The rain ravaged through the streets of Canterlot. Most of the ponies had either locked themselves up in the houses or were trying to return home to avoid the dreaded rain and lightning. Raven, assistant to the Princesses, was slowly walking to the castle with the rain and wind. Raven eventually made it inside the dry castle where every few lights were on and only a few staff members remained. Most of the royal guards had gone home for the night as Princess Celestia was off on royal business in Saddle Arabia.
Raven walked over to the kitchen where the cook, Gustave le Grand, was preparing dinner. “How is dinner coming along,” Raven asked but was stopped by him pointing a knife in her face, “Dinner will be ready in an hour,” he rudely replied and continued by sharpen the knives.
Raven went to the Lounge room in which Fleur Dis Le, the new maid, had six glasses of cider ready for when the guests arrived. “Fleur, please make one more guest for our host this evening.” Fleur grabbed another glass and made another cider as a knock on the door was heard. Raven walked over to the front door and was greeted with Captain of the Royal Guards, Shining Armor, who was soaking wet from the rain.
“Ah, Shining Armor, so nice of you to join us this evening. Please wait for the other guest to arrive in the lounge.” Raven said as she gestured toward the lounge. Shining Armor walked to where she had pointed when another knock was heard. Raven opened the door to meet Mrs. Cake of Ponyville.
“Mrs. Cup Cake, I presume,” Raven asked.
“Yes, dear,” Mrs. Cake replied. “If you will come with me,” Raven said as she led Mrs. Cake to the Lounge where Shining Armor was drinking his glass for and where Fleur had the other glasses.
“Mrs. Cake, Shining Armor; Shining Armor, Mrs. Cake,” Raven said introducing the two.
They exchange quiet hellos as a third knock was heard. Raven went back to the door and opened it to meet Mayor Mare. “Mrs. Mayor, please hurry inside.” The Mayor did as she was told and Raven almost closed the door but was stop when she heard a voice yelling to hold the door. Raven looked outside to see Braeburn running to the door.
“Thank you, kindly,” Braeburn said as he went through the door. Raven took him and Mayor Mare over to the lounge and gave them each a glass of cider.
“So what is this all about,” Shining Armor asked.
“Sorry, sir. I can’t quiet tell you until all the guests are here,” Raven told him. She was able to introduce them all to each other when there was another knock at the door. Raven went over to the front and was greeted by two ponies.
“Big Macintosh and Cheerilee, I didn’t realize you were arriving as a couple.” Raven told them
They both blushed, “Were no a couple, just, uh, good friends.” Cheerilee explained
“Eeyup,” Big Mac said after her. Raven brought them into the lounge. Raven looked over her clipboard to see all six guests were now present, when a large gong was struck that startled Braeburn.
“Dinner iz served,” Gustave yelled and Raven gestured the guest to go over to dinner room where a large rectangular table with one large chair on the end and three chairs on either side of the chair. “Please sit where you nameplate is located,” Raven told the guests.
The guests were all able to find their nameplates. On one side of the table sat Mayor Mare, Big Macintosh, and Mrs. Cake. On the other side were Shining Armor, Cheerilee, and Braeburn. Raven and Fleur both entered the room bringing the guests their dinner. Once all the guests were served Fleur left the room, but Raven said in the door way looking over her clipboard. The guests did not exchange conversation at first, but Mayor Mare spoke up.
“Well, if we’re all going to be here for the evening, we might as well get acquainted with one another. For those of you who don’t know me I Mayor of Ponyville, I’ll tell you right out, this is one of my favorite recipes. I must give my compliments to the chef.”
Most of the guests responded with confused faces, but Braeburn started to talk, “Well, I’m Braeburn, from Appleloosa, and heck if I know why I got an invitation to this fancy castle.”
“Yeah, why are we all here, Mrs. Assistant,” Cheerilee asked.
“Where is are host,” Shining Armor continued.
Raven didn’t immediately answer as she was looking over her clipboard, but eventually stop to answer the questions, “Well, I’ll start by introducing myself. I am Raven, and I work as the royal assistant to the Princesses, and the reason you are all here is because you have one thing in common.”
