As the music from the debate faded, and my elation from winning the argument went with it, Sunset cracked her knuckles and set her hands down on her podium, giving me a look I didn’t quite know how to interpret. It was simultaneously utterly furious… and yet resigned?

Once again I was struck by just how pale she looked. This was destroying her, and even though it was right, I felt awful prolonging it.

“You know what, Wallflower?” Sunset said after a few moments of dead silence. “You’re right.” She let out a loud sigh. “You’re right, and I of all people should know that you can’t vote without certainty. This is just like… well, nevermind what it’s just like. Point is, you’re right, and I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Shining Armor eyed me. "I'd like to ask Wallflower a couple of questions. If Trixie isn't the culprit, she's our next most likely suspect."

"Oh come on," Sour Sweet said, flashing Shining a rude gesture. "You seriously think she'd waste her time defending Trixie if she was the culprit?"

I raised my hand. "No, he's right," I said, despite my nerves trembling. "I'm sure stranger things have happened and it's better to clear up any confusion."

"You've got that right," Sunset muttered. For some reason she looked right at Trixie with a wistful expression.

Shining nodded. "Okay. First thing's first. According to everyone's testimony, including your own, you were the last one to see Pear Butter alive."

Fact #12: Pear Butter’s Behavior: “As far as we know, Wallflower was the last one to see Pear Butter, in her office, three hours before her body was discovered.”

I froze and looked at Big Macintosh, not sure how much I wanted to say. But anything could be important, I realized. So after a deep breath I answered, "She and I had an argument. I wanted to know why she'd been so rude to me. She accused me of faking my memory loss and insinuated I was going to kill someone by asking if I…" I swallowed. "If I would spare Big Macintosh."

Big Macintosh's jaw fell open before he let out an angry grunt. "What in tarnation are you sayin'? My Momma was protectin' me?"

"I think she thought she was," I replied. "I was so confused. I told her I would never hurt anyone. And she screamed at me to leave her office. That's when I ran away; I was terrified."

Sunset rubbed her chin. "So that's why Big Mac saw you looking all panicked and sweaty."

"Well, I ran to my room, took a shower, and ran into Sunset afterwards. We talked for a bit and I asked why she thought Pear Butter was so mad. She just told me to stay away, so I did. And then we heard the table break. After that I was never out of sight or alone."

Shining uncrossed his arms and set his hands on his podium. "I think we can safely rule Wallflower out. I'm still not convinced about Trixie, but we'll take her off the table too for now."

"Gee, thanks, Dad,” Trixie scoffed. “Trixie is so glad you're looking out for her.”

Zephyr’s groan interrupted Shining’s complaint. "Oooh but that leaves us at square one! We don't know who could've done it."

"Maybe we should start looking into some other alibis," Autumn Blaze suggested. "If we can't figure it out from clues maybe there's something there."

Fact #9: Alibis: “Shining Armor and Autumn Blaze were discussing leadership outside the Mess Hall.
Zephyr Breeze was with Derpy Doo and Big Macintosh fixing the broken dining room table, but was out of sight for at least twenty minutes before the body was discovered.
Cheese Sandwich was with Cranky Doodle in the breakroom for several hours.
Sour Sweet and Fluttershy were having a discussion outside.
Trixie claims she was trapped in the pantry since after breakfast.
Juniper states she was in her room working on a screenplay.”

"Well don't look at me," Juniper said immediately. "Sunset said earlier that there's no way I could've killed Pear Butter and gotten back to my dorm room without being seen. And that's still true."

Sunset nodded. "I agree. I don't think Juniper is at fault. But… I do have a question for someone." She whirled and pointed. "Zephyr Breeze, care to explain where you were during that time?”

Zephyr swallowed, a goofy grin gracing his face as he began laughing. “Ah, uh, heh, hehehe, I uh, why, why does that matter, huh?”

“Because it’s exactly the time we think the murder took place,” Derpy said, frowning.

“That’s right,” Trixie added, giving Zephyr a disgusted look. “You suddenly vanished around the time of the crime. Quite suspicious if you ask Trixie.”

Sweat ran down Zephyr’s face in droves. “Ah-bah w-well, I, uh, I didn’t… I wouldn’t… I can’t play guitar!”

Everyone paused, save for Sunset. “Yeah, we know that. That’s not why I’m asking where you were.”

Sunset snorted. “No, it’s not. I doubt you could’ve done this; you’re not, err…” She glanced at Fluttershy, who’d begun to give her a very stern look, and switched tracks. “That is, it doesn’t make much sense for you to have done it. I don’t think you would’ve had enough time, especially not given when we heard the guitar playing. But we need to clear up where you went.”

“Oh, uh, alright,” he said, slicking his hair back and preening, as if suddenly brimming with confidence again. “I was in the bathroom; I had to take a huge dump.”

“We really didn’t need to hear the details, dude,” Cheese said, holding his nose.

“Is that really where you were at?” Fluttershy asked, placing her hands on her hips.

He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m telling the truth, honest! I had to go, so I went. We had the table fixed; I figured it wasn’t a problem.”

“So why didn’t you say nothin’?” Big Macintosh asked. “Instead of wastin’ our time like this?”

Zephyr stuck his hands in his pockets. “...I was afraid someone might accuse me of killing Pear Butter. A-and at the time I just had to go really bad so I forgot to say something, okay?”

Shining eyed him warily, then slowly shook his head. “I believe him. And he couldn’t have played the guitar, so he wasn’t responsible either.”

“Alright, well, thanks anyway, Zephyr,” Sunset said with a slight sigh. “At least we solved that little mystery.”

“Hey, I just thought of something,” Autumn Blaze said, waving her hand. “Remember the gouges?”

Fact #6: Gouge Marks: “There are marks gouged into the desk, as if it was violently struck.”

Derpy shook her head. “Oh my gosh, no, we didn’t. We segued into the whole guitar thing and forgot about ‘em.”

“Ugh, maybe the killer just wanted to plant a bunch of pointless evidence,” Cranky mumbled. “Like that stupid guitar string thing.”

“Because it’s just so pointless!” he griped. “This killer probably just planted a bunch of random fake evidence all willy-nilly, and they’re sitting here laughing at us trying to make sense of it!”

“We had a theory about the gouges,” I said, trying to ignore him. “It looked like Pear Butter swung something, and it hit the desk. She attacked first.”

“We have to consider the possibility,” Shining said. “And if she did swing something, it had to be the guitar, right? It fits the gouges, and we know it got damaged.”

Big Macintosh let out a wordless snarl. “So we’re back on this again, huh? Sayin’ my Momma was tryin’ to murder someone?”

Sunset let out a very loud sigh. “Big Macintosh, I know the idea hurts. I get it. I don’t like it either. But...your mother was acting very strange before things went down. Starting arguments, being mean to Wallflower after being nice to her the first day… I remember how every culprit in the last game was acting before they killed someone. And a lot of them acted like Pear Butter did. I think we have to face the reality that she was trying to murder the culprit. And they murdered her back.”

“...but…” Big Macintosh reeled back like he’d been slapped, placing both fists down on his podium. “But why? Why would my Momma… wanna kill anyone?”

I looked right at Sunset questioningly. “Sunset, do you think it might’ve been because of what we found in her room?”

“Whoa, hold on a second,” Shining Armor said, holding out his hands. “What are we talking about here? What was found in Pear Butter’s room?”

Sunset gave me a pleading look, begging me not to speak up, but I just couldn’t stay silent on this. “We found some kind of diary,” I said. “This is what it said.”

It’s been a couple of days since the program shifted and this killing game was announced. I’m not going to admit it to anyone else, but Bright Mac? I’m scared. I’m scared out of my wits. Our son is in this damned game with me! I don’t care so much about my own life, because the worst thing that could happen is I’m with you again. But we can’t lose our son…. He’s far too young to go. He deserves to live a long, full life, the one you were denied.

If I find out for sure who put us in here, I’ll tear them apart for putting my son’s life at risk.

And she keeps acting innocent. That foolish woman, every time I try to get her to admit something she dodges it by pretending she has no idea what I’m talking about. Her memory issues sure are convenient, given that–

Big Macintosh crumpled at his podium, sobbing softly. “Momma…” he whispered.

“It says ‘and she,’” Shining Armor said, rubbing his chin. “Implying that Pear Butter believes one of us was involved in setting this game up. Maybe even masterminded the whole thing.”

“Me,” I said, pointing to myself. “She thought it was me. That’s why she asked me to spare Big Macintosh… she thought I’m the one behind the killing game.”

“No, of course not!” I shouted, throwing out a hand. “I would never do a thing like that. I don’t know why Pear Butter thought I did, but…”

“This makes you look a lot more suspicious, you know,” Cheese said, giving me a wary look.

I sighed. “But at the time the guitar was being played, I was with Sunset, Vignette, and Rarity playing a board game outside. We’ve established this.”

“This is why I didn’t want to bring this up,” Sunset said, scowling at me. “Because it doesn’t tell us anything new and all it does is make you look bad, Wallflower.”

“I disagree,” Rarity said. “I think it tells us exactly one new fact: it suggests that Pear Butter might actually have been trying to kill someone.”

The room fell silent for a moment at that, save for Big Macintosh’s continued sobs and the occasional slamming of his fist against his podium.

“So, what you’re saying is,” Sour Sweet said, “that Pear Butter thought she knew who the mastermind was, so she tried to kill them for it?”

“It sure looks that way,” Zephyr said, giving Big Macintosh a sympathetic look. “Sorry big guy.”

“Shut up,” Big Macintosh grunted. At least he’d finally finished sobbing, though he was now looking at us with red-rimmed eyes, his face tear-stained. “All of you… just shut up. Ah don’t care what my Momma said in some diary of hers. She ain’t a killer!”

“Well that much certainly is true, since she’s the one who died,” Vignette said with a gormless shrug.

Big Macintosh’s hands came up, fingers curling in and out like he was desperate to get them around Vignette’s neck. But thankfully after a moment he calmed down. “...just… just stop insultin’ her, alright? Ah can’t stand it no more. Ah don’t want to hear it.”

“Well, regardless, even if she thought the culprit was the mastermind, it wouldn’t have made a difference,” Sunset said. “Because there’s no way the mastermind would let themselves get killed like that.”

“Trixie wonders, though, what if she had? Monohuman? Care to answer Trixie?”

Monohuman twirled his baton and held a hand to his ear. “Sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear you over how annoying your method of speech is.”

“Sorry, Monohuman,” Derpy said, giving Trixie an apologetic look, “but um, what she was asking was, what if Pear Butter had killed the mastermind?”

Monohuman shrugged. “Assuming there is a ‘mastermind’ among you, which would be a pretty fun idea now that you bring it up, it makes no difference. Check the rules; nowhere in them does it say killing a mastermind stops the game.”

After a few moments, Cranky muttered, “Guuuh. Never mind…lousy piece of technology…”

“So, we know that Pear Butter was likely trying to hurt the mastermind, or who she thought was the mastermind,” Shining said as he rubbed his chin. “Which has me suspicious of Trixie all over again, because so far she’s the only one who fits the potential bill.”

“Oh, please don’t make Trixie have to defend herself again,” Trixie insisted. “Was it not clear to you that Trixie was trapped in the pantry? Or do you truly think Trixie could snarf down an entire kuchen in the, what, twenty or so minutes after Pear Butter died? Bearing in mind of course that Trixie would have to falsely play the guitar and then somehow sneak past everyone when they came inside to search.”

“No, I suppose not,” Shining said with a deep sigh. “Though that doesn’t leave us with a lot of options. The only one that still fits all the evidence we have is Big Macintosh himself.”

Big Macintosh glared at Shining, but for once, he kept his temper in check. “Ah didn’t kill my Momma, Shinin’.”

Shining shook his head. “No, you didn’t. I don’t believe that for a second. So that leaves us stuck.”

“Oooh… it doesn’t make any sense,” Fluttershy said with a sad sigh. “The only ones who could’ve done it either had alibis or were trapped.”

Vignette let out a slight sigh of her own. “Oh, if only there was something we hadn’t figured out yet… some clue we’re overlooking, or some contradiction we still haven’t resolved.” She then looked at me and winked.

I blinked, staring back at her in blank confusion. What was she talking about? There wasn’t anything left that…

“There isn’t anything, is the problem,” Sunset replied. “I don’t get what we’re missing. We must be missing something.”

“Oho, finding you’re running out of things to debate about, hmm?” Monohuman interrupted, sitting up straight in his throne. “Perhaps I should declare an end to the trial then, and make you vote!”

“He’s the one running things… doesn’t he make the rules?” Zephyr asked.

“You can’t do that, Monohuman!” Sunset declared as she tapped at her pad. “Your own rules state that the trial doesn’t end until the participants are certain. You’re not going to violate your own rules, are you?”

Monohuman considered that, tapping the end of his baton to his chin. “I suppose not… and you’re right. I did say as much in the rules, didn’t I? Oh, and here I am without a caveat for changing the rules… oh. Wait a minute. I can.” A savage grin split his face as he snapped his fingers.

Everyone’s pads beeped and a single new rule popped up in the middle of the podiums as if it was a piece of evidence.

Rule #18: Should the trial drag on or otherwise become too boring or stuck, Monohuman reserves the right to call an ending to the trial and force a vote. This rule is at Monohuman’s discretion and interpretation only. Any attempt to argue with this rule will be met with execution.

“Ah ah ah!” Monohuman waggled his finger. “Careful now, or I’ll take that as arguing with the rule. And you don’t want to argue with the rule, do you?”

Steaming, her face red, almost blisteringly hot, Sunset set her hands down. “No,” she growled, the words sounding ripped from her throat. “No, of course not.”

“Good! Now then.” Monohuman sat back down. “With this rule in place, I can call an end to the trial at any time. So I hope you’re prepared for when that happens, because you will vote, and I will still react accordingly to a correct or incorrect vote.”

“Oh no, we’re so dead!” Zephyr cried, clutching his head. “What’re we gonna do? We don’t know who did it!”

“We should vote Trixie!” Juniper barked. “At least then we’ll have someone.”

“Don’t you dare!” Trixie shouted back, raising a fist. “Trixie is not guilty! How many times must she say this?”

“So, you really are out of debating options then?” Monohuman asked, an amused grin gracing his face. “Very well then. Time to–”

Monohuman stood up immediately, his baton pointed at me, a terrifyingly calm expression on his face. “Are you arguing with the rule, Wallflower?” he asked, his voice just as scarily calm.

My body trembled and palms grew sweaty as I shook my head. “Err, no. I’ve got a subject to debate.”

“Oh!” Monohuman smiled and sat back down. “Very well then. Go right ahead.”

“For real, tell us,” Cheese said, looking at me pleadingly. “Give us something to work with.”

I nodded. “Look, we’re stuck, right? We don’t know who did it because all our clues point to people who couldn’t have done it, right? And anyone who might’ve had the chance don’t fit one or more of the clues.”

“Yeaaaah,” Sunset said, giving me a wary look. “That’s the issue. Are you going somewhere with this?”

“I am,” I said with another nod. “I figure that if every clue points to people who couldn’t have done something, and we’re out of suspects, then something we think we know is wrong. It’s the only explanation. And I realized it when you mentioned what you’d have to do to sneak past everyone, Trixie.”

Trixie blinked and held a hand to her chest. “Trixie? Moi? How exactly did Trixie help you?”

“Well, you pointed out something I’ve been struggling with this whole trial,” I said. “Namely, the timeline. Right now, we think that whoever the culprit was, they played the guitar to pretend to be Pear Butter about ten or so minutes before the body was found, right? And then they’d have to smash the guitar, and wrap the guitar string around her neck, and somehow get out without anyone noticing they were involved, and join the rest of us without anyone realizing anything.”

“Hmm…” Shining took off his hat for a moment to run a hand through his hair, then stuck it back on. “I think you might be onto something, Wallflower. What precisely are you suggesting?”

A tight smile graced my face as I answered. “The murder didn’t take place when we think it did.”

“Whoa, hold up there, Wally,” Zephyr said, holding up his hands. “What makes you say that?”

“It’s a hunch,” I answered. “A bit of a leap, I know, but… like I said, something we think we know is wrong. And if the murder took place at a different time, it could shake up everything.”

“It would also invalidate everything we’ve figured out thus far,” Sunset retorted with a soft shake of her head. “Wallflower, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree with this one.”

“No, I don’t think I am.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “If no one we think could’ve murdered Pear Butter just before the body was found, then they must’ve done it at another time.”

Sunset shook her head, and to my shock she gave me a cold smile, the kind that adults give to little children to humor them when the child thinks they’re saying something profound. "Wallflower, it's okay. You made a good point earlier with Trixie and certainty. But now the ball's back in my court. Let me handle this, okay?"

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. Sunset Shimmer, of all people… treating me like a little child.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I was so excited by winning the earlier argument I was happy to pursue anything so long as it meant I'd win again.

Winning. A concept foreign to me, as foreign as the idea of speaking in public, or standing up for myself. All things I'd done today that I usually never bothered with or were so scared of doing the thought made me want to vomit.

Sunset’s smile turned kinder. “Thank you.” She turned to the others. “Now, forget what Wallflower was saying; too many things point to the murder taking place not long before the body was found.”

“No, wait a minute,” Shining said. “I thought she was onto something. Why’re we just dismissing this?”

Sunset shrugged. “Even if she found something that could support her claim, it could easily be another fabrication by the culprit.” She flashed everyone a wry grin. “You haven’t seen some of the cases I have. Things get a lot more convoluted than this, trust me. At least we didn’t have any mysterious sudden deaths in the middle of the investigation.”

“Hang on, Sunset,” Trixie said, eying me curiously. “Trixie also thinks Wallflower was onto something.”

“Me too,” Fluttershy said, rubbing her chin. “Though, um, I’m not sure how we’d… prove it.”

Hearing others speak up on my behalf was nice, but it really wasn’t necessary. And I started to say as much.

Derpy cut me off. “I think she was onto something. Why’re you so against it, Sunset?”

“Because there’s no evidence,” Sunset declared. “We have to stick with what we can prove.”

“Well, maybe she can prove it!” Trixie snapped. “You haven’t given her a chance!”

Sunset groaned and pulled at her hair for a moment, then gave me a fierce glare. “Okay, fine. Let’s hear it then, Wallflower. What possible evidence do we have that suggests it could’ve taken place sooner, huh?”

Abruptly put on the spot again, I found myself unable to speak, my words stuck in my throat. “Err… I uh… well… I…”

“Uh huh,” Sunset said, shaking her head with a sigh. “Right. So, moving on.”

A number of people gave me looks I wasn’t sure how to interpret, until I glanced Vignette’s way again. She winked at me, and mouthed a single word.

And I blinked in surprised understanding, and nodded. “There’s…” My voice failed, because I suddenly became aware of that stupid camera pivoting to me when I spoke.

“Give her time!” Vignette chided, sounding unconcerned and sweet, but glaring right at Sunset.

I tried to center myself and finally, finally got myself together. “There’s a piece of evidence which… which suggests it happened earlier.”

The room somehow got more silent than I was aware was possible. Absolutely every single person stared right at me. I squeezed my fists together and somehow kept going. “It’s this.”

Fact #7: White Noise Machine: “Pear Butter’s white noise machine was discovered turned off when the body was discovered, despite her habit of keeping it on. It was off for an uncertain amount of time, and it was in power-saving mode, meaning it could turn itself off automatically. The timer displayed ‘2245.’”

Sunset crossed her arms and raised both eyebrows. “What about it? It was on a power-saving mode; we figured out as much during the investigation.”

“Yes, but that 2245. It’s the timer, it relates to the timing, and we never figured it out.”

Trixie held out both hands. “And what is that supposed to mean to Trixie? It was set to turn off after two thousand, two hundred, and forty-five minutes? That’s a long therapy session, though I
can think of a few people who’d need it.”

“Obviously it doesn’t mean anything useful,” Sunset said, waving her hand dismissively. “Wallflower, seriously, you’re wasting our time, and it’s beginning to piss me off.”

Those words sent me reeling like I’d been slapped in the face. “But… Sunset…”

“It doesn’t mean anything!” Sunset railed back, throwing her hands up in the air. “Why are you so insistent on this, huh? Did you do it after all? Did you?”

“What?” I breathed. My blood froze as she spoke, till solid ice gripped every artery, every vein, every capillary in my body. “H-how could you even say that, Sunset?”

“Because let’s get real here for a second and face some facts: you do fit the profile,” Sunset snarled. “And you’ve got a pretty damned good motive.”

“I’m pretty sick of being here,” Juniper moaned. “Can we just vote already? Wallflower sounds as good as anyone.”

“I’m tired of this crap too,” Cranky said, “but I’m not about to risk my life voting for the wrong person. And something about this stinks. You were defending Wallflower all over the place before, Sunset. Why the change?”

Cheese folded his arms and looked at Sunset. “I’ve gotta agree with Cranky. What’s your deal, Sunset?”

“We’ve established several times that Wallflower not only couldn’t play the guitar well enough, but she was with us when the guitar was played,” Rarity added. “Honestly, Sunset, other than having the best motive, I can’t see Wallflower being the culprit.”

“Yeah!” I said, finding some extra confidence in hearing others back me up. “And that number 2245 does mean something. If you just….”

“One second,” Shining said, raising his hand. He pointed at me. “Wallflower, you weren’t the one who had experience with the machine. Vignette was the one who’d used one before.”

“Well, thank you, Shining Armor,” Vignette said breezily. “I’ve been waiting impatiently for someone to gather up the courage to ask for my input. I know I’m intimidating, but I put my pomade on one strand at a time, just like anyone else.”

“But I’m sorry to say you were taken in by my confidence. I only made it look like I knew anything about that machine. It’s a little bit of a superpower of mine. I used to think it was great, but then I learned it was stifling my growth and keeping me from making new friends, thaaanks Rarityyyy luv ya!” Rarity blushed in embarrassment; I couldn’t tell if it was vicarious or not.

“Uh,” I spoke up gently, “I don’t think Shining thought you were an expert, or anything, just you might know something. You were pretty clearly just pressing randomly on the buttons.”

Vignette sauntered into the hallway and began poking at the control panel on the device, ignoring Sunset’s protests. “Aha,” she chirped, then smiled back at us. “It’s in power-saver mode. It turns off automatically unless you push the power button.” She pushed a button and nothing happened. “...Whichever of these is the power button. I’ve reviewed products with a feature like that; that’s definitely what it is.”

“No idea, you can set it. People fall asleep with these things and they don’t want them going all night.” She poked vaguely at the buttons. “‘Display?’” The LED screen on the machine lit up with SYS5, which meant nothing to me. “No… ‘Region?’” R2 lit up; Vignette scowled. “No… Clock?” 0104 popped up on the display; checking my pad, 1:04 was the correct time. “No… wait.” She glanced up. “Don’t worry, we’ll edit all this out in post.” Ignoring our confusion, she went back to the controls. “It’s not ‘volume.’ Oh! ‘Timer!’ It’s probably the ‘timer’ button.” Looking absolutely delighted with herself, she pushed that button. The LED screen lit up: 2245.

“Dunno! But Rainmaker White Noise Machines are just the best. I use mine, like, every day.” She smirked. “And that’s how a pro reviews a product.”

“Yeah, bee-tee-dub no one tell anyone I didn’t really use that machine when I reviewed it,” Vignette said. “White noise tiktok can be brutal.” She shrugged. “Well, it was in power-saving mode. I’m sure of that.”

“So it did turn itself off automatically,” Shining said. “Which means that ‘2245’ probably does have something to do with it.”

“Maybe?” Juniper said, scratching her head. “But I don’t understand what that means.”

“...mind if Ah take a look at the pictures for a second?” Big Macintosh said, startling us all.

Big Macintosh pulled up the picture of the white noise machine, which was sadly not as clear a picture as most others, which irritated me. Sunset didn’t strike me as a bad photographer but this barely showed the thing in focus at all.

Groans went around the room at this. “Oh for pete’s sake,” Cranky moaned. “Can we get some kind of break here?”

“Tick-tock tick-tock!” Monohuman chanted, twirling his baton. “You’re running out of time as I’m running out of patience with these shenanigans.”

“Wait a minute,” I muttered as my mind started to race. Something about what he said. Tick-tock…tick… tock…”

“What, what is it?” Zephyr demanded, his hair going completely askew as he stared at me. “C’mon, tell us.”

“Time,” I replied. “The number deals with time. I mean think about it… we know it can tell time, right? We confirmed it when Vignette pushed the ‘clock’ button.”

“So then it has to be displaying an actual time on a clock!” I near-yelled, trying to tune her out as much as I could.

Sour Sweet gave me a funny look. “Oh Wallflower, you need to chill out a sec. ‘2245 isn’t a time.”

“Actually, there is a 22 o’clock,” Cranky countered. “The army uses it. Other countries where things make sense use it. We’re idiots, though, and want to confuse everyone with our AM/PM crap.”

“So 22:45 would be…” Juniper counted silently for a second, “...10:45 PM?”

Everyone fell silent. “...the white noise machine was on a twenty-four hour clock?” Shining asked.

“But it wasn’t, Wallflower!” Sunset snapped. “When Vignette pushed the ‘clock’ button, remember what it said? ‘0104.’ If it was a twenty-four hour clock, it would have said ‘1304,’ wouldn’t it?”

“Wallflower…” Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose in performative exhaustion. “How. Exactly. Does Pear Butter mix up AM and PM if her machine’s in 24-hour mode?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think it was when she used it. Vignette’s the one who did that, remember? She pushed the ‘region’ button! And, and why would a white noise machine even need that if it didn’t have something to do with the time display?”

“Sunset, please,” Shining spoke up, cutting Sunset off before she could even object. “I know you think it’s useless, but let’s at least dig into the implications of this, all right? I think we’re suggesting that the white noise machine was set with AM and PM reversed, which only became apparent when Vignette changed its region.”

“Mama was always more of a people-person than a gadget-person,” Big Mac said. “Not noticing or caring that she’s set her thing to AM when she means PM… that is the kinda thing she’d do.”

“So… if this is true, the white noise machine turned off at 10:45,” I declared. “And Cheese and Cranky said they didn’t remember when it went off, but it didn’t turn off and then back on.”

Cheese frowned thoughtfully. “I guess it could’ve been that early. And yeah, it’s really loud, but you get used to it being on so easily, it kinda just becomes background.”

Sour Sweet waved her hands. “Wait, wait, wait, but… who even gives a shit about any of this?! What’s this have to do with poor, poor, Pear Butter?”

“Because Pear Butter usually had it on, when she was in her office,” I said. “Remember? So if it turned off at 10:45 and she never turned it on, that means one of two things. She might not have been in her office, but it’s really unlikely that would be true with no one seeing her even once. Or…”

“Or she couldn’t turn it on,” Big Mac cut in, voice dull. “‘Cause it was too late.”

I nodded. “That’s right. This suggests the murder happened sometime before 10:45, much earlier than we thought!”

“Whaaaaat?!” Zephyr shrieked, slapping both hands to his head. “But that’s ridiculous!”

“Is that so?” Trixie said, humming questioningly under her breath. “That changes everything.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Cranky added, giving me a glare. “We know it had to have taken place not long before the body was discovered.”

“Do we?” I retorted, feeling even more confident now. “Because I don’t think we do. All we know for sure is that the guitar was played around that time. That was the only hint we have to the timeline; we’ve based everything else on that. But what if that’s been misleading us too? Remember what Sunset pointed out about the guitar to begin with. This could be another level of deception.”

“Not that I don’t believe you, darling,” Rarity said, raising a dainty finger. “But I’m afraid I don’t understand how that’s possible. We all heard the guitar playing. Are you suggesting that the culprit killed Pear Butter, then left the scene alone and came back to play the guitar later? Why would they do that?”

“It would establish an alibi, for one,” I said. “They kill her, they set everything up apart from the guitar, then they come back later, play it, destroy the guitar and plant the string, then get out of there and join the rest of us, acting none the wiser.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” Sunset shouted, pointing right at me. “That’s absurd, for all sorts of reasons.”

For some reason, my spine stiffened as she spoke. I felt confronted, more than usual. Like this was a key moment that could decide the entire trial.

Or maybe I was getting hungry because we’d skipped lunch and I was really running low on blood sugar.

Either way I stared Sunset down. “I know it’s a bit far-fetched, but so far everything else in this case has been. What precisely is wrong with what I’m suggesting?”

“Plenty!” Sunset retorted. “Number one, you’re making a huge mistake when it comes to the white noise machine. You didn’t get a good look at the thing and we don’t have a good picture of it.”

“I’m not finished,” Sunset snapped, jabbing her finger into her podium. “Second, even if you’re right about the timer, it’s a pretty wild assumption this means that the white noise machine was off by twelve hours.”

“Well, Momma never was the best with technology,” Big Macintosh muttered, only to be cut off by a fierce glare from Sunset.

“Third, if we take everything you’re saying at face value, then that leaves a crime scene, with a dead body just laying around for someone to find.” Sunset’s face screwed up in sheer disbelief. “That’s a pretty huge risk the culprit would be taking just for the sake of throwing off the timeline of the murder.”

“I am still not finished!” Sunset screamed as she slapped her hand down on her podium. “Fourth, even if everything else you said happens to be true, you still have the problem of the guitar. We heard it played not long before the body was found. We also established that the culprit had to have destroyed the guitar and tied the string around Pear Butter’s neck after they played the music. And last I checked, all the people who could’ve done it were either among others with perfect alibis, or trapped in the pantry, so your explanation is impossible!”

I stared at her for several long moments of silence, paralyzed into inaction. She was right! Even if I’d been onto something with the white noise machine… even if… the guitar music was always there to bring the timeline of the murder back up to just before the body was found. It was the inescapable fact that made everything I said pointless.

“Why are you so upset over this, Sunset?” Shining finally asked, giving her a look I didn’t know how to interpret. “You’re acting angrier than usual.”

“I’m not upset about this idea,” Sunset said, taking several deep breaths and standing up straighter at her podium. “What’s upsetting me is my friend taking up so much of our time like this. Wallflower, I love you, but you’re really frustrating me today. You had one good point with Trixie but now you’re acting like it means you can say whatever you want just because you think it makes sense.”

“Um, I’m sorry Wallflower,” Fluttershy said, bowing her head. “It was a good attempt.”

“Indeed, darling, I was almost convinced for a moment, but Sunset is right,” Rarity added. “The guitar makes it impossible.”

“Thank you, Rarity,” Sunset said, giving me a softer smile. “I’m sorry I keep shouting, Wallflower. I know it scares you. And I know you want to help, but… really, just let this go, okay?”

Once again I found myself wanting to cry, to scream, to rage at the heavens. I was positive I’d been on the right track… and a niggling part of my mind kept insisting I was, even as the rest of me wanted to surrender.

Something about the way Sunset was arguing… it was almost like I was onto something big. Huge.

“No, Sunset,” I said, straightening my posture and wiping away my tears with my sweater sleeve. “I know I’m right.”

Sunset let out a loud sigh, doubling over at her podium. “Okay, fine, I’ll give you one shot. One! You’ve got one chance to prove the murder happened earlier than we thought. And when you can’t, we’ll move on and figure out who actually did this and stop wasting everyone’s time, okay?”

“Fine,” I replied with a confidence I didn't truly feel. “One shot’s all I need.”

“Trixie believes you must be correct, Wallflower,” Trixie added with a nod. “So you must be able to prove it.”

Shining eyed me without speaking, but I could tell his full attention was laid on me.

“Well, Wallflower?” Sunset asked, looking right at me. “Let’s hear your proof."

Proof. I sighed. “It’s something I’ve been trying to point out for a while. It’s this:”

Sunset scorn-laughed; it felt like a punch. “The white noise machine again?! You…”

“Let her talk, Sunset,” Trixie snapped, earning a glare but thankfully silence.

“Let’s… let’s think about what the white noise machine is even for,” I said.

“It’s to block out the noise in Pear Butter’s office, so her sessions couldn’t be overheard,” Rarity said. “And it was delightfully relaxing, once you got used to it.”

“Right. And… it worked really well, right?” I gestured to my right, trying to ignore everyone’s dubious expressions. “Sour Sweet, you said you yelled at Pear Butter during your therapy session, even right at the end, right?”

“Um.” Sour Sweet shrank a little, glancing nervously at Big Mac. “I wasn’t yelling at her. She was helping me! I just yell sometimes. So what?!”

“So, I was standing right outside the door, and I didn’t hear it,” I replied. “That machine completely blocked out the sound from the office, when it was on. But not when it was off, right?”

“So, Pear Butter,” Sour Sweet said, a rare soft smile on her face. “You’ve been playing your guitar a lot lately. It’s really beautiful.”

Pear Butter chuckled bashfully. “Y’all can hear me when I’m playin’ in my office? Goodness, thought closing the door would block it out. Ah hope Ah’m not buggin’ anyone.”

“So just before we found the body, when the guitar music played, the white noise machine had to be off, right? Or else we wouldn’t have been able to hear the song.”

“So that means the murder couldn’t possibly have happened then.” I nearly smacked myself in the forehead at how obvious this was now that I was saying it out loud. “Because the murder had to happen while the white noise machine was on.”

“Because not a single person has reported hearing a guitar being smashed against something. Much less hearing it twice.”

No one said anything for a moment, and even Sunset faltered, but she stood her ground. “Then… then the killer just turned the machine off, played the guitar, and turned it back on…”

“No!” Cranky grunted. “Toldja before, I definitely woulda noticed the thing turning on and off again fifty times. Thing was on, then it was off, period.”

“So what,” Sunset sneered, “they played the guitar after smashing it up and tearing out one of its strings? Listen to…”

“Yes,” I said. Everyone looked at me, but I barely noticed. Everything was snapping into place, all in a row. “That’s exactly what they did.”

The look on Sunset’s face was appalled rage, but Autumn Blaze was faster in speaking. “What?! That’s impossible! You can’t destroy a guitar and then play it!”

Instead of addressing her, I looked at someone else. “Cranky?” I said, “you’ve been really annoyed about something this whole trial, right? The guitar string?”

“What if it wasn’t?” I interrupted. He fell silent, frowning. “What if the point wasn’t disguising how Pear Butter was killed? Instead, it was to confuse us about when everything happened. We were assuming the guitar got smashed up last, after the music, but that’s impossible, because Cranky and Cheese would have heard it.”

“Wallflower, stop.” Sunset looked furious by this point. “I asked you for proof, and all you did was say our timeline was impossible, and replace it with another, even more impossible timeline. You’re in over your head, and you need to. Just. Stop.”

But I was full of some kind of manic certainty. I had cracked the case, I knew it, and even though I wasn’t sure exactly where this was going, I could feel us moving to the correct ending.

Fact #13: Sunset’s Pad: “Sunset’s pad was stolen when she briefly separated from Wallflower. It was later found in a potted plant in the main hallway. Sunset noticed no signs of it being tampered with.”

Sunset sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Wallflower…seriously? What the heck does my pad have to do with anything?"

"Your pad has everything to do with it!" I declared, even as my heart sank. The implications…if I was right…but I had to press on. "This is how we heard the guitar music when we did. It wasn't being played for us at the time; it was a recording!"

"What?" Sunset recoiled, her eyes dancing fearfully. "What the heck are you saying? That's not possible."

"Yes it is," I pressed. "You told me yourself the other day you were using your pad to record notes."

~*~
As we approached and everyone crowded in, Sunset brought out her pad, tapping a couple of keys. “What’re you doing?” I asked her.

“Getting ready to record this,” Sunset said. She held up the pad. “Turns out these things can record and play audio, so I’ve been using it to make notes. Keeping track of things… trust me, it’s important. Every little thing matters.”

Curious now, I pulled out my own pad. I’d more or less ignored the thing after first reading the rules, since I wanted nothing to do with it, but a proper examination showed she was right. It also had a section for typing in notes, and even an app for drawing things with an accompanying stylus I hadn’t realized was built into it.
~*~

"Wha–so what?" Sunset said as sweat ran down her face. "Yeah, the pads can play recordings but they can't do it on a timer."

~*~
I shook my head. “Look, this isn’t my business. You want to convince Cranky to be your mentor, Cheese, that’s on you. Don’t involve….”

“C’mon buddy, get moving, it’s accordion time!” he exclaimed, somehow not moving his lips at all.

Grumbling, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his tablet. “Let’s go!” it blared as he fumbled with it.

Cheese shrugged, fiddling with the controls. “No no no, I just made a recording and set it as my alarm. It’s more motivating if you encourage yours–”

“HEY, CHEESE!!” the tablet suddenly screeched, so startlingly loud I almost fell over. “ACCORDIAN TIME! GE–” Finally, Cheese managed to turn it off.

“Holy biscuits!” Cranky groused. “Helluva set of speakers on these things. What, did you scream into it as loud as you could?”

Cheese giggled, embarrassed. “No, I just accidentally turned the volume up. Hey! But maybe I should! What if I’m a world class screamer?! Hey Cranky, do you think I could be?”
~*~

"You see, Sunset?" I said, trying not to let Sunset's growing sense of fear stop me in my tracks. "The guitar could've been played on a timer. The culprit didn't even need to be present! All they had to do was record the music earlier for the timer then hide your pad somewhere where we could all hear it. That's why Sour Sweet found it in the fern pot!"

Sunset gaped at me. “Wallflower… are you… are you accusing me of doing this?”

“No,” I said, despite the continued sinking feeling in my heart that my answer should be yes. “I’m just saying your pad was used to play the guitar music.”

“You did say someone stole the pad, right, Sunset?” Sour Sweet pressed. “So let’s see it. Let’s see the recordings.”

Sunset spluttered and shook her head. “Wha–no! It wasn’t my pad. It’s not my fault!”

“Come on, Sunset,” Shining insisted, holding out a hand. “Let’s see the pad. The more you protest right now the worse you look. And you’re looking really bad right now.”

“...fine. Fine!” Sunset threw her hands up before detaching her pad and passing it along over to Shining. “Take it. See what happens. I guarantee you there’s nothing on there. I would’ve noticed it.”

Shining carefully took Sunset’s pad, then after a moment passed it on down over to me. “You should do the honors.”

“The honors,” I muttered under my breath as I picked up the pad in my hands and switched it on. It didn’t take long to find the timer section.

And my heart sank even further when I pulled up the alarms. There was a timer there, set for 12:25 PM, with a custom recorded alarm sound. I swallowed, and pressed the play button.

Cheery guitar music filled the air, the song we had all heard played before, complete with the unusual sound of the damaged guitar. As the notes progressed, I saw Big Macintosh tear up, then outright sob into his hands, falling over on his podium. Autumn Blaze and Cheese Sandwich both reached over and started rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.

Everyone gave Big Macintosh a respectful silence, though I noticed a few people seemed irritated by the wait. “...that was my Momma’s weddin’ song,” Big Macintosh said, his voice thick and heavy. “Said she first sang it to mah Papa when they were datin’. It meant everythin’ to her.”

“...then Wallflower was right,” Rarity concluded. “Whoever murdered Pear Butter recorded this music and played it for us on a timer to convince us the murder took place much later than it did.”

“No, no, no no no this is impossible,” Sunset breathed, shaking like a leaf. “I didn’t do this. I didn’t record this music on my pad.” She stood up straighter, her fear flash boiling into fury. “Damn whoever stole my pad; they did this to frame me!” She pointed right at Trixie. “And I’ll bet everything it was you!”

“Oh, please, not this again,” Trixie said with a deep sigh. “The kuchen–”

“Only proved you’d been in the pantry for hours,” Sunset declared, stopping Trixie dead in her tracks. “And if the murder took place earlier in the day, around the 10 o’clock hour? Then suddenly your whole kuchen proof is pretty meaningless, wouldn’t you say? If you killed her then you’d have a good two and a half or more hours in the pantry; more than enough time to eat that kuchen!”

Shining’s eyes fell upon Trixie, his face wrinkling as he frowned. “She has a point, Trixie. I was never very convinced by that kuchen to begin with… and you never did prove your claim that you stepped into the pantry right as Wallflower and her helpers finished with the dishes. All you ever proved was that you were in the pantry for a long period of time.”

“That’s right,” Juniper added, her arms crossed, her gaze fixated on Trixie. “Your entire alibi just went up in smoke.”

“So Trixie did it after all?” Zephyr whined. “Aww man, why didn’t we just vote for her earlier? We could’ve saved a ton of time.”

“Well now, hold on,” I said, holding out my hands. “Everyone’s alibi is suspect now. And I know for a fact Trixie was already in that pantry.”

“If she was, then that only leaves you as a culprit, you know,” Sour Sweet said, a cheery smile on her face for a split second before it flipped into a frown of annoyance. “It sure would be nice if you stopped wasting our time and owned up to the crime, whichever of you two did it.”

“Trixie didn’t murder anyone, and neither did Wallflower Blush!” Trixie insisted. “Trixie doesn’t think Wallflower has it in her to kill. She’s barely been able to speak in her own defense during half this trial.”

Shining nodded. “I’ll agree there. But that only leaves you as a primary suspect, Trixie.” He glanced at Sunset. “Well, you and Sunset.”

“Are you sure?” Cheese asked, a wary expression on his face. “Because just about everything that fits Trixie fits you too. You’re really smart, you can play guitar… it was your pad. “

Sunset hissed a sigh. “Okay, I’ll give you that, but news flash, Cheese Sandwich: I’ve been through all of this before! I survived an entire killing game. I saw what happened to the culprits. Over and over again I sent them to their deaths because I had to figure out their murders in order to save the rest of us. I know what happens to those who murder in a game like this. And most important of all: I don’t have a reason to kill Pear Butter.”

She shook her head sadly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “But… Wallflower does.”

I paled. “No, no, Sunset, come on. I’ve been trying to figure out this mystery, same as you. Why would I figure out the pad clue if I was the killer, huh?”

“Guilt,” she said simply. “You feel guilty over what you did. And I get it. She hated you. She gave you every reason to hate her back… it had to feel so enraging, the way she spoke to you, the way she treated you. So you snapped, didn’t you? When you went to see her this morning, you snapped. She tried to hit you with her guitar, you took it away from her, she hit you, then you strangled her with the party streamer.”

Her words came out more and more choked. “I must be wrong about your guitar skills… you must be better than I thought. Better than we all thought… good enough to copy Pear Butter’s playing. And you had so many chances to take my pad…”

“That sounds… remarkably plausible,” Shining said, eying me and fiddling with his hands like he wanted to wrap handcuffs around mine. “And unlike Trixie, you were roaming free. You even admitted to seeing Pear Butter still alive.”

“...even Trixie is finding this makes a lot of sense,” Trixie murmured, giving me an apologetic look. “Trixie is sorry, Wallflower, but.. You do seem the most likely.”

Cheese looked back and forth between Sunset and me. “...Wallflower? Did you really do this?”

More and more people began to speak out as my whole world risked shattering. Everyone was turning against me, again, despite everything, despite how illogical it was. I didn’t do this, and I knew I didn’t.

“Ah’m not the least bit surprised,” Big Macintosh choked out, still wracked by sobs from the song. “Ah should’ve known.”

“To think we trusted you,” Rarity said, a dirty scowl on her face. “Guilty conscience or not… you’re a killer.”

Derpy looked at me like she wanted to cry. “Why did you do it, Wallflower? Why would you kill her?”

“I didn’t,” I whispered, though like before no one heard me. “I didn’t kill her.”

“No, no you can’t,” I tried to scream, only to shout it in a whisper once more. I felt so helpless! What was I supposed to do? I knew I didn’t do it.

…and the longer this went on, the more convinced I became that I knew the true culprit. It wasn’t a truth I liked…in fact, I hated it. It tasted like bile, dirty and foul. But I knew I was right.

"Please just own up to it already, Wallflower," Sunset begged, looking at me with tears in her eyes. "Don't make me force this. Please. This is already hard enough as it is."

I looked right back at her, at her misty eyes, as her tears carved a path in her makeup, washing it away from her cheeks.

I glanced back at my pad to check one last thing, then nodded. “Sunset,” I said, cutting through the chatter of people arguing for my guilt. “Just answer me one thing.”

Noises of confusion echoed from the crowd, save for Vignette, who, as I glanced at her, smiled widely with a nod, and a look in her eyes that I would swear seemed to say ‘finally.’ “You know, I’ve been wondering about that myself,” she said. “Did you know you’re wearing the wrong shade, Sunset?”

“Yes, the wrong shade,” Vignette insisted. “Your foundation. It’s too light. It makes you look pale.”

It was my turn to smile sadly. “Sunset, don’t you remember this morning, when you ran into me after I saw Pear Butter?”

~*~
It took a little while for me to struggle out of Sunset’s grip; she was far stronger than me, but as nice as it was to be held, it became too much. “Okay, Sunset,” I said, patting her on the shoulder. “Thanks. I don’t really understand, but… thanks.”

“Sure thing.” Sunset pulled away from me and fixed her hair. “You’re my friend; that hasn’t changed.”

I nodded in understanding, then realized something as I looked in the mirror with Sunset. “Uh oh. I think some of your makeup rubbed off on me.” I pointed to an orange stain on my chin.

She looked herself over in the mirror and groaned, then pulled out a compact. She dabbed something on it, then groaned again when trying to apply it didn’t work. “Crap. I’m out.”

She held a hand to her chin as I continued, “I messed up your makeup, and you never had a chance to get more. So how are you wearing full makeup again?”

“It’s true,” Vignette confirmed with that smirk of hers. Her hand moved to briefly touch my arm, sending an electric spark through me. “I remember very well when I came to see you, Wallywall… Sunny was missing half the makeup on her cheek. But when she met us again later…”

~*~
Despite her bravado, something seemed off to me about Sunset. I looked at her for a moment and realized she was pale, her skin almost clammy. “Sunset, are you alright?”

“Huh?” She looked at me in confusion. “Yeah. Overexerted myself a little looking for my pad, but I’m okay.”

“It’s true, you do,” Fluttershy added with a growing look of concern. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sunset said, waving it off. “I didn’t get a lot to eat for breakfast… I’ll make up for it at lunch.”
~*~

“Oh goodness!” Fluttershy said, covering her mouth with her hands. “No wonder you look pale.”

Sunset swallowed and flashed us a nervous grin, reaching for the back of her head to scratch it. “O-of course I’m wearing the wrong shade. The pharmacy didn’t have the right kind so I grabbed the closest one.”

I sighed. “No, Sunset. You didn’t. You’d have had to go to the pharmacy to get it, and the pharmacy is on the other side of the complex, past the dorms. You would’ve passed right by us, and you never did. After I left to speak with Vignette I didn’t see you again until you came out asking us about your missing pad.”

All eyes fell on Sunset now, who glared right back at me, more furious than she had been the whole trial. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Wallflower? It’s bad enough that you killed Pear Butter, but you have to blame me for it? Huh? Trying to cover up for your guilt at the last minute? It’s fucking bullshit!”

“I didn’t kill Pear Butter, Sunset!” I shouted back, slamming a palm on my podium before pointing at her. “You did!”

“No!” She balled up both fists and smashed them into her podium. “No I fucking didn’t! You’re not proving a damned thing with this makeup crap.”

This was it, I realized, as everything crystallized in my mind. The entirety of the crime, the murder, the way it progressed from start to finish, it was all clear now. I stood up straighter than ever, ramrod like a pole had been jammed up my ass, I was feeling that confident. All I had to do now was prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Sunset jabbed a finger in my direction. “Look, maybe you didn’t kill Pear Butter. Maybe it was Trixie after all. Or maybe you two worked together! You stole my pad while Trixie killed Pear Butter, she played the guitar, you planted it, then trapped her in the pantry to make her look innocent. That makes a hell of a lot more sense than me killing her.”

I softly shook my head. “No, Sunset, it doesn’t. The timeline doesn’t add up. I wasn’t alone for a moment after I met up with Pear Butter, and your pad didn’t go missing until after I met up with you. Trixie was stuck in the pantry since before I even met with Pear Butter. Neither of us could have done it.”

“RRRGH! That’s stupid bullshit and you know it, Wallflower!” Sunset railed, her mouth practically frothing from her rage. “I don’t have a reason to kill Pear Butter, but you do! She hated you. I even told you to stay away from her, that she was bad news! I was trying to protect you!”

“Maybe it’s just that,” I said. “You were trying to protect me, so you went to see Pear Butter to demand she leave me alone. Then you killed her.”

“No I didn’t!” Sunset shrieked, kicking her podium hard enough the wood cracked. “God, why won’t you listen to me? I never went to see Pear Butter. I was in the Mess Hall the whole time. R-right, Derpy? Zephyr? …Big Mac?”

Derpy and Zephyr exchanged looks. “Uh, I wasn’t really paying attention to you, Sunset,” Derpy admitted with a sheepish grin. “I was fixing the table.”

Big Macintosh favored Sunset with an outraged glare. “Don’t you go tryin’ ta hide behind me. Ah was fixin’ the table. Ah don’t know if you were there or not.”

“But, but this is so fucking stupid!” she bellowed, breathing heavily. “You didn’t even prove anything with the white noise machine; you don’t know the murder happened during the 10 o’clock hour!”

“Nice try,” I answered, “but we already proved it with the guitar recording. You still haven’t answered my question. Where did you get the makeup? Answer me!”

“No!” Tears of fury streamed down her face as she repeatedly punched and kicked her podium, then reached up to tear at her own hair. “For the last fucking time, I didn’t kill Pear Butter and there’s nothing you have that could ever prove otherwise!”

My eyes opened wide as I slammed a button on my pad. “THAT’S WHERE YOU’RE WRONG!”

Fact #4: Objects On Desk: “A stress toy, a paperweight, some of Pear Butter’s foundation, a piece of blank paper, and Pear Butter’s pad were on the desk. The paperweight had a trace of blood on the underside.”

She froze, her breathing coming in brief little spurts and gasps as I said, “t took me a lot longer to realize this than I should have, but there was one other person here with a skin tone almost identical to yours, except it was a couple of shades lighter. Pear Butter. Like most women she kept her makeup near where she frequented most, which here meant her office. And so you used her makeup to cover your face after you finished killing her, and hoped it was close enough no one would notice the difference.”

“...what?” she breathed. “But… but… no… why would I… there was no reason for me to…”

Seeing her defeated like this in front of me didn’t bring me any joy, or a sense of triumph. It left me cold inside, dirty, and gross. Like all I’d really done was beat up a friend.

But I was forced to shake my head in response to her. “Yes there was, Sunset. You accidentally told me yourself why, when you were accusing me earlier. You said Pear Butter ‘hit me.’ And if you look at that piece of evidence again, you’ll see that the paperweight on the desk had a trace of blood on it… blood most likely from when she hit you with it.”

She tried to swallow, but only coughed instead, a choked, harsh sound as half her face looked melted from running makeup. “N…no… please, Wallflower…”

She stared at me, her expression showing utter heartbreak, and slowly nodded, sniffling as she rubbed her face with her tear-stained shirt arm until she’d gotten it all off.

And everyone let out a gasp or muttered an expression of shock, as without the makeup, there was a clear bruise on Sunset’s cheek.

Sunset looked at her own reflection in her pad, very slowly holding a hand up to her cheek and touched the bruise with her fingertips. Then she burst into tears, collapsing over the podium, muttering to herself, “this isn’t possible… I didn’t do it… I didn’t…”

Big Macintosh spat on the floor. “Shut up. Ah ain’t got no sympathy for you, murderin’ ma Momma like that.”

“I would… say this is fairly clearly wrapped up,” Rarity said, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

“I’m lost,” Zephyr muttered, holding his head. “Can someone just like, run through everything one last time?”

But nevertheless I closed my eyes and concentrated, letting it all flow through me one last time. Then my eyes snapped open. “This is the truth of the case!”

“This case has its origins in our very reason for being here. Our unfortunate victim, Dr. Pear Butter, was our licensed therapist, overseeing and helping guide us through the thirty days we were supposed to be living here together, humans and Equestrians alike. To help her in this, she regularly carried around her guitar, which she would frequently play at random times, at a volume loud enough where we could always hear her.

“A few hours ago, Pear Butter was seemingly playing her guitar in her office. In reality she was meeting with our culprit. We can only speculate on what they talked about, but whatever it was, it was enough to cause them to struggle. Pear Butter attempted to strike our culprit with her guitar, which we know from the gouge in the desk, the pattern which suggests it came from the direction of Pear Butter’s chair. Our culprit dodged this blow and ripped the guitar out of Pear Butter’s hands.

“Pear Butter then leapt across the desk and attempted to hit the culprit with her paperweight, leaving a bruise. In the ensuing struggle the chair our culprit sat in was knocked over. Our culprit, no doubt eager to defend themself, reached for the closest object they could, a leftover party streamer Pear Butter kept hanging in the office from the village debut party. Wrapping it around Pear Butter’s neck, the culprit squeezed violently, enough to strangle Pear Butter to death.

“Now left with a crime scene to hide, the culprit set about manufacturing false evidence. First, the culprit brought out their pad and set it to record, then played Pear Butter’s guitar, playing Pear Butter’s favorite song, the song composed by Pear Butter herself for her wedding. Once finished they took the guitar and bashed Pear Butter over the head with it, cutting her face up and destroying the guitar in the process. Then the culprit took one of the broken guitar strings and tied it around Pear Butter’s neck, almost but not quite matching up to the indentations from the party streamer. Finally, they took the streamer and tied it around Pear Butter’s wrists, to make it look like she’d been strangled while tied up.

“But there was one problem: the marks on their face from the paperweight attack. Knowing they needed to hide them, they used Pear Butter’s makeup on their own skin. They hoped their skin tones were similar enough that no one would notice, but luckily Vignette, our beauty expert, would later notice something was unusual.

“Afterwards the culprit fled the scene, and planted their pad in a potted plant in the hallway, set to play the recording on a delay, giving the impression Pear Butter was playing the guitar and thus was still alive. Once done they returned to myself and Vignette and chatted amiably, pretending to be none the wiser.

“A couple of hours later, Derpy and Big Macintosh came to find us, asking if we knew where Trixie went. We went around asking everyone else but no one had seen Trixie either. In the process of searching for her, we came across the murder scene. Big Macintosh fell apart at the sight and was inconsolable.

“After Monohuman revealed Pear Butter was human and forced us to start the investigation, we found Trixie trapped in the pantry in the cafeteria’s kitchen. It turned out she’d wandered in there searching for a snack and I accidentally closed the door on her. Since the door was damaged and didn’t fit the frame properly, it was stuck. There was no way for her to open it from inside. She’d been trapped for hours and ended up eating an entire kuchen just to keep herself calm, or so she claimed.

“She became the number one suspect, but too many things didn’t add up. I found evidence proving Trixie’s claim of eating the entire kuchen in the pantry. We also discovered that the white noise machine had turned itself off several hours ago, and because Cranky and Cheese Sandwich were in the break room all day, this proves the murder must’ve happened much earlier than we thought, and it shattered the alibis we thought were airtight.

“At the time the murder was actually committed, Big Mac was with Zephyr and Derpy, fixing the broken dining table. Trixie was trapped in the pantry. And so this only leaves… our culprit. Who led us during the investigation, who led us during most of this trial. Who claims to have been the one who led everything in the first killing game aboard the cruise ship.

There’s only one possible conclusion, as much as it hurts to say. I don’t understand why you didn’t just knock her unconscious. You, of all people… Sunset Shimmer, you’re the Ultimate Survivor! Why did you murder Pear Butter? Why?”

“Huh, wow, I can’t believe she did it,” Zephyr said. “But uh, guess that was pretty solid and tight, Wally.”

“Looks that way,” Shining nodded. He gave me a slightly wary look. “I’m still a bit suspicious of you, Wallflower… but that bruise on Sunset’s face is too damning. That and the guitar being recorded on her own pad… it’s a lot more plausible she used her own than someone stealing it.”

“Well now,” Monohuman said, standing up from his throne. “It sounds to me as if certainty has been reached. Is the majority ready to vote?”

None of us were enthusiastic, save for perhaps Big Macintosh, who thumped a fist into a palm while muttering, “Eeeyup.”

“Puhuhu, excellent. Then please, cast your votes using your pads.” He spun his baton in the air. “Who will be chosen as the blackened, hmm? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?”

A distinctly cold shiver ran through me as he said those words… as if I’d heard them before somewhere. For a moment, just a moment, I tried to remember, only to receive a splitting headache for my trouble. I let it go.

“You have thirty seconds to vote, and just a reminder: a failure to vote will result in your death. You’ll share in the culprit’s execution. Assuming you get it right, of course. Good luck!”

Our pads lit up with a new screen, this one featuring sixteen faces on a four by four grid. Pear Butter’s face was greyed out with a red X over it, just like her portrait. A ticking timer appeared in one corner, counting down from thirty.

Feeling sick to my stomach and like I wanted to be anywhere else, I pressed my finger to Sunset Shimmer’s face, which lit up in a peculiar shade of pink.

Thirty seconds later to the dot, everyone’s pads switched off again. The central display lit up with a scoreboard of all of our faces and the number of votes.

“Ohohoho,” Monohuman chuckled as he twirled his baton, replacing the tally screen with a spinning roulette featuring our faces. “Looks like someone didn’t agree with the crowd.”

The roulette spun down until it landed on Sunset Shimmer’s face, and bells rang while a burst of fireworks exploded over the display alongside a cheery victory jingle.

Super Danganronpa 2: On Harmony's Shores

by Dewdrops on the Grass

09. Chapter One: "Lost Memories in the Desert Sands" Part 7