Danganronpa: In Harmony's Wake

by Dewdrops on the Grass

First published 24th of October, 2020

Trapped on a cruise ship with fifteen others, all with lost memories, Sunset Shimmer struggles to survive a killing game orchestrated by a mysterious being only known as Monoponi. Post Season Nine FIM. Updates every Saturday morn and Tuesday eve.

Sunset Shimmer, twenty-four years old, woke up on a cruise ship, without knowing how she got there, or why. She encountered fifteen other souls, all of them trapped aboard by a mysterious pony known only as Monoponi, who told them there for one purpose, and one purpose only:

To kill each other.

Now struggling to survive while desperately trying to recover what memories she's lost, Sunset is thrust into a deadly situation, where anyone, at any turn, could become the next killer. Who will survive? Who will die? What is Monoponi's true goal? Who is he, really?

Sunset can only hope to find out before she, too, becomes a victim of the killing game.

A Danganronpa/My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Equestria Girls crossover, taking place post season nine of Friendship is Magic, featuring complex mysteries, flash-in-the-pan romances, and various custom art pieces along the way. Updates twice a week, on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings. All art credits can be found on my blog. Thank you especially to lennardd and JQarp of Archive of Our Own for inspiration, and to any and all who read this story.

Now featuring a TVTropes page created by SuperSonicHeroes. A big thank you to them as well. And if you enjoy this story and want to support it and future works, please feel free to donate to my Ko-Fi account.

Prologue: Awaken Unto Despair

My name is Sunset Shimmer. I’m twenty-four years old, getting ready to start up my fifth year of college at Canterlot University. Already have one bachelor degree, in mechanical engineering, but I’m going back for a second.

I’m also not human. Or, well, I wasn’t born one, anyway. I was born a pony, a unicorn specifically, in Equestria, a nation in a world separated from this one by a magical portal. Yes, I am literally from a world of sunshine and rainbows where friendship is magic. Go figure. But I came to this one, after I… had a bad experience as a personal student to the leader of Equestria. Looking back, it was all so stupid, not even really worth discussing.

The point is, I left, forever. I came to this world, to a world of humans and fancy technology beyond my wildest dreams. I was a complete jerk, working to build power until I could return to Equestria and enact my revenge. I stole a magical artifact, was turned into a demon of all things, and then I was… saved. Saved by…

By…

Wait. Why can’t I remember?

Oh well. It’s not that important. (Yes it is!) What really matters is, I changed, I made friends. (Who?) I became a much better person. (How?!) Went on to college, explored my interests in math and mechanics, and that’s where I am today.

Or I should be, anyway.

The last thing I remember, I was stepping out of my brownstone apartment in downtown Canterlot, ready to hop onto my motorcycle to get to the first day of classes for the year. And then everything went… fuzzy. Dark. Like the air itself twisted in my brain, and all of a sudden, I was laying on a fancy four poster bed, the smell of sea salt spray in the air from an open porthole window filling my nose.

And my head was killing me! Great sheets of pain swept over my head like waves in a stormy ocean, bludgeoning through me and battering me against the proverbial shore. Waves of nausea fluttered through me, my stomach twisting in knots. I stumbled off the bed, fell against the open door of a full bathroom and collapsed to my knees in front of the toilet. My hands gripped the sides of the porcelain. I held my head over the bowl, staring into the water, waiting for the contents of my stomach to rise up and out. I don’t know how long I knelt there before the nausea subsided, thankfully without having actually vomited. The pain in my head receded to a dull ache, less a pounding surf and more a gentle tide.

“Okay, what the hell,” I managed to speak as I slowly got to my feet. “Where am I?”

I looked up at myself in the mirror, taking in my appearance. I was dressed like I usually would these days, with my beaten old leather jacket, a bit patched in places but still lovingly preserved, a low cut sky blue shirt with a matching skirt atop a decent pair of jeans. Nothing fancy, really. Just a callback to how I dressed my senior year of high school. Figured it made sense to break it out, since I was like a “super senior” at the University this year.

Now that I wasn’t about to vomit all over the place, I was able to take in some of the details of my surroundings. Everything was intricately wrought and well crafted. A fine silver filigree surrounded the mirror over the sink, with faucets equally lined in silver. The shower and bath unit, while a fairly typical combination you’d see in any apartment, were much larger than I expected, with a shower curtain made of fine silk lined with cotton, rather than cheap plastic. Even the towels hanging by the shower tub were neatly pressed, hanging like they were placed there by a well trained hotel staff. A large, white robe hung next to the towels, made from the same material as the shower curtain.

And for some bizarre reason, there was a security camera in the corner. “Okay, that’s a little weird…”

I stepped out of the bathroom back into the main room. Like the bathroom, everything from the dresser to the writing desk with chair to the walk-in closet to the four poster bed screamed of opulence, like a five-star hotel. The only things out of place were the porthole window, and a security camera up in the middle of the ceiling, one of the half-dome kinds. Also there was a screen with speakers over the desk I presumed was a television of some kind. So I poked my head out the window, and was met with a vision of the open ocean. Nothing else as far as the eye could see in either direction, save for more of what was presumably a cruise ship.

I wasn’t too surprised by that. I had been able to feel the gentlest of swells under my feet since I woke up. But I was confused. “How the hell did I get here?” I asked myself as I poked around further in the room. I discovered a set of keys on the desk, most probably the room keys. I pocketed those. Apart from that there was nothing, save basic pen and paper on the desk and a small k-cup style coffee machine stuffed in one of the drawers, with two disposable cups wrapped up in plastic. Nothing you wouldn’t expect to see in a hotel.

The only thing that stood out was the closet. It was full of identical copies of my current outfit. Like whatever brought me here expected to wear the same thing every day. It was more than a little unsettling, especially with the security camera in the room. Something was vaguely familiar about this situation too, as if I’d seen a similar setup somewhere. Maybe a movie?

With a shrug I decided to try the door to the outside. I wasn’t going to get any answers in here. Maybe I could find a member of the ship’s crew.

Upon leaving my room and locking it, I found myself in a long corridor stretching out along this side of the ship. Doorways presumably leading to similar rooms lined the hall. The floor was carpeted over steel deck plates, the walls lined with floral wallpaper. Paintings hung here and there, of landscapes, beaches, and one of a massive ship that might’ve been the ship I was on. Security cameras lined the hall, ensuring no blind spots. A couple more screens were placed here and there as well. But no one else in sight. Curiously though, I noticed that, right on my door was a gold plated sign, etched with my name. Sunset Shimmer.

“Okay, what?” I asked as I ran my hand over it. “What the hell--”

“Oh my! Excuse me, darling, but do you happen to work here?”

I whirled about at the sound of another woman’s voice, finding myself face to face with a gorgeous woman a few inches shorter than me, with purple hair coiffed to perfection, wearing a periwinkle shirt, golden bangles about her wrists, and a plum skirt lined with an image of three sapphire blue diamonds that perfectly complimented her hair and ivory skin tone. She smiled at me, all white teeth shining like a dentist’s dream as she casually flicked a hand through her hair. The sight brought a blush to my cheeks. “I’m sorry if I startled you,” she continued in some kind of fancy accent I couldn’t place. “It’s just that I’m lost and I don’t know how I got here.”

I let out a laugh and scratched the back of my head. “Sorry, I don’t. Work here, I mean.” Ugh, smooth, Sunset, I chastised myself. I coughed to clear my throat and stood up straighter. “I don’t know how I got here either. My name’s Sunset, by the way. Sunset Shimmer.”

She held out a dainty hand and gave mine a quick shake. Even in that brief instant of touch I could feel just how smooth her skin was. “A pleasure. I am Rarity Belle.” She dropped her hand to her side to lay it along her hip, and looked around the corridor. “A pity we’re both lost. Do you go to Canterlot University, by chance? Something about you seems familiar.”

I think I would remember seeing a vision of loveliness like yourself, I almost said, managing to get control over my stupid brain at the last second. Damn it, I’m not a teenager anymore. Stop acting like it. “I do, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you there before.”

“Oh, naturally, you wouldn’t. I’m not a student. I simply visit there to occasionally request assistants and modelers for my shop. I run a boutique in downtown Canterlot, Rarity For You.” Her sapphire blue eyes fixed squarely on my jacket, the side of her lip curling as she let out a quiet scoff. “Perhaps you should… visit sometime.”

Okay, that was a splash of cold water. She was hot, fine, but no one disses the jacket. I stuffed my hands pointedly into my jacket pockets, pulling it tighter around me. “I dunno about that. I’m not big on spending lots of money on clothes.”

She gave an elegant shrug. “Ah well. Anyway, why don’t we try and see if we can find someone on the crew of this ship. Surely someone has to know how we got here.”

“Yeah, good idea,” I agreed. I glanced both ways down the hallway. One, I saw, dead ended in a large steel barricade, like some kind of fire door or watertight bulkhead. So I pointed down the other way and said, “Let’s go.”

We made our way swiftly down the hall, her heels and my boots clanking softly against the carpeted steel till we found ourselves emerging into open air on the main deck of the ship. The ocean breeze sent our hair flying up as it filled our noses with the smell of salt spray. We must’ve been right at the bow of the ship, because not too far away I could see the prow beating a path through the waves. The main deck had to have been a good couple hundred feet above the waterline, because I could barely make out the splashing of the waves against the hull. Nearby was a large outdoor lounge, laden with tables and chairs, all made from strong plastic but with comfortable looking cushions, and a full bar, with another screen hanging behind it, this one larger with equally larger speakers. And, of course, security cameras, all over the place. The designer of this ship sure cared about security.

There were a pair of people chatting by the bar. One was a short, slightly chubby pink skinned girl with a shock of curly pink hair wearing a white t-shirt stamped with a trio of balloons, two blue and one yellow, and a ruffled skirt in several shades of pink, yammering away a mile a minute. Jeez, someone likes pink. The other was a taller woman wearing a grey pantsuit and a mustard yellow business jacket over a black polo shirt, with a professionally cut short hairstyle of light grey violet streaked with white, doing her best not to look as snobbish and disgusted by the pink one as possible and failing miserably.

With a great big gasp of delight the pink one spotted the two of us and rushed over in a flash, grabbing and shaking our hands so fast I barely had a chance to react. “More new people! Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! So nice to meet you! Ooh, do you work here? I don’t work here, I just woke up on one of these chairs and was like ‘wow why am I on a ship?’ but then I saw her over there and I just had to talk and now I’m talking to you!”

Of course her name is Pinkie Pie. What else would it be, I thought as I grimaced. “Um, hi. I’m Sunset Shimmer, this is Rarity Belle. We don’t work here either.”

“Oooh, shoot!” Pinkie pouted, snapping her fingers. “I was sure someone I’d spot would be working here. I mean why would a bunch of twenty somethings be waking up on a cruise ship out in the middle of nowhere, with no one else around? Oh no, do you think we were kidnapped?!”

“Maybe?” I shrugged. This girl was already giving me a headache. Or bringing back the one I had earlier. Same difference. “Probably not though. I don’t think kidnappers would let us just walk around the ship. Look, why don’t you talk to Rarity. Excuse me.”

“Hey!” Rarity whined as Pinkie immediately began gabbing away in her ear, leaving the poor woman overwhelmed. That’s for dissing the jacket.

I pointedly walked away over to the other woman standing at the bar. She favored me with a sneer and a raised eyebrow. “At least you’re not talking my ear off,” she said after a moment.

Oookay…. I stuck out a hand, giving her a friendly grin. “Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

She looked down at my hand and snorted, her lips twisting in a disgusted grimace. But she extended a hand and took mine, shaking just long enough then dropping it. “Charmed. Diamond Tiara. I’m guessing you’re not one of the help, either. So are you a deckhand? Perhaps you work in the engine room?”

My face scrunched in a mild sneer of my own. “Excuse me?” She was already reminding me of the nobility back in Equestria, all high and mighty rich folk with messed up ideals about their inherent superiority and no manners.

She let out a quiet little laugh. “Forgive me, I just assumed, what with your shabby appearance and that… jacket… that you couldn’t possibly be a passenger.” Her mouth twisted into a patently insincere simper. “My apologies.”

I shoved my hand back in my jacket, scowling and shaking my head. “Yeah. Fine. Whatever. Look, do you know anything about what’s going on here?”

“No, I don’t.” She crossed her arms and frowned. “This ship looks like one my father would rent for our family for a week, but he’d never do that without telling me. And he wouldn’t let people like you aboard.”

My hands clenched into fists in my pocket, gripping fistfuls of jacket. “No, of course not,” I growled. “There’d be too much room taken up by your ego.”

Her jaw just about unhinged as she glowered at me, absolutely furious in a heartbeat. “How dare you? Don’t you know who I am? Who my father is?”

One side of my mouth curled up in a satisfied smirk. “You can dish it out but you can’t take it, huh? Figures.” I decided to walk away. No need to waste time on her.

I found poor Rarity leaning on the railing, Pinkie nowhere to be found. “That was uncalled for, darling,” Rarity grumbled. “I don’t know where that girl gets her energy.”

“Sorry,” I said with a sheepish grin. I pointed down the deck, where there was a large opening leading into another corridor we hadn’t explored yet. “C’mon, let’s go this way. See who else is here.”

A brief walk had us come back out onto the deck of the ship, this time in a much wider area than the lounge. An open staircase barred off with a large steel bulkhead like the one in the cabin hallway led up to what was probably the bridge, a large tower overlooking the place decorated with large ocean blue banners and a few pieces of equipment such as radar dishes and radio beacons, and, naturally, more security cameras. I could see a window up there atop, but no people inside. Down closer to the main deck was a balcony that led to a single solitary door into the tower, probably for the ship’s captain to come out and give announcements. A large screen and speakers hung right above the door.

Apart from that, there was, far on the other side of the empty space, a massive Olympic sized pool, complete with several diving boards at various heights, and lounging benches. There was also the stereotypical oversized chair for a lifeguard, but a sign hung off of it pointedly reading “No lifeguard on duty.” A few sets of tables and chairs completed the arrangement. There was also another entryway leading into another area of the ship.

A trio of people were talking by the tables, and waving to us as we approached. There was a tall, well muscled light orange-skinned woman, wearing a comfortable pair of jeans and a white button shirt patterned with green on the shoulders and collar, plus a stetson hat atop her head. Golden hair streamed down into a practical ponytail bouncing behind her. “Well howdy there!” she greeted with a friendly wave and an accent thick with the tune of the countryside. “Nice ta see new folks. Why don’tcha c’mere, sit a spell with us?”

She patted a pair of chairs next to her, between her and a smaller woman, this one with pale yellow skin and rich red locks of hair falling around her face in gentle curls. A red bow was tied atop her head, lending her an almost childlike sense of charm. She was clad similarly to the country woman, with a green button up shirt and a pair of jeans. She waved happily, and grinned. “Yeah, c’mon!” she agreed in an identical accent. Are they sisters? I wondered.

The third person sitting nearby was a gangly looking guy with darkish skin, wearing a beanie atop a head full of green hair. Unlike them he was sporting a short sleeved red t-shirt lined with white trimming and a symbol of a sun between two green mountains, a dock, and a puddle of blue water, alongside a pair of khaki cargo shorts and practical brown steel-toed boots. He flashed us a cocky grin and flicked both hands at us like they were a pair of revolvers. “Hey there,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

Ugh, what a creep! I sat down between the two women, as did Rarity, and pointedly did not look in his direction. “Hi. I’m Sunset Shimmer, and this is Rarity.”

The country woman stuck her hand out and gave me a firm, enthusiastic shake. “Glad to meetcha! Ah’m Applejack, and this here’s mah little sister, Apple Bloom! We sure are glad to see someone else around here. We were startin’ to wonder if we were the only ones aboard.” Her smile dampened a bit as she turned to the guy sitting nearby. “And uh, this one’s name is Timber, Ah think? Timber Spruce?”

His smirk widened. “Yup, you got it AJ. Timber Spruce, counselor from Camp Everfree, at your service.” He stuck out a hand to Rarity. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

Rarity’s lips puckered up like she’d just bit into a lemon. “Of course, of course,” she said with the quickest handshake I’ve ever seen.

“Hey Ah think Ah’ve seen you before,” Apple Bloom said as she shook my hand with similar enthusiasm as her sister, if not the same strength. “Ah’m in mah second year at Canterlot University. Do you go there too?”

“I do,” I replied. “Just finished one bachelor’s, going back for a second.”

Apple Bloom’s eyes bulged to the size of dinner plates. “Wow!” she gasped. “You must be rich or somethin’. Ah’m only the second member of my family ever to go to college!”

My cheeks lit up with pink. “Aheh, no, not rich,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “Just good investments.” If you count selling all the Equestrian gold and gems I brought with me and throwing the funds into savings bonds and so on as investments…

“But still! Ah had to get a scholarship and have a college fund set up just to afford university.” Apple Bloom threw her hands up in the air in a cheer. “Anywho, congrats on yer first bachelor’s! Ah hope mine goes as well.”

“Eeyup, we sure are proud of you, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said with a wide smile as she tousled Apple Bloom’s hair. “Ah went to college mahself, but it was just a community college for a two year degree in business. It’s sure helped with managin’ the farm, cause we’re doing way better than we used to in profits, but it was pretty expensive even doin’ that.”

“The farm, you say? Do you perhaps mean Sweet Apple Acres, just outside Canterlot?” Rarity broke in, stars in her eyes. At Applejack’s nod, she continued, “I always buy your produce when I go to the supermarket. It tastes absolutely divine, so much better than the other local providers!”

Applejack beamed at the praise, her smile wider than the sea. “Why shucks, thank ya kindly, miss Rarity. Ah always appreciate hearin’ that. Makes my days workin’ on the farm that much sweeter.”

“Hey, uh, not to barge in on your conversation,” Timber said, leaning forward and giving us a shrewd look. “But do either of you two know how we got here? We just woke up sitting in these chairs and as much fun as a cruise ride is, it’s kinda weird, you know?”

I shook my head. “Sorry, but we don’t. We’ve been running into other people on the ship, but so far, no one knows either.”

“Speaking of which, darling,” Rarity said as she stood, “we should perhaps get back to that. Now that I see Miss Applejack here has her sister on board, I’m starting to wonder if my dear Sweetie Belle is too!” She gave Applejack and Apple Bloom a smile. “We’ll talk more later, I’m sure.”

Applejack stood as well, stretching her arms out wide with a grunt. “Ya know that sounds like a mighty fine idea. C’mon Bloom, why don’t we go explorin’ ourselves?”

“Sure!” Apple Bloom hopped out of her seat. Then she cast Timber a hesitant look. “Uh, you uh, want to come with, Timber?”

“Might as well,” he agreed. I caught Applejack throwing her sister a withering glare as they all left to wander off back in the direction we came from.

Meanwhile, Rarity and I crossed the deck to the other entryway into the ship, emerging onto a massive indoor promenade easily twice the size of the outer deck we were just on. A series of shops lined both sides of the walls nearby us--I spotted a sporting goods store, a “duty-free” store, whatever that meant, a pharmacy, an office/arts and crafts store store, a jeweler, a fabric store, and a convenience store. There was also a set of bathrooms right next to the door to the bridge deck. About halfway down the promenade was a large food court setting, with various tables and chairs. The rest of the area was full of restaurants, of all kinds of food. One in particular down near the end caught my eye, a Sushi King. I worked at one of those in my last year of high school, and I knew they had good food. Maybe someone was working there. Oh, and of course, there were the ubiquitous security cameras and screens, though by this point I was ignoring them as background scenery.

Rarity, however, became immediately distracted by the fabric store and all but yanked me by the arm into it straight away. “Oh my stars, darling, look at all these choices!” she stammered as she carted me down the various aisles. Bolts of fabric of all shades and colors, of varying materials from cotton to linen to nylon to fleece to silk and lots of other things I didn’t know what they were lined the shelves, all labeled for easy identification, but, strangely, no price tags. “Look at this silk! This is some of the most expensive Qilin silk in existence! I’ve never seen so much in one place. Can you imagine the dresses I could make with this? Oh, ideaaaaa!”

“Hey, can you keep it down please?” came a quiet, grumpy sounding voice from nearby, starling us both.

I whirled and saw a shorter woman standing there in a tan and brown striped sweater and pair of jeans, long locks of forest green hair streaming down around her face. Where the hell was she when we came in?! I thought. “Uh, sorry?” I offered.

Rarity held a hand to her mouth and screwed her lips up into a duck-like pout. “Oh, terribly sorry, dear, I just became so excited when I saw what was on offer! Please, forgive me.”

She scowled, stuffed her hands in her pockets and shrugged. “Whatever. No problem. Not like I expect to be noticed anyway.”

Rarity and I exchanged a look. This is a little awkward. Better clear the air. “Sorry to hear that,” I said. “Anyway, I’m Sunset Shimmer and this is Rarity. What’s your name?”

The green haired woman looked away, focusing on a wall. After a moment or two, she huffed a sigh and said “Wallflower Blush. Excuse me.” She walked away, disappearing into the shelves.

“Well that was… odd,” Rarity commented. “I didn’t even get to ask if she knew anything. Oh well.”

“Yeah and we can probably look at the silk later, Rarity, c’mon,” I said, taking her hand and gently leading her out of the shop. Whatever your problem is, Wallflower, we’ll give you space.

As we emerged from the shop, we saw two others emerging from the sporting goods store. One was a tall, lithe figure, towering over the other with her yellow skin and soft pink hair cascading down her shoulders to partially hide her eyes. She wore a knee length dark teal dress decorated with butterflies and ribbons tied with bows on her legs. The other was a short, lean cyan-skinned girl with a messy tangle of short rainbow colored hair, wearing a blue sports jacket over a white shirt emblazoned with a rainbow lightning bolt and form-fitting black pants decorated with more bolts. Something about her was a bit familiar, too. Rainbow girl was laughing like crazy while the other was giggling softly in turn, but staying quiet.

“Oh hey look, more people!” the shorter one said, pointing at us. “Hey you over there, c’mere! We wanna ask you something!”

The taller one mumbled something into the shorter one’s ear as we approached. “Hi there,” I greeted with a small wave.

“Yeah, hi, listen, my name’s Rainbow Dash, this here is Fluttershy. Do either of you have a clue how we got here? I mean this place is awesome and all, but it’s kinda weird. I mean we woke up next to a shelf of basketballs and soccer balls. How weird is that?”

Rarity gave her a sympathetic smile. “Sorry darling, but we don’t know either. Oh, forgive my manners. I am Rarity, and this is Sunset Shimmer.” She cocked her head to the side. “Wait, haven’t I seen you before?”

“You’re the lead forward of the Canterlot Crusaders, aren’t you?” I said with a snap of my fingers, referring to CU’s soccer team. “That’s where I’ve seen you before.”

“Yup, that’s me!” Rainbow preened, standing proud. Fluttershy took the opportunity to carefully step behind her, almost ducking down as if to hide behind the shorter woman.

“Um, is she okay?” I asked.

Fluttershy, shaking like a leaf, stood back up. “S-ssorry,” she said, twiddling her fingers together. “I-I’m just really… s-shy. I-I’ve been working on it, b-but… strangers scare me.”

“Hey, don’t worry, Shy, they’re cool. They won’t hurt you,” Rainbow said soothingly, taking Fluttershy’s hand in hers and squeezing it gently.

“Right, thanks Dashie,” she said, squeezing back.

Poor Fluttershy. Anxiety’s a real bitch sometimes. “Sorry if we scared you,” I said, taking a couple steps back and keeping my hands down next to my waist so I was less intimidating. “We’re just exploring the ship, trying to figure out how we got here.”

“You d-don’t think we were kidnapped, do you?” Fluttershy asked.

“I wish we could tell you, darling, honestly, but we haven’t a clue,” Rarity said, matching my actions. “I’m hoping this is just some kind of surprise party or something of that nature. Though I can’t imagine who would be throwing it, since it seems almost none of us know each other.”

“Oh, okay…” Fluttershy whimpered, staring down at the floor with the saddest expression I’d ever seen on a woman before.

Ooof, that’s simultaneously adorable and hurts. “Sorry about that,” I said again.

“Hey don’t sweat it,” Rainbow said. She wrapped an arm around Fluttershy. “Hey Shy, why don’t we go check out that store over there, huh? Sunset, Rarity, we’ll uh, we’ll catch you later.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said as the two walked off.

Rarity sighed gently as she watched them. “That poor dear… I hope for her sake this really is what I suggested, and not something more sinister.”

I’d been trying to fight off an increasing feeling of unease since waking up. No one we’d run into yet had a clue what was going on, and combined with that feeling I’d seen something like this before, somewhere, I was getting pretty nervous myself. “Yeah I know what you mean. C’mon.”

We walked down the promenade towards the food court area. Like the rest of the ship, the whole promenade had an aura of elegance and opulence far beyond anything I’d ever have been able to afford since I’d come to the human world. In some ways it was like being back at Canterlot Castle, with Princess Celestia, getting to eat the finest meals from the best chefs in the land, drink the finest wines… but that was all in the past, along with my old self. Nowadays I didn’t need any of that crap anymore.

As we approached the food court, we saw a quartet of people sitting at a table, three women, one man. One of the women, with purple and pink hair held up in a pony-tail with a bun wearing a blue polo shirt with a pink sweater vest over it, a pink bow tie, and a purple skirt emblazoned with a pink and white six-pointed star was thoroughly engaged in some kind of book, completely ignoring the others.

The other two women were arguing animatedly over something, gesturing wildly with their hands. One of them had the poofiest orange hair I’d ever seen in my life, tied back with a spiked hair tie, the rest streaming down over a purple camisole and matching skirt, plus long semi-transparent lavender hose patterned with triangles. A pair of leather boots with spiked heels completed her outfit. Obviously a pretty tough girl, but I rather liked her style. Maybe just because we were both wearing leather.

The other was dressed more plainly, just a dark blue hoodie over a lilac and cyan patterned skirt decorated with a symbol of a wand and crescent moon. Her hair was unusually white, with silver blue streaks.

The man meanwhile was trying to break up the argument. He had sapphire blue hair over burnt orange skin, and wore an outfit rather like mine, with blue jeans and a leather jacket over a white shirt emblazoned with a crest of a blue shield with a yellow lightning bolt. Something about the way he looked made me want to trust him. Unlike Timber, he struck me as a nice guy. Not, like, the creepy kind who are all nice to you then call you a bitch when you won’t have sex with them. A genuine nice guy, who looks out for friends. The kind you can rely on.

As we approached, the book reader slammed her book onto the table and cried out, “Ugh, would you two please be quiet? I am trying to read!”

“Well perhaps if she could stop insulting Trixie’s manner of speaking Trixie might be able to quiet down a notch!” cried out hoodie girl, or Trixie, apparently.

“Oh please, I’ll stop ‘insulting’ you as soon as you learn how to talk like a normal person!” shouted the orange-haired woman. Despite her harsh words, her voice instantly struck me as gorgeous beyond belief, oozing charm like a fine latte with just enough milk and cream to balance out the bitterness. Okay, I’m bi, I get it, down girl, I thought to myself as I pushed that thought away.

“There is nothing wrong with the way Trixie speaks! It is very common in Neighpon to speak in third person and Trixie will do so if Trixie wishes to!”

“Well we’re not in Neighpon, are we?”

“Listen, you two,” said the man, interjecting again, “Try to calm down, please? This isn’t helping anything.”

Oh for goodness’s sake. “Sorry Rarity,” I said as I put my fingers to my lips and let out a loud whistle. “Hey, you two, listen to him why don’t you?”

Trixie turned to face us, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing dramatically. “And why should Trixie listen? No one seems to be respecting Trixie’s feelings!”

“Please, darling, it’s alright,” Rarity said. “It’s perfectly fine to speak in third person if you want. It’s unusual, certainly, but I, for one think it sounds absolutely darling.”

Is everything darling to you? I thought as I added aloud, “Yeah, you do you, girl.”

Trixie gave the other woman a smirk of triumph. “Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails!” she cackled with glee.

“Whatever,” said the other woman, pointedly looking away. “Hey, you two. What’s going on around here anyway? Why are we here?”

Dang it. “Sorry, we don’t know a thing. We were hoping you did,” I answered. “Anyway, I didn’t catch your name. I’m Sunset Shimmer, this is Rarity.”

“Adagio Dazzle.” Adagio sauntered back to her table and sat down, crossing one leg over the other. “You already heard this idiot’s name. Loser guy over here is Flash Sentry, and I don’t know or care what her name is.”

Book girl glared fierce daggers at Adagio as she looked up at us. “Twilight Sparkle, if you don’t mind,” she said as she adjusted her wire-rimmed glasses. “And it’s a shame you don’t know anything. I was hoping a member of the ship’s crew would come by.” She held up her book. “I woke up with this book on cruise ships and was reading through it. I thought I’d do some research, try to figure out why we might be here.”

“And Trixie apologizes if Trixie made a bad impression,” said Trixie, with a contrite expression on her face.

“Apology accepted,” Rarity said.

“Anyway,” Flash interjected, “it’s nice to meet you two. Guess we’re all gonna have fun on this cruise ship, huh?”

“If by fun,” Rarity replied, “you mean confusion in luxury? Well I do admit, our situation could be far worse. At least there’s food, water, places to sleep.”

“So that’s what, thirteen people on board now who’ve no idea what’s going on?” I said, throwing up my arms in frustration.

“Fourteen, darling, don’t forget yourself.”

“Right, yeah, okay. Listen, we’re gonna go see if there’s anyone else around, and if not we’ll come back. There’s others around the ship too. We should all meet up here.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Flash replied with a nod. He hopped out of his chair. “I could go gather people up if you want.”

“Please do,” I replied with a smile.

“Alright. Hey Trixie, wanna come with?”

Trixie unfolded her arms and nodded. “Trixie agrees.”

“And if you find anyone on the crew, let us know immediately,” Twilight added. “Information matters.”

Rarity and I departed for the other end of the promenade, past the Sushi King. It dead ended in a little alcove with a railing out to see, with a pair of chairs, labeled “Lover’s Corner” in gaudy lettering. There was also a doorway which, when we entered, ended up dumping us right back into the section with the cabins. This exit was against the far wall which, thanks to the slight curve in the corridor, I hadn’t noticed from my room.

There were two more people waiting in the cabin hallway though, both women a bit younger than us. One sported mauve colored hair, wearing a black hoodie over khaki cargo shorts and black boots. The other had long two-toned pink and purple hair all done in thick curls wearing a pink striped shirt with a dark pink suit jacket overtop and a poofy yellow skirt that reached her ankles.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity squealed as soon as she saw the second woman, running forward in her heels flawlessly as she catapulted herself to give Sweetie Belle a massive hug.

“Rarity?!” Sweetie yelped in surprise.

“Woah, who’re you?” asked the other one.

I cleared my throat to get their attention. “Sorry about that. I’m Sunset Shimmer, that’s Rarity, Sweetie’s sister.”

“Okay, that’s enough sis, I’m twenty-one, not ten anymore,” Sweetie said, gently pushing her sister away.

Rarity withdrew, wiping a few tears from her eyes. “Sorry Sweetie, it’s just so good to see you. I feel like I haven’t seen you for an age. You never call! You never write!”

“I do text you! I’m just at the University, Rarity. Jeez. You’re worse than mom sometimes, you know?” Sweetie said with a laugh. “But yeah it’s good to see you too sis.”

“And I’m Scootaloo, by the way,” said the other woman. “I go to CU too. I think I’m in one of Sweetie’s classes with her.”

“And lemme guess, neither of you know why we’re here?” I asked.

“Nope,” Scootaloo said. “I just woke up in my room a couple minutes ago. Had a headache but it’s all gone now. So we’re on a ship?”

“Sorry,” Sweetie shrugged. “I’m in the same boat as Scootaloo.” She let out a snrk of laughter. “Heh, same boat.”

“Yeah, we’re on a cruise ship.” I answered. Groaning in frustration I put my hands on my hips. “This is so annoying. We’ve walked around in a big circle now. There’s sixteen people on this ship we’ve found, no one knows what’s going on, and I’m really getting annoyed with the lack of answers!”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

A loud artificial ringing, almost like a school bell, belted out from every speaker in the hallway at once. All of the screens lit up with static, where a dark silhouette of a figure was barely visible and almost indistinguishable. “Ahem! Attention! Attention, if you please!” came a voice, all high pitched and squeaky, but clearly masculine. “This is your ship’s captain speaking! Please assemble before the bridge tower at once! All passengers must comply!”

“Oh, finally, thank goodness,” I grumbled. “‘Bout time we got some answers as to what’s going on.”

We stomped on over as a group towards the bridge tower via the lounge route, gathering up Pinkie Pie (who’d reappeared from wherever she went) and Diamond Tiara along the way. “Oooh, I wonder what this is about?” Pinkie said as we walked. “Maybe the captain’s throwing us a big party?”

We arrived with the rest of the group, everyone together standing before the bridge tower. “Oh wow, wait, there’s sixteen of us huh?” Pinkie said.

“Yeah, what about it?” Adagio grumbled, glaring with her arms crossed.

“Do you know something?” Twilight asked, intrigued.

“If she knows something she should tell us. Now.” Diamond Tiara stated.

Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Nope, I dunno anything! But this does feel like something! I mean there’s sixteen of us, right? And there’s security cameras everywhere. And the ship’s captain is a squeaky guy. It feels like some kind of setup, but I dunno what!”

A deep freezing chill ran down my spine at Pinkie’s statement. All of a sudden every bit of unease I’d felt this whole time became crystal clear, a single name appearing in my mind. “Danganronpa,” I said, my voice shaking. “This feels like Danganronpa.”

“Got it in one!” cried a squeaky voice from above us.

Out from the door to the bridge tower emerged not the teddy bear robot I was expecting, but an Equestrian pony. Half white coated and maned on one side, the other all black, with a wide stretched sharp toothed grin on the black side of its mouth, it struck a pose, opening up one black bat wing and one white feathered wing, its mane bouncing in the sea breeze, revealing the long pointed horn atop its head. An alicorn. It’s a fucking alicorn? What the hell?

“Woah, what is that?!” Timber Spruce cried.

“It’s so weird looking!” Scootaloo said, cringing.

“Aww but it’s kind of cute!” Sweetie cooed.

Trixie cocked her head. “Trixie thinks it’s a pony of some kind.”

“That don’t look like no pony Ah’ve ever seen,” Applejack disagreed. “The proportions are all wrong.”

“No, it’s a pony,” I said loudly, hushing the group. “Not the kind you’re familiar with, AJ, but it’s a pony. I’d know.

“What do you mean, you’d know?” Twilight asked, glaring at me curiously.

“Oho, but she’s right!” the pony squealed, bouncing in place. “I, your ship’s captain, am a pony. An alicorn, to be precise. You may call me Monoponi.” He pronounced it Mono-pony.

Pinkie gasped in horror, recoiling backwards and wriggling her limbs about. “Oh noo! I was right! This is a setup! Everybody panic!”

Everyone just glared at her, some in derision, others in confusion. “Why?” Flash asked.

“Now now, Pinkie, let your captain speak,” Monoponi said with a creepy giggle, holding a hoof to his mouth. “You’ll spoil the surprise!”

“What surprise?” Rainbow Dash growled, glaring up at him. “What the hell is going on here? Why are we all on a cruise ship in the middle of nowhere?”

“And where’s the crew?” Diamond Tiara demanded. “Who’s piloting the ship? Who’s running the place?”

“Oh, they’re around,” Monoponi said with a wink.”They’re feeling a bit shy.”

“Look will you just give us a straight answer already?!” I shouted, slamming my foot onto the deck with a loud clang. “Stop beating around the bush and get to it.”

“Hmph! Such rudeness! Goodness me, what are they teaching you nowadays?” Monoponi tutted, shaking his head. “You could at least try saying please.”

My eyes narrowed into slits, my hands clenched into fists. “Please. Tell Us. Now.”

“Better! Very well. You’ve all been brought here for a very special trip on the ocean! A getaway from your usual boring, pathetic, waste of time lives! A fantastic journey with all the luxuries you could ask for!” Monoponi said, gesturing grandly with his wings and hooves as he spoke.

“Well that doesn’t sound so bad,” Apple Bloom commented, grinning. “Ah mean, Ah could always use a break from school.”

“Hold your horses there, honey, Ah don’t think it’s that simple,” Applejack said. She took a few steps forward and joined me in glaring at Monoponi. “Ah don’t know what kind of trick yer pullin’ but you’re soundin’ less trustworthy than a snake oil salesman right now. What’s the catch to this trip?”

“Oh, nothing too terrible, really…. Just that it will last till the end of your lives! Ahahahaha!” Monoponi cackled, his horn igniting just long enough to cast a loud crackoom of thunder.

I heard a lot of voices squealing variations on “What?!” or “Oh no!” or “No way!” all at once, everyone suddenly shouting together.

Shit. And he can cast magic too. How’s that even possible on this side of the portal? “Everyone cool it!” I shouted, smacking my foot against the deck twice to get their attention. The rest managed to quiet down to a low murmur, but I could see a lot of scared faces. Especially poor Fluttershy, doing her best to hide behind Rainbow Dash. “What do you mean by the end of our lives?”

Monoponi held up a hoof to his mouth. “Upupupupu, you know exactly what I mean, Sunset Shimmer. Didn’t you say Danganronpa before? You’ve played the games. You know exactly what this is! Don’t even try to lie!” He let out a loud cackle of glee. “But I’ll explain for the rest of these idiots. It’s just like I said. Till the end of your lives. You’re living on this boat forever!”

“That’s not happening!” Rainbow Dash screamed, throwing her hand out. “I’ve got school! I’m the star player on the Crusaders for goodness sake! I can’t be stuck here!”

“Mah family depends upon mah farm!” Applejack cried. “If ya think ya can hold me here against mah will for even just a minute ye’re gonna be in a whole heap of trouble, mister!”

Diamond Tiara snarled, “You have no idea who I am. You can’t keep me here! My father will see to that! If you think he’ll accept me being missing for more than twenty-four hours you’ve got a lot to learn!”

“Besides, you don’t look so tough,” Timber interjected. “And there’s sixteen of us and one of you! We can stop you right here!” He held out a hand and punched his other fist into it.

“Damn right!” Scootaloo agreed, balling her fists. “I might be small but I pack a mean punch! I went to karate school you know!”

Rarity, of all people, hopped into a martial arts stance. “I have a black belt in three different disciplines. Mister Monoponi, if you think you can stop me from breaking out of here, just come over here and try it!”

“Timber is correct,” Twilight added, adjusting her glasses. “While some of us may not be good at hand to hand combat, the odds are strictly against you. I believe we have a good chance of success.”

Wallflower Blush, who’d all but blended into the background at this point, spoke up just to say, “Whatever, like I care,” and left it at that.

Monoponi let out a loud growl. “Excuse me? Are you threatening mutiny?! Aboard my ship?! Never!”

Adagio let out a sadistic sounding laugh of her own. “And you think you can stop us?”

“Guys, this isn’t going to work,” I mumbled under my breath.

Pinkie Pie stopped wiggling in panic long enough to bounce into some vague movie-version of a kung fu stance. “Mutiny? Count on it! We’re not gonna let you get away with this!”

“Alright, enough talk!” Rainbow Dash shouted, dropping into a sprinter’s stance. “Let’s get him!”

Immediately Monoponi’s horn lit up, and several massive-barrelled machine guns burst out from the tower, pointing our way. More sprung up from the railing, from the deck, from all around us, all ready to spin up and spit fire. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said in a quiet, sinister tone. “Mutiny aboard this ship is punishable by death!”

“Woah, crap!” Rainbow squealed, falling back onto her butt, eyes saucering with panic.

“D-d-d-death?! Did he say death?!” Fluttershy screamed.

“N-no, no way, you can’t be serious!” Timber cried out, grasping his head with hands, all bravado gone.

“Rarity? I… I want to go home now!” Sweetie blubbered, tears in her eyes, clinging to Rarity’s arm.

“Me too darling, me too…”

The games. This is just like the games. But I don’t understand. How is a Neighponese visual novel happening in real life? Who the hell is this guy? “Guys, calm down,” I said, trying to get a grip on everyone’s panic. “Listen to me. He won’t hurt us if we don’t break the rules.” I glared up at him. “Right? Is that how it works?”

Most of the guns withdrew into the deck, but the ones on the bridge tower stayed out, tracking everyone’s movements. “Exactamundo!” Monoponi answered. “So long as you follow the rules, you’ll be able to enjoy this trip to your heart’s content! So you can relax! Enjoy the pool! Have some food at the restaurants! Buy each other presents! Oh, right. You’ll need these.”

His horn lit again and a section of the deck before us opened up, revealing a small elevator rising up to deposit a large cardboard box, open at the top. Inside were a number of small computer tablets. “Now remember, you each get one and one only! Be sure to get the one with your name on it! I’ll give you a few minutes to get them, but after that, anyone without their Monopad on their person will be punished!”

Everyone scrambled to get a tablet. I was closest, and got mine first. It was small, about the size of three smartphones laid side by side. My name was engraved in golden letters on the back, the rest of the pad decorated in black and white. It was just the right size to fit in one of my larger jacket pockets, but I decided I’d have to get some kind of small backpack from one of the stores. The other side bore a stretch of solar paneling, and there was a simple USB charge port on one side, along with a power button and headphones jack. I turned it on.

It showed my name at first as it booted up, then a home screen, like any smartphone app page. Several apps were in place, including a map, a texting app, passenger profiles, evidence--I cringed at that--a camera, a voice recorder, and most importantly, rules. I decided to glance at the profiles first, just in case. And like I expected, it showed our names, our birth dates, blood type, height, weight, chest size (ugh) and, oddly, an Ultimate Talent. In my case, it simply showed “???”

“Wait, why does this list us as having a talent?” I asked.

Everyone else started looking at their profiles while Monoponi explained, “Oh, I thought that would add to the experience. You know, spice things up! Everyone knows you gotta have Ultimates for something like this, right? Even if you’re not really Ultimates.”

Adagio’s face curled into a quiet sneer as she whispered, “Songstress. Please.”

“Trixie appreciates that you chose Illusionist rather than simply Magician,” Trixie commented, grinning.

“Rich Kid? Rich Kid?!” Diamond Tiara shouted, stamping her foot. “What is that supposed to mean?! I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-one years old!”

Flash’s cheeks bloomed a brilliant pink. “Why is mine… Boytoy?” he groaned. “I mean, really? I play music, man. I drive a cool car. I do other things. Why?”

“Hey look, mine’s just spinning like a slot machine!” Apple Bloom said, holding up her pad.

“Mine too!” Sweetie Belle said.

“And mine! Wonder what it means,” Scootaloo added.

Monoponi held up a hoof to his mouth. “Upupu, you have to have a sense of humor about these things! Because really, it’s just flavor anyway. Who cares? No, what really matters, as far as you dumb idiots are concerned, is living by the rules! So read them.” He glared down at us, his eyes flashing briefly with a red flare. “Now!”

We all jumped to it, reading carefully:

“M-m-m-murder?” Fluttershy gasped, hiding her face in her hair.

“We… we can’t leave unless we kill someone?! What the hell?!” Timber cried out, gripping his head.

“This is some serious bullshit,” Flash growled, shaking his head. “Why would we ever kill someone else anyway? Are you for real? No one here would do that!”

Applejack snorted. “Ah might be willin’ to defend mahself and mah kin, but Ah ain’t gonna kill anyone! No way.”

Pinkie Pie whimpered softly, her hair seeming to deflate until the bouncy curls laid flat against her skull. “I won’t hurt anyone. I won’t. I won’t!”

“Are you sure about that?” Wallflower Blush spoke up, halting everyone in their tracks. We all turned to face her. “None of us really know each other. Most of us have never met before today. For all we know, one of us is already planning something.”

Adagio favored her with an approving glance. “I see at least one of you has a decent head on her shoulders. She’s right you know. Given the right motivation, the desire to leave? Any of us might give in. Even me.” She let out a deep laugh full of malice. “And if I were to do it, well, I’d target someone weak. Someone who won’t put up much of a fight.” She locked her eyes on Fluttershy, who yelped in fright. “Maybe you?”

Rainbow Dash whirled on her, pointedly stepping between her and Fluttershy and holding out a clenched fist in Adagio’s direction. “You lay a single finger on her and I’ll rip you to pieces!” she snarled.

“Oh my, a death threat already?” Adagio laughed again. “See what I mean? But don’t worry. If I choose to strike,” she let out a growl like a predator as she said that word, “I won’t be so obvious. Maybe keep that in mind?”

“She’s right you know,” Monoponi interjected gleefully. “If you’re going to attempt a Rescue, make it interesting! Give it some mystery, some jazz! Liven it up! Don’t just bash somepony in the head and leave the body where it fell! I won’t tolerate boring mysteries! In fact, here!”

Everyone’s Monopads let out a shrill beep. I looked down at mine to see a new rule already added:

“Did that really need to be a rule?” Trixie scoffed. “Trixie would think this would be obvious.”

“You’d think that, but I’ve seen stupider things before,” Monoponi said.

“But wait, wait, hold on,” Timber interjected in a panicky huff. “W-what’s this a-about an execution?”

Monoponi slapped a hoof to his face. “You see? Stupid questions! What do you think it means, you idiot?! It means execution! As in, you die! If you’re too stupid to fool the rest of the passengers, then you deserve to be punished for disrupting our wonderful ocean trip!”

Fluttershy burst into tears, falling onto her butt on the deck. Rainbow Dash knelt down to embrace her. “I… I want to go home,” she sobbed. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“Hold on, I have another question,” Diamond Tiara said, ignoring the crying woman nearby. “What makes you think you’ll be able to get away with this, huh? I told you, my father won’t stand for me being missing. He’ll have his people combing the place in no time! You think you can hide a cruise ship like this for long? Do you understand the paper trail involved here? The money you spent, the manufacturing, the construction? The launch? What about fuel? How stupid are you?”

Monoponi fixed his cold gaze upon her, eyes flashing. He bared his sharp, predatory teeth, until she faltered, her expression shifting from anger to fear as she took a few steps back. Then he held a hoof to his mouth. “Upupupu, you simpleton! No one will find you. Not the government. Not your daddy. No one! You are at my mercy! And if you keep persisting on this topic, maybe I’ll just decide that constitutes mutiny and kill you as an example!”

Diamond Tiara fell on her knees, tears gushing forth as she held up her hands in a prayer gesture. “No, please, please don’t! Please don’t kill me! I’ll stop, I promise!”

“Ahahahaha!” Monoponi cackled. “Fine. I won’t. For now.”

I didn’t bother sparing her any pity as I stepped forward to look Monoponi closer in the eye. “Who are you? I know you’re not the thing before us. Someone’s controlling you. But who? And why?”

“Oh Sunset, Sunset, Sunset,” Monoponi tut-tutted, shaking his head. “You don’t get the answers to that now. But maybe, if you can survive, I’ll let you discover the answers. Eventually.”

My fists balled up so hard I could just about feel my knuckles burst open. “Fine. I will. One way or another, I’ll find a way to stop you.”

“You can try!” Monoponi giggled. “But, well… you know.”

“This is so messed up,” Timber said, clutching his head once more. “This is so wrong.”

“But why us?” Rarity wondered as she held Sweetie close to her breast, tears dripping down her cheeks. “What did we ever do to deserve this?”

Twilight adjusted her glasses, frowning. “Whoever’s behind this is sick.”

“That I am, Sparkle. That I am. And I love it!” Monoponi cackled. “By the way, just one more little fact for you before I go: one among you is partially responsible for your current predicament! That’s right, one of you is a traitor!”

My blood ran colder than Mount Everhoof at the thought. One of us, responsible? I didn’t want to believe it, of course, but besides that… the way he said it. Partially responsible. What did that even mean?

“Anyway, tata for now, my passengers. If you need me, you can simply call out my name and I shall appear. Please, enjoy your wonderful ocean vacation! Bye bye!”

And with that, Monoponi disappeared into the bridge tower, leaving us, as a group to flounder in panic and misery. To suffer, for, supposedly, the rest of our lives on this miserable cruise ship. As my fellow passengers sobbed, cried, moaned, and withdrew into shells, all I could do was shake my head in disbelief. Whoever was behind this, whoever was doing this and why, I knew they had a purpose. They had a reason for choosing us, for picking this group of people.

And whoever they are, I strongly suspected they weren’t human. They were probably from Equestria.

Which meant whoever they were, I’d be the central focus. As far as I knew, I was the only former pony amongst this group. So whatever it is, it probably has something to do with me.

From here on out, my purpose was clear. I’d find out why. And I will stop them.

No matter what.

Author's Notes:

Welcome, to my Danganronpa/MLPEQG crossover story! I'm sure you have many questions, but as it is a mystery story, that's the idea. A few things I do want to mention, however: all character choices were 100% deliberate, for story specific reasons. The same with all decisions in the story, yes, including the fact that Danganronpa as a video game series is canon within the story's context. This ties into the plot, and isn't just for a joke. If it's in there, it's in there for a reason.

In any case, I hope you've enjoyed so far! As I stated in the story description, I intend to maintain a twice-a-week update schedule, on Saturdays and Wednesdays. There are nine more parts to the story already fully written and edited, so I have a substantial buffer. Unless something drastically changes, I don't expect to have any issues whatsoever with maintaining this update schedule. So please, look forward to it, and thank you. Even if just one person reads this story, I'll deeply appreciate it.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 1

DING-DONG BING-BONG

“Your attention please! This is an announcement from your ship’s captain! It is now 8:00 AM! The shops are open for business, and the weather is fine. Please enjoy another beautiful ocean day!”

I blearily opened my eyes, wrenching myself up into a sitting position. My vision swam, head aching like a bongo drum. I didn’t sleep well at all. Snatches of memories from last night came to my mind as I stood up to visit the bathroom.

Everyone had fallen into a deep seated feeling of fear and melancholy, given the situation. Held hostage, the only way out being given to us was to kill another person and try and get away with it… of course, I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Whoever was behind this wasn’t likely to let us get away with it. And I tried to tell them last night. I remembered all too well.

~*~

“Listen to me, everyone,” I called out, silencing the cries of sadness and anger of the crowd. “I understand you’re afraid. I am too. I’m terrified. But we can’t give into this. It’s what Monoponi, or the person behind him, wants us to do.”

“And why should we listen to you, huh?” Rainbow growled as she kept Fluttershy firmly behind her for protection. “That Monoponi freak seemed to know you. And you knew what this was before he even announced it!”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Yeah, that’s because I’ve played the games this jerk is basing this on. Danganronpa. It’s a series of visual novels, with the exact same premise: a group of sixteen people trapped somewhere, told their only escape is to kill each other. And every time someone murders someone, they’re caught. That’s the whole point. Monoponi doesn’t want you to escape! He wants us to kill each other and suffer for it!”

“Oh please,” Adagio sneered, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You’re the only one here who’s even heard of this Dangan whatever thing! And you heard what he said! One of us is a traitor! And it’s probably you!”

“What?!” I cried out as my body tensed, fists balling up ready to give this bitch a fight. “Did you not hear a word I just said? I was telling you all not to kill! If I was a traitor, why would I do that?”

“It is true that she strikes me as suspicious,” Twilight Sparkle added, glaring at me from behind her glasses. “After all, Sunset, you did say you ‘knew’ about Monoponi being, well, a pony. Care to explain?”

“Oh would you stop pestering the poor girl?” Rarity interjected before I could say another word. “She’s done nothing wrong! Why, as soon as she came out of her cabin she’s done nothing but be helpful, trying to discover what’s going on.”

Trixie threw her arms out in a dramatic pose. “And Trixie finds that all the more suspicious! No one else was searching the ship! Only Sunset was looking for us!”

“Actually, mah sister and Ah were searching too--” Applejack said.

“Quiet, apple farmer!” Diamond Tiara ordered, glowering fiercely at the older woman. Applejack returned her glare with equal malice. “No one cares what you think.”

Fluttershy timidly raised a hand. “But, she was… nice to me. She apologized for scaring me. Why would she do that if she were a… traitor?”

“Simple manipulative tactics, of course,” Wallflower Blush spoke up. “Get us to trust her by being all nice, then she stabs us in the back when it’s convenient.”

“Now hold on just one minute!” Apple Bloom interjected with a slam of her boot on the metal deck. “Don’t y'all realize what yer doin’? Yer takin’ that Monoponi guy at his word! Why should we believe a thing he said? How do we know he ain’t lyin’ about there being a traitor?”

“We don’t,” Flash Sentry answered. “I agree with Apple Bloom. Sunset’s done nothing to suggest she’s suspicious at all.”

“I disagree,” Twilight retorted. “She still hasn’t explained herself regarding the pony thing. None of us have ever seen a pony like that before today, but she knew what he was before he said a word. Why?”

Oh for pony’s sake. I mean, pete’s sake. Ugh. “Look, that’s really hard to explain…” I said, my confidence waning.

Adagio took a few steps forward, her eyes full of malice. “Then get to it.”

I cringed back, taking a few steps back and almost immediately bumped into the wall of the bridge tower. Everyone crowded around me, waiting impatiently. “Well?!” Trixie barked. “Trixie does not have all evening! Explain!”

I held up my hands in surrender. “Fine! I’ll explain! But don’t blame me if you don’t believe it.” I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, gathering my thoughts. “There’s another world out there, parallel to ours. It’s called Equestria, and instead of humans it’s populated by magical ponies. Unicorns, pegasi, Earth ponies. And--”

“What a load of bullshit!” Rainbow intervened, shaking her fist at me. “You expect us to believe that? I’ve given better excuses to teachers for losing my homework! And my excuses suck!”

“But you just saw one using magic!” I protested, all but screaming in her face.

“No we didn’t,” Twilight Sparkle said, adjusting her glasses. “We saw a few special effects including both sound and visual, all easily explained by robotics and computer engineering. Nothing magical at all. Magic doesn’t exist.”

“Ah’m not too sure about that… Ah usually have a good sense for when someone’s tellin a fib or tellin the truth,” Applejack said, pushing her way through the crowd to stand beside me. “And while Ah dunno if Ah believe in magic, Sunset’s been doin’ nothin’ but tell the truth this whole time. Ah trust her.”

“Me too!” Apple Bloom chimed in, moving to stand on my other side.

Flash also joined them. “Yeah I dunno if I believe in magic either, but let’s give Sunset the benefit of the doubt, okay? Until we see her doing something wrong, all we’re doing is giving in to panic and fear.”

“Absolutely, you’re right darling!” Rarity agreed, both she and Sweetie moving to stand with us. “Sunset was nothing but kind to me when we awoke. I don’t see why we should persecute her now, even if her story is a bit difficult to believe.”

Fluttershy took a huge breath, then clumsily, trembling the whole way, walked up to stand beside us. “S-she was nice to me. I-I’m going to be n-nice to her and t-trust her, until she gives me a reason to feel otherwise.”

Rainbow Dash gasped, staring at her with a shocked look on her face. “What? Fluttershy, c’mon!”

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash, b-but I’m sure.”

Pinkie Pie hopped from one foot to the other in place, “Oooooh nooo, this is no good! We shouldn’t be fighting! I’m with Sunny too! She’s been nice so far!” She bounced over to us, her hair seeming to inflate again, just a tad.

“So. We’re split, then,” Wallflower said, arms crossed.

After a moment, Adagio--Adagio, of all people--heaved a sigh and stood with us as well. “Sorry, but no. It’s nine to seven.”

“Wait, what?” My eyebrows shot to the top of my head. “You were just leading the charge against me!”

“And now I’m not. Are you complaining?” Adagio favored me with a calculated look.

I held up my hands and shook them in surrender. “No, no, I’m cool with it. Thanks. All of you, thank you.”

“Fine, so it’s nine to seven then. What do we do?” Wallflower asked in a snarl.

Twilight raised a hand, while using her other to adjust her glasses again. “I would like to volunteer to watch Sunset. I’ll stay with her, keep an eye on her. If she shows any sign of deceit, I’ll let you know. I believe my room is right across from hers anyway, so it should be easy enough.”

“Okay, sure, that’s cool,” I agreed, just wanting all of this over with. “I don’t mind hanging out with you.”

“Alright,” Wallflower agreed. “But if she does anything, you tell us straight away.”

~*~

After that we all just broke away from each other, the nighttime announcement went off, and I decided to just head to bed. I couldn’t blame them one bit for being doubtful. I sure wouldn’t believe my story if I didn’t know it was true. What I didn’t understand was why Adagio suddenly changed sides. What was her deal, anyway? Acting all rude to everyone, then suddenly being nice to me?

Whatever, I thought as I hurtled myself into the shower. The hot spray of water helped me wake up somewhat. I finished quickly, used a hairdryer I found in the bathroom cabinet under the sink, and then dressed in a clean copy of my usual outfit. They’d even duplicated the jacket, of all things, right down to the patches.

As I finished dressing, shoving my Monopad roughly into my jacket pocket, I heard several loud raps on my door. “Coming!” I grumbled, throwing open the door.

Twilight was on the other side, favoring me with a cool look. “Good morning, Sunset. I’m here to accompany you. Everyone else is gathering in the food court for breakfast.”

Right on cue my stomach let out several loud gurgles. “Thank goodness. I’m starving,” I said, holding my hands to my stomach. “I could go for just about anything right now.”

I saw the corner of her mouth twitch briefly in amusement. Oh good, she’s not completely stone cold. “Me too,” she agreed. “Shall we?”

“Let’s.”

We made our way down the corridor to the promenade entryway. Now that I was looking specifically at the restaurants, I decided to check my choices. Just about every type of cuisine was on offer, from sushi to Amareican to Qilin and anything else you can imagine. All of it was automated, just like Monoponi said. I watched Rainbow Dash walk up to the counter of “Joe’s Coffee and Donuts” and pick something from a screen, held up her Monopad to the sensor, then a few machines whirred and out popped her order from a slot on the counter, a large coffee, eggs, and bacon, plus a donut, all on a tray.

I shrugged, and decided to make my way over to Sushi King, and ordered a plate. Once we had our food we went to sit at the tables with everyone else.

The atmosphere practically thrummed with tension, not so much thick as you could cut it with a knife so much as you’d need a chainsaw. Everyone was quiet, withdrawn, leaning away from others sitting at the same table, except the pair of sisters and Dash and Shy of course. Shy was practically sitting in Dash’s lap, she was so close.

As I sat down and started to eat in silence, Adagio scooted her chair over to mine. “Sunset,” she said in greeting.

“Hi,” I said, not really looking at her. I was too hungry to pay much attention.

With a raised eyebrow and a smirk she gave me a moment to swallow what was in my mouth before saying, “I’d like to speak with you after breakfast. Without your chaperone, if you don’t mind.”

“Ahem,” Twilight cleared her throat, glaring at Adagio over her glasses. “I believe I’m supposed to be watching Sunset because she’s under suspicion. Asking for a private meeting just raises even more suspicion.”

Adagio pointedly rolled her eyes with an exaggerated motion. “We’ll go into a quiet corner, you can watch us, we won’t exchange notes or do anything that’ll bother your pretty little head. I just need to ask her something privately.”

“Fine. But I will be watching.”

I raised a hand as if to protest, then dropped it. “Sure. Fine,” I grumbled.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

“Uuugh, what now?”

We all turned as a group to face the closest screens to us. I found myself gripping the table hard as I waited to hear what Monoponi had to say.

He appeared on the screen laying in an Equestrian designed chair, with the background of a cruise line bridge behind him. Before him was a table laden with goodies, including hay fries and carrot dogs, two things I’d not seen since coming to the human world. More obvious proof whoever was behind this was Equestrian, then. Floating in his magic, right up by his lips, was a snifter of brandy.

“Ahem! This is an official announcement from your ship’s captain. All passengers, please assemble before the bridge tower immediately! You have five minutes to comply!”

“Aww man, I didn’t even get to start my doughnut!” Rainbow Dash whined as she dropped her fork to her plate with a clatter.

“You can always finish your food later, c’mon!” Scootaloo cried out as we all got up to head out. I was just as unhappy as Dash as I trudged through the corridors to the bridge deck.

Monoponi was already waiting for us, posing like a complete jerk as if we were supposed to worship him or something. “Good!” he barked once we assembled. “You’re prompt.”

Trixie pointed a finger at him. “Well, obviously Trixie would be on time, because Trixie doesn’t want to die!”

“Details, details!” Monoponi shouted, throwing up his forehooves. “Nevermind that.” His tone turned saccharine and mocking. “Did you sleep well last night? Have a good breakfast?”

“Did you just ask us here to make fun of us?” Scootaloo groaned, slapping a hand to her face. “Because it’s not funny.”

“It is to me! Upupupu… but no! I did not just ask you here to make fun of you, as hilarious as that is!”

I stepped forward, thrust out my arm, and asked, “Then why? What is it this time?”

Monoponi pointed one forehoof straight at my head. “Oh, you mean you don’t already know? But Sunset, you of all people should!” He let out a dramatic gasp. “Oh no, am I making you seem even more suspicious to everyone now?!”

I do know what it’s about, jerk. I just want to hear you say it. I crossed my arms and fired off my hardest glare directly into his crimson pony eyes.

For a good two or three minutes we kept this standoff going, till finally Monoponi gagged in disgust. “Fine! Fine, if you won’t tell them, I will. It’s the captain’s duty, anyway. Ahem. So, you idiots remember what I said last night, about someone being responsible for you being here?”

“Uh, duh, of course we remember,” Sweetie groaned. “That’s why everyone was being a jerk to Sunset.”

“What about it?” Flash asked, holding a hand to his chin.

Monoponi fluttered up into the air off the balcony and down onto the deck with us, landing with a mighty slam! Everyone screamed, backing up away from him as he cackled at us. “Look at you, running because of a cute little pony like me, when you’re all so much bigger than I am! Ahahaha!” He let us quiver in fear for a moment before continuing. “So! As part of being your Captain for this wonderful ocean voyage, I get the lovely task of presenting you with activities! Events! Fun times! In this case, it takes the form of motives!”

“A motive? You mean for murder,” Twilight said as she shivered. She was the closest to Monoponi besides myself and she clearly didn’t like it.

“Yes, for murder, you nitwit! Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?” Monoponi retorted, frantically stomping his hooves in her general direction.

Twilight yelped and fell back in shock. I caught her before she hit the ground and gently set her on the deck. “Careful there, Twi.”

Her cheeks flushed with pink. “Thanks.”

“Hey! I’m talking to you two!” Monoponi screamed, clopping at us all the harder. “Pay attention!” He ceased moving and took a moment to clear his throat. “Now then, the motive. As I stated last night, someone among you is partially responsible for your predicament. How, you might ask? It’s really quite simple.” He stood up on his hind legs, held his forehooves high and spread his wings out to the furthest extent possible. “You have all had your memories taken away!”

“What?!”

“No way!”

“Missing memories?! What do you mean?!”

“Huh?!”

“Trixie cannot believe this! Trixie is missing no memories at all!”

“You’d better own up to what you mean right this second, ya varmint!”

Everyone exploded into talking at all once to where I couldn’t hardly make out who was saying what. But my mind was racing. My memory is missing! That’s why I can’t remember who saved me from being that demon! Or who became my friends in high school! Or even how we got here! No wonder my head was reeling when I first woke up!

A sudden loud fwheet! quieted everyone down long enough for Flash Sentry to call out, “Cool it, everybody! Let Monoponi explain!” He turned to face the pony, who was still posing like some kind of weird statue. “What memories did you take away from us?”

“I? I did no such thing! It was one of you who did it! One of you had the power to remove your memories. As for what, well… upupupupupupu!” Monoponi quivered in glee as he laughed over and over in that stupid little laugh of his. “That’s what makes it a motive! You’ll have to find out! And how might you find out, you ask? Well. Well, well, well. You have to succeed in a Rescue Attempt of course!”

Of course. There it was. The carrot for everyone to chase after pointlessly, till they make a mistake and get beaten with the stick. Or execution, in this case. I didn’t believe him for a second that one of us was responsible. As far as I was aware, from what I could remember of my readings in Equestria, memory modification was extremely rare, powerful magic, far beyond anything anyone save an alicorn or Starswirl the Bearded might be able to pull off.

Then again maybe that’s the point. Maybe I was supposed to think that, because he took away my memory of the real way it could have been done! Ugh, this was so frustrating! My head started aching once more as I tried to force myself to think, to remember anything about the things I knew had been taken away, but all I accomplished was making myself dizzy and cross-eyed. It just wasn’t there. It was gone. And he probably left me with just enough memory of what I’d lost, so I’d have a reason to leave. A reason to kill.

Like I was going to fall for that. But one of the others might. My gaze panned over the crowd, as I saw everyone murmuring to themselves about this or that, things they might’ve forgotten. Probably most of them had no idea what was missing, which would scare them even more.

Maybe this is part of why we were chosen, this group. Maybe we had a connection once, all of us, and we just forgot? The memory of friendships taken away? I could see it, at least with a couple of them. Rarity sure seemed nice enough. Maybe we were friends once?

I probably wasn’t going to find out anytime soon. No point speculating. It’d just be wasted mental energy. I decided I needed to focus instead on keeping these people from succumbing to this motive. It was just more fuel to the fire. They were already desperate. These people weren’t like teenagers who just had school to worry about. A lot of them had jobs, incomes, responsibilities they needed to get back to. Families to feed. People to care for.

Was one of them already planning to kill, even now?

“So what’re you saying then?” Diamond Tiara spoke up, breaking me out of my reverie. “That if we kill someone, you’ll give us our memories back?”

“Absolutely!” Monoponi responded with glee, stomping his hooves on the metal deck in an Equestrian version of a clap. “If you kill someone and get away with it, I’ll give you back your memories! Every last one of them!”

“But how can we know it’s even worth it?” Applejack wondered, scratching her head. “Ah mean, if we don’t know what we forgot?”

“Applejack!” Rarity screeched, whirling on the farmer and getting up in her face. “Surely you’re not considering killing someone!”

“Of course Ah ain’t!” Applejack retorted, getting right up in her face too till they were mere inches apart. “What do you take me for, some kinda country bumpkin? Just cause Ah got an accent don’t mean Ah’m stupid!”

“I never said you were! I just don’t want you to hurt someone and get your sister killed in the process!”

“Ah already know Apple Bloom would die if Ah was lucky enough to kill someone and get away with it! Ah told you, Ah ain’t stupid!”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom ran over and grabbed their respective sisters by the arm, pulling them apart. “Hey, Rarity, calm down! It’s okay, jeez!” Sweetie said.

“Applejack, it ain’t worth it, quit arguin’ with her,” Apple Bloom added.

Rarity huffed once, huffed again, then reeled back and relaxed, like a whole wave passing through her body. “Of course, darling. I apologize.”

Applejack hissed, ripping her arm back from her sister and working it in circles a few times before letting it settle to her side. “Sure, alright, sorry. Didn’t mean to pop off on you.”

“Oooh, too bad!” Monoponi cut in, his horn lit, magic enveloping a tub of popcorn he’d pulled from out of nowhere and started stuffing down his throat in messy bunches. “It was just getting good! Ah well!” He zapped the popcorn back to the aether or whatever and flew back up onto the balcony. “In any case, you all have your motive now! I look forward to seeing what you choose to do with it! Bye bye!”

With that, he vanished back into the bridge tower, leaving us standing there shell shocked, the air rife with fear. You could smell it, the stink was so pungent. Wafting up from each of us as we stood there, trying to process what he’d told us.

But no. I wasn’t going to let this stand. I had to give this whole speech thing at least one more try. “Listen up everyone!” I stamped my foot several times for attention, drawing everyone’s gazes to me. When they fell upon me, with those empty, terrified eyes, my confidence almost flickered out, like a candle in the wind. I took a moment to pause and gather my thoughts, then rustled up what was left to speak. “I know you’re scared now. I am too. Losing our memories? The very idea shakes me to the core.” I squeezed my right hand into a fist and held it up high. “But I’m not going to let that fear drive me into lashing out. I’m not going to give in. This is exactly what he wants. He wants us afraid. He wants us desperate. He wants us to commit murder just to know what he stole from us. We shouldn’t lash out on each other just because we’re too afraid to give up on what we’ve forgotten!”

I held my fist to my breast, tears welling up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. “I know I’ve forgotten a lot already. There’s gaps in my memories, some of them years apart. Important people have been stolen out of my mind and all I can remember is that I can’t remember them! I know they exist, but I don’t know their faces, their names. The sound of their voice. I know that’s been stolen away, and that hurts.”

I twisted my face into an expression of rage. “And the only one I should be angry at for this? The only one who deserves to suffer for this? It isn’t one of you.” I thrust out my arm to point at the bridge tower behind me. “It’s him! He did this to us.”

“Oh would you just shut up?”

The harsh words sliced straight through what was left of my confidence, cleaving it in two and tossing it away like refuse. Everyone whirled to see Wallflower Blush pointing her own finger at me, her expression just as furious as mine had been moments before. “Did you forget already? Are you that stupid? He told us there was a traitor! He told us one of us did this! Not him! How can you stand there and try to give us some inspirational speech if you can’t even keep your ears cleaned out for long enough to pay attention to what someone actually says?!”

“B-b-but, what if he was lying?” Trixie spoke up, her words mushy and uncertain. “W-we don’t know if we can trust him! Trixie does not think we should!”

“Oh please,” Wallflower retorted, the force of her words alone sending Trixie reeling into dead silence once more. “There’s no reason for him to lie. And before you say it, Sunset, I know what you’re going to say. ‘Oh, he’s just saying this to make us kill each other! Oh, he’s just lying!’ Bullshit!” She clenched a fist hard and sent it slamming into a nearby wall with loud metal clang, startling several others into yelping in fright at the sudden sound. “I don’t believe he was lying for a second. Why should he, when the truth would work just as well? I don’t know which of you was responsible for stealing our memories, but if I ever figure out which one of you did it?”

She held up two fingers then ran them across her neck, before letting her hand drop. “I think you get the point. Excuse me.”

Wallflower trudged away, leaving us all to stew in our own hopelessness. Any chance I had to inspire this crowd was gone. I’d failed, badly. I slumped to the floor, the tears I’d been holding back dripping down my cheeks.

Author's Notes:

Characterization becomes very interesting when people no longer remember their friends, don't you think? Those who are naturally charismatic or extroverted might be able to recover easily, still be their normal selves, even rekindle friendships, but those who aren't, well... they might be feeling bitter. Especially if the memories of the only friends they'd ever had were stripped away, leaving them with nothing but years of loneliness.

Wallflower is not doing well, is what I'm saying. (And seriously girl, trying to start a scrum debate now? Wait for the trial, sheesh.)

Also, the parts do get longer after this. The first two parts you'll see today and on Saturday were once one, but I felt they were just too long when combined, so I split them up into two of about 4500 words. (And then of course a later part ends up being 9000 words anyway, and it can't be split up. Go figure.) Well, that, and another reason, but... spoilers.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 2

With the silent terror of Monoponi’s chilling motive ringing in our minds, everyone left the bridge deck, one by one. Some of us headed back to the food court, probably to finish their breakfasts. I decided I needed a few minutes by myself, so I sat on the bridge deck, letting the anguish flush its way out of my system. Damn it. Damn it all.

Thankfully, once I’d had a few minutes to myself, I’d managed to bury most of it back inside, summoning up the courage to put a brave face on again. I needed a distraction. Something. Anything.

And here it came. With a swagger in her step and a bounce to her hips, Adagio Dazzle sauntered towards me and bent over, holding out a hand. “If you don’t mind, Sunset, I’d like to have that conversation now,” she said sweetly, taking my arm and running a finger down the length of it, making me shiver. Then she hefted me roughly to my feet, not bothering to catch me as I almost fell over again before I got my footing.

God, what is with you and the mixed messages, jeez, I thought to myself. “Okay. Um, in my cabin then.”

“Lead the way,” Adagio said, wrapping one arm around mine to hold me as we walked.

“Uh, what’re you doing?” I asked, trying to fight off the blush that was rising on my face. She’s got to be messing with me, right? She’s doing this on purpose! She has to be, right?

“Just making sure you don’t try to sneak away. This is important.”

“Okay…”

We made our way to my cabin, finding Twilight waiting for us. “Oh, there you are, Sunset. I was waiting for you. What took you...” She trailed off, blinking in confusion when she saw Adagio clinging to me, her eyes looking back between us, then the door to my room. “Uh… what, why is Adagio--”

“Don’t you worry,” Adagio interrupted, speaking in a low, husky voice. “We’ll just be a few minutes.”

Okay, now I know she’s doing this on purpose. Poor Twilight.

“O-o-okay. I’ll wait right here. Leave the door unlocked, please,” Twilight stammered, furiously blinking and trying to hide the growing blush on her cheeks.

I glared at Adagio with an exasperated expression. “Sure. C’mon, you.” I opened up the door and we went in.

Once inside I pulled out the chair from the desk and offered it to Adagio, while I took a seat on the bed. “So, what’s this about?”

Adagio paused before answering, collecting her thoughts. Then she blurted, “You’re a pony, aren’t you?”

Alarm bells rang in my head in a furious clatter. The sudden, abrupt nature of the question took me completely off guard. This was not what I was expecting to hear! “Uh, what? I uh, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Adagio hissed, her teeth bared in a vicious snarl as her hands started curling up into something more resembling claws. “You’re a pony. From Equestria. You were telling us about it last night, fool! How else would you know about it if you weren’t from there?!”

Who is this chick? I thought, panic welling up within me. “Even if I was, and I’m not saying I am,” I slowly said as I shifted away from her and closer to the door. “What’s it to you?”

Adagio let out a frustrated hiss that sounded more like a lizard of some kind than a human being, her eyes flashing briefly with crimson almost just like Monoponi’s. Then she sat back, her hands relaxing. “Because it’d mean I’m not the only one here who wasn’t born human,” she admitted.

Wait, what? I… that… oh…. The panic left me in a heartbeat as I relaxed. Okay. That would explain a few things. A lot of things, actually. But wow, that’s some serious trust she’s showing in me, telling me that. She doesn’t even know me! Still, if she’s going to trust me, then I’d better meet her halfway. “Alright, fine. Yes. I was born a pony. Unicorn, from Canterlot. I had a life there once, but, well, I left. Several years ago. It was… a one way trip.” I’m not about to tell her everything, after all. Some things are probably best left unsaid.

Adagio uncrossed her legs so she could scoot closer, her face bearing a wide sneer of triumph. “I knew it. I’d suspected something strange about you right from the moment we met. You... smelled different.”

“Smell?” I asked, my face screwing up in confusion. Sure, in my pony body I could distinguish people by scent, but... “But we’re in human bodies. How could you even tell? What, were you a dragon in Equestria or something?”

“A dragon? No. Not a dragon. Though you’re thinking along the right lines.” The gaze she cast upon me smoldered with predatory intent, and what was left of my pony instincts after all this time as a human flared right back up into full fervor, screaming at me to run, run away and hide somewhere she couldn’t find me.

Then she relaxed the gaze, recrossed her legs, and crossed her arms to boot. “Oh relax, Sunset. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not stupid.” She flashed me a cheeky grin. “Though really, you shouldn’t show fear to a predator. I’d think you’d have learned that in one of your pony schools, or whatever.”

“Rrright, okay,” I said, forcing myself to quit trembling. I am Sunset Shimmer, damn it, not a weakling! “So why’d you bring this up anyway?”

She inclined an eyebrow, her smile fading fast. “Shouldn’t that be obvious? Given the situation we’re in, this… what should we call it--”

“Killing game,” I interjected.

“Yes. Killing game. It’s dangerous. Deadly. I’m sure you’d like us all to be optimistic little friends living in perfect harmony, but this isn’t Equestria. This is the human world, and humans are violent when they’re scared.” Her look turned calculating. “In a situation like this, it’s better to have someone able to watch my back. And as a fellow non-human, I thought you might be the best fit. Or was I wrong?”

It was a good idea. Having someone I knew I could count on to watch my back would help quite a bit with my chances of survival. I wasn’t naive. I knew no matter how many speeches I made, how many times I tried to convince these people not to do something stupid, someone would eventually crack. Especially if someone kept speaking up every time I tried to inspire people just so they could throw a bucket of cold water all over me, metaphorically speaking. Whoever was running this show was an expert at pulling people’s strings. So having an ally I could count on was an excellent idea.

So long as this wasn’t a ruse to turn me into her victim instead. But somehow, as I stared back at her cool, calculating eyes, I could tell that wasn’t the case. Adagio might be a bit of a jerk, but she wasn’t stupid. She’d let other people make the first moves at the very least, and if she did eventually decide to murder to escape, she’d wait until a few people had already tried. And even then, she probably wouldn’t pick me to be her victim.

I hoped.

So I held out my hand to her, ready to shake. “Agreed. I’ll watch your back. You watch mine.”

With a low chuckle like a rumbling car engine she took my hand and shook it firmly. “Good. See that you do.” With that, she stood, made her way for the door, and departed, flashing Twilight a simpering smile on her way out.

Twilight favored me with a cautious look as I left my cabin, locking the door behind me. “So, what was that about, anyhow?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Just agreed to watch out for each other. No biggie.”

“I see.” Twilight adjusted her glasses. I swear she was doing that all the time. Maybe she needed a new pair. “Just so long as you weren’t planning a murder together or something like that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be stupid. You read the rules. You know there’s no point to having an accomplice. Even if you helped someone, only the one who actually kills someone gets to be ‘rescued.’ ” I held up my fingers to do air quotes as I said the word rescued. “An accomplice would just be executed along with the rest of us. It’s pointless.”

“She’s right you know!” burst out the voice of Monoponi as the irritating thing flashed into existence with a loud pop of displaced air.

“Gaah!” I almost hit my head backing up in surprise from his sudden appearance. Woah, he can teleport too?!

Twilight wasn’t so lucky as she slammed the back of her skull on the wall, right into a corner of metal hanging down from overhead, leaving it dented and with a splash of pink. “Oww…” Twilight moaned, holding a hand to the back of her head. When she brought it forward, it was stained bright pink with blood. “Oh no...”

“Upupu, did I startle you?” he sneered, holding a hoof to his mouth. “You should pay more attention!”

“Shut up!” I ordered as I moved to look over Twilight’s wound. “Okay, this doesn’t look too bad. It’ll bleed a lot, but we can get this bandaged. Are you feeling dizzy? Faint? How many fingers am I holding up?” I held up three fingers.

“Um, no, no, three.” Twilight moaned, squeezing her eyes shut. “Wow that hurts. Um, my name is Twilight Sparkle, my birthday is March 30th, 1996. Today is… Tuesday.”

Oh. Right. Standard concussion questions. “Okay, so you’ll probably be fine. We should get this cleaned up. Twilight, why don’t you go wash it out in your room. I’ll go grab a first aid kit from the pharmacy or something. I’m sure they have something we can use.”

“Sure, right…”

Twilight fumbled with her keys and slipped into her room, leaving the door ajar.

As I turned to leave, a squeaky voice harrumphed at me. “What?” I growled, whirling on the annoyance.

“Your Captain shows up to answer a question for you and you don’t even acknowledge him!” Monoponi screamed, flapping his wings in frustration. “Bad form! Terrible manners!”

“I wasn’t even asking you! I was telling her!” I shouted back, hands on my hips. I threw them up in the air in disgust. “Ugh, I don’t have time for this.”

Monoponi dropped to the floor, head hung low. “Oh I see… you don’t even like your poor Captain… oh what a world it is, when passengers won’t be grateful to their hardworking Captain, who works his hooves to the bone to make sure everything is comfortable and safe for them…”

With a snort of disgust I scooted my way past him and down to the promenade. I passed by several people still eating in the food court as I reached the shops. Adagio was just emerging from the pharmacy, carrying a massive first aid kit case in her hands, covered in logos bearing Monoponi’s face. “Sunset? Is something wrong? Already?”

“Yeah, Twilight hit the back of her head. Do you mind if I borrow that? She’s bleeding a lot.”

Adagio grunted, but complied, handing it over. “Fine. Just bring it back to me. I’ll be in the outdoor lounge.”

“Thanks!” I grabbed it and raced back to the cabins, finding Twilight bent over, her head under the bathtub faucet, a steady stream of lukewarm water running through her hair. “Hey Twi, I’m back. I’ve got a first aid kit.”

Twilight grunted, reaching up with her hand to switch the faucet off. I handed her a towel so she could pat the area dry. It came away still spotted with pink. “Ugh, why do head wounds have to bleed so much?” she moaned.

“Gotta have plenty for that big brain of yours I guess,” I shrugged as I popped open the case. To my surprise it was loaded with supplies, far more than I’d usually see in a typical first aid kit. Apart from the usual selection of bandages, antibacterial and burn ointments, and pain relievers, there were all kinds of other drugs available, a lot in bottles labeled with generic names like zolpidem and bupropion, things I didn’t recognize. There was even a large vial of morphine and matching syringe. And if that wasn’t enough, there was also a small kit of surgical equipment bagged up in plastic, with medical scissors, scalpel, and even suturing supplies.

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up as she lifted her head to see it. “Wow. Huh. Wonder why so much stuff is in it.”

“Who knows?” I shrugged as I pulled out some gauze and medical tape, along with a packet of antibacterial ointment. “Okay, hold still while I bandage this.” I set the ointment on the wound and wrapped the gauze carefully around her head a few times, then taped it gently with the tape. “There. How’s that?”

Twilight tested the bandage by touching it, then nodded with a sigh. “That’s good, thanks. Is there any aspirin in that kit?”

“Um… yeah, here,” I answered, handing over a packet. I then shut the kit and latched it.

“Thanks.” Twilight popped open the packet, tossed the pills in her mouth, then washed it down with a bottle of water she had sitting nearby. Then she put her glasses back on, adjusting them slightly to fit around the gauze. “Thank you, Sunset,” she repeated, standing up after bracing herself on the tub wall.

“Sure thing,” I smiled, patting her on the shoulder. “Just watch out next time. Last thing you need is to seriously hurt yourself.” Or worse.

“Definitely.”

With that we left Twilight’s room. I took the kit over to the outdoor lounge, to return it to Adagio. She was nestled in a chair, a drink sitting on her table, watching the ocean as the ship plowed through the waves. “Oh good, you’re back,” she said. “Just put it on the table.”

“Alright.” I set the big kit down, and she pulled it over close to her.

“Thanks. Now you can leave please. I wish to be alone.” At my questioning look, she added, “I just need some time to think further about our talk.”

Fair enough. I shrugged. “Okay.”

With a glance to Twilight to follow me, I passed through the passageway to the bridge deck/pool area, and decided to go sit down on one of the loungers. The ship's engines thrummed below us as it pushed us through the sea. The weather outside was picture perfect, all blue skies without a cloud to be seen, sun shining forth. No birds, though, not even a lone seagull. Just the ocean, the smell of salt in the air, and the ship.

We weren’t sitting there for long before Flash Sentry wandered over, carrying a few bottles of soda in a plastic bag. “Hey, mind if I sit down with you?” he asked.

“Yeah, grab a seat,” I grinned, patting down the chair on the opposite side of Twilight.

“Great.” He laid down, got comfortable, then pulled the sodas out of his bag. “Want one?”

“Sure!”

We both took a soda, and for a few minutes we sat there in silence, just enjoying the ocean breeze. I was busy running things through my head from that morning, thinking about what I’d seen Monoponi do. He’s used magic several times now, including teleportation, so whoever was behind him must’ve had some impressive power. I still didn’t understand how they could use magic on this side of the portal though. When I first came through, I lost everything, all my magic. The only thing I had left was my money, and I didn’t exactly have a lot in bits. But solid gold was pretty valuable on this side of the portal, so between that and the gems I had a lot more money than I knew at first.

But this pony, or whoever they were behind Monoponi, they were acting like the portal meant nothing to them. I almost wondered if they really were Monoponi, just in some kind of shape changed form, because he sure was a bit too animated to be a robot. Then again it could just be some kind of fake, or projection of some kind--there was magic in Equestria that would let you do that, dark magic to control golems or other creations. The kind of thing that made the timberwolves in the Everfree, for instance.

“Hey Sunset, you there?”

I sat up, almost spilling soda from my open bottle. “Huh?”

Flash looked at me with an amused grin. “You kinda zoned out there.”

I let out a sheepish laugh. “Sorry, just thinking. Did you say something?”

“Yeah, I was just wondering where we are in the world,” Flash said, gesturing out to the ocean. “I mean it’s just open water out there. No landmarks or anything.”

Twilight interjected, “Actually, I have a pretty good guess. I was able to see some of the stars last night, and they didn’t look anything like the northern hemisphere constellations. I’ve studied a lot of astronomy, and although I haven’t spent as much time with the south as the north when studying, I’m certain we must be somewhere in the southern hemisphere, possibly the south Pacific.”

“That far, huh?” Flash wondered, setting his soda down so he could scratch his chin. “How d’you think he even got us here to begin with?”

Magic, duh, I thought. Aloud, I said, “I dunno if we should speculate right now. We don’t have enough information.”

“I’ll bet you’re just saying that because you don’t want Twi here to get mad at you saying magic, huh?” Flash said with a chuckle.

Twilight frowned at him. “As I’ve said before, magic doesn’t exist.”

Flash shrugged and took a swig of his soda. “Eh, I dunno. We saw some weird shit last night on the deck, and I heard someone say Monoponi just appeared from out of nowhere in front of ‘em.”

“He did that to us too,” Twilight grumbled, rubbing at her head. “Startled the heck out of me. But it wasn’t magic. He probably just used a burst of light to disguise himself running in.”

“Oh, is that why you’ve got that big bandage on your head? I didn’t want to be rude and ask,” Flash said with a sympathetic smile.

I resisted the urge to correct her obvious misassumption. “Does it really matter? I mean, magic or no magic, it ends up being the same either way, right?”

“I guess…” Twilight stared down at her soda, her frown deepening. “I just don’t want to assume something supernatural is occurring when it could just as easily be explained by natural phenomena. I’m a scientist, you see.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, intrigued. I figured she had to be some kind of researcher, since Monoponi literally labeled her Ultimate Researcher in her profile. “What’re you studying?”

“Right now I’m starting up a second bachelor’s, this one in mathematics. My first one was in chemistry. I’m looking at pursuing a postgraduate program for both.”

“Wow,” Flash said, eyes widening. “You’re pretty smart, huh? I can’t imagine going to school for that long. I loved college, but I could only take so much, you know?”

Twilight giggled, a pleasant little laugh that reminded me of chiming bells. “I understand. It’s not for everyone. But I enjoy the life of an academic. It’s rewarding for me, and, well, it means I only need to interact with so many people.” Her face turned a bright pink and she looked away. “I-I mean not that it’s bad to talk to you! I-I just, I’m bad with… with social things!”

“S’okay, I get it,” Flash grinned. “Just means you’re introverted. Not a bad thing.”

Twilight blushed deeper and tried to bury her face into her chest. “Sorry!”

“Hey, you guys!”

We looked up to see Scootaloo running our way, stopping to lean over and hold her knees as she panted heavily, trying to catch her breath. “You guys,” she repeated, “Everyone’s gathering in the food court. Pinkie says she’s got something she wants to say to everyone.”

“Huh, I wonder what this is about,” I commented as we all got up to follow Scootaloo back to the promenade. Poor girl must’ve been running all over the place because as soon as she got the chance she broke off to grab a bottle of water from the convenience store. I also saw Timber Spruce emerge from the sporting goods store wearing a large black fabric backpack as we walked by. That reminds me: get a backpack of my own asap. I don’t want to tear a hole in my jacket thanks to this stupid Monopad.

“Hey hey,” Timber said in greeting, joining us in approaching the growing crowd. “What’s all the commotion about, huh?” Then he caught sight of Twilight and his face twisted in surprise. “Woah, what happened to you?”

Twilight glared at him over her glasses. “I just hit my head on a wall. I’m fine.”

“Oh okay. For a minute there I thought Sunset clubbed you or something, hahaaha!” Timber clapped us both on our shoulders.

I shrugged off the touch, shot him a withering glare, and made my way to the front of the crowd. Pinkie was standing up high on a box she’d gotten from somewhere placed on the table, waving her hands and arms. “Hey, everyone, hey, is everybody here? Are we missing anyone?” she asked.

“We’re all here, Pinkie,” Scootaloo announced.

“What is this about, anyhow?” Trixie spoke up, striking her usual crossed arm pose. “Trixie was busy with important matters!”

Adagio snickered. “Like trying to figure out how to speak like a normal person?”

“Do not start that with Trixie again!”

“Hey, hush you two!” Pinkie cried out. “I’ve got something to say!” Once they quieted down, she dramatically cleared her throat, then announced, “We’re all feeling pretty unhappy right now, huh? That Monoponi guy sure is a big ol’ meanie, trying to make us kill each other! Well I say no! What we need right now, more than anything, is something to cheer ourselves up! And the best way I know how to do that? A party!”

“A party? Are you serious?” Wallflower interrupted, a look of disbelief etched on her face. “Are you as stupid as Sunset? We’re stuck in this, uh--”

“Killing game,” Adagio provided, winking in my direction.

“Yeah, this killing game, and you want to throw a party? Are you nuts?”

Pinkie seemed to pause as if to actually consider that statement. “Well I mean, I like nuts. Are we talking pistachios? Macadamias? Oooh, maybe walnuts! No, no, wait! I know! Cashews!”

Wallflower slapped a hand to her face with a groan. “You know what? Nevermind. Just count me out. I’m not going to a party.” She trudged away, shoving her way past Adagio and Trixie without bothering to apologize, causing both to glare at her departing back.

“But, but, everyone’s supposed to coooome!” Pinkie whined, stamping her feet like a little kid, her lip hanging out in an exaggerated display of sorrow. “Oh, fine then. Who needs her? The rest of us’ll do! Whaddya say everyone?”

Timber held up a fist. “Hell yeah! I think a party’s just what we need! Gotta get some spirit back in us!”

“Well, I suppose a soiree would do our morale some good,” Rarity considered, hand on her chin. “Oh, but what kind? Where? Who would set up for it?”

“Oh I can take care of any planning easy peasy,” Pinkie said with a giggle. “If you want to help set up though, I’d love the help! I could always use people to make decorations, streamers… maybe party hats if they don’t have any in the stores…”

“Oooh, oooh!” Sweetie bounced up and down, waving her hand. “I want to help too! I like helping!”

“And she says she aint a kid no more, huh?” Apple Bloom chuckled, elbowing her sister in the side, Applejack chuckling with her.

Flash raised his own hand. “Hey, if you want music at the party, I’m so down to play something. I can DJ, if nothin’ else.”

For some reason, him saying the word DJ made me think, very briefly, of someone with white skin, electric blue hair and purple sunglasses, before the image faded. Who was that? I wondered, before dismissing the thought.

“Trixie would love the chance to show off some of her amazing illusions and fantastic skills,” Trixie mused, with a growing grin on her face.

“Not to diss your magic or anything, but maybe you should save that for another time?” Rainbow Dash suggested. “If we’re thinking party, I’m thinking pool party, because why not? We got that olympic size pool all ready to go!”

Trixie pouted, her face screwing up in a frankly adorable gesture of disappointment. “Trixie supposes you might be right.” Then she drew herself up and smiled again. “Besides, that just gives Trixie more time to practice and assemble the right supplies for a proper show!”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie cheered, waving her arms as if she were holding pom poms. “And Rainbow, I like your style! A pool party sounds great! But you know what would be even better? If we held it at night!”

“Wait, why at night?” Twilight interjected with a raised hand. “That seems like it might be more dangerous, especially with the pool.”

“Psssh, naaaw, no way!” Pinkie dismissed. “Did you see how well the bridge deck was lit? We’ll be able to see no problem. Besides, if we hold it at night, then everyone can sleep off any hangovers!”

“We get to drink at this party?!” Scootaloo cried. “Sweet! I’m soo in!”

“Woah, hold it there a minute,” Flash interrupted. “We’re all at least twenty-one, right? No one under?”

I brought out my Monopad and flipped through the profiles real quick. “Yeah, we’re all good.”

“Alright then. Maybe a couple of us should avoid the alcohol, just in case.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “I-I agree with him. I’m not much of one for booze anyway. We could use a couple of chaperones just to watch out for everyone, make sure no one gets hurt in the pool. We’re all adults, but, well....”

“Very well! Trixie is an excellent swimmer! She can be a perfect lifeguard for the party!” Trixie cheered, pumping her fist in the air.

“I’ll be the other lifeguard, then,” Flash said, nodding. “I’m a pretty good swimmer too.”

“And I’ll chaperone the food and drinks so nobody spills anything,” Twilight said. Under her breath, she added, “Or poisons anything…”

“Haha, yeah! This is gonna be so awesome!” Rainbow Dash cheered, bouncing in place.

“I suppose it’ll be a good diversion, if nothing else,” Adagio said, giving me a look that said We’d better be careful.

I nodded back with my own look. We will. “Yeah, I think it’ll be fun.”

“So when are we holdin’ this shindig, then?” Applejack asked with a big smile on her face.

“Hmmm....” Pinkie Pie pointedly placed her fingers on her chin, tapping her shoes in an exaggerated thinking pose. “How about… tomorrow night! That gives us plenty of time to get things together, to set up, and so on!”

“If you don’t mind, Pinkie darling, I’d love to contribute. I can sew some beautiful streamers from some of the fabrics in the stores here!” Rarity said, eyes sparkling.

“Great!” Pinkie replied. “I’ll be counting on you, Rarity! Everyone else, come speak to me when you get a chance to see what you can do to help! I’ve got some invitations to make!”

With that she hopped off the table and sped off before Timber could say, “Wait, why are you making invitations when we already know when it is?”

“Who knows,” Rainbow shrugged. “And who cares? This is gonna rock!”

I wasn’t so sure. This seemed pretty dangerous to me. After all, while a party might be fun, it also makes a lot of noise. Like one big distraction. Someone could easily sneak away during the party to do something… bad. So even though I didn’t speak up directly to volunteer as a chaperone, I decided to keep an eye out during the party anyway. Maybe between Adagio and I, and Twilight and Flash for that matter, we can all avoid the worst case scenario.

I sure hoped so, anyway.

Author's Notes:

Oh Sunset. You do try.

Re the blood: Yes, I am going with pink. I'm well aware that's just an artistic styling choice in the games and that even the Danganronpa anime uses red blood, but I thought it was fitting here because, well, MLP and all. Plus I like how it makes me change descriptions around.

Re Adagio, I'm tacking on a couple of behaviors that have always been a bit of personal headcanon of mine, that of her original nature leaking through into her human form. And, well, as I mentioned on Wednesday: being stripped of memories does funky things to your head. You end up clinging harder to aspects of your personality than you might otherwise. So if anyone's personalities seem odd or off, it's because I'm deliberately twisting them for that very reason. A lot of thought goes into these portrayals.

Wednesday, we continue with daily life.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 3

The sporting goods store had a larger supply of goods than I expected. All kinds of backpacks, from large hiking backpacks for mountain trips to little tote bags, to even duffel bags. Then there was all the sports equipment for various sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, even volleyball and tennis. Exercise equipment abounded, such as dumbbells, free weights, and medicine balls and yoga mats.There were also shoes of all kinds and sizes displayed on the racks. It was more like a full sized department store than the small kind of store you’d typically expect to see on a cruise ship. All the shops were like this too, same size. Probably so Monoponi could give us more options for murder.

I decided to pick up a smaller leather backpack with a side zipper for easier access to my Monopad, along with a pair of running shoes in my size and a refillable water bottle. Registering my “purchases” was just like any kind of self-check-out lane at a store: you just run them on the register and then swipe your Monopad and it prints out a receipt. I noticed with interest there was a function on the checkout machine for printing out all the receipts ever registered. That might prove handy someday.

I stuffed my receipt into my pocket and was about to leave when I heard Rainbow Dash call out, “Hey, Sunset! Wait up!”

I looked back: she had a length of parachute cord, a pair of carabiner clips, and a bungee cord in her hands and was scanning them through the register. “What’ve you got those for?” I asked.

She snatched up her receipt, balled it up and tossed it in a nearby bin. “Oh these? Just gonna make some exercise equipment with it. They didn’t have any kind of hand grips or arm stretchers or anything, so I’m just gonna improvise.” She bundled up the goods together and slung it over her shoulder. “Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry for last night. I was thinking about it this morning, and while I still dunno if I believe you about that Eques-whatever place, I was being a bit too harsh. So uh, sorry about that.” Her face broke into a sheepish smile and she stuck her hand out for a shake.

With a half grin of my own, I shook her hand firmly. “Apology accepted. I don’t blame you. This is a pretty stressful place we’re in.”

“I know, right?” She shivered, her face twisting up into a grimace. “Poor Shy, she’s so scared, you know? She’s worried someone’s gonna try to hurt her. And, not gonna lie, I’m not feeling too great about things myself either. I dunno how many of these people we can really trust. I mean some of ‘em, sure, like that farmer chick, she seems pretty honest.” Her grimace became a leer. “And pretty hot. All the chicks here are.” Then she blanched, holding up her hands and shaking them. “Uh, sorry, sorry, no offense meant!”

I nearly doubled over in laughter. “Don’t worry about it, none taken. You’re not bad looking yourself. But uh, aren’t you with Shy? I kinda got the impression you two had a thing for each other.”

“Nah, no, I’m not dating her if that’s what you mean. She’s just my best friend. Been that way since we were kids.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes turned misty, brimming with nostalgia. “I’ve been looking out for her ever since some bullies tried to pick on her. She was having a hard time at the summer camp we went to when we were, like, seven. That’s when I first met her. She’s like a sister to me.”

I nodded in understanding. “Okay, that makes sense. Wow, that long, huh? No wonder you’re such good friends.” A thought occurred to me, causing me to frown. “Wait, where is she?”

“Right over there,” Rainbow said, pointing. I looked behind me to see Fluttershy emerging from the office store, with an all-in-one arts and crafts kit in her hand.

“Oh, um, hello Sunset,” Fluttershy said nervously as she approached, ducking part of her face behind her hair.

“Hey.” I greeted, waving.

“Anyway, nice talking with you, Sunset,” Rainbow said as she sidled up to Shy. “See you later.”

I said my goodbyes, then made my way over to the office store to meet up with Twilight. She had a number of things balanced in her hands, including notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, and a clipboard of all things. “Ah, there you are,” she said, giving me a small smile. “Can you help me carry these to my room, please?”

“Sure thing,” I said, taking most of them from her and placing them in my backpack. “What’s all this stuff for?”

“Oh I’m just going to be recording observations, things people say that stand out, and so on. Given the situation we’re in and the suspicion we’re all feeling for each other, I just thought it would make sense,” Twilight answered.

I chuckled wryly as we entered the cabin corridor. “Gotta record what I’ve been saying and doing, huh?”

She blushed profusely, shaking her head and hands. “Oh no no no, you’ve been fine! Better than fine actually! You haven’t done anything other than that, uh, talk you had with Adagio.” Her blush deepened when she said the word talk.

With a cheeky grin I teased, “It was just a talk, Twilight, nothing more. Jealous?”

“Noooo. No no no. Definitely not!” she gasped, her face turning pale as she furiously shook her head. “I’m, I’m uh, not into girls. Sorry.”

I burst into laughter. “No need to apologize. I’m just kidding with you.”

As we reached her door she brought out her keys to unlock it, letting us in. “Oh, okay. Phew. I didn’t… didn’t want to send the wrong message,” she murmured, looking away from me and holding one arm with the other in embarrassment.

Oh dang it. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” I said while taking out the stuff she gave me so I could set it on her desk.

“It’s fine, you didn’t,” she responded, giving me a little sheepish grin. “I just, kinda maybe sorta accidentally led a girl to think I was into her once, a long time ago, and it was just a big messy scene, and I didn’t want anything like that to happen here.” She looked back down, fiddling with her hands. “Especially since in a tense environment like this, with a killing game putting our lives in serious jeopardy, people are known to, to make bonds far faster than they usually would, and relationships get more intense and bloom wildly because we could die any moment so we get scared and--”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” I said, holding up my hands in surrender. “Don’t worry, it’s okay.”

She gulped, and let out a nervous laugh. “Ahehe, sorry, I get… nervous easily.”

That much is obvious, I thought, but I said nothing.

She took a couple minutes to get together a notebook and the clipboard, plus a pen or two, then started jotting down some notes. “Okay, we can get going now. I was just writing down my observations for today so far. You haven’t done anything suspicious that I’ve seen, like I said, so I’ll just stick with you for the rest of the day, then we’ll call it good.” She shrugged. “Seems like everyone’s letting what happened last night go anyway. No one’s said anything to me.”

“Yeah, Rainbow Dash apologized about it to me even,” I said. Then my stomach rumbled. I popped out my Monopad just long enough to check the time. “Woah, it’s already 1 o’clock. Want to get some lunch?”

“Sure.”

After we got some lunch, I decided to try to track down Pinkie Pie, since she said she wanted us to find her if we wanted to contribute. “Oh hey, look at this,” I said to Twilight after pulling up my Monopad and checking the map. “Looks like we can see where everyone is on this map.”

She pulled out her own to see. “I see what you mean. It must be tracking us in real time, using some kind of ship-wide wifi.” She curled up one side of her mouth. “Too bad we can’t use that to call for some kind of rescue.”

I scanned the map, and found Pinkie’s icon by the pool. “This way.”

We found Pinkie zipping to and fro, staring at one corner of the pool, then another, then at the high dive, then the area around it, all while scratching her chin and muttering under her breath. Then she’d zoom back to a notebook sitting on a table, write something down, and get back to moving around the pool. “Hey Pinkie,” I said.

She scooted to a halt. “Oh, hiya Sunset, Twilight!” she greeted cheerfully with a big grin on her face. “What’s up?”

“Sunset and I were just wondering what we could do to help with the setup,” Twilight replied.

“Great!” Pinkie said, snapping her fingers. “Quick, c’mere, take a look at this.”

We approached the table with her notes, where she held them up to us so we could see them better. “See, look, I’m thinking we can put three big tables, here, here, and here,” she said pointing to different locations by the pool, “which we can get from the food court, so we can use them for setting up food and drinks. I’m thinking I want to do a couple of big punch bowls for beer and cider, then have some bottles for people who want something else like an ale or whiskey, or wine. Then maybe set aside an area for soda, juice, and water, for people who either aren’t gonna drink or want to do mixers. Then we can put salty snacks over here, and sweet stuff over here.”

Twilight nodded, and suggested a couple of minor modifications which Pinkie wrote down. “Great, that should work.”

“So did you want me and Twi to help bring out tables and snacks?” I asked.

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah huh! That’d be perfect! I mean I’m still gonna pick out the stuff so everyone gets some tasty things. Maybe I’ll bake some things too. I bake a mean cupcake, and I dunno if I trust that weirdo automatic bakery to do a good job. And Sweetie Belle said she’d help bake too!” Pinkie cocked her head to the said. “Scootaloo then said she was already baked, but I’m not sure what she meant by that.”

I snorted. “Dunno how she accomplished that.”

“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked innocently.

I waved a hand dismissively. “Nevermind.”

“Okay, when do you want us to start, then?” Twilight asked, pen at the ready to notate on her clipboard.

Pinkie scratched her chin. “Hmmm… I’m thinking we’re gonna hold the party from 8:00 PM till about 3:00 AM. So maybe 7:00? We shouldn’t need more than an hour to set up.”

Twilight and I exchanged a look and nodded to each other. “Yeah, we can do that, no sweat,” I said, grinning.

“Hurraay!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing a good foot in the air before landing back on the ground with a slam of her shoes against the deck. “Oooh, this party is gonna be so good! I just wish I had my party cannon. Then I wouldn’t need any help! Just one touch of a button and wha-bam! Instant party!”

My face screwed up in confusion. “Party cannon? What? How does that work?”

Pinkie launched into a complicated explanation of physics, chemistry, and metallurgy that had my eyes glazing over after about fifteen seconds from the sheer speed at which she was talking. Even Twilight seemed just as baffled as I was. “...and there you go! That’s how you build a party cannon! I just don’t have any of the equipment and you can’t build a proper party cannon without equipment because I mean you can’t just shove party supplies down a regular cannon it’ll just blow them up and scorch them and then you just have a big mess to clean up and no one wants that!” Pinkie finished in a huff, panting heavily to catch her breath. “Understand?”

“Uh, not really, but nevermind, that’s okay,” I mumbled. “Anyway, we’ll uh, we’ll leave you to it.”

“Okie dokie Loki!” Pinkie chirped.

As we walked away, Twilight held a hand to her head and grunted. “Ugh, talking to that girl gives me a headache,” she complained. “I mean she’s nice, but sheesh.”

“Yeah she’s a bundle of energy, that’s for sure.”

“So, what do you want to do now?”

I pulled out my Monopad again and checked the map. The map available to us only showed the areas we’d already explored--the cabin corridor, the promenade, the outdoor lounge, and the bridge deck/pool area. “I think I want to spend some time poking around places, just to see if there’s some kind of access hatch or something to the rest of the ship.” I flashed Twilight a confident grin. “I fully intend to escape this place and get everyone out of here with me if I can manage it.”

“But the rules do say that the engine room and bridge are off limits, and we can’t open locked doors,” Twilight replied with a concerned frown.

“Exactly. Locked doors. Doesn’t say anything about unlocked doors, or vent shafts or something else like that.”

Twilight slowly smiled, chuckling in a low voice. “Oh, I get it. A loophole, huh? Sure, let’s explore then!”

We decided to start with the promenade, since it was the widest area. We started by searching the shops, and while we found doors in the very back of each one, they were all firmly locked. Then we moved on to the restaurants.

Like Monoponi told us, the restaurants, despite being automated for our convenience, were fully explorable. Each kitchen had its own unique setup too, ready to go with various typical implements, as well as a number of dangerous objects. When I saw a set of iron skewers in one kitchen, a cold shiver ran down my spine. But like the shops, there were plenty of locked doors.

It was in the Sushi King kitchen where we finally hit on something. Like the other restaurants it was set up perfectly for use if someone wanted to cook inside, including a large knife set with, oddly, four different sizes of meat cleaver. There was also the standard janitor’s corner with sink, pantry, and walk-in freezer. This one had bags with large amounts of ice for some reason, in varying blocks from cup-sized cubes to slabs similar to cinder blocks. I was in the middle of pushing one aside when I discovered a vent behind it. The vent was rather small, too small for either of us to fit, but it was unlocked.

“Where do you think it goes?” Twilight asked.

“Dunno. We’re not going to be able to go down there ourselves. Hrmmm…” I brought out my Monopad and briefly browsed the profiles. “Looks like the shortest of us is… oh crap. It’s Diamond Tiara.”

“Uuugh,” Twilight said with a shudder. “She’s been nothing but a jerk since we woke up here. Is there anyone else we can ask?”

I took another look. “Scootaloo, I think. She’d probably be up for it. Looks like she’s hanging out with Timber Spruce by the shops.”

“I’ll go get her then,” Twilight said, standing back up from the vent.

“Alrighty.”

I decided to sit on the kitchen floor outside the freezer, rather than stay in the cold for a second longer than I had to, because it was making me shiver something fierce. I gripped my jacket closer and hunched over to try to warm back up. It wasn’t that cold, but it would help me warm up faster.

And lucky thing I was doing it too, because when a squeaky voice about whispered in my ear, “What’re you doing?” I only jumped slightly and didn’t crack my head against the freezer door.

I looked to my left to see Monoponi’s grinning face almost nose to nose with mine. “Waaugh!” I yelped, and scooted away as quick as I could, right up against the nearby shelf full of bags of uncooked rice. “Why the hell do you keep doing that?!”

“Because it’s hilarious!” Monoponi replied with a cackle. “Upupupupu…”

“Whatever,” I groaned. “What do you want now?”

“Your Captain,” he growled in a low, sinister tone, “wants to know what you’re doing poking around that vent in the freezer!”

My blood chilled in my veins. “U--um, we were exploring. That’s not a-against the rules, is it?”

“Exploring? No, not exploring. Exploring’s fine. So long as you don’t try to open a locked door, you’re good!” Monoponi answered cheerfully. Then he crouched down and bared his teeth. “But what matters is the reason! Why are you exploring? Hmmm? Hmmmmmmm? Don’t think I can’t hear what you say on my ship! Everything can be seen and heard by your Captain! Everything!”

I reached up for the shelf and shakily pulled myself to my feet, just so I could back away further. I was shaking like crazy, fear crawling all over my body. Oh god, oh no, I screwed up, I thought as my heart raced at near light speed, thundering in my chest. “W-what d-do you mean?” I stammered as my eyes started searching my surroundings for something, anything to defend myself with. Not that it probably mattered. A human with no magic and no weapons wouldn’t stand a chance against an alicorn, even one as tiny as Monoponi.

“You know exactly what I mean!” he shrieked. His horn lit up with violently crimson energy as he rose to float in the air. “You think you can find loopholes in my rules?! Trying to escape without a Rescue Attempt is treason! It’s mutiny! It’s a violation of the rules, it is! And do you know what happens to rule violators on my ship?!” Eerie crimson light began to wrap itself around my body, holding me in place.

“No, no, please!” I babbled, tears running down my face as I vainly struggled against his magic hold. An intense pressure gripped my throat, turning my voice harsh and forced. “I wasn’t trying to escape! I wasn’t! Please, please don’t kill me!”

Monoponi froze in place and stared at me for a good long moment. Then his horn dimmed and he settled on the floor, dropping me in the process. “Upupupupu eyahahahahahhahahahahahahaha!” he cackled, quivering with mirth. “Oh Sunset you should see your face right now!”

“W-what?” I gasped, blinking past my tears as I struggled to get my breath back, taking great heaving lungfuls of air. Sweet, delicious, precious air!

Monoponi started rolling on the floor, laughing his ass off. “You were so scared! Sunset Shimmer, such a brave soul, crying and pleading for her life! Ahahahahaha! It’s so pathetic I can’t stop laughing! Eyahahahaha!”

My heart settled down as the icy tendrils of fear were replaced with the white hot river of rage. I balled up my fists so hard I was almost bleeding from my knuckles, shaking with anger. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Oh, Sunset my dear girl, you haven’t even begun to see the depths of what’s wrong with me!” Monoponi replied as he hoisted himself back onto all four hooves.

“So you were just messing with me?!”

“Of course! Upupupu…” Monoponi gave me a grin that stretched from ear to ear, which is damned wide on a pony face. “You weren’t breaking any rules. I just wanted to see how you’d react. I’m actually disappointed. I thought it’d take more than that to make you crack. Guess I was wrong!”

“You… you little piece of trash!” My hands opened and closed as I pictured grabbing him by the throat and throttling him for all he was worth. Every last bit of pride from the old Sunset I used to be flared up to fuel my fury. We’ll see how you like it, asshole!

“Ah ah ah! Better calm down now, Sunset,” Monoponi said, waggling a hoof like it was a finger. “Don’t do anything hasty. Unless you really do want to see what I do to rule breakers first hoof.”

“You… you… Uuugh!” I slammed a fist into one of the nearby bags of rice. It hurt like hell, but it served well enough to vent enough frustration for me to take some deep breaths and calm down.

“Better. Much better. Oh, and before you ask: exploring the vent? You can do that all you want. I don’t care if you manage to explore the entire ship, no matter why you’re doing it! Just remember one thing.” He raised a hoof and pointed it at me. “As soon as you actually try something that would result in your escape, without killing someone? That’s mutiny. Just remember that. If you can.”

“Fine. I will,” I grunted. “Now get out of my sight!”

Monoponi took a bow, extending his wings. “Your Captain is happy to oblige. Ta-ta!” He vanished in a flash of crimson light.

“God damn it!” I shouted as I slammed my fists into the bag of rice again. The pain helped me focus, helped me try to calm my shaking body. The combination of fear and rage had flooded my body with adrenaline and it was all I could to keep from unleashing a full flurry of attacks on the unfortunate bag of rice. I knew the person behind this was messed up. I knew it, and I still let them get to me! It was so unbelievably frustrating. I’m not someone prone to acting like this, not under normal circumstances. Yeah, I get scared sometimes. Angry sometimes. But I’d never felt such terror, such unrelenting fear as I did for that brief moment when I thought he was going to kill me. It was gut wrenching horror, unlike anything I’d ever faced.

He was a monster. They. Whoever it was. A complete monster. What kind of messed up person did this to people?

I heard the sound of approaching footsteps and turned to see Twilight and Scootaloo walking in. Scootaloo had her own backpack by now, carting something rather bulky from the way it bulged. “Sorry that took so long,” Twilight said, wincing. “Timber asked me to help him with something.” Then her eyes widened as she took a step towards me, extending out a hand. “Woah, are you okay Sunset?”

“Yeah, what happened? You look like a mess,” Scootaloo added.

“Nothing. It’s… nothing. Don’t worry about it,” I answered. I wasn’t about to give Monoponi the satisfaction of watching me complain about him. So I put on a fake smile. “So Scootaloo, did Twilight tell you what this was about?”

Scootaloo raised her eyebrows and her mouth twisted in concern, but then she shrugged and said “Yeah, she did. Gotta crawl through some kinda vent, right?”

“Yeah, in here,” I replied, opening up the door to the freezer.

“Wow that’s cold!” Scootaloo shivered in her boots as she stepped in, kneeling down to look at the vent. “Seems like a tight fit, but I think I can do it. I’ll get through it lickity split!”

“Okay, just be careful,” Twilight said. “Don’t get yourself stuck. And if you can, take pictures with your Monopad.”

“Got it!” Scootaloo flashed us a thumbs up. She doffed her backpack, then got on her hands and knees. Thankfully she’d brought a pair of gloves to protect her hands from the cold metal. She scooted inside the vent and soon all we could hear was grunting and banging of metal.

Twilight took this moment to set a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, are you sure you’re okay? You seemed pretty upset.”

I blew out a breath through my teeth. “Yes! Just… drop it, okay? It’s not worth talking about.”

She pulled her hand back, an expression of hurt on her face. “Okay. Sorry I asked.”

For a couple moments, we stood there in silence. Then I said, “Just try to watch out for Monoponi. He likes to mess with your head. Don’t let him.”

She raised her eyebrows, looking at me over her glasses. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Hey!” Scootaloo called, her voice tainted with an odd metallic echo. “Can you guys hear me? I reached some kinda big fan blowing air! But there’s nothing else here! It’s just a dead end!”

“Seriously? Ugh!” I almost snarled my response as I called out, “Just get back up here then!”

“Got it!”

I stood back away from the vent to give Scootaloo enough room to get out. Soon enough she returned, falling flat on her belly as soon as she reached the relatively wide open space of the freezer. “Woof. That was rough! I think I bruised myself a few times.”

“Here, let me help you,” I said, hefting her to her feet.

“Okay, so that was a bust,” Scootaloo groaned as she knelt down, snatched up her backpack, and slipped the straps over her shoulders. “What was even the point to that vent?”

“That’s what I’m curious about too,” Twilight agreed, staring at the vent while scratching her head. “The other freezers had vents, but they were all in the ceiling. Why was this one in the wall by the floor?”

I rolled my eyes hard enough to make my head hurt. “Probably because Monoponi’d get a laugh out of us wasting our goddamned time,” I growled, roughly shoving the vent cover back in place in disgust and throwing the bag of ice back so it landed in a messy fashion instead of being evenly lined up with the rest of them. I didn’t care though. I was just too mad.

Scootaloo threw her hands up in the air, then let them fall to her sides as she bent over in frustration. “Uugh, he’s totally the kind of guy who’d do that too. What a pain.”

“Thank you anyway for your time, Scootaloo,” Twilight said, patting the shorter woman on the shoulder. “We’ll call you if we need anymore help.”

~*~

Twilight and I spent the rest of the day searching everywhere else that was open floor to ceiling, but other than the locked bulkhead at the end of the cabin corridor and the one leading up to the bridge there was nothing to be found. Feeling thoroughly exhausted, I decided to head to bed before the nighttime announcement, after taking a hot shower to try to wash away some of the tension in my muscles. It didn’t really help.

Of course, not long after I managed to fall asleep, the night time announcement woke me right back up again. Like I cared about the shops closing or that it was 10 PM. Monoponi probably played it louder in my room just to mess with me.

I threw myself back into the covers and put one of the fancy pillows over my face trying desperately to get back to sleep. It finally came, but it was ridden with nightmares, of me as a pony racing through a dark forest or endless prairie from hordes of Monoponis cackling that stupid laugh. I woke up more than once during the night too, including right before the morning announcement.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

“Uugh!” I slapped the pillow around my ears so I didn’t have to listen to his grating, irritating voice. Once it played out and the screen switched off, I flopped over and tried to fall back asleep. I don’t know how long I laid there, drifting in and out of a vague half-conscious state but just as I was finally starting to properly slip into a deep slumber, there was a massive loud banging at my door.

With a grunt of frustration I tried wrapping the pillow around my head again, but the banging wouldn’t stop. So I threw it aside, stomped my way over to the door, and threw it open. “What?!”

Flash, fist raised to knock again, flinched back and fell over in shock. “Oh thank god you’re here!” he said as he pulled himself back up.

I frowned, my whole face creasing up in confusion. “Huh? Yeah I’m here. I was just trying to sleep. What’s wrong with that?”

“But it’s almost noon!”

“Wait, seriously?” I whirled and grabbed my Monopad off the bedside table, checking the clock. “Holy crap, it is!”

“Diamond Tiara had us whipped up in a frenzy searching all over the place for you,” Flash said, staring at me with sad eyes. “We were worried sick! We thought… I thought…”

“Oh damn. You thought someone killed me, didn’t you?” I finished for him. The shock of the situation was helping to wake my brain up from its fogged up lack of sleep state.

He didn’t answer for a moment, looking down at the floor. “...yeah. We did.”

“Flash! Did you finally get inside?! Was she in there?!” came a cry from the hallway. The stomp stomp of several sets of shoes against the floor preceded Apple Bloom, Rarity, Adagio, and Twilight running into the room.

“Oh my stars, Sunset! You’re alive! Thank goodness!” Rarity shouted as she hurled herself on me, squeezing me tight enough to cut off my circulation before releasing me and flopping onto the bed in dramatic fashion. “Heavens, we were so worried!”

“Why didn’t you answer the door when I knocked earlier? We could’ve avoided all of this!” Twilight said, glaring at me with a mixture of anger and relief.

I held up my hands in a defensive posture. “Woah, hold up, I didn’t do this on purpose, okay? I just couldn’t sleep. And I didn’t even hear anyone knocking. I was using my pillows as earplugs.”

“Hmmph.” Adagio stepped right up to me and shoved a finger in my chest. “You should tell someone before you do something so foolish. What happened to watching each other’s backs, hmm? It was complete chaos this morning. Someone even stole my first aid kit!”

Apple Bloom’s eyebrows shot to the top of her head. “Wait, why would someone do that? It ain’t like they couldn’t just buy one fer themselves! There’s tons of ‘em in the pharmacy!”

“I don’t know,” Adagio retorted in a mocking tone. “If I knew that I’d have gotten it back already!”

“Nevermind your first aid kit, you can just go get another,” I said before this could turn into a serious argument. “I don’t even know why you were lugging that around in the first place anyway.”

Adagio’s eyes flashed as she snarled, “Why do you think, idiot?”

At that moment I realized, as I looked into her predatory eyes, that she was just as afraid as the rest of us, in her own way. She feared for her life, just like I did, have been doing, ever since we woke up here. She wasn’t breaking down into tears like Fluttershy, or trying her best to be cheerful like Pinkie. She was lashing out in anger, a typical predator trying to look bigger than everything else so everyone else would be scared away. And she was trying to be smart about it too, having medical supplies ready in case she ever did get injured. Maybe I should get my own first aid kit. Yeah. Probably a good idea.

“Right, sorry,” I said, laughing sheepishly.

“Listen, Ah’m gonna go tell the others we found you,” Apple Bloom said, giving me a contrite look with her hands at her hips.

“Yes, please,” Flash added with a relieved laugh as Apple Bloom sped away. “I’m just glad you’re okay, Sunset.”

“Me too,” Twilight added as she walked over to the bed to offer Rarity a hand back up.

“Yes, darling, I do understand the need for beauty sleep, of course, but given the situation, perhaps you should tell one of us next time, hmm?” Rarity said gently as she hopped off the bed with Twilight’s help.

I nodded gently. “Yeah. Okay. Sorry I scared you all. I just wasn’t sleeping well.”

“None of us were,” Flash said sympathetically.

