Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc: Wonderland's Despair

by MangaKamen

Rating: teen
Tags: Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Original Character, Tragedy, Crossover
Length: 59538

Fifteen individuals trapped in a wonderous and dangerous world with only way to escape from... is murder.

Fifteen individuals were selected to become the new hope for all of Equestria, bringing together all sentient races in peaceful resolution - Calling Elites from many different fields of expertise so they can hone their skills and become friends.

That was the idea.

However, even the best laid plans can fail. The fifteen are taken by a maniac to a world where logic is thrown out the window and the only way to escape is to murder another!

Who will survive? Who will die? And what is the reason behind being kidnapped just to kill each other?

Published 2014-08-10 16:20:08 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-29 13:20:57 UTC

Down the Rabbit Hole

So… It’s happening again. I thought we’ve taken care of this stuff before.

The forces of despair are rather persistent, sir.

I’m getting too old for this. Alright, who do we have lined up for this situation?

Um, Tracer, sir.

Oh no! Not Tracer!

Afraid so, sir.

Isn’t there anypony else? What about Spade or Marlowe?

Sir, they’ve been dead for ten years.

… Isn’t there anyone else?

Sorry sir, but according to the list, he’s next.

… Well, I guess we don’t have any other choice. Better get started on this before things get out of control.

TTT – TTT

Wonderland’s Despair

TTT~TTT

Prologue

Down the Rabbit Hole

TTT~TTT

Congratulations!

We at Twilight Academy for the Elite have selected a number of individuals across Equestria to become students of this prestigious school. Our goal is to unify every sentient specie across the world – Griffons, Diamond Dogs, Minotaurs, Ponies and etc., and you have been selected as one of the many to help pave the way to a peaceful world among all.

You have been selected among many young candidates, chosen for your talents in your respectable field to become a part of this new academy. Should you accept this invitation, then you will not only receive a great education, but compensation for your acceptance. You will be part of the hope of uniting this world against any threats that Equestria may face in the future.

Thank you for your time and I hope to see you at this academy,

From the desk of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

TTT ~ TTT

The enormous academy towered over the vast plains, its shadow loomed over the grass as a single figure slowly trotted on the path towards the large building, taking note of the star-like symbol that was on the tall tower that was made out of stained glass. The figure stopped at the large gates and gulped loudly at the tall building, ‘S-So… This is Twilight Academy, a lot bigger than I thought it’d be.’

The figure turned back towards the path that led to the town known as Ponyville, the many buildings and crystal castle just barely in view. With a sigh he looked back at the academy, ‘What am I doing here?’

That was a good question – among ponies, rumors were spread that Twilight Academy had been in the works for the last few years and was said to be a means for anypony blessed enough to enter through its doors would be given a chance at greatness. While it was uncommon for ponies to acquire education after a certain age, Twilight Academy served as a parallel to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns to aid those to improve their skills.

The only difference was Twilight Academy was open to more than just unicorns – Pegasai, Earth Ponies, Griffons and many, many more species – All were said to be invited to this academy. The reason for this was to instill a peace among all of the sentient creatures of Equestria. Filled with the elites – The best of what they did, all aiming to not only refine their talents but to also to unite the world.

From the Elite Musician, to Elite ~~Cook~~ Chef, to the Elite Horror Novelist and even the Elite Negotiator: They and many more were said to be selected from hundreds of thousands of individuals to not only develop their talents, but to aid others with such talents.

At least, that’s what the figure had heard. Rumors were rather fantastical things, even in a world of dragons, magical horses and a sun that could be risen on a whim.

Still, that further begged the question to the individual at the gates of this academy – Why was he here.

‘All I am is just a simple delivery-colt,’ He thought to himself as he gulped nervously. ‘How the Tartarus did I get accepted into a place like this? It… It makes no sense.’

But, when he received that letter that asked him to come – At first he thought it was a mistake (wouldn’t be the first time he got someone else’s mail: Tartarus, one time, he got a muffin in the mail), he decided to see if this invitation was the truth or a farce.

The opened gates seemed to wait for him to pass between them. Even though it was just a building, the reputation that was built around it was enough to stifle him – This was something that was out of his league.

So, with a deep breath to muster whatever resolve that he held in his soul, the young individual lifted his front hoof into the air and took a step into the school’s yard. With whatever was about to happen, whether this be a dream come true or just a simple mistake, all that would come to pass soon enough.

And then the whole world went black.

TTT – TTT

“Uh… My head…”

The young individual slowly lifted his head up, his vision slowly becoming clear. After a few blinks, the young stallion realized that he was seated at a desk, “Where… Where am I?”

After a few moments, he realized that there wasn’t just one desk, in fact, he was what appeared to be an entire classroom – Desks, a chalkboard, even some windows that had quite a bit of sheen to them. The classroom itself reminded him of the one he was in when he was a colt… Only bigger.

And he was pretty sure there wasn’t a camera that stuck out of the ceiling in the corner of his first classroom.

“What’s… Going on?” He asked as he used his hooves to push himself off of the desk, which was easier to say, his entire body was stiff and his joints

His first steps from the desk were shaky, but it didn’t take long for him to get his bearings. The first thing he did was walk over to one of the windows, hoping to see the plains outside Twilight Academy – Perhaps he’d fainted or something and somepony dragged him inside.

However, he was only met with gaze of a silver stallion with a messy black mane, the unruly mess only held back with a pair of goggles with a star emblem on the right lens. The stallion was rather thin and had a sleeveless white and black hoodie over his torso. His cutie mark – A wheel with a wing sticking out of it – was on display on his flanks. With a hoof lifted up, the stallion rubbed his sore head.

‘Well, I guess this is a mirror,’ He thought to himself as he shook his head at his reflection. ‘Still… Looking good Tracer!’

Tracer pulled away from the mirror and sighed under his breath. ‘I guess I’m in the school, did something happen? How the Tartarus did I get here?’

BING-BONG-DING-DONG!

Tracer blinked a few times when he heard that bell ring out loud through the room. As the young earth stallion looked about, Tracer’s eyes landed on the chalkboard that started to change, the green was changed to a static screen that had a shadowed figure on it. From what Tracer could see, the figure on the screen seemed to be adorned with a top hat, and had a gleaming left eye.

“Hello! Hello!” The figure on the screen called out playfully. “I hope you all can hear me! This is my first time doing this, so let’s do our best!”

Tracer stepped back – That voice certainly had a little bit of joy to it, but there was something ominous behind that whimsical tone. Certainly didn’t help that the image on the screen wasn’t the best and considering his situation, it was a little jarring. There was also that word that Tracer caught.

All.

Obviously there were more here than just him.

The figure on the screen cleared their throat loudly, “In any case, I hope you all are feeling well – If not, then my apologies. Please head to the Main Court, I’ve placed signs all over the place so you can all reach it. So, unless you’re illiterate, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“You have ten minutes, so please try not to be late.”

And just like that, the screen faded back into the chalkboard from before. Tracer turned towards the single door of the classroom and sighed. There was only one thing for him to do, and it was to go forward. With a deep breath, the young stallion walked over to the door and lifted one of his front hooves up to push the door open.

The door’s creak was enough to make Tracer’s ears droop down slightly and the light from outside the room made him turn away slightly to shield his eyes from the bright glow that poured into the room. For a moment, Tracer closed his eyes to what was causing the light, but when his sight adjusted, the young stallion’s jaw fell slightly, “I… What?”

What he saw through the doorway was something that he never expected.

Right before Tracer’s eyes was… The outside.

At least, that’s what he thought it was. Equestria was a very beautiful place to live, no doubt about that, but he was pretty sure that the grass wasn’t white and blue in perfectly symmetrical squares. That alone wasn’t what took him by surprise though, as he stepped ‘outside’, Tracer noticed that the sky was a rich gold, with the sun directly overhead, there was no way that the sky would look like that if the sun was like that (and he remembered the time that the sun and moon were practically side by side with each other).

Over the hilly horizon, Tracer could see many odd buildings, strange statues, and even more foliage: the large, multicolored mushrooms were something that he was pretty sure were a rarity even in Equestria. Tartarus, there was one of the large mushrooms right next to the room he was in (which he discovered seemed to be built into one of the strange houses), the mushroom seemed to tower over the building by a couple of yards.

At least there were some normal plants strewn about, like the rose bushes… with some of the white roses on it actually dripping white paint. How did Tracer know it was white paint? Well, because of the freshly opened paint cans that sat next to some of the bushes with paintbrushes placed on top of the opened containers.

Tracer blinked a few times and realized that the paint cans were set next to a bush that had a few red roses on it, “Painting flowers? Who does that?”

Next to the bush of red roses, Tracer saw what the static figure on the television had requested from him: A sign that was bolted to a rather crooked post that pointed down an oddly out of place cobblestone path – Compared to the rest of the colorful scenery, it was kinda… Bland.

In any case, the sign also had words that were painted under the big red arrow:

-----
Main Court

‘I could go left,’ Tracer thought to himself with his brow narrowed. ‘But, I don’t know what to expect here: There could be lions, tigers, or bears… Or maybe the dreaded sales pony! Ugh, I can remember the last time that happened, Dad got mad at me for buying so many blenders.

‘So, I’ll just follow what the nice voice requested.’

And so, Tracer began to walk down the gray path to follow the sign.

Meanwhile, as the young earth stallion began to walk away, at one of the nearby trees a small black tail unfurled from one of the nearby branches, its white tip wiggled a little bit, “Upupupupupu… Seems like all the pieces are in place.”

TTT – TTT

It didn’t take long for Tracer to find the Main Court – Probably a good three minute walk from the building that he had woken up in. It helped that there was a bright, open gate that had a neon blue sign on it that flickered ‘Main Court’ over the doors of the gate. On each side of the gate, Tracer saw the large hedges that lined the Main Court.

“Hey!”

Tracer’s gaze turned towards the opened gates, where he saw that he wasn’t alone – Within the gates were several individuals, one of which was gesturing for him to come in.

“Hurry! Hurry! Everyone’s waiting!”

A little confused, the silver stallion blinked a few times but then shrugged as he slowly stepped past the gates. Beyond the gates was a rather beautiful courtyard, with a large fountain in the middle of it, but that’s not what drew Tracer’s attention, rather it was the individuals that stood around the fountain.

Tracer had never seen such a collection of species in one place – Yeah, he wasn’t the only pony there, but there were diamond dogs, a pair of griffons, a zebra, a minotaur, a goat, and even more surprising, a dragon! He knew that there would be a diverse student body at Twilight Academy, but this was… Well, this was kind of unexpected.

The young stallion cleared his throat, trying to come up with the right words to break the ice – Whatever the situation, he had to make a good impression, “Hi! I’m acquaintance! It’s nice to make your Tracer!”

‘DAMN IT!’

“Great, we got ourselves a genius here, folks,” one of the individuals pointed out.

“Hey, be nice!”

“And with him there’s about… Let’s see, fifteen of us! Quite the interesting number we’ve got. And such a diverse crowd too.”

“Humph… Seems a little too diverse if you ask me.”

“Now, now, zis is supposed to be a school… Moi zinks zat we should at least try to get along.”

“Oh? Are schools usually like this for Equines?”

“Does moi look like a pony? Moi is a goat.”

These were the students that were chosen for Twilight Academy – Aside from Tracer, each and every one of these individuals were known for their special talents, picked from many in their fields to come to the academy, the elite.

From each individual, Tracer could feel… something emanating from each of them. It was almost like he was an ant amongst giants, that’s how Tracer felt as he stood before this diverse group of characters.

But there was more than just the individuals before him that caused that knot in his stomach to tighten up, there was also the situation: These fifteen strangers were all in a location that was completely foreign and seemed to be ripped from practically another world.

“Well now,” one of the diamond dogs chimed in, a female diamond dog from what her voice and build suggested. “This looks to be a good number of individuals – So, how about someone start explaining what’s going on here?”

“Huh?” one of the griffons, a girl griffon who seemed to have some grease on her feathers. “What exactly are you talkin’ ‘bout?”

“Obviously she’s talking about the situation,” The dragon growled, a small blood vessel appearing on his head. “Moment I get to the gates of that Equine school, I fade to black and suddenly I’m in a place with giant fricken mushrooms!”

“Hey, at least they didn’t explode,” the minotaur joke with a large smile plastered on his face.

“Who cares if they didn’t explode!?” The dragon barked back, making his way towards the minotaur with his claws balled up.

“That’s enough,” a red stallion coughed out as he stepped forward. The dragon stopped in his tracks and huffed to the side, “Save the fighting for later, we have bigger issues at hoof.”

“Right!” The goat chimed in as he jumped into fray. “Like we need to have ze introductions!”

“Aren’t there bigger problems, dood?” another one of the Diamond Dogs, this one a guy. “Like where we are and that kind of junk?”

“True zat,” the goat answered back, using a hoof to clack against the floor a couple times. “But zen again, moi doesn’t want to be referred to as ze ‘goat’, and moi is completely sure zat none of you want to be called griffon, pony, ozer pony, dragon, or minotaur: it’d be a great deal easier for ze readers to follow along.”

“Ooh! That’s right!” a small pegasus mare added. “That’s a one-o-one for a basic narrative! You need to have the characters established when you introduce them, unless you’re cheap or inexperienced.”

“What are you two going on about?” The zebra mare questioned with a raised brow. “I think everyone can see that this is serious situation, no doubt.”

“Still, they have a point,” The other griffon admitted with a nod. “Surely it’d be best if we did know each other’s names. After all, a name is a blessing that represents ourselves at our finest.”

“Okay, then how are we doing this?” A female unicorn asked, although, she tried to keep her distance from most of the group.

“How ‘bout we let ‘acquaintance’ here start us off here?” The minotaur suggested with a goofy grin on his face. “He was so willing to introduce himself before, why not give him a second chance?”

“Huh?” Tracer yelped slightly.

“Aw, there’s no need for that,” the small pegasus mare chimed in as she bounded next to Tracer. “I’m pretty sure we got Tracey’s name just perfectly!”

‘… You say that, but that’s not my name,’ Tracer thought to himself with a flat look in his eyes.

“I’ll start!” The very same small pegasus announced as she lifted a hoof up.

Since he was close enough, Tracer was clearly able to look at the small pegasus mare – She was lithe, practically half his size. She had a long white mane that was tied into a pair of tails with black bows in them to keep them in place and out of her face. Over her small body was a black dress that with holes for her tail and wings, and had a few odd paper charms pined to the fabric.

“Hi! I’m Lore Monstrum!” The young pegasus chirped brightly. “I’m super excited to meet you all!”

There was a moment of silence amongst the rest of the individuals around: at least until the minotaur spoke up. “Wait, Lore Monstrum? Hold up, isn’t that the name of that Elite Horror Novelist?”

“Ooh! Yup yup!” Lore answered back with an all too innocent smile. “Have you read some of my work? Maybe you read ‘UNDER A CRIMSON STAINED MOON’? Or maybe ‘ON A TENGU’S WING’?”

“I read that first one,” One of the griffons muttered. “But damn, it’s hard to think that somepony as cutesy as that is a horror writer…”

“Appearances can be deceiving,” Lore answered back with a smile. “That’s something you need when making a good murder mystery!”

Hearing such a cutely dressed pegasus, one that was so small, talk about that – It was more than a little jarring for Tracer. Especially since she had such an innocent smile on her face.

‘Lore Monstrum… My dad told me to look some stuff up about my fellow classmates – and she was actually one of the easiest to find out about. After all, it’s not that often that a filly who didn’t have her cutie mark yet actually wrote a best seller horror novel.

‘That usually happens after they get their cutie mark, and even then, they don’t usually have a best seller every year since.’

“S’alright,” The female griffon sighed loudly. “You’re weird. Time for a little normalcy, folks call me Misch Metal.”

The griffon in question was a sleek creature with black feathers and gunmetal gray fur, marred with a ton of yellow markings on her feathers and talons. Unlike most of the other individuals around, she only had on a gray headband with a few rings in it and a tool belt wrapped around her waist.

‘Another character that was easy to look up. Although, it was hard to find out what Misch Metal’s real name was – some ponies think that she wanted to emulate us and had her name changed like that. Then again, those are just rumors. She’s said to be a mechanic who created the steam engine that trains and wagons use now-a-days.

‘I even read that she helped refine the helicopters that we’ve got in Manehatten.’

“Misch Metal?” The male griffon questioned with a roll of his eyes. “Ugh, what an unbecoming name for a griffon – And couldn’t you have at least cleaned up before coming here? You smell like a garage!”

“Heh, sorry, but I didn’t have a lotta time this morning,” Misch answered back as she scratched the back of her head. “Tends to happen when you work in a garage all the time.”

“A mechanic?” The dark red stallion asked with a raised brow.

“You got it!” Misch chuckled with her chest puffed out slightly. “One of the best in the Griffon Kingdom!”

“How uncouth” the other griffon muttered under his breath.

“Excuse me?” Misch questioned as she leered at her fellow griffon.

“Yeesh, no need to start up a fight,” The minotaur chuckled with his arms crossed. “We’re all buds here, right?”

The minotaur was a tall guy, that was for sure. He was almost as tall as the dragon, but seemed to be a bit skinner than what minotaurs Tracer had seen before with his green skin and emerald fur. Amongst his horns (one was broken,) was a large mess of hair and a beard under his muzzle. Dressed in baggy black pants and a matching coat over his shoulders, the minotaur’s pants pockets were stuffed to the brim with tarot cards, charms, crystal balls and various other stuff, and there was a necklace of prayer beads around his neck.

“Why not let good ole Kopuz settle this for you?” the minotaur offered as he held up a few tarot cards between his fingers. “How about I give everyone a taste of your futures? All for twenty percent off!”

“You’re trying to get us to pay us for you to flip some cards?” The dragon questioned with a dulled look in his eyes. “Great, a con artist.”

“Oi, I’m a clairvoyant!” Kopuz snarled back as he crushed the cards in hands in a fist that he pointed a fist at the dragon. “And I’ll have you know that I’m roughly forty percent right seventy percent of the time!”

“I think your math is off a little bit,” the dark red stallion pointed out.

“Point is, I’m not a con artist!” Kopuz barked before he put on a bright smile. “So, how ‘bout those futures?”

‘Sounds like a con job. Sometimes it sounds a bit too much – But with this guy, Kopuz, it might not be. He was actually said to be able to see into the future and managed to be right… Somehow.’

“Perhaps later,” The dark red stallion sighed with a roll of his eyes. “Right now, let’s continue with the introductions, shall we? The name’s Hawkward, charmed, I’m sure.”

Hawkward: A sleek, yet tall stallion with red fur and a blonde mane that’s been tied back into a rather endearing pony tail (how the stallion managed that, that was a mystery to Tracer and it was even matched with his tail) and he was dressed in a black short sleeved jacket with a winged emblem on the back. There was a large amount of chalk strapped to a belt that was wrapped around his stomach and his cutie mark: a runic circle with a ruby, sapphire, topaz and emerald on it – was on display.

The stallion nodded for a moment and then lowered his head slightly, “I’m done.”

‘Not much on this Hawkward guy. All I know is that he’s… Well, he’s an alchemist. Not much else about that, but I thought he was a pegasus from what I heard.’

“What a lackluster introduction,” the female diamond dog sighed loudly as she wagged one of her paws in the air and wagged one of the digits. “Allow me to show you…”

“Hi!” One of the other Diamond Dogs interrupted with a goofy grin on his face. “I’m Freki!”

As the stalky diamond dog stepped in front of the female, he held his paw up in a peace sign: The diamond dog was similar to that of a Doberman with black and silver fur on his body. Over his stalky body was a red vest with sapphires adorning and his unruly hair atop of his head wasn’t unlike a mullet.

“Freki!” the female diamond dog barked out. “You’re ruining my…”

“And I’m Geri,” The other male Diamond Dog continued with a slight bow towards everyone else. “Please treat us well and we shall do the same.

The other male diamond dog lifted his head up, and like the previous Diamond Dog, he resembled that of a Doberman, only he was muscular and tall with some extra brown fur combed over his right eye. Over his muscular form was a blue vest that has amethysts adorning it with a bow tie around his neck. His tail was actually quite short, almost like it was cut off at some point.

“Freki! Geri!” The youngest Diamond Dog yelped loudly.

“And this is Freya,” Geri continued as he gestured towards the younger Diamond Dog. “We are in your care.”

Recovering from the other two Diamond Dogs interrupting her, the third diamond dog smiled with a slight bow. Unlike the other two Diamond Dogs, she was like a pup resembling that of a golden Pomeranian breed with pulled back hair and a curled tail that wagged slightly. Over her short body was a rather fancy black jacket with a few emerald buttons and cufflinks on it. She has large blue eyes and has a necklace of gold with a fire ruby in it.

“Yes, well, I’m perfectly capable of making my own introduction,” Freya sighed, her head lowered slightly. “And I was all set to make my own amazing intro.”

“My apologies,” Geri answered back, bowing slightly towards the smaller Diamond Dog.

Tracer shivered at the sight of the three diamond dogs, he wasn’t really a fan of the species… with good reason. ‘These three… Oh, these three. I’ve heard a lot of theses – They’re supposed to be a part of the Dober Family. The Dober Family’s a Diamond Dog group that took advantage of it and became a jewelry group and even managed to corner the market.

‘They may be a corporation on the outside, but everypony knows that they’re more like a mob group.’

“Quite well spoken for Diamond Dogs,” Hawkward said out loud.

“Gone are the days of broken speech, my dear stallion,” Freya replied with a coy smile on her face as she twirled some of the hair that had fallen to her shoulders. “You’ll find that over the years, Diamond Dog culture has evolved.”

“Still have a penchant for jewels though, I see,” Hawkward commented, looking towards his cutie mark. “Then again, I’m not one to talk.”

“At least ours are real,” Freki chuckled with his tongue stuck out. “That little stamp on your rump can’t hold a candle to the jewels we’re packing, dawg!”

“Could you stop saying jewels?” The dragon sighed loudly. “You’re making me hungry. So clam up or I’ll grill ya… Literally.”

The dragon spat out some smoke from the side of his mouth as he turned away from the group, he was roughly the same height as Kopuz (give or take a few inches) with red scales covering most of his body save for the dark blue underbelly and dark blue spines on his head and tail, some of which were combed over the side of his head. Over his slim frame was a leather jacket with a guitar case that that had a bright blue strap over his chest. At the corner of his right eye was a small mark – Black scales in the shape of a musical note.

Silence echoed through the Main Court as all eyes fell down on the dragon.

“What?” the dragon growled, smoke seeped out of his mouth as he talked.

“Uh, shouldn’t you introduce yourself?” Tracer asked, a sheepish chuckle slipping from his mouth. ‘I hope he was kidding about the grilling comment…’

A sigh escaped the dragon’s maw, “Fine, it’s Smokescreen. There, happy?”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Lore chirped as she hoped towards Smokescreen. “Can we call you Smokey?”

“Huh?” ~~Smokescreen~~ Smokey yelped, taken a little off guard by the pegasus who gave him the name. He turned away slightly and coughed, trying to hide the little patch of pink that showed up on his face. “I… I don’t mind it.”

“Yay!” Lore cheered before she nuzzled up against Smokey. “I’ve always wanted to be friends with a dragon! They’re so cool!”

The pink on Smokey’s face grew a little more noticeable.

‘I’m… Having a harder and harder time believing she’s a horror novelist,’ Tracer thought to himself with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

‘And this dragon… I… I never heard of a dragon attending a school with other species, or one with a guitar.’

“Oi, Mister Dragon,” Kopuz coughed out as he walked over to the dragon. “Out of curiosity, that’s not real leather… Is it?”

“It’s faux, you idiot,” Smokey spat back with the cold look in his eyes aimed at the minotaur near him… It was hard to keep that cold look in his eyes when Lore was still nuzzled up against him. “Stop that!”

“Idiot!?!” Kopuz yelped before he narrowed his eyes down at Smokey. “You wanna try saying that again?”

“For someone claiming to see the future,” Smokey sighed as he cracked his knuckles. “You’re not able to see the ass whupping you’re on the road for.”

“Really?” Kopuz answered back as he lifted up a crystal ball. “Cause all I see is you face down in the mud… Although, I’m not entirely sure if that’s mud…”

“Oh? Then how about we test to see if your future sight is on the mark?” Smokey offered as he lifted a balled up fist.

“Cease your prattling,” the zebra chimed in as she stepped in between the two. “This entire situation is already unsettling.”

“At least we’re not the ones rhyming here,” Kopuz sighed, tucking the crystal ball back into his pockets.

The zebra sighed right back, “It’s just a nervous tick. Not every zebra rhymes naturally in speech… I wish.”

The zebra was rather tall, able to reach up to Smokey’s and Kopuz’s chests, with a quite a bit of muscle to her frame. As with most zebras, she had black stripes over her white furred body, while her black and white mane was pulled back with a purple hair band and had a long strand of purple hair hanging in front of her face. The purple vest over her form had a few carving tools in it and around her legs were a number of bands that had clips on them.

She moaned with her head lowered down, “In all honesty, I just keep trying to make sure that I don’t get stuck with the tick – Its hard trying to make sure that I don’t talk in rhyme… But it slips out sometimes…”

It took a moment for her to realize what she just said, tears streamed down her face. “DAMN IT!”

“Uh, are you okay?” Tracer asked a little taken back.

“Fine… Just a little crestfallen,” the Zebra answered back. “Oh, and I almost forgot, I’m Zure.”

‘Zure, the traveling Elite Sculptor. She’s been around Equestria’s corners, leaving her mark everywhere: She’s made so many statues all around wherever she went – Tartarus, I’ve even seen her work in Manehattan’s central park, my sisters love climbing all over that statue of hers.’

“Huh, your name starts with a ‘Z’,” Hawkward pointed out with a raised brow. “Isn’t that another cliché that zebras have?”

“It’s the same with Griffons,” Misch added with a nod. “That’s why I had my name legally changed…”

“What’s wrong with having a Z or a G as the first letter?” the other griffon asked, obviously insulted. “A name’s a name, it just adds a little charm to character if there’s a coincidence somewhere in it – Isn’t that how it goes for ponies?”

“And what sort of name were you graced with?” Zure asked.

The male griffon chuckled as he stood up on his hind legs and produced two pairs of scissors from his shirt. “Oh, is it my turn? Very well, allow me to give you the blessing of my name – I am the great and talented Godfrey: At your service!”

Standing up on his hind legs, Godfrey showed the white feathers at his head and silver fur that were perfectly groomed and preened, even to the point that there was a sheen to his large dark bluish-gray wings. At his beak were a pair of glasses, over his torso was a white button up shirt, and a green scarf around his neck. With a twirl, Godfrey tucked the scissors away into his shirt and landed on his talons.

“Hmm, some good, some bad,” Godfrey muttered out loud. “I’d have to give some scores, but there’s something I just don’t care for… You! The one with the goggles!”

“Huh? Me?” Tracer questioned as he pointed towards himself.

“Yes! You!” Godfrey moaned with displeasure. “That mane of yours… It’s… It’s just a mess! Have you never heard of a damn comb? I can see the split ends from here!”

“Well… Uh, sorry?” Tracer retorted, a little confused as to how to respond to this.

‘I have no idea who this guy is.’

“Ugh, now if you had at least a fraction of style and grace as her,” Godfrey responded, gesturing towards a mare who was in the corner of the Main Court. “Then you’d be a lot easier on the eyes!”

The mare yelped when she realized that all eyes were on her. “Oh, uh, hello.”

“And there’s a hint of modesty amongst her as well,” Godfrey chimed in, pushing up his glasses.

The mare in question was a dark violet unicorn mare with a long red mane with two long banes that she has in front of her light blue eyes. Over her thin body was fancy red and black dress that seemed to have frills that covered most of her body, along with the leggings that she had on her body. Her well groomed tail stuck out from the back of her dress.

The unicorn sighed and looked to the side, “Oh, I’m supposed to introduce myself, right… Well, I suppose Alchymist is appropriate.”

“Alchymist?” Hawkward stated. “That’s an odd name.”

“Well,” Alchymist coughed slightly as she looked away. “It’s the name of a flower, a rose specifically. I couldn’t tell you why I was given the name…”

‘Another pony I don’t know anything about. She looks as confused and scared as I do.’

“Don’t sell yourself short!” the goat laughed up. “After all, its leagues above my name, after all, moi is just written as ze goofy guy!”

“Now hold on a second,” the goat huffed as he held up a marker between his two hoof toes.

“Much better!” The goat laughed tossing the marker over his back. He was a rather plump tan goat with some brown spots with messy butterscotch hair that was held in check by a black beret, and the beard at his chin was wrapped up with a little tuft at the end of it. “Howdy folks! Ze name’s Francis! And like ze conveniently placed picture said, moi is an Elite ~~Cook~~ Chef!”

“Uh, what picture?” Tracer questioned.

‘This guy’s just plain weird.’

“You know, ze same pictures zat have been popping up when we introduce ourselves?” Francis explained, scanning the crowd of mixed creatures. “What? Haven’t you guys noticed? It’s a meager attempt to liven up and add padding to ze chapter… Unless the beta’s reading zis, and zat means zat ze author hasn’t gotten ze pics yet.

“I feel bad for ze beta, he’s missing out.”

“Okay, moving on from the crazy goat,” Kopuz turned to the last two ponies who didn’t introduce themselves. “How about you two?”

The last unicorn of the group stood forward, a rather scrawny royal blue unicorn mare with a pulled back blonde mane to show her glasses covered face. She was dressed in a bright brown sweater vest and white button shirt. Her cutie mark was a black King Chess Piece and she had a checkered box strapped to her right front leg. “Elo Castling, and now that I’ve seen most of the opening, I think we should get active and try to figure out where we are.”

“So, what’s our opening move?” Elo asked as she rubbed her chin. “We’re in a weird place and who knows what’s going to happen.”

‘Even I’ve heard of Elo Castling, Elo’s supposed to be some sort of celebrity in Canterlot – Supposedly about being a Chess Master, I heard she even managed to win a match against Princess Twilight. But… Something doesn’t seem right…’

“Well, we’ve got one more,” Zure stated as she turned to the last pony in the Main Court.

The last pony was seated against the hedges, a tall white pegasus stallion with shaggy black hair that covered the most of his face with a streak of white on the left. Over most of his body was a large black surcoat that exposed his forelegs, wings and black tail. The stallion remained silent and turned away from the rest of the group.

“Great, another wannabe cool guy,” Kopuz sighed with a shake of his head. “You got a name Mister Emo?”

The white stallion shook his head, “Crowquill.”

“Yeesh, even his name is a little dark,” Kopuz chuckled nervously.

‘Another thrown onto the list of those I don’t know about – This guy is weird.’

“I think we’ve got other things to worry about,” Hawkward answered back, his eyes narrowed down. “For example, where we are?”

“That’s what I said,” Elo chimed back in. “Where in Equestria are we?”

“Are we even there to begin with?” Smokey asked.

“Hmm, if this were a literary work,” Lore started to say as she pulled away from nuzzling from Smokey. “I’d have to say that this would be a long winded start to a game – Where we’ll probably be forced to run from some sort of terrible creature!”

“Ooh! Zat’d be awesome!” Francis chuckled as he bounced around. “Moi wonders if it’ll be a big blue monster, maybe like an blue Oni or somezing like zat… And zere would be zis jarring music aat plays as it chases us! ooh! We could even have a weird guy wiz glasses and a pink mustache in ze corner of each page wiz him screaming everytime ze monster appeared!”

“You two need some professional help,” Freya sighed loudly with a shake of her head. “But enough of that, which one of you told us to come here? You have ten seconds to come forward.”

“Why do you assume it was one of us?” Misch questioned as she rolled her eyes at the diamond dog. “Maybe there’s another one coming or… Or…”

“Now, now, now… No need to fight amongst yourselves. Please save that for later!”

All fifteen of them look up towards the sky as a single item began to float down in front of them. When it was about to land on the ground however, the item froze in mid-air and floated in front of the fountain. Everyone was surprised to see that it was nothing more than a black top hat with a card tucked in it that has ‘10/6’ written on it.

“Seems like we’ve got all the players here! In that case, let’s get the show on the road!”

The hat shook and wavered about before it popped out a ton of smoke. From the smoke, a single figure jumped from it and as the smoke began to clear, the figure landed atop of the hat.

“Huh?” Alchymist questioned. “Is… Is that a cat?”

Indeed, what sat on the top hat before everyone was a black cat dressed in a suit that was white on the right half and black on the other half. The cat wasn’t totally black, as it had a tuft of white hair atop of its head and even had a white underbelly – It almost looked more like a doll than a living creature to be honest.

What was really offset was the fact that the creature had an eyepatch covering its left eye that had a purple star on it with a few other stars around it.

“Aaaawww, it’s a kitty!” Lore squealed as she fluttered a few feet off the ground.

“Seriously, how are you a horror novelist?” Kopuz questioned, his head tilted slightly at the side. “You look and act too cutesy to be that.”

“She can act however she wants,” Smokey answered back.

“Uh, anyone else see the floating plushie?” Tracer asked.

That was when the cat doll lifted its head up and revealed the large crescent shaped smile on its face, “My how rude! I’m not a plushie – I’m Cheshire. And I’m the headmaster here at Twilight Academy, or should I say your headmaster!”

That voice, it was so carefree yet calm, there was something out of a page of fiction especially when the cat leaped off of the hat and placed it atop of his head. “Greetings, and welcome to Wonderland!”

“W-What the?!” Misch yelped loudly as she jumped backwards. “It’s… It’s talking and moving!”

“Regain your composure,” Godfrey warned, a little nervously though. “It… It’s probably just being moved by a spell. Which one of you unicorns is doing that?”

“Oh, I’m so ashamed that you think that I’m just a puppet,” Cheshire answered back with a loud sigh as he lowered his head. “Youngsters these days just don’t know how to talk to their elders, they need to show respect to their superiors. And you diamond dogs, please refrain from eyeing me like I’m a well-seasoned stake.”

Indeed, both Geri and Freki were leering at Cheshire, the only reason why they hadn’t taken a step towards the odd feline was that Freya was standing in front of them with her arms held up. “Alright Mister Cheshire, you’ve got ten seconds to tell us what’s going on here, and if you don’t, then I’ll let these two go.”

“Can we assume you’re the one who called us here?” Hawkward asked, his eyes narrowed down at the cat. “Or the one who brought us here in the first place?”

“Hmm, well, you all did accept those invitations to get into the school,” Cheshire replied before he leapt onto the fountain and began to balance himself as he walked on his hind legs near the edge. “So, you all came here on your own free will, but I was the one who did direct you to the Main Court. After all, I’m sure you all have questions about what’s going on.”

“Alright, then spill it,” Zure demanded as she stepped forward. “Why exactly are we here?”

“Why, you’re here for an opening ceremony of course!” Cheshire answered, not even bothering to look at the group. “So as I said before, welcome to Wonderland! The place where fantasy resides, and where you all shall reside as well!

“The duration of your stay… is indefinite!”

Cheshire stopped and bowed to the fifteen individuals, “So please learn to get along with each other! Because you all are required to spend the rest of your days here!”

“Wait… What?” Tracer yelped.

“Oh? Were you not paying attention?” Cheshire asked before he placed his front paws on the edge of the fountain and began walking around on his front paws. “I said that you all get to live in Wonderland for the rest of your days.”

There was a moment of silence within the Main Court, many of the individuals looked to each other.

“Yeah, screw this,” Misch sighed loudly before her wings fanned out. “I don’t know ‘bout the rest of you, but I’m flying out of this sty.”

And like that, the slightly greasy griffon flew up into the air, with everyone else watching. Cheshire sighed loudly, “Well, if that’s what she wants, who am I to stop her? By the by, would one of you with wings or magic get ready? Miss Metal will be rejoining us in about…”

Still on his front paws, Cheshire used his tail to reach into his suit pocket to produce a silver pocket watch, “Three… Two…”

KER-RASH!

The sky all of a sudden turned dark as night, with several bolts of lightning that crashed through the air. A loud scream pierced the air as a familiar figure fell from the sky, and as Misch continued to plummet closer and closer to the ground… A red blur flew through the air and caught her.

When the blur landed on the ground, Hawkward skidded to a stop with a dazed Misch on his back, one of her wings singed badly from the lightning.

And as quickly as the storm appeared, it faded away back into the colorful sky.

“Upupupupupu,” Cheshire snickered, now back on his feet. “As a little warning to those who can fly, I would suggest that you don’t fly too high in the air, the weather around here is a little violent when disturbed at a certain altitude. So, it’d be best if you stay here on the ground.”

“Alright you overdressed hairball,” Smokey growled as he stomped towards the cat, the red dragon towered over the toy-like feline. “This is getting on my nerves, so you better start yaking on how we can leave this little Tartarus-hole right now!”

