was there. I want you to go into the stallion's bathroom and see if there is anything in there. Depending on what we find, we'll know what sex the pony is, and we'll have an easier time dumbing down who could've done the crime."
"Real smart, Starlight." Feather Bangs adjusted his mane before clapping his hooves together. "We'll meet back up outside when we're done."
"Yep. Let's go before we run out of time." Starlight ran out of the room, with Feather Bangs following after her.
They ran to the bathrooms on either side of the staircase. Starlight went into the mare's bathroom, which was actually the first time she had been in there. It wasn't very big, but it was big enough that there wouldn't be much issue with ponies being crammed in there. The first thing her eyes were drawn to were an yellow bucket with a mop inside. She trotted to the items, and lifted the mop out of the bucket with her magic. The mop showed no signs of having been used. The water in the bucket looked fresh, as though it had just come out of the sink.
That alone isn't much evidence... Starlight thought. I didn't think of the possibility that there's a chance the pony could've switched bathrooms to cover up the crime. But wouldn't that be...?
"Philomena!" Starlight called out to summon the Phoenix.
"What is it now?" Philomena appeared in the bathroom before Starlight, looking up at her with curious eyes.
"There's no rule in the Phoenix Pads that say a stallion can't go into the mare's bathroom, and a mare can't go into the stallion's bathroom," Starlight said. "Is this an unwritten rule or do you allow it?"
"Oh, how scandalous!" Philomena fanned herself and giggled. "Why, I'd never see a reason why a pony would want to do something like that! I thought it was just common courtesy not to go into the opposite bathroom!"
"Answer the question, please." Starlight tried to sound nice, but this bird was frustrating her.
"Okay okaay," Philomena groaned unhappily. "I'd allow it, it just makes killings easier! But, you haven't seen all the evidence, so don't think you've gotten off with an easy clue from me!"
Philomena cackled as she flew out of the bathroom. Starlight sighed deeply, and wrote the information into her Phoenix Pad anyways. That shattered a lot of the theory that she had in mind, and she would have to tell Feather Bangs about it. She walked to the showers to see if she could find any evidence of them being used.
She looked at the drains, and noticed one of the showers had hair caught in the drain. She walked into the shower, and used her magic to pull the hair free from the drain. Both purple hair and blood had clogged the drain. The pony that killed Party Favor had definitely been here to clean up their mess, but then why were the bucket and mop clean? She looked in the sink to see if there was any evidence of the water being drained, but what could've been had most likely been washed away. She turned to leave the bathroom, but noticed a rack of towels on the wall.
Starlight walked to them, putting her hoof on one and feeling the wrinkles in it. She leaned in, sniffing it. The towel was wrinkled for a reason; it had been used. It might be important for later on, so she decided to write it into her notepad. She then chose to exit the room, not seeing anything else that could be investigated. She trotted under the staircase and through the lounge to get to the stallions' bathroom just as Feather Bangs emerged.
"Did you find anything?" She asked him.
"Just a few things you might want to look at for yoursel,." he said, stepped out of the way, and motioned to the door. "I won't tell anypony else you came in."
Starlight swallowed down her nerves, feeling her face flush. She walked into the bathroom, and Feather Bangs followed her.
"Over here," He pointed to a bucket and mop up against the wall.
Feather Bangs lifted the mop out of the bucket, showing that it had been stained with blood. The bucket was also empty.
"These got used to clean up the blood in the hallway," Starlight thought out loud. She walked to the sink and looked in. There were the faintest traces of red water in the sink. "The culprit definitely used these. The evidence is everywhere."
"Does that mean a stallion did it?" Feather Bangs had dread fill his eyes at the revelation.
"Not necessarily," Starlight assured him. "I asked Philomena if there was a rule against a mare going into the stallions' bathroom and vice versa. She said that she didn't care if ponies did it, but didn't think they would because of 'courtesy' or something. There's a chance that a mare came into this bathroom and used the mop and bucket to clean up her mess."
"That's a pretty clever way to go about it," Feather Bangs said as he put the mop back in the bucket. "Whoever did this must be pretty smart."
"For the most part, that seems to be the case," Starlight said back. "But that's not all. In the mares' bathroom, one of the showers had been used and so had the towels. There was hair and blood clogging the drain."
"That's a pretty obvious clue. You'd think they would've realized that," Feather Bangs chuckled. "Maybe not so smart..."
"There's nothing you can do against hair falling out," Starlight chuckled. "I know I always have a hard time cleaning up the mess after I shower. I've got so much hair, it's a pain in the flank to brush out when it's dry."
"Can't relate." Feather Bangs flipped his mane. "My hair isn't long, so I don't have that issue."
"If you let it grow out you would." Starlight rolled her eyes. She looked around the room again. "Is there anything else in here worth looking at?"
"Maybe. Take a look at that." Feather Bangs pointed to a trash can in the corner. "It looks like there's something in the trash can."
"There is?" Starlight noticed it too.
Starlight trotted to the trash can, and picked up the item with her magic, illuminating the bathroom around her. As she held the item before her face, she gasped at her reflection on the item's surafce.
"This is a Phoenix Pad!" she exclaimed
"The screen is broken." Feather Bangs pointed out. "Is it against the rules to break a Phoenix Pad?"
"Only if it's your own, I think," Starlight said uncertainly.
Starlight brought the Phoenix Pad in close to look at it properly. She turned it on, and found that it had already been logged into. She tapped on the student profile app with a little struggle from the cracks in the screen.
"This is..." Feather Bangs' eyes widened as the profile showed up on the screen.
"This is Party Favor's Phoenix Pad." Starlight covered her mouth in shock.
"That explains the glass shards in his room," Feather Bangs said. "His Phoenix Pad got busted and that's what it left behind."
"I think I have an idea of what happened," Starlight said as she put the Phoenix Pad back in the trash. "But it has to wait until the class trial."
"We don't have much longer until that happens." Feather Bangs pointed out. "We've been investigating for a while."
"That reminds me," Starlight hummed as she walked out of the bathroom with Feather Bangs following her. "I haven't gotten the chance to talk to Fluttershy yet. The others must've been exploring with her when they couldn't find me back at the dorm. We should find them so we can talk to her ourselves."
They fell silent as they looked around for the group, and Fluttershy. The main lobby was mostly empty, except for some of the stallions discussing amongst themselves. Starlight looked down the dorm hallway, and noticed Twilight exiting Party Favor's room. She turned around and seemed to be talking as the rest of her group exited the room. Fluttershy then followed after them, still as fearful as ever. Even from this distance, it was easy to see how hard her body was shaking. Starlight trotted down the hall with Feather Bangs and cleared her throat when they were closer to the other group.
"I guess you guys talked with her then?" Starlight said when she was close enough, bringing Twilight's attention to her.
"We did," Twilight said with a nod. She gently patted Fluttershy's back. "Go on, tell her what you told us."
"O-okay..." Fluttershy swallowed hard, trying to keep what little composure she had. "I-I... I w-woke up in the night b-because I heard thudding. I didn't k-know where it was coming from, I-I just knew it happened. I-I was too scared to go back to sleep, s-so I waited until it stopped. I heard a-a yell or a scream, and I got s-scared again... I wanted to s-see what was going on s-so I went to my d-door and opened it a little bit..."
"Did you see any pony?" Feather Bangs asked, softening his voice up for her.
"K-kind of." Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders. "I-It was really dark, so I c-couldn't see that well... but I s-saw the door to Party Favor's room open a-and a pony was backing out. I-I got scared they'd s-see me so I h-hid in my room under my bed... I ended up p-passing out at some point because I was s-so s-scared... I'm s-sorry, t-that's all I know."
"And you couldn't tell who the pony was because it was dark, right?" Starlight asked. Fluttershy nodded her head, and Starlight wrote the information in her notepad. "The information still helps. Thank you for being honest, Fluttershy."
"And don't worry, we're going to find out who did this before they hurt anypony else," Twilight patted Fluttershy's back.
The pegasus mare smiled, seeming to be comforted by the ponies. However, she yelped in surprise as the speakers suddenly crackled to life and the voice of Philomena rang out. In her panic, Fluttershy slid beneath Twilight's tail and hid.
"Greetings everypony!" Philomena squawked over the speakers. "I'm tired of waiting around while you all get comfortable and more scared than a filly in Tartarus. It's time to begin the class trial! Please make your way to the waiting room so we can get this show on the road!"
"I guess we should get going," Starlight put her Phoenix Pad away. "Are we ready to do this?"
"We won't know until we get there," Twilight sighed. "Let's get this over with, then maybe things can be just a little bit normal again, and we won't have to live in as much fear."
Starlight knew even Twilight didn't believe in her own words. Ponies would keep dying as long as these rules were in place, and Philomena kept making up motives for them to kill eachother. She was terrified, and Starlight was too, but Twilight was much more held together than she was. She envied Twilight's level-headedness.
The ponies all walked together to the waiting room. Everypony was casting dirty looks at eachother; no pony was safe from the scornful stares that were passed around. Even Starlight caught the eyes of other ponies glaring daggers at her, but she couldn't return the gaze. The culprit was among them, and they were well aware of that fact. They thought it was disgusting. Starlight did too. She swallowed hard to keep herself composed.
"Welcome everypony!" Philomena laughed and appeared in the room before the elevator. "I hope you're all excited for the trial! I know I sure am! Come now, come now, everypony into the elevator! Let's not delay!"
Philoemna pressed a button by the door, and the elevator opened up. She flew out of the way, and let the ponies pour into the elevator one by one. Starlight found herself standing in the very middle, and watched past a few pony heads as the door closed. Philomena waved through the bars that made up the door. She continued her happy waving as the elevator began to descend, until they couldn't see her or feel her warmth anymore.
Contrary to what most ponies were thinking, the elevator was going down. There was a room above the elevator, that confirmed that for them, but it wasn't connected to the elevator. Starlight was just assuming that, at least. She took another deep breath, really trying her best not to fall apart so early on. She was startled when the elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened up. Every pony stepped out into the trial room. It presented the same as the throne room in Canterlot, but with a collection of podiums in a circle around the center. Starlight silently counted the podiums, figuring them up to 16. One of the podiums had a stand, with a picture of Party Favor attached to it.
"Welcome to the trial room everypony!" Philomena squawked as she appeared in the throne at the back of the room, and sat comfortably. "All of the podiums are marked with your names and cutiemarks, so find your mark and prepare yourselves! Things are about to get real!"
Every pony stayed silent as they made their ways to their podiums, and kept their eyes on eachother. No pony trusted any pony at the moment, especially now that they were actually here. Starlight gulped as she stood in her podium.
A cruel trial... A cruel deception... A cruel betrayal... Cruel mysteries... Cruel lies... Cruel truths...
"Allow me to explain to you all the rules of the trial!" Philomena cleared her throat and flapped her wings as she adjusted herself. "So, your votes will determine the results! If you can figure out "whodunnit" then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong pony... then I'll punish everypony besides the blackened, and the one that deceived everypony else will graduate! Does that sound clear enough?"
"As clear as what was written in the Phoenix Pads," Starlight said, pulling out her own pad so she could open the notepad.
"Good!" Philomena cawed happily. "Then let the class trial begin!"
"I'd like to start off the trial, if that's okay with everypony," Twilight said.
"Go ahead, Twilight." Shining nodded to the mare across the room.
"Let's start the topic off simply." Twilight pulled out her own Phoenix Pad and showcased a picture of Party Favor's stab wound. "We need to talk about this; Party Favor's stab wound. There's no clear and obvious explanation to what was used to stab him, and we need to get the weapon out of the way before anything else."
"Why does the weapon matter?" Prince Blueblood yawned. "A pony is dead, we should be more focused on the circumstances of the death itself."
"Because I have a theory." Twilight put her Phoenix Pad away.
"And the theory is?" Feather Bangs questioned.
"It's simple." Twilight coughed and cleared her throat. "It's the fact that there are no weapons on this campus. Anything that we could've used to kill another pony was in Restaurant Row."
"There were knives, forks, and other things at the table," Shining pointed out.
"But no pony could get to Restaurant Row!" The Doctor spoke up. "It was blocked off by the magical barrier."
"The barrier only opened up today because Party Favor died last night." Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings on her back. "No pony could've gotten in there to get anything until after the murder happened!"
"That's my point." Twilight tapped her foot on the ground. "There are no weapons on campus that fit the wound before Restaurant Row opened up."
"So why are we talking about it if we know nothing works?" Feather Bangs flipped his hair and huffed.
"Because, there is something that works, and I know how many of us have it." Twilight looked around the room. "There are 7 ponies in this room who all share something in common with the victim, including myself."
"Well, what is it?" Rarity adjusted her mane on her neck. "It might help us cut down a few case subjects."
"Starlight, do you know what it is?" Twilight looked at the mare across the room.
"It's..." Something that these 8 ponies have in common... Starlight took a moment to think, before it hit her. "It's the horns! There are 8 ponies in this group who are unicorns, or have a unicorn horn."
"Correct," Twilight hummed to the mare. "I did the measurements myself while I was away from my group during the investigation. The wound on Party Favor's stomach was in the shape of a circle, roughly 2 and a half inches in diameter. It was a near perfect circle, but if one looked at the wound deeply..."
Twilight pulled out her Phoenix Pad again, showcasing a zoomed in image of the wound. Many ponies didn't like the sight, but Twilight knew it was necessary for them to see it. Starlight knew they had to as well.
"The wound isn't a perfect circle all the way down," Starlight explained while Twilight showed the picture. "As the wound goes in, it gets smaller. Only a pony with a unicorn horn would be able to create a wound like that without a weapon."
"To summarize," Twilight put her pad away. "The only ponies that could've killed Party Favor were the same species as him."
"That cuts down half of the class from being suspected!" Rainbow Dash tapped her hooves on the ground. "The rest of us are pegasi and earth ponies!"
"That leaves us 7 potential culprits in the grand scheme of things," Prince Blueblood began. "Miss Glimmer, Miss Sparkle, Miss Lulamoon, Sunburst, Miss Belle, Sir Shining Armor, and Myself."
"We have a definitive species because of the wound," Twilight nodded to Prince Blueblood. "Now we can focus on other important things, such as how Party Favor was killed."
"Well, he was stabbed!" Feather Bangs chuckled. "What else is there to discuss?"
"That's the wound that killed him," Starlight said. "But that isn't the only thing that happened. We need to figure out the timeline of events as to how this happened."
"So let's start from the beginning then," Twilight said with a firm stomp of her hoof. "We need a record of events that occurred yesterday and last night. Everypony needs to have an alibi other than sleeping in the dorms. If you don't have one, you should stay quiet."
"I-I woke up to some loud noises in the night..." Fluttershy weakly spoke up, just barely enough that ponies could hear her.
"I went to bed soon after the announcement," Prince Blueblood said confidently.
"Many of us were eatin' grass because Restaurant Row wasn't open," Applejack said. "But Ah was also buckin' apples in the fruit tree orchard. Ah was lookin' for backup food before bed."
"I was eating grass too," Twilight confessed. "I was picking out the best blades of grass to eat before I did so."
"Why, I slept the whole night!" Rarity hummed. "Heard not a peep from any pony."
>>TRUTH BULLET #7: RARITY'S ACCOUNT
"Rarity, you're lying!" Starlight exposed the mare openly with her Phoenix Pad. "You told me yourself during the investigation in Party Favor's room that you woke up in the night to go to the bathroom."
"Oh, my," Rarity fanned herself with her hoof. "Indeed, I forgot that part... my memory must have slipped."
"Sounds like an early confession to me!" Trixie spoke up confidently. "Trixie says this mare is guilty!"
"Now now, let's not get overworked yet," Twilight tried to calm the situation. "Starlight, did Rarity say anything else?"
"She told me that when she was awake, she didn't see Party Favor," Starlight explained what she had written down. "I'm lead to believe that Rarity couldn't have killed him, because she wasn't awake when he was."
"Ah, I do remember now." Rarity took a few deep breaths. "I suppose having my beauty sleep interrupted halted my memory as well."
"O-or maybe she's just anxious..?" Fluttershy spoke out. "I-I know I am, this trial is r-really scary..."
"It's only scary if you let it be!" Pinkie snickered. "I think this is really fun!"
"Yeah! We shouldn't let it get us down in the dumps!" Cheese Sandwich agreed with the mare directly across from him. "If we focus on our bad feelings, then we'll be all discombobulated! We'll be wrapped up in a crazy weird bow on a Christmas present nopony asked for!"
"I have to say, I agree with them. On the context, rather than the form," Twilight chuckled softly. "We need to try and stay positive or else we're going to let our feelings interfere with what is actually being said. If that happens, we're going to pick the wrong pony and lose our lives."
"Then we need to focus on this trial!" Shining stomped his hoof. "We've discovered two things; the culprit was a unicorn, and judging by her account, Rarity didn't do it. We need to move on!"
"Let's focus back on how the murder was committed," Twilight brought the trial back to the base topic. "Why would Party Favor have been out of his dorm so early at night?"
"Maybe he was like Rarity and he had to go to the bathroom," Feather Bang snickered.
"Are you making fun of me?" Rarity blushed and glared at the stallion.
"Guys, please focus!" Twilight slammed her hooves on the front of her podium. "You're going to get us killed! Think!"
Think, think, think... Starlight closed her eyes as she thought about the scenario. Why would Party Favor have been out of his dorm...
"He didn't have a reason to be out!" Rainbow Dash spoke up. "It's not like he could sleep outside; it's against the rules to sleep anywhere but your dorm!"
"And there wasn't anywhere he could go that would be meaningful," Prince Blueblood said, lifting his chin high.
>>TRUTH BULLET #5: FEATHER BANGS'S ACCOUNT
"Actually, that's wrong!" Starlight spoke up against the so-called prince. "Feather Bangs and Party Favor were talking when they came inside after the nighttime announcement. Party Favor told him he was going to see if the barrier to Restaurant Row shut off at night. That place was meaningful to him because it was the only place where he could test his theory. That's why he was out of his dorm at night!"
"Well!" Prince Blueblood seemed offended that Starlight had spoken out against him.
"So now we know why he was out of his dorm," Rarity mused. "So, why would the culprit be out at night?"
"The answer is that they knew that Party Favor was going to be out," Twilight explained as she glanced around the room. "Or they had their own reason to be awake, and took the opportunity while no pony could see them."
"I think it should also be important to note the location where Party Favor died," The Doctor said. "We know that Party Favor was in his dorm at the time of his death, as that is where we found the body."
"Do we though?" Trixie spoke up. "Trixie believes any pony could have simply dragged his body there!"
"I don't think that's true." Twilight shook her head. "There was no way that Party Favor could have been dragged into his room, and we have evidence that supports that."
Do we? Starlight thought. She looked through her Phoenix Pad, silently going over the evidence herself. Why couldn't Party Favor have been dragged into his room after death? She looked through every option before she found what supported that theory.
>>TRUTH BULLET #13: BLOODY SCANNER
"It's because of the dorm scanner!" Starlight straightened her back as she spoke the revelation.
"The scanner?" Shining asked.
"She means the scanner inside Party Favor's room," Feather Bangs flipped his hair as he spoke. "The scanner inside the room had a bloody hoofprint on it. There was no hoofprint on the outside scanner showing some pony getting in."
"There were no blood trails either," Starlight said. "And from the dried puddle on the outside, we can deduce that he died while he was in the room."
"He wasn't covered in blood either," Twilight pointed out. "If he had been dragged through blood, his side would've been entirely covered, but there was only blood coming from the wound on his stomach!"
"That confirms that he died inside the room. No more explanation needed for that," Prince Blueblood said.
"So next, ah think we should be talkin' about how the killer got in with him to take him out," Applejack said, trying to think herself.
"With the last motive, there's no way he would've just let some random pony come into his room!" Cheese said. "I know I wouldn't have, I wouldn't want to end up in his place!"
"That means that the culprit must have snuck into his room when he wasn't looking, and surprised him!" Pinkie hit her hoof on the podium for emphasis. "And then boom! He was gone..."
"Surely he would've put up a fight," Rainbow Dash said. "He wouldn't have just accepted his fate!"
"No pony would." Twilight shook her head. "It's our natural instinct to fight back. But that doesn't help us right now. Let's go with the idea that the culprit snuck into Party Favor's room while he wasn't looking in order get in and kill him. Then what? What happened that resulted in him being stabbed?"
"A fight broke out," Starlight knew the answer without having to think about it.
"We already knew that!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and hovered in the air. "But what's important enough that i has to be brought up?"
"Let's talk about it," Twilight nodded her head.
"So, when the culprit snuck into Party Favor's room, they began fighting," The Doctor said. "The culprit wouldn't have expected the fight to break out, surely."
"Party Favor must've fought back!" Rainbow Dash put in her two cents. "There's no way it would've just... happened!"
"So obviously, the culprit won the fight, but how?" The Doctor pondered.
>>CONSENT: DOCTOR WHOOVES >>TRUTH BULLET #15: LARGE BRUISE >>TRUTH BULLET #20: PARTY FAVOR'S PHOENIX PAD
"Because he was disoriented," Starlight said.
"How?" Trixie questioned.
"His Phoenix Pad." Starlight pulled her pad up to show a picture of the broken pad. "Feather Bangs and I found his Phoenix Pad cracked and thrown in the trash in the stallions' bathroom. There was also a large bruise on the back of his head, as stated in the Phoenix File."
"There were also glass shards around the body," Feather Bangs added to her statement. "That could only mean that the culprit must've hit Party Favor with the Phoenix Pad so that they would be able to attack him easily."
"He wouldn't have been able to fight back because of the trauma," Twilight continued. "I see now."
"Oh jeez, I never even thought of that..." Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head with her hoof. "Poor guy."
"Yes, it's not the best thing to think about..." Starlight sighed. "But that's what happened. The culprit took advantage of that brief moment of weakness in order to deal the final blow."
"Then they waited until after he was dead to scan themself out of the room," The Doctor mused. "A very smart pony that culprit is indeed."
"So we've got to the point where Party Favor has died," Twilight recalled the events. "But now we need to learn the events afterwards. We still have no definitive clues to who the culprit is, and the cleanup should help us figure it out."
"I do know one thing though. Fluttershy couldn't have done it either," Double Diamond spoke up for the first time that trial. "And it's not just because we know a unicorn did it."
"How would you know?" Twilight asked.
"When we were all outside, I noticed hoofprints formed out of blood." He seemed uncomfortable talking about it, but he knew he had to. "They were leading to Fluttershy's dorm, which is right in front of Party Favor's."
"So the culprit was trying to frame Fluttershy as the killer?" Pinkie gasped. "How horrible!"
"The culprit isn't as smart as we think," Twilight chuckled. "Those hoofprints couldn't frame Fluttershy. We can prove her innocence."
"How can we? Well, other than the species thing." Rainbow rolled her shoulders.
"There was no way she could've done it," Pinkie said. "She's too sweet of a pony to do something like that!"
"I-I really wouldn't do something like that..." Fluttershy drew circles on the ground with her hoof.
"But there's something obvious that shows she couldn't have done it," Twilight said.
"The hoofprints lead to her dorm though! Why else would they be there?!" Trixie yelled out.
"Yeah, they come from her dorm, so why couldn't it have been her?" Applejack spoke up.
There's something wrong here... Starlight thought, feeling the stress of the situation weighing on her. She knew she could prove Fluttershy's innocence, but how?
"Her dorm is in front of Party Favor's, so she had direct access!" Trixie jolted in. "Trixie believes if she were a unicorn, she could've done it!"
"The hoofprints prove it!" Rarity butted in. "She walked from her dorm to Party Favor's and snuck in behind him!" Starlight gasped. She knew.
>>TRUTH BULLET #21: FLUTTERSHY'S ACCOUNT
"No, that's wrong!" Starlight yelled out over everyone else's shouting. The room fell silent as the eyes trained on her. "Fluttershy couldn't have done it because she heard the murder taking place!"
"Explain, Miss Glimmer," Prince Blueblood edged the mare forth.
"Fluttershy told me that in the night, she heard noises and a scream or yell from the hallway. She was too scared to leave the dorm or go back to sleep! That means the she couldn't have done it, because she heard it happen!"
"I-If I can a-also speak..." Fluttershy nervously raised her voice. "I-I peeked out of my dorm to see what was g-going on, and saw a pony leave P-Party Favor's dorm. B-but, I got scared and hid in my room under my bed... i-it was so dark I couldn't s-see who it was..."
"In short, Fluttershy didn't do it," Twilight confirmed. "One, because she's a pegasus. Two, because she heard the crime being committed from across the hall."
"So we're back at square one," Feather Bangs huffed in annoyance.
"We've confirmed that the culprit tried to frame Fluttershy, but failed," Starlight looked at her notes. "So now, we need to continue with the cleanup process."
"That's a good place to pick up from," Twilight said with a nod to Starlight. "The culprit had to clean up at least some of their mess, so how did they do it and where?"
"The bathroom," Starlight said. "Earlier we learned that there are showers in the bathrooms here on campus. After the crime was committed, the pony went to the bathroom to shower, and clear the blood from their hooves and head because of their horn."
"Now we just need to figure out which bathroom got used," Trixie said. "There are stallions and mares here who are unicorns that could still be at fault."
"You're one of those unicorns, Trixie," Rainbow stared accusingly at the pony.
"Are you accusing the Great and Powerful Trixie of murder?!" Trixie yelled at the pegasus.
"Guys, please focus!" Twilight tried to tame the situation. " We're not going to get anywhere by arguing all the time. Now, back to the topic at hoof... the bathrooms."
"Either bathroom could have been used, the possibilities are endless," The Doctor said.
"Are they really?" Twilight pondered. "Both bathrooms couldn't have been used, that's impossible."
I know something is here, Starlight thought. She screwed her eyes shut, forcing herself into the palace in her mind so she could think. She listened to every word and tried to piece things together. Think Starlight...
"You should only shower one time, why would you need to do it more than once?" Pinkie snorted. "That's just silly!"
"Well, they needed some way to clean up the mess!" Rarity said.
"But there's no evidence they had to shower to clean up!" Rainbow flapped her wings angrily.
>>TRUTH BULLET #17: BATHROOM DRAIN
"You're wrong!" Starlight slammed her hoof on the ground. "The drain in the mare's bathroom is proof!"
"The drain?" Twilight inquired.
"There was hair and blood in the drain," Starlight explained, showing a picture of the scene. "It got trapped in the drain when that pony showered. And there's evidence that they showered too; the towels in the bathroom were wrinkled and smelled of water. They had been used."
"So our culprit took a shower afterwards to try and clean up the crime scene, and left behind some incriminating evidence," Trixie said, side-eyeing the ponies around her. "But then what did they do about the crime scene itself? Walking away from that bloody puddle mess would leave hoofprints!"
"They did leave hoofprints, we already talked about that!" Feather Bangs rolled his eyes.
"But those hoofprints only came from Fluttershy's door," Twilight reminded the stallion. "When the culprit walked away, they would've left a different trail leading down the hall to the bathroom."