My sleepy brain finally woke up enough to notice something missing from Twilight’s head. “Hey, Twi, where's your bandage?” I asked.

“Oh, that?” Twilight asked, reaching up unconsciously to touch the wound. “I was going to change it this morning, and then we had to track you down.” Her hand came away clean. “It’s not bleeding anymore anyway, so I’m not worried.”

I nodded slowly. “Oh, okay. I guess that’s good then.” I was a little surprised, but if she didn’t want to rebandage it, that was her decision.

More boot stomps on metal preceded everyone else showing up too, almost all of them repeating the same general thing, that they were glad I was okay, and mad that I made them worry. Even Wallflower Blush was mad at me over it, and not just because she had to spend time searching, which was surprising. She’d been keeping to herself so much I thought she didn’t care about anyone at all.

Diamond Tiara though… “Sunset Shimmer!” she roared like thunder, pointing directly at me with a furious glare. “How dare you waste my time and energy whipping these people into a search party!” She stomped up with a slam of her boots on the floor as she got up in my face to shout, spittle flying to cover my face in a gross mess. “It’s bad enough you’re under suspicion for being a traitor, but now you do this too?! Are you trying to infuriate us?! Because it’s working!”

I wiped the slobber off my face and glared back with just as much anger. “How many times do I need to say I’m sorry I needed extra sleep?!” I roared. “Excuse me if I wasted your oh so valuable time miss Rich Bitch, but I--”

SLAP!

I staggered back, reeling from the blow. It stung like crazy, the sensation tingling across my left cheek. I’m sure my face must’ve borne a mark from the blow, because I could see it on Tiara’s hand as she balled it up into a fist to shake furiously at me. “Never! EverI Use that word to refer to me again! Do you hear me?! Never!!”

She spun on her heel, forced her way past the crowd to slam her fist into the door, then trudged away, making massive amounts of noise with every step.

I stood there in shock, holding a hand to my face to try to stop the stinging. Emotions roiled within me. Anger, of course, but also sorrow, frustration, and… shame. I was ashamed of myself. For wigging out on her, for making everyone worry. I’d been acting like a complete idiot.

Everyone just stood there silently as well, sharing looks with each other but no one spoke up until Rarity dared to reach out a hand to set on my shoulder. “Are you all right, darling?”

I gave her a quick half smile that didn’t even come close to reaching my eyes, and reached up to squeeze her hand. “Yeah, don’t worry. Excuse me everyone. I, uh, I’m going to go take a shower.”

She gave me a slow, hesitant nod, then helped rush everyone out the door. I made sure to lock it before I went to go strip in the bathroom. It was going to take a lot of hot water to wash all of this away.

Author's Notes:

Twilight's not wrong about human behavior. We do tend to bond much faster in tense situations. Just ask any soldier who's fought in war.

Monoponi, meanwhile, is a complete dick. Even more so than Monokuma, Monoponi is just cruel, and loves to torment them. Poor Sunset. And poor everyone else, having to look for her.

Tiara... I have things I want to say, but they need to be saved for another, more appropriate time.

On Saturday, the party! I'm sure nothing will go wrong. Nope.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 4

I kept mostly to myself for the rest of the day, sitting quietly in the promenade doodling on a notepad or jotting down my thoughts to vent, only to ball up the paper and toss it in a waste basket. I just watched everyone bustle their way around me, going to do this and that. Some people kept going in and out of the various shops. Rarity in particular kept switching up her fabric choices for the streamers. I even saw three of the younger women, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo hanging out together, having a blast laughing at some joke or other.

I waved away anyone who tried to check on me with just a quick nod and a “Yeah I’m fine” or something along those lines. I felt it was necessary to be alone right now. Probably dangerous, given we were in a killing game. Someone could sneak up on me at any minute and shove a knife through my neck or something. But that’s why I was sitting in the middle of a public space, and I did keep a close eye out on my surroundings.

Adagio dropped by every hour or so just to make sure I was still there. She must’ve been feeling extra worried after this morning, not that she’d ever admit to it. She just didn’t have the kind of personality that would let her. I did see her buying a new first aid kit, this time shoving it into a backpack. Smart. I had my own, a smaller one without all the unnecessary drugs and surgery kit and so on. It was right at the top in my backpack, next to my Monopad.

Pinkie Pie did drop by once around 2:30 to give me her hand-crafted invitation to the pool party. It was charming, in a childlike way, full of loopy handwriting and pasted together pieces of various colored paper. It was a touching gesture, the craftsmanship she put into it, so I made sure to tuck that safely into my pack for safe keeping.

Wallflower Blush also stopped by, just long enough to tell me she’d be staying in her room all night during the party with the door locked, so “no one tries to do anything stupid.” I told her that was pretty silly when she could’ve been having fun, but she just snorted at me in disgust and walked off to go announce her news to everyone else nearby.

On occasion I did see Diamond Tiara walking around, talking to other people, generally seeming happy until her eyes happened to pass over me. Then she’d grip her jacket, let out a harrumph, and spin on her heels to stride away somewhere else.

On the whole though, the mood was tense, to say the least. Everyone carried themselves as though the weight of the world was on their shoulders, their movements just a bit more hesitant, a bit more frantic than they would’ve been otherwise. My being missing this morning definitely put some fear into their hearts, which left me feeling ashamed all over again every time I saw a reminder.

But I’m not that much of one for sitting there pouting over my issues. So when the time on my Monopad ticked over to 7:00 PM, I was ready to go for setting up the party. “Hi Sunset,” Twilight greeted as she walked up, favoring me with a cool, if sympathetic look.

“Hey.” I stood, scooted my chair in, and then held out a hand to her. “Listen, I’m sorry again about this morning. I really wasn’t trying to scare anyone.”

She shook my hand quickly then dropped it. “Don’t worry. I’m not mad. I think Diamond Tiara still is though. Better watch out.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice. Okay, so,” I pointed at one of the larger tables nearby, a rectangular one with seating for a good eight to twelve people. “This is one of the tables Pinkie wanted, right?”

“I think so,” Twilight said with a nod. She stepped over to one side of the table, set her hands under it, and gave it a hesitant lift, and winced, her face screwing up. “Yow, that’s heavy!”

I snorted, grinning at her reaction. “It can’t be that heavy. Let me give it a try.” I stepped over to the other side from Twilight, pushed up my sleeves with a dramatic flourish, then set my hands under and lifted. And lifted. And strained like crazy, barely getting it up any further than Twilight did before dropping it. “Dang, you weren’t kidding!” I groused, feeling a little embarrassed by my cocky attitude.

Twilight giggled that little laugh that rang like bells, shaking her head. “Maybe we need to get some extra help.”

“Did y'all say ya needed extra help liftin’ somethin’?” Applejack spoke up as she walked over, her sister right behind. “Sorry, Ah just couldn’t help but see you two strugglin’ with that. That for the party?”

“Yeah, Pinkie asked us to get these tables moved over so we could put snacks and drinks on them,” I answered, feeling a little relieved someone else showed up to help. “We weren’t expecting them to be so heavy though.”

“Well of course they’re heavy, silly,” Apple Bloom said as she poked and prodded at the table. “This here’s made of good solid kingwood, or maybe desert ironwood. Not sure which. But it ain’t no normal table. This here must’ve been expensive.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and shook her head dismissively. “Sure was. Just like everythin’ else on this cruise ship, all fancy and high and mighty bourgeois--” she pronounced the word as bor-gee-oi--”nonsense, all to pretend they’re better than everyone else.”

“Bourgeois,” I said, correcting her pronunciation. “It’s Prench.”

She just shrugged. “Eh, whatever. Fancy’s fancy. Same difference as far as Ah’m concerned.” With a roll of her eyes, she continued, “Anyhow, let’s get this movin’.” She moved to the middle of the table, placed her arms underneath it, and with one solid swing she had the thing lifted over her head in one arm. “Where’re we putting this again?”

“Jeez!” I gasped, eyes bugging out my sockets. “How strong are you?”

Twilight’s jaw fell open, her head cocking to the side and a few hairs springing up into messy lines out of her otherwise perfect bun. “What… how… but it was so… “

“What, you ain’t ever seen a farm girl lift somethin’ before?” Applejack said with a grunt as she shifted the table from her right arm to her left. Somehow, that was even more impressive, since I knew she was right handed. “It ain’t that heavy.”

Note to self: never make Applejack mad, or she might just rip your head clean off your shoulders! “Ah, heh, right, uh, this way please!” I stammered as I began striding my way towards the pool. We left poor Twilight standing there, twitching as she continued to whisper under her breath about impossibilities.

With Applejack’s help it didn’t take long to get all three tables in place, and by the time we did Twilight had snapped out of whatever stupor she was stuck in. “Alright, that’s done,” Applejack pronounced happily, wiping her hands together as if to get rid of dust or dirt. “What’s next?”

“We need drinks and snacks,” I answered. “I think Pinkie said something about two big bowls for beer and cider?”

Applejack’s grin split her face ear to ear. “Cider? We can do cider! Ah think I saw a buncha big bottles of it in the duty-free store. They’re even Sweet Apple Acres brand, if ya can believe it. Apple Bloom, come help me bring ‘em.”

“Hold on, let me go get a trolly,” Twilight said.

“And I’ll start getting some snacks together,” I said, heading for the convenience store.

“Can you get some ice for the drinks, too?” Pinkie called after me as I left.

“Yeah, sure!” I called back.

Once inside the store I found a convenient rolling cart useful to carry everything, and started heaping large bags of chips, pretzels, and other salty goodness onto the cart. While I was working I heard a couple others poke their heads inside. “Hey, need some help?” called Flash. Timber Spruce was with him, wearing a brown leather backpack.

“Yeah, sure, please,” I agreed. Flash and Timber came over and started piling stuff on top. It took a while to run everything through the register, because of course thanks to Monoponi’s stupid regulations we had to run each item through one at a time, but we turned it into a proper assembly line of passing things around almost like a circle till we got it all, then Flash ran his Monopad to “pay” for it. Together we took it all and set it out nicely on the table. Flash even took the extra time to pop open the various tubs of dip we brought and set them up neatly for everyone, while Timber set a bag of ice on the table, inside a small cooler we’d also bought.

Pinkie Pie pranced up to us as we were finishing with the table layout. “Wow, that’s looking amazing! Great selection! You picked everything I would! Now we just need some sweets. Quick, come with me, come with me!”

She all but dragged the three of us away, almost running us into Twilight, Applejack, and Apple Bloom coming the other way with a heavy trolly laden down with bottles of alcohol. “Woah, careful there sugarcube,” Applejack said.

“Sorry, sorry!”

Pinkie dragged us all the way to the bakery down near the end of the restaurant half of the promenade, and brought us into the kitchen. The whole place was a right mess, ingredients spilled everywhere, open bags of flour laying open next to bags of sugar, bottles of vanilla and chocolate liquor and other things all stacked all over the counters, with the ovens humming away as they baked, the air filled with the scent of deliciousness. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were also there, mixing up fresh batches of something or other in mixing bowls while humming to themselves.

“Ooh, Pinkie, you’re back!” Sweetie squealed, dropping her bowl on the counter and rushing over to a pan of muffins sitting out to cool on the stove. She pulled one out and handed it over. “Here, try it!”

“Hmmm…” Pinkie held it up to her nose, sniffed at it like a dog, then opened up her jaws and took a huge bite, chewing messily for about five seconds then swallowing it with a loud gulping noise. “Yummy! That’s really tasty! Good job, Sweetie Belle!”

Sweetie smiled at the praise. “Thanks! I took a baking class as an elective in my first year of college, so I’m way better than I used to be.”

“Yeah, weren’t you telling me you once served Rarity a bowl of liquid ‘toast’ for breakfast?” Scootaloo teased as she continued to stir her mixture.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie blushed furiously, whirling on the other woman and holding her fists at her side. “I told you not to say anything about that!”

Timber burst out laughing. “A bowl of toast, hah! That’s classic.”

Pinkie patted Sweetie on the shoulder. “Aww, it’s okay, Sweetie. Everyone makes mistakes when they first learn to cook! The important thing is to never give up trying. And look! You’re doing well now!”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just embarrassing,” Sweetie groused. “Anyway, I better get back to work! We’ll have everything ready by 8:00, don’t worry!”

“Great! I’m counting on you!” Pinkie cheered. Then she turned back to us. “Okay, you three, start loading the finished ones onto the cart. We gotta bring it all over and make it look nice.”

Following her instructions we carefully loaded pan after pan of muffins, cupcakes, crepes, turnovers, and fritters onto the cart. It took us a good five or six trips, especially because Sweetie and Scootaloo kept bringing out more batches of fresh goodies. The smell was driving me bananas, it was so good.

But finally we had it all laid out on the tables, ready for everyone to consume. Right as we finished up, the farmer duo and Twi finished setting up the drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. “Whew,” I said, wiping sweat off my brow as I looked at our work. “We did a pretty good job.”

“Yeah, and it’s not even eight yet,” Timber added with a chuckle. “It’s only 7:45. Wild.”

Rarity emerged from the promenade passageway, a load of fabric streamers in her hand.“Well, if you’re finished with that, darlings, would you be willing to help a lady with something else?”

“For a lady? Anything,” Timber said with a waggle of his eyebrows and a wink.

“Dude, seriously?” Flash groaned, facepalming. “Anyway, yeah, we’ll help you, Rarity.”

It took us awhile, mostly standing on chairs for support, but we managed to get the streamers hung up all around the pool area, mostly hanging by the railings or around the security cameras, but we did place some on the bridge tower as well. Monoponi briefly showed up when we got near it, just to glare at us from the balcony, but we carefully avoided blocking the views of any cameras or weapons and he swiftly disappeared without saying a word.

By the time 8:00 hit everything was ready. Flash even had a DJ station set up near the poolside. It was a bit clumsy, just a few large speakers hooked into a stereo, but it would suffice for our purposes. Pinkie had also taken the time to locate a few strobe lights from who knows where, set to flash between colors, but slowly, so they didn’t overwhelm people’s senses. We also had plenty of disposable cups for the drinks and we’d brought over a few bins and waste baskets from the promenade to help keep things clean.

It was right as I was happily announcing to everyone that we were finished that I realized one crucial fact, a fact that seemed to have escaped all of us: none of us had any swimsuits or swim trunks. Why this hadn’t occurred to any of us before now, I don’t know, but once I pointed it out all of us present had to go scrambling for the sporting goods store to buy one up, while Rarity grabbed up a divider and a few curtains to set up two small changing areas.

Fortunately the store had swimsuits in our size so we didn’t have any real problems. I’d picked out something pretty basic, nothing like the nice one I had back at home. This was just a simple two piece black bikini.

“Oh darn it, I’m so sorry everyone,” Rarity apologized as we all lined up to change into the basic swimwear we’d obtained. “If I had realized sooner I would have tailored you all a custom swimsuit!”

“Pssh, nah, don’t sweat it!” Flash said with a grin. He had already changed, and was standing there shirtless, wearing a pair of blue baggy swim trunks, the kind with the extra layer underneath so he had pockets. He was surprisingly toned, with well defined ab muscles… strong pecs shining under the lights… Did he oil them? When would he have time to do that?

Oh dear. I’m going to be turned on by like, everyone here, aren’t I? I thought to myself as a flush of warmth ran through my body. I pointedly looked away from Flash and fanned myself with my hand while I waited for my turn in the changing room. I did spot Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy all staring at Flash with obvious interest and almost burst out laughing, managing to suppress it into a light giggle. Guess I’m not the only one.

Of course I had to keep myself from staring at the ladies, too. Rainbow Dash in particular chose a barely there g-string thong that might as well have been the same thing as wearing no clothes at all. If this had been Equestria wearing no clothes wouldn’t have mattered to me, but I’d been a human being for waaaaay too long. At least now I know the curtains match the drapes? I thought with a giggle.

Oh but the one who caught my eyes the most was, naturally, Adagio. Somehow she’d found this brilliantly shining crimson top with bikini bottom, both covered in rhinestones to sparkle in every bit of light, and she was still wearing her spiked belt with it to boot. I still don’t know what you are, Adagio, but damn if you don’t look good.

She caught me staring and sauntered over, putting just a bit more sashay into her hips. “Like what you see?” she said in a low, seductive tone, adding just enough of a chuckle to send my heart racing.

“Ah, I uh, um…” I stammered, searching for words and finding none that didn’t sound ridiculous. So instead as soon as Sweetie Belle emerged from the changing station I zoomed in, trying not to hear Adagio’s laugh as I fled. By the time I finished changing she’d moved on to the snacks table and was chatting up Diamond Tiara.

So I just went and grabbed a drink, choosing to start with plain water. “Oooh, water, huh?” Rainbow Dash teased when she saw me grab it. “Feeling a bit too scared to try something harder?”

“I’m just trying to make sure I don’t have a massive hangover in the morning,” I replied, taking a swig from my bottle and doing my best to look anywhere but directly at her. I ended up focusing on Fluttershy instead, who was standing quietly nearby, not saying a word. Seriously, why the g-string?

Rainbow grabbed a bottle of soda, handed it to Fluttershy, then took a long drink from her cup of beer. Somehow the girl already had a bit of a pink flush to her cheeks. “Oh come on, that’s gonna be future Sunset’s problem. Tonight’s a time to party!” she cried. Then she set her cup down on the table, let out a whoop, and raced down the length of the pool to do a cannonball into the deep end, splashing the whole of that poolside, including Trixie and Sweetie Belle, soaking them from top to bottom.

“Hey! Watch what you’re doing! You’re getting Trixie all wet!” Trixie whined, shaking a fist in the pool’s general direction.

Rainbow Dash surfaced and spat out a bit of pool water, then broke into laughter. “Yeah I’ll bet I’m getting you wet!” she cried.

Trixie’s mouth twisted into the tightest, most puckered frown I’d ever seen as her whole body turned a brilliant shade of pink. “Don’t you even begin to imply something so dirty about Trixie!”

“Bwahahaha!” Rainbow Dash cackled, diving down into the pool to avoid Trixie’s continuing tirade.

Chuckling and shaking my head at their silly behavior, I navigated through the crowd to Flash Sentry, who was setting up for the first bit of DJing. “Hey, looking to make a request?” he asked, looking up at me from his kneeling position near the poolside.

“Maybe,” I shrugged.

He stood up, his face twisting up in concern. “Are you okay, Sunset? I know it couldn’t have been fun dealing with this morning.”

I shrugged again, harder this time. “No, I’m fine. I probably deserved that slap in the face. Just trying to get over it, is all.”

Flash set a comforting hand on my shoulder, carefully so I could easily remove it if it was uncomfortable. “For what it’s worth, I’m not mad at all. I was just worried.”

The warmth of his hand was rather nice on my shoulder, so I let him keep it there. I gave him a genuine smile. “Thank you. It’s good to hear that from someone, at least.”

Sadly he decided to take it away. The lack of his hand left my shoulder feeling chilly, and I shivered without meaning to. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Sunset,” Flash said with a concerned frown. “You’re smart. I could tell that about you from the moment we first spoke.”

“What--”

He held up a hand. “Let me finish, please. I’m saying this now because I just wanted you to know that, if we ever have to go to one of those ship’s trial things mentioned in the rules? I think we’re all going to be counting on you to figure things out. I’m not that smart. I try to be a cool guy, you know, and try to be nice, but trying to solve a murder? I’d be hopeless. We need you.” He blew out a sigh, and knelt back down to fuss over the stereo some more. “That’s why this morning was so scary. I’m afraid if someone takes you out, we’ll be screwed.”

“Wow, I uh, I don’t know what to say,” I responded, my words almost choking in my throat. “I’m touched, really. You hardly even know me, and you already have so much faith in me?”

“Well, yeah, I do,” he answered, looking back up at me with a small smile. “I dunno why, but I do. You just seem… good. Sorry, I dunno how else to say it, hehe.”

“Still, I appreciate it,” I said, deciding to sit next to him. The concrete around the pool was a little bit rough on my partially bare bottom, but I was able to dangle my feet into the water, which was nice and warmer than I expected. “But how do you know someone’s going to do something?”

He sighed again, this time setting down the stereo system and falling back onto his butt. His expression became grim. “Because we want to get home. I mean, I sure do. I already miss my family, my band mates, my friends. I was going somewhere with my life, and this whole killing game thing isn’t just putting it on hold, it’s like I was yanked off the stage altogether, you know?” At my nod, he continued, “And if I’m feeling that desperate, everyone else is. I’ve been seeing it, in the way everyone walks, talks. Everyone’s trying to pretend nothing’s wrong, but everything is wrong. I mean look at what I’m doing. I’m getting ready to DJ for a pool party like this was just another Friday night at CU.”

I took a moment to survey the crowd before responding, looking at the way they were acting, what they were doing. Rainbow Dash was already downing her third cup of beer, Trixie was pacing to and fro in a huff, Adagio was dancing to a silent tune, Diamond Tiara was frowning into a bowl of chips in front of her at her table. Pinkie was stuffing several sweets down her throat, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom looked like they were each trying to see who could down their drink the fastest, and so on. Everyone was trying to act like they were having fun, but they were all uncomfortable, in one way or another.

Except Wallflower Blush. She hadn’t bothered to show up to the party, just like she said she wouldn’t. I hoped she was okay wherever she was staying.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said to Flash. “No one’s happy.”

“How can we be, when we’re trapped on this ship?” Flash scowled, holding up a CD and looking like he wanted to chuck it across the pool. “I want to be wrong, Sunset. I do. I want us all to come out of this just fine, get back to our lives like nothing happened. But I don’t think it’s going to work out that way.”

“Maybe not.” I set my water bottle down and sighed. “Maybe we should just try to make the best of it while we’re here.” I caught sight of Twilight walking nearby, carrying a big cupcake in her hands while her clipboard was held against her chest awkwardly. “Speaking of which,” I continued, a sly grin crossing my face, “I think you might have a chance with Twilight over there if you asked her out.”

His head shot up and he stared at me, eyes wide, mouth spread in a big smile. “Wait, really? You think so?”

“Yeah!” I nudged him in the shoulder. “Go for it, big guy. I’ll watch over the stereo.”

“Yes!” He hopped up to his feet in one swift motion. “Thanks, Sunset! You’re the best!” Then he slipped away, just in time to help save Twilight from dropping her cupcake.

“I hope that works out for you, bud,” I said quietly.

“Hey, hey, hey!”

Pinkie Pie pirouetted past the party tables, perilously close to the pool before popping up next to me, prancing in place. “Hey! Where’s the music? Where’s the DJ? We gotta get this party rockin’!”

I held up a CD at random from the pile, which she snatched away from me, examined from several different angles in a split second, then grinned and handed it back. “That’s perfect! Play it, Sunny Girl!”

“Sunny Girl…?” I muttered as I popped open the CD player on the stereo and stuck it in, then pressed play. The fierce beat and heavy tempo of electrohouse filled the air, thrumming even through the meek, basic bass of the speakers.

“Haha, yeah, now we’re talking!” Rainbow Dash cheered from the pool as she leapt up from the water and attempted some form of aerial acrobatic maneuver. Attempted, that is, because all she did was flip halfway in place then slam back into the water flat on her belly. “Ow.”

Ignoring her antics, I started bobbing my head to the beat. While not my favorite genre of music, this was pretty nice, especially right now. The tension of the evening, my worries and fears that I’d vented to Flash, all started fading away with the rhythms of the music. Pretty soon I was dancing by the poolside, Pinkie cutting a pretty fine rug herself as we went.

That lasted at least a good hour and a half before the music on the CD ran out. Right as it did, we heard the DING-DONG BING-BONG of the speakers going off. Everyone paused long enough to let Monoponi’s typical night time announcement play:

“Attention! This is your Captain speaking! It is now 10:00 PM! The shopping center is now closed for business. Let the calm, soothing night air of the ocean whisk you away to a beautiful slumber! Stay safe my dear passengers!”

Even though it was the standard recording we’d all heard several times already, it was enough to put a damper on the party, at least for a bit. We let the stereo rest a while so we could all get some snacks and drinks. After hearing his voice I finally needed to get some alcohol in me, so I walked up to the table. “Hey Sunset, want some cider?” Timber offered. He had a small tray with several cups already. “I’m getting some for AJ, Tiara, Rarity, and Fluttershy. And myself. We’re all sitting over there if you want to join us.”

“Nah, no thanks,” I said as I reached for one of the bottles of cinnamon whiskey. Last thing I wanted to do was cause a scene with Tiara, because I could already feel her eyes burrowing into my back. “I’m more of a hard liquor kind of girl.”

“Right on,” he said with a laugh as he poured the last cup, placing a few cubes of ice into it. “Alright. Excuse me then,” he said as he carefully cradled the tray in his hands, heading over to the table with the others of his group.

I poured myself a good sized shot, snatched up a plate with a couple muffins for good measure, and joined Adagio and Sweetie, who were whispering to each other while watching Twilight and Flash on the other side of the pool. “Hey there.”

“Oh, Sunset! Good timing! Check out Twilight and Flash!” Sweetie said, giggling into her rum and cola. “Looks like they’re really hitting it off!”

I took a closer look, and sure enough, the two were chatting animatedly, while Twilight was sneakily extending a foot out under the table to rest on Flash’s. “Woah, yeah I think you’re right. Good for them.” I smiled warmly. “I’m glad they’re finding some kind of comfort in each other, given how stressful this whole thing is.”

“Perhaps they’re not the only ones who should find… comfort in each other,” Adagio said, giving me a half-lidded expression as she slowly extended a hand in my direction. Sweetie, watching all of this, just giggled all the harder.

The blush warming my cheeks wasn’t just the whiskey I was drinking. “Ah, huh? Are you serious?”

Adagio let out that delightfully deep, sensual laugh of hers, and drew her hand back at once. Her eyes sparkled like amethysts in amusement, though I did notice, just for a split second, a bit of...longing. “Hmph. Fool. You’re so easy to tease.”

Before I could even begin to formulate a response to that, a commotion at Timber’s table distracted us all. Several of them were leaping to their feet, clutching their stomachs as their faces turned green. “Oh, Ah don’t feel so good!” Applejack moaned.

Fluttershy’s cheeks bulged out and she slapped a hand to her mouth. She mumbled something like “me neither” past her hands before she sped away heading for the promenade.

“Oh god I think I’m gonna puke!” Timber cried as he followed after her running as fast as he could while holding his belly. Applejack, Rarity, and Diamond Tiara all followed without saying a word, running just as fast. Poor Rarity tripped on her heels and had to toss them off on the way.

Pinkie Pie poked her head out from the far side of the dessert table. “Woah, what happened to them?”

“Huh, they were all drinking the cider,” I said. I stood up and walked over to the drink table, and knelt down to take a whiff. Immediately my nose burned and I recoiled, my face puckering. “Ugh! I think this is a bad batch, Pinkie. This reeks!”

“Oh no!” Pinkie grabbed both sides of her head. “Oh no no no no no! That won’t do at all! Gimme that!” With one quick movement of her arms she reached out for the bowl of cider, spun in a circle and then hurled it off the side of the ship. “That’s for making my friends feel sick!” she shouted over the railing, shaking her fist like a madwoman before wiping her hands and coming back, all smiles once more. “There, that’s better. No one gets sick at a Pinkie party if I have anything to say about it. And I do! Because I’m Pinkie!”

“You think they’ll be okay?” I asked her, looking towards the promenade in concern. The bathrooms there were the closest, sure, but from the way they looked… oh I hope there wouldn’t be a mess. Please don’t let there be a mess!

Pinkie waved a hand dismissively. “Pshaw, they’ll be fine. They just gotta get it worked out of their systems. I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”

“Woah, hey, what happened?” Flash asked as he sped over, Twilight hot on his heels.

“Just a bad batch of cider,” I said, shrugging. “They’ll be okay.”

“Hmm…” Flash rubbed his chin, staring at the empty spot on the table where the bowl had been sitting. “Should we check on them?”

Twilight shook her head, and, cheeks aflame, she grabbed for his arm and held it against her. “No, they’ll be fine. If they don’t come back soon, we can check on them then.”

With a blush of his own, Flash relented. “Okay, sure. Sunset, will you check if they don’t come back?”

“Yeah.”

I figured I’d give them a good hour before looking in, because sometimes stuff like that takes a while. And sure enough, most of them came back right about 11:00, except for Rarity. “Ugh, that was just awful,” Applejack moaned as she flumped into a chair, still holding her stomach. “Had it comin’ outta both ends.”

“Ew, gross! Trixie doesn’t want to hear that!” Trixie whined, throwing an empty cup in Applejack’s direction and clapping her hands to her ears. “Do not give Trixie such disgusting details!”

The cup went flying well past Applejack’s head, nowhere near hitting her. “Oh, sorry, Trixie,” she said. She laid back in her chair and let her arms hang out over the armrests. “Ah just never had that happen from cider before. And it was Sweet Apple Acres brand too. Like mah own kin betrayin’ me!”

“Wait, where’s Rarity?” Adagio inquired, her body winding up to spring into action. “Wasn’t she with you?”

“I think she’s still cleaning herself up,” Timber groaned as he rested his head on a table.

“Mmhm,” Fluttershy agreed. Of all of them she looked the least worst off, to my surprise. “She was very upset.”

Adagio shared a look with me, but I shook my head. Not yet. My instincts said she was probably fine.

And sure enough she returned about twenty minutes later, stomping in with both arms gripped by her sides in a huff, her mouth working like she was chewing a bit and her clothes thoroughly soaked. “I cannot believe that happened! So intolerable!” she complained. She snatched up her heels, then threw herself into a chair next to Applejack, firing off a furious glare at the farmer. “This is your fault! It was your family’s cider!”

“Hey now, Ah suffered too ya know!” Applejack shot back, holding up one hand to point in Rarity’s general direction. “Don’t go blamin’ this on me. Ah blame the distributor! Or maybe the packagin’. But the cider itself? Nah. Somethin’ made it go bad, mark mah words.”

“Oh would you both shut up?” Diamond whined in a pathetic voice, clutching her head. “I don’t want to hear this right now!”

Pinkie Pie sidled up to their table, a tray of fresh cups balanced on her arm. “Here you go, guys. Drink this. It’ll help you feel better.”

Applejack peered at the cup with a healthy dose of suspicion. “What is it?”

Timber, with a lethargic shrug, took a taste. “Oh, it’s ginger ale. My sister always gave that to me when I was sick. Thanks, Pinkie!”

“Yup yup!” Pinkie flashed them two big thumbs up. “Now drink it up so you can feel all nice and happy again! This party ain’t even close to being over!”

“Your Captain might have something to say about that!”

Everyone froze, all eyes turning to the flash of crimson light that heralded the arrival of Monoponi in our midst. He was pissed, stomping furiously, working his jaw, holding up a back leg like he was ready to kick someone, even snapping his tail. I immediately hopped over the drinks table and ducked down so it was between him and me. I had no desire to feel that magic grip round my neck again!

“Outrageous!” he roared. “Unacceptable! Disgusting! This will not stand!” He pointed one hoof squarely at the table of sick people. “You five! What do you have to say for yourselves?!”

“Wh-wwhat d-d-d-did we d-d-d-do?!” Fluttershy stammered in a panic, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.

“Yeah, she didn’t do anything!” Rainbow Dash cried as she hefted herself out of the pool and sped over to place herself firmly between Monoponi and Shy, holding out both arms protectively to cover her. The effect was lessened somewhat by her unsteady posture and the splashing pool water dripping everywhere. “Leave her alone!”

“Absolutely not! I will not tolerate such disgusting activity aboard this ship! You’ve abused my goodwill by making a massive mess of my bathrooms! Inexcusable!” His ears went flat against his skull as he whirled to point a hoof at Trixie, who’d been tip toeing trying to sneak away. “And where do you think you’re going?!”

Trixie shrieked and fell over, holding her hands up and looking away, squeezing her eyes shut. “No! Trixie wasn’t going anywhere! Please don’t hurt Trixie!”

Monoponi glared viciously, eyes flashing crimson, before he let out a huff. “That’s it! You! Magic girl! You and Rainbow chick are on cleaning duty! Mops and buckets are in the closet between the bathrooms! Get to it!”

Trixie blanched, her face twisting up in dismay. “But, but… it’s so gross!”

“NOW!” Monoponi thundered, horn lighting to summon a crackathoom! of thunder. “If you won’t, it’s mutiny! And you know what happens to mutineers aboard my ship!”

Trixie hopped to her feet and ran pell mell for the bathrooms before he could say anymore, squealing in fright the whole way. Rainbow, with a frustrated groan of “Aw, man, this sucks,” trudged after her.

With a grunt, Monoponi relaxed, and cast his gaze over us, looking at each one of us in turn. “Let that be a lesson to you. I don’t care if you have a party. But you do not make a mess of my ship!” With that, he disappeared in a flash of crimson light.

“Oooh, poor Dashie,” Fluttershy moaned, her face falling into her hands. She began to softly weep as Applejack rubbed a comforting hand along her back.

“Hey now, sugarcube, she’ll be okay. Ah know it’s gross, but we did make an awful mess in there. Cleanin’ duty ain’t the worst thing in the world.”

“I know,” Fluttershy sighed sadly. “But she shouldn’t have to clean up after me.”

The mood of the party was left pretty grim after that, at least until Trixie and Rainbow Dash returned most of an hour or so later, both thoroughly worn out and disgusted. Trixie for her part immediately stomped over to the drinks table, popped the cap off a large bottle of vodka, and started guzzling it. “Trixie may not drink often!” she burbled after swallowing her first huge drink, coughing and spluttering from the alcohol burn. “But she wants to forget this whole thing even happened!”

“Yeah for real,” Rainbow said, doing the same thing with a bottle of wine. “That was nasty. I never want to do that again.”

“Okay, that’s enough frowns,” Pinkie declared as she bounced over to the stereo. She put on a new CD and filled the air with music. “Let’s get this party back on track!”

Although the music helped, the party just wasn’t as good after that whole experience. I was able to last another good hour before I finally had to depart for bed early, already feeling the headache of the hangover I was sure to suffer in the morning. Thanks to the lack of sleep I was bushed. Flash and Twilight escorted me to my room, and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

The morning announcement hit my ears like a jet engine taking off right in my face, the light of the screen far too bright to stand. “God damn,” I groaned as I sat up, clutching my pounding head. My stomach wasn’t reeling, thankfully, but I definitely had too much to drink the night before. I must not have had enough water after all.

I stumbled into the bathroom and did my best to brush the sour taste out of my mouth with my toothbrush, swallowed a few aspirin, then tossed on a fresh pair of clothes. I’d take a shower later. Right now I wanted coffee.

Knock knock knock!

“Coming,” I called, heading for the door. I popped it open a crack, to see Adagio. “Oh. Hey.”

“Good morning,” she grunted, holding a hand to her head, and squinting away from the lights in the hall and in my room.

Guess I’m not the only one with a hangover. “What’s up?”

“Just checking on you,” she replied, groaning. “Wanted to be sure you didn’t pull the same thing you did yesterday.”

My lips squeezed into a pout. “Hey, I wouldn’t do that again. I learned my lesson.”

Adagio glared at me through narrowed eyes, before softly nodding. “Sure, sure. C’mon, let’s go get--”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

We both jumped, staring in the direction of the promenade. “What was that?!” I yelped, the adrenaline flooding me banishing any lingering feeling of lethargy.

Twilight’s door flew open, her glasses askew, her clothes all wrinkled and messy as she stepped into the hallway. “Did someone scream?!” she asked in a panic.

“Sure sounded like it!” added Flash, who popped his head out from Twilight’s room, thankfully wearing pants and in the process of tossing his shirt back on.

“Flash?!” I blurted. “What were you--”

“Nevermind that, Sunset, let’s go!” Adagio cried.

Together, the four of us raced for the promenade, emerging into the restaurant side. At first, we didn’t see any cause for concern, until we saw Pinkie Pie, eyes glazed over in shock, muttering to herself and pointing at something nearby. “Pinkie?! Are you okay?” I shouted as I went to check her. “What happened?”

“I-I-I-I-I… no no no no!” she whispered, still pointing, her arm shaking like crazy.

I looked up at what she was pointing at, and froze. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t blink. I couldn’t breathe. All the blood in my body turned to ice, a deep, dark pit opening up in my heart, yawning opening and dragging me down into the depths of despair.

Because there. Laying on a dining cart, still and quiet, with a bloodied cleaver buried in her stomach, was the cold, dead body of Wallflower Blush.

Author's Notes:

Oh. Uh. Well. So much for Wallflower. Major props to JCarp for calling it with his initial guess back on Part I. Note of honesty: Wallflower was not intended to be a surprise first victim, so hopefully this didn't catch anyone too off guard. But just because someone dies early doesn't mean they're not important.

Regarding AJ's strength: you've probably noticed by now that none of the Humane Seven have displayed their magical abilities. This is on purpose, obviously, but Applejack was super strong even before she got her geode. We see her casually carrying a table in the first movie that two guys were struggling with pretty hard, so I feel justified in her being able to carry around these tables no problem.

Wednesday: the investigation. It'll be all one part, don't worry.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 5

“Aaaauuuuughh!” Flash screamed at the top of his lungs, tearing at his hair as he stared at the body.

“Oh damn,” Adagio said under her breath, stunned.

Twilight fell to her knees. “No...no! NO! This shouldn’t be happening! This can’t be happening!”

DING-DONG-DONG-DING

The horribly inappropriate rising happy chime preceded the screens all over the promenade lighting up, revealing Monoponi in his seat on the bridge, cradling his snifter of brandy.

“Attention all passengers! A body has been discovered! Please report to the restaurant district of the promenade immediately!”

People trickled in, one by one or in pairs. “Who was it?!” Rarity shrieked in panic, the first to arrive, eyes searching around wildly. “Where’s Sweetie Belle?! Where is she?!”

“I’m right here sis!” Sweetie shouted, almost tripping over herself running into Rarity’s embrace. “I’m okay! It wasn’t me!”

“Oh thank heavens!” Rarity burbled, tears running freely in messy rivulets, ruining her makeup. “Who was---oh no, Wallflower?!”

Sweetie’s jaw plummeted to the floor. “Oh god I don’t believe it…”

Rainbow Dash was the next one in, running pell mell only to freeze in place the instant she spotted the body. “Holy shit!” she muttered, her whole body turning pale.

“Oh no…” Fluttershy arrived not far behind her, and immediately burst into tears, clutching at Rainbow Dash and burying her face in Dash’s shoulder. “Oh noooo…”

Timber showed up next, took one look at the body, blanched, and stuffed his face in the nearest bin, violently retching. “God damn, what the hell!” he cried, wiping the sick off his face.

“What happened?!” Diamond Tiara demanded as she barged in, her clothes half soaked and dripping wet. “Who--oh my god!” She screeched, holding her hands close to her chest. “Who… how…”

Applejack thudded in, carrying a sleepy Apple Bloom on her back, and gasped soundlessly, covering her mouth with one hand. Her eyes filled with tears as she dropped Apple Bloom to the floor, then doffed her hat and held it to her breast.

“Ah don’t believe it,” Apple Bloom whispered, staring at the body, open mouthed.

Scootaloo, upon seeing the body, squeezed her hands into fists and quivered in rage. “Who did this?” she growled in the nastiest whisper I’d ever heard. “Who?!”

Trixie was the last to enter, crying out in shock. “No! Impossible! Trixie won’t believe her eyes! Is Wallflower, is she truly…”

Quietly, with as much respect as I could muster, I approached the body, and held a pair of fingers to her neck. As I expected, she was cold. “She’s dead,” I confirmed with a shuddering breath. Emptiness gnawed at me from inside, clawing at my heart, stretching out to every part of me to fill me with nothingness. “She’s gone.”

Wallflower. You were always so angry at everything, at everyone. You kept to yourself like a complete idiot. And now you’ve paid the price. I wanted my eyes to fill with tears, to cry, to scream, to do something, anything other than just stand there, feeling empty, but I couldn’t. I had no tears to shed. They just weren’t there. You didn’t deserve this. You were a jerk, but you didn’t deserve this. No one does.

“Who did this?!” Scootaloo shouted, eyes blazing with fury as she cast her gaze over us. “Who?!”

“It… it couldn’t have been one of us, right?!” Rainbow Dash said as she held Fluttershy close, her own eyes misting.

Pinkie, who by now had managed to shake herself out of her stupor and crawl to her feet, responded, “No way. It couldn’t have been,” in a quiet voice. Her hair laid completely flat against her skull, all curls gone, her eyes vacant of any of her usual cheer. “I refuse to believe it!”

“Oh, but it most certainly was one of you!”

We all let out various cries of fear as Monoponi calmly waddled in, the biggest most shit-eating grin I’d ever seen stretching his face from ear to ear. He swaggered with pride as he stood behind the body and hovered in the air so as to lurk menacingly like an angel of death over Wallflower’s corpse.

“That’s a lie!” Trixie screamed, pointing a furious finger at Monoponi like she was casting a spell. “You did this! You killed her! Trixie knows you did! No one else could have!”

“Oh please, spare me the accusations!” Monoponi fluttered his wings in anger as he plopped onto the ground. His horn lit and wrenched a chair over so he could stand on it. “The rules are clear! I, as your Captain, would never and can never participate in a Rescue Attempt. This was the work of one of you!”

“But, why would anyone… how could they?” Fluttershy screamed, far louder than any of us had heard her speak before. Her eyes turned cold and judging as she cast her gaze upon us all. “Whoever you are, you heartless, horrible murderer! Turn yourself in! Now!”

No one spoke up. We all kept looking at each other, each of us full of disbelief, of sorrow, but no one admitted wrong-doing. Of course they wouldn’t. The rules forbid it.

“Upupupu,” Monoponi held one hoof to his mouth. “No one will answer you, Fluttershy. Because one of you wants to escape! How awful! How terrible! To think one of you would choose to leave this wonderful, welcoming ship, with all its luxuries and amenities…”

“Shut up!” Diamond Tiara roared at him. “You’re the one who kept trying to get us to kill each other!”

“And? It’s not my fault one of you decided their life was more valuable than the rest of you!” Monoponi snickered. “Because one of you did! One of you is happy to let everyone else die just so they can leave the ship.”

“Mah word… Ah just can’t believe someone would be so selfish,” Applejack said.

“But someone was,” Adagio spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest. “Someone gave in, and killed Wallflower. Honestly, I don’t blame them. She wasn’t very pleasant to talk to.”

“Hey!” Sweetie Belle said, stomping over and getting up in Adagio’s face, or trying to anyway. She was shorter by a good six inches, so the effect was more comical than anything else. “How dare you?! Maybe she wasn’t nice, but that doesn’t mean she deserved to die!”

“I didn’t say she did,” Adagio shrugged. She took two fingers and with a single flick against Sweetie’s forehead sent the shorter woman flying onto the floor. “Stay out of my face.”

Rarity’s eyes bugged out of her sockets as she heaved and snorted like an angry stallion. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on my sister!” she snarled, moving into some kind of martial arts stance.

Sweetie climbed to her feet and grunted, rubbing at her bruised hip. She held out an arm to block Rarity from advancing on Adagio. “Don’t, sis. This won’t help anything.”

“Yeah,” Flash agreed, having managed to finally compose himself. He knelt down to help Twilight off the floor, who’d been bent over sobbing this whole time. “Fighting with each other won’t solve anything right now.”

“B-but what do we do?” Timber gasped, hovering near the bin full of his sick and looking ready to duck back in at any second. “What can we do?”

“We’re… we’re gonna have to follow the rules, aren’t we?” Pinkie answered, listlessly holding up her Monopad. “We gotta investigate.”

“Oh good, I’m so glad you’re getting this so fast!” Monoponi clapped his forehooves together. “Usually it takes a good half hour of pissing and moaning before the group finally gets around to doing what they’re supposed to do.”

“But where would we even begin? Trixie has never investigated a crime before!” Trixie tore at her hair in frustration.

“And how?” Scootaloo spluttered as she stared at Wallflower’s body. “We can’t, like, dust for fingerprints or run DNA or whatever they do on crime shows! How do we do this?”

I approached Monoponi, and brought out my Monopad. My gaze met his, and he stared right back, chuckling under his breath. “Go ahead, Monoponi. Send it. We’re waiting.”

“Send what?” Twilight asked.

“Oh fie, you’re trying to spoil the experience, Sunset! Shame on you!” Monoponi chided, fluttering his wings in frustration.

“No, really, what is she talking about?” Sweetie asked.

“She must be referencing that Dangan-whatever thing again,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“Oh, I wish I’d played it now,” Fluttershy sighed. “I’ve played all sorts of Neighponese visual novels, but I always avoided ones like those for being… too dark.”

I crossed my arms, and stayed quiet, waiting for him to run out of patience.

Monoponi let out a world-weary sigh. “Fine! I was going to give this a full set of pomp and circumstance, but little miss Sunset won’t let me have any fun! Such disrespect to her Captain, I tell you. She’d be whipped if she were on my crew, you’d better believe it!” With a quick flare of his horn, all our Monopads beeped at once, and everyone started bringing theirs out to look. “There. Satisfied, Shimmer?”

“Not till you’re dead,” I retorted as I pulled up the new message.

“Well whatever, then!” Monoponi grouched, huffing on the spot. “I won’t even bother explaining. You get to do it! In the meantime, you all! Your investigation time starts now! Good luuuuck!” Monoponi vanished in a flash of light.

Twilight was the first to speak up after he vanished. “Sunset, what is this Monoponi File thing?”

I sighed in frustration. “It’s an autopsy report. Just enough information on the body for us to use in the trial, without giving away anything crucial. It’s Monoponi’s way of making up for our lack of proper forensics tools. Don’t expect it to provide all the clues. It won’t.”

“Well, if we’re going to investigate, we’ll also need people to guard the body,” Adagio pointed out. “Or else the culprit will probably try to destroy evidence.”

“Yep, that’s pretty standard,” I agreed. Not that I think whoever did this is likely to try anything now. They probably discarded or destroyed all the evidence they could already.

“I’ll do it!” Rainbow Dash volunteered, raising a hand. “I’m still feeling pretty bad after last night. I don’t think I’d be much help investigating.”

“Wait, you can’t do it on your own though,” Twilight pointed out with a sad frown. “I hate to say it, but until we gather more clues? We’re all suspects.”

“Are you saying I’m not trustworthy?!” Rainbow shouted, holding up a fist.

“No,” Twilight replied calmly, refusing to back down. “I’m saying that we have to play this smart. I want to trust you.” She sighed, staring down at her Monopad. “I want to trust all of you. But can we really take that risk? If we get this wrong, everyone, we die.”

“It’s true,” Adagio agreed, favoring Twilight with an impressed look. “She’s right. Our lives are on the line. And I have no intention of dying here.”

“Okay, fine, so someone else guard the body with me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Who wants to do it?”

After a couple of moments of silence, Timber let out a frustrated sigh and stepped forward, still shaking and still pale. He dragged the bin with him, keeping it handy. “Guess I’ll do it. Sorry I won’t be able to help investigate.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said with an understanding smile. “If we get a chance, we’ll get you some stomach medicine or something before the trial. Thank you, Timber.”

“Alright, that’s decided then,” Diamond announced, glaring at me. “And let me say something else! None of us are going off on our own! Everyone sticks with someone else! Especially you, Sunset!” Her glare burned brighter, like someone turned up the heat on a stove. “I can’t speak for everyone else, but you’re my number one suspect! You had the biggest beef with Wallflower of all of us!”

“Yeah, she did, huh?” Scootaloo said, scratching her chin.

“Don’t worry, Diamond, I’ll stay with her,” Twilight said, adjusting her glasses to get a better look at her Monopad. “And we’d better pair off now. We’re running out of time.”

She was right. Monoponi was only going to give us so much time to investigate this crime, and I wouldn’t put it past the pony puppeteer to stop us at any moment and laugh at us because we failed to find anything before the trial.

We had to investigate. For Wallflower’s sake. And for the sake of us all.

My first act was to look at the Monoponi File, and read it carefully. I opened it up, and took a look, cringing when I saw what pointless title Monoponi slapped Wallflower with.

Fact #1: Monoponi File I: “The victim is Wallflower Blush, the Ultimate Nobody. The time of death is estimated as being between 8:00 PM and 3:00 AM. The victim shows signs of multiple injuries to the stomach, neck, and throat. There are also traces of sleeping medicine in her system.”

Damn. Not a lot to work with.

“No cause of death? No proper time of death?! This isn’t helpful at all!” Twilight complained after reading it, scowling at her pad as if the thing offended her just by existing.

“I told you,” I replied with a wan half smile. “Just enough information to give us a start. We should investigate the body.”

Twilight bit at her lip, sighed, then nodded. “Right. Hold on, I think I have some gloves somewhere.” She dug around in her skirt pocket and pulled out two sets of disposable vinyl gloves, passing one over to me. “Here. I know we don’t have to worry about fingerprints, but…”

“Yeah I don’t really want to touch a body with my bare hands either, thanks.” I slipped on the gloves, and approached the body, as did Twilight. Rainbow Dash and Timber both watched us closely as we started poking at it.

I went for the cleaver first, since it was the most obvious thing. It was huge, sharpened steel with an engraved handle emblazoned with the letters “S. K.” It had split right through her clothes, staining most of her belly with pink. I avoided looking too closely at the wound, other than to note that it had bled less than I would’ve expected had it been the cause of death, only coating part of her shirt and pants.

Fact #2: Cleaver: “A large stainless steel meat cleaver, found in the victim’s body. The letters ‘S.K.’ are engraved on the handle. The wound caused by the cleaver bled very little.”

“I don’t think this was the murder weapon,” Twilight declared after taking a good look at the cleaver herself.

I held up a hand. “No. Don’t speculate. We can’t. We’re going to bias the results if we do. Save it for the trial.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Twilight let out a small sheepish laugh. “You’d think I’d know that, being a scientist and all. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I resisted the natural urge to pat her on the shoulder, because I doubt she wanted blood all over her clothes. “I get it. We just have to be very careful. If we make the wrong assumption, well…”

“Right,” Twilight nodded with a shaky breath.

I moved on to examine her neck next. “Hrmm, looks like some kind of marks here,” I commented. It was a long, thick ring about two inches wide all the way around her neck, right at her throat. The marks were uneven, with an oddly inconsistent pattern.

Fact #3: Body Condition: “There is a ring of marks around Wallflower’s neck. The pattern is two inches wide, with an uneven, inconsistent pattern.

“So the culprit wrapped something around her neck, it looks like,” I commented. “But why did the File specify the neck and throat? That seems redundant.”

“Maybe look inside her mouth?” Twilight suggested with a grossed out grimace.

I nodded, took a breath to steady myself, then moved up to open Wallflower’s jaw. It was tricky, thanks to the rigor mortis that had set in, but I got it open after a moment or two. Of course the inside was rather dark and difficult to see. “Hey, Rainbow Dash, do you have a flashlight or something on you?”

“Uh, yeah, I got a penlight,” Rainbow responded hesitantly. “Why?”

I pointed to Wallflower’s mouth. “Can you shine it overhead? I need to get a good look inside.”

“Ugh, really? Fine, jeez,” Rainbow Dash whined, but complied, pulling out the pen light and switching it on.

With the helpful light, I was able to make out the inside of her mouth. Not having made a big habit out of staring at throats, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for at first, but then I saw it. “Huh. Looks like there’s some kind of injury there, right on the back of her throat. I see bruising, and a few cuts that left some blood, I think.”

Twilight peered inside, and nodded. “Yeah, that looks unusual. We’d better notate that.”

*UPDATED* Fact #3: Body Condition: “There is a ring of marks around Wallflower’s neck. The pattern is two inches wide, with an uneven, inconsistent pattern. There are also bruises and small cuts on the back of her throat.

I moved on from her mouth now, to check the rest of her body. Her whole body was damp, I noticed, especially her hair and the area around her head and upper torso. “Why is she wet?” I wondered. Using my hands, I felt down her body, stopping when I reached her legs. “Hey, wait, her legs are a bit swollen too. That’s weird.”

“Oh look, here, on her wrists!” Twilight said, holding up one of Wallflower’s arms. Right there, all around her wrists, were markings similar to the ones on her neck.

“Okay, so she was tied up. Maybe…” I checked her ankles. “Bingo. Same thing there too.”

“And look at her shoes too. They’re scuffed,” Twilight said, pointing at the heels of Wallflower’s shoes. Yep, there were scuff marks all right, big and obvious. “She must have been dragged.”

“Yeah, I think so,” I agreed.

*UPDATED* Fact #3: Body Condition: “There is a ring of marks around Wallflower’s neck. The pattern is two inches wide, with an uneven, inconsistent pattern. There are also bruises and small cuts on the back of her throat, and her legs are swollen. Her whole body is damp, especially her head and upper torso. There are further marks on her ankles and wrists, and scuff marks on her shoes.

Twilight began to strip off her gloves. “Okay, I think we’ve learned all we can from the body.”

“Wait,” I said, holding a hand to her gloves to stop her. “We should look underneath her.”

She blinked owlishly at me. “Why?”

“Just a hunch. Here, help me.”

Together, we each lifted the body up off the dining cart, which was easier than I expected. Poor Wallflower hardly weighed a thing. She was a lot thinner than I’d realized, but fortunately that made it easy to hold her up and look underneath her at the same time. “Oh hey, there, what’s that?” I said as I spotted something. I set the body partially down with one arm and held it up just enough with the other to brush the thing I’d spotted onto the floor. “Okay, you can set her down now.”

As she did so I knelt down to examine what fell. It was a few fragments of… some kind of material. “What do you make of this, Twi?”

She picked it and examined it. “I have no idea. Do you really think it’s relevant?”

I nodded. “I don’t want to dismiss anything right now.”

Fact #4: Odd Material: “A few fragments of odd material were discovered underneath the body.”

“Okay, now we can take off the gloves,” I said, stripping the things carefully and dumping them into Timber’s handy bin.

“So what’s next?” Twilight asked as she carefully noted what we’d observed in her notebook.

Desperately wishing I had some hand sanitizer, I avoided scratching my chin like I wanted to as I answered, “Well, there’s a couple places I want to check out, but since they’re right here, I’d like to ask Rainbow Dash and Timber some questions first.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever we can do to help nail the bastard who did this,” Timber agreed with a grimace. Then he held a hand to his stomach. “Ugh, damn it.”

I winced in sympathy for the poor guy. Probably still feeling the effects of that bad cider. That stuff was rancid. Then I paused. Wait. Wait a minute. Why was it bad?

I remembered what I’d heard Applejack say last night.

~*~
“Hey now, Ah suffered too ya know!” Applejack shot back, holding up one hand to point in Rarity’s general direction. “Don’t go blamin’ this on me. Ah blame the distributor! Or maybe the packagin’. But the cider itself? Nah. Somethin’ made it go bad, mark mah words.”
~*~

Yeah. And it happened during the party. That’s gotta mean something.

Fact #5: Tainted Cider: “The bowl of Sweet Apple Acres cider at the pool party made Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara sick with vomiting and diarrhea. According to Applejack, the cider was tainted somehow. It was disposed of at sea by Pinkie Pie.”

“Timber, when you drank the cider last night, did you notice anything odd about it? Like smell, or taste?”

Timber nodded. “Yeah, it did smell kinda funky, now that you mention it. I dunno what it was, but I didn’t think anything of it at first. I figured that was just AJ’s family’s cider smell, ya know? But then it tasted kinda funky too, kinda nutty, and real bitter too, way more bitter than cider should be. Of course I was stupid.” He sighed. “I drank a huge ton of it at once, cause AJ was egging me on. Then after a few minutes my tongue and mouth started itching, ya know? And then it was just so bad. Oh god it was bad.”

*Updated* Fact #5: Tainted Cider: “The bowl of Sweet Apple Acres cider at the pool party made Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara sick with vomiting and diarrhea. According to Applejack, the cider was tainted somehow. It was disposed of at sea by Pinkie Pie. According to Timber Spruce, the cider had a nutty, bitter taste, and made his tongue and mouth itch.”

“That sounds a lot like the symptoms of drinking ipecac,” Twilight mused. “Maybe someone put some in the cider? But where would they get it?”

“Hold that thought, Twi,” I said. “Timber, how long were you in the bathroom?”

“Uh, I dunno?” He shrugged. “Maybe forty-five minutes? I spent some of it cleaning the place up cause I felt bad about making a mess. It smelled so bad, I just sprayed cleaning stuff everywhere and air freshener on top. I dunno if I got all of it, but…”

“Okay. Thank you,” I said.

Fact #6: Timber’s Account: “According to Timber Spruce, he spent forty-five minutes in the bathroom, with some of that time spent on cleanup, using cleaning chemicals and air freshener.”

“Rainbow Dash,” I said, turning my attention to her. She’d almost started nodding off… probably got about as much sleep as I did. Which reminds me: try to grab coffee before the trial.

“Huh? Yeah, what?” she grunted, rubbing at her eyes and wincing. “Sorry, I’ve got a killer headache.”

I lowered my voice a tad. “You helped clean up the bathrooms with Trixie, right? How’d that go?”

“Oh, uh, um…” Rainbow Dash started laughing sheepishly. “It’s really hard to remember actually. I was kinda trying to blot it out afterwards.”

“I understand that, but right now I need you to remember,” I persisted, urging her on.

Rainbow nodded, then squeezed her eyes shut. “Ugh. Okay, so, Trixie told me to do the men’s while she started on the women’s, but I wasn’t in there very long. The whole place stank of air freshener, like someone sprayed it everywhere. And it was really clean too, like spotless. I still did a bit of stuff just to be safe, but then I joined Trixie in the women’s and uh…” She gulped, pinching her nose. “I stib dobt wabt to picture dab.”

“Okay, thank you Dash,” I said. “I’ll stop bugging you two now. Just keep an eye on the body for us.”

*Updated* Fact #6: Timber’s Account: “According to Timber Spruce, he spent forty-five minutes in the bathroom, with some of that time spent on cleanup, using cleaning chemicals and air freshener. Rainbow Dash corroborated his account, stating the men’s room was spotless and stank of air freshener, but she spent some time spraying cleaner anyway to be safe.”

I waved for Twilight to follow me to a nearby table and waited for her to finish writing. “Okay, so that’s a lot we know so far. We’ll need to ask Shy, Rarity, and AJ about the cider too.”

Twilight nodded, then grimaced at her pen and notebook. “Ugh. I wish I’d been able to wash my hands before I had to handle this.”

“I know where we can do that. I was meaning to check it out anyway. C’mon.”

We made our way to the Sushi King restaurant, and entered the kitchen, where we found Pinkie and Scootaloo poking around. “Hey there,” I said as I made for the handwash sink, which was thankfully well equipped with soap. “Find anything?”

“Yup yup!” Pinkie chirped. She’d regained a bit of curl to her hair, but it was still mostly limp. “As soon as I saw that big knife, I was sure it came from here. And look!” She pointed to the knife set on the counter, which was almost complete save for an obvious missing piece. “I was right!”

*Updated* Fact #2: Cleaver: “A large stainless steel meat cleaver, found in the victim’s body. The letters ‘S.K.’ are engraved on the handle. The cleaver came from the Sushi King kitchen. The wound caused by the cleaver bled very little.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m not really surprised. Did you see anything else in here?”

“Um, I might’ve found something,” Scootaloo said, calling us over. She was standing at the janitor’s corner, staring down at the sink. “Look. The whole thing here’s wet, and I didn’t turn on the water when I came in. Neither did Pinkie.”

“Interesting…” Twilight mused as she noted it.

Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently.”

I peered down at the sink with interest. “Wait, what…” I reached down to the drain and pulled something out. It was a long, thin thread of material. “Hey, Twi, look at this. This looks a lot like that other thing we found, doesn’t it?”

She held it up to the light. “Yeah, it does. I’m still not sure what it is, but it’s probably not a coincidence.

*Updated* Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently. A long, thin fragment of material identical to the one discovered under Wallflower’s body was found in the drain.”

*Updated* Fact #4: Odd Material: “A few fragments of odd material were discovered underneath the body. A long, thin fragment of the same material was discovered in the Sushi King’s janitor sink drain.”

“Yeah. So the culprit was probably in here, then, doing… something,” I said, frowning. “Maybe check the floors?”

Twilight got down on her hands and knees and began looking around. “There!” she said, pointing out some curved black lines. “Scuff marks.”

*Updated* Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently. A long, thin fragment of material identical to the one discovered under Wallflower’s body was found in the drain. Scuff marks were on the floor nearby.”

“Okay, everybody try to be careful here, in case there’s other clues,” I said after writing down that info on Twi’s notepad for her while she was busy getting back to her feet and washing her hands again.

“Hey, Sunset, do you think we should check the, uh, thing we found the other day?” Scootaloo asked, gesturing with her head towards the freezer.

I snapped my fingers and grinned. “Yeah, good idea.” We made our way to the freezer straight away and popped it open.

Inside, nothing much seemed out of place at first, until I looked down at the bags of ice. For some reason, the bag of ice I’d tossed there was back in place, perfectly lined up with the others. “Weird…” I said as I knelt down to move it. “Hey wait, this bag is open! It’s missing some ice.”

*Updated* Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently. A long, thin fragment of material identical to the one discovered under Wallflower’s body was found in the drain. Scuff marks were on the floor nearby. A bag of ice in the freezer was open, missing some of its contents.”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s kind of weird. Why--” at my held up hand, she shut her mouth. “Right. No speculating.”

I moved the ice away from the vent. Like the ice bag, the vent cover was back in place perfectly, rather than messily like I’d left it. I popped it open and set the cover aside, then knelt down to look. “Huh, I don’t see anything. Scootaloo, can you…”

“On it!” Scootaloo nodded, and got down to crawl inside. Like before I watched her go, as she had to scrabble her way around a sharp corner almost immediately so she could meander towards the fan. “Hey, there’s something here!”

She began scooting herself backwards, feet first, then stopped. “Uh, I’m stuck! Can you pull me?”

“Yeah I got you,” I said, reaching in to grab her by her ankles. I slowly pulled her towards me, careful not to make any sudden movements so she didn’t hurt herself. After a few minutes I got her out. She was holding something in her hands.

“Ooof, thanks, Sunset. Here. This is what I found.” She handed it over. It was large, heavy, and very familiar.

“Uh, Sunset, isn’t that…” Twilight said.

I nodded. “Yup. Adagio’s missing first aid kit.”

Fact #8: First Aid Kit: “Adagio Dazzle had purchased an ultra deluxe first aid kit on Tuesday, stocked with plenty of drugs and surgery materials on top of the usual contents. It was stolen Wednesday morning, and discovered inside the Sushi King freezer vent.”

“Was there anything else down there, Scoots?” I asked.

The little woman brushed herself off and poked at a forming bruise, wincing when it hurt to touch. “Ah, no, there wasn’t. Just that.”

We left the freezer and set the case on a free space on one of the counters, brushing aside a rice cooker in the process. I popped open the case. “Woah, that’s really messy!” Pinkie commented.

It was. The kit was a jumbled up pile of wrappers, emptied out bottles, and torn up supplies. Almost everything in the kit was ruined, with lots of pills spilled into the trays all mixed together, with no idea what was supposed to be what anymore. “They sure jumbled it up,” I said, frowning. “But why?”

*Updated* Fact #8: First Aid Kit: “Adagio Dazzle had purchased an ultra deluxe first aid kit on Tuesday, stocked with plenty of drugs and surgery materials on top of the usual contents. It was stolen Wednesday morning, and discovered inside the Sushi King freezer vent. The kit was effectively destroyed, all the supplies rendered useless.”

“Well whatever the reason, it’s sure making the investigation harder,” Twilight grumbled, latching the case closed.

“Not necessarily,” I said, something occurring to me. “Adagio said she was going to buy a new first aid kit. We should check with her to see if she has it. We can compare her intact one to this one.”

“Hey that’s good thinkin’ there, Sunny!” Pinkie quipped. “But hey, I was thinking too! The Monoponi file said that she died during the party, right? Well I was paying attention the whole time! If you need the lowdown on the timeline of the party, I’m your girl.”

“Yes, please, we should definitely record that,” Twilight noted, turning to a new page in her notebook. “I’m pretty sure I have a good timeline already, but it doesn’t hurt to refresh it and make it clear.”

“Okie dokie loki! So it went like this: At 8:00 PM, everyone was going back and forth between the shops to get swimsuits, because we all forgot ‘em. But by 8:30, we were all changed and ready to go! I saw everyone except Wallflower during that time, so no one was gone more than a few minutes.” Pinkie placed a hand to her chin and cocked her head to the side, then continued, “Oh, and that was about the time you started playing the music, Sunny. Flash said he was gonna DJ, buuut he was too busy makin’ the moves on Twilight!”

“Hey!” Twilight turned a bright pink, and stammered, “H-he was being a perfect gentleman!”

“Twi, not really important right now,” I said in a warning tone. “Continue, Pinkie.”

“Anyway, everyone hung out and swam and danced till 10:00 PM. Then the announcement played, and Timber went to get cider for Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Diamond Tiara, plus himself.”

He offered me some, but in retrospect I’m so glad I didn’t have any. “Hey, did anyone have any cider before that?”

Pinkie shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Why? Is that important?”

Twilight immediately jotted that down. “Yes. It could help us figure out who spiked it.”

“Spiked?!” Pinkie gasped, her eyes bugging out and jaw opening as wide as possible. “No, no, it was just a bad batch! I’m sure it was!”

I shot Twilight a glare, then attempted to calm Pinkie down. “We don’t know if it was spiked or not. We’re just trying to figure out what happened.”

“Oh.” Pinkie shrugged. “Okay! Anyway, they all ran for the potties at about 10:15, then came back at 11:00, except Rarity, who returned at 11:20. Then Monoponi showed up at 11:30 and was a big huge meanie about everything, and sent Trixie and Rainbow to clean up. They came back about 12:15. Then the party kept going, you, Flash, and Twilight left at 1:00, Sunny, and everyone else stopped at 3:00. I stayed a little longer to clean up, but it was really quick. We left the big tables out there though.”

Fact #9: Party Timeline: “The party ran from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM. At 8:00 everyone scrambled for swimsuits, but no one was gone for more than a few minutes. Everyone attended the party except for Wallflower Blush. Music was played from 8:30 PM till 10:00 PM, then at 10:15 Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara became sick and left for the bathrooms. All except Rarity returned at 11:00, and she at 11:20. Trixie and Rainbow Dash left to clean up at 11:30 and came back at 12:15. After that Sunset, Flash, and Twilight left at 1:00, then everyone else at 3:00.”

“Great, Pinkie that’s a really good timeline, thank you!” I said gratefully. “Okay, Twilight, let’s go.”

Once we were outside the kitchen, I whirled on Twilight and said, “Twi, I get that you’re trying to figure things out as we go, but you gotta stop speculating, okay?”

“But, it just seemed like a really safe conclusion!” Twilight objected, hurt visible in her expression.

“Exactly!” I said, rolling my eyes in exasperation.

Twilight’s face went blank. “Wait, what? I don’t understand.”

“Remember the rules? Monoponi said these mysteries had to be complicated. On purpose. So it’s pretty likely the culprit’s going to try to mislead us. Which can and will probably include ‘safe’ conclusions!” I explained in an increasingly frustrated tone. “Yes, it might turn out to be right, but we can’t know that until we have everything and we start putting it together at the trial, okay? Trust me on this!”

“Oh…” Twilight blinked once, twice, then her eyes bulged wide in shock. “Oh! Oh my god! You’re right! What was I thinking?”

“You were just trying to analyze the problem,” I answered softly, trying to tone down the feelings of impatience coursing through my veins. We really don’t have time for this, damn it.

“Hey, Sunset! Sunset!” interrupted the voice of Sweetie Belle.

I turned to see Sweetie waving frantically at us. “Sunset, c’mere, quick! I think I found something!”

“We found something, darling,” Rarity corrected, patting her sister gently on the head and ignoring the irritated glare Sweetie threw her way. “But yes, please, come this way.”

We followed them down the promenade towards the end, right by the entryway to the cabin corridor, where the “Lover’s Corner” balcony lay. “Look, here,” Rarity said, squatting down to point at the floor.

I knelt down to see. Back when we were first exploring, I hadn’t paid much attention to this little alcove, so I hadn’t realized it was carpeted, just like the rest of the promenade, even though it was outside, albeit with an overhanging roof. And good thing it was too, because there was a huge water stain all over it, like someone dropped a bottle and it poured out. Or shattered… but I didn’t see any glass, so probably not.

“That is odd,” Twilight noted. “But are we sure this is relevant? I mean, anyone could have spilled something here.”

“That’s what I thought at first too, darling, but then I saw these.” Rarity brought out two objects from her pocket, a plastic bottle cap, and a piece of paper. “I found the cap under the chairs. The note was caught in a piece of metal just below the railing. I only saw it because of the reflection.”

“Reflection?” I questioned as I examined the note. Then I understood, as I read it. It wasn’t handwritten or typed. Rather it was pasted together pieces of letters, like a kid who cut apart newspapers and magazines for a school project. For some reason many of the letters were shiny, made from reflective material.

Fact #10: Water Stain: “The Lover’s Corner alcove contained a large water stain on its carpet, along with a plastic bottle cap and a note.”

Fact #11: Note: “The note reads: ‘Dearest Wallflower. You’re the prettiest chick I’ve ever seen. We should meet up tonight, at *blank* in the Lover’s Corner, so we can ditch those losers at the party and hang together.’ The note was not signed. The note was crafted from pasted together letters taken from other papers, many of which were made of reflective material. A few of the letters were torn off from the note, including the time of the meeting.”

“Wow, that’s… bad,” Twilight grimaced, shaking in disgust. “Uuugh. I wouldn’t give someone who wrote something like this the time of day, let alone meet with them.”

“It’s certainly not the most romantic confession I’ve ever heard,” Rarity admitted.

“That’s because people confess to you like ten times a day, sis,” Sweetie teased, sticking out her tongue.

“Not the point, darling.”

“Yeah it’s weird,” I agreed. “This must’ve been what lured her out of her room, but really? She went on and on about watching out for trouble, keeping away from other people, and then falls for something like this?” I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t get it.”

“We all want to be loved, Sunset,” Rarity said gently, with a world weary weight to her tone. “Wallflower was probably no different. Maybe she just needed someone to break through her shell.”

“And then they killed her,” Sweetie said, sighing.

“Anyway, all that aside,” Twilight noted as she placed the note into our growing pile of evidence, “this at least suggests the culprit and Wallflower met here first. It’s a shame the time is missing from the note. It could’ve made solving this so much easier.”

“While we have your attention, Rarity, there’s something I need to ask you about,” I said, changing topics. “Why did you come back so late from the bathroom?”

“Oh!” Rarity huffed, then started grinding her teeth together before she composed herself back to perfect prim and proper calm. “That awful cider was just so wretched I just had to spend extra time cleaning myself up.”

“And you did that in the promenade bathroom? Why not just go back to your cabin and shower?” Twilight asked.

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, closed it, then shook her head and said nothing.

“Hey, Rarity, come on,” I urged.

Instead of saying anything, she suddenly turned on her heels and ran for the cabins. Almost quicker than we could blink, she was gone, Sweetie chasing after her.

“What the heck?” Twilight thrust her hands over her head. “Why couldn’t you just answer the question?!”

“We’ll have to ask her at the trial, when she can’t run away,” I groused, kicking one of the nearby chairs lightly in frustration. “Dang it, Rarity.” Then I kicked the chair again, harder this time when I realized we’d just missed an opportunity. “Oh damn it, why didn’t we ask her about the material we found? She could probably identify it for us!”

“Like you said, we’ll have to wait for the trial,” Twilight mused. “In the meantime, I think we should go check some other things. Like the shop receipts.”

“Right!” I said, snapping my fingers and pointing at Twilight. “We can get a record of who bought what. Maybe we can use that to figure out what was used to leave those marks on Wallflower’s body.”

First stop was the convenience store, as the closest one. I approached the register, and fiddled with the display till I found the “print all receipts” option. That spat out a massive roll of paper that poured out of the register’s printer for a good thirty seconds before it finally stopped. “Woah, why is it so big?” Twilight asked, eyes scanning the paper rapidly before I took it to look at myself.

Over three quarters of the list was the same: some kind of snack food, next to Flash’s name.“We can probably discard all of this, since that was just us getting the snacks for the party. I don’t think they mattered at all,” I said, ripping off most of the receipt and chucking it in the bin, leaving us with just a few entries. But as I scanned them, I groaned in frustration. “None of this is useful either! Who cares who bought a bag of chips? I think this store’s a bust.” I made sure to grab a bottle of cold coffee and a sandwich before I left though, stuffing them both in my jacket pockets.

We stopped by the other stores, printed their receipts, and, after finding a table to sit down at in the food court, eventually compiled the following list. In the process I realized a bit of a problem.

Fact #12: Shop Receipts:
“AD@RX Tue1005: Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit.
RB@RX: Tue1047: Melatonin, Ibuprofen.
AD@RX Wed1440: Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit.
SS@RX: Wed1530: Basic First Aid Kit.
WB@RX: Wed1725 Aspirin, caffeine pills, multivitamins.
FS@RX Wed2005: Basic First Aid Kit, condoms, acetaminophen.
RB@FS: Tue1020: Deluxe sewing kit, bolt of linen x 2, bolt of cotton x 2.
RD@SG: Tue0812: Leather backpack, soccer ball, basketball.
TS@SG Tue1225: Leather backpack, sneakers, yoga pants , fabric backpack.
SS@SG: Tue1410 Leather backpack, running shoes, water bottle.
RD@SG: Tue1415: Parachute cord, bungee cord, carabiner clips x 2.
RB@OS: Tue1033: Deluxe arts and crafts kit.
PP@OS: Tue1245: Deluxe arts and crafts kit.
FS@ OS: Tue1420 Deluxe arts & crafts kit.
TS@ OS: Tue1425: Notebooks x 6, pen x 12, pencils x 12, erasers x 3.
DT@OS: Tue1515: Deluxe arts and crafts kit, notebook x 2, pen x 3.
TS@ OS: Tue1622: Deluxe arts & crafts kit x 2.
DT@ JS: Tue1825: Diamond earrings.”

“Wait a minute, it doesn’t show our names,” I pointed out. “It just shows initials. But some of us have the same initials. How do we know which is which?”

“We’ll just have to see at the trial, I guess,” Twilight replied, glaring down at the list we’d strung together. “This really isn’t as helpful as I thought it would be. It’s mostly useless information. Who knows what matters amongst all this?”

I scowled down at the list myself, feeling more than a little frustrated now. “Yeah. I mean, now we know Wallflower took vitamins? Who even cares?” I pointedly did not mention what Flash purchased. I wasn’t about to get on Twilight’s case over that, not at such an inappropriate time. I can tease her later. “It does look like a whole bunch of people bought arts and crafts kits, though. Now I’m curious. What was in those, anyway?”

Twilight shrugged. “Just a lot of basic things. Construction paper, colored pencils, shears, markers, popsicle sticks, scotch tape, beads, superglue, crayons, tissue pap--”

“Oh, there you are!” cried a familiar voice, thankfully interrupting Twilight’s unnecessarily excessive listing.

Adagio stomped over to us, Trixie in tow. “Scootaloo told me you found my missing first aid kit,” she said. “Said you needed to talk to me.”

“Yes, we did,” Twilight responded, pulling the damaged kit out from our pile of evidence. “We wanted to compare your new one to the old one.”

“Trixie does not understand why that would be necessary. Surely they’re the same?”

Adagio flashed Trixie a simpering smile. “Please, be quiet and let the big girls talk, okay?”

“Hmmph! Be that way, then,” Trixie said, crossing her arms and sticking her nose up in the air.

Adagio pulled out her own first aid kit, and we opened them up together. “Wow. They trashed it,” Adagio quipped, picking up one of the pieces of random empty wrappers from the damaged kit, then dropping it back in. “Why are we doing this again?”

“That’s what Trixie asked! Why is it different when you ask it?”

Adagio whirled on Trixie and rudely shoved a finger in her face. “Shut. Up!”

“Hrm… okay, look, look, see?” Twilight held up a small set of bandages from the undamaged kit, which bore labels with reflective lettering. “It’s reflective, so you can easily find it even in low light. And look, here’s the same wrapper from here--” she plucked a wrapper from the damaged kit seemingly at random “--with the same packaging, but it’s all cut up and missing letters. And if I’m right…” She dove back into our pile of evidence and brought out the note Rarity found. “Yup. Bingo. The letters on this note came from the first aid kit wrappers!”

*Updated* Fact #11: Note: “The note reads: ‘Dearest Wallflower. You’re the prettiest chick I’ve ever seen. We should meet up tonight, at *blank* in the Lover’s Corner, so we can ditch those losers at the party and hang together.’ The note was not signed. The note was crafted from pasted together letters taken from the packaging of first aid kit supplies, many of which were made of reflective material. A few of the letters were torn off from the note, including the time of the meeting.”

*Updated* Fact #8: First Aid Kit: “Adagio Dazzle had purchased an ultra deluxe first aid kit on Tuesday, stocked with plenty of drugs and surgery materials on top of the usual contents. It was stolen Wednesday morning, and discovered inside the Sushi King freezer vent. The kit was effectively destroyed, all the supplies rendered useless. Most of the packaging was torn up, letters removed to be pasted into a love note.”

“Nice observation!” I crowed, pumping my fists in triumph. “Okay, that’s one little mystery solved at least.”

“So the person who stole my first aid kit, used it for this?” Adagio plucked up the love note in two fingers and held it out away from her like it was a dirty diaper or something equally disgusting. “What a waste!”

Twilight didn’t respond, as she was too busy digging through the undamaged kit. “Hmm, hmm, okay, right,” she muttered as she examined various drugs. “Oh, that’s interesting. Actually, that might explain a lot.”

“What?” I asked. “What is it?”

But before she could answer…

DING-DONG BING-BONG

The screens lit up with the usual image of Monoponi, gripping a snifter of brandy in his magic. This time the grin on his face was especially wide, as he swirled the brandy in his grip. “Your attention please! This is your Captain speaking! It certainly has been a sad morning, hasn’t it? One of you was so ungrateful, you decided it was better to rescue yourselves from this ship instead of enjoying its luxuries. Well now’s your time to shine, blackened! Investigation time is now over. All passengers, please report to the food court at the center of the promenade, immediately!” The screen winked off.

My eyebrows shot up to the top of my skull. “Wait, the food court? What?” I murmured. “What kind of sense does that make?”

“Are we going to hold the trial here?” Twilight wondered, looking around the room at the various tables. “It really doesn’t look like the best place to do it…”

“No, that’s not it,” I replied with a shake of my head. “We’re just meeting here. Then we’re going… somewhere else.”

“Where?” Adagio asked me with a glare.

I didn’t respond, choosing to stay silent as everyone else assembled, including the recalcitrant Rarity, who took one look at the two of us before clapping her own mouth shut and refusing to speak a single word.

“Okay, Monoponi!” Diamond Tiara cried out, looking up at the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. “We’re here! What do we do now?”

“Now, you say?”

Monoponi popped into existence before us, hovering in midair, forehooves held up to his mouth playfully. “Upupupu… now, my dear passengers, you get to see a wonderful surprise I’ve in store for you! And don’t you dare ruin it, Sunset! I won’t tolerate any more of your meddling in my reveals!”

I crossed my arms and fixed him with a stony gaze. “Fine.”

“Ahahaha, excellent! Wonderful! Brilliant! Sublime! Now then, ahem.” Monoponi landed, cleared his throat, then struck a dramatic pose, wings outstretched, hooves in the air, horn held high. “Captain Monoponi is proud to present to you the best kept secret on this ship! Well, one of them, anyway, upupupupu!”

With a flourish of his horn, Monoponi spun on one hoof, holding the other three in the air to face the wall away from us. It was a plain, unadorned wall, just one section between the shopping district and the restaurant district. I’d ignored it every time I’d walked by.

Clearly that was a mistake. Monoponi’s horn ignited furiously, surging with power as his crimson magic swept over the wall, wrenching it, shaping it, changing it from its current form into a massive pair of spiked iron gates that then swung open with a loud screeching of hinges that sounded like they hadn’t been oiled in ages. Behind the gates was a short passageway, leading to the sight I’d been expecting: a large cargo elevator, with enough room for all sixteen of us and space to spare.

“What the hell?” Timber blurted, eyes agog.

“It’s an elevator? To where?” Scootaloo inquired, staring back and forth between the elevator and the opened gates.

“Still don’t believe in magic, Twilight?” I commented wryly to the poor researcher, who was slack-jawed, eyes the size of dinner plates, hands twitching, individual hairs popping out of her bun to poke out in every direction.

“That’s… that’s not scientifically possible!” she screeched. Furiously she pointed a quivering finger in Monoponi’s direction. “You are not scientifically possible!”

“Au contraire, mon chérie,” Monoponi retorted. “You’re just too stupid to recognize magic when you see it. But what else should we expect from a science-obsessed bookworm who’s so lonely and miserable she puts out on the first date?”

One of Twilight’s eyes twitched madly as she raised a shaking fist, her whole body shaking with rage. “You… you little piece of… little piece of… piece of shit!”

“Woah, woah, Twilight, cool it!” I cried, getting between them and placing my hands on her shoulders. “Remember what I said! Don’t let him get to you! He’s just trying to mess with your head!”

“Let go of me!” Twilight snarled, struggling in my grip even as I strengthened it to hold her firmly in place. “Let me at him! I’ll tear him apart! I’ll smash him to pieces!”

“Hey, Twilight, chill!” Flash joined in, helping me keep Twilight restrained. “I’m mad too, but it’s not worth it. He’s not worth it, Twi.”

“But… he… I… oooh,” Twilight fell into Flash’s shoulder and gripped him tightly. I half expected her to burst into tears on the spot, but she didn’t. She just held him, her breathing slowing, her body relaxing. So I let go and backed off.

“Now then, as entertaining as all of this is, and believe you me, it sure is,” Monoponi said, “it’s time for you to get aboard the elevator. Ride, my passengers. Ride to the courtroom. The trial awaits!”

Monoponi bowed to us, gestured towards the elevator with one wing, then vanished in a flash of light.

Wordlessly, we made our way onto the elevator. A single bare fluorescent light dead center in the elevator’s ceiling shone inside, casting long shadows as we filed our way aboard. Once we were all in, the doors slammed shut, leaving us in near darkness save for the one light.

Several of us stumbled as the elevator surged into motion, moving its way down into and through the bowels of the ship.

As we rode, I let the details of the case flow through my mind.

Wallflower Blush. She was an angry, bitter person, or at least that’s how she always acted. We’d never know for sure now. She was stolen from us so fast, none of us hardly got to know her at all.

While we were all having a blast at a pool party, she was being murdered, right there, on the same ship as the rest of us. At some point during the night, she was brutally killed, and I still didn’t know how. The clues we found gave me some ideas, somewhere to start, but it would take the trial to determine the truth.

One of us killed her.

One of us wants the rest of us to die, just so they alone can live.

And it would be up to me to solve it. Flash said it as much at the party. They were counting on me. Hell, I was counting on me.

I will solve this case. I swore before to do everything I could to stop Monoponi, and I swear it again. I will solve this case, for Wallflower, for my newfound friends, for us all.

I will save our lives in this trial of life and death!

Author's Notes:

So. The investigation is finished. This mystery is entirely solvable before the trial, and I encourage you to try and do so. You should have all the information you need, but keep in mind: not every vital piece is listed in these facts. Special thanks again to JCarp for inspiration on how to construct the mysteries. The fact system is the biggest influence, and I thank you very much for it.

A request: If you make a guess for the culprit, please place it in spoiler tags in your comment. Try to determine the method as well, as many details as you can.

Saturday: The first part of the trial.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 6

Fact #1: Monoponi File I: “The victim is Wallflower Blush, the Ultimate Nobody. The time of death is estimated as being between 8:00 PM and 3:00 AM. The victim shows signs of multiple injuries to the stomach, neck, and throat. There are also traces of sleeping medicine in her system.”

Fact #2: Cleaver: “A large stainless steel meat cleaver, found in the victim’s body. The letters ‘S.K.’ are engraved on the handle. The cleaver came from the Sushi King kitchen. The wound caused by the cleaver bled very little.

Fact #3: Body Condition: “There is a ring of marks around Wallflower’s neck. The pattern is two inches wide, with an uneven, inconsistent pattern. There are also bruises and small cuts on the back of her throat, and her legs are swollen. Her whole body is damp, especially her head and upper torso. There are further marks on her ankles and wrists, and scuff marks on her shoes.”

Fact #4: Odd Material: “A few fragments of odd material were discovered underneath the body. A long, thin fragment of the same material was discovered in the Sushi King’s janitor sink drain.”

Fact #5: Tainted Cider: “The bowl of Sweet Apple Acres cider at the pool party made Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara sick with vomiting and diarrhea. According to Applejack, the cider was tainted somehow. It was disposed of at sea by Pinkie Pie. According to TImber Spruce, the cider had a nutty, bitter taste, and made his tongue and mouth itch.”

Fact #6: Timber’s Account: “According to Timber Spruce, he spent forty-five minutes in the bathroom, with some of that time spent on cleanup, using cleaning chemicals and air freshener. Rainbow Dash corroborated his account, stating the men’s room was spotless and stank of air freshener, but she spent some time spraying cleaner anyway to be safe.”

Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently. A long, thin fragment of material identical to the one discovered under Wallflower’s body was found in the drain. Scuff marks were on the floor nearby. A bag of ice in the freezer was open, missing some of its contents.”

Fact #8: First Aid Kit: “Adagio Dazzle had purchased an ultra deluxe first aid kit on Tuesday, stocked with plenty of drugs and surgery materials on top of the usual contents. It was stolen Wednesday morning, and discovered inside the Sushi King freezer vent. The kit was effectively destroyed, all the supplies rendered useless. Most of the packaging was torn up, letters removed to be pasted into a love note.”

Fact #9: Party Timeline: “The party ran from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM. At 8:00 everyone scrambled for swimsuits, but no one was gone for more than a few minutes. Everyone attended the party except for Wallflower Blush. Music was played from 8:30 PM till 10:00 PM, then at 10:15 Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara became sick and left for the bathrooms. All except Rarity returned at 11:00, and she at 11:20. Trixie and Rainbow Dash left to clean up at 11:30 and came back at 12:15. After that Sunset, Flash, and Twilight left at 1:00, then everyone else at 3:00.”

Fact #10: Water Stain: “The Lover’s Corner alcove contained a large water stain on its carpet, along with a plastic bottle cap and a note.”

Fact #11: Note: “The note reads: ‘Dearest Wallflower. You’re the prettiest chick I’ve ever seen. We should meet up tonight, at *blank* in the Lover’s Corner, so we can ditch those losers at the party and hang together.’ The note was not signed. The note was crafted from pasted together letters taken from the packaging of first aid kit supplies, many of which were made of reflective material. A few of the letters were torn off from the note, including the time of the meeting.”

Fact #12: Shop Receipts:
“AD@RX Tue1005: Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit.
RB@RX: Tue1047: Melatonin, Ibuprofen.
AD@RX Wed1440: Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit.
SS@RX: Wed1530: Basic First Aid Kit.
WB@RX: Wed1725 Aspirin, caffeine pills, multivitamins.
FS@RX Wed2005: Basic First Aid Kit, condoms, acetaminophen.
RB@FS: Tue1020: Deluxe sewing kit, bolt of linen x 2, bolt of cotton x 2.
RD@SG: Tue0812: Leather backpack, soccer ball, basketball.
TS@SG Tue1225: Leather backpack, sneakers, yoga pants, fabric backpack.
SS@SG: Tue1410 Leather backpack, running shoes, water bottle.
RD@SG: Tue1415: Parachute cord, bungee cord, carabiner clips x 2.
RB@OS: Tue1033: Deluxe arts and crafts kit.
PP@OS: Tue1245: Deluxe arts and crafts kit.
FS@ OS: Tue1420 Deluxe arts & crafts kit.
TS@ OS: Tue1425: Notebooks x 6, pen x 12, pencils x 12, erasers x 3.
DT@OS: Tue1515: Deluxe arts and crafts kit, notebook x 2, pen x 3.
TS@ OS: Tue1622: Deluxe arts & crafts kit x 2.
DT@ JS: Tue1825: Diamond earrings.”

After the painfully long elevator ride that felt far longer than was possible with the length and height of the ship, we filed out into a large circular courtroom, with walls patterned to resemble flowers and bushes and floors of carpet over more metal deck plating. Several large spotlights dominated the ceiling, along with rows of fluorescents, lending the room an artificial, unsettling feeling. The interior was set up precisely as I expected it would be, with a set of sixteen podiums arranged in one large circle, each engraved with our name. A massive throne loomed over the podiums, decorated with Monoponi’s jagged eye cutie mark.

I took my spot between Fluttershy and Trixie, settling in. The podium had a built in computer screen and a cord labeled “Monopad,” so I plugged in my Monopad to it. The screen lit up with an evidence selector, ready to showcase any evidence to the others as needed. It would be fun in a way if the reason for it existing wasn’t so horrifying.

When I looked up from my podium, I saw a portrait hanging at the podium directly across from me.

Wallflower… I’m sorry. We’ll find your killer, and bring them to justice. I promise.

“Now then,” said Monoponi as he flashed into existence on his throne, plopping himself down in a comfortable fashion, “everyone settled in? Monopads plugged into your podiums? Good! Let’s begin with a basic overview of the ship’s trial. Ahem. Your job here is to discover the blackened, the one who brutally killed Wallflower Blush! You may argue and debate to your heart’s desire, or until I get bored. Then you must vote. If you choose correctly, only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person, I’ll punish everyone besides the blackened, and they alone will go free!”

“So it really was one of us?” Trixie inquired in a scared tone. She clutched her podium as if to steady herself. “Trixie was still hoping it would turn out to be Monoponi…”

“How many times must I say it? It was one of you!” Monoponi fluttered his wings in anger. “Accuse me again and I’ll hold you in contempt of court!”

“Wait, what does that mean for Trixie?!”

Adagio flashed her an amused smirk. “He’ll probably kill you, idiot. It’s what he does for everything else.”

“No!” Trixie squatted down, hiding behind her podium. “Please don’t kill Trixie! Trixie is sorry!”

“Anyway, I had a question before we began,” Scootaloo said. She pointed at the portrait of Wallflower. “Why is that there?”

“Because, you wouldn’t want your dear, departed fellow passenger to feel left out, would you?” Monoponi replied in a mocking tone, holding a hoof to his mouth. “Upupupu, how disrespectful!”

“Ah for one think it’s a lovely gesture, to honor her memory,” Applejack said, frowning deeply at Scootaloo, who shriveled under the stare.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” Scootaloo said. “I was just wondering.”

“Kinda morbid though,” Rainbow added, staring at the portrait and shivering. “That blood pink X creeps me out.”

“Probably the point,” Apple Bloom said.

“Forget the portrait!” Diamond Tiara interrupted. She slammed both fists on her podium. “We need to figure out who did this. And I already know my number one suspect!” She pointed an accusatory finger directly at me. “It was you, Sunset! You left the party early! You had plenty of time to kill her, and motive to do so! You’ve been suspicious from the moment we first got here and I’ve had enough of it!”

“Huh?!” I cried, my face aghast. “But I’ve been doing everything I can to tell people not to kill! Why would I turn around and kill someone after doing all that?”

Diamond Tiara snorted. “Obviously it was so we would doubt you’d do it, duh! I shouldn’t have to explain that.”

“It is a bit suspicious,” Sweetie Belle mused with a half frown.

“Woah, woah, hold up,” Flash said, throwing out his hands. “It’s way too early to be accusing anyone yet. We haven’t established anything about what went down.”

“Flash is right,” Twilight agreed, holding up a single hand. “We need to establish all of the facts of the case in order to be sure about anyone. Remember, we’re all suspects here.”

“Of course you would agree with him,” Diamond Tiara sneered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed into slits. “And just what is that supposed to mean?” she replied, her words dripping with acid.

Timber held out his hands between the two women. “Hey, ladies, easy there. No need to get so upset. Flash’s right. We gotta figure out everything before we can vote. I don’t wanna die today, you know?”

“Please, Twilight,” Fluttershy urged from Twilight’s other side. “Calm down.”

Twilight blew out a sigh through her teeth, and brushed her hair back. “Fine. Sorry.”

“Anyway,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, scratching the back of her head. “What should we talk about first?”

“Usually, the cause of death is a good start,” I pointed out. “The Monoponi file doesn’t list one.”

“Okay! Let’s figure that out then!” Dash replied, smacking one fist against her other palm.

I adjusted my posture, and waited, ready to point out any mistakes.

“So what could have killed her?” Scootaloo wondered.

“Ah, uh, Ah didn’t look too closely at the body,” Apple Bloom admitted, shivering in place. “So Ah don’t know.”

“Trixie knows the answer to this!” Trixie cried, posing dramatically as if she was wearing a cape fluttering in the breeze. “It should be obvious to anyone who paid any attention to the body!”

“Well don’t just leave us hangin’ there, sugarcube!” Applejack replied. “What was it?”

Trixie held up a hand, still stuck in her pose. “It was obviously the cleaver buried in her stomach! The culprit knocked Wallflower over and with one might swing--” she slammed her hand down on her podium for emphasis “--she was stabbed to death!”

Fluttershy gasped, holding her hands to her mouth, eyes misty. “Oh my goodness, that sounds so awful!”

“And painful,” Rainbow cringed, shivering.

“Lord have mercy,” Applejack breathed, her mouth twisting up as her face tinged with green.

Okay. I gotta do it, at least once. I chuckled under my breath as I readied my finger, then pointed straight at Trixie. “No, that’s wrong!” I shouted.

“What?!” Trixie gasped, hands falling to her sides. “But how could Trixie be wrong?”

Fact #2: Cleaver: “A large stainless steel meat cleaver, found in the victim’s body. The letters ‘S.K.’ are engraved on the handle. The cleaver came from the Sushi King kitchen. The wound caused by the cleaver bled very little.

“The wound caused by the cleaver didn’t bleed nearly as much as it should have if it were the cause of death,” I replied as I keyed up the relevant evidence on the podium. To my surprise, it didn’t just show up on the screens, but appeared as a three dimensional hologram floating in the center of the podiums. Okay, that’s pretty neat, I admitted to myself. Aloud, I added, “I think we can safely say the wound was caused after she died, not before.”

Everyone let out little gasps in reaction to the hologram. “Well, shoot, it sure does look like you’re right about that, Sunset,” Applejack said, nodding. “Ah’ve had to slaughter pigs on mah farm before. Ah know just how much they can bleed, and they ain’t that different.”

“Yeah, it’s a big mess,” Apple Bloom said with a grimace.

“Oh those poor pigs,” Fluttershy said, eyes misting up.

“Ah know,” Applejack agreed with a sad nod. “We don’t raise ‘em for meat. We use ‘em for truffles. But they get old, and well, at that point, might as well make their passin’ easier. Always a shame when we have to do it.”

“Nevermind your stupid farm, no one cares!” Diamond Tiara interrupted, shaking a fist at Applejack. Then she shifted her gaze back to me. “So the cleaver didn’t kill her. Then what did?”

“That’s what we need to figure out,” I answered. I placed a hand on my chin. “I’m still not sure. Any other ideas?”

“What about the marks on the body?” Scootaloo pointed out. “She had marks around her neck. Did someone strangle her?”

“Oooh, ooh, but the body was really wet, right?” Pinkie interjected, hopping in place. “Maybe she drowned!”

“Drowned? Truly, darling?” Rarity said, the first thing she’d said since she ran away from Twilight and me in the hallway during the investigation. “How would that even happen?”

“Oooh, I know, I know!” Sweetie cried, scrolling through the evidence on her Monopad and throwing up a piece for us to see.

Fact #10: Water Stain: “The Lover’s Corner alcove contained a large water stain on its carpet, along with a plastic bottle cap and a note.”

“Remember this, Rarity? We found it together,” Sweetie added. “Maybe she drowned there, and the culprit spilled some water in the process.”

“I dunno, that doesn’t seem right,” Scootaloo replied, scratching her head. “Is there really enough water spilled there to drown someone?”

I shook my head. “No way. That stain was large, sure, but it was more like someone dropped a full water bottle on the floor. That’s not nearly enough water.”

“Agreed,” Twilight added with a nod. “You need to be immersed in water for several minutes, and you need to breathe it in. If she had drowned, we’d see the signs all over her body, but we didn’t.”

“Oooh, shoot,” Pinkie groaned, her hair losing some of its bounce.

“Okay, but, what about the marks,” Scootaloo said insistently, pumping her fists for attention. “I already mentioned that. Was she strangled?”

“Those marks were huge!” Trixie pointed out. “Surely this had something to do with her death?”

“Yeah, I think it looks pretty clear to me,” Timber agreed, rubbing his chin. “The culprit strangled her. What an awful way to go.”

“Hmm…” I took a good long look at the evidence again. “I’m not so sure that’s the case, actually. Twilight, we’d see the same things from strangulation that we would from drowning, right? Blue lips, pale skin, and so on?”

“Yes we would,” Twilight replied with a frown. “And we didn’t see that when we investigated the body.There were injuries to the neck and throat, but they weren’t consistent with death by strangulation. That means if the culprit choked her at all, it was either only till she fell unconscious and then let her breathe again, or they did it to her after she died.”

“Uugh, Trixie is so confused now!” Trixie blurted, throwing up her hands in frustration. “If she wasn’t stabbed, and she wasn’t strangled, and she didn’t drown, then what killed her? Trixie doesn’t understand!”

Everyone started talking at once, throwing out random ideas as I stared down at the evidence. They’re right. She wasn’t stabbed, strangled, or drowned. But then what killed her? What caused her injuries? Did they drug her to death? I thought about that for a second, then shook my head. No, if they did it would’ve been more obvious. Those drugs must’ve been for another purpose. They definitely killed her by inflicting an injury. But how?

My eyes scanned further and further down the list, and then I spotted something. Was it the ice? It could be used to inflict injury, but how?

Everybody continued to argue while I thought it over. Ideas were tossed out by people and just as quickly shot down. We’d reached a rut.

I thought again about the state of the body, and the one thing that stuck out to me: her swollen legs. I wasn’t an expert on anatomy and physiology, but even I knew swollen legs usually meant some kind of heart problem. And while drugs could’ve caused that, I’d already dismissed that idea. And it’s not like they froze her body either, or else everything would be swollen, not just her legs. So what did they… wait. Wait a minute. That’s it! It’s the wackiest thing ever, but it fits!

“Everyone, please!” I cried out, interrupting the cavalcade of discussion. They all focused their gaze on me. “I think I know what killed her.”

I pulled up the relevant evidence for everyone to peruse.

Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently. A long, thin fragment of material identical to the one discovered under Wallflower’s body was found in the drain. Scuff marks were on the floor nearby. A bag of ice in the freezer was open, missing some of its contents.”

“Wait, what does this have to do with anything?” Diamond Tiara asked, sneering at me and shaking her head. “If you’re going to be stupid and present irrelevant things, don’t waste my time!”

I scowled at her and grunted, “Well maybe if you used your brain for more than two seconds you’d see it! Look at the last line.”

“Wait, are you talkin’ about the ice?” Applejack asked, eyebrows raised. “What’re you sayin’, the culprit used the ice to kill her?”

“Huh?” Apple Bloom’s whole face screwed up. “What kinda sense does that make? How do you kill someone with ice?”

“I think what the culprit did,” I responded, “was use a long, narrow piece of ice like a bludgeon to the back of her throat. With a few good solid hits, they would’ve damaged her brain stem. The resulting brain failure killed her. The proof is here.”

Fact #3: Body Condition: “There are also bruises and small cuts on the back of her throat, and her legs are swollen.”

“We checked the inside of her mouth and confirmed the injury, and I felt her swollen legs myself.” I couldn’t help but grin at my elegant solution. What a crazy way to kill someone! It’s completely nuts. No wonder we had such a hard time figuring it out. I’m not sure I would have had the culprit not spent so much effort trying to disguise it with other potential causes.

“That makes a lot of sense, actually,” Twilight said, nodding. “Damage to the brain stem would cause sudden heart failure, and swollen legs are an obvious symptom of that. I should’ve realized it sooner.”

“Are you loco in the coco?!” Pinkie dramatically interrupted, pointing a finger straight at me as she spoke.

“Wait, huh?” I blurted, not expecting such a fierce response. “What do you mean?”

Pinkie held up one hand to gesture with while she slapped the other on her hip. “The culprit used ice to damage her brain stem, huh? What kind of sense does that make? Sure, she might have some injuries on the inside of her neck, but that could’ve just as easily been from when she was strangled! How do you know they didn’t drug her to death, huh?”

Alright. I can see why you’d doubt this, because I sure would. I took a deep breath, steadied myself, then fired back, “That’s not possible. If she’d died from a drug overdose, there’d be other symptoms, but the only symptom she had that stood out was the swollen legs. And while strangulation can injure the neck, it wouldn’t inflict cuts to the back of your throat. Maybe if she’d broken her neck, but unless you want to suggest they strung her up on a chandelier in the promenade, there’s no place they could drop her far enough to do that, and you can’t break someone’s neck with your bare hands.” Unless you’re Applejack, I guess. But that’s beside the point.

Pinkie Pie blinked, then shook her head furiously as if to clear out cobwebs.“Okay, fine, I admit that,” Pinkie rejoined, “but you still can’t prove the culprit killed her by damaging her brain stem! What if they froze her to death? Or, or, what if they used a knife to stab her throat?”

I shook my head. “If she’d been frozen, her entire body would be swollen, not just her legs. And if they used a knife, there’d be larger cuts, and she would’ve bled all over the place. You can’t stab a neck like that without causing massive amounts of bleeding, and even if they tried to wash it away, there’d still be bloodstains in her clothes. Which there wasn’t. But if they used a bludgeon, they could avoid that. The cuts could easily have come from the ice chipping as the culprit bashed her repeatedly.”

Pinkie’s mouth twisted up like she’d bit into something especially sour, and she spluttered before responding, “Well, okay, but you still can’t prove they used ice! They could’ve used anything else and then just disposed of it! And unless you can find some way to prove ice was used, I won’t believe it!”

“I’ll rip your argument to pieces!” I declared as I cued up two relevant bits of evidence, highlighting the important bits.

Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “The janitor’s corner in the Sushi King kitchen was wet, as if it had been used recently.”

Fact #3: Body Condition: “Her whole body is damp, especially her head and upper torso.”

“See, here’s what I think they did. They used the ice to deal fatal damage to her brain stem, then left the ice in place so it would melt overnight. They used the janitor’s sink to soak the body, to make it look like she drowned, then inflicted the neck marks and the stomach wound to further obscure the cause of death!”

“Of course!” Twilight agreed, with a snap of her fingers. “The culprit probably did it this way to hide the evidence, and hoped we’d conclude something else killed her. That’s genius!”

Pinkie’s eyes bulged like saucers as she threw her jaw open as far as it would go, then slammed her jaw shut by forcing it closed with her hands. Her hair deflated to rest flat against her head. “Awww, I guess I was wrong,” she said, pouting and kicking her podium. “Sorry, Sunset.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” I shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought of it either till I put it all together.”

“Dang, the culprit must be pretty smart to come up with that,” Timber said.

Sweetie frowned, her forehead creasing. "But I don't get it. Why use such a wacky way to kill her? There were so many better and easier ways to do it!"

With a snort, Scootaloo said, "That's probably the point. It's so weird because the culprit figured we'd assume something else killed her. Then that'd lead us to suspect someone other than them. It was a big misleading scam!"

Or they were desperate, because they messed up their original plan and had to improvise, I considered. But we can't assume that. I'd rather overestimate than underestimate the culprit, so we don't miss something else wacky they did to mislead us.

“Woah!” Trixie gasped, eyes agog. “That’s so sneaky! Trixie would never have considered that in a million years!”

“Naturally, you would be too stupid for it,” Adagio snarked with a nasty grin. “Most of you would. Whoever this culprit is, they’re smart.”

“Hey, that’s a little uncalled for, Adagio,” Apple Bloom said with a pout. “Ya shouldn’t be insulting people like that.”

“Yeah, don’t be a meanie!” Pinkie objected, pointing two fingers at Adagio. Then she pointed them at her head. “Besides! Just because someone seems stupid doesn’t mean they are! It just means they’re different.”

“Trixie agrees with that!” Trixie announced dramatically, as if she’d said something profound.

“No one cares what you think, Trixie,” Adagio retorted, casting a death glare in the illusionist’s direction.

Trixie deflated under the gaze until she sank below her podium. “Sorry…”

I chuckled despite myself, because Trixie’s response was so silly it was hard not to. “Okay, Adagio, I think you’ve teased poor Trixie enough for now,” I said, fighting the urge to grin.

Adagio stared at me, one eyebrow raised, then let out a single quiet bark of laughter and nodded. “Fine.”

“Anyway, Ah think we’re gettin’ off track here,” Applejack interjected. “So Ah think we can all agree we know the cause of death now, right? So what’s next?”

“Well, we know how she died, but we still don’t know where,” Sweetie Belle, frowning and staring down at her podium with her arms crossed. “I think that’s probably important.”

“Oh, that one’s easy,” I answered. “We already brought up the relevant evidence.”

Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “Scuff marks were on the floor nearby.”

Fact #3: Body Condition: “There are further marks on her ankles and wrists, and scuff marks on her shoes.”

“See? Scuff marks on the floor. And there were identical scuff marks on Wallflowers shoes. So she was dragged into the Sushi King kitchen, probably bound hand and foot.They needed to take her there anyway, so they could use the ice and the sink.”

“Oh my gosh, we have a sushi slayer on our hands!” Trixie blurted, grabbing both sides of her head and tearing on her hair. “They probably wanted to turn Wallflower into sushi too! That’s why they used the cleaver!” She let out a wordless squeal and leapt two feet in the air. “Trixie doesn’t want to be sushi!”

More than a few of us slapped our palms to our face in response to that. Silence reigned for several moments before Rainbow Dash said, “Ugh, Trixie, come on...none of us are cannibals.” Then she frowned, her eyes widened, and she added, “Uh, at least, I don’t think any of us are cannibals…”

“Yeah, no, I don’t think so,” Flash replied, shaking his head in disbelief. “Come on guys, can we be serious for two seconds here? Our lives are on the line, man.”

“We’re all well aware of that, thank you,” Diamond Tiara replied in a nasty tone, then fired off several scowls in Trixie’s direction. “You! If you have nothing useful to say, then just be quiet!”

Trixie’s eyes filled to the brim with tears, and she sank below her podium once more. “Sorry…”

“Anyway, sushi aside,” I said, “like I said before, they only used the cleaver to hide the cause of death, just like with the marks on her neck.” I frowned and set my arms on my podium. “Between that and the ridiculous cause of death, I think whoever the culprit is, they took Monoponi’s rule about complex mysteries very seriously.”

“As they should!” Monoponi intruded with a slam of his hooves against his chair. “Nopony likes a boring mystery! They want action! Drama! Intense back and forth debate!”

“Nopony?” Sweetie Belle said quietly, eyebrows raised.

“You’re talkin’ like this is on TV or somethin’,” Applejack said, glaring up at the posturing pony. “But this ain’t a TV show!”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, who knows?” Monoponi giggled, resting his forehooves on the arms of his throne.

“...are you broadcasting this to someone?” Twilight asked, fear underlying her every word. “Are there people out there watching this, right now?”

Monoponi glared wordlessly at Twilight for several moments, then burst into cackling laughter. “Ahahaha! Of course it’s you that asks that! Ahahahaha!”

“H-hey!” Sweetie objected, raising a fist. “Answer her question!”

“We have the right to know!” Rarity added.

Monoponi’s laughs faded. “Well, let me put it this way then. There’s one very special individual out there who’s getting to see everything you’re up to. And they might be closer to you than you might think.” He pointed his hoof squarely at Twilight.

“Me? What?” Twilight held a hand to her breast. “I don’t understand. Who is it?”

Both his forehooves shot up to cover Monoponi’s mouth. “I shan't speak another word!”

“But… ugh, fine.” Twilight threw her hands up in disgust. “Whatever. You’re probably just being a jerk again anyway.”

“If we could all get back to the matter at hand,” Rarity said, pointedly clearing her throat. “We’ve figured out where she died. And how. But we don’t know when.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Right! We still don’t have a single clue about that.”

“Actually, Ah was wonderin’ somethin’,” Apple Bloom interjected, raising her hand. “Before we move on ta when she died, Ah was thinkin’, the culprit used some kinda rope to tie her up, right?”

“Yeah, we think so,” I replied, scratching my head. “I still don’t know what kind but they must’ve used something to cause those marks on her body. Maybe the streamers?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Nope! There weren't any missing streamers. At least, I didn't see any go missing..."

“Well, what Ah’m sayin’ is," Apple Bloom continued, "We don’t need to figure out when it happened at all. All we need to do is figure out who had rope, and Bob’s yer uncle!”

“Hey, now you’re talking!” Timber cheered. “Great idea!”

Flash scratched his chin and stared down at his podium. “But have we seen anyone with rope? I don’t remember seeing anyone.”

“I coulda sworn I saw someone with some,” Timber added. “But who?”

Who had rope, huh? Think… think… oh, of course! My eyes darted about, then fixed on a single individual, who was already turning pale and shaking in her boots. I pointed my finger squarely at her, and she yelped, almost falling backwards before grabbing her podium to steady herself. “Rainbow Dash. You’re the only one!”

“M-m-me?! What? What do you mean?” Rainbow blurted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

In response, my lips spread into an anticipatory smirk. “I’ve seen you with rope before. And I can prove it too!”

Fact #12: Shop Receipts:
“SS@SG: Tue1410 Leather backpack, running shoes, water bottle.
“RD@SG: Tue1415: Parachute cord, bungee cord, carabiner clips x 2. ”

I pointed out the relevant lines, hiding the rest to make it stand out. “Right there, right after my own purchase. RD, Rainbow Dash, at SG. Sporting goods. Parachute cord, bungee cord, and carabiner clips. You even stopped to talk to me!”

~*~
I stuffed my receipt into my pocket and was about to leave when I heard Rainbow Dash call out, “Hey, Sunset! Wait up!”

I looked back: she had a length of parachute cord, a pair of carabiner clips, and a bungee cord in her hands and was scanning them through the register. “What’ve you got those for?” I asked.

She snatched up her receipt, balled it up and tossed it in a nearby bin. “Oh these? Just gonna make some exercise equipment with it. They didn’t have any kind of hand grips or arm stretchers or anything so I’m just gonna improvise.”
~*~

“That seemed pretty strange to me at the time,” I continued, building up steam pretty fast as Rainbow fell further and further into panic. “I mean, sure, I can see someone making a DIY piece of exercise equipment. But I’ve been in that store. It has all kinds of things! Are you seriously telling me you couldn’t find a single worthwhile thing that matched your needs?”

“Um, excuse me…”

All eyes turned to face Rainbow Dash as she spluttered and shook, making wordless noises but nothing coherent. “And hey, she left the party too, didn’t she?” Timber added, frowning heavily. “Monoponi screamed at her and Trixie to clean up the bathrooms.”

“She did indeed,” Adagio said in a low, dangerous tone as she bared her teeth in Rainbow’s direction. “She had every opportunity.”

“Excuse me, please…”

“N-n-no I didn’t!” Rainbow blurted, so pale she was almost ghost white. “I didn’t! I swear I didn’t!”

“Oh?” Trixie popped out from behind her podium and pointed a furious finger at Rainbow Dash. “But you went to clean the men’s room first, right? Trixie remembers telling you to! And, if Trixie recalls, it took you awhile before you came to help her in the women’s!”

“That’s right!” I agreed. “She admitted as much to me earlier today.”

Fact #6: Timber’s Account: “According to Timber Spruce, he spent forty-five minutes in the bathroom, with some of that time spent on cleanup, using cleaning chemicals and air freshener. Rainbow Dash corroborated his account, stating the men’s room was spotless and stank of air freshener, but she spent some time spraying cleaner anyway to be safe.”

“That was just a few minutes!” Rainbow objected. “That doesn’t prove anything!”

“Please, listen to me!”

“True, it might not be enough time for everything, but it was enough time to get Wallflower tied up and kill her,” I pointed out, adrenalin surging through my veins. “You could’ve stashed her body in the Sushi King kitchen and done the rest after the party. After all, the Monoponi file only says she died during the party. It doesn’t say anything about what was done to her body afterwards!”

Rainbow Dash was crying now, great messy tears streaming down her cheeks in droves. “No! It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it! I swear!”

“Oh please,” Diamond Tiara sneered, the full force of her death glare fired right at Rainbow Dash. “Stop wasting our time and just admit your guilt. I still haven’t had breakfast and I’m hungry!”

“EXCUSE ME!”

We all fell quiet, stunned. I stared at Fluttershy, mouth agape, unable to believe my eyes at how angry and serious she was looking right now. It was nothing like the meek, quiet girl she’d been this whole time. Where was she hiding this?

Fluttershy, upon realizing everyone was staring at her, shrank back into herself for a moment before she stopped, took a deep breath, then stood right back up to point an angry finger out and sweep it over all of us. “Shame on you! All of you! Haranguing poor Rainbow Dash like that! You should feel ashamed of yourselves!” she declared. Then her finger fell upon me. “Especially you, Sunset!”

I didn’t know how or why, but this got to me. Hard. It was like being under Adagio’s gaze all over again, except this time it was just the disappointment of a kind, gentle soul. And yet it was more crushing, more defeating than anything I’d ever felt in my life. I felt myself sinking underneath it, shrinking down till I was small. Tiny.

Ashamed.

“You should know just as well as the rest of us,” Fluttershy continued, “That Rainbow Dash was already half drunk when she went to clean the bathrooms! I was right there when she teased you for getting a bottle of water instead of beer! There was no way she could’ve possibly killed Wallflower in her inebriated state!”

~*~
So I just went and grabbed a drink, choosing to start with plain water. “Oooh, water, huh?” Rainbow Dash teased when she saw me grab it. “Feeling a bit too scared to try something harder?”

“I’m just trying to make sure I don’t have a massive hangover in the morning,” I replied, taking a swig from my bottle and doing my best to look anywhere but directly at her. I ended up focusing on Fluttershy instead, who was standing quietly nearby, not saying a word. Seriously, why the g-string?

Rainbow grabbed a bottle of soda, handed it to Fluttershy, then took a long drink from her cup of beer. Somehow the girl already had a bit of a pink flush to her cheeks. “Oh come on, that’s gonna be future Sunset’s problem. Tonight’s a time to party!” she cried.
~*~

“Yeah...yeah! I was! I was drunk! Tooootally drunk off my ass!” Rainbow cried, wrestling herself back up from her half-fallen state on her podium to stand straight and tall, confidence restored. “Come on, Sunset, you should know that!”

“I… I’m sorry, I just, I…” I stammered, searching for words and not finding any. “I didn’t… but the rope, I just…”

“Hmph!” Diamond Tiara took one look at how I was acting and laughed. “Hahaha! Sunset, you idiot! Hahahahaha!”

“Weren’t you just as insistent on Rainbow’s guilt a minute ago?” Applejack pointed out, glaring at the younger woman.

Diamond Tiara stopped laughing, glared at Applejack, then flipped her the bird. “Shut up.”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” I finally managed to say. “I just was so sure, because of the rope.”

“Hey, I get it, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow Dash said with a laugh. “I know it looked pretty suspicious.” She leaned over past Flash’s podium to give Fluttershy a quiet little fist bump. “Thanks for having my back, Shy.”

Fluttershy returned it with a quiet, “You’re welcome,” as she relaxed her whole body back to the meek, quiet self she typically presented.

“Speakin’ of which, Ah was thinkin’ about that while y'all were jawin’ on,” Applejack said, raising a hand for attention, “And ah don’t think she coulda used that rope anyway. Not to toot my own horn or nothin’ but if anyone knows rope, it’s me. And there ain’t no way those marks came from parachute cord or a bungee cord.”

Fact #3: Body Condition: “There is a ring of marks around Wallflower’s neck. The pattern is two inches wide, with an uneven, inconsistent pattern.”

“See, Ah know that because the marks are so wide. Most rope would barely leave an inch wide mark, let alone two inches! And the pattern’s all funky and strange, like whatever the culprit used weren’t a real rope at all, but somethin’ they made.”

“Something made, hmm?” Adagio mused, then whirled to face Rarity and pointed right at her. “Such as by a seamstress, perhaps?”

Rarity let out a gasp, then pointedly gasped again. “Oh, you’re accusing moi now?! How dare you suggest I’d ever craft something so, so, so clumsy as whatever made those marks! I am an artist! I craft gorgeous gowns, dashing dresses, stunning suits, and spectacular outfits! Not makeshift shabby ropes to garrote someone in the nighttime!”

"Sure, but what about the streamers, hmm?" Adagio's mouth spread into a sadistic smile. "Nothing says you couldn't use one of those."

"Absolutely not!" Rarity protested. "I would never pervert one of my lovely creations into a tool for murder!"

"Ah don't think a streamer would make this pattern either," Applejack added with a frown.

No. There’s no way she did it, I’m sure of it. And I’m not about to turn around and accuse someone right after getting egg all over my face with Dash. “I don’t think you made the rope used either, Rarity, but I did have a couple of questions for you.”

“Oh?” Rarity perked up, then her eyes bulged and she shut her mouth. “Mm-mm,” she mumbled.

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head, “but that’s not gonna fly this time. We need to clear up why you took an extra twenty minutes to come back from the bathrooms compared to everyone else.”

“Twenty minutes is plenty of time to subdue Wallflower and kill her,” Scootaloo pointed out, hand on her chin. “I dunno though… I can’t see Rarity doing that.”

Rarity stayed firmly quiet, holding her hands on her jaw to keep her mouth shut.

“Then again, she’s actin’ mighty suspicious right now,” Apple Bloom muttered, narrowing her eyes at the older woman. “Ah don’t really think she could either, but…”

“But we are all suspects,” Twilight added. “Sorry, Rarity, but can you just tell us? Please?”

Rarity let out a low moan and fell face first onto her podium, heaving sigh after sigh. “Must I? Must I embarrass myself in front of everyone?” She looked up just long enough to see me nodding, then lowered her head again. “Fine. Very well!”

She raised her head, her cheeks blazing hot pink. “I… I… I defecated all over myself!”

“What?!” I cried, my whole face screwed up in shock. “You… you what?!”

Rarity’s whole body shuddered like mad. “I defecated on myself! Please don’t make me repeat it!”

“Ewww!” Scootaloo recoiled, sticking out her tongue.

“Gross!” Timber blurted, waving a hand in front of his nose. “God now I can remember the smell…”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Rarity blabbered, stuttering on almost every word. “I-I lost cont-trol! I c-couldn’t make it to the t-toilet in t-t-time!”

“Is that what I stepped in when I left the stall?!” Diamond Tiara shrieked, slapping both hands to the sides of her face.

“This is even yuckier than when I took care of the Cake’s twins when they were sick with the flu!” Pinkie groaned, her lips curling up in disgust.

“I really didn’t need to hear any of this…” Flash muttered, covering his face with his hand.

“Well, I’m sorry, but you forced it out of me!” Rarity fumed. I could practically see the steam rising from her ears.

“Oh god,” Rainbow Dash clapped a hand to her mouth, her cheeks bulging. “So gross!”

“Did you seriously have to phrase it that way, sis?” Sweetie Belle whined, her face tinged green.

“And I’m guessing none of the rest of you had this problem?” I asked, looking to Diamond Tiara, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Timber Spruce.

“Ah sure didn’t. Ah mean, it was close, but…”

Fluttershy quietly shook her head. “No.”

“Nuh uh. I was lucky,” Timber said.

“Of course not!” Diamond Tiara replied, shaking her fists in my direction.

“Huh. Trixie thinks that explains something she noticed when she was cleaning,” Trixie said. “Two of the stalls had no toilet paper left at all, when the rest had half rolls. Trixie thought that was odd.”

“Yes, well, I had to use something to get it off me before I could use the sink!” Rarity retorted harshly, throwing up her hands. “It was the most embarrassing experience of my life! I never want to go through that again!”

“Okay, okay,” I held up my hands in surrender. “I’m sorry you suffered.” I’m even sorrier I asked. I don’t need to picture something so gross. “So it sounds like none of you had a chance to go after Wallflower.”