“You wanna leave?” Cheshire questioned with a gasp, honestly shocked by the dragon’s demand. “Really? Well, I suppose I could tell you how you can leave. All you have to do…

“Is kill someone.”

Those words echoed through Tracer’s head, and most likely everyone else’s… And time began to slow down.

TBC

Daily Life 1 - Wondrous Despair

Daily Life 1

Wondrous Despair

TTT – TTT

There was an awkward silence as the fifteen individuals watched as Cheshire just stood there with that sewed on smile of his.

“K… Kill someone?” Tracer questioned. “Are… Are you kidding?”

“Oh, this is no joke,” Cheshire answered back as he walked in between the large number of students. “I’m completely serious on this.”

“Yeah, didn’t you notice zat last chapter he spoke in italics and bold?” Francis pointed out, with the goat shuddering. “Writers only do zat when zey wanna point out somezing out dramatic or somezing like zat… We’ll probably see zat a lot in ze future.”

“Bleh, that sounds like a technique that fan fiction writers use,” Lore gagged with her tongue stuck out. “Not that I don’t mind doing that every once in a while.”

“Would you two pay attention?” Hawkward snarled at the two as he lowered down to have a dazed Misch roll off his back. The pegasus cleared his throat out and narrowed his eyes down at the stuffed cat. “Why exactly are we here, and why can’t we leave this place without killing someone?”

“Why? Why why why why why,” Cheshire sighed as he pulled his top hat down over his eyes. “What’s with all the whys? How about some whos? Or whats? Or maybe some hows? I assure you that I’m quite the interesting guy…

“But, remember you all came to Twilight Academy of your own free will. Not like anyone twisted your arms or hooves or whatever you use.”

“So wait, is this something the school is behind?” Kopuz questioned, the minotaur staggered back from the cat.

“How would this be okay by the Princess’ standards?” Elo asked bluntly. “And who ever heard of a cat being in charge of anything?”

Cheshire shrugged in reply, “That my fine horned ox and nerdy mare, is something that should be obvious. This wondrous place was made for you all! After all, you’re the first generation of Twilight Academy, we need to make sure that you’re safe.

“But if you really wanna leave, all you need to do is kill someone without getting caught. Beating, stabbing, pounding, cutting, burning, grinding, choking, slaughtering, cursing, body checking – Method doesn’t matter! All you need to know is that you can’t leave unless you murder someone.”

Tracer blinked a few times, without a care in his voice, this living cat doll spoke some of the most depraved words imaginable. And when the words ‘you can’t leave unless you murder’ were uttered, Tracer could feel a lump tie up in his throat.

“Back in Equestria, that hardly ever happens,” Cheshire playfully announced as he lifted his hat back up. “Such a shame too since it can be such a rush – Your heart beating against your ribcage, the blood racing through your veins as you watch that very same liquid pour out of another individual… All by your own paws too!

“It’s so exciting! Such a thrill!”

“Why do we need to kill each other to leave?!” Zure shouted out.

“Yes, this is completely insane!” Godfrey added in. “Let us leave NOW!”

“Insane?” Cheshire questioned.

“Sanity… Is that really all that important?” Cheshire cackled out. “After all, sanity and happiness are an impossible combination. What’s sanity good for anyway? I’m giving you a chance to rid yourselves of the dull sanity that Equestria has drilled into your heads, a chance to free yourselves from the shackles of the outside world and live the rest of your lives in Wonderland!

“From here on out, Wonderland is your home, it’s your whole world. So kill to your hearts’ content! Kill or be killed! Kill! Kill! Kill ‘til nothing’s left! Whahahahahahaha!”

“S’alright, little dood,” Freki spoke up as he walked up to the cat. “Where’s the hidden cameras?”

“Oh?” Cheshire mused.

“You got us real good, little cat,” Freki continued with a large smile on his face. “Are we done with the joke?”

“Joke?” Cheshire questioned with his head tilted.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Smokey roared as he stomped towards Cheshire. The dragon towered over the small cat, cracking his knuckles loudly. “Listen here you lousy pile of crap…”

“Smokey! Don’t curse!” Lore gasped loudly.

“Yeah! You’re gonna raise ze mature rating of the story already!” Francis added in. “Oh wait, we were just told to kill each ozer, so zat’ll raise ze rating as well…”

But the red dragon continued onwards and grabbed the small toy cat by the scruff of its jacket, and lifted Cheshire up. “You said that we gotta kill someone to get out? Does that include you? Cause you’ve got ten seconds to let us outta here!”

“Hey! That’s my line!” Freya barked out.

But Smokey didn’t listen, rather he was more preoccupied with the struggling cat in his claws, gone was the smoke that filtered out of the dragon’s mouth, and in its place were several flames, “I could give two shits if you’re a cat or some sort of toy! I’ll break you in two and burn you to a crisp if you don’t let us out!”

“WAH! This is against the rules!” Cheshire cried out as he tried to free himself. “You can’t attack the headmaster!”

“Who gives a fuck about your rules?!” The dragon roared back, lifting the cat higher in the air. “Let us outta here now!”

It was then that Cheshire stopped moving completely and remained silent.

“What’s the matter?” Smokey chuckled with the flames licking against the side of his face. “Cat got your tongue? Heh, see what I did there?”

“Get rid of him!”

Everyone turned to see Crowquill finally standing on all four hooves, his eyes narrowed through his mane, “Didn’t you hear me?! Throw him!”

“Huh?” Smokey yelped before he turned back to Cheshire, noticing that there was an odd purple aura around Cheshire’s body. “The Tartarus?”

“DO IT!” Crowquill yelled.

A little stunned at the sudden gear shift in Crowquill’s demeanor, Smokey reeled his arm back and then threw Cheshire as far into the air as he could throw. And with only a few seconds after the throw, the aura around Cheshire grew more intense before he exploded into large surge of energy and sound that pushed everyone a little bit back.

When the smoke and energy from above began to dissipate, Smokey fell back onto his tail with a loud gulp, “I… I… What just…”

“That was an offensive magic spell,” Alchymist gulped with one of her front hooves lifted up. “If… If you hadn’t gotten rid of that thing, we… We could’ve been…”

“Killed? Why of course!”

Everyone turned back to the fountain to see that seated on the edge of the fountain with a cup of tea held in his paws was none other than Cheshire. However, when he tried to take a sip, all that happened was that the tea spilled down onto his jacket, “You can’t go around breaking the rules, and attacking the headmaster is one of the worst rules you can break. Just be grateful that I’m a gentleman and let you all off with a warning.”

“T-That was a warning?!” Tracer yelped loudly.

“Indeed, but next time,” Cheshire replied, tossing the cup into the fountain water. “Don’t expect to get off lightly.”

‘I’d hate to see him when he’s not holding back,’ Tracer thought.

“But since I’m not heartless,” Cheshire continued as he pulled his hat off and reached into it. “I’ll give you something that’ll make sure that won’t happen again.”

When he pulled his paw out, Cheshire drew out several little blue card-like devices that had a familiar star-like mark on the back of them. The cat tossed them into the air and they slowly floated towards each of the fifteen individuals in front of him. “Here’s your student ID, with it, you can not only see those rules of mine, but you’ll also be able to enter certain areas, know who you are, and even keep notes for classes!

“Okay, so that last feature may not be as predominate as the others, but this ID can do other neat things too! So, go ahead and explore them all! After all, you’re going to have nothing but time here folks! Well, unless you do one certain thing…”

It was then that Cheshire himself began to float up into the air, “Go ahead! Kill! Spill some blood! Do what comes natural to you, especially if you wanna get out of here! Toodles!”

And in a flash of light, Cheshire disappeared.

“… Who says toodles?” Tracer stated with a loud gulp.

“After everything that happened, that’s what you focus on?” Freya asked, a dulled look aimed at the earth stallion.

“It… It’s just a little weird,” Tracer muttered with his head lowered.

“Regardless,” Elo spoke up as she used her magic to look at the student ID. “Now that the board’s been set, we need to consider our options. So far it looks like we’ve only got two, either to live here forever, or…”

“To kill someone,” Hawkward sighed.

“Um, so we’ve been trapped in a weird place,” Alychmist muttered under her breath as she lowered herself to the ground. “… And then told we must kill… each other… S-Someone! Anyone! Tell me what’s going on around here?!?”

“Uh, this has to be a joke right?” Freki asked with a nervous laugh.

“This is too serious to joke around with!” Kopuz answered back, his hands wrapped around in a bunch of beads he had. “Heavens above! Please grace me with an answer to this situation!”

“Whether it’s a joke or not isn’t the issue,” Hawkward stated bluntly. “What should be our main concern… Is if someone here took it serious.”

And once again, the silence returned.

Everyone looked towards each other, and the weight of Cheshire’s words began truly weigh down on all fifteen of them. As everyone’s stares bore into each other, Tracer could practically hear his heart beat faster and faster with every passing second.

From gazes attempting to catch a glimpse into each other’s hearts, there was a tinge of animosity.

At that moment, it occurred to Tracer how truly horrendous this Wonderland’s rules were.

Beneath the colorful exterior and playful demeanor, the darkness of
‘You can’t leave unless you kill someone’
Crept about everyone, slowly taking root in everyone’s minds with a single question.

“Will I be betrayed?”

TTT – TTT

Rule 1
Students are to live out their lives together exclusively within Wonderland.
Indefinitely.

Rule 2
From 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. is designated as ‘nighttime.’ Be aware that certain areas will be prohibited during this time.

Rule 3
In order to access your personal living quarters, your Student ID is required to open the door. Lending your ID to other students is against the rules and will be punished accordingly.

Rule 4
You may investigate Wonderland to your hearts’ content.
No limitations have been placed on your actions unless otherwise stated.

Sub-Rule of Rule 4
Magic of all kinds is fully permitted in the Wonderland. In addition, any unicorn must identify all of their spells if asked by a fellow student. Be warned that the headmaster already knows all of your spells, and withholding information from such a request warrants a penalty.

Rule 5
Violence against the headmaster, Cheshire, is forbidden, as is the destruction of surveillance cameras is also prohibited. The headmaster may not punish a student unless the student has broken any of the rules.

Rule 6
Please refrain from polluting nature: place any and all trash and recyclables in their proper receptacles. Failure to do so will result in embarrassment.

Rule 7
The villain who kills one of his/her companions will be allowed to ‘graduate,’ provided his or her crime is not discovered to the other students. Only one individual may kill up to two others.

Rule 8
Additional rules may be appended to this list if deemed necessary.

Tracer sighed to himself as he looked through the list of rules that were on his Student ID, the small blue piece of plastic seemed to have some sort of magical charms on it that with a single touch on the screen, one could easily access either the rules or the note pad. There was even a recording mechanism to it so one could speak and it would be recorded as words.

‘This would be pretty awesome,’ Tracer thought to himself as he slid a hoof over the screen. ‘If my life wasn’t in danger, I’d ask if I could get music on this thing.’

“Hey! Tracey! Don’t fall behind!”

“Yes, you should be able to keep up with us.”

The earth stallion pocketed the Student ID and tried his best to keep up with the other two members of the small group – Lore and Godfrey. After someone had managed to snap out of being dazed by everything, it was decided amongst the group to explore whatever locations were here in Wonderland, and see if there was a way out.

Flight was out of the question, especially since Misch was still knocked out from that weird storm. Some tried to walk off the paths and disappear into the distance, only to appear on the other side of the road, opposite from where they started. Either through spell, or by convoluted logic, no matter how far they stepped off the paths, they would always return to the paths.

There were five groups of three – Making sure that no one would fall prey to any unsightly business, they were mixed with groups that could handle each other. For example, Kopuz and Smokey were in the same group since they were roughly the same size and could more than likely defend themselves from each other.

Also, for some reason, Francis wanted to join that group – Much to the confusion of everyone else.

Another group was with Hawkward, Crowquill and Misch – Hawkward wanted to find where everyone would be sleeping and hopefully get Misch some rest.

As for Tracer’s group…

“Sorry, I was busy checking out the rules,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly as he caught up with the small pegasus and fashionable griffon. “Ya know…”

“Yes, yes,” Godfrey sighed under his breath before he turned away from the dull earth stallion. “Better to be prepared, that Hawkward said. Still, this situation is just ridiculous, if I knew that something inane like this would happen, I would’ve tossed that letter in the trash.”

“Well, this isn’t the best situation, Freyrey,” Lore stated with a warm smile on her face. “But…”

“Please no nicknames,” Godfrey growled as he pushed up his glasses. “I realize that you’re trying to make the best of it, but now’s not the time.”

“Oh,” Lore muttered, her ears lowered down slightly.

“Hey, there’s no need be like that,” Tracer pointed out with his eyes narrowed slightly. “She’s just trying to make you feel better.”

“Yes, I realize that,” Godfrey sighed loudly as he walked forward. “But you need to realize that we’re practically in Tartarus, paranoia whispering in our ears. Now, we’ve got bigger issues, let’s continue on this path.”

Tracer narrowed his eyes further as he watched the griffon walk forward and then he turned over to Lore, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Lore sighed before she stood up straight and playfully trotted after Godfrey. “Besides, it’s obvious that this is pretty good set up – Paranoia, characters getting on each others' nerves, desperate situation – It’s nifty!”

And it was then that Tracer was able to catch a glimpse of the horror novelist in that little mare, there was a little chill that ran up his spine when she listed off those attributes.

“By the by, Tracer,” Godfrey called out to the stallion, not bothering to look at him. “I can’t tell because of that tacky vest, but you wouldn’t happen to be a pegasus too, would you?”

“Uh, no,” Tracer chuckled, trying to catch up with his two winged companions. “Full on earth pony here.”

“Shame,” Godfrey admitted with a shake of his head. “We would’ve been able to fly a bit and find… What were we looking for again?”

“According to the map,” Lore answered back as she knocked the Student ID out of her dress and onto the ground. “There should be a place called the White Rabbit’s Storage at the end of this path… Ooh! I think I see it!”

“I do as well,” Godfrey continued as he adjusted his glasses with his talons. With a sigh, the griffon’s wings spread out. “When we get done with this, I’ll have to give my feather’s a good preening and stretch.”

“Wow Freyr… I mean, Godfrey,” Lore corrected herself. “Your wings are really nice! They even shine!”

Tracer squinted his eyes slightly, and indeed, Godfrey’s wings did seem to have a bit of a sheen to them. Being a hornless and wingless equine, Tracer didn’t need to worry about the extra necessities that came with added limbs (Although, he’d admit that he’d often imagine what he’d be like if he had magic or a horn like his siblings).

“Why thank you, Lore,” Godfrey chuckled with his chest and ego swelling with pride. “Perhaps when we get the chance, I can use my talents to give your wings the same shine! And maybe I can do something with your manes as well, that includes you as well, Tracer!”

“Huh? Again with my mane,” Tracer muttered, bringing a hoof up to his hair. “Seriously, what’s wrong with it?”

“Oh, nothing, you’ll have to forgive me,” the griffon chuckled as he stood up on his hind legs, reached into shirt pockets and produced a pair of scissors in his talons. “I’m an elite stylist, my second goal in life is to make sure that everything is beautified! Everyone should look excellent, and it’s my job to do so!”

“Amazing! You’re really determined aren’t you?” Lore praised.

“Indeed,” Godfrey chuckled as he spun the scissors in his talons. “These scissors are a representation of my determination of beautification, custom-made for yours truly!”

“That… Must’ve cost a lot,” Tracer stated as he looked at the pure silver scissors that the griffon tucked away. “And you said second goal, what’s the first?”

“Please, I’m too much for you to ask that question,” Godfrey answered before he dropped back to his talons. “Besides, we’ve wasted enough time, we’ve got the White… What was it again?”

“White Rabbit’s Storage,” Lore answered.

“Right, that place,” Godfrey coughed. “It’s real close, so we should hurry up.”

Both ponies nodded and followed after the griffon.

It didn’t take long for the three to reach the White Rabbit’s Storage, and like the other buildings, this one was an oddity in and of itself. If it wasn’t for the sign that was near the door to the building saying it was the White Rabbit’s Storage, one wouldn’t think it was that at all – after all, the storage facility itself was built to resemble that of a large top hat with a door and windows.

All three of the group blinked at the odd building.

“Now that’s just tacky,” Godfrey grumbled, pulling off his glasses so he could clean them. “A building like that is an eyesore and doesn’t seem to be structurally sound.”

“Why is it a top hat?” Lore asked, looking to Tracer and Godfrey for an answer.

Neither had an answer that question though.

“Let’s just head inside,” Tracer suggested with his hoof lifted up to the doorknob. With whatever magic ponies had to grip onto items with their hooves, he tried to turn the knob, but it just wouldn’t budge that much. “Huh? It’s locked?”

“Well of course it is!”

The three turned towards one of the many trees nearby to see that amongst the branches was none other than Cheshire himself, a small key spinning about his tail. “After all, this is a storage facility, you wouldn’t want just anyone coming in all willy nilly, would you?”

“It’s Mister Kitty!” Lore gasped.

“Hmm, love the nickname,” Cheshire giggled, and for a moment, it looked like the large smirk on his face only grew. “In any case, there are a lot of places locked up to you all, so much so that I decided to not put them on your map apps.”

“But this one is on the map,” Tracer pointed out to Cheshire.

“Oh, right,” Cheshire admitted before he leapt from the tree and landed on the ground before the three. “Well, I guess I should unlock this for you… Or better yet, you can do it yourselves. After all, you’re all old enough to take care of yourselves, so here’s the key!”

Cheshire whipped his tail and tossed the key into Godfrey’s talons, “Just be sure to read the sign – Lock up when every living soul is out of there. Don’t need anyone locked up in there with all my favorite snacks and magazines.”

“Are you kidding?” Tracer asked. “Is that all that’s stored here? Snacks and magazines?”

“Of course not!” Cheshire replied with a wag of his paw. “I have movies, games, comic books, action figures and the basic necessity of all – Train sets – in there!”

“Really?” Tracer asked as he leaned towards the cat. “You wouldn’t happen to have the Power Ponies Comics in there?”

“Every single issue up to date,” Cheshire whispered back. “I also have the Masked hero series too, if you’re interested…”

“Are… Are you serious?” Tracer asked with his eyes brightening up. “That’s awesome! You got the W series?”

“Indeed,” Cheshire cackled, his arms held up. “But you may want to hurry up, the other two went ahead inside.”

“Huh?” Tracer muttered when he realized the door the White Rabbit’s Storage was now open and the other two members of his group were in the building. “Oi!”

Cheshire faded away as the earth stallion galloped into the hat-shaped building.

Inside the storage building, Tracer skidded to a stop inside the building and took a look around, the entrance room seemed to be more of a lounge.

The room had a wooden floor with a chair in the corner, a small coffee table next to the chair that had a blue vase of tulips on it, and several paintings over the walls. On the wall over the chair was a small window, and at the wall opposite of the entrance was another doorway that led to another room. Godfrey was investigating the other room while Lore was relaxing in the chair.

‘Compared with everywhere else,’ Tracer thought to himself. ‘This place is rather tame, it’s really weird.’

As he took a step on the wooden floor, Tracer noticed that the boards creaked loudly, which drew Godfrey’s attention away from the other room. “Oh, about time you stopped shooting the breeze with our captor, take a look at this.”

Tracer looked into the room, and true to Cheshire’s words, there were shelves upon shelves of books, magazines, movies, comics and other forms of media. But there were some shelves that had other items: blankets, pillows, toilet paper, shampoo and even some boxes that were labeled clothes.

“Looks like this place is stockpiling a lot of items,” Godfrey pointed out as he walked into the slightly darker room (there was another window, but it didn’t really illuminate the room that well). When he reached a shelf that had the toiletries, the griffon lifted up a bottle of conditioner from the shelf, “At least we won’t have to worry about being dirty or bored… Such great priorities.

“If we don’t kill each other, we might starve here because of that stupid cat.”

“Well, at least we’ll be entertained,” Tracer replied as he spotted some saddlebags on a shelf. “Think the cat would mind if I borrowed some of the reading material here?”

“You’re an idiot,” Godfrey sighed loudly. “We’ve got bigger issues to deal with, and you’re concerned if you can take a couple comics with you?”

“Well, not really,” Tracer answered back as he reached with his head and pulled out the Student ID, with the map on it. Then as best as he could, Tracer continued. “Cause ‘ccordin’ to this, there’s a cafeteria around here – And we’re meeting everyone else there when we get done, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“That’s not the point, you dolt,” Godfrey groaned loudly. “We don’t know if we can trust him or not, for all we know, he’ll try to…”

“OOH! My book!”

Both Tracer and Godfrey turned to see that Lore had was flying slightly in front of one of the bookshelves and had pulled a book out from it. When she landed in front of the two, Lore placed the book on the ground before them, “One of my works is here! This is so nice to see anyone with a copy of ‘UNDER A CRIMSON STAINED MOON’.”

Godfrey sighed before he slapped his forehead with his talons. “Alright, I give up! So we’ve seen what’s here, let’s go meet with the others.”

“Yeah, just give me a minute,” Tracer replied as he turned back to the comics. “Now, where are those Masked hero comics…?”

“Hold it!”

All three looked up to see Cheshire… Only this time he stood upside down on the ceiling. When they noticed him, the fancily dressed cat tilted his hat slightly towards them. “Now, while I said that you can take anything from here, one item per individual can only be taken out. With the exception of toiletries, of course.”

“Wait, I have to come back to get the rest of the comics?!” Tracer gasped loudly as he reeled back.

“Don’t forget you need to bring back the item that you originally borrowed,” Cheshire added as he walked around the ceiling rather easily.

“I love how you’re not even phased about how a cat is leisurely walking on the ceiling,” Godfrey pointed out with a push of his glasses.

“Well, this Wonderland is obviously different from Equestria,” Lore replied, smiling innocently. “So, it would stand to reason that there are some rules that don’t apply here.”

“But these rules are weird!” Tracer replied before he turned back to Cheshire, who was now seated on the ceiling with a comic book in his paws. “C’mon! Can it be at least three comics or whatever?!”

“Tell you what,” Cheshire replied, not bothering to look up from his comic. “Kill someone, and you can take as many as you like.”

“Uh, one’s fine,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly. “I… I’ll just stick with the first issue of W… Where is it?”

“Oh, I’m taking it for the evening,” Cheshire answered back.

“DAMN IT!”

TTT – TTT

After making their way on the paths to the cafeteria, Tracer’s group reached the building that housed it – It looked to me a normal two storied building that one would find in Equestria, resembling that of a log cabin with plenty of bushes and trees around it. When the group entered the building through the opened doors, there was only one other group there…

“Oh, look who’s here,” Freya greeted with a wave of her paw, looking away from the chessboard in front of her. “You find anything useful on your little escapade?”

“Eyes on the board please,” Elo requested as her horn lit up and lifted up one of the chess pieces up. With a loud clack, Elo’s mouth curled up slightly into a smile as her piece landed on the ground. “Checkmate.”

“Wait! What?!” Freya yelped as she looked at the board. “I… I… Wait, what if I do… This!”

The diamond dog picked up her king and placed it on another square on the board.

“Then my bishop has it in its sights,” Elo explained. “Move it to the left, then my rook will take out the king. Back, my pawn. Take out the pawn, then the knight.”

“… Grr…” Freya growled loudly with her fur standing on end.

The two were having a little chess match on the coffee table of the cafeteria’s first floor, and with how Freya’s fur was standing on end and the deadly leers she was shooting at the unicorn across the board.

“Have you two just been playing all this time?” Godfrey asked as he walked up to the table to see Elo setting up the board again.

“Of course not,” Elo answered back as she placed the pieces back. “We searched this building top to bottom, after we searched, we waited for you guys – But Miss Freya here wasn’t feeling too good just sitting around. So, I offered a game of chess…”

“And I say you’re a cheater,” Freya growled with her eyes narrowing down.

Godfrey’s eyes dulled slightly as he looked towards the diamond dog, “You do realize that her cutie mark is a chess piece, right? Elo Castling’s known in the Canterlot Scene as one of the best chess players in Equestria.”

“Wait, so I got conned?!” Freya yelped, her leer aimed at Elo now more intensely.

“Not conned, just out classed,” Elo answered back with a warm smile. “You’re more than welcomed to continue trying, I welcome the challenge.”

“Meh, I’m going up to the second floor,” Freya grumbled loudly as she pushed herself from the coffee table. “I’m getting kinda hungry.”

And with that, the Diamond Dog slowly dragged herself up the steps.

“Hey, Tracey!”

Tracer yelped slightly, a little more preoccupied with the exchange that had just occurred. With Lore next to him with an innocent smile, the mare trotted a little ahead of him, “Wanna check out the second level?”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” Tracer muttered under his breath. ‘Truth be told, I’m a little thirsty myself…’

“So, Mister Godfrey, are you interested in a match?” Elo offered with an innocent smile.

“Hmm, are you sure?” Godfrey chuckled, wagging his talon slightly. “I wouldn’t want to outshine the champ at their own game.”

“Oh? You think you stand a chance?” Elo chuckled with her gaze behind her glasses sharpening slightly. “Then bring it on!”

“Wow, never pegged those two as the competitive type,” Tracer muttered as he followed Lore up the stairs to the second level.

The upstairs of the cafeteria wasn’t all that elaborate, resembling that of a café that had a roof and an obvious kitchen that was in another room connected to the café filled with tables and chairs. Tracer and Lore noted that Freya was walking into the kitchen, grumbling about ‘cheating or something’ while seated at one of the table was none other than Alchymist, nursing a drink while her horn was lit up tending to one of the potted plants that was put on decoration for the tables.

Tracer sighed under his breath, ‘We really are the first group back here… I hope nothing happened to the other three groups…’

“I’m going to get something to drink,” Tracer told Lore. “You, uh, want something?”

“Well, if they have grape juice, that’d be great!” Lore replied before she trotted over to Alchymist’s table. “I’ll be over here with Misty!”

“… Misty?” Alchymist questioned looking up from the flowers she was working with.

Whatever reason the little pegasus mare had for giving anyone she met a nickname was just odd for Tracer. But the earth stallion just shrugged it off and walked into the kitchen, much to his non-surprise, it was a rather average for a kitchen.

Standard fridge, standard cupboards, standard counter, standard stove…

“Ah! Look who’s here!”

Tracer knew that Freya had entered the kitchen earlier, but the diamond dog had her paws on her hips and smiled at the earth stallion. There was something odd about the smile, then again, Tracer was dealing with a creature that was known to be a carnivore.

“Tracer, right?” Freya asked as she sauntered up the pony and threw an arm around his neck. “How’s it going?”

“Well, in the thirty seconds since we last saw each other,” Tracer bluntly pointed out, although, when he realized that her fangs were a little closer to his neck than he would’ve liked, he chuckled nervously. “N-Never better!”

“Good! So, you’re in tip top shape, right?” the female diamond dog asked as she ran her free paw on one of the lenses of Tracer’s goggles. “Of course you are! Earth Stallions are known for their endurance and strength! So, you wouldn’t mind making some tea for everyone, would you?”

“Wait, what?” Tracer questioned as he pulled away slightly from Freya. “Why should I make tea?”

“Well,” Freya started to answer, releasing Tracer and lifting her paws up to her sides. “Let’s put it like this, is it not a fact that Earth Ponies have a unique magic that allows them to have more control over nature? Fauna and flora, correct?”

“Uh, I guess so,” Tracer admitted, wondering where this was going.

“And tea leaves are still technically a part of nature, even if plucked, right?” Freya continued.

“Yeah…” Tracer stated with a leer in his eyes.

“Plus, I’m sure a stallion of your caliber,” Freya continued onwards as she lifted her paws up to one of Tracer’s front legs. “Especially considering these strong legs, you would obviously have the perfect talent to make even redwoods quiver!”

That little compliment made Tracer puff his chest out slightly, if there was one thing he was proud about, it was his legs. “Well, I don’t know about redwoods, but I’ve been known to kick up dust and make some flashy scenes…”

“Then we’re in agreement!” Freya chimed back with her paws clasped together. “You’ll make some fine tea for us all! Thank you so much!”

“Yes I…” Tracer started before he realized what he had just done. “Wait! I…”

“Oh, and if possible,” Freya stated before she walked out of the kitchen. “I’d like some milk with my tea, so please put in a small cup on the side, will you? Good, thank you!”

Before Tracer could retort, Freya had disappeared back into the cafeteria.

The stallion hung his head down in defeat. ‘What the Tartarus just happened? Ugh, I guess I’ll just do it…

‘Just one problem… How the Tartarus do I make tea?’

TTT – TTT

By some miracle, and a burnt hoof, Tracer was actually able to make a pot of tea – Which consisted of mostly just some hot water with a few tea leaves floating in it – along with a small cup of milk and a grape juice box. And using a tray that he managed to rummage from some of the cupboards, Tracer managed to get the teapot, a few cups and the cup of milk on it.

Now getting it out to the cafeteria itself, that was a task in and of itself.

With the edge of the tray clenched between his teeth, Tracer slowly inched his way towards the cafeteria.

“Hey! You made tea?”

The moment that the earth stallion had poked his head out of the kitchen, a pair of green hands grabbed he tray from his mouth. It was Kopuz who now held the tray in his hands, “Thanks little guy! Some tea is just what the doc ordered!”

The green minotaur easily took the drinks from Tracer, which allowed the earth stallion to see that the cafeteria was now full – All fifteen individuals were seated at the tables, including Misch who, besides being a little toasty around the feathers, seemed fine.

Hawkward cleared his throat and lifted a hoof up, “Alright, now that all of us are gathered again, we should…”

“Question!” Freki interrupted, lifting his paw up into the air.

“Yes?” Hawkward sighed.

“Why are you leading us?” Freki asked, his paws all on the seat he was on.

“You’re being unusually straight forward,” Geri pointed out, looking at his fellow Diamond Dog.

“Heh, it’s just something that’s bugging me,” Freki admitted as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Oh, I have no qualms about letting anyone else take charge,” Hawkward answered back with his front hooves lifted up. “If anyone wants to do so, take all the responsibility and such, feel free to do so. It’d be a real relief from my shoulders should someone actually take Cheshire’s words to heart and consider stealing the life of…”

“Moi will do it!” Francis cheered out loudly, lifting his hooves up over his head.

“I didn’t even finish!” Hawkward sputtered out.

“Aw, well, moi didn’t want to deal wiz ze whole ‘fighting over leader’ cliché,” the beret wearing goat explained before he clapped his hooves together. “After all, we need to work togezer and…”

“And you think you’re best suited for it?” Zure asked as Kopuz placed the tea set on the middle most table with Lore quickly snatching the juice box on it. “What about anyone else? Should we not at least vote to see who would be more suited to…”

“Yeah, but zat’s boring!” Francis interrupted again, his head tilted to the side. “Moi means, pretty much each of us here are Elite, so any one of us would suffice. Zen again, moi am ze Elite ~~Cook~~ Chef here… And moi am sure ze Elite Sculptor wouldn’t do well either as leader.”

“Now wait just a minute,” Zure huffed as she stomped towards the goat. “What does me being a sculptor have to do with leadership skills?”

“Nothing,” Elo spoke up, her attention not even focused on the group’s meeting. “And that’s the point of the matter. We’re all Elites here, but being an Elite Leader isn’t among the talents here – The only ones that would come close would be the Elite Negotiator…”

Elo finally turned back to the group, her eyes aimed down at Freya, who was pouring herself a cup of tea. Elo continued onwards even though the female diamond dog returned the look, “And I’d suggest myself as the Elite Chess Master, but then again, neither are suited for being as a leader role.”

“Well, maybe I should take a crack at it,” Kopuz offered with a goofy smile on his face. “I mean, shouldn’t the oldest here take the reigns?”

“What makes you think you’re the oldest?” Smokey questioned, his guitar case no longer strapped to his back but rather placed on the chair next to him. “In case you don’t know, Dragon’s age at a slower rate, so for all you know, I could be twice your age.”

“Whoa, I’m just putting out ideas here,” Kopuz replied as he lifted his hands up defensively. “I mean, we just need to try to work together here, right?”

Francis sighed loudly when he brought his hoof up to head, “Zis is ze drama moi wanted to skip.”

“… Sometimes these things happened,” Alchymist pointed out, shrinking down into her seat as she muttered out. “So… So many…”

“If you’re all done squabbling,” Crowquill spoke up once more. “It’s been a long day, so can we please discuss what we’ve discovered?”

“Are you trying to take charge?” Godfrey questioned with a wag of his talon.

“No,” Crowquill answered sharply. “I have no interest in leading this group, all I’m interested in is getting some sleep at the rooms we found.”

“Oh yeah! The rooms are nice!” Misch chimed in as she lifted her arms up. “The beds are so soft! And I think they’re sound proof too. The rooms I mean, not the beds, that’d be weird if the beds were sound proofed.”

“What makes you think that the rooms are sound proofed?” Zure questioned.

“Well, Crowquill and Hawkward were arguing pretty loudly outside my room,” Misch explained as she rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile on her beak. “I mean, I didn’t hear them duke it out till I opened the door.”

“Oh, and what was the argument about?” Godfrey asked.

“Nothing that needs to be brought up,” Hawkward stated with a nod.

“Indeed,” Crowquill added.

“Uh, well, anyway, everyone can enter their rooms with their Student IDs,” Misch continued as she reached into the belt around her waist and lifted up the little device. “And they’re easily labeled so it shouldn’t be hard. The rooms I mean, even got cute little pictures of us on the doors.”

“Each of the rooms has a restroom complete with shower system,” Crowquill listed off, not bothering to look at the group. “Along with a little bit of furniture and a bed. Of course, I wouldn’t expect privacy in your room…”

“What does that mean?” Freya questioned.

“You see those cameras?” Hawkward pointed out as she gestured towards the camera that was in the corner of the cafeteria, watching the group from its perch in the ceiling. “Yeah, they’re in the rooms as well.”

“Oh! Please tell me they aren’t in the bathrooms!” Alchymist pleaded with a large amount of crimson appearing on her face. “T-That’d be… That’d be incredibly indecent!”

“What are you complaining about?” Freki questioned with a goofy grin. “Wasn’t it only a few years ago that a lot of ponies started wearing clothes as the norm? Before then, the lot of you just ran around all willy nilly.

“Tartarus, us Diamond Dogs wore clothes all the time before it was cool to do so!”

“Still, it’s obscene,” Alchymist huffed to the side.

“Not like any of us would watch,” Kopuz stated as he poured himself a cup of tea as Freya walked up to the table with tea. “The only one watching that stuff is that bakeneko in the suit and hat.”

“Bakeneko?” Tracer asked.

Kopuz took a whiff of the tea before he turned down towards Tracer, “Oh, it’s Neiphonesse for ‘Ghost Cat’, supposedly it’s a spirit that messes with folks – So, I thought it’d be appropriate to refer to Cheshire as such.”

“Sides,” Misch added in. “I’m pretty much the one here with the least amount of clothes – My headband and belt – and you don’t see me freaking out by not wearing pants or a shirt or a skirt.”

“If ze FCC existed in zis universe,” Francis chuckled. “And if zis was a TV show, we’d get slammed with a cease and desist order.”

“Back to the matter at hoof,” Hawkward cleared his throat loudly. “No, there aren’t cameras in the bathrooms, at least none that we saw when we were investigating Misch’s room.”

“Then I guess it’s my group’s turn,” Freya said as she grabbed the teapot with her paws and poured herself a cup. “We looked over this ‘cafeteria’, turns out it’s fully stocked with food and stuff, should be enough to last us a while.”

“Yeah, but who knows how long that’ll last us,” Smokey huffed, breathing out some smoke as he spoke.

“Actually, it’s replenished every so often,” Alchymist explained as she shrunk a little bit into the seat she was in. “Cheshire told me so.”

“You saw him too?” Godfrey questioned. “He was in the storage house…”

“And there was a ton of cool books and stuff there!” Lore added, taking a moment to breathe from her juice box. “There was even a copy of one of the books I wrote!”

“Might as well talk about our location,” Godfrey stated as he produced a key from his pocket and placed it on the table. “You need this key to enter the building, and you need to lock up after you’re done in there. Also, while you can take things from there, aside from toiletries, you are only allowed to borrow one at a time before.

“Some kind of odd rule that Cheshire was really adamant about…”

“So, are we going to leave the key with someone?” Geri asked as he brought a paw to the key. “Or should we leave it here so that we can use it to access the storage?”

“I can get behind that,” Smokey stated with a nod.

Most of the others agreed with the proposal, the only one who didn’t was Freya – Who was more preoccupied with her tea, pouring the milk into the mixture.

