Chapter Two:
“The Secret Ingredient is Never What You Expect”
Part VI
Fact #1: Monohuman File II: “The victim is Ditzy Muffins Do, also known as Derpy, the Ultimate Klutz. Her body was discovered in the parking lot of the Tourist Trappe Truck Stop at 7:24 AM.”
Fact #2: Condition of the Body: “Derpy’s chest was impaled by a long, jagged piece of metal which had been broken off one of the trucks. The weapon is large and sharp, but not particularly heavy. The area around the wound was swollen and splotchy. Her eyes are large and protruding, and her mouth smells like vomit.”
Fact #3: Blood: “There was less blood splattered on the body than expected for the type of injury. The same proved true for the inside of the truck, especially on the body of the trap.”
Fact #4: Derpy’s Note: “There was a note clutched in Derpy’s left hand. It reads ‘Meet me at the red truck at 7:20. I know why he left.’”
Fact #5: Truck Trap: “A spring-based trap lay inside the driver-side of the truck cab, set to go off as soon as someone opened the door. It fired a piece of rebar that impaled the victim.”
Fact #6: Truck Passenger Side Door: “The top half of the passenger side window was shattered from an impact from the inside. The door was also locked from the inside.”
Fact #7: Morning Alibis: “Runners: Cranky Doodle, Shining Armor, Autumn Blaze, Wallflower Blush, Zephyr Breeze.
Trap Victims: Big Macintosh, Sour Sweet, Derpy.
Rooms: Fluttershy, Rarity, Trixie, Cheese, Juniper, Vignette.”
Fact #8: Tarp: “A waterproof tarp was present at the scene of the truck trap. It was next to the passenger side door, which was the side facing the truck stop. According to Sour Sweet, it was not there as of 7:10, but was there as of 7:20 according to Big Macintosh.”
Fact #9: Museum Tripwires: “Two tripwires formed the key components to the museum trap, one tied to a simple mechanism to turn off the light switch, the other at ankle height to trip someone onto a slippery section of floor.”
Fact #10: Poisoned Knife: “A knife was taped, blade exposed, on a shelf next to a puddle of soapy water in the museum workshop. The blade was poisoned according to Monohuman, and the sheen on it both looked like and smelled just like the rattlesnake venom.”
Fact #11: Mop Bucket: “An empty mobile mop bucket was tucked away inside the janitor’s closet, still dripping with soap.”
Fact #12: Motive Paper: “One of Monohuman’s motives, found in the museum. The beginning and end are illegible, but what is reads ‘...Belle had just long enough to scream one last time, desperately trying to stuff her intestines back into her abdominal cavity as she plumm…’”
Fact #13: Convenience Store Trap: “The trap at the convenience store was a complex mechanism designed to swing a cinder block on a pivot at Sour Sweet’s wrist when she opened the cooler; it was explicitly designed as a non-lethal trap.”
Fact #14: Derpy’s Statement: “According to Sour Sweet, Derpy overheard Rarity saying the best way to kill Big Macintosh would be via poison.”
Fact #15: Rarity’s Statement: “According to Rarity, she went directly to her room after dinner and slept the entire evening all the way through to the body discovery.”
Fact #16: Big Macintosh’s Note: “A note given to Big Macintosh. It reads ‘I know what happened to your youngest sister. Meet me at the museum at 7:20 tomorrow morning.”
Fact #17: Rarity’s Letter: “An unfinished letter to Applejack, supposedly written by Rarity and found in her room. She says she has discovered ‘something terrible’ and is tempted to ‘do something she’ll regret the rest of her life.’ She ends with, ‘Sweetie Belle is safe, right? She couldn’t have–’ and then it cuts off.”
As the elevator descended down into the depths of the mine, I gently tugged on Vignette’s shirt and jerked my head towards Sour Sweet, who thankfully was leaning against one corner, far enough away from the others we could whisper without being overheard.
“What? What is it?” Vignette asked, drawing the attention of a few others in the process.
I hissed a sigh through my teeth and simply whispered to both her and Sour, “Hang on before exiting, okay? Got something I need to say.”
They both gave me askance looks, but acquiesced to my request. Once the elevator had slowed to a stop and its chained up doors rumbled open to dump us out, the two of them hung back from the others.
As soon as I dared I said to them, “Hey, listen, about what Sour said regarding Rarity, let’s keep it quiet, okay? Don’t say a word to the others.”
“What? Why not?” Sour Sweet snapped. “It’s super incriminating.”
“Exactly. I want to keep it as a trump card. Just… trust me. You saw how the last trial went. And besides… I’d rather not accuse Rarity if it turns out she wasn’t responsible.”
“Looking pretty obvious to me that she did it,” Vignette muttered. “But alright. Rares is a good friend; I don’t want to think she’s capable of murder.”
“Oh, we’re all capable of it,” Sour Sweet declared, placing her good hand on her hip. “Give us the right reason and anyone can kill.”
Vignette smirked as she raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if you’ve killed before.”
Sour Sweet’s eyes widened in anger, but before she could retort, we heard a harrumph and a cough draw our attention. “Ahem. If the three tardy volunteers do not get out here to attend the trial within the next ten seconds, I will be forced to declare you as officially violating the rules.”
A twin pair of turrets with lethal looking weapons on the end popped out of the ceiling and aimed at us. “Must I take such a step?”
The other two meeped in unison and rushed for the courtroom, with me hot on their heels. We swiftly took up our positions.
“Better,” Monohuman said, chuckling under his breath. “Truly, I appreciate a good secret conversation as much as the next AI, but let’s try to keep it to a minimum to avoid delaying the rest of us, hmm?”
I refused to look at him, instead taking the time to examine the courtroom. Much as the first trial had featured decorations suited to Pear Butter, this time the decorations fit Derpy to a tee. Grey and yellow wallpaper littered the walls, splashed with hundreds of bubbles of all shapes and sizes, though they tended to pattern themselves after the same pattern that featured as Derpy’s personal symbol.
Speaking of which, the portrait of Derpy, where she’d stood during the last trial, looked out at us with a smiling, happy expression. Much happier than she’d appeared to be last night. But that wasn’t the only portrait that captured my attention.
“Sunset,” I whispered, my eyes transfixed on that face. On her expression,a subtle bit of neutrality for the usually expressive Sunset. On the pink cross across her face, the pink highlighted version of her personal symbol beneath. Or, I suppose in her case it was her cutie mark. That’s what ponies called them, right? Cutie marks?
I couldn’t recall for sure. More frustratingly still, that portrait was directly across from me, always staring at me. All three of them were directly in front of me.
I sent Sunset to an agonizing execution. I refused to trust Derpy and left her alone when she needed me. Pear Butter died believing I was behind this whole nightmare. All of them, right there in a row, as if set up explicitly to taunt me. To demoralize me. To leave me quaking in my shoes, withdrawing back into myself. Invisible.
A nobody.