“No way. We were waaay too sick,” Timber agreed. He winced and held his stomach, which reminded me that we’d forgotten to get him some digestive medicine. Whoops. Sorry, dude.

“Well, shoot!” Pinkie said. She’d recovered the bounce to her curls, and while not completely perky, she did have a spark of energy. “I was sure one of them had something to do with it. Now we don’t have any suspects at all!”

“Oh yes we do!” Diamond Tiara thundered, reaching out a finger to point in my direction. “We never addressed my initial accusation! Sunset Shimmer, you left the party two hours early! You weren’t drunk like Rainbow Dash! You had plenty of time to kill Wallflower!”

“Oh come on!” I fired back. “I only left early because I needed to sleep!”

“But didn’t Flash and Twilight leave the party early as well?” Rarity added, face screwed up in confusion. “I don’t understand why you insist on accusing Sunset when they had just as much opportunity.”

Diamond Tiara burst out laughing, holding her hand to her mouth like a goddamned anime villain. “Ohohoho, but they have an alibi, and she doesn’t!”

“Wait, what alibi?” Pinkie asked, eyes darting between myself and Flash and Twilight, both of whom were now blushing furiously. “I don’t get it.”

“Aren’t you older than Ah am? Ah get it just fine,” Apple Bloom muttered.

“What a surprise, the childish one doesn’t understand what sex is. Who would’ve guessed?” Adagio snarked, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Wait, they did what?!” Pinkie screeched in response, clutched her head as if in fright, then immediately dropped her hands and smiled a huge ear-to-ear smile. “Well I’m happy for them, then!”

“Do we really have to discuss this?” Flash groaned, casting a sympathetic look to Twilight, who was oscillating between florid embarrassment and hideous rage. “This isn’t anyone’s business but our own.”

Sweetie raised a hand, opened her mouth to speak, closed it, then opened it again to say, “Uh, sorry. Really sorry. But this is a trial. We gotta discuss anything and everything to figure out the killer, right?”

“She’s right about that,” Scootaloo added with a grimace and shrug. “Sorry, but we can’t overlook it.”

“It’s not even a debate anyway,” I added. “We already know they were together.”

Fact #12: Shop Receipts: “FS@RX Wed2005: Basic First Aid Kit, condoms, acetaminophen.”

“And if that’s not enough proof, let’s not forget what Monoponi said before we even came down here.”

~*~
“Au contraire, mon chérie,” Monoponi retorted. “You’re just too stupid to recognize magic when you see it. But what else should we expect from a science-obsessed bookworm who’s so lonely and miserable she puts out on the first date?”
~*~

Twilight’s head shot up, her furious gaze locked directly upon me, her eyes blazing like the sun as she snarled, “Did you really have to bring that up, Sunset?!”

I cringed back. “Sorry,” I said sympathetically, “but I was just trying to prove your alibi. And besides, there was one more thing that proves it too. Adagio and I both saw Flash in your room this morning, just before we found the body.”

“It’s true, we did,” Adagio agreed.

“Okay! We get it! Now drop it,” Flash said, frowning deeply at me.

“Well, does that satisfy you, Rarity?” Diamond Tiara chortled as she fired off a wide smirk in my direction. “Sunset’s the only suspect left! She had a motive. She had the time to do it. She has no alibi. And she’s smart enough to come up with the method used to kill Wallflower. It was her! She did it!”

Fingers of fear reached up and down my spine as many of my fellow passengers started leveling gazes at me just as suspicious and certain as Diamond Tiara’s. “Wait, wait!” I objected, throwing up my hands and waving them frantically. “Hold on! It wasn’t me!”

“I’m not so sure it was her, either,” Rarity agreed, hand on her chin. “I mean, she did figure out the cause of death, when the rest of us were stumped. Why would she do that if she were the culprit?”

Trixie let out a bark of laughter. “Hah! Trixie thinks it was just so she could try to excuse her guilt now. Trixie believes Diamond Tiara. Sunset is guilty!”

“Yeah, I dunno, Rarity, I’m kinda with Trixie and Diamond Tiara here,” Timber said, flashing me an apologetic look. “I don’t wanna think Sunset is capable of killing someone, but who else could it be?”

“No way!” Pinkie shook her head frantically. “Nuh-uh! I believe in Sunny Girl! If she says she didn’t do it, she didn’t do it!”

“Yeah, Ah dunno, Sunset’s been answerin’ all the questions so far,” Apple Bloom spoke up, frowning. “And it doesn't make any sense for her to do that if she killed Wallflower. I ain’t sayin’ she ain’t suspicious, but I ain’t convinced yet either.”

“Well I am,” Sweetie Belle said, glaring at me. “Sorry sis, I get you believe in Sunset, but who else could it be? We’ve eliminated all other suspects.”

“Have we really?” Twilight spoke up, adjusting her glasses. The poor girl was much calmer now, thankfully. “We haven’t even answered all the mysteries of this case yet. I’m not ready to vote.”

Rainbow Dash’s lips twisted up in a sad frown, then she looked at me and shrugged apologetically. “Maybe we haven’t, Twi, but I can’t see who else could’ve done it. Sorry Sunset, but you were kinda gunnin’ for me pretty hard earlier, and that’s kinda suspicious too, ya know?”

Fluttershy’s eyes filled with tears, and she looked down at her podium, not meeting my gaze. “Sorry, but, I agree with Rainbow Dash.”

Applejack snorted, and briefly took off her stetson so she could toss it on her podium in disgust before snatching it back and placing it back on her head. “Ah don’t believe this. Y'all're ready to string Sunset up when we ain’t even solved the case yet.”

“Yeah, I’m not saying it’s not possible Sunset did it, but I’m not convinced yet,” Flash said, nodding to me. “I’m not ready to vote either.”

“But it makes sense though, that she did it,” Scootaloo said, her expression full of indecision. “I… I don’t know what to do now. But who else could we vote for?”

“Whoever the real culprit is,” Adagio grunted. She favored me with a calculating look, then nodded. “Frankly, I don’t think Sunset did this. In fact, she's probably the least capable of murder out of all of us.”

Diamond Tiara let out a scream of frustration and smashed both fists onto her podium. “Then what do we do, huh? We’re split right down the middle!”

“Split? Did you say, split?” Monoponi interrupted, a wide smile of glee splitting his muzzle.

“Oh no,” I moaned, slapping a hand to my face. “Come on. We’re not seriously going to do that, are we?”

“Do what?” Sweetie mumbled.

“Why, we have to, Sunset!” Monoponi replied with a giggle. “When you’re split down the middle, what else can we do to solve it but have a scrum debate?!” Monoponi’s horn lit, and the room was suddenly filled with the sound of a familiar techno beat.

“Oh my god you’re even playing the music…” I moaned harder, slamming my face onto my podium.

“What?! What’re we doing?!” Sweetie said again, throwing up her hands.

“What’s with the music?” Adagio grunted, eyes scanning for the speakers.

In response, Monoponi lifted his forehooves to the sky and stretched out his wings. “You’ll settle this debate the only way you can, with our very own morphenomenal trial grounds!”

“That term’s so stupid,” I mumbled into my podium.

His horn lit up once more in a fierce crimson light as our podiums began to float up into the air, everyone screeching or letting out cries of shock as we each lined up in two rows, ready to face off. “Now then, let’s get this scrum debate started!”

Trixie started us off, shouting, “Sunset has to be the culprit. There’s no other possibility!”

Rarity huffed in reply, “Not true! I don’t believe she could be the culprit!”

“But Sunset is the most suspicious person here! That means she did it!” Diamond Tiara spluttered.

“Of course she’s suspicious,” Adagio laughed. “But so are others. It doesn’t mean a thing.”

“But we’ve solved all the mysteries, haven’t we?” Sweetie Belle argued.

“We haven’t even come close to solving all of the mysteries,” Twilight replied, shaking her head.

Rainbow Dash held up a hand and said, “But Sunset’s the only one who left the party early who coulda done it, right?”

“Nope,” Apple Bloom shot back. “She ain’t the only one who left the party. Lots of people did.”

“Oh please,” Diamond Tiara scoffed, “she’s the only one smart enough to come up with the cause of death!”

“Nuh uh!” Pinkie Pie countered. “Lots of us are smart enough to come up with the cause of death in this case!”

“But didn’t Sunset have a pretty good motive?” Scootaloo suggested, face screwed up in confusion.

“We all had a motive,” Flash retorted. “Monoponi gave us one, remember?”

“But, she… she doesn’t have an alibi,” Fluttershy murmured, looking very uncertain.

Applejack was ready for this one, “She might not be able to prove her alibi, but she said she was just sleepin’, and Ah believe her.”

“But if it wasn't you, then who else could we vote for?” Timber blurted, throwing up his hands.

I took this one myself. “We don’t know! That’s why we can’t vote yet! We just don’t have all the answers!”

With that response, the music silenced itself, and our podiums fell back to rest on the floor in the normal positions. I was more than happy to be back on the ground. Floating in the air just gave me flashbacks to bad memories. “I know I haven’t been able to prove my alibi,” I continued, “But we still haven’t solved this case. We can’t risk voting until we’re absolutely sure.”

“Fine! Fine! Ugh!” Diamond Tiara screeched, throwing her arms up in the air and then slamming them back onto her podium in disgust. “We won’t vote yet.” She raised one arm to point directly at me. “But I still think it was you, and I won’t budge on that till you can prove otherwise!”

I nodded. This trial was just getting started, but I could be sure of at least one thing. I wasn’t the culprit. I didn’t do it. I still wasn’t sure who could have, but we still had plenty to go.

This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

Author's Notes:

I won't lie: trials are fun. Even if all I ever wrote for the story was the trials and nothing else, it'd still be worth doing, just because of how fun they are to write. The balance between creating sufficient clues for the people to work from, without making things too obvious, and making things solvable is an amazing challenge, well worth doing. Placing characters under the tension, the stress, the sheer paranoia of the trial just makes them do all kinds of fun things.

Also, in constructing this trial, I used aspects from many Fangans I've read, as I've stated before. In particular I did my best to make things as story-centered as possible, while still touching on my own version of a couple of game mechanics, like the scrum debate. The very first debate too was intentionally framed like a traditional non-stop debate, because like Sunset said, I had to do it, at least once. The rest of the trial, naturally, doesn't follow that format so much, nor should it, because usually they have people repeating themselves endlessly or unnecessarily restating the same thing they just said before the debate starts, etc, all to fulfill game mechanics. So I cherry-picked what works in a story format and discarded the rest. Sadly, this means Sunset will not be racing taxis in her mind or riding a snowboard.

Regarding the cause of death: this actually changed quite a few times, until I settled on this. It's utterly bizarre, I know, but trust me, there is a very good reason why, and will be explained. Just not yet.

Oh, and as for Monoponi's little revelation? You might get an answer to that sooner than you might think.

Wednesday: the second part of the trial.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 7

So, here we were with the trial for Wallflower Blush. We’d determined both where she died and how, but there were still plenty of mysteries to solve. We still didn’t know when and, most importantly, who.

So far I've eliminated a few from my mind. I didn’t do it, of course, and neither did anyone who hadn’t left the party. Which left me with just a few suspects on my list: Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Timber Spruce, Trixie, and Diamond Tiara. Everyone else either had an alibi or was so busy with the party they never had time to kill Wallflower.

Of this list, I was pretty sure neither Rainbow Dash nor Rarity did it, so that left me with four suspects total. But I didn’t want to announce this to everyone yet. I wanted to give each of them enough rope to hang themselves with, if it turned out one of them did it. And if I was wrong, if someone else had opportunity and we hadn’t realized it yet… well, in any case, I didn’t want to tip my hand.

“So, where do we go from here?” Scootaloo asked in a baffled tone, scratching the back of her head.

“There’s still a lot of mysteries to solve,” Twilight replied. “We should pick one.”

“Well there’s something I would certainly like to know about,” Rarity said in a huff. “I want to know why that cider made so many of us so ill!”

“Ah’ll tell you what it wasn’t!” Applejack retorted, crossing her arms. “It wasn’t cause it was a bad batch of cider. Sweet Apple Acres cider is some of the best cider there is! We’re too good to mess it up.”

“Uh huh. Sure,” Diamond Tiara groused. “I totally believe that.”

“But it’s true!” Apple Bloom responded with a scowl. “Ah’ve been helping our farm produce the cider for years now. We only use the best produce we have.”

“So let’s take that as a given, then,” I said, interrupting this pointless argument before it could go any further. “Let’s assume it wasn’t because the cider itself was bad. Let’s assume, instead, that something or someone spiked it with something.”

“Oh no no no!” Pinkie cried out, shaking her head furiously. “I wouldn’t ever let anyone spike any drinks at my party! This is an outrage!” She slammed a fist on her podium. “I won’t forgive whoever ruined my party this way! Nobody ruins a Pinkie party and gets away with it!”

“Who even had an opportunity to spike the cider?” Flash asked, frowning. “Was it someone who set up the drinks?”

“Maybe it was Timber,” Diamond Tiara sneered. “He was the one who got us our drinks.”

“No way! You’d think I’d poison myself like that?” Timber shook his head and glared at Diamond Tiara, one hand on his stomach. “My stomach still hurts!”

“Yeah I was watching him get the drinks,” I agreed. “I think I would’ve noticed him putting something into the cider.”

“So then who set up the drinks?” Sweetie asked. “Maybe it was one of them?”

“That would be myself, Applejack, and Apple Bloom,” Twilight answered, counting off on her fingers. “I separated from them to get a cart, but that only took me a couple of minutes, because I grabbed one from the closest restaurant on the promenade. The Qilin place, I think.”

“And Ah think Ah’ve made it clear Ah wouldn’t ruin mah own family’s name by spikin’ the cider,” Applejack said.

“That’s what you say,” Trixie replied, sticking her nose up, “But Trixie isn’t so sure of that! Can you prove to Trixie that you wouldn’t?”

“Are you insultin’ mah family’s honor?!” Applejack roared, raising her fists up and waving them menacingly in Trixie’s direction.

Trixie recoiled, screeching in fear. “Aaah! Please don’t hurt Trixie!”

“Honestly, Applejack, stop scaring the poor dear,” Rarity said with a shake of her head. “And Trixie, please, stop. Applejack suffered just as much as I did. I should know. I was there.”

“Yeah, and it makes no more sense that Applejack would poison herself than Timber would,” I agreed. My eyes fixed upon the younger of the two Apple sisters. “Apple Bloom, on the other hand…”

“Woah, hey now,” Apple Bloom said, raising her hands up as if I was holding her at gunpoint. “Ah ain’t about to poison mah sister!”

“I wasn’t saying you would,” I replied with a small smile. “Easy, Apple Bloom, I’m not accusing you. Just pointing out you had opportunity.”

“Oh okay, that’s better then,” Apple Bloom said, dropping her hands with a relieved look on her face. “Ah was gonna say, Ah was just defending you and all.”

“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way,” Adagio said, frowning. “Perhaps we should ask ourselves not who, but how. And why?”

I think the why is obvious, but, well… “The how, I think I might be able to explain. At least partially.”

Fact #5: Tainted Cider: “According to Timber Spruce, the cider had a nutty, bitter taste, and made his tongue and mouth itch.”

“Twilight told me during the investigation that Timber’s description matches up perfectly with the symptoms of taking ipecac syrup,” I continued.

“What is ipecac syrup?” Trixie said, face scrunched up in confusion. “Trixie has never heard of this before.”

“That’s not really surprising,” Twilight replied. “Ipecac was used for a long time as an emetic, to induce vomiting to treat instances of poisoning. But it’s since been phased out in favor of things like activated charcoal. Not a lot of people would even know what it is anymore.”

“Well sure, that’d make us vomit, but what about the uh… well, uh…” Applejack trailed off, face blooming with pink.

“The excrement, darling?” Rarity said hesitantly.

“Yeah. That.”

“Ipecac wouldn’t make you lose control of your bowels, but that could easily be explained by laxatives,” Twilight said. “Most of those don’t have much of a flavor, so the ipecac would override it.”

“Well that’s all well and good,” Diamond Tiara said with a grunt, “but when did the culprit spike the cider? I want to know who did it so I can make them pay for what they did to me!”

“Pinkie,” I said, turning to the party planner. “You told me during the investigation that no one touched the cider before 10:00 PM, right?”

“Yup yup! And I totally would have noticed if the cider was bad from the start,” Pinkie answered. “At least, I’m pretty sure I would’ve.”

“And I was watching it too. At least, I was at first,” Twilight said, trailing off and holding a hand to her face as her cheeks bloomed. “Until I got distracted.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault, Twilight,” Flash said comfortingly, reaching over past Sweetie Belle’s podium to pat her on the shoulder. “If it was anyone, it was mine’s.”

“So someone must’ve done it between the time it was set up, and before Timber got drinks for everyone who suffered,” I said, nodding. “But when?”

“Can we even be sure?” Adagio said, holding up one hand and placing the other on her hip. “Everyone was constantly going back and forth during the beginning, to get swimsuits. Then after that we were dancing to the music.”

“Yeah, Ah don’t think we’re gonna figure out who did it by tryin’ to track ‘em down during the party,” Apple Bloom said. “Maybe we’re better off focusin’ on where they got ipecac from.”

“Well, the pharmacy was open to everyone,” Sweetie Belle said, scratching her head. “Did someone buy some?”

“Not that we saw on the receipts,” I answered. Of course the culprit wouldn’t make it that easy.

“It’s true, we didn’t see anyone buy ipecac or laxatives specifically,” Twilight said, “but several people did purchase first aid kits.”

Fact #12: Shop Receipts:
“AD@RX Tue1005: Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit.
AD@RX Wed1440: Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit.
SS@RX: Wed1530: Basic First Aid Kit.
FS@RX Wed2005: Basic First Aid Kit, condoms, acetaminophen.”

“Specifically,” she continued, “Adagio, Flash Sentry, and Sunset Shimmer.”

“And once again Sunset is suspicious! Why am I not surprised?” Diamond Tiara declared, glowering at me.

“For goodness sake, Tiara,” I groaned, smacking my head against my podium. “You think I’d point this out if I was stupid enough to buy my own first aid kit?”

“Wait, why did Adagio purchase two of the same kind?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Adagio grimaced. “Because some jerk stole the first one yesterday morning, when we were all searching for Sunset.”

“What’s the difference between the two kinds, anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked, eyebrows raised.

Fact #8: First Aid Kit: “Adagio Dazzle had purchased an ultra deluxe first aid kit on Tuesday, stocked with plenty of drugs and surgery materials on top of the usual contents. It was stolen Wednesday morning.”

“A lot, actually,” I replied. “I had to use Adagio’s first aid kit to bandage Twilight’s head on Tuesday, and there was a ton of extra stuff in it. Lots of different medicines I didn’t recognize. One of them might’ve been ipecac.”

“Is there any way we can be sure?” Applejack said. “‘Cause Ah think we need to see the contents.”

Adagio blew out a sigh, then shrugged off her backpack and removed the Ultra Deluxe First Aid Kit, slamming it on her podium. “Here. Go nuts.”

Applejack took the proffered kit and proceeded to search it. “Yup,” she said after a moment, holding up two different bottles. “Got some ipecac right here. And some powdered laxatives too.”

“Alright, so we know the big kind of kit had those in it,” Rainbow Dash said, nodding. “But what about the small ones?”

“Flash, do you have yours on you?” I asked as I quickly removed mine from my backpack.

“No, sorry,” Flash said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Is that important?”

Applejack took my kit from me. “Nah, Ah think we’re okay. Looks like Sunset didn’t even remove the plastic wrap from it yet.” She swiftly tore off the plastic, crunching it up in a ball and shoving it in her pocket. Popping it open, she searched it quickly, then nodded. “Nope, no ipecac or laxatives. Ah think we can safely say the culprit got it from Adagio’s, then.” She handed me back my first aid kit, and I stuffed it back inside my backpack.

“Can we be sure about that?” Timber wondered. “I mean, did anyone find it during the investigation?”

“Yeah, actually, we did!” Scootaloo replied.

Fact #8: First Aid Kit: “It was stolen Wednesday morning, and discovered inside the Sushi King freezer vent. The kit was effectively destroyed, all the supplies rendered useless.”

“Freezer vent? I didn’t know there was a vent in the freezer,” Rarity said, scratching her chin.

“Yeah, Sunset, Twilight and I found it the other day,” Scootaloo replied. “I had to wriggle my way inside. It was a pretty tight fit, but I made it work.”

“Specifically, the vent was located behind the stacked bags of ice,” I said, frowning. “The culprit probably noticed it when they went to get the ice for their crime, so we can’t assume it was someone who already knew about it.”

“Wait, how can you be sure of that?” Sweetie asked, glaring at me with suspicion written all over her face. “I mean if you were one of the only ones who knew about the vent…”

I let out a sheepish laugh. “Ah, that’s actually a little embarrassing.”

~*~
“Okay, so that was a bust,” Scootaloo groaned. “What was even the point to that vent?”

“That’s what I’m curious about too,” Twilight agreed, staring at the vent while scratching her head. “The other freezers had vents, but they were all in the ceiling. Why was this one in the wall by the floor?”

I rolled my eyes hard enough to make my head hurt. “Probably because Monoponi’d get a laugh out of us wasting our goddamned time,” I growled, roughly shoving the vent cover back in place in disgust and throwing the bag of ice back so it landed in a messy fashion instead of being evenly lined up with the rest of them. I didn’t care though. I was just too mad.
~*~

“When I put the bag of ice back, it wasn’t hiding the vent anymore. So it would’ve been easily noticed,” I said.

“I can confirm that,” Twilight nodded. “I figured it was fine at the time.”

“Yeah I can confirm it too,” Scootaloo agreed. “Still don’t get why you were so mad though, Sunset.”

I didn’t respond, instead glaring up at Monoponi, who leered at us from his throne. “Upupupu!” he chuckled.

“Seems to Trixie like it was a good spot to stash evidence,” Trixie noted. “If you hadn’t already known about the vent, Trixie thinks you never would’ve found the first aid kit!”

“Yeah, that’s probably right, because the culprit even put the bags of ice back to cover the vent,” I agreed with a nod.

“Great, so now we know how the culprit spiked the cider,” Flash said, frowning and scratching his head. “But what I don’t get is why. What was the point?”

“Maybe someone left the party when none of us were looking?” Sweetie suggested. “And used it as a distraction?”

“No way!” Pinkie furiously shook her head. “I was watching everyone the whole time! I would’ve seen someone leave.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said, adjusting her glasses. “I think we can safely say the only ones who left the party are the ones we know left the party.”

Fact #9: Party Timeline: “The party ran from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM. At 8:00 everyone scrambled for swimsuits, but no one was gone for more than a few minutes. Everyone attended the party except for Wallflower Blush. Music was played from 8:30 PM till 10:00 PM, then at 10:15 Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara became sick and left for the bathrooms. All except Rarity returned at 11:00, and she at 11:20. Trixie and Rainbow Dash left to clean up at 11:30 and came back at 12:15. After that Sunset, Flash, and Twilight left at 1:00, then everyone else at 3:00.”

“So that means,” Twilight continued, “our suspect list has to be Applejack, Timber Spruce, Rarity, Fluttershy, Diamond Tiara, Rainbow Dash, Trixie, Sunset, Flash, and myself. We’ve already proven Flash and I have alibis, Sunset was asleep, the first five were sick thanks to the cider, and Rainbow Dash was too drunk.”

“Wait, but that just leaves…” Scootaloo trailed off, gasping as her gaze shot over to Trixie’s podium.

The poor illusionist was shaking like a leaf as everyone’s gazes fell upon her. “S-s-surely you can’t s-suspect The Great and P-Powerful Trixie had anything to do with this?!” Trixie burbled, fidgeting with her hands.

Adagio shook her head, snorting. “No. I refuse to believe someone as stupid as her could have come up with the things the culprit did.”

“H-hey!” Trixie retorted, eyes welling up with tears. “Y-you keep saying Trixie is s-stupid, but Trixie is not stupid!” She slammed both fists on her podium, tears flying away from her face as she ranted. “Trixie is just as intelligent as anyone else in this room! Just because Trixie speaks in third person does not make her stupid! Trixie just prefers to speak this way! It helps Trixie with her magic acts!” She sniffled, tears falling down her face now. “Maybe Trixie has been wrong in the trial. Wrong a lot. But that doesn’t make Trixie stupid! It just means Trixie made mistakes in her understanding of the case!” She pointed a furious finger at everyone. “Trixie was not the only one to make a mistake! Most of you misunderstood one thing or another! It’s taken Sunset to lead us through this trial, to help uncover the mysteries.”

Trixie’s gaze fell upon me, full of sorrow. “Trixie is sorry she accused you earlier, Sunset. You’ve done nothing but try to help us, and Trixie repaid it with suspicion. Please forgive Trixie.”

“Hey, you don’t have anything to apologize for, Trixie,” I said with a smile. “You’re just trying to figure things out, just like the rest of us. Don’t worry about it.” My smile vanished as I fixed my gaze on Adagio. “And Adagio? You’d better apologize. Joking around with someone or teasing someone a bit is one thing, and can sometimes be funny. But you made her cry. That’s not okay.”

Adagio hissed at me, teeth bared, her eyes full of predatory instincts as her hands curled up like claws. Then she grit her teeth, squeezed her hands into fists so hard her knuckles turned white, before relaxing them. “Fine. Trixie, I’m… I’m sorry.” She looked away, grimacing as she stared at her podium.

Trixie narrowed her tearful eyes as she wiped her face clean, before relaxing and nodding. “Thank you. Trixie accepts your apology.”

“So, um, that’s great and all,” Sweetie said, frowning, “but that doesn’t excuse you from being suspicious.”

“Nah, Trixie didn’t do it,” Rainbow Dash interrupted before Trixie could become upset again. “She didn’t have enough time before I came into the women’s bathroom to help her clean. She was only alone for, like, five minutes. That’s waaaay too little time to tie up Wallflower and kill her.”

“That’s right,” Trixie agreed, smiling gratefully at Rainbow Dash. “So Trixie did not kill Wallflower! Trixie is innocent.”

“Now hold on!” Diamond Tiara interrupted. “If Trixie didn’t do it, then we’re out of suspects again!” Her gaze fell upon me as she smiled wickedly. “All except Sunset, that is!”

Oh here we go again with this shit, I groaned internally as everyone’s eyes fell upon me. “Seriously, Tiara? Stop accusing me already. No one’s going to buy it at this point.”

“Yeah, seriously,” Scootaloo agreed, glaring at Diamond Tiara. “Sunset’s innocent. She’s solved way too much of this case to be guilty. If anything, you’re the suspicious one because you won’t shut up about her!”

“Excuse me?!” Diamond Tiara roared, shaking her fists at Scootaloo. “You little jerk! Do you not know who I am?”

“No one cares, Tiara,” Rainbow Dash muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, we get you’re rich,” Apple Bloom agreed, crossing her arms, “but why would that be any kind of excuse?”

“It sure ain’t in mah book,” Applejack snorted. “Rich folk always thinkin’ they can push poor folk around, just ‘cause they got more money. Just a bunch of hooey if you ask me.”

“But no one asked you, farmer!” Tiara retorted, twisting her pronunciation of ‘farmer’ into an obvious insult.

Applejack lowered her stance as if she was preparing to charge, face twisted up in rage as she snorted like an angry stallion. “Are you tryin’ ta piss me off?” she growled. “Cause if ya are, it’s workin’!”

“I dunno, I think they have a point,” Timber agreed, looking back and forth between Applejack and Tiara. “You haven’t shut up once about Sunset the whole trial.”

“And it’s true we don’t know who spiked the cider,” Sweetie agreed. “Maybe whoever did it knew it was bad, and didn’t actually drink any?”

“Or maybe they took something beforehand that kept them from getting sick,” Fluttershy suggested quietly. “I think I know of a few herbs that could do it. I uh, I don’t know if any are on the ship though.”

“Does anyone remember for sure if we all took a drink of the cider that night?” Rarity inquired, looking to her fellow sufferers.

Fluttershy silently shook her head.

“Can’t say Ah do,” Applejack replied, still glowering fiercely at Tiara. “Which means it’s possible Sweetie’s right.”

“Tiara accused Sunset before we even started investigating!” Pinkie Pie pointed out. “It’s almost as if she had everything planned out!”

“What?!” Diamond Tiara screeched, and slammed her fists repeatedly on her podium. “What is wrong with all of you?! I’ve never been more humiliated in my life! How dare you accuse me of killing Wallflower! You don’t have any proof!” She brought up one hand and flipped us all the bird, pointingly aiming it at each of us in turn. “All you have are guesses! Suspicions! And it’s all wrong!” She slammed her fist on the podium once more. “I drank cider that night. I got just as sick as all of you! I even stepped in Rarity’s shit, okay? I wouldn’t make that up!”

“I believe you,” I said simply.

Tiara whirled on me, eyes agog. “W-what? You do?” she stammered.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I don’t think you did it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy about you constantly accusing me. But just because you’ve been going after me doesn’t mean you did anything.”

“Wait, why don’t you think she could have done it?” Twilight asked, frowning as she held up a hand. “If she did fake drinking the cider, then she had all the opportunity she needed. Anyone could have taken Adagio’s first aid kit, and she had as much of a chance as any of us to spike the cider to begin with.”

“Two things,” I said, bringing up the relevant evidence.

Fact #12: Shop Receipts:
“RB@OS: Tue1033: Deluxe arts and crafts kit.
FS@ OS: Tue1420 Deluxe arts & crafts kit.
TS@ OS: Tue1425: Notebooks x 6, pen x 12, pencils x 12, erasers x 3.
DT@OS: Tue1515: Deluxe arts and crafts kit, notebook x 2, pen x 3.
TS@ OS: Tue1622: Deluxe arts & crafts kit x 2.”

“First, she had an arts and crafts kit. That has all kinds of supplies in it, plenty to make a good note with. But…”

Fact #11: Note: “The note reads: ‘Dearest Wallflower. You’re the prettiest chick I’ve ever seen. We should meet up tonight, at *blank* in the Lover’s Corner, so we can ditch those losers at the party and hang together.’ The note was not signed. The note was crafted from pasted together letters taken from the packaging of first aid kit supplies, many of which were made of reflective material. A few of the letters were torn off from the note, including the time of the meeting.”

“The note we found was makeshift, pasted together from bits of the first aid kit wrappers rather than being well crafted. Not to mention it was also pretty cheesy. And Tiara’s been constantly priding herself on how refined she is. Even if she was into girls--” I took a moment to briefly look at Tiara, who just shook her head --”I doubt she’d craft a note this awful. She has too much pride in herself to craft something this bad.”

“Wow, this is bad,” Flash said, eyebrows raised. “I don’t think I would’ve written something like this even in high school.”

Twilight giggled and reached over to pat him on the arm. “That’s because you actually have a romantic soul. I like that about you.” Her cheeks flushed with pink as she spoke.

Flash chuckled in response, looking away as he blushed profusely.

“Okay, that’s enough being sappy,” Tiara groaned. “Anyway, Sunset, you’re right. I do have too much pride in myself to make something like this note!” She crossed her arms and smirked. “See, everyone? I’m innocent.”

“Hmmph. Maybe yer innocent of killin’ Wallflower,” Applejack retorted, “but Ah don’t think you can call yerself innocent in general. Ya rich jerk.”

“Whatever!” Diamond Tiara replied with a laugh.

“Huh. I didn’t expect that,” Timber shrugged. He rubbed at his stomach and winced. “So then, who’s left? If we all got sick, and everyone else who left couldn’t have done it…”

“Yeah, we’re kinda stuck,” Scootaloo agreed. She doubled over, groaning. “Uuugh, what do we do now?”

“It does seem as if we’ve examined all the clues available,” Rarity said, her eyes beginning to fill with fear. “Are… are we going to have to guess?”

“We can’t do that, can we?” Trixie said, shaking. “I-if we g-guess wrong…”

“Then you’ll all be punished, according to the rules!” Monoponi finished, gleefully clapping his forehooves together. “And believe you me, I have a very special punishment all lined up and ready just in case that happens!”

Flash made a fist and pounded it against his other hand. “No way. We can’t guess about this. We can’t vote until we’re sure. I’m not putting my life on the line for a guess.”

“Agreed!” Applejack said. “Ah ain’t ready to vote.” She narrowed her eyes and glared at the rest of us. “Someone here’s been lyin’, Ah think. Ah’ve been smellin’ it since we came to the courtroom. Ah just can’t figure out who.”

“Smelling?” Tiara snorted.

“It’s been known to happen,” Adagio said, winking in my direction.

“Wait! I know!” Twilight blurted as she glanced my way. “Sunset, we still haven’t examined all the clues yet. Remember?”

“Right,” I agreed. “There’s still two things unaccounted for.”

Fact #10: Water Stain: “The Lover’s Corner alcove contained a large water stain on its carpet, along with a plastic bottle cap and a note.”

“The water stain next to where we found the note, and…”

Fact #4: Odd Material: “A few fragments of odd material were discovered underneath the body. A long, thin fragment of the same material was discovered in the Sushi King’s janitor sink drain.”

“These,” I finished, holding up the fragments in question.

“Huh? What’re those?” Timber asked, squinting to get a better look.

I shrugged. “Some kind of material we found during the investigation. Twilight and I actually meant to ask Rarity to see if she knew what it was, because we couldn’t figure it out, but we hadn’t had a chance yet. Rarity?”

I passed the material down to her. She took them and stared. “Hmm,” she said, frowning. She squinted, pulled them up close to her eyes, then snorted and withdrew a magnifying glass of some kind from her skirt pocket. “Oh, I see now,” she said. “I think I can see why this was so hard to identify for you. It’s a kind of nylon.”

“Nylon?” My eyebrows shot to the top of my head. “It doesn’t look like any nylon I’ve ever seen.”

“No no, darling, this isn’t your typical nylon. This is a bit of a different kind,” Rarity replied with a sympathetic smile. “It’s called ballistic nylon. It’s an expensive fabric, originally developed by a company trying to create bulletproof jackets during the Second Great War. It’s used in many applications, particularly for backpacks, straps, even knife sheaths. Most people don’t even know the name; they just think it’s some generic fabric. Not something I’d usually work with in my shop, but I had an opportunity once a couple of years ago.” She chortled as she set the materials down on her podium. “Actually, that’s quite a funny story. You see--”

“Nevermind the story, Rarity, we get it,” Applejack interrupted. “Lemme see those, if ya don’t mind.”

Rarity harrumphed, but complied. Applejack peered down at the nylon in her hand, then nodded. “Yep, just as Ah thought. Ah’m all but certain this came from the rope the culprit used to tie Wallflower up. It matches up with some of the patterin’ on her neck.”

“Huh. Guess it must’ve been stuck on her clothes and washed off when they stuck her in the sink,” Rainbow said with a laugh. “Good thing we found it!”

“Yeah, it would’ve been easy for the culprit to miss it in the process of hiding the cause of death,” I agreed. “I barely spotted it in the drain myself.”

“Then, that’s it! That’s it!” Scootaloo cried, a wide smile on her face as she leapt up and down at her podium. “We just have to figure out who had the ballistic nylon, and we’ll know who did it!”

“Finally, jeez!” Sweetie Belle groaned. “We’ve been at this for hours. Couldn’t you have brought it up sooner, Sunset?”

I barked a sheepish laugh. “Sorry, but even if I had we still had to figure out everything else anyway.”

“So, who had ballistic nylon then?” Diamond Tiara said, looking around the room with a frown on her face. She stopped briefly at me, then shook her head. “It wasn’t Sunset. She’s wearing a leather backpack.”

“And I think we’d notice if her backpack was torn up, anyway,” Flash agreed. “I don’t know how much rope the culprit needed, but they probably needed a lot of material to get enough.”

“Trixie agrees! Even if they only used enough to tie Wallflower’s wrists and ankles, and then used that same rope on her neck, Trixie thinks they’d barely have enough from just one backpack. It would have to be big.”

“And I think all kinds of backpacks were available in the sporting goods store, right?” Pinkie Pie chirped. “Then anyone could have gotten some! We just gotta check that!”

“Yeah, definitely! I remember seeing them there,” Rainbow said. “Sunset! Check the receipts!”

The receipts. Who among us could’ve bought ballistic nylon? Whoever it was is almost certainly the culprit, I mused as I looked down the list. Then I spotted it. I stared at the list, my eyes narrowing further and further into slits, my mouth curling up into a sneer. I gripped my fists tightly together in anger as I looked up from the list, directly at the suspect, who reeled back as if struck. “You,” I snarled as I punched up the appropriate piece of evidence.

Fact #12: Shop Receipts:
“TS@SG Tue1225: Leather backpack, sneakers, yoga pants, fabric backpack. ”

“Timber Spruce!” I shouted, pointing one finger directly at him. “You’re the only one!”

“Me?” Timber’s face scrunched up in shock. “Sunset, what’re you talking about? That doesn’t even say nylon on it!”

“No, of course it wouldn’t. It’s like Rarity said: most people would think this stuff’s just generic fabric.” I shook my head in disbelief at how I hadn’t realized this before. “And the registers list things generically!”

Timber rocked on his feet, his face twisting up in anger. He pulled on his shirt collar and fanned himself with his shirt a few times. “So? How do you know that was me who bought that, huh? It just says TS! That could just as easily be Twilight Sparkle!”

“No, it can’t be,” Twilight replied sharply. “I think I’d know if I bought a backpack.”

Narrowing her eyes, Scootaloo asked, “Hey, wait a minute. Didn’t I see you wearing a fabric backpack the other day?”

“You did. We all did,” I said.

~*~
“Huh, I wonder what this is about,” I commented as we all got up to follow Scootaloo back to the promenade. Poor girl must’ve been running all over the place because as soon as she got the chance she broke off to grab a bottle of water from the convenience store. I also saw Timber Spruce emerge from the sporting goods store wearing a large black fabric backpack as we walked by. That reminds me: get a backpack of my own asap. I don’t want to tear a hole in my jacket thanks to this stupid Monopad.
~*~

“He was wearing it when Pinkie proposed the pool party.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Pinkie chirped. She placed her hands on her hips and glowered fiercely at Timber. “You were wearing one, weren’t you!”

“He sure was,” Applejack added with a furious glare of her own. “Ah remember seeing it. Ah remember wonderin’ if Ah should get one of mah own, but then Ah decided against it. Startin’ to wish Ah had. Ah might’ve figured this out sooner.”

“Woah, excuse me!” Timber said angrily. “What the hell, guys? Do I look like I’m wearing a fabric backpack? Huh?” He held up the brown leather backpack hanging from his shoulders. “No! I’m not!”

“But you still bought one!” Sweetie said. “And you bought that backpack at the same time. That’s kinda weird.”

“Yeah, who even needs two backpacks? I don’t even need two backpacks!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

Timber’s groaned in annoyance, doubling over on his podium. "Jeez, you guys. This doesn't mean anything. Yeah I bought one. I bought it because I wanted to try it out! Same reason I bought the other one! I decided I liked this one better, so I left the other in my room, okay?” Timber winced, reeling back and holding his stomach. “Not like it matters anyway. I still got sick last night! You saw me throw up and everything this morning! Remember, Sunset?”

~*~
Timber showed up next, took one look at the body, blanched, and stuffed his face in the nearest bin, retching. “God damn, what the hell!” he cried, wiping the sick off his face.
~*~

“You think I faked that?! Cause I didn’t!”

I shook my head slowly. “Timber, you could have easily accomplished that by taking a small amount of leftover ipecac just before showing up on the promenade. That’d also explain how you knew exactly what it tasted like when you told us about the cider.”

Timber rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, like you can prove that! Why would I tell you about the cider if I spiked it, huh? Do I look like I’m stupid?”

“We all saw you leave the party with the rest of us,” Rarity retorted, glaring. “By cooperating with the investigation, you were trying to clear yourself of suspicion!”

“Yeah, and you were pretty unhappy about guarding the body, weren’t you?” Scootaloo said.

~*~
After a couple of moments of silence, Timber let out a frustrated sigh and stepped forward, still shaking and still pale. He dragged the bin with him, keeping it handy. “Guess I’ll do it. Sorry I won’t be able to help investigate.”
~*~

“I’ll bet you wanted an excuse to go and find any leftover evidence so you could destroy it, only no one else spoke up!” Scootaloo said. “So you just used the chance to excuse yourself instead so you didn’t have to fake searching for things!”

“Uh, no, I was ‘unhappy’ because I was friggen sick! And I still am!” Timber insisted. He groaned, holding his stomach and took a moment to take a few breaths. "Besides, how could I have spiked the cider anyway? You said it yourself, Sunset. You never saw me put anything in it."

He's not wrong. I didn't see him put any drugs into the cider. But... wait...

~*~
Flash and Timber came over and started piling stuff on top. It took a while to run everything through the register, because of course thanks to Monoponi’s stupid regulations we had to run each item through one at a time, but we turned it into a proper assembly line of passing things around almost like a circle till we got it all, then Flash ran his Monopad to “pay” for it. Together we took it all and set it out nicely on the table. Flash even took the extra time to pop open the various tubs of dip we brought and set them up neatly for everyone, while Timber set a bag of ice on the table, inside a small cooler we’d also bought.
~*~
“Hey Sunset, want some cider?” Timber offered. He had a small tray with several cups already. “I’m getting some for AJ, Tiara, Rarity, and Fluttershy. And myself. We’re all sitting over there if you want to join us.”

“Nah, no thanks,” I said as I reached for one of the bottles of cinnamon whiskey. Last thing I wanted to do was cause a scene with Tiara, because I could already feel her eyes burrowing into my back. “I’m more of a hard liquor kind of girl.”

“Right on,” he said with a laugh as he poured the last cup, placing a few cubes of ice into it.
~*~

"That's it!" I said, snapping my fingers. "The ice cubes! You dosed the ice cubes with the ipecac and laxatives, then used that to spike the cider when no one was looking."

Sweat ran down Timber's face. Wiping his face off with the back of his hand, Timber said, "Oh come on, when was I supposed to have done that? You saw me get the ice from the convenience store!"

"No you didn't," Flash answered. "I was there, dude. All you bought was a cooler. The ice was already inside, which means you put it there."

"So what?" Timber flipped Flash off. "I still got the ice from the store."

"Uh, no, that's not possible, dumbass!" Tiara interjected, pointing right at Timber's face. "I've been in the convenience store a bunch of times! There's no ice there at all!"

Throwing up his hands in frustration, Timber cried, "Then where'd I get the ice for the party?"

I smiled gratefully at Flash and Tiara for the backup, then twisted it into a frown as I faced Timber again. "Isn't it obvious?"

Fact #7: Sushi King Kitchen: “A bag of ice in the freezer was open, missing some of its contents.”

"You planned to use the Sushi King kitchen as your murder site from the start. It's the closest to the Lover's Corner, making it the logical place. So since there was plenty of ice in the freezer, you got most of what we used at the party from there. The rest, you made yourself, by freezing water laced with ipecac and laxatives. Then you stashed it all in the cooler and put the cooler back in the shop, so you could pretend to buy it when we went in there for snacks."

Pointedly rolling his eyes, Timber twisted his mouth into a sneer. "Oh, sure, yeah, I totally did that. It's not like the ice was sitting out for everyone to use, so anyone could've taken some and gotten sick." His grin shifted into a smirk. "Oh. Wait. It was. And no one got sick except from the cider. Whoops. Guess that means I didn't do it!"

“Now Ah know yer lyin’!” Applejack thundered. “Ah can smell it all over you. Ah'll bet all the trees on mah farm that you dumped the drugged ice into the cider when we were all scramblin' to get our swimsuits! It was the only time Pinkie Pie and Twilight weren't lookin'!"

"It's true!" Pinkie Pie admitted with a shrug and a smile.

"Ah, I wouldn't call it the only time I wasn't looking," Twilight said, blushing and looking away as she held a hand to the back of her head.

"But, why did he put ice in our drinks, then, if he already spiked the cider?" Fluttershy asked.

I raised a single finger. "So he could get away with filling his own cup with ice. I only saw him pour one cup. I'll bet his own was full of just ice, so he could pretend to drink cider when he really wasn't. Then it'd melt in his cup while he was gone, so if anyone checked, it'd look like there was still cider in it."

Apple Bloom jumped in, "Then that means Sweetie Belle was right! You knew the cider was bad, you didn’t drink any, and you just faked bein’ sick so you could go kill Wallflower instead!”

His face twisting up in rage, Timber slammed a fist down on his podium so hard the wood cracked, his Monopad clattering to the floor. "Stop accusing me of something I didn't do, man! All you got on me is a bunch of bullshit about drugged ice and a receipt about a backpack! What, are you gonna say I wrote the note, too?"

“Actually dude, that note? It sounds exactly like something you’d write,” Flash pointed out.

“Yeah, I agree,” I said.

~*~
The third person sitting nearby was a gangly looking guy with darkish skin, wearing a beanie atop a head full of green hair. Unlike them he was sporting a short sleeved red t-shirt lined with white trimming and a symbol of a sun between two green mountains, a dock, and a puddle of blue water, alongside a pair of khaki cargo shorts and practical brown steel-toed boots. He flashed us a cocky grin and flicked both hands at us like they were a pair of revolvers. “Hey there,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.
~*~
“Yup, you got it AJ. Timber Spruce, counselor from Camp Everfree, at your service.” He stuck out a hand to Rarity. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

Rarity’s lips puckered up like she’d just bit into a lemon. “Of course, of course,” she said with the quickest handshake I’ve ever seen.
~*~
Rarity emerged from the promenade passageway, a load of fabric streamers in her hand.“Well, if you’re finished with that, darlings, would you be willing to help a lady with something else?”

“For a lady? Anything,” Timber said with a waggle of his eyebrows and a wink.

“Dude, seriously?” Flash groaned, facepalming.
~*~

“You might think you’re charming, Timber,” I said with a sneer, “But you’re really not. You’re just kinda skeevy.”

“No class at all, darling. And believe me, I should know,” Rarity said.

Pulling at his collar, Timber let out a loud snort. "But you just said a few minutes ago that whoever had an arts and crafts kit wouldn't need to make it out of the first aid kit wrappers. And I had a kit! Remember, Twilight?" He tapped on his Monopad and brought up a clue. "You bought one for me."

Fact #12: Shop Receipts: “TS@ OS: Tue1622: Deluxe arts & crafts kit x 2.”

"It's true," Twilight said with a frown. "I did. But I only did it because you asked me too. Remember? When I came to find Scootaloo for Sunset so we could get her help in examining the vent. You stopped me to speak with me, and asked me to get a kit for you because I’d already been in the store and knew where they were.”

“Oh yeah! That’s right!” Scootaloo said! “And you got me one too, since you were already doing it. Which I really appreciated, thank you!”

“Sure, no problem,” Twilight shrugged.

"See?" Timber said, his demeanor relaxing just a skosh. "If I had that, why would I use the wrappers?"

"To hide what medicines you used, duh!" Sweetie Belle said, slapping a hand to her head. "That's why you destroyed the first aid kit. You were hiding evidence and trying to invent an excuse at the same time."

"And, unlike Diamond Tiara," I added, "You don't have an ego that'd force you to make something fancier looking, so you wouldn't care about the aesthetics of the note. You'd make what you needed and leave it at that."

Timber's eyes flashed with rage. “Who gives a shit about the note, huh?!” he shouted, slamming both fists repeatedly on his podium. “Fuck the note! No one cares about the note! That still isn’t proof! You don’t got shit on me!”

Adagio let out a low laugh that rose and rose, a sinister laugh that both chilled me to the bone and somehow left me feeling flushed with heat at the same time. “Your attitude isn’t helping your case one bit, Timber,” she said.

His face turned beet red as he shook his fists wildly in Adagio's direction, letting out a wordless roar of frustration. Then he heaved a sigh, let go, and relaxed. “Okay, fine, fine. This is all fine. Everything’s fine,” he muttered. “You still haven’t proven anything. What are you suggesting I did with the backpack? Hmm? Got an explanation for that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Please. We already figured out that you cut up the backpack to use for the rope. It’s kind of genius, actually. I never would’ve considered it if we hadn’t found traces of the nylon used.”

“It’s true,” Trixie said. “Such ingenuity is impressive to Trixie! Used for an appalling purpose, yes, but still! Trixie is impressed.”

“Uh huh. Sure I did. How?” Timber held up his hands with a quiet little bark of a laugh. “How was I supposed to do that? With what tools? I didn’t have anything that could do that.”

“Actually, you did,” Twilight said. "You just admitted to having an arts and crafts kit, and that's all you'd need."

“Wait, Trixie doesn’t understand. How does that explain what he used?” Trixie said, scratching her head.

“It’s because of what was in the kit,” I replied.

~*~
“It does look like a whole bunch of people bought arts and crafts kits, though. Now I’m curious. What was in those, anyway?”

Twilight shrugged. “Just a lot of basic things. Construction paper, colored pencils, shears, markers, popsicle sticks, scotch tape, beads, superglue, crayons, tissue pap--”
~*~

“Twilight didn’t get to finish describing it, but she didn’t need to,” I said. “She already listed what you needed. Shears, superglue, and tape.”

Timber’s face burst out into a cold sweat as he started shaking. “Okay fine! I had tools! So what? That doesn’t mean I used them to tear up my backpack. Who even does that? Who could come up with something like that?”

“Someone who’s trained in survival techniques, to use what materials they have for what they need,” I replied straight away. “Someone like a camp counselor for Camp Everfree.”

“Ah admit, Ah’m not sure a backpack’s the first thing Ah’d look to if Ah needed to make a rope, but it sure would work in a pinch if it’s what Ah had,” Applejack said. “Ah doubt it would hold up for many uses, but it wouldn’t have to. You’d just need it to tie her up and fake her bein’ strangled."

“And you’ve been playing dumb this whole trial,” I added, “because you were trying to throw us off thinking you could come up with everything you did.”

“Yeah-huh! But it’s just like I said before!” Pinkie agreed, taking two fingers and pointing them at her head. “Just because someone’s different doesn’t mean they’re not smart!”

“No!” Timber screamed, pounding his fists on his podium once, twice, three times. “No, no, no! This is stupid! You still haven’t proven a damned thing! How was I supposed to do any of this? What, you think I just clubbed Wallflower over the head or something?!”

No one responded at first, several people facepalming. “Hoo boy, this is gettin’ sad,” Apple Bloom said.

“Seriously,” I pointed out. “All you had to do was give Wallflower something with sleeping drugs in it. The very first piece of evidence we got confirms that!”

Fact #1: Monoponi File I: “The victim is Wallflower Blush, the Ultimate Nobody. The time of death is estimated as being between 8:00 PM and 3:00 AM. The victim shows signs of multiple injuries to the stomach, neck, and throat. There are also traces of sleeping medicine in her system.”

“You could have easily obtained a sleeping drug from the first aid kit,” Twilight said with a nod. “I realized that during the investigation. One of the medicines in the kit is zolpidem, which is the generic for Ambien, a popular sleep aid. It’s pretty strong, and if you used enough you could easily knock someone unconscious with it.”

~*~
“Gotta have plenty for that big brain of yours I guess,” I shrugged as I popped open the case. To my surprise it was loaded with supplies, far more than I’d usually see in a typical first aid kit. Apart from the usual selection of bandages, antibacterial and burn ointments, and pain relievers, there were all kinds of other drugs available, a lot in bottles labeled with generic names like zolpidem and bupropion, things I didn’t recognize. There was even a large vial of morphine and matching syringe.
~*~

“Oh! I suppose that explains the water stain, then!” Rarity said, snapping her fingers. “Of course!”

Fact #10: Water Stain: “The Lover’s Corner alcove contained a large water stain on its carpet, along with a plastic bottle cap and a note.”

“You put sleeping medicine in a bottle of water and gave it to Wallflower, then when she drank it and fell unconscious, she dropped the bottle and it spilled everywhere! You may have disposed of the bottle, but you missed the cap, darling.”

“Oh yeah?!” Timber snorted, snatched his Monopad up from the floor and plugged it back in. “Maybe you did that and you’re just trying to blame it on me!” He said as he punched up evidence of his own.

Fact #12: Shop Receipts: “ RB@RX: Tue1047: Melatonin, Ibuprofen.”

Twilight sighed, slapping her forehead with a groan. “Oh come on. Melatonin can help you sleep, yes, but it’s a natural hormone your body produces. It’s not a sedative. You can’t force someone unconscious with it.”

“And besides, we already proved, several times, that Rarity had neither the means nor the opportunity to kill Wallflower,” I added.

“Hah… hahaha…” Timber gripped the sides of his head, shaking it furiously. “Hahahaha! AHAHAHAHA!” He started ripping and tearing at his hair. “Hahahaha! I c-can’t believe this. Y-you’re still trying to a-accuse me, haha…” He suddenly let go of his hair and slammed his podium so hard pieces of wood went flying. “Bullshit! It’s all bullshit! I won’t accept it! I refuse to believe it! I was sick, damn it! I was sick! The cider made me sick! You can’t prove a goddamned thing!”

Here we go. This is it, I thought, bowing my head and breathing softly, steeling my nerves. This is the end. I just have to prove it, once and for all.

Timber thrust out a finger at me. “You’re saying I killed Wallflower, huh?! That I somehow ripped up a backpack, and turned it into rope?!” He burst into laughter again, tearing at his hair. “Are you for real? Do you know how stupid that is? You can’t prove that!”

“Maybe we can’t prove that you used a makeshift rope from a backpack, but we know the rope used was nylon! We already proved that!” I shot back. “And you were the only one with the right kind of nylon!”

“So what?! That doesn’t prove anything!” Timber slammed a fist down on his podium several times. “Whoever killed Wallflower gave her drugs! You can’t prove I did that!”

“No, but you had just as much opportunity as anyone except myself to steal Adagio’s first aid kit.” I crossed my arms, refusing to back down. “And with your first aid knowledge as a camp counselor you’d have no problem reading medicine labels to figure out what you’d need, and you’d have the anatomical knowledge to know how to damage a brain stem!”

Timber reeled back as if I’d punched him in the face, even holding up a hand to his cheek as if the force of my words themselves stung. His eyes blazed with mad fury as he slammed his fist on his podium once again, then pointed right at me like he was aiming a gun.

“But you can’t prove that! And you can’t prove I wrote that note either, god damn it! You can’t prove anything!”

I shook my head sadly. “Maybe I can’t prove that you wrote the note, but you had the tools, and if you stole the first aid kit, you’d have the materials too. And the way the note was written matches the way you’ve been acting towards all the women here! It all makes sense!”

“No, you stupid goddamned moron! No it fucking doesn’t!” He ranted, spittle flying from his mouth. He burst into mad laughter once more, tore at his hair, then said, “Even if I could’ve made the rope… even if I could’ve figured out how to drug Wallflower… and even if, even if I could’ve written that note… It’s all impossible! Impossible, damn it! I was sick from the cider, remember?! And there’s nothing you can say to prove otherwise!”

“YOU’VE GOT THAT WRONG!” I roared, punching up my final bit of evidence.

Fact #6: Timber’s Account: “According to Timber Spruce, he spent forty-five minutes in the bathroom, with some of that time spent on cleanup, using cleaning chemicals and air freshener. Rainbow Dash corroborated his account, stating the men’s room was spotless and stank of air freshener, but she spent some time spraying cleaner anyway to be safe.”

“You told me yourself, Timber! You claimed you only tried to clean up the bathroom a little, meaning you might have missed something. But Rainbow Dash said it was spotless! As in, it wasn’t dirty at all! And given that you were supposedly sick from both ipecac and laxatives? That’s just. Not. Possible!” I thrust out my finger at him accusingly, putting the full force of every bit of my personality into my words. “You were faking being sick the whole time! Face it! You did it, Timber Spruce! You. Killed. Wallflower!”

Timber gripped both sides of his head once more, reared back and let out an earth shattering roar of, “No, no no nonononononononononononnononononononnonononononoooo!” He burst into great messy tears and fell over on his rump. “God, please… no… Gloriosa… I’m sorry…I’m so sorry...” he wept.

I didn’t know what to feel, while watching him break down. Triumph, maybe? Victory? I wasn’t really feeling anything at all, except glad. Glad we’d finally figured things out. Well, that and curious. Who the heck's Gloriosa?

Rarity peered over at the sobbing mess that was Timber now, tears of her own beginning to brim from the corners of her eyes. “I… I think you’ve broken him, darling,” she said quietly.

Pinkie Pie’s curls burst like a popped balloon. “So… so he did it? It really was Timber?”

“It had to be, right?” Sweetie Belle said. “Nothing else makes sense now.”

“Wow. Ah still can’t believe it,” Apple Bloom said sadly.

“Trixie is still a bit confused,” Trixie said, scratching her head. “Sunset, would you be willing to lay out the case for us one more time? For Trixie’s sake.”

“Yes, please,” Scootaloo agreed, nodding with uncertainty as she glanced back and forth between me and the weeping Timber.”

I nodded, taking a shaky breath. “Yeah, okay. I can do that.” I took a moment to collect my thoughts, and then began: “This is how it all went down!”

“This all started two days ago, when Monoponi presented the motive of our lost memories. The culprit was told, like the rest of us, that one of us was responsible for stealing their memories. This was enough to prompt the culprit to begin their plan. They first went to the sporting goods store, where they purchased a crucial item, a fabric backpack, specifically made from ballistic nylon. Right afterwards, Pinkie Pie presented her suggestion of a party, which provided the perfect opportunity for the murder. Wallflower was probably chosen as the culprit’s victim because she kept isolating herself, making her easy to separate from the rest of us.

“Once they decided upon their plan, the culprit needed several additional tools. They obtained shears, tape, and superglue from an arts and crafts kit, which they asked Twilight to purchase for them, to disguise their true intentions. Then they waited for a chance to steal the medical supplies they needed from Adagio Dazzle. That chance came Wednesday morning, when I slept in, in the process driving everyone else to search for me across the ship, thinking I was dead. During the chaos, the culprit swiped the first aid kit, returned to their cabin, and set about with the rest of their plan.

“First, they crafted a love note, to drop off at Wallflower’s cabin. They told Wallflower to meet them at the Lover’s Corner, right off the promenade, which they needed access to for their plan. Presumably they slipped the note under her door. They used wrappers from the first aid kit to craft the note, which had the added effect of destroying the first aid kit, in an attempt to disguise which drugs they used.

"Second, using the Sushi King freezer, they prepared ice laced with ipecac and laxatives, to mix in with store-bought ice at the party.

“Third, using the arts and crafts tools, they ripped up the nylon backpack, to turn it into ropes for binding Wallflower’s wrists and ankles. The ropes wouldn’t be very durable, but they didn’t need to be. They just had to work once.

“Finally, they readied a drink for Wallflower, dosing it with enough sleeping medication to ensure she’d fall unconscious quickly.

“With all of this prepared, they were ready to attend the party. While everyone else was occupied with swimsuit gathering, the culprit took the free chance to dump the poisoned ice into the cider. Then, right after the music stopped, at 10:00 PM, they gathered cider for their table, while filling their own cup with only ice, and pretended to drink along with the others. At 10:15, they pretended to run for the bathroom, just as Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Diamond Tiara had to do for real.

“While the others were in the bathroom, and the rest of us were occupied by the party, the culprit met up with Wallflower in the Lover’s Corner. They gave Wallflower the drugged drink, which presumably Wallflower took a drink from straight away. It was potent enough that Wallflower fell unconscious almost immediately, spilling the rest of the drink in the process.

“The culprit then bound Wallflower by hand and foot, to prevent her from escaping should she wake up. These bonds were tight enough to leave definitive marks. They quickly dragged her to the Sushi King restaurant kitchen, their chosen murder site. Once inside, they laid her body out in the janitor’s sink, then obtained some ice from the freezer. Using the ice, they swiftly dealt damage to the inside of her throat, damaging her brain stem and inflicting a fatal blow. Then, once Wallflower was dead, they enacted the coverup portion of their plan.

“Using the sink, they soaked her body, to make it appear as if she drowned. Then they placed her body on a dining cart, and used their makeshift ropes around her neck to leave marks, to fake her being strangled. They then took a cleaver from the knife set in the kitchen, and impaled Wallflower in the stomach with it, to fake a death via stabbing. Finally, they took the remnants of the first aid kit and shoved far into the vent in the Sushi King freezer, to hide the evidence. They then replaced the vent cover and bag of ice to hide the vent, not knowing that three of us already knew it existed.

Then they returned to the bathroom, in time to pretend to exit along with the others, as if they’d been sick all along. They pretended to be sick for the rest of the night. Once the party was over, they presumably snuck back to the Sushi King kitchen and rolled Wallflower’s body out onto the promenade proper, so we could discover it in the morning. The next morning, before arriving on the scene with the rest of us, they deliberately dosed themself with leftover ipecac syrup, so they could continue their sick act.

There’s only one person who had the knowledge and the opportunity to pull this murder off, without anyone noticing they were missing from the bathrooms. Isn’t that right, Timber Spruce, the Ultimate Camp Counselor?”

I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to throw in the fake Ultimate title Monoponi had slapped on him. Maybe it just didn’t feel right to finish without it. Timber, his reaction...all Timber could do was sit there and weep. Everyone stared at him as he cried, not saying a word. Finally, after what felt like hours, Timber got up from his sitting position, took off his backpack, and promptly dumped the contents onto his podium: a pair of makeshift nylon ropes, and three bottles of medicine. Ipecac syrup, powdered laxative, and zolpidem.

“Yeah.” Timber said, his voice hollow. His eyes were like two empty, gaping holes to an endless abyss. His movements were jerky, forced, like he’d lost all energy. “Yeah, I did it. I killed Wallflower Blush.”

Author's Notes:

So, now you know. I intend to go into more details on my blog about this, but I spent a great deal of effort crafting this mystery with the intention of implying the culprit focused on covering up and/or mystifying the wrong things. Like Wallflower, Timber wasn't intended to be a surprise first blackened. You'll see a bit more of why in the next part. Congratulations to everyone who guessed Timber, and especially witegrlninja and J Carp for coming pretty close to the methods used, too!

I'm quite proud of my version of the Argument Armament. It's like a larger, more detailed version of the Rebuttal Showdown, exactly like how I'd picture something like this playing out in reality. Ultimately the Argument Armament, like the versions that came in THH and GD is just the protagonist using one final, undeniable piece of evidence to shatter the culprit's will. Which is what Sunset did here.

Also, a fun bit of insight into my process of writing these cases: I always write the closing argument first. I wrote the first version of it in a notebook before I even started on Chapter One, and am doing similar things for the other chapters as well. Granted, they go through rewrites, through revisions, etc, but it helps more than anything else in being able to write the rest of the Chapter. By having it all together in one place, you can then strip out every last bit you want to chuck around as hints, whether it's in the obvious sense in the facts/truth bullets, or the non-obvious sense through the snippets of dialogue or scenes that get referenced.

Satuday: Post-trial and epilogue.

Chapter One: Forgotten Dreams on the Ocean Breeze Part 8

Silence reigned for a few moments as we took in Timber’s admission of guilt. I was right. He did do it. But why? What was his reason? I have to know. We have to know, before… before…

“You rotten snake!” Applejack grunted, rolling up her sleeves and readying her fists. “Ah oughta beat you to within an inch of your life!”

Timber laughed mirthlessly. “Go ahead. I don’t care anymore.”

Applejack almost leapt from her podium, but Scootaloo reacted in time to grab her and stop her. “Woah, easy there, AJ!” Scootaloo said. “He’s not worth wasting your time on.”

“But, Ah… Ah hell, fine!” Applejack wrestled out of the younger woman’s grip, huffed, then stood back at her podium.

“I don’t understand, Timber,” Pinkie said quietly, in a low, sad tone quite unlike the happy-go-lucky woman. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill her?”

“Why?” Timber tried to look at her, but he could barely move his head. “Because… Gloriosa. That’s why.”

“Who the heck is Gloriosa?” Diamond Tiara asked.

Timber fell over onto his podium and gripped it like it was a lifeline. A few fresh tears fell from his eyes as he spoke. “Gloriosa’s my older sister. We run Camp Everfree together. It’s our life, you know?” He let out a low moan, his head falling right against the podium so we couldn’t even see his face. “It was founded by our great-grandparents. We’ve been running it ever since we were old enough to help our mom and dad. For the longest time, it was pretty great, until we started running out of money. Turned out we owed a lot, a whole heck of a lot, to some rich guy who wanted to tear the place down and turn it into some kinda spa resort, just so he could get even richer.”

He raised his head just a little as he continued. “We did our best, but we just couldn’t keep up with the payments.Then he gave us an ultimatum, told us we had til the end of the month before he’d shut us down for good. We had one last group of campers, and then… then…”

He raised his head and tried to slam a hand down on his podium once more, but it landed so softly I couldn’t even hear the impact. “Then something happened to her. Something real bad happened to my sister! But I don’t even remember what!” He fell face first into his hands, clutching his face tight enough I could see his skin folding. “I just know she was in real trouble! But I can’t remember anymore what happened! She matters more to me than anything! I gotta know what happened to her, how she’s doing! I don’t even know if she’s alive right now…”

Applejack’s harsh demeanor had defrosted throughout his entire story, and now her anger was more like the dying embers of a campfire than a roaring blaze. “Ah guess Ah can understand that. Yer family’s important.” She softly shook her head. “Ah don’t know what Ah’d do if I was in your shoes.”

“Indeed,” Rarity sniffled, and withdrew a tissue from her skirt pocket to dab at her eyes. “It’s bad enough to think my poor dear Sweetie Belle is trapped here with me, in this killing game. If I didn’t even know if she was alive, I…”

“Huh. Guess you’re not as self-absorbed as I thought you were,” Flash said, sighing. “Sorry, man. I’m sorry to hear about your sister.”

“Well I’m not!” Diamond Tiara blurted, throwing an ice cold bucket of water all over the somber mood we were in. “Are you kidding me? Are you all serious right now? He killed someone!” She raised an angry fist and shook it in Timber’s direction. “Who gives a crap about his sister? He still killed someone, just for the chance to find out if she was okay!”

“Come on, Tiara, stop it,” Rainbow Dash groused, glaring fiercely at the younger woman. “Maybe you don’t have anyone or anything important in your life, but some of us do.” She shuffled over to give Fluttershy, who was weeping quietly, a half hug. Fluttershy fell into her embrace and wept harder. “Fluttershy’s just like a sister to me. I totally get what Timber’s going through right now.”

“Trixie may not have a sister, like many of those here, but Trixie still understands the importance of family!” Trixie gestured dramatically like she was sweeping out a cloak, then pointed a finger directly at Tiara. “Timber Spruce’s actions are inexcusable, but don’t dare say that his sister doesn’t matter! She is still a person, like anyone else!”

“Yeah, sure, but so was Wallflower, and you saw what he did to her!” Sweetie Belle argued. “What if it turns out his sister’s been dead for years, huh? What then? Wallflower would’ve died for nothing!”

“She did die for nothin’!” Apple Bloom roared, looking just as pissed as her older sister was a few minutes ago. “Ya think Monoponi’s gonna give him his memories back now? Ah don’t think so!”

“Apple Bloom’s right!” Scootaloo agreed, huffing and stomping a foot on the floor like she was about to clothesline Timber like a charging bull. “Timber’s just a dirty, stinking murderer! Why are we even still talking about this? We should vote! Now!”

“I agree,” Adagio grinned sadistically at the poor whimpering Timber. “I’m a little eager to see what Monoponi’s got in store for his execution.”

“E-e-e-execution?!” Timber shrieked, the fear breathing new life into his defeated soul. “No! Nonono! I don’t want to die! Please!”

“Oh, is it voting time? Already?” Monoponi spoke up, rising from his throne. “And here I thought you idiots would never shut up! Well then, if you’re ready to vote, please, use the podium screens in front of you! It’s time to see if you morons got the right person! Who will be chosen as the blackened, hmm? Will you make the right choice? Or the dreadfully wrong one?” His horn sparked, and the screens on our podiums switched from evidence display to a selection of faces, sixteen in all. “You have thirty seconds to vote! Don’t forget now! If you fail to vote, it will result in your death!” He rubbed his forehooves together with glee, grinning widely. “And I’d love a good excuse to put one of you sad sacks out of my misery! Your time begins… now!”

I stared down at my screen, at the sixteen pictures lined up in a four by four square. Wallflower’s was crossed out, of course. Not much point in voting for someone who’s already dead. For an instant, just an instant, I considered refusing to vote, letting the timer run down to nothing, just to see if Monoponi’d follow through. Then I immediately pushed on Timber’s face, selecting him as my vote target, because I wasn’t suicidal.

Thirty seconds later, right on cue, the holographic display in the middle lit up with a floating image of a vote tally. Fourteen votes, all for Timber Spruce.

“Well well, would you look at that?” Monoponi said. “Upupupu, Timber, what did you do? Or not do, rather! You didn’t vote! Eyahahaha!” He shook with laughter, holding his forehooves to his belly as he rolled back and forth in the air. “You must really want to die! Ahahaha!”

“No! No I don’t!” Timber cried, shaking his head so vigorously I thought it’d fall off altogether. “I don’t want to die! Please, please, please don’t kill me!”

“Too bad for you, that’s not an option anymore!” Monoponi replied as his horn lit up, replacing the tally screen with one of a spinning wheel labeled with a picture of each of us, the wheel slowing down slowly, slowly, till a pointer fell on Timber’s face. The word “GUILTY!” exploded into existence above the wheel in a cascade of fireworks.

“Congratulations! You got it right! The killer of Wallflower Blush was none other than Timber Spruce, the Ultimate Camp Counselor!” Monoponi struck a pose, spreading out his wings and hooves. “I’m so proud of you, my little passengers! I wasn’t sure if you could do it, but you did!”

“Proud? You’re proud of us?!” Diamond Tiara roared as she hauled herself atop her podium so she could get closer to the hovering Monoponi. “You put our lives on the line! You kidnapped us! You took our memories away!”

“Aaand?” Monoponi chortled, and buzzed over to float just out of Tiara’s reach.”I didn’t make you do a thing! All I did was provide comfort, peace, and tranquility to my lovely passengers, the luxuries which everyone craves. It was one of you who chose to disrupt this wonderful voyage because they were so selfish! So selfish that they thought their own life was more important than all of yours.”

“Oh screw you!” Flash retorted, holding up a middle finger to flip Monoponi off. “That’s a bunch of crap and you know it!”

“Buuuuut,” Monoponi said, ignoring Flash to look squarely at me, “Little Miss Sunset got just a few details wrong!”

What? “I did?”

Lighting his horn, he activated the holographic display. “Why don’t we see for ourselves, hmm?”

~*~
Wallflower traipsed towards the Lover’s Corner, the note she’d received gripped in her right hand. With her left, she tapped at her pocket, confirming the small knife she’d stolen from the bakery earlier that day was still safely secured. “Still can’t believe I’m doing this,” she grumbled to herself.

Once she arrived, she took a seat, facing towards the promenade. When she caught sight of who was coming, her face twisted up in disgust. “Oh my god. Seriously? It’s you?” she muttered.

“Hey there!” Timber said as he walked into view, breathing heavily. “Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.” He wiped sweat off his brow, dried the back of his hand on his shirt, then pulled out a water bottle from his backpack. “I brought drinks! Nothin’ hard, but I figured we’d take it slow.” He offered it up to Wallflower.

She scoffed and batted the bottle away. “No thanks. I only came out here because I was wondering who’d write this creepy note. I should’ve figured it was you.” She tossed the note backwards over the railing, and started to leave.

Timber immediately got in her way. “Woho, hey, you’re not leaving already, are you?” He said, his voice taking on a sinister tone.

Wallflower’s hand went to her pocket. “Move it, jerk! I’m not interested!”

“Oh come on, don’t you want something to drink at least? I mean I did bring it all this way to--”

With a quick flick of her wrist Wallflower drew the knife, holding it up to Timber’s face. “What part of move it did you not understand?!”

Timber dropped the bottle in his haste to raise his hands. The cap, already loosened, came off as it hit the floor, spilling the contents everywhere. “Woah, woah, sorry!!” he spluttered, taking a few steps back so he was no longer blocking her path. “You don’t need to pull a knife on me, jeez.”

Wallflower carefully kept facing him as she circled around him till she was close to the passage to the cabins, her knife at the ready. Only once she was a good ten feet away from him did she lower it, if only by a few inches. “Then don’t get in my way next time,” she said. Scoffing, she turned on her heels and started walking away, keeping her knife held at her side.

Timber reached into his backpack, withdrew one of his makeshift nylon ropes, then in one smooth motion closed the distance between him and Wallflower and wrapped it around her neck like a garrote. She gasped for air, one hand going for her throat while the other reversed her grip on the knife and jabbed it in his direction wildly. She missed, getting in a few more close jabs before Timber, while using one hand to hold the garrote, managed to grab the knife out of her hand and tossed it well over the railing and into the sea. Then he wrapped one leg around Wallflower’s to hold her closer as he brutally choked her. She thrashed and flailed, her eyes bugging out until slowly, they closed, and she slumped in his grip.

He immediately released his rope, and held a finger to her carotid artery. “Damn it, you were supposed to drink the water.” He set her down gently on the floor, and watched her for a moment till he saw her chest slowly rise then fall as she took a breath, still unconscious. Then he went back for his fallen bottle. “Ah shit!” he said when he spotted the empty bottle. He tossed it over the railing, then knelt down. “Crap, where’d the cap go?!”

A groan from Wallflower caused Timber to whirl, eyes full of panic. “Crap, crap, crap!” He muttered to himself as he dug into his backpack and pulled out the zolpidem. He dumped the last of the contents into his hand, a good three or four pills, then strode over to Wallflower and shoved them into her open mouth. He held her neck gently as he used two fingers to stroke her throat, making her dry swallow the pills. “Sorry about choking you, Wallflower,” he said quietly. “I was trying to make this painless.”

Then he slapped a hand to his head. “Aww crap, now how’m I gonna do this? I don’t have enough pills left!” He started snapping his fingers over and over. “Come on, think, think… augh, I don’t have time for this!” Kneeling down, he tied her wrists together, then took out his other rope to tie her ankles. Then, shifting around, he reached down and grabbed her by the torso from under her armpits and quickly dragged her backwards out of sight.

The camera view shifted to the Sushi King kitchen as Timber carried the bound Wallflower inside and behind the counters, then dropped her. He wiped more sweat off his brow and doubled over, shaking. “God… I dunno if I can do this now!” he whimpered.

Then he slapped his cheeks a few times and stood up straight. “No, come on Timber. Do it for Gloriosa. You got this.” He took several deep breaths, slowly breathing in then quickly breathing out. “Okay. Just gotta do something they won’t expect.” He started throwing open cabinets, the pantry, mulling his options. Then he opened the walk-in freezer. “Might as well get rid of something while I'm at it,” he murmured. He got down and looked inside the vent, then pulled out a familiar first aid kit from his backpack. He slid it in, having just enough reach to get his arm around the corner, and threw it as hard as he could, hearing it clatter against the far wall further down the vent. “There. Least that’s hidden. Now what do I…” He looked down at the open bag of ice at his feet, then snapped his fingers. “Of course! This way they’ll never figure it out!”

He took the bag out with him, dropping back down by Wallflower’s side. He took a moment to stare at her breathing, unconscious form.“I really am sorry, Wallflower,” he said as he carefully opened the plastic bag. “I wouldn’t do this if I had a choice, I swear. I’ll try to be quick, okay?”

He pulled out a long, narrow piece of ice from the bag, opened up her mouth, and raised it over her head.
~*~

The image on the display abruptly winked off. “There, see what I mean?” Monoponi said in a teasing tone.

I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. “I really didn’t need to watch that.”

“None of us did,” Apple Bloom moaned, tears running down her face. “Poor Wallflower.”

“Looks like you gave him a bit too much credit, Sunset,” Adagio said, sneering at Timber, whose only reaction to the footage was to quietly sob. “He was just an idiot after all.”

“Indeed he was!” Monoponi said as he returned to his throne. “And now you’re about to see what happens to idiots who fail to get away with murder.”

“Wait! Wait!” Timber shouted, his eyes red and puffy from all the crying he’d been doing, his face a mess of snot. Even his clothes were all askew, sweat-drenched and filthy from how much he must’ve been stewing during the trial. “Please! Just tell me! What happened to my sister?!”

“Gloriosa? Who cares!” Monoponi burst out laughing. “You know what’s rich, Timber? What’s really, truly rich? You didn’t even pick the right target! You should’ve killed someone else!”

“W-what?” Timber held out his hands in shock. “What the hell are you talking about?! I don’t care about that anymore! I just want to know if Gloriosa’s okay!”

“Seriously, tell the man for goodness’s sake!” Rarity added in a furious shout as she stomped away from her podium to stand before the throne.

“Tell me Timber, in that meek, pathetic, vulgar little mind of yours,” Monoponi continued as his horn lit up to shove Rarity back over to her podium so fast the poor woman was knocked ass over teakettle. “Do you remember who that man was, the one you owed so much money to?”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes bulged and she let out a wordless gasp. “No,” I heard her whisper. “No way.”

Timber shook his head. “No! I don’t! And I don’t give a crap either!” He fell to his knees, holding up his hands as if praying to Monoponi like he was a god. “Please! Just please, man, tell me if Gloriosa’s okay! I just want to know if she’s okay!”

“Why, that man, that sneaky, low down filthy scoundrel, was none other than Filthy Rich! Diamond Tiara’s precious daddy!” Monoponi pointed a hoof squarely at Tiara as he spoke. “And to think, you actually had a chance for revenge! And you wasted it, killing some pointless nobody no one ever gave a damn about! Ahahahaha! Oh it’s so rich it hurts! Ahahahaha!”

Timber whirled on Tiara, a flurry of emotions dancing on his face so thick all I could make out was sorrow. He stomped over to the poor girl and grabbed her wrists, causing her to shriek as she tried desperately to wrench herself away from his grip. But he was holding on far too tight. “Did you know about this?” he said, his voice hesitant and shaky. “Did… did your father hurt my sister? Please, answer me!”

“No!” Diamond Tiara finally tore herself away and fled, surging past the rest of us to try and hide in a corner of the room, panic etched all over her features. Any trace of composure she usually had was gone, replaced by naked fear. “No, please! I didn’t know anything! I didn’t know Daddy owned your land! And I don’t know what happened to your sister!”

Timber raced after Tiara and trapped her in that corner, looming over like he was prepared to end her life there and then, and screw the rules. But he wasn’t trying to hurt her. He was just holding on to her, asking her over and over, “Where’s my sister? Tell me! Tell me!”

“Diamond Tiara!” Flash cried as he ran forward and yanked Timber away from Tiara, wrapping him up in a full nelson to try and keep him pinned. “Run!”

That pissed Timber off. “Let go of me! Damn it, I said, let go of me!” Timber grunted and screamed as he managed to elbow Flash in the stomach, sending poor Flash reeling to the floor, clutching his stomach in agony.

“Flash!” Twilight cried, running over to his side, kneeling down to examine him. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Flash groaned. “Just hurts.”

“Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Timber Spruce, the Ultimate Camp Counselor!”

Diamond Tiara ran screaming all the way to the opposite side of the room as Applejack and Rainbow Dash fled their podiums, chasing after Timber who charged like a man possessed, barreling for Tiara with his hands outstretched. “Stop running, Tiara, and just tell me!” he roared.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Watch out, Tiara, Ah’m comin’ ta save ya!” Applejack added.

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! Iiiiiiiit’s punishment time!”

Monoponi, with a flash of his horn, summoned up a big red button, and slapped down upon it with his forehoof.

I spotted the chains in the air long before anyone else could as they flew straight for Timber. “Applejack! Rainbow Dash! LOOK OUT!” I cried.

The chains shot right through Applejack and Rainbow Dash, knocking them to the floor as they descended upon Timber, snatching a hold of his neck like a pair of snapping jaws.

“GLORIOSAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Timber cried as he was dragged back by the chains at incredible speeds, disappearing through a pair of doors we hadn’t even noticed on the other side of the courtroom chamber. Then, not just the hologram in the middle, but all the walls lit up like television screens, showcasing a sickening display:

We watched in horror as Timber was dragged down a long corridor, bumping his body against random protrusions from the walls over and over until he was hauled into a large, rectangular box chamber, about eighty feet wide, full of pine trees. Each pine tree sat firmly up on a display, like a Hearth’s Warming tree that hadn’t been decorated yet.. One stood larger and taller than the others, right at the very end on the furthest right side. Timber was thrown messily into it and several new metal straps reached out to secure him to the tree in a spread eagle fashion across his arms, upper torso, legs, and ankles.

At first, I couldn’t figure out what was supposed to kill him. He was just stuck there, stuck to the tree, eyes darting back and forth in panic. And then I saw it.

Monoponi, standing all the way at the left end of the line of trees, holding a massive chainsaw in his magic. With a swift wave of his horn, he yanked on the chain, starting up the chainsaw as he grinned maliciously. The chainsaw whirled to life, spitting and hissing like a whole herd of angry cats before buzzing like mad as Monoponi took to slicing through the first tree.

I watched Timber’s eyes widen so large I thought they’d pop out of his skull as he started screaming, begging, pleading for his life as he pointlessly pulled on his bonds. The straps squeezed on him tighter, etching into his arms and scoring vicious lines of pink. The harder he fought, the firmer their grip became.

Tree after tree fell to Monoponi’s chainsaw in a horribly drawn out process as Timber screamed, the pain of his bonds getting to him to the point that all he could do was thrash, what little movement he had left wasted in a futile attempt to escape.

Then the tree just before him crumpled to the deck. Timber cried out once more, begging for someone, anyone to come and help. To come save him from his fate.

But nobody came.

Monoponi’s chainsaw descended upon Timber’s arm, and his shrieks of pure unadulterated pain filled our ears. Tearing his arm up until it resembled a pile of ground beef, the chainsaw got stuck, for just a moment, on his humerus. Monoponi tugged, grunting as he tried to wrestle it free, even as Timber screeched ever louder. Then it popped loose with a sickening squelch, severing what was left of his arm. Monoponi pivoted on one hoof and sank the chainsaw into the other arm, mulching it up into bits and pieces of torn muscle, sinew, and fat. Timber's shrieks of excruciating agony ripped from his throat in an unearthly wail. With both arms severed, Monoponi held the bloody chainsaw up like a trophy, cackling like mad.

Timber, doubled over as far as his bonds would allow, choked and spat up blood, half unconscious but still very much alive. Monoponi, the chainsaw roaring, reached up with a bit of his magic and slapped Timber across both cheeks, stirring him into looking up. Timber's eyes bugged out of his sockets as Monoponi, with one final cackle, plunged the chainsaw into his groin and with one deft tug sent it slicing through the rest of his body and the tree, splitting him in half at the hip. Pink blood filled the screens, drowning out the rest of Timber’s awful, horrible death and sparing us the gory view of his dismembered corpse.

As the final shrieks of Timber’s death throes faded, the screens disappeared, replaced by walls once more. Monoponi flashed back into existence on his podium and sat back, patting himself. “Aaah! An execution sure is a wonderful way to relax, don’t you think?”

“AAAAAAAAAAH!” Scootaloo screamed, diving behind her podium away from the mad pony.

“Oh my god oh my god what the heck is this what the heck--” Sweetie babbled as she fell back onto her rear end.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash, with matching bruises on their backs, stumbled to their feet and trudged back over. Rainbow Dash made for Fluttershy and held the poor dear tight as Fluttershy wept into her shoulder. Applejack, meanwhile, embraced her younger sister. “Ah’m so sorry you had to see that, Apple Bloom. That weren’t right. That weren’t right at all.”

Pinkie Pie collapsed to her knees, her cheeks bulged, then she ducked her head behind her podium to spare us the sight, if not the sound, of her heaving up sick.

Trixie wordlessly squealed and leapt for the nearest person, who ended up being Rarity, nearly throttling the poor woman to death as she squeezed hard begging and pleading in an indistinguishable stream of noise.

“You are one sick bastard!” Flash groaned, still holding his stomach and trying to take deep breaths.

“That was… more brutal than I expected,” Adagio commented. Even she looked a little green under the gills.

“You monster,” I growled, pointing an accusatory finger at Monoponi. “You sick monster! What kind of pony does that to someone?! You’re not a pony at all, are you?!”

“Oh come now, Sunset, you knew what was going to happen!” Monoponi replied, staring right back at me with cold, unfeeling eyes. “Why should this execution be any different?”

“Because I was hoping that somewhere inside you, you might actually have a proper shred of equine decency!” I fired back. In the process I found myself raising my right leg and kicking it backwards into my podium. Like a pony would.

“Oh? Ohohohoho?” Monoponi rose from his throne, his eyes flashing crimson. “Equine decency, you say? What are you talking about, Sunset? Don’t you mean human decency?”

Diamond Tiara, who’d managed to make her way back to her podium, tears running down her face from her encounter with Timber, stared wide eyed at me. “Yeah, what, what are you talking about, Sunset?”

“Don’t change the subject!” I countered. “Nevermind the term I used! You’re ignoring my point! What kind of monster are you?!”

Monoponi rolled his red eyes and put on a mocking tone. “‘Oh, what kind of monster are you Monoponi? Oh don’t kill us Monoponi! Oh have some decency Monoponi!’ SHUT IT!” he roared at the end, his horn lighting up to summon a massive kraka-thoom! of thunder. “I’m tired of listening to your incessant whining! You’ve ruined the good mood I got from putting an end to that little piece of trash that called himself a human being. All of you, get the hell out of my courtroom! Now!”

As a group we all shuffled back towards the elevator, our spirits deflated. Despair. To me, it had just been a word to use in writing, or a term I’d read. I’d never understood what despair truly was. Not until that moment. Not until I watched as all fourteen of us who were left filled the elevator, each of us sobbing or crying or otherwise overwhelmed with sadness and fear at what we’d seen.

But now I did. Despair was cold, dark, empty. It gnawed at you like a wild animal, eating away from inside until you were hollowed out, left as just an empty shell. It ate away until nothing was left but the emptiness itself.

We were all empty. Lost. Scared. Alone. I watched everyone’s eyes dart about between each other in suspicion as we rode the elevator back up to the promenade. No one trusted anyone else anymore, save for those they already knew. How could we trust in each other now? Now that Timber spilt the first blood?

I was regretting my actions there in the courtroom, at the last moment. I shouldn’t have been demanding to know what kind of monster Monoponi was. I should’ve been asking why. Why was this happening to us?

It wasn’t because the mastermind or ringleader or whoever it was running the show cared about hope versus despair. I hadn’t even heard Monoponi echo the word despair once in the past few days. So whoever they were, they weren’t just aping the philosophy of the games for their own ends. We didn’t have a Junko Enoshima on our hands. I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful for that, or all the more terrified.

So why? What was the point? My mind whirled as I thought endlessly about this problem. I didn’t pay attention to anything else when the elevator arrived on the promenade. I simply stumbled to my room, shut the door and locked it. Maybe someone had been talking to me, or talking to the others, but if they were I didn’t hear them.

I thought back to what Monoponi had said earlier, during the trial.

~*~
“Well, let me put it this way then. There’s one very special individual out there who’s getting to see everything you’re up to. And they might be closer to you than you might think.” He pointed his hoof squarely at Twilight.

“Me? What?” Twilight held a hand to her breast. “I don’t understand. Who is it?”
~*~

That made no sense to me at all. Twilight was just another human being. Nothing she’d said indicated she was from Equestria. Hell, she’d been denying the existence of magic from the moment she’d set foot on the ship, at least until Monoponi transformed the wall into a set of gates. I don’t think she was denying it anymore after that, or at least I’d hoped she wouldn’t.

So what could he be talking about? It’s not like there was anyone she’d know in Equestria either. So why?

Wait...

Was it possible that there was another Twi--

My whole head pounded as if a freight train had suddenly derailed and rolled over me. I couldn’t focus or concentrate. I fell over on my bed, grabbing my head in agony as I fell onto the floor. My stomach churned until I had to once again make for the bathroom, just like I had the first time I woke up.

“God,” I choked once I was done retching. I flushed away the sick and stood up at the sink to wash out my mouth. “Why won’t you let me remember, Monoponi?” I wondered aloud after spitting out water into the sink. “What is your game?”

A loud knock knock knock came at the door, eliciting another pained groan. “What now?” I grumbled as I trudged over to throw it open.

“Hey there,” Adagio greeted, her demeanor lacking her usual combination of seduction and grace. She fidgeted with her hands as she spoke. “Mind if I come in?”

Adagio, huh? I guess I could use the distraction.

“Sure,” I said with a shrug, and moved to let her inside. Adagio plopped down onto the end of the bed. I locked the door again then joined her. “What’s up?”

Adagio didn’t answer straight away. She stared at the floor, her hands twiddling, until she finally looked up and said, “I’m scared.”

Wow. Never thought I’d hear her say that. “Scared? You?” I said, trying to smile to make it seem like a joke, though inside I was brimming with confusion. So much for thinking she’d never admit it. How many more things will I be wrong about today?

But she didn’t smile back. “Yeah. I’m scared, Sunset.” She wrapped her arms around herself, her face briefly twisting into a familiar look of predatory rage before she relaxed. “I’ve never admitted that to someone else before. Never. But, well, here I am.” She shook her head slowly, her hands twisting into that familiar claw-like motion. “That Monoponi is messed up in the head. Insane. I thought he’d do something simple to Timber, like shoot him, or-or stab him or something. Instead, he… that chainsaw…” She shuddered so hard I almost thought for a second she might fall off the bed before she stilled again. “I’ve never seen someone experience so much pain in their life. And it wasn’t like… well…”

I cocked my head to the side, curious, but I didn’t say a word. I just waved a hand, urging her to continue. “You asked me before, Sunset, what I am. You suggested I was a dragon. Well, I’m not.” She looked up, her eyes met mine, and right before me they seemed to shift into eyes more like a cat’s as the ghostly image of scaly wings appeared on her shoulders. For just the briefest of instants, this struck me as horrifyingly familiar. Then that feeling vanished, along with the changes to her appearance, as if they had just been a mirage.

“I’m a siren. That means that, in Equestria, I fed on negative emotions. Not pain, but anger, hatred, fear. They fed me, sustained me. My sisters and I, we feasted upon village after village. But then we were exiled here, on Earth, by Starswirl the Bearded.”

“A siren?” I gasped, backing away slightly without even meaning to. And suddenly, everything she’s done makes perfect sense. No wonder she’s been so seductive! It’s just an aspect of her species!

“Yes. A natural enemy of ponies, I know,” Adagio answered. Her hands curled open and closed repeatedly, as if she was trying to sharpen the claws she once had. “A few years ago, my sisters and I found out Equestrian magic had come to this world. It was our chance to return to our former glory. But I don’t remember what happened next.” She hissed under her breath. “Someone stopped us, shattering our necklaces, gemstones that held what little was left of our siren magic. I don’t know who, though if I ever find out..” She made a wringing motion with her hands. “Ever since, I’ve been unable to sing, which makes Monoponi’s little title of Songstress for me ironic, to say the least.”

She sighed, blowing it out through her teeth to make a whistling noise. “I don’t know where my sisters are, or why I ended up here by myself. But you’re the only one I feel I can trust. You proved that today, in the courtroom. Even if you’re a pony, you’re still… Equestrian. Like me.”

Her eyes met mine once again, naked fear shimmering like oil on a pool of amethyst colored water. “I don’t want to be alone right now, Sunset. I’m too afraid someone’s going to try and kill me. I’ve lived for a very, very long time, and I really, really, really don’t want to stop now. Not here. Not like this. Not as some victim of some twisted little mind game.”

At first, I didn’t say a word. Now that I knew she was a siren, my pony instincts were blaring like mad, screaming every word she spoke was a lie, she couldn’t be trusted, she was just trying to use me for her own ends. She’d use me up and then discard me, like an empty juice box. She was going to kill me, and I should throw her out on her ass and lock the door. At least, that’s what my instincts were saying.

I shoved that all down back into the hole it came from. I wasn’t about to let some instinctual racism stop me from doing what was right. Adagio came to me. She needed me. As a person. And if I was honest to myself, I didn’t want to be alone either. Not if I didn’t have to be.

So I opened up my arms and wrapped them around her shoulders, pulling her against me. I felt her resist, just for the briefest of seconds, before she let out a sigh and nuzzled her face into my shoulder. Her full head of bushy bright orange hair obscured my vision, rubbing up against my face till I could hardly see anything else. “It’ll be okay,” I said gently, running a hand up and down her back in a soothing motion. “I’ll help protect you.”

She laughed, but instead of sounding sadistic, cruel, or harsh, it was honest. Sincere. Full of relief and, to my surprise, just a hint of joy. “Can’t believe I’m doing this. If my sisters saw me, I’d never live it down.” She shifted in place to get more comfortable. “Thank you, Sunset.”

“Hey, we’re friends. It’s what friends do,” I said, laughing right along with her.

“Friends. Never thought I’d actually like that word.”

She held me close for quite a long time before suddenly, without warning, she bent her head up and kissed me, hard. It was furious, full of passion, and took me completely by surprise.

I loved it.

When she released the kiss, leaving me utterly flummoxed, she pulled back, her whole face aflame with a blush of embarrassment. “I just...it seemed like…” She hissed, drawing back entirely from me and got to her feet. “That was stupid of me. Maybe I should go after all.”

“No, wait!” I said, reaching out to take her hand. “You just surprised me. It’s okay.”

Her eyes glanced down at my hand, then at the door, then back to my hand. Then, slowly, she sat back on the bed, still keeping some distance. “Sorry,” she repeated, the word spoken reluctantly, like she’d had to reach in and drag it out by hand.

I snickered, shifting over on the bed so I could wrap my arms around her. “Nothing to be sorry about,” I said teasingly. “I liked it.”

Her head shot up to look at me, stunned. “You did?”

“Yeah,” I answered, snuggling up even closer. “I did.”

A half grin tugged at her mouth. “...good.” She stayed silent for several long minutes, just letting me hold her. “...want to do it again?

“God yes.”

Our lips met once more. We fell back on to the bed, and found comfort there together, in our passions. We might be trapped in a killing game, but we weren’t going to let that stop us from living our lives.

Author's Notes:

So, now you know what happened and why. Timber had a completely different plan in mind at first, and some of what happened was the result of desperation. Just like any first crime in Danganronpa, there are obvious, easy mistakes, and Timber made tons of them. I go into a lot more on my blog about my feelings regarding Timber here.

This chapter also introduces the second whirlwind romance: Sunsagio! How will this turn out? Well, you'll have to keep reading to see.

On Wednesday, we will not be starting Chapter Two. Instead, you'll be getting something a little bit... different. What might it be? You'll see~

Interlude 1

Canterlot, Equestria, two days later.

Life, Princess Twilight Sparkle decided, was pretty good. She leaned back in her new favorite reading chair, the third one she’d had to get this year, with the newest book on release from one of her favorite new authors, a pegasus living down in Baltimare who wrote the most thrilling adventures she’d read since Daring Do. She stretched out all six limbs to the fullest extent, almost whopping Spike in the face in the process.

“Woah, careful, Twilight,” he said, ducking under her outstretched wing. The dragon stood almost six feet tall now, his own wings almost as wide as hers. He’d grown up fast in the six years or so since she’d become Princess of all of Equestria, and was now able to meet her eye to eye.

Not that he was the only one who’d grown fast. “Whoops, sorry!” she said, blushing as she drew in her wings and rested them against her body. She was easily the size of Princess Luna now, and still wasn’t used to her new wingspan. At least her growth tended to come in sudden spurts instead of slowly over time. It was easier to deal with that way.

“Eh,” Spike shrugged. He hopped onto the nearby couch, his own book handy. “No biggie.”

“Haha, very funny,” Twilight said dryly. She turned her attention to her book, and just as she engrossed herself in the latest passage about the heroine’s brief love affair with a former enemy, there was a loud knock at her study door.

“Spike, could you get that please?” Twilight said, not looking up from her book. She was on break, darn it. Her duties as Princess could wait.

“Sure thing!” Spike hopped up from the couch, and soon returned bearing a box in his hands. “Huh. Just a postal delivery for you. Looks like it’s urgent.”

Twilight sighed and carefully floated her book down onto her chairside table. “Fine. Let me see it.”

Spike handed over the package, which Twilight took very carefully in her magic. The postal service for the castle was very good about sorting her mail, keeping her from being trapped under a massive deluge of fan mail, complaints, and the odd assassination attempt. Equestrians weren’t very good at them, being a peaceful species by nature, but that didn’t stop the occasional weirdo from trying.

But even so, Twilight insisted on performing her own magical scans of the package. Not because she was afraid of her own people--she wasn’t--but because of an incident that occurred several years ago.

Back when Twilight first became Princess of all Equestria, she’d had to lead a coalition of ponies and various neighboring species to defeat three powerful foes: the centaur Lord Tirek, the former Queen of the Changelings Chrysalis, and a pegasus filly turned alicorn named Cozy Glow. All three villains had been dealt with in the past, and had combined their powers thanks to Discord being rather silly in thinking she needed the challenge. In retrospect, she appreciated it more than she’d thought she would, now that it was years later. Probably because the destruction to Canterlot Castle meant she got to redecorate.

The three villains had been petrified in the process of stopping them, and for a time their statue had been placed--and securely monitored 24/7--in a new park built right outside of Ponyville. They remained secured there for a good four months. And then, they escaped. No one knew how. The guards on patrol at the time had seen no one, pony or otherwise, anywhere nearby other than the usual residents of the town. No magic signature was detected. She even had King Thorax come in with some of his best changelings to sweep the area, just in case any unreformed changelings were still around and had helped their former Queen escape.

It was all to no avail. There’d been no sign. Neither head nor tail had ever been spotted, in Equestria, in the Dragonlands, the Badlands, Zebrica, Saddle Arabia, Mount Aeris… nowhere. They’d just vanished. Every few months Twilight took the time to cross over into the human world, but there’d been no sign of anything there either. No new enemies cropping up to wreak harm, no wild Equestrian magic turning yet another innocent person into a villain of the week.

Still, caution was necessary. New standards of security had been enacted at every major Equestrian governmental facility. There was more tension in the air in high-population density cities, such as Manehattan and Canterlot. Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow were three of the worst villains ever to terrorize her people. Twilight wasn’t about to risk them suddenly reappearing and inciting more tribal violence or staging another takeover. She was certain they’d resurface.

At least, she had been, until they finally found them, one year ago. Or rather, what was left of them. They’d somehow ended up embedded in a glacier on the top of Mount Everhoof, their bodies trapped eternally in ice, locked in the death throes of combat. Tirek had used his horns to eviscerate Chrysalis even as she impaled Cozy Glow on her own horn. The sight had soured more than a few stomachs, including her own. What had caused them to fight like that, she doubted they’d ever know. They were dead now. She’d made certain of that herself. Their corpses were authentic. No trickery, no fakes. Sometimes she wondered if Discord had been behind it. He certainly spent a lot of time whistling nonchalantly after the discovery.

Everything seemed well since then. Sure, there was still the occasional issue she had to run into or send friends to deal with, but unlike the wild ride of the past few years or so since Twilight had first moved to Ponyville following Luna’s return, everything was peaceful.

But she’d grown used to the security procedures. Just because the original reason they were enacted was gone didn’t mean they weren’t still wise. So she took it seriously, just as she had every other mail delivery. She scanned it over several times. The package did possess a magical signature, but not a hostile or familiar one. Magic wasn’t inherently bad in a package, after all. It could be someone had sent her some brand new piece of magitek. She had been slowly but surely introducing a number of ideas she’d borrowed from the human world, and the benefits of new technologies being carefully introduced and adapted boosted the economy and made her people even more prosperous than before.

As such, after performing every scan she could think of, Twilight shrugged and opened up the package. The contents were not what she’d expected, to say the least. Baffled, she set the object inside on her desk. “Spike, is this what I think it is?”

“Woah!” Spike hopped back up from the couch where he’d been reading and with two quick flaps of his wings was hovering right by her desk. It was an old habit from when he first got his wings, when he was still so short he couldn’t even see the top. Of course he didn’t need to do it anymore, but whenever he got excited he did it anyway. Twilight thought it was adorable and chose never to say a word about it. “Yeah, I think it is!”

“But, why?” Twilight cocked her head to the side, her ears going flat against her skull. “I wasn’t planning on introducing this kind of device for a good ten or fifteen years to anyone.” Now more concerned than ever, Twilight floated the box over to check the return address. “No return address. Darn. Where did this come from?”

Twilight glared down at the offending object. It was a television set. And not just any kind of television set, but a plasma flat-screen TV, the same kind she’d seen Sunset shell out a couple months pay for just so she could play games on a larger screen. It was wildly advanced technology, full of integrated circuits and liquid crystal displays and various things even Twilight still didn’t fully understand. It was far in advance of anything she’d introduced to her people, and was entirely out of place.

Perhaps most concerning of all, it had come with a power adapter, to let her plug a human-world style electrical plug into an Equestrian style magitek outlet, like the ones she used for her desk fan and desk light. Considering the difficulties she’d had with the natural tendency of portals between the worlds to transform objects and people into local equivalents rather than pass through unchanged--one of the many reasons she hadn’t even bothered to introduce integrated circuits yet, let alone ones as complex as in this television--the very fact this existed had Twilight deeply worried.

“Twi, you think this might have something to do with---”

Twilight held up a hoof, and Spike quieted immediately. “No. I doubt it. If it was Discord, the television would’ve already exploded into a cream pie or something.” She chuckled wryly. “Fluttershy’s been such a good influence on him. He hasn’t even pranked me for a good few moons.”

Spike shrugged. “Want me to plug it in, then?”

Twilight nodded. “Might as well.” Twilight was pretty sure the magical signature she’d picked off the television was some kind of transmission. It wouldn’t pick up anything local, because there was nothing local to pick up, but still.

With a few swift movements, Spike hooked up the adapter and plugged the television into the outlet. The instant he did, the screen switched on, revealing a unicorn pony with one of the oddest coat and mane combinations Twilight had ever seen. He--for he was certainly a stallion, even if he was rather short--was black on one side of his body, white on the other, straight down the middle as if he’d coated one half of his body in paint. His eyes were a deep crimson, staring out right from under his horn with a cold, sadistic gaze that immediately sent Twilight's nerves aquiver.

And then the alicorn spread his wings, one feathered in white, one black and leathery, and Twilight knew something was very, very wrong. “Upupupu!” The stallion cackled, holding up a forehoof to his mouth. “Twilight Sparkle! It’s about time you received my package!”

Twilight took a step back, her horn lit up ready to summon up one of any number of types of shield spells. “Get behind me, Spike,” she ordered, and her adopted little brother hopped to it at once. “Who are you?”

“Moi? Oh, I’m so happy you asked, Twilight! I am Monoponi.” The stallion struck a pose, extending his wings out to their fullest as he stood up on his hind legs, in the process revealing his cutie mark, a jagged red lightning-bolt. “No one special, really. Just someone who has sixteen of your very best friends under his control.” He gasped, dropping onto his hooves. “Ooops. Did I say sixteen? I meant fourteen! Ahahahaha!”

“Spike! Get Gallus for me. Now!” Twilight cried. She raised up a sparkling purple shield covering the half of the room Spike was in, protecting him even as he bounded for the door. Turning her attention back to the television, she said, “What are you talking about? Who do you have?”

“You know, I was really hoping to show you before they started making a mess of things, but you know the Equestrian mail service. It’s always a little bit… derpy.”

Twilight’s horn sparked, spreading a small shield below her hoof even as she stomped it hard on the marble, preventing damage while still making a very loud crack! “I asked you a question! Answer me! Who are you?”

“Oho, look at the princess! Getting mad already, Twilight? You’re just like yourself, you know? Or is that other self? I don’t know anymore! Upupupupu!” Monoponi chortled, glaring straight into Twilight’s eyes and not backing down an inch.

Twilight wasn’t stupid. She’d grown over these past few years, not just literally in size, but in maturity as well. That’s not to say she was immature when she took power over her country; she was a bit childlike, but she was also still a very young mare at the time, barely into her twenties. Now, closer to thirty and with several years of proper governmental experience under her hoof, she had a bit more restraint. A bit less likely to go “Twily-nanas,” as Shining liked to put it.

Obviously, intimidation wasn’t going to work. So she relaxed her stance, opting to stand quietly and patiently, waiting for Monoponi to speak again.

Monoponi stood frozen for a few more moments before he suddenly threw up his hooves and groaned. “Ugh! You’re not nearly as fun this way! Fine. You want to know so badly? I’ll tell you!”

The screen switched to a picture of several individuals Twilight recognized immediately, and despite being prepared for someone, anyone to be revealed as prisoners of this evil stallion, she couldn’t help but gasp. Instead of ponies, there were humans on the screen. She shouldn’t have been surprised, really, given the television, and yet somehow it was still a shock. She recognized them all, of course. Sunset Shimmer, her own human counterpart, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and… “Adagio Dazzle?” she muttered under her breath. “Why is she there?”

The screen changed again, revealing more. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom. Diamond Tiara, Trixie. Even Flash Sentry and Timber Spruce, along with someone with green hair and paler green skin she didn’t immediately recognize, though she seemed familiar. Wallflower Blush, maybe?

All of them were aboard some kind of ship. Twilight hadn’t had much experience with the ocean in the human world, as apart from the occasional visit to see Sunset and one particular trip they took together a few years ago, she’d never really ventured outside of Earth’s version of Canterlot. But it was definitely a ship, somewhere on the ocean.

“Look, Princess. Look upon your precious friends.”

The screen switched again, showcasing camera footage tracking Sunset and Rarity walking about the ship. There was audio this time, leaving Twilight even more confused as she listened to them introduce themselves, over and over, as if none of them had ever met. But that didn’t make any sense. Apart from that one she didn’t know, and Adagio, they were all friends, had been for years, some of them decades!

And sure, there was the occasional sign of recognition. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash still knew each other, and Applejack and Rarity knew their sisters, of course. But otherwise they were all acting like complete strangers!

“What did you do to them?” Twilight found herself asking. She couldn’t look away. She was utterly transfixed, as if the television itself had been imbued with a Want It Need It spell or something similar.

“Oh, nothing too bad,” said Monoponi as the camera footage paused, his image appearing as a smaller picture-in-picture in one corner of the screen. “I just took away their memories of each other! Ahahahaha!”

“But, why?” Twilight struggled to understand this action. It didn’t make the slightest bit of sense to her.

Monoponi held up a hoof to his mouth. “Upupupu, let’s find out, shall we?”

The footage played on, showcasing Monoponi’s debut. And as the explanation went on, and Twilight saw the nature of the game her friends were forced to play, her heart sank further and further into sheer terror, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, her whole body shaking like a tree branch in a hurricane. “No, nononononono!” she babbled, all sense of demeanor gone as she reverted back to the scared little anxious filly she’d always been inside. “Nonono! You can’t! You can’t do that! That’s insane! That’s horrible! What, why… why would you…”

Her heart thundered a million miles per hour as a realization came to her mind. She let out a loud, obvious gasp. “Wait… y-y-you said sixteen and then f-fourteen earlier… d-d-do you mean… no…”

Monoponi disappeared briefly from the screen as his laughter echoed over the speakers. “Upupupueyahahahahaha! You want spoilers, is that right? You want me to jump ahead? Well, I guess I can give you a little taste!”

The screen switched to a courtroom. Not one that Twilight had ever seen, but some kind of human style, set up with sixteen podiums in a circle. Fifteen were occupied by people. One… wasn’t. A part of her, a dirty, dingy, rotten part of her heart was glad it was Wallflower, whom she didn’t know very well, rather than someone else. The rest of her was disgusted at the very thought of feeling such relief.

Then it switched to another still shot, this one of Timber Spruce, strapped to a tree, staring in horror at an approaching chainsaw. The sight chilled Twilight to the bone, even as her instincts screamed it was time to start galloping away in sheer fright.

And then it switched right back to the footage it had been playing before, paused as ever. “I think that’s enough spoilers, don’t you?” Monoponi said, gesturing with a forehoof. “After all, I’ve got days worth of footage for you to watch. You’re really behind, you know?”

“Be...behind?”

“Everything you just saw a preview of, the trial?” Monoponi’s eyes flashed. “That was two days ago. That’s right! Two people, already dead, before you even knew what was happening! And more are soon to follow! Ahahahaha!”

The door to the room slammed open, and in strode Spike as well as Gallus, her brand new Captain of the Guard, a griffon that had once been one of her first, and most important, students at the School of Friendship. She’d chosen Gallus for her captain because of his loyalty, but also because he knew how to treat her like a pony and not just The Princess. Even in the few short years he’d been in the Guard, he’d distinguished himself well. “Captain Gallus, reporting as ordered, ma’am!” he said, snapping one foreclaw to his head in salute.

The spoken words of obedience helped throw a cold bucket of ice water on Twilight’s frazzled nerves, letting her summon up the courage to be Princess-like once more, rather than a scared little foal. “Gallus, I need you to put together a team. We need to track down where this package I just received came from. Make sure there are several unicorn experts at tracking spells in the group!” She pointed directly at the television. “There’s a live broadcast of some kind of signal being aimed at this thing, and we need to know where it’s coming from as soon as possible! Lives are on the line!”

“You got it!” Gallus chirped. He took flight and sped away, not even bothering to walk.

“Oh, you don’t think I’m going to make it that easy, do you, Princess?” Monoponi teased, his image taking up the whole screen once more. “You know this signal’s not coming from Equestria, riiiight?”

“That much is obvious,” Twilight snarled, surprised at the sheer amount of hatred in her voice. This stallion was getting to her. Bad. “I’m not stupid. I can see that for myself.”

“Twilight? What’s he talking about?” Spike asked, a concerned look spread across his draconic features.

“I’ll explain later, Spike. Right now, I need you to start documenting. Everything you see from this television has to be recorded, got it? No matter how bad it is, we need to keep a record.”

Spike arched a single eyebrow, but then shrugged and went for his writing supplies. He eschewed the usual quill and parchment for a typewriter instead, a decision Twilight whole-heartedly approved of.

Satisfied that her brother was up to the task, she whirled and pointed one hoof squarely at Monoponi. “As for you. Don’t you dare think for a single moment I’m going to let you get away with this!”

“Ah, there it is!” Monoponi practically swooned as he fell over for just a moment, before hopping back to his hooves. “That determination! That ferocity! That sheer belief in yourself that you have the power to stop me!” He bared his teeth, revealing jagged, cleaving incisors so unlike the usual flat pony teeth. “But you just don’t understand what you’re dealing with this time, Twilight Sparkle. This isn’t like the little games you used to play with your friends, where everyone was safe and no one ever got hurt. This time, blood has already been spilled. And more will be spilled in the future. More, and more, and more and moremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremore! Till every last one of your friends are dead!”

To his credit, Spike gasped, but kept typing away anyway, recording just as he was ordered even as disbelief plastered itself all over his face.

“No,” Twilight declared, sweeping one foreleg in front of her in a dismissive gesture. “Absolutely not. I don’t know who you are, Monoponi, but you won’t get away with this. I’m going to save my friends.” A few tears dripped from her eyes, but Twilight paid them no heed. “All of my friends!”

“Oh, Twilight, Twilight, Twilight… you still don’t get it, do you?” Monoponi wiggled his forehoof, tut-tutting before setting it back down. “If your goal is saving everyone’s lives, you’ve already failed! Maybe you should content yourself with what few might be left by the time you finally figure out where we are.” He shrugged, and his horn lit, pulling a large chair out from off screen so he could rest upon it. “I look forward to meeting you in person again. But for now, I think I’ll just bid you adieu, and let the footage play itself!”

Her eyebrows practically shot off her head, they rose so fast. “Wait, again?! What do you mean?”

“Ah ah ah,” Monoponi giggled. “Spoilers.”

His image vanished from the screen, replaced by the camera footage of the ship’s deck, resuming right where it had left off. As the conversation began to play, Spike cast Twilight a horrified look. “Twilight?”

Softly, quietly, Twilight took a seat next to him, and explained the situation. The further she got into it, the more furious Spike became, until she was worried he’d smash the typewriter apart. Though, if she were honest with herself, she felt pretty much the same, and wouldn’t blame him one bit. “So what’re we gonna do?” he asked once she finished.

“We’re going to do everything we can to find him, and stop him, before any more of our friends… die.” Just saying the word left Twilight feeling physically ill. It wasn’t that she wasn’t familiar with the concept of death. It was a fact of life, as true in Equestria as it was on Earth. But Equestrians just didn’t have the kind of violence that was so common in the human world. A variety of things humans accepted as just everyday criminal acts would be seen as monstrous, Tartarus-imprisonment-worthy offenses. Most of the villains she’d stopped in the past hadn’t killed anyone, and of the few that did, well… apart from Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek, two others had paid the ultimate price. One, the Storm King, had basically done it to himself. King Sombra, however…

Sometimes, she regretted that. It had been in the heat of the moment, summoning the power of their friendship to defeat his magic. They were just trying to defeat him. It had been heartwarming, at the time. Inspiring. But it still erased him from existence. It still… killed him, ultimately, even if that was only because he wasn’t much more than a shadow, a spectre of a pony given flesh rather than a true pony with a true soul.

Maybe, if she was lucky, very lucky, she wouldn’t have to do the same to Monoponi. But somehow, in her heart, she already knew that was just as hopeless a wish as saving everyone. This was a monster who’d force her hoof and leave her with no other choice.

“Do you think we can?” Spike asked.

No, I don’t, Twilight thought, furious with herself for thinking it. So instead of answering with that, Twilight swallowed away the fear and shame she’d felt, and said, “I hope so, Spike. I hope so.”

Author's Notes:

So this is our first little look into the reason why all of this is taking place. It's also a chance for me to inject a little bit of my own take on the future of FIM, after the Ending of the End. There are many reasons why I chose to age up the Equestria Girls characters, and this was one of them. Princess Twilight is key to this entire story, and it only works if it's done post FIM. And, also, from a plausibility standpoint, she's not going to sit around when so many of her friends are missing.

My apologies to anyone who thought I was going for something other than Princess Twilight with Monoponi's initial hint. That one really was as on the nose as it seemed, and I only included it because I knew this would post soon afterwards.

Who is the villain behind Monoponi? Well it's probably not you think. That's all I'll say for now.

On Saturday, we'll start Chapter Two proper.

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 1

Three days after the first trial…

“Come on, pick up the pace, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash cried as she sped on ahead, still moving at full steam as she ran along the bridge deck.

“I’m--” huff “--trying--” huff “--but you’re really--” huff “--fast!” I shouted back, my shoes clanging against the metal as we ran.

“For real!” Flash said from behind me. I risked a second to peak, and saw he was having just as hard a time breathing as I was. “Do think you can maybe slow it down a bit?!”

Applejack breezed by me as we passed onto the promenade. “Come on y’all, this ain’t that bad!” she said, showing no sign of slowing down as she closed the distance on Rainbow Dash.

“Easy for you to say, AJ!” Apple Bloom said from somewhere behind Flash and myself. “Not all of us ’re workin’ on the farm these days!”

“Aw come on, Apple Bloom, that’s just stinkin’ thinkin’!”

“What does that even mean?” Scootaloo asked, panting as she passed me by.

“She probably just means you need to get more exercise, darling,” Rarity said. To my surprise she still wasn’t breathing hard at all. She was maintaining her pace easily, as though this were barely an effort on her part. Maybe she’s just got a really big set of lungs, I mused.

Our group passed through the food court, blowing right by Diamond Tiara, who was glaring furiously at a notepad as she jotted something down. The breeze of our passage scattered the pages. “Hey, watch it!” she screeched, shaking a fist in our direction.

I looked back just long enough to say, “Sorry!” as we moved on down past the restaurants. We all deliberately avoided looking at the Sushi King as we passed by it. None of us have been interested in sushi, not since…well.

We switched up to single file in the cabin corridor, smoothly passed by Twilight and Sweetie Belle, who were just inside Twilight’s room. “Woohoo, go, go!” Sweetie cheered.

“That’s four laps!” Twilight added, scratching a hash mark on a piece of paper. “One more to go!”

“Aaaugh, really?” Flash whined. “Fiiiine....”

We passed into the outdoor lounge, where Trixie and Pinkie were chatting away animatedly about something or other. Fluttershy was with them, not speaking but still interested in their conversation. Adagio sat further away, reading a book and sporting an oversized pair of sunglasses I’d picked out for her. Spotting me, she looked over the top of the glasses and flashed me a wink. I winked back as I ran by, and we moved onto the bridge deck.

“Alright, y’all, we’re almost there!” Applejack said to spur us on. “Just gotta finish this lap!”

“You guys got this!” Rainbow Dash added, throwing out two fingers from her head in some kind of salute. “I believe in you!”

I didn’t respond, too busy trying to gulp down enough air to survive the trip. We blew past Diamond Tiara, sending her notebook’s pages scattering again. “Auuugh!” I heard her groan.

Finally, as we reached the cabin corridor, we slowed down, and down, till we came to stop right in the middle, between my cabin and Twilight’s. “Okay! Alright, good job everybody!” Rainbow Dash said, clapping for us all as most of us doubled over, heaving. “That’s it for the cardio! Next up, we’ve got some muscle building!”

“Wait, what?” I asked, baffled. “You didn’t say anything about that!”

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow and held up her hands as if to say duh. “I did say we were gonna exercise! That includes muscle building. Gotta get in some push ups, sit ups, squats, arm thrusts--”

“Can you at least give us a minute?” Flash said, trudging over to Twilight and taking up a water bottle she held out for him. He held it over his head and squeezed, dousing himself with half of it before chugging down the rest in about five seconds. “I don’t think I’ve exercised this hard since P.E. in high school.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Sure. Take five, guys.” She wandered down the corridor towards the lounge. “When you’re ready, meet back up on the bridge deck!”

“You got it, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo replied cheerfully.

“I do hope we’ll be doing some stretches too!” Rarity added.

“C’mon, Apple Bloom, let’s get a drink,” Applejack said, moving down to her cabin door and going inside, her sister following.

Good idea, I decided. I went into my own cabin and grabbed my water bottle, taking several long drinks and then refilling it in the bathroom sink. I splashed water on my face a few times, trying to cool down a bit. The water just added to the sweat already clinging to the tracksuit I’d picked up in the sporting goods store, leaving the whole thing utterly drenched. With a longing look at my shower and wishing I hadn’t been as quick to accept Rainbow’s offer of devising an exercise plan for our group, I left and made my way to the bridge deck.

Rainbow had already laid out several yoga mats, one for each of us, covering up the cold metal of the deck with something a bit more pleasant to lay on. Rarity was already standing on hers, stretching out her arm muscles. The others quickly joined us, and soon enough Rainbow Dash was leading us through so many stretches I could barely keep my head on straight.

“Alright, good!” Rainbow said, placing her hands on her hips, her posture and expression all business. “Now that we’re all nice and stretched, let’s partner up! We’ll start with sit ups first. Three sets of twenty-five reps’ll be plenty to start with.”

“And just what are you all doing, hmm?”

Shrieks and shouts rose from us all as Monoponi flashed into existence on the balcony, peering down at us. When no one answered him, he scowled menacingly. “Oh, please, don’t all of you answer your Captain at once!”

“W-w-w-what do you w-want?!” Rainbow Dash stammered, drawing herself up in front of most of us. Applejack and, to my surprise, Rarity both joined her, each looking ready to throw down.

Seriously. He hasn’t bothered us since the trial. It had surprised me quite a bit when, the day after the trial, Monoponi hadn’t shown his face to lord his presence over us so we’d wallow in despair. Or at least he’d throw us some kind of bone, a “present” for surviving. I’d thought that more of the ship would open up for us to explore. Maybe that’s what this was about. He’d given us just long enough to feel safe again so he could jerk the rug out from under us. After all, compared to the way we’d all been that first night we arrived, we’d all calmed down. Even Diamond Tiara had stopped insisting I was suspicious. Seems like the trial was enough to cure people of the idea I was the traitor.

Though we still haven’t figured out who it could be. Or if there even is one. Damn it. Now I’m being paranoid too.

“What, can’t your Captain check in on his passengers? Haven’t you been enjoying this delightful ocean voyage?” Monoponi’s head drooped. “Oh, what a world. Here I was, trying to be a good host, and you can’t even indulge your Captain by answering a simple question.” His head snapped back up, a grin plastered on his muzzle as he shrugged with his whole body. “Ah well. I was going to gather you all up anyway. Ahem.”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

The screens lit up with a shot of Monoponi’s face from the bridge tower balcony. “Attention all passengers!” he said, his voice echoing with the projection from the speakers. “Please gather on the bridge deck, at once!”