“Now that we’ve got that done,” Geri continued onwards. “My group, which consisted of myself, Freki and Zure, we traveled around the grounds in an attempt to find a way out of here. Unfortunately, as I’m guessing most of you found out, it isn’t as easy as stepping off the path. There seems to be a powerful spell that either pushes you back, or brings you back to the path.”

“I even tried digging into the ground to escape!” Freki chimed in, showing off the dirt on his claws. “But when I got to a certain point, there was this large steel plate that got in my way! I tried digging around it, but it kept on getting in the way, I think it might be underneath the entire way.”

“And while we didn’t find a way out,” Zure added. “We did find a laundry room, quite a few washing machines and dryers in it, and it’s in the building next door.”

“So, that leaves the last group,” Hawkward stated as he cleared his throat at Kopuz.

The minotaur was about to sip his cup of tea when he realized that he had most of the eyes on him, “Oh? Well, we didn’t really explore anything. Me and the walking pair of red boots over there were arguing the whole time.”

“Moi can vouch for zat!” Francis cheered with one of his hooves lifted up. “Zey were about to exchange blows, but moi was able to stop zem!”

“Yeah, it was weird,” Smokey commented as he scratched the side of his head. “The goat stopped us by throwing rubber chickens at us.”

“Where did he get rubber chickens from?” Geri questioned.

“He won’t tell us,” Kopuz replied.

“BLEH!”

Everyone turned to see that Freya had spat out the tea was sipping on, with her tongue out, “GAH! I FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN POSIONED!”

Both Freki and Geri leapt from their seats to help the smaller Diamond Dog, while everyone else was surprised at what just transpired. Kopuz, who had some tea in his hands, sniffed the cup and then took a sip himself.

Two seconds later, he spat the tea back into the cup and then laughed, “Wahahahaha! Don’t worry! It wasn’t poisoned, the tea is just crappy!”

Tracer’s eyes dulled slightly, “I didn’t want to make the tea in the first place, I don’t even know how to make tea.”

With a shake of her head, Freya leered at the Earth stallion, “Great, all that effort gone to waste.”

“You have only yourself to blame,” Geri scolded with a roll of his eyes. “If you wanted tea, then you should’ve asked the professional ~~cook~~ chef here. I’m willing to bet that he could whip up some half-way decent tea.”

“Not just tea, ya know!” Francis laughed before he trotted towards the kitchen. “How about moi gets something in our stomachs? It’s been a long day, and moi is sure a good meal will relieve some of ze tension.”

“Hope you don’t mind,” Hawkward chimed in as he followed Francis into the kitchen. “But I’d like to keep an eye on you, maybe I can learn something.”

Francis stopped and leered at Hawkward, “You know, I have no intention of poisoning the food – A real ~~cook~~ chef would rather die first than serve something that could harm his clientele. And the fact that you think I could even do such a thing…

“It’s like you’re spitting in my face.”

Hawkward reeled back slightly before he shook his head, “My apologies, but you can never be too sure. I’m just trying to make sure none of us fall over dead.”

“Oh, well, if zat’s ze case,” Francis replied with a smile. “Grab a hairnet and a tail-net, you’re moi's official helper!”

Francis’ hooves grabbed Hawkward’s jacket and immediately the two disappeared into the kitchen, with Hawkward yelping in surprise.

“So… Anyone got a deck of cards?” Tracer asked, trying to break the awkward air. “Or anything while we wait?”

TTT – TTT

After a surprisingly delicious meal, Tracer decided to go to the rooms, especially since the ‘sun’ in the sky was starting to set and night was slowly embracing Wonderland. Much to his surprise, the rooms were styled after a two storied hotel, and he could clearly see a picture of a smaller version of himself plastered on the door.

For a moment, Tracer just stared at the little ‘chibi’ version of himself before he opened the door to his room. Inside, the room only had a few pieces of furniture – A bed, a desk, a couple lamps, and a table. There was another door in the room, and Tracer figured it was for the rest room.

On the table was a key that was connected to a small piece of wood that had ‘Tracer’ carved into it. Tracer sighed loudly before he used his tail to lock the door behind him. ‘If what Cheshire says is true, then I’ll be stuck here for a while…

‘Can I even trust what he says? Can I trust anyone here?’

Tracer leapt onto the bed, which he had to admit was rather soft, his head atop of the pillow. ‘I… I wonder if my family misses me… Are they alright? I suppose I should’ve asked about that, but when they haven’t heard from me in a few days, someone will come…

‘Maybe…’

For a few moments, Tracer just laid there, his eyes closed as a thought slowly popped into his head, ‘If you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything. If you want to succeed, have courage and step up front!’

A small smile appeared on Tracer’s face as he slowly lulled himself into sleep.

While I slept, little did I realize that things would get worse before they got better.

The days of peace that I had grown accustomed to – delivering food to customers, spending time with my friends, and possibly earning myself a new future at Twilight Academy. Those days would be shattered.

TBC

Author's Note

Daily Life 2 - Calm

With the sun setting over the watery horizon, the reflected off of the water as many ponies walked over the long bridge, all busy with whatever tasks they had left in the day. However, the light sobbing tarnished the rather beautiful scene.

Leaned against one of the guard rails, and looking down at the water, the colt couldn’t help but notice the small ripples that rocked his reflection in the water.

“So this is where you went off to, Tracer.”

The young colt turned his head around to see a taller stallion standing behind him – But for some reason, the young colt couldn’t see the stallion’s face or any other features, they seemed to be obscured by darkness.

“Tracer, I know it hurts, but we have to move on.”

Not willing to listen, the young Tracer turned back to the lake that was under the bridge. The older stallion sighed as he placed his front hooves on the guardrail next to the young Tracer, “… You know she cared deeply for you right? She didn’t want to go, but these things happen Tracer, and all we can do is move on.”

“B-But,” Tracer squeaked out, not turning towards the stallion. “Does that mean that you’ll disappear too?”

For a moment, the shadowed stallion didn’t say a word, but then spoke up again, “Unfortunately, yeah. We’ll all disappear eventually.”

“But… But I don’t want to disappear!” the young Tracer cried out, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

“If you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything. If you want to succeed, have courage and step up front!”

Tracer reeled back when he heard that, and the older stallion held up a pair of goggles towards the young colt, “Tracer, I can’t promise that you’ll live forever, but, if you let the fear of the reaper creep on your back, you’ll be held back from doing anything with your life!

“I know you’ve got a ton of questions, I know you miss your mother, but that’s the wonder of life at work. The unpredictability, the many unanswered questions, and how you answer them is up to you, and you’ve got your entire life to search for your own answers.”

The stallion then took the goggles and fitted them over Tracer’s head, making sure that they weren’t too tight. “That’s what makes life so great! And I know your mother wouldn’t want to see you mull over her death, she’d want to see you fly without wings.

“So, how ‘bout you give a smile, for the sake of your mother?”

His hoof clacked against the goggles, and a small smile appeared on Tracer’s face, and yet, the tears still kept coming…

DING DONG!

TTT – TTT

Daily Life 2

Calm

TTT – TTT

DING DONG!

Tracer’s eyes shot open when he heard that oddly familiar sound – The sound of a doorbell, how he wished he could sleep for a few more hours, the bloodshot gaze that was locked on the door was a testament to that.

DING DONG!

“I… I’m coming,” Tracer groaned loudly pushing himself from the bed. His head was sore since he forgot to take his googles off. That’ll leave a mark for a while, at least it would be under his mane.

Tracer attempted to push himself out of bed, but when he did, his hooves slipped on the carpeting and he landed on the ground, landing on his face in the process, “Damn it…”

After a few seconds, Tracer yawned and got back to his hooves. Taking a few moments to stretch his body, Tracer made his way to the door. When he did so, he unlocked it and opened it up, “Y-Yeah?”

“Humph, you should learn to be more careful”

Tracer’s eyes widened when he realized that there were a pair of narrowed eyes looking right at him. “Uh, Zure, right?”

Indeed, it was the rather tall and imposing Zebra that stood outside Tracer’s door, “While I’m glad you remembered my name, you should take more care when you open your door – Someone with murderous intent could’ve done something right now, pushed you back into your room and…”

“If I became afraid of opening the door,” Tracer replied with a tired smile. “Then I wouldn’t that mean I admitted defeat to Cheshire? Being forced to hide away?”

“Heh, I like that answer,” Zure chuckled back with a large smile on her face. “But still, at least try to be a bit more careful when you open the door, I’m sure no one wants to see…”

“Well, I appreciate that,” Tracer answered as he rubbed the back of his head. “But, I’m sure you didn’t come to my room to…”

That when a thought occurred to Tracer.

He was in his room, with a mare (a zebra mare to be correct), alone in his room.

A large blush appeared on his silver furred face, and he turned to the side to hide that. “So, uh, w-what brings you here?”

“Are you alright?” Zure asked as she leaned a little closer to Tracer and brought a hoof up to his head. “You aren’t sick, are you?”

That just made Tracer’s face turn a brighter red, and he stepped away, “F-Fine! It’s just a little warm in here. S-So, what do you… What’s going on?”

“Hmm, well,” Zure muttered, obviously not convinced with Tracer’s answer. “Everyone else is meeting in the cafeteria, Hawkward tried waking you up a little bit ago, but you didn’t wake up when he hit the doorbell.

“I’m kinda surprised you woke up when I rang the bell to be honest.”

Tracer chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head with his hoof, “Well, I guess I got odd sleeping habits.”

“Whatever,” Zure shrugged it off before she walked out of the room. “See you at the cafeteria in a few.”

And just like that, Zure disappeared. Tracer sighed loudly, ‘First time I have a girl in my room, and I pretend I’m sick – I’m sure this’ll do wonders for my self-esteem.’

Shaking that little bit of failure from his head, Tracer slowly made his way out of his room towards the cafeteria.

TTT – TTT

“Tracer! You’re late!”

The earth stallion winced when he heard his name called out loudly. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was the only one not seated at one of the tables (which had a plethora of different foods spread out on them, more than likely cooked by Francis).

Most of the group was at a few tables close to each other, of course, there were a few who were seated away from the rest. Smokey was seated in the corner, his guitar case open with a guitar in his lap that he strummed a few chords, Alchymist was seated a few tables away with a sliced open grapefruit and the two male Diamond Dogs – Freki and Geri – were seated together, munching on some toast.

And Hawkward, he was at the head of a group of tables that were pulled together with everyone else, with his eyes narrowed down on the earth stallion, “Because of your tardiness, I…”

“Now that he’s here, let’s dig in!” Kopuz laughed loudly before he took a muffin from the table and took a big bite from it.

“Gah! Not yet!” Hawkward scolded as he waved a hoof at the minotaur. “We’ve got a lot to discuss today before we eat!”

“Oh just relax,” Misch commented holding up an apple with a large smile on her beak. “How can you expect us to pay attention with this spread in front of us?”

“Oooh! Zanks Misch!” Francis called out waving his hooves in the air. “It’s a ~~cook’s~~ chef’s greatest aspiration to hear zat from his customers!”

“I swear you two have no real grasp of the situation,” Hawkward grumbled loudly before he slumped down into his seat. “We’re being held against our wills here!”

“Ya know, if you keep giving off these bad vibes,” Kopuz pointed out with a mouthful of muffin. “Bad karma’s gonna kick you in the flank.”

“Also, it’ll give you wrinkles,” Godfrey added.

“Hey! Tracey!” Lore called out as she waved her hooves up and down. “Come sit over here! There’s an open seat over here!”

Hawkward’s head hung low with another sigh escaping his mouth, “Why isn’t anyone taking this seriously?”

“I think there’s a good reason for that,” Elo stated as she lifted a cup of tea up from the table and took a sip from it. With a smile, the young unicorn continued on. “Consider it Hawkward, we’re all from Equestria, a world where there’s practically peace – Save for the occasional evil monster that likes to terrorize Ponyville for some reason – Murder isn’t really something that occurs.”

“Also,” Zure chimed in. “It’s been a day or so since we were brought here, once our friends and family realize that we’re gone, rescue should be near… Damn it!”

“I thought you only rhymed when you were nervous?” Freya asked, her own cup of tea lifted up.

“Kyah!” Francis squealed loudly with a goofy smile on his face. “Zure’s character traits are finally showing! YAY!”

“What does that even mean?” Zure questioned giving Francis an odd look. “Character traits?”

“Well, we need to have more characterization before zings get serious around here,” Francis explained, his body waning back and forth in his seat. “Moi means, how is anyone supposed to get invested in ze characters if we can’t…”

“Alright, enough of the insanity!” Hawkward barked with a blood vessel appearing on the side of his head. “We need to do something!”

“Mister Hawkward is right – It’s already been a day, and no one’s killed anyone yet!”

All of a sudden, all of the noise and cheer in the room faded away when everyone realized what was just spoken. The entire room turned to the head of the table where a familiar top hat that was aimed at the large group. Slowly, the hat lifted up to show Cheshire seated at the table with a rather large fruit parfait in his paws, and for the first time since they saw the cat, he opened his mouth.

Which was immediately closed down on a spoonful of parfait, when he did, Cheshire wiggled in his seat, “MMMMM! Yummy! I’ve never had such a tasty little treat!”

“WAAAH!” Misch cried out as she slipped from her chair. “Where did he come from!?”

“I’m impressed,” Geri muttered. “This cat is like a ninja… Didn’t even smell him.”

“Ninja cat?!” Freki yelped out.

“What are you doing here?” Hawkward asked, noting that everyone was slowly inching away from their captor.

“Enjoying parfait,” Cheshire replied nonchalantly as he lifted up another spoonful of the confectionery. “After all, good food shouldn’t go to waste, it should go to your waist, right?”

There seemed to be a cricket nearby as the telltale chirp alerted Cheshire that no one found his joke entertaining. With his ears slumped down, Cheshire lowered his head again, “Awe, that’s a shame, I was hoping for some laughs.”

“You greet us by commenting on a lack of murder,” Godfrey pointed out with a roll of his eyes. “What did you think would happen?”

“Hmm, you bring up a good point,” Cheshire answered back before he jumped onto the table. “Then let’s try this again – Good morning!”

“Good morning, kitty!” Lore greeted playfully.

“You don’t have to respond, you know,” Smokey sighed, bringing up his guitar again, more than likely preparing to ignore the dumb cat.

“Now then,” Cheshire stated as he placed the empty parfait glass on the table before him. Taking a moment to clear his throat, Cheshire bowed slightly. “Let’s try this the gentleman’s way – Please, would someone kill someone else? I would greatly appreciate it.”

“You know, you’re really dedicated to this,” Kopuz chuckled.

“Hmm?” Cheshire mused, lifting his head up. “I would say so…”

“I kinda respect someone who’s willing to keep a joke up,” Kopuz admitted with his arms crossed. “Even if it was a demented joke.”

“Didn’t we go over this yesterday?” Cheshire questioned as he tilted his head to the side. “This isn’t a joke – None of you will leave this place, not unless you take the life of another.”

“What makes you think we’re going to take someone’s life?!” Tracer barked at Cheshire, surprising the cat.

“Yes! For all we know, the Equestrian Royal Guard is on the way!” Elo contributed, slamming a hoof onto the top of the table.

“The Guard Dogs are also probably breathing down your neck,” Freya added with a wild smirk on her face. “And trust me, when they see that it’s a cat that’s holding some dogs prisoner, you’ll wish you were…”

“Puh-lease,” Cheshire interrupted.

“Why is everyone interrupting me?!” Freya snarled as she started to get up from her seat, only to be pulled down by Misch and Kopuz.

“Do you honestly think that the pathetic soldiers can do a thing?” Cheshire cackled, taking a little stroll across the table. “Every time those guards try to do something against a big bad, they usually get smacked away, or get turned to stone, or drained of their magic like a vampire bat sucks juice from an apple, they always are the fodder to show how bad ass the bad guys are.

“It’s a common trope in comics, movies, games and other forms of media…”

“That’s a given,” Tracer muttered under his breath. “If the bad guys got taken out by the regular officials, they weren’t really villains suited for the hero to deal with.”

“You actually contributed to his argument?” Elo questioned.

Tracer rubbed the back of his head with his cheeks a little red.

“Now, now, he’s got a point,” Cheshire scolded with a wag of his paw. “But if you all think that help is really going to come soon, then go ahead and keep waiting. It won’t matter, there’s only one way out and you all know it.

“So go ahead, wait all you like – That’s kind of the point of this place anyway. Not like anyone will actually appear to save the day. Now if you excuse me, I have some work I need to do. Have a good day.”

And just like that, Cheshire popped into a cloud of black and white smoke, although, a plate of waffles just so happened to disappear along with the cat.

“He stole the waffles!” Kopuz yelped as he placed his hands at the side of his head. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That fiend!”

“The feline kidnaps us,” Misch pointed out. “And you’re more worried about the waffles? Get your priorities straight!”

“But the waffles …” Kopuz sobbed, using a napkin to dry his tears.

“Stolen waffles aside,” Hawkward sighed loudly. “After our meal, we’ll have to continue our search for a way out.”

“What makes you think that there is a way out?” Elo questioned, finished with her tea. “If Cheshire is really our captor, what makes you think that he would leave a means for us to escape? It’d be a real shoddy move on his part if he did.”

“But we can still look,” Zure replied as she shot a look at Elo. “There wouldn’t be anything wrong with doing that. And who knows what other items we missed yesterday.”

“Whatever,” Elo sighed as she pushed herself from the table, with her horn lit up and levitating a certain key. “I’ll be heading to the storage area, I might as well see if there’s anything worth reading in there.”

And just like that, Elo walked out of the cafeteria with the key in tow.

“I think I’ll head out too,” Godfrey added as he used his table to grab onto an orange. “I gotta do some preening, and if anyone’s interested, I can easily style anyone’s hair… Or scales…”

Smokey lifted his head up when he heard scales – He was the only one here who was cold blooded and had scales, “And what’s wrong with my spines?”

“I was just making an offer,” Godfrey answered back. “I style with feathers and hair all the time, I’d relish the chance to style a dragon’s spines.”

“Ain’t interested,” Smokey grumbled.

“Shame,” Godfrey chuckled.

And like that, the griffon exited.

“Great, anyone else wanna leave?” Hawkward asked with a slap to his forehead.

Without missing a beat, Alchymist and Crowquill walked out of the cafeteria.

“Great…” Hawkward grumbled.

TTT – TTT

It didn’t take long for the rest of the group to finish up their breakfast, until only Tracer was left with Francis.

“Zanks again for bringing ze dishes in, Trace!” Francis chuckled, turning his attention away from the piles of dishes. “Saves me ze trouble of going out there, and Moi can get these zings done quickly.”

However, Tracer couldn’t answer, mainly because he had a tray in his mouth that had a bunch of other plates on it. If he spoke, the earth stallion would drop the tray and plates to the floor. But when he reached the sinks, he was finally able sigh. “Ya sure you don’t need help with these?”

“Moi claimed zis kitchen,” Francis answered back before he tossed a cleaned dish on the side with the other cleaned dishes. “Zerefore, moi has got to take care of everyzing in here – Ze responsibilities of a ~~cook~~ chef are great, my friend. Even if moi am captured, moi has an obligation to make sure zat everything is right for everyone to eat!”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re weird?” Tracer asked nervously.

“Moi gets zat all ze time,” Francis answered back, not turning away from the dishes. “Moi takes it as a compliment, it’d be too boring if everyone acted ze same and creativity would drop, and we wouldn’t have half of the zings we’ve got today.”

The goat ~~cook~~ chef stopped washing the dishes and turned towards Tracer with a smile, “So moi takes being called weird as a compliment – It practically tells moi zat moi is alive and unique.”

“Well, that’s one way to think of it,” Tracer chuckled to himself. “But everyone else is out there doing stuff, and you’re stuck in here.”

“It’s not like it’ll take all day to do ze dishes,” Francis replied with a shrug. “Sides, it’s not so bad being in ze kitchen for most of ze day – All ze free food moi could ever munch on!”

“Yeesh, and here I was thinking there was a deeper meaning to what ya were saying,” Tracer snickered, shaking his head. For a moment, Tracer just watched Francis clean the dishes, till he spoke up again. “Say, Francis, what do you make of this situation?”

“Moi? Meh, moi doesn’t know,” Francis answered back nonchalantly, more preoccupied with the dishes. “Frankly, moi is more worried about my restaurant back home – After all, wizout ze head ~~cook~~ chef, ze other cooks will do who knows what wiz ze recipes!”

“You’ve got a restaurant?” Tracer questioned.

“Of course!” Francis chuckled. “Family restaurant to be precise, but its mine now, and it’s one of the most successful in my city. When we get outta here, moi shall treat everyone here to one of the greatest meals zeir taste buds ever touched. Or somezing like zat.”

“Haven’t you been cooking for us since we got here?” Tracer pointed out with a flat look in his eyes.

“Ah, shut up,” Francis playfully spat back. “Moi is more comfortable wiz my own equipment and using a kitchen that moi can call my own – It can make a world of difference. Zen again, ze only difference is only a few seconds of time, moi can still make somezing delicious.”

And with that, Francis turned over to Tracer with a smile, “In any case, go ahead Trace, I’m sure you don’t wanna spend the day all cooped up in a kitchen wiz a stinky goat.”

“C’mon, Francis,” Tracer stated as he trotted next to the goat. “Everyone deserves a little company, sides, ya need a little help with the dishes, don’tcha?”

The smile on Francis’ face curled up a little bit, “Heh, alright, if you don’t mind having pruney hooves.”

With an extra pair of hooves there to help, both Francis and Tracer were able to get through cleaning the dishes and cutlery in no time at all. And with the dishes drying, the two left the kitchen, Tracer being the first to leave (Francis said that he had a few more things to do, but it was stuff that a ~~cook~~ chef had to do).

When Tracer reached the first floor of the cafeteria, he stopped when he realized that there were a couple of others seated in the lobby – Godfrey and Zure – With the zebra a little annoyed with the griffon, “For the last time, I have no interest in your styling, Godfrey.”

“Oh come on,” Godfrey replied with his talons lifted up playfully. “You can’t tell me that you’re not interested in styling – There’s no way that purple bang of yours could be natural, most zebras usually have gray or black hair, or a mixture of the two. Hardly ever any other color.”

“And what makes you such the expert on zebra hair?” Zure questioned back.

“I’ve styled plenty of Zebrican diplomats’ and celebs’ manes,” Godfrey explained as he drew a comb from his shirt pocket and pointed it at Zure. “And not a one of them had any multicolored hair like yours. Besides, I can tell a dye job when I see one.”

“It’s not dyed!” Zure barked back.

“Please,” Godfrey sighed with a shake of his head. “I’m a stylist – I use dye, I make my own dye, and I know how to use dye, and honey, that’s a dye job.”

“Oh for the love of,” Zure grumbled before she turned towards Tracer. “Hey, you mind getting this guy off my case?”

“Uh, I don’t really know all that much about hair care,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly.

“That’s obvious with that bird’s nest you call a mane,” Godfrey sighed back with a shake of his head.

“But, you should really let up,” Tracer continued. “I mean, who cares if it’s really purple or dyed that way?”

“Exactly,” Zure added.

Godfrey opened his beak to speak, but stopped himself as he pushed away from the couch, “Whatever, I try to offer my services, and I get them flung back into my face – Feel free to ask me when you get tired of those garish styles, let me know.”

And without a care of the world, the stylist griffon sauntered out of the cafeteria’s lobby. With him gone, Zure sighed loudly and jumped from the couch and smiled at Tracer, “Thanks, I appreciate ya with yer help there, Tracer.”

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Tracer started, but froze when he realized that Zure was starting to leer at him. “Uh, why did he suddenly just ask you that stuff?”

“Meh,” Zure replied with a shrug. “He just walked up and started talking. Guy’s got a big beak.”

“Are you talking about his nose or his mouth?” Tracer questioned with his head tilted slightly.

“Both,” Zure snickered back.

TTT – TTT

After leaving the cafeteria’s building, Tracer winced at the bright sunlight that gleamed from above. When his eyes adjusted to the light, the young earth stallion looked around the grassy plains and odd scenery, if it wasn’t for the fact that he and fourteen others were being held here against his will, the colorful area would’ve been so quaint and peaceful.

‘Then again, home was usually pretty colorful too,’ Tracer thought to himself before he leapt onto the pavement. ‘Where should I go…’

“Oi! Tracer! Get over here!”

The earth stallion jumped when he heard his name, and turned to see that seated outside of the building next door was the two male diamond dogs – Freki and Geri, playing cards. Freki was the one who had called out to Tracer and was waving the stallion down, “Come join us, mate! We can deal ya in!”

“What are you doing?” Geri growled at his fellow dog. “Don’t call him over…”

“Why not?” Freki questioned noting that the stallion was trotting over. “You worried that the hoofed one can beat you at Poker, bro? You jelly of his supposed card skills?”

“That makes no sense, Freki,” Geri pointed out just as Tracer stood right behind him.

“Was there something you needed…” Tracer started to say, but then became at a loss of words. “Uh, sorry, what were your names again?”

Geri growled in annoyance.

“Don’t mind this bulldog wannabe,” Freki replied with a warm smile. “He’s not the social type – I’m Freki and this is my bro: Geri.”

“Oh, you’re brothers?” Tracer questioned.

Freki patted the grassy ground next to him a few times, “Yuppers! Now sit down and we’ll deal ya in.”

Well, Tracer really didn’t have anything better to do, so the young stallion sat at the space next to both Freki and Geri, much to the chagrin of the latter who snorted in disgust. Freki however had a large smile on his face as he plucked five cards off the top of the deck and placed them at Tracer’s hooves.

A little hesitant, Tracer lifted the cards up in his hooves and looked over the cards.

“I’ve always been curious,” Freki muttered as he pulled a card from his hand and placed it on the pile next to the deck to draw another card. “How do you ponies lift things up with those things?”

“Eh, I’m not the best guy to ask,” Tracer chuckled as he pointed towards his head. “I got no horn – but, from what I can remember, it has to do with some sort of inherit magic that we got in our hooves. Everypony has it, and it’s what allows Earth ponies to control the earth and pegasai to push clouds… I think.”

“Two cards,” Geri scoffed before he tossed two cards down and lifted up two from the top of the deck. “You sure sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, that’s just the gist of it,” Tracer replied with a wave of his hoof. “Not like I study this stuff, I’m just content with being a delivery colt.”

“Humph, are you the Elite Delivery Colt?” Geri asked as he adjusted the cards in his paw.

“N-No, just a regular delivery colt,” Tracer chuckled nervously. “I think I just got picked at random to go to Twilight Academy.”

“Lovely,” Geri scoffed to the side.

“Oi, Geri, don’t be like that,” Freki barked with a wave of his paw. “Be nice to the pony – I invited him to play while we wait, so be a good host!”

“Wait? What are you waiting for?” Tracer asked as he looked at the red emblem cards at his hoof.

“Nothing that…” Geri started.

“Oh, we’re just guarding the laundry room,” Freki interrupted with a goofy grin. “Freya’s doing some laundry and wanted some privacy, so we’re out here making sure she gets it.”

If icy glares could kill, the one that Geri shot at his brother would probably bury the dog six feet underground. This didn’t go unnoticed by Freki, and he responded with a large smirk, “What? What?”

“You’re an idiot,” Geri spat out bluntly.

“And you’re a jerk who thinks bowties are cool,” Freki countered back, his paw shook at the larger diamond dog.

“That’s because they are cool!” Geri barked.

Now that the two Diamond Dogs were barring their fangs at each other, a chill ran down Tracer’s spine, “Uh, do you two want me to leave you to your business? Cause I can…”

“Naw, stay dood!” Freki laughed, turning back to his goofy persona. “Just ignore the big lump of grump over there with the bowtie and you’ll be fine. He’s a grump, I’m not so grump, and we’re Dog Grumps!”

“What the Tartarus?” Geri grumbled under his breath.

“I mean, I could always leave,” Tracer offered as he plucked a card from his hand of cards and tossed it to the pile of discarded cards. “I don’t wanna start anything…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Geri sighed. “We’re brothers, we always squabble with each other – a few black eyes, a couple cuts, sometimes even a broken bone here and there.”

“Yikes,” Tracer yelped, a slight chuckle following. “I get into arguments with my little sisters, but the worst that happens is that they gang up on me and use their magic to levitate me.”

“You got unicorns in your family?” Freki questioned, his tail wagged slightly.

“Yeah, I’m the only earth stallion in my family,” Tracer admitted, his ears drooped slightly at the reminder.

“Ye-ouch,” Freki winced. “Must be rough without a horn or paws.”

“Wow, way to be tactful,” Geri muttered,

“Alright,” Freki chuckled as he lifted his five cards up. “Time to place the bets!”

“Huh? We’re betting?” Tracer questioned.

“Indeed, it wouldn’t be poker without the betting,” Geri pointed out as he reached into his vest and pulled out a few bits. “I’ll start with five bits.”

“I’ll see your five bits,” Freki added as he tossed a few golden coins onto the ground, along with a small sapphire. “And I’ll raise ya a jewel.”

“Uh, I don’t think I can play,” Tracer muttered as he rubbed the back of his head. “I only have bits and…”

“Tell ya what,” Geri smirked with a wag of his paw. “If you lose, we’ll send you an I.O.U. and you can pay us back when we get out of here. Deal?”

“… Why do I think that I just got roped into something?” Tracer mumbled before he narrowed his eyes. ‘If that’s the case…’

Slowly, Tracer’s muzzle curled up into a devious smirk before he dug his hoof into his vest and tossed quite a few bits on the ground. “You’re on!”

“So, you raise twenty bits?” Freki asked as he used a paw to count the bits. “Alright! I’ll match and call!”

“I’ll call too,” Geri added with a nod.

The taller diamond dog chuckled before he slapped his paw onto the ground and spread the cards out on the concrete. “Read’em and weep – Three of a kind!”

Indeed, Geri’s cards were laid out all in front of him, showing off a set of sevens along with the three of spades and the eight of hearts.

“Not bad bro, not bad at all,” Freki chuckled. “But, I think I can top it with a Flush!”

And indeed, Freki slipped the cards down on the ground showing off a set hearts on the cards – the Queen, the ten, the five, the two and the six. “Unless Tracer here has anything that can top this, looks like I got the win.”

“Humph, well, let’s see what he’s got,” Grei retorted as he turned towards the stallion.

Tracer wasn’t a great card shark, that was his cousin Card Sharp who was good with card games, but he managed to learn enough from his cousin. Like how to hide your tells, when to fold, and of course, when to know that you’ve got the suckers’ bits in your own pocket (his cousin’s words). “Um, let’s see… I’ve got uh, three ones, and two stallions with crowns, one giving himself brain surgery apparently.”

Both Freki and Geri looked at the cards that Tracer placed at the ground, and indeed, he had a trio of Aces and two Kings. For a moment, the two diamond dogs turned to each other dumbfounded as the silver earth pony brought his hooves to the pile of bits and jewels, “So, I guess from the looks on your faces, this full house wins me the game?”

“How in the seven layers of Tartarus?” Freki questioned as he scratched the side of his head.

“Well, you were the one who dealt him the cards,” Geri pointed out with a flat look.

“So, you guys wanna try your paws again?” Tracer asked as he pocketed the bits and jewels.

“Nah, anyone up for old maid?” Freki offered as he pooled the cards up. “How about a game I’m actually good at?”

Geri rolled his eyes at his brother, and then turned towards Tracer, his eyes softened a little bit, “Well, I guess this is a good a time as any – Tracer, you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“I don’t taste good with barbecue sauce,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly as he pulled some jewels and bits from his vest. “In fact, you can get your jewels and bits back.”

“What? No, you won them… Somehow,” Geri replied. “No, I was hoping to get a different opinion rather than my sibling’s. Earlier, Freki, Freya and I were discussing about who our captor could be.”

“Its Cheshire,” Freki chuckled. “Anyone can see that Bakeneko’s behind it.”

“Why are you going with that minotaur’s nickname for the cat?” Geri growled.

“Cause it’s fun to say!” Freki laughed as he shuffled the cards in his paws. “Rolls off the tongue! Bah~kay~neck~co! Bakeneko!”

“For the love of,” Geri grumbled as he slapped a paw against his forehead. “I’m done talking to you for a few minutes – In any case, who do you think is behind our predicament, Mr. Tracer? Surely you can’t think that the mastermind is a talking cat.”

“Well, we’re talking dogs,” Freki pointed out.

Both Tracer and Geri ignored the goofier of the two Diamond Dogs, with the earth pony rubbing his chin with his hoof. “Uh, well… What do you mean?”

“What I’m talking about is the true identity of our captor,” Geri answered back as Freki dealt the cards. “A stuffed cat can’t be behind this – In fact, this entire world is weird, so it’s ridiculous to think that a cat is behind this. If anything, it’s just a disguise that the real mastermind is putting on so that we don’t know his true identity.

“So whoever is behind it would not only have to have a lot of magical power, but if we were to take Cheshire’s words to heart, then the guards would be useless against them. Quite possibly someone high up.”

Tracer wasn’t greatly talented, but he was far from dumb. He was able to connect to what Geri was referring to – The diamond dog was more than likely referring to the Equestrian Royalty. It certainly would be plausible, the Alicorns practically could easily twist reality, bend emotions, and there were even rumors of them manipulating ponies to their wills.

Then there was the other member of Equestrian Society who had the same power – the being known as Discord. With just a snap of his lion’s paw or bird talon, he could easily warp reality. - There were reports of mountains behind turned upside down, hats attacking ponies, and even the most diabolical thing that the being of chaos could do: Steal a pony's tail right off their flank!

But, even if this was some sort of joke or whatever, would any of these beings of near godly abilities ever set ponies and other creatures off to kill each other?

“You know, there’s always another who could be behind this,” Freki pointed out with a goofy smile.

Geri grumbled under his breath, “You’re not seriously going to suggest who I think you’re going to suggest.”

“C’mon! You know it’s a possibility!” Freki pouted. “Why can’t the Witch of Thorns be behind this?”

“Witch of… What now?” Tracer questioned with a tilt of his head.

“You haven’t heard of the Witch of Thorns?” Freki questioned with a gasp.

“How could a pony not hear of her?” Freki questioned. “She’s said to be a heinous mare who traveled all over Equestria wreaking havoc – And wherever she stepped, travesty and blood would follow. An actual, living and breathing serial killer!”

Tracer leaned back, his eyes widened in shock when he heard that – the young stallion could actually feel his blood freezing the moment those words were uttered by the usually goofy diamond dog.

Geri saw Tracer and sighed, “He’s referring to the villainous homicidal urban legend. Much like Slendermane or… Bloody Mary… Or… That one pink pony that’s said to appear whenever you’re planning a party.”

“I swear! That pink pony exists!” Freki defended with a wave of his arms. “And so does the Witch of Thorns! She chooses the victims at random and without warning, offs them without a care in the world! Rumors say that her victims are in the thousands, and she’s never been caught!”

“You’re really stretching it,” Geri countered.

“C’mon! It’s not hard to imagine an effing homicidal maniac could be behind this!” Freki growled as he pumped his paw towards his brother. “Who else would get this kind of pleasure outta wanting others killing each other?!”

“You’re thinking that a fictional character’s behind this,” Geri moaned with his head lowered. “I’m starting to have a hard time believing that we’re even related. Next you’re going to say that the pink party pony is real and once cloned herself countless times with a magic pool of water – Who the Tartarus would believe that?”

“She exists! And so does the Witch of Thorns!” Freki barked back before he turned towards Tracer. “What do you think Tracer? You believe that the Witch of Thorns is behind this, don’t’cha?”

“Uh, I’ve never even heard of the Witch of Thorns until you brought her up,” Tracer admitted with a nervous smile on his face.

Almost as if he was struck in the heart with an iron steak, Freki moaned in pain and lowered his head down to his lap where he began to sob.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe you,” Tracer continued.

Ears perked up and his tail now wagging, Freki lifted his head up and looked towards the goggle wearing stallion. “R-Really?!”

“Really?” Geri mirrored, although this was done with notably less enthusiasm than with his brother.

“Well, we can’t really rule anything out, right now, can we?” Tracer answered back with his hoof to his chin. “I mean, even rumors have a hint of truth them, don’t they? I’ve heard of some sightings of Slendermane.”

“For the love of…” Geri moaned loudly. “Not another one.”

BING-BOND DING-DONG!

The three stopped when they heard that ringing sound – the ominous sound echoed through the plains before a familiar, joy-filled voice filled the air instead.

“Hello! Hello! Your Headmaster Cheshire here! After some soul searching and plenty of pancakes, I’ve come to a realization. We have the characters, the setting and the situation, but we’re missing one key little factor…

“The motive! Quite a distinct lack of motive really. Especially since you guys still believe that you’ll be saved by the guards or whatever, you think you can wait me out – So, I’m giving you all some incentive!