But, as I looked into Sunset’s eyes… I remembered her words to me. Her declaration, to never give in, to never let the mastermind win. To do the right thing for everyone.
And although I was primed for it, I couldn’t really imagine any hatred or blame from Derpy. Sadness, desperate, overwhelming sadness she couldn’t stay with us. But no anger. Not from Derpy.
And even Pear Butter. She believed something insane, and I knew I might never understand why, but everything she’d done had come from protectiveness and integrity. She had been unfathomably strong, I suddenly realized.
I should’ve been destroyed, looking into those eyes. Lost. Despairing. And yet, instead, it was like a boon. Like they were watching over me from beyond, cheering my name, wishing me luck. And Sunset, Sunset there in the middle, loudest of all.
I smiled through the few tears that had moistened my cheeks. “Thank you, Sunset.”
“So!” Monohuman’s voice cut through the room, silencing any whispered conversation. “Now that we’re finished with the delays, does anyone need a refresher on the rules before we begin?”
“No thanks,” Shining Armor answered for us. “We’ve got the idea.”
“W-we’ve been through this before,” Fluttershy added, holding a fist to her chest, trying -- and failing -- to look confident. “We know what we’re doing.”
“Puhuhuhu, if you say so,” Monohuman giggled to himself. He adjusted his seat on his throne, relaxing back with his hands behind his head, baton across his lap. “Very well,” he said, gesturing with one hand briefly. “Begin, then.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but the words caught in my throat. Tension built within me, like rust on the metal joints that were my jaw and throat muscles. Blinking in sudden panic, I looked to Vignette for assistance.
She gave me a sideways glance, snickered under her breath, then nodded and coughed for everyone’s attention. “Now now, everyone. Before we get properly started, I’m sure we’re all wondering who’s going to be leading this little trial. Well, as lovely as it would be for it to be moi, as we all know I am truly one of the best of us--”
“If you say so,” Cranky snorted.
Vignette coughed politely and flashed him a savage glare. “Ahem. As I was saying, as lovely as it would be, I am not suited to this role. A-K-Y-P. Always know your place.” She glanced around furtively. “I just made that one up right now, I claim vocal copyright, and I will sue anyone who uses it.” Straightening back up, she resumed her intense speech: “and my place isn’t leading us, anymore than it is for Shining Armor, or Autumn Blaze, or anyone else here, save for one.”
She gestured grandly to me. “Wallflower led us brilliantly in the last trial, and she’s going to do the same today. Everybody knows she’s innocent of this crime.”
“What?” Zephyr moaned. “Why should she lead us? She’s just been hiding off in her room since the last trial! No one’s even seen her!”
“Only the first three days!” I snapped, defensiveness overwhelming my embarrassment.
“And that only shows how seriously she takes these trials,” Vignette said. “Derpy was a good friend of hers, and Wallywall would never dream of hurting her.”
“T-that’s right,” Fluttershy agreed, smiling at me. “Wallflower wouldn’t.”
“Well, glad we’ve got that possibility eliminated,” Juniper said with a roll of her eyes. “Except last time it was Sunset Shimmer who killed Pear Butter, when she was the one who survived the last killing game. So why should we take Wallflower off the list before we’ve even examined a single shred of evidence?”
Those words struck at me like the punches of a heavyweight boxer, physically shaking me. I thought Juniper and I were becoming friends. She was just being logical, but that didn’t stop it from hurting. Or from setting off the ridiculous but terrifying thought what if I actually did it somehow?
“Now now,” Vignette retorted, her voice whipcrack sharp. “That’s uncalled for. If it turns out I am wrong, then I am wrong, but I would be most surprised if Wallflower was anything but innocent. And even so, I trust her. I know she’ll lead us to victory today.”
Disbelieving stares met us from many people, but others started to nod or at least lose the will to argue. The tide had turned.
“Do you actually think vocal copyright is a thing?” Cranky asked.
“Rude. Remind me to sue you.” Vignette turned to me, smiling brightly. “So! With all that settled, let’s ask our lovely trial leader, where should we begin? What’s our first step, hmm?”
The confidence she held in me worked alongside her prior pep talks, and this time when I spoke, my voice rang strong and true. “We need to lay out the death scene first,” I said. “Examine the clues, the cause of death, and pick out what doesn’t seem right.”
“Reasonable,” Shining allowed. He gestured to the central display and brought up the Monohuman file. “So, let’s review. According to the Monohuman file, she was discovered at 7:24 AM.”
“And that’s all it says,” Zephyr interrupted, his face tense, worry lines wrinkling his eyes. “How’re we supposed to figure out anything with that?”
“It’s like Sunset said last time,” I said, trying to keep the confidence alive in my voice and not let it waver for a second. My hands twitched on my podium as I leaned over it. “The Monohuman file just gives us something to work with. The time the body was found matters… we just don’t know how yet.”
Zephyr looked at me, drawing his hands up to his face as his eyes widened to plead pitifully. “Oh, please tell me you’re going to figure this out. I don’t want to be executed!”
I tried not to roll my eyes, managing a slight sideways look before I returned to focusing on him. “We’ll figure it out, I promise.” I cleared my throat and looked at the rest of the group. “We need to figure out the cause of death first.”
Juniper, who’d had her arms crossed this whole time, threw them up before letting them clap to her podium. “What? What is there to figure out? She was shot in the chest with the trap!”
“Yeah, seems pretty conclusive to me,” Autumn Blaze said, drawing a finger on her chin and then down to her chest. “She opened the truck door and it went blammo and shot her with a piece of pipe.”
“Ooooh, it must’ve hurt so much,” Fluttershy whimpered, tears briefly coming to her eyes. “Just imagine it…”
“I’d rather not, thanks, brrrr!” Cheese’s whole body shivered as he spoke.
“It would’ve been excruciating,” Shining, eying Fluttershy. “But not for long. It pierced near her heart; she would’ve been conscious for only a few seconds before passing out and bleeding to death.” He then looked down at his podium, hand on his chin. “At least… she should have. But I’m not so sure.”
“Me either,” Cranky agreed, giving Shining a nod. “It feels too simple. Too easy. Something’s not adding up.”
“Ah don’t really get what’s not addin’ up here,” Big Macintosh said. He seemed noticeably calmer now that we were at the trial than he had been during the investigation, no doubt because we were far away from the trap and he’d had a chance to catch his breath. “It weren’t like it weren’t the only trap. Ah almost died to one, and so did Sour Sweet. This one killed Derpy.”
“Indeed, I…” Rarity trailed off, unleashing a massive yawn, wafting the air in front of her face with her hand. “Oh goodness, excuse me. I really don’t see how anything else could’ve killed her.”
“Shyeah, seems pretty cut and dried,” Sour Sweet said with a disgusted scoff.
Trixie eyed me for a moment, then said, “Trixie is not so sure. She agrees with Cranky Doodle; something is off.”
“Aww man, how can we tell what really happened?” Zephyr moaned, grabbing for his hair and tugging it like he was pulling on a piece of taffy. “There’s no way to know!”