Everyone else filed in quickly, all bearing varying expressions of panic or worry, save for Adagio. At least, I couldn’t see it past the sunglasses. But then that was the reason I bought them for her, the morning after the trial.

~*~
Good grief I’m sore, I thought as I sat up in bed, blinking away the grogginess. I stretched out my arms and opened my mouth in a massive yawn. Then I promptly fell back against the bed, flopping on my pillow.

A great bundle of bushy orange hair moved briefly in my vision until I was face to face with Adagio. “Morning,” I mumbled, absent-mindedly reaching out and stroking her cheek.

Briefly, she flinched under my touch, drawing back, before letting out a sigh and relaxing, nuzzling her face into my hand like a cat. “Hey,” she said quietly.

“You okay?” I asked as I continued to stroke her face. I avoided letting my hand stray anywhere else. I’d learned the night before that Adagio was… not used to being touched, not lovingly anyway. The bruises on my body attested to that.

She let out a quiet little hiss, then nodded, still nuzzling my hand. “Didn’t sleep well,” she murmured.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” I said, a flush coming to my face. I dropped my hand, feeling rather embarrassed. My dumb sleepy brain decided then to add, “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

She snorted, then burst into laughter, low and deep with a trace of bitterness, like dark chocolate. “No, Sunset. You were great. Fantastic, actually,” she said in the same husky, sensual voice she’d used to such good effect last night, when she… well, it left me shivering, anyway. Then her voice almost seemed to fall out of tune, like a broken instrument. “Just… nightmares. Bad nightmares.”

She leaned back on the bed and fell against me, filling my face with orange. I carefully pushed enough out of the way so I could see again. “Yeah, me too,” I admitted.

The trial. The back and forth arguments, accusing each other, the suspicion. The sheer rage Timber had expressed when we figured him out, only to fall to pieces afterwards. And then, the execution.

God, the execution. I would have nightmares about that for the rest of my life. However long that ended up being. No matter what he’d done, Timber just didn’t deserve to die like that. No one did. It was inhuman. No, inequine.

My jumbled thoughts briefly turned the same subject I’d considered before Adagio showed up to my cabin, but the almost immediate surge of pain in my head forced me to stop straight away. Last thing I wanted to do was upchuck all over my new… girlfriend? Lover? I didn’t know what to call her.

Friend. I decided to go with friend for now. That word, at least, was safe. And probably less likely to trigger Adagio into a flurry of embarrassed rage.

We chose to lay there in silence for a while, as if holding a silent little wake, for the two who lost their lives so pointlessly. Then, the loud noise of the morning announcement played. “We’d better get up,” Adagio said, sighing. “There’s nothing I’d like less right now, but…”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said, sitting up. “So uh, did you want the shower first, or--”

“Sunset,” Adagio interrupted, looking at me. “I should… I should go back to my cabin. Now. Before anyone realizes I was here.”

Uh oh. I blinked in confusion, feeling a little hurt. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“Of course you don’t.” Adagio slapped a hand to her head, and sighed softly. “Look. If any of the others know we’ve been… together… they might use that against us. It makes us vulnerable.” Adagio’s arm slipped down to wrap around herself. “Makes you vulnerable.” She looked back up at me, with sadness in those beautiful amethyst eyes. “After your performance in the trial yesterday? You’re going to be number one on everyone’s hit lists. You would be on mine, if I was stupid enough to try murder as an escape. And if I didn’t like you, which I do,” she added, a trace of amusement briefly crossing her face.

I think I understood what she was getting at now, but it still hurt. A lot. “So what you’re saying is, if others knew about us, they could use you to get to me. Or vice versa.”

“Exactly.” Adagio’s features twisted up into a mirthless smile, and she was all laughs. “And to think I call myself a siren. I’m supposed to feed on emotions like these, not feel them myself. I can hardly stand it.”

My mouth twisted up into a concerned frown, so I left the bed, walked over, and embraced her, holding her close. “Hey, it’s going to be alright. It--”

“No.” Adagio pushed me away, and I fell back onto the bed, shock written all over my face. “Don’t give me that crap. Don’t give me some empty platitude when we’re both trapped here like animals awaiting the slaughter!” Adagio’s hands were out as claws, ready to strike, her features contorted with fury. “I won’t listen to someone being so, so… naive!”

Oh here we go. My blood was boiling now. I hopped to my feet. “Hey, that’s a little uncalled for, don’t you think? I was just trying to help!”

Adagio let out a furious hiss, and for the briefest of moments I thought she might actually attack me. Then, without another word, she spun on her heels, snatched her clothes off the floor, and left the room.

I didn’t see her again until after I’d finished breakfast. I was in the middle of perusing the sporting goods store, mindlessly examining a display of sunglasses out of a lack of anything better to do, when I heard Adagio clear her throat. “Hey.”

I sighed, turning to face her. “Hi.” I crossed my arms over my chest, leaned back on one leg, and waited. After a few moments of awkward silence, I said, “What do you want?”

Adagio’s eye twitched, half her face screwing up once again in anger as she pulled at the hem of her camisole. “I, I wanted to… to…apologize,” she said, every word sounding like it had been ripped from her throat. “I didn’t… I shouldn’t have...uuugh!” She reached out with one hand and knocked over a display of hoodies. “Why is this so difficult?!”

Wow. She definitely has a temper problem. But she is trying, so… “I get it,” I said with a smile, letting my arms fall to my sides. “I forgive you.”

This caught her off guard. She blinked owlishly, her mouth falling open. “You do,” she spluttered.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t happy about it. But you were right too. I shouldn’t just be spouting off like everything will be okay if we all just hug it out.”

“Huh.” Adagio, stunned into silence, didn’t move.

“And you were right, you know,” I said, catching her attention again. “I was thinking about it, and while I don’t like it, I’m okay with keeping things between us quiet, if you are.”

Her mouth shut with a snap. “Good,” she muttered. “That’s… that’s good. Great. Wonderful.”

“Hey you two, what’s going on over here?” Pinkie said, popping out from behind a shelf, a big grin plastered on her face. “Whatcha talkin’ about?”

“Nothing that concerns you!” Adagio growled, and shoved her way past Pinkie, stomping out of the store.

“Ow, hey! That hurt you know!” Pinkie said, rubbing at her shoulder where Adagio had bumped her. “Sheesh. What’s her problem?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pinkie.” Feeling a sudden urge, I snatched up one large pair of sunglasses, and quickly made my way out of the store after scanning my purchase through. “Hey, Adagio, wait up!”

“What?!” Adagio whirled, her fists clenched by her sides.

“Here, take these,” I said, placing the sunglasses in her hand.

Her face screwed up in confusion as she held the glasses up by two fingers, like I’d handed her a dirty diaper or something. “What for?”

“Just in case you need to protect your eyes from the sun,” I quipped, grinning. “Or from anything else.”

She arched an eyebrow, glaring at me before sudden comprehension dawned upon her. Then she flashed me a smirk of her own. “Hmph. Smart. I’ll use them, then.” For now, she slipped them into her pocket, then spun around and walked away, putting just a bit of extra sashay into her hips.

I didn’t mind that view one bit.

~*~

“So what’s this all about, huh?” Diamond Tiara demanded, shaking me out of my reverie.

Monoponi ignored her. “Are you all here? Everyone accounted for? No one trying to sneak away this time?”

“No!” Trixie cried, throwing up her hands to hide her face. “Trixie learned from her mistakes! She’ll never do that again!”

“Ahaha! Good! Now then, ahem.” Monoponi stomped his hooves once, twice, thrice on the balcony deck, stopping any whispers or murmurs. “I hope you’ve been enjoying your vacation so far, here on the wide open ocean! Your Captain has done his utmost to make things comfortable during your stay. That’s why I am proud to announce that we’re opening several brand new facilities for you!”

Looks like I was right. “You mean new places and tools for us to kill each other with, right?”

Monoponi twitched, and let out a world weary sigh. “You know, Sunset,” Monoponi groused, one back leg raising like he was ready to lash out. “I’m really getting tired of you making a mockery out of every announcement!” He leapt off the balcony and landed with a crash, stomping over to get up in my face. “You should really learn some proper manners!”

I immediately took several steps back, panic burbling up in my chest like a fountain, threatening to spill over. I could already feel, in my mind, the sensation of his magic wrapping around my throat. “That--I didn’t mean--” I really shouldn’t provoke him!

Monoponi abruptly laughed in my face, then flew back up to the balcony. “Now, ignoring the little shit who doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. We have brand new facilities! Several new places for you to explore and find comfort in!”

“That sounds fun,” Scootaloo said.

Fluttershy grimaced, and in a surprisingly assertive gesture, she patted Scootaloo on the shoulder and said, “No, Sunset’s probably right. It won’t be fun.”

“Yeah, for real,” Flash agreed, scoffing.

Twilight glared up at the posturing pony. “Why is this only happening now?

Monoponi glowered darkly in my direction, as if daring me to answer the question, then said, “Consider it a gift! After all, you were all in serious danger from one of your fellow passengers! One who thought it was so vital to leave he put all your lives at risk! But together, you rose above it! You dealt with his dastardly deed, and as your dear Captain, I say that such teamwork deserves to be rewarded!”

“Rewarded?!” Applejack’s gaze didn’t shoot daggers from her eyes so much as full sized battle axes. “Two people died, and yer sayin’ that means we should be rewarded?!”

“Upupupu,” Monoponi giggled, holding up one hoof to his mouth. “But of course!”

“Why, Ah oughta--”

“Applejack, don’t waste yer time,” Apple Bloom snorted. “He’s just tryin’ ta rile us up. It’s what he does.”

Applejack fumed, ripping her hat off her head so she could pull at it till I could almost hear the fabric tearing. “Dirty little varmint,” she groused before putting her hat back on.

“There’d better be a spa amongst these new facilities,” Diamond Tiara said, pointedly ignoring the looks of irritation everyone shot her way. “I haven’t had my nails done or had a proper facial since we got here.”

“A spa?” I asked, myface twisted in confusion. “We’ve been trapped on this cruise ship for almost a week now, and you’re worried about a spa?”

“Well, a spa visit would be quite pleasant right about now,” Rarity admitted, and everyone’s glares shifted to her. “What? I’m not wrong!”

“That really isn’t the point, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle groaned, slapping a palm to her face.

“I’d be more interested in a library,” Twilight admitted. “I could use a few new books.”

Rainbow Dash snickered. “Yeah, you would be. Egghead.”

“Oooh, oooh,” Pinkie said, bouncing in place. “Maybe a big workshop! Then I could make a proper party cannon and we could really get to partying!”

Adagio rolled her eyes, and said sarcastically, “Yes, because a party went so well the last time…”

“Nevermind the speculation!” Trixie interrupted before anyone else could suggest anything. “We should just let him tell us what they are.”

“What kind of places, you ask? Well, you’ll just have to go and see! After all, part of the experience, the joy, the beauty of this fine ocean voyage is to discover just what delights we have in store for yourselves!”

Monoponi’s horn lit up with crimson, firing off a bolt that surged past all of us and onto the promenade. We heard the sounds of rumbling and groaning metal. “If you’ll all walk down the promenade to the food court, you’ll see, opposite the gates to the courtroom elevator is a brand new passageway, leading to your grand adventure!”

“Wait, the food court?” I found myself saying, despite my brain screaming at me to shut up and not risk any further outrage on Monoponi’s part. “What about the bulkhead near the cabins?”

“Never you mind that! That’s not important right now!” Monoponi replied. “What matters is that this is an official activity as sponsored by your Captain! So you’d better hop to it.” Then he shrugged, grinning that sadistic grin of his. “Or don’t, but then I’m not responsible for the consequences…” The gun turrets on the bridge tower whirred to life briefly, just long enough to spook us, before quieting down. And with a final laugh echoing in our ears, he teleported away.

We all exchanged glances with each other, briefly silent before Rarity stepped forward. “Well, darlings, I don’t know about you, but I think we should probably listen to him.”

“Yeaaaah, I kinda don’t need a ton of holes in my body, if you get what I mean,” Rainbow Dash said, laughing nervously as she stared up at the guns.

“Well then what’re we standin’ around here for?” Applejack said, throwing up her hands. “C’mon, let’s go, y’all!”

“‘Let’s go, y’all,’ mehmehmeh,” Diamond Tiara openly mocked Applejack with hand gestures as we all started to walk. “Like we care what you think, farmer.”

“Ya know, one of these days, that mouth of yours is gonna get you in some real trouble, sugarcube,” Applejack said, acid dripping from her words as she glowered furiously. “Bein’ a farmer ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of.”

“Are you threatening me?” Tiara retorted, matching Applejack glare for glare.

Applejack stopped in her tracks, slowly turned, and held up a fist. The tone of her voice shifted, becoming low and disturbing. “So what if Ah am?”

Diamond Tiara reeled back as if she’d been punched. “You… you’d better not be!” She pointed a trembling finger right in Applejack’s face. “You, you’ve seen what happens! You think the others won’t figure it out?”

Applejack took a step towards Tiara. Then another. Then another. The younger woman yelped in fright, falling over and holding up her hands to shield herself. “Ah tried to protect you from Timber, Tiara, or did you forget that? Maybe Ah shouldn’t have bothered!” She stomped one leather boot barely an inch away from Tiara’s foot, raising a massive clatter from the deck. Tiara shrieked, hiding her face in her hands, shaking all over.

Then Applejack snorted, turned on her heel, and resumed making her way towards the foot court. “Coward,” she muttered.

Apple Bloom halted, staring at her older sister’s back in shock as everyone moved on. No one bothered to offer Tiara a hand. “Good grief, sis,” I heard Apple Bloom mutter. “What is your deal?”

I took a few steps back, stopped by Apple Bloom, and leaned over to speak softly. “Was that unusual for her?”

“Yeah, it was,” Apple Bloom admitted. “Ah mean, mah sister’s always had a temper. That’s just the way she is. But Ah’ve never seen her act like that before. She’s never been mean about it like that.”

“Well, she’s gonna be sorry she ever messed with me,” Diamond Tiara declared as she hauled herself to her feet. “Nobody embarrasses me like that and gets away with it.”

“Hey, you embarrassed yourself, Tiara,” Apple Bloom retorted. “Ya better not be plannin’ to hurt my sister now.”

“No, of course not, I’m not stupid,” Dimaond Tiara said, rolling her eyes. She didn’t bother looking our way as she walked off.

“Coulda fooled me,” Apple Bloom muttered.

Jeez, people, I thought as I followed after them. I wasn’t too surprised to see fractures in our group. That’s what this whole situation was designed to create: fractures. That didn’t make it any less disheartening, though, or depressing.

Sure enough, as promised, the food court had another massive gap in its walls, directly opposite the trial gate. Briefly, I glanced at the gates, noting the massive oversized padlock resting on it, so large and unwieldy it was comical. Probably Monoponi’s idea of a joke.

The actual passageway to the rest of the ship towered over us, like a continuation of the promenade, only this one was even more gaudy and opulent, if you can believe it. Massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling everywhere there was space, the whole place lit up so bright I almost felt the need to break out my own pair of sunglasses. It was wide open, and patterned with marble tiling, almost like a checkerboard. It ran for a good couple hundred feet before abruptly dead-ending in a plain wall lacking any adornments. Plenty of security cameras hung everywhere, of course, and screens popped up every so often on the walls, ensuring no one would ever miss a message or be missed by Monoponi.

Thanks to the little incident between Tiara and Applejack I was the last one to arrive, and everyone had already dispersed. There were three doors scattered down the passageway, so I decided to go for the closest one, to the left of the entryway. This one was a bit smaller in size than the other two doors, decorated with a sign above reading “Game Corner.”

Inside, I found a large room full to the brim with games. Pinball, arcade machines, pachinko, even televisions set up with the latest gaming consoles and shelves stocked full of games to choose from, locked up with a reader to scan your Monopad, naturally. My mouth watered, drool running down my chin as I surveyed all these games. I love video games. They’re one of the best things about living in the human world, and seeing all of these here, free to play, every last one of them… I wanted to stay and play forever!

But I had no time for that. Instead, I went through and surveyed what was available more specifically. Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and, to my surprise, Fluttershy were already gaming away, Fluttershy in particular looking focused and concentrated as she worked through some kind of puzzle game. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, meanwhile, were deep into the third round of a fighting game.. And to my shock, Scootaloo was thrashing Rainbow Dash, the older woman looking more frustrated by the second. Apple Bloom and Applejack were waiting for their turn, both cheering them on.

As much fun as that would be to watch, I moved on, checking out the rest of the game room. As it turned out, the arcade machines spat out prize tickets, just like any arcade would, and there was a prize corner too. Pinkie Pie was surveying the corner with great interest, examining all of the various prizes which were locked behind barred glass windows so thick they must’ve been bulletproof. And for good reason too, because the prizes…

Were weapons. Swords, maces, axes, halberds, spears… every kind and style of melee weapon you can think of was available and ready to go. A machine gun turret hung menacingly over the prize counter, ready to unload on anyone foolish enough to try to steal anything. The sight tore great gaping holes in my very soul. Of course the prizes are weapons. What else would they be?

Pinkie Pie looked back at me, a sad expression on her face. The curls of her hair lost most of their bounce. “Oh no, Sunset, look!” she said, pointing to the weapons. Her features twisted into a dark expression of anger. “What’s wrong with that Monoponi? What kind of prizes are these, huh? These won’t make anybody happy at all!” She raised a fist as if she was going to slam it into the counter in anger.

“Woah, woah, don’t do that!” I blurted, rushing forward and grabbing her arm before she could trigger the gun. “Jeez, Pinkie, you could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

Pinkie blanched, leaping back away from the counter and almost dragging me to the ground in the process, staring wide-eyed at the gun turret, as if she hadn’t noticed it before that very second. “Holy moly that could’ve filled me with a lot of holies!” She looked up at me, eyes still the size of dinner plates, and added, “Thanks, Sunset!”

“Yeah, sure, just pay more attention, okay?” I said, brushing myself off.

Pinkie nodded her head so fast and so many times I thought it might fall off. “You got it, Sunny!”

“Good.” That taken care of, I approached the counter myself, giving it a closer look. As I expected, there was a register, similar to the ones the stores possesed, complete with the same function to print all receipts, though this one just took prize tickets. “Good,” I said again. “At least we’ll be able to figure out who buys what from here.”

“You… you don’t think someone else is gonna try to, to…”

“Honestly?” I gave Pinkie a sad smile. “I really hope not, but we should be ready, just in case.”

Pinkie’s eyes filled to the brim with tears at this, and she burst into messy sobs. “Nohoho!” she wailed. “I don’t want to go through that again!”

Oh good one, Sunset, you idiot. On instinct I embraced the crying woman and held her tight, making shushing noises. I had to hold her for a good several minutes, the shoulders of my tracksuit soaked with tears. Well, more soaked than it was already, anyway. Finally, she calmed down, her eyes red and puffy, her face absolutely covered in snot and tear stains. “S-sorry, Sunny,” she mumbled.

“S’okay. I’m sorry I made you upset.”

Pinkie shook her head, hard. “No, it wasn’t you. It was just… oh, nevermind.” She withdrew herself from my embrace, wiped her face on her shirt, and then wandered off. I decided not to follow. She probably needed space, so I was happy to give it to her.

Instead, after finishing my exploration of the arcade, I made my way out and towards the next door I saw. This one was patterned a bit differently than the others, made from a different kind of wood, a darker color. A sign mounted above the door said “Ship’s Library.”

Opening it, I found the inside to be exactly what was promised: a large library, filled with bookshelves over ten feet tall, a good two or three stories high. Or low, rather, because for some reason this door opened onto the third floor. This floor was dominated by a large open space, containing a variety of end tables, couches, and arm chairs. Twilight, naturally, was already seated in one of the arm chairs, one massive book cradles in her arms and five more stacked on the table beside her.

“Having fun?” I asked.

“Oh!” She jerked in surprise, then set her book down and adjusted her glasses. “Uh, hey Sunset.” She held up the book she was reading: a textbook, of course. Chemistry by the looks of it. “This is a fascinating read. It’s a treatise on the history of chemistry experiments, with a focus on Prench chemists. It goes into a lot of detail I don’t usually see.”

“Wow. Rainbow was right,” I teased, grinning. “You are an egghead.”

Twilight crossed her arms and pouted, her face blooming with pink. “It’s perfectly acceptable to find enjoyment in the pursuit of knowledge,” she groused.

I burst into laughter. “I’m just teasing you, Twilight, calm down.” I took a seat next to her and looked at the other books. “Huh, are these all textbooks?”

“Yup. It seems like this library is entirely non-fiction, at least on this floor,” Twilight answered. “I’ve seen subjects ranging from carpentry, to industrial manufacturing, electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, archeology, anatomy and physiology, even the practice of handwriting… it’s practically a university all to itself!” Twilight grinned wildly, sighing in delight. “Ah, isn’t it wonderful?”

I broke into laughter again, laughing even harder when Twilight glared daggers at me. “I’m not making fun of you, I promised,” I said when I got control over my laughter. “You’re just… adorable.”

“Yeah, I’d say she is,” said Flash as he stepped out from behind a shelf and approached us, setting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Flaaash!” Twilight whined, her whole face pinker than Pinkie’s hair. “Don’t say that.”

“What, I’m not allowed to tell the truth?” Flash said, grinning.

Twilight blushed all the harder, sinking into her chair as if it might swallow her whole.

I decided to leave the two lovebirds to themselves, and wandered across the floor of the library to the stairs. Descending to the second floor, I found Trixie, of all people, gasping with glee as she squeezed a book to her chest. Then she spotted me and jumped two feet off the floor, almost knocking her head into one of the shelves. “Aaah! Sunset!” she squealed.

I arched an eyebrow. “Wow, sorry, didn’t realize I was that scary.”

“It’s not that,” Trixie replied, glancing down at her hands and, realizing the book was still there, swiftly hiding it behind her back. “Can Trixie help you?”

Okay. Now I was curious. I pointed to the book still poking out slightly from behind her. “What’ve you got there?”

“Nothing!” Trixie blurted, backing up to a shelf and failing miserably to look like she was subtly placing her book back. “You saw nothing!”

I crossed my arms and scowled, saying nothing. Trixie, at first, stared right back, then slowly her expression went from confident, to flustered, to downright scared. Sweat beaded on her brow, running down her face in little rivulets. Finally, she broke. “Okay, okay! Trixie will show you! Just stop looking at her like that!”

I approached, slowly, and waited for her to bring out the book. With a groan, she pulled it off the shelf and held it out to me, shrinking away as if I was going to smack her with it. I took it, and examined the cover. “The Art of Magic, by Jackpot Lulamoon,” I read aloud, my face screwing up with confusion. “Wait, why were you trying to hide this?”

Trixie snatched the book back from me and squeezed it tight like it was a precious possession. “No reason. Now please, leave Trixie alone,” she all but growled.

“Woah, okay, fine, sorry,” I said, holding up my arms in surrender and backing off.

Leaving Trixie to do whatever the heck she was doing, I wandered down to the first floor of the library, discovering Rarity and Sweetie Belle wandering amongst shelves. There seemed to be some decent fiction on this level at least. “Oh, Sunset, good timing!” Rarity said in greeting. She held up the book in her hands, squeeing in excitement. “Can you believe it? It’s the latest Shadow Spade novel! I haven’t even seen this in stores yet!”

“And they’ve got the latest manga from Neighpon!” Sweetie squeaked, even higher pitched than her sister. She held up a graphic novel, featuring some anime heroine looking particularly dashing as she swung a Qilin style spear at some sort of monster. “I didn’t even think this series was translated!”

“Cool, I’m glad you found something interesting,” I said, though to be honest neither of them interested me that much. Anime was fun and all, but I preferred anime games to manga. And as much fun as mystery novels could be, given that our lives had practically turned into one already… no thanks. “So they’ve got some fiction down here, huh?”

“Yes, certainly, and plenty of it,” Rarity agreed. “This is one of the best stocked libraries I’ve ever seen.”

“Of course it is,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “Just like everything else on this ship.”

At that, both of them tampered their excitement, seeming to deflate. “Oh. Yes. Of course. How could I forget?” Rarity sighed in a huff. Then she perked up again. “Oh, but Sunset, I did see something you should look into.”

Leaving Sweetie to fumble through more manga, she led me towards the back of the first library floor, where there was a heavy oaken door with a nameplate labeled “archives.” I tried the doorknob, but of course it was locked. “Yes, I tried that too,” Rarity said, frowning. “I thought it might be important.”

“It sure looks important,” I mused. I ducked down onto the floor and tried to see if I could see anything from underneath the door frame, but all I saw was darkness. “Darn it. I can’t see a thing.”

“What do you suppose is kept in there?”

“I dunno. Ship’s records, maybe?” I shrugged. “But unless one of us is secretly a serial killer with a split personality, I doubt we have anything to worry about.”

Rarity arched her eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?”

“Nevermind. Just a reference joke.”

Rarity nodded in understanding. “To that, ah, what was it called? Danganronpa?”

“Yeah. Actually, wait… would you excuse me?” I ran without saying another word, rushing up the stairs, and out the door, back towards the game corner, almost bowling over Rainbow Dash in the process.

“Hey, watch it!” Rainbow groused.

“Sorry!” I called, not even looking back as I ran for the game consoles. I know I spotted the right ones over there, and searched the game library, seeing it was in the catalogue, then scanned the shelves. “Come on, come on, you’ve got to be here… wait, no!”

Right where they should have been, according to the catalogue, was an empty space, bare of anything save a folded piece of paper. I pulled it out and opened it. It simply read two words:

Nice try.

“Oh screw you!” I griped, ripping up the paper and shoving it in a nearby wastebasket. “Waste of my time.” I wasn’t even sure why I had been looking for them anyway. It wasn’t as if I was going to glean some new insight into Monoponi from playing them. And the last thing any of my fellow passengers needed was more ideas. Though I supposed if there were any copycat crimes, I’d at least be able to figure them out more easily.

Wait. What the hell was I thinking? I should be working to stop there from being anymore crimes in the first place, not planning how to solve them better! This place was messing with my head, and bad.

I left the game corner in a huff, stewing in my own frustration. My tracksuit itched like crazy, which wasn’t helping. But we weren’t done with “exploring” yet so I doubted Monoponi would let me go take the shower I craved.

I made my way down to the third and final door. This one was larger than the other two, a big double door affair like the entryway to a theater. Which was appropriate, seeing as a sign topped it, reading “Ship’s Theater.”

I pushed open the doors, and found myself in the largest room yet! I was at the top of a massive stairwell, leading down past dozens of rows of seats, arranged in three tiers, two of balconies and one large group seating down closer to the stage. Altogether there was easily enough seating for several hundred people. Everything was decorated intricately with a wide swathe of colors, like a giant rainbow had fallen down from the sky and melted all over everything. The ceiling was split up into a variety of sections, each with its own individual set of dozens of various lights, including spotlights, strobe lights, and more, though some of them might’ve been cameras.

The stage, though… it was huge. It stretched from wall to wall, with two small staircases leading up to it from the theater floor. I wasn’t sure how wide across it really was, but it looked like you could fit an entire orchestra up there and still have room to spare for actors in a play! A dazzling array of lights shone down from the beams, even more variety than I would’ve expected. There was probably even more backstage.

I strode down the steps, listening to the echoes of my footfalls. The sheer immensity of the room made me feel like a bug crawling across a plate. In some ways, it was soothing. In others, it just imbued me with anxiety. I didn’t hear any other voices at all. I was alone.

I found myself gripping my tracksuit with both hands as I climbed up the stage staircase and went backstage. Compared to the opulence with which the rest of the ship had possessed so far, stepping backstage was liking walking into another world. All concrete and wooden beams, and bare metal in some places, it was more akin to a warehouse or a factory than a ship. Most of it was one large chamber, with plenty of room for sets, though there were no ready-made backdrops or scenery, just unused piles of plywood and so on. Of course, there were still security cameras, and in the process of walking around I accidentally stumbled across a trapdoor leading to a ladder below the stage. But I didn’t want to go down there. There were also two passageways to the left and right from backstage. One was labeled dressing rooms, so I went that way first.

The passageway narrowed substantially until it was barely wide enough for three people to walk abreast. Several doors led into individual changing rooms, set up with makeup chairs, mirrors, dressers, and a collection of random costumes ranging from Neighponese kimonos to 18th century Prench admiral uniforms, medieval armor not out of place on an Equestrian royal guard, and so on, scattered about like leftovers.

In the last dressing room, however, one costume caught my eye. It was a simple affair, really, just a purple witch’s hat decorated with stars and a matching cloak, also bedecked with stars, with a clasp made from a large piece of glass cut like a sapphire. It shouldn’t have stood out at all, but something about it called to me, like it was an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time.

As I picked them up, I felt them, noting the material. Just cloth, really, nothing too terribly fancy. And it didn’t feel like it was mine, either. I’d never worn anything like this. It felt more like something…

Like something Trixie would wear.

I decided to take it with me, so I could show her. But as I picked it up, something slipped out of a pocket I hadn’t noticed in the inner lining in the cloak. It was a photograph. I picked it up… and the shock was so much I had to fall into a chair.

The picture featured myself, Trixie… and Wallflower Blush! We were sitting together at a set of computers in what looked like my old high school, with smiles on our faces. Wallflower was even laughing. Wallflower. Was. Laughing. She hadn’t smiled once the entire time before Timber killed her, but here she was, laughing away without a care in the world.

“Were we friends once?” I whispered. It would track. After all, what would be more “fun” to someone as messed up as Monoponi? Watching complete strangers with no memories kill each other? Or watching former friends kill each other?

I could see myself being friends with Trixie. She was weird, sure, but it was a fun kind of weird. The kind that you could laugh with her about. She had just enough of an ego to make her funny without being unbearable, like Tiara. Okay, so sometimes she wasn’t the best judge of character. Or situation. Or, well, anything. But she was still someone I could totally see being friends with.

But Wallflower? I just couldn’t wrap my head around that.. She’d been nasty. Rude. A big mean jerk! She’d taken every opportunity she had to be nasty towards me.

Actually, no. She had been nice… sort of… once. Last Wednesday morning, the same day of the pool party. She’d taken that opportunity to express a tiny bit of kindness and concern for my well being, rather than just being mad because I inconvenienced her.

And then she went right back to being a jerk afterwards. I still remembered the last things we said to each other, before she died. It was when she told me she’d be staying in her room the night of the party. I told her she should’ve been having fun with us, and I meant it. Looking back on it now, if I’d just pressed that point, if I’d just taken the time to attempt more than just a token effort to convince her… she might still be alive now.

And so would Timber.

I looked back down at the photo. At Wallflower’s happy, laughing face. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream all over again, just like I had when I saw her corpse hanging off that dining cart. But, just like then, I couldn’t. The tears wouldn’t come. The screams died in my throat. All I felt… was empty.

All I felt…

Was despair.

Author's Notes:

And here we go with chapter two! One of the funnest parts for me in Danganronpa games, besides the trials themselves, is the exploration of new places after each trial. Seeing what's out there, the possibilities, the potential murder weapons, who's seemingly important, who isn't, it's all a blast.

We're also seeing some hints at the greater lore going on here. And, of course, the pitfalls of a siren and pony turned human relationship.

This chapter should be more difficult to guess who the victim and who the blackened will be than chapter one.

Tuesday Night: Part II.

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 2

The voices of Diamond Tiara and Adagio broke me out of my stupor. I quickly shoved the photograph into a pocket in my tracksuit, balled up the hat and cloak under my arm, and walked out of the dressing room. The two were just going into one of the other rooms, and spotted me as I left. “Hey, Sunset!” Tiara said in her usual whiny tone. “What’ve you got there, huh?”

“Nothing for you,” I said, speed walking and dodging the sudden swipe the other woman made for the cloak and hat.

“So you’re trying to hide something, is that it?!” she growled, her hands squarely on her hips.

Blowing an annoyed sigh out through my teeth, I stopped, turned, and showed off what I had. “It’s just a costume, Tiara. Like I said: nothing for you.”

Adagio stepped out from behind Tiara, and arched an eyebrow in my direction. “Let me see that,” she said in a tone that brokered no argument.

Rolling my eyes, I approached, and handed it over. Adagio took one look at it, grimaced in disgust, and threw it back in my face. “She’s right. Nothing worthwhile.”

Just because we’re keeping quiet about being together doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk, Adagio. “Thanks,” I muttered.

But before I could leave, Tiara rudely snatched them out of my grip just so she could run her hands all over them. Then, like Adagio, she threw them in my face. “Okay, whatever,” she grumbled.

“Can I go now?” I asked, feeling more than a little irritated at this point.

Tiara waved a hand as if dismissing a servant. “Yes, yes, go. Just meet up with the rest of us in the food court! We’re gonna discuss what we’ve found.”

I grunted in annoyance, but said not a word as I spun and left. I decided to make my way to the library first. Hopefully Trixie was still there. She’d probably love this.

And sure enough, there she was, sitting on a solitary chair in a corner on the library’s second floor, pouring over the book I’d seen her cradling earlier, eyes full of stars and wonder. I decided, as I approached, to carefully hide what I had for her behind my back, so she couldn’t see it.

Thankfully this time I avoided startling the poor magician, as she heard my footfalls and looked up, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Sunset? Trixie thought she asked to be left alone. What is it?” Then she noticed I was hiding something, and sat up straighter, eyes briefly widening with just a touch of fear. “W-what do you want?”

A mischievous smirk spread across my faces, my eyes twinkling. “Oooooh nothing, really,” I said as I quickly unballed the cloak and hat, holding on in each hand behind myself.

Now Trixie’s eyes were darting all over the place, as if trying to find some way to escape. She scooted her chair back, and squeaked in surprise when it hit the wall. “A-a-a-re you p-planning to -h-hurt T-t-t-t-Trixie?!” she squealed.

Oh dear. I just wanted to joke with her, not scare her half to death. I dropped the mischievous act and slowly brought out the cloak and hat. “No, no, Trixie, it’s okay!” I said. “I just found this, and thought you’d like it back.”

“Like what baaaaaaaaaaAHHH!” Trixie screamed in shock as she dove forward, grabbing up the hat and cloak and squeezing them to her chest. “You found them! My hat! My cloak! You found them! I, I can’t believe it!” Then she paused, cleared her throat, and said more calmly, “Trixie means, Trixie cannot believe it. Where did you find them?”

“They were hiding in a dressing room, backstage in the theater,” I admitted, trying not to laugh at the poor embarrassed woman. Huh. Guess she knows how to speak in first person after all.

Trixie set the hat on her head, squealing in delight at the perfect fit, then drew the cloak over her shoulders and fastened the clasp. Then she adopted the same pose she struck so often during the trial, and this time, with the cloak, it made perfect sense. “Behold! The Great and Powerful Trixie is once again ready to perform dazzling displays of incredible illusions for your entertainment! Watch in awe!”

I actually felt some excitement rise in my chest at this, and found myself clapping, if quietly. Girl knows how to work a crowd. “Woohoo!” I cheered. “Gooo Trixie!”

Trixie bowed deeply, a massive grin etched on her face. “Thank you, thank you! Trixie will be here all week.” As she rose, I saw gratitude reflected in her eyes. “Thank you, Sunset. Trixie has dearly missed these ever since she awoke here. Just having them makes her feel… more confident. Safer.”

“Yeah, you got it,” I said. Then I snapped my fingers. “Oh, right, there’s something else I need to show--”

“What is going on here?!” Twilight burst out as she stomped down the stairs, glaring at us over her glasses so hard I thought she might burst into flames. “This is a library! Why are you being so loud?”

“Oh come on, Twilight,” I replied, waving a hand dismissively. “It’s not like there’s rules about it.”

“Well, that’s--I--that’s not the point!” Twilight blurted, shaking a finger at me. “It’s still a library! If you want to be loud, go somewhere else!”

Monoponi flashed into existence right above Twilight’s head. “Someone being loud in the library, you say?!” he shouted.

I didn’t even flinch. By this point I was expecting him to show up just about anywhere, anytime he felt like it. Twilight and Trixie weren’t so lucky. Trixie leapt behind the closest bookshelf and Twilight, I had to catch her to save her from cracking her head on the stairwell. “Why do you keep doing that?!” Twilight roared as soon as I set her on her feet again.

“Because it’s hilarious,” Monoponi replied cheerfully as he fluttered down and landed on all four hooves. “Now then, I believe Sunset was once again trying to dodge the rules! Well I won’t stand for that!”

I sighed, crossing my arms and shifting my weight onto one leg. “Really? You can’t seriously tell me you actually care about the volume in the library.”

Monoponi raised a hoof to his mouth. “Upupu, but I do care about you! Or rather, about making you suffer! So just because it’ll get right under that skin of yours…”

His horn flashed, and our Monopads all let out a shrill beep. Upon pulling it out of my backpack, I saw a new rule had been added:

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I muttered under my breath as I switched off my Monopad screen.

“Ah ah ah!” Monoponi tut tutted in a whisper of his own. I was a little surprised he was bothering to follow the rule himself. “Be careful now. It’d be a shame if I had to execute anyone just because they couldn’t use their indoor voice.” Then he vanished, and even the sound of his teleport was quiet.

“Nice going, Twilight!” Trixie whispered as loudly as she could from behind the shelf.

“Seriously,” I added.

A bizarre expression came over Twilight’s face, one I’d never seen her sport before. It was a very odd, demented smile, as if she’d just suddenly lost it. Many of the hairs tucked into her bun popped out at odd angles.

Then just as suddenly the expression was gone, making me wonder if I’d even seen it at all. “Sorry,” she said quietly as she trudged back up the stairs, where Flash was waiting. Even he looked a bit upset over this.

“Trixie, we should get out of here,” I said, and quietly led her upstairs and out into the promenade proper. “Okay,” I added once we were out. “I’m not going in there again unless I have to.”

The illusionist’s lips curled up into a strong pout. “Oh, Trixie left her book behind,” she groaned.

“You can get the book back later, don’t worry about it,” I replied, waving for her to follow. “C’mon, I still have something I need to show you.”

Trixie rolled her eyes, but silently complied. I caught her rubbing her arms along the inside of her cloak as we walked, as if she was stroking it lovingly. I chose not to comment.

Once we reached the food court, we found an out of the way table and sat down. Without any preamble, I withdrew the picture from my pocket, and handed it over. Trixie raised one eyebrow, then both as she looked over the picture, and then her mouth fell open in shock. “What… what is this?”

“I was kinda hoping you might be able to tell me,” I replied. Seeing the picture brought back that gnawing feeling of emptiness all over again. “It was in your cloak pocket.”

“But that doesn’t make sense.” Trixie stared at the photo, turning it around in her hands to look at it from several angles. “Trixie never knew either of you before coming here. Unless…” Her hand shot to her mouth. “Did… did Monoponi…”

I nodded sadly. “Probably.”

“Then… Trixie, and you, we’re, we were… friends?”

“Yeah, I’d say we were.”

Trixie looked away from me for several long moments, staring at the floor. She laid the photograph down on the table, and twiddled with her hands, obviously thinking a great deal. Then, ever so slowly, her head turned, her gaze falling upon me. “Trixie doesn’t remember having friends,” she said. Every word was hesitant, uncertain, as if just speaking them took a great deal of effort. “Trixie only remembers people making fun of her, or laughing at her. People like Adagio.”

Her face twisted into a scowl. “Cruel, heartless people, who would say they liked Trixie to her face, then insult her behind her back.” The scowl loosened, then dropped entirely, in favor of sadness. “Trixie got into magic tricks because it was one of the only things that made Trixie happy. And it made other people happy too, so Trixie thought maybe they’d be her friends. But no. They didn’t care about Trixie. They didn’t care about… me.”

Tears dripped down her cheeks onto the table, leaving two small puddles. “I was so alone. So I started talking to myself in the third person, just to feel like someone else was talking to me. Like someone cared about me. It was part of my persona on the stage. In some ways, it was like a shield, protecting me.”

Without thinking I reached out and took her left hand, holding it tight to give her reassurance. “So that’s why you’ve been talking that way this whole time.”

“Yes,” Trixie nodded. She let me hold her hand as she started to sob. “I just… at first, it was just a reflex. I was meeting new people, people I didn’t know. But then Monoponi showed up, and told us about the killing game. I was so… I was so scared. We watched someone die, Sunset.” Her breathing hitched, her sobs becoming more and more expressive. “We watched someone die!”

“He… he did kill someone else though,” I said, instantly regretting it.

“And that makes it right?!” Trixie’s whole face was like a tear-filled deluge. “I could die here, Sunset. We could all die here.” All of a sudden she threw herself upon me, and it was like Pinkie all over again, her tears soaking my shoulder. “I just want to go home…” she whispered.

That finally got me. The emptiness, the despair in my heart cracked open and I unleashed a torrent of my own tears, the two of us clinging to each other like we were each other’s lifelines. “Me too, Trixie,” I whispered back. “Me too.”

We spent a good few minutes like that, holding each other, letting the tears run until they finally ran dry. I was very glad we were alone in the food court, though. Adagio’s words to me about showing vulnerability or fear came to my mind, making me want to end this, fast.

Trixie withdrew from my embrace, wiping at her face with one hand while still holding mine with the other. For a while, she didn’t speak. “...Sunset, can we… Can we be friends again?”

“For the first time?” I quipped, a smile beginning to form on my lips.

Trixie gently rolled her eyes and smiled back. “Sure. Whatever.”

I nodded, and opened my arms for another hug. “You got it, Trixie.”

Trixie’s smile spread from ear to ear as she hugged me once more, letting out a little cute squee of happiness. “Thank you…”

I started to say thank you back, but the words stuck in my throat. The happiness I’d felt swiftly disappeared, replaced by heart-pounding anxiety.

Adagio was there, right there, across the food court, and she was furious. Not a demonstrative, shaking, quivering fury, oh no. That would’ve been too obvious, too revealing for her. Instead, she just stared over her sunglasses, the cold fury unleashed from her gaze as if the Windigos themselves had returned to cover us all in a blanket of eternal snow. It promised I’d experience a world of suffering and vengeance for this perceived crime.

She spun on her heel and walked away. No sashay in her hips this time.

I wanted to let go of Trixie, to stand up, to reach out an arm, say “This isn’t what it looks like!” or some other cliche tripe. But I didn’t bother. That’d just make Adagio even angrier, because I’d acknowledge what we had in public, exactly the thing she didn’t want. I’d have to speak to her later, and hope that she wasn’t already readying to gut me and rip out my entrails or something.

“Is something wrong, Sunset?” Trixie asked, pulling my attention back to her.

“N-no. Nothing,” I said immediately, shaking my head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm…” Trixie narrowed her eyes at me. “Okay,” she shrugged. Letting me go, her gaze dropped back to the photograph on the table. “What should we do with this?”

I picked it up and placed it in her hands. “You keep it. It’s yours anyway. Might as well.”

“Oh, Trixie was already planning to do that. That’s not what she means,” Trixie said, as she stuffed the photo into her cloak pocket.

And she’s back to third person. Probably more comfortable for her. I’ll let her have it. She needs all the comfort she can get. “What do you mean, then?”

“Trixie was wondering if we should show it to the others.” Trixie frowned, and scratched her chin. “Trixie thinks it could be an important clue about our situation. Maybe even help us all get along better.”

My mouth twisted into a half frown. “I’m not sure. I want to say you’d be right, but… look, why don’t we sit on it for now? Maybe find a way to introduce it better, rather than just throwing it out there. People might think it’s fake otherwise, or become suspicious of us.”

Trixie paled at that. “Trixie isn’t suspicious though! And neither is Sunset! Not anymore!”

“Yes, you know that, and I know that, but they don’t. And if I saw a picture of, say, Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo, and Timber?” I shook my head. “I’d start feeling pretty unsure about whether I could trust those two. At least, I would now, since they’re still alive, and he isn’t.”

“Oh. Trixie hadn’t thought of it like that.” Trixie’s face screwed up into a pout. “Trixie will have to think of a way to do this. She doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt, after all.”

Neither do I, but tensions are running pretty hot right now. And I was thinking back again to the other thing Adagio said, about me being number one on everyone’s lists. That was the main reason I was holding this picture back, even though part of me was screaming that if we were just open about everything, things would be fine. But that’s not how life works. Especially not in a killing game.

If only we’d found this picture before Wallflower and Timber died. It could’ve made a massive difference. We might’ve been able to band together as a group. We still could. The potential was there. But only if we didn’t screw this up. Blood had already been spilled once. It wouldn’t take much for someone else to make the same mistake, and then we’d be back at it again. And the more people died, the easier it would be for the remaining to justify killing, for the sake of their own survival. It was a vicious negative feedback loop, and we’d already circled that loop once.

“Well, if we can find some way to boost their trust in us,” I said, thinking aloud. “Then maybe they’ll be willing to accept it.”

Trixie held up one index finger and grinned. “Trixie has the perfect idea, then!”

I was about to ask what, but then heard the sound of many footsteps preceding the arrival of everyone else. Even Adagio had been swept up in the crowd, because Diamond Tiara was pushing and shoving, barking orders for everyone to get together. Everybody took individual seats at the food court tables, all muttering under their breath or glaring Tiara’s way. Adagio pointedly sat as far from me as possible, not looking my way at all.

“Everybody! Listen up!” Tiara shouted, silencing everyone except for Rainbow Dash, who was snickering until Tiara flashed her a personal glare. “Now that we’re done exploring, I’ve got something to say. And I’m going to be blunt. We need leadership in this group. A lack of leadership leads to us being disorganized. A lack of leadership keeps us from working together. A lack of leadership is what saw Timber and Wallflower killed! And as I am a natural leader,” she grinned maliciously, “of course it falls to me.”

“Ah beg your pardon?!” Applejack bursted out, flabbergasted. “Number one, this ain’t, like, a club or somethin’. We’re just stuck here together. And number two, if anyone ought to be a leader, it should be Sunset!”

“Me?” I whispered, holding a hand to my breast. This is the last thing I want to be doing right now, AJ…

Diamond Tiara ground her teeth, her eyes falling upon Applejack like two twenty-pound weights falling out a window and onto her head. “What?! Sunset? What has she done other than make stupid speeches that no one’s listened to?”

“Uh, she led us through the trial, for starters,” Flash said, holding up a hand so he could count on his fingers. “She’s done nothing wrong, she’s been nice to everybody, and if Timber and Wallflower had listened to what she was saying? They’d still be alive.”

I risked a quick glance at Adagio to see what she thought, but other than raking her nails on her table, she didn’t seem to react.

“Trixie agrees with Flash!” Trixie stated as she stood from her chair, thrusting out her arm to let her cloak billow behind her. “Sunset has proven she can be trusted.”

“Uh, Trixie,” I said, now deeply worried about where this was going.

Rarity raised a hand. “I’m sorry, darling, but I have to agree with them. I’m certain you have, ah, some leadership skills. Perhaps.” Rarity coughed politely. “But I would prefer Sunset.”

“Ah dunno, AJ’s got a point though,” Apple Bloom spoke up. “Do we even need a leader? Like, ain’t that just beggin’ for more trouble than it’s worth?”

“It’s true,” Adagio spoke up, her voice not so much dripping with acid as bathing in it. “Leaders have a tendency to be assassinated.”

Ooooh she’s mad, I thought, wincing.

Apple Bloom arched an eyebrow at Adagio. “That ain’t really what Ah meant.”

Adagio scoffed, shrugging. “Whatever then. Whoever wants to try to lead, go ahead. Just don’t expect us to act like your lap dogs.”

“Maybe we should put it to a vote,” Twilight suggested, gesturing with her hand.

A good few people glowered at her in response. “Should we even be listening to you right now?” Sweetie groused. “You made Monoponi add a new rule!”

“Wait, that was her?” Rainbow Dash asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “What gives, Twilight?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Twilight retorted, her hands moving right back to her hips, just like they had when she lectured Trixie and me. “Trixie and Sunset were being too loud!”

“Oh suuuuure, blame it on Sunset,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “We’ve never heard anyone do that before.”

Weren’t you, like, against me every single time it came up before and during the trial? I wondered, but I chose not to say it. No need to provoke her.

“Wha--but--I--but it’s true!” Twilight insisted. “You’re supposed to be quiet in a library, anyway!”

“Whatever, egghead.”

Twilight fumed, her face turning a brilliant shade of pink. “Ooooh!”

Okay. I needed to intervene before this went any further. “Hey, uh, guys?” I said, standing to get their attention. “I appreciate the support and all, but I’m not trying to be your leader or anything. I’m just trying to help us get through this.”

“See?” Diamond Tiara pointed a finger at me. “She doesn’t even want the position! So since no one else wants it, it falls to me.” She brushed back her hair with a flourish. “As I said, the natural leader.” She pointed to my chair and made a sit-sit motion with her hand. “Thank you, Sunset,” she said in a simpering tone. “You can sit now.”

With a shrug, I did as I was told. Did I like being bossed around by Diamond Tiara? Hell no! If anything I was itching to stuff her in a trash can or give her a swirly, or something else I would’ve done back when I bullied people. But if I spoke up against her, all I’d do is make things worse. So I decided it was better to just let her hang herself out like bait. It’d be her own fault if anyone snapped her up. And judging by the sheer hatred I saw in Applejack’s eyes, that just might happen.

“So! Now that that’s decided, let’s move on,” Tiara stated. She pulled out a notebook, the same one she’d been using earlier when we were on our run. “Time to report in on what we found. You, Rainbow! You first.”

With a roll of her eyes, Rainbow Dash sat back and placed her hands behind her head, propping up her feet on a nearby empty chair. “So, there’s an arcade. It’s full of all kinds of games! Consoles, arcade cabinets, handhelds, you name it, they got it. Even skeeball and air hockey. You had to scan your Monopad to be able to play anything, but what else is new?”

Pinkie Pie, who’d been staying unusually quiet and forlorn through this whole conversation, took the opportunity to speak up in a sad voice. “But the prizes aren’t so fun. There’s a whole prize counter, but instead of fun things like toys and cards and candy, it’s a whole lotta stupid pointy weapons!”

“She’s right,” I added, noting a few who probably hadn’t set foot in there looked a bit doubtful. “Just about anything and everything, except guns or explosives.”

“Oooh, idea!” Rarity raised a hand, waving it frantically. “What if we took the time to all equip ourselves with a weapon? I’ve taken fencing courses. I can show people how to handle a foil. Then we could all rise up against Monoponi and free ourselves!”

“And get shot full of a million holes in the process?” Adagio sneered. “Thanks, but no thanks. That’d be mutiny. And mutiny’s against the rules.”

“He has magic anyway,” I pointed out, trying not to wince at the furious expression Adagio fired my way as I spoke. “He could just strip us all before we got anywhere near him. We wouldn’t have anything that could hurt him from a distance. He made sure of that.”

Twilight made a face at my statement, muttering under her breath, “But magic… real…” and whatever else she said was too muffled for me to make out.

“Nooo, of course not,” Scootaloo groaned, throwing out her arms in disgust. “Because why give us something we can use against him when he can give us stuff to hurt each other instead.”

“Alright then!” Tiara barked. “New rule: no one touches the weapons! Sunset, there’s a way to track that, right?” I nodded. “Good. Then we’ll know if anyone breaks that rule. Have as much fun in the arcade as you want, but don’t buy any prizes.”

“I think that’s a pretty good idea,” Flash said, nodding. He held a hand to his chin. “I mean, if there’s any good use for one of them, we should buy one, but only if we all do it together so we know who does it. That should keep us honest.”

“Good use?” Tiara arched a dainty eyebrow and held up a questioning hand. “What kind of good use?”

Flash grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “I uh… I dunno.”

“Whatever. Okay, so that’s it for the arcade. Next!” Tiara scratched something down on her notebook, then pointed to Twilight. “Since you care sooo much about the library, you tell us about it.”

“Well, the library is situated in a multi-story room,” Twilight said, switching to full lecture mode. “The upper floor is stocked with every subject you can think of for non-fiction books, reference text, etc, as well as a study area. The middle floor also contains non-fiction, while the lower floor contains fiction as well as graphic novels and manga.”

“There’s also a door marked ‘archives,’” I added, “that was locked. Couldn’t get inside.”

“And don’t forget the other doors on the lower and middle levels,” Rarity said.

I looked at her, confused. “What other doors?”

“Oh, sorry, darling,” Rarity replied, smiling sheepishly. “I was so excited about the archives I forgot to show you the other doors. They look just like the one we come into the library through from the promenade, so perhaps they lead to other parts of the ship. They’re also locked.”

“That’s logical,” Twilight said with a nod. “It wouldn’t make sense for there to be only one entrance, and on the top floor at that.”

“Question,” Scootaloo said, raising a hand. “I didn’t go to the library. Is there a registry we have to scan our Monopads for or something to check out a book?”

Twilight and Rarity exchanged looks, then both shook their heads at once. “No, strangely,” Twilight answered. “It looks like it’s free for anyone to take any book they want, anytime.”

“Woah, that is weird,” I commented as I sat forward and placed my chin in one hand. “It’s the one place where you’d expect there would at least be a log or a library card or something.

“Who cares?!” Tiara interrupted, throwing up her hands and almost hurling her notebook up in the air in the process. She caught herself from tossing it just in time. “So people can check out books whenever they want. Whoop-de-doo.”

“Uh, no offense intended, ‘yer highness’ or whatever,” Apple Bloom said in a sarcastic tone and throwing out air quotes, prompting her sister to snort with laughter, “But given the situation we’re in, Ah’d feel a bit safer if we had a record of stuff. Know what Ah’m sayin’?”

“We could always make a log book of our own,” Rarity suggested. “We could get a large notebook from one of the stores, and then place it in the library for people to sign. It would be an honor system, I am aware, but it would help, yes?”

I nodded to Rarity. “I like that idea.” It’ll help us trust each other more. Maybe.

Diamond Tiara shot a furious glare in Apple Bloom’s direction, then slowly, calmly, actually swallowed down her rage and broke into a smile. “Yes. I agree. Rarity, would you be willing to take care of that?”

A smile of her own resting on her cheeks, Rarity replied, “Certainly. I’ll do so as soon as we’re finished with this meeting.”

Tiara wrote something else down in her notebook. “Thanks. Okay, so that just leaves the theater. Who all went in there besides me?” I slowly raised my hand, as did Adagio. “Adagio, if you could?”

Adagio shifted in her seat, her nails scratching against the table as she grit her teeth, then grumbled, “It’s a theater. It’s got seats. Stage. Dressing rooms. Workshop. What’s there to tell?”

“Workshop?” I asked without thinking. “What workshop?”

“Oh, you didn’t go into that side of the backstage?” Adagio snarled in a dangerously hostile tone, frigid with fury. “It’s on the other side from the dressing rooms. Maybe you should go back there. See what happens when you’re all alone.”

“Woah, woah there, Adagio,” Flash said, immediately hopping up from his chair and getting between the two of us. “I don’t know what’s got you so mad at Sunset, but cool it, okay? You don’t need to threaten her.”

Adagio rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair. “Who said anything about threats?”

Flash sat back down, but I noticed he kept his eyes squarely on Adagio the whole time. I appreciated that he was looking out for me, but he was painting a target on his back in the process. Dang it, Flash, why do you have to be such a good guy all the time?

“So!” Diamond Tiara said. “Sounds like that’s everything we need to cover for our exploration.” She scratched a few more things down onto her notepad. “As your leader, I’d like to request that we all start meeting up twice a day, at breakfast and at dinner. 8:30 AM and 6:30 PM. This way we don’t have any more… absences.” She looked my way, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. “And it keeps us apprised of everyone’s locations. It’s just safer. We should also avoid going out at night anymore. No more all-night-long parties.”

“Aww…” Pinkie moaned, flatting her face against her table.

Twilight raised her hand. “Are you suggesting a curfew?”

“Yes.” Tiara glared at everyone as many started groaning or making protests. “Not a strict one! Just try to sleep at night and don’t go out. Wallflower went out by herself, and that got her killed. That’s what I want to avoid.”

“Huh. That’s actually a good idea,” Applejack admitted, if grudgingly. “It’s not like you could enforce one anyway. We just gotta try and… trust each other a bit more.”

No one spoke for a while after she said that. We all just kept exchanging glances and looks. I don’t think any of us believed Applejack even meant what she just said. How could we trust each other anymore? One of us had already given in to one of Monoponi’s motives. We hadn’t received another one yet, but it was only a matter of time. And as much as I hated to admit it, someone would probably give in. Trying to deny it would be foolhardy at best, utterly naive at worst.

I wanted to stop more murders from happening, but I wasn’t going to do that by pretending no one would try. I’d have to stay more observant than ever. Keep a close eye on people. Maybe start monitoring my Monopad map. That could track everyone’s positions, and the rules meant people couldn’t just leave their Monopads in their room. Yeah. That was a good idea.

Tiara cleared her throat. “Well, if no one else has anything to say, meeting adj--”

Trixie shot up out of her chair. “Wait! Trixie has an idea she wishes to present!”

Scowling and rolling her eyes, Tiara sat back down and gestured for Trixie to continue. “Go ahead.”

Trixie let out a happy little sound of glee, then struck a pose. “If you all might recall, Trixie suggested putting on a magic show before, at the party. Trixie thinks it’s still a good idea. She could host it in the theater, after dinner one of these nights. Imagine! Dinner and a show!”

Sweetie nudged her sister and whispered quietly, “Hey, where did she get that outfit she’s wearing?”

“I don’t know,” Rarity replied, her nose scrunching up as she tried not to grimace at Trixie’s cloak.

“Hold up a second there, Trixie,” Rainbow Dash objected, throwing out a hand. “I dunno if that’s such a good idea. The last time we did something like that--”

“Yes, Trixie is well aware of what happened, thank you!” Trixie interrupted, glowering fierce daggers at the athlete. “Trixie’s plan is much safer. There will be no alcohol. It will be inside. Everyone will attend.”

“Are ya sayin’ no one’ll be allowed to leave? That’s kinda mean, ain’t it?” Apple Bloom inquired.

“No no, Trixie is not saying that at all,” Trixie replied, waving her hands dismissively. “Trixie is just suggesting that no one be left in their rooms this time. If we all go, then no one will be vulnerable.”

“Alright,” Apple Bloom admitted, nodding, though she still had doubt etched on her face, “but Ah’m still not sure. What kinda tricks are ya gonna put on?”

Trixie grinned eagerly. “Trixie was hoping you would ask that. She wants them to be a surprise, but she will need your help. And Sunset’s.”

Apple Bloom and I shared a look. “Why us?” I asked.

“Because Trixie understands you both know how to construct things, yes? Trixie doesn’t have all the equipment she needs, and she’ll need help making it. With your help, everything will be safe.” She looked directly at me, her expression shifting to a sad, pleading one. “Please.”

I still wasn’t sure about this. If she was needing to construct some kind of trick, that meant she had something dangerous in mind. And I saw the gleam in her eye when Pinkie described the weapons in the game store. I knew she wasn’t going to hurt anyone, but still. “I… sure,” I finally said with a half smile. “I’d be glad to help.” And I can make sure no one messes with it.

“Huh. Buildin’ somethin’, eh? Sure, Ah’d like to do some of that,” Apple Bloom agreed, smiling softly. “It’d be fun.”

“And if you need any help with costumes, I would be happy to sew something up for you,” Rarity offered, one eye twitching as she favored Trixie’s cape with a disdainful look.

“Yes! Trixie would be most happy to accept any offers of help!” Trixie cheered, thrusting out one fist as she leapt in the air.

“Okay, fine, you want to hold a magic show? Sure. You can hold a magic show,” Tiara said with a shrug. “Whatever. But I’ll be supervising! We don’t want a repeat of the party.” She scratched one final thing on her notepad, then smacked a fist on a table as if it were a gavel. “That’s it. Meeting adjourned!”

Everyone dispersed, most heading off in various directions. Adagio, I saw, sped immediately towards her cabin. I wanted to go after her, talk to her now, but I suspected if I did that I might end up regretting it.

Besides, Trixie had corralled Apple Bloom and myself back towards the theater, already running a commentary on her plans. “So Trixie was thinking, she should start with some basics, most of which she can prepare for herself. But she wants it all to lead up to a finale, which is where she will need your help.”

“This, uh, this isn’t leading up to an escape from a water tank that’s going to have piranhas dropped in it after sixty seconds, is it?” I asked hesitantly.

Trixie halted in her tracks, spun, and stared at me, both eyebrows raised. “Excuse Trixie? What kind of basic trick is that?”

“Uh, nothing, nevermind,” I said, letting out a sheepish laugh. “What’d you have in mind?”

Trixie kept her suspicious glare on me for another moment before she started walking again. “Trixie would like to use a much more elaborate trick, one that she has had opportunities to practice in the past. It has many names, but Trixie prefers the name origami.”

“Ah already don’t like where this is goin’,” Apple Bloom muttered, shaking her head.

Trixie’s eyes sparkled as she explained, “Origami is a deceptively simple trick, involving a box, twelve inches square, penetrated by three swords, and a mirror. Without spoiling the magic,” she added with a giggle, “Trixie has an assistant who, after the box is unfolded, gets inside the box. The box is folded back up to its original state. Trixie then thrusts the swords in, one by one, each from a different angle. She turns the box around for the audience to see all sides, then she takes out the swords and opens the box. Trixie’s assistant is unharmed!” Trixie held up a hand to her mouth and laughed. “Isn’t it delightful?”

“I dunno, that sounds really dangerous,” I replied. “Does it have to be real swords?”

“Of course!” Trixie glared at me, huffing. “Trixie wouldn’t demean herself by using fakes! Not that we could make convincing ones anyway.” Trixie, noticing the hesitation all over my face, added, “Trixie would buy the swords from the prize counter with you, Sunset, then store them in her cabin. No one would ever have access to them outside of the show, then they can be put back in Trixie’s cabin afterwards. Trixie has no intention of letting them hurt anyone.”

“Ah think Ah’d be alright with that, so long as Ah was present too,” Apple Bloom said. “We might have ta let Diamond Tiara know, since she’s put on that whole leader schtick and wants to supervise.”

Trixie shrugged. “Trixie is alright with this. Whatever is necessary to ensure no one other than Trixie can touch the swords.”

“Maybe we can make, like, a safety box for the swords,” Apple Bloom suggested. “Just so ya can carry ‘em around easier. Ah think Ah can do that without much trouble. Just need to know the dimensions of the swords.”

“Trixie likes that idea,” Trixie nodded. “Can it be locked?”

“Ah can try.”

As we entered the theater and walked down the steps towards the stage, I turned to Trixie and asked, “So what exactly are you going to need us to build for this trick?”

Trixie launched into an explanation of the specifics. It was simpler than I expected, but still reasonably complex. “Oh, so that’s how it works,” I said when she finished. “That’s pretty cool! I never would’ve thought of that.”

“Right? Trixie is very proud of the design,” Trixie replied, eyes twinkling like purple sapphires.

We spent some time speaking further about the design, and Apple Bloom and I got familiar with the layout of the workshop, or rather, prop shop, Trixie told me. We made plans to get started and gather materials. Most were already available, but we needed a few things from the stores. I told them I’d go and get them, but that I needed to do something else first.

Adagio… we need to talk.

Author's Notes:

Romance is all well and good, but what's often better than that in stories? Friendshipping! Trixie and Sunset may very well become best friends through this experience.

Or not. I'll never tell.

Adagio, meanwhile, is falling prey to the typical misinterpretation cliche. Oh dear. And speaking of stupidity, what the heck do you think you're doing making Monoponi create new rules, Twilight? Jeez.

The origami trick is a real magic trick, originally devised by Jim Steinmeyer for Doug Henning to perform. Many magicians would go on to make their own versions, with the most popular being David Copperfield's, where he adds some extra wrinkles, such as his assistant magically wearing a different outfit when she emerges from the box. I intended from the start to let Trixie put on a magic show, with something a bit more impressive than the easily solved water tank escape that the so-called Ultimate Magician performed in V3. (Seriously, she wasn't even tied up! I still love Himiko because she's adorable, but jeez.)

Next Time: Part III

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 3

I paused outside of Adagio’s cabin door, hand raised ready to knock. My stomach churned, filled not so much with butterflies but entire flocks of birds with pointy beaks. I remembered what Twilight said. About how people in dangerous situations end up bonding faster than usual. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about Adagio. Do I love her?

I don’t know. Probably too early to tell. I like her. I know that. And we had a good time. But how did Adagio feel? I knew she was angry. Upset. I was the first one she actually ever cared about. And she thinks I betrayed her. Yeah, no wonder she’s angry. I’d be pissed too in her situation.

Sunset what’re you doing? You’re just trying to delay this. Get it over with, girl.

Right. Okay. I took a few deep breaths, then knocked on the door three times. Very soon after, the door opened up just a crack, and Adagio peered out. When she saw me, her eyes filled with malice and the cold promise of slow, excruciating death. “What?” she hissed.

“Can we talk?” I asked plainly, struggling not to break down in panic at the look she was giving me. All those alarm bells from my pony instincts rang anew, blaring like mad.

Adagio’s lips rolled back, showing her teeth. “No.” She started to close the door.

I threw my arm in the way. “Adagio. Seriously. Let me talk.”

Hissing and muttering under her breath, Adagio spun and moved away, letting me open the door. “Fine.”

Once I entered, she slammed the door shut behind me and quickly locked it, then abruptly kicked me in the stomach and body slammed me onto the bed, holding me down with one arm across my chest. It was so fast I couldn’t react or do anything other than grunt in sudden pain, gasping for air. A knife was at my throat before I could even blink. “You’ve got about two minutes before I use you as my ticket out of here!” Adagio snarled.

I coughed and spluttered, trying to get any kind of air in. The cold touch of the knife sent fresh frissions of fear flickering from my spine. “Adagio,” I gasped, “I think you’re overreacting.”

Adagio pressed the point of the knife deeper into the flesh of my neck, drawing a bit of pink blood. “Try again.”

“I can’t talk like this,” I said, struggling to speak with any real clarity. “Let me go, please.”

With a grunt, Adagio removed the knife and released me, backing up out of my reach. “Don’t sit up,” she warned. “You can talk from there.”

Okay. This is going even worse than I expected. That’s fine. I’m sure she’s not stupid. Just don’t piss her off further. Just be blunt. She values honesty over niceties. “I’m not dating Trixie,” I said simply.

I could barely see her from my laying down position, but I noticed her wave at me to sit up, so I did. “Then what did I see?” she asked, relaxed by only the slightest of hairs.

One hand shot up to my neck, wiping at the trace of blood. Fortunately she’d barely nicked me. “I agreed to be her friend.” At the widening of Adagio’s eyes, I immediately added, “Just her friend, nothing else!”

Adagio flipped the knife over in her hand, over and over again, as she stared at me quietly. She didn’t speak, just stood there, her other hand on her hip, her weight on one leg. Then, ever so slowly, she set the knife down on the dresser, came over to the bed, and plopped down, hissing through her teeth. “I’m an idiot,” she muttered.

“Yeah, a bit,” I agreed, flashing her a sympathetic grin. She didn’t smile back, so my own faded. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re kinda new to all this. I’m sorry if I worried you.”

Adagio shifted on the bed till she faced me, and roughly shoved a hand my way. After a moment, I took it, carefully, in mine. “I’m sorry too,” she grumbled. At least this time she was able to say the words more easily. “I should’ve… asked.” She laughed bitterly at herself. “You’d think I’d know how this works. I messed with pony’s heads often enough to know better.”

I tried not to flinch at the implications of that. She’s trying to be better, Sunset. Don’t let it get to you. “You’re new to this. It’s different when you’re in a relationship.”

“Are we?” Adagio whispered.

Good question. “Do you want us to be?”

Adagio looked away, her bushy orange hair swishing. She released my hand and took several deep breaths. Then she turned back to me and placed her hand in mine again. “Yes,” she admitted, with a sour expression on her face. Her voice turned low and grumpy, more like sour gripes than fine wine. “I… Sirens don’t really care about each other, the way ponies do. But you cared about me. I… I liked it more than I thought I would.”

“Aww, are you saying you love me?” I blurted before I could get hold of my god-damned stupid idiot mouth. Why did I say that? God, Sunset, do you have a death wish or something?

Adagio’s expression went blank. Pink filled her cheeks and spread up her face till she was practically steaming at the ears. Her teeth bared anew as she growled wordlessly, started to remove her hand, then stopped just as suddenly. “Love is a… strong word,” she said between grinding teeth. “I… I like you. That’s all. For now.”

“I like you too, Adagio,” I quipped, trying out a small smile to see how she reacted. She grumbled, rolling her eyes, but she seemed okay with it. “I’m sorry I scared you with Trixie. We were just talking about the p--I mean, about her, and--”

“Hold on,” Adagio interrupted, narrowing her eyes at me in suspicion. “What were you talking about?”

“Uh… aheh...heh…” I scratched the back of my head as Adagio’s eyebrows rose up and her mouth twisted further and further into a deep frown. So I told her about the photograph, and that we were trying to keep it quiet.

“Smart,” Adagio commented once I finished. “Tiara’d accuse you of being the traitor if she saw that.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” I admitted, sighing. “I still dunno if I believe Monoponi when he says there is one.”

“Eh, he’s probably telling the truth,” Adagio shrugged. “Like Wallflower said, not much reason to lie when the truth hurts just as much.”

You’re not wrong. “Anyway, Adagio, listen, I’m glad we worked this out. I’ve gotta go for now. See you later?”

For the first time since she saw me with Trixie, a smile appeared on Adagio’s face. It was small, sure. Uncertain. Shaky. But it was a smile. “Sure.”

Feeling a bit daring, I raised her hand to my lips, kissed it, then gently set it down, and got up to leave. From the corner of my eye as I left I saw Adagio lift the hand I kissed up to her mouth and touch her own lips to it. My heart soared at the sight. Yeah. I think I’m starting to fall for you, Adagio, I admitted, if only to myself.

I didn’t care if it was stupid, or unreasonable. Because it totally was. I didn’t know if I could trust her. For all I knew, her whole thing about being a siren? About being from Equestria? It could be an act. Hell, she could be the traitor. It’d make sense. Worm her way into my good graces, get me all trusting of her, she stays by my side every trial till she eventually reveals herself… and Monoponi is Equestrian…

But no. I took that line of thinking and threw it out into the sea. She was sincere. She had to be. Who could fake the way she acted when I kissed her? When I touched her? When I… well. If she was acting, then she sure had me fooled. So she wasn’t acting. It was that simple.

I made my way to the stores, purchased the supplies needed, and made my way back to the theater prop shop. It wasn’t the largest shop I’d ever worked in, more suited to smaller set pieces, furniture, and costumes than manufacturing, but it was well stocked with most of what we needed, and well organized too, albeit with plenty of dangerous tools. Hammers and screwdrivers aplenty, heavy wrenches, some power tools, a nailgun or two, table saw, even the large rolling step ladder laying against the wall next to the saw… yeah, there were plenty of tools for murder here. But then, there were plenty of tools everywhere. A freaking pencil could kill someone if you used it right. Not much point worrying about it.

I was a little surprised to discover Rarity was present, in the middle of getting Trixie’s measurements. Apple Bloom was already at work drafting out the plans for the box trick on one of the two drafting tables. “Oh, there you are, Sunset,” Trixie said as she held up her arms for Rarity. “Trixie thought you’d be back sooner.”

“Sorry, my errand took longer than I expected,” I said, setting my purchases down. I started sorting them out to put away with the other things till they were needed.

Apple Bloom grabbed a piece of paper out from under her stack and handed it over to me. “When ya get a minute, could ya look this over? This is mah plan for the safety box.”

“Sure.”

Rarity finished up with Trixie and scribbled down her notes on a small notepad. “Alright, Sunset, if you don’t mind, darling, I’d like to take your measurements too.”

I looked up, confused. “Mine? Why?”

Trixie burst out into a wide smile. “Trixie thinks you would make an excellent assistant for her show! ...and Apple Bloom won’t do it.”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Sorry. Ah ain’t good with small spaces. Ah ain’t ashamed of that.”

“Uh, I don’t know, Trixie,” I said hesitantly, my mind flashing back to images of the angry Adagio I’d only just managed to calm down. “What would I even be doing?”

“Oh, not much,” Trixie answered, whisking a hand through her hair and posing dramatically. “You’d just have to stay by Trixie’s side, do as Trixie requests, and most importantly, be the ‘victim’ of the origami trick! Trixie cannot do it without someone who already knows how it works, and Trixie would rather not spoil it for anyone else.” Her eyes swelled up like a puppy’s, her lips curling into an adorable pout as she held up her hands in a pleading gesture. “Please Sunset? For Trixie?”

Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I answered, “Alright, I’ll do it. Please tell me you’ll keep it professional.”

Trixie’s jaw fell open and she puffed herself up, one hand clapping to her breast. “Trixie is affronted! Trixie would never be anything but professional with her assistants!” She dropped her hand and put on a smug smirk. “Besides, you’re not Trixie’s type.”

“What is, a mirror?” Apple Bloom quipped, sniggering.

I snorted, trying not to laugh too hard. “Ooh, burn,” I said.

“Laugh if you must,” Trixie said elegantly, sticking her nose further up into the air in an exaggerated way. “But Trixie will own it.”

That got us all laughing pretty hard, even Trixie. Girl’s got a sense of humor. She’s fun.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

We all froze in place. A brief moment of terror gripped my body as we all turned to face the screen hanging over the prop shop’s table saw, where Monoponi appeared, his usual snifter of brandy resting squarely in his magic.

“Attention all passengers! Exploration time is over! Please report to the bridge deck, immediately!”

His announcement doused the last embers of our good mood. “Oh what does that boorish lout want with us now?” Rarity groused as she rolled up her measuring tape and placed it in her pocket. “Sunset, I’ll have to measure you later.”

As a group we trudged out of the theater, forming up with other strays from the library and game corner as we made our way to the bridge deck. Some people muttered to themselves, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo engaged in quiet whispers to each other, but otherwise we all stayed quiet.

Once we formed up on the bridge deck, Monoponi emerged onto the balcony, choosing to step outside the tower door this time instead of just teleporting in. He stood before us, silently surveying the crowd. “So, I see you’re all here,” he mocked. “Have fun exploring the ship?”

“No, not really,” Rainbow Dash grumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” Monoponi held up a hoof to one ear. “I didn’t quite catch that.”

“No, not really!” Rainbow repeated, squeezing her hands closed and adopting a defensive posture.

Monoponi doubled over at that, letting out a moan. “Oh, that’s such a shame,” he said. “Your Captain put so much hard work and effort into preparing those new venues for you. So many hours, cracking my hooves, breaking my back, wearing my feathers down to nubs, all wasted… oh what a world…”

Her usual sneer firmly in place, Diamond Tiara spoke up, “Oh stop it. No one buys your sob story act.”

“Oh ho!” Monoponi shot up to attention, one hoof squarely at his head in a salute. “Yes ma’am, leader ma’am! Your Captain is here to serve you, ma’am!”

For a moment, Tiara seemed to consider that, as if she actually believed him. Then her sneer twisted even further. “Please. I’ve heard better subservience from my estate’s pool boy!”

“Aaaaaiiiii!” Monoponi squealed like a stuck pig, shrinking down to cover his head with his forehooves. “Have mercy!”

“This is really gettin’ old,” Apple Bloom groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead.

“Seriously, just quit messing around,” Flash griped, crossing his arms over his chest. “No one’s interested. If you’ve got something to say, just say it so we can move on with our lives.”

Monoponi instantly adopted his usual confident stance. “Oh, fine. So! Now that you’re finished exploring, your captain has a brand new activity for you all! Yes! You guessed it! It’s time for your next motive!”

“What?!”

“Oh come on!”

“Here we go again…”

“Hey!” I spoke up over everyone else. “There’s no point in giving us another motive! No one’s going to fall for it!” I didn’t believe my own words, not anymore, but it was worth a shot.

“Yeah!” Trixie seconded. “Trixie won’t hurt another soul aboard this ship!”

“You’re not gonna get us to do a thing!” Scootaloo agreed.

And as I expected, Monoponi retorted, “Oh? Ohoho? Are you sure about that Sunset? Hmmm?” Monoponi held up a hoof to his mouth. “Upupu, Timber disagrees with you! He fell for the memory motive. He wanted to know all about his sister so badly. Don’t you remember?” He cackled once more. “Oh wait, maybe you don’t! Maybe your memory loss is so bad now you can’t remember what you did five minutes ago!”

“I remember things just fine,” I groused in response.

Diamond Tiara held out her hand in a gesture that screamed for obedience, and pronounced, “As our leader I’ve already taken steps to prevent another murder! You can present us a motive, but it won’t change a thing. We won’t hurt each other anymore. Not on my watch.”

Monoponi snickered. “How noble. Strong words from a coward who falls to pieces the moment anyone shows any spine!”

With a quick beat of his wings Monoponi hopped off his balcony and slammed to the deck right in front of Tiara, who immediately reared back, screaming in panic as she fell to her butt with a pained grunt. Monoponi opened his mouth a touch, drool dripping from between the sharpened teeth as he inched closer and closer to Tiara’s face. Tears streamed from Tiara’s eyes in droves as she screeched at the top of her lungs, trying to scoot herself back on the deck only for the hem of her pants to get caught in Monoponi’s magic grip. His jaws opened wide, and shot for Tiara’s throat, and she screamed all the louder.

Then just as abruptly Monoponi disappeared in a flash of crimson light and a pop of air, reappearing atop the balcony. “Case in point,” he said with satisfaction.

To my dismay I saw more than a few people looking at Tiara’s weeping form with amusement. Applejack even started laughing. With a disgusted snort I surged forward and helped Tiara struggle back to her feet. “Are you okay?” I asked her quietly as she dabbed at her eyes with her jacket.

When she saw it was me who was helping her, Tiara’s face twisted up in scorn. She rammed her elbow into my gut, knocking the wind out of me. “Don’t touch me!” she snarled.

Ow. God. Not again… ugh… I shuffled back, managing to just barely stay on my feet as I clutched my aching stomach. I gasped for air, wheezing as I managed to draw some into my lungs. No one bothered to help me, though I noticed both Trixie and Adagio fire sad looks my way.

“Eyahahaha!” Monoponi chortled. “Such incredible leadership skills you’re showing there, Diamond Tiara! After all, what else inspires more confidence in a leader than seeing her knock her own subordinates around? Ahahahaha!”

“That’s enough!” Fluttershy thundered, all frowns and disappointed glares. “If you’re going to give us a motive, then just give us a motive!”

Monoponi demonstrably shrugged. “As you wish! Now then, this motive comes in two parts! The first is a classic. A well trodden path. Secrets!” Monoponi extended his wings out and stood on his hind legs. “Yes, secrets! But not just any secrets! Your most personal secrets! Your shames, your hidden desires, your darkest acts! But because it would be boring and trite to just hoof you your own secret, I’ll be switching it up! Each of you will get one other person’s secret, via Monopad. And before I send them, let me make one thing very clear: You are not to share these with each other! Allow me to make that official!”

A flash of his horn later and our Monopads were sent a trilling. I withdrew mine and turned it on, unsurprised to see what popped up.

“Keep in mind that includes telling others whose secret you have!” Monoponi added with a dark sheen reflecting in his eyes. “Of course, nothing prevents you from trying to peek, upupupu.”

“So what’s the second part?” I inquired as I lowered my Monopad. “If we don’t kill someone in twenty-four hours, you’ll share our secrets with the world?”

“What? No! What kind of copycat crook do you take me for, Sunset?” Monoponi replied, stomping one hoof onto the balcony with a clang. “I have more creativity than that! No no, the second part, well, that’s the really fun part! But first, let me give you… the secrets!”

More than one person cradled their Monopad carefully, hiding it from other’s view. A few of us, myself included, stepped further away from others, giving ourselves more space. With a twirl of his head Monoponi’s horn lit again, and our Monopads beeped. I opened up the message, and my mouth fell open in shock.

“Lulamoon?” I whispered. “Then, that book she had, that was…” My eyes turned to Trixie, who’d already switched her Monopad off and was staring at the deck. I started to step forward, to say something, only to sense a cold burning pair of eyes drilling into my back. I whirled and searched for them, but whoever it was had already stopped looking my way.

“Enjoying the secrets, everyone? I’m sure you are,” Monoponi mocked with a chuckle. “After all, I haven’t even mentioned the best thing about these secrets. Remember the traitor?”

Everyone’s eyes shot up from their Monopads instantly, fixed up at Monoponi, mine included. “You don’t mean…” Rarity mumbled.

“You didn’t forget that one of you is a traitor, did you? I sure hope not. Because that’s their secret! One of you now knows who they are. And you can’t even tell anybody about it! Ahahahahaha!” Monoponi fell onto his side and rolled over, shaking with mirth. “I hope you’re prepared to commit a murder, because you better hope the traitor doesn’t find out who you are and kills you first! Ahahahahaha!”

Tension roiled along the deck like a churning ocean in a category-five hurricane, all froth and movement, twisting our guts up until they were knotted up like the strings of a corset. Suspicions rose as everyone turned on each other, staring at each other, all stepping back and preparing, as if someone was just going to wig out and throttle them. Even the sisters, Sweetie Belle and Rarity, and Apple Bloom and Applejack were wary of each other now. Only Rainbow and Fluttershy seemed to trust each other, but only just.

The only person in the crowd not casting distrustful looks my way was Adagio. She alone stood like a rock in the storm, impassive and unmoving, unwilling to yield. And yet, somehow, that didn’t fill me with confidence. Quite the opposite. It scared me. My worries that her feelings for me were just an act crept up on me again like a plague, infecting my mind, my thoughts, my being, until I was afraid. Terrified, even.

She already threatened to kill me, I realized. What if that wasn’t a mistake? What if it was just a warning, a preview? What if she really had picked me for her victim? I don’t want to die!

My mind raced as I considered, just for the briefest of moments, striking first. I could get away with it. They trusted me to run the trials. I could easily guide them to the wrong conclusion. Then I’d win, and I’d live, I’d escape, and all it would cost is… all it would cost is…

I slapped myself in the face, once, twice, thrice, each time harder than the last. What is wrong with you, Sunset?! You’re giving in! This is what he wants, remember?

I summoned up the image of my former self, the way I once was, and drew upon the strength that image suggested. She might’ve been a complete bitch, that old Sunset, but what she wasn’t was weak. She wouldn’t give in to the whims of someone like Monoponi. She’d refuse to bow down. I needed that conviction, that belief in myself.

I drew myself up, twisted my mouth into a stoic frown, crossed my arms, and faced Monoponi. “Oh?” he murmured as he saw the complete change in my stance. “What’s this now? I thought you were scared, Sunset. Scared just like the rest of them.”

I arched a solitary eyebrow. “You said there was a second part to this motive, Monoponi,” I said, my tone steady and unwavering, untouched by fear. “What is it?”

For a moment, he didn’t answer. Then he rumbled with laughter once more, his eyes flashing crimson. “Oh Sunset, you are such a treat. Very well. The second part to your motive, you idiots, is simply this.” He struck that familiar pose, aping Celestia herself as if he was raising the sun. “I have a puzzle for you all to solve! The first person to answer my puzzle will get a fabulous prize! What is the puzzle? What is the prize? Well you’ll just have to speak to me privately to find out! Maybe it’ll be useful. Who knows? You won’t, till you try! Just keep in mind, it’s first come, first served!” He dropped the pose. “If you want to speak to me, just call out for me. But only when you’re alone! I won’t appear if there’s even a chance someone else might overhear!”

A fabulous prize. Sure. It’s probably just another tool for murder. Maybe I should try to answer the puzzle as soon as I get back to my room. It was a good idea. That way I could keep anyone else from claiming it.

But then again, maybe not. There was no way to know ahead of time what the puzzle was. It probably related to the secrets, but which secret? Whose? And how?

No. I’d have to wait, till I was more certain I’d have the right answer. For all I knew the puzzle could be “What is Monoponi’s favorite kind of dessert spoon?” or something equally inane.

“And now that I’ve presented you with your motive, I wish to bid you adieu, and bonne chance! I’ll be waiting.” Monoponi’s horn lit up once more, and he vanished in a flash of light.

Everyone dispersed, heading off to their own tasks, but more slowly, as if the motive were weighing heavily on their minds. Which it probably was. I waited till most had gone their separate ways before catching up with Rarity, who’d wandered in the direction of the outdoor lounge. “Oh, Sunset!” Rarity said as her breath quickened. She held a hand up to her breast. “You startled me.”

“Sorry,” I apologized quickly, giving her a sheepish smile. “I know everyone’s on edge right now. So I figured maybe now was a good time to go ahead and get those measurements?”

“Of course, of course darling,” Rarity replied as she withdrew her measuring tape. “Please, just stand still. This shouldn’t take long.”

She fussed over me as she extended the tape, taking one measurement after the other in rapid succession. Every time she had to touch me she muttered an apology, and soon enough it was done, and she’d scribbled down her last note. “There we go. I’ll meet with you later to start modeling the dress. Perhaps around 7:00, in the theater?”

I nodded my ascent, and we parted ways. I made my way back towards the theater prop shop, so I could get to work on Trixie’s request. As I walked, thoughts about the motive rolled through my head. What could my secret be? Who would be most tempted by the motive? Who is the traitor?

Well, my secret, that much was easy. It was almost certainly the fact that I was a pony. Knowing Monoponi, he’d portray it in a creepy way, like “Sunset is an alien to this world,” or “Sunset is not human.” Something like that. It’d make me look like the traitor, for sure.

Everyone was tempted by the motive. If even I’d wavered, surely someone was going to break. Maybe while she was measuring me, Rarity thought about strangling me with that tape. I had no way to know.

The traitor, who knew. Adagio… I really shouldn’t count Adagio out of the running, not yet. Not after what I saw on the deck. I had no idea where she went. She was the first to leave.

Which reminded me to start tracking people on my Monopad. I’d grabbed a notebook from the store the other day, so recording would be easy. I took a moment while passing through the food court to stop and break out the pad. Turning on the map, I noted that most people had opted to head to their rooms. Trixie and Apple Bloom were in the prop shop. Adagio, though, was on the first floor of the library, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Interesting. Twilight was there too, poking around the third floor, with Flash. Sweetie Belle was also on the third floor of the library, on the other side from Twilight and Flash. Rarity was in the fabric store. And finally Scootaloo was in the game corner.

I wrote that all down, noted the time--3:45 PM--and then moved on. I’d try to check at least every half hour or so, and keep notes.

The mood was grim as I arrived back at the shop. Apple Bloom worked silently alongside Trixie, making modifications to a draft plan. Neither looked up at me, so, with a shrug, I went over to the plan Apple Bloom asked me to check and sat down at the other draft table.

We worked quietly for a good half hour before Trixie suddenly blurted, “We should get the swords now.”

I just avoided tearing the paper in half as my pen jerked in my hand. I set it down, and said, “Trixie, I’m even less sure this is a good idea. The motive--”

“Forget the motive!” Trixie interrupted, throwing out a hand in a plaintive gesture. “Trixie thinks her show is more important than ever now. Trixie doesn’t want everyone to feel sad, or worried. Trixie wants everyone to feel happy.”

“That’s what Pinkie wanted with the party, though,” Apple Bloom pointed out with a sigh. “And Tim--”

“TRIXIE KNOWS WHAT TIMBER DID!” Trixie screamed, the force of her shout almost bowling the two of us over. “Trixie is not stupid! Trixie knows someone might use her show to hurt someone, okay? She knows!” Tears streamed down her face as she cried out. “But Trixie just wants to help make things better, the only way she knows how. Trixie knows magic. And magic makes people smile.”

With a helpless shrug, I said, “Trixie, I get where you’re coming from. I’m just worried.”

Trixie set a hand on my shoulder, wiping away her tears with the back of the other. “Trixie understands. But trust Trixie. Trust she knows what she’s doing.”

“Well, if that’s so,” Apple Bloom said, nodding in understanding, “then we’d better go get those swords in a jiffy. Ah can measure ‘em once they’re back and then we can build the safety box. Ah’ll make sure it’s got a lock.”

Before we left, I turned on my Monopad and jotted down everyone’s new locations. Most hadn’t shifted, though Rainbow had left the game corner and was meandering through the cabins, while Adagio was now on the second floor of the library. Sweetie Belle was pursuing books on the third. And Tiara, she was in the game corner, oddly enough.

It was just as well, since she’d said she wanted to chaperone. So we made our way there, and met up with her, finding her beating the crap out of a whack-a-mole game. Sweat coated her clothes, stains all over her jacket. Her hair was a right mess. “What’re you three doing here?” she grumbled as she threw down the mallet and wiped her brow.

Briefly, Trixie explained her plan, and the need for the swords. “Are you sure you really need real swords?” Tiara questioned, doubt etched across her features.

“Yes, Trixie is certain. Besides, if Trixie were going to use them to hurt others, do you think Trixie would be stupid enough to buy them with witnesses?”

Tiara snorted, but shrugged. “Alright. I’ve got plenty of tickets from this stupid game anyway.”

That’s convenient. I almost forgot about the tickets. Judging by the looks of surprised relief on Trixie and Apple Bloom’s faces, I wasn’t the only one.

We approached the prize counter, and waited for Trixie to decide which kinds of sword she wanted, since it turned out there was quite a large selection. “Hmm, how about… you!” She said, pointing at a trio of Qilin dao swords, rather than the katanas I’d been expecting. Tiara had just enough tickets to purchase all three, so she fed them into the machine, and dialed in her purchase. It was just like a vending machine, complete with claw reaching, grabbing the swords, and laying them carefully on the counter.

I picked up one, feeling the heft in my hand. It wasn’t as heavy as I’d feared it would be, at most a couple of kilos. Trixie ought to be able to carry all three in her box without any problems. “What do you think, Bloom?” I asked, handing it over to her.

Apple Bloom took the sword and weighed it, slowly swinging it around. “Yeah, Ah oughta be able to make somethin’ to hold these, no problem.”

Together, the four of us took them back to the shop. Well, three of us carried swords, and Tiara loomed over us like a prison guard. Once we arrived, she took up a position leaning against a nearby wall, and just watched, not saying a word.

While Trixie busied herself with readying various smaller tricks, Apple Bloom and I together started on the safety box. We opted for a very simple design, using slabs of wood nailed together, and an interior liner of thick leather taken from the prop shop supplies. It took us less than an hour to finish the box, and to top it off we used a padlock I’d bought at the sporting goods store to lock the box, handing the key to Trixie. For good measure Bloom had taken the opportunity to use some rope to craft a pair of handles for the box to make it easier for Trixie to carry.

Trixie thanked us and, with Tiara following as a chaperone, took the swords back to her cabin. Bloom and I got started on the primary trick box, but before we could get very far I realized the time. “It’s almost 6:30,” I said, setting down the sander in my hand.

“We could use a break anyhow,” Bloom agreed.

We made our way quietly to the promenade. The hard work had left me feeling thoroughly tired, but satisfied. Building something with my own two hands held a satisfaction I rarely found with other pursuits, and it had helped ease my worries about the motive. It was a useful distraction, anyway.

But as we joined the others for the meeting, the tension slipped right back in, as if I’d left the door open by mistake during a cold winter’s night. Although we were ostensibly supposed to be talking, most of us stayed quiet, eating in relative silence. It was only briefly broken by Trixie announcing she was going to hold her show tomorrow, right after dinner, at 7:00, for forty-five minutes. “You sure we don’t need more time to practice?” I asked her.

“Nonsense,” Trixie said reassuringly. “Trixie has performed everything she intends to perform many times over. There is little need for Trixie to rehearse. And as for your part, Sunset, Trixie will show you all you need. Trixie has already made guides on the stage and everything for you.”

“What’s Sunset gonna be doing?” Scootaloo asked as she lifted a spoonful of soup to her lips.

Trixie made several dramatic hand gestures in my general direction. “Sunset will be my lovely assistant on stage, helping Trixie in whatever she needs help with.”

“Speaking of which, darling, I’ve had the most lovely idea for your dress,” Rarity spoke up after swallowing a mouthful of salad. “I was thinking a long, flowing dress of scarlet silk, off the shoulder, with just the slightest of trains, enough for effect without getting in your way. Are you going to be wearing heels, or flats? I believe both are available in the sporting goods store’s shoe section.”

“Flats,” I responded immediately, grimacing in disgust. “I hate heels. I always trip when I walk in those things.” And I will never understand the human obsession with making women wear them in formal situations. Not even ponies wear heels, and we don’t usually wear clothes at all.

“Hmm. Pity,” Rarity responded with a frown. “Heels would work better with this type of dress. Ah well. I’ll make do.”

“Wait, the store has heels?” Flash inquired, his eyebrows raising, his mouth twisting into a confused frown. “Why would a sporting goods store have heels?”

Rarity shrugged. “I have no idea, but it does.The promenade shops are eclectic. Like a thrift store.”

“Or a warehouse,” Rainbow quipped. “I’m still finding new stuff in there every time I go in.”

After dinner, I spent a good hour and a half with Rarity fussing over me as a model before she let me go. The rest I spent with Apple Bloom, who’d done some work while I was gone, and together we managed to just finish working on the trick box and table display by the time the nighttime announcement chimed.

Before bed I took a long, good hot soak in the shower. I never did get the chance to change out of my tracksuit and had been wearing the thing the whole day, and it reeked. So did I, actually. But the hot water washing over my muscles helped soothe the aches, and a good scrubbing with soap took care of the rest. The shower did let me get a good look at some of the bruises I’d picked up lately. I had several all over my body courtesy of Adagio’s… enthusiastic lovemaking, but the real shiner was my belly. It was dual layered, the original kick from Adagio’s boot plus Tiara’s elbow lining up perfectly, almost making my stomach look like a practice target.

Fortunately the water helped with that, just like the rest, and as I fell into bed, I took one last look at my Monopad, noting down the time as 10:30. Most were in their cabins, Apple Bloom and Twilight were just leaving the library, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were finishing up with some late night exercise on the bridge deck, Adagio was leaving the theater, and Tiara was--

The screen of my Monopad abruptly blanked out. “What the heck?” I tapped at it, puzzled as it just as suddenly turned back on. For some reason, no one’s icons were showing up on the map. I briefly switched to various other apps on the pad, but everything else worked fine. Just no one’s icons appeared. “That’s… weird.”

Too tired to really care what it meant, I shrugged, set the pad aside, and switched off the light. I dozed for a while, waking with a start sometime after midnight, and checked the pad again. This time everyone’s icons showed up exactly like they should, all fourteen of us in our cabins. Mumbling to myself as I noted things down on my notebook, I went right back to sleep, this time straight through to morning.

Author's Notes:

So yes, our motive this time is secrets. Bog standard, I know, but I hope the twist I've placed on it is sufficient.

Adagio and Sunset have gotten over one hump in their relationship, but don't expect it to be the last.

Sunset is 100% channeling me when it comes to heels. They are so difficult to walk in. I wear mine as little as possible.

Next time: the show!

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 4

DING-DONG-BING-BONG

As Monoponi’s irritatingly shrill voice blustered over the speakers before the screen winked out, I sat up in bed, groaning. “I’m never going to get used to that,” I mumbled. At least this time my sleep wasn’t plagued by nightmares. Unless you counted Adagio’s very sharp teeth.

I checked my Monopad map before getting ready, but everyone was still in their cabins, just like they had been last night. At least it was working again. Dumb piece of crap.

Once I finished getting ready, I headed out to the promenade for the breakfast meal. Everyone had a bit more of a bounce in their step this morning. Sleep did us all some good. I made sure to sit down next to Trixie and Apple Bloom once I got my meal. “So what’s the plan today, Trixie?” I asked as I bit into a helping of eggs.

“Well,” Trixie said, gesturing with her forkful of pancake. “Trixie is thinking we shouldn’t need too much time for rehearsal. She would like to go over everything with you after we finish eating, but it should be easy.

“Ah was thinkin’ about that, and Ah should probably be on stage with y’all,” Apple Bloom replied after swallowing a bite of apple. “Just to help with technical support. Ah know we aren’t usin’ much in the way of tech for this, but Ah should be ready just in case anyhow.”

Trixie frowned. “Oh. Trixie was hoping you would run the lights, but she supposes you’re right.”

“Did you say you needed someone to help out with the lights?” Flash interjected, leaning over from his table where he sat next to Twilight. “I used to help run them for some of the shows CU’s theater classes put on.”

“Oooh, that’s wonderful!” Trixie said, breaking out into a smile. “Trixie would be most pleased to accept your help, Flash.”

Flash gave her a thumbs up. “Yeah, you got it, Trixie. I’m looking forward to the show.”

“Me too,” Sweetie Belle added from her own seat next to Rarity. “I love magic shows! They always end with a bang! I can’t wait to see how yours ends!”

“Hmph. We’ll see if she’s more than talk,” Adagio said, flashing Trixie a simpering smile.

Trixie’s face fell, twisting into a sad frown. “Yes, well. Trixie will show you,” she grumbled under her breath.

I sighed quietly and massaged my forehead with my thumb and index finger. Adagio, I thought I told you to lay off of Trixie. I don’t understand what your problem is with her. Well, okay, I do a little, but you had problems with her even before our… situation.

“Oh, Sunset, I will need your help again this afternoon,” Rarity said, derailing my train of thought. “I’m working as quickly as I can on the dress, but I’ll need you for the finishing touches. You too, Trixie darling. I’ve already got your outfit changes ready, but I want to make a few last-minute adjustments.”

I nodded as Trixie said, “Of course, Rarity. Trixie is grateful for your help.”

“Oh it’s no trouble at all, I assure you,” Rarity said with a giggle. “I’m just glad to be doing some seamstress work. Relaxing is all well and good, but I wouldn’t want to get out of practice.

“Hey, you guys,” Pinkie asked. The girl had mostly recovered from the day before, and while she still didn’t have all the bounce to her curls back, the sparks of energy had returned. “Did anyone else have something funky happen with their Monopads last night?”

“Yeah, I did,” I said, scooping up another forkful of eggs into my mouth. “I thought it was just mine.”

“Mine also malfunctioned,” Twilight added, holding up her Monopad in one hand. “I think it was a wifi glitch.”

“Huh, mine too,” Applejack said. She took a big bite out of her ham steak, swallowed, then added, “Ah guess you must be right, if it were all of ‘em at once. Wonder what happened.”

Twilight shrugged. “Could be anything. I saw some lighting on the far horizon last night. Could be we just got too close to a storm.”

“That’s no good,” Scootaloo said, shivering. “Last thing we need is a thunderstorm at sea.”

“Alright!” Rainbow Dash shouted, standing up and clapping her hands together. “Who’s ready for exercise?”

A chorus of groans arose from the group.

One thoroughly exhausting exercise session and a shower later, I was embroiled in a rehearsal with Trixie. She led me up on stage in the theater and began pointing to various spots on the floor she’d marked out yesterday with Xs of duct tape. “You’ll want to stand here, here, and here while Trixie is performing,” she said. “You’ll help bring out Trixie’s props as she needs them. They’ll be here.” She pointed to a circle of tape. “Finally, the big finale. You’ll place the origami trick here, and then you’ll stand here for getting in and coming out.” She pointed to the largest X on the ground.

“Okay, sounds easy enough,” I said. “Is there, like, a script I need to be following?”

“No no, Sunset, you won’t need to speak,” Trixie said, shaking her head vigorously. “Trixie will do all the talking. If Trixie is honest, you won’t have too much to do until the finale, with the origami trick.” She went through the details of it again. “You see? Simple, but elegant!”

“I hope it fools everyone,” I replied with a smile. “Because if it works as well as you say it does, you’ll leave Twilight’s head spinning for hours trying to figure it out.”

“Naturally.” Trixie posed dramatically, brushing out her cape. “Trixie is well known for blowing minds!”

I snorted, then burst out laughing, almost doubling over in the process. “What? What?!” Trixie babbled, making me laugh harder. “What’s wrong with what Trixie said?”

“Nevermind…”

The clomp of boots preceded Apple Bloom stepping out from backstage. “Hey, Sunset, have ya seen the other power drill? Ah can’t find it.”

“I thought I left it on the shelf,” I said. Leaving Trixie to be confused, I followed the younger woman back into the prop shop. We took a quick look around, poking briefly into any spot large enough to hide a power drill, even pulling out the table saw from the wall. “Well, shoot. Guess you’ll just have to use the one and switch out the bits.”

“Dang it,” Bloom grunted in annoyance. “That’s gonna slow me down.”

“What’re you even drilling, anyway?” I continued, raising an eyebrow. “We finished with the origami prop last night.”

Apple Bloom pointed right at a half-assembled steel frame with three slots in it. “Ah wanted to make things a little easier for Trixie. This here’s gonna hold the swords for her when they’re on stage. Help make it look a little better than that box.” She glared down at the power drill in her hands. “But ah need several different bit sizes to get this right. Gonna take forever switchin’ back and forth.”

“Hmm.” I peered down at the frame. Apple Bloom had a keen eye for craftsmanship that exceeded my own. Even unfinished and without paint, the frame had a beauty to it, raw and ephemeral in its design. “I didn’t think about that. Do you need any help?”

“Nah, Ah got this just fine,” Apple Bloom said with a smile and shaking her head. “Ya got better things to do. Go on, git. Ah’ll finish up with this stuff.”

“Okay,” I said, shrugging.

But as I turned to go, Apple Bloom spoke up again, “Hey, Sunset, can I ask you somethin’ real quick?”

I stopped and faced her again. “What is it?”

Apple Bloom set the drill down on a nearby table and sighed. “Ah was just wonderin’ about what you were sayin’, back on the first night we got here. ‘Bout that Ekestia place.”

“Equestria,” I corrected automatically.

“Yeah, that. Anyhow, you were talkin’ about how it was full of magical ponies and stuff?” Apple Bloom paused, waiting for me to nod. When I did, she continued, “Well, see, Ah got to thinkin’ about what we’ve seen Monoponi do. And how he talks, and walks, and all that. And while Ah know Ah wasn’t sure if Ah believed you about it before… Ah think Ah do now.”

“Okay…” I replied hesitantly, shifting my weight onto my right leg and crossing my arms. “I appreciate that, but…”

“But why am Ah bringin’ it up?” Apple Bloom asked. “It’s because what Ah don’t understand is how you know about it. Don’t get me wrong.” She held up her hands in a reassuring gesture. “Ah ain’t sayin’ Ah don’t trust you. Ah think you proved you can be trusted from how you acted in the trial.”

I tried not to visibly wince when she said that. I remembered how I considered using that very fact to get away with murder. “I’d like to think so,” I said.

“Ah know so,” Apple Bloom responded, poking herself in the chest with one thumb. “Ah don’t quite have the sense for people’s honesty that mah sister does, but Ah can still tell someone trustworthy from someone who ain’t. And you’re trustworthy. But you’ve been ready for every twist and turn that’s happened so far.”

She held out a hand and started counting on her fingers. “You knew Monoponi was a pony. You knew about the killing game. You knew about the trials, the motive, even the Monoponi File! And Ah get that you know most of that from playin’ those Danganwhatever games. But that doesn't explain the pony stuff.”

Sweat beaded up on my brow, my stomach churning. Anxiety swished around like a choppy sea, all wind and thunder. “Well, see, that’s kind of complicated.”

A sad smile formed on Apple Bloom’s face. “Oh. Ah see. You’d rather not talk about it. Ah get it.”

“No, no, it’s not that,” I said, and immediately cursed myself for not taking the out when she presented it. Nice going, Sunset. “It’s just a little hard to explain.”

Apple Bloom held up her hands in confusion, then waved them dismissively. “Nah, it’s okay. Forgot Ah asked. Ah put you on the spot anyway. Just, when you’re ready, Ah’d like to hear more.”

I nodded back, a relieved smile forming on my face. “Sure. How about tonight, after the show?”

“You got it.”

With that, I left, and continued to practice a bit with Trixie until I got the routine down. Once finished, I took some time to check my Monopad, and wrote down the locations. “11:00 AM,” I muttered to myself as I wrote down. Apple Bloom, Trixie, myself in the theater, Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Applejack in the game corner, Twilight and Flash in the library naturally, and Sweetie Belle was in the bakery kitchen. Rarity was in her cabin, Pinkie Pie and Tiara on the bridge deck, and Adagio out by the lounge. Nothing unusual.

I decided I’d get Rarity’s request out of the way next, and stopped by the lounge first, finding Adagio sunning herself on a lounger, her shades firmly in place. “Hey,” she greeted.

I sat next to her on an empty lounger. “Hey yourself. Do you have a few minutes?”

Adagio reached up to her shades and brought them down just enough to look at me over them. “Yes,” she said after a moment. “What is it?”

I glanced at both entryways into the lounge, but no one was coming. “Apple Bloom asked me about Equestria,” I said bluntly.

That got her attention. Adagio sat up immediately, whisking the glasses off her face. She grimaced, her teeth baring. “Should we really be discussing this here?” she hissed.

I held up my Monopad and showed her the map. “I’m keeping an eye out.”

With a snort, Adagio rolled her eyes. “What did you tell her?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “I just said it was complicated.”

Adagio rested a hand on her head and sighed, closing her eyes. “Good. At least you didn’t do anything stupid.”

Smiling sheepishly, I then continued, “I might’ve promised to talk to her about it after the show, though.”

“You what?” Adagio’s grip tightened on her glasses until she set them down. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know, it seemed like the right thing to do!” I blurted, throwing my hands up in the air. “She kept talking about how trustworthy I was.”

“Of course she did,” Adagio groaned. She laid back down on her lounger in a huff. “She’s probably just trying to manipulate you.”

“And you’re not?” I said before I realized what was coming out of my mouth. My hands shot up to cover as my eyes widened in shock, but it was too late.

Adagio froze, then calmly, slowly, sat up, shifted her legs off the lounger till she was facing me in a sitting position, the cold winter’s fury once again roiling. “Excuse me?” she growled, her hands curling into claws.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say it that way,” I stammered, unleashing a torrent of barely understandable words. “I-I was just scared after the motive, and I--”

Adagio held up a hand for silence. The blizzard blowing in her eyes faded down into a gentle flurry, though the anger was still visible, as was hurt. “Don’t be stupid, Shimmer,” she said. “If I wanted to manipulate you, I wouldn’t waste time sleeping with you.”

“I…” My face fell into my hands. “I’m sorry, I just... “ Blowing out a sigh, I set my hands down, and looked her in the eye, trying not to shrivel in fear under that predatory glare. “When Monoponi presented the motive, I was watching you. You didn’t react. Everyone else was afraid, but you didn’t move. You didn’t even blink.”

Narrowing her eyes, one side of her mouth twisting in confusion, Adagio replied, “And that scared you.”

“Yes!” I answered. “Yes, it did. And that got me thinking about the motive, and the traitor, and how you and I are the only ones who know about Equestria, and Monoponi’s from Equestria, and I know I’m not the traitor so--”

Adagio closed the distance between us with a sudden lunge. Her lips met mine as she grabbed for me, hungrily kissing, her tongue forcing its way into my mouth and mingling with mine. The sheer suddenness of it overwhelmed me, my whole body overflowing with rising heat as I moaned, falling back and letting her take me.

Holding my shirt roughly with one hand, the other cupping my breast, Adagio released the kiss and nipped at my neck, just hard enough to leave marks before withdrawing. “Still worried?” she rumbled in that husky voice that drove me wild. “Like I said, I wouldn’t sleep with you if I was just trying to manipulate you. I have more subtle tools than that.”

She released me and sat back on her lounger. The missing warmth was like a splash of cold water, and my body burned with desire. “N-n-no, I guess you wouldn’t,” I said, panting. My hand drifted up to my neck, feeling for the marks, and came away with just the slightest little droplets of blood. The sight sent my heart racing even faster. “B-but can you blame me?”

Adagio let out a low, sensual laugh, all chocolate, no bitter. “No. And before you ask, I don’t think you’re the traitor either. If I did, well…” Her lips peeled back to show off her sharp teeth. “I’d start biting a lot harder.”

Somehow that made me flush even more with need. Sunset, you’re so masochistic sometimes, I thought. I looked down at the ground and poked my two index fingers together. “Can… can we go back to my room?”

A sultry smile spread across her face. “Is anyone watching?”

I glanced at my Monopad, but no one had moved. “No.”

Adagio slipped off the lounger and sauntered away, swaying her hips. After a moment, she turned to look over her shoulder. “You coming?”

I was on my feet and with her before she could even blink.

~*~

After some fun, and another shower, I went on to see Rarity like I originally intended. She let me in, fussing over me. “I wish I had more space in here,” she said as she brushed aside some of her sewing tools from the bed to let me have a place to sit. The dress was on a makeshift mannequin stand in one corner, covered by a sheet. “These cabins are lovely to stay in, but they’re so cramped.”

“Sorry we didn’t have room for you to sew in the prop shop,” I said apologetically as I carefully placed my rump down on the bed, watching out for needles. “But Trixie insisted no one else see us building her props.”

“Oh it’s alright, darling. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of chances in the future.” She held a hand to her mouth and cleared her throat with a dainty cough. With a flourish she pulled the sheet off the mannequin. “Ta-da! What do you think?”

I’d be the first to admit I didn’t know much about clothes. I liked practical things, like leather, denim. Pants. Sure, I’d wear the occasional dress, for formal occasions, but I usually preferred function over form.

This dress made me reconsider every thought I’d ever had about dresses. The stitching, the way the silk flowed down from every angle, the elegant yet sexy arms hanging just off the shoulder to bare the flesh, the cut of the train, complete with a slit down one leg to accentuate my features… ooh yeah. I was gonna love wearing this. “It looks amazing,” I breathed. “Can I try it on?”

“Yes, please, by all means!” Rarity replied with a happy smile. “Just don’t wear it over your other clothes. It’s not made for that. And do watch the pins. There’s still a few last stitches I’ll need to make once you’re wearing it.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said as I ducked into the bathroom with the dress, quickly stripping down to my bra and panties. Then, ever so carefully, I donned the dress, careful not to pull at any pins or rip any seams. I shouldn’t have worried. It slipped on like a second skin, and fit perfectly. I admired myself in Rarity’s mirror, fluffing my hair, spinning on my feet so I could see myself from as many angles as possible.

I stepped out of the bathroom and struck a pose. “Hey there, pretty lady,” I said in a deliberately cheesy tone.

As I hoped, Rarity busted out laughing, quick little high pitched giggles that she swiftly stifled with a hand to her mouth. “Oh my, how romantic you are, Sunset,” she said, her words coated with amused sarcasm. “I feel entranced already.”

I laughed right along with her. “But for real, I love this dress, Rarity. You did an amazing job.”

“Why thank you. I’m not quite finished yet, but I do feel proud of this one,” she answered. Moving towards the bed, she scooped up her sewing kit and got to work on the remaining stitches. “Now just hold still, darling. This shouldn’t take long.”

True to her word, Rarity worked swiftly, and was just finishing up the final stitch when a knock came at the door. “Come in!” she called.

The door opened, and Trixie rushed inside, closing it behind her. Her eyes fell upon me and promptly bugged out as she threw up her hands in shock. “Wow,” she said. “That dress is incredible.”

“Isn’t it though?” I said with a happy little squeal. “I’m gonna be turning some heads tonight.”

Rarity gestured with a nudge of her shoulder to a second mannequin I hadn’t noticed in the opposite corner. “Trixie, your outfit is over there.”

Trixie went to fetch it and disappeared into the bathroom, emerging after a moment wearing a blue silk top hat, a dark blue business overshirt plus business skirt, and a shorter cape, still clasped with a fake blue sapphire, but ending in shorter coattails, accentuating her features. All in all the outfit certainly resembled her favorite hat and cloak, but with more taste. And it was also reminiscent of something else, as if I’d seen a similar outfit before. Not on Trixie, but on some other magic-inclined girl. Maybe in a video game.

“Lookin’ good, Trixie,” I said, flashing her a thumbs up.

“Yes, it is quite fetching, if I do say so myself,” Rarity added, all smiles.

“Hmm…” Trixie took off the hat and spun it in her hands a few times, then placed it back on her head. “Trixie quite likes it as well, thank you.” A frown formed on her face, her eyes turning hesitant. “Um, will Trixie owe you money for this when we get out of here?”

Oh crap. Of course. Money. I hadn’t even thought of that. A dress like the one I was wearing would probably cost a good thousand dollars or more, maybe two, since it was made by a personal tailor.

“Oh, pfft, no,” Rarity said, scoffing and letting one hand wave forward dismissively. “I wouldn’t dream of charging you for this. Just think of it as a gift.”

Trixie’s hand shot up to fondle the edge of her hat, the other running down her shirt. “Trixie has never been given such a gift before,” she said, her tone full of awe. Gratitude reflecting in her eyes, she added, “Thank you, Rarity! Trixie will be sure to treasure it!”

“It’s very generous of you,” I added, gratitude welling up inside me, like a soothing fire.

Rarity beamed under the praise, throwing up one hand behind her head as she stuck her nose high up in the air, as if swooning. “It’s just a part of who I am, that’s all.” She dropped her pose, smiling once more. “And if you ever need any repairs, please, come to me, and I’ll take care of it, free of charge. I consider the two of you to be friends, after all, and I don’t make my friends pay me for work.”

“Friends, huh?” I said, holding a hand to my breast and feeling the warmth the word filled me up with. A solitary tear dribbled down my cheek. “Thank you, Rarity. It makes me happy to hear that.”

Trixie practically shape shifted into a faucet as she sobbed in happiness. “Trixie is so blessed to have such good friends!” she babbled.

It took us a bit to get poor Trixie cleaned up after that, but Rarity didn’t say a word against her in judgement. That was the difference between Rarity and Diamond Tiara. They were both posh, elite type rich folk, all about class and style, but where Tiara was cruel, power hungry, and abused her position, Rarity… didn’t. She was just like any other person, and cared just like any other person, as if all her money hadn’t affected her one bit. Generosity. In Equestria, it was one of the Elements of Harmony, a vital force of magic for ponies. Rarity… if she were a pony, I felt like she would exemplify the Element.

Maybe in Equestria there’s a Rarity who does just that. Who knows?

The rest of the day passed without much fanfare, until about 5:30, when Trixie rushed Apple Bloom and myself through dinner and told Tiara we’d be in the theater, setting up for the show. As soon as we finished eating, we escorted Trixie to her room so she could pick up the box with the swords. She unlocked it just long enough to be sure all three were there before locking it again for the trip.

“So Trixie, Ah was makin’ a stand for you, for holdin’ your swords while on stage,” Apple Bloom said as we walked past everyone sitting at the food court. “Ah spray-painted it black, so it matched the table and frame for the mirror. Was that alright?”

“More than alright, Apple Bloom,” Trixie said, panting heavily as she carted the crate of swords. I stayed close by to help. We were both back in our regular outfits. I was carrying our show wear on my arm, on hangers, so they weren’t damaged by walking around. The flats I’d picked out were in my backpack. “Trixie is glad you thought to include a sword stand.” She looked back and forth real quick, then leaned in towards us and added in a whisper, “It helps with the illusion.”

“Ah kinda figured,” Apple Bloom replied, grinning. “And like Ah said before, Ah’ll be waiting backstage just outta view in case ya run into any trouble.”

We reached the prop shop, where Trixie promptly dropped the crate with a slam onto the closest table, huffing and puff. “Whew. Perhaps Trixie should join the rest of you for workouts. That was harder than Trixie expected,” she said.

“It wouldn’t hurt,” I agreed as I gently set down our costumes. Then I assisted Trixie in rolling out the table onstage for her initial set of acts. A variety of props ranging from cards to handkerchiefs and others were on the table, the usual magician’s fare. The table for the origami trick was placed just offstage, with the mirror required next to it. I offered to set it on the trick table’s frame so it was easier to move, but Trixie insisted we put it on once the table was on stage, as it added to the effect. The sword stand was placed right next to it. Apple Bloom had thoughtfully included small rolling wheels with little breaks on the bottom of the stand, making it easy to move.

Trixie handed me the key so I could unlock the sword box. The swords were inside, just as we confirmed at her cabin, completely untouched. I carefully withdrew them from the box and placed them one at a time on the sword stand.

That finished, the two of us quickly went to the dressing rooms and got dressed up in our costumes. Both of us had picked out a set of flats to complete our outfits, mine in scarlet, hers in dark blue, both sets sparkling with rhinestones. By the time we finished dressing up, people were filing into the theater, taking seats right up front.

Flash joined us on stage, and Trixie helped direct him to the lights operating room. It turned out it was upstairs on the third “floor” of the theater, in a little room off of one of the balconies. It was small and empty save for a wooden chair and the operating console. The door was lockable, so after familiarizing himself with the controls, and taking down the instructions Trixie gave him, Flash locked the door.

We met up with Diamond Tiara right at the foot of the stage, just before 7:00. I noted with interest that she was carrying a first aid kit, of the same design as Adagio's. “Is everyone here?” I asked her. “No one missing?”

She did a quick headcount, then nodded. “Yup. I see everyone there,” she said, pointing out the crowd. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were dead center, with Twilight and Scootaloo on either side of them. Applejack sat to one end, closest to the aisle, while Tiara went to assume the identical seat on the other side. The rest were scattered in between. Pinkie somehow had a massive tub of popcorn in her hands and was stuffing it in her mouth, chewing and making a big mess, while Rainbow Dash shook her head in disgust. Fluttershy politely flicked stray pieces off her clothes without saying a word. Adagio, I saw, was right next to Applejack, arms crossed, legs folded, he expression full of doubt, though when she saw my dress I saw her briefly gasp.

Right at 7:00 PM, the lights in the theater turned down low, and Flash activated the spotlights. The beams of light danced around the stage before settling on the two of us. I stood back from Trixie, arms at my sides, weight resting on the leg poking out of the slit in the dress, just as she requested.

“Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!” Trixie announced, her voice echoing through the speaker system via the mike clipped to her lapel. She held up her arms, swinging them about and making motions with her fingers. “Welcome to The Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrriiiiixie’s Magnificent Magical Show!”

A few in the audience clapped politely, Rarity among them. Trixie preened under even this meager applause until it died down. “Thank you, thank you! Trixie will be bringing you dazzling delights, spectacular spells, devilish deceptions, illustrious illusions, all for your viewing pleasure. Before I begin, allow me to introduce my lovely assistant for the evening, Sunset Shimmer!”

As she’d requested, I did a slow curtsy before swiftly rising back up. I received a lot more applause than she did, complete with Rainbow Dash whistling and throwing cat calls. Trixie’s expression briefly switched to one of harsh, furious jealousy before shifting back to her presenter’s smile. Sorry, Trixie, I’m not trying to steal the show, I promise.

“She is quite beautiful, isn’t she?” Trixie announced, recovering smoothly. I noticed Adagio’s left eye twitch as Trixie spoke. “So. For Trixie’s first trick, behold!”

Trixie began her routine, and everyone once in a while I sauntered forward, brought her the next prop, and then retreated back. As she performed each new feat, the applause she received grew and grew, until it sounded like a crowd of twenty or thirty more so than ten. Trixie basked in the appreciation, her confidence ever growing.

Every once in a while I glanced up at Flash, up in the booth, and at Apple Bloom over on stage left, just behind the curtains, but every time both just flashed me a thumbs up. Everything was going well, and the show was proving to be a big hit.

“Now then!” Trixie announced, bringing my attention back to her. “For our finale event, I wish to present a fascinating demonstration for you. Sunset, if you would please?

Taking that as my cue, I pushed the table of other tricks aside, then went backstage and brought out the origami trick table and mirror, setting it in front of the big X like I was directed to. “As you can see,” Trixie said, “this appears to be an ordinary box. My lovely assistant is placing this mirror here,” she indicated the mirror in my hands that I was attaching to the back of the trick table, “so you can see the back of the box at all times. Nothing will be hidden, Trixie assures you!”

I went off stage again and retrieved the sword stand, rolling it into place. “Perfect. Now,” Trixie said as she started opening up the box to reveal it as being much larger than it originally appeared, “as you can see, Trixie could fit herself inside the box if she wants to! But Sunset will fulfill that role for me instead, just to be safe.”

A few people laughed at that. At Trixie’s gesturing, I walked up and slowly, with her assistance, climbed inside the box, and settled down just the way she instructed. “Now that Sunset is inside, watch as Trixie closes the box!”

