Day 12, 06:24

The others wasted no time in rushing to the scene of the crime. Maud was the first, finding Pinkie slumped in one of the stone pews next to the body. She took one look at the bruised, beaten and exhausted Pinkie Pie and joined the dots.

“What did you do?” she asked, kneeling down beside her sister.

“Not this!” Pinkie replied, slightly agitated. “I just left my room last night… really wish I hadn’t.”

Next came Octavia and Fluttershy, the latter staring in shock at Pinkie. Rainbow trudged in, her face neutral upon seeing Fleetfoot’s body, and finally Rarity arrived aiding a thoroughly zoned out Shining Armour.

“So now that we’re all here,” Octavia began as Rarity dropped Shining’s limp body into another pew. “Care to fill us in?”

“I left my room last night,” Pinkie explained, her voice weary. “A lot of… crazy stuff happened. Just before six I was chased here by a monster, I found this…”

Pinkie held up the broken piece of the orrery, particularly the half covered in blood.

“When I searched in here…” Pinkie gestured to the body, letting the rest speak for itself.

“But that would mean Fleetfoot was also outside her room last night,” Octavia stated thoughtfully. “As would the killer.”

“Should we get started investigating then?” Rainbow asked in a hollow voice.

“I suppose we should,” Pinkie agreed, standing up. “First of all we should take a look…”

“Actually that won’t be necessary,” the Mastermind interrupted. “As the trial is beginning shortly.”

“Wait, what?!” Pinkie demanded, suddenly much more aware. “You haven’t given us time to investigate; you only announced the body being discovered like twenty minutes ago.”

“You have already spent adequate time investigating,” the Mastermind shot back. “Now this decision is not open for debate, report to the courtyard for the trial or forfeit the game.”

Pinkie was seething with rage.

I investigated?! All I did was run around fighting crazy monsters.

“What do we do?” Rarity asked, panicked. “If we don’t investigate how are we supposed to figure this out?”

“The Mastermind wouldn’t be this unfair,” Octavia pointed out, grinding her teeth. “Pinkie must have seen something, anything that would tell her who did this.”

Pinkie thought desperately for a moment, they couldn’t delay, but they had to check stuff.

“Alright everypony,” Pinkie announced, her voice loud and brimming with authority. “I need you all to follow my instructions and not question me.”

The others all nodded obediently.

“Rainbow, I need you to fly as fast as you can to the observatory,” Pinkie ordered. “Look for anything out of the ordinary and fly straight to the courtyard.”

Rainbow didn’t need any more persuasion, speeding from the chapel leaving a multihued streak in her wake.

“Rarity and Fluttershy,” Pinkie continued. “Get Shining down to the courtyard, we’ll meet you there shortly.”

Both her friends nodded and rushed over to Shining, hauling him up and hurrying him from the room.

“Maud, Octavia, follow me,” Pinkie instructed, striding from the room.

Both obeyed without a single complaint, flanking Pinkie on either side as she left the chapel and headed towards the spiral staircase. The first thing Pinkie noticed was how the floor the demon had smashed through was now completely repaired. Running down the spiral staircase, taking it three steps at a time, Pinkie arrived on the first floor corridor and ran towards the cellar door. The desk Fleetfoot had lodged in the door frame was gone, reduced to smoking embers trailing down into the cellar.

“The cellar?” Maud muttered confused.

Pinkie didn’t stop, moving on down the corridor to the wash room. Arriving at the door she shouldered it open and charged in. Again she wasn’t surprised to see the remains of the hair monster completely absent from the floor, but the single cubicle remained open. Running over she peered in, finding it still covered in blood.

“What happened here?” Octavia asked, looking over Pinkie’s shoulder.

Pinkie didn’t reply, instead leaning down and grasping at the drain, pulling a thick clump of matted blue hair from the drain.

“How did you know that was there?” Octavia asked, bewildered.

“Like I said, a lot of crazy stuff happened last night,” Pinkie muttered, dropping the soaking hair clump in disgust.

“Anything else you need to see?” Maud asked as Pinkie backed out of the cubicle.