“So, will all students please report to the Main Court for a special assembly! Attendance is mandatory for all students, and those who don’t show up, there will be a punishment waiting for you!

“So try not to keep everyone else waiting! That is all!”

And just like that, the voice faded back into the calm serenity of Wonderland, which left Tracer, Geri and Freki to stare at each other. The tallest of the three, Geri sighed and crossed his paws over his chest, “… This isn’t good.”

“Motive?” Tracer questioned, a large bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. “What… What does that mean?”

“Dunno,” Freki pouted as he picked up the cards in front of him. “But I guess this means that our card game is over with… Say, Tracer, you mind going on ahead to check it out?”

“Huh?” Tracer yelped. “Why me?!”

“Cause you’re closest to the path,” Freki answered. “So that’s that.”

“What?!” Tracer retorted. “How does that make any sense?!”

“We can’t leave until Freya comes out,” Geri pointed out, pushing himself off of the ground. “So you might as well go on ahead of us. The others are probably there by the time you get there.”

“Oh, uh, I guess that makes sense,” Tracer muttered before he stood up and began to walk away. “I guess I’ll see you there…”

“Hey thanks, dood!” Freki laughed as he waved towards the pony.

However, as Tracer was walking away, he couldn’t help but overhear something – Many of the other races didn’t know that ponies had some rather good hearing…

“I’m sure he’ll be alright, right?”

“Meh, if not, then any traps will be set off.”

‘I can’t tell if they’re friendly or jerks… Maybe neither.’

TTT – TTT

“Hello? Anypony here?”

Tracer walked through the gates into the Main Court, but there was no one there. Not even Cheshire was in the fountain area, Tracer was the only soul in the area.

However, there was something different about the Main Court – strewn all about the floor were several manila envelopes that had writing on them. Tracer went to one of the envelopes, and realized that the writing spelled out names, and one of them had his name on it.

The young stallion pulled the envelope up from the ground and looked around. Was he supposed to open the envelope? No one else was around to confirm or deny him that, so with his curiosity burning deep within, Tracer opened the envelope that had his name written on it.

Inside, were two large sheets of paper, and Tracer pulled the first one out, and he realized that it was actually a photograph. Unconsciously, Tracer gasped when he saw the photo and instantly recognized the picture.

It was a scene that he had beheld countless times, Tartarus, most of the time he was part of the scenery too. The old rusty swing set nestled deep within Manehatten’s Central Park brought a smile to the earth stallion’s face, but that smile grew when he immediately recognized the two unicorn fillies who were playing on the swings: one was a blue unicorn with a black mane and an orange scarf around her neck while the other was a red filly with a black mane with a pair of large rimmed glasses. Neither fillies had their cutie marks.

‘Mana and Prism,’ Tracer thought to himself, his gaze on the picture.

However, that small joy faded away when warning sirens blared off in the stallion’s head – While this picture was nothing more than an innocent photograph of his two little sisters, the meaning of the packaging was what haunted Tracer’s mind.

‘Why does Cheshire have this?’

It was then that Tracer remembered that there was a second photo in the envelope. Carefully pocketing the photo into his checkered vest, Tracer then reached into the envelope to pull out the other photograph…

And when he brought it to his sight, his eyes widened.

The same scene that Tracer had been a part of countless times – Gone.

This photo left him speechless. Gone were the two fillies on the swings, in their place, nothing more than a bloodstained orange scarf and a pair of broken glasses. The swings ripped from the twisted metal with the grass nearby stained with fresh blood.

Tracer fell back from the sight of it – The photo… It was taken at the same angle as the first photo, almost as if the picture was taken from a tripod that was set up in advance.

Fear.

Anger.

Paranoia.

All of those emotions began to flood into the stallion’s mind, as he took the photo once more in his hooves. Tracer’s breathing soon became labored and his vision began to blur as a certain thought began to crawl its way up from the back of his mind.

“… I need to get out of here.”

It was completely natural.

“I NEED TO GET OUT, RIGHT NOW! I NEED TO SEE IF EVERYONE’S OKAY!!”

Tracer yelled out before he slammed his hoof into the ground.

“Whoa… You okay there?”

Tracer turned his head back to see that everyone else had arrived to the Main Court and had seen Tracer within the last few seconds. The Earth stallion trembled with tears slowly appearing in the corner of his eyes, that just made the group watch him with perplexity.

“Did… Did something happen?” Zure asked.

“Yeah, it’s like you went through a marathon of my novels, Tracey,” Lore muttered, this time a little nervous and her joy was dampened.

Tracer opened his mouth, but no words came out. Whether it was because he was shaken up or because he couldn’t get the right words, Tracer didn’t know. But the stallion gestured with his head towards the fourteen other envelopes, unable to speak.

“Is this what that blasted bakeneko wanted us to come here for?” Kopuz questioned as he stepped forward and lifted up the envelope with his name.

Slowly, the rest of the group gathered their own envelopes, and Tracer watched as they pulled their own photos out of the envelopes. At first their faces were in shock and it didn’t take long for the color to drain from their faces at the second photographs.

“What the fuck?!”

“This… This can’t be real!”

“Sacre’bleu!!”

It wasn’t hard for Tracer to connect the dots that their photos were similar to his – Perhaps a loved one or family member was on them. None of them were trying to hide their fear or anger on this matter…

But Tracer couldn’t help but notice that there was one who seemed to be an island of calm in a sea of discord…

“… So, he’s throwing kindling on our desire to escape,” Crowquill muttered before he slipped both photographs back into the envelope.

Tracer wasn’t the only one to notice how calm Crowquill was, as evident when Hawkward walked up to the white pegasus. “Indeed, it seems like was a trap – just not one in the traditional sense.”

Hawkward then turned his attention towards the rest of the group, “It’s obvious that so long as we’re here, we won’t be able to tell if the photos are real or false.”

“What are you saying?” Godfrey yelped as he clenched his talons tightly at the red pony. “These are obviously faked! There’s no way I’ll believe this sort of trash!”

“Yeah, I mean, c’mon,” Misch chuckled sheepishly. “There’s no way this could happen – I mean, It’s only been two days! And I’m pretty sure that most of you live in your respectable countries right? So there’s no way that this could happen in that short amount of time!”

“Upupupupupu… Are you so sure?”

Everyone turned towards the top of the hedges, seeing Cheshire seated atop of them, his hat next to him and in his paws a grilled fish that he brought to his mouth. “I bet you’re all dying to know, aren’t you? Whether your friends or family are alright – Well, only one really knows for sure.”

“You bastard!” Smokey roared with flames spurting out of the sides of his mouth.

“Now, now, now, what’s with all the anger?” Cheshire chuckled, tossing his fish up and down in his paws. “I thought you’d all be thrilled to see some familiar faces in a crowd of strangers.”

“This is a load of crap!” Smokey barked loudly as he clenched his claws towards the cat. “It’s impossible!”

“Impossible?” Cheshire mused. “They used to say it was impossible for chocolate milk to rain from the skies, or that a unicorn could become an alicorn – Well, both of those turned out to be wrong!”

“It’s strange how you’re comparing the two events as if they’re on equal ground,” Freya muttered under her breath.

“It’s just silly,” Zure countered to Cheshire. “How could we believe that you could have the power and time to pull these things off?!”

“Isn’t that just your own perception of the matter?” Cheshire stated. “That you don’t want to believe that nothing’s happened to your family and loved ones? You can tell yourselves all you want that it’s not true, but at the end of the day – You simply don’t know. They could be alright, or they could be hurt or worse.

“But, have no fear! This sweet, gracious and ever handsome Cheshire is more than willing to tell you all the status of your loved ones! It’s just… That all you have to do is one simple thing.”

“Y… You don’t mean,” Lore gulped, this time visibly shaking.

“Upupu,” Cheshire giggled before he tossed the fish to the ground with a loud smack. “I can tell who’s the genius here!

“Well, you’re exactly right! I want to see a start to the Mutual Killing Festival!”

“Mutual Killing… Festival?” Alchymist murmured as she stepped back.

“If you really wanna know the truth,” Cheshire continued. “Then kill kill kill! Make it a Murder Festival that’ll go down in history!”

“Give me a break!” Hawkward called out. “Do you really think anyone here is going to kill just because you showed us a bunch of fake pictures?!”

“Yeah! I don’t buy this for one second!” Zure roared back.

“Well, maybe you don’t,” Cheshire answered back nonchalantly. “But, can you be certain there isn’t someone among you who does?”

“W-What?” Zure questioned.

“You’ve known each other for… Oh, say about the better part of two days,” Cheshire pointed out with his paws to his mouth. “Can you all really claim to be such good friends that you can say that no one would kill to see if their loved ones are actually okay?

“Nope! Nadda! Zilch percent chance of you knowing that! You know nothing of each other – would any of you even realize if someone was scheming murder? I’d put my bits on ‘nope’!”

There was that odd silence again.

Tracer would’ve said something, anything to retort, but Cheshire did have a point. Everyone here seemed to barely know each other – There was no way to refute his claims on that, after all, nobody here was a mind reader (well, Kopuz might’ve been, or at least claimed to be).

So they all just stood there, in silence.

“So, as I have said… If you want to survive here in Wonderland – Take the initiative and kill before you’re killed! And if not for you, then do it to see if your families are alive and kicking! Upupupupupu!”

And just like that, Cheshire popped into a cloud of smoke to disappear from sight. Even though his laughter had faded away, everyone continued standing in the Main Court in silence for a while.

These circumstances, this situation, this event, this discord, this nightmare, this Tartarus, this despair…

It was slowly but surely consuming us…

“Hey… This isn’t real, right?”

That was when the silence was broken and everyone turned to see Lore seated on the ground with her ears drooped and gaze locked onto the cobblestone floor. “This is just a nightmare, right? Just something that happens when I sleep that I can use to get inspiration for my writing… R-Right?”

No one spoke a word to the young horror novelist, whether it was because they didn’t want to answer her, or that they wanted to think this was just a nightmare as well.

“This is reality,” Crowquill stated bluntly.

Those weighed heavily down on everyone.

“And that’s exactly why we need to keep our heads cleared,” Crowquill continued. “I won’t say it’ll be easy, but we need to keep our minds sound and not let the fear that Cheshire tried to instill within us taint our judgement. If we curl up in fear, we won’t accomplish anything.”

Tracer’s eyes widened when he heard that last line. With an audible gulp, Tracer mustered everything he could and spoke out, “If we want to succeed, we need to have courage and step up front.”

Now it was Crowquill’s turn to take note of Tracer, however, that only lasted a few seconds before he turned to the side. “In any case, what are you all going to do? Are you going to let the stuffed cat dictate what to do?”

“No fricken’ way!” Smokey snarled before he slammed his claws together.

“The only thing I tell me what to do is the stars themselves,” Kopuz added with a nod.

“I still don’t believe a word that unrefined feline is sputtering,” Godfrey stated with his chest puffed out.

Soon after, more words of encouragement began to flood the Main Court, words of confidence that we wouldn’t kill each other. Even the gloom that floated around Lore melted away with those words, and a smile appeared on her face.

At the time, we had those strong words to bind us together. And that was enough to hold back the despair for now. But we had no idea how bad it would get…

And it would happen sooner than we originally thought.

TBC

Author's Note

But for how long?

Abnormal Days 1 - Sweet Soul!

Abnormal Days 1

TTT – TTT

If you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything.

Those words kept echoing in Tracer’s head, hearing them in Crowquill’s voice. Tracer had tried to talk to the pegasus after the group had gotten their ‘motives’, however… The pegasus had disappeared from the Main Court when no one was looking.

Even though their spirits were high, the photos still existed and many of the group wanted to be alone with their thoughts, and that included Tracer himself. Although he had put on a strong front, he’d be lying if he wasn’t worried about his two sisters. So, in an attempt to calm his nerves, Tracer headed to the White Rabbit’s Storage in hopes that the comics there would do the trick.

And yet, when the stallion reached the storage, he wasn’t the only one who came up with the idea.

“Haha! Looks like I wasn’t the only one to come here!” Kopuz laughed loudly as he looked up from the digest-size comic book he had in his hands. “Grab yourself a series and join me, Tracer! Dive into the pages of sequential art and forget your troubles!”

“You’re in a good mood, all things considered,” Tracer commented.

“Yeah, well, I’m used to giving bad news to others,” Kopuz chuckled as he rubbed his broken horn with one of his hands. “And I usually got death threats in return, and a lot worse news than what I just got – Amazing what you can get used to in a few short years.”

‘Do I even want to know what he’s been through?’ Tracer thought as he looked at the book in Kopuz’s hands. “The Ancient King series? Never pegged you as a comic fan, let alone that series.”

“What can I say?” Kopuz laughed with a large smile on his face. “I love the aspect of smacking enemies around and having them bleed bits. Throw in the fact that the hero gets her power from Ooparts, and I’m sold!”

“Ooparts?” Tracer questioned.

“Ya know, Out-of-place artifacts,” Kopuz explained as he flipped through the pages of the comic before he came to a page and showed it to Tracer – Revealing a masked pony holding up skull made entirely out of crystal. “The Crystal Skull! Said to be the remains of an ancient race called ‘humans’!”

Kopuz flipped a few more pages, this one showing another masked pony, only this one had a number of lines over its body with glowing yellow wings. “The Nazca Lines! And many, many more! It’s simply fascinating how all the characters have a sort of connection to these things… And the ancient energies that these things have!

“Well, that and the fact that the fights are awesome.”

“I prefer the W series,” Tracer answered back.

“Detective fan, eh?” Kopuz muttered as he slipped the comic under his arm. “Meh, it was an alright series… It’s no Ancient King series though.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tracer sighed with a wave of his hoof. “Well, I’m going to go get something to read…”

“Go for it,” Kopuz answered back. “Oh, but watch out – Elo’s in the back, and she’s not in the best of moods.”

“Well, can you blame her?” Tracer retorted.

The tall minotaur rubbed the back of his head and lowered his gaze slightly, “Yeah, but still, she nearly chewed my other horn off when I went to grab one of these series. I’m just saying that you should be careful.”

“Right, thanks,” Tracer replied with an audible gulp. ‘Maybe I should find something else to do…’

But for the life of him, Tracer couldn’t think of anything else, so he made his way to the backroom where he immediately saw the Elite Chessmaster seated on the ground with a book being levitated in front of her. ‘She hasn’t noticed me yet. Maybe I could…’

“I know you’re there,” Elo stated bluntly. “You two chuckle heads are way too loud.”

“Hehe, sorry, I just wanna grab a comic and I’ll be gone,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly, taking a step to the side to make sure that he wasn’t in the warpath of the mare.

“Humph,” Elo huffed, not bothering to turn away from her book.

Tracer sighed under his breath before he walked past her and slowly made his way to the shelf with comics. While Tracer was looking at the various books that were stacked up, he couldn’t help but turn back to Elo – He’d be lying if he wasn’t curious about what was on everyone else’s photos.

But, no one was willing to show what was on their photos back at the Main Court – It was something understandable, but still…

“Say, Tracer, right?”

Tracer shook his head out from his thoughts and realized that Elo was speaking to him. The goggle wearing stallion nodded towards the mare, “Y-Yes?”

“Let me ask you something,” Elo questioned, leering at the Earth Stallion. “How can you stand to read comics after what Cheshire pulled?”

“Well, I don’t really know,” Tracer answered back. “I mean, I could be like Godfrey and deny it, but, truth be told, I’m really nervous if my family’s okay – But what can I do? I could never bring myself to kill somepony, even if it was to see if my family was alright.”

“… What lovely sentiment,” Elo stated. “But saying something like that will probably get you killed.”

“Huh?” Tracer questioned.

“If you say that, you’ll be seen as nothing more than a pawn,” Elo explained with a coy smirk. “And in chess, the Pawn is the weakest piece – destined to be only a stepping stone or as fodder. If you show any weakness or the slightest opening, someone will take advantage of it. Consider it a little bit of advice from a master of strategy.”

‘What was the point of that conversation?’ Tracer thought with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. ‘To belittle me?’

“Although, technically, you’re one of the only two Earth Ponies here,” Elo stated with a shake of her head. “You and Hawkward are the only ones here without wings or a horn…”

“You’re not sizing me up, are you?” Tracer chuckled sheepishly as he slowly backed away from the unicorn. “Cause, Kopuz is still out there and I’m pretty sure that…”

“I’m not interested in killing anyone,” Elo sighed. “I’m just giving you a little forewarning, because unlike Hawkward, who has the title of Elite Alchemist on his side, you’re only a delivery colt. The most you could do most likely run and hide.”

Tracer’s eyes dulled slightly. Yeah, he wasn’t a fighter, he was more of a runner, but he’d be able do a lot more than just run and hide. He was a traceur, an stallion who was skilled in parkour – That’s how he was able to make his deliveries on time: jumping over rooftops was a lot easier than dealing with Manehatten traffic, that’s for sure.

Tartarus, some of the delivery colts and mares who were pegasai were a little confused as to how Tracer was able to make his deliveries on time – never late once!

“I’ve got more than a few tricks up my sleeve,” Tracer answered back. “If I… I had sleeves on this thing.”

“Sure,” Elo sighed before she turned back to her book. “Just heed my advice, Tracer, it might just save your life.”

Tracer sighed as he turned back to the shelf of comics, ‘Maybe I should look for that Space themed series… I could use a pick-me up after all this.’

TTT – TTT

After a few hours of enjoying some comics with Kopuz, the two were standing outside of the White Rabbit’s Storage, waiting for Elo to come on out. Kopuz had his head stuck through the door, “Hey! Elo! C’mon! We’re about to head back to the cafeteria! You wanna get some grub with us?”

Kopuz pulled his head out just in time to have Elo come strolling out, the young unicorn had the key lifted up with her magic. After a moment, Elo turned towards the door to close it and lock it. “Unfortunately, I’m not too hungry after today. But could you two do me a favor?”

“Sure, no problem!” Kopuz laughed. “What ya need?”

“Could one of you return the key for me?” Elo requested as she levitated the key up. “If you two are going to the cafeteria, then you can take the key for me and I can go straight back to my room for some rest.”

“Hey, I got this,” Kopuz replied before he snatched the key from the air. “There’s no need to worry, us two shall take on this endeavor!”

“You’re making this sound like we’re on some epic quest,” Tracer commented with a flat look in his eyes. “We’re just returning a key.”

“Ah come on,” Kopuz sighed loudly. “Where’s your sense of adventure? We’re on a noble deed from a fair maiden! This is the kind of stuff minotaurs live to do.”

“From what I recall,” Elo stated before she walked past the two. “Didn’t minotaurs guard dungeons, mazes and other ancient ruins?”

“That’s way back,” Kopuz explained with a snort. “Now-a-days, minotaurs tend to be more adventurous – Tartarus, I’ve even heard that some minotaurs are experimenting in magic, who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be able to levitate stuff with my mind!”

Both Tracer and Elo looked to each other for a few moments before they both shrugged at each other.

“What? That’d be awesome!” Kopuz sighed with his arms behind his head.

“Okay, I’m outta here,” Elo muttered, rolling her eyes. “See you two later.”

And with that, Elo walked off, leaving the two to themselves.

“Yeesh, I was just saying that it’d be awesome to use magic,” Kopuz chuckled with a sigh following. “You can’t disagree with me, right Tracer? Wouldn’t it be awesome to levitate things up with your mind?”

“I’m happy just the way I am,” Tracer admitted before he walked forward, the large green minotaur right behind him. “Don’t get me wrong, it’d be convenient, but I prefer my own charms and skills.”

“That reminds me,” Kopuz continued onwards. “I never did hear what your Elite Talent was – I mean, from most of the others they were willing to say it.”

“I’m not really an Elite,” Tracer sighed back with his ears drooping slightly. “I think me being here was just either a mistake or a fluke, I’m just a simple delivery colt.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Kopuz answered back, his hand scratching at the hair on his chin. “Nothing happens without a cause, everything that occurs in this world has a purpose, and that includes you being accepted into Twilight Academy. There’s a reason, just you wait and see my friend, the stars themselves will reveal your path here.”

“I kinda wish I didn’t get that letter though,” Tracer thought out loud.

“Well, now that we’re here, yeah,” Kopuz added in. “You know what they say, hindsight is always twenty-twenty. Even with my clairvoyance, my foresight isn’t all that great, I couldn’t predict something like this happening – Then again, how do you interpret something like this happening?”

“Good points,” Tracer replied with a smile on his face. “But you think if anyone is coming to help?”

“Dunno,” Kopuz answered rather bored. “In the Minotaur Country, we don’t really have much of a military since most minotaurs are really more like nomads, we barely have what you could call a country anymore. Not even a police force or something like that, we usually just rely on laws of other countries.”

“So does that mean you travel a lot?” Tracer asked.

“Me? Nah,” Kopuz chuckled back. “I’ve got enough scratch in my accounts that I can technically retire – But I do fortune telling not just for the money but also because it’s something that I love to do. Sides, most of my clientele come to me, so I just set up shop wherever for a while.”

“So, you’re a lazy nomad?” Tracer concluded.

“Pretty much, yeah!” Kopuz laughed loudly.

‘He agreed just straight up, that’s rather amazing…’ Tracer thought to himself.

TTT – TTT

Eating a meal with Kopuz was rather interesting to say the least – Tracer was a little confused as to how Kopuz could eat some of the weirdest of things: Which included red peppers doused with soy sauce and wasabi, how the minotaur was able to eat that without his tongue melting was beyond Tracer’s capacity – Although it would explain why Kopuz didn’t just spit out the tea that Tracer made a couple days ago: The minotaur had no real taste buds!

Still, the fortune-telling minotaur had a great heart, and certainly seemed to be a good friend. He was just weird.

And watching Kopuz eat the insanely spicy foods without so much as a bead of sweat was enough to make Tracer lose his appetite. So grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, the earth stallion made his way back to the rooms, leaving Kopuz with his spicy meal.

‘At least he didn’t offer any of it to me,’ Tracer thought to himself with a shiver. ‘I could never stand it when customers ordered peppers on their orders… The smell, ugh!’

However, the stallion’s thoughts were interrupted when he reached the second floor of the dormitory – Mainly because of the black and gray griffon who was trying to get into his room. “C’mon! Open up! I’m scanning the Student ID thingie right!”

“Misch? What are you doing?” Tracer asked, keeping a little distance from the griffon – Not because he was worried she was trying to break into his room to kill him, but mainly because she reeked of grease.

The griffon turned towards Tracer and then laughed sheepishly, “Oh, uh, well, you see… I’m just trying to get into my room, but the damn ID isn’t working!”

“… You do know that’s my room, right?” Tracer questioned with a dulled look in his eyes.

Misch blinked back in confusion as she turned back to the door, “… How can you tell?”

Tracer sighed loudly, it would’ve been obvious with the picture that was… Wait a second, where was the picture?!

“What the?” Tracer muttered under his breath. “Where’s the pic?”

It wasn’t just his door that was missing the small picture of himself, all of the doors were bare – And just his luck, he didn’t know where anyone else’s room was, he only paid attention to his (he remembered it since when he opened the door he was met with the sight of a tree that had painted white roses directly across from his door).

“Tartarus if I know,” Misch answered back. “I’m just tired, and I wanna get this grease off of me with a shower.”

There were so many questions in Tracer’s head, but he went with the first thing that popped into his head, “… Why do you have grease on you?”

“Well, ya know that there’s a laundry room, right?” Misch began to explain with a large smile on her beak.

“Yeah…?” Tracer questioned, a little wary of the answer.

“You see, I got this little tick,” Misch chuckled sheepishly. “When I see new machinery, I gotta take it apart and see what makes it tick! And I’ve never seen washing machines and dryers like that, so I had to rip’em apart!”

“How does grease come out of a washer and dryer?” Tracer muttered out loud.

“You’d be surprised,” Misch chuckled before she slammed her talons into the door. “Now open up! I wanna take a shower!”

“Misch, that’s my room,” Tracer commented.

“Oh yeah? Can you prove it?” Misch retorted with her arms crossed over her feathered chest. “Cause I bet you can’t!”

This just wasn’t fair, but Tracer pulled out his ID from his hoodie and headed towards the door. Misch still had that confident smirk on her face as Tracer lifted the small device up to the digital lock to the door… And that smirk melted away into a surprised look with a blush painted over her face as the door opened up.

Tracer sighed. ‘Why do I feel like the bad guy here?’

“Aw, damn it!” Misch growled with her head lowered. “So, where’s my room?”

“I don’t know, sorry,” Tracer admitted. “Without the pictures all strew up around here, I can barely tell where my room is.”

“You’ve got Godfrey to thank for that,” A familiar voice called out as Zure appeared at the stairs.

“What’s the glimmerous flop done now?” Misch groaned as the zebra walked up to the two.

“… Glimmerous?” Tracer muttered out loud. “Don’t you mean glamorous?”

“Nope,” Misch answered back rather quickly.

“Godfrey was complaining earlier about how tacky the pictures were,” Zure explained, unfazed by the small exchange. “He wanted to make some ‘customized’ nameplates for us all, so he took all the pictures off.”

“Couldn’t he wait till he at least had the nameplates done?” Tracer asked with a raised brow. “He’s not going to remember who’s door is who’s.”

“He said it wouldn’t be a problem,” Zure sighed back with a roll of her eyes. “I swear, he said that he’d be able to remember where everyone’s room is.”

“Well, that’s just perfect,” Misch grumbled. “Thanks to that glimmerous flop, I can’t find my room – and I’m out a shower!”

“If you really need to shower,” Tracer muttered as he gestured towards his opened room. “You can use mine if you like.”

“Really?! Sweet!” Misch cheered out as she made her way towards the opened room.

However, before the griffon could get too far into the room, she was pulled back out by her tail thanks to Zure. Both Misch and Tracer were a little confused on the matter. When she spat out Misch’s tail, Zure spoke up, “Misch, it’d be better if you used a girl’s shower, you’re more than welcomed to use mine.”

“You know where your room is?” Misch asked.

“The one at the far end,” Zure replied, leading the griffon down to her room. “See you later, Tracer.”

“Yeah! Thanks for the offer though!” Misch added before the two headed to Zure’s room.

Tracer sighed with his eyes glazed over slightly, ‘Another chance to have a girl in my room, and once again, I screw up. Wait, why am I thinking this!? Ugh, I need some sleep…’

With the door locked behind him, Tracer leapt onto the bed, his entire body heavy from today’s events. When he closed his eyes, the young stallion could see his two sisters – Mana and Prism. And the flood of questions poured into his subconscious.

Are they alright?

Was that photo real?

And what about his father? He was still looking after the two young fillies since they were too young to be on their own, but he was nowhere in the picture – Was he okay?

Or did the worst happen?

Those thoughts kept haunting Tracer until he finally dozed off into the embrace of sleep.

Little did I know that as I slept, the wheels of fate continued to turn…

Only they turned for the worse.

TTT - TTT

“Ugh… What a night…”

Tracer yawned loudly as he stepped through the doors of the cafeteria in hopes of getting something to wake him up. Although his bed was soft and there was hardly a sound, Tracer had barely managed to get a wink of sleep last night, the thoughts caused by the ‘motive’ was enough to trouble the stallion.

His mane was disheveled, his goggles were around his neck instead of his head, and his hoodie was a wrinkled mess – All topped off with the bags he had under his eyes.

“Well, good morning, split ends!”

Tracer lifted his head up to see that Godfrey was the only one in the cafeteria with a large pitcher of dark pink liquid in his talons. The griffon looked as prim and proper as he usually did, with a rather bright smile on his beak, “Come on over! I’ve got some fresh homemade lemonade! It’ll put some spring in your step!”

All Tracer could muster was a couple of grunts in response as he trudged towards the table.

“Ah, morning zombie speech,” Godfrey chuckled before he poured the lemonade into a cup. “Here, this’ll perk you right up!”

Without so much as a grunt, Tracer slumped to the table and used his hoof to hook the drink towards him. The stallion took a few sniffs of the drink before he brought the glass to his mouth. The stallion took a sip and almost immediately his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

‘SWEET! TOO SWEET!’

Indeed, the drink was incredibly candied to the point that the drowsiness in Tracer vaporized the moment the lemonade touched his tongue. “WHOA! What… What did I just drink!?”

“My personalized red lemonade,” Godfrey chuckled before he took a sip of the lemonade. “I usually make it for my customers while they wait for their appointments, another reason why I’m popular. What you think, Split Ends?”

“It’s… It’s a little sweet,” Tracer admitted, finding it a little hard to talk with the fact that he still had the sweet burning sensation on his tongue.

“Thanks,” Godfrey stated with his chest puffed out. “I’m willing to bet that you’re wide awake now, though.”

Tracer did have to credit that to the griffon, he was wide awake now. “Uh, so, is Francis here cooking?”

“Nope, and I’ve been here for a couple of hours,” Godfrey answered back with a slight yawn. “I guess he’s on his way, it’s almost seven.”

Tracer looked to the clock in the cafeteria and grumbled under his breath, it really wasn’t even seven o’clock, and why he was awake at this time was anyone’s guess. ‘I guess I didn’t get as much sleep as I thought…’

“So, what’s your goal for today?” Godfrey asked as he poured himself another glass of lemonade. “Going to waste more time at the White Rabbit’s Storage?”

“Well, it’s either there or the laundry room,” Tracer pointed out as he pushed up the goggles up to his forehead. “And I’d rather be near the comics.”

“Understandable, I suppose,” Godfrey answered back. “But you know, whether or not you plan on holding yourself up in there, you should at least try to make yourself presentable – If not for yourself, then for everyone else – You kind of have that morning musk.”

“Is… Is it that noticeable?” Tracer muttered with a sheepish smile on his face.

“Split Ends, I suggest you take this opportunity to shower,” Godfrey pointed out with a sly smile. “After all, the others will be arriving so, and you’d like to be at your best, right?”

“I… I guess so,” Tracer replied before he pushed himself up from the table. He didn’t think he really stunk that badly, but, if Godfrey noticed it, then it wouldn’t hurt to freshen up.

“Besides, one of the Diamond Dogs already took the key to the storage,” Godfrey pointed out.

Tracer’s eyes widened before they narrowed down at the griffon, “Gee, if I had known that, I wouldn’t have come here first.”

“Well, whatever goes for you,” Godfrey chuckled back with his second glass of red lemonade. “Not like I’m going to stop you from doing that.”

And with that, Tracer galloped out from the cafeteria, nearly tripping over the stairs in the process. Godfrey shook his head at the scruffy stallion, “I swear, some just don’t have that spark in the morning.”

TTT – TTT

It was rather an uneventful trip to the White Rabbit’s Storage for Tracer, but it wasn’t that long of a trip for the stallion.

When he reached the strange building, Tracer noticed that the Diamond Dog in question was Freya – Which was odd considering since most of the time she was with either of the other two Diamond Dogs. She seemed to be trying to get into the building, but seemed to just stand in front of the door with her paws wrapped around the knob.

“Curse this blasted thing!” the female diamond dog growled before she drew her paws back and held the key up. “The door’s busted!”

Tracer was about to edge away and possibly come back later, but it was then that Freya noticed the stallion and his escape was suddenly ruined, “Well, well, well, lookie who’s here! C’mere will ya, Tracer?”

“Uh…” Tracer warily replied.

“What’s the word you ponies use?” Freya muttered out loud before she snapped her paws. “Ah, be a gentlestallion and help a damsel in distress, will you?”

Tracer couldn’t help but sigh, there was no way out of this now. “What’s wrong?”

“The door’s broken,” Freya answered back with her arms crossed. “And after hearing about there being something to alleviate the boredom, I wanted to pick up a book for the day.”

“Well, there’s plenty of books in there,” Tracer replied as he walked towards the door. “But the door was fine yesterday…”

“Then you try it,” Freya scoffed as she held the key up to Tracer. “It’s not working.”

A little suspicious, Tracer took the key in his mouth and fitted it into the lock. He then tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t budge. Tracer tried a few more times before he drew back the key and spat it to the ground, “Huh, the door’s broken.”

“Brilliant deduction,” Freya grumbled with a roll of her eyes. “If you had bothered to listen, then it would’ve spared us some time.”

“Sorry,” Tracer answered back with his ears lowered. “But what do you want me to do about this?”

“Well, is there a second way in?” Freya asked. “Maybe we could open it from the inside.”

“There is a window on the side,” Tracer opted before he began to walk over to the side of the building. “We could jump in and open the door from the inside.”

Not having anything else to do, Freya shrugged and followed the stallion to the side of the storage building, and immediately her eyes fell on the opened window… Which was quite high up on the wall. Freya sighed as she shook her head, “That’s way too high, unless you can suddenly sprout wings…”

“Just watch,” Tracer replied as he crouched down slightly and pulled his goggles over his eyes. The stallion had his gaze set on a nearby tree before he smirked, then he galloped towards the tree.

With a leap, Tracer slammed all four of his hooves onto the tree before he kicked off of the tree and flew through the air towards the window with his front hooves lifted up. Freya watched as Tracer quickly closed the gap between him and the window and clapped her paws together when Tracer’s hooves hooked around the window. “Huh, impressive.”

Tracer smiled as he pulled himself up to the window a little more, “What can I say? I love sailing through the air, my old man thinks that I’ve got some pegasus blood in me and…”

Tracer had pulled himself up to the window and was about to slide in through, but when he looked into the room, his eyes widened and his breath suddenly escaped his lungs.

“Ah… Hah…” Tracer stammered before his grip slipped and he fell to the ground. “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

Tracer yelped when he landed on the ground, and surprised Freya, the diamond dog brought her paws up defensively, “Wha… What the Tartarus is wrong!?”

“E-Elo,” Tracer panted out loud. “She… She…”

“Out with it, stallion!” Freya barked.

“What’s going on over ‘ere?!”

Both Freya and Tracer turned to see Smokey running up to the two, the red dragon skidded to a halt in front of them, “I heard screaming, everything okay?”

“N-No!” Tracer yelled as he got to his hooves. “We gotta get inside! Elo’s hurt!”

“What?!” Smokey snarled with smoke billowing from his nostrils. “Alright! We’ll break down the door!”

“Isn’t that against the rules?” Freya asked.

“That’s only for the cameras,” Smokey moaned before he narrowed his eyes. “Sides – This is an emergency!”

Both Tracer and Smokey ran to the front of the storage building, with Freya following the two. When the stallion and dragon were in front of the building, Smokey tossed his guitar case to the grass, “On the count of three Tracer, we ram the door with everything!

“One. Two… THREE!”

Both Tracer and Smokey charged towards the door, and then the two rammed their shoulders into the door, knocking it to the ground with the two spilling on the floor of the White Rabbit’s Storage. Freya was right behind the two and froze when she saw Elo’s prone form. “Oh… My…”

“Holy crap,” Smokey yelped as he pushed himself off of the ground.

Tracer had never seen so much blood before in his life – There was no way he would ever forget that sight. Elo Castling, the Elite Chess Master was laying in a pool of blood, the surprisingly bight liquid melted into the wooden floor and into the carpeting.

“This… No…” Tracer rambled. “Is she still alive?!”

“I’m afraid not,” A rather cheery voice, one that really offset the real mood.

Tracer, Smokey and Freya turned to see Cheshire behind them, his hat lowered over the upper part of his face, although his large crescent moon smile was still visible. The cat chuckled loudly, “Wonderland has just seen its first murder!”

“You… You can’t be serious,” Freya gasped with her paws up to her muzzle.

“You lousy little bastard!” Smokey snarled with fire pouring from his nostrils. “What the Tartarus did you do!?!”

“Me? Oh, nonononono,” Cheshire replied, still keeping his hat low. “I had nothing to do with this – And yes, I am serious, just look at the body. Anyone with two good eyes can see it’s obviously murder.

“Look at the face – It’s the face of someone cursed with losing their life for the sake of another’s ego. Throw in the bright coloring around, and it’s obvious that its murder.”

“You’re lying! No one killed Elo!” Tracer yelled at the cat.

But, that’s when it sunk in.

Killed.

Someone killed Elo.

Someone… Murdered her.

“Well, feel free to be blissfully ignorant if you’d like,” Cheshire sighed with a shake of his head. “But, that may just cost you in the end. Now if you excuse me, I need to do something.”

And just like that, Cheshire disappeared in a cloud of smoke. But it wasn’t the last that the three heard his voice…

BING-BONG-DANG-DONG!

"A body has been discovered!

“Will everyone who is still alive please report to the White Rabbit’s Storage immediately – Further instructions shall be delivered when everyone living has arrived. Tardiness will not be tolerated, so please hurry up.”

And with that weird announcement, the three turned to each other. Freya still had her paws to her muzzle before she ran back out, the some really unpleasant sounds following afterwards. It took everything Tracer had not to toss his own cookies, but Smokey on the other hand seemed to just be pissed off.