The guests looked at one another, trying to figure out what.
“You’re all being blackmailed,” Raven finished.
“By who,” Mrs. Cake asked, but Raven didn’t get a chance to answer as the clock had struck seven and it was followed by a knock at the door.
“Excuse me, your host has arrived,” Raven said as she went to the front door. She let in the host and took them to the dining room where a seventh dinner was already ready.
Raven walked in followed by their host. All the guests were shocked by who was their host. It was Princess Luna. All the guests gasped and stopped eating.
Princess Luna walked over to the only open chair and sat down. All the guests’ mouth were wide open at their host’s identity.
“Now you can get to thou business,” Princess Luna informed the guests.
“You mean the blackmail,” Mayor Mare said to the Princess.
“Oh, right. The blackmail.” Raven started to explain, “Here what’s happening. Everyone in this room has a secret that is being used in blackmail. Shall I go around the room and explain what each of you secrets is?”
The guests looked at each other worryingly.
“Let’s start with Big Macintosh,” He jumped at the sound of his name, “Big Mac, here was caught use illegal drugs on his farm to make his apples seem better than they really are and ponies were willing to pay more for the apples. Is this true?”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac say shamefully.
“The nerve of ponies, use drugs to sell produce,” Mayor Mare commented.
“You’re one to make moral judgments, Mayor Mare,” Raven said, “You were bribing other ponies for their votes so you could stay Mayor of Ponyville, correct Mayor.”
“Alright, it’s true,” Mayor Mare said.
“And Shining Armor,” Raven continued, “You were having an affair during the time when Princess Cadance was pregnant with your child, right.”
“Okay, I had an affair,” Shining Armor admitted.
“How could you violate marriage like that,” Mrs. Cake questioned.
“You would know,” Raven moved on, “Your previous husband had an affair and then disappeared under ‘mysterious circumstances’ ”
“Yes, my husband, Bill Board, was a carpenter from Canterlot and when he went missing, I wanted to avoid public attention about it, so I moved to Ponyville.” Mrs. Cake said.
“Let’s move on to Braeburn, the only stallion at this table who would never have an affair with another mare,” Raven said.
“Why’s that,” Shining Armor asked.
“Because, I’m a homosexual,” Braeburn said, “If my secret is going to be revealed, I might as well be the one to do so.”
“And let’s not forget Cheerilee,” Raven told them, “Cheerilee, If you please.”
“Okay, the school couldn’t afford to pay me, and I needed money. I set up a fake cookie selling company and used the students to sell empty boxes of cookies. I am very ashamed about it, but what about Princess Luna, whats her secret.”
“Haven’t you figured it out?” Raven asked the group, “She is the one who’s blackmailing you.”
The grouped gasped once more. “Yes, and if we are finished with dinner, I like everypony to please go to the study so we can finished our conversation there.” All the ponies got up from their seats and walked over to the study. Princess Luna entered last carrying a bag. She opened it to reveal six gifts and a file folder.
“Now I asked you to please open you gifts.” They all did as they were told. Each one of the boxes contain some sort of weapon. Big Macintosh had an ax, Mayor Mare had and Dagger, Mrs. Cake had a rope, Cheerilee had a candlestick, Shining Armor had a wrench, and Braeburn had a lead pipe. All of the guests were confused about them.
“Allow me to explain,” Princess Luna started, “All the evidence I have against you is in this folder.” She held the folder to show all of them and then placed it on the desk behind her. “If one of you kills Raven, I will destroy the evidence and we can forget this dinner ever happened.” Raven was shocked to hear this. Princess Luna walked over to the other side of the room and turned off the lights. Everypony dropped their weapons. There was a scream, and a bang. Someone turned back on the lights and another scream was heard. Princess Luna was lying on the floor.
“Princess Luna has been killed!” Mrs. Cake yelled.
“But there’s no blood!” Big Mac said.
“If she was his on the head, she may not have blood showing!” Braeburn followed.
They all stop talking from a scream in the next room over. They all ran over to the lounge where Fleur was screaming. “What! Why are you screaming?” Raven asked.