“Not if Rainbow finds what I expect is still in the observatory,” Pinkie stated. “Now let’s go, we can’t risk taking any more time.”

The three sprinted from the washroom, down the corridor into the entrance hall just as Fluttershy ran in through the gate.

“Rainbow just got back,” she explained hurriedly. “Shining and Rarity are both in position.”

“Good,” Pinkie said quickly. “Octavia, Maud, you both head on through. Fluttershy, could I speak to you?”

Maud and Octavia ran through the gate and Fluttershy followed Pinkie over to one of the walls.

“What do you need Pin…” Fluttershy began, but didn’t get any further as Pinkie grabbed hold of her and pushed her up against the wall.

“Where did you go?!” Pinkie demanded, absolutely furious.

“What?” Fluttershy squealed, sounding terrified. “I don’t…”

“Last night, you left the room, why?!” Pinkie shouted.

“I didn’t,” Fluttershy cried hastily. “I woke up and you were gone, I didn’t know what to do. I waited for you to come back but when the Mastermind said a body was found, I thought…”

Pinkie loosened her grip, her eyes and voice softening as tears began to roll down Fluttershy’s face.

“You never left the room?” Pinkie asked, confused.

“No!” Fluttershy wailed.

Pinkie released Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry for snapping, but when I woke up you were gone,” Pinkie explained. “That’s why I left.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Fluttershy muttered.

Pinkie sagged, she felt guilty for scaring her friend, but they still had a job to do, she could make up for it later.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy,” Pinkie replied weakly. “We should go on out.”

Fluttershy nodded miserably, Pinkie turned towards the entrance hall gate, hearing her friend walking behind her.

Day 12, 06:53

The courtyard remained cracked and broken following Chrysalis’s attack; however the runes were once more alive and shining bright around the five ponies who were already standing in position. As Pinkie circled around, she panned over the portraits of the fallen ponies, the colour drained from each, a bloody red X drawn over them.

“When I said you were to report straight to the courtyard,” the Mastermind began, sounding irritated. “I did not mean for you to dilly dally around the castle first.”

“Deal with it,” Pinkie retorted. “If you’re going to try and mess with us, we’ll just screw you right back.”

“You should watch your tongue Pinkie Pie, there’s a fine line between wit and cheek,” the Mastermind warned in a cold voice. “Also I did not mess with you, I warned you not to leave your rooms at night. The rules change, as I’m sure you know all too well at this point.”

“But from the sounds of it,” Octavia cut in, “both the murderer and the victim were also outside their rooms at night. So if Pinkie had stayed inside her own room, would you still have called the trial immediately? Because if so, you would have been dependant on Pinkie leaving her room for this to be fair in any way, in which case you really have no reason to belittle her for it.”

Pinkie smirked at Octavia’s reasoning.

“If you are both quite done,” the Mastermind snapped. “Then perhaps we can move past this animosity and continue our previous relationship.”

“Where you torment and torture us?” Rarity asked coldly.

“The only torment you have suffered has been at the hooves of those around you,” the Mastermind argued. “Whether they be alive or dead. All I have done is enable you.”

“All you’ve done?” Maud repeated in disbelief. “You turned the princesses to stone. You turned Canterlot into this. You’ve turned friends against each other. You can talk big and reason all you want, but this is still all on you.”

There was a long moment of silence, Pinkie wondered if maybe they had finally pushed the wrong buttons and were about to pay for it.

“You know what?” the Mastermind said in cool voice. “I don’t care how you choose to see things. This will all be over soon enough, in a matter of days judging from your dwindling numbers. You can despise me all you want, but I’ll still get my final victory.”

The courtyard fell deathly silent. Pinkie briefly met her sister’s eyes; neither liked the sound of that.

“And now, if we are done rambling,” the Mastermind continued in a brighter tone. “I call this trial to order.”

Trial 4: Fleetfoot

“Well, um, where do we start?” Fluttershy asked tentatively.

“Well I guess we could begin with how the victim died,” Octavia proposed. “I didn’t get to take a very close look, but it looks as if her skull was smashed in with a blunt object.”