Tracer looked around the room, there was a lot more in the room that he didn’t see when he was at the window. Scattered all about the room were several red feathers, mostly near the window where Tracer had spotted the… the body.

“This is just perfect,” Smokey spat to the side. “You okay over there?”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Tracer sputtered out, his eyes brought back to Elo’s lifeless body. “I’ve never seen… Well…”

“Never seen someone in a bloody heap before?” Smokey blunted out.

“Uh, yeah,” Tracer admitted, a little surprised. “You don’t seemed phased though…”

Smokey took in a deep breath before he sputtered out some smoke. “Dragon culture my friend, dragons tend to be very territorial with each other, we also happen to kick each other’s asses even to the point of killing each other.”

“Have… Have you ever…” Tracer began to ask.

“Do you really wanna know?” Smokey retorted. “Sides, this isn’t the best time to discuss this…”

“Y-You’re right,” Tracer admitted, before he turned back to Elo.

The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on Tracer’s back, someone he knew was dead – Not just dead, but killed, and if what Cheshire said was true – It was one of the others he knew.

“What’s the meaning… HOLY CRAPERONI!”

Both Tracer and Smokey turned back to the doorway to see that practically everyone else was cramming themselves into the building, but stopped when they realized when they saw Elo… And the large amount of blood.

The only ones who weren’t there were Geri and Freki, who were most likely outside with Freya (who was still probably upchucking at this point in time).

“Nonononononononono!”

“This… This is horrible!”

“… Didn’t expect this…”

That’s when a familiar laughter filled the air, “Upupupupu! Well, looks like everyone who’s alive is here!”

In the middle of the room, away from the blood, Cheshire appeared with a cloud of smoke that wisped away. “As you all can see, one of you bastards killed someone.”

“And what if you’re the sicko who did it?!” Kopuz yelped, his face looking a little greener than usual.

“Puh-lease, I didn’t have a reason to kill her,” Cheshire answered back. “If you believe anything, believe that – Unless a rule is broken, my hands are cleaned. And I wouldn’t do anything to tarnish the serenity of Wonderland, I’m rather infamous amongst alleyways for being the king of rules among stray cats, however, politics are the one thing I don’t want to deal with, too much paperwork.”

“But then…” Lore questioned, visibly shaking at the sight of another pony sitting in her own blood. “Who… Who…”

“Didn’t I just say this?” Cheshire asked as he pushed his hat up. “One of you bastards killed Elo Castling!”

There was an awkward silence that lofted through the air, as everyone looked to each other, flashes of disbelief and distrust gleaming in the eyes of everyone.

“Don’t take it so hard,” Cheshire continued onwards as he looked towards Elo. “All that happened was: one of you guys killed the mare so you could leave! That’s the rule, and there’s nothing wrong with it!”

“You’re… You’re lying, right, Monsieur Pussy Cat?” Francis chuckled nervously.

“Of course he’s lying!” Zure yelled out as she stomped towards the well-dressed feline. “You’re the one who did this, aren’t you?!”

Cheshire looked at the zebra and slowly shook his head. “You wanna keep blaming me? Fine, keep that delusion up, after all, that’ll be your downfall, and who am I to stop you from doing that? The killer is one of you guys, and the one who did it, is standing amongst you.”

Tracer’s blood froze, and he could feel that everyone was trading glances at each other – Everyone thinking that there was a killer amongst them.

“Enough,” Hawkward spoke up as he walked up next to Zure. “Very well Cheshire, let’s say that the killer is among us, that means that they alone is able to leave, correct?”

“Hmm?” Cheshire mused with his head tilted to the side.

“Feigning ignorance is a waste of time,” Hawkward continued with his eyes narrowed down. “You said it yourself, one can leave if they commit murder.”

Cheshire brought his paws up to his mouth, trying to stifle a little chuckle he had until he just erupted into a burst of laughter, “UPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUP – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“That’s a rather unsettling laugh,” Godfrey pointed out as he drew back.

“Of course!” Cheshire sputtered out through his laughter. “Did you think that it’d be that easy?! Nononononono! That’d be way too unfair! And besides, this is where the fun really begins!”

“F-Fun?!” Tracer growled. “Someone’s dead, and you think this is fun!?”

“Of course!” Cheshire repeated with a little chuckle following afterwards. “You see, there’s a condition that the murderer… Or rather the ‘villain’, has to do before they can actually leave. As I’ve said already and listed in your rules, ‘you can’t leave unless you kill someone’. But, there’s another condition that has to be met before you can leave.”

“You’re referring to discovering their crime, right?” Crowquill asked.

“Bingo! Bango! We’ve got a winner!” Cheshire cheered out. “You can’t just kill, kill, kill! You gotta do the dirty deed, and get away with it!

“So, after the deed is done, we’ll see if you’re smart enough to get away with it – Through a class trial!”

“A… What now?” Misch asked.

“A class trial!” Cheshire explained as he pointed a paw towards the gray griffon. “It’s where the villain has their fierce showdown on the courtroom floor versus the remaining students – the heroes! The question at the trial is simple:

“‘Which of you guys is the Elite Villain?’

“The answer to that question will be decided by a majority vote conducted at the end of the trial. If the answer you guys is the correct one, then the villain who tarnished Wonderland will be punished, and everyone else will be allowed to live in Wonderland together!

“However, there’s a flipside to that coin – If you vote wrong, the villain will live on, escape Wonderland, and the rest of you heroes will be punished. If that happens, of course, your lives together here at Wonderland will come to an end.”

“Excusez-moi,” Francis chuckled nervously as he lifted a hoof up. “But, you keep using zat word – Punished. You don’t mean zat…”

“Death.”

That word was so straight forward and came out so quick that everyone froze in place, and Cheshire kept on going. “Flame-broiled, strung up, stuffed into an animatronic animal with all the parts still inside it, being… Oh, I don’t know, what’s a weird way to die? Oh! Dying while making a list of the ‘Top Ten Funniest ways to die’!”

“That last one is random,” Alchymist muttered.

“Point is,” Cheshire continued onwards. “I’m talking execution! EX-E-CU-TION! Just like how King Sombra was executed!”

“King who?” Smokey questioned with a raised brow.

“Celestia wishes she had a judge system like this in the world,” Cheshire cackled. “You’re the ones who decide who the criminal is – But that decision isn’t meant to be taken lightly of course, you’ll be deciding to punish someone, so you’ll have to put your own lives on the line as well!”

Cheshire pushed his hat up, and then turned towards Elo, “A shame isn’t it? This is probably one of the first murders you all have heard about, let along seen first hoof. And yet, it happens more often than you think, this isn’t the pampered world that you’ve all be raised in, being forced fed lies – This is reality, and the reality is simple:

“Either discover the culprit or you’ll all be killed.”

For the last few minutes, Cheshire had been piling on harsh words and hard realities, but that grim (and slightly creepy) demeanor faded back into his joyous personality. “Now then! You’ll all have some time to waste before the trial, investigate, try to escape, or just wallow in sadness – Your choice!

“But when its time, I’ll be sure to send you all a message of where to head for the class trial!”

And with that, Cheshire faded away.

For a few moments, everyone remained silent, the heavy atmosphere of depression almost enough to choke the life out of them.

They had no choice now.

One of them had committed an unspeakable act – One of them had taken the life of another.

And they had to find the one who committed the act or else it would be their lives that would be lost next.

“… We need to focus.”

Everyone turned to see that Crowquill had spoken up again, watching him walk into the storage room and near Elo’s body. “We need to figure out who the killer is – Otherwise all of us will be executed.”

“Precisely,” Hawkward added. “Although it’s sad to see one of our comrades dead – We need to put aside our feelings for the sake of survival. That being said, Kopuz, Smokescreen…”

“Hmm?” Both the minotaur and dragon perked up at the sound of their names.

“Would both of you stay here and guard the crime scene?” Hawkward requested.

“Uh, question!” Misch announced as she lifted a talon up. “Why do we need the big guys here?”

“We need to preserve the crime scene,” Crowquill explained. “If the culprit actually managed to tamper with the crime scene, we’d be at a disadvantage. And we can’t have a single being watching the scene, if they were the culprit, they could destroy all the evidence they want.”

“So you want the two big guys watching the scene to make sure that no one tampers with the scene,” Freki stated as he stepped into the building, stopping to look at the corpse of Elo. He froze for a second before he sighed. “M-Makes sense, doods.”

“I’m good with that,” Smokey admitted as he walked over to the corner of the room, crossing his arms. “But could someone get my guitar case? I tossed it out there.”

“And you Kopuz?” Hawkward asked.

“Um, w-well, sure,” Kopuz answered back as he headed towards another corner of the room. “As long as I don’t have to touch the body, I think I’ll be good.”

“If I may make a little observation,” Godfrey pointed out. “Does anyone else see all the feathers here?”

Tracer looked and indeed, he did notice the red feathers when he got a better look at the scene. And then it clicked, “Wait, you’re not saying…”

“Red feazers?” Francis repeated.

It was when that everyone turned towards Lore, who had just came to the realization, “W-Wait, you guys can’t think that… That I’d… I wouldn’t!”

“T-That’s easy to say,” Alchymist muttered out loud as she looked to the side. “B-But you’re the only one here with red feathers…”

“But I… I didn’t…” Lore whimpered.

“Hold up!” Smokey snarled. “You can’t be serious! You think that Lore did it!?”

Alchymist reeled back and looked away.

“We’ve got the trial to discuss this,” Crowquill replied. “So save your accusations till then.”

“But, it’s something consider,” Freya pointed out, finally coming into the storage building, using Geri as a crutch to keep her on her paws. “We need to keep our options open, and everyone is a suspect – After all, all we know that is Elo was alive yesterday, and this morning, she’s dead.”

“Y-Yeah!” Tracer added in. “Me and Kopuz were with her last night before... And…”

“And as long as we don’t have a time of death,” Freya continued with a sly smirk. “Everyone’s a suspect.”

“Oh! That reminds me!”

Everyone looked up to the ceiling to see Cheshire standing on the ceiling, his hat held up to make sure it wouldn’t fall off. “In order to give you all a running start, I’m going to give you all something very special!

“The Monoku… I mean, Cheshire File!”

Several beeps echoed through the air, and everyone reached for their student IDs, all of which now displayed an odd picture of Elo’s corpse with details underneath the picture.

Cheshire File No. 1
Victim: Elo Castling
Estimated Time of Death: Approximately 2:30 A.M.
Status of Body: The victim’s body was discovered in the main hall of White Rabbit’s Storage. The cause of death was stabbing with a sharp object. The victim was stabbed once in the chest region. The victim also sustained a small fracture on her head, but was not the cause of death, there were no traces of poison or other drugs.

“I had the data sent to your Student IDs,” Cheshire explained. “I wouldn’t want to give you guys a disadvantage. Now then, enjoy your investigation!”

Once again, Cheshire faded away.

Tracer dropped the Student ID, allowing the device to clatter against the wooden floor, ‘… I still can’t believe that one of us is really dead… Why? Why did one of us have to die?!’

TBC

Author's Note

You can expect the next chapter next weekend... Where the investigation begins.

Abnormal Days 2 - Bitter Sweet

Author's Note

Due to the idea to add music by one awesome reader, I've decided to include music cues for some scenes. In order to not interrupt the story however, just left click the words that are a different color than what you see and open the music link in either a new window or tab.

Music from this soundtrack: Dangan Ronpa 2 SoundTrack

Abnormal Days 2 - Bitter Sweet

Abnormal Days

Bitter Sweet

TTT - TTT

Death.

It’s a fact of life that no one can escape or refute.

Everything dies – Ponies, dragons, griffons, diamond dogs, nature, cities, even continents perish at the hands of time.

At least that’s what Tracer told himself as he looked at the still form of Elo Castling, if it wasn’t for the blood, she almost looked like she was asleep.

“You okay?”

Tracer shook his head when he realized that Crowquill was speaking to him. There were only a few characters left in White Rabbit’s Storage besides Tracer and Crowquill. Smokey and Kopuz stood in different corners of the room, watching everyone in the room, but they weren’t the only ones standing watch – Geri was in another corner.

“Miss Freya wanted me to keep an eye on the investigation here,” The bowtie wearing diamond dog answered when Crowquill asked him earlier. “Miss Freya’s not a fan of blood, and wants me to report to her when you guys get done.”

Hawkward was also around… Somewhere. He had disappeared into the backroom when everyone else left to their own devices.

Tracer sighed, “Yeah… It’s just hard to grasp my mind around. Someone’s dead, and it was someone we knew.”

“Not to sound cold-hearted,” Crowquill stated as he turned away from Elo’s corpse. “But we need to investigate, otherwise we’ll meet the same fate.”

“Y-yeah,” Tracer muttered back with his ears drooping.

“If it’s too much, you should leave,” Crowquill suggested.

“I can’t,” Tracer replied, raising his head up. “I can’t look away from this, I need to continue onwards.”

Crowquill smiled slightly, “You’ve got a strong heart, Shot. How about you look around the area first? I’d like to look at the body closer, come back after a little bit.”

“Sure,” Tracer replied as he walked over to the area underneath the window.

A day ago, this was just a simple location where one could sit in the chair next to the table and enjoy a book. But there was a large amount of red feathers that covered the pieces of furniture, but there was something that bugged Tracer. ‘There’s… There’s something missing here. But I can’t put my hoof on it… I’ll come back to this later…’

Tracer lifted up one of the feathers from the bed and looked at it. The coloring of the feather was definitely a match of a certain pegasus mare’s feather colors. ‘But did Lore really do this? She doesn’t seem to be like that…’

Tracer took a breath, and then whiffed a few times. There was something in the air, despite the coppery smell of blood, it was noticeable. Tracer took a few more whiffs, trying to find the source of the smell, until he realized it came from the feather he had in his hoof.

He sniffed a little bit, and indeed, the feather had a sweet scent to it. ‘Not a bad smell, but, is it shampoo? I’ve never smelt a shampoo like this before…’

“Something caught your attention?”

Tracer turned to see Geri standing next to him, the stallion smiled sheepishly as the Diamond Dog crouched down slightly to look at the feathers. “Was… Was it that noticeable?”

“You’re standing in the middle of the room sniffing feathers,” Geri pointed out bluntly. “That tends to raise a few flags – And the ramifications about these feathers…”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Tracer stated as he held the feather up. “There’s something odd about these feathers.”

“Hmm?” Geri mused as he took the feather and leered at it. When he breathed through his nose, the Diamond Dog narrowed his eyes at it. “You’re right, there is something weird about it.”

“Really?” Tracer questioned. “What is it?”

“… Well, I don’t know much about grooming habits of ponies, so I can’t really say how well this’ll work,” Geri answered back as he placed the feather back on the chair. “But Diamond Dogs have a better sense of smell than other races, Tartarus, odor is sometimes a means of identifying members of other races.

“But this feather… Tartarus, all of them, they have a different smell to them rather than Lore.”

“How’s that possible?” Tracer answered back. ‘There’s also the fact that the smell seems familiar, but… Where?’

“Well, there are a few reasons,” Geri continued with his paws at his chin. “If you’re being hopeful, then the feathers don’t belong to Lore. But that’s easily explained if she used a different conditioner or whatever pegasai use for cleaning their feathers. What’s weird is why the feathers are here.”

Tracer looked up to the window, “Well, couldn’t the culprit lose the feathers by trying to get out through the window?”

“But why go through the window when you could go through the door?” Geri countered as he turned towards the opened door. “If we trust the Cheshire File, then Elo would’ve been here at around two thirty in the morning, and from what I heard, you can’t lock the door to this place while someone’s in here.”

“But the door was broken,” Tracer muttered back, looking at the door he and Smokey knocked down earlier. “That’s why me and Smokey had to bust it down, in fact, Freya can testify that the door wouldn’t open.”

“Huh, the two of you did that?” Geri commented with a smirk. “I may have to improve my opinion about you two.”

‘I had a feeling he didn’t like me,’ Tracer thought to himself.

Geri didn’t say a word as he eyed the couch, with a raised brow, the Diamond Dog placed his paw on the cushions, “What’s this?”

“What’s what?” Tracer asked.

The diamond dog drew his paw back and pulled out a familiar black piece of metal that was stained a little with blood and some black stuff on it. “A key?”

Tracer blinked a few times when he looked to the key, and his eyes widened before he galloped to the doorway. The earth stallion popped his head out of the storage and looked down in the grass. ‘It’s there!’

Among the grass was the same key that he had tried using earlier with Freya – The shape and size of the key was the same, and he brought it back into the building in his mouth. When he was back in front of Geri, the stallion placed the key on the ground, “Hey, Geri, do these keys look the same?”

The diamond dog picked up the key and compared it to the bloodied key, “… They’re similar yeah, but if you look at the heads of the key, you can tell that they’re different.”

Geri held the keys down to Tracer, showing the stallion that the keys did look a little bit different. ‘And the key that was outside didn’t work… But didn’t Cheshire give us just one key, but where did this second one come from?’

“Curious, isn’t it?” Geri muttered before he placed both keys on the nearby table. “But this still begs the question why culprit didn’t use the door…”

That little mystery stuck in the back of Tracer’s head as he turned back over to Crowquill who was… Was he actually touching Elo’s body?! ‘I think I’ll stay away from that for a while.’

“That’s kinda fucking disturbing,” Smokey muttered, turning away from watching the pegasus poke and prod the body.

Crowquill rolled his eyes, but then continued onwards, making sure that he wasn’t touching the blood.

Tracer decided to head to the backroom to see if Hawkward was still back there, there would be plenty of time to talk to Crowquill. So, Tracer walked through the doorway and immediately spotted the red stallion, “Hey Hawkward, you find anything?”

The alchemist turned his attention towards Tracer and then sighed, “The only thing I found were bed sheets, a few pillows, a grease stain on some clothes… Maybe you should try looking yourself first.”

Tracer opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head. Hawkward did have a point, so Tracer began to look around. The young earth stallion had spent most of his time in this building since the group was taken to Wonderland, so if there was anyone who could see something out of place it would be Tracer…

As he walked over to the side of the shelved room, Tracer spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Sticking out of one of the bins was a small sheet of white cloth that had some ripped edges, curiosity grabbed the stallion’s mind and he walked to the bin and pulled it out. ‘A sheet? No, it’s too small…’

“Find something?”

Tracer jumped up and dropped the small sheet to the ground, the stallion turned around to see Hawkward was standing behind him. “Yeesh! What the Tartarus, Hawkward?! Didn’t you just say that I should look by myself first?”

“Yes, but still, never hurts to have a second opinion on something,” Hawkward replied as he looked down at the floor where the sheet fell. “Hmm, a wrecked pillow? Interesting… Mind giving it to me? I’d like to take a closer look.”

Tracer sighed and crouched down, hooking his hoof on the floor to grab the pillow, “Yeah, sure…”

As Tracer ran his hoof over the floor and lifted up the pillow to Hawkward, however, when Tracer lifted his front leg up, something fell from the pillow case and clattered on the ground.

“And what’s this?” Hawkward questioned, using his long braided tail to lift up the item that fell.

When the red stallion brought his tail up, both he and Tracer saw that the item in question was a pair of small glasses. Hawkward rubbed his chin, “Hmm, you know there was something I was wondering when I saw Elo’s body…”

“Wait, are these…?” Tracer asked.

“Yes, these are her glasses,” Hawkward stated with a concerned look on his face. “The only other individual here who wears glasses is Godfrey, and he was clearly wearing his when he came here.”

“But, what are they doing in here?” Tracer asked as he leaned out of the doorway and into the main hall.

“Curious, isn’t it?” Hawkward snickered as he rolled his head slightly. “Why would the murderer bother taking the glasses here? There’d be no point.”

And yet, even though he posed the question, Hawkward smiled. Tracer narrowed his brow at the red stallion, ‘Something tells me that he already knows why they’re here…’

“Back to the pillow,” Hawkward stated as he yanked the pillow casing from Tracer. For a few moments, Hawkward turned the pillow casing before he dropped it to the ground. “Looks like it was finely cut in half. And that’s all.”

“Wait, what?” Tracer questioned, blinking a few times at the pillow that Hawkward dropped to the floor. “That’s it? Isn’t there anything else to it?”

“You’ve got a brain underneath those goggles, right?” Hawkward asked with a smirk. “You should be able to connect the dots.”

‘Wow, he’s kind of a jerk,’ Tracer thought to himself.

“Besides,” Hawkward chuckled as he walked over to another shelf. “There’s a lot of weird stuff here…”

“Weird? Weird how?” Tracer asked.

“We’ve got the standard toiletries, some clothes and first aid stuffs,” Hawkward lifted his hoof up and pulled a strange spray bottle off of one of the shelves farthest from the door, “There’s some Aminophthaloyl hydrazide here, certainly wouldn’t want to mix this stuff up with shampoo or soap.”

“A min of what now?” Tracer questioned as he blinked a few times at Hawkward.

“My apologies,” Hawkward chuckled. “I tend to refer to chemicals by their more ‘technical’ terms. It’s luminol.”

Hawkward was met with a rather blank look from Tracer, “Yeah, I’m still lost.”

“Oh for the love of,” Hawkward growled. “The simplest explanation is that this stuff can be used to make things glow if it’s applied with the appropriate agent.”

“So, it’s like magic, right?” Tracer asked as he looked at the bottle. “It makes things glow? What’s the point of that?”

“First off, it’s not magic,” Hawkward growled with a flat look in his eyes. “It’s science! And secondly, this stuff can help us out, let me show you – Follow me.”

Tracer shrugged his shoulders as he followed the red stallion into the main room. With the bottle wrapped around in his tail, Hawkward walked over to the body, much to the chagrin of Tracer, but still the goggle wearing stallion followed.

Crowquill perked his head up when he turned towards Hawkward, “What are you doing?”

“Just doing a little demonstration,” Hawkward stated as he used his tail to point the bottle near a small splotch of blood. “Now watch, Goggle Head.”

With a little pressure on his tail, Hawkward sprayed the bottle on the blood, and the moment that the liquid touched the blood, a bright blue glow began to envelope the puddle. Tracer’s eyes widen as he watched the puddle glow brightly, “That… That’s amazing!”

But just as quickly as the blue glow appeared, it faded away back into the regular coloring of blood. Hawkward smiled coyly as he lifted the bottle up, “It’s nothing special, just a regular chemical reaction. It makes copper, iron and cyanides glow blue for about thirty seconds. And blood has iron in it. Interestingly enough, horseradish sauce can also make this stuff glow.”

“What was luminol doing in here?” Crowquill asked.

“Beats the Tartarus outta me,” Hawkward answered back with a shrug. “If I had to hazard a guess, Cheshire probably left it here for us for some reason.”

“Hmm, well, might as well not look a gift horse in the mouth,” Crowquill admitted.

“Ugh, that’s the thing I can’t stand about ponies,” Kopuz groaned out loud, looking up from some tarot cards he had spread out around his legs. “You’re all really great to know, but the horse puns are just punches to the jaw.”

With a roll of his eyes, Crowquill lifted his hoof up to Hawkward. “Despite that, do you mind if I borrow that luminol? There’s something that I’d like to check.”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Hawkward sighed playfully as he pulled his tail back, keeping the bottle out of Crowquill’s reach. “I mean, after all, this stuff can’t just be handled by anypony – And as an Alchemist, I’m more than capable of handling it.”

“And I assure you, I’m more than qualified to hand the chemical,” Crowquill retorted with a snort following.

“Oh? And what makes you so qualified?”

“Is that really important? We’re in the middle of an investigation where our lives are on the line…”

“And I’m not too sure if I can really trust you on this – You’ve been less than forthcoming throughout this entire situation!”

“Uh, is this really the time to argue?” Tracer asked, chuckling sheepishly when he realized that the two stallions were now leering at him. “I mean… like Crowquill said, we… We are investigating for our lives, now isn’t the time to argue.”

The red stallion sighed loudly and shook his head, “Whatever, after this whole ordeal is over with, I expect some answers from you, Crowquill.”

“Am I right to assume that you’ll humor my request?” Crowquill asked.

“Yeah, whatever,” Hawkward replied.

“Then yes, I’ll fill in some answers,” Crowquill replied with a smirk.

The two stallions walked off to the middle of the room, which left Tracer next to Elo. The two stallions were at the elephant in the room, the knife that sat on the rug a few feet away from Elo. ‘That must’ve been what…’

The earth stallion looked over the unicorn’s still body, feeling the chill run down his spine again. ‘I… I still can’t believe she’s dead. Even worse, someone killed her…’

Tracer’s eyes turned to the side, where he saw something blue amongst the blood, ‘What’s that?’

Making sure that he didn’t step on any of the blood, Tracer made his way to the item in question and lowered himself to it. The item in question seemed to be a blue shard of… Something. ‘What am I looking at here… Wait a second…’

Tracer turned back towards the table near the red chair, and narrowed his eyes. That’s when a spark flashed in his head, ‘That’s it!’

A small smile appeared on Tracer’s face when he came to that realization, but then his joy faded when another thought popped into his head, ‘But… Why did that thing disappear?’

Tracer brought his hoof to the blue shard and turned it over. He blinked when he realized that there was a small splotch of blood on it, and he turned back over to Elo’s corpse. ‘Could it be?’

Tracer’s eyes fell down to Elo’s body, where one of her hooves rested upon her chest and under the hoof was a piece of paper that was near the bloodied portion of her black sweater vest. “Hey, could someone with opposable digits come over here?”

Both Smokey and Kopuz looked to each other. Kopuz lifted his fist up, then pointed out two fingers, and then held his fingers flat towards the red dragon, who in turn nodded. Both the dragon and minotaur lifted their hands up and shook them at each other a few times before they snapped their hands towards each other.

Kopuz had his fist balled up

Smokey had his claws laid flat.

Kopuz lowered his head and slumped his shoulders in defeat before he dragged his hooves over to Tracer. “Yeah, Tracer? What’s going on?”

“Kopuz, I really don’t wanna ask this,” Tracer stated as he lifted a hoof up. “But, I think Elo’s holding something under hoof, and I think someone with fingers would be more…”

“More suited to getting it?” Kopuz interrupted before he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a number of beads. “I… I don’t mind, but I need to do something before I get it.”

“What?” Tracer asked, both confused and a little curious.

“It’s a religious thing,” Kopuz stated as he knelt down next to Elo, making sure that he wasn’t kneeling in blood. With both of his hands wrapped in beads, Kopuz brought them close to his face and began to rub his hands together. “Minotaurs tend to bless the dead, and to disturb a dead body without proper… Procedures, we tend to get cursed.”

“Those beads protect you from that?” Tracer asked.

“Yup,” Kopuz replied before he lifted Elo’s hoof up. “Sorry ‘bout this Elo, but we need to do this…”

The minotaur picked up the piece of paper and cocked an eyebrow at it, “Huh… Well ain’t that interesting?”

“What? What is it?” Tracer asked, leaning over to get a look at the paper.

“It’s a note,” Kopuz answered back.

“And she had it under her hoof?” Hawkward asked as he and Crowquill walked over to Tracer and Kopuz. Hawkward turned towards Crowquill, “You were looking over the body, right? Did you see that?”

“Yes, but I wanted to respect the body,” Crowquill answered, staring more intently at Kopuz. “That and the fact that I don’t have the proper equipment to acquire the evidence without damaging it.”

Kopuz blushed as he lifted the note up, “Yes well, I’ll just read this thing…”

“I found a way out, a way that Cheshire hasn’t blocked out.
However, I lack the proper abilities to reach this way out.

If you want to escape, then meet me at White Rabbit’s Storage at 2 a.m., and don’t tell anyone about this. The less who know about this, the better chances we have at keeping this secret from Cheshire.”

The room went silent after Kopuz finished reading the letter.

“Someone planned this,” Kopuz sighed with his head lowered. “Think this thing holds any merit? Is there a way out?”

“Probably not,” Crowquill answered stiffly as he walked over to the door. “Kopuz, please keep that letter safe.”

“Uh, sure,” Kopuz answered as he pocketed the letter.

“And where are you going?” Hawkward asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have something else to look into,” Crowquill answered back before he slipped out of the door.

“I’ll head out too,” Geri replied, following the white pegasus. “I’ll let the others know what we found here.”

And with that, the bowtie wearing Diamond Dog left the storage room.

“Hmm, yeah,” Hawkward replied as he looked about. “I think I’ll stay here for a little while longer as well. I still have an inkling with the backroom.”

“Who says ‘inkling’?” Tracer asked to himself.

Tracer watched as Kopuz returned to the corner of the room, his hands clasped together in prayer. Smokey was still in his corner, his guitar out as he plucked a few strings, trying to find a certain kind of beat, and Hawkward was heading back to the backroom, the bottle of luminol still wrapped in his tail.

“Tch, this is just bloody perfect,” a familiar voice spat out.

Tracer turned back to Smokey who was still trying to pluck a chord or two from his guitar, “Shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on the crime scene?”

“I can jam and watch at the same time,” Smokey countered back. “When you play mostly on the street for tips, you tend to watch the guitar and the crowds at the same time.”

“Well, alright,” Tracer admitted, looking over to the side as he patted the back of his head. “But Smokey, can I ask you a question?”

“You just did, equine,” Smokey chuckled with his tongue sticking out. “Nah! Just kidding ya, Trace, what ya need?”

“It’s nothing much,” Tracer answered back. “I just wanted to know how you got over here so quickly when me and Freya had to get inside…?”

“Ain’t no big mystery to that,” Smokey replied with a shake of his head. “It’s probably the same reason why you came here this morning - to get something to relieve the boredom. Dunno ‘bout you, but I couldn't get a wink of sleep and even practicing guitar can only do so much for a dragon.

“Then I figured that I should hit the cafeteria to get the key for this place, see what all the hubbub was about this place… ‘Course, that didn’t matter since the moment I took a step out of my room, I ran into the goat.”

“You mean Francis, right?” Tracer corrected.

“Yeah, that Prance guy,” Smokey grumbled. “He’s way too chipper in the morning – And I can barely understand two words from the goat. So, I ask him if the key’s still in the cafeteria since that’s his domain, but he said that it was already here.

“As it turns out, that diamond dog girl took the damn thing – Then I hear you yelling your head off with that pansy scream, and… Yeah, the rest you can probably remember.”

“… I need to get out of here,” Tracer sighed under his breath with a flat look on his face.

TTT - TTT

Walking down the path to the cafeteria, Tracer was really grateful that there was fresh air in Wonderland, it took everything that the earth stallion had to not vomit in the White Rabbit’s Storage. Although, when Tracer left the storage building, he had the misfortune to see what Freya had ‘tossed’ out on the lawn…

‘Well, at least I know that diamond dogs don’t really eat jewels,’ Tracer thought to himself as he walked down the path.

“This is just… Wrong…”

Tracer’s ears perked up when he heard that voice and saw that a few feet ahead of him, near one of the rose bushes was Alchymist, normally calm demeanor had faded away, and the unicorn’s eyes had narrowed down on the bush.

“Uh, everything okay?” Tracer questioned.

The rose-violet unicorn turned her attention towards the gray stallion, and the serious look in her eyes melted away as she slunk slightly away. Tracer lifted a hoof up, “Um, are you okay? Are you worried about the trial?”

Alchymist turned her attention to her hooves.

“I… I mean, I can’t say anything,” Tracer muttered as he looked about nervously. ‘Holy Tartarus, what’s going on with her?’

“… I… I’m not w-worried.”

Tracer perked up when he heard Alchymist’s voice again. “You aren’t?”

“I… I mean,” Alchymist continued, her gaze still not set on Tracer. “This whole s-situation is stressful… B-But, d-don’t we already h-have a culprit?”

‘So, she thinks that Lore did it,’ Tracer thought to himself. “And if she’s not the one who did it?”

Alchymist’s ears drooped slightly, “T-Then… I don’t know…”

Tracer didn’t know what to say to that.

“But… I wasn’t t-talking about t-the trial before,” Alchymist continued onwards.

“Huh? You weren’t?” Tracer asked, his head tilted slightly.

Alchymist gestured with her head towards one of the bushes near her – Tracer had come to terms that for some reason, most of the rose bushes here were having their roses painted white, but this bush was completely bare of any flowers.

“This rosebush,” Alchymist sighed with her head lowered. “It was the only one with red roses on it.”

Now that she mentioned it, when Tracer first stepped out of that classroom and into Wonderland, he too noticed that one of the bushes was only red roses.

“It’s a crime to see so many flowers painted,” Alchymist spat out, her eyes narrowing down on the can of white paint near her. The unicorn mare turned around and slammed her hoof into the can and kicked it away. “Paint like this will just kill the plants! Cheshire should be the one on trial for cruelty like this!”

“Uh, sure?” Tracer chuckled sheepishly, a little perturbed by Alchymist’s change in attitude. “But, uh, Alchymist, out of curiosity, did you happen to see anything related to the case?”

Alchymist stared at Tracer for a few seconds before she lowered her head, “… No.”

Tracer sighed.

“B-But if you find the roses to this bush,” Alchymist requested with her ears lowered. “Could you g-give them to me?”

“Huh? Why?” Tracer asked. “Do you know a spell that can bind the flowers back to the bush or something?”

“N-No, once something’s been… W-Well,” Alchymist stumbled to find the words. “Y-Ya know, ‘cut from its roots’, it can’t be returned to its original state. S-So, I figured m-might as well not have the r-r-roses go to waste.”

“Huh? What can roses be used for?” Tracer questioned. "I always thought that roses were just meant to look pretty or for decoration.”

Alchymist narrowed her eyes at the earth stallion, “E-Everything h-has a p-purpose. O-Other than j-just looking pretty r-r-roses can be used for perfume, clothing, medicine or even be used as a food or drink. I just w-w-wanted to make some rose petal tea to c-calm my n-nerves.”

It was possible that Alchymist was also shaken to see that someone had died – It wouldn’t be a stretch that she’d want something to give her peace of mind.

“Any idea who could’ve taken them?” Tracer asked looking at the bare bush.

“Um, w-well, w-whoever took them had hooves,” Alchymist answered back.

“… And how’d you figure that?” Tracer questioned, taking a good look at the bush.

“T-There’s a hoofprint in the paint,” Alchymist explained.

With her horn aglow with a bright blue aura, pulling back one of the branches slightly, revealing that there was a spilled can of white paint that had tipped over on its side. The paint was pretty much dried, but in the middle of the paint was a gap that resembled that of a hoof that had a slit going right down the middle of it.

“W-Whoever took the r-roses, they must’ve knocked the paint c-can over and stepped in it,” Alchymist explained, her eyes narrowed down at the hoof print. "They might've not noticed it cause it was dark out, or m-maybe cause it was between the branches..."

“Well, if I find them, I’ll let ya know,” Tracer replied before he walked past Alchymist. “It was nice talkin’ to ya…”

But before he could get past her, Alchymist’s horn lit up with a bright blue aura and several roots from some of the nearby bushes erupted from the ground and blocked Tracer’s path. The earth stallion skidded to a halt and turned towards the unicorn with a cold bead of sweat dripping down the side of his head. “Uh, w-was there something else?”

“Did… Did you mean that?”

“Huh?” Tracer asked, more sweat appearing on his brow as Alchymist’s deep blue eyes focused in on his face.

“About how it was nice talking to me,” Alchymist repeated, her eyes narrowed down even more. “Did. You. Mean. It?”

“Um, y-yes?” Tracer sputtered.

And just like that, the roots retreated into the ground and Alchymist smiled brightly before she playfully trotted off.

That left Tracer standing dumbfounded on the path as he watched Alchymist trot away. ‘… Dad was actually right; unicorn mares are crazy. I hope Mana and Prism don’t act like this when they’re older, if I survive here, I won’t survive that!’

After that uncomfortable moment, Tracer looked at the rosebush… Although, with the lack of roses, just calling it a bush would be appropriate. Who would just take roses and Tracer was sure that the flowers were on it yesterday, he wasn’t actively looking, but he did walk by the bush constantly.

Shrugging it off, Tracer continued on the path, but stopped when he was near the laundry room where Godfrey was seated outside with a stack of paper that was near him. The glasses wearing griffon lifted his head up and shook his head at Tracer. “Ah, Split Ends, what brings you here?”

“Oh, you know, investigating so I don’t die,” Tracer commented with a nervous chuckle.

“You should learn to relax,” Godfrey advised. “Too much stress will make your mane fall out… Although, that might actually be an improvement.”

“Yeah, but this is a stressful time,” Tracer countered as he looked at the stacks of paper that were near Godfrey. “And while we’re supposed to be investigating you’re…”

It was then that Tracer saw the top sheet of paper, and was met with an almost perfect picture of his face, “What the? Is that… Me?”