Vignette flashed me some side eye, and spun her left wrist before holding her hand out, as if gesturing for me to get on with it. The courtroom camera, which up until now I’d almost forgotten was there, nodded right along with her, before focusing squarely at me.
Nodding, I took a breath and said, “I wouldn’t have brought this up if it was that easy. I don’t think it was the rebar pipe either. I think it’s possible that something else killed her.”
Cranky gave me a considered look. “I agree… but what proof do we have?”
“Well, first of all, there’s this,” I said as I brought up evidence.
Fact #3: Blood: “There was less blood splattered on the body than expected for the type of injury. The same proved true for the inside of the truck, especially on the body of the trap.”
“Vignette and I examined the scene thoroughly, and there was a lot less blood than I would’ve expected for the kind of wound Derpy suffered, both on the body and on the trap inside the truck. And in both places, there was a lot less blood than we would’ve expected to see from the wound.”
“Whoa, hold it right there, little lady,” Cheese Sandwich said with his hand held up. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree with this one.”
I rocked back on my heels, but I braced myself, ready for the argument. “Oh? Why’s that?”
“Well,” he said, gesturing with his hands. “Just because there’s less blood than you’d expect doesn’t mean anything. Maybe most of the blood ended up on the inside of her clothes.”
Vignette rolled her eyes. “Uugh, puhlease, you could try a little harder than that, Mr. Great Pretender…”
“Sorry, but she’s right, Cheese,” I added with an apologetic shrug. “Besides, like I said, we both examined the body pretty thoroughly. We’d have noticed if all the blood was on the inside of her clothing; even if it had been, it would’ve leaked through. She wasn’t wearing dark colors or anything thick.”
“Okay, okay, so she couldn’t have bled in a hidden way,” he admitted, rubbing his chin. “But there’s nothing that indicates any other kind of method of death either.”
“Actually, there is,” I objected. “I don’t understand what it means yet, but it has to mean something.”
Fact #2: Condition of the Body: “Derpy’s chest was impaled by a long, jagged piece of metal which had been broken off one of the trucks. The weapon is large and sharp, but not particularly heavy. The area around the wound was swollen and splotchy. Her eyes are large and protruding, and her mouth smells like vomit.”
“Notice the vomit smell from her mouth,” I said. “We…”
A sudden screech cut me off. Vignette had her hands pressed over her face. “Aaauuugggh! Don’t just say that out of nowhere, stopppp!”
Startled, I pressed my hand on my chest. “But you’re the one who wanted me to do this!”
“I know!” she wailed. “I know I know I know! But it’s just so gross I can’t even think about it!”
“Oh, this is just the stupidest thing,” Cranky muttered. “People throw up. You must have thrown up at some point in your…”
“No I certainly have not don’t you even say such a thing!” Vignette screeched. “I would absolutely just die if I ever did that, and…” Shuddering, she turned to me. “This is appalling, and… and it’s not the point, anyway. I’m sorry, Wallywall, you keep going. I’m just going to cover my ears until it’s all over.”
“Fine,” I replied, glaring. “That’s what I was doing before you screamed.” But she was already cradling her entire head in her arms and did not respond.
Rolling my eyes, I looked up at Shining and Cranky. “You two were there when we checked the body. Did you see or smell any sign of vomit anywhere?”
“Nope,” Cranky said, shaking his head.
Shining eyed me for a moment, then matched gestures with Cranky. “I saw no sign.”
My gaze returned to Cheese. “You see? There was a smell of vomit, but no physical sign of vomit. Which means it must’ve been covered up somehow.”
He gave me a sympathetic, if pitying, look. “Aww come on, Wallflower, now you’re just assuming things. What if she just vomited in her mouth and swallowed it before she died?”
“Without it leaking? Not even a little bit?” I countered, my face creasing with disbelief. “Seriously? She gets shot in the chest and she somehow keeps her mouth shut while she’s dying?”
Cheese took a step back, grimacing, then stepped forward again. “Well, obviously it must’ve been swallowed by her, o-or even choked up a little before she - “
“I don’t think so,” I pressed, shaking my head. “That doesn’t make sense. If she vomited while she was dying, it would be all over her clothes or the ground. But it wasn’t, which means it was cleaned up.”
He suddenly snapped his fingers, grimace replaced by a grin. “Aha! See, now who’s making assumptions? Wallflower, how do you know she vomited while she was dying, hmm? What if she vomited beforehand somewhere else, and just died before she could wash her mouth out? The only water around the truck stop is either in the bathroom of the convenience store or the museum. So the vomit means nothing.”
His words sliced through me, almost physically like he’d swung a blade to cleave flesh from my shoulder. It was my turn to grimace as I tried to find a way to keep arguing. “That would still mean the trap wasn’t the only place something happened.”
“You haven’t given us anything else that could have happened,” he insisted, crossing his arms.
My hands curled on my podium, nails scratching at the wood. “Not yet, but that’s because we haven’t examined everything about the body. Concluding that the trap killed her is premature. We need to check everything before we state something definitive.”
“This is all seeming pretty far-fetched, to me,” Cranky griped. “But. Eh. The vomit getting cleaned up really is fishy.”
“Did that happen, though?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “I mean, we… We don't know that’s what happened. Yet.”
“No, but I -- “ Rarity spoke up only to be interrupted by yet another yawn. “Oh dear! Excuse me. As I was saying, we may not have evidence for it yet, but Wallflower may be onto something with her suggestion that it was cleaned up.”
“Okay, so, what else are we missing about the body?” Cranky inquired. He eyeballed me. “Wallflower, you’re the one who looked it over.”
“Right,” I said with a nod. I closed my eyes briefly while I thought aloud. “So there’s the vomit, the lack of blood…” I snapped my fingers, tapping at my Monopad to bring up the picture of the body again. “The protruding eyes.”
Zephyr let out a shriek and almost fell away from his podium. “Yeesh, those are protruding eyes. Like some kind of squeeze-toy!” He let out a second, louder shriek and grabbed his head. “Oooh she didn’t deserve to die like this. We should listen to Sunset!”
My face screwed up in mute uncomprehension, though thankfully Cranky muttered, “What?”
Zephyr stammered his next few words as a profound blush overtook his cheeks. “…I mean… we should HAVE listened to Sunset when she was alive. She warned us people would keep killing, and we didn’t believe her.” He scrunched his eyes closed and covered his face with his hands. “Don’t get on my case! We’re talking about dead bodies! It’s upsetting!”
Juniper glared at Zephyr for a moment. “Stop blabbing nonsense, unless you’re trying to get us all killed.” Snorting in disgust, she turned to me. “So, what would cause her eyes to protrude like that?”
“Um, everyone?” Fluttershy spoke up. “Before we move on, could someone…?” She pointed to my right; Vignette still had her hands clamped over her ears and her head cradled in her arms. Rolling his eyes, Shining leaned over and gently nudged her.
She hesitantly lifted one eyelid, looking around in suspicion. “...Are you done with the you-know-what?” she asked.