“It was,” Pinkie confirmed, once again holding up the broken planet.

“What is that?” Maud asked. “Some kind of rock?”

“It’s a planet replica broken from the orrery,” Pinkie explained, noticing Octavia’s horrified expression as she said so. “I found half in the observatory, and the other half covered in blood outside the crime scene.”

Pinkie decided it would be best to skip the part about the armoured monster, better to keep everything as believable as possible.

“Did you find anything in the observatory?” Rarity asked Rainbow.

“Well I didn’t notice that thing missing,” Rainbow admitted. “I was in and out so quick I didn’t even realise one of the planets was missing, but I did find this.”

Rainbow held up a silver medal emblazoned with a pink, six pointed star.

“Anything else?” Pinkie asked. “Anything like… armour?”

“Armour?” Rainbow repeated, unsure. “I didn’t see anything like that. But there is something you might be interested in.”

“What’s that?” Pinkie asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“The stairs have moved,” Rainbow replied.

“Wait, seriously?” Pinkie asked, suddenly forgetting what they were in the middle of.

“Yeah, must have happened last night,” Rainbow suggested. “You can still reach the infirmary and throne room, but now we can also get to the armoury and somewhere even higher up.”

“Interesting,” Pinkie murmured, rubbing her chin. “We can look into that later, right now we should focus on this.”

“So the killer broke the planet off the orrery,” Fluttershy summed up. “And used it to… kill Fleetfoot.”

“Looks like it,” Pinkie replied nodding. “They probably then went to the wash room to clean the blood off themselves, forgetting to clean the shower after using it.”

“That seems like a pretty foolish move,” Rarity pointed out. “Surely any killer with the slightest sense about them would not leave such a glaringly obvious clue.”

“A real killer wouldn’t,” Pinkie agreed. “But a drunk exposed to their own living nightmares, probably wasn’t thinking too clearly.”

“You think they were drunk?” Rainbow queried.

“The blockade at the cellar door had been blasted apart,” Pinkie explained. “I didn’t have time to confirm it this morning, but last night I found an awful lot of empty bottles in there.”

“So now what? Should we try and figure out who else was outside their room last night?” Maud asked.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Pinkie said dismissively. “I already know who the killer is.”

The others all stared at her in surprise.

“Like I said, I saw a lot of crazy stuff last night,” Pinkie continued, “but everything I’ve seen this morning has just confirmed it. This case is pretty clear cut.”

Pinkie turned to her left, to the one member of their group who had been completely silent throughout the entire trial.

“How are you feeling Shining Armour?” she asked in a neutral tone.

Shining glanced up at the mention of his name. He looked awful, it was impossible to believe that he was once a decorated captain and prince, born to a well off family in the highest of high classes.

“I…” he began , his voice drifting off for briefly as if he had fallen asleep standing up. “I don’t know.”

“No, I can imagine everything that’s happened has really damaged you,” Pinkie said, reaching into her saddlebags. “So much so that when you found this…”

Pinkie showed him the framed picture of his family. The effect was instantaneous, Shining went ballistic, screaming obscenities and smashing desperation against his invisible prison.

“It set you off,” Pinkie finished, setting the picture frame face down on the bench in front of her. “I know you had it, the chip missing from the front of it was outside the chapel.”

“You noticed a chip of glass?” Maud repeated in disbelief.

“I guess I’ve gotten good at noticing little details like that,” Pinkie said wistfully, ignoring the screaming stallion several feet to her left.

“So the picture triggered this reaction in him,” Octavia covered. “Then what?”

“In his insanity he used his magic to force entry into the cellar,” Pinkie explained. “Alcohol has been his escape for a long time, as he showed us all several days ago when the cellar was first opened.”

“So then he went to the observatory,” Rarity continued. “Broke the orrery and lost his medal.”

Pinkie could indeed see the ripped sash barely hanging around Shining’s torso; in his dishevelled state she hadn’t picked up on it at first.

“I also saw some armour last night in the observatory,” Pinkie explained, once again skipping the part about it being worn by a spectral monster. “It was purple with gold trimming, the same armour Shining wore as a captain in the royal guard.”