“Why, yes it is,” Godfrey chuckled a talon near his face. “I’m just finishing up some work that I started yesterday.”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, Misch got kinda mad at you for taking the name plates down,” Tracer admitted as he looked through the papers. These… These are really good.”

“Why thank you, Split Ends,” Godfrey chuckled as he pushed his glasses up. “I do try to do good work.”

“But in all seriousness,” Tracer coughed out. “What do you think happened to Elo?”

“Hmm, well, I think it’d be obvious,” Godfrey replied as he pulled his scissors from his pocket and began to cut into the paper. “One look at the crime scene would be enough to see what happened. A shame too since I saw Elo yesterday.”

“Where’d you see her?” Tracer asked.

“Nowhere special,” Godfrey replied with a wave of his talons. “I was getting the last of the name plates when I saw her hovering around someone’s room on the first floor. I assumed she was just looking for her own and forgot where she was staying, so I told her that her room was a couple over.”

“That sounds exactly like what happened to Misch,” Tracer pointed out with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. “Why exactly did you take the nameplates down?”

“I told you, because I wanted to change the pictures,” Godfrey sighed pushing up his glasses. “Those crude drawings from earlier were just an eyesore. And what exactly are you getting at?”

“I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense for you to finish these ones first before taking down the originals?” Tracer asked as he lifted the sheet that had his face on it. “That way you wouldn’t make a mistake when you were putting them back on the doors.”

“Humph, unlike the rest of you apparently,” Godfrey sighed with a shake of his head. “I’ve got a good memory, so I can remember which doors had the name plates on them.”

“But wouldn’t that cause a problem for everyone else?” Tracer commented, earning himself a leer from Godfrey.

The griffon sighed loudly and wrapped his tail around the papers, “Fine, I’ll put these up right now – Wouldn’t want to get anyone lost… Even though it’s been a day and no one’s messed up save for that grease monkey.”

‘I’m guessing you mean Misch,’ Tracer thought to himself as he watched the stylish griffon pack his stuff up. ‘Then again, how would changing the name plates affect what would happen at the storage place.’

“Godfrey, is there anything else you saw yesterday or this morning?” Tracer asked, fishing for more information.

Godfrey sighed loudly with a roll of his eyes, “Not really, I was in my room most of the night – Either working on these name plates or sleeping. Around six I got up and headed to the kitchen to get something for breakfast – And lo and behold, I was able to make my favorite drink, everything was in there already..”

“Yeah, that stuff feels like it could melt your teeth if you drank too much of it,” Tracer admitted.

Godfrey scoffed with a roll of his eyes and began to walk away, “Well whatever, if you excuse me, I need to cut and run."

It was then that Godfrey stopped and turned towards Tracer, “Oh that reminds me – Split Ends, you’ve been in the back room of that storage place, right?”

“Yeah? What about it?” Tracer asked.

“You didn’t happen to see something like this, did you?” Godfrey inquired as he pulled out a single pair of scissors from his chest pocket and held them in his talons.

“Scissors?” Tracer questioned, taking a good look at the long and surprisingly sharp metal. “I… I don’t think so, why?”

“I lost a pair of these,” Godfrey answered back with a snort. “I thought I dropped them in my room, but after I tore up the place trying to find them, I thought I must’ve dropped them in the storage backroom when you, Lore and I were there. I was going to look for them today… But you know.”

“But you’ve already got a pair, why do you need a second one?” Tracer asked.

Godfrey sighed before he tucked the scissors away and began to walk away, “Those who don’t have opposable digits wouldn’t understand. If you see them, please let me know, Split Ends.”

“Uh sure,” Tracer stated.

“*hic*”

“Huh?” Tracer questioned.

The earth stallion remained silent as he perked his ears up. He could barely hear it, but it was there, a sound that Tracer had heard before. Someone was crying, and given the situation, Tracer had a good guess who it was…

But where was it coming from?

Tracer looked towards the laundry room, and just remembered that he’d never been inside before, so, the stallion entered the building.

TTT – TTT

Considering what Misch had done yesterday, taking apart a washer and dryer, the fact that the single roomed building was a mess wasn’t that hard to imagine. Several pieces of machinery littered the floor with several towels soaked with grease were tossed into one of the laundry bins in the room. ‘I still don’t know how you get grease from a washing machine…’

However, Tracer saw a familiar white tail that poked out from behind the laundry bin, and noticed that the sniffling was directly coming from the room. The goggle wearing stallion cleared his throat, “Lore? Is that you?”

With a loud yelp, Lore jumped up and knocked over the laundry basket that she was behind. The young horror novelist was visibly shaking, her mane a mess and her eyes were puffy from the tears that were at her eyes. “T-Tracey?”

“Hey, are you okay?” Tracer asked as he gingerly lifted a hoof towards the pegasus.

The small pegasus sniffled as used her sleeve to wipe away the tears she had, “I… I wasn’t c-crying.”

‘Sure,’ Tracer thought to himself. “Any reason why you’re in here?”

“It… It was just the closest place I could find to hide,” Lore replied with her ears drooped down. “T-Those feathers…”

Lore then stopped, looking away from the taller stallion, but Tracer could probably hazard a guess what she was getting at. Pretty much everyone thought the feathers belonged to the small pegasus, and it wouldn’t be too much thinks she could get through the window and clip her wings on the way out.

But there was something more to it than that.

“Lore,” Tracer cleared his throat. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me what you did this morning. Whatever you say, I’ll believe in you.”

For a moment, Lore hesitated before she lifted her head towards Tracer, tears starting to well up in her eyes again, “I… I didn’t have anything to do with this! L-Last night, I was up all night trying to write – It’s what I do when I’m stressed, and after seeing t-those pictures… I…”

Tracer nodded, unfortunately, if what Lore said was true, she didn’t have an alibi for the incident. “I take if you were alone?”

“W-Well, yes,” Lore admitted, as she looked to the side. “I… I was in my r-r-room for the night. B-But… E-Everyone, they think I did it… Don’t they?”

Tracer didn’t know what to say to that, while there was evidence that did paint Lore as the culprit, there was just something that didn’t sit right with Tracer…

Lore sniffled again before her wings fanned out and she began to lift off of the air, “T-This is pointless!”

And like that, the young red pegasus flew past Tracer, making the stallion reel back. “Lore! Wait!”

The stallion started to go after her…

CLINK!

Tracer looked down amongst the dirty towels around his hoof, with his head tilted he pushed the greasy towels over to the side, and his eyes widened when he saw red. “This… This is?!”

The stallion then began to root among the towels until he saw some red fabric amongst the white and black. For a moment, Tracer just stood there before he pulled it from the rest of the towels and began to unfurl the red piece of cloth, however, when he tried to, Tracer noticed that it was tucked in tightly with his hooves. And with the splotches of red and a little grease, Tracer didn't want to test his luck with his mouth. ‘I… I can’t get this thing opened! But, what’s something like this doing here? It doesn't match the rest of the towels... Does it belong to someone?’

Tracer tapped his hoof against the tied up fabric a few times, earning himself a couple of clinks – It sounded like metal against metal, but… There was something off. ‘I need to ask someone here who has fingers, talons or magic to unravel this for me… And I may need to ask Misch about this, looking at the greasy towels, did she try using these to clean herself up?’

TTT – TTT

After the laundry room, Tracer made his way to the cafeteria building, where a familiar griffon was snoozing just outside the door with a zebra not too far. Tracer waved a hoof towards Zure, “Hey there.”

“Ah, hello Tracer,” Zure greeted with a dreary smile. “How’s it going at the White Rabbit’s Storage?”

“…” Tracer was quiet as he rubbed the back of his head.

Zure seemed to pick up on Tracer’s uneasiness and sighed, “That bad, huh?”

“What’s up with Misch?” Tracer asked, noting that the griffon was pretty much fast asleep.

“Oh, she and I were pretty much awake all night last night,” Zure replied, pointing to her own eyes – Indeed, there were some bags under her eyes. “We were both pretty uncomfortable after seeing those pictures yesterday, so after we left ya, we spent the night together.”

‘It’s probably more innocent than I think,’ Tracer thought to himself. “That reminds me, what about everyone else? I mean, now that I think about it, I don’t think anyone but you two have alibis for last night.”

“I couldn’t tell ya,” Zure answered back with a shrug. “I tried asking Lore when she flew by, but she just sped right past us and to her room – For a horror novelist she seems to be really scarred by the… I mean, Elo.”

“I wasn’t really clear headed about it either,” Tracer replied, remembering how he was about to lose it. “Then again, the only one who seemed to be calm was Smokey.”

“That’s the dragon, right?” Zure asked, getting a nod from Tracer. “Humph.”

“What? Don’t like dragons?” Tracer questioned.

“It’s just his attitude,” Zure replied instantly. “I don’t care for his use of language.”

“He does love his f-bombs,” Tracer chuckled slightly. “But he doesn’t seem that bad…”

Zure just snorted and looked away, “Whatever…”

“Anyway, I’ve got a question to ask Misch,” Tracer requested, looking down to his pocket that had the wrapped up red fabric in it. “Think you can wake her up?”

“She asked me to not disturb her until the trial,” Zure replied with a sigh. “She’s a lazy one, but when she does wake up, I’ll let her know you got a question.”

‘Well, that’s a bummer,’ Tracer thought to himself as he leered at the griffon who was snoozing.

“In any case, do you mind filling me in on what you guys found at the scene?” Zure requested, smiling at the stallion. “Since we’ve got that trial coming up, I’d like to be prepared.”

“Sure, that’s no problem at all,” Tracer replied. ‘Wait, wasn’t Geri supposed to do this?’

TTT – TTT

After taking a few minutes to explain almost everything that he could remember to Zure about the crime scene, Tracer made his way up to the upper portion of the building…

“Sacre-bleu!”

The sound of breaking glass filled the air, which made Tracer hurry up the stairs just in time to…

WHAP!

Get some grade-A red rubber flung directly into his face, “OW!”

The red rubber ball bounced against the ground, with Freki and Francis freezing up when they realized that the earth stallion was leering at them (with one eye now slightly bruised). Freki winced as he picked up the dodgeball, “Ooh, sorry ‘bout that, Tracer. I was aiming at the goat… Slippery bastard.”

“Ha ha! Zat zing shall never strike moi!” Francis laughed loudly as he swayed his hips left and right in a very odd dance.

“Somepony’s dead, and you two are here playing dodgeball!?!” Tracer yelled out, while he was mad about the fact he stated, he was also sore because of his eye. “Where’d you even get that thing?”

“Francis snuck it in, apparently,” Freki answered as he tossed the dodgeball up a few times. The diamond dog’s ears drooped slightly. “And yeah, I know it’s not the best time, but in order to get the gears working in the head, exercise gets the blood a flowing my friend! Hell, I heard that some unicorns exercise in order to make blood flow into their horn so they can get a little extra boost!”

“I… I actually agree with that,” Tracer stated looking down. He knew first hoof that exercise did help improve thinking to some extent, his parkour skills were testament to that. “But, that’s not what I’m here for – Francis.”

“Oui?” Francis asked with a bright smile on his face as he ran his hooves over the green ascot he had. “How can moi assist you, Monsieur Tracer?”

“You’re practically the only one who’s been in the kitchen,” Tracer continued as he walked over to the goat. “Do you know if there’s a knife missing from there?”

“Beats ze Tartarus outta moi,” Francis admitted with an annoyed look on his face. “Ze kitchen was a mess zis morning, somebody must’ve been in zere messing wiz everyzing zis morning! Oooh! After all ze cleaning moi did, it makes moi mad! Moi needed to vent some frustration!”

“Is that why you suggested dodgeball to me?” Freki asked before he threw the ball straight towards the goat.

Francis lifted up one of his hooves and caught the ball without moving an inch. The dodgeball spun in his hooves before it came to a halt with some steam rising up from the goat’s foot, both Tracer and Freki’s eyes widened before Francis wound up his legs.

“Yup,” Francis answered.

What happened next was something that Tracer would never see again in his life – The throw that Francis threw was on par with some cannons that shot out cannonballs, and how Freki was still conscious was another mystery to be thrown onto the pile.

“Momma, did you get the license of that chopper?” Freki moaned loudly before he fell back on the busted tables and chairs.

To add insult to injury, the dodgeball landed smack dab right on Freki’s nose.

“Uh, so Francis,” Tracer coughed getting the goat’s attention. “You think you could check for that knife?”

“Well,” Francis started.

BING-BONG-DANG-DONG!

Tracer and Francis froze when they heard those chimes, and sure enough, a familiar feline’s voice sounded through the air.

“… Yeah, it’s getting boring watching you guys run around. So, I think it’s time that we start this little shindig. Everyone please report to the Main Court immediately, attendance is required.

“And don’t think about running, cause I’ll have you know that I’m forty-percent tiger – And I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish! Or I’ll drag you to the Main Court, I haven’t decided on which yet: So you should show up so you don’t find out.”

Tracer growled, ‘Damn it! I don’t know if I’m ready for this or not!’

“Monsieur Tracer,” Francis stated as he placed a hoof on the silver stallion’s back. “Go on a head. Moi will look for ze knife for a few moments and drag Francis.”

“O-Okay,” Tracer sighed as he lowered his head. ‘Well, I guess this is it… Ready or not…’

Tracer walked down the stairs and reached the lobby, seeing that Misch and Zure were no longer nearby… However, someone else was.

“Crowquill?” Tracer questioned, garnering the white pegasus’ attention.

“Shot,” Crowquill replied with a nod. “How was your investigation?”

“… I don’t think I’m ready,” Tracer replied with his head lowered. “I… I don’t know how any of this works…”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Crowquill offered with a smile. “You might surprise yourself. Besides, don’t think that you’re the only one here working on this – Everyone has information here and you can always play off them: You just need logic and a clear head. You just need to consider everything that you know, and you’ll find something.

“And remember, if you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything.”

Tracer lifted his head up, “That reminds me Crowquill, I only know one other pony would say something that corny – How… How do you…”

“I’ll make the same deal with you that I did with Hawkward,” Crowquill interrupted with a coy look. “However, with a little addendum. You have to try your best at the trial to find the culprit. Even if we’re about to face the worst, I’ll at least let you have a moment of reprieve.

“But that won’t come to pass – We’ll succeed.”

Tracer was a little surprised with Crowquill’s confidence, ‘Where does his conviction come from?’

“Now, come along,” Crowquill stated as he walked ahead. “Let’s see what Cheshire has in stored for us.”

Tracer nodded and followed the white pegasus.

TTT – TTT

When the two reached the Main Court, they weren’t the only ones there – A majority of everyone else was there. Lore was there, but she looked to be quivering badly, her mane a mess, while everyone else was casting looks at each other. The only ones who weren’t there were Francis, Freki and oddly enough Hawkward.

“Well, well, well! Not a bad turn out for the first trial!”

Atop of the fountain, Cheshire appeared with his usual cocky smile plastered on his face, “I was expecting a lot more of you to not show up – Although, we’re still missing a few faces. I guess I’ll be able to show off my skills at wrangling after all!”

“Hate to disappoint you.”

Hawkward strolled in, his eyes closed, and behind him was Francis, with Freki using the goat as a prop.

“Ah poo,” Cheshire sighed with a shake of his head. “In any case, since we’re all here now, we should head down to the court room.”

Cheshire then leapt off of the top of the fountain and actually dove into the water, a small splash following. After a moment, the fountain shook and began to lift up out of the ground, revealing a rather spacious circular elevator that opened up with a ding.

Cheshire’s voice rang out, “Please enter the elevator, now.”

Hesitantly, everyone slowly piled into the elevator, with Tracer being the last inside. The elevator was quite spacious despite its outer appearance, and the moment that Tracer’s tail was inside, the doors began to close.

And then the elevator began to descend.

“I swear, that Cheshire has some of the weirdest tastes,” Godfrey stated from his corner in the elevator. “Who puts an elevator under a fountain?”

“The same jackass who kidnaped us, obviously,” Smokey growled with his arms crossed.

“Yeah, but hot damn this is a nice elevator,” Misch pointed out, a large smile on her beak. “You can’t even hear the sound of it moving!”

Indeed, if it wasn’t for the conversation, it would’ve been dead silent.

After a few minutes, the elevator continued descending.

“How deep is this thing?” Freya asked.

“Maybe it goes to ze center of ze planet?” Francis offered.

“That’d be ridiculous,” Zure countered. “And dangerous.”

“You know zat counts as a rhyme, right?” Francis chuckled.

“Shut up.”

The idle chit chat continued as long as the elevator continued going down until finally…

DING!

The elevator stopped, and the doors slowly opened to reveal a rather large room that had several fancy decorations – velvet drapes, a beautiful carpet, and even a fancy golden throne where Cheshire was seated at. However, what really drew Tracer’s eyes, and probably everyone else’s, was the odd circular construct in the middle of the room. There were sixteen chest-high barriers, resembling that of a wooden banister.

There was also another door across from the elevator’s door, but that was little consequence.

“Welcome everyone!” Cheshire greeted from his throne. “Now, would every please be so kind as to take your designated positions, we can start this little game. Shouldn’t be hard to find with your names on it.”

Slowly, everyone made their way around the room, some stopping when they found their own stand. When Tracer found his, he was surprised to see that he was directly across from Cheshire himself, and no one seemed to stop at the stand in front of the cat.

And then, everyone found their stands, and Tracer was left staring straight into Cheshire’s one eye.

“I hope you all enjoy the accommodations,” Cheshire chuckled with his paws up. “This is our special courtroom, especially tailored for your pleasures! This place will decide your fates!”

“You’re a jackass!” Smokey snarled as he pointed a claw at the cat.

“And here I thought I was a Pisces,” Cheshire cackled back. “But enough classic jokes, let’s not waste any more time and electricity! Let the trial – Begin!”

… Survive.

That’s what we had to do – And to do that, we needed to find who the culprit was who took Elo’s life.

Elite Chessmaster – Elo Castling. I can’t say I knew her well, and she seemed to be mighty full of herself, but she was smart and seemed to have a grasp on the situation.

She didn’t deserve to die…

She didn’t need to be…

Murdered.

Is the one who killed her… Really among us?

It’s unbelievable. I wish it wasn’t true…

But we need to realize that it’s true.

We need to expose the culprit, it’s the only way to survive.

A trial with twists and turns, all ending with an outcome that no one wants to face.

Wonderland Trials - The First Proceeding

Wonderland Trials

Elo Castling

All Rise!

TTT – TTT

“Welcome to the courtroom!” Cheshire announced again. “Let’s begin with a simple explanation of the school trial – Your task is to reason out the identity of the culprit, and vote on who the villain is!

“Should you discover the villain correctly, they alone shall be punished! But if you vote for the wrong perp… Then I’ll punish everyone besides the villain! And they will be allowed to leave Wonderland!

“Now, any questions before we begin?”

“Yeah,” Freya took advantage of that and looked towards the odd sign that stood behind the stand next to her, which displayed the face of Elo with a pair of queens crossed out over her face. “Mind explaining what the Tartarus this is about?”

“Oh, I’d feel so shameful if I left anyone who perished behind in these proceedings,” Cheshire explained as he pushed up his top hat. “After all, bonds are a precious thing, wouldn’t you say? Even if you knew her for a few days, the bond you all share with her will last as long as you live.”

“Way to be dramatic,” Misch scoffed to the side.

“Another question over here,” Hawkward sighed as he lifted his hoof up into the air. “Is the murderer really one of us?”

“Of course!” Cheshire cackled loudly. “Your villain is definitely one of you. After all, thanks to the cameras everywhere, I can attest that the villain is one of you.”

“But you’re not going to tell us, are you?” Hawkward guessed with his eyes narrowed.

“Not until after the vote,” Cheshire chuckled. “After all, I need to make sure that this trial is completely fair for both sides. And since its essentially thirteen to one, that’s a strenuous job. Any more questions?”

“Yeah, there were about fifteen of us,” Kopuz pointed out as he looked across the room to the empty stand. “So, what’s with that stand?”

“Oh, no real big meaning,” Cheshire responded, pulling a fish out from his hat. “There was a sale at the furniture shop ‘Buy fifteen courtroom stands, get one free’! So of course I had to jump on that sweet deal!”

“What furniture place sells this kind of stuff?” Geri questioned.

“Alright, just one more question, and then we’ll begin!” Cheshire announced with his paw thrown in the air. “Of course, if you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask – But I’d like to get the ball rolling!”

“Uh, where do we start on this, then?” Tracer asked.

“Ah right, forgot I was dealing with a bunch of noobs,” Cheshire admitted before he took a bite of the fish. “Well, I’ll toss you a bone this time, why not start with the case summary? Just so everyone’s on the same page?”

“Before that,” Kopuz coughed out. “I wanna say something, that okay?”

“Sure!” Cheshire chuckled.

“Alright,” Kopuz rolled his head on his shoulders. “Everyone who didn’t kill Elo, don’t raise your arm!”

There was a moment of silence as everyone leered at the minotaur.

Smokey was the one who broke that silence, “You’re a fricken’ idiot.”

“Alright, enough!” Cheshire hissed as he waved the fish bones he had in his paws. “Get on with the show!”

Tracer gulped before he took a deep breath, ‘Alright… Here it goes, I don’t know if I’m ready for this, but ready or not, I have to step forward to do this!’

“Let’s start with the victim,” Hawkward announced, taking charge. “Elo Castling was the victim here!”

“Way to state the obvious!” Freki chimed in with a thumbs up. “Good on ya!”

“And the murder took place at the White Rabbit’s Storage,” Misch admitted. “In the main hall of it.”

“So, m-most likely,” Alchymist muttered out loud. “Elo was taken by surprise in main hall, and was killed without even knowing it!”

Tracer’s eyes widened before he threw his hoof up.

“Not so fast!”

Alchymist flinched when Tracer shouted, the goggle wearing stallion stood at his stand with his hoof raised up. For a few moments, Tracer just stood there, his eyes narrowed down at a confused Alchymist. “W-What?!

Tracer blinked a few times, still maintaining his pose. ‘Wha… What’s come over me…? Without thinking, I just shouted.

‘And I yelled it at the top of my lungs, hoof outstretched, ready to take on anyone!

‘What a rush!’

Tracer then slammed both of his hooves onto the stand, “Actually, Alchymist, one look at the crime scene tells a different story – There were several feathers scattered all over the place and…”

“Sounds broken to me!”

Now it was Misch’s time to yell, the black griffon with her talon pointed at Tracer, odd thing though was that the yellow markings on Misch’s black feathers were glowing brightly. “There’s no way that the feathers would indicate that!”

“Uh, Misch?” Tracer questioned, a little surprised that he was shot down so quickly. “Why are those marks glowing?”

“After all, the feathers were nowhere near Elo’s body,” Misch ignored Tracer with a coy smile. “Plus, they’re all centered around that table and chair, and there was no blood seen there!”

“True,” Tracer admitted with a smirk. “But there’s another piece of evidence that suggest that there was a struggle.”

“Huh?” Misch muttered.

“There was a blue shard next to Elo’s body,” Tracer started to explain… When all of a sudden a large holographic screen appeared in the middle of the courtroom, freaking out pretty much everyone. “GAH!”

“Oh, right, forgot about that,” Cheshire chuckled. “I thought it’d be easier for everyone to see the evidence if I projected it when you find it. And thanks to a little spell, all you need to do is picture it in your mind, and the right evidence will show up on the screen.

“And don’t worry, I won’t tamper with any evidence, Tartarus, if you don’t believe me, you can always carry it with you if you like. But still, keeps your hooves, paws, hands, or claws clean.”

“Uh, thanks?” Tracer commented, still a little confused. He lifted a hoof up towards the screen and saw that it flew down in front of him. When he placed a hoof on the screen, he saw that the blue shard spun along with it. “Okay, I have to admit, this is kinda cool.”

“Ahem,” Crowquill cleared his throat

“Oh, uh, right!” Tracer chuckled sheepishly before he smacked the screen right towards Misch. “As I was saying, there was a blue shard next to Elo’s body, and on it there was some blood on it, and I know exactly what this is from.”

“You’re talking about the blue vase, right?” Godfrey asked as he snapped his talons, having a screen appear next to his head, which displayed a blue vase with sunflowers in it. “There was a vase like this in the hall of White Rabbit’s Storage a day or so ago, but it seems to have vanished.

“Are you claiming that this shard belongs to the vase?”

“Yes,” Tracer answered with a nod. “And as Misch pointed out with the feathers, why would there be a broken vase piece away from where it was initially?”

“Unless someone used it as a makeshift weapon,” Geri pointed out.

Tracer stood there at the stand, taking a look at his hoof, ‘W-What just happened here? It feels like I’ve done this before… But, that’s impossible, all I’ve ever done is be a delivery colt, yet, it just came naturally to me to point out contradictions…’

Misch stood there with a dull look on her face before she laughed and rubbed the back of her head, “Hehe, looks like I was wrong. Good on ya!”

“She gave up quick,” Freya muttered out loud. “But this brings up another question, there has to be more than just this single piece of vase, where’s the rest of it?”

“Did ze culprit not take it wiz zem?” Francis suggested. “Ze lighting in zere isn’t ze best after all, ze could’ve picked up ze rest and missed zis piece.”

“I dunno ‘bout that,” Zure interrupted as she leaned against the stand. “I mean, if they were willing to dispose of evidence, why didn’t they pick up the feathers when they were leaving?”

Everyone’s eyes fell onto Lore once more, the red pegasus began to tear up slightly, “B-But I didn’t do it!”

“We can save the accusations for later,” Crowquill brought up. “And if we begin questioning the feathers and vase’s placement at this time, we’ll just go in circles. We’ll find a connection between the two soon, but for now, let’s focus on other factors of the case.”

“Like what?” Kopuz asked.

“How about how the killer and victim got into the building?” Freya asked below she clapped her paws, allowing the screen to pop up next to her showing the door and key to White Rabbit’s Storage. “After all, the door was locked, and the key to the storage facility was left in the cafeteria until I had it. It would be a simple matter for the culprit to pick up the key at night and use it to open the door.

“More than likely, they must’ve called out Elo, the two got into a scrap, and that led to Elo’s demise.”

“What makes you think Elo was called out?” Zure asked.

Ferya smiled before she turned towards Kopuz, “Why not have the minotaur answer that? After all, he was the one who read out that letter she had under her hoof.”

‘But I was the one who had him get it…’ Tracer thought.

“Oh yeah, that note did say something about meeting near the time of death,” Kopuz stated as he pulled the paper out from his pants. “Yeah… Should I read it out loud again?”

“If you please,” Freya continued.

Kopuz cleared his throat and began to read the letter out loud.

“I found a way out, a way that Cheshire hasn’t blocked out.
However, I lack the proper abilities to reach this way out.

If you want to escape, then meet me at White Rabbit’s Storage at 2 a.m., and don’t tell anyone about this. The less who know about this, the better chances we have at keeping this secret from Cheshire.”

“Yeah, if someone got a letter like that,” Smokey muttered out loud. “No doubt that they’d want to see if it was on the up and up.”

“And with this, we’ve got a solid idea how the crime took place,” Freya chuckled with a smile.

“We do?” Smokey asked.

“If I may speculate, I think I’ve got this crime already figured out,” Freya continued with her paw lifted up. “Let’s say that the culprit slipped this letter under Elo’s door, she sees it and decides to head to the cafeteria to get the key. After that, she heads to the storage – she goes in where the killer was waiting for her.”

“And how could the killer be inside waiting for her if Elo had the key?” Zure questioned.

That didn’t stop Freya from smiling at Tracer, “Tell me, Mr. Earth Stallion, you were the first one to see the body – Recall the state of the window of the White Rabbit’s Storage.”

“The window… Was open,” Tracer replied.

“Yes, and since it was opened, anyone with wings could easily reach the window,” Freya continued as she lifted her paw towards Lore. “Or could jump like Tracer. As the killer tried to enter the room, their wings must’ve gotten caught on the window, and a number of feathers floated to the ground. That didn’t stop them from their goal, seeing their target right under the window they took the knife… And struck!

“Of course, Elo must’ve noticed the killer as they were diving and turned just in time to see her attacker, this resulted in the struggle we mentioned earlier, and how there could be more feathers scattered about.

“And the only one with red feathers is you Lore Monstrum!

“No! I keep t-telling you t-that it isn’t me!” Lore squeaked back with tears in her eyes. “W-Why don’t you believe me!?”

“Well, if you had an alibi at the time, that’d be a start,” Freya answered back coyly. “Until then, the only one with red wings and feathers is you Lore…”

“Not so fast!”

Freya reeled back when she heard Tracer’s voice, “What’s wrong with my theory?”

‘There are a few things, but I’ll start with just one of them…’ Tracer thought to himself. “Is Lore really the only one with red feathers?”

“In case you didn’t notice,” Freya countered back as she looked at all the winged creatures in the room. “She’s the only one with red wings – The griffons have black feathers and Crowquill has white.”

“I say, mine are dark blue!” Godfrey complained.

“Next you’re going to say that Lore’s Lightish Red,” Freki snickered.

“Yes, but there’s still one pony here who hasn’t revealed what they really are,” Tracer retorted before his attention turned towards one certain individual. “Isn’t that right, Hawkward?”

The red stallion blinked a few times, realizing that a few others were looking to him, “Huh?”

“You think he’s the one with the red feathers?” Geri questioned as he had a paw to his chin. “Well, he does have the same coloring that Lore… But he’s an Earth Stallion.”

“No he isn’t,” Tracer replied as he waved his hooves. “Remember when we first met? Misch tried to fly away and almost got fried by the storms?”

“Ugh, do you have to bring that up?” Misch asked with a blush on her feathers.

“S-Sorry,” Tracer coughed before he continued, the screen at his side lit up and showed Hawkward with Misch on his back. “But yeah, if you guys remember, Hawkward actually managed to catch Misch in the air. As a traceur, at the angle he was at, there was no way for him to jump into the air as high as he did…

“If he was an earth stallion at least.”

Hawkward rolled his head on his shoulders when he realized that everyone was looking to him. The stallion sighed loudly before he shook his head, “So, you think based off of that one scene that I’m a pegasus? And to a longer extent, that I’m the villain?”

“Well, I was just trying to say that there’s another possibility,” Tracer chuckled sheepishly.

Hawkward sighed loudly, “I suppose I’ll have to dispel these accusations immediately.”

And just like that, Hawkward began to unbutton his jacket.

“WHOOOHOOOO!” Misch jeered as she waved her talons in the air. “Take it off!”

“For the love of,” Zure muttered with a slap to her forehead.

“Normally I don’t need to remove my vest,” Hawkward stated as he pulled his vest off. “But I need to make a point here.”

It was then that two wings immediately snapped up at Hawkward’s side, with the stallion groaning as he stretched his wings, “Ah, been a while since I just stretched these bad boys…”

Tracer’s jaw dropped, and he wasn’t the only one, pretty much stood in awe at the sight of Hawkward’s wings.

His bat wings.

“No way,” Misch was the first to speak up, before stars appeared in her eyes. “You’re a thestral!? That’s... so... AWESOME!”

Hawkward smirked as he slipped his vest back on. “Heh, thanks, oh and Tracer, you’ve got some good memory there – but your observation skills aren’t on par. Good theory though, you may wanna try a different angle.”

“Uh, why’d you try to hide them?” Freki asked, poking the wings since he was next to Hawkward. “If I had bat wings, I’d strut them around, dood.”

“The why is more trouble than its worth,” Hawkward sighed before he swatted Freki’s paw away. “And stop touching them! They’re sensitive.”

“Uh, Freya,” Tracer called out. “You said that the culprit took the knife… I’m guessing you’re going on that knife that was on the scene.”

“Geri told me that there was only one knife on the scene,” Freya answered back before she looked away with a blush. “I didn’t see it myself since I kinda have a thing about seeing blood, but according to the Cheshire file, the victim was stabbed.

“It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together.”

“True, but can we be sure that the knife is the murder weapon?” Tracer suggested as another holographic screen appeared in front of him, this one displaying the knife at the scene.

“C’mon, it’s a knife,” Freya scoffed. “Elo was stabbed, it’s not brain surgery…”

“But the fact that there’s no blood on the knife,” Tracer countered before he threw his hoof into the screen and sent it flying towards Freya. “Proves that it couldn’t be the murder weapon!”

Freya yipped as the screw passed right through her, which made the diamond dog wince in surprise.

“But couldn’t the blood have been wiped off or something?” Kopuz suggested, his arms crossed in triumph. “That would explain why there wouldn’t be blood on the thing, they wanted to clean up the crime scene – Just like they did with the vase!”

“And they left the knife with the body and all those feathers behind?” Tracer countered. “If you were the perp cleaning up the crime scene, wouldn’t you want to get rid of everything that pointed to you as the culprit? It would almost be like Lore was intentionally trying to get caught if she did the crime, but if she’s denying it, it wouldn’t make sense!”

“Yeesh dood, you don’t need to yell,” Kopuz groaned, his hand at the back of his head.

“Uh, s-sorry,” Tracer mumbled.

“Tracer’s not wrong,” Crowquill added. “About the knife not being the murder weapon. While there is blood on it, it’s only on the handle. And we can confirm this.”

Crowquill tapped his hoof on the stand in front of him, but nothing happened. He then sighed and clapped his hooves together, allowing the screen to pop in front of him, the display showing the knife with and odd blue glow on the handle save for a small gap on it. “Luminol tests show that there wasn’t a speck of blood on the blade, although there was plenty of it on the handle.

“And for those who don’t know, even if the blade is wiped clean, there would still be traces of blood on it, but this is spotless.”

“Lu… Lu… Lu-what-now?” Francis questioned. “Is zat some sort of dressing zat moi needs to learn about?”

“It’s a chemical that reacts with the iron in blood,” Hawkward explained, now with his bat wings now sticking out of his vest. “It turns blue and can be used to help determined where blood has been – And we found it in the back of the storage room. It also reacts with horseradish sauce too!”

'He... Kinda seems proud to know that fact,' Tracer thought to himself.

“Really?” Godfrey asked with his talons crossed. “What was something like that doing there?”

“Ah, the reason for that,” Cheshire chuckled, waking up from a small snooze. “Since you guys aren’t professionals here at crime investigation, I figured I’d sprinkle in a little help here and there.”

“Whatever,” Freya growled before she pumped a paw in the air. “Let’s say that the knife isn’t the murder weapon, then what the Tartarus was it doing there in the first place? And while we’re at it, where did it come from and who brought the damn thing?”

Tracer rubbed his chin, indeed, even if the knife wasn’t the murder weapon, why it was even there in the first place was a little unnerving. Did the killer bring the knife with them? Or was there something else here…

“Well, ze second question’s easy.”

Everyone turned towards the goat in the room, who had a large blush on his face. “It’s a kitchen knife. Moi would recognize it faster zan if it was Monday’s morning rush hour. In fact…”

Francis clapped his hooves against the stand a few times, and unlike with Crowquill, the holographic image of the knife appeared before him. Francis lifted one of his hooves up and ran it along the side of the holographic knife. “Zis particular knife was made for ponies. You see ze grooves in ze handle? It’s to allow a better grip for anypony to use in zeir mouz – But if ze culprit was a pony and used zis knife…”

“There wouldn’t be blood on the handle,” Tracer finished up with a smirk. “So the knife could’ve been a trap laid out by the culprit to throw us off.”

“But if that was the case,” Godfrey spoke up. “Then why didn’t they put blood on the blade instead of the handle? Wouldn’t it make more sense to do it like if their goal was to throw us off track?”

“M-Maybe they didn’t have a choice in the matter?” Lore suggested, earning all eyes on her again, and made her shrink down slightly. “I… I mean, what if blood got onto the handle and it wasn’t intentional?”

“You mean like they used something else, and didn’t notice the knife till it was too late?” Freki commented.

“Well, even though it isn’t the murder weapon,” Hawkward questioned with a hoof brought to his chin. “I think we should still look into it – After all, if the murderer brought the knife with them, then why didn’t they use it?”

“We can all agree this knife came from the kitchen,” Geri added before he snapped his paws, having a screen appear in front of him. “But the questions at paw are when was it taken and who took it. If we believe the note, then it was probably taken before two a.m., agreed?”

Everyone seemed to nod in compliance to the Diamond Dog’s suggestion, with that, Geri tapped on the screen, with ‘Knife taken at 2 a.m. or earlier’ appearing soon after. “So, I’ll pose this question to everyone, was anyone in the cafeteria around that time?”

“Wouldn’t Francis fit the bill?” Kopuz commented, holding up his crystal ball in his hands. “He practically camps out in the kitchen.”

“Even moi needs his rest,” Francis sighed with a shake of his head. “But, if you must know, moi was in ze kitchen till, oh… when Moi got back to ze room, it was roughly about ten o’clock, so moi would say… nine-forty-five… ish?”

“And was the knife there at the time?” Tracer asked hopefully.