I heard the sounds of the box closing, plunging me into darkness. I could still hear gasps of awe from the crowd as Trixie successfully shrank the box down to something far smaller than should’ve been possible with me in it. “And now! You will see!” I heard the sching of a sword being removed swiftly from its sheath. “As Trixie plunges the sword into the box!”

“Holy crap!” I heard Rainbow Dash cry out as the first sword sank in.

“But that, of course, is insufficient for the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie cried as another sword was drawn out and promptly shoved into the box at a different angle.

“Oh no!” someone moaned. I couldn’t tell who.

“One more, for good measure!” Trixie said, withdrawing the final sword and shoving it into the box from the top on down. “Now, Trixie knows what you're thinking. She's behind the table, right? Allow Trixie to show you how wrong you are!" The table spun just as she said, with more gasps of shock and surprise. “And now, Trixie will remove the swords.”

Three quick sounds of swords being removed later, and I heard Trixie shout, “Trixie will now open the box!”

True to her word, the box opened right back up, light filling my eyes once more. As she finished opening it, I slowly sat up, blinking spots away. Trixie held out a hand for me to take as she assisted me in getting out of the box, right back out onto the big X of tape. As I came out, Flash moved a couple of spotlights to circle around and focus on me.

“What the…” I heard Apple Bloom mutter from just off stage.

“And as you see, Sunset is unharmed!” Trixie said, raising up both our arms as she took a deep bow to the sound of brilliant applause. The claps and cheers echoed throughout the theater, and from what I could see of the crowd, even Adagio looked impressed now, one lip curled up in appreciation as she nodded several times.

We rose up, Trixie’s face split from ear to ear with her smile as she took a second to glance at me, letting out a quiet squealing noise, before we took another bow.

But right as we did, I heard something… odd. Like something snapped. Then a whistle of something falling. Then a furious clomping of boots on the stage as Apple Bloom screamed “Look out!” right before we were both body checked to the ground. Trixie fell over off the front of the stage while I skidded on my shoulders most of the way to the other side, friction burning all down every bit of exposed flesh, the sound of crashing metal in our ears.

SCHLUNK!

The sound of metal slicing through flesh rung in my ears, and the harsh metallic tang of spilled blood filled my nostrils. I looked up in horror to see Apple Bloom bent over backwards, eyes bulging as open as they could be in shock, her pupils dilated, her arms thrown up. The shaft and bloodied tip of a massive spear protruded out of her chest! Even as I watched she slid down the spear shaft further and further till she was propped up by it like some kind of messed up doll on display, right above the big X of tape.

“APPLE BLOOM!”

Applejack bellowed at a deafening volume as she sped forward faster than lightning, taking the stairs up the stage five at a time. In a flash she was up and next to her sister, cradling her in her arms, blood spilling everywhere and soaking her clothes. “Oh my god!” she screeched as she held her, tears streaming down her face in whole rivers of salt water. “Someone get a first aid kit! NOW!”

I struggled back to my feet even as Tiara and Adagio both surged forward, first aid kits already withdrawn and ready. I closed the distance, trying not to crowd Applejack and Apple Bloom. They both popped open their kits and pulled out huge rolls of bandages, but there was no chance. No hope of success. Not with a wound that big, bleeding that fast.

“Apple… Applejack…” I heard Apple Bloom say in a weak voice.

“Now now, Apple Bloom, don’t you fret now, you’re gonna be okay! Ah ain’t gonna let you die!” Applejack babbled as she sobbed fiercely, hugging her sister to her chest despite all the blood.

“It’s… it’s okay… Ah’m g-gonna see Mom and Dad again…”

“Nonononononono, don’t talk like that sugarcube,” Applejack cried, shaking her head like a ragdoll. “Don’t talk like that, please! Please! Ah can’t lose you too!”

“Ah… Ah’ll give ‘em your love, AJ. Ah… Ah loo...oo...v...ee….y...o...u…”

Apple Bloom’s head slumped, and what little light was left in her eyes faded.

Applejack reared her head back and screamed, sobbing louder than I’d ever heard someone cry before.

It was a scream of sorrow, of rage, of hopeless. The same feelings surged through the rest of us as we all beheld the weeping farmer. I wanted to cry right with her, but just like before, the emptiness gnawed at me until all I could feel was nothing. I couldn’t speak, or cry, or console her. All I could do was stare.

Stare at the cold, lifeless body of Apple Bloom.

Author's Notes:

Well... uh... at least the magic show itself went okay? Poor Apple Bloom.

Also, for those with a keen eye: yes, the outfit that Rarity designed for Trixie is almost a carbon copy of Trudy Wright's from the later Ace Attorney games. I thought it'd be cute to picture Trixie wearing it.

Next time, the second investigation. This one should be harder. At least, I hope.

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 5

“What happened, what happened?!” Flash cried out as he practically galloped down the stairs. “I just heard screaming and shouting and--holy shit, Apple Bloom!”

Applejack let go of her sister’s body and fell over, shaking, her crying meek and quiet now. She laid there without a care as the blood pooling from Apple Bloom’s wound soaked into her hair, turning it from blonde to a rusty dark pink.

I wanted to rush forward, to comfort her, but I was afraid in her sorrow she’d end up snapping my neck. So instead I slowly stepped down the steps from the stage and checked on Trixie, who was still lying on the ground, her eyes spinning. Her silk hat was crushed beneath her body, ruined beyond repair.

“Ooooh,” Trixie moaned, holding a hand to her head. Blood was streaming down the side of her face from a gash on her forehead, staining the front of her performance shirt. “What happened? Trixie blacked out for a moment.”

“Hey Tiara, pass down that first aid kit!” I ordered, brooking no dissent. A quick toss from Tiara later and I brought out a large moist towelette from a paper wrapper, using it to wipe as much blood off of Trixie’s face as I could manage. Then I unwrapped a large bandage, sprinkled on some antibacterial ointment, and pressed it against Trixie’s wound until it firmly adhered. “There. Better?”

Trixie poked at the bandage and winced, then wiped away some of the dripping blood I’d failed to get. “Trixie supposes, but Sunset, what happened? Trixie just remembers bowing, and then…”

“Apple Bloom’s dead,” I said in a stoney voice.

“What?!” Trixie’s hands both shot to her face, then she squealed as she realized she’d smacked her own wound in the process. “How? What? Why?”

DING-DONG DONG-DING

That chime, that infuriating chime rose as the screens in the theater lit up, revealing a smug, satisfied, dare I say it gleeful Monoponi holding a snifter of brandy at his desk.

“A body has been discovered! I’d say everybody should gather in the theater, but you’re all already there! Upupupupu!”

As the screens shut off, Monoponi flashed into existence on the stage. “Well, well, well,” he said, holding both his forehooves to his mouth as he used his wings to hover. “Would you look at that. Little Apple Bloom! How shocking. How terrible! How delightfully horrible.”

I took a moment to scan the faces of everyone, reading the shock, horror, and sickness in their eyes. Pinkie was once again without a single spark of energy, her hair flattened against her skull, her whole body limp like a puppet with its strings cut. Fluttershy was weeping into Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, who stood there stoically, her open jaw the only sign of distress. Rarity had Sweetie Belle wrapped up in what was for all intents and purposes a chokehold as she cried messy tears, destroying her makeup. I could hear her whispering quietly to Sweetie Belle about how she was so glad it wasn’t Sweetie. Sweetie was stunned into silence, her eyes full of tears. Twilight was doubled over, weeping into her hands.

Tiara and Adagio, meanwhile, had guilty looks on their faces. Probably because they’d failed to save Apple Bloom’s life, even though they tried. Flash had fallen from confusion into sad anger, squeezing his hands until his knuckles turned white.

Scootaloo had stomped up to the stage and was kneeling down by Applejack, a look of pure fury etched across her features. Applejack was catatonic, entirely unresponsive, so she seemed ready to be angry in her place. “You!” she snarled, pointing a furious finger at Monoponi. She gripped that finger back into her fist and took a single step forward. “You made this happen!”

“And again, here we go with the accusations,” Monoponi said in a weary tone, snorting in disgust. “‘Oh Monoponi, it’s your fault! Oh Monoponi, you killed my friend!’ I’ve heard it all before, and I’m tired of it. It wasn’t me who did this.” He raised a hoof and pointed it in everyone’s direction. “One of you is responsible.”

“But how?” Tiara blurted, her hands clapping to her hips. “We were all sitting down watching the show!”

“Yeah, we were, all except…” Scootaloo whirled and advanced on Flash till she was at the edge of the stage. Flash took a step back and almost tripped on the seat behind him. “You!”

“Me?!” Flash countered, anger welling up within him as he steadied his stance and held up his fists. “I didn’t do a damned thing and you know it, Scootaloo!”

“Trixie still doesn’t understand what happened,” Trixie interrupted, getting between Scootaloo and Flash, almost slipping off the stage again in the process until I grabbed her hand to stop her from falling. “How did Apple Bloom die?”

“She saved us, Trixie,” I said. While everyone was talking I’d taken the first aid kit and was seeing to my own wounds. The dress was torn up, ruined just as badly as Trixie’s outfit, and if it weren’t for the bra I’d insisted on wearing under it, I’d be bare chested. So much for treasuring Rarity’s hard work. It took several bandages to cover all of the burns I’d picked up from skidding across the stage. I had a major ache in my arm too, and though I could move it just fine, I was afraid it might be sprained. It hadn’t swollen yet, but it might. “She saved our lives.”

“She did?” Trixie turned and knelt by Apple Bloom, her face turning green as she beheld the massive wound. The spear was still firmly stuck through Apple Bloom’s body, which was probably a good thing. We didn’t need to see her with a gaping hole in her torso. It was bad enough as it was, her body leaking blood in such a large puddle I began to fear Applejack might somehow drown in it.

“She did,” Adagio said quietly, her eyes closed, her expression somber. “I watched it happen. She must’ve heard it or something, and pushed you both out of the way, just so she could take the blow herself.” She squeezed one hand into a fist, the fist shaking from the effort as a few tears dripped down her cheeks. “She could’ve let you die, but she didn’t. She sacrificed herself.”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Adagio? Crying? In public?! She must’ve been scared half to death by what just happened. I wanted to go over and hold her, comfort her, but she’d probably just gut punch me again if I tried. Not the time for it.

Scootaloo moved back from the stage and knelt back down to see to Applejack, setting a comforting hand on the farmer’s shoulder. When she didn’t respond, Scootaloo bent down further and embraced her from a rather awkward looking angle, then tried to lift her up.

She managed to get Applejack up to a sitting position, though apart from that the farmer didn’t move. A thousand yard stare was etched across her face, her tears having long since run dry. The effect was more than a little unsettling, especially considering the amount of blood all over her shirt, pants, and part of her face. It even dripped a tad from her chin, a macabre display if ever there was one.

“Is... is she gonna be okay?” I heard Rainbow Dash mumble.

“She’d better be by the trial!” Monoponi answered, landing on his hooves. “Your Captain won’t make any exceptions! She’ll be attending just like the rest of you. And speaking of the trial, I hope you didn’t forget…”

“Investigation. We’re going to have to investigate,” Tiara muttered. The bravado she’d demonstrated when Monoponi had announced the motive was gone. She was just like the rest of us: scared. Afraid. Without hope.

“Yes indeed!” Monoponi’s horn lit up, and our Monopads let out a shrill bleep. “Oh, but before you start, keep in mind one very important thing! All the rules still apply. There is to be no sharing or implying of your secrets, not during the investigation, nor the trial! You’ll have to puzzle those out for yourselves!” He immediately disappeared with a crack and flash of light.

So the motive is critical to the case, then, I thought, nodding in understanding. I wasn’t bothering to process the fact that I’d almost just died, again. I took any feelings regarding that and shoved them down a deep, dark hole, along with everything else. I could cope later, after the trial.

Damn it. Apple Bloom wasn’t going to be the last person we watched die tonight, was she? Someone did this to her. Maybe they were aiming for me, or Trixie, or both of us. Or maybe it was just targeted at whoever it happened to strike. But this was intentional. Definitive, obvious murder, just like with Wallflower.

And just like with Wallflower, Apple Bloom didn’t deserve to die. None of us did. We were just people, trapped on this godforsaken cruise ship, struggling to survive. And someone broke under the stress. Just like Timber Spruce. Just like I knew they would.

Whoever it was, I hoped they were satisfied. Because by the end of this night, I’d make damn sure they paid for this.

My first act, as before, was to check the Monoponi file. I pulled out my Monopad and brought it up.

Fact #1: Monoponi File II: “The victim is Apple Bloom, the Ultimate Builder. Time of death is 7:45 PM. Cause of death was blood loss due to a massive stab wound through the torso.”

Of course, nothing useful. I checked the time on my Monopad. 8:02.She died only fifteen minutes ago. Her body's not even cold yet, and here we are investigating. Damn it all.

I put my Monopad away and approached the body. “Hey, Scootaloo, got a second?” I asked. “I need to ask you a favor.”

Scootaloo looked up from her position next to Applejack. She’d taken a seat right next to her, one arm draped over the farmer’s shoulder, sitting cross-legged and apparently not caring that she was also getting blood all over her clothes. “What is it?” she grunted.

“I know you’re busy with Applejack, but do you think you can act as a guard for the body, too?”

Scootaloo considered this, scratching her chin with one hand briefly. “Yeah. Definitely. Apple Bloom, she was my friend. It’s the least I can do.” The brave, stoic face she’d thrown on cracked just a little as I saw her eyes grow misty, and she sniffled before shaking it off.

“Thank you.” I turned to the other nearby onlookers. “Trixie, do you think you can be the other guard?”

“Huh?” Trixie mumbled. For a moment her pupils dilated, going wall-eyed before she shook her head and snapped out of it. “What?”

I laid a hand on her shoulder. “You’re in no condition to investigate. Can you guard the body with Scootaloo, please?”

Trixie held a hand to her forehead wound and cringed, squeezing her eyes shut. “Yeah. Trixie can do that.”

“Good. Take it easy, okay?” I patted her on the shoulder, then grabbed up the first aid kit Tiara had tossed me. I rummaged through it and found two pairs of disposable latex gloves. I donned one pair. Twilight was still crying in the seats, being useless, so I handed the other pair to Adagio. “Think you can investigate with me, Adagio?”

“Me?” she inquired, raising one eyebrow. She pointed a finger at her own chest. “I thought you did this with Twilight before.”

Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I gestured towards the weeping researcher. “Does she look like she’s any use right now?” I said with a sneer.

Adagio’s eyes briefly widened and she took a step back. “Okay. I’ll help.” She took the gloves and slipped them onto her hands. “So what do we do?”

“First,” I said, getting down on one knee, grimacing as it sank into the pool of still warm blood. The warmth was the creepiest part. The color, I didn’t mind, but the warmth? The smell of iron? That was awful. “We’re going to examine the body.”

“No problem,” Adagio muttered as she too fell to one knee.

Apple Bloom’s body was still warm, just like the blood. Her eyes were frozen open, still in that shocked, bugged out state, her pupils dilated to tiny pinpricks. Her mouth hung open slightly, a trail of blood dripping from her lips down her chin and into the larger puddle. The spear had lodged itself in her torso, the long, thin serrated spike shoved entirely through to the base of the twin-spiked crossguard, coated from tip all the way down in pink. It was only as I examined the rest of the spear that I realized this wasn’t just any kind of spear. This one was of Qilin design, just like the swords Trixie had used.

Fact #2: Qilin Spear: “A polearm with a thin serrated tip and twin-spiked crossguard, its origins unknown.”

“I’ve seen a weapon like this before,” Adagio said as she ran her hands along Apple Bloom’s back, very carefully ensuring to skirt around the edges of the wound. “In…” her eyes darted about before she pointedly looked at me and mouthed “Equestria.”

I nodded in understanding, and went back to examining it. “The culprit must’ve bought this in the game corner. Where else would they have gotten it? We’ll need to check there.” I frowned in puzzlement. “It almost looks like the spear shot up from underneath her.”

“That’s exactly what it did,” Adagio agreed. “I saw it pop up. Like toast from a toaster.”

*Updated* Fact #2: Qilin Spear: “A polearm with a thin serrated tip and twin-spiked crossguard, its origins unknown. The spear impaled Apple Bloom from underneath, popping up out of the stage.”

“Then there was a trap set below the stage,” I said. My eyes fell upon the big X of tape right below the body, or what little of it I could see past the blood anyway, and my whole body froze up. “This could’ve been me…”

Adagio squeezed her eyes shut, and bit her upper lip, bowing her head. “Yeah. I’m… I’m glad it wasn’t.”

“Was the culprit trying to kill me?” I wondered, my blood chilling even more at the thought. “They must’ve! But, but why?”

Her eyes shooting open, Adagio replied, “I told you, Sunset. Number one.”

Fact #3: Accidental Victim: “Apple Bloom was not the culprit’s intended target. The intended target was Sunset Shimmer.”

Okay. Okay. I can deal with this. I can deal with the fact that someone just tried to kill me. And someone died in my place. Right. I can deal. I just gotta stay calm, and cool, and collected. I can deal.

I can deal.

I can deal.

“Right. Right. Okay.” I took several deep breaths, in and out. In and out. “Right. We-we’ll need to search under the stage, then. If I remember correctly, there’s a trap door backstage.”

“Okay. Lead the way.”

We headed backstage, but on the way, I almost tripped over a sackcloth bag of… something. Something heavy and metal. There was a length of black painted chain a good several feet or more long wrapped around the bag too, ending in part of a quick release clamp. “What the heck? What is this?” I wondered as I bent down to examine it. The planks of wood making up the stage floor all around it was chipped and cracked, as if it had fallen down with great force. Or from somewhere very high up. Or both. Then I remembered.

~*~
But right as we did, I heard something… odd. Like something snapped. Then a whistle of something falling. Then a furious clomping of boots on the stage as Apple Bloom screamed “Look out!” right before we were both body checked to the ground. Trixie fell over off the front of the stage while I skidded on my shoulders most of the way to the other side, friction burning all down every bit of exposed flesh, the sound of crashing metal in our ears.
~*~

“Adagio, I heard something falling at the same time Apple Bloom pushed us over. This must’ve been it.”

She poked inside the bag, and withdrew a hammer. “It’s full of tools. Like a lot of tools.” She tried picking up the bag and frowned. “And it’s pretty heavy too.”

Fact #4: Bag of Tools: “A heavy sackcloth bag, filled with a selection of random tools. The bag was tied around its top with a length of chain many feet long, ending in half of a quick release clamp. The chain was spray-painted black.”

“What the heck was this even for?” I asked, picking up the length of black chain. “It’s like it was hanging from something. And why was it spray-painted?” On a hunch, I decided to look up. And up, and up. Hanging from the stage light rafter was… something. I could see some kind of movement in the air. “Hmm… hey, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow, who was poking around elsewhere on the stage, looked up and said, “Yeah?”

“Can I borrow your penlight again?”

With a shrug, she pulled it out of her pocket and tossed it over. “Here.”

I caught it deftly in one hand. “Thanks.”

Using the penlight, I shined its light up right in the same place I’d seen the movement. And sure enough, there it was: more chain, spray-painted black. Without direct light we never would’ve seen it. The other half of the quick release dangled from the end too, as if the bag had been designed to just come off the chain right at the end for some reason.

Fact #5: Black metal Chain: “A chain hanging from high up on stage light rafters. It was spray painted black, and ended in half of a quick release clamp.”

“How are we even going to get up there?” Adagio asked, shielding her eyes from the spotlights as she looked up. “And see, for that matter?”

“There’s a ladder in the prop shop,” I said. “We need to investigate there anyway, so we might as well do it first. I think it’s probably connected to the case. As for the lights… Hey Flash!”

Flash had Twilight wrapped up in his arms, doing his best to calm her down. “What?” he replied, not bothering to look my way.

“Can you go back up to the light booth and turn off the spotlights?”

Now he glanced my way, his face twisted up in frustration. “Does it have to be right now? I’m kind of busy here.”

Busy wasting your time. “Yeah, sure, just get it done soon, please,” I answered, trying not to glare. Don’t even get what she’s crying about anyway. She wasn’t the one who almost died.

Waving for Adagio to follow, I left the crowd behind and made my way into the prop shop, stripping our gloves and tossing them into a small bin as we walked in. It was in the same state we’d left it in. The safety box holding the swords was still laying open, sitting on one of the work benches. The shelves stood untouched, save for the supplies we’d taken, the rolling step ladder leaning against the wall between two shelves… wait. I pointed right at the ladder. “That’s not where it was before.”

~*~
It wasn’t the largest shop I’d ever worked in, more suited to smaller set pieces, furniture, and costumes than manufacturing, but it was well stocked with most of what we needed, and well organized too, albeit with plenty of dangerous tools. Hammers and screwdrivers aplenty, heavy wrenches, some power tools, a nailgun or two, table saw, even the large rolling step ladder laying against the wall next to the saw… yeah, there were plenty of tools for murder here.
~*~

“It was next to the table saw when we were working here yesterday. Apple Bloom and I never touched it. We didn’t have a reason to.”

Fact #6: Rolling Step Ladder: “There was a rolling step ladder inside the prop shop. It had been moved from its original position.”

“Naturally,” Adagio responded, rolling her eyes. “How else did the culprit get up to the rafters? Fly?” She stuck her hands to her hips. “What’re we looking for here, anyway?”

“Anything out of place,” I answered as I began poking through the shelves, searching the various boxes. I hadn’t bothered to inventory it, so I couldn’t be sure what, if anything, was missing. But I did stumble across a few things worthy of note, including a box containing several lengths of metal chain, just like the one wrapped around the bag.

*Updated* Fact #5: Black metal Chain: “A chain hanging from high up on stage light rafters. It was spray painted black, and ended in half of a quick release clamp. The chain came from the prop shop inventory.”

I quickly took a moment to check the large garbage bin in the corner. As I expected, there were several paint cans, some large pieces of cardboard also covered in black, and, oddly, a lot of sawdust. I wasn’t sure what the sawdust was about yet, but the rest made sense, so I moved on.

To my surprise, nothing was out of place on the tool shelf. “Then where did the tools… oh!” Underneath the shelf, in a cabinet I hadn’t bothered opening before, was several sets of tool kits, like the kind you’d buy at the mall to keep in your garage. These had all been rifled through and emptied, then shoved back in here.

*Updated* Fact #4: Bag of Tools: “A heavy sackcloth bag, filled with a selection of random tools. The bag was tied around its top with a length of chain many feet long, ending in half of a quick release clamp. The chain was spray-painted black. The tools came from toolkits in the prop shop inventory.”

“Let’s keep checking around. I feel like there’s still something we’re missing.”

I continued to scan the shelves and poked inside the cabinets and the hanging tool racks, but I didn’t see it until I came to the section with power tools. “Oh that’s right. Apple Bloom told me there was a missing drill this morning.”

Fact #7: Missing Drill: “According to Apple Bloom, a drill was missing the morning of the show. Its whereabouts are unknown.”

“We’ll need to keep an eye out for it.”

“Hey, you two!”

Diamond Tiara stomped into the prop shop, irritation writ all over her features and flowing off of her in waves as she held up a finger to shake in my face. “What the heck do you think you’re doing, Shimmer?”

Oh for pete’s sake. Resisting the urge I had to reach out and snap that finger, I instead took a step back. “What’re you talking about?”

Tiara threw up her hands in disgust. “What do you think? You told us yesterday you had no intention of being our leader, then here you are, giving everybody orders, telling everybody what to do, and leaving me just standing there like an idiot!”

“That’s because you are an idiot,” Adagio immediately retorted, amusement twinkling in her eyes.

“Excuse me?!” Tiara snarled, whirling on the siren and holding up a shaking fist.

I don’t have time for this shit. “Look, Tiara, I’m not trying to rain on your parade or anything, but we’ve got an investigation to do, and not a lot of time to do it in.” I started to walk past her. I swear, if she does one more thing to piss me off...

Then Tiara made a big mistake: she grabbed my arm. “Hey! You’re not going anywhere! You were one of only people working back here! That makes you pretty supic--”

I whirled and cold-cocked her in the face. She fell back and slammed to the concrete floor on her ass with a loud “Oof!” blood trailing from a split lip. Her whole face went blank, shell-shocked. One of her hands slowly reached up and touched her bleeding lip, coming away with pink on her fingers.

“I am sick and tired of you accusing me every single chance you get, Tiara!” I screeched. “Don’t you get it? I almost died out there! The culprit was trying to kill me!” I raised one flat-clad foot, ready to kick her back against the floor.

Then Adagio set a single hand on my shoulder and fixed upon me with a cold glare. “Stop,” she ordered.

I met her gaze with a stare of my own, but against those eyes, those frozen, predatory eyes that, even as I watched, shifted and flashed with a crimson light.. I wavered, buckled, and gave in. With a wordless grunt I turned and left Tiara still sitting there on the floor, completely stunned.

I grabbed the ladder from the shop before we left it and rolled it out with me on-stage. By now most everyone was milling about, searching here and there amongst the theater for potential clues, save for Flash, who was still comforting Twilight.

“Flash!” I called out. “Come on!”

Flash patted Twilight on the shoulder, breathed a quick apology in her ear, then stood. He was angry as he scowled my way. “What do you need me to do?” he growled.

He’ll get over it. “I need you back up in the light booth. Turn off the stage lights, and stay up there in case we need something else,” I answered.

Rolling his eyes and snorting like an angry minotaur, Flash spun on his hell and stomped back up towards the light booth without saying another word.

After a couple minutes wait, the stage lights winked off. I set the rolling ladder right below the hanging chain and, together with Adagio, we climbed up. And up, and up. The ladder reached the top of the beams, but only barely. Taking out the penlight, I switched it on, holding it in one hand and scanning while using the other to feel things out. I had my legs wrapped around the ladder so I didn’t fall. “Well, hello,” I said as the light panned over a familiar object.

Adagio’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that the missing drill?”

“Yeah, it is, but that’s not all.” I leaned in closer. The drill had been positioned upside down and carefully taped to the beam with some duct tape from the prop shop, with another strip laid on the activation trigger. The drill was set to its lowest setting. But instead of having its power cord plugged into an outlet, since there wasn’t one up here, someone had jury rigged some wiring, mating the drill to the closest light. “Damn,” I whispered. “How’d they do this? And why?”

*Updated* Fact #7: Missing Drill: “According to Apple Bloom, a drill was missing the morning of the show. It was discovered taped upside down to the beam supporting the stage lights, set to its lowest setting and with its trigger taped down. The power supply was jury-rigged into the nearest light.”

Using the penlight, I followed the end of the drill, to spot something else: a rope tied to the beam. Or rather, fragments of one. The drill bit had chewed through the rope, splitting it apart. What was left remained tied around the black metal chain, which reached off well back towards the backstage wall, past where I could see it. “What do you make of this, Adagio?”

Adagio scratched her chin, her expression full of puzzlement. “Maybe they had the bag tied up here?” Then she snapped her fingers. “Yes. It was tied here, and the culprit used the drill to cut through the rope. Like a timer.”

Fact #8: Rope: “A rope tied to the stage light support beam. It had been chewed through by the bit of the drill, splitting it apart.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s probably likely. Adagio, can you go back down and ask Flash to turn the stage lights on again?”

She nodded, and swiftly made her way back down the ladder. I leaned back away from the beam, so I didn’t risk getting electrocuted. Soon enough the lights switched back on. This high up, the effect wasn’t at all blinding.

And as I expected, the drill whirred to life, very quietly spinning its bit between the bits of snapped rope.

I quickly scanned around with the penlight but I didn’t see anything else of note, so I made my way back down the ladder, squinting my eyes against the bright lights as I passed them.

“Did the drill turn on?” Adagio asked me as I came off the ladder.

“Yup,” I answered. “So it had to be someone with the brains to do that. That couldn’t have been easy. Or safe.”

“Hmm…” Adagio rubbed her chin, then turned to face Twilight, who was sitting quietly, no longer sobbing, but not moving either, rather like Applejack. “Do you think?”

I considered that for a moment. She was acting rather guilty. And if anyone had the brains to create something like this, it was her. Still, I wasn’t Tiara, or Scootaloo. I wasn’t about to accuse someone during the investigation and waste everyone’s time. So I shook my head and replied, “Wait for the trial.”

“Um, excuse me,” said Fluttershy, walking up to the two of us. “Do you have a minute, Sunset?”

I took a hissing breath, then steeled my nerves, trying not to present as much irritation as I had been doing. “Yeah, what is it?”

She let out a little whimper, taking several steps back. “Um, that’s okay, nevermind, if I’m bothering you, I--”

“Fluttershy,” I interrupted, trying to give her a reassuring smile and succeeding only in plastering an irritated grimace on my face. “Just tell us, please.”

“Well, you see, it’s just… I found this.” Fluttershy pulled out some fragments of rope from her pockets, and showed them to us. “They were on the stage. Near… n-n-near Apple Bloom’s… b-body.”

I took the pieces from her and examined them closely. They matched the rope we found tied to the beam above. “This is definitely useful. Thanks, Fluttershy.”

*Updated* Fact #8: Rope: “A rope tied to the stage light support beam. It had been chewed through by the bit of the drill, splitting it apart. Many pieces fell to the stage below and were discovered near the body.”

For some reason, despite the praise, Fluttershy seemed even more scared of me, shrinking away as if I was going to hit her. “Y-you’re welcome, Sunset! Excuse me!” She whisked herself away back to the protection of Rainbow Dash.

I held out my hands, flabbergasted. “What? What did I do this time?”

Adagio quietly took my right hand, the one I’d punched Tiara with, and turned it over. It was spotted pink with blood, right on the knuckles of the middle and ring fingers. I hadn’t noticed at all. “Oh.”

“Sunset,” she said, grimacing, “I’m not… good at this sort of thing, but even I can tell you’re not feeling alright. You’re… angry. Angry like me.”

“Angry?” The word churned through my mind, over and over, until all I wanted to do was scream. “Angry? You’re damned right I’m angry,” I said, my words acrid and dark. “Someone killed Apple Bloom right in front of us!”

Without meaning to, I’d raised my voice, until I was bellowing so loud Flash could probably have heard me clearly without even trying. “Apple Bloom was my friend! She was kind, and caring, and good! She didn’t deserve the pain and agony of such a cruel death! If I find the motherfucker who did this I’m going to rip them apart myself!” I broke into angry, bitter tears. “She saved my life. She saved my life! I almost died! The only reason I’m still alive is because she saved me, and she paid for that! I… I should’ve… I…”

I fell apart entirely, falling over, gripping my head in my hands as I wept, the weakness and fear washing over me in endless pounding waves. I’d come face to face with my own mortality, come bare inches from death, and it scared me more than anything. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I didn’t want to do this. I couldn’t keep feeling empty inside. I couldn’t keep shoving my feelings away and pretend none of this affected me anymore. I’d been pretending for too long, acting all detached, as if I was just an observer, or… or just a player, playing through the motions of the story.

But I’m not. I’m Sunset Shimmer. I am a person. Whether human or pony, I matter. My emotions matter. My well-being matters.

My life matters.

I realized, right then, how I’d been trying to treat this killing game, retreating further and further into my old self, the Sunset-that-was, throwing up barriers, jumping into bed with a freaking siren of all people… everything was just me trying to cope. And I was not coping well. I’d been telling myself I’d stop murders, I’d bring people together, but I hadn’t done a thing. I’d say it to myself, to feel better, then just move on and act like nothing was wrong until the next body hit the floor.

Was I going to keep acting this way, the whole time? Keep acting like nothing was wrong, even as friends died all around me? Had I already given up? Given in?

I didn’t even know anymore.

A hand rested on my shoulder, strong and firm, brimming with an honest warmth, startling me out of my freakout. I looked up in surprise, expecting it to be Adagio, and gasped when I saw who it really was. “Applejack?” I breathed.

Applejack didn’t look any better than I did. She was still covered in blood, her eyes still haunted, every so often staring right back into the distance. But she was moving. She was acting. And she was trying to give me a smile. “Sugarcube, Ah can see what you’re goin’ through,” she said. “And Ah heard what you said, about Apple Bloom saving your life. Ah just wanted you to know somethin’. Apple Bloom told me, earlier today, that she thought of you as a friend too.” A few fresh tears glistened at the corners of her eyes.Then her smile turned harsh and cruel. “And you and Ah? We’re gonna get the sunnuva bitch that killed mah sister.”

She reached under my arms, grabbed me by the armpits and with one quick motion had me up on my feet before I could react. “Come on, Sunset. If we’re gonna track ‘em down, you and Ah better get cleaned up first.”

Without another word, she guided me out of the theater, even as everyone stared in shock our way, including Adagio. I met Adagio’s gaze briefly, but she just looked away, frowning. No one had expected Applejack to get up like this, least of all me. Somehow, it left me feeling even worse, even more guilty. She’d lost her sister, but she was the one having to console me now? How selfish was I?

“Ah can see what you’re thinkin’,” she said abruptly as we passed through the food court. “And you can quit feelin’ like you’re being selfish. You’re not, trust me. Ah’m doing this for me as much as for you right now.”

“You are?” I said. My voice was hoarse and rough. Weak.

“Sure am,” she answered. “Ah won’t lie: Ah’m barely functionin’. Ah can’t even hardly deal with what just happened. Ah gotta focus on somethin’ or else Ah’m just gonna fall apart again.”

We reached the cabin corridor, and rather than split off, Applejack insisted we both go inside hers. “Ah don’t think either of us should be alone right now,” she said.

“Good point,” I admitted.

At any other time, the thought of sharing a shower with someone as pretty and strong as Applejack would’ve excited me, thrilled me even, but that was by far the furthest thing from my mind. Together we made quick work of washing away all the blood, sweat, and tears. The hot water helped me feel a bit better. At the very least, it let me think again, rather than being consumed by my emotions.

Applejack made me wait while she dressed, then threw on the bathrobe from her bathroom on me and escorted me to my own cabin. I dressed in a hurry, grateful to be back in my usual clothes. That helped to ground me even more, and allowed me to focus. We still had an investigation to finish, after all.

“So,” Applejack said as we returned to the promenade offshoot, “what’re we doin’ first? Ah’m gonna let you lead.” She crossed her arms as she noticed a slight touch of doubt in my expression. “Don’t fret now. Ah ain’t gonna be upset, no matter what we gotta look into.”

“Okay.” I pointed to the game corner. “We need to go in here. The weapon used definitely came from here. There’s nowhere else it could have come from.”

Applejack gestured with one hand. “Let’s go then.”

We entered the game corner. We weren’t the only ones with the idea to explore here. Pinkie Pie pranced around poking at the various games. Rainbow Dash bustled near the prize counter, along with Fluttershy, who meeped when she saw me and hid behind her friend. I started to reach out, to apologize, but Applejack just slowly shook her head. “Not right now. Save it for later.”

So without saying a word, then, I stepped past the duo, ignoring the harsh glare Rainbow Dash was throwing my way, and examined the various weapons behind the counter. Like I’d noticed the first time we were here, there was just about every kind of melee weapon you could imagine, in sets of three for each kind. And there, right there, in a cabinet close to the empty space where Trixie’s swords came from, was a set of two long polearms, identical to the one used to kill Apple Bloom. There was a label, too, from the register, along with the code to punch in to dispense it: qiang spear.

*Updated* Fact #2: Qilin Spear: “A polearm with a thin serrated tip and twin-spiked crossguard, obtained from the game corner prize counter. The spear impaled Apple Bloom from underneath, popping up out of the stage.”

“Looks like I was right,” I said with a sad frown. “Well, that should make this easier then. The prize counter register should tell us who bought it.”

Applejack cracked her knuckles on both hands, then stretched out her neck and shoulders. “Right. Lemme at it.”

She approached the register and started pushing buttons. I was a little worried she’d start slamming her fist against the screen or something, but she was actually quite patient with it till she got it printing a list. Once it was done, she scanned it, arched her eyebrows, then handed it to me.

Fact #9: Prize Counter Receipts: “Tickets scanned:
Sun1621DT x 10: DS1a Purchased
Sun1623DT x 10: DS1b Purchased
Sun1625DT x 10: DS1c Purchased
Sun2240AB x 10: QS1a Purchased”

I stared, stunned, at what I was reading. “Am I reading this correctly?” I muttered to myself. “Because it looks like the one who purchased the weapon was…”

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack said sadly. “Ah don’t get it either.”

“Wait, Apple Bloom? Really?” Rainbow Dash interjected, snatching up the paper from me. “That’s so weird. Why would she do that?”

Fluttershy gasped in horror, slapping a hand to her mouth. She immediately grabbed Rainbow Dash’s arm and dragged her out of there. I took the receipt back from Rainbow just before they left.

“What just happened?” I asked Applejack, my face twisted up in confusion.

Applejack shrugged. “Don’t ask me.”

With no more clues to be found in the game corner, I decided to move on to the library. I had no idea if it was involved, but it was worth checking out. “Remember to be quiet,” I whispered to Applejack as we entered.

We found Rarity and Sweetie Belle inside, searching around for anything out of place. “Oh, good, Sunset,” Rarity said quietly. “Come with me, please.”

Leaving Sweetie Belle by a bookshelf, Rarity guided Applejack and myself down to the second floor, where there was a desk near the stairwell. “This is where I placed the logbook,” Rarity added, pointing to a bog-standard notebook on the desk. “I thought you might want to take a look.”

Nodding gratefully, I opened up the logbook, and took a read. Rarity had thoughtfully formatted it as a list with two columns near the right side of the page, marked “checked out” and “returned” respectively.

Fact #10: Library Logbook:
“19th Century Prench Chemists: Twilight Sparkle X/X
Chemical Formulas 301: Twilight Sparkle X/O
Expert Calculus and Derivatives: Twilight Sparkle X/O
Shadow Spade: To Catch A Butterfly: Rarity Belle X/O
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #1: Sweetie Belle X/X
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #2: Sweetie Belle X/X
Strategies for Anger Management: Adagio Dazzle X/O
The Lesbian Kama Sutra: Adagio Dazzle X/O
The Art of Magic: Trixie Lulamoon X/O
Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light: Rainbow Dash X/O
Love Doth Ran Smooth: Fluttershy X/O
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #3: Sweetie Belle X/O
The Burning of the Stars: Apple Bloom X/O
Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering: Apple Bloom X/O
Springs and Pulleys: Apple Bloom X/O”

“The Lesbian Kama Sutra?” Applejack said in sheer disbelief. “What in tarnation--”

“Nevermind that,” I said quickly as I turned a shade of pink more commonly associated with little girl’s clothes than human faces. “Look at what Apple Bloom checked out.”

“Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and Springs and Pulleys, huh? What about them?”

I started to explain about the drill, but stopped, as a sudden, utterly terrifying realization came to mind. Is this what Fluttershy realized? “It… nevermind. I’ll explain during the trial.” I stuffed the logbook into my pack for later. God I hope I’m wrong.

Applejack favored me with a displeased look, but said nothing. “Fine, fine. Let’s keep a move on. Rarity, you see anythin’ else around here?”

“Ah, no, I haven’t,” Rarity said hesitantly. A look of pure sorrow crossed her features as she tentatively set a hand on Applejack’s shoulder. “Listen, darling, about Apple Bloom, I’m so, so terribly--”

“Save it,” Applejack said, shrugging off her hand. “Not that Ah don’t appreciate where you’re comin’ from, Rarity, but right now if Ah hear much of that Ah might just break again.” That thousand-yard stare briefly appeared in Applejack’s eyes as she spoke, lending credence to her words.

Rarity pulled her hand back, and nervously bit her lower lip. “Of course, of course. I’ll… I’ll just go.” She left without another word.

Applejack slowly shook her head as she watched the other woman leave. “Poor Rarity. Ah really do appreciate what she was tryin’ to do. Ah just… Ah can’t…”

I laid a gentle hand on Applejack’s arm. “It’s okay. Don’t force it. We’ve got the information we needed here. Let’s go.”

We left the library, and made our way back towards the theater, in case we missed anything there. Just before we entered, however, Twilight and Flash emerged together. Flash was not happy to see me, and Twilight wasn’t looking too pleased either. “Hey, uh, listen,” I said, unable to meet either of them eye to eye. “I wanted to apologize for, um… earlier.”

Flash crossed his arms, glaring at me for a moment before his gaze softened into a sympathetic frown. “Hey, it’s cool. We’re all under a lot of stress right now.”

Twilight shot Flash a glare, then sighed, lowering her head to stare at the floor. “Yeah. It’s okay.”

“Hey, actually, while I have you here,” I continued, trying not to wince at Twilight’s reaction, “I wanted to ask you about the Monopad map issue last night.”

Twilight’s head shot up to look right at me again. “You think that’s related?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied, “but we should note it just in case.”

Fact #11: Monopad Map Glitch: “At approximately 10:30 PM the Monopad map experienced a glitch, erasing all icons. This glitch lasted for two and a half hours, ending at 1:00 AM.”

“You’re sure it was over at 1:00?” I asked.

Twilight held up her notepad, showing detailed notes. “I’m certain. I stayed up late last night reading, and was watching it the whole time.”

“May I see that?” She offered up the notepad, so I examined it closer, checking back through the last couple of pages. “Looks like you were tracking everyone’s movements.”

A flush came to her cheeks. She took a step closer towards Flash, as if seeking protection. “Yeah. After the last trial, I just thought it was a good idea.”

“It was,” I replied with a small smile. “It could be very useful information.”

Fact #12: Movements Tracked: “At 10:30 PM, just before the map glitched, the following people were outside of their cabins:
Twilight Sparkle, Apple Bloom -- Library
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo -- Bridge Deck
Adagio Dazzle -- Theater
Diamond Tiara -- Game Corner
At 1:00 AM, all fourteen passengers were in their cabins.”

“I remember seeing Apple Bloom,” Twilight said. “She actually left the library before I did, and was going back to her cabin.”

Applejack broke into the conversation, just a hint of desperation in her voice as she asked, “Ya sure ya didn’t see her go into the game corner or nothin’?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I didn’t. Why?” I showed Twilight the game corner receipt. “Wait, what? Why--”

“We can figure that out later,” I interrupted, before Twilight upset Applejack further. The poor farmer was sweating, that faraway look in her eyes showing up for a few seconds then disappearing, then coming back again. She was on the verge of panicking, or going catatonic. Again.

“Mebbe we can ask Tiara, then,” Applejack stuttered after a moment. “Maybe she saw Apple Bloom there.”

“Uuuuh…” I felt my whole body heat up with embarrassment and shame. “That might not be the best idea right now.”

“Ah don’t care,” Applejack blurted. She grabbed me by the collar and dragged me into the theater with her. Adagio was still poking around the stage, and flashed me a look that was some bizarre mixture of jealousy and amusement as she watched Applejack carry me down onto the stage. Applejack pointedly did not look anywhere near Apple Bloom’s body, which was still hanging there, like a sick man’s version of a pinata. Trixie and Scootaloo hovering near it just added to the nauseating effect. I did notice, interestingly, that Trixie had changed back to her usual outfit, cape and hat included. Someone must’ve brought her the clothes.

Instead we headed back into the prop shop. I wasn’t sure how Applejack knew Tiara would still be in there. Maybe she had some kind of sense for these things I wasn’t aware of. But sure enough, there she was, fuming and pouting as she sat in a chair by one of the drafting tables, nursing her split lip.

When she saw me, she turned beet red and immediately hopped to her feet! “You!” she roared at the top of her lungs. “You little piece of filth! How dare you hit me?!” She raised her fists up and fell into a runner’s stance, ready to pounce.

Before she could move another muscle, Applejack gripped her wrist and twisted her arm, just enough to stop Tiara from moving. “Ah wouldn’t do that if Ah were you sugarcube,” Applejack snarled, her eyes roiling with fury and more than an ounce of hatred. “Ah ain’t in the mood for messin’ around.”

“Aaah!” Tiara cried out, though whether it was in pain or fear I couldn’t be sure. Either way, the sight left my stomach twisting. I should’ve felt some level of vindication or satisfaction, because she’d been a complete bitch towards me from the very beginning, and this wasn’t anything she didn’t deserve. But I didn’t. Instead, I just felt sad. Like I was watching someone who by all means should’ve been kind and caring act descend into becoming a vengeful bully. Like watching a friend fall from grace and become the very kind of monster they used to strive against.

So I set a hand on Applejack’s arm, and whispered to her, “That’s enough, AJ. Please.”

For the briefest of instances, Applejack’s eyes landed on me, so full of fury it was like she’d transformed into a wild beast. Then she let go of Tiara and shoved her back into the chair. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “That might’ve been a bit much.”

“Ya think?” Tiara grunted, her face screwing up in pain as she worked her shoulder muscles. “First my face, then my arm. What’s next? My back?”

“Look, I’m sorry I punched you, Tiara,” I said, still not feeling that sorry about it, “but we need to ask you a couple of questions.”

“And why should I tell you anything?” Diamond Tiara pointedly looked away and stuck her nose up in the air, her elitist bearing fully restored.

“Yer not tellin’ her, Tiara,” Applejack retorted, the dark hatred once again roiling throughout her whole being. “Yer tellin’ me. Because Ah don’t know if you noticed, but someone killed mah sister!” She emphasized her shout with a mighty slam of her boot into the floor, actually managing to crack the concrete.

Tiara yelped, clinging to the back of her chair. “Okay, okay! I’ll talk!”

Applejack took a step back and gestured to me. “You ask her.”

Okay then. “Tiara, you were in the game corner last night, right? At 10:30?”

Tiara rolled her eyes in exasperation, and mumbled something under her breath. Then she said, “Yeah. What about it?”

“Did you happen to see Apple Bloom at all?” I asked.

Her face twisted with a combination of confusion and annoyance. “No. I didn’t.”

I pulled out the receipt for the ticket counter and showed it to her. “Are you sure? Were you still there at 10:40?”

Tiara snatched the paper from me and glared at it like it had personally offended her. “No. I left at 10:35. I went back to my cabin. I didn’t see anything.” Then she tossed the paper aside.

I caught the receipt before it could fall and slipped it back into my bag. “Okay. That’s all we needed. Thank you.”

We left Tiara to stew in her own frustration. My mind turned over with ideas, suggestions from the clues, all leaning towards a conclusion I didn’t like one bit. And it didn’t sit right with me either. It was the logical conclusion, but was it the right one?

“There anythin’ else we need to see?” Applejack said, breaking up my thoughts.

“Yes,” I answered. “We still need to check under the stage.”

As we left the prop shop, we encountered Adagio, standing there with her arms crossed, weight on one leg. “Going under?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

I saw Applejack briefly make a bemused face at Adagio before I was able to answer, “Yeah, can you come with? Three sets of eyes better than two.”

Adagio nodded, uncrossing her arms. “Sure.”

Together, the three of us made for the trapdoor. As we neared it, I pulled out the penlight on a hunch, and sure enough, I saw the same chain from the rafters extended down the wall and into a perfectly circular hole near the trapdoor. “Huh. Wonder what that was for,” Applejack commented.

Opening up the trapdoor, we each descended, one at a time. It was a short descent, down a ladder built into the wall. Underneath, the stage was dusty, dirty, dank, and most of all, dark. I was starting to wish I’d brought a better light, but the penlight would have to do.

Deciding to use the chain as a guide, I searched for it on the wall, and saw it went down then along the floor. We followed it until we reached… some kind of mechanism. The chain, it turned out, had been tied around a large lever fashioned from a plank of wood. The lever was pulled back, in the direction of the trapdoor, towards the backstage wall. It was hooked into an unwound spring, a rather large one at that. The spring rested underneath a very small platform with smaller pieces of wood around it as a protector. Casting up my light, I almost fell over when I realized what the long stick poking out from the ceiling was. It was the other end of the spear.

We’d found the trap.

Fact #13: Spring Loaded Trap: “A trap fashioned from a spring, lever, and wooden guides under the stage. The spring was discovered unwound, the lever pulled towards the backstage wall by the black metal chain.”

“So this is how they did it,” Applejack growled. She raised a foot as if she was going to kick the thing, then seemed to think better of it and lowered her foot again. “Ah’m still not sure Ah understand how it worked though.”

“I think I’m starting to piece it together, but--”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

The screens in the theater above us switched on. We couldn’t see it, but I knew Monoponi was grinning wickedly, just like he always does.

“Attention all passengers! This is your Captain speaking. What a way to end a magic show, eh? Talking about ending with a bang! Or would that be a stab, upupupu? In any case, investigation time is up! Please assemble in the food court at once!”

A haunted expression came over Applejack’s face as Monoponi’s voice faded away. Making her way back to the trapdoor ladder, she hopped up it quickly and onto the stage again. Adagio and I followed after her. She turned her gaze onto her sister’s body, and quietly started moving towards it.

“Applejack?” I asked, reaching out. “What--”

Applejack cut me off with a quick swipe of her hand. She slipped past Trixie and Scootaloo, who kept looking at each other and then Adagio and me, completely lost as to what to do

Kneeling down by her sister’s body, very carefully avoiding the pink pool of blood, she laid a single hand on Apple Bloom’s cheek. “Don’t worry, sis,” I heard her whisper. “Ah’ll make ‘em pay, even if Ah have to tear ‘em apart mahself.” She pressed her lips to Apple Bloom’s forehead. “Ah love you too.”

She stood back up, her posture tense, but resolute. “C’mon y’all. We gotta git goin’. That Monoponi ain’t gonna wait on us long.” With that, she left the theater, calmly walking away.

Forming up as a group, albeit with Trixie and Adagio occasionally shooting each other glares, the four of us followed after her, Tiara trailing behind at a distance. It didn’t take us long to reach the food court, where everyone else was already gathered. Grim expressions dominated the crowd. Pinkie Pie especially seemed more than a little heartbroken. I remembered what she told me the other day, about how she never wanted to go through this again.

None of us did. These trials, the suspicion, the fear… knowing one of us would be lying to the rest, hoping we’d get it wrong so we’d die while they live...I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone. No one should ever have to go through this.

Monoponi flashed into existence before us, smiling that irritating grin of his. “Ah, my passengers!” he said, striking that Celestia-ripoff pose he was so fond of. “It’s so wonderful to see you again! Once again, it’s time for the exciting, heart-pounding thrill of a ship’s trial!”

“Shut up before Ah make you shut up!” Applejack bellowed. “Just let us on that damned elevator already. We ain’t got time to listen to you jaw on.”

Hanging his head low, Monoponi dropped his pose and made extremely annoying fake sobbing noises. “Oh, so ungrateful. So disrespectful to your Captain.” Then his head shot up and he stared Applejack square in the eye. “But then, you did lose your sister, didn’t you, Applejack? That’s too bad. I was really hoping she’d last longer. But she really only has herself to blame. She just had to play the hero.”

Applejack took one thundering step towards him. Then another. Then a third. The closer she got, the wider his grin became. Finally, she stopped right before him, inches away, and bent down to look him face to face. “...Ah hope you burn in hell,” she snarled. Then she turned around and walked away.

I let go of the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Jeez, Applejack, you could’ve gotten yourself killed just now!

Monoponi broke into amused laughter. “Well, that was entertaining!” he gloated. “But enough appetizers. Time for the main course!”

With a wave of his lit horn, his magic spiraled out and into the over-sized padlock. It unlocked and started to fall even as it disintegrated into a flurry of crimson sparkles. The gates squealed their way open, grating as ever on the ears. With a leading gesture to board, Monoponi vanished.

But before any of us could take a single step, Applejack leapt ahead, then turned to face us. “Listen up, y’all!” she growled in a no-nonsense voice. She raised a finger and pointed it at each of us in turn. “Ah’m only gonna say this once. One of y’all killed mah sister. One of y’all is a low-down dirty rotten snake. Ah aim to take you down. And if somehow, by some miracle we vote wrong?” Her expression turned dark as midnight as she ran her finger along her throat. “Before Ah die, Ah’ll kill you mahself.”

With that threat hanging over our heads, Applejack boarded the elevator. It took us all a couple moments before the rest of us could, none of us wanting to get too close to Applejack, lest she decide to just lash out right then and there.

Once we were all aboard, the doors closed, and our descent began. And as we fell, I pondered the case once more.

Apple Bloom… she was my friend. Maybe not the closest or best friend I’d ever had, but a friend nevertheless. And she died saving my life from a vicious, bloodthirsty trap.

Once again, one of us took a life.

One of us stole her from this world, for their own selfish ends.

Who was it this time? And why were they trying to kill me? Adagio had a good guess, but was she right?

Was it just because I’d guided us during the last trial? Just because I was number one on the list?

I didn’t know. But I did know this: It was up to me to find them. Find them, and avenge Apple Bloom. For my friend. For her sister. For the sake of us all.

I will save our lives in this trial of life and death!

Author's Notes:

As before, you should be able to determine the culprit before the trial, between the clues at hand and other bits of narration. As before I ask that all guesses be placed in spoiler tags. This one should be much more difficult to figure out than the first case, but we'll see.

Next time: Part 1 of the trial. This one's gonna get ugly.

I said this in a comment on the previous chapter, but it bears repeating: To anyone whose comment I have not replied to: I do read them and I appreciate each and every single one of them. Sometimes I can't think of something to say in response, so I try to acknowledge with a thumbs up on your comment. Just wanted to let you all know your comments are being read, and I appreciate them all. Especially the speculation. The more, the better.

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 6

Fact #1: Monoponi File II: “The victim is Apple Bloom, the Ultimate Builder. Time of death is 7:45 PM. Cause of death was blood loss due to a massive stab wound through the torso.”

Fact #2: Qilin Spear: “A polearm with a thin serrated tip and twin-spiked crossguard, obtained from the game corner prize counter. The spear impaled Apple Bloom from underneath, popping up out of the stage.”

Fact #3: Accidental Victim: “Apple Bloom was not the culprit’s intended target. The intended target was Sunset Shimmer.”

Fact #4: Bag of Tools: “A heavy sackcloth bag, filled with a selection of random tools. The bag was tied around its top with a length of chain many feet long, ending in half of a quick release clamp. The chain was spray-painted black. The tools came from toolkits in the prop shop inventory.”

Fact #5: Black metal Chain: “A chain hanging from high up on stage light rafters. It was spray painted black, and ended in half of a quick release clamp. The chain came from the prop shop inventory.”

Fact #6: Rolling Step Ladder: “There was a rolling step ladder inside the prop shop. It had been moved from its original position.”

Fact #7: Missing Drill: “According to Apple Bloom, a drill was missing the morning of the show. It was discovered taped upside down to the beam supporting the stage lights, set to its lowest setting and with its trigger taped down. The power supply was jury-rigged into the nearest light.”

Fact #8: Rope: “A rope tied to the stage light support beam. It had been chewed through by the bit of the drill, splitting it apart. Many pieces fell to the stage below and were discovered near the body.”

Fact #9: Prize Counter Receipts: “Tickets scanned:
Sun1621DT x 10: DS1a Purchased
Sun1623DT x 10: DS1b Purchased
Sun1625DT x 10: DS1c Purchased
Sun2240AB x 10: QS1a Purchased”

Fact #10: Library Logbook:
“19th Century Prench Chemists: Twilight Sparkle X/X
Chemical Formulas 301: Twilight Sparkle X/O
Expert Calculus and Derivatives: Twilight Sparkle X/O
Shadow Spade: To Catch A Butterfly: Rarity Belle X/O
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #1: Sweetie Belle X/X
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #2: Sweetie Belle X/X
Strategies for Anger Management: Adagio Dazzle X/O
The Lesbian Kama Sutra: Adagio Dazzle X/O
The Art of Magic: Trixie Lulamoon X/O
Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light: Rainbow Dash X/O
Love Doth Ran Smooth: Fluttershy X/O
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #3: Sweetie Belle X/O
The Burning of the Stars: Apple Bloom X/O
Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering: Apple Bloom X/O
Springs and Pulleys: Apple Bloom X/O”

Fact #11: Monopad Map Glitch: “At approximately 10:30 PM the Monopad map experienced a glitch, erasing all icons. This glitch lasted for one and a half hours, ending at 1:00 AM.”

Fact #12: Movements Tracked: “At 10:30 PM, just before the map glitched, the following people were outside of their cabins:
Twilight Sparkle, Apple Bloom -- Library
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo -- Bridge Deck
Adagio Dazzle -- Theater
Diamond Tiara -- Game Corner
At 1:00 AM, all fourteen passengers were in their cabins.”

Fact #13: Spring Loaded Trap: “A trap fashioned from a spring, lever, and wooden guides under the stage. The spring was discovered unwound, the lever pulled towards the backstage wall by the black metal chain.”

As we filed off the elevator, I took in the courtroom. As I’d expected, Monoponi had changed up the decor. Where before it featured lots of flowers and flowering plants, there were now scattered pictures of apples mixed with various tools, like some kind of bizarre tool-themed wallpaper. The lighting was different too, harsher, even more fluorescent than before. The changes resulted in many people muttering to themselves as we moved to take our podiums.

As I took my spot between Fluttershy and Trixie and plugged in my Monopad, I noticed two new portraits standing in place of the people who once occupied those podiums.

Timber… our first culprit. Monoponi’d chosen a particularly unflattering image for his portrait, probably as a last insult. Like Wallflower, I noticed a version of what in Equestria I’d call his cutie mark slapped on in addition to the cross, in the same blood pink color.

Apple Bloom, though… Unlike Wallflower and Timber, she was smiling. Happy, even, in her portrait. Just like she was in life. A happy soul, cut down in the process of saving me. I noticed Applejack’s eyes fall upon her sister’s portrait and briefly mist up with fresh tears before she wiped her face to get rid of them and resumed her stoic expression of determination.

Monoponi appeared in a flash of crimson light, already seated upon his throne. “Well, well, look at you all! Already plugged in and ready to go. I’ll bet you don’t even need me to go over the basics of the trial again, do you?”

“We know how this works, Monoponi,” I declared, subtly flipping him the bird from underneath my podium. “Shut up and let us get to it.”

Taking a bow, the false alicorn flashed us an amused grin. “Very well then. Take it away!”

“Alright, who did it?” Applejack blurted. She glared at each of us in turn. “Just fess up already. Ah don’t want to drag this out.”

No one answered her. Just like last time, the culprit intended for us to work to determine their guilt. And unlike last time, there was no easy, obvious list of suspects to work from.

“Where do we even start with this one?” Rarity asked after a long silence. “Weren’t we all in the theater?”

“We were,” Twilight confirmed, a sad expression on her face. “Everyone was either in the audience, on stage, or in Flash’s case, the light booth.”

“Then it was Flash!” Scootaloo insisted, pointing an accusatory finger his way. “It had to have been!”

Flash crossed his arms and scowled darkly at Scootaloo. “I didn’t. Do. A thing. I told you that during the investigation.”

Twilight added, in a frustrated tone, “And didn’t we point out at the beginning of last trial that we shouldn’t be accusing people before we even have the facts of the case worked out?”

“Well, yeah, but… but!” Scootaloo threw out one arm in disgust, her face twisting up in a pout. “Dang it. You’re right. Sorry.”

“So here’s my suggestion, then,” Flash said, uncrossing his arms. “We should figure out how she died first.”

“Uh, it was the big spear through her chest, duh?” Tiara sneered, shaking her head at Flash in disbelief. “This isn’t like Wallflower! It’s not exactly hard to figure out.”

Flash rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant. We know it was the spear. Even the Monoponi file tells us that much. But where did it come from? How did the culprit use it?”

“Well it’s not like someone just ran up and went bam and stabbed her with it,” Rainbow Dash responded, irritation etched across her features. “I think we would’ve noticed that.”

“Perhaps we should go over exactly what happened,” Rarity suggested, holding up a solitary finger. “Trixie, darling, you were just finishing up with your finale.”

Trixie blinked, rubbed at her head wound, then nodded. “Yes. Trixie had just successfully demonstrated the elegance of the origami illusion, and brought Sunset out onto the marker Trixie had set on the floor.”

“There were markers on the stage?” Sweetie asked, cocking her head. “I don’t remember seeing any.”

“They were made of duct tape,” I clarified. “They wouldn’t have been visible from the audience. Trixie laid them out as guides for me. She mentioned that at dinner last night, even.”

“Oh yeah!” Sweetie blushed, a sheepish smile summoned to her face. “I forgot about that.”

Trixie held up a hand to her mouth and cleared her throat. “Ahem. As Trixie was saying, now that her trick was complete, Sunset and Trixie took a bow. Naturally the audience was thrilled with Trixie’s success, so she and Sunset took another one. Then…” Trixie trailed off, squeezing her eyes shut in pain. “Trixie doesn’t recall what happened next.”

“I’ve got it from here, Trixie,” I said, patting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. “So I remember several things happening next, all at once. I know I heard Apple Bloom mutter something from off stage. And then there was the sound of something snapping. Then Apple Bloom ran right at us, screaming ‘Look out!’ and knocked us out of the way. I think I heard something else fall at the same time, too. And then…”

“And then the spear went whoosh, bam, boom!” Pinkie interrupted, gesticulating wildly. “And Apple Bloom went augh! Blargh! ....blech.” Despite the sound effects she was making, Pinkie was all frowns and unhappy faces. Her eyes filled with tears as she finished using hand motions to illustrate Apple Bloom’s death. “Oh it was so saaaaad…”

“More specifically,” Adagio added, glaring in exasperation at Pinkie’s antics. And she wasn’t the only one. Applejack was squeezing her hands together like she was trying to pop Pinkie’s head right off her neck, and was only hesitating because she’d have to reach past Scootaloo to get to her. “It popped up out of the stage, from directly underneath the center of the largest stage mark.”

“So it was a trap,” Fluttershy murmured, horror reflecting in her eyes. “How awful!”

“Can we prove that?” Twilight asked as she looked down at her Monopad, scrolling through the collected evidence.

“We can,” I answered.

Fact #13: Spring Loaded Trap: “A trap fashioned from a spring, lever, and wooden guides under the stage. The spring was discovered unwound, the lever pulled towards the backstage wall by the black metal chain.”

“Adagio, Applejack, and I found this under the stage, exactly dead center underneath the largest mark.”

“Then, the culprit wasn’t trying to kill Apple Bloom?” Rainbow Dash inquired, eyebrows raised. “But that means they were trying to kill…”

Fact #3: Accidental Victim: “Apple Bloom was not the culprit’s intended target. The intended target was Sunset Shimmer.”

“Me,” I finished for her, shivering all over. “They were trying to kill me.”

“Oh my heavens!” Rarity squealed at the top of her lungs. Her ankles buckled, then gave out as she swooned backwards, right into the arms of a confused, blinking Trixie. “Whyever would someone want to kill Sunset?”

“Yeah, I don’t get it,” Rainbow Dash added with a frown, one hand held to her chin. “I mean, sure, we were all a bit suspicious of her at first, but Sunset’s been nothing but good since then!”

“We don’t know why yet,” I said with a heavy sigh. “But we can be pretty sure we’re right.”

Diamond Tiara slammed her palms to her podium. “Oh come on! That’s a complete load of crap and you know it!”

“Excuse me?!” I retorted, rage filling me once again. “You’d better not be about to--”

Tiara interrupted me again, throwing out an accusatory finger squarely at me. “You can’t prove that at all! If anything, I’ll bet you set the trap and now you’re trying to pretend you were the intended victim just so we’d all overlook you!”

My whole body shook with fury, every aspect of my being clamoring to leap over the boundary between us and throttle that goddamned stupid moron. The only thing keeping me at my podium was the ever-watchful gaze of Monoponi. “You… you can’t be serious,” I stammered through gritted teeth, my fists squeezed at my sides. “You’re not actually doing this, are you?”

“Of course I am!” Tiara replied, hands moving to her hips as a smug smirk spread across her face. “Like I told you in the investigation, you said you didn’t want to be a leader, but as soon as someone dies, you start ordering everyone around. And when I came to confront you, you hit me!” She jutted out her split lip so everyone could see it. “See? Why would you do that if you were innocent?”

“Maybe, you idiot,” Adagio growled, baring her teeth, “she was scared because she almost died, and you provoked her!”

“Yeah, I dunno, Tiara, I think it’s pretty obvious Sunset was the intended victim here,” Flash added with a concerned frown. “I mean, we all saw how Sunset acted afterwards, right?”

“Yeah, she was screaming on stage!” Pinkie said, gasping dramatically as she raised her fists to the sky. “She was all super mad at first, and then she started crying!”

“It was kind of unnerving,” Scootaloo said with a nod. “I mean, I was mad too, but jeez.”

Tiara rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Oh please. She could’ve been acting!”

“You think I was acting?!” I roared. I held up one fist and shook it at her violently. “Why don’t you come over here and find out just how much I was ‘acting’!”

“And now she’s threatening me. That’s totally not the act of a suspicious person, oh nooooo,” Tiara mocked. She held up one hand to her mouth and laughed like an anime villain, “Ohohoho! Idiot.”

That was it. I started climbing over the podium, Monoponi be damned, only to have a crimson aura of light grip me by the throat, making me freeze in place. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Monoponi said in a dangerous tone. “If you leave your podium before voting, that counts as absence from the trial!” His muzzle split with a vicious grin. “So please. Go ahead. Make me execute you. I promise, I’d enjoy it! Ahahahaha!”

He released his grip, and I slipped back, gasping for air, my hands going to my throat and massaging it. Out the corner of my eye I noticed Rarity pop up out of Trixie’s arms immediately, her eyes bugging out with terror.

After taking several delicious lungfuls of sweet, sweet air, and really wishing that wasn’t Monoponi’s go-to threat--Seriously, can I please be allowed to breathe normally for just one freaking day?!--I, more calmly and with more patience than I truly felt, said, “Okay, Tiara. You’re suggesting that I set this trap. How, precisely, did I do that?”

Tiara’s face went completely blank. “Ah, well, you… that is, you…I don’t know!”

“Then we’re going to dismiss your claim for now,” I replied, a smirk of my own spreading on my face. “If you can prove something later we’ll get back to it. For now, maybe you should stop wasting our time?”

Tiara, scowling darker than I’d ever seen her before, raised both her hands and flipped me a double-bird. “Screw you, Shimmer,” she spat. Then she dropped her hands to her sides, and mumbled something to herself under her breath.

“Okay, so, does anyone else doubt that I was the culprit’s target?” I asked, searching around the room at everyone’s faces. “Anyone? Anyone? No? Okay then. Let’s move on.”

“I don’t doubt you were the target,” Fluttershy replied, her voice quavering. “But, um, I don’t understand why.”

“It probably has something to do with the motive, Shy,” Rainbow Dash said. “Maybe we should come back to that.”

“Yeah. Right now I’m more concerned with how this trap worked,” I agreed.

“Hmm, I think I might have an idea.” Twilight scrolled through the evidence. “You said there was a lever next to the trap, right?”

“There was,” Adagio answered for me. “It was hooked into the spring.”

“And the lever had a chain on it… hmmm…” Twilight scratched the back of her head several times.

“Wait, I’ve got it,” I said.

Fact #4: Bag of Tools: “A heavy sackcloth bag, filled with a selection of random tools. The bag was tied around its top with a length of chain many feet long, ending in half of a quick release clamp. The chain was spray-painted black. The tools came from toolkits in the prop shop inventory.”

“We heard something falling right? It was definitely this. And look, it had a quick release on it. So what if that pulled the chain, which triggered the lever?”

“Woah, woah, woah, hold it right there, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, throwing out her finger at me.

My eyebrows arched up to the top of my head. “Huh? What? What’s wrong with it?”

“That bag fell onto the stage, right?” Rainbow pointed out, holding up her hand. “But we didn’t see it fall near the trap. That means it fell from behind you.”

“Okay? So?” I held up my own hands in confusion. “What’s the problem? It could still have pulled the chain.”

“No way!” Rainbow Dash shot back, sweeping one arm out in front of her. “In order for the bag to pull anything, it’d have to have a chain extending down to the lever, right? But we would’ve seen that! Hell, someone would’ve tripped on it on the stage! So how could it pull anything?”

“Because it was tied to a longer chain that ran along the wall, that’s how,” I answered. “I can even prove it!”

Fact #5: Black metal Chain: “A chain hanging from high up on stage light rafters. It was spray painted black, and ended in half of a quick release clamp. The chain came from the prop shop inventory.”

“See, we found this chain up in the rafters. It was spray-painted black so it wouldn’t catch the light, but I followed it the whole way. It went along to the far stage wall, down the whole wall and through a hole underneath, then extended to the lever. And it has the other half of the quick release. This is pretty obvious.”

Rainbow Dash grunted, grimacing as if someone had just kicked her in the stomach. “Fine, fine, okay. I’ll admit that. So the bag could’ve pulled the chain. Maybe. But that still didn’t mean it set off the trap! The bag could’ve fallen at any time!”

“No, it couldn’t have,” I said, cuing up another bit of evidence.

Fact #8: Rope: “A rope tied to the stage light support beam. It had been chewed through by the bit of the drill, splitting it apart. Many pieces fell to the stage below and were discovered near the body.”

“The bag was tied with this rope,” I pointed out, “which kept it held in place until the rope was destroyed by a power drill they’d rigged to the support beam. This was specifically set up to go off at just the right time, right at the climax of the show, when I’d be in the perfect position.”

Letting out a loud groan of frustration, Rainbow Dash slapped a hand to her face. “No, that doesn’t make sense Sunset. How’d they set off the drill at the right time? I don’t see how that’s possible. Did you find a clock up there or something?”

Grimacing, I gestured with my hand and said, “Well, no, but--”

“Well there you go then!” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk. “They had to set the drill on a timer, right? Without a timer, there’s no way to make sure it’d go off when the culprit needed it to. So unless you can prove the culprit timed it for the trap, your explanation just doesn’t make sense!”

“I’ll rip your argument to pieces!” I declared, calling up my final piece of evidence.

Fact #7: Missing Drill: “According to Apple Bloom, a drill was missing the morning of the show. It was discovered taped upside down to the beam supporting the stage lights, set to its lowest setting and with its trigger taped down. The power supply was jury-rigged into the nearest light.”

“See, Adagio and I didn’t just discover the drill rigged up to an outlet. The power was spliced into the stage lights. Those same stage lights were never used except during the show itself. So the culprit, knowing this, used the stage lights themselves as the timer! We tested this during the investigation. As soon as Flash turned the stage lights back on, the drill switched on. When they were off, the drill was off. The only risk to this plan is if someone used the stage lights before the show, but there was never a reason for anyone to do that.”

Slack-jawed, the wind torn from her sails, Rainbow Dash fell over on her podium. “Aww man, I was wrong…”

“Wait, Trixie is confused,” Trixie objected, raising her hand. “She believes your explanation, but she doesn’t understand how they used the rope to time it.”

“It was the thickness of the rope,” I responded with a smile. “See, they set the drill on its lowest setting on purpose. They probably experimented with the rope to see how quickly the drill chewed through it, then tied enough rope to last the whole length of the show. Trixie, you even told everyone how long it would be at dinner last night, remember?”

“Oh.” Trixie’s face turned whiter than a sheet. “Oh no! Trixie did! This is Trixie’s fault!” She grabbed both sides of her head and pulled at her hair. “Please forgive Trixie!!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, Trixie,” I responded immediately, reaching out to set a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault at all. It’s the fault of the culprit. They’re the ones who used your show to kill someone. Not you.”

“I… wait.” Flash blinked once, twice, thrice. His face slowly turned green, then paled, then he started screaming at the top of his lungs. “They used the lights? But, I turned on the lights. Does... DOES THAT MEAN I DID IT?! Did I kill Apple Bloom?!”

Silence reigned throughout the courtroom. None of us spoke up. Simultaneous looks of terror appeared on every single one of our faces. It was a horrifying thought. Even if Flash wasn’t the one who set up the trap, would Monoponi rule that he was the blackened, because he triggered it? Would we have to watch an otherwise innocent man die just because of some stupid rules lawyering?

Finally, because no one else seemed to be able to summon up the courage, I spoke up, looking right at Monoponi. “Monoponi, would you consider Flash to be the blackened, because he triggered the timer?”

“Hmmm…” Monoponi held up a hoof to his chin. “Hmm… what to do, what to do… it would be hilarious to watch Twilight crying over Flash…buuuut...no.” Monoponi cleared his throat, then struck his Celestia-aping pose. “I will say this! Triggering the drill does not make Flash the blackened! The true blackened is the one who set up the trap with intent to kill! The trap is what killed Apple Bloom, not the timer. Therefore, Flash is innocent… for now.” He settled back onto his throne, grinning menacingly. “After all, if he set the trap, then he’s still the blackened. But the drill alone won’t do it.”

Flash heaved, taking super deep breaths one at a time, nearly hyperventilating in the process. “Thank god!” he shouted, a few tears coming to his eyes as his fear dissipated into sweet relief. “Thank god! I didn’t… I wouldn’t… god…”

I wanted to reach out to comfort him, but he was just too far away. So instead I just gave him a sympathetic smile. I understood what he was feeling, staring into the face of death. That sudden rush of fear, as your blood chills, your heart pounds like a jackhammer, your whole body going numb… I can try to use words to describe it, but unless you’ve felt it, you just wouldn’t get it. Not really.

I don’t know if he understood, but when he caught sight of my face, he did seem to relax, just a hair. Just a little bit. Enough that he was able to control his breathing again. Enough that he managed to stand, and maintain a sense of calm.

“Okay, so I guess we know how the trap worked now,” Sweetie Belle said, after giving Flash a few moments. “But who made it? And how?”

“Well, the culprit used a spear, did they not?” Rarity replied, half staring at the ceiling as she rubbed her chin. “So where did they get it?”

“They didn’t make their own, did they?” Pinkie suggested, with just a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

“No, dumbass,” Tiara retorted, puncturing what little cheer Pinkie had managed to summon. “They bought it from the game corner. Obviously!”

“Sorry, Pinkie, but Tiara’s right,” I added.

Fact #2: Qilin Spear: “A polearm with a thin serrated tip and twin-spiked crossguard, obtained from the game corner prize counter. The spear impaled Apple Bloom from underneath, popping up out of the stage.”

“Applejack and I confirmed that during the investigation. We think we know who bought it, too.”

“Wait, if you knew that, why didn’t you just tell us?!” Scootaloo shouted, throwing up one hand in irritation. “This is just like the nylon all over again! If you have the one clue that tells us who the killer is, why not just bring it up from the start?”

Applejack ground her teeth together as she replied, “Sugarcube, it ain’t that simple. Cause Ah ain’t sure how much I buy what we found.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Twilight inquired, adjusting her glasses so she could peer directly at Applejack. “The registers don’t lie. We proved that conclusively in the last trial.”

“Did we?” Rainbow Dash wondered, scratching her head. “I dunno, last time the registers led everyone to accuse me of killing Wallflower…”

“Can we stop arguing about this?” Adagio interrupted with a glare. “Sunset, just tell us already. Who bought the spear?”

Applejack fired off a deep glower my way, but I just returned it with an apologetic frown, then brought up the relevant evidence.

Fact #9: Prize Counter Receipts: “Tickets scanned:
Sun1621DT x 10: DS1a Purchased
Sun1623DT x 10: DS1b Purchased
Sun1625DT x 10: DS1c Purchased
Sun2240AB x 10: QS1a Purchased”

“The first three,” I said, pointing to each one in turn as I spoke, “are from when Diamond Tiara, Trixie, Apple Bloom, and I obtained the swords for Trixie’s magic show. Trixie insisted we use real ones, so that’s what we bought. The last one…” I pointed right at it. “That’s the spear.”

“Wait, but, but, but!” Pinkie stammered, her eyes bugging out of her sockets as her hair stood on end like she’d just been struck by lightning. “But that’s Apple Bloom!”

“What?!” Rarity gasped in shock, almost fainting into Trixie’s arms again until she thought better of it at the last second. “Why would Apple Bloom buy a spear?!”

“See what Ah mean?” Applejack said, crossing her arms. “This is why Ah ain’t sure Ah buy it. What kinda sense does it make for Apple Bloom to buy her own… her own…” She squeezed one hand into a fist, the fist shaking in the air for a few minutes before she released it again. “Her own murder weapon.”

“Um, I... nevermind,” Fluttershy said, raising a hand then gently setting it back down, staring down at her podium. “It’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t make much sense, no,” I said in agreement, “but it’s what the evidence says.”

“But, wait,” Rainbow said, scratching her head. “I thought only the games scanned our Monopads. Are we sure the tickets didn’t just, like, record who won them, not who used them to buy something?”

“Well, no, I guess not,” I admitted. The thought hadn’t occurred to me at all. I was surprised Rainbow Dash of all people had picked up on that. Maybe she was onto something.

“Did she even have the tickets to buy it though?” Adagio replied, her forehead creased from thought.

Scootaloo nodded several times in rapid succession. “Yeah, she did. She won ‘em earlier that day. I dunno what she did with ‘em though. I could’ve sworn she threw ‘em out when she realized they were for weapons…”

“Maybe she changed her mind, and just bought it for self defense?” Flash suggested, his face scrunching up in confusion.

“No way,” Tiara scoffed. “If she wanted something for self defense, she could’ve used a knife.”

Twilight frowned deeply as she held up a hand to her face. “I’m still not sure I get how that’s possible. The register says it happened at 10:40 PM, right?” I nodded. “But at 10:30 Apple Bloom was heading back to her cabin. I saw her, just ahead of me.”

“Maybe she doubled back?” Fluttershy` suggested. “She could’ve hidden by one of the shops, waited for you to pass by, then headed back for the game corner.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Twilight admitted. “I did lose sight of her after she rounded the corner. And the most logical direction to take when returning to the cabins is via the restaurant district, so that’s the way I went. Anyone coming or going the other way, I never would’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, with the promenade, the bridge deck, the lounge, and the cabins making a big loop,” Scootaloo added, “it’d be easy to sneak past someone else.”

“Hmph! I didn’t see her either, though!” Tiara snorted, throwing her nose up in the air. “And I left the game corner at 10:35.”

“Oh, like you’d be hard to sneak past,” Adagio sneered. “You’re so busy indulging your ego I doubt you’d notice anything.”

“Hey!” Tiara growled, glaring daggers at Adagio. “Shut up!”

Adagio just snickered. “See what I mean?”

“Anyway, all of this speculation aside,” I said, trying to steer the conversation forward, “Apple Bloom bought the spear. So we need to figure out why.” I have a hunch, and I don’t like it. Even if Rainbow has a point about the tickets, it still fits the rest of the evidence.

“I’m beginning to wonder if Apple Bloom built the trap,” Fluttershy said, giving voice to the thought I hadn’t dared to. “Because the trap required someone very smart, and Apple Bloom was smart.”

“Yeah huh, she was! But that doesn’t mean she built it!” Pinkie objected, throwing out a hand. “What kinda sense does that make, huh?”

“That don’t even make a lick o’sense!” Applejack added, slamming a palm on her podium.

“Are you sure?” Twilight intervened, her gaze shifting just enough for her glasses to catch the light and gleam. “Not many people would know how to rewire an electric drill to tie it into a light fixture.”

“I sure wouldn’t,” Sweetie Belle said with a nod.

Rainbow Dash held up a finger. “Yeah, me neither. I don’t know the first thing about circuitry.”

“I do! I used to rewire things all the time!” Pinkie said proudly. Then she deflated back to the low-energy state she’d practically been living in lately. “But I wouldn’t do this.”

“Yeah,” Flash agreed. He held out a hand to count on his fingers. “It’d probably be faster to list the people who would know how. Apple Bloom, Twilight, Pinkie Pie…” he trailed off and looked up at me with a sad expression on his face. “...and Sunset.”

“Oh reaaaaallllly?” Tiara tittered, holding up a hand to her mouth and breaking out into that godforsaken anime laugh I despised so much. “Ohohoho! Sunset’s on the suspect list, just like I saiiiid!”

“Ah swear, you accuse Sunset one more time, and Ah’ll be the one to bust your face in!” Applejack threatened, slamming one fist into her palm for emphasis.

“Aaaaiiii!” Tiara cried, coiling up like a turtle hiding in its shell. “Don’t hurt me!”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Applejack, I understand where you’re coming from darling, and while I agree with the general sentiment,” she said while flashing a disappointed glare Tiara’s way, “I don’t believe the violent threats are necessary.”

“For real, Tiara, no one thinks Sunset could’ve done it. Just lay off of her already,” Rainbow Dash added with a grunt.

“But. but!” Tiara’s face curled up into a duck-like pout. “But she could have!”

I shrugged. I’d finally stopped letting her protests get to me. At this point it was less infuriating and more like the mewling of a spoiled infant. “Sure. I’ll be honest. I could have rewired that drill easily. I could have, but I didn’t.”

“So that just leaves Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, and me,” Twilight said. “But I wouldn’t have made the trap either. I don’t have a reason to kill Sunset or Apple Bloom.”

“You know, I’m still not sure Sunset was even the target,” Scootaloo mused, rubbing her chin. “I mean, couldn’t it have been Trixie?”

“Trixie?!” Trixie burst out, screeching in shock. “No! Why would anyone want to kill Trixie?”

“Well we still don’t know why anyone would want to kill Sunset, sooo…” Scootaloo shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“We can figure that out later,” I said with a sigh. “The trap is more important.”

Sweetie Belle groaned, doubling over onto her podium. “Uuugh, but how’re we gonna solve it? I mean it’s not like there’s any other clues pointing to who could’ve made it, right?”

“Um, actually, there might be,” Rarity replied, giving me a pointed look. “Isn’t that right, Sunset?”

“Wait, you don’t mean… that? Do you?” Applejack gasped.

Rainbow Dash’s face twisted up in puzzlement. “What? What are they talking about?”

“They’re talking about this,” I answered.

Fact #10: Library Logbook:
“19th Century Prench Chemists: Twilight Sparkle X/X
Chemical Formulas 301: Twilight Sparkle X/O
Expert Calculus and Derivatives: Twilight Sparkle X/O
Shadow Spade: To Catch A Butterfly: Rarity Belle X/O
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #1: Sweetie Belle X/X
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #2: Sweetie Belle X/X
Strategies for Anger Management: Adagio Dazzle X/O
The Lesbian Kama Sutra: Adagio Dazzle X/O
The Art of Magic: Trixie Lulamoon X/O
Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light: Rainbow Dash X/O
Love Doth Ran Smooth: Fluttershy X/O
Sakaguchi Chise: Crusader Queen #3: Sweetie Belle X/O
The Burning of the Stars: Apple Bloom X/O
Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering: Apple Bloom X/O
Springs and Pulleys: Apple Bloom X/O”

“This is the log from the library, the one Rarity suggested we start,” I said. “As you can see, a lot of people signed it to show which books they checked out.”

“Aheheh, oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash said sheepishly, letting out nervous laughter. “Yeah, I forgot about… that.”

“Daring Do? You still read Daring Do?” Tiara burst out into mocking laughter. “Ahahaha! Aren’t you older than I am? Ahahaha!”

“Hey, shut up! Daring Do is awesome!” Rainbow retorted, shaking a fist in Tiara’s direction. “And it’s meant for all ages, not just kids, thank you!”

“Nevermind the Daring Do!” Rarity said, gasping. “I can’t believe what Adagio chose! The, the… Lesbian Kama Sutra?!”

“Woah…” Rainbow Dash’s face lit up with pink as her expression shifted into a leer. “Heeey Adagio, I didn’t know you were into girls. I’ll bet you learned some pretty good tips from that book, huh? I wouldn’t mind helping you try them out…”

Adagio spluttered, furiously blushing. “You… what…”

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy huffed, her hands on her hips, her eyes shining with disappointment. “What is the matter with you? This isn’t the time for that!”

“Sorry, sorry…”

“I could help you with that, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo suddenly said, even as her face bloomed with pink. She clapped a hand to her mouth as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just said.

Rainbow arched an eyebrow. “Uh, sorry, kid, but I think you’re a bit young for me.”

Scootaloo sank below her podium, and I could practically see steam rising above it from her embarrassment. “But I’m twenty-one,” she whined in a near whisper.

Adagio hissed, her teeth baring as her expression filled up with embarrassed rage. “What I choose to read is no one’s business but my own!” she roared. “Can we please drop this subject?”

“Seriously, jeez,” Flash agreed, groaning and shaking his head. “I’m sure Sunset has a better reason for bringing up the list anyway. Right, Sunset?”

“Yeah, I do,” I answered. I’d been wavering between stark amusement at Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo’s antics and outrage at Rainbow hitting on Adagio, so I was glad for the subject change. “I want to draw everyone’s attention to the last three entries.” I cued up the list again just to help bring them into focus.

Fact #10: Library Logbook:
“The Burning of the Stars: Apple Bloom X/O
Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering: Apple Bloom X/O
Springs and Pulleys: Apple Bloom X/O”

“Apple Bloom checked out these three books, probably all at the same time. The first one doesn’t matter. That’s just a sci-fi book.” I knew because I’d read it myself. Apple Bloom had good taste. “But the other two…”

Applejack stared at the titles for a moment before her face abruptly twisted into sheer horror. “No. No way. You can’t be saying that… no!”

“Twilight, was Apple Bloom carrying three books when she left the library?” Flash asked.

Twilight shrugged, an apologetic frown forming on her face. “Sorry. I know she had something, but I didn’t see what she had. I didn’t bother checking anything out last night either, so I didn’t see the list.”

“Then it makes sense,” Sweetie Belle said sadly. “Those books. They look like they’d be useful for the trap.”

“Not just useful,” Fluttershy agreed in a quiet voice. “They look like they’d be perfect. Like they’d show you everything you need.”

Trixie slammed a fist onto her podium. “No! That doesn’t make sense! Trixie doesn’t buy it. Apple Bloom was too smart. She didn’t need reference books!”

“Being smart isn’t enough when you’re building complicated projects,” Twilight disagreed, glaring over her glasses. “I use references all the time for my research. It’s part of being thorough.”

“Indeed. Even I sometimes use a reference or two when sewing an intricate or delicate stitch,” Rarity said, nodding.

“Wait, wait, wait. We keep going on and on about this,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, throwing out her hands. “But what are we trying to say, huh? Are we really going to say Apple Bloom built the trap?”

“I admit it does seem possible,” Rarity said, frowning.

“But why?” Applejack blurted. “Why would mah sister wanna build a trap like that? Why would she want to kill Sunset?! Ah can’t understand how that makes any sense at all.”

“Well why would anyone else want to kill her?” Rarity replied, crossing her arms. “We still don’t know. So it is possible. Surely you have to admit that.”

“Ah don’t gotta admit shit!” Applejack retorted, slamming both fists on her podium. “Mah sister wasn’t a killer!”

I remembered the conversation I had just this morning with Apple Bloom. About Equestria. At first it did seem like she was interrogating me. Or maybe confirming suspicions. But then…

~*~
“Ah ain’t sayin’ Ah don’t trust you. Ah think you proved you can be trusted from how you acted in the trial.”

I tried not to visibly wince when she said that. I remembered how I considered using that very fact to get away with murder. “I’d like to think so,” I said.

“Ah know so,” Apple Bloom responded, poking herself in the chest with one thumb. “Ah don’t quite have the sense for people’s honesty that mah sister does, but Ah can still tell someone trustworthy from someone who ain’t. And you’re trustworthy.
~*~

It didn’t track. Why would she talk like that to my face if she was planning to kill me? Why bring up the subject of Equestria? Why bother at all? Was she doubting herself? Maybe she wasn’t sure she could go through with it, so she tried to talk to me, to see if I could change her mind? Maybe, after that, she felt so guilty about what she’d planned that she had to save me at the last second?

But that didn’t make sense either. Because of one crucial little thing.

~*~
As I came out, Flash moved a couple of spotlights to circle around and focus on me.

“What the…” I heard Apple Bloom mutter from just off stage.
~*~

What Apple Bloom said, just before the trap sprung. I didn’t pay it any heed at the time, but looking back now… was that her spotting something? Flash had the spotlights dancing all over the place. Maybe it reflected some light off the chain, even with it being all black. Or maybe the drill even. The culprit hadn’t bothered painting the drill. Could she have seen a flash of a reflection out of the corner of her eye? Was it enough to catch her attention, make her look up, see the bag right as it started falling? That would explain how she noticed the trap.

And it would explain her actions, too. She had just enough time to react, and she chose to rescue Trixie and me, putting herself in harm’s way in the process. And she paid for it with her life.

No. Apple Bloom did not build the trap. I was sure of it.

“Listen, guys, I think we’re going about this all wrong,” I said, interjecting myself into a growing debate.

“But it makes sense!” Sweetie Belle said, responding to some point I hadn’t heard during my reverie. “Apple Bloom was smart enough to come up with the trap. She had the opportunity to build it! She was in the prop shop all the time. She had access to the materials, to the tools.”

“Trixie doesn’t agree!” Trixie objected. “Trixie is certain it’s impossible. Trixie remembers Apple Bloom bringing up the missing drill this morning! Why would she do that if she was going to--”

“Oh gee, I dunno, Trixie,” Tiara interrupted with a sneer. “Maybe it was to hide her guilt?”

Pinkie Pie shot Tiara a glare of her own. “You’re such a meanie, you know that, Tiara? A big, mean jerk! Apple Bloom would never hurt Sunny Girl!”

“And nobody thought Timber could hurt a fly, let alone kill Wallflower, but we’ve been wrong before,” Flash argued, shaking his head. “It makes too much sense. I’m sorry, but I think Apple Bloom built the trap.”

“No, that’s wrong!” I argued. “Apple Bloom wouldn’t build a trap and then get herself killed by it. Think about it, Flash. What kind of sense does that make?”

“Perhaps she made an error. Or she felt guilty. Who knows?” Twilight said with a shrug. “But the logic holds up. The evidence holds up.”

“The logic doesn’t hold at all!” Adagio fired back, pointing a finger at Twilight’s face. “And maybe the evidence is wrong!”

“Maybe the evidence is wrong?” Scootaloo repeated with a disbelieving laugh. “Look, Apple Bloom was my friend. I don’t want to think she was capable of it either, but why shouldn’t we trust the evidence we have?”

I had an answer for that. “Because of what Rarity said when she first suggested the logbook.”

~*~
“We could always make a log book of our own,” Rarity suggested. “We could get a large notebook from one of the stores, and then place it in the library for people to sign. It would be an honor system, I am aware, but it would help, yes?”
~*~

“She said it would be an honor system. You remember, right Rarity?”

Rarity held a hand to her breast, startled. “I… I guess I do remember saying that, but why bring that up?”

“Because,” I continued, feeling more confident by the second, “We can’t be sure we can trust what people wrote down.”

“Wait, wait, what?” Sweetie Belle cried, utter bafflement written all over her face. “What do you mean by that?”

Adagio flashed me a grateful look for the assistance. “She means that someone might’ve falsified an entry.”

Silence gripped the courtroom at that statement. No one spoke up for a good solid minute or two, the implications of what Adagio suggested racing through everyone’s heads. “S-so, wait,” Rainbow stuttered, “Are you saying someone lied about their book?”

“Lemme see that logbook!” Pinkie demanded, holding out her hands in my direction. With a shrug, I pulled it out of my backpack and tossed it her way. “Hmm, hmmm…. Yup yup yup! I think Dagi’s right!”

“Dagi?” Adagio growled, one hand curling into a claw. “No one calls me Dagi.”

Is that so? Remind me to never actually call her that to her face, then.

Pinkie ignored the irate siren. “I’d be willing to bet all my party supplies and then some that whoever wrote down Apple Bloom’s name for these last two books wasn’t actually Apple Bloom!”

“So what?” Diamond Tiara shot back with an irritated shrug. “Who cares? Apple Bloom still could’ve built the trap. I’m not gonna budge on that.”

“I’m sorry, but, I agree with her,” Fluttershy said, bowing her head. “I think Apple Bloom… killed herself.”

“Excuse me?!” Applejack burst out, the veins of her head throbbing with her fury as she whirled on the meek woman. “Ah know Ah didn’t just hear you accuse mah sister of bein’ suicidal. Because Ah swear, if you did, Ah’ve got somethin’ to say about it!”

“No, I don’t think she was suicidal,” Fluttershy replied, showing a remarkable amount of courage in the face of Applejack’s anger. “Not exactly. I think she built the trap, then changed her mind, and tried to stop it from hurting anyone. And… failed.”

Twilight nodded. “I don’t like the idea either, Applejack, but it fits what we’ve seen. I’m sorry, Sunset, I hear what you’re saying about the logbook, but I was the only other one in the library that night. And I sure didn’t falsify Apple Bloom’s name on a pair of books.”

Rainbow Dash snorted in disbelief, groaning as she slapped a hand to her head. “Man, none of you guys are listening to a word Sunset says, are you? Apple Bloom was too smart to get herself killed by her own trap! If she felt guilty, like you’re saying, I think she could’ve saved Trixie and Sunset without putting herself at risk.”

“Could she have?” Flash retorted, holding out one hand. “Because if she was going to do that, then she should’ve done it before the show began. Or halfway during the show. But she didn’t. She didn’t do a thing till the last minute. Sorry, but no. Like I said before, I’m with Twi and Shy. She killed herself. Probably not on purpose, but she did.”

“Yeah. She did,” Sweetie Belle said with a nod. “Sorry Sunset.”

“I… I know I said the logbook was an honor system,” Rarity said as she nervously twirled a finger into her hair. “B-but I can’t see how anyone else other than Apple Bloom could’ve built the trap. You didn’t, Sunset. Twilight didn’t. Pinkie surely didn’t. So who else could it have been?”

“Yeah, I think it’s time to call it. Monoponi!” Scootaloo cried out, turning to face the faux alicorn. “We’re ready to vote!”

“Oh? Ohoho? You are?! So soon?” Monoponi giggled. “Upupu, very well then. Please cast your votes with your--”

“Stop!” I shouted over him. “We’re not ready to vote at all!”

Trixie thrust out her arm, her cape fluttering in the resulting breeze. “Agreed! Trixie will not vote, not for Apple Bloom, not unless something more decisive is presented to her!”

Adagio held out one fist level with her chest, then switched it into a thumbs down. “Neither will I. Apple Bloom wasn’t stupid. She didn’t kill herself.”

Pinkie Pie tossed off a janky salute at Trixie, myself, and Adagio. “I’m with them. No vote Pinkie, that’s what you can call me!”

Rainbow Dash stomped a foot on the floor. “I’m with them too! No way Apple Bloom killed herself. I just won’t buy it.”

“Ah think y’all know which way Ah’m leanin’,” Applejack spoke up, glowering fiercely at every individual who’d dared suggest her sister killed herself. “Mah sister wasn’t suicidal. And she wouldn’t try and kill someone only to end up dead herself. Ah’d never vote for her, not now, not ever!”

“Then we’re split again!” Tiara said, growling and throwing up her hands. “Right down the middle!”

Uh-oh. I clapped a hand to my face, falling over onto my podium. “Oh god, here we go again.”

“Split? Split, you say?” Monoponi cackled as he jumped up from his chair. “Well, I think we all know what we need to do about that!”

“Can we please not?” I groaned.

“Sorry, but rules are rules!” Monoponi replied. His horn lit up and once again the familiar techno beat filled the courtroom. “When you’re split, the only way to settle it is a scrum debate! Prepare yourselves, my lovely passengers, for the experience of our very own morphenomenal trial grounds!”

“That term’s still stupid!” I shouted.

“Here we go again!” Rainbow called out as the podiums began to split apart, flying up into the air, drawing us into two rows once again. And I noticed just before things began… Apple Bloom’s portrait was with me. Like she was supporting my side.

Sweetie Belle led the charge, “Apple Bloom built the trap! There’s no one else who could’ve done it!”

Pinkie Pie pranced in place as she retorted, “Nuh-uh! With the right books and the right opportunity, anyone could’ve built the trap!”

Twilight shouted back, “But Apple Bloom was the one who checked the books out of the library!”

Adagio retorted with an exasperated roll of her eyes, “We don’t know Apple Bloom checked out the books. Her signature could’ve been falsified!”

Scootaloo smacked her podium with her hand. “Apple Bloom bought the spear though!”

Rainbow Dash pointed one finger at Scootaloo and said, “We don’t know she bought the spear! We only know her tickets were used!”

“So what are you saying then, darlings?” Rarity asked. “Are you saying we can’t trust the evidence?”

“That’s exactly what we’re saying,” Trixie replied with a nod. “The evidence could be misleading us!”

“Oh come on!” Tiara threw up her hands in frustration. “Why are you denying the obvious? Apple Bloom committed suicide!”

“For the last time, Tiara,” Applejack shot back with all the ire she could muster, “Mah sister would never commit suicide! She wasn’t suicidal!”

“She had to have known about the trap though,” Flash pointed out. “How else would she know when to act to save Sunset and Trixie?”

“Apple Bloom heard the snapping rope, just like Sunset and Trixie did!” Trixie retorted with a wave of her hand and a flurry of her cloak. “That was all she needed to act!”

“Then, are you saying that Apple Bloom was innocent after all?” Fluttershy asked in a quiet, sad voice.

I replied in a soft voice myself, “Yes, Fluttershy. Apple Bloom was innocent. She didn’t build the trap, and she didn’t kill herself. The culprit is someone else!”

And with that response, the music once again ceased, leaving us with blessed silence. Our podiums descended back to their usual spots. “I know it’s the easy solution, guys,” I said, trying to rally everyone’s spirits. “I know it feels like it fits the evidence to say Apple Bloom did this herself. But there’s just too many uncertainties. And I won’t vote until I’m one hundred percent certain. And neither should you.”

Twilight had the good sense to look abashed, withdrawing into herself. “Sorry, everyone. Sunset’s right.”

“‘Course she’s right. ‘Cause Ah ain’t ever gonna stop believing in mah sister,” Applejack replied with a snort. “Apple Bloom’s just the victim, and Ah still aim to figure out which one of you low-down varmints killed her!”

Applejack was right. The culprit was still amongst us. One of us was lying. One of us was trying to mislead us. One of us wanted the rest to fail.

I won’t let that happen.

Author's Notes:

So, when I wrote the first part of the trial, I expected more people would hop onto the "Apple Bloom built the trap" hypothesis than actually did, hence the direction the first part of the trial plus scrum debate went. Always interesting to me the difference between what I think people will fixate on versus what they actually fixate on.

Next time: the second half of the trial!

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 7

Apple Bloom’s trial… so far, we hadn’t worked out as much as I would’ve hoped. We’d confirmed how she died and the method used, but we spent more time arguing over whether she did it to herself than determining who was actually responsible. Unlike with Wallflower’s case, I still had no suspects. Pinkie had a point earlier during the scrum debate: with the right books and opportunity, anyone could’ve done this.

And there was plenty of opportunity. The Monopad map glitch was still in the back of my mind. I knew it had to have some connection with the case. Indeed, if we could figure out why that happened, it could be the biggest clue we’d have to solving it.

That, and their motive. I was their original target, but why? I still didn’t understand. And until we figured that out, we might not be able to figure out anything else.

“So what do we do now?” Scootaloo asked. “I dunno where we should go from here.”

Thank you, Scootaloo. “I think the key here is that I was the target. If we can figure out why someone would target me,” I said, trying to inject a measure of confidence into my voice, “then we can figure out the rest.”

“But how’re we supposed to do that, darling?” Rarity asked, raising a hand questioningly. “I certainly can’t imagine a reason why anyone would want to see you dead.”

“Monoponi’s motive,” I said simply. “I know he said that we can’t reveal the secrets--”

“That’s right!” Monoponi interrupted, bursting up out of his chair just to wave his forehooves menacingly. “No telling!”

“But,” I said with a glare his way, “he did say we can try to figure out what they are. Right, Monoponi?”

Monoponi settled back down, folding up his limbs. “Ahem. Yes. That you can do.”

“But why do you think the secret’s even involved?” Sweetie Belle asked, raising an eyebrow.

I took in a deep breath, and steeled my nerves. “Because I can only think of three possible secrets I could have, judging by the kind of secrets Monoponi was handing out. And of those, two of them would make me look… pretty bad, given our situation.”

I saw Adagio’s eyes widen considerably as she shot me a warning look, very subtly shaking her head. “No,” she breathed. “Don’t.”

“What do you mean, bad?” Rainbow Dash asked, holding up her hands in confusion. “What, does it have to do with that Eque-whatever place you talked about back on the first night?”

Adagio’s hands gripped into fists, hard enough that her fingernails punctured her own skin. “There is no such place,” she suddenly spat. “Sunset was making it up.”

“She was?” Fluttershy replied, disbelief etched across her face. “But, why would she lie?”

“Because that’s what she does!” Tiara interrupted, slamming a fist on her podium. “Sunset’s been suspicious from day one, remember? Monoponi knew who she was. She knew what this killing game was before it got started. She anticipated the motives, the Monoponi files, the trials… Why do any of us trust her at all? She might be the traitor! It would explain a lot!”

“Tiara, I explained that, remember?” I answered, resisting the urge to slap a hand to my head. I am so sick of her, I swear to Celestia. “I told you all about Danganronpa. It’s a video game series. That’s how I knew. This Monoponi guy, or whoever’s behind him? They’re just ripping those games off.”

“Yeah for real, Tiara,” Flash added, frowning at the rich elitist. “Just because Sunset knew what the killing game was doesn’t mean she’s the traitor. Frankly I still don’t buy that there is a traitor. I think Monoponi made that up.”

“Me? Lie? I would never!” Monoponi gasped, holding a hoof to his mouth. “Why, the very idea that your Captain would ever choose to deceive you is simply incomprehensible! I can assure you all! There is a traitor amongst you. There always has been.”

“Okay, soooo, if there is a traitor, what’s that got to do with Sunset?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking around at the group. “‘Cause I dunno about you guys, but Sunset’s been pretty chill. We’ve been real jerks to her left and right, but she just keeps standing up for us anyway.”

“Don’t you remember what Wallflower said though?” Scootaloo pointed out, glaring my way. “She said that’s exactly what the traitor would do. They’d be nice, and friendly with everyone, just to stab them in the back.”

“Hmm…” Pinkie scratched her chin. “That seems pretty sneaky though. Is Sunset really that sneaky?”

Rarity snorted. “This is beginning to sound like a witch hunt! Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, is that it? If she drowns she’s innocent, if she floats she’s guilty?”

Applejack slapped a palm lightly on her podium. “Ah gotta agree with Rarity. Ah’ve been tellin’ y’all, Ah got a sense for honesty, and Sunset’s been nothin’ but honest.” She pursed her lips. "Well. Mostly.”

“Hold on a second,” Twilight interrupted. She raised a finger and pointed it at Adagio. “Adagio, you said Sunset made Equestria up, right?” Her eyes narrowed into slits. “How do you know that?”

Adagio crossed her arms, glaring at the floor. “Because I do.”

“No. That’s not an acceptable answer,” Twilight retorted. “You need to explain your reasoning. Now.”

“I don’t have to do a damned thing you say, Sparkle!” Adagio roared, leaning down at her podium like she was preparing to pounce on Twilight and rip out her throat. “So back off, or else you’ll regret it.”

Twilight arched one eyebrow, her lips curling into a sneer. Then she reached into her backpack, pulled out a notebook, and scribbled something down on it. “I see. Well, you just became number one on my suspect list for the traitor, then.”

“Woah, woah, stop that, Twi, come on,” I said, holding out my hands in a placating gesture. “Adagio’s not the traitor, okay? Trust me. She can’t be the traitor.”

Turning her gaze on me, as full of suspicion as it had been the very first time we met, Twilight said cooly, “And why is that? Are you admitting guilt?”

“No, I’m not the traitor either!” Now I really did slap a hand to my head. “Look, just trust me, okay? It’s not possible for either of us to be the traitor.”

“Sunset… you trust Adagio?” Trixie asked, her eyes sparkling with the glint of unshed tears. And hurt. “Why?”

“Because she’s my friend, Trixie, just like you are,” I said, holding out a hand to take Trixie’s. I noticed Adagio’s eye twitch at this sign of affection, but she could get over it. “I know she’s been mean to you. I’ve been trying to get her to stop. Right, Adagio?”

Adagio ground her teeth together. “Yes,” she murmured.

“See?” A friendly smile spread across my face. “I told you.”

Trixie curled up one side of her mouth in an unconvinced frown. “Trixie supposes…”

“Wait, since when did you and Adagio become friends?” Rainbow Dash interjected, casting her eyes at Adagio, then me, then back again like she was watching a tennis match. “What, are you two sleeping together or something?”

Flash nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m wondering that too. Didn’t Adagio just threaten you yesterday?”

My face practically glowed with pink. “What? No! No way, we’re just friends. We just talk, that’s all,” I replied with sheepish laughter. Real smooth there, Sunset. She’s totally going to buy that. Yup.

Adagio looked just as flustered, wringing her hands together like she was going to throttle the athlete.

Rainbow Dash glanced between us a bit more, then burst out into a gut-busting laugh. “Bwahahaha! You are! No wonder Adagio wanted that book! Ahahaha!”

“Oh my,” Rarity said, rapidly fanning herself with her hand. “I didn’t expect that. Though I suppose that explains that glow you had earlier today…”

“Guess there’s no accounting for taste,” Tiara snorted, shaking her head.

Pinkie pranced in place, seeming happier than she had all day. “Oooh, we should come up with a name for you two! Maybe Adashimmer? Sundazzle? Wait, no! Sunsagio!”

Adagio stilled, her face taking on the cold malice of the darkest of winter nights. In a low, ominous tone, she said, “Say any of those names again and you won’t live to regret it.”

“Aww…”

Applejack tore her hat off her head and thumped it down on her podium. “Oh for pete’s sake, y’all, we’re in the middle of a trial here! Can we please get back on topic?”

“I dunno,” Twilight said, amusement sparkling in her eyes, a smirk growing on her face. “I’m kind of savoring the schadenfreude right now.”

Flash snickered. “A little bit of payback?”

“You could say that.”

“Applejack’s right,” I interjected, throwing out one arm, my face still burning with the ferocity of my blush. “Whatever Adagio and I are to each other isn’t what’s important. We’re supposed to be discussing secrets.”

“Weren’t we, though?” Sweetie Belle chuckled. “I mean we can cross one secret off the list, right?”

“No--well, maybe--but that’s not what I meant!” I groaned in frustration. “ No, listen, please. When I was talking about a secret that would make me look bad, I was talking about Equestria.”

That finally got everyone’s attention. The laughter and merriment vanished, shifting back to the tension and undercurrent of fear that the trials usually brought. “But, but, didn’t Adagio just say you were making that up?” Scootaloo asked.

“Because she is,” Adagio insisted, now unleashing that cold fury on me. “Equestria is just a fantasy.”

“Adagio, you know that isn’t true,” I replied simply, refusing to waver under her gaze. “I know you’re trying to protect me. It’s okay. This wasn’t even something I was originally intending to keep secret anyway. I was going to tell everyone the first night, and I only didn’t because I was interrupted.”

My siren friend poured a powerful message into the stoney silence she sent my way next. I was trying to protect myself too, you idiot.

A brief apologetic smile formed on my face. I know, Adagio. I’m sorry. But we have to.

She closed her eyes, and let out a quiet sigh, then held up one hand to say Go ahead then. She then looked down at her podium and gripped the sides of it, as if steeling herself.

“Listen, guys. Equestria is a real place. It’s just like I told you on the first night. It’s a world parallel to this one, full of magic. And instead of just humans, like on Earth, there are all kinds of species living there. Ponies, griffons, yaks, diamond dogs, hippogriffs, changelings, dragons... “ I took a deep breath before saying the next word. “...Sirens. And so many more. It’s a wonderful world, full of sunshine and rainbows, where friendship is magic.”

“Sounds like a little girl’s cartoon,” Rainbow Dash snorted, rolling her eyes. “That’s why I didn’t believe you the first time, you know.”

“I know, I know, I’m overselling it,” I grumbled. “But it’s where ponies like Monoponi come from. Right, Monoponi?”

Monoponi sat there in silence, not responding, just tapping a hoof impatiently on the arm of his throne. “What? Did you say something, Sunset?” he suddenly burst out after a moment, looking my way as if I’d startled him.

Rolling my eyes, I hissed, “Nevermind,” through my teeth.

“After everythin’ we’ve been seein’ this past week, and what we’ve been goin’ through, Ah think Ah believe you this time,” Applejack said, giving me a nod. “Ah’ve been convinced that magic is real.”

“I dunno, it still seems kinda weird to me,” Sweetie Belle objected.

“Weird? Try ridiculous!” Tiara insisted with a scoff. “Even if this place is real, Sunset, how do you know about it?”

Twilight adjusted her glasses, all traces of amusement gone. “I want to know too. You never did answer that question properly.”

“This… this is where it’s going to make me look bad, guys,” I said. Anxiety flooded my system, filling me with adrenalin. I wasn’t sure I wanted to own up to this any more. But I had to. If we were going to figure out who killed Apple Bloom, I had to.

So I took another deep breath, squeezed my palms against my podium to steel myself, then looked up and said, “I know because I’m from there. I wasn’t born human. I was born a pony.”

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

“Oh… my…”

“Oh my dear heavens!”

“What the heck?!”

Everyone except for Adagio broke out into expressions of outrage, surprise, and in a couple of cases, fear. Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle both seemed terrified of my revelation. Rarity had fainted onto her podium, though I wasn’t sure how much of that was for drama and how much was real. Rainbow Dash was downright furious, as if I’d betrayed her belief in me by admitting to this. Even Applejack was stunned. Flash Sentry bit his thumb, like he didn’t know what to say. Scootaloo was likewise confused. Pinkie Pie screeched long and loud, her eyes bugged out of her sockets as she gripped the sides of her head. Trixie seemed… sad, and disheartened. As if I should’ve told her before now. It tore at my heart.

Twilight, though… her reaction scared me. Her gaze turned even colder, more detached, looking at me like I was a laboratory specimen. She adjusted her glasses, which twinkled in the courtroom lights. “I see,” she said, her voice just as cold and detached as her demeanor. “So even though you appear human, you’re actually just like Monoponi.”

“Uh, no, not just like Monoponi,” I replied, waving my hands as panic filled my being. “He’s an alicorn. I was just a unicorn. Not the same kind of pony at all.”

“But you’re still not human,” Twilight reiterated, her tone taking on an edge of anger. “And if you’re not human, and Monoponi isn’t human either… the conclusion is obvious.”

“Sure seems like it,” Sweetie Belle agreed, glowering at me with naked hostility.

Trixie burst into tears, and moved as far away from me as she possibly could while still standing at her podium, hunched over with her face in her hands. Rarity moved over to gently stroke her on her back, while shooting me a furious glare.

“I thought we could trust you, Sunset,” Rainbow Dash said, squeezing her eyes shut and balling up a fist. “I guess I was wrong after all.”

“No, no, no!” I fired back, the panic shifting to cold terror. “No, you don’t get it! I’m not like Monoponi, okay? He’s nothing like most ponies! He’s a monster! We’re not like that at all!”

“Uh huh. Sure. I totally buy that,” Diamond Tiara snorted. “Not!”

Applejack doffed her hat and placed it down gently. She fixed her gaze upon me, like twin emerald drills burrowing into my brain, searching for secrets. “Sunset. Be honest with me now. Tell me to mah face. Are you the traitor? Did you set this game up with Monoponi?”

“No!” I cried out. “No, Applejack. I didn’t, okay? I’m innocent.” Please. Please believe me, Applejack. I’m telling you the truth.

Applejack continued to stare for several long, slow moments. “Is that so?” she muttered. “Hmm.” Then she nodded. “Alright then. Ah believe her, y’all. She’s tellin’ the truth.”

“She is?” Sweetie Belle blurted, whirling to face the farmer. “But, but, she said she was a pony!”

“Ah know that,” Applejack replied calmly. “And she’s right. She ain’t human. Not entirely. Ah’ve been thinkin’ she was keepin’ somethin’ from us, but it never seemed like it was somethin’ bad. This must’ve been it.”

Tears of relief streamed down my face. “Thank you, Applejack,” I whispered. “Thank you.”

“So, wait, now I’m confused again,” Rainbow Dash said. “Should we or should we not be mad at Sunset?”

“Um, I think… not?” Fluttershy asked, her head cocked to the side.

Trixie sniffled, wiping dripping snot from her face. “Trixie is very unhappy with Sunset for keeping this secret from her.” She shifted back closer towards me and reached out a hand, setting it on my shoulder. “Sunset, please don’t keep any more secrets from me, okay? I’m your friend. I want to be able to trust you.”

Rainbow Dash leaned over to Fluttershy and stage whispered, “Did Trixie just speak in first person?”

“Hush, Dashie,” Fluttershy scolded.

I slipped Trixie’s hand off my shoulder and took it in mine instead. “I’m sorry, Trixie. I’m really sorry. I just… I didn’t want to tell anyone because I was afraid of exactly what’s happening right now. And I didn’t say anything about Adagio because, well… she didn’t want me to. I promise, no more secrets, okay?”

Trixie nodded, blinking away her remaining tears. Her frown slowly shifted into a small, if still sad, smile. “I get it, Sunset. I do. And, well… okay. I’ll trust you. Just don’t do this again. Please.” She withdrew her hand from mine and held it close to her breast. “My heart can’t take it.”

“You got it, Trixie,” I said, smiling back.

“Okay, okay, blah blah blah no one gives a crap about your friendship drama!” Diamond Tiara interjected, stamping all over the somber mood. “That doesn’t change the fact that Sunset’s a freaking pony!”

“But Applejack said we could trust her, and I trust Applejack, sooo... “ Scootaloo shrugged. “I guess it’s fine?”

Flash nodded, though he still looked more than a little uncertain. “Yeah… I’ve been giving you the benefit of the doubt so far, Sunset. I’m still not happy with the way you acted earlier… but if Applejack can trust you, I can trust you. I guess.”

“Well, I do trust Applejack’s judgement,” Rarity admitted, pressing her knuckles to her lips. “But Sunset, I am not happy with you right now. I hope you know that.”

“Yeah, I get it. Look, I’m sorry, everyone. But do you see why I brought this up?” I blew out a sigh through my teeth. “The way you all reacted proves what I was saying. This had to have been my secret. This is why the culprit tried to kill me. Because they made the exact same wrong assumptions you all did: they thought I was the traitor.”

“I still think you are,” Tiara murmured under her breath, crossing her arms.

“It would be a logical reaction,” Twilight said, still acting as cold and unfeeling as she had ever since my reveal. Maybe it was a defense mechanism for her. “Because someone might think that, if they killed the traitor, the game would end. We’d all be freed.”

“Upupupu… ahahahahah eyahahahahahahahahahahaha!” Monoponi let loose a flurry of laughter, rolling off his throne to land on the floor with a squishy thump. “Oh, that’s so hilarious! Ahahahaha! Like I’d end the game just because you killed the traitor! Ahahaha!” Tears streamed forth from his pony eyes. He wriggled his limbs all over as he laughed.

Then he abruptly ceased, hopping back onto his throne and clearing his throat. “Ahem. No. That wouldn’t happen. The traitor isn’t running the game. I am. If you kill the traitor, well… “ he shrugged. “No skin off my muzzle.”

“Good to know,” Twilight muttered as she scribbled something down on her notepad. Then she placed it back in her backpack and steepled her hands on her podium. “Okay. So we know why Sunset was targeted now. Where does that lead us?”

“Well, it’s not like we can just ask who had Sunset’s secret, right?” Rainbow Dash said, holding up a hand to her chin.

“No, we can’t,” Tiara grumbled, rolling her eyes. “Monoponi only said that like a million times. Jeez.”

“Oooh, I have an idea!” Pinkie blurted. She’d been oddly quiet, apart from her initial screech at the reveal of my secret. I had no idea what the girl was thinking. She’d been so vocal in the last trial, but ever since, she’d only spoken up every so often. Like she was just letting out little bits of personality only when she had to. It was weird. But then again, maybe, like Twilight, it was some sort of defense mechanism.

“What is it, Pinkie?” Scootaloo asked.

“Maybe we oughta figure out what caused the Monopad glitch! Remember? Last night the Monopads went all funky and the map blinked out. We talked about it this morning but we never figured out what caused it.”

“Of course,” Twilight said, holding a hand to her forehead. “I’m an idiot. I completely forgot about that.”

“What Monopad glitch?” Sweetie asked, raising both eyebrows. “I don’t remember anything about a Monopad glitch.”

“Sweetie, darling, we were just talking about it this morning, like Pinkie said,” Rarity chided with a tsk tsk tsk noise under her breath, waggling one finger at her sister. “Please pay more attention.”

Sweetie fired off a nasty glare in her sister’s direction, but Rarity paid it no heed.

“It happened at about 10:30 PM,” I said, “Right around the time the spear was purchased. We need to discuss where we were all at during that time.”

“We do have a record of some people’s locations,” Twilight stated, tapping on her Monopad.

Fact #12: Movements Tracked: “At 10:30 PM, just before the map glitched, the following people were outside of their cabins:
Twilight Sparkle, Apple Bloom -- Library
Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo -- Bridge Deck
Adagio Dazzle -- Theater
Diamond Tiara -- Game Corner
At 1:00 AM, all fourteen passengers were in their cabins.”

“Specifically, myself, Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Adagio, and Diamond Tiara.”

“We already addressed mah sister, Tiara, and yerself, Twilight,” Applejack added. She scooped up her hat and placed it back on her head. “So that just leaves the other three.”

“It couldn’t have been me,” Rainbow Dash immediately, raising up her hands. “Scootaloo and I were playing a game last night.”

“Yeah, I bought a soccer ball from the store and we were kicking it around,” Scootaloo agreed. “We were soooo tired. I walked back to my cabin with Rainbow Dash right after 10:30.”

“I can confirm that,” Fluttershy spoke up, raising her hand. “I met with Rainbow Dash right afterwards. We had tea in my cabin.”

“Tea, you say?” Rarity hopped to attention, her focus squarely on Fluttershy. “Where did you get it?”

Fluttershy let out a little “eep” noise before managing to summon up the courage to answer. “Um, the convenience store has a lot of varieties of tea, in k-cups. And there’s a k-cup machine in our cabins, so, um… yeah.”

“Oh, of course. I hadn’t even considered that. I should really get some after the trial is over,” Rarity replied, smiling at the timid woman. “I haven’t had a good cup of tea since we got here.”

“Hang on,” Tiara interrupted. She stared at her Monopad. “Heeey… this says Adagio was at the theater at 10:30!”

All eyes turned to the siren. She hadn’t said a word since early on in my reveal, and from the way she was working her jaw, her face pink with rage, I was kind of glad she hadn’t. She burned like an overloaded steam engine ready to blow. “What about it?” she snarled.

“Adagio,” I started, only to shrink back as she whirled in my direction, shaking so much with fury I was afraid she’d lift off into space. “Adagio, please calm down,” I said more quietly. “I’m not accusing you of making the trap.”

“Good,” Adagio hissed. “Because I wouldn’t.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” I answered. “We just need to clear up this issue first. Why were you at the theater?”

“More importantly, did you see anything?” Twilight asked.

Adagio let out a loud grunt, and managed to stop her shaking. “I… I was just looking for Sunset. She wasn’t there, so I left.”

Immediately, I knew. I knew that was a lie. Adagio, what’re you doing? If you lie like that… I’d better back her up. She’ll never admit her real reason, whatever it was. “Oh, so that’s why you came to my cabin afterwards!” I said, trying to act like I’d had a sudden realization.

“Hmmm....” Applejack held a hand to her chin, her expression full of doubt. She narrowed her eyes, muttering as she looked back and forth between us, before settling on me. As subtle as I could, I flashed her a quick thumbs up. Applejack rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say a word, dropping her hand to her side.

“What is it, AJ?” Rainbow asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Nothin’,” Applejack muttered, looking away immediately, her mouth curling up into some kind of embarrassed pout.

I couldn’t help but wince. Ugh, Applejack, you are not a good liar, are you?

Still, Rainbow seemed to buy it, because she shrugged. “Okay. Anyway, Adagio, like Twi said: Did you see anybody on your way back?”

“No, I didn’t,” Adagio answered bluntly, sweeping a hand through her hair and spitting out a few that had strayed into her mouth. “I just went straight back via the restaurants.”

“Great. That’s a big help,” Dash muttered, throwing up her arms and clapping them back down to her sides.

“Everyone else was in their cabins at 10:30,” Twilight stated, looking back down at her Monopad. “So that means whoever it was, they left their cabin after 10:30, then returned before 1:00 AM, when the map switched back on and it showed everyone in their cabins.”