“And the wash room?” Maud asked. “That was his hair in the drain?”

“Yeah, at first I thought it just looked blue because of the blue lights,” Pinkie explained before remembering that nopony knew what she was talking about. “But yes, he had enough lucidity to think to clean the blood off, but wasn’t aware enough to clean the shower afterwards of his hair from the drain.”

“So… that’s it?” Fluttershy asked. “Nothing else needs answered?”

“Not quite,” Octavia cut in. “There are still a few questions I’d like answered. For starters, why were you out of your room Pinkie?”

“I think…” Pinkie began hesitantly, remembering her encounter with Fluttershy moments before. “I think the Mastermind tricked me into believing Fluttershy left the room, I went out to find her.”

“I see,” Octavia murmured, looking over at Fluttershy. “Secondly, where did Shining get that picture?”

Pinkie’s words stuck in her throat, she had never told the others about what her and Fluttershy had found in the town.

“A while back, Fluttershy and I journeyed into the town,” Pinkie began.

“That was the morning Octavia fell sick,” Rarity recalled, “when we couldn’t find either of you.”

“That’s right,” Pinkie confirmed. “While out there, we found a house. Knowing what we know now, I assume it was originally Twilight’s parent’s house. In it I found that picture. I kept it hidden because at the time I was still trying to hide what Twilight had done, after you all found out the picture hardly seemed relevant anymore.”

“Was there anything else in the house?” Octavia asked curiously.

“No, not a thing,” Pinkie assured her.

“I see,” Octavia stated, sounding like she wanted to pursue the topic but instead deciding to move on. “Finally, I want to know why Fleetfoot was outside her room last night.”

Pinkie opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Why was Fleetfoot outside her room?

Pinkie never did figure that out. Looking around the others she saw that none of them seemed to have the answers, so she turned to the still raging Shining Armour.

“Shining,” she announced, catching his attention. He seemed almost primitive in his behaviour. “Do you remember what happened last night?”

“Twily,” he muttered. “Twily, Twiliy, Twily, Twily…”

“Jeez, he really is a broken record,” Rainbow whispered, staring in awe at the stallion.

“Shining I need you to focus,” Pinkie said louder, but he wouldn’t listen, still repeating his sister’s nickname over and over again.

“Allow me darling,” Rarity interrupted, her horn glowing blue.

Pinkie saw the medal hover up from Rainbow’s bench and float across the courtroom to hang in the air before Shining Armour.

“Shining, do you know what this is?” Rarity asked calmly.

Shining stared at it, blinking.

“My… my medal,” he muttered.

Shining reached out and tried to take hold of it, but his hoof brushed uselessly against the barrier.

“My uncle’s medal,” he said again, louder.

“It’s a lovely medal,” Rarity complimented, passing it through the barrier to Shining. “I remember you looked so dashing on your wedding day with it.”

“My wedding…” Shining murmured, staring down at the medal, a faraway look in his eyes.

“I still remember how you regaled us all with the tale of how your uncle earned that medal through his acts of bravery under the Princess's service,” Rarity continued. “How he gave it to you when you joined the guard. I still remember the pride in your voice when you told us how you promised him you would grow to become as brave and honourable as him.”

Shining blinked rapidly as he looked at his medal.

“Then I don’t deserve this medal,” he whispered, letting it fall from his grasp as he collapsed to his knees. “I’m not honourable; I’ve failed everypony I ever loved.”

Pinkie stared in surprise at Shining, amazed at his second transformation in such short time.

“I failed my country,” he continued. “I failed my Princess. I failed my family. I failed my wife.”

Shining looked over at the statue of Cadance, a look of utter hopelessness in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry Cadance,” Shining declared, suddenly no longer talking to them. “You tried to shield me from the truth, to let me continue cherishing my baby sister as I did, and all I did in return was hurt you.”

Pinkie looked over at Rarity, seeing her in silent tears.

“I don’t deserve that medal,” Shining repeated. “And I don't deserve you as my wife.”

“Shining…” Pinkie began quietly.