Everyone turned back to Francis, who was frowning as he thought deeply. “Well, in ze kitchen, zere are a few knives on ze wall near ze fridge – Each varying in size.”

With another clap of his hooves, the screen appeared over Francis’ head, showing off the knives that were mounted on a customized stand. One of the knives looked oddly familiar, “So yes, ze knife did come from kitchen, but it was zere when moi left.”

“Can we really trust Francis though?” Smokey brought up. “No offense dood, but if you’re the only one in the kitchen at the time, then who’s to say that you didn’t take the knife and key?”

“That would be me.”

That was when Zure waved a hoof. “I was in the cafeteria when Francis left, in fact, thanks again for the tea, Francis.”

“Tis my pleasure!” Francis cheered out.

“Hmm,” Freya mused to herself. “So, did Francis take the knife and key, or not?”

“I’m not so sure about the knife,” Zure replied, looking to the side. “However, I was at the table with the key to the storage room on it. And it was there when I left.”

“But that leaves the same problem for you,” Freya pointed out. “What’s to say you didn’t take the knife?”

But Zure smiled brightly, “Actually, I’ve got an alibi for that. Isn’t that right Misch?”

For a few seconds, everyone waited to hear from the griffon in question, but instead…

“Zzzzz,” Misch was snoring lightly as she had her head planted on the stand.

‘How in the world did she fall asleep?!’ Tracer thought to himself with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

“Oi! Wake up!” Smokey snarled loudly.

“Huh!?” Misch yelped loudly as she snapped her head up. “Oh, did we figure out who did it?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Smokey grumbled. “FOCUS YA BIRD-BRAIN!”

“You wanna say that to my wrench!?” Misch snarled back as she lifted up a wrench from the back of her belt and held it up. “I don’t care if you’re a dragon, I’ll still smack you upside the head!”

For a moment, everyone’s eyes fell onto Smokey, the dragon narrowed his brow at the black griffon – and then broke out in laughter, “HAHAHAHAHA! You’ve got spunk! I’ll look forward to you trying that!”

‘Well, that was something unexpected,’ Tracer thought.

Zure sighed loudly as she tapped her hoof against the stand a few times, “Misch, please focus. Remember what we did last night?”

“Huh? Oh yeah,” Misch commented as she scratched the side of her face with the wrench. “Last night, heh, that was quite the fun little ride last night.”

That earned a couple of whispers among the group…

“Seriously? Wow…”

“Never pegged that…”

“So, besides having an interesting coupling,” Godfrey sighed, using his green scarf to cover up the blush on his face. “Was there a point to you two spending the time together?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Zure barked out, her face completely red. “After seeing those pictures yesterday, neither of us could really sleep, so we just spent the… We just hung out.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, Zure,” Misch mumbled as she looked to the side. “Didn’t we have so much fun last night?”

The blush continued to heighten on Zure’s face, so much so that there seemed to be a little steam appearing around her head, “No! Don’t make that claim! Keep it up and you’ll drive me insane!”

“Looks like it’s a little too late,” Kopuz chuckled. “And you’re rhyming again.”

“T-There’s still a point!” Zure sputtered out, her face buried in her hooves. “Me and Misch hanged out in the cafeteria joint! Drinking tea and playing cards were all we did to an extent, and even after that, the night together we spent!”

“That’s still kinda leaving the implication you’re trying to avoid,” Alchymist commented, a flat look in her eyes.

“What Zure’s saying is that we were spending the night together,” Misch giggled with a talon to her face to stifle her laughter, much to Zure’s displeasure. “Neither of us took the key and it definitely wasn’t us who took the knife.”

“And how long were you two in the cafeteria?” Crowquill asked, seemingly unfazed by the whole interaction between the two girls.

“Tartarus, does it look like I have a watch on?” Misch sighed, holding up her talons to prove the point. “But, it was probably around two…”

“And where’d you get that estimation?” Geri questioned.

“Well, from Zure,” Misch explained. “She said it was around two before we left the cafeteria – I guess she was looking at the clock in there.”

“Hmm, fine, I’ll accept that neither of you nor Francis took the knife or key,” Freya admitted. “But did anyone else show up at the cafeteria? Like say Lore?”

“Why do you keep… Keep on trying to pin this on me?!” Lore bawled, now hiding behind her stand.

“I’m not interested in slinging blame,” Freya answered back. “But if there’s a chance that you’re the culprit, I’m not taking any chances.”

“Well, she didn’t,” Misch answered quickly. “Lore didn’t come to the cafeteria at that time. If she did, then it was after me and Zure left.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Alchymist muttered out loud. “I… I mean, r-remember, she’s a pegasus, so she could easily have flown into the kitchen through a window and grabbed the knife.”

“Nope, not possible!” Francis cheered out. “Ze kitchen does have a window, but unfortunately, it’s a small window, you’d have to be ze size of a bird to fly in!”

“Then we’re at a standstill!” Freya yelped out. “If it was around two that you two left, then there wouldn’t have been enough time to get the knife and make it in time to commit the murder. And, if no one came to the cafeteria, then how the Tartarus did the knife get there!?”

“Who said no one came to the cafeteria?” Misch countered, her brow narrowed down.

“Uh, didn’t you?” Freki asked, his ears drooping slightly. “I mean, Lore didn’t and…”

“Yeah, but you guys only asked about Lore,” Misch replied with a smirk. “There was someone else who walked in while we were ‘playing cards’.”

“We were just playing cards!” Zure countered.

“And you didn’t bring this up earlier because…?” Hawkward asked, clearly annoyed.

“… No one asked,” Misch anwered nonchalantly.

“… ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!” Alchymist shouted as she slammed her hooves into the stand. “There are lives on the line, and you’re pulling jokes and being stupid!”

“Huh?! Whose lives are on the line?!” Misch questioned, reeling back in surprise.

“Understand the situation!” Kopuz yelled out.

“Would you please tell us who the Tartarus showed up?” Geri sighed loudly.

“Well, they aren’t with us anymore,” Zure admitted.

That clicked in Tracer’s head, “You’re talking about… You mean it was Elo who got the knife?”

Zure nodded. “Well, who else could it have been?”

“Hmm, well then, isn’t this interesting,” Freya mused with a smirk on her face. “If that’s true, then it was the victim who brought the knife to the scene with her.”

“Now hold on,” Hawkward shouted out. “Can we really decide if Elo took the knife? Misch, Zure, did either of you see her with the knife? And what time did you see her?”

“Well, no,” Misch answered back. “And we saw her about one in the morning.”

“She barely said two words to us,” Zure added. “I assumed she was just getting a drink or something. I didn’t see any knife on her, and something like that would stand out if she hid it in her clothes.”

“So, she didn’t take the knife?” Alchymist questioned.

“No, I think there was a way,” Tracer interrupted before he lifted up his ID. “One of the rules states that unicorns have to tell what spells they can use if asked, and Cheshire knows all the spells that unicorns here know.”

“Although, I guess that only applies to Misty now,” Lore pointed out.

“So, how about it Cheshire?” Tracer asked, his gaze now set on the top hat wearing cat. “Does… Or did Elo know a spell that could hide a knife?”

“Hmm, let me check the listings,” Cheshire stated as he pulled his top hat off and reached into it. When he pulled his paw back, Cheshire had a long list of spells. “Ya know, I’m kinda glad the first one who got offed was a unicorn, once this trial is done, I can get rid of this list since it won’t matter anymore.”

“What kind of sick-o are you?” Kopuz asked.

“Now, here are her spells!” Cheshire announced with a paw pumped into the air. “Levitation, weather forecasting, dissimulation, transformation, construction, imitation… A lot of ‘ations’ in this list, and I’ll give you guys the list to look at in your ID’s for this trial. Compared to Alchymist over there, Elo seemed to be a prodigy!”

“H-Hey…” Alchymist grumbled.

Tracer pulled his ID out and began to look for the list of spells until he came to it.

Elo Castling’s Spells
Levitation (However, the levitation would only work with items under ten pounds)
Weather Forecasting
Dissimulation
Transformation
Construction
Imitation
Stupefy

“This is the complete list, right?” Tracer asked, as he looked over the listing again.

“Yup, yup!” Cheshire replied.

“Well, that settles that argument,” Hawkward stated smugly. “Elo did take knife.”

“Hey, slow down! How the Tartarus can you figure that?!” Smokey growled loudly.

“Dissimulation,” Crowquill explained. “It’s just a fancy word for cloaking.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Smokey admitted with a slight blush.

“But wouldn’t Zure or Misch have noticed if Madame Elo used a spell?” Francis asked, tapping his hoof against one of his horns. “Moi means zat unicorns usually have zat aura around zeir horns, no?”

“Actually, some spells require only a one time casting,” Alchymist explained as her horn glowed slightly. “While stuff like levitation requires continuous concentration to make it work, other spells can be applied once and last for a certain amount of time – Depends on how strong the unicorn’s magic is.”

“Wow! I learned another fact today!” Lore laughed cheerfully.

“So let me see if I got this straight,” Geri suggested as he tapped on the screen in front of him. “If everything we solved is right, then sometime yesterday, the villain slipped that note to Elo…”

“Maybe they slid it under her door!” Freki chimed in.

“That’s possible,” Geri continued. “After getting the note at whatever time, Elo must’ve thought about the note’s contents. Even if that was written, it’d be a farfetched ideal so she knew it was a trap – So she went to get the knife to defend herself. However, when she reached White Rabbit’s Storage, the culprit must’ve caught her off guard and the two struggled… Afterwards…”

“Hmm, interesting,” Freya admitted. “If the victim took the knife, that changes things drastically – Lore may not have taken the knife, but she still could’ve done it!”

“H-Huh!?” Lore gasped. “B-But…”

“My window theory from before can still be used,” Freya interrupted as she ran a paw on the fire ruby around her neck. “And I even know what the murder weapon is.”

“Seriously?!” Misch yelped with her talons to her head.

Freya snapped her paws, and the screen appeared over her head, revealing the broken vase piece, “If you recall, there was a piece of broken vase on the ground. It’s obvious that the vase was used to bonk Elo out since there’s blood on her head and the Cheshire file mentions head trauma, so who’s to say that another shard couldn’t be used as the dead to kill her?

“In addition, if the knife was brought by Elo, when the blow to her head happened, blood must’ve gotten on the handle – And I’m sure a pony who can’t use magic would elect to not use something that’s already covered in blood.”

‘… Could a vase piece be used as the murder weapon?’ Tracer thought to himself.

“Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?” Crowquill asked.

“Hmm? What’s so odd about her theory?” Godfrey asked.

“It’s the scene of the crime itself,” Crowquill answered immediately as he rubbed his chin. “Freya, are you saying that the villain waited for Elo, when Elo came in, she was attacked with the vase, knocked out and then killed her with a piece of vase. Is that right?”

“Yeah, Elo was killed in the main room,” Freya replied with a wave of her paw. “It’s easy to see that.”

“Not so fast!!”

Once again, Freya was interrupted by Tracer, but this time the diamond dog growled in annoyance, “Ya know, that’s really getting on my nerves. You’ve got until ten to stop doing that!”

Of course Tracer wasn’t going to stop! “Yeah, but are you really sure that Elo was killed in the main room?”

“… You’ve got some evidence that proves me wrong, don’t you?” Freya sighed, her ears drooped down in defeat. "This isn't the place to do that!"

‘Isn’t that the point of the trial? To find the truth?’ Tracer thought to himself with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. “Well, yeah, you see, in the backroom, Hawkward and I discovered Elo’s glasses underneath one of the shelves.”

“Oh yeah, she was missing her glasses, wasn’t she?” Godfrey mused with his talons at his crest, ruffling the feathers a bit.

“But what were they doing there?” Alchymist questioned.

“Oh! I know!” Freki cheered with his paw lifted up into the air. “Maybe the killer grabbed them and put them in there to hide them?”

“But what point is there in that?” Tracer replied as he tapped his hoof on the stand a few times, making the holographic screen appear over his head showing the glasses. “There’s no evidence on them, and there wouldn’t be anything to gain to hiding them.”

“If the killer didn’t bring them,” Zure began to surmise. “Then the only other one at the scene must’ve done it… And that would be Elo…”

“That means she wasn’t knocked out when the vase hit her?” Kopuz stated out loud. “But then what does that mean?”

“Either Elo was dragged to the backroom, or that she followed the culprit to the backroom,” Crowquill suggested, a hoof on his chin. “I would say that it’d be the second one though, since we found her body in the backroom – What would the killer gain by dragging Elo to the backroom and then back into the main lobby?”

“Does that mean that Elo was killed in the backroom?” Smokey suggested. “But was there any blood in there?”

“Humph, your attempts to derail my argument are futile,” Freya chuckled, her tail wagging. “Even if the murder occurred in the backroom, the victim was stabbed with a vase shard, and went to gather the other shards.”

“But would a vase shard be strong enough?” Tracer asked, looking at the screen that had the single vase shard.

“Unless you can prove otherwise,” Freya countered back. “My theory’s sound. And if no one has any other objections, I say we should start the vote.”

“Are… Are you sure?” Kopuz asked with a bead of sweat before he lifted his crystal ball in front of him. “I mean, I can think of one thing we can still discuss… Like how they got into the place.”

“Didn’t I already explain this?” Freya sighed. “The culprit used the window, not only would it surprise someone, but it’d also give them a chance to get the vase.”

“OBJECTION!”

Kopuz smiled as he lifted his free hand up, his pointer finger aimed directly at Freya. And then he was quiet as he pulled his hand back.

“Well?” Hawkward asked. “Did you have something more to say?”

“Well, yeah, I was just drinking in the moment,” Kopuz chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’ve always wanted to yell that – And when am I gonna get a better chance than in an actual courtroom?”

“I’m starting to sound like a broken record,” Smokey grumbled, rolling his eyes. “But you’re a fricken’ idiot.”

“N-No, that’s not it!” Kopuz added in. “When I meant by ‘they’ I was talking about both – the victim and the perp. The window is possible for the perp, but how the Tartarus did Elo get in there?”

“Is that all?” Freya asked. “Simple, Elo just teleported herself inside the building. I’m not an expert on unicorn magic, but I know that if you can picture the location you wanna go, you can easily teleport…”

“NOT SO FAST!”

The listing of Elo’s Spells appeared over Tracer’s head before he snapped his hoof into the holographic screen, which forced it to fly over to the female diamond dog, “Sorry, but that’s not possible, teleportation wasn’t one of the spells that Elo knew.”

“Urk!” Freya yipped as she lifted her arms up to block the screen from hitting her.

“Alright then, smarty-no-pants,” Misch chuckled. “Then how do you think Elo got inside?”

Now the spotlight was on him, Tracer gulped loudly as he closed his eyes. ‘How did Elo get inside? I… I think I know!’

After a deep breath, Tracer smiled, “If we’re talking how she got in, then that’s easy. She just used the key.”

“But Elo didn’t have the key,” Zure stated. “And I remember seeing it before me and Misch returned to my room. She wouldn’t have had time to grab it and get to White Rabbit’s House.”

“… Before I say anything else,” Tracer coughed out as he turned towards Freya. “Freya, do you remember this morning? Before we discovered the body you were trying to get into the White Rabbit’s Storage with the key?”

“Yeah? What about it?” Freya retorted, brushing some hair out of her face.

“That key that you used and Zure saw,” Tracer continued. “Can we be sure it was the real key to White Rabbit’s Storage?”

“What the… What the hell kind of crap is that?!” Freya barked back. “There was only one key! The lock was just jammed and…”

"NOT SO FAST!!"

Once again, Freya reeled back when Tracer yelled, the goggled wearing stallion had his front hooves on the stand. “I’m a little surprised that you don’t know about this Freya, but Geri and I found a second key stuck between the cushions in that chair in White Rabbit’s Storage.”

Freya turned her surprised gaze down on Geri, “W-what?! Why didn’t you tell me about this?!”

“Well, I was trying to find you,” Geri started with a nervous look on his face. “But, I got roped in on something by Crowquill and before I could tell you all the details, we were all called here… Not my fault you ran on ahead, Madam Freya…”

“Crowquill? What were you and Geri doing?” Hawkward asked.

The white pegasus merely smirked and turned to the side, “That’ll come into play soon enough.”

“Whatever,” Hawkward scoffed. “So there’s a second key, but the key that Freya had didn’t work… Does that mean it was a fake?”

“There’s someone here who can answer that,” Alchymist pointed out. “Uh, M-Mister Cheshire…?”

“Hai?” Cheshire sighed before he tapped his hat and the two keys in question popped out of it. “I knew it was a mistake to lend this key out to you all, trying to replicate my precious key! Just what were you lot trying to do? Become one of the legendary KeyBlade Masters?! Well, pretty much anyone can become one of those now-a-days... Good thing the locks on my doors are magically enchanted, otherwise there might’ve been a chance this could’ve be used.

“So to answer your question, the key with blood on it is the real one.”

“Alright, so if that’s the case,” Kopuz commented with a puzzled look. “Where did that fake key come from?”

“Well, anyone here good at crafting?” Lore asked.

“We’ve got an alchemist and a sculptor,” Francis pointed out, his eyes passing between Zure and Hawkward. “Surely it wouldn’t be an issue for eizer of zem to pull zis kind of trick.”

“Plus we’ve got another unicorn here,” Smokey added with his eyes falling down on Alchymist. “Maybe some funky magic was what was used to make this key.”

“B-But I don’t know any s-spells like t-that,” Alchymist admitted as she looked down.

“Smokey, I think you’re on the right track,” Tracer announced, his eyes closed in thought. “But, remember, there was another unicorn with us.”

“So, you’re saying Elo made it?” Kopuz questioned back. “But, when did she do that? Oh, and I just remembered, Trace, both you and I watched Elo locking the door to the storage and then passed it off to me.”

“Yes, but Elo did something odd with the key,” Tracer stated, thinking back. “She levitated the key down in front of her, and then she turned around and asked us to return the key. It could’ve been then when she swapped the keys.”

“But what makes you think she made the key in the first place?” Smokey countered.

“Look at the spell listing,” Crowquill answered before Tracer could. “There are at least three spells that Elo could use to create a false key – Construction, transformation, or imitation. And if we follow the timeline, along with Zure and Freya’s testimonies, there wouldn’t be anyone else but Elo who could do that stunt.”

“So, where does that get us?” Godfrey asked. “So Miss Elo created a false key and gave it to the Split Ends duo. But why? If she did that earlier in the day, wouldn’t that mean she got the letter earlier?”

“Actually, there might be another reason,” Tracer thought out loud. “I mean, think about it – aren’t Elo’s actions weird? She replaced the key with a fake and took the knife, this seems just plain strange…”

“Yeesh, when you put it like that, it seems like Elo was the one planning to kill someone,” Kopuz stated bluntly.

All around the courtroom, there was an odd silence that reverberated through the air. Kopuz chuckled sheepish before he spoke up, “Uh, did I say something stupid?”

“No, in fact, you’ve just given us a proper alternative to look at this crime,” Crowquill answered, a smile on his face.

“Huh?” Kopuz questioned before he puffed out his chest and held out his crystal ball. “I mean – Yeah! Behold the powers of the Elite Clairvoyant! I foresaw that this case wasn’t as simple as it seemed!”

“Yeah, right, jackass,” Smokey grumbled.

“Whether or not he’s a jackass,” Crowquill continued onwards. “There is an option that we haven’t looked at.”

“You know I’m standing right here, right?” Kopuz sighed loudly with his head lowered in defeat.

“So, what exactly is this other option?” Freki asked. “I mean, I don’t wanna think that any of us did this… Let alone Lore…”

“It’s simple,” Crowquill offered. “Elo wasn’t innocent in all this, in fact, she herself could’ve been planning a murder. She was the one who swapped the keys, giving Kopuz the fake, while keeping the real one for herself, and she was the one who took the knife that was found at the scene…”

“YOUR CLAIM IS WEAK!”

Smokey had flames spilling out of his mouth as he lifted his claws up, “Yeah! I’ll admit that she did all that – but does that mean she was planning something dubious?!”

“Huh?” Tracer yelped when he realized that Smokey was looking at him intensely. “Uh, Crowquill’s the one who made the claim, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice,” Smokey barked back. “You’re the one who suggested that Elo’s actions were weird in the first place, Crowquill just finished your train of thought!”

‘What sort of sense does that make?!?’ Tracer thought to himself. “So, what exactly are you objecting about Crowquill’s theory?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out,” Smokey replied with his claw pointed towards his head and his tongue sticking out. “I’m talkin’ ‘bout that letter! The one we found with Elo! Remember now?!”

“Oh, is that all?” Crowquill questioned with a smile. “Well, who’s to say that the letter was for Elo? Perhaps she wrote the letter itself and the perp planted it on her to throw off the investigation?”

“And just how the Tartarus are you able to make that claim?!” Smokey snarled.

It was then that Crowquill’s eyes narrowed, “Geri, do you still have the item that I gave you?”

‘Huh? Crowquill gave something to Geri?’ Tracer mused.

The bowtie wearing diamond dog blinked a few times before a realization dawned on him, “… Now I see what you were getting at all this time.”

“You mind filling the rest of us in?” Godfrey asked. “What are you two talking about?!”

“I think we mentioned it earlier,” Geri explained as he reached into his vest. “But Crowquill pulled me off to the side during the investigation and asked that I follow him. Where we went was to the victim’s room.”

“Ze victim’s room?” Francis questioned. “But, how did you two get in zere?”

“It wasn’t hard,” Crowquill replied as he reached into his surcoat and pulled out a student ID. “I just borrowed Elo’s ID so I could get access into her room.”

“And what does this have to do with anything?” Smokey asked. “So you went to her room, big fricken’ deal!”

“It is a big… Effing deal,” Crowquill replied, a little unsettled by Smokey’s language. “Geri, if you’ll be so kind.”

What Geri pulled from his vest was a simple notepad that he held up, “This is was Crowquill had me pick up. And now I see why… If I may?”

Crowquill nodded as Geri pulled a pencil from his vest.

“What don’t you have you in there?” Alchymist asked.

“My vest is bigger on the inside,” Geri admitted as he took the pencil and began to gently slide the lead over the paper. "I'm currently warming up some pop-tarts in my left inner pocket."

“And you claim that my beliefs about Slendermane and the Witch of Thorns are weird,” Freki chuckled.

“W-Witch of what?” Alchymist gasped.

“Ya know, Witch of the Thorns!” Freki laughed out loud as he pumped his paws up into the air. “The unicorn that’s been haunting Equestria and practically terrorizes…”

“Alright, enough!” Geri sighed as he lifted the pencil up and tossed it to the side. After a moment looking at the pad of paper, Geri chuckled, “So, this is what it comes to.”

Slamming the pad of paper onto the stand, a holographic screen popped over Geri’s head which displayed the notepad, only this time it had a large amount of lead sketches with white lettering in between the sketching. “Looks like we’ve got something very interesting there.”

Tracer, and everyone else looked to the screen over Geri, which displayed the text on the paper…

“I found a way out, a way that Cheshire hasn’t blocked out.
However, I lack the proper abilities to reach this way out.

If you want to escape, then meet me at White Rabbit’s Storage at 2 a.m., and don’t tell anyone about this. The less who know about this, the better chances we have at keeping this secret from Cheshire.”

“And… You found this in Elo’s room?” Lore asked.

“Yes,” Crowquill answered back. “However, in order to make sure that the evidence wouldn’t be corrupted, I asked Geri to hold onto the pad of paper and accompany me to the room so I could have a witness.”

“Yeah, and I can attest to that as well,” Cheshire announced with a sigh of relief. “Consider it another bone to help you all along with your first trial.”

“So, Elo… Elo was plotting to kill someone?” Zure gasped, her hooves up to her muzzle. “But why?!”

“The why doesn’t really matter now,” Hawkward stated. “Especially considering that our lives on the line. The how is more important, so we can make a few inferences, take for example who she gave the fake key to – Perhaps she was planning on making it look like Kopuz was the actual killer if her plan went through.”

“Wait, what?!” Kopuz yelped, his hand thrown over his head. “Why me?!”

Rather than answer the minotaur’s question, Hawkward continued, “She might’ve even planned on doing more with the real key – Possibly slide it under Kopuz’s door or simply return it just to solidify suspicion on the Minotaur.”

“But… Her plan backfired,” Freki whined with his ears lowered. “I can’t believe that she’d plan this… But, doesn’t that mean that the culprit was only defending themselves?”

“Whether or not it was done defensively,” Cheshire cleared his throat loudly. “That doesn’t matter! Murder is still murder!”

That just made Freki’s ears droop down more.

“In any case,” Hawkward stated. “We’ve managed to find out that whomever received the note, that’s the guilty party here.”

“Really?!” Misch announced. “That’s awesome! So, who got the letter?”

“That’s what we gotta find out, Feather Head,” Smokey spat out. “But just how the Tartarus are we gonna do that?”

“Personally, I think we’ve already got the culprit,” Freya sighed, her eyes falling down on Lore.

“Come off it already,” Smokey grumbled loudly. “Why do you think the little pegasus did it anyway?”

“Do I need to bring up the red feathers again?” Freya countered. “Since Hawkward’s shown that his wings don’t have feathers, she’s the only one who could’ve left them at the scene.”

“Not so fast!”

“If it really was Lore,” Tracer interrupted with his hoof at his chin. “Then there are so many things that don’t make sense – Like why she would bother cleaning up most of the vase pieces.”

“Maybe she just missed one,” Freya countered. “Simple enough to explain.”

“But there’s more,” Tracer continued onwards. “There’s also the matter of the door and key.”

“What about them?” Freya asked.

“This morning Freya, you and I had a hard time getting into the White Rabbit’s Storage,” Tracer stated, remembering back to when he and Freya tried unlocking the door. “At the time, we thought that the door was broken… But remember what key we had at the time.”

That define detail dawned on the diamond dog directly, “Wait, are you saying…”

“Yes, we had the fake key with us!” Tracer shouted out. “The real key was locked inside of the storage house. And this proves that Lore isn’t the culprit!”

“Slow down a tick!” Misch interrupted. “You’re going too fast, how does that prove her innocence?”

“What it means is that the scene we saw was tampered with by the real culprit,” Crowquill explained with a wave of his wing. “I think we talked about this before, but it bears repeating. If you were the villain and had to get away with a crime, wouldn’t you want to erase all traces of you being there?

“If you went to the trouble of cleaning up the vase, locking the door, throwing the key back into the storage room, and for good measure, taking the actual murder weapon – Why wouldn’t you take the most damning piece of evidence with you as well?”

Freya opened her mouth to find a counter argument, but after the words didn’t come to her, she just grabbed her head and howled loudly into the air.

“S-So… Does everyone b-believe that I didn’t do it now?” Lore sniffled, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.

“Y… Yeah,” Freya whimpered with her ears drooping down in defeat. “I’ll concede the fact that she didn’t do it…”

“Yay!” Lore cheered loudly. “Thanks Tracey! Thanks CQ! Thanks Smokey!”

Tracer and Smokey looked to the sides, trying to cover their faces and hide the blushes.

“C-CQ?” Crowquill coughed out loud, a blush on his face.

“How very touching,” Godfrey sighed with a wave of his talons. “But, since we’ve wasted so much time in defending the little horror novelist, we’ve still got a problem. Because, if we follow your logic, then the only ones who couldn’t be the culprit are Lore, Misch, and Zure – The rest of us don’t exactly have alibis for the evening.”

“Oh yeah, we still need to pick a culprit,” Kopuz said. “How the Tartarus are we gonna do this?”

“We could vote now, do majority wins,” Francis suggested.

“That doesn’t seem very wise,” Zure commented. “We’re talking about our lives here, we’d need to be extremely sure about our choice!”

“D-Doesn’t anyone have any questions?” Alchymist asked as she rubbed her shoulder. “Something t-that we could… Ya know, k-keep discussing?”

“I sure have one,” Lore stated with her brow narrowed. “Where did those feathers come from? They certainly didn’t come from me!”

“Well, maybe someone took them from you,” Freki suggested with a goofy grin. “Don’t you winged folk often shed those feathers?”

“Yeah, but not by that amount,” Crowquill explained. “And before you ask, if they’re forcibly pulled by anyone else, there’d be damage to the wings, so much so that we’d see it.”

“Ooh! Ooh! I got it!” Misch called out. “What if the culprit used their own feathers, and just colored them!”

“You’re only saying that since you’ve got an alibi,” Godfrey growled under his breath.

“Even so, it’s an idea!” Misch replied.

“But there were so many feathers there,” Geri countered. “Would they have time to pull the feathers from themselves?”

“I doubt that they would have to do that,” Hawkward stated with a smug look plastered on his face. “After all, there were a number of pillows in the backroom, all one would have to do is open one up and use the feathers inside of it. Rip one open and slather the feathers in blood, and you’ve got yourself some false evidence blaming Lore… Or myself if they too thought I was a pegasus and not a thestral.”

“Alright, so that explains that,” Zure brought up. “But how’s that gonna help us find the culprit?”

“Didn’t anyone see Elo slip the note under someone’s door?” Freki asked.

“If anyone did, they would’ve brought it up already,” Smokey sighed with his claws at his sides. “Same goes if they saw someone going to or from the scene.”

“Hey, hey!” Cheshire shouted out as he jumped up and down on his throne. “Enough! Will you guys pick a villain already? I’m starting to get bored over here, and I might just add a time limit to this trial if you don’t hurry up.”

“It’s easy to just say that,” Godfrey sighed waving a talon. “But we’re trying our best here, but the culprit only left red herrings for us.”

“But isn’t there a clue we can use?” Zure asked, gulping loudly. “C’mon, there’s gotta be something!”

“What if we looked at what happened in the storage building?” Freya suggested. “The initial struggle could reveal something.”

“Sounds sound,” Hawkward replied as he crossed his front hooves. “So, let’s start from what we know, Elo invited someone to White Rabbit’s Storage around two in the morning. When they entered, they probably didn’t know that Elo had the knife hidden or cloaked.

“But when she launched their assault, they must’ve noticed it… But how?”

“Levitation,” Alchymist coughed out. “If a unicorn u-uses levitation the aura around their horn lights up… and the item in question as well gets that aura. Even if it was cloaked, the levitation aura is a continuous spell that would have a glowing aura around the knife.”

“If zat’s ze case,” Francis muttered with his hooves to his chin. “Zen zey must’ve been able to dodge Elo’s surprise attack, no?”

“And if they dodged,” Freya continued onwards. “They probably dodged near the table and chair in the room. Elo probably was getting ready for a second attack when her target noticed the vase and used it. Alchymist, since you’re the only unicorn left, what would happen if something were to hit a unicorn’s head while they were using magic?”

“Um, w-well,” Alchymist was actually blushing as she turned to the side. “If a unicorn’s h-horn is, um, t-touched by something while a s-spell is being used, it d-disrupts our c-concentration. The s-spell would stop.

“And… And if there was head trauma during a s-spell’s c-c-casting, there’d be… There’d be a backlash.”

“A backlash? Like how?” Zure asked.

“Um, w-well, it can cause disorientation,” Alchymist listed off with her eyes closed. “Have temporary blindness or even knock a pony unconscious. B-Because so much of the mind is being focused on magic and controlling it, any physical disruption could cause damage… T-Then again, any head trauma could c-cause that…”

“And since Elo had a head wound,” Freya reasoned, her right paw lifted up. “Her target must’ve managed to score a hit with the vase.”

“But remember, thanks to the glasses that were in the backroom,” Godfrey pointed out, tapping his beak with his talon a few times. “We learned that Elo was able to get back there at some point. Maybe when the vase did hit, it didn’t fully knock out Elo and she was still aiming to take a life to leave?”

“But what would the perp be doing in the back room?” Kopuz asked, running a finger alongside his broken horn. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to just leave?

‘Maybe there’s a reason for going back there,’ Tracer thought to himself. “Maybe there was something that the culprit needed from the backroom…”

“Well, that’s impossible to figure out what they were really going for,” Hawkward answered back. “But since the glasses were there, and not on Elo, we can say that she was probably murdered there.”

“But there was a lack blood on the scene,” Smokey countered. “How can you say for sure that it is where she got killed? Why wasn’t there any blood?”

“If that was the case, I can explain that,” Crowquill explained. “When a blade, real or makeshift, pierces a body, it then acts as a cork for the blood. Yes, some blood will slip out, but not enough to spill out onto the floor in that amount we saw in the main hall, so long as the blade is straight it can be done easily.”

“Wait, so does that mean that the murder weapon would be something like that?” Freki asked before he broke out into laughter. “So Freya’s guess about the vase being the murder weapon was wrong!”

“No need to sound so happy about it,” Freya grumbled.

“But was there something like that in the storage building?” Zure asked. “The only thing that could apply to that is the knife, but we’ve already proven that it wasn’t the weapon.”

“… No, there was one more thing that could do it,” Tracer replied as he turned his eyes down at a certain feathered being. “Isn’t that right, Godfrey?”

For a moment, the stylish griffon looked towards Tracer and then realization struck him hard, “W-Wait a minute… You’re not gonna say that…”

“Yes, the murder weapon was your pair of scissors!” Tracer yelled out with his hoof thrown towards the griffon.

Everyone looked towards Godfrey, who had now brought his talons yup to his shirt’s pocket and covered up the pair of scissors that were in it. “N-Now wait a second! I told you I lost them! I asked you to help me find them and…”

“Yeah, but that could’ve been a simple cover up,” Hawkward explained with a smirk. “And it would explain where the murder weapon went and why it was pulled from the body. It would’ve given who did it away…”

“B-But… You can’t just decide that!” Godfrey countered back. “After all, you can’t say for sure if it was the murder weapon! And even if it was the murder weapon, as I said, I lost a pair of scissors in there! The murderer could’ve just grabbed them and used them as the weapon!”

“Hmm, that’s possible,” Crowquill admitted.

“But, isn’t zere a way to prove zat Godfrey did it?” Francis asked.

“I didn’t do it!” Godfrey roared loudly, his feathers slowly becoming ruffled.

Tracer took a deep breath and closed his eyes. ‘…Whoever the perp is, the only clues they left were the ones in their favor, but…’

You just need logic and a clear head. You just need to consider everything that you know, and you’ll find something.

Crowquill’s words echoed in Tracer’s head, and the stallion slowly lowered his goggles over his eyes. ‘That’s right – I just need to clear my mind. There’s something there, something that can…’

S

‘Not a bad smell, but, is it shampoo? I’ve never smelt a shampoo like this before…’

W

E

‘Can be used for perfume, clothing, medicine or even be used as a food or drink…’

E

T

‘That’s… That’s…’ Tracer lifted his head up before he drew his next breath. ‘That’s it!’

“NOT SO FAST!”

“I’ve got it! I know who did it!”

Everyone turned back towards Tracer, the many looks of surprise and confusion we’re trained on him. Smokey was the one who said what was probably on everyone else’s mind, “You’re not bullshitting us, are you?”

“You know, I should probably take offense to that,” Kopuz sighed loudly as he shook his head.

“Stick it up your nose with a nose ring, “Smokey spat back.

“Alright! That’s it!” Kopuz growled before he slammed his fist into the stand in front of him. “Now you’re just being racist, you lousy walking pair of boots!”

“Oh, you wanna come over here and say that to my face, leather ass?!” Smokey baited as he lifted his claws.

“Uh, guys?” Tracer chuckled nervously. “We’re kinda in the middle of a trial here…”

“That can wait!” Both Smokey and Kopuz yelled out.

Before the two could actually take a step from their stands, a bright light erupted throughout the courtroom, emanating from Cheshire. “I love random violence as much as the next guy, but I just cleaned the courtroom and if I have to clean up any blood or teeth, I’m gonna get mad! So here’s a penalty for you two!”

The minotaur and dragon didn’t hear a word of that, and as such, didn’t notice the two large Cheshire statues that fell from the ceiling and slammed into their heads. The statues shattered on contact and the two yelled out in pain.

“OW!”

“DAMN IT!”

“Next time,” Cheshire huffed. “They won’t be just props, they’ll be made out of stone!”

It was then that Cheshire turned to Tracer and bowed towards him, “Now, you were saying?’

“Uh, right,” Tracer muttered, a little nervous. “Well, as I was saying, I know who did it… The key to this mystery is in the feathers.”

“Huh? But weren’t the feathers just a trick to throw us off?” Misch asked. “How could they possibly tell us who did it?”

“Hawkward, you said that the culprit used blood to dye the feathers, right?” Tracer inquired from the thestral.

“Of course,” Hawkward answered, his wings outstretched, which prompted Geri to try to touch the wings again. “Why?”

“Well, if that was the case,” Tracer explained as he rubbed his chin. “Then, why would the feathers smell sweet?”