“Then that means they knew the glitch was going to happen!” Scootaloo said, pounding a fist into her open palm. “Like they caused it, or something.”

“But how was someone supposed to do that?” Sweetie asked, holding up a hand and screwing up her face with confusion. “It’s not like you could just hack a Monopad or something.” She glanced Twilight’s way. “Right?”

“No. If there is a way, I haven’t found one yet,” Twilight answered with a frown.

“I think I know how,” I spoke up. “It was the motive. Specifically, the second part of the motive.”

~*~
“I have a puzzle for you all to solve! The first person to answer my puzzle will get a fabulous prize! What is the puzzle? What is the prize? Well you’ll just have to speak to me privately to find out! Maybe it’ll be useful. Who knows? You won’t, till you try! Just keep in mind, it’s first come, first served!” He dropped the pose. “If you want to speak to me, just call out for me. But only when you’re alone! I won’t appear if there’s even a chance someone else might overhear!”
~*~

“I meant to check with Monoponi about it during the investigation, but… well, I never did.” I shrugged sheepishly.

“Wait, are you suggesting the prize was the Monopad glitch itself?” Twilight asked. “But, why would that be a prize? It’s not like any of us mentioned we were keeping an eye on the map before.”

“No, silly, it makes perfect sense!” Pinkie retorted. “After all, if anyone’s gonna try and sneak around, it’d be better to be sure no one can watch you do it, right?”

“I guess…”

“Wait, but how’re we gonna find out now?” Flash asked, holding up both hands palm upwards. “It’s not like one of us can leave the trial. “

“Why don’t we just ask him?” Scootaloo suggested. She turned around to face the alicorn. “Hey, Monoponi! What’s your puzzle?”

Monoponi held up a hoof to his mouth. “Upupu, I won’t tell you! You’re not alone!”

“Oh come on,” Scootaloo whined, throwing out a hand. “You gotta tell us. This is for the trial!”

“Please, Monoponi?” Pinkie added, pulling her hands together into a prayer-like gesture and giving him puppy-dog eyes. “Pretty please with sugar on top?”

Monoponi’s grin vanished, replaced by a dangerous looking grimace. “Ugh, fine! But your Captain is not happy about this! Such laziness amongst my crew would never be tolerated! Seriously, not one of you asked me during the investigation. Pathetic!”

With a few beats of his wings Monoponi took the air, hovering high above the courtroom. He spread out all four legs till he looked like a floating demon with six limbs. “The puzzle, you ask? It is very, very simple. A single question that you must answer. And I think you’ll all be able to answer it now. The question is this! What is Sunset Shimmer’s true nature?”

I was right. My secret was the key. The only ones who could’ve answered this question before the trial was myself, Adagio… and the culprit. Aloud, I called out, “I’m from Equestria, born a pony!”

“Correct!” Monoponi designed until he was hovering directly before me, his horn pointed dangerously at my face. “Of course, you’re too late. I told you before. It’s first come, first served! You don’t get a prize! But. But but but. Since it’s for the trial, and you complete incompetant morons would be stuck without it… I’ll tell you what the prize was.”

He beat his wings, sending a burst of wind into my face and ruffling my hair as he returned to his throne. “The prize was twofold. A single purchase of your choice from my lovely prize counter, free of charge--to you---and a one time use, on demand Monoponi brand Map Scrambler! The scrambler, naturally, rendered everyone’s maps useless! Except the culprit’s, that is, upupupu!”

“Then I was right! The culprit did fake Apple Bloom’s name on the tickets!” Rainbow Dash cried, pumping her fist in the air. “Yeah! Who called it? I did!”

“And the map glitch was key. Of course by this point that was obvious,” Twilight stated, rolling her eyes. “But it’s nice to have the confirmation.”

Didn’t you just doubt that the map scrambling would be a prize? I wondered, but I chose not to call her on it. She was pissed enough at me as it was. “So then we’ve got a lot of things we can use to narrow down the culprit,” I stated. Holding out a hand, I counted off on my fingers. “We know they used Apple Bloom’s ticket to buy the spear. We also know they did that ten minutes after they activated the map glitch and left their cabin. They had to take the long path from their cabin to the game corner, via the bridge deck and the shops quarter, so they could avoid everyone else coming via the restaurant quarter, and they had to sneak past Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash in the process, though with their map still working, that’d be pretty easy.”

“So it had to be somebody fast,” Scootaloo said, nodding. “Or small. Somebody who could sneak around pretty easily.”

“And they had to be smarteroonies!” Pinkie added. “They had to come up with the trap and build it all in a couple of hours!”

“Don’t forget the library log,” Adagio pointed out, hissing through her teeth. “They had to grab those books and fake Apple Bloom’s signature so well we couldn’t tell the difference.”

“So it had to be someone who was good with their hands and had the dexterity and good eye to copy signatures,” Twilight said.

“Also, they had to dislike Sunset,” Trixie stated, raising a finger. “Trixie believes that has to be true, or else the culprit would’ve just talked to Sunset instead of planning her death.”

Trixie makes a damned fine point. A lot of these people would’ve talked to me first. I know Flash definitely would have. Fluttershy too. Rarity especially.

So who could it be? Diamond Tiara, maybe?

I took a moment to look Tiara over, who recoiled from my gaze as if I were a cockatrice about to petrify her. No. Even though she was in the game corner, I don’t think she could’ve done everything. Maybe she could’ve copied Apple Bloom’s signature. But the trap? No way. She’s not smart enough. Knowing her, she probably would’ve accidentally killed herself if she tried to set something like that up.

I guess Pinkie Pie could’ve made the trap. She was smart enough for it. And that girl can sneak around anywhere. But she’s been nothing but nice to me. And she hated the first trial. Why would she cause another one?

My gaze fell upon Twilight Sparkle, who glared back as if daring me to accuse her. Twilight was sure acting guilty. Yeah, she cried a lot for Wallflower too, but she was inconsolable over Apple Bloom, just like I’d expect from someone who killed the wrong person instead of their target. But the thing is, despite being in place in the library and smart enough to make the trap… until the trial, she had no reason to dislike me. Even now I think she’s probably more angry that I kept it secret than anything else. It just doesn’t track.

I moved on, until I stopped upon Adagio, who just arched an eyebrow at me, as if to say “really?” Yeah. No. No way. Maybe if we hadn’t talked after the whole Trixie thing, but no. Forget it.

I didn’t even bother looking at Apple Bloom’s portrait, nor Applejack. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had alibis, as did Fluttershy. Rarity… I already dismissed her. And Flash. But who did that leave? That was practically everybody, right?

Everybody… save one. And when my gaze fell upon her, when I saw the look of surprise, fear, and, most importantly, regret reflecting in her eyes. I knew. I still wasn’t sure how to prove it, but I knew.

I raised my finger and leveled it right at her. “Sweetie Belle! You’re the only one!”

Cold hatred flared to life in Sweetie’s eyes even as she drew herself up in shock. “M-me?! What? Why?”

“Sunset Shimmer!” Rarity thundered, slamming a fist on her podium so hard I heard one of her nails crack. “How dare you accuse my sister?! What in heaven’s name is the matter with you?!”

“Yeah, I dunno about this, Sunset…” Rainbow Dash muttered as she scratched the back of her head, sharing a doubtful look with Fluttershy. “I mean, Sweetie Belle? Really?”

Even Adagio seemed disappointed. “Sunset, I thought you were smarter than this,” she said plainly.

Twilight’s face went blank. “I… that wasn’t what I expected you to say.”

“Yeah, I mean, come on,” Scootaloo said. “I kinda figured if anyone it’d be Diamond Tiara.” She gestured Tiara’s way with both hands for emphasis.

“What?!” Tiara screeched, reeling back in shock.

“Well, you do kinda hate Sunset’s guts,” Flash admitted. “And you’ve always insisted she was guilty of, like, everything.”

“So what?” Tiara scoffed, thumbing her nose at Flash. “Idiot. Just because I don’t like someone doesn’t mean I’d kill them.” In a whisper that I only discerned because I read her lips, she added, “I’d make someone else do it.”

Trixie looked back and forth between me and Sweetie Belle, her face screwing up worse and worse with confusion by the second. “Trixie doesn’t understand. She thought you would say Tiara too. Didn’t Tiara have the opportunity to learn all about Trixie’s show? When could Sweetie have done anything?”

“Um, yeah, even I don’t get this one, Sunny,” Pinkie said.

Applejack was the only one who didn’t seem to doubt my words. Instead of speaking up, she held up her fist to her chin and stared at Sweetie, lost in thought.

“Yeah. Yeah!” Sweetie, brimming with confidence, stood her ground, pointing right back at me. “I don’t know where you get off accusing me, but it’s not funny! Stop wasting our time!”

But despite the doubt everyone had expressed within me, my certainty of Sweetie’s guilt grew all the stronger. I’m right. I know I’m right. I just don’t know how to prove it yet! Better start on the easier things first. She was familiar with the library, right? “Sweetie, you could’ve easily built the trap. All you needed was a little ingenuity and books with the right information. And you’ve been spending a lot of time in the library since it opened up!”

“So what?” Sweetie’s face twisted into an exasperated grimace. “That’s your proof? Really? Because I like to read?”

“Honestly, Sunset, please tell me this is some sort of joke!” Rarity added, still glaring at me with the fury of a sister scorned.

Come on, Sunset. Think, think! ...wait a minute.

~*~
“And they’ve got the latest manga from Neighpon!” Sweetie squeaked, even higher pitched than her sister. She held up a graphic novel, featuring some anime heroine looking particularly dashing as she swung a Qilin style spear at some sort of monster. “I didn’t even think this series was translated!”
~*~

Wait. The manga. There’s an angle I can use. One side of my lip twisted into a mocking half-grin. “There’s nothing wrong with reading, Sweetie. It’s just, I find it interesting that all you ever checked out was manga. And your manga heroine uses a spear. A qiang spear, no less. Exactly the kind used in the trap.”

“I suppose that is an odd coincidence,” Fluttershy said, though the uncertainty etched all over her face spoke of her continuing doubt.

“S-so?” Sweetie retorted, sweat beading up on her brow. “That doesn’t prove anything!”

My half-grin switched to a full out smirk. “No, not by itself. But other than Twilight, you’ve spent more time in the library than anyone else. I should know. I’ve been watching everybody’s positions on my Monopad.”

~*~
Turning on the map, I noted that most people had opted to head to their rooms. Trixie and Apple Bloom were in the prop shop. Adagio, though, was on the first floor of the library, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Interesting. Twilight was there too, poking around the third floor, with Flash. Sweetie Belle was also on the third floor of the library, on the other side from Twilight and Flash. Rarity was in the fabric store. And finally Scootaloo was in the game corner.

I wrote that all down, noted the time--3:45 PM--and then moved on. I’d try to check at least every half hour or so, and keep notes.
~*~
Before we left, I turned on my Monopad and jotted down everyone’s new locations. Most hadn’t shifted, though Rainbow had left the game corner and was meandering through the cabins, while Adagio was now on the second floor of the library. Sweetie Belle was pursuing books on the third. And Tiara, she was in the game corner, oddly enough.
~*~
“11:00 AM,” I muttered to myself as I wrote down. Apple Bloom, Trixie, myself in the theater, Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Applejack in the game corner, Twilight and Flash in the library naturally, and Sweetie Belle was in the bakery kitchen.
~*~

“The only time you weren’t there was after the trap was already set up. It wouldn’t have been hard for you to plan out the murder, not with all that knowledge on hand. There was plenty of reference material for you to study from. Even for faking Apple Bloom’s signature!”

~*~
“Yup. It seems like this library is entirely non-fiction, at least on this floor,” Twilight answered. “I’ve seen subjects ranging from carpentry, to industrial manufacturing, electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, archeology, anatomy and physiology, even the practice of handwriting… it’s practically a university all to itself!” Twilight grinned wildly, sighing in delight. “Ah, isn’t it wonderful?”
~*~

“Remember, Twilight?” I looked to the researcher, who’d recovered from her stupor. “You told me yourself.”

“I guess I did, didn’t I?” Twilight admitted, comprehension slowly dawning on her face.

“T-this is ridiculous! You’re not proving anything!” Sweetie cried out, anger overtaking her sense of propriety. “All you have is circumstantial evidence!”

“I also have your own words, Sweetie. Remember this morning?”

~*~
“Me too,” Sweetie Belle added from her own seat next to Rarity. “I love magic shows! They always end with a bang! I can’t wait to see how yours ends!”
~*~

My smirk grew wider. “Maybe that seemed innocent at the time, but looking back, that sounds less like someone interested in Trixie’s show and more like someone who was eager to see if their trap worked!”

“I have heard enough of this, Sunset!” Rarity shouted, once again slamming a fist on her podium. “Stop this! Now!”

I shook my head. “Sorry, Rarity, but I can’t. If I did, I’d be letting the culprit get away.”

“But I’m not the culprit!” Sweetie cried, squeezing both fists and holding them at her sides as she leaned forward to shout louder. “I would never kill Apple Bloom! She was my friend too!”

I shook my head slowly. “Sweetie, you weren’t trying to kill Apple Bloom. You were trying to kill me. And Trixie was right. The culprit was someone who hated me. And you’ve been nothing but against me this whole trial! Every time I suggested something, you questioned it. You kept trying to direct us towards suspecting Apple Bloom, even.

~*~
“Then it makes sense,” Sweetie Belle said sadly. “Those books. They look like they’d be useful for the trap.”
~*~
“But it makes sense!” Sweetie Belle said, responding to some point I hadn’t heard during my reverie. “Apple Bloom was smart enough to come up with the trap. She had the opportunity to build it! She was in the prop shop all the time. She had access to the materials, to the tools.”
~*~
Sweetie Belle led the charge, “Apple Bloom built the trap! There’s no one else who could’ve done it!”
~*~

“Not to mention you’ve been playing dumb about everything else too,” I pointed out. “Every time we figured something out, you either doubted it, or acted like you were too dumb to figure it out. Just like Timber Spruce did in the last trial.”

Sweetie’s expression blanked out. She didn’t say a word to that.

Rarity settled down, her expression shifting between outrage and worry. “Sweetie…” she said quietly. “Sweetie, darling, she’s starting to sound convincing. Please, say something!”

“And if that’s not enough?” I added, now on a roll, “Trixie made a great point earlier when she said the culprit would have to be someone who didn’t like me very much. And I can’t help but remember how every time I’ve been suspicious or suspected, whether it was in this trial or the previous one, you’ve jumped on the bandwagon. Maybe you haven’t been as vitriolic as Tiara, but you’ve never been a fan of me either.”

Sweetie remained silent, no expression on her face at all. Like she’d just checked out of reality altogether.

Rarity reached out a hand, as far as she could stretch, in Sweetie’s direction. “Sweetie Belle! Say something!”

“Haa…”

I stopped, nonplussed.

Sweetie Belle had started laughing.

“Haha...hahahaha....hahahahahahahaha!” Sweetie Belle doubled over, shaking with mirth as she let out belly laugh after belly laugh. “Hahahahahaha! Wow!” She stood back up, wiping tears from her eyes. “Sunset, you’re a real laugh riot, you know that?” She smiled at me, a happy-go-lucky smile, without a trace of worry. “You even had me wondering there for a minute.”

“Excuse me?” I said, arching both eyebrows. “What--”

Sweetie held up a hand. “It’s okay. I get it! You were just confused. But you can stop now. I didn’t do it. I’m not the culprit.”

“Uh… you’re not? Are you sure?” Flash asked, his hand on his chin. “Cause I think Sunset was on to something there.”

“Yeah, you do seem a bit fishy,” Pinkie said with a frown.

Sweetie shrugged. “Eh. I know. But it’s a killing game. You could do nothing but breathe and you’d still be fishy.”

“Oh.” Pinkie blinked owlishly. “I never thought of it like that. Guess you’re right!”

Trixie turned to face me. “Sunset, are you sure Sweetie Belle is the culprit? Trixie doesn’t know what to think anymore.”

“Of course I’m not, Trixie,” Sweetie said, giggling. “There’s no proof. And it doesn’t make much sense anyway. I mean me, really? I’ve never built a thing in my life. You think I know how to use power tools?”

“It’s not like they’re hard to use,” Adagio replied. “Even someone like you could figure it out.”

“Maybe,” Sweetie shrugged again. “But that doesn't explain the electrical wiring. You can't just rig something like that without knowing how wiring works. You think I could figure out something like that just from a book?"

"Of course you could," Twilight said. "During the investigation, I checked a copy of that book. There were examples of rewiring laid out all over the schematics, near the end, sufficient enough you'd be able to figure out the rest. It would be tricky, but not impossible."

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll admit that. But I’m not the one who hates Sunset. That’s Diamond Tiara. And she had a thing against Applejack too, remember? Applejack threatened her, back when Monoponi told us to explore the ship. She probably rigged the trap and didn’t care if it killed Sunset or Apple Bloom. She’d be getting revenge either way.”

“No I wouldn’t be!” Tiara fired back, holding up a hand like she was ready to slap Sweetie silly. “I wouldn’t kill someone just because I didn’t like them. I already said that!”

“Oh.” Sweetie considered that, then nodded. “Okay then. Guess it must’ve been Apple Bloom who built the trap after all. Not like anyone else could.”

“You’re lyin’.”

Everyone turned to face Applejack, who was holding up a finger, pointed Sweetie Belle’s way. Her face was twisted into an ugly, hateful glare, her whole body quivering from rage. “You low-down, dirty, rotten little piece of trash. You’re just lyin’ to try and save your skin! But Ah can see right through it! Ah know now! Sunset was right! You… you killed mah sister!” She slammed her other hand down on her podium so hard she cracked the wood. “You. Killed. Mah. Sister!”

“No, I didn’t, Applejack,” Sweetie replied without a hint of fear. An eerie calm had descended upon her. “I didn’t kill Apple Bloom. She was my friend. I wouldn’t have killed her.”

“Stop lyin’ already!” Applejack roared, spittle flying across the courtroom. “Just fess up and admit it already! Ya killed Apple Bloom and now you’re tryin’ to kill the rest of us! Even your own sister!”

“I’m not going to admit to something I didn’t do,” Sweetie said.

Damn it. This isn’t getting us anywhere. Even with Applejack’s support, we still don’t have solid proof! There’s got to be something I’m overlooking in the evidence.

“But it had to be you!” Applejack was screaming now, full-throated at maximum volume, so loud it was hurting my ears. “It’s like Sunset said! You’re the one who spent all her time in the library!”

“And? Like I said, Applejack, I just like to read.”

“But the spear was just like the one in your Neighponese comic!”

Sweetie arched an eyebrow. “Now we’re just going in circles again. That’s just a coincidence.”

Damn it, Sunset, you’ve got to think! I scrolled through each bit of evidence on the Monopad, searching desperately for some hidden clue, something I’d missed.

“But you’re fast enough and small enough to sneak past Rainbow and me!” Scootaloo said, intervening on Applejack’s side.

Sweetie shook her head. “So’s Diamond Tiara. And she was in the game corner, remember? She didn’t even have to sneak past anyone to get there.”

“Now you’re blaming Tiara again?” Rainbow Dash said, slapping her forehead in disgust. “Which is it, Sweetie? Was it Apple Bloom or Tiara? Get your story straight, jeez.”

Rarity slapped an open palm on her podium for attention. “Now, now, stop that, Rainbow Dash! She’s just pointing out the facts.”

Where is it? I started pulling at my hair in frustration, going over every clue. We’ve addressed everything! The drill, the ladder, the chain, the bag of tools, the spear, the tickets… there’s nothing here! We’ve addressed everything! What am I going to do?

“Aren’t you really smart, though?” Twilight said, glaring at Sweetie over her glasses. “You’re a college student at a university. You’ve got to be at least a little bit creative.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Sweetie asked, spreading out her hands. “I’d be willing to bet any of us could come up with this trap. It wasn’t that complicated. And really, what’s more likely? That I figured out how to do this stuff just from reading books? Or someone who already knew how this stuff worked made the trap instead?”

“Stop tryin’ to save your hide already!” Applejack screamed. “Just fess up!”

Oh my god! This is so infuriating! We’ve got her right here but if I can’t prove unequivocally that she did it, it’s all meaningless! There’s nothing we have that can do that though! Not even the… wait. My eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Wait, wait, wait! I quickly scanned through the Monopad again and focused on one particular piece of evidence. Is that it? Is it really that simple? I backed out of the evidence, and checked one final thing, and let out a gasp. It really is! Ha ha! Why didn’t I see this before?! I knew something didn’t seem right about this!

Sweetie Belle laughed in Applejack’s face. “Stop wasting your time Applejack. I won’t admit to something I didn’t do. And there’s nothing that could ever prove I did it!”

“YOU’VE GOT THAT WRONG!” I roared, cuing up the evidence that would spell Sweetie’s doom.

Fact #1: Monoponi File II: “The victim is Apple Bloom, the Ultimate Builder. Time of death is 7:45 PM. Cause of death was blood loss due to a massive stab wound through the torso.”

Sweetie Belle barked a quick, disbelieving laugh. “What? What the heck does that have to do with… any… thing....” A hand suddenly shot to her mouth as she gasped. “Oh no…”

“When I first read the Monoponi File,” I said, the presence of my words dominating the room into complete silence, “Something struck me as odd. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but something just didn’t feel right. But you know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t you, Sweetie Belle?”

“N-no! No I don’t!” Sweetie babbled, her confidence shattered like glass, replaced with the cold hearted grip of naked fear. “I d-don’t know anything!”

“What is it, Sunset?” Pinkie blurted. “What? What?”

“Everyone, look at the first line of the file. Right there. What does it say?”

Rainbow Dash picked up her own Monopad. “It says ‘The victim is Apple Bloom, the Ultimate Builder.’ What about it? It’s just Monoponi’s stupid Ultimate title. Who even cares?”

Scootaloo’s eyes bulged as she yelped in shock. “Oh my god! Sunset! I see it now!”

“Of course you do, Scootaloo,” I said, a mirthless smile coming to my face. “You’re the only one who still has the problem.”

“Wait, please, I’m completely lost,” Twilight admitted, her cheeks flushing pink. “What are you talking about, Sunset?”

I closed my eyes, my smile growing into one of triumph. “It’s okay. I’m not surprised most of you don’t remember. It was back when we all first got our Monopads. You see…”

~*~
“Wait, why does this list us as having a talent?” I asked.

Everyone else started looking at their profiles while Monoponi explained, “Oh, I thought that would add to the experience. You know, spice things up! Everyone knows you gotta have Ultimates for something like this, right? Even if you’re not really Ultimates.”

Adagio’s face curled into a quiet sneer as she whispered, “Songstress. Please.”

“Trixie appreciates that you chose Illusionist rather than simply Magician,” Trixie commented, grinning.

“Rich Kid? Rich Kid?!” Diamond Tiara shouted, stamping her foot. “What is that supposed to mean?! I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-one years old!”

Flash’s cheeks bloomed a brilliant pink. “Why is mine… Boytoy?” he groaned. “I mean, really? I play music, man. I drive a cool car. I do other things. Why?”

“Hey look, mine’s just spinning like a slot machine!” Apple Bloom said, holding up her pad.

“Mine too!” Sweetie Belle said.

“And mine! Wonder what it means,” Scootaloo added.
~*~

“We all got Ultimate titles, except for those three. Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo. Their titles weren’t set. It was like Apple Bloom said .They spun like a slot machine.” I quickly blitzed through screens on my Monopad, and pulled up Scootaloo’s profile. “And look. You can see it in the profiles. Scootaloo’s is still spinning.”

“But, Apple Bloom’s isn’t! Her title is set!” Rarity said, staring wide-eyed at her Monopad, shaking from fear. “What does that mean?”

“It means, Rarity,” I answered, “that their Ultimate title stops spinning when they die… or when they commit murder. And if you pull up Sweetie’s profile, well…”

I deliberately keyed up the Monopad to show Sweetie’s profile to everyone. And there it was. Instead of spinning endlessly, Sweetie too had a set title. “Look. She’s the Ultimate Sapper. And a sapper, as you should know, is another word for combat engineer. They build fortifications, they lay demolitions… and they build traps. Lethal traps. Like the one that killed Apple Bloom.”

“No...no! No!” Rarity shrieked, throwing down her Monopad and tearing at her hair, ripping out several large chunks. “No! I won’t believe it! I can’t believe it! I refuse to believe Sweetie Belle is a… is a… is a…”

Rarity collapsed onto her rear and burst into tears. I’d seen Rarity cry before, in melodramatic fashion, but this was nothing like that. This was pure, raw emotion, a release of sorrow, of woe. It tore at my heart like almost nothing else… because as bad as she was feeling now, she’d soon feel so much worse. Because of what would have to happen.

Sweetie Belle was the culprit. And if the culprit is caught… they’re executed.

“I… I…” Sweetie Belle stammered, no longer able to defend herself. “That… it doesn’t… I didn’t… I didn’t… didn’t… mean to…”

“Sunset!” Applejack turned to face me, and held up a finger to her head. “Ah’ve had enough of all of this. Finish it! Lay out the case, and make it clear, once and for all!”

“Right.” I took several deep breaths to gather my thoughts. “This is how it all went down!”

“This started with the second motive Monoponi presented to us: our deepest darkest secrets. But we didn’t get our own. We received the secrets of another. With Monoponi’s rule forbidding us from discussing them, we couldn’t reveal who had whose. But we could deduce what they were. The culprit received mine, the proof that I wasn’t born human. For the culprit, this suggested only one thing: that I was the traitor. So the culprit called up Monoponi the first chance they got, to answer his puzzle. With my secret, they solved his puzzle, which cemented their belief. So they hatched a plan to kill me at the climax of Trixie’s show.

“First, they’d need to figure out how to lay the trap. They wanted the murder to happen live, in front of everyone, so they’d appear to be innocent. They didn’t want to make Timber’s mistake and single themself out. Thanks to solving Monoponi’s puzzle, they already had a guaranteed weapon. So, taking inspiration from their own favorite manga, the culprit chose a qiang spear. Thus decided, the culprit spent as much time as possible researching the plan in the library. During dinner that evening, they also learned about the markings, the x’s of duct tape, that Trixie was setting on the stage for me, which guaranteed they’d be able to place the trap exactly where I’d be.

“Once their plan was ready, they had to wait to enact it. They didn’t want to chance being seen on the Monopad map. So, at 10:30 PM, they used the second prize, the Map Scrambler. This glitched out our maps, keeping us from tracking anyone, everyone’s Monopad save for the culprit’s. Using their still working map, they left their cabin, sneaking past Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo on their way to the game corner. Then, using the tickets provided by Monoponi, they purchased the spear, leaving a record that implicated Apple Bloom. Next, they went to the library, and picked up two crucial reference books, taking the time to forge Apple Bloom’s signature as well. Their intent was for Apple Bloom to take the blame during the trial.

“With the tools in hand, they went to the theater. Using the theater’s supplies, they assembled the spring and lever they needed for the trap, as well as the guide rails to ensure the spear wouldn’t miss. Then they gathered up as many tools as they could and stuffed them into a sack, tying it up with a length of chain. They used as much metal chain as they could, spray painting it all black so that it wouldn’t catch the light. Then they drilled a hole through the stage, right through the center of the largest x of duct tape. They then went under the stage, and placed the spring-loaded trap, using the light shining through the hole in the stage floor as a guide to position the spear. They cranked the lever to tense the spring, then left, to prepare the chain, stopping only to tape over the hole in the X so no one would notice it.

“Using the ladder from the prop shop, the culprit first placed the chain on the stage light support beam, using rope to secure it in place. They strung the metal chain along over to the far wall, then down the wall all the way to another hole in the stage floor they’d drilled. Feeding the chain through the hole, they went back under the stage and finally carried the chain along the floor to the lever, tying it to the lever, carefully leaving enough slack that the lever didn’t get pulled by accident during setup. Once done, they returned to the stage light support beam, and attached the bag of tools via the quick release, and secured it with the rope.

“Now came the most delicate part of their trap: the drill. Using instructions gleaned from their reference book, as well as their own smarts, the culprit rigged the drill’s power supply into a stage light, so that it would turn on when the stage light did. They then taped down the trigger, set the drill to its lowest setting, and attached to the beam, upside down, so it could chew through the rope, using the thickness of the rope as a timer. They’d already tested this, before starting their setup, so they knew they had the timing right. After that, their plan was set. All they had to do was return to their cabin, and wait.

“The next day, Apple Bloom mentioned to me the missing drill. If we’d been more observant, we might’ve noticed what the culprit set up for the trap… but we didn’t. Everything proceeded on schedule, the culprit acting perfectly innocent the whole day. That night, at 7:00 PM, Trixie’s show began, with Apple Bloom waiting on stage just out of sight to assist with any technical problems. Flash Sentry turned on the stage lights, unwittingly setting the culprit’s trap in motion. Trixie and I performed her show, to thunderous applause, up to and including the origami trick. However, at the very end, as I was emerging from the box, Flash Sentry moved the spotlights around, to add extra drama to the reveal. Thanks to this light, Apple Bloom noticed a reflection. The culprit had painted the chain, but they hadn’t painted the drill, and that’s what Apple Bloom saw. But she was too late. The rope snapped, and the bag fell. Acting quickly to save our lives, Apple Bloom rushed Trixie and me, pushing us off the stage… but in so doing, she sealed her fate. The trap sprung, killing Apple Bloom with the spear, right in front of us all.

Apple Bloom wasn’t the culprit’s intended victim. But she was the one who died, because of the culprit’s foolhardy plan. If it weren’t for Apple Bloom being the victim, we might never have noticed the crucial clue pointing to the culprit. Like Apple Bloom, the culprit was bestowed with an Ultimate title. She’s now known as the Ultimate Sapper. I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, but it can only be you.”

When I finished, I saw Applejack take off her hat and hold it to her breast. She whispered to herself, so quiet I couldn’t make out a thing, save for Apple Bloom’s name. Then she slipped her hat back on. “Thank you kindly, Sunset,” she muttered, her voice hitching as she held back a sob.

Sweetie Belle, meanwhile, had gone catatonic and unresponsive, mumbling to herself, over and over, the same few words: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Then she abruptly burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Apple Bloom! I didn’t mean to kill you! I’m so, so sorry!”

Author's Notes:

So yes, our blackened is determined! It's Diamond Tiara Sweetie Belle! Sorry to everyone who guessed Tiara. Even the people in the story expected it, it seems. I know it might look like I threw that section in after everyone's guesses came in, but I honestly didn't! I wrote it that way a month ago!

Also, a note of honesty: back in the investigation, when Sunset first reads the Monoponi file, originally the narration had her pause and think there was something more to it, as a deliberate hint. But I was afraid that would make things too obvious, so at the last minute I cut it. And apparently in so doing I made the case so opaque almost no one guessed Sweetie Belle! Sorry! In retrospect, I really should have left it in. I forgot not everyone has been constantly rereading all the details of this story like I have, and few to none of you would have remembered the Ultimate title detail. That one's on me, friends.

Congratulations to JCarp for figuring out the correct killer. You were thinking along a lot of the right lines there with your speculation on the investigation. Well done. Congratulations to CassandramyOCisbestpony as well for figuring out the Monopad puzzle ahead of time.

One final thing, that I said in a comment on the last chapter and should have said sooner: I have been sprinkling hints towards things in later chapters in earlier narration, such as that bit all the way in the prologue I tapped on here. Keep that in mind for future investigations.

Chapter Two: What Lurks In The Depths Part 8

Sweetie Belle collapsed onto her hands and knees, her weeping loud and demonstrative. Her tears dripped down her cheeks and soaked into her clothes. “I’m so sorry, Apple Bloom,” she sobbed. “Apple Bloom, why? Why did it have to be you?”

Across from Sweetie Belle, her sister was similarly distraught, her outfit half ruined from tears, half ruined from the ripping and tearing she’d done in her outburst. She mumbled and muttered to herself, so quiet all I could make out was “not a murderer, not a murderer.”

Applejack, meanwhile, kept looking between the two Belle sisters, a flurry of emotions dancing across her features. The sob she’d held back as I finished my reveal of the case had stayed inside, now held back by other things. She seemed lost, unsure what to do. Now that the culprit had been determined, Applejack was like a captain without a ship. Like she’d lost her sense of purpose.

Or maybe she knew what she wanted, but couldn’t do it because of the damned rule about staying at our podiums. I know I wanted to rush for Rarity, try to give her a hug or something, anything to ease the pain of what I’d inflicted upon her.

But the worst was yet to come. Celestia on her throne, the worst was yet to come.

“So, you really did do it, Sweetie Belle,” Pinkie Pie mumbled, all her energy gone.

“Looks that way,” Scootaloo said with a sniffle. Like Applejack she was casting her gaze between the two sisters on the floor, though her gaze was more focused on Sweetie Belle. “I… I thought you were my friend, Sweetie. I thought I could trust you.”

Sweetie Belle regained enough of her sense of self to mount a response. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. There wasn’t even supposed to be a trial!”

“No trial, huh?” Rainbow Dash’s furious expression held not even the slightest trace of sympathy. “Bull.”

Looking up at the athlete, Sweetie Belle choked past her tears to say, “But it’s true! I, the game was supposed to stop!” Her tears abruptly halted, boiling away in the sudden white-hot hatred that took hold. “If Sunset had just died like she was supposed to, we’d all be free from this place!”

“Fool!” Adagio spat, throwing out one curled up hand in Sweetie’s direction like a wielded weapon. “Killing Sunset wouldn’t have done a thing to free us! She’s not the traitor!”

“Still not sure about that,” Diamond Tiara muttered, but we all ignored her.

“And even if she was,” Fluttershy added, her assertive, stern, motherly state taking firm hold of her once again, “What on earth possessed you to think killing her would solve anything? There’s nothing to be gained by playing right into Monoponi’s hands! Err, hooves.”

“Because she’s a pony!” Sweetie Belle shot back. She leapt up to her feet, her whole expression riven with anger and hatred like a complete madwoman. She’d lost all control, all sense of the quirky but kind self she used to be faded like a distant memory, replaced by this. By someone overflowing with hate, with loathing, with a personality so unlike her I could scarcely believe this was the same person I’d seen baking muffins with pride just a few days ago. “Just like Monoponi! They’re working together! They have to be! They’re the same stupid thing!”

“Pony or not,” Flash replied with firm intent, refusing to back away from the madwoman right next to him. “She’s our friend. And I’m sorry I ever doubted her, even for a moment.”

Twilight Sparkle’s cold, unfeeling detachment remained firmly in place. “I’m not. I believe her when she says she’s not the traitor, so we’ll let this be for now. But we will be discussing this further. I’m not happy with you, Sunset.”

“You’re not listening!” Sweetie railed, slamming twin fists into her podium, dislodging her Monopad from its socket in the process. She paid the device no heed as it clattered to the floor by her feet. “You can’t trust her! She’s not human! She set up this whole game with Monoponi! She has to be responsible. She… she has to be… responsible…” Sweetie’s rage abated, ever so slowly, into mild catatonia. “She has to be. B-because, if she… if she isn’t… then Apple Bloom, she, she died for… for nothing…”

“Sweetie Belle, lemme ask ya this,” Applejack said, quiet but firm. None of the hostility or anger she’d been holding against the culprit was present. “Why didn’t you just talk to us first? Ah get that you couldn’t tell us about the secret. Ah know that. But ya still could’ve found a way to talk to us about it. We coulda stopped all of this from happenin’.” Her tone wavered as a sob worked its way to the forefront. “Mah sister would still be alive right now if ya had!” Tears slowly crawled down her cheeks, plopping onto her shirt. “Apple Bloom was your friend too! If ya’d just talked to her, to any of us…”

“I, I didn’t, I couldn’t… I didn’t know who I could trust anymore!” Sweetie Belle replied, her eyes bugging out and crossing as she pulled on her own hair. “Sunset, she, she led us through the first trial. Yeah I didn’t know if I trusted her all that much, but she didn’t seem like a bad guy! But then the secrets showed up, and when I saw what I did, I just… I panicked!” She slapped her hands palms down onto her podium. “I was so angry about this killing game, so scared, so worried for Rarity, for the rest of you, that I had to act! And when Monoponi confirmed she was a pony,I… he… I thought it was the only thing I could do.”

“Huh. I guess you’ve got a point,” Tiara said, smirking my way. “Too bad she didn’t ask me for help, huh?”

“Oh bite me, Tiara,” I snorted. “Like you could’ve done anything.”

“Well it didn’t work, did it?” Rainbow Dash growled. “Why didn’t you speak up during the investigation? Huh? You let us go to trial anyway! You know your sister would’ve died if we voted wrong, right? Or don’t you care?”

“Yes I care about Rarity, damn it!” Sweetie Belle screeched. “She’s my big sister! I know I put her in danger. But, I had to let the trial run. I was hoping that if Sunset revealed her own secret, maybe we could all work together. Do something to stop the game once and for all.”

“Sweetie Belle.”

Everyone quieted down immediately, all whirling to face the sister of Sweetie Belle, who’d managed to resume standing at her podium, if barely. Rarity, ragged and drawn, her clothes a mess, her hair dealt serious damage, her makeup melted into ruin, leaned onto her podium for support with both hands. “Sweetie Belle,” she repeated, her half-melted mascara obscuring the look in her eyes. “I have never been more disappointed, or worried, or scared for you in my life. Applejack is right, darling, You should’ve said something to me, at least. You know you can trust me!”

“I’m not sure I can anymore, though!” Sweetie Belle retorted. “You’ve been all buddy-buddy with Sunset since we got here. I love you, sis, but you’ve been making it really hard to get along with you lately!”

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity’s reply was no-nonsense, the attitude of a mother dealing with a spoiled child. “Who I choose to be friends with is my business, Sweetie Belle, not yours. As for you, young lady, I’ve done nothing but look after you this whole--”

“See? That! That, right there!” Sweetie Belle interrupted, gesturing towards Rarity with both hands open, palms up. “That’s what I’m talking about. You’ve been treating me like I’m still a little kid. But I’m not, okay? I’m an adult! I’m twenty-one years old, for god’s sake!”

For a moment, Rarity reared her head back, grinding her teeth together, before she visibly swallowed her anger and tried to put a smile back on her face. It wasn’t convincing. “Sweetie, darling, if I’ve been treating you that way, it’s because I’m worried. I’m scared! Bad enough I’m trapped myself in this killing game, worrying whether or not I can trust the person standing next to me, waking up in the middle of the night horrified that every sound is someone creeping up behind me with a knife or a rope! That, at least, I can cope with. I can try to survive. But I have to watch out for you too! Do you know, Sweetie, how many nightmares I’ve had about finding you dead, stabbed through the back or drowned in the pool or who knows what else? All of them! All of the nightmares! Every. Single. One!”

Rarity’s composure broke down as tears drizzled their way down her cheeks. “I-I’ve been so afraid I’d escape from this place and have to explain to mother and father that I failed to protect my baby sister, that she died to some wretched fiend, murdered just so they could try to escape this godforsaken ship. It’s been tearing me apart, Sweetie Belle! I’ve been barely keeping it together. Maybe I’ve been regressing a little with how I treat you, seeing you as more the child you used to be than the gorgeous young woman you are now, but it’s only because I love you!”

Sweetie Belle’s self-righteous outrage visibly collapsed, replaced with overwhelming guilt. “Rarity, I, I didn’t--”

“But this!” Rarity kept going, her words stomping all over Sweetie Belle like a stampede of wild elephants. “This, I, I never expected! I never once believed that you would be so foolish and irresponsible as to fall prey to one of Monoponi’s motives! I thought I could count on you to be smarter than that! I know you’re smarter than that! The worst I ever anticipated was you making a mistake, trusting someone you shouldn’t, letting them lead you into a situation where you’d get yourself killed. That, at least, I knew could happen. That is what I’ve been trying to prevent. That is what I’ve been watching out for. But I never once thought I’d have to keep you from outright murdering someone! And not just anyone, but the sister of the only other person here who’s in the exact same boat that I am!”

Pointing viciously with one finger towards Applejack, Rarity continued, “Do you know how much more afraid I became when I saw what happened to her sister? Right before my eyes was the very thing I’ve been most afraid of ever since Monoponi announced this killing game. We all had to watch as Applejack’s little sister, a sweet, innocent darling little soul died! In! Her! Arms! It was one of the most heart-wrenching, horrific sights I’ve ever beheld in my life! My worst nightmare, realized in a heart-breaking way I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! Of course I wanted to talk to Applejack about it, as one big sister to another, but understandably she was a bit too upset to do so. And no one can blame her.”

Moving her finger to point accusingly at her sister, Rarity poured on the shame. “I am so disappointed in you that I don’t even know how to say it anymore! Your murder of Apple Bloom came from such a disgustingly stupid judgement on your part, and you should be ashamed. Ashamed of your actions. Of your thought processes. Of everything in your head that led you to think that instead of coming to me, your older sister, with your concern that my friend Sunset might be the traitor, you chose to kill. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you in my heart for what you’ve done, Sweetie Belle. I just don’t know. And I wouldn’t blame Applejack if she never did. Killing is wrong. I don’t care why you thought it was necessary. It’s wrong.”

With that, Rarity laid her elbows on her podium and broke into fresh tears, weeping into her hands. “Oh, Sweetie Belle, you utter, utter fool,” she whispered.

“But, Rarity, I…” Sweetie Belle looked away, and sank below view of her podium. I could only just make out the sound of quiet, sad tears being shed anew.

All the fear I’d felt, knowing how close I came to death? All the anger I’d felt, knowing my friend died to save my life? The guilt? The anxiety? It all faded. I couldn’t stay angry at Sweetie Belle anymore. I just couldn’t. All I could feel for her now…

Was pity.

It was Rarity and Applejack I truly felt sorry for. Applejack, for the loss of her little sister, for losing yet another family member to the empty oblivion of death. Rarity, for having to go through this trial, for having to watch as her sister’s crime was unveiled. And for what was to come.

“So, you’re an adult, you say, hmm?” Monoponi interjected, hovering over his throne. With a quick flick of his horn Sweetie Belle was dragged to her feet and forcibly held there with his magic. “You’re not a kid anymore, right? Well then, if you’re an adult, you’ll be tried like one, on your feet! The rest of you idiots! It’s tiiiiiiiiime to vote! Please use the podium screens in front of you. You have thirty seconds. Don’t forget, if you fail to vote, it will result in your death!”

He held up his hoof. “Who will be chosen as the blackened, hmm? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?” He swept his hoof down. “Vote. Now!”

Our screens lit up with the same four by four image of everyone’s faces. Three were now crossed out, invalid choices all. As the voting timer ticked down, I hesitated to click on Sweetie Belle’s face. Instead my gaze darted over to look at Rarity, to see what she was doing. But she didn’t hesitate. She slammed her thumb down on her screen even as she wept. Good. I was afraid she’d… well, nevermind. I made sure to vote as well.

Just a few seconds later, on cue, the holographic display in the middle of the courtroom lit up with a vote tally. Twelve votes. Eleven for Sweetie Belle… and one for me. What moron voted for me? It wasn’t Sweetie Belle, was it? I quickly searched the faces of my fellow passengers, but none of them betrayed a hint.

It didn’t matter. The majority voted for Sweetie Belle, just as they should. The trial was over.

“Upupu, look at you!” Monoponi said mockingly, blowing a raspberry in Sweetie Belle’s direction. “Unlike Timber, you at least had the decency to actually vote. And for yourself, no less!”

Wait, she did? Then who voted for me?I glanced at Sweetie Belle, who was holding twin balled fists underneath her chin, staring at her podium screen. She didn’t say a word either.

“As for the rest of you sad excuses for decent people, your Captain is disappointed! One of you morons picked the wrong person! You should be more careful next time.”

“Then…” Fluttershy started.

“That’s right!” Monoponi’s horn lit, and the tally screen was replaced by the image of the spinning wheel. It spun and spun until the pointer stopped right on Sweetie Belle’s face. As before, a cascade of fireworks burst into life above the image, spelling out the word “GUILTY!”

“Congratulations, you successfully determined the killer! Again! The killer of Apple Bloom was in fact Sweetie Belle, the Ultimate Sapper. Let’s give her a round of applause, shall we? She almost had you clowns voting for Apple Bloom! Well done, Sweetie Belle, well done!”

Monoponi was the only one to engage in applause, an insulting display of him clacking his two forehooves together in a way that left me wincing a little at how he bent his limbs. Yes, Equestrian ponies are a bit more agile and dexterous than our unintelligent cousins on Earth, but that didn’t make the way he bent his legs any less painful looking.

“And as for you, Sunset, I’m surprised! You didn’t get any of the details wrong this time!” Monoponi cackled, holding a hoof to his lips. “Such a shame. I was so hoping to play the security footage again, just to prove how you got something wrong even as you correctly deduced the culprit. Ah well. I suppose this will have to do.”

One more light of his horn, and the display began to play a video for us.

~*~
Sweetie Belle clomped her boots with every step as she made her way down the stairs of the library, to the lowest floor. Twin emotions raged a war on her face, anger and fear in equal parts. Her Monopad was clutched in her grip so tight her knuckles turned white, the screen activated, still showing a secret written in full display.

Moving between the shelves, Sweetie Belle found an isolated corner. A single security camera, its red light blinking, stared down at her as she moved right up to it, shoving her face into view. “Monoponi!” she whispered loudly. “I want to solve your puzzle!”

Immediately, in a flash of crimson light and a quiet, muffled pop, Monoponi appeared. “Upupu, I never expected someone would call upon me so fast,” he said quietly. “You picked a good spot, too. No one will ever overhear you here. Well done.”

Sweetie Belle shoved her Monopad into her pocket and huffed, crossing her arms and setting her weight on one leg. “Just give me the puzzle already.”

“Such impatience! How rude you are, to your Captain,” Monoponi moaned, bowing his head. “Oh very well then. Here it is: What is Sunset’s Shimmer’s true nature?”

“Her true nature, huh?” Sweetie Belle shook her head, snorting in frustration. After a minute of concentrated thinking, she answered, “She’s a pony from Equestria, just like you.”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner, folks!” The effect of Monoponi’s cheer was lost due to how quiet he had to be, to follow the library rule. “Congratulations on your victory, Sweetie Belle.”

“I’m right…” Sweetie Belle whispered, her eyes growing wide, her mouth agape. “I’m right… Sunset, she’s the traitor. She has to be! I’ve gotta do something!” She looked back down at the little alicorn. “What’s the prize?”

“The prize, my dear passenger, is twofold. First, take these.” Monoponi floated out a set of ten tickets to Sweetie, who stared down at them. “Apple Bloom didn’t want them, so they’re for you. Enough for one free weapon from the prize counter.”

“A weapon.” Sweetie Belle's eyes shot back and forth from left to right as the gears turned in her head. “I’m getting a free weapon. With someone else’s name on it.” One side of her mouth quirked up into the beginnings of a smirk. “I think I have an idea.”

“Oho? I’m glad I can inspire you! That is what I like to do for my passengers, after all: bring joy to their hearts. And creativity is a joy like none other!”

Sweetie Belle carefully tucked the tickets into her pocket, being sure not to damage them. “You said there was something else, too?”

“Why, yes,” Monoponi answered, chortling under his breath. His horn briefly sparked, and her Monopad buzzed. “You’ll find a new, one-time use only program on your Monopad. You should know that some of your fellow passengers are so distrusting, they’re trying to track everyone’s movements on the map. This program will let you scramble the map for everyone except yourself, for two and a half hours. But be careful! Once you use it, it’s gone.”

With that, Monoponi turned, to trot away. Looking back over his shoulder, he added, “Feel free to use these however you like. Just don’t be boring. Tata!” He teleported away, leaving Sweetie Belle to ponder.

The footage sped up, a montage from different angles, all showing Sweetie Belle scribbling away at notebooks in the library, pouring over books, carefully hiding her reading material when others strayed too close. Then it switched over to nighttime in the theater, showing us her process. She did a couple of things in a slightly different order than I’d described, but otherwise, she set things up precisely the way I’d said she did. But once the trap was set, the camera zoomed in on her face, and slowed back down to normal speed. Her eyelids drooped low, her lips curled up in a smirk that might’ve been considerable adorable, had she been a child. As an adult, it was terrifying. She let out a low chuckle, an evil one, full of malice. “Sorry, Sunset, but tomorrow night? We’ll be free of your game, once and for all,” she said quietly. Then she gasped, and looked at her Monopad. “Oh crap. I’m almost out of time! I’ve got to get back!”

The footage skipped again, this time to the theater, with us all gathered, just after Apple Bloom passed away. Just like I remembered, Sweetie Belle was trapped in Rarity’s clutches, as Rarity babbled on. The stunned look on her face, the tears, all the same. Except I hadn’t noticed, the first time, how she mouthed a single word on her lips, over and over. “Why?”
~*~

“And there you have it!” Monoponi pronounced as the image winked away. “A little extra insight into how it all went. You see, I had no part in making Sweetie Belle think Sunset was a traitor. She decided that all on her own! Upupupu!”

“That’s a lie if Ah’ve ever heard one!” Applejack retorted, glaring at Monoponi as she slammed her fist into her open palm. “Just tell me one thing: did you give her that secret on purpose, knowin’ what she would do with it?”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, does it really matter anymore?” Monoponi shrugged, not the least bit cowed by Applejack’s show of force.

“But you did tell her we were tracking movements on the Monopads,” Twilight said, her cold glare back. “Why?”

“Because it’s such a blatant misuse of resources, that’s why!” Monoponi screeched, throwing up his hooves in disgust. “Unacceptable! Disgraceful! The map was supposed to be for you to find each other so you could talk. Hang out. Maybe find your victim. But nooo. You idiots had to be smart! You had to start using it to track the killers. Well I’m not allowing that anymore!” His horn sparked with crimson light and our Monopads let out harsh beeps unlike the usual notification. “There. I’ve fixed it. No more tracking people down with your map! If you want to find each other you’ll just have to use the texting app and tell each other where you are.”

“Wait, this thing can text?” Rainbow Dash said, raising her eyebrows as she held up her Monopad and turned it around in her hands.

“Yes it can text! It can even record audio, take pictures, and video, but other than recording evidence, none of you have used it for these things!” Monoponi slapped a hoof to his face. “It’s like, on the one hoof, you’re using resources at hand for things you’re not supposed to be, but on the other hoof, you completely forgot about basic, vital features I was expecting you all to be using! So disappointing. So humiliating, that I have to point these things out.”

He resumed his place on his throne. “But nevermind all that. That’s not important right now. What is important is the punishment!”

“Execution…” Rarity whispered, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. “You’re going to execute her. My poor little Sweetie Belle.”

“Well of course I am!” Monoponi retorted. “She wanted to be tried as an adult. Well she was! And she’ll face the consequences like one too. Not that it would’ve mattered even if she was a child. If you murder, and you’re caught, you’re punished. No exceptions!”

“No!” Rarity slammed both her fists down on her podium. “I won’t let you do it! I won’t! I’ll stop you!” She left her podium and whisked around the courtroom till she was standing before Sweetie Belle, arms outstretched, facing Monoponi. “Take me instead! Execute me in her place!”

“What?! No!” Scootaloo cried out, grabbing both sides of her head. “Are you insane? Rarity, you didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Yes I did, Scootaloo,” Rarity argued. “I played a part in all of this too. By befriending Sunset, I made my sister distrust me,”

“But you said it yourself, Rarity,” Diamond Tiara intervened, her expression a mixture of amusement and scorn. “Killing is wrong. You didn’t kill anyone. She did.”

“Oh put a lid on it already, Tiara!” Rainbow Dash snarled, marching over to get up in Tiara’s face. “Or I’ll do it for you!”

“Aaah!” Tiara squealed, falling back.

“Rarity, Ah can’t let you do this either,” Applejack stated, walking over to Rarity and laying a firm hand on her shoulder. “Ah know how you feel. Ah do. But this won’t help anythin’. We ain’t gonna trust Sweetie ever again, even if you take her place.”

Rarity shrugged Applejack’s hand off. “Even so. I respect what you’re telling me, but my decision is final. I won’t allow Sweetie to die, not if I can help it.”

“Rarity…”

Everyone turned to face Sweetie Belle, who’d risen out from behind her podium and stepped around her sister, so she could face her. She reached out her hands and took one of Rarity’s, cupping it up to her own chin. “Please. Don’t.”

Rarity gasped, her mouth falling open. “What? Sweetie, don’t you understand? He’s going to kill you!”

“I know. And I know it’s going to hurt. A lot,” Sweetie said, shivering. “But… I deserve it. I screwed up. I killed an innocent person… I killed my friend, just because I thought killing the traitor would end the game. I ought to own up to that.” She closed her eyes and smiled, a false expression of fake joy. “I mean, I do keep saying I’m an adult, right? Adults take responsibility for their actions.”

“But… Sweetie… I can’t… I won’t…”

“Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Sweetie Belle, the Ultimate Sapper!”

“It’s okay, Rarity. I’ve accepted it. Just promise me, you’ll live, okay? You’ll make it out of here. You’ll survive!”

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! Iiiiiiiit’s punishment time!”

Monoponi, with a flash of his horn, summoned up a big red button, and slapped down upon it with his forehoof.

“I promise, Sweetie Belle! I promise!”

A metal collar swooped down from the ceiling on a long chain, affixing itself to Sweetie’s neck before brutally ripping her away, her hand outstretched, reaching back for Rarity even as she soared high above the rest of us and through the doors to the punishment room.

“Rarityyyyyyyyyyy!”

“Sweetie Beeeeeeeelle!”

As she disappeared from sight, the screens and walls lit up once more with another sickening display:

Sweetie Belle hurtled along the corridor, knocked around until she emerged into a small room decorated up to resemble a Qilin castle courtyard. The architecture was crudely painted cardboard and styrofoam, more like a caricature than an honest portrayal. Fake bonsai trees and bushes dotted the area, not so much adding a sense of charm as adding a sense of mockery. There were even fake armor and weapon racks set up, scattered about like child’s playthings, full of fake armor and weapons made from the same materials as the walls.

The gallows at the center, however, was solid, strong wood. The chain hauling Sweetie Belle pulled her right up onto it, till she was just barely standing on her feet, just enough to hurt without actually choking her. She reached up and clawed at the collar, huffing and puffing as her face turned red from effort, but to no avail. She gave up after a couple of moments, letting her hands drop.

At first, I feared we were going to watch a slow hanging. That is, until several Monoponi’s showed up, all dressed up in suits of fake armor. They approached rapidly, removing a fake qiang spear limper than a pool noodle from the weapon rack, as well as a set of armor, and quickly went about throwing the armor onto Sweetie Belle, paying no heed to her attempts to slap them away. Finally the last one handed her the fake spear, and they all backed away to sit down near the edges of the wall, and the chain around her neck released, dropping her to the deck.

Sweetie Belle stared down at the spear in her hand, utterly confused, until she looked up in panic at the sound of loud armored boots stomping towards her. A great big Monoponi strode into view, standing on his hind legs towering over her by a good half a foot, with his features exaggerated to be more monstrous. Instead of forehooves, he had two jagged-tipped clawed paws, gripping a massive nine foot long chain whip, a Qilinese Jiǔjiébiān, with a great big nasty spike on the end.

Yelping in fright, Sweetie Belle sped around the backside of the gallows, hiding for cover. The giant Monoponi bellowed in fury, swinging his whip down to crash through the gallows like a tidal wave carving through a sand castle. Shards of wood chips went flying, a few scoring lines of pink on Sweetie’s cheeks as she leapt to her feet and ran screaming for the closest wall, dropping the useless spear in her panic.

She didn’t get far before the whip whistled through the air with a crack, taking a chunk of Sweetie Belle’s hamstring right along with it. The exposed muscle oozed blood and the stringy bits of severed tendon. Crying out in pain, Sweetie Belle stumbled, skidding along the ground before she managed to pick herself back up, moving at a limp.

The monstrous Monoponi toyed with Sweetie, letting her get closer to the wall. He echoed with a deep, sinister laugh as he suddenly lashed out with the whip again, this time slicing through her other hamstring, once again leaving a trail of blood and gore. Uttering a choked scream, Sweetie crumpled to the dirt, taking several heaping breaths before somehow scrabbling back to her knees. She crawled along the ground, finally managing to reach the wall, where there was a large button I hadn’t noticed, labeled “safety.”

Monoponi unleashed his whip once more, this time carving a chunk out of her back even as she slammed a fist on the button. The ground dropped out from beneath her, Monoponi roaring in anger as she vanished into a tunnel. The camera followed her as she rolled like a loose stone through the narrow tunnel. Every so often a small blade sticking out of the wall sliced out hunks of flesh, from her arms, her sides, her legs, every cut eliciting a cry of pain.

The tunnel abruptly opened into a large room, dumping Sweetie right past one extra long blade that slit open her stomach, spilling her intestines. Sweetie Belle had just long enough to scream one last time, desperately trying to stuff her intestines back into her abdominal cavity as she plummeted into a bed of foot long needle thin spikes, impaled from every angle. One punctured her right eye and out through the back of her skull. Blood, fat, and viscera streamed down the spikes as she writhed and twitched, blood leaking from her mouth and nostrils. Finally, after several excruciatingly long minutes, she ceased. We saw one last shot of her face frozen in an eternal expression of agony before the camera winked out.

Monoponi flashed back into existence on his throne, dusting himself off. “Oh my goodness, that was intense! Brutal! Extreme!” He hugged his forehooves to his chest. “Oooh I’m so proud of myself! I did good with that one!”

“No… Sweetie Belle, no!” Rarity collapsed to the floor, only saved from smashing her head against a podium by Applejack’s quick response. She sobbed wordlessly, beating Applejack’s chest with her fists, her tears practically forming a lake below her as she cried for all she was worth. Applejack withstood the beating without a single wince, holding Rarity against herself for support, her expression stoic.

“Poor Sweetie Belle,” Pinkie Pie moaned, holding herself tight.

Scootaloo’s eyes welled up in tears even as she twisted her lips into an ugly sneer. She slammed a fist against her podium. “God damn it!” she cried.

“That was even worse than Timber!” Rainbow Dash shouted, even as she held a quietly weeping Fluttershy against her shoulder.

“You sick bastard,” Flash Sentry spat, glaring at Monoponi with impressive levels of fury.

Monoponi giggled, waving a hoof dismissively at Flash. “You called me that last time, Sentry! Next time, maybe try being original?”

Twilight Sparkle set one hand on her face, covering her eyes and blocking me from seeing most of her reaction, save for her grimace of disgust.

Diamond Tiara screamed and hid behind her podium. “This place is a nightmare!”

“Such brutality,” Adagio growled, shaking her head. “It’s entirely unnecessary.”

“Au contraire! I’d say it’s exactly what’s necessary!” Monoponi said with a giggle.

Trixie grabbed a hold of me and hid behind me, using me as a shield as much as a comfort. “Trixie cannot take much more of this. Please protect her, Sunset!”

Ignoring the eye-twitch and glare Adagio shot in our direction, I held Trixie close, with a comforting arm around her shoulders. “Monoponi,” I declared, pointing at him with my free hand. “I want to know why. Why do you keep doing this to us? What’s your game?”

“Game? Game?! There’s no game, Sunset!” Monoponi held a hoof to his mouth. “Well, other than the killing game, but that’s not what I mean, upupu. You want to know why this is happening to you? Well… I’ll tell you what.” He stood up from his throne, hopped down to the ground, then came over and jumped up to rest on my podium, his face bare inches from mine. “Since I was so kind to give you a hint last time, I’ll give you another one here.”

My gorge rose at the scent of his rancid breath, but I swallowed it back down. “What?” I grunted.

“Keeping you all here? Subjecting you to this game? It’s not about you. Not at all. I have a different goal in mind.”

With that, he suddenly teleported away, half-blinding me with the suddenness of the crimson flare of light. I heard more than saw him reappear on his throne as I moaned, rubbing at my eyes, trying to ease the pain. “Is that it?” I grunted. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Yup! If you want to know more, all you’ve gotta do is survive through the next trial! If you can, now that everyone knows your secret! Ahahahaha!”

I will survive, Monoponi. Don’t count me out yet.

Monoponi interrupted any further chatter with a sudden kraka-thoom! from his horn. “Alright, you idiots, I’m tired of dealing with you. Time to leave! Get out!”

With that, he vanished, leaving us all to shuffle together towards the elevator. I supported Trixie in one arm and, after a bit of reluctance on her part, Adagio in the other, walking together as a trio. Applejack had eschewed making Rarity walk herself, instead carrying her bridal style, the poor woman still weeping endlessly into Applejack’s shirt. The rest scurried in at the rear, in ones and twos, until we were all aboard the elevator.

The twelve of us that were left, that is.

As we rode the elevator back up to the promenade, my mind whirled anew with the scant details Monoponi had provided. The last time, he’d implied someone was watching us, someone with a connection to Twilight Sparkle. I still didn’t dare try to figure out who, because I didn’t want a fresh headache, but given what he’d just told us… his goal. His reason for doing this. It wasn’t because of us.

He didn’t care about us. We were tools, for some purpose, some other person. Did this person want to see us suffer? Were they some kind of sadist, paying off Monoponi to put people through horrific trauma just for shits and giggles? I was even more terrified of Monoponi now that he’d revealed this. If he didn’t care about us, he might choose to dispose of us, once he’d accomplished his goal. Whatever that goal was.

There wasn’t much for me to analyze, so I wasn’t likely to come up with any other answers. What he’d told me just left me with more questions instead. He was probably laughing at the image of me trying to work this all out.

As the elevator dumped us back into the promenade proper, I checked the time. It was after midnight. Well past the time when we all needed some sleep. If we could get any. So we, as a group, everyone watching everyone else in fear of potential danger returned to our cabins. One by one we filed in, though I noticed Applejack purposefully went into Rarity’s room with her. Probably just to watch over her. At least, I hoped. Though I guess if we find Rarity dead in the morning, it won’t be hard to figure out who did it.

I didn’t have the energy to banish even that annoying stray thought. Waves of fatigue crashed down upon me like pounding surf, unrelenting, unyielding. As I withdrew my keys and opened my door, I expected to part ways with the two women clinging to my arms. But to my surprise, both came into my room with me. “What? What’re you doing?” I mumbled, the exhaustion affecting my speech.

“I’d rather not be alone tonight,” Adagio said, firing off a withering glare at Trixie, who glared right back, just as angrily. “We’ve been outed, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t spend it with you. I don’t know what she’s doing here.”

“Trixie is here because she doesn’t want to be alone either!” huffed the illusionist, who placed her hands on her hips. “Trixie’s sleep will be filled with nightmares, and Trixie would rather be somewhere she can feel safe. Like by Sunset.”

“Trixie,” I said, my tone echoing my frustration. “What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what she said. Trixie is feeling scared, and wants to be near her friend. There is nothing wrong or shameful about that.” Trixie shook a fist at Adagio, who’d been mocking her by using her hand to imitate her talking. “Quit that!”

“No. I was with Sunset first. She’s mine,” Adagio hissed, jerking her thumb towards the door. “So get out.”

Trixie slapped a hand to her face. “Uuugh. Trixie is not romantically interested in Sunset. Not at all. She has no desire to get between you two. She just doesn’t want to be alone. And she thought you were going to try to get along with her better!”

Adagio recoiled, her face screwing up in anger. “You… hmph. Fine then. There’s enough room for all three of us on the bed anyway. Just don’t touch me.” She managed a simpering smile, which bared her teeth. “Or you’ll regret it.”

“Trixie understands,” murmured Trixie, flushing with a combination of embarrassment and pride in her own assertiveness.

“Okay, fine, whatever,” I said, throwing up my hands. I dropped my jacket to the floor and threw off my shirt and pants, leaving me in my underwear, like I usually do for sleep. I threw myself into bed. “Let’s just get some sleep. I’m too tired to argue right now.”

Adagio, apparently trying to make Trixie feel more uncomfortable, stripped til she was nude, ignoring the outraged glares she received. She slipped into bed on one side of me. Not to be outdone, Trixie stripped off most of her clothes as well, then cuddled up next to me in bed on the other side from Adagio.

Had the situation been different, I might’ve been excited by the thought of being in bed with not one but two hot girls. But I had no desire for anything like that, not right now. This trial had been even more thoroughly exhausting than the last one, and unlike last time we’d been up most of the day already. Any desire for conversation or anything other than just plain old sleep evaporated as I slipped into unconsciousness.

That night, oddly, I suffered no nightmares. Instead, my dreams filled with images of my former home… Equestria. The images focused on a small village I’d never seen before, a happy, peaceful place. Flashes of ponies I’d never met ran through my mind, living out parts of their day. Going to the spa, working on the farm, busting clouds, feeding animals, filing books. And though I’d never actually met these ponies, they all seemed oddly familiar. Like I’d seen them before, just… not like this. What’s more, they were happy. Their lives weren’t in constant danger of being snuffed out, not like ours. They weren’t trapped in a killing game. They just lived.

Then the images shifted to a single, solitary scene, playing out like a video: a group of five ponies, each wearing a necklace bearing gemstones shaped like their cutie marks, surrounding a sixth. Each one blasted a beam of light at the one in the center, with the magic swirling and dancing around her. At first, she was shocked, then scared, then… she accepted her fate. In a brilliant flash of light, she vanished, leaving a familiar smoking mark on the ground.

The mark of Twilight Sparkle.

Abruptly I awoke in a cold sweat, still snuggled between Adagio and Trixie, who were both fast asleep. The sounds of the sea at night played through the open porthole window, the smell of salt filling the air like always. Moonlight filtered through, lending the cabin a bit of light in the otherwise stark darkness. My head pounded like someone took a sledgehammer to it, though at least the nausea was absent. “What was that about?” I muttered to myself, holding a hand to my head.

“Hmm?” Trixie mumbled, rolling over in her sleep. “No, I don’t want to eat rotelle. I hate rotelle.” Quiet little snores arose as she tightened her grip on my arm, forcing me back down to lay my head on my pillow.

Between that, and the little hissing noises Adagio let out every few seconds, I found myself drifting off again, this time dreaming of nothing but an endless field of darkness. In a way, it was the most peace I’d had since this killing game began.

It wouldn’t last.

Author's Notes:

Poor Sweetie Belle.

I'm quite proud of Rarity's rants. It's exactly how I pictured my older sister would yell at me if I'd been as dumb as Sweetie Belle. At least, how I think she would have.

Trixie, meanwhile, she be bargin' in on Sunset and Adagio. Sadly, Sunset will not be getting a second girlfriend. Polyamory denied. But more seriously, Trixie's scared, and like any scared little girl, she's attaching to a figure she sees as a big sister, kind of like how I acted towards my own big sister when I was very little. The fact that Trixie is 24 is irrelevant: you can feel like a little kid at any age, with the right scary situation.

I have a lot more to say about this chapter in my notes in my blog, including planning notes and why I went with the victim and culprit I did. (There were a lot of uncertainties here.) But for now, I hope you enjoyed. I know I did. Chapter Two is usually one of the best chapters of each game, and I'm very proud of mine.

Next time: We check back in with Princess Twilight.

Interlude 2

Canterlot High School, the next day.

Twilight Sparkle emerged through the portal located inside the base of the statue at Canterlot High School, stumbling briefly on her now-two legged form until she adjusted. As was usually the case for her these days, thanks to her altered status in Equestria, she came through looking much like Princess Celestia would: taller than all-get-out in the legs, wearing an elegant evening gown in shades of lilac and lavender and matching evening gloves, and with permanent ears, wings, and excessively long hair in lieu of a tail. Sunset had once referred to it as a permanent pony-up, because Twilight had too much magic for it to be fully suppressed by the portal’s transformation abilities. She couldn’t do much more than levitate simple objects, but it was more than she had when she first came to this world.

Sometimes she wished she had a suit instead of the gown. The gown tended to attract attention, even more so than the wings for some reason, but she’d been unable to figure out how to change her “default” outfit. And right now it was the furthest thing from her mind. If anything, the effect would help.

Twilight ignored the stares she received from the high school students milling about the halls as she made her way quickly to Principal Celestia’s office. Her heels clacked on the floor tiles as she walked quickly but patiently, maintaining a sense of royal decorum. It was all that kept her from panicking.

In her hands she carried what in Equestria had been a set of typewritten scrolls, and had neatly transformed into a file folder with printed out documents. Inside was a list of everything Spike had documented so far from the killing game, every last haunting detail. She intended to arrange for new information to be delivered to her on the hour, every hour, though for now it was just every few hours. She had also set up additional scribes to work with Spike so the poor dragon could get some sleep. Not that she or he were getting much right now.

Approaching Celestia’s door, she rapped on it thrice in quick succession. “Come in!” came a pleasant, if harried, voice.

Twilight opened the door and strode on in, finding Celestia seated at her desk, along with Luna. The two looked her way straight away, very briefly panicked before realization came to them. Good. That saves me some time. “Princess Twilight!” Celestia said, standing up to shake her hand. “It’s always good to see you, especially in light of… recent matters.”

“Indeed it is,” Vice-Principal Luna seconded, also shaking Twilight’s hand. “We’ve been hoping you would show up for some time. There’s been an… incident.”

“It’s good to see you both as well,” Twilight said, trying to smile and succeeding only in grimacing. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“Then you’re already aware? About the missing people?” Luna asked, waiting for Twilight to take a seat before she did so.

“Yes,” Twilight answered. “Wait, how long have they been missing, exactly?”

Celestia steepled her hands, her expression grim. “They’ve been missing for almost a month now. Your alternate, and fifteen others, including Sunset Shimmer.” She rattled off the names. “The police investigation is being led by Shining Armor, your alternate’s brother. According to them all sixteen were spotted heading together to a meeting spot at a house somewhere outside the city, and then the trail ends. There’s been no sighting of them anywhere ever since, not at Canterlot International, nor anywhere within the continental Amareican Union.”

With a frustrated sigh, Twilight set her file folder on Celestia’s desk. “That’s worse than I thought. I was hoping you’d know something about where they went.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t,” Luna replied with an equally grim expression. “The truth is, we only became aware of this because Shining Armor contacted us asking if there was a chance Equestrian magic was involved. We told him no, but that we’d contact him if that changes.”

“You’d better get him on the phone then, because Equestrian magic is most definitely involved here,” Twilight said. “And it’s… bad. I’d prefer to save the explanation till he arrives, if that is alright.”

“Luna, if you could?” Celestia said, jerking her head towards the phone on her desk.

“Of course.”

The three of them hardly spoke a word after Luna contacted Shining Armor. Twilight, because she was afraid once she started explaining she wouldn’t be able to stop, and Luna and Celestia because they were taking the spare time to work on some of their school duties. Fortunately they didn’t have to wait too long for Shining Armor to arrive.

He strode in, his whole bearing haggard, his suit wrinkled. Shining Armor was head detective for the Canterlot PD, Twilight recalled. The sight of Shiny, even if it wasn’t her Shiny, looking so worn out broke her heart. But she repressed her urge to hug him. It wouldn’t be appropriate.

“Twily?!” he blurted upon seeing her, blinking profusely and rubbing at his eyes. The brief spark of hope faded immediately as he took in her appearance. “No. You’re not my Twily. You’re too tall. And you have wings. Well, she does sometimes too, but, you know.” He attempted an amused smile, but to Twilight it just seemed sad.

“Sorry, Shining,” she said, offering her hand in lieu of a hug. He shook it professionally. “I didn’t mean to spook you.”

Shining shrugged as he entered the office, nodded to Celestia and Luna, then closed and locked the door. He took a seat next to Twilight. “It’s not your fault. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“I can imagine.”

Celestia took a moment to set out four cups of coffee for the four of them, which Shining attacked like it was his lifeblood. “So, Detective Armor,” Celestia began, “Luna told you the situation.”

“Yes, she said Twil--excuse me, Princess Twilight had information regarding the disappearances.”

“I do,” Twilight said, steeling her nerves. She opened up the file folder and laid it in front of them. “It’s… bad. I won’t lie.”

Twilight began her explanation, and the further she went on, the more scared, worried, and downright depressed the other three became. Shining in particular withered like dried out grass, ready to crumble at the slightest touch. When she finished, he let out a nasty curse and laid his face in his hands. “This is unbelievable,” he moaned. “And you said two of them are already dead?”

“Yes, sadly,” Twilight answered, while wishing her human ears could flatten like her pony ears did. “Wallflower Blush, and Timber Spruce.”

“God… I’ll have to notify their families. If we can even say anything about this,” Shining muttered. “This has turned into some kind of interplanetary incident or something I don’t even have words for.”

“I remember Wallflower very well,” Celestia said with a sniffle. She withdrew a tissue from a box on her desk, dabbing at her eyes. “She was a very sweet young woman, who used to be so lonely until she was befriended by Sunset and her friends. And you said their memories were taken away?”

“They were. As far as the ‘passengers,’ as this Monoponi calls them, are aware, they’re complete strangers.” Twilight shivered, the room suddenly colder than she liked. “Wallflower was so sad and angry at the world. Like she’d grown up to that age completely alone. Timber, meanwhile, was so worried for his sister he felt obligated to act.”

“I’m not sure I can blame him for that,” Luna admitted, sharing a glance with her own sister. “In such a situation, even I might have felt the need to act, just to save Celestia.”

“But that’s just it though,” Twilight replied with more bite to her tone than she’d intended. “Gloriosa is just fine. I saw her at Heart’s Warming just last year, when I came to visit. Wallflower and Timber died for no reason at all!”

“Hey, hey, easy there, Twily,” Shining said, immediately launching into the BBBFF tone Twilight was so intimately familiar with that for a moment she forgot he wasn’t her Shining. “Yelling isn’t going to help right now.”

“I know, I know,” Twilight replied. She held a hand to her breast and forced herself to breath in and out, just like Cadance had taught her. “I’m sorry. I’m usually more composed than this.”

Celestia tittered, just like Princess Celestia used to do when Twilight was her student. “It’s okay, Twilight. We’re not your subjects. We’re your friends. You can relax the regality if you need to.”

Twilight breathed out a sigh and visibly relaxed, letting the tension she’d held trying to keep her bearing fade. She slumped into her chair, looking far more like an exhausted employee at the end of a nine-to-five work week than a Princess. “Thank you,” she mumbled. “I think I needed to hear that.”

“It sounds like this Monoponi is targeting you personally,” Luna said, pressing her knuckles to her chin. “Do you have an idea why?”

Twilight shrugged and shook her head. “No, I don’t. I think it’s someone I’ve dealt with before, but… none of the villains I’ve ever had to deal with have been so, so monstrous before. This killing game is so unlike anything I’ve ever faced.”

A sudden knock knock at the door left the four glancing at each other before Celestia stood up and opened it up a crack. “I’m sorry, Gallus, but I’m in the middle of a meeting. Can this wait?”

“Begging your pardon, but I don’t think I’m your Gallus, Princess--I mean, Principal Celestia.”

Twilight hopped to her feet in an instant. “Sorry, I forgot to mention I had someone ready to bring me updates. That’s my Captain of the Guard.” She slipped past Celestia and stepped outside. “Gallus, you have a report?”

Despite the fact he’d surely come through while wearing his royal armor, Gallus was wearing normal, everyday teenager street clothes, probably similar to if not identical to what this world’s Gallus would wear. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, tossing off a quick salute. Like most of her guard, she’d made sure he was comfortable on two legs as part of the standard guard training, in the event she ever needed to take any with her on a visit to Sunset’s side of the portal. There’d never been a reason before, but prudence was prudence, and prudence paid off. “It’s… it’s not good, ma’am.”

“I understand, thank you,” she said, taking the folder he offered her. “You can head back. Try to keep out of sight.”

“Will do!”

She took the folder with her back inside. “Sorry about that. This is the latest update on the killing game, the events of the past few hours. Or at least, the past few hours broadcast.”

“Right, you said there was a delay,” Shining said, nodding. “I hope it isn’t bad.”

She stared down at the folder in her hands. It gave off a menacing aura, like it weighed ten tons or more, brimming with evil intent. Just like every other update she’d received. “We’re about to find out.”

Sitting back down, she set the folder on the desk, then opened it. She read quickly, scanning the summary. The reports she received were carefully arranged into an abridged summary as well as a line by line transcript of everything that was seen, so no detail would be missed. At first, everything seemed fine. “They had dinner, Trixie was throwing a magic show, and… oh my Celestia!” she clapped a hand to her mouth.

“I beg your pardon?” Celestia said, arching an eyebrow.

“Apple Bloom’s dead,” Twilight whispered. “She’s dead. She was killed by a trap.”

“Oh my god,” Luna breathed, visibly shaking, her hands closing and opening at her sides.

Celestia reached out and gripped Luna’s hand in hers, the other scratching her nails on her desk so hard one of them chipped.

Shining just closed his eyes and shook his head sadly. “God damn it.” Then he opened them. “Do we know who did it?”

Her stomach churning like an outboard motor, Twilight read on. The trials… the trials were the worst. She’d actually watched the first one, seen the paranoia, the fear, the arguing back and forth as everyone constantly suspected each other. Seeing her alternate self involved as well made it surreal, like watching some sort of strange fever dream. But unlike most nightmares, this wasn’t one Princess Luna could rescue her from.

So she chose not to read the line by line transcript. Even her vaunted curiosity had its limits, and this was one of them. Instead she stuck to the summary… and in some ways, wished she hadn’t. Her gorge rose, her heart threatening to leap right out her throat and do a tap dance on the desk. She forced it all back down, and said, “Sweetie Belle.”

“Sweetie Belle? Truly?” Luna asked, shaking her head even as her sister pulled her over into a claustrophobic looking hug. “What possible reason could she--”

“She was trying to kill Sunset,” Twilight interrupted. She explained the rest of the details in a quick hurry. “You… you don’t want to know how she was executed. Trust me.”

“I might have to, for police reasons, but god damn, Twily, this is… I don’t even know what this is anymore,” Shining leaned forward and placed his elbow on the desk so he could rub his forehead with his thumb and index finger. “I’m going to have to discuss this with Chief Spitfire. I think it’d be a good idea if you met up with her. I’ve been keeping this case from going to the state or federal level so far, but with what you’ve told us--”

“We can’t involve your government,” Twilight declared with all her princessly authority. Shining instantly sat up straighter. “I can work with you, Shining, and the local police department, but no one else. Remember our agreement.”

“Keep the existence of Equestria secret,” Shining responded. “Frankly, that might be more difficult than you might think. That cruise ship is operating in international waters. If my Twilight is right and they’re in the south Pacific, we might have to deal with multiple foreign governments. This could easily turn into a global incident, and I can’t promise they’ll keep things secret.”

“I’m well aware of the state of Earth’s geopolitical situation.” Twilight's words cut through Shining’s argument like the proverbial hot knife through butter. “That’s exactly why we can’t involve them. I’ve kept them from finding out about Equestria and Equestrian magic so far. I don’t intend to let them discover us anytime soon. You know why.”

Shining nodded, and she swore his hand started to raise in salute before he let it drop. “That’s going to severely limit our options, then.”

“Don’t worry,” Twilight replied, with more confidence in her voice than she actually felt. “I have my best ponies already working on a solution to the ocean problem. They’re converting the newest steamship in the Equestrian Navy into my personal flagship. As soon as we identify the closest naturally existing portal to that cruise ship, we’ll be coming through from the Equestrian side.” Twilight didn’t bother to mention all of the complications with the magic required to do that. She had her best researchers working on that problem, and felt no need to bring it up, lest it dampen any hope these people had.

“I want to be on that ship, if you don’t mind,” Shining requested, his expression all business. “You need someone to represent official Earth interests, and, well… I have a personal stake in the matter.”

“I don’t foresee that being a problem, so long as you’re okay with becoming a pony for a while on my side of the portal,” Twilight answered.

Shining’s face betrayed just a hint of nervousness at that. “Oh. Right. Forgot about that.”

“It is not as bad as you might suspect,” Luna added, with the smallest of smiles that quickly vanished. “You might even have a chance to meet yourself.”

“Yes it was quite the illuminating experience doing that, wasn’t it?” Celestia said with a nod.

Shining held up his hand to his chin and cocked his head in consideration. “Huh. Didn’t think about that.”

“Well that’s all in the future. Right now we need to find that cruise ship,” Twilight interrupted, forced to throw a bucket of water all over the burning embers of a good mood. She hated doing it, but they didn’t have time for daydreams. “In order to do that, we’re going to have to track where the missing people went from Canterlot. And we need to find out how Monoponi had the resources to do all of this in the first place.”

“Right, I’m guessing even with your Equestrian magic he couldn’t just transfigure a cruise ship into existence, huh?” Shining replied, returning to all business. “Tracking down those sorts of assets might be a bit beyond what the local PD can do without tapping into federal level resources.” A hint of a smile appeared on his face. “But Spitfire and I both have some favors we can call in, to keep it all on the down low. It’ll take a lot to convince her to do things your way, but I think she’ll listen.”

“I’m sure she will.” Twilight stood, and very briefly bowed to both Celestia and Luna. “Thank you both for your time. Shining, I’d like to go to meet with Chief Spitfire right away, if you don’t mind.”

“Alright, that can be arranged, but um…” Shining scratched the side of his head as he searched for words. “We might have to do something to disguise your appearance. You’re the spitting image of one of the missing persons, and the wings and ears… don’t help.”

Twilight cursed herself mentally for forgetting this. She should’ve brought some kind of overcoat with her. “Right, of course. I might have to go back briefly and--”

“Actually, that won’t be necessary Twilight,” Celestia interrupted. She moved over to a coat hanger in the corner that Twilight hadn’t noticed and withdrew a large trenchcoat, complete with hood. “You’re about Luna’s size, so my coat should fit with some room to spare.”

Twilight took the proffered coat. It was black, made of leather, more akin to something she’d expect from a punk rocker than a woman of Celestia’s status. But it was comfortable, and more importantly, hid her non-human features perfectly. “Are you sure? I might not be able to return this for a while.”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re trying to save lives. That’s more important than any coat,” Celestia said, waving her hand. “You should get going.”

“Right.”

Twilight followed Shining out to his car, parked just outside the front of the school. She kept the coat firmly closed and the hood down as much as possible as they rode to Canterlot PD headquarters. “Just a warning, Twilight,” Shining said as they neared their destination. “Spitfire can be a bit… harsh sometimes. Quick to anger.”

A soft smile spread across Twilight’s face. “If she’s anything like my own Spitfire, I can handle her just fine.”

As they parked and entered the police department, Twilight received more than a few stares, from officers as well as suspects and visitors. They were very briefly stopped by the officer working the front desk, but a quick reassurance that she was with “Detective Armor” was all that was needed to sweep her on by.

Instead of directing her to the chief’s office, he escorted her down to an empty interrogation room. “Sorry about this,” he said as he led her inside, “but this’ll be more private than the chief’s office.”

Twilight took in the bare concrete, the harsh lighting, the metal table and plastic chair with no cushioning, and snorted. “It’s okay,” she said, taking a seat.

“I’ll be right back,” Shining assured her.

Fortunately she didn’t have to wait long before Shining and Chief Spitfire returned. Spitfire looked exactly as Twilight expected, the same flaming orange and yellow two-toned hair, golden skin tone, crisp business suit pressed to perfection, not a single hair out of place. Even the very same cocky but assured expression plastered across her face lent her an authoritative air that had Twilight sitting just a little bit straighter in her chair.

“So,” Spitfire said as she took a seat with Shining, “You’re Princess Twilight, huh? I’ve heard a lot about you from Detective Armor.”

Twilight, after a nod Shining, removed her coat, revealing her ears and wings. “I am.”

Spitfire let out a long whistle. “Wow. You were not kidding, Armor. She looks just like her, too.” Holding up a fist to her mouth, she cleared her throat. “Armor said you had an explanation for our missing person situation.”

“I do,” Twilight answered. She began her explanation, and fortunately Spitfire was polite enough not to interrupt her. Going over the details again… every time she spoke them, spoke the names of the two--four now--that had died, she felt a little portion of her own soul disintegrate into dust. The process of dealing with this was slowly killing her from the inside, like a cancer. She finished up with her request to keep things local, per the agreement.

Spitfire nodded once when Twilight was finished, then steepled her hands on the desk. “I won’t lie to you, your highness: what you’re asking for isn’t easy. I have half a mind to call up the state governor right now and explain everything. These people’s lives are on the line, and we can’t afford to screw around with delays.”

“But--”

“Please allow me to finish,” Spitfire interrupted, holding up a hand. “I also understand and respect your world’s need for secrecy. I’m more aware than most how shitty the human race can be, and how much shittier we would be towards a whole world full of magic aliens that can cross over through a lot of different portals we have no control over. So in light of that, I’m going to grant your request, and keep this secret. But let me clear about one thing.”

Spitfire stood up just enough to get her face quite close to Twilight’s, just a few inches away. “Every single person that dies on that cruise ship that we might’ve been able to save had we gone through the federal government and the military? That’s on you. You’re going to be the one to talk to their families. And if they ask for something to keep things secret? You give it to them. You’re the leader of your nation. I’m sure you can authorize something from your treasury.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said, despite the churning emotions swirling throughout her body at the thought. She knew Spitfire had a point. With the resources of this world’s governments they might be able to use satellite imagery or something to spot the cruise ship right away. They could save a lot more lives.

At the cost of Equestria’s secret. At the cost of risking invasion, and war, with countless lives lost on both sides through pointless conflicts. She knew eventually, sooner or later, the secret would get out. The sheer amount of magic on display in Canterlot the past few years alone had almost broken it. Time and again the only thing keeping the secret in place was the hard work of local authorities, originally negotiated with Princess Celestia, without Twilight being informed. She didn’t discover these arrangements were in place till she took over Equestria as a whole, and more than once found herself apologizing to Celestia for her original visits to Earth and the lack of caution she’d shown. She didn't want the secret getting out until both worlds were prepared for it.

Twilight had learned a lot about realpolitik in the days since becoming Princess of all Equestria. She was thankful each and every day that she rarely, if ever, had to make decisions like this, with lives on the line. She could barely stand it. These were her friends, close friends and, in Sunset’s case, her student as well. Her responsibility. If Twilight didn’t have to worry about Equestria she’d throw caution to the wind and tell anybody and everybody who could help anything they wanted, just to save them faster.

But she just couldn’t. She had to keep all her responsibilities in mind. And between the millions upon millions of inhabitants of her own world, and fourteen--twelve--of her friends? She knew which one won out.

She only hoped that, when she saved those she could, they could find it somewhere in their heart to forgive her for being so slow.

Author's Notes:

In my previous Interlude author's note, I mentioned plausibility being one reason why Princess Twilight is included in this story. It's not plausible that she would sit by and ignore a situation like this.

I bring this up because one thing that struck me as difficult to resolve, over and over, was what to do about things like satellite technology. Locating the cruise ship would be a breeze, and then the story would be over. I didn't want to do that, nor did I want to start up a whole massive subplot dealing with Earth's governments.

The truth is, the world of Equestria Girls is pretty bizarre. It's implied to be similar to ours, but different. I've been rolling with pony puns for so many things in this story for precisely this very reason. Canonically, this is never explored, nor is it ever explored why the Humane Seven get away with all the crazy magic going on without some kind of government agency stepping in to figure out what's going on. You'd think there'd at least be an EQG version of Mulder and Scully looking into things.

So here's my take on the matter, that being an arrangement made to deal with things on the local level. It's a bit messy, and doesn't account for everything, but it solves enough of the problem for me to sweep the rest under the rug. The world of Equestria Girls is a world of humans, humans very similar to our society in so many ways it might as well be our society. That means a world full of conflict, of in-fighting. A world that would take one look at the uncontrolled Equestrian magic and see it as a threat.

Incidentally, I want to thank the show's writers for the Spring Breakdown special. It wasn't very good and it wasted its primary plot tool to an absurd level, but it introduced the concept of additional, unknown portals to and from Equestria. That's another key element to this story. Without those portals, this story doesn't work.

Next Time: We begin Chapter Three. This one's gonna be a doozy!

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 1

Tuesday morning, the day after the second trial…

When I woke up the morning after Sweetie Belle’s trial, I expected to wake to the sound of Monoponi’s announcement. Or maybe to the sensation of Adagio’s lips against my cheek. Instead, I awoke to the sound of arguing.

“Trixie awoke first, therefore she should get the first shower!”

“You have your own cabin! Go take a shower there!”

“Trixie still feels unsafe! She doesn’t want to leave yet! And you also have your own cabin!”

Blinking away the remnants of sleep, I sat up in bed, pushing off the sheets. “What?” I mumbled as I took in the utterly surreal sight of a naked Adagio Dazzle, her tangled mess of unbound hair bouncing as she shook a fist in the face of a mostly nude Trixie. The scantily clad illusionist had both her fists gripped at her side as she pointedly avoided looking anywhere except right into Adagio’s eyes, their faces bare inches apart. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, Sunset, Trixie is sorry she woke you!” Trixie said, frowning apologetically. “She just wanted to take a shower, but Adagio won’t let her!”

The beginnings of a pounding headache surged through my brain even as Adagio protested, “Only because Trixie has her own cabin. It’s bad enough she slept here. She’s overstayed her welcome.”

I rubbed my aching forehead with two fingers and a thumb, sighing. “Do we seriously have to argue about this? Go ahead and shower, Trixie. Adagio, you can wait, it’s okay.”

Trixie smirked, setting both hands on her hips. “Thank you, Sunset. Trixie knew you’d understand. If you’ll excuse Trixie.” She slipped into the bathroom, closing the door, and soon after the sound of water running filled the air.

Adagio, grumbling under her breath, plopped herself down next to me on the bed. “I don’t get why you put up with her,” she muttered.

“She’s my friend,” I replied, wrapping an arm around Adagio’s shoulder. “And after what we all went through last night, I can’t blame her for feeling scared.”

Adagio seemed to consider this, then nodded. A blush rose on her cheeks as she nestled herself against me, her hair falling on me like a giant bushy scarf. “I guess I can’t either.”

Last night… we had to watch Apple Bloom die in Applejack’s arms. Then, at the trial, just a few hours later, Sweetie Belle’s execution… I can’t imagine how either of them must be feeling this morning. All this death… I’m scared. I’m scared for my life, and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Sweetie Belle tried to kill me. She tried to kill me. Apple Bloom took the fall, but she might not be the last person to try it. I’ll have to keep my eyes open. Pay attention. Question everything.

Speaking of which…

“Hey, Adagio, I’ve got a question for you,” I said.

“Hmm?” Adagio lazily looked up at me with one eye, making her appear cross-eyed.

“What were you actually doing at the theater the other night?”

“Mrrgh,” the siren grumbled, grinding her teeth together as she scowled. “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask about that.”

I pulled her in closer. “Hey, I covered for you in the trial. The least you can do is tell me why I had to do that.”

For several moments, she didn’t respond. Instead she pulled her hand away, and held it up to her throat as she stared at the floor. Then, she spoke. “I… I was… I was trying to sing.”

“Sing?” That’s right, she told me before, about her gem being shattered. She can’t sing anymore. “But I thought--”

“I know what I said,” Adagio growled, cutting me off with a vicious glare. “But I had to try. I had to… I had to give it a shot.”

I scooted back just a touch, to give her more space. “Because singing is that important to you?”

With a roll of her eyes, she replied. “Not just that. It’s because of you.”

“Me?” I asked, holding a hand to my chest. “I don’t understand.”

“No. You wouldn’t. Pony.” Adagio grumbled the word like it was a curse, but the slight grin on her face betrayed her real feelings. “It’s a siren thing. I told you before, that sirens aren’t like ponies. We don’t care for each other, not in the same way you do. But.”

“But?”

Adagio blew out a sigh through her teeth, the grin fading. “But we do… mate. Usually for life. Typically we’d serenade each other with songs passed down by our families. Then, when we want to… finalize the arrangement… we’d write a new song and sing it. Together.”

My heart skipped about twenty beats before accelerating to a million miles an hour at the implications of that. “W-wait, wait a minute. You’re, you want to mar--”

“No!” Adagio interrupted, raising a hand as if to smack me across the face, and only stopping at the last minute. “No, don’t be stupid. It’s far too early for anything like that. I just… look.” She placed her hand on her face and sighed. “It’s important to me. If I’m going to be with you, in a relationship with you, I want to be able to do things that matter to me, to my kind.”

“Oh.” I gripped my chest, trying to force my heart to slow down, take it easy. “Sure. I knew that. Of course.”

Before Adagio could say anything else, the door to the bathroom opened up a crack and Trixie stuck her head out, her hair and skin dripping water on the carpet. She pointed one finger at the exposed gash on her forehead and said, “Sunset, would you be willing to assist Trixie with rebandaging this? Trixie is having trouble.”

With a sigh, I stood, patting Adagio on the shoulder. “Alright.” Leaving Adagio to stew on the bed, I entered the bathroom, finding Trixie wearing a towel, the first aid kit on the counter. Going for the gauze, I unrolled a strip and started wrapping it around her head. “You know, Trixie,” I said as I used the surgical scissors to snip off the end, then tied it with medical tape. “I’m happy to let you stay with me in my cabin if you need to, but--”

“Say no more, please,” Trixie said, holding up a hand, her face twisted into a contrite and embarrassed expression. “Trixie knows she imposed upon you. She is sure you would have preferred to have privacy with… with her.”

Fighting off the blush that came to my cheeks, I shook my head. “It’s not that. Well, not just that. I.. we need to clear something up.”

Blinking owlishly, Trixie cocked her head. “What is it?”

“Hey, are you two done in here yet?” Adagio grunted, rapping on the door. “You’re not the only ones who need the bathroom.”

Sighing, I shook my head. “Nevermind. We’ll talk later.”

After dealing with the kerfuffle of three showers in one cabin we managed to arrive at the morning meeting only a few minutes late. The rest had already gathered, sitting around a couple of tables. I took quick notice of Rarity, who hadn’t bothered with any makeup this morning. Seeing her sans eyeshadow and mascara was odd. Odder yet was her hair. The poor woman had clipped a whole bunch of it off, because she’d torn out so much during the trial she’d ruined her previous hairstyle. It hung in muted curls, wrapped up in a ponytail. Wrinkles dotted her clothes. She sat next to Applejack, her chair scooted up to sit side by side with the farmer, who seemed just as out of sorts. Neither of them seemed to have gotten much sleep.

Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, fixed me with an icy glare, watching me like a hawk. She pointedly kept Flash between her and me, though judging from the occasional glares she tossed his way, there was trouble in nerd paradise. I hope I’m not responsible for that…

Everyone else sat with their shoulders hunched, their expressions grim. A few had cups of coffee in styrofoam cups sitting in front of them, along with a small plate of toast, but no one took anything from it. The only one who had any real energy to speak of was Rainbow Dash, who took one look at me walking up with Adagio and Trixie and broke out into soft snickers. “Jeez, one girl not enough for you, Sunset?” she teased.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy chided in a low, quiet voice. “Not now please.”

Looking properly abashed, Rainbow muttered, “Sorry,” under her breath.

Diamond Tiara rose from her chair right as we sat down, notebook in hand and pen at the ready. “Alright, we’re all here,” she said, scribbling something down. “No one’s absent. Good.”

“There sure are people absent, Tiara,” Applejack growled. “Two of ‘em that oughta be here ain’t anymore.”

Tiara worked her jaw into a grimace. “Yes, I know. I just meant--”

“Ah know what you meant,” Applejack said, waving it off and glaring down at her cup of coffee. She wrapped her other arm around Rarity’s shoulder, who sniffled as she leaned into the farmer for support. “Never you mind. Just get this meetin’ on with.”

Tiara’s expression rapidly switched between a sneer and a simpering smile before settling on the smile. “The only subject I wanted to discuss was the one we all learned about last night… the pony in our midst.” She pointed her pen squarely at me.

“Hey, lay off of her, Tiara,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “We don’t need to start this crap again. Can’t we just let it rest?”

Twilight slapped her own notebook on the table, causing more than one of us to jump in surprise. “No. We need to discuss this. Sunset’s secret cost two people their lives. We need to know what else she’s hiding.”

“Hiding?” I snorted, and rose from my chair just long enough to fetch some coffee for Adagio, Trixie, and myself from the nearby bakery. “I’m not hiding anything, Twilight. Like I said during the trial, I tried to tell all of you about this the first night.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything after that?” Twilight shot back as she picked up her pen so she could spin it in her hand. “You had all the chances in the world, but you never said a word.”

“What was she supposed to say, Twilight?” Flash asked, gently reaching out and pushing Twilight’s hand onto the table. “‘Oh hey, by the way, remember Equestria? I’m a pony!’ Would you have listened to her? Would any of us have?”

“Trixie still isn’t happy with Sunset keeping the secret, but Flash is right,” Trixie added with a quick little nod in my direction. “It would have just upset people.”

Pinkie Pie, her face half plastered to the table and mostly covered by her hair, nodded, in the process taking on the appearance of a pink shrub rustling in the breeze. “Wallflower was such a meanie, she might’ve tried to kill Sunset.”

Scootaloo scowled into her own cup of coffee, taking a quick swig and grimacing at the taste. “Yeah, remember the way she threatened us? If she thought Sunset was the traitor, then…”

“But I’m not the traitor though,” I insisted. I took a drink of my own coffee, the black bitter liquid hot as fire on my throat, just the way I liked it. “I’m just as innocent as the rest of you.”

“The rest of all of us but one,” Fluttershy said pointedly.

“Look, forget about the traitor, that’s not what’s important,” Twilight said, whisking her hand out of Flash’s grip. “Sunset needs to tell us everything she knows. She might have some insight into Monoponi, since they’re the same species.”

“Wow. Racist much?” Pinkie Pie grumbled in a nasty, low tone, completely unlike her usual bouncy self. As she spoke, the curls in her hair vanished.

Twilight set a finger on her glasses just so she could glare over them at the party planner. “It’s not racism if she’s not human. It’s xenophobia.”

Pinkie Pie stood up from her chair, walked over to the bakery, and ordered three cupcakes. Shoving the first one into her mouth messily, she mumbled, “Same difference. Meanie,” as she resumed her seat.

“Look, I’ll tell you what I can, but I don’t think it’s going to be much help,” I said. Sighing and steepling my hands, I described what I knew of Equestrian magic and alicorns. I also made sure to mention I’d lost my magic when I crossed the portal, and how odd it was Monoponi had his. “That’s all I know,” I finished, draining the last dregs from my cup. “I haven’t been to Equestria in years. I have no idea where he came from.”

Twilight, still writing notes on what I’d informed her, seemed no less cold towards me after my info dump. If anything she was colder, harsher. “Well, never hurts to have information,” she snarled. “Is there anything else you haven’t told us? Maybe something from that Danganronpa you’re always going on about?”

Wait, what does she… oh yeah! Gasping in realization, I said, “Yes, actually. There’s something we need to be very careful about this time around.”

“Oh?” Tiara asked, narrowing her eyes at me. “What’s that?”

“So, the thing with the games is, there’s usually six murders, but not six murder trials. It’s because usually, after the first two…” I gulped and shivered. “There’s a double murder.

“A… a double murder?” Pinkie Pie whispered, her eyes welling up with fresh tears. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. And Monoponi’s been ripping these games off, like I said before. I’ll bet you anything he’ll try to make sure that happens. We’ve got to watch out for that.”

Twilight barked a bitter laugh, acrid and thick like day old coffee still sitting on the warmer. “Of course. And now that you’ve said that, it’s guaranteed to happen.” She set her pen down and slammed her notebook closed, then placed her arms on the table and rested her head on them.

“Look, did we have anythin’ else we needed to discuss? Or can we stop wastin’ time here?” Applejack said, glaring daggers at Tiara.

Rolling her eyes, Tiara shoved her notebook and pen back into her backpack. “Fine, fine. Meeting adjourned.”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

“Oh come on!” Scootaloo groaned, throwing up her hands so they’d slap at her sides. “Can’t give us five minutes, jeez.”

The screens winked on, showcasing an all too happy Monoponi, snarfing down on some hay fries with obnoxious chewing noises. “Ahem, um, attention all passengers,” he mumbled past his mouthful of food, spitting crumbs everywhere, “Please report to the bridge deck immediately!” He forced us to watch him slurp down a whole glass of apple juice and unleash a loud belch before the screens switched off.

“So gross,” Trixie spluttered, waving a hand before her nose as she walked in the direction of the bridge deck. “Trixie could smell that.”

Rarity hung back with Applejack for a minute while the others went on, so I stayed back too. “Hey, you two,” I said, trying out a sympathetic smile. “Listen, I--”

“Sunset,” Rarity said, hushing me immediately. It was the first word she’d breathed all day. She gazed upon me with sad eyes and a sadder expression, then turned away. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not talk to you for a while,” she said quietly.

My smile faded. “Right. I get it. Sorry. I’ll, I’ll just go then,” I said.

“Hold it a sec there, sugarcube,” Applejack replied, reaching out for my shoulder and pulling me back gently. She leaned in close so she could whisper. “Listen, Rarity’s not really mad at you or nothin’. She’s just takin’ the loss of her sister real hard. Ah’m not doin’ much better, but Ah’m gonna try and be there for her. It ain’t her fault her sister killed mine.”

“I hope it helps you both cope better,” I whispered back. “I’m so sorry for what I had to do in the--”

“Don’t be.” Applejack shook her head. “If you hadn't, we’d all be dead right now. Rarity don’t blame you for it. You did what you had to do. Just give her some space, alright?”

I flashed her a thumbs up. “Can do.”

She clapped me once on the shoulder, smiled softly, then helped Rarity as they made their way towards the bridge deck. Out of respect for them I took a wide berth around them before running to catch up with Adagio and Trixie.

The assembly on the bridge deck thrummed with fresh tension, palpable and thick. The fear in the air stank like sour milk left out on the counter to rot. Poor Apple Bloom hadn’t even been dead a day, let alone Sweetie Belle, but here we were again, not even remotely recovered from the ordeal.

The instant Rarity and Applejack arrived, Monoponi trudged his way out from the bridge tower door onto the balcony, still wiping crumbs off his face. “Well, well, well, good morning, my lovely passengers!” he said, spreading his wings to catch the sunlight streaming through the clouds. The weather had shifted from the pure blue skies we’d had the first week on the ocean. A storm threatened on the horizon, all towering black clouds, like a billowing gag threatening to choke us out. “I hope you slept well! I know I did, upupu.”

“Did you seriously have to be so gross over the intercom?” Scootaloo complained, showing more bravery than most of us dared to demonstrate.

Monoponi shook a hoof in her direction. “What? I had a full workout last night! That makes me hungry. A pony’s gotta eat.”

Rarity broke into quiet tears, sobbing into Applejack’s shoulder as the farmer held her close, an inferno of hatred for Monoponi blazing in her gaze. “Why don’t you just get to the point of this?” she said.

“Such impatience!” Monoponi cried, clomping a hoof on the deck with a clank and started flailing about, wiggling his limbs. “No consideration. No manner. No respect for your Captain. ‘Oh Monoponi, get on with it!’ ‘Oh Monoponi, stop wasting time!’ ‘Oh Monoponi, get to the point!’ No appreciation at all!”

“Blah blah, poor you, no one cares!” Rainbow Dash shouted, stomping one boot onto the deck with a clang!

Monoponi stopped flailing and shrugged. “Eh. Tough crowd. Ahem. So! You’ve passed another trial. Congratulations! Your ocean voyage continues with more rewards, more luxuries, more wonders for you to enjoy!”

“So soon?” Twilight inquired, peering up at Monoponi. “But it took three days after the last trial before you opened up more of the ship.”

“Aaaand? What’s your point?” Monoponi cupped a hoof to his ear. “Hmm? Hmmmmm? I don’t hear one.”

Sneering up at the alicorn, Twilight shot back, “My point is, we thought you needed the extra time to refurbish the ship. Prepare the facilities.”

“Oh Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, you do keep asking such silly questions,” Monoponi said with a giggle. “Upupu, that’s what I hate about you! Shut your trap already. It’s my ship. My rules. I decide when things open up, and I’ve decided they open up today!”

“So you’re gonna make us explore again, huh?” Pinkie Pie asked, hands square on her hips. Her hair remained flat, with no trace of curls whatsoever. The difference in her mood was more than a little off-putting, but also… sad. Like she’d lost some vital part of herself. The poor girl, in some ways, had suffered more than the rest of us in this situation. While the rest of us had been afraid for our lives, she’d been losing her very soul.

“It’s like I said before,” Monoponi answered, balancing himself on one hoof and holding himself aloft with his wings. “Your Captain is here to serve, to provide wonderful activities for you to enjoy! And who doesn’t love a good bit of exploration, hmm?”

“Are you gonna give us a hint?” Flash asked. “Tell us what we’re gonna see?”

“Why would I do that? That’d take away the fun!” Monoponi spun on his one hoof then hopped off it, landing back on all fours. “Speaking of which, it’s time for you to get to it. This time, there are two places for you to check! You’ll find the gate in the cabin corridor has unlocked itself!” His horn spat out a crimson shard of light which zipped past the rest of us towards the cabins. “But you’ll also find more to see down the promenade offshoot corridor.” Another jet of light took flight, headed the other way. “What is what? Where will you go? What will you find? You’ll find out!”

The gun turrets on the bridge deck popped up and spun to speed, taking aim at us. “Of course, this is an official sponsored activity. No one chose to sit out last time! I wonder if anyone will today? Eyahahaha!” With that, he vanished in a flash of light.

“Sooo, I dunno about any of you, but I’m really not looking to practice my swiss cheese act today,” Rainbow Dash said, letting out a nervous laugh. “C’mon Fluttershy. Why don’t we go down this way?”

The two of them made for the promenade. Soon after Pinkie joined them, followed by Twilight, Flash, and Scootaloo.

“Must we do this?” Rarity moaned, her knees shaking like they were about to collapse.

“Sorry, we can’t sit this one out, Rarity,” Applejack said, helping the woman stay on her feet. “Ah know how you feel, but we gotta do it. C’mon now.” She carefully escorted Rarity in the same direction most others went.

“Well, Sunset, Trixie doesn’t know about you, but she’s more interested in what’s past the cabins,” Trixie declared.

“Yeah, I’m feeling the same,” I agreed. “Adagio, you gonna come with?”

Adagio and Trixie briefly shared a sparking glare, before the siren crossed her arms and nodded. “Might as well.”

So we headed for the cabins, leaving Diamond Tiara still standing on the bridge deck, before the younger woman suddenly ran our way. “Hey, wait up, Sunset! I want to come too.”

The three of us halted, whirling one by one to stare at Tiara in shock. To my bemusement the elitist was all smiles, and not simpering, self-serving ones either. Genuine, happy smiles, the sort I’d expect from Pinkie Pie or maybe Scootaloo, rather than her. “Uh, why?” I asked, instantly on guard.

“Look, I’ve been wanting to say something since last night,” Tiara said. No trace of her usual ego showed itself. No sneer, no demeaning attitude. Instead, she gripped one wrist in her other palm, rocking back and forth slowly on one foot, still smiling. “I wanted to apologize, Sunset.”

“What?” I blurted, my whole face screwing up, utterly nonplussed. “Apologize? You?”

“Well, yeah!” Tiara retorted, her smile fading for just a moment into her usual unimpressed frown before forming back into a smile. “I was wrong about you, okay? I’ve been a real jerk to you, and I’m sorry.”

I shared a baffled look with Adagio, who rolled her eyes hard, pointed a finger at her head, and spun it around. “But last night you were still saying I was--”

“I know, I know,” Tiara interrupted, holding out a hand palm outwards, her smile remaining firm even as her left eye twitched. “But I thought about it, and I was wrong. I can admit when I’m wrong!”

I glanced at Trixie, who had a hand held to her chin, her lower lip pressed out as she stared at Tiara with narrowed eyes full of suspicion. “I guess. It’s just, this feels kind of sudden.”

Tiara briefly ground her teeth together, growling under her breath before resuming her bizarre smile. “M-maybe it is. But it’s the truth!” She stuck her hand towards me. “So can we start over? Maybe try to be friends?”

I cautiously examined the hand, fearing some sort of prank or trap. This has got to be a setup, I thought. Still...if there’s even a chance Tiara’ll lay off of me? I should probably take it. But this totally reeks. So I extended my hand and shook hers, once, before dropping it. “Friends might be a strong word,” I admitted, “but we can at least call a truce for now.”

Pursing her lips, she nodded. “Of course. I have a lot to make up for. I understand.” Taking a step towards the cabins, she held out a hand. “Well, shall we?”

With a shrug, I followed her lead, Adagio and Trixie close behind. Trixie sidled up to me, cupping a hand around my mouth so she could whisper, “Trixie doesn’t believe her!”

“Me neither,” I whispered back. “Keep an eye on her, okay? She’s planning something.”

Adagio squeezed up to my other side and shoved Trixie just hard enough to knock her away. “If you think you can trust Diamond Tiara for one second, think again,” she said quietly. “She’s not fooling anybody.”

“I know that,” I replied, casting a brief sympathetic glance in Trixie’s direction. The poor illusionist stumbled, but regained her footing, firing off a nasty glare at the siren. “Don’t push Trixie, please.”

Letting out a wordless grunt as her face twitched, Adagio pulled away in a huff. “Fine.”

Diamond Tiara looked over her shoulder as she walked. “Hmm? Did you say something?”

“Nothing,” Adagio and I chimed together.

Arching an eyebrow, Tiara turned back to watch where she was going as we reached the cabins. A few quick strides down the hallway later, and we came to the bolted metal door. Right as we approached, it slid down into the floor.

Peering past it, I saw that it looked like a continuation of our own cabins, save that each door was locked, and sans name tags. About fifty feet down the corridor it ended in another bolted door, but just before it was a small offshoot with a narrow staircase facing up into the wall, with a protective balcony around the descent so no one could stumble into it. Strangely, unlike the rest of the ship, this staircase was plain metal and plastic, with none of the usual finery or craftsmanship we’d come to associate with the rest of the ship. Then I spotted a sign right above the staircase: “Crew Access Only!” That explained it.

“Are we sure we’re allowed to go in here?” Trixie asked, trepidation written all over her body.

Tiara waved for us to follow. “I doubt Monoponi would’ve opened it up if we weren’t. Come on!”

We descended the staircase, each of our steps echoing with a loud clatter. We went down several flights before we found a landing that wasn’t blocked off by yet more bolted bulkheads. This one led into an access corridor. Unlike the rest of the cruise ship, this one lacked carpet, instead floored with plain white linoleum shining in the fluorescent lighting. The corridor was wide, allowing for plenty of material to be moved to and fro, but with a low ceiling, leaving it feeling cramped and confining. Exposed pipes snaked along some parts of the ceiling, and there were plenty of locked doors, and little alcoves dotted the walls, large enough for someone to slip into and be hidden amongst shadows. The corridor stretched before us heading a long, long way before it branched off.

As we walked, a creeping unease trickled its way down my spine, like I was intruding on something I wasn’t meant to see. There was one unlocked door along the way, but it only led to a small laundry room so stuffed with machines and ironing boards and hangers there was barely any room to move around. We left that alone for now, with only Trixie murmuring about how glad she was to have a place to clean her clothes.

A good several hundred feet down the corridor later, we reached a t-junction. The path ahead was blocked by yet another bulkhead door, but the path to the right opened up into another access corridor that once again went down several hundred feet. “Good grief,” Adagio muttered as we turned the corner. “When is this going to end?”

Almost all of the doors down this second corridor were also locked, until we finally, finally hit a pair of doors on either side, right where it ended in another bulkhead. The one on the right was locked, so with a shrug, we opened the one on the left.

We emerged into a large fitness center, right behind the front check-in desk. The desk held numerous useful supplies, including stacks of towels and a few sets of padlocks and keys, presumably for use in a locker room. The whole wall along the side where we came in was lined with banks of large windows, showing the ocean waves churning as the ship motored its way on through. The wall opposite was lined with mirrors, broken up only by twin doors labeled “Men’s locker room” and “Women’s locker room” respectively, with scanners attached to the wall to open them up via Monopad. Over to the left was a pair of double doors, currently closed, so similar to the ones we saw for places like the library and the game corner it was safe to say it was the fitness center entrance. To the right, the center opened up into several large rooms separated by open doorways.

The first large room contained dozens of treadmills, elliptical machines, bicycle machines, and other cardio-based workout systems. Rainbow Dash, dressed up in a tracksuit and wearing earbuds in her ears, rode on one of the bicycles, pedaling away at max speed. “Oh, there you guys are!” she said, waving as she tapped a control on the machine’s console. “Where’d you come from?”

I pointed towards the door behind the front desk. “Access corridor. Goes all the way up to the cabins.”

“Neat!” Rainbow Dash slowed the speed on her bike just long enough to take a swig from a water bottle, then sped back up. “I just couldn’t resist hopping on this as soon as I saw it. Can you believe it? We finally have a proper place to exercise! No more laps around the promenade. You can listen to music and everything.” She jerked her thumb over towards a treadmill in the corner, where Fluttershy, also clad in a tracksuit, walked at an easy pace. “Even Shy’s getting some in.”

Fluttershy looked up and waved, smiling pleasantly at us. “Oh, hello Sunset, Adagio, Trixie… Diamond Tiara?” For just a moment, her cute little face scrunched up in confusion. Then she shook her head to clear it out and smiled again. “I like this place. It’s nice.”

“It’s a pretty good view,” Tiara said, nodding as she stared out the window at the moving ocean currents.

“Yeah, I’ll have to come down here myself sometime,” I said, my eyes on the ellipticals especially. I preferred them over treadmills.

“Maybe we all should,” Adagio seconded, flashing me an amused smirk. “We could make a party out of it.”

“Oh no,” Trixie objected, throwing out a hand. “No more parties. Trixie’s heart can’t take another ruined celebration!”

Adagio snickered and sauntered on towards the next room over, putting just a tiny bit of extra sashay in her hips, leaving Trixie glaring in her wake. Chuckling quietly to myself, I followed.

The next room, like the cardio room, had a large bank of windows showcasing the ocean, only this one was full of weight-lifting equipment. Racks of dumbbells in mass ranging from one pound all the way up to one hundred pounds lined one wall, next to a shelf full of free weights and barbells. A series of machines ranging from the usual bench press to a whole myriad of everything you could imagine, such as calf machines, leg extension, chest presses, cable crossover, and more. There were also a few incline benches and a small selection of other free weight equipment such as kettlebells, body bars, medicine balls, and others. In addition, there were a few standing sandbags with plenty of space around them for punching and kicking practice.

We found Rarity and Applejack whaling away at two of them, Applejack punching up a storm and Rarity screeching as she landed kick after kick on another in a series of smooth movements, followed up by arm and knee strikes and palm slams. Jeez, Rarity! I get you’re working out some of your anger, but holy shit! I do not want to mess with you. We wisely left them alone, not saying a word.

The next room was mostly empty space, containing a large open area lined with mats, presumably for dancing, martial arts, yoga, or other similar activities. A small shelf laying against the wall contained a series of assistance equipment, including jump ropes and resistance bands amongst others. This is where the larger rooms ended, though there was a door labeled “To Courts/Pool/Sauna” along the mirrored wall.

Opening that up we entered into a wide corridor, with rooms to either side exposed by glass walls. On the left was a combination basketball and volleyball court, complete with equipment for both laying on shelves in the corner. On the right was a squash court and a tennis court, also containing matching equipment. “Wow,” Tiara said, her eyes sparkling as she beheld the squash court. “I haven’t played squash since I got here. I’ve really gotten off my game.”

“You play squash?” Trixie inquired, arching both eyebrows. “Trixie didn’t think you did anything like that.”

“Of course I play squash,” Tiara replied with a roll of her eyes. “It’s healthy and fun. I also play badminton and croquet, but there’s never anything like that around in a place like this.”

Adagio pursed her lips and crossed her arms, nodding at Tiara, impressed. “Huh. I might have to take you up on that,” she said. “I’m a fan of squash too. It’s… invigorating.”

“Great! We can do that later though,” Tiara said. She pulled out her Monopad and shook it briefly. “I’ll text you later. We still have a lot to explore.”

As she and Trixie moved on towards the far door, Adagio hung back just long enough to whisper to me, “Maybe she’s not as bad as we thought?”

“I dunno,” I replied, scratching my chin. “She is being nicer. Could still be an act though.”

We moved on to the far door, and opened it up. “Well, the sign wasn’t lying,” I said as I took in the sight of a large in-door pool. While not as big as the one up on the bridge deck, this one still loomed larger than any pool you’d see in someone’s backyard. The setup was similar to one I’d seen in fitness centers elsewhere on land, with half the pool separated into lanes by colorful markers in shades of red, blue, and gold, while the rest lay open for free swimming. A single diving board rested at the far end, next to several smaller diving platforms for launching off. Surrounding the pool on all sides was a line of bleachers, up to three benches high, and scattered about were shelves of towels and other pool accoutrements, including water wings, pool noodles, and other floatation devices.

Trixie took a deep whiff of air, her nose wrinkling. “Wait. Shouldn’t this place smell like chlorine? Why doesn’t Trixie smell chlorine?”

I braced myself, and sure enough, Monoponi flashed into existence, flying above the pool like a hovering vulture waiting for a dying animal to pass away. “I would never allow my pool to be contaminated by chlorine!” he declared even as the other three let out varying cries of shock. He took one more lap then landed before us, his wings folding against his sides. “Chlorine hurts your skin! It burns your nose, your lungs. It dyes your hair even! Do you know what chlorine would do to this fabulous black and white coat of mine?”

“Then what do you use instead?” Tiara asked, recovering more quickly than Trixie or even Adagio. She seemed oddly calm given that she’d been terrified into submission by Monoponi barely two days ago. “Bromine?”

“No, no, no!” Monoponi furiously shook his head. His horn lit up and a small bottle labeled “Monoponified Swim Solution” appeared out of nowhere, held in his magic grip. “I use this! It’s PHMB, or polyhexamethylene biguanide.”

Trixie took several steps back and brushed down her ruffled cloak. “Poly-what?”

“It’s an antiseptic,” I answered, my vast store of random knowledge coming into play once again. Sometimes I wonder if I’m more of an egghead than Twilight is. “It’s used in a lot of applications, but one of them is as an alternative to chlorine for keeping pools clean. It’s expensive though.”

Monoponi shrugged, and with a quick blast from his horn the bottle vanished back into the aether. “Money is no obstacle to me!” he pronounced. “No expense spared! My passengers deserve only the best, and they’ll get the best!” With that, he disappeared.

“Hmph,” Adagio said, crossing her arms and glaring at the spot where he’d been standing. “Always the showoff.”

“He really is,” Tiara agreed with a frown. “Monoponi must be more loaded than even my Daddy to be able to afford all of this. Where does he get the resources from?”

“I doubt we’re going to find an answer to that anytime soon,” I said. I pointed to one side of the pool, which led down a narrow corridor with a sign labeled “Locker Rooms and Sauna” above it. “Come on.”

As we walked down the corridor, we found two offshoot rooms. One, with an all glass door, contained a hot tub and small wading pool, for relaxation, with darker mood lighting and colored lights shining up from the tub. The other, past a steel door with a large window, was a smaller wooden-paneled room lined with benches. The general dry, heated atmosphere confirmed this was the promised sauna. Interestingly, instead of steam vents, there were long glowing red rods in the walls visible between the gaps in the planks. Must be infrared, then. There was a temperature gauge set in the wall just outside the sauna door, albeit marked with a warning of “Do not adjust without crew consent.” The gauge contained a simple half circle marked in blue, green, yellow, and red, with smaller temperature numbers. Right now, the marker was set firmly in the green, at approximately one hundred twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit, but the gauge ran in a range from eighty-five degrees at the lowest in the blue all the way up to three hundred in the red.

“Woah,” I said as I looked over the gauge. “Don’t mess with that.”

“Why does it go so high?” Adagio asked as she scowled, poking at the display. “Wait, nevermind. Stupid question.”

As we moved on to the locker rooms, we found we had to scan our Monopads to get in. The doors only opened up one at a time, and closed behind us as soon as we walked through. The locker rooms contained the usual assortment of small lockers for valuables, showers, and toilets. Scootaloo was in the middle of dressing up in her own tracksuit. “Oh hey there,” she said, grunting as she zipped up the suit. “Pretty nice fitness center, huh?”

“It’s not bad,” I agreed. “What’re you up to, Scootaloo?”

She shrugged. “I figured I’d just go lift some weights. I could use the pick-me-up after…” she sighed, her body shrinking down as her eyes misted up. “After last night. Besides, I want to stay near Rarity and Applejack. I’m worried about both of them, especially Rarity.”

