The six ponies stood in front of the stage area where princess Twilight was standing, waiting to hear her plan to find the killer that was in the midst of the ponies in the castle of Twilight Sparkle. The crowd around them began to calm down, and slowly began to patiently wait for the princess to speak. As the last pony took their spot in the big wide room, Twilight began to count of how many ponies were in the room with her. Once she had finished counting, she moved slowly to the podium and cleared her throat. "I need everypony's attention please! Right then. Now there are twenty-five ponies here in attendance including myself, spike, and Amethyst Star. Unfortunately due to the unfortunate event of tonight, our count is now twenty-four. As well I have found this notecard on my podium."
"Well what does it say?" a random pony in the crowd said.
"I was getting to that." she replied as she clears her throat a second time. "My my princess. You should be careful who you trust, otherwise you may end up like your poor poor friend."
Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd, as ponies began to give each other dirty looks. The small group of friends looked around, trying to make sense of the situation. "What do we do? This is bad. very very bad." Winter said.
"Well the princess never did tell us her plan. We should wait for it. Then make our major decisions." Daibolys said.
"That's right." Cookie said as she remembered the plan that Corona suggested.
"Well what is this plan of yours princess?" Comet said rather irritated.
"Right," Twilight began, "What I suggest is that we split into groups of three ponies and begin searching through different parts of the castle looking for clues as to who had committed this atrocity. We will all meet on an hourly basis in a set location. Now, I will give you all time to talk amongst yourselves and make a decision." She then left the podium to speak with Spike.
"So what do you guys think?" Corona said, looking at his friends.
"It sounds like a good plan." Woody said.
"Good but ultimately flawed. Because if a group gets lost, then nopony has a clue as to where they are in reference to the checkpoint." Comet said.
"He has a point. Not to mention the small groups would make it easier to get attacked, but by staying in a larger group we may be able to get the edge on the killer." Daibolys said.
"That may be true. But if the other be with us, will we be able to even notice weather or not they were our ally or just waiting to kill us?" Comet said looking around the room at the other ponies.
"We may want to stay together, because we all know it was none of us. After all, we spent all night together. None of us left." Winter said breaking her silence.
"I agree. The six of us should stick together. But if we just leave, the princess would just become suspicious that six ponies decided to leave and take their own initiative on investigating this." Corona said.
"What if we asked her if we can just take our group of six and check in with everypony at the given place?" Cookie suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea. But who will be the one to ask?" Winter asked.
"I will." Daibolys said as he turned toward to the princess.
A few minutes after Daibolys had left, ponies began to go toward Twilight, as if they had all made their decisions. Daibolys returned the expression on his face unreadable. The room grew silent again as Twilight began to walk back to the podium. "Now then, those of you who are going on the hunt for the kill, please come to the front of the room." Twilight said as every pony in the room began to slowly move forward towards the podium area. "Well if you all want to, then begin to form your groups. I will give you all your assignments." Ponies began to slowly form into groups. "What did she say, Dai?" Winter asked
"She said there were no exceptions, because if a group was comprised that they were a group into six ponies, the others would want the same size," he said looking down, "we need to split into two groups of three." The other five looked down to the ground. Now they had to divide themselves and separate knowing the killer was someone in the room. "So who's with who?" Corona said breaking the silence amongst the group.
"I'm fine with whoever." Cookie said as she raised her head.
"Dai, I think you and I should stay together." Winter said looking at the pure white unicorn.
Daibolys nodded his head slowly, "That’s two. We need one more." Daibolys said looking at the remaining four.
"I'll go with you guys." Woody said as he walked towards them and stood next to Daibolys.
"Then it's settled," Comet said joining his group. "Me, Crono, and Cookie will stay together."
"Alright then. Let's go to the princess to know where we're heading" Corona said turning towards the area Twilight stood.
"Wait," Winter said stopping the crimson pegasus. "What if something happens? We can't risk being separated. What if the killer comes after us and we lose one of us? What if we can't defend ourselves and each other?" tears began to well up in her eyes as she begins to speak again. "What if none of us get out of this castle alive?" She finished, as tears began to flow down her face.
"Winter, I've known you for a very long time. But I've never seen you lose your cool like this." Woody said. "You always managed to think clearly in some of the most blackest situations."
"He's right Winter. We need you to be strong for us. Please." Daibolys said, staring into the snow white pegusus' eyes. "We will get through this. And if we don't we'll still be together won't we." He smiles putting his hoof on her face. "We've managed through bad things, but stuck with it because we are friends. So come on, let's get ready to go."
She then looked at him and nodded, then slowly wiped the tears out of her eyes and began to walk with Daibolys and Woody to the crowd of ponies sitting there, waiting for their assignment. "You know guys, she has a point." Cookie said as she looked at the other two in her group, "We may not make it through this alive and yet we try anyway, why? After all, we are doomed. How are we going to find the killer that could be one of the twenty-four other ponies in this castle, when we don’t have a single clue of who they are before it's too late?"
"Now what happened to you?" Corona said looking at his spotted friend. "You're usually the optimist! Our happy, carefree, and excitable friend that is always there for another one. Look we can make it through. The killer couldn’t be that good on hiding clues. We'll find them. Trust me." he smiled as Comet walked in front of them. "At least we have each other, am I right?" Comet smiled and walked towards Twilight to join the rest of the ponies with the two following behind him. As they approached Twilight, Comet looks off and Corona nudges him. "Hey, come on! We’re almost about to know where we're headed!" he said with excitement.
"Right, yeah. Sorry.” Comet relayed sounding somewhat shaken.
The first group to reach the front was Daibolys, Winter, and Woody. Twilight looked at Daibolys, who seemed to be the leader of the group. "You three will take the kitchen. After all, this culprit had to get a knife from somewhere."
"Right then, we'll be on our way." Daibolys said in a unhappy tone.
"We meet at the throne room in one hour. No later. Understood?" She said looking intently at Woody.
""Yes your highness!" All three say in unison as they began to take their route to the kitchen.
The final group stepped up, and looked at the princess. Each of them knew the room they were in was now dangerous considering they were the last group to see the princess. "You three will take the second floor library and make sure you leave no book unchecked. Do you all understand?" Twilight said, looking at the small group of friends.
"Of course Miss Sparkle! you can count on me!" Corona said with a slight tilt of his head.
"Perfectly." Comet said bitterly.
"Yep!" Cookie said ready to move.
"Good. We’ll all meet in the throne room in an hour sharply. Got it?." Twilight said in an assertive tone.
"Yes princess, we understand." Comet said jumping in front of Corona.

The group leaves, but as they leave Comet looked back to look at something. But due to him needing to move forward he didn't quite see anything different.

Author's Note

As usual if you guys feel like there is anything just leave a comment and I would like to thank my new editor Woody Hooves.