“I overheard what you said about Princess Luna. “Fleur said and it startled me.”
“Why were you listening to the conversation?” Cheerilee asked.
“I was waiting to ask if anypony wanted more cider.”
“I’d like some,” Braeburn said, but Fleur didn’t get a chance as a loud crash sound came from the study. They all ran back to the study to see Princess Luna’s body was no longer present and there was a gasp once again.
“She wasn’t dead.” Cheerilee said.
“She probably escaped,” Mrs. Cake replied.
“Not possible. All the door and windows were locked and I have the only key.” Raven said and showed them the key. They all again heard a large smash, this time from the kitchen. They ran back to see the cook, Gustave, dead with the axe lying next to him. Mrs. Cake screamed. “Who had the ax?” Raven asked.
“I did.” Big Mac said.
“Then you kill him,” Shining Armor said.
“No, I drop the ax. Someone picked it up” Big Mac told him.
“We all need to calm down,” Raven said, “Let’s all go back to the study.” The three stallions picked up the dead body and carried out the door but they all stop when they saw Princess Luna’s body lying on the floor. This time with a head wound and the candlestick next to her. They took her body to the study as well.
“Now we need to calmly figure out what is going on,” Raven said.
“How can we be calm with a killer in the room,” Mayor Mare replied.
“One thing I don’t understand is why the heck somepony wanted the cook dead,” Braeburn said.
“I’ll explain,” Raven said, “The reason Princess Luna was blackmailing you was because she did not think any of you were true equines. All of you secrets were troubling news, but she couldn’t go out and find out your secrets so she used informers who went out to look for secrets.” At this point Raven started to get teary eyed. “One of those informers was my husband, Cheese Sandwich, had informed to Princess Luna that Braeburn was a homosexual. But eventually he wanted out of the scheme, but Luna wouldn’t let him so to get out of the job, he … ended his life.” She started crying at this point. Fleur started to comfort her about.
“So the cook was of the informers,” Shining Armor asked.
“Yes,” Raven said as she dried her eyes, “The cook used to work for Mayor Mare.”
“That is a false accusation,” Mayor Mare said.
“That at dinner, why did you say you were eating one of you favorite recipes.” Raven replied.
The Mayor had no way out, “Alright he used to work for me.”
“So the Mayor had a motive to kill the cook,” Braeburn said.
“Yes, but all the informers exchange information. The cook knew every of you secrets. You see the reason you were all here is because I asked for you to come not Princess Luna. I wanted you all here to show you that the Princess was doing something illegal and we could turn here over to authorities. The file folder had information about the blackmail and the informers we could use as evidence.” Raven said.
“But where is the file folder?” Mrs. Cake asked.
They all looked to see that the file folder, that was previously on the desk was now gone. They now turned their attention to the fireplace and they all got the same thought.
“Now all the evidence is gone,” Raven said, “One of you burnt it to cover up your murder.”
“How do we know you didn’t burn it?” Shining Armor asked.
“If I had killed anyone, why would I tell you about it?” Raven told them, “But now that it is gone when the authorities arrive we won’t have anything to prove Princess Luna of the crimes.”
“You mean, the authorities are coming?” Cheerilee asked.
“Yes,” Raven said, “and they’ll be here in 42 minutes.” She said look at the clock which read that is was currently 7:18. Just then another knock was at the door. They group ran over to the front door and was greeted by a gray pony with very large glasses and slick back dark gray mane. He was startled by the number of ponies who answered the door.
“Can we help you,” Raven asked trying to not act suspicious.
“ Yes, uh, well as you can see, it’s raining and my home is in another town. I saw the lights on and I was, uh, wonder if I could wait in here until the storm passes.”
“Sure, you can wait in the Library.” Raven said as she pointed to the door to the room. He walked in and went into the room he was told. Raven locked the door behind him.
“Why’d you lock the door,” Mayor Mare asked.
“He is probably suspicious, if he looks around he might figure something out.” Raven said.
“Well, I think we should split up,” Shining Armor said.