Tiara smiled at that, and clapped a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. “That is very kind of you, Scootaloo,” she said as if she were delivering a pronouncement from on high. “I'm certain they’ll appreciate you watching out for them.”

“Heh, thanks,” Scootaloo said with a sad smile. “I just don’t want anyone else hurt, you know? We’ve lost too many people already. I don’t want to lose any more friends.”

“Good to hear,” Tiara said, slapping both hands on her hips so she could loom like the authority figure she purported to be. “Keep at it, Scootaloo. Keep them safe.”

With a squint of confusion Tiara’s way, Scootaloo gave a half nod then scurried out the other exit.

“So that’s it for the fitness center,” Adagio said as we followed Scootaloo out back into the main room. “What’s next?”

“This way,” I said, pointing towards the exit doors. “Might as well see where this leads.”

This, as it turned out, led out into another offshoot of the promenade, albeit this one much shorter than the last. To our left as we exited was a grand staircase split in two that ascended back up towards the library, theater, and game corner, with a glass elevator shaft in the middle for those who couldn’t be bothered or weren’t able to climb the stairs. Judging by the orientation the fitness center lay directly below the theater, which meant the door across the hallway led to the library. And sure enough, it was labeled as such, and briefly poking our heads into it confirmed it was the library’s second floor. We stayed just long enough to spot Twilight grimacing our way over a book before leaving.

Instead we headed further down this level of the promenade, though it terminated fairly quickly into yet another blank wall. On the same wall as the library was a smaller door, with a simple sign reading “Spa” above it. Tiara gasped happily, speeding for the door immediately. “Yeesssss,” she said as she threw it open.

Inside, we found a large circular room, sectioned off into smaller circular pods. The whole place used calm, quiet mood lighting, gentle music of chimes and bells playing over speakers. There was a center desk with a logbook where one could sign up for services, and a small sign stating “Currently self-serve: help yourself!”

Each pod contained a mixture of the expected spa services. One was lined with massage tables, which were crewed not by human therapists, but by robotic arms on stands. Flash Sentry, clad only in a towel, laid out on one, his face a picture of bliss as the machine did its work. I couldn’t help but snicker at the sight. “Enjoying yourself, Flash?” I said.

“Huh?” His eyes shot open. “Oh, uh, hey there, girls,” he said, letting out a sheepish laugh. “Yeah, I kinda needed this, after dealing with Twilight this morning. I dunno what’s got her in such a snit.”

“Is that machine as good at its job as it looks like it is?” Trixie asked, her eyes sparkling with delight. “Trixie does love a good massage.”

“It’s great,” Flash replied as he closed his eyes and settled his head down on the table. “Best massage I’ve ever had.”

“Well, we’ll leave you to it,” I said, still snickering.

The next pod contained chairs like what you’d see in any kind of nail salon, complete with robots ready to perform manicures and pedicures. Diamond Tiara leapt into one chair and tossed off her shoes and socks, leaning back and letting out a sigh as the machine got to work. “This is exactly what I needed,” she said as the machine gently laid a mask over her face, complete with twin circles of cucumber. “I’ve never seen one automated like this before, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“Do, uh, do you need us to stick around?” I asked, gesturing with my thumb. “Or should we keep exploring?”

“Go ahead,” Tiara said, waving us off with a kinder, gentler wave than her usual dismissal. “I’ll text everyone later so we can meet up and discuss what we’ve found. We’ll meet up at the food court around 1:30 or so.”

I took a quick peek at my Monopad, noting the time as 10:05. We’d already spent an hour wandering around, it seemed. “Alright. Have fun.”

“Um, Sunset, do you mind if Trixie goes ahead and gets a massage too?” Trixie asked, holding both fists up to her mouth. “Please?”

With a laugh, I waved her back towards the massage pod. “Sure.”

“Yes!” Trixie cried, throwing up her arms in delight. She sped off, ducking into the changing room at the back of the pod.

With just Adagio by my side now, we checked out the other pods. One held a cooling saltwater bath right next to a bubbling hot tub, another held chairs lined with ottomans for foot massages, and the last had a large mud bath and accompanying rinse showers. Pinkie Pie rested in the mud bath, her eyes dull, lacking any shine, her mouth twisted up into a sad frown. “Oh, hey,” she said, not even bothering to look our way. “This is a nice place, huh?” She spoke in a quiet, somber monotone, no energy to her words at all.

Seeing the poor girl so depressed didn’t just break my heart so much as take a sledgehammer to it and shatter it like a glass statue. “You okay there, Pinkie?” I asked, immediately regretting the stupid question. No, she’s not, obviously. Jeez, Sunset.

Pinkie shrugged, her arms raising up out of the mud with a schlup sound before smushing back down in a splat, spattering bits of mud everywhere. “I’m fine,” she said in the same tone. “Don’t mind me.”

My eyes watered as I clenched a fist, holding it to my chest. “I’m sorry, Pinkie,” I replied quietly, choking back a sob. “I’m sorry for what this place has done to you.”

That got Pinkie to look up at me, cocking her head. “It’s not your fault, Sunny,” she said. “It’s that big ol’ meanie Monoponi. He did this to us. I just…” she sniffled, a few tears dribbling down her cheeks. “I just wish Wallflower, Timber, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were still alive. They didn’t deserve to die. None of us do.”

Adagio raised a hand as if to protest, then lowered it when I shot her a glare. “I suppose you’re right,” she groused.

“By the way,” Pinkie said, shifting in the pool, the mud sloshing. “I found something you should see. It’s behind the counter.” She pointed at the center desk.

Curious, I made my way over, finding what Pinkie mentioned laying in a small alcove. It was a picture, just like the one I’d found of myself, Trixie, and Wallflower, except… different.

It featured Rarity, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. They were sitting in a diner, plates of half-eaten food in front of them. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were both in the middle of laughing, as Applejack and Apple Bloom together appeared to be telling some kind of joke, both of them gesturing in strange ways.

“They knew each other,” Adagio breathed as she took the picture from me to look at it. “Just like you, Trixie, and Wallflower.”

“Looks that way,” I grunted, clenching a fist at my side. “Damn that Monoponi. He’s stolen so many happy memories from us.”

“Wait… Sunset, I think they were more to each other than just friends,” Adagio replied. She shoved the picture back in my face and pointed. “Look.”

I peered closer and my eyes widened in shock. Three of them were wearing rings on their ring fingers. Applejack and Rarity wore matching gold bands with a pair of small gemstones, one a purple sapphire, the other a deep orange topaz. Sweetie Belle also had a ring, but hers was silver, topped by a single pink tourmaline.“Holy… Applejack and Rarity were married?”

“Looks that way,” Adagio replied. “Sweetie Belle too, though not to Apple Bloom.” She took the picture back briefly and squinted, turning it over to look closer at Apple Bloom’s hands. “At least, I don’t think so.”

“It’d be pretty weird if she was,” I responded, frowning. “I mean, what’d be the odds of that even happening? Two sets of siblings marrying each other, I mean.”

Adagio let out a low laugh. “I’ve seen it happen, both in Equestria and here on Earth. It’s more common than you might think.” She looked back down at the picture. “I’ll bet that Sweetie Belle’s partner is the one taking the picture. There’s five plates on the table.”

“Good eye.” I took the picture back and slipped it into my pocket. “We should show this to Applejack and Rarity.”

Before I could move, Adagio’s hand shot out to grip my shoulder. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? This picture could cause a lot of problems.”

I brushed her hand off my shoulder and scowled. “I’m not going to hide it from them, Adagio. They have a right to know.”

“I’m not saying keep it quiet forever. Just for now.” Adagio shifted her weight onto one leg. “Trust me on this. I know negative emotions. You show this to them now, and one or both of them will be dead by tomorrow.”

Hmm. I guess she has a point. She’d know better than almost anyone, being a siren. “Alright,” I agreed, if reluctantly. “But we’re going to give it to them eventually.” I walked back over to Pinkie and filled her in. “You okay with that too, Pinkie?”

She nodded, her chin hitting the surface of the mud. “Uh huh. I figured you’d say that, when you saw it. I won’t say a word, I promise.”

“Alright then.” Leaving Pinkie to her mud bath in peace, I left the spa, Adagio following behind. “We’ve just got one more thing to check out.”

“Right, the staircase,” Adagio said.

We made for it, heading up the stairs two at a time. It rose slowly until the twin staircases turned around and rose up to meet up with the end of the promenade offshoot, depositing us right back outside the theater. There was an exit from the elevator here too. “Huh. Guess it just ends. Let’s try the elevator.”

We summoned it up to us and hopped inside. To my delight there were more than just two buttons. There was a keypad numbered one-through-five, with it currently hovering at two. I tried hitting one, but the elevator didn’t move. Hitting four or five likewise did nothing. It only responded to two, depositing us back down on the other floor.

“So much for that,” I groaned as we left the elevator. “Where do you think the rest go?”

Adagio snorted. “We’ll probably only find out when someone else dies. Or two.”

My heart sank at those words. I don’t want anyone else to die. Too many have died already. But she’s not wrong. Monoponi won’t let up on us now. If anything he’ll probably press us harder. And I’m worried. Very worried. So far he’s tried to set this up just like the games, and we’ve already had two trials. If things run true to form… we might end up with two victims this time.

God I hope that doesn’t happen.

Author's Notes:

One of the things I had to do with this story is figure out where the friendships our characters had led them prior to the story's events, since they've aged up. Rarity and Applejack being married is one of the logical conclusions I came to, based upon a large number of factors, including the fact that Rollercoaster of Friendship was literally forty-five minutes of pure Rarijack fuel and you will never convince me otherwise.

Regarding Adagio: more of my headcanon on how sirens might work is on display here.

There are real automated spas like the one in this story. They're not as good as the ones in this story, but they don't have the advantage of working in a semi-magical environment.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! I'll see you next year, on Saturday, with Part Two. It'll be a fun time.

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 2

Finding myself with little to do after we finished exploring, I chose to join most of my fellow passengers in the fitness center, and spent a good couple of hours or so exercising through a combination of elliptical, weight lifting, and swimming. Adagio opted for swimming alone, taking to the water like she’d been born in it. Which she had. In a fit of curiosity I challenged her to a swimming race, and found myself thoroughly spanked as she lapped me again and again, laughing the whole time.

Afterwards, we broke for an early lunch, opting for soup and salad. People joined us in dribs and drabs, most keeping to themselves, but Fluttershy opted to join Adagio and me at our table. “Is it okay if I sit with you?” she asked, carefully adjusting her hold on her tray.

I glanced at Adagio, who rolled her eyes but then held up a hand to say Go ahead. “Sure,” I said, grabbing a nearby chair for her to sit on.

“Thank you,” she said as she sat down, tucking into her food. After a moment of quiet, contemplative chewing, she added, “I wanted to apologize to you, Sunset.”

“Apologize? For what?” I asked, eating a forkful of salad.

“For, um, for the trial,” Fluttershy answered. The poor girl, as usual, shook like a leaf even as she struggled through her words. Anxiety was her constant companion. “I was scared of you, when you admitted you were a pony. I was scared you’d hurt me.”

Giving her a sympathetic smile, I replied, “Oh, you don’t have to apologize for that. I’d be scared too, in your shoes. It’s just part of being trapped in this killing game.”

“Nevertheless.” Fluttershy took several more bites of her food, using the gap to steel her nerves. “I still want to. You’ve done nothing but help us, and I keep repaying that kindness with suspicion and fear, like when I tried to vote for you in the first trial. So, I’m sorry.”

Touched didn’t even begin to describe how I felt about her words. The amount of bravery, of courage, of determination it took for her to say this to me, to my face, without even having Rainbow Dash around for moral support was overwhelming. So rather than try to protest further, I simply nodded. “Apology accepted, then.”

But that wasn’t enough, I felt. So, poking Adagio’s foot with mine under the table to get her attention, I gave her a pointed look and nudged my head in Fluttershy’s direction. Raising her eyebrows in confusion, Adagio looked at Fluttershy, then back at me, holding out a hand with palm upward to say What? I nudged my head towards her a third time and mouthed Say sorry. Glaring at me, her expression full of exasperation and disbelief, Adagio turned to Fluttershy and said in a choked, forced voice, “I’m… I’m sorry too. For threatening you. That was wrong of me.”

Despite every word Adagio spoke emerging like they’d been fed through a wood chipper, Fluttershy smiled with all the warmth of the sun. “Thank you, Adagio,” she said, surprised gratitude echoing in her voice. “It makes me happy to hear that. I forgive you. Being with Sunset seems to be good for you.” She giggled, her laughter pleasant and cheerful. “You’ve been… nicer since you two got together.”

Adagio’s lips screwed up into a pout, wrinkling her nose in the process. “I, you… hmph.” She jutted her head out and away, refusing to meet Fluttershy’s eyes.

“She’s right, you know,” I said, snickering at Adagio’s reaction. “I’m a good influence on you.”

Even Adagio couldn’t resist laughing at that. “I guess you have been,” she admitted.

Fluttershy gripped her hands together, muttering an “Awww,” under her breath. Then, her face flushing, she said, “I need to be honest about something. I’ve known you two were together since just after the first trial.”

“Wait, you did? How?” I asked, nonplussed. “We never said anything or did anything--”

“I saw you buy her the sunglasses,” Fluttershy interrupted. Her smile turned smug, unusual to see from her. “I could tell what it meant.”

“So much for subtlety,” Adagio said, shaking her head and smiling. “I should’ve known.”

“You, uh, you didn’t tell anyone, did you?” I asked hesitantly, pressing my knuckles to my lips.

Fluttershy shook her head softly, then blew a few fallen locks of hair out of her face. “No, of course not. It wasn’t my secret to tell.”

I let out the breath I was holding. “Oh. Good. Thank you for that. You’re so nice, Fluttershy.”

She shrugged, and popped a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. Swallowing, she said, “I try.”

A sudden beep from our Monopads froze us all on the spot, til I managed to dig mine out. “Did someone get another rule added or something?” Adagio asked, glaring at her own pad.

“No, it’s a text message,” I said, reading my screen. “It’s from Diamond Tiara, to all of us, asking us to meet up at the food court.”

“Yeah, seems like it,” said Flash Sentry, walking over from his own table, along with Trixie. The illusionist had a huge smile on her face, her movements more graceful and smooth than they’d ever been. Guess that massage did her some good. Maybe I should get one too.

They all sat down with us, and soon enough everyone else had arrived, even Twilight, although she sat as far away from myself and Flash as possible. Flash tried to smile at her, but she refused to even look at him, and I could see the hurt in his eyes as he sighed.

“Thank you all for coming,” Tiara said, rapping her pen on her notebook to call us to order. “I know we just met up a few hours ago, but I wanted to go over the new facilities that opened up.”

“Well, there weren’t that much that opened up this time,” Applejack said, adjusting her posture in her chair. She’d wrapped bandages around her knuckles, which from what little I could see of them were cracked and bleeding. “Mostly just a huge fitness center, with a whole heap of stuff to use.”

“Try awesome!” Rainbow Dash retorted, pumping her fist in excitement. She’d changed back into her regular clothes, her hair still wet from a shower. “The place has more variety in exercise equipment than most gyms I’ve been to! I’m totally gonna spend tons of time in there.”

Rarity, looking even worse for wear than Applejack, with bruises visible all over her exposed parts of her body save for her face, said, “It… helps.”

Scootaloo scooted closer to Rarity, smiling sympathetically. “Yeah, there’s something there for everyone. There’s even an indoor pool.”

“It’s good for racing in,” Adagio said, smirking in my direction. “That is, if you want to lose. Badly.”

“Oh you’re on, Adagio,” Rainbow Dash said with a menacing grin. “There’s no way you can beat me. I was the captain of my swim team in high school, you know.”

Adagio laughed, silky smooth with an undercurrent of danger. “We’ll see.”

I watched Rainbow’s whole body shiver, though whether it was from anticipation or fear I couldn’t be sure. “Riiiight. Anyway,” Rainbow Dash continued with a wave of her hand, “there’s plenty of stuff in there for us to work out with. I’m thinking that’s where we should all do our daily workout from now on.”

“That’s a good idea,” Scootaloo said. She held herself and shook, grimacing. “That storm out there’s getting closer by the hour. Pretty soon it’s gonna be unsafe for anyone to go out onto the bridge deck.”

“Yes, it is,” Diamond Tiara said with a frown. “I’m going to have to ask that no one go out into the storm if they don’t have to, just to be safe. We don’t want anyone being washed overboard.”

Fluttershy shrank down in her chair. “You really think that could happen?”

“Probably,” Pinkie said with an unhappy shrug. “I doubt Monoponi’d care at all. Knowing him, he’d think it was funny.” Her face twisted up into an uncharacteristic sneer. “It’s not funny.”

“That’s gonna cut off a route back to the cabins, though,” Flash pointed out. “Actually, maybe that’s a good thing. Fewer chances for people to sneak around.”

Adagio, Trixie, Tiara and myself all shared a look, then simultaneously shook our heads. “Sorry, Flash, but no,” I said. “There’s a new way to get around.”

“There is?” Twilight leaned forward, steepling her hands, her expression all business. Combined with her recent hostility this left me feeling more than a little disturbed. “Please explain.”

“Okay, so, you remember the bulkhead near the cabins? The one we couldn’t open?” She nodded, so I continued, “Well, it opened up to a new section. Most of what’s there is locked, but there’s a crew access only stairwell. It goes down a whole bunch of flights before it gets to a super long corridor.”

“Trixie found a laundry room down there,” Trixie added, holding up her cloak. “Trixie only has the one cloak and hat, so Trixie was very happy to see she can wash them now.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Ah was wonderin’ if we’d ever get the chance to do some laundry,” Applejack muttered. “Ah could really do with some clean sheets.”

“You and Sunset both,” Trixie replied, opening her mouth so she could point at her tongue and gag.

Applejack’s eyes popped open wide like saucers. “Ah beg your pardon?”

Rainbow Dash held up a fist to her mouth and snickered. “Wow. You really do have a way with the girls, huh Sunset?”

Grinding her teeth together, Adagio let out a wordless groan of irritation. “Trixie and Sunset are not sleeping together.”

“But we slept together last ni--”

Adagio slapped a hand over Trixie’s mouth, flashed everyone a coquettish smile and then stomped on Trixie’s foot. “Shut. Up.”

“Oww!” Trixie cried out in a muffled voice.

My hand promptly smacked into my face. “Uuugh, you two, I swear…”

“Wait, so, uh, are you together with Trixie too? Ooor not?” Scootaloo asked, twiddling with her thumbs.

“No, I’m not, Scootaloo,” I moaned through my hand. “She just stayed in my cabin last night because she was scared after the trial. Nothing happened.”

Trixie broke free of Adagio’s grip, stood up, and moved her chair as far away from Adagio as she could. “Do not stomp on Trixie’s foot!” she railed, shaking a fist at the siren. “That hurts!”

“That’s the point, idiot,” Adagio snarled, blowing a raspberry.

Rainbow Dash leaned over, jerked a thumb Trixie’s direction, and whispered into mine and Fluttershy’s ear, “Those two are totally hate banging, aren’t they?”

Irritated, I cuffed her in the arm. “No. Stop it.”

“She’s right, Dashie,” Fluttershy added, glaring at Rainbow in disappointment. “Let it go.”

“Fine, fine…”

Twilight rapped a fist on the table several times, bringing out attention back to her. “If we’re finished with the sitcom routine? Sunset, you were talking about the access corridor.”

“Oh, right, sorry.” I took a quick drink of water, setting it down gently. “So the whole place is dimly lit. There’s a lot of little cubby holes and places where you could hide if you wanted. Almost every single door is locked, except for the one to the laundry room, and one all the way down past an intersection. That one leads into the fitness center. Comes out behind the front desk.”

“Interesting,” Twilight said, holding one hand to her chin. She brought out her notebook, flipping it to a section laden with illustrations. Finding an empty space, she started a new one, sketching out the new route. “So this is the first we’ve had access to the crew side of the ship. Seems like something we should keep an eye on.”

“Agreed,” Diamond Tiara said, scribbling down in her own notebook. “We might want to assign a guard to watch it.”

“A guard? You really think we need a guard?” Rainbow Dash asked, arching an eyebrow.

“It’s a sensible precaution,” Twilight said, nodding to Tiara. “We’ve already had two murders take place. At this rate it’s unlikely we’ll be able to prevent another unless we take things more seriously.” She shot off a glare my way. “Especially if Sunset’s right about a double murder.”

“Wait you don’t think someone would try to stash a body down there, do you?” Flash asked, his eyes widening as he bit his thumb.

“No, that wouldn’t be practical,” I objected. “Yes, it’s dark and drab, but there’s only two ways in, and one of them sees you going down several flights of narrow metal stairs. If you tried to drag a body down stairs like that you’d spill blood all over the place.”

Pinkie’s cheeks tinged with green, bulging. She held a hand to her mouth. “Ewww,” she groaned.

“They probably won’t be able to hide a body, but they could still use it to sneak around,” Twilight stated. “Without the Monopad map tracker, we’re sitting blind. We’ve got to start keeping our eyes open.”

“Sure, and we’ll all be more paranoid than a coop fulla chickens with a fox on the loose,” Applejack objected, slapping a hand to the table. “And Ah hope Ah don’t have to remind y’all that paranoia got both our sisters killed.” She emphasized her point by gesturing to Rarity.

“I um, I agree, I don’t want to be afraid of everyone around me,” Fluttershy said with a hesitant nod. “Can’t we just agree to be friendly?”

“I wish we could, Fluttershy, but Twilight has a point,” Flash said with an unhappy sigh. “She’s not saying we need to be paranoid. Just be cautious. Monoponi’s been able to manipulate two of us into murdering before. He could do it again.”

“And up until now, we haven’t been cautious at all,” Twilight added. She raised one finger. “We tried to throw a pool party, and Timber used it as cover to kill Wallflower.” She raised a second finger. “Then Trixie tried to throw a magic show, and Sweetie Belle used it as an opportunity to try and kill Sunset, and Apple Bloom died instead. We can’t be naive anymore about this. All of us have the potential to be killers, if we’re motivated the right way.”

“No way! I won’t believe it!” Pinkie retorted, smacking a fist down so hard she shook the table and knocked Twilight’s notebook to the ground. “I’d never kill anyone. Never!”

“Are you sure about that?” Twilight growled, glaring at Pinkie over her glasses. “What if someone attacked you, and you had to defend yourself? What if you accidentally shoved someone down a flight of stairs? What if you fed someone something they were allergic to? Any one of these cases could result in someone’s death, and according to the rules, you’d be a murderer in all three. And that’s just assuming it’s an accident. If Monoponi gives you the right motive, can you really tell me you wouldn’t kill someone, just so you could get out of here?”

“Are you saying you would?” Fluttershy interrupted, coming to Pinkie Pie’s defense. She reached out and gripped Pinkie’s hand, squeezing it gently. “Because it sure sounds like it. Don’t listen to her, Pinkie.”

“Aww, thanks, Shyshy,” Pinkie said with a sad little smile, the first smile I’d seen on the girl since the trial. It vanished as she whirled to face Twilight, shifting to an angry pout. “She’s right. I won’t listen to you. Not about this. I wouldn’t kill anyone. Ever!”

Twilight snorted. “Idiocy like that will get you killed sooner or later.”

Pinkie’s eyes narrowed into slits, her nose wrinkling as her upper lip twisted into a sneer. “Is that a threat, missy?”

With a roll of her eyes, Twilight shook her head. “No, of course not. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I learned what I needed to from the last trial. I learned I can’t trust any of you anymore. That’s all I’m saying. We have to be careful. That means guards. That means keeping your eyes peeled. That means not putting our faith in someone who’s kept major secrets from us.” That last one was directed right at me.

“Hey!” I fired back, rising to my feet. “Look, Twilight, I agree with you that we should be more careful, but if we give up on trusting each other, we’re sunk! At that point we might as well just hand Monoponi a gun and let him shoot us! I still want to escape, with all of us leaving unharmed. That hasn’t changed.”

Twilight sat back, crossing her arms. “I wish I could believe you when you say that, Sunset. I really do. But I don’t anymore. I don’t trust you. I won’t trust you. Not you. Not anyone.”

“Not even me?” Flash asked, raising a finger to point at his chest.

She closed her eyes, sighed, then stood. Snatching up her fallen notebook, Twilight shoved it into her backpack. “Tiara, text me when you figure out the guard schedule. I’m leaving.” She spun on her heel and made for her cabin.

Flash reached out a hand as if to claw her back. “Wait... “ he whispered, his eyes welling up with tears. He pulled back his hand, balling it into a fist as he squeezed his eyes shut. A single choked sob escaped his throat before he abruptly slammed his fist into the table so hard it left a dent. Then he too got up. With a bent over posture and hunched up shoulders, he trudged his way towards the bridge deck.

“Uuuh, I think I’m gonna go after him,” Rainbow Dash said after a couple of moments. “Just to make sure he doesn’t… do anything.” She scurried after him, trailing at a distance to give him space.

“Poor Flashie,” Pinkie Pie said, sinking into her chair like she was a piece of flattened cardboard. “He shouldn’t have to put up with Twilight treating him like that.”

“Mmhmm,” Fluttershy nodded, a scowling look of disappointment etched across her features. “I don’t know what came over her.”

“Trixie feels like she understands,” Trixie spoke up quietly. She placed an elbow on the table and leaned her face into her hand for support. “Twilight has trust issues. Trixie does too, but Trixie is willing to forgive mistakes.” She glanced my way as she spoke, and reached out her other hand to set it on mine for just a second.

Tiara knocked her pen against her notebook. “Okay, let’s get back to business here. We’re not done discussing what we’ve found.”

“Oh, right, we forgot to mention the sauna,” I said, snapping my fingers. “The fitness center has an infrared sauna. It seems pretty nice and spacious, but for some reason the only controls are on the outside.”

“So we should be very careful if we use it,” Adagio added. “We don’t want there to be any accidents.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Pinkie Pie’s hand shot up and waved, though not with the usual frenetic pace. “There’s also a spa.”

At that Rarity’s head shot up, looking right at Pinkie with an intense expression. “A spa? Did you say, a spa?”

“Mmhmm,” Pinkie replied, nodding, again at a slower pace. The poor girl just didn’t have the energy she once did, and every time she made it obvious it broke my heart. “It’s got massage tables, a mud bath, pedicure and manicure, foot massage chairs, table showers, etc etc. It’s all run by robots, and they’re really good at their job.”

A hint of her old sparkle and charm twinkled in Rarity’s eyes, if just for the slightest of instances. “That sounds heavenly. Perhaps I should pay it a visit after this meeting is over.”

“I think that’s it, Tiara. Nothing else that we didn’t see ourselves,” I said. “I’m still a little worried about the crew access hallway.”

“Me too,” Tiara said, jotting something down. “I’m going to figure that into my guard planning. I’m thinking we’ll need one person to watch the stairwell and another to patrol the ship, at all times.”

“Well, if you’re fixin’ to do this guard thing, Ah guess that plan makes some sense,” Applejack spoke up. “Ah’d be willing to be a guard.”

“We should all take a shift,” Scootaloo said. She rummaged through her pockets and withdrew her Monopad. “And maybe keep their Monopad ready to text for help or take pictures or something.”

I pulled out my own and switched it over to the camera app, then took a quick snapshot of Scootaloo holding hers. Spinning it around so everyone could see it, I said, “That’s a good idea. Between the camera, the audio recording functions, and the texting, both guards can stay in constant contact.”

“Can you text a picture on this thing?” Scootaloo wondered as she poked at hers.

Switching over to the text app on mine, it only took me a moment to locate the feature and use it to send Scootaloo the picture I took of her. “Yup.” I took a moment to test the audio feature, and tried texting that, but it didn’t work. “Just pictures it looks like. No audio.”

“Still useful, though!” Scootaloo said as she tucked her Monopad away.

“Um, if we’re going to do guard work, do we have anything we can use for self-defense?” Fluttershy asked, raising her hand.

Trixie shot her a doubtful look.“Trixie isn’t sure there’s anything you could use that wouldn’t risk killing someone. Unless there’s mace in one of the stores or something…”

Pinkie shook her head vigorously. “Uh-uh. There’s none. If we get into trouble we should just run.”

“We should also have regular check-ins,” I proposed. “If we’re going to do this, we do this right. Four hour shifts, check in every fifteen minutes. With twelve of us, we’d each have one shift a day, and we can switch off every other day between the stationary and patrolling positions.”

“Should we come up with a set patrol route for the patrolling one?” Scootaloo suggested, holding her chin in her forefinger and thumb.

“No,” Adagio hissed through her teeth, startling the younger woman. “Everyone should come up with their own route, and vary it every time. Otherwise it’s predictable.”

Scootaloo drew back, puffing up her lower lip in a frustrated pout. “I guess that makes sense.”

Pinkie Pie’s hand shot up. “What about the meetings?”

“I think the guards should be exempt from them,” I said after a moment of consideration. “They can check in with all of us via text.”

“Okay, so we’ve decided the rules then,” Diamond Tiara said with a nod. She ripped out a sheet of paper, drew two columns on it, labeled S and P, and added six time slots: 2:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 10:00 PM, 2:00 AM, 6:00 AM, 10:00 AM. “We should each pick a time, and that’s when we guard every day.” She scribbled her own name down for the 10:00 PM stationary slot, and set the pen down. “First come first served.”

Rarity took up the pen straight away and wrote her name down in the 6:00 AM stationary slot. I opted for the 10:00 AM patrolling spot, and so on. Soon everyone had filled in spots except for the three who weren’t present, so Diamond Tiara assigned them what was left. “So that settles that,” she said. “Fluttershy, Trixie, you’re up first. For the rest of us? We’re done here. Thank you.”

Without another word Trixie hopped to her feet, withdrew her Monopad from her cloak pocket, and meandered in the general direction of the spa.

Fluttershy took a few deep breaths as she slowly got to her feet, while everyone save myself and Adagio quickly dispersed. “Hey, you doing okay there?” I asked gently, offering a hand to help her steady herself with.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, smiling gratefully as she took my hand. “I’m just so nervous. I’ve never been a guard before.”

“It’s not the worst job in the world,” Adagio said with a shrug. “Hardest part is staying awake. You might want to take some coffee with you.”

Fluttershy’s smile grew at that. “That’s really good advice, thank you, Adagio.”

A light pink flush came over Adagio’s cheeks as she scratched at the back of her head. “You’re welcome,” she muttered, looking away from the other woman.

Fluttershy made her way over to the bakery, to order up a large frappe with her Monopad. While waiting on her I nudged Adagio with my elbow and whispered, “Hey, look at you. Getting nicer all the time.”

Adagio hissed at that, raising a hand curled up into a claw. “Don’t push it, Sunset,” she groused.

I snickered, letting the matter drop.

Fluttershy, now carrying a large mocha frappe balanced in one hand and her Monopad in the other, strode back over to us. Blushing profusely, she brushed aside some hair from her eyes and looked up at me. “Um, Sunset, would you and Adagio mind accompanying me to the stairwell? I’d like some company, at least for a bit.”

“Sure, I’m okay with that,” I said with a shrug. “What about you, Adagio?”

Adagio faced away so we couldn’t see her grimace. “If it’s all the same to you, I think I need some time to myself.” With a wave to me, she sauntered off, sashaying towards the shops.

Fluttershy shrank back. “Was it something I said?”

“No, that’s just Adagio being Adagio,” I said kindly.

We made our way towards the crew access stairwell. As we neared it, Fluttershy’s eyes darted about, searching her new surroundings. “What do you think’s behind these doors?”

“Probably just more cabins,” I answered. “This is a massive cruise ship after all. It’s probably designed to house a couple thousand passengers.”

“Oh.” Fluttershy flushed, twirling a strand of hair with her finger. “I should’ve figured.”

Reaching the stairwell proper, Fluttershy set her drink and Monopad down on the balcony, and turned so she was facing outwards, able to see both the corridor and anyone coming up the stairs. “It’s a good thing it’s arranged this way,” she commented as she took up a leaning position against the wall. “I’d be even more worried if I had to keep turning around every two minutes.”

“Might be nice if you had a chair, though,” I mused, taking up a position right next to her. “Should I go get you one?”

“Oh, no, that’s fine, I don’t need one. I’d rather stay on my feet.”

We stood in silence for a bit, till I decided to strike up a conversation, to soothe the poor girl’s nerves. “Hey, Fluttershy, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” At her questioning look, I added, “Your ultimate title, the one Monoponi gave you, Ultimate Veterinarian? I was wondering why he chose that.”

“Oh!” Fluttershy lit up, joy sparking in her eyes. “I love animals, you see. I’ve always loved animals. They’re such adorable, cute little creatures. Well, most of them. Some of them are big and huge and they are just as nice as the little ones. I volunteered a lot at a local animal shelter when I was in high school, so it was a natural choice for college. I’ve already finished half of my education for it.”

“Oh yeah, I heard Canterlot University has one of the best veterinary programs this side of the continental AU,” I replied. A smile spread on my face, courtesy of her infectious cheer. “So you’re going for the full DVM, huh?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I am! Doctor Fluttershy, at your service. Anything I can do to help any sick or hurt animals feel better, I will.”

“I believe it.” I chuckled. “You’re such a nice person, you know. I’m glad this place hasn’t dampened your spirits much.”

Fluttershy’s smile dimmed a tad. “I guess it hasn’t. I’ve always been nervous. Scared. To be honest, this killing game doesn’t feel that different from my usual life. I’ve always been so scared of other people hurting me that this feels like more of the same.” She lowered her gaze to the floor, sighing. “Even the death we’ve seen doesn’t bother me that much, besides being sad. Death is a part of life. We all die, sooner or later.”

I nodded. That makes a lot of sense. If she’s cared for animals most of her life, she’s seen plenty of death. Funny how out of all of us she’s the one most able to cope. Other than Adagio, that is. “I guess we do. I don’t want to die here though.”

“Oh, me neither!” Fluttershy shook her head vigorously. “Don’t get me wrong. I want to live as much as the rest of us. I just don’t think death is as scary as some people think it is.” She gripped her arms around herself and shivered. “I uh, I definitely don’t want to die the way Sweetie and Timber did though.”

“Same,” I agreed, shivering right along with her. “These executions are downright excruciating. I dunno what kind of sick stuff goes on in Monoponi’s head to make him come up with them.”

For just a moment, I saw a flash of cruelty and malice sparkle in Fluttershy’s eyes, before it quickly faded. “You’d be surprised at what a well-developed imagination can do.”

Uuuuh… okay… I took just a single step back, trying not to show any anxiety towards her. “Riiight, sure.” I coughed to clear my throat, using my hand to hide the grimace that briefly crossed my face. “Anyway, my point was, I’m glad you’re not feeling as down as Pinkie Pie, or Rarity.”

Fluttershy’s lower lip curled up into a sad frown. “Poor Pinkie Pie. Rarity’s getting support from Applejack, but she hasn’t had anyone to turn to.” Biting her lip, she gave me a firm nod. “Maybe I should do something about that. I can try to get her a gift or something. It won’t be much, but maybe if I give it to her, she’ll open up to me, and we can talk.”

“There’s always the jewelry store,” I said, holding a hand to my chin. “Pinkie doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry, but something tells me she might appreciate some fancy gems. Maybe a studded bracelet?”

“That’s a good idea,” Fluttershy said with a nod. “I think I’ll go find her after my shift. We can pick it out for her together. I think she’d like that.”

“She definitely would, knowing Pinkie,” I said, smiling. “You’ve got a good heart, Fluttershy.”

She tittered, blushing bashfully.

We spent a good deal more time talking about this and that till we suddenly heard the sound of boots clanging on the staircase before us. Fluttershy immediately grabbed for her Monopad, shaking like a palm tree caught in a hurricane as she held it up, ready to snap a picture of her impending doom.

But it turned out it was just Trixie. We saw the tip of her hat poke up well before she saw us. “Oh, hello Fluttershy, Sunset,” she said, a bit nonplussed by Fluttershy’s sigh of relief. “Trixie is sorry if she startled you?”

Fluttershy let out a nervous laugh, pulling her hair in front of her face. “It’s fine,” she murmured.

Shrugging, Trixie turned her attention to me. “Sunset, would you be willing to accompany Trixie? If she recalls, you had something to talk to her about.”

“Oh, right,” I said, snapping my fingers. “We never finished our conversation from this morning. Sorry, Fluttershy, I gotta go. Catch you later?”

“Mmhmm!” Fluttershy hummed, smiling. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

With a wave, I joined Trixie in striding up the cabin corridor, making our way towards the bridge deck. As we passed into the outdoor lounge, I took a moment to smell the salty sea air. A rumble of thunder echoed on the horizon, the clouds much closer than they had been this morning. There was a hint of ozone to the air as well, though thankfully there wasn’t any rain. Yet. “Oof, this storm looks like it’s going to be rough,” I muttered.

Trixie’s eyes twinkled like twin amethysts. “Trixie hopes it rains. Trixie likes rain.” She shook her head as if to clear out the distracting thoughts. “Anyway, Sunset, you had something to tell me.”

“Right, right.” This might not be so easy. I took a deep breath, let it out, then began. “So, Trixie, you know how I said earlier, during the meeting, that you weren’t sleeping with me?”

“But we did sleep together last night,” Trixie objected, cocking her head in confusion.

Sighing in frustration, I resisted the urge to slap a hand to my face. “I know we did, Trixie, but usually when someone says that, they’re implying that the people who slept together had sex.”

“Oh,” Trixie said. Her eyes bugged out. “Oh! No no no, that’s not what Trixie meant at all!”

“Calm down, calm down, I know that,” I said. We were briefly cut off from the sound of the sea by the passageway between the lounge and the bridge deck before emerging out into open air again. “But the others didn’t. I don’t want to give people the wrong impression. I’m happy to let you stay in my cabin if you need to, but I don’t want people thinking I’m trying to build a harem or something.”

“A, a harem?!” Trixie squealed, jumping in fright. “Trixie is too special to be a harem girl!”

Now I did have to facepalm. “I’m not... wait a minute." I looked back up at her and narrowed my eyes into an irritated glare. "You knew exactly what I was talking about and you're messing with me, aren't you?"

Trixie snickered, then broke into a full-throated laugh. "Yes. Trixie knows what sleeping with someone means. She's not a child."

"Well, you got me," I said with a dry chuckle. As we passed right below the bridge tower balcony, I reached out my hand and grabbed Trixie by the shoulder, stopping her in place. “But seriously, Trixie, I want to be clear about something. I’m your friend, and I care about you. But I’m worried you’re reading more into it than that.”

It was Trixie’s turn to facepalm. “Ugh, why do you and Adagio keep saying things like this? Hasn’t Trixie made her intentions clear? She is not romantically interested in you. She’s not interested in anybody.”

“I know you say that, Trixie, but…” I sighed, leaning against the bridge tower and sinking down to sit, motioning for Trixie to join me. I ignored the brief whirring to life of the guns as they aimed my way before dying down. I’d grown used to ignoring them by now. They hadn’t fired on us yet. Probably never would. “It just feels like you are, you know? And I don’t want to mislead you into thinking I’m interested in you that way, because I’m not.”

Trixie let out an irritated grunt, crossing her arms. “Trixie knows that, Sunset. She’s not stupid. Trixie isn’t going to fall in love with you just because you’re her first real friend. It’s not possible.”

I held out a hand, palm upward, and waited for her to take it. She did, albeit reluctantly. “I’ve seen it happen, though. It’s a cliche for a reason. But I’m in a relationship with Adagio. She already thought I was cheating on her with you once. She’s probably worried it’ll happen for real if you keep hanging around my cabin.”

Trixie squeezed my hand reassuringly even as she glared at me. “No, it won’t. Like Trixie told you, it’s not possible.”

“Okay, that’s twice now you’ve used that exact phrase,” I pointed out. “Why do you keep saying it’s not possible? You know it is.”

“No, it’s not,” Trixie insisted. She closed her eyes and let out her own sigh of frustration. “Why won’t you listen to Trixie?” She opened her eyes. “Why won’t you listen to me? I’m telling you the truth, Sunset.”

Welp, she’s broken out the first person pronouns. She must be serious. “I’m listening, Trixie, but I’m no longer sure I understand what you mean.”

“It’s hard to explain.” Trixie let go of my hand so she could tuck her cloak around her as a cool wind blew over the deck. “Remember when I said you weren’t my type? That wasn’t just a joke. I’ve… I’ve never been interested in someone romantically before. Ever. I don’t even really get what romance is. Isn’t it just closer friendship?”

That’s actually a good question. “Well,” I said, choosing my words carefully,”It is and isn’t. A good relationship is built on a foundation of trust, of communication, whether it’s family, friend, or lover. You can have mind-blowing sex, but if you and your partner don’t get along, or don’t share enough interests, or can’t be good friends? Your relationship won’t go anywhere. You can’t just meet someone and get together with them and expect it to go well. You’ve got to know each other first.”

“Um, isn’t that exactly what you and Adagio di--”

“Not the point, Trixie,” I interrupted, holding out my hand like a stop sign. “This is a killing game. It’s a bit more hectic than normal life. More dangerous. I’d never do what I did with Adagio if I weren’t afraid I could die at any moment.”

She nodded, frowning. “I guess that makes sense. So what you mean is, romance is like a different kind of friendship.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it,” I said, nodding back. “It’s close, intimate. With a lover, you can hold hands, hug each other, kiss casually, all kinds of things. You can lay together watching movies for hours, or snuggle in bed. Feed each other tasty food.” A lecherous grin spread across my face briefly before I mentally slapped it away. “Sex is pretty nice too.”

“But, apart from sex, and kissing, can’t you do all of that with your friends anyway?” Trixie blinked in bemusement. “I just don’t get the point.”

“Well, maybe you just haven’t found the right person yet,” I said, shrugging.

Trixie snorted, rolling her eyes. “I don’t think I ever will, Sunset. I’ve never been attracted to anyone. Not even once. I know that makes me weird, and different, but I just haven’t. I don’t want to be.”

“Really?” I arched an eyebrow. “You’ve never seen a hot guy or girl and been like, ‘Wow, I wouldn’t mind a piece of that!’?”

Trixie’s upper lip rose into a disgusted grimace as she leaned away from me. “Uh, no. I can’t say that I have. It sounds gross.”

Now both my eyebrows shot up. “Wait, seriously? What, don’t tell me you’ve never even touched yourse--”

“Sunset!” Trixie’s face broke out into a furious blush as she smacked my arm over and over. “That’s none of your business! I can’t believe you’d ask me that!”

Way to go, Sunset. Really crossed a line you shouldn’t have, dumbass. I flinched back, holding up my arms to defend myself. “Sorry! I shouldn’t have said that! That was rude of me.”

“Hmph!” Trixie retracted her arms and firmly crossed them over her chest. “Yes. It was. Very rude. And gross. Very gross.”

I hung my head, ashamed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go there.”

Narrowing her eyes as she glared at me, she then nodded. “Fine. I’ll forgive you. This time. But don’t ever ask me that again.”

I nodded in assent several times. “I won’t, I promise.”

“Good,” Trixie huffed.

I let silence take hold for a moment as I gathered my thoughts. “So I guess I’m the one who’s been misunderstanding, then. I really was worried I was leading you on.” I flashed her a grin that I hope she’d take as humor. “I might be into girls, but I’m not into breaking girl’s hearts, you know?”

“I think I understand, yes. But do you see now what I mean when I say it’s impossible?” Trixie relaxed a skosh, adjusting her posture to lean against the bridge tower more. “You don’t have to worry about me trying to steal you away from Adagio. It’ll never happen.”

“I get that, now that I know you’re ace/aro,” I replied.

Trixie blinked owlishly. “I’m what?”

I likewise blinked, nonplussed. “Uh, you know? Ace/aro? Asexual, aromantic?”

Trixie shook her head, utterly baffled. “I’ve never heard those terms before. What do they mean?”

“Y-you… you’re ace and you’ve never heard the term before?” I cocked my head to one side, my face so twisted up in confusion I’d gone cross-eyed. “It’s literally describing what you are. Asexual, as in, no interest or desire for sex. Aromantic, as in, no interest or desire in romantic partners. How have you not heard these terms before? They’re all over the internet. Have you never been on MyStable or Flitter?”

Trixie held a hand to her breast, gasping in shock. “Yes, I have, but I never knew there were words for it!” Then her face twisted up in rage. “Unless Monoponi stole my memories of figuring out myself too.”

That probably explains it. “Yeah, he would do that,” I agreed with my own nasty glare up at the balcony above us. “He’s that kind of asshole.”

“Hey! What’re you doing sitting there?” shouted Diamond Tiara as she walked up to us, hands on her hips. “Aren’t you supposed to be patrolling, Trixie?”

Trixie blanched and shot to her feet, almost losing her hat in the process. “Oh no, Trixie forgot! Sorry! She’ll get back to it right away!” She scurried off before I could say another word.

I stood up, using the bridge tower for support. “Sorry, Tiara, it was my fault. I needed to talk to her.”

She shrugged, and waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Her nonchalance left me feeling more uneasy than ever. “Tiara, what are you doing?” I blurted without meaning to. Oh crap. Here we go. Me and my big mouth.

“Huh?” Tiara faced me, frowning. “What do you mean?”

Screw it, let’s just do this. “This,” I said, gesturing with my hands. “Being nice, being polite, shaking my hand earlier, asking to be friends, admitting you’re wrong! It’s like your whole personality just did a complete one-eighty when you woke up this morning.”

For a moment, as Tiara’s eyes twitched, her mouth twisting up into the sneer I’d come to loathe, she looked like her old self. Then she let it go, her face going neutral. “It’s like I said before, Sunset. After the trial? I was up most of the night. I couldn’t sleep. I kept going over the way I’ve been acting. Making fun of Applejack, suspecting you, treating everyone like dirt.” She worked her jaw like she’d just bit into a tough steak. “It didn’t feel good. It felt wrong. Like I was wrong.”

“So, what, you just slept on it and decided, ‘Hey, I’m going to be a good guy now!’” I crossed my arms and put all my weight on one leg, pivoting my hip. “Because I don’t buy it, and neither does anyone else.”

“You…!” She held up a finger, ready to wave it at my face, then grabbed it with her other hand and forced it back down. “I don’t blame you for doubting me. I would doubt me too if I was you. But I’m going to try and be a better person, okay?” A cold wind blasted us both, sending our hair flying. She reached out and patted hers back into place. “The only thing being mean in this killing game has gotten me is punched, threatened, and mocked. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of me. I don’t want to be a jerk anymore.”

Huh. She actually seems sincere about this. Well, alright then. I guess I can give her the benefit of the doubt. For now. I relaxed my posture. “Okay. That’s understandable. Just don’t expect us to all start liking you at once.”

“I won’t. I’m going to earn your trust.” She smiled, and thrust out her hand for me to shake. “Speaking of which, can we meet up after the dinner meeting? I’ve got something I want to share with you.”

With a shrug, I took her hand and shook it. “Sure. Just text me to let me know where and when.” So I can tell everyone else in case this is some kind of trap.

She flashed me a thumbs up, then walked off without another word.

Shrugging to myself, I checked my Monopad, noting it was about 3:30. Deciding I needed a change of pace, I wandered down to the game center, and buried myself into games for a couple of hours. Nothing fancy, no expansive story-filled RPGs or triple A titles. Just some good old fashioned platforming, racing, and so on. Mindless fun, really. While playing, my Monopad bleeped every fifteen minutes, on cue, as Fluttershy and Trixie checked in, just like they were supposed to.

By about 6:00, when I decided I was done, I’d completely forgotten that Monoponi had dispatched us to explore without ever calling us back. He’d spoken not a peep since his brief appearance in the indoor pool, so I figured he’d probably just wait till tomorrow before he threw another motive at us.

I left the game corner and went up to the promenade, deciding to grab dinner early. Opting for a burger, fries, and shake, because I hadn’t had one in days and I was craving comfort food, I took a seat at a table closest to the shops. I wanted to keep an eye out for when Fluttershy took Pinkie jewelry hunting.

And sure enough, there they went, into the jewelry shop, right on cue. Pinkie Pie perked up considerably over what I’d seen a few hours before. She even had a few curls back in her hair. Keep it up, Fluttershy. You’ve got this.

A tray clattering on my table stole my attention. I looked up to see Flash Sentry sitting down across from me, with a plate of steak and baked potato. “Hey,” he said in an unhappy tone. “Mind if I join you?”

“Please,” I said. “I could use a bit of company.”

He sat down and tucked into his steak, tearing it apart like it had insulted his family’s honor. “Sorry if I’m in a bad mood,” he muttered as he swallowed a bite.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, shrugging. “I’m sorry Twilight treated you the way she did earlier.”

“Yeah, me too,” Flash groaned. He let out a sigh and took a swig from his glass of milk. “I mean, I can’t blame her for feeling betrayed over your secret, but… I didn’t do anything wrong.” He blinked, and looked up at me. “Did I?”

“No way!” I objected. “Understandable or not, Twi’s still being a complete jerk right now. It’s not fair to you to treat you the way she did.”

Flash sighed, falling over onto the table and dropping his fork. “No. It’s not. But I’m not gonna go yell at her about it either. I don’t want to do that, man. I’m not that kind of guy. I don’t want to be like other dudes who start treating their girlfriends like shit the moment they do something upsetting.” He pulled himself up, grabbed his fork, and stabbed his potato until it burst open in a flash of steam. “What should I do?”

“Hmm…” I took a bite of my burger, chewing thoughtfully. “I think the best thing is to just give her some space. She’ll calm down eventually. Might take a couple of days, but she will. Just be nice, say hello, don’t chase after her if she says nothing back, and leave it alone.”

“Yeah, Rainbow Dash said that too,” Flash said, grinning mirthlessly. “Guess that means you must be right.”

“Aren’t I always?” I said with a laugh.

Like I hoped, he laughed back. It was a small laugh, but it was still a laugh. It helped.

I looked up from our table over at the jewelry shop, spotting Fluttershy and Pinkie at the register, in the middle of scanning a pair of twin cuffs. “Oh hey, look. Seems like Fluttershy found a way to cheer Pinkie up.”

“Nice!” Flash said, nodding their way, watching as they left the shop. “I’m glad they--”

BONG BONG BONG BONG

Alarms rang and klaxons wailed all over the ship the instant Fluttershy stepped over the boundary between the shop and the promenade. She froze in panic, eyes looking all over the place.

“What on earth is going on?!” Rarity bellowed from her table with Applejack.

“Ah don’t know but it sure is loud!”

BONG BONG BONG BONG

Adagio sped over to us from the restaurant quarter. “What is it? What’s happening?”

I dropped my burger to my plate, watching as Pinkie, screeching in panic, fled towards the bridge deck even as Fluttershy stood there, shaking in fright. “I don’t know!” I shouted over the alarms.

Scootaloo ran over to our table. “Trouble, guys! Big trouble!”

BONG BONG BONG BONG

“No shit there’s trouble!” Flash spoke up as the flashing red lights and haunting sirens continued to blare, so loud I could barely hear myself think.

Rainbow Dash skidded up from the promenade offshoot at top speed till she reached us, with Diamond Tiara hot on her heels. “What the hell is making that noise?!” she cried, holding her hands to her ears. “It’s so goddamn loud!”

“Did someone do something?” Tiara demanded, her hands on her hips.

BONG BONG BONG BONG

Even Twilight deigned to show her face, walking up in a calm, cool, collected manner, notebook grasped in one arm. Where she’d come from, I hadn’t seen. She walked right up to me, pointed at me, and said “Did you do this? Did you do something else to make Monoponi mad?”

“What?!” I threw up my arms in disgust. “I didn’t do anything!”

“But it’s coming from right over here!” she retorted, pointing up at the loudest of the alarms overhead.

BONG BONG BONG BONG

“No, it’s coming from over there!” I said, pointing right at Fluttershy, who was still frozen in place, glancing around like something was holding her there.

Trixie, the last to join us, ran up just in time to double over, huffing and puffing. “What--”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

The alarms abruptly ceased, replaced by the usual noise that signaled Monoponi appearing on the screens. And sure enough, they lit up, with Monoponi’s face. However, there was no smug grin, no laid back charm, no snifter of brandy in his magic. Instead he was furious, steaming mad, smashing his forehooves on his table and snapping it in half. “Emergency! Emergency! All passengers, report to the promenade! Now!”

“We’re already all here!” I cried out even as his face winked off the screens.

Monoponi flashed into existence in a violent flare of light, slamming all four hooves onto the floor so hard I heard the metal under the carpet creak like he’d dented it. In his magic grip he held Pinkie Pie, hurling her still screaming over towards us. She crashed into Trixie, bowling her over and leaving them both stunned and bruised. “Outrageous!” he roared, almost as loud as the alarms had been, his voice echoing throughout the promenade. “Unbelievable! Unacceptable! I won’t tolerate this for a single instant!”

“What? What happened?” I demanded. “Nobody did anything!”

“Oh yes they did!” Monoponi shot back, raising a back leg so he could buck a nearby table with it so hard it went flying all the way across the food court and smashed into pieces against the closest wall. “I have given you all so much leeway! I have let you bend rule after rule after rule, all in the hopes of maintaining a peaceful, harmonious ocean voyage! But this! This. Shall! Not! Stand!”

“W-w-w-w-what do you mean?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her face paling as she grabbed for her hair. “Did someone break a rule?!”

“Yes! But not just anyone! Of all the people, of all the passengers, of all the dirty little mouthy shits on this ship…” Monoponi whirled and pointed a hoof directly at Fluttershy. “You! I never expected you of all people to be the one who’d be so stupid, so thoughtless, so brainless as to actually break one of my rules!”

“What?!”

“No way!”

“What the hell?!”

“What rule did she break?!”

Fluttershy’s mouth opened up as wide as it possibly could and she screamed for all she was worth. She finally managed to figure out how to move herself again, but didn’t get very far before panels burst open on the walls and out shot four chains, grabbing hold of all four limbs and spinning her back around to face us. “No! Please!” she begged, pleading for her life, tears streaming down her face in droves, like an entire ocean had opened up beneath her feet. “I didn’t do anything!”

Monoponi pointedly strode up to her and used his magic to rummage through her pockets, withdrawing a small black box with a piece of red tape stuck to the top. “Oh? Ooooh? Then what do you call this?!” He popped open the box, revealing a beautiful gold ring encrusted with a large yellow tourmaline. “Because I call this thievery! Rule number sixteen clearly states that no items are to be removed from the shops without being logged via your Monopad! And yet here you are, with this ring on your person, without having scanned it first!”

I heard someone gasp in sheer horror, but I didn’t waste time looking their way. “Wait, wait!” I cried out, standing up and approaching them. “You can’t be serious! There’s no way Fluttershy’s a thief! Come on, let her go already! I’m sure she just forgot to scan it!”

“B-b-but I’ve never seen that ring before!” Fluttershy blubbered, shaking her head repeatedly. “I don’t know how it got in my pocket!”

“Liar!” Monoponi roared, hurling the ring back into the jewelry shop. “You are a thief! You are a rule breaker! And I will not tolerate rule breakers aboard my ship!”

“No! Don’t you fucking hurt her you bastard!” Rainbow Dash screamed, hurtling herself forward to tug at the chains.

A single flare of Monoponi’s horn was all he needed to toss Rainbow Dash back into us like a bowling ball. “Do not interfere, or you’ll be next! I have had it up to here with you people! You obviously need an example to keep you all in line.” His horn lit up again, and a transparent, barely visible crimson barrier stretched from floor to ceiling, blocking us off.

It didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from trying as she hopped to her feet and beat on the shield as hard as she could, screaming in pure unadulterated rage. I had half a mind to join her, but unlike her, I knew it was pointless. Only magic would shatter this barrier, and none of us had any magic worth a damn.

Monoponi backed away from Fluttershy so we’d all have a clear view. I was scared for a moment that he’d do something utterly horrific, like use the four chains to rip her apart, or light her on fire. Instead, his horn sparked. More panels opened up in the floor and ceiling, revealing six minigun turrets all aimed directly at her, complete with laser beam aiming sights lining up right between her eyes.

“No! No, please! I don’t want to die!” Fluttershy begged at the top of her lungs, tears still gushing from her like an endless fountain. “Not like this! Please, not like this!”

“No one does, sweetheart!” Monoponi mocked. “Ready!”

Rainbow Dash uttered another wordless screech as she slipped onto her knees, her hands bleeding from the effort of trying to beat down the shield. “No! Stop!” she cried.

“Damn it, Monoponi, you can’t do this!” I shouted.

“Aiiiim!”

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “Fluttershy! No!”

Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut, slumping in the grip of the chains, accepting her fate.

“Fiiiiire!”

All six miniguns opened up at once, a cascade of bullets streaming forth, riddling poor Fluttershy with holes and turning her into a pile of mushed up steaming meat.

The barrier collapsed as a hole opened up in the promenade floor, dropping the remnants of Fluttershy’s mutilated corpse out of sight. The miniguns retracted into the panels. They’d left plenty of mess behind. Between shards of bone, bits of goopy grey matter, the pink blood scattered everywhere, plus the bullet holes…

Rainbow Dash collapsed, utterly catatonic and unresponsive. No tears came forth, no words. Nothing but a quiet whimper.

Monoponi stomped his way towards us and took flight, looming over us like an angel of death. “Let that be a lesson to you all! I will not accept any rule breakers. None whatsoever!” His horn lit up once more, and every part of the shop quarter that had been damaged or stained by the sudden execution had a new crimson shield wrapped around it. “I’d make you idiots clean this up and fix the damage, but I’m not about to hand over the necessary tools.”

The barriers that usually only closed at night slammed down in front of every shop, save for the pharmacy. “Until this is fixed, everything except the pharmacy is closed. I’ll let you morons have access to it all night tonight, just this once. I’m sure you could use a pick-me-up after what you just watched. In the meantime, watch yourselves! Don’t break any more rules. Upupu eyahahah ahahahahaha!”

Monoponi disappeared, leaving us all with only one feeling in our hearts.

Complete. Utter. Despair.

Author's Notes:

Happy new year, I got you a dead Fluttershy! Ouch.

Poor Fluttershy didn't get as much attention in this story as she deserved. But as with any character that is too good for this impure earth, she was doomed from the moment she stepped foot into this killing game.

So, Trixie is ace/aro because my version of her is a bit different from the usual Trixie. I thought it fit the character pretty well, it's always good to have some representation in a story, and ace/aro people tend not to get a lot of good representation. Is it an unusual choice? Perhaps, but it's what I'm going with. A big reason for why I did this is I wanted Sunset to have one very strongly attached friend, which is what Trixie is. Trixie basically sees Sunset as a sort of big sister/super best friend kind of figure.

Next time: we continue with Daily Life. Yes, really.

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 3

Rain cascaded down on the deck in sheets, soaking me to the bone. Thunder boomed, bolts of lightning visibly surging through the clouds. My hands gripped the guard rail as I stared out over the churning ocean waves, watching them froth and writhe.

I was cold, utterly miserable, and I didn’t give a damn. The thought of hurling myself overboard to splatter against the waves over two hundred feet below me grew more and more appealing by the minute. It’d be quick, only the slightest rush of pain. The fall would take mere seconds. I wouldn’t have enough time to panic. No more fear, no more worry over this godforsaken killing game. Just sweet release into the oblivion of non-existence.

I was never much of a religious pony when I lived in Equestria. I never believed in an afterlife. After a week in this killing game, after watching Fluttershy be brutally murdered by Monoponi right in front of us, I’m wishing there was one after all. An innocent soul like that didn’t deserve to be snuffed out without a second thought. If anyone deserved paradise in the afterlife, it’d be her.

But I knew what she’d say, if she saw me contemplating my own demise. “Don’t do it, Sunset. It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you. If you jump, you’re only letting him win.” It was cliched as all hell, but I knew she was right.

So, with one more glance at the stormy sea, I trudged back to my cabin, dripping water the whole way. Once inside, I wasted no time stripping off and showering, warming myself up till I felt reasonably human again. Then I got out, dried my hair as fast as possible, and switched out for fresh clothes.

I returned to the promenade, seeking to drown my sorrows in a fresh helping of food. Comfort eating wasn’t something I did often, but something about this place drove me to it. Better than getting drunk, or high off of some kind of pharmaceutical. I wasn’t the only one. Rainbow Dash chowed down on a plate of tacos like every single one had Monoponi’s face on it. The poor woman had thankfully gotten herself up only a few minutes after Fluttershy died, but she remained completely unresponsive. She didn’t even look my way, so I gave her space.

No one else lingered. I didn’t blame them. Despite the magical barriers Monoponi threw over the damage, the scent of iron and copper clung to the air, alongside the sharp bite of cordite fumes. For most people, the smell was off-putting, revolting even. To me, it was almost comforting, in a way. It reminded me of long nights spent in my lab in Canterlot Castle, whipping up potions or testing new spells. It wasn’t exactly the same odor, but it was close enough for me to deal with it.

I took a quick look at my Monopad as I sat down with my food at the table furthest away from Dash. 8:35. Fluttershy died over two hours ago. Right after Monoponi left, Tiara’d ordered us all to leave, an order we were all too happy to oblige. I remembered Rarity, sobbing softly, fled with Applejack trailing after her. Flash looked ready to beat the shit out of the first person who got in his way, and stomped down towards the fitness center to do just that to a punching bag. Adagio went back to her guard post, Trixie skedaddled to the library, and Scootaloo tried for ages to get Rainbow Dash to talk to her before she left. Pinkie Pie, I don’t even know where she ran off to, but the first chance she got she was gone.

I was the only one who wandered out onto the bridge deck, the storm having already dropped its first load of rain. I stood out there for only Celestia knew how long before I left to shower.

As I stuffed a forkful of food into my mouth, my Monopad dinged. I checked it, and sure enough Tiara had sent me a text, asking me to meet her down at the squash court. After forwarding that to both Adagio and Trixie so they’d know where I went, I told Tiara I’d come along. I ate swiftly, then headed down to meet her.

I found Tiara already inside the court, smashing a ball back and forth against the wall. “I’m here,” I announced, staying far to the side so she wouldn’t hit me by mistake. “What’s up?”

Tiara spun on her heel like a pinwheel, slamming the ball with her racket one more time before letting it bounce to a halt. “Sunset, I... “ She tossed her racket to the ground, and sat down on the bench next to the glass wall. “Sit with me, please.”

I took a seat next to her, studying her. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she’d been crying. Twin tear stains on her face confirmed that. As I watched her collect herself I saw her squeezing her right hand into a fist over and over, her left leg tapping constantly on the floor. “Are you okay, Tiara?” I asked.

“No. No, I’m not,” she replied, her mouth twisting up into a frown reminiscent of her usual sneer. “Fluttershy shouldn’t have died. Her death, that was…” she took a deep breath and let it out all at once, her whole body shaking. “I thought Timber and Sweetie’s executions were bad. This was a whole other level of messed up.”

“Yeah it was.” The guilt welled up from within me like a punctured oil well, threatening to burst. “I feel like it was my fault.”

“What?” Tiara favored me with a disbelieving frown. “Why? You didn’t steal the ring. Fluttershy did.”

“But that’s just it. Fluttershy was only in there because I told her to go in there. I suggested she get Pinkie Pie a gift of some kind to cheer her up.”

“Oh.” Diamond Tiara cocked her head to one side, then nodded. “Still not your fault though.”

A dry chuckle escaped my lips. “Funny to hear you of all people saying that.”

“Like I told you, I’m trying to change.” Tiara, sighing, bent over and rubbed her forehead with her thumb and index finger. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I’m the one trying to be our leader. I should’ve done more to cheer Pinkie myself. Maybe if I’d gone in there with them I could’ve kept Fluttershy from stealing.”

“Maybe.” I leaned back against the wall. “I don’t get it though. Why would she steal a ring? There’s no point to it. It’s not like we have to pay for these things. All we have to do is scan them.”

Tiara shrugged. “Who knows? Not like we can ask her now.”

No. We can’t. Monoponi stole her away from us. The others he executed, they at least did something wrong. Fluttershy, though, I refuse to believe she was anything but innocent. So if she was innocent, what if…? “Maybe someone planted it on her.”

“What?!” Tiara whirled on me, eyes agog. “But the only other person in there was Pinkie Pie! What’re you saying, that Pinkie planted it on her to get her killed? Pinkie would never do something like that!”

“I guess that’s a good point,” I admitted.

“Besides, if she had, Monoponi would’ve considered it murder. But we’re not investigating, are we?” Tiara inquired, a trace of her old mocking smugness dancing on her face. “He said Fluttershy broke the rules. So she’s the one who stole the ring.”

Ugh. She’s right. What was I thinking? “You’re right. Sorry. It just seemed like it might make sense.”

Tiara snorted in derision. “Yeah, as if. Maybe if someone like Adagio or Trixie were in there with them, they--”

“Hey!” I sat up straight. “Adagio and Trixie are my friends. Don’t accuse them of that crap!”

“Tch…!” Diamond Tiara edged away from me, her expression rippling with irritation. “...fine. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

I relaxed, resuming my leaned back posture. “Apology accepted.” She’s trying. She’s really trying. I can’t believe it, but she’s trying.

Tiara let out a breath I hadn’t realized she was holding. “Thank you.”

“So what’d you originally call me here for, anyway?”

“Oh!” Tiara snapped her fingers. “Right, right. I uh, ehehe, this is a little hard to talk about…” Her face bloomed as her mouth spread into a sheepish grin. Huh. When she looks like that, she’s actually kind of cute. Weird. “I know it’s hard to trust me, because of how I treated you.”

I made a gesture with my hand. “Go on.”

“Well, you see… I thought that maybe if I told you my secret, you might… trust me more?” Her sheepish grin grew into a full-teeth smile as she tapped her index fingers together, her eyes darting about.

“Your secret?” That’s right. The only secret that ever came out during Sweetie Belle’s trial was my own. No one else’s. I didn’t even get a chance to bring up Trixie’s with her. I still want to talk to her about that. Maybe I can get her on the subject without revealing anything. The rule against sharing is still on the books, and now we know just how willing to enforce the rules Monoponi is. But Tiara didn’t receive her own, since no one else did, so… “Are you sure that's a good idea? What if Monoponi--”

Tiara let out a quiet little laugh. “No, Sunset, I don't mean the one he gave me. I mean mine. What I think my personal secret is, anyway.”

I relaxed a tad, nodding. "But how do you know what it is?"

Diamond Tiara shrugged, her face heating up. "I don't. But this is one I'd never share with anyone, sooooo yeah." She blew a sigh out through her teeth. "Are you gonna listen, or not?"

Sure seems hard for her to talk about. I patted her shoulder reassuringly. “Alright. Go ahead.”

She bit her lip, glancing at my hand like she wanted to bat it away, then refocused on me. “Okay, so, do you remember a few days ago? The morning of the pool party?”

“Vividly,” I said, my words dripping with sarcasm. Great, she’s bringing this up. “Why?”

“Ahehehe, so, um… I slapped you. Because you called me a, uh… a bitch.”

“I remember.” My eyes flashed with ire, my right hand curling into a fist. “Why are you bringing this up?”

Letting out a wordless yelp, she backed away, her arms coming up to protect her face. “Look I know it hurt I’m sorry but I promise I’ve got a good reason!”

With a roll of my eyes, I uncurled my fist. “Just tell me already, then.”

She nodded, whimpering. “So, I don’t know if you know anything about my family, but the Rich’s are, well, rich. We’re wealthy. We’re important. My mother especially. She’s influential in the state legislature, always doing her best to pass new, more favorable laws for people like us.”

And screw over everyone else in the process. Gross. “Okay, but what does that--”

She held out a hand. “Let me finish. Please.” She took a slow, deep breath, let it go, then continued. “To my family, image is everything. We have to be refined, astute, elegant, chic. We have to be the best of the best.” She sniffed, choking back a sob. “Mother, she… one of her hobbies is raising dogs. She raises them in litters, abusing them, rearing them to be vicious, ugly killers. You know how she does it? She does it by making them fight. She keeps one to be a mother, for the next go around and makes the rest fight as much as possible. If there’s ever any runts? They barely live a few weeks. She makes them eat the bodies.”

My jaw fell open. “That’s sick! What is wrong with her?”

Tiara spread out her hands and sighed. “That’s not the worst part. The worst part is… she tried to raise me the same way. She’d insult me, berate me all the time, say I was… a worthless bitch. She wanted me to be as vicious and mean as she was.”

Well. She probably succeeded more than you’d care to admit. Still… “No wonder you reacted the way you did. I pushed a pretty big button there, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. You did.” Tiara scratched the back of her head and shrugged. “I guess I should count myself lucky. It could’ve been worse. If I hadn’t been an only child, she might’ve--”

“Oh, no, no way,” I interrupted, sweeping a hand through the air. “Come on. Dogs are one thing, but you can’t honestly expect me to believe your mom would be evil enough to make you kill your siblings.”

“I wish I could say for sure.” Tiara’s whole body slumped, her expression melancholy and bleak.

To my surprise, I found myself actually offering her a comforting hug. She rolled her eyes, but accepted it, falling into my arms. She stank of sweat, dripping it all over my fresh clothes. She withdrew after a minute or so. “Thanks,” she muttered through gritted teeth.

It’s okay to accept hugs Tiara, but I won’t push it. “You’re welcome.”

She hopped to her feet, snatched up her racket, and went back to playing squash with great intensity. “I’d like to be alone now, please,” she said, not looking back at me.

I obeyed and left. Not wanting to get all sweaty and have to shower again, I meandered about the ship, letting my thoughts roil. How I was still coping as anything other than a comatose mess from all the death we witnessed, I had no idea. Rarity and Applejack were barely holding it together. Rainbow Dash was still completely out of it in the food court. Pinkie Pie… what little chance there’d been to cheer her up was long gone now. Everyone else stewed like we were all vegetables in a slow cooker, constantly under tension but without any one thing breaking us.

In my case, I think the only things keeping me going were Trixie and Adagio. I knew I could count on them, rely on them to be there for me. They kept me afloat like a life jacket. If I were to lose either of them… god, I’d probably just fall over like Applejack and Rainbow Dash, only I wouldn’t get up again.

Maybe the other thing keeping us going was survival instincts. At our core, we still had our basic needs met. Food, water, shelter, air, none of those were in danger. Yet. So psychologically speaking, without those being threatened, there was still some level of safety, at an instinctual level.

Maybe. I dunno. I’m not a psychologist. I don’t really know anything about this shit.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

I jumped in fright, but it was just the nighttime announcement. Not that dreaded body discovery alarm. I swear, even if I lived through this I’d have years stripped from my life thanks to the stress.

As I traipsed about the ship I found myself at the spa. Despite the late hour, the systems thrummed, ready to go for any one of us who came by. The quiet music still played, relaxing and soothing.

On a whim I decided to go sit down for one of the foot massages, stripping off my socks and boots in a hurry. A part of me expected the robotic massage chair to spit out white-gloved hands like something out of a cartoon. Instead it used a combination of pistons and pressers, a feat of engineering that left me feeling a little giddy. The massage was good too, leaving me melting in my chair. No wonder Flash and Trixie felt so good afterwards.

But this was just it, I realized. With things like this around, this is how he kept us from going insane. This is how Monoponi kept us just stable enough to cope and move on after every death. Little luxuries to ease the soul. The proverbial bread and circuses, to placate the masses.

My Monopad bleeped insistently at me. I checked it, finding I’d been ignoring several texts from Trixie and Adagio demanding to know where I was. “I’m fine, girls,” I muttered to myself as I tapped out a reply.

I didn’t want to go back via that creepy access corridor, so I made my way up the grand staircase instead. As I passed by the food court, Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Hope you got back to your cabin, Dash.

I did, however, catch sight of a mass of straight-as-a-board pink locks disappearing around the corner, toward the cabins. Curious, I upped my pace, and just missed seeing Pinkie enter her cabin and close the door behind her. She had something in her grasp, some kind of tote bag. What the... isn’t she supposed to be guarding the stairwell tonight?

But before I could knock on her door and ask, Adagio burst out of my cabin. “There you are!” she hissed, her face contorted with frustration. She stomped over and with one quick swipe snatched me up by the torso and whisked me inside.

Trixie leapt up from the bed, thankfully dressed in tasteful sky blue silk pajamas. Though where she got them from, I had no idea. Maybe the spa had some? “Sunset!” she squeaked. “Where have you been? Trixie has had to make conversation with Adagio for nearly an hour!”

“A tragedy, I’m sure,” Adagio snarked, glaring at the illusionist before turning her gaze to me. “Sunset, why weren’t you answering your texts? We thought something happened to you. Again!”

“I…” Shame welled up inside me. God damn it. I did it again, didn’t I? “I didn’t mean to--”

Adagio silenced me, not with a slap as I’d feared she might, but with a tight embrace, and a kiss, cool and gentle, so unlike the fiery passion she usually displayed. It was over in a heartbeat as she drew back, eyes burning like fire. “You can’t keep doing this,” she said, her tone full of fear so naked I was shocked she’d be this open with anyone else nearby, let alone Trixie. “Y-you can’t, okay? A-after Fluttershy, after what we saw… I…”

I drew Adagio into my arms and held her tight. She buried her head into my shoulder like a giant puffball returning home to roost. I felt more than heard her sobbing, her tears staining my shirt. “I’m sorry,” I whispered into her ear. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She snorted, messily spilling snot on my shirt as she reached up and beat me on the arm with a fist. “Don’t do it again,” she growled. “I can’t take it.” She drew back from my hold, fixed me with one final glare, then stomped off to the bathroom to wash her face.

Trixie took the opportunity to spring her own hug on me. “Trixie agrees with Adagio, you know,” she said as she held me. “You can’t keep scaring us. What if you’re ambushed? Or worse, what if Monoponi decides you broke some stupid rule?”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” I said, giving her a squeeze. “Just, when Fluttershy died, I… I thought it might’ve been my fault. Because I told her to go to the jewelry store with Pinkie, you know? So after meeting up with Tiara, I was… meandering.” I chose not to mention what Tiara told me. It was her secret, not mine.

Trixie shivered violently, almost knocking me off my feet in the process. “Trixie doesn’t understand how you’re responsible for what Fluttershy chose to do.”

“Tiara said that too,” I said, leading Trixie over to the bed so she could sit down. The poor woman kept vibrating like an old style ringing alarm clock. “Are you okay?”

“Trixie is very anxious,” she muttered through chattering teeth. “Trixie… I’m terrified Monoponi will decide I’ve broken a rule next. I don’t want to be shot to pieces!”

At least it was quick, unlike Timber and Sweetie Belle. “I don’t think you’ve got anything to worry about there, Trixie.”

“I don’t?!” Trixie shook so hard she fell off the bed, thankfully missing clocking her head on the desk by mere inches. She curled up into a fetal position. “B-b-b-but Monoponi keeps y-yelling at me a-all the time and I--”

“Hey. Hey.” I knelt down so I could stroke her back. “Hey. You’re going to be fine, I promise.”

Adagio emerged from the bathroom and glared at the collapsed Trixie. “Really.” She rolled her eyes and dropped to her knees beside me. “Trixie, you’re fine,” she groused. “Get up.”

Trixie’s nose wrinkled as she frowned up at the siren. “Don’t order Trixie around!”

“Well get up then,” Adagio fired back, one hand squeezing like she ached to put it around Trixie’s throat.

Trixie saw that, meeped, and shot up to a sitting position against the bed. “Sorry!”

Adagio blinked. “What…” She looked down at her hand, scowling at it. She forced it to uncurl. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to threaten you.”

Trixie relaxed, if only just. “It’s okay. Trixie knows you have anger problems.”

The siren broke into a full-throated belly laugh.

After that, we settled in for the night. Adagio and Trixie seemed a bit more at ease with each other, less tense. At least, neither of them tried to strangle each other in their sleep. The night passed quickly, and I awoke to the morning announcement as usual.

Even getting dressed and ready went more easily. Adagio had no problem letting Trixie go first, and Trixie was in and out before I could blink. “Did you two, like, bond last night or something?”

“Something like that,” Trixie snickered.

We made our way to breakfast. Thankfully, the smell had gone away overnight, as had most of the damage, though there were still patches of crimson forcefield. The mood this morning was even worse than yesterday, not so much grim as downright wallowing in black sludge. Anxiety and worry oozed between us like slime through cracks in a wall. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Flash and Twilight sat at opposite ends of the food court, with Twilight refusing to look Flash’s way while Flash stared mournfully at her. Applejack and Rarity, naturally, were on guard duty, per their texts. Scootaloo sat near Diamond Tiara, both chewing quietly.

Pinkie Pie drooped over her table, a goofy smile on her face. Her forkful of eggs hung loose in her hand, and as she raised it to her mouth she missed a couple of times before she got it in. Her pupils were oddly dilated, given the bright light of the food court. “Heeey,” she said, waving at us and giggling. “What’s up?”

“Uh, not much?” I said, sharing a confused look with Trixie and Adagio.

Pinkie dropped her fork to her plate. Her happy smile flipped to an ugly, gross frown. “Not much? Not much?!” She slammed a fist on her table, sending her fork clattering to the floor. “Fluttershy died yesterday, and you call that not much?!”

“Woah!” I took a couple steps back, my hands shooting up in surrender. “I didn’t say anything about Fluttershy. Cool it.”

“Oh.” Pinkie’s frown flipped back to the goofy smile as she scooped up her fork and tossed the fallen eggs into her mouth, carpet fuzz and all. “Okie dokie loki.”

Utterly nonplussed, I shuffled away to collect a breakfast tray. “What the hell was that?” I whispered to Adagio and Trixie as we made our selections.

Trixie spun one finger next to her head. “Trauma. Or she’s high. Trixie doesn’t know which.”

“High off what?” Adagio inquired as she collected her seafood salad.

I glanced back at Pinkie, watching the girl fall over face first into her plate. “I dunno. I thought I saw her with something last night as I was coming back.” My face fell as I let out a bitter sigh. “Probably feeling just as guilty as I am.”

“Eh.” Adagio shrugged as we sat down at a table together. “Her choice.”

As soon as we sat down, Diamond Tiara stood up, tapping a spoon to her glass. “Alright everyone, listen up. I know we lost someone last night, and it’s been rough on all of us. Even me.”

“Wasn’t just rough,” Scootaloo scowled. “It was complete bullshit. Fluttershy didn’t deserve that.”

“Yeah for real,” Flash agreed, taking his gaze away from Twilight. “We should have, like, a moment of silence or something for her.”

“I’ll agree to that,” I said, bowing my head. I saw out the corner of my eye that even Twilight acquiesced. She was whispering a soft prayer under her breath. Fluttershy, I’m sorry. You know I’m sorry. I hope that, if there is an afterlife, you’re resting there peacefully, with all the animal friends you could ever want.

“So,” Diamond Tiara said after giving us a few moments, “we need to change the guard schedule. There’s… there’s a gap, now.” She brought out her notebook. “I’m looking for people to volunteer to take the extra shift.”

“I’ll do it,” Scootaloo said immediately. “I don’t have much else to do around here, so I’ll take up her spot. She was supposed to patrol today, right?”

“She was,” Tiara nodded. “That’ll be fine for today. I’ll write that down.”

We took some time splitting off the schedule so each of us took one of Fluttershy’s shifts over the next week or two, all except for Rainbow Dash. “Where is she, anyway?” I asked once we finished.

“She’s in her cabin,” Twilight replied, her voice, though still cold, oddly tinged with a hint of sorrow. “I watched her go in last night after our guard shift. She conked out in a hurry.”

“I knocked on her door this morning,” Scootaloo added, shaking her head. “She uh, she screamed at me to leave her alone, so…”

“Well at least she’s alive,” Flash groused as he went back to his coffee.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Scootaloo cried, throwing up her hands.

Monoponi’s image popped onto the screens. His table was back in one piece, albeit with a comically large x of duct tape holding it together, and paper plates with fresh food scattered about it rather than the usual fine porcelain. “Goooood morning, my lovely passengers! Please report to the bridge deck. I’ve got something extra special for you today!”

“Oooh, I like special!” Pinkie blurted as she hopped to her feet. She sped out in a hurry, stumbling every so often.

Adagio took one last bite of her salad, then calmly set her fork down. “So. New motive time?”

“New motive time,” I agreed with an unhappy nod.

“Here we go again,” Trixie moaned, doubling over with her arms hanging loosely as she walked, somehow keeping her hat on.

Together we all followed Pinkie, arriving at the bridge deck with little fanfare. The slick metal, still wet from last night’s rain, made for uneasy footing. Fresh storm clouds beckoned on the horizon, threatening to inundate us in a deluge at any time. Our anxiety only grew, now churning with a revolting scent, like boiling sewage. Rainbow Dash stomping into the crowd, her face twisted up in anger, her fists gripping so tight the knuckles turned white only added to the uneasy atmosphere. I kept my distance from her.

Monoponi wasted no time sauntering out the tower door to the balcony, humming a jaunty tune. “Oh!” he said as he spotted us, a big grin plastered on his muzzle. “There you are. How’re you all doing this fine morning, hmm?”

“Shut up!” Rainbow Dash bellowed, her voice raw and hoarse. “No one wants to hear it. Just tell us the motive already and then beat it!”

Reeling back, Monoponi’s grin flipped into a nasty snarl. “So. That’s how it’ll be, is it? I give you all a warning, I teach you a lesson about respect, and what do you take away from it? Nothing! Outrageous! Unacceptable!”

“What part of--”

“Be quiet!” Monoponi thundered, his horn lighting up to summon several bolts of lightning and a painfully loud peal of thunder. Rainbow Dash shut her mouth at once, her whole body shaking with rage. “Do you want to join your precious Fluttershy in the grave that badly? Hmm?! Because I won’t hesitate to execute you for treason if you keep up this disrespect! I am your Captain! Act like it!”

For a moment, as I watched the mixture of emotions coursing through Rainbow, I feared she’d provoke him further. But she was no more suicidal than I was, so she backed off. “Yes, sir,” she hissed.

“Better,” he said, slapping a hoof to his mouth. “Upupupu. Now then! As I said over the intercom, I have something very special for you! A brand new, one of a kind, never-before-used moooooootive!” He struck a pose as fireworks erupted above the tower. “Isn’t that exciting?”

“Oh boy, it sure is,” Scootaloo said with as much sarcasm as she could invest in it. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

I glanced Pinkie’s way, expecting her to either cheer or burst out crying, given her drug-induced state. But she said nothing. She just stood there, zonked out. Like she wasn’t paying attention at all. Good grief, Pinkie, what did you take? I hope you’re being safe with it… I was worried for her health. Last thing we needed was someone going on a drug-fueled rampage.

“For your motive,” Monoponi continued, grabbing my attention, “I’ll be presenting the blackened with a special, one of a kind offer. Upupupu…” His face split into a fresh toothy grin. “If the blackened successfully navigates the treacherous waters and stormy seas of the ship’s trial, they’ll be able to take a fellow passenger with them! That’s right, it’s two for the price of one!”

Whispers burst out amongst the crowd, several people glancing at each other in suspicion. Oh damn, I thought. I wouldn’t call this motive never-used by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s an effective one. Imagine the accom-

“Is that it?” Flash interrupted my train of thought, facing Monoponi with crossed arms. “Nothing else? No catch?”

“Upupu eyahahahahahaa!” Monoponie burst out laughing, rolling on the balcony. “Oh Flash! You do have a sparkle of creativity after all!” The alicorn ignored the look of dark hatred Twilight shot his way. “Yes, you’re right, just taking a fellow passenger along isn’t very interesting, is it? Well, that’s not all there is to this motive!”

“M-more?” Trixie spluttered, shaking in her boots. “B-b-but what else could--”

Monoponi flashed out of existence to pop up right in Trixie’s face. The poor girl shrieked and leapt backwards, falling to the deck with a thud. Then he just as quickly teleported back to the balcony. “No interruptions!” he cried.

Tears streaming down her face, Trixie nodded even as she curled back up into a fetal position for protection.

“Ahahaha! So,” Monoponi continued, “there is indeed a very special catch to this motive. A requirement, if you will. After all, if I just let you loose with this motive, there’s nothing to stop you from breaking up into pairs! You’d kill each other in a heartbeat, and then we’d end up with far too many corpses in a hurry. No, no, no. Two caveats this time.”

I rushed over to Trixie and helped her back up to her feet. “Easy there,” I said quietly. “Try to stay calm. He won’t hurt you if you’re quiet.”

Trixie whimpered in response, nodding gratefully as she stood.

“The first!” Monoponi said, stretching out his white feathered wing. “No more than one victim is allowed! We have a count to keep on this ship, and we already screwed it up because someone couldn’t keep her grubby little paws to herself! It’s first come first served to this one, so we’d better not end up with two corpses this time!” He pointed a hoof squarely at me. “Yes, I was listening to your silly little conversation yesterday morning!”

“Great,” I said, rolling my eyes. “So there’s a limit. Fine. But what’s the other caveat?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Monoponi replied, his eyes flashing. He held up his black leather wing. “The second, is this. No accomplices! You have to do this by yourself! If you have an accomplice, they are disqualified from being your plus one. I know you idiots would leap at the chance to help each other, like the little friendship loving shits that you are. So I’m taking that away from you!”

That sent me reeling back, in complete shock. “Oh damn,” I whispered. “If we can’t have an accomplice, then…”

“That’s right!” Monoponi said, cackling with glee. “The only way you can take someone with you is if you don’t work together. You’ll just have to fool them along with everyone else at the trial. Won’t they be happy? Thrilled? Ecstatic?! I know I would be.” He let out a loving sigh. “Oh, just picture it! Someone so in love with me that they’d kill for me, and kill everyone else in the process! Ooohoohoo, it’s so wonderful!”

How many people are vulnerable to this motive? I considered Adagio and Trixie, then squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. No. They wouldn’t. They’re too smart. What about Flash? Or Twilight? They might not be happy with each other, but it’s possible. Anyone else? What about… uh oh.

I opened my eyes to look at Rarity and Applejack. The farmer had the seamstress firmly in her embrace, much like she’d been ever since the trial. Is it possible they’ve rekindled their relationship? Damn, I’m so glad I didn’t show them the picture now. Adagio was right.

I reached into my pocket, feeling the picture still inside. I’d made sure to keep it on me ever since we found it, so it wouldn’t get lost. Should I get rid of it? I shook my head. No, I can’t. They have a right to know. I just have to keep it safe for now. This motive isn’t that bad, at least, not now. Not after the people we’ve already lost.

“Is there anything else you need to tell us?” Diamond Tiara asked, stepping forward. Her bearing suggested she was demonstrating respect, but I caught sight of the middle finger she held just out of Monoponi’s sight, next to her hip. “Or is that all?”

“Actually, yes, there is,” replied the alicorn with a surprisingly thoughtful expression. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do this so soon, buuut it’s too good to resist!” His horn lit up, and our Monopads all let out a bizarre bzzt sound, like we’d gotten a wrong answer on a game show or something. “Please check the rule section of your pads.”

I pulled mine out, switching it over to the rules straight away, expecting to see some other new restriction on us. Instead, to my surprise, something was actually missing. “The secrets rule,” I breathed. “It’s gone!”

“Got it in one, Sunset!” Monoponi twirled about till he struck the most ridiculous pose yet, standing on his rear hooves with his forehooves bent over his head, dancing back and forth in celebration. “You may now freely discuss each other’s secrets to your heart’s content! No need to keep that hatch battened down any longer, since it’s no longer a motive. Oooh, I can’t wait to see what happens next. Ta ta!” WIth that, he vanished in a flash of light.

“Alright, listen up everybody!” Tiara said, whirling on her heels to face us. She had her hands tucked behind her back, cutting a figure more akin to a military general than the elitist snob she’d been up until now. Then again, in Equestria there’s not much difference between the two. “I know Monoponi’s motives are always tempting, but we can beat this if we work together! We’re already working hard by taking shifts as guards. We’re becoming a team. To that end, I want to apologize, to all of you, for the way I’ve acted in the past. I’ve been a real jerk, and I want to make up for that, by keeping you all alive!”

Wow. She really is committed to turning over a new leaf. Taking a cue from her, I walked up to stand next to her and faced everyone. “Tiara’s right, guys. If weŕe going to get off this ship, we have to do it together! As a team. As friends.” I smiled and nodded to her, and though she looked a little bit flustered, she nodded back. Then I fired off a demanding look at Trixie and Adagio. Trixie hopped up to give her support right away, but Adagio took a moment before groaning and following suite.

“Excuse me,” Twilight spat, her words like a sword slicing apart our rising confidence. Memories of similar interventions from Wallflower flashed through my mind. “But as difficult as it is to believe Diamond Tiara of all people is trying to be inspiring, what makes you think any of us are going to listen to you, Sunset?”

“I dunno, I think they have a point,” Scootaloo intervened, getting up in Twilight’s face. “Maybe you don’t trust Sunset, but I do. Diamond Tiara and Sunset hate each other's guts. If they’re agreeing on something? We should probably listen.”

“Are we seriously going to argue about this?” Flash spoke up before Twilight could respond. “This is the same thing we did back when there were sixteen of us, and no one listened to Sunset then. Now there’s only eleven of us. We can’t afford to ignore her any longer. She’s right, Twilight.”

Twilight heaved a sigh, her cold gaze shattering like glass, stitching itself back together as melancholic acceptance. “I know she is. That’s not the point.” She walked right up to Flash, and raised her hand. But instead of the slap I’d expected, she caressed his face. “I just can’t trust her anymore, Flash. She lied to me. She lied to all of us.”

Flash opened up his arms, inviting Twilight in. After a moment’s hesitation, she sank into his embrace. “I know,” he said in a warm voice that banished the remnants of her icy winter’s chill. “No one’s asking you to. You don’t have to trust her to accept that she’s right.”

Twilight burst into tears. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I never should’ve--”

“Sssh, it’s okay.” He smiled down at her and gently kissed her forehead. “I forgive you.”

No one stopped them as the two walked off towards the cabins.

“So. Ah guess that happened,” Applejack commented with a shrug. Then she glowered at Tiara. “But Twi was right about one thing. Ah ain’t about to believe whatever fool thing you’re tryin’ ta pull on us. Ya can’t just change overnight. Ah dunno why Sunset’s giving you the benefit of the doubt, but you’re not gettin’ it from me.”

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed in a dark, nasty tone. “Applejack, I believe we were ‘on duty’ as Tiara would put it?”

“Right. Pardon.”

Tiara gripped one hand at her side, shaking with fury as the two walked off. “You… you…” she hissed. “I… am trying… my best!”

“Well, I’ll give you a chance,” Scootaloo said, slapping Tiara on the shoulder and smiling.

Wincing, Tiara rubbed at her shoulder and grimaced. “Uh, thanks. I think.”

That just left Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie… or maybe just Dash. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. She must’ve wandered off without us noticing. Rainbow, on the other hand, stood silently, staring at the deck. Her eyelids fluttered, her breathing fast and shallow. Her lips moved, breathing silent words I couldn’t make out. Poor Rainbow. She needs her space. We should give it to her.

Diamond Tiara, unable to read my thoughts, strode up to Rainbow before I could object. “Hey, Rainbow Dash,” she said calmly, trying out a smile that she probably thought was sympathetic. “I know it’s been rough, losing Fluttershy, but--”

Rainbow Dash whirled on her, shoving her away. “Don’t,” she hissed. “Just. Just don’t. Leave me alone.”

Tiara stumbled backwards, falling over with a yelp. I caught her just before she hit the ground. “Hey!” she protested after getting back to her feet. “That was uncalled for.”

In response, Rainbow Dash copied one of Tiara’s favorite moves, flipping her a double bird. She stomped off in the direction of the promenade, probably heading for the fitness center.

“Let her go,” I said, grabbing hold of Tiara’s shoulder before the younger woman could move. “She needs time.”

“Grrrr…” Tiara huffed. “Fine. Look, we’re done here everybody.”

Author's Notes:

Everyone's just a bit more wound up after Fluttershy's death, aren't they? Just like my readers. (But seriously I love you all you're all the best. )

Yes, Spoiled Rich's dog training habit is a reference to Aunt Marge from Harry Potter. I was of mixed feelings about Spoiled Rich when she was revealed during Crusaders of the Lost Mark(because it gave DT an easy out for being a bully), but that was also the last piece of characterization DT ever received. So I decided that Spoiled's human counterpart would, naturally, be worse than her Equestrian self, with some extra flaws. Like training dogs to defend their estate. Or giving her daughter a complex over a word she's going to hear all the time.

If it seems strange that Rainbow Dash would choose to comfort eat right near where Fluttershy died, it's because, in her mind, she's showing a particular kind of loyalty by staying near the site of her death. It's completely irrational and ridiculous, but hey, that's what trauma does to a mind.

Next time: part four!

EDIT: Due to confusion about what secret Tiara shared, I have edited the chapter to make things clearer. To be precise: she did not tell Sunset what the secret Monoponi gave her was. She shared something from her past that she suspected was the secret about her given to someone else. She does not know if this is her secret, nor did she break the rules. Sorry for any confusion!

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 4

After stopping by the food court to finish breakfast, and taking a bit of time to exercise in the fitness center, 10:00 rolled around. My first guard shift, the stationary one by the stairwell. I quickly changed in my cabin, then headed over. Along the way, I collected a chair from the food court, opting for one of the lighter ones with more plastic than wood. Once I reached the little stairwell alcove, I set the chair down, plopped my butt on it, and waited.

And waited.

Aaaaand waited.

“Wow this is boring,” I muttered, taking a quick peek at my Monopad. Only fifteen minutes had passed. Of course. “I should’ve brought a book.”

I tapped out a brief check-in text, then set my Monopad down. I hope Rainbow Dash is doing okay. I remembered the look of fury on her face when Tiara confronted her on the bridge deck. She looked ready to punch the living daylights out of Tiara, or anyone else who got in her way. And who could blame her, after losing Fluttershy?

Damn it. I don’t care what Trixie or Tiara said. I still feel guilty about that. And I’m going to. I have to. Every person who dies on this ship is blood on my hands, because I failed to keep them together.

A cold chill ran through me. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, hoping to keep them warm. I know I shouldn’t blame myself. I know it’s Monoponi’s fault, or whoever it is behind him. I still don’t have the first clue who he really is. I wish we could find more clues, even if it’s just about how he got this ship. Maybe I should go to the library and try the archives door. It was locked before, but maybe it’s--

The clatter of footsteps on the stairwell scattered my thoughts. I sat up straight, Monopad at the ready. I flipped on the voice recorder too, just in case. But I shouldn’t have bothered. The massive orange puff of Adagio’s hair emerged alongside the siren herself, carrying a basket and traipsing up the steps in a lackadaisical manner. “Oh, hey,” Adagio said when she reached the top.

I waved in greeting. “What’s up?”

She set down the basket in her hands. It was full of a mixture of clothes, hers and mine. “Laundry. Diamond Tiara sent us all a schedule via text earlier.”

“She did?” I checked my Monopad and spotted the missed text. “Oh, I guess she did. I didn’t hear my Monopad go off.” I narrowed my eyes, then scoffed at myself. “Because I set it on silent. Whoops.” I switched that off immediately.

Chuckling dryly, Adagio said, “Figured you’d appreciate a clean tracksuit next time you work out.” She pinched her nose, waving her other hand in front of it. “Seriously, Sunset, you sweat like a pig.”

“Hey!” I objected, glaring at her. She just laughed all the harder, and soon I was laughing with her. “Yeah, I guess I do, huh?”

“You do.” She picked up her basket, winked at me, then spun on her heels and strolled away, putting that little bit of extra sashay in her hips she knew I liked. “See you later,” she said, blowing me a kiss over her shoulder.

“Well that was… something,” I muttered, shaking my head with a laugh. “Dang it, now I don’t remember what I was thinking about.”

More footsteps approached, coming from the cabins. Was Adagio coming back? But no, the footfalls were different. Harder, more weight, flat shoes rather than Adagio’s favored spiked heels. “Oh, hey Flash,” I greeted as he walked up. “How’s your patrol going?”

“Fine so far,” he said, grinning. “Hey, mind if I take a couple minutes to talk about something?”

“Sure!” I gestured to the empty space next to me. “I’d say pull up a chair, but.”

He chuckled, opting to lean against the wall next to me. “So, things are going a lot better between Twilight and me now.”

“I noticed that much,” I replied, smiling back. “I’m surprised she got over her whole trust thing with you so fast.”

“You and me both.” Flash stretched out his arms, then interlaced his fingers together behind his head. “I think it was because Fluttershy bit it. That scared her into realizing she wasn’t angry with any of us, just with you.”

My face fell. “Right. That. I don’t know how I can make up for it. I didn’t mean to li--”

“Hey, you don’t have to justify yourself to me,” Flash interrupted, clapping me on the shoulder. “I don’t hold it against you. You weren’t trying to hide it, right?”

“No. I really was going to tell everyone the first night.”

“Well there you go, then.” He shrugged, taking his hand back and placing it behind his head again. “It’s Twi’s problem, not yours. She’ll get over it.”

“Has she said anything to you?” I asked. At his questioning look, I added, “About me, I mean?”

“Oh.” Flash’s smile twisted into a concerned frown. “Yeah, actually. She wouldn’t shut up about it. How your insights into the killing game and into Monoponi help show you can’t be trusted. She’s convinced you’re going to do something to kill us all, sooner or later.” He let out a dry chuckle. “She said this motive was perfect for you. She even said you’ve been leading us in the trials so that when you do murder someone, you could blame it on someone else and we’d all buy it.”

“Ahehe,” I laughed nervously, once again reminded of the fact I considered that very course of action. Probably shouldn’t tell him that, though, unless I want to spook him. “I guess I should talk to her then. Maybe I can get her to calm down.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Flash inquired, his frown deepening. “She seriously doesn’t trust you, man. You could make things worse.”

“I know, but I still have to try,” I declared, pumping my fist in determination. “I’m not going to let this ruin our friendship.”

Arching his eyebrows, Flash said, “Well, okay. Just be careful.” His Monopad bleeped. “Oh crap, it’s already 10:30. I need to keep moving. Gotta stay on patrol, right? Take it easy, Sunset.”

As he left, I went to type out my next check in text, realizing in the process that my Monopad had been recording this whole time. “Whoops,” I muttered, turning that off. “Gotta watch out for that.”

The rest of my guard shift passed at a glacial pace, every minute feeling like days. On occasion I’d see someone pass by, but no one stopped to talk. Even Trixie just waved as she walked by carrying a big basket of laundry down the steps, then back up a good hour later. Finally, 2:00 PM rolled around, and Trixie came back so she could take over my guard spot, gratefully accepting the chair. But before I left, a thought occurred to me, so I asked her if I could borrow the picture of her, me, and Wallflower.

“Why?” she asked.

“I have an idea,” I said. “Sorry, no time to explain.”

With a shrug, Trixie dug it out of her cloak and handed it over. “Just be sure to bring it back. Trixie prizes this photo.”

“Thanks!” Now to find Twilight. I think if I play my cards right, between that dream and this picture, I might be able to mend the rift between us.

With the photo in hand, I made my way to the library, figuring it was the best place to find the researcher. And sure enough, Twilight Sparkle was present, reading in her usual chair on the third floor. She looked up on hearing my footsteps, her face twisting into one of irritated disgust.

So, despite the frown on her face twisting up more and more as I approached, I held up my hand and said quietly, “Hey, can we talk?”

She sighed, closed her book, and set it down next to her. “Why?”

Okay, not a great start. Rather than loom over her, I opted to take a seat in a nearby chair. “There’s something I didn’t tell you about, when we were talking about Equestria yesterday. I wanted to talk to you about it alone.”

Arching an eyebrow, Twilight considered me for a moment. Then she reached into her pack and pulled out her notebook, readying her pen. “Fine. Talk.”

Well, here goes nothing. “So, the other night, after the trial, I had this dream, about Equestria.”

“A dream,” Twilight said flatly. “You’re wasting my time to talk about a dream.”

“No, wait, listen, please. This dream involved you. Or at least, what I think was you.”

Twilight, in the middle of getting out of her chair, looked up at me, then sat back down. “About me?”

I took the time to describe the dream in detail, talking about all the ponies I’d seen, the happy life in Ponyville, and how it all revolved around one purple pony, the same one I’d seen blasted by the others. “I couldn’t make out their cutie marks at all,” I finished, “so I don’t know who the others were. But I’m certain the purple one was you. Or at least, connected to you. Like some kind of alternate.”

Twilight scribbled several notes down on her notebook. “Interesting,” she said, for once looking much like the Twilight I’d gotten to know prior to the second trial. “That must be the explanation for what Monoponi said about me in the first trial. This pony is connected to the reason for this killing game. I’m certain of it.”

“See, that’s what I thought too. It’s why I didn’t bring this up in front of everyone else,” I said, a smile coming to my face. “I didn’t want anyone to become suspicious of you.”

“Really?” Twilight sank back in her chair, conflicted emotions whirling across her features. “Even though it would’ve made you look less suspicious by comparison?”

“I doubt it would have done that,” I said, shaking my head. “No one believes I’m the traitor anymore. Not even Tiara. I don’t want conflict. I want this killing game to stop.”

The researcher worked her jaw, fresh doubt emerging to fight off the rest of her emotions. “But you’re still a pony. You still knew so much, anticipated so much.”

Okay, time to bring out the big guns. “I know. But I’ve got something here that will hopefully change your mind.” I brought out the picture and handed it to her.

She snatched it from my hand, frowning, before examining it closely. The more she looked, the wider her eyes became. “But, how? How is this possible? None of us knew each other before we got on this ship.”

“That’s what we thought too, when Trixie and I saw the picture,” I replied. “But we already know Monoponi stole our memories. He told us as much, remember? So I think this picture means that some of us knew each other. Maybe all of us. I think it’s likely we were all friends, and he took the memory of our friendship away.”

“But that’s, that would mean… oh my god.” Twilight gasped, her voice rising in volume in a hurry. “Oh my god, Timber and Wallflower, they must have been friends. And Sweetie and Apple Bloom too. And they killed each other. They killed their own friends! They-”

Leaping up in a panic I slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sssh!” I hissed. She struggled, pulling at my arm, mumbling scared noises through my hand. “Twilight, you almost broke the library rule!”

Twilight ceased her struggles. Slowly, I took my hand away, allowing the girl to speak again. She was too busy hyperventilating to speak, the fear in her eyes stark and obvious. I held her hand and made calming shushing noises. “Breathe, Twilight. Breathe. You’re okay. It’s okay. You didn’t actually break it. You’re okay.”

The poor nervous woman hugged herself, shaking like a leaf. “Oh my god I could’ve died,” she mumbled. “Monoponi would’ve killed me.”

“But he won’t,” I said firmly.

I stayed with her till she managed to calm her breathing. “You, you…” she huffed, staring at me with eyes agog. “You saved my life just now. You didn’t have to do that.” She blinked owlishly, hairs popping out of her bun in irregular curls. “You didn’t have to, but you did. Why?”

“It’s like I told you before, Twilight,” I replied with a sympathetic smile, “I’m trying to get everyone off this ship. Together. Alive.”

She stared at me, her expression cooling down into a curious gaze, without the cold scientific detachment she’d used with me so often lately. “You’re serious. You really mean what you say.”

My smile became strained, but I tried not to let it get to me. “Yes, Twilight. I do. Like I said before, I’m sorry you felt I betrayed your trust. I never meant for that to happen. I should’ve come clean about Equestria long before the second trial. I know I didn’t, and that was my mistake, and I’m sorry.”

For a moment there, I thought I’d gotten through to her. I thought she’d listen to me, that we’d managed to patch up the rift between us. Then all of a sudden, the cold detachment slipped right back into place. She flung my hand off hers like it was a buzzing insect. “I almost fell for that,” she growled, her voice taking on an element of black rage I’d never heard from her before. “I almost fell for that complete bullshit just now.”

“Huh?” My jaw fell open in shock. “What?”

“You heard me,” she spat, every word like a fresh dagger stabbing my heart. “I almost fell for your act. But I didn’t. Know why? Because of one little thing Monoponi said earlier, when he presented the motive. He said we had a count on this ship. Like he was trying to keep as many people alive as long as possible, to draw this out. You’re working with him. That’s why you stopped me just now. Not because you care about my life, but because you care about the game.”

“What?!” I barely kept my own volume under my control. “No, Twilight, that’s not it at all!”

“Really?” Twilight’s words dripped with mocking sarcasm. “I don’t know how you keep pulling the wool over everyone else’s eyes, but I can see right through it. You’ve been playing with our heads, toying with our emotions. I’ll bet every book I’ve ever owned you’ve been enjoying this killing game. From the start you’ve done everything you could to worm your way into our good graces, acting sooo innocent and helpful, always getting back up no matter how many times everyone else slapped you down. You’ve led us through two trials, guiding us at every twist and turn, keeping us focused so we wouldn’t notice what you’re really doing.”

My breath stuck in my throat, like a bulkhead door slamming shut, blocking off my lungs. My whole body ran cold, my blood like ice in my veins. “What?” I whispered, barely able to comprehend what I was hearing anymore. This had gone so abruptly south I didn’t know how to react.

“Sweetie Belle was right all along. You really are the traitor. You’re working with Monoponi to keep us dancing to his tune.” Twilight kept pouring on her acid-laced words till I was drowning in them. “Look at how you’ve befriended Trixie. Your relationship with Adagio Dazzle. You’ve even tamed Diamond Tiara somehow. Everything you’ve done has been to keep the game interesting, to keep us on our toes, to keep people from moving too fast, acting out of line. Especially Adagio. You had to pay special attention to her, didn’t you?”

I fell back in my chair, so overwhelmed by this accusation all I could do was manage to whisper, “What do you mean?” as tears ran down my face.

“I should’ve realized it the instant I got this secret, but I didn’t put it all together until just now.” Twilight pulled out her own Monopad and switched it on. “When I first saw it, I was wary of her. Suspicious. But I didn’t think much of it beyond that. I didn’t want her to realize what I knew. But couple that together with the knowledge of your relationship with her? The one that you started? You’re keeping her in check.”

Before I could ask her again, she held up her Monopad, showing off the secret she’d been sent by Monoponi back during the last motive.

This secret didn’t surprise me much, not after what Adagio had already told me. Was it a little creepy? Sure, but she was a siren. Creepy was kind of her thing. But worrying about Adagio was the last thing on my mind right now. “That doesn’t--I--”

“I’ll bet Monoponi assigned you to her. Isn’t that right?” Twilight snorted, turning off her Monopad and putting it away. “He knew she’d be all too happy to kill someone in this game, but he didn’t want her to go all homicidal right away. Oh no, no, no. He’s trying to keep things interesting. He told us that himself in the first trial. He wants to keep her around, so that when she does kill, it’s surprising. It’s heart-breaking. It makes for good. Drama.”

“No, no, come on, Twilight, none of that is true,” I said, finally managing to defend myself against this absurd accusation. “I’m not working with him, damn it.”

“Oh yes you are,” Twilight countered. A maniacal grin spread across her face as more and more hairs burst out of her bun. “I’m certain of it now. He made a mistake, telling us we could discuss our secrets. He shouldn’t have done that. He should’ve let you continue with whatever stupid plan you have here with me. I’ll bet you made that dream up just so you could try and get closer to me. Manipulate me. Turn me into a killer. Well I won’t listen. Not anymore. I’m going to tell everyone about this. Everyone!”

“No, Twilight, please!” Tears streamed down my face from a mixture of panic and outright sorrow as I reached out to try and take her hand again. “Please, listen to me. None of that is true. I’m not the traitor!”

She batted my hand away with enough force to leave a bruise. “Save it. I won’t believe a word from your mouth from here on out.” Twilight gathered up her things, stuffed them all in her backpack along with the book she’d been reading, all except for the picture. That, she threw in my face. As she walked out, she stopped just long enough to look over her shoulder and add, “Oh, and if I were you, Sunset? I’d watch my back.”

With that threat looming over me, she left, leaving me stunned. Overwhelmed. My face fell into my hands as I cried. I cried it all out, letting every bit of frustration go. Damn it. Damn it! I wanted to scream, to pitch a fit, to really make some noise as I sobbed, but I couldn’t. I still had enough wits about me to keep it quiet. I’m not sure how long I spent sitting there before my tears ran dry, but when they finally did, I was exhausted. And starving.

As I made my way back towards the food court, my thoughts raced a mile a minute. Now what am I going to do? Twilight’s completely against me now. God, she was starting to get convincing too. She’s not right… is she?

I froze in place, fear trickling down my spine. Could it be possible? Am I the traitor? What if Monoponi is using memory magic on me so I won’t remember what he tells me to do? What if he has me programmed so I act out everything he wants, then he--wait, no, what the hell am I thinking?

I slapped a palm to my face. That’s not possible. He’s been treating me like garbage every chance he gets. If he’d only done it when others were around, I’d worry it was just an act, a show he was putting on. But if that was the case, why would he have threatened me with death the day before the pool party? No, Twilight is wrong. She has to be wrong. I refuse to believe I’m some kind of puppet dangling on his hoof strings. I just hope no one listens to her. I don’t think anyone will at this point, but it’s still worrisome.

Resuming my walk, I reached the promenade in a hurry, with Twilight thankfully nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t the only one eating lunch. Pinkie Pie had a huge heaping pile of food on her plate, and was picking at it with more energy than I expected. She seemed calmer than earlier, less likely to wig out. Maybe she came down from her high. “Hey, Pinkie,” I greeted as I sat down next to her with my chicken taco salad.

“Oh hi Sunny,” Pinkie said, managing a small smile. It didn’t reach her eyes. Her hair remained flat as a pancake, no flounce at all.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked gently. “Hanging in there?”

Pinkied tucked a spoonful of mashed potatoes in her mouth. “Uhuh,” she mumbled, then swallowed. “Life could be worse, you know? At least we’re alive.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I stabbed a piece of chicken on my plate and popped it into my mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “Listen, Pinkie--”

“Twilight came by just now,” Pinkie interrupted, as she jammed another spoonful of potatoes down her gullet. “She said something about you being the traitor ‘cause of Adagio.”

I dropped my fork to my plate with a clatter, splashing a bit of salsa onto my shirt. “She did.”

“Yeah, she was so angry!” Pinkie set her spoon down so she could throw her arms out and gesticulate. “And scary too. She kept going on and on and stroked her hair and gnashed her teeth like some kind of freaky deaky loonie roonie!” A cold shiver ran through Pinkie. She clutched at her pocket and pulled something out, holding it just out of sight.

I glanced nervously at Pinkie’s hand for a moment, then took up my fork. “Then what happened?”

Pinkie giggle snorted. “I told her she was a silly billy and to go soak her head. She made some kind of goofy noise at me and then left. What a weirdo.”

I relaxed just a skosh, and took up a forkful of lettuce and chicken. “That’s… that’s good.”

“Aww, it’s okay Sunny, I know what you want to say. You were worried I’d listen to her, right?” Pinkie clapped me on the shoulder so hard I choked on my food, forcing me to grab for my cup of water. “But I won’t. I’ll never let you down, Sunny. You’re my friend, and I trust you.”

A nice warmth filled my chest at that. “Heh, thanks. I’m glad someone believes in me.”

Pinkie shivered again, harder this time. “Y-y-eah, I-I’ve always got y-your b-b-b-back,” she muttered.

“Are you okay, Pinkie?” I asked, the growing smile on my face replaced with concern. “Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?”

“Um, um, sure, that’d be great,” Pinkie said, sweat beading up on her brow, her mouth split by a nervous grin. “Hey Sunny, can you, um, can you turn around, for a minute? Please?”

My heart skipped a beat. “Uh, why?”

Her grin twisted into a grimace, edging on a nasty snarl. “Please,” she repeated through gritted teeth. “Now.”

Trying desperately to ignore the cold trickle of fear down my spine, I did as she asked, tensing up my body to bolt in case I heard the swish of something flying through the air. Briefly I heard some kind of popping sound, mixed with Pinkie letting out a loud sigh of relief. Then I heard a click, and a rustle of fabric. “Okay, you can turn around now,” she said.

Did she just… “Pinkie, what’d you do?” I asked, facing her.

Pinkie waved her arm lazily, bursting into giggles. “Ooooh nothing. Nothing you gotta worry about Sunny. I’m feeling suuuper loosey goosey now.”

She did. She took something. “Pinkie,” I said, crestfallen. I shucked my jacket and handed it over. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Uh-huh!” she chirped as she donned the jacket. “Oooh, warm! Thanks, Sunny.”

“Sure. You uh, you can keep it.” I set a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, Pinkie, if there’s something wrong, you can talk to me about it, okay? I’m a pretty good listener.”

Pinkie opened her mouth to speak, then snapped it shut. I watched a flurry of emotions pass across her features, then she spoke. “Sunny,” she said in a low, sorrowful tone, “can I ask you something?”

I nodded. “Go ahead.”

She sniffled as a few tears fell down her cheeks. “What would you do if you feel like you did something really, really bad, because someone else asked you to do something and said it was okay, and it wasn’t okay?”

Uh-oh. Does she mean…maybe I shouldn’t pry too hard. I might scare her off. “I guess I’d probably go ask the person who told me to do it why they said it was okay.”

“But what if you’re scared?” Pinkie asked. “What if you’re afraid they’ll yell at you, or worse?”

“Uh, well, in my case,” I said, scratching the back of my head, “I’d probably tell my friends where I was going? Or maybe take someone with me as backup.”

Pinkie squeezed her eyes shut. “But, but, what if you’re afraid everyone will think you did something bad? A-a-and everyone would be super mad, and you might get in big trouble, a-and maybe go to jail forever, or worse, you--”

“Pinkie.” My voice silenced her tirade. “What did you do?”

She gasped, holding a hand to her mouth. “Mmm-mm, mm-mm!” she mumbled, her eyes wider than dinner plates with panic.

“Woah, easy there, Pinkie, it’s okay,” I said, scooting my chair back to give her more space. “I wasn’t accusing you of anything. I’m just asking. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay.”

“Oh.” Pinkie dropped her hand, her whole body relaxing. “I was just wondering, then. Thanks, Sunny.” She gave me a sad smile. “It helped.”

Did it really? “Sure, I guess.”

She stood up and prepared to dump her tray. “Wait, Pinkie,” I said, holding out a hand. “Can you promise me something, please?”

Her eyes flashed momentarily with anger before she sighed. “What is it?”

I took a moment to carefully choose my words. “If you’ve got a problem, any kind of problem, please tell me, okay? I can help you.”

“Problem? Me? I don’t have a problem! No problem here, no siree!” Pinkie laughed sheepishly over and over in a long-lasting giggle fit. “Nope. No problems. None at all. Thanks Sunny.”

She pranced off before I could say anything else. Damn it. Now I’m certain she’s on some kind of drug. Maybe I should check the pharmacy, see what’s available. I hope it’s not something addictive. Last thing we need is a junkie running around.

I’d only ever stepped inside the pharmacy twice before. Once when I bought my small first aid kit, and once during the investigation of Wallflower’s death. There were shelves full of first aid kits, of all sizes, right at the front, and the register was also at the front, so both times I hadn’t bothered to go any deeper. Now, as I explored the shelves, I was utterly astonished at the variety available.

There were plenty of the usual drugs I was familiar with, of course. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin, naproxen sodium, the usual over the counter pain relievers. Plenty of anti-allergy medicine, cold and flu treatments, a whole heap of cough syrup, and more. Plus an entire section devoted to vitamins. All of the vitamins. I’d never seen ten different doses of vitamin K on a shelf before. Then there were the bandages, the tampons, pads, and other anti-period medications, anti-fungal creams, antibiotic ointment, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.

So far it hadn’t been much I wouldn’t expect to see at any pharmacy. But this was Monoponi’s ship, so as I wandered deeper, I discovered the… nastier section. Shelves stocked high with more illicit substances, the kind you think of when you think of the word drug. Oh, plenty of it was just marijuana, in the form of edibles, drinkables, tinctures, mixtures, and so on, nothing too strong, nothing illegal. But then, there were the… black painted shelves, marked with warning signs. Cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, oxycodone, GHB, PCP, LSD, MDMA, ketamine, anabolic steroids, the list went on, including many I hadn’t even heard of before. All of it available, and all of it shockingly addictive.

I also expected to find a shelf full of poisons, and thanked my lucky stars when I didn’t see any. Though given the bevy of substances available, I doubted we’d need anything explicitly marked as poison. Why bother with giving us something that lists explicit symptoms when you could just as easily force someone to OD on cocaine or some other drug. Sheesh, no wonder Monoponi left this place open last night. Even if we make it out of here some of us might end up in rehab thanks to this.

Whatever Pinkie was taking, I hoped it wasn’t one of these. I hoped she had more sense than that, sense enough to just use something like the strong marijuana. That stuff wasn’t addictive, at least.

While I was in the pharmacy I decided to purchase some multivitamins, some caffeine pills in case of long nights, and some pads. As I made my way back to the front, I realized there was a small shelf I’d missed, containing tote bags, water bottles, coffee mugs, and so on. Huh, that’s convenient. Must be where Pinkie got hers.

I returned to my cabin with my purchases, and pondered what to do next. Then I snapped my fingers. “Right, the archives. I wanted to check that.” I texted Adagio, asking her to meet me at the library.

We met up with little fanfare. I spotted Rarity reading in a corner of the first floor, and wisely let her be. Instead we went over to the archive door. “You really think we’re going to find anything?” Adagio asked with an arched eyebrow.

“No, but…” I tried the door anyway, jimmying the doorknob. Still locked. “Darn. Worth a shot. Oh well.”

I asked Adagio to follow me to the second floor, taking her to a side corner. Once there I quickly went over what happened between Twilight and myself. “Shit,” she breathed when I finished, her face paling.

“Adagio, please tell me that the ‘blood’ on your hands wasn’t recent,” I said with a troubled frown. When she didn’t answer immediately, my heart sank. “Adagio, please.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” she whispered. “A few years ago, before my sisters and I lost our gems, we ran across a group of three homeless men warming themselves by a fire in a barrel. We saw a chance to get a quick snack, so we took it. We manipulated them into arguing with each other. But we underestimated how much these men hated each other. It turned violent, vicious. One of them beat another to death, then ran after the third until they were both swept up by the cops.”

“Oh damn,” I replied, slack-jawed.

She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Sirens feed on negative emotions, Sunset, but we don’t kill people. At least, we’re not supposed to.”

Twin instincts blared in my head, one saying to run, the other saying to hug her. I went with the second one. “Was that the first time that happened?”

“...No,” Adagio said, bowing her head and squeezing her eyes shut. “It never happened in Equestria, but here, on Earth? It’s happened over and over.” She opened her eyes, full of malice. “Humans. I told you, Sunset. They’re violent. Hateful. They do things no pony or siren ever would, and they do it casually, without even thinking about it. I’ve seen it again and again.”

She wasn’t wrong. When I first arrived on Earth, completely new to this world, I read as many history books as I could, whenever I got the chance. The level of violence, of warfare, in human history exceeds that of Equestria by tens, even hundreds of times over. Equestrians, whether they were pony, siren, or anything else, hardly ever do that. Oh, there were those who overthrew other countries now and again. Violence wasn’t unheard of. But humans seemed to revel in it to such a ridiculous excess by comparison. No wonder Adagio hadn’t trusted anyone other than me.

I didn’t waste Adagio’s time by muttering platitudes. Instead, I held her tighter, staying with her until I felt her relax. “Thanks,” she grumbled, wriggling out of my grip as her cheeks bloomed.

“You’re welcome. I snickered at her obvious embarrassment. The brief flicker of happiness faded as I said, “So what do we do about Twilight?”

“We? Nothing.” Adagio crossed her arms over her chest. “Not together, anyway. We’ll only make her look more credible if we react like that. Let her rant. She’ll probably miss the evening meeting anyway, since her guard shift is at 2:00 AM.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Adagio uncrossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg. “By the way,” she said, gesturing with her hand and frowning, “I think I’m going to spend tonight in my own cabin. I’m tired of listening to Trixie moan in her sleep about rotelle.” She raised one eyebrow at me. “Unless you think you can convince her to sleep on her own instead.”

I shook my head. “No, I doubt it. If anything, Trixie’s even more terrified after Fluttershy died. And I don’t blame her. You do what you need to. I can deal with Trixie’s sleep talking.”