"Well, we didn't see one," Prince Blueblood snorted.
"That's because something happened that got rid of the hoofprints," Twilight said. "Starlight, you know what I mean don't you?"
"Huh?" Starlight thought about what had been said. What happened that got rid of the hoofprints in the hallway? She closed her eyes to think, and opened them when she got her answer.
>>TRUTH BULLET #19: EMPTY BUCKET & STAINED MOP
"The hoofprints were washed away from the scene," Starlight said.
"How so?" Applejack asked.
"There are a mop and a bucket in both bathrooms," Starlight answered. "The stallions' bathroom had a bucket with no water, and a mop that was stained with blood. The mares' bathroom had a full bucket and a clean mop."
"So we're back to the basics again?" Rainbow Dash pulled at her face in frustration. "Ugh, this is so confusing!"
"Let's continue with the facts of the case, then we can clear up the confusion and catch the culprit," Twilight said as she looked at her notes again.
"So the culprit washed away the hoofprints," The Doctor said. "They also took a shower to clean off the blood, and their hair also fell into the drain. They dried up with towels, and left the scene as it was."
"This still doesn't prove who did it!" Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration.
"We've gone over every possibility, how do we still not know who it is?" Applejack was beginning to get frustrated too.
"There is one important detail that you're all missing out on," Twilight said and looked at Starlight. "The colour of the hair in the drain."
Starlight knew what Twilight was asking, without even saying it. The pony's hair that was caught in the drain was... purple.
"The hair was purple," Starlight said. "There are only 3 ponies here who fit the criteria to be the culprit. The only ponies who have purple in their hair are Twilight, Rarity, and... me."
"So, one of you three killed Party Favor," Trixie hissed.
"We need to think more rationally about this. Think shades," Twilight said.
"What do you mean shades?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You all have purple hair, that still doesn't tell us which one of you did it!"
"It can," Prince Blueblood spoke up. "The shades of purple in their hair are different. Different textures and lengths as well. If we're going to get to the bottom of this, we must determine what the consistency of the hair in the drain is, and match it with another pony."
"I can tell you confidently that it wasn't my hair," Starlight said hesitantly. "If it was my hair, the drain would have also had teal strands of hair in it, but it did not. It only had purple. The same situation applies to Twilight's hair. Her hair is primarily blue, so why would only purple strands be in the drain?"
"She could've easily thrown away the blue strands of hair. Flushed them down the toilet or something," Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Caused a bit more confusion, maybe."
"That's not possible," The Doctor refuted her argument. "Even if Twilight had done such a thing, very little hair would have remained because the stripe in her hair is so small. What Starlight found was a clump of hair, not a few strands. Twilight could not have committed the crime."
"And there's only one pony who could fit the criteria now." Starlight stared the pony in the eyes, watching the anger and fear swirl around in their pupils like raging flames. "And to explain who it is, let me retell the story of how this murder played out."
"Nighttime is supposed to take place from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. as written in the school rules. Usually there would be no reason for a pony to be out during this time, but Party Favor had one. He went to Restaurant Row to test a theory that the magical barrier would shut down during the nighttime. The culprit used this as their perfect opportunity to strike. As he walked back to his dorm, the culprit followed after him. Party Favor scanned himself into his room, but the culprit snuck in when he was unaware."
"A fight broke out between the two. The culprit took Party Favor's Phoenix Pad, and hit him on the head with it! Seeing Party Favor disoriented, they took advantage of his weakness and stabbed him in the stomach with their unicorn horn. The thudding of the struggle and Party Favor's yell were overheard by Fluttershy, who was too scared to leave her dorm. The culprit waited until Party Favor bled out before making their next move. They used his hoof on the scanner to open the door, leaving him on the ground when the door was open."
"The culprit attempted to frame Fluttershy by walking backwards, and trailing bloody hoofprints to her room. The culprit then went to the bathroom and took a shower, during which the blood and pieces of their hair fell out and clogged the drain. The culprit dried their hair with the towels, then went to the stallions' bathroom to take a mop and bucket and clean up the hoofprints leading down the hallway. They drained the water and squeezed water from the mop in the shower and sink, not bothering to fill the bucket back up with fresh water, and trashed Party Favor's Phoenix Pad thinking that no pony would find it. They thought that they had committed the perfect crime and were free of suspicion thanks to their perfect alibi, but the wound and the hair in the drain made the killer quite obvious."
"I know that you killed Party Favor! And you can't hide from us Rarity Belle, Ultimate Fashionista!"
"Well, I never!" Rarity threw her head back, entirely offended by the accusation. "I think you're awfully bold accusing me when you have a horn and purple hair too!"
Starlight knew that Rarity was right in some regards, but the evidence spoke the truth. She was outnumbered by the truths of her crime!
"Starlight is entirely correct," The Doctor glared at Rarity. "It was you that killed Party Favor, and you have no reason to deny it!"
"But you have no reason to accuse me!" Rarity fought vehemently against the accusation with fury in her eyes. "She is just as likely to have committed the crime as I!"
"We have every reason to believe you did it, and I've already told you the truth!" Starlight yelled at the mare beside her. "You killed Party Favor!"
"I refuse to accept this!" Rarity screamed, stepping to the side of her podium and entering a defensive stance to glare at Starlight. "Show me your proof! Give me your evidence!"
"Fine! I will!" Starlight stood her ground and held her head high with her horn sparking, refusing to let Rarity intimidate her.
>>BULLET TIME BATTLE: START<<
Rarity was furious, but Starlight was angrier at her denial. The air around them was tense, so thick it could be cut with a knife. Rarity was violent in her refusal to accept the truth, and Starlight was violent in her stubbornness to push the truth forth. Both mares were clashing teeth like ravenous wolves during their argument, screaming at eachother for what seemed like forever. Neither of them wished to give in. Their resolve was too strong, and they knew it. They would push on as long as they needed, but Rarity was beginning to crack under the pressure of keeping herself in tact. She was beginning to sweat, and her horn would fizz as she got angrier. Finally she did snap.
"Where's your proof that I killed Party Favor?!" She screamed at Starlight at last, her chest heaving as she began to run out of breath from her screaming. "What evidence do you have that makes me the culprit?!"
>> HAIRINTHEDRAIN <<
>> BREAK! <<
Starlight's throat was hurting from the screaming, and Rarity's must have been too. Tears were forming in her eyes and her head was hung low. She was finally accepting defeat at Starlight's hooves. She swallowed hard and stood back in her proper position. The tears rolled down her face. She closed her eyes, and waved her hoof in Starlight's direction.
"Go on," She said, her voice raspy and broken with sobs. "I-I... have been bested."
"Is it finally time to vote?" Philomena squawked. She seemed excited that the trial had finally come to a close. "Oh boy oh boy! Let's get this show on the road everypony! It's voting time! Are you going to pick the right choice, or the horribly, truly terribly, dreadfully wrong one? Place your votes now!"
A panel appeared on each of the podiums. All 16 ponies had their cutie marks shown on the buttons on the panel in square boxes. Starlight strangely thought they looked familiar to her. She pressed her hoof on Rarity's cutie mark, and pressed the green button to send her vote in. The panel disappeared back into the podium, and a big screen emerged from the wall beside Philomena's throne. An animation played, similar to that of a casino's slot machine. It randomly scrolled through the cutie marks of every pony, and finally, all 3 boxes landed on Rarity's cutiemark. Confetti streamed from two pipes on either side of the machine, and coins rained down from the ceiling. It appeared that they had picked the right pony. Every pony stepped down from their podiums as the trial finally ended.
"So why did you do it?" Starlight asked Rarity, but she stepped away from the pony in question. The rest of the students stood behind her, glaring daggers at the mare.
"I had to," Rarity said tearfully.
"What do you mean you had to?!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "One of our classmates is dead because of you."
"I know that!" Rarity shouted back, more tears pooling down her face now. "B-but... if I didn't do it, then we all would've died. I just didn't want to starve, and I didn't want other ponies to starve because I had done nothing. I didn't think taking my own life would satisfy Philomena's needs, so I had to kill another pony. When I saw that Party Favor was awake, I knew I wouldn't get another opportunity, so... I had no choice. It was him, or all of us."
"And what if taking your own life would've worked?" Starlight asked.
"Then I would've." Rarity lifted her head and sniffled. "I would've done it a thousand times over. For years I would do it, just so you all wouldn't have to die. And it worked, didn't it? We're all here, still alive. We're alive because we got to eat, because some pony had to die. Think of it... think of it as a gift of generosity from me to you all. It took a pony's life to give, but in the long run... it was worth it to see you all still standing here."
Starlight couldn't help but feel bad for Rarity. She had done something good for them. They all got to stay alive, even if it meant Party Favor had to die. If it wasn't for Rarity, they would all have starved to death in a week. Not every pony was happy with Rarity's explanation, but Starlight could feel that she didn't care. She was happy she had done something.
"You all are so sappy." Philomena blew raspberries at the crowd, which was surprising because she is a bird. "It's time to get on to my favourite part of the trial; the execution! I've got a very special execution prepared for Rarity Belle, the Ultimate Fashionista! Let's give it everything we've got! Iiiiit's punishment time!"
Philomena pulled a remote from behind one of her wings, and pressed the button as she cackled maniacally. A panel in the wall opened up, exposing a long hallway. Rarity looked back just in time as chains flew from the opening at high speeds towards her. A cuff wrapped around her neck, and two more clung to her front left leg, and bright right leg. She struggled against the chains momentarily before they were sucked back into the hallway, forcefully dragging her into the bright white light that filled her execution chamber.
As Rarity is dragged into the white void, the chains break off her body and she rolls onto what feels like grass. She coughs, feeling sick from the way the world spun as she rolled. She shook her head and got to her hooves, looking down at what she was standing on. Her eyes sparkled as she realized what she was standing on; fabric. She began to think of all the things she could possibly do with the fabric, but was distracted when a pair of scissors came out of nowhere, slicing the ground beneath her and making her fall through the air. The scissors cut out the words of her execution in the fabric, which fluttered down after her.
Rarity hit the ground again, this time landing on a bed of sewing needles. She screamed as the needles dug into her coat. She forced herself to stand, her entire body shaking as blood poured from the needles stuck in her body. She used her magic, forcefully ripping the needles from her body despite how badly it hurt. Tears streamed down her face, mixing in with blood that was pouring down from her head. She lifted one of her hooves, revealing all the needles stuck in it as well. She removed them, and kept doing the same with the rest, but continued to feel needles stab into her skin with each one she removed.
She sobbed as she tried over and over again to remove the needles from her body, but she became distracted as she heard a noise. She looked up to see a large sewing machine in front of her. She leapt onto the device, and ripped the last of the needles free from her hooves. She sighed in relief, still in agony but free from the infinite poking of needles in her body. She looked around, confused, until she remembered she was on a sewing machine.
Philomena cackled from the top of the machine as she flicked a switch, and turn it on. A piece of purple fabric flew underneath Rarity's hooves, and suddenly the needle came down on her torso, stabbing through her body. She coughed up blood as she was pushed against the fabric. The needle continued to work, using white fabric to stitch her to the cloth as her blood soaked into it. Eventually, the sewing was done. Rarity had passed out from blood loss, and the camera panned to showcase a massive gown that had been made using the fabric that Rarity had been forcefully sown into.
But Philomena didn't like it. She spit on the gown and flew away from it. She lit up a match using her body, and tossed it onto the gown. Very quickly, the fire began to spread. When the fabric that Rarity was on caught fire, she struggled against it, and screamed as her body and the oversized dressed were consumed in flames. She struggled violently against the flames, hoping that her tears would be able to stop the fire somehow.
The rest of the class watched the fire rage on until Philomena brought in a giant hose to cool down the still burning flame, and put it out...
Starlight couldn't believe what she had just bore witness to. She stared at the gruesome sight before her with her mouth agape, and her eyes widen open. She couldn't even bring herself to blink, or move. She felt like she was a petrified statue of fear and nausea. She heard ponies getting sick around her from the sight, having to hear them cough to compose themselves after expelling the contents of the feast from their stomachs. She was tempted to join them.
"What a horrible fire!" Philomena coughed. "I sure hope none of you got hurt by it, other than her! Well, she didn't get hurt, she died... Oh well. It's time to leave the trial room everypony! There's still some time before nighttime, so you're free to do as you please! Get back to the elevator and get the hell out so I can clean up this mess!"
They turned and began to move back as though they were robots following commands from a radio tower. They dumbly followed the orders, and found themselves back in the elevator before they knew it. Still wide eyed, still sick, still heartbroken; that was all that the group was. The elevator was a pony-filled void of despair. Starlight couldn't even think; all she could see was red.
The elevator dinged as it opened up, and the ponies didn't know what to do when they poured back out into the trial waiting room. They all stood around, looking at eachother. They were wondering if the other ponies were real. If any of this was real. Starlight didn't feel like she or anyone else was alive, that they were real ponies. She felt as though she was the physical embodiment of despair itself, and she hated it. With heavy hearts, ponies began to leave the area. They returned to blinking and let their mouths close.
Starlight followed the pack as they made their way back through the building, each walking to the dorms. They stopped at their own dorms, sliding their hooves over the scanners and walking in. Few of them collapsed as soon as they were inside their rooms, and others must've walked to their beds. When Starlight got in her room, she collapsed onto her bed and curled up into the blankets. Her whole body was shaking now that she was laying down, or maybe she had been shaking the whole time and didn't realize it.
Everything hurt, and she wasn't even part of the execution. Every part of her body wanted to tear itself apart a thousand times over. All that she wanted was to be at home, laying in a pile of plushies and acting like she didn't exist. Nothing felt right anymore; she felt wrong because she had killed a pony too. Rarity had murdered Party Favor, but she was the reason Rarity was butchered like a cow.
She would never forgive herself for letting this happen. She wasn't sure she really could. She lay in bed wondering what her purpose in life was. She wondered why she was at this academy. She wondered why the ponies had let her speak her mind so clearly, and they believed her so well. She barely was aware that Philomena was speaking over the speakers, retelling the nighttime announcement. The lights went out as nighttime fell, and her heavy heart grew heavier in the darkness.
She stared at her wall, no light or joy glimmering in the stars that made up the wallpaper anymore. The light they could provide would refuse to reflect in her lifeless eyes anyways. She wondered if this was how Party Favor felt in his last moments. Wondering why he had to suffer, and wondering why things had to go wrong. She could almost relate to him, though the stinging pain in her stomach wasn't from a gut wound. She wanted to get sick, she knew it. Her body refused to let her.
She blinked, and rolled over so she could lay on the bed more properly. She brought her blanket up, encasing her body and leaving her head exposed. She felt more comfortable, but her comfort couldn't compare to how her mind felt. Her head wasn't even hurting, but she could just imagine that it did. She thought for just a moment she could hear sobs in the hallway, and she had no idea who they could be coming from. The way she saw it, every pony was crying. She wanted to cry too.
She felt warm tears slipping down her face. She wasn't crying, but tears were flowing. Her eyes stung from the tears slipping free, forcing her to blink and rub her eyes to wipe away the tears and bring back the moisture. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. How could she bring herself to sleep? She would have nightmares about that execution for weeks, she was sure of it. She hoped that exhaustion would take over her body and she could sleep, because she could barely bring herself to sleep. She felt her eyes growing heavy, and it felt like she had laid there for hours. Her body felt stiff, she knew that much.
Every time she blinked, she found it harder and harder to keep her eyes open. Every blink was just slightly longer than the last, and she couldn't even keep her eyes fully widened anymore. Her eyes continued to look around the darkness of the room, unable to catch much of anything. She couldn't even see shadows under her door in this lighting, if they did in fact exist. She heard herself yawn, and felt fatigue move through her body. She was so tired, and she knew it.
She rolled onto her side once more, deciding to make it easier for herself to sleep, whenever that would be. She craved to be holding onto something right now. Anything. A pony, a doll; whatever it must be, she wanted to wrap her hooves around it like a foal hugging a teddy bear. She found herself pulling down her pillow and snuggling up against it. She didn't know when it happened, but one time when she blinked, she didn't open her eyes again as she fell into a deep sleep. It didn't last forever, of course.
When Starlight opened her eyes, her room was bright. For the first time, she lifted her head and heard Philomena's voice over the speakers.
"Greetings everypony!" Philomena's voice cawed out loud. "It is officially 8 am, which means nighttime is over and it is morning! Restaurant Row and the pool have been opened up, and the front door has been unlocked! Wake up and get started with your day; it's a bad idea to sleep in, hoho!" The bird's laughter faded as the speakers cut off.
Starlight could barely bring herself to get out of bed. She wanted to lay there and sleep the entire day away. She was sure the other ponies agreed with her, but she didn't feel like laying here any longer. The sleep had just barely calmed her thoughts from the previous day. She sat up, putting her pillow back where it was and neatly making her bed as she got up. Her legs were shaky this morning, but she acted as though nothing was wrong. She scanned her hoofprint on the scanner, and prepared herself to step outside. The doors opened, and she took a deep breath.
As she stepped into the hall, she tried to have faith that she was truly ready to tackle the next chapter in her life... at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Ponies.
This was the first day the ponies would be meeting at the feast table in Restaurant Row. Twilight had suggested when they were allowed to eat that they should all meet there every morning. Everypony was happy to agree to that thought; it definitely wasn't a bad idea. They could catch up, get to know eachother better, and share useful information that they've found. When Starlight finally arrived, every pony was chatting away, and there was a bit of food on the table.
"Hey Starlight!" Twilight waved her hoof in greeting. Starlight silently waved back. "Pinkie and Cheese are in the kitchen of the restaurant. They're making personalized breakfast for everypony. Since you're up, you should go tell them what you want."
"Alright, will do," Starlight said with a forced smile. She walked away from the table, letting Twilight point her inside one of the buildings off to the side. She walked inside, and heard the excited voices of the two ponies in question as they baked together.
"So I told her that we should use salt in the recipe because it would make the chocolate taste stronger," Pinkie was telling Cheese a story as she flipped pancakes on the stove. "And then we needed sugar because it was dark chocolate and we didn't want it to be entirely bitter. But the worst possible thing happened; she switched them! She didn't know which container was which, and we ended up using salt where there should've been sugar, and sugar where there should've been salt!"
"Eww!" Cheese stuck his tongue out and laughed. "I can't imagine what salty cupcakes tasted like."
"Lemons!" Pinkie giggled and snorted. "They tasted like lemons! We didn't even use lemons in the recipe, it was supposed to be fudgy peanut cupcakes and it tasted like lemon cupcakes!"
"You two sound like you're having fun," Starlight said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Pinkie has been telling me stories all morning!" Cheese laughed.
"We've been having a lot of fun talking to eachother! I said I wanted to make breakfast for everypony because I reeeally love cooking," Pinkie explained. "But then Cheese said he wanted to help because while he was a good party pony, he wasn't really the best cook. I've been teaching him a few this-and-that's here and there, and we've been making breakfast while we talk! Oh! That reminds me, Starlight since you're awake now what do you want to eat?"
"Ah, I don't want anything big, my stomach is still giving out after what happened yesterday," Starlight sheepishly admitted. "Can I just have some eggs? I like mine fried."
"I'll handle that!" Cheese scooted a new carton of eggs over onto the counter beside the stove he was cooking at. "Do you want anything else on it? We've got pepper, bacon bits, cheese, tomatoes, onions, celery--"
"J-just pepper and cheese is fine, thank you," Starlight said nervously before Cheese could list the entire fridge's contents. "I'll just wait outside while you're done. Oh, I want my yolks poppable by the way."
"Can do!" Cheese saluted to the mare. "I'll bring it out once it's done."
"Alright, I'll see you later." Starlight waved to the ponies as she turned and exited the kitchen. She walked back outside and sat down with Twilight since she noticed an empty seat.
"Did you tell them what you wanted?" Twilight asked when Starlight sat down.
"Yeah, they'll bring it out here soon," Starlight replied. "In the mean time, I just have to be patient. Did you order already?"
"Pinkie is cooking me pancakes," Twilight hummed.
"Oh yeah, I saw her flipping pancakes when I went in there," Starlight remembered. "They looked almost done, you should be getting your food soon."
"I hope so, I still haven't fully recovered from not being able to eat for those two days," Twilight admitted and rubbed her stomach. "It feels like my stomach has shrank, and my chest keeps feeling heavy."
"Starving isn't very easy," Starlight sighed. "And with that happened yesterday, I'm sure most ponies are struggling to eat even now."
"We should just be grateful that we can eat at all." Twilight straightened her back and stretched her wings. "Eating what little we can is the better scenario than not wanting to because we feel sick. Our bodies need time to adjust to being able to eat again, so naturally it's not going to accept the food as readily right away."
"Right." Starlight nodded.
"Are you guys waiting for food?" Shining Armor said as he approached, with Feather Bangs following close behind. The two stallions sat across from the mares.
"I just put my order in," Starlight said. "Twilight's has been cooking for a bit now. Pinkie and Cheese are working on customized breakfasts for everypony."
"And some breakfasts are here now!" Cheese said as he emerged from the restaurant carrying two plates. He set down a plate of eggs in front of Starlight, and a stack of pancakes in front of Twilight.
"Thank you, Cheese." Twilight clapped her hooves together and smiled at the stallion.
"Morning to you two as well," Cheese waved hello to Shining and Feather Bangs. "What do you guys want?"
"I dunno, but those pancakes Twi's got look awfully good," Feather Bangs said with a chuckle.
"I'll just have a hayburger," Shining said as he got more comfortable on his seat. "If you wanna put a side dish, feel free."
"I'll tell Pinkie," Cheese said before turning and walking back into the restaurant.
"This place is like a serious restaurant," Feather Bangs laughed. "I can tell those two have had experience doing things like this before."
"Pinkie said in the kitchen that she wanted to make breakfast first," Starlight explained. "Cheese hadn't had much experience in the field, so he asked Pinkie if she could help him out since he wanted to cook too."
"That's sweet." Shining thought for a moment about something. "I remember when we were young, Twily always asked me to help her make breakfast for our parents. She was a real little filly when that was going on, so I had no choice but to help her anyways if I didn't want her burning down half of Canterlot."
"I wasn't that dramatic!" Twilight said through a mouthful of pancakes. She quickly swallowed before she continued. "And it's not like you were any better! You threw away 10 pancakes because you accidentally burned one side and were so insistent on them being perfect! Mom had to go to the store to get more flour because you used it all in your 'failed' attempts!"
"Hey, am I so wrong to do that?" Shining laughed and held his stomach with one hoof. "I wanted things to be perfect, and I was tired of burning my food. Even now, I still find myself throwing away foods that I've cooked a little too long because I'm afraid Cadance won't eat it."
"Cadance isn't the Princess of Perfect, you know." Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm sure she'd help you out if you just asked her. She's a great cook! She always made me breakfast when she was foalsitting me and even she burned her food sometimes."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Shining calmed his laughter and sighed happily. "I hope she's doing okay while I'm gone."
"Yeah, me too." Twilight looked down at her plate as she cut another section of her pancakes. "I wonder where the other princesses think I've gone. I hope they aren't too worried."
"Let's try not to dwell on that," Starlight said, trying to bring the mood back up. "We're going to get out of here safely, and put a stop to whatever this game is. At the very least, I want to make sure that no other ponies have to go through the things that we're going through right now."
"Let's make that a promise." Twilight raised her hoof, and Starlight bumped hers against the alicorn's. "No other pony is going to have to suffer like we have. Whatever happens in here doesn't matter, as long as we find our way out in the end. I know more ponies are going to die, but that's why we need to push on."
"Twilight's right." Feather Bangs nodded in agreement. "We can't blame ponies for doing the things they're doing. The killers are just as scared as we are, and it's Philomena's fault we're like this. If we didn't have that first motive, no pony would've died. We would be living in here in peace and harmony for the rest of our lives, at least until we found a way out."
"No pony here is evil," Shining said. "But they aren't innocent either. When ponies die, it's because Philomena made them an offer they couldn't refuse. Rarity didn't want to kill Party Favor either, but if she didn't then more ponies would've died. She isn't evil, she just wanted us to stay alive so that we could get out of here and not suffer a horrible fate."
"I can't blame her," Starlight sighed as she finished one of her eggs. "If I were in her place, I would've done it too. Some pony had to die to be spared from starving to death, and she accepted death because it meant we could live and get out of this place. We have to keep going with what she wanted to. She killed Party Favor for a reason, and she had no choice."
"We need to start looking for ways to get out of this place," Twilight said firmly as she finished her pancakes. "That's what both of them would've wanted. We can't let this game continue any longer than it needs to. Let's make a promise here that we're going to find a way out, even if it's the last thing we do."
"I say we form a group," Shining said and put his hoof on the table facing upwards. "Let's make a promise to ourselves and eachother that we're going to find a way out of this place, and we're never going to kill a pony for any reason. We don't need to feed in to Philomena's wishes or entertain the motives that she gives us."
"I'm on board with that." Twilight put her hoof on Shining's. "I want to be friends with every pony here, I don't want to kill any of them. No matter what Philomena says, I refuse to bend to her will."
"I don't wanna do that either," Feather Bangs said as he put his hoof on Twilight and Shining's. "I don't wanna die, and I don't wanna see ponies die because of me. If I can, I wanna prevent as many deaths as I can, and figure out who did them if they happen."
"Me too," Starlight put her hoof in the stack as well. "The lives of everypony here are at stake at every possible moment. We never know when another pony is going to strike, or when Philomena is going to give us a new motive for murder. Every pony has their own ambitions and that results in a lot of violence. If push comes to shove and ponies start dying, then I want to make sure the culprit is brought to justice for their crime. If it means they have to be executed, then so be it; they knew it would happen the second they thought of murder."
"Everypony is in agreement," Shining said. "Let's promise to do our very best, and beat this killing game once and for all!"
"Should we have a name for our group?" Feather Bangs laughed. "I can't think of one off the top of my head."
"I know what we can call ourselves," Starlight said with a smile. "Since we're at a school, we can be called the Student Survival Committee. Our purpose is to try and prevent the murders of ponies, and to bring justice to the murderers when they strike."
"I like that." Shining nodded. "It's noble, and it's got a nice ring to it."
"I can't object to that name." Feather Bangs shrugged his shoulders. "Super catchy and straight to the point."
"Alright everypony, Student Survival Committee on three." Twilight adjusted her hoof. "One, two, three."
"Student Survival Committee!" The ponies called as they lifted their hooves out of the pile. Their group was officially established, and they had taken an oath. Their rules were simple, and they were all focused. The group fell into silence again while Starlight and Twilight finished their food. Cheese and Pinkie brought out food for Shining Armor and Feather Bangs when it was ready, and the entire table eventually was cleared of food.
"I gotta admit, those two ponies sure do know how to cook," Shining said after wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"I'll say," Twilight laughed as she patted her stomach. "It was pretty filling. I haven't had fluffy pancakes like that in a while."