“Why,” Cheerilee asked.
“Raven, you seem to know a lot about us, do you really think any of us could be the killer. There is probably someone else in the house who wanted revenge on Princess Luna.”
Raven thought for a second, “Alright we could split up into four teams of two. We’ll draw straws to see who goes with whom.” She led the group to the kitchen and cut them so two of each would be the same length. She held out the straws and everyone picked one. Braeburn and Fleur got the longest straws, Raven and Mrs. Cake got the second longest, Shining Armor and Cheerilee got the second shortest and Big Mac and Mayor Mare got the shortest.
“Okay, the bigger the straw the higher level you search.” Raven said. All the groups headed to the levels such as the attic, second floor, first floor, and cellar. They all proceeded with care as to not raise alarm with the gray stallion.
Braeburn and Fleur walked up the creaky stair to the attic. It was hardly lit with one or two candles on. The attic was extremely old and didn’t have many ponies visiting.
“No way anypony would hide up here,” Braeburn said.
“Maybe we should go back downstairs.” Fleur said worryingly.
“What if the others get suspicious and think were the killers?” Braeburn told her, “We’ll stay here until the authorities arrive.” Both the ponies saw that the time was 7:24.
“Will you come on,” Big Mac said to Mayor Mare.
“I’m sorry, but there is a lot of cobwebs here and it’s hard to see with them in my face.” Mayor Mare said in a scolding matter. “I don’t understand why I had to go the cellar. It’s dirty.”
Big Mac rolled his eyes as he was getting irritated and started searching the cellar.
“Alright will each search a bedroom,” Raven said to Mrs. Cake. Raven went and searched Princess Celestia’s room and Mrs. Cake searched Luna’s.
“Do you really believe someone could be in the house,” Cheerilee asked Shining Armor.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is I didn’t do anything.” He replied. They walked into the conservatory. “Here there’s probably something in here. He went to the wall with the tools hanging on it as Cheerilee looked behind plants. Shining Armor accidently bumped one of the tools which spun the wall around where he was standing. Cheerilee didn’t notice until she heard the wall crash. Suddenly lightning struck outside and the lights to the castle all went out. There was the scream of the gray pony and suddenly it stopped. All the ponies ran back to the front hallway when the lights came back on.
“Don’t worry, the backup power should keep the lights on for now,” Raven said as she walked pass the fuse box.
“Wait, where is Shining Armor,” Mrs. Cake asked and they all looked around to see he was not in the group.
“I’m right here,” he replied as he ran out of the Lounge, “There was some sort of passage way from the conservatory to the lounge. Did anyone else here a scream.”
“It was that gray pony,” Cheerilee said. They all walked to the entrance to the library and found the gray pony dead with the wrench next to him and few books that fell off the shelf.
“Someone took the key from me when I was not looking,” Raven explained, but at that point another knock was heard. They went over to the door and found Spitfire of the wonderbolts standing there. “Hello,” Raven told her.
“Uh, Hi. I was coming home from practice when I saw the light turn off and I wanted to make sure everyone was okay.”
“Yeah, were okay!” Braeburn said
“Is anyone hurt, could I come it.” She asked.
“Nope!” Big Mac said.
“Why not. What’s going on in here?” She started to get suspicious.
“Will you give us a minute,” Raven asked. Spitfire agreed. “Alright I need to do something, you think of a way to make her go away.”
“What are we going to do. The authorities will be here in 13 minutes.” Mayor Mare frantically asked.
“We need a distraction, Mrs. Cake take her to the dining room.” Cheerilee told Mrs. Cake.
“Alright,” she said and the open the door. “Come with me, Mrs. Spitfire, I’ll show you the dining room.”
The other ponies rushed to the library and the study to as that’s where the dead bodies were.
“What is going on here,” she asked, “and I mean in those rooms.”
“What happening is to shocking to explain,” Mrs. Cake tried to stop here but she quickly made her way to the study. When she opened the door she saw was Shining Armor making out with Princess Luna and Mayor Mare making out with Gustave, which was really Braeburn holding up the body. She walked over to the library to see Big Mac and Cheerilee making out. “Excuse me,” she interrupted.