“Please, just end it,” Shining interrupted, his head hanging.

Pinkie looked around at the others once more.

“I don’t think there’s anything more we can do for him,” Maud whispered to her.

Pinkie nodded, the dial in front of her glowing. With nothing more to say, Pinkie turned her dial, watched as the image of Shining’s face swam to the pool’s surface and waited for the others to follow suit.

It didn’t take long before all votes were cast and the pool rippled to show the clock face, the hands spinning rapidly. Pinkie didn’t even look to see them slow down and finally settle directed at Shining Armour.

“Well done, you have correctly identified Shining Armour as the killer,” the Mastermind announced. “Now, for the murder of Fleetfoot, I sentence you to…”

Pinkie frowned when the Mastermind failed to finish the sentence.

“Actually,” the Mastermind began slowly, sounding devious. “I’m going to offer you a chance at redemption.”

“What?!” Pinkie exclaimed, along with the others. Shining just looked up weakly.

“A chance to save your own life,” the Mastermind continued. “A trial by combat!”

Pinkie barely had time to register what the Mastermind meant by that before the ground before Shining disappeared and he fell in to the abyss.

“What are you playing at?” Maud demanded.

“Just watch,” the Mastermind instructed.

Pinkie looked down at the pool as it rippled, the clock face vanishing to be replaced with an image of Shining Armour standing in what looked like a large cavern, massive crystals jutting from the walls.

“Sometimes, it’s no fun to kill a pony who’s lost the will to live,” the Mastermind explained sadistically. “Sometimes, giving them a false glimmer of hope makes everything vastly more amusing!”

Shining Armour stumbled around for a second, apparently not hearing what the Mastermind was saying until they spoke once more.

“Shining Armour.” He straightened up, looking all around him for the source of the voice. “If you survive, both you and Cadance will be set free, the others will remain and continue the game.”

Suddenly there was a bright flash followed by a series of loud clattering, as several random weapons and armour pieces, presumably summoned from the armoury were dropped haphazardly around the cavern floor. Shining didn’t seem to need much persuasion, telekinetically lifting a helmet which he dropped on his head before also grabbing hold of a round shield and short sword.

“For Cadance,” Shining announced, “I will survive.”

Just as the words were spoken, one of the jagged crystals on the wall flashed a bright white light, a large wolf appearing in front of it, made entirely from crystal. The wolf snarled at Shining before charging forward and pouncing. He was a little taken aback by the creature’s sudden appearance, but he managed to raise his shield in time to take the brunt of the force and push the wolf back. As it landed hard on the ground, sprawling, Shining leapt forward and drove his sword into the creature’s neck.

His sword apparently had become jammed as he began tugging fruitlessly to heave it out. From the corner of his eye, Shining saw two more crystals flash, another two wolves joining the fray. With a mighty tug, he wrenched his sword out, cleaving the creatures head off in the process. Pinkie glanced up at Fluttershy and wasn’t surprised to find her shielding her eyes with her wings.

Shining swung his sword at the first wolf, taking a leg clean off, but didn’t notice the other circling around. He turned in time to see it jump for him, raised his shield only to have the other return and tackle it from his magical grip. The jumping wolf opened its jaws and latched onto Shining’s head, his helmet crushing under the force of its crystal teeth. Shining ripped his helmet off, firing a magical blast into the chest of the wolf, shattering it into smouldering fragments. Then in one fluid motion, he swung around driving his sword into the returning wolf, taking it down instantly.

Before he could cherish his victory however, another crystal flashed, a crystalline Manticore appearing before him. No time to free his sword from the wolf’s body, Shining dodge rolled away from the beast’s swipe. Looking around wildly, he caught sight of a halberd. Taking hold of it, he swung it across the room, embedding it in the Manticore’s shoulder. Unlike the wolves, it didn’t fall, if anything it only made it angrier.

Letting out a furious roar, the Manticore charged. Shining tried to leap out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough as the scorpion tail sprung out and caught him sharply in the side. Shining tried to get to his hooves but collapsed, blood gushing from the stab below his ribs. With his face straining and his horn bursting with light, the wound began stitching itself back together. It was a messy job, looking like a real battle scar by the time he was done. The Manticore had left him be as it tugged the halberd free from its shoulder, now that it had done so it turned its attention back to him.