"I didn't even ask for much, and I still feel as though I had a full meal," Starlight hummed happily. "I wish I had gotten a drink though."
"There are drinks in one of the restaurants, I'm pretty sure." Twilight got to her hooves. "I think there's a building labelled like a smoothie bar on the other side. Let's go check it out."
Everypony got up from their seats, and walked after Twilight. She lead them into a colourful building on the other side of the table. Inside, the sounds of a blender running could be heard. Rainbow Dash, Double Diamond, and Sunburst were gathered around the machine. Sunburst turned the machine off when it was done, and lifted it with his magic to pour the mix into the glasses of the two ponies. Rainbow Dash happily began drinking her smoothie in full, and Double Diamond took small sips of his.
"Hey everypony," Twilight said as she approached.
"Hi Twilight." Sunburst waved his hoof in greeting. "Do you guys want smoothies too?"
"We didn't get drinks with our food, so we thought we'd come make our own," Starlight explained.
"Let me make my own really quickly and you guys can have the blender." Sunburst used the sink to rinse out what remained of the other drinks he'd made. "I'm not that hungry today, so I'm just making myself a smoothie that has enough nutrients to keep me going."
"I never thought of that," Shining Armor mused. "I forgot that nutrition shakes do exist. When I was in training to become a royal guard in Canterlot, we didn't have enough time to eat. We would usually make nutrition shakes so that we could still feel full and hydrated without skipping a beat and falling behind."
"That's really smart," Starlight said. "Didn't you get tired though? If you had to train non-stop, surely it would've been tiring even if you didn't have those shakes."
"I did, but it was necessary to push forward," Shining said. "Celestia wants only the strongest guards to be able to push through the ranks, that's why Canterlot's guard is one of the strongest military forces in Equestria."
"That and the ruler of the land directly runs it," Twilight giggled. "She mush be pretty harsh on her guards, eh?"
"She could be pretty tough sometimes, but she wasn't forceful," Shining hummed as he remembered his training days. "She knew what she was doing and what she wanted as a ruler."
"I can't imagine what training as a guard is like," Sunburst said as he finished preparing his ingredients for his smoothie. "I've spent my whole life surrounded by books, I don't really get out much. If I was tasked with something as huge as protecting an entire city with my life, I know that I would fail out of the training program on the first day."
The room buzzed to life as Sunburst put his ingredients in the blender and turned it on. He held it down with his magic, making sure that the lid wouldn't fly off and the cup wouldn't be thrown away by the spinning blades. When it was done, he checked the consistency and poured it all out into a glass. It was just enough for him. When he was done and began drinking, Shining responded to him while Twilight took the blender to clean it out herself.
"That's just why you have to train. You never know if you can do something unless you really put your mind to it," Shining explained. "If you had really put your mind to being a guard, there's a big chance that you would've pushed through the program and joined the ranks. I had to do that, and I'm the lead royal guard in Canterlot now."
"That's such a big deal though..." Sunburst shuddered as his nerves temporarily overtook him. "It just sounds like it's a stressful job."
"It is, but it's worth it." Shining patted the stallion on the back to reassure him. "Maybe when we get out of this place, I can show you the ins and outs of being a guard and show you what it's like. You know, if you're interested."
"I don't think I'd be interested enough to join." Sunburst adjusted his glasses and smiled at Shining Armor. "But, at the very least, it would be a learning experience for me. I'm not one to turn down the opportunity to learn something I never knew before."
"I'm sure you'd have a lot of fun, Sunburst." Twilight put the ingredients for her smoothie in the blender and put the top on. "I loved watching Shining train to join the guard when I was young. I really admired him, and if I wasn't on the road to being a scholar at the time, I might've even joined him. There aren't many mares who decide to be guards, so it would've been a nice change."
"Hey Twi, can I have some of that smoothie too?" Starlight asked before the mare could turn on the blender.
"Sure!" Twilight removed the top again, and added a few more ingredients to make enough for Starlight. She turned it on and let it buzz until the mixture was smooth. She poured the mix out into two glasses, and passed Starlight hers. She lifted it with her magic, and took a few quick sips while Sunburst and Shining kept talking.
"I've noticed that a lot of guards lately are pegasi," Double Diamond mused. "In Canterlot there are a lot of unicorns, but in recent years there has been an influx of pegasus guards. Have you noticed that, Shining Armor?"
"Somewhat." Shining shrugged his shoulders. "With the squadron that I lead, there aren't any pegasi. Celestia seems to oversee the sky patrol guards because she can fly too. I don't know who the leader of that squadron is, but I do know I've seen much more flight training recently."
"That might be something to look into once we get out of here too," Sunburst said. "You might even be able to get a few pointers from them to help your squadron in battle against pegasi."
"That's actually a pretty smart idea," Starlight added. "Pegasi would very easily overpower unicorns because of their flight capabilities, but that's also their biggest weakness. It might do good to have the squadrons do practice battles to prepare for future events."
"Man, you ponies are so smart," Shining laughed. "I'll have to suggest that to the princess once we get back. I have no doubts that she'll approve, after all it will just make our army stronger."
The ponies were interrupted as the speakers crackled to life outside.
"Good morning everypony!" Philomena yawned before she kept speaking. "I have a very important announcement! Please report to the main lobby inside the academy immediately for more details! I'll be waiting patiently for you all there!"
"Oh great," Rainbow Dash groaned. "The flaming hairball wants to talk to us. What could she possibly want from us this time?"
"We'll have to go see what she wants," Shining sighed. "You ponies can go on ahead. I'm going to make a quick smoothie for Feather Bangs and I, then we'll be right there."
"Be quick," Twilight said. "She did say immediately." She took the empty glasses on the counter and put them in the sink before she ran outside. The other ponies followed along after her. Starlight walked out after them, but looked back to see what the others were doing. She flinched as the blender buzzed back to life before she ran out, and headed to the main lobby. She couldn't possibly imagine what Philomena wanted from them, but the only way to find out was to go there. She hoped nothing bad had happened, and she really hoped that they weren't going to be pushed for murder for the second time...
As the ponies stand in a group in the main lobby, the stage from the welcoming ceremony rises from the ground yet again. Layer by layer, it ascends from the floor, and from the center emerges the podium. Philomena descends from the second floor, and situates herself on the podium with the microphone tilted up. She looks at the ponies gathered before her with a smile.
"Hah! There's barely a dent in this crowd!" She laughs. "Why, if I didn't know any better I'd say this is a welcoming ceremony!"
"Don't taunt us!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the phoenix. "You know very well how we all feel after yesterday!"
"Oh I do know, my little ponies," Philomena cooed. "I just wanted to stir the pot a little. I wouldn't want this delicious group of stew ingredients to get... overcooked."
"What the hell does that mean?!" Double Diamond yelled at her. "Stop speaking in riddles already, we've had enough!"
"One of our friends died because of you!" Starlight even called out of the crowd. "You have no room to taunt us!"
"Alright alright pipe down!" Philomena flapped her wings and danced from talon to talon as she complained. "I won't make anymore jokes about that! We should get to the heart of the matter; the reason I called you here. It's because I have a new motive to give to you all!"
"You're giving us another motive so soon?" Twilight gasped. "Why would we want to kill eachother after what you did to Rarity?!"
"Because it's important! For your memories, that is," Philomena giggled. The room quickly fell silent, and anger dissipated. Expressions of confusion and shock traveled through the crowd in waves. Starlight blinked, letting the shock of the revelation sink in.
"Our memories?" Twilight brought life to the room again when she spoke.
"Yes!" Philomena squawked. "Your new motive is simple. After you have killed a pony, I will give you back your memories. You will know how you got into this academy, and you will know what the purpose of the academy is. In exchange for entertaining me, I will change up a few things about the crime scene to benefit you! You'll have a much higher chance of graduating from the academy in the class trial afterwards!"
"What's the catch?!" Rainbow Dash questioned as she flew into the air above the crowd.
"The catch is this." Philomena glared at the pegasus. "I will only provide to you your reward if you come to me after the crime has admitted. You will tell me that a pony has died, and where they are. When I can confirm that the crime has been committed, I will alter the crime scene. When the deed is done, I will tell you exactly what you wish to know, and I refuse to lie."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Twilight asked.
"I will force myself to tell the truth," Philomena stated bluntly. "And it will be using this." Philomena lifted up a bracelet into the air. A red, blinking light was on the bracelet. It looked more like a watch with stringy straps.
"What is that?" Pinkie tilted her head. "It looks like that fancy watch that could track how many paces you've walked!"
"It's something like that," She said as she put the bracelet on her talon and tied it tight. The blinking light turned green when it was wrapped on nice and snug. "Whenever I lie, this bracelet will send an electric shock travelling through my body. As long as I am wearing this bracelet, I can only tell the truth, and nothing but the truth."
"So if you're wearing that when somepony comes to ya..." Applejack mused. "Then if you're lyin' about how they got in here, you'll shock yourself?"
"Basically!" The phoenix giggled. "So if you have any questions, I can answer them wholly!"
"Would you tell us who started this mess in the first place?" Rainbow Dash hissed.
"I refuse to," Philomena said. "It isn't that I can't, because I very well could, I just refuse to. Giving you all such a cheatsy answer is sooo last season. The fun of the game is for you to figure out who did the crimes yourselves!" The group waited in silence, wanting to see if Philomena would get shocked for lying. Nothing happened; she was telling the truth.
"Alright, we believe you," Starlight spoke for the crowd. "And we know our motive, but that doesn't mean we're going to do anything about it."
"You said that last time," Philomena snickered. "You all said you'd never kill eachother, and that you all were going to get out of here alive. But, low and behold, your fashion fanatic friend committed a murder."
"You said you wouldn't bring it up anymore!" Rainbow Dash shouted at her.
"Well, I was lying then!" The phoenix cackled. "I love reminding you deadbeat ponies of your failures. It makes you realize that your hopes are hopeless!"
"No, you're wrong!" Starlight shouted. "Your bracelet may not have buzzed, but we know that we can prove your truth to be false! We refuse to let our hopes die, and one way or another, we're going to get out of this academy and stop your reign of terror!"
"Hoho, good luck!" Philomena spread her wings and laughed. "You haven't even seen the half of what I'm capable of! Good luck everypony!"
No pony else get to object before Philomena disappeared into the second floor once again. The ponies murmured amongst themselves about the events that had occurred. Starlight was beginning to feel sick again, ready to expel the breakfast and her smoothie from her stomach into the trash can. She swallowed hard, refusing to let the bile build in her throat and bring her to panick. The sickness she felt... she would refuse to let it win her over! She leapt onto the stage in place of Philomena and stared out at the crowd.
"Everypony, listen to me!" She called to stop the murmurs in the crowd. She felt nervous seeing the eyes on her again, but she had to say something. "I know many of us want to know how we got here and why we're here in the first place, but are we really so low as to murder another pony for the answers to our questions? We know Philomena won't lie to us, but our lives are more important than that! I have faith in every pony here to do the right thing, and you have to have faith in yourselves that you won't fall so low!"
"Starlight is right!" Shining Armor called out from the crowd, and joined her on the stage. "We can't let Philomena get to us, that's just what she wants! She said it herself, she wants to mess with us so we do things that we're going to regret. She's using us for entertainment, and we can't let her keep getting into our heads!"
"Exactly," Twilight said as she stepped up onto the stage as well. Feather Bangs silently followed her. "That's why we formed the Student Survival Committee."
"The Student Survival Committee?" Pinkie asked. "What's that? Sounds fancy!"
"It's a group we made at breakfast," Feather Bangs explained. "The goal of the group is to try and prevent as many unnecessary deaths as we can. And, if some pony does end up dying, we've made an oath to find out the truth and bring justice to the killer, no matter the reason."
"The whole goal of our group is to make sure that ponies don't have to die for no reason," Starlight said. "For useless motives like this, no lives need to be lost. Our lives aren't at stake here. I could understand where Rarity was coming from in the first trial, and if I was in her place, I might've killed some pony too. But this is different! Philomena wants us to kill for our own selfishness, while Rarity killed Party Favor out of the good of her heart! She didn't want us to die, and I don't want that either!"
"In the Student Survival Committee, we pledged to never kill anypony," Twilight stepped forward to speak herself. "We made it an oath when we formed the group, and any pony who wants in is going to have to take it. We don't want to be the reason that more ponies die, and we want to get out of here as much as everypony else. We want to get out safely and peacefully, without carrying the weight of a dead pony on our backs. All pony lives are important in this room, that's why this group is so important."
"It was my suggestion to form the group," Shining told the awestruck crowd. "My message as the founder of the group is that this group will never kill a pony for any reason, and we will find a way out of this place. As the leader of the Student Survival Committee, I swear on my group and my Ultimate talent that you can trust us. We will never harm eachother, and that is final."
"I want to join!" Pinkie shouted and waved her hooves. She jumped up on the stage. "I don't want to kill other ponies either, even if I wanted to leave this place super badly. I want to stay alive with my friends!"
"Me too!" Cheese followed after Pinkie.
"I want in!" Rainbow Dash flew over the heads of the ponies. "I will stay loyal to the oath, that's a promise I can take to my grave if some pony decides to take me out!"
"I-I would like to join too..." Fluttershy spoke up meekly as she stepped to the front of the crowd, not wanting to stand on the stage again. "I could never k-kill another pony..."
"Does anypony else want to join in?" Twilight asked the crowd. The crowd was silent, no other ponies were sure if they really wanted to join.
"With all due respect," Trixie began with a flip of the hair. "Trixie does not think that this group is going to guarantee the safety of any pony. The Great and Powerful Trixie does not base her life entirely off of hopes and dreams, only what she knows will become true! You talk as though this group is going to guarantee our survival 100%, but Trixie does not believe it to be true, nor does she believe every pony involved is going to truthfully honor the oath. Trixie chooses to stay out of the group, for her own safety."
Few other ponies among the crowd seemed to agree with Trixie's claim. Starlight couldn't believe that Trixie would say such a thing, but she didn't care. She knew one thing for certain; she was not going to kill another pony. She would honor the oath to the highest extent she could.
"The rest of you are more than welcome," Twilight said to the ponies who had openly stepped forward. "Hooves in every pony!"
One by one, each pony that had joined the committee extended their hooves forward. They made a circle as their hooves overlapped. Starlight put her hoof in last, a smile on her face as every pony was so willing to join in. They all made a promise the second they said they wanted in, and she hoped they would all honor it.
"Student Survival Committee on three," She said. "One, two, three."
"Student Survival Committee!" The chorus of ponies shouted, and lifted their hooves high into the air. A brief moment of chatting was had between the group, celebrating that their numbers had grown and that more ponies were more than happy to honor the oath. Starlight felt relieved knowing that the group was so big; she was sure that things could only go right for them.
After the group's cheer, the ponies in the lobby began to clear out of the area. The area fell silent again as the free ponies, and the Student Survival Committee, left to find other things to do. Starlight found herself alone on the stage as the other ponies left her, talking happily amongst themselves. She stepped down, and one thing dawned on her... what was she supposed to do now?
Starlight was on her own now, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She didn't have much reason for going outside because the morning breakfast was over, and she wouldn't be eating grass from the courtyard. There was nothing in the garden she felt could interest her. It was morning, so there wasn't much reason to go to the dorms. She didn't have any reason to visit the fruit tree orchard either, as she still couldn't quite stomach what she had eaten for breakfast. She didn't exactly feel like going to the pool either, as swimming wasn't really her thing...
She got an idea then. She hadn't explored the market plaza since she first got to the academy and looked around with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. There might be something there that she had missed in the days since her arrival. She took a breath and walked off the stage. She headed out the open doors, and followed the path all the way to the market plaza. When she arrived, she noticed other ponies were looking around there as well. Sunburst and Rainbow Dash were both looking at each of the stalls. Rainbow Dash seemed the most busy, but Sunburst was looking at some things that had been inside the stall he was at.
>> SUNBURST FREE TIME EVENT 1: START! <<
"What are you doing?" Starlight asked as she walked to the stallion.
"Hm?" Sunburst was broken out of his focus. "Oh! I was just looking at these antiques that were inside this stall. I've never seen anything quite like them before, and I've researched plenty of things like this in my free time. Ancient artifacts, old paintings, antiques from ghost towns, y'know, that sort of thing."
"And you've never seen these before? What are they?" Starlight lifted up one of the antiques with her magic and carefully studied it.
"What you're holding right now looks like a Dodecahedra, the symbols on it seem to be retelling some sort of story." Sunburst took the artifact from Starlight and rolled it in the air with his magic. Starlight studied the artifact at it was turned around.
"It looks like this artifact is supposed to be talking about the day and night cycles," Starlight said.
"Potentially." Sunburst brushed his hoof through his chin beard. "Actually, I think it might be talking about the two sisters."
"Is it?" Starlight wondered.
"Take a look here." Sunburst turned the artifact to Starlight and pointed with his hoof at some of the symbols. Along one of the thin lines, there were two ancient pony drawings, and in the connecting center line there was what looked like a crescent moon. The darker coloured pony reappeared on another line, with a new expression of pain, and the next connecting line showcased a moon with the symbol of the mare in the moon in it.
"There's no questioning it," Sunburst said finally. "This artifact must be actually an ancient artifact created more than a thousand years ago. I think it depicts when Nightmare Moon was first banished to the moon by Princess Celestia. The other symbols seem to be repeating the same event, though some also express the lighter carved pony, most likely Princess Celestia, crying over what she had done. We all know that Celestia regretted sending Luna to the moon, but it was for the good of all of Equestria that she had to."
"It's such a sad story..." Starlight sighed. "I could never imagine having to banish one of my own family members to the moon for a thousand years. The guilt would weigh on my conscience even after they returned from banishment, still angry at me for doing such a thing."
"That's what happened when Nightmare Moon returned, if I remember correctly," Sunburst said as he adjusted his glasses. "No pony knows who it is, but a group of ponies came together and defeated Nightmare Moon, dispelling the dark magic from Luna's body, and turning her back to normal."
"That sounds like a fairy tale," Starlight snickered. "Why haven't these legendary heroes been named if they defeated a pony that Celestia had to deal with herself a thousand years ago?"
"I'm not quite sure." Sunburst shrugged. "There has to be some sort of explanation somewhere. Maybe some of the books in the lounge can explain it. I'd love to look sometime."
"How about we look together next time we hang out?" Starlight suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea to me." Sunburst put the antique back in the stall. "In the mean time, I wonder what else is recorded in here?" Starlight walked behind the stall with Sunburst to see what else was in the stall. Behind the stall there were two glass doors wide open with 3 shelves inside, each carrying a variety of antique items. She lifted up a silver vase out of the case.
"I've never seen silver this dark," Starlight mused.
"Oh! There's a reason for that," Sunburst got excited as he was ready to explain. "It's because the silver has oxidized. That means that as it got older and was exposed to different environments, it gradually began to dark and harden. It's pretty much the equivalent of rusting. They usually don't make artifacts out of silver, though. It's really hard to work with because it's so soft. They must've used some kind of special coating agent to make this vase keep its shape."
"That's so weird," Starlight said. "But it's interesting to know. What do you think this vase is describing?"
"Well, um..." Sunburst scratched the back of his head and took the vase from Starlight, rolling it around in the air to look at each side. "On this side of the vase there is a large group of ponies. It looks like they're standing in front of a king of sorts. On the next side there's what looks to be another king, and a... sphinx? Oh! This vase has to have been from the ancient village of Somnambula, named after one of the pillars!"
"You know the story?" Starlight asked.
"Of course I do!" Sunburst laughed. "No pony doesn't remember the Six Pillars of Equestria, they were legendary ponies that protected this land in a similar fashion to the ponies who defeated Nightmare Moon. This vase describes the legend of Somnambula. Her village was suffering because of a Sphinx, who kept stealing the crops from the village for itself. Somnambula would sacrifice her belongings in order to afford food for the village, including a pearl necklace that she held dear. Then, one day, the prince of the village was kidnapped by the Sphinx."
"Kidnapped?" Starlight covered her mouth. "I don't like where this is going..."
"She went to rescue him, and the Sphinx gave her a riddle. It wasn't very happy when she answered correctly, and she thought it would go back on what it had said. She asked for another challenge, and the Sphinx obliged, even knowing it would be banished from the village forever if Somnambula succeeded. The sphinx made Somnambula walk across a thin bridge, blindfolded and unable to fly. She was guided by the voice of the Prince, and she reached the end of the path to save him. The sphinx fled, and the prince was freed, allowing the village to prosper. It's even said that he gave her a necklace made of glowpaz because she lost her pearl necklace during the famine. After she saved the prince, the village was named after her and a statue was built in her honor."
"Wow, that's incredible." Starlight's eyes sparkled as she listened to the story. "She sounded like she would've been an incredible pony to be around."
"I'm sure she was," Sunburst sighed. "She disappeared a long time ago, though. No pony really knows what happened to her, but they suspect it had something to do with the Pony of Shadows."
"There's another research topic for you," Starlight teased. "Since you love reading so much."
"Reading is fun!" Sunburst stomped his hoof with a pout. "And anyways, I'm not sure if this school has a history book that goes that far back. I'd just have to look around myself, I guess."
"I'm sure there is, and you can find it." Starlight nodded.
"I might as well get to looking," Sunburst said as he put the vase back into the stall, and closed the doors.
>> Starlight's friendship with Sunburst has deepened. <<
"I'll see you later Starlight," Sunburst said and waved to the mare.
"Yeah, see you later." Starlight waved back to him as he began walking down the path to the school. Now that he was gone, Starlight took notice of what time she supposed it was. The sun had just barely crossed the sky, she suspected it was at least 10. She still needed things to do to pass the time... She had one idea, but it involved talking to someone she didn't want to talk to. She sighed, and lifted her head.
"Philomena!" She called out for the bird. She waited patiently before the bird appeared in front of her in a small burst of flames.
"What do you want?" Philomena cocked her head to the side and blinked at Starlight.
"I want to ask about the second floor," Starlight said. "Since you can only tell the truth right now, I want you to tell me how we can get to the second floor."
"The second floor..." Philomena tapped her talon. "Oh right! Well, actually, I was supposed to open that after the first murder was completed. I can't believe I totally forgot!"
"You forgot to open the second floor for us to explore?!" Starlight wanted to be mad, but they didn't even know what was on the second floor... She couldn't be mad because she didn't know what Philomena was hiding from them. But, she wasn't happy about it either.
"Whoopsie..." Philomena laughed nervously and tapped some of her feathers together. "I will make an announcement about this right now!" She spread her wings and slammed them down hard, catapulting herself into the air and sending a blast of wind around the area. Starlight covered her face as the wind hit her and blew her hair around. She looked up, and Philomena had disappeared out of the sky. Then, she heard the speakers crackling to life.
"Everypony, listen up!" Philomena's voice squawked. "I've just remembered something very important that I forgot to explain, and you all can thank Starlight for reminding me." Gulp. "Please report to the main lobby immediately for more details!"
Starlight hoped no pony would think she had done something bad. The anxiety made her head hurt, and her legs shake as she began walking to the lobby. She swallowed hard and cleared her throat. She just hoped that there was nothing bad on the next floor. She'd regret asking Philomena if there was. When she emerged into the lobby, the ponies were divided into groups. She recognized the division; on the left side of the room stood the free ponies, and on the right side of the room stood the Student Survival Committee. She went to join the committee ponies for the announcement.
"What did Philomena mean when she said you reminded her of something?" Twilight asked in a whisper as Starlight approached.
"It's about the second floor," Starlight whispered back. "I think she's going to open it for us."
The ponies mumbles amongst themselves, and from the corner of her eye Starlight noticed how the other ponies were talking. She felt her anxiety speak as she noticed the looks they were giving her. She turned her eyes away, hoping that whatever was on the second floor would distract them from being mad at her. It wasn't her fault that Philomena forgot, and they shouldn't be mad at her for reminding her. They'll find out the details soon, Starlight thought. As she thought that, Philomena hopped up onto the stage once more and stared down at the crowd.
"Welcome back everypony!" The phoenix cawed. The bracelet on her talon made a bit of noise as she walked back and forth on the podium. "So, one of our students has reminded me of something very important that I forgot to mention. Every time a murder is committed and the class trial finishes that day, I will be opening up the next floor to the academy! This floor will be instantly mapped out on your Phoenix Pad when you first visit the floor! On the next floor, there are two more flights of stairs that are blocked off on either side of the academy, these stairs will open up when the next murder is committed! Have fun exploring everypony!"
Philomena flapped her wings and left the area. Every pony waited patiently for the bars to the second floor to open. Few ponies flinched as the sounds of many mechanisms sounded across the entire campus. One by one, the bars that locked the ways to the second floor by the stairs and at the stairs themselves disappeared into the ceiling. Starlight had no idea where those mechanisms went when they were gone, but she did know she was happy that they were gone. All at once, almost every pony in the room ran up the stairs, more than excited to explore the second floor. The first thing that everypony was met with at the top of the stairs was on the very opposite side, an obstacle course had been set up.
"YES!" Rainbow Dash shouted, more than ecstatic to see the obstacle course. She flapped her wings and raced to the course immediately, studying it carefully. Every pony watched quietly as she navigated the course, nothing but determination on her face. The course consisted of small sections; one was dedicated to running through the centers of tires, several rows of them in fact. The next afterwards had the pony running climb a rope to the ceiling, and drop down onto a trampoline in front of them. Afterwards, they'd be tasked with going through 4 hoops that were hanging from the ceiling. The last part of the course was a long set of monkey bars, which Rainbow Dash cleared using her wings. She reached the end of the course, barely out of breath.
"You cleared that so quickly I could barely keep up!" Pinkie giggled as she ran to the course herself. "My eyes are still spinning all wildly and you're standing still!"
"The course could toootally be more awesome, but at least it gives me a way to stretch my wings!" Rainbow Dash flexed her wings. "That last part was totes improv by the way."
"I gotta say I'm impressed myself," Twilight said as she walked over. "I've got no doubts that you'll have the most fun here."
"You guys go on ahead and explore." Rainbow Dash waved to the other ponies. "I'm gonna run the course a few times. My wings are literally killing for some exercise that isn't looping around the academy."
"Have fun Rainbow Dash!" Starlight waved to the pegasus before she found a location to check out herself. She went to the right side of the stairs, and remembered the map on her Phoenix Pad. She pulled out the pad and turned it on. She opened the map app, and scrolled to the second floor's layout.
She flinched seeing the fashion studio. She immediately remembered Rarity, and decided that for the other mare's sake, she would look into what the studio looked like. She walked down the hallway, and headed into the room. The room inside looked just like a boutique from Canterlot. Mannequins were scattered everywhere, and there were two shelves with thread and fabric stacked on them. There was a chest in the corner of the room, and when Starlight opened it, hundreds of differently coloured gems were inside. Knowing how the mare was, Rarity would have had a field day in here. Starlight wished that Rarity hadn't been so stupid as to kill another pony; she could only imagine the kind of outfits she could create in here.