“Yes, what going on,” Cheerilee wondered. “Is everything okay.”
Spitfire walked over the body of the gray pony that was holding a glass of cider. “This man is drunk. You won’t let him go out for the rest of the night?”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac reassured her. She walked over to Raven, “We’ll nothing bad is going on here.”
“Are you sure?” Raven asked.
“Yes, nothing illegal about this.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah, it’s a free country.”
“I didn’t think it was that free.”
“Do you mind if I wait out the rest of the storm here. I promise not to be a burden.”
Raven and Mrs. Cake were unsure, but agreed and took her to the dining room. Once she was inside Raven locked the door and the group rejoined at the base of the staircase.
“Hey wait, where is Fleur?” Mrs. Cake asked.
“She had to use the restroom,” Braeburn replied.
“The only restroom on this floor is in the Billiard Room,” Raven told the group, “Now let’s go back to searching the house, Braeburn just wait for Fleur in the attic.” As everypony proceeded to where they were before, lightning struck once more and the lights went out. Everypony, started to worry and Raven tried to turn on the light but the fuse was now broken. Everypony was now frantically running when the lights would not turn on. The sound that was heard was that of a female struggling to breathe. Next, the sound of a clang and a body drop to the floor.
Then, the door flew open and a mare with a cyan colored mane was standing there with an envelope. “I have a telegram for Princess Luna.” She said as somepony came behind here and then she fell down. Eventually the lights had come back on.
The group walked over to the billiard room to see Fleur lying on the table with the rope around her neck. Next they walked over to the dining room to see Spitfire on the ground with the lead pipe next to her head. Finally they moved to the front entrance to see the telegram girl with a small cut on her back from a stab.
“Well, I know who did it.” Raven proclaimed.
“You do?” Everypony else asked.
“And instead of just telling you, I am going to explain to you how it was all done. Follow me.”She started in the lounge. At the top of the evening you all arrived at the house and we started the evening in here where Fleur was giving each of you cider. When you all did arrive the cook rang the gong and we went to the dining room.” She ran to the dining room. “You all sat where your name tags said to and eventually Princess Luna arrived for dinner, and to make a long story short…”
“Too late.” The six ponies said in unison.
“Princess Luna arrived knowing she was blackmailing you and over in the study,” Raven went over to the study. “She gave each of you a weapon and said that if one of you killed me you can all leave without the authorities knowing, but while the rest of you look over your weapons, somepony was looking at the folder which contain the evidence about the blackmail and the informers.”
“But if killer knew the informers, why did they burn the information.” Braeburn said.
“Because, I said before that the cook was an informer and so was my husband. Each one of them got some blackmail about each of you but none of you realized that all the people that were here tonight were the informers all of which I invited here.”
“You mean the gray pony and the telegram girl were both informers,” Shining Armor asked.
“Yes, we already knew that the cook informed about the Mayor and my husband informed about Braeburn, but what about the rest of you?”
They all looked around, “Let’s go in order,” Raven started, “The gray pony, who had a connection with him?”
Mrs. Cake answered, “I did he used to be business partners with my husband and he knew about my husband affair.”
“ With who I might add,” Raven said.
“With that nasty maid Fleur,” Mrs. Cake scolded.
“And who else in this room had an affair with Fleur,” Raven asked
Shining Armor jumped in, “I shamefully did, and I know she informed on me.”
“Yes exactly, the gray pony informed to Princess Luna about Mrs. Cake and Fleur informed to Princess Luna about Shining Armor.”
“So that leaves the telegram girl and Spitfire.” Braeburn said.
“Spitfire informed about me,” Cheerilee said, “She found out about my fake cookie company and I had to bribe her to keep quiet. So the telegram girl informed about Big Macintosh.”
“Yes, she caught him using the illegal drugs on the apples when she bought some, correct?” Raven asked.
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh said.
“Now that you’ve told us who informed about who how exactly did the killer commit the crimes.” Braeburn asked.
“We’ll let’s start in the study.”