There was a little bit of silence in the room, until Misch snickered loudly, “Oh this is rich – You actually smelled the feathers? Ohohoho, your debauchery knows no bounds, especially since we originally thought that the feathers belonged to Lore…”

Lore’s red face slowly began to turn into a bright shade of pink with her hooves at her face, “Oh Tracey – I’m flattered, but I’m not really interested in a relationship during this situation. Don’t you know one of the cardinal rules of horror genre? The couple always has a tragic ending.”

“Have you no shame, Tracer!?” Zure shouted waving a hoof at the stallion.

“You’re not one to talk,” Kopuz chuckled.

Francis laughed loudly, “Amazing! Simply amazing!”

Alchymist scoffed with her nose slightly scrunched.

“You’re all idiots,” Smokey grumbled loudly with a roll of his eyes aimed at Tracer. “And you’re a pervert.”

“G-Geri! C’mon, speak up!” Tracer pleaded, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. “You smelled the feathers too!”

“What the?!” Freya yelped, her gaze downed on the taller of the Diamond Dogs. “Geri!? What the Tartarus?!”

Geri merely sighed loudly as he ran a paw through his hair. “Yeesh, I just realized how much I’ve been asked of today… Yes, we did smell them, but only because they had a very distinct smell – And they didn’t smell at all like Lore. In fact, they had a very sweet smell, almost sickening really… But how does that point out the perp?”

Tracer’s eyes narrowed down behind his goggles, his gaze set on a certain individual. “It took me a while, but I thought the smell was familiar – And I now know.

“Godfrey, the feathers smelled the same as the lemonade you made this morning.”

For a moment, the stylish griffon just stood there, his talons crossed over his chest. After yawning, Godfrey ran his talons through his feathers on his head, “Hmm? I’m sorry, Split Ends, you said something about my lemonade? I can always make another batch when we’re done here at the trial, if you’d like.”

‘He’s not even phased!’ Tracer screamed in his head.

“Tracer, are you accusing Godfrey based on the fact he made lemonade?” Crowquill asked. “And just because it smelled similar to a drink he made?”

“Exactly, it’s preposterous,” Godfrey chuckled.

“Actually, it’s an interesting theory,” Crowquill corrected.

“Seriously?” Godfrey grumbled with a roll of his eyes. “Even Skunk Hair thinks this is applicable?”

“Skunk hair?” Crowquill questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re just making a leap of faith here,” Godfrey countered, his talon lifted up into a fist. “After all, how can lemonade be used to change the color of feathers? I’m a stylist, not a unicorn, I can’t make things turn color just like that.”

“You wouldn’t need magic,” Tracer retorted before he turned towards a certain zebra. “Zure, do you remember what you were discussing with Godfrey yesterday?”

“For the last time, this is my natural mane color!” Zure groaned loudly, rolling her eyes.

“It looks really good,” Freki complimented as he smiled brightly. “That purple stripe is awesome!”

“Well, I referring to what Godfrey said,” Tracer stated.

“I’ve styled plenty of Zebrican diplomats’ and celebs’ manes,” Godfrey explained as he drew a comb from his shirt pocket and pointed it at Zure. “And not a one of them had any multicolored hair like yours. Besides, I can tell a dye job when I see one.”

“It’s not dyed!” Zure barked back.

“Please,” Godfrey sighed with a shake of his head. “I’m a stylist – I use dye, I make my own dye, and I know how to use dye, and honey, that’s a dye job.”

“Godfrey said that he could make his own dye,” Tracer explained.

Zure took a moment to think and then her ears shot up straight, “You’re right, he said that he could make his own dyes!”

“And this has to do with the lemonade, how?” Godfrey asked, clenching his talons tightly. “And while I will admit that I do make my own dyes, I don’t have the proper materials to make any here!”

“Is that a fact?” Tracer countered. “Cause I can answer your question and prove you wrong at the same time!”

“Ex… Excuse me?” Godfrey sputtered.

“Well, to be fair,” Tracer continued with a nervous smile. “I’m not the one who can answer that – Alchymist.”

The unicorn mare jumped slightly when her named was called, but then shyed away slightly from Tracer’s sight, “Y-Yes?”

‘What’s up with her?’ Tracer thought with a shrug. “Alchymist, do you remember the conversation we had before the trial, ya know, in front of the rose bush?”

“Y-Yes,” Alchymist admitted with her hooves at her cheeks.

“This rosebush,” Alchymist sighed with her head lowered. “It was the only one with red roses on it.”

Now that she mentioned it, when Tracer first stepped out of that classroom and into Wonderland, he too noticed that one of the bushes was only red roses.

“It’s a crime to see so many flowers painted,” Alchymist spat out, her eyes narrowing down on the paint can of white paint near her. The unicorn mare turned around and slammed her hoof into the can and knocked it over. “Paint like this will just kill the plants! Cheshire should be the one on trial for cruelty like this!”

“Indeed, I wholeheartedly agree,” Tracer replied with a nod, his tall lean body leaning over Alchymist as he observed the bush. “This is a crime most foul.”

“B-But if you find the roses to this bush,” Alchymist requested with her ears lowered. “Could you g-give them to me?”

“Of course I will search for them,” Tracer replied with a smile, a bright spark glistening from his teeth. “But what do you intend to do with the roses? Add them to your already beautiful mane?”

Even though the compliment made the rose-violet colored mare smile, Alchymist still narrowed her eyes at the earth stallion, “E-Everything h-has a p-purpose. O-Other than j-just looking pretty r-r-roses can be used for perfume, clothing, medicine or even be used as a food or drink. I just w-w-wanted to make some rose petal tea to c-calm my n-nerves.”

“Damn Tracer,” Francis chuckled with a very goofy smile on his face with his feet in front of his muzzle. “First pervert, zen play-colt? Are you trying to cover all ze bases?”

‘I… I don’t know where to start with this,’ Tracer thought to himself with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head. ‘Screw it! Save my life first, then save my reputation!’

“What needs to be taken out from that little… Memory, is that rose petals can be used for a multitude of things. Alchymist, is there any way rose petals be used to make dye and lemonade?”

For a moment, Alchymist thought to herself and then her eyes widened, “Yes… Yes there is! It… it’s even the same recipe! After you use the liquid to dye fabric, or in this case feathers, you can use whatever left over to make a refreshing lemonade.”

“… Wait, does that mean I drank something that was dousing feathers?” Tracer thought out loud before he stuck his tongue and gagged.

“Well, usually, one uses left over of the mixture,” Alchymist giggled, watching Tracer’s reaction.

“Oh? It can be used as a dye?” Godfrey mused with a bemused look on his face. “What an interesting fact.”

“Are you seriously claiming that you didn’t know that fact?” Hawkward asked.

“Indeed,” Godfrey replied, his arms crossed. “In fact, with Alchymist’s little explanation, I would think that she’d be the most suspicious at this moment. Throw in the fact that she’s a unicorn, well, it make it more believable that she’d be able to tangle with Elo.”

“W-What?!?” Alchymist gasped.

‘He’s got a point,’ Tracer thought. ‘But, it can’t be a coincidence! The roses taken, him making that red lemonade, the feathers… But…’

“And what if we vote for ya, anyway?” Smokey growled with some smoke billowing from his nostrils.

“Oh, if you’ve got that much faith in just a mess of a theory,” Godfrey yawned as he drew his scissors from his shirt pocket to clip a little bit off of the feathers atop his head. “And don’t mind gambling with everyone’s lives, feel free to get everyone killed.”

“Urk,” Smokey snarled.

“He does have a point,” Freya sighed in defeat. “Lemonade and roses isn’t enough to convict him… We can't even prove it was his scissors that made the final blow. Now, unless someone saw Elo slip the note under his door, that’d be a different matter.”

“Actually, it wouldn’t,” Francis replied. “Ze name plates on our doors were taken down… For all we know, Elo did a random shoot of who her victim would be.”

“And it was done by the glimmerous flop!” Misch squawked out as she pointed a talon at Godfrey. “Thanks to that, I was trying for an hour to get into Tracer’s room!”

“First off, glimmerous flop?” Godfrey commented, spinning the scissors on his talons. “Secondly, I took the name plates down yesterday afternoon, way before Elo was killed. And as we discussed, she was the one planning the murder, not I, there would be no advantage for me to take the name plates down.

“Thirdly, if I did receive the note, I would hardly qualify being able to aid in escape – I’m just a simple Stylist. An Elite Stylist, but a stylist nonetheless, how could I aid a unicorn in anyway related to magic? Me as the culprit makes no logical sense.

“And fourth, I found everything I needed for lemonade in the kitchen this morning!”

Tracer reeled back at all the logic that Godfrey just threw at him and he lowered his head, ‘Was… Was I wrong? Godfrey’s logic…’

Tracer’s eyes widened before he felt around in his vest, and he remembered something, “That reminds me, Misch – Yesterday you said that you tore apart the washers and dryers, right?”

The lazy griffon yawned loudly as she stretched her talons up into the air. “Yeah, yeah, I know I made a mess. I had to use almost all the towels that were in there to clean the grease up.”

“How the Tartarus did you get grease from a washer?” Kopuz questioned.

“And what does this have to do with anything?” Freya asked as well.

“I’m getting to that,” Tracer stated as he pulled out the wrapped up red fabric from his pocket, but left it hanging out slightly. “Misch, when you were done with the towels, you threw them into the bins – But did you see anything in them?”

“Uh, no,” Misch replied as she threw her talons behind her head. “It was empty – Why are you asking this?”

“Because I found this in the basket that had the grease stained towels,” Tracer stated as he pulled the cloth out. “The only reason why I didn’t bring it out earlier was because I wanted to know if it could be related.”

“And because Misch didn’t see it when she was done with her destruction,” Freya mused. “That means… That it could be planted there? What’s in it?”

“I… I don’t really have fingers,” Tracer answered back nervously. “So, I can’t really open it…”

It was then that a rose colored aura wrapped around the red cloth and lifted it into the middle of the court. Alchymist’s horn was lit up and her magic was slowly unfurling it, “L-Let me get that…”

Everyone’s breath stilled as the red fabric unfolded, and as it did, several small pieces of blue shards began to fall out, but there was one more item that was folded even deeper into red fabric.

“What the?!” Godfrey gasped with his talons lifted up to his beak. “Wh… What’s that doing…”

It was a pair of scissors that had some red splotches on the blades.

Everyone turned towards Godfrey who still had his own scissors in his talons, it was easy to see that both pairs of scissors were the same style.

“You… You really did it,” Lore gasped loudly.

“N-No…” Godfrey whimpered as he dropped the scissors in his talon. “I… I…”

“… He didn’t do it,” Tracer stated with his goggle covered gaze lowered.

“Huh?” Godfrey questioned.

“What do you mean?!” Freya barked. “We found the murder weapon! It’s a pair of scissors – and the only one who would use them is a stylist! He’s even got a pair that look just like it!”

“Godfrey lost his scissors a day or so ago…” the earth stallion stated with his head lowered. “If he did do it, he wouldn’t have brought attention to it, or he would’ve kept it on himself

Crowquill sighed as she saw Tracer’s reaction, “… Seems you have something to say, Tracer… But you’re holding back.”

“Huh? Why would he be holding back?” Kopuz questioned with his head tilted.

“Tracer,” Crowquill ignored Kopuz. “If you want to succeed, have courage and step up front!”

And with those words, Tracer pushed up his goggles and narrowed his eyes. “Godfrey isn’t the culprit… The culprit is you!

“Francis!”

The goat was rubbing his green ascot a few times before his eyes widened, “M-Monsieur Tracer!? W-W-What are you saying!? I… Zere’s no way moi is ze culprit!”

“Francis? The ~~cook~~ chef?” Freya questioned, looking at the surprised goat.

“At the moment, it’s just my theory,” Tracer admitted, looking away from Francis’s gaze. But then he lifted his head up and narrowed his eyes. “So if you have any counterarguments, I suggest you ready them.”

“I… Zen how about ze obvious!” Francis yelped out. “What’s your basis for accusing moi!?”

“The same reason we accused Godfrey,” Tracer stated. “You could’ve easily created the same kind of dye… Or lemonade in this case, since Alchymist said that both are the same recipe.”

“Z-Zat’s it?!” Francis growled with his fur standing on end on the back of his neck. “All… All you’ve done is propose a zeory! Zere’s nozing zat you can directly accuse me of!”

“Then there’s more,” Tracer stated bluntly with his eyes narrowed down. “Francis… Where’s your red ascot?”

“H-Huh!?” Francis yelped with his hooves lifted up over his head. “M-My ascot?!”

“You guys noticed right?” Tracer asked with his eyes narrowed. “Francis, your ascot’s changed color since yesterday.”

It was then that everyone turned towards the goat and zeroed in on the fabric that was wrapped around his neck. The goat was quick to bring his hooves up to his neck, but the green still showed on the sides.

Tracer sighed loudly, “… Yesterday, you were clearly wearing a red ascot, but now it’s green!”

“Y… you’re right!” Godfrey sputtered out. “The green one doesn’t match with his outfit, his beret has a red stripe in it! Are you saying that…”

“Yeah,” Tracer stated as he looked at the still floating evidence in the middle of the courtroom. “His ascot, the real ascot is right there! The same one that has the evidence that was removed from the scene!”

“T… That’s not mine!” Francis yelled out with a shake of his head, his hooves wrapped around his ears. “I… You can’t prove that! For all we know, Godfrey could’ve stolen it from me!”

“And when would that be?” Tracer asked.

“I… I don’t know,” Francis whistled out innocently. “Besides, I don’t have to prove that, you’re the one who’s accusing me! Mange de la merde!”

“He dropped his accent,” Hawkward commented. "But he's swearing in Pranch..."

“You want me to prove it? Fine,” Tracer growled back.

“Y-You can?!” Francis yelped.

“Geri, you told me that Diamond Dogs can identify some species by scent,” Tracer started.

However the tall Diamond Dog lifted his paw up, “I can see where you’re going with this, and yes, we can. If I may?”

Alchymist nodded and floated the fabric towards Geri. For a moment, Geri sniffed the cloth before he snarled, “… Yes, this does belong to Francis… He needs to wash this thing more often though, it reeks of his sweat… and something else…”

“Y-Yes, you proved that its mine,” Francis sputtered with his eyes narrowed down. “But you still haven’t disproved that it was taken from me! Ferme la bouche!”

“Once again, we can solve this,” Tracer stated before he turned towards Misch and Zure. “You two saw Francis last night, right? Around what time was it when Francis left and did you see any green on him?”

“It would’ve been a little after ten,” Misch answered as she scratched her head. “And I didn’t see any green… I think.”

“I think it would’ve stuck out on him,” Zure added before nodding. “In fact, I saw him tugging at his red ascot a little bit before he left!”

“URK!” Francis gagged.

“So unless Godfrey or Alchymist jumped you,” Tracer explained back. “Francis! You’re the culprit!”

“But why would he use his own ascot to wrap the stuff in?” Lore asked. “Why not use a blanket or something?”

“Because Elo’s blood is also on it,” Geri stated as he held up the ascot. “He had to get rid of it because if any one of us Diamond Dogs smelled it, we would’ve picked up on it.”

“Why not try burning it?” Kopuz suggested.

“Remember, when he left Misch and Zure were still in the cafeteria,” Crowquill explained. “He had no idea if they were still there, and carrying a bloody cloth would’ve attracted attention. And burning bloody fabric isn’t a smell one would expect in a kitchen, and even then, it still would’ve left a terrible smell for a while.”

"And there weren't any matches in the backroom," Hawkward added in with a smirk. "So, burning it outside would've been next to impossible - And I doubt he could take down any trees for wood."

“Then how about just tossing the damn thing in a bush?” Misch asked.

“Sorry, but that’s against the rules,” Cheshire chimed, his hat lowered over his eyes. “If someone were to throw trash like that into nature, not only would there be sirens blaring out, but I’d also announce who threw the trash to everyone!”

“Damn that’s harsh,” Kopuz sighed loudly.

“N-No… I… I’M NOT THE DAMN CULPRIT!” Francis roared out, his hooves slammed onto the stand, nearly splintering it. “IT WAS GODFREY’S SCISSORS! IT WAS HIM WHO KILLED ELO! IT WAS HIM WHO DYED THE FEATHERS BY TAKING THE ROSES! IT WAS HIM WHO THREW THE KEY THROUGH THE WINDOW! HE DID IT ALL!”

Francis snorted out, his eyes blank with teeth barred, his entire body was shaking before he snapped his leg upwards. “I could’ve easily dropped my ascot after I saw Misch and Zure, anyone could’ve taken it and wrapped up those vase pieces and scissors in it! I’m being set up! Vous avez le corps d’un chien et le QI d’une durée de cinq ans!”

“Shot, you heard what he said, right?” Crowquill asked with a smirk.

“Yeah… Yeah I did,” Tracer admitted, looking down at his hooves.

“Then it settles it,” Crowquill said. “Francis, you’re the murderer.”

“W-What?!” Francis snarled back, his eyes a glow. “You’re… You’re actually agreeing with this lousy bȃtard?!”

“Bȃtard?” Tracer questioned.

“Everyone heard what he said, right?” Crowquill asked as he looked around the courtroom. “Isn’t it weird?”

“Aside from the fact that he’s accusing me?” Godfrey commented with a gulp.

“Ta mere est une pute!” Francis shouted.

“You leave my mother out of this!” Godfrey countered.

Ignoring the two, Smokey sighed, “Yeah, he said it was Godfrey’s scissors.”

“That it was Godfrey who killed Elo,” Freya continued onwards.

“He was the one who dyed feathers to look like mine…” Lore added.

“That it was Godfrey who took the roses to make the dye,” Freki pointed out.

“And that the key was thrown through the window,” Crowquill stated as a matter of fact. “And in his argument lies a fault that has exposed him."

“Va te faire enculer!” Francis snarled. “ANE!

“What exactly does that mean?” Zure asked.

“Couillon! COUILLON! COUILLON!” Francis yelled out, his hoofed toes starting to dig into the stand.

“There’s one piece of evidence that we haven’t brought up,” Tracer said. “Its about the materials to make the dye. At the rosebushes where the roses were taken, there was a paint can that was knocked over.”

“COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON!” Francis continued to bark out loud. “COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON! COUILLON!”

Tracer slammed his hooves on the stand, with the holographic screen appearing over his head, showing the exact same scene that Alchymist had pointed out to him – Showing the odd hoofprint in the paint. “There, the culprit left a very distinct hoofprint – one with a slit straight down the middle.

“There’s only two here could make such a hoofprint – Kopuz or you Francis!”

“COUILLON! COUILLON! COUI… Huh?” Francis questioned, finally listening in. “I… I…”

Tracer pointed a hoof out towards the goat, sending the holographic screen flying through the air towards the ~~cook~~ chef. “All we need to do is compare the sizes, and then there shouldn’t be any more doubt who the murderer is!”

Francis just stood at his stand, his eyes dilating at the sight of the hoofprint.

“Tracer,” Crowquill stated out loud. “It’s time to end this, lay down the entire case for everyone.”

“I… have no choice,” Tracer grumbled with his head lowered…

THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED!

CLIMAX INFERENCE

Act1
Let’s begin when the culprit was called to White Rabbit’s Storage.

Either enticed by the prospect of escape, or curious of who knew wrote the note, the culprit headed towards White Rabbit’s Storage, unaware of what truly awaited them.

When the culprit arrived, Elo must’ve still had the knife cloaked with her magic, and when her target probably had their back turned, she levitated the knife and prepared to attack.

Act 2
But by doing that, she alerted her target with the glow of her horn, and they managed to dodge the attack. Perhaps Elo was surprised, or was preparing for a secondary attack, but whatever happened, it gave the culprit a chance for the vase and they took it.

They managed to hit Elo in the head which not only caused her head wound, but also managed to knock her out temporarily.

We don’t know what caused the perp to head to the backroom, maybe they were searching for something, but it was enough time for Elo to compose herself…

Act 3

Which was enough for her to try for a second attack, and although the perp was able to see her coming, there was probably nothing that they could do to detain her…

… Until they found Godfrey’s scissors and had no choice but to fight back.

They took the scissors and stabbed Elo once, and that was all it took to forever silence her murderous intent. Even if it was an accident, they had just committed murder, and had no choice but to continue with their crime.

Act 4
He must’ve gotten blood on himself since a certain article of clothing had gotten Elo’s blood on it. But the culprit wasn’t done yet – In order to make sure our investigation got off track even more, the culprit had taken a pillow from the back to use its

They must’ve locked the door to White Rabbit’s Storage so that no one could enter while they were working on their cover job.

Taking the red roses, hiding the evidence in the laundry room under the greasy towels, and then making the dye to recolor the pillow feathers – This was done to make our investigation almost impossible.

Act 5
For the finale, they reached the storage again and dumped the now-red feathers near the window to make sure we thought that the culprit had wings or was making it seem like there was another option for the culprit.

With the scene all set, the culprit got himself another ascot from the backroom, this one green and locked the door behind him – Tossing the key through the window for good measure.

Unfortunately, this was the murderer’s biggest flaw…

Isn’t that right…

Francis!?

“And that’s my theory,” Tracer finished off. “You got any objections to it, Francis?”

The goat’s head was on the stand and he was breathing loudly.

And slowly he lifted his head up, revealing the tears that stained his face, “Enough. I can’t do it any more… Zis… This… I’m a better ~~cook~~ chef than criminal mastermind…

“… I did it…

"I killed Elo…”

“Upupupupu! Seems like we’re ready for the vote!” Cheshire laughed loudly as he leapt to the top of his thrown. “So now everyone, there’s a digital dial on your stand, you just need to touch and spin it to whoever you think is the culprit.

“And make sure you vote for someone – I wouldn’t want to punish someone who accidentally forgot to vote!”

TBC

Aftermath

Aftermath

Trial Aftermath 1

TTT - TTT

“CONGRATULATIONS!” Cheshire cheered loudly as he jumped up and down on his seat. “You bastards managed to find the villain!”

TTT – TTT

“Elo? You were ze one who sent ze note? Do you actually know of a way out?”

The blonde unicorn drew back in surprise at the sight of the goat, “Francis? Why are you here?”

The cook chef merely smiled back as he walked into the storage building, “Because moi got your note! Is zis really true?”

For a moment, Elo looked hesitant but sighed under her breath, “Y… Yes. Yes I have, but come in, I don’t want to risk Cheshire hearing us.”

Francis nodded back before he walked in, making his way towards the nearby table and chair, Elo closing the door behind him. “S’alright, so, what’s this about…”

The Pranch goat stopped when he realized that the green glow of Elo’s horn hadn’t died down, and just as he turned around…

“WHAT ZE!?!” Francis yelped as he dodged the knife that flew through the air towards him. “What are you doing!?”

The calm and serene look that Elo usually had disappeared, melted away into a look of pure malice, and for a second, it seemed like her eyes had glazed over. Her breathing was labored and she held the knife up with her magic, “… It wasn’t supposed to be you – But I don’t have a choice now!”

However, Francis had managed to reach for the table and hook the vase with his hoof, and with a quick spin, the goat threw the vase. Elo saw it coming at the last second, but didn’t have enough time to dodge and reeled backwards just as the vase was about to make contact…

KER-RASH!

Francis took a few deep breaths before brought his hooves up to his mouth. “E-ELO!?”

“… I zen went to ze back to try to find somezing to help her,” Francis sighed, his head lowered down near the stand. “I zought zat she was knocked out, but zen… Zen she wasn’t. She had tackled moi to ze floor wiz ze knife raised high. She must’ve had trouble concentrating because of ze head wound, since she had ze handle bump into her head a few times, zat’s where ze blood came from.

“I was certain I’d be killed, so I looked for somezing, anyzing to stop her… And wiz my hooves, I made a blind reach… and zere it was: Godfrey’s scissors under ze shelf. You… You know ze rest.”

Tracer was silent as Francis told what had happened in White Rabbit’s Storage – Whether or not it was the truth that remained to be unseen.

“… You could’ve left her,” Zure spoke out, her gaze aimed directly at the goat. “After you knocked her out, or dazed her, you could’ve just left!”

“I… I didn’t know how serious her head wound was,” Francis admitted, not even bothering to lift his head up. “If I had just left her, zen who’s to say zat she wouldn’t have died anyway? I… I had to try to help her! I had to do somezing!”

Smokey clenched his claws tightly, so much so that the claws began to draw blood from his palm, “Elo… What the Tartarus!? Was escape for you that important that you couldn’t have waited for help?!”

“When Geri and I searched her room,” Crowquill spoke up. “We didn’t find the photos that Cheshire gave her, so, we won’t know why she was so fervent to escape…”

“But, then why did you try to frame me?” Lore asked, tears welling up in her eyes.

This time Francis lifted his head up, revealing that he had tears streaming down his face, the fur on his face a complete mess. “I… I… It was ze rules. Like a recipe, I studied ze rules: The villain who kills one of his/her companions will be allowed to ‘graduate,’ provided his or her crime is not discovered to the other students. I just zought zat if I could confuse you all, zen you wouldn’t figure zat it was me who… Who… Killed Elo, zen… Zen… But I didn’t know zis would happen!

“I didn’t know zat everyone else would sacrificed if my crime wasn’t discovered!”

“Is that really what you thought?”

Everyone turned back to Cheshire, his plastered on grin now seemed to be even wider than usual. “Perhaps when Elo was attacking you, you thought that this is your chance to escape – If you took advantage of this and killed her, you wouldn’t get caught…

“Isn’t that what you really thought?”

“N-NO! Zat’s not true at all!” Francis yelled back. “It… It was self-defense! What was I supposed to do, just let her kill me!?”

“I believe I said this before,” Cheshire cackled as he rolled his head around on his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter if it was done in self-defense, murder is still murder. Besides, you still covered your tracks of your crime – Weren’t you so desperate that you thought you could escape just by sacrificing not only Elo, but fellow classmates?

“Just be honest with yourself in your final moments.”

“F-Final moments?!” Francis yelped with his hooves at his mouth.

“Oh? Don’t you remember?” Cheshire laughed loudly with his paws on his stomach. “You broke a rule – Your crime was discovered! Therefore, you shall be punished!”

“URK!” Francis yelped as he drew back from his stand.

“Francis,” Kopuz murmured.

“You had good intentions!” Smokey snarled loudly. “But if you had gotten someone’s help, then… Then…”

“… I had to go back.”

Francis lifted his head up, tears in the corners of his eyes. “I meant when I said I wanted to help… But when I saw zat letter saying zat zere was a chance, I decided…

“Zat no matter ze cost… ZEY ARE WAITING FOR MOI! MY FRIENDS AND MY FAMILY BACK AT ZE RESTAURANT!”

“The picture,” Trace gasped when he realized what Francis was getting at.

“You… You actually believed that garbage?” Godfrey asked, wincing a little.

“Of… Of course I don’t!” Francis sputtered before he shook his head. “But still… When I saw ze restaurant up in flames, my friends amongst the… I… I… Part of me wanted to go back to get help, but… Zat ozer part of me… I hesitated. In moi’s heart, lies ze devil.”

Francis… You’re not a killer.

You’re a cook chef, you had little choice to defend yourself from Elo.

But we can’t blame her either, everyone was shaken from what Cheshire showed us on those photos. Maybe she saw something that was just as bad as what Francis saw.

… Would I have done the same thing though?

Cheshire yawned loudly, getting everyone’s attention. “Well now, well now, well now, well now! I think we’ve had enough of the appetizers – Its time for the main course!”

“Now hold on!” Zure yelled out. “He was just doing this in self-defense! There was…”

“Ugh, I hate repeating myself,” Cheshire interrupted with a roll of his eye. “Murder is murder! Motivated, self-defense or even accidental, it doesn’t matter! Now, enough of this!”

“Hold on,” Francis sniffled, his head turned to Tracer. “I’m… I’m sorry Monsieur Tracer, it looks like I won’t be able to treat you to my restaurant…”

“Francis,” Tracer replied with a nervous gulp.

“I’ve prepared a special punishment for Francis, the Elite Cook!” Cheshire laughed loudly.

“Everyone, I’m sorry it turned out like zis,” Francis continued, tears streaming down his face. “And monsieur Cheshire – Please… Please tell me what happened. Are those photos real!?”

“LET’S GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT!” Cheshire announced as he reached into his hat and pulled out a small mallet.

“Please! Tell me!” Francis pleaded, the goat’s head now slammed into the stand. “What happened to my friends?! What happened to my family?! EVERRRRRRRRRRRYONE!”

“IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME!!!”

It was then that a large mechanical stand rose out of the floor in front of Cheshire, and with a mighty jump, the cat slammed the hammer into the big red button that was on top of the machine. Several sparks erupted from the stand until the holographic screen appeared over Cheshire’s head, displaying an 8-bit version of Francis in a jail cell.

GAME OVER

FRANCIS HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY.
TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT!!

On the screen, an 8-bit version of Cheshire danced across the screen and dragged the 8-bit Francis across the ground.

The lights in the courtroom immediately darkened, with only a single spotlight over the sobering goat. Francis lifted his head up to investigate, when all of a sudden an iron collar snapped around his neck tightly. For a moment, Francis began to reach for the collar to take it off, but he was immediately ripped from his stand and dragged across the floor towards one of the now opened hallway doors.

The moment that Francis went through the doorway, the doors slammed shut.

Spécial Français - Baguettes Sans Fin

However, the group didn’t have to wait long to see what Francis’s fate was – The holographic screen lit up once more, this time displaying a beautiful scenery of a fancy city with a sunset gleaming behind it. In the middle of the city was a large tower – the La tour Eiffel: one of the main attractions of Prance (and Las Pegasus to some extent), and the camera that took the footage began to zoom in to the top of the tower, where Francis stood on the side of, the collar no longer around his neck.

Francis turned his head around, completely confused at where he was.

As the goat tried to get his bearings, Cheshire popped out of nowhere cackling. Francis heard the laughter, and spun around just in time for Cheshire to jump up and slam his hind paws into Francis’s muzzle.

The goat screamed as he was forced off of the tower, and oddly enough, Cheshire was falling with him. As the two fell, Cheshire reached into his top hat and pulled out an umbrella. The devilish cat waved towards Francis before he opened the umbrella and floated up while Francis continued his free fall.

Francis saw that the concrete was quickly approaching and brought his front legs in front of his face.

But, just as he was about to go splat on the ground, Francis stopped just an inch before the pavement and was then pulled back up into the air. Apparently strapped to his back legs was a bungee cord that actually managed to save him.

When he stopped bouncing up and down a few times, Francis breathed a sigh of relief and tried to bring his forward legs up to try to undo the cord at his legs. But out of the corner of his eye, Francis noticed something…

Cheshire – this time dressed as a Pranch soldier with a red sash over his chest and a bicorne hat instead of his top hat (for those of you who aren’t experts in hats, a bicorne is a hat that was used by Neighpoleon). In his paws was what appeared to be… A baguette that was just as tall as him?

The Pranchly dressed cat sauntered up to the confused goat, and when he drew close enough…

WHAM!

Francis was reeled back when Cheshire smacked him upside the head with the baguette, it was done with enough force that made Francis swing through the air with the bungee cord keeping a good hold on him.

And as Francis was swinging back, the screen showed that there was a large bruise on his face where the baguette had struck him. It was then that Francis realized something – There were countless more Cheshires, all dressed up like Pranch soldiers, each wielding a baguette.

Everyone watched as each of the Cheshires charged towards Francis, and watched as each of them slammed the surprisingly hardened baguettes into Francis, as if he were a living piñata.

Soon after the beatings began, blood began to fly through the air, splattering against the concrete and the sides of the tower.

For what seemed to be an eternity, everyone watched as more and more blood splattered about.

And then…

It stopped.

The Pranch dressed Cheshires all cackled before they began to walk away, leaving only a shadowed, bloody pulp where Francis once was, blood stained the concrete beneath it and from above, Francis’s beret slowly floated down into the pool of blood…

TTT – TTT

There were so many things that went through Tracer’s mind.

But there was one predominate thought that kept appearing in the front of his head…

Why?

Why did it come to this?

Why was this real?

Why did Francis and Elo have to die?

And why… Why was he so happy?

“AH! That got the blood a flowing!”

Somehow, Cheshire was back on his throne when the lights came back on, his paws set at his face. “Such devoted loyalty he had to his family – Ah, it’s practically an art form to see that loyalty snuffed out. Such a despairingly amount of loyalty that both Francis and Elo showed to the outside world…

“It’s beautiful to watch that disappear into darkness.”

“You… You bastard!”

Those words came from Tracer’s own mouth, that was the only thing he could really think of to say after seeing and hearing everything.

Cheshire cackled loudly, “Oh my, calling me that? How’d you know my parents weren’t married to each other? Then again, cats don’t really marry, they just do it, so every cat is a bastard!”

“T-That’s not what I’m going for!” Tracer yelled out. “This… This is your fault!”

“… Really? You’re going for that cliché?” Cheshire sighed loudly with a shake of his head. “Oh, ‘it’s all Cheshire’s fault that Elo and Francis are dead’, that’s so lame of you to say! I wasn’t the one who made Elo get the knife and trap one of you.

“I wasn’t the one who forced Francis to do the deed. I wasn’t the one who made you all vote for him…

“I was just the executioner – Would you punish the one who flips the switch on the electric chair? Or a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard for injuring somepony who tried to attack the princesses?

“No.”

Cheshire threw his paws behind his head and laughed.

“This isn’t a laughing matter!” Freya barked loudly at the cat. “Two… Two of us are dead…”

The others all had different reactions to what just happened – Smokey was trying his hardest to not to unleash flames from his mouth, Lore was sniffling, trying to contain her tears, Misch was clinging to Zure (much to her chagrin), and the others had their own reaction to what had transpired before their very eyes.

Francis was dead.

Dead.

“… Now then, will all of you please leave in an orderly fashion?” Cheshire requested. “After all, I can’t have anyone in here when we’re not having a trial – How would I ever get the cleaning done? Unless someone else wants to get punished along with Francis – Doesn’t matter to me!”

Many of the students leered at Cheshire before everyone trudged towards the opened elevator doors. Tracer leered at cat doll one last time before the doors closed in front of him.

Cheshire cackled loudly before he reached into his top hat and pulled out a small red light from it. He held it up in his paws and allowed the glow of the small red item to forge itself into a small jewel. “However, honor and devotion matter to me. It’s more important to me than any materialistic thing or any fame I could have…”

TTT – TTT

The elevator ride back to the Main Court was silent, the events that just transpired before them… Seeing someone being killed in front of anyone’s eyes would be enough to instill a disturbing despair that would render everyone speechless.

Everyone dragged themselves from the elevator, with Tracer slumping to the ground when he stepped out.

The world seemed to pass by Tracer, he didn’t seem to care that everyone else seemed to pass by him as he sat there with his head lowered down. The world passed by him, and he was nothing more than a speed bump to it.

“Hey.”

The world stopped spinning for a second as Tracer turned back to see Crowquill standing behind him. The pegasus stallion placed a hoof on Tracer’s shoulder, “It had to be done – We had to survive. But, I know it’s still wrong, Francis didn’t deserve any of that.”

Tracer didn’t say a word.

“… My father.”

“Huh?” Tracer questioned as he turned back to Crowquill.

“My father is the one who told me that statement,” Crowquill explained with an oddly… cute smile? Why was it cute? “If you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything. If you want to succeed, have courage and step up front – He would always tell me that whenever I doubted myself when I was younger.

“Eventually, it turned into a self-mantra for myself to continue onwards whenever things came up.”

Tracer remembered what Crowquill had said before the trial – How he’d tell Tracer how he knew that phrase.

He had hoped that it would’ve brought some clarity, some calmness to Tracer’s mind in all this chaos – But that just raised another question.

‘My father was the one who told me that phrase,’ Tracer thought to himself, his gaze lowering from Crowquill. ‘Is it possible that our fathers know each other? It would explain how both of us know it… But…

‘But… Why do I feel like there’s more?’

“Now, how’d you learn that phrase?” Crowquill asked, snapping Tracer out of his thoughts.

For a moment, Tracer bit his tongue before he sighed, “Oddly enough, my old man told me about it.”

Crowquill pulled away from Tracer and raised a brow at the young earth stallion, “I see… Shot, we’ll have to talk about this later. Right now though, we… We need to calm ourselves… We can’t let Cheshire’s actions weaken us.”

Tracer only sighed and pushed himself back to his hooves. Crowquill was right, but it still hurt to watch someone that Tracer knew d… d…

He couldn’t even bring himself to accept Francis’s fate… But he had to.

For Francis and Elo, he had to endure their fates...

... But, how long until he was forced to go against the same fate?

TBC

Author's Note

Due to time constraints, I can only post this image, but the end of the next trial will have a much different image to it. The one with the classroom, I promise