"Was this place designed for Rarity?" Twilight asked as she walked in the room with Feather Bangs and Sunburst.
"It looks like it," Starlight replied. She walked to the door to meet the other ponies.
"The map calls this room a Fashion Studio," Sunburst said as he looked at his own map. "It must have been designed exclusively for Rarity, as the Ultimate Fashionista."
"I really feel bad for her now." Feather Bangs scratched his back with his hoof. "If she hadn't killed Party Favor, imagine what she could've done in here."
"It's too late to dwell on the past now," Twilight said, though it was obvious that she was sad too. "All that we can do is keep exploring. Maybe this floor has some clues as to who is running this place."
"I'm not buying that Philomena 'forgot' about this floor either," Sunburst said. "She could have very well been lying because she wanted to keep us from coming up here."
"Normally I would agree with you," Starlight said. "But during the meeting and when I was talking to her, the bracelet didn't buzz. She really did just forget about this place until I reminded her."
"Dammit," Feather Bangs hissed. "I thought we had a good theory going too."
"It's alright," Twilight assured the stallion. "We can't be right all the time, that's just not how the world works. Let's keep exploring in the mean time."
"I'd like to look around this room a little more," Sunburst said. "You never know where some clues could be, and at the very least I'd like to get an insight as to who Rarity was, outside of being the pony that killed Party Favor."
"Smart idea, Sunny," Feather Bangs said. "I'll stick with him, you two can go on ahead."
"Alright." Twilight nodded her head. "You can come find us if you find something interesting. We'll be off."
Starlight silently walked off with Twilight out of the room, leaving Feather Bangs and Sunburst to search on their own. They each pulled out their Phoenix Pads, wondering where they should go next.
"It says that there's a library here," Starlight pointed out to Twilight. "It should be right across the hall."
"There has to be something important in there," Twilight said before she put her Phoenix Pad away and began walking to the room. "If nothing else, there might be some books that can keep our attention as long as we're in here."
"It would give us something to do," Starlight hummed. "I know I was really bored today, so I'm happy that we got to come up here. Everypony already seems to be doing their own things."
"This floor is appealing to a few ponies so far," Twilight said before she opened the door to the library. She walked inside and her eyes sparkled. "Wow."
"This library is pretty big," Starlight said when she got inside. "With how long it is, I didn't expect the size, but there are a lot of shelves."
"That just means there's a lot of books!" Twilight clapped her hooves in excitement. "This place is like a study pony paradise!"
"Twilight." Starlight put her hoof on the alicorn's back. "You're getting distracted."
"Ah- right, sorry." Twilight shook her head and lightly hit herself on the forehead. "I need to be more focused on the investigation. Let me see how these books are organized, and maybe that can give us some clues as to what section we should look at?"
"That sounds like a good idea." Starlight nodded. "I'm... not much of a reading pony, so I'll just look around the room a little. I wouldn't want to be the pony looking through bookshelves that stretch up to the ceiling anyways."
"You're lucky I'm here then," Twilight laughed. "Back home, my favourite thing to do was reorganizes the shelves at my home. My home was basically a personal library, so I was always making excuses to re-arrange things. It wasn't hard because I knew every book in the library by colour, author, the first and last letters, the length, the size, the cover design--"
"Okay, I get it, you like books," Starlight cut the princess off. "Twilight, please focus."
"I'm sorry." Twilight scratched her head. "It's a habit. I'll get to work now."
Twilight spread her wings, and flew up to the top of the nearest shelf. She tapped each of the books in the row as she both counted them and looked at what genre they were. Starlight, in the meantime, took in what the room looked like. She couldn't count how many shelves there were, but they filled up both sides of the room. The space in front of the door was empty, only containing two tables that each had 8 chairs, most likely for the 16 ponies currently trapped. Each table had a vase with a red rose in the middle, though the one closest to the door was beginning to wilt. There was also a ladder attached to each of the bookshelves that could be moved thanks to a pair of wheels at the bottom. Starlight remembered these ladders being called rolling ladders, which made a lot of sense; you needed some way to move them easily even when you were at the top.
She realized she was getting sidetracked and shook her head, focusing on the room again while Twilight was busy. There were windows to the outside between each of the bookshelves, the only source of light in the room. There were what looked like electronic candles by the door, but they were turned off because it was day time. Well, that's what Starlight thought at least. She couldn't confirm it herself until it actually became night, and she really did not want to be out at night time. After what happened to Party Favor, she'd hate to make herself a target for any pony willing to use Philomena's motive...
She began to walk around the library to search deeper into what was around. She looked underneath the tables, and found nothing interesting. She decided to check some of the shelves herself, and peeked through some of the books. She hoped that she would find something hidden in the shelves, like some sort of note, but found nothing of the sort. She figured it wouldn't be that easy, why would they make it obvious? She looked around the parts of the room she couldn't view when she stood at the door. In both corners of the room, in the empty space beside the shelves, there were two trashcans. Just like the ones in the bathroom before, they were empty.
"I sorted out the books, Starlight," Twilight finally said. She fluttered back to the ground beside Starlight. "Every shelf is organized by genre. There's 16 shelves in this room, each with a different book genre. There's history, drama, mystery, romance... the list goes on and on. The history books are the first shelf on the left of the door. That might be where we need to look to find something."
"Did you find any books that could give us some obvious clues?" Starlight asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Twilight said with a shake of the head. "We'd have to read through the books ourselves. I know you're not a reading pony, so if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to stay here and read through the books myself while you explore the rest of this floor."
"If you'd really like to do that, I'm not stopping you." Starlight looked at her Phoenix Pad again. "Besides, I'm a bit curious to check out this greenhouse on the map."
"Go on." Twilight waved her hoof, and lifted herself into the air again. "If I find anything potentially useful, I'll come straight out and find you."
Starlight waved goodbye to the mare as she flew back to the top of the shelf, grabbed a book, and started reading. Starlight looked down at her Phoenix Pad again before she exited the room, and began making her way down to the other side of the building. As she had said, her first stop was the greenhouse. When she went into the room, she found that Fluttershy and Applejack were both already inside. She wasn't surprised considering their talents.
She chose to look around first before speaking to them; this part of the academy had a full wall made of glass that rounded out at the corners. It was split up into sections, but otherwise it was entirely one pane. Dimming sunlight shined through onto each and every plant inside the greenhouse. The room was split into two long sections at the middle, and the walls on the left and right sides of the room were covered with trellises. The left trellis was growing grapes, while the right trellis was growing tomatoes. The two sections in the middle of the room had a wide variety of plants ranging from potatoes, carrots, cabbage, celery, onions, and even eggplants. There were other things growing, but Starlight couldn't tell what they were because they weren't full grown.
"O-oh, hi Starlight," Fluttershy said when she noticed her. She walked over with the softest smile on her face. "I-isn't this place wonderful? The a-air is so fresh."
"It does smell really nice in here," Starlight had to admit that was true. "I never realized how stuffy it was in this place until I walked in here. Even the outside doesn't smell as nice as in here."
"Ah got a feelin' that magic dome has somethin' to do with it," Applejack said. She walked over to the ponies to join in on the conversation. "Blockin' out fresh air and what not, and these here plants are makin' it all free for us! Ah'm bettin' these plants are the only reason we still air in here at all."
"Honestly, that wouldn't be a bad assessment." Starlight nodded in agreement. "If the barrier is blocking out air like you said, then this place being the only source of air makes a lot of sense."
"H-how awful," Fluttershy mumbled. "A-and with the door being shut most of the time... m-maybe we should leave it open when we l-leave? W-would that make m-more fresh air come into the a-academy?"
"Prolly." Applejack shrugged her shoulders. "It's worth a shot, Ah'd say."
"I'll leave you guys to it. I don't think there's very much for me to look at in here, so I'll leave you guys alone." Starlight turned to the door. "I'm gonna check out the theatre."
"Have fun! We'll be here." Starlight heard Applejack say while walking away, and assumed Fluttershy walked away in silence because she didn't speak up. She walked out of the greenhouse, and put her Phoenix Pad away. She didn't need it because she already knew what this last room had in store. She pushed open the door to the theatre and walked inside. In the center of the room in front of the door, there was a stage in the shape of a hemisphere, and curtains on either side. Based on the size of the room, Starlight could only assume that the curtains covered up what little 'backstage' room there was. There were two rows of chairs in front of the stage. She counted them, and just like with the library, there were 16 chairs for all 16 students.
"Ooh, a theatre!" Starlight jumped out of her skin when Trixie's voice sounded behind her. She quickly moved out of the way as Trixie walked in the room. "Finally, a home for the Great and Powerful Trixie! Trixie can now perform a multitude of shows here!"
"Well, somepony sounds excited," Starlight said when she finally stilled her pounding heart.
"Of course!" Trixie held her head high and laughed. "Trixie has been aching to do something more than laze around and drag on boring conversations. Now, Trixie is free to perform her very own magic shows to enlighten these hopeless ponies, and bring inspiration to the academy!"
"Sounds like fun to me!" Starlight jumped again as Cheese Sandwich entered the room. She didn't even hear him use the door. "I'd love to perform some of my own comedy acts here. I hope they have some props that we can use!"
"S-something tells me Feather Bangs would love this place too," Starlight said, taking deep breaths to calm down for the second time today. "He's the Ultimate Singer, afterall. I think he'd get the most enjoyment out of this place. He'd want to sing for us all just to prove his talent."
"Trixie would not be surprised," The mare huffed. "He seems like quite the overconfident fellow. Trixie is 100% certain that he would only wish to sing so that he could show off."
"And you wouldn't want to perform magic shows just so you could show off, Miss Ultimate Magician?" Cheese teased the pony with a nudge in the side.
"...That is different!" Trixie pouted and trotted towards the stage. "Trixie is not showing off! She is inspiring ponies with her shows, showing that anything is possible!"
"Uh-huh." Starlight rolled her eyes, but she did have a smile on her face. "Keep telling yourself that."
"Starlight, let's go check out what's on the backstage," Cheese said down to her. "Who knows what kind of fun fantastical things they might have back there?!"
"C-calm down, let's go see." Starlight patted the stallion on the back before she trotted to the stage, with Cheese bouncing happily behind her. She climbed up on the stage, and went behind the curtains. On either side of the curtains, it seemed like there were props and boxes full of things such as balloons and sparklers.
"Oooh, fancy!" Cheese pulled a top hat out of one of the boxes and put it on. "I'd say that this looks good on me!"
"Haha, it kinda does," Starlight laughed. "Hey, this box is full of a bunch of different shaped balloons."
"Oh, man..." Cheese walked over and pulled out some of the balloons. "Party Favor would've loved these. But, I think Pinkie and I could make them work! After all, what's a party if you don't have balloons?"
"Do you know how to make shapes with balloons too?" Starlight asked with a tilt of the head.
"Of course!" Cheese pulled out one of the longer balloons and blew it up. In a few quick moments, he had tied the balloon up into the relative shape of a giraffe. "Balloon shapes are the easiest thing to make! It's all about hoof control, and not applying too much pressure. Anypony can learn how to do it in just a few months!"
"In a few months?" Starlight was baffled. "That's the shortest time I've ever heard for anypony to learn a skill. It's taken me years to do anything, and I still don't even have a talent."
"Some ponies can learn late," Cheese reassured her. "It's just like earning a cutie mark, hell, some of my best friends were blank flanks! I ended up getting my cutie mark first when I was a colt, and my friends had to be adults before they figured out what they wanted to do!"
"That's crazy," Starlight hummed as she started looking through the boxes again.
"Huzzah!" Trixie called from the other side of the room. "Trixie has discovered the most wonderful thing for her shows!"
"Let's go see what it is." Cheese nudged Starlight before walking over to where Trixie was. Starlight followed silently after him. Trixie noticed their approach, and pulled herself out of the box she had been searching in.
"Behold, pony friends!" She exclaimed as she pulled something out of the box. It was a purple cloak and hat, each littered with yellow and blue stars. "This uniform looks just like the one Trixie uses in her shows on the outside! Isn't it wonderful?"
"Wow, it's so sparkly!" Cheese's eyes seemed to turn to stars seeing the pattern. He squished his face with his hooves in excitement.
"Trixie is aware!" The mare laughed as she donned the uniform. Starlight had to admit she looked almost better with it on.
"It suits you," Starlight said finally. "You really look like a true magician when you're wearing that."
"Good!" Trixie flipped her hair and adjusted the hat so the hat faced the right direction. "Now Trixie can truly shine and bring hope to her fellow ponies!"
"We should plan a show for everypony!" Cheese bounced in place. "We can have a comedy act with Pinkie and I, Trixie can do a magic act, and Feather Bangs can sing some music!"
"That sounds like a most wondrous idea!" Trixie clapped her hooves. "Trixie will inform the other ponies you have mentioned, but first she would like to explore more of the props on this stage in order to prepare."
"That's a good idea," Cheese nodded his head. "I wanna know what's here too. I specialize in gags and jokes, so I want to make sure that there are things in here that I can use."
"I'll leave you both to it," Starlight said. "I don't have much room to participate... you guys are the showstoppers after all. I'm going to head out and continue looking around where I can."
"Good luck, Starlight Glimmer," Trixie said with a wave of the hoof.
"We'll be here if you need us!" Cheese smiled at her.
"I'll keep it in mind!" Starlight turned and walked out from behind the curtains. She jumped off the stage and headed to the door, making her way into the hall.
"There you are, Starlight!" Twilight said from down the hall. She ran to the theatre door to meet with the other mare.
"Oh, hi Twilight." Starlight seemed confused. "Did you find anything?"
"I found one thing." Twilight lifted the book on her back with her magic and showed it to Starlight. "This is supposed to be a yearbook of all the classes that have ever gone to this school. The book is in better condition than all the other books in the history section of the library, so it has to be recent. It's very thin too, but that's to be expected of new editions."
"A yearbook..." Starlight tapped her chin with her hoof. "So that means that other ponies really did go to this school?"
"Philomena was telling the truth, but look at this, Starlight." Twilight opened the book and showed Starlight two pages that had yearbook photos. "There are 16 ponies on both of these pages, but they're registered as being from the same class. There are supposed to be 32 ponies in one class, but there are only 16 of us here."
"What happened to the other 16?" Starlight wondered.
"I don't know, but things get even weirder when you look at the later classes." Twilight flipped through the pages and stopped at the most recent class. She showed the class to Starlight, and Starlight gasped at the contents. In the pictures for the most recent yearbook photos, Twilight was among the ponies there. Pinkie and Sunburst were there as well. A few other ponies were among the class, including one that Starlight had only heard of because of an announcement Celestia had made; Sunset Shimmer.
"W-what does this mean?" Starlight felt her heart lurch.
"I know what it means," Twilight said as she made the book vanish into thin air. "This school was created by none other than Princess Celestia herself."
"T-that's insane!" Starlight objected, stomping her hoof on the ground and letting her ears fall flat. "Princess Celestia would never put us in this mess! She's a kind, gracious ruler; actually, in fact, she's a pony just like us if those newspaper stories were real! Why would she do this to us?"
"I don't know..." Twilight glanced around, letting her frustration and determination shine on her face. "Though, I have an idea who we can ask. But if I'm going to be exposing her for this, I want everypony to know the truth too. We need to gather the rest of us together at the stage somehow."
"I have an idea," Starlight said with a grin. "Just follow my lead."
The next morning, Twilight and Starlight already had their plan set in motion. Before the day was out, they had convinced Philomena to call a meeting in the morning because they had something important to share. Philomena hadn't been paying attention; if she had known what they were planning, she would've done something to stop them. When Starlight woke up to the morning announcement, and Philomena calling everypony to the main lobby, she was glad that she still had her memories of yesterday. She felt energized as she woke up, and stretched her back, letting her joints pop as she prepared herself. She knew Twilight would be ready too.
When she came out into the hall and saw other ponies leaving their dorms, she was surprised that Twilight hadn't woken up early for once. Twilight looked at her with a tired smile, and nodded before beginning to rub sleep out of her eyes. Starlight yawned, and began walking down the hall with the other ponies, and Twilight at her side. As they walked, Twilight used her magic and brought back the yearbook she had found. She held it in her hoof close to her chest, prepared for what was to come of this event. As every pony joined in together in the lobby, Philomena appeared on the podium with a smile on her beak as always.
"Welcome everypony!" She cawed. "I was told yesterday to call a meeting today. It appears that some of your fellow ponies have a very important announcement to make! And I couldn't say no anyways. Starlight, Twilight, come make your announcement!"
The phoenix leapt down from her place, and Starlight took a breath. Twilight fluttered her wings beside the mare, before she flew herself onto the stage. Starlight joined her, trying to keep her head high and her expression neutral. It was difficult to hold it together, but she was just as determined as Twilight had been yesterday. Twilight chose to step forward first to give Starlight time to fully calm herself.
"As we all know, the second floor opened yesterday," Twilight began. "There were 5 new spaces for us to explore, including an obstacle course, library, fashion studio, a theatre, and a greenhouse. Starlight and I spent a little time exploring the library yesterday, but I found something very important that we thought was important enough to show the entire group. And that even includes Philomena."
"Me?" Philomena squawked. "Now why would little ol' me be involved?"
"It's because..." Starlight stepped forward, preparing herself for the dramatic effect moment. "In this yearbook, there is one thing in common with the ponies here. I only know few of the ponies in the book, but I know their stories, and the simple fact is that some of the ponies in this book are students of Celestia, more focus being on the unicorns of course."
"I'm in this book," Twilight stated bluntly. She opened the yearbook and flipped to the page. "As well as Pinkie, Sunburst, and a mare that I used to know named Sunset Shimmer, all of them are in this book. The unicorns have all been Celestia's prodigy, her pupil."
The crowd gasped when she turned the book around to showcase the images of the ponies. She wasn't lying, and they were all shocked. Looks were cast to Sunburst and Pinkie in particular in the crowd, and murmurs were spread about.
"Twilight and I have come to a conclusion from this book," Starlight continued. "This school is run by Princess Celestia, just like the School for Gifted Unicorns. This school follows the same principle, but with more than just unicorns, or ponies who can harness enough magic to draw even her attention."
"And Philomena is Celestia's pet," Twilight said as she turned to the phoenix. "So we want answers from you."
"We wanted to call this meeting to address this," Starlight said as she approached the bird. "We know that Princess Celestia put you up to this, and we want to know why! Why did she put us in this mess? Why are we being forced to kill eachother? How did we even get here?!"
"Ah ah ah, because of the motive I can't answer that last question!" Philomena giggled.
"Whatever!" Starlight stomped her hoof, regretting raising her voice momentarily. "Just answer us. Why are we here?"
"I'm not allowed to divulge such important information," Philomena snickered. "But, you were right. This is one of Celestia's schools. As for why you have to kill eachother, she'd kill me if I exposed that info. Maybe not literally, but you know what I mean! I won't deny the things that you've said, but I'm not allowed to answer that information. I would rather not risk my own safety because a few pesky ponies are pushy."
The ponies waited in silence for Philomena's bracelet to buzz. She shook her talon teasingly when it did not, and laughed. Twilight and Starlight felt their ears pin to the sides of their heads, and their hopes died just a little more. They found some of the truth they were looking for, but it wasn't enough. They still had no way to get out of here. What was the point of exposing the idea that Celestia manufactured the killing game?
"Well!" Philomena huffed as she calmed down. She flapped her wings and flew up into the air. "If you ponies are done wasting my time, I'll be off to hide away until a murder is committed. Feel lucky, you two! You might've just given a pony a reason to commit a murder!"
Philomena cackled as she disappeared up the staircase in the second floor, leaving the ponies behind. Starlight felt her stomach twisting, and Twilight had a look of despair on her face. She looked back at the crowd, hearing their murmuring, and it didn't help her case at all. Starlight wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what. She was just as broken-hearted as Twilight was. Their plan worked as they had wanted it to, but it still didn't give them the results they needed. Worst of all, their information gaining was entirely pointless; they knew Celestia ran the school, but they couldn't even get Philomena to talk. They were no closer to solving anything.
"Starlight?" She was drawn out of her thoughts as she heard Sunburst's voice, and felt him gently nudge her.
"W-what?" She was still in shock, but it could've been worse. She tried to return back to normal to hide her despair.
"I-I know it may seem like a bad thing," Sunburst began. "B-but, this information isn't exactly a bad thing. We can't use it now, but we've surely got an opportunity in the future! You never know when you're going to use information, that's why it's always so good to have it!"
"Trixie doesn't think it was that useful," The unicorn said bluntly. "But, she has to agree with Sunburst. This has helped us for future endeavors!"
"Plus, it made our morning exciting!" Pinkie snickered. "What a revelation to learn at 8 in the morning!"
"It's definitely something to wake up to, isn't it?" Feather Bangs laughed.
"Well, since it's over now, how's about we all head back and get some food in us?" Applejack spoke up. "We can talk about what we're thinkin' this info is gonna help us out with while we're eatin'."
"Yeah, why not?" Cheese clapped his hooves together. "It gives us something to talk about, at the very least. I've heard that if you talk while you eat, your body just kinda makes you eat more."
"Well if that's the case, then it sounds like you and Pinkie are going to be cooking a lot," Double Diamond snorted.
"I know my stomach is prepared for that!" Rainbow Dash patted her stomach and laughed.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Shining Armor spoke above the crowd. "Let's get going!"
The crowd cheered as it trotted outside. The voices of ponies temporarily filled the lobby before all the ponies left, leaving Starlight and Twilight on the stage to themselves.
"Every pony is in such high spirits," Twilight said. "Even though our plan went horribly wrong... every pony still has hope."
"That's what we want, isn't it?" Starlight tilted her head and smiled at the alicorn. "We want to bring hope to these ponies so we have less chance of killing eachother, and more opportunities to get out of here. Sunburst is right, I think. At the very least, we know who to blame when things go wrong."
"It still feels a bit strange though." Twilight scratched her head as she made the yearbook disappear. "Why would Celestia do something like this? I've been ruling alongside her and Luna for years. Does Luna even know what she's done?"
"If Celestia is doing this, maybe Luna helped her." Starlight shrugged.
"But that doesn't make any sense..." Twilight's head hung. Of all the ponies, her spirit was the lowest. "I'm more shocked with the fact that she didn't contact me or Cadance to help 'orchestrate' her event. We're all princesses, so it only makes sense."
"Maybe it's just because you were her student," Starlight mused. "Luna and Cadance are her family, and Luna is her sister. Luna would be the second closest pony to work on this with her, just because they're so close. Maybe Cadance wasn't contacted because she doesn't rule over Canterlot like they do."
"I guess so," Twilight sighed, finally accepting the truth and lifting her head again. "Well, we should go join everypony else. This would be the perfect opportunity to catch up with the Student Survival Committee."
"It would," Starlight said with a nod. "And today, I might actually get a bigger meal for breakfast."
"I think I'm going to skip out on breakfast," Twilight laughed nervously as she walked down the steps of the stage. "I'll just make myself a nutrition smoothie like before. You can indulge a little."
"Are you sure Twilight?" Starlight kept up the conversation as they walked out of the lobby.
"I'll be fine," Twilight assured her. "I just don't think my stomach can fully handle what just happened yet. I'd rather not take the risk of making myself sick."
"Yeah, I get that..." Starlight sighed. "You can still come sit with us once you make your smoothie. It might help your throat if it gets sore when we're talking."
"Yep." Twilight fell quiet was they approached Restaurant Row. Starlight went straight to the feast table, and sat down beside Feather Bangs and Shining Armor. The rest of the committee sat at the table around them, picking up conversation immediately. Starlight looked back, and watched Twilight walk into the smoothie store. She waited until the door closed before she turned back to the group, and finally put herself back into the conversation again. The breakfast went much more smoothly, and the table was buzzing with conversation. All in all, Starlight didn't feel absolutely horrible about their lack of information gaining from that meeting. Once she got her food, she knew her stomach could handle it, and she had her plate gone even before Twilight came back to join in on the conversation.
Once breakfast was over, every pony went their separate ways. Cheese and Pinkie stayed behind to clean up the mess of the table, and every other pony disappeared wherever they wanted to go. Starlight was left wondering only one thing when the ponies dispersed... who could she hangout with today?
Starlight mentally ran through all of the potential ponies that she could talk to today. She had already spent time with Sunburst, so she wanted to get to know the rest of her class as well. She and Twilight had been hanging out since yesterday, so she could very well cross her off the list. She hadn't spoken to Fluttershy since they got there... She decided it would be time to hang out with a new pony, and she knew who to pick. She explored through the school, looking for the pony in question. Eventually she came across them in the garden, and she wasn't afraid of approaching.
>> FLUTTERSHY FREE TIME EVENT 1: START! <<
Fluttershy sighed after Starlight had approached. She seemed as though she was down about something. Starlight didn't like the sad and still fearful look on Fluttershy's face.
"Are you okay?" She asked, bringing the pegasus out of her thoughts.
"O-oh, hi Starlight." Fluttershy waved her hoof when she noticed Starlight. "I-I've just been thinking about a few things..."
"Do you want to talk?" Starlight sat down beside her.
"O-only if you'd like to listen," Fluttershy said with a sweet smile. "I-I wouldn't want to u-upset you with my venting."
"It's no problem." Starlight shook her head and smiled back. "If you've got something to say, you shouldn't feel bad about saying it. It's not good to hold back bad thoughts, regardless of how silly you think they are."
"Y-you're right..." Fluttershy cleared her throat and scratched her head. She took a deep breath before she began talking again. "B-back home in my cottage, I-I've got a pet bunny. I-I've got a whole sanctuary of animals t-that I take care of for the vet i-in PonyVille too. I-I've been in here the whole time w-wondering if they're doing okay... I-I hope that the vet pony has b-been helping take care of them."
"You can't be the only pony they rely on," Starlight mused. She brought her hoof to her chin. "I'm sure other ponies are helping out because they know how much you care for animals. You're the Ultimate Animal Caretaker, it just wouldn't feel right leaving those animals to fend for themselves when your talent has been based around helping them."
"Mhm." Fluttershy nodded as Starlight spoke. "I-I have faith in my friends that they're taking care o-of them all. I-I'm just worried about my bunny, Angel. H-he's always been a bit... o-obnoxious. N-no, that's too mean... stubborn? I-I guess? H-he's always trying to get in my w-way, even when I'm busy. I-I don't know if any p-pony but me could d-deal with him."
"He's just a little bunny, how bad could things possibly get?" Starlight chuckled as she tried to think about the question.
"V-very bad," Fluttershy said to bring Starlight out of her thoughts. "I-I had to go a whole week just keeping him out of trouble. I-it's a miracle none of the s-snakes and wolves a-at the sanctuary tried to e-eat him. O-oh, but I think one t-tried..."
"Well, good thing he didn't get eaten," Starlight laughed nervously. She'd hate to think that in the time Fluttershy has been trapped in this academy, that he's actually gotten himself eaten.