Shining looked around, lighting his horn and lifting up the severed wolf leg. Then launching it like a projectile, he fired at high speed straight for the beast’s eye. It defiantly helped that the leg was also made of crystal, so that when it connected, the Manticore’s face shattered, its body crumpling. Shining Armour got to his hooves, shaking as he did so. His spell had stopped any further blood loss, but the poison was already in his system. Pinkie didn’t know the first thing about animal poisons, she didn’t even know if Manticore poison could be lethal.

Shining didn’t have time to recover any more than that, as suddenly multiple crystals flashed and he was surrounded by dozens of crystal bats swooping over his head. Shining began desperately batting them away as they swooped down, fangs bared and claws at the ready. As fast as he could possible move with his injury, Shining ran across the cavern to a small pile of weapons. He quickly conjured up a domed shield to protect him while he raised a crossbow. Taking careful aim he began firing bolt after bolt off.

The bats too quick however, coupled with the strain of maintaining his shield spell he only managed to hit down three of them, the rest of his bolts bouncing uselessly off the cave wall. With his shield flickering, Shining cast down the crossbow and instead took up a spear. He just had time to slap another helmet on before his shield died and the bats came in for another attack. He fended them off well with the pole arm, jutting out and swiping several of them out of the air from a safe distance.

He was finally starting to make good progress in taking down the bats when a particularly large crystal flashed, and something enormous appeared filling half the available cavern space. Shining Armour charged forward, apparently hoping to get the element of surprise, but his spear glanced uselessly off the crystal dragon’s body. A quick swipe of its claw later and the spear was snapped in two, and Shining was sent flying across the cavern into the wall.

His quick decision to put on the helmet had probably saved his life there as it ended up taking most of the damage. Shining stood up just as the dragon opened its mouth and screeched, a plume of white fire jetting out. Shining reacted just in time, grabbing a square shield from across the room and sending it his way before slamming it into the ground before him and taking cover behind it. Once the dragon stopped spewing fire, Shining chucked the shield aside, taking hold of a claymore and charging forward, letting loose a war cry.

However one of the remaining bats swooped down and struck him in the side of the head, it didn’t hurt him, but it effectively distracted him from the dragons tail whipping around, the arrow head tip slicing through Shining’s foreleg and sending it across the room.

Shining collapsed, unable to scream from the shock of having his leg cut clean off. Before he could even register what had really happened in his mind, the dragon returned, its claws coming down hard, beating the stallion mercilessly and repeatedly into the ground. At some point during the brutal beating, Shining’s body stopped moving, but even then the dragon didn’t stop, pulverising its enemy into nothing but paste before finally lighting him up for good measure.

Pinkie just watched on in disbelief, after such a valiant effort she never expected it to end so suddenly. After a few more minutes the dragon seemed to lose interest, leaving the remains for the bats to pick through.

“Now wasn’t that considerably more fun to watch?” the Mastermind asked, sounding greatly amused.

“Did…” Rarity began, looking horrified as the pool rippled and the image of the cavern disappeared. “Did he even have a chance?”

“Of course not,” the Mastermind answered, as if talking to a foal. “What kind of execution would it have been if he could survive?”

Rarity, breathing heavily, stormed off from the courtroom, heading for the castle gates. Pinkie just sighed and stepped away from her own circle, starting her own slow journey back to the castle gates. As she began to approach them, she felt something tug at her leg. Turning around she saw Octavia standing behind her, giving her a hard stare.

“We need to talk,” she said flatly.

Pinkie nodded wearily.

“Sure.”

Author's Note

Well this was a fun excursion from the norm, however I promise the next chapter will return to usual format.
As for who was correct in guessing the killers identity... No-one! No-one was the winner, in fact nobody even guessed, which is weird considering the chapter's called 'Occam's Razor' because the culprit was so obvious. Hopefully the next chapter will get more interaction.