“Yes,” Shining answered, very clearly restraining himself from making any sort of facial expression. “We were trying to decide what was the real cause of death, if it wasn’t the trap.”
“Ah!” Delighted, Vignette straightened up. “I’m sure Wallflower has just been waiting to enlighten us about that!” She grinned widely at me, half supportive and half terrifying. “Riiiight?”
Oddly, I was able to ignore the terrifying half, and her support sent a boost of confidence through my body. I closed my eyes to think one more time. The lack of blood, the discolored and swollen skin, the vomit, the eyes… what did it all point to?
Of course!
“Poison,” I answered. “Derpy was poisoned to death. It’s the only logical explanation.”
I glanced around the room, and to my relief I saw everyone nodding or humming or otherwise acknowledging their agreement. “Great!” Vignette cheered. “Hashtag agreed~. But how?”
I raised a finger, opened my mouth, then sighed and dropped my hand. “I don’t know yet. But I’m sure it was poison.”
“See, I agree with you, Wallflower,” Shining said as he eyed the picture of the body still floating above the display in the center of the podiums. “But I’m still fixated on the trap. If the trap didn’t kill her, why go to all that effort to hide how she died?”
“I don’t know that yet either,” I said, shaking my head. “But it’s probably important.”
“Important?” Rarity repeated, giving me an odd look.
Frowning, I eyed her back. “Yeah. What about it?”
“...I’m not sure yet,” she admitted. “Carry on.”
“Uh, okay.” I returned my attention to Shining. “Shining, you’re the cop. You’re more familiar with what poisoning deaths look like than the rest of us. What ways could she have been poisoned?”
“Well,” he said as he laid his hand out to count one by one on his fingers, “there’s always her food. Something she ate, or drank, maybe. She could’ve taken a pill thinking it was one thing when it turned out to be another, or she had an allergic reaction to a medication.”
“Um, I’m sorry, but I don’t think she was allergic to anything,” Fluttershy interrupted. She withdrew partially into herself when Shining glared at her in response, but managed to continue, “If she’d had an allergic reaction there’d be other signs. Flushed skin, swelling of her face and lips as well as her eyes, and so on.”
Shining sighed and nodded. “Right, so forget that cause then. She could’ve been given a syringe full of a poison, introducing it to her bloodstream directly.”
“Unless that piece of metal was a big giant needle stuck in the middle of her chest, I doubt it was a syringe that did her in,” Cranky commented. “And the only kind of syringes I’ve seen are in the pharmacy, for some of the meds and for a couple of the drugs, like heroin.”
“And I think we would see her with other symptoms if she’d taken any of those,” Juniper said. “So we can probably rule out a drug overdose.”
“So what does that leave?” Sour Sweet asked. “If she didn’t eat it, drink it, get allergic to it, or shoot up with it, what and how was she poisoned with?”
“Um,” Fluttershy said very quietly, “her chest. I didn’t see it very well, but. Um. The swelling and the color. It looked like she got a snake bite. Or ten snake bites all in the same place.”
Rarity gasped, her hand on her own chest.. “A snake bite? What if… what if it was rattlesnake toxin, darlings?”
I blinked. “You mean… the poisoned knife? From the trap that almost killed Big Macintosh?”
Fact #10: Poisoned Knife: “A knife was taped, blade exposed, on a shelf next to a puddle of soapy water in the museum workshop. The blade was poisoned according to Monohuman, and the sheen on it both looked like and smelled just like the rattlesnake venom.”
Automatically my hands had moved to bring up the recorded bit of evidence. “Here’s the picture we took.”
Sour Sweet immediately shot Rarity a glare. “Wow,” she grumbled. “That’s interesting, since--”
“Ahem,” I coughed, giving Sour Sweet an equally stern glare. When she looked my way, I frantically pressed my finger to my lips. She snorted, looking away while cradling her hurt arm.
“Hmm,” Shining peered closer at it. “Monohuman.”
“Yesssssss?” Monohuman leered from his throne, leaning forward with his baton tapping against one palm.
“You’re certain that it’s poisoned?”
The hologram snorted in disgust. “Of course I’m certain. I know everything that happened in this case. I watched the culprit poison the blade!”
Shining shook his head. “How’d they do it? I thought we got rid of all of the rattlesnake venom.”
Monohuman twirled his baton and sat back in his chair. “Figure that out for yourself; I only warned Vignette and Miss Nobody to keep us from having victims during the investigation. Imagine, someone dying during an investigation. It’d be chaos! And we can’t have that, can we?”
Hearing him use the word nobody to refer to me struck through me like a bullet, but I bore the pain. I refused to let him destroy my confidence that easily.
Fluttershy raised a hand. “Um, Wallflower, it says here on the note you appended to the photo that it smelled like rattlesnake venom?”
“Yeah,” I answered, flashing her a slight frown. “And that’s what’s worrying me. Because the venom in the convenience store wasn’t the only venom. There was one other sample. Or at least, there was supposed to have been one.”
~*~
There was a single pedestal in the center of the room I hadn’t quite noticed before with a sign that loudly proclaimed, “Our prize possession: a genuine one hundred percent authentic and potent vial of rattlesnake venom: guaranteed to put you six feet under!”
But there was no vial.
“Uuuh, Juniper?” I said, turning to her. “Have you seen the vial that’s supposed to be on this pedestal?”
She took one look at it and shook her head. “Nope. I don’t think there was one when I came in, come to think of it.”
~*~
“But we never found it,” I concluded. “It was missing from the very first time I stepped inside the museum.”
Cranky threw his arms up. “Great!” he shouted, his words soaking in acerbic wit. “Because I’m sure we have a record of who went into where and when that first day we were all exploring, right?”
Shining slowly shook his head. “No. Assuming it was ever there in the first place, someone must’ve taken it the instant they spotted it.”
“So whoever made the traps has been planning to kill us from the start?” Sour Sweet snapped. “Fuck them, then. What an asshole.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Autumn Blaze said, decisively shaking her head. “I refuse to believe that. Whoever took it was probably just trying to protect everyone.”
“Oh really?” Juniper leered at Autumn. “And how would you know that? Did you take the poison?”
Autumn held a hand to her chest, scowling. “No! I would never! I just want to believe people are generally good. I don’t think anyone here is evil; they’ve just done something really bad.”
Trixie let out a guffaw, holding a hand to her mouth. “Hah! How naive. How could you possibly believe that after what we’ve already seen?”
Autumn shrank into herself, her mouth curling up in such a pitifully sad way it almost made me want to hug her. “Because… I want to be able to trust people. I-I don’t want someone like Monohuman to be right. We’re only in this mess because of whoever reprogrammed him putting us here, remember? We were supposed to be getting along.”
Cranky let out a suffering sigh. “Look, Autumn, I get it, and I’m there with you. I’m too old to believe in good people or evil people anymore; people are just people. Sometimes they’ll do good, other times bad. But we can’t assume anything.”