"I-I'm worried that he has been," Fluttershy said, agreeing with Starlight's inner thoughts. "That's why I-I want to leave this place. I have so many c-creatures and critters that I'm taking care of, t-the other ponies don't fully know what they're d-doing. If Angel starts causing trouble t-that'll make matters worse too. They don't know h-how to treat him like I do."
"I think you need to have more faith in them." Starlight tapped her hooves on the ground. "If you spend all your time worrying, you're only going to make yourself panick. If you start panicking, then you'll end up only thinking about horrible things and you won't be able to sleep. Even worse, you might get out of here and have spent the entire time worrying about itty bitty things, only to find that nothing was wrong. You need to try and think positively, Fluttershy, or else you're going to needlessly hurt yourself."
"O-oh..." Fluttershy cupped one of her cheeks in her hoof, feeling blush creep onto her face. "I-I feel so silly..."
"It's alright." Starlight patted Fluttershy's back gently. "You're just trying to think about what's best. There's nothing wrong with being careful, but there's such a thing as being too careful, get it?"
"I-I understand." Fluttershy returned the smile to her face. "M-my heart's still beating fast, but I-I think I'll be okay. I-I just have to believe everything will b-be okay."
"That's the spirit," Starlight said with a smile.
"Yeah... I'll be okay. I can keep it together," Fluttershy said. For the first time since Starlight had known her, Fluttershy spoke without a stutter. For some reason, it made her feel proud, as though Fluttershy had come a long way.
>> Starlight's friendship with Fluttershy has deepened. <<
"I'm going to head off." Starlight brought herself to her hooves and stretched her back.
"I-I'll see you later." Fluttershy waved at Starlight. "A-and thank you."
"Don't mention it." Starlight patted Fluttershy's back before she walked away. The conversation was pretty short, but Starlight felt like she had learned a lot about Fluttershy, and she was able to help her. She was still bored, however. There didn't seem like very much that she could do. She thought hard about more ponies that she could meet with, but remembered that she hadn't fully explored the library or even read any books. The thought of the library made her uncomfortable because of her embarrassing herself with Twilight, but she tried to let it slip by as she headed inside.
She climbed the stairs, and walked down the hall into the library. She noticed Twilight, Doctor Whooves, Prince Blueblood, and Sunburst all sitting at a table, silently reading. Twilight lifted her head and waved a silent 'hello' to Starlight. She waved back and smiled before she went through and checked the genres of each of the shelves. She remembered when she had talked to Rainbow Dash on the first day, right after they found the dorms. She recalled that Rainbow Dash had wanted her to read the 'Daring Do' book series. She found an adventure book section of the library, and sure enough she found the books Rainbow Dash was so obsessed with.
She grabbed the first book in the series, 'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone.' Starlight already felt skeptical; the book title was a bit long for her. She kept the book with her anyways, heading over to the table the other ponies were sitting at. She sat down with Twilight, and opened up the book. For most of the day, her time was well spent reading the entire book. By the time she had gotten to the last chapter, it was dark outside. She hadn't even realized when the other ponies left the table, leaving her all by herself. Did they try and talk to her before she was done?
She shrugged, finishing reading the last chapter as she walked to the shelf of the adventure books she had picked it out from. She finished the chapter, shut the book, and slid it back into place on the shelf. She found that she had really liked the book, and she knew Rainbow Dash would be happy about that. She stepped out of the library, and looked around the hallway. She noticed on the opposite side of the hall, the door to the greenhouse was opened. She suspected that Applejack and Fluttershy were serious about leaving it open to spread more fresh air throughout the academy. Starlight didn't think it was a bad idea, after all the academy was mostly locked up at night.
She stopped to take a breath of the air from the greenhouse at the staircase. It filled her with a sense of calmness and peace, and it would help her get to sleep. She walked down the stairs, and she heard the sounds of hoofsteps. She looked, and noticed Sunburst coming from the other side of the stairs.
"Starlight? You're still awake?" Sunburst asked as she reached the bottom.
"Yeah..?" Starlight tilted her head. "Is that a surprise?"
"It is, actually," he said as he approached her. "We all left the library because the nighttime announcement was called. Didn't you hear it?"
"What?!" Starlight's ears drooped back and she pulled out her Phoenix Pad. Did it have a clock?
"I-I saw that you were really into your book, so I didn't disturb you, but seeing you awake at this time..." Starlight paused when she did find a clock on the Phoenix Pad. According to it, it was 12:37 in the morning.
"Why didn't you come get me?!" Starlight whispered yelled at the stallion so she wouldn't draw any attention. "If I had known it would take me that long to read the book, I would've saved the rest of it for tomorrow!"
"I didn't think you were still awake!" Sunburst countered, his voice still gentle somehow. "B-but let's not fight, you need to go to bed. No pony is going to be mad if you sleep in a little bit longer than usual, I can promise you that. A-and if you sleep in too late, I'll try to wake you. Does that sound fair?"
"Sounds fair to me..." Starlight sighed as she put her Phoenix Pad away. "But why are you awake, Sunburst?"
"O-oh, well..." Sunburst coughed into his hoof, blush coming to his face. He began walking down the hallway. "J-just going to the bathroom, no big deal. Anyways goodnight Starlight!"
Starlight could understand his embarrassment, but after what happened with Rarity... she didn't like that excuse. She glanced back in the direction he came, silently hoping not to see a blood trail. Luckily, she didn't, but she couldn't rule out anything. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to investigate on her own. She had to get to bed before some ponies thought that she was suspicious. She ran back down the hall to her dorm, scanned herself inside, and sighed happily as she flopped onto her bed. She was still upset that she had stayed up so late, but she supposed that it would be fine. She curled up underneath the blankets, and let her eyes close.
The silence enveloped her mind and her head fell empty of thoughts. She wasn't exactly sure when she fell asleep, but she did know that it didn't take her very long. When she opened her eyes, Philomena's voice was calling over the speakers saying the morning announcement. She yawned, and stretched out in bed. She hadn't slept as long as she wanted, but she didn't feel horrible from losing a few hours. In all honestly, it wasn't even that much; at least she could function. She got up and stretched her body, beginning to rub sleep from her eyes. She came out with a few other ponies into the hallway, each trying to wake up properly. None of them were morning ponies, and it showed.
Minimal conversation broke out in the hallway between the ponies as they began walking out to the feast table. As they approached, the conversations seemed to pick up a little bit more. The tiredness was beginning to fade as the ponies came to the table. Starlight appreciated the noise, but she was already feeling her head hurt because she had gotten less sleep than she was used to these last few days. She hoped that the pain would pass quickly. She sat down at the table, and heard the conversations die out slowly as ponies began to eat the things that had been prepared already.
Starlight looked around the table, not really sure of what to say. For the first time in a few days, she just didn't feel like talking. She sighed, deciding to grab some of the premade food herself that she could eat. Some hay bacon and pancakes had been made, so she filled up a plate of them. She didn't grab much, just feeling like she wouldn't be able to eat a lot. She began eating, and let herself be enveloped in her thoughts. For the most part, the voices around her became muffled and she felt like the only pony at the table. Today was a weird day for her.
As she ate, she was still aware of her surroundings however. Pinkie would come out of the kitchen on her own every so often to hand out food, and her tail would be twitching like crazy. Strange... She glanced at the ponies at the table, letting her thoughts drift into other territories. One thing she realized was that not everypony was awake today. She could only count a few empty spaces at the table, but still; ponies weren't here. Starlight didn't like the implications of that.
The breakfast was, overall, uneventful for Starlight. She sat and relaxed at the table as other ponies began wandering around. She spotted Sunburst talking with Feather Bangs and Trixie near the smoothie shop. Twilight and Pinkie were talking in front of the restaurant, and neither pony seemed happy. Other ponies were scattered in large groups or pairs, but Starlight was on her own. She supposed she enjoyed the loneliness today. Well, she didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't the end of the world when she was left alone for a bit of time. As the other ponies began to disperse, she sighed, feeling her heart steadily beating in her chest...
...And then suddenly, her heart rate skyrocketed. She heard blood pounding in her ears as she whipped her head around, looking at one of the speaker poles. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she felt her legs shaking as Philomena's voice crackled over the speakers.
Starlight's world roared with the sound of pony hooves colliding with the stone path as they all galloped down it. They had only barely heard Philomena's announcement, only catching wind of the fact that the pony was in the market plaza. The rest of the announcement was drowned out by their hoofsteps. Among the crowd, Starlight noticed once more that some were missing, including some that had been at the table. She was silently hoping that none of them had died when they left. When they arrived on the scene, Starlight had to push her way through to the front of the crowd, past the shocked ponies. When she saw the scene, her eyes too widened, and mouth dropped. The pony that had died...
...was Cheese Sandwich, the Ultimate Party Planner.
"H-how?!" Starlight heard herself yell before she realized she even opened her mouth. "How did this happen?!"
"H-he was just here this morning..." Twilight mumbled in the crowd behind her. "H-how could this have happened?"
Starlight looked around the group of ponies, hearing their confused murmurs and the terrified whimpers from very few. Starlight's eyes caught onto one pony who seemed the worst affected; Pinkie. She looked almost as stiff as a statue, with tears dribbling down her face. Her ears were pinned to the sides of her head, and her mouth was just barely open; her teeth were barely a centimeter apart. Her mouth suddenly shut, as she lifted her head and let the tears flow more than before. She stepped forth, going by the body, and sitting down near the stallion's head. Her eyes screwed shut, and it seemed like every pony fell silent seeing how she moved.
She took a shaky breath, her eyes screwing shut before she let out a wail that wanted to echo through the entire school. Her frizzy hair collapsed and hung limply around her body like a wet towel. She let the tears flow and sobs wrack her body as her hair surrounded her. Starlight had never seen Pinkie so distraught, and it broke her heart to see her like this. She could truly feel the pony's despair, and when the mare opened her eyes, Starlight could see pure terror in her eyes.
"P-Pinkie-" Starlight lifted her hoof and took a step forward.
"Don't," Pinkie snapped at her, flinching away from her touch. "D-don't you dare touch me."
"Pinkie?" Starlight blinked, shocked.
The mare glared back at her, her entire body shaking. She went silent again, staring down at the Stallion's body. Starlight knew that they had to investigate the scene, regardless of how Pinkie was feeling right now. But...
"Pinkie." Twilight stepped forward. "I-I know this... this is really hard to take in right now, but if you don't let us look at the scene ourselves, we're not going to find out who did this. If we want to be able to avenge Cheese, then we need to know what happened."
Pinkie was still tense, but with Twilight's words, she seemed as though she had begun to calm. Gentle sobs still coursed through her body, wave by wave, and tears continued to flow. Her sobs faded into white noise in the background. She sniffled, rubbing her eyes to clear away the tears. She looked at Twilight, and one could easily tell how sore her eyes were.
"I-I'm scared Twilight," Pinkie said. Her voice was raspy already. "S-so far the only ponies that have d-died have been party ponies, like me. W-what if I'm next? What if t-these targets are i-intentional? I-is the pony running this place... is Celestia a-against us?"
"We shouldn't be thinking like that," Feather Bangs said as he walked forward. "We don't know for sure what she wants, or why we're here."
"I want to promise your safety," Sunburst spoke and came to the front of the crowd. "I-I really do, but... nothing is for certain. What I do know is that I want to make an effort to make sure your safety can be guaranteed."
"Every pony who is part of the Student Survival Committee wants that too," Starlight continued. "We want to keep ponies alive the best we can, even if they aren't one of us. And when ponies do fall, it's our duty to take down the pony that let them."
"B-but..." Pinkie coughed, and covered her muzzle. She wiped tears and snot from her face once again.
"P-pinkie." Fluttershy walked next to the mare, and hesitantly lifted her hoof. When Pinkie didn't shy away, she rested her hoof on the mare's shoulder. "Let's... leave. W-we can give them time to i-investigate. I-I'll help you calm down. D-does that sound okay?"
"L-leave..?" Pinkie sniffed, looking down at the stallion's body once again. Tears still pooled in her eyes, but she clenched them tightly shut. "...Thank you, but... I... I wouldn't feel right sitting around. My friend just died, I can't do nothing."
"But I don't need to be happy either," Pinkie said back, some frustration in her voice. "I-I need to be focused like everypony else. Whoever did this needs to pay. H-he... he promised me he'd stay alive, so we could bake and party together on the outside. He Pinkie promised me. The pony who did this broke the promise we made. And nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise."
Fluttershy flinched away as shadows cast over Pinkie's face when she said that. She whimpered, her wings shielding her body as she vanished into the crowd again. Starlight could understand; she had never seen Pinkie like this. A bright and sunny pony like her wouldn't normally act like this. Cheese's death was affecting her more than she thought it would.
"We need to get started investigating," Sunburst said. "We've wasted enough time already. Everypony, spread out! We don't have much time left!"
"Philomena only gave us an hour!" Trixie stomped her hoof on the path. "We've already spent 10 minutes watching Pinkie break down!"
"Then we just need to work fast," Twilight spun around to respond to Trixie. "Search the entire academy!"
"Ah ah ah!" Philomena's voice rang throughout the area as she appeared on top of one of the speaker poles. She was twirling the truth bracelet around her wing and giggling. "You all need the Phoenix File before you can investigate!"
"Then hand it over!" Pinkie shouted at the bird.
"Yeesh, who pissed in your pancakes?" Philomena snickered as she flew down from the pole, summoning a box full of Phoenix Files to her side. It appeared in a flash of fire beside her. "Come take one! Remember now, you don't have much time!"
"Philomena, while you're here, I need you to confirm something," Starlight said as she grabbed a Phoenix File from the box.
"My, you ponies are awfully questioning," Philomena mumbled before she looked at Starlight. "Well, shoot! What is it?"
"The motive." Starlight held the file close to her chest as it turned on. "What was it? Tell me word for word."
"Weird question," Philomena hummed. "But, if you need it for your investigation... the motive was simple; if you killed a pony, I'd tell you how you got here. In exchange, I would help try to 'cover up' the murder a little bit. And so you could confirm I wasn't lying about how you got here, I wore a truth bracelet that would shock me if I told a lie."
"Thank you, Philomena," Starlight said as she pulled out her Phoenix Pad, and began recording the information in a new notepad. When she looked up again, Philomena was gone.
She sighed, looking at the information on the Phoenix File. 'The victim is Cheese Sandwich. The time of death was 7 am. The body was found in the market plaza. The cause of death was drowning. He has a broken jaw.' She wrote it down as she read it. So he died by drowning... that's weird. He died in the morning, too. How did no pony notice until now?
Starlight walked over to the body, seeing Pinkie was investigating herself. It was the first time that she had seen the mare be so focused on a case. She hated to interrupt her, but she had to ask a few things for her own investigation.
"Pinkie? Can I have a moment?" Starlight asked nervously.
"What?" Pinkie lifted her head, staring back at Starlight. She still tried to sound polite in her tone, despite the expression on her face.
"I-it might hurt to talk about, but I do need a bit of information for my own investigation," Starlight explained. "Firstly... a-at the feast table, I noticed that your tail was twitching a lot. Is there any reason for that?"
"Oh, that's my Pinkie Sense," Pinkie said with a weak smile.
"Pinkie... Sense?" Starlight raised a brow.
"It's a special ability I have." Pinkie swished her tail and turned to the side. "Whenever something goes wrong or is about to go wrong, I get super duper twitchy. My Pinkie Sense has helped me avoid a lot of bad accidents because I can predict when bad things are going to happen right in the moment."
"And... your Pinkie Sense as you call it, it was going on throughout the whole breakfast." Starlight wrote down the information.
"I think it was because Cheese's murder was being carried out," Pinkie said with a sigh. "I thought something bad was going to happen at the feast table. He left early in the morning to go to the fruit tree orchard, and said that he was going to see if the trees had any fresh ingredients he could use to cook with. After he left, my tail started twitching like crazy. I should've followed him..."
"Don't blame yourself." Starlight patted the mare's back. "No pony could have known."
"I know, I know." Pinkie pushed off Starlight's hoof as gently as she could manage, but it was obvious she was frustrated. "But, yeah, that's what the tail twitching meant. Is there anything else you wanna know?"
"Just a few more things," Starlight said. "I just... always saw you and Cheese together for breakfast, and wanted to know more about that."
"We both woke up early," Pinkie said with the faintest hum. "Since we were cooking for everypony, we started waking up before the morning announcements. Applejack started joining us after we could go to the second floor, she said she would start collecting ingredients from the greenhouse for us. While me and Cheese cooked, she would usually be out looking for things that were just perfect. We told her that we'd send her to collect things when we asked, but she's a stubborn mare. She probably would've gone on her own, regardless of what we'd say."
"That sounds like her," Starlight responded to Pinkie's explanation as she wrote it down. "And did Applejack bring back any ingredients today?"
"Actually, she did." Pinkie nodded. "If you want to look at them, they're in the kitchen. I only used the celery and carrots she picked to add a little bit of flavor to the egg dishes. I was hoping to show Cheese how to properly peel the carrots to cook them, but... you know."
"Thank you, Pinkie." Starlight quickly tried to distract the mare. "I think I need to go talk to Applejack myself to confirm this. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"
"Umm... not right off the top of my head. Oh!" Pinkie suddenly got an idea. "When you're done talking with Applejack, you should go talk with Twilight and Doctor Whooves. They both wake up early too, they like to wait at the feast table for every pony else to show up."
"I'll make a note of that." Starlight finally put the Phoenix File away after giving it one more look over. "I'm going to do a bit of examination here before I head out. I-is that okay?"
"It's necessary, so I don't mind," Pinkie said with a wave of the hoof. "I'll... I'll try not to get mad."
"Thanks..." Starlight cleared her throat as she came to the scene. She looked at the information she wrote from the file, and compared it with the state of the body. She hated the fact that his eyes were open... She could see that his jaw was broken, just based on the shape. She took notice of the blood puddle surrounding him, and the water puddle around his head; it must've been caused by his wet hair. She supposed that's where the drowning part came from. But if he had drowned, why is he here where there isn't any water?
Starlight began scribbling down the information, trying to keep herself somewhat organized. Starlight took another glance over the body, and became aware of one stand out detail; hoof marks. They were embedded in Cheese's jaw, chest, and his side. She cringed. Brutal. She forced herself to write down the information. Starlight took a closer look at the body, and something else stood out to her. It looked like his torso had been crushed. One pony would have to have enough force in their legs to be able to crush a pony's torso. The thought made her sick, but she swallowed down her feelings to focus on the case. She couldn't help thinking that some pony must've really had it out for him to kill him in such a horrible way.
She took a deep breath, and decided that she was finally done with the area. She passed Pinkie a gentle look before she stepped away, deciding that now was the time for her to go look for Applejack. She was worrying about how much time was left, so she ran to her destination. She found Applejack at the feast table, talking with Sunburst and Twilight.
"Applejack," Starlight called out to the pony.
"Hiya Starlight," Applejack turned around to respond to the pony.
"I need to ask you a few things for my investigation," Starlight said.
"Ah'm all ears." Applejack sat down in one of the seats bringing her full attention to the pony in front of her. Sunburst and Twilight watched the two with curiosity in their eyes.
"Firstly, I want to say that Pinkie told me to come talk to you," Starlight began. "She told me that you, her, and Cheese would always wake up early to prepare breakfast. Is that true?"
"Sure is." Applejack nodded her head. "Ah offered to get em' new ingredients. They said they'd ask for em' when they needed em', but Ah didn't feel like waitin', so Ah grabbed a few things anyways."
"And you confirm that these ingredients you grabbed do exist, right?" Starlight tilted her head, letting it be known that she was suspicious.
"Of course!" Applejack got out of her seat, as calm as ever.
In her eyes, Starlight could see that she was uncomfortable, and she couldn't blame her. She could only imagine that, as a farmer, Applejack has had to deal with things like this for cases on the farm. Being a farmer meant being a business pony, so she just hoped Applejack was used to things like this. The pony in question lead the group of 3 into the restaurant, and into the kitchen.
"There it is," Applejack said and pointed to a basket on the countertop. "Ah got a couple grape bunches, celery, carrots, lil bit of lettuce, and Ah'm pretty sure there's some tomatoes in there. Ah don't know how much of the ingredients they used, so some stuff might be missin' or depleted."
"I'll look," Starlight said. She walked to the counter, and peeked in the basket herself.
Sure enough, the exact things that Applejack and Pinkie had mentioned were inside. Some of the celery and carrots were missing, matching up with Pinkie's account. Dammit! Starlight couldn't help but feel frustrated; she wasn't getting much out of these leads. She hadn't found anything that could lead her to a potential culprit.
"You doin' alright, sugarcube?" Applejack walked over and put her hoof on Starlight's back. She jumped, not expecting Applejack so suddenly interrupting her thoughts.
"I-I'm fine," Starlight said, waving her hoof to try and hide her nervousness. "I'm just trying to think about the case. This looks like it's going to be... really hard to figure out, and we're running out of time."
"You best be goin' then," Applejack said. "Ah'm sure you got other ponies to be talkin' to instead of lookin' through a basket of veggies. Go on and get what ya need, Starlight."
"Thank you, Applejack," Starlight smiled at the mare. "Though, there is one more thing I want to ask you..."
"What is it?" Applejack tilted her head, and adjusted her hat to keep it from falling off with the tilt.
"It's actually about these ingredients." Starlight motioned to the basket. "You said you went regardless of what Pinkie and Cheese said, but did they ever mention being low on ingredients?"
"Well, now that ya mention it..." Applejack scratched her head as she thought. "Ah guess Ah didn't really go of my own free will to get them ingredients... Yesterday, Ah heard em talkin' before breakfast, sayin' they were gettin' low on fruits and what not. Cheese said he wanted to go see the fruit tree orchard, see if there was anythin' growing yet. Ah didn't look myself, but Ah would've collected some if there was somethin' there. Guess Ah figured Ah'd top off their veggies if they were gettin' fruits."
"That makes sense," Starlight said as she wrote the information down. "You never know what you might use in your stews or soups, or whatever else you could use fruits for. I guess those aren't really good comparisons... but it's just better to make sure you've got everything before you do something."
"It's like buying extra cheese when you want to make a cheese dish," Sunburst spoke up. "Whenever I've wanted to make something cheesy, I always buy an extra packet just incase the first turns out to be not as much as I expected."
"Same thing with buying more eggs," Twilight added. "There's always the chance that you'll boil them wrong, or you'll drop them, or pop a yolk in your pan. With more spares, you don't have to worry about messing up!"
"That's why ya buy spare tools too!" Applejack said. "That way if somethin' happens, like they get stolen or they rust up too dang quick, ya always got a backup pair to keep the job goin!"
"You all are right," Starlight said. "But... we're really wasting time sitting here and talking about this. Twilight, I actually need to talk to you too. Pinkie asked me to, same situation."
"Why?" Twilight fluttered her wings.
"Pinkie told me that you and Doctor Whooves tend to wake up early and wait at the feast table for other ponies to wake up," Starlight read from her notes. "Is that true?"
"Yep!" Twilight nodded. "Personally, I wake up early to keep tabs on every pony. Usually, I'm joined by him, Pinkie, Cheese, and Applejack. While Cheese and Pinkie went into the kitchen, Applejack would go off on her own to get ingredients, and I would stay to chat with the Doctor. Um... today we got a little distracted this morning."
"Distracted?" Starlight asked. "What do you mean?"
"W-well..." Twilight laughed nervously, and flapped her wings. Her face was bright with blush and the tip of her horn was sparking. "I... found a really good book in the library yesterday. I was reading it at breakfast, and Doctor Whooves joined me. We both were so engrossed in the story and talking about it, we didn't pay attention to anything that was going on. I was sitting with Applejack and him, and when I looked up, I saw that Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs were with us."
"If I can, I'd like to add to that," Sunburst piped up. Starlight was ready to write her own notes. "When I was coming to sit with every pony, I had Trixie and Feather Bangs with me. Applejack came from the garden to join us, having that ingredients basket that she showed you earlier."
"Why the garden, Applejack?" Starlight asked the mare.
"Easiest way to come out," Applejack said. "It's right behind the stairs goin' up to the second floor, might as well take it instead of spendin' so much time walkin' out the front door."
"It is a shorter walk, I will admit," Twilight said. "And the garden entrance is closer to Restaurant Row. I'd like to think that you'd also be able to wash off the vegetables in the garden's fountain."
"Ah do that." Applejack nodded to Twilight's comment. "Y'all gotta have your food fresh and clean, you don't want it covered in mud n' dirt, do ya?"
"No way," Sunburst laughed. "That's really smart thinking, Applejack."
"Call it my farmer's intuition." Applejack tapped her hooves and nodded.
"Is that safe?" Starlight wondered. "I thought it would be better washing them in the sink."
"The fountain must have a filter system," Twilight said. "The water would be much fresher in the fountain than in the sink. I think it has less potential contamination that way."
"Y'all and your fancy sinks." Applejack blew a raspberry. "On the farm, we used buckets of rain water to wash our crops. Ain't nothin' better than good ol' fashioned rain water washin'! Granny Smith says she used to do it when she was a filly, and that was a looong time ago, hoo boy!"
"I guess I can excuse that." Starlight rolled her shoulders. "Well, that was a lot of useful information. Thanks for helping out the investigation everypony. I'm going to go look for other ponies I can talk to, and places I can explore."
She began walking out of the building, thinking of what to do next. She didn't have much time left before the class trial, she knew that much. She was panicking; she didn't have a single hint as to who the culprit could really be, and she was running out of ways to figure it out. She tried to connect the dots in some way, but was distracted when a pony called out to her.
"Starlight!" She recognized Rainbow Dash's voice. The pony landed in front of her, with Double Diamond and Shining Armor following.
"Where the hell have you three been?" She asked. "We've been investigating for almost an hour!"
"It's embarrassing," Double Diamond said and scratched his head.
"We ended up sleeping in," Shining Armor confessed. "We woke up to the body discovery announcement. We were at the back of the crowd, so we only ended up seeing what happened when ponies began to leave."
"Yeah, I saw how Pinkie was." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Poor girl... I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through right now."
"Did you see her hair, Starlight?" Double Diamond asked. "It was so... flat. It looked so strange."
"I know, it's awful," Starlight whimpered. "You should've seen when she first came out. I'm surprised it wasn't her wail that made you guys wake up instead. It hurt my ears, and my heart."
"We've been looking around for her sake," Shining Armor said. "We came to find you because we found something in the garden that you might want to look at."
"You did?" Starlight was curious now.
The ponies didn't elaborate, only urged her to follow them. The group raced to the garden as quickly as they could, and they lead Starlight to the fountain.
"It's on this side, right?" Rainbow Dash asked to the rest of the group as she flew to the side of the fountain.
"It's the one by the fence," Shining Armor corrected her.
"Oh." Rainbow Dash flew to the other side. "Right, whoops. My bad." Everypony sure is messing up today...
"Anyways," Double Diamond said and rolled his head, his neck popping. "We went through here after we woke up. Rainbow Dash caught this at the corner of her eye, and had us take a look."
The ponies pointed to what they had found. Starlight wrote down in her notepad as she looked. What? On the side of the fountain... there was a splatter of blood.
"Why the hell is this here?" Starlight wondered. "We found Cheese Sandwich in the market plaza, so why is this here?"
"Maybe he or the culprit got hurt here?" Rainbow Dash mused.
"And then he got killed in the plaza after trying to escape while injured," Shining Armor thought out loud.
"Surely he would've tried calling out for some pony if that happened?" Double Diamond pondered.
"No, he most likely couldn't," Starlight said. "According to the Phoenix File, Cheese Sandwich has a broken jaw. He couldn't scream even if he wanted to."
"That's dark," Rainbow Dash said with a shudder. "What kind of pony would do something like this?"
"That's for us to find out," Starlight said and shook her head. "And I'm running out of time! I need to go talk to one more pony, you guys keep looking around and see what all you can find. Actually, have you seen Doctor Whooves at all?"
"We passed him when we came here the first time," Shining Armor said. "He's with Cheese's body, if I remember right. He might've moved now, but that's where we last saw him."
"I'll go look. Good luck on your own investigation!" Starlight didn't let the ponies respond back to her before she began running down the road.
She couldn't let time run out before she finished her investigation! She didn't know how much time she had left, but she didn't dare look and waste time. She ran down the path, and arrived at the market plaza once more. She took deep breaths, having to calm her heart after that running.
"Starlight!" The Doctor called out from his spot beside the body. Pinkie silently waved to her. She hadn't moved much since Starlight left.
"Doctor Whooves, I need to talk to you," Starlight said as she caught her breath and galloped over.
"Pinkie told me," The Doctor said. "I can tell you only my alibi from this morning, as I believe it is all we have time for."
"Whatever, I'll write it," Starlight patted her chest with her hoof, trying desperately to calm her heart. "Tell me everything."
"Well, I usually wake up early with Twilight, Pinkie, Cheese, and Applejack. I tend to wake up as the last of the bunch," The Doctor explained. "Twilight and I were reading a very interesting book she said she had gotten from the library upstairs. We got so distracted, time flew. Before we knew it, half the table was filled with ponies."
"That checks out with Twilight's alibi," Starlight said, finally having caught her breath. "Thank you, Doctor. I can use this well."
As the conversation came to a close, Philomena's voice rang out over the speakers again. Starlight had finally run out of time.
"It's time everypony!" Philomena cawed happily. "My feathers are falling out from excitement, hoho! Please report to the Trial Waiting Room for the class trial! It's time to decide if another pony gets to be executed, or the new blackened graduates from this academy! Just be quick, I don't have all day."
"It's time to go," Pinkie said. "And just so you know, Starlight..."
"Huh?" Starlight looked to Pinkie, and flinched seeing the shadows cast over her face again. The fury buried into her pupils was just barely visible from the glazed, saddened look her eyes sent out over any other feeling she had for this case. Starlight felt like she could truly feel the hatred that was bubbling within the pink mare.
"Just call me Pinkamena from now on," she said flatly. "I... the name Pinkie is too cutesy and jokey for this situation. I want to take it seriously now, so... don't call me that again. Okay?"
"Ah..." Starlight wasn't sure if she could really do that, since she had become so used to the nickname.
She gave a silent nod, not wanting to frustrate her when she was already in a bad mood. She couldn't tell behind her hair, but she could feel Pinkamena's eyes trying to burn through her soul. After the last trial, Starlight could suspect that Pinkamena was counting on her to find the culprit of this case, and not get them all killed. The pressure would weigh on her forever, but she believed she was up to the task.
Every pony came together in groups into the waiting room. Most ponies didn't bother splitting between the free ponies, and those from the Student Survival Committee anymore. Everypony was confused, and some of them flat out didn't care. Starlight watched the crowd get bigger as more ponies filled the space. It was just a little bit cramped, but she didn't mind. No pony said anything as Philomena appeared and activated the elevator. They fell into it in single file, casting looks at eachother. No pony knew who to trust right now. The room was filled with a dark aura, a bubbling mixture of despair and hatred. Starlight glanced at Pinkamena as the elevator began to go down.
Their eyes met momentarily, and Pinkamena had allowed them to soften. Starlight felt bad; she felt as though that look was Pinkamena's way of silently begging her to make the right choice. Starlight knew she couldn't disappoint her. She nodded her head firmly, trying to give her the best confirmation she could. Before the doors opened, she saw the slightest smile on the party pony's muzzle before her head shot up, and she walked out of the elevator with the others. One by one, they walked into their podiums. Even in this wide, open space, the air around still felt suffocating...
A cruel trial... A cruel deception... A cruel betrayal... Cruel mysteries... Cruel lies... Cruel truths...
"Allow me to explain to you all the rules of the trial!" The ponies already knew what they had to do, but by now they knew Philomena loved to hear herself talk. They decided to pay attention anyways. "So, your votes will determine the results! If you can figure out "whodunnit" then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong pony... then I'll punish everypony besides the blackened, and the one that deceived everypony else will graduate! Let's get this trial on the road, everypony! We don't have all day!"
"I want a straight answer," Pinkamena was the first to speak up. She raised herself onto her hindlegs and rested her forehooves on the podium before her. "I want to know who did it now."
"You think they'd just openly reveal themself?" Prince Blueblood laughed. "If they were to do that, there would be no trial!"
"I'd rather there wasn't one!" Pinkamena snapped at the stallion beside her, only separated by Party Favor's portrait. "I just want them to be honest..."
"The only way we can get a confession is by talking about the case," Twilight said. "We need to get our facts straight about this case. And this time, everypony needs to participate. It doesn't matter if you investigated or not, even your theories might help us out here."
"Let's talk about the state of the body first," Starlight said as she pulled out her Phoenix Pad. "According to the Phoenix File, Cheese was found dead in the market plaza. The cause of death is drowning. It was also noted that he had a broken jaw."
"Well, that's all the information that we need in that regard," Twilight said after Starlight finished talking. "Let's kick things off with this; how the death happened."
"The file says it already!" Rainbow Dash facehoofed. "He died by drowning!"
"But that's impossible!" Sunburst countered as he adjusted his glasses. "Cheese Sandwich was found in the market plaza. There's no evidence that he could've drowned!"
>>TRUTH BULLET #6: WET HAIR
"No, that's wrong!" Starlight raised her voice to catch their attention from the debate. "When we arrived to the scene, Cheese's hair was wet. That's evidence enough that he drowned."
"His hair was wet?" Double Diamond said curiously. "But, Sunburst is still half-right. If his cause of death is drowning, then why was he in the market plaza?"
"That's something we need to figure out as we go along," Twilight said with a shrug of her shoulders. "We need to get the full facts of the case out before we can determine how the murder played out."
"Well, is there any more information that you guys found we can use?" Pinkamena said with a yawn.
"Starlight, did you notice anything particularly strange about the body?" Twilight looked at her with a raised brow. "Anything that might help us properly determine a death cause?"
Is there anything? There has to be something I can say... Starlight raised a hoof to her chin as she began to think. She twitched her ears, which then froze up as the answer came to her head.
"That's right, there were hoof marks all over Cheese's body!" Starlight said while she looked through her notes. "There were prints on his jaw, chest, and side."
"He took a real good beating," Rainbow Dash said, sucking air in through her teeth. "That must explain the broken jaw huh."
"But how could one pony cause that much damage?" Shining Armor said. "You need to have more strength than necessary to leave imprints on a pony's skin like that."
"Well, Trixie believes a pony who has practice surely would know how to do something so vile," Trixie spat with a glare at the stallion. "Only a pony as big and burly as you could do damage like that! After all, you do know how to fight."
Shining Armor's podium moved up to the center of the trial room, and red lights emitted from the floor around it. The suspicion was all falling on him, and even he seemed caught in the surprise of being accused...
"She's got a point," Applejack said, her eyes narrowed. "Can't argue with it."
"You're the only pony here who's got practice in that kind of field," Double Diamond said. "You're trained to kill, aren't you?"
"I would never have killed him!" Shining Armor held his ground. "I am the Ultimate Guard, my job is to protect ponies."
"So what?" Trixie yelled. "You're a pony too, Trixie believes that being a guard does not only mean protecting other ponies, but yourself too! You killed Cheese Sandwich so that you could protect yourself from death!"
"Honestly, I side with Trixie on this one," Sunburst said as he adjusted his glasses. "Wounds that severe need to be well thought out, don't you think? Only a pony who has had practice creating those kinds of wounds"
This is bad... Starlight thought. She bit down on her hoof, and frantically scrolled through her notes. Every pony thinks that Shining Armor is the culprit, but there has to be a way to prove that he's innocent. Think, Starlight, use your head!
"I'm telling you, I didn't do it!" Shining yelled, his eyes rounded with panic and anger.
"And Trixie is telling you that you are lying!" Trixie countered. "You used your big, strong legs and your guard training, and you killed him!"
"Shining wouldn't do that!" Twilight joined into the debate. "He started the Student Survival Committee, he took an oath to never harm another pony!"
"That's a likely story," Double Diamond spoke up. "You're using that as an excuse for your actions!"
"B-but it's true..!" Fluttershy even put herself into the debate, despite how much she was shaking. "A guard's job is to p-protect ponies from bad things... Cheese did nothing wrong, h-he had no reason to..!"
"You can't all be assuming that he did it!" Starlight was getting frustrated. "There's no evidence of it!"
"Starlight's right!" Rainbow Dash flew into the air, but held her hooves against her podium. "Shining Armor would never go back on his word!"
"It only seems logical that he did it," Prince Blueblood spoke up at last. "He does have the strength for it."
"And you have the build for it!" Pinkamena yelled at Prince Blueblood. "But no pony is accusing you, so how can we all accuse Shining?"
"Yeah, what the hell?!" Feather Bangs spoke up with annoyance in his tone. "No pony is saying Prince Blueblood could have done it, but he and Shining Armor have a similar build! We can't accuse Shining if we aren't accusing him too, it's unfair!"
"Prince Blueblood is a regal pony," The Doctor pointed out. "Shining Armor works in the army. We can rule out the Prince's involvement in the murder because he does not have the experience. Therefore, Shining Armor is the likely culprit."
"Ah've got to agree with the Doc." Applejack nodded her head. "Ain't no pony else got that kinda experience in fightin', so ain't none of us got the strength to do the crime."
"Wow, you ponies sure are getting heated over this!" Philomena cackled. "And dare I say that there is a... split opinion in this room?! Oh, so exciting! I've been waiting since the first trial for this moment!"
"Excuse me?" Starlight stared at Philomena with a confused look.
"I would like to present to you ponies..." Philomena whistled a tune, and a gear with a keyhole appeared in front of her. "...the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Ponies' very own morphenomenal trial grounds!"
"The what now?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head as she landed back by her podium.
"Morphenomenal?" Pinkamena's ears perked, and the edges of her hair seemed to fizz back to life with excitement. "You mean the trial grounds are gonna morph?!"
"Oh! " Philomena stuck her tongue out. "Right, you guys didn't do that last time... I was really hoping that you would argue more in the last trial, but that girl did put up quite a fight... It's okay, you'll get the hang of it, just hold onto your hats!"
"Hehe this is gonna be fun!" Pinkamena hopped from hoof to hoof, joy pulsing through her body. Starlight almost swore that Pinkie's hair would fizz back to life at any second...
Philomena cackled as she pulled a key from behind her throne. She shoved it into the keyhole in the gear, and twisted it around. All at once, light burst through the area, surrounding the podiums in rings that lit up one by one. Some ponies covered their eyes from the light, but some merely flinched and took little time to adjust. The weight of the podiums shifted, and one by one, the podiums began to lift into the sky. Starlight couldn't tell whether it was machinery or magic that was doing it, but she did know there was an order to this. The podiums came to their designed location, and Philomena flew alongside them with the widest smile on her beak. The room was split in half; on one side, the ponies who were accusing Shining Armor stood, and on the other side were the ponies who believed he couldn't do it. Starlight took a breath. This is going to be tough.
>> DEBATE SCRUM: START! << SHINING ARMOR DID IT vs. SHINING ARMOR DIDN'T DO IT
"State your opinions!" Philomena said. "One at a time, please and thank you!"
"Shining Armor killed Cheese in the plaza," Trixie said bluntly.
"I took an oath to never kill or harm another pony." Shining tried not to yell at the pony across from him.
"He's using the Student Survival Committee as an excuse!" Double Diamond stomped his hoof on the ground.
"He started the committee because he wanted to protect ponies!" Twilight countered.
"He is the only pony with the build and strength to carry this out," Prince Blueblood stated.
"You've got the same exact build he does!" Pinkamena yelled at the Prince.
"Shining Armor leads the Royal Guard. He has the training to kill another," The Doctor said.
"Rarity killed Party Favor with no training what so ever!" Starlight retorted.
"But none of us are strong enough to carry this out!" Sunburst raised his voice.
"Y-you don't need to be s-strong to do bad things!" Fluttershy tried to shout, but her voice fell just over a normal speaking volume.
"Then how are his wounds so bad if any of us could've done it?" Applejack questioned.
"Any pony can create a bucking wound!" Rainbow Dash yelled.
"You can't assume the wounds are bad just cause you think a bigger pony did the crime!" Feather Bangs added to Rainbow Dash's comment.
"THIS IS OUR TRUTH!" >> DEBATE SCRUM: COMPLETE! <<
As the podiums separated, and left back to their original places on the ground below, Starlight continued to think about the case. All in all, their debate hadn't done much good for them. Nothing new was learned, and it didn't seem like any pony was particularly convinced in their argument. Some of the other side seemed to sway, but it wasn't by very much. Every pony was still casting looks around, as if they knew the truth of the case already. This trial had gone off the rails so early on, but on a good note, Shining Armor was back in his rightful spot with the other podiums. Suspicion isn't on him for now... good.
"We need to focus on something else," Twilight said, tapping her hoof on the ground to get the attention of every pony. "We haven't finished discussing the state of the body."
"His hair is wet, and he looks like he had been beaten to death," Trixie said to remind everypony. "This is all that we know. But what else? How does that help us?"
"We understand a little more about what could've happened to his body," Starlight answered. "If we know just how it looks, we can deduce how exactly things played out."
"My best guess is the hoof marks came first," The Doctor said. "I believe that Cheese Sandwich was hit to destabilize him, in order for the drowning to happen."
"I can agree with that," Starlight said. "As we established, the markings are on his side, chest, and his jaw. The hit to the jaw broke it, and the side marking might come from knocking him over."
"But then why the chest wound?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "If you can knock him down just from the side why would you kick in his chest?"
"Starlight, do you have any ideas?" Twilight asked the mare. "What piece of evidence can we draw a conclusion from?"
What piece of evidence..? Starlight scrolled through her notes. Her eyes lit up when she got the answer, and she cleared her throat before she spoke.
>>TRUTH BULLET #8: CRUSHED TORSO
"It's about the torso itself," Starlight said, showcasing the evidence for the other ponies on her Phoenix Pad. "It was noted that his torso appears to be collapsed in on itself."
"That's horrifying..." Feather Bangs shuddered with discomfort.
"But what was the reason for that?" Trixie raised her voice to ask. "He drowned, we all know! Why smash him up?"
"I've got an idea but... you aren't going to like it," Twilight said. She swallowed hard and looked at the evidence herself. "The way his torso looks, there definitely must've been some bone breakage. Hitting the chest breaks the cage directly where the lungs are. Starlight, you know what I'm getting at don't you?"
What is she getting at? Starlight has to take a few seconds to think. When she comes to the realization, her ears pin back, and she feels her stomach churning. It takes a hard swallow to keep herself from getting sick.
"So that's it..." Starlight mumbled, clearing her throat.
"What is it?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"Twilight said that his ribcage would've broken because of the state his torso was in," Starlight explained again. "If that's the case, then the chest wound... it wasn't to destabilize him. It was to intentionally break those bones, and stab him in the lungs."
"What?!" Double Diamond yelled, covering his mouth. From the revelation, several other ponies had the same reaction Starlight did, but she wasn't done explaining.
"Y-You all know what that means, right?" Starlight struggled to continue.
"Let me say it, Starlight," Twilight said. She nodded to Starlight, deciding to take over to spare her the sickness. "What Starlight is saying is that because of those bones being broken, and stabbing him in the lungs, he didn't die by drowning in the way we think. He bled out into his lungs, and drowned in his own blood."
"T-that's so horrible..." Fluttershy cried, covering her face as tears began to flow. "W-why would somepony d-do that..?"
"And to Cheese of all ponies," Pinkamena gagged, fanning herself as she felt her coat heating up. "It's horrible!"
"Well, the circumstances behind the death are a bit more clear," Prince Blueblood coughed and cleared his throat. Even he was uncomfortable. "Let us change from this topic, and move on."
"Agreed," Trixie gagged.
Starlight was grateful they both weren't keeping on with this. Even they felt sick, and she could tell. She was the most happy that they were going to try and switch the conversation around. Starlight dreaded having to bring this event up later. She knew she would, but she was intent on staying away from it for the time being.
"So what do we talk about now?" Rainbow Dash tried to bring back the conversation to its original state.
"Let's talk about the circumstances leading up to the murder," Twilight suggested. "That will get us one step closer to finding out who the culprit could be."
"That's a good idea," Shining Armor agreed. "We should be talking about what happened during our investigation, and before Cheese died. We know it happened early in the morning, at 7 am. Let's talk about things that were happening around that time."
"I was awake," Twilight said. "Every morning, I wait at the feast table for everypony else before the morning announcements."
"As do I," The Doctor added to her alibi. "I also tend to wait with Twilight at the table."
"Cheese and I were always up early," Pinkamena said. "We woke up early so we could start preparing breakfasts for everypony."
"Ah tended to wake up around then too." Applejack nodded. "Ah was helpin' Cheese and Pinkie with breakfast, gettin' ingredients and such."
"Pinkamena," The pink mare corrected.
"Whoops." Applejack tilted her hat and cleared her throat with a nervous laugh. "My bad, Pinkamena."
Everypony's alibi checks out... Starlight thought. But there's nothing useful to be found in this discussion. No pony has said anything worth contradicting, or using. What do I do?
"So what about after that?" Shining Armor began. "There was no pony else that woke up around that time?" Starlight's eyes glimmered.
>>TRUTH BULLET #12: NEW SEATING
"Actually, there was!" Starlight raised her hoof and showcased her notes. "Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs also woke up early and came to the table before the announcements."
"She's right," Sunburst adjusted his glasses as he spoke to confirm Starlight's observation. "I'm used to waking up early to study, so that habit carried over to here too. The others are usually there when I arrive."
"We all met outside the garden," Trixie confirmed. "Trixie decided to join them just because they were awake, but Trixie does not usually wake up early."
"Same with me," Feather Bangs said. "I always wake up early for tours around Equestria. My body still has that kinda natural clock, yknow? Wakin' me up when I don't need to be up. Sunburst and Trixie were talking before I got there."
"Applejack joined us too," Sunburst pointed out.
"But she was already at the table!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "How did she join you?"
"She came and joined us with a basket of ingredients," Trixie said.
"That checks out with what Applejack said earlier," Shining Armor remembered. "She said she helped Cheese and Pinkie by collecting ingredients in the morning."
"But from where?" Twilight asked, her eyes catching onto the farm pony's.
"The greenhouse," Applejack said. "They got a whole heck of a bunch of things growin' up there, it was the first place Ah looked when the second floor opened up. Ah met up with them other ponies after I picked em out, and we all left and went to the garden on our way to the feast table."
"Applejack stayed behind," Sunburst said. "She said that she'd wash the crops in the garden's fountain before she came to the table."
"She told me about that during the investigation," Starlight remembered.
"It is a shorter walk, I will admit," Twilight said. "And the garden entrance is closer to Restaurant Row. I'd like to think that you'd also be able to wash off the vegetables in thegarden's fountain."
"Ah do that." Applejack nodded to Twilight's comment. "Y'all gotta have your food fresh and clean, you don't want it covered in mud n' dirt, do ya?"
"There's just one thing I'm not getting," Rainbow Dash said, tapping her chin and glancing around the room.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"The fountain," Rainbow Dash rested her hoof back on the ground. "During the investigation, I was out with Double Diamond and Shining Armor cause we woke up late. We found a splatter of blood on the fountain."
"Ah didn't see any either," Applejack also confirmed.
>>TRUTH BULLET #14: SMALL BLOOD SPLATTER
"They're all right," Starlight said. "They came from the door leading out to the garden. The blood splatter that Rainbow Dash, Double Diamond, and Shining Armor found was on the opposite side of the door. It was on the side parallel to the fence surrounding the campus."
"So in other words," Trixie began. "The blood could have been there, but we could not have seen it because it was on the other side?"
"I think Starlight is right," Twilight said. "But if that's the case, that means that Cheese was already dead before you all came out."
"Twilight, you were at the table," Prince Blueblood said. "Did you not see any of your fellow ponies leave?"
"Oh, well..." Twilight laughed nervously, blushing hard. "Y-you see, I found some... really good books in the library, and I was reading them at the table with Doctor Whooves. We... got so distracted that by the time we finished reading, it was almost time for the morning announcement."
"That sounds like a load of bullshit to me!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "How do you get so involved in a book that you just ignore the world around you?!"
"Uh-!" Twilight jolted as her podium was pushed forth along with the Doctor's.
Twilight's ears pinned back, and Starlight could almost feel her heart beating from all the way across the room. The Doctor seemed uneasy as well, judging by the way his lips pursed and his coat seemed to stand on end.
"Starlight's done that," Sunburst said in Twilight's defense.
"What?" Trixie tilted her head.
"You remember, right Starlight?" Sunburst looked to her with a teasing smile. Starlight blushed at the memory.
"Starlight? You're still awake?" Sunburst asked as she reached the bottom.
"Yeah..?" Starlight tilted her head. "Is that a surprise?"
"It is, actually," he said as he approached her. "We all left the library because the nighttime announcement was called. Didn't you hear it?"
"What?!" Starlight's ears drooped back and she pulled out her Phoenix Pad. Did it have a clock?
"I-I saw that you were really into your book, so I didn't disturb you, but seeing you awake at this time..." Starlight paused when she did find a clock on the Phoenix Pad. According to it, it was 12:37 in the morning.
"O-oh, right," Starlight laughed nervously, and scratched the back of her head with her hoof. "I was reading a Daring Do book in the library on the first day, and I got so involved in it that I binge read the entire thing, and didn't even hear the nighttime announcement go off... I ran into Sunburst in the hallway and he told me just how late it was."
"You actually read it?!" Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up with glee. "You have to tell me all the details!"
"Rainbow, this isn't the time for that!" Twilight snapped to the pegasus on the other side of the room.
"Well, uh, when the trial is over of course," Rainbow Dash smiled sheepishly.
"The point is," Sunburst cleared his throat as he continued. "We shouldn't entirely fault Twilight and Doctor Whooves. If they didn't see anything, they didn't see anything. We just have to deal with that."
"Thank you," Twilight sighed in relief. The Doctor nodded to Sunburst while the two ponies' podiums were pushed back to their normal locations.
"Well, Pinkamena was at the table too," Trixie pointed out. "Why didn't she see anything?"
"I wasn't at the table the whole time," Pinkamena said. "While everypony else was outside, I went inside with Cheese to start cooking breakfast. There's no windows in the kitchen, yaknow! But, I will say one thing, my Pinkie Sense was going craaazy at the table."
"Your what?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head.
"My Pinkie Sense!" Pinkamena stood up straighter. "It's this supernatural-phenomenon-thingy that only I have! When something bad is about to happen, my tail and my body start a twitchy-twitching. It's helped me avoid lots of bad accidents, like stuff falling on me."
"That sounds ridiculous," Prince Blueblood snorted.
"But it's true!" Pinkamena slammed her hooves down. "When I was at the feast table, before we went inside, my tail started twitching like crazy! My tail twitching got even worse when we were inside, because then Cheese left!"
"He left?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head to the side. "Why in the hell would he leave on his own?"
"He wanted to go get ingredients," Pinkamena said.
>>CONSENT: PINKAMENA PIE >>TRUTH BULLET #10: EAVESDROPPING
"Pinkamena's right," Starlight confirmed. "Applejack told me during the investigation that she overheard Pinkamena and Cheese talking at the feast table. Cheese mentioned wanting to check the fruit tree orchard to see if the trees had ingredients he could bring back."
"Yup yup." Applejack nodded her head in agreement. "Ah decided to go get ingredients myself after that point. They said they'd ask me to, but Ah went off without askin' first."
"Yeah, cause you're stubborn," Pinkamena snorted and giggled. "If somepony tells you no, you're gonna do it anyways!"
"It's the truth," Applejack laughed. "I ain't no liar, not anymore."
"So Pinkamena and Cheese were still at the table when you left, right?" Twilight asked Applejack.
"Yup," Applejack answered.
"When Doctor Whooves and I finished reading, we did notice that Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs were with us, and Applejack was still at the table, but Pinkie and Cheese were both missing," Twilight explained. "Applejack must've left to get ingredients while we were reading, which must've been when Pinkamena and Cheese decided to head inside."
"But this doesn't make any sense," The Doctor mused. "Cheese Sandwich's body was found in the plaza. Why, by all circumstances, it's beginning to sound like he should've died in the garden or the orchard!"
"Now that he mentions it, that is really strange..." Shining Armor tapped his chin. "All the evidence is pointing to him dying in the garden."
"Trixie, Feather Bangs, and I all found him in the plaza," Sunburst recalled. "But with this evidence piling up, it is sounding like he died in the garden most likely."
"How is that possible?" Rainbow Dash wondered out loud.
"I have an idea," Twilight said, looking at Starlight. "I know somepony who might know too."
She's right, Starlight thought. I do know. The only way that Cheese could end up in the plaza. The reason why the evidence is so confusing... It's because Cheese wasn't killed in the plaza. But why? It's because of..!
>>TRUTH BULLET #2: PHILOMENA'S MOTIVE
"It's because of Philomena's motive," Starlight said at last.
"What?" Rainbow Dash looked at Starlight with wide eyes.
"Philomena told us what the motive was a day or so ago," Starlight recalled as she pulled up her Phoenix Pad. "She said that if somepony committed a murder, she would tell them the honest truth about how they came to this place. She said that she wouldn't lie to us, because she was wearing a lie detector anklet."
"I forgot about that," Double Diamond mused. "I didn't think anypony was going to take it seriously."
"Well, whoever took it wanted the information, and they wanted to escape. Philomena moved Cheese's body to the plaza to help our culprit escape this... hellscape Celestia calls a school," Twilight said with an affirmative nod and a scowl on her face. "We aren't sure why, but we can always demand answers at the end of the trial."
"Yeah, if we all survive," Trixie scoffed. "There's still no concise evidence as to who in Celestia's name did this."
"Then can we focus and find out?" Pinkamena rolled her eyes. "We're dragging this on for way too long."
"Pinkamena is right," Starlight said. "We need to finish going over the evidence before we can start pointing hooves. We already got distracted at the start of the trial, we can't let that happen again."
"But there isn't any other evidence!" Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down on the ground beneath her. "His jaw was busted, his torso crushed, he drowned in his blood, he left when Twi and the Doc were distracted... While they were distracted, the culprit killed Cheese because he left the kitchen, and Philomena moved his body to the plaza. That doesn't help us find out who did it or even how this murder was carried out!"
"That's true," Twilight said with a gulp. "This is... really difficult to figure out."
The group fell silent, trying to think about all the evidence they had gone over. Starlight had to admit she was nervous too. If they didn't figure out who did this, they all would die and the culprit would win. Starlight couldn't let that happen. She outright refused it. She swallowed hard, and went over the evidence in her head again...
"Trixie has an idea," Trixie broke the silence, trying to focus herself. "There are only a few potential culprits to this case. Every pony that awoke early is a suspect."
"...Trixie has a point," Starlight said. "The only pony that could've committed the crime had to be awake at that time. Every pony who was awake early is a suspect."
"Twilight, Doctor Whooves, Applejack, Pinkamena, Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs are all suspects." Double Diamond looked at each of the ponies as he listed their names one by one.
"The rest of us were sleeping," Rainbow Dash said with a relieved sigh and flutter of her wings.
"So we're all that's left," Sunburst said. "That clears Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, Starlight, Double Diamond, Prince Blueblood, and Fluttershy from suspicion."
"Can we really be sure though?" Trixie said with a yawn. "Some pony could have very easily come from the dorms, killed Cheese, and went back to sleep."
"No, I don't think so," Twilight said confidently. "The sleeping ponies couldn't have known that Cheese was going to leave the table. Even if they did, he didn't specify a time, did he Applejack?"
"Nope," Applejack said with a shake of her head. "Just said he was thinkin' about it."
"Exactly," Twilight said. "Even if they knew Cheese was going to leave, they would have very easily missed their opportunity. Some pony could've spotted them waiting outside as well, and distracted them."
"If some other pony was awake, surely some pony at the table would remember," Trixie said. "And Trixie has no memory of any pony other than those already deduced as being awake."
"Then we really can only pick from those ponies," Starlight confirmed "But who..?"
"I have an idea," Twilight said. "The only pony who could've done it had to be the pony that knew Cheese was going to leave. There are a few ponies that fit that description, right Starlight?"
Starlight swallowed hard. Right. The only ponies who knew that Cheese was going to leave were at the table too. Those ponies that were there, the only ones that would've heard it, were...
"It was Pinkamena, Twilight, Applejack, and Doctor Whooves," Starlight said. "They were the only ponies that would've heard Cheese saying that he wanted to get more ingredients, as Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs weren't awake yet."
"So our list has narrowed further," Trixie hummed with satisfaction. Clearly she was happy that she was off the suspect list.
"How do we know it wasn't them?" Rainbow Dash challenged. "They could've taken Trixie's idea from before, couldn't they?"
"No," Twilight retorted. "Sunburst and Feather Bangs were already together. Trixie, you joined them later on. Do either of you remember where she came from?"
"The dorms," Sunburst said. "She looked like she had just woken up."
"Can confirm," Feather Bangs said with a chuckle. "I've never seen her with such bed hair."
"Excuse me!" Trixie pinned her ears back, her face blooming with blush. "Trixie does not get bed hair! Why, Trixie's air conditioning must've made her hair flow in the night!"
"Excuses, excuses," Pinkamena snorted. "Every pony gets bed hair!"
"Guys, focus please," Twilight sighed. "So Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs couldn't have done it."
"Then who?" Prince Blueblood said. "We have 4 suspects, any of them could have done it."
"Except two of them," The Doctor said. "Myself and Twilight can be excluded."
"That sounds like a likely story!" Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof. "You can't just say 'I didn't do it' and expect us to believe you!"
"But I have proof," The stallion said. He looked to Starlight, just as Twilight had before. "Starlight knows it as well."
Do I? Starlight tried to think. There has to be some sort of evidence that he's looking for. What could clear Doctor Whooves and Twilight both of suspicion? She wasn't entirely sure of her answer, but still she spoke it.
>>TRUTH BULLET #11: TWILIGHT'S ACCOUNT
>>TRUTH BULLET #12: NEW SEATING
"It... has to do with you both reading, and the new seating, right?" Starlight spoke uncertainly.
"I think I see what the Doctor means," Twilight said. "We were both reading at the table, and when we stopped, Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs were sitting with us. We couldn't have left to commit the murder because we were distracted with our book."
"Trixie, Sunburst, Feather Bangs," The Doctor spoke. "Have any of you any objections?"
"I don't," Sunburst said. "When we got to the table, you both were talking and Twilight had put the book down as we all sat down."
"Trixie cannot deny it either," Trixie said. "Though, I do wish I had questioned what silly book you were reading."
"Yeah, it's true," Feather Bangs said as well. "I was still pretty sleepy though, so my vision was blurring quite a bit. I saw your magic fade out after I blinked a couple times."
"And that is why it couldn't be us," Doctor Whooves said. "As these ponies have confirmed, we were there at the table when they arrived. I can also vouch for Miss Sparkle and say that she did not leave during our reading."
"And he did not leave either," Twilight said confidently.
"Sure," Rainbow Dash snorted, clearly in denial. "So that only leaves Pinkamena and Applejack."
"It could be either of them!" Trixie spoke out. "They're both earth ponies, they would've had the strength to do it!"
"How dare you!?" Pinkamena shouted at the mare between her and Feather Bangs. "You would dare to accuse me of killing Cheese?!"
"Well, why not?" Trixie hissed. "You were the closest to him, he trusted you and all that you had talked about together. You could have known how to get close to him so you could kill him!"
"Hey, ladies, let's not fight," Feather Bangs nervously said to try and stop the fighting.
"I would never do that!" Pinkamena ignored Feather Bangs. "I cared about him just like I do with all of you. The things we did together were special! Why would I ruin that?!"
"To escape!" Trixie shouted. "You would surely do just as much as any pony else in order to escape!"
"Ladies, please stop!" Feather Bangs yelled over them. "Pinkie couldn't have done it!"
"You don't know that!" Trixie retorted to the stallion.
"We do!" Starlight yelled, bringing the attention to her. "We have proof that she couldn't have done it!"
The room fell silent. Pinkamena stared at Starlight with pleading eyes. She was relying on Starlight, and she knew that. Starlight saw how badly Cheese's death had affected Pinkamena. The flat hair, the sobs and wails in the plaza... and the refusal to leave Cheese's body. Pinkamena would have never done this, so that only means that...
"...Applejack did it," Starlight said.
The shock waved across the room, but based on the evidence some ponies agreed. They glanced towards the mare, whose podium drove forward to the center of the room. Applejack was silent, staring at Starlight with half lidded eyes and a sad smile on her face.
"What do you mean?" Pinkamena said, confused.
"Applejack was the only one who could've done this," Starlight sighed. "Pinkamena said earlier that she saw Cheese leave the kitchen. Twilight and Doctor Whooves couldn't have seen because they were reading. Applejack was the only pony at the table not doing anything, and so she left to get ingredients. But why? To illustrate how this played out... let me tell you all the details in the form of a story."
The entire room fell silent, eyes trained on Starlight. Once more she felt anxiety filling her stomach and her chest. She felt sweat begin to form on her forehead, and her heart was pounding. She didn't like this revelation either but... it was the only one that made sense. She took a deep breath, bringing together all her strength. When she was ready, she began to retell the facts of the case...
"Let's paint a picture just for a moment; our culprit naturally wakes up early. Along with them, Twilight, the Doctor, Cheese Sandwich and Pinkamena also wake up. The culprit overheard Pinkamena and Cheese talking; they knew that he wanted to find ingredients... in the fruit tree orchard. It was at that moment that the culprit decided to hatch their plan; the plan to kill Cheese and take advantage of the motive Philomena had given, or so one would think. They had to be patient though, because they didn't know when Cheese would leave or if any pony would be able to see them. They were lucky though, because a few ponies weren't paying attention."
"Pinkamena went into the kitchen with Cheese for some time to begin cooking, while Twilight and Doctor Whooves began reading. Cheese eventually left the kitchen to collect ingredients, which Pinkamena knew was a bad thing because of her Pinkie Sense. It was then that the culprit put their plan into action. They left after Cheese had, and cornered him in the garden, and that was when they attacked. They bucked him as hard as they could, breaking his jaw so he couldn't call out for help. It was likely this hit that splattered blood on the fountain. They hit him again, in the torso and in the chest, and broke his ribcage. This is why the Phoenix File said he had drowned; he had drowned in his own blood because of the bone shards in his lungs."
"After the attack, the culprit must've left to fulfill the rest of their alibi and talk to Philomena. In this time, they did just that. Philomena then fulfilled her end of the promise, taking Cheese's body to the plaza, where he bled more than when he was at the fountain to confuse us further. The culprit decided to make their own alibi by rushing to the greenhouse, and collecting their own ingredients; they had said to Pinkie and Cheese they would do this if they asked, but they did it on their own. As they were coming back downstairs, they encountered Trixie, Sunburst, and Feather Bangs. Other ponies had seen them, they thought it all came together..."
"The ponies left, the culprit washed the ingredients in the fountain, and they returned to the table. Every pony had seen them, they had a solid alibi... but no pony vouched for them, even though their plan was flawless. The confusion of the entire case was their escape, but we all knew better!"
"And we all know the truth... so just admit that you've bucked your last apple, Applejack, the Ultimate Farmer!"
The room was entirely silent from the revelation, and yet Applejack had no anger on her face. She stared at Starlight as though she were ashamed. Her ears lowered, and she shut her eyes. A brief nod was cast in Starlight's direction, before she removed her hat and placed it over her chest. The expressions of the ponies around became angry, upset that another pony had to die. Starlight could imagine what they were thinking; she was trying to apologize after she killed someone? How dare she! Pinkamena seemed the most upset, but she kept her mouth shut, lips drawn back in a snarl.
"Wow, aren't you all just a joyful bunch!" Philomena cackled. She had been quite silent since the debate scrum. "Well let's get this show on the road everypony! It's voting time! Are you going to pick the right choice, or the horribly, truly terribly, dreadfully wrong one? Place your votes now!"
The panel opened up on the podiums again. Starlight heard the sounds of angry votes being placed, and she even saw Applejack vote for herself on her panel. Starlight put in her vote for the mare, feeling guilt. She shouldn't, but it is what must be done. She didn't want to die, and after she exposed all the evidence, it would be stupid of her to vote any pony else. She was upset, but their lives were more important. The panel disappeared back into the podium, and a big screen emerged from the wall beside Philomena's throne. An animation played, similar to that of a casino's slot machine. It randomly scrolled through the cutie marks of every pony, and finally, all 3 boxes landed on Applejack's cutiemark. Confetti streamed from two pipes on either side of the machine, and coins rained down from the ceiling. Every pony stepped down from their podiums as the trial finally ended, and Pinkamena shot Applejack a heartbreaking glare.
"Was the information worth it?" She hissed to the mare, stepping away from her in disgust.
"At the moment, no," Applejack said as she put her hat back on her head. "It was at the time, but, sittin' on all this guilt aint doin' much for me."
"Well you shouldn't have done this in the first place!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings angrily. "You wanted some information and that was it? You didn't even have the audacity to try and push things so that you could leave?!"
"Ah didn't want to leave," Applejack snapped back. "Ah wanted to know why Ah was here. Ah didn't care about leavin'; this place had everything that I ever wanted. Ponies that Ah liked, plenty of food, plenty of space, Ah could do anything Ah ever wanted!"
"So why kill somepony?" Trixie scoffed. "Why risk it all for some pathetic information?"
"Well..." Applejack sighed and drew circles on the ground with her hoof. "Cause... it reminded me of somethin' important."
"What did Philomena tell you?" Starlight stepped forward to ask.
"She told me how Ah got here," Applejack said as she adjusted her hat. "Ah was at home, Sweet Apple Acres. My family was strugglin'. We just lost our big brother, he up'n disappeared one night and no pony in town could find him. Now that Ah'm thinkin' about it, bein' in here, Ah'm thinkin' that he suffered the same fate as us; he was out there in a killin' game too. When Ah went to bed that night, ah woke up in the courtyard at this school. Ah went to bed, and that was it. They nabbed me in the night. Ah was out like a light, Ah swear."
"They must've kept you asleep," Twilight said. "That could explain why you didn't wake up in the night."
"Maybe," Applejack sighed, defeated. "But it don't matter now. Y'all caught me, and y'all were right. Ah'm not gonna try and lie my way out of it. Ah'm no liar, and ah ain't a sore loser either. Y'all won fair and square, and y'all get to explore this place freely. My time is over."
"D-don't say things like t-that," Fluttershy whimpered. "I-I feel bad now..."
"Don't," Applejack walked to the mare and patted her back. "Ah may be gone now, but y'all still have a chance. A chance to live and to get outta this place. Y'all can do it, don't worry about me. Y'all ain't supposed to be feelin' bad for me anyways."
"Let's get the fun underway everypony!" Philomena interrupted the moment with a laugh. I've got a very special execution prepared for Applejack, the Ultimate Farmer! Let's give it everything we've got! Iiiiit's punishment time!"
Philomena pulled a remote from behind the throne, and pressed the button. Every pony stepped back, knowing what was meant to happen now. Applejack removed her hat, bowing her head and holding the hat close to her chest. She resigned herself to her fate, and no pony seemed particularly upset about it. Apart from Fluttershy, who usually seemed to cry when things like this happened. Pinkamena looked away, disgusted, but she still looked to Applejack with a side glance that spoke more words than she could manage currently. The ponies jolted as the ground suddenly gave way beneath Applejack, and she yelled out as she fell through the ground, on the way to her execution.
Finally, at the end of the pit, Applejack falls face first into what appears to be mud. She splutters, getting up and wiping the caked dirt from her face. Her hat finally lands on her head, obscuring her vision momentarily. She pushes it up with a huff, and glances at her surroundings. It appears that she's in a giant field. She glances down at what she's standing in, and any normal pony would gag at both the smell and the realization; it's manure. A freshly planted field is going here. Applejack lifts her head as the sound of machinery becomes known to her. She looks up, seeing Philomena sitting in the control booth of a plow, and fear grips her soul while the bird cackles maniacally. Applejack turns, and runs out of frame as Philomena launches seeds from the mouth of the machine. Throughout the field, some of the seeds create sprouts that twist and tie together to create words.
SEEDS OF TRUTH Ultimate Farmer Applejack's Execution: Executed
Philomena pulls back the levers of the machine, and the blades begin to turn through the ground. She pushes forth, ripping through the soil much faster than Applejack can run. Her maniacal laughter is even louder than the machine at work. Applejack makes the mistake of turning her head to look at what's going on behind her. She gasps and nearly chokes on air. She stumbles, falling to the ground and trying to shield herself as the machine rolls on top of her. Very few blades miss her, ripping her body in many places and creating long gashes that could easily have collided with bone had she not been lucky enough.
She shakes herself, blood and dirt coming off her body into the ground. She hisses as dirt and manure collide with her wounds, sure to infect them without treatment. The blood loss is already making her dizzy, and her hat was ripped to shreds when the blades grabbed it. She pulls the pieces together in a pile. The agony from her wounds and the loss of her heart makes her sob. The plow finally comes to a stop when it reaches the end of the field, and Philomena flies out. She hums happily as she goes to fetch another machine. She snaps her feathers, and the plow disappears into thin air. Applejack's head snaps back up and she returns to reality as Philomena turns on a planter, and stares Applejack in the face with a wicked smile spread on her beak. If one looked close enough, they could even see sharp teeth; that was unusual for a bird.
Applejack's head begins to ache as the machine turns on, and churns through the ground toward her. She takes a deep breath, and lets her eyes close up tight. With the infected wounds and the blood seeping from them into the earth, she finally has no choice but to face the truth. This is her execution, she can't expect to live. She accepts her fate, the shaking ground and the raging roar of the blades making even her organs ache. She opens her eyes at the last moment and screams as the new blades tear at her body again, pushing her into the ground. A giant seed falls from the machine's mouth on top of her, pressing her into the dirt. She squirms as dirt covers the hole, trying to push this seed off of her body so she can dig her way out.
The earth is truly suffocating, and she digs desperately to escape. But why now? She was so ready to accept her fate... her fight or flight must've kicked in as the dirt covered her. No pony truly wants to suffer, so they will fight for and cling to life. She shuts her eyes as mud sticks thickly to her coat and mane, going straight into her skin. Her wounds feel like hot fire. If she opens her eyes, she'll get nothing but mud in them. She does know though that because of there being mud, the field has been watered, which can only mean...
She coughs, and mud fills her mouth as the seeds quickly take effect. Roots sprout from the seeds, stabbing through her torso and weaving through her other limbs. The roots feed on the water in the soil and the blood from her body. She struggles to dig and breathe from the weight of the mud and the wet dirt filling her mouth and lungs. Philomena pats down the ground on the surface, humming ever so happily as the seeds grow. She finishes watering the last seed with her own personal watering can, and a large apple tree sprouts from the location where Applejack was buried. She squawks happily and flies over, already seeing the tree bear bright red fruit.
She flies into the tree's leaves, and breaks a ripe apple off of a stem. She laughs even louder than before, showcasing the shine of the apple in the shape of Applejack's agonized face; the face that she had been wearing just before the mud filled her lungs and suffocated her.
As always, the ponies remaining of the bunch stood in shocked, and disgusted silence. Starlight felt the blood pounding in her ears as adrenaline continued to course through her veins. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, and the disgust that bubbled in her stomach made her retch. She screwed her eyes shut and bit her lip to keep things down as she heard another pony, she believed it to be Trixie, emptying the contents of her stomach into the manure of the execution still before them. She could sense the curiosity of other ponies to step forth to see if this tree was even genuine, if the shine of the blackened's face in the apple was merely a hallucination they all brought on out of pure terror, or if it truly did appear to be so.
Philomena gulped down the apple she had been holding and gave a hearty laugh as she flew to the elevator. No pony said anything but followed her back into the elevator so they could return to the surface. Starlight had to admit to herself that the execution could've turned out much worse. Applejack could've been easily torn apart by those blades instead of suffocated and buried in mud and shit. Rarity's execution had gone over much worse. Starlight would never forget that horrible image as the needle of the sewing machine pierced her torso. She almost thought it would've went for her head next, but Rarity wouldn't have suffered that way. Philomena did that on purpose.
Like sheep, the ponies exited the elevator as it reached the very top and opened its doors at the waiting room. Few ponies were speaking; she recognized the quiet voices of Sunburst, Pinkie, and Fluttershy as they tried desperately to find solace in the ponies that made up their own personal friend groups. Starlight couldn't do that; she was friends with everyone. And yet despite that fact, she had no pony to talk to. She looked around, wanting to talk to at least one of these ponies, but she still kept her mouth closed, teeth grinding together between her lips.
The ponies fell into their dorms, scanning their ways inside without lifting their eyes from the cold floor. The floor that was even colder now that two less ponies were amongst them. With every pony that died, it seemed like the dorms grew colder. Starlight had believed it to be only coincidence, but it really did feel as though the temperature had dropped because there were less ponies now to spread warmth. She stepped into her dorm, briefly yelping as the door caught her tail. She scanned it open again, and stepped away before it could close on her again. She felt embarrassed making that mistake, but she knew she wasn't in the right space right now.
She couldn't even focus on the most simple of things because four ponies had died around her. The Student Survival Committee aimed to stop things like this, but what had they really done to prevent this? How could they fulfill their promise to keep ponies from murder? They would never know if a pony had been planning murder until they went through with it. But, just maybe, maybe some pony could...
Starlight heard a knock at her door and felt fear grip her heart. She stared at the door, fearing for her life. Why would some pony need to talk to her now, if at all? They could already be wanting to kill her. She turned around and stared at the door, once more feeling her heart pound against her ribcage.
"...W-who's there?" She stuttered, her voice not quite quiet, but not quite loud either.
"It's me," Double Diamond said through the door. "I just... I want to talk to you Starlight."
"You can do it through the door." Why does Double Diamond want to talk to me?
"Fine," Double Diamond sighed. Starlight heard him sit down, and she chose to sit herself so she could properly listen.
"What do you need to talk about?" She asked, her head tilting.
"It's... it's about what just happened," He said. "I have a confession that I need to make. You're not going to like it."
Starlight felt her skin go cold, the breeze of her room wrapping around her alone. She gulped, knowing what it was that Double Diamond wanted to say next.
"Before today... I was thinking of killing a pony," Double Diamond confessed, the guilt and shame in his voice making him choke. "B-but I didn't! I know how I could do it, my room is just cold enough for something like that, but... it would be obvious it was me then. I don't want to die, but I don't want to take the risk even if it does guarantee a chance for me to escape. All of you would die in turn, and living with that guilt would drive me mad, I just know it."
"And the motive made you do it," Starlight said. She couldn't believe it...
"No," Double Diamond stated blankly, surprising her. "I don't care how I got here, it just matters that I'm here now. The only reason I would've done it was to escape. I don't need to know the truth; it's wasted knowledge on me. I don't need a motive by Philomena to want to kill another pony because I already have a personal goal; an ambition for myself."
"...So who were you thinking of?" Starlight asked after a moment of silence, not sure if she was ready for the answer.
"To be honest Starlight," Double Diamond seemed to be very hesitant saying it. She knew what that meant. "I... I was thinking about you."
"What?" She tried not to raise her voice in disbelief. "Why me?"
"Everypony likes you more than they're willing to admit, even me," Double Diamond said bluntly. "What a blackened wants is to bring distrust and discourse because it increases their chances of escaping. If everypony is blaming eachother, that means the blame is off of the actual killer. They can confuse evidence, they can point hooves, and they'll vote wrong. They'd all die, and the blackened could escape, that's what they want to do. What... I wanted to do."
Starlight couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wasn't particularly close to Double Diamond, but she knew she had to be even more distant now. Double Diamond was telling her this for a reason, but why? The silence was deafening. Double Diamond was done speaking, and was waiting for her. What could she say? She swallowed down her feelings.
"How would you have done it?" She asked. No! Why that of all questions?! The question was already out there, she had to listen.
"Remember I told you how cold my room is?" He began to explain. "I can change the air conditioning myself. It's a bit hard to work with because of my big hooves, but I could easily figure out a way to adjust it. I would get you to come into my room. We would talk, and I would be adjusting the air conditioning. I'd hold you down, tie you up with my blankets maybe while I did it. I'd make the room so cold that even I would hate to be in there. I'd take the binds off, but still leave you tied so you couldn't leave. And then, I would leave too. I'd steal your Phoenix Pad, I'd sleep in your room, and overnight with any luck... you'd freeze to death. I'd do the same with any other pony."
"I-I see." Starlight was terrified. His plan would have worked brilliantly, and she was powerless to stop him if he did go through with it this time. But he was right; it was obvious that he would've killed her. "B-but that makes it blatantly obvious that you were the culprit. You're committing a murder in your own dorm! How would you get everypony off your back?"
"My Phoenix Pad," Double Diamond answered. She heard the device turn on outside. "I'd take Rarity's idea. I'd break it and throw it in the trash somewhere. I'd make it seem like some other pony stole my Phoenix Pad, opened my dorm, lured you inside, messed with my AC, and killed you."
"That wouldn't work," Starlight said. "You have to sleep in your dorm, otherwise Philomena will punish you. If another pony truly were to do it, both of us would be dead together. And even if you had slept in my dorm, ponies would question why you were in my room in the first place."
"That's exactly the reason why I didn't do it," Double Diamond said. His Phoenix Pad powered down and he sighed. "And so that I never have the thought of killing another pony, I wanted to ask you personally if you'll let me join the Student Survival Committee."
"You... want to join us?" Starlight's ears lifted in shock, and she blinked.
"I do," He said simply. "I don't want a pony to die because of me. I want to take the oath to never commit a murder as long as I'm at this school, and I want to help you all find Celestia so that we can get out of here."
"...Alright," Starlight said after a moment of silence. "I'll tell Shining Armor and the others in the morning. But, Double Diamond, I have to ask just one favor of you."
"What is it?" He asked. She could imagine his eyes brightening up, and she would hate to break his heart with what he had to say.
"Even though you're joining the Student Survival Committee, I don't trust you," She said bluntly. "I want you to stay away from me from now on. You still have that plan fresh in your mind, it's going to be difficult to keep yourself from listening and going through with it for real. I'm not going to die because of your carelessness, and as such I don't want to create a situation where you could lure me away in the first place. I don't want to be mean to you, but if you're going to speak to me you can do it through a closed dorm door. I will not let myself be caught alone with you in the future, okay?"
"...Okay," Double Diamond said, sadness laced in his voice thicker than blood in water. She heard him get to his hooves, and felt a twinge of pain in her heart. "I... I understand Starlight. I'll keep my distance. If... it makes you feel better, at least we're on opposite sides of the hallway, and I can sit on the opposite side of the feast table."
"That's fine with me as long as you keep your distance," Starlight said. "We're on opposite sides of the trial room too. With any luck, we can keep our distance until we leave this place."
"I get it." Double Diamond being upset didn't sit right with Starlight, but she knew she couldn't feel for him at the moment. Even still, she still felt guilt. He confided in her this secret, and she pushed him away, but what else could she do?
"Goodbye," She said after a few moments of silence, wanting to be alone with her thoughts. She only spoke because she knew he was still standing there. She hadn't heard his hoofsteps yet.
"...Sleep well, Starlight." He walked down the hall. His hoofsteps faded into the distance as he returned to his dorm. She could imagine his head hanging in shame.
She got up and got onto her bed, burying herself under the covers. She felt horrible for treating Double Diamond the way she did, but she wasn't stupid. A foolish mare, maybe, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that Double Diamond would still be thinking about his murder plan. He had planned it out so well; he was sure to succeed if it did happen. Honestly, maybe her being told all of this was part of his plan to lure her out and kill her...
Even with his promise to take the Student Survival Committee's oath, she wasn't sure of her own group anymore. It was so large now, any pony could be planning a murder and she would have no idea. After Cheese's death, she expected Pinkamena to leave by tomorrow. If Sunburst or Twilight had been the one to die, Starlight might understand how they felt.
Cheese's death seemed to be driving Pinkamena to madness. She refused to let ponies call her Pinkie, and all the light and love that had made her mane fluffy, bouncy, and soft had went with Cheese's spirit and left her lifeless. She could barely recognize the pale pony now, or the edge in her voice. The growl that seeped into her words during the trial made Starlight shudder with fear and intimidation. She didn't want to think about it, but she knew it was the most logical thing. Some pony in her group is going to kill, and the entire group is going to fall apart. One of her members was already killed today...
She buried her face in her pillow, and screamed into it. She didn't feel much better even after letting out those feelings into the fabric, but she had to do something. She sighed, pulling the blankets over her head and staring at the shadows they made around her figure. She let her eyes close, and by the time she opened them again, she heard Philomena's annoying voice over the speakers once more. She wasn't sure if she could be bothered to get out of bed, but she pushed the blankets off her anyways, and the cold air outside her blanket cave made her stand up anyways.
Nervously, she scanned herself out of her dorm and half expected Double Diamond to be there. When he wasn't, she stepped outside and looked around the hallway. She saw him at the end of the hallway, rubbing sleep from his eyes. They locked eyes, and she saw a deep sadness in his eyes. He was trying to apologize, and she knew that. He waved at her, and she waved back. He turned, walking around the corner and heading for the entrance. When he was out of sight, she left her room, and took a deep breath. This was going to be... painful. Regret followed her every step. She was sure that it would leave hoofprints behind her.
She looked behind her, and saw nothing. Not a pony, and no hoof prints. She could feel the weight of guilt and the idea that she could die pressing into her body. She knew that no matter how good the food looked today, she wouldn't be able to eat. When she stepped outside, the warm sun on her coat, breaking through to her skin and removing the cold her room had given... it didn't make her feel any better. Even with all the sunlight in the world beating down on her face and stinging her eyes, she still shivered... with cold.
"S-Starlight?" The mare snapped back to reality as a soft voice spoke beside her. She didn't remember when she sat down at the table next to Fluttershy until she heard her voice.
"S-sorry..." Starlight stuttered the apology to the pegasus mare. "Were you talking to me?"
"N-no..." Fluttershy shook her head and put her hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "It's just that you... y-you look really sad. A-are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Starlight forced a smile. "I'm just... I-I'm feeling really upset after yesterday's execution still."
"Oh, I-I understand," Fluttershy sighed and fluttered her wings. "I can't believe somepony like Applejack c-could've done something so h-horrible. B-but, even if she did, s-she didn't deserve to go l-like that..."
"No pony does." Starlight's ears pinned to the sides of her head and she stared down at her empty portion of the feast table. "Death is a horrible thing, but what makes this so different is Philomena's way of making it happen. Some ponies are fated to die by some means, and there's no denying that, b-but... but Philomena makes the killers suffer! You can't help feeling bad for them... Rarity and Applejack have both went in the most horrible ways. I do miss Cheese and Party Favor of course but..."
"It's okay..." Fluttershy patted the mare's back when she heard the frustration seeping into her voice. "We-we're all going to get out soon. A-and we'll be safe and happy again... r-right?"
"...Right, yeah..." Starlight smiled at the mare. "I'm sorry for being so negative, this all just... it's still a lot to take in. We haven't been here long and we've lost so much."
"I-I know... " Fluttershy whimpered and pawed at the ground by her seat. "But... l-let's not try and dwell on it. Y-you should eat something, Starlight. R-remember what Twilight said? 'You need food s-so that you can think s-straight.'"
"Right! Thanks, Fluttershy." Starlight got out of her seat. "But, I think I'm just going to get a shake. I don't think I could really stomach actual food... Oh, that reminds me uh... While I have it in mind, is Pinkie-- er... Pinkamena... is she still cooking for us all?"
"S-surprisingly, she is," Fluttershy answered. "I-I'm not sure why... it might be b-better to ask her yourself. S-she's in the kitchen right now."
"Alright," Starlight said with a nod. "Once I get my shake, I'll go and see her. You be sure to eat too if you haven't already, Fluttershy. I'll see you later."
The ponies waved their goodbyes. Starlight walked to the smoothie shop to make her shake. Sunburst and Rainbow Dash were the only other ponies inside. Sunburst turned on the blender as he made himself a smoothie, and when he was done, Rainbow Dash began talking to him. As Starlight approached, it was clear that they had been talking for a while.
"I just don't get it." Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and folded her wings on her back. "It's like she can just... change sizes at will! I'm telling you whatever that thing is, it is not normal, and it's not a phoenix for that matter."
"So what is it then?" Sunburst asked as he poured his drink into a glass and began washing out the blender. "Maybe she is actually... changing the size of the pony she's executing?"
"But how?" Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "We don't see what happens when those ponies get dragged off..."
"That's exactly it then." Sunburst took a few sips of his smoothie before he spoke again. "She does something in that dark hallway that we can't see before she broadcasts it."
"Huh, that makes sense..." Rainbow muttered. "Oh, hey Starlight, I didn't see you there."
"Hey." Starlight waved her hoof. "You guys were talking about Philomena right?"
"More or less." Sunburst shrugged. "Rainbow Dash was confused about the executions."
"I just don't get how Philomena and the machines and props are so huge!" Rainbow exclaimed. "The blackened ponies are sooo small, like Rarity with the sewing machine and Applejack with the farm equipment... but how the hell are the machines themselves so big? And how is Philomena so huge? We've seen how big she is, she isn't even pony sized! So how does she do that?"
"I'm more inclined to go with Sunburst's idea," Starlight said as she filled the clean blender with bananas, milk, some peanut butter, and some chocolate syrup. "Philomena most likely shrinks the ponies in that hallway and we can't tell because it's so dark. What we're actually seeing is a mini-pony, and Philomena is entirely normal sized. The angles just make it look really dramatic. Only the blackened ponies would know that though..."
She turned on the blender, and the room was filled with the sounds of the ingredients being cut up and mixed. Sunburst watched the blender quietly, and Rainbow Dash seemed to be thinking hard. Starlight turned off the machine when the mix looked smooth enough. She poured it into a glass and began sipping it, after which the ponies continued their conversation.
"We could always try asking Philomena ourselves," Sunburst stated. "She just might give us an answer."
"We could try!" Rainbow said, and flapped her wings. "I mean, it's not like it's some huge secret that she's trying to hide from us. But, we could always use it to our advantage somehow?"
"What good would that information be though?" Starlight asked and wiped some of the smoothie from her mouth. "I mean, how can we use it? Sure it'll satiate your curiosity for now, but in the long run I don't think it will be that useful."
"That won't stop me from being curious," Rainbow said, before turning and cupping her hooves around her muzzle. "Yo, Philomena! Get your feathery behind in here, I got a question!"
The ponies waited patiently. They each looked around the room, waiting for her to show up. In a flash of fire, the ponies had to cover their eyes as Philomena materialized in the room. She covered her beak with one wing and yawned into her feathers.
"What do you want?" She asked, flicking her tail feathers. "I was catching up on some sleep after that exhausting harvest!"
"Ugh..." Rainbow rolled her eyes, not amused with the bird's complaint. "I just had a question about the executions."
"Ooh!" Philomena's eyes immediately lit with life. She hopped from claw to claw before speaking. "Well well, ask away! I'm always happy to answer questions about things I actually care about!"
"Weeell..." Starlight and Sunburst glanced at eachother as Rainbow spoke to Philomena. "It's just about, you know... the sizing in the executions. The machines are super huge and you're super huge, but the pony in the execution is just so... small. How does that happen?"
"Good question!" Philomena clapped her wings together. "I like to call it my 'creative camera angles' but that wouldn't fool you guys! Actually, the machines were just built to be that huge, so they're like that for good reason! The dying pony is actually normal sized."
"What?!" Rainbow exclaimed, levitating off the ground. "But then how are you so big?!"
"That's not me silly!" Philomena hooted and cackled. "It's a giant Robo-mena!"
"Robo-mena..?" Sunburst mumbled, and blinked with confusion.
"It's my best creation!" Philomena laughed. "My master made it for me so I could conquer the world! ...But conquering the world isn't as fun as an execution. So, I just pilot it to kill ponies at the right size!"
"...Huh." Rainbow was dumbfounded.
"Well, if that's all..." Philomena snickered as she flew into the air. "I'll be off now! I have some very special and very important 'things' to attend to. Toodles!"
The phoenix flew out of the building. Her laughter could be heard for a short time after she had left. Rainbow landed back on her hooves, eyes still wide with confusion and shock. She turned to the other two ponies. Starlight finished her smoothie and shrugged as she put her glass in the sink. Sunburst finished his own smoothie and began washing both cups, but it was obvious that he was just as confused.
"Well, it looks like we all were wrong," Starlight said after a few moments of silence. "Who would've thought."
"It still doesn't make any sense..." Sunburst mumbled. "And Philomena doesn't have that truth collar anymore so we can't tell if she was lying or not."
"But why wouldn't she tell us?" Rainbow asked. "Why would she lie about that? We can't even use the information that she gave us, just like Starlight said! I-I mean I'm not as curious anymore, sure, but even so there's still no real use for that! So Philomena just has these giant machines and a giant robot version of herself, big deal, why do we need to know that?!"
"It sounds more like this was just a waste of time," Sunburst said as he set the cups out to dry on a towel. He sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Well, information is information. I'm sure we can find a use for it, we just haven't been met with the right situation."
"Right." Starlight nodded in agreement. "Let's just try and hold onto this information while we can. You never know when you're going to need it. I'll make sure it's written down on my Phoenix Pad."
"I think I'm just gonna go back to my room," Rainbow grumbled as she trotted to the door. "I'm in a bad mood."
"Bye Rainbow Dash," Sunburst said and waved to her.
Rainbow glanced back, but didn't respond. She exited the room, and her hoofsteps fell silent was she walked through the grass outside. Starlight and Sunburst glanced at eachother, and a solemn mood draped over the room like a wet blanket. Starlight shuffled her hooves on the ground, discomfort crawling through her skin. She was able to hear her own thoughts again and she wasn't a fan at all. She sighed, catching the unicorn stallion's eyes and opening her mouth to speak.
"Sunburst, since things are already pretty serious... can I talk to you about something important?" She asked hesitantly.
"Of course," Sunburst replied right away. "I'm all ears."
"Well..." Starlight scratched her head and swished her tail. "You know I trust you a uh... a pretty decent amount. A-and... well, something happened last night that's been eating me up all day. I know I probably shouldn't talk about but I just... I can't hold back any longer without being able to just vent to somepony."
"This sounds really serious," Sunburst said. He approached Starlight and put his hoof on her shoulder. "I won't say a word to any pony else about this if you tell me, I swear on my life."
Starlight paused for a moment, taking in his words. She knew that she could trust Sunburst. She had gotten the closest with him over time, she did really believe that. Between him, Twilight, and the other members of the committee, she felt like she could place the most trust in them both. They were her closest friends, she didn't have much reason not to. She swallowed hard and stretched her neck, making sure that she was ready to talk about what happened at long last.
"It's... it's about one of the committee members. He asked me if he could join last night," She said tentatively. "It's Double Diamond."
"Oh! He asked to join?" Sunburst seemed to perk, some excitement flaring up in his eyes. "Well, I'm glad we have a new member. Maybe our cause will grow stronger the more ponies join us."
"Maybe, but that's besides the point Sunburst," Starlight continued. "He... he talked to me last night about something he'd been thinking about, and honestly I'm really scared."
"Scared?" Sunburst blinked, and the joyous fire in his eyes died down. "What for?"
"H-he..." Starlight wanted to say it without being blunt, but she knew there was no way to make it sound any worse than it was. She choked down the air caught in her throat to take a deep breath... "He told me that he was scared... because he had been thinking about killing me."
"What?!" Sunburst's voice raised for a moment. He then looked around in a brief panic, coughing and clearing his throat and trying to pretend nothing had happened. "W-what do you mean?"
"He came to my room last night. I didn't let him in of course, but we talked through the door," Starlight explained. "He told me he had a full plan about how he would've carried it out, and he told me all the details. I asked, obviously, when he told me he had been planning to kill me, but I was still really... afraid when he actually explained everything. And to be honest, I might've been stupid enough to let it work. He told me he wanted to join the committee so that he could suppress those urges, but... I'm still scared, Sunburst. What if he backs down and actually does try to kill either me o-or some other pony? Our entire cause will fall apart because a committee member broke the oath!! A-and, h-he might..."
Starlight hadn't realized the rapid rising and falling of her chest. She blinked, putting her hoof over her chest and feeling her heartbeat. She could feel it against her skin without her hoof, but it intensified when she tried to feel for it. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to take deep breaths. Finally, when her chest began rising and falling at a slower pace, she opened her eyes. Her heart no longer felt like beating out of her chest, and her vision once more focused on Sunburst.
"I'm sorry about that," She said more calmly than before. "I'm just... really afraid of him right now. I get chills thinking about everything he told me."
"It's fine Starlight," Sunburst said with a smile. "I get it, you're just worried, that's not a bad thing. I don't blame you at all, in fact I most likely would react the same way that you are right now. If a pony confessed to wanting to try and kill me, I would avoid them too. And if you aren't already, I think that's what you should do for a while."
"That's what we agreed on," Starlight said. "I told Double Diamond that I don't want him near me, and luckily both our dorms and the trial room abide by this rule for us. When I feel comfortable enough to talk to him again, I can approach him first and apologize."
"Apologize?" Sunburst flicked an ear.
"For avoiding him." Starlight rolled her shoulders and stared at the floor. "I've always been the mare that chooses to avoid her problems instead of try to fix them. This is a problem and I'm choosing to stay away from it without getting to the root of the cause."
"That's not something to feel bad about," Sunburst assured her. "And to be honest, there isn't much that you can do. Double Diamond was already thinking about killing somepony, and it was specifically you he was after. Hanging out with him as if that didn't happen seems really strange. Like I said, if some pony told me directly they had been planning to kill me, I would avoid them. There are tons of books and informational news outlets that explain the serial killer mindset. One of those big points is that a lot of serial killers are friendless and loveless for the simple fact that they feel this undeniable urge and drive to kill ponies that are closest to them. If you kept talking to Double Diamond, and became too close with him, then he might go through with his plan for real."
"But it wouldn't work, would it?" Starlight mused. "He told me his plans directly, so I would be smart enough to never go with him alone."
"That's just it," Sunburst said, tapping his hoof on the ground. "Maybe you're smart enough as you are now, 'sober' so to speak, but what if you're upset? What if you're having a panic attack or you need a pony to rant to in private, and Double Diamond seems like the best pony to talk to? In your panic, you would entirely forget what he told you, and he would carry out the crime."
The realization hit Starlight, and her chest felt heavy. Sunburst was entirely right. Starlight was already known to be the kind of pony to panic, and she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed when she was in a panicked state. She could very easily be making herself a victim, that's for sure. She never realized just how much she might be making things easier for ponies that weren't Double Diamond too. Even though her legs were shaking, and she knew that panic was soon to come, she felt like she could pull herself together to make herself less of a target. Of course, that would take time, but she might manage.
But now she was regretting her earlier consideration of owing him an apology. At any rate, she felt like she needed to be apologized to. But he had already...
She took deep breaths, calming back down again to respond to Sunburst rather than delve into another spiral.
"I'll just hope that he doesn't ever go through with it," Starlight sighed. "Or try to, even with me avoiding him. I just hope no other ponies follow his example."
"That would look bad for everypony if that happened," Sunburst chuckled nervously, eyes glancing to the side. "Our committee's image could be shattered, and outside ponies may start to lose hope about leaving this school. But, let's not let those thoughts creep into our mind. We still have a long day ahead of us, Starlight. We may as well try and distract our minds and make the best of what we have in this school. There's still a lot of places we haven't explored, so we should try looking around some more."
"Right!" Starlight's usually chipper attitude was returning slowly.
The ponies nodded to eachother with glints in their eyes. They exited the building together, silence overtaking them both. The other ponies were clearing out from the feast table, and she saw blots of colour in the distance. Other ponies were scattered around the courtyard, and when she looked back at her side, Sunburst was gone. She looked around, and saw him trotting joyfully over to Twilight and Shining Armor. It seemed like Sunburst had his own plans now, and she may as well make plans too. But there was so much time in the day... how could she possibly spend it?
Starlight looked around the courtyard, taking note of all the ponies she could see. Sunburst was with Twilight and Shining Armor, Double Diamond was with Doctor Whooves and Feather Bangs, Trixie seemed to be arguing with Prince Blueblood, but Starlight couldn't see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, or Pinkamena anywhere. She didn't like when she couldn't immediately find ponies. It set off her fight or flight response, and it made her heart pound. She swallowed hard as she began to wander the courtyard, searching for the ponies.
Thankfully, she didn't have to look too terribly far. She side glanced at a window, seeing Rainbow Dash sitting on the windowsill. Fluttershy was sitting on the ground next to her, brushing her hooves through her hair. They didn't seem to be talking, but they both seemed rather comfortable with eachother. Starlight sighed in relief. Well, that was two ponies she didn't need to worry about. But, where is..?
"Hi Starlight!"
Starlight leapt with surprise, spinning around to see one of the ponies she had been searching for.
"Oh god, Pinkamena..." Starlight held her hoof over her chest, trying to calm her beating heart. "You scared the daylights out of me."
"Sorry," Pinkamena snorted. "I didn't expect to see you back here either. I just finished cleaning off the feast table and putting everything away, I just need to clean the kitchen."
"I see," Starlight hummed. "Actually I uh... if you're not busy, I wanted to see if you maybe wanted to hang out? We haven't really talked that much, so I was hoping we could get to know eachother a little more."
"I don't mind!" Pinkamena nodded, clapping her hooves together. "We can go inside if you want?"
"Fine with me," Starlight said with a smile.
The two ponies nodded, before turning around and walking back into the kitchen.
>> PINKAMENA PIE FREE TIME EVENT 1: START! <<
The kitchen was still warm. Starlight took notice that one of the oven doors was cracked open. Thankfully, it seemed like the oven was off. When she approached it, it was still exuding heat.
"Hey Pinkamena," Starlight addressed the mare. "Did you leave the oven door open on purpose?"
"I did," Pinkamena said, trotting to stand by Starlight. "It's an old habit of mine, sorry, haha."
"An old habit?" Starlight asked, tilting her head.
"My parents taught it to me," Pinkamena explained. "I was born on a rock farm, and out there it gets pretty cold, even in the warmer seasons. So, to keep the house warm, we would open the door to the furnace after we finished cooking. We'd let the coals burn out over time, and the heat would spread throughout the house."
"That's really smart," Starlight said with a smile. "So you just do that by default with ovens too?"
"Kind of!" Pinkamena giggled. "I showed it to the ponies I used to live with in PonyVille too. Our bakery would get pretty cold in winter because the doors aren't completely solid. We would pin blankets up against the doors to block out some of the cold, and leave the oven doors open to warm things up."
"Maybe I should start doing that," Starlight laughed. "It always gets super cold where I live. I would've been too afraid of starting a fire to do something like that."
"As long as you don't leave the oven on it's not a problem," Pinkamena hummed. "But I get why you'd be concerned! I was really scared of it as a filly, but as I grew up and saw my parents doing it without even thinking, I thought 'hey maybe it's not so bad!' Aaand, here we are today!"
"Well, you can definitely feel the benefits," Starlight said. "It is really warm in here."
"Ah, should I close the oven?" Pinkamena glanced to the door, resting a hoof on the handle.
"No, it's fine," Starlight laughed. "I'm just used to it being cold in the dorm hallway. It's refreshing to be in a warm place. It makes me feel like I'm constantly wrapped up in a blanket."
"You're not wrong," Pinkamena giggled. "Well, if we ever get out of here, at least you know how to stay warm the rock farm way!"
"Yep!" Starlight snickered. "Thanks for explaining it to me. Hopefully I'll remember it."
"Pinkie promise you will?" Pinkamena grinned, tilting her head to the side with sparkling, expectant eyes.
"Pinkie promise..?" Starlight tilted her head to the side, a bit of confusion in her eyes.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly-" As Pinkamena spoke, she drew an X over her chest, before flapping her hooves at her sides like wings. "-Stick a cupcake in my eye!" She shut her left eye, before resting her hoof over it. She giggled once she rested her hooves back on the ground.
"Ah..." Starlight still seemed confused, but it seemed like this 'Pinkie promise' really made Pinkamena happy.
"If you can't tell, I started Pinkie promises," Pinkamena snorted. "They were just a happy little accident, but then some other ponies I knew started doing it. I hold Pinkie promises super close to me, so it means a lot when other ponies do them."
"I see," Starlight hummed. She was reminded of the 'broken promises' part of Pinkamena's dislikes, and now she understood what it meant. She'd swear not to break this promise. "Well, in that case, I Pinkie promise I'll remember your neat little oven trick. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
As Starlight recited the words, she did the same motions Pinkamena had. Crossing her heart, flapping her hooves, and pretending to stick a cupcake in her eye.
"Yippee!" Pinkamena excitedly clapped her hooves together and bounced in place.
>> Starlight's friendship with Pinkamena has deepened. <<
"I should probably finish cleaning up," Pinkamena hummed when she had calmed down.
"Yeah, I'll let you get back to it," Starlight said, turning to the side. "It was nice hanging out with you though, Pinkamena."
"Anytime Starlight!" Pinkamena said.
The ponies waved their goodbyes to eachother. Pinkamena finally shut the oven door and went back to cleaning up the kitchen. Thankfully, she didn't have much to put away still. Starlight trotted to the door, and stepped back outside. It felt much cooler outside, but the warmth of the kitchen still lingered on her coat. She would stay that warm for just a little longer.
But, she still had so much time left over... Starlight looked up at the sky. It wasn't that late, and her time hanging out with Pinkamena wasn't as much as she thought it was. The other ponies were still scattered around the courtyard, though it seemed some of the groups had split up. A few ponies were on their own. Briefly, Starlight considered her options. The alone ponies consisted of Fluttershy, Trixie, Shining Armor, and Twilight. She hadn't gotten much time to spend with any of them, other than one off conversations and her explorations with Twilight.
She blinked. Well, she had barely talked to two of those ponies since they got there. She did want to learn more. She made up her mind, and decided that she wanted to hang out with Trixie.
>> TRIXIE LULAMOON FREE TIME EVENT 1: START! <<
"Ah, Starlight Glimmer!" Trixie addressed the mare as she approached. "Just the pony I was hoping to see!"
"You wanted to talk to me?" Starlight blinked in surprise.
"Yes yes, Trixie has something important to ask you about," The unicorn hummed. "You see, it's about that wretched stallion with the blonde hair."
"You mean... Prince Blueblood?" Starlight tilted her head.
"Yes, that one," Trixie scoffed.
"I saw you both arguing earlier," Starlight mentioned. "I didn't want to get involved, so I stayed back. Can I ask what it was about?"
"Well, I'll explain it in short," Trixie sighed. "We got into a bit of a scrap talking about the last few, ehm, ponies that have died. Our conversation began as civil, as do all, but he very quickly showed his true colours."
"You mean you thought he was nice before?" Starlight spoke flatly, with one eyebrow raised.
"Well, Trixie knew he was a bit of a um..." Trixie paused, tapping her chin. "...a bit of a prick, but I didn't think he was that bad."
"Well, there was your first mistake," Starlight snickered.
"Hush up." Trixie stuck her tongue out. "Continuing on, we began talking about it in more detail, and I have to say he is anything but blunt, he's just flat out rude! He pretty much said that everypony here could die and he wouldn't mind because we aren't 'royalty.'"
"What?!" Starlight almost yelled. Her ears pinned back like a cat's. "Oh that-! Ugh, I knew his dislikes were hypocritical."
"So that's what you guys were arguing about?" Starlight sighed. "I'm not surprised. He always holds his head up all high and mighty, like he's some sort of immortal god."
"Right?" Trixie grumbled. "Trixie is more than happy to admit when she has a fault... er, well, sometimes... b-but he is always in denial of it! No matter how many times a pony can tell him he's wrong, he'll blow it off or blow it out of proportions."
"Almost all royal ponies are like that, in my experience," Starlight said. "And he is a prime example of it."
"Twilight is the nicest royal pony here," Trixie snorted. "And she's an alicorn, so he should learn to respect her more! Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd dare say he is beneath her!"
"Regardless of whether or not that's true, Twilight isn't the kind of pony to push that idea," Starlight said with a sigh. "She seems like she's way too nice for that. Honestly, I think she's more likely to just avoid him like I've been doing."
"I've been trying to do that as well," Trixie hummed. "But, unfortunately, the more you talk to a pony, the more it'll be easier to know if they're likely to kill another pony in this stupid school. And, if I'm going to be honest with you Starlight, you might want to watch out for him. If he hates 'common' ponies so much, Trixie wouldn't be surprised if he ends up as the next pony executed."
"Don't say that," Starlight huffed. "You might be right, but it's not nice to talk about other ponies like that. Besides, I think he's too afraid of 'dirtying his hooves' to do something so vile."
"Fair point," Trixie sighed. "I suppose I'll try not to speak my thoughts out loud. Well, when he's around."
"Trixie." Starlight passed the mare a glare.
"Okay okay I won't say them at all!" Trixie groaned. "Stop looking at me like that."
"Thank you," Starlight hummed, smiling smugly but sweetly. "Regardless of whether or not we like other ponies, we should at least try to be polite... it might prevent future conflicts from brewing."
"Ugh, I hate when other ponies are right," Trixie snorted. "Okay, I'll try not to be mean. But don't be surprised if you see us arguing again, because Trixie does not back down from a fight."
"I guess I can't stop you," Starlight said. "Just try not to go too far, okay?"
"I'll do my best," Trixie said, nodding her head.
>> Starlight's friendship with Trixie has deepened. <<
"I think I'm going to head back to my room," Trixie said, stretching her legs. "Arguing with that cursed stallion used up a lot of my energy."
"Have a good rest, Trixie," Starlight said.
"Thank you~" Trixie sang lightly as she began trotting off to the building's entrance.
Starlight watched the mare trot through the opening, and disappear behind the walls of the academy. She sighed, and looked up at the sky once more. The day was going by so slowly... Maybe she could follow Trixie's example. If she had nothing better to do, she could just go to bed. Sleeping would pass more time than aimlessly wandering around.
She began trotting back to the building, and stepped inside. It was so quiet inside when no ponies were around. The silence was eerie, and the dim light didn't help the atmosphere. She picked up her pace, walking down the hallway to her room. She scanned herself in, and quickly stepped inside. She watched the door shut, before she could relax.
She knew why she was still scared, of course. She was still thinking about what Double Diamond had told her. She climbed onto her bed and sat down, feeling her heart beating. Her anxiety had been at an all time high ever since then. Despite everything that she had done throughout the day, she couldn't get her mind off it. She had tried to distract herself by talking to the other ponies, but nothing helped. Even her talk with Sunburst didn't ease her anxiety.
She crawled under her blankets and pulled the covers over her head. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep at all when her thoughts were whirling around her head like this. She shut her eyes, and decided it might be for the best if she at least pretends to be asleep. Maybe if she's lucky, her thoughts will stop just long enough that she'll actually sleep.
Thankfully, her plan seemed to work. Before she knew it, her world had gone dull and muffled, and she was completely out within minutes. She was lucky that she didn't toss and turn in her sleep.