Sure enough, when the evening meeting rolled around, Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Rainbow Dash. Both were in their rooms asleep, according to Scootaloo. Diamond Tiara spent most of the meeting going on and on about how we needed to stick together as a team, to the point of being a little nauseating even for my taste. No one else contributed much, especially not Pinkie Pie, who was back to her mood swings.

I spent the rest of the evening with Trixie in the game corner, finding a co-op RPG to play together. We chatted some about her father, since I brought up her secret. “Trixie knows he abandoned her,” she pouted, “but she still loves him. One of these days, when she can afford to travel the world, she’ll find him again.”

Focused on the game, it took me a few minutes before I could respond. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Honestly? No. But Trixie will do it anyway.” Trixie sent her character in game careening into a horde of goblins like a bowling ball. “You’ve never met him. You don’t know the magic he’s capable of. Trixie is incredible, powerful and great, but compared to him? She’s a mere apprentice.”

“Huh. Sounds pretty nice then. Maybe when we all escape from here we should catch one of his magic shows, if he still holds them.”

Trixie smiled. “Trixie would like that.”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

As Monoponi’s nighttime announcement rang throughout the ship, we headed back to my cabin, waving to Scootaloo as the poor exhausted woman walked back to hers, her long patrol shift finally over. Once we got in, I went to change into my pajamas. Trixie had found me a pair in the same place she’d found her own. Turns out they’d been in one of the laundry room dryers, a set of pajamas for all of us in matching colors. Who knew?

Sinking into the freshly laundered sheets, I concluded that yes, Trixie was right. They needed the wash. “No Adagio?” Trixie inquired as she joined me.

“No, she wanted to sleep in her own cabin tonight.” I grinned at my illusionist friend. “She hates your sleep talking.”

Trixie held a hand to her breast. “What? Trixie does not sleep talk! She would never!”

“Uh, I hate to break the bad news Trixie, but you do,” I said, snickering.

With a dramatic roll of her eyes and a sigh, Trixie laid down. “Trixie is offended by this assertion. She asks that you prove it.”

I pulled out my Monopad and grinned cheekily. “I can, if you want me to.”

Trixie blew a sigh out through her nose as she glared at me. “That won’t be necessary. Trixie concedes.”

I laughed as I rolled over, finding a more comfortable posture. “I hope I can sleep tonight. I’m pretty worried about Twilight.”

Trixie’s face fell. “Oh. Yes. Trixie was confronted by Twilight earlier today. She was ranting and raving so much she gave Trixie a headache.” She reached out to pull my arm over, holding it like it was a security blanket. “Sunset, there’s nothing true about what she said, is there?”

I shook my head firmly. “No, Trixie. There isn’t. Twilight’s picking apart at coincidences and making up things out of nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Trixie frowned, but said nothing as she switched the light off. Soon, I was out like a light, completely dead to the world, lost in bizarre dreams until morning.

DING-DONG BING-BONG

As usual, I awoke to the morning announcement, tuning out Monoponi’s irritating voice. Despite my worries from the previous night, I’d slept pretty well. “Morning, Trixie,” I said, sitting up with a yawn.

Then I blinked. Trixie wasn’t in bed. She was already in the bathroom, showering. I shrugged. “Must’ve woken up early.”

So I waited patiently for my turn, and soon enough we were both headed to the food court, having met up with Adagio along the way. The siren looked remarkably alert. “Sleep well?” I said, grinning.

“Soundly,” Adagio grinned back. “That was a good idea.”

“Oh, by the way, you left your first aid kit in my room last night,” I said, taking a moment to rummage through my backpack and pull out the massive thing. “Here.”

Adagio had the good grace to look abashed as she took it. “Thank you. Don’t know why I forgot it.”

As we arrived, we split up to gather our breakfast, then joined the others. Apart from Applejack, who was standing guard at the access stairwell, and Rarity, who waved at me with a small smile as she walked by on patrol, just about everyone was there already. Even Rainbow Dash and Twilight were present. Twilight was in one corner of the food court, sitting next to Flash, glaring my way with a look of utter black hatred. Rainbow seemed even angrier this morning than she had the last, tearing into her breakfast sandwich like she hadn’t eaten in months.

It was only after I’d taken a few bites of my fruit salad that I realized someone was missing. “Hey, guys, where’s Pinkie Pie?”

Diamond Tiara frowned. “Didn’t anyone see her when we all got up?”

“Nuh-uh,” Scootaloo replied, her face crinkling up with worry. “I haven’t. I didn’t check her room either.”

Diamond Tiara whipped out her Monopad and shot off a quick text. “Just asked Applejack to check for us. I swear, if she’s sleeping in…” Her Monopad bleeped, and as she read it, her face grew concerned. “She’s not answering her door.”

“I’ll try texting her,” Scootaloo said, bringing out her own Monopad.

“Uh, I don’t want to worry anyone, but when was the last time anyone saw her?” Flash said, standing up in a hurry.

“I saw her when I started my guard shift, and a few times throughout it,” Tiara answered, also getting to her feet. “But I don’t remember if I saw her go back to her cabin.”

Twilight set her fork down. “Should we go look for her?”

“Do we really have to?” Rainbow Dash groused, her voice bitter.

Scootaloo looked up, her eyes full of panic. “Guys, she’s not answering her texts either.”

Adagio stood up. “I think we should, yes.”

Tiara nodded, and tapped out a text to Applejack and Rarity. “Alright everyone, split up! We’ll track her down.”

“Where do you think she is?” Adagio asked me as she, Trixie, and I formed a team.

“Trixie thinks she could be anywhere,” Trixie said sadly, squeezing her cloak in her hands. “Trixie is afraid she might be--”

“No. Don’t say it. Please,” I said. I directed us towards the pharmacy first, just in case, but she wasn’t there. So we swept towards the promenade offshoot, heading for the theater first. Before we entered it, though, we heard a bone-chilling scream echo from down the promenade stairs.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

“That sounded like Rarity!” I blurted. “Come on, this way!”

We ran as fast as we could, leaping down the stairs, into the open door of the fitness center, finding Rarity staring at the floor in the weight-room. “Are you okay, Rarity?” I asked as we arrived.

“I--I’m fine darlings, but look, blood!” She pointed, and sure enough, there was a large puddle of blood soaking into the carpet, all rust-pink and gross. The rest of the weight room didn’t look much better, with half the machines tipped over, dumbbells knocked loose, etc. But Pinkie’s body was nowhere to be seen.

“She’s not here. Rarity, come on, let’s check the rest of the center. She might need our help.”

With Rarity in tow as our fourth, we entered the corridor for the basketball and squash courts. I didn’t see anything in either of them, so I hurried us forward into the indoor pool area. Please be okay. God, Pinkie Pie, please be okay!

But as we entered, I discovered my prayers had fallen on deaf ears. Once again, my heart sank into a deep, bottomless abyss, the gnawing emptiness clawing at my soul, threatening to swallow me whole.

Because there, floating face up in the pool, her whole body swollen up like a balloon, was the decaying remains of Pinkamena Diane Pie.

Author's Notes:

Pinkie Pie was not intended to be a surprise victim, so I hope I didn't startle too many with this one. The real surprises are yet to come.

Next time: the investigation.

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 5

Rarity uttered another spine-tingling shriek, clapping her hands to her head before fainting. I just caught her in time to save her from cracking her head on the tile.

“Holy hell,” Adagio muttered, staring wide-eyed at the bloated corpse. “What happened to her?”

“Murder,” Trixie squeaked as she clapsed her face in her hands. Tears drizzled between her fingers. “It happened again. It happened again!”

DING-DONG DONG-DING

That wretched happy tone signaled Monoponie’s appearance on the poolside screens. He had a large pot of coffee gripped between his forehooves, chugging it like a frat boy on a Friday night. “A body has been discovered!” he chortled. “Please gather at the indoor pool in the fitness center, at once!”

As his image winked off, I gently set Rarity down on the floor, and popped out my first aid kit from my backpack, locating some smelling salts. I wafted them under Rarity’s nose till she sat up, coughing and spluttering. “Ugh, really, darling, must you use that wretched substance?”

“Sorry,” I frowned apologetically as I helped her sit up. “But we can’t be having you passed out right now.”

Rarity let out a sorrowful moan when she saw Pinkie’s body again. “Oh why did this have to happen? Pinkie Pie didn’t deserve this…”

Applejack was the first to arrive, galloping in with her whole body tensed up like a steel suspension cable. “Was it Pink--oh mah sweet lord,” she gasped, skidding to a halt. She took off her hat and held it to her breast.

Diamond Tiara barreled in next, took one look at Pinkie’s body, and cursed.

Flash and Twilight arrived next, with Flash bursting out screaming the instant he saw the body. Twilight gripped his arm, silent tears running down her face.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were the last to arrive. Rainbow grit her teeth, her fists squeezed so hard at her sides they turned white. Scootaloo stomped her foot, glaring at us with a combination of rage and sorrow, tears streaming from her eyes. “Someone did it again,” she spat. “Why? Why can’t we stop killing each other?!”

“Because it’s just too much fun!” Monoponi blurted as he flashed into existence in a large sweeping flight over the pool, coming for a landing right before us. He twirled on his hooves to look at the body. “Well well, Pinkie Pie perished particularly painfully, didn’t she? Ahahahaha!”

“Sure looks like it,” Adagio agreed, her fale turning pale tinged with green. “Her body’s so swollen too. How long ago did she die?”

“Oh, you don’t really expect me to just tell that to you, do you?” Monoponi mocked, holding a hoof to his mouth. “Upupu. That’s what the investigation is for!”

Diamond Tiara slammed a fist into the closest nearby object, in this case one of the bleachers. “But this is impossible! We set up guard schedules and everything! We should’ve had someone patrolling in here all night! How did the killer get through all that? Why didn’t anyone notice her body?”

“Oh, what’s that, your pathetic little security measures failed?” Monoponi rushed at her, eliciting a scream of terror before he retreated. “Ahahaha, you’re still the same old coward. Diamond Tiara, the useless stupid rich kid no one likes or respects. Is it any wonder your plan failed?”

Gritting her teeth, Tiara scrambled to her feet and backed away from the alicorn, putting several of us between her and him. “Goddamn little shit,” I heard her mutter.

“Well, now that that’s out of way,” Monoponi said, twirling about on his hoof till he faced the rest of us. “Are there any other wastes of time you idiots want to indulge in? Hmm?” He held up a hoof to his ear. “What’s that? No pointless accusations of your Captain? No piddling about with pretending you’re all innocent little fillies and colts who’d never harm a hair on anypony else’s head? No? Good! You’re finally learning.”

His horn flashed, and our Monopads all bleeped at once. “Now, before you get started on the investigation, I’m going to ask you to check your Monopad. There’s a special little surprise in store for you, upupupu!”

Feeling a sense of dread overtake me, I switched on my Monopad screen, tabbed over to evidence… and almost dropped the pad on the floor.

Fact #1: Monoponi File IIIa: “The victim is Fluttershy, the Ultimate Veterinarian. She was executed by machine gun turrets on the promenade at approximately 6:15 PM Tuesday evening, due to her theft of a tourmaline encrusted gold ring from the jewelry store.”

“What?” I breathed. “Fluttershy?! But I thought she was executed for rule breaking! What does she have to do with Pinkie Pie?”

Similar outbursts of incredulity arose from everyone else present, except for Rainbow Dash. Shaking in fury didn’t come close to describing the outpouring of anger from her. An aura ignited all around her, glowing in a brilliant burst of white-hot rage scintillating with every color of the rainbow, burning so bright I could barely stand to look at her. What the hell? Since when does Rainbow Dash have magic?!

“Good heavens!” Rarity burst out, hiding behind Applejack, pointing a shaky finger at the glowing Dash. “What on earth is happening?”

“Aaaah!” Trixie cried, diving for the doorway to the courts.

“Woho, that’s not supposed to happen!” Monoponi blurted, a look of panic rising on his face. His horn lit up in dark crimson, lashing out like a bullwhip to curl around Rainbow Dash. She spun like a tornado as he drained the aura from her, leaving her sprawled on the floor, clutching her head and moaning. “Muuuch better. Must’ve missed some the last time.”

I knelt down to look over Rainbow Dash and had to leap away to avoid a sudden splash of vomit, the poor girl heaving up every last bit of food in her belly. As I took out my first aid kit, searching for something to soothe her aching stomach, I said, “The last time? What do you me--”

“No questions! I won’t say a single word! You’ll get nothing from me!” Monoponi clammed up, shoving both forehooves into his mouth to block it off, and mumbled some more inanities I couldn’t make out.

“Fine, whatever.” I could worry about whatever the hell that was later. I dug out some chewable tablets and unwrapped them. “Here, take this, Rainbow.”

“Thanks,” she muttered, tossing them into her mouth.

“Nevermind the glowing light show!” Tiara interrupted, stomping a foot for attention. “What’s up with Fluttershy being a victim?”

All amusement vanished from Monoponi’s face as he gnashed his teeth, wriggling all six limbs in frustration. “Because someone tricked me! Some little shit planted that ring on Fluttershy, and made me do the hard work of killing her for them! This is an outrage! I won’t stand for such mockery, such devious trickery on my ship! No one makes a fool out of Captain Monoponi!”

Oh my god. Is that what Pinkie Pie was talking about to me last night? “But,” I said aloud, “why didn’t you call a trial after it happened?”

“Upupu, the blame lies with you, Sunset!” Monoponi giggled, pointing a hoof squarely at me. “I told you I heard your little conversation the other day! You said there’d be two victims! Well, now there’s two victims! Ahahahaha!”

Several people cast dark, furious glares my way, but I tried to ignore them. It’s not my fault. I didn’t kill Pinkie. I didn’t kill Fluttershy. I won’t accept the blame for this. “So you deliberately goaded us into killing someone else just so you could run a trial for both of them.”

“Exactly!” Tittering, Monoponi twirled on his rear hooves like a ballerina, then settled back down on all fours. “After all, if I’m going to hold a trial, why not make it big? Bold? Exciting even!”

“Wait, if there’s two victims,” Scootaloo pointed out, growing horror ever increasing on her face, “Does that mean there are two blackeneds?!”

My heart hammered like a rampaging elephant trying to burst out through my chest. “Two blackeneds…”

“Is it even possible?!” Rarity squealed, looking close to fainting again. Applejack took a step closer to her, ready to catch her if need be.

“Are there two? Is there one? Who knows?! Well, I do, but I won’t tell you, upupupu!” With a flourish of his horn our Monopads received the second file. “I’ll tell you this. If and only if there are two blackeneds, you’ll have to find both of them to succeed in this trial! Failure to find one will mean your death!” His muzzle split open, revealing his sharp, jagged teeth, dripping with drool. “And nothing would make me happier than to put all of you idiots out of my misery at once!”

“Great,” Twilight grumbled dryly, throwing up her hands so they could clap at her sides. “Wonderful. Fantastic. Brilliant! Absolutely amazing!” She shook her head in disbelief. “Don’t even know how many people we’re looking for this time. How will we know what is and isn’t important?”

“Don’t ask me!” Monoponi retorted, waving a hoof dismissively at her.”That’s for you to decide, not I!”

“Excuse me, Monoponi,” Adagio said, her smile and tone dripping with acidic non-sincerity. “But if there’s two blackeneds, who gets executed? Will you kill them both?”

We all fell silent. It was a damned good question. Who would be executed? I’ll bet he’ll make us pick. He’s that kind of sadist.

“Hmm… hmmm… “ Monoponi spent several minutes scratching his chin, then set a hoof to his mouth. “Ahaha, I know! I won’t tell you!”

“What?” the siren blurted, all traces of respect gone in a flash of ire. “Why not?”

“Because it’s more fun this way,” Monoponi giggled. “You won’t find out who dies until after you’ve successfully determined whether there's one or two blackeneds! Oooh the suspense will be so thrilling! Eyahahahaha!”

“Grrrr…” Adagio hissed, her hands curling up like claws.

I set a hand on her shoulder. “Easy there, Adagio,” I said in a soothing tone. She shrugged me off, but nodded at me all the same.

“Are we done here?” Monoponi demanded, glaring at us all. “Yes? No? Yes? No more questions? Well then get to it, idiots! Your investigation time starts now!” He disappeared in a brilliant flash of crimson light.

Here we go again. Once again, we’ve got to track down the culprit. Or culprits. Whichever it may be. I set my features into grim determination, nodding to myself. Either way, I’m ready. Let’s do this.

Before I did anything else, I bent down again to check on Rainbow. “How’re you doing, Rainbow?”

Rainbow’s cheeks bulged and she clapped a hand to her mouth, rocking back and forth for a moment before relaxing. “Not good,” she moaned. “Like I was tossed through a dryer on spin cycle. At a thousand miles an hour.”

“Maybe you should guard the body, then,” I said, smiling sympathetically.

“But… I… Fluttershy--”

“I know,” I said, holding out a hand. “I know. Don’t worry. I’ll crack the case for you, I promise. Alright? You need to take care of yourself. Being drained like that isn’t good for you.”

“Do you know what Monoponi did, Sunset?” Twilight interrupted, glaring at me. “Wait, what am I saying. Of course you do. Because you’re--”

“I’m only going to say this once,” said Adagio Dazzle as she clapped a hand on Twilight’s shoulder so hard the researcher yelped in pain. Adagio spun Twilight around and focused her wintery cold predatory gaze with bared teeth, causing the younger woman to freeze up in fright. “Don’t. Waste. Our. Time. If you want to accuse Sunset, save it for the trial. Got it?”

“Mmhmm!” Twilight mumbled, nodding like a bobble head.

Adagio flashed her a mocking smile then shoved her away stumbling into Flash Sentry’s waiting arms. “Good.”

“Hey, what the hell, Adagio!” Flash protested, cradling Twilight protectively. “You don’t have to threaten her like that!”

“Shut it, Sentry,” Adagio barked, looking every bit the rude, nasty woman she’d been on the first night of our voyage as she flipped him off. “We don’t have time to argue.”

Flash sneered, his upper lip quivering. “Come on, Twilight, let’s go search somewhere else.” He took a brief moment to glare daggers at me before they left the room altogether.

I sighed in frustration. “Adagio…”

Adagio whirled on me, grimacing. “Like I told him, no time, Sunset.”

“I know, I know… we still need someone else to guard the body with Rainbow though.”

Scootaloo stepped forward, raising a hand. “I’ll stick with Rainbow Dash. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

Smiling, I handed over my first aid kit. “Take this, then. She’ll probably need more antacids.”

Tossing off a two-fingered salute, Scootaloo took the kit and started keeping watch.

Okay. Time to check the file. I switched my Monopad back on and clicked over to the second file.

Fact #2: Monoponi File IIIb: “The victim is Pinkie Pie, the Ultimate Party Planner. The victim’s body has multiple injuries, including blunt force trauma to the head, puncture wounds on the arms, and the fifth metacarpal bone of both hands are broken. Signs of opioids were discovered in the victim’s blood.”

“Woah nelly,” Applejack breathed as she read over my shoulder. “Poor girl went through the ringer, didn’t she?”

“She sure did. No time of death either, so who knows when it happened.” looked up at the body, recoiling in disgust at the sight. “Did you want to examine the body with me?”

“If it’s all the same to you Ah’d rather keep an eye on Rarity,” Applejack said, shaking her head. “It’s not a pretty sight, so Ah don’t blame her if she doesn’t want to stick around.”

Trixie’s hand shot up. “Um, Sunset, if it’s okay with you, Trixie wants to help.” She stood up shakily, stabilizing herself by grabbing onto my shoulder.

I arched an eyebrow at the illusionist, noting how pale she looked. “Are you sure? This is gonna be pretty gross.”

“Yes,” Trixie said, gulping nervously. “Trixie hasn’t been much help in the past two investigations. She doesn’t want to sit on the sidelines this time.”

“Alright then. Adagio, do you have the gloves?”

The siren reached into her pockets and tossed us each a pair of disposables. “Right here.”

I thanked her, slipped them on with a snap, then made my way towards the body. Pinkie’s bloated corpse drifted in the water, just close enough to be reached without going in. Not wanting to get soaked, Adagio and I carefully took hold of the body and dragged it out of the water, splashing water everywhere into our shoes. “So gross,” I groaned.

Every part of her exposed body was like sandpaper, red, rough, and dried out, like she’d suffered chemical burns. Her lips, eyelids, fingers, arms, legs, and cheeks had swollen up like she’d been filed up by a bicycle pump. Her mouth was open, too, exposing her tongue, like a fat slug. Her hair was sticky with blood in many places, difficult to make out due to the similar color.

Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns.”

Remembering the Monoponi file, I decided to examine her head first, searching for the wound, and found it right on the back of her head where the parietal and occipital skull bones met. It was nasty, a huge gash torn open to the bone, revealing dozens of cracks zigzagging out from the impact site. The entire back of her head was stained pink with her blood. My gorge rose, but I forced it back down, trying to maintain some form of clinical detachment. “Jeez, Pinkie, this must’ve hurt bad,” I muttered.

“What do you think caused it?” Adagio wondered, equally disgusted.

Trixie took one look at the wound and cringed, holding her arm to her mouth. “Trixie doesn’t want to know,” she mumbled.

*Updated* Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns. The back of her skull was broken open by the impact of a blunt object.”

I moved on to her arms. She was still dressed in the jacket I’d lent her, the leather ruined by the water damage. I rolled up the sleeves and checked her left arm first. Sure enough, there were the puncture wounds mentioned, a whole bunch of little ones spotted up and down her arm. “Needles,” I said in a melancholy tone. “She was injecting herself with needles.”

“That’d explain the opioids mentioned in the Monoponi file,” Adagio said, nodding.

“She injected herself right in front of me once, yesterday,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut. “She made me turn away so I couldn’t see her do it. Damn it, I should’ve just stopped her then.”

*Updated* Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns. The back of her skull was broken open by the impact of a blunt object. There are multiple puncture wounds, consistent with needles, on both of her arms.”

“Why is she wearing one of your jackets?” Trixie asked, holding up the material in question.

“Oh, I gave it to her, because she was shivering and cold,” I answered. “Probably a side effect of withdrawal from whatever drug she was using.”

Adagio stood up, stretching out her arms as her knees popped and crackled. “Mrph, we should check her room, see if we can’t find what she was using.”

I raised a hand to my chin, only just barely remembering in time not to actually touch myself with the blood soaked glove. “But aren’t the rooms locked?”

“She might have her room key on her still,” Trixie muttered. Sticking out her tongue from the effort, she fumbled through Pinkie’s skirt pockets till she pulled out something shiny, dangling it in her hand. “Here we go. One key.” She set it down and scooted it over. “Huh, there’s actually a second key here. Nothing else though.” She tossed the second key over.

“Wait, really?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t she have her Monopad?” I took a moment to search Pinkie’s pockets, including the pockets of the jacket, but I didn’t find anything. “I thought we were supposed to keep our Monopads on us at all times.”

“Yeah,” Trixie mused with a frown. “That is what Trixie thought too. Maybe someone took it?”

“But that’s against the rules,” I pointed out. “Unless that rule doesn’t apply once someone’s dead.”

“Maybe it doesn’t. We never asked,” Trixie said, shrugging.

Shrugging back, I decided to examine her hands next. Unfortunately, due to the swelling, it was very difficult to tell what was and wasn’t broken in her hand. The skin of her hands had started to slough off, especially along the pinkie finger and wrist. Whatever broke her hands inflicted serious damage, enough to leave them especially vulnerable to watery decomposition.

*Updated* Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns. The back of her skull was broken open by the impact of a blunt object. There are multiple puncture wounds, consistent with needles, on both of her arms. The skin along both hands had started to slough off.”

Adagio stripped off her gloves. “I’d say we’re done here. I want to go check out that scene in the weight room. We didn’t get a close look at it.”

Trixie sprang up from the body in a hurry, holding an arm to her mouth. “Trixie is all too happy to follow.”

“Sure, go ahead. I just want to give the body a quick once over, in case we missed anything,” I replied, kneeling back over it.

I felt Adagio’s hand grip my shoulder. “No time, Sunset. Come on.”

“Wha--hey!” I found myself dragged up to my feet, spun around, and pushed back towards the weight rooms. “But we weren’t done! What if we missed something?”

“I doubt we did,” Adagio growled. “Come on.”

Fine, jeez. I stripped off my gloves and tossed them in a bin as we passed by the courts. We entered the weight room, finding Diamond Tiara walking around, snapping pictures with her Monopad. I quietly took in the scene.

The puddle of blood we’d noticed was right in the center of the room. It was a good six inches or more across, congealed and half dried into an ugly rusty dark pink color. There was a single bloody footprint sticking out of the puddle, just the heel portion, so it could’ve belonged to anyone. All of the equipment around the pool was disturbed, knocked over, or moved out of position.

Fact #4: Weight-Lifting Room: “The central mat is covered in a large half-dried bloodstain with a single bloody footprint heel emerging from it. The equipment in the room was moved around and disturbed, suggesting a struggle.”

I bent down to look closer at the bloodstain and the surrounding area, for anything out of place. “Hey, look at this, guys,” I said. There were a number of hairs scattered around the scene, all over the place. Some of them were curly and pink, just like Pinkie’s hair. The rest were yellow and straight. All except for one. That one was wavy and purple. Odd.

*Updated* Fact #4: Weight-Lifting Room: “The central mat is covered in a large half-dried bloodstain with a single bloody footprint heel emerging from it. The equipment in the room was moved around and disturbed, suggesting a struggle. Curly pink hairs and straight yellow hairs were discovered at the scene, alongside a single wavy purple hair.”

“Hmm…” Trixie muttered, scratching her chin, narrowing her eyes at the two of us. “This isn’t either of you, right?” Adagio’s icy returning stare said it all. Trixie let out a yelp and stepped back. “Sorry, sorry!”

“Anyway,” Adagio groused, scanning the room, “I don’t see the murder weapon anywhere. What do you think they used?”

“Check the shelves,” I ordered, moving over to them. I scanned up and down the shelves of kettlebells, medicine balls, dumbbells… and then I spotted one, with just the slightest hint of pink on it. I pulled on it, winced, then took hold of it with both hands. “Jeez this is heavy.” I held it up as high as I could so I could check the weight. Seventy pounds. No wonder. I managed to turn it around in my hands enough to see the pink splotch I noticed. It was very faint, barely present on one end. Like someone cleaned it off and missed a spot. I checked for any other bits, but I didn’t see any.

Fact #5: Dumbbell: “A seventy pound dumbbell, with a small splotch of blood on one end.”

I handed it over to Adagio, who, to my surprise, easily handled it in one hand. “Huh. Pretty heavy,” she murmured. She held it up over her head, then gave it a couple of practice swings. “This wouldn’t be easy to use for most people.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “Probably only yourself, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and maybe Flash Sentry could use it.”

“And Rarity,” Trixie added. “Rarity is way stronger than she looks.”

*Updated* Fact #5: Dumbbell: “A seventy pound dumbbell, with a small splotch of blood on one end. Only five people could use it as a weapon: Flash Sentry, Adagio Dazzle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.”

While Adagio set the dumbbell down, I walked over to Diamond Tiara. “Hey, Tiara, did you see anything stand out we hadn’t noticed yet?”

Tiara smirked. “Yeah, actually,” she said, pointing at a shelf of free weights in the corner. “Take a look under that shelf.”

Navigating through the machines, I bent down to look under the shelf. Sure enough, there were several loose circular weights there, dripping wet onto a towel tucked underneath them. A jump rope was threaded through each of the weights, tied in loose knots at both ends. Each weight was a good fifty pounds.“What the heck?”

Fact #6: Free Weights and Rope: “A group of four fifty pound free weights, placed under the free weight shelf, dripping with water. They were tied together with a jump rope threaded through and knotted loosely at both ends.”

“Weird, isn’t it?” Tiara commented as I stood back up.

I glanced at Adagio, who shrugged. Poor Trixie looked utterly baffled, holding her hands to her chest as she pouted. “Trixie doesn’t understand.”

“We’ve still got a lot to examine, Trixie, don’t worry,” I said, patting her on the shoulder. “Actually, Tiara, while I have you here, do you think you could share with me the guard schedule over the last day? We didn’t get a time of death for Pinkie.”

Diamond Tiara rummaged through her pack and pulled out her notebook. “Here. Take a picture. S is for stationary, P for patrol.”

Fact #7: Guard Schedule: “The guard schedule on Wednesday into Thursday is as follows:
2:00 PM Trixie S/Scootaloo P
6:00 PM Adagio Dazzle S/Scootaloo P
10:00 PM Diamond Tiara S/Pinkie Pie P
-----Midnight---
2:00 AM Twilight Sparkle S/Rainbow Dash P
6:00 AM Applejack S/Rarity P
10:00 AM Flash Sentry S/Sunset Shimmer P

“Thanks,” I said, noting this down. Then I turned to Trixie and Adagio. “Why don’t we look around the rest of the fitness center? I want to make sure we don’t overlook anything.”

I first took a couple minutes to glance over the cardio room, but I didn’t see anything out of place. Nor was there anything out of place in the open space room, apart from a single missing jump rope, presumably the same one tied to the weights. Then we went into the locker room. Most of the lockers were empty, but one was closed, with a simple padlock on it. “Hmm, I wonder…” I pulled out the second key we found on Pinkie’s body. It was a perfect fit. Inside I found... “What the hell?”

It was the picture. The picture of Applejack and Rarity, along with their sisters, eating at the diner. “Why was this on her? Last I knew, I had it in my… pocket…” My face turned pale. “Uh, Adagio, Trixie, did either of you happen to empty the pockets from my clothes when you did laundry yesterday?”

“Of course I did,” Adagio snorted. “I remember seeing the picture. I put it with a couple of other things on top of my basket. I know I put it back in your cabin.”

“Did you?”

Now it was Adagio’s turn to blanch. “I thought I did…”

“Wait a minute. Let Trixie see that picture, please,” Trixie requested, holding out a hand.

Fact #8: Photo #1: “A picture of Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom eating together at a diner. Applejack and Rarity are wearing matching rings.”

“Oh, right, you haven’t seen this yet, have you?” I said, handing it over with a light blush to my cheeks. “Sorry, Adagio, Pinkie and I found it exploring, and we were trying to keep it quiet. We were worried it might cause… problems.”

“Trixie can see why,” said the illusionist, gaping at the picture in awe. “Rarity and Applejack were married… Trixie did not see that coming.” She handed it back over to me.

I shrugged, and made sure to tuck the picture away safely. The question is, did Pinkie find it, or was it planted?

I checked the locker, running my hands through it in case there was something else. And sure enough, in the back, I found a Monopad, with a name etched in golden letters on the back: Pinkamena Diane Pie. “Huh, here’s her Monopad,” I said as I switched it on. There were several unanswered texts from various people this morning, when we were searching for her. She’d sent check-in-texts during her guard shift, every fifteen minutes like clockwork. She had nothing recorded on the audio. Nothing on pictures either, save for one. “Woah.”

I showed it to the other two. “That’s… ominous looking,” Trixie said, cringing.

Fact #9: Photo #2: “A picture taken by Pinkie Pie’s Monopad in the weight room, showing the silhouette of someone with long hair approaching her with a dumbbell in hand, blanked out due to a bright light behind them. Pinkie’s skirt is visible in the picture.”

“She must’ve taken that just before she died,” Adagio said, shaking her head softly.

Did she? If she did, how’d the Monopad end up in the locker? And why did she have the key? Something about this doesn’t feel right. I switched off Pinkie’s Monopad and placed it carefully in my backpack, along with the lock and key from the locker. I had the feeling they’d prove important.

“Okay, now just the sau--”

“Sunset,” Adagio cut me off instantly, her eyes flashing with crimson. “We need to investigate Pinkie’s room. We don’t have time to waste.”

Okay, enough’s enough. “Adagio, what is your deal? Why do you keep trying to rush us?” I crossed my arms over my chest, refusing to back down as I matched Adagio glare for glare. “Are you trying to hide something?”

“No!” Adagio spat, baring her teeth. Her jaws opened just a tad, as if threatening to lunge for my throat. “Don’t be a fool!”

“Then tell me why you keep pushing us along,” I insisted, lowering my stance and inching my forehead forward, like I was bringing the horn I didn’t have to bear.

“Grrrrr… augh!” Adagio threw up her hands in disgust, giving up the fight. “Because of Rainbow Dash. You understood what we saw, right? That was real Equestrian magic she used.”

The beginnings of a pounding headache arose in my skull. “I’m well aware of that, Adagio.”

“A-and you saw what Monoponi did, right? He drained her. Like some kind of siphon!” My siren lover gesticulated wildly as she spoke, every word more frantic and crazed than the last. “That takes dark magic. Evil magic. The kind that corrupts you, warps you, perverts you into a twisted soulless demon!”

“I know that Adagio!” I retorted, groaning. “But we can’t just drop everything to focus on that. We need to focus on the trial. We have two blackeneds to find, remember?”

“But if Rainbow Dash has magic, doesn’t that mean it’s possible we all have magic?” Adagio gripped a handful of her bushy hair, pulling at it in her frustration. “What if all we have to do to get out of here is--”

“Um, excuse Trixie,” interrupted the illusionist, a look of utter bafflement on her face, “but how do you know how magic works, Adagio?”

Adagio stiffened, her breath quickening. “Uh. er, I, that is--”

“I told her all about it,” I said, jumping in to cover for her. We’ve kept her secret so far. I’m not about to let it out now. “The day after the first trial. She asked me all about it, so I told her as much as I remembered.”

Trixie leered at me, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Really. But Trixie thought you told us all you could the other day. And you never said anything about this… dark magic stuff.”

I gave her a big toothy smile. “Hey, Twilight just asked me about what Monoponi could do. She never said I needed to tell her everything I knew about magic.” My smile dimmed. “And I had no idea Monoponi could drain magic from others until I watched him do it.”

“Oh.” Trixie blinked once, twice, then shrugged. “Trixie supposes that makes sense.”

I watched Adagio visibly relax, returning to a more sedate posture. “Adagio, I know you’re worried about that magic, but we really should focus on the investigation. We’ll look into the magic afterwards, I promise.”

“Fine,” Adagio harrumphed. She bowed slightly and held out one arm, beckoning me to move forward. “After you.”

We made our way through the other exit from the locker room, into the corridor with the hot tub and sauna. I kept my eyes peeled as I scanned over the area. At first, nothing seemed out of place. The hot tub was undisturbed, the sauna still set to the same temperature. So I poked my head inside, and that’s when I saw it. The interior side of the sauna door was dented. Like something had smacked into it, impacting the metal. The door handle was damaged too, from blunt impacts. There were splashes of blood in the dents and on the handle as well.

Fact #10: Sauna Door: “The sauna door is dented on the inside, with traces of blood in the dents. There is also damage to and blood on the interior door handle.”

“That’s odd,” I said, running my hand along the door. “What caused this?” I glanced at both Trixie and Adagio, but they just shrugged. “Well, I’ll note it down.”

After doing so, I returned to the indoor pool. Pinkie’s body was still laying there, protected by Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was sitting up and looked less pale than she did earlier. No one else was around. “Okay, give me two seconds to examine the body one more time,” I said as I pulled out a fresh pair of gloves, “and then we’ll go to Pinkie’s cabin.”

Ignoring the glare of irritated impatience Adagio shot my way, I quickly gave the body a once over, checking for any additional wounds or damage or something we missed. It wasn’t until I took a look under Pinkie’s shirt that I saw something… odd. Right above her left breast was a puncture mark. It didn’t look like the ones on her arms. It was stretched out, like something larger penetrated her. Or maybe it was the swelling that made it look that way. Either way it struck me as important.

*Updated* Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns. The back of her skull was broken open by the impact of a blunt object. There are multiple puncture wounds, consistent with needles, on both of her arms. The skin along both hands had started to slough off. There is a large puncture wound on the body’s chest, right above the left breast.”

Now satisfied I’d found everything, I stripped my gloves off and joined Adagio and Trixie in making our way towards the cabins. While on the way, I stopped briefly in the shopping quarter. “I want to check inside the jewelry store,” I said. I poked around, seeing if there were any leftover receipts in the bin or discarded bits of trash, but I saw nothing. There was nothing else of note on the promenade itself either, as most of the mess from her execution had been cleaned, and what was left meant basically nothing.

“Trixie doesn’t know what you expected to find,” grumbled the illusionist as we resumed our course towards the cabins, heading via the bridge deck, since Pinkie’s was right on the end by the lounge.

I brought out Pinkie’s room key as we reached her cabin, and unlocked the door. Entering it, I was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer level of pink in the room. Everywhere, on every available surface, Pinkie Pie had plastered something decorative, ranging from leftover pink streamers from the pool party, to tons of pink construction paper carved into a variety of shapes such as stars, hearts, and balloons, and even in some places outright pink spray paint. She must’ve gotten that from the theater prop shop. A quick peek into the bathroom showed she did the same thing in there, with everything except for the shower and sinks. “Good grief, Pinkie Pie,” I muttered.

“How can she stand this much pink?” groaned Adagio. She whipped out her sunglasses and put them on. “It’s unbearable!”

“Trixie agrees.” Trixie squeezed her eyes into slits, holding up an arm like a shield.

“Alright, well, let’s try and see what we can find.” I said as I got down on my hands and knees and rifled through cabinets. I found nothing of interest in the bathroom other than the usual supplies such as towels, toilet paper, shampoo, etc, though I did find a large number of extra toothpaste tubes, in a variety of flavors. Moving on to the rest of the cabin, as I checked under the bed I saw a spare towel covering something. “Hello, what’s this?” I wondered as I reached in for the object. Removing the towel, I found a large tote bag, identical to the one I saw her carrying the other night. I held it up to show Adagio and Trixie. “This is probably what she kept her drugs in.”

“Ugh, drugs,” Trixie said, sticking out her tongue. “So unsavory.”

“I dunno, an edible from time to time can be pretty relaxing,” Adagio smirked, grinning wider when she saw Trixie’s look of dismay. “What, you don’t care for marijuana?”

“No thank you,” Trixie muttered, backing off. “Trixie is far better off without any mind-altering substances.”

“Well I doubt she was on weed,” I said. I took a deep breath, and opened the bag. My heart sank as I pulled out six large latched cases, each one marked as a different type of opioid drug. Oxycodone, morphine, and heroin. Three of the cases contained only empty syringes. The other three each contained four syringes. Of these, three were mostly empty, but one syringe in each case was completely full and untouched. She probably hadn’t gotten to them yet.

Fact #11: Drug Cases: “Six cases of injectable drugs, two oxycodone, two heroin, two morphine. One case of each type only contained empty syringes. Each of the other three cases have four syringes, two of which were two-thirds empty, one of which was entirely empty, and with the fourth full and untouched.”

“Holy shit,” Adagio muttered, staring at the cases in disbelief. “You’d think only one of these would be good enough. Why did she need so many?”

“Pinkie Pie did everything excessively.” I let out a mournful sigh. “Even drug abuse, it seems. Damn it, Pinkie, I told you that you could talk to me about your problems. You didn’t have to resort to this.”

“But why though?” Adagio shook her head as she assisted me in placing the cases into my backpack, for evidence purposes. “I’ve seen people strung out on drugs before, but not someone like Pinkie. She was too… wholesome.”

“I think there was something she deeply regretted,” I said, sighing again. “She asked for some advice last night, when I gave her my jacket, about having possibly done something very bad.”

Trixie coughed, getting our attention. “Trixie might have an explanation.” She held up a hardcover notebook, marked “Pinkie’s Diary” in large looping letters on the front. “Trixie found it hiding behind her desk.”

I took the diary, and read through it quickly. The first few entries covered the first couple of days on the ship, before anyone died. They had a happy feeling about them, high energy, exuberant and cheerful. She recorded her musings and thoughts about the people around her, and her daily activities. A couple of pages were dedicated to her party planning for the pool party.

Then I reached the entry after Wallflower’s death, and it all went downhill from there. Each entry following the first trial grew more and more melancholic, heartbreaking even. Pinkie admitted, the day after the trial, that she went and bought her first drug, some morphine, from the pharmacy. As the entries wore on, Pinkie admitted to further and further issues, treating the diary as her only confidant. After the second trial, though, things broke. She admitted she used more and more morphine, just to get by. She felt isolated and alone, with no real friends amongst the rest of us. She said she was tempted, more than once, to get something harder, like oxycodone or heroin, but she was always able to resist it.

There was one entry, the day of Fluttershy’s death, where she showed a bit of hope. A bit of excitement that she was forming a new friendship with Fluttershy. But then the very next entry afterwards made my blood freeze in my veins so hard my heart threatened to shatter.

Fact #12: Diary: “A diary discovered in Pinkie Pie’s cabin, wherein she admits using drugs. The following is scribbled repeatedly on several pages, in barely discernible handwriting: “What have I done oh my god what have I done she’s dead she’s dead and it’s my fault it’s all my fault I killed her I killed her why why why why why?!”

“Holy fuck,” I muttered as I read on. Every entry after the first one like that was identical, each one more and more difficult to read, until finally, there was the very last entry.

*Updated* Fact #12: Diary: “A diary discovered in Pinkie Pie’s cabin, wherein she admits using drugs. The following is scribbled repeatedly on several pages, in barely discernible handwriting: “What have I done oh my god what have I done she’s dead she’s dead and it’s my fault it’s all my fault I killed her I killed her why why why why why?!” The last entry in the diary reads: “Thank you Sunny. I’ll do what needs to be done.”

“What the hell did you tell her to do?” Adagio asked, ripping the diary out of my hands so she could read back through it herself.

“Nothing!” I said as I leapt to my feet, glaring daggers at the siren. “I didn’t tell her to do anything. She asked me what to do if someone told her something was okay when it wasn’t, and I said to talk to them about it. That’s all I did.”

“Hmph.” Adagio scanned the diary, her eyes widening at every fresh entry. “Wow. I thought she was crazy, but she was completely nuts.”

“None of us are doing well, Adagio,” I retorted with an unhappy sigh. “None of us are coping in a healthy manner.”

Trixie snorted. “Trixie doesn’t see how that justifies getting hooked on three different drugs at once.”

“She got them from the pharmacy, right?” Adagio asked. “Should we go there and check the receipts?”

I carefully took the diary back from Adagio and placed it into my backpack. “We can, but the diary said she bought them over the course of a week or so. I’m not sure it’s necessary.”

Adagio arched an eyebrow at me and sneered. “Oh really? Tell me, Sunset, where in the Monoponi file does it list a cause of death?”

“Uh…” I briefly looked back at the file. “Oh crap. You’re right. It doesn’t. Wait, does that mean she might’ve--”

“Overdosed?” Adagio answered for me. “Yes. The diary said she’d ‘do what needs to be done.’”

Trixie raised one hand in confusion, her face twisting up. “But then how would she get those injuries? Trixie isn’t sure this makes sense.”

“Well it’s worth investigating either way,” I said, heading for the door. Let’s… wait.” Right as I was about to leave, I spotted the bin by the door. There were a few scraps of paper inside. I picked them out and started putting them together piece by piece. Most had been irreparably rendered illegible due to some sort of water damage, but there was still a bit that was readable, for some definitions of readable. It was chicken scratch, heavily slanted to the left, the style vaguely familiar. I’d seen it before somewhere. Maybe the library log?

Fact #13: Discarded Note: “A handwritten note torn to shreds, found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket. The handwriting is messy and heavily slanted to the left. Most of the text was illegible, save for the following words: ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’”

“Well well well,” Adagio said, grinning dangerously. “This could be our ticket to figuring out who did Fluttershy in.”

I stuffed it into my pocket. “Agreed. Let’s get moving. We’ll hit the pharmacy first, then I want to hit up the library to compare this to the book log. After that we’ll check the access corridor, in case there’s some clues there.”

As we passed by the food court, we ran across Twilight and Flash. “Oh, Twilight, good, I need to ask you something,” I said, remembering the guard schedule.

She and Flash wore matching sneers of disdain as I approached. “What do you want? Come to have your girlfriend beat me up some more?”

“I can, if you’d like,” Adagio chuckled dangerously, raising a fist up.

“Cool it you two,” I ordered, sighing in exasperation. “Twilight, I wanted to ask you about your guard shift last night. You worked from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM, right? The stationary position by the stairwell?”

She stared up at the ceiling, blew a sigh out through her teeth, then brought out a notebook. “Yes, I did,” she answered in a grudging growl. “Four hours of little to do save for reading a book. I hope that’s helpful.”

I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm. “You didn’t hear anything during that time? No noise, no one came by?”

“Uuugh. No. I didn’t hear a thing. Rainbow Dash walked by a couple of times on her patrol, and we did the usual texting check ins, but that was it. Nothing else.” She arched an eyebrow. “Satisfied?”

Fact #14: Twilight’s Account: “According to Twilight, she heard no noise during her entire shift from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM. She saw Rainbow Dash twice during the night, and performed her regular fifteen minute interval text check-ins.”

“No, not really, but it’ll do,” I groused as I noted that all down, then paused, and hummed. “Actually, wait, there is something else I want to ask you both. Did either of you see anyone acting suspicious around Pinkie Pie’s cabin on Tuesday, before 6:00 PM?”

Twilight scoffed. “Not really, no. I was in the library most of that day. I think I went back to my cabin around maybe 2:30 for a bit, but then I went back to the library.”

“Yeah, I remember seeing you there,” Flash mused, scratching his chin. “I came out of my cabin and saw you walk past me.”

Trixie cocked her head. “Isn’t your cabin close to the bridge deck though? Trixie would think Twilight would go the other way, since it’s faster.”

“I wanted a bit of fresh air,” Twilight said, crossing her arms. “That’s why I left the library to begin with. That, and I needed the bathroom. Happy now?”

*Updated* Fact #14: Twilight’s Account: “According to Twilight, she heard no noise during her entire shift from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM Thursday morning. She saw Rainbow Dash twice during the night, and performed her regular fifteen minute interval text check-ins. She spent most of Tuesday prior to 6:00 PM in the library, with a brief break for the bathroom and fresh air around 2:30 PM. Flash corroborated this account, stating she passed by his cabin on the end by the lounge.”

“Yes, thank you, Twilight,” I answered. “Flash, did you see anyone else other than Twilight?”

“Uh, you and Trixie walked by right after she did,” he said, snorting. “You were so busy talking I don’t think you noticed me standing there.”

“Aheheh, sorry,” I said with a sheepish laugh as I shared a look with Trixie, who shrugged. “Anyway, thank you. Come on girls, let’s get moving.”

“Trixie will not apologize for being focused on her conversation,” Trixie said grumpily as we headed for the pharmacy.

“Nor should you,” Adagio said, with a surprisingly supportive smile. Then it switched to a smirk. “Not like you’ve got the brain capacity to do anything else while talking.”

“Hmph!” Trixie puffed up her chest and slapped a hand to it. “You just can’t fathom the depths of focus Trixie’s mind can achieve.”

As we arrived, I checked the pharmacy register, but after searching it for a good few minutes, nothing of value came up. I saw the purchases Pinkie made, but no other illegal drug purchases. I did notice with interest that Rainbow Dash stopped by the pharmacy around 3:00 AM to buy some pain reliever. “I thought the pharmacy was only open overnight on Tuesday,” I said.

Trixie pointed to a sign hanging right outside the doorway that read “Now 24/7!”

“Naturally,” Adagio groaned, slapping a hand to her face.

“Well this was a bust,” I said, frowning. “Let’s head to the library next. We should probably hurry. We’ve been investigating for an hour already; I doubt Monoponi will give us much longer.”

We hurried to the library, making our way quickly to the second floor. The library log was right where we’d left it after the second trial. There were a few more entries, of course, but that wasn’t what I was concerned about this time. I wanted to match the handwriting. So I set the note side by side with the log, and scanned, and scanned. “Wait… there!”

I found a match all right. But not the one I was expecting.

Fact #15: Library Log: “The handwriting of the log entry ‘Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light: Rainbow Dash X/O’ is a near perfect match for the handwriting of the note found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket, apart from being slightly slanted to the right.”

*Updated* Fact #13: Discarded Note: “A handwritten note torn to shreds, found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket. The handwriting is messy and heavily slanted to the left. Most of the text was illegible, save for the following words: ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’ The handwriting near perfectly matches a sample of Rainbow Dash’s handwriting.”

Trixie’s eyes bulged as she looked between the note and the log. “What? Rainbow Dash? B-but that--”

I held up a hand. “I know, but don’t speculate right now. We’ll figure this one out in the trial.”

We made for the access corridor next, swinging by via the fitness center route. Diamond Tiara was still hanging around the weight room. “Hey, Tiara, real quick,” I said, calling her over. “I meant to ask if you saw or heard anything during your watch last night.”

“Uh, not really,” she said, her hands squarely on her hip, an irritated expression plastered on her face. “I saw Pinkie Pie pass by once, around 11:00 PM. She went down the stairwell and into the access corridor. Didn’t see anyone else till Twilight came to take over. Pinkie kept sending her regular check-ins so...”

Fact #16: Diamond Tiara’s Account: “According to Diamond Tiara, she saw nothing and heard nothing during her entire guard shift, save for seeing Pinkie Pie around 11:00 PM, going down the stairwell into the access corridor.”

“Thank you,” I muttered as I quickly jotted that down. “Excuse us.”

We headed behind the front desk and into the access corridor proper. I hadn’t really been in here since we first explored, and for good reason: the place was creepy as hell. Dimly lit and dreary, it took us a while to scan through the place, searching for some kind of clue, somewhere. But we saw nothing, the whole way through until we reached the laundry room. I performed a perfunctory examination, and was startled to discover one of the dryers was full of towels, still warm. I quickly checked the washing machines, and found another bundle sitting damp in a large puddle of pink-stained water. The machine, overfilled, failed to complete its cycle. No way of knowing how long those had been sitting there, though. These weren’t digital machines, but shitty low-budget crank dial ones. I gave the towels a sniff just in case the pink wasn’t blood, but the metallic tang was unmistakable.

Fact #17: Towels: “A bundle of towels were found stuffed in the dryer in the laundry room, still warm. Another bundle was discovered in an overfilled washing machine, soaking in a pool of blood-stained water.”

“Well that’s definitely connected,” Adagio said as she examined the wet towels. “Whoever filled this must’ve been in a hurry.”

“Probably,” I agreed.

“Well, isn’t that everything?” Trixie asked as we left the laundry room. “Trixie isn’t sure there’s much else we can find.”

I paused to gather my thoughts, then snapped my fingers. “I still want to ask Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash about their guard duties. And Rarity and Applejack for that matter. They should all still be at the pool. C’mon.”

“Uuugh, back and forth, back and forth,” Trixie whined as we sped down the access corridor. “Trixie thinks we could’ve picked a more efficient route for this investigation!”

“Oh stop whining,” Adagio retorted, her breathing even and steady despite our quick pace. “It’s good exercise.”

As we returned to the indoor pool, I remembered a detail I learned the other day, during the exploration. I wasn’t sure if it would matter, but I decided to note it down just in case.

Fact #18: Indoor Pool: “The indoor pool is twenty-five yards by thirteen yards, with a depth ranging from one to three yards. The pool uses PHMB instead of chlorine.”

Then I ventured over to Rarity and Applejack, who were sitting by the bleachers, facing away from Pinkie’s bloated body. “Hi, Rarity, Applejack,” I greeted, trying out a small smile. “Sorry to bug you, but do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions real quick?”

Rarity let out a world-weary sigh, then smiled right back, one watery and sorrowful. “Of course, darling. What is it?”

“Two things: I wanted to know where you were after dinner last night, and if you saw or heard anything during your guard patrols this morning.”

Applejack pressed her index finger and thumb to her mouth, her face flushing. “Well, we, uh, we went to the spa together.”

“It was truly divine,” Rarity added, a bit of proper cheerfulness twinkling in her eyes, if only for a moment. “One of the best spa experiences I’ve ever had.”

“Likewise.” Applejack let her hand drop. “Ah think we were there till about nine? Then we went back to our rooms. As for mah guard shift, Ah didn’t see nothin’, but I thought I heard some footsteps down the stairs at one point. Maybe around 7:20 AM? Ah wanted to go check, but Ah figured it was better to stay at mah post.”

“What about you, Rarity?” Adagio inquired. “Did you see or hear anything?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Rarity shook her head, then stopped, blinked, and rubbed at her chin. “Actually, wait. I might’ve seen someone come out of the pharmacy this morning, just after 6:10 AM. But I was on the far side of the promenade, and they went towards the bridge deck, so by the time I reached the pharmacy they were gone. I didn’t think much of it. But other than that, I saw and heard nothing until we started searching for Pinkie.”

Fact #19: Applejack and Rarity’s Account: “According to Applejack and Rarity, they were at the spa most of Wednesday evening following the 6:30 PM meeting, and departed for their cabins at 9:00 PM. During her guard shift, Applejack heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs around 7:20 AM. Rarity saw someone emerge from the pharmacy at 6:10 AM, unable to tell who it was due to being on the far side of the promenade.”

“Thank you, both of you,” I said, nodding gratefully. “Sorry to bother you.”

As I turned to leave, Rarity set a hand on my shoulder. “Darling, Sunset… if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend a bit of time with you, perhaps tomorrow?”

My jaw fell open for a moment before propriety made me snap it shut. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Please.” Rarity fixed me with a pleading, needful gaze. “I would very much appreciate it.”

I smiled, feeling some of the tension I’d held in my chest the past few days melt away. “I’d love to, then.”

We parted ways with Applejack and Rarity, making our way over to Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. “Oh, hey,” Scootaloo waved. “Did you need to check the body again?”

“Actually, I wanted to ask the two of you some questions about your guard shifts last night, if you don’t mind,” I said, smiling sympathetically at poor Rainbow Dash, who was still pale and shaky.

“Uh. Yeah. I can, I can do that,” said the athlete, sitting up just a bit straighter. “Shoot.”

I brought out my notepad. “Rainbow Dash, you went to bed early, before the evening meeting, right?” She nodded. “So when you got up for your guard shift, did you happen to see or hear anything suspicious?”

“Nope!” she said immediately. “Didn’t see a thing. I made sure to look everywhere too. Even saw Twilight a couple of times.” Her eyes briefly widened, and she let out a sheepish laugh. “Oh, uh, I did stop by the pharmacy. I had a really bad headache. Still kinda do. That draining thing Monoponi did was nasty.”

“You didn’t see anything? Not even here, in the pool?” Adagio added, her eyes narrowed into slits.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno what to tell you. I came by here, like, three times. I never saw anything.”

Trixie snorted, glaring at me. “Well that can’t be right, can it? Pinkie’s body was floating in the pool all night.”

“We don’t know that yet, Trixie. Hush.” I turned to Scootaloo. “What about you, Scoots?”

“Uuuuh…” Scootaloo scratched the back of her head. “I mean, I saw a lot of you wandering around all over the place during the whole day. I was kinda patrolling during the day, for like eight hours. I don’t think I ever saw anything suspicious.” She blinked, and cocked her head. “Well, wait. Now that I think about it, there was one thing. I saw Diamond Tiara hanging around the cabins on Tuesday, maybe at 3:20 PM? She was just walking back and forth, muttering to herself, something about working up courage. I dunno what for. I know that was the day before yesterday, but it seemed important.”

Fact #20: Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash’s Account: “According to Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, neither one saw anything suspicious during their entire guard shifts. Rainbow Dash did stop at the pharmacy around 3:30 AM. Scootaloo did, however, see Diamond Tiara walking back and forth by the cabins, muttering to herself about courage, on Tuesday, about 3:20 PM.”

I sighed in annoyance as I wrote that all down. “Thanks. That helps, at--”

DING-DONG BING-BONG

The screens switched on, revealing Monoponi lounging on his chair on the bridge, snifter of brandy in his magic grip. “Ah, time sure flies when you’re having fun investigating, doesn’t it?” He took a sip of his brandy. “But all good things must come to an end. You know where to go. See you there, my lovely passengers!” With a burst of static the screens turned off.

“Well, guess that’s all we’re going to get,” Adagio grumbled. “I hope it was enough.”

“It’s enough to have a picture of some things, I think,” I said as I glanced briefly at the evidence. “I still don’t know who did what, though. Or if there’s even two blackeneds.”

“Trixie isn’t convinced there is,” Trixie said as we started walking towards the promenade. “Trixie is willing to bet there’s only one and they’re trying to fool us into thinking there’s two.”

“Ah’m with Trixie on this one,” Applejack said as she and Rarity walked beside us. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash lagged not far behind. “Ah can’t see it being any other way.”

“Well we shouldn’t assume anything,” Rarity pointed out, with an unhappy sigh. “We’ve been wrong before.”

“Mmhmm.”

Soon, we were all gathered at the food court, waiting before the elevator to the courtroom. All ten of us. There should be twelve of us here. Actually, scratch that. Sixteen. We never should’ve had a murder to begin with, let alone four. But Monoponi won’t let us be, will he?

Speaking of whom, he flashed into existence, settling down on all four hooves before us and taking a bow. “Well, well, here we are again, my lovely passengers. Once more unto the breach, once more we descend into the bowels of the ship, to see which one of you idiots decided they’re too important to stick around this time. Or, in this case, which two of you. Maybe. Who knows? I do, but I won’t tell! It’s up to you to figure it out!”

Rainbow Dash, despite her pallid, sickly condition, took several steps forward, her whole body quivering with rage. “Oh you’d better believe we’re gonna figure it out!” she yelled. “Fluttershy was my best friend!” A few tears drizzled down her cheeks as she spoke, the fire inside her snuffed out. “She was my best friend… and you killed her, you monster.”

“Oh, believe you me, Rainbow Dash, I’m just as mad about it as you are!” Monoponi said, throwing up his forehooves in disgust. “I still can’t believe one of you little shits managed to trick me. Me! I’m not supposed to be a murder weapon. I’m only supposed to dispense justice to the filthy murderers wandering about this ship.”

“Fuck you,” Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath as she turned away from him, not willing to risk his wrath.

“We can’t forget about Pinkie Pie, either,” Scootaloo said, slamming her fist into her open palm. “I don’t know who killed her or why, but she didn’t deserve to suffer the way she did. This is for her as much as it’s for Fluttershy.”

“Certainly,” Rarity seconded, a look of dark fury casting a shadow over her features. “Pinkie Pie, whatever her faults, was a blessing on this earth. To steal her life away for your own selfish desires… I won’t forgive it!”

“Ahem!” Monoponi cleared his throat, silencing the crowd. “If you’ve all pontificated enough? We should get things underway. Va-va-valuse!” A blaze of crimson light surrounded his horn and lanced out to pierce the oversized lock on the trial doors, disintegrating it in a burst of sparkles and light. The gates swung open, the hinges screeching in protest. With one last bow and a gesture to proceed, Monoponi vanished.

Once again, we boarded the elevator. And once again, my thoughts turned to the case at hand.

Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Two victims. One cut down unfairly for a crime she didn’t truly commit. The other, torn apart by her own drug abuse, slain in a way we’d yet to uncover. Were these murders connected? Or were they separate?

Were they both the victim of the same crazed killer, cleaning up after their own mess? Did two separate people take their lives, for different reasons?

Whether there were two killers, or just one, why these two? Why Fluttershy? Why Pinkie Pie? Both were the most innocent souls aboard this ship. Neither one would’ve ever hurt another. They were no threat. There was no danger from them.

They deserved to live. They deserved to survive. Their loss would haunt me to the rest of my days.

It was up to me to avenge them. To find their killer or killers. Twice now I’ve done it. Twice now I’ve cracked these cases. Twice now I’ve saved our lives. And I’ll do it again.

I will save our lifes in this trial of life and death!

Author's Notes:

All the clues you need are here and in prior narration. I wish you all the best of luck with your guesses. Don't forget to spoiler tag them.

Next time: we start the trial. This one's going to be quite interesting.

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 6

Fact #1: Monoponi File IIIa: “The victim is Fluttershy, the Ultimate Veterinarian. She was executed by machine gun turrets on the promenade at approximately 6:15 PM Tuesday evening, due to her theft of a tourmaline encrusted gold ring from the jewelry store.”

Fact #2: Monoponi File IIIb: “The victim is Pinkie Pie, the Ultimate Party Planner. The victim’s body has multiple injuries, including blunt force trauma to the head, puncture wounds on the arms, and the fifth metacarpal bone of both hands are broken. Signs of opioids were discovered in the victim’s blood.”

Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns. The back of her skull was broken open by the impact of a blunt object. There are multiple puncture wounds, consistent with needles, on both of her arms. The skin along both hands had started to slough off. There is a large puncture wound on the body’s chest, right above the left breast.”

Fact #4: Weight-Lifting Room: “The central mat is covered in a large half-dried bloodstain with a single bloody footprint heel emerging from it. The equipment in the room was moved around and disturbed, suggesting a struggle. Curly pink hairs and straight yellow hairs were discovered at the scene, alongside a single wavy purple hair.”

Fact #5: Dumbbell: “A seventy pound dumbbell, with a small splotch of blood on one end. Only five people could use it as a weapon: Flash Sentry, Adagio Dazzle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.”

Fact #6: Free Weights and Rope: “A group of four fifty pound free weights, placed under the free weight shelf, dripping with water. They were tied together with a jump rope threaded through and knotted loosely at both ends.”

Fact #7: Guard Schedule: “The guard schedule on Wednesday into Thursday is as follows:
2:00 PM Trixie S/Scootaloo P
6:00 PM Adagio Dazzle S/Scootaloo P
10:00 PM Diamond Tiara S/Pinkie Pie P
-----Midnight---
2:00 AM Twilight Sparkle S/Rainbow Dash P
6:00 AM Applejack S/Rarity P
10:00 AM Flash Sentry S/Sunset Shimmer P

Fact #8: Photo #1: “A picture of Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom eating together at a diner. Applejack and Rarity are wearing matching rings.”

Fact #9: Photo #2: “A picture taken by Pinkie Pie’s Monopad in the weight room, showing the silhouette of someone with long hair approaching her with a dumbbell in hand, blanked out due to a bright light behind them. Only Pinkie’s skirt is visible in the picture.”

Fact #10: Sauna Door: “The sauna door is dented on the inside, with traces of blood in the dents. There is also damage to and blood on the interior door handle.”

Fact #11: Drug Cases: “Six cases of injectable drugs, two oxycodone, two heroin, two morphine. One case of each type only contained empty syringes. Each of the other three cases have four syringes, two of which were two-thirds empty, one of which was entirely empty, and with the fourth full and untouched.”

Fact #12: Diary: “A diary discovered in Pinkie Pie’s cabin, wherein she admits using drugs. The following is scribbled repeatedly on several pages, in barely discernible handwriting: “What have I done oh my god what have I done she’s dead she’s dead and it’s my fault it’s all my fault I killed her I killed her why why why why why?!” The last entry in the diary reads: “Thank you Sunny. I’ll do what needs to be done.”

Fact #13: Discarded Note: “A handwritten note torn to shreds, found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket. The handwriting is messy and heavily slanted to the left. Most of the text was illegible, save for the following words: ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’ The handwriting near perfectly matches a sample of Rainbow Dash’s handwriting.”

Fact #14: Twilight’s Account: “According to Twilight, she heard no noise during her entire shift from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM Thursday morning. She saw Rainbow Dash twice during the night, and performed her regular fifteen minute interval text check-ins. She spent most of Tuesday prior to 6:00 PM in the library, with a brief break for the bathroom and fresh air around 2:30 PM. Flash corroborated this account, stating she passed by his cabin on the end by the lounge.”

Fact #15: Library Log: “The handwriting of the log entry ‘Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light: Rainbow Dash X/O’ is a near perfect match for the handwriting of the note found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket, apart from being slightly slanted to the right.”

Fact #16: Diamond Tiara’s Account: “According to Diamond Tiara, she saw nothing and heard nothing during her entire guard shift, save for seeing Pinkie Pie around 11:00 PM, going down the stairwell into the access corridor.”

Fact #17: Towels: “A bundle of towels were found stuffed in the dryer in the laundry room, still warm. Another bundle was discovered in an overfilled washing machine, soaking in a pool of blood-stained water.”

Fact #18: Indoor Pool: “The indoor pool is twenty-five yards by thirteen yards, with a depth ranging from one to three yards. The pool uses PHMB instead of chlorine.”

Fact #19: Applejack and Rarity’s Account: “According to Applejack and Rarity, they were at the spa most of Wednesday evening following the 6:30 PM meeting, and departed for their cabins at 9:00 PM. During her guard shift, Applejack heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs around 7:20 AM. Rarity saw someone emerge from the pharmacy at 6:10 AM, unable to tell who it was due to being on the far side of the promenade.”

Fact #20: Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash’s Account: “According to Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, neither one saw anything suspicious during their entire guard shifts. Rainbow Dash did stop at the pharmacy around 3:30 AM. Scootaloo did, however, see Diamond Tiara walking back and forth by the cabins, muttering to herself about courage, on Tuesday, about 3:20 PM.”

We stepped off the elevator, into a once again altered courtroom. This time the room was split in half between two sets of decorations. One half was dominated by images of animals, of all shapes, kinds, and varieties, ranging from flocks of birds to herdes of deer, a whole heap of bunny rabbits for some reason, and a single picture of a grizzly bear. The other half was a heap of wild, florid pink splashed all over the place in zig-zaggy lines and swirls, like someone had filled a jar of paint with something carbonated, shook it, and let it spray all over the place. Intermixed amongst the pink were images of balloons, cartoonish-looking cannons, and party favors. Oddly enough, the lighting was more sedate, relaxed. Less fluorescent, more like natural daylight.

I took my spot next to Trixie, and first took in the podium across and to the right of me.

Sweetie Belle. Our second culprit. Mixed feelings ran through me as I considered her portrait. At least, unlike Timber, she was smiling.

I then cast a sad, long look at the podium next to me. In place of the meek, kind Fluttershy, there was just a portrait.

Of course the cross was right between the eyes, just like the aim of the gun turrets that cut her down. The trio of butterflies was a nice little touch, at least.

I cast my gaze across the courtroom to the podium next to Wallflower’s.

Unlike everyone else so far, who’d looked either petulant or happy in their portraits, Pinkie was downright terrified. As if she’d known what was coming, what had happened. As if she’d known death was ready to take her.

Fresh waves of guilt poured through me as I took in both portraits. My self-accusing thoughts returned as I contemplated my actions over the past couple of days. Maybe I wasn’t the one who killed Fluttershy, or Pinkie, but I definitely contributed. I told Fluttershy to go to the store with Pinkie. I told Pinkie to confront the one who gave her the note. I might not be the blackened, but I sure as hell feel like it.

I’m sorry, Pinkie, Fluttershy. I will avenge you. I promise.

“Well now,” Monoponi said theatrically as he flashed into existence, posing on one hoof like a ballerina before whirling to sit down. “What do you think of my decorations, hmm? Oh I know the themes clash, but then, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie weren’t exactly the most compatible of people, were they? Ahahaha!” He held up a hoof to his mouth. “Ahem. So, before we begin, allow me to remind you that this trial is a bit different from the two we’ve held so far. You are looking for two potential suspects, not just one. Now, are there actually two blackeneds? Maybe yes, maybe no! It’s up to you to figure it out. But keep this in mind: until you are absolutely one hundred percent certain, do not call for voting time! If you vote for only one person and it turns out there’s two, the one who wasn’t voted for gets to escape with their plus one, and the rest of you get executed! No credit for partial answers!”

“So even if we know for sure who one of them is, we can’t vote until we figure out the other one, is that it?” Scootaloo demanded, a mixture of outrage and sorrow clouding her face.

“Exactly!” Monoponi’s horn flashed for half a second and a bright gold star planted itself on Scootaloo’s face before disappearing in a shower of sparks. “But, that’s not all that’s special about this trial! For this trial, and this trial alone, I am temporarily rescinding rule fifteen. If you want to falsely admit your guilt, or you want to fess up because the guilt is just too much for you to bear? Go right ahead! Nothing would please me more than to watch you morons argue in endless circles.”

My blood ran cold as I contemplated what he just did. Up until now, thanks to that rule, no one had been able to mess with us by pretending to be the guilty party. I’m sure that’s not why he instituted it--he just wanted to keep us from submitting to our guilty conscience--but it still had the side effect of keeping someone from leading us all down a completely pointless path and wasting our time. Why would he rescind this now? It didn’t make any sense.

Before I could spend any more time contemplating that though, Twilight Sparkle held up both hands and clapped for our attention. “If we’re ready to begin? There’s something I want to discuss before we get into anything else.” She pointed a finger squarely at Rainbow Dash. “I want to know what the heck was up with that magic Rainbow Dash demonstrated!”

“Oh, so you’re finally willing to admit magic exists?” Adagio chuckled dryly. “Never thought we’d see the day.”

Twilight took a step back from her podium even as her expression rearranged itself into that cold scientific detachment I’d come to loathe. “I am a scientist. I can admit when I’m wrong. The body of evidence for the existence of magic is too large to deny at this point. Regardless, that’s not the point. The point is that Rainbow Dash exhibited magic, and Monoponi drained it. I want to know how that happened and why.”

“Don’t ask me!” Rainbow Dash said with a scowl as she crossed her arms. “Seeing Fluttershy listed as a victim made me mad as hell, that’s all. I wasn’t trying to, like, cast a freaking spell.” Her face twisted up as her whole complexion faded into that same pale, waxy pallor she’d had right after Monoponi drained her. She fell forward onto her podium, propping her head up with one hand. “Even thinking about it makes me feel sick.”

Twilight shifted her gaze to focus on me, her shining eyes like twin lasers trying to burn away the surface to reveal secrets underneath. “You. You know what Monoponi did, don’t you? You have an explanation.”

“Kind of?” I said, holding up a single hand palm upward. “I know it takes dark magic to do what Monoponi did. Dark magic is evil magic. It can corrupt you, corrupt your very soul, turn you into a monster. We already know Monoponi’s a monster, though. That’s not really new information.”

“You’ve got that right!” Monoponi agreed, holding his forehooves to his mouth. “Upupupupu!”

“Oh please, you can be more specific than that.” Bits and pieces of Twilight’s hair popped out of her perfect bun. “You know what he used. You know why Rainbow Dash has magic, because--”

“No. I. Don’t, Twilight,” I interrupted, slamming my raised hand onto my podium. I raised it back up to point at the ceiling. “I was just as surprised as you were. Both by the magic, and by Monoponi draining it.”

Twilight gripped her right hand into a fist and smashed it on her podium. “That’s a lie and you know it!” She raised her hand to point right at me, as more hair popped out of her bun to stick out at random angles. “You know because you’re behind this whole killing game, aren’t you? You’re the traitor! Sweetie Belle was right!”

Rarity gasped in shock, holding a hand to her breast. “How dare you,” she hissed. “How dare you bring my sister into this? When we all know very well Sunset Shimmer is innocent! Don’t you dare use my sister to browbeat Sunset just because you have a grudge against her!”

Flash let out a frustrated groan, holding his hand to his face. “Look, Twilight, I’m really not happy with Sunset right now either, but come on. How many times are we going to do this stupid song and dance about Sunset being the traitor? How have we still not let this go?”

“Seriously, Sparkle,” Diamond Tiara snorted, some of her old elitist scorn leaking into her otherwise kinder demeanor. “Even I don’t think that anymore.”

“But, but… Adagio! Adagio’s secret!” Twilight insisted, becoming more frantic with every word. “I told you all what Adagio’s secret is. She’s killed before. That’s why Sunset became involved with her! To keep her in check!”

“Uh, no,” I scoffed, “That’s not it at all. My relationship with Adagio is none of your business anyway.”

Adagio took one fingernail and scratched it along the side of her podium. “Please, keep harping on about it. I’m sure it’ll end well for you,” she hissed.

“Trixie admits Adagio’s secret is a bit concerning,” Trixie said, coming to our defense. “But that does not mean Sunset is the traitor. Your logic is faulty.”

“Oh what would you know about logic, Trixie?” Twilight fired back, holding up both hands to mock her. “Tell me, how many times were you wrong during Wallflower’s trial? Miss ‘oh no, we have a sushi slayer on our hands’?”

Trixie harrumphed, throwing out her arm to send her cape fluttering. “Trixie has gotten much better since then. She wasn’t the one who was convinced Apple Bloom killed herself. That was you.”

Applejack clapped her hands several times for attention. “Oh for pete’s sake, y’all, why’re we retreadin’ old ground? This ain’t a trial for Sunset, and it ain’t for Wallflower or mah sister. It’s for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy! We oughta remember that and move on.”

“Agreed!” Monoponi pronounced, using his horn to create the illusion of a gavel slamming against a desk. “You are boring your captain! Forget about Rainbow’s magic and get on with the actual trial!”

“Fine.” Twilight took several deep breaths, calming herself, and adjusted her glasses. “We don’t have a lot of evidence for Fluttershy yet, so we should start with Pinkie Pie.” She glanced down at her Monopad and rolled her eyes. “The Monoponi file doesn’t list a time or cause of death, so we need to figure those out first.”

“Well, we found her in the pool, right?” Scootaloo said, holding her chin on her knuckles. “And the body was really gross and bloated, like she’d been in there a long time. She probably drowned.”

I shook my head and punched up some evidence. “I don’t think so, Scootaloo.”

Fact #3: Body Condition: “The body was discovered floating face up in the shallow end of the pool. Every part of the exposed skin is covered in red rashes similar to chemical burns.”

“We found her face up in the pool. Everything I know about drowning says that when you drown, your body ends up face down. Even if she initially was facing up, struggling for air, trying to get to the surface, she would’ve inevitably turned over. Right, Twilight?”

With a sigh, Twilight nodded. “Sunset’s right about that. During the investigation I spent a bit of time researching drowning deaths, in case that’s what killed her. Like Sunset said, there’s a classic drowning position people adopt, where their anterior, or front, of their body faces downward with their arms outstretched, and their back towards the surface. Pinkie did have her arms out, but she wouldn’t have stayed face up. Not to mention there’s the other classical signs of drowning, such as blue skin, blue lips, etc, none of which we saw.”

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t drown,” Scootaloo objected. “Pools use chlorine to keep ‘em clean, right? So if she was in the pool long enough, it would’ve burned all her skin. Your evidence even says she has rashes similar to chemical burns. So that’d have to be chlorine, right?”

“No way!” Diamond Tiara said, giving Scootaloo a thumbs down. “Did the pool smell like chlorine? Huh? No! Take a look at this.”

Fact #18: Indoor Pool: “The indoor pool is twenty-five yards by thirteen yards, with a depth ranging from one to three yards. The pool uses PHMB instead of chlorine.”

“Monoponi told us the other day he uses PHMB to keep the pool clean, instead of chlorine. That stuff’s nowhere near as nasty as chlorine is,” Tiara added, grinning.

“She’s right,” Twilight added with another world-weary sigh. “PHMB isn’t the safest substance around, but it wouldn’t burn a body like that unless Pinkie was immersed in a much more concentrated solution, for a much longer period of time. We’re talking days, not hours.”

Blinking owlishly, Scootaloo shrugged. “Oh. Okay then.”

“So if she didn’t drown, what killed her?” Rarity asked, pressing her knuckles to her lips. “Because her body certainly looked like she drowned.”

“I think it looked that way because the culprit kept her body underwater, where she wouldn’t be noticed,” I said as I tapped a few buttons on my Monopad.

Fact #6: Free Weights and Rope: “A group of four fifty pound free weights, placed under the free weight shelf, dripping with water. They were tied together with a jump rope threaded through and knotted loosely at both ends.”

“Diamond Tiara discovered these in the weight room during the investigation. These would’ve been sufficient to keep Pinkie Pie’s body underwater if positioned correctly. And if she was submerged in the deep end of the pool, which is on the far side from both entryways, anyone patrolling nearby wouldn’t have seen her unless they went all the way over there and looked into the pool from the right vantage point. No one would’ve had any reason to do that.”

Applejack took off her hat and gently set it on her podium so she could scratch the top of her head, blatant confusion written all over her face. “Uh, Sunset, if that’s what they did, Ah don’t get why they wouldn’t leave the weights in the pool. Or why they’d bother gettin’ her body out of the deep end. Once we realized she was missin’, we would’ve found her either way.”

Adagio hummed, arching a doubtful eyebrow at me. “Applejack’s right about that. Plus, the edges of the pool were dry. There was no splashed water anywhere. If someone dove into the pool to retrieve her body, they would’ve had to do it after Rainbow Dash’s shift, which means they would’ve done it a couple of hours before we found the body at the absolute earliest. That wouldn’t leave enough time for the pool area to dry up.”

Huh. That’s a really good point. Is there a way I can explain that? I took a glance back at the evidence. Oh, wait, yes there is. “You’re right. There wouldn’t be enough time for the pool to dry up by itself. But what if they used these?”

Fact #17: Towels: “A bundle of towels were found stuffed in the dryer in the laundry room, still warm. Another bundle was discovered in an overfilled washing machine, soaking in a pool of blood-stained water.”

“There were enough towels to dry up the pool as well as whoever went swimming.”

“I guess…” Adagio admitted, the doubt refusing to fade from her eyes. “But I still don’t get why they’d bother to move the body after they hid it. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Damn it. She’s right. None of this makes sense. The only thing I can think of is that the culprit wanted to be sure we found Pinkie, so they took the weights off her body. But why not leave them in the pool then? Applejack was right about that. We never would’ve found them, because we never would’ve had a reason to go looking. The only thing removing the weights did was make it more obvious that she didn’t drown. It only hurts the culprit, by eliminating a potential cause.

Wait. Maybe that was the point. “What if…” I suggested, thinking aloud now. “What if it wasn’t the culprit who moved the free weights? What if someone else did it?”

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

“What in tarnation?”

“What the hell?”

Everyone reacted at once, filling the room with an unintelligible cacophony of noise. It took Flash Sentry whistling at an extremely high volume to calm everyone down. “Cool it, guys!” he urged. Then he focused on me. “Sunset, are you seriously suggesting that someone other than the culprit found Pinkie’s body, messed with the scene of the crime, and didn’t tell anyone?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I responded, holding my ground. The more I thought about it, the more confident I became. I was right. “I’m certain someone stumbled upon the crime after the fact, and messed with the scene.”

Flash narrowed his eyes at me. “But why? Why would someone mess with the scene and not tell anyone about the body?”
“Yeah, seriously, Sunset,” Scootaloo added, glaring at me in disbelief. “If I found a dead body, I wouldn’t mess with the crime scene. I’d just run and tell somebody about it. It doesn’t make any sense.”

I had an answer. It was an answer I didn’t like. I didn’t know if it was the right answer, or the correct one. It would mean bringing up something I’d wanted to keep quiet. But I had to pursue it. We couldn’t risk leaving a single stone unturned, not even this one. So, taking a deep breath, I answered, “Because they were afraid someone they cared about was responsible, and they wanted to try and hide the most damning proof, while also trying to take the blame.”

I saw Adagio’s eyes widen in realization, but she stayed quiet, letting me lead. Trixie, on the other hand, seemed more confused than ever. “But, Sunset, who would do such a thing?”

I’m sorry I have to do this. I sighed, held up a finger, and pointed directly at the only one I could think of who’d do this. “Applejack, you’re the only one!”

Applejack scowled at me, working her jaw. She spat on the floor, scooped up her hat, and placed it right back atop her head. “Ah’m gonna give you a chance to take that back, Sunset, because that’s a bigger heap of bullshit than what mah brother and Ah had to scoop out of the barn at the end of last winter.”

“I’m sorry, Applejack, but I can’t do that,” I said, refusing to back down despite knowing she could easily rip my head off if she wanted.

Taking a deep breath, Applejack blew it out her nose in the most impressive imitation of a stallion snort I’d ever heard. “Alright. Ah hope you have some kinda proof to back this up, because if you don’t, Ah’m inclined to whoop your hide into the ground.”

“I do, actually.” I queued up the relevant evidence.

Fact #8: Photo #1: “A picture of Applejack, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom eating together at a diner. Applejack and Rarity are wearing matching rings.”

As the three-dimensional hologram of the photo rotated in the center of the podiums, the entire room fell silent. I watched Applejack’s jaw fall open, her whole body deflating in shock. “We found this picture locked up in a locker, alongside Pinkie Pie’s Monopad. The key for the locker was on Pinkie’s body.”

“What… What the hell is this?” Applejack demanded, holding up her own Monopad so she could look more closely at the picture. “Ah’ve never seen this before in mah life! Ah… oh my dear sweet lord, are we wearin’ matchin’ rings?!”

Silent tears trickled down Rarity’s cheeks as she too examined the photograph. “We were married, darling,” she said simply. “Before Monoponi stole our memories. That’s what this must mean.”

“Woah, woah, woah, wait,” Scootaloo said, holding up her hands. “Seriously? Rarity and Applejack? Married?”

“Not just that,” Flash added, staring at the picture in bemusement. “Looks like Sweetie and Apple Bloom were friends, too. Where did this picture come from?”

“Pinkie Pie, Sunset, and I found it the other day,” Adagio admitted before I could formulate a response.

“What?!” Applejack was on her like a wolf chasing down a wounded deer, all snarls and growls. “Why didn’t any of y’all tell us about it then?”

“Because I told them not to show it to you,” Adagio replied, matching Applejack snarl for snarl. “I did that because I was afraid something terrible would happen if you saw it too soon. And what do you know? Pinkie Pie’s dead. Because one of you killed her.”

“Absolutely not!” Applejack thundered, smashing a fist on her podium so hard the wood splintered. “Ah can’t believe you’d accuse me of killin’ someone after Ah lost mah sister!”

“It’s not you she’s accusing, Applejack,” I said, drawing the rage of the farmer onto me. “It’s Rarity.”

“No… you, you wouldn’t dare,” Rarity whispered, shaking her head over and over.

“But it makes sense,” I replied, now on a roll, ignoring the nagging feeling at the back of my mind that I was looking at this all wrong. “I was holding onto that picture until yesterday morning, when it was accidentally left in the laundry room. Rarity, you could’ve easily discovered the picture, and between that and Monoponi’s offer of allowing the blackened to escape with a plus one, you’d have the perfect motivation for murder.” I tapped a few buttons on my Monopad.

Fact #5: Dumbbell: “A seventy pound dumbbell, with a small splotch of blood on one end. Only five people could use it as a weapon: Flash Sentry, Adagio Dazzle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.

“Given the injury Pinkie Pie sustained, this is probably the murder weapon right here. Rarity, I’ve seen how strong you are. You could have easily used this dumbbell to kill Pinkie, then dumped her body in the pool to make it look like a drowning.”

Rarity, her makeup half ruined from crying, glowered at me with a fury I hadn’t seen her demonstrate since I accused Sweetie Belle. “I will admit I could have used that dumbbell,” she said, every word dripping with acid, “but that is entirely beside the point. I would never dream of harming a single hair on Pinkie Pie’s head!”

“I dunno, it’s not like there’d be anything stopping you,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, glaring at Rarity. “With your sister and AJ’s sister being dead and all.”

“You shut your fuckin’ fool mouth, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack shouted, shaking both fists at her from across the courtroom.

“Fuck off, Applesnack,” Rainbow Dash said, flipping the farmer a double bird.

I coughed for attention. “Applejack, you’re one of the only people here strong enough to lift those free weights out of the water. You could have stumbled across the scene, found the picture, realized who must’ve killed Pinkie, and did your best to make it look like you did it instead.” I brought up another piece of evidence.

Fact #4: Weight-Lifting Room: “The central mat is covered in a large half-dried bloodstain with a single bloody footprint heel emerging from it. The equipment in the room was moved around and disturbed, suggesting a struggle. Curly pink hairs and straight yellow hairs were discovered at the scene, alongside a single wavy purple hair.”

“Straight yellow hairs were found at the scene, Applejack, and you’re the only blonde on this ship. I’ll bet you cut pieces of your own hair and scattered them everywhere just so it’d look like you were involved. And I’ll bet originally there were a lot more hairs from the real culprit, Rarity, hairs that you cleaned up. But you missed one.”

Applejack lashed out in a might kick to her podium, sending wood chips flying everywhere. “This is the dumbest thing Ah’ve ever heard. Ah told you, Sunset, Ah never saw that picture before you brought it up in the trial. Ah didn’t have anything to do with Pinkie’s death, and neither did Rarity! Ah dunno why you’re trying to blame us when we’ve done nothin’ but support you the entire time we’ve been stuck in this killing game, but if this is how you repay our friendship, maybe we ought to stop bein’ friends!”

I reeled back as if she’d kicked me instead of her podium, doubling over in surprise. “But, but it makes sense. Why else would someone move the body? Why else would someone lock up the picture and Pinkie’s Monopad?” Am I wrong? Did I pursue the wrong path? Again?

“No it does not make sense, Sunset,” Rarity insisted, drawing herself up even as she dabbed the tears from her eyes. “Even if I had seen that picture before today, which I assure you I have not, I would never kill someone just to escape this place with Applejack. Do you not remember what I told my own sister?! Killing is wrong.” She bore down on me with the full force glare of a woman scorned. “I don’t know who was responsible for moving that picture. I am furious with you over the fact that you didn’t share this sooner. But I did not kill Pinkie Pie. I was in my cabin after 9:00 PM, and I never left afterwards.”

“So was Ah,” Applejack added, shaking her head at me. “And Ah think we can both prove that. Right, Scootaloo?”

“Huh?” Scootaloo had been watching us go back and forth without saying a word, and this caught her off guard. “Oh! Oh yeah!” She let out a sheepish laugh and scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, I remember seeing them go into their cabin last night. They never left.”

“And if they’d been seen, Pinkie would’ve told me,” Diamond Tiara seconded, glaring at me. “She kept up with her regular check-in texts, remember?”

“I’d like to think Rainbow Dash would’ve informed me as well, if she’d seen them,” Twilight said, smirking at me. “Nice try though, Sunset. You idiot.”

My face fell into my hands. I’m wrong. I’m so wrong. I went completely the wrong way with this. Good job Sunset. Good fucking job. “I’m sorry,” I gasped, struggling not to cry. “I just, I thought--”

“Aw hell, Sunset,” Applejack said quietly, her whole demeanor relaxing from rage into something more akin to pity. “Ah get it. Ah get where you were goin’ with that line of thinkin’. But sometimes, sugarcube, you get some fool idea in your head and you run with it till the cows come home, no matter how dumb it is. Ah can’t blame you for thinkin’ Ah might’ve had somethin’ to do with this. And Ah’m just as mad as Rarity is at you for keepin’ that picture quiet. We’re gonna have words about this after the trial. For now though, can Ah ask you to just think a bit more before you start accusin’ people?”

“Indeed, darling,” Rarity said, shifting to favor me with pity as well. “I second everything Applejack just said. I consider you a friend, Sunset. Please don’t give me reasons to reconsider that notion.”

I nodded, utterly ashamed of myself. “Okay. I’m sorry. I’ll… I’ll try not to mess up again.”

“That’s all we ask,” Rarity replied with a soft smile.

Trixie reached over and patted me on the shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Sunset. The Great and Powerful Trixie still believes in you. And she thinks we still haven’t figured out what killed Pinkie.”

“No, we haven’t,” Flash said, rubbing his chin. “Sunset, you suggested earlier it was the dumbbell. How certain are you of that?”

“Right now? I’m not sure of anything,” I said, throwing up my hands in frustration.

Rainbow Dash raised a hand like she was in school. “Uh, Sunset, I think you were probably right about that. Look at this.”

Fact #9: Photo #2: “A picture taken by Pinkie Pie’s Monopad in the weight room, showing the silhouette of someone with long hair approaching her with a dumbbell in hand, blanked out due to a bright light behind them. Pinkie’s skirt is visible in the picture.”

“See? She even took a picture of her killer before they killed her.”

“Hmm…” Adagio lowered her head till she was resting on her fist, her elbow supporting her. “That’s what I thought too, when we first saw it, but now I’m not so sure. We can’t even see who it is.”

“Well, we can see who it’s not?” Flash suggested, with a slight laugh. “It’s not Scootaloo, and it’s not me. That doesn’t narrow it down much, but it helps?”

“Not really,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “So many of us have long hair that it could be almost any of us.”

“Well, that sure ain’t me,” Applejack said. “Ah’d think you’d be able to see mah hat if it was. Or at least the shadow of it.”

“Or you took the hat off,” Twilight retorted with a glare. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

Trixie snapped her fingers. “Trixie wants to know why Pinkie’s skirt is in the picture. If you’re taking a picture of someone else, why would your own skirt be visible?”

“Good question,” Scootaloo said, leaning down to stare harder at the picture. “Maybe she took it in a hurry?”

Diamond Tiara huffed, clacking her pen on her podium to get attention. “Better question: why did she take it at all? Who sits there and takes a picture of someone trying to kill them?”

“Uuuuh…” Scootaloo’s mouth twisted up in confusion as she stared up at the ceiling like she was searching for an answer. “Maybe she was going to text it, as a cry for help?”

“Was there a time stamp on the photo?” Twilight inquired, looking right at me. “You still have her Monopad with you, right?”

“I do,” I said, rummaging through my pack to dig it out. Then I froze, and looked up at Monoponi, who leered down at me with a big fat grin on his face. “Uuuuh, my having this doesn’t break a rule, does it?”

“Oho, you have no idea how tempted I am to say that it does!” Monoponi said, waggling one forehoof. “Ahahaha! But no, no, that wouldn’t be right. You can’t steal from the dead! The rule doesn’t apply to a dead person’s Monopad. You should know that, Sunset, remember?”

Oh. Right. The first game’s second case. That one involved dumbbells and a locker room too, didn’t it? Weird. “Ahehe,” I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my head and trying to ignore the harsh glare Twilight shot my way. “Riiight. Uh, anyway, let’s look at this.” I switched on the Monopad and tabbed through to the picture. “Hmm… okay, it doesn’t list the timestamp on the picture itself, but the file title contains one. Says it was taken at… 12:15 AM?!”

“What?!” Rarity gasped, throwing her hands up to clutch her head. “But how is that possible? Pinkie Pie sent check-in texts for two hours after that!”

“Did she, though?” Diamond Tiara wondered, scanning through her own Monopad. “Hey, Sunset, double check this with me, will you?”

“Right.” I tabbed back over to her texts, and scrolled through them. I hadn’t noticed before, but… every text after 11:45 PM was exactly the same: “Pinkie Pie is here and the coast is clear!~~” “Holy crap. How come we didn’t see this before?”

Tiara slammed her open palm on her podium. “Damn it. This should’ve been obvious!”

“What? What is it?” Rainbow asked, eyes dancing back and forth between us in concern.

I slapped a hand to my forehead. “Uuugh. I’m such an idiot. The culprit faked the texts. I should’ve figured that out the moment I realized the culprit had their hands on her Monopad.”

“Grrr,” Rainbow Dash growled, squeezing a fist tight enough to turn her knuckles white. “Damn this culprit. They’re such a sneaky little jerk.”

“Okay, so, I’ve got it then!” Scootaloo said, snapping her fingers. “Pinkie whipped out her Monopad to take the picture, was trying to text it, and then wham she was hit over the head! Dead before she could do anything.

I raised a hand, but before I could say a word, Trixie pointed a finger at Scootaloo and shouted, “No, that’s wrong!” She tapped buttons on her own Monopad and brought up some evidence.

Fact #3: Body Condition: “The back of her skull was broken open by the impact of a blunt object.”

“The culprit clearly hit Pinkie from behind. Why would Pinkie Pie turn her back to someone threatening her life, hmm? And don’t say she was trying to run. Trixie knows she wasn’t.” She punched up more evidence.

Fact #4: Weight-Lifting Room: “The central mat is covered in a large half-dried bloodstain with a single bloody footprint heel emerging from it. The equipment in the room was moved around and disturbed, suggesting a struggle.”

Trixie pointed squarely at the first line. “See how there’s a single footprint sticking out of the puddle? Trixie is certain that means Pinkie was standing still when she was hit. And if she was standing still while taking the picture, the culprit would’ve hit her from the front, not the back! As further proof, take a look at the pool of blood. If she’d been moving when she was hit, it would be scattered, splattered all over. But it’s not. It’s in one single place.”

I curled my lips in an impressed pout, nodding several times. “Nice. Well done, Trixie,” I said, tempted to add some applause, but I held back. I didn’t want her to think I was making fun of her.

“Okay, okay, jeez, I get it,” Scootaloo groaned, crossing her arms with a petulant look on her face. “You don’t have to hammer it in.”

Rarity favored Trixie with a questioning look. “Trixie, darling, if I may, it sounds as if you’re suggesting the picture might have been faked.”

Adagio’s eyebrows shot to the top of her head. “Wait, how did you get that from what she said?”

“Well,” Rarity said, holding up a hand, “If Pinkie Pie was standing still, that means she wasn’t trying to escape. And I can’t imagine any reason why she’d do that, not while also taking a picture of her killer. So that must mean something here isn’t what it appears to be.”

“Or,” Rainbow Dash objected, rolling her eyes, “it means the picture doesn’t tell the whole story! Look, the dumbbell has to be what killed her. We already know she didn’t drown. I mean, look at the Monoponi file, right?”

Fact #2: Monoponi File IIIb: “The victim’s body has multiple injuries, including blunt force trauma to the head, puncture wounds on the arms, and the fifth metacarpal bone of both hands are broken.”

“Right there,” Rainbow said, pointing to the last line. “On her hands. What if she was hit by the dumbbell twice? She blocked the first hit with her hands, which broke both the bones mentioned. Then, she--”

“Stop right there,” Twilight ordered, glaring at Rainbow over her glasses. “Do you even know what bone the file is talking about?”

“Uh, yeah, I do,” Rainbow scoffed. She held up her right hand and pointed with her left index finger right at her right pinkie, then ran her index finger down her hand, stopping just before her wrist. “That’s what it’s talking about. This bone right here.”

“Good. You’re not completely ignorant.” Twilight turned to face her closest, and only, podium neighbor. “Diamond Tiara, would you please do us all a favor?”

Tiara arched a single eyebrow, shifting her weight onto one leg. “What is it?”

Twilight handed Tiara her notebook. “Take this, and hold it in both hands like you would a dumbbell, then trying to hit me with it please. Slowly.”

With a shrug, Tiara did as she was asked. As she raised the notebook up, Twilight made an exaggerated face of surprise, then slowly threw up her hands as the notebook descended. Her arms crossed over each other and the notebook hit, not at the metacarpal, but at the lower part of the wrist, only on her right arm at that. “Thank you,” Twilight said, taking her notebook back. Then she faced Rainbow. “Did your simple mind understand that, or do we need to do it again?”

“No. I get it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes and raised her middle finger at Twilight. “Didn’t have to be a bitch about it.”

“Okay, so she wasn’t injured because she blocked the dumbbell,” I said, giving Twilight a grateful nod and pointedly ignoring her answering glare of derision. “And Trixie’s right that she had to be standing still in order for the bloodstain to be the way it is. So I think Rarity might be right too. The picture is fake.”

“Ah’m not sure Ah understand how they faked it, if that’s the case,” Applejack said, scratching at her hair right under her hat. “Ah mean, Pinkie’s skirt is in the picture, right? So, what, did the culprit put her skirt on?”

“Wow. Kinky,” Tiara snickered, then burst out laughing hard at the glares she got from several of us, myself included. “Oh come on, it’s funny!”

Adagio, ignoring Tiara, looked at Applejack and nodded to her. “I think the farmer’s on to something. The culprit must’ve worn the skirt, or at least put it on something so it’d be in the picture. It was like the culprit was trying to make sure we thought it was Pinkie taking it.”

“The sad thing is, if they hadn’t thrown in that little detail, their plan might’ve worked,” Rarity said, pressing her right fist to her chin as she set her left arm on her podium.

Scootaloo doubled over, groaning. “Ugh, but I don’t get it. If the culprit took the picture, that means they’re not the one holding the dumbbell. So who is?”

“Two possibilities,” I answered. “Either it’s an accomplice, which I doubt, or… it’s Pinkie Pie herself.”

Rainbow Dash smacked both her palms on her podium. “Woah, woah, what? How does that work? Why would Pinkie Pie be holding up the dumbbell? She wasn't strong enough!"

“You’re not going to say she was trying to kill the culprit, are you?” Scootaloo demanded, glaring at me now.

“No, of course not,” I rolled my eyes. “Pinkie Pie was no more likely to kill someone than I am, and I know she wasn't strong enough. What I’m suggesting is, when the picture was taken, Pinkie Pie was already dead.”

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

“Oh my heavens!”

“You can’t be serious!”

“Holy crap!”

For the second time the whole group burst into excited chatter, arguing back and forth over the plausibility of what I’d just suggested. "But that's stupid!" Rainbow Dash intervened. "I just said she wasn't strong enough to hold the weight. Now you're saying she held it while dead?!"

"It wouldn't be that difficult," I said. "If the culprit propped up her body in the right way, they could position things so Pinkie could appear like she was holding the weight even if she wasn't actually holding it. They could've done that by tying her arm and hiding the rope."

“Now hold it right there, sugarcube,” Applejack warned, holding up a hand at me. “Ah’m not sayin’ you’re wrong, but Ah ain’t sayin’ you’re right either. Let’s think about this before we just accept it. We don’t want a repeat of what just happened with Rarity and me.”

“Sure,” I nodded with a smile. “I don’t want to make the same mistake twice either.”

“That’s good to hear,” Applejack smiled back. “So, what makes you think it might be Pinkie Pie? Her hair was curlier than a sheep doin’ cartwheels. Wouldn’t that stand out in the photo, even with that bright light?”

I shook my head. “Not necessarily. Pinkie Pie’s hair has been flat for the past few days. I’ve been watching her hair the whole time she was alive in the killing game. It always reacted to her mood, deflating when she was sad, inflating when she was happy.” I rubbed at my chin. “Actually, come to think of it, that makes me wonder if she had some latent magic too. That’d explain why her hair worked that way.”

“Ah suppose you’re right. Her hair was mighty strange from time to time,” Applejack allowed. “But can you be sure it was flat when she died? Ah’m not suggestin’ she was happy to die or nothin’ like that, but let’s be certain about this.”

“I’m one hundred percent certain of it, for multiple reasons,” I answered. I held out my hand to count on. “First, she absolutely hated the trials. The first one was bad enough, but the second one effectively broke her. She was always depressed after it, and suffered from constant mood swings. Second, remember the way she acted the morning after Fluttershy died?”

~*~
Pinkie Pie drooped over her table, a goofy smile on her face. Her forkful of eggs hung loose in her hand, and as she raised it to her mouth she missed a couple of times before she got it in. Her pupils were oddly dilated, given the bright light of the food court. “Heeey,” she said, waving at us and giggling. “What’s up?”

“Uh, not much?” I said, sharing a confused look with Trixie and Adagio.

Pinkie dropped her fork to her plate. Her happy smile flipped to an ugly, gross frown. “Not much? Not much?!” She slammed a fist on her table, sending her fork clattering to the floor. “Fluttershy died yesterday, and you call that not much?!”

“Woah!” I took a couple steps back, my hands shooting up in surrender. “I didn’t say anything about Fluttershy. Cool it.”

“Oh.” Pinkie’s frown flipped back to the goofy smile as she scooped up her fork and tossed the fallen eggs into her mouth, carpet fuzz and all. “Okie dokie loki.”
~*~

“Oh, Ah heard about that. Ah wasn’t there for it, of course, on account of being on guard duty,” Applejack said. “She didn’t sound like she was in her right mind. But that still doesn’t mean her hair was flat when she died. Can you prove it was, without a shadow of a doubt?”

“I’ll ri--err...I’ll prove it with this,” I said, curtailing my usual response to this kind of back and forth debate in favor of something a bit nicer. I called up the evidence just the same.

Fact #12: Diary: “A diary discovered in Pinkie Pie’s cabin, wherein she admits using drugs. The following is scribbled repeatedly on several pages, in barely discernible handwriting: “What have I done oh my god what have I done she’s dead she’s dead and it’s my fault it’s all my fault I killed her I killed her why why why why why?!” The last entry in the diary reads: “Thank you Sunny. I’ll do what needs to be done.”

Applejack almost fell over backwards from the shock of reading what I’d thrown up on our screens. “As you can see,” I said sadly, “Pinkie Pie, who we all know was in the jewelry store with Fluttershy the night Fluttershy died, was under the impression she was responsible for Fluttershy’s death. She was using drugs to cope with the guilt, because she felt so isolated and alone that she couldn’t turn to any of us for help.”

Scootaloo’s eyes watered, letting quiet tears flow. “She, she really felt that alone? But we all liked her! She was our friend.”

“Did we ever tell her that thought?” Rarity wondered, likewise crying softly. “She… poor Pinkie Pie, I can’t recall if I ever spent some time with the dear once outside of group meetings and events.”

“Trixie spent some time speaking with her,” Trixie sniffled, “but it was only once. Then she became friends with Sunset and forgot all about Pinkie.”

“Ah can’t say Ah ever spent any time with her either. That girl was fun, but hoo boy she was she exhaustin’ to be around,” Applejack said, holding her hat to her chest in lieu of crying.

“You said it,” Tiara seconded as she closed her eyes and squeezed one fist. “Every time she showed up I needed to pop another aspirin just to stave off the headache.”

“Yeah, I think the most I ever did for her was DJ for her party,” Flash said, hanging his head. “And I didn’t even do that most of the night.”

Adagio pursed her lips, her eyes flashing with irritation. “I couldn’t stand her. Too energetic. Too loud.”

“She threw a sweet party, I guess?” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head.

Even Twilight softened up, seeming regretful. “She was more worthwhile than I gave her credit for.”

“I wasn’t any better than the rest of you when it comes to Pinkie,” I said. “In fact, I made the poor girl cry once, and I--”

“Wait a minute,” Twilight said, her mask of detachment back in place as she smacked a hand on her podium. “Wait a damned minute. What does that diary entry say at the very end? ‘Thank you Sunny, I’ll do what needs to be done’? What does that mean?”

“She asked me for some advice last night,” I answered, the guilt welling up inside me, threatening to overtake me. “She asked me what she should do if she did something really bad because someone said it was okay, and it wasn’t okay. I told her to ask the person who said it why they said it was okay.” I saw Twilight open her mouth and forestalled the next question by adding, “And she had one of my jackets because I gave it to her. She kept having cold chills.”

“What exactly did Pinkie do that made her think she was guilty, anyway?” Flash asked, setting a hand to his chin.

Tiara and I exchanged a look, and she waved for me to go ahead. “Diamond Tiara and I discussed this before. We think it’s probable that Pinkie Pie is the one who planted the ring on Fluttershy.”

Scootaloo blinked, looked between Tiara and myself, then settled on me, glaring in irritation. “Oh my god, Sunset, you did it again. You did it again!”

“What? Did what?”

She rolled her eyes and slapped her hands to her hips. “You withheld the one piece of evidence that proved who killed someone. Again. This is like the third time!”

“I--no! No I didn’t!” I objected, throwing out one arm in protest. “I didn’t want to mention this because I didn’t want to give people the false impression that Pinkie Pie killed Fluttershy. Because she didn’t.”

“Really? Because Ah’m thinkin’ that diary tells all,” Applejack retorted, crossing her arms and thumbing the edge of her hat. “Unless you got somethin’ else that makes you think her own admission ain’t enough.”

“Ugh!” I threw my hands up and let them fall to my sides. “Number one, I just told you guys that she told me she only did something because someone else told her it was okay. Number two, yes, Applejack, I do have something to prove it.”

Fact #13: Discarded Note: “A handwritten note torn to shreds, found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket. The handwriting is messy and heavily slanted to the left. Most of the text was illegible, save for the following words: ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’

I deliberately kept the bit about Rainbow Dash’s handwriting matching it off screen for the moment. I didn’t want to muddy the waters further. We could deal with that later. “See? She was given a note. The note said ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’ That implies that someone told her it was okay to place that ring in Fluttershy’s pocket. Pinkie Pie was super sneaky, but she was also pretty naive. I’ll bet the rest of the note told her to give Fluttershy that specific ring. Remember how the box had a piece of red tape on it?”

~*~
Monoponi pointedly strode up to her and used his magic to rummage through her pockets, withdrawing a small black box with a piece of red tape stuck to the top. “Oh? Ooooh? Then what do you call this?!” He popped open the box, revealing a beautiful gold ring encrusted with a large yellow tourmaline. “Because I call this thievery!”
~*~

“The person who wrote the note probably marked that box so Pinkie would know which one was ‘safe’ to give Fluttershy. Fluttershy was already taking Pinkie to the store so she could buy Pinkie a gift. Pinkie was probably all too happy to return the favor, and help whoever gave her the note to boot.”

“Oh that poor darling!” Rarity gasped, holding up a hand to her forehead and sighing dramatically. “And then it was all for naught, because poor Fluttershy was cut down in the prime of her youth, for a crime she didn’t even commit!” Her hand slipped down and into a fist at her breast. “Damn whoever gave her that note. They’re the real criminal here.”

“Are they, though?” Twilight scoffed, holding up both hands in a gesture that screamed bitch please. “Because the way I understand the rules is, what matters is who did the actual deed. Pinkie Pie’s the one who planted the ring. Therefore, she’s the culprit. We’ve found one of the blackeneds.”

“Yeah, Twilight’s right!” Rainbow Dash railed, slamming a hand on her podium. “If Pinkie Pie herself admitted she did it, then she did it!”

Tiara held up a single finger and shook it. “But Pinkie wouldn’t have done it without that note. I think Sunset’s got a point. Pinkie Pie isn’t the culprit.”

Applejack tapped her foot on the ground several times with an obvious clicking sound. “Well, if Tiara says it wasn’t Pinkie, Ah’m inclined to disagree with her just cause Tiara’s sayin’ it,” she groused, glaring at the rich elitist. “Because Ah don’t like you.”

“Wow. What a petty reason,” Tiara snorted derisively.

“Pot callin’ the kettle black there sugarcube.”

Scootaloo let out an irritated groan and fell over onto her podium. “How is this even a debate? Like Rainbow said, Pinkie admitted it.”

“Gonna have to agree with that,” Flash said, lowering his hand from his chin as he nodded. “An admission of guilt is an admission of guilt.”

“You didn’t see the note,” Adagio said, stabbing a finger into her podium. “It’d be foolish to suggest Pinkie Pie was guilty when someone deliberately misled her.”

Trixie thrust out her arm so her cape billowed. “Trixie, of course, will support Sunset. Though Trixie isn’t sure this matters. Isn’t it up to Monoponi, not us?”

“Oh, nonono, by all means, argue over this!” Monoponi said, holding his forehooves to his belly with a grin of glee. “Eyahaha, I’ll let you idiots decide this one for yourselves. I’ll go with whoever wins!”

“Wait, really?” I said, arching both eyebrows. “Are you only doing that because we’re split down… the… middle… oh god damn it!” I slapped both hands to my head and moaned.

“Ahahahaha! You said it, not me!” Monoponi’s horn lit up, triggering the speakers to fill the room with that techno beat once again. “After all, when you say it, we gotta do it. Presenting our very own morphenomenal trial grounds, it’s time for the scrum debate!”

“Good job me,” I groaned as our podiums rose up to split up in twain. Out the corner of my eye I saw Pinkie’s portrait and Fluttershy’s join my side before the debate began.

Rainbow Dash began, thrusting out a finger and shouting, “Pinkie Pie admitted it herself! She’s the one responsible!”

Rarity retorted with a twirl of her finger, “Sorry darling, but just because she admitted she was involved does not mean she’s the actual blackened!”

Applejack threw down her hat and argued, “But she’s the one who gave her the ring! That means it’s gotta be her!”

Tiara held a hand to her mouth and laughed. “Ohoho, but she only gave her that ring because someone told her to!”

Groaning in frustration, Flash objected, “But that doesn’t mean anything! We can’t even be sure that’s what the note says!”

Her cloak billowing like a strong wind behind her, Trixie laughed and said, “Trixie read the note herself! It said ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’ That seems pretty blatant to Trixie!”

“So what’re you saying, huh?” Scootaloo snarled. “That the real culprit is the one who wrote the note, because they had the intent to kill? That they just used Pinkie Pie?”

“Obviously,” Adagio sneered with a mocking laugh. “The culprit wanted Fluttershy dead, and used Pinkie Pie and Monoponi to do it.”

Twilight ripped her glasses off her face and glared right at me. “According to the rules the blackened is the one who did the deed. Note or not, intent or not, Pinkie’s the one who did it. Therefore, she has to be the blackened!”

I glared right back, putting the full force of my personality behind this one. “You don’t get to interpret the rules, Twilight. Monoponi does. He put this debate in our hands, which means he agrees our argument makes sense. As with any crime, intent matters. Pinkie Pie was as much a tool as Monoponi himself was. The one who intended harm was the true culprit behind Fluttershy’s death, not Pinkie Pie!”

“But can we really make an exception just because we don’t want it to be Pinkie Pie?” Flash demanded.

Using one hand to fluff her hair, Tiara whirled on him and retorted in a fiery manner, “Hey, dumbass, did you forget that an exception is what kept you from being the blackened for Apple Bloom?”

Applejack scooped her hat up and slapped it back on. “But there’s a difference! Flash didn’t even know there was a trap. Pinkie Pie was well aware what she was doin’ might break the rules!”

“There’s no difference at all!” Adagio shot back, slapping a hand to her head. “Pinkie Pie was lied to. She was told it was safe.”

“Oh come on, that’s just a bullshit assumption and you know it!” Rainbow Dash said, slamming an open palm on her podium.

Trixie leaned forward, favoring Rainbow Dash with a mocking half-lidded leer. “It’s not an assumption, it’s fact. Pinkie Pie told Sunset as much, remember?”

Scootaloo pulled at her hair, utterly frustrated. “But how can we be sure that note was even real? What if it was fake? What if Pinkie Pie made it up, just to cover up for her own guilt?”

Rarity hummed, smiling gently. “Scootaloo, I understand where you’re going with this, but why shouldn’t we assume the note was real? Which is truly more likely, Pinkie Pie committing murder and covering it up, or Pinkie Pie being misled into committing murder? I know which one makes more sense to me.”

More hairs bursting from her otherwise perfect bun, Twilight set her glasses down on her podium, sighed, and said, “You do understand if we decide that Pinkie Pie can’t be the blackened that we’re putting another life in jeopardy? That instead of accepting someone already dead, we might be throwing someone else’s life away? Wouldn’t the moral thing to do be to preserve as many of our lives as possible?”

My blood boiling at that remark, I fired back, “Oh, so Pinkie Pie’s life was meaningless? Fluttershy’s life was meaningless? Is that what you’re saying? Because if we let the person who wrote the note get away with this, that’s exactly what we’ll be saying. And I refuse to accept that. I refuse to blame someone conned into doing something they’d never do otherwise just so we can spare the life of someone who thinks it’s okay to manipulate others into murdering each other! That’s not the moral thing to do at all. It’s the wrong thing to do! I won’t accept anything else!”

With that answer, our podiums descended back to the courtroom, resuming their usual layout. “Well, I’d say we have a winner there, folks!” Monoponi cheered. “Sunset’s team wins! Whoever wrote the note that told Pinkie what to do is who I’ll consider the blackened to be! I hope you idiots don’t regret making this choice in the end, upupupu eyahahaha ahahahaahahaha!”

Monoponi’s ominous laughter aside, I was glad this was the direction we were taking. Pinkie Pie died believing she was responsible for killing Fluttershy. If there was any justice in the world at all, somewhere out there, in whatever afterlife may or may not exist, Fluttershy was telling Pinkie it wasn’t her fault, and that she forgives her. I can only hope, anyway, because I sure as hell wasn’t about to let the monster who tricked Pinkie into doing their dirty work get away with this.

And I hadn’t forgotten that we hadn’t even come close to solving Pinkie Pie’s murder either. We may have nailed down a rough time frame, but that’s all we’d done. We didn’t even know the cause of death yet.

This trial had only just begun.

Author's Notes:

I never once considered Pinkie Pie responsible for Fluttershy's death.

Chapter Three: A Maelstrom of Murder Part 7

So here we were, part way into the trial for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. We’d made a crucial decision, that whomever was behind the note was the one behind Fluttershy’s death. But we’d barely gotten our feet wet when it came to Pinkie Pie. We knew she didn’t drown, and I was pretty sure the dumbbell didn’t kill her either, but we hadn’t gone any further. We went off track because I brought up Pinkie’s diary.

It was going to take a lot more effort to solve Pinkie’s murder, but I thought we could at least continue where we were with the note. We had a possible clue as to who might’ve written it, so I figured that was the best place to start.

“Ah sure hope we made the right decision,” Applejack said, shaking in her boots.

Twilight brought out a rag, polished her glasses with it, then slipped them back on. “Frankly, I’m not sure we did. If there are two blackeneds, we may have just given up an extra life, if Monoponi decides to execute them both.”

“Oh dear, I hadn’t considered that!” Rarity said, somehow managing to pale despite her alabaster complexion. “Maybe we should have left it as Pinkie Pie after all…”

“It’s too late now,” Scootaloo groaned, slapping a hand to her face. “Hope we don’t regret this.”

“I don’t give a damn if it was the right thing to do or not,” Adagio said with a menacing grin on her face. “I just want to be sure that whoever wrote that note pays for what they did.”

Rainbow Dash smashed a fist on her podium. “Uugh, enough already, okay? Can we just move on?”

“Yes, let’s,” I agreed. “Because I know the perfect thing to focus on: the note itself.”

Trixie arched an eyebrow. “Oh? You’re bringing that up now?”

“Wait, what is Trixie talking about?” Twilight said, sighing in frustration. “Were you hiding something, Sunset?”

“Not hiding. I just didn’t want to bring it up till we’d settled the debate,” I said. “I left something out when I brought up the note the first time.”

Fact #13: Discarded Note: “A handwritten note torn to shreds, found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket. The handwriting is messy and heavily slanted to the left. Most of the text was illegible, save for the following words: ‘help me surprise Fluttershy.’ The handwriting near perfectly matches a sample of Rainbow Dash’s handwriting.”

“You can probably see why I didn’t want this distracting us,” I said.

“Fourth time!” Scootaloo cried, falling face first onto her podium and wriggling. “Fourth goddamned time!”

Adagio snickered at Scootaloo’s antics. “It’s only the third time, idiot. Apple Bloom didn’t count.”

“Adagio, that’s not helpful,” I groused.

“H-hey, wait a minute,” Rainbow Dash took a step back from her podium, enveloped in a cold sweat. “T-this doesn’t mean anything. I-I didn’t write that note.”

Trixie let out a low, dark chuckle. “Trixie might have something to say about that,” she said as she queued up another piece of evidence.

Fact #15: Library Log: “The handwriting of the log entry ‘Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light: Rainbow Dash X/O’ is a near perfect match for the handwriting of the note found in Pinkie Pie’s wastebasket, apart from being slightly slanted to the right.”

“This is what Sunset and Trixie matched the handwriting to. Your own signature, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Rainbow retorted, her face turning pale. “C’mon you guys, you can’t be serious! I loved Fluttershy! She was my sister in all but name. You really think I’d kill her like that? Or at all?”

“Oh, I’m sure that, with the right motive, she could’ve been convinced to sacrifice herself for you,” Adagio purred. “But, no, I don’t think you wrote the note.”

“I don’t either,” I agreed. “It wouldn’t make any sense for you to have written it.”

“O-oh…” Rainbow Dash, who’d been all but hyperventilating, managed to slow her breathing, letting out several nervous laughs. “Then why didn’t you just say so?”

A sheepish smile of my own spreading on my face, I replied, “Because I still wanted to bring up the possibility that you did. Look closely at the two handwriting samples. They’re almost identical, except one is slanted to the left, the other slanted to the right. If I wasn’t looking at these side by side? I’d be completely fooled into thinking this was your handwriting, Rainbow.”

Tiara peered down at her Monopad, comparing the samples. “Huh. Me too. But it wouldn’t be the first time someone faked someone else’s handwriting, would it?”

“No. It wouldn’t,” Twilight agreed. She glanced Rainbow’s way, frowning. “Then again, maybe that’s what Rainbow Dash was banking on.”

“Huh?” I blinked several times in rapid succession. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Twilight said with a mocking grin, “that Rainbow Dash, knowing someone’s faked writing before, deliberately made her writing look different on the note so that when we compared it, we’d see the difference and think someone must’ve faked it.”

“Woah!” Scootaloo gasped. “That’s so sneaky!”

“H-hey!” Rainbow Dash objected, the panic she’d managed to shed returning all at once. “No way! I couldn’t come up with anything like that! I’m not smart enough!”

Twilight barked a single, mirthless laugh. “You don’t have to be. Daring Do and the Cornerstone of Light, chapter eight. Daring Do deliberately pretends to fake her own handwriting to fool Doctor Caballeron into thinking someone else created a false map to the cornerstone. There was a perfect example right there in the very book you read.”

Tiara snickered, holding back a laugh. “Guess Rainbow’s not the only one still reading kid’s books,” she muttered under her breath.

“I heard that,” Twilight said, glaring daggers at Tiara.

I crossed my arms, frowning at the researcher. “Not to doubt what you’re saying, but is there any way we could prove that she faked it?”

“Certainly,” Twilight answered. She adjusted her glasses, causing them to catch a bit of light and twinkle. “Give Rainbow Dash a pen and a piece of paper, and watch her try to write the words from the note. ‘Help me surprise Fluttershy.’ She needs to write it several times. With each hand.”

“Um, beg your pardon, darling? Why each hand?” Rarity inquired, puzzlement etched across her face.

Twilight sighed, carefully rubbing her forehead with two fingers and a thumb. “Ugh, isn’t it obvious? Because the difference in the handwriting is clearly the difference between someone writing with their right hand versus their left. See how the note is slanted to the left? That means whoever wrote it did so with their left hand. Of course, there’s nothing preventing the signature from being left-handed as well. It’s just less likely, since it’s slightly slanted to the right.”

“But I’m right-handed,” Rainbow Dash said, her face screwing up in confusion. “I can’t write anything with my left hand.”

It was Twilight’s turn for stunned silence. “You… what?!” More hairs burst forth from her bun, leaving her with the appearance of someone aping a beholder rather than having perfectly brushed hair. “Since when?! You always eat with your fork in your left hand. I’ve seen you do it!”

“Well, yeah, that’s cause my grandma made me learn how to do that,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. “When I was really little, my parents used her as a babysitter. She was left-handed, and so was everyone else in my family, so she kept trying to "correct" me and made me use my left hand. She passed away when I was four. I was too young to learn how to write, but old enough to use a fork, sooo yeah.” She leaned against her podium. “Every once in a while I try to use my right hand to hold a fork or a spoon, but it never feels right, you know? So I use my left hand for that. But I use my right for everything else.”

Applejack raised a hand like she wanted to set it on Rainbow’s shoulder to comfort her, despite the animosity, and the entire courtroom, between them. Then she set it down on her podium. “Ah’m sorry to hear your Granny treated you like that. Mine sure never would’ve.”

A half smile briefly appeared on Rainbow’s face before it faded. “S’alright. Don’t worry about it.”

I pulled out a pen and piece of paper. “Still, would you mind doing the test Twilight suggested anyway, just to be safe?”

“Uh, sure, but how’re you guys gonna see it?” she asked as I handed them over to her, barely reaching past Fluttershy’s empty podium.

Monoponi coughed into his hoof. “Oh you let me worry about that. If it’s for the trial, your Captain is more than happy to oblige!” With a flourish of his horn and a bolt of crimson light, the center hologram display lit up with a perfect top-down shot of Rainbow Dash’s hands and the paper.

“Oookay, here goes nothing,” Rainbow said. Taking up the pen in her right hand, she proceeded to sketch out two columns on the paper, one marked left, the other right. On the right column she then wrote ‘help me surprise Fluttershy’ five times. Each time she wrote it, it matched the handwriting from her book signature.

Then she swapped the pen over to her left hand, grimacing at the feel. “Ugh, this is gonna suck,” she groaned as she began writing. Under our scrutiny, with no chance to fake anything, Rainbow tried her hardest to write clearly with her left hand. She did a bit better than I expected, but the end result was nothing like the note. Her usual handwriting was chicken scratch as it is. Her left-handed handwriting? All but unreadable. And I suspected the only reason I could read it at all was because I already knew what it said.

Monoponi let the image fade off the display as Rainbow Dash passed the pen and paper back to me. I made sure to pass the paper around the room so everyone could get a clear look at it. “Satisfied, Twilight?” I said, smirking. “She didn’t fake her own handwriting.”