“Cranky’s right,” Cheese said, giving Autumn a sympathetic look. “I’m with you too, but we have no way of knowing what the person who took the poison was thinking. Maybe it was to protect us, maybe to have just in case, or maybe to kill. We won’t find out till we figure out who they are.”
“So let’s stop wasting time and figure it out, then,” Juniper groused. She faced me, her eyes shining sharp. “Wallflower. You’re sure it was poison, right?”
“Definitely,” I said with a nod. “It’s the only thing that fits the facts, and the only poison we know about is the rattlesnake venom.”
“Um,” Fluttershy spoke up, timidly raising her hand. “And, someone might know more than me. But her body really did show the signs of rattlesnake toxin.”
“Great,” Juniper muttered. “So both traps had poisoned weapons?”
“I don’t think so,” Shining replied. “We would have smelled it when we examined Derpy’s body.”
“But the kid didn’t have any other wounds!” Cranky groused. “If that piece of metal wasn’t poisoned, how’d it happen?”
“Wasn’t there a note in her hand?” Fluttershy murmured. “Maybe someone laced that with poison.”
“What, a contact poison?” Shining replied with a raised eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure anything like that would be a nerve agent; she’d have similar symptoms to what you described for an allergic reaction.”
Fluttershy bowed her head. “Oh… I, um, I guess that makes sense…”
“Besides, there wasn’t anything like that anywhere,” Cheese added with a small grin. “No contact poisons here!”
“Monohuman,” Shining spoke up. “Can you confirm that the note wasn’t poisoned? Given you reacted to stop Wallflower and Vignette from touching the knife, you would’ve warned us about the note too, right?”
Monohuman shrugged. “That is the truth, I suppose. Though really, you shouldn’t be using me to prove or disprove your evidence. I am the judge and executioner, not a member of the jury.”
“Okay, well, there you go; the note wasn’t poisoned,” Shining said.
“Which leaves us with exactly nothing,” Trixie added bitterly. “This was a big waste of time!”
“No, it wasn’t,” I argued, trying not to get irritated. “We know a lot about this killer. We know they had access to poison. We know… hm.” I cast my eyes around the room. “Actually, let me get confirmation on this one. Does anyone here build things? Like, as a hobby or anything?”
“Ooh!” Cheese Sandwich’s hand shot up in the air as he hopped up and down in excitement. “Me! Me! I got really inspired by an engineer I saw and built robots for a while! None of them ever worked, but I made a lot of them!”
I was doubly taken back, both because someone actually volunteered engineering knowledge and because of the whole robot thing, but I tried to roll with it. “I, think that qualifies. Okay. So, Cheese, do you know how long it would take for someone to build those traps?”
“Hm, let me look.” He called up the pictures of the three traps and studied them intensely. Finally, he looked up. “Probably a long time,” he announced, his voice utterly serious. “Especially this one,” He pointed at the truck stop, Sour Sweet’s trap.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“As sure as I’ve ever been! Big Mac’s is just trip wires, but rigging it up to the lights isn’t some tiny thing. Not even to mention all the time it’d take to plan them out.” He shrugged. “Actually, it blows my mind they were able to make all three in one night!”
“We don’t know they did,” Shining pointed out. “People go in and out of the buildings, but the trap in the truck could have been rigged up days ago.”
“Which means the killer made at least two of them last night,” I agreed. “So if Cheese is right, we know where they were a lot of last night: the locations of the other two traps. So we need to consider the other locations. It’s possible…”
“Now just hold it right there!” Trixie’s voice shrieked. “This is precisely the problem Trixie was concerned about with Wallflower in charge! We’d be drowned in overcomplication and irrelevant details! We’re building some story full of misdirection and chicanery, but the truth is usually the simplest possible thing.”
“Aren’t you a stage magician?” Cranky asked.
“Yes, and that applies there, too! The simplest possible explanation of my astounding feats is that Trixie is marvelous and amazing, and that’s the truth!” She pounded her hand into her podium. “If Wallflower wants to spin us off into storytelling, the least Trixie can do is remind everyone of the evidence!”
Fact #4: Derpy’s Note: “There was a note clutched in Derpy’s left hand. It reads ‘Meet me at the red truck at 7:20. I know why he left.’”
Fact #16: Big Macintosh’s Note: “A note given to Big Macintosh. It reads ‘I know what happened to your youngest sister. Meet me at the museum at 7:20 tomorrow morning.”
“Both notes clearly indicate that both Derpy and Big Macintosh were supposed to be meeting whoever sent the notes at the exact same time.” She pointed dramatically at Sour Sweet. “And you! You went to the truck stop at your usual time, yes? When was it that you ran into your trap?”
“A little after 7:15,” Sour Sweet answered, actually looking a little cowed by Trixie’s commanding demeanor.
“Aha!” Trixie spun in a circle and posed like an incredibly annoying person would do. “So you see? Clearly the point was for all three traps to go off at the same time. Derpy died at the truck; it’s the simplest explanation. Unless anyone can disprove this with evidence, Trixie will not abide veering away into elaborate storytelling!”,” Trixie concluded, taking a small bow.
Damn it, why was she doing this? And the worst part was, she was right. The evidence did point in that direction, which was obviously the whole point! What did Trixie even have against me, to be arguing like this?
But my burgeoning seethe was interrupted by a hand touching my arm. I looked over in shock and saw Vignette, unperturbed as always. “The Hater Wholly Hurts Herself,” she said. “Rise Above!”
This communicated nothing to me. Vignette frowned. “Trixie asked you to look at evidence. So let’s do that, hmm? Do we have anything proving the murder didn’t go the way it seems?” Then she actually winked at me.
“Wallflower?” Fluttershy’s voice asked, startling me despite its softness. “Um. Did you want to say something?”
I realized I had been completely entranced by Vignette; the combination of confusing, embarrassing, warm, and inane had broken my brain for a second. Blushing and nodding, I turned my attention to the evidence, and only then did I realize I had forgotten to be angry at Trixie anymore.
“So,” Vignette was saying. “If she got killed by the trap, the story is, she climbed up on the truck, pulled the door open, and set it off. She was knocked backwards and died right where she fell. Riiiight?”
“Yes,” Juniper answered.
“Well, Wallywall?” Vignette prompted. “Notice anything about her body proving that couldn’t have happened?”
I scanned the picture. I knew the answer was there, and, feeling calm and centered, I eliminated possibilities. It wasn’t her mouth, or her wound, or her position, or…
Aha!
“Look at the picture of her body again. Her hands, they’re clean.”
Cheese raised a solitary eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. “And?”
“Aaaand,” I growled, “the truck was super rusty both inside and out. You remember. You were there the other day trying to find parts for fixing one of the trucks.”
~*~
“Can’t say I have.” His grin vanished, replaced with a frown of concern. “You sure you’re alright? You look pretty flustered.”
I nodded, my eyes fixing on that streamer… and memories of what happened with the last party streamer flooded my mind. “...y-yeah. Um, Cheese…” I swallowed, my throat drying out. I took a couple steps back. “Why do you have a party streamer?”
He blinked, then held it up and half smiled. “Oh, this? Found it in one of the trucks just now while I was looking for parts.” He pointed to the closest truck, one with a cab nearly as intact as the one with the functioning engine, though this one possessed punctured tires and a lot of holes in its trailer. “Figured I’d take it with me. Didn’t want anyone trying to… you know… hurt anyone with it.” His smile slipped away. “It probably looks bad to find me with it, huh?”
“A little,” I admitted, holding up my thumb and forefinger.
He let out a sad sort of chuckle, then unwrapped the streamer and handed it to me. I immediately stuffed it in my pocket, not wanting to see it for more than a moment. I’d dispose of it later. “Sorry about that.”
~*~
Cranky whistled. “And you found a party streamer, huh?” He flashed Cheese some side-eye. “That does sound a little bad.”
“Err, that’s not why I brought it up,” I said, before the glares everyone was shooting Cheese could go very far. “I’m not accusing Cheese of anything. Just pointing out he should know what I mean about the trucks being rusty.”
Cheese chuckled as he dropped his hands to his podium. “She’s not wrong,” he admitted. “The trucks are rusty. But Derpy didn’t get inside the truck.”
“She didn’t have to,” I pointed out. “I got rust all over my hand just touching the door handle. We even found a clean sheet of paper in her hands. How could it have stayed clean if she opened the truck?”
He took another step back, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Well, what if she used that tarp that was near the truck to open it, to cover her hand with so she didn’t have to touch the handle?”
“Not possible,” I said with a simple shake of my head. “The tarp was on the passenger side of the truck. Derpy was on the driver side."
Cheese grunted again, and I found myself feeling confident. One more blow ought to do it. "Fine, fine, fine. Okay," he said, throwing his hands up in mock surrender. "But you still haven't proven the trap couldn't have killed her. So unless you've got evidence that makes it impossible, it's the only plausible explanation we have."
Ba-dum.
I could feel my heart pounding right out of my chest as a sudden panic gripped me. I didn't think I had the kind of evidence he was asking for. Was it possible I was wrong after all, that somehow Derpy was killed by the trap after all?
I glanced frantically at Vignette, but she was still hiding from the possibility anyone would say “vomit” out loud. So I checked my pad, looking over the evidence.
"Wait a minute," I murmured, before abruptly grinning in triumph. "That's it! I'll shear your argument to shreds!"
Fact #6: Truck Passenger Side Door: “The top half of the passenger side window was shattered from an impact from the inside. The door was also locked from the inside.”
Cheese frowned, cocking his head. "I don't get it. What's the passenger door got to do with anything?"
"Everything," I said. "Look closely. The trap was set to go off when the driver side door opened up, right? But the passenger door was locked from the inside."
"So?" he held up a hand as if dismissing my point. "That just means the culprit locked the door before closing it."
I shook my head. "On a modern truck they could do that, yes, but not on this one. This one uses a deadbolt. Which means you either need the key, or you need to lock it after you close it. Which means the culprit would've had to leave via the driver side door to get out."
"Well what's wrong with that?" Autumn Blaze asked.
A number of people snorted, scowled, or otherwise gave her scornful looks. "Um, Autumn, that also doesn’t make sense," Fluttershy said with a polite, if tight, smile. "In order for the trap to work, the driver side door needed to be closed so the spring could be set."
Cheese smacked his podium. "Now hold on. The passenger side window was half shattered, right? Doesn't that mean the trap went off?"
Big Macintosh nodded. "Ah agree with Cheese. We've got evidence sayin' the trap worked."
"Do we though?" Shining wondered as he rubbed his chin. "Because Wallflower's right and so is Fluttershy. In order to work the trap, it had to be rigged against the closed driver side door, so the culprit couldn't exit that way. But with the passenger door locked they couldn't get out that way either. They'd be stuck."
"Whoa there, Shiny hiney," Zephyr blurted, only briefly wincing under the glare shot his way. "You’re saying they were sitting right there in the cab when Derpy got hit by the trap?!"
“That’s not possible, either,” I replied. “It was cramped in there.”
~*~
“Well?” Vignette asked, her eyes squeezed shut. “Is it atrocious in there? Like a hashtag hurricane tore through?”
“It’s pretty gross, yeah,” I said. The floor and seat of the passenger side were especially bad, with some ancient clothes-food-mold blob filling most of the space.
~*~
“They’d have to be sitting up in the passenger seat, which means the trap’s recoil wouldn’t have hit the window; it’d have hit them in the face.”
"And don’t anyone go suggesting someone went back and locked the passenger door after Derpy was dead, while somehow not getting rust and blood all over themselves or the ground," Cranky answered for Shining. "Derpy’d just died. I don’t see anyone having the time to do that. But I can see someone faking the damage to fool us."
Rarity let out a small yawn and adjusted her hair out of her eyes. "But, darlings, wouldn't it take a great deal of strength to break a truck window?"
"Naaah. Not with how old the glass is," Sour Sweet said with a grin before it switched to a grimace. "They could just go wham with the pipe."
"Which means that the trap didn't kill Derpy," I said to bring us all back to the original point. "We've just been led to think it did."
Trixie had been glaring silently for a while now, but she finally spoke up. “Very well,” she said, glaring. “Trixie concedes that Wallflower’s point has some merit. But the question remains: why go to all this trouble?”
"We don’t know yet, idiot," Juniper snapped. “We’d have it figured out already if you hadn’t wasted our time for the past half hour!”
Trixie whirled on Juniper and pointed a long, bony finger. "Do not call Trixie names, you little -- "
“Hey!” Autumn Blaze snapped, a rare but oddly intense expression of anger appearing on her face. “This isn’t helping anything. Stop it, both of you.”
“Hmph!” Trixie stuck her nose up in the air. “Trixie wouldn’t need to defend herself if she wasn’t needlessly attacked.”
“In any case, I think I know Wallflower’s theory about why the trap was fake,” Shining said. His gaze was serious but respectful, and I appreciated it. “She was talking about the other locations. She thinks the killer wasn’t just disguising how Derpy was killed, but also…” He trailed off, looking at me hopefully.
No one said anything.
His face fell. “Uh. Wallflower? I was trying to. Um. Set you up, and you’d jump in and…”
“Oh!” I threw my hands to my face, blushing. “Right! I didn’t get that! I mean, it makes sense, but…”
“No, it’s my fault!” he promised. “It’s something I do with my partner on the force, but I should…”
“But also,” Sour Sweet bellowed, cutting us both off, “where Derpy was killed!” She rolled her eyes and cradled her hurt arm. “Ow. That was it, right? You think she was killed somewhere else?”
I nodded, still feeling an inferno blazing away in my face.
“Derpy didn’t die at the truck!” I blurted, trying to force myself to move on. I called up the image of Derpy’s body again. “We know the trap didn’t kill her, but poison did.”
“Some of us are still not entirely sure of that,” Zephyr muttered.
“And,” I continued, ignoring Zephyr, “while we can’t be entirely certain what kind of poison killed her, there was only one source of poison we found during the investigation: the knife located in the museum trap.”
“Which nearly killed me,” Big Macintosh rumbled, prompting Fluttershy to pat his arm.
“So what if that was the murder weapon?” I suggested.
“What the hell are you on about?” Big Macintosh thundered, giving me a death glare. “Ah was in that museum! Ah think Ah would’ve noticed if Derpy were in there slicing her hand up or somethin.”
Cheese coughed. “Yeah, I don’t get it, Wallflower. The knife couldn’t have killed her, there were no knife wounds.”
I blinked, my momentum coming to a screeching halt. “Well, not that we could see on the body. The only wound was…”
And I realized it at the same time Shining snapped his fingers. “Of course!” he shouted. “The killer disguised the knife wound by stabbing her with the pipe in exactly the same place! . I’ll bet you anything that the knife was used to stab her, then her body was carried over to the truck, where the culprit set up the fake trap.”
“And the only one who could’ve done that was Big Macintosh,” Zephyr declared, pointing a shaky finger at him. “I, I mean, girls sure seemed to like Big Mac. Maybe he just flexed those muscles of his, and she was putty in his hands!”
Big Macintosh brought his hands up and slammed them down on his podium in a sound so loud I automatically covered my ears, whimpering. “Ah beg your pardon?” he snarled, his voice dangerously low in tone. “Ah know ya ain’t got much between those ears other than whatever keeps you breathin’, but Ah think we all know Ah was almost killed by a trap laid by the real culprit. Why would Ah be stabbin’ Derpy?”
I shook my head. “Zephyr, I know you’re trying to help, but… unless you’ve got something to substantiate that, shut up. Please.”
Zephyr let out a low whine, almost like I’d just kicked a dog. “Fiiiine.”
“Anyhow,” I continued, “I don’t think it’s possible that Big Macintosh was there when Derpy was being killed anyway. Big Mac, you told us earlier during the investigation about what happened when you entered the museum, right?”
“Right,” he said. “Ah’ll repeat it for the sake of y’all, especially this dumbass.” He flipped Zephyr off.
“Jeez, no need to be so hostile, man,” Zephyr moaned.
Big Macintosh rolled his eyes. “So, like Ah said earlier, Ah came in and saw a piece of paper on a table. But when Ah started moving toward it, Ah tripped. Everything went dark, and Ah stumbled forward, where Ah tripped again. There was some sorta thunk, but the floor had soap all over it and Ah fell forward.”
“Exactly,” I said, smiling in triumph. “You slipped on the soapy floor.”
Shining eyed me. “I think I know where you’re going with this, Wallflower, but explain it anyway, just in case.”
“When Vignette and I went in there, we examined the trap carefully,” I said. “And what I couldn’t figure out at the time was why the floor was all soaped up; it wasn’t a necessary part of the trap. There were two tripwires. One turned off the lights, the other would trip you, and just about anyone would end up slicing their hand on the knife stumbling in the dark. Big Mac was lucky he didn’t.”
Big Macintosh shuddered. “Yup.”
“So,” I continued, “what if the reason the floor was all soapy was that Derpy was stabbed with the knife there, died there, and they had to clean up the vomit? It would explain why her mouth smelled of vomit but there was none on her body.”
“That’s some pretty hefty speculation,” Shining said as he brushed his chin with his fingers. “Got any evidence for that?”
I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, in fact, I can prove it.”
Fact #11: Mop Bucket: “An empty mobile mop bucket was tucked away inside the janitor’s closet, still dripping with soap.”
“The mop bucket was still wet with soap. That means the soap had just been put down not long before we found the bucket.”
Shining flashed me a thumbs up. “Makes sense to me. I’m convinced. Derpy died in the museum, then.”
Rarity coughed daintily into her hand. “Respectfully, Wallflower, I cannot agree. Big Macintosh made an excellent point when he addressed Zephyr’s accusation; he would’ve seen the culprit moving the body.”
Big Macintosh let out a soft sigh and nodded. “Ah hate to disagree with you, Wallflower, but she’s right. Ah know Ah would’ve seen whoever it was doin’ it.”
“But it’s the only thing that makes sense,” Cranky argued, thumping his hand to his podium. “Derpy was poisoned to death, we all agree on that, right?” He gave everyone a moment, but when he received no response, he continued, “So the only poison was in the museum, which means the culprit killed her there.”
“No, no, no!” Trixie jabbed a finger at the central display, whereupon she brought up the notes evidence from before. “Did everyone already forget what Trixie showed you? Both Big Macintosh and Derpy were headed to their respective traps at the same. Time. Unless you are suggesting the culprit can become invisible, that makes it impossible for Derpy to have died anywhere except at the truck.”
“Then how was she poisoned, hmm?” Vignette pressed, flashing Trixie one of her trademark smirks. “We found no sign of poison at the scene of the truck; the only poison was in the museum.”
Fluttershy let out a soft sigh. “I’m sorry, I just don’t see how it’s possible for someone to have moved Derpy’s body, even if they killed her at the museum.”
“The how isn’t important right now,” Juniper said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We can figure that one out later. What matters is deciding what the most likely sequence of events was. And I think Wallflower’s right. I think Derpy died in the museum and her body was moved.”
“Aww, look at that, you’re backing up your friend,” Sour Sweet simpered, then performed her usual mood whiplash by shouting, “Like a fucking idiot! You know what makes a lot more sense than moving a body? Poisoning another knife and then just hiding it in the parking lot.”
“But that venom reeks!” Autumn Blaze protested. “We’d have found it!” She shook her head. “No, it fits, it explains how they cleaned up Derpy’s vomit.”
“It’s easier to move a knife than it is to move a body,” Zephyr said, crossing his arms. “Maybe the killer is some kind of ninja?! They stab Derpy with the poison knife, then run over to the museum really super fast before Big Mac gets there?””
Cheese burst into laughter. “Okay, okay, that’s pretty ridiculous, Zephyr. Unless the knife was taped with ninja tape!”
“Ninja tape?!” Zephyr wailed.
“Everyone ignore Zephyr and Cheese Sandwich!” Sour Sweet bellowed. “Thank you,” she continued, daintily, “But… I still think Trixie must be right about the timing. It just doesn’t make sense for Derpy to have died in the museum if she was heading to the truck at the same time as Big Macintosh.”
Rarity let out a flustered sigh. “Wonderful. So where do we go from here, hmm? We seem so split on this subject.”
“Uh-oh,” I murmured.
“Oh, why did you have to say that, Rarity,” Fluttershy moaned.
“Spliiiiit?” Monohuman said, gleeful excitement lighting up his face. “Did you say you’re split down the middle?”
Rarity’s eyes went wide and she threw her hands up, shaking them in surrender. “No, no, of course not, don’t be silly!”
Monohuman tutted and slapped his baton to his palm. “Nonsense. I heard you clear as day. Need I remind you I am an AI? My memory recall is perfect! And if you’re split down the middle, there’s only one way to resolve things!”
A familiar techno beat filled the courtroom as everyone’s podiums raised up into the air and shifted about to form two opposing lines.
“Ugh, we’re seriously doing this fucking shit again?” Sour Sweet groaned.
“Enough whining,” Monohuman said. He gestured grandly with his baton. “Let the debate…”
WHERE DID DERPY DIE?
BEGIN!
Cheese Sandwich started off the opposing side. “Derpy and Big Macintosh both headed to their respective traps at the same time, making it impossible for Derpy to have died in the museum.”
Juniper countered, “We don’t actually know that they went at the same time.”
Trixie whirled, throwing out her cloak. “How can you say that? Trixie has repeatedly demonstrated they did with the notes.”
“No, all you’ve done,” Cranky shot back, “is show us a pair of notes with the same time on them. If the culprit killed Derpy at the museum it’s possible her note is a fake.”
“A fake?” Sour Sweet blurted. “Where the hell did you get the idea it was a fake?”
Shining rubbed his chin. “We don’t actually know if the note is a fake, but Cranky’s suggestion has merit.”
“Oh come now,” Rarity said with a shake of her head, “There’s no proof the notes are fake.”
I raised my hand. “Maybe there isn’t any proof, but it’s a reasonable assumption to make.”
Zephyr rolled his eyes. “Oh Wally dolly -- can I call you Wally dolly? -- why would you ever assume the note is faked? It’s evidence.”
“And evidence can be misleading,” Autumn Blaze pointed out. “Remember the guitar string from the last case? We assumed it killed Pear Butter, when in fact it was hiding the real cause of death in the party streamer.”
Fluttershy softly coughed. “But, um, do we have any good reason to assume the note is a fake, then?”
“I’ll give you a reason,” Vignette offered. “How about the fact it was clean, pristine, barely even a crease, let alone anything dirtying it.”
“It’s a bit of a leap to go from the note being clean to assuming it’s a fake,” Cheese argued. “Besides, I thought all that showed was that she didn’t touch the rusty truck.”
“You’re right, it is a leap of logic,” Juniper admitted. “But that’s all we’ve got to work with.”
“Look, forget about the fucking notes, okay?” Sour Sweet growled. “Let’s get back to the point, which is that Derpy died at the truck.”
“No, she didn’t die at the truck,” Cranky snapped. “She died in the museum. It’s the only thing that makes logical sense.”
“But you still haven’t shown us how that’s possible,” Big Macintosh countered. “Ah want to believe you, Ah do, but… Ah know what Ah know. And Ah didn’t see no one killin’ Derpy in the museum.”
“It’s not only possible, it’s the only logical conclusion left,” Shining replied with a firm nod. “She died of poison and the only poison was in the museum.”
“But how did her body get moved, then?” Fluttershy asked plaintively. “If we can’t answer that then, um, I don’t see how she died there.”
“Right now, we still don’t have an answer for that, Fluttershy,” Autumn said gently.
“Then your whole argument is flawed and should be tossed out,” Zephyr concluded, sticking his nose up in the air.
“You’re one to talk when it comes to flawed arguments, Zephyr Breeze,” Vignette growled.
Shadows fell over the rest of the debaters on both sides, just like in the last trial, leaving Rarity’s podium and my own to rise higher. I braced myself for the one-on-one.
Rarity crossed her arms. “Wallflower, we’ve been going in circles. And nothing said has convinced me you’re right.”
“I’m well aware we’ve been going in circles,” I retorted. “But that’s because you won’t accept the fact that she died in the museum.”
Rarity’s left eye twitched. “I cannot accept it because it’s not the truth! You have nothing to support your claim!”
“I’ve got everything I need to support my claim,” I growled, trying to keep my cool. “She died of poison, the only poison was in the museum.”
“That’s not enough to prove--”
“I’m not finished!” I interrupted, feeling a growing confidence despite my frustration. “The poison that killed her made her vomit, but there was no vomit on or near her body. Which means it was cleaned up, and the only place showing signs of being cleaned up was the museum!”
Rarity, for just a moment, bared her teeth, grinding them together before managing to swallow her rage and adopt a more peaceful expression. “Maybe we’re wrong after all and she didn’t die of poison.”
“Oh no, you don’t get to back away now,” I said, sensing the blood in the water that was her starting to give in. “Poison is the only possible manner in which she died; we’ve proven that to where even Zephyr Breeze accepts it. You know that.”
“Fine!” Rarity slapped one palm to her podium. “Fine, so she died of poison. So what? Every other bit of evidence points to the truck as the scene of her death.”
I chuckled. “Oh yes, everything, except for the soap. The knife. Even the clean note, which I think the others were onto something with when they suggested it was fake. It all points to her death happening in the museum, and then her body was moved to the truck. You have to accept that.”
“No I do not!” she screamed, her face twisting up in rage in a way that left me feeling chilled to the bone. “Because you still lack one thing, Wallflower Blush! You lack a method of moving the body. And unless you can prove how the body was moved, then you have no choice but to concede this debate!”
Damn it, she was right. We didn’t know how the body was moved. Was there even any evidence to show how? There must’ve been; I knew I was right about this.
I looked back over the list of evidence one more time, trying to find something, anything.
Wait.
Of course!
“You want proof, Rarity? You want to know how the body was moved?” I cried, bringing up the evidence in question. “Well this is my answer!”
Fact #8: Tarp: “A waterproof tarp was present at the scene of the truck trap. It was next to the passenger side door, which was the side facing the truck stop. According to Sour Sweet, it was not there as of 7:10, but was there as of 7:20 according to Big Macintosh.”
“This tarp was originally located in the museum workshop, the same place in the museum that was trapped,” I said, a confident smile on my face. “And as you can see, according to Sour Sweet, the tarp wasn’t present at 7:10 when she went to the convenience store, but it was there at 7:20 when Big Macintosh entered the museum. Meaning that within those ten minutes it was moved. And the only reason to do that, the only thing that helps bring it all together, is if Derpy died in the museum and her body was moved using the tarp!”
Rarity all but collapsed onto her podium, a few whimpers of frustration escaping her before she finally looked up at me with a sad smile. “Oooh, alright, Wallflower. I concede. You’ve convinced me.”
And with that statement, the podiums descended back down and distributed into their normal arrangement, leaving me with having won an argument. Again.
But while I was proud of myself, I saw no reason to be mean to my opponent. “It’s alright, Rarity,” I said, giving her a soft smile of my own. “I get where you were coming from. At least now we can move on.”
“Indeed,” Rarity replied, brushing herself off and standing back up straight. “We have quite a long ways to go in this trial yet before we’ve determined who’s responsible.”
That was for sure. And yet, even as the two of us smiled at each other, suspicion echoed at the back of my mind.
But I wasn’t about to accuse anyone. Not